Sunday, July 16, 2023

07/16 Links: Settlers are not an obstacle to peace; Hamas is the Palestinian Wagner Group; Fatah tried to help terrorists escape after today’s terror attack

From Ian:

Herzog to fly to Washington for White House visit, Congress speech
In the speech, the president plans to emphasize the importance of “expanding the circle of regional peace” between Israel and Arab states, and “the essential need to fight against the hatred and terrorism that Iran is spreading while it pursues nuclear weapons.”

Herzog also said that, in all of his meetings, he will talk about the “internal challenges and opportunities facing Israeli society.”

The president will travel from Washington to New York City to meet with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, and New York Mayor Eric Adams.

The local Jewish Federation will host an event at which Herzog will meet young leaders, which he said reflects his “actions to build bridges between Israel and Diaspora Jewry.”

Herzog invited Leah Goldin to accompany him on the trip. Goldin is the mother of Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed in battle with Hamas during Operation Protective Edge. The terrorist group has held her son’s body captive since 2014.

Ahead of the trip, Netanyahu told Herzog last Thursday that Israel has two redlines.

“Israel will not agree to an American return to the dangerous nuclear deal with Iran and will act with every means it has to stop Iran from attaining a nuclear weapon,” a source close to Netanyahu said.

In addition, “Israel will not agree to a ‘no surprises’ policy when it comes to Iran.”
Settlers are not an obstacle to peace - opinion
An honest look at what is holding up peace between the Palestinians and Israelis is clear. Palestinian refusal to negotiate sincerely and their support of terrorism, are holding up peace. If Palestinians would cease all terror attacks and enter earnest negotiations with Israel, a peace deal could be reached. It is Palestinian intransigence that has been the obstacle to peace.

I find the notion that I can’t live in Judea and Samaria, the historic heartland of the Jewish people, simply because I am a Jew, abhorrent. Recently, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was interviewed by Sky News who pushed him on my community and those like it being an obstacle to peace.

He responded, “What you’re saying is that if a Jew buys property on private land and wants to live in areas next to Palestinians that is a criminal action and we must sanitize the area [of Jews], we have to make it ethnically cleansed.

“If I said to you Jews cannot buy land anywhere in the world, in London, or Paris, you would be outraged. But if a Jew buys private land in a disputed territory whose political future has not been determined yet, Jews should not live there because it obstructs the peace?

“Why do a million Arabs sit in Israel as citizens of Israel, live in Israel, and we don’t say that’s not possible, but the idea that Jews should live next to Palestinians, that obviates the peace? That conception is the danger to peace. The idea that the presence of Jews on their ancestral homeland, which has been their homeland for 3,000 years, that Jews should not live there, that it should be Judenrein?”

I AM proud of where I live. I have followed my ancestors back to the land that was promised to the Jewish people and where they lived for thousands of years. I am inspired by the Zionist pioneers that came before me and I follow their example. I dedicate hours of every single day to developing my town and my nation and there isn’t a foreign notion or nation that will impede our growth.

I also pray for peace three times every single day and I look forward to the day when I can live peacefully with my Palestinian neighbors. I am ready for peace, but it will only happen when the Palestinians sincerely want to end the conflict with Israel.

If Palestinians want to continue using my home and town as a pretext to justify their intransigence and support of terror, that is their mistake, and they will suffer the consequences. My neighbors and I will keep building and developing our towns – and we will create new ones. Time is on our side; the longer Palestinians delay making peace with Israel the more they will lose.

My vision of a peaceful Israel, with Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Arabs, living side by side, is too strong to be ruined by cynical or shortsighted people. I will keep praying and dreaming of peace, and I am confident that I will live to see the day peace is reached in our land.


Lex Fridman Podcast: Benjamin Netanyahu: Israel, Palestine, Power, Corruption, Hate, and Peace
TRANSCRIPT: https://lexfridman.com/benjamin-netanyahu-transcript/

OUTLINE:
0:00 - Introduction
2:35 - Hate
8:15 - Judicial reform and protests
16:51 - AI
26:53 - Competition
33:34 - Power and corruption
40:45 - Peace
55:18 - War in Ukraine
59:15 - Abraham Accords
1:03:15 - History
1:08:02 - Survival


Hamas is the Palestinian Wagner Group
Consider Hezbollah as Iran's Wagner Group. Operating under no international constraints, they now control the country in which they are based, Lebanon. They also operate freely in Syria, a country led by a dictator who has mass murdered his own people and is in need of additional muscle. In his case Iran's Wagner Group – Hezbollah.

Which brings us to the Palestinian Wagner Group – Hamas. Also sponsored by Iran, Hamas usurped power in the Gaza Strip by using unacceptable methods to kill many security personnel of the Palestinian Authority. Today the PA cannot step foot in Gaza which is totally controlled by the Palestinian Wagner Group. As with the Russian WG, Hamas bows to no one and obeys no one, certainly not the PA.

So much so that this Palestinian Wagner Group has imposed itself on the towns outside of the Gaza Strip that are officially supposed to be under the authority of the PA. Truth be told, despite the political rivalry, there is a symbiotic relationship between the PA and Hamas. The Mahmoud Abbas-led Palestinian Authority undertakes the hate indoctrination of its people against Israel and Jews, and it is Hamas that executes the violence and terrorism.

