Thursday, March 07, 2024

03/07 Links Pt2: The Pro-Hamas Activists Come for the ‘Jew-Lovers’; It's time to make Judea and Samaria great again; The Song of the Israel-Hamas War

From Ian:

The menacing truth about the ‘boycott Israel’ campaigns
This all speaks to an incredibly conspiratorial mindset in which Jews supposedly dominate the world through their control of international finance (a view propagated by Hitler in Mein Kampf, as well as by many other anti-Semites). Indeed, for European anti-Semites in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the international networks associated with finance – and indeed modernity itself – were seen as somehow Jewish in character. From this unhinged premise, they drew the conclusion that Jews somehow needed to be purged. That Jews should be sacked from senior positions, that Jewish businesses should be boycotted. Eventually the full genocidal conclusions of this approach were drawn out in the Nazis’ Final Solution.

Today, activists focus on those who are Israeli or are deemed to have Israeli connections. In the form of Israel, Jews are once again perceived to be the epitome of evil in the world. And once again they are faced with a political movement, in this case Hamas, which openly pledges to destroy them. This murderous Islamist group has plenty of support in the West, too.

Amid the calls to boycott Israel, to erase all trace of Israel from culture, sport and beyond, it is hard not to be reminded of the horribly prophetic words of 19th-century German writer Heinrich Heine: ‘Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings.’ When, in 1933, the Nazis actually started burning books, many were written by Jewish authors, including Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud and Franz Kafka. Just a few years later, the Nazis started incinerating actual Jews.

The warning signs are there right now. We need to see the increasingly strident calls to boycott Israel, to erase its presence, for what they are. A threat to Jews everywhere.
Seth Mandel: The Pro-Hamas Activists Come for the ‘Jew-Lovers’
Lest anyone try to claim this is about Israel-related books or authors—as if that would be acceptable either—the piece reports out the story of Gillian Freedman, a 67-year-old Jewish woman who, along with her husband, owns and operates a small farm in rural Bedfordshire. Freedman wrote a book titled Jews Milk Goats, about maintaining a Jewish life while living on a farm.

Pretty wholesome stuff, right? Well, not to the magazine editor who spiked a review of the book on the grounds that Jews are too controversial now. This quote from that editor, sent to the columnist who wrote the review, is among the better descriptions of our post-Oct. 7 reality you’ll find: “In the current, rather febrile, atmosphere I think we need to give a wide berth to anything which references Jewish people and Judaism. It just isn’t worth the hassle that will ensue.”

Nowhere in there does it say anything about Israel or Zionism. Because none of this is now or ever was about the democratic politics of a country in the Middle East. But that last line explains why it’s been so easy for mainstream cultural, educational, and political institutions throughout the enlightened West to simply close the door on anything or anyone Jewish. It just isn’t worth the hassle.

This is why the pro-Hamas demonstrators and activists do what they do. Because they can’t say “don’t serve Jews.” But they can and will make your life hell if you serve Jews.

If you live in Europe, as all the subjects of this particular story do, you know this doesn’t stop at a negative Yelp review. Why risk being labeled “Jew-lovers” or “Jew-lackeys,” as the Germans used to phrase it? It just isn’t worth the hassle.

The hassle, if it isn’t clear by now, is the point. The entire strategy of alienating Jews from polite society relies on cowardice. What few Americans and Brits realize is that their major publishing houses are already in line. They didn’t have to be pushed very far. Indeed, the speed with which the machinery of Jew-baiting came together after Oct. 7 is a reminder that old habits die hard. And there are few habits older than this.
Antisemitism as Anti-Europeanism by Proxy
This all goes to show how unpredictable history is and how quickly constellations change. The Left is now forced to pick the side of Hamas, not because they really hate Jews or care about Palestinians, but because they need to double down on their own beliefs and avoid giving in to the critique of their political foes by admitting that the multicultural project in Europe has failed completely. Nor do they wish to admit that the relations between Israel and Gaza presage the future of Europeans and Muslims in Europe.

Left-wing progressives are happy to reinforce the link between what they see as Jewish imperialism and European rightism, in the same way that the Right—instead of defending Europeanism and nationhood—considers it expedient to portray their cause as a fight against antisemitism. For example, it is quite clear that the march against antisemitism in London on Sunday was as much a march for Britain as it was for Israel, with Union Jacks flying and “God Save the King” echoing over the crowds. As self-described conservative Chris Rose put it on X, the event was “a complete contrast to the anti-West hate marches with people who sympathise with our enemies.” Still, organizing such marches without the pretext of protesting antisemitism would be quite taboo.

It may seem tragically poetic that it is in the conflict between Israel and Hamas that an awakening of Europe might occur. However, in the end, confidence by proxy is no confidence at all. At best, it is a mere beginning. But a beginning of what? Clearly Europeans are now waking up to the fact that mass immigration isn’t leading to a multicultural utopia, and that in the face of incontrovertible evidence there are still well-established forces in Europe unwilling to roll back their destructive policies. These forces will, to the bitter end and at whatever cost, see right-wing populism, Jewish imperialism, and European ‘whiteness’ as the real threats, and they will ally with any anti-Western group in their anti-colonial struggle.

Those who care about the future of Europe and their own nations are therefore correct to defend Israel, but that will not be enough. Europeans need to shake off their feelings of demoralization and defeat. They must win over the establishment on their side regardless of the situation in the Middle East, and they must openly declare that their cause is ultimately not about the fate of Israel, but the fate of Europe. In the end, the rhetoric of anti-antisemitism cannot prove sufficient to the challenges at hand.


The UN is a complete conceptual mishmash
IN 1949, THE same year that the Geneva Convention and the International Humanitarian Law for protecting civilians in times of war were instituted, Israel was admitted as a member of the United Nations. Furthermore, the international community at large attributed (with the exceptions of Russia and France) the Arab nations the responsibility for the creation, not only of the hostile environment against the Jews but of the conflict per se. This was the official position of the United Nations Security Council. However, the subsequent victory of Israel over its Pan-Arab enemies, time and time again, has produced this “international change of hearts” in which the Jewish state was no longer perceived as a victim but as the power with the force and capacity to overcome its Arab enemies.

Now, all the fully recognized acceptance of the preexisting legal rights that had been grounded in Israel changed. The existing legally binding rights and obligations that had been created in 1948 have been replaced with a differentiated singularization that points out the only Jewish state on the planet.

The state that represents the Jews globally was purposely left in an international, unlawfully impossible position.

No UN member state has ever brought a genocide case against China for its conduct in Tibet or Xinjiang, or against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. There is something special when it comes to Israel, a narrative of Jews as archetypal oppressors rather than victims.

All this conceptual mishmash would raise serious questions about the very legitimacy of any organization.
Israel Says South Africa Exploiting World Court on Behalf of Hamas
Israel accused South Africa on Thursday of acting “as the legal arm of Hamas” after Pretoria again petitioned the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to take measures against Israel.

A South African government spokesperson dismissed the accusation.

“South Africa continues to act as the legal arm of Hamas in an attempt to undermine Israel‘s inherent right to defend itself and its citizens, and to release all of the hostages,” Israel‘s foreign ministry said.

“The repeated requests for provisional measures made by South Africa in order to assist Hamas are yet another cynical exploitation of the International Court of Justice in the Hague, which has already twice rejected the baseless attempts to deny Israel its right and obligation of self-defense,” it said.

Clayson Monyela, a spokesperson for South Africa’s department of international relations and cooperation, said: “South Africa has spelled out its concerns in its application to the ICJ. They [Israel] know what they are doing. It is absurd to keep saying that South Africa is acting on behalf of Hamas.”

South Africa in January asked the World Court to declare that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza and to order Israel to stop its military campaign in Gaza. The court did not do this but instead issued a more general order that Israel must make sure it prevents acts of genocide.

South Africa is now asking the top UN court to order further steps against Israel, which it said was breaching measures already in place. It said those in Gaza were facing starvation and asked the court to order that all parties cease hostilities and release all hostages and detainees.

“Israel acts and will continue to act in accordance with international law, including by facilitating humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, regardless of any legal proceedings,” the Israeli ministry said. “We call on the ICJ to reject outright the new request of the representatives of Hamas.”
It's time to make Judea and Samaria great again
A little over a week ago, a resounding call to strengthen Israel’s Biblical heartland went forth from the American heartland. National Religious Broadcasters, representing over 1,100 member organizations, gathered last month for their annual conference in Nashville, Tennessee. While always pro-Israel, this year NRB sharpened its message on account of the war: Israel is God’s land, and the Jewish people must keep it all.

With 5,000 attendees, the NRB convention is America’s largest gathering of faith-based communicators. Many programs and panels were dedicated to the Hamas war and featured Israeli speakers. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a video message and Tourism Minister Chaim Katz and MK Ohad Tal spoke at different sessions. Two of the largest Israel events at the NRB centered around the importance of Judea and Samaria.

Appalled at the dramatic increase in media bias against Israel, National Religious Broadcasters took a leading role in countering the false, anti-religious narrative. NRB president and CEO Troy Miller adopted the Accuracy in Media Biblical Heartland Resolution drafted by the Israel Allies Foundation and Israel365, the organization I founded. The resolution states that “NRB opposes using the erroneous term ‘West Bank’ to describe the Biblical heartland of Israel and calls on its members to refer to the region by its historic name of Judea and Samaria.”

Liberal media often adopt hostile rhetoric and misleading terminology to craftily deny Jewish legitimacy to their land. There is no more egregious example than Israel’s heartland that is often called “occupied territory” or the “West Bank,” but which Israel refers to as “Judea and Samaria.” The NRB’s adoption of the Accuracy in Media Biblical Heartland Resolution demonstrates a commitment by American religious broadcasters to Israeli sovereignty over the land God promised to the Jewish people. Israeli sovereignty is not a question of politics, but a matter of faith.
How Muslims and westerners have spread the myth of Jewish-Arab coexistence
Muslims have long promoted myths about their harmonious relations with Jews that they allege had always prevailed in Arab lands. These myths strongly resemble those elaborated by elites in the American South about relations between whites and blacks. Both fables enjoy wide support beyond their regions—the Muslim myths embraced by Western intellectuals. Eunice G. Pollack and Stephen H. Norwood write in the Middle East Quarterly (Winter 2024):

From the time of the Balfour Declaration (1917) Arab political and religious leaders and commentators wove a web of myths about the conditions of Jews in the Muslim lands of the Middle East over the last fourteen centuries. As one “leaps through the pages of Middle East history and surveys many eras of civilizations,” they maintained, one finds only “the same story of mutual respect between Arabs and Jews.” It was there—only there—that the Jews “could pursue their daily lives in perfect freedom and equality.” And virtually all attributed the “peaceful coexistence” to “Islam … a most tolerant faith.”[9]

This paradise was lost, many Arab/Muslim leaders proclaimed, only upon the invasion of the foreign ideology of “political Zionism.” The concept of Jewish nationhood, they claimed, was only fashioned at the end of the nineteenth century in response to the travails of European Jews, and had no relevance—and was allegedly of no interest—to Jewish people who dwelled in Muslim lands.[10] They contended that “the fact that a Jew is a Jew has never prejudiced the Arab against him” and mocked that “the people of the Jewish religion … are now called the Jews.” As early as 1921, some insisted that it was only “England who created” the idea of a “National Home” for them, and they found it absurd that “England [could] conclude a treaty with a religion and register it in the League of Nations.”[11] Others denounced the “Zionist chauvinists,” who “use their well-placed influence” to promote their ideas “throughout the world,” and warned that they were “spreading the Jewish problem to … Muslim countries, where it had never existed before.”[12]

Many Arabs stressed that even before “Zionist … pretensions” threatened the “happy relationship” between Muslims and Jews, it had been disrupted by the imposition of European colonial rule.[13] They informed their Western audiences that Jews had “enjoyed all the privileges and rights of citizenship” before colonialism introduced an “artificial separation” between Muslim and Jew. A Moroccan political leader insisted that for this reason the Jews had “welcomed” the overthrow of colonial rule and the return of “Arabization” and the establishment of the independent Muslim nation.[14]

Contrary to the Arabs’ contentions, however, it was the colonial powers that had extended citizenship (e.g., Algeria in 1870), equality or near-equality (e.g., the French Protectorate in Morocco, 1912–1956) to the Jews, liberating them at last from their status as subjugated, humiliated dhimmis, and ending the oppressive jizya, the tribute always exacted by the Muslims. Thus Jews had strongly endorsed the colonial presence, generally embracing modern European education and culture.[15] It was under British occupation (1882–1922) that Jews in Egypt felt safest. Notably, under Islamic rule, it was only the Ottoman Empire that, in an effort to secure European support—and modern weapons—issued an Imperial Edict (1856) that, in theory, extended equal rights to all its subjects. In practice, however, Ottoman governors (pashas) confined themselves to collecting taxes, while local rulers and the populace—for example, the Mamluks in Egypt—continued to persecute, pillage, and impose additional “heavy levies” on the Jews. Thus most Jews not only supported European colonial rule, but feared the independence movements, with the threat of return to their earlier subordinate “social, political and economic” positions.[16]
PMW: Palestinians contradict Quran in order to deny Israel's right to exist
A Fatah official and former president of Al-Quds Open University, contradicting the Quran which writes “David killed Goliath,” claimed that Goliath was a Palestinian and that he “defeated the Hebrews,” who went “in the trash can of history.”

Younes Amr, Fatah Revolutionary Council member and former president of Al-Quds Open University:
“Through the unity of our Canaanite Arab ancestors against all the invaders who came to our land – there were among them those who triumphed and ruled here, and there were those who were defeated, left, and moved to the trash can of history, and foremost among them the Hebrews. Goliath is none other than a Palestinian king and hero who fought the Hebrews, and our Palestinian ancestors prevented the Hebrews from reaching the coasts…”
[Official PA TV, Jan. 31, 2024]

As stated, Amr blatantly contradicts the Quran, which states:
“[King] Saul went forth with the soldiers… to [face] Goliath and his soldiers, they said, ‘Our Lord… give us victory over the disbelieving people.’ So they defeated them by permission of Allah, and David killed Goliath.”
[Saheeh International translation, Quran, 2:249-251]

With this historical revision, Amr is trying to disconnect the indigenous Jewish people of the Bible from their descendants who are today’s modern Israelis. The Palestinian Authority teaches its people that the Hebrews of the Bible were all destroyed, and today’s Jews and Israelis are descendants of a Khazar tribe that converted to Judaism. They argue that Jews today therefore are only a religion with no connection to the Biblical nation of Israel and no national rights to the land of Israel. This is why Amr is teaching that the biblical Hebrews ended up in the "trash can of history."
The Unshakable Courage of Mandana Dayani, Debra Messing and Noa Tishby
I recently watched a YouTube video filmed last year in which a Jewish woman tried to have a respectful conversation with a virulently anti-Israel student at UC Berkeley. I was in awe of her courage, grace and cogent arguments. She didn’t need to be there, on a campus where a riot recently broke out against Jewish students in response to an Israeli speaker, and in a city whose school district is now being accused of knowingly tolerating “antisemitic bullying,” according to a federal complaint.

At one point in the video, a male student screamed in the woman’s face and called her a “dumb motherf—-r.” Another male student referred to the woman and the pro-Israel students surrounding her as “you people,” prompting her to respond, “It’s not ‘you people.’ Don’t discriminate. I’m a person. My name is Noa.”

I’m referring to Noa Tishby, the New York Times best-selling author of “Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth” and Israel’s former Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism and Delegitimization. A prolific actress, producer and activist, Tishby, a Tel Aviv native now living in Los Angeles, has completed her second book, “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew,” co-written with best-selling author Emmanuel Acho, available in late April.

Witnessing Tishby’s bravery also made me think about actress and activist Debra Messing. Like Tishby, she confronts vicious antisemites with resilience and grace. Messing, who was born and raised in Rhode Island, spoke at the Nov. 14 rally for Israel in Washington, D.C. and recently visited Israel. She sat with soldiers and victims of Oct. 7, simply offering to listen to their stories. I adore Messing for this, and for the fact that she is constantly posting Instagram videos reminding all of us, especially young Jews, not to be afraid.

And then there’s my childhood friend, Mandana Dayani, a visionary entrepreneur and creator and co-founder of “I Am a Voter.” Dayani, who escaped post-revolutionary Iran as a little girl with her family, also recently traveled to Israel, visiting the remains of decimated kibbutzim in the south and speaking with victims of Oct. 7. Dayani is fearless when it comes to exposing antisemitism and defending (and celebrating) Jews and Judaism, especially on social media. She shares this wonderful fearlessness with Tishby and Messing.

