Thursday, March 21, 2024

03/21 Links Pt2: US to bring Security Council motion for ceasefire and hostage deal to a vote Friday; The Hamas Broadcasting Corporation; The Growing List of Al Jazeera Terrorists

From Ian:

Black Sabbath
Like the rest of Israeli society, Alumim’s members were shocked and traumatized by the events of Oct. 7, especially as the full extent of the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas became known. It was the most fatal day in Israeli history, with 1,200 civilians and soldiers killed, and 253 kidnapped. Not since the Holocaust had Jews been subject to mass murder, torture and rape, and Jewish collective memory across the world was deeply stirred.

That said, for all the horror of the day, Alumim had escaped the worst of it, albeit barely: Four members of the KK had been wounded, as had two residents (in addition to Muller, Doveleh Bergstein, the father of the KK’s Yaakov Bergstein, had been hit by a mortar fragment early in the day). Neighboring Kibbutz Sa’ad was not penetrated at all. Like Alumim, it is religiously observant, a fact that entered into portions of the public discourse. Inevitably, word quickly spread about the “miraculous” events at Alumim and Sa’ad, as compared to the horrific destruction at many of the other neighboring secular, mostly left-of-center kibbutzim. The fact that 19 foreign workers and an Israeli civilian had been killed within the kibbutz’s confines, not to mention the soldiers who had been killed beating off the attackers, was ignored. Fake social media posts attributed to the kibbutz’s rabbi, Amit Kula, declared that the kibbutz had been spared because it observed the Sabbath. This included locking the gates, so as to prevent motorized transportation on that day (an absurd notion in and of itself: All the kibbutzim in the area locked their gates). Rabbi Kula responded angrily, calling the idea that God distinguishes between observant and nonobservant Jews an abomination, pointing to the fact that many observant Jews had been killed that day, both soldiers and civilians in neighboring towns. Moreover, the kibbutz itself had failed to protect its foreign workers, hence there was no cause whatsoever for celebration.

As the full story became known, the “miracle” seemed less and less miraculous. In addition to the massacres of the foreign workers and the Nova festivalgoers on Road 232 outside the kibbutz, two members of the security forces had died at Alumim that day, as had the two Slotki brothers and Ofek Atun. Two other members of kibbutz families had been killed as well: Shachaf Bergstein, the brother of KK member Yaakov Bergstein, had been at the synagogue celebrations the night before, and was killed in his home in neighboring Kfar Aza; Lt. Nitai Amar, the son of a kibbutz family, was killed in battle down the road at Re’im; and the sister of a kibbutz member was killed while doing her morning training run with her running club from Sderot. The son of another kibbutz family would be killed in battle a few weeks later.

Alumim’s residents themselves viewed the events of the day through a number of different lenses. Some people did ascribe their survival to overt Divine protection. Most others, though, viewed things similarly as Rabbi Kula, namely that one utters the traditional prayer of thanksgiving in such situations, without any pretense of being able to answer the question: “Why me? Why did I survive?” Alumim’s defenders were acutely aware of how easily the results of the battle could have been radically different, and most of them gave short shrift to the idea that they had benefited from Divine intervention. However, there was no question in their minds that a crucial factor accounting for their success was that they were literally fighting to save their homes and families.

The massacre of the foreign workers remained a sore point for some, and particularly for Hunwald. Could more have been done to save them, for example, by immediately moving them en masse into the kibbutz’s residences, after the first wave of killings? The question gnawed at him, even while he acknowledged that no one had had a clue that the initial penetration of the kibbutz by the 10 terrorists was only the beginning of the ordeal. Some KK members emphasized that the subsequent large-scale massacre and kidnapping of the foreign workers had essentially bought the kibbutz defenders valuable time and even somewhat thinned out Hamas’ ranks, lending a special poignancy to what had happened, and reinforcing their sense of responsibility and indebtedness. As the first shock of the events gradually faded, and the kibbutz members began coping with their new status as displaced persons, the enormity of the Oct. 7 events gradually sank in. Some kibbutz members made sure to publicly and repeatedly emphasize that the Thai and Nepali workers were part of the Alumim community. Assistance was extended to the wounded, and ceremonies made sure to include reference to their sacrifices. By the beginning of February, six of the 10 Thai workers who had survived the ordeal and gone home, as well as one who had left before Oct. 7, had returned and were welcomed with open arms.

What does the future hold? Prior to Oct. 7, a common mantra among the kibbutzniks in the Gaza envelope was that their lives there were “95% paradise and 5% hell.” Nearly all of Alumim’s residents hoped to return home, but on one condition: There could be no restoration of the status quo ante that had included the “5% hell” and ultimately left them vulnerable to marauding terrorists. But after Oct. 7, could the authorities be trusted to achieve this, and if so, how? Kibbutz spokesman Dani Yagil was succinct: “They destroy, we’ll build,” in line with the pioneering ethos that had led to the establishment of Jewish settlements in the area in 1946, two years before the State of Israel was founded, and the founding of Alumim in 1966 by dedicated idealists.

Others, especially those with young children, weren’t so sure. After all, as Eitan Okun related, half of the children in the kibbutz were already in therapy before Oct. 7, owing to the constant stress engendered by Color Red warning sirens. How could they, as parents, have subjected their children to this? And could the destruction of Hamas’ military capabilities and ability to rule, the declared goal of Israel’s war against it, really be achieved? And what about the profound fissures that had opened up in Israeli society in the preceding year, and that were now reappearing again, five months into the war? Overall, there seemed to be a longing for more pragmatic voices that could lead Israel away from the abyss into which it was staring.

The fight for home on Oct. 7 had been won. The fight to keep and renew that home, both the kibbutz itself and the nation as a whole, was far from over.
Hebrew U legal expert to receive Israel Prize for work with October 7 vctims
The prestigious Israel Prize, awarded annually, was granted to Hebrew University of Jerusalem legal expert Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy for her advocacy for the victims of the October 7 attacks.

Elkayam-Levy was awarded in the "Solidarity" (Arvut Hadadit) category.

Following Hamas's massacre of southern Israel on October 7, she established the "Civil Commission on October 7th Crimes by Hamas against Women and Children," which was brought about to highlight and uplift victims of the attacks. Namely, the Commission shed light on the crimes committed against women, children, men, and entire families that were severely impacted in the wake of October 7.

The work of the Civil Commission aims to promote human rights and gender equality, and she has taken her work to both the national and international stages.

In a statement, Elkayam-Levy, a legal expert at the Davis Institute for International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, expressed her gratitude and ardent belief in giving voice to the voiceless and combatting rising antisemitism.
The Growing List of Al Jazeera Terrorists
These incidents, along with other intelligence, ultimately prompted the Israeli government to propose a law to shut down Al Jazeera in Israel. And yet, the Israeli government continues to engage with the government of Qatar in the ongoing hostage negotiations. Perhaps it goes without saying, but if the Israelis are convinced that journalists on the Qatari payroll are actively working with terrorist groups in Gaza, engaging the Qatari government to achieve a ceasefire with Hamas sounds insane.

It sounds even more insane given that Qatar has hosted a Hamas headquarters in Doha, and it has been paying Hamas $30 million per month since 2018. These funds undeniably helped Hamas prepare for the assault of October 7.

The Israelis are likely to continue dealing with the Qataris until a hostage deal is reached. But this does not explain why the United States continues to treat the terror-supporting Gulf nation as an ally. The support that Qatar has provided to terrorist groups like Hamas, the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and even the Islamic State is beyond dispute. And the string of incidents in Gaza indicating a collaboration between Al Jazeera and Hamas are consistent with what American forces dealt with during the Iraq War, when Bush administration officials complained that Al Jazeera journalists somehow knew exactly where to be and had their cameras rolling during attacks that targeted American servicemembers. Al Jazeera’s fever-pitch incitement against the United States was another challenge that Washington never quite ironed out with Doha.

A reckoning is urgently needed in the United States on the connection between Qatar, Al Jazeera, and terrorism. Intelligence needs to be declassified. High-level hearings need to be convened. It’s time to pull the plug on Qatar’s media asset that provides cover for violent actors in Gaza and beyond. More important, it’s time to end the charade that Qatar is an ally, once and for all.


