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Tuesday, January 02, 2024

01/02 Links Pt2: Seth Mandel: ‘Squandering Sympathy’ By Surviving; America’s Mainstreaming of Hamas, Antisemitism, and Terror; Harvard Pres. Claudine Gay Resigns in Disgrace

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: ‘Squandering Sympathy’ By Surviving
These observations about Israel’s squandering nature are offered not in anger but in sadness, of course. Why can’t Israel ever do anything constructive with sympathy?

It’s not as though there’s some mysterious equation to solve here. Israelis gained all that sympathy on Oct. 7 by dying horrible deaths. What’s more important, sympathy or survival? The world is very disappointed in the Jewish state’s choice.

It’s an old story. After Germany’s 1938 annexation of Austria, Jews were desperate for escape. President Franklin Roosevelt wasn’t willing to effect any change in U.S. immigration policy, either by executive action or pressuring Congress. But he was willing to organize a conference of nations who would talk and talk and talk about how sad it all was, because that at least could “show our sympathy with the victims of those conditions.”

“Sympathy” for the Jews usually means a death sentence. And FDR ensured it would be so, as Rick Richman writes in And None Shall Make Them Afraid, his recent book of key moments in the life and work of various Zionist figures (also reviewed in Commentary’s July/August issue here): “The text of the invitation included an assurance that no country would be expected to change its laws to admit more refugees or to provide any funds to resettle refugees; any financing, the invitation noted, would have to be provided by private organizations.”

FDR also instructed the State Department to prevent any consideration of sending the fleeing European Jews to Palestine. Other Western democracies were no better.

In attendance to watch all this unfold was Golda Meir. She was both dejected and resolute. The lesson was that “Jews neither can nor should ever depend on anyone else for permission to stay alive.” The conference inspired one of her most famous comments: “There is one thing I hope to see before I die, and that is that my people should not need expressions of sympathy anymore.”

Meir would return to this theme time and again after the establishment of the state of Israel and her rise to the prime minister’s office. The world, she repeatedly recognized, was full of sympathy for dead and defeated Jews, and the Jews would squander that sympathy by surviving. What has changed isn’t the world’s preferences but the Jewish people’s ability to render those preferences irrelevant.
Dr. Dan Diker and Khaled Abu Toameh: America’s Mainstreaming of Hamas, Antisemitism, and Terror
We are currently witnessing the mainstreaming of Hamas in the U.S. Thousands of protesters across American cities and more than 200 university campuses have been calling to destroy the small, democratic, Jewish-majority state instead of advocating for a peaceful Palestinian one alongside Israel.

Since Hamas' Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, tens of thousands of American university students, faculty, and supporters have been chanting, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," a call to replace the only Jewish-majority state with the 23rd Muslim Arab-majority one. Behind many of the demonstrations is Students for Justice in Palestine, a Hamas-linked group which quotes or echoes slogans and rhetoric from the 1988 Hamas Charter and Hamas leaders.

Hamas' jihadi rhetoric and extremist ideology is inciting violence against Jews and Jewish institutions across North America today. Senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar has threatened to target Jews "wherever they are." In the aftermath of the Oct. 7 massacre, Israel and diaspora Jewry are both targeted for elimination.
Why do feminists turn a blind eye to Islamists?
Other professional feminists and ‘thought leaders’ have been similarly silent on Hamas’s actions. A widely circulated open letter, entitled ‘Feminists for a free Palestine. Stop the genocide. End the Occupation’, neither mentions Jewish women nor condemns Hamas. By early November, over 1,200 ‘scholars who work in feminist, queer and trans studies’ had signed the letter.

Two things are at play in the warped response of Western feminists to the atrocities of 7 October. Firstly, their embrace of the ideology of ‘decolonisation’ and their simple-minded view of Israel as a ‘settler-colonial’ state has prevented them from standing in solidarity with Israeli women. They see them as part of an evil occupying force and therefore as less than human. Secondly, they are unwilling to criticise Islamist terror and violence, largely for fear of being labelled Islamophobic.

Indeed, Western feminists’ unwillingness to condemn Islamist violence against women extends beyond Hamas’s rape and mutilation of Jews. They have also shown themselves incapable of standing up for women persecuted by Islamist regimes in Iran and Afghanistan.

It is over a year since 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was killed by Iran’s religious police for violating Iran’s hijab law and failing to wear the veil ‘properly’. Amini’s killing may have prompted mass protests by brave, hijab-free women in Iran. But it has prompted very little in the way of solidarity in the West. In November, the death of teenager Armita Geravand, also apparently at the hands of Iran’s morality police, passed by with even less comment or outrage. It seems that Western feminists are too frightened of appearing Islamophobic to do what Iranian women have bravely been doing – challenging a misogynistic state that compels women to wear a veil.

