Saturday, April 15, 2023

04/15 Links: Meir Y. Soloveichik: The Miracle at 75; The ‘occupation’ myth is the engine of antisemitic terror; Kamala Harris Praises Unrepentant Anti-Semite Al Sharpton

From Ian:

Meir Y. Soloveichik: The Miracle at 75
In 1949, nine months after the State of Israel was formally recognized by both U.S. President Truman and Soviet Premier Josef Stalin, Britain refused to acknowledge the existence of the first Jewish commonwealth to appear on the earth in 2,000 years. The Labor foreign minister, Ernest Bevin, known for his antipathy to Zionism, refused to consider that a fledgling Jewish state should be of interest when it was opposed by so many countries that seemed to matter more to Britain. In response, the leader of the opposition, Winston Churchill, stood in Parliament and delivered one of his addresses for the ages. He accused Bevin of presentism, of maintaining a stunted historical perspective.

“Whether the right honorable gentleman likes it or not,” Churchill said, “the coming into being of a Jewish state in Palestine is an event in world history to be viewed in the perspective, not of a generation or a century, but in the perspective of a thousand, two thousand or even three thousand years. That is a standard of temporal values or time-values which seems very much out of accord with the perpetual click-clack of our rapidly changing moods and of the age in which we live. This is an event in world history.”

Churchill’s words are worth bearing in mind as we consider the contretemps over judicial reform in Israel as the nation moves toward the 75th anniversary of its inception. In the midst of all of the rancor, it is easy to overlook how remarkable, from a historical perspective, this anniversary actually is. It should be obvious, of course, that Israel’s birth was astounding: that, as Paul Johnson reflected in these pages, while 100 states came into being in the 20th century, only Israel’s birth counts as a miracle. But as we mark 75 years of a modern Jewish state, a study of history reveals another fascinating fact: This might be the most stable 75 years of government that the Jewish people have had in Jerusalem in all of Jewish history.

Can this be? Consider: Several thousand years ago, David first conquered Jerusalem and made it his capital and was soon after temporarily overthrown by his son Absalom. David was forced to flee the city, returning only after he had conquered and defeated his son’s forces. Solomon succeeded his father and ruled in peace and prosperity, whereupon the Israelite monarchy summarily split between kingdoms north and south, which is how the Holy Land remained until its conquest by Assyria and Babylon.
Declaring Independence, 75 Years Later
Amid the sturm und Drang surrounding the judicial reform proposals put forward by the new Israeli government, which many have called a “constitutional crisis,” the words of the Jewish state’s former attorney general, Avichai Mandelblit, were especially telling. In decrying the proposed reforms and what would happen if they take effect, Mandelblit said, “What remains of the Declaration of Independence? It will just become a piece of paper we can throw in the trash.” Mandelblit’s reference to Israel’s Declaration of Independence sent me back to the text itself in search of answers. Just as I had remembered from my Zionist upbringing, which included regularly listening to David Ben-Gurion’s famous reading of the Declaration on May 15, 1948, Israel actually has no constitution, despite the fact that the Declaration promises one in the future.

A fascinating new book by Neil Rogachevsky and Dov Zigler tells the story of the writing of Israel’s Declaration of Independence and offers some insights into why, 75 years after its founding, Israel still has no written constitution. Israel’s Declaration of Independence offers readers a ringside seat. As in any good story, there is a hero, in this case David Ben-Gurion. Rogachevsky and Zigler tell the stirring story of how Israel’s first prime minister wrestled with earlier drafts of the Declaration in the final hours before he declared Israel’s statehood and, mediating among competing Zionist ideologies, put his own indelible imprint on the final document.