US to bring Security Council motion for Gaza truce and hostage deal to a vote Friday
The United States, which has repeatedly blocked calls for a truce in Gaza, will submit a draft resolution urging “an immediate ceasefire” linked to the release of the hostages held by Hamas, the US representative said Thursday.

The US resolution, which will be put to vote on Friday, “will unequivocally support ongoing diplomatic efforts aimed at securing an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as part of a hostage deal,” Nate Evans, spokesman for US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said in a statement.

The measure “is an opportunity for the Council to speak with one voice to support the diplomacy happening on the ground and pressure Hamas to accept the deal on the table,” Evans added.

The US, Israel’s main backer, has previously used its United Nations Security Council veto to block the world body from calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Palestinian territory.

Since blocking an Algerian draft resolution calling for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza at the end of February, US officials have been negotiating an alternative text focusing on support for diplomatic efforts on the ground for a six-week truce in exchange for the release of hostages.

According to diplomatic sources, this text had little chance of gaining the Council’s approval and a new version was circulated to Security Council members on Wednesday.

An alternative draft resolution is also under discussion and could also be put to a vote on Friday, according to a diplomatic source.

Supported by several of the nonpermanent members of the Council, it “demands an immediate humanitarian ceasefire for the month of Ramadan,” according to the text seen by AFP.
Blinken discussed US-Saudi-Israel deal during Jeddah visit
During U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, he discussed with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman the American-Saudi component of a larger plan that would see Riyadh recognize Israel.

A senior State Department official traveling with Blinken on his Mideast trip told the Associated Press that the pair talked about the bilateral portion of the deal, with only a “handful of issues” remaining to be resolved.

The potential deal would reportedly include U.S. defense guarantees and assistance in building a domestic civilian nuclear program for the kingdom. Saudi Arabia would normalize relations with Israel in exchange for a pathway to a Palestinian state, something the majority of Israelis oppose and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said is off the table.

Blinken was in Cairo on Thursday, where he was set to meet with Arab foreign ministers to discuss broader security guarantees for Israel, as part of the larger deal with Saudi Arabia. The diplomats are also expected to discuss plans for Arab countries to play a role in the reconstruction and governance of Gaza after Israel defeats Hamas in the current war.
Israel’s critics aren’t interested in dialogue or compromise, they just want to hate
Nothing. Nothing happened. I had written that I was trying to establish a dialogue in which all of us showed we were listening to each other, that while some issues were ones that were about right and wrong (the horrific Hamas attack, the need for half the world’s Jews to feel secure), others were about competing rights.

But I didn’t get the dialogue I had been asking for. Not from one person. Not in a single email. Not in a single letter. Not in a single tweet. Not one person matched my concessions with concessions of their own. The only replies I got were to tell me I was right to concede and demand more.

I tried again. I wrote another column and repeated the arguments I had heard the critics make. I was even more explicit this time about seeking a response. But still, I got nothing.

I admit, this has had an impact on me. I have become more pessimistic. My experience has reinforced the feeling that quite a lot of the protest rhetoric is dishonest.

The protest is not against Israel’s actions, it is simply against Israel. There is nothing that Israel can do that will satisfy the demands the protesters are making. The dialogue they pretend to want, they do not actually want. Not one person (this is what really shocked me, not one person) was willing to accompany their support for Palestinian rights with any sort of statement that acknowledge the legitimate reasons why Jews came to Palestine. Not one person expressed understanding of the compelling reasons why they now need to stay.

Without this how can there ever be progress? Without this, what is there to talk about? All one can do is resist militarily and politically until a change in attitude takes place. Not to be able to understand that sometimes two rights clash seems extraordinary to me. But there you go.
Jonathan Tobin: Don’t blame Israel for the surge in antisemitism
The problem with this line of thought isn’t just its lack of realism or a desire to wish away an intractable conflict that is rooted in pure hatred of Jews. He quotes the left-wing Israel author Yuval Harari with approval when he says that the real struggle is not the obvious existential one against those who seek the death and displacement of Jews. Instead, he seeks to revive the divisive arguments about judicial reform that tore Israel apart last year as the Jewish left tried to spin its own desire to hold onto unaccountable power as one of enlightened Jews resisting the benighted right-wing and religious Israelis, who win elections but should still be ruled by their left-wing betters.

Eshman and Harari both seem to think the problem is not Hamas but right-wing Jews who see a “contradiction” between Jewish and Palestinian rights. Like previous generations of Jews who tried to bargain their way out of being targeted, they see the issue as one in which “bad Jews” are doing things for which the “good Jews” are being unfairly blamed.

Nevertheless, the problem is that the Palestinians—both the “moderates” and Hamas—all define their rights in a way that denies those of the Jews. For them, it is a zero-sum game and always has been. It is only liberal Jews who have tried—and failed—to wish this reality away. That was the conceit behind the colossal failure of the Oslo Accords and former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s withdrawal from Gaza in the summer of 2005 that ultimately made the slaughter of Oct. 7 possible.

Yet rather than confront that reality, Eshman prefers to pretend that more trading of land for terror, as Israel did in the past, would somehow do the trick this time, even if doing so now is not just immoral but an invitation to more mass slaughter. He sees Israel’s determination to eliminate Hamas and those American Jews who support that rational goal as the reason why antisemitism has become such a problem.

This is as shameful as it is illogical.

Israel and its supporters are in no way responsible for the antisemitism we are witnessing in the United States. The Jew-haters who support the Islamist war against Jewish life are the only ones to blame.

Liberal Zionists cannot have it both ways. They can’t claim to be for peace while calling for a ceasefire that will leave the greatest enemies of peace—Hamas—still standing and ready to make good on their pledges to repeat the devastation of Oct. 7. They can either stand with Israel against leftists who are ideologically opposed to Jewish rights or they can join the anti-Zionists who seek to legitimize left-wing antisemitism.

What’s more, they need to understand that their efforts to undermine Jewish self-defense by blaming Israel are only encouraging Hamas and its apologists. It is liberal Jews who, even after the calamity that took place in southern Israel seek to judge the Jewish state, that are in the wrong. It is they who, whether intentionally or not, are aiding the efforts of the terrorists to win this war and making it even less likely that Palestinians will ever undergo the sea change in their political culture, which might eventually make a compromise solution possible.
Dead Jews and live antisemites
As if October 7 wasn’t traumatic enough, the ensuing global eruption in Jew-hatred has created another layer of trauma, shattering the seemingly solid foundations on which so many Diaspora Jews thought we lived.

To better understand this disorienting moment in Jewish history, I spoke to Jewish American author Dara Horn. Horn served on then-Harvard president Claudine Gay’s antisemitism advisory committee. In our conversation, which was edited for length and clarity, Horn unpacked what’s behind this outbreak of antisemitism, Holocaust education’s failure in combating antisemitism, and what we can do about it.

This isn’t Israel’s first war in Gaza, but it’s definitely the worst global spate of antisemitism in recent memory. Why is this explosion in antisemitism happening now, and why is it so ferocious?

This explosion of antisemitism was not in response to a war in Gaza, but to Hamas’ attack in Israel. It was a celebration of murdering Jews. So when you say, why did this explode right now? Because someone was super successful in murdering Jews. This is the largest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, and that’s what’s so terrifying. I don’t feel like Hamas is playing four dimensional chess. I don’t think these people chanting “Gas the Jews” outside the Sydney Opera House are doing an amazing political analysis. I think they’re super excited that Hamas killed a lot of Jews.

Let’s apply that to your book, People Love Dead Jews. The key thesis is that people are happy to mourn dead Jews, but they don’t care so much for living ones. How does that line up with what you’ve seen since October 7 and what you just said?

The thesis in my book is really that Jews are only acceptable to a non-Jewish society when they are powerless, which means politically impotent or dead. This is what was so appealing to people about the October 7th attack. People were showing solidarity with the Jewish community because Jews were dead and not exerting power and agency. That’s why you had the Israeli flag on the Eiffel Tower the day after, before you have Jews showing agency and fighting back.

