Pages

▼

Monday, April 03, 2023

04/03 Links Pt2: World Vision, Prominent U.S. Evangelical Charity, Caught Funding Jihadis; How J Street Turned Democrats Against Israel; Telling a Story Founded the Jewish Nation

From Ian:

World Vision, Prominent U.S. Evangelical Charity, Caught Funding Jihadis
When U.S. officials discovered that World Vision was funding a designated terror group, they ordered WV to stop paying ISRA, but WV maintained its relationship with the organization. In January 2015, WV said it had "discontinued any future collaboration." Yet almost a year later, WV posted a job position working with ISRA in December 2015, apparently indicating it had not ceased collaborating as it claimed.

Around the same time, World Vision partnered with yet another group that "has helped fund the Hamas military wing," the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH).

In 2012, World Vision was exposed using Australian government dollars to fund a terrorist front group operating in the West Bank. World Vision was funding the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), a front group for the U.S. terror designated Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Australian Solicitor Andrew Hamilton, who worked with the Israel Law Center which exposed the funding, told the Jerusalem Post that, "The Union of Agricultural Work Committees is an integral part of the proscribed terror organization, the PFLP, that Australian citizens and corporations are prohibited from providing support to."

In an email to FWI, Hamilton called on the recently elected Australian Government "to initiate a detailed criminal investigation into the Halabi scandal."

"For more than a decade, World Vision Australia has avoided justice in Australia for its criminal activities in funding PFLP terrorism using Australian taxpayer money obtained by deception," Hamilton told FWI.

"It would be reasonable to assume that if a smaller organization, whose CEO [Tim Costello] was not the brother of a former federal Treasurer [Peter Costello], had similarly deceived the Australian Government to obtain taxpayer funds which were then sent to terrorists, then they would have been prosecuted to the full extent of the law." (FWI has attempted to obtain a response from the Costellos and from World Vision Australia, but has been unsuccessful.)

In 2010, World Vision partnered with a group headed by a PFLP operative, Khaled Yamani, who led the Palestinian Children and Youth Foundation in Lebanon. And a few years prior to that, WV signed joint memoranda with the U.S. designated terror group Interpal, a financial supporter of Hamas.

WV responded to FWI's inquiry regarding the claims made by Cliff Smith in an email declaring, "We remain adamant we are committed to a positive relationship with Israel in our humanitarian work and we do not now, and never have, supported terrorism."

World Vision portrays itself as a "global Christian humanitarian organization." McDonnell asks how WV's support of Islamist terrorists is really in line with the Gospel message it presents. "To see this activity from World Vision in Sudan and then continuing in Israel too—it just makes me wonder: 'What kind of Christians are supporting a group that is funding terrorists?'"
Yisrael Medad: Update on Cordoba: "cultural reductionism"
Spanish Church ‘accused of glossing over Muslim identity of Cordoba’s Great Mosque’

February 28 2023,
The Catholic Church has been accused of glossing over the Muslim identity of the Great Mosque of Cordoba with a visitor centre that emphasises its Christian origins.

The Church’s planned centre for the mosque, which has served as a cathedral since the Spanish city’s reconquest by Christian forces in 1236, aims to “correct” what it deems to be an overly Islamic vision of the city’s past.

“The need to redesign the entire space [of the mosque area] derives from the finding that Cordoba is marked with a very powerful cultural label: that of a Muslim city,” said a report by Demetrio Fernandez, the Bishop of Cordoba.

The mosque has served as a cathedral for hundreds of years and is used for traditional processions at Easter

“The cultural reductionism is so strong that it has the capacity to eclipse the brilliant Visigoth, Roman and Christian [periods]..."

So, Muslims are engaged in cultural reductionism of Jerusalem as the capital of Judea, where the Temple stood on Mount Moriah?
Telling a Story Founded the Jewish Nation
Many of the basic fundamentals of the seder—not only eating matzah and bitter herbs, but also relating the story of the liberation from Egyptian bondage to one’s children—can be found in Exodus 12, which is set in Egypt just before the tenth plague. By imagining what this archetypal seder might have been like, Cole Aronson explores the ritual’s meaning for Jewish history:

You don’t tell the children they were once slaves in Egypt, because that’s all they know. But it wasn’t always so, you tell them—long ago, their ancestors enjoyed over a century of freedom under God. God chose to raise the patriarchs up from the idolatry of their native culture and gave them a covenantal life. A famine some generations later compelled the chosen family to live in Egypt, first as guests and then—until now—as slaves. Tonight, God will keep His promise to the patriarchs and restore the Israelites to His service.

What the parents of the Exodus told their children was the very first maggid the first “telling” of Passover night. But the story as originally told didn’t commemorate the founding of the Jewish nation. Telling the story founded the Jewish nation.

Until the Exodus, the before-time of the patriarchs was a rumor whispered by strangers subjugated in a strange land. On the Exodus night, teaching the children about God’s choice of Abraham converted his descendants into his self-conscious heirs. A free nation was created by restoring a memory of itself. The pageantry of the seder is often and correctly said to recreate the Exodus night in order to tell a story. The reverse is also true. Jews recreate the Exodus night in part by telling a story that the Exodus parents must have told their own children 3,500 years ago, and with the same function—initiating youngsters into the chosen people of God.


