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Friday, April 05, 2024

04/05 Links Pt2: The American Left’s Milošević Moment; Hamas Concessions Are Distorting Our Mideast Policy; Prince of Truth

From Ian:

The American Left’s Milošević Moment
As Eastern bloc communism began to crumble, Serb nationalists turned to this history to fill the ideological and narrative void and employed rhetorical tactics that are entirely familiar to today’s woke American landscape, including:

No. 1: Glorifying the year of enslavement as the beginning of a national narrative. There has been much scrutiny regarding the historical accuracy of The New York Times’ 1619 Project, but little regarding the sheer strangeness of it celebrating, from its own advocates’ perspective, a calendar year of enslavement and degradation initiating centuries of persecution that have de facto never ended. (This latter characteristic makes 1619 very different from conventional American commemorations of Pearl Harbor or the Alamo, military setbacks which were quickly dealt with.) However, this logic wouldn’t seem strange at all to Serb nationalists, who celebrated Yugoslavia’s own 1619 with 1389, the year Milošević said Serbs “fell into slavery” and Muslim rule for 489 years by, depending on your interpretation, either losing or forcing a Pyrrhic draw at the Battle of Kosovo against the advancing Ottoman Empire. The glorification of the Serb-specific defeat of 1389, most famously in Milošević’s Gazimestan Speech on the Battle of Kosovo’s 600th anniversary, directly attacked Yugoslavia’s motto of multiethnic Bratstvo i jedinstvo (Brotherhood and Unity) and summoned the ancient hatreds motivating the mass rape, ethnic cleansing, and genocide of Bosnian Muslims. Milošević died in 2006 while on trial for genocide and other war crimes.

No. 2: Attributing sinister ethnically based motivations and ideologies to political opponents. Members of Congress like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, and Cori Bush regularly leave political opponents flummoxed with accusations of “racism,” “white supremacy,” and “anti-blackness.” In Bosnia, a squad of highly educated Serb politicians, propped up by Milošević and led by Karadžić—who had studied at Columbia—leveled parallel charges against Muslims. Though U.S. Ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith called the largely secular Muslims Bosnia’s “most Western” ethnicity, Karadžić and crew harangued them as Islamic fundamentalists scheming to create an “anti-Serb” neo-Ottoman caliphate. Meanwhile, national media outlets “deliberately fanned the flames of national hatred,” in the words of British journalist Christopher Bennett, by amplifying, embellishing, and inventing incidents of interethnic violence. Moderate Serbian politicians and honest journalists who refrained from joining the frenzy were expelled from public life.

No. 3: Calling opposition and criticism “violence,” in order to legitimize future actual violence. In October 1991, after Slovenia had won its independence in the Ten-Day War and Croatia’s declaration of independence had initiated a Serb-Croat war that would last until 1995, multiethnic Bosnia faced the decision of whether to declare independence from Serb-dominated rump Yugoslavia. Enter the charismatic Karadžić, who delivered a petrifying speech to Bosnia’s legislature taunting Muslims with “extinction” should they declare independence, continuing with a sneer, “If there is a war, the Muslim people will not be able to defend themselves.” (The line recalls President Biden repeatedly saying that the U.S. government can employ F-15s against American gun-rights supporters.) In that same speech, Karadžić pointed to the gallery and yelled that independence for Bosnia would be “violence on the Serbian people, constitutional violence” and that “constitutional violence breeds all other kinds of violence.” Calling words and beliefs “violence,” suggesting they breed and justify further violence, is a hallmark of wokeness. Karadžić was convicted of genocide in 2016.

In March 1992, Bosnia’s Muslims, joined by the province’s Croat minority, voted for Bosnian independence, rejecting Karadžić’s threats and making themselves the largest ethnicity in a new country. A month later, Yugoslavia’s politically corrupted army teamed up with extremist Serbian paramilitary gangs led by psychopathic career criminals like Željko “Arkan” Ražnatović in a coordinated campaign of ethnic cleansing, mass murder, and mass rape against the largely unarmed Bosnian Muslim population. It peaked in July 1995 with General Mladić’s Srebrenica genocide, which Mladić openly called “revenge on the Turks in this region,” i.e., payback for Ottoman rule.

An ideologically pure decolonization of the Ottoman imperial presence, perhaps? The core belief of “wokeness” or “anti-racism” is that concessions are owed by the “privileged,” especially those affiliated with groups that centuries earlier engaged in conquest and enslavement. In fact, Hoare, the historian, has documented many influential “anti-imperialist” leftists who duly defended Milošević’s ethnonationalist regime in the 1990s.

Other contemporary woke believers would almost certainly oppose Serb violence against Muslims, though, and Hoare himself was raked over the Twitter coals for suggesting similarities between the destruction of statues in summer 2020 with the destruction of Ottoman monuments and mosques in 1990s Bosnia. (Hoare, impressively, never backed down.) The motivation in these cases is not concern over human rights or the golden rule, of course, but an instinct that Muslims are “good” while groups like Serbs, Christians, whites, and—as large-scale celebrations following the Hamas massacre on Oct. 7 made clear—Jews are “bad.”

Although wokeness is sometimes called “critical race theory,” the use of an academic, clinical term like that to describe this latter, instinctive version of wokeness is to miss the point entirely. The reality of “wokeness” is the promotion of tribal hatreds. It is tribal hatred even when—as in the case of many urbane white Westerners—it involves hating one’s own ostensible tribe, a circumstance that similarly applies to Bosnian Muslims, whose European heritage complicates whether they qualify as good Muslims or as bad white people. As bizarre as it might seem, it is in fact fairly common to see social media posts where Bosnian Muslim genocide refugees get harangued for their white privilege, sometimes by woke Bosnian Muslims, just like Jewish genocide survivors and their children are regularly denounced in the U.S. for their own “privilege.” Apparently the rule of instinctive wokeness is that vilifying Bosnian Muslims regarding 600-year-old events in the Balkans is evil, but vilifying them for their “responsibility” for 400-year-old events in America is righteous, providing that they fled to Utica or St. Louis to avoid mass slaughter.

Bosnia, then, serves as an important window as to whether wokeness is fundamentally an ideological or tribal phenomenon. More importantly, it shows wokeness’s endgame. America’s establishment once reviled the ethos that killed 140,000 and displaced 4 million in the Yugoslav wars and Joe Biden bragged about calling Milošević a “damn war criminal” to his face. Now, terms like “anti-racism” and “social justice” are covering for a worldview whose routine incitements to tribal hatred and social fracturing based on fanning the embers of historical grievances directly echo the ideological formations of the most bigoted and notorious villains of the late 20th century.

