Friday, July 21, 2023
I Have a Right to Live in Judea and Samaria
We are not aloneMelanie Phillips: Herzog’s lamentable performance
Some haters like to suggest that residents of Judea and Samaria are the pariahs of the world and that everyone agrees we’re evil, illegal, and unjust. But we know that people around the world stand with us as we work to rebuild our homeland. These people include Bible-believers who know what we’ve been promised, indigenous peoples who are amazed that one small native nation was able to wrestle its lands back from occupiers, ancient peoples who understand the intricacies of a long and illustrious heritage, anti-jihadists who take notes on how to stand strong in the face of aggression, and nationalists who respect the value of bolstering authentic culture.
We are not going anywhere
One of the things I most wish our enemies understood is what an utter waste it is to kill themselves trying to kill us. It is sick that so many Palestinians are willing to launch their children at our children, losing them in the process. They just waste life. Our lives, and theirs. Yet we keep growing. We’re soft-hearted, but we are thick-skinned. Attacking us hurts, but it will not stop us.
Here’s how I put it in my previously mentioned tweet:
Do you really think killing 4 of us will create a Palestine or destroy an Israel? 40? 400? I know it’s always fun to throw a party in Shechem or Gaza, but do you not realize how utterly futile these attacks are? In the end, you will fail. There will never be a Palestine on the Land of Israel. We will not budge one inch. You caused us pain today, that’s definitely true. But we’ll just kill the killers. You achieved nothing. Like every other day. Choose life. Abandon the fruitless fight for control in the Land of Israel.
We deserve to live
Israel-haters routinely and openly justify the murder of Jews in Judea and Samaria, as if killing us is the normal response of any right-thinking person. But—and I know it’s shocking—we actually have a right to live and thrive. Returning to our land after 2,000 years of forced exile and ongoing persecution is the rectification of historical injustice. The Jews of Judea and Samaria have the guts and the spirit to stand up in the face of not just local antisemitism, but global antisemitism. We are strong and determined, and will never give up.
I have never attacked anyone, I have never stolen anyone’s land. And I don’t have to justify my existence to anyone. So I won’t. The Jews have never submitted their convictions for anyone’s recognition or permission. In that spirit, we, the Jews of Judea and Samaria, will push ahead.
I am a wife and mother who lives by choice in Judea. I will continue to teach my children to love our story, to live our story, to know our rights, and to fight for a better future. I have faced rock attacks, Molotov cocktails, and ambushes. I face daily antisemitic tropes and attacks on social media. But I won’t be deterred. Neither will my neighbors. Millions of people around the world stand with us. Millions of Israelis stand with us. The IDF stands with us. History stands with us. And I pray that God will continue to stand with us as we help advance the evolving story of Shivat Tzion—the great return to Zion.
For anti-Israel liberals, the ultimate “bad Jews” are the “settlers,” Israelis who live in the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria. Yet again, this animosity is based on an entirely false premise.What Israel needs right now
Settling the Facts, a new documentary produced by pro-Israel activist Roger Walters, thoroughly debunks the canards that these “settlements” break international law and are an obstacle to peace.
Law professor Avi Bell observes in the film that the word “settler,” meaning Israeli Jews who are living where they supposedly aren’t entitled to live, is loaded and distorted.
These Israelis are breaking no international law, he says. In 1922, international law was established giving Jews entitlement to the entire land including these territories, while there has never been any legal or historical basis for the claim that they belong to the Palestinian Arabs.
The film contains interviews with Israelis and Arabs living and working together in these territories, with many testimonies that they have formed friendships with each other.
In 2017, both communities formed the Judea and Samaria Chamber of Commerce to promote peace between them and shared interests. Its co-founder, Sheikh Ashraf Jabari, told the filmmakers that the problem lies not with the Israelis but with the Palestinian Authority’s minions who “hate and arrest” anyone who wants peace with Israel.
Yet Biden reportedly also told Netanyahu to impose a “settlement” freeze. He is thus trying to prevent Israeli Jews from living in areas to which they alone are entitled in order to appease aggressors who want to destroy the Jewish homeland altogether.
As a result of the Biden administration’s hostility, there are increasing calls for Israel to dispense with American aid. An article in Tablet by Jacob Siegel and Liel Leibovitz points out that, far from the image of Israeli dependency on the U.S., America actually gains more from this relationship.
Tellingly, one former security-related U.S. official told the authors, “Aid to Israel is the biggest bargain we have on our books. Ending it would be a disaster for us.”
Rather than Herzog’s lamentable performance, ending American aid is the message Israel now needs to deliver to its two-faced American friends.
Israelis are tired of these childish tit-for-tats. Successive public opinion polls over the past few months have found broad support for a negotiated compromise on judicial reform. It’s long past time for Israel’s leaders to seek one seriously.
On Thursday, this paper’s editorial lauded a compromise on the reasonableness standard drawn up by Jewish People Policy Institute President Prof. Yedidia Stern and former deputy attorney-general Raz Nizri. Today the pair lay out their proposal on these very pages.
“At this moment in time, compromise is vitally needed, and it is within reach,” they write. The two jurists lay out a proposal that preserves the reasonableness standard, while reforming it in a way that is, well, reasonable. Decisions made by the government largely would not be subject to judicial review, but decisions by individual ministers largely would be.
