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Thursday, July 20, 2023

07/20 Links Pt2: David Collier: So you think Israel should tear down its walls?; AMIA bombing 29 years on; What does ‘pro-Israel’ Democrat mean in 2023?

From Ian:

Reasonableness bill will not endanger IDF soldiers at ICC – Kohelet
During debates about the reasonableness standard bill in the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee, opposition members have repeatedly warned that the passing of the legislation would lead to IDF soldiers being brought to stand trial before international legal forums.

However, Prof. Eugene Kontorovich, director of International law at the Jerusalem-based libertarian Kohelet Policy Forum, argued in a new policy paper co-authored by Adv. Avraham Russel Shalev that the reasonableness bill will not change the legal situation with bodies like the International Criminal Court.

The chief argument made by opposition members center on the principle of complementarity, the idea that international courts are supplemental to local courts, and that they only have jurisdiction when the local judiciaries are unable to prosecute war crimes and other criminal action because they are unable or unwilling, and are not independent or lack the authority or power.

Opposition members contend that if the reasonableness bill were to pass, the independence and power of the Israeli courts would be altered in a way that the ICC would feel that it had the right to bring itself to bear on IDF soldiers, officers, and officials accused of crimes.

Kontorovich told The Jerusalem Post that the ICC has no jurisdiction regardless of the status of Israel’s local courts. Across Israel’s political factions for the last 20 years, the view has been that the court has no right to judge Israelis. Israel has not ratified the Rome Statute to become a party to the ICC.

“The issue is not whether the ICC should prosecute us if we’re naughty or prosecute us if we’re nice,” said Kontorovich. “Under Israel’s view, the ICC is an illegitimate international tribunal. It is not a lawfully constituted court. It is just something that has no connection with Israel. Israel has not accepted its jurisdiction, and it has absolutely no authority to exercise that jurisdiction over Israel, especially in the way that it is trying to do about issues involving Gaza and the West Bank, which are not even a country capable of joining the ICC.”
JPost Editorial: It's time for Israel to find a middle ground in judicial reform
Netanyahu may be considering a proposal for compromise
Two jurists, Jewish People Policy Institute President Prof. Yedidia Stern and former deputy Attorney-General Raz Nizri, have presented a proposal that offers a way out of the impasse. Netanyahu is reportedly considering it.

The proposal’s basic assumption is one that polls have shown the majority of the country would be willing to sign off on: there is a need for some judicial reform, but not the sweeping overhaul that has been put forward.

Under this proposal, the language in the reasonableness clause would be softened, and the courts could rule as unreasonable decisions and appointments made by cabinet ministers, including the prime minister, but not on those made and approved by the cabinet.

This finds the middle ground between those who do not want any judicial review based on the standard of reasonableness and those who believe the current system – whereby all decisions and appointments by ministers and the government can be deemed unreasonable – should remain.

Proponents of judicial reform will say that agreeing to this compromise is folding in the face of protests and giving in to blackmail by a cadre of reservists holding the country captive. And opponents of the plan will say that this paves the way for Arye Deri – whose ministerial appointment by Netanyahu was blocked as unreasonable by the court due to his past convictions – back into the government.

Accepting this will take a show of leadership by Netanyahu, Lapid, and Gantz. Netanyahu will have to stand up to those in his party and coalition who see their 64-56 Knesset majority as a mandate for sweeping changes, and Gantz and Lapid will have to repel calls by those in their camp who reject any judicial reform by this government.

During its first 75 years, Israel has faced challenges far more daunting than finding a compromise on a legal matter. This should not be that difficult. What is needed is for the leaders on both sides of this issue to muster the courage to withstand political pressure and finally put an end to the current self-destructive madness.
David Collier: So you think Israel should tear down its walls?
I lived in Israel for nineteen years. I lost a good friend during the Second Intifada to a suicide bomber who chose to turn a music pub on the Tel Aviv seafront into a scene from a disaster movie. During this time I also tutored a boy of a close family friend – I helped him pass his exams – only to see him murdered by Hamas terrorists. Israel tried to make peace with the Palestinians over and over again and the result was always the same – exploding buses, cafes and malls. The threat has not gone away – and all those people who want to slaughter Jews are held back only by Israel’s security apparatus.

Which is why it is so offensive to see people who hate the Jewish state turn Israel’s need to defend its citizens – into something nasty. There is nothing dirty about Israel protecting Israelis from genocidal hate. But the anti-Israel propaganda machine is a billion-dollar industry – and haters have taken to disgracefully calling Israel’s defensive strategies – ‘apartheid’. Just this week we have seen an explosion of these claims from ‘progressive’ US politicians.

So I want to take this opportunity to remind everyone just what Israel’s non-existent apartheid is actually about:

Israel and Gaza.
Israel withdrew fully from Gaza in 2005 and dismantled the Israeli settlements there. Everyone – including the Palestinian leadership described it as a ‘historic’ move. Today these people – Hamas – control Gaza. They were put in power by the Palestinians – who voted the Islamic terror group into office. Hamas then did what all Islamic terror groups do – they slaughtered the opposition and turned the Gaza strip into a terror enclave. Hamas – and Islamic Jihad – are constantly trying to kill Israelis any way they can.