Not satisfied with Balkanizing the United States, the American political and media establishment is injecting the Milošević model into the rest of the world as well. The U.S. State Department is pushing aggressive “equity”-based policies on the world at large and, as the Croatian Canadian who goes by the pseudonym Niccolo Soldo has pointed out, is also training activists in Europe in the arts of wokeness and anti-racism. As politicians in New York and Chicago are discovering, the present-day, large-scale migration into the United States and Europe is quite stressful for polities to manage. Matters become far more grave when you realize that elements of the United States government are using their country’s cultural and political hegemony to convince masses of incoming migrants to think of local Americans and Europeans the same way rampaging Serbian Chetnik death squads thought of the Muslims they spent large chunks of the 1990s brutalizing and killing.

Bosnia became a cauldron of tribal hatred in the 1990s because of its combination of real-world ethnic diversity and age-old animosities and historical wounds that were deliberately inflamed by politicians and media figures. The entire Western world may soon discover what it means to live in such a society.
Prince of Truth
As a staunch defender of the West and its values, Murray is compelled to support Israel because, as he said, it’s on the front line of the civilized world, defending the West. “Israel has recognizable ethics and culture,” he said. “It’s different, as all countries are, but it’s part of us.” What baffles him – and many others – is the fact that Westerners in America and Britain are supporting every country in the Middle East except for Israel.

“Israel is the one country in which Americans could live in the Middle East,” he said. “I’ve spent enough time in other countries to know this difference. A lot of people don’t. Israel is a core part of the West. When people ask me, ‘Why do you support Israel?’ I say, ‘Why would you support every other country but Israel?’”

If Israel is a front line of the West, then why is Western media so anti-Israel? Murray believes that, in part, “it’s a numbers game,” he said. “There are 1.6 billion Muslims and under 20 million Jews, so advertising revenues play a part. There is also the fact that Israel has this disadvantage of being a relatively comfortable war zone to report from, so it’s a deep paradox. It’s not like reporting from Syria or Yemen; there are very few brave journalists who have made it into these war zones. There is also this ridiculous thing where, ‘If it’s Jews, it’s news.’”

Murray has seen the large-scale demonstrations against Israel and Jews, with tens of thousands marching in the street in his native England, as well as hostage posters ripped down and extremists spewing antisemitic, anti-West rhetoric. In February, protesters projected their genocidal slogan, “From the river to the sea” on Big Ben, and the U.K. reported that 2023 was the worst year for antisemitism since 1984, when it initially started recording the data.

Even though it seems bleak in Britain, with many Jews there wondering if they should leave, Murray is optimistic that his country can be saved from antisemitism and progressivism because the majority of people don’t buy into it. “I’ve done everything I can and will continue to do so,” he said. “Most people do not go along with those extremists. I have great trust in the British people, whom I believe have been pushed down more and more, but have not disappeared.”

Murray also empathizes with British Jews, who have felt unsafe living there, especially post-Oct. 7. “I believe my Jewish friends when they say they can’t come into London on a Saturday [because of the protests],” he said. “We should listen to Jews when they say, ‘I am not safe.’ It’s a remarkable thing how few people seem to have sympathy for that. If any other minority said that, I think we’d speak up and say something, and I don’t think we’d doubt their testimony.”

While much of the world is gaslighting the Jewish people, Murray is validating them. Since Oct. 7, he’s been invited to speak at Jewish events and dealing with cancelations and mobs for supporting Israel. He was set to speak at a fundraiser at the Apollo Theatre in London for IDF-drafted students, but the event was canceled by the venue and relocated to a synagogue. Afterwards, he posted on X, “Wonderful event to a capacity audience in London. Shame on the Apollo Theatre for bowing to the mob. But London’s Jews will not be intimidated and neither will I.”

Protesters recently tried to disrupt a speaking event Murray held in Sydney, Australia, chanting, “Douglas Murray, you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide.” When Murray went on Sky News to comment on what happened, he said, “First of all, I don’t feel like I’m hiding … I think that’s kind of a waste of a day, not least because I could not hear them … It’s really pathetic.”

Murray’s courage to stand up against the mob, to call out their lies, is a breath of fresh air that empowers the Jewish people and makes them feel like they have a friend in this fight. The fact that he is being embraced by Jews is “wonderful and deeply touching,” he said. “It saddens me that Jews feel alone and without allies. I think that’s a terrible thing. I spoke to one person in Tel Aviv who said they were there for the #MeToo and BLM movement, but none of those people were there for them since Oct. 7. Maybe it’ll never be reciprocated. That isolation is terrible, for the Jewish people and so many who care about Israel and see there is this lack of empathy.”

However, by using his voice, Murray knows he is strengthening the Jewish people. And he is proud of it. He said, “If I can, in any way, give people comfort or solace, that pleases me more than anything.”


Seth Mandel: Hamas Concessions Are Distorting Our Mideast Policy
There are two ways to interpret the Biden administration’s impending move that would require goods produced in the West Bank to be labeled as such. The first is to take it at face value. The Financial Times writes:
The Biden administration is drawing up plans to require goods produced in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank to be clearly labelled as coming from there, according to US officials, another sign of White House unhappiness with the government of Benjamin Netanyahu.

The final go-ahead for the move, and its timing, have not been decided but it is intended to increase pressure on Israel over rising settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, and comes amid US frustration with the Jewish state’s conduct of the war in Gaza.

Well, those are two different things. But the fact that they are tied in most news reports indicates that President Biden wants the public to interpret it as part of his new policy of staying angry at Bibi all the time.

According to the FT, the administration wanted to announce the labeling of Jewish goods last month, but ran into a scheduling conflict: Biden decided to abstain from a lopsided Gaza resolution at the UN, so he waited a bit to hit Israel again.

President George H.W. Bush famously read a note from his staff as if it were part of his remarks to the press—“Message: I care.” Biden might just be better off heading to the microphone and saying “Message: Bibi bad.” The slapdash way the president has been just tossing whatever he can reach at the Israeli prime minister’s head doesn’t exactly scream “I have a plan.” He’s starting to sound like the old Arab autocrats who would distract from their problems on the home front by pointing at Israel, yelling and stomping their feet until the public simply followed.

This would be the second time in recent months that Biden took direct action against Jews who live over the green line. In February, the president sanctioned violent West Bank settlers to back up his administration’s renewed push for a Palestinian state. This time, however, the affected residents wouldn’t be lawbreakers or government agencies but simply individuals guilty of the crime of living on land while not being Arab.

As I wrote in February, there were problems with the order creating the sanctions against the violent settlers too, mostly because the language characterized any confrontation, even a nonviolent one, between Arab and Jew in the West Bank as an international incident that triggers a material American response. More, it would not be categorized as such if the offending party in the incident were Arab, only if they were Jewish. It’s as if the West Bank were governed not by the Palestinian Authority but by Columbia University. The relabeling of goods, meanwhile, is pettier than this one but almost surely more legally defensible.
Hamas rejects latest hostage deal proposal, Israel threatens Cairo summit withdrawal
Hamas rejected Israel's latest proposal to cease fighting and release hostages, according to a Friday CNN report.

According to an unnamed diplomat cited by CNN, “They refused and asserted it doesn’t include any reply to their asks.”

