Thursday, March 14, 2024

03/14 Links Pt2: Arnold Roth: Betrayal, lies, politics and grief; The world must be reminded of the Palestinian genocide campaign against Jews

From Ian:

Arnold Roth: Betrayal, lies, politics and grief
Seven years have passed since criminal charges were brought in Washington, D.C. against the woman who murdered my sunny, lovely, empathetic 15-year-old daughter Malki. The anniversary of the charges being made public is today, March 14.

As milestones go, this one is dark. The fugitive killer admits to her central role in the massacre for which she is being prosecuted. Though she brags about her atrocity, she lives the life of a celebrity and an inspiration to others. Yet her ongoing freedom gets negligible attention in the news industry and public discourse—even in the U.S. To the extent that the Arab media report on her, it is overwhelmingly favorable and sympathetic.

The dry details of Ahlam Aref Ahmad al-Tamimi’s long-thwarted prosecution are easy to find. The mugshots, biographical details and charges are accessible via three sites: The FBI’s list of Most Wanted Terrorists, the 2017 Department of Justice announcement of the previously secret charges and the State Department’s 2018 post of a $5 million reward that is still unclaimed two decades after it first went public.

What’s behind Tamimi’s freedom is harder to ascertain. Those who know don’t talk openly and those with a stake in her ongoing freedom are too often untruthful about it. Understanding this and conjecturing why it is the case is at the heart of the nightmare my wife and I endure years after our beautiful child’s life was extinguished.
Yisrael Medad: The world must be reminded of the Palestinian genocide campaign against Jews
If you do a Google search for the entry “Palestinian genocide accusation,” it starts with the 1948 Nakba, goes on to the 1967 Naksa, includes the Maronite-perpetrated Sabra and Shatila killings, and ends with the Gaza blockade. It references such terms as “ethnic cleansing,” “politicide,” “spaciocide,” and “cultural genocide.”

However, if you are looking for this year’s model, the entry is titled “Allegations of genocide in the 2023 Israeli attack on Gaza.” That includes such sub-sections as “Alleged genocidal intent,” “Academic and legal discourse,” “Statements by political organizations and governments,” and “Cultural discourse.” When I last looked, there were 299 references, not including footnotes.

The charge that Israel is engaged in a campaign of genocide in Gaza is ubiquitous, from The Hague to campuses, to the media, and in the streets. It is heard in museums and art galleries. It has led to the slogan “Abolish Zionism.” In a medical journal, British Medical Global Health, Israel’s policies were described as an “eliminatory settler colonial strategy.”

All this is propaganda, of course. After all, despite Israel’s campaigns against Hamas aggression, Gaza’s population shows no real signs of any serious demographic downfall. Neither has that of Judea and Samaria, except for voluntary emigration abroad.

Yet, there was a genocide campaign. It was conducted not against ‘Palestine’, but in Palestine, in the Mandate of Palestine. It was a campaign of attempted genocide, not against Arabs but against the Jews. It began in April 1920, and through riots, pogroms, and terror, as well as political and diplomatic pressure, it has not let up.
Michael Oren: Hamas has reminded us that we are a nation, a family - a mishpacha
Anybody who’s ever concluded a speaking tour, especially one as long as mine—nine weeks—knows this feeling. Of being in an airport and not being able to say for sure what city it’s in or even the date of the month. All that remains are the impressions which, gathered in a time of desperate war, of a deepening sense of Jewish loneliness, and of skyrocketing antisemitism, are unprecedentedly profound.

In visits to several dozen Jewish communities across North America, I saw a degree of confusion and fear I never before encountered. People unfamiliar with antisemitism now confront it persistently and in multiple forms—in the Jew-hating slurs of pro-Palestinian protestors, in university administrators indifferent to their Jewish students’ plight, to the ovations received by comedians poking fun at Hollywood’s Jews, and filmmakers weaponizing the Holocaust against Israel.

Virtually every Israel supporter I met had lost friends because of that support. Though an occasional heckler accused Israel of causing antisemitism by killing Palestinians—internalizing the antisemitic claim that all Jews everywhere are liable for Israel’s actions—the vast majority of American Jews understood that rampant anti-Zionism merely exposed a latent Jew-hatred that existed well before October 7. All but a few realized that Israel’s security was directly linked to their own and that the state of American Jewry was severely threatened by attacks on the Jewish state.

Asked repeatedly, “What should we do?” I responded that American Jews could adopt one of three courses. They could remove the mezuzah from their doors, lock themselves in, and ignore all the prejudice outside. They could move to Israel. Or they could stay and fight. They could resist in the Churchillian sense, I explained, on the campuses, in the media, and through their elected officials. And Jews were only beginning to discover the many ways they can fight back.

Recalling the resignation of the presidents of Penn and Harvard, I reminded my listeners of their ability to exact a price from any official who fails to stand up to antisemitism. “Support pro-Israel media initiatives,” I urged them. “Support anti-boycott legislation.”


Israel receives Hamas list of hostage deal demands from Qatar
The cabinet will convene Friday at noon and discuss the response of Hamas, which this evening officially submitted its response to the mediating countries, according to Israeli media.

According to the announcement published by Hamas, the deal was intended to allow the return of the residents of Gaza to their homes and the withdrawal of the IDF from the Strip.

Qatar sent Israel an official letter via Hamas detailing the Gaza terror group's demands as part of the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, KAN News reported on Thursday night.

Hamas said on Thursday it presented to mediators a comprehensive vision of a truce deal that is based on stopping the Israeli "aggression" against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, providing relief and aid, the return of displaced Gazans to their houses, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

The vision also included the group's stance on the prisoners-hostages exchange deal, Hamas added in a statement, but did not elaborate.
Career soldier, 51, killed in stabbing in south; terrorist shot dead by victim
A senior non-commissioned officer in the Israel Defense Forces was fatally stabbed in a terror attack at a gas station in southern Israel on Thursday. The assailant, an Israeli citizen originally from the Gaza Strip, was shot dead by the victim.

Another three people were slightly wounded.

The attack took place inside a branch of the Aroma coffee chain at Beit Kama Junction, just north of Beersheba.

Surveillance camera footage from the attack showed the assailant approaching Chief Warrant Officer Uri Moyal from behind, pulling out a knife and stabbing him in the back. Amid a struggle, the terrorist was seen attempting to also stab Moyal in the neck. The pair then fell to the ground, as another man was seen trying to pull the knife from the terrorist’s hand.

Moyal was seen managing to get up, then opening fire at the terrorist with his handgun, before collapsing outside the cafe.

Moyal, 51 from the southern city of Dimona, served as a senior technology and maintenance NCO at the Nahal Infantry Brigade’s training base.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said it took the victim to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba in critical condition, where he was pronounced dead shortly upon arrival.

The terrorist, a 22-year-old resident of the southern Bedouin city of Rahat, was killed.
Seth Mandel: Maryland Rabbis Won’t Take Van Hollen’s Contempt Lying Down
It’s possible that American Jewry is reaching the point at which its seemingly limitless patience reveals itself to be a finite resource. While the Jews of Berkeley were sitting-in and marching in protest of campus anti-Semitism, the rabbis of Maryland were taking the unusual step of rebuking a senator who has made anti-Israel rhetoric a centerpiece of his political agenda.

Chris Van Hollen is serving his first term as Maryland senator after representing parts of Montgomery County for seven terms in the House. Maryland is among the ten largest Jewish populations by state, and Montgomery County—very much including areas represented by Van Hollen during his House career—has more than 100,000 Jewish residents, accounting for 10 percent of the county’s entire population.

A Jewish community of that size right next to Washington, D.C. should loom large in the political sphere, especially for its congressional representative. But Van Hollen is working hard to erase it from his constituency. A particular low point came in February, when Van Hollen stood on the Senate floor and accused Israel of intentionally starving Palestinian children. This was not only a lie but a lie in the mold of the classic blood libels. Van Hollen went on to call this invented tale of Jewish perfidy “a textbook war crime” and Israeli leaders “war criminals.” Just yesterday, Van Hollen tried to use these unfounded allegations to raise the specter of an aid cut-off to Israel during wartime.

Van Hollen’s regular demagoguery was enough to provoke a letter from more than 70 Maryland rabbis from across the major Jewish denominations informing him that his vicious grandstanding is one thing they all can agree on: “We have differing opinions about some of the rhetoric and actions taken by the current Israeli government, but today we write with a unified voice to urge you to change your rhetoric and actions that we believe mischaracterize the current war and undermine America’s support for the Jewish state.”

The rabbis do not pull punches. “Following the worst pogrom against Jews since the Holocaust, we here at home have faced the worst wave of antisemitism in our lifetimes,” they write. “Yet to our dismay, rather than standing with us, your efforts in the Senate have only stoked deeper divisions and further isolated Israel and our Jewish community.”
I Produced an Oscar-Winning Holocaust Film. Here Is Why Jonathan Glazer’s Speech Was So Offensive
There is no one I know in Israel who is rejoicing about the war that the Jewish State has been forced to fight because of the Hamas attack. I have not heard one person in my large family or friend circle express happiness about how in the Israel Defense Force’s efforts to eradicate Hamas, 30,000 innocent people have reportedly been killed and many more injured. But I was forced to hear Hamas supporters chanting “From the river to the sea” when I found myself stuck in a New York city traffic jam in December caused by one of their protests — a chant calling for the genocide of my family and friends and all Israeli Jews.

Upon hearing Glazer’s words, I thought about the assistant camera operator who has worked on three of my films, and whose 79-year-old father was kidnapped. This man had been spending his retirement years volunteering to drive Gazans needing medical care into Israel, care which Hamas could not provide for them despite billions in aid that has been sent to the area since the terrorist organization took control of it in 2006. I thought about the young people I have met in the last few weeks who survived the massacre at the Nova music festival. And then I reflected on this incredibly arrogant man who equated Israeli Jews to Nazis, and then left the Dolby Theatre with his statue when the awards show ended to party the night away.

Now that the afterparties are over, I have a few questions for the celebrated filmmaker: Can you explain the dramatic antisemitism around the world since Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, an act its leaders have promised to do again and again and again? Can you help me understand how on International Women’s Day, women’s groups largely ignored how Jewish women were sexually abused by Hamas? Can you give me an idea, as a British citizen, why British Jews, in recent polls, have said that if they could, they’d leave the U.K. because of the onslaught of Jew hatred they have been facing since Oct. 7? How have the streets of Central London become “a no-go zone for Jews every weekend” because of massive anti-Israel demonstrations held by pro-Palestinian protesters?

Eighty years ago, at the 16th Academy Awards, no Oscar winner accepted his or her statue with a speech equating what the Allies were doing to win World War II with the Nazis. No attendees wore swastika pins in sympathy with Hitler’s Reich. However, during last night’s broadcast, there were those in their tuxedos and designer gowns wearing red pins in support of a Cease Fire Now and Palestinian flags on their lapels. At least there were also those in the audience who wore yellow pins, remembering the remaining hostages, including my assistant camera operator’s 79-year-old father.

Jonathan Glazer made a powerful film based on an incredibly powerful book. Sadly, his arrogant performance accepting his Oscar has diminished that achievement for people like me as well as my family and friends. He can return to England to what I assume is a very comfortable home while many of his fellow British Jews continue trying to figure out a way to leave the U.K. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis are homeless in the south and now in the north, under attack by Hamas’ ally Hezbollah, backed by Iran. It’s unclear whether these facts trouble Jonathan Glazer as he calls for people to “resist” and equates Israel with Nazi Germany. One thing I do know is that many Jews around the world were outraged and disgusted by what the Oscar winner had to say at this year’s Academy Awards. And joining that group, I would say that if we are going to resist or refute anything, it’s statements like the one issued by Jonathan Glazer.
Pro-Israel ‘Zone of Interest’ Producer Len Blavatnik Did Not Sign Off on Jonathan Glazer’s Oscars Statement (Exclusive)
Joining Glazer on the Oscars stage, representing the “we” of his remarks, were producer Wilson and executive producer Blavatnik. Wilson, while accepting a BAFTA earlier this year, commented that “we should care about innocent people being killed in Gaza or Yemen in the same way we think about innocent people being killed in Mariupol or in Israel” — a statement very much simpatico with what Glazer had to say.

Blavatnik’s situation is a bit more unusual. The 66-year-old billionaire, born to a Jewish family in Soviet-era Ukraine and who now holds British and American citizenship, last made news in December when he announced a withholding of donations to Harvard following the controversy surrounding its then-president Claudine Gay and accusations of leniency toward antisemitism. (Harvard Medical School includes a Blavatnik Institute. If you’ve sat in the fancy seats at Carnegie Hall recently, you’ve been in the Blavatnik Family First Tier, and a visit to the Tate Modern in London probably included the Blavatnik Building; his name is all over the place.)

Blavatnik also owns a controlling stake in an Israeli television channel and, per eJewishPhilanthropy, is “a major donor to a number of Israeli and Jewish causes, including a Chabad-run food bank in southern Israel, the National Library of Israel and Birthright Israel.”

Though Blavatnik maintained a steely expression during Glazer’s speech, he had not been consulted on it. “No, he didn’t clear the speech,” says Lisa Shields, a spokesperson for Blavatnik, “but he’s incredibly proud of the film and the accolades it has received and he doesn’t want to distract from the important themes of the movie.”

Representatives for Glazer did not respond to THR’s request for clarification.


'Either Evil or Stupid': Family of Palestinian Terror Victim Slams Oscars Ceasefire Pin
Norzhich, a nurse and father of three from Or Akiva, suggested the Artists4Ceasefire activists educate themselves by visiting Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp in Poland, or Ramallah, the Palestinian capital in the West Bank.

"I invite them to come to Ramallah without any Israeli security," he said. "I want to know what symbol they will leave with on their chest: a gunshot, a knife wound, or a hole from an RPG."

On Oct. 12, 2000, Norzhich's brother, Vadim Norzhich, and fellow reservist Yossi Avrahami ended up in Ramallah after taking a wrong turn. Palestinian Authority police officers arrested the Israelis, and a mob stormed the police station, stabbing and stomping the young men to death and gouging out their eyes.

Avrahami's wife called his cellphone during the lynching, and a voice on the other end of the line said, "I have just killed your husband."

Norzhich's pregnant wife, whom he had married six days earlier, also phoned her husband that day. She heard someone speaking Arabic, and then the line went dead.

Irena Norzhich told the Free Beacon that she avoids any news related to her husband's death and it is too painful to discuss.

Michael Norzhich said the family has never recovered from the death of his fun-loving little brother.

"My father has been closed up in his room for 23 years now," he said.

The lynching—instantly encapsulated by the photo of the killer displaying his bloody hands from the police station window—changed Israel, too. It marked the beginning of the the second intifada, a years-long wave of Palestinian terrorism that largely crushed the Jewish public's hopes for peace.

But according to Norzhich, the country failed to fully learn the lesson of that day. Over his objections, Israel in 2011 released 1,027 Palestinian security prisoners—including Aziz Salha, the killer from the photo—in exchange for the return of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas.

Also among the released Palestinian prisoners was Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who is said to have masterminded the Oct. 7 attack.

"I knew it would happen. It was a matter of time," Norzhich said of Oct. 7, when a Hamas-led mob killed more than 1,200 people, most of them Israeli civilians, and took 253 hostages, 130 of which remain in Gaza.

Israel has reportedly agreed to a U.S.-backed ceasefire deal under which it would release 10 prisoners for every hostage held by Hamas. But Hamas has rejected the agreement, demanding Israel permanently end the war and withdraw from Gaza.

Artists4Ceasefire, whose organizers have remained anonymous, did not respond to an interview request.


Deborah Lipstadt to 'Post': Antisemitism is a threat to democracy - interview
To the heads of governments and opinion makers: take this seriously; it's not just the passing moment, Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt told The Jerusalem Post last week during the Anti-Defamation League's "Never is Now" summit on antisemitism.

"This has very serious overtones, and above all, this is the message I've been giving worldwide before October 7, but with much greater clarity since October 7, is recognize this as more than solely a threat to the welfare of Jews and the Jewish community," Lipstadt said, "which if that were just the reason would be a good enough reason to fight it, but it's also a threat to democracy."

"Anybody who buys into the conspiracy myth which is at the heart of antisemitism and accepts the notion that Jews control the media, the banks, government or judiciary has given up on democracy," Lipstadt said.

Antisemitism and the failure of states
Lipstadt said it's multi-layered: the welfare of the Jewish community, democracy, and now, the most ominous threat, to the security and stability of nations.

"Bad actors" might not hate Jews, but they recognize that ginning up antisemitism is a good way of making democracies look like failed states, according to Lipstadt.

Lipstadt described antisemitism as a ladle used to stir the pot.

"They can't add fuel to a non-existing fire. But if there's a fire, they can gin it up," Lipstadt said.

Lipstadt said moving past the initial shock and pain of October 7 and the following rise in antisemitism can be done through community and having a sense of Jewish identity outside of fighting antisemitism.

"Don't go at it alone," Lipstadt said; find a synagogue or an affinity group.

"Even more than finding a community, learn who you are and what you are, because you can't build an identity solely based on 'I'm against the people who hate me,'" Lipstadt said. "Because then the people who hate you determine how [Jewish] you feel. You can say, "Oh, I feel strongly Jewish because there's antisemitism, if there's no antisemitism, forget it."
Union Lawyers Call Jewish Colleagues ‘Deranged’ and ‘Fascist’
Jewish lawyers say members of their own labor union are attacking them for supporting Israel—claims that have led Congress to investigate the group for antisemitism.

Members of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (ALAA), which represents 2,700 public interest attorneys and advocates in the New York City area, say the union fostered a hostile environment toward Jews after Hamas invaded Israel on October 7. Four lawyers who spoke to The Free Press said the abuse was so severe it almost forced them to quit their jobs. As one lawyer who has been in the union for over 15 years put it: “I hate it there. I think the union is a sinking ship. So I am actively looking for an escape plan.”

The Free Press independently obtained hundreds of ALAA messages from its group chat—known internally as a “gaggle”—that appeared after October 7, which could play a role in the congressional investigation. Messages show multiple ALAA members backing the Palestinian cause and calling on the union to pass a cease-fire resolution in Gaza. Members who defended Israel in the chat were called “fascist,” “deranged,” and “mentally disturbed.” One Jewish union member was told he needs “therapy” and that he needs to “develop some sort of conscious [sic].”

Hundreds of messages also accused Israel of “genocide,” “ethnic cleansing,” and “apartheid.” One post in December called Israel the “racist white status quo,” while the following post called Zionism an “ethnocentric racist bigoted belief.”

In one message, lawyer Niteka Raina—whose anti-Israel sentiment was previously reported by the New York Post—described her opposition to the country as a “fight against settler-colonial occupying genocidal states.” She signed off her post below with an apparent attempt at humor, using Nazi imagery: “Goosestepping outside!” (Raina did not respond to a Free Press request for comment.)
The Cowardice of Guernica
In the days after October 7, the writer and translator Joanna Chen spoke with a neighbor in Israel whose children were frightened by the constant sound of warplanes. “I tell them these are good booms,” the neighbor said to Chen with a grimace. “I understood the subtext,” Chen wrote later in an essay published in Guernica magazine on March 4, titled “From the Edges of a Broken World.” The booms were, of course, the Israeli army bombing Gaza, part of a campaign that has left at least 30,000 civilians and combatants dead so far.

The moment is just one observation in a much longer meditative piece of writing in which Chen weighs her principles—she refused service in the Israeli military, for years has volunteered at a charity providing transportation for Palestinian children needing medical care, and works on Arabic and Hebrew translations to bridge cultural divides—against the more turbulent feelings of fear, inadequacy, and split allegiances that have cropped up for her after October 7, when 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage in Hamas’s assault on Israel. But the conversation with the neighbor is a sharp, novelistic, and telling moment. The mother, aware of the perversity of recasting bombs killing children mere miles away as “good booms,” does so anyway because she is a mother, and her children are frightened. The act, at once callous and caring, will stay with me.

Not with the readers of Guernica, though. The magazine, once a prominent publication for fiction, poetry, and literary nonfiction, with a focus on global art and politics, quickly found itself imploding as its all-volunteer staff revolted over the essay. One of the magazine’s nonfiction editors posted on social media that she was leaving over Chen’s publication. “Parts of the essay felt particularly harmful and disorienting to read, such as the line where a person is quoted saying ‘I tell them these are good booms.’” Soon a poetry editor resigned as well, calling Chen’s essay a “horrific settler normalization essay”—settler here seeming to refer to all Israelis, because Chen does not live in the occupied territories. More staff members followed, including the senior nonfiction editor and one of the co-publishers (who criticized the essay as “a hand-wringing apologia for Zionism”). Amid this flurry of cascading outrage, on March 10 Guernica pulled the essay from its website, with the note: “Guernica regrets having published this piece, and has retracted it. A more fulsome explanation will follow.” As of today, this explanation is still pending, and my request for comment from the editor in chief, Jina Moore Ngarambe, has gone unanswered.
Judith Butler defends calling October 7 Massacre 'armed resistance'
Feminist icon and American philosopher Judith Butler on Monday defended remarks describing the Hamas October 7 massacre as “armed resistance” and downplaying the antisemitic nature of the attacks during a March 3 panel in Paris.

At the Pantin event hosted by Paroles d’honneur and co-organized by Tzedek! Decolonial Jewish collective, Permanent Revolution, Organisation antifasciste autonome, Paris-Banlieue, Union Juive Française pour la paix, and the New Anticapitalist Party, Butler said that Hamas’s actions were operations against the state in a response to Israeli subjugation, and not chiefly antisemitic. She also questioned the role that sexual violence took in the pogrom.

“We can have different views as Hamas as a political party, we can have different views on armed resistance, but I think it is more honest and historically correct to say that the uprising of October 7 was an act of armed resistance,” Butler said on March 3. “It is not a terrorist attack and it’s not an antisemitic attack, it was an attack against Israelis.”