Western feminists have shown a similarly curious reluctance to criticise the Taliban. After all, the Taliban ought to be an obvious target of feminist ire. Since it regained control of Afghanistan in 2021 it has banned Afghan women from any form of political participation, prevented them from dressing how they choose and banned them from education and most forms of work. Yet you will struggle to find much condemnation of this medieval sexism from Western feminists and ostentatiously ‘progressive’ organisations this year. After reports emerged that the Taliban has been imprisoning survivors of domestic abuse ‘for their own protection’, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan meekly said that the Taliban’s handling of ‘gender-based violence complaints’ was ‘unclear and inconsistent’. Which is one way of describing a movement that systematically degrades and oppresses women.

There does seem to be a massive Islamist-shaped blindspot here. Feminists and their progressive apologists are only too happy to call out relatively trivial acts of sexism in the West. Yet they show a repeated unwillingness to stick up for women suffering at the hands of Islamists, from Iran to Israel to Afghanistan.

If we want to advance women’s freedom around the world, then we cannot ignore the misogyny of the Islamists.


Why do people hate the Jews? Is today's antisemite any different?
And so, in the late 1870s people like Wilhelm Marr in Germany and Eduard Drumont in France developed a new philosophy. It was Marr who coined a new term: “Antisemitismus.”

They called themselves “racists” and “antisemites” with pride, signifying their ultra-nationalistic patriotism. In the famous pamphlets that spread their message – Marr’s “The Victory of Judaism over Germanism” and Drumont’s “La France Juive” – Judaized France”, they made almost identical points: Free access of Jews to society will change the nature of society. Germany will not be the same Germany and France will not be the same France.

This new form of hatred was created to protect the host society from external non-German or non-French influences. To protect them from the influences of the outsider – the Jew.

Today’s hatred of the Jew is different. It is, quite frankly, a mishmash of the old and the new. It is an insult to antisemites of old. They, at least, had an ideology. Today’s haters have only hate – a passionate fervor of hatred.

Today, religious hatred of the Jew swaps Christian for Muslim hatred, which comes with a whole series of conspiracy theories about Israel and Jews. This certainly explains Hamas, who see murdering Jews as a Muslim obligation.

Then there is the anti-Western and anti-colonial component that feeds into a total rejection of Israel. All Jews are lumped together with Israel as being a racist colonial power. For these Jew-haters Hamas represents all Palestinians and Israel represents all Jews.

And that is why these new Jew-haters side with Hamas, the terrorists, the mass murderers, mass rapists, kidnappers. That is how they can take the side of the terrorist and the mass murderer over the victim or the nation acting in self-defense. To their mind – often shaped by social media, Israel and Jews never had the right to be there in the first place. In their minds they are no less entitled to hate Jews than Hamas is entitled to mass murder, rape and kidnap Jews.

And then there are those for whom hating the Jew and getting others to join their hatred is a form of Muslim religious observance. For Hamas it is a religious obligation. That is why the chant Allahu Akbar is heard at almost every pro-Hamas anti-Jewish rally.

Post-October 7, Jew hatred is here for the long haul. Stopping it requires a strong effort at re-education. It requires social media. It requires good people to enforce codes of conduct and laws to punish people who violate those codes. It requires accountability. The masses have forgotten that the right to freedom of speech is limited when it amounts to incitement.

That’s why they hate us so much.
The left turned its back on Jews, time for a new pro-Israel coalition
When we view this growing trend on the Right alongside the popularity of support for Hamas on the progressive Left, the picture begins to come into focus. To the rest of the world, Israel’s war against the jihadist Hamas is not about Israel.

Throughout the world, populist nationalism is on the rise. While there are many issues that unite this movement across different continents, one issue stands above the rest. Supporters of Milei, Wilders, Orban, and Bannon all believe that Western civilization is under attack. More specifically, they recognize that traditional Judeo-Christian culture is under attack from the combined forces of neo-Marxist socialism (see Brazil) and mass immigration from parts of the world that do not share Western values.

Those who interpret the current trend of right-wing nationalism as motivated by crass racism and xenophobia should take note. It is the Left, in fact, that consistently and openly speaks of the evils of Western civilization and its Judeo-Christian underpinnings. From the anti-Christmas demonstrations we are seeing in London, New York, and elsewhere, it is becoming clearer that this interpretation of the current moment is quite accurate. The seemingly laughable “Queers for Palestine” crowd actually makes a lot of sense. The very same cultural-political camp that wants to tear down traditional Western values seeks the destruction of Israel.

An inevitable conflict
For Israelis, it is time for some self-awareness. The entire Zionist project is the sine qua non of Judeo-Christian nationalism, whether we admit it to ourselves or not. A successfully capitalist nation-state built on a religious-ethnic identity with roots in the Bible checks all the boxes that the progressive, globalist Left despises. The Left’s abandonment of Israel was always inevitable.

It is hypocritical for Israelis to advocate for the preservation of the Jewish character of the State of Israel while playing the role of progressives as we “tsk tsk” at leaders like Wilders and Orban when they speak of limiting the encroachment of Islam on their societies due to unfettered mass immigration. Are the people of the Netherlands and Hungary less entitled than Jews to preserve their national cultural traditions?