According to the diplomat, Hamas believed the “Israeli proposal includes nothing new, so they see no need to change their proposal,” the official added.

Negotiations were supposed to lead to a lasting ceasefire, per the UN Security Council resolution passed last month, and mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and the US have worked to try and broach a deal since the conflict broke out in October.

Negotiators were hoping to achieve a six-week ceasefire and a three-phase framework to secure the release of sick, elderly, and wounded hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners and increased humanitarian aid.

This round had looked more promising but ultimately came to naught, with Hamas refusing to keep negotiating unless Israel agreed to two major demands.

Hamas demanded that there be unrestricted return of Gazans to the north and that IDF troops would withdraw.
The Data Show Israel Is Not Causing a Gazan Famine
Despite the recent tragedy, the IDF tries to ensure that Gazans don’t starve throughout the war. COGAT data show that 290,000 tons of food and beverages have been delivered to Gaza since October — recently as many as 200 truckloads a day. Full distribution of these supplies would deliver about 1.82 pounds of food daily for each of the 2 million people in Gaza (145 kg per person, during 175 days of war). Based on FAO estimates of the average daily consumption in Asia and Africa (where Gaza is situated), this alone would be enough to supply 50% of Gazans’ daily consumption needs – on top of the food they continue to produce themselves.

Israel has also collaborated with the U.S. to provide further aid. The Biden administration recently announced plans to build an emergency pier that would provide 2 million meals per day. This idea was first suggested to President Biden by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last October, just weeks after the war started.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time that leaders have been misled about the data surrounding the Israel-Hamas war. For example, policymakers and news media have repeatedly cited casualty numbers taken from none other than Hamas itself. But Abraham Wyner, a professor of statistics and data science at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, has stated that “the numbers are not real.” For one thing, he writes, there is little variability in the daily reported casualty numbers, despite variability in the daily numbers of strikes, and the randomness in collateral damage arising from any given strike. Additionally, “the ebbs and flows of the bombings and attacks by Israel should cause the daily counts of men and women to move together. But that is not what the data show. Not only is there not a positive correlation, there is a strong negative correlation.”

Much of the apparent confusion results in criticisms of Israel, as we saw early in the conflict with an alleged hospital bombing that turned out to be a likely terrorist group’s rocket gone awry. Despite the uproar over the IPC report and the aid workers’ tragic deaths, Israel is not the Palestinians’ enemy. It is their partner for a peaceful future, while Hamas uses civilians as human shields and cannon fodder. Leaders can most help the Palestinians by allowing Israel to completely uproot Hamas, thus giving a fresh start to the Middle East.


Boris Johnson: It would be insane for Britain to ban arms sales to Israel. The sooner we denounce the idea, the better
If you want an example of the death wish of Western civilisation, I give you the current proposal from members of the British establishment that this country should ban arms sales to Israel.

If you want evidence of government madness, it appears that Foreign Office lawyers are busily canvassing the idea — which has not, as far as I can tell, yet been rejected by the Foreign Secretary himself. He seems to have gone into a kind of purdah on the subject.

More alarming still, we are told that an Israeli arms ban is the subject of an active row in Cabinet, with only a handful of ministers positively sticking up for Israel.

The contagion has spread pretty wide, and very fast. The proposed embargo is now supported by MPs on all sides, by the former head of MI6, by some former Supreme Court Justices, and by about 600 members of the legal profession, all of them clamouring for us to turn our backs on the only democracy in the Middle East.

We are being asked to shun the Israelis, to mount a total moral repudiation of Israel — when that country has only recently suffered the biggest and most horrifying massacre of Jewish people since World War II; and when 130 hostages, including, for heaven’s sake, a baby, are being kept in dungeons in Gaza by their jihadi captors; and when the release of those hostages, it cannot be stated too often, would mean the immediate withdrawal of the Israeli Defence Forces and the end of the conflict.

How can we get things so wrong, so upside down? What has come over us?

Let us be clear what it would mean, to ban arms sales now, when Israel is under a greater existential threat than at any time I can remember.

If we ban the sale of arms ourselves, it surely follows that we do not think any self-respecting country should be arming the Israelis.

And if we are willing everyone, including the U.S., to end their military support, be in no doubt what that means. There is only one logical conclusion.

We are willing the military defeat of Israel and the victory of Hamas. Remember that in order to win this conflict, Hamas only has to survive. All they need at the end is to hang on, rebuild, and go again.

That’s victory for Hamas; and that is what these legal experts seem to be asking for. So let’s just remind ourselves what this war is about, and why Israel has been forced to act.
Top lawyers argue UK is not obliged to halt arms sales to Israel
Over 600 lawyers have signed a letter criticising a previous letter signed by three former Supreme Court justices that warned Britain may be breaching international law by arming Israel.

The new missive, backed by leading barristers Lord Dyson and Lord Pannick, insists that the UK should not call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire because it would undermine a deal to release hostages held by Hamas.

There is no justification for suspending weapons sales to Israel without evidence of systematic violation of international law by Israel, it adds.

The original letter, sent earlier this week, was backed by over 600 lawyers, academics and retired senior judges.

It said the British government was required by international law to act to secure a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and to suspend the provision of weapons to Israel.

In part, the signatories argued, this is because the International Court of Justice ruled that there was a “plausible risk of genocide in Gaza”.

This is incorrect, however, the new letter contends.

It states: "The court’s ability to issue a provisional measures order depends on a finding that the rights asserted by the party seeking the order are at least plausible.

"It is of course plausible that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have rights to be protected from acts of genocide. Thus, it is the rights of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip that were determined to be plausible, and not the alleged commission of genocide against them.”
UKLFI: Top UK Lawyers Tell Rishi No Obligation to Sanction Israel
The New Letter to the Prime Minister explains why the UK is not obliged to take and should not take any of the five specific measures recommended in the Earlier Letter.

Immediate and permanent ceasefire
Demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire at this time would undermine current negotiations to secure the release of hostages and a temporary ceasefire. Disrupting this precarious negotiation would be liable to increase the suffering of civilians and prolong the war.

Resuming funding to UNRWA with immediate effect
The Letter does not mention the current investigations into UNRWA’s alleged complicity in terrorism, which is the reason for suspending this funding. The UK should await the outcome of these investigations before deciding on future funding.

Imposing sanctions on individuals and entities in Israel
There is no justification for imposing sanctions on individuals or entities without any findings or evidence of serious misconduct by them.

Suspending sales of weapons to Israel
There is no justification for suspending the sale of weapons to Israel without evidence of systematic violation by Israel of international law.

Suspending the 2030 Roadmap for bilateral relations with Israel
There is no reason to suspend the 2030 Roadmap for bilateral relations with Israel. Continuing the 2030 Roadmap would not constitute a breach of the UK’s obligations under the Genocide Convention in the absence of any breach of that Convention.


