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Monday, July 03, 2023

07/03 Links Pt2: Israel Police studying France riots; California Jews Are Most Targeted Religious Group; Israel qualifies for Olympic soccer, first time in 48 years

From Ian:

Stephen Pollard: A vote against the BDS Bill is a vote to allow the boycott of Jews
Let’s make one thing clear from the start. The BDS – Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions – campaign is antisemitic. No ambiguity, no ifs, not buts. It singles out the world’s only Jewish state and demands that it – that Jews, in other words – is boycotted.

The more naïve of those who push BDS might like to think they are somehow elevated people pursuing an elevated cause, but they are not. They are no less antisemitic in their actions than skinheads and extremist Muslims who believe Jews are vermin.

That, in short, is why the Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill matters. By removing the ability of local councils and organisations to set their own foreign policy, it prevents them from acting in support of a campaign which seeks to boycott Jews.

There is no room for shades of grey here. You either think it’s fine to boycott Jews – in which case you will oppose the Bill – or you don’t, in which case you will support it.

That’s why tonight’s second reading is so important. It’s a vote on the principle of the bill. Those who intend to oppose that principle are saying they have no issue with boycotts of Jews. You can pretend your vote means something else, but we see you.

Which is one reason why Labour’s opposition – not initially couched as opposition but as a ‘reasoned amendment’, tabled in the name of Keir Starmer - is so important to note. Sir Keir talks a good game of making Labour a fit home for Jews, and he has tackled some of the more egregious antisemitism in his party. But when push comes to shove, and he is presented with a clear test of his commitment to the cause of tackling antisemitism, he is on the wrong side.
It's almost certain Labour will oppose Michael Gove’s BDS ban
It now seems almost certain that the Labour Party is going to oppose Levelling-Up secretary Michael Gove’s new Bill to outlaw boycotts of Israel by councils and other public bodies.

As we report elsewhere, Gove’s shadow, Lisa Nandy, has told the party’s MPs that she has serious “concerns” about the BDS (Boycott, Sanctions, Divestment) campaign that the Bill is designed to curb.

She says she recognises that BDS often becomes a vehicle “to whip up hate against the Jewish community”, adding that “we do not support action that singles out any one country for different treatment, or any action designed to promote xenophobia and racism.”

So far, so encouraging. But Nandy – who happens to be a former chair of Labour Friends of Palestine – also thinks that Gove’s Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill goes too far. It would, she says, lead to restrictions on free speech, and make it impossible for public bodies to boycott China, in protest at its treatment of its Uyghur minority.

However, what Nandy appears to dislike most is that the Bill has teeth. It would create powers to levy fines on institutions that make procurement or investment decisions in order to sustain boycotts.

Nandy would prefer to let them continue to make whatever decisions they choose, so long as they do so “in accordance with an ethical investment framework that is applied equally across the board”.

I’m not quite sure what that means. On Friday, Labour tabled a “reasoned amendment” repeating most of Nandy’s arguments, but this said nothing to explain what this nebulous concept would mean in practice.

But if the government doesn’t accept it at the Bill’s second reading on Monday, Labour will abstain, and then vote against the Bill on a three-line whip when it comes back for its third and final reading.
Israel Police studying France riots
Israeli law enforcement is studying the riots that have swept across France following the killing of a 17-year-old youth in the Paris suburbs on June 27.

Nahel Merzouk, reportedly of Algerian descent, was shot to death during a traffic stop following a car chase in Nanterre. This led to six consecutive nights of violent rioting.

A Paris firefighter died overnight Sunday while trying to extinguish a blaze in an underground parking lot, according to French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who added that 157 people had been arrested between Sunday and Monday. More than 3,000 people have been detained since Nahel’s death.

Israel Police Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai at the weekly meeting of the police command on Sunday morning ordered operations, intelligence and foreign relations divisions to “examine what led to the protests and the extreme reaction of the French protesters, what the police’s orders were, how they acted before the event that led to the protest, and what during the event led to violent riots across France,” the police said in a statement.

Israel is closely monitoring and deeply concerned about “waves of antisemitism sweeping over France,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during Sunday’s weekly Cabinet meeting.

