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Tuesday, August 08, 2023

08/08 Links Pt2: Israel's leadership never cared about the Sbarro bombing victims; ADL Report Shows Antisemitism Widespread on European Left

From Ian:

Frimet Roth: Israel's leadership never cared about the Sbarro bombing victims
The Sbarro bombing of 2001 accompanies, or more precisely haunts me always, even after 22 years. But that Hamas terror attack, which robbed me and my family of our precious Malki, ought to be remembered by the Israeli public as well, even those for whom the 16 murders had no direct impact.

It teaches us a lot about our leaders, their thought processes, priorities and concern, or rather lack of it, for us – their constituents.

The lessons to be learned began some time before the attack.

The Sbarro bombing could have been prevented
In the early afternoon of August 9, 2001, Ahlam Tamimi was leading her accomplice to Sbarro. My husband refers to Izz ad-Din Shuhayl Ahmad al-Masri as her human bomb. Days before, by Tamimi’s own account, she had scouted the city center for a site that would provide the largest number of religious Jewish women and children as targets. She had chosen well.

In a guitar case casually slung over his shoulder, Al-Masri carried 10 kilograms of explosives. Both terrorists wore touristy attire, and Tamimi was careful to speak in English to further dispel suspicion. Al-Masri, who did not know English, remained silent.

Days later, then-justice minister Meir Sheetrit disclosed on a TV news program, with no apparent shame or regret, that he and other government officials had been notified that Palestinian terrorists were circulating in the center of Jerusalem on August 9.

I recall hearing that officials had warned local hospitals of a possible imminent flood of victims. He said that police had been sent to scour the streets.

Sheetrit added that the government pleaded with then-Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat for assistance in thwarting the attack. I leave it to you to guess his response.

Presumably, they did not permit their own loved ones to meander through the city that day. But at no time were we – the residents of the city – alerted to the impending danger.

And so, when my precious 15-year-old child called me that day at 1 p.m. to tell me she was leaving her friend’s house in Ramot and heading by bus for a camp leaders’ meeting in Jerusalem, I thought nothing of it.

We concluded our chat, as was our custom, with “I love you.” For the last time.
New ADL Report Shows Antisemitism Widespread on European Left
Brazen expressions of anti-Zionism and hostility towards the State of Israel that spill over into antisemitism continue to be visible among socialist and far left political parties in Europe, according to a new assessment published on Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

The report, titled “Antisemitism and Radical Anti-Israel Bias on the Political Left in Europe,” draws on contributions from four Jewish or pro-Israel institutions in France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. It examines how “anti-Israel actions and calls for the application of BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) against Israel are increasingly common in leftist political circles in Europe.” The report further notes that their “rhetoric influences, and draws inspiration from, some left-leaning activist movements in the US.”

The report identifies “common antisemitic themes that emerge from each of the four countries, including claims that Jewish cabals control politics and media; Holocaust trivialization; equating Israel with the Nazi regime; and the false charge that accusations of antisemitism are used to silence criticism of Israel,” the ADL observed.

“While left-wing antisemitism has existed in France for many years, its mainstreaming is a source of deep concern in the French Jewish community,” stated the contribution from France, supplied by the editors of the Jewish magazine K. “Since the mid-20th century, the French left had been influenced by the Soviet Communist Party with its anti-Zionism that challenged the legitimacy of Israel’s existence, propagated conspiracy theories, and portrayed Israel as a destabilizing factor both regionally and internationally.”

Among several examples in France is the profusion of “images of Jews controlling the government…found on social media accounts of left-wing activists, including some prominent personalities. In 2017, Gérard Filoche, a member of the Socialist Party executive committee, tweeted an image of newly elected President Emmanuel Macron with three prominent French Jews in the shadows behind him.”

Similarly, in Germany “Israel-centered antisemitism is a major contributor to the normalization of antisemitism, making it difficult to combat the phenomenon in general,” stated the contribution from the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, a prominent anti-racist organization. It cited the May Day demonstrations in Berlin in 2022, where “antisemitic slogans could be heard from the outset: ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,’ ‘Apartheid Israel’ and one that explicitly trivializes terror: ‘Stop the war, Intifada until we prevail.’ The crowd chanted the motto ‘Yallah class war,’ while posters showed Leila Khaled, member of the terrorist organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is responsible for numerous attacks against Israeli civilians.”
French Interior Minister Orders Dissolution Of Catholic Association Over ‘Antisemitic’ Speech
France’s Interior Minister on Monday announced the dissolution of a traditionalist Catholic association after one of its leaders called for Jews to be stripped of their political and civil rights.