Jews are most acceptable when they’re powerless. This is super literal for Hamas. Then there’s the more benign form of it, which is, “We’re very proud of feeling sad for people who died in the Holocaust”. Or maybe in the massacre on October 7th. There have been some readers who are cheeky about this and were like, “Look — people don’t even like dead Jews”.
Lies My Comrades Told Me
The unchallengeable dogma shared by countless people today is that nothing is, and cannot possibly be, worse than U.S. imperialism.

Once a person accepts that Western imperialism is the greatest possible evil, she must cheer any atrocity carried out by the neocolonial oppressed against it; or if she has any kind of conscience, lie about what her heroes actually do.

A corollary of the doctrine is that tiny Israel is the U.S.' war-crazed puppet, if not the puppeteer.

Antisemites have always used Jews to represent whatever it is they hate. So for today's anti-imperialists, Israel is the quintessence of imperialism, truth be damned.
‘Woke’ London is most anti-Semitic city in the West, says Israeli minister
London is the most anti-Semitic place in the West, Israel’s diaspora minister said on Wednesday as he warned about the dangers of open immigration allowing extremism to build up.

Amichai Chikli, a controversial hardliner in Israel who is also in charge of anti-Semitism affairs, said a toxic mix of far-Left “wokeism” and Islamic extremism meant the capital city was no longer safe for Jews.

“The anti-Semitism we see today in the West is the worst since the 1930s and it is because of a ‘red and green’ alliance – the combination of the radical Left and the radical Islam groups that work together,” he told a press conference of European journalists in Jerusalem.

He said London had become the worst example of this.

“This is a centre of Western civilisation – the country of the Magna Carta and one of the leading democracies of the West with a rich legacy of freedom of speech, of human rights. But it seems what is happening now in Britain is that freedom of speech no longer exists.”

The minister is a controversial figure in Israel and among diaspora Jews – in September 2023 a scheduled visit to the Jewish community centre JW3 was cancelled because so many British Jews protested. He is also no stranger to attacking allies and in February he compared Lord Cameron to Neville Chamberlain for suggesting the UK may formally recognise Palestinian statehood.
Internal Docs Show Entire Intelligence Community Warned To Avoid ‘Problematic Phrases’ On Islamic Terrorism
The below story is the second part of a series on the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s DEI newsletter, “The Dive.” You can read part one, “Biden’s Top Intelligence Agency Says Crossdressing Makes Man ‘Better Intelligence Officer,’ Internal Docs Show,” here. An internal newsletter sent by diversity, equity, and inclusion officials in the Biden administration’s top intelligence agency warns personnel not to use “problematic phrases” when discussing Islamic terrorism and foreign adversaries such as China, an internal document obtained by The Daily Wire reveals. The unclassified newsletter from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, called “The Dive” and exclusively obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by The Daily Wire, argues in its cover story that the intelligence community needs to focus on “changing terminology related to counterterrorism,” because “words matter.” “This article is about one of our goals: disentangling Islam from words and phrases used to discuss terrorism and extremist violence,” writes the author of the article, whose name was redacted from the document released to The Daily Wire. The article declares that it’s trying to remove “certain phrases to identify international terrorism threats that are hurtful to Muslim-Americans.” “Some of the problematic phrases include, but are not limited to: ‘Salafi-Jihadist,’ ‘Jihadist,’ ‘Islamic-Extremist,’ ‘Sunni/Shia-Extremism,’ and ‘Radical Islamists.’” Advertisement The article is part of the newsletter created by ODNI’s Intelligence Community Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Office and sent out to personnel throughout the Intelligence Community, which includes the country’s most powerful executive agencies like the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Agency (NSA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Department of Justice (DOJ), as well as intelligence components within each branch of the military.
Melanie Phillips: The Hamas Broadcasting Corporation
The BBC Director-General, Tim Davie, appears to be well satisfied with the broadcasting organisation he runs. He told the Commons culture, media and sport committee this week that the BBC’s news coverage of the war in Gaza was “balanced and fair”.

This is what might be called a state of terminal pathological denial.

Far from being balanced and fair, the BBC’s coverage of the war in Gaza constitutes an institutional emergency. This national and international broadcasting icon, bound by its Charter obligations to uphold the highest standards of balance and objectivity, has behaved as the broadcasting arm of Hamas.

Day after day, its news coverage and analysis of the war in Gaza has been characterised by an eye-watering degree of selective reporting, distortion and malice. It has uncritically parroted demonstrably nonsensical Hamas claims, such as “30,000+ Palestinian civilians killed” of whom “70 per cent are women and children” — with not one of those killed, apparently, being a Hamas combatant despite Israel’s estimate that it has killed 13,000 Hamas combatants so far.

Day after day, it has broadcast harrowing pictures of Gazan civilian casualties without telling its audience that, even according to Hamas’s exaggerated figures, Israel’s ratio of under 1.5 civilians killed for every combatant is a vastly lower rate of civilian casualties in war than has ever been achieved by any other country’s armed forces, including Britain and America.
Social media comments on Israel by some BBC journalists ‘unacceptable’, says Tim Davie
Tim Davie has branded social media remarks about the Israel-Gaza war by some of the corporation’s journalists “unacceptable” – but insists the broadcaster remains impartial.

The BBC Director-General’s comments came after Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer recently said she believes the broadcaster is biased “on occasion.”

Mr Davie told MPs on the committee he is “proud of our output under huge pressure.”

He added that the BBC is able to “steer the course amongst the noise” despite “the storms of social media” being “very demanding.”

However, he also said he “worries” about public institutions losing trust in the current social climate.

“I believe we are impartial and we’re doing a good job, but I do not want for a minute to be defensive or complacent about that. I think there’s lots of work to do.”

Mr Davie was also asked about BBC Arabic staff retweeting remarks that are “essentially pro-Hamas.”

He replied: “Some of those tweets that we’ve seen are unacceptable, and we have taken action and we’ll continue to take action; whether I can convince you that it will never happen again… of course not.

“We are robust and I think we’re doing the fair thing, we’re acting fairly and judiciously and it’s not easy.

“I mean, you’re seeing it around the world, every news organisation, every cultural institution as you know is under enormous pressure… this is enormously fraught.”
Candace Owens Endorses Wild, Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theory About Jews Being ‘Drunk on Christian Blood’
Daily Wire personality Candace Owens endorsed a centuries-old conspiracy theory about Jewish rabbis drinking the blood of Christians on X last week.

Owens has emerged as an outspoken critic of Israel — and then later the Jewish people — in the aftermath of the October 7 terrorist attack. In November, she mistakenly claimed that Muslims in the Israeli capital of Jerusalem are confined to the Muslim Quarter and then feuded with her Jewish colleague Ben Shapiro over the war between Israel and Hamas.

“You cannot serve both God and money,” declared Owens in what was widely viewed as an anti-Semitic shot at Shapiro.

More recently, Owens has blamed rising levels of anti-Semitism on “political Jews” and suggested that there was a “small ring of specific people” in Hollywood and potentially Washington, D.C. who are “using the fact that they are Jewish to shield themselves from any criticism.”

“All of us Black, Spanish, Jewish, Chinese, Japanese, all Americans should want answers because this appears to be something that is quite sinister,” she concluded.

But it appears that Owens has taken her theorizing about the Jewish people to an deeper level still.

In a post on X last Wednesday, celebrity Rabbi Shmuley Boteach accused Owens of being an “arch antisemite” who “is inciting her Jew-hating followers to threaten to murder Jews and especialky [sic] me.”

“I have received untold numbers of messages like these from Candace’s Jew-hating fans. Candace Owens and @officialbenshapiro will be responsible for any acts of violence against Jews incited by Candace and the @dailywire,” declared Boteach, who also shared a direct message he received from someone threatening to knock him “the fuck out” and “spit in your face.”

“I will catch you jew boi. Ima knock you the fuck out. Ima watch you cry like a bitch,” read the message.

Boteach — who was also the subject of Owens’s “small ring” rant — received countless replies mocking him for his post, including one that Owens evidently found particularly compelling.

“It says February 20th, Rabbi. Are you drunk on Christian blood again?” asked a use with the handle @christ_gnosis.


CUPE's attempts at self-defence show how ingrained the union’s antisemitism really is
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has filed its defence against accusations from some Jewish members that the union’s response to Hamas’s attack on Israel discriminated against them.