Is it true that right-wing nationalists have traditionally been infected with antisemitism? Certainly. But times are changing. On the Left, antisemitism is growing and being normalized, while on the Right it is receding and being replaced by admiration for the State of Israel as the one country that is fighting back against jihadist Islam. As Israelis, it’s time to understand the historical moment we are in, embrace this new reality, and learn who our true friends are.
Why Peace Failed & a Post-Hamas Path
@afalkhatib It's a pleasure to see @aziz0nomics speak with @EinatWilf on building peace!
We will be discussing what went wrong in the peace process & the challenges & potential solutions in a post-Hamas-ruled Gaza.


Bassam Tawil: Why Christian Leaders Ignore Attacks on Their Community
As of this writing, no Christian leader had anything to say about Hezbollah's missile attack on a church.

When Muslims commit such crimes against Christians in the Gaza Strip, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq and other countries, no one, including the Western media, takes notice. Why? It is not about Israel. No Jews are at fault.

Where were the pope and other Christian organizations, one wonders, when Christians living under the terrorist group Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, were being systematically targeted and persecuted?

How ironic, then, that the latest attempt to label Israel as a country that targets Christians coincided with the massacre in Nigeria perpetrated against Christians celebrating Christmas. More than 160 Christians were murdered in coordinated attacks by Islamist militant groups that took place between December 23-25. Nigeria has been a hotbed for Christian persecution in recent years, with the country, in 2022, leading the world in Christians killed for their faith. When such atrocities are committed, we rarely hear the voices of those who claim to care about the well-being and safety of Christians around the world.

Worse, those who are ignoring the attacks on Christians are giving a green light to Hamas, Hezbollah and other Islamists to destroy Christian holy sites and murder Christians.
Hamas Tortured Me for Dissent. Here's What They Really Think of Palestinians
After we were released, most of those who participated in the demonstrations emigrated away from Gaza. There was no hope for any change in the current situation. We suffered ongoing harassment by Hamas members. Some died trying to leave, like Tamer Al-Sultan, a pharmacist whose crime was asking for a reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah.

People's living conditions got worse. The wealth gap expanded even further. We protested again in 2023 and were crushed in the same manner as in 2019. I was arrested again by Hamas last year and held for 14 days, this time in a small cell with no bed, no window, and barely enough space to sit down. I was released on bail on the condition that I not take part in any further demonstrations.

I still expressed my opinion occasionally on social media, but the arrest warrants after each post and the continuous threats from Hamas members and accusations of treason made me lose hope that I could make any kind of change. I left Gaza in August to seek a better future for myself and my family.

All this time, Hamas was planning to expand its extremism and intimidation. They knew what would happen as a result of their massacre on October 7, when they attacked Israeli civilians, and Israel responded with a massive war aimed at destroying Hamas, which has obliterated large parts of the Gaza Strip.

Now all the inhabitants of the city are being punished for Hamas' actions.

I think it's hard for Israelis to understand that there are many innocent people in Gaza who have suffered as much from Hamas's evil as they have. I understand those Israelis. During my life as a Gazan, the only thing I believed about Israelis was that they all hate us and want to eliminate us as a Palestinians.

Now I know better. After criticizing Hamas for its horrific actions on Oct. 7, I made friends with Israelis for the first time in my life. It turns out that many of them, like me, just want this conflict to end so they can live in peace. These friendships opened my eyes to their suffering. I now have a better understanding what they are thinking, and have decided never to make judgments before listening to the other side.

I hope my new friends feel the same way about the many Gazans living under the boot of Hamas's oppression.

We Palestinians have a saying: "Hope is born from the womb of suffering." I hope that after the war, that after Hamas been defeated, we can create a real, lasting peace for both the Palestinians and the Israelis. Many Gazans are praying for this, too.
Eli Amir: jealousy is root of Muslim hostility to Jews
The celebrated Iraq-born author Eli Amir has told Yediot Aharonot that jealousy has been a motivating force behind Muslim hostility to Jews. Writing in Haaretz, the Arab journalist Ode Basharat reject’s Amir’s argument. Jealousy cannot explain why Jews excelled in the Iraq of the early 20th century, he writes. (But this took place during the ‘golden years’ of King Faisal’s rule and the British mandate). His contention that Nazism was hateful to the people is also controversial. Nor can he really explain why Iraqi fears of Communism and Zionism should have justified the massacre of hundreds of Iraqi Jews in the 1941 Farhud. (With thanks: Yoram)

“The Muslims’ jealousy of the people of Israel is a critical point,” says writer Eli Amir in an interview with Anat Lev Adler in Yediot Ahronot (December 28). Amir explains the roots of Arab jealousy: “Historically, the Muslims fail to understand how the Jews, who were under the Muslim heel in Arab countries, managed to win the wars in ’48, ’67, and ’73, and for well nigh 80 years they’ve had a country that is the most powerful in the Middle East. It drives them crazy. And jealousy eats the heart and gives no rest… To me, this is a deep insult that for years is difficult for Muslims to bear. Already in the speeches of Nasser, the president of Egypt, you could feel this burning insult.”

