Tuesday, June 13, 2023

06/13 Links Pt2: The Antisemitic Origins of Islamist Violence; White House consulting CAIR on antisemitism is like inviting ‘butchers to National Vegetarian Day’

From Ian:

The Antisemitic Origins of Islamist Violence: A Study of the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic State
Islamism is one of the least understood forms of anti-Semitism. Leave to one side those who foolishly romanticise Islamist groups as fighting a heroic anti-colonial struggle against Israel and the West. Even those who, quite rightly, condemn Jihadi violence all too often lack a broader understanding of the Islamist world view. Being appalled by terrorist atrocities is not the same as grappling with the ideas of the broader political movement that motivates them.

Opponents of Islamism most often see it as essentially an extreme form of Islam as a religion. Such a conclusion is understandable as it is possible to selectively pull-out quotes from the Koran showing antipathy towards Jews. It is also important to note that Islamists present themselves as representing the true face of Islam. But the fact that Islamists identify themselves in these terms is a reason to question the claim rather than take it as a given.

Reducing Islamism to a form of extremist religion is hard to maintain once it is examined more closely. For a start, empirical studies of Jihadis and Islamist activists tend to suggest most have a skimpy knowledge of the religion. Their reading of Islamic texts tends to be highly tendentious. It is also insufficiently well recognised how much they are influenced by the most backward forms of European thought. For example, The Protocols of The Elders of Zion (1903), the notorious tsarist forgery outlining a supposed global Jewish conspiracy, is seminal in Islamist literature.

To be sure there is a relatively small number of formidable academics who do see Islamism as a form of political ideology rather than an extremist religion. For example, Olivier Roy, a leading French expert, argues that: ‘We must understand that terrorism does not arise from the radicalisation of Islam, but from the Islamisation of radicalism’. In other words, Islamism is an outlook that frames radical politics in Islamic language. The Islamist worldview extends well beyond Jihadi terrorists to include what are sometimes called ‘participationist’ Islamists. Such militants engage in Islamist politics but do not themselves engage in acts of violence. Other experts who see Islamism as essentially a form of political ideology, albeit one that uses an Islamic idiom, include Matthias Küntzel and Bassam Tibi. These authors are all well worth reading but sadly they have so far had relatively little influence on the public debate.

Evin Ismail, a senior lecturer in political science at the Swedish Defence University, has added to this important but insufficiently well-known literature with her Uppsala University doctorate. It examines the centrality of anti-Semitism to the outlook of the Muslim Brotherhood – which has spawned numerous organisations around the world – and Islamic State.

She draws on a variety of sources to help understand the Islamist world view and the centrality of Islamism in particular. These include a discussion of Islamic sources such as the Koran and the hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhamad), the writings of Sayyid Qutb (the most influential Islamist ideologue), Dabiq (an Islamic State newsletter) and case studies of various Islamist terrorists.

Ismail argues that anti-Semitism has played a central part in the Islamist outlook since its inception with the foundation of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928. That is, it should be noted, 20 years before the founding of the state of Israel. So, seeing Islamist anti-Semitism as simply a reaction to Israel’s actions is not tenable.
White House consulting CAIR on antisemitism is like inviting ‘butchers to National Vegetarian Day’
Scholars who study antisemitism and anti-Israel hatred, and activists who focus on those areas, told JNS that CAIR should have been kept far away from a national strategy to counter antisemitism.

Gil Troy, a history professor at McGill University, told JNS that the decision reflected the “illogic” of “inclusivity and faux diversity.”

“Let’s make sure to recruit some male chauvinists for the next women’s rights initiative—and invite some butchers to National Vegetarian Day,” he said.

“Once they are helping in the strategy, perhaps representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations want to offer some tips on fighting dog-whistling and gas-lighting, on making every accusation against anyone else be about you and about how to disprove the ‘I’m only anti-Israel. I’m not antisemitic’ ruse,” Troy added. “After all, according to the ADL and others, they have mastered those tricks of the New Antisemitism.”