The union denies the allegations in the case before the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, but its denials are undermined by its own statement of defence, which indicates just how ingrained antisemitism has become in Canada’s largest trade union.

Eighty Jewish CUPE members have filed applications with the tribunal, claiming they have been made to feel “isolated, unwelcome, scared, silenced, discriminated against, threatened and harassed.” The lead complainant is Carrie Silverberg, an education assistant in a public school board and a CUPE member of 17 years standing, who is seeking $500,000 in damages.

Her application names CUPE Ontario, its president Fred Hahn, and Local 3906, which represents 3,500 workers at McMaster University in Hamilton.

The application points to a tweet on Oct. 7 by CUPE 3906 as the terrorist attack was taking place that read: “Palestine is rising, long live the resistance” and another on Oct. 8 by Hahn that praised “the power of resistance.”

Hahn apologized two weeks later but the application said it “lacked sincerity” and was just the latest in a long pattern of discrimination against Jewish union members.

The application states that Hahn has advised Jewish members that the Jewish people “stole” the land of Israel from Palestinians, and that he encourages and condones antisemitism.

The case for the defence is, by turn, inconsistent and irrational.
Kosher food being ‘targeted by racists’, says Government’s antisemitism adviser
Kosher food is being “targeted by racists” and removed from stores, according to the Government’s antisemitism adviser.

Non-affiliated peer Lord Mann criticised the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, a Palestinian-led movement that promotes boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel.

The former Labour MP said that, while not buying a product from Israel is a personal choice, actions that remove the ability of Jewish people to access kosher food is attacking a “fundamental freedom”.

He said: “If one decides not to buy Jaffa oranges because one doesn’t like Israel or the Israeli government, then that’s a choice one is free to make and should be free to make.

“If one stops a shop, say, in a university or in a local authority from stocking Jaffa oranges, then that means that people who wish to buy them can’t do so.

“And it’s particularly invidious when a religion – and there are several religions – have specific dietary rules and laws.

“So in the case of Judaism, kosher food, to specifically isolate the ability of individuals who choose to follow the religion’s norms and rules in terms of diet to ban the right of them to do so – it’s much more invidious because what it’s doing is impacting one’s way of life and therefore the principle is far greater…

“And what we’re seeing with this so-called BDS campaign, what we’re seeing increasingly is Jewish kosher foods, which may be Israeli or may not be, being specially targeted, whether it’s in supermarkets, whether it’s in Jewish-owned stores, being specifically targeted by racists and inhibiting the rights of those who choose to be kosher-adherent to be so.”


They Denounced a Bill to 'End Jew Hatred.' Now, Jamaal Bowman Says He's 'Honored To Have Their Endorsement.'
New York Democratic congressman Jamaal Bowman is touting an endorsement from a left-wing group that denounced a resolution commemorating "End Jew Hatred Day" in New York City. That resolution was "dangerous" and "a farce," the group said.

In a Monday tweet, Bowman heaped praise on Indivisible Brooklyn, calling their work "crucial in ensuring that everyday people are actually represented in our democracy."

"I am honored to have their endorsement and continue working with them," Bowman said.

Roughly one year prior, in June 2023, Indivisible Brooklyn blasted a bipartisan New York City Council resolution that established an "End Jew Hatred Day" in an attempt to combat rising anti-Semitism in the city. "That 'End Jew Hatred' bill was a total farce and is dangerous," the group said, adding that one of the two Brooklyn Democrats who voted against the resolution "was right to oppose it." The resolution passed with 41 yes votes.

Bowman's praise for Indivisible Brooklyn comes as the lawmaker faces a difficult primary challenge from Westchester County executive George Latimer, a pro-Israel Democrat whom local rabbis encouraged to run, citing Bowman's hostility toward the Jewish state. In the wake of Hamas's Oct. 7 attack, the two-term congressman has accused Israel of "mass murder," "genocide," and "ethnic cleansing."

"Many of us tried to engage the congressman early in his term, seeking constructive dialogue about the damaging positions he took—especially on matters related to America's relationship with Israel," the rabbis wrote in an October letter. "Regrettably, Congressman Bowman disregarded our outreach and doubled down on his anti-Israel policy positions and messaging."


Scottish MP says Israel ‘lies’ over sexual abuse of hostages
A Scottish independent MP told the House of Commons that Israel was lying when it claimed hostages captured by Hamas on October 7 have been subjected to sexual violence and abuse.

Angus MacNeil, the MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, which covers the outer Hebrides, made his comment during a debate on Wednesday about supplying aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

Following a statement by overseas aid minister Andrew Mitchell, Jewish Conservative MP Andrew Percy rose to ask him whether he believed Israel had the right to try to enter the southern Gazan city of Rafah to try to rescue the remaining 130 hostages, given that “the Israeli government have been very clear that hostages are being held there and that some of them have been subjected to sexual violence and other abuse”.

Mitchell replied that Israel did have that right, but before he could speak MacNeil – whose voice is clearly audible on the recording of the debate - interjected: “They are liars.”

He repeated this claim later in the debate.

MacNeil’s strident views on Israel’s war with Hamas are no secret. On 10 March, he posted a statement on X (formerly Twitter) that implied the “perpetrators” of Israel’s supposed “genocide” in Gaza should be compared to the Nazis, writing that he hoped that “as long as they live, and whether in Israel or Argentina, [they] can be as uneasy as previous war criminals until justice catches them”.

Dozens of wanted Nazi war criminals took refuge in Argentina after World War Two, including Adolf Eichmann, one of the principal architects of the Holocaust, who was eventually captured by the Mossad, tried for his crimes and put to death in Jerusalem.


How to fight BDS on US campuses and win
FIRST, THE pro-Israel community must establish positive working relationships with state and federal government officials. Constant updates on campus life concerning the pro-Israel community, including antisemitism, should be provided. Staffers, state senators, Congressional representatives, and those in the Governor’s office possess relationships with university administration and can exert external pressure on university policy.

SECOND, THE pro-Israel community, similar to its relationship with government officials, must invoke ongoing communication, education, and relationship-building with key decision-makers in university administration, including the Office of the President, Board of Trustees, and Student Life. American universities are massive corporate bureaucratic organisms; if they are not growing and surviving, they are dying. They fear losing money, incurring lawsuits, and experiencing unfavorable press, staining their reputation and prompting organizational decline.

Playing on the interests and fears of the university administration to exert internal pressure, students and professional staff should work within the system. To be effective, it is necessary to scrupulously document all communications with the university administration and government officials.

THIRD, GRASSROOTS fighters can rally the pro-Israel community to mobilize around defeating BDS. Two types of student leaders can rally the community: students within Jewish organizations and those involved in other parts of campus life. Chabad and Hillel student board leaders can help inspire the Jewish community internally because they are a significant segment of the pro-Israel movement on campus.

Externally, pro-Israel student leaders connected to Greek life, Christian life, and middle/right-wing political groups can locate and persuade respected heads to join the cause. Anti-BDS leadership must develop a unified, compelling, and simple messaging campaign focused on why BDS hurts the university and a comprehensive outreach plan on whom, how, and why to target a person and/or organization. To start, “BDS is illegal, ill-intentioned, and irresponsible.”

Finally, with unrelenting efforts, investigation, and prudence, any campus can be turned into the right environment to defeat BDS.

Thirty-seven states have anti-BDS laws, including California and New York, which are home to some of the worst antisemitic campuses. Ohio State’s decision to remove BDS from the ballot by turning to state law, the first of its kind since October 7, 2023, sets a precedent for other schools to do the same.

Universities can thereby rid themselves of increased antisemitism, hostile and divisive environments, and the poor press that tends to arrive in tandem with BDS resolutions. Universities should not want BDS on their campus.

State law gives them the means and justification for scrapping BDS trash altogether.
Israeli academia unsafe for those who hold a Zionist worldview
There is a particularly thick thread running through the case of Prof. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian at Hebrew University to that of Prof. Yuli Tamir at Beit Berl College, who said that the Israeli war slogan, "Together we shall prevail," hurts the feelings of Arab students.

The thickness of this thread teaches us that these are not isolated cases, but rather a well-established reality in which Israeli academia has long been a precarious space for those who hold a Zionist worldview, especially if they dare to enter its gates with opposing views.