“Antisemitism has no place in our country,” French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted. “I strongly condemn these ignominious remarks and direct them the Public Prosecutor.”

Darmanin added that he had issued instructions for “the dissolution of Civitas,” the name of the association.

Darmanin was responding to a speech delivered to a Civitas meeting in the town of Pontmain on July 30 by Pierre Hillard, an essayist. Hillard argued that the situation of Jews in France prior to the French revolution of 1789 — when they had no legal rights — should be restored.

“The naturalization of the Jews in September 1791 opens the door to immigration,” Hillard stated. “If we restore the laws of Catholicity and [make] traditional Catholicism a state religion, perhaps we should return to the situation before 1789.”


This Tech Mogul Bankrolls a Chinese Propaganda Network—And Left-Wing Lawmakers Like Ilhan Omar
A tech mogul who funds an elaborate Chinese propaganda network has donated extensively to progressive lawmakers, many of whom have opposed policies to scrutinize the Chinese Communist Party, federal disclosures show.

Neville Roy Singham, the founder of a Chicago-based tech firm, has contributed $17,700 to Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.) and thousands of dollars to Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Barbara Lee (Calif.), and Chuy Garcia (Ill.). Singham’s wife, Jodie Evans, the co-founder of far-left group Code Pink, similarly contributed $21,900 to Jayapal and organized a fundraiser for the lawmaker in 2018. Evans has also contributed to Rep. Cori Bush (D., Mo.) and Lee's Senate campaign.

The New York Times on Saturday revealed that Singham poured millions of dollars into activist groups that push pro-Beijing propaganda to Western audiences, often in collusion with Chinese state-owned media organizations. Singham has given $1.4 million to Code Pink, which Evans co-founded in 2002. The Times noted that Code Pink and Evans have morphed from vocal critics of China’s human rights abuses to strident defenders of Beijing’s foreign policies.

While Singham denies that he works at the behest of Beijing, his spending spree comes amid heightened concerns over the Chinese Communist Party’s covert support for left-wing activist groups. Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.) last week called on the Justice Department to investigate whether environmental groups have acted as agents of the Chinese government. One group linked to China, the Climate Imperative Foundation, is behind the push to regulate gas stoves.

The progressive lawmakers funded by Singham and Evans, who married in 2017, have opposed efforts to scrutinize China's government, including the formation of a House committee that aims to pull back the curtain on the CCP’s influence operations in the United States.

In January, Jayapal organized fellow Congressional Progressive Caucus members to vote against the creation of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, claiming that the panel would stoke "anti-Asian" hate crimes. In February, members of Code Pink disrupted the first hearing of the House panel, which the group referred to as a "China-hating" committee.
Code Pink Used To Criticize China on Human Rights. Then Its Founder Married a Propagandist for the Regime.
The founder of the left-wing group Code Pink, whose members are best known for screaming, yelling, and waving signs to disrupt congressional hearings, once criticized China's oppressive communist regime. That was before she married socialist millionaire Neville Roy Singham.

In 2015, Code Pink founder and former Democratic adviser Jodie Evans said her group demands that "China stop brutal repression of their women's human rights defenders" and posted a photo with a Chinese dissident, according to a damning New York Times exposé published Saturday.

After Evans married Singham in 2017, though, she—and the ostensibly "anti-war" Code Pink—took a hard pro-China turn. She now portrays the authoritarian regime as "a defender of the oppressed and a model for economic growth without slavery or war," the Times wrote.

That turn came as two groups linked to Singham poured money into Code Pink's coffers to the tune of $1.4 million, according to the Times. All told, Singham has given "hundreds of millions of dollars" to a vast network of far-left nonprofits that "echo Chinese government talking points, echo one another, and are echoed in turn by the Chinese state media," the Times wrote. None of them has registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Singham, who has "long admired Maoism," himself lives in China, where he "works closely with the Chinese government media machine and is financing its propaganda worldwide," according to the Times.

Just last month, Singham "attended a Chinese Communist Party propaganda forum," where he jotted in a "notebook adorned with a red hammer and sickle," the paper found.
NYTs: A Global Web of Chinese Propaganda Leads to a U.S. Tech Mogul
In 2017, Mr. Singham married Jodie Evans, a former Democratic political adviser and the co-founder of Code Pink. The wedding, in Jamaica, was a “Who’s Who” of progressivism. Photos from the event show Amy Goodman, host of “Democracy Now!”; Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream; and V, the playwright formerly known as Eve Ensler, who wrote “The Vagina Monologues.”