Nablus and Jenin
Areas under PA control these days are not much better. The PA was always unwilling to make peace with Israel and the Fatah leadership nurtured terror as a means of pressuring Israel. They have long since lost control and today the streets of cities such as Nablus and Jenin are run by terror groups. The PA won’t hold elections because they know the Islamic terrorists will win.

Israeli streets
Israel does not want to restrict anyone’s freedom – but even when its back is turned for a second – devastation strikes. Just some examples of the terror attacks from 2022/2023:

The security fence
The security fence (what they call the ‘Apartheid wall’) was not always there – and these horrific images are from a time when Palestinian terrorists could enter Israel more freely:


AMIA bombing 29 years on: bill looks to make July 18 day of mourning
A blaring siren can be heard in the Balvanera neighborhood every year at 9:53 a.m. on July 18, the exact moment a car bomb exploded in front of the AMIA building in 1994, the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentina history. Twenty nine years after the bombing that killed 85 people and left 300 wounded, Congress is now looking to pass a law to make July 18 a national mourning day.

Ahead of the 30-year anniversary next year, deputies have passed a bill to honor the victims. If the bill proposed by PRO deputy Sabrina Ajmechet is passed in the Senate, every July 18 the Argentine flag will be flown at half-mast in all public buildings. The law would also encourage schools to do student activities to raise awareness of the matter.

Out of the 180 deputies present on the July 6 session, the only two who voted against the bill were La Libertad Avanza’s Javier Milei and Victoria Villarruel. Milei later attempted to change his vote, following criticism, but his request was denied by the President of the Chamber of Deputies Cecilia Moreau.

Deputies can only change their votes during the session, before the tally is signed.

The deadliest terrorist attack in Argentine history
The main building of AMIA, a Jewish community center located near downtown Buenos Aires city, was destroyed by a car bomb on July 18, 1994. The Argentine judiciary investigated allegations that it was orchestrated by the religious group Hezbollah, which the government declared a terrorist organization in 2019, with the backing of the Iranian government. However, this was never conclusively proven, and the investigation is still open.

Among the victims were not only people who belonged to AMIA and worked in the building, but also people who were just passing by, either shopping or working in the busy streets of the neighborhood also known as Once. Two years before that, the Israel embassy in Buenos Aires had also suffered a bombing attack that killed 22 people.

Each year, the victim’s families gather around the now restored building to demand justice and answers as to what really happened that day, an incident that is still being investigated.

“Twenty nine years have passed, and we still don’t know where the explosives came from or how the terrorists got them,” AMIA President Amos Linetzky said during his speech at a memory event this Tuesday.
AMIA: Without justice, history may repeat itself
Almost three decades after the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentina, the sirens sounded again at 633 Pasteur Street to remind us that history may repeat itself if there is no justice for the 85 dead and more than 300 wounded left by the suicide vehicle that struck at 9.53am on 18 July 1994.

Argentina was hit by Islamic terrorism twice during the 1990s, becoming the prelude to what the world would come to know years later. The terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in 2001, the Atocha station in Madrid in 2004 and the Paris attacks in 2015 all had the same common thread: Islamic extremism that managed to circumvent national defense systems.

As it does every 18 July, the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina, AMIA for its acronym in Spanish, is driving the claim, calling on the community to uphold the demand for memory and justice in the face of the passing of time, which has become an inescapable ally of impunity. In the words of its president, Amos Linetzky, there is no democracy without justice for the victims and survivors of that tragic day.

Amidst the testimonies of the victims and the memory of the noise of the explosion and the rubble, there is also a feeling of impotence in the face of the lack of will to obtain justice. Twenty-nine years later, Argentine judges and prosecutors have managed to prove the intellectual authorship of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the material and operational authorship of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite group that functions as Tehran’s armed wing.

Since their arrest by INTERPOL, the Iranian defendants have been able to circumvent (with the complicity of other countries) Red Notices that would have led to their arrest. In January 2022, Mohsen Rezai, a high-ranking Iranian official accused by Argentina and wanted by the judiciary, shared a meeting in Managua, Nicaragua, with the Argentine Foreign Ministry delegation, which caused a scandal of enormous proportions.
AMIA: "Justice absent, we say present." 29 years of the terrorist attack in Buenos Aires
The AMIA bombing occurred on 18 July 1994 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and targeted the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina.

Executed as a suicidal attack, a bomb-laden van was driven into the AMIA building and subsequently detonated, killing 85 people and injuring over 300.

To date, the bombing remains the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentine history.


