Tuesday, May 16, 2023

05/16 Links Pt1: The tragedy of the Palestinians; Who are the Palestinian Arabs?; Rashida Tlaib Asks Supporters To 'Chip In' So She Can Host More Anti-Semitic Events

From Ian:

The tragedy of the Palestinians
More recently, Iran has come to play more of a role in the Palestinian tragedy. Its aim is to bolster its regional presence at the expense of Israel. So it has provided substantial backing to the heavily armed Hezbollah militia of Shiite Muslims in Lebanon as a way of threatening Israel. It has also supported Islamist terrorist groups among the Palestinians, such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

These Palestinian Islamist groups, as I have previously argued, do not support Palestinian self-determination. On the contrary, they share the Islamist goal of creating a transnational Islamic order. They are hostile to national self-determination. The Palestinians are being used to lead a fight for an Islamist order that transcends national borders.

Finally, there is the UN itself. It has a special organisation, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), formed in 1949, charged with dealing with the large number of Palestinians still deemed as refugees in the West Bank, Gaza and the surrounding countries. This is separate from the UNHCR, which deals with refugees around the world.

The problem with the UNRWA is that it helps perpetuate the refugee status of many Palestinians. There are now not only first-generation refugees, but also those deemed second- and third-generation and beyond. Rather than encourage the Palestinians to integrate with the local populations, the UNRWA works to keep them separate. In Lebanon, many Palestinians are forced to live in UNRWA-run refugee camps, attend UNRWA-run schools and rely on meagre handouts from the agency.

The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has proven to be extremely intractable. But a precondition for its resolution is for numerous outside forces to stop interfering. Presenting Israel as a universal oppressor inevitably promotes a crass narrative, with Israel cast as a fount of evil. Pushing the Palestinians into the role of universal victim is arguably even worse. It has proved to be another catastrophe for the Palestinian people.
Jordanian Journalist Voices Unusual Position: West Bank Is Part Of Jordan; Palestinian Authority Is Artificial Entity That Must Cease To Exist; We Should Seriously Discuss Reuniting The Two Banks Of The Jordan River
In a recent article in the daily Al-Ghad, Jordanian media figure Malik Al-'Athanmeh voices an unusual opinion, calling to seriously consider the option of reuniting Jordan and the West Bank. He criticizes the Arab states for refusing to recognize Jordan's annexation of the West Bank in 1950 and for recognizing the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.[1] Al-'Athamneh, a Jordanian who resides in Belgium and writes a regular column in Jordan's Al-Ghad, notes that the West Bank was part of the kingdom of Jordan from 1950 until1967, and that the Arab League initially opposed Jordan's annexation of this territory. However, it ultimately accepted this fact, and the UN later recognized it as well. He laments the fact that the "obsessive pan-Arabism" and "false delusions of heroism" of Gamal 'Abd Al-Nasser, president of Egypt at the time, swept Jordan and Syria into the 1967 war, in which all three countries lost territory to Israel and Jordan lost the West Bank.

According to Al-'Athamneh, the Arab League's recognition of the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, which was affirmed at the 1974 Arab League summit in Rabat, was a significant and "despicable" act that undermined the historical and geographical reality, namely that the West Bank is part of Jordan. Calling the PA an "artificial" entity that should cease to exist, he contends that the Jordanians should start talks with a "real and active" Palestinian partner about the option of reuniting the two banks of the Jordan river, which would benefit both sides.

It should be mentioned that Al-'Athanmeh disregards the decision taken by the Jordan's King Hussein on July 31, 1988, in which he severed the connection between Jordan and the West Bank, i.e., renounced any claim to Jordanian sovereignty over this territory and severed all legal and administrative ties with it, except for Jordan's custodianship over the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem. With this move King Hussein relinquished his dream of forming a federation between Jordan and the West Bank, and affirmed Jordan's support for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

"In practice, the West Bank of the Jordan river used to constitute one half of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and all the debates about how to describe what happened at the Jericho Congress,[3] whether it was 'annexation' or 'unification,' will not change the geographical and historical [facts that prevailed] after April 24, 1950 [Jordan's official annexation of the West Bank]. On that [day], two years after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, the West Bank and its inhabitants became part of Jordan. In December 1949 the inhabitants of the West Bank had already been granted the right to apply for Jordanian citizenship.

