Monday, January 01, 2024

01/01 Links Pt2: How "Antiracism" Becomes Antisemitism; French Students: Make Oct. 7 ‘World Day Against Antisemitism’; How Qatar Bought the Ivy League

From Ian:

WSJ: How "Antiracism" Becomes Antisemitism
Freelink How ‘Antiracism’ Becomes Antisemitism
Over the past 2 1/2 months, Jew-hatred has rocked elite college campuses. Tony neighborhoods in blue cities have witnessed marches calling for the elimination of the Jewish state and protests outside Jewish-owned businesses - this in response to the systematic butchering and kidnapping of Israeli Jews by terrorists.

To these expressions of bigotry, high-ranking public officials and university administrators have issued bland disavowals of "violence" and "hatred in all its forms." The Biden administration, though so far pursuing a broadly pro-Israel policy in the Middle East, responded to the rash of antisemitic marches and assaults on Jews by announcing a "National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia."

For several years a variety of academics and writers have argued that Jews are "white" or "functionally white" or "white passing." The words "white" and "whiteness" came to be used as though they signified a disease. "White," in this usage, has nothing to do with genetic characteristics. It signifies allegedly unjust privilege and legacies of oppression. Calling Jews "white" was a way of depriving them of any cover as a racial minority and classifying them with persecutors and exploiters.

Assaults on Jews go almost without comment in most of the mainstream press. For weeks after Hamas took hundreds of hostages, including Americans, the U.S. news media showed minimal interest in their whereabouts. It was only when Hamas offered to return some of them in exchange for a ceasefire that reports on their plight began to circulate - almost as though the hostages' usefulness lay exclusively in stopping Israel from just retribution.
French Students Launch Appeal to Make Oct. 7 ‘World Day Against Antisemitism’
One of France’s leading Jewish intellectuals is promoting a petition initiated by a group of students, several from Muslim backgrounds, calling for Oct. 7 — the date of the Hamas terrorist pogrom in southern Israel in which more than 1,200 people were murdered and over 200 taken hostage — to be named as the “World Day Against Antisemitism.”

Marek Halter, a Polish-Jewish novelist and film-maker, announced his support for the petition over the weekend. “I was contacted by a few young people, mostly from immigrant backgrounds,” Halter said, according to the news outlet Valeurs Actuelles. “Upset by the events of Oct. 7 on the Gaza border, they wished to launch an appeal for this date to become a world day against antisemitism.”

Added Halter: “I admit I was embarrassed not to have thought of it myself.”

The petition’s main initiator, 23-year-old French Muslim student Hichem Mouttaki, explained in an interview with broadcaster CNews that young people had little sense of the nature of Hamas.

“More and more students, middle and high school students, for lack of information or dialogue, refuse to see Hamas as a terrorist organization,” Mouttaki said.

Following the interview, Mouttaki was reportedly inundated with hateful messages and threats from supporters of Hamas.

The petition warns that antisemitism has returned with a vengeance. “The hatred of the other, the hatred of the Jew, is again at work,” the petition states. “In the absence of a collective dream capable of mobilizing our hopes, the rejection of the Jew again becomes, as before World War II, the only answer to the political and social frustrations that confront our societies.”

The petitioners said they were calling on “all international organizations to declare Oct. 7 ‘World Day Against Antisemitism.'”


Jonathan Spyer: Why is the Gaza war different?
The current Israeli operation in Gaza has led to an unprecedented wave of fury against the Jewish state in Western capitals. Massive demonstrations have brought hundreds of thousands of people to the streets in Washington, London, Paris and elsewhere. Muslim residents of these cities are clearly over-represented among the demonstrators, but they are not the only participants.

The official slogans of such protests tend to focus on a call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Many of the banners and slogans on display, however, are unambiguous in their support for Hamas, the Islamist movement that governs Gaza and which carried out the Oct. 7 massacres that precipitated the current war.

The scale and volume of these protests are without precedent. The Gaza war itself, however, and the massacre that preceded it, are neither unique nor without very recent parallel. This raises an interesting question as to the reasons for the particular virulence and fury currently directed against the Israeli war effort.

The closest recent parallel to the current Gaza war, both in terms of the actions that triggered it and regarding the way it is being conducted from a military point of view is the U.S.-led Coalition’s war against Islamic State in the period 2014-19. This war indeed contained a number of episodes of urban combat that directly resemble the current action being undertaken by the Israel Defense Forces in the Gaza Strip.

Mosul and Gaza
I am one of the fairly small group of journalists who covered the ISIS war from close up and who are currently engaged in reporting on the Gaza war. Both the similarities in the wars and the enormous difference in Western perception of them are striking.

Regarding the actions that triggered the conflicts, the similarities are unmistakable. In each case, an Arab movement of Sunni political Islam set out on a campaign of wholesale slaughter against a non-Arab and non-Muslim population in the Levant: Kurdish-speaking Yazidis in the ISIS case, Israeli Jews in that of Hamas.

But can one usefully compare the 21st century, Start-Up Nation, Westernized Israelis with the beleaguered, impoverished non-Arab minorities of northern Syria? The answer is yes. The similarity lies not in the area of their technological development, but rather in the intentions of their enemies towards them.

