Sunday, May 28, 2023

05/28 Links: Why IHRA isn’t even good enough; Col. Kemp: While playing Nazi dress-up, Roger Waters decries antisemitic branding; Why IHRA isn’t even good enough

From Ian:

Why IHRA isn’t even good enough
The reason activism against antisemitism often fails is it focuses on debunking the words of antisemitism not the intent. Compare to any other group’s activism where the language cuts past the BS and explicitly diagnoses and opposes the intention of the racism.

The term antisemitism itself was invented by a Jew hater to make anti Jewish bigotry harder to talk about. The official definition as it stands right now shows the deception was so effective it confused the collective minds of its target. It makes it sound like we are upset because our detractors don’t like us. As if it was ever about just our feelings.

The result is rarely do pro Jew much less pro Israel advocates convince anyone because we bungle the message. Within the Jewish community’s own discourse the point is stubbornly and infuriatingly missed.

Part of the reason antisemitism is so persistent is the world’s two most populous religions teach it is a holy moral duty to kill, convert or erase Jews.

The entire Christian Bible is meant as a remedy to what it codes as Jewish moral deficiency. The Christian ideas of Jews being all-corrupting money obsessed killers of all that is holy is the foundation of all western conspiracy theories and has infected secular discourse since day one.

It dovetails nicely with left wing anti capitalist and anti colonial ideas and fermented with the KGB’s invention of liberation theology.

With Islam, the hate is because we refuse to convert and also because it sees itself as the highest evolution of world religions with the Jews at the bottom of that hierarchy. The Hamas Charter quotes the most explicit passages on the subject.

The intention is always the same. The message is always the same. “It’s moral to kill Jews.”

And it never kills only Jews. If anyone really cared about ending racism they’d be opposed to antisemitism too. If they really cared about vanquishing the systems that oppress everyone they’d understand that antisemitism is a clever misdirection by those parties so folks will obsess over murdering us instead of doing anything that would actually improve the world.

Or re Israel, by proxy. If anyone really cared about the Palestinians or anyone else they’d care about how the Palestinian leadership kills, abuses and steals from their people and how almost every nation on earth finances that scam.

If it was ever really about opposing colonialism, folks would openly oppose Arab and Islamic imperialism too. The presence of Arabs outside of the Arabian peninsula is the result of that and its victims include the Kurds, Yazedis, Amazigh, Tuareg, Copts and so on. If you don’t believe me then ask those communities yourself.

In fact, Israel is the most successful anti colonial project in recorded history and real “land back” would mean every single oppressed people would get an Israel, from that region to north and South America to the natives of what is now Japan and so on.
Why Do American Liberals Ignore Palestine's Gun Control Problem?
While the majority of Israel’s allies would like to see a Palestinian State established within the West Bank and East Jerusalem, few seem to have any preference for the internal Palestinian policies that would exist within such a state. Since the global ‘Free Palestine’ movement is largely based on liberal activists, the overlooking, or perhaps ignorance, of Palestinian internal affairs often is extremely hypocritical. For example, it would be completely normal for an American gun-control activist to be spotted at a pro-Palestine demonstration; despite the extremely irresponsible gun culture in the Palestinian territories.

Just this past Friday, an Israeli 9-year-old girl living in the Israeli community of Kochav Yaakov in Judea was struck by a stray bullet, likely from the nearby PA-controlled city of Al-Bireh. In general, it is completely appropriate to hear random gunshots in Judea and Samaria since Arab locals have developed a gun-friendly culture where shooting into the air at festivities such as weddings is acceptable and even expected.

For those unfamiliar with this ‘traditional Palestinian custom’, a quick Youtube search could confirm how wedding guests, mostly male, pull the triggers of M16 assault rifles pointed to the sky as if they are shooting toy Nerf guns. Even little kids are given the OK to shoot guns at these festivities, in one famous video a child no older than four accidentally shoots his father with the gun his father let him play with at a wedding. In addition, at virtually any political rally, which often takes place in densely-populated areas, guns are brandished by participants as a symbol of strength and importance.

Guns have become a symbol of status for Palestinians; the more your family illegally owns, the more important and rich you probably are. While throughout the Middle East and its cultures, there is definitely an understanding that strength and power are one and the same, no group of people has taken it to the extreme like the Palestinians. It is so embedded within the culture that it's fair to say the only unique quality of Palestinian culture which sets them apart from all other Arabs is not the food, music, or language, but the extreme lack of gun control. While this may be a surprise or even seem like an exaggeration to some readers, it is completely synonymous with the brief history of Palestinian nationalism. A nation that was founded by militant groups seeking to terrorize their way to “freedom”, will surely keep guns on a pedestal since it has gotten them this far.
Col. Kemp: While playing Nazi dress-up, Roger Waters decries antisemitic branding
Waters’ deliberate implication was that Jews murdered Abu Akleh as Nazis murdered Anne Frank. The fact is that nobody knows whether Abu Akleh was the victim of IDF or Palestinian terrorist bullets. And indeed if it was the former it would certainly have been accidental, the farthest possible cry from the calculated way Anne Frank met her end at the hands of the German killing industry.