“Restrictions on the reasonableness standard would be enacted, but in a more limited way than currently contemplated,” write Stern and Nizri. “In exchange, the coalition would commit to shelving the other elements of its judicial reform plan for the rest of its term, unless it can achieve broader consensus – one that includes some of the opposition – through talks at the President’s Residence or elsewhere.”
Their plan is an important step in the right direction. Other compromises have been proposed, including by Herzog himself. None have stuck. That’s okay; no one has a monopoly on wisdom, and there are surely other ideas that have yet to be proposed. What is not okay is continuing this insanity, which is tearing this country apart.
In recent days, many commentators have linked this moment in our national life to the period on the Hebrew calendar: the Nine Days leading up to Tisha Be’av, which commemorates the destruction of the Jewish Temples in Jerusalem and the termination of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel for nearly two millennia.
The Talmud, in Tractate Yoma, states that although Jews engaged in Torah study, the fulfillment of mitzvot (religious commandments), and acts of lovingkindness during the times of the Second Temple, the Temple was nevertheless destroyed because there was also sin’at hinam – baseless hatred.
And boy, do we have sin’at hinam in spades these days.
The alarmist headlines of recent months are unhelpful; to paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of either Israel or Israeli democracy are greatly exaggerated. The Third Jewish Commonwealth is not in danger of collapse.
But the tenor of the debate, the ferocity of the argumentation, and the bile suffusing our national conversation should give us all pause. This is not the country our founding fathers and mothers had in mind.
What Israel needs right now is for its most senior elected officials to exhibit the responsible leadership we expect of them, to put a halt to this march of folly, and to invest their collective energy in hammering out a compromise that will reform the judicial system without breaking it and will leave our social fabric intact.
The problem with brinkmanship is that you risk reaching the brink. We’re not there, and hopefully will never be, but this cannot continue. The time has come to step back, reflect, and chart a path forward – together.
Israel-Morocco Sahara deal can unlock new era of peace
One of the biggest challenges to the Abraham Accords remains public opinion towards Israel in the Arab world.Senate Foreign Relations, Abraham Accords Caucus leaders introduce sweeping Abraham Accords legislation
A common critique directed at the peace agreements from the moment they were announced was the pervasive feeling that political deals could never culminate in meaningful people-to-people peace and conflict resolution.
To a large extent the business communities in Israel, Morocco and the Gulf have dispelled this sentiment.
However, we finally have an example that demonstrates how some strategic trust-building can transform even longstanding conflicts.
After Netanyahu’s letter was received by King Mohammed VI, Moroccans from all walks of life and socioeconomic backgrounds started to publicly celebrate (with some even taking their celebrations to the streets).
They remember their parents and grandparents marching in 1975 to reclaim a territory formerly colonised by Spain despite existing evidence for Sahrawi allegiance to the Moroccan monarchs.
The Moroccanness of the Sahara echoes in wedding halls and school courtyards with songs passed down from parent to child: “Laayoune [the largest city in the disputed territory] is my eyes, the Sakia Hamra is mine, and the river is mine my Lord, the river is mine.”
In a country with lots of ethnic and cultural diversity, this national cause became a symbol of unity, and many generations who were raised through Morocco’s independence and post-colonial era have grown up completely invested and ready to defend every inch of the Sahara.
To draw a parallel, just as Jews prayed towards Jerusalem, longing for it to be reunited, the majority of Moroccans longed for the day when the “southern provinces” were finally indisputably Moroccan.
Thus, given its importance in the hearts of both the populace and the elite, Israel stands to gain significant trust, gratitude, support and, more importantly, the privilege of being seen as a dependable, pragmatic and nuanced ally in the region.
This alone will accelerate people-to-people peace and understanding.
The senior members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee joined the Senate co-chairs of the Abraham Accords Caucus on Thursday to introduce legislation aimed at expanding and strengthening the Abraham Accords through a host of new programs and proposals for more than $120 million in funding, as well as an ambassador-level official for the Abraham Accords.
The Regional Integration and Normalization Act (RINA Act) is sponsored by Sens. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Jim Risch (R-ID), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and James Lankford (R-OK).
“This bill capitalizes on the dynamics that are profoundly reshaping the Middle East and North Africa,” Menendez said in a statement. “Further integration in this region, one marked by conflict and disunity, must be a pillar of U.S. foreign policy moving forward. It will remain a region that is critical to U.S. strategic interests, and we should support efforts that increase stability and prosperity for our partners and the region’s citizens.”
Menendez predicted that the bill would pass with broad bipartisan support.
The bill states that promoting integration and normalization “is in the strategic interest of the United States, and should be a key pillar of United States foreign policy,” and that regional integration should include “opportunities for participants beyond only those countries with formal normalization.”
The legislation names Saudi Arabia as a “key [partner] in regional integration” eligible for many of the Negev Forum-adjacent programs the bill would create.
The bill addresses the role of the Palestinians in the region, framing the Accords and the Negev Forum as potential vectors for reducing conflict, improving ties, supporting Israeli-Palestinian peace and improving the economy and quality of life for Palestinians.