AMIA: Nisman, the 86th victim
Alberto Nisman had been the special prosecutor in charge of the 1994 AMIA bombing investigation since 13 September 2004. The case had been marked by judicial misconduct and had reached an impasse

Nisman's body was found on the 19th of January. The discovery of the body came hours before the prosecutor was to present his complaint to the Criminal Law Committee of the Chamber of Deputies


AMIA: The absence of the Trial Law
A debate to promote a law that changes the equation JUSTICE OR IMPUNITY


AMIA: “Operación Pajarito” What happened the night Nisman was killed?
“Operación Pajarito”, a novel that recounts what happened the night the prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who investigated the AMIA attack, was found dead. Was it suicide or homicide?


New feature on CAMERA ed site offers reviews of anti-Israel, ‘biased’ books
One of the parts of a website the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis recently launched that Steven Stotsky thinks is most vital is a review of “biased books.”

“In recent years, anti-Israel authors have been publishing their propaganda through the medium of young-adult fiction and children’s storybooks,” Stosky, who directs the 41-year-old nonprofit’s Education Institute, told JNS. The site provides a “user-friendly” response to the problem, about which the nonprofit has heard from many parents.

Stotsky thinks there are two problems with anti-Israel materials increasingly appearing in children’s literature. First, no standard exists regarding accurate historical analysis. “False historical information about Israel and Israelis is getting smuggled into the curriculum based on poetic license,” he says.

And since literature can affect readers emotionally, “these fictional stories have the incredible power to turn impressionable students against Israel on a deep, emotive level,” he says, “long before they have had a chance to hear all sides of the argument about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

The CAMERA Education Institute website offers critical reviews of those propagandist texts, Stotsky says. Parents can find “information-rich literary critiques for when they want to protest the school’s use of these stories in their child’s reading lessons.”


Jonathan Tobin: What does ‘pro-Israel’ Democrat mean in 2023?
Biden’s ominous warning
That was illustrated not only by the fuss made over Herzog while still denying Israel’s actual head of government—Netanyahu—the courtesy of an invitation to Washington. It was compounded by Biden’s decision to invite New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman to the White House to deliver a blunt message to the prime minister.

Like Friedman, Biden has never conceded that his advice to Israel about its security dilemmas over the last several decades has consistently proven mistaken and led to much suffering. But that hasn’t stopped Biden from continuing to pretend that the “land for peace” formula and talk of a two-state solution that the Palestinians don’t want is still the only path for Israel to take.

He doesn’t want Netanyahu replaced as prime minister because he believes in a moribund peace process or in a Palestinian desire for peace. Nor does he think that, as a general rule, courts should have untrammeled power over the legislative and executive branches of government in democracies. On the contrary, he and his Democratic Party long to curb the power of the U.S. Supreme Court, though it has far less sway over policy than its Israeli counterpart and seeks only to uphold the Constitution rather than to dominate the other branches. The Democrats employ every opportunity to go around it, as well as to smear its conservative majority and thereby undermine its independence.

Biden recognizes that the only path to a weaker Israeli government that won’t obstruct a new and even more dangerous Iran nuclear deal means backing the Israeli protests against Netanyahu, regardless of how hypocritical that stance might be.

Equally insincere was his warning that Netanyahu should not try to pass legislation without a “broad consensus.” That’s rich coming from a man who served in an Obama administration that changed America’s health-care system on the basis of a razor-thin congressional majority while polls showed the voters opposed it. Not to mention the fact that he was a zealous advocate for the most important U.S. foreign-policy pact of the last 30 years—Obama’s 2015 Iran nuclear deal—that was shoved down the American people’s throats even though majorities in both Houses of Congress and public opinion were against it.

Still, he used the interview with Friedman to warn Netanyahu to back down on judicial reform, saying it was the protesters—those men and women who are employing thuggish tactics to shut down the country, tank its economy and even harm its security—that embody “Israel’s democracy, which must remain the core of our bilateral relationship.”

Friedman might not be wrong when he characterized Biden as the man who might be “the last pro-Israel Democratic president.” The vote for the resolution chiding Jayapal notwithstanding, the divide in the party on Israel is largely generational as well as ideological.

But by implicitly conditioning administration support for Israel on whether or not the Netanyahu government succeeds in reforming the judiciary—which will, the gaslighting and lies of its opponents aside, make Israel more democratic rather than less so—this “last pro-Israel Democratic president” is setting the stage for a crack-up of the alliance between the two countries.

In labeling Israeli judicial reform in this manner, Biden was setting up a future debate in which pro-democracy legislation and differences over the peace process will be used as a pretext for downgrading a relationship that—the bromides thrown at Herzog notwithstanding—he no longer values.

