Wednesday, October 04, 2023
Karys Rhea: Mainstream Narrative on Israel Replaces Jewish History with a 20th-Century Phenomenon
This is Part 10 of a 10-part series exposing the underreported joint European and Palestinian program to bypass international law and establish a de facto Palestinian state on Israeli land.Israeli ambassador accuses major Sweden book fair of antisemitism
The international community continues to conspire against the reality of Israel’s existence by testing the limits of its sovereignty and threatening the Jewish right to self-determination.
Palestinian-Arab society — among the most anti-Semitic in the world (long before Jewish settlements were part of the picture) — in which government-run television, media, textbooks and mosques encourage violence against Jews, praise Hitler, characterize Jews as “apes and pigs,” and deny the Holocaust, use Jewish “settlements” as a smokescreen to distract from the real agenda based on a single belief held for centuries: Jews do not belong.
Thomas Friedman of The New York Times, who can hardly be accused of being pro-Israel, understood this upon visiting the region in 2000, writing, “To think that the Palestinians are only enraged about settlements is also fatuous nonsense. Talk to the 15-year-olds. Their grievance is not just with Israeli settlements, but with Israel. Most Palestinians simply do not accept that the Jews have any authentic right to be here.”
The progressive international public has fervently bought into the red herring of Jewish settlements while hypocritically remaining silent with regard to settlement activity in Western Sahara, Northern Cyprus, Ceuta and Melilla, Tibet, and the Falkland Islands.
Talking heads are infatuated with reporting on Jewish population growth, but consistently fail to differentiate between natural growth through births and marriages and new housing through active expansion. And in conflating these two, they are overlooking that, in point of fact, Jewish settlement activity has actually been decreasing. All new construction approvals in the Jewish sector are within existing municipal lines, and no territorial expansion to speak of has been approved for Jewish settlement in decades.
The establishment media and cultural apparatus conveniently ignore the history of these Jewish settlers, many of whom are indigenous to the region but whose parents or grandparents were forcibly expelled in 1948 when Jordan seized power.
Instead of acknowledging them as descendants of refugees merely returning home, pundits, politicians and protesters self-righteously invoke the Fourth Geneva Convention, disregarding its lack of application to Israeli settlers, who have never been coerced into moving or been forcibly relocated to the West Bank.
A major Scandinavian book fair is facing accusations of “structural antisemitism” for its 2023 program, which focused on Jewish culture, but — according to some — sidelined Israel and Zionism.Dutch minister who financed Palestinian terror to speak at Kristallnacht event
The incident sparked renewed debate in the country on the definition of antisemitism, and the place of Israel in Jewish identity around the world.
The Gothenburg Book Fair 2023, the largest cultural event in Scandinavia with over 80,000 attendees each year, ran from last Thursday through Sunday in Sweden’s second-largest city. The program was organized in partnership with Judisk kultur i Sverige, or Jewish Culture in Sweden, a leading cultural institution in the country.
Jewish culture was a main theme of the event, with the official program featuring extensive coverage of the Jewish Diaspora, the Holocaust, antisemitism and Yiddish culture.
But Israel’s ambassador to Sweden, Ziv Nevo Kulman, alleged that the Jewish state was systematically excluded from the event.
“When we heard about the theme, we thought ‘How nice,'” Nevo Kulman told The Times of Israel. “There will be a lot of countries there, and it could be a nice way to introduce many Israelis to them.”
Nevo Kulman said that the organizers rejected multiple proposals from the embassy regarding seminars, effectively boycotting the Jewish state.
“They hinted to us, and it was told to us through indirect channels, that they don’t want propaganda from Israel’s government at the fair. That is a form of antisemitism,” Nevo Kulman charged.
“They work with many embassies of many Western countries, but they don’t want any connection with us.”
Jewish communal leaders in the Netherlands are facing tough questions after inviting to the country’s annual Kristallnacht commemoration a government minister who sent millions of euros to a terror-linked Palestinian nonprofit.
Dutch Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag, who previously served as the European country’s minister for foreign affairs and development cooperation, admitted to parliament in 2020 that her ministry had paid part of the salaries of two terrorists involved in the murder of an Israeli teenager.
Rina Shnerb, 17, was killed, and her father and brother seriously wounded, in an August 2019 bombing near the Samaria community of Dolev.
The terrorists implicated in the attack, Samer Arbid and Abdul Razeq Farraj, were employed by the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), which has close ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group.
Ignoring multiple warnings from Israeli watchdog groups, Kaag, who is married to Anis al-Qaq, a former Palestinian Authority deputy minister and PLO ambassador, continued to support the UAWC, contributing some 11.7 million euros (nearly $12.3 million) between 2017 and 2020.
Adding insult to injury, Kaag was caught in a lie when she claimed in an interview that the Dutch ambassador had visited the mourning family. In fact, the ambassador never contacted the Shnerbs, and while it eventually terminated its relationship with the UAWC, The Hague has yet to issue an official apology.
Alexander Hamilton and the Founding Philo-Semites
Taking as her point of departure Andrew Porwancher’s The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton, which explores the first treasury secretary’s possible Jewish origins and many Jewish connections, Juliana Geran Pilon discusses the American Founders’ attitudes toward Jews:Jerusalem March unites Christians from 90 countries in grand display of faith
John Adams described Jews as “avaricious,” as did Benjamin Franklin, who thought greed to be entrenched in the Jewish psyche. Yet they both expressed great admiration for the Hebrews. Adams declared them to have influenced the affairs of mankind more, and more happily, than any other nation, ancient or modern, going even so far as to describe them as “the most glorious Nation that ever inhabited the earth.” Franklin also exhibited an “inconsistent mix of bias and tolerance toward Jews and their faith.” (He always included synagogues among the beneficiaries of his donations to the building of houses of worship.)
Franklin’s ambivalence, writes Porwancher, “made him typical of several other Founders.” Only George Washington’s utter “lack of prejudice against Jews was of a piece with Hamilton’s, although the former never developed the extensive ties to Jews that the latter would.”
In 1787, [Hamilton] took up the cause of his alma mater, King’s College, renamed Columbia, whose 1754 charter had just come up for renewal. The New York State legislature wanted to wrest control from the board of trustees, but Hamilton was instrumental in thwarting that plan. The charter was also updated to revoke explicitly the administration’s power to “prescribe a form of public prayer.” It even abolished any requirements “which render a person ineligible to the office of president of the college on account of his religious tenets.” A new trustee was also named to Columbia’s board: Gershom Seixas, a Jew. “Seixas and Hamilton had previously sat together on a board of regents that oversaw education writ large in the state of New York,” writes Porwancher, “but now—for the first time since higher education began in America with the founding of Harvard in 1636—a Jew would serve as a trustee of a specific college. Columbia would not have another Jew on its board until 1928.”
In a spectacular display of faith and unity, thousands of Christians from across the globe converged upon the streets of Jerusalem on Wednesday.Israel hosts 68th annual Jerusalem march
“I am so happy to see all of the nations who are present here to celebrate Israel,” said Bini Kouassi Kra, who came from the Ivory Coast. “This is a celebration of the glory of God. What we see here in Israel is so real and so powerful.
“I pray that God should bless Israel and there should be peace in Jerusalem.”
Kra was among more than 2,000 Christian Zionists from more than 90 countries that took part in what is known as the March of the Nations or the “Grand Parade,” the final part of the 68th Jerusalem Parade, which began in the morning and ended around 5 p.m.
The parade included 60,000 participants from Israel and other states. The people marched against the backdrop of a unique landscape and historic sites of the Holy City.
At 3 p.m., the March of the Nations kicked off in Gan Sacher, where marching bands, IDF soldiers, street articles, and dance groups brought the park to life.
The International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem organizes the March of the Nations as part of its Feast of Tabernacles Celebration. This year, more than 3,000 Christians took part in the event.
The marchers from the nations dressed in their traditional garb, carried their national flags, and handed out small gifts to the children and other passersby.
Marchers came from countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas, including Middle Eastern countries like Egypt, Turkey, Algeria, and Iran.
Israel hosts 68th annual Jerusalem march, with those in attendance from all over the world. All in the name of celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles, i24NEWS Correspondent Sarah Chlala reports live from the event.
Jerusalem’s Museum of Italian Jewry, and the Synagogue It Houses
In central Jerusalem, there is a synagogue that takes its name from a small town located 30 miles north of Venice, which, like the museum attached to it, preserves the history of Europe’s oldest Jewish community. Shmuel Munitz writes:Governor General apologizes for Order of Canada awarded to Waffen SS member
The synagogue was originally established in the early 18th century in the town of Conegliano Veneto in northern Italy. Its entire contents were meticulously transferred to Jerusalem, and in 1952 it was inaugurated in the Beit Schmidt building, where it remains today. This structure has a diverse history, serving as a Catholic establishment in the distant past and housing a girls’ school. More recently, it was home to the religious Ma’aleh High School.
The Jewish community in Italy is one of the oldest in Europe, likely dating back to the time of the Second Temple. Over the years, migration from various diasporas led to the formation of a diverse Jewish population in Italy, with descendants of Sephardi exiles living alongside Ashkenazi Jews. The prayer rite of the Bnei Romi, also known as the Italian Rite, is unique to Italian Jews who are not of Ashkenazi or Sephardi origin.
The Museum of Italian Judaism, named after Shlomo Umberto Nahon, was founded in 1983. The current exhibit, The Hidden Revealed, sheds light on the story of the museum’s collection and offers a glimpse into the treasures housed in the museum. Alongside permanent exhibit items such as an ornate ark of the covenant and chairs originally donated to the synagogue in Mantua in 1543, the exhibit also features a Hebrew learning cube set, a diary, and other personal items that provide insights into the lives of Italian Jews.
Governor General Mary May Simon is apologizing for an Order of Canada award given to an Alberta man who served in the same Nazi unit as a man recognized in the House of Commons last month.After Parliament Hill Nazi Debacle, Media Must Must Hold Nazis To Account, Not Just Condemn
In a statement, Rideau Hall said it regretted the award given to Peter Savaryn in 1987. Savaryn was Chancellor of the University of Alberta and President of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta in the 1980s. He also served with the Waffen SS, a voluntary Nazi unit in Ukraine during the Second World War.
“It is with deep regret that we acknowledge that Mr. Peter Savaryn was appointed to the Order of Canada in 1987, and we express our sincere apology to Canadians for any distress or pain his appointment may have caused,” reads the statement, which was first issued to Forward, a Jewish news organization.
Savaryn died in 2017 and as part of the constitution of the Order of Canada his award was automatically rescinded. He was also awarded Golden Jubilee and Diamond Jubilee medals, and Rideau Hall is considering whether those can be rescinded.
Last week, former Speaker Anthony Rota resigned after calling on the House to recognize Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old man from North Bay, Ont., who also served with the Waffen SS. The tribute, given during a visit by Ukraine’s president, resulted in international headlines and a public apology by the prime minister.
This chilling forgiveness of Nazi war crimes knew no borders. South of the border, thousands of Nazi scientists avoided prosecution when they were recruited by the United States at the end of World War Two to join NASA in what became known as Operation Paperclip.‘Disgusting Post’: Democratic Candidate Mocks Former House Speaker for Meeting with Orthodox Jews
Regardless of the passage of nearly 80 years since the end of the Holocaust, crimes against humanity committed in the 1940s are abhorrent now as they were when they were perpetrated, and Yaroslav Hunka should be investigated for his activities during the war.
Secondly, the Hunka affair has drawn some attention to the fact that in a number of places across North America, including at least two locations in Canada, there remain monuments to Nazi-affiliated Ukrainian divisions.
One monument, a bust of Roman Shukhevych, a director of multiple military units affiliated with the Nazi regime and whose involvement in war crimes has been called “unequivocal” by the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre, remains in Edmonton at the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex, where it was installed in 1973.
Despite the pedestal that Shukhevych is held atop today in Ukraine, where he is hailed as a hero, he was a war criminal whose bust should not be displayed in Canada.
Further east, inside the St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery, located in the leafy Toronto suburb of Oakville, stands a cenotaph honouring those who served in the First Ukrainian Division. And while there has been some media coverage in recent days, both on the memorials, as well as the need to hold war criminals accountable, that attention must continue.
In 2020, the cemetery in Oakville was the subject of some local attention when it was vandalized. Following that incident, the monument was defended by some, including the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, which labeled the attempt to educate Canadians on the role of Ukrainian Nazi units during World War Two as a pro-Russian propaganda attempt.
Although the memorial received condemnation from local politicians at all three levels, the cenotaph nevertheless remains standing three years later.
On the heels of the disgraceful standing ovation offered to Yaroslav Hunka on Parliament Hill, the Canadian news media has a duty and a responsibility to do more than offer condemnations of Nazism and the blunder which led to Hunka’s presence in Ottawa. The news media in Canada must continue to call on governmental authorities to properly investigate Hunka, to ensure that if he is guilty of war crimes, that he is brought to justice, and to call on relevant authorities to do their utmost to remove the appalling memorials to Nazi war criminals in Edmonton and Oakville.
A spokesperson for Jones noted to The Algemeiner that Moskowitz has now deleted that post and pointed to his follow up message after Moskowitz and Jones spoke together.Students’ silence on antisemitism scares me
“I appreciate this clarification and removal of the tweet,” Moskowitz wrote. “With the rise of antisemitism imagery is sensitive. I want to be clear, after speaking to him I do not believe that was his intent. I appreciate his record in Congress of standing with the Jewish community in his district.”
Both Gottheimer and Moskowitz are Jewish and voted to remove McCarthy from the Speakership Tuesday.
The Republican Jewish Coalition also joined in the criticism, asking Jones “would you like to clarify why it’s a waste of time to meet with Jewish voters?”
A spokesperson for the US Commission on Civil Rights told The Algemeiner that Jones was not a commission spokesperson and could not speak on behalf of the agency.
“Commissioner Jones’ social media posts are his personal viewpoints, which are supported by the First Amendment but do not reflect that of the Commission,” the spokesperson said.
Jones reposted a comment saying that he was simply concerned about the time spent by Jewish voters with McCarthy.
“Kevin McCarthy has repeatedly wasted the time of Hasidic leaders in the Lower Hudson Valley,” Jones said. “He has never delivered for communities in Rockland and will continue to fail to deliver for Rocklanders because he’s no longer Speaker. By contrast, I have delivered for all communities in Rockland and will continue that track record upon my return to Congress.”
On Wednesday, Jones deleted the post, saying his tweet was “too open to misinterpretation.”
“My point was to communicate that Kevin McCarthy, and by extension Mike Lawler, cannot possibly deliver for communities in Rockland because he’s no longer Speaker,” Jones said. “Regrettably, I did not make this point clear enough, and so I have deleted the tweet. I am proud of my record of combating antisemitism in Congress and after Congress. In a time of rising anti-semitism, we must be crystal clear where we stand: I continue to be a strong ally of our diverse Jewish communities.”
Lawler in a statement said that Jones’ comments were “disqualifying” and referenced his associations with the so-called “Squad” of left-wing progressive members of Congress.
“Mondaire Jones tweeted the quiet part out loud,” Lawler wrote. “His comments are shocking but not surprising for a guy who pals around with antisemites like Pramila Jayapal, Jamaal Bowman, and the rest of the Squad….Unlike dog-whistling Mondaire Jones and his Israel-hating friends, I’ll always stand up for Israel and our Jewish communities. Mondaire Jones’ comments are disqualifying. He has no place being in Congress, let alone representing one of the largest Jewish populations in the country in the 17th district.”
Jones previously served in Congress from 2020 to 2022, but lost in a Democratic primary after New York’s congressional seats were redistricted. Unlike several members of the Squad, he describes himself as firmly pro-Israel. He is currently one of three Democrats who have announced their candidacy in the 17th district. The New York Democratic primary race will be held in June, 2024.Time to call Jamaal Bowman for some damage control advice.
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) October 4, 2023
Rice Pride's decision likewise depicts Jews and Jewish spaces as unsympathetic to the individual and collective experiences of Palestinian students. Yet, being “pro-Israel” does not inherently mean being “anti-Palestine.” Claiming otherwise grossly reduces the situation and preys on an upholdance of ignorance. I understand why this may feel difficult to grapple with to many people, but the false binary silences people and inhibits us from understanding one another. To me, the specific grounds provided by Rice Pride for cutting ties with Houston Hillel were inconsistent, uninformed, distorted and discriminatory.
I imagine that if a Rice organization had cut ties with any other affinity group, by virtue of their own affinity, the entire university population wouldn’t hesitate to denounce such actions. People wouldn’t be content with merely decrying the decision-making process or the timing of the announcement; they’d condemn the reprehensibility of the action itself. So, why is this not the case here?
The extreme backlash the board of Rice Pride has faced is reprehensible. It is important to acknowledge that the threats they received are unjust, while not distracting from the underlying problem. It shocks me how purportedly caring, intelligent individuals can have such little regard for the impact of their conduct on Rice’s Jewish community. The antisemitic sentiment rooted in their reasoning likewise frightens me. The board’s decision reveals their lack of consideration and knowledge about the issues and community they sought to make a statement on. This highlights why they should never have cut ties with Houston Hillel in the first place; clearly, more dialogue between the two groups is necessary to better understand each other, not less.
Antisemitism is not just swastikas, stereotypes and Kanye West tirades. What most Jews know, and perhaps non-Jews do not, is that antisemitism is often much more inconspicuous. Antisemitism, really just a fancy term for “Jew hatred,” has endured throughout history because of its adaptability and discreteness.
“Jew hatred” is unambiguously bad. But call it something else, such as anti-communism (historically) or anti-Zionism, or hide it behind a positive goal, such as an effort toward greater inclusivity, and the lines of loathing seemingly blur.
The more you can ostracize us, the more you can stereotype us, the more you can blame us without backlash, the stronger antisemitism becomes in a society. Ignorance feeds into this. Antisemitism does not just pop up out of nowhere. To fight it, we need to identify it, and we need to have the courage to disavow it.
And it's not necessarily a disguise. Antisemitism is polymorphous by nature. Understanding this is vital to be able to confront it in different contexts.
— V. Judah Khaykin (@VKhaykin) October 3, 2023
“In Israel, everyone boards the same bus, travels wherever they need to, and disembarks as they wish. There is no apartheid in Israel."
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) October 3, 2023
-South African politician and anti-apartheid activist @MTLekota in an interview with the @MZANSIISRAEL podcast last month pic.twitter.com/l7Nc6jVlcB
Good
— David Collier (@mishtal) October 4, 2023
You shouldn't be able to tell lies and spread Antisemitism at the conference of a major political party.
Don't like it? Tough.https://t.co/xVY0y48jGp
Spreading Antisemitism and demonising lies about Israel DOES NOT help the Palestinians.
— David Collier (@mishtal) October 4, 2023
The only thing people like you bring the Palestinian people is perpetual war and more misery. Why not leave Jews and the Middle East alone?https://t.co/5llWfG15Sg
London Palladium urged to scrap Roger Waters concerts amid antisemitism row
The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) has launched a campaign to persuade the London Palladium to drop two Roger Waters concerts.
In an attempt to highlight the former Pink Floyd frontman’s alleged antisemitic remarks, the CAA displayed digital billboards on a van and parked it outside the venue where Waters is due to perform on October 8 and 9.
The billboards featured recent headlines from national newspapers that covered the CAA’s investigation about Waters allegedly making repeated derogatory references about Jews.
The documentary, The Dark Side of Roger Waters, claimed Waters called his agent a “f****** Jew”. The film also claims Waters once referred disparagingly to a vegetarian restaurant meal as “Jew food”.
It further alleges that he said European Jews could not trace their origins to ancient Israel, but were “just white men like me with beards”.
The CAA also published emails from Waters where he proposed that an inflatable pig floating above his concerts should be scrawled with an antisemitic slogan.
In addition to the billboard campaign, the CAA has launched a petition urging the London Palladium, which is owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber, to cancel his October shows.
Lara Sheehi, a professor at @GWtweets, came under fire last year for antisemitic discrimination and retaliation against Jewish and Israeli students in her mandatory diversity class. GWU is now facing a Title VI investigation for failing to address complaints of antisemitism. pic.twitter.com/3P3vudEiG6
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) October 3, 2023
.@KhaledBeydoun, a professor at @ASU @ASUCollegeOfLaw and @UCBerkeley @BerkeleyLaw, glorifies Palestinian terrorists, uses antisemitic tropes, blames Israel for attacks on Muslims around the world, and defends antisemitism from @Ilhan and @RepRashida. pic.twitter.com/PXvOOtszDg
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) October 3, 2023
.@4noura has compared Zionism — the Jewish movement for self-determination — to Nazism and antisemitism and has asked, "How do you de-Zionize land?," a step she sees necessary for establishing a Palestinian state and wiping Israel off the map. pic.twitter.com/IAql3sgHw4
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) October 3, 2023
Fact Into Fiction: New York Times Book Review Lies Over Palestinian School Bus Crash
In June 2021, Nathan Thrall published a lengthy essay “A Day in the Life of Abed Salama” in The New York Review of Books. Writing for HonestReporting, Salo Aizenburg described it as “a virulent anti-Zionist manifesto that relies on numerous errors, omissions, misrepresentation and misquotes to paint a one-sided image of Israel as a uniquely evil entity that seeks nothing more than the removal and domination of another people.”
Thrall has now turned his essay into a full-length book, a review of which appears in the New York Times.
Thrall’s book takes a fatal Palestinian school bus accident in February 2012 as the thread to critique Israel. Both Thrall and reviewer Rozina Ali, however, turn fact into fiction by using the accident as a means to bash Israel and portray Israelis as indifferent to the tragic event.
Ali writes:
The road the bus had been going down had been paved so that settlers could travel to and from Jerusalem without having to go through Ramallah, creating “the illusion of a continuous Jewish presence from the city to the settlements.” After Israel built new bypass highways for settlers, most of the drivers who used the old road were Palestinian. These Palestinian motorists were stopped at checkpoints, which meant traffic piled up, which meant that, to escape the bottleneck of cars and trucks, drivers had a habit of overtaking slow-moving vehicles by veering into the opposing lane of traffic.
Over the years, Palestinians and some media have used the catch-all excuse of “occupation” to absolve Palestinians of responsibility for their own actions. This has even included Palestinian men beating their wives or abusing animals. So Ali’s charge that Palestinians drive dangerously because of Israel is sadly all too predictable.
In the most emotive part of the review, Ali says there is “one particular detail about the accident that continues to chill me”:
The bus is ‘crackling with flames.’ There are screams and shouting. The children burn inside. The crash happened a few minutes’ drive away from a settlement and seconds from a checkpoint. An Israeli ambulance could have bypassed the checkpoints and taken a direct route to the scene of the accident. But about half an hour in, Thrall writes, ‘not a single firefighter, police officer or soldier had come.’
Children are burning to death and Israeli rescue forces are nowhere to be seen, apparently. It appears that Ali and Thrall relied on the inciteful remarks of then-Palestinian health minister Fathi Abu Mughli, who accused Israeli rescue services of failing to provide timely assistance, resulting in more casualties — a charge contradicted by eyewitness reports at the scene.
Media coverage from the day also tells a very different story.
Israel Radio reported that it took rescue forces seven minutes to reach the accident scene.
And Haaretz reported:
More than 50 ambulances and several rescue helicopters were called to the scene of the accident, near the West Bank settlement of Adam. The injured passengers, including three very seriously injured children, were admitted to several hospitals in Israel and in Ramallah. Later, however, Israel’s Magen David Adom ambulance service and the Palestinian Red Crescent agreed that most of the Ramallah patients should also be admitted to Israeli hospitals.
Not only were Israeli rescue services on the scene within minutes but Israel also went out of its way to treat the wounded Palestinian children.
In addition, Israel’s political leadership offered support:
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who was visiting Cyprus, offered the PA ”any aid requested.”
President Shimon Peres telephoned Abbas to convey his condolences.
Peres asked the Palestinian leader to tell the grieving families that his thoughts were with them in their time of anguish, and assured Abbas that Israel would provide the best possible medical care to those of the injured who had been taken to Israeli hospitals.
AUSTRALIAN MEDIA SPREADS BIZARRE LIES - AJA makes complaint
— Australian Jewish Association (@AustralianJA) October 4, 2023
Australia's News Corp publications, usually more balanced on Israel have shared a story from Al Jazeera.
The story has a picture and video of Jewish children and families who went to pray on Judaism's holiest site. It… pic.twitter.com/farPaVaF2l
Tracking CNN’s Bias CNN’s Obsession with Israel
What can explain CNN’s grossly disproportionate coverage of Israel? It will be unsurprising to most that CNN.com’s Middle East page has an obsessive focus on the world’s only Jewish state. But can this be explained by population? By the existence of conflict? By the fact Israel gets U.S. foreign aid?Elon Musk sued after falsely claiming Jewish man was member of neo-Nazi group
The numbers strongly suggest “no.”
Previously, CAMERA looked at all of the articles posted on CNN.com’s Middle East section during the month of July. That month, CNN wrote more articles about Israel’s judicial overhaul debate alone than it did about the entire rest of the region combined. That unequal trend continued into August and September.
A total of 99 new articles appeared in CNN’s Middle East section during July, August, and September 2023. Here is how that coverage broke down by country:
“Multiple” include articles that address issues affecting two or more countries (e.g., articles such as “New US-backed India-Middle East trade route to challenge China’s ambitions” or “Israeli warplanes target Syrian air defense battery.”).
Of those 99 articles, 43 focused mostly on Israel. That figure does not include articles about an Israeli airstrike in Syria and about the Tunisian president blaming “Zionists” for Storm Daniel (both are included in “Multiple”).
Worth noting are those countries that are not listed. Egypt, with the largest population in the Middle East, was the subject of only two articles. Sudan and Yemen, two war-torn countries, each had only one article. Lebanon, a country under the thumb of a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, Hezbollah, saw only one article, too. Qatar, a prominent player in Middle Eastern politics and conflicts, got zero articles written about it, as did Algeria, Bahrain, Jordan, and Oman.
