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Sunday, August 06, 2023

08/06 Links: Book claiming Israel harvests Palestinian organs taught in Princeton humanities course; The New Yorker, NYT, Foreign Policy are whitewashing Palestinian terror

From Ian:

Book claiming Israel harvests Palestinian organs taught in Princeton humanities course
Princeton University has included in a syllabus for a fall semester course: Decolonizing Trauma Studies from the Global South, a book written by Jsbir Puar called The Healing Humanities: The Right to Maim in which she claims the IDF was harvesting the organs of Palestinians.

In the summary of the book on which the course is based, Israel is allegedly “supplementing its right to kill with the right to maim.” The book itself claims that Israel over the years has enacted a policy of targeted shooting of Palestinians "to maim, not to kill.”

“The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have shown a demonstrable pattern over decades of sparing life, of shooting to maim rather than to kill. This is ostensibly a humanitarian practice, leaving many civilians ‘permanently disabled’ in an occupied territory of destroyed hospitals, rationed medical supplies, and scarce resources," adding the policy shows how debility, disability, and capacity together constitute an assemblage that states use to control populations.

The book caused controversy when it was released in 2017, and its author, Prof. Jasbir Puar, who serves as the head of the Gender Studies program at Rutgers University in New Jersey, has continuously accused Israel of ethnic cleansing Palestinians during her lectures to students around the country.

She also claimed that the bodies of Palestinian children “were mined for organs for scientific research,” by the military, and said that during her research on the effects of “maiming” in Gaza, many Palestinians believed the bodies of children who died during the conflict were used for that purpose by the IDF.

“Several scholars have been tracing maiming as a deliberate biopolitical tactic on the part of Israel in the occupation of Palestine,” Puar said during her talk on ecological feminism in a panel at Dartmouth University.

“Medical personnel in both Gaza and the West Bank reported mounting evidence of shoot-to-cripple practices of the IDF, more accurately called the Israeli Occupation Forces, noting an increasing shift from using traditional means such as tear gas and rubber bullets, rubber-coated metal to disperse crowds to firing at knees, femurs or aiming for their vital organs,” she added.

Princeton University’s course is taught by anthropologist Satyel Larson from the university’s Near Eastern Studies Department, and its reading materials were carefully reviewed and approved by the faculty.

Academics criticized the course content and said that it provided "zero educational value." "It just gives a lot of third-rate professors a platform from which to indoctrinate students into left-wing ideologies," said Professor Jason Hill from the University of DePaul in Chicago.
The New Yorker, NYT, Foreign Policy are whitewashing Palestinian terror
Palestinian Authority (PA) official Hussein al-Sheikh is “tall and affable,” according to a glowing feature article about him in the new issue of Foreign Policy. Al-Sheikh, a top candidate in the running to succeed PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, “wears finely tailored suits;” he’s “pragmatic;” and he “urges cooperating, not clashing, with Israel,” the authors asserted.

But they forgot to mention one little fact. He’s also a murderer of defenseless women and children.

It’s not as if the authors didn’t have enough space to fully explain al-Sheikh’s background. The article, by Adam Rasgon of The New Yorker and Aaron Boxerman of The New York Times, is more than 5,700 words long. That’s about seven times the length of this op-ed.

And it’s not as if Rasgon and Boxerman didn’t consider al-Sheikh’s legal history relevant. They did summarize it, in paragraph 27. But they were very selective about what they mentioned.

In 1978, al-Sheikh “was sentenced to 11 years in prison after he joined a cell involved in attacks against Israelis, although he said he didn’t commit acts of violence,” the authors wrote. They quickly followed that with an anecdote about how al-Sheikh “tears up” as he recalls how his sentencing “broke his father’s heart.”

Now, here’s the part that Rasgon and Boxerman left out.

On Thursday morning, March 21, 2002, a Palestinian suicide bomber struck on King George Street, in the heart of Jerusalem. Five people were murdered, and more than 100 were injured. Four of the five were a young couple, Gadi and Tzipi Shemesh, and their unborn twin daughters.

