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Wednesday, May 10, 2023

05/10 Links Pt2: As Israel Turns 75, "Foreign Affairs" Publishes a Call to Eliminate It; McCarthy Blocks Rashida Tlaib's Anti-Semitic Congressional Event

From Ian:

Jonathan Tobin: Palestinians are addicted to an endless cycle of ‘nakbas’
The most important facts about the latest violence in the Middle East were the ones that were left out of The New York Times’ sidebar explainer published in the wake of a series of Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip. “What Is Islamic Jihad and Why Is Israel Targeting It?” by correspondent Raja Abdulrahim did contain some pertinent facts. Among them were that Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)—the second-largest Palestinian “armed group”—has an uneasy relationship with the much bigger Hamas, also based in the coastal enclave; and that both have been designated as terrorist organizations by the United States, and receive funding and arms from Iran.

Yet Abdulrahim’s explanation of the goal of Islamic Jihad was purposely vague. She left out the fact that it is an Islamist party that believes that the entire country—Israel and the territories—should be governed solely by Islamic law. Even more important, she wrote that it was created in the 1980s “to fight the Israeli occupation.” To most Times readers and consumers of other corporate media outlets, that sounds like the organization wants to end Israel’s “occupation” of Judea and Samaria (the “West Bank”), as well as Jerusalem. But for Palestinian Arabs, the phrase means something different.

When members of PIJ, or for that matter, those affiliated with its Hamas rivals or even the so-called “moderates” of Fatah—whose leaders corruptly run the Palestinian Authority— speak of “occupation,” they are not referring to those territories that Israel gained during the 1967 Six-Day War, and which the international community and the media wrongly describe as “Palestinian” rather than disputed. As far as PIJ is concerned, every inch of Israel is “occupied.” It regards the creation of the Jewish state 75 years ago as a nakba—a “catastrophe” or “disaster”—as well as a crime that must be expunged by violent struggle.

This is important because this coming weekend when the anniversary of Israel’s birth is commemorated, supporters of the Palestinians will be observing “Nakba Day.” For them, May 15—the day after Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948—defines the Palestinian existence as a martyred people whose grievances must be nurtured and stoked until the Jewish state and the history of the last century are erased. The point of Palestinian politics is not to create a state alongside Israel or any other theoretically constructive goal. It is to create an endless series of events that are, in effect, mini-nakbas so as to keep their cause alive and fueled by rage at Israel’s ongoing ability to survive and thrive.


McCarthy Blocks Rashida Tlaib's Anti-Semitic Congressional Event
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy moved on Tuesday evening to block Michigan's Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib from hosting an anti-Semitic congressional event planned for Wednesday, the speaker’s office confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon.

McCarthy told the Free Beacon that he intervened late Tuesday to reserve the Capitol Visitor Center space where Tlaib was set to host a Wednesday event to mourn Israel’s founding as a "catastrophe.' In its place, the speaker will lead a bipartisan briefing celebrating the 75th anniversary of the U.S.-Israel relationship.

"It’s wrong for members of Congress to traffic in anti-Semitic tropes about Israel," McCarthy told the Free Beacon. "As long as I’m Speaker, we are going to support Israel’s right to self-determination and self-defense, unequivocally and in a bipartisan fashion."

The anti-Semitic ‘Squad’ member came under fire this week after the Free Beacon reported that she would host the event alongside an array of anti-Israel groups, including some that have defended terrorism. Tlaib’s event was meant to celebrate the "Nakba," a Palestinian term for the creation of Israel that loosely translates as "catastrophe."

It is unclear how Tlaib and her supporters will move forward with the event now that McCarthy has occupied their meeting space. Tlaib, or another member, could potentially attempt to reschedule the event for a later date.

McCarthy’s intervention comes on the heels of a letter sent Tuesday evening by a rabbinical group asking leaders in the House and Senate to condemn Tlaib’s event.

"It is unsurprising but appalling that the featured speaker at this event will be a Member of Congress who describes the only Middle Eastern country to give equality and voting rights to both Jews and Arabs as ‘apartheid,’" the Coalition for Jewish Values, a pro-Israel advocacy organization comprised of more than 2,000 rabbis, wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Free Beacon. "We hope that our request will meet with your favorable response, and that you will condemn this event in the strongest terms as soon as possible."