Calls for Britain to ban group that took part in October 7 terror attack
Calls are mounting for the UK to proscribe the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

The group was one of eight different armed Palestinian factions that claimed partial responsibility for October 7, publishing photos and videos of its members infiltrating IDF outposts in southern Israel and celebrating the massacre.

Banned in the United States, Canada, Japan and the European Union, the self-styled “revolutionary socialist” group gained notoriety for carrying out plane hijackings in the 1960s and 1970s. Under EU law, the PFLP was subject to financial sanctions in the UK, but that no longer applies due to a Brexit loophole.

The Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council wrote to the government in 2018 warning that unless the Treasury took action, the PFLP, as well as the political wing of Hamas and the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, would benefit from the loophole.

While Hamas was proscribed in 2021, the PFLP and the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade (AAMB) are both still legal in the UK. A Board of Deputies spokesperson said: “The PFLP and the AAMB were not on the UK’s list of proscribed terror organisations when the country left the EU, creating a gap in enforcement. We have urged for some time that this situation should be remedied. We sincerely hope that the government will now act to close the loophole opened up by Brexit and re-proscribe the PFLP and AAMB.”
Israeli Songs Allegedly Banned From Eurovision Events in Sweden Amid Security Concerns, Booked DJs Reveal
Disc jockeys are claiming they were told not to play Israeli songs at events taking place inside the official Eurovision Village ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest that will be held in Malmo, Sweden, next month.

Tens of thousands of tourists and locals visit the Eurovision Village, where they can attend live concerts, parties, and broadcasts of the semi-finals and final competitions in the song contest. The Eurovision Village is the official venue of the Eurovision Song Contest, held this year in Malmo, and although the competition is organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the producer of the Eurovision events in Malmo is the local municipality.

Israeli DJs booked for events this year at the Eurovision Village confirmed to the Israeli publication Ynet that they were instructed not to play any Israeli songs in the venue.

“The instruction I received this morning was that in the village itself, Israeli songs must not be played, but in other parties, I can play what I want,” one of the DJs told Ynet, adding that a similar ban was put on Russian and Belarus songs. However, both of those countries are not participating in the competition.

“I think the reason for the decision is a security concern,” the DJ explained. “There are many Muslims and supporters of Palestinians in Malmo and many of them are expected to come to the Eurovision Village. I suppose the producers wanted to avoid a fuss or anything that would disrupt things in the village.”

The reported ban on Israeli songs does not apply to other Eurovision events taking place in Malmo, the DJs told Ynet.
US Ed Department begins investigating Princeton for antisemitism
Princeton University in New Jersey faces a Title VI investigation from the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, according to the higher-education watchdog group.

Campus Reform editor-in-chief Zachary Marschall filed the complaint, alleging that the school has failed to counter antisemitism, particularly since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in southern Israel. Campus Reform has submitted previous complaints to the civil-rights office that have resulted in investigations.

The complaint cites numerous incidents, including an Oct. 25 protest where students chanted “intifada” and “brick by brick, wall by wall, apartheid has got to fall.”

Marschall wrote in his submission to the U.S. Department of Education that “the violent words of these protesters completely disregard the atrocities Hamas has already committed and promises to commit in the future against the people of Israel, including raping, murdering and kidnapping civilians.”

Michael Hotchkiss, assistant vice president for communications at Princeton, confirmed to JNS that the academic institution had received notification of the complaint and was in the process of assessing it.

“Based on our familiarity with events on our campus and other information available to us, we are confident we are in full compliance with the requirements of Title VI,” Hotchkiss told JNS. “Based on the complainant’s published description of the complaint, we know that he is not a member of the university community and that his complaint appears to be premised on chants at protests.”
Columbia Law School To Host Speaker Who Charged Jews Benefit From 'White Privilege,' Creating Tension With 'People of Color'
Columbia Law School is slated to host an event next week with a DEI author and alumna who said Jews benefit from "white privilege," thus creating "some sort of tension" between Jews and "people of color."

Fatimah Gilliam, a self-described "diversity disruptor," is scheduled to headline a discussion at the elite law school on Tuesday, a week before Columbia's president, Minouche Shafik, will testify before Congress on her response to campus anti-Semitism. Gilliam's event, hosted by Columbia Law's Office of Student Services and the Black Law Students Association, will provide attendees with "advice and talking points when interacting across race."

While it's unclear if Gilliam will discuss interactions between Jewish people and "people of color," the author has touched on the topic before. During a March 22 podcast interview, Gilliam argued that while Jewish people do experience discrimination, they also benefit from "white privilege," creating what she says is "the source of some tension" between Jews and "people of color."

"That's, like, how there could be an affinity between blacks—people of color—and Jews, is this common experience of marginalization and discrimination," said Gilliam. "But then at the same time, many Jews—not all Jews, but the majority of them—are white, so they still experience white privilege and some of the benefits that come with being white. And so I think that could be the source of some tension."

Columbia Law's decision to host Gilliam comes as the Ivy League institution faces criticism over its response to campus anti-Semitism. Shafik and Columbia Board of Trustees co-chairs David Greenwald and Claire Shipman are slated to testify before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on April 17. Greenwald serves on Columbia Law School's Dean's Council.
‘We’re cutting them loose,’ chief Florida financial officer says of Morningstar
Florida intends to cut its ties with Morningstar until the investment firm can prove it has rooted out anti-Israel bias in its investment ratings platforms, the state’s chief financial officer told JNS on Thursday.

“We’re not renewing our services with Morningstar. We’re cutting them loose,” Jimmy Patronis, who manages some $60 billion in Florida funds, told JNS exclusively. “There are other ways we can do this and we don’t need Morningstar helping manage our ratings here in the state’s treasury.”

Morningstar has provided ratings for Florida’s deferred compensation program for state employees at least since 2016. The contract is in the low five figures annually and will end this August, according to the Florida chief financial officer’s office.

Chicago-based Morningstar is “a leading provider of independent investment insights,” which had $2 billion in revenue in the last fiscal year, per its most recent earnings release. Its subsidiary, Sustainalytics, has more than 1,000 clients and serves “18 of the top 20 asset managers,” per its site.

Morningstar and Sustainalytics have been altering their environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings systems, which a coalition of U.S. Jewish and pro-Israel organizations have alleged was inherently biased against Israel.

The coalition accused the firm of heavily weighing anti-Israel sources, such as those advocating a boycott of Israel (BDS), to generate “controversies” that downgraded scores, which socially conscious investors use in their decisions.

Critics allege that Morningstar and Sustainalytics automatically penalized companies doing business in eastern Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, beyond the so-called “green line,” which Sustainalytics referred to as “occupied territory” that belongs to the Palestinians.


Teaching union ‘hostile environment’ for Jews, retired teacher claims
The UK’s biggest education union is a “hostile environment” for Jews, a retired teacher claimed after he was heckled for challenging an anti-Israel motion.

Members of the National Education Union (NEU) agreed to blame Israel for the war in Gaza and publish “educational resources” about the conflict at the union’s annual conference in Bournemouth on Thursday.