It is strange, or maybe it isn't, that no country, no international organization, not the UN, those that profess an aim to create a peaceful solution between Israel and the Palestinians, make any demand, or impose any penalty on this Palestinian Wagner Group and return control of the Gaza Strip, and the other towns in which they operate, to the Palestinian Authority.

I did not begin to write this article with the intent of being a spokesman for, or heaven forbid, a PA advocate. I merely point out that, given the uncontrolled freedom of illicit armies operating in ways that conflict with internationally defined rules of war, this will inevitably lead to dark forces usurping power, with other dangerous forces following the illegal examples of the Wagner Group, Hezbollah, and Hamas, making the world a far more dangerous place.
Using Terrorism For Fundraising, and Fundraising For Terrorism
Under the banner of “Jenin Emergency”, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) ran a series of advertisements appealing for funds for the “Jenin Palestine Refugee Camp.” It inverted reality and made the terrorist enclave the victim of Israeli aggression, rather than self-reflect as to why the UN is the mother hen of a terrorist training facility.

Other charities jumped into the circus and started spending money on promoting this false narrative to collect monies for their coffers, even a peaceful sounding group like “Save the Children.”

The “DONATE” and “DONATE NOW” buttons flooded the screens with appeals for “humanitarian aid” for the “suffering and hardship that the children in the Jenin refugee camp are enduring.” The sites relayed stories of an assault of the “Israel Armed Forces” on residents of Jenin. Nowhere was there a discussion of the Arab killers who live in their midst and the overwhelming support that the terrorists receive from their neighbors.

Today, 57% of Palestinians support terrorist attacks against Jewish civilians inside of Israel.

The Palestinians have already started their “intifada” and have gone on the offensive asking for donations to fund their terrorism against Jews. While the poorly named “Second Intifada” witnessed Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran being the main sponsors of the murderers, today, anti-Israel charities are asking the rest of the world to underwrite the spilling of Jewish blood.
The Israel Guys: Exposing Israel’s Enemies From Within | Philistine Settlement Series OFFICIAL TEASER
You have heard the mainstream media talk all about “illegal settlements” in what they call the “occupied territories” of the WEST BANK.

Welcome to our new series where we take you behind the scenes of the Israeli Palestinian conflict to expose Israel’s enemies from deep within.

Buckle up for this wild ride!
- Episode one and two are dropping on August 13th & 20th


Biden calls retiring Jesse Jackson, with long history of Jew-hatred, ‘man of God and of the people’
History will remember Jesse Jackson as “a man of God and of the people,” who is “determined, strategic and unafraid of the work to redeem the soul of our nation,” U.S. President Biden stated on July 16.

In the White House announcement, which marked the 81-year-old Baptist minister and activist’s retirement, Biden invoked a quote from Jewish scripture—that man is created in the divine image. He called Jackson an “extraordinary” leader, who “helped lead our nation forward through tumult and triumph,” adding, “We will continue to cherish the counsel and wisdom that we draw from him.”

The statement reflected nothing of Jackson’s long history of anti-Jewish offenses.

“I’m sick and tired of hearing constantly about the Holocaust. The Jews don’t have a monopoly on suffering,” Jackson said, per 1984 New York Times reporting. On a visit to Yad Vashem in 1979, Jackson said that “such genocide should ‘not be allowed to happen to anyone, including the Palestinians,’” according to the Washington Post.

Jackson referred to New York as “Hymietown” and Jews as “Hymies” in an interview with Washington Post journalist Milton Coleman during Jackson’s 1984 campaign for the Democratic nomination for president.

The Times reported, Jackson’s “problems were compounded” when antisemitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan threatened Coleman with death. Even years after Jackson sought to sever his close political connections with Farrakhan, “deep suspicions persist among Jews,” per the Times.

“Farrakhan became widely known in 1984, when he endorsed the presidential campaign of Jesse Jackson. At the time, Farrakhan attracted significant attention for his antisemitic and anti-white statements,” the ADL states. “While Jackson disavowed some of Farrakhan’s remarks at the time, he has since taken part in several NOI events.”

More recently, Jackson referred at the World Policy Forum in France to “Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades” and “decades of putting Israel’s interests first,” which he said would end during Barack Obama’s presidency.
RFK Jr says Covid was 'ethnically targeted' to spare Jewish people
The US-based antisemitism watchdog Anti-Defamation League said in a statement that the “claim that Covid-19 was a bioweapon created by the Chinese or Jews to attack Caucasians and black people is deeply offensive and feeds into sinophobic and antisemitic conspiracy theories,”

An overwhelming portion of American Jews are Ashkenazi Jews, descended from Jews who lived in Central and Eastern Europe.

On Twitter, Kennedy said the story, first reported by The New York Post, was “mistaken”.

“I have never, ever suggested that the Covid-19 virus was targeted to spare Jews,” Kennedy wrote. “I accurately pointed out – during an off-the-record conversation – that the US and other governments are developing ethnically targeted bioweapons,”

He pointed to a study from the National Institute of Health which found that black people and people with cardiovascular and pulmonary conditions were more genetically susceptible to the disease.

“In that sense, it serves as a kind of proof of concept for ethnically targeted bioweapons. I do not believe and never implied that the ethnic effect was deliberately engineered,” Kennedy said.

Saturday’s comments were not Kennedy’s first foray into conspiracy theories.