In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8, I decided to ask each of these extraordinary women two simple questions. Of course, the female victims of Oct. 7, the female IDF soldiers and medics, the mothers and wives of fallen soldiers and so many more Israeli women are heroes who should be honored each day. But day in and day out, women like Dayani, Messing and Tishby are battling antisemites and putting much on the line in defense of Israel and the Jewish people. Their responses to my questions reminded me of “Eshet Chayil,” King Solomon’s tribute to the Jewish woman in the Book of Proverbs, which begins by asking, “A woman of valor who can find? Her value far exceeds that of gems.”
Dov Hikind Arrested During Protest Against Amnesty International
NYC Former Assemblyman Dov Hikind, founder of Americans Against Antisemitism, was arrested Thursday, during a protest at the offices of Amnesty International. Hikind was there to bestow the “moral hypocrisy” award on the disgraceful organization that has ignored the plight of Jewish terror victims.

Hikind tweeted, “Came to @amnestyusa to give them the award for moral hypocrisy on international women’s day. Unsurprisingly, the cowards they are would not receive this honor and instead arresting me for not leaving their offices..”

In addition, activist Karen Lichtbraun, who represented the women’s protest, was arrested as well and locked in a cell. Hikind expressed strong praise for her bravery and self-sacrifice and denounced the cowards who had her locked up.

In a press release before the protest, Hikind wrote: “Amnesty International has truly earned the shameful distinction of moral hypocrites by their deafening silence on the sadistic sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas against Jewish women and girls on October 7. Together with a courageous group of Jewish women who will be leading the charge, we will be delivering and unveiling a truly monumental award to this sham of a so-called human rights organization this morning in commemoration of International Women’s Day. Many around the world have been silent, but, especially for the sake of those still being held hostage by Hamas, we sure as hell won’t be!”

VIN News spoke exclusively with Hikind after he was released from custody. He said, “There were 50 women who joined our press conference, discussing their experiences. We are trying to do what we can.”


ADL conference honors Jared Kushner for role in Abraham Accords
A key Trump administration official who shepherded the signing of the Abraham Accords in the fall of 2020 received an award at the Anti-Defamation League’s annual “Never Is Now” conference, being held from March 6-7. More than 3,000 people, including as many as 300 students, are expected to attend the two-day event that features 25 panels and 100-plus experts.

The ADL praised Jared Kushner, a senior adviser to former President Donald Trump, in a speech given on Wednesday morning by Jonathan Greenblatt, the organization’s CEO and national director.

Greenblatt called Kushner “someone who in his public service singularly helped further the cause of peace in the Middle East,” according to prepared remarks provided to JNS. He praised the investor as contributing to “something that has had an immeasurable impact on the Jewish community in Israel and around the world.”

He described the accords as “a groundbreaking achievement that brought about normalization with a number of countries around the Arab world at a scale once unthinkable. Not only are there now government-to-government relationships between countries like the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Bahrain and Israel, but real people-to-people connections are being made, too.”

The ADL leader said he regarded the normalization treaty “as one of the most consequential foreign-policy accomplishments of the U.S. government over the last several decades.”

In his acceptance of the award, Kushner pointed to the rise of anti-Jewish hatred and the Abraham Accords serving as a counter to that, saying “I believe that a small fraction of antisemitism comes from evil intent, a larger fraction from opportunists and the largest fraction by far comes from ignorance. To make progress, we must engage to eliminate the evil, outmaneuver the opportunists and educate the ignorant.”


Amb. Lipstadt Muslim advocacy group CAIR has ‘no place in fight against antisemitism’
When the White House released its long-awaited national strategy to combat antisemitism last spring, Jewish leaders were puzzled by the inclusion of the Council of American-Islamic Relations as one of the organizations primed to take up the fight.

The State Department’s antisemitism envoy, Deborah Lipstadt, urged patience at the time, despite the Muslim civil rights group’s long record of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish statements. But on Wednesday, in an interview with Jewish Insider on the sidelines of the Anti-Defamation League’s Never is Now summit in Manhattan, Lipstadt said “they’ve failed… [and] have no place in the fight against antisemitism.”

Lipstadt’s comments come in the wake of a series of statements by CAIR leaders praising Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks — including from its executive director, Nihad Awad, who said in November that he was “happy to see” the attack, which he characterized as “self-defense.”

“We gave CAIR a chance and they have proven that they have no place in the fight against antisemitism — if anything we have to fight those kinds of attitudes,” Lipstadt told JI.

When the White House released its National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism last May, it faced criticism for including a fact sheet that said CAIR would educate religious communities about keeping houses of worship safe from hate, given the organization’s history of antisemitic statements. Following the comments celebrating Oct. 7, the White House distanced itself from CAIR in December.

“One of the things that disturbs me is we see people make anti-Israel statements that have in them antisemitism,” Lipstadt continued. “That’s not always the case but [some are] clearly, overtly.”


Russia says it thwarted ISIS attack on Moscow shul
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Thursday that it thwarted a planned ISIS terrorist attack on a synagogue in Moscow.

The Islamic State cell, based in Kaluga, 93 miles southwest of the capital, planned to attack Jewish worshippers with firearms, the security agency said.

“While being arrested, the terrorists put up armed resistance to the Russian FSB officers, and as a result were neutralized by return fire,” the statement read, as quoted by the TASS news agency.

“Firearms, ammunition as well as components for the manufacture of an improvised explosive device were found and seized,” the FSB added.

Zvezda, a state-owned TV network run by the Russian Ministry of Defense, showed security personnel searching a house. Two bodies can be seen in the footage, along with firearms, ammunition and knives.

According to the FSB, the terrorists were members of the Afghan branch of ISIS.
State inquiry blames Netanyahu, but does not sanction him, for deadly 2021 Meron crush
A state commission of inquiry has named Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as one of a number of officials responsible for the 2021 Meron disaster, in which 45 people were killed in a crush at the hilltop gravesite of a second-century sage in northern Israel.

Presenting its findings after two and a half years of work, the committee also said that Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, who served as public security minister at the time of the disaster, and police chief Kobi Shabtai, along with several other officials all bore personal responsibility for Israel’s deadliest peacetime disaster.

While the inquest said that it wouldn’t propose sanctions for Netanyahu due to his position, it was scathing in its assessment of the premier, saying that it was reasonable to assume that the prime minister knew that the site was dangerous after the alarm had been raised by multiple official bodies over the years.

“There is a reasonable basis to conclude that Netanyahu knew that the site of Rashbi’s grave was improperly dealt with for years, and that it was liable to be a danger to the masses that visit the site, especially on Lag B’Omer,” the committee said, referring to the gravesite of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai where the disaster occurred.

“Even if, in the name of caution, we assume Netanyahu didn’t have concrete knowledge of the matter, he should have known about it after the issue was brought to his office many times,” said the report by the commission, headed by retired judge Dvora Berliner.

“Therefore Netanyahu’s claim that his attention wasn’t demanded cannot be accepted.”

The report said the premier was ultimately responsible for the needs of the site — either proactively or via the mechanisms of the state — and said that lessons had not been learned from the investigations into the 2010 Carmel forest fire that claimed 44 lives.
JPost Editorial: Mount Meron disaster is a tragedy, but also a cautionary tale
Overcrowding at religious sites is not new, and the warning signs were all there. For example, Arieh Amit, a former senior police official, told Maariv, the sister publication of the Post, that he remembered one Ramadan in which “there were 200,000 worshipers on the Temple Mount, and there was no special safety issue with that.

“If we even increase the number of visitors – what will happen is that the very crowded alleyways of the Old City, where there is a very high danger of overcrowding, will be filled with worshipers, by the way, angry that they are not allowed to ascend to the Mount, and this will be a much greater danger than if they allow everyone who wants to ascend and pray,” he said.

At the Western Wall, as well, there are constant concerns ahead of holidays regarding potential overcrowding. This past Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation had ushers at the ready to direct and assist. Still, the infrastructure simply is not there to withstand the exorbitant number of visitors often present.

The government cannot turn a blind eye to this and let independent organizations managing holy sites continue disparaging safety concerns. The proper resources must be allocated to limit the danger to crowds in areas both sacred and without proper infrastructure.