The book builds on the work of Yoram Shachar, who discovered the earliest draft of the Declaration, written in late April 1948 by a young government lawyer named Mordechai Beham. Rogachevsky and Zigler carefully trace the development of the Declaration from Beham’s draft through subsequent versions hastily composed by Tzvi Berenson, Herschel Lauterpacht, Moshe Shertok, and finally Ben-Gurion during the frenzied days before the British Mandate ended. Taken as a whole, the various versions offer readers a tour of the diverse and often competing political philosophies that framed the modern Zionist movement.
John Podhoretz: Who’s Actually Saving Democracy Here?
I said last month in this space that the Netanyahu government had been extraordinarily imprudent in the way it pursued its agenda—trying to ram through changes at lightning speed in a country where domestic policy had been pretty much frozen in place over the previous eight years. I think that opinion was borne out by Netanyahu’s decision to suspend the judicial-reform process and enter into negotiations to calm the roiling political waters.

He did so in large measure out of fear not of the demonstrations but of the effect of the demonstrations on the behavior of the nation’s military and reservists. Here Netanyahu showed a kind of pragmatic and necessary foresight he had lacked at the beginning. Just as he was doing so, Israel found itself challenged perhaps as never before by what appears to be a four-front assault—rockets from Gaza and Lebanon and terrorist attacks from the West Bank, all of it apparently directed by Iran.

The right that wants to disempower certain aspects of the nation’s judiciary and the left that is staging a revolution against Israel’s democracy supposedly in the name of preserving that democracy got wrapped up in their own melodramas over the past six months. And both seemed to have forgotten about the existential threat Israel has faced over the past 75 years from its enemies—and still faces today. Luckily for the nation he leads despite protestors shamefully likening him to Pharaoh on the eve of Passover, Netanyahu hasn’t.


Jonathan Tobin: The ‘occupation’ myth is the engine of antisemitic terror
Sadly, much of the efforts by the State of Israel and of those groups who are tasked with defending it in the United States, are compromised by their willingness to give some legitimacy to the occupation narrative, even as they strive for fair treatment for the Jewish state. All too many of Israel’s supporters treat the question of occupation with a “yes, but” approach in which they concede that Israel doesn’t have full rights—which, at least in theory, could still be negotiated away in exchange for real peace—to the territories. That was the conceit of the disastrous Oslo Accords, which sought to trade “land for peace” with the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Yet in addition to a transaction that would end up being an exchange of land for more terror, the concessions also legitimized the notion that Jews had no right to be in Judea and Samaria. Rather than, as the Israeli architects of the proposals foolishly thought, illustrate Israel’s love for peace and willingness to compromise, it merely convinced much of the world that the Jewish state was a thief that was reluctantly returning some of the property it had stolen.

Regardless of their political affiliations or sympathies, those who care about Israel need to understand that they cannot avoid confronting the occupation lie. It cannot be evaded by “rebranding” Israel as a source of beautiful scenery or scientific innovation as some have foolishly thought. Nor can it be sidestepped by constant talk of Israel’s willingness to accept a two-state solution that the other side doesn’t want.

If you want to call out the likes of Albanese or those in the media that lie about Israel, by all means do so. Such efforts are both necessary and important to chip away at the anti-Zionist canards that have gained widespread acceptance. But any argument that fails to correct the misconception about occupation is found to fail with consequences that go beyond our frustration about the United Nations and media bias.
FDD: Avoid Overconfidence When It Comes to Middle East Air and Missile Defense
After months of rising tensions, terrorists fired at least 30 rockets from southern Lebanon into northern Israel last Thursday, 25 of which were shot down, presumably by Iron Dome. The rockets were allegedly launched by Hamas, which later attempted to fire an additional 44 rockets from Gaza into Israel. In response, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conducted airstrikes against Hamas targets in Lebanon and Gaza, which seems to have been carefully calculated to avoid precipitating a larger conflict with the Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah. Another six rockets were fired from Syria into the Golan Heights on Saturday, prompting additional IDF retaliation. Thankfully, Israelis reportedly suffered only a handful of injuries from these rocket attacks. However, that fact should not lead to overconfidence regarding future attacks.

This latest barrage follows larger attacks on Israel from Palestinian terror groups in 2021 and 2022 and underscores the growing threat Iran’s terror proxies pose to Israel, the United States, and its Arab partners — and the need to work together to further expand air and missile defense (AMD) capability and capacity.

In May 2021, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and several smaller militant groups launched thousands of rockets at Israel in a conflict that lasted 11 days. During that conflict, Hamas fired around 4,360 rockets from Gaza toward Israel. In August 2022, Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired at least 1,100 rockets toward Israel.