A number of Americans were among the wounded. The force of the explosion hurled US citizen Alan Bauer 20 feet into the air. Two screws that were packed into the bomb ripped through his left arm. His seven-year-old son, Jonathan, suffered severe shrapnel wounds and fell into a coma. Jonathan underwent numerous operations to remove nails and screws from his head, including one that was lodged in his brain. He was left with permanent injuries.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which is the military arm of the Fatah movement headed by PA chairman Abbas, openly claimed responsibility for the bombing. In fact, it was the King George Street bombing that persuaded the US State Department to finally put the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade on its official list of terrorist groups.


'Palestinian issue' not obstacle to Israel-Saudi peace, says foreign minister
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said the "Palestinian issue" will "not be an obstacle" to peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia during a rare interview with the Arabic-language online newspaper Elaph.

Cohen said that Saudi Arabia joining the expanding list of Arab and Muslim countries that have made peace with Israel would "make history." The minister was referring to a deal between the United States, Saudi Arabia and Israel that would see a normalization agreement between the Saudi Kingdom and the Jewish State.

“A visit to Israel by a Saudi foreign minister would be a day of celebration,” he said, noting “the current Israeli government will take steps to improve the Palestinian economy.”

What other topics did the interview cover?
Cohen went on to discuss the issues of Hezbollah and Iran's hostility, as well as the controversy surrounding the Israeli government's planned judicial reforms.

"[Hassan] Nasrallah is weak, and the tent issue is his provocation," he said of the Hezbollah leader. "Nasrallah is hiding in a bunker like a mouse. Israel can return Lebanon to the Stone Age."

"Iran is the main financier of terrorism in the region and in the world, it is like a cancer - it destroys every country it enters," Cohen said.

On judicial reforms, the minister said that opponents are “exaggerating concerns."
Netanyahu: Government to Stop Judicial Reforms After Balancing Judicial Selection Committee
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday in an interview with Bloomberg that his government will finish its planned judicial reforms with the passage of a bill to correct the composition of the country’s judicial selection committee. He added that he is still seeking to build consensus on the measure, although at the end of the day, the bill will be passed with or without opposition consensus.

“I’m still going to give it several months to try to get another consensus … It would probably be about the composition of the committee that selects judges. That’s basically what’s left. Other things, I think, we should not legislate,” he said.

“I don’t think we should move from one extreme, where we have perhaps the most activist judicial court on the planet, to getting to a point where the legislature, our Knesset, can just knock out any decision that the court makes. There has to be a balance. That’s what we’re trying to restore,” the prime minister explained.

Netanyahu also expressed “absolute” confidence that Israel will emerge from the current chaos perpetrated by anti-government anarchists using the excuse of opposition to the judicial reforms.
Kohelet’s Billionaire Donor Gives in After Months of Incessant Harassment by Anarchists
Jewish American billionaire Arthur Dantchik, one of the major donors to the Kohelet Policy Forum, a conservative, libertarian, right-wing Israeli nonprofit think tank, last week announced that he is ceasing his donations to the group.

Dantchik, who is an extremely private man, succumbed to pressure after thirty weeks during which a group of Israeli ex-pats followed him everywhere armed with signs, megaphones, screaming slogans incessantly, outside his home and his offices. And, naturally, they brought their megaphones and adorable Sabra chutzpah to Dantchik’s synagogue.

The founder and co-CEO of Susquehanna International Group, a multi-billion-dollar financial services company, is among Forbes’ 100 richest Americans, with an estimated wealth of some $7.5 billion. According to Israeli media, Dantchik is behind at least 13 investments in Israeli high-tech companies, including Pioneer, Outbrain, and eToro.

Last week, Dantchik issued the following statement “Throughout my life, I have supported a diverse array of organizations that promote individual liberties and economic freedoms for all people. Nevertheless, when a society becomes dangerously fragmented, people must come together to preserve democracy. I stopped donating to think tanks in Israel, including the Kohelet Policy Forum. I believe what is most critical at this time is for Israel to focus on healing and national unity.”