How J Street Turned Democrats Against Israel
The authors' research was confined to, as they describe it, "538 resolutions covering four decades of congressional activity." They sought to disprove the claim that there was a large, growing demonstration of reduced support from the Democratic Party for many years. But they actually proved it to be true at one particular point: the 111th Congress, which was sworn into office in 2009. This was the first Congress during the first term of Barack Obama's presidency, and the first Congress sworn in after the formation of JStreetPAC. From the 93rd Congress in 1973 to the end of the 110th Congress in 2008, there is remarkable parity between the two political parties, reaching a high water mark in 2008. In 2009, during the 111th Congress, Republican support for Israel remained steady, but Democratic support declined dramatically. This perfectly coincides with the founding of J Street in late 2007 and the founding of JStreetPAC the following year.

Note that the aforementioned report came in 2014, which is well before some of the most radical anti-Israel Democrats came to power. The fort was then held by radical anti-Israel activists such as Betty McCollum (D-MN) and Keith Ellison (D-MN), who put forward multiple House resolutions condemning Israel. That anti-Israel mantle was picked up by Ellison's direct successor, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and other "Squad" members such as Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Cori Bush (D-MO), Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), and others. They all follow the same J Street playbook.

The playbook is a very simple one—shout until you're hoarse that you love Israel, and then do everything you can to undermine its security. Lessons that Israel learned after the Oslo Accords debacle and the false mythology of "land for peace" are ignored by J Street. Israel's unilateral decision in 2005 to forcibly remove Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip and hand it over to the Palestinians has brought nothing but pain and misery, yet J Street now seeks to replicate that in an area 16 times larger.

J Street and its ideological allies market these ideas to naive university students with a relentless barrage of inflammatory rhetoric, using terms like "occupation" and "apartheid." They have invested millions of dollars in college campuses, where teenagers are far more inclined toward radical activism than any other age group. In the 15 years since the founding of J Street U, the campus organizing arm of J Street, the group has achieved its desired result: The recent Gallup poll showing Democratic sympathy for Israel at a new low.

From Gallup: "After a decade in which Democrats have shown increasing affinity toward the Palestinians, their sympathies in the Middle East now lie more with the Palestinians than the Israelis, 49% versus 38%. Today's attitudes reflect an 11-percentage-point increase over the past year in Democrats' sympathy with the Palestinians. At the same time, the percentages sympathizing more with the Israelis (38%) and those not favoring a side (13%) have dipped to new lows." Independents still side more with Israelis at a rate of 49% to 32%, while nearly 8 in 10 Republicans favor Israelis, 79% to 11%.

The college students of 2008 are in their mid-30s now, and they have been told for a long time that the sole reason for Palestinians' suffering is the existence of a Jewish state in the Jewish people's ancestral homeland. This has led to increased hostility toward a key regional ally from members of Congress and Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, as leading Democratic politicians follow the prevailing political winds. One can only fear that Gallup's polling data will next suggest partisanship surrounding even Israel's right to exist.
NY Times Uses J Street As The Source Of Its Israel Coverage And Promotes The Group
There was a time when the largest newspaper in the world did its own reporting, analysis and sourcing of news. It chose its stories and reported facts with the aim of educating the world-at-large about important matters.

Those days are long gone. The New York Times has become an activist agitator, reporting on stories from the vantage point of its far left-wing base. The news is not simply delivered as though written in the Opinion Section by progressive activists, but is actually SOURCED from left-wing groups.

Consider the paper’s reporting on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Times has long chosen to vilify him as a monster, even posting TWO close-up pictures of him in an article about a Palestinian Arab youth injured during riots, seemingly suggesting the Netanyahu himself punched the boy in the face. (For comparison, try to find a picture of President Barack Obama in a Times article about American drones blowing up people in the far East).

As the paper is online, it has become easier to track the deep bias against Israel and Netanyahu: J Street.

J Street markets itself as pro-peace and pro-Israel, when it is actually a far left-wing group headed by pro-Palestinian Jews, a counter to the Republican Jewish Coalition that is conservative and pro-Israel. J Street frequently publishes opinion pieces as it lobbies politicians to take pro-Arab actions, and the Times quotes the group’s leadership as though it spoke for the majority of American Jews.

In a recent Times’ article, “Biden’s Confrontation With Netanyahu Had Been Brewing For Years“, it described a letter written by Democratic politicians urging the president to take action against Israel. Rather than source the actual letter, the Times provided a link to J STREET’S WEBSITE praising the letter.

Not only does the “Gray Lady” not go to source documents to draw its own conclusions in writing articles, it acts as a REFERRAL TO LEFT-WING ANTI-ZIONIST SITES.
JPost Editorial: Indonesia's anti-Israel prejudice is a diplomatic own goal
It is unfortunate that when it comes to Israel, Indonesia is copying neighboring Malaysia, rather than Singapore, another neighbor. Malaysia lost the right to host both the 2021 World Men’s Team Squash Championships and the 2019 World Paralympic Swimming Championships due to its refusal to allow Israeli participation. Singapore, on the other hand, has a strong, mutually beneficial relationship with Israel and last month announced it would open its embassy in Tel Aviv.

Local politics played a role in Indonesia’s own goal. Presidential elections are scheduled for February. Lashing out at Israel is one way of playing a strong populist card in the world’s most populous Muslim country, which is highly sympathetic to the Palestinians.

Once one of the leading presidential candidates joined the call to ban Israel, his rivals, including the current president, could hardly look any less pro-Palestinian and show support for Israeli participation.