While the terror groups seemingly hoped to kill large numbers of Israeli civilians, the attacks thankfully failed to achieve that objective. That is largely due to Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system.

Iron Dome is an air defense system designed to intercept short-range rockets, mortars, and drones, which have become the weapons of choice for Iran’s terror proxies such as Hamas and PIJ. Iron Dome’s success rate has steadily improved, achieving 97 percent during the initial stages of the 2022 conflict with PIJ, according to the Israeli military.

Despite Iron Dome’s success in protecting civilians from rockets launched by terrorist groups, it would be unwise to become complacent or overconfident.

That’s because the missile, rocket, and drone threat to Israel is only expanding. And Israel, like the United States and its Arab partners, does not have sufficient AMD capacity.
PM’s associates reject Moody’s downgrade: ‘They aren’t well-versed on the issues’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich issued a joint statement on Saturday night, responding to leading ratings agency Moody’s, which on Friday downgraded Israel’s economic outlook from positive to stable over the government’s highly contentious bid to dramatically overhaul the judiciary.

“Israel’s economy is stable and solid and with God’s help, it will remain so,” the statement read.

Before the statement was issued, Channel 12 news quoted “sources associated with the prime minister” — often code for messages conveyed on behalf of the premier himself — as criticizing Moody’s for its assessment.

The sources said ratings agencies such as Moody’s “are being affected by the atmosphere. They have friends in Israel who are telling them tales. Are they well-versed [on the issues]? Not at all. In conversations with them, we discovered that they don’t really understand the details.”

Channel 12 reported that in recent days, Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog, who is hosting compromise talks on the overhaul, held urgent discussions with senior Moody’s officials in a bid to reassure the agency.

For example, the sources said, “They were not aware of Netanyahu saying the court override would not pass as [Justice Minister] Yariv Levin had presented it — and it was the override clause that troubled them most.” The so-called override clause is a key bill in the overhaul plan that would allow the Knesset to override any court decision to strike down a law with a majority of 61 MKs.

The network noted that Moody’s latest assessment follows months of conversations with top economic and Treasury officials.


Progressive Democrats Demand Biden Conditions Aid to Israel
14 progressive Democrats on Thursday sent a letter to the Biden administration condemning the Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and demanding that the Biden administration draft a plan to ensure that US aid to Israel is not used for human rights abuses.

The letter, organized by Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), calls on Biden to “undertake a shift in US policy” towards Israel in light of the policies of the Israeli government and the ongoing surge of violence in the West Bank.

“Israeli forces and settlers have killed over 85 Palestinians in 2023, including 16 children,” the letter says. “At least 14 Israelis have been killed, including two children. The previous year was the deadliest for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since 2004 and included the Israeli military’s killings of two American citizens, Shireen Abu Akleh and Omar Assad. This Israeli government’s anti-democratic mission to dismantle the rule of law is a threat to Israelis and Palestinians alike. In addition to explicitly hateful, anti-Palestinian policies, this government is attempting to destroy the independent Israeli judiciary. This move would threaten the rights of all citizens of Israel, enable more corruption by Prime Ministers, and open the path towards further annexation of Palestinian lands.”

The letter does not mention that the tally of Palestinians killed includes members of militant organizations who died in shootouts with the IDF, or that Palestinian militant organizations like Lions’ Den recruit teenagers.

Written in March and released shortly after the conclusion of Passover, the letter does also not include the most recent violence emanating from the West Bank, including the murder of a British-Israeli mother and her two children, or the cross-border attacks on Israel from Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, and Syria.

While the Biden administration has not yet publicly responded to the letter, President Biden has also called for Israel’s judicial reforms to be halted in an ongoing war of words between the two allies.


Anti-Israel Jewish IfNotNow activists disrupt Ron DeSantis speech
Activists from the organization IfNotNow disrupted a speech by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at a GOP fundraiser in New Hampshire on Friday evening.

The organization tweeted a video of the incident the following morning with a caption accusing the Florida governor of being antisemitic and stating that his "actions and policies both support Israeli apartheid and put Jews in danger."