Moshe Radman, one of the leaders of the anarchists’ protests in Israel, who has been reported to advocate for driving Israel’s economy so far down, Israeli consumers would choke under their mortgage payments and won’t be able to shop in supermarkets, tweeted in response: “I was glad to hear about Mr. Danchik’s disillusionment. Everyone who finances this coup d’état should know that the liberal public in Israel and around the world will stand up in front of them with a clear and accurate mirror. Yes, to a plurality of opinions and discussion about a common future here, but No, to incitement and violence, a coup d’état, and a Halacha state.”


Shin Bet arrests Palestinians in connection with Tel Aviv attack
The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) has arrested several Palestinians in connection with Saturday night’s deadly terrorist attack in Tel Aviv.

The attack began when two municipal patrol officers tried to question a suspicious man at the corner of Montefiore and Allenby streets. He ignored their overtures, drew a handgun and opened fire on them, hitting one, later identified as 42-year-old Chen Amir.

The second guard then chased after the terrorist, shooting and killing him.

The terrorist was identified as Kamel Abu Bakr, 22, from Rummanah, near Jenin in northern Samaria. According to the Shin Bet, Abu Bakr was a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group and had been hiding in the Jenin refugee camp for the past six months.

Hanan Peretz, the head of the inspector’s unit in the Tel Aviv Municipality, said on Sunday that Amir had “blocked the terrorist with his body,” adding that the two patrolmen prevented a bloodbath.

Amir was evacuated to nearby Ichilov Hospital in critical condition, where he eventually succumbed to his wounds.

“Chen … was killed while physically preventing a larger attack and in his death saved many lives,” read a statement from the hospital. He is survived by his wife and three daughters,” Peretz said.
Widow of officer killed in Tel Aviv: ‘Always knew he’d be 1st to confront an attacker’
The widow of Chen Amir, the municipal security patrolman killed in a Tel Aviv terrorist attack, eulogized her husband on Sunday, saying that she was not surprised he had confronted the attacker.

“Chen is the most amazing person in the world. He is an amazing husband. He is a wonderful father to three daughters,” Vered Assayag Amir told reporters outside the family’s home in Bat Yam, the day after her husband was killed.

“I always knew he’d be the first to [engage an assailant],” she added. “In all the previous terrorist attacks, he was always the first to run and search and help. He has a closet full of thank you certificates. He saved lives, he saved people.”

“He was a hero, ready to sacrifice his life to protect his fellow officers and every person on the street, without making any distinction between one person and another,” said Adia, Amir’s sister.

“He had been trying to coordinate a visit to us for two days, and yesterday he came to the kibbutz and brought gifts. He really bade us farewell. Those were the most beautiful hours with him,” she said.

“We know that Chen took the bullets, that he and the patrolman took action. Both of them noticed something was off and they approached. He was very seriously injured and there wasn’t much to do. The injury was fatal,” Adia said.

“Even in previous attacks he was there with his unit,” said. “He was always the first to help an injured person.”


IDF maps home of Tel Aviv terrorist ahead of demolition
Israeli security forces on Saturday night mapped out the home of the terrorist behind Saturday's shooting in Tel Aviv which resulted in the death of Tel Aviv municipal employee Chen Amir, per an IDF statement.

In addition, the IDF arrested four wanted individuals in the West Bank overnight. They were taken in for further questioning by security forces.

Amir was a husband and father of three. He and his colleague were on patrol in the city when they saw a suspicious person in a nearby shopping center, according to police.

The suspect initially refused to respond when they approached him, but quickly changed tactics, pulling out a handgun and opening fire on Amir and his colleague. Amir was shot in the head and subsequently succumbed to his wounds.

Amir's colleague responded by killing the terrorist on the spot.
Concessions to PA delayed after Tel Aviv terror attack
Israel’s Security Cabinet will not approve concessions to the Palestinian Authority during an expected meeting on Sunday afternoon.

“This is not the right atmosphere to bring it to the cabinet table,” a political source confirmed to Channel 12, referring to Saturday’s terrorist attack in Tel Aviv that killed 42-year-old municipal patrol officer Chen Amir.