Peter Block, 75, a retired primary teacher from north west London, who spoke against the motion, was unable to finish his speech as he was heckled and laughed at by delegates.

Speaking to reporters after he left the stage, Mr Block said: “The NEU is a hostile environment for Jewish members, particularly any who have any affiliation or sympathy for Israel.”

He added: “No other speakers have been shut down like I was.”

He told the conference that it was becoming an “anti-Zionist rally” and said delegates were “jumping on the fashionable anti-Israel bandwagon”.

He also warned against “glorifying” Hamas, which he said was a “murderous racist organisation”.

After he was heckled, he told members: “We are still a democracy in this country, as is Israel”.

Some activists were heard chanting “free, free Palestine” and one said “From the River to the Sea” as he left the conference hall.


When anti-Israel radicals win local elections
In the shadow of Oct. 7 and the subsequent discord on campuses and in the streets, an alarming question has emerged: What happens when activists from anti-Israel groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) move on from student government to real government?

This is no longer a hypothetical scenario. It happened in the last local election in West Hollywood, Calif., which has historically been strongly pro-Israel.

The ascent of Chelsea Lee Byers—an SJP activist and chapter founder—to the office of vice mayor should be a wake-up call. It highlights the need for proactive political engagement as antisemitism spreads into local, state and federal government.

Byers’s ability to successfully conceal her extremist agenda behind her innocent-seeming nonprofit organization Beautiful Trouble is a warning sign of a significant threat to the Jewish and pro-Israel communities, as well as the integrity of local government. Her story is a cautionary tale.

You would never guess that Byers is the voice of a violently antisemitic and anti-Israel movement. At first glance, she appears no different from any first-time local elected official. This is not a coincidence.

Byers rose from radical activism to real political power in the course of a decade. In 2012, she tweeted, “I am the President of Northern Arizona University’s SJP—let’s make this day of action huge!” In 2022, she ran in her first election. Mere weeks after Oct. 7, she was sworn in as vice mayor.

Throughout her activism, Byers engaged in regular anti-Israel defamation. She called for boycotts, an end to foreign aid and war crimes trials of Israeli officials. In 2011, she protested an appearance by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In what was likely a deliberate lie, she falsely accused the hosting organization of sexual assault. In fact, she simply had to be physically removed from the event due to her deplorable behavior. In 2018, Byers led a protest at the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles at which the crowd chanted the genocidal slogans “Intifada, intifada, long live the intifada. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Concordia University Student Newspaper Calls On Student Union To Endorse BDS Against Israel

Harvard Grad Student Calls on Hamas To 'Strike Tel Aviv'
There is a famous French idiom ‘plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose,’ which means ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same.’

It could very well be the official motto of Concordia University.

More than twenty years after the famous riots at Concordia University when then-Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu came for a scheduled lecture and was met by a violent mob smashing windows on campus, a student newspaper at the university has published an editorial endorsing BDS, the anti-Israel boycott campaign that at its core is antisemitic.

In the April 2 editorial in The Link, a Concordia University student newspaper entitled: “The case for BDS at Concordia University,” the editorial repeated the litany of oft-used accusations against Israel, including claiming that Jerusalem is guilty of “the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” repeating uncritically Hamas’ propaganda death toll figures.

The ubiquitousness of the “genocide” blood libel against Israel by its detractors shows that the famous words attributed to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, that “repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth,” is a powerful handbook in how to turn reality on its head.

There is no genocide in Gaza, nor anything resembling it.

Israel has taken extraordinary effort to minimize civilian casualties, in spite of media coverage claiming the opposite. Those efforts, including actively warning Gazans in advance of strikes and inserting Israeli soldiers to fight on the ground, rather than relying exclusively on the safety of air power, have resulted in a far lower civilian casualty count than in virtually any other modern armed conflict.

The editorial made the unfounded accusation that Israel has conducted a war in Gaza “without making a distinction between soldiers and civilians.”
Columbia Group Behind 'Resistance 101' Event Urges Members To Stonewall University Investigation as School Promises Disciplinary Action for Refusal To Cooperate
The Columbia University student group behind the now-infamous "Palestinian Resistance 101" event—during which terror-tied speakers called for violence against Jews—is working to stonewall the university's investigation into the event, with the group urging its members to ignore messages from administrators and move forward with more unsanctioned rallies. Doing so will result in disciplinary action, the university says as its president prepares for a congressional hearing on campus anti-Semitism.

In a newsletter sent to supporters Wednesday night, Columbia University Apartheid Divest said university administrators "have been sending out threatening emails in order to intimidate student groups" about "last week's 'Resistance 101' teach-in." The group denounced those emails as "a fear tactic that Columbia administrators have been using all year to suppress those of us involved in the student movement for Palestine" and told its members to ignore them.

A Columbia University spokeswoman told the Washington Free Beacon that the school will discipline students who refuse to cooperate with the investigation. The letter sent to Columbia University Apartheid Divest members, which was obtained by the Free Beacon, says those who are "contacted as part of this safety investigation" are "required to cooperate."

"The University is instituting disciplinary action against those who do not cooperate with the investigation," the spokeswoman told the Free Beacon.

The students, however, seemed to be operating with a different understanding. "We do not recommend responding to the email, as it does not seem disciplinary in nature—there are no specific charges or follow up action items listed," the group wrote. "If you, as a student group member, have received a personal email about a follow-up conversation … Do not respond to the University's email. Do not communicate any sensitive information over email."

The dueling messages come roughly a week after Columbia announced an investigation into the "Resistance 101" event, which a university spokeswoman said was "unsanctioned" and "unapproved." They also come as Columbia's president, Minouche Shafik, prepares for a congressional hearing on campus anti-Semitism. A similar hearing held in December contributed to the ousting of two Ivy League presidents, Harvard University's Claudine Gay and the University of Pennsylvania's Liz Magill.

The Columbia University Apartheid Divest event was filmed and broadcast online via Zoom—the Washington Free Beacon attended virtually. So far, four students tied to the event face suspensions, according to a Columbia Spectator piece published Thursday night, roughly 24 hours after Columbia University Apartheid Divest sent its newsletter to members.
Columbia Suspends and Evicts Students Involved in Unauthorized Anti-Israel “Resistance 101” Event Four Columbia University students involved in the unauthorized anti-Israel “Resistance 101” event last Sunday, March 24th have been suspended indefinitely and kicked off campus, The Columbia Spectator reports.

As we wrote last week, both Barnard and Columbia had rejected requests to hold the on-campus event, which was then moved to a Columbia residence and held with an online option.

The webinar featured two panelists with ties to terrorists groups: Khaled Barakat, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a United States designated terrorist organization; and his wife, Charlotte Kates, an international coordinator with Samidoun, the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network designated by the Israeli government as a terror group.

Throughout the evening, speakers praised Hamas and talked about how to make support for Palestinian armed resistance as popular as possible, emphasizing how much their “friends at Hamas and Islamic Jihad” appreciate when college students participate.