“In recent days, we have witnessed criminal assaults against Jewish targets. We strongly condemn these attacks and support the French government in its fight against antisemitism,” he added.

In May 2021 violent riots exploded in cities across Israel during the 11-day war with the Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip.


Fallout from CUNY Speech and Other Events Made June Busy for Defending Israel
In June, the US State Department quietly reversed a Trump administration policy, and will cut off support for Israeli academic institutions and for technical/scientific projects located over the “Green Line,” notably Ariel University. A State Department spokesman stated, “The State Department recently circulated foreign policy guidance to relevant agencies in the United States government, advising that engaging in bilateral scientific and technological cooperation with Israel in geographic areas which came under the administration of Israel after 1967 and which remain subject to final-status negotiations is inconsistent with U.S. foreign policy.”

The State Department later clarified that the decision did not mean the US would again regard settlements as illegal. Another report noted that outgoing US ambassador to Israel Tom Nides approved a large grant to human rights organizations to document Israeli abuses in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip.

On campus, the fallout over City University of New York (CUNY) Law School commencement, in which a BDS supporter gave a talk vilifying Israel, expanded. Fatima Mohammed’s speech included condemnations of “capitalism, racism, imperialism and Zionism around the world,” and called for “revolution” against “all oppressive institutions.”

Mohammad’s speech was quickly condemned by Jewish groups, who pointed to the case as an early test of the Biden administration’s new antisemitism strategy. The CUNY Board of Trustees condemned Mohammad’s “hate speech as they were a public expression of hate toward people and communities based on their religion, race or political affiliation.” Several but not all trustees also issued individual statements denouncing Mohammad’s speech. CUNY BDS supporters responded by disrupting a Board of Trustees meeting, while BDS supporters cast her as a brave victim of a right wing smear campaign.

Local media and politicians also belatedly condemned the speech. After an early comment that mildly rebuked “words of negativity and divisiveness,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams stated “If I was on that stage, when those comments were made, I would have stood up and denounced them immediately.” For her part, New York Governor Kathy Hochul described Mohammad’s remarks as “heartbreaking,” but did not respond to calls to remove the CUNY chancellor or to defund or otherwise discipline CUNY.

In response to criticism, Mohammad and CAIR claimed that her speech had been approved by CUNY. They also claimed Mohammad had been “relentlessly harassed by far-right media, Mayor Eric Adams, and multiple members of Congress and City Council. As an institution of higher education, CUNY has a responsibility to protect its students, even in the face of disagreement or discomfort.” The university then denied that it had approved the speech.

Predictably, the CUNY faculty union — which has formally endorsed BDS — condemned the trustees’ statement, claiming the “overbroad description of hate speech undermines CUNY’s character as a university where free speech and open dialogue can flourish.” The union later endorsed City Councilman Charles Barron (D) — who is well known for a variety of antisemitic statements and intense Israel antipathy — for reelection. The union also endorsed another City Council candidate, Wai Yee Chan, who called Mohammad’s speech “a very individual case” of antisemitism, while denying that CUNY Law has a broader problem with antisemitism. Both Barron and Chan lost their races.


BBC’s Knell avoids joining the dots on Iranian terror
As we have noted here on numerous occasions over the past two years, the BBC’s reporting on the rise in terrorism perpetrated by groups based in Judea & Samaria has serially avoided (and in one recent case, actually denied) the topic of external involvement and support from Iran and Iranian funded terrorist organisations including Hamas, the PIJ and Hizballah. The BBC prefers instead to promote a narrative whereby local groups of disillusioned and frustrated ‘militants’ engage in ‘resistance’ against Israeli forces without informing its audiences of the broader regional factors at play.

Yolande Knell’s only brief and less than helpful reference to that topic in this report comes in the following paragraph:
“For decades, Israel has viewed Iran as its greatest adversary, citing calls by the Iranian government for its destruction and Tehran’s backing of militant groups which carry out attacks against it.

Along with the US and Europe, it suspects Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Iran maintains its nuclear ambitions are peaceful.”