This is a shame since Indonesia has long been regarded as one of the next in line to join the Abraham Accords and forge formal diplomatic ties with Israel. In January 2022, then-foreign minister Yair Lapid talked about that possibility publicly, though he stressed that nothing was imminent. If Indonesia is unwilling to let a group of Israeli teens play soccer on its soil, however, it seems rather far-fetched to believe it will be formalizing relations any time soon.

While Jakarta should be roundly condemned for its unsporting behavior and discrimination against Israel, FIFA should be applauded for taking a firm position and not allowing this to stand.

FIFA’s statutes explicitly ban discrimination of any kind against any country. The organization’s unyielding stand against this anti-Israel discrimination shows that it takes its own statutes seriously. This is commendable, and we hope other countries and governing sports bodies are watching and taking note.
Indonesia scores own goal with hostility to Israel
This was hardly FIFA’s first run-in with anti-Israel activism. A Palestinian campaign to eject Israel from FIFA led to the FIFA Monitoring Committee for Israel-Palestine’s formation. The committee determined in 2017 that FIFA should not be in the business of excluding either Israelis or Palestinians. Things got worse for anti-Israel activists in 2018 when the head of the Palestinian Football Association launched a campaign to coax Argentina into canceling its planned exhibition match against Israel. FIFA fined the Palestinian soccer chief and banned him for one year for inciting violence against Argentine superstar Lionel Messi.

FIFA’s defense of the principles of non-discrimination and fair play stands in stark contrast to its previous acquiescence to the Arab boycott of Israel. Though Israel excelled in the Asian Football Confederation in the 1950s and 60s, antagonism by Arab and Muslim states forced the Jewish state to relocate to the European federation. Rather than stand up to the bullies, FIFA had the victim leave.

In recent years, sporting bodies have confronted anti-Israel discrimination more forcefully. For example, discrimination against Israelis led to the Women’s Tennis Association fining the United Arab Emirates in 2009, swimming’s governing body formally warning Qatari and Emirati officials in 2013, and the International Olympic Committee excluding Tunisia in 2018 from bidding to host the Youth Olympics.

Perhaps the most dramatic response to anti-Israel discrimination came from the International Judo Federation. In 2019, Iranian security forces intimidated Saeid Mollaei into throwing a match to avoid facing an Israeli. The IJF president personally intervened to assure Mollaei’s safety. The IJF banned Iran until it agreed to stop its discriminatory practices, though an appeal reduced the sentence to four years.

Increased vigilance against discrimination is the only way sporting bodies can ensure fair play. Now, Bali’s governor and others will have to explain to heartbroken players and fans why excluding Israelis was worth having the World Cup taken away.
New head of National Education Union accused of 'inciting violence' at pro-Palestine rally
Primary school teacher Daniel Kebede, who is set to become the head of the National Education Union (NEU) in September, can be seen addressing a Palestine Solidarity Campaign rally in Newcastle, in 2021, in which he says it’s “time to stand together and oppose apartheid, oppose the occupation and fight for Palestinian liberation.”

He went on to say: “Let’s do it for Palestine, Ramallah, West Bank, Gaza – it’s about time we globalise the intifada.”

As he handed over the microphone over, chants of “Allahu akbar” could be heard from the crowd.

Conservative MP for Workington Mark Jenkinson questioned the appointment of Kebede asking on Twitter, where he retweeted the video of the rally, what “became” of the union that “they elect the violence-inciting” trade unionist to replace joint secretaries Dr Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney.

“The left has a real problem, and good people with their eyes closed get swept along,” he said.

A NEU spokesperson told the JC: “Daniel Kebede was present at a Palestine Solidarity Campaign rally in solidarity with Palestinian facing eviction in Sheik Jarrah in 2021.

“In speaking to the rally Mr Kebede called for peace and justice in the Middle East and expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people.

“He used the slogan ‘globalise the intifada’ which is an expression of such solidarity, and of support for civic protests; it did not convey any support for violence.”


UC Berkeley’s “Israel Apartheid Week” tries and fails to silence Zionist students - Opinion
In March 2023, a small but mighty group of Jewish high schoolers from the youth group Club Z challenged the annual and deceptive event known as “Israel Apartheid Week” at the University of California, Berkeley. The fraudulent campaign organized by the anti-Israel campus group “Bears for Palestine,” included daily inflammatory events defaming Israel, culminating with the construction of an “apartheid wall” on the final day.

While the organizers repeatedly tried to silence anyone who pushed back against their dishonest narrative, Jewish youth activists showed that with enough determination, one could ensure the truth is heard and empower local students with facts.

Among the events were those that falsely demonized Israel for the supposed crime of “greenwashing” (the practice of highlighting a country’s environmentalism to distract from alleged human rights abuses) and a screening of the widely maligned film, “Farha,” followed by a Q&A with the film’s director. Other events included defamatory workshops titled “Apartheid: The Matrix of Control” and “Youth: The Yearn For Return.”

Club Z students and alumni attended the events, listened carefully, and asked questions intelligently and cordially. Our well-trained teenage activists were excited about the opportunity to discuss facts and the reality of Israel with other students and engage in a productive dialogue.

Unfortunately, Bears for Palestine and their allies were uninterested in conducting a civilized conversation with our students about the Jewish state or the Arab-Israeli conflict – a common theme at campus apartheid weeks across the US. After receiving pointed yet respectful pushback, the organizers hid the locations of subsequent events and refused to engage in honest discussion. Apparently, the mere thought of having to respond to tough questions was enough to send the group into hiding. If that’s not an unintentional indictment of their views, what is?