This became apparent on Oct. 7, 2023. For around 12 hours on that day, the ultra-modern technological defense structures of the State of Israel malfunctioned and ceased to operate. In that mercifully short period, there was little to differentiate between the treatment meted out to the Israeli Jewish communities of the “Gaza envelope,” and that afforded the non-Arab, non-Muslim minorities that faced the onslaught of ISIS on the Nineveh Plains in the summer of 2014.

I was in the Gaza area on Oct. 8, 2023, and in Syria in August 2014. The murderous, indiscriminate slaughter that triggered the ISIS and Hamas wars was of a piece.

When one turns to look at the response, there are also clear parallels. The war to destroy Islamic State required the conquest of an area far larger than that of the Gaza Strip. But in the episodes of urban combat which this included, the similarities are striking.

The current Israeli campaign in Gaza particularly resembles the Coalition’s battle against ISIS in the Iraqi city of Mosul. The latter was the largest urban center that the ISIS jihadis controlled. Getting them out of there took nine months of fighting. The brunt on the ground was borne by units of the Iraqi armed forces, with U.S. air support crucial to their eventual success.

The Mosul fighting—involving the slow enveloping by conventional infantry and armored forces of a well-dug-in jihadi enemy—closely resembled what has been taking place in Gaza since the Israeli ground incursion began on Oct. 27.


Israeli FM condemns ‘settler violence’ narrative as ‘blood libel’
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on Sunday called reports of a growing phenomenon of “settler violence” a “blood libel” and “a lie disconnected from reality.”

Cohen’s remarks came in reaction to a report that he was presented with on Dec. 27 compiled by the Samaria Regional Council, which documented what it described as an international media campaign against Israel alleging a “surge” in “settler violence.”

It found that press reports relied primarily on numbers provided by the U.N. and, secondly, by other anti-Israel NGOs.

The study examined the U.N. numbers (compiled by OCHA, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) and found they were “not a credible source for ‘settler violence’ content.”

The report revealed that through verbal sleight of hand, OCHA shifted its terminology from “settler violence” to “settler-related incidents” in a graph documenting the alleged spike in violent acts.

More disturbingly, the OCHA page on settler violence defined those incidents as “involving violence, intimidation or trespass carried out by or against Israeli settlers and other Israeli civilians in the West Bank.”

“In other words, violence AGAINST settlers is also counted, by the U.N., as ‘settler-related violence,'” the report stated.

“The disclosure given to me by the head of the Samaria Council is extremely important. If the things are indeed true, this is a serious matter,” Cohen said.

“I will demand answers from the United Nations and I will also instruct the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to forward the data of the report to our ambassadors around the world so that they can use it and disprove the blood libel,” Cohen said.

“The anti-Israeli campaign called ‘settler violence’ is a false campaign, disconnected from reality, and its entire purpose is to slander an entire population. The community that settles in Judea and Samaria is a law-abiding community that contributes to the state in many areas,” he said.
In letter to Biden, Israeli MKs demand explanation of claims against ‘settlers’
Twenty-three Israeli Knesset members wrote to U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday, demanding an explanation of his administration’s recent statements accusing settlers of violent acts against Palestinians in Judea and Samaria.

“First and foremost, We would like to express our gratitude, on behalf of the People of Israel, for your staunch support of the State of Israel and for your unflinching stance in these difficult times,” the letter states.

“As members of Israel’s Knesset and the Knesset Caucus to Combat Antisemitism and Delegitimization, we, like you, denounce violence against innocent civilians. We are turning to you today regarding a number of statements you made recently pertaining to a ‘phenomenon’ you have called upon our government to address, namely violence perpetrated by Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria against Palestinian Arabs,” it continues.

The letter was initiated by the chairman of the lobby, MK Ariel Kallner, (Likud) after an exclusive Israel Hayom report debunked claims of an uptick in settler violence, showing that instead there has been a 50% drop in recent months compared to the equivalent period in 2022.

“The data at our disposal indicates that the scope of these incidents is limited to a very small number of isolated events, which pales in contrast with the vastly larger scope of violent incidents perpetrated by Palestinian Arabs against the residents of these same Jewish communities,” the MKs write. “In fact, the quantity and quality of violent incidents emanating from the Jewish sector in Judea and Samaria is not only minuscule in comparison to Palestinian violence but is also similarly dwarfed when compared to the rate of violent crime in any other community or society,” the letter continues.

Kallner told Israel Hayom that “‘settler violence’ is a modern blood libel that is nurtured and carried out by delegitimizing organizations like B’Tselem and Breaking the Silence, with foreign state funding amounting to millions.” He added that “we all condemn violence, but here we are talking about a combination of blatant lies, data manipulation and false accusations from nothing, all for the purpose of smearing the settler public in order to pave the way for a Palestinian state, as has already been exposed in documents from the New Israel Fund.”
‘It’s a joke' — Israeli lawyer responds to South Africa's genocide claim
‘It’s a joke…they tried to claim Israel is an apartheid state, then a war criminal, and now commits genocide for Israel's most justified war ever’

Says Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, President of Shurat HaDin, after South Africa urged the ICJ to investigate Israel over ‘genocide’




Tony Blair eyed for postwar Gaza role in move that makes sense; & west’s silent majority back Israel
In a New Year’s Day interview, Tom Gross explains why bringing in former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to help with the post-war reconstruction of Gaza is a move that could in many ways make sense.

