Saturday, June 10, 2023

06/10 Links: ‘Pathological,’ Hillel Neuer says of UN efforts to discredit Israel; Dore Gold: 'Haaretz' columnist is a strange opponent to Israeli-Saudi peace

From Ian:

‘New heights of obsession’ in UN inquiry report, says NGO Monitor
A new report published by a commission of inquiry of the U.N. Human Rights Council is methodologically flawed and reflects “extreme ideological bias.” That’s according to the pro-Israel organization NGO Monitor.

NGO Monitor analyzed the 56-page report of the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel.

The commission “has reached new heights of obsession,” stated Anne Herzberg, NGO Monitor’s legal advisor and U.N. representative. The report “firmly demonstrates that its work is not that of a legitimate investigatory body but rather one engaged in producing disinformation.”

The report will “bolster BDS and marginalize Jews that speak out against terrorism and antisemitism,” she added.

Arsen Ostrovsky, CEO of the International Legal Form, described the report as “another obscene inversion of reality, without any factual or legal basis and where Israel’s guilt was fixed from the outset.”

This sort of “unhinged assault on Israel” has become the Human Rights Council’s status quo, according to Ostrovsky, who accused it of “unrelenting Jew-hatred” for its opposition to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.

Both Ostrovsky and Herzberg called for the commission of inquiry, which the Israel mission has called a “kangaroo court,” to be defunded.


‘Pathological,’ Hillel Neuer says of UN efforts to discredit Israel
Hillel Neuer’s most famous salvo is likely a 2017 speech in which the UN Watch executive director singled out several Arab countries before the United Nations Human Rights Council.

“Where are your Jews?” he asked each.

A recording on YouTube, which more than a million people have viewed, includes a 2018 speech in which Neuer answered his own question—that Jewish refugees from many Arab countries fled to Israel, the United States, Canada, France and others.

“These Jewish refugees from Arab lands—whose suffering and losses the U.N. has never addressed—put their hardship behind them and built great lives for their families,” he said. “Now, let us contrast this with the situation of those descended from Arab refugees, who fled the area of British Mandatory Palestine during the invasion of nascent Israel by Arab armies. What is holding them back?”

Again, Neuer answered his own question. Palestinians are the only population in the world “not eligible for services by the U.N. Refugee Agency,” he said. “Instead, these descendants are governed by UNRWA, which holds generation after generation trapped in refugee camps, denied integration in the Arab countries they were born in and denied resettlement elsewhere.” (UNRWA is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.)

In a recent phone interview from Geneva, headquarters of the 30-year-old human-rights NGO, Neuer told JNS—as he approaches his 20th anniversary at the helm of UN Watch—that the nonprofit is a leading force against “the pathological discrimination and delegitimization of Israel” at the United Nations.

He and colleagues “give a voice to the voiceless, which is what the U.N. should be doing, living up to its charter,” he told JNS. “They should be spotlighting urgent human-rights violations that too often go ignored.”


Dore Gold: 'Haaretz' columnist is a strange opponent to Israeli-Saudi peace
Haaretz featured an op-ed this week by one of its chief opinion writers, Rogel Alpher, provocatively titled “I oppose peace with Saudi Arabia.”

In the past, the author was well known for writing highly controversial pieces attacking the ideas of the Israeli mainstream, including the center-Left. Once talk of Israel concluding a peace treaty with Riyadh began to surface, as has been the case over the last year, Saudi Arabia became one of his new targets.

The main issue Saudi critics dealt with during that period were the allegations about the possible role of the Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman (MBS) in authorizing the assassination of Saudi journalist and regime critic, Jamal Khashoggi, in Istanbul five years ago.

But Khashoggi was not even mentioned in the Haaretz piece. Neither was MBS. If Rogel Alpher was opposing an Israeli-Saudi peace, his position had nothing to do with this episode. What he did make clear, however, was that his considerations for the position he was taking primarily emanated from the impact of an Israeli-Saudi peace on Israeli domestic politics in the future, and its role in strengthening the present Israeli government.


Abbas to visit China after offer to help revive peace talks with Israel
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is expected to arrive in Beijing on Tuesday for a three-day visit, will be the first Arab leader to be hosted by China this year.