The package of concessions meant to prevent the P.A. from collapsing was drafted in the last few days, according to the report. The work on it is being led by National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi and the head of the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) unit, Maj. Gen. Ghasan Alyan.

After the terror attack, the decision was made to delay discussion on the series of economic and defense measures intended to boost the P.A. The political source said that the item would be brought to the Cabinet table for final approval “soon, maybe as early as this week.”

“The Americans know that we will confirm this soon and they are fully coordinating with us. These are not concessions or rewards, but decisions that will help the P.A. to maintain a better economic life, and this is a security interest first and foremost,” the source said.


Shin Bet Chief Blames Jews for Arab Terrorism
In a report submitted to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the chief of the Shin Bet clandestine police Ronen Bar, Jewish terrorism inflames the Arab terrorism in Judea and Samaria, to the benefit of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.

On Erev Shabbat, hundreds of Arabs from the village of Burqa in Samaria attacked Jewish shepherds in the grazing area outside the Oz Etzion outpost. The event quickly escalated with the Jews finding themselves surrounded and significantly outnumbered. One Jewish man fired his weapon in the air, but that did not stop the encroachment, and he was hit with a soccer ball-size rock in the head. He fired into the lynch mob in self-defense, killing one 19-year-old Arab.

Only then did IDF forces show up to pull the two sides apart. They made arrests – of Jewish suspects only. Not a single Arab out of the murderous mob was detained.

When right-wing MKs protested the IDF’s failure to show up in time to do anything about the lynch, and accused the local IDF brass of running a policy that equates Arabs and Jews in Judea and Samaria, those politicians were attacked by the press and by the IDF brass for daring to criticize what has been the IDF anti-settler policy for as long as anyone can remember.

And then, on Sunday morning, Israeli media was fed an unrestrained propaganda sheet leaked by the Shin Bet, about Bar’s report to the PM, about the rise in “Jewish terrorist attacks” that have doubled since the same period last year.

The leaked report equates “price tag” acts by Jews of setting fire to Arab property and cutting Arab car tires with Arab murders of countless innocent Jews. It’s all the same to the Shin Bet, which is starting to sound like the British Mandatory Police before May 14, 1948.
US draws equivalence between Palestinian terror, settler violence
Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Gantz said it was unfortunate that the State Department had chosen to conflate an act of self-defense with a nationalistically motivated crime.

“To call it a terror attack is very far from the truth,” he said.

German Ambassador to Israel Steffen Seibert drew a similar equivalence to the State Department.

“A weekend of terrible violence,” Seibert tweeted. “My thoughts are with the family of the officer killed by a Palestinian terrorist in the middle of Tel Aviv. Also saddened by yesterday‘s killing of a young Palestinian in the West Bank, allegedly by settlers. The truth must be investigated.”

UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland tweeted that he condemns the attack in Tel Aviv and rejects terrorism, but he “strongly condemn[ed] the deplorable acts of settler violence,” in a separate tweet.

Former US ambassador to Israel Tom Nides, who left his position last month, courted controversy in June by drawing an equivalence between terrorists and victims of terror.

Nides tweeted hours after a terrorist attack outside Eli, in which two Palestinian terrorists murdered four Israelis, and days after a raid on the homes of terrorists in Jenin, in which five Palestinians were killed.

“Deeply concerned about the civilian deaths and injuries that have occurred in the West Bank these past 48 hours, including that of minors,” Nides tweeted. “Praying for the families as they mourn the loss of loved ones, or tend to those injured.”


IDF eliminates Jenin terror cell en route to attack
Israeli troops foiled an imminent Palestinian attack on Sunday, killing three members of a terrorist cell near the northern Samaria city of Jenin.

Video footage shared by the Kan News public broadcaster showed IDF soldiers opening fire at a vehicle adjacent to the town of Arrabeh, southwest of Jenin.

Following the firefight, IDF soldiers found an assault rifle in the vehicle. The bodies of the three terrorists are being held by Israeli authorities.