In the second part of the interview, Tom Gross explains why he thinks that a silent majority in western cities are fed up with pro-Palestinian activists disrupting road and train travel and cultural events such as a concert at Milan’s opera house – and why the Middle East may indirectly play a role in voting choices in this year’s American and British general elections.


Caroline Glick: Standing up for national unity and national survival
Be’eri and the surrounding kibbutzim were founded by hardcore Labor Zionists. They believed that the Jewish people would liberate themselves from two thousand years of exile and powerlessness, build their state and secure their freedom into the future through hard work, hard fighting and collective farming. They aspired to build a Jewish socialist state.

Over the years, as they became prosperous, their socialism dissipated. Zionism, it seemed, had finished its job. Socialism was superseded by progressivism, Zionism by post-Zionism.

Like the residents of neighboring kibbutzim, Be’eri’s members believed in coexistence with the Palestinians. They thought the biggest threat to that coexistence was people like the Kalmanzon brothers, who are religious and live in Judea or Samaria. They believed in the founding myth of the so-called peace process with the PLO—that there were “extremists” on both sides. The supposedly “moderate” PLO ruling Fatah faction had its “extremists” in Hamas. The “moderate” Israeli elite, of which the kibbutzim outside Gaza were very much a part, had its “extremist” religious Zionists, otherwise known as “settlers.” To reach peace, the “moderates” on both sides had to defeat their “extremists.”

Oct. 7 shattered that illusion. Hamas didn’t slaughter the people of Be’eri and surrounding communities on its own. It was joined by Fatah terrorists and thousands of “civilians.” These Palestinian “moderates” were full participants in the atrocities committed that day.

On the other hand, the people who arrived at the scene to save them, unbidden, were the Kalmanzon brothers from Otniel who were supposed to be their enemies. Since the ground operation began in Gaza, 45% of the soldiers killed in action have come from the religious Zionist community whose members comprise only 10% of the overall population.

Shift in the ideological landscape
The slaughter of Oct. 7 provoked a radical shift in the ideological landscape in Israel. On the left, the revision was led by the refugees from Be’eri and the other kibbutzim that were subjected to Hamas’s one-day genocide, and saved by men they had seen as their greatest foes.

More and more, the determination and pioneering spirit that the Kalmanzon brothers saw in the faces of the people of Be’eri has returned to the hearts of their communities and ideological partners. They returned to the Zionism they thought they no longer needed. The universalist progressive creeds that convinced them the monsters who invaded their homes were really just like them, have been cast aside. And just as Elchanan told Menachem “our brothers need us” and drove to Be’eri, so the people of Be’eri now realize that religious Zionists are their brothers, not their enemies.

This state of affairs was captured in a survey carried out by the Direct Polls agency and reported last week on Channel 14.

The poll showed that in the aftermath of Oct. 7, 44% of Israelis, including 30% of leftists, said their views have shifted to the right. And whereas the public was split more or less evenly on the question of the desirability of a Palestinian state on Oct. 6, after the massacre of Oct. 7, only 30% of Israelis (including Israeli Arabs) believe it is possible to reach an agreement with the Palestinians. Ninety percent of Israelis (including Israeli Arabs) do not trust the Palestinians.

On the eve of the massacre, Israeli society was riven by division and internecine hatred more bitter and dangerous than the state had previously experienced in its 75-year history. For 10 months, led by former and serving Supreme Court justices; disgruntled, politically radical retired generals and prime ministers; and the media, the left had waged an insurgency against the legitimacy of the democratically-elected Netanyahu government and its voters.
In first, Israeli Supreme Court strikes down Basic Law
Israel’s Supreme Court on Monday, in an 8-7 vote, struck down the so-called “reasonableness law,” an amendment to a semi-constitutional Basic Law passed by the legislature earlier this year as part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s now-shelved judicial reforms.

The Knesset passed the law in July as an amendment to Basic Law: The Judiciary in what proponents saw as a long overdue measure to restrain judicial activism and bring Israel’s judiciary in line with those of other parliamentary democracies.

The Basic Law in question prevented the courts from using “reasonability” as a pretext to overturn laws. Reasonability essentially means whether the judges consider a law “reasonable”—a standard even opponents of the law agree is vague.

Former Supreme Court president Esther Hayut, who retired from the bench in October but can rule on cases for three months following her retirement, was among the justices voting to invalidate the law. She contended that “the authority of the Knesset in its capacity as a constituent authority is not unlimited, and it is not authorized to enact a Basic Law that denies or directly contradicts the characteristics of Israel’s identity as a Jewish and democratic state.”

In a minority opinion, Justice David Mintz slammed the decision for “undermining basic democratic principles such as the separation of powers,” adding that “annulling a Basic Law based on an amorphous doctrine will carry a heavy price for democracy.”

Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who spearheaded the government’s reform initiative, said that “the decision of the Supreme Court judges to publish the verdict during a war is the opposite of the spirit of unity required during these days for the success of our fighters on the front.

“The ruling, which is unparalleled in any Western democracy, will not weaken our resolve. As the campaign continues on the various fronts, we will continue to act with restraint and responsibility,” said Levin.

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said that the ruling “ends a difficult year of conflict that tore us apart from within and led to the worst disaster in our history.

“The source of power of Israel, the basis for Israeli strength, is our being a Jewish, democratic, liberal, law-abiding state,” he continued. “If the government restarts the fight over the High Court, they’ve learned nothing.”

Minister-without-Portfolio Benny Gantz, who heads the National Unity Party, said that “the ruling must be respected, and the lesson from conduct in the past year must be learned. We are brothers, and have a shared fate.”

After the war, “we will need to decide relations between the branches of government and legislate a ‘Basic Law: Legislation’ that will anchor the status of Basic Laws,” added Gantz, vowing to “do so with broad agreement.”


Dishonest Reporter of the Year Awards 2023
It’s that time of year when we reflect on the last 12 months, revisiting the articles, interviews and television packages that were so blushingly bad that we feel they deserve some kind of special recognition.

However, the Dishonest Reporter Awards will be slightly different this year. Despite the current Israel-Hamas war dominating the media, and with it a depressing avalanche of skewed, misleading and outright false stories published, these Awards will not be featuring any news published since October 7.

As Jews around the world face antisemitism on an unprecedented scale in recent times, it would be wrong to make any kind of lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek commentary about the very stories and articles that have contributed to creating this hostile atmosphere.

We will address the war in its entirety at a later date when we have had time to take stock of the loss, anguish and suffering that so many have endured.

Until then, we invite you to sit back, relax and raise a glass to all of our worthy dis-honorees.


'Dark Money Nightmare': How Qatar Bought the Ivy League
"At least 100 American colleges and universities illegally withheld information on approximately $13 billion in undocumented contributions from foreign governments, many of which are authoritarian.... Speech intolerance—manifesting as campaigns to investigate, censor, demote, suspend, or terminate speakers and scholars—was higher at institutions that received undocumented money from foreign regimes." — ISGAP report, "The Corruption of the American Mind," November 2023.

Qatar makes it possible for Ivy League universities to claim that they receive no funds from the Qatari state, because the donations are funneled through the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, a not-for-profit organization established in 1995 by the Emir of Qatar. This ensures that the foundation can identify itself as a private organization, which enables Qatar to conceal its state funding as private donations.

"At the time of writing, the State of Qatar contributes more funds to universities in the United States than any other country in the world, and raw donation totals omit critical, concerning details about the nature of Qatar's academic funding." — ISGAP report, "Networks of Hate," December 2023.

"We would pay them [journalists]... Some of them have become MPs now. Others have become patriots.... We would pay [journalists] in many countries. We would pay them every year. Some of them received salaries. All the Arab countries were doing this. If not all, then most of them." — Former Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim, February 2022.
UK Palestinian charity exposed for praising terror, the eradication of Israel
The Palestinian Refugee Project (PRP), a charity registered in the United Kingdom that operates in Lebanon, was exposed by the digital investigation group Gnasher Jew for openly praising terrorists on their social media.

PRP, which is registered under the charity number 1196457, is said to "aid and assist the Palestinian refugees living on [sic] refugee camps within the borders of Lebanon," according to the Charity Commission for England and Wales.

The posts shared on X compare Israel's military actions in Gaza to those of the Nazis, claiming that the current situation is a "holocaust" and "genocide." Additionally, the group shared posts from controversial former political figures such as Chris Williamson, a former Labour MP who had his parliamentary pass stripped following his appearance on Iranian TV, the Jewish Chronicle reported. Williamson has previously claimed that Israel is worse than the Nazis and that Gaza is a concentration camp.

Gnasher Jew reported the posts of the charity to the Charity Commission, which contacted PRP, according to an X post by the charity. The post said, "Contact from the @ChtyCommission after the post from Gnasher Jew in X. It's disgusting that defamatory comments are now threatening to close down a charity that is existing only to help people. We are going to fight this. We will need help though."

The charity has shared posts directly addressing Gnasher Jew on multiple occasions since. Gnasher Jew has also since claimed that the CEO of the charity created a false profile to harass them for their work.

In another of the posts, PRP used an image of Leila Khaled, who worked for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an internationally recognized terrorist organization. Khaled carried out the hijacking of a plane traveling from Rome to Tel Aviv in 1969.


Ohio State University Suspends Extreme Anti-Zionist Socialist Group for ‘Posing a Significant Risk’
Ohio State University has suspended a far left group that calls itself the “Central Ohio Revolutionary Socialists” (CORS) for repeatedly violating school rules and using the logo of a Palestinian terrorist organization.

“There is reasonable cause to believe your organization’s activities pose a significant risk of substantial harm to the safety or security of your organization’s members, other members of the university community, or to university property,” a school official told CORS, according to excerpts of the university notice shared by the group. The official also noted that CORS has posted unauthorized flyers, reserved campus space without permission, and ignored their adviser’s several entreaties for a meeting to discuss their conduct.

The story was first reported by The Lantern, an Ohio State campus newspaper.

Ohio State spokesperson Dave Isaacs said among CORS’s several violations, the group disseminated materials that included a logo associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is designated as a terrorist organization by the US and several other countries.

CORS, which in its recent response did not address the university’s accusation that it used the PFLP’s logo and declined to speak on the record about it to The Lantern, charged that pro-Palestinian activism is being squelched and said an event it hosted, titled “Intifada Revolution and the Path to a Free Palestine,” prompted the suspension. The group did not mention that it used the PFLP’s logo in flyers promoting the event.

The word “intifada” has been used as a call for violence against Israel and those who support the Jewish state.

“The claim that our organization is dangerous for hosting an educational meeting is ludicrous enough in itself, but it is positively disturbing given the real dynamics at play across American society right now,” CORS said. “The message from the Ohio State University is clear: pro-Palestine activism is dangerous, and if your organization advocates for Palestinian equality, you face the risk of repression.”
‘I won’t sit with a Jew’: Students tell of violence, antisemitism on campus
A delegation of pro-Israel student leaders from top US universities arrived in Israel last week to discuss growing antisemitism on college campuses. Their testimonies, shared at the Israel Knesset, exposed graphic, and at times violent, experiences of Jew-hatred.

After visiting the southern Israeli communities and speaking with survivors of Hamas’s October 7 attacks and Israeli activists and leaders, including Isaac Herzog and Noa Tishby, the American students met with former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Likud MK Danny Danon.

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Danon said that one of the biggest challenges student advocates have is that they are often “not facing hate and antisemitism from Palestinian groups. Sometimes they have to challenge the institutions themselves. That’s very hard. And the greatest tool they have is courage. [Speaking] from my experience in the past, be courageous about fighting for Israel, for the Jewish cause. It’s not easy, but it will serve them [students] also in the future when they become leaders in their hometowns.” Jewish voices on campus stand up to antisemitism

Jake Klatzker, a junior at the University of Washington in Seattle has been active in a variety of local Jewish organizations including the university’s Hillel chapter, StandWithUs, and Students Supporting Israel.

“I’m kind of known as that one Israel guy on campus,” he laughed. Kletzker recalled that it was 2021’s Operation Guardian of the Walls that woke his passion for Israel and drove him to learn as much as he could.

He describes encountering antisemitism from both the Left and the Right, pointing to anti-Zionist Jews and groups like Students for Justice in Palestine as the sources of what he described as the more “insidious” forms of antisemitism.

“There have been times on campus when I’ve been approached by people I know, within the Jewish community, who look at me and tell me how I’m a ‘fake Jew,’ I’m ‘disgracing the name of Judaism for X,Y, and Z reason, and this is why I am an ‘evil Jew,’ or not a ‘correct Jew’ or a ‘right Jew.’ It’s new ways of talking about a very old hatred.” Kletzker’s experiences were not unique, and experiences of open hatred of Jewish people from other communities were not uncommon as well.
Former Harvard Hillel head: Antisemitism is being 'weaponized' to silence criticism
In an article for the Harvard Crimson on Friday, Bernie Steinberg, who served as executive director of Harvard Hillel from 1993-2010, denounced what he called the “cynical weaponization of antisemitism by powerful forces who seek to intimidate and ultimately silence legitimate criticism of Israel and American policy on Israel.”

“As a leader in the Jewish community,” Steinberg wrote, “I am particularly alarmed by today’s McCarthyist tactic of manufacturing an antisemitism scare, which, in effect, turns the very real issue of Jewish safety into a pawn in a cynical political game to cover for Israel’s deeply unpopular policies with regard to Palestine."

Antisemitic incidents in America have surged since war broke out between Israel and Hamas on October 7, as they have around the world. Steinberg stated his concern over antisemitism several times in the piece, adding that the "most pressing" source of antisemitism was the far-right.

"I have monitored, with vigilance, the kinds of speech that Israel-aligned parties are calling ‘antisemitic,’” Steinberg wrote, “and it simply does not pass the sniff test.”


George Mason University under federal investigation following accusations of campus antisemitism
The U.S. Department of Education’s (DOE) Office for Civil Rights is investigating George Mason University (GMU) for “discrimination involving shared ancestry” following accusations of antisemitism against the school.

In October, GMU investigated an incident in which a student could be seen tearing down posters depicting Israeli children taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on campus. The incident was shared by Jewish advocacy organization Stop Antisemitism, which called the actions “Evil. Antisemitic. Cold hearted.”

GMU responded on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, explaining the conduct did not appear to be criminal, though it violated its student code of conduct.

DOE opened its investigation into GMU Friday, making it now one of dozens under federal scrutiny amid the Israel-Hamas war. The university is also one of several to be added to the list in the last two weeks, joining the University of North Carolina, the University of Illinois and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Other universities already under federal investigation included the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), Cornell University, Columbia University and Rutgers University.

Universities nationwide have come under fire for alleged antisemitism since the Oct. 7 invasion of Israel by Hamas terrorists. The most high-profile controversy arose when the presidents of Harvard, MIT and UPenn failed to say whether calling for the "genocide of Jews" violates their schools' codes of conduct while testifying before Congress this month.

The testimonies sparked outrage and led to the resignation of UPenn President Liz Magill. Harvard President Claudine Gay also faced intense scrutiny, though the university has come out in support of her.

In a poll conducted by The National Desk (TND), 94% of respondents agreed Gay should be dismissed from the school as accusations of academic plagiarism also began to surface.


Media Ignore, Distort Account of Ex-Hamas Hostage
Other media that covered Schem’s hostage video made the right decision to report on her interviews with Israeli channels.

But some media, while detailing her harrowing account, either distorted what she had said about her fear of being raped, or omitted it altogether.

AP reported that Schem said she was afraid that her captor “might try to harm her,” when she actually used the word “rape:”

The New York Times did not mention her saying it at all.

But it should have highlighted it, especially after the publication of the newspaper’s investigative piece regarding Hamas’ sexual violence during its October 7 massacre in southern Israel.

To be clear, in her interviews, Schem made several points that deserved to be mentioned — from her injury, to her starvation and constant fear in captivity.