While Butler said that she did not like the attack and it caused her anguish, she also said she would be “foolish if I then decided that the only violence in the scene was the violence done to Israeli people.”

“The violence done to Palestinians has been happening for decades. This was an uprising that comes from a state of subjugation and against a violent state apparatus,” Butler explained. “Now you can be for or against armed resistance, you can be for or against Hamas, but let us at least call it armed resistance and then we can have a debate about whether we think it’s right or whether they did the right thing.”

Butler said that it was a problem that if one called it armed resistance it was presumed that one was in favor of armed resistance or a tactic. She decried Palestinian self-defense being often called terrorism when it was a way for them to stay alive and seek liberty. In contrast, she said that Israel had subjugated a people in the name of self-defense, a term that allowed the rationalization of systematic oppression.

The Berkeley professor said that non-violence was not an absolute principle in every situation, but an aspiration for what was needed to restructure the world so that people could live in a world without violence. She said that aspiration could be maintained when engaging in armed resistance.


Why TikTok Promotes Anti-Israel Sentiment
Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed a bill banning the popular video app TikTok if the Chinese media company ByteDance doesn’t divest its shares. The app allows for the easy sharing of short videos and, thanks especially to its algorithms, wastes countless hours of time. But the more serious problem is that companies like ByteDance are de-facto organs of the Chinese government, and TikTok is already being used to surveil and collect tremendous amounts of data about Americans. Moreover, because the app works by offering up a stream of suggested videos to users, its programmers can amplify content with the political and ideological messages it favors. And that’s why Jews, and friends of the Jewish state, should hope the Senate approves the bill. Cole Aronson explains:
One month after the October 7 Hamas attack, TikTok videos with hashtags like #freepalestine were watched by Americans about 50 times more than pro-Israel ones. Although the app’s users skew young and hence leftward, their politics probably don’t account for the ratio. . . . Moreover, the company apparently rejected ads from the families of Israeli hostages as too political while accepting ones from pro-Palestinian groups.

In fact, a 2023 study suggested that spending at least 30 minutes per day on TikTok increases a person’s chance of holding anti-Semitic or anti-Israel beliefs by 17 percent. Aronson looks into why this is so:
One way to approach China’s strategic interest in American opposition to Israel is through the works of Wang Huning, the fourth-highest ranking member of the ruling Politburo Standing Committee and China’s most powerful intellectual. . . . In 1988, Wang spent several months in the United States. The final section of his remarkable philosophical travel memoir, America against America, notes America’s difficulty cultivating faithful heirs of its traditions.

Wang’s early tract and his seniority in the CCP suggest . . . a hostile bid for the management of what young Americans believe and feel, to impede older Americans from passing on their way of life.

The U.S.-Israel alliance is especially vulnerable to such a strategy. In Congress, and among older voters, support for Israel remains a point of unusual bipartisan agreement. But a Quinnipiac poll from October 17, 2023, found a 30-percentage-point gap between voters older than 50 and voters younger than 35 on whether America should arm Israel against Hamas. It is difficult to think of another political topic with that degree of intergenerational fracture.
A fitting Israeli reply to Erdogan: Recognize the Armenian Genocide
The main impediment for Israeli recognition of our genocide has been Turkey, which vehemently denies the genocide, fearing that acknowledgment would lead to demands for reparations. Israel, seeking to maintain diplomatic ties and military cooperation with Turkey, has rather meekly complied. That figurative ship appears to have decisively sailed in recent months. Erdogan is a friend of Hamas and not of Israel.

We understand very well that Netanyahu is using the genocide issue as a cudgel against the increasingly belligerent Turkish leader. But there is a wider picture as well. Israel is rather isolated in the world right now. It doesn’t need more cynicism and scheming from its prime minister. Rather, now would be a great time to do the right thing.

There is a realpolitik argument for this, for those who need it. U.S. President Joe Biden, who recognized the genocide two years ago, would undoubtedly be pleased – which would help ease the rift with the US administration. Moreover, Turkey's influence in the region has waned in recent years, while Israel's relations with other regional actors, such as Greece and Cyprus, have strengthened.

But realpolitik, though often hailed as a pragmatic and realistic approach to international relations, has a dark side. It can involve excruciating moral compromise and result in alliances with oppressive regimes, turning a blind eye to human rights abuses. Such actions undermine the credibility of nations and tarnish their reputation. They start standing for cynicism and hypocrisy.

As a nation founded on the principles of justice, human rights, and remembrance of historical injustices, Israel has a moral obligation to recognize the Armenian Genocide, which is deemed by an overwhelming majority of scholars and experts as a historical fact. The denial of our genocide undermines the global fight against genocide denial and impunity.

By taking a principled stand and acknowledging the Armenian Genocide, Israel can demonstrate its commitment to universal values and strengthen its moral standing in the international community – at a time when that standing is being questioned.

So Netanyahu should do more than fire off a tweet. He should follow in Biden’s footsteps. The time for Israel to recognize the Armenian Genocide is now. It would be a fitting reply to Erdogan.
Italy arms exports to Israel continued despite block, minister says
Italy has continued to export arms to Israel, the Italian defense minister said on Thursday, despite assurances last year that the government was blocking such sales following Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip.

However, Guido Crosetto told parliament that only previously signed orders were being honored after checks had been made to ensure the weaponry would not be used against Gaza civilians.

Under Italian law, arms exports are banned to countries that are waging war and those deemed to be violating international human rights.

Crosetto announced last year following the explosion of violence in Gaza that the Italian authority that oversees the sale of military goods, known as Uama, had blocked authorization of the transfer of arms to Israel.

However, picking apart data from statistics agency ISTAT, independent media outlet Altreconomia this week reported that Italy had exported 2.1 million euros ($2.30 million) in arms and munitions to Israel in the last three months of 2023.

In December alone, Italy exported 1.3 million euros worth of arms, three times the level of the same month in 2022.

Crosetto told parliament these were outstanding contracts. "Uama checked them on a case-by-case basis, and they did not concern materials that could be used against civilians in Gaza," he said.
Gaza at top of the agenda for Irish PM’s White House visit
As the White House prepares for St. Patrick’s Day, breaking out the shamrocks and preparing a speech in which President Joe Biden will express pride in his Irish heritage, there’s another item on the agenda that one may not normally associate with a celebration of the Emerald Isle: the war in Gaza.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has said he plans to call for an immediate cease-fire in his scheduled meeting with Biden on Friday.

Ireland has long been one of the European countries most critical of Israel, and has been among the most antagonistic Western countries to the Jewish state following Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist massacre.

Ireland joined South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice claiming that Israel is committing genocide. When countries withdrew funding from the U.N. Relief and Works Agency due to some of its workers’ participation in the Oct. 7 attack, Ireland announced an additional contribution. Ireland and Spain have asked the European Commission to assess whether Israel is committing human rights violations that would invalidate its trade deal with the EU – Israel’s largest trading partner, accounting for 28.8% of trade.

Varadkar has said Israel is “blinded by rage” and at risk of committing a massacre in Rafah, while Irish Trade Minister Simon Coveney said that Israel was acting “like a monster.” Ireland’s Junior Foreign Minister Sean Fleming accused Israel of spreading disinformation, claiming that the hundreds of miles of tunnels found under Gaza are just “a few little manholes.” The Irish parliament held a vote on a motion to expel Israeli Ambassador Dana Erlich, which was voted down.

Varadkar also faced criticism for his comments on 9-year-old Irish-Israeli Emily Hand’s release after being held hostage by Hamas terrorists for 50 days. He posted on X (formerly Twitter) that “an innocent child who was lost has now been found and returned, and we breathe a massive sigh of relief. Our prayers have been answered.”
Ballet Ireland drops routine created by Israeli choreographer in 1999
Ballet Ireland has pulled a dance number from a performance later this month due to an Israeli choreographer’s involvement in the work.

According to a statement released by Ballet Ireland on Wednesday, the Minus 16 piece will be withdrawn from the Bold Moves 2024 programme which is set to take place from 22-30 March.

Originally choreographed by Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin for Nederlands Dans Theatre in 1999, the piece has been performed by a variety of international dance companies over the last 25 years.

“We stand by the right to freedom of artistic expression, and despite our belief that art should not be drawn into politics, we feel the time is not right to be performing this work,” said Anne Maher, artistic director and chief executive officer of Ballet Ireland.

“Our programming is done well in advance of the performance dates. In this instance, Minus 16 was independently licensed directly from Mr Naharin in 2019 and programmed for Bold Moves 2024 long before the current conflict in Gaza began. We are sensitive to the fact that the situation is very different now.”

The routine faced opposition from members of the Irish dance community in a group called Apartheid Free Dance, who wrote in a statement saying they found it “deeply troubling” that Ballet Ireland intended to present a work created by “an Israeli state-funded choreographer.”


Portuguese festival: 'Zionism has no place on a dancefloor'
Portuguese festival Waking Life said that Zionism shouldn't be allowed on dancefloors and compared it to racism, homophobia, and sexism in an essay posted on its website and Instagram page on Monday.

In The Last Sky, the essay by Waking Life organizer Ivan March, the self-styled "Grooveologist" argued for allowing people with divergent and clashing views to take part in festivals and other events but singled out Zionism as monstrous.

"I don’t think that Zionism has a place on a dancefloor. Neither does nationalism, neither does homophobia, neither does racism or sexism or any other form of racial, gendered, cultural superiority – but we still carry our traumas around with us, so there are no guarantees when it comes to dancefloor politics," said March. "I grew up with both blood family and strangers on dancefloors deeming me, and others like me, monsters.

But it turns out that many people like coming to monsters’ balls, and we simply need to build spaces that will attract those who find belonging there. What we need to do is build structures of care, we need to speak to one another, dance closely with one another, channel radical receptivity side-by-side with radical honesty. We need to cultivate compassionate cultures and find a way to tend to our collective wounds while keeping tenderness with the troubled boundaries."

March bemoaned the destruction in Gaza and the violence around the world that was being given media attention, as well as the conflicts being ignored. He praised Israeli Queerhana for its "anarchy and peace" message but said that its legacy was "a distant echo" and "what is needed the most right now, alongside cessation of violence, is grieving, union and collective processing of the intergenerational traumas that have erupted all over the globe."
Almost half of South Africans believe Hamas rape to be 'propaganda'
One in four South Africans say that “rape can be justified as a means of attacking and weakening the enemy” during wartime, according to a new survey commissioned by the Women’s Action Campaign South Africa (WACSA) and carried out by Victory Research, a market research firm.

That same number say there is no need for the South African government to apply any pressure on international authorities to prosecute Hamas terrorists responsible for the rape, torture, and killing of citizens on October 7, and about 40% of South Africans believe that the reports Hamas raped Israelis during that attack are merely propaganda.

Asked what the consequences should be for “Hamas militants if they did rape, torture, and kill citizens,” only 60% of respondents— 65% of women and 55% of men— said that every international effort should be made to hold the perpetrators to account.

Another 6% went further, endorsing the statement “Israeli citizens are not innocent, they are complicit in their country’s behavior toward Palestinians over decades, and thus are responsible for what Hamas did to them.”

Interpretation of those numbers, however, is challenged by the fact that when asked if they were even aware of the organization called Hamas, a majority (56%) said no, and only a minority (40%) said they were aware of the attack on October 7.
‘L’Chaim Intifada’: Rashida Tlaib Meets With Fringe Anti-Israel Group Amid Gaza War
US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) on Wednesday met with a group of activists representing a fringe anti-Israel organization that did not condemn Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel and has long celebrated terrorism against Israelis.

Tlaib posted a picture on social media with a group of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) activists who visited her office, writing, “I am so grateful for @JVPLive Rabbis on the Hill for standing with us in solidarity to demand a lasting ceasefire in Gaza. I am so inspired by their advocacy to save lives, no matter their faith or ethnicity, and their commitment to uplifting the human dignity of Palestinians.”

In response to Tlaib’s meeting, pro-Israel activist Hen Mazzig wrote on X/Twitter: “The Jewish community knows which viewpoints from our community are mainstream or fringe, when we’re correctly being represented or not.”

“Tokenizing Jews is never to heal your relationship with our community; it’s to play kosher to people who don’t know better,” he continued.

JVP has long been criticized for allegedly celebrating and advocating terrorism. On Oct. 7, it reposted a user who wrote, “Today’s events are more than just an operation, uprising, revolt, etc. Palestinian bulldozers tearing down the barrier that imprisoned them for more than 16 years is symbolic of Gaza’s defiance in the face of decades of siege, massacres, & occupation.”

Hamas terrorists launched a surprise invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, murdering 1,200 people, kidnapping 253 others as hostages, and launching the current war in Gaza.


Two arrested as hundreds protest Teaneck Synagogue Israel real estate expo
Two anti-Israel protesters were arrested for spraying cars with paint during a Sunday demonstration against an Israeli real estate exposition at Congregation Keter Torah Synagogue in Teaneck, New Jersey.

The Teaneck Police department said on Monday that Letticia Freitas and Mahdy Suleimen were arrested for spraying passing cars with a red liquid as they passed the demonstration area. Freitas was charged with five counts each of bias intimidation, criminal mischief, simple assault, and harassment. Suleiman was charged with single counts of bias intimidation, criminal mischief, and harassment.

The Bergen County Jewish Action Committee (BCJAC) claimed in a Monday statement that protesters also hurled objects at commuters and pedestrians.

BCJAC spokesman said that the My Home in Israel Real Estate informational program held at the Orthodox Jewish synagogue faced “a cynical attempt to target a religious institution under false pretenses as part of a coordinated and malicious campaign to harass Teaneck’s Jewish community”.

“These protestors knowingly misrepresented, and made utterly unfounded and inflammatory claims about, the event in an attempt to mask what was little more than the targeted harassment of a peaceful religious community by a violent mob,” said Gross.
LA synagogue presidents resign after covering up Israeli hostage posters
The HAMAKOM synagogue in Los Angeles conducted town hall meetings on Tuesday in response to the outrage that had arisen in the community over images that had circulated showing that posters of Israeli hostages hung in the building had been covered in preparation for the use of the space by the Islamic Society of West Valley for Ramadan.

As a result, hundreds of congregants reportedly threatened to leave the congregation. According to the synagogue website, it counts as many as 900 families as members.

In a statement on Wednesday, the synagogue’s leadership team revealed that “our co-presidents have tendered their resignations from their positions.”

The synagogue also canceled the rental agreement with the Muslim group upon learning that, as it said in another statement, “there was a speaker this evening, Hussam Ayloush, who has spoken out against Israel and its rightful actions to defend its people.”

The synagogue stated, “We cannot give audience to comments that denigrate Israel’s right to protect itself after Oct. 7.”

Ayloush is the longtime executive director at the LA chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. On March 1, he told a San Diego mosque, “What is happening in Palestine is an American genocide. It is a Biden genocide against the Palestinian people.”
Awash in Qatari money, have US campuses become incubators for Doha’s interests?
As campuses have become battlegrounds over Israeli and Palestinian narratives in the wake of the October 7 massacre of 1,200 people in southern Israel by Hamas terrorists, many have found it hard to ignore Qatar’s university funding and what that funding could buy.

Though presenting itself as a fair mediator in indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, including over terms for the release of hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 and still held in Gaza, Qatar has long hosted Hamas’s leadership and has been harshly critical of Israel. In a statement released as Hamas terrorists were carrying out atrocities across southern Israel, Doha declared Israel “solely responsible for the ongoing escalation” and justified the terror onslaught.

“The Qataris excel at leveraging the Palestinian issue to draw attention to what suits them,” Admoni said. “In Western countries, particularly within educated circles, the pro-Palestinian struggle is perceived as a ‘convenient’ cause. Consequently, from the Qatari perspective, this portrayal positions them favorably on what they consider to be the right side of public opinion, especially among the youth.”

According to Marcus, the draw of Qatari money also means school administrators may be less willing to call out antisemitism on campus.

“It’s not at all surprising when US administrators are reluctant to impose the same discipline on foreign students when they’re getting foreign money because there is a range of pressures on them to avoid doing the right thing,״ he said.

Doha’s ‘pragmatism’
As shown by the fact that it hosts both a major American military base and a Taliban embassy, Doha excels at maintaining alliances while navigating shifting and often discordant interests.

Admoni noted that when Qatar was accused of funding the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda in 2017, Doha launched a charm offensive aimed at keeping Washington in its court, including cozying up to Jewish leaders.

“They are very pragmatic and cynical politicians, and if they have a global goal like appearing as those who solve the Palestinian issue, they will do whatever it takes for that,” he said.

“The Qataris aim to be tone-setters, active participants in the discourse, exerting influence wherever they can impact and where decision-makers gather,” Admoni added. “This involves investing in global sports, culture, politics, and academia to establish ‘soft power’ influence. It’s a form of soft diplomacy, ensuring that they cannot be ignored.”
University of Virginia DEI staff privately downplayed professor’s pro-Hamas rally extra credit offer
Top diversity, equity, and inclusion staffers at the University of Virginia appeared to immediately downplay outside concerns over a professor offering students extra credit to attend a rally about “how we can stand in solidarity with Palestinians resisting occupation,” emails show.

The emails were obtained by the Washington Examiner through the Freedom of Information Act and have not yet been reported. They provide an inside look at how officials at one of the top-ranking universities in the United States scrambled to determine how to respond to scrutiny in connection to UVA global studies and anthropology professor Tessa Farmer’s heavily scrutinized extra credit offer last year to students on Oct. 12, just five days after Hamas killed more than 1,200 Israelis in the Jewish state. In turn, two senior DEI employees at UVA seemed to dispute whether Farmer was actually providing that extra credit opportunity, which the office of Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares said he was “very concerned” about, documents show.

“Internal emails show DEI staffers were apparently unperturbed by this professor’s promotion of a Students for Justice in Palestine event despite the group’s radical rhetoric,” said Adam Andrzejewski, CEO of Open the Books, a federal spending watchdog. The organization found through an analysis that UVA spent an estimated $20 million in 2023 paying the salaries of 235 staffers working in DEI-related roles.

“They appeared surprised the outside world found their divisive identity politics objectionable,” Andrzejewski said.

News of the emails comes as DEI offices at universities continue to come under intensified scrutiny from Republicans, who have likened the ideology to a form of discrimination due to DEI’s emphasis on viewing social interactions in terms of gender and race. The release of the emails could further expand open GOP-led investigations into antisemitism in Virginia on the heels of Oct. 7.

Now, the U.S. Department of Education is investigating threats made against Jewish students at UVA, according to multiple reports. The agency declined to comment.
Columbia University Continues to Fail Jewish Students & Faculty
Accuracy in Media returned to Columbia University to interview Jewish students and faculty about their experiences facing antisemitism on campus. Their stories were shocking and disturbing.


BBYO survey reports that 71% of Jewish teens have experienced antisemitism
BBYO has released the results of a new survey of 1,989 Jewish students conducted from Jan. 23 to Feb. 5.

The researchers found that 71% had experienced antisemitic hate or discrimination. Those who have faced it in person numbered 61% while 46% saw it online, and 36% had experienced both forms. Of those who had experienced in-person hate, 46% said it occurred at school and 45% chose not to report the incident.

For the teens who encountered online anti-Jewish hate, they reported that the most common platforms were Instagram (33%), TikTok (23%) and Snapchat (17%).

Matt Grossman, CEO of BBYO, called the survey “a critical wake-up call, revealing the stark reality that Jewish teens are enduring.”

The Jewish youth organization said in a statement that “the data indicates that the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas and the subsequent spread of misinformation and antisemitic rhetoric and violence have had a traumatic impact on Jewish high school students’ safety, well-being, and mental health.”

According to the report, 74% of BBYO members have seen more discrimination since Oct. 7.

Grossman emphasized that “every Jewish teen deserves to feel safe and supported, and it is incumbent upon us to ensure they have those safe spaces, as well as the tools and assistance they need, to navigate these turbulent times with strength and pride. We are so proud and grateful that involvement with BBYO has played such a significant role in helping teens cope with elevated levels of stress and anxiety.”


‘Kikes out’ and ‘Up Hamas’ scrawled on walls in Manchester University union building
Antisemitic and pro-terror graffiti has repeatedly been scrawled inside Manchester University students’ union.

Slogans including “kikes out”, “up Hamas”, “I hate Zionists”, “death to Zionism” and “victory to the resistance” have repeatedly been discovered in university bathrooms.

One student said it took 72 hours for “kikes out” – which had been etched into a cubicle wall with a sharp object – to be erased.

Second-year student Samuel Bartlett said he reported the graffiti to the student union on numerous occasions.

“It took emailing the union, the university, and security before they removed the ‘up Hamas’ graffiti,” Bartlett said.

A religion and theology student originally from York, Bartlett wears a yarmulke and a Star of David. Last week, a fellow student shouted “Free Palestine” at him.

Many months after October 7, Bartlett said that Manchester University campus “still feels like a very hostile environment.”

“Jewish students have lost faith in the university to tackle antisemitism”, Bartlett said.
Top French university rocked by domestic violence scandal, antisemitism allegations
Meanwhile, more controversy struck the Sciences Po campus after around 100 students occupying the main lecture hall as part of a pro-Palestinian demonstration on Tuesday were accused of barring entry to a Jewish student and insulting her.

The student — a member of the Union of Jewish Students in France (UEJF) that claims a national membership of 15,000 — was greeted with shouts of “Don’t let her in, she’s a Zionist,” the union said on X, formerly Twitter.

‘Unspeakable and perfectly intolerable’
The incident sparked condemnation at the highest level of government, with Macron telling Wednesday’s cabinet meeting that the remarks were “unspeakable and perfectly intolerable.”

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said the government would be filing a legal complaint over the incident, warning of an “active and dangerous minority” on campus.

But students on the ground said the government should be more circumspect in its condemnation.

“It’s really sad that unverified information is taken directly to the French president,” said one student who declined to be named. “We don’t tolerate any form of antisemitism.”

Another student told AFP that the Jewish student had been denied access to the lecture hall because “she previously intimidated pro-Palestinian students” at the protest.

The student was the only representative of the Jewish student union to be barred from entering.

“Other UEJF members were able to take part in the debates,” said the student, who declined to give her name.


Israeli Lawyer Ran Bar-Yoshafat Will Return to Berkeley After Anti-Semitic Mob Shut Down His Speech
Ran Bar-Yoshafat, the Israeli lawyer whose University of California, Berkeley, speech was shut down last month by an anti-Semitic mob, will return to the school next week to deliver a new talk.

Bar-Yoshafat will speak on Berkeley's campus at a Monday event sponsored by Tikvah Students for Israel and other pro-Israel groups. His appearance comes just weeks after a talk he was scheduled to deliver at Berkeley was shut down by violent demonstrators, who choked a female student attendee, spit in another's face, and shouted "Jew, Jew, Jew."

The lawyer and Israel Defense Forces reservist told the Washington Free Beacon he plans to give an altered speech that will address the ordeal and subsequent attempts to shut down his speech.

"I really think this is bigger than an Israeli issue or a Jewish issue," Bar-Yoshafat said. "This is Western civilization collapsing because people are not willing to even let me speak."

"I'm not that important. I'm a low-ranking officer," he continued. "If you're not even willing to have a dialogue or discourse, that's really the end of free speech, which is quite amazing, because the 1964 free speech movement started at Berkeley."

Berkeley launched a hate crime probe in the wake of Bar-Yoshafat's canceled February speech, with the school citing "two alleged incidents" of "overtly antisemitic expression," as well as "allegations of physical battery."

"As we stated in last week's message, what happened on Monday, Feb. 26 is unacceptable," the school's chancellor, Carol Christ, said in a Mar. 4 statement. "After we sent last week’s message, UCPD and OPHD received reports that two of the Jewish students who organized the event, as well as some of the attendees, were subjected to overtly antisemitic expression."

"UCPD is investigating these two alleged incidents, which also included allegations of physical battery, as hate crimes."
MIT Refused To Host Dennis Ross. It Invited a Hamas Apologist Instead.
In the wake of Hamas's Oct. 7 attack, MIT president Sally Kornbluth responded to a rise in campus anti-Semitism with a new initiative: "Standing Together Against Hate." Launched on Nov. 14 of last year, Kornbluth trumpeted it as an effort aimed at "community building." She put MIT chancellor Melissa Nobles in charge.

Trouble began to brew when, as a part of this initiative, the school invited a Hamas apologist to speak, an event slated to take place on March 18. Last month, members of MIT's Jewish Alumni Alliance met with Kornbluth to request that the school also consider hosting Dennis Ross, the former U.S. envoy to the Middle East and a well-respected diplomat who has served in both Democratic and Republican administrations.

Kornbluth expressed interest in the suggestion, the alumni group said in a statement, and the group's members extended an invitation to Ross, who agreed to participate in a separate event, his office told the Washington Free Beacon. But MIT administrators, led by Nobles, backed out, telling the Jewish alumni group they were "steering clear of politicians, current or past," according to an email, the contents of which were reviewed by the Free Beacon.

Ross has worked in the White House, most recently on the National Security Council in the Obama administration. Before that, he served in the National Security Council under Ronald Reagan and in the State Department under George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He has never run for office.

"Needless to say, I am not a politician and also have the distinction of having been appointed by two Republican presidents—Reagan and Bush 41—[and] two Democratic presidents, Clinton and Obama," Ross told the Free Beacon.

Jewish alumni are up in arms. The school's response reflects a "double standard" that MIT "applies only to Jews," the group said in a statement obtained by the Free Beacon. If Ross is a politician, the group argues, then Dalia Mogahed—a Boston University "antibigotry fellow" who has justified Hamas terrorism and is scheduled to speak as a part of the initiative—is too.


What the New York Times Left Out of Its ‘Starving Gaza Children’ Story
A front-page story in Sunday’s New York Times accuses Israel of starving Gazan children to death.

The story, though, is missing crucial context.

The Times reports, “Obtaining enough to eat had already been a struggle for many in the blockaded Gaza Strip before the war. An estimated 1.2 million Gazans had required food assistance, according to the United Nations, and around 0.8 percent of children under the age of 5 in Gaza had been acutely malnourished, the World Health Organization said. Five months into the war, that appears to have spiked: About 15 percent of Gazan children under the age of 2 in northern Gaza are acutely malnourished, as well as roughly 5 percent in the south, the World Health Organization said in February.”

The Times reports these numbers for Gaza, but it doesn’t say what the figures are in other places.

If you look them up, you’ll find that the same World Health Organization reports figures of “severe wasting prevalence among children under 5 years of age” of 1.1 percent in the Marshall Islands, 3.1 percent in Oman, 2.4 percent in Pakistan, 4.5 percent in Saudi Arabia, 1.7 percent in South Africa, 5.5 percent in Syria, 2.7 percent in Thailand, and 5.4 percent in Yemen. The numbers were 0.7 percent in China, 0.6 percent in Cuba, 1.4 percent in Ecuador, 4.8 percent in Egypt in 2014, 4.9 percent in India in 2017, and 2.9 percent in Lebanon.

Got that? For all the Times hype about the “struggle” caused by the “blockade,” Gazans before the Hamas-initiated war were eating better than in some non-blockaded countries. That’s because the so-called blockade wasn’t designed to starve Gazans. It was intended — unsuccessfully, alas — to prevent the Hamas terrorist group from amassing more weaponry with which to kill Israelis.

Even months into the war, the 5 percent acute malnutrition rate reported by the WHO, if accurate, for Gazans who followed Israeli instructions to move south puts them in roughly the same shape as residents of India, Egypt, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. Why aren’t starving children in those non-Gaza countries on the front page of the Sunday New York Times? Because the Times can’t find a way to portray Jews as responsible for the deaths of those other children, and thus the news can’t be shoehorned into a classical antisemitic trope.


What Queen Rania doesn't want anyone to know
On March 12, 2024 Arutz 7reported "Queen Rania of Jordan once again criticized Israel in an interview last night with CNN. “As devastating and as traumatic as October 7th was, it doesn't give Israel license to commit atrocity after atrocity. Israel experienced one October 7th - since then the Palestinians have experienced 156 October 7ths,” she accused.

It is certainly not true that "Palestinians have experienced 156 October 7ths". Israelis did not deliberatly target civilians like Hamas did in October 7th. If Palestinian Arab civilians were killed it was because they were used as human shields by Hamas.

Hamas could have ended the war a long time ago if it had released the hostages and surrendered the leaders who orchestrated October 7th but Queen Rania does not say this.

Why is Queen Rania omitting important information? Why is she distorting the truth? Why is she so biased?

Not everybody knows that Queen Rania is a Palestinian Arab.

The Queen of Jordan Rania Al-Yassin was born in Kuwait to Palestinian Arab parents Faisal Sedki Al Yassin and Ilham Yassin from Tulkarm.

What else does Queen Rania not want anyone to know? That the two-state-solution was already implemented with the creation of Jordan:


MEMRI: Forty Years After Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Withdrew From Lebanon, Hamas Working To Build Military Infrastructure There With Hizbullah's Encouragement

MEMRI: Hizbullah Sec-Gen Nasrallah: We Salute The Demonstrations In The U.S. And The 'Uncommitted' Campaign (Originating In Dearborn, Michigan); Voting 'Uncommitted' In The Democratic Primary Is The Most Influential Means Of Pressure On Biden And His Administration

Biden Admin Renews Iran Sanctions Waiver That Unlocks Upwards of $10 Billion for Regime
The Biden administration on Wednesday reapproved a sanctions waiver that unlocks upwards of $10 billion in frozen funds for the Iranian government, according to a copy of the notice submitted to Congress late Wednesday and reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.