Recent events may have seemed like a victory for the bipartisan pro-Israel consensus. But if one reads between the lines, they are actually an indication that it is being rendered obsolete by a Democratic Party split between radicals who think Israel is a “racist state” and moderates who believe that the ties between the two countries may be severed if the Jewish state’s conservative, nationalist and religious majority is allowed to govern when they win elections. Both seem ready to label a majority of Israelis and their elected leaders as racists and authoritarians. That’s a formula for a situation in which genuinely pro-Israel Democrats will become a minority within their party, and supporters of the Jewish state will—whether they like it or not—be forced to rely on Republican support.
Hoenlein Criticizes Biden Antisemitism Strategy
Malcolm Hoenlein, the longtime leader of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and its current vice chair, sharply criticized the Biden administration over its strategy to combat antisemitism on Monday. "I welcome the fact that the administration has issued a policy paper on antisemitism....I regret that the document did not adopt the IHRA [International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance] definition. It endorsed [it] but it also endorsed a Nexus definition, which is very unhelpful and waters down the actual definition of antisemitism. So much so that the terrorist-backed CAIR [Council on American-Islamic Relations] issued a statement welcoming the document."

"But because they did not adopt [IHRA] and because they accepted the Nexus definition, CAIR feels they now have a license to say that anti-Zionism was not ruled to be antisemitism as it [says] in the IHRA definition."

Hoenlein also called the recent Biden administration decision to halt funding to academic institutions in the West Bank a "boycott," and called on the administration to end the policy
What did conspiracy theorist RFK really mean?
HOLY COW! Why didn’t they tell me? I had it, my wife had it, my son had it, 2,x, my daughter and son-in-law caught. All of us Ashkenazi Jews. None of us is Chinese, but we all like Kosher Chinese food.

Thoughtfully, Kennedy’s statement echoed statements by anti-Semitic hate groups; When a presidential candidate makes an anti-Jewish statement like that, it fuels the Jew-hating fire.

Of course, Jewish organizations protested RFK Jr’s fake thesis. And Kennedy took a giant step back.”

“The U.S. and other governments are developing ethnically targeted bioweapons, and that a 2021 study of the COVID-19 virus shows that COVID-19 appears to disproportionately affect certain races,” Kennedy tweeted — reiterating his remarks from the dinner. “The furin cleave docking site is most compatible with blacks and Caucasians and least compatible with ethnic Chinese, Finns, and Ashkenazi Jews. 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,” he added — clarifying his recorded remarks.”

In other words, he was saying I don’t believe what I believe because I want Jewish votes. Sadly he will probably get them. As the great Zionist leader and philosopher once wrote:

“It is incredible what political simpletons Jews are. They shut their eyes to one of the most elementary rules of life, that you must not ‘meet halfway’ those who do not want to meet you.’
Citing antisemitism and bigotry, Jewish and Asian Democrats call on Republicans to disinvite RFK Jr. from testifying
Two Jewish Democrats joined with a Chinese American congresswoman in leading a call on Republicans to disinvite Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from testifying in Congress about censorship, after the vaccine conspiracy theorist and Democratic presidential candidate said COVID-19 was “ethnically targeted” to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.

“Mr. Kennedy has repeatedly and recently spread vile and dangerous antisemitic and anti-Asian conspiracy theories that tarnish his credibility as a witness and must not be legitimized with his appearance before the U.S. Congress nor given the platform of an official committee hearing to spread his baseless and discriminatory views,” said the letter, sent Tuesday to Reps. Kevin McCarthy of California, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Jim Jordan of Ohio, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

The letter, signed by 102 Democrats, was initiated by Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida and Dan Goldman of New York, who are Jewish, and Judy Chu of California, who is Chinese American.

McCarthy and Jordan declined to disinvite Kennedy from testifying at the subcommittee Jordan created to examine the alleged “weaponization” of government.

Kennedy, a leading anti-vaccine activist, drew fire after he said last week that COVID-19 was “targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people.”

“The people who are most immune are Ashkenazic Jews and Chinese,” he said. “We don’t know whether it was deliberately targeted or not, but there are papers out there that show the racial and ethnic differential of impact.”

The claim is baseless and has been derided by scientists.

Kennedy has since defended his remarks, noting that he said he did not know if the “targeting” was deliberate, which he believes undercuts his critics’ claims that he was playing into antisemitic and anti-Asian tropes. Kennedy is mounting a long-shot primary challenge against President Joe Biden.
RFK Jr. Disavows Anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan, Whom He Once Called a ‘Truly Great Partner’
Robert Kennedy Jr. once hailed Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan as a "truly great partner" in pushing a controversial link between vaccines and autism. Now, the Democratic presidential candidate has disavowed the anti-Semitic preacher amid a scandal over his own controversial remarks about Jews.

Kennedy distanced himself from Farrakhan as part of a clean-up effort after the Democrat asserted that the coronavirus may have been "ethnically targeted" to harm black and white people, while Ashkenazi Jews appeared to have greater immunity to the virus. Kennedy, who was denounced by some Jewish groups and Democratic Party leaders, claimed his statements were taken out of context and that he is not anti-Semitic.

Kennedy’s remarks brought his relationship with Farrakhan back into the spotlight. Farrakhan has railed against "satanic Jews" and in 2013 claimed that "the Jewish media" promoted "sexual degeneracy, profanity, and all kinds of sin." Farrakhan said in 2018 that "powerful Jews are my enemy."