The activists went onstage where DeSantis was speaking, yelling: "Jews against DeSantis!" as they were dragged off by security. They also carried a banner reading "Ron DeSantis: Loves Israel, hates Jews."

What is IfNotNow?
IfNotNow describes itself as a "movement of American Jews organizing our community to end US support for Israel's apartheid system and demand equality, justice, and a thriving future for all Palestinians and Israelis," their website states.

DeSantis announced in March that he would travel to Israel later this month to attend the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem's event “Celebrate the Faces of Israel,” where he will also speak at The Jerusalem Post conference. DeSantis promised in 2019 to “be the most pro-Israel governor in America.”

Late last year, the Florida governor stated that the West Bank "is not occupied territory, it is disputed territory" at the Republican Jewish Coalition's (RJC) in Las Vegas.


'A Voice of Truth': Kamala Harris Praises Unrepentant Anti-Semite Al Sharpton
What happened? Vice President Kamala Harris praised one of America's most prominent anti-Semites during a speech in New York on Friday.

It was Al Sharpton, wasn't it? Correct. Al Sharpton, the notorious race hustler best known for instigating the Crown Heights riots—one of the worst outbursts of anti-Semitic violence in American history that inspired slogans such as "Let's get the Jew!" and "Hitler didn't finish the job."

What'd she say? "Rev, I love you [maniacal laughter]," Harris said at the National Action Network convention in Manhattan. "No matter where you are, you are always a voice of truth speaking about the importance of justice for all people. You are part of the conscience of our country."

Why'd she say it? Sharpton has successfully reinvented himself as a "respectable" "mainstream" race hustler—who hosts his own show on MSNBC—and is one of the most influential figures within the Democratic Party and media establishment.

From Anti-Semitic Agitator to Democratic Power Broker: The Preposterous Resurrection of Al Sharpton

Sharpton has never apologized for being an anti-Semite, has he? No. In fact, he was recently invited on MSNBC to discuss why unrepentant anti-Semites (like himself) should not be given a platform in the media. Sharpton has conceded he might have made comments in the past that "could be interpreted wrong." Alas, no apology.


NY Times Downplays Dee Family Murders, Continuing a Pattern
The New York Times headline could have described any day in the tumultuous Middle East: “Tensions Subside in South Lebanon but Rise Again in West Bank and Israel.”

Tensions often rise in this neighborhood. They rise when Hezbollah builds new observation posts near Israel’s northern border. They rise when Jordan’s foreign ministry protests Jewish visits to the Temple Mount. They rise when Israel blows up a shipment of Iranian weapons in Syria.

On the day in question, though, a Palestinian terrorist slaughtered a family of Jewish civilians.

The gunman murdered 15-year-old Rina Dee and her 20-year-old sister Maia, and fatally wounded their mother, Lucy, as they drove in the West Bank on April 7. Hours later, at Italian tourist Alessandro Parini was killed in an apparent car ramming attack in Tel Aviv.

The Dee family tragedy exemplifies the heartbreak inflicted by Palestinian violence, which has surged over the past 12 months. In 2023 alone, nineteen people were killed in Arab attacks. Eighteen of them were civilians. A third of that number were young pairs of siblings: Asher and Yaakov Paley, aged 8 and 6, murdered in February. Hillel and Yagel Yaniv, aged 22 and 20, gunned down two weeks later. And now, the Dee sisters.

It is a compelling, crushing story. And yet the New York Times didn’t highlight the latest killings in its vague headline, which mentioned only “tensions.” It didn’t report on the attack in any proportion to its importance, with just four paragraphs of its a 35-paragraph story focused on the attack. It didn’t draw attention to the tragic pattern of sibling deaths in a human-interest story.

The newspaper never even mentioned the names of the sisters, Maia and Rina Dee. Not only did the paper not name the mother, Lucy Dee, but it didn’t report on her subsequent death.
The Israel Guys: Is the MOSSAD ACTUALLY Behind the Left-Wing Protests in Israel?
Israeli intelligence services have foiled another attempted terror attack, and arrested the perpetrator. Thanks to the incredible Israeli security forces, many lives were saved.