The sanctions waiver—which has drawn fierce GOP opposition on Capitol Hill—allows Iraq to transfer electricity payments to Iran via third-party countries. The sanctions waiver was last approved by the Biden administration in November and set to expire this month, putting the White House in a tight position as a mounting chorus of GOP lawmakers express concern about sanctions being bypassed. The authority granted in the latest waivers allows Iraq to convert dinars into Euros and transfer payments into Iranian banks accounts in Oman.

Republican foreign policy leaders in Congress raised concerns about the waiver earlier this week, the Free Beacon reported, saying that sanctions should not be lifted on the hardline Iranian regime in light of its support for Hamas and other terrorist proxy groups waging war on Israel and American outposts in the region.

While the State Department maintains the funds can only be accessed by Iran to pay for humanitarian supplies, like food and medicine, critics of the sanctions waiver argue that money is fungible, and that the waiver frees up cash for Iran to spend on its global terrorism operations.

The State Department would not immediately confirm transmitting the sanctions waiver to Congress, but defended its previous renewals on Tuesday in response to Free Beacon questions.


Senator Wants Iran Banned From 2024 Olympics
A Republican senator is calling on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ban Iran from the 2024 games set to be held later this year in Paris, citing the country’s "oppression and abuse" of female athletes.

"The [Iranian] Regime should not gain any glory from the Games until they meet the standards and ideals of Olympism by allowing all Iranian athletes—regardless of gender or political persuasion—to practice their sport freely and without persecution," Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) wrote in a letter sent Wednesday to the Olympic committee and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. "I ask that the Iranian Regime be held accountable for its crimes, and I request an update from the IOC on the status of Iran’s participation in the 2024 Olympic Games."

The senator’s letter comes amid the high profile defection of a female Iranian athlete who says she has been persecuted by the Islamic Republic’s hardline leadership. Iranian athletes have also been "harmed, imprisoned, or murdered" for speaking out against the hardline government and participating in pro-democracy protests, according to Blackburn.

The Iranian regime’s routine abuse of women and girls, including Olympic athletes, constitutes a "direct violation" of the IOC’s charter and should disqualify Tehran from participating in the 2024 Paris games, according to Blackburn, who is joining a coalition of exiled Iranian athletes in calling for Iran to be barred from the 2024 games.


Former Lyft Driver Facing 10-Year Jail Sentence for Antisemitic Assault on Jewish Passenger
A former Lyft driver in San Francisco is facing a maximum 10-year jail sentence and a fine of $250,000 for a brutal assault on a Jewish passenger last October.

Csaba John Csukás, 39, was arrested on Wednesday for the Oct. 26 assault at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). According to the indictment against him, he struck his passenger — an unnamed Israeli who lives in the San Jose region — in the face after learning his nationality. The victim was rushed to the hospital where he received treatment for minor injuries.

The indictment stated that when Csukás, a resident of Daly City, “approached the victim at a predetermined pickup location, [he] asked the victim if the victim was Jewish or Israeli, stated that he would not transport a Jewish or Israeli person, and attacked the victim by striking the victim in the face with his fist.” The assault occurred less than three weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas pogrom in southern Israel, amid a rising tide of antisemitic attacks in the US and around the world.

Csukás appeared in court on Wednesday “charged with committing a federal hate crime which prohibits, among other things, causing bodily injury because of the actual or perceived religion or national origin of a person in circumstances affecting interstate commerce,” according to a statement issued by the US Department of Justice (DOJ).

Csukás faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for the hate crime charge. “If convicted, a federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors,” the DOJ said.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland warned that the DOJ was determined to prosecute discriminatory actions like those of Csukás.
South Carolina man arrested for dumping antisemitic fliers
A repeat offender illegally distributing antisemitic propaganda in South Carolina could face as many as three years in prison for what he has described as “political and religious activism.”

The County Sheriff’s Office in the city of Florence, S.C., about 80 miles east of the capital of Columbia in the central part of the state, arrested Jamin Fite, 48, on March 11. He was charged with seven counts of communicating obscene messages, which could land him in prison for three years, and seven counts of littering, which includes $200 fines or 30 days in jail as potential sentences.

Fite allegedly dumped his fliers on March 5 in multiple neighborhoods throughout Florence. They reportedly contained anti-Jewish language and links to a video-sharing site featuring racist content.

He was charged last year for a similar offense in Myrtle Beach, for which he received a fine of more than $500, and subsequently lost his appeal. Fite had thrown 400 baggies with antisemitic conspiracy-theory leaflets from his car; police seized 800 more.
Millions Are Starving in Sudan; the Media Doesn’t Care Because Israel Can’t Be Blamed
On March 6, the United Nations warned that a current conflict that has already killed and displaced millions of people risks triggering “the world’s worst hunger crisis.”

Some of the statement’s key points include:
“A staggering 14 million children are in desperate need of lifesaving assistance”
“Millions of lives and the peace and stability of an entire region are at stake”
“Across the war-torn country, 18 million people are acutely food insecure and five million now face starvation”
“Restricted in their movements by ongoing violence and interference from warring parties and severely underfunded, humanitarian aid workers can barely help those in need”
“Humanitarian assistance was further disrupted after the authorities revoked permits for cross-border truck convoys”

Less than 24 hours later on March 7, the United Nations issued another warning:
“The situation is appalling. Every minute, every hour, it is getting worse”
“In the north, one in six children under the age of two is acutely malnourished…”
“We need to flood the market… with humanitarian goods as well as re-energize the private sector so commercial goods can enter to meet the need of civilians…”
“At the same time, humanitarian supplies via air or sea are ‘not a substitute for what we need to see arrive on land…’”

The first statement was about Sudan, a country that has been racked by a conflict that erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023.

According to the International Rescue Committee (IRC), which placed Sudan at the top of its Emergency Watchlist last year, nearly 6 million people have been displaced, and more than half the population (24.8 million people) needs humanitarian aid, with 17.7 million people facing crisis-level or worse food insecurity.
Former African Slave & Refugee Stand with Israel Against A Familiar Enemy | Our Middle East
Dan Diker and Arab-Israeli journalist Khaled Abu Toameh talk with former African slave Simon Deng and refugee Naka Pitia about their steadfast support for Israel against Hamas. They explain how the October 7th atrocities remind them of the horrors that were done to the South Sudanese and how that has led them to stand with Israel during these troubling times.


Julia Haart launches website to support Zionist social-media advocates
Online harassment of Jews and Israel advocates has reached such a level of intensity, according to a Jewish reality star and fashion executive, that a new community needs to bring together those condemning hate.

“A friend said she posted that antisemitism is bad, and people called her ‘pro-genocide.’ All she posted was that antisemitism is not OK. This makes it cool to not be OK with antisemitism,” said Julia Haart, the star of “My Unorthodox Life” on Netflix.

Haart said the new AHMNation.com would be for “those people who are getting attacked and vilified because they are Jewish, or supporting Jewish people, or saying antisemitism is wrong.”

She said they need to know “they aren’t alone. It’s about community and love.”

In comic-book style, the site announces: “Where Followers Become Heroes.”

After joining, community members will receive a daily email encouraging them to follow a particular pro-Israel advocate.




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2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee

Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 19 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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