The interviewer, who was probably frightened by the effect of jealousy, comments: “Let them not cancel our peace with Egypt in the name of Nasser’s insults.” “They will not be cancelled,” states Amir, “Egypt has a strong interest in maintaining peace with Israel.” It is good that there are Arabs who are not driven by jealousy.

Here is Amir’s “Theory of Jealousy” . The theory that sets the wheels of history in motion. But how can the theory explain the leading status that the Jews have gained in Iraq and other Arab countries: in culture, poetry and literature, in the economy and more? In Iraq there were Jewish ministers, police chiefs, high-ranking officials. The contribution of Jews to Iraqi society is priceless. This contribution cannot exist “under the Muslim heel”. It can only exist in a creative and free atmosphere. And from what I have read, the Iraqi Jews were deeply integrated into Iraqi society until the new era.

And now to the horrific Farhud events against the Jews in Iraq in June 1941, which Amir returns to. One can sympathize with his childhood feelings in the face of the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7, but I expected that a thinker like Amir, from a distance of 82 years (Amir was four years old in Farhud), would analyze in depth what happened and not turn to ridiculous arguments like “jealousy”.

Two key factors can be mentioned regarding the Farhud. One, the influence of the rise of the Nazis in Europe, which some of the national movements in the Arab world saw as a counter to British colonialism, was hateful to the people. This matter was integrated into the second factor: the fear of the Arab peoples that because of the Balfour Declaration the ground would fall from under the feet of their Palestinian brothers.

In Iraq, two currents stood out – the Communist current, which included many Jews and which opposed both Nazism and the Zionist plans in Palestine, and the pro-Nazi reactionary current, which grew stronger as a result of Nazi propaganda and reports from Palestine. Later, the Rashid Ali al-Khilani rebellion broke out, with the support of Germany – which was the basis for the Farhud events that broke out two months later, on June 1, 1941.
Israel Advocacy Movement: Jew and Muslim debate the jizya tax

Counselling magazine removes article about Jewish trauma over backlash fears
The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) has stood by its decision to remove a column about Jewish trauma over 7 October from its latest magazine because of fears of a possible backlash.

The professional body pulled the piece by mental health practitioner Dr Sandi Mann from the January issue of its Counselling At Work magazine.

In it, Dr Mann told how Jews in Manchester are struggling to come to terms with the Hamas massacre in southern Israel. This month’s issue will be the first in 10 years that does not include her regular column, entitled Workplace Matters.

The scrapped column, headlined ‘A community in traumatic stress’, describes the trauma of the city’s Jews in the aftermath of the Hamas massacre of more than 1,200 people in southern Israel. It was apparently scrapped on deadline because of concerns about possible ramifications.

The piece also looks at how mental health professionals are managing support for the traumatised community, how the charity Jewish Action for Mental Health (JAMH) set up a response unit to cope with the crisis and the lessons that can be learned for supporting other traumatised communities across the UK.

Dr Mann, who wrote a similar piece for the magazine after the Manchester arena terrorist attack in 2017, told Jewish News: “While I totally understand the BACP pulled this article in order to protect its staff, it is very distressing that they felt that an article about the Jewish community’s trauma following the worse massacre of Jews since the Holocaust might lead to such severe ramifications that they felt the need to cancel it.

“We are increasingly living in a culture of fear, threats and intimidation towards Jews but when this culture leads to the silencing of the Jewish voice, especially within the professional or academic context, then Jews risk being marginalised and othered. More must be done to ensure that our institutions are not afraid to give the Jewish community a platform.”
Israel to fight Pretoria’s genocide ‘blood libel’ at The Hague
Israeli representatives will appear before the International Court of Justice in The Hague next week to challenge South Africa’s “blood libel” accusing the Jewish state of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, a government spokesman said on Tuesday.

The top-level government decision to enter a legal defense in the case, which South Africa launched last week, is designed to avert an interim order by the court calling on Israel to halt its offense against the Hamas terrorist organization.

“In giving political and legal cover to the October 7 massacre and the Hamas human-shield strategy, South Africa has made itself criminally complicit with Hamas’s campaign of genocide against our people,” Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy said.

Around 1,200 persons, mostly civilians, were murdered when thousands of Hamas terrorists stormed through the border, while another approximately 240 were abducted to Gaza.

Levy said that the State of Israel will appear at The Hague to “dispel South Africa’s absurd blood libel.” He accused Pretoria of “fighting pro-bono for anti-Jewish racists.”

“We have no doubt that after the Jewish state brings to justice the perpetrators of the bloodiest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, history will judge South Africa for abetting the modern heirs of the Nazis,” he said. “We assure South Africa’s leaders: History will judge you, and it will judge you without mercy.”

South Africa has asked the International Court of Justice to issue an interim order for Israel to immediately suspend its military operations in the Gaza Strip.

A hearing on that request is expected to get underway next Thursday. The case will take years, but an interim order could be issued within weeks.


Jewish Leaders in South Africa Slam ANC Government’s Move to Prosecute Israel at International Court
Jewish leaders in South Africa have angrily condemned the decision of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) to refer Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in its war against the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza.