It states that the Negev Forum would “benefit from constructive and positive participation by the Palestinian Authority,” and that such participation “should remain a priority for current and future structures.”
An anti-Zionist is unable to answer a Jew who asks him…
— Israel Advocacy Movement (@israel_advocacy) July 21, 2023
"Where are the Jewish Palestinians?" pic.twitter.com/i8ebymQbFM
Dame Melinda Simmons, British Ambassador to Ukraine, on antisemitism “Call it out”
Dame Melinda Simmons, who has served as the British Ambassador to Ukraine since 2019, appeared on the most recent episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism where she spoke on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “denazification” comments, and gave advice to those looking to fight antisemitism.‘Money Won:’ Ben & Jerry’s Co-Founder Slams US, NATO Support for Ukraine in Face of Russian Aggression
This podcast can be listened to here, or watched here.
“Call it out,” she said when asked how people can tackle Jew-hatred. “That’s the one thing they can do, is to call it out. And when they ask what that means, what I say is, if you think there is a march going on, join the march. If you see something on social media, and you’re an active part of social media, you say on your social media that it’s not okay, or you’re not comfortable with it. If you see something really bad, you report it.”
Commenting on the perceived difference between antisemitic abuse in real life and online, Dame Melinda said: “If you saw someone being beaten up in the street, you would probably want to report that to the police.”
If you see the same sort of bullying going on online, you probably should be doing the same, and I’m interested that people see a distinction there because I don’t. Most of our life is lived online, in terms of that interaction now.”
Dame Melinda also spoke about how many Ukrainian Jews view President Putin’s remarks of “denazification”, one of Russia’s prominent justifications for its invasion of Ukraine.
President Putin has claimed throughout the invasion that he needed to “denazify” Ukraine, a stance that was reinforced by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and apparently also adopted by China.
Asked last year why Russia needed to “denazify” Ukraine, given that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish, Mr Lavrov answered: “Zelenskyy a Jew? Even Hitler had Jewish origins, the main antisemites are Jews themselves.”
Speaking on how Ukrainians have viewed this claim, Dame Melinda said: “Denazification has not been an objective for Russia. It is a narrative. In general, it’s not received with any kind of credibility here.
The co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, long established as an implacable foe of the State of Israel, has dipped his toe into the waters of international politics again, this time blaming Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on American militarism.Roger Waters' record label urged to ditch Pink Floyd star amid 'antisemitism' row
“I had this image of these two countries facing each other, and each one had this huge pile of shiny, state-of-the-art weapons in front of them,” Bennett Cohen told Politico in an extensive interview published on Thursday. “And behind them are the people in their countries that are suffering from lack of health care, not enough to eat, not enough housing.”
Cohen infuriated much of the Jewish community last September when he condemned Unilever — the conglomerate which purchased the global ice cream brand he launched with partner Jerry Greenfield — for not abiding by his call to forbid the sale of Ben & Jerry’s products in the West Bank. Ben & Jerry’s announced in July 2021 that it would stop selling its ice cream in areas it deemed “Occupied Palestinian Territory” because it was “inconsistent” with its company values and social mission.
However, when asked about Russia’s brutality in Ukraine, Cohen was non-plussed.
“In the end, money won,” he said. “And today, not only are they providing weapons to all the new NATO countries, but they’re providing weapons to Ukraine.”
Nicholas Camut, the journalist who interviewed Cohen, described him as “a leading figure in a small but vocal part of the American left that has stood steadfast in opposition to the United States’ involvement in the war in Ukraine.”
A US record label is under pressure to ditch Roger Waters after a series of controversial concerts.MEMRI: After Israeli Diplomat's Statement On Pakistan, Pro-Military Pakistani Politicians Lambast Israel, Zionists, And Jews, Deem Populist Politician Imran Khan A 'Jewish Agent'
The Pink Floyd co-founder faced allegations that his recent performance to thousands of people in Berlin, Germany was antisemitic after a donned a Nazi-style SS uniform.
Waters, a well-known pro-Palestinian activist, also performed at several cities in the UK amid anger from Jewish community groups.
Now in an open letter, some of the world’s biggest Jewish organisations and the Creative Community for Peace urged Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) to end its relationship with the 79-year-old.
In the letter, the signatories wrote: “We believe that artists, given their massive influence in the world today, have a unique and important responsibility to speak out against bigotry.
“Waters has repeatedly shown that he’s determined to do the opposite – and would instead use his voice, his platform, and his public microphone to fan the flames of hatred.”
The letter is signed by the Community Security Trust, American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League, Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, B’nai B’rith International, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs in Canada, the Conference of European Rabbis and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
Among the other signatories include the Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France (CRIF), European Jewish Congress, Simon Wiesenthal Center, South African Jewish Board of Deputies, World Jewish Congress and the Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland (Central Council of Jews in Germany).