An example of such pushback was heard during a lecture titled “Apartheid: The Matrix of Control.” Bears for Palestine’s speaker shared how difficult it is for Palestinians to receive permits to leave and enter Israel, explaining that they must travel through Jordan or Egypt. A high school senior, our Club Z fellow, then asked if Jordan also requires permits to travel, to which the speaker reluctantly replied yes. Every country requires proper documentation whenever exiting or entering its territory, not just Israel. However, the speaker was trying to demonize Israel for a universal practice.

In another instance, one of our staff members asked Bears for Palestine how it envisioned a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Their response: the so-called Palestinian Right of Return, a euphemism for those whose preferred solution is no Jewish state at all.
Harvard Apartheid Wall Denounced by Leading Campus Jewish Group
Harvard University’s Hillel chapter on Friday criticized an “offensive” Apartheid Wall displayed erected on campus by the campus’ Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC).

“There is no zionist state without racism colonialism ethnic cleansing,” said the wall, which was placed in The Science Center Plaza in Harvard Yard, according to The Harvard Crimson. “Veritas? Harvard upholds apartheid. We are all complicit.”

In an email to the Crimson, Hillel Israel Chair Daniel Denenberg, Hillel Intern for Combating Antisemitism Sabrina Goldfischer, and Hillel president and Harvard Crimson editorial editor Jacob Miller, and others said PSC’s portrayal of Israel is false.

“In previous years this wall has been a talking point for much of Harvard’s Jewish community. For some Jews, it has also been painful and offensive,” the email said. “However much you care, Israel is the world’s only Jewish state. It is our historic homeland. It has held together our people and shaped our culture and practice for eighty generations.”

Another student, Sarah Bolnick of Harvard Israel Initiative, told the Crimson that the Apartheid Wall is “a form of hate speech,” arguing that “it’s supposed to be beautiful and symbolic, but I think if you look at it, it really is very offensive and aggressive.”

Dalal Hassane, a PSC member, disagreed, suggesting that critics of the wall of had not thought “about the people it was built to oppress.”

Antisemitism at Harvard is pervasive, according to 50 interviews conducted for a student’s, Sabrina Goldfischer, senior thesis, which is titled “The Death of Discourse: Antisemitism at Harvard College” and argues that Jewish students on campus face ideological bias and discrimination.


April Fool’s gone wrong: No, Puma did not sever ties with Israel
An April Fool’s prank by a UK-based activist group has been slammed as “extremely irresponsible” by pro-Palestine supporters online.

On Saturday, ManPalestine Action published a video to raise awareness about the Israeli regime’s crimes in Palestine, claiming Puma had decided to slash its contract with the Israel Football Association.

The video purported to show an alleged Puma spokesperson announcing the move and calling the Zionist regime a “racist” and “apartheid” state.

“We at Puma are announcing we will not renew our contract with the Israel Football Association after the 2022/23 season,” the actress, posing as a spokesperson said in the circulating video.

Since being posted online, the video has gone viral across social media, with many believing the sketch and calling for the removal of the boycott on Puma as well as the resumption of purchasing its products.

However, others have viewed this move as insensitive to Palestinians and their struggle, forcing the group to issue a clarification shortly after.
At the Guardian, one Jewish state is one Jewish state too many
Israel has been a democracy since its modern re-founding in 1948. It remained a democracy after the Six Day War in 1967, when it took control of disputed territories which had been illegally occupied by Jordan. And, it continues to be so today. You don’t have to take our word for it. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), not exactly known as an international hub of Zionist propaganda, ranked Israel 29th out of 165 countries in their most recent annual democracy index – ahead of the United States, which is ranked 30th.

Freedom House – the democracy, political freedom and human rights advocacy organisation – agrees, ranking it (year after year) as a fully “free” state. This doesn’t mean that Israel’s democracy is without flaws and potentially serious challenges. It only means that, by any objective criteria, it’s been, by vitue of its twenty-five consecutive free elections, an electoral democracy for 75 years, and, based on its overall human rights record, a liberal democracy. As Freedom House puts it: “Israel is a parliamentary democracy with a multiparty system and independent institutions that guarantee political rights and civil liberties for most of the population”.

Joshua Leifer disagrees. In a Guardian op-ed (“Israel hasn’t been a democracy for a long time. Now, Israelis need to face this fact”, March 30), the Jewish Currents editor comments on “protests against the Netanyahu government’s plan to strip the judiciary of its power”, and concludes thusly:
That the protesters are chanting “democracy” reflects both their blindness and the shred of opening that they represent: blindness, because they misrecognize Israel as democracy when it is, in fact, a liberal ethnocracy that has maintained a military dictatorship in the West Bank for more than half a century.

First, his charge that Israel has maintained a “military dictatorship” in the West Bank is factually inaccurate and ahistorical. The PA has, for nearly three decades, been in full military and civilian control of the major Palestinian population centers in the West bank (known as Area A). Also, by framing the political situation in Judea and Samaria as one which exclusively relates to Israeli control and Israeli actions, Leifer erases Palestinain decisions which perpetuated Israel’s presence in the territories.