Columbia responded quickly to the unauthorized gathering. In a statement issued last Thursday, March 28th, Cas Holloway, Columbia’s Chief Operating Officer, said he had “immediately notified law enforcement and engaged an outside firm led by experienced former law enforcement investigators to conduct an investigation.” It also “banned the outside speakers from campus.” The school also said it would “pursue discipline against any community member who has violated our policies.” Columbia Students Hold Unsanctioned Pro-Palestinian Rally, Setting Up Showdown With University Administrators
Columbia University administrators on Tuesday informed members of anti-Israel student group Columbia University Apartheid Divest that their upcoming "All Out for Al-Shifa" rally was unsanctioned, promising to discipline those who attended. Two days later, the group went forward with the protest anyway, testing the will of the university to follow through on its threats as the school's president prepares for a congressional hearing on her response to campus anti-Semitism.

The group's members—many of whom wore masks, hoods, and keffiyehs to mask their identities—flooded the Columbia sundial, a campus landmark, around 4:30 p.m. Thursday, video of the rally obtained by the Washington Free Beacon shows.

Administrators shut down campus ahead of the rally, according to a student who observed the event, requiring attendees who were not already on campus to scan their ID badges and enter through a single entry point. One attendee held a sign reading, "Dykes for Divestment." Another sign read, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."

Just hours earlier, Columbia University Apartheid Divest sent a newsletter to its members informing them that administrators deemed the rally "unauthorized," meaning attendees risked facing "disciplinary action." The group nonetheless pledged to hold the event and "take back the university." It also advised its members to avoid detection by wearing all black, using masks and keffiyehs to conceal their identities, and arriving on campus early to "avoid swiping" their ID badges, the school's "primary method of positive identification."

Those suggestions came in response to a warning Columbia administrators sent the group's leaders on Tuesday. The letter, which was obtained by the Free Beacon, said the university did not receive adequate notice of the rally. "Thus your promotion, advertisement, and/or participation in an unregistered event will result in disciplinary action," wrote Columbia's chief operating officer, Cas Holloway.


Star Column Erases Thousands Of Years Of Jewish History In Israel
To fully dissect Linda McQuaig’s painfully ignorant April 4 column in The Toronto Star, “From ‘vibrant’ society to rubble, Palestinian narrative is heart-breaking,” would be an ambitious undertaking.

In her commentary, McQuaig – in her third anti-Israel piece in recent weeks – demonstrates a seeming contempt for historical accuracy, instead preferring to tell a tale that is so historically inaccurate, its inclusion in The Toronto Star is nothing short of scandalous.

Starting with the current war, McQuaig falsely claims that Israel “has failed to locate the Hamas militants” in Gaza, oblivious to Israel’s statements that more than 13,000 terrorists have been killed in the war.

She regurgitates Hamas disinformation in claiming that 32,000 Gazans have been killed, an unverifiable claim from a terrorist organization that does not stand up to basic statistical scrutiny, and refers to Gaza as a “defenceless population,” carefully omitting that hundreds of Israeli soldiers have died fighting on the ground there in recent months, proof-positive that Israel faces a potent and deadly threat in the territory.

McQuaig asserts that Israel has “cut off access to food” to Gaza, a statement that is not only demonstrably false – almost 50 percent more food trucks are entering Gaza now than before October 7, producing scenes of busy markets in Gaza which have been entirely ignored by the news media – but which even a small child could discern is nonsense, given that if it were true, Gaza’s entire population would have starved to death months ago.

McQuaig refers to Israel as “the territory known as Palestine,” effectively erasing the Jewish State entirely, and slyly makes reference to “the land that was to become the Jewish homeland,” in future tense, not-too-subtly indicating that it had never before been of consequence to the Jewish People.

In fact, that position is made plainly clear in McQuaig’s screed, where she makes no mention of the three thousand years of continuous Jewish presence in the land of Israel, instead falsely implying that the Jewish habitation began far more recently.
CBC Music Host Shares Song “River 2 The Sea” With Listeners, In “Solidarity With The People of Palestine”
Even after six months of consistently sub-par coverage of the Hamas-Israel war by the CBC, featuring one-sided articles and broadcasts, an indefensible refusal to call Hamas a terrorist organization, and an overwhelming negative narrative against Israel, the public broadcaster still manages to find new lows in which to sink.

On the April 3 edition of Reclaimed, “a weekly series on CBC Music that explores the many worlds of contemporary Indigenous music,” hosted by Jarrett Martineau, listeners were treated to an overt message of anti-Israel propaganda.

While introducing a song by the Vancouver-based singer Handsome Tiger (whose real name is Hussein Elnamer), Martineau said “this one, in sonic solidarity with the people of Palestine, this is ‘River 2 the Sea,’ on Reclaimed.”

Martineau’s comments are astounding. In expressing “sonic solidarity with the people of Palestine,” he is abusing his role as the host of an Indigenous music program to express a one-sided solidarity exclusively with Palestinians at a time of the Hamas-Israel war, at the clear exclusion of Israel.

Even more scandalously, he then introduced a song, “River 2 the Sea,” to listeners. While the content of the song is not explicitly political in nature, the title speaks for itself.

The term “River 2 the Sea” is a shortened version of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a dog whistle used by anti-Israel activists, referring to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, which unambiguously calls for the destruction of Israel.
The day LBC let Putin’s ambassador say Israel had gone beyond the right to defend itself
I wrote in this space six weeks ago that notwithstanding the death and devastation being visited on the people of the Gaza Strip, Hamas was getting dangerously close to achieving its war aims, the objectives it had when it launched the October 7 attacks. Since then, the situation has become more perilous.

As I pointed out in February, Hamas may be a death cult, but its leaders are rational human beings. They must, therefore, have realised that when they decided to inflict atrocities of such grotesque barbarity, Israel could only respond in one way: with an effort to destroy them once and for all. They must also have known that inevitably, this would lead to the deaths of many thousands of their fighters and Palestinian civilians. In their eyes, however, achieving their goals would make this price worthwhile.

Three of Hamas’s war aims were fulfilled several months ago.

First, Israelis no longer feel their country is safe. This week has seen reports that many of them, still traumatised by the October attacks, are stocking up on bottled water and essential supplies, fearful of an escalation of the conflict in the north with Hezbollah or even an attack by its paymaster, Iran.

Second, there has been an ongoing upsurge in antisemitism throughout the diaspora, on a scale unprecedented since 1945.

Third, the trust between Israelis and Palestinians that is an essential precondition for a lasting peace deal – which, lest we forget, would be Hamas’s worst nightmare – has been blown to smithereens.

In February I wrote that Hamas’s fourth and final aim, the isolation of Israel from its allies, was still some way off and might be averted. In the wake of the Israeli airstrikes that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers earlier this week, it has come a lot closer.

The threats being made by US President Biden to withdraw support from Israel if it does not agree to an immediate ceasefire and “specific, concrete and measurable steps to address civilian harm” appear to herald a wholly unfamiliar era in relations between the two countries. Meanwhile in Britain, a growing body of opinion is demanding a ban on arms sales to Israel.