Tlaib was scheduled to headline the anti-Israel event with several organizations that support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, an anti-Semitic effort to wage economic war on Israel. They include Jewish Voice for Peace, a "radical anti-Israel activist group" that pushes the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement and has come under fire for glorifying Palestinian terrorism. Other organizers include Emgage Action, another BDS supporter that claims Israel is an "apartheid state," and Americans for Justice in Palestine Action, an advocacy group that claims Jewish money is infecting politics.

The invitation for Wednesday's event accuses "Zionist militias" of violently expelling Palestinians from the region when Israel was created in 1948, and maintains that Israel continues to brutalize Palestinians.


How Rep Rashida Tlaib’s Nakba Event Hurts the Palestinians
Brooke Goldstein, who heads The Lawfare Project and co-founded End Jew Hatred, tweeted: “It’s one thing to spew hateful rhetoric, it’s another to use US Congress to do so. Rashida Tlaib [shouldn’t] be permitted to hold a ‘Nakba Day’ event on US Congress property.”

As far as I can tell, however, no one has challenged using the word “catastrophe” to describe the impact Israel has had on Arabs. That word is not just hateful rhetoric; it’s highly misleading.

For many Arabs living in Israel today, a more accurate word would be Fursa, or opportunity.

A March 2022 report on Israel’s Arab population from the prestigious Israel Democracy Institute concluded that:

“Arab society in Israel is being revolutionized by the rise in the standard of living, life expectancy and education, along with the decline in fertility rates, changes to family structures, and an increasing desire to realize individual aspirations at the expense of collective values.”

In other words, Arabs living in the Jewish state today have rights, freedoms and opportunities they would be hard pressed to find in Arab nations of the region, where authoritarianism is the rule.

How is that a catastrophe?

Rep. Tlaib knows that she must hide this good news at all cost. It would undermine her narrative to make Israel the chronic oppressor and the Palestinians the chronic victims. She knows that as long as she can associate Israel with the word Nakba, she wins. The problem, of course, is that her people lose.

By freezing history in 1948, she freezes the helpless status of her people and gives them no hope. By covering up the remarkable progress that has occurred for Arab Israelis over the decades, she keeps her people frozen in time, paralyzed by the drug of permanent grievance.

If she truly wanted what’s best for her people, her message would be not one of catastrophe but one of opportunity. For starters, she would urge Palestinian leadership to do for Palestinians what Israel has done for Arab Israelis. In fact, if every Arab nation would treat their own people the way Israel treats its Arab minority, it would transform the region.

Tlaib’s no fool. She knows all that. She sees Arabs graduate from the top medical schools in Israel, she sees Arabs on the Israeli Supreme Court and Arab representatives yell with the best of them in the Knesset. She knows that the Nakba of 1948 is really the Fursa of 2023.

Maybe next year, she could organize a Fursa Day and invite Arab Israelis to speak about the many opportunities they have enjoyed in Israel.

That would be a catastrophe only for those who hate Israel.
Dallas Public Library head: ‘Nakba’ event not approved; ‘will not take place’
The head of the Dallas public library system is denying that a library green-lit an upcoming exhibition about the nakba, the term Palestinians use to refer to the “catastrophe” of modern-day Israel’s establishment as a state in 1948. But links on the website of the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, the system’s main library branch, show that it hosted a nakba event last year by the same group.

“The exhibit was not approved, and the organization posted the announcement without our knowledge. It will not take place,” Jo Giudice, director of the Dallas Public Library, told JNS of the 2023 iteration.

Asked about a similar event last year at the library, Giudice told JNS: “In researching it, we found that our policies already in place were not followed last year, and staff have been retrained.”

The library tries to “provide a platform for diverse voices and opinions, particularly those of disenfranchised communities,” Giudice added. “In our eagerness to be inclusive, we did not give the exhibit the scrutiny we should have. We have already begun the process of retraining staff on our policy and how to evaluate potential partnerships.”

From May 20 until Aug. 30, the Palestinian Youth Movement still claims on Facebook that it will host the exhibit, “75 Years of Resistance. 75 Years of Glory” at the central library branch.