But in light of recent criticism over the blindness to Hamas’ sexual violence, her comments about fear of rape deserved special attention — as they indeed received from Reuters.

When media choose to cover a subject — like the first publication of a sign of life from a Gaza hostage — they should be committed to following up on it.

Failing to do so leaves their audience with a partial story, which in Schem’s case was Hamas’ story.

When media distort or omit essential details from a personal testimony, they undermine the witness’ narrative and rob their audience of the full picture.

But the worst is that media, in all these instances, betray their commitment to the truth.
Unherd Suggests Every Israeli in West Bank is Unhinged Settler Baying for Palestinian Blood
That Patrikarakos fails to challenge Barghouti’s characterization of the Palestinian intifadas as “non-violent” is simply astounding and ignores the reality of these dark periods that were characterized by horrific violence meted out against Israelis and Jews, including suicide bombings, stabbings and Molotov cocktail attacks.

In the next paragraph, Patrikarakos is forced to acknowledge Barghouti’s cognitive dissonance, noting that while he “appears sincerely to want peace,” in a later interview with CNN, Barghouti claimed “no Israeli civilians were killed on October 7.”

It takes considerable mental gymnastics and boundless determination to cast Barghouti as a moderate and peace-seeking Palestinian while also accepting that he has denied the biggest mass slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.

The role of Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, in fomenting violence in the West Bank is also glossed over throughout the piece, with the implicit suggestion instead being that Israeli counterterrorism raids exist in a vacuum.

In the last paragraph, Patrikarakos laments the likelihood of further violence. He contends this violence will result from young Palestinian men having “no hope of finding a job,” leading them to “drift toward organised violence and extremism” — a perspective that omits any consideration of the antisemitic and anti-Israeli incitement that is pervasive in Palestinian society.

And this core message of the piece: Palestinians lack agency and are entirely at the mercy of a much stronger and inflexible Israel.
CNN & Other Media Give Voice to Anti-Israel “Human Rights” Organization

BBC amplification of UNRWA PR campaigns

Sky News presenter allows 'murdered infants' libel to go unchallenged

ECONOMIST LAMENTS JERUSALEM’S “AGGRESSIVE” JEWS

2021 CONTRIBUTOR REAPPEARS IN BBC NEWS ‘GIRL IN THE RUBBLE’ REPORT

REUTERS’ ROUGH REPORTING ON GAZA AID, PHILADELPHI ROUTE, ‘PALESTINE’ STATEHOOD

2023 Man of the Year: David Shipley
For a time, it seemed as if Shipley might make good on that promise. He hired an array of conservative voices to contribute to the section, saying one year ago that the move would help "reach an even broader readership."

Then came Michael Ramirez.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist, who joined the paper in May, did what he always does—submit a killer sketch on a timely subject. This time, that subject was Hamas and its terrorist invasion of Israel, with Ramirez drawing a cartoon that depicted Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad using women and children as human shields while saying, "How dare Israel attack civilians."


Ramirez sent that sketch—and a trove of others—to Shipley for his consideration. Shipley picked the Hamas one, and understandably so, given the importance of the topic. The Post ran the cartoon. The story should have ended there.

But it didn't. The Post's left-wing newsroom revolted, taking issue with Hamad's "large nose and snarling mouth." In other words, Post staffers got mad that Ramirez made a genocidal terrorist look like a genocidal terrorist.

Surely Shipley, a purported independent thinker who champions intellectual diversity, would defend his decision to publish his hand-selected cartoon, right? Wrong. He pulled the cartoon, then wrote an editor's note calling the image racist.

The decision came as a kick in the teeth for Ramirez, who merely did his job, and did it well. Still, we applaud Shipley for showing the world that the Post is the same as it ever was—a bastion of liberal groupthink that has little interest in appealing to anyone located west of the Potomac. For that, he is a Washington Free Beacon Man of the Year.


Hamas leaders lived like wealthy celebrities in Gaza terror reign prior to Oct. 7 massacre

Abbas’ advisor libels Israel: Israel lied about Hamas’ terror attack Oct. 7
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “The one who bears responsibility for every drop of blood that is spilled everywhere in Palestine is the Israeli occupation and those who stand behind the Israeli occupation... The Israeli occupation alone bears responsibility. This aggression has been continuing for more than 7 decades… There are positive changes in the international positions. Compared to the positions at the start of the [Israeli] aggression on Oct. 7 as opposed to today, there is a positive change. The world no longer believes the Israeli lies. It no longer believes the Israeli narrative. The Israeli frauds no longer fool it.” [PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Dec. 23, 2023] 


“Hamas is not a terror movement,” PLO official cites PA Chairman Abbas’ defense of Hamas
Al-Jazeera TV interviewer: “A poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) showed Palestinian support for the resistance and a regression in the popularity of the PA, and [PA] President [Mahmoud] Abbas in particular. How do you view this, considering the fact that you have stated that Hamas is not a role model?” …

PLO Executive Committee Secretary Hussein Al-Sheikh: “I didn’t say that Hamas is not a role model… When the world spoke and demanded that Hamas be defined as a terror movement – who set out against the world? Was it not Mahmoud Abbas, who stood at the UN podium and said: ‘No, Hamas is not a terror movement’? The real terror is the occupation (i.e., Israel). The real terror is the settlement enterprise.” [Former Head of Fatah Commission of Information and Culture’s Information Office Munir Al-Jaghoub, X (Twitter) account, Dec. 19, 2023]


Fatah boasts about lynch murder, in a Hamas-Fatah debate portrayed by actors
Fatah student taunts Hamas: Since Hamas seized power [in Gaza], we haven't heard of any Martyrdom operation (i.e., suicide-bombing).

