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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

03/19 Links Pt2: The Human-Rights Establishment; Leo Dee: We Are All "Settlers" Now; 450 Jewish creatives denounce Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar speech

From Ian:

The Invisible Weapon: Propaganda Operations Behind Global Antisemitism and the Israeli-Palestinian Narrative
Of the many, many world events that have surprised and confused me over the past 4 turbulent years, perhaps the most shocking was seeing mass demonstrations across the Western world in support of Hamas in response to their Oct 7th terrorist attack on Israel.

From street protests and traffic blockades to a flood of social media posts, a strong narrative has taken hold globally and is driving a mass anti-Israel activist movement. The narrative goes something like this: Jews are white colonizers who stole Israel’s land from the native Palestinians, created an apartheid state, are holding Palestinians in prison-like conditions, and are committing genocide against them.

Amazingly, every single part of this narrative is definitively false; yet it is widely and passionately believed around the world- especially among young people.

The goal of this text is not to prove why the narrative is wrong, as many other people are already doing so and the facts are readily available to anyone willing to do research. My goal is rather to bring light to the side that no one is talking about, to expose where the narrative comes from and reveal what might be the world’s most successful propaganda and psyop campaign, ever.

Could it be that the widespread falsehoods and misunderstandings about the history of Israel and the long-running conflict between Israelis and Palestinians organically emerged and found ideological adoption around the world? It turns out, no.

In this work, I aim to clearly and concisely demonstrate how the Soviet Union and subsequently the current Russian regime have developed and propagated a fabricated narrative and recruited, trained, planted, and supported a network of agents to carry out a wide-reaching campaign of deception and ideological subversion with the intent to advance their geopolitical interests in the Middle East and beyond — and that this Russian effort is at the heart of modern day global antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment.

In making my case, I will rely heavily on firsthand accounts from expert witnesses who held high ranking positions in Soviet intelligence and verified classified Soviet documents. By definition, the work of the KGB or any intelligence organization, if effective, is supposed to be undetectable and untraceable; which is why it’s crucial to rely on sources from the inside.
The Human-Rights Establishment
Past critiques have shown that regulatory and legal gaps leave significant flaws in how NGOs answer to donors and the governments of countries where they operate, as well as in their responsibility to affected communities when their projects and interventions go awry.

Too often, rights groups have been able to swat away allegations of bias without meaningful proof or challenge. Too frequently, NGO issues have arisen only to disappear from the radar as rogue incidents, rather than being connected as points in a possible pattern. There are too many examples of malpractice that have come to light only because of leaks, rather than because rights groups practice the transparency and accountability that they demand of others.

Shamefully then, they must be made to do so. The push for them to prove, not just claim, their rectitude must be exerted from without and targeted at what does matter to them.

Needless to say, the media must treat NGOs as they would any other source: critically and with fact-checking.

As tax-exempt entities under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, U.S.-based human-rights groups should face rigorous congressional scrutiny like that applied to similarly tax-exempt Ivy League universities in December 2023. Groups based in other countries need similar governmental oversight.

Human-rights organizations must also submit to independent, thorough, external reviews of their operations, with the findings made public — and not only after a reporter happens to find that such a review has been sat on for months.

These audits should include investigating their editing, corrections, and fact-checking processes, as well as complaint mechanisms, meeting minutes, research priorities, resource allocations, terminology, and organizational operations. Staff must be interviewed for their experiences related to workplace culture and management. (In nearly 14 years, I formally reviewed my managers once. Budget reasons, I was told.)

Concerned staff must speak out and join forces if they want to change the course of organizations they feel are gravely distorting their values. One place to start is for them to share their experiences so that the nature and scope of problems can be understood, a first step to forging solutions. NGO Confidential is a new platform designed for this purpose. The often-heard rationale that was my own for many years — “I don’t like what’s happening, but at least if I’m here, I can try to do something about it” — is doomed to fail if everyone thinks it alone.

Focusing on the warped thinking and practice, never mind the deafening silence of many NGOs on Hamas’s wanton savagery of October 7, does not abnegate Palestinian suffering or Israeli abuses.

Rather, pointing this out is to show that the failures of rights monitors before and after October 7 reveal wider problems so fundamental to accuracy and fairness that they ultimately collapse NGO claims to be reliable and apolitical when they serve as society’s presumptive moral ambassadors in the halls of power and influence.

And this focus is about noting the dismal reality that the capacity of people to rejoice at, ignore, and relativize Jewish suffering has historically often been the canary in the coal mine, a portent of society’s wider moral slide.

As such, the corruption of human-rights organizations is a warning light not just for Jews and Israelis, but for all.
Leo Dee: We Are All "Settlers" Now
The Gazans had independence for almost 20 years, after Israel evacuated the 10,000 Jews living in Gush Katif in 2005.