It was also a working event. The invitation described a panel discussion called “The Future of the Left.”
State senator representing Dearborn apologizes to Arab Americans after visiting Israel
State Sen. Sylvia Santana, D-Detroit, whose district includes a high concentration of residents concerned about Palestinian rights, has apologized to her Arab American and Muslim constituents after recently traveling to Israel.

Santana, whose 2nd Senate District includes all of Dearborn, Dearborn Heights and parts of Allen Park and Detroit, posted an apology Saturday on Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter.

The apology came after an uproar from Arab American advocates who learned of her trip, made amid an escalation of settler attacks on Palestinian civilians in recent months and a broader wave of violence that gained momentum after an Israeli hard-line government took office in December. A two-day offensive in the Jenin refugee camp in May left 12 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier dead.

Dearborn Heights City Councilman Mo Baydoun canceled a previously scheduled ice cream social with Santana set for Monday at The Custard Company, which he co-owns, with locations in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, community advocates said.

An official with the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, David Kurzmann, told the Free Press in a statement Monday the federation facilitated a trip to Israel by several lawmakers.

State Sen. Sylvia Santana, D-Detroit, represents Michigan’s 2nd Senate District, which includes all of Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, and parts of Allen Park and Detroit. She apologized August 5th, 2023, for a trip to Israel

"I recognize my presence on this trip has sparked anger and disappointment by many in the Arab/Muslim community," Santana wrote in her apology. "For this I truly apologize, seek your forgiveness and hope that you will understand that I had no malicious intent. There is no perfect combination of words that I can offer that truly reflects the feelings in my heart. My only goal was to learn about this region of our world and to improve my understanding of matters related to Michigan."

Santana said she "should have exercised better discretion and engaged in a different protocol with community leaders to seek their counsel prior to the trip."

This was Santana's second trip to Israel, said Osama Siblani, a longtime Arab American advocate who is publisher of the Dearborn-based newspaper, Arab American News.

"It's offensive," Siblani told the Free Press on Monday. "We're upset about it."
Emails Show New York Times Collaborating with State Government to Target Orthodox Jews
The New York Times collaborated with the New York State government to produce its now-infamous series of stories targeting Orthodox Jewish schools, according to over 800 pages of emails obtained by Breitbart News.

The Times’ Eliza Shapiro — self-described “serious reporter who doesn’t pull punches” — is seen in the massive volume of communications, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, discussing with the New York State Education Department how “we” can craft comment for the first story launching the Times’ series of articles targeting yeshivas, and giving the government almost a full business-week longer than the schools to comment. Emails also show she worked with the government to direct blame for the Times’ allegations, and coordinated timing on publishing with a vote to regulate the religious schools.

The Times’ first story that launched the anti-religious crusade, published in September, alleges Hasidic students “[know] nothing” and grow up “barely [able] to support their own families.” The story was revealed by Breitbart to have been carefully curated by omitting relevant information, shunning sources directly involved with the schools, and declining to publish pertinent on-the-record statements — producing a weapon used by secular political interest groups to attack the Orthodox Jewish community’s most sacred institutions.

As Breitbart previously reported, the “investigation” dropped in what appeared to be unbelievable timing, the day before the Board of Regents held a unanimous vote, without debate, to allow state functionaries heavier say in the education of Orthodox children. Those children happen to be of parents vehemently opposed to the social justice curriculum that has been injected into most other New York schools.

Now, newly obtained emails show the Times working with the New York State Education Department in close collaboration to produce the story with maximum political impact.

In one correspondence, Shapiro is seen working with the government to produce the state’s comment on the reporting, with almost a week longer to respond than the private religious schools being maligned.

“Hi! Hope all is well with you. We are aiming to publish the yeshiva investigation late next week and I wanted to walk you through it on a high level and we can talk about what might make sense for comment. I’m flexible today if you have some time. Thanks so much,” reporter Eliza Shapiro emailed then-Education Department Assistant Commissioner for Public Affairs, Emily DeSantis, on August 29. The subject line of that email was “Walking you through the yeshiva story.”

Seven minutes later, DeSantis replied, setting up a call later that afternoon.

The yeshivas named in the story were contacted for comment four days later with a summary of the report. The schools were not offered to “walk you through it on a high level,” nor to “talk about what might make sense for comment,” according to emails provided by some of those schools to Breitbart.
Why I Don’t Accept Jamie Foxx’s Apology
By mentioning the killing of Jesus, Foxx brought up a trope that could lead to violence against Jews, or the spread of antisemitism.

There are enough antisemites who have come out of the woodwork. We don’t need any more.