Jason Bedrick, an education policy research fellow at the Heritage Foundation who focuses on religious liberty, among other topics, told JNS that it is “absurd and outrageous” that the Biden administration consulted “one of the chief purveyors of antisemitism” on its national strategy to combat antisemitism.

“CAIR is still a bad actor that advocates on behalf of vicious Jew-haters and people convicted of supporting terrorism,” he said.

The inclusion of CAIR “at least partially explains why the Biden administration’s plan falls woefully short of anything meaningful, especially as it embraced two conflicting definitions of antisemitism,” he said.

The IHRA working definition of antisemitism deems it antisemitic to single out the Jewish state for condemnation in a unique way, while the Nexus definition “is primarily designed to let Jew-haters off the hook, so long as they thinly veil their antisemitism as mere ‘anti-Zionism,’” Bedrick said.

Sam Markstein, national political director at the Republican Jewish Coalition, told JNS that the inclusion of CAIR is “further evidence that President Biden blew it by failing to include a single clear definition of antisemitism in his plan.”

Insofar as CAIR “demonizes Israel” and promotes the anti-Israel BDS movement, it falls under the IHRA definition, according to Markstein.

“Jewish Americans deserve better than a White House that embraces an organization like CAIR, while undermining the IHRA definition by promoting alongside it an alternative definition that says applying double standards and singling out the Jewish state for criticism is not antisemitic,” he said.

‘Serious doubts about their suitability’

Kyle Shideler, director and senior analyst in homeland security and counterterrorism at the Center for Security Policy, told JNS that CAIR’s roots in the 1990s were as a front to support Hamas.

“CAIR has been clear and unapologetic about its willingness to engage in Jew-hatred, even if it occasionally attempts to disguise this as opposition to the state of Israel,” he said. “CAIR’s inclusion would make more sense if the Biden administration was proposing a strategy for promoting antisemitism, instead of a supposed strategy to reduce antisemitism.”

The decision to include CAIR demonstrates that the Biden administration, “is fundamentally unserious about opposing genuine antisemitism and merely going through the motions while making sure not to alienate the radical anti-Israel wing of the left, which remains a vital portion of their political base,” added Shideler.
Definitively measuring antisemitism
Roger Waters continues to deny antisemitism claims
Waters, the former member of the rock band Pink Floyd, has been a controversial celebrity on issues related to antisemitism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He has publicly espoused antisemitic sentiments and, for years, has used his concerts to push antisemitic tropes through the guise of anti-Zionism. He is also a vocal proponent of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, in which leadership has openly stated that there is no future for Palestine next to Israel.

In a recent interview featured by Double Down News, Waters spent a good 20 minutes defending his recent actions, claiming that the antisemitic allegations against him are false. Waters stated that “the narrative that I’m an antisemite and that I am promoting fascism by wearing a leather coat with crossed hammers... but it remains a vicious lie.”

He even pretended to be upset over these allegations, saying, “I can’t believe they are trying to do this to me.”

Well, he better believe it because it’s true. The facts speak for themselves, and there can be no denying that Roger Waters is an antisemite. Let’s take a look at some of his actions:

The use of antisemitic imagery: Waters has used antisemitic imagery and symbolism during his performances, where he often uses a pig-shaped balloon with the Jewish Star of David and a swastika. Such imagery he chooses intentionally. Waters claimed he stopped using this in 2013, but that does not replace the years of damage done by demonizing and dehumanizing Jews in this manner. Waters’s “pig” reinforces harmful stereotypes and invokes historical tropes perpetuating antisemitism.

Comparing the Jewish state to Nazi Germany: Waters has drawn multiple false comparisons between Israel to apartheid-era South Africa and Nazi Germany. This is an intentional move to equate the Jewish state to some of history’s most heinous atrocities, especially knowing that the Holocaust invokes so much pain in the Jewish community. While Israel is not immune to criticism, comparing it to the Nazis trivializes and delegitimizes the Holocaust.

Selective focus on demonizing Israel: Waters has a selective focus on Israel’s actions while ignoring Palestinian terrorism. He disproportionately highlights Israel’s alleged wrongdoings without acknowledging the complexities of the conflict and the challenges that Israel faces with her neighbors.