Asked this week about his relationship with Farrakhan, Kennedy claimed he is an "opponent" of Farrakhan and has "never endorsed anything that Louis Farrakhan has said."

But Kennedy’s previous actions appear to contradict that claim.

In 2015, Kennedy visited Farrakhan and introduced him to the unfounded theory that measles vaccines are linked to higher rates of autism, the Washington Free Beacon reported. A Nation of Islam official who attended the meeting said that Kennedy informed the group that the measles "vaccine is genetically modified to give black boys autism," a claim without evidence.

Kennedy called Farrakhan a "truly great partner" at a protest outside Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in October 2015. Kennedy continued over the next few years to work with the Nation of Islam on the vaccine issue. In 2020, Farrakhan urged his supporters to "follow Robert Kennedy," and claimed that scientists administered the coronavirus vaccine in order to "depopulate the Earth."
British lawmaker accuses Israel of killing Palestinian children
A Conservative member of the United Kingdom‘s parliament accused Israel of killing Palestinian children in military operations this year.

Paul Bristow, Tory representative for Peterborough, made the comments on Tuesday to the House of Commons during a foreign questions session.

“In 2023, dozens of Palestinian children have been killed in Israeli military operations,” Bristow said in an address to U.K. Foreign Minister David Rutley.

“We should never become immune to those deaths, and the tragedy of those deaths,” Bristow continued. “Will the minister agree with me, and urge the Israeli government to show compassion and restraint and urge all sides to put respect for human life first?”

The National Jewish Assembly issued a statement objecting to Bristow’s remarks about Israel.

“Conservative MP Paul Bristow’s comments are highly misleading and give the erroneous impression that the Israeli army is deliberately targeting so-called children. The truth is that the young people who have died are members of Palestinian terrorist factions, who carry weapons with the intention of killing Israelis. While all deaths are tragic, these are happening in the context of self-defense,” said National Jewish Assembly chairman Gary Mond.

“It is essential to note that the so-called ‘children’ mentioned by Mr. Bristow are, by and large, teenagers who are fully-fledged members of Palestinian terrorist organizations. Israel, like any sovereign state, has the right and responsibility to protect its citizens from terrorist militants and maintain security in the face of ongoing threats,” he added.
Israeli minister demands accountability for Berlin's Holocaust comparison
Israel's Minister for Diaspora Affairs and the Fight against Antisemitism, Amichai Chikli, has expressed his shock and condemnation on Wednesday over a recent event held in Potsdam, Germany. In a letter addressed to German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, Chikli denounced the event and called for immediate action to be taken.

During the event, journalist Charlotte Wiedemann spoke about her book, drawing a comparison between the Holocaust and the aftermath of the Israeli War of Independence in 1948, referred to as the "Nakba." Chikli expressed his deep concern that the event was funded by the federal government, highlighting the need to oppose incitement against the Jewish people and the State of Israel.

Furthermore, Chikli pointed out that Wiedemann, whose father was a member of the Nazi party, claimed that Holocaust survivors should show solidarity with the Palestinians and argued against any "competition" over suffering. Chikli strongly rejected this comparison, emphasizing the distinct nature of the Holocaust as an unparalleled genocide driven solely by antisemitism.

Highlighting the historical context, Chikli questioned the rationale behind comparing the systematic, industrial murder of millions of innocent Jews during the Holocaust to an armed conflict between the Zionist national movement and Arab countries and Palestinian militias. He reminded readers of the role played by Amin al-Husseini, a fervent supporter of the "Final Solution" and initiator of the Palestinian struggle, who colluded with Nazi propaganda and hindered the escape of Jewish children to the land of Israel.

Chikli also revealed that the event in Potsdam was not an isolated incident, but rather part of a series of events held in public institutions in Berlin over the past few months. These events included lectures with titles such as "Understanding the Pain of Others: The Holocaust and the Nakba" and "Highjacking the Memory of the Holocaust for the Benefit of Dehumanization in Palestine, and Zionism can also Motivate Antisemitism." Chikli strongly criticized the use of the Holocaust to incite against Israel and called such comparisons abhorrent and devoid of reality.
MEMRI: Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Zakharova: 'Germany's Failure To Compensate Non-Jewish Survivors Of The Siege Of Leningrad' Is 'The Very Breeding Ground For The Reincarnation Of Nazism And Fascism'
On July 19, 2023, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova published an article titled "Remembering All the Holocaust's Victims," in the Russian media outlet Rossiyskaya Gazeta. In the article, Zakharova argued that Germany's failure to compensate non-Jewish survivors of the Siege of Leningrad in WWII, is a "breeding ground for the reincarnation of Nazism and Fascism."

"It is an abominable and inexplicable division based on ethnicity. This is a case of segregation, the very fodder for neo-Nazism. Russia has repeatedly raised this issue with Germany. Almost two years have passed since then, but this 'blood-based' rule is still in force despite our criticism of this act of racial discrimination. Back in those harrowing years, Leningrad residents did not look into each other's passports or at the shape of each other's eyes. They worked and defended themselves together, shared breadcrumbs together, and survived together. They died together, too," Zakharova said.

Following is the article:[1]
"The Very Breeding Ground For The Reincarnation Of Nazism And Fascism"

"The stubborn refusal to see the Nazi nature of the Kiev regime runs deep and is fueled by nationalism that has taken root in the West and is based on notions of superiority and exceptionalism.

"I will give you a specific example.

"Decades after one of the worst World War II tragedies unfolded – the Siege of Leningrad – in 2021, Germany decided to pay compensation to the residents of the city.

"What value can be put on almost 900 days and nights that took one million military and civilian lives most of which were lost to hunger? What is their price tag for the feat of the entire city, and the entire nation? How do you pay for the gravest war crime in the history of not only the Great Patriotic War, but that of the entire humankind?

"It would seem that these questions pale before Berlin's purported willingness to repent.

"Not so fast, though.

"From the German point of view, not everyone is eligible for the compensation, only the people who can prove their Jewish ancestry. It is an abominable and inexplicable division based on ethnicity. This is a case of segregation, the very fodder for neo-Nazism.


Guardian op-ed hurls antisemitic Jewish supremacy charge
Naturally, however, the high priests of progressivism such as Beinart – those within the ‘community of the good’ who believe that they know better than Israelis themselves, the countless victims or inheritors of unimaginable generational traumas as the result of statelessness, what’s in their long-term best interest – never apply the equation which results in Israel, by virtue of it being a Jewish state, being labelled “supremacist” to any other nationalist movement.

Palestinians who want a uniquely Palestinian state, where Jews would be barred from citizenship or, at best, be a tolerated but (almost certainly) unequal minority, aren’t accused of Palestinian supremacy. Similarly, the 57 self-described Muslim states – more than a few of whom effectively expelled their Jewish populations in the mid 20th century – which belong to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation similarly aren’t accused of “supremacy”.

For that matter, is the democratic EU state of Latvia, which, despite roughly 25% of the population being ethnically and linguistically Russian, have a constitution declaring “its inalienable right of self-determination in order to guarantee the existence and development of the Latvian nation, its language and culture throughout the centuries”, engaged in a project of ethnic supremacy? Several other EU states, it should be stressed, have constitutions codifying its mission as “the national home and locus of self-determination for the country’s majority ethnic group”.

Finally, leaving the egregious double standards of anti-Zionists aside, let’s remember what’s at stake in the normalisation of the grossly dishonest epithet of “supremacism” hurled at Jews: what Yossi Klein Halevi refers to as the “classical continuity of thousands of years of symbolising the Jew” by turning them, individually or as a collective, “into the symbol of whatever it is a given civilization finds as its most loathsome quality”, which today is racism. Indeed, it should surprise nobody that studies in the UK demonstrate that those with the most toxic anti-Israel views are far more likely than the general population to also hold classically antisemitic views.

Though we don’t know what’s in Peter Beinart’s heart, one thing is certain: his decision to use rhetoric which has the effect of turning the Jewish state, and, by extension, non-Israeli Jews who see Zionism as integral to their Jewish identity, into moral pariahs illustrates shows how divorced he is from the lives, values and fears of most Jews.

It also demonstrates a stunning degree of carelessness about the increasing dangers of antisemitism.
Jewish orgs condemn GB News presenter's 'dangerous' Covid claims about Jews
A spokesperson for CAA told the Jewish Chronicle: “Stating that COVID-19 poses less of a risk to Ashkenazi Jews would be stupid enough, but simultaneously suggesting that the virus is a "bioweapon to destroy the west" implies that Jews collaborated in creating the pandemic and feeds a classic trope that Jews spread disease to harm others”.

They called her statement “dangerous nonsense” and said it was “astonishing” that she could continue to be a host on GB News.

This weekend, American presidential candidate RFK Jr defended himself against claims of antisemitism for making similar comments. Covid 19 “is targeted to attack Caucasians and black people,” he said in a video. “The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese”. His comments were made during a conversation about “ethncially targeted microbes”.

This is not the first time Beverley Turner has sparked controversy. In 2021, she clashed with Dermot O’Leary over vaccinations. She told the presenter that the vaccine “does not stop you contracting or passing on the virus,” and was banned from appearing on the programme.

Later that year, she compared lockdown rules to “Apartheid” in a segment which prompted over 100 complaints to regulatory body Ofcom. Last summer, she questioned the heat wave, saying that “something has happened to meteorologists to make you all a little bit fatalistic and harbingers of doom”. She has also railed against “climate lockdown” and “weather fear-porn”.
Reuters Corrects Rashida Tlaib Not First Palestinian-American in Congress
CAMERA’s Israel office yesterday prompted correction of a Reuters article which misidentified Rep. Rashida Tlaib as “the first Palestinian-American House member” (“In meeting with Israel’s Herzog, Biden cites ‘hard work’ ahead for peace“).