With all the information leaked from the US State Department this last week came some interesting info on the war in Ukraine as it regards Israel.

Another document leaked said that the Mossad is behind some of the left wing protests in Israel. Is this true?




Sudan: Paramilitary group says it has control of palace, Khartoum airport
Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said they had taken control of the presidential palace, the residence of the army chief and Khartoum international airport on Saturday as clashes erupted with the army in an escalating power struggle.

In a statement, the RSF also said they had taken over the airports in the northern city of Merowe and El-Obeid in the west.

Gunfire could be heard in several parts of Khartoum and eyewitnesses reported shooting in adjoining cities.

At least three civilians were killed in clashes between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan, a Sudanese doctors' body said on Saturday.

The spokesman for the Sudanese armed forces said in an interview on the Al Jazeera Mubasher television station that the army would respond to any "irresponsible" actions, as its forces clash with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in several parts of the capital Khartoum and the country.

Brigadier-General Nabil Abdallah said in the interview that some politicians had been trying to politicize the military. He also said that RSF troops had a heavy presence at the headquarters of the state television station.

A Reuters journalist saw cannons and armored vehicles deployed in streets and heard the sound of heavy weapons fire near the headquarters of both the army and RSF.

The army said the RSF had tried to attack its troops in several positions after witnesses reported heavy gunfire in multiple parts of the country, raising fears of a full-blown conflict.

The RSF said its forces were attacked by the army.
Under Khamenei, Iran Remains Committed to Holocaust Denial
On April 18, the world will commemorate Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Individuals and leaders around the world will recall the monstrous crimes carried out by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime against the Jewish people and others across Europe, and reflect on the lives of the six million Jews who were lost. Many will commit themselves and their countries to the ideal of “Never Again.”

But don’t expect such commitments or statements to come from the Islamic Republic of Iran, whose regime and supporters in the academia and media continue to deny and distort the Holocaust. Last year, when the UN General Assembly passed a resolution against the denial and distortion of the Holocaust, Iran was the only country that condemned and rejected the resolution. Furthermore, as recently as last September, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi cast doubt on the Holocaust during an interview on “60 Minutes.”

Chief among Iran’s Holocaust deniers is the country’s most powerful man, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has publicly denied the Holocaust on numerous occasions. For example, in a speech on January 31, 2002, Khamenei described the Holocaust as a “myth,” and accused Israel of using the Holocaust to extract “endless” financial concessions from Europe.

Earlier this year, former Iranian diplomat Mohsen Pakaein echoed Khamenei in the Iran-based Khabar Online, and described the Holocaust as a “doubtful” event. Regime officials like Pakaein, and Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah Mohammad Khatami, have also been vocal against the ban on Holocaust denial in Europe. Pakaein, for example, claims that the laws preventing investigations into the Holocaust had caused many European Christians to hate Zionists and made antisemitism an “inseparable part of Europe’s Christian culture.”

Media outlets affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps routinely amplify the Supreme Leader’s Holocaust denial narrative. This includes Mashreq News, an outlet reportedly close to the security and intelligence organizations, which published an article on March 28, 2014, referring to the Holocaust as an “Afsaneh Durughin,” meaning a “false myth.”
Iran’s Raisi Calls on Gazans to ‘Continue the Struggle’ Against Israel
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi delivered an unprecedented speech at an annual pro-Palestinian rally in the Gaza Strip on Friday, highlighting Iran’s importance to the Hamas terrorist group that controls the territory.

In a video broadcast in front of hundreds of supporters of the terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad gathered on a football field, Raisi encouraged the Palestinians to continue their fight against Israel.

“The initiative for self-determination is now in the hands of the Palestinian fighters,” the Iranian president said, thus rejecting Hamas’ political rival, the Palestinian Authority based in the West Bank.

Raisi addressed the crowd on “Jerusalem Day,” or al-Quds Day, the Arabic name of the city, which takes place on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan. “Normalization (with Israel) does not create security (…) for countries that establish relations with the Zionist regime,” Raisi launched, reiterating his country’s support “for the resistance front.”