This is just a shortlist of Roger Waters’s track record of antisemitism, and now the Biden administration has weighed in on the controversy.


UK ministers to advance bill to stop councils boycotting Israel
British Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Michael Gove is due to push forward the U.K. government’s long-anticipated plan to prevent further boycotts against Israel, reported Britain’s Financial Times.

The bill is aimed at preventing local councils and public bodies from adopting “their own foreign policy,” and stopping local authority pension funds from backing BDS sanctions against U.K. companies connected with Israel.

Gove has stated in the past that he believes that the BDS campaign is designed for only one purpose—to attack and delegitimize the State of Israel and the very idea that there should be a Jewish state at all.

The proposed legislation was originally mentioned in Queen Elizabeth’s speech at the opening of parliament in 2022.

The bill is also part of the Conservative government’s efforts to clamp down on rising antisemitism in the United Kingdom.

ELNET UK, a non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening relations between Europe and Israel based on “shared democratic values and strategic interest”, expressed support for the advancement of the bill.

“ELNET UK fully supports attempts to address and curtail antisemitism. In view of the violent narrative and ideology pushed by BDS, such a move by the United Kingdom would certainly be welcome—and would bring the U.K. into closer alignment with other European countries who have taken a strong stand against BDS.

“We believe that combating antisemitism in all its forms, and standing against those who seek to delegitimize and harm the State of Israel, is a moral imperative,” said ELNET UK Executive Director Joan Ryan.

Members of the Jewish community and grassroots activists have welcomed the bill. According to analyst of UK-Israel relations and host of “Jonny Gould’s Jewish State” Jonny Gould, “BDS boycotts Jewish people using Jewish self-determination, the State of Israel, as its cover. We all know multiple countries who exact egregious behavior on their own citizens, yet BDS targets Israel exceptionally. It blames a two-sided war on ‘Jewish colonialism.’
‘We’re approaching Palestine,’ Ryanair announces on Tel Aviv-bound flight
Passengers on a Ryanair flight from Italy to Tel Aviv were shocked after a flight attendant repeatedly described their final destination as Palestine.

Israelis present on the flight told Channel 14 News that a flight attendant had said they were bound for Palestine multiple times, in both Italian and English.

About half an hour before the plane was slated to touch down at Ben Gurion Airport in central Israel, the flight attendant announced over the intercom that the plane was “approaching Palestine.”

Some of the passengers on the flight spoke up about the announcement, they told Channel 14, and asked the attendant to either correct herself or apologize.

“We didn’t [buy tickets] on the airline to deal with anti-Zionist opinions [from flight staff],” a passenger said. “All we wanted was [an announcement] that Tel Aviv is in Israel.”

Their requests were refused, and instead the cabin crew accused the passengers of creating a disturbance that endangered the safety of the flight, they recounted to the outlet.

An Italian-speaking passenger was surprised that the flight attendant doubled-down on their views during a conversation, insisting that Tel Aviv is located not in the State of Israel, but in Palestine.

The flight attendant who made the announcement was not wearing a name tag, making it impossible to identify anyone by name in order to file a complaint at a later time.

One passenger, who tried to take a picture of the attendant, was told that she would be arrested upon landing if she left her seat in order to get a clear image of the speaker, according to the Channel 14 report.

Ryanair, which is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, refused to respond to multiple requests for comment from Channel 14 regarding the incident. (h/t jzaik)
CUNY has to fight antisemitism: City University must take action to counter the hatred of Jews
Actions speak louder than words. It is time to demand more from the CUNY executives. To that end, the International Legal Forum and the National Jewish Advocacy Center, recently addressed a letter to the IRS, demanding CUNY Law School’s tax-exempt status be revoked, as the law school’s adoption of BDS violates CUNY’s status as a 501(c)(3) non-profit entity, which prohibits it from engaging in substantial political or lobbying activities. In the meantime, a bill has also been proposed before Congress to defund public universities such as CUNY that host “antisemitic” events.

Such external action has only become necessary because CUNY is showing that it is simply unwilling to take any meaningful steps to curb the rising Jew-hatred on campus.