"The Arab League opposed the unification of the two banks, and some Arab countries even demanded to expel Jordan from the [league for this]. In 1955, after Jordan joined the UN, the latter recognized the unification of the two banks, or the annexation of the West Bank. But the Arab League had already announced, on June 12, 1950, that the annexation was [merely] a practical and temporary measure and that Jordan would hold [the territory] in trust until [some other] arrangement could be made regarding it – a naïve statement that sought to rescue the self-respect of those who had opposed the reality [of Jordan's annexation of the West Bank].


Who are the Palestinian Arabs?
In a speech delivered in March 2023 in France, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich asserted that "the Palestinian people are an invention that is less than 100 years old.” He is a Palestinian he said. Why? Because “my grandfather, who was the 13th generation [of my family] in Jerusalem, is the real Palestinian. My grandmother, who was born in Metula more than 100 years ago to a family of pioneers, is Palestinian."

Smotrich explained that according to international law, there are five criteria that define a nation: “history, culture, language, currency and historical leadership. Who was the first Palestinian king? What language do the Palestinians have? Has there ever been a Palestinian currency? Is there a Palestinian history or culture? There isn’t any.” [1]

The French government and the Biden administration widely denounced Smotrich’s speech. French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre condemned it as “infuriating and irresponsible.” [2] The rebuke of Smotrich exposed a limited understanding of the strategy used by the Arabs to deceive the West into believing there is a separate Palestinian Arab nation whose citizens are victims of the Zionists, who destroyed their society, stole their land, and forced them into appalling exile.

The Myth of a Palestinian Nation
In an interview in March 31,1977 with the Dutch newspaper Trouw, Zuhair Mushein, Palestinian Arab who was leader of the pro-Syrian Al Saika faction, a terrorist organization, and head of the Executive Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), exposed the myth of a Palestinian nation with a separate “Palestinian identity,” when he declared, "There are no differences between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. We are part of one people, the Arab nation… Only for political reasons do we carefully emphasize our Palestinian identity. The fact is that it is in the national interest to encourage the existence of the Palestinians against Zionism. Indeed, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity is only for tactical reasons. The establishment of a Palestinian state is a new means of carrying on the struggle against Israel and for Arab unity…. After we have gained our rights to all of Palestine, we must not for a moment postpone the reunification of Jordan and Palestine.” [3]

Prior to entering the Knesset in 1996 as head of the Arab Balad party, Azmi Bishara declared: “Well, I don’t think there is a Palestinian nation at all. I think there is an Arab nation. I always thought so and I did not change my mind. I do not think there is a Palestinian nation, I think it’s a colonialist invention - Palestinian nation. When were there any Palestinians? Where did it come from? I think there is an Arab nation. I never turned to be a Palestinian nationalist, despite my decisive struggle against the occupation. I think that until the end of the 19th century, Palestine was the south of Greater Syria.” [4]

Syrian President Hafez Assad admonished Yasser Arafat for using the term Palestinian People, since it was known this was a contrived and factitious identify: “You do not represent Palestine as much as we do. Never forget this one point: There is no such thing as a Palestinian people, there is no Palestinian entity, there is only Syria. You are an integral part of the Syrian people, Palestine is an integral part of Syria. Therefore it is we, the Syrian authorities, who are the true representatives of the Palestinian people.” [5]


More than 45 countries boycott UN ‘Nakba Day’
In a seemingly never-ending war of narratives, the Palestinians got center stage on Monday at the United Nations, though Israel was victorious in dwindling the audience down.

May 15 marked the first official U.N. “Nakba Day,” per a resolution that the U.N. General Assembly passed in December. In Arabic, the word means “disaster” or “catastrophe,” in relation to the establishment of modern-day Israel on May 14, 1948.

The ceremonies took place Monday morning at the United Nations, despite the history of the alleged “catastrophe” including Palestinian Arab refusal of the 1947 U.N. plan to partition British Mandate Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states, and violation of the U.N. charter, when Arab armies sought to destroy an established state in 1948.