FDD: Gaza Flotilla Plans Mid-April Sailing
Latest Developments
A coalition of pro-Palestinian activist groups, including a Turkish charity outlawed by Israel, plans to send several ships to breach the Gaza Strip blockade in mid-April. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), which previously said it would set sail for Gaza in early March, provided the new target date in a statement on April 4. The FFC said that “multiple vessels” will take part in the flotilla — an apparent expansion from the two ships originally planned.

While ostensibly aiming to bring aid to Palestinians in Gaza, the FFC said the ships would also carry “hundreds of international human rights observers to challenge the ongoing illegal Israeli blockade.” Scorning efforts already underway by multiple countries to increase aid deliveries into Gaza, the FFC asserted “The Cyprus maritime corridor, the U.S. floating pier project, and symbolic air drops of food are all distractions,”

Among the 12 groups in the flotilla is the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), which supports Hamas and is outlawed by Israel. The IHH previously sent a flotilla of six ships to Gaza in 2010, leading to a lethal confrontation at sea with Israeli forces on one of them, the Mavi Marmara. Among FFC organizers is Zahir Birawi, who allegedly has strong ties to Hamas.

Expert Analysis
“There can be little doubt that this flotilla is meant as a pure provocation. The participants surely know that, even if they were allowed through the maritime cordon, there is nowhere on the war-wrecked Gaza coast for them to land. Turkey cannot be allowed to abet this dangerous stunt as it did with the 2010 Mavi Marmara debacle. Cyprus is enabling direct shipping of aid to the Gaza Strip, and the United States is pursuing its controversial plan to build a pier. The U.S. Navy will certainly have its hands full securing these projects. It cannot afford a swarm of unsanctioned vessels trying to dart past it into a combat zone.” — Mark Dubowitz, FDD CEO

“We’ve seen this movie before. Produced by Erdogan, directed by Hamas, starring violence and provocation. The United States should hold Turkey accountable now to ensure history does not repeat itself.” — Richard Goldberg, FDD Senior Advisor


Ten arrested at Egypt pro-Gaza rally calling for severing ties with Israel
Egyptian authorities this week arrested 10 activists who participated in a pro-Palestinian protest where they accused the government of contributing to the siege of Gaza and called for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador, a human rights lawyer said.

Egypt’s government has condemned Israel’s campaign in Gaza, but has played a central role, along with the US and Qatar, in trying to broker a cease-fire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas. But it has largely banned public protests, and criticism of the country’s ties with Israel is highly sensitive.

Egypt has also kept its border with Gaza largely closed and stopped Palestinians from fleeing Gaza.

On Wednesday, nearly 200 people rallied outside the building of the Journalist Syndicate in Cairo, waving the Palestinian flag and chanting slogans: “What a disgrace! Egypt is helping the siege!” and “No to the Israeli Embassy! No to normalization.” They also raised banners reading “Open the Rafah crossing” and “Glory to the Palestinian resistance.”

Government critics have called for Egypt to overturn a 2007 agreement that grants Israel the right to inspect convoys entering Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. They say it has allowed Israel to keep the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians at a trickle.

Later Wednesday, 10 activists who took part in the protest were arrested at their homes, and the next day prosecutors ordered their detention for 15 days while investigations were carried out, according to their lawyer Nabeh Elganadi.

They were charged with spreading false information and joining a terror group — usually a reference to the banned Muslim Brotherhood — charges that are frequently used against critics of the government.
MEMRI: Editorial In Urdu-Language Daily: On Pakistan Day, President Asif Zardari Urges 'Immediate Practical Measures To End The Ongoing Bloodshed In Gaza'
In an address on March 23, which in Pakistan is celebrated as Pakistan Day, Pakistani President Asif Zardari stressed the need for "immediate practical measures" to end the bloodshed in Gaza, and made it clear that "Pakistan will continue to support the struggle of the Palestinian people until the Palestinian issue is resolved in accordance with their will."

The editorial titled, "A Strong Message To Terrorists," presented excerpts from President Zardari's speech. It emphasized the president's strong stance against terrorism and aggression, referring to terror attacks originating from Afghanistan and India's airstrikes in Balakot of Pakistan in 2019.

The editorial noted: "It is noteworthy that assurances of mere verbal support for the rights of the oppressed in Kashmir and Palestine may not yield fruitful results. Why are the 57 Muslim countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation [OIC] not taking effective measures in this regard?"

Following are excerpts from the Roznama Jang editorial:[1]
"The President Highlighted The Fact That Despite Being A Peace-Loving Country And A Responsible Nuclear Power... The Pakistani Nation And Its Armed Forces Are Always Ready To Deliver A Jaw-Dropping Response Against Aggression And Terrorism"

The editorial stated: "In his address on Pakistan Day, President Asif Ali Zardari expressed a strong belief and assurance to deal successfully with the challenges facing the nation, which is indeed a source of hope and encouragement for the entire nation. The president made it very clear that Pakistan will not compromise on its sovereignty."

The editorial continued: "The president highlighted the fact that despite being a peace-loving country and a responsible nuclear power, and having a sincere desire for friendly relations with its neighbours, the Pakistani nation and its armed forces are always ready to deliver a jaw-dropping response against aggression and terrorism. Rejecting baseless propaganda against Pakistan about promoting terrorism, the president, citing circumstantial evidence, pointed out that Pakistan's successful struggle and sacrifices in the war against terrorism are fully recognized at the international level.

"He described the illegal occupation [of Kashmir] by India, which has lasted for a quarter of a century, as the real obstacle to regional peace and stability, saying that India should instead grant the people of Jammu and Kashmir their right to self-determination. Assuring Pakistan's support in the just struggle of Kashmiris, the president called upon the international community to ensure the implementation of UN resolutions [on the Kashmir issue].
Biden admin's revolving door on terrorism label draws scathing criticism: 'New low'
A senator has slammed the Biden administration’s offer to reverse the Houthis’ designation as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) group in exchange for guaranteeing an end to attacks against Red Sea shipping vessels.

"The Houthi terrorists and their Iranian benefactors have tried to shut down global trade in the Red Sea with deadly consequences," Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wrote in a post on social media platform X. "Appeasing and rewarding such behavior would be a new low for the Biden foreign policy team."

During a dial-in press briefing on Wednesday night, U.S. Special Envoy to Yemen Timothy Lenderking told reporters that his hope as envoy "is that we can find diplomatic off-ramps to find ways to de-escalate and allow us to pull back eventually the designation and, of course, to end the military strikes on Houthis’ military capability."

"We know that there is no military solution, and in that commitment, we are joined by all members of the P5 — Russia, China, France, the U.K. — united in this goal, and I think that’s very helpful for listeners to know that there’s a strong consensus in the international community and among key players to support the peace effort going forward," Lenderking said.

