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Saturday, April 22, 2023

04/22 Links: Paris court hands Canadian life term in absentia for 1980 synagogue blast; s trial to start, Pittsburgh Jews find renewed purpose in mourning synagogue attack

From Ian:

Seth Frantzman: Israel at 75: How the Jewish state compares to other countries
In 1851, 75 years after the US Declaration of Independence, a crowd gathered in the shadow of the US Capitol. They had come to lay a cornerstone for the expansion of the building. An architect had been chosen by president Millard Fillmore. Thomas U. Walter, a Philadelphia architect, was chosen. A cornerstone would be laid to mark the beginning of construction of the new part of the building, at the northeast corner of the House wing.

This would be an extension of the building first begun in 1793. Supposedly, the same trowel that president George Washington had used back in the day, was used in 1851 to mark the occasion.

Several men who had served in the Revolutionary War were in attendance. They must have been only teens in the war. That might not have been so rare; Andrew Jackson had served in the war as a kid. He’d been president in the 1830s and died in 1845. This was only a few years later.

America must have seemed at peace in those days. A year before a crisis in the country had been averted by a major legislative compromise.

California, recently acquired from Mexico by the war of 1846-48, wanted to join the US as a new state. It did not want to have slavery, and this created a dispute among the states that had slavery and those that did not. A compromise enabled California to join and called to abolish the slave trade in Washington, DC. But the deal also strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act, which required slaves to be returned from free states to the South. The compromisers were hailed as having averted some kind of civil war. So in 1851, when the Capitol was being extended, all seemed well. But in fact they had only postponed the inevitable; a civil war between the states was coming, and it would arrive by the end of the decade.

In Israel the country recently experienced mass protests over the government’s attempt to overhaul the judiciary. There were rumors that the recent protests could lead to a real national crisis and civil conflict. The defense minister warned of the fissures growing in society.

Now it appears that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has climbed down temporarily from the judicial reform. This may lead to a compromise, but as the lessons in the US show, we must be wary of a compromise that only puts off worse to come. On the other hand, we should acknowledge that 75 years after Israel’s founding in 1948, the country is incredibly secure and powerful compared to what has befallen many other countries in their first 75 years.
House group introduces bipartisan bill honoring 75-year US-Israeli partnership
Four House members introduced a bill recognizing the longtime partnership between the United States and Israel in promoting peace in the Middle East.

Reps. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Kathy Manning (D-N.C.)—who are Abraham Accords Caucus leaders—co-sponsored the bill. “Every time we work with Israel, both of our countries are better off for it, including with the transformational Abraham Accords,” stated McCaul.

Wagner added that Israel is one of the closest allies and friends of the United States.

“We are committed to strengthening that vital bond,” she said.

“For 75 years, the United States and Israel have built an extraordinary and enduring alliance based on our shared interests and fundamental values” added Manning. “Israel is our most important, most reliable and only democratic ally in the region.”
Remembrance Day: How can Israel eradicate terror? - opinion
DO YOU remember the circus act where a juggler is balancing numerous plates on sticks? The plates are all spinning, and the juggler rushes from one plate to another to keep them spinning so they don’t all crash to the ground. That pretty much describes our current situation: We are indeed a strong country, but we live in a very fragile environment with lots of plates spinning.

We are surrounded by hostile neighbors and must keep them at bay, all the while seeking alliances with our more friendly neighbors. We must cultivate relationships with nations in the West, whose support we need, while at the same time retaining our independence and our national pride. We have to satisfy the secular, the religious, the Sephardim, the Ashkenazim, the wealthy and the poor. We have to keep salaries high, and the cost of living low. We must be everywhere, all at once.

But if and when the spinning plates start to fall, the frenzied juggler can do little to save them. And that is our situation; the plates are crashing all around us. The world’s leading economists, in Israel and abroad, declare that the proposed judicial reform will have disastrous consequences, as indicated by the lowering of our credit rating this week. Interest rates rise as the value of the shekel plummets, and hi-tech companies – a major source of our collective wealth – seek safer shores to house their products and invest their funds.

Meanwhile, our relations with other countries, both near and far, are fast eroding. We have caused rifts between ourselves and the US, Britain and the EU; Jordan is upset at the ill-conceived statements foolishly made about them; Saudi Arabia has turned away from reconciliation with us and moved closer to Iran; Turkey’s President Erdogan is again demonizing us after a short lull; and even our newest friends, the Emiratis, are thinking twice about doing business with us. All the while, the terror groups within and outside Israel gather together to plot our demise, God forbid.