During the rally, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yehiyeh Sinwar, called on the leaders of Arab and Muslim countries “not to normalize (their relations) with Israel, to close the (Israeli) embassies and to support the resistance of the Palestinian people.” He also praised the recent rocket attacks on Israel.

Over the past four decades, “Jerusalem Day” rallies have attracted thousands of people to the streets of the Middle East, especially in Iran, where crowds regularly burn Israeli flags and call for the “death” of the Jewish state.


Pro-Palestinian Student Group Demands University Call Off Israel 75th Anniversary Event With 'War Criminals'
A Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter is demanding Rice University (RU) cancel its event commemorating the state of Israel’s 75th anniversary, according to an Instagram post.

RU announced that its Baker Institute for Public Policy will be holding the “Israel at 75” conference on April 27 to discuss the relationship between the U.S. and the Jewish state, but the university’s SJP chapter is calling for the event to be canceled. The event is set to feature “diplomats, subject-matter experts, policymakers, and stakeholders” from Israel, the U.S. and Palestine to discuss the “binational relationship” between the two countries and “explore the challenges and opportunities Israel faces internally and abroad.”

The chapter condemned the event in a Thursday Instagram post, accusing the school of “platforming major Israeli war criminals.”

“A full-day conference glorifying 75 years of Israeli colonization, ethnic cleansing, and the apartheid against the Palestinian people,” the student group wrote. “Rice Univeristy is platforming major Israeli war criminals whose political careers are defined by bombings on Gaza, mass imprisonment of youth and daily state-sanctioned murders of Palestinians.”

Israel became an official state on May 14, 1949, and next month will mark the 75th anniversary of the country’s independence from the British mandate. Special guests at the university’s conference include Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides and Former Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority His Excellency Salam Fayyad, Ph.D.


Berlin bans protests of terrorist NGO after calls of 'death to Israel'
The authorities in the city-state of Berlin banned protests on Saturday and Sunday, organized by the Israeli government-designated terrorist NGO Samidoun that aids Palestinian terrorists.

This was reported by the Berlin newspaper BZ on Friday. A police official said: "According to our forecast, we would have to deal with added acts of violence."

The Jerusalem Post reported that on last Saturday an estimated 500 Germans, most of whom were Muslims, marched through two Berlin neighborhoods chanting “Death to Jews” and “Death to Israel.”

Founded by PFLP members
The protest was organized by Samidoun, a Palestinian NGO that has been classified as a terrorist entity by Israel. According to Israel’s The National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF), “The Samidoun organization was designated as a terrorist organization as it is part of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and was founded by members of the PFLP in 2012.”

The US and the EU proscribed the PFLP a foreign terrorist organization. In 2020, the Post exclusively reported that Berlin’s government imposed a four-year ban on Khaled Barakat, who the PFLP said was a “coordinator “ of Samidoun.

According to NBCTF, “Representatives of the organization are active in many countries in Europe and North America, led by Khaled Barakat, who is part of the leadership of PFLP abroad. Barkat is involved with establishing militant cells and motivating terrorist activity in Judea and Samaria and abroad. The formal goal of Samidoun is to assist Palestinian prisoners in their struggle to be released from prison. However, in practice, it serves as a front for the PFLP abroad. “


University of Kansas Student Senate Condemns Antisemitism
The Student Senate of University of Kansas passed a resolution on Thursday condemning antisemitism, a campus newspaper reported on Thursday.

“The University of Kansas Student Senate condemns antisemitism at the University of Kansas and recognizes the irreplaceable leadership and contributions of the Jewish community here at the University of Kansas,” said the resolution, proposed on March 31 by Sens. Blake Bailey and Fabiana Salas.

Passed 38-0, with two senators abstaining, the resolution also called on administrators to “sustain and support” the university’s Jewish Studies program, which is directed by linguistics scholar Dr. Renee Perelmutter.

“Passing this bill as a student assembly speaks volumes, making sure that we’re standing up with this community that we’re standing up with this community that might feel disenfranchised,” Bailey told The University Daily Kansan.