Some of Foxx’s friends have defended him, saying they don’t believe he is antisemitic. If that’s the case, he should come out and explain why he understands the implications of his false charge of deicide, and he should explain why that charge is false.

Foxx has chosen not to do that.

It’s true that Foxx has no known history of public antisemitism. But that doesn’t make what he posted acceptable.

We must all answer to the souls of our ancestors and to our future children when we decide how we respond to all forms of hate. Some of us will have to cover our heads in shame, or accept the barest of apologies. But I believe we should demand more.

I cannot answer whether or not Foxx is antisemitic, but his post, with a very flimsy clarification that he is talking about anyone other than Jews, spreads antisemitism.

I’ve interviewed numerous Holocaust survivors who warned me that many more people than I thought hated Jews. With some of the reactions to Kanye West, Kyrie Irving, and now the silence regarding Foxx, the survivors may have been more correct than I thought.

We’ve seen this game before, and sadly, it seems many Jews don’t care if we lose.
Ben Shapiro: My Thoughts On Celebrity Anti-Semitism
The issue of double standards regarding anti-Semitism is brought to light as Barack Obama's former girlfriend discloses that she ended their relationship due to his views on the matter.


Critics say Princeton again advances claim Israel harvests Palestinian organs
Arsen Ostrovsky, CEO of the International Legal Forum, shared a letter with JNS that he penned to Christopher Ludwig Eisgruber, president of Princeton, and Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, chair of the university’s Near Eastern studies department.

“The book in question contains a number of very serious and defamatory accusations, primarily that the Israel Defense Forces is harvesting the organs of Palestinians, including by ‘shooting to maim, rather than to kill,’ in order to create a ‘mass debilitation of Palestinian bodies,’” Ostrovsky wrote. “This charge is not only demonstrably false, but a modern-day antisemitic blood libel.”

He told JNS that the forum was “requesting that the book be removed, not as part of a debate about the limits of free speech on campus, but because of its lack of educational value and potential for incitement to racial hatred and violence against the Jewish community by the use of age-old antisemitic blood libels.”

‘Students shortchanged by virulently anti-Israel syllabi’

Ostrovsky told JNS that he has read parts of the book that relate to Israel and has reviewed comments from the publisher and author, as well as external reviews.

“There are circumstances where, depending on context, it is appropriate to teach antisemitic material, provided there is an educational or scholarly component to it,” he told JNS. “In this case, we do not believe there was any such educational merit to it, for reasons explained in the letter.”

In the letter, Ostrovsky noted that Princeton hosted a lecture in February by Mohammed El-Kurd, “a notorious Jerusalem-based Palestinian activist, whom the Anti-Defamation League has called an ‘unvarnished, vicious’ antisemite, and who himself has also sickeningly accused Israelis of harvesting and eating the organs of Palestinians.”

Duke University Press, Princeton University and the author of the book did not respond to queries from JNS. An email to the professor teaching the Princeton course returned an automatic response: “Thank you for your email. Please expect a response to non-urgent matters within 1-2 business days. Thanks for your patience.”

Rutgers confirmed to JNS the book author’s current employment at the university but declined to comment on the charges that her work is antisemitic.


REPORT: CUNY Investigating Jeff Lax and Other Jewish Professors for ‘Discrimination’ Against Antisemites
Four Jewish professors in CUNY are reportedly being investigated by the university for ‘discrimination’ against BDS supporters and radical Islamist antisemitic activists.

The activist group SAFE CUNY (Students And Faculty for Equality at CUNY) tweeted Sunday: “FOUR Zionist Jewish Professors who complained about antisemitism on their campuses have now been placed under investigation by CUNY for “discrimination” against BDS and radical Islamist antisemitic activists.”

The group said it has “all the details,” but could not share yet as they were working “to help these [professors] get their ducks in a row in a few ways that could take weeks or more.”

The group sent a follow up tweet: “This story is 100% confirmed and true. We have direct knowledge of each situation…We can give also give you two more details, which is that all 4 Profs are members of SAFE CUNY…The real news here is that CUNY abhorrently and with impunity is now expanding this witch hunt for Jews who complain about antisemitism and added two more profs to the two we had already reported about.

In another significant development, Professor Jeffrey Lax, founder of SAFE CUNY, who is heavily outspoken against the university’s vicious antisemitism, confirmed that he was the first to be investigated.

He tweeted: “For those asking, yes, I am one of the four,” tweeted Lax on Monday. “I said from the very beginning that I may have been the first one they did this to, but I would be FAR from the last. And, here we are. A 1930s Germany style purge of faculty in Academia.”
US university 'investigating' Jewish professors for 'discrimination' against BDS activists
Over the years, CUNY staff and students have reported several alleged antisemitic events on campus.