Thus, erased from the pages of history is the fact that PA leaders have, on three occasions, rejected Israeli peace offers that would have created a sovereign Palestinian state in over 90% of the West Bank, 100% of Gaza and a capital in east Jerusalem. Also erased is the toxic culture of incitement, terrorism and antisemitism nutured by Palestinains leaders – values inculcated into Palestinian society which are intrinsically at odds with peace and co-existence.


In Arabic and English, Reuters Corrects on Palestinian Fatalities in Nablus
The first message lists six militants, reportedly belonging to various groups: the Lions’ Den itself, as well as the “Nablus Battalion” and the “Balata Battalion”: Hussam Eslim, Muhammad Abu Bakr, Mus’ab ‘Aweis, Waleed Dakheel, Muhammad ‘Anbousi and Tamer Minawi. The six are all documented as militants in other social media platforms as well.

A seventh casualty, Jaser Qan’ir, is documented holding a gun next to now-killed ‘Anbousi.

The second message again lists six militants; but unlike the previous post, includes Jaser Qan’ir in the list as an “explosives specialist,” while Mus’ab ‘Aweis does not appear. This time, Lions’ Den mourned “its” militants, without mentioning other groups.

It seems that ‘Aweis belonged to the “Balata Battalion” (here he is documented in video, complete with his gun and headband).

Reuters corrected the two points the following day. The English and Arabic versions now read:
Hamas said it was “a natural response to crimes conducted by the occupation, the last of which was the massacre in Nablus”, where 11 Palestinians were killed – seven gunmen and four civilians – in an Israeli raid on Feb. 22.

Furthermore, a prominent note to readers appears at the top of the article in both languages: “This Feb. 26 story has been corrected to rectify the number of militants and civilians killed, and change date to Feb. 22 from Feb. 23 in paragraph 22.”
Anti-Defamation League announces new outpost in Brooklyn, the ‘epicenter’ of antisemitic assaults
In a recent report on rising antisemitism in the United States, the Anti-Defamation League called Brooklyn “the epicenter of assaults.” Now, the group is opening an office in the borough to respond to antisemitic incidents there.neo

The Brooklyn office will open at the end of next month with a staff of two, and will work under the auspices of the ADL’s New York-New Jersey regional office. Brooklyn is home to some 600,000 Jews – a number that, according to the most recent available figures, represents a majority of New York City’s Jewish population and nearly a quarter of the borough’s residents. Brooklyn is also home to several large Hasidic communities.

“Brooklyn is the most Jewish place in the United States,” Scott Richman, the ADL’s regional director for New York and New Jersey, said in a statement. “We look forward to deepening our work in the Jewish community with our allies and partners to counter the rising tide of antisemitism and all forms of hate.”

The announcement comes days after the ADL partnered with other Jewish security organizations in New York and New Jersey to form a new umbrella group called the Jewish Security Alliance.

The ADL’s annual national audit of antisemitism in 2022, published last week, found that the majority of last year’s 111 antisemitic assaults targeted Orthodox Jews. Nearly half of the total assaults tallied, 52, took place in Brooklyn alone.

The audit reported a 36% rise in incidents nationwide compared to the previous year, and said that there was a 39% increase in antisemitic incidents in New York state.

Visibly Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn have been the target of street attacks for years, and in 2022, according to the ADL, that continued to be the case. The group said that in May, a Hasidic bus driver was shot with a BB gun by a group of teenagers and another Jew was shot with a BB gun in front of a synagogue; in October, a woman slapped a Jewish teenager, without provocation, in front of the headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement in Crown Heights.
Nazi monument at Swiss cemetery sparks controversy
For decades the huge monolithic block of granite in the middle of the cemetery in the Swiss town of Chur was ignored by passers-by; no one seemed to know quite what it was.

But the 13-tonne (13,000kg) stone monument that dwarfs the nearby gravestones is now causing controversy - and embarrassment.

Research by a local journalist has revealed links to Nazi Germany, and to neutral Switzerland's own awkward relations with its World War Two neighbours.

Chur's cemetery is in the centre of town. Many people, like radio journalist Stefanie Hablützel, pass it every day on the way to work or out shopping.

Nowadays the monument at the cemetery, untended, is covered in moss. The engravings on it are difficult to discern.

"At first sight it looks like a war memorial," says Stefanie, pointing out some faint lettering: "1914 - 1918; hier ruhen deutsche Soldaten… here lie German soldiers."

Why, though, would German soldiers be buried here?

In fact, thousands of wounded prisoners of war, French and British as well as German, were treated and interned in Switzerland during World War One. Some died from their injuries, others during the 1918 flu pandemic.

But Chur's monument was not built until 1938. "That's 20 years after these men died," says Stefanie. "It wasn't built to mourn these dead soldiers, it was built for propaganda reasons, for the Nazi regime."

Swiss historian, Martin Bucher, explains that, as the Nazis grew in power in Germany, their propaganda involved cult-like worship of their war dead. In the 1930s the German War Graves Commission became part of Hitler's propaganda machine. Its task, to create visible signs of Nazi power in Germany's neighbours as well as at home.
Teenager who pleaded guilty to sharing neo-Nazi videos given three-year community order
A teenager who pleaded guilty to sharing videos that promoted neo-Nazi and white supremacist content was given a three-year community order on Friday.

Oliver Riley, nineteen from Oxfordshire, pleaded guilty at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in July on terrorism charges.

Mr Riley was convicted of three counts of possession of a document or record containing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism and of sending a message that was grossly offensive.