BBC audiences’ understanding of Israel’s approach to Iran would of course be vastly enhanced were the corporation’s correspondents to begin joining the dots between the Iranian nuclear programme, Iran’s attacks and attempted attacks on Israelis and Jews abroad – which often go underreported – and Iranian support for a variety of terror groups and proxies in the region, including those which have contributed to the rise in violence in Judea & Samaria over the past two years.

In this report, Yolande Knell once again avoids providing audiences with that background information which would also aid their understanding of other stories reported by the BBC.
The Guardian Twists Facts in Settler Attack Feature; Forgets Dead Palestinian Was Hamas Terrorist
The Guardian recently drew attention to the thorny issue of settler violence in the West Bank following the abhorrent attack on the Palestinian village of Turmus Ayya in which rampaging masked settlers torched cars and vandalized property.

The mob violence, which came less than 24 hours after four Israelis were murdered in a terror attack at a gas station and restaurant near Eli, was publicly condemned in an unprecedented joint statement from the heads of the IDF, Shin Bet and Israel Police, as well as Israeli politicians, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

While The Guardian justifiably highlights the disturbing trend that is settler attacks, the feature about the events in Turmus Ayya last month contains factual inaccuracies and omissions that have no place in a piece of serious journalism.

The article notes the unusually high death toll this year, stating that “at least 137 Palestinians and 24 Israelis have been killed so far, mostly in IDF raids and Palestinian terrorist attacks,” but fails to go into any detail about what has prompted the surge in IDF incursions into Palestinian territories. Namely, the proliferation of new armed terror groups that have made Israeli counterterrorism activity a necessity.

In addition, the fact that the majority of dead Palestinians were claimed by terrorist groups while nearly all Israelis who were killed were civilians is absent from the piece.

The Guardian goes on to refer to Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip as “two surprise Israeli operations” which is a clear misrepresentation of what occurred. The fact is, there is nothing “surprising” about defending Israeli citizens against the barrages of rockets fired by Islamic Jihad that preceded every single Israeli strike on the Strip.
AFP Clarifies Hamas’ Weapons Exhibition Is Not a First
AFP footage filmed of previous weapons exhibitions is available here (six months ago, screenshot at left) and here (November 2021).

In addition, a 2016 AFP story (in Arabic) about a Hamas summer camp for children also includes an “exhibition” of weapons. Moreover, AFP has published countless images, its own and Nur’s, of previous Hamas exhibitions of weaponry:

In response to communication from CAMERA staff, AFP commendably republished the article on July 2, with a corrected headline stating: “Hamas lets Gaza residents pose with weapons for first time.” Editors also slightly tweaked the first sentence to more accurately report:
The armed wing of Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas has put its weapons on public display, in a first open event drawing hundreds of Palestinians including children brandishing rocket launchers for selfies.
Update 9:45 EST: Times of Israel Corrects

Times of Israel, which republished AFP's original story, also corrected today in response to communication from CAMERA's Israel office. Times of Israel's headline (screenshot at left) was originally: "In first, Gaza rulers Hamas open weapons exhibit for Palestinian public." Editors commendably corrected the headline, which now states: "In first, Hamas encourages Gazans, including children, to pose with its weapons." Editors also replaced the original opening sentence with AFP's updated language.
California Jews Are Most Targeted Religious Group, New Government Report Says
Members of California’s Jewish community are the group for most targeted for hate crimes motivated by religion, according to a new report by the state’s Attorney General office, which has tracked data on religious-bias crimes since 1995.

According to the report, antisemitic hate crimes increased by 24 percent in 2022, with 189 counted — 37 more than occurred in 2021.

Notable incidents from the year include one from May 2022 in which a white supremacist group calling itself the Goyim Defense League (GDL) drove through West Hollywood and Beverly Hills in a truck exhibiting disturbing antisemitic messages. In Santa Monica, fliers blaming Jews for covid-19 vaccines were posted at several elementary and middle schools. Containing a red and green Star of David with “anti-vaxxer” written in white block letters, they were also tacked on the walls, and in one instance, a crate of books. Another was posted to an electrical unit.