In Pakistan, the pro-military political leaders have launched antisemitic attacks on Israel, Zionists, and the Jews after Israel's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Adi Farjon, speaking at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), voiced concern over the deterioration of human rights situation in Pakistan and the Pakistani state's persecution of opposition leaders and activists. Adi Farjon's comments attracted hateful remarks from ruling politicians as well as Imran Khan, the former prime minister whose Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party is being shredded by the military and the government. Their antisemitic attacks are, ironically, aimed at delegitimizing Imran Khan, whose populism threatens to unseat them.California Assembly Looks to Honor State's Most Radical Islamists
Speaking in the context of UNHRC in Geneva adopting the Universal Period Review (UPR) of Pakistan's record on human rights, Adi Farjon said: "Israel remains deeply concerned about the overall human rights situation in Pakistan where enforced disappearances, torture, crackdowns on peaceful protests, and violence against religious minorities and other marginalized groups remain prevalent... Israel believes that it is essential that Pakistan heed our recommendations to take all appropriate steps to prevent arbitrary arrests, torture, and other ill-treatment and bring perpetrators of such acts to justice."[1]
"Israel also urges Pakistan to decriminalize same-sex activities in accordance with international human rights standards and to adopt a comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation that addresses discrimination, including based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Israel is also concerned that in January 2023 Pakistan's National Assembly passed a vote to tighten its blasphemy laws which are often used to target and prosecute religious and other minority groups," the Israeli representative said.[2]
In Pakistan, Islamic religious scholars and political leaders are known to be nursed in antisemitism. In recent decades, Pakistani opinion shapers have blamed the so-called "Jewish lobby" for working against Pakistani sportsmen in international cricket, dismissed polio vaccination campaigns as "Jewish conspiracies," alleged an "Israeli hand" in India-Pakistan water disputes, accused Jews and Hindus of promoting Valentine's Day, and April Fool's Day against Muslims, dismissed Facebook as a Jewish conspiracy, accused Jews and Israel of targeting Pakistan's nuclear assets, and so on.[3]
The anti-Jewish views run so deep that in 2012 a Pakistani Christian was forced, along with his family members, to leave his home in Lahore simply because his name was Jew Jurian, triggering a Pakistani official to reevaluate his application for a national identity card.[4]
On July 12, following the Israeli diplomat's statement at the UN, Pakistan's mass-circulation Urdu newspaper Roznama Jang ("War Daily") published frontpage articles under the headlines: "Israel Should Look At Its Own Record On Human Rights, Advice Not Wanted – Foreign Office"; and "Imran-Zionist Nexus Comes To The Fore – Sherry Rehman, Ata Tarar."[5]
For example, CAIR-CA Director Hussam Ayloush has equated Israel's military to ISIS on multiple occasions and called for Israel's "murderous" government to be "terminated." Zahra Billoo, who leads the San Francisco chapter, has repeatedly bashed "apartheid Israel," while warning against cooperation with mainstream Jewish American community groups, which she calls "polite Zionists."German journalist and vocal Israel critic revealed to have lied about being Jewish
In 2008, federal prosecutors referred to a second group identified in HR 52,, the Muslim American Society (MAS), as "the overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in America."
Along with CAIR, the United Arab Emirates designated MAS as a terrorist entity in 2014, citing the groups' links to violent Muslim Brotherhood factions responsible for death and destruction throughout the Middle East.
The resolution also offers praise to Ismahan Abdullahi, the national director of MAS's civic engagement efforts, for "strengthening Muslim and refugee communities" in San Diego. Yet, Abdullahi has advocated for convicted cop-killer Jamil Al-Amin, defended the supremacist Black Panther Party, and has lionized Muslim Brotherhood icon Mohamed Morsi, whose brief and despotic reign as Egypt's president was characterized by brutal crackdowns and torture of non-violent protestors.
Next, Reyes's bill commends the Institute of Knowledge (IOK), an Islamic seminary influenced by a blend of Salafi and Deobandi teachings – two of the most hardline and radical sects within Sunni Islam. The resolution recognizes IOK's "spiritual and scholarly leaders and professionals who embody an upright and noble character."
On the contrary, IOK is staffed by extremists. Furhan Zubairi, the seminary's Dean of Academics, justified slavery at a 2019 conference, arguing that Islam has "regulated but not banned slavery," while Westerners are "cultured to think that freedom is one of the greatest ideals of human life."
IOK instructor Ahmed Billoo (brother of the aforementioned Zahra Billoo) has endorsed suicide bombings and prayed for the massacre of Israeli Jews. "Oh God, reduce their numbers, exterminate them, and don't leave a single one alive," he wrote in 2019, adding the hashtag "#Zionists." The post was "liked" by Mohammad Omair Siddiqui, Billoo's colleague at IOK and a former MAS official, as well as at least two CAIR-CA employees.
The State Aseembly's resolution also honors ICNA Relief, the domestic charity wing of the Islamic Circle of North America. ICNA is widely accused of acting as a front for Jamaat-e-Islami and importing its violent and theocratic ideology to North America. Jamaat-e-Islami is an anti-Western Islamist movement founded in Pakistan and complicit in the mass killing of Bangladeshi intellectuals during their country's 1971 war for independence.
A German intellectual named Fabian Wolff, who has often criticized the Jewish community in Germany and Israel through media outlets associated with the left, was found to have faked his Jewish identity.Former Barcelona Mayor Facing Court Investigation Over Decision to Sever Israel Ties
After his former partner revealed that he is not Jewish, Wolff published a lengthy article in the magazine Die Zeit this week, in which he exposed the truth about his religious identity and quickly placed the blame on his mother.