He was also convicted of providing a service to others that enables them to obtain, read, listen to, or look at such a publication and intended, or was reckless, as to whether an effect of his conduct would be a direct or indirect encouragement, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.

Tom Williams, prosecuting, told the Old Bailey on Friday that Mr Riley had begun pursuing an interest in extremist videos as a teenager, and that he was sixteen or seventeen years old at the time of the offences.

Following Mr Riley’s arrest, police officers conducted a search of his room, during which they discovered that he had uploaded 23 videos to BitChute, an online platform often favoured by members of the far-right. The videos were described as “racist, homophobic, glorify[ing] Nazism and terrorist attacks” by the prosecution.

WhatsApp messages between Mr Riley and his girlfriend were also revealed.

In one, the defendant had sent a meme said to have perpetuated Holocaust-denial. In another, he said: “Sometimes I want to die, kill myself, go to war or something, I sometimes want to kill people and rape people because I am so angry.”

Ed Henry KC said that Mr Riley was a “product of chronic sense of under-achievement and chronic sense of anxiety” and described him as having traits of being on the autism spectrum.
Spotify removes songs allegedly calling for “death of Israel” among other incendiary lyrics about Jews
Spotify has removed songs said to have contained incendiary lyrics about Jews and Israel.

The JC described the songs as “violent extremist antisemitic content”.

It was reported that in one song titled Udrub Udrub Tel Abib (We Will Strike a Blow at Tel Aviv), the lyrics included: “Strike a blow at Tel Aviv and frighten the Zionists. The more you build it the more we will destroy it”, “Oh you settler, with your sidelocks, in your shelter you cower with fear”, and “Strike, oh Qassam missile, do not let the Zionists sleep. Even if they beg for mercy – be sure not to show Tel Aviv any mercy”.

Spotify were said to have removed the songs following a petition from the group We Believe in Israel and the Board of Deputies.


Israeli, Ethiopian Think Tanks Sign National Security MOU
The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and the Ethiopian government's Institute of Foreign Affairs signed a memorandum of understanding last week to collaborate on national security issues, including water and food security. "The very first thing we should do is conceptually move food security from the social and economic realm to the realm of national security," explained Dr. Yechiel M. Leiter, director-general of the Jerusalem Center. "National security is not just a matter of tanks and planes and soldiers - it is bread. It is the ability to feed the people of one's sovereign territory."

"Imagine Ethiopia's cows producing 30 or 40 liters of milk a day instead of the 2 or 3 that they produce today," said Leiter. "Imagine the establishment of an agriculture industry that grows alternatives to wheat. Imagine a fish industry based on fish pond production. Israel has proven technology in these and other agri-areas."

"Imagine we bring together a think-tank plan that's a collaborative effort: We bring together the financial resources of the Gulf States, the technological resources of Israel, and the human resources of Africa."
The Bright Future of Economic Cooperation between India and Israel
In the past several years, Jerusalem and New Delhi have established ever warmer ties, as decades of frosty relations spurred by pro-Palestinian “anti-imperialist” hostility gave way to a natural affinity between the countries. The Abraham Accords have further helped Indo-Israeli relations, giving rise to the formation last year of the I2U2 group, consisting of India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and the U.S. Gedaliah Afterman and Narayanappa Janardhan examine the opportunities for greater strategic, and above all economic, cooperation:

A combination of Emirati capital, Israeli technology, and the Indian market in various sectors could yield win-win-win results. It is in this spirit that the International Federation of Indo-Israel Chambers of Commerce initiated a partnership in 2021 wherein an Israeli company—Eccopia—produced innovative water-free robotic solar-cleaning technology in India for a project in the UAE. Confident in replicating such partnerships in other sectors, the three countries estimate the innovation and international business potential of their cooperation at $110 billion by 2030.

India’s expertise and its large and growing economy complement Israel’s R&D and innovation capabilities, providing an excellent opportunity for joint advancement in R&D and innovation. Such collaboration could create additional opportunities for the two countries to extend their partnership to other countries in the region, with a particular focus on water management, counterterrorism, and emerging technologies.

Expanding engagement between the two countries’ tech start-up ecosystems should also be a priority. India has seen the establishment of 46 unicorns [i.e., startups valued at $1 billion or more], in 2021 alone, with over $42 billion raised by its startups. Similarly, Israel has seen the rise of 33 unicorns with $25 billion flowing in to support them. By joining forces, both start-up ecosystems can make significant gains. Adding the UAE to the mix could create a plethora of opportunities.
Vietnam says to sign free trade pact with Israel this year
Vietnam and Israel will sign a free trade agreement later this year, after completing seven years of negotiation, the Southeast Asian country's government said on Monday.

Bilateral trade between the countries rose 18% last year to $2.2 billion, the government said in a statement. Vietnam's largest exports to Israel include smartphones, footwear and seafood, while it imports electronics and fertiliser.

Vietnam has signed more than 15 bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements since the early 1990s, as it seeks to attract more foreign investors to its manufacturing-driven economy.
Israel’s consul general in Dubai builds new ties
Liron Zaslansky is no stranger to Israeli diplomacy. A veteran of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the 44-year-old diplomat has served at no fewer than six missions from Europe to South America and the Arab world. But now, as Israel’s first-ever consul general in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, she is embarking on new territory – literally.