Prof. Shalhoub-Kevorkian declared during a lecture that Jews "need to be afraid because criminals always fear." Without pausing to consider for a moment that as the powerful figure in the lecture hall, the students sitting across from her who served in the IDF are supposed to understand from her words that they have committed murder, and are expected to remain silent and afraid.

Regarding her claim about the horrendous acts of rape committed on October 7, "They started with babies, they continued with rape, and they will continue with a million other lies. We stopped believing them, I hope the world stops believing them" - how are students supposed to feel, those who were traumatized by those same terrible hate crimes, when their professor, who specializes in gender-based violence, does not believe them? And all this without even presenting a single valid research study to support her claims, of course. What kind of educator instills fear and silences their students and colleagues in such circumstances? And then, she has the gall to argue that she is the one being silenced and terrorized.
ADL: 2000% increase in antisemitic incidents at California’s campuses
A surge of antisemitism at universities across California has inspired a coalition of groups to join together to urge the University of California Regents to take immediate action.

The Jewish Federation Los Angeles sent a letter on March 15 to the governing body of California’s university system that was co-signed by 38 organizations, including ADL California, AJC California, Agudath Israel of California, Berkeley Hillel, Holocaust Museum LA, Hillel at UCLA, Simon Wiesenthal Center and StandWithUs.

“Since October 7, 2023, there has been a 2000% increase in antisemitic incidents on college campuses across California compared to the same period last year, according to the ADL,” the letter stated before noting examples at the University of California at Berkeley and Santa Barbara.

One such incident at Berkeley grew violent, with some 200 protesters smashing window glass during a protest on Feb. 26, prompting a response from the administration.

The groups proposed 12 steps for restoring Jewish students’ security on campus, such as revoking funding for student groups that discriminate; exercising zero tolerance for speech that advocates violence; instituting greater enforcement of all university policies; creating Jewish-life advisory committees; and including Jews within Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs.
‘Failure to protect Jewish students, faculty’: House committee asks for Berkeley documents
Citing a “violent riot” targeting Jews and “numerous antisemitic incidents” on the University of California, Berkeley campus, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), chairwoman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, wrote to the public school requesting its documentation on its response to Jew-hatred.

“We have grave concerns regarding the inadequacy of UC Berkeley’s response to antisemitism on its campus,” Foxx wrote in a 15-page letter to Berkely’s chancellor, president and board chair on Tuesday. “Several recent incidents have been particularly troubling.”

Foxx cited the Feb. 26 “violent riot” at Berkeley, during which “anti-Israel activists assaulted Jewish students and shattered glass windows, forcing the cancellation of an Israeli speaker’s lecture.”

“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,” she added. “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.”

“Pervasive” Jew-hatred has been documented at the public university “well before the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack,” Foxx added, noting a 2016 Brandeis University study that found that “over a third of students surveyed at UC Berkeley and three other University of California system campuses perceived a hostile environment toward Jews on their campuses.” Several indications show that matters have worsened since Oct. 7, she added.
Kassy Dillon: WATCH: Worker At Harvard Flips Out After He Was Caught Ripping Down Israeli Hostage Posters
A groundskeeper working at Harvard University was caught on camera acting aggressively after being confronted for ripping down posters of Israeli hostages held by terrorists in Gaza on Wednesday morning.

The man, sporting a reflective vest with the Harvard logo, stuffed the posters into a trash bag in Harvard Yard before he was approached by an Israeli man, the video shows. The posters, sponsored by Jewish organization Harvard Chabad, were put up the night before.

“Why are you taking them down?” the man recording the video asks the man, who is called Jackson by his colleague.

“Because it’s my f***ing job,” Jackson responded. “F*** you, man.”

A spokesman for Harvard University told The Daily Wire that Jackson is an employee of a different company contracted to perform groundskeeping work.

“The University is aware of an incident that took place on Wednesday morning inside Harvard Yard between a contract worker and another individual,” the spokesman said. “Harvard strongly condemns the individual’s conduct reflected in the video of the incident, and, as a result, the contract worker was directed to leave campus, and his employer has been notified that the individual may not be assigned to return to campus to perform work in the future.”

“When I approached one of them, asking why he was removing those posters, he became very aggressive and scary, moving toward me with aggressive body movements and cursing,” the Israeli man, who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, told The Daily Wire. “I had to step back. His colleague had to come between us at some point.”

“I have a family with two kids, and my wife is affiliated with Harvard,” he added. “We are scared to walk by the yard and be confronted by this person again, or other Harvard Ops. Other Jewish and Israeli people who live in the yard are scared too.”


Berkeley Chancellor Declined Invitation To Introduce Israeli Lawyer Whose Speech Last Month Was Derailed by Violent Protesters
When violent student protesters prevented Israeli lawyer Ran Bar-Yoshafat from speaking at the University of California, Berkeley, last month, the school's chancellor, Carol Christ, decried the move as an "attack on the fundamental values of the university." So, when Jewish students invited Bar-Yoshafat to return to campus earlier this week, in a test of whether they could hold an event without major disruption, they invited Christ to introduce him. She declined. She also ignored the requests of Jewish student leaders to send another university representative to do so, according to the leader of a Jewish student group.

Bar-Yoshafar's return to Berkeley came three weeks after a scheduled speech last month was shut down by violent protesters who assaulted Jewish students and broke down the doors of the venue where he was set to discuss the Israel-Hamas war.

Berkeley senior Vida Keyvanfar, the co-president of the Jewish group Tikvah, told the Washington Free Beacon that Christ responded to the invitation with a one-line refusal and did not respond to a request that she provide a video greeting for the audience.

"It makes it more and more scary to stand up for what you believe in if someone who is supposed to be running our campus in the name of free speech is so afraid to conflate herself with us that she won't stand up for our rights," Keyvanfar said. "You can't pick and choose which rights to stand up for."

Christ's refusal came after she expressed shock and dismay over the disruption of Bar-Yoshafat's February visit and told Jewish students that Bar-Yoshafat should return. Berkeley failed to supply adequate security for Bar-Yoshafat's first appearance, and the university in turn blamed Jewish student groups for their alleged failure to provide enough advance notice.
Massachusetts Teachers Association hosts “antiracism” event in support of Palestinians; board member accuses Israel of “genocide,” “apartheid,” and “ethnic cleansing”; claims that a way to bring peace is to “end” Israel
Parents Defending Education received an email exchange involving Joe Herosy who in his email signature states that he is a member of the Board of Directors for the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA). On March 12th, 2024, in response to an invitation to a webinar on antisemitism, Herosy claimed that the “Israel lobby” is “a tool of US Imperialism as opposed to the common false idea that Israel is controlling US policy.” Here is the email that was sent to him and his fellow MTA Board of Directors members on March 7th:
In response to this email, Herosy went on to accuse Israel of “genocide” and cites Qatar-funded Al Jazeera and the United Nation’s International Court of Justice in an attempt to argue his point. He then accused Europeans of “settler colonialism” in creating modern-day Israel and in creating the United States:
There was peace between Arabs Muslims, Christians and Jews in Palestine before the Nakba of 1948 when thousands of Palestinians were killed and nearly half driven from their homes. The settlers who committed this crime were Europeans who were backed by British & US Imperialists in a clear case of settler colonialism or the forced displacement of an indigenous population by an outside group which forms permanent settlements. This is the same kind of violent displacement we recognise when we do land acknowledgements at the start of our meetings. Racial/religious/ethnic differences are weaponized to enable land theft and exploitation for profit by the British and US capitalist ruling classes. He further accused Israel of “apartheid” and appeared to explain that Israel needs “to end”: Here’s what he said:
The history of Palestine / Israel since then has been one of continued land theft by a racist apartheid regime that has been propped up by billions in annual US funding. This is the source of the violence in Palestine / Israel and the only way to bring peace for all people in the region is to end the apartheid regime, which begins with a permanent ceasefire.
Exact quote from Joe Herosy, member of Massachusetts Teachers’ Union Board of Directors Joe Herosy additionally attacked the Lappin Foundation (co-hosts of the anti-semitism webinar with the Kraft family), Anti-Defamation League (ADL), and American Jewish Committee (AJC) for being “explicitly dedicated to supporting the apartheid state of Israel.” He later accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” in the email. He also showed support for “Liberated Ethnic Studies” from the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium (LESMCC) which is known to promote anti-Israel sentiment.
Glasgow University investigating doctor who praised terrorist
The University of Glasgow is investigating a British-Palestinian doctor standing to become its rector over revelations that he praised terrorists.