Hamas teacher: It's called "fighter's rest."

Fatah student: A Hamas fighter needs rest, but a Fatah fighter doesn't need rest?!

Hamas teacher: Every fighter has the right to rest.

Fatah student: When Fatah stops fighting, [Hamas] say they're cowards, but when Hamas stops fighting, it's ''fighter's rest'' ...

Hamas teacher: I don't know much about resistance (i.e., terror) and fighters...

Fatah student: The first shot was fired by the PLO. The first Jihad was carried out by the PLO (audience applauds), with all the other factions - but Hamas always opposed...

Hamas student: What do you say about Hamas having kidnapped the [Israeli] soldier Shalit? By Allah, it's good. Did Fatah ever capture a soldier?!

Fatah student: It was the [other] brigades who captured him [Shalit] and sold him to you [Hamas]. It's a deal that you [Hamas] made for your own benefit, not for the [Palestinian] people's benefit. (Applause) Remember, in Ramallah the [PA-Fatah] police arrested two soldiers - have you forgotten, teacher?!


PreOccupiedTerritory: Gaza Health Ministry Testing How Many Zeroes It Can Add To Death Tolls Before Media Skeptical (satire)
Officials from the Islamist terrorist group that controls government institutions in this coastal territory have begun experimenting with how far they can inflate casualty numbers from the ongoing Israeli offensive there without international “human rights” groups, journalists, or other entities feeling compelled to treat those numbers with any sort of critical eye.

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip – run and staffed by Hamas, which subordinates all organs of administration to the goal of visiting lethal violence upon the Jews of Israel and anyone else who happens to be around – launched a effort this week to test the boundaries, if any, of western progressive credulity by adding digits to the ministry’s daily updates of Gaza residents killed in Israeli air strikes and ground operations, which so far the western reporters and humanitarian organizations have shown no interest in verifying before publishing.

“We’re going to add an order of magnitude each week,” revealed Aliq Assiz, a deputy director in the Hospital Tunnel and Armaments Directorate of the ministry. “The jump from double digits to triple wasn’t dramatic enough to serve as a test case, obviously, and the transition from three to four figures barely made anyone bat an eye. It was when we crossed the ten thousand mark that we realized we could probably put random large numbers out there and those organizations and media would parrot them regardless.”

“So some of us decided to check just how far we could take it,” he continued. “It can’t look too blatant, so we’re not going to go from – what’s our latest made-up figure, like, forty thousand? – from forty thousand to a hundred-fifty thousand in the space of maybe a day. That might be excessive. But as long as the increase isn’t instantaneous, in the space of another month we could probably have the BBC, New York Times, and CNN citing a million dead Gazans as some credible statistic.”
Lebanese Don't Want War with Israel
In his sermon on Sunday in honor of the new year, Lebanon's Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rahi said, "We don't want the war to spread to southern Lebanon. It must be stopped to protect Lebanon's people, their homes and their livelihoods, at a time when they still haven't recovered from the results of the terrible war" of 2006. "We urge that every missile launchpad located among residential homes in Lebanese villages, which are suffering from the destructive Israeli responses, be removed."

There are growing fears in Lebanon that another full-fledged war could develop. That would lead to strikes deep within Lebanon and damage to its civilian and economic infrastructure. Other Christian, Druze and Sunni leaders in Lebanon have voiced their concerns, as have the tens of thousands of Lebanese who have evacuated their villages in southern Lebanon and who are liable to lose the entire agricultural year, their main source of income.

Amos Hochstein, who is U.S. President Joe Biden's coordinator for global infrastructure and energy security, is supposed to visit Israel and Lebanon this week. His working assumption is that removing disagreements over 13 points along the border claimed by Hizbullah would neutralize its pretexts for continuing its clashes with Israel. But Hizbullah says its attacks on Israel would end once the war in Gaza ends, thereby tying the Lebanese border conflict fully to the Gaza war. This means that even resolving the border dispute wouldn't remove the pretext for Hizbullah's current clashes with Israel.
Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Calls for Removal of Home Rocket Launchers to Prevent War with Israel
Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch, Beshara al-Rahi, has called on Lebanese residents to remove all the rocket launchers from their homes in order to prevent Israel from launching a full-blown, devastating war against its northern neighbor.

“We demand the removal of any rocket launchpad planted between homes in the towns of the South that might draw a destructive Israeli response,” al-Rahi urged in his Sunday Mass sermon, the Lebanese Naharnet news outlet reported.

“Let everyone respect (United Nations) Security Council Resolution 1701 and all its articles for the sake of Lebanon’s welfare,” the Patriarch added.

Resolution 1701 was the ceasefire agreement that ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War between Israel and Iran’s Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah.

The Patriarch also expressed his regret over recent attacks by residents in southern Lebanon against UNIFIL peacekeeper forces, which he said were intended to make it more difficult for the forces in the region.

“We meanwhile repeat our gratitude for the countries contributing to these UN peacekeeping forces for preserving peace in the south,” the Patriarch said.