Speaking at an anti-vaccination rally in Washington DC in January 2022, he suggested that things are worse for people today than they were for Anne Frank, the Jewish teenager who died in a Nazi death camp after hiding with her family in a secret annex for two years. He later apologised for the comparison after widespread condemnation.

He has also promoted the scientifically discredited link between vaccines and autism, and in 2015 described vaccinations as a “holocaust”.

Kennedy launched his bid for the Democratic nomination in the 2024 presidential election in April 2023 and, according to some polls, he has garnered as much as 20 per cent support among primary voters.


US Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal brands Israel a ‘racist state’
In a video that has gone viral, US Representative Pramila Jayapal has accused Israel of being a “racist state” after anti-Israel protesters disrupted a panel she took part in at the Netroots Nation conference in Chicago. The protesters interrupted the event with chants of “Free Palestine” and waving Palestinian flags.

In the one-minute clip, Jayapal can be heard stating, “As somebody who’s been in the streets and participated in a lot of demonstrations, I want you to know that we have been fighting to make it clear that Israel is a racist state, that the Palestinian people deserve self-determination and autonomy.”

Insinuating a conspiracy against anti-Israel views that borders on an antisemitic dog whistle, she also added that “while we may have arguments with whether or not some of us on stage are fighting hard enough, there is an organized opposition on the other side – and it isn’t the people that are on this stage.” Jayapal also referred to the two-state solution as more disruptions of “free Palestine” and other unintelligible shouts from the crowd.

Jayapal is the Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and is known for her anti-Israel positions and has previously opposed a resolution condemning the BDS movement. She has also been dubbed a “mentor” to the Squad – the term used colloquially to refer to anti-Israel members of Congress such as Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar.

Under the widely accepted and consensus definition of antisemitism according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), statements that generalize the entirety of the state of Israel as a “racist endeavor” are fundamentally antisemitic and deny the right to self-determination of the Jewish people and only the Jewish people.


Kohelet Forum: 'Supreme Court is harming the rule of law'
The Kohelet Forum on Wednesday responded to a decision by the Supreme Court to invalidate a law encouraging illegal infiltrators to leave the country, criticizing the decision as "harming the rule of law."

"The Supreme Court once again canceled yet another law dealing with the immigration policies in Israel, while demonstrating the failing which led to the judicial overhaul," the Kohelet Forum said.

"The court does not have the responsibility and authority to manage Israel's immigration policy, but it turns again and again to the 'judgement day weapon' of canceling main legislation by the Knesset, while dramatically influencing Israel's future as the Jewish nation-state.

"The court has also ignored Basic Law: The Nation, which places the national consideration as the central consideration in issues such as this."

The Forum continued: "The law which was invalidated today anchored an economic incentive to foreign workers to leave immediately upon the expiry of their visa, and otherwise absorb detractions from their pension plans that they have accumulated. As Justice Solberg wrote in the minority opinion, this does not at all harm rights, since if the foreign worker had left on time, as per the law, he would not have suffered financial harm."


Netanyahu ousts Likud party activist for telling protesters he wishes ‘another 6 million would burn’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expelled a prominent activist from his Likud Party after the activist was filmed calling protesters “whores” and saying that he wishes “another six million would burn,” a reference to the Holocaust.

The activist, Itzik Zarka, directed the epithets at protesters who were demonstrating on Saturday night against Netanyahu’s effort to weaken the judiciary. Weekly protests have occurred nationwide against the planned judicial overhaul, a key portion of which is set to advance to a final vote in the coming weeks.

“You whores, burn in hell, burn in hell,” Zarka screamed at a demonstration near the northern Israeli city of Beit Shean. “It’s not for nothing that six million went. I’m proud, I’m proud. I wish another six million would burn.”

His comments, which were condemned by a wide range of senior Likud politicians, were a crude allusion to a perceived ethnic split in Israel between supporters and opponents of the judicial overhaul, and to a longstanding grievance that supporters of the overhaul hope to address.

The vast majority of the country’s founding left-wing elite was Ashkenazi, or Jews of European descent, and enacted discriminatory policies that disadvantaged Mizrahim, or Jews of Middle Eastern descent, particularly in the country’s early decades. Correspondingly, Mizrahi voters have long formed a key part of the right-wing Likud’s base, while the core of the country’s shrinking left has historically been Ashkenazi.

Some supporters of the overhaul say that the Supreme Court is a holdout of an upper-class Ashkenazi elite, and that it wields disproportionate political sway. The overhaul’s opponents, by contrast, say the proposed legislation sapping the Supreme Court’s power will endanger Israeli democracy.

But for even the strongest proponents of the overhaul, Zarka’s comments seemingly wishing for another Holocaust crossed the brightest of red lines. Zarka is a longtime Likud supporter who has been photographed with the party’s leaders, including Netanyahu.

״We will not accept this kind of shameful conduct in the Likud movement,” read a statement on Sunday from the party, which said Netanyahu ordered Zarka’s ouster. “We forcefully condemn Itzik Zarka’s words and completely distance ourselves from them. We will not accept or include shocking statements of this kind.”
Israeli man, two daughters wounded in Gush Etzion shooting
An Israeli man was shot and seriously wounded, and his two daughters lightly injured, in a Palestinian drive-by shooting near the Tekoa Junction in Gush Etzion in Judea on Sunday morning.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, a terrorist opened fire from a passing vehicle at the victims’ car on a highway about 15 kilometers (9 miles) south of Jerusalem.