In May, graduate Fatima Mohammed delivered a speech in which she accused Israel of “Indiscriminately rain bullets and bombs on worshippers” and lauding CUNY’s efforts to allow students to “speak out against Israeli settler colonialism.”

At the time, Lax pointed to her speech as a sign of the school’s attitude towards radicalism on campus.

He said: “What I find truly incredible is not just that Mohammed’s speech is clearly evil – I’m not interested in a random evil student, even though she’s now a graduate.

“What I’m much more interested in is that the faculty most likely saw that speech and approved it."

The university has also been accused of covering up antisemitism and refusing to cooperate with investigations into a campus environment that is hostile towards Israel and Jews.

In July 2022, CUNY administrators clashed with New York City council members at a hearing called to examine the school's handling of antisemitic incidents across its 25 campuses.

According to Jewish Insider, Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez did not show up for the hearing, despite it having been moved multiple times to accommodate his schedule.

The university also came under fire when CUNY's law school faculty endorsed a student government resolution backing the BDS campaign in May 2022.

The student resolution, passed in December 2021, charged the school with “complicity” in war crimes alleged to have been perpetrated by Israel, and called for ties to be cut between CUNY and Israeli institutions, as well a Jewish student groups on campus.

It criticised some students groups for supporting Israel and called for the school to “cut all ties with organisations that repress Palestinian organising”.

A spokesman for CUNY told the JC: "CUNY does not comment on confidential personnel matters."


Nerdeen Kiswani’s Boycott Activism: Do as I Say, Not as I Do
Who is Nerdeen Kiswani?
So, who exactly is this hypocritical activist who visits Israel while calling for its destruction?

Based in New York City, Nerdeen Kiswani helped found the extreme anti-Israel organization Within Our Lifetime-United for Palestine (WOL) in 2015.

WOL was devised as a radical organization that would “push the boundaries” of what is acceptable in advocating for “Palestinian freedom.” Soon after its founding, WOL (then known as NYC SJP) generated controversy by openly criticizing the BDS movement for its “pacified rhetoric” and not going far enough in pushing the Palestinian narrative.

The organization advocates for the absolute right of return for Palestinian refugees, the “abolition of Zionism” and Palestinian resistance against Israel “by any means necessary.”

In its first decade of activity, WOL has repeatedly lauded the activities of Palestinian terrorists (including from the left-wing PFLP and the Islamic fundamentalist Hamas), has teamed up with the PFLP-affiliated Samidoun, and has organized marches where participants call for “globalizing the Intifada.” Some of these protests have been marred by physical violence against supporters of the Jewish state.

In March 2022, WOL was banned from Instagram after it celebrated International Women’s Day by posting a collage that featured the images of female Palestinian terrorists, including Rasmeah Odeh (responsible for murdering two Israelis in a supermarket bombing in 1969) and Leila Khaled (who took part in two plane hijackings).

Aside from guiding Within Our Lifetime’s activities, Nerdeen Kiswani has made a name for herself as a radical anti-Israel activist in her own right.

In 2014, Kiswani shared on social media the PFLP’s justification for a terror attack on a Jerusalem synagogue that left 4 people dead (two others died from their wounds months later).

Similarly, following a terror attack in May 2021, she liked a now-deleted Instagram post that said in Arabic “Glory to the axe of resistance.”

In 2020, Kiswani shared a video on social media showing her holding a lighter flame to a man wearing an IDF sweatshirt and threatening to set it on fire.

In 2022, during an interview on Iranian Press TV’s Palestine Declassified program, Kiswani referred to Palestinian “resistance” (read: terrorism) as something that is “beautiful” and that “should be celebrated by people in the West.”

For her CUNY law school graduation ceremony, Kiswani was chosen by the student body to give a commencement address. During her speech, she claimed that she was being harassed by “well-funded organizations with ties to the Israeli government and military,” condemned the CUNY chancellor for going on a “normalizing trip to Israel” and accused Israel of “colonization and murder of the Palestinian people.”


MEMRI: Arab YouTubers Condemn 'Barbie' Movie, Advocate for Ban In Arab Countries, Citing Feminist, Homosexual Themes
In light of the recent release of the American fantasy comedy film "Barbie," inspired by the Barbie fashion dolls, many influential Arab YouTubers with millions of subscribers have taken to their channels to vehemently criticize the movie. They level accusations against it, claiming that it promotes feminism and homosexuality and call for its banning in Arab countries, urging their viewers to refrain from watching it.