If CUNY is serious about tackling the scourge of antisemitism that has engulfed its university, it should begin by first adopting the IHRA working definition of antisemitism. The working definition both provides a framework that allows for legitimate criticism of Israel, while providing clear guidelines on antisemitism.

CUNY must take practical steps to actively combat antisemitism and to create an environment where all students and faculty feel valued and protected.

We must ensure that CUNY does not “get a pass” by releasing another empty statement. Mere condemnation without tangible consequences will always be ineffective in the fight against antisemitism. It is high time for CUNY to go beyond empty statements and implement concrete actions to address the antisemitism that is surging unabated at its university.


Publicly-funded California college is slammed after graduate gives anti-Semitic commencement speech two weeks after CUNY graduate called for destruction of Israel
A graduate at a publicly-funded community college in California used her opportunity at the podium to deliver a message advocating anti-Semitism.

Jana Abulaban, 18, who identifies as a Palestinian woman, despite being born in Jordan moving to the United States at the age of 12, made her vitriolic remarks at the El Camino Community College graduation this past Friday in Torrance, California.

'I gift my graduation to all Palestinians who have lost their life and those who continue to lose their lives every day due to the oppressive apartheid state of Israel killing and torturing Palestinians as we speak,' Abulaban told the crowd.

This comes just weeks after CUNY student Fatima Mousa Mohammed described the NYPD as 'fascist' and denounced 'Israeli settler colonialism.'

After a barrage of public outrage and calls for the largely taxpayer-funded school to be stripped of its handouts, CUNY apologized for her remarks, labeling them 'hate speech.'

On Friday, El Camino posted a photo Abulaban speaking, accompanied by a quote.

'If I was told 7 years ago, as a Palestinian refugee stepping foot for the first time in this country, that one day I'll be standing on this stage — I would not have believed it. I'm extremely thankful to have gotten to this point,' she said.

The school did not posted any of Abulaban's quotes in which she denounced Israel.

In an interview with her school's newspaper, Abulaban said that her grandmother was a Palestinian refugee in the 1950s.

El Camino Community College received around $150 million in tax money for the 2022-23 school year. There are 22,000 students enrolled at the school.

Former CUNY board Trustee Jeffrey Wiesenfeld told the New York Post that Abulaban's remarks were 'really sick.'

'It’s apparent American universities are increasing the number of semi-literate and illiterate students. The jihadism in their minds doesn’t come from Jews. It comes from their own,' he added.
Jewish group blasted for honoring CUNY honcho Bill Thompson amid hate speech furor
Jewish activists are turning on the Jewish Community Relations Council for honoring CUNY board chairman Bill Thompson with its annual “Public Service Award” at its spring gala Monday night — amid complaints of campus antisemitism and hate speech at the public university.

The JCRC — self described as the primary Jewish communications agency in the city — is bestowing Thompson with its award at the New York Historical Society just weeks after an incendiary commencement speech delivered by CUNY law school grad Fatima Mousa Mohammed decried as antisemitic.

“[We are] proud to honor Bill Thompson, Jr. with this year’s Public Service Award. Bill has been a friend to the City of New York and to JCRC-NY for over three decades… and has been a dedicated advocate for diversity, innovation, and progress across the public and private sectors,” the statement said.

Thompson, a former city comptroller and mayoral candidate, himself co-signed a statement belatedly slamming Mohammed’s tirade as “hate speech.”

“This is an outrageous insult and obsequious act against the Jewish community. No one in the CUNY administration should be honored by JCRC,” said former 15-year CUNY board trustee Jeffrey Wiesenfeld.


BBC Finally Focuses On Despotic Palestinian Leadership… But Still Manages to Whitewash Terrorism
In a rare and surprising move, the BBC has decided to turn its reproving gaze away from Israel for a change and focus on the oft-ignored tyrannical rule of the Palestinian Authority, which hasn’t held a single election in the West Bank since 2006.