Most threatening of all, of course, is the unprecedented sense of disunity and distrust of government that today permeates every corner of the land. And it shows no sign whatsoever of easing.

The ancient (some would say modern!) Chinese were ruled by all-powerful emperors, who had absolute control of the country and everyone in it. But there was an unwritten yet unbreakable covenant that held fast: If the basic needs of the people – their security, their safety, their ability to provide food and shelter for their family – were not met, then the emperor was deposed by the masses (and generally executed).

Similarly, even in democratic countries, if the needs of the people are not satisfied, if push truly comes to shove, the people will persevere, and change will inevitably be made, for survival trumps even democracy.

As we face yet another Remembrance Day for the Fallen of Israel’s Wars and Victims of Terrorism and mourn the 24,068 fallen soldiers and 4,216 victims of terror, we must pledge to honor these holy neshamot (souls). We must act so that their deaths were not in vain, doing everything in our power to eradicate terrorism and its adherents. We must project to the world our vitality and unique character. Most of all, we must diligently seek compromise and conciliation with one another, placing the nation and its citizens above any individual person or party.

Then let each one of us pray to the Almighty for peace and prosperity in our wonderful, Old-New Land and State of Israel. Am Yisrael chai!


Who’s Bad? Review of 'Bad Jews' by Emily Tamkin
Emily Tamkin’s Bad Jews is a progressive young American Jewish woman’s exploration of some nagging questions: What makes a good American Jew? And, correlatively, What makes a bad one? Tamkin, an editor at the New Statesman, engages them through historical inquiry, literary analysis, and her own ruminations on immigration, geopolitics, race, and so much more. She comes to an unsurprising answer: There is no way to say what makes a bad Jew, or what distinguishes a good Jew, because Jewish identity is infinitely malleable and always changing.

Tamkin’s structural choices shape her study. Rather than proceeding chronologically (seeing how the notion of a Bad Jew developed over time) or denominationally (by identifying distinct traditions within American Jewry and assessing how each thinks of Good-, Bad-, and Not-a-Jew), she mixes and matches her chapters from historical, political, and sociological categories. She explores the emergent fault lines within each category, tracking the myriad things on which Jews disagree—needless to say, comprehensiveness on this front is impossible—from Communism to the importance of bourgeois norms to Zionism.

The scattered structure and lack of rigor end up dooming the project from the start. Unmoored from the restraints that could hold her to account for maintaining her objectivity, Tamkin descends into left-wing platitudes—chiefly an obsession with “whiteness” that she never quite explains, but also half-hearted defenses of Soviet spies and, wherever needed, the Democratic Party—and tired progressive non-judgmentalism. Neither systematic enough to be a serious work of history nor bold enough to work as a pop-sociological provocation, Bad Jews is a book about Jewish identity marked by several identity crises. It wants to be critical of the Jews she clearly thinks are “bad,” but it’s committed to treating all things as equally Jewish; it wants to analyze the particularistic while maintaining Tamkin’s universalistic bona fides; it aims for objectivity but slides into hackneyed leftism without realizing. What it ends up doing is either trailing off before each story ends or reciting the kind of pablum you would expect from a mediocre progressive candidate for public office when asked what her Jewishness means to her.

Tamkin’s style lands somewhere between that of a dispassionate academic and an activist whose only training was reading Robin DiAngelo. Her writing is speckled with superscripts directing you to the endnotes as if she were engaged in scholarly pursuits, but she frequently makes journalistic moves we would never allow a scholar to make. She draws on interviews she conducted with supposed subject-matter experts without explaining how or why she chose them. Some appear to just be Tamkin’s progressive friends, and some are her family. Some insights are presented as Tamkin sharing what went on in her own mind during various conversations, despite her own admission that she has so little grounding in Jewish things that she might not be the right person to write this book. (She is half-right; no one is.) In Tamkinville, talking to yourself is a scholarly pursuit.
Oren Kessler, Author of Palestine 1936 in Conversation with Steven Turner
On Yom Hashoah we remember our sacred martyrs killed by the Nazis and their collaborators. One of the reasons they were able to kill so many is because Jews trying to flee the impending catastrophe had no place that would accept them. Just as war was breaking out and the Jewish plight became more desperate, Great Britain closed the gates of Palestine with its infamous White Paper of 1939. Why did that happen and how did it come about?

Oren Kessler in his new book, Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict tells the story.

Oren is a journalist and political analyst based in Tel Aviv. He has served as deputy director for research at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington, Middle East research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society in London, Arab affairs correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, and an editor and translator at the Haaretz English edition.