Elliot Abrams: As Israel Turns 75, "Foreign Affairs" Publishes a Call to Eliminate It
In a recent article in the prestigious journal Foreign Affairs, four highly regard professors of politics and international relations assert that “Israel’s system of structural discrimination is more severe than those of even the most illiberal states” and therefore—they contend—since a two-state solution has become impossible, the U.S. should lead an international campaign to undermine Israel. The argument, Elliott Abrams observes, rests in large part on ignoring the Jewish state’s large non-Jewish minority, and the opinions of its members. And that is not its only flaw:

The authors land in some very nasty places. Their arguments against normalization with Israel in essence call for a new form of the old Arab boycott of Israel. They urge that “Although Washington cannot prevent normalization of relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors, the United States should not lead such efforts.” The clear suggestion here is that if it were possible to “prevent normalization,” that would be a fine U.S. activity. They also urge that efforts against BDS come to an end: the United States “should not seek to stop or punish those who choose to peacefully boycott Israel.” . . . [T]hey don’t quite have the courage of their convictions and do not say what their article logically leads to—the belief that Zionism is indeed a form of racism. Their goal is . . . eliminating Israel as a Jewish state, because in their view it is irredeemably evil. It is fundamentally racist and repressive, and it is time for U.S. policy to punish it for those traits.

The “two-state solution” has never seemed as elusive as it is now, and the future of Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza is a subject worthy of much debate. But it is not a contribution to that debate to vilify Israel, treat Palestinians as inert objects with little or no influence over their own future, and gloss over terrorism and the entire issue of security (for Palestinians, Israelis, and Jordanians).

The article calls for the end of the state of Israel as it has existed since 1948. By publishing this article Foreign Affairs has served only one useful purpose: to show us the state of the debate in academia. There, the view that one Jewish state is one too many is widely and indeed increasingly popular. Those who believe otherwise are well-advised to learn from this article that the goal of many of today’s academic critics is not to reform the state of Israel. The goal is to eliminate it.


David Collier: Israeli Civilians Don't Deserve Human Rights, According to Amnesty International
On Tuesday, Amnesty published an 82-page report titled, ”Automated Apartheid – How Facial Recognition Fragments, Segregates and Controls Palestinians in the OPT.” It would be a mistake to waste any time reading it.

I spent several years researching the output of Amnesty International and in 2019 I published a 200-page analysis of their severe anti-Israel bias. In my report from 2019, I predicted that Amnesty International would soon publicly suggest that Israel was practicing “apartheid,” and sure enough they fell over that cliff in early 2022.

A key point here is that the latest Amnesty report doesn’t contain anything newsworthy. The issue they raise is that, like most security services worldwide, Israel uses facial recognition to help keep the peace, something that shouldn’t surprise anyone.

Israel relies on technology to lessen the impact felt by Palestinians while increasing security for Israelis and Palestinians. Amnesty is not interested in these things, just as Amnesty is not interested in why Israel needs security measures in the first place and the human rights of Israeli civilians. Amnesty simply chooses to put a demonic label on everything that Israel does.

As is often the case, Amnesty’s new attack is relying on “testimony” from individual Palestinian activists or other NGOs, such as Youth Against Settlements and Breaking the Silence. A stream of bad faith actors feeding another bad faith actor. In this scenario, Israel becomes guilty because a bunch of people who hate Israel say so.

The whole report has only been put together so that Amnesty can further embed the false notion that Israel practices “apartheid.” It is part of an ongoing politicized propaganda campaign at which Amnesty is continually throwing a disproportionate amount of its own resources.

Engaging Amnesty’s arguments as if they carry weight is to fall into a rabbit hole and lose the argument before it has even started. The more important issues focus on Amnesty’s toxic motivations and goals, raising the important question about why anyone pays Amnesty any attention at all.
‘Hateful Material’: EU Demands Freeze of Palestinian Education Aid Over Antisemitic Textbooks
The European Parliament on Wednesday passed a resolution calling on the European Commission to suspend aid to the Palestinian Authority’s educational system until antisemitic and violent themes are removed from textbooks issued to K-12 students.

The resolution, passed with 421 yes votes with 577 members of parliament participating, “deplores the problematic and hateful material in Palestinian school textbooks and study cards which has still not been removed” and noted that the content is influencing a rise in terrorist activity among Palestinian teenagers.