“We are the first generation of Israelis here,” Zaslansky, who received her diplomatic credentials last September, two years after Israel signed the historic Abraham Accords normalization agreements with the UAE and Bahrain, told Jewish Insider in an interview.

“We are laying down the foundations of the bilateral agreements that were signed between our countries,” she continued. “And we are doing our best to get to know the other side and to let the other side know us; it’s a great responsibility.”

While there have been some logistical hurdles to setting up a diplomatic operation from scratch – Israel’s consulate in Dubai formally opened the doors to its permanent offices earlier this week – Zaslansky said she sees starting such a mission as an opportunity, rather than a challenge.

“It’s been up to us to meet people, to initiate relations and to see how we make contact with the authorities here in Dubai,” Zaslansky said. “So, you can look at that as a challenge, but I see it as an opportunity because we get to start afresh, and that is something that does not happen very often.”

Living in Dubai with her husband, Ohad Horsandi, who is Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UAE in Abu Dhabi, and their three children, Zaslansky said the family received an unexpectedly warm welcome in a place that less than three years ago had no formal diplomatic ties with Israel.
Israeli FM hosts Muslim diplomats for Ramadan break fast
Israel seeks to broaden peace in the region, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen told Muslim diplomats he hosted at his ministry in Jerusalem for the traditional Iftar break-fast meal on Sunday evening.

“I see great importance in strengthening the relationship between Israel and the countries of the region and maintaining freedom of worship in Israel for members of all religions,” Cohen added in a tweet.

He noted that Israel is working to expand the 2020 Abraham Accords that saw four Arab countries forge peaceful relations with the Jewish state under the administration of then-President Donald Trump.

“The Abraham Accords … have shown that it is possible to act together for the benefit and prosperity of our nations,” wrote Cohen.

The dignitaries who attended the evening meal were the ambassadors of Turkey and Egypt and the head of Morocco’s liaison office in Israel.

Also in attendance were representatives of the embassies of Albania, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Tanzania, Azerbaijan and Chad, with the latter two participating for the first time in the Iftar meal at the Foreign Ministry.

The ambassadors from the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain did not attend the event, sending lower-level diplomats in their stead.


Misconceptions about Warsaw Ghetto Uprising abound, says historian
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was not the only example of armed Jewish resistance against the Nazis during the Holocaust. A very small percentage of ghetto prisoners fought, and the revolt occurred late in the war, from April 19 to May 16, 1943.

“There is plenty of ignorance in the general public about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and about the context in which it took place,” Zachary Mazur, a senior historian at the Warsaw-based POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, told JNS.

Mazur will participate in a discussion on “Battles over the Holocaust: Polish-Jewish Memory Wars” on April 3 at the Jewish Family and Children’s Services Holocaust Center in San Francisco and will deliver a talk on “The 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: Resistance and Survival in the Holocaust” on April 3 at the Peninsula Jewish Community Center in Foster City, Calif. He also plans to speak on April 4 at the Center for Jewish Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

The events, which commemorate the 80th anniversary of the uprising, are sponsored by Taube Philanthropies and POLIN Museum.

Ahead of his talks, Mazur told JNS that the uprising was the war’s largest, but there were uprisings in other camps, including Treblinka, and in ghettos such as Białystok. He added that a little more than 1,000 of the ghetto’s 50,000 inmates fought. “Not because no one wanted to, but because there were very few weapons available,” he said.

It is easier to conceptualize and commemorate armed resistance than daily struggles to survive in Nazi-occupied Europe, Mazur cautioned. “Every breath taken, every meal found and every sip of clean water was an act of resistance, too,” he said. “Those resisters deserve our attention, our praise and our awe.”

Mazur intends his talks to offer an overview of the uprising “but also to delve deeply into the emotions of people witnessing it, either from the inside while hiding in bunkers or from the outside hiding under false identities.”

“There is so much isolation, hopelessness, frustration and anger in the words of the people at the time,” he said.
80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: The words of an eyewitness
As we approach the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising there can be no doubt that the mainstream media will cover the occasion. For example, CNN is asking "Was your family affected by the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943? Leave CNN a voicemail."

Whatever CNN and other news outlets may produce this year, there are books available that contain first hand accounts that should not be missed. For example, Holocaust survivor Dr. David Wdowinski published his eyewitness account of the Holocaust in Poland in 1963 with the title "And We Are Not Saved" (Philosophical Library, New York). Due in no small part to the fact that Wdowinski was one of the very few leaders of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to survive the war, it may be the most important Holocaust book that you've never heard of.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the revolt that was launched on April 19th by young Zionists fighters. The Ghetto in Warsaw was the largest the Nazis built and Wdowinski's perspectives on the revolt, Zionism, combating antisemitism, Diaspora Jewish life, and Jewish leadership are all well worth examining in order to better understand the Holocaust.

British historian Martin Gilbert (1936-2015) in his 1986 book "The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War" quoted extensively from "And We Are Not Saved" but failed to offer his readers any idea who Wdowinski was or what he stood for. In this small space, an attempt will be made to rectify that.

Wdowinski and the Zionist fighting organization he helped lead in the Ghetto are seldom recalled today. He lost everything in the Shoah, family, friends, colleagues, and patients, and survived to campaign for Israel's independence and later testified against Adolf Eichmann in his Jerusalem.

"And We Are Not Saved" is at once a bitter, provocative, and emotional work. It is unlike any other Holocaust memoir in its scope, attitude, or conclusions.