Raised in Rochester, New York, and Tel Aviv, he holds a BA in history from the University of Toronto and an MA in diplomacy and conflict studies from Reichman University (IDC Herzliya).Kessler’s work has appeared in media outlets such as Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and Politico.




State Department condemns ‘rhetoric’ used by Israeli consul general nominee
At the U.S. State Department’s daily press briefing on Thursday, Said Arikat, who reports for a Palestinian paper and has a history of anti-Israel attacks disguised as questions, asked about May Golan, just tapped to be Israeli consul general in New York.

Golan “has previously described herself as a ‘proud racist,’ ” said Arikat. He asked if the State Department has concerns about credentialing her.

Vedant Patel, Foggy Bottom’s principal deputy spokesperson, referred questions about Israeli personnel announcements to Jerusalem. “But broadly, we would condemn such kind of rhetoric and believe that such kind of language is also particularly damaging when it’s amplified in leadership positions,” he said.

Arikat also asked about Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi’s recent Israel visit and about a U.S. citizen, whom he said was recently released from Israeli detention.
Israeli-Ukrainian Volunteer Captured and Killed by Russian Forces
An Israeli-Ukrainian was captured and executed by Russian forces in the Ukraine, where he was a volunteer for the Ukrainian army fighting against the invasion by its neighbor. Oleksandr Dubovik was reportedly killed in Bakhmut in December.

It is understood Dubovik was residing in Israel with his wife and two children before the war broke out in early 2022, which pushed him to return to his native Ukraine and fight against the invading military.

His age was not known as of this reporting.


Paris court hands Canadian life term in absentia for 1980 synagogue blast
A Paris court on Friday sentenced Lebanese-Canadian citizen Hassan Diab to life in prison in absentia for the 1980 bombing of a synagogue in which four people died.

The court followed prosecutors’ request for the maximum possible punishment against Diab, now 69 and a university professor in Canada.

Prosecutors had said in their summing-up that there was “no possible doubt” that Diab, the only suspect, was behind the attack.

In the early evening of October 3, 1980, explosives placed on a motorcycle detonated close to a synagogue in Rue Copernic in Paris’s chic 16th district, killing a student passing by on a motorbike, a driver, an Israeli journalist and a caretaker.

Forty-six were injured in the blast.

The bombing was the first deadly attack against a Jewish target on French soil since World War II.

No organization ever claimed responsibility but police suspected a splinter group of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

French intelligence in 1999 accused Diab, a sociology professor, of having made the 10-kilogram (22-pound) bomb.
Canada’s Trudeau considers next steps as citizen convicted for Paris synagogue blast
Canada is considering its next steps after a Paris court on Friday convicted a Lebanese-Canadian sociology professor in absentia for the 1980 bombing of a synagogue in the French capital, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

Hassan Diab, now 69 and a resident of Canada, faces life in prison in France. But he and his supporters want Ottawa to reject any new requests for his extradition.

“We will look carefully at next steps, at what the French government chooses to do, at what French tribunals choose to do,” Trudeau told a news conference.

But, he added, “we will always be there to stand up for Canadians and their rights.”

Diab, speaking to reporters in Ottawa, reacted to the verdict by calling it “Kafkaesque” and “not fair.” “We’d hoped reason would prevail,” he added.

Diab also urged Trudeau to honor his past statement about the case, which appeared to pour cold water on ever sending Diab back to France, after the first extradition took six years.
UN Suggestion To Recognize Taliban Sparks Backlash, Backpedaling
Suggestions from U.N. leadership that the international body could recognize the Taliban government of Afghanistan met with strong backlash from the United States and other allies. Now the United Nations is backpedaling its statement.

In a seminar at Princeton University on Monday, U.N. deputy secretary general Amina Mohammed said that discussing official recognition for the Afghan terrorist group, which took over Afghanistan two years ago after the Biden administration's botched military withdrawal, is on the agenda for a U.N.-hosted May meeting in Doha, Qatar.

"We hope that we will find those baby steps to put us back on the pathway to recognition … of the Taliban," Mohammed said. "In other words, there are conditions."

U.S. officials quickly responded, saying that discussing a Taliban seat at the United Nations was "unacceptable" and never the "intent and purpose of this meeting." The office of U.N. secretary general António Guterres reassured reporters in New York that the Taliban's recognition is not on the agenda.

"The Doha conference on the 1st and 2nd of May is not focusing on recognition and we don't want there to be any confusion about that," U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said. "The point of discussion … is to build a more unified consensus on the challenges at hand."