In an application filed with The Hague-based ICJ last Friday, South Africa claimed that Israel “has engaged in, is engaging in, and risks further engaging in genocidal acts against the Palestinian people in Gaza.”

It further accused the Jewish state of acting “with the requisite specific intent … to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as part of the broader Palestinian national, racial, and ethnic group.”

Responding to the ICJ application, South Africa’s Chief Rabbi, Warren Goldstein, accused the ANC government of serving the Iranian regime’s interests.

Calling the genocide allegations “grotesquely false” in a post on X/Twitter, Goldstein accused the government of acting “as Iran’s ally and proxy in the Islamic state’s plans to destroy the Jewish state through its multifaceted strategy, a critical element of which is to undermine Israel’s legal and moral right to defend itself.”

Iran is the main international sponsor of Hamas, providing the Palestinian terrorist group with funds, arms, and training.

Goldstein added that the ANC supports “Iranian proxy Hamas in its war crimes of using its own civilian population as a human shield to cause maximum Palestinian casualties so as to delegitimize Israel’s just war of self-defense, thereby to neutralize its military superiority.”

Goldstein had particularly harsh words for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, whom he said had drawn the country closer to Iran and Hamas while in office.

“As far back as 2007, the SA government invited Hamas to the country on an official visit,” he noted. “And at the 2017 ANC conference which elected Ramaphosa as its president, a Hamas delegation was in attendance.”
ICJ hearing 'is a great opportunity for Israel to present its case’
Following Israel’s decision to appear before the International Court of Justice to defend itself against South Africa's lawsuit accusing it of 'genocide'

Ben-Dror Yemini, a senior journalist at Yedioth Ahronoth Daily explains why ‘it’s a great opportunity to present its case’


'Blood on your hands': Republican congressman’s office vandalized with anti-Israel message

7 members of Jewish Indian tribe killed in rocket strike on synagogue in Manipur

Iranian opposition figure to arrive in Israel and speak at Knesset

Anti-Israel French lawmaker calls for boycott of Carrefour

Colombia’s President Urges Musicians to Join Concert Protesting Israel, Accuses Jewish State of ‘Genocide’ in Gaza

Turkey arrests 33 accused of spying for Mossad

High Court overstepped, gov’t will have last word, critics say
Israel’s Supreme Court, by a one-vote margin, including two from justices who had effectively retired, on Monday overturned a Basic Law for the first time in the state’s history.

Hebrew media has already coined the 8-7 vote Israel’s “second constitutional revolution.” But critics of the ruling say judicial reform isn’t dead and the government will have the final say.

The first constitutional revolution took place shortly after the passage of two Basic Laws in 1992. Then-Supreme Court President Aharon Barak declared them equivalent to a constitution in a 1995 ruling, Bank Mizrahi v. Migdal Cooperative Village, providing the court a mandate for overruling the Knesset.

It was the first time a court had declared a constitution unbeknownst to a country’s parliament or people. It had sprung fully formed, like Athena from the head of Zeus, one observer said at the time.

The 1995 decision came a few days after the assassination of then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, when the country was in shock and mourning.

Judge Haran Fainstein, a retired Israeli judge who teaches at Bar-Ilan University’s Department of Criminology, told JNS that it’s no coincidence that Monday’s decision also took place during a time when the country was distracted.

“It’s not accidental. It’s part of a chain,” Fainstein said. “And the decision isn’t judicial, it’s political. It’s to show that the supreme power in Israel is the court and not the Knesset, which is, of course, contrary to Israeli law.”

Most critics have focused on the timing of the decision.

“Israelis from across political, ideological and religious divides are united like never before. Our families are grieving together, our sons and daughters are fighting for Israel together, and even most politicians have put their differences aside,” said Professor Moshe Koppel, chairman of the Kohelet Policy Forum, which had an important hand in reform legislation. “It is unfortunate that the Supreme Court chose Israel’s moment of unity to bring back division.”
Rothman: Supreme Court decision a ‘shame,’ but not time to re-legislate
The Israeli Supreme Court had never before struck down a Basic Law, a move many view as akin to the American Supreme Court canceling an amendment to the United States Constitution.

Knesset member Simcha Rothman, who catapulted into the national consciousness last year as one of the key architects of the reform program, told JNS that he intends to re-legislate the law, but that now is not the time.

Rothman, a member of the Religious Zionist Party and chair of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, also discussed the ongoing war against Hamas in the interview.

Q: Do you believe that the court ruling is an example of the judicial overreach the reform plan is trying to address?

A: It’s clear to everyone that it’s the case. I think even those who support the ruling will tell you that it’s a shame that this decision, which is divisive, came during wartime. The court could have waited for other opportunities. The court did not rise to the occasion, but that does not mean that we should be irresponsible. The Knesset and the government should wait until after the war to take action.

Q: Do you plan to re-legislate the law after the war?