Ghassan Abu-Sittah rose to prominence following the start of Israel’s war against Hamas after he was interviewed by the BBC, Sky News and CNN from Gaza.

Since returning to Britain, he has been hosted in parliament by MPs and given evidence to a Scotland Yard war crimes inquiry.

The surgeon is now standing to be elected as Glasgow University’s rector, a senior position that has regularly been held by political figures such as Winnie Mandela.

The JC has previously revealed, however, that Abu-Sittah has also praised a terrorist murderer in a newspaper article, sat beside a notorious terrorist hijacker at a memorial and delivered a tearful eulogy to the founder of a terror group that was later involved in the October 7 atrocities.

Glasgow University’s vice chancellor has now said that the institution will investigate such claims.


PreOccupiedTerritory: Arab MK Storms Out Of Hearing Featuring Testimony On Medical Impossibility Of IDF Stealing Palestinian Organs (satire)
A member of the Ra’am Party made an angry exit from a parliamentary committee meeting today when a scientific expert explained to the lawmakers that the charge of Israel harvesting body parts from Gazans, or killing Gazans in order to do so, has no scientific basis, since such procedures must take place under controlled conditions that cannot exist in the environments in which the allegations claim the thefts take place.

MK Waleed Taha stormed out of a hearing Thursday at the Knesset where Professor Hans Kristoff, an expert on organ transplantation from Switzerland, testified as to the requirements for the removal of an organ from one body and its successful installation in another. Prof. Kristoff described the sterility, timing, temperatures, storage requirements, specimen testing, candidate profiling, and other extensive and expensive steps that must be in place before any organ can be removed, let alone used, in a transplant. The clear ramifications of the expert’s testimony include the impossibility that the IDF, or any other Israeli entity, kills Palestinians to harvest organs. The disclosure of that fact upset MK Taha, who called the scientific data “racist, pro-genocide, pro-Apartheid propaganda.”

Palestinians and their supporters abroad have long accused Israel of harvesting Palestinian organs – more specifically, of wanton shooting of Palestinians, either specifically to harvest their organs, or merely to exploit the dead Palestinians for their organs, given the opportunity. Taha and many of his ideological comrades accept, by default, reports that paint Israel as evil, spreading the libel and sowing the seeds of further default acceptance of Zionist diabolicalness.
La Presse apologizes after cartoon is denounced as antisemitic
La Presse has apologized after a cartoon depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a vampire sparked outrage.

The depiction, by veteran editorial cartoonist Serge Chapleau, was widely denounced, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau describing it as antisemitic and “distasteful.”

“The drawing was intended to be a criticism of Mr. Netanyahu’s policies. It targeted the Israeli government, not the Jewish people,” Stéphanie Grammond, La Presse’s chief editorialist, said Wednesday in a post on the newspaper’s website.

La Presse has removed the drawing from its platforms.

“Our apologies to anyone who was offended,” Grammond said.

The caricature portrays Netanyahu as the menacing vampire from the 1922 German silent horror movie Nosferatu. He has long, claw-like fingernails and a large nose.

Under Chapleau’s depiction are words, dripping with blood: “Nosfenyahou, en route vers Rafah.” The cartoonist was referring to the Palestinian city that Netanyahu has vowed to target.

Grammond said it “was unfortunate to depict the prime minister as Nosferatu the vampire, since this movie character was used in Nazi propaganda during the Second World War, as readers pointed out to us after publication.”


Editorial Cartoon In Hamilton Spectator & Waterloo Record Depicts Bloodied Benjamin Netanyahu Throwing American-Made Bombs On Hungry Palestinian Civilians
On the heels of La Presse’s publishing a blood libel editorial cartoon depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a blood-sucking vampire, a caricature replete with antisemitic tropes and which was ultimately removed by the publication who also issued a formal apology, now and only one day later, two English-language newspapers have published caricatures by that feature their cartoonist’s poisonous pen against Israel.

Torstar papers The Hamilton Spectator and The Waterloo Record, both published an editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay on March 21 depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a blood-soaked tie, lobbing American-made bombs at innocent and hungry Palestinian civilians (holding bowls reading “Feed Us”), juxtaposed with Russian President Vladimir Putin throwing bombs at Ukraine.

In response, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is shown holding a box, labeled “Arms to Israel,” and saying “No more for you,” to Netanyahu. Below, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is shown with his hands outstretched.

Although convoluted, the message of the cartoon is clear: that Israel is massacring innocent Palestinian civilians, and that Canada will no longer send weapons to Israel as a result, but to Ukraine.

Although editorial cartoons are exaggerated for effect, MacKay’s contribution was simply absurd and mendacious.
PA media arm employee again contributes to BBC content
As with his opaque mention of “six Palestinians shot dead by Israeli security forces in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank on Tuesday” – at least four of whom were engaged in violence and terrorism at the time – Gunter seeks to promote a narrative of Israeli culpability while completely ignoring the context of Ramadan-linked incitement to violence.

At the bottom of Gunter’s report readers learn that a person who, as far as we know, is not a BBC employee participated in its production:
“Muath al-Khatib contributed to this report. Photographs by Joel Gunter.”

Muath al-Khatib is the Jerusalem based photo-journalist who works part-time for the WAFA news agency and who contributed to the BBC News website’s recent problematic reports about Nasser hospital in the Gaza Strip as well as to additional BBC reports published in recent months.

Members of the BBC’s funding public may of course be interested to know of the exact nature of al-Khatib’s ‘contributions’ (which in this case at least apparently do not include photography) to this and other BBC reports in light of his employment with the official media arm of the terror-funding Palestinian Authority.


CBC Radio Program Ignores Anti-Israel Mob’s Desire For Israel’s Destruction
In what could be described as a masterclass of missing the forest for the trees, a CBC Radio broadcast report on a recent anti-Israel protest outside a Toronto-area synagogue, with the overwhelming focus being on the alleged gripes of the mob.

In the March 19 episode of Front Burner, a CBC radio program entitled: “West Bank real estate, protests at Canadian synagogue,” which ran nearly 40 minutes long, host Jayme Poisson reported on a March 7 protest of around 100 anti-Israel activists who protested outside a Thornhill, Ontario, synagogue, in a heavily Jewish neighbourhood, allegedly due to an Israeli real estate exhibition being held inside.

Rather than devoting the lengthy segment to evaluating the explicit and indefensible attempt by the protest organizers to invade and intimidate a largely Jewish neighbourhood, instead Poisson took the cue from the anti-Israel mob, and spent the lion’s share of the segment to discussing the exhibitors at the Israeli real estate show, in particular, properties she says are in the “occupied West Bank.”

In her introduction, Poisson told listeners that “the genesis of this protest is because there is a real estate event going on inside” the synagogue, and that “at the heart of the controversy here is that some of the vendors have advertised that they’re selling property in the West Bank.”

Even a modicum of research on the part of CBC would have demonstrated that to the anti-Israel protesters, whether property is located in the “West Bank” (what the news media calls Judea & Samaria), or within pre-1967 Israel is entirely irrelevant; they see all Jewish presence in the land as illegal.


MEMRI: Member Of Qatar-based, Funded International Union Of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) Touhami Medjouri Calls On All Muslims To Join Hamas' War Against Israel, Target Interest Of U.S., U.K., France, And Germany Everywhere
While the U.S. is placing the Gaza port under Qatar's control – namely under Hamas control – an the Internation Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS), which is funded by Qatar and is based in Doha, has published on its website an article by one of its members, the Algerian Islamist writer Touhami Medjouri, that calls on all Muslims to expand the scope of the war between Israel and Hamas by joining the fray and "targeting American, British, French and German interests everywhere, using all possible and legitimate means." Titled "Go Forth, Light Armed and Heavy Armed” (Quran 9:41), which was also the title of a statement delivered recently by Abu Obeida, the spokesman of Hamas' military wing, the article argues that the two-state solution is not feasible, and that the only way to resolve the Palestinian issue is to establish "an independent Palestinian state in all the Palestinian territories, with no presence of Jews, except under [the rule of] this state."