In every way, the circumstances of the two women’s deaths were utterly different and only a hate-filled rabble-rousing propagandist could dream up any comparison. Abu Akleh clearly did not deserve to die, but she went to Jenin of her own volition and in search of violence, whereas Anne Frank hardly volunteered to spend two years hidden in an attic in Amsterdam, in daily fear for her life, before making her final journey to Belsen.

Waters of course has a long and vitriol-fueled track record of Jew-baiting and Israel-bashing. Magistrates in Frankfurt who tried to ban his concert there accused him of being “one of the most widely known antisemites in the world”.

He takes every possible opportunity to spread lies and distortions about Israel and uses a massive media platform to amplify his prejudiced and defamatory message. As the BBC reported, he “has also floated an inflatable pig marked with the Star of David at his concerts”.

Not content with his own petty boycott of Israel (although I doubt many Israelis would want to see him there anyway) he has been aggressive in trying to persuade other performers to keep away and then publicly vilified those who treat his admonitions with the contempt they deserve. That includes the Rolling Stones.

I was there when Mick Jagger and Keith Richards defied Waters by making their Holy Land debut at HaYarkon Park in Tel Aviv a few years ago — the Israelis loved them and it was plain to see they loved the Israelis. Waters must have been furious.

Waters denies being antisemitic, professing instead to be a defender of freedom and human rights. He blames the “Israel lobby” for the complaints against him. It seems he has been taking lessons from Jeremy Corbyn who made exactly the same claims while dragging his Labour Party into its darkest depths of antisemitism and was later expelled for refusing to accept the damning findings of an inquiry into the party’s bigotry.

In another echo of Corbyn, Waters, the self-styled “anti-fascist”, has openly justified the actions of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, the nearest thing we have in Europe to fascism today, with its internal repression, imprisonment of dissidents, stranglehold on the press, wars of aggression, lust for Lebensraum, torture chambers, killing centers, mass graves and industrial scale child abduction. In a speech at the UN in February, at Russia’s invitation, he claimed that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine had been “provoked” by the West, and after the invasion berated President Volodymyr Zelensky’s wife in an open letter, telling her that “extreme nationalists” in Ukraine “have set your country on the path to this disastrous war”.

Waters’ craven justification of the Russian war, as well as his antisemitic stance, have been met with publicly expressed contempt even by members of his former band.

I suspect Waters’ father, too, would have found his son’s behaviour contemptible. Eric Waters, having originally secured exemption from compulsory military service as a conscientious objector, went on to voluntarily put his life on the line to fight Nazism as an infantryman in the Royal Fusiliers. He was killed in action at Anzio in 1944.

There is another aspect to Waters’ Nazi-cloaked charade in Berlin that is perhaps even more chilling than his own fanatical actions. Aside from the cheering crowds and brown-shirted Nazi helmet-wearing stooges escorting him on stage, all of the Third Reich insignia and jumbotron messaging at the arena were designed, known, approved and put together in advance by others. It involved the carefully planned effort of many people. Nobody said anything or stopped it.


Antisemitism Expert Kenneth Marcus on Biden’s Plan: Long on Rhetoric, Short on Substance
According to Marcus, “The new plan retreats from the White House’s longstanding commitment to issue regulations strengthening the civil rights protections of Jewish students. Instead, the new strategy only proposes to remind institutions of their existing obligations. The Biden administration has repeatedly promised to issue Education Department regulations that apply the Executive Order on Combating Antisemitism. This rulemaking, which the White House recently postponed until December 2023, will be a much-needed response to antisemitism on college campuses. The White House’s failure to mention this crucial activity is deeply disappointing. Instead, the new strategy would apparently downgrade this important rulemaking to a Dear Colleague Letter with lesser legal status. This is an unfortunate reduction in the federal government’s commitment to admit Jewish students at a time when the White House acknowledges that they are under attack. It is not enough for the administration to remind institutions of their existing duties; instead, the administration should be moving the ball forward and strengthening these protections.

“In addition, the White House has unnecessarily muddied the waters by praising the Nexus Document, which is inconsistent with the national strategy’s stated goal of addressing all contemporary forms of antisemitism and which could undermine the proper and effective usage of IHRA. Use of any definition other than IHRA will enable the continued normalization of anti-Semitic hate and prevent uniform and effective enforcement measures to combat it. Indeed, the third pillar of the national strategy – reversing the normalization of antisemitism and countering antisemitism discrimination – relies on the ability to recognize and identify antisemitism. To that extent, the definition used to label anti-Semitic conduct is essential.”

There is some light in all this encroaching darkness, however: the Department of Education recently resolved a Brandeis Center complaint against the University of Vermont, highlighted in the Biden antisemitism plan, that recognized that Jewish students must be given the same protections as any other group, including when they face harassment based on Zionist identity. The Department is also currently investigating complaints filed by the Brandeis Center against the University of Illinois, Brooklyn College, and the University of Southern California (USC).

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is investigating a Brandeis Center employment discrimination complaint of antisemitism in the DEI program at Stanford University.
Why did the White House have antisemitic org in its antisemitism plan?
In a statement on Thursday, CAIR said that “The strategy’s fact sheet notes CAIR as one of the many contributing organizations that provided the White House ongoing commitments to counter antisemitism and build cross-community solidarity by organizations across the private sector, civil society, religious and multi-faith communities and higher education.”

CAIR mentioned that they plan to “combat Islamophobia, antisemitism and other forms of hate by launching a summer tour of states, starting in the southeast, to educate religious minority communities about steps they can take to protect their houses of worship from hate incidents, such as appropriate security measures, developing strong relationships with other faith communities, and maintaining open lines of communication with local law enforcement.”

CAIR added that they also intend to “continue regularly tracking and condemning incidents of hate, including racist, antisemitic, Islamophobic, and xenophobic incidents.”

In the same statement, CAIR national deputy director Edward Ahmed Mitchell applauded the strategy on Thursday, especially supporting the fact that the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism wasn’t fully adopted by the administration.

Mitchell noted that “the White House’s national strategy on antisemitism does not adopt the disputed IHRA definition of antisemitism as binding policy, does not express support efforts to silence free speech such as the right to engage in BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions on Israel] and does not declare that criticism of or opposition to the Israeli occupation is inherently antisemitic, as some civil and human rights groups feared the strategy would.”

He added that “the IHRA definition, criticized by CAIR and many Jewish and Palestinian American groups, as well as domestic and international human rights organizations, is seen as potentially conflating criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism, limiting free speech on Palestinian human rights.”

IHRA is actually a definition that has been adopted by tens of Western countries as well as tens of US states. Mitchell emphasized that “this clear distinction based on the motivation for criticism of Israel highlights the administration’s commitment to combating antisemitism while safeguarding free speech and the right to engage in human rights activism.”

The ADL hasn't been related to CAIR since the publication of the new strategy and welcomed the release and supported “the White House in its execution,” according to a statement on Thursday.

“ADL actively assisted in the development of the White House strategy, contributing more than 30 distinct policy recommendations,” the statement read.

Pro-Israel influencer Yoseph Haddad criticized the White House for partnering with CAIR. “Everyone knows I love partnership but adding CAIR which embraces antisemitism is kind of like Iran serving on the women’s rights council in the UN — it should never have happened and it shouldn’t now either,” Haddad, a Christian-Arab-Israeli, tweeted.

In addition, the StopAntisemitism organization asked “CAIR as a partner to fight antisemitism? Allowing alternatives to IHRA? Ignoring anti-Zionism? Disturbed is putting it mildly.”


Water-ed Down: Media Miss Mark as Roger Waters Dons Nazi-Style Uniform, Defiles Memory of Anne Frank
According to Marcus, “The new plan retreats from the White House’s longstanding commitment to issue regulations strengthening the civil rights protections of Jewish students. Instead, the new strategy only proposes to remind institutions of their existing obligations. The Biden administration has repeatedly promised to issue Education Department regulations that apply the Executive Order on Combating Antisemitism. This rulemaking, which the White House recently postponed until December 2023, will be a much-needed response to antisemitism on college campuses. The White House’s failure to mention this crucial activity is deeply disappointing. Instead, the new strategy would apparently downgrade this important rulemaking to a Dear Colleague Letter with lesser legal status. This is an unfortunate reduction in the federal government’s commitment to admit Jewish students at a time when the White House acknowledges that they are under attack. It is not enough for the administration to remind institutions of their existing duties; instead, the administration should be moving the ball forward and strengthening these protections.

“In addition, the White House has unnecessarily muddied the waters by praising the Nexus Document, which is inconsistent with the national strategy’s stated goal of addressing all contemporary forms of antisemitism and which could undermine the proper and effective usage of IHRA. Use of any definition other than IHRA will enable the continued normalization of anti-Semitic hate and prevent uniform and effective enforcement measures to combat it. Indeed, the third pillar of the national strategy – reversing the normalization of antisemitism and countering antisemitism discrimination – relies on the ability to recognize and identify antisemitism. To that extent, the definition used to label anti-Semitic conduct is essential.”

There is some light in all this encroaching darkness, however: the Department of Education recently resolved a Brandeis Center complaint against the University of Vermont, highlighted in the Biden antisemitism plan, that recognized that Jewish students must be given the same protections as any other group, including when they face harassment based on Zionist identity. The Department is also currently investigating complaints filed by the Brandeis Center against the University of Illinois, Brooklyn College, and the University of Southern California (USC).

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is investigating a Brandeis Center employment discrimination complaint of antisemitism in the DEI program at Stanford University.
Jewish, local groups hold memorial, protest at Roger Waters gig in Frankfurt
During Sunday’s ceremony and protests, which took place in front of the Frankfurt concert venue before Waters’s concert was set to begin, protesters read out loud the names of 600 Jews who were rounded up at the Festhalle on November 9, 1939, the so-called Kristallnacht — the “Night of Broken Glass” — when Nazis terrorized Jews throughout Germany and Austria.

The organizers also held a joint Jewish-Christian prayer for the victims of the Nazi terror in Frankfurt. The city’s mayor as well as the head of the local Jewish community were set to speak at the protest.

In addition, some of the around 400 protesters handed out flyers to concertgoers and waved Israeli flags. Others held up banners with slogans such as “Israel, we stand with you” or “Roger Waters, wish you were not here” in reference to Pink Floyd’s famous song “Wish You Were Were,” German news agency dpa reported.

Protesters in Munich rallied against a concert by Waters earlier this month, after the city council said it had explored possibilities of banning the performance but concluded that it wasn’t legally possible to cancel a contract with the organizer.

Last year, the Polish city of Krakow canceled gigs by Waters because of his sympathetic stance toward Russia in its war against Ukraine.
Penny Mordaunt to 'raise concerns' with Home Office over Roger Waters gig
Speaking in parliament on Thursday during business questions, Bury South MP Christian Wakeford said: "The city of Manchester has a rich and vibrant history in which those of different faiths and backgrounds have lived together as well as stood together through difficult times and times of division.

"So I'm concerned to note that Roger Waters is due to play at the AO Arena in Manchester next month.”

Waters “used the name of Anne Frank to stoke division,” in Berlin, he added, asking: "Will the Leader of the House agree with me that concerts like this have no place in our society and shouldn't go ahead, and agree to a debate in Government time on the record levels in anti-Jewish hatred in this country?"

Mordaunt, the leader of the house, replied: "I shall make certain that the Home Office has heard [Wakeford's] concerns today and I think that this House has made great efforts, particularly in recent years, to ensure that the scourge of antisemitism is addressed and stamped out from our country.

"I shall certainly make sure that all relevant departments have heard [Wakeford's] concerns today."

Waters is currently set to perform at Manchester’s AO Arena on June 10, completing a tour that will see him appear at Glasgow's OVO Hydro, The O2 in London, and Birmingham’s Utilita Arena.

Writing on Twitter, Katharina von Schnurbein, the EU Commission coordinator on combating antisemitism, condemned the English musician.

She said: “I am sick & disgusted by Roger Waters’ obsession to belittle and trivialize the Shoah & the sarcastic way in which he delights in trampling on the victims, systematically murdered by the Nazis. In Germany.

“Enough is enough. Holocaust trivilisation is criminalized across the EU. [sic]”

Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt, who serves as America’s antisemitism envoy, expressed her agreement, adding: “I wholeheartedly concur with [von Schnurbein’s] condemnation of Roger Waters and his despicable Holocaust distortion.”
ROGER in hot WATERS after dressing as Nazi SS officer for Berlin concert
Former frontman of Pink Floyd Roger Waters is under investigation by German police over suspected incitement after images from his Berlin concert sparked backlash.

The musician, known for his anti-Israel and antisemitic comments, shocked fans by appearing on stage in what looked like a Nazi SS officer uniform.




Israel's Herzog to visit Azerbaijan, key ally bordering on Iran
Israeli President Isaac Herzog will travel to Azerbaijan on Tuesday, on a visit meant to strengthen the strategic ties between Israel and the Shia Muslim country bordering on Iran.

During the two-day visit, Herzog plans to meet with his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev and to take part in a special event marking the 75th anniversary of Israeli independence.

Aliyev will welcome Herzog and his wife, Michal, at his palace, with an honor guard, and the presidents plan to hold a diplomatic meeting, followed by a lunch for the two couples.

Health and Interior Minister Moshe Arbel will accompany Herzog to Azerbaijan, where he plans to meet with his counterparts in Baku to discuss greater cooperation in training doctors, emergency preparedness and digital health.

Israel and Azerbaijan are expected to sign an agreement on health cooperation during the visit.

The Herzogs will also meet with members of the Jewish community in Azerbaijan. They are expected to be met at the airport by 30 children who attend the Chabad school in Baku, waving the flags of Israel and Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan opened an embassy in Israel for the first time in March of this year, though Israel has had an embassy in Baku since 1993.

Baku had been hesitant to open an embassy in Israel in the past for fear of alienating other Muslim-majority states or provoking Iran but saw the Abraham Accords and Israel's rapprochement with Turkey, in which Aliyev played a part, as turning points.

Israel and Azerbaijan have a close defense relationship. Jerusalem supplied drones to Baku that were used in its 2020 war with Armenia, according to foreign reports.
Jill Biden to bypass Israel in Middle East trip
US First Lady Jill Biden will embark on a trip to the Middle East and North Africa - but is leaving Israel off the itinerary.

According to a press release, Biden will visit Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, and Portugal in a trip which aims "to strengthen the United States' partnerships and advance our shared priorities in the region."

These engagements "will focus on the empowerment of youth around the world," the release added. It pointed out, "As First Lady, this will be Dr. Biden's second visit to the African continent and her first visit to the Middle East."

Biden is expected to depart the US on Tuesday, May 30, and return on Monday, June 5.

It is not clear why she left Israel off the itinerary.


MK Rothman evacuated by police from Tel Aviv University event amid protest
Protesters disrupted an event on Sunday at Tel Aviv University featuring Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman, a leading architect of the proposed judicial overhaul, who had to be evacuated from the building by police.

Hundreds of demonstrators, including some university students and faculty, initially obstructed Rothman’s entry into the building where a panel discussion on the proposed judicial overhaul was set to take place.

Security personnel eventually cleared the way, enabling Rothman, the chair of the Knesset Constitution Committee, to enter the premises. However, his comments during the panel were persistently interrupted by demonstrators chanting “Democracy” and calling Rothman a fascist.

In response, the Religious Zionism MK countered: “Your argument is weak. You’re unable to intellectually confront [my arguments], so you resort to shouting?” He also sought to blame the protesters for the economic repercussions of the overhaul, claiming: “It is not the legal revolution hurting the economy, but those here crying wolf.”

After he was unable to fully participate in the panel, Rothman was escorted out of the building by security guards and placed in a campus security vehicle which brought him to his car — which had been covered in anti-government stickers by protesters.

Rothman’s Religious Zionism party issued a statement condemning the incident and attributing the protest to a left-right rivalry that went back to the establishment of the state.

Earlier this month Rothman, one of the key architects of the overhaul legislation, asserted that the coalition would press ahead with the reforms if no compromise were reached in the ongoing negotiations currently hosted at the President’s Residence.
Bill proposal removing 'terror-supporting' students from Israeli universities postponed
The Ministerial Committee on Legislation decided on Sunday to postpone for a month a debate over a bill proposal by Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech to remove students who support terror from universities, after Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara wrote that the bill restrained freedom of expression and therefore would face "constitutional difficulties".

According to the bill proposal, students who express support in an armed conflict by an enemy state or terror organization against the state of Israel, who express support in acts of terror or in terror organizations, or who wave a flag of an enemy country, terror organization or the Palestinian Authority, will be suspended from their academic institution for 30 days.

If a student commits one of the above a second time, he or she will be expelled from the institution permanently, and will not be able to receive an academic degree in Israel or recognition of an academic degree from a foreign university for five years.

The bill also proposes that an academic institution must prevent the activity of a student cell that commits one of the infractions listed above; must permanently expel a student who belongs to a terror organization or who was convicted for an act of terror; and that the Council for Higher Education must ban students who were convicted for acts of terror from receiving an academic degree or having a foreign degree recognized in Israel, for a period of 10 years.

According to the bill's explanatory section, "Academic institutions have become in the past year a central stage for incitement against the State of Israel." At Tel Aviv University, Ben-Gurion University and Hebrew University, students held demonstrations explicitly in favor of an intifada, and in some cases even called explicit calls in favor of terrorists from terror organizations, the bill's explanatory section adds.


PMW: It’s all a question of context – and the UN gives none!
The United Nations “Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory” (OCHA oPt) is one of the 22 different UN organizations connected only to the Palestinians working in Israel.

Even if staunch Zionists were to read the two or three weekly distorted and context-lacking updates of OCHA oPt they would begin to question Israel’s legitimacy.

It is OCHA oPt, for example, that constantly harps on about the “Israeli blockade of Gaza” while simultaneously publishing statistics, exposed by Palestinian Media Watch, that show the substantial flow of people and goods from Gaza into Israel and Egypt and from Israel and Egypt into Gaza.

One of OCHA’s activities is to track “Demolitions” of Palestinian structures, built without permits, by the Israeli authorities. On social media, OCHA’s posts are graphic, with a big red banner shouting “ALERT”.

One of those “ALERT”s appeared on OCHA’s Twitter account on May 24, and provided initial information about two alleged demolitions, one of them “in Anab al Kabir #Hebron”:
[Twitter account of OCHA oPt, May 24, 2023]

OCHA systematically fails to provide any context regarding the demolitions, including not noting that the demolition of the structures is a simple function of elementary law enforcement after these structures were built without permits. Although rare, it is actually the Palestinian Authority that sometimes provides the necessary context.

On Feb. 17, 2022, People Magazine reported on the demolition of a "Bel-Air Mega-Mansion" built by “Palestinian”-American real estate developer Mohamed Hadid, father of the self-appointed “Palestinian” model Bella Hadid. Since the mansion was built without the necessary building permits, there was no “ALERT” and no one really batted an eye. That is elementary law enforcement.
Abbas says any attempts to replace the PLO will fail
Any effort to replace the PLO will fail, PLO, Palestinian Authority and Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday.

The 87-year-old spoke at an event marking 59 years since the PLO was founded in opposition to Israel and Zionism and amid challenges to the terrorist organization’s authority by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

“The organization was founded in 1964 to stop the international Zionist movement’s plan to erase the Palestinian people’s identity and to be the opposite of the Zionist national project,” Abbas said.

“The PLO maintained independent Palestinian nationhood and protected the national project from destruction. Creating the PLO and representing our people is one of the most important achievements in Palestinian politics,” he continued.

Abbas paid tribute to the “martyrs and prisoners” as well as the past leaders of the PLO, including Ahmad Shukeiri, the first chairman of the PLO Executive Committee.

Recent polling has shown that a majority of Palestinians would vote for Hamas over Abbas’s Fatah party if elections were held. That support was on display last week during student council elections at Al-Najah University in Shechem (Nablus) and Birzeit University north of Ramallah when Hamas won at both institutions.

At a “Nakba Day” event at United Nations headquarters in New York on May 15, Abbas delivered an incendiary speech in which he compared Israel to Nazi Germany and said that the country lies like Hitler’s propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that Abbas’s comparison of Israel “with the lies of infamous Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels” was a “gross affront to Holocaust victims and survivors.”
Abbas at the UN: Western countries wanted to get rid of the Jews and enjoy having them in Palestine

Abbas to the UN: “Israel desecrates holy sites… Al-Aqsa belongs “to Muslims only”

PA claims 7 million Palestinian refugees “believe in inevitable return”

PLO official: Jews controlled the money in Europe; Europeans wanted to expel them to Palestine



PreOccupiedTerritory: Increasingly Powerless, Marginalized Group Insists Total Victory Imminent (satire)
Opponents of Israel’s existence, who, as the years go by, find themselves with less and less international or even regional support, must spew over-the-top rhetoric to keep global attention focused on them, and find less and less to which they can point as concrete achievements in their century-old campaign against Jewish sovereignty, continued to proclaim today that they stand on the cusp of ultimate triumph.

Leaders of Palestinian factions, governments, and organizations persisted in their increasingly-futile struggle this week even as they insisted that victory lies only a few hours, days, weeks, or months away. The bombast came against an eight-decade backdrop of failure to weaken or undermine the ever-stronger, ever-more-secure Jewish State, despite holding an overwhelming initial advantage in manpower, arms, finances, and international support.

Failure to prevent, and then to abort, the birth of Israel before and in 1948, even though the Arab forces and population vastly outnumbered and outgunned the fledgling Israel, and then losing even more territory in 1967, with multiple smaller failures before and since, has not dampened Palestinian and pro-Palestinian predictions of Israel’s imminent demise. Once-unanimous, full-throated solidarity among Arab and Muslim states in the first several decades of the conflict, along with occasional material support and military operations against Israel, have devolved into mere lip-service at best, outright normalization with Israel at worst. Those developments have not stopped Hamas, Fatah, and other figures from confident assertions that Israel’s days are numbered.
Seth Frantzman: Clergy slammed for visit to Hezbollah ‘museum’ in Lebanon
A controversy in Lebanon broke out over the weekend after some Christian clergy were seen visiting a site that is known as a Lebanese Hezbollah tourist attraction called the “Tourist Landmark of the Resistance,” which is located near the village of Mleeta in Lebanon. The attraction was opened in 2010 and is used by Hezbollah to spread propaganda about its “resistance” against Israel.

Photos and videos posted online appeared to show clergy walking to the “museum” surrounded by men with Hezbollah flags. Critics posted online that the visit was “shameful” and that it was perplexing why church officials would visit the site. Another critic said the clergy should have removed their crosses if they wanted to go to Mleeta. According to one account, the clerics came from various areas in Lebanon, including the Bekaa Valley, Zahle, Jezzine, and Sidon, and were accompanied by Hezbollah religious figure Sheikh Mohammed Yazbak.

The visit comes in the wake of Hezbollah celebrating Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon, which took place on May 24, 2000. Last week was the anniversary.

Nadim Gemayel condemned the visit of the clergy to the Mleeta museum according to Lebanon’s MTV. He tweeted in Arabic that “The visit of some bishops to the Iranian Militia Museum is the antithesis of the Church's concepts and evidence of the slander of those who have nothing to do with the Church's historical struggle.”


AFP Arabic’s Diehard Denial & The Jewish Temples on the Temple Mount
At Agence France Presse’s Arabic service, diehard devotion to the denial of the historic fact that the ancient Jewish temples stood on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount clouds coverage.

When CAMERA Arabic last week called out the French news agency for falsely casting the historic fact as nothing more than an unfounded claim, AFP sidestepped a correction by erasing all mention of the Jewish connection to the site.

AFP Arabic’s erroneous wording, reproduced at Swissinfo

Covering the Jerusalem Day flag march in celebration of the 1967 unification of the city, the French news agency’s May 18 Arabic-language report dismissively referred to the temples’ location on the mount, Judaism’s most sacred site and the third holiest site in Islam, as merely a matter of Jewish belief, stating: “The Wailing Wall, located at the base of the al-Aqsa compound, which the Jews say was built on the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism.” (Emphases added.)

There is no archeological dispute about the fact that the Jewish temples were located on the Temple Mount. As The New York Times was compelled to acknowledge in a 2015 correction:
An earlier version of this article misstated the question that many books and scholarly treatises have never definitively answered concerning the two ancient Jewish temples. The question is where precisely on the 37-acre Temple Mount site the temples had once stood, not whether the temples had ever existed there.

In addition to archaeological findings, a variety of historical sources, including classical Muslim and Christian texts, attest to the temples’ presence at the site. The Western (not “Wailing”) Wall, a Temple Mount retaining wall, in one of several remnants from the temple complex.
Reuters Backs Away From Blood Libel ‘Alleged’ Islamic Jihad Fatalities Were Verified Senior Terrorists
When it comes to news coverage about the cause for a lethal military operation, weaponized usage of a single key word can propagate an insidious blood libel.

Consider, for instance, Reuters’ article last week which had originally reported about the start of fighting earlier this month between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a designated terror organization (“As guns go silent, Gazan children still have nightmares,” May 24, 2023):

A screenshot of Reuters’ original wording, before CAMERA’s intervention
The latest bout of cross-border fire, which lasted five days, began with Israeli airstrikes against alleged Islamic Jihad commanders in Gaza. Israeli officials alleged more than 1,000 than 1,000 rockets were fired at Israel. In all, 33 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, including children as well as six alleged armed group commanders, while an Israeli and a Palestinian worker were killed in Israel.

The term “alleged” signifies that the information is not verified, and thus, quite possibly, the men in question are not at all Islamic Jihad commanders. Perhaps they are actually innocent civilians, Reuters intimated, suggesting that Israel’s stated cause for the lethal operation was unfounded, and therefore Israel is guilty of carrying out an illegal massacre, deliberately killing only civilians, including children. In that case, it is also needlessly responsible for causing mental anguish weeks later “among many children living in the enclave, who were experiencing lack of sleep, anxiety, bedwetting, as well as a tendency to stay glued to their parents and avoid going outdoors,” as the article reported.

But, in reality, there’s nothing “alleged” about the targets’ leadership roles in Islamic Jihad, as Islamic Jihad has openly claimed these men as its leaders and Reuters itself has clearly reported that fact earlier month. (In addition, the Arabic version of this story does not contain the problematic qualification.)
BBC coverage of Djerba attack under informs
The BBC has not provided any explanation as to why “Tunisian authorities have not called it a terror attack” and, significantly, audiences have not been informed that on May 11th France’s National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office announced that it had opened an investigation into the killing of the French national Benjamin Haddad.

That item closes with one sentence relating to a meeting held on May 16th:
“But President Kais Saied held a meeting with Muslim, Jewish and Christian faith leaders on Wednesday, stressing that Tunisia was a country of “tolerance and coexistence”.”

However, BBC audiences were not given any information about the problematic statements made by Tunisia’s president in the days prior to that meeting.


Auschwitz movie takes second prize at Cannes
Holocaust drama “The Zone of Interest” won the Grand Prix award at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on Saturday.

The film written and directed by 58-year-old British Jewish filmmaker Jonathan Glazer centers on the family of SS officer Rudolf Höss while he was the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp in Poland.

The story follows Höss and his wife, Hedwig, as they build their family life in a house and garden next to the camp where more than one million Jews and others were murdered.

It is loosely based on the 2014 novel by Martin Amis.

“The Zone of Interest” also received the FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) and Cannes Soundtrack prizes at the prestigious film festival on Friday.

A six-minute standing ovation followed its world premiere at Cannes on May 19—the same day that Amis died in Florida at the age of 73.
New series about couple who risked their lives to help Anne Frank and her family during the Nazi occupation of Holland has 100% Rotten Tomatoes score
An inspiring, real-life story about a couple who had a pivotal role in helping Anne Frank hide from the Nazis has received a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Dutch couple Miep and Jan Gies helped the young German diarist and her Jewish family hide during the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam.

Now, their story has been re-told as a National Geographic Disney+ limited series starring British actors Bel Powley andJoe Cole as Miep and Jan Gies.

While Anne Frank's tragic story is world famous, epitomising the terror of Hitler's genocidal regime, less is known about the experience of the heroic Gies while they risked their own lives by hiding the Franks.

The eight-episode series titled A Small Light, tells Anne Frank's story from 'the other side of the bookcase'.

The synopsis, as per Disney+, reads: 'Based on a true story, A Small Light follows Miep Gies, a young, carefree secretrary who hid Otto Frank and his family from the Nazis in WWII.

'For nearly two years, Miep and her husband Jan protected the Franks and others while she held down a day job, kept her marriage intact and shouldered more responsibility than anyone could imagine.

'While millions are familiar with Anne Frank's diary and her family's life in the Secret Annex, A Small Light is the lesser-known story of how an ordinary secretary showed extraordinary courage during one of the darkest moments in history.'
Antisemitism and Censorship in Catalonia - Opinion
Today is municipal election day throughout Spain. The decisions of the politicians who are elected will affect multiple communities, among them the local Jewish communities. What will happen in Barcelona, Spain's second-largest city and Catalonia's capital?

After Barcelona broke its institutional relations with the State of Israel last February, it is time to remember the positions of the different parties in these elections. In this matter, there are few differences between the independentist candidates (from the left or right), the separatist extreme left, and the partner of all of them in the national government and parliament, the socialists.

Despite recent approaches to the Jewish community, the four primary candidates seeking leadership roles in Barcelona's city hall, at the very least, have displayed a long history of silence, if not collusion, in the face of discriminatory acts and statements (boycotts, public events with Palestinian terrorists, financial support of antisemitic organizations), making Barcelona a sad model of European antisemitism with institutional backing and the breeding ground for the proliferation of attacks against Jews.

Together with the denunciations in the media and the resources of the rule of law – even the Supreme Court has condemned the institutional boycotts against Israel – there are other formulas to put the antisemites in front of the mirror. Caricature is one of them.


World Health Assembly adopts Israeli-led resolution on rehabilitation in health systems
The first-ever resolution focusing on “Strengthening Rehabilitation in Health Systems” has been adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) that was spearheaded by Israeli health experts and supported by colleagues from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, Kenya, Morocco, Rwanda and Slovakia.

It received global support, was assisted by close collaboration with civil society organizations and was approved without a vote during the 76th World Health Assembly now taking place in Geneva, Switzerland.

Globally, one out of every three individuals today are estimated to be living with a health condition that would benefit from rehabilitation, and the numbers are expected to increase rapidly due to the aging population, the spread of new infectious and non-communicable diseases and the consequences of disasters. At present, rehabilitation needs are largely unmet globally and, in many countries, more than half of those do not receive the rehabilitation services they need.

Why is rehabilitation an important issue to address?
Rehabilitation addresses the impact of a health condition on a person’s everyday life by optimizing their functioning and reducing their experience of disability. Rehabilitation expands the focus of health beyond preventative and curative care to ensure people with a health condition can remain as independent as possible and participate in education, work and meaningful life roles. Anyone may need rehabilitation at some point in his or her life, whether suffering from an injury, disease, illness, or because functioning has declined with age.

The resolution specifically calls on member countries to allocate more resources to rehabilitation needs and include it as an essential health strategy for achieving universal health coverage. It also calls on WHO’s Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to develop feasible global health system rehabilitation targets and indicators for effective coverage of rehabilitation services by 2030.
Israel scores stunning win to advance in Under-20 World Cup
Israel made soccer history on Saturday night at the Under-20 World Cup in Argentina, rallying late while a man down to beat Japan 2-1.

The win was Israel’s first-ever at any FIFA World Cup, having tied two games and lost the other in its only other appearance in any such competition, the main World Cup event in 1970.

After losing its first Under-20 game 2-1 to Colombia and then drawing 1-1 with Senegal, Israel needed to beat Japan to move into the round of 16.

Its chances dimmed significantly after conceding a first half stoppage-time goal to Isa Sakamoto, and then in the 68th minute going down to 10 men to Japan’s 11 when Ran Binyamin received his second yellow card for a foul and was sent off.

Nevertheless, Aharon Roy Nawi Nabi scored following a free kick in the 76th minute, setting the stage for another stoppage-time goal in the 92nd and what coach Ofir Haim called the greatest victory in Israeli soccer history.

“This was a heroic win, the greatest match in the history of Israeli soccer,” he said while forcing back tears. “This is for all of Israel, I dedicate this to you. I have no words, the players have a big heart and soul.”




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