The visit is seen as a sign of China’s ongoing effort to increase its influence in the Middle East at a time when the US has refocused its attention on the Indo-Pacific region and Ukraine. It’s further seen as a sign of strengthened relations between the Palestinians and China, which has long been critical of Israeli policies and measures.

Abbas’s visit to China comes shortly after Beijing helped broker the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran. It also comes in the aftermath of China’s offer to help Israel and the Palestinians resume peace negotiations, which have been stalled since 2014.

The last meeting between Abbas and Chinese President Xi Jinping took place in December 2022 at the China-Arab Summit held in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. During a speech at the summit, Jinping affirmed his country’s support for the Palestinians’ efforts to gain full membership in the United Nations.

“President Abbas is an old and good friend of the Chinese people and the first Arab head of state to be hosted by China this year,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters over the weekend. “This speaks volumes about the high-level friendly relations between China and Palestine.”
Germany moves ahead with €4 billion purchase of Israel's Arrow-3
Germany plans to buy Israel's Arrow-3 missile defense system for almost 4 billion euros ($4.30 billion) in total and will ask lawmakers to release advance payments of up to 560 million euros next week, according to documents seen by Reuters on Friday.

The Arrow-3 is designed to intercept ballistic missiles outside of the Earth's atmosphere.

It is the top layer of Israel's missile defense array, which extends from Iron Dome that intercepts short-range rockets to Arrow-3's long-range missiles that destroy any non-conventional warheads at a safe altitude.

Berlin aims to strike a government-to-government deal with Israel on the purchase of the Arrow-3 system at the end of the year, said the finance ministry's procurement documents that were prepared for parliament.

Germany will lose part or all of its advance payments should the deal fail, according to the papers, as the money would be used to compensate Israel for costs incurred by then. GERMAN BUNDESTAG Defense Committee members visit the Arrow 3 battery. (credit: ELENT) GERMAN BUNDESTAG Defense Committee members visit the Arrow 3 battery. (credit: ELENT)

The German air force is supposed to take delivery of Arrow-3, that will cost about one billion euros more than originally planned, by the fourth quarter of 2025.


Hezbollah, a Worldwide Criminal Organization
In recent decades, Hezbollah has established itself not only as one of the world's leading terrorist groups and Lebanon's effective master, but also as a prominent transnational crime syndicate. Hezbollah's criminal activities range from drug trafficking in cocaine and heroin, to cigarette smuggling, document and identity card forgery, and money laundering through Iran's and Lebanon's banking systems. These criminal enterprises fill its coffers, facilitate its domination of Lebanon's political system, and underpin the buildup of the organization's global terrorist and intelligence infrastructure. This is so much the case that, in October 2018, U.S. attorney general Jeff Sessions designated Hezbollah as one of the world's leading transnational criminal organizations alongside four Latin American drug cartels.[1]

A Complex Criminal Web
Hezbollah's international criminal activity dates back to the 1980s when the newly-established organization began laundering money for drug cartels through Lebanese immigrants in Latin America. Since then, it has become one of the world's largest drug suppliers and money laundering organizations, working in close cooperation with a string of Latin American paramilitary and criminal organizations, including Colombia's Medellin cartel, La Oficina de Envigado, North Valley cartel, and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (People's Army, FARC),[2] as well as Brazil's First Command of the Capital (PCC)[3] and the Mexican Los Zetas.[4]

The terrorist group establishes, operates, and maintains cells and networks of activists, logistical warehouses where stolen and counterfeit goods are stored, and supply chains around the world, particularly in Africa and Latin America. Hezbollah operatives are also deployed throughout the United States and Europe where they distribute the organization's criminal goods and services—primarily by trafficking drugs, counterfeiting consumer products, and laundering money.[5]

Hezbollah's criminal network operates relatively independently from the organization's political and military wings, which are closely aligned with Tehran. The network is strategically managed and led by a chain of senior officials but maintains an intricate system of buffers to avoid linking the organization to criminal activity. At times, operatives carry out criminal activities on direct orders from Hezbollah officials; at other times, they share their activities with these officials without necessarily seeking direct orders.[6] This allows Hezbollah to maintain ambiguity, deniability, and obscurity regarding its activities as a transnational criminal organization.
'No Joke': The Baffling Silence by The Biden Administration, UN and EU on Iran's Human Rights Abuses
[J]ust a few days after the regime executed two young men, Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli Zare, for "blasphemy," Iran was rewarded by being appointed chair of the United Nations Human Rights Council 2023 Social Forum, as well as being handsomely compensated by the European Union.