The perplexed German left rushed to blame Jewish institutions for revealing the truth in their statements. However, those very organizations chose to remain silent on the matter to avoid embarrassing him.
He is known as one of the most vocal critics of the left's opposition to the definition of antisemitism, which can also manifest through criticism or anti-Israel policies, and he supports absolving Muslim antisemitism of blame and that’s in addition to being an enthusiastic supporter of boycott movements against Israel, such as BDS.
Therefore, in times when being Jewish in Europe is becoming less safe, but being a European Jew who criticizes Israel and the Jewish people is considered a stable stock, he chose to falsely present himself as Jewish.
Germany, like other countries, loves its Jews, such as Wolff. Jewish individuals who point accusing fingers at Israel for the current situation in the Middle East, including acts of violence and ethnic cleansing, receive support. Those who criticize pro-Israeli Jews and accuse them of interfering in Germany's foreign policy.
Wolff's Jewish identity was his ticket to the liberal left. For years, he published articles in the Jewish newspaper Jüdische Allgemeine Zeitung. Now, after his confession, an article was published under the title “Jew in Disguise," mocking Wolff's repeated use of Yiddish motifs in his writings.
The former mayor of Barcelona is now the subject of a court investigation over her decision last February to unilaterally sever the Spanish city’s ties with Israel, citing the Jewish state’s alleged “apartheid” policies towards the Palestinians as the reason.Just Stop Oil spokeswoman claims all humans are in a ‘giant gas chamber’
A legal complaint filed against Ada Colau by the pro-Israel advocacy organization ACOM is being handled by Barcelona’s investigating court number five, the Spanish daily El Pais reported on Wednesday.
The complaint charges that Colau exceeded her powers when she told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an open letter that the Barcelona municipality was “temporarily suspending” its twinning agreement with Tel Aviv, along with all other connections with Israel, in protest at what she called the “systematic violation of the people of Palestine’s human rights.”
Colau informed Netanyahu that the suspension would remain in place “until the Israeli authorities put an end to the system of violations of the Palestinian people and fully comply with the obligations imposed on them by international law and the various United Nations resolutions.”
ACOM’s complaint asserted that Colau acted outside of her jurisdiction in cutting ties, noting as well that the decision was not submitted to the council for a vote, which the former mayor would likely have lost. “The actions of the then Mayor of Barcelona, fully arbitrary and unlawful, compelled ACOM to present a lawsuit at the Provincial Public Prosecutor’s Office of Barcelona in order to investigate these acts,” a statement from the organization said.
Just Stop Oil has been accused of “minimising the Holocaust” after a spokeswoman for the protest group said climate change means all humans are effectively “trapped in a giant gas chamber”.
Zoe Cohen, who has Jewish heritage, claimed oil and gas executives were complicit in “genocide” after other Just Stop Oil members compared oil executives to Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann.
“Forgive me for saying this, but - and I say this very sincerely - but it’s like we’re all trapped in a giant gas chamber and we know every single ton of carbon dioxide makes this worse,” Cohen said on Wedneday.
“That’s been known scientifically, the gold standard of science, for years and years now. And yet these people go on expanding oil and gas.
“How can you do that knowing what it’s doing? Is that not genocide? How else do you decide what it is? Of course it’s genocide.”
Speaking to LBC radio on Thursday, Cohen repeatedly declined to disavow comparing the Shoah to rising global temperatures.
“The language being used here,” presenter Tom Swarbrick suggested, “is for some people completely unnecessary.”
Cohen replied: “I understand the language is unpleasant but so is wet bulb temperatures and dying within a few hours [sic]. So is the extermination of species.”
She went on to defend the use of the phrase as “climate genocide” as the “honest truth”.
Our message to @JustStop_Oil:
— Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) July 20, 2023
Just Stop trivialising the Holocaust. pic.twitter.com/IXlZP2zIdi
Cleveland rabbi sentenced to 10 days in jail for stealing university group’s Palestinian banner
An Orthodox rabbi in the Cleveland area was sentenced to 10 days in jail and 18 months of probation for stealing a pro-Palestinian banner from a student group at a local university.
The sentence, delivered on Wednesday, caps a charged saga in which students had alleged that the rabbi and pro-Israel activist, Alexander Popivker, had harassed them.
Popivker, a handyman and resident of the suburb of Cleveland Heights, was charged with theft in January for taking the banner from Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, a student group at Cleveland State University.
Popivker’s jail time will be suspended, which generally means he won’t have to serve it until after his probationary period is over, and may see it removed with good behavior. He is also required to attend anger management classes. The university has also barred him from campus for his behavior.
The campus climate and opposing activism
The case represents a rare instance, in the annals of campus debates over Israel, in which legal action has been taken against a pro-Israel activist for aggressive conduct toward pro-Palestinian students. Pro-Israel groups have filed a series of federal complaints alleging that campus groups have fostered a hostile atmosphere for Jews at campuses across the country, and pro-Palestinian students on multiple campuses have faced charges for their activism.