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas assailed the United States and the United Kingdom in his speech, claiming that the two bear responsibility for the current Palestinian condition by establishing Israel for their own political goals, victimizing the Palestinian people

“These countries wanted to get rid of their Jews and benefit from their presence in (British Mandatory) Palestine,” Abbas said.

Abbas insisted that the United Nations suspend Israel if it does not grant Palestinians a state and demanded the so-called “right of return” for millions of refugees’ descendants. He claimed falsely that Israel agreed to this provision in 1947 in order to be accepted as a U.N. member state.

The United States and the United Kingdom announced last week that they would not participate in Monday’s events, drawing Abbas’ ire. Israel’s U.N. mission and Foreign Ministry campaigned to convince other member states to forgo attending, which appeared to pay dividends.

Some 45 countries reportedly steered clear, including Ukraine, 10 European Union member states, three African nations and Canada.


Rashida Talib’s ‘nakba’ lie
Both Democrats and Republicans have recognized that Israel stabilizes and fortifies the powder keg called the Middle East. This has been true for the past 75 years. America needs Israel and Israel needs America. It is, for all practical purposes, a mutual admiration society.

This past week, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), with the help of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), threw scalding hot water on that relationship with her “Nakba Day” hate-fest.

Every civilization survives on truth. When truth is replaced by lies and egregious falsehoods, civilization suffers immensely. Thus, by perpetrating the “Nakba” lie in the halls of Congress, Rashida Tlaib wounded America at its core.

The media likes to “fact check” everyone except Tlaib and her compatriots. The media has a responsibility to bring to the masses the true story of what happened in 1948. By hiding and at the same time propping up Tlaib, the media does a disservice to America, Israel and the world.

The media is fully aware that Israel accepted the U.N.’s 1947 Partition Plan. The Arabs did not. Instead of recognizing Israel’s right to exist, six Arab countries (Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia) attacked Israel. This was not a “Nakba”(“catastrophe”) as Tlaib wants members of Congress to believe. It was an all-out blood-curdling war. Over 6,000 Israelis were killed. The fighting went on until 1949 when armistice agreements were signed.

The Arab countries that attacked Israel lost the war they had started. There had been no need for them to go to war. They could have accepted the Partition Plan, but refused to do so. Not one drop of blood had to be shed, but the Arab world wanted to drive the Jews of Israel into the sea.

Arab leaders told the Arabs living in Israel to leave in 1947. Israel did not expel the Arabs. They did it to themselves. Now the Rashida Tlaibs of the world want to blame Israel for their own mistakes and their own aggression.
Caroline Glick: Rashida Tlaib's Anti-Israel Hatefest in the Senate
Tlaib's event last Wednesday took place as Palestinian terrorists in Gaza lobbed hundreds upon hundreds of indiscriminate missiles at Israeli civilian population centers in the south and center of the country. As Rod reported, in her remarks before a packed room of Israel-haters who share her view that Jews have no right to national self-determination in their ancestral homeland, Tlaib accused Israeli police of a "sustained campaign of terror" against Muslim worshipers at the Temple Mount, slandered Israel as an "apartheid state," and asserted that U.S. military aid to Israel supports "ethnic cleansing."

The only Democrat who spoke out against Tlaib's event was Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV). Speaking to Jewish Insider, Rosen said, "calling the establishment of the world's only Jewish state a 'catastrophe' is deeply offensive, and I strongly disagree with allowing this event to be held on Capitol Hill."

Notably silent—and passive—throughout Tlaib's latest effort to mainstream Jew-hatred was Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Schumer, who has long boasted of his pro-Israel bona fides and often refers to himself as a "shomer" (guardian) of Israel, didn't lift a finger to block Tlaib's hatefest. Schumer's staff insisted that the Senate majority leader had no prior knowledge of Sanders' plan to host the Tlaib event in his committee room. Regardless, Schumer did not speak out against the hatefest before it occurred and has remained silent about it in its aftermath.

The contrast between McCarthy's quick move to block Tlaib's antisemitic hatefest and Schumer's silence tells us something alarming about the state of play in the Democratic Party today.