They have enjoyed self-rule and billions of dollars of foreign aid since the Disengagement, with UNRWA-funded schools and Qatar-funded mosques and hospitals.

By attacking Israeli kibbutzim and launching heavy missile attacks into Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Tel Aviv, the Gazans made something very clear. They regard every Israeli as a "settler."

This should not have been so surprising since Palestinians and their supporters have been calling for a Palestinian state "from the river to the sea" for many decades, a term that defines the entire State of Israel as their rightful homeland.

We are all "settlers" now. Hamas has made clear that they see no difference between any type of Israelis.


450 Jewish creatives sign letter denouncing Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar speech
Over 450 Jewish creatives, executives and Hollywood professionals have signed an open letter condemning “The Zone of Interest” director Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar acceptance speech.

Referencing Glazer’s controversial statement, the letter said: “We refute our Jewishness being hijacked for the purpose of drawing a moral equivalence between a Nazi regime that sought to exterminate a race of people, and an Israeli nation that seeks to avert its own extermination.

“Every civilian death in Gaza is tragic. Israel is not targeting civilians. It is targeting Hamas. The moment Hamas releases the hostages and surrenders, is the moment this heartbreaking war ends. This has been true since the Hamas attacks of October 7th.”

According to a Variety exclusive published last night, the list of signatories includes actors Debra Messing, Brett Gelman, Michael Rapaport and singer Montana Tucker, among others involved in the entertainment industry. Variety also noted that the letter was signed by an additional 50 people since it was published.

Taking issue with Glazer’s comments in which he said he refutes his “Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people,” the open letter continues: “The use of words like ‘occupation’ to describe an indigenous Jewish people defending a homeland that dates back thousands of years, and has been recognised as a state by the United Nations, distorts history.

“It gives credence to the modern blood libel that fuels a growing anti-Jewish hatred around the world, in the United States, and in Hollywood. The current climate of growing antisemitism only underscores the need for the Jewish State of Israel, a place which will always take us in, as no state did during the Holocaust depicted in Mr. Glazer’s film.”
Uncertain Things PodCast: Three Drunk Jews Refuting Jonathan Glazer (w/ Batya Ungar-Sargon & Eli Lake)
With Vanessa off for the weekend to explore the world of psychedelics, the podcast has been hijacked by a cabal of furious, loud, and lubricated Jews. Adaam, 3 martinis and a Laphroaig in, is joined by Newsweek opinion editor and author of Second Class Batya Ungar-Sargon, and Free Press reporter and host of The Re-Education podcast Eli Lake. The three have gathered to refute Jonathan Glazer’s Jewishness being worth hijacking by anyone. In proper Talmudic engagement, Batya spits fire, Eli plays devil's advocate, and Adaam speaks up for the grammar Nazis. Be warned, this may be our most petty, potted, parochial, and problematic episode yet.

Check out our ‘Inscrutable’ blog and ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for thoughts and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.
Michael Rappaport talks Antisemitism in Hollywood amid Israel-Hamas war

Friends in Low Places? Behind South Africa's New Genocide Case Against Israel
Shortly before South Africa accused Israel in the International Court of Justice of committing genocide in its post-Oct. 7 counteroffensive against Hamas, the South African ruling party, the African National Congress, suddenly resolved its longstanding and crippling debt issues.

The court action in December – committing tens of millions of dollars to accuse a nation thousands of miles from South Africa’s borders – appeared less an act of probity than one of cynical collaboration with one of Israel’s fiercest enemies: Iran.

Israel has forcefully denied the South African allegations, asserting that it is acting to defend itself and is “fighting Hamas, not the Palestinian population.”

Although there is no direct proof that Iran colluded with South Africa in its submission to the international court, it would not be a surprise if they did. Pretoria and Tehran have been diplomatically and financially close since long before fighters from Hamas, one of Iran's terrorist proxies, invaded southern Israel last Oct. 7 in a rampage of rape and killing, leaving an estimated 1,200 people dead and taking hundreds of others hostage. More than 130 remain in captivity in Gaza, including Americans.

Since 2015, South Africa and Hamas have signed two memorandums of understanding to cooperate in pressuring Israel diplomatically and economically.

And South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, appears to have a sordid pecuniary interest in Iran stretching back further – at least two decades, when the company he was leading was implicated in an alleged bribery and influence-peddling scheme between Iran and his telecommunications giant.

The South Africa-Iran relationship fits a larger pattern in which the nation famed for Nelson Mandela’s championing of human rights has become an ally of some of the most oppressive regimes in the world. In the years since Mandela’s death in 2013, South Africa has increasingly refrained from holding accountable pariah regimes and groups – including Russia, Syria, Sudan and Hamas – and has been flagged for systemic illicit financial practices. In February 2023, for example, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global anti-money laundering watchdog that sets international standards aimed at preventing such activities, placed the country on its “grey list,” which signals to the financial community that the country is a haven for money laundering and terrorist financing.

Paul Hoffman, head of Accountability Now, a South Africa-based human rights watchdog, wondered in a recent interview whether the country’s submissions to the court against Israel represent "a principled stand by a government that truly takes its human rights obligations seriously and seeks to enforce anti-genocide laws, or whether it is a ploy on the part of those who would see Israel destroyed and Hamas and indeed its sponsors, like Iran, prevailing.”

South Africa’s ties to Iran and Hamas will be thrown into sharp relief in the coming days when South Africa’s foreign minister, Naledi Pandor, is scheduled to be in Washington, D.C.


Congress Opens Anti-Semitism Investigation into UC Berkeley
A congressional committee investigating anti-Semitism at a range of colleges broadened its investigation on Tuesday to include the University of California, Berkeley, which has long been accused of tolerating a "hotbed of anti-Jewish hostility and harassment."

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce announced that it is asking Berkeley to turn over internal documents related to "numerous anti-Semitic incidents on campus and its administration’s failure to protect Jewish students and faculty," according to information provided by the committee and a copy of a letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. "We have grave concerns regarding the inadequacy of UC Berkeley’s response to antisemitism on its campus."

The House committee’s investigation comes less than two weeks after the school opened up a hate crime probe in connection to a violent protest that erupted on campus around a scheduled speech by an Israeli lawyer, Ran Bar-Yoshafat. During that event, which was canceled due to the violence, mobs of anti-Israel students reportedly "choked a female student attendee, spit in another's face, and shouted ‘Jew, Jew, Jew,’" the Free Beacon reported.

The committee, led by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R., N.C.), cited this incident in its letter to the university, saying that lawmakers were disturbed by the "violent riot in which anti-Israel activists assaulted Jewish students and shattered glass windows, forcing the cancellation of an Israeli speaker’s lecture." Foxx’s committee is investigating a handful of other schools over similar incidents, including Harvard University, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania, among others.

In recent weeks, "anti-Israel students have occupied and blocked UC Berkeley’s landmark Sather Gate, a key entrance to the center of campus, and harassed Jewish passersby," according to the letter.

"UC Berkeley’s failure to address this activity breaches a specific and longstanding university commitment to keep the gate unobstructed as part of a legal settlement and constitutes a selective dereliction of duty to enforce university rules against harassment," the committee wrote in its letter to the school, outlining numerous instances of anti-Semitic harassment, bullying, and violence.


Four new federal Title VI probes announced, of two schools, two districts
The U.S. Department of Education announced four new Title VI investigations on Tuesday of the South Orange-Maplewood School District (N.J.), University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (Honolulu), Western University of Health Sciences (Pomona, Calif.) and Roseville City School District in California.

The department’s Office for Civil Rights, which announces its new open investigations weekly on Tuesdays, doesn’t state the specific reason for the investigations nor does it post the complaints. It does say the probes are for alleged “discrimination involving shared ancestry,” which includes antisemitism, under the 1964 Civil Rights Law.

The South Orange and Maplewood district serves more than 7,200 students in 10 schools, according to its website. On Jan. 4, the district launched a “Renewal & Reset” initiative designed to target biased speech and graffiti. “The graffiti on the walls has to stop. We know that there is too much hate in the world,” Luisa Iuliano-Cabrera, assistant principal of Columbia High School, stated at the time. “We want to be mutually supportive of each other. Be kind to each other and be kind to yourselves.”

The district added on Jan. 4 that “last month, antisemitic graffiti was found in a restroom at the high school.”

Kevin Gilbert, acting superintendent of schools, and Kaitlin Wittleder, South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education president “issued a joint letter condemning antisemitism, Islamophobia as well as ‘sexism, transphobia, xenophobia, anti-Asian hate and hatred of any kind,'” it said.
NYU urges dismissal of antisemitism lawsuit, says it acted ‘decisively’
New York University says it has moved “decisively” to root out antisemitism on its campus, and that a lawsuit by Jewish students claiming they have been mistreated should be dismissed.

In a Monday night filing in Manhattan federal court, NYU says reports of antisemitism have declined significantly, sometimes to near zero, following a surge immediately after the October 7, 2023 outbreak of war in Gaza.

The university also says student victims of antisemitism lack legal standing to demand sweeping changes.

It says it has taken “far more” steps than the law requires to address their concerns, including the adoption of a “10 Point Plan” that boosts on-campus security and disciplines on people who violate its anti-discrimination policies.

“NYU recognizes that the past few months have been profoundly challenging for many members of its community, including its Jewish and Israeli students, but plaintiffs allegations do not state a claim,” it says. “There is no need for this court’s intervention now, and likely never will be.”

Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Principal Lied To Punish Jewish Teacher Who Reported Muslim Student For Praising Hitler
A Maryland school system knowingly used false information to discipline a Jewish teacher in response to her reporting to her principal that at a pro-Palestinian walkout — which the principal called “fantastic” — students praised Adolph Hitler and called for the death of Jews.

The Daily Wire reported in January that Paint Branch High School Principal Pam Krawczel gave excused absences to students to walk out of class in protest of Israel, and praised them even after the Muslim Student Association (MSA) faculty sponsor informed her that some made violent and genocidal remarks. In response, Krawczel falsely suggested that the MSA faculty sponsor, Brooke Meshel, was The Daily Wire’s source, doxxed a child, and took a photograph of students.

As a result, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) has now prohibited Meshel from interacting with any member of the MSA, impeding her ability to teach her classes.

Krawczel knew the accusation was false because MCPS itself — not Meshel — was The Daily Wire’s source. Shortly after the highly-publicized walkout, the publication filed a public records request for Krawczel’s emails on the topic. The day the emails were received, this reporter emailed Krawczel asking her for comment, explaining that the story was based on the emails she had turned over.

Nonetheless, Krawczel summoned Meshel and drafted a “Summary of Concern” memo for her file, expressing “concern about the article posted in the Daily Wire in which Ms. Meshel was said to be the source.” Krawczel ordered Meshel to “reflect on the meeting” and stated that, “per this memorandum…. you are no longer to serve as the sponsor of MSA. Do not interact with any students in the MSA. Do not post any pictures of PBHS students.”


Voice of America Whitewashes Terror Backgrounds of Gazan Journalists
In the early morning hours of March 18, 2024, Israeli forces raided Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza to remove the Hamas presence that had re-emerged months after being routed by the Israeli military in November 2023.

According to the IDF, 40 Hamas terrorists were killed during the gun battle that ensued and 200 others were detained as suspected terror operatives.

One of those detained was Ismail Al-Ghoul, who identified himself as an Al Jazeera journalist.

Voice of America (VOA) dedicated an entire piece to Al-Ghoul’s arrest and subsequent release as well as claims about Israeli treatment of Palestinian journalists throughout the war between Israel and Hamas.

However, this piece is a one-sided attack on Israel’s conduct during the war which ignores vital context, disregards emerging information about Al-Ghoul’s connection to Hamas, and misrepresents Israel’s treatment of Palestinian journalists.


TikTok Supporters Blame Jews for Congressional Ban
TikTok supporters online are claiming that "pro-Israel lobbying groups" and Jews are responsible for pressuring Congress into fast-tracking bills that would ban the Chinese social media app, which the U.S. intelligence community deems a national security threat.

Online activists across X, Reddit, and other popular internet forums are spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories claiming that prominent Jewish-American leaders oppose TikTok because it has emerged as a central repository for anti-Israel criticism related to the war against Hamas.

One X account with nearly a million followers pinned blame for the ban on Jonathan Greenblatt, the Jewish leader of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a watchdog group that has raised concerns about the prevalence of anti-Semitism on TikTok. The claims parrot classic examples of anti-Semitism alleging that Jews control politics and use this power to silence criticism of Israel. The emergence of this argument is raising concerns on Capitol Hill amid a massive rise in Jew-hatred across America in the wake of Hamas's Oct. 7 terror strikes on Israel.

"Seeing Gen Z in the US overwhelmingly support Palestine in the face of Israeli aggression, TERRIFIED [Greenblatt]," wrote X user "Censored Men" in a March 13 missive to more than 983,000 followers. "Is it such a coincidence that today the 'TikTok Ban Bill' passes after MONTHS of congress pushing for it so heavily?"

"With the speed they moved to ban TikTok, there is 0 doubt in my mind pro-Israel lobbying groups are behind the pressure," wrote another X user, "Lolo," to more than 155,000 followers. "Israel has been getting absolutely cooked on TikTok the last few months and it doesn't help that their own bozo soldiers are posting videos of them doing war crimes once a week."
Hill Times Publishes Letter Containing Antisemitic Statements Comparing Gaza To Warsaw Ghetto
It was incredulous that letter writer Linda Leon was given space in the March 13 edition of the Hill Times to claim that “Gaza is beginning to look more and more like the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw under assault by Nazi occupiers.”

The reason the Warsaw Ghetto analogy is used is to trump up libelous claims that Jews who were once the victims of the Nazis during the Holocaust, are now the victimizers carrying out the “genocide” of Palestinians. Importantly, comparisons of Israeli policy and actions to Nazism fit the European Union’s, U.S. State Department’s, Canada’s and the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) working definition of antisemitism.

Leon’s letter is not only a repulsive assault on the memory of millions of victims of Nazi-era rule, Jews and non-Jews alike, it is historically ignorant.

The Nazis starved, beat, tortured, and murdered six million Jews solely because they were Jewish. In Gaza, Israel is facing a genocidal terrorist organization, Hamas. Despite the necessity of fighting the group who massacred 1,200 innocent Israelis in a murderous pogrom on October 7, Israel has sent in literally tens of thousands of trucks filled with humanitarian aid into Gaza, actively warns civilians before military operations, and even sends Israeli soldiers directly into the battlefield in an effort to minimize civilian harm.
Global News Gives Airtime To Pro-Palestinian Activist Yara Shoufani Who Defends Hamas Terrorism
All it would take is a simple 2-minute Google search to find out who Yara Shoufani is (a pro-Palestinian activist who defends Hamas terrorism) but it seems that Global News Toronto can’t even be bothered to do that in advance of its reporting, which raises the question: Does Global News do any due diligence prior to choosing who to give a platform to?

Case in point, on March 16, Global News Toronto covered a protest outside the King Edward Hotel where Prime Minister Trudeau was having a fundraising event.

During the protest, Global News interviewed Yara Shoufani. What was left untold by Global News is that Shoufani is a senior member of the Palestinian Youth Movement, a group that openly celebrated Hamas’ October 7 massacre of 1,200+ Israelis.

As we exposed previously, the day before Hamas’ genocidal massacres on October 7, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, a federal research-funding agency, announced two grants each valued at $105,000 of taxpayer money, awarded to Yara Shoufani, a researcher at York University for her PhD for her work entitled: “Palestinian Urban Displacement in Israel: Anti-Colonialism and the Right to the City.”

During the interview with Global News, Shoufani said the following:
“The Prime Minister thinks that it is appropriate to host a fundraising event with $1,700 tickets for purchase, while his government continues to send arms to Israel on month six of its ongoing genocide in Gaza”.

Not only did Global News give Shoufani a platform to spread disinformation, but the news outlet seemingly did not know who it was talking to, as Yara Shoufani has a long and sordid history of making statements that reasonable Canadians would find appalling.

For example, on October 8, the very day after Hamas’ barbaric mass murders, rapes, kidnappings, and mutilations of Israeli civilians in their homes and at a music festival and while hundreds of families were still running and hiding for their lives, and long before there had been any Israeli response, Shoufani enthusiastically posted on X (formerly Twitter) that Palestinians “have a right not only to resist, but to liberate our land…”


Rep. Khanna hosts district town hall on rising antisemitism, appears on podcast with Oct. 7 conspiracy theorist
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), a progressive leader in Congress, hosted a community town hall on antisemitism in his district on Sunday evening, pledging afterward to take further action.

The next day, Briahna Joy Gray, a far left commentator who has become a prominent source of Oct. 7-related conspiracy theories, including efforts to cast doubt on Hamas’ use of widespread sexual violence on Oct. 7, published an interview with Khanna.

Khanna, who has urged the administration to call for a permanent cease-fire and take a harder line toward Israel, told Jewish Insider on Monday that he scheduled the town hall because he’s been concerned about rising antisemitism in his district, including harassment and blocked speaking events at local high schools and colleges, and a general climate of fear for Jews inside the district.

“I was just very moved by the personal stories” that constituents shared, Khanna told JI.

“I think it took a lot of courage for a lot of the young folks to come and share the level of antisemitism they’re facing,” he continued. “I was saddened by it, to see some of it happening in school districts and in my district, and I plan to have very frank and difficult conversations with the administrators at these schools, to make it clear that antisemitism has zero place in the 17th District of California.” The district is situated in Silicon Valley.

Khanna said that, in response to the event, he’s appointing a dedicated staff member in his district to handle reports of antisemitism, and plans to reach out to leaders at local colleges and high schools where community members reported antisemitism. He said he’ll also be reaching out to Stanford University, where he was a visiting lecturer.

Gray’s “Bad Faith” podcast also released an interview with Khanna on Monday, during which the far-left host questioned comments by Khanna that Hamas had committed sexual violence on Oct. 7.
Susan Wild Spoke at CAIR Event Days Before Calling Herself 'Very Pro-Israel'
Speaking to a reporter in March 2019, Rep. Susan Wild called herself "a very pro-Israel member of Congress" who recognizes the "importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship." But days earlier, the Pennsylvania Democrat spoke at the annual banquet for a prominent anti-Israel organization alongside a left-wing pundit whom CNN had just fired for advocating violence against the Jewish state.

Wild attended the annual fundraiser for the Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations on March 9, 2019, according to photos of the event. Wild spoke before Marc Lamont Hill, who received the "Malcolm X Justice and Freedom Award" after his high-profile firing from CNN months earlier. The liberal network canned Hill in November 2018 after he called for "a free Palestine from the river to the sea," a slogan for the destruction of Israel.

Wild is a convert to Judaism and has at times called for strong U.S.-Israel ties. But her appearance at a CAIR fundraiser could come back to haunt her amid a reelection battle for a seat she won in 2022 by just 2 points. Wild's Keystone State colleague, Rep. Summer Lee (D.), has faced intense scrutiny from her Democratic primary rival for a planned appearance earlier this month at a CAIR-Philadelphia fundraiser, the same annual event Wild attended five years ago. Lee canceled her planned appearance, which was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon.

Wild's appearance at the CAIR fundraiser highlights Democrats' hot-and-cold relationship with the Muslim group. Though the Justice Department in 2009 labeled CAIR a co-conspirator of a Hamas front group, many Democrats—including Wild, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), and Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.)—have appeared at CAIR events and offered support for the group's civil rights activities. The Biden White House, too, last year partnered with CAIR on its "National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism."

But CAIR is back on Democrats' naughty list in the wake of Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which CAIR blamed on the Jewish state. CAIR executive director Nihad Awad said he was "happy" that Hamas attacked Israel. Many Democrats denounced CAIR after those remarks, though Wild has yet to do so.


Civil Service Muslim Network suspended over Israel-Gaza comments
The Civil Service Muslim Network has suspended its activities pending an investigation after reports that it had hosted events during which speakers had encouraged officials to “lobby” colleagues to change the government’s policy on the conflict in Gaza.

Deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden said he had ordered an immediate suspension of the network after The Times was handed a memo with the details of several webinars it has held to discuss the government’s stance on Israel and Gaza.

The convenor of one of the webinars in December, who the newspaper said could not be named for legal reasons but works in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, described the war in Gaza as a “fight between good and evil”, implying that Israel was on the side of evil.

UK government policy is that Israel “has the right to defend itself under international law” following the attack by Hamas and its kidnap of Israeli hostages on 7 October.

During one event, an official allegedly claimed that the “Israel lobby” has an “insidious influence” on British politics, and that the mainstream media is “biased” and “full of lies”.

The webinars reportedly coached servants on how to “lobby” and “petition” senior officials to move towards taking a harder stance against Israel and how to be “strategic and smart” in avoiding disciplinary action.


The Saudi Street Opposes Normalizing Relations with Israel
Polls conducted by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy since the Abraham Accords in 2020 found that 40% of Saudis supported economic ties with Israel if they proved beneficial to the local economy. This figure, although a minority, indicates an exceptional openness to entertain pragmatic relations with Israel; in contrast, support for similar ties in Egypt and Jordan, both of which have peace treaties with Israel, hovers around 10%.

However, Saudi sentiments shifted dramatically during the Gaza war. In Nov.-Dec. 2023, support for any form of relations with Israel dropped to 20%, and 96% of Saudis favored the immediate cessation of ties between the Arab states and Israel in response to its actions in Gaza. Even before the war, 87% of Saudis believed that Israel could eventually be defeated, and only 5% agreed that world Jewry should be respected and that relations with them should be improved.

Only 20% of Saudis expressed support for their government's cooperation with Israel against Iran, while only a slim majority of 60% of Saudis even viewed Tehran as a rival after the Saudi-Iranian reconciliation in March 2023.

Despite an obvious shift in the discourse on relations with Israel within the Saudi kingdom, hostility to Israel and aversion to the idea of relations with it are firmly rooted among the general public, leaving a clear gap between the positions of the populace and the government. Normalization of relations with Israel will be an unpopular move among the Saudis.
MEMRI: Cartoons In Qatari Press Celebrate Attacks On Israel, Yearn For Its Collapse
Since the terrorist attack perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were murdered and 240 were kidnapped, the Qatari and Qatar-affiliated dailies, both those published in Qatar and those published in London, have published many virulent cartoons that celebrate the attacks on Israel and its losses in the war and praise Hamas for "defeating" Israel despite the latter's considerable military power. The cartoons stress that Gaza is standing fast and predict Israel's collapse in the course of 2024.



MEMRI: Tensions Between Hamas And Palestinian Authority, And Between Hamas And Gaza Elements That Are Challenging It
The Hamas-Fatah tension against the backdrop of the Israel-Gaza war intensified recently following Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas's appointment of Muhammad Mustafa as the new Palestinian prime minister. Another factor in the escalation of this tension was efforts by the PA, and especially by its General Intelligence Service (GIS), headed by Majed Faraj, to form a local governing authority in Gaza as an alternative to Hamas, in cooperation with Israel and with the help of armed tribal elements in the Gaza Strip.[1]

On March 14, 2024, Mahmoud Abbas issued a presidential decree appointing his associate Muhammad Mustafa as the next PA prime minister, replacing Muhammad Shtayyeh.[2] According to reports, the new government will comprise "experts" or "technocrats" unaffiliated with any political element, even though Abbas himself chairs the PA's ruling party, Fatah. The supposedly apolitical character of the planned government is meant to make it easier for the PA to govern the Gaza Strip after the war.

Although many reports state that the move to appoint a new government was coordinated with Hamas,[3] Hamas came out against it very strongly. The day after Mustafa's appointment as prime minister, Hamas issued a joint statement with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the Palestinian National Initiative Movement accusing Abbas of making unilateral decisions and calling Mustafa's appointment a symbolic and hollow measure that only deepens intra-Palestinian schisms.

In response, Fatah published a statement attacking Hamas in a fashion unprecedented since Hamas's October 7, 2023 invasion and massacres in southern Israel. The statement quoted an accusation published by the Palestinian Authority's news agency Wafa asserting that Hamas had decided on its own to undertake "the adventure of October 7, 2023, which led to a nakba more horrible and bitter than the one of 1948." The statement added that President Abbas's legitimate decisions serve national interests, while Hamas is advancing a foreign agenda. It also asked: "Does Hamas want us to appoint a prime minister from Iran or for Tehran to appoint one for us?" This condemnation of Hamas sparked an internal dispute within Fatah, some of whose members had supported Hamas up until that point.[4] Some stated that Fatah chairman Abbas had published the statement without consulting Fatah institutions, and that it had been drafted by "security elements."[5]


Hezbollah using ambulances for terrorist purposes, says IDF Arabic spox.
Hezbollah and the Shi’ite Amal Movement have been using ambulances for transporting terrorists and weapons in southern Lebanon, the IDF’s spokesperson for Arabic media, Avichay Adraee, said on Tuesday.

According to Adraee, the two terrorist movements use ambulances belonging to the Islamic Health Organization, a Shi’ite healthcare organization closely affiliated with Hezbollah. The organization says on its website that it has always “provided services for the activity of the Hezbollah fighters against the Zionist occupation.”

According to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, more than 20 of the organization’s operatives have been killed while fighting as part of Hezbollah. Several members of the organization have been killed in the clashes between Israel and Hezbollah since October as well.

Adraee said on Tuesday that the IDF had discovered that Hezbollah and Amal were using a yellow ambulance operated by Sheet Cargo, headed by Hassam Muhammad Sheet, who also runs the local government in Kfarkela.

The IDF noted that the ambulance traveled abnormally between Hezbollah sites after the sites were bombed, even when no people were injured, as well for a long period after the strikes.
Lebanese academic criticizes Hezbollah for dragging country into war, gets detained
Lebanese academic and political analyst Makram Rabah was detained by Lebanese security forces for five hours for criticizing Hezbollah's presence in the Baalbek region, according to a report by the Saudi-based English newspaper Arab News on Monday.

Rabah recently appeared in an interview on Lebanese television in which he criticized Hezbollah for using the Baalbek region for their operations, which puts civilians in danger.

Rabah said, "Israel does not view the city of Baalbek as a 'Lebanese city: it is part of Hezbollah's supply lines that may affect it in its next war."

"We, as Lebanese, will not be spared from a major Israeli strike because Hezbollah is the one that provoked Israel," he added.

He also stated that, in his view, Hezbollah was not ready to fight a war against Israel.


UN Security Council Condemns Houthi Attacks in Red Sea
The UN Security Council on Monday condemned in the strongest terms Houthi attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea, including the March 6 attack on the MV True Confidence, which resulted in the deaths of two Filipino sailors and one Vietnamese sailor and injuries to at least four other seafarers.

The Council members demanded that all Houthi attacks against commercial and merchant vessels traversing the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden cease immediately, in accordance with international law.

The Council members reaffirmed that the exercise of navigational rights and freedoms by merchant and commercial vessels of all states transiting the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab, in accordance with international law, must be respected.
Documents reveal Albanese government backflip on naming Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as terror group
The government was preparing to list Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a terror group before a sudden change of mind, according to bombshell documents obtained by Sky News.

The move has led to accusations from the Opposition that the government is not being upfront with the public and putting Australians at risk.

The U-turn is revealed in a schedule of documents released by authorities to a Sydney-based member of the Iranian community.

Arash Behgoo was outraged by the government’s refusal to list the group for the reason it gave the Senate in January last year, that “as an organ of a nation state, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is not the kind of entity that is covered by the terrorist organisation provisions in the Criminal Code.”

Mr Behgoo lodged a Freedom of Information request with the Attorney-General’s Department in June 2023, requesting access to the documents it relied upon to form its view.

The department responded in August, identifying eight documents that fell within the scope of Mr Behgoo’s request but refusing access, mainly on the grounds of “national security, defence or international relations”.

‘Disgraceful move’: Albanese government reinstates funding to UNRWA
Among the eight documents were a “Statement of Reasons” form and a “Nomination form – Criminal Code”, both dated January 11, 2023, that the Opposition claim reveal the government had been significantly advanced on a listing of the IRGC as a terrorist organisation.

According to the protocol for listing a terrorist organisation under the Criminal Code, the Attorney-General must consider a Statement of Reasons and a nomination form must be prepared.

But in the space of less than three weeks, the Attorney-General’s Department appeared to drastically change tack, instead sending a letter to Liberal Senator Claire Chandler on January 31 expressing the view that the IRGC could not be listed for legislative reasons because of its status as an organ of the nation state.


Bernstein in the Desert
Leonard Bernstein fell in love with the idea of Israel even before the state was established. The 27-year-old musical prodigy made his first trip to British Palestine in April of 1947, accompanied by his father, Samuel, and his sister Shirley. He had been invited by the Palestine Symphony Orchestra to program a series of concerts, and found himself smitten by the land and people of the state in making. In letters from Tel Aviv to his mentor, Boston Philharmonic conductor Serge Koussevitzky, Bernstein expressed great enthusiasm for Zionism and for the musicians of the Palestine Orchestra. Maestro Koussevitzky must have been surprised and somewhat shaken by Bernstein’s passion for Zionism; after all, Koussevitzky, born into a Jewish family in Russia, had converted to the Russian Orthodox Church as a teenager. That was the only way that he could advance his musical career, as Jews were not permitted in the Moscow Orchestra training program he sought to enter. In 1942, when Bernstein first emerged as a gifted and popular figure in the classical music world, Koussevitzky urged his protégé to change his name from Bernstein to Burns. “Your name is too Jewish, and too ordinary,” he said.

But Bernstein would have none of it. Mid-20th-century America was not late-19th-century Russia, and the Boston Philharmonic was a far cry from the Moscow Philharmonic. Bernstein sensed that American culture would accept performing artists with Jewish names and commitments. And, of course, he was right. (In that same decade Frank Sinatra’s manager encouraged Ol’ Blue Eyes to change his name to something “less ethnic.” He, too, declined the suggestion, though in a manner less polite than Bernstein.) While Bernstein’s life as an unlikely American icon recently graced the silver screen in Maestro, which was nominated by the Academy for a best picture award, his passion for Israel and connection to the country was just as significant.

His first trip to Palestine in 1947 was a great triumph for Bernstein. The Palestine Symphony Orchestra offered to make him its musical director, and for a few weeks, while conducting in Europe, he considered it. But Koussevitzky’s Boston Philharmonic and its summer series in Tanglewood proved a greater attraction, and in the summer of 1947 Bernstein returned to the U.S. to conduct performances in New York and Boston.

From the U.S., Bernstein advanced his vision of a Jewish state through music—first and foremost by supporting the musical institutions already operating in British Mandate Palestine. The Palestine Symphony Orchestra was the most prestigious of these, formed by European Jewish refugees in 1936. When the Nazis evicted Jewish musicians from German orchestras, many went into exile; some emigrated to Palestine and joined the Jewish orchestra-in-formation. Arturo Toscanini, the most renowned conductor of his time, led the orchestra in its inaugural concert in 1937. A refugee from Italian fascism, Toscanini viewed the opportunity to conduct an orchestra of exiled Jewish musicians as the fulfillment of his duty to “fight for the cause of artists persecuted by the Nazis.” He was drawn to the Palestine Orchestra not only because of its musical excellence, the conductor asserted, but also because it was his “responsibility to humanity.”

One of the young people in the audience at that inaugural concert was Menachem Meir, the son of future Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. He wrote in the early 1980s that he could still “retrieve the incredible excitement of the first Palestine Symphony concerts at which so many of the best musicians in the world gathered. The Jews of Palestine were starved for culture; many of them were highly educated, cultivated German and Austrian Jews who, flocking to Palestine during the early years of Hitler’s rise, had brought with them their taste for the sundry amenities of middle-class European life.” Bernstein was delighted to help carry on that European tradition, a tradition that now found refuge in the Jewish state

The British left Palestine on May 14, 1948. Eight hours later, in a crowded ceremony at the Tel Aviv Museum, David Ben-Gurion, declared the establishment of the State of Israel. At the end of the festivities the members of the Palestine Symphony Orchestra, now renamed the Israel Philharmonic, played “Hatikvah,” the anthem of the Zionist movement.




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