Hagadah written by hand, survives Holocaust to be cherished in Jerusalem
Every year when Passover rolls around, Mordechai Ben-Zion Prince wipes the dust of his Passover Haggadah that is kept safely tucked away to protect the text his father Rabbi Avraham Prince wrote by hand in Holland while hiding from the Nazis during the Holocaust.

When rumors began circulating in Europe that synagogues were being burned down, Rabbi Abraham took it upon himself to leave behind remnants of Judaism. He crafted a handwritten Jewish calendar marking the holidays and also wrote the Passover Haggadah by hand.

"It's always been something that we wait for every Passover seder," said Avia, Rabbi Avraham's granddaughter. "We have to be careful and make sure our hands were clean before being allowed to touch the Hagadah," she said.

"The older I became, the more I understood the importance of memorizing the text in a foreign language. They saw synagogues burned to the ground and heard the rumors and my grandfather understood that Jewish traditions must be preserved as well as their lives. His 18-month-old daughter was given to a Christian family for adoption to save her from the Nazis." she said.

The story came to light after the Jerusalem municipality posted a call for residents to share their special family tales on Passover.


Passover: Why the Exodus resonates with Jews from Arab countries
At this year’s Seder, Jews with roots in Arab and Muslim countries might be reflecting, in spite of all the hardships, that the exodus was a blessing and a liberation from persecution. No Jew wants to go back. Some have done well for themselves. The story is told of the Egyptian Jew who insisted on visiting the tomb of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and said: “Thank you, Nasser; for if you had not expelled me, I would not have become a millionaire.”

Until the mass flight of Middle Eastern Christians after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the largest number of non-Muslim refugees in the Middle East and North Africa were Jewish. They outnumbered Palestinian Arab refugees from what is now Israel.

The vast majority will be unequivocally thankful that they got out and rebuilt their lives in the free world.

Many are, however, increasingly frustrated that their story has been neglected or forgotten.

The world has ignored the Jewish refugee story and the Jewish quest for justice. Not only have the refugees had to fight to be recognized as refugees, but they have never been compensated. It is estimated that Jewish assets lost amount to hundreds of billions of dollars. Property and land seized or abandoned in Arab states amount to the size of Jordan and Lebanon combined.

If we are ever to reach a point of reconciliation, everybody needs to be aware of the plight of Jews from Arab countries and the injustice done to them. They are also key to debunking the myths about Israel that have been allowed to take root during decades of silence.

Too many people are in denial about Arab and Muslim antisemitism, the engine of “ethnic cleansing” within the region. The story is not just a niche Sephardi or Mizrahi one – it is more relevant than ever to an understanding of the Arab/Islamist struggle against Israel.
Jerusalem burial cave yields 1,800-year-old gold against evil eye
Jerusalem, it appears, was the city of Gold even after death.

That conclusion comes to mind as scholars ponder why young girls buried in Jerusalem in the Roman period were adorned with fine gold jewelry.

The impressive jewelry found in a burial cave in Jerusalem was worn as amulets against the evil eye 1,800 years ago, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Monday.

The jewelry will be presented to the public for the first time in Jerusalem on Monday, at the 48th Annual Archaeological Congress in Israel.

The jewels were originally discovered in 1971, in an excavation whose finds were not previously published.

The remains of a lead coffin were found on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem containing jewels including gold earrings, a hairpin, a gold pendant and gold beads, carnelian beads and a glass bead.

The jewels were recently located in the context of the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Publication of Past Excavations Project, whereby old excavations that were not fully published are now being publicized.

“The location of the original reports that gathered dust over the years in the Israel Antiquities Authority archives, and physically tracing the whereabouts of the items themselves, has shed light on long-forgotten treasures,” says Ayelet Dayan, who heads this project. “The beautiful jewelry that we researched is an example of such treasures.”
Newly deciphered inscription gives clue to biblical Queen of Sheba’s Jerusalem visit
After stumping epigraphers for over a decade, a mysterious First Temple-era inscription uncovered at the Ophel, a stone’s throw from Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, may finally have been deciphered.

According to a new study by Dr. Daniel Vainstub, the seven-letter inscription etched on a large clay jar records one of the ingredients found in the incense mixture used in the Temple — perfumed gum resin or labdanum.

According to readings of Exodus 30:34, aromatic labdanum (Cistus ladaniferus) is likely the second component of the Temple worship’s incense.

Vainstub believes the inscription’s writing and language stem from the Kingdom of Sheba — over 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) away.

This suggestion runs counter to the previous consensus opinion of a dozen top researchers who held it was written in the local script, Canaanite.

However, in a new study published Monday in the Hebrew University’s Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology, Vainstub suggests the script is Ancient South Arabian (ASA) and records what appears to be a Sabaean-language word. During the First Temple period, the Sabaean language was used in what is today’s Yemen, where the Kingdom of Sheba once stood.

If this is true, the Ophel inscription is the earliest Ancient South Arabian inscription found so far in the Land of Israel.

Because the inscription was incised in wet clay that originated in Jerusalem, Vanstub hypothesizes that the scribe was a native speaker from the Kingdom of Sheba who was involved in supplying the incense spices. This, he contends, points to previously unconfirmed strong trade ties between the two kingdoms.

It is not surprising that earlier attempts by researchers to decipher the inscription weren’t successful, Vainstub told The Times of Israel on Monday shortly before presenting his findings at the 48th annual Archaeology Congress.




Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!
 

 

at