The U.N. General Assembly in December shelved for the second time the decision to recognize the Taliban and allow the terrorist group's leaders to appoint a U.N. ambassador. Granting the Taliban a seat means that the terrorist group would inherit Afghanistan's current seat on the U.N. women's rights commission, the Washington Free Beacon reported. Since taking over the Afghan government, the radical Islamic group has stripped women and girls of their rights to work and go to school.

"Under no circumstance should the United States, or any other country, vote to recognize the Taliban at the United Nations," former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said in November. "It should not be a difficult decision to keep a group of terrorists out of an organization founded to maintain peace and security."
The Israel Guys: The TRUTH About What is Happening in Gaza
Today we are going to talk about Gaza, specifically activists' claims that Israel is testing weapons on civilians.

Have you ever seen a cow in a convenience store? Well some Israelis did this week!




The Palestinian Resistance Axis Converges with the Iran-Hezbollah Axis
Conclusions and Recommendations
The escalation in multiple arenas illustrates the convergence of the Palestinian axis, which relies on Hamas and Islamic Jihad, with the Iran-Hezbollah axis, which seeks to gain control of the Palestinian struggle in Israel, as per its needs, while at the same time expanding its response to Israeli attacks against Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria by encouraging and strengthening Palestinian terror against Israel (by linking the arenas and smuggling arms and money). The timing of the escalation is directly connected to the internal crisis in Israel and reflects increased temerity by its enemies, and their attempt to examine whether Israel’s resilience has weakened, creating an opportunity to change the rules of the game.

The convergence of the axes has several aims, including:
1. Limiting Israel to operations within its own borders by increasing security instability and terror within its territory, in order to allow continued consolidation of the Iran-Hezbollah axis in the northern arena and removal of obstacles from Iran’s path to attain nuclear capability and at the same time reducing the concerns about Israeli attempts to prevent it.
2. Strengthening the Lebanon-based militant wing of Hamas that is establishing a terror infrastructure under the Hezbollah deterrence umbrella, so that it can instigate terror attacks in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and elsewhere in Israel and from southern Lebanon, and overcome the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip led by Yahya Sinwar, which is focused on reconstruction of Gaza and subject to Egyptian influence.
3. Expediting the end of the era of the Palestinian Authority in its current form.
4. Stirring up Arab citizens of Israel regarding the Israeli government’s conduct in the al-Aqsa compound, in order to cause upheaval in the Arab street in Israel.
5. Harming normalization processes between Israel and Arab states and causing fissures in Israel’s peace agreements with Jordan and Egypt.

If the Israeli government’s policy of containment continues, its enemies will continue to try to dictate the rules of the game. If the agents of chaos within the Israeli government are not restrained and continue to fan tension flames on the Temple Mount and in the Palestinian arena, in parallel with the internal struggle over democracy, the Shiite axis may gain control over the Palestinian resistance axis and lead to provocative and challenging joint actions against Israel.

Accordingly, the Israeli government must reduce polarization and tension within Israeli society, perceived by enemies of Israel as undermining its ability to confront them in all arenas. At the same time, Israel must ease the tension in the Palestinian arena, adhere to the status quo on the Temple Mount, as per the decision reached regarding the last ten days of Ramadan, and continue in the efforts to strengthen the Palestinian Authority and the security coordination. In this way Israel will be able to focus on the three levels, namely: restoring the rules of the game vis-à-vis Hezbollah in Lebanon, while reexamining the “mutual deterrence equation” that prevents Israel from operating against Hamas’s terror infrastructure in Lebanon; stopping Iran’s march to a nuclear capability, its consolidation in the northern arena, and its efforts to gain control over the Palestinian struggle in Israel; and undermining Hamas’s growing status in the Palestinian arena.
Israel Confiscates Dozens of Digital Accounts Dealing with Hamas
Israel’s National Commission for Combating Economic Terrorism succeeded in exposing hundreds of wallets and dozens of digital accounts, which were traded with money changers previously declared terrorist organizations by Israel, due to their involvement in money laundering and transferring money to Hamas.

The operation included the seizure of over 80 digital accounts and hundreds of digital wallets that maintain contacts with exchange companies providing services for Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Namely, the United Exchange Company, the Dubai Exchange Office in Gaza and Al-Weraq Exchange Company.

The law allows for the confiscation of money from people dealing with changers that have been declared terrorist organizations. As soon as Defense Minister Yoav Gallant signed the order, half a million shekels ($135,500) were seized from the digital accounts. The Binance cryptocurrency exchange company that maintains these wallets and accounts will transfer the money to the state coffer.
Palestinian Hamas, Fatah supporters clash at Temple Mount - report
Violent clashes broke out on Friday afternoon between Hamas and Fatah supporters at the Temple Mount, according to a report by N12.