While Tlaib is apparently the first Palestinian-American woman in the House, she is not the first Palestinian-American representative. Congressman Justin Amash, whose father is Palestinian, served in the House from 2011 to 2021. Before them Republican John E. Sununu served in the House of Representatives from 1997 to 2003. His father descends from Greek Orthodox Christians from Jerusalem.

And the very first Palestinian member of Congress—albeit someone who was not Palestinian Arab—was John Hans Krebs, who served in California’s 17th district from 1974-79. Krebs was born in British-ruled Mandate Palestine.

Media outlets which have previously corrected the identical error include Haaretz and the Hill.


Obsessive TikTok user who harassed Jews in Stamford Hill banned from app following CAA action
Following action by Campaign Against Antisemitism, a TikTok user who made videos in which he targeted members of Stamford Hill’s Jewish community has been banned from the app.

The user, who went by the name of @1dailyactive before later changing it to @mractive101, uploaded numerous videos in which he filmed himself harassing identifiable Jews in Stamford Hill.

The TikTok user recorded himself entering synagogues, apparently without the permission or knowledge of the Jewish people inside, and often whilst they were praying.

After being alerted to the user by the Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol, Campaign Against Antisemitism collated evidence which was then sent to TikTok.

In one video, the person recording can be seen entering a synagogue whilst saying “let’s see where this takes me,” before walking in on people praying. In the second part of the video, he is heard interrogating people about Judaism. After disrupting those praying, he agrees to leave before shouting “I will come back, I will come back here.”

In an attempt at entering a different synagogue, he can be seen circling the outside of the building in order to find a way in. He then stopped a Jewish couple and asked: “How do you get inside there?” After they left, he approached a Jewish man walking alone and directed his line of questioning at him.

In a follow-up video about the same synagogue, the TikTok user seemingly manages to gain entry to the synagogue. As he walked past the gates, he immediately approached a Jewish man and said: “Can I learn about you lot here?” As the Jewish man tried to get away from the interaction, the TikTok user persisted in following.


Jewish ‘Stranger Things’ Star Noah Schnapp Prays at Western Wall During Visit to Israel
Jewish actor Noah Schnapp from the Netflix series Stranger Things is currently touring Israel and photos shared on social media show him praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem among his many stops across the country.

The 18-year-old New York native also shared on his Instagram Story a photo of him at the Western Wall wearing a kippah on his head and phylacteries, which is called tefillin in Hebrew, wrapped on his arms. He wrote in the caption, “learning so much about my culture. So inspiring.” In another photo posted on his Instagram story that was taken in Tel Aviv, the actor captioned the shot: “In love with this place.”

Schnapp took a tour of Jerusalem that was organized by Aish Global, and accompanying him was Israeli-American entrepreneur and blogger Moti Ankari and producer Rachel Katsner. On Wednesday, Ankari shared photos on his Instagram stories of the group visiting the Dead Sea.

Schnapp, who has Russian Jewish ancestry on his father’s side and Moroccan Jewish roots on his mother’s, said in a 2020 interview that he had his bar mitzvah in Israel. He played a young chef of Israeli and Palestinian heritage in the 2019 movie Abe and a shepherd boy who helped smuggle Jewish children out of Nazi-occupied France in the 2020 movie Waiting For Anya. His first film role was in the Steven Spielberg-directed movie Bridge of Spies, starring Tom Hanks, and he also voiced the character of Charlie Brown in The Peanuts Movie. Both films were released in 2015.
Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp trolled for visit to Israel
Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp has faced antisemitic abuse online after sharing pictures of a visit to Israel with fans on social media.

Schnapp was accused of “actively supporting a racist apartheid state” by fans online. Another person tweeted that they weren’t surprised by his visit, because “the second someone is a Jew you usually know what’s up”.

In tweets seen by millions of users, Schnapps was accused of supporting apartheid and 'pinkwashing Israel' by being an LGBT person in the country

Schnapp, who plays Will Byers in Stranger Things, said he was “in love with” Tel Aviv in a post on Instagram yesterday. He also visited Jerusalem, where was seen wearing a kippa and tefillin at the Western wall. He said he was “learning so much about [his] culture” and that it was “so inspiring”.


Oporto’s Jews to preserve Portugal’s crumbling Inquisition records
The Jewish Community of Oporto recently announced it is working to preserve the 17th-century records of the Portuguese Inquisition.

Under a protocol signed in 2019 between the Torre do Tombo National Archive in Lisbon and the Oporto Jewish Community, the latter undertook to pay for the preservation of 16th-century Inquisition case records.

The protocol, assisted by then-Israeli Ambassador to Portugal Raphael Gamzou, made it possible to recruit professional restoration personnel and set in motion the restoration and digitization of 1,778 court cases against “Jewish infidels” in three centers: Lisbon, Évora and Coimbra, the latter of which included cases from Oporto.

Now that work on the 16th-century archive is almost complete, the community would like to sign a protocol regarding the 17th century.