Statements, campaign pledges, and voting records of Democratic lawmakers attest to the fact that most Democrats remain supportive of Israel and the U.S.-Israel alliance. But Pelosi's support for Tlaib's rise and Schumer's failure to oppose her antisemitic antics in the Senate make clear that the power in today's Democratic Party resides in the Tlaib-Omar wing. So long as the pro-Israel majority of elected Democrats remains silent, the position of antisemites in the Democratic Party will grow stronger—and the future of pro-Israel politicians in the party will grow dimmer.
Rashida Tlaib Asks Supporters To 'Chip In' So She Can Host More Anti-Semitic Events
Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) is fundraising off the anti-Semitic event she hosted last week, telling supporters she needs the money to battle "Israel's apartheid regime."

Tlaib's fundraising pitch references the "Squad" member's controversial push to host an event mourning Israel's creation as a "catastrophe." Tlaib in the pitch boasts about her ability to hold the anti-Semitic event last week, even after it was initially canceled by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), as the Washington Free Beacon first reported. After McCarthy intervened on the House side, Tlaib enlisted socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) to reserve her space on the Senate side of the Capitol, where McCarthy has no jurisdiction.

The event—a celebration of the "Nakba," a Palestinian term for the creation of Israel that loosely translates as "catastrophe"—drew widespread condemnation from House and Senate Republicans. Democratic leaders in both chambers, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), remained mostly silent.

"In an attempt to suppress the truth and silence Palestinian voices, McCarthy tried to stop the event by blocking the use of the auditorium it was planned for," Tlaib wrote in the fundraising email. "But he failed to silence those voices or their truth, as the event proceeded in a different location with a packed, standing-room-only audience."

In the email to her supporters, Tlaib pledges to confront "Israel's apartheid regime" and work to cut off the billions of dollars the United States allocates to protect Israel from terrorism.

"The U.S. government enables and perpetuates the Israeli government's war crimes and massacres with U.S.-made weapons and billions in unconditional funding," Tlaib wrote in the pitch, asking supporters to "chip in" so that she can "stand up to U.S. and Israeli attempts to silence and erase Palestinians."

Tlaib also claimed she faces "constant targeting and bullying by extremists in Congress."


Holocaust Distortion, Erased: Major News Outlets Omit Palestinian Leader’s Antisemitism From Reports
Abbas’ assertion that Israelis lie “like Goebbels” not only downplays the systematic and industrialized murder of six million Jews by Nazi Germany and their allies, but also flagrantly breaches the International Holocaust Remembrance Association’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, which some 40 UN members have endorsed. In fact, the IHRA explicitly notes that “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” can be considered antisemitism.

It is similarly important to note that the Palestinian leader’s WWII comparison is disconnected from reality: According to the PA’s own Central Bureau of Statistics, there were 1.4 million Palestinians when Israel was established in 1948. By 2020, that figure had risen to 13.4 million.

Yet in a seeming attempt to blatantly sanitize Abbas’ incessant diplomatic antisemitism, prominent news organizations like The New York Times, the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, ABC News, the Los Angeles Times, and United Press International simply omitted the outrageous remarks, which were widely reported in the Israeli and Jewish press.

This attempt to cover up Abbas’ Jew hatred is reminiscent of a disturbing incident last summer when large swaths of the media buried Abbas’ shocking claim during a press conference in Germany that the Jewish state has somehow perpetrated “50 Holocausts.”

As the fraudulent Nakba narrative has seemingly taken the world stage by storm, journalists’ refusal to call out bare-faced Holocaust distortion reveals an ever-deepening rot in the media’s coverage of Israel and the Jewish people.
The Media’s Unhealthy Nakba Day Obsession
Like clockwork every year on May 15, the international media pump out articles about the so-called “Nakba Day” — a day that marks the “catastrophe” that many Palestinians view as the establishment of the Israeli state in 1948.

The 75th anniversary has been bolstered by the United Nations’ absurd decision to officially commemorate Nakba Day for the first time, despite the fact that the annual event rejects explicitly the very existence of a Jewish state as a “disaster.” This has seen a flurry of Nakba-themed activity by mainstream media outlets seemingly competing against each other for who can find a new lens through which to cover a day that could just as easily be observing 75 years of Palestinian rejectionism.