Magen David Adom emergency medical personnel treated a man in his 30s on the scene for a gunshot wound to the upper body. He was evacuated to Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center in serious but stable condition.

Paramedics also treated two girls, ages nine and 14, who were injured by flying glass, according to MDA.

The victims were later identified as El-Roi Kapach and daughters Rachel and Avigail.

The communities of Gush Etzion have asked the public to recite Psalms towards a full recovery for the family.

Israeli security forces on Sunday afternoon apprehended the suspected shooter in nearby Bethlehem, where he had barricaded himself inside a local mosque, the military said. There was no exchange of fire during the arrest raid, reported Israel Hayom.

The terrorist was named as Amar al-Najjar, 26, a Hamas operative from Hebron who was previously jailed in Israel.
3 Israelis wounded in shooting attack near Jerusalem, manhunt underway
A shooting attack was reported in the West Bank's Tekoa Junction near Jerusalem
According to MDA, the shooting was carried out from a passing vehicle. A father and two daughters, aged 14 and 9, were in the attacked car. The man is in serious to critical condition, the girls were lightly hurt by shrapnel




PMW: Fatah tried to help terrorists escape after today’s terror attack
Following today’s attack, Fatah called to erase security cameras and fill streets with burning tires and garbage cans to slow down the army:
“In a simple step, do now: Delete the last 48 hours of recordings.”
“Close the streets with [garbage] containers and burning tires”
[Fatah Bethlehem, Telegram]

This morning a Palestinian terrorist from Bethlehem shot and seriously wounded an Israeli man 37-year-old Elroe Kapah and slightly injured his two daughters, Abigail age 14, and Rachel age 9. In its search for the terrorist, the Israeli army closed several roads in and around Bethlehem. In response, Fatah’s Bethlehem branch publicized on its Telegram Channel the roads that Israel had closed, and called on all residents of those areas to erase all street security videos that Israel could use to track the movement of the terrorist:
Fatah Bethlehem, Telegram:
"Update at 10:24 AM, Road Condition:
The container checkpoint is closed to those leaving
DCO checkpoint towards Beit Jala is closed
Bethlehem's southern checkpoint is closed
Aqbat Hasna is closed
The entrance to Jinana is closed
The entrance to Beit Sa'ir from the Wadi Sa'ir side is closed
The entrances to Beit Fajar are closed
The entrances to the Al-Aroub camp are closed"


For our residents in the areas indicated above:
Delete all camera recordings in the last two days
Don't be of help to the occupation (i.e., Israel)
In a simple step, do now:
Delete the last 48 hours of recordings."
[Fatah Bethlehem, Telegram, July 16, 2023]


Israeli authorities say man faked Ethiopian kidnapping
Israeli authorities have scrapped a search for a man allegedly kidnapped in Ethiopia after determining the incident was a hoax.

The Foreign Ministry now believes that Francis Adbabayi, 79, from Rishon Lezion, who traveled to his native country of Ethiopia a few weeks ago, faked his own abduction in order to keep the ransom.

Adbabayi’s relatives said last week that his alleged abductors had sent them a recorded message, pictures, and a short video clip of him bound at the hands and feet and guarded by an armed man.

The kidnappers were demanding 2.5 million Ethiopian birr, about 164,000 shekels (£35,000), for his release.

“Help me. I’m in the middle of the jungle. It’s raining hard. Help me… This trouble I wouldn’t wish upon my enemies,” Adbabayi reportedly said in the recording.

Israeli officials were working with Interpol on the matter.

Authorities reportedly dropped the case after discovering that Adebabayi had answered incoming phone calls from Israeli numbers.

His relative disputed the findings and insisted that Adebabayi remains a captive.


Fatah official after terrorists murder 4 Israelis: “It’s impossible to kill an elephant at once, but it is possible to eliminate it by stabbing it repeatedly”
Al-Jazeera TV Live posted a video and text on its Twitter account The video shows Head of Fatah Commission of Information and Culture’s Information Office Munir Al-Jaghoub giving an interview on Al-Jazeera TV Live.

Head of Fatah Commission of Information and Culture’s Information Office Munir Al-Jaghoub: “The Palestinian people doesn’t lack appropriate means to deal with this occupation. There is a principle in the long-term war of the people that says that it’s impossible to kill an elephant at once, but it’s possible to eliminate it by stabbing it repeatedly. That’s what the Palestinian people is doing: It’s stabbing this elephant now and again until it submits or leaves.”
[Al-Jazeera TV Live, Twitter account, June 21, 2023]

Posted text on Twitter account: “In response to the Eli settlement operation (i.e., terror attack, 4 murdered), senior Fatah Movement official Munir Al-Jaghoub: It’s impossible to kill an elephant at once, but it’s possible to eliminate it by stabbing it repeatedly
#Palestine #Al-Jazeera_Live”

Muhannad Faleh Shehadeh and Khaled Mustafa Sabah – Palestinian terrorists and members of the Hamas terror organization, aged 26 and 24 respectively, who shot and murdered 4 Israelis - Elisha Antman, 18, Nachman Shmuel Mordoff, 17, Harel Masoud, 21, and Ofer Feirman, 63 - and wounded an additional 4 outside the Jewish town of Eli north of Ramallah on June 20, 2023. Shehadeh was shot and killed in self-defense by an Israeli civilian at the scene. Sabah fled but was found by Israeli forces shortly after and killed while resisting arrest.
Jenin Brigade speaker: “Our only goal is to fight the Jews”
The video shows Fatah Deputy Chairman Mahmoud Al-Aloul visiting the Jenin refugee camp right after Israel’s counter-terror operation Home and Garden.

Jenin Brigade speaker: “Allah willing, we hope that we’ll live up to your expectations of us. Our only goal is to fight the Jews. Our rifles have never become political for any other direction.” …
Fatah Deputy Chairman Mahmoud Al-Aloul: “My blessings to you all. Today it is our honor to come here… to Jenin.”
[Quds News Network, Facebook page, July 8, 2023; Fatah, Facebook page, July 8, 2023]

Posted text on Facebook page: “Words [on behalf of] the Jenin Brigade (i.e., terror group affiliated with Islamic Jihad) during the reception [it held] for the Fatah Movement Central Committee members and Fatah Revolutionary Council members, led by national commander [Fatah Deputy Chairman Mahmoud Al-Aloul] ‘Abu Jihad’ during his visit to the [Jenin refugee] camp.”

Mahmoud Al-Aloul also serves as Fatah Central Committee member.

2023 Operation Home and Garden - an Israeli counter-terror operation in Jenin that lasted from July 3-5, 2023. The operation targeted terror infrastructure in the city, and particularly the Islamic Jihad-affiliated terror group the Jenin Brigade, after 50 terror attacks had originated from the city and 19 terrorists had fled to it since the start of 2023. Israeli soldier David Yehuda Yitzhak, 23, was killed during the operation, while at least 18 Palestinian terrorists were killed and over 300 terror suspects were arrested. During the operation, Israeli forces attacked a terror headquarters located next to a medical clinic and two schools, one of them belonging to UNRWA. Several weapons factories were discovered containing hundreds of explosives and weapons caches. Terrorists opened fire on Israeli forces from within a mosque in the Jenin refugee camp, and after gaining control of the site, the Israeli forces discovered weapons caches including explosives and entrances to underground tunnels in the mosque's basement.




Crisis looms as Jordan seeks UN cooperation for Syrian refugees’ return
More than 660,000 Syrian refugees currently in Jordan may be facing a looming humanitarian crisis, as the country has exceeded its capacity for hosting refugees and there has been a decline in international support for them, Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told a senior United Nations official recently. For more stories from The Media Line go to themedialine.org

Meeting with UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths, Safadi stressed the importance of bolstering cooperation between Jordan and the UN on providing for the refugees’ needs.

He also said the future of the Syrian refugees lies in their own country, but that this “necessitates taking practical steps to create the environment necessary for their return.” Why does a humanitarian crisis loom for the Syrian refugees in Jordan?

A survey published in May by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees found that there were 660,646 Syrian refugees registered in Jordan at the end of April this year. About 86% of the Syrian refugees in Jordan reported that they could not meet their own and their families’ basic requirements. Despite this, almost 97% had no intention of returning to their home country within the next 12 months.

Agyad Abu Zayad, a Syrian journalist based in Jordan, told The Media Line that in the absence of any definite date for the return of the refugees to Syria, humanitarian support needed to continue.

“Jordan, international NGOs, and governments need to ensure that health, education, and other basic needs of Syrian refugees must be met,” he said. “The cost of living has resulted in a rise in poverty, which is exacerbated by the absence of job opportunities.”
Iranian police confirm 'morality patrols' back on the streets
Iran's police force is returning "morality police" patrols to the streets in order to enforce hijab laws, after about half a year in which the operations of the force were replaced with cameras and other technological measures, the police announced on Sunday.

"Starting from today, with the establishment of car and foot patrols throughout the country, we will carry out numerous police missions," said police spokesperson Saeed Montazeral-Mahdi in statements published by Iranian media. "We will inevitably deal with those who, unfortunately, regardless of the consequences of dressing outside of the norm, still insist on breaking the norm. We will warn and remind them that in case of non-compliance with the police's orders, legal action will be taken and they will be introduced to the judicial system."

The police spokesperson stated that the decision was made in light of "the demands of the people and the request of various social groups and institutions, as well as the emphasis of the honorable presidency and the judiciary within the framework of the law." The decision was also made in order to "expand public security and strengthen the foundation of the family."

According to Radio Farda, Iranian citizens have been reporting an increase in vans carrying "morality police" officers on the streets of the country.

The "morality police," also known as the Guidance Patrol, was founded in 2005 under the administration of then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and serves as a religious police, reporting directly to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Iran: The Greenback Curse
Today's inflationary crisis in Iran may be more political in nature than economic.

The sorry state of the Iranian economy and the inflation that is increasing the number of poor Iranians by an average of 10 percent a year is rooted in a political strategy that puts the interests of the dominant ideology ahead of the interests of Iran as a normal country.

As repeatedly put by the "Supreme Guide," that strategy has two key aims: driving the United States out of the Middle East, or "West Asia" that Khamenei has borrowed from Russian political lexicon, and wiping Israel off the world map. In pursuit of those aims, Tehran is forced to maintain increasingly costly surrogates in Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, and, more recently in a number of pro-Russian African states. The problem is that those surrogates don't want the Iranian national money, rial, and insist on getting crisp greenbacks. Thus, Iran needs a constant flow of American dollars, precisely the currency that they claim they want to dethrone as the global money.

The Islamic Republic of Iran doesn't spend its dollars as wisely as private citizens. Its dollars end up in the pockets of Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Hashed al-Shaabi, Asaeb ahl el-Haq and militant Shiite groups in Afghanistan, Pakistan and West Africa. The dollars that the "Supreme Guide" earns with so much difficulty are also used to pay what is left of Bashar al-Assad's army, party and administration.

Fasten your seat-belts for the first hyperinflationary freak-show caused by ideological lunacy.


The US must wake up and take antisemitism more seriously
Despite numerous commitments on record to do so, the Biden Administration has yet to issue Education Department regulations for an Executive Order signed in 2019 that includes Jews in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and also requires government officials to consider the IHRA definition of antisemitism when investigating complaints.

“This regulation would be the most important thing that the Biden Administration is doing to address antisemitism in a substantive way,” Kenneth L. Marcus, former US assistant secretary of Education for Civil Rights and chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, told me. But the strategy doesn’t mention any work on those regulations. Nor is it discussed in a simultaneous launch of an Education Department Antisemitism Awareness Campaign. Instead, the department issued a “Dear Colleague” letter in conjunction with the strategy rollout “to remind” schools of their obligations under Title VI.

Particularly vexing is the dramatic spike in antisemitism in kindergarten through 12th-grade classrooms, with the Anti-Defamation League reporting a 49% increase between 2021 and 2022. More teachers are using “the class as a stage to promote their hatred,” said Karen Bar-Or, senior national director of activism for the Israeli-American Council, which tracks school incidents around the US and assists affected families.

This hatred is popping up in world-history and social-studies courses, in math classes with anti-Israel and antisemitic word problems, and even in physics class, with a teacher writing antisemitic invectives related to Israel on a whiteboard.

It is permeating ethnic studies as well, through the so-called Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum being peddled to school systems across the US and in similar coursework independently developed at the local level, Bar-Or said.

The Biden strategy calls for Jews and antisemitism to be covered in ethnic studies and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility programs. But the strategy’s lack of clarity over what constitutes antisemitism will frustrate inclusion of the full breadth of Jew-hatred.

Crucially, folding Jews into ethnic studies or DEIA is no guarantee the material will be free of anti-Israel and antisemitic content. It’s an issue inhabiting both those spaces that the strategy fails to address.

Holocaust education, another plan highlight, is also ripe for problematic content. State programs already contain resources that employ Holocaust inversion, a misappropriation that portrays Israelis as modern-day Nazis. Expect it to proliferate without the IHRA definition – which specifically calls that out – as the designated guardrail.

With such fundamental shortcomings, one must wonder whether the Biden Administration has thrown the Jewish community a bone while it grovels for an unvetted deal with Iran – a regime that, among other nefarious pursuits, bankrolls terrorism against Israel while calling for its destruction, and targets Jews elsewhere for murder.

None of this inspires confidence that Jews will be better protected, as my parents had hoped.
States Should Deliver the Final Blow to BDS at Morningstar
The Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) last week reported that Morningstar Sustainalytics – the environmental, social, governance (ESG) ratings arm of Morningstar, Inc. – had removed negative “controversy” ratings from 19 Israel-based companies. Sounds positive at first until you hear the “but.” Morningstar, sadly, also reaffirmed negative ratings for seven Israeli firms due to their operations in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, or their support for Israeli counterterrorism operations. Now it’s up to governors, attorneys general, and treasurers to rid this company of Israel boycotts once and for all.

According to Morningstar, B Communications, Bezeq, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, Elbit Systems, Elco, Electra, and Shapir Engineering and Industry remain flagged with ESG controversies in connection with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. These controversy ratings often serve as the guidepost for ESG investor decision-making – avoiding investments in or even divesting from companies carrying such negative labels.

Bezeq and its largest shareholder, B Communications, are reportedly subject to human rights controversies for providing telecommunications infrastructure to Jews living in Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank – land that is also claimed by the Palestinians.

“Many international organizations have reported that the development of infrastructure and the provision of services that contribute to the maintenance and expansion of settlements might reduce the land available to Palestinians, negatively affecting their livelihoods and restricting their right to equality and non-discrimination and freedom of movement,” a Morningstar spokesperson told JNS. “Our rating reflects the fact that these allegations create risk for the company.”

Rather than remain neutral in what is arguably the most complicated geopolitical dispute in history, Morningstar’s ratings align with the boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) campaign that punishes companies for supporting any Jewish presence in these territories. Morningstar is using tools of economic warfare to pressure Israel to make unilateral concessions to the Palestinians outside the framework of a negotiated settlement.
Are anti-BDS laws effective against boycotts of Israel?
This week's Jewish Forum on Jewish World Weekly debates the effectiveness of anti-BDS legislation against boycotts of the Jewish state


Oxford Street protesters decry M&S as symbol of “British collaboration with the racist State of Israel”
The Oxford Street branch of Marks and Spencer was picketed by anti-Israel protesters bearing incendiary signs and calling for another intifada yesterday.

Volunteers from Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit were present at the protest to gather evidence.

Video footage from the demonstration — organised by the Revolutionary Communist Group — shows someone delivering a speech in which they shout: “Victory to the intifada.”

The “intifada” is widely understood as the campaign of Arab terrorist violence against Jewish Israeli targets in the early 2000s that claimed hundreds of civilian lives and brought an end to the peace process.

The same person can also be seen saying: “M&S is a symbol on our high streets of British collaboration with the racist, settler State of Israel.”

Several inflammatory signs were also present at the protest, including one bearing the words “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.

“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” only makes sense as a call for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state — and its replacement with a State of Palestine — and is thus an attempt to deny Jews, uniquely, the right to self-determination, which is a breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism.

According to the Definition, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination (e.g. by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour)” is an example of antisemitism.

The speeches were made in front of a large tarpaulin that said “Zionism is racism”.

Another sign read “Break from the Zionist Labour Party”, whilst placards depicting further support for another intifada were also brandished.

Additionally, support for Leila Khaled, a convicted terrorist, plane hijacker and member of the violent Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who took part in two terrorist hijackings in 1969 and 1970, was on display.


Nazi salutes, memes and assaults: Jewish students say state schools unsafe
Every day for five weeks at school, a 13-year-old boy says he was greeted with abuse, including heil Hitlers and being called a “dirty Jew” – a reminder that members of his family were murdered by Nazis.

He’s one of three students at three separate Melbourne public schools who say they have experienced antisemitic bullying that was so extreme their parents are pulling them out. They encountered swastikas, Nazi salutes and even physical assaults and were called “Jewboy” or “dirty Jew” and sent memes involving Hitler.

Two of the students became withdrawn, refused to go to school and couldn’t get out of bed. Another said he no longer told people about his Jewish background.

Their families say the response from both the schools and Education Department did not go far enough to stamp out the behaviour, or treat the matters as seriously as they should have. One family decided to go to the police because they felt the school was not responding quickly enough.

Adi Rozen, the mother of 14-year-old Jewish student Jackie, who went to Brighton Secondary College and was in its Select Entry Accelerated Learning program, said the bullying was so bad her daughter sometimes would not get out of bed.

Jackie was in a STEM class with five girls and 15 boys and had planned to do the International Baccalaureate program earlier this year.

Rozen said Jackie had a swastika drawn on her desk, had a note thrown at her that said “Jewish Rat” and was sent memes showing Hitler as the shark in Jaws.

A copy of Anne Frank’s novel, The Diary of a Young Girl, which documents the life of a young Jewish girl in hiding under Nazi persecution, was held aloft in the school library by a girl asking when the Nazis were coming.

Rozen said the school was horrified by the incidents and did investigate, but that it did not go far enough in protecting her daughter or disciplining the students.
Camera Arabic prompts corrections to BBC Arabic coverage of murders
Sarit Ahmad Shaqur was an 18-year-old Druze woman from northern Israel whose murder on the afternoon of June 9th came after years of her brothers threatening her life because she was gay.

Several hours later, when the background to the murder had already been reported by various Israeli media outlets, BBC Arabic’s “producer in Israel and the West Bank” Michael Shuval tweeted the following from his personal twitter account:

Shuval made a general reference to “a wave of violence against the [LGBTQ] community” in order to promote his coverage of the Jerusalem and Tel Aviv pride marches but his pre-recorded report – and his Tweet – did not mention Sarit Ahmad Shaqur at all.

The next day (June 10th), BBC Arabic’s live updates webpage added the following background to a 10:30 AM bulletin about former police chiefs protesting against the record-breaking crime rates amongst Israel’s Arab and Arabic-speaking citizens:
“Among the issues that raised concerns recently is the sharp increase in the rate of criminal killings in Israel’s Palestinian [i.e., Arab and Arabic-speaking] society – 100 people were killed since the beginning of the year. The latest of which was the horrifying criminal killing in Yaffa an-Naseriyyeh which was described as a ‘massacre,’ causing the death of 5 young men.”

In fact, Sarit Ahmad Shaqur’s murder occurred after that incident: she was the 99th victim of a criminal killing since the beginning of 2023 (the 100th was Bedouin ‘Atiya Abu Sabila, who was stabbed to death the following morning by foreign workers after he allegedly attempted to steal an agricultural vehicle from a farm).

BBC Arabic thus failed to introduce the young woman’s story into its news cycle twice in less than 24 hours – once when it was relevant as an LGBTQ story and a second time when it was relevant as a crime-related story.

Calling out BBC Arabic on this matter on the morning of June 12th, CAMERA UK pointed out the outlet’s history of normalising homophobia and instrumentalising LGBTQ stories from Israel and the Palestinian Authority:


US man indicted for antisemitic cyberstalking, interstate threats targeting Jewish orgs
A 28-year-old Mississippi resident was arrested on Saturday by the United States Justice Department and was charged with cyberstalking and communicating antisemitic interstate threats, according to a press release by the US Department of Justice (DOJ).

28-year-old Donavon Parish allegedly targeted individuals and institutions affiliated with Judaism.

The indictment, announced by Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the DOJ's National Security Division, US Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Assistant Director Robert Wells of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, accuses Parish of engaging in a series of phone calls using a voiceover internet protocol service.

What did he do?
These calls were made to synagogues and Jewish-owned businesses in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania between April and May of 2022. Male hands arrested with handcuffs in Criminal concept (illustrative) (credit: INGIMAGE)Male hands arrested with handcuffs in Criminal concept (illustrative) (credit: INGIMAGE)

During these calls, Parish allegedly made disturbing references to the Holocaust, expressing sentiments such as "Heil Hitler," "all Jews must die," "we will put you in work camps," "gas the Jews," and "Hitler should have finished the job." The indictment alleges that Parish targeted his victims based on their actual or perceived religious affiliation.

If convicted, Parish could face a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison. However, the final sentence will be determined by a federal district court judge, who will take into consideration the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Gabe Paul's daughter responds to Johnny Bench's anti-Semitic joke at Reds Hall of Fame
Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench made an anti-Semitic joke during the team’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony for former general manager Gabe Paul and former pitchers Danny Graves and Bronson Arroyo, as first reported by WCPO.

After Paul’s induction, Pete Rose said the former general manager signed him for $400 per month out of high school, to which Paul’s daughter Jennie responded “that’s cheap.”

Bench then said “He was Jewish,” in the WCPO video.

Jennie Paul, while talking with reporters after the ceremony, including Enquirer reporter Charlie Goldsmith, responded saying she hadn't heard Bench's comments. C. Trent Rosecrans, Reds reporter for The Athletic, told Jennie Paul about Bench's comments, to which she responded with the following:

"I didn't even hear him say that," Jennie Paul said. "Johnny came up and said 'Were you offended?' and I said for what? I didn't even hear him say that. I suppose if I would've heard him say that, I would've said something, but I didn't even hear him say that."

When asked if she was Jewish, Jennie Paul responded saying she was not.

Reds Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench speaks as the Cincinnati Reds re-opened the Hall of Fame and Museum following an extensive $5.5 million renovation, Friday, March 29, 2019, at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

"No, no," Jennie Paul said. "My mother was Episcopal. When they got married in 1939, on Opening Day, April 17, he made a pact with my mother to not interfere, and he did not interfere. I never saw him walk into a temple. I never heard him talk about his faith. But, you know, his parents were from the Ukraine."

Jennie Paul went on to explain Gabe Paul had 12 children and most practiced Judaism, and that he had a very strong faith, but her mother was left to raise Jennie as Episcopalian.

Being Jewish also cost Gabe Paul the commissionership, according to Jennie Paul.
Film Director Rob Marni tweets neo-Nazi white supremacist’s antisemitic rhetoric
Rob Marni is a professional actor and film director who directed and starred in “Velvet Thompson”.

Although we haven’t heard of Marni before, he is gaining notoriety as an antisemite on social media.

In a series of tweets, Marni weaponised the multiple expulsions that the Jews suffered throughout history to justify his hatred. He falsely suggested that a pattern of harmful and malicious behaviour is the fundamental reason for the banishments from various countries. This antisemitic trope is popular in neo-Nazi white supremacist circles.

In other tweets, he blames Jews worldwide for the actions of the state of Israel, which, of course, is highly antisemitic according to the consensus International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition. He also makes mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, and stereotypical allegations about Jews. All of this is done in order to support his view that Israel should not exist.

Marni, it seems, doesn’t object to the existence of any other country on the entire planet but Israel. He is not opposed to Pakistan nor India, both of whom were formed at the same time, and both of whom have suffered great losses of life, and who are currently engaged in a violent dispute over Kashmir.

Marni tweeted “The only terrorists are the Jewish occupiers,” and hideously used a quote, which is misattributed to Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, to give credence to his antisemitic arguments and his warped view on the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
Cycling legend explores Israel National Trail
Israel-Premier Tech team member Chris Froome recently embarked on a two-day cycling adventure on the Israel National Trail, exploring the Jewish state’s diverse topography.

A video of his journey titled “Israel: An Epic Journey” and accompanied by retired Israel-Premier cyclist Tech Guy Niv and Israel Premier Tech women’s team member Jasmine Kernen has been released to promote Israel at the Tour de France competition currently underway and around the world.

Indeed, Israel’s cycling team competing in the 2023 Tour de France is sporting a special jersey inspired by the Israel National Trail.

“The last 48 hours for me in Israel have been such an eye-opener. Just how diverse the country is in nature, in culture, it’s really just been such an energizing experience,” Froome said in a statement. “It’s been incredible for me to just been able to feel like a kid again: mountain biking, floating on the Dead Sea eating watermelon and having a beer, just really switching off.”


How Jews can learn about their historical routes from hundreds of genealogists
Members of Jewish community are being invited to delve into their ancestral history when genealogists from around the world descend on the UK later this month.

Dozens of family ancestry experts will be on hand to help members of the community learn to trace their roots at an international conference on Jewish genealogy, which promises to “enhance and spread knowledge and learning” around the topic through workshops, talks and storytelling.

This is the first time the International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, now in its 43rd year, is being staged in London.

The event will run for four days between July 30 and August 3 and will feature more than 100 speakers, and over 200 sessions geared toward everyone from first timers to conference veterans.

The conference is hosted by the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS), an umbrella organisation of nearly 90 Jewish genealogical organisations worldwide, with the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain (JGSGB) acting as the local co-host.

Leigh Dworkin, chairman of the JGSGB and local conference co-chair said: “We are excited to be hosting this year’s Conference in London for the first time since 2001.

“As an international city with a vibrant Jewish history and population, London offers genealogists a wide array of resources such as archives, museums, libraries, synagogues, and cemeteries relevant to furthering visitors’ family history research.”




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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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