According to authorities, the head of the cell was Naif Abu Suias, 26, a resident of Jenin’s refugee camp. Abu Suias was a “prominent military operative … who was involved in military activity against our forces and in advancing military activity directed by terror elements from the Gaza Strip,” the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) said.

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said that Abu Suias’s cell had planned to carry out a drive-by shooting against Israeli civilians in Samaria, similar to the one that killed Meir Tamari on May 31.

The terrorist cell had been involved in previous attacks, added Hagari.


Hamas sentences seven Palestinians to death for collaborating with Israel
A Hamas military court in the Gaza Strip on Sunday issued death sentences by hanging against seven Palestinians accused of “collaboration” with Israel.

Two other Palestinians were sentenced to life in prison with hard labor after being found guilty of the same charge. Their names were not released. They were all accused of “communicating with hostile parties.”

Hamas said the convicts were found guilty of providing Israeli security forces with information about members of armed groups and the location of tunnels and rockets in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian human rights groups have criticized Hamas for issuing death sentences against residents of the Gaza Strip. The crackdown on “collaborators” reflects Hamas’s growing concern over Israel’s intelligence capabilities in Gaza.

Who are the convicts?
One convict, a 48-year-old resident of the al-Buriej refugee camp, was detained on February 12, 2019. He was allegedly recruited as an informant for Israel in 2007 when he received a phone call from an Israeli intelligence officer who offered him work. The man allegedly accepted the offer and provided his handler with information about members of armed groups in the Strip, including home addresses, phone numbers, and the type of vehicles they use.

A second Palestinian, a 31-year-old resident of Deir al-Balah, was detained by Hamas security forces on September 5, 2019. He was allegedly recruited as an informant in 2011 and is said to have provided Israeli intelligence officers with information about local gunmen, the location of tunnels, and places where missiles and explosives were hidden.

The third convict, a 33-year-old resident of Gaza City, was detained by Hamas security forces on December 13, 2018. He allegedly started working as an informant for Israeli security forces in 2010, also providing information about members of armed groups, tunnels, and missiles.
The 130-135 murders among Israeli Arabs are part of “organized, deliberate, and preplanned [Israeli] strategy”
"Israeli affairs expert" Tawfiq Abu Shomar: “The spreading of poison among our brothers who are standing firm on their land since 1948 (i.e., Israeli Arabs), through the crimes of murder – currently the number killed (i.e., of Israeli Arabs) this year is 130 to 135. All of this is part of the organized, deliberate, and preplanned strategy of Judaization.”
[Official PA TV, Talk of the Hour, July 27, 2023]

“Israeli affairs expert" Tawfiq Abu Shomar made this statement after months of internal strife and over 130 killings among Israeli Arabs.


Fatah official promotes violence with song: “A rifle will aim, fire, and scatter with its bullets, it will avenge Jenin”
Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi posted an edited video of him speaking during a visit to Jenin during Israel’s 2023 Operation Home and Garden, which targeted the terror infrastructure in the city – see note below.

Text on screen: “A visit to proud Jenin and its heroic [refugee] camp, on the second day of blessed Eid Al-Adha, to be among our people, the parents of the Martyrs, to convey a message of loyalty.”

Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi: “It’s an honor for me to be in the Jenin [refugee] camp today [July 3, 2023]. Our [refugee] camps, villages, and cities are always at the height of struggle, the height of giving, always at the height of positioning the leaders and positioning young fighters who are sacrificing their souls and their freedom for Palestine, until we establish our Palestinian state on our Palestinian land, and its capital is Jerusalem.”




Daniel Greenfield: Iranian Who Stabbed American as Revenge for Death of Iran Terror Leader Gets Probation
Probation. Is that what stabbing someone gets you now? Never mind a politically motivated terror stabbing.
An Iranian woman from Berkeley who catfished an American on a dating site, met up with him at a Henderson, Nevada hotel room, and then stabbed him in the neck as, “revenge against U.S. troops for the killing of Qasem Soleimani”. The death of the IRGC terror leader has been the pretext for assorted terror plots against military personnel and Trump administration members.

Henderson is close to Nellis Air Force Base which hosts the MQ-9 Reaper: the same model that was used to take out Soleimani. The attack suggested a systematic effort to target a U.S. Air Force drone pilot, lure him to a hotel room, blindfold him, and then kill him.

Stabbing someone in the neck is attempted murder even without the terror component. Somehow you get probation for that.
Judge Carli Kierny cited Nikoubin’s mental health struggles as a reason that she was offered probation in Texas, 8 News Now reported. The young woman suffered from severe depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Her lawyer said the stabbing incident was a psychotic episode.

Every other Muslim terrorist attack has been depicted as mental illness. The two are not necessarily incompatible. The sorts of people who commit terrorist attacks may have issues. The Iranian woman cited a common pretext for Iranian terror attacks on Americans. That does not suggest some massive break from reality.
Nikoubin, who came to the US from Iran at the age of 12, told law enforcement officials she’d stabbed her date with a pink kitchen knife for revenge over the death of Qasem Soleimani in 2020, adding she stabbed Trevino out of “spite and revenge.”

“I mean the U.S. killed Soleimani. Lots of blood spilled, so, I feel like, it’s fair that American blood be spilled,” she said at the time.

Probation.

Judge Carli Kierny spent much of her career working as a public defender and has a generally pro-crime record. She campaigned for office on the pro-crime platform of ‘criminal justice reform’ which means aiding criminals.


Israeli model publicly kicked out of hotel in Egypt
Shay Zanco is arguably one of Israel's most successful models, but having worked with Vogue and Victoria's Secret did not endear her to people during her stay in Egypt.

Walla! Celebs learned that Zanco was invited by rapper Travis Scott and his team to accompany him to a concert in Egypt.

The performance itself was canceled, but Zanco, who had already arrived, decided that if she was already there, she would visit tourist sites and make the most of her stay. However, within about a day of her arrival, her hotel discovered that she was Israeli, and when there was a moment when she was not accompanied by Travis Scott's staff, she was asked to leave the hotel immediately.

She was promptly escorted out of her hotel.

What happened there?
"I was very stressed and felt really humiliated," Zanco said. "In the four years I've been [in the spotlight], I've never felt antisemitism or faced any problems because I'm Jewish and Israeli. This time it was something different. I left the hotel straight to the airport and caught the only flight there was to Paris, even though I had a photo shoot in Barcelona."


AOC Slams AIPAC for Conspiracy to Run Non-Squad Candidate
Democrat Jamaal Bowman who represents New York’s 16th district in Congress––which had been for years the home district of Jewish Democrat Eliot Engel––is not a friend of Israel. A member of the “Squad,” the anti-Israel caucus in the House, Bowman joined Cori Bush and Ilhan Omar in boycotting President Itzhak Herzog’s recent speech before a joint session of Congress.

Bowman said in a statement: “I’ve had the opportunity to meet President Herzog in Israel and voice my concerns and understand this pathway towards freedom and safety for Israelis and Palestinians alike. His responses to my inquiry were not aligned to moving us toward a two-state solution.”

However, in September 2021, Bowman voted in favor of providing Israel with an additional $1 billion in aid to fund its Iron Dome missile defense system, which, according to Jewish Currents, was criticized by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), and sparked a debate over DSA’s support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign against Israel.

But on July 18, 2023, Bowman and eight other Squad members: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush, Andre Carson, Summer Lee, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Delia Ramirez, and Rashida Tlaib. voted against a congressional non-binding resolution that “the State of Israel is not a racist or apartheid state,” and Congress rejects “all forms of antisemitism and xenophobia,” and “the United States will always be a staunch partner and supporter of Israel.”

So, a mixed bag when it comes to Bowman’s views and actions regarding the Jewish State. And, in response, Jewish Democrats in his district, which includes the very Jewish Westchester County, have been looking for a replacement.

Turns out they found one, and AOC is furious about it.