The New York Times led the coverage with a piece dedicated to Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas‘s speech to the UN, gushing about the “standing ovation and two rounds of long applause” that the octogenarian dictator received at the conference. The NYT also sought to downplay the UN’s anti-Israel fixation and labeled it merely “sympathetic to Palestinians” — a fairly muted way of describing a body that last year condemned the Jewish state more times than all other countries combined.

The Associated Press published a similar report on Abbas’ UN attention-seeking, but leading on the PA President’s urging the General Assembly to “suspend Israel’s membership unless it implements resolutions establishing separate Jewish and Arab states and allows the return of Palestinian refugees.”

While the wire agency acknowledged the fact that Arabs rejected the UN partition plan that would have created the two independent states Abbas claims to fantasize about, the piece fails to make any reference to the many other comprehensive peace offers that would also have achieved this — including those Abbas himself rejected.

Read More: Examining The ‘Crime’ That Was Mahmoud Abbas’ Rejection of Peace
Left-wing media website Vox produced a 16-minute film, which features tear-jerking interviews with Palestinians who talk of being “massacred” — a dark history Vox claims has been “carefully concealed, purposefully distorted and in the West, largely forgotten.”

Despite having more than enough time to provide readers with the full facts, given the length of the film, Vox instead gives a masterclass on how to carefully omit important details to further a particular narrative. For example, viewers are told the Land of Israel had been “home to Palestinians for centuries” without noting that Jews have occupied the land for thousands of years, and explaining “Jewish flight from Europe” after the Holocaust but leaving out the fact that the Palestinians actually allied with the Nazis.

The Guardian opted to offer column inches to Mustafa Barghouti for its Nakba Day coverage whose op-ed spouted the normal distortions and falsehoods that have come to characterize the Palestinian Nakba narrative: the apartheid libel, claims the Israeli military occupies the Gaza Strip, and the assertion that “6 million Palestinian refugees are unable to return to their homeland.”


Nakba Day: A Festival of Hate in Downtown Toronto: Where’s The Media Coverage?
On Saturday, May 13, Nakba Day was held at Dundas Square, in downtown Toronto.

The demonstration, organized by a litany of local anti-Israel organizations, was marketed as commemorating 75 years since the “nakba,” or Arabic for catastrophe, referring to Israel’s rebirth in 1948 and an effort to “resist against the ongoing settler colonial and imperial forces of Zionism!”

The term nakba is a specific word used by those who seek to delegitimize Israel’s existence as a Jewish State.

According to promotional materials distributed before the event, the rally invited the public to “join us in commemorating 75 years of resistance,” adding that the day recognizes the Palestinians who “have been resisting ongoing Zionist military occupation and settler colonialism.”

If you’re wondering what exactly the organizers of Nakba Day mean by referring to Palestinians “resisting,” in popular Palestinian parlance, the term is a euphemism often used to describe the use of armed violence against innocent Israeli civilians.

The claim of “ongoing Zionist military occupation and settler colonialism” is absurd, given that Israel enjoys full legal claim to the land it possesses, and it represents a continuation of the ancient Jewish inhabitation of the land of Israel.

While the organizers of Nakba Day could claim that they were referring only to non-violent means of resistance, the makeup of their speakers’ addresses belies such a defence.

Moe Jaberi, of the Toronto4Palestine organization, told attendees in no uncertain terms that all resistance against Israel is justified, including the use of armed violence.


Toronto’s Al Quds Day 2023: Hate and Violence on Display
Last month, a devastating display of hate engulfed the streets of Toronto in what has come to be known as “Al Quds Day.” Self-proclaimed Palestinian rights activists converged on the city center to participate in what has become an annual tradition of glorifying violence and calling for the erasure of the State of Israel. Under the guise of championing Palestinian rights, demonstrators praised prominent members of Canadian-designated terror organizations and unequivocally saluted the actions of convicted murderers.

Al Quds Day 2023, much like previous iterations of the event, brought out the worst in our city. The rally prominently featured flags of the designated terror organization Hezbollah and Iran, a state sponsor of terror. Genocidal chants and signs comparing Israel to ISIS and to Nazi Germany contributed to a palpably threatening atmosphere felt by so many of us here in the Jewish community.

Such hostile behavior should come as no surprise to those familiar with the march’s chief organizer, the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. Based in Canada and designated by Israel in 2021 as a terror organization, Samidoun militantly targets the world’s only Jewish state for delegitimization with a startling fervor and maintains close ties with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Canadian-designated terror entity. Samidoun’s International Coordinator, Charlotte Kates, who took to the stage during the march, is married to Khaled Barakat, a fellow Al Quds Day speaker, and a self-admitted PFLP member.

Far from advocating for peace in the Middle East, Samidoun’s true aspiration is to fuel a violent uprising to destroy the Jewish state. Kates made this clear when she devoted a portion of her Al Quds day rant to demanding Canada delist groups fighting for “Palestinian and Lebanese resistance.” The Palestinian and Lebanese groups listed as terror entities by the Canadian government include the likes of Hamas and Hezbollah, with a notorious track record of violence targeting innocent civilians.

Canadian intelligence services and their foreign counterparts exercise tremendous restraint in designating terrorist entities. The consequences of a terrorist designation are enormous and can be catastrophic for those remotely involved in the activities of designated groups. The barrier to entry into this club is high, and the designation should be a grave occurrence. Organizations labeled as such, therefore, must be universally denounced and ostracized. The events of April 14 in Toronto, however, show that Charlotte Kates and her fellow travelers think otherwise.


EU officials squabble over conditions for Palestinian aid
A rare public clash between EU officials took place in recent days after the 27-member body announced unprecedented measures to potentially cut aid to the Palestinian Authority over its incitement to terrorism.

Last Wednesday, the European Parliament declared that the €300 million ($326 million) per year it gives to Ramallah are set to be conditioned on removing “the problematic and hateful material in Palestinian school textbooks and study cards.”

Olivér Várhelyi, the European commissioner for neighborhood and enlargement, tweeted following the decision that “we have a shared interest to ensure an education for the next generation that supports peace & coexistence.”

He added, “The budgetary authority’s request to condition E.U. financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority to full adherence of its textbooks and study cards with UNESCO standards is duly noted. To this end, Commission will reach out to the Palestinian Authority without delay and finance a 2nd study on Palestinian textbooks to support this constructive engagement.”

Josep Borrell, the E.U.’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, told AFP on Saturday that he would not let this measure translate into action.

“The Palestinian Authority is in a difficult situation and it risks bankruptcy if financing from the EU is blocked. As high representative, I will not allow it,” Borrell said in a meeting in Sweden. “This matter has already been dealt with by the European External Action Service with the Palestinian Authority. We don’t need a new study or anything that would delay the payment of the financial aid that the Palestinian Authority needs. The payment of European aid faced delays two years ago, and it meant that people missed out on necessary help.”

He added, “There is no discussion about looking for excuses about blocking this financial aid. On this point I’m firm.”
Irish lawmakers to debate West Bank divestment in anti-Israel move
A bill that would require Ireland’s Strategic Investment Fund to divest from businesses operating in Judea and Samaria was set to go to a vote in Dublin on Wednesday.

The investment fund put a total of €1.19 million, 0.01% of ISIF’s total equity investments of €799 million in 2021, into Israeli companies, according to the Ireland-Israel Alliance. Only €150,000 of that money was invested in businesses known to operate in the West Bank.

The bill would have the Strategic Investment Fund “divest itself of all assets, and to prohibit future investments in any companies, included on the UN Database of companies that operate within the illegal Israeli settlements,” Sinn Féin lawmaker John Brady wrote on his party’s website.

Referring to a 2021 motion in which the Dáil, the lower house of the Irish legislature, declared Israel’s presence in the West Bank annexation, and therefore a war crime, Brady said: “While Ireland has been critical of ongoing expansion of illegal settlements, Irish taxpayers have been made shareholders in the actions that we, as legislators... unanimously decreed as illegal.”

Brady claimed the fund “has invested Irish taxpayers’ money in nine of the 112 companies contained in the UN Database,” including four Israeli banks. Brady, who was demoted from holding his party’s foreign affairs portfolio last month, wrote the claim on the Sinn Féin website last week and in a video posted to Twitter on Tuesday.

However, contrary to Brady’s claim, the ISIF invested in nine Israeli companies, but only four of them are on the UN blacklist: Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Israel Discount Bank and Mizrahi Tefahot Bank.