A: It’s understood that we will re-legislate. There was an understanding of the need to reform the judicial system before the war and even more so now. Especially after Oct. 7, there is wide acceptance. There is a need for a change, it was always the case and it’s even more undebatable now.


With foreign airlines staying away, Israeli travel sector in free fall

Jerusalem wedding singer charged with inciting to terror over backing for Hamas

Harvard President Claudine Gay Resigns in Disgrace Amid Plagiarism, Anti-Semitism Scandals
Harvard University president Claudine Gay stepped down Tuesday following allegations of plagiarism in her academic work and controversy over her response to anti-Semitism on campus.

"After consultation with members of the [Harvard] Corporation," she wrote in a letter to the Harvard community, "it has become clear that it is in the best interests of Harvard for me to resign so that our community can navigate this moment of extraordinary challenge with a focus on the institution rather than any individual."

Gay's resignation comes less than 24 hours after the Washington Free Beacon reported on new allegations of plagiarism against her, and it marks the shortest tenure of any president in the university's history at six months and two days, according to the student-run Harvard Crimson, which first reported Gay's resignation.

"It has been distressing to have doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigor—two bedrock values that are fundamental to who I am—and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus," Gay wrote in her letter. She added that she will transition to a faculty position and resume "scholarship and teaching."

Since Hamas's Oct. 7 terror attacks on Israel, Gay has faced criticism for her response to anti-Semitism on campus. Gay faced calls for her resignation in December, when she, along with the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in testimony before Congress that calling for the genocide of Jews would not necessarily violate the school's code of conduct.

In the wake of her testimony, Gay faced allegations that she plagiarized other scholars in her academic work. The Free Beacon reported on new allegations Tuesday, bringing the total number of plagiarism allegations to almost 50, implicating 8 of her 17 published works.

Gay's resignation comes nearly a month after University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill stepped down from her position. Magill resigned four days after her own controversial congressional testimony on anti-Semitism.


SJP Violated UNC’s Policies; Why Isn’t the Group Suspended?

Whistleblower reveals Israel hatred in Amazon communication channels
A whistleblower at Amazon has leaked internal communications channels from the e-commerce giant that contain pro-Hamas messages and defamatory statements toward hostages released from Hamas captivity.

The whistleblower's revelations were documented in a report by Jewish Legal News on Wednesday.

The person, who reportedly works for Amazon as a programmer, reported that Amazon employees had posted anti-Israel comments on a company Slack channel that contained over 3,000 members.

The JLN report further added that pro-Palestinian flyers displaying a watermelon shaped like the State of Israel – an apparent call to erase the Jewish state from the map and replace it with an Arab Palestinian state – were disseminated in Amazon offices worldwide.

The flyers were reportedly accompanied by calls of “from the river to the sea” on the Amazon Slack channel and by attempts to fundraise for a Canadian affiliate of Islamic Relief Worldwide, an organization banned by Israel because of its alleged financing of Hamas.

One of the posts on the Slack channel reported by JLN, from an employee named Laith Abad, read, “Idk how Palestine gets their freedom, but simply asking nicely isn’t the solution.”

Another post from an employee named Zaid Akel read, “I stand with any and every revolution against their occupiers, so I stand with Hamas.”
We didn’t start McDonald’s boycott, says BDS Malaysia
A movement promoting boycotts against Israeli interests has denied initiating a boycott of McDonald’s restaurants in Malaysia, claiming the boycott was first begun by ordinary Malaysians.

BDS Malaysia chairman Nazari Ismail said the group had merely supported the efforts of Malaysians who wished to boycott McDonald’s Malaysia.

“We never held any campaigns (calling for a boycott of McDonald’s Malaysia). We didn’t start it. But we supported the movement, we did not oppose,” he told reporters when met at the six-day pro-Palestine gathering outside the US embassy here.

He said McDonald’s Malaysia was suing the group “saying we incited the people (to boycott) and slandered them”. He said BDS had replied to say the group endorsed and supported the Malaysian people’s decision to boycott McDonald’s Malaysia.

BDS is part of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement seeking action against Israel.

Nazari said BDS’s legal team was confident that McDonald’s Malaysia had no basis for its RM6 million defamation suit. He said he was puzzled why the restaurant chain was suing them.

“We leave it to the courts,” he said, adding that he hoped Malaysians would support the group financially in terms of legal costs, if necessary.

McDonald’s Malaysia has accused BDS of defaming the fast-food franchise through its calls for a boycott for purportedly “colluding with Israel”.


THE TIMES PUBLISHES PUFF-PIECE ON PRO-TERROR LONDON SURGEON

BACKGROUND TO A ‘HUMAN RIGHTS’ NGO WITH EMPLOYEES RECENTLY FEATURED IN BBC CONTENT

Social media is creating a new generation of Hitler Youth - opinion

CTV Gives Fringe Anti-Israel Rally On Boxing Day Coverage

Media Ignore Hamas Leader’s Thanking Trudeau Government For Ceasefire Vote At UN

Radical B.C. Imam Continues To Give Sermons Replete With Antisemitic Hate, HRC Files Complaint With Victoria Police & RCMP

MEMRI: Hamas Political Bureau Deputy Chairman Saleh Al-Arouri Killed In Lebanon – Clips From The MEMRI TV Archive

PMW: Western donors: Look how the PA is using your money to support terror!
The PA uses the same criteria to pay civil servants and reward terrorists

The following two announcements by the PA, showing identical deductions and payments for PA civil servants and imprisoned Palestinian terrorists, prove what Palestinian Media Watch has exposed repeatedly: Terrorist prisoners and families of terrorist “Martyrs” are considered PA employees and receive salaries – not social welfare – just like civil servants.