"Iran human rights role 'like granting Bin Laden a Nobel Peace Prize'." — The Telegraph.

As if to underscore this triumph, right after the UN appointment, Iran's regime on May 19 proceeded to execute three more men -- Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi – for having participated in anti-regime protests.

"[Iranian] Authorities Execute Over 60 People in Past 2 Weeks." — Human Rights Watch, May 12, 2023.

"The Iranian authorities' dramatic escalation of executions in recent weeks is a serious violation of the right to life and should bring international condemnation... Since late April, the Iranian authorities have executed at least 60 people, including an Iranian-Swedish national on alleged terror-related charges. Many were executed after unfair trials or for charges, such as drug offenses as well and two executions for 'blasphemy,' that under international law should never result in the death penalty." — Human Rights Watch, May 12, 2023.

So, Germany, which preaches about human rights and its "feminist foreign policy", has actually increased its business with Iran....

"We believe it is time to hold the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran to account for its crimes.... We urge your nations to stand with the Iranian people in their quest for change and to take decisive steps against the current regime. This includes blacklisting the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and holding regime officials accountable for their crimes against humanity." — Letter signed May 23, 2023 by former Vice President Mike Pence and 107 other former world leaders. Fox News; May 23, 2023.

It is abhorrent and unacceptable that the EU and the UN keep propping up a regime that is a world leader in executions and violations of human rights -- and that will not hesitate to use its nuclear weapons capability as well as the threat of it.
FDD: Analysis of IAEA Iran Verification and Monitoring Report – May 2023
Background
This report summarizes and assesses information in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA’s) quarterly report for May 31, 2023, Verification and monitoring in the Islamic Republic of Iran in light of United Nations Security Council resolution 2231 (2015), including Iran’s compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Findings
Iran can now break out and produce enough weapon-grade enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon in 12 days, using only three or four of its advanced centrifuge cascades and little more than one-third of its existing stock of 60 percent enriched uranium. This breakout could be difficult for the IAEA to detect promptly, if Iran took steps to delay inspectors’ access.

Using more of its remaining stock of 60 percent enriched uranium in the same three or four cascades and much of its stock of near 20 percent enriched uranium in the vast bulk of its production-scale cascades, Iran could produce enough weapon-grade uranium (WGU) for an additional four nuclear weapons within the first month of a breakout.

In the second month, using its further remaining stocks of 20 and 60 percent material and part of its stock of less than 5 percent low enriched uranium (LEU), Iran could produce enough WGU for another two weapons. Using its residual stock of less than 5 percent low-enriched uranium (LEU), Iran could produce enough WGU for an eighth weapon by the end of the third month.

In summary, Iran could produce enough WGU for five nuclear weapons in one month, seven in two months, and a total of eight in three months.

Iran’s stockpile of 60 percent highly enriched uranium (HEU) was 114.1 kg (Uranium mass, or U mass) or 168.8 kg uranium hexafluoride mass (hex mass) as of May 13. With a monthly average production rate of 9 kg (U mass) per month, Iran could amass enough 60 percent HEU for three nuclear weapons by mid-June.

Iran is producing 60 percent HEU from 5 percent LEU feed in advanced centrifuge cascades at the above-ground Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP) and the below-ground Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP); the latter includes an IR-6 centrifuge cascade that is easily modifiable to change operations. This cascade was at the center of an IAEA-detected undeclared mode of operation in January 2023, interconnected with another IR-6 cascade to produce HEU, and subsequently, the IAEA detected the presence of near-84 percent HEU particles at the cascade’s product sampling point.

The IAEA assessed that Iran’s explanation for its production of 83.7 percent enriched uranium — which Iran claimed was the result of “unintended fluctuations” — was “not inconsistent” with “additional information and supporting operational data” Iran provided during meetings with the IAEA and “had no further questions on the matter at that stage.”
US warned Iran against higher enrichment during indirect Oman talks in May — report
Officials from the United States and Iran held indirect talks in Oman last month, with officials from Muscat acting as intermediaries, according to a Friday report.

Three sources familiar with the matter told Axios that US officials made clear in messages passed to Iran that there will be a severe response if Tehran reaches the 90 percent uranium enrichment levels required for use in a nuclear weapon — a short technical step from their current level. The most recent estimate by the UN’s nuclear watchdog is that Iran has 114.1 kilograms (251 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60% purity, a short technical step from weapons-grade.

The Axios report labeled the discussions “proximity talks” focused on deterrence, and said that the White House’s Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk had traveled to Oman on May 8 to discuss potential moves by the US toward Iran regarding its contentious nuclear program.

The visit was apparently while McGurk was in the region for public trips to Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The report said Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kan was in Oman at the same time as part of a delegation, but did not meet directly with the Americans.

The two teams were in separate locations and Omani officials shuttled between them, according to the report.

When asked for comment by Axios, a White House National Security Council spokesperson said Washington “remain[s] focused on constraining Iran’s destabilizing behavior through pressure, close coordination with our allies, and de-escalation in the region.

“That includes ensuring Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon so of course, we are watching closely Iran’s enrichment activities,” the spokesperson said.
U.S. Denies Reports of Cash Offers to Iran for Limited Enrichment Concessions
Expert Analysis
“The Biden administration hopes that Tehran will be more amenable to a ‘longer and stronger’ deal after getting major nuclear and economic concessions in exchange for a ‘shorter and weaker’ arrangement. This is an illusion. Iranian leaders understand power and leverage better than President Biden and his team do. The emerging ‘less for more’ deal is the worst deal of all.” — Mark Dubowitz, FDD CEO

“The administration may be looking to evade congressional review by trading billions of dollars to Iran in exchange for a temporary halt to higher levels of enrichment, all without a written agreement or public acknowledgment. Paying Iran to sit patiently on the nuclear threshold won’t stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, but it will subsidize attacks against Americans, Israelis, Ukrainians, and Iranians.” — Richard Goldberg, FDD Senior Advisor

Biden Administration May Sidestep Congress
The Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 (INARA) requires the president to notify Congress of an agreement or waiver of congressional sanctions on Iran. Congress then has 30 days following notification to review the agreement and potentially vote to reject it.

Given mounting bipartisan political opposition to lifting sanctions on Iran while Tehran provides drones to Russia and cracks down on women and protestors, there is suspicion that the administration is searching for ways to sidestep INARA’s requirements in order to provide economic relief to Iran in exchange for a temporary arrangement on Iran’s enrichment.

Israel Opposes Agreement, Reserves Right to Defend Itself
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone on June 8. According to a statement from the prime minister’s office, Netanyahu told Blinken that Israel’s position remains consistent in that a return to a “nuclear agreement with Iran would not stop the Iranian nuclear program and that no arrangement with Iran will obligate Israel, which will do everything to defend itself.”
Iran crown prince to Post: Fall of Tehran regime will change Middle East
The fall of the Islamic Republic will have positive effects on the entire Middle East, Reza Pahlavi, the crown prince of Iran and founder of the National Council of Iran, said on the sidelines of The Jerusalem Post Annual New York Conference on Monday.

Pahlavi, who spoke at the conference gala the night before, said that he seeks to “share a vision of how different our region can be.

“In the past 44 years, the whole image [of the Middle East] changed. Tension, conflict, radicalism, the nuclear threat, instability are all tied to what happened in Iran,” when his father, shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was overthrown and replaced with an Islamist regime in 1979. “At every opportunity I have to address an audience, whether a Jewish one or any other audience, I want them to understand how vital it is for us to have a common vision that, if it comes to fruition, can change the face of the region entirely.”

Pahlavi’s visit to Israel in April was a way “to send a message contrary to the regime that has asked for Israel’s disappearance from the face of the earth... is hostile, antisemitic and denies the Holocaust.”

“Iranians are telling the world, and Israel in particular: We are not the enemy; the regime is. We want to be your friends,” he added.

The visit included a trip to the Baha’i World Center in Haifa, to send a message to one of the persecuted minorities in Iran.

“In contrast of a regime that is for only one religion, I am talking about freedom of religion for all religions, for Jews, Christians, Baha’is,” he said.

Pahlavi also visited Israel as part of his mission as head of the National Council of Iran, which is to prepare policy proposals for the day after the Islamic regime.
Macron Warns Iran Must ‘Immediately End’ Drone Supplies to Russia
French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday urged his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi to “immediately end” Tehran’s support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by supplying Moscow with drones, the Elysee said.

Macron in a telephone call underlined the serious “security and humanitarian consequences” of Iran’s drone deliveries “and urged Tehran to immediately end the support it thus gives to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” the Elysee said.

Macron also expressed concerns about the trajectory of the Iranian nuclear program, the statement said.

Britain, France, Germany, the United States and Ukraine say the supply of Iranian-made drones to Russia violates a 2015 U.N. Security Council resolution enshrining the Iran nuclear deal, moribund though the agreement may be.


Ben-Dror Yemini: The academy of hate
However, the New York Times, a newspaper that is becoming increasingly progressive, joined in on the reporting on June 2 and claimed that "these are the opinions of a 24-year-old young woman.” The criticism mainly targeted those who spoke out against this hateful speech. Not a word was said against the speech itself. On the contrary, the newspaper expressed astonishment and disdain in the face of the outraged reactions "at tables around the world." What a chutzpah. It's fine for any newspaper to support freedom of expression, but it's a bit strange to support those who declare openly that they are in favor of silencing those who support the very existence of Israel. The embrace Mohammed received is racism. She's allowed to lie. She's allowed to distort the truth. She's allowed to spread hatred. She's allowed to, precisely because her supporters don't expect the norms of equality or human rights from the culture she represents.

Here and there, during lectures in the United States, when I present comparative data on the nearly zero impact of Israel on the Palestinians, compared to the genocidal impact of jihad on Muslims – I hear the argument: but you're supposed to act according to higher standards.

“Thank you,” I reply, “but you're basically saying that your demand from Muslims is lower. In your eyes, they're inferior. Not in mine. They're allowed to do anything. To oppress women and LGBT individuals, to carry out endless massacres. Your approach has one name: racism."

This isn't America. Let's not be mistaken. Democrats also spoke out against this hateful speech. It was only on Tuesday that U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a bold pro-Israel speech.

But the Red-Green coalition, which connects the BDS movement, Mohammed, and the New York Times, is not backing down. They are increasingly infiltrating liberal circles. Members of the coalition have lost touch with reality and truth. It's not that criticizing the U.S. or Israel is verboten. But all the sins of Israel won't reach one-thousandth of the crimes of political Islamism, with which progressives have made a pact. But how many demonstrations, publications, and protests have there been against Israel, and how many against jihad? To understand the state of academia in the United States, and perhaps also in most Western countries, it seems we need to ask: is there a chance that at a graduation ceremony, a student, perhaps Muslim, will speak out against the heinous crimes against humanity committed by radical Islam, when most victims are Muslims? Or about the calls and incitement of Hamas to destroy Jews? Or perhaps about the Taliban's ban on women's education? Or the ban imposed by Hamas' court on women leaving the house without the approval of a male guardian? Or, in general, about the oppression of women and LGBT people under Islamic rule? No chance. The truth is a victim of political correctness, of wokeism, of the evil spirit. Lies, deceit, and hatred prevail with ease.
New York Times Whitewashes CUNY Law Commencement Hatefest With ‘Wildly Misleading’ Column
The only New York Times coverage of a CUNY Law School commencement speech that Jewish groups and lawmakers have denounced as antisemitic came in a column that misleads readers about what was said and excuses it as “speaking out against oppression.”

A professor at Brooklyn College and at the CUNY Graduate Center, KC Johnson, posted a series of tweets eviscerating the New York Times column as “wildly misleading.” Johnson faulted the Times column for omitting the student speaker’s “most inflammatory remarks: her claim that CUNY Law’s endorsement of BDS showed ‘that our morality will not be purchased by investors.’”

Also omitted, Johnson said, was Fatima Mohammed’s assertion that Israel was “murdering” the old and the young, and that it “encourages lynch mobs to target Palestinian homes.”