Additionally, in Oct., the GDL in Oct. hung an antisemitic banner over the 405 freeway, an act inspired by Kanye West’s manic outbursts about antisemitic conspiracies of Jewish power and control around that time. Both incidents prompted Governor Gavin Newsom (D) to address the issue in a statement condemning antisemitism and noting the state legislature’s efforts to support Jewish life and promote tolerance.

The GLD has been active across the US and the world. On Friday, its leader, Jon Minadeo, 40, was arrested during an antisemitic demonstration staged outside a synagogue in Bibb County, Georgia. In February, GDL crashed the Daytona 500 speedway race, holding up signs that said, “Henry Ford was right about the Jews” and “Communism is Jewish.” That same month, one of its members, 41 year old Canadian citizen Robert Wilson flashed on the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam an offensive message alluding to a conspiracy which claims that the pen Anne Frank used to write diary entries was not invented during World War II.

“This report is a stark reminder that there is still much work to be done to combat hate in our state. I urge local partners and law enforcement to review these findings and recommit to taking action,” California attorney general Rob Bonta said last Tuesday in a statement. “The alarming increases in crimes committed against Black, LGBTQ+, and Jewish people for the second year in a row illustrates the need for our communities to join together unified against hate.”


Israeli trade with Abraham Accords nations increased sharply in 2022
Israel’s trade with Abraham Accords states increased sharply since last year, the Abraham Accords Peace Institute found.

Trade between Israel and Morocco in January-May of 2023 increased by over 110% compared to the first five months of 2022.

Israel-United Arab Emirates trade grew by nearly 42% in the first five months of 2023 compared to the same period last year, and trade between Israel and Bahrain grew about 24%. Ties between Abraham Accords nations continue to grow

The Abraham Accords Peace Institute based its findings on data from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics.Israel fully normalized relations with the UAE and Bahrain in September 2020, in what was called the Abraham Accords. Morocco, which previously had low-level diplomatic ties with Israel that it cut off in 2000, soon followed, and the countries exchanged liaison offices that they have said will be upgraded to embassies.

Despite growing trade between Israel and Abraham Accords partners, AAPI deputy director for Israel David Aaronson wrote that “the trade numbers... are far below what they could or should be.”

“The opportunities for Abraham Accords trade have not reached their full potential. In fact, they have only scratched the surface,” he argued.

According to Aaronson, “one of the highest potential areas where commerce can be increased is through the expansion of an overland trade route linking Israel’s ports to those of the Gulf. This route could be particularly valuable for heavy or bulky cargo such as vehicles, which are generally not sent by air, or for perishable goods such as produce and pharmaceuticals, which cannot be sent via the lengthy sea route.”

Aaronson also suggested in an article AAPI plans to publish today that European countries ship products to the Gulf via Israeli ports, using such an overland route.
TAU Researchers Induce Cancer Cells to Commit Suicide
For the first time, researchers at Tel Aviv University encoded a toxin produced by bacteria into mRNA (messenger RNA) molecules and delivered these particles directly to cancer cells, causing the cells to produce the toxin – which eventually killed them with a 50% success rate.

The groundbreaking study was led by Ph.D. student Yasmin Granot-Matok and Prof. Dan Peer, a pioneer in the development of RNA therapeutics and Head of the Nanomedicine Laboratory at the Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research, also serving as TAU’s VP R&D. The study’s results were published in Theranostics (Lipid nanoparticles-loaded with toxin mRNA represents a new strategy for the treatment of solid tumors).

Prof. Peer explains: “Many bacteria secrete toxins. The most famous of these is probably the botulinum toxin injected in Botox treatments. Another classic treatment technique is chemotherapy, involving the delivery of small molecules through the bloodstream to effectively kill cancer cells. However, chemotherapy has a major downside: it is not selective and also kills healthy cells. Our idea was to deliver safe mRNA molecules encoded for a bacterial toxin directly to the cancer cells – inducing these cells to actually produce the toxic protein that would later kill them. It’s like placing a Trojan horse inside the cancer cell.”

First, the research team encoded the genetic info of the toxic protein produced by bacteria of the pseudomonas family into mRNA molecules (resembling the procedure in which genetic info of COVID-19’s ‘spike’ protein was encoded into mRNA molecules to create the vaccine). The mRNA molecules were then packaged in lipid nanoparticles developed in Prof. Peer’s laboratory and coated with antibodies – to make sure that the instructions for producing the toxin would reach their target, the cancer cells. The particles were injected into the tumors of animal models with melanoma skin cancer. After a single injection, 44-60% of the cancer cells vanished.

“In our study, the cancer cell produced the toxic protein that eventually killed it,” says Prof. Peer. “We used pseudomonas bacteria and melanoma cancer, but this was only a matter of convenience. Many anaerobic bacteria, especially those that live in the ground, secrete toxins, and most of these toxins can probably be used with our method. This is our ‘recipe’, and we know how to deliver it directly to the target cells with our nanoparticles. When the cancer cell reads the ‘recipe’ at the other end it starts to produce the toxin as if it were the bacteria itself and this self-produced toxin eventually kills it. Thus, with a simple injection to the tumor bed, we can cause cancer cells to ‘commit suicide’, without damaging healthy cells. Moreover, cancer cells cannot develop resistance to our technology as often happens with chemotherapy – because we can always use a different natural toxin.”
Israeli Doctors Save Swazi Boys' Lives
The lives of two little Swazi boys - Liyabonga Zwane, 6, and Snothando Mkhuleko Dlamini, 5, from Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) - who had congenital heart defects, were saved after surgery by doctors in Israel via the Save A Child's Heart (SACH) program.

Nozipho Sakhile Magagula, Snothando's mother, said, "Coming here and experiencing the people's kindness and care, it's another feeling altogether. What Israel is doing for our African children is amazing."
The Arabic-speaking rabbi connecting Mizrahim with their former homes
Rabbi Elhanan Miller’s enterprise interviewing Jews who lived in Arab countries is not the only oral history project – but it is one of the few being conducted in Arabic. This has allowed Miller to build up an audience in the Arab world and make some surprising connections. The project explodes the myth that Israel is a colonial project, as well as the perception that Jews and Muslims always lived peacefully together. Haaretz reports : with thanks: Lily)

An Iraqi-Jewish family in the 1930s.
A few months ago, Rabbi Elhanan Miller posted a video online of his interview with an elderly Jewish man who had fled Syria in the 1980s. The video, in which Mordechai Ezra shared his terrifying experience undergoing interrogation by Syrian intelligence officers before escaping to Israel, went viral.

Among the hundreds of thousands who viewed it on Miller’s YouTube channel and Facebook page was a Syrian refugee living in Germany. When Miller notified his followers on social media recently that he was heading to Berlin for a short trip and would be happy to meet up for coffee, this young man accepted the invitation.

It is not every day that Miller gets to hold face-to-face meetings with his Arabic-speaking social media followers and subscribers, most of whom are based in countries where Israelis cannot step foot. He therefore jumped at the opportunity.

“Like Mordechai Ezra, this young man – who was Kurdish – came from the city of Qamishli in northeastern Syria,” recounts Miller. “The story of this Jewish refugee resonated strongly with him, as it has with many Syrian refugees. But what was especially moving for me in this particular encounter was that it offered me an opportunity to communicate with someone from the Middle East outside the virtual world.”

In the video interview, Ezra also nostalgically recalled his childhood home and spoke about the marketplace in Qamishli that had been named after his grandfather. Not only did it receive many comments, says Miller, but it also generated direct email requests for Ezra’s contact information. After obtaining his interviewee’s permission, Miller was happy to oblige.

It would not be the first time he found himself in this unusual intermediary role.
David Beckham: I consider myself part of the British Jewish community
David Beckham has spoken fondly of his Jewish heritage, saying that he feels "part of the community."

In a public conversation with producer Ben Winston, the ex-Manchester United footballer said: "I am part of the Jewish community and I am proud to say it."

In a wide-ranging discussion about his life and career at the launch of the Lira Winston Fellowship, he was tested on his claims to Jewish identity with Winston starting off the prayer for bread and Beckham finishing it in Hebrew.

Speaking about how his mother’s father Joseph was Jewish, he said: ‘My grandfather always made sure we would keep up with certain traditions. We went to bar mitzvahs and weddings and I would wear a kippah. Every Saturday morning, I used to go to see my grandfather – you’d walk in the house to my grandmother preparing chicken soup and matza balls and latkes. We always kept to those traditions; it was always about the family coming together and spending time together."

Outside of his Jewish connections, Beckham confirmed and spoke for the first time about Lionel Messi joining his Inter Miami side.

The former England star revealed what it was like to hear one of the best footballers in history was joining his team and also revealed how still thinks about one of the most infamous episodes of his career – when he was sent off in a World Cup match against Argentina in 1998 – "all the time, every week."

Rumours about Messi joining his side Inter Miami have been circulating for a few weeks but speaking about it for the first time, Beckham said: "The team is one of the things I am most proud of and one of the toughest things I’ve done in my career but also one of the most rewarding.
Israeli Soccer Player Manor Solomon to Sign Five-Year Deal With Premier League Club Tottenham Hotspur
Rising Israeli soccer star Manor Solomon has reached a verbal agreement with the English Premier League soccer club Tottenham Hotspur and will sign a five-year deal with the team as a free agent, The Guardian reported on Monday.

The 23-year-old winger will undergo medical tests on Tuesday before signing his contract with the team, whose new manager Ange Postecoglu began last month. He is also expected to move to north London, according to the British daily newspaper.

Tottenham Hotspur has been vying for a chance to sign Solomon for some time now and was a top contender to offer the athlete a deal. The contract, which was brokered by Israeli agent Pini Zahavi, will make Solomon the fourth athlete that Tottenham has signed this summer after winger Dejan Kulusevski, goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicari and midfielder James Maddison.

The former Maccabi Petah Tikva player has been playing for the west London club Fulham since the summer of 2022 and put on a show-stopping performance during his time with the team, scoring five times in five consecutive games during a total of 24 appearances.

Solomon was one of only four Fulham players to bury the ball in the back of the net in four consecutive Premier League matches. He was nominated for FIFA’s Premier League Player of the Month award and the Premier League’s Budweiser Goal of the Month award. His former boss at Maccabi Petah Tikva nicknamed him “Manor Star” and his Fulham teammate Neeskins Kebano said he calls the athlete Pikachu, after the electric Pokemon character, “because he’s fast as lightning.”
Israel qualifies for Olympic soccer, first time in 48 years
Israel has qualified for the men’s football (soccer) competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games by advancing to the semifinals of the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

According to the qualification criteria, the top three ranked teams earn quotas to the upcoming Olympic Games. The other two are Spain and Ukraine.

Israel advanced to the semifinals after beating Georgia 4-3 on penalties on July 1.

Paris 2024 will mark the country’s first Olympic appearance in a football tournament since tying for fifth place at Montreal in 1976.

“We made history today,” Israel’s goalkeeper Daniel Perez told UEFA.com after the quarterfinal victory. Israel qualifies for Olympic soccer, first time in 48 yearsIsrael U-21 attacking midfielder Oscar Gloukh with Player of the Match trophy. Photo courtesy of UEFA

“It’s not just me. It’s all the team. I don’t think Georgia had a shot on target in 120 minutes. Amazing effort from the team, amazing tactics from the coach who believes in us so much.”

The team is comprised of Jewish and Arab Israelis from across Israel.

The Israel vs. Georgia game drew 44,338 spectators, making it the most-attended UEFA U-21 final tournament match in history.

The only previous times Israel made the semifinals of a UEFA final tournament were the 1996 U-16 Euro and the 2022 U-19 Euro. In the latter competition, Israel beat France and ended as runners-up with a squad containing several members of the current U21 team, some of whom also took the FIFA U-20 World Cup bronze in Argentina last month.

On July 5, Israel’s team will face off against England in the semifinals, to be held in Batumi, Georgia.
Israel qualifies for Euro U21 semifinals after beating Georgia





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