Forward reporter Jacob Kornbluh posted on Twitter a fundraiser that was issued by AOC, saying AIPAC is trying to recruit an anti-Bowman candidate to run in NY’s 16th in November 2024. Below is the complete leaflet, which complains that “AIPAC has usually held off from opposing incumbent members of the Squad. Not this time.”

Can you imagine? Those pesky Jews don’t like the Squad Congressman so they dare to run someone else to replace him? Who do they think they are?


Financial Times corrects error concerning control of Gaza's borders
Last week, we posted about a Financial Times (FT) analysis written by Simon Kuper (“Israel and the United States are battling identity crises”, Aug. 3) that represented an especially egregious example of a pre-determined anti-Israel conclusion in search of evidence – evidence, we demonstrated, that was sorely lacking.

Though we encourage you to read our full take-down of Kuper’s tendentious, misleading and ahistorical piece, there was also one clear factual error that warranted a complaint to FT editors:
Now Israel is making its occupation of the West Bank permanent. “The Jewish people have an exclusive and indisputable right to all areas of the Land of Israel,” Netanyahu said last December. “The government will promote and develop settlement in all parts of the Land of Israel.” It also controls entry to Gaza

As we noted in our email to the FT, Egypt of course controls Gaza’s southern (Rafah) crossing. So, it’s not accurate to suggest that Israel controls every entry to Gaza. Our complaint was upheld, the sentence revised and the following addendum added:


BBC NEWS COVERAGE OF TERRORISM IN ISRAEL – JULY 2023
Throughout the first seven months of 2023 the BBC News website reported 2.09% of the terror attacks which actually took place (not including Operation Shield and Arrow) and 90% of the fatalities.


With regard to BBC News website coverage of Israel’s counter-terrorism operations, the corporation’s reporting continues to fail to adequately inform audiences how many of the Palestinian casualties were members of terrorist organisations and/or males involved in violence at the time.

As our regularly updated resource on that topic documents, at least 116 of the 175 Palestinians killed during the first seven months of 2023 (outside the Gaza Strip) were affiliated to terrorist organisations and five were members of the Palestinian Authority security forces. Fifty-two of the fatalities were killed while carrying out terror attacks or shortly afterwards.
Berlin police investigating attack on Israeli teen as hate crime
A group of men attacked a 19-year-old Israeli tourist in Berlin on Saturday evening, in what authorities are investigating as a possible antisemitic hate crime.

The Israeli teen was taking a stroll in the capital’s Kreuzberg district with his 18-year-old girlfriend while speaking on the phone in Hebrew, according to the Jüdische Allgemeine weekly.

A car pulled up alongside the couple and three men exited the vehicle. One of them tried to converse with the Israelis in German, which police said they did not understand.

The men subsequently punched the male victim to the ground. The group proceeded to hit and kick the Israeli while he was down before fleeing the scene.

The tourist was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries to his arm and face. His girlfriend reportedly escaped unharmed.

Local officials said that an investigation had been opened for assault with a possible anti-Jewish motive. The unidentified suspects were men between 20 and 23 years old, police announced.

Israeli Ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor condemned the attack.

“Another Israeli is brutally attacked in the German capital. This is unacceptable!,” the envoy wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

“Israelis and Jews should not feel unsafe walking the streets of Berlin or any other German city. The German authorities must take every measure to stop these attacks and incitement against Israel and Jews before it is too late,” said Prosor.


Israel formalizes ties with South Pacific island country of Niue
Israel last week established diplomatic ties with the South Pacific island nation of Niue.

The signing ceremony took place on Aug. 1 in Alofi, the capital and largest village in the predominately Polynesian country. Israel’s Ambassador to New Zealand Ran Yaakoby signed the joint communiqué with Niue Premier Dalton Tagelagi during the event celebrating Israel’s 75th anniversary.

“The State of Israel welcomes our new partner in diplomacy as we come together to pave the way for a promising future of friendship, understanding and cooperation between the two nations,” Yaakoby said in a press release.

Yaakoby was the first Israeli official to ever visit the country.