Due to the PA’s economic crisis, the PA is making identical partial salary payments to the PA’s employees, terrorist prisoners, and the families of the dead terrorists. They will all receive 65% of their monthly pay, but at least 2,000 Israeli shekels, plus 14% of the money owed to them from past deductions.

It is important to note that while the deductions are the same, the terrorist prisoners’ salaries are much higher, reaching as much as 12,000 shekels/month, compared to the average civil servants’ salary, approximately 4,000 shekels/month.

Previous salaries to terrorists were likewise paid by the PA by the same criteria as the civil servants despite the economic crisis:

The PA also sent $1.7 billion to Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip this past year. It will never be known how much of that money went to arm Hamas, and build its terror tunnels, which facilitated the October 7 atrocities:
PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh: “We did not relinquish the Gaza Strip, and we will not relinquish the Gaza Strip, because they are our people… We are giving the Gaza Strip $1.7 billion from the Palestinian [PA] budget per year, which we spend on the Gaza Strip.”

[Al-Araby TV (Qatar-based), YouTube channel, Dec. 10, 2023]
PA PM: “We give the Gaza Strip $1.7 billion from the Palestinian [PA] budget per year”

PA PM defends Hamas as “a pillar in Palestinian national movement, not a terror organization”



Cardin Blocks Bipartisan Bill To Sanction Iranian Leaders for Human Rights Abuses
Democratic senator Ben Cardin (Md.) is blocking the upper chamber from advancing a bipartisan bill that would sanction Iran's leadership for its role in mass human rights crimes, prompting outrage among Iranian-American dissidents who have been lobbying in favor of the legislation for months.

Cardin, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, informed activists at the end of last year that he would not be moving forward with the MAHSA Act, named after 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, who was killed by Tehran's morality police in September 2022. Amini's death sparked nationwide protests that are still percolating more than a year later.

The bill, which overwhelmingly passed the House last year with more than 400 votes, would sanction Iran's supreme leader and his inner circle for decades of human rights abuses. Those include the murder and torture of anti-regime dissidents, including those detained by the country's security forces for protesting Amini's murder.

As the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's head, Cardin has the power to stall the bill and prevent it from coming up for a full vote in the chamber. The senator's office in a Dec. 21 email informed Iranian-American activists of the decision. Cardin's decision to delay the legislation prompted outrage among Iranian dissidents, who have been championing the bill as a centerpiece of their efforts to increase American pressure on the Islamic Republic.

"At this time, our office will not be moving forward with this bill," Cardin's staff wrote to Iranian-American activist Nick Nikbakht, who shared the correspondence on X, formerly Twitter.

"Killing innocent civilians in Israel, Ukraine & Iran is not enough for Cardin," Nikbakht wrote alongside a screenshot of the email, which was sent to the activist after more than 100 of the senator's constituents organized a joint letter in support for the MAHSA Act.


New Zealand Jews Suffering Unprecedented Antisemitic Attacks Since October 7
On November 7, anti-Israeli sentiments were visually expressed in the Epsom suburb of Auckland, New Zealand, as pro-Hamas graffiti defaced the fence of the Beth Shalom Reform synagogue and an attempt was made to set the property ablaze. Adding to the confusion, Google Maps had erroneously identified the site as the local Israeli consulate. The incident drew condemnation from David Seymour, a Member of Parliament affiliated with the right-wing liberal ACT Party, who promptly reported the matter to the police.

In mid-November 2023, an alarming uptick in both antisemitism and Islamophobia was observed in New Zealand, as reported by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) and The Disinformation Project. This surge followed the October 7 Hamas massacre, with instances of antisemitic content proliferating on various platforms, including social media and gaming platforms.

Disinformation Project researcher Kate Hannah highlighted the alarming trend of conflating New Zealand Jews with all Israelis and the Israeli government, characterizing these attitudes as not only antisemitic but also xenophobic, fostering division within New Zealand society.

Juliet Moses, the spokesperson for the New Zealand Jewish Council, echoed these concerns, revealing a notable increase in antisemitic threats, including violence, death threats, and extreme abuse, both online and offline since October 7.

One parent commented that their child did not feel safe to claim their Jewish identity at school.


US tech giant Palantir decides to hold first board meeting of new year in Tel Aviv
US data-analysis software giant Palantir Technologies announced on Tuesday that it will hold its first board meeting of the new year in Tel Aviv to show solidarity with Israel, as the country is nearly three months into a war with the Hamas terror group.