Calgary Peace Prize going to Palestinian poet who spews hate against Jews
The Anti-Defamation League has called Mohammed El-Kurd an “unvarnished, vicious antisemite.” Yet in spite of widely available evidence attesting to his prominence as a hatemonger, Mount Royal University in Canada chose to award the writer with the 2023 Calgary Peace Prize.

Now the International Legal Forum (ILF) has sent a letter urging the reversal of this decision.

It said: “His past statements go above and beyond any acceptable criticism of Israel, principles of free speech or the advancement of Palestinian rights. Instead, they represent an unhinged display of bigotry, use of antisemitic tropes and both the incitement and glorification of violence.”

ILF further pointed out how El-Kurd’s statements violated the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.

Some of the statements El-Kurd has made over the years include calling Zionists “sadistic barbaric neo-Nazi pigs” who have “completely internalized the ways of the Nazis.” He also said that he fantasized about this fate: “I hope every one of them dies in the most torturous & slow ways. I hope that they see their mothers suffering.”
'Cultural Marxism' not a slur says Israeli conference host
The Israeli philosopher behind the National Conservative movement, which launched today in London, has defended a Tory MP against charges of antisemitism.

Yoram Hazony, the conference chairman and an orthodox Jewish theologian, said that Miriam Cates, MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, was correct to use the controversial term “cultural Marxism” in a speech at the event on Monday.

He told the JC: “I deplore this attempt to smear a friend of the Jews such as Miriam Cates with the utterly preposterous accusation of antisemitism.

“The term ‘cultural Marxism’ is as an apt phrase to describe the cultural agenda promoted by many on the left today.”

In her speech at the inaugural National Conservative conference in Westminster, Cates had claimed that "cultural Marxism" was "destroying our children's souls" and causing self-harm, suicide and "epidemic levels of anxiety".

The backbench Tory MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, who also said young people would not have children if they did not have "hope for the future".

But John Mann, the UK Government’s antisemitism Tsar, slated Ms Cates's use of the term "cultural Marxism".

The former Labour MP said: "The use of the term is rooted in Goebbels' cultural Bolshevism and is a conspiracy theory with antisemitism at its core.


Calls for ex-Pendle Labour leader accused of anti-Semitism to be permanently expelled
Coun. Mohammed Iqbal was temporarily excluded last June pending an investigation after implying that Israel was comparable to Nazi Germany in a speech during a Pendle Council debate. The Bradley ward councillor – then leader of the authority and Pendle Labour – denies being anti-Semitic.The Jewish Chronicle has published pictures of Coun. Iqbal canvassing for the party leading up to the local elections, outside a polling station wearing a Labour rosette, and posing alongside Labour figures, including Lancashire County Coun. Azhar Ali.Now Pendle Conservative MP Andrew Stephenson urges opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer to expel him properly.He said: “Since his supposed ‘suspension’ from the Labour Party, Coun. Iqbal has continued to sit with the Labour group in Pendle Council and Lancashire County Council.“He was seen repeatedly out campaigning for Labour in the run up to the local elections and then attended the count to celebrate alongside other Labour councillors.“It is therefore unclear what his ‘suspension’ actually means.

“In the light of the Pendle Labour Party turning a blind eye to antisemitism, Sir Keir Starmer should launch an investigation into the local Labour Party and make Coun. Iqbal’s suspension permanent.”Party sources said the suspension of Coun. Iqbal – who officially sits as an Independent on the borough and county councils – remained in force pending a decision on his future by its complaints board.A spokesman for the Jewish Labour Movement told the Jewish Chronicle: “If he has taken part in campaigning then it is likely that he will have broken the rules of his suspension and this will be added onto the charge sheet when his case is heard. All parts of the party must be with us and Keir Starmer in destroying this toxic legacy of antisemitism from our party.”

Anne-Marie Wrigley, Pendle Labour Party vice-chair, said: “After 13 years as MP for Pendle, Andrew Stephenson is now resorting to personal attacks against Labour Party members because he has seen the tide has turned.“This is a desperate man worried more about his ministerial career than anything else.“Coun. Iqbal is suspended from the Labour Party pending an investigation, which we hope will be concluded soon.“He cannot act on behalf of the Labour Party.”




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