Wednesday’s measure, which the PA delegation reportedly tried to supress, marked a significant escalation in approach from the EU towards the PA’s tolerance of antisemitism, according to Israeli education watchdog Impact-se.

“The Palestinian Authority lobbied hard in Brussels against this resolution, but found itself up against the hard reality of its hateful school curriculum and the anger and frustration of European Parliament members with a Palestinian national strategy of inciting schoolchildren to hate and violence on their dime, year after year,” CEO Marcus Sheff of Impact-se, which has issued numerous reports on antisemitism and incitement in Palestinian textbooks, said in a press release shared with The Algemeiner. “This strategy has murderous consequences. The resolution will also be noted at the European Commission and by Commissioner Varhelyi, who stated last week that EU funds can no longer be used to incite violence against Israel.”

The resolution marked the fourth year in the row that the EU has demanded immediate changes to Palestinian curriculum, which experts and lawmakers have described as the most antisemitic in the region and a factor protracting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It also followed assurances by European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi, whose office supervises aid to the Palestinian Authority, to Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen that the EU will not fund terror groups and programs inciting violence against Israel.
PreOccupiedTerritory: ‘Jews Are Just A Religion’ Wrongly Asserted In 408-Reply Israel-Palestine Thread For 320th Time (satire)
A participant in a lively Twitter discussion on Jewish self-determination in the ancestral Jewish homeland and its impact on Arabs broke a record last night with his incorrect contention that Judaism constitutes merely a faith, and not a nation, an argument that brought to a cumulative total of 320 times that statement has, in various forms, appeared so far in the debate.

Muhammad Khan, a Pakistani feeling buffeted by forces beyond his control who seeks validation and a sense of power by abusing Zionists online, added his voice to the two hundred or so other replies in the thread, which began when a pro-Israel account shared a debunking of a notorious map purporting to show “Palestinian loss of land” since 1947.

“Some ancien documint dosn’t giv yu the right to take Palestine,” tweeted Khan, who proceeded to ignore, dismiss, or simply misunderstand the dual nature of Jewish status: not only part of a spiritual and intellectual heritage, but part of a single polity with common culture, ancestry, and rules for membership – a people. In so doing, Khan helped the thread surpass the previous record of 319 times that contention, explicit or implied, has appeared in a single Twitter thread.

The argument proved just as persuasive as its predecessors, in that other users wasted no time correcting his mistaken notion. As with the previous cases of that antisemitic axiom, its proponent refused to abandon the position, both because doing so would undermine his argument, and, more fundamentally, his sense of honor and shame will never permit him to admit error.
The Caroline Glick Show: Simcha Rothman: The Future of Israel's Judicial Reform
This week’s guest on the Caroline Glick Show was MK Simcha Rothman from the Religious Zionism Party. Rothman is the Chairman of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee. As committee head, Rothman has been leading the effort toward reform of the judicial system together with Justice Minister Yariv Levin.

They discuss
- Failed negotiations at the President's house
- What is the next step to make judicial reform?
- Why judicial reform is necessary?
- What is the protest movement all about?

Finally, Glick asked Rothman to discuss his party’s views of Diaspora Jewry. Rothman explained the rationale for abrogating the so-called “Grandfather Clause” in the Law of Return which as provided the rights of new Olim to non-Jews with one Jewish grandparent and why the situation has no relevance for U.S. Jewry.


United Nations to hold meeting in Spain to examine internal antisemitism
Miguel Moratinos, charged with monitoring antisemitism and enhancing a system-wide response with the United Nations, told JNS that an intergovernmental group would hold a meeting in Cordoba, Spain, in June to discuss an action and response plan for antisemitism, including within the world body’s ranks.

His office has told JNS that the antisemitism summit is slated for June 20 in Cordoba, and multiple organizations told JNS that they plan to attend.

International Jewish leaders, and former and current Israeli officials, have said for decades that the United Nations suffers from antisemitism and an anti-Israel bias. The agency has declined to adopt a definition of antisemitism, let alone the widely accepted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) one; it often criticizes Israel and favors the Palestinians; and some of its employees even glorify Nazis and sympathize with terror groups.