In November, the University of Kansas University Senate, Jewish Studies Program, Jewish Faculty & Staff Council, and Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging issued a statement condemning rising antisemitism across the country in response to various statements made by the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.
‘These Incidents Keep Happening’: Multiple Antisemitic Incidents Occur at Stanford University
Officials at Stanford University are investigating the campus’ second antisemitic in less than ten days, The Stanford Daily reported on Thursday.

On Wednesday, a swastika was etched into a metal panel in bathroom of History Corner, a century-old building on the northeast side of the Main Quad of campus. The incident followed the desecration of a undergraduate resident’s mezuzah on April 3.

Rabbi Jessica Kirschner of Hillel at Stanford, speaking to The Algemeiner on Friday called on administrators to create a plan of action for addressing antisemitism at Stanford University.

“These incidents keep happening, and this is totally unacceptable,” Kirschner said. “Clearly more work is needed to address a culture where individuals feel emboldened to behave this way, and where it is challenging to identify the perpetrators.”

Similar incidents at Stanford University have occurred several times this academic year. In March, a Jewish student found an image of Hitler and swastikas on their door on Friday, several university administrators confirmed in an email to the community. Other incidents include the removal of an Israeli flag from a display of others from across the world and the desecration of a mezuzah belonging to a graduate student. Most recently, on Feb. 28, someone graffitied swastikas, the n-word, and “KKK” in a men’s bathroom.

In January, a Stanford University student was photographed reading Adolf Hitler’s memoir, prompting a series of discussions about “its impact on the community.”
Israeli soccer star Manor Solomon makes waves as rare Jew in English Premier League
For decades, Jewish players have been increasingly rare in English professional soccer. Since 1992, only one British-born Jew has appeared in the Premier League, the country’s top tier and arguably the best soccer league in the world.

But this year, an Israeli has been turning heads with his play in the league, to the extent that analysts believe he could earn a spot on one of the world’s elite teams this summer.

After recovering from a knee injury last year, Manor Solomon, a 23-year-old from Kfar Saba in central Israel, has shined as a midfielder for Fulham FC, one of a few Premier League teams based in London. Solomon scored in five straight games from February 11 through March 6, becoming the first Israeli to accomplish the feat since Liverpool’s Ronny Rosenthal scored in three straight in 1992.

“It’s something I’ve always dreamed of,” he said of his first Premier League goal, against Nottingham Forest.

His success story comes after a harrowing year. After playing for the Israeli team Maccabi Petah Tikva, Solomon joined the Ukrainian soccer club Shakhtar Donetsk in 2019. When he scored his first UEFA Champions League goal that season, he became the youngest Israeli to score in the Champions League — the highest level of club competition in Europe — at 20 years old.

After Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine in February 2022, he “woke up to the sound of explosions and sirens,” as he recounted to BBC Sport. “It was like being in the middle of a movie.”

He quickly made arrangements to leave Ukraine, making the 17-hour journey to the Polish border — where he had to wait for more than 10 hours in the freezing cold before making it home to Israel.

“I feel lucky I got out,” he said.
Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood made an album with Israeli rocker Dudu Tassa
Jonny Greenwood, the guitarist of the acclaimed band Radiohead and an Oscar-nominated composer, has made an album with Israeli rock musician Dudu Tassa.

“Jarak Qaribak,” or “Your Neighbor is Your Friend” in Arabic, will be released through World Circuit records on June 9 and features artists from throughout the Middle East, including Palestinian singer Freteikh, Egyptian singer Ahmed Doma and Moroccan singer Mohssine Salaheddine.

Greenwood, who is married to Israeli visual artist Sharona Katan, has recorded guitar on albums by Tassa and fellow Israeli Shye Ben Tzur before, and both opened for Radiohead on some tour dates in 2017.

Born to a Mizrahi family
Tassa, born to a Mizrahi family from Iraq and Kuwait, has released several albums, including some with Dudu Tassa and the Kuwaitis, a band that records contemporary renditions of old Iraqi and Kuwaiti songs. He explained in notes accompanying the first song released from the album with Greenwood that each featured singer sang on a track about a country other than their own.