Popivker’s pro-Israel demonstrations at Cleveland State, carried out over the course of months before his ban, at times curdled into standoffs with students. He has frequently compared Palestinians to Nazis, and some students have accused him of targeting visibly Muslim people with harassment, which he denies. He also contacted a law student’s school and employers over her pro-Palestinian views, and made social media posts targeting her — an incident that led the student to file, with the support of a prominent Jewish dean at the university, an order of protection against Popivker.
Cleveland State, whose police force had made the initial arrest of Popivker, declined to comment on the sentence. A university spokesperson had previously told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Popivker “was not banned for the content of his speech, but how he chose to exercise it.”
Update: The American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists have sent a letter to Judge Laura Priver expressing their outrage relating to her lenient punishment of Samer Jayylusi and Xavier Pabon. pic.twitter.com/oEH55xHWmi
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) July 21, 2023
We have received reports the Jewish fraternity house - Sigma Alpha Mu or 'Sammy' - at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor - has been vandalized with a swastika and homophobic graffiti. pic.twitter.com/YsN431qz6e
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) July 21, 2023
Pensacola, FL - we are disgusted to see the Chabad Jewish Center vandalized, a brick with a swastika, "NO JEWS", and "F*CK K*KES" written on it, thrown through a window.
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) July 21, 2023
This type of hatred must be eradicated in 2023. pic.twitter.com/Ef9Tspvrrf
Nothing to see here…
— Israel Advocacy Movement (@israel_advocacy) July 21, 2023
Just an English journalist telling fellow Muslims it's forbidden to take Jews & Christians as friends.
Robert, does that include your family?
?????????????????? ??????????? ? 17:23https://t.co/09mgP7vJux
Mariam El Khatib was president of Students for Justice in Palestine at the Univ of Minnesota. At the beginning of the Knife Intifada, a Palestinian terrorist stabbed 2 Israeli rabbis to death & wounded one's wife & baby. This was El Khatib's response:https://t.co/vIzaG4ZHlN pic.twitter.com/bpeWscBOs7
— Canary Mission (@canarymission) July 21, 2023
Ahem. https://t.co/8k5IRSzjQm pic.twitter.com/5GM6q4HWDW
— habibi (@habibi_uk) July 21, 2023
So @YoBenCohen (from Ben & Jerry's fame), now blames American for the war in Ukraine (not Russia, which is waging this relentless criminal war of aggression.
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) July 21, 2023
I presume only natural response is @benandjerrys will stop selling ??in the U.S.?https://t.co/jeJpGhoIsk
That’s quite the community note! pic.twitter.com/gjNWSlBsZc
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) July 20, 2023
After three months, the BBC rejects a complaint about historical fact
Back in April we documented an item aired on the BBC Radio 4 programme ‘The World This Weekend’ in which listeners heard baltant disinformation promoted by an interviewee go completely unchallenged by presenter Jonny Dymond:BBC News fails to report arrests of Israeli rioters
Former Jordanian minister Jawad al Anani told listeners to that programme (which is no longer available online) that: [emphasis in italics in the original, emphasis in bold added]
“Actually, even before 1967 Jordan respected the rights of Jews to go and come to their holy places.”
CAMERA UK submitted a complaint on that topic, pointing out that not only did Jordan not ‘respect’ the religious rights of Jews during its illegal occupation of parts of Jerusalem between 1948 and 1967, it destroyed dozens of synagogues and desecrated the ancient Mount of Olives cemetery. In direct contravention of the 1949 armistice agreements, Jordan did not permit Jews access to their holy sites or to the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives during that period and, notably, Israeli Arabs, were also denied access to the Al Aqsa mosque on Temple Mount.
On April 26th we received an email informing us that it would take more time to address that very straightforward complaint. On May 17th we were told that the time limit for addressing our complaint had expired.
Back in April we noted that a BBC News website report by Lucy Williamson on the topic of violent rioting by Israelis in Huwara two months earlier promoted extensive quotes from the executive director of the political NGO ‘Yesh Din’ but failed to inform readers that some of those who rioted in Huwara on February 26th had been placed in administrative detention and two people had been indicted in connection with a later incident in the same town.
Since then visitors to the BBC News website have found references in multiple articles to what the BBC refers to using the broad term “settler violence” and on June 21st the BBC Jerusalem bureau’s Tom Bateman reported on incidents following the terror attack in Eli in which four Israelis were murdered in an article headlined “Palestinian killed as Israeli settlers attack town after deadly shooting”.
It is of course entirely appropriate for the BBC to report on such acts of violence which have been described as nationalist terrorism by the heads of Israel’s security branches and condemned by the minister of defence and the president. However, it is equally appropriate for BBC audiences to be informed what the Israeli authorities are doing about the issue, yet visitors to the BBC News website have not seen any follow-up coverage of subsequent arrests connected to those incidents.
Controversial HBO Show Featured Horrible Jewish Stereotypes
“The Idol” is an HBO mini-series starring Lily-Rose Depp as Jocelyn, an up-and-coming pop star, and Able “The Weeknd” Tesfaye as Tedros, a Svengali-like cult leader who grooms a band of misfit artists using sex and near-torture to draw out their inner talent.Jurors for Pittsburgh synagogue trial hear victim-impact statements
After Jocelyn has a breakdown during the recording of a music video, she falls prey to Tedros, who seems to musically inspire her through sex and abuse. His “family” of artists soon moves in and takes over Jocelyn’s home. Some scenes are just too difficult to watch.