According to international Organization for Migration figures quoted by Naharnet, some 72,437 people in Lebanon have been displaced by the hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel that were launched by the Iranian proxy on October 8th.

At least 130 Hezbollah operatives and some 20 civilians have been killed in Lebanon in attacks by Israel in response to rocket fire, anti-tank missile fire and suicide drone attacks against Israeli civilians and military posts by Hezbollah.


How I Went From Being A Neo-Nazi To a Faithful Jew
Frank Meeink grew up in a rough neighborhood in South Pensilvania. At the impressionable age of thirteen, he discovered the Neo-Nazi movement.

Frank's fascinating journey from the notorious skinhead gang leader into a faithful Jew is a powerful message to us today -- that hate ultimately destroys the one who is hating.

Frank is now a proud activist, teaching harmony and peace to young people in America today.

You can purchase his autobiography here:
https://www.amazon.com/Autobiography-Recovering-Skinhead-Frank-Meeink/dp/097901882X

This interview was recorded at the JLI National Jewish Retreat, an immersive and educational getaway bringing together some of the top Jewish leaders and thinkers of today.


In Israel, 2023 was for the birds… literally
In a year that will not be remembered fondly in Israel, 2023 did have some highlights worth celebrating – at least in terms of birdwatching.

Sitting at the junction of three continents, Israel is one of the world’s best places to witness bird migrations in the fall and spring. About half a million birds fly over, and many stay for the winter. This year’s migratory spectacular started early, with 30 flamingos arriving in August.

Ornithologist and ecologist Yoav Perlman, director of BirdLife Israel of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI), says many birds this year discovered SPNI’s Start-Up Nature wetlands reclamation sites at Kfar Ruppin in the Jordan Valley and Kibbutz Ma’agan Michael in the coastal Carmel region.

“We were surprised how quickly they identify these new opportunities and utilize new resources becoming available in the restored sites,” he tells ISRAEL21c

“We monitor the restoration work and we even see rare species breeding there — a good indication that things are going well.”

Since October 7, most of the rewilded areas at Kfar Ruppin on the Jordanian border are not accessible except with military escort, so SPNI has been monitoring bird activity there remotely. The main birdwatching center at Kfar Ruppin remains open to the public along with birding centers in Jerusalem, Eilat, Ma’agan Michael and several other locations. War’s effect on birds

As for the war’s impact on birds, Perlman says it is only localized. Because birds are mobile, they can flee from dangerous areas and from places where habitats have been disturbed or damaged by tanks and other heavy vehicles.

“I hope that after this horrid war is over, the IDF and Defense Ministry will work to rehabilitate these habitats,” says Perlman. “I hope by breeding season in March and April, things will be better.”

He added that SPNI is working closely with the IDF, through the Nature Defense Forces project, to minimize long-term impacts.
Filipino caregivers spend Saturdays aiding Israeli farms
A very active WhatsApp group in Israel these days lists farms desperate for volunteers to help pick, prune or plant anything from persimmons to avocados and flowers. Messages are also added by volunteer groups looking for extra hands.

Pinoy Barkada (the Filipino Gang) is one such group.

“Filipinos love helping our farmers! Come volunteer on Saturday, the free day of caregivers,” wrote Ramela Noel, a housekeeper from Tel Aviv, who is behind the initiative.

In an interview with ISRAEL21c she shrugs off my comment that it’s not a given that foreign workers after a long and tiring week would give up their precious day of rest to help in the war effort.

Her view is that after living in Israel with her husband for 20 years and raising their two children here (now 14 and 15 years old), this is her country too and “as people who live here we have to be the first ones to help.”

Noel’s “deep love for Israel” stems not from a Christian connection to the Holy Land, she explains, but because of how integrated they feel.

“We have always felt acceptance. My kids have never been made to feel like outsiders at school and we have made many Israeli friends.” Back to the farm

Noel first volunteered in agriculture with a Filipina mothers group she belongs to. It soon became clear, she says, that a lot more volunteers were needed.

“I could see how in need the farmers were and also I realized it’s going to be a problem for everybody if the crops are left to rot and there will be no food on the table.”

The main obstacle was finding a way to reach the farms on a Saturday, when public transportation stops for the Sabbath. The plan Noel came up with was that her friends would ask all their employees for a donation to hire a bus.

To their surprise, the sum raised was way in excess of what was needed and the group was able to go back the following week as well.
Volunteers flock to Israel in show of support amid war
Frieda Cohen Co-founder of 'enough is enough', an organization aimed at helping to educate, unite and empower young adults to combat antisemitism and anti-Israel hatred on campus, joins to speak about her experience and goals of her organization.


The Quad: Stranger Things Actor Brett Gelman: I Woke Up from Being Woke
Stranger Things Actor Brett Gelman joins the Quad this week to discuss his journey from a "woke" critic of Israel's policy to becoming an outspoken supporter of the Jewish State. Gelman together with fiance (they got engaged in Israel) actor/singer Ari Dayan describe what effect Oct. 7 has had on their Jewish identity and how Jews in Hollywood are afraid to support Israel vocally.

The Quad also discuss the global nature of the conflict that goes far beyond the Israel/Gaza borders. From the Houthis expanding their attacks on any international ship in the Red Sea to the continued attacks by Hezbollah from Lebanon, the current war has far-reaching implications for the Middle East and beyond.

And, of course, the Scumbags and Heroes of the Week!






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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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