“Israel is a small country between all those countries, so we’re very influenced by those cultures and by that music,” he said. “And a lot of us in Israel – like my family – are descended from people who came here from elsewhere in the Middle East, so everything gets mixed up.”

The pair added that they didn’t want the album to include any political statements.

“We didn’t want to make out that we’re making any political point,” Greenwood said, “but I do understand that as soon as you do anything in that part of the world it becomes political, even if it’s just artistic. Actually, possibly especially if it’s artistic.”

Radiohead, who have won several Grammy Awards and sold millions of records since the 1990s, have been the targets of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel, especially in the lead-up to their 2017 concert in Tel Aviv. In response, singer Thom Yorke called BDS protesters “offensive” and “patronizing,” adding that “The person who knows most about these things is Jonny [Greenwood].”

Katan once told Israeli paper Yediot Ahronot that she and Greenwood keep a mezuzah in their home and celebrate Jewish holidays and an occasional Shabbat.


‘How Saba Kept Singing,’ Holocaust doc produced by Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, to air on PBS for Yom Hashoah
Hillary and Chelsea Clinton have produced a documentary about a Holocaust survivor that will debut on PBS on Tuesday, timed to Yom Hashoah, or Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“How Saba Kept Singing” tells the story of David Wisnia, a cantor who survived the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp for nearly three years, helped in part by his operatic singing voice, which entertained the Nazi guards.

The film also tells of how Wisnia, who grew up singing in his synagogue’s choir in Poland, struck up a relationship with an older woman named Helen “Tzippi” Spitzer during their time at Auschwitz. Her skills as a graphic artist allowed her to move between men’s and women’s quarters, and the two shared intimate moments as fellow inmates watched out for guards.

The two lost track of each other after surviving the experience and did not come in contact again until 2019, when they shared “their account of their unimaginable memories,” a PBS statement reads.

David Wisnia, who served congregations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, died at 94 in 2021, a year after traveling to the former camp to commemorate the 75th anniversary of its liberation, despite a series of injuries. His grandson Avi Wisnia, a musician, composed a musical tribute to his “Saba,” or grandfather, which is heard over the film’s closing credits.

The film was produced under the Clintons’ HiddenLight Productions company, which launched in 2020 and specializes in global content that in their words highlights “the best of the human spirit and help our audiences see the world in new ways.”

“David Wisnia’s remarkable story of love in ‘How Saba Kept Singing’ is inspiring and I hope you will find it as uplifting as I do,” said Chelsea Clinton, who is listed as an executive producer, in a statement.

“The pain and horror of the Holocaust must never be forgotten,” added Hillary Clinton, the former U.S. secretary of state.
Israel to light up public buildings in yellow for Holocaust Remembrance Day
Israel will light up some of its public buildings in yellow on Sunday, two days before Holocaust Remembrance Day to raise awareness of the importance of preserving the dignity and well-being of Holocaust survivors.

This initiative was started by the organization Aviv for Holocaust Survivors with assistance from the local and regional governments.

There are currently about 150,000 Holocaust survivors living in Israel, and about 50 die every day - and approximately 20% of those deaths every day are of survivors who lived in poverty.

Orli Sivan, the CEO of Aviv for Holocaust Survivors, stated that the organization "has been working for 15 years on behalf of Holocaust survivors and assists them in exercising all their rights in Israel and in the world without any payment on their part. We are in a race against time, and we know how much more needs to be done in order to allow these heroic Holocaust survivors to finish their lives with dignity.

"The yellow lights in the public space on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day will remind us that we have a responsibility and a moral obligation for the well-being and dignity of the Holocaust survivors who live among us," she adds.

Some notable places that will be lit up
Buildings that will be lit up as part of the initiative will be the Chords Bridge at the entrance to the city, according to the Jerusalem Municipality, and the soccer stadium in Netanya.

"We're working all the time to ensure that every Holocaust survivor lives well," said Shay Hajaj, chairman of the regional government center. "We ask you, dear residents, to open your heart and eyes and be attentive to every need of the Holocaust survivors. We will do everything to make sure that all their needs are met."




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