This report will review the commentaries made by these content creators on YouTube and explore the different aspects of their condemnation of the movie, which is a massive global hit but whose July release was pushed back several weeks in the Middle East because of local concerns about content.

In a video titled "Review of the Barbie movie: A Long History of Radical Feminism," Syrian Islamist YouTuber Ahmad Dadoosh argues that the movie's plot aligns with feminist agendas and includes hidden messages, suggesting that in the future, Barbie could be portrayed as homosexual. He asserts that this narrative is in line with the ongoing cultural evolution in the West.

Dadoosh then brought up the fact that transgender actor Hari Nef played one of the Barbies in the movie and proceeded to read part of Nef's Instagram post where Nef expressed enthusiasm about being cast in Barbie. In response, Dadoosh commented: "This clearly illustrates that there is a message; this transgender actress confirms that it is not just about art or exploitation, nor is it solely driven by box office success; there is a message and an ideology they are working for. Hari Nef's cause revolves around gender transformation, and she sees this film as a strong supporter of that message."[1]

Dubai-based Jordanian YouTuber Omar Aburob, whose channel has over 1.5 million subscribers, published a video titled "Do Not Watch The Barbie Movie"[2] on July 24, 2023, where he argued that the movie promotes an ideal world where women and men live separate lives, aligning with the agendas of the third and fourth waves of feminism. According to him, the film supports the notion that women are superior to men and that diminishing men's importance leads to better outcomes for women, a concept to which he believes young girls should not be exposed as such exposure could result in various issues and the eventual disruption of families.

Aburob also said that the movie is politically driven, containing many jokes about homosexuals, endorsing gender transitioning, and including several jokes not suitable for those under age 18. He pointed out that the male characters are portrayed negatively, with one young man being depicted as clearly gay.
Over 24 hours late and just 37 words BBC News ‘reports’ Tel Aviv terror attack
BBC audiences were not informed that the victim of that attack – Chen Amir – was a civilian municipal employee and the father of three small girls. Neither did Knell bother to inform readers that the terrorist who carried out that attack was a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad from Jenin.

Knell did however dedicate notably more of her word count to another violent incident:
“On Friday, armed Jewish settlers attacked a Palestinian village where a young Palestinian man was shot dead…” […]

On Friday night, extremist settlers went on the rampage in a Palestinian village in the West Bank, killing a 19-year-old man. Israeli police say two settlers have been arrested.

The latest settler attack has been condemned as terrorism by Washington, its stronger language appearing to show increased frustration with the positions of Israel’s far-right government.”

In addition to the two men arrested, five additional people were detained in relation to that incident in Burqa which is still under investigation. Later, five Palestinians were also arrested in connection with the same event.

As reported by the Times of Israel, the US State Department not only condemned what Knell describes as “the latest settler attack” but also the terror attack in Tel Aviv.

“The US State Department issued two tweets within a minute of each other on Saturday evening, using very similar language.

“We strongly condemn today’s terrorist attack in Tel Aviv that killed one and wounded two others as well as other recent terrorist attacks against Israelis. We express our deepest condolences to the victims’ families and call for an end to these acts of violence and incitement to violence,” read the first tweet.

“We strongly condemn yesterday’s terror attack by Israeli extremist settlers that killed a 19-year-old Palestinian. The US extends our deepest sympathies to his family and loved ones. We note Israeli officials have made several arrests and we urge full accountability and justice,” read the second tweet.”

Remarkably, Knell chose not to inform her readers of that condemnation of the terror attack that the BBC News website had initially ignored for well over 24 hours and then later ‘reported’ in a mere thirty-seven words.

Some sixteen hours after that second version of Knell’s report appeared on the BBC News website’s ‘Middle East’ page, it was updated again. The headline was changed to “Israeli forces kill three Palestinian militants in West Bank” but one hour later yet another amendment was made and the headline currently uses the ‘Israel says’ formula: “Israel says its forces killed three Palestinian militants in West Bank”.


The ‘Palestinian Exception’: Media Blur Line Between Victim and Aggressor in Terror Coverage
Reading the reams of news coverage about Israel that appear in the international media every single day, it is clear there is something akin to a “Palestinian exception” when it comes to reporting on the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

The Palestinian exception could be broadly defined as a tendency by news organizations to treat Palestinians as unique when compared to their coverage of other issues.

Most recently, the exception could be observed in several reports about Israel’s successful counter-terrorism sting on Sunday, which saw Israeli security forces swoop in on a vehicle carrying three terrorists who were armed with an assault rifle and on their way to carry out a shooting attack against Israeli civilians.

The men, who had set out from the terror stronghold West Bank city of Jenin, were later identified as Naif Abu Suias, 26, the head of a terror cell who was being directed by terrorists in the Gaza Strip, Lu’ayy Abu Na’asa and Baraa Ahmed Qurum. All three men were connected to Islamic Jihad.

Despite information about the operation available from the outset — that is, the fact the men were prevented from carrying out an imminent attack and that they were all confirmed terrorists — several international media outlets sought to reframe the entire incident in examples of the Palestinian exception that recasts Palestinian terrorists as victims of Israeli aggression.

The BBC led the way with a piece that was headlined, ‘Israeli security forces kill three Palestinians in West Bank,‘ and only mentions the fact they are “militants” in the main body of the story.

While the BBC later amended its headline following a tweet from HonestReporting, it still presented the terror backgrounds of the dead Palestinians as mere Israeli claims — ‘Israel says its forces killed three Palestinian militants in West Bank‘ — as opposed to incontrovertible fact.


German man accused of posing as a Jew and peddling fake, antisemitic Holocaust story
A retired teacher living in a tiny German island town has been promoting himself as a Jew under the mantle of an official program designed to introduce non-Jews to Jewish people and practices.

But Frank Borner is not part of the “Meet a Jew” initiative operated by the Central Council of Jews in Germany, the organization says.

In fact, there is no evidence that Borner is Jewish at all — and yet he has been offering a first-person perspective on being Jewish in Germany to audiences with few such opportunities, making comments sometimes smacking of antisemitism.

“The damage done by such charlatans to such an important project is great,” the Central Council said in a statement.

Borner appears to be another iteration of the “costume Jew” who advertises a false Jewish identity and builds a career or public persona around it. The phenomenon has long simmered in Germany, where Jewishness sometimes holds unusual fascination because of the Holocaust. It has become a public fixation this summer after a high-profile case emerged: that of Fabian Wolff, 33, a journalist who recently revealed that he is not actually Jewish, after functioning for years as a Jewish frontman for left-wing Israel critics.

Unlike Wolff, Borner did not reveal himself. Instead, he was outed by German Jewish journalist Henryk Broder in the Die Welt newspaper in late July, after Broder attended a talk that Borner was delivering in the village of Petersdorf, on the island of Fehmarn. Broder raised concerns about inconsistencies, inaccuracies, and gaps in Borner’s family story — and he noted that Borner invoked antisemitic stereotypes during his presentation.
German church refuses to remove antisemitic Judensau carving
A German government official has requested the removal of an antisemitic sculpture from a church, the Jewish Chronicle (JC) reported on Monday.

The sculpture, a Judensau (Jew sow), adorns the facade of the town church in Wittenberg, also known as the Stadtkirche. It has been there for over 700 years, remaining despite multiple attempts to remove it.

Most recently, the German government commissioner for Jewish Life and the Fight against Antisemitism, Felix Klein, has made such a request.

The Stadtkirche Judensau depicts a pig with its hind leg and tail being held aloft by a rabbi so that other Jews, portrayed as small and hook-nosed, can drink milk from the pig’s teats.

Although Judensau’s have appeared elsewhere, it is primarily a German motif. They also vary from depiction to depiction, but they all feature Jews suckling on a pig’s teat.

The request to remove the statue comes while Wittenberg, among other German cities, is being considered as the possible location for a new German Israeli youth organization.

The JC reported that Klein has described the statue as making Wittenberg unwelcoming for Jews.
Chelsea's lifetime ban for antisemitic fan who called Jews 'vermin' applauded
A Chelsea fan who sent antisemitic tweets that referred to Jewish people as “Y*ds” and “vermin” has been handed a lifetime ban by the football club.

Kerry Hardwell, 35, from Bognor, was reported to Sussex Police last August by a fellow Chelsea supporter, Dan Levene, who is Jewish and has campaigned against racism in football.

Hardwell pleaded guilty at Worthing Magistrates’ Court on July 25 to three charges of sending communications with offensive messages and one charge of sending an offensive message by a public communication network. The tweets were sent over a ten-year period from 2012 to 2022.

Levene, a freelance sports journalist writing for publications including the sports site The Athletic, claimed to have uncovered more than 50 antisemitic tweets published from Hardwell’s account, including posts that referred to Jews as “vermin” and “parasites”.

In one tweet, Hardwell allegedly called businessman and television personality Lord Alan Sugar a “Y*d c***”.

In a witness statement read out to the court, Levene said: “The ‘Y-word’ is three letters that are often thrown away by people who may claim they don’t fully appreciate their collective meaning; with some football fans among that number.

“But everyone, most notably the defendant here, should be aware that it is a racially offensive word – and its use in a pejorative sense, as in this case, is a hate crime. This word, and variants of it, have been used throughout history by extremists to demonise and persecute a minority. My minority. This history is relevant, because it explains the pernicious nature of the word’s usage today.”

Chelsea said in a statement that it “condemns antisemitic abuse and hate speech in all its forms” and it has “no tolerance for it at our club”.


Israeli pop star Noa Kirel to play Madison Square Garden
Israeli pop star Noa Kirel will perform at New York City’s Madison Square Garden next June, local media reported on Tuesday.

According to the reports, Kirel’s team has paid a deposit to hold the venue for a show on June 30, 2024.

“It’s time to give an international career a real shot, Noa and her team believe they can make this a success,” Ynet cited a source as saying.

Kirel, fresh off her third-place finish at the 2023 Eurovision competition, recently sold out Yarkon Park, the country’s largest entertainment venue, in less than five hours.

The Sept. 21 concert at the outdoor venue in north Tel Aviv comes after May’s Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool. There, Kirel performed her hit song “Unicorn,” which earned the 22-year-old IDF veteran from the central Israeli city of Ra’anana the best finish for Israel since Netta took the top prize in 2018.

Around 60,000 tickets were allocated for the Yarkon Park performance, and Kirel’s representatives are looking into the possibility of adding another show on Sept. 23.
IDF installs biogas system, recycling kitchen waste for renewable energy
The IDF on Monday installed an innovative system at the Glilot base in Central Israel designed to break down kitchen waste and convert it into biogas, a renewable form of energy derived from organic waste.

The technology allows for the recycling of up to 500 kilograms of organic waste daily, producing biogas that will be used to heat water for the base's needs.

"This marks the initial step towards bringing sustainable and circular economy practices to the IDF," said the head of the IDF's Environmental Protection and Infrastructure Division, Eitan Aram. "We plan to expand this project and additional similar endeavors in the near future."

Currently, the IDF spends approximately $22 million annually on waste disposal, with a significant portion ending up in landfills. Introducing the "HomeBiogas" system is essential in preventing waste from being sent to landfills, reducing the overall carbon footprint, and generating renewable energy in the form of biogas, the IDF said.

Sustainable savings
The IDF said the move - a collaborative effort between the Defense Ministry, the IDF, the Israeli Authority for Innovation, and the Environmental Protection Ministry - demonstrates its commitment to minimizing environmental impact, promoting sustainability, and achieving economic savings.

"HomeBiogas is a pioneering company that develops innovative technology for treating organic waste and producing renewable energy," noted Dror Bin, CEO of the Israel Innovation Authority. "HomeBiogas's system represents a promising solution that can significantly contribute to combating the climate crisis, addressing a pressing need in the extensive mass catering industry."

He added that the pilot "serves as a stepping stone to gain hands-on experience in the field and collaborate with a prominent regulatory body."
Wiener Holocaust Library needs £2,000 to preserve historic 18th-century Czech scroll
One of the world’s principal archives on the Nazi era and genocide has launched a crowdfunding campaign to restore a Torah scroll which survived the Holocaust.

London’s Wiener Holocaust Library needs to crowdfund £2,000 to undertake the vital preservation work of the precious scroll, confiscated and stored in a Prague warehouse. The restoration efforts are imperative for it to once more be displayed within the library building.

Following Hitler’s annexation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, Jewish communities in Czech lands had precious objects from their synagogues, including Torah Scrolls, confiscated by the Nazi authorities, and placed in 40 warehouses in Prague.

The staff at the country’s Jewish Museum managed to catalogue all of them, before being deported to Nazi concentration camps.

After the Second World War, the Scrolls were then stored in a ruined synagogue outside Prague.

Through the efforts of British scholars, art dealers and collectors, such as Eric Estorick, 1,564 scrolls were purchased and moved to London’s Westminster Synagogue in 1964.

The Memorial Scrolls Trust charity was set up to conserve and place the Scrolls on deposit with Jewish communities across the world.

Ever since the Trust loaned the Prague Sefer Torah to the Wiener Holocaust Library in the 1980s, it has been kept in the Library’s Reading Room, where it can be viewed by visitors.

During a recent visit, a restoration expert advised on conservation work including treatment for wormwood, as well as repairs to the parchment to stop any further deterioration to its condition.

It was also discovered that the scroll is likely much older than had previously been thought. While the Library had believed that the Sefer Torah was from the 20th Century, the restoration expert advised that it actually dates back to the mid-1700s.




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