The piece by the broadcaster’s World Service, “‘As Palestinian youths, the political process has failed us,”‘ highlights how younger Palestinians have “little faith in the Palestinian leadership” after never being given the opportunity to vote, as well as how many reject the idea of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Based on data that was exclusively shared with the BBC by the West Bank-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, the article quotes several Palestinians aged under 30 — including a terrorist in the Jenin Battalion that the BBC’s Yousef Eldin apparently met during the group’s nightly “training exercises” — who talk of their distrust in the Palestinian political process.

While the piece rightly draws attention to Palestinian Authority’s authoritarianism, Eldin’s subtle whitewashing of the activities of several Palestinian terrorist groups leaves a bitter taste:
In the past year, numerous new militant groups have sprung up in the northern West Bank towns of Nablus and Jenin, challenging the legitimacy of the Palestinian Authority’s security forces.

The most well-known are the Lions’ Den and the Jenin Brigades, which have carried out attacks in the West Bank against Israeli forces and settlers.”

Although it is true that the majority of the Lions’ Den and Jenin Battalion’s terrorism has been confined to the West Bank, Eldin ignores the fact that both groups have actually targeted civilians in Israel proper, including a planned pipe bomb and gun attack by the Lions’ Den in southern Tel Aviv that was thwarted by Israeli police.

Meanwhile, the Jenin Battalion is believed to be behind a number of shooting attacks on a kibbutz in northern Israel earlier this year.
BBC’s Bateman censors Hamas statement on Jerusalem Pride Parade
Bateman’s censored portrayal of that statement would come as no surprise to those familiar with the BBC’s long-standing under-reporting of the topic of LGBT rights in areas controlled by Hamas and the Palestinian Authority and internal Palestinian affairs in general.

With the exception of one BBC report from 2014, over the past decade its reporting on Pride Month events in Israel has been used to promote political framing rather than to inform audiences how Israel is different from other countries in the region. Although Pride Month events take place in a variety of locations all over the country, in recent years the focus of BBC reporting has shifted from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

That shift makes it easier for BBC Jerusalem bureau reporters to frame the story in terms of the Israeli political scene of the day, as was the case when Yolande Knell covered the Jerusalem Pride March in 2019.


Toronto’s first Holocaust museum looks to the post-survivor era
Toronto is home to one of the world’s largest Jewish communities, nearly half of the 335,000 Jews in Canada. But until last week, the city did not have a dedicated Holocaust museum.

The Toronto Holocaust Museum opened its doors on Friday, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by an array of dignitaries and Holocaust survivors. Aimed at young learners who will inherit a post-survivor world, the space centers around 11 kiosks where large-as-life survivors share their testimonies through interactive videos. Its four galleries explore Jewish and minority persecution in both Europe and Canada, World War II atrocities and the beginnings of new life in Canada for thousands of refugees.

“What we set out to do from the very beginning was to ensure that this was a place to hear from survivors long after they’re gone,” the museum’s Executive Director Dara Solomon told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “Bringing the Holocaust survivors in to see how we’ve done that, and having them really happy and fulfilled, has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my personal and professional life.”

While the center tells human stories from a genocide, it de-emphasizes the panoply of horror that some have come to expect from a Holocaust museum. In its gallery dedicated to the atrocities, some materials — such as images of mass killings in pits on the outskirts of towns — are stored in drawers that must be pulled out by willing viewers.

“We made some very conscious decisions to not use the incredibly graphic imagery I grew up with, because we know that students don’t learn as well as people have thought they did when they’re sad,” said Solomon. “If you’re making them sad and scaring them, the learning actually shuts down.”
500 neo-Nazi cells uncovered in Brazil last year
Five hundred neo-Nazi cells were identified in Brazil last year, Latin America’s envoy for fighting antisemitism said Monday.

The startling figure was cited in Tel Aviv, at the annual Global Forum of the New York-based America Jewish Committee, which included a plenary with seven international antisemitism envoys, and came weeks after the launch of the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism.

“People in Latin America tend to think that this [antisemitism] happens in Europe,” said Fernando Lottenberg, the Organization of American States’ commissioner for monitoring and combating antisemitism. “It is not as strong as in the U.S. but it is gaining traction.”