“So far we have only been able to preserve the legal processes, or cases, from the 16th century, of which there are about 2,000,” said David Garrett, a board member of the Oporto community.

“These were, in fact, the most important because at that time the matrilineal genealogy of the persecuted was still known. That is, who were really Jews and who were not,” he told JNS.

“We cannot forget that the Inquisition lasted three centuries, and even persecuted many non-Jews, Catholics of many generations who were still referred to as Jews with the sole aim of robbing them of their goods,” he added.
American tourism to Israel sees significant boost
After more than two years of sealed borders due to COVID, “people are traveling in droves, and we expect 2023 to be a banner year for Israel,” said Eyal Carlin, the Jewish state’s Commissioner of Tourism to North America.

Carlin described new statistics showing the first six months of 2023 at 12% higher than the same time in 2019 as “extremely encouraging” and pointed out that during the final full year before the pandemic “was our best” so far.

Other countries with high levels of Israeli tourism include France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy.

Carlin said Israel was “heavily investing in tourism,” seeking to expand the country’s number of hotel rooms and resorts. He also mentioned “new food, wine and spirits destinations add to the overall excitement along with our many outdoor adventure opportunities as well as arts and culture experiences”
"Globes" ranks Bamba as Israel's top 2023 brand
For the first time since "Globes" introduced its annual brands rankings in 2003, an Israeli brand has managed to overtake the likes of Coca Cola, Netflix and Google.

For the first time since "Globes" introduced its annual brands rankings in 2003, an Israeli brand - Bamba - has managed to overtake the likes of Coca Cola, Netflix and Google, which have dominated the rankings, and climb to number one. The Israeli peanut-butter flavored snack belongs to food manufacturer Osem-Nestle, which itself was ranked Israel's 42nd brand. It is a curious situation when a snack has a higher brand value than its manufacturer.

This has been a year in which a wave of price increases has washed over the country and much has been written about a decline in consumer loyalty. According to Storenext data, in 2022, the share of the ten largest suppliers decreased significantly - by 1.8 market points compared to 2021. However, unlike many brands, Osem-Nestle chose not to raise the price of its popular peanut snack. This fact may also have helped Bamba to prevail over leading international brands.

20 million bags, 31 types in 18 countries
In 2019, when Bamba captured about 25% of the total sales of all snacks in Israel, which was over NIS 1 billion, Osem-Nestle opened the new Bamba factory in Kiryat Gat with an investment of about NIS 250 million. Since then, the production of Bamba has increased by about 30%, and every day a million bags are produced and sent to 18 different countries. In 2022, Bamba's sales were estimated at NIS 351 million, according to Storenext data.
Parent of Israel’s Il Makiage debuts on Nasdaq at $2 billion valuation
Parent company of Israeli online cosmetics brand Il Makiage raised more than $423 million in its debut on the Nasdaq on Wednesday, giving the firm a valuation of about $2 billion.

Oddity Tech backed by private equity firm L Catterton, offered 12.1 million shares at its initial public offering, up from earlier plans to sell 10.5 million shares, at an upsized price of $35 per share, and raised $423.5 million. That’s after the underwriters of the offering on Monday raised the IPO price range to $32 to $34 from $27 to $30 previously. The stock will trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “ODD.”

Founded in 2018 by Oran Holtzman and his sister Shiran Holtzman-Erel, Oddity has built an online consumer tech platform harnessing artificial intelligence and deploying algorithm models to develop cosmetics with the mission to innovate and reinvent the beauty and wellness market and help customers pick the right products, including makeup shades.

The company serves over 40 million users with its AI-driven online platform, deploying data science to identify consumer needs, and developing solutions in the form of beauty and wellness products.

Oddity, home to the Il Makiage online cosmetics brand and SpoiledChild wellness brand, operates an R&D and technology center in Tel Aviv, which makes up 40% of its 250 employees, and includes in-house engineers, data scientists, computer vision experts and product teams, many of whom were recruited from elite Israeli tech centers including the Israeli Defense Forces’ Unit 81, its Special Operations Division’s technology unit. Its business headquarters are located in New York.
Israel to assist Greece in battling massive wildfires
Israel recently announced it will dispatch at least two firefighting aircraft to Greece to assist the country in battling massive wildfires that have engulfed it following days of extreme weather.

Greece has reported massive fires in at least two areas of the country amid a heatwave that has prompted the government to issue a health warning and shut down several tourist attractions, including the Acropolis in Athens. Greek meteorological services expect the weather in some areas of the country to reach 46 degrees Celsius in the coming days.

The planes were scheduled to depart early Thursday and return sometime on Sunday. The move was confirmed by a joint statement from the National Security Ministry, Fire and Rescue Services and Israel Police.

The Prime Minister’s Office said the move came following a request from the Greek government and consultations with the national security, defense and foreign ministers.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said the Israeli team, which includes pilots and fire experts, is “prepared for any scenario.”

“The firefighting team will join the forces already on the ground. The fast-tracked preparation of the teams was made possible thanks to the cooperation of all the parties.”




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