Moratinos told JNS back in February that he sees things differently. “Israel and the Jewish people are integrated in the essence, in the soul of the U.N. So, how is the U.N. going to be antisemitic?” he said. “I have to tell you, the U.N. is not antisemitic.”

Israel’s mission to the United Nations and Jewish groups have specifically faulted Moratinos and other U.N. officials for failing to condemn antisemitic comments from the U.N. special rapporteur for the Palestinians, Francesca Albanese, as well as members of the U.N. Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry.
‘Unpardonable Bias’: Congresswoman Calls for Firing UN Official Over Israel ‘War Crimes’ Comments
Wagner told The Algemeiner on Friday that she further took issue with Albanese’s description of Israel as carrying out a “colonial” occupation.

“Israel has a fundamental right to exist,” she said. “The Jewish people are not colonizers—period. To suggest otherwise is both anti-Semitic and flagrantly wrong.”

Adnan was a senior member and spokesman for PIJ, who was described by the group in a statement following his death as “Commander Khader Adnan,” a “martyr,” and a “brave leader.” Adnan was most recently arrested on Feb. 23 and began an 87-day hunger strike that resulted in his death at the age of 45.

While PIJ mourned his death as a leader and martyr for the organization, some NGOs played down that aspect of his career.

“Khader Adnan, a baker by trade, had nine children with his wife Randa, who tirelessly campaigned for his release,” wrote Amnesty International in a statement after his death. “Since 2004 he had been arrested 13 times by Israeli authorities, due to his affiliation with the political wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement. While PIJ’s armed wing has carried out attacks on Israeli civilians, Khader Adnan himself was never charged with any involvement in acts of violence.”

Adnan had previously been recorded speaking publicly in support of PIJ, which is designated as a terrorist organization without distinction between its “political” and “armed” “wings” by the US, the European Union, and others, calling on attendees at a 2007 rally to give their lives in the struggle against Israel.

“Who among you is the next suicide bomber?” Adnan asked. “Who among you will carry the next explosive belt? Who among you will fire the next bullets? Who among you will have his own body parts blown all over?”

PIJ responded to Adnan’s death by firing rockets from the Gaza strip into Israel. Israeli military operations against PIJ in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip remain ongoing.
Head of Muslim charity praised by Charles endorsed Jew-hate conspiracies
The head of a Muslim cultural centre praised by the then-Prince Charles for “linking communities together” shared claims Israel steals dead Palestinians’ organs and was behind the September 11 attacks, the JC can reveal.

Nasar Mahmood, the chairman of the British Muslim Heritage Centre (BMHC) in Manchester, has used social media to share links to conspiracies and other offensive content.

Among the divisive content Mahmood has highlighted is a link to videos in which Israelis are described as “Zio zombies” trying to lure America into a “war against Arabs”.

The new disclosure come in the wake of similar revelations about the centre’s chief executive Maqsood Ahmad, who was forced to stand down from his role as director of an NHS trust after it was revealed he had described Israelis as “Zio-Nazis” in tweets and backed claims Labour politicians were in the pay of pro-Israel lobbyists.

Following Ahmad’s resignation, Mahmood issued a statement saying his “views are not consistent” with those of the BMHC. However, Mahmood’s own Facebook posts, which he has now removed, showed he had liked equally questionable content.

Among the now-deleted posts were links to claims on Russian propaganda channel RT that “Israel admits it harvested organs of dead Palestinians”, and to an article by the former British National Party leader Nick Griffin where he claimed he was “offered big money by Zionists” for his party to attack Islam.

Mahmood also posted numerous links to the US extreme right online network, Tru News, which is banned by YouTube and designated a hate group for its dissemination of antisemitic and LGBT hate and Islamophobia.


Once Again, New York Times Whitewashes Islamic Jihad
It might be too much to expect The New York Times to call Islamic Jihad a US-designated terrorist organization. Perhaps “militant,” while not doing justice to Islamic Jihad’s extremism, would have been more appropriate than the neutral “armed group” used by Abdulrahim.

Stating simply that Islamic Jihad “was founded to fight the Israeli occupation” implies that the organization’s aims are primarily territorial and could even be reasoned with in exchange for territorial concessions or the creation of a Palestinian state.