The speakers in Tel Aviv noted that governments the world over have joined the struggle against antisemitism that previously fell to Jewish community leaders alone, appointing scores of envoys to combat the scourge and adopting the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism.

Insecure in Europe
Still, the European Union special envoy conceded that this government support was not being felt by Jewish communities across Europe, which feel increasingly insecure.

“Antisemitism has to be addressed in a more coordinated way fostering Jewish life free from security concerns,” the European Commission’s Coordinator on Combatting Antisemitism Katharina von Schnurbein said. “We do not see the change is felt across the board in the Jewish community.”
London Antisemite Unleashes Vicious Verbal Attack on Female Riding Bus
Footage of a disturbing verbal antisemitic attack in London was posted on Monday by StopAntisemitism, a nonprofit monitoring antisemitic hate crimes across the world.

“F*** Jewish… F*** Jews, F*** Jews,” a white man wearing a plaid, hoodless cardigan can be seen saying while giving the middle finger to his female victim, who recorded the encounter and contacted StopAntisemitism.

The incident occurred late afternoon on Saturday on a bus headed toward the Smithfield district of London. London’s Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) is searching for the perpetrator and has not yet made an arrest.

“Antisemitism is alive and well, 2023,” the victim says as the man, who continues shouting antisemitic statements, walks away.

“I can’t believe this is happening in 2023,” StopAntisemitism CEO Liora Rez told The Algemeiner on Monday during an interview, adding that the man approached the young woman after hearing her converse in Hebrew with another friend. “In a city like London, I would expect at least one person to turn their head and flinch. Thankfully, the victim contacted us right away, the incident is getting the proper attention and the police are investigating. Hopefully, he is arrested and properly charged.”
IDF cyberdefense system, three other top secret projects awarded top security prize
President Isaac Herzog and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday awarded the Israel Defense Prize, one of the highest honors bestowed by the state, to four teams for top secret work they accomplished over the past year.

The winners, announced last month, included an army team behind a “groundbreaking” cyberdefense system aimed at giving Israel “freedom of action in the digital space,” and three other completely classified projects led by various security organizations, according to the Defense Ministry.

The ceremony took place at Herzog’s residence in Jerusalem, with military chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, Mossad chief David Barnea, and Defense Ministry Director General Maj. Gen. (res.) Eyal Zamir in attendance.

“Officers, soldiers, and fellow citizens, the women and men of our esteemed defense establishment — your invaluable contributions to Israel’s national strength are truly remarkable. Through your accomplishments, inventions, developments, and outstanding achievements, the security of our beloved nation is safeguarded, ensuring our ability to defend ourselves independently,” said Herzog.

Gallant said the classified projects “send a clear message to our adversaries that we are always prepared for any threat.”

The Israel Defense Prize award, which is named for the commander of Israel’s pre-state Hagana militia Eliyahu Golomb, is presented each year to people and projects deemed to have made a significant contribution to the country’s security.
Israeli-made robotic Spiderman cleans Hong Kong skyscrapers
An Israeli startup that developed a novel artificial intelligence-powered robot to clean and inspect the exteriors of high-rise buildings signed an agreement in Hong Kong amounting to $5.6 million.

Verbotics is the first company to provide a robot cleaning output ten times the capacity of the traditional cleaning performed by humans. How does the robot work?

Using computer vision and AI, the robot climbs Spider-Man-style the height and width of a skyscraper. The cleaning is dry mechanical and does not use liquid or chemicals. It attaches to the building using a smart nest allowing simple installation.

The robot also collects and analyzes visual data giving it the ability to offer important maintenance information such as detecting cracks, heat leaks and degradation of materials.

Founder and CEO Ido Ganosar explained what sparked the idea behind the innovative technology.

"My family is the largest manufacturer of curtain walls in Israel," he said. "I managed the innovation field in the company for a period of time and one of the things that occupied me the most was how the cleaning work is done as it was 100 years ago with the same infrastructure and the same method.

"I was looking to bring in robotic technology and did not find a solution that really succeeded in changing the industry. In all the solutions I found, they still used the same infrastructure, they all tried to replace the person who descends the cable or the person in the cleaning elevator.