Rioters hung a banner with an image of Palestinian militant Mohammed Deif, the report said, with the inscription "The real promise of liberation is approaching."

Videos of the clashes were posted on social media.

Earlier Hamas-Fatah clashes
On Tuesday, a Palestinian youth from Nablus was documented waving a Fatah flag - to which Hamas supporters surrounded him and threw stones, water bottles and shoes at him, according to N12.

"Eid al-Fitr this year has a special meaning after the battle of our people in the month of Ramadan in all arenas," N12 quoted Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem as saying. "The battle for the identity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque is still open and the conflict will not end."

It was also reported this week that a Hamas delegation visited Saudi Arabia after years of tensions, according to Palestinian media.


Islamic Jihad: Israel will pay 'heavy price' if senior official dies in prison
Khader Adnan, a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) official in the West Bank, has been on hunger strike in Israeli prison for 77 days, his family said over the weekend.

Adnan, 44, was one of the organizers of recent hunger strikes launched by Palestinian security prisoners held in Israeli jails.

A mass hunger strike by the security prisoners that was supposed to begin on March 22 was called off at the last minute after the inmates claimed they reached an understanding with the Israel Prison Service. The hunger strike was called to protest a series of “punitive measures” imposed on the prisoners, including reducing the time for showers and closing bakeries managed by the inmates.

The Palestinian Prisoners Club and the family warned that Adnan, who was arrested by the Israeli security forces on February 5, was in critical condition and could die at any moment.

Adnan, a resident of the town of Arrabeh, near Jenin, went on a hunger strike immediately after his arrest. Khader Adnan (credit: REUTERS)


Biden Administration Still Negotiating a Secret 'Deal' with Iran: As Many Nuclear Weapons as They Like?
Nothing seems to stop the Biden administration from wanting to reward the ruling mullahs of Iran with a nuclear deal that will pave the way for the Islamist regime of Iran legally to obtain as many nuclear weapons as it likes, empower the ruling mullahs with billions of dollars, lift sanctions against their theocratic regime, allow them to rejoin the global financial system and enhance their legitimacy on the global stage.

These benefits presumably include further enabling the regime's ruthless expansion throughout the Middle East -- Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and the terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip -- and into Latin America.

"The Americans are keeping their desire to negotiate with the Islamic Republic [to revive the nuclear deal] in secret in the midst of denial and silence". — Independent Persian, February 23, 2023.

In addition, Iran, called by the US Department of State a "top sponsor of state terrorism," has been ratcheting up its presence and terror cells in Latin America while using the continent as a sanctuary.

During the Biden administration, the Iranian regime has also attempted to assassinate US officials on American soil.

Even The Washington Post pointed out that the attempted kidnappings should be a serious warning to the Biden administration: "The message for the Biden administration, which has frequently proclaimed its intention to defend pro-democracy dissidents, is that Iran and other foreign dictatorships won't shrink from launching attacks inside the United States unless deterred..."

Instead, the Biden administration remains silent and evidently still wants to reward the mullahs with the nuclear deal and it continues to see "diplomacy" -- read: appeasement -- as the only path to deal with the Iranian regime.

Nothing.... seems to be deterring the Biden administration from trying to give the Islamist regime of Iran the ultimate gift: unlimited nuclear weapons.
48 former generals, admirals call for US to arm Israel against nuclear Iran
A month after the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) issued a letter signed by 44 retired U.S. generals and admirals that called on the United States to arm Israel against the threat of a nuclear Iran, the entity reissued the text with four new signatories.

The updated letter, which also appeared in The Hill, urges: “To confront this pressing high-priority threat, the United States should immediately provide Israel with the advanced weapons it needs to deter and prevent a nuclear Iran.”

On April 18, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi proclaimed his desire to “destroy Haifa and Tel Aviv” should Israel take even the “smallest action” against the Islamic regime.


Stanford Daily: Confronting antisemitism
Students targeted and harassed for their identity feel marginalized, distrustful and isolated from the campus community. We are disheartened that the victim of one recent antisemitic incident shared that his experience was “really making this living situation feel pretty hostile…” and that “it’s very unsettling thinking that [he] was in [his] room sleeping and someone was outside of [his] door doing this.” We cannot help but be concerned that this will irrevocably tar this student’s experience at our esteemed institution.