It should be mentioned that the members of the IUMS, which is supported by Qatar and Turkey, often promote terrorism and jihad. The organization was founded in 2004 in Dublin, Ireland by Yousuf Al-Qaradawi, who also headed it until November 2018.[1] Regarded as the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, and supported and sheltered for years by the Qatari regime, Qaradawi was known for his extremist views, including his condonement of jihad and of suicide attacks in Israel. Today the IUMS is headed by Ali Al-Qaradaghi, who espouses similar views, including support for terrorism and demonization of the West. [2]

IUMS members have often expressed support for Hamas' October 7 terror attack, in which some 1,200 people were murdered and 241 were taken hostage. On the day of the attack itself, the organization issued a statement praising it and justifying it as "legitimate resistance."[3] On October 31 it issued a fatwa calling for military intervention by Arab and Muslim countries against Israel in light of its war against Hamas in Gaza.[4] The head of Hamas' political bureau, Islam'il Haniya, himself a member of the IUMS, attended an event it hosted in Doha on January 9, 2024, at which he boasted about the October 7 attack and solicited donations for the Palestinians in Gaza.[5] The IUMS website has published many article praising Hamas' attack and calling for further jihad and violence.[6]
PMW: PA TV attacks PMW: “There is no doubt that he [PMW] is watching me now, recording me, and preparing reports.”
PA TV went on a rant attacking PMW once again, the trigger being PMW’s report on the Red Cross facilitating the PA salaries to terrorist prisoners. As usual, the PA tried to delegitimize PMW, this time through its Israeli affairs expert Fayez Abbas:
“An extremist right-wing organization Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) prepared a report saying that the Red Cross fills out forms for the prisoners and they are submitted to the PA in order to pay salaries to the prisoners.”

Of course, the PA cannot deny this as the Red Cross’ role is written into PA law.

The PA is upset that PMW is monitoring it and exposing the PA to the world:
“This guy [PMW director, Itamar Marcus] comes out against me day and night. There is no doubt that he is watching me now, recording me, and preparing reports.”

Because of the damage PMW has caused the PA by exposing factual information, when PA TV attacks PMW, it does not pinpoint anything specific that was wrong in our report, but just broadcasts slurs:
“I heard him [Marcus] with another report, preparing reports that are all exaggeration, lies, and evasion.”

The PA is attacking PMW now because it is concerned about PMW’s recommendation that Red Cross visits to terrorists in prison be conditioned on the Red Cross not acting as a facilitator for the terror salaries:




Iraqi school textbooks scrutinized over antisemitism, Shi’ization
comprehensive study led by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-SE) analyzing 71 textbooks from Iraq’s national school curriculum between 2015-2022 shows worrying trends of antisemitism, Shi’ization, and ignoring terror.

The report delved into the portrayal of history, language, and religious education, which echoed narratives prevalent during Saddam Hussein’s reign, with limited coverage of events post-1958, indicating a deliberate framing of historical contexts.

While aiming to strike a balance between Iraqi, Kurdish, and Arab identities, the textbooks exhibit biases and contradictions, particularly in their treatment of religious minorities. The curriculum appears to navigate a delicate balance between acknowledging diversity and perpetuating sectarian tensions.

The report emphasized the textbooks’ portrayals of religious and ethnic groups, notably Jews, who are depicted in a deeply negative light, while their historical contributions and sufferings are conspicuously absent. Moreover, the curriculum’s approach to regional conflicts, particularly the Arab-Israeli conflict, reflects a staunch and not surprising anti-Israel stance, perpetuating hostility and disregarding peace efforts.


PLO flag at Tomb of Esther and Mordechai in Iran
When Chief Rabbi of Iran Rabbi Yehuda Gerami arrived on Thursday, as he does every year on the Fast of Esther and Purim, to pray at the Tomb of Esther and Mordechai in Hamedan, he discovered that the PLO flag had been raised there.

In recent months, because of the war in Gaza, the holiest site for Judaism in the country has been the subject of arson attacks.

The tomb, according to tradition, is the burial place of the Esther and Mordechai mentioned in the Book of Esther. The site has served as a pilgrimage site for Jews for years, 220 miles southwest of Tehran.

In a rare interview with an ultra-Orthodox outlet in 2022, Gerami said that there was no danger to Iranian Judaism and that Iranians have enormous respect for Jews. He added that Jews in Iran stayed out of politics and that the treatment by the authorities was excellent.


Reported US-Iran Talks Explain Saudi Sitting Out Red Sea Operations
Wafic Safa, a top Hezbollah official, is on an unprecedented visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a country that classifies the Iran-backed Lebanese militia as a terrorist organization.

The visit came less than a week after The Financial Times reported that Bret McGurk, a senior Biden official, had held secret talks with Iranian counterparts in Oman about attacks in the Red Sea.

In December, America invited Saudi Arabia and the UAE to participate in Operation Guardian Prosperity, which was designed to defend international shipping lanes in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden against Houthi attacks originating from Yemen.

Under the Biden administration’s strategy of “regional integration,” America’s Arab allies — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Egypt — are members of Combined Task Force (CTF) 153, whose mission is to guarantee the security of the Red and the Arabian seas. Yet when Yemen’s Houthi forces started targeting ships, these Arab countries passed on Washington’s invitation. Some believe this was because Riyadh and Abu Dhabi correctly calculated that Biden might change course midway and quit, leaving them facing renewed animosity from Tehran and the Houthis.
Houthis agree to ensure safe passage for Chinese, Russian ships in Red Sea — report
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have reached an agreement with China and Russia to ensure safe passage for their ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in exchange for increased political support on the global stage, according to a new report Thursday.

The agreement was reached during diplomatic talks in Oman with senior Houthi political figure Mohammed Abdel Salam, Bloomberg News reported, and formalizes a commitment made by the Houthis in January when the Iran-backed group first told Beijing and Moscow that their vessels would not be harmed.

In exchange for allowing vessels to pass unharmed through the Red Sea shipping route that has become the target of frequent Houthi missile strikes in recent months, China and Russia will provide political support for the Houthis in various spaces, including at the United Nations Security Council, sources familiar with the contents of the talks told Bloomberg.

The exact way in which the support at the UN will manifest is unknown, the report added, but it could lead to blockage of resolutions condemning the Yemen-based group.

The Houthis have repeatedly attacked vessels transiting through the Red Sea and surrounding waters since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, claiming that they are doing so in solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
GOP Budget Proposal Touts Toughest Iran Sanctions in History and Eradication of ‘Woke’ Military Programs
A federal budget proposal released by the House’s largest Republican caucus on Wednesday "would implement the toughest package of sanctions on Iran ever proposed by Congress" and eradicate funding for "all woke programs and priorities in the military," according to a copy of the fiscal package provided to the Washington Free Beacon.

The Republican Study Committee (RSC), which is spearheading the $895.2 billion defense spending proposal, says its vision was sculpted with the recognition "that President Biden has failed as commander-in-chief." It takes aim at millions of dollars in military spending on "woke" cultural priorities, including climate initiatives and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training.

The budget also focuses heavily on Iran, touting the most comprehensive set of sanctions in recent memory, and would block the Biden administration from using any federal funds to conduct diplomacy with Tehran over a revamped version of the 2015 nuclear deal. It also would codify a Trump administration-era order designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organization, further complicating the administration’s efforts to ease pressure on Tehran.

The budget package highlights glaring gaps between the Biden administration and congressional Republicans when it comes to defense spending and military priorities. It is likely to garner widespread traction in the narrowly GOP-controlled House, setting up a fiscal showdown between the White House and Republicans as Congress works to fund the government through the next year. Senate Republicans have also thrown their support behind many of the proposals in the RSC’s budget—such as tougher sanctions on Iran and eradicating "woke" military spending.

The RSC dedicates a large section of its budget to combating Iran’s global terrorism operation, highlighting Tehran’s efforts to foment chaos across the Middle East in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror strike on Israel, which was carried out with funding and support from the Islamic Republic.
‘I don’t know’ if Iran is an authoritarian regime, South Africa’s foreign minister says
South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor said on Tuesday that she did not know whether Iran is an authoritarian regime, pushing back repeatedly on characterizations of it as a dictatorship.

The comments come as South Africa is under increased scrutiny over its relationships with regimes like Iran, Russia and China, as well as Hamas, as it simultaneously pursues a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. These factors have prompted the House Foreign Affairs Committee to consider legislation on Wednesday on reassessing the U.S.-South Africa relationship.

Pandor, speaking at an event hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, was asked about the BRICS economic bloc’s decision to welcome four authoritarian governments — Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt — into the group.

She disputed the characterization, questioning “who makes these judgments? Because I don’t know, this assessment, that you’re making.” Pressed by moderator Dan Baer, Carnegie’s senior vice president for policy research, on whether Iran is authoritarian, she responded, “I don’t know whether they are an authoritarian regime.”

“I’m not aware — I don’t have that definition in my logbook,” she repeated, asked again by a seemingly incredulous Baer.


Leading French Politicians, Cultural Figures Call on European Parliament Candidates to Reject Antisemitism
More than 600 prominent personalities in French politics and culture have signed an open letter calling on candidates in the forthcoming elections to the European parliament to decisively reject antisemitism.

The letter, published in the leading news outlet Le Monde on Thursday, attracted the signatures of three former prime ministers — Elisabeth Borne, Bernard Cazeneuve, and Manuel Valls.

Organized by “Nous Vivrons” (“We Live”), a collective devoted to combating antisemitism, the letter observed that the June 6-9 elections for the 750 seats in the European parliament amounted to a major test for democracy that went far beyond the “fate of the Jews.”

“We ask for nothing more than others, but nothing less either,” the letter stated. “Just a non-negotiable common minimum. Against antisemitism in all its forms. Against hatred. Against xenophobia.”

The letter went on to declare: “We refuse to pay the heaviest price of a fractured society in search of a common enemy to unite against.”

Other signatories to the letter included the actress and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg, the writer Yvan Attal, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi, and the Chief Rabbi of France, Haim Korsia.

Part of the impetus for the letter was provided by a demonstration in Paris on March 8 to mark International Women’s Day. Jewish women who took to the streets demanding the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza since the terrorist organization’s pogrom in southern Israel on Oct. 7 were confronted by around 300 pro-Hamas demonstrators chanting “Palestine will win.” Insults were exchanged along with shoving and jostling before police intervened to restore order.

The Jewish women “wanted to carry the voice of Israeli women, they were asked why they did not talk about Palestinian women,” the letter stated, before asking: “Why should Jews be the carriers of a universalist feminism that the spokespeople of the cause have themselves given up?”


Four wounded in possible antisemitic arson of London house, suspect arrested
A London house fire in which four people were wounded is being investigated as a potential antisemitic hate crime, the Metropolitan Police said on Thursday.

The 60-year-old man arrested on suspicion of arson near the scene of the midday Hackney borough blaze reportedly made "a number of threatening comments, some of which were allegedly antisemitic," according to Tower Hamlets and Hackney police commander Detective Chief Superintendent James Conway.

“We take instances of antisemitism extremely seriously and for this reason we’re investigating the incident as a potential hate crime," said Conway in a police statement. "Whilst the investigation will continue to explore the motivation for this offence, we believe at this stage that this was centered on a localized housing-related issue. We have no indication, at this very early stage, that the motivation was connected with any specific local or global events."

Three of the people wounded in the fire were residents, said police, and the fourth casualty was a passerby. None of them suffered life threatening injuries, but according to the London Fire Brigade they were taken to the hospital by London Ambulance Service crews.

Police said that the suspect had also been taken to the hospital for minor injuries suffered in the inferno. Three other residents had managed to exit the three-story house before the arrival of rescue services.

Eight Fire engines and around 60 firefighters were needed to bring the blaze under control, according to the fire brigade. The ground and first floors of the house were destroyed.

“Crews worked hard to bring the fire under control and stop the fire from spreading to neighboring properties," Station Commander Alan Bendell said in a Wednesday statement.
Police investigate seven hate crimes in Newton, Mass.
Police have opened investigations into seven acts of antisemitic hate in the past few weeks in Newton, Mass., a town of 87,000 people.

In one case, someone threw a rock through the window of a Jewish family’s home that posted lawn signs saying “Boston Strong. Israel Strong” and “Bring Them Home.” The family released a statement after the attack in which they vowed that “violence has no place in our community, and we will not give in to bullying and intimidation.”

In another incident, someone used red paint to mar an entire line of lawn posters featuring the faces of Israeli hostages being held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The family who placed the signs live on Homer Street, a busy thoroughfare, and belong to Congregation Beth El-Atereth Israel in Newton, 15 minutes west of Boston.

Police said that a vandal also struck four “We Stand with Israel” posters, hitting one home twice.

According to News 7 Boston, Leah Roses reported that someone stole her “We Stand With Israel” flag. She said she felt “more sorrow about the hatred that’s going on around us” and that “we have to be strong, and we do have to speak out.”

Ruthanne Fuller, Newton’s mayor, released a statement calling for the city to “stand together to condemn antisemitism, and acts of hate and violence against anyone.”


From Auschwitz to America's greatest tailor: Martin Greenfield dies aged 95 after fitting SIX presidents - as well as celebrities such as Lebron James and Leonardo DiCaprio
Martin Greenfield, who survived Auschwitz during World War II and went on to become a tailor to presidents and Hollywood movie stars, has died. He was 95 years old.

Greenfield 'died comfortably' on Wednesday, according to an Instagram post written in tribute, credited to his three sons, Jay, Tod and David.

He was born Maximilian Grünfeld on August 9, 1928, in what is now western Ukraine but was then part of Czechoslovakia.

His family was prosperous but when World War II broke out and the Germans occupied their hometown, all were sent to the notorious Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. His father, mother, two sisters and brother were all killed in the Holocaust.

However, in that time that haunted Greenfield for the rest of his life, he worked at the camp's alterations shop, fixing up Nazi troops' shirts and planting the seed of his future career.

After being set free in 1945, he moved to the United States in 1947, with $10 and no ability to speak English.

He soon changed his name to Martin Greenfield and began perfecting the trade that would make him a tailor to politicians, Hollywood stars and even notorious gangsters.

A fellow refugee and childhood friend connected him with a job at the Brooklyn clothier GGG, where he began working as a floor boy but practiced at every job the factory had to offer, according to the New York Times.

He made the dark observation in his memoir: 'If the Nazis taught me anything, it was that a laborer with indispensable skills is less likely to be discarded.'

Greenfield grew close to William P. Goldman, the founder and president of the company, who - after years as a sewer and fitter - made him a 'suit doctor,' which connected him to clients and friends like Frank Sinatra.

One of his earliest clients was Dwight D. Eisenhower, then the president at Columbia University and astonishingly, someone Greenfield met when the future Commander in Chief toured Auschwitz, according to NBC News.
A Pro-Israel Musician Faces Challenges to Artistic Freedom - in the U.S.
Matisyahu, the international reggae-hip-hop-rock artist, burst on the scene 20 years ago. NBC picked "One Day," his stirring antiwar anthem, as theme music for its 2010 Winter Olympics coverage. His music reflects his strong Jewish identity, religiosity and affinity for Israel.

Since Hamas' massacre in Israel on Oct. 7, the singer has spoken out against rising antisemitism and in support of Israel. He has draped himself in an Israeli flag at concerts and placed an empty chair onstage to represent Israeli hostages in Gaza. He has called for Hamas to be "destroyed" and has visited Israeli troops.

For all of that, he is paying a price. His March 8 show at the 1,400-capacity House of Blues in Chicago was canceled. The reason: the potential for unruly protests against him outside the venue. This was the third time during his tour that a concert venue had canceled a show amid protest-related security concerns.

Such is the state of artistic freedom in post-Oct. 7 America. No matter where you stand regarding the war in Gaza, or any other issue, this heckler's veto against Matisyahu should trouble you. A major performing artist was denied a stage in the third-largest U.S. city, apparently because of threats from political opponents. Just a handful of entertainment-world colleagues, most also Jews, have expressed solidarity with him, he said.




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