What I found more disturbing, however, was the antisemitic stereotypes used to portray the music industry’s characters. Here’s the breakdown:
Chaim, played by Hank Azaria, is Jocelyn’s agent. He speaks in an unidentifiable accent (Russian? Israeli?), carries a gun, and is not shy to brandish it when necessary. Tasked with getting Tedros out of Jocelyn’s life, Chaim threatens him, has him arrested, tries to buy him off, and finally, feeds the press damaging information about Tedros’ past, ultimately destroying him.
Nikki Katz is a manipulative record producer who ruthlessly exploits her artists. She drops Jocelyn from a music video and gives the song to Jocelyn’s lead dancer, only to drop the dancer later when Jocelyn seems ready to go back on tour. In a finale scene, in which Jocelyn and the Family are “auditioning” their new material in a manner more appropriate for a strip club, she simulates sex acts with one of the Black artists.
Andrew Finkelstein is a corporate agent of Live Nation, tasked with organizing Jocelyn’s tour. He jokes about his Jewish neurosis and IBS. In the above referenced finale scene, despite pointing to his wedding ring and claiming to care for Jocelyn “as a parent figure,” he enjoys two lap dances (one from Jocelyn herself), then crudely comments that he wished he had brought a change of shorts.
Talia Hirsch, reporter for Vanity Fair, happily becomes the tool through which the others destroy Tedros by publishing an article about his criminal past as a pimp.
The final phase has begun to determine if jurors will send convicted murderer Robert Bowers, 50, to death row.Bollywood film accused of minimising the Holocaust
After opening statements on Monday, victims’ family members took the stand to describe their lost loved ones and reveal how the most deadly antisemitic attack in U.S. history has wrought devastation on their lives.
Daniel Kramer, the brother-in-law of Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, testified first on Tuesday. He described how his sister’s husband devoted himself to his medical practice and his Judaism. Kramer said Rabinowitz was always smiling and that “he was so happy to be a doctor. He was so happy to have his patients.”
Kramer discussed his sibling, Rabinowitz’s widow, Miri, and the hole now left in her life.
“She comes home at night from work to an empty house, and he’s not there,” he said. “And when something good happens in her life, he’s not there to share it with, to share that happiness. And when something difficult happens with her, he’s not there to help her.”
Michelle Weiss and Michael Simon also testified, telling the jury how the death of their parents wrought devastation on the family. Weiss, who noted that she was unmarried, described feelings of loneliness, saying she “lost my best friend, my confidant, my everything. I lost my two most important people in one day.”
A Bollywood film released today has been called the “most insensitive film of the year,” for reducing the Holocaust to a plot device.
In Bawaal, released today on Amazon Prime, the central couple’s marital issues are compared to the Shoah. This metaphor culminates in the couple being told that “every relationship goes through its Auschwitz”.#Bawaal crash course on how not to make a film. SKIP pic.twitter.com/mMFRSYKAK7
— Raj Kumar ⚔️ (@RajKumar6664) July 21, 2023
The film, which was granted special permission to shoot at the concentration camp, also features a scene in which the protagonists enter a gas chamber. They are suffocated by pesticides while wearing striped clothes.
Hitler is also used as a metaphor for human greed in the film, with Ajju, the protagonist, saying to his wife: “We’re all a little like Hitler, aren’t we?”comparison with HITLER without knowing about Hitler, i think the #Bawaal makers think they are giving brilliant message, but they forget that Hitler is the murderer of millions peoples..!!! pic.twitter.com/oN90GjkqCb
— k (@losingame__) July 21, 2023
They also pay a visit to the Anne Frank House, where Ajju asks his wife, played by Janhvi Kapoor, what she would do with only one day left to live. “After visiting Anne Frank’s house, some philosophy is to be expected,” he says. The following conversation is used to introduce a romantic development.
Pearl Davis…
— Israel Advocacy Movement (@israel_advocacy) July 21, 2023
The spinster who made a career out of saying women should be seen and not heard has now jumped on the antisemitic bandwagon in a desperate attempt to be seen and heard.
Pearl, please for all of our sake, practice what you preach.https://t.co/LBdfOv1IQ0
How Syrian Jews saved wartime refugees in Japan
It is well known that Jews fleeing Nazi Germany included thousands who were issued with ‘Visas for life’ by the Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara. But their entry to Japan was not always smooth, and the Japanese authorities often suspected that the refugees were spies. This is the story in Tablet of how Allison’ Tawil’s grandfather Nissim, one of a few hundred Iraqi and Syrian Jews living in Kobe, Japan, vouched for a group of refugees during World War II and managed to secure safe haven for them. (With thanks: S. David) Jewish refugees pose with their Japanese friends in 1941 (Photo courtesy of S David Moche)Trump says he's sending back Chanukah lamps to Israel
My grandparents, Nissim and Esther Tawil, were living in the port town of Kobe, Japan for their business. Nissim, who was born in Jerusalem, married Esther Tawil from Syria in 1937 and moved to Kobe after the wedding. There were about thirty Jewish families living there at the time, both Sephardic and Ashkenazic, all there for business. My grandfather was able to help set up a shul to help organize the small Jewish community and maintain their observance in such a remote place. My grandparents recalled having a good life in Japan. This was before the war.
Throughout World War II, the Japanese government was living in a state of constant paranoia. Although the Jews, including my grandfather, were mostly businesspeople, they were constantly accused of spying for the U.S. and England. In my grandfather’s words, “we suffered during the war.” But they soon realized that they were well off compared to Jews living in European countries. Not long after my grandparents arrived, the remote town of Kobe became a safe-haven for hundreds of Jewish refugees, all of whom fled the Nazis and the terror of the Holocaust.
One day, my grandfather received a summons for a meeting in a government office. Naturally, he was nervous – he had heard the stories of people who were summoned to a meeting like this and never returned. After all, this was wartime. Nevertheless, my grandfather met with the officials who explained to him the following: A group of Jews were gathered in the Russian city of Vladivostok, which is on the border of Japan. These Jews had some sort of visa, but the Japanese consulate needed someone to agree to sign their papers and guarantee them, allowing them access to Japan. If not, they would be sent back to Germany or Poland.
My grandfather, who was known by the government as being one of the leaders of the Jewish community in Japan, was asked if he would sign for these Jews. True to the words of Rabbi Sacks, “our nation, though at times it suffered the deepest poverty, never gave up on its commitment to helping the poor, or rescuing Jews from other lands, or fighting for justice for the oppressed, and did so without self-congratulation, because it was a mitzvah, because a Jew could do no less.” My grandfather agreed to the task.
This response made the government officials angry, as they began to shout at him. “Now we know that you are very unreliable, Mr. Tawil. You’re willing to sign these papers without knowing who and what these people are? How can you take such a responsibility upon yourself?” My grandfather explained to them that he was doing just what they would do. “Suppose the people by the border were Japanese. Would you send them back to Germany or Poland to be killed, or would you sign for them? This is the reason that I want to sign.”
Donald Trump is 'expediting' the return of priceless ancient Chanukah lamps after the Israeli government revealed they have been trying to reclaim the items for years.Tony Bennett: Legendary US singer who helped to liberate Nazi death camp dies aged 96
According to a spokesman for the former president: “These historic items were presented by a representative of the Israeli antiquities authority with the full support of the organization,”
"The items were displayed as originally intended, the office will be expediting their return to the organization’s representative,”
The Chanukah lamps were sent to the US in 2019 for a White House event attended by millionaire Saul Fox, who is a major donor to the Israeli Antiquities Authority and the US Republican party.
The antiques were reportedly not displayed at the Chanukah celebration event but ended up at Trump's Florida residence and membership club - Mar a Lago.
According to the Wall St Journal, Saul Fox kept the items in his California home, saying he “and sort of forgot about it,”
They didn't surface again until they were brought to Florida two years later for a dinner with Trump, and Fox presented the lamps in their ceremonial box to Trump, saying: “This permanent exhibition of Israel’s national treasures outside of the State of Israel in your honor is without precedent,”
American crooner and jazz singer Tony Bennett has died at the age of 96.
Bennett, whose career spanned seven decades, released more than 70 albums which won him a host of Grammys and a lifetime achievement award.
But the American musical icon, who became the torchbearer for the Great American Songbook, left behind another important legacy.
Bennett, who served in the US army during World War II, helped to liberate the notorious Dachau death camp in 1944.
Dachau, named after the town just outside Munich, was the first Nazi concentration camp to open in March 1933 – just two months after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor. It was to become the model for the 44,000 camps and incarceration sites that followed.
Bennett wrote in his autobiography, titled The Good Life, of the moment: “I’ll never forget the desperate faces and empty stares of the prisoners as they wandered aimlessly around the campgrounds.
“Once we took possession of the camp, we immediately got food and water to the survivors, but they had been brutalised for so long that at first they couldn’t believe that we were there to help them and not to kill them.
“To our horror we discovered that all of the women and children had been killed long before our arrival and that just the day before, half the remaining survivors had been shot…The whole thing was beyond comprehension.”
In an interview in 2018 with the Baltimore Jewish Times, he said his experience in the Army “turned me into a lifelong pacifist and it’s my hope that all wars and violence will become a thing of the past.”
As the world mourns Tony Bennett, the incredible vocalist, one should honor the fact that Tony was among the young men that liberated Dachau, playing a part in saving the lives of thousands of Jews, including Elie Wiesel, R Lau, and many more.
— Rabbi S Litvin (@BluegrassRabbi) July 21, 2023
May his family & fans find comfort. pic.twitter.com/75CO15M0iy
Under the command of the Israel Police Aviation Division and in cooperation with the Ministry of National Security and the Fire and Rescue Services of Israel, the efforts of the Israeli relief delegation are ongoing as teams work to combat the wildfires in Greece pic.twitter.com/gwGeL1naAf
— Israel Police (@israelpolice) July 21, 2023
|
Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. Read all about it here! |
|