In response to a follow-up question, Lenderking said, "We would certainly study that but not assume it’s an automatic thing."

U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking speaks during a conference on Yemen's war hosted by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council in the Saudi capital Riyadh on March 30, 2022.

A top Air Force commander for the Middle East on Wednesday also suggested the Houthis may be running through their supply of drone swarms and anti-ship ballistic missiles as the pace of attacks has slowed, The Associated Press reported.

The State Department told Fox News Digital that the SDGT designation is the "appropriate tool at the moment to pressure the Houthis."
MEMRI: Princeton University Academic And Former Iranian Nuclear Negotiator Hossein Mousavian Voiced Support For Hamas, Hizbullah In German Newspaper
Seyed Hossein Mousavian Endorsed Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's Fatwa Condemning British Author Salman Rushdie To Death

Former Iranian government official and current Princeton University academic Seyed Hossein Mousavian is facing a U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce investigation for allegedly advancing the interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran in America.

Mousavian was Iranian Ambassador to Germany from 1990 to 1997, and during his tenure, in 1992, Iranian and Hizbullah operatives assassinated Kurdish dissidents in a Mafia-style attack at the Mykonos restaurant in Berlin.

According to an archived 1997 article from the Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel (see below), Abolghasem Mesbahi, a former Iranian intelligence official, told a Berlin court during the Mykonos trial: "Mousavian participated in most of the [Iranian regime's] crimes that took place in Europe."

Mousavian has served in a number of senior posts within the Iranian government, including as head of the Foreign Relations Committee of Iran's National Security Council (1997-2005). He played a key role in the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the world powers, and was Iran's spokesman for the 2003-2005 nuclear talks on Iran's desire to build a nuclear program. He was also foreign policy advisor to the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (2005-2007).

In 2005, Mousavian, who at that time still headed the Foreign Affairs Committee of Iran's Supreme National Security Council but was no longer part of the Iranian nuclear negotiating team, told the Islamic Republic News Agency: "In the past two years, during which I have participated in the Iran-E.U. negotiations, it has been clear to me that E.U. acceptance of [our right to uranium] enrichment would necessitate a framework that would allay both parties' concerns. The framework has been established during the past two years of negotiations, and includes bilateral, regional and international issues." (see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 940, Senior Iranian Official: Europe Will Recognize Iran's Right to a Limited Nuclear Fuel Cycle; Iran to Start Operations at Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility, July 22, 2005. Uranium enrichment is a precondition for the construction of a nuclear weapon.

Mousavian was the General Director of Foreign Ministry for West Europe (1987-1990), editor-in-chief of the Iranian pro-regime English-language Tehran Times newspaper (1980-1990), and Chief of Parliament Administration (1984-1986). He was also a member of the editorial board of the Iranian pro-regime Resalat daily.

He is currently a Middle East Security and Nuclear Policy Specialist at the Program on Science and Global Security at Princeton University; he was hired by Princeton in 2009. In 2020, he attended the funeral in Iran of IRGC Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani, a U.S.-designated terrorist. Soleimani was killed in a U.S. airstrike January 3, 2020 in Iraq, due to his role in the murder of over 600 U.S. military personnel and in the planning of terror attacks on U.S. interests.


Anti-Israel critics slam casting of Julia Garner in new Marvel film
Jewish actor Julia Garner will join the Marvel Cinematic Universe as The Fantastic Four’s Silver Surfer, much to the chagrin of anti-Israel commentators.

Garner, 30, will play Shalla-Bal, a female version of Silver Surfer, named after the original Marvel character’s love interest in the comics. Some online critics have expressed disapproval over the casting of a woman in the role of Silver Surfer, while others have taken issue with Garner’s Israeli background and support for the Jewish state.

The Emmy and Golden Globe winner has a Jewish Israeli mother, through whom she learnt how to speak Hebrew. She told the Jewish Journal in 2020: “As my grandma always said, if you follow the Ten Commandments and have good values, you’re a good Jew. One day when I have kids, there’s only two things I ask for: that they’ll be healthy and that they’ll be mensches.”

Garner, born in New York, has been lambasted for visiting Israel several times and for signing an open letter to Joe Biden in October 2023 which called for the release of Israeli hostages from Hamas captivity.

X users have invoked Garner’s support for Israel to decry her casting in the role of Shalla-Bal, with some going so far as to call for a boycott of the film.

One user wrote of the casting controversy: “Not y’all having a meltdown over Marvel casting a female silver surfer when the real issue being that Julia Garner is a Zionist.”
Pennsylvania Jews rally against antisemitism after graffiti at synagogue
Jewish community members of the Bryn Mawr area in Pennsylvania rallied against antisemitism on Thursday in response to vandalism of local Jewish institutions in recent weeks, according to the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.

A sign in front of Wynnewood synagogue Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El declaring "Our Community Stands With Israel” was vandalized on March 22, and after the sign was replaced, a red swastika was spray painted on it on Saturday night.

"We do not know who did this. We do know that they wanted us to be afraid," said the synagogue leadership in a Sunday statement. "A swastika is not a commentary on the policies of the State of Israel, nor is it a sign of solidarity with Palestinians. It is a symbol of hatred and division. We, the leadership of the synagogue, want everyone to know that we will not give in to either fear or division. We are blessed to live in a society in which hate speech is not tolerated by the police, who are working with us to keep us safe. We are blessed to live in a society where our neighbors of other faiths have already reached out to offer support."

The JFGP condemned the vandalism, saying that they stood with the synagogue and that as levels of antisemitism increased, "we must work together as a community to make it clear that hate has no place here.'

Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El held a special service attended by local leaders on Monday night. Rabbis, cantors, and Jewish educators across the community joined together at the altar to sing Oseh Shalom. Rabbi Ethan Witkovsky said in a sermon that whoever had tagged the sign had failed in their effort to make the community afraid to attend synagogue.

"I want this Shabbat to be the most well-attended Shabbat in Main Line Jewish history because that is how we show that we are not afraid to show up to a synagogue no matter what anyone paints on the sidewalk or a banner," said Witkovsky.
Incendiary device thrown at German synagogue door, but damage minor and no injuries
An incendiary device was thrown at a door of a synagogue in northwestern Germany on Friday but caused only minor damage, police said. No one was injured.

The incident in the city of Oldenburg happened early Friday afternoon. The fire was discovered quickly and didn't spread, and the fire service didn't need to extinguish it. No event was taking place in the building at the time.

Police said they were searching for the perpetrator but had no information on a motive.

Police chief Andreas Sagehorn condemned the “cowardly act” and said in a statement that “we will take this attack as grounds to raise the security measures at the Oldenburg synagogue immediately” while the investigation is ongoing.

Germany saw a large increase in anti-Jewish incidents following Hamas’ attack on Israel in October, and Israel's subsequent attacks in Gaza.


The opera fans who saved Jews from the Nazis
When viola player and composer Alison Cotton discovered the story of Ida and Louise Cook, two sisters from Sunderland and keