Thursday, October 05, 2023

10/05 Links Pt2: The Nuclear Secrets of the Yom Kippur War; Yisrael Medad: Judicial reforms protests are harming Israel; Jewish students need role models

From Ian:

The Nuclear Secrets of the Yom Kippur War
The Americans indeed confirm, through Blackbird reconnaissance and satellite imagery, that Egypt has deployed several Scud missiles in the Nile Delta that could reach deep into Israel. But suddenly, this becomes the least of their concerns. The images are sent to several American intelligence analysis units, including one specializing in identifying Soviet vehicles. Analysts conclude that the vehicles used to deploy the missiles are the same kind used for launching nuclear-tipped missiles. This alarming information is passed to the CIA's office at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, where they decide to share it with Israel.

"The Americans told us, 'What you're seeing here is essentially a Scud unit with nuclear warheads’," recounted Prof. Yuval Ne'eman, who was invited to the embassy to view the images. "The Americans gave us this picture and told us, 'There might be nuclear warheads on those Scuds’."

Shaken, Ne'eman quickly presented the dramatic information to Golda Meir and the cabinet, and later also to army chief Dado. "Dado ordered the deployment of the Jericho missiles," Ne'eman wrote, "and requested that they be positioned so that they could be clearly seen in satellite images. This way, the Russians, who were launching a new satellite every two days, could photograph them. The intent was to let them know, without explicitly stating, whether or not we had suitable warheads for these missiles, but that the missiles were ready."

This is high drama. If Israel fears it is about to be attacked with a nuclear Scud, and according to Ne'eman's account, exposes its Jericho missiles to create the impression that they are nuclear-tipped – this is a very dangerous global game, one that makes the Cuban Missile Crisis look almost like comedy in comparison. According to foreign reports, then – as now – the Jericho missiles, which can be fitted with nuclear warheads, were stored at a secret Air Force base near Beit Shemesh.

If the reports are accurate, it's likely that the base commander convened a meeting with senior officers on that particular evening. The commander briefed his team on the need for actions that would not be related to an immediate threat or actual combat. Instead, the focus would be on drawing the attention of American and Russian satellites. The goal was to provide Henry Kissinger with additional justification for escalating the airlift, while also giving the Russians a compelling reason to be concerned.

At the missile base, troops put on a show specifically designed to be captured by Soviet satellites. According to reports, a truck carrying a Jericho missile executed maneuvers in the yard of one of the bunkers. The missile was likely fitted with a dummy warhead, meaning it was not armed and would not detonate. The truck moved back and forth, raising and lowering the missile, all while in plain sight—without the usual shielding that prevents satellite imaging in similar circumstances.

Dino Brugioni, who at the time headed the National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC) for American Intelligence and was considered a guru among imagery intelligence analysts, wrote, "We observed activity at the Jericho missile base, and the CIA believed the missiles were armed with nuclear warheads."

Maybe yes, maybe no, but it seems likely that Israel did not yet have the capability to launch such missiles at the time, and the whole thing at the base was essentially a staged performance for Russian satellites. The Russians were supposed to interpret the images, become alarmed and instruct the Egyptians not to use their Scuds missiles. However, things didn't unfold as planned.

Instead of becoming alarmed and advising the Egyptians not to use their Scud missiles, the Soviets interpreted the maneuvers at the Israeli missile base as preparations for an attack and readied themselves for a counter-attack.

American intelligence intercepted Red Army orders to the commander of a strategic ground-to-ground missile brigade near Kyiv in Ukraine. The orders were to deploy and prepare to launch 12 missiles targeted at the Ramat David base, the nuclear reactor in Dimona and the oil refineries in Haifa.
Victims of Terror Need to Know They're Not Alone
20 years have passed since I survived one of the worst bus bombings in Jerusalem's history. On June 11, 2003, I was traveling on bus #14, when a Palestinian terrorist strapped with explosives detonated them. The explosion left 100 of us injured and took the lives of 17 innocent people, including everyone seated and standing around me. I had moved to Israel only a year-and-a-half before and, ironically, had been volunteering with organizations assisting victims of terrorism.

I can still vividly recall the sound of crushing metal and the blast tearing through the bus. Though I was burned and bleeding, I was alive, and someone helped me escape, pulling me through the torn frame to safety. I was rushed to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital with shoulder and shrapnel wounds, burns, and cuts on my legs and face.

Currently residing in the U.S., I recently flew to Israel to mark the 20th anniversary of the attack and to sponsor a luncheon honoring the doctors, nurses and Hadassah staff members who cared for me. We invited other survivors of terrorist attacks who had been nursed back to health by Hadassah's exceptional medical team.

Those able to come included Moshe Frej, a volunteer medic in 2002 when he was shot in the back while caring for ambushed soldiers in Hebron. Gabby Elbaz Greener was a student when her bus was blown up in 1995 (she is now a Hadassah cardiologist). Aluma Mekaitan Guertzenstein, a high school senior in 2002 who lost the use of an arm due to shrapnel damage after a terrorist detonated a bomb on her school bus. Dvir Musai, who was 12 when, on a cherry-picking trip at a farm in 2002, he stepped on a landmine intended for the farm owner. Gila Halili Weiss, injured by a bomb in Jerusalem's Machane Yehudah market while buying pastries for Shabbat in 2002.
Yisrael Medad: Judicial reforms protests are harming Israel
THE CAMPAIGN camouflaged the fact that it had been the Supreme Court itself – notably its former president, Aharon Barak – that had instigated a judicial revolution three decades prior, which at the time was severely criticized by his fellow justices. Many in the political establishment were opposed to elements of what has since developed including many of those who oppose the government today.

Moreover, the etrog effect managed, for several months, to disconnect the protest activities from the background of the trials and charges that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was facing. It regularized outrageous illegal acts such as blocking main thoroughfares for hours, repeatedly, and yet escaped punishment.

(Similar actions during the 2005 Gaza disengagement had people in jail for weeks and even months.) It sanctified forms of military service refusal and disobedience and endangered Israel’s security by leading both Palestinian Authority terror groups and Iran to assume that Israel was imploding and weak, as a result of a breakdown in societal cohesion.

It made normative the usage of epithets of “Nazi,” “KKK,” “authoritarian dictatorship,” and a slew of additional imprecations, as well as poster images that mirrored far-right antisemitic portrayals of Jews.

It promoted facetious and shallow comparisons with Poland and Hungary’s internal situation while, on the other hand, ignoring the more correct comparisons with many other democratic societies. It also led to the encouragement of emigration, euphemistically called “relocation” to other countries, (the very same ones that they pointed to as illiberal and semi-fascist in order to denigrate the judicial reform).

In practice, the protest supported a policy of no compromise while threatening with voter punishment any opposition politician who sought to reach some sort of agreement. It reached out not only to Diaspora Jewry but to foreign governments, specifically the United States, to strip away any possible support for Israel’s government – and sought to have Israel punished financially.

It has assisted a revival of the worse forms of religious intolerance, with scenes at Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Square this past Yom Kippur, recalling the activities of the Soviet Yevsektsiya Jewish anti-clerical units.

The protest invaded private property and laid siege to the homes of ministers and members of Knesset, including in the hallways of their apartment buildings. Memorial services were disrupted and military cemeteries became political battlegrounds. Private bereavement was swept aside.

Distressingly, the protest has generated and motivated sub-groups that are exploiting the gatherings and public attention for more divisive aims – such as secularization – which has led to the breaking up of the Yom Kippur prayers in Tel Aviv, attacks on Chabad tefillin stands and the shaming of MK Tzvi Succot’s wife’s hair-covering on X (formerly Twitter).

I am sure the protesters feel they are on a just crusade. What they have wrought, I feel, is not quite right.


Jewish students need role models
It is rare for Jewish faculty to stand up for Jewish and pro-Israel students, but occasionally, they do and offer some hope that they could be role models if their positive efforts were not one-offs.

When The Harvard Crimson supported boycotting Israel, more than 150 Harvard faculty members signed a statement condemning the paper. That was good news and seemed impressive until you examined the list. Most were from the medical, law and business schools; only a handful of faculty teaching undergraduates were willing to take even the minimal step of signing a letter opposing the antisemitic BDS movement. Too many Jewish faculty are prepared to fall on their swords for academic freedom but have no problem denying it to Israelis and those who want scholarly interactions with them.

Another exception occurred at the University of California, Davis, where 58 pro-Israel faculty members protested the UCD Faculty Statement of Solidarity with Palestinians that pilloried Israel for defending its citizens against the rocket bombardment by Palestinian terrorists. The demonization of Israel was published on the Asian American Studies department page with the endorsement of nine other academic departments.

“What compels the African-American and African Studies, Asian American Studies, American Studies, French and Italian, and Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies Departments to make public and slanderous attacks on Israel?” they asked. “How is this germane to their educational missions? It has not escaped our notice that Israel is the only foreign nation to receive such negative treatment at UC Davis.”

Not surprisingly, Davis’s administrators dismissed demands to remove or condemn the statement.

You might expect Jewish Studies to be an oasis for Jewish students with faculty who take pride in their identity and Israel. As others have written, Jewish Studies is anything but a haven. Tanny noted that professors in the field are more likely to remain silent or publicly side with the anti-Zionists. Even the Association of Jewish Studies journal demonized Israel in its “Justice Issue.”

Oren Gross, a professor of law at the University of Minnesota, resigned from its Center of Jewish Studies, stating: “I see no place for me to remain affiliated with CJS, which has turned into an echo chamber of silence and in which those, such as myself, who are unapologetic Zionists feel increasingly isolated.”

Even Israel Studies, which I have championed, has become a problem because too little scrutiny is given to candidates for chairs. Among the signers of the anti-Israel “Elephant in the Room” screed, for example, are the Israel Studies chairs from UCLA, George Washington, Ohio State and the University of Washington.

If students can’t find someone to look up to at the national level, it would be nice if they could find role models on their campus.

Several years ago, I met with Jewish faculty at a college. It was unprecedented for them to get together, and several were uncomfortable at the idea of faculty speaking as Jews.

Faculty must be encouraged to join the JSZN. There should also be a Jewish or Zionist faculty caucus on each campus for faculty to unite—if not over support for Israel then at least to protest tolerance of antisemitism, and be there to assist and defend Jewish students.

Instead of holding out for heroes, it’s time for some to step up.
Conservatives vow to outlaw Israel boycotts ‘by end of the year’
The Government is planning to push through proposed legislation to outlaw boycotts of Israel without any “fundamental changes” before the end of the year, the JC has learned.

A source close to the Levelling-Up Secretary Michael Gove, who introduced the bill in the Commons in June, said that he was prepared to “listen and engage with critics” of the bill as its current, committee stage continues.

But he added that he was “not proposing to make any fundamental changes”, such as removing a clause that would ban boycotts of Israel in perpetuity, although boycotts of other countries could be allowed if they were found to be engaged in slavery or devastating the environment.

Speaking to the JC at the Conservative conference in Manchester this week, other friends of Gove said he hoped the bill would be become law by the end of this year.

Gove singled out the bill in a list of government achievements in the speech he gave to the Tory conference in Manchester on Tuesday.

He said: “I am blessed to have a superb team of ministers and officials alongside me” who were “tackling antisemitism with our bill to end the stigmatisation of the world’s only Jewish state by the far left.”

The Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill would prohibit spending and investment decisions by publicly funded bodies such as local authorities taken on the basis of political boycott campaigns.

It fulfils a 2019 manifesto pledge to outlaw support for the Boycott, Sanctions, Divestment (BDS) movement, whose leadership includes senior figures in Palestinian terror groups. Its co-founder Omar Barghouti has made clear that its ultimate goal is the destruction of the state of Israel.

Labour sources have indicated that the party is likely to oppose the bill in its current form.
UK PM Rishi Sunak celebrates Sukkot before Conservative Party conference
United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak commemorated Sukkot at the UK Conservative Party Conference on Wednesday by visiting the Board of Deputies of British Jews’ Sukkah and shaking the Lulav and Etrog.

Sunak, who became prime minister of the UK in 2022, visited the Sukkah with Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl and Senior Vice President David Mendoza-Wolfson prior to his remarks at the conference. Sunak was joined by fellow MPs Michael Fabricant, Rebecca Pow, Sara Britcliffe, Chris Clarkson, and Conservative Party President Chris Smallwood, who also visited the Sukkah.

"We were delighted to be visited at our [Conservative Party Conference 2023] Sukkah this morning by Prime Minister @RishiSunak,” said the Board of Deputies on X (formerly known as Twitter). “Wishing you all a Chag Sameach!"

Sunak’s ties to the Jewish community, Israel
Sunak has long been a defender of the UK’s Jewish community and of the State of Israel. In June, a Jewish Chronicle article called him a "nice Jewish boy."

"A piece in just this week's Jewish Chronicle suggests, and I quote for those of you that didn't see it, 'Rishi Sunak is a nice Jewish boy.' Well, I can tell you, I was pretty flattered," Sunak said during a speech at an event for Jewish Care.

Sunak also voted against a 2022 UN resolution to provide a judicial opinion about whether Israel’s 55-year occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem constitutes de facto annexation.
Labour tells pro-Palestine event to drop ‘apartheid’ title
Labour has told the Palestine Solidarity Campaign it cannot hold a fringe event at the party conference next week unless it drops the original title, which was “Justice for Palestine: End Apartheid”.

The event is now scheduled with the last two words removed. Party leader Sir Keir Starmer and shadow ministers have repeatedly said they reject the claim that Israel is an apartheid state.

It comes as Labour Friends of Israel has issued a policy paper which says a Labour government should proscribe Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, shut down the regime’s “ideological centres” and subject its key UK-based representatives to rigorous sanctions, says a new policy briefing issued by Labour Friends of Israel.

The document, issued ahead of next week’s party conference in Liverpool, also recommends strengthening Britain’s security and economic ties with Israel, and sets out steps to restart the Israel-Palestinian peace process, including a freeze on building West Bank settlements.

The LFI briefing says Labour should welcome the warming of relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours, as seen in the Abraham Accords and Israel’s current diplomatic thaw with Saudi Arabia. However, it adds that this “should not blind us to the continuous efforts to demonise and delegitimise the Jewish state in international institutions, most notably the United Nations General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council”.

Introducing the document, LFI’s chair Steve McCabe MP writes that the current government’s policy on Iran has been “weak”, adding: “The next Labour government must pursue three concrete policy actions. The first would be to shut down Khamenei’s ideological centres in the UK, which are spreading hatred and encouraging violence. Second, the UK should target and sanction those profiting from the Iranian regime. Finally, the UK must proscribe the IRGC with immediate effect.”


Far Left French MP Accused of Antisemitism Over Parliamentary Question Targeting IDF Participation
A far left member of the French parliament has been accused of spreading antisemitism by calling on the French authorities to take measures against French citizens who serve in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

In a question on Tuesday directed at the Ministry of Justice, Sylvie Ferrer — elected to the French parliament in June 2022 as a representative of the far left La France Insoumise (LFI — “France Rising”) — called on the government to take action against the “direct and indirect participation of French citizens in illegal acts.”

Ferrer’s question highlighted the participation of French citizens “in Israeli military programs and indirect financial support for the IDF.” She named five organizations — Sar El, Marva, Mahal, Garin Tsabar, and Atouda — as arranging for “international volunteers to join the Israeli armed forces.” She expressed concern over her realization that “it seems that the French are the most numerous to enlist, representing 43 percent of the volunteers, 90 percent belonging to combat units.”

The MP then complained that “these programs are the subject of publicity on French territory, for example during their presentation on May 26, 2017, at the Grande Synagogue de la Victoire in Paris by an IDF officer. Furthermore, there are a number of associations and support groups that allow the transfer of French donations to IDF soldiers. They benefit from tax deductions due to their status.”

Ferrer went on to state that the “direct or indirect participation of French people in military maneuvers in the Levant raises questions in view of the successive condemnations of the State of Israel by international law.” She added that France “does not seem to be taking the slightest action on its own territory and with its own means to stem this phenomenon, which is said to be proliferating because of the presence of persistent antisemitism in the country.”

Several Jewish leaders voiced outrage over Ferrer’s parliamentary question, among them Yonathan Arfi, president of the umbrella organization Crif.
Why are German anti-Zionists learning Yiddish?
From the off, I was intrigued as to why these Germans had chosen to come to Israel. My curiosity only deepened when it became apparent that most of them were strident anti-Zionists. Yes, there were some lively dinner table chats at Hostel 104.

These German tourists had scant desire to understand Israel and its modern-day Jews, but they all felt deeply invested in Ashkenazi history. And they all wanted to learn Yiddish rather than Hebrew.

Every Sunday evening, they would trot off to Yung Yiddish, a counter-cultural centre inside the “balagan” (chaos) of Central Bus Station. There, they would enjoy klezmer music concerts, Yiddish folk story sessions, and pay 45 shekels (£9.70) for a bowl of cholent.

Coincidentally, Sunday was also the day my chef boyfriend would visit the bus station. The complex is home to the city’s biggest and best Korean supermarket in Israel and Aidan would return with cut-price Asian fruit and veggies, for which he had bargained hard.

Sometimes, he’d pop into Yung Yiddish. In his words: “Imagine if the Library of Alexandria was curated by a neurotic hoarder. It feels out of time with history, like it has wandered off the set of Fiddler on the Roof.”

No, it wasn’t our bag, but then I don’t think we were its intended audience. Between us, we have Ashkenazi, Mediterranean, Sephardi and Native American ancestry. Like many young Israelis, we’re the flesh-and-blood realisation of Ben Gurion’s Jewish melting pot vision. It also means that shtetl-core culture isn’t evocative for us. It feels too far removed.

“The Germans have more in common with Yiddish culture than we do,” my Sabra friend Lior would say.

Of course, there’s nothing inherently wrong with wanting to learn Yiddish, but the politicised revival of the language does rather chime with the American writer Dara Horn’s conviction that people love dead Jews more than living ones.

And if something Jewish is embraced by non-Jewish anti-Zionists, alarm bells should ring, surely?
Canadia’s largest museum to change Palestinian ‘dispossession’ texts
On Oct. 3, Josh Basseches, director and CEO of the Royal Ontario Museum, wrote to HonestReporting Canada stating that the museum “is a learning institution, and we listen.”

After noting that HonestReporting Canada had focused on two works of art by one artist, from more than 100 works by 25 artists in the show, Basseches claimed that the media watchdog was wrong to say that the statements on the exhibition walls were the museum’s “official description” rather than the artist’s personal statements. (Overwhelmingly, curators write the labels for museum exhibitions, rather than artists explaining the significance of their own works.) Royal Ontario MuseumThe sculpture “An Act of Possession” by Sama Alshaibi and accompanying wall text at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Credit: Courtesy of HonestReporting Canada.

“Israel and the Middle East in 1948 are not the subject of the show,” the museum executive wrote. Still, Basseches said the museum was going to make changes.

“While the artist’s narrative reflects her own experience expressed through art, we recognize that it is one artist’s view related to a historical topic for which there are various lived experiences and narratives,” he wrote.

In response to the HonestReporting Canada alert, the museum is revising the text associated with Alshaibi’s art “to be more precise” and “to make it clear that the text label describes the artist’s own point of view,” Basseches wrote.

The museum, he added, is revising the opening panel to the exhibit “to underscore that these are the perspectives of the artists, and to encourage audiences to further explore the topics presented in the exhibition on their own for a deeper and more contextualized understanding of the subjects, beyond what is included in the exhibition.”

Other text panels in the exhibit will refer back to the new opening panel text, Basseches added.

“The Royal Ontario Museum is one of the most prominent and influential museums in North America, attracting huge numbers of annual visitors to its exhibits. That is precisely why it was so important for the label to be amended, and why its decision to revise the description is so welcome,” Mike Fegelman, executive director of HonestReporting Canada, told JNS.

“When dealing with history, particularly surrounding Israel’s independence in 1948, which is the target of so much misinformation, extra care is needed to be factual,” Fegelman added. “We are very pleased that the ROM will be making these changes.”
UPenn to review event policies after Palestinian culture festival drew backlash
The University of Pennsylvania is launching a review of its policies “to be better aware of who is coming to campus,” the latest fallout from a recent Palestinian cultural festival featuring public figures accused of antisemitism.

The university also pledged last month to add antisemitism awareness training to its equity and inclusion programs for faculty, staff, and students.

The Palestine Writes Literature Festival, which ran Sep. 22-24 on Penn’s campus, attracted significant criticism from Jewish organizations that objected to names on the conference’s list of speakers. That roster included Roger Waters, the Pink Floyd frontman repeatedly accused of bigotry against Jews, along with others who, the group said, have used language that endorses Israel’s destruction.

In the leadup to the festival, the campus was also the site of two antisemitic incidents. On Sep. 13, a swastika was found in a painting booth in the school’s Stuart Weitzman School of Design. A little more than a week later, a man who campus police said was “experiencing a crisis” entered Penn Hillel and vandalized the lobby, shouting profanities including “F—k the Jews” and “They killed JC,” a reference to the accusation that Jews killed Jesus.

Now, Scott Bok, who chairs the university’s board of trustees, has said the school will review its policies on allowing external groups to host events on campus, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The details and scope of the review are unclear, though it will not involve reviewing every on-campus speaker.

“Neither our board nor university leadership want to be in the business of vetting and approving each of the few thousand of speakers who are invited by faculty or student groups to speak on our campus each year,” Bok said. “That wouldn’t be appropriate. But our president has indicated that the university will look at some administrative processes to be better aware of who is coming to campus, particularly for large-scale events.”

The festival attracted 1,500 attendees, according to the Inquirer, though on the day he was scheduled to appear for a panel, Waters claimed in a video on Instagram that he was prohibited from entering Penn’s campus. The school denied that he was banned, and said it was given insufficient notice that he would be speaking in person, which would necessitate security upgrades. He appeared at the festival virtually.


Jews murder Christians, traffic children, former congresswoman shares on X
Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney shared a number of antisemitic posts on X throughout the beginning of October.

One of the posts that McKinney shared claimed that "Jews promised to murder Xtians...they boast that they murdered Christ...so Christ followers no biggy to Jews. World, we have a problem!"

In another repost by McKinney, it was claimed that "Jews and Israel love trafficking organs, children and women, murderers, slavery black and white, genocide Muslims and other countries worldwide, lies, manipulations, pedophilia and sex offenders, funding training azoz nazis and al-Qaida…."

The images accompanying the post are headlines used by Israeli media reporting on sex crimes that Israelis or diasporic Jews were accused of committing. Many of the articles also reported on Jewish pedophiles using Israel as an escape haven from prosecution in their countries of origin.

Another of the posts that McKinney shared, on October 4, included images of alleged Jewish involvement in the African slave trade.

Cynthia McKinney's history of antisemitism
McKinney has previously made headlines for antisemitic posting on X.

In September 2023, the Jerusalem Post reported on McKinney sharing an invitation to a KKK event entitled, "“CAN BLACK PEOPLE AND WHITE PEOPLE WORK TOGETHER DEFEAT OUR COMMON ENEMY?” with a Star of David under the word “ENEMY.”

In other posts from the former Democrat, she shared an article claiming that “The Zionist regime was the prime force behind the 9/11 attacks, and that Israeli spies working for Mossad were celebrating the burning Twin Towers.”


Top British University’s Arab and Islamic Studies School Offers Degree in ‘Magic and Occult Science’
The Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter promises “decolonisation… feminism, and anti-racism” in its new Master’s Degree in Magic and Occult Science, the first of its kind in the UK.

The University of Exeter, part of the Russel Group of leading British universities, has launched a Master of Arts in Magic and Occult Science, a development perhaps reflecting the rise of interest in the occult in the increasingly post-Christian West.

Delivered through the University’s Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, which by Exeter’s own reckoning is “one of Europe’s most renowned centres for research and teaching in the Arab and Muslim world”, the one or two-year course at a cost of £12,000, or £24,300 ($29,750) to international applicants gives students the opportunity to “Build interdisciplinary expertise whilst exploring your specific interests within the long and diverse history of esotericism, witchcraft, ritual magic, occult science, and related topics.”

An online prospectus advertising the course illustrates key benefits including an invitation for students to join monthly meetings of the “prestigious Centre for Magic and Esotericism” and the chance to study the course’s core course, “Esotericism and the Magical Tradition”.

Taking in a long run of magic in history, the course explores “magic in Greece and Rome, occult texts in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the history of witchcraft, magic in literature and folklore, deception and illusion, and the history of science and medicine”.

The course is not, apparently, also without a crusading, cultural element. As expressed by Exeter, delivering the course through the Institute puts “the Arabo-Islamic cultural heritage back where it belongs in the centre of these studies and in the history of the ‘West’,” and students will find “the exploration of alternative epistemologies, feminism, and anti-racism are at the core of this programme.”
ADL resumes advertising on X after brief freeze amid antisemitism
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has announced its decision to recommence advertising on X (formerly Twitter) marking a significant development after a temporary pause in their investments due to concerns surrounding antisemitism on the platform. In a statement released on Wednesday, the ADL elaborated on its stance and ongoing commitment to combatting hate and extremism on social media.

The ADL's decision to return to advertising on X comes in the wake of heightened scrutiny over antisemitism and extremist content proliferating on the platform. This move follows a freeze on their investments that had been initiated in response to a campaign against the company. It was a response to allegations that ADL had orchestrated a boycott of X or caused significant financial losses to the company.

In their statement, the ADL clarified their position, stating, "We are now preparing to advertise on the platform again to bring our important message on fighting hate to X and its users."

"A win for the whole world"
ADL commented, "A better, healthier, and safer X would be a win for the world. We’ve said that publicly and repeatedly, and we hope that company leadership shares that goal as well."

The ADL's decision to resume advertising on X not only reaffirms its mission but also signals its intent to collaborate with the platform's leadership in a bid to make it a safer and more inclusive space.

Amidst rising tensions between X owner Elon Musk and the organized Jewish community, Musk met last week with prominent Jewish figures, including Ben Shapiro, Rabbi Ari Lamm, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Natan Sharansky, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, Adv. Alan Dershowitz, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Rabbi Manis Friedman, and Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin. It highlighted Musk's complex relationship with the Jewish community and the challenges posed by antisemitism on his platform.
The Guardian Invites Sympathy for Palestinian Rioters Hurling Molotov Cocktails
McKernan and Balousha repeatedly refer to the Hamas-orchestrated violence that led to the closing of the Erez Crossing as “demonstrations,” which is a rather muted way of describing the turmoil at the border fence, in which rioters hurled Molotov cocktails and fired incendiary balloons toward Israel.

Additionally, those who participated in the violence are downgraded to mere “protesters,” as opposed to rioters whose actions heaped further economic misery on the impoverished enclave by preventing 18,500 innocent Gazan workers from commuting to their jobs in Israel.

Meanwhile, the apparent trigger for the riots is reported thus:
The protests were ostensibly organised in response to an uptick in visits by Jewish groups to Jerusalem’s sensitive al-Aqsa compound, ongoing Israel Defence Forces (IDF) raids targeting armed Palestinian cells in the occupied West Bank, and the economic misery caused by the Israeli-Egyptian siege of Gaza, now in its 16th year.”

First, the fact that McKernan and Balousha are giving any kind of credence to the absurd notion that Palestinians are rioting in Gaza because of a supposed uptick in visits by Jews to a holy site in Jerusalem is outrageous.

Indeed, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority frequently use the claim that the al-Aqsa Mosque is under some kind of threat to both induce and justify rioting by Palestinians, such as when PA President Mahmoud Abbas helped prompt a “stabbing Intifada” when he said “filthy” Jewish feet were “desecrating” Al-Aqsa.

Second, it would be helpful for some less-informed Guardian readers if McKernan and Balousha actually said why Jewish groups are visiting the “al-Aqsa compound,” which is that the compound is also known as the Temple Mount and is the holiest site in the world for Jews.

Third, it should have been mentioned that the “economic misery” is not simply the result of the Israeli-Egyptian blockade — it is the result of a terrorist group sworn to Israel’s destruction gaining control of the Strip forcing the introduction of the blockade in the first place.

While we don’t expect The Guardian to alter the piece to spell out the violent reality of the Gaza riots, we do expect them to use language correctly. It’s basic journalism.


The Wrong Way to Count Antisemitic Incidents
The recent wave of bomb threats against synagogues seemed to represent another surge in antisemitism in the United States. But now it appears that the perpetrator’s motives had nothing to do with antisemitism.

So should the threats still count as “antisemitic incidents”? The Anti-Defamation League thinks so. The FBI thinks otherwise.

Police in Peru traced the approximately 150 emailed bomb threats to one Eddie Manuel Nunez Santos, 33, of Lima.

According to the FBI, Santos’s modus operandi was to ask teenage girls whom he contacted over the internet to send him explicit photographs of themselves. When they refused, he circulated bomb threats that included their phone numbers. The threats were emailed not just to synagogues, but also various school districts, hospitals, and other institutions.

Something similar happened seven years ago. In late 2016, some 163 bomb threats were made against Jewish institutions around the United States. Initially it seemed the threats were antisemitic; but before long, it was determined that 155 of the threats were made by a mentally unbalanced Israeli teenager, and the other eight were made by an African-American journalist who was harassing his Jewish ex-girlfriend.

The FBI defines a hate crime according to the motive of the perpetrator, so it did not consider any of the 163 threats to be antisemitic. The ADL, by contrast, included all 163 in its 2017 tally of antisemitic incidents, a tally that was much larger than the previous year. The ADL blamed the increase on “the 2016 presidential election and the heightened political atmosphere,” although there is no evidence the Israeli teenager had America’s election in mind.

Aryeh Tuchman, associate director of the ADL’s Center on Extremism, told me at the time that the ADL was categorizing the threats as antisemitic incidents because they had “a major terrorizing effect on Jewish communities.”

According to that criteria, the ADL would have to include as “antisemitism” every instance in which a Jewish person reported feeling “terrorized,” even if the perpetrator was a fellow-Jew, such as a jilted business partner or an angry ex-spouse.

In February 2017, around the same time as those 163 bomb threats, nearly 200 headstones were overturned in a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis. The perpetrator and motive were not immediately established. ADL’s regional director said, “We don’t call something anti-Semitism until we really know it’s anti-Semitism.”
128% increase in antisemitic incidents in Illinois - ADL report
A staggering 128% increase in antisemitic incidents was observed in Illinois in 2022 compared to 2021, as per the latest report from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) this week.

The report sheds light on the broader surge in hate and extremist activities within the Prairie State, highlighting the pressing challenges faced by its residents.

In a particularly alarming event in May 2023, Philip Buyno of Prophetstown attempted to destroy a forthcoming women’s health clinic in Danville, Illinois, in a violent act against abortion rights.

After failing, he was arrested and later conveyed to the FBI that he would "finish the job" if given another opportunity.

The report delves deep into various extremist groups and movements active in Illinois. "Over the past several years, Americans have witnessed a barrage of extremist activity... Illinoisans have watched these same hatreds – and more – manifest in their own state," the ADL report stated.

Hate crimes and antisemitic incidents on the rise
The 128% increase in antisemitic incidents in 2022 has been compared to 2021, escalating from 53 to 121. Preliminary data up to June 2023 shows at least 33 more antisemitic incidents in Illinois.
Romanian ambassador, brother save Holocaust site from becoming parking lot
Even many who have an extensive Holocaust education may know little about the massacre of thousands of Romanian Jews in June 1941 in the Iași pogrom.

Andrei Muraru, the Romanian ambassador to the United States, and his twin brother Alexandru, a historian, learned about the pogrom from their grandfather, who observed it as a 20-year-old. “He told us he saw rivers of blood coming from the police station,” Alexandru told the Telegraph. “The brutality of the killings surprised even the Germans.”

The death toll was reported to have exceeded 13,500 Jewish men, women and children. At that time, almost 45,000 Jews lived in Iași.

The Murarus, who are not Jewish, teamed up to prevent a train station in the city of Iași near the Romanian-Moldovan border from being turned into offices, and the adjacent courtyard from becoming a parking lot. Mass graves nearby memorialize the many Jews, whose corpses were thrown from train cars en route to death camps. (There has been a Pogrom Museum at the former police station on site since 2021.)

“An estimated 380,000 Jews were killed in Romania during the Holocaust, and the country has never faced up to its role in the atrocities,” the Telegraph reported. “But things appear to be changing.” For the first time this year, Romanian students will learn about their countrymen’s role in killing Jews during the Holocaust in a new, compulsory curriculum.
Canada apologizes for celebrating another soldier who fought in Nazi unit
A week after Anthony Rota, the speaker of Canada’s House of Commons, resigned over its parliament honoring a Ukrainian man who fought in a voluntary Nazi unit, another highly decorated member in the Waffen-SS Galicia Division has come to light.

Peter Savaryn was chancellor of the University of Alberta, a public school in Edmonton, from 1982 to 1986. The following year, he received the Order of Canada—an honor also bestowed on ice-hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, film director James Cameron and folk singer Joni Mitchell.

The Forward, which broke the news, called the award “akin to the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom.”

Mary Simon, the governor general of Canada—King Charles III’s representative to the country—expressed “deep regret” for Savaryn’s receipt of the Order of Canada, she told The Forward. She said some of the honors that Savaryn received are currently under review.
Edmonton Jewish group demands removal of statues honoring Ukrainian Nazi unit
The Jewish Federation of Edmonton (JFE) has called for the removal of statues and memorials honoring Ukrainian veterans with Nazi affiliations.

In a statement released last week, the organization contended that these statues should either be taken down or relocated to museums, where they can serve as educational tools with proper historical context.

Two specific sites have come under scrutiny by the JFE.

The organization pointed to the presence of a memorial at St. Michael’s Cemetery in Edmonton, which honors Ukrainian members of the Nazi Waffen SS 14th Galicia Division.

Additionally, a statue of Roman Shukhevych stands outside the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex in north Edmonton. The JFE notes that the statue has remained in place since the 1970s with limited public attention.

Shukhevych held a leadership position within the Nachtigall Battalion of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN).

Later, this unit became the Schutzmannschaft Battalion 201, which has been linked to multiple troubling incidents, including pogroms in eastern Poland and the mass murders of Jews in June and July 1941.

In a strongly worded statement from community relations co-chairs Steve Shafir and Adam Zepp, the Jewish Federation of Edmonton stressed that honoring such individuals “completely whitewashes the atrocities that they have committed.”


British film board launches online movie resource for A-Level students studying the Shoah
Britain's film classification board has selected a range of films about genocide that can be used by schools to teach pupils about the Shoah in the run up to Holocaust Memorial Day 2024.

Freely available online, the list features the 2009 Daniel Craig feature Defiance, in which three brothers resist the Nazis as guerilla fighters, and Denial, the 2017 account of Deborah Lipstadt's legal victory against antisemite David Irving starring Rachel Weisz.

Compliance officers working for the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) have assessed all the films recommended and approved their use in an educational setting despite often gruelling emotional themes.

Working alongside the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, for every movie the body has also provided a series of discussion points that will spark discussion.

After watching Defiance, for instance, students might consider the choices made by the Jews who fled to the forest to escape persecution, and how the film challenged their assumptions about the Holocaust.

The other films suggested by the BBFC include Quo Vadis, Aida? about the Bosnian civil war, The Missing Picture, an animated documentary about atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge, and Sometimes in April, which concerns the Rwandan genocide.

David Austin, BBFC chief executive and trustee of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, said it remains "as important as ever" to support Holocaust remembrance.

"We appreciate the strong educational value that films can have, and their ability to serve as an excellent springboard for important and sometimes difficult conversations," he said.

"We’re proud to deliver this brand new film resource in partnership with the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.”

Joe Miller, head of outreach at the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust said: “We are delighted to partner with our friends at the British Board of Film Classification to create a new Holocaust Memorial Day film resource.
How 19th-century Jews flourished, making history in a small Missouri town
The fall High Holiday season is a time of reflection and renewal and when many Jews visit the graves of loved ones. A secluded Jewish cemetery in Louisiana, Mo., is a special place for descendants of dozens of Jewish residents who made the town their home more than a century ago.

Louisiana, some 90 miles north of St. Louis, has a population of a little more than 3,000. The 200-year-old river town is known for its Victorian streetscape and for 10 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. Louisiana has another noteworthy distinction: its Jewish history.

The most poignant reminder of a once-vibrant Jewish community in Louisiana is located just west of town on state road NN. That’s where the Gates of Peace Jewish Cemetery sits. The iron gate entrance reads:

GATES OF PEACE
1871
Gates of Peace is the resting place of 105 Jewish Louisianans. Most were members of families who ran successful dry-goods stores. In the late 1800s, more than a dozen large Jewish families made Louisiana their home and became part of the town’s fabric. They served as Jewish deputies, city councilmen, a county collector and a constable. The town had no synagogue, but residents routinely celebrated Jewish holidays and maintained a Jewish lifestyle.

It wasn’t unusual for Jewish immigrants to move from town to town, seeking opportunities to earn a living. As their businesses prospered, Jewish Louisianans decided to make the town their permanent home. It wasn’t practical to build a synagogue for such a small population, but they saw a real need to create a burial ground. The first burial at Gates of Peace was in 1871. Kate Fishell died there nine days after her first birthday.

Gates of Peace sits on a one-acre tract of land, adjacent to a fire station today. On June 11, 1871, a group of 26 Jewish men (including Ferdinand Fishell, Kate Fishell’s father) gathered in the town library to officially organize the Hebrew Cemetery Association of Louisiana.

Jewish migration to the Midwest
A steady influx of Jewish immigrants from Europe migrated to America in the 19th century. The Jewish population grew rapidly in the United States—from 3,000 in 1820 to 300,000 in 1880. Frequently, they came from Central Europe. The main attraction was the ability to build a better life for their families. America represented the land of opportunity. Many of the new arrivals were German-speaking Jews who settled in small Midwestern towns.
Fathom Collection Published by Routledge Press
Mapping the New Left Antisemitism: The Fathom Essays provides a comprehensive guide to contemporary Left antisemitism.

The rise of a new and largely left-wing form of antisemitism in the era of the Jewish state and the distinction between it and legitimate criticism of Israel are now roiling progressive politics in the West and causing alarming spikes in antisemitic incitement and incidents. Fathom journal has examined these questions relentlessly in the first decade of its existence, earning a reputation for careful textual analysis and cogent advocacy. In this book, the Fathom essays are contextualised by three new contributions: Lesley Klaff provides a map of contemporary antisemitic forms of antizionism, Dave Rich writes on the oft-neglected lived experience of the Jewish victims of contemporary antisemitism and David Hirsh assesses the intellectual history of the left from which both Fathom and his own London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, as well as this book series, have emerged. Topics covered by the contributors include antisemitic antizionism and its underappreciated Soviet roots; the impact of analogies with the Nazis; the rise of antisemitism on the European continent, exploring the hybrid forms emerging from a cross-fertilisation between new left, Christian and Islamist antisemitism; the impact of antizionist activism on higher education; and the bitter debates over the adoption of the oft-misrepresented International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.

This work will be of considerable appeal to scholars and activists with an interest in antisemitism, Jewish studies and the politics of Israel.

Reviews
‘In 10 years Fathom has already published half a century’s worth of critically important essays and reviews’. Michael Walzer, Professor (Emeritus) of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ; author of Just and Unjust Wars (1977), among other books; former co-editor of Dissent magazine for twenty years

‘Antisemitism has often presented itself as a satisfactory explanation for what is wrong with the world, and repeatedly offered tragic recipes for how to improve that world. Do our moral and political ideals today reproduce past prejudice and projection? We cannot know without reflection, and it is difficult to imagine a better stimulus to reflection than the essays gathered in this informative, wide-ranging, and important volume’. David Nirenberg, author of Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition

‘This is an indispensable volume on an unignorable subject’. Anthony Julius, author of Trials of the Diaspora: The History of Anti-Semitism in England
Bruno Mars delights crowd at Tel Aviv show declaring he wants to 'marry' Israel
Pop star Bruno Mars played his first show in Israel on Wednesday night, and thrilled his fans with declarations of love for the Jewish homeland.

At the first of two sold-out shows in Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park, Mars sang the Hebrew words “Ani ohev otach” ("I love you") to the delight of concertgoers, and surprised the 60,000-strong crowd with a solo piano version of the Israeli children’s song, “Shlomit Bona Sukkah” ("Shlomit Builds a Succah"), by the late singer-songwriter Naomi Shemer, to mark the festival of Succot.

Dressed in Israeli colours - a white shirt and blue trousers - the multi-Grammy winner told the delighted crowd: “Tel Aviv, I think I want to marry you!” during his rendition of his hit “Marry You”.

Born Peter Hernandez, Mars's father is half-Jewish and half-Puerto Rican while his mother is Filipino. Mars's Jewish ancestors were of Hungarian and Ukrainian descent, and it has been reported that one of his grandparents was a Hebrew teacher.

Opening his set with “24K Magic”, the Hawaii-born star called out “Tel Aviv! The Hooligans [his band] have made it to Israel. We’ve heard stories about this place, we heard that you sweat and we heard that you dance… We’ve been waiting a long time to play for you," reported the Times of Israel.

The hitmaker is known worldwide for his exuberant live performances, and for singing and producing songs including “Just the Way You Are”, and his cover of Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk”, with which he closed his Yarkon Park set.

For Wednesday’s show, Mars was supported by Israeli performers Jonathan Mergui and Agam Buhnut, and the second concert will feature Netta Barzilai and Eliad Nachum.

Due to the tremendous demand for his first concert, which sold out in just two hours when tickets went on sale in March, the star added the additional show.
Bruno Mars entertains crowd of 50,000 in Tel Aviv
Nicole Zedek reports on the first of two sold-out Bruno Mars shows in Tel Aviv – his first performance in the Jewish state.




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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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