“This agreement not only strengthens our ties but also reflects our shared commitment to global peace and security to promote innovation, economic growth and people-to-people connections for the benefit of both our societies,” Yaakoby continued.

“We open the doors to a future of shared opportunities in areas such as technology, trade, education and cultural exchange,” Tagelagi said.

Besides his Wellington posting, Yaakoby also serves as non-resident ambassador to the Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga.

Niue is about 1,500 miles northeast of New Zealand.
Efforts underway to honor Jewish founder of century-old US Black school network
As Ralph James settled into the restored, highbacked desk at the segregated school he attended in rural South Carolina, he remembered the old school bell, the cascading light through tall windows, the Christmas pageant and the basketball court just outside.

It was in schools like this one, and nearly 5,000 others built in the US South a century ago, that Black students largely ignored by whites in power gained an educational foundation through the generosity of a Jewish businessman who could soon be memorialized with a national park.

They are now called Rosenwald Schools in honor of Julius Rosenwald, a part-owner and eventual president of Sears, Roebuck and Co., who teamed up with African American educator and leader Booker T. Washington to create the program to share the expenses of schools for Black children with the community.

It was nothing short of revolutionary in a segregated place like South Carolina, where governments spent pennies to teach Black children and dollars on white students.

“Education has always been the key to success. Julius Rosenwald gave us that key,” James said.

The 76-year-old retired municipal judge has made it his life’s goal to restore his old school. In the past decade, James has secured more than $2 million in grants, money from the state and gifts from corporations and others.
Simone Biles makes gymnastics comeback to Noa Kirel's 'Unicorn'
Legendary US gymnast Simone Biles on Saturday won her first competitive event since 2021 to the beat of Noa Kirel's Eurovision hit "Unicorn."

The seven-time Olympic medalist claimed first place at the Core Hydration Classic outside Chicago, Illinois, scoring a 14.0 on the uneven bars, a 14.8 on the balance beam, a 14.9 in the floor exercise and a 15.4 in the vault. She finished in first place in the all-around, vault, floor routine, and balance beam while placing third on the uneven bars.

"It felt really good, especially after everything that's happened over the past year," Biles told CNBC, referring to her withdrawal from several events at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 to prioritize her mental health.

It was her first appearance after the unexpected departure. Fans cheered as Biles made a triumphant comeback accompanied by the track of the Israeli pop star who finished in third place in the Eurovision song competition in May.


'Four Winters': Documentary honoring partisan Holocaust survivors - opinion
Filmmaker Julia Mintz is on a time-sensitive Holocaust remembrance and education mission. As the last victims of the Nazi genocidal campaign against European Jewry pass, and antisemitism again is on the rise across the United States and Europe, Four Winters, her newest film, could not be more crucial.

“Four years in the woods I was a partisan and I survived. Why? Why me?” Gertrude Boyarsky, one of eight people featured in the 90-minute documentary, calmly says: “To tell the story, maybe. To tell the story.”

The five women and three men describe how, as teenagers, their lives dramatically changed forever, how they quickly transformed into armed survivalists, ready to fight against the Nazis, avenge the murders of their families, and live.

Four Winters: The story of Holocaust survivors
Boyarsky was 17 years old when another Pole she recognized as her high school prom dancing partner killed her parents and siblings in a hail of bullets that somehow missed her. Before opening fire, he declared they had to die because they are Jews.

Michael Stoll was 17 when he and his father jumped from a train packed with Jews from Lida, Poland, heading to the Nazi death camp Treblinka. “Jews had a reputation of not being fighters, but there were many that did fight there. Our only way was to escape and take a chance,” says Stoll.

Sixteen-year-old Faye Schulman witnessed from nearby the cold-blooded murder of her entire family along with friends and neighbors in Lenin, Poland. “Where they covered the trenches the ground was moving for a few days,” she says, recalling that some, including her family, were buried alive.

Each of the eight narrowly escaped the murderous Nazi onslaught and was able to find and join partisan brigades. Over 25,000 lived in the woods of Eastern Europe throughout the war years.




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