The Meron disaster was a terrible tragedy, but it is also a cautionary tale. Israel – especially its government – must learn from its mistakes; otherwise, the next disaster may be just as tragic or worse.
After rewriting disqualified song, Israel gets final approval to appear at Eurovision
Eurovision organizers on Thursday approved Israel’s revised song entry for this year’s contest after it disqualified an earlier version, securing the country’s spot in the competition amid a wave of boycott calls.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs the contest, informed it on Thursday afternoon that the new version of its song, titled “Hurricane,” was granted final approval by the EBU’s oversight panel, capping weeks of uncertainty about Israel’s participation.

“Hurricane,” which will be performed at the Eurovision by singer Eden Golan, was written by Keren Peles, Avi Ohayon and Stav Beger, and will be revealed in full during a live broadcast on Kan on Sunday evening.

Israel’s original submission to the Eurovision, titled “October Rain,” was disqualified by the EBU for having political messaging, said Kan. The song had included lyrics reading “writers of the history/stand with me”; “I’m still wet from the October rain/October rain”; and a final section in Hebrew translated to: “There is no air left to breathe/No place, no me from day to day/They were all good kids, every one of them” — believed to be a reference to those murdered by Hamas on October 7.

Originally, Kan had said that it would refuse to submit a new song for contention after the EBU indicated it would not give approval to “October Rain.” But following the intervention of President Isaac Herzog, who pushed for Israel not to back out of the contest, the public broadcaster asked the songwriters to revise their entries for resubmission, and sent a new version to the EBU.

The new song, which uses the melody of “October Rain,” but includes all new lyrics, is about a “young woman surviving a personal crisis,” Kan said. Noa Kirel of Israel during the flag ceremony during the Grand Finale of the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool, England, May 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

“This year it is more important that ever that we will stand on that stage and represent our country with pride,” said Golan on Instagram on Thursday. “I plan to do everything to represent our country with pride and to give everything I have in me to reach the maximum result.”
Two Belgian ministers call for Israel to be booted from Eurovision over war in Gaza
Two Belgian ministers have called for Israel to be barred from the Eurovision Song Contest while its war against Hamas is ongoing, as a punitive measure for the toll on Palestinian civilians.

The European Broadcasting Union, which organizes the annual competition, has resisted calls from some artists and activists for Israel to be dropped from Europe’s May 7-11 song contest.

Belgium’s French-speaking Culture Minister Benedicte Linard and Flemish counterpart Benjamin Dalle added their voices this week to the call to kick Israel out.

“Just like Russia has been excluded from competitions and Eurovision following its invasion of Ukraine, Israel should be excluded until it puts an end to its flagrant violations of international law, which are causing thousands of victims, especially children,” Linard said on X.

There was no immediate response from the EBU, or from Israel. The EBU has repeatedly responded to such inquiries by stating that the Kan public broadcaster, as an independent news outlet, meets all of the requirements to take part in the contest — unlike its Russian counterpart — and that it will therefore not be barred.

Linard told parliament on Wednesday that she would ask French-language public broadcaster RTBF, which is organizing Belgium’s participation in Eurovision, to voice the concerns to the EBU.
Chilean Jews Accuse President of Antisemitism as Israeli Companies Are Barred From Major Defense Expo
Chile’s Jewish community and a group of senior retired military officers were among those voicing condemnation on Wednesday of the Chilean government’s decision to exclude Israeli companies from a major aerospace and defense fair in Santiago next month.

The Latin American nation’s Ministry of Defense announced on Tuesday that Israeli exhibitors would be barred from the FIDAE 2024 show, which takes place from April 9-14, in a protest against the current war in Gaza. On Wednesday, Chilean Interior Minister Carolina Tohá defended the decision, saying that “human rights are our first priority.” The fair brings together defense officials and companies from more than 40 countries.

The announcement drew an angry response from the Jewish Community of Chile (CJC), which issued a statement accusing the country’s far left president, Gabriel Boric, of “importing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into Chile without weighing up the consequences.”

Referring to the steep rise in antisemitism in Chile since the Hamas pogrom of Oct. 7 in Israel, the CJC bemoaned that Boric “has forgotten the thousands of Chilean Jewish compatriots in our country.” It added that “antisemitism has manifested in an overwhelming manner in the country we considered as a copy of the [Garden of] Eden.”

Separately, four former senior officers from the Chilean military issued a statement condemning the government. “The suspension of the participation of Israel’s defense companies in FIDAE 2024 produces serious strategic political effects, since our country is highly dependent on Israel for defense and spatial development, as the National Satellite System (SNSAT) in its entirety depends on companies from that country.” The signatories — Brig. Gen. José Gaete, Brig. Gen. Osvaldo Sarabia, Vice Admiral José Miguel Romero, and Brig. Gen. Álvaro Guzmán — noted as well that the annual FIDAE fair had hosted “companies from Israel since its inception,” describing Israel as a “loyal trading partner of our country in defense matters.”

Israel’s Ambassador in Chile, Gil Artzyeli, also condemned the government’s decision, observing in a statement that the ban on Israeli companies was a setback to “bilateral relations of more than 70 years, not only in defense and security, but also in other areas such as water resources management, agriculture, health, academic exchange, science, and technology.”

Chile has emerged as one of the most hostile countries to Israel in Latin America in the wake of Boric’s election in 2022.
Jewish House members added to Palestinian statehood resolution without consent
Two Jewish House members said this week that they were added, without their knowledge or consent, as sponsors of a resolution supporting Palestinian statehood. According to one of the two, the bill’s sponsor dragged his feet for months before removing her.

Reps. Kathy Manning (D-NC) and Jamie Raskin (D-MD) were removed this week as sponsors of a resolution by Rep. Al Green (D-TX), which states that Congress “affirms Palestine’s right to exist and at a future time to become a nation State,” as well as supports a two-state solution and “rejects calls for Palestine’s destruction.”

The two lawmakers had been quietly added as cosponsors on the same day earlier this year, on Jan. 3. A Manning spokesperson told Jewish Insider that her office discovered the error on Jan. 8 and immediately informed Green’s office.

“Green’s staff informed us that Rep. Manning’s name purportedly was submitted for cosponsorship through the use of a Google form in late December with no subsequent confirmation directly with our office,” the spokesperson continued. “Regrettably, Green’s office delayed two months before removing Rep. Manning’s name from the bill and also failed to notify us in advance of his Floor remarks this week.”

It’s unclear, at this point, who actually submitted the Google form response purporting to come from Manning’s office. Green did not respond to a request for comment.

Green took to the floor on Tuesday to remove Manning from the legislation. Raskin asked to be taken off the following day.
Republicans Press Biden To Explain Executive Order Targeting Israeli Jews
The Biden administration is under congressional pressure to explain a series of executive orders targeting Israeli Jews with sanctions and undermining what a group of GOP senators says is the Jewish state’s effort to eradicate Hamas.

Nine Republican lawmakers led by Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) are leaning on the Biden administration to rescind two recent orders targeting Israel’s war effort. The first issues sanctions on Israeli Jews for alleged crimes against Palestinians, while the second threatens to cut off U.S. weapons sales to Israel unless it provides assurances the arms will not harm civilians.

Both measures were issued by the Biden administration earlier this month following a wave of pressure from far-left Democratic lawmakers opposed to U.S. support for Israel as it faces down Hamas. The Republicans in a letter sent late last month to the president say the executive actions are "undermining Israeli operations against Hamas in Gaza" and "undercut our most valuable alliance in the Middle East" as it battles for survival. The letter highlights growing gaps between Republicans and the Democratic White House as Israel’s war with Hamas continues into its sixth month.

"You should rescind both documents, and sanction terrorists and their supporters instead of their victims," write the lawmakers, including Sens. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), Bill Hagerty (R., Tenn.), Rick Scott (R., Fla.), and Roger Wicker (R., Miss.), among others. Cotton and his colleagues note that the United States has not sanctioned any Palestinians for crimes against Jews, even as terror incidents increased by 350 percent in 2023, including 300 shooting attacks on Jews.

The senators instruct the White House to provide them "with a full explanation of what evidentiary standards and processes are intended to be employed when choosing to sanction Israelis while ignoring the serious crimes committed by the Palestinian Authority."


Ed Department starts Title VI investigations into five more colleges
Universities in Illinois, Vermont, California, Pennsylvania and New York are being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) for potential violations of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

On Tuesday, the OCR named five schools for potential acts of discrimination: Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, Ill.); Middlebury College (Middlebury, Vt.); University of California, Berkeley; Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, Pa.); and SUNY Rockland Community College (Suffern, N.Y.).

StandWithUs Center for Legal Justice, a nonprofit that partners with StandWithUS, filed the complaint against Middlebury College.

Yael Lerman, director of the nonprofit, told JNS that the center had received notification that OCR had “opened an investigation into Middlebury College and is looking into the egregious disparate treatment of Jews taking place at Middlebury. We look forward to working with OCR as their investigation explores the allegations against Middlebury outlined in our Title VI complaint.”

She described the school’s failures, saying administrators “disregarded student allegations, attempted to silence them, neglected to enforce its own rules and at times were complicit in discriminating against Jewish students. In doing so, the college has violated its obligations under Title VI and must be held accountable.”

The higher-education watchdog Campus Reform initiated OCR investigations for Illinois Wesleyan University and Swarthmore College.
Israeli hotels left off Forbes Travel Guide 'Star Awards' after making list multiple times in recent years
After years of earning a spot on Forbes Travel Guide's "Star Awards" list, three Israeli hotels are all missing from the 2024 list.

Before the war between Israel and Gaza broke out following the October 7 terrorist attack on the Jewish state, three Israeli hotels made the list for at least six years prior.

The Norman Tel Aviv, The Ritz-Carlton, Herzliya and The Setai Tel Aviv were all listed in the Forbes guide in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, but they did not make the cut in 2024. The annual guide from Forbes lists hotels, spas, restaurants and cruises, marking them "Recommended," "4-Star" and "5-Star."

Dan Eleff, the founder of DansDeals, a website which helps Jewish travelers score the best deals, said the change has prompted him and others in the Jewish community to question the sudden change.

"I'm definitely curious to know, is this an oversight?" he asked. "Because in the past, just last year, they honored several luxury hotels in Israel... So I'm wondering why it's now completely wiped off the map."

"Especially just post October 7th, where we've seen antisemitism and obviously anti-Zionism just explode immediately after the massacre and even before Israel responded, the world seemed to have gone crazy ... and I'm curious, is something nefarious going on here, or why exactly is Israel just completely left off when three hotels won awards last year?"


Antisemite Leads L.A. School Board Race by Two Votes
Kahllid Al-Alim, an antisemite running for the Los Angeles Unified School Board (LAUSD) in the first district, leads by two votes in the initial count of Super Tuesday ballots, and appears headed to a runoff in November.

As Breitbart News noted last month:
[Al-Alim] spread antisemitic hatred online and liked violent, pornographic posts.

Al-Alim said that a book by the racist, antisemitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, titled The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews, which falsely claims Jews control the economy and exploit black people, should be “MANDATORY” reading.

Al-Alim apologized for his posts.

The local teachers’ union, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), endorsed Al-Alim but voted Monday to rescind its endorsement — though many ballots had already been cast by mail or in drop boxes. It had suspended its campaign activities for him shortly after revelations of his past remarks emerged.

According to LAist.com, Al-Alim currently has 9103 votes, or 22.29% of the vote, while runner-up Sherlett Hendy Newbill has 9101 votes, or 22.28% of the vote. Mail-in ballots and ballots collected in drop boxes are still being counted.

Elsewhere in California on Super Tuesday, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Republican baseball legend Steve Garvey both qualified for the runoff election for U.S. Senate. Voters in San Francisco also approved conservative policies on police and real estate development, leading the local San Francisco Chronicle to declare: “Progressivism is out — for now.”
There need to be firings and expulsions at Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley, is a cesspool of bigotry and anti-freedom sentiments. It is well past time for heads to roll among both the student body and the administrators who have allowed the situation to fester.

An event organized by Jewish students was shut down last week when protesters (or, more accurately, thugs) stormed the venue and broke down doors. Assaults, battery, and antisemitic slurs were all reported to authorities by students who attended or organized the event. UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said four reports have been filed to the police department and are being investigated, including consideration of charges for hate crimes.

That isn’t good enough, though. Berkeley is a hotbed of both antisemitism and spoiled young adults shutting down speeches they don’t like. The university even moved this event at the last minute because it could not protect attendees at the original location, only for the university to be unable to protect attendees at the new location. This is institutional rot leading to institutional failures, and a few criminal investigations aren’t going to change anything.

For starters, students who participated in storming this event should be expelled. Student groups that encouraged this thuggish behavior, including the group Bears for Palestine, which called on other students to “shut it down,” should be dissolved. The students who took part in this are antisemitic thugs depriving their fellow students of free speech and of their own safety on campus.

But the students shouldn’t be the only ones punished. Chancellor Carol Christ and Executive Vice Chancellor Benjamin Hermalin said in a statement that the behavior of the protesters “violated not only our rules, but also some of our most fundamental values.” The problem is that no one believes that. UC Berkeley is under federal investigation for “profound and deep-seated anti-Semitic discrimination,” and students have been shutting down (or attempting to shut down) speeches on campus for years.


Anti-Israel faculty group adds fuel to a raging fire
“It’s not safe to be a Jewish student at UC Berkeley.” That was the message a Jewish student delivered before the House of Representatives’ Education and the Workforce Committee last Thursday, just days after anti-Israel agitators at UC Berkeley assaulted Jewish students.

To shut down an event featuring an Israeli speaker, the mob last week spat on, shoved, choked, and harassed Jewish students and broke windows and a door. Police acceded to the intimidation and canceled the speech. If Jewish students at Berkeley hoped their classrooms would offer a reprieve from the anti-Israel hostility on the quad, they would be sadly mistaken.

Berkeley has long been a hotbed for anti-Israel activity. Hatem Bazian, a Berkeley professor, in 1992 or 2001, depending on the account, launched at Berkeley the first Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, which has frequently engaged in disruptive behavior. In 2002, 79 SJP members were arrested for protesting a Holocaust memorial event, and in 2010, SJP’s leader was arrested for ramming a Jewish student with a shopping cart.

Berkeley made headlines in October 2023 when an instructor offered extra credit to students for attending a pro-Palestinian rally. In November, Jewish students sued the university for becoming a hub of “unchecked” antisemitism. Berkeley’s administration tried to have the case thrown out in February, claiming the First Amendment constrained its ability to check this “political speech.” Meanwhile, Berkeley became one of approximately 80 schools to host Faculty for Justice in Palestine, an anti-Israel faculty advocacy group.

FJPs stepped into the void created when college administrations began disciplining SJP chapters for violating codes of conduct and chanting genocidal slogans against Jews and Israelis. Statements from several FJP chapters have blamed Israel for Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack. Rutgers professor and FJP signatory Noura Erakat declared at a rally in November that Israel and Western powers are on a “depraved pursuit of wealth and privilege!” And Harvard FJP member Walter Johnson signed a letter defending the use of a slogan widely interpreted as advocating ethnically cleansing Israel.


US Department of Education is concealing foreign donations to universities
Anti-Israel protests at colleges nationwide have raised concerns about the potential role of Arab donations in the upsurge of antisemitism. However, the U.S. Department of Education (DoE) has made it difficult to assess the impact of these funds by intentionally obscuring data obtained from universities, misreporting information and altering previous reports.

Until 2020, the DoE paid little attention to university compliance, with institutions failing to report all donations above $250,000 as required. The Trump administration’s DoE found that specific foreign sources hostile to the United States were “targeting their investments to project soft power, steal sensitive and proprietary research, and spread propaganda.” It highlighted the lack of institutional controls to manage the risk “that foreign money buys influence or control over teaching and research.” The department expressed particular unease about anonymous donations from China, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Russia.

Rather than greater transparency, U.S. President Biden’s DoE has further obfuscated the threats by deleting dates, changing contribution amounts and erasing some donations altogether. Bowing to pressure from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, the department withholds donor information from public disclosure reports.

Typically, the public only learns of donations when universities publicize them, usually boasting of a new program or professorship funded by a contribution. Notably, some substantial donations—like the $20 million donated to Harvard and Georgetown universities in 2005 by Saudi Prince Talal—never appeared in DoE reports.


Dissecting CNN’s Allegation of an Atrocity by Israel
First, there is no “principle of proportionality” enshrined in the UN Charter, and second, the authors are confusing two different concepts.

It seems that the authors are referring to the right of self-defense, which is enshrined in the UN Charter, and which forms a part of what is known as jus ad bellum, which deals with the law of resorting to war, and which does involve a principle of proportionality.

However, that principle of proportionality has nothing to do with individual strikes. Rather, this principle of proportionality provides that a state engaging in a war in self-defense must “limit defensive force to that required to defeat the armed attack and likely follow-on attacks.” It deals with how much force Israel is allowed to use to defeat Hamas, not how much force it is allowed to use in any individual strike.

When discussing the “proportionality of the attack” on the warehouse, however, an entirely different principle of proportionality is used under the law of armed conflict. Under this principle, commanders are instructed to assess an attack which may be expected to cause incidental harm to civilians, and to decide whether the military advantage anticipated from the attack justifies that incidental harm.

That is, not only did CNN rely on thin and contradictory evidence to accuse Israel of having committed a war crime, or an “atrocity” as they put it, they even used the wrong legal principle to judge the IDF.

If CNN can’t be relied upon to produce an accurate picture of the facts, or to give the proper analysis of those facts, then can CNN be relied upon as a serious journalistic entity at all?
Reviewing BBC coverage of the al Rashid road convoy incident
As we see, the BBC generally failed to provide context relevant to this story, particularly in relation to previous incidents in which convoys were mobbed or looted and the theft of aid by Hamas and criminal gangs. It did however repeatedly promote unverified claims from the Hamas terrorist organisation and questionable ‘witnesses’ on an equal footing with statements made by the IDF. BBC audiences were not informed what lies behind Hamas’ efforts to persuade world opinion that a “massacre” was perpetrated by IDF troops who were in fact risking their own lives to facilitate a humanitarian convoy.

Fergal Keane’s March 2nd article includes the following:
“It is still too early to speak of the tragic events of 29 February as a turning point.

But, the deaths of so many in such terrible circumstances have added to the growing pressure for a ceasefire deal that would allow food to reach the hungry.

The coming days will tell if those hopes can be realised.”

That is precisely the aim of the Hamas narrative surrounding this tragic incident. Unfortunately, shoddy and irresponsible journalism such as that by BBC Verify only encourages those propaganda efforts.
Former Diplomats, In Globe & Mail Commentary, Whitewash UNRWA Connections To Hamas
Lloyd Axworthy and Allan Rock, both part of the World Refugee and Migration Council and a former Canadian foreign minister and a former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations, respectively, penned a commentary in the Globe and Mail on March 4 where they called for Ottawa to fund UNRWA, the disgraced United Nations agency with extensive ties to Hamas.

In their commentary entitled: “Airdrops are showy, but they do little for the people of Gaza,” they stated that “what is urgently needed, of course, is a ceasefire, coupled with the return of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas since its horrendous attacks in southern Israel on October 7, together with unimpeded access for the hundreds of truckloads of essential supplies required in Gaza daily.”

There is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, although not quite of the proportions Axworthy and Rock describe. In stating that “2.2 million Palestinians trapped without food, water or medical supplies” they neglected to mention that there is water, food and medical supplies in Gaza, and images show that at least in some markets, food is available and streets are bustling, unsurprising given that 15,000 aid trucks have entered Gaza since the war began.

Instead of analyzing the source of the humanitarian crisis, a simplistic ceasefire is mentioned as the only option, as if it would accomplish anything at all.
Hill Times Commentator Admits UNRWA Is Dedicated To Israel’s Destruction – And Still Demands Funding For It
On occasion, anti-Israel activists will ‘say the quiet part out loud,’ and express their true views, unburdened by the need to mask their opinions.

In his February 29 opinion column in The Hill Times, “Minister Hussen needs to reverse his UNRWA decision, or resign, or both,” lawyer Washim Ahmed simultaneously defends UNRWA, the disgraced United Nations agency, as an important humanitarian organization, and calls for Canada to resume funding it, but at one point, also admits that UNRWA supports the destruction of Israel.

“Israel perceives UNRWA as a threat not only because of its core humanitarian role in Gaza, but also due to its steadfast commitment to upholding the Palestinian right of return, a principle Israel considers a challenge to its political goals,” Ahmed writes in his commentary.

The “Palestinian right of return” refers to the influx of millions of Palestinians – many of whom have never stepped foot in Israel – whose ancestors left Israel during the country’s 1948 War of Independence, many at the behest of Arab leaders at the time, who thought the Jewish State would be quickly destroyed, and could soon return.

Today, this “right of return” is a thinly-veiled attempt to eliminate Israel as a Jewish-majority country by importing millions of Palestinians and their descendants, and by conceding that UNRWA has a “steadfast commitment” to this dangerous ideology, Ahmed says the quiet part out loud, namely that UNRWA, far from being a humanitarian organization, is just another group wearing a humanitarian mask while it advocates for the destruction of Israel.


Muslim preacher reported to police for anti-Israel hate speech
An imam who compared the October 7 attacks to Jews breaking out of concentration camps during the Second World War has been reported to the police for alleged hate speech.

West Yorkshire police confirmed it was making inquiries into comments by Sheikh Jaffer Ladak, the imam of the Baab-Ul-Ilm Centre in Leeds.

The force was handed a dossier containing a series of comments made by Ladak and broadcast on social media since Hamas massacred more than 1,000 Israeli civilians in a surprise offensive last year.

In a video posted on Instagram on January 10, Ladak complained about the media asking Muslims if they “condemn Hamas” for the events of October 7, when Hamas terrorists attacked kibbutzim near Gaza. He said: “The answer is actually no, why should we condemn?”

He compared the Hamas attack to Jewish people breaking out of a concentration camp during the Second World War and attacking Nazi military bases. “So why should you condemn when the people of Gaza break out of their concentration camp and attack the military bases around them?”

The mosque has said that the complaint to police about the comments is unfounded and an example of “ignominious Islamophobia”.

Ladak’s Friday sermon on October 13 was called “Palestinians have a right to resist occupation” and emphasised that recent events should be seen in the context of 75 years of history.
MEMRI: Dr. Majed Al-Ansari, Qatari Delegation Member To U.S.-Qatar Strategic Dialogue, In Support Of Hamas Missile Attacks On Israel
On March 5, 2024, the sixth annual U.S.-Qatar Strategic Dialogue was launched in Washington D.C.US Assistant Secretary for Global Public Affairs, Bill Russo, welcomed Dr. Majed Al-Ansari, spokesman of the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs and an advisor to Qatari Prime Minister.[1]

Below are two reports: The first shows Mr. Al Ansari's support for Hamas terrorism against Israel, while the second shows the level of the fierce incitement against Israel in the Qatari media.

Dr. Majed Al-Ansari, left, with Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Global Public Affairs Bill Russo.

Qatar's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Majed Al-Ansari In 2021 Article: Praise For Firing Of Thousands Of Rockets Into Israel; Gaza Is 'The First Palestinian Territory Liberated From The Occupier'; Israel Is 'The Entity,' 'The Zionist Enemy'

Dr. Majed Muhammad Al-Ansari, the spokesman of Qatar's Foreign Ministry and an adviser to the Qatari prime minister, was until quite recently a journalist and a columnist for the Qatari state daily Al-Sharq. Echoing Qatar's policy of supporting Hamas both politically and economically, Al-Ansari has expressed total support for armed struggle against Israel and for massive rocket attacks on it. One example of this is a column he published in Al-Sharq on May 24, 2021, just a few days after the end of the round of fighting between Israel and Hamas that began on May 10, 2021,[2] during which Hamas and other armed Palestinian factions fired thousands of rockets into Israel. In his article Al-Ansari praised Hamas' "victory" over Israel, which he called "the Zionist enemy" or "the entity," and celebrated the "the launching of 3,000 rockets in 10 days" into Israeli cities, which he said placed "the entire entity under the threat of the Palestinian rockets." This round of fighting, he stated, was just "one battle in an ongoing conflict." But it nevertheless marked "the beginning of the victory," because "historical victories" are the result of decades of ongoing activity. As examples of this he mentioned the First Intifada, which he said eventually led to the Israeli withdrawals as part of the Oslo Accords; the "martyrdom operations" during the Al-Aqsa Intifada; the "organized guerilla warfare" that, according to him, led to the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza – "the first Palestinian territory to be liberated from the occupier" – and the firing of rockets from Gaza into Israel. Al-Ansari asserted that the struggle against Israel continues to develop towards the ultimate goal of "the disappearance of the occupation," and expressed hope that Allah would allow him to live long enough to see the Muslim victory and "the liberation of Al-Aqsa Mosque and all the blessed land."[3]
PA TV attacks PMW for exposing that the Red Cross facilitates Pay-for-Slay
Official PA TV “Israeli affairs expert” Fayez Abbas: “An extremist right-wing organization Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) prepared a report saying that the Red Cross fills out forms for the prisoners and they are submitted to the PA in order to pay salaries to the prisoners. Of course, the director of this extremist right-wing organization [Itamar Marcus], demanded the Red Cross be prevented from visiting the prisoners, because the Red Cross is part of the plot against Israel. UNRWA, and now it’s the Red Cross… This guy [Marcus] comes out against me day and night, there is no doubt that he is watching me now, recording me, and preparing reports. I heard him with another report, preparing reports that are all exaggeration, lies, and evasion… The budget of this institute PMW is $20 million per year (sic., under $1 million), and it is funded by people from the American right-wing.”

[Official PA TV, Palestine This Morning, March 6, 2024]


FDD: 10 Things to Know About the Palestinian Authority
Israel has long sought a partner for peace to establish a two-state solution — the proposed resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that predates the 1948 establishment of the Jewish state. The Palestinian Authority (PA), forged initially from the 1993 Oslo Accords, is a transitional government that is still touted as the most obvious choice. However, after more than three decades and two presidents, the Palestinians have failed to convert the PA into a viable government. Poll after poll indicate that the PA’s corruption and dysfunction make it deeply unpopular among Palestinians in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

1. The PA was created 30 years ago by the Oslo Accords
Founded in 1964 as an umbrella organization for Palestinian terrorist groups, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) is today recognized by international bodies as the official representative of the Palestinian people. In 1993 and then 1995, Israel and the PLO signed a pair of agreements known as the Oslo Accords. By recognizing the State of Israel, the PLO emerged as the internationally recognized representative of the Palestinian people in negotiations with Israel. The Oslo Accords also led to the establishment of the PA to serve as an interim governing body in Gaza and parts of the West Bank. While technically distinct, the PLO and the PA have had the same leadership (currently Mahmoud Abbas, who succeeded Yasser Arafat).

2. The PA is not a democratic representative of Palestinians
The last presidential election in the West Bank was held in 2005, when PLO and Fatah faction representative Mahmoud Abbas swept to power. Abbas is now 88 years old, serving the 20th year of his original four-year presidential term. In the 2006 parliamentary elections, Hamas emerged victorious, prompting Washington to urge Abbas to retain power so as to prevent a designated terrorist group from taking over. There have been no presidential or legislative elections since. Washington has optimistically described Abbas as committed to making peace with Israel. However, Abbas has since ruled by decree, incited violence against Jews, peddled antisemitic tropes, proved unwilling to make diplomatic compromises, and dissolved the Palestinian parliament. He exercises autocratic power in the West Bank.

3. The PA is widely unpopular among Palestinians
If offered the opportunity to exercise self-determination and vote, Palestinians would not vote for Fatah — the political party that dominates the PA and PLO — in either Gaza or the West Bank.

GAZA: After Hamas’s 2006 legislative victory was effectively nullified by Abbas with backing from the United States, Hamas took control of Gaza in a bloody civil war against the Palestinian Authority. Despite the fact that Hamas has brought multiple wars upon the people of Gaza and that the coastal enclave has suffered from economic sanctions as a result of the Hamas conquest, the group remains popular. A poll in December 2023 by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that if similar parliamentary elections were held today, 52 percent of Palestinians in Gaza would vote for Hamas, compared to 21 percent for Fatah. In presidential elections, 71 percent of Palestinians in Gaza would vote for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh over PA President Abbas.

WEST BANK: A poll conducted by the Ramallah-based Arab World for Research and Development in November 2023 found that 85 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank have a “somewhat negative” or “very negative” view of the PA. The December 2023 Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research poll found that 92 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank want Abbas to resign. If presidential elections were held today, 82 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank would vote for Hamas’s Haniyeh over Abbas. In parliamentary elections, 50 percent of West Bank Palestinians would vote for Hamas, compared to 18 percent for Fatah.
PA and Hamas Vying for Support of Palestinian Clans
The Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas are competing to win the support of large Palestinian clans in the West Bank and Gaza, in the wake of talk about handing control over Gaza to local clans after the removal of Hamas from power.

The PA and Hamas understand that the backing of the clans is crucial for maintaining their control. That's why PA and Hamas leaders have always treated the large families and their leaders with utmost respect.

In some instances, clan leaders were elevated to the unofficial position of supreme judges and arbitrators, replacing the official judiciary.

Hamas is no longer functioning as a de facto government in Gaza, and most of its security and civilian institutions are in a state of paralysis.

According to sources in Gaza, a few clans affiliated with the PA and its ruling Fatah faction have begun challenging Hamas over the past few weeks.

These clans, known to have dozens of armed members, began operating as their own law enforcers in some towns and refugee camps in Gaza to prevent looting and other acts of anarchy and lawlessness.
Israel returns dozens of bodies thought to be hostages to Gaza
Israel transferred on Thursday several dozens of bodies to the Gaza Strip, which were taken from the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis during an operation conducted by the 98th Division last month.

As the IDF Spokesperson told international media, suspicions arose that within the Nasser hospital were held the bodies of Israel hostages.

The bodies were taken for identification into Israeli territory, and after ascertaining that they were Palestinian and not Israeli – they were returned to the Gaza Strip. According to Palestinian reports, the exact number of bodies returned is 47.
MEMRI: Growing Criticism Of Hamas And Its Leader Sinwar By Gazans: They Are Trading In Our Blood
Residents of Gaza continue to harshly criticize Hamas and its leadership on social media and at demonstrations.[1] They accuse it of insisting on continuing the war against Israel at any cost, despite achieving nothing but death and destruction, of waging wars that serve Iran's agenda and do not liberate Palestine, and of endangering civilians' lives by using them as human shields for its military operatives. Criticism and mockery is also directed at statements made by Hamas leaders who live abroad but expect the people of Gaza to bear the cost of the war. One social media user even called these leaders "beasts and asses "We want the rivers and lakes of blood to drown everybody, so that we can take great pleasure [in it] while we pretend to cry through our screens and behind our keyboards, as we sip coffee or wine.

The following is a sampling of the criticism voiced against Hamas and its leaders.

Hamas Is Waging A Needless War; Sinwar Is Destroying Gaza And Killing Its People

Gazans on social media continue to hold the leaders of Hamas responsible for the war with Israel, especially Hamas Political Bureau chief in Gaza Yahya Sinwar. Much of the criticism voiced by Gazans refers to Hamas' callous disregard of their lives, their property, and their opinions, stating that this movement, despite its claims to the contrary, does not really care about the people of Gaza.

In an anti-Hamas protest in the Gaza Strip on February 22, 2023, a Gaza man said that Hamas is shooting at hungry people looking for food, and that they have involved the people of Gaza in a war they do not want. He said: "We want peace. We want our children to go to school. Our children shouldn't be displaced." He went on to accuse Hamas' leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar of killing his own people, saying: "It is you that is killing us, not the Israeli army."


Seth Frantzman: Houthis' attack could single the start of a larger Middle East war
Houthi recruitments
“During the last three months, the Houthis mobilized 20,000 members from the Sanaa districts, another 20,000 from the Hajjah districts, and 6,000 from the Taiz districts that they control, while the militia leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, claimed to prepare 165,000 members to ‘fight the battle of the promised conquest and holy jihad,’” the report said.

The Houthis also are said to be recruiting children. “The Houthis’ targeting of children and adolescents in particular in recruitment operations extends over two decades… but recently the recruitment rate has increased frighteningly,” a human-rights group told AlAin.

Like Hamas, the Houthis use summer camps to put arms in the hands of children. It is not summer yet, so the new round of child militarization will have to wait a few months if the Houthis intend to use the summer camps for this purpose.

The Houthis exploit poverty and unemployment to recruit people for war, the report also said. The Houthis are now accused of sending 6,000 men to the Marib governorate in preparation for a possible offensive. “Observers believe that these Houthi crowds indicate that the militias are heading towards internal escalation and have nothing to do with ‘Palestine,’” the report said.

It now appears that recognition of the Houthi threat, and how they exploited the Gaza war, is leading to concern in the region. This may represent a turning of the tide in terms of understanding the way Iran has mobilized groups and exploited October 7.

For Iran, the attack on Israel was a huge watershed event. It is now possible that Tehran is using this all over the Middle East to build up its proxies.

The Houthis may want to “return Yemen to the war zone again by leaving the de-escalation agreement for a comprehensive escalation and annexing more land or completing the imposition of absolute control over areas of wealth,” one expert told AlAin News.

It is important to pay close attention to Yemen. If these reports are accurate, the Houthis are now on the move, which could reflect larger ambitions by Iranian groups in the region. They may be preparing something for Ramadan and the months after. If so, October 7 may have been the opening shot of a much larger war.
Two Killed in First Deadly Houthi Attack on Shipping
Two seafarers were killed in a Houthi missile attack on a Red Sea merchant ship on Wednesday, British and U.S. officials said, the first fatalities reported since the Iran-aligned Yemeni group began strikes against shipping in one of the world's busiest sea lanes.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack, which set the Greek-owned, Barbados-flagged ship True Confidence ablaze around 50 nautical miles off the coast of Yemen's port of Aden.

In a statement on X directly responding to the Houthi claim, Britain's embassy wrote: "At least 2 innocent sailors have died. This was the sad but inevitable consequence of the Houthis recklessly firing missiles at international shipping. They must stop."

"Our deepest condolences are with the families of those that have died and those that were wounded."

A senior U.S. official also confirmed two sailors had died.

The Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea since November in what they claim is a campaign in solidarity with Palestinians during the war in Gaza.

Britain and the United States have been launching retaliatory strikes against the Houthis, and the confirmation of fatalities could lead to pressure for stronger military action.

Earlier, a shipping source said four mariners had been severely burned and three were missing after a missile hit the ship.


‘Proud to support Israel,’ Noem signs bill adopting IHRA definition in South Dakota law
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, signed HB 1076, which requires the state to consider “the definition of antisemitism when investigating unfair or discriminatory practices,” into law on Wednesday

“Ever since the horrific terrorist attacks on the State of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, we have seen a shocking spike in antisemitic acts of hatred around the world, including some isolated incidents right here in South Dakota,” Noem stated. “I am very proud to sign this historic bill to keep our Jewish people secure. I hope more states will follow our leadership.”

Israel Katz, the Israeli minister of foreign affairs, commended Noem, whom he called “a true friend of Israel,” for “her decision to join 33 other states in the United States and adopt the IHRA definition which considers anti-Zionism as antisemitism, as an official law in her state.”

Since Oct. 7, “we see the hatred of Jews and the support for Hamas’s horrific acts of terror as a modern form of Jew-hatred. They want to destroy the State of Israel because they want to destroy the Jewish people,” Katz wrote.

“We are working with other states to adopt the definition and call on all other states in the United States to adopt the definition of the International Task Force for the Preservation of the Memory of the Holocaust,” he added.


You could win $1 million for developing technology to fight antisemitism
When Morielle Lotan learned that her nephew, Addir Mesika, had sacrificed his life to save others during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the consultant to climate tech startups and investors said she was nearly paralyzed with grief.

“I wanted to shut my company down and not do another day of climate work,” Lotan said. “I felt like, ‘Why am I trying to make this to save the world if it’s not a world I want to raise my kids in?’”

But that feeling was soon replaced with determination to deal with her pain and anguish through action.

“I needed to find the biggest possible challenge to rally behind for the rest of my life,” she said.

Now, Lotan has landed on what that should be: a high-stakes competition to find tech solutions to fight antisemitism. This week, she launched the first phase of the ADIR Challenge, created in collaboration with another Israeli-American entrepreneur, Shay Hershkovitz, and with the support of major Jewish nonprofits in the United States.

The $1 million-prize competition, named in honor of Lotan’s nephew, aims to bring the energy and mindset of Israeli startups to the nonprofit world, where initiatives focused on antisemitism have proliferated as reports of antisemitic incidents have spiked in recent months and years. Nonprofit organizations spend tens of millions of dollars every year on efforts to fight antisemitism.

“The disruption that’s needed isn’t just the disruption of using tech and innovation to combat antisemitism and hate, it’s also disruption within the more conventional organizations that have been the ones responsible for thinking of how to deal with it,” Lotan said.
Schools ‘shamefully’ boycotting Holocaust education over Gaza
Schools are snubbing a theatre company that educates children on the Holocaust “because of the current climate”, its director has said.

In a situation that has been described by educators as “shameful”, the JC also understands that parents have been bombarding schools with angry messages saying they would not let their children attend the company’s Shoah events.

The director of education theatre company and charity Voices of the Holocaust, which takes plays preserving the memories and stories of Shoah survivors into schools, told the JC that it is getting “radio silence”.

Cate Hollis, who also co-wrote the company’s latest play, Kindness: A Legacy of the Holocaust, said Voices has made “hundreds” of emails and calls but has had “nil response”.

She said that in the company’s first year since its return after Covid, it engaged 60 to 70 schools, mostly without funding, and this year it has engaged a “small portion of that”.

Hollis said: “It’s radio silence that we are feeling. It feels very obvious to us that schools are turning away. I know we are not alone in this. It’s deeply upsetting for the future of Holocaust education if what we are feeling and experiencing is a representation of mainstream senior leadership attitudes to Holocaust education.”


How volunteers used AI to identify the missing from October 7
For nine months before the 7th of October, Prof. Karine Nahon, head of the Data, Government and Democracy Program at Reichman University, was leading protests against the government’s proposed judicial reform.

On October 7, the data scientist switched gears, using artificial intelligence (AI) to determine the status of thousands of people missing after the Hamas attacks on Israeli Gaza border communities.

“At 10 o’clock that morning, eight or nine of the leaders of the protests met on Zoom. We decided to create a civilian war room,” Nahon related at the recent AI Day led by the Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center with the Tel Aviv University Center for AI and Data Science.

“We really didn’t know what we were talking about,” she admitted.

“We didn’t know yet that there were hostages and missing people. We thought at the time that about 30 people were dead and we wanted to help somehow, to evacuate people.”

By the afternoon, as reports of killings and kidnappings continued rising, Nahon and her committee canceled all 150 protests planned for that evening and called a meeting for 8am Sunday morning.

“Everyone took on a project. I offered to be in charge of finding missing people. After all, how many could there be? I was sure this project would just take five or six hours and I’d go home,” she said.

Former IDF chief of staff Dan Halutz and high-tech executive Ari Harel volunteered to co-lead the effort with Nahon.
Matti Friedman: The Song of the Israel-Hamas War
By the time the singer-songwriter Shlomi Shaban showed up at the border, the road crew had already set up two towers of speakers facing Gaza. The parents of one of the hostages seized by Hamas in the October 7 attack, a young musician named Alon Ohel, had the idea that their son would hear the songs and draw strength to hold on.

They invited three of his favorite singers, one of them Shaban, to play here, at one of the deserted communities along the border, and of course he came. Performing for people engulfed by the current tragedy, like soldiers and evacuees, is what Israeli artists do now.

When I asked one of the soundmen what volume level we’d get from the giant speakers, he said it would be “motherfucker.” Artillery thumps were audible across the border a mile away. A pillar of smoke rose from one of the ravaged Palestinian towns.

I’m another fan of Shaban—the only genius currently active in Israeli popular music, in my opinion, though if you live far away and don’t know Hebrew you may have to take my word for it, because his gift is hard to translate. I came down to the border with him in a van from Tel Aviv, where he lives, because I think he’s written the song of this war and I wanted to ask him about it.

Shaban, 47, writes lyrics that rummage around the Israeli mind with the dextrous, pitiless fingers of a neurosurgeon, and which are somehow both softened and sharpened by the sarcasm of a deadpan comic. His songs are powered by the fearsome keyboard talents of a child trained to be a concert pianist, and by the ongoing glee of his musical escape.
10 IDF couples hold joint wedding in massive Tel Aviv ceremony
Chabad brings together 10 IDF couples forced to postpone their wedding plans due to October 7 – marrying them in one of the greatest joint weddings ever held in Tel Aviv




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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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