The reality is quite different. Reuters’ “Factbox” on Islamic Jihad, which offers a useful source of comparison with The New York Times, states: “The group is sworn to destroying Israel and replacing it with an Islamic state spanning what was pre-1948 British Mandate Palestine, including the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.”

Indeed, the clue is in its name. Islamic Jihad’s raison d’etre is a holy war against not only Israel but also the Jews, who are seen as an eternal enemy of the Muslims.

When asked to explain Islamic Jihad during a TV segment, CBS News’ foreign correspondent gave some simple yet vital context: “Its core tenets are extreme. They’re the destruction of Israel and the rejection of the two-state solution… The organization doesn’t participate in politics unlike Hamas and it focuses solely on military confrontation with Israel.”

So if other media outlets were able to briefly contextualize Islamic Jihad in just a few words or soundbites, how come Raja Abdulrahim was unable to do the same in The New York Times?

It’s time to stop whitewashing Islamic Jihad.


‘What is Islamic Jihad’ NY Times Again Puts on the Soft Gloves
Islamic Jihad is an antisemitic terrorist group whose attacks on civilians have caused unfathomable suffering and destruction.

Consider the case of Oran Almog. When Oran was just 10 years old, an Islamic Jihad operative entered the restaurant where he was eating with his family. When the terrorist, disguised as a pregnant woman, blew herself up, young Oran lost his father; his brother; two of his grandparents; and a cousin. He was maimed and blinded. His mother and younger sister were also injured.

Oran is just one victim of Islamic Jihad’s bombing of the Maxim restaurant — 21 Israelis were killed in total, including a one-year-old, a four-year old, a 9-year-old, and an 11-year-old. And this was just one of the group’s many attacks targeting Israeli civilians.

Islamic Jihad is responsible for countless incidents of unimaginable evil. Or as the New York Times has previously put it, it is a “nettlesome, unruly” little armed group. In other words, the murderers of Oran Almog’s family are, in the newspaper’s account, little more than annoying and naughty.

And today, the paper continues with its delicate descriptions of the terrorists.

After Israel targeted three senior Islamic Jihad leaders, the Times turned to reporter Raja Abdulrahim for an overview of the group: “What is Islamic Jihad and Why is Israel Targeting It?”

As a college student, Abdulrahim defended Hamas and Hezbollah and denigrated their Jewish victims. And while her latest piece wasn’t quite so brazen, it still fell short of candidly covering Islamic Jihad.


Virginia Adopts Leading Antisemitism Definition as State Launches New Efforts to Combat Jew Hatred
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin on Monday signed a bill adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism (IHRA) during a ceremony at the Executive Mansion in Richmond.

“When we acknowledge that we live in a world where there is hate and where that hate is translated into despicable actions, we can stand up together and say there is no room for that. When we can clearly define hatred, as this bill does, then we can transform for the good and build a better future,” Youngkin said before Jewish and other civic leaders.

First adopted in 2005 by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the IHRA definition of antisemitism states that “antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews,” and includes a list of illustrative examples ranging from Holocaust denial to the rejection of the Jewish people’s right to self-determination. The definition is used by over 850 governing institutions, including the US State Department, European Union, and the United Nations. Over 30 countries have adopted it with support from lawmakers across the political spectrum.

In Feburary, Virginia’s legislature approved a bill, HB 1606, adopting the IHRA definition at the recommendation of a state commission created by Youngkin to study antisemitism in the state. The commission noted that while no antisemitic assaults have occurred in Virginia since 2018, 411 antisemitic incidents, including harassment and vandalism had occured in 2021, a 71 percent increase when compared to data for 2020.

Incidents cited by the commission included the graffitiing of a swastika on a Jewish family’s home in Burke and an Arlington student’s airdropping an image of a swastika to his entire class and proceeding to play an online quiz game “using a swastika and a racial slur.” Most notable, however, was an incident from five years ago, the Unite the Right Rally, which took place in Charlottesville in 2017 and led to death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer, who was killed when a white supremacist attending the rally intentionally crashed into dozens of counter-protestors.
Gunman in Texas mall shooting reportedly posted antisemitic rhetoric on social media
The suspect in the shooting Saturday at a mall in Texas appears to have posted antisemitic, anti-LGBTQ and misogynist messages to a social media account.

According to researchers at the Anti-Defamation League, as well as a report in NBC News, the gunman, a 33-year-old who killed eight people at an outlet mall in Allen, a suburb of Dallas, had an account at OK.RU, a Russian social media platform. On the account, he cited sites popular with white supremacists, such as 4chan, and white supremacist figures such as Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. His posts repeated antisemitic conspiracies, using an abbreviation for the “Zionist occupied government” and claiming that Jews have “engineered society so that men cannot mate with a woman.”

“An initial assessment of a massive social media trove, which ADL researchers can link to Garcia with a high degree of confidence, reveals a preoccupation with violence that manifests in a wide range of hate, including towards women and Jews,” read an assessment by the ADL’s Center on Extremism, using the shooter’s last name. The report cited Bellingcat, an investigative journalism site, in its research.

The shooter also posted photos of a jacket with a patch featuring the acronym for “Right Wing Death Squad,” a far-right term, as well as a shirtless photo where he is shown with tattoos of a swastika and the logo of the Nazi Waffen-SS force. “Here’s what I think about your diversity you f….g loser’s [sic],” he wrote in the photo caption, according to the ADL, which added that at least one post included the phrase “Heil Hitler.”
Jewelry tainted by Nazi links up for auction despite criticism from Jewish groups
Jewels belonging to an Austrian billionaire whose German husband made his fortune under the Nazis go under the hammer on Wednesday, despite demands by Jewish groups to call the sale off.

The Christie’s auction house plans to sell the entire collection of 700 jewels, estimated to be worth more than $150 million, by the end of the year.

A portion has been available online since last week, while nearly 100 pieces will be sold in person in Geneva on Wednesday and another 150 on Friday.

The jewelry, including pieces from 20th-century designers such as Cartier, Bulgari and Van Cleef & Arpels, belonged to Heidi Horten who died last year aged 81, with a fortune of $2.9 billion, according to Forbes.

Among the main attractions Wednesday will be the Sunrise Ruby, estimated at $15-20 million, Christie’s said.

The sale could eclipse previous records set by Christie’s in sales of properties that belonged to actress Elizabeth Taylor in 2011 and the “Maharajas and Mughal Magnificence” collection in 2019, both of which exceeded $100 million.

A report published in January 2022 by historians commissioned by the Horten Foundation said Heidi Horton’s husband Helmut Horton, who died in Switzerland in 1987, had been a member of the Nazi party before being expelled.
“Jewish motherf ers” Suspect arrested following reported verbal abuse against Jewish passersby
A suspect has been arrested following reported verbal abuse against Jewish passersby.

In one piece of video footage, a man seems to yell “Jewish motherf***ers” to someone filming.

In another, an individual, who appears to be the same man, shouts what sounds like “f***ing Jewish” to a person driving a car.

The alleged incident occurred in the afternoon of 7th May and was reported by Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol.
Arrest made following reports of verbal abuse against Jewish woman in Stamford Hill
An arrest has been made following reports of verbal abuse against a Jewish woman in the North London area of Stamford Hill.

The suspect allegedly told the Jewish woman: “One day I will kill all you Jews!”

The alleged incident occurred on the corner of High Road and Ravensdale Road at 14:30 on 2nd May, and was reported by Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol.
Israel's Noa Kirel advances to Eurovision final
Israeli pop star Noa Kirel has advanced to the Eurovision 2023 final after her semi-final performance of her song “Unicorn" in Liverpool last night.

She will compete on Saturday night to become the fifth Israeli to win the song contest since becoming the first non-European country to participate in the annual event in 1973. The last Israeli to take the top prize was Netta Barzilai in 2018 for her song “Toy.”

“There is no excitement quite like this!” Kirel said in a statement after the results were announced. “I felt like every one of you was with me. I promise to do everything — and I mean everything — to keep making the people of Israel happy in the grand final.”

Kirel co-wrote “Unicorn” alongside Doron Medalie, Yinon Yahel and May Sfadia.

Also advancing to the final: Croatia, Moldova, Switzerland, Finland, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Sweden, Serbia and Norway.

“Security is the most important thing at the moment, and I hope that the contest will hearten the citizens of Israel. My heart is with them, and I will do everything I can so that the people of Israel are proud of me,” Kirel said in a statement ahead of the contest.




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