“We stand with Israel,” Palantir said in posts on X and LinkedIn. “The board of directors of Palantir will be gathering in Tel Aviv next week for its first meeting of the new year.”

“Our work in the region has never been more vital. And it will continue,” the post continued.

The Denver-based data-mining firm has been active in Israel for the past decade and has an office in Tel Aviv run by many former Israeli government officials.

Palantir develops software using artificial intelligence to analyze vast amounts of facts and figures that the firm says help investigators uncover human trafficking rings, find exploited children, and flag complex financial crimes and insider trading.

Public health organizations are deploying Palantir’s software platform to track and contain the spread of deadly diseases. On the defense front, the US firm says its AI technology platform can be used to help deter and defend against military attacks.

This is not the first time Palantir has voiced its solidarity with Israel as war erupted between Israel and Hamas on October 7, when some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing over 240 hostages of all ages — mostly civilians.


My grandparents kept a suitcase by the door in case they needed to flee UK, says Claudia Winkleman
Claudia Winkleman has said her grandparents pre-packed suitcases in case they needed to flee the UK.

Winkleman, who is Jewish, also said antisemitism was “definitely” on her mind following Hamas’ terror attack on Israel.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, the Strictly Come Dancing and The Traitors presenter went on: “I also think about Islamophobia more than I used to as well.

“The truth is that it’s all horrendous. I can’t dress it up. Antisemitism and Islamophobia both feel as if they’re on the rise around where I live [in central London].”

However, Winkleman stressed that she had never experienced antisemitism herself.

The presenter, who is active on social media, also said she avoided discussing antisemitism on many platforms.

“The problem [with social media] is there is zero nuance. Twitter is like a bar fight. So I choose not to go there,” she said.

“I’m only interested in experts. I’m not interested in any other opinion.”

She cited journalists Jonathan Freedland and Giles Coren as people she listened to.
Helena Bonham Carter Says She Was ‘Born to Play’ Role in Film About Holocaust Rescuer Nicholas Winton
Actress Helena Bonham Carter said in a new interview that, because of her Jewish heritage, she felt she was destined to play her role in the new film One Life, which is about British stockbroker Sir Nicholas Winton and his efforts to save 669 Jewish children from the Nazis before the outbreak of World War II.

In the BBC Films and See-Saw Films production, Bonham Carter plays Winton’s German-Jewish mother, Babette “Babi” Wertheim. Two-time Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins and Johnny Flynn both play Winton at different ages, and the cast also includes Jonathan Pryce, Lena Olin, Romola Garai, and Alex Sharp.

“It was in my DNA to play this role because I come from Austrian Jewish heritage,” Bonham Carter told Britain’s Jewish News. “And on top of that, on both sides, both my grandparents helped a lot of Jewish people with visas to get out of Nazi Europe.”

Bonham Carter discovered in 2021 that her maternal Jewish grandfather, Eduardo Propper de Callejon, was a Spanish diplomat who defied government orders to help save thousands of French Jews during the Holocaust and that her British paternal grandmother, Lady Violet Bonham Carter, was a politician and volunteer air raid warden who helped Jews from around Europe find refuge in Britain. The latter also sponsored a family from Prague who had escaped Nazi persecution.

Bonham Carter said the role of Babette in One Life “resonated on a different level” because of her Jewish background.

“My great grandmother was Austrian. So most people in my family will recognize my great granny who just popped up when I put on the accent and the clothes. So in a way, she just came to life,” explained the BAFTA-award winning actress. “So there was a lot of overlap with my actual history. I felt when asked to do it that it was in the stars. I was compelled to do it.”
Zvi Zamir, Mossad director during Yom Kippur War, dies at 98
Maj.-Gen. Zvi Zamir, who led Israel's Mossad from 1968-1974, died on Tuesday at the age of 98.

Zamir immigrated to Israel from Poland. He served in the Palmach during Israel's War of Independence and held high positions in the IDF before becoming the fourth head of the Mossad.

He is remembered as having warned of an attack before the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War, but was ignored by military intelligence.

Following the approval of the Arganot Commission's report on the failings of the IDF in advance of the war, Zamir chaired the committee tasked with proposing changes in the structure of Israel's intelligence services.

Zamir worked in civil engineering, energy following his retirement from Mossad
Following his retirement from the Mossad, Zamir served as CEO of Solel Boneh, the construction and civil engineering company, and as the CEO of oil refineries from 1976 to 1990.

In 1977, Zamir was appointed chairman of the board of directors of the Institute for Petroleum and Geophysics Research. He also served as chairman of the Israel Petroleum and Energy Institute from 1991-2000.


82-year-old American women volunteers to help Israelis amid the war
82-year-old American woman Rochelle Marshal volunteers to help Israelis amid the October 7 massacre.




Artist go viral for comedy song against anti-Israel movement
Pinhas and Vova Sheqel created 'Free Plastilin,' a satirical comedy song against the anti-Israel movement

'The video is a satire on the present and future that could happen if people start supporting terrorists,' they clarify




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