"Together, we developed a system that is independent and does not rely on the infrastructure of the buildings, a system that is plug and play, easy to operate and move, compared to the existing systems weighing hundreds of kilograms.

"We are talking about a market of tens of billions which is in constant growth of demand."
Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, Dudu Tassa announce Tel Aviv gig after album release
Celebrated Israeli musician Dudu Tassa and award-winning Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood have launched a new, joint album and announced a performance on September 14 at Tel Aviv’s Hangar 11.

The album, “Jarak Qaribak,” brings together vocalists and musicians from across the Middle East, creating collaborations for its title that, loosely translated, means “your neighbor is your neighbor,” and includes covers of Arabic songs from throughout the region.

The idea of the album was to have each singer perform a tune from another country, with a focus on classic love songs. This was to avoid political subtexts, explained Tassa and Greenwood in the album liner notes published on YouTube.

“We didn’t want to make out that we’re making any political point, but I do understand that, as soon as you do anything in that part of the world, it becomes political, even if it’s just artistic. Actually, possibly especially if it’s artistic,” wrote Greenwood.

Tassa said he believes it would have been an act of bad faith to make the album any other way.

Israel, he noted, is “a small country between all those countries, so we’re very influenced by those cultures and by that music. And a lot of us in Israel – like my family – are descended from people who came here from elsewhere in the Middle East, so everything gets mixed up.”
A third Bruno Mars show in Israel could be in the works - report
A third Israel concert by US pop star Bruno Mars could be in the works, with US events promoter Live Nation considering as much after his first two shows sold out almost immediately, making him arguably the most commercially successful performer in Israeli history.

"It depends on Bruno's schedule and if he can add another show on some other day," a source close to the production said. "He has more shows in other places and it depends if it will be possible to move all the equipment in time."

The source also said it depended on financial considerations, such as checking the viability of selling tickets to a third show. Bruno Mars: The most successful performer in Israeli history?

All tickets to Bruno Mars' second show, set for October 7, were sold out in a matter of hours after they went on sale. So far, the singer's concerts have sold a grand total of 125,000 tickets for his two concerts, one on October 4 and the other on October 7. Pre-sale tickets were also bought at an unprecedented rate, with very few tickets left to be purchased by the general public at all.

On social media, several users said they waited hours on the website to purchase tickets only to be kicked out in the end.

"I was in the 4,000th place in line and it then kicked me out and said I was in the 67,000th place! Then it kicked me out again!" One user wrote.

Another user wrote that they "Waited for hours to buy a ticket after pre-registering and the site just crashed!"
Netflix, Jerusalem film school launch round two of Series Lab
Netflix and Jerusalem’s Sam Spiegel Film School have launched the second edition of Series Lab, bringing students to work with professional showrunners to develop Israeli series.

Participants will be mentored by producer and screenwriter Joe Peracchio of “The Flash,” “Scenes of a Marriage” associate producer Ossi Nishri, Ronit Weiss-Berkowitz (“The Girl From Oslo,” “A Touch Away”), Noah Stollman (“Our Boys,” head writer of “Fauda”) and Dror Mishani (“The Missing File,” “A Body That Works”).

Projects will go through the process of creating a graphic pitch deck with the professional guidance of Ananey-Paramount Creative Studio.

Dana Blankstein Cohen, executive director of Sam Spiegel Film and Television School, said it was “a great privilege” for the institution to be a major player in the Israeli television industry and to provide a platform for groundbreaking creators to bring local stories to viewers in Israel and around the world.

The Lab was established last year by Sam Spiegel with the support of Netflix and artistic consultancy of Hagai Levi (“Scenes from a Marriage,” “In Therapy”).

In its second edition, the Lab, directed by Mor Eldar, continues its collaboration with Netflix, and one exceptional project will receive the Netflix Series Development Award.

The Lab will also be working with three new partners, production company New Mandate Films, which develops both global film and television projects around Jewish and Israeli themes; Israeli entertainment content enterprise United King Films, whose business properties include cinema megaplexes and several TV channels; and The Jerusalem Film and Television Fund.




Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

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