The column’s only quotes from Mohammed “are little more than leftist pablum—as if the goal is to shield NYT readers from the full extent of the address,” Johnson said. He said the column, by Ginia Bellafante, “offers the most charitable possible interpretation of Mohammed’s remarks.”

And Johnson also noted that the column “uses the statement from the CUNY ‘Jewish Law Students Association’ to implicitly shield the commencement speaker from charges of antisemitism—without mentioning that the group itself, like the speaker, is pro-BDS,” favoring the campaign to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel.

The Times earlier ran a whole news article about the CUNY law commencement without even mentioning the speech favoring a boycott of Israel.

Another Times reader, the superintendent of the Kiryas Joel School District, Joel Petlin, observed, “They omit the important facts that the CUNY Jewish Law Students Assn includes non Jews, & Fatima Mohammed is even a member of the organization! This the hallmark of every @nytimes article on Jews & Israel. They take a factual statement but deprive the reader of vital context.”
Connecticut College taps interim head mired in antisemitism scandal
Jewish students at Connecticut College celebrated in March when they successfully pressured their school’s president to step down over her plans to host a fundraiser at a golf club with an alleged antisemitic and racist history.

But some recoiled this week when they learned who their new interim leader would be: a university administrator holding antisemitism baggage of his own.

The liberal arts college in New London announced Thursday that it was appointing Leslie Wong, a member of its board of trustees, as its interim president beginning July 1 until the board identifies a permanent hire. Jewish student activists noted a key point on Wong’s resume: his seven-year tenure as president of San Francisco State University, which was marred by accusations that the school had propagated “institutional antisemitism.”

“I find it unbelievable that Connecticut College chose to hire an antisemitic interim president right after our previous antisemitic president resigned,” Davi Schulman, a Connecticut College undergraduate, and co-president of the university Hillel, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

“I feel extremely disappointed in the administration’s continued disregard toward students of all identities, and Jewish students in particular,” Schulman said. “I worry about what the incoming Jewish students will think when they learn about their new president’s history.”

Wong is a Chinese-Mexican psychologist who has worked in higher education for more than four decades and led San Francisco State from 2012 to 2019. During that time, local Jewish groups charged, he failed to respond forcefully enough to a series of incidents affecting Jewish life on campus, including a protest by anti-Zionists who had disrupted a campus visit by the mayor of Jerusalem, and a school information fair for marginalized students that had deliberately excluded the campus Hillel from participating.

An investigation by J. The Jewish News of Northern California showed that, while Wong had decried these incidents, ordered investigations into the school’s handling of them, and met several times with Jewish representatives, he also resented spending so much time addressing Jewish concerns. The investigation found that he partially blamed Hillel for the incident involving the mayor of Jerusalem’s visit, and told Jewish groups he would “not play favorites.”

In a 2017 interview with the paper amid the controversy, Wong also declined to say whether Zionists were welcome on campus, saying, “Am I comfortable opening up the gates to everyone? Gosh, of course not. I’m not the kind of guy who gets into absolutes like that.” He later apologized for his comments.
The anti-Israel progressives who support Putin's war in Ukraine
I’ve recently witnessed a very odd phenomenon taking place in the world of geopolitical alignments. Many young liberal commentators have been calling on Noam Chomsky (renowned linguist who is also a pro-BDS icon for some reason) to hang up his boots and retire; Max Blumenthal, a left-wing blogger who has written entire books trashing Israel, getting absolutely roasted on Twitter by progressives; John Mearsheimer of the infamous “Israel Lobby” book, which promoted many anti-semitic tropes of Jews controlling the US government getting taken to the woodshed by left-wing commentators.

None of this blowback is about their stance on Israel of course. It’s because they have all come out in favor of either Ukraine acquiescing to Putin’s vile demands for territory, or have outright supported his war of terror on the Ukrainians.

And they’re far from the only supporters of boycotting, divesting from, and sanctioning Israel who are mysteriously supportive of Russia’s ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and colonization of Ukrainian territory.

Norman Finkelstein, who wrote a book that minimized the Holocaust and claimed Israel uses it to justify its “war crimes,” got demolished by his former fans on Reddit. Ali Abunimah, the truly awful Electronic Intifada guy, claimed Israel supports “Ukrainian Nazis” against Russia. George Galloway, the horrendous former Labour Party parliamentarian and friend of Hamas, got run out of Scottish politics for being a Russian apologist. Roger Waters, former Pink Floyd frontman whose former bandmates want nothing to do with him over his blatant antisemitic support for terrorism, got curb stomped for defending Russia at the United Nations. And how about Jeremy Corbyn? Oh, you better believe he was on Team Russia right from the outset.

Literally everywhere you look – every single person who you know as a prominent anti-Zionist BDS supporter – if you look them up there’s a roughly 95% chance they’re on record justifying Putin, and often getting A LOT of flak from their former fans.


Protesters waving Israeli flags booted from Roger Waters concert in London
Protesters who waved Israeli flags at a Roger Waters concert in London were kicked out of the venue in two separate incidents, while those waving Palestinian flags were reportedly not bothered by security at the performance Wednesday.

Footage showed Yochy Davis, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, and three other activists approaching an area close to the stage with flags while the Pink Floyd frontman donned a leather outfit and red armband — meant to resemble a Nazi or Waffen-SS uniform — at the O2 Arena.

The outfit drew controversy during recent appearances in Germany, where displaying Nazi imagery is illegal, and sparked allegations it was connected to his record of making statements and gestures deemed antisemitic.

One flag reading “Hey Roger, leave us Jews alone,” was ripped from activists by security guards, while another was held right up at Waters, the Jewish Chronicle reported.

Davis told the newspaper that another activist planned to run onto the stage but was halted by security.

“We feel that obviously [Waters] dresses like a Nazi. We heard he [dressed in an SS-style costume] in Berlin or in Frankfurt and we heard he did it the day before,” Davis said. She claimed that guards who took her away held onto her “very tightly” and were “hurting her.”

Upon leaving the arena floor, most of the security guards that then escorted her were “great, very sympathetic” after she explained she was the daughter of a Holocaust survivor and her offense at the performance.

People at the concert told Israel’s Channel 12 news some concertgoers unfurled Palestinian flags at the same time and were not bothered by security.

In a separate incident during the performance, Israeli filmmaker Emilio Schenker also unfurled a flag close to the stage. Footage showed security approaching Schenker and taking the flag, and then escorting him from the venue.


Holocaust history must be ingrained to ensure the Jews' future - opinion
Perhaps one of the most disturbing realities coming out of an AMCHA 2022 report is that the prestigious Harvard University ranks top for campus antisemitism in the US. In the 1930s Harvard, together with Yale and Columbia, legitimized antisemitism by welcoming Nazi leaders to address students at these premier universities.

In spite of an unprecedented rise in antisemitism worldwide, the United Nations is having difficulty accepting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which has been adopted by more than 1,000 global entities. Apparently, there is an objection to the clause that says that antisemitism included the targeting of the State of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity (correctly understanding that Israel is home to the largest number of Jews, in contrast to most other countries, where the Jewish communities are in decline).

Back to the beginning and the words of the WZO emissary. The connection to our tragic past should give specific validity to the relevance of a Jewish state to every Jew, wherever he or she may reside. As the American poet Robert Frost said, “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”

And, in this 75th year of Israel’s statehood, we can be justifiably proud of our little country, which is often the first to provide practical help to countries suffering from nature’s devastation – even those not as friendly toward us as we would wish.

Our R&D has developed the PillCam which, when swallowed, takes an instant photo of a person’s interior in place of a hitherto invasive procedure. ReWalk enables those who are paralyzed to walk. Planes can be powered by electricity alone, plus so much more. And we are a cultured people, with Israel boasting the most museums per capita in the world.

Am Yisrael chai!
White supremacist calls for violence amid Pittsburgh trial for synagogue shooter
Hardy Carroll Lloyd, an antisemitic extremist who spent years in prison on weapons charges, recently claimed credit for racist stickers dotting a park in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. He also issued a veiled threat online against jurors in the ongoing trial of Robert Bowers, the gunman who shot and killed 11 Jewish worshippers during Shabbat-morning services at the Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Synagogue in October 2018.

Lloyd also openly called for more killings.

“We have struck Pittsburgh and shall continue to pass out flyers until Richard Bowers, the great WHITE hero of Pgh, is freed,” wrote Lloyd, a longtime fixture in the racist movement, in an email that was provided to JNS.

“We shall also file for the names of the jury once it is over to make sure they voted the right way. If Bowers is not freed then we shall not only up our flyers, but also make PGH sorry. We cannot state what this is, of course,” he added.

In subsequent emails, which were provided to JNS, and posts on Telegram, a channel favored by right-wing extremists, Lloyd openly called for the murder of Jews. Throughout those posts, which the Anti-Defamation League confirmed, he incorrectly referred to the defendant in the trial as Richard Bowers.

“So let us raise a glass to Richard Bowers and learn from his Strike of Freedom,” Lloyd posted on Telegram. “Let us take notes so we can increase the body count. Don’t go on a podcast and rant … Don’t hold a rally with 5 people. Don’t wave your gun in the air without shooting anyone. No, go out there and KILL A FEW JEWS!!’
Israeli Short Film Premiering at Palm Springs Festival Explores Adolescent Rebellion in Jerusalem
The Hebrew-language short film Arava will make its world premiere at the Palm Springs International ShortFest on June 22 and is also in the running for the festival’s award for best international short.

The 27-minute coming-of-age story by director and screenwriter Sarah Meital Benjamin takes place in the 2000s and is set in Jerusalem as a teenage girl named Arava returns home after spending six months in a secluded rehab facility. She reunites with her troublemaker best friend Tzipi, who convinces her to go on a trip up north in Israel. As the two runaways hitchhike through the country, they face experiences and situations that force them to confront their own conflicts, identities, hopes and losses as well as their friendship.

“Arava is a story of friendship and unquenched passion between two young girls in an unsafe world, but beyond that, it is a portrait of the complexity, magic, pain and hope in the realities of at-risk youth in Israel,” according to a synopsis for the film.

The film was produced by Michael Utznik and co-written by Batel Zaharaa Mann with cinematography done by Keren Bergman. It stars Swell Ariel Or, from the Netflix Israeli series The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, along with Batel Zaharaa Mann, Itamar Rothchild, Itamar Abuhatzira, Shlomi Shtern, Elisha Shwartz.

Arava is a true story based on Benjamin’s life experiences. The filmmaker was born in Jerusalem to a Mizrahi-Ashkenazi family from a Hasidic community that she then left at a young age.
Tribeca Film Festival Hosts World Premiere of Stan Lee Documentary About Jewish Marvel Comics Visionary
Stan Lee, the Jewish Marvel Comics legend who co-created some of the most iconic superheroes in pop culture, is the focus of a new documentary making its world premiere this weekend at the Tribeca Film Festival before it premieres on the Disney+ streaming platform.

The writer, scripter and editor — who was born in 1922 as Stanley Martin Lieber to Jewish immigrants from Romania — co-created Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Black Panther, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men, Thor, Silver Surfer, Ant-Man, Nick Fury, The Avengers and hundreds of other beloved characters, according to Marvel. He made cameos in several pages of Marvel Comics and in many Marvel Studios films. Lee died in November 2018 at the age of 95.

The 86-minute film by director David Gelb, simply titled Stan Lee, features personal footage about Lee’s career that have never before been shown to the public as well as voice recordings, interview clips and newsreels. Some of Lee’s closest colleagues also talk in the film about his life and legacy such as comic book publisher Flo Steinberg, who once was Lee’s secretary. The film is produced by Gelb as well as Jason Sterman and Brian McGinn with cinematography done by Ernesto Lomeli. Jeff Redmond, Andy Heyward, Gill Champion, Jamie McBriety and Sarah Regan serve as executive producers.

Lee began his career in comics as a teenager in 1939. He also wrote a personal column called “Stan’s Soapbox” that ran in every Marvel comic published between 1967 through 1980.

Stan Lee will screen in-person as part of the Tribeca Film Festival on June 10, 11 and 18, but will also be available for purchase and viewing as part of the Tribeca at Home online platform. The documentary will begin streaming on Disney+ on June 16.






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