Why does CNN cover the Jewish state nearly as much as the entire rest of the region combined?
A US Jewish man has sued Elon Musk for more than $1 million (£827,815) after the billionaire accused him of being linked to a neo-Nazi organisation.Gab CEO claims young Christians rejecting 'Zionist lies’
Ben Brody claims he was harassed after amplified posts on Musk’s social media platform X/Twitter falsely placed him at a confrontation involving far-right protesters on June 24.
A video posted on X/Twitter from the time showed a confrontation involving the infamous Proud Boys and Rose City Nationalists near a Pride festival in Oregon.
During the confrontation, two of the activists’ face masks were removed, causing those on social media to attempt to track down who these people were.
On X/Twitter, some users claimed one of the participants was Brody. Users also falsely claimed he was a federal US government agent.
The lawsuit includes screenshots of Musk engaging with users spreading the posts involving Brody, including one in which Musk described it as a "probable false flag situation."
The post by Musk from June 27, which is still online, says: “Looks like one is a college student (who wants to join the govt) and another is maybe an Antifa member, but nonetheless a probable false flag situation.”
Brody, a recent college graduate, said he was in California when the event happened.
The 22-year-old is represented by Mark Bankston, a Texas attorney who won a defamation case last year against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in a lawsuit brought by families of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting.
“Young Christians are not falling for the Zionist lies anymore,” according to the CEO of a far-right social media channel.Rectifying an Historical Injustice – Global Campaign to Locate Nazi Looted Art Must Be Launched Now!
Gab CEO Andrew Torba took to X (formerly Twitter) to tell his followers why Christians are turning away from the Bible.
“They get two hours a week tops of a Zionist pastor preaching and the rest of the week they are following our social media posts and reading our books,” Torba wrote. “Our victory is inevitable because the Zionist pastors won't even stand up to the wickedness of the neoliberal regime because they have no backbone, so we will inevitably take over positions of authority in the Church as well.”
He later retweeted a post that claimed what the Bible called Jews stopped existing when Jesus was born in 70 AD.
“The Spirit at work among the Gentiles while the temple still stood provoked them to jealousy,” the post he retweeted stated. “God had left them desolate. This makes no sense today. Ben Shapiro or Dennis Prager don’t see faithful Christian communities and become filled with jealousy that their god is at work among Gentiles and not them.”
Museums are often viewed as repositories of culture and history, showcasing the beauty and creativity of humanity. However, behind many works of art hanging on museum walls lies a dark history of theft, violence, and colonialism. Museums worldwide are grappling with the complex legacies of their collections, and in New York in 2022, a new law was passed that addresses one painful chapter of history: the Holocaust. Signed by Governor Kathy Hochul, this law mandates that the state’s museums acknowledge if a work of art in their possession was stolen by the Nazi regime. This legislation is part of a broader effort to honor and support Holocaust survivors and their families.Cairo’s terrible 1948 summer of death
The Holocaust, with its atrocities committed by the Nazi regime during World War II, left an indelible scar on history. Among the many horrors of that time, the Nazis looted approximately 600,000 artworks from Jewish individuals and families. Decades later, the legacy of these thefts continues to reverberate in the lives of survivors and their descendants, many of whom have not regained possession of their lost treasures.
The issue of Nazi-looted art extends far beyond New York and is a global concern. Advocates for Holocaust survivors have long called for art institutions worldwide to take more proactive measures in identifying the rightful owners of looted artworks in their collections. While some progress has been made, challenges persist.
The Washington Principles, signed by 44 countries in 1998, established international guidelines for the return of Nazi-looted art. Countries like Austria and Germany have returned tens of thousands of stolen items in accordance with these principles. However, the process of identifying rightful owners and returning looted art can be slow, complicated, and sometimes unresolved, particularly when art is swept up in the chaos of war or political instability.
Advocates for Holocaust survivors have long been calling on art institutions to do better. In 2018, the Louvre opened an exhibition of art stolen by Nazis, claiming that the goal was to find the works’ rightful owners. But restitution scholar Marc Masurovsky told the Washington Post’s James McAuley that these efforts were “far too little, far too late.” The museum, he said, should be more proactive about identifying the rightful owners of the works in its collections—a vital step in restitution that museums around the world struggle with.
It is not often remembered that Jews in Arab countries bore the fallout of revenge attacks during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. In the terrible summer and autumn of 1948, some 70 Jews are estimated to have been killed, although one source puts the number of Jewish deaths in bombings and other murderous attacks at 200.
In a meeting with the American Jewish Committee in New York in October 1948, the president of Cairo’s Sephardi Jewish community, Salvator Cicurel, said that “the recent anti-Jewish outbreaks…[were] connected with the existence of Israel and the defeats of the Egyptian Army there.
However, the attacks were not simply a backlash to the conflict. Jews in Egypt had already been targeted for violence by the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1930s. Jews had begun to depart in 1945, two years before Israel’s establishment after the November pogrom in which Cairo’s Ashkenazi synagogue was burnt down and six people killed. By 1948, Jews were being interned for the crime of Zionism, company laws were passed which discriminated against Jews, money was being extorted from them to pay for the war in Palestine and martial law had been declared.
The attacks gave a significant push to emigration. Egypt’s Jewish population stood at about 80,000 in 1948: by 1951, some 16,514, including poor residents of Cairo’s Jewish quarter, had moved to Israel (another 6,000 went elsewhere.) Some Karaite Jews did leave, but many stayed put. This ancient community dating back to the 8th century felt thoroughly Egyptian and was proud of its affinity to Arabic culture.
But in the aftermath of the Six Day War, dozens of Karaites were among Jewish men arrested and jailed as ‘Israeli PoWs’. Some were incarcerated for up to three years before being summarily deported out of the country. Today the number of Jews in Egypt can barely be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Two white supremacists from the 'GDL' (Goyim Defense League) - Joseph Chiddo (left) and Richard Young (right) have been cited in connection with distributing flyers targeting the Jewish people in North Carolina.
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) October 3, 2023
More here: https://t.co/10lMFHxMe4 pic.twitter.com/iX5HkdexUG
Russia remembers the Babyn Yar massacre. The Babyn Yar whose museum Russian missiles destroyed last year.
— Harry's Place (@hurryupharry) October 4, 2023
When the Soviets retook Babyn Yar from the Nazis they filled the site in & refused to acknowledge the massacre of 33,000 Jews that took place there#weaponisationofhistory pic.twitter.com/FoF5zJXDsS
Indian Streamer to Adapt Israeli Crime Series ‘Magpie’
Indian audiences will soon see a local adaptation of a third scripted drama from Israel’s yes Studios, with a crime series titled Magpie.PodCast: How Israel Became a Cybersecurity Superpower: A Fireside Chat With Chuck Freilich, Former Israeli Deputy National Security Adviser
The show’s Hindi working title is Kan Khajura, which means “centipede,” and will be adapted by the Indian streaming service Sony LIV, yes Studios announced on Wednesday. The new production builds on the success of the Indian adaptations of Your Honor and Fauda, two hit Israeli series.
The protagonist in Magpie is Asa Katz, a man serving 17 years in prison for murder who is released early after he agrees to cooperate as a police informant — a role known as a “magpie.”Asa returns to his old neighborhood and his older brother David, who has little regard for his younger sibling. Finding himself torn between the criminal world and his work with the police, Asa tries to navigate both sides to his advantage.
“With its key themes of sibling conflict and a desire for a fresh start while constantly being pulled back into an old life, Magpie’s characters and storylines are instantly recognizable – and ripe for adaptation,” said Sharon Levi, managing director of yes Studios. “We look forward to working with the Sony LIV team as it develops the series for its audience and cannot wait to view the final program once it has been completed.”
Saugata Mukherjee, head of content at Sony LIV, added: “With the Indian adaptation of Magpie, we are aiming to weave global threads into the tapestry of our culture. The character is complex and piques the viewer’s interest with a compelling storyline. We are happy to collaborate with yes Studios once again to bring forth this highly acclaimed thriller.”
Magpie won best screenplay at the 2019 Berlin TV Series Festival, where it was also nominated for best international series and best performance.
Amongst Israel’s enemies, there are many fronts in war: In addition to the physical threats marshalled against the Jewish State such as terrorism, there are others, such as the attempts to delegitimize and demonize the country in the eyes of the world, namely in the form of the BDS movement.Online platform bridges collaboration with UAE and Israel
But there is yet another front, often unknown to the general public: cyber warfare, where state and non-state actors attempt to cause harm to Israel via cyber attacks against important targets.
And while these threats are very real to Israel, the country has become a pioneer in addressing them. That’s according to Chuck Freilich, Israel’s former deputy national security adviser, who is also co-author of the book, “Israel and the Cyber Threat: How the Startup Nation Became a Global Cyber Power.”
Freilich joins us on this week’s podcast, and provides a deep dive into the reality of cyber warfare beyond the headlines, how Israel has responded so far, and the storm clouds on the horizon.
First of it's kind platform that bridges the technological gap between Israel and the UAE. CO founder of UAE-IL Tech Zone, Noa Gastfeund tells us more about this innovation.
Golda review: Forget Jewface, Helen Mirren can do no wrong
There has been much debate about Mirren’s controversial “Jewface” casting as Meir - a question that is both valid and important - but it would also be criminal not to say how absolutely brilliant she is. Mirren embodies Meir in the most incredible fashion, as a woman driven by her love for Israel and its people.Jewish Journalist Marty Peretz Is Not Done Arguing
There is much more to Golda than just its casting. It feels so completely anchored in Israel's national identity that it would be a crime to dismiss the whole production over this choice. It is also hard to see who else could have done a better job than Mirren.
The spectre of the Holocaust looms constantly over each decision taken by its main protagonists and we witness Moshe Dayan crumble under the weight of responsibility and the mere idea of losing the war. It’s clear that a crisis in Israel is unlike other international conflicts.
The film features a stunning performance by Israeli superstar Lior Ashkenazi as Lt. Gen. David "Dado" Elazar while Rami Heuberger does a terrific job as a deeply troubled Moshe Dayan.
Nativ achieves the right balance between the historical and the individual by presenting Meir as not only fallible, but also deeply human. As for Mirren, she simply can do no wrong.
Marty Peretz, whose new memoir “The Controversialist” is now out, has lived a thoroughly charmed and thoroughly charming life. He made friends with a large number of people who were worthy of friendship — and a small number who weren’t — and made enemies with a large number of people who were worth having as enemies, and a few who weren’t.A Passage Back: Morocco’s Enduring Allure to Its Jewish Diaspora
Over the course of 84 years (and still going strong), his politics changed, his style and tastes changed, his sexuality changed, yet somehow his essential Marty-ness stayed the same — faithful to a core set of principles, to a steady aesthetic of ambition, skepticism, loyalty, and a sense of humor about it all. He managed to be both at the center of everything while remaining, in essence, an observer from the outside. This was, as his critics loved pointing out, partly a result of marrying into money.
But it was so much more than that. Marty Peretz’s outside-in relationship to culture and power is a product of the times he lived in. He is old enough to have lived in an America where Jews were locked out of an old establishment, and he has survived long enough to see their declining role in it.
In between those bookends was roughly half a century where Jews enjoyed an outsize role in American cultural life, which was mostly good for the Jews and certainly great for America.
These were the years when Jews burst into the Ivy League, the legacy media, the arts world, and both chambers of Congress. When Jewish intellectuals were on the (temporarily) winning side of the major political arguments, whether it was mid-century welfare liberalism, civil rights, 1960s radicalism, late 20th century neo-conservatism, or 1990s Third Way centrism.
To be Marty Peretz in this era meant — like being a wave and a particle — finding a way to always be at the middle of the action while simultaneously standing just outside and observing. It’s how he lived in academia — 50 years of teaching at Harvard without being a professor — and how he related to all the political drama of his generation, from civil rights to the rise of Reagan. It’s also how he related to the issue that was his passion, Israel: a visitor, a donor, a friend of prime ministers and generals, but never an Israeli, and never wanting to become one.
In an impassioned plea before the United Nations, Hillel Neuer, director of UN Watch, poised a poignant question to a host of Middle Eastern countries: “Where are your Jews?” To countries like Algeria, Egypt, and Iraq, which once had vibrant Jewish communities, this inquiry echoed through the halls with a deafening silence, highlighting the region’s historical exodus of Jewish populations.Ancient aqueduct from time of Roman occupation discovered in Jerusalem
Unlike many of its neighbors, however, Morocco stands as a remarkable exception to this unsettling trend. Over the centuries, Morocco has nurtured a thriving Jewish culture, weaving a unique tapestry of coexistence.
The recent “reverse exodus” — a phenomenon where Jews of Moroccan descent are returning to their ancestral homeland — stands as a testament to this enduring legacy. This modest yet significant migration symbolizes a compelling narrative of reconnecting with one’s roots, empowered by Morocco’s relatively tolerant atmosphere and rich Jewish heritage. This trend of migration back to Morocco unveils a hopeful narrative amidst a region often embroiled in religious discord, and was exemplified in the recent pilgrimage to the city of Meknes, where Moroccan Jews returned to their roots in a historic first since the 1960s, following the restoration of the city’s Jewish cemetery, marking a poignant reconnection with the land that cradles their ancestry.
The Rich Jewish Heritage of Morocco
Jewish history in Morocco is a vivid tapestry dating back over two millennia, even predating the Islamic conquest of the region. This long-standing presence fostered a unique Jewish identity that became integral to Morocco’s diverse cultural heritage. Despite various foreign rules including Roman, Spanish, and French colonial regimes, Jewish communities retained a distinct identity while contributing significantly to Morocco’s socio-economic fabric.
Archaeological excavations in the Giv’at Hamatos neighborhood of Jerusalem uncovered an ancient Aqueduct that once carried water throughout Jerusalem’s upper city during the time of Rome’s occupation, the Israel Antiquities Authorities announced on October 2.
The tunnel once fed water to the homes of Jerusalem’s elite, including the homes of prominent figures like Roman emperor Herod’s palace, 2000 years ago. The duct also continued functioning throughout Jerusalem in 70 CE, after the Tenth Roman Legion destroyed the Second Temple.
“Towards the end of the Second Temple period, when Jerusalem underwent significant expansion, and Herod’s Temple was built, the water flowing in the springs and stored in the cisterns was no longer sufficient for the thousands of residents and pilgrims in the city. Water had to be transferred to the city from afar,” said Dr. Ofer Sion and Ruth Cohen, the excavation directors on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
“Due to this situation, the Hasmoneans and King Herod built two complex aqueducts to transport water to Jerusalem, constituting one of the grandest and most sophisticated water projects in the country, and indeed, in the ancient world. The aqueducts trapped water from springs in the Bethlehem region, and by the construction of large pools, and the implementation of hydraulic laws (the siphon principle of communicating vessels based on the force of gravity), topography, and an extraordinary level of engineering, the water flowed over many kilometers.”
Other finds in the ancient Aqueduct
The excavation efforts, funded by Arim Urban Development Company, also led to the discovery of a coin from 67/68 CE. The coin dates back to the first Jewish revolt against the Romans, which was before the destruction of the Second Temple. It is believed that Roman occupiers had intentionally left the coin in the duct.
“Even with the establishment of the new pagan city Aelia Capitolina, the Tenth Legion continued to use and upkeep the sophisticated aqueduct,” explain Sion and Cohen. “We found about 25 coins in the aqueduct foundations, distributed at fairly equal distances. In our opinion, this is hardly coincidental, but just as is still common today, the Tenth Legion builders placed the coins there for good fortune.”
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