We believe that it is the responsibility of Stanford University — including ourselves as scholars and educators — to foster a campus climate where all students feel welcome and included, free from bigotry, intimidation and harassment. Thus, we call on our university’s leadership, and our fellow faculty, to double down on confronting antisemitism at Stanford and creating the supportive learning environment that our Jewish students deserve.

This will require a sustained effort to understand the scope of the problem, engage a broad array of stakeholders, and educate the campus community about the roots and consequences of one of the oldest and most widespread forms of hate. We stand ready to lend our academic expertise to this necessary task. In addition, many educational organizations, such as the Academic Engagement Network, in which we are members, and Hillel International, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and others now have excellent resources, trainings, best practices and professional development opportunities and programs that we can utilize in our effort.

Our institution, to its credit, has a track record of confronting antisemitism. This past fall, a report was released detailing Stanford’s deliberate limitation of Jewish enrollment in the mid-twentieth century. President Tessier-Lavigne forthrightly apologized “to the Jewish community, and to our entire university community, both for the actions documented in this report to suppress the admission of Jewish students in the 1950s and for the university’s denials of those actions in the period that followed,” and stated that “these actions were wrong. They were damaging. And they were unacknowledged for too long.” We hope this courageous work of self-reflection and education will continue in the wake of these most recent incidents of vandalism and harassment.

In this spirit, we are proud to endorse the words of Stanford Hillel’s Rabbi Jessica Kirschner, as she exhorts: “Let us ensure that our campus is united by its own founding and current mottos: a place dedicated to truth and service, where the winds of freedom blow for all who are part of this ever-flourishing community.”
Parent files complaint against New Jersey education board official’s anti-Israel screeds
Sahar Aziz, vice president of the Westfield Board of Education and a professor at Rutgers University, has expressed anti-Israel views on social media and by signing a public manifesto that calls Israel “apartheid” and refers to “racial supremacy of Jewish-Zionist nationals.”

That’s according to a formal complaint that Stephanie Siegel, a mother in Westfield, N.J., filed with the New Jersey School Ethics Commission. The Deborah Project assisted in the effort.

Aziz’s published views “grossly violate” the state requirement that education officials refrain from making remarks that suggest “apparent bias,” which might discourage the public from engaging with the board, according to the nonprofit Deborah Project.

Lori Lowenthal Marcus, legal director of the Deborah Project, told JNS that Aziz hasn’t been able to implement her antisemitic views in educational policy.

“Whether or not Aziz has yet followed through on her commitment to support BDS and insert the Palestinian narrative into policy in the Westfield School District as yet, the fact that she has committed to do that is enough to justify a complaint,” she said.

“What’s more, the inflammatory and false narrative attested to by Ms. Aziz in the manifesto she signed makes clear her animus towards Jews and the Jewish state,” added Lowenthal Marcus. “Such publicly expressed animus in a board of education member, let alone one who is an officer, violates both New Jersey law and common decency.”


Patterns of Antisemitism in Mainstream Media Comment Threads. Case Studies of the UK, France and Germany
With the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine just passed, we are seeing many analyses of how the war has affected the lives of people in Ukraine, Russia and – albeit less directly – the UK over the past twelve months. Examples of its impact are many and complex, but one that probably does not immediately come to mind is a shift in antisemitic hate speech in British online media. And yet, there is compelling evidence that mainstream media coverage of the invasion has boosted the levels of antisemitism – especially Israel-related – in online comments sections, and that they may be particularly high in the UK.

When the news of the invasion broke at the end of February 2022, it soon became clear that the issue would dominate the media in the UK and Europe. To researchers of online antisemitism, it was also quickly obvious that it would provide ample material for analysis. In the regularly published discourse reports prepared by our team at the Decoding Antisemitism project (based at the Centre for Research on Antisemitism at TU Berlin and funded by the Alfred Landecker Foundation) we analyse thousands of online reactions, to this and other events which have triggered a spike in antisemitism levels in the comments sections in the UK, as well as France and Germany.

Our recent report showcases findings from two internationally covered events, the invasion of Ukraine and the eruption of terrorist violence in Israel in the spring of 2022. We also take a closer look at several country-specific cases from the past months: in the UK, the writer Sally Rooney’s boycott of Israeli publishers; in France, the Pegasus spyware affair; and in Germany, the controversies surrounding the singer Gil Ofarim and the reactions to some of the artwork on display at the documenta 15 exhibition. This may seem like an eclectic list of contents – it spans three countries, a few dozen news outlets, hundreds of online comment threads, and a range of topics from culture, to technology, to foreign politics – but it turns out to be rather coherent when it comes to the results of the analysis. What the events have in common is not just the fact that they have all generated antisemitic commentary, but also that most of the antisemitism revolves around the themes of delegitimisation, demonisation, and dehumanisation of Jews and Israel, either by openly rehashing classic tropes or by employing new strategies. Some comments imply antisemitic meaning through creative use of words, emoticons or punctuation, others look innocent on the surface because they use irony or are phrased as a question. Many simply acquire an antisemitic undertone only in the context of the thread. Our research shows how antisemitism can attach itself to virtually any issue, reach a broad spectrum of audiences, and lurk not just in the dark corners of the internet but in plain sight.
Terrorist propaganda broadcast from Britain
Two exiled Egyptian television presenters who found a safe haven in Britain are using it as a base to wage a “jihad of words”, glorifying terror and broadcasting anti-Israeli propaganda to an audience of millions, a JC investigation has revealed.

Broadcasting from Britain, Osama Gaweesh — who was granted asylum by the Home Office after entering the country in 2018 — claimed that Arab leaders who have friendly relations with Israel are “puppets of the Jewish lobby” and defended Hamas as “the resistance”.

And this month, the television station set up by his colleague Moataz Matar — a former prominent Egyptian sports journalist with 20 million followers on social media, who has also taken refuge in Britain — called the murder of former Radlett Rabbi Leo Dee’s wife and daughters “an operation by the resistance” online.

Between them, the firebrand presenters regularly reach millions of viewers via satellite TV and their social media channels.

Despite having a track record of celebrating acts of terrorist violence, Gaweesh, who says he has recently worked for the BBC and ITV, was given refuge in Britain by the Home Office after arriving in 2018.

His asylum was approved by officials even though he has publicly backed the armed wing of Hamas, outlawed by the British government since 2001, and claimed Israel “will burn at the hands of the heroes of the Muslim world”. It is not known if Matar has also been granted asylum.


As trial to start, Pittsburgh Jews find renewed purpose in mourning synagogue attack
Three Jewish congregations, resolute in their defiance of the hatred that tried to destroy them, are still waiting for justice.

But united in their horror and grief, they haven’t been standing still as the criminal case for the massacre that changed everything has crawled through the federal court system.

Four and a half years ago, a gunman invaded the Tree of Life synagogue on a Sabbath morning and killed 11 worshippers from the three congregations that shared the building — Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life. The shooting, in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood at the heart of Jewish Pittsburgh, was the deadliest antisemitic attack in US history.

On Monday, jury selection is scheduled to begin in the long-delayed trial of the suspect, accused of dozens of charges including hate crimes resulting in death.

The three congregations are wary of what’s to come. Some members may be called to testify, and they’re bracing for graphic evidence and testimony that could revive the traumas of the October 27, 2018, attack — often referred to around here as simply 10/27.

The tension can be felt in private conversations and encounters — the griefs, the anxieties, the feelings of being in a media fishbowl.
Austria’s Turkish and Arabic speakers ‘more antisemitic' than the rest of the population
Austrians with Turkish or Arab backgrounds have “far stronger antisemitic attitudes” than the rest of the population, according to a new report.

The study into antisemitism in Austria — the third of its kind since 2018 — was commissioned by the Austrian parliament.

A majority of Turkish and Arabic speakers, 53 per cent, agreed with the statement that “Jews control the global economy” compared to 36 per cent of Austrians in general and 26 per cent of young Austrians.

And 53 per cent said that “Jews are exerting their influence over global media and politics to an ever-greater extent” and that “Jewish elites working for international companies are often behind current price rises”.

While surveying Austrians as a whole, the study focused on two control groups: Austrians aged 25 and under — the generation who came of age after Austria’s coming to terms with its Nazi past — and Turkish and Arabic speakers in Austria.

This group was in turn divided into two sections: 53 per cent were born and raised in Austria and educated in the Austrian school system, while 47 per cent were migrants from Turkey and the wider Middle East.

As concerns the Middle East, 57 per cent of Turkish and Arabic-speaking respondents said that “Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians is fundamentally no different to the way Germans treated Jews during the Second World War” compared to 30 per cent of Austrians in general.
Junior doctor leader who joked on Twitter about gassing 'the Jews' is suspended from British Medical Association which has described his comments as 'totally unacceptable' in email to its members
A junior doctors leader who joked on Twitter about gassing 'the Jews' has been suspended from his roles at the British Medical Association (BMA).

Dr Martin Whyte, a deputy chair of the junior doctors' committee and a member of its executive, is facing a probe over a series of 'utterly vile' tweets.

The paediatrician used his account to promote videos that claim the holocaust was a hoax and called for people to boycott Israel 'out of spite'.

He also made jibes about the 'decomposing carcass of the Queen' and called Conservatives 'bastards', adding they should not be allowed to work as medics.

The BMA called his comments 'totally unacceptable' in an email to their members today. It said there was 'absolutely no place in the BMA for anti-Semitism'.

In an email to junior doctors last night, the BMA said: 'Dear member, We unfortunately have distressing information to share.

'Today we have discovered that a UK Junior Doctors Committee officer has made deeply troubling comments online that are anti-Semitic.

'There is absolutely no place in the BMA for anti-Semitism.
Eurovision: The ultimate display of Israeli patriotism
You may think that all those flags that have unfurled from porches and car windows over the last few days are in honor of Independence Day, which will be celebrated next week.

But, in essence, the annual festival of picnics, barbecues, visits to historical sites and hikes in nature are just the opening act for the ultimate display of Israeli patriotism – Eurovision.

You can claim to ignore it or relish in mocking the garish Euro-trashiness of it all, but come on… admit it. When those scores are read out from Liverpool sometime after midnight on May 13, you’ll be biting your nails along with the rest of us as each country hands out their tallies to their three favored songs.

That’s because, along with the Olympics and maybe the rare instance of an Israeli film or actor getting nominated for an Oscar, the Eurovision Song Contest is one of the few times that Israelis can feel unabashedly Israeli, with no strings attached. There’s no Right, Left, judicial reform or dysfunctional governments to consider; there’s only the glorious spectacle over substance, and boa feather costumes over content. That’s something we can all get behind for a night, no matter where we stand on the political map.

“People may say they don’t care, but deep down there’s a lot of pride there,” said Benny Dudkevitch, the veteran Israel Radio culture correspondent who has witnessed decades of Israeli Eurovision participation.
Robbie Williams thinks Israel is “f****** amazing”
“I speak to a lot of my fans on my website and the question ‘Where are you most excited to play?’ comes up a lot. I always say Israel.”

These were the words of Robbie Williams ahead of his first concert in Israel in 2015. And when the interviewer followed up with a withering, “Really, but why?” Robbie just kept going. “Because I am genuinely excited to go there. The people, the place and the history – there is an unspoken energy coming from the place.”

Every supportive word was another jarring slap in the face of a BDS supporter – and there were many who were opposed to his visit to the Jewish state. On social media and in column inches they reminded the entertainer that he was a UK UNICEF children’s ambassador and that, as such, by appearing in Israel would ‘normalise settler colonialism, war crimes… and apartheid?’.

Robbie took his dad Robert to Israel last time
But Williams verbally shrugged off the calls to stay away: “I have pressure from people not to appear in Blackpool. And I’m sure if enough people got together, they could start a petition demanding that they don’t want me to perform anywhere, ever. Because I offend their sensibilities.”

He certainly offended the sensibilities of Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, who unsurpris- ingly was one of his most strident critics. But it was Waters off a duck’s back as far as the former Take That star was concerned when he touched down at Ben Gurion International Airport on 30 April in his private Boeing jet, later telling his adoring 40,000 crowd: “Israel is f***ing amazing.”

And now, after infuriating the baying activists nine years ago, Robbie is fearlessly returning to Israel.On1 June, he is the big name at the Summer in the City festival at Tel Aviv’s Hayarkon Park.
DeSantis Set To Visit Israel and Other US Allies Ahead of Expected 2024 Run
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is set to begin a trip abroad on Saturday taking him through Japan, South Korea, Israel and the United Kingdom.

While the trip is officially billed as a trade mission, the tour is widely seen as an attempt to burnish his foreign policy credentials in the lead-up to an official announcement, expected in the late spring or early summer.

The governor had said in March that the Ukraine War is a "territorial dispute" and that it is not of strategic interest to the United States, a position he has since partially walked back. Those comments provoked criticism from Democrats and many Republicans, though it is a stance he shares with about half of the party's base as well as Republican former President Donald Trump.

In Japan, DeSantis will meet with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi during his visit on April 24 and 25, the Japanese foreign ministry said. He is then slated to travel to Seoul, where he will meet with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, before continuing to Tel Aviv and London, where he will talk with a mix of government and business leaders.

Back home in Florida, there are signs he is beginning to build out a foreign policy apparatus. His political operation is in the process of bringing on Dustin Carmack, a cybersecurity and intelligence expert with significant foreign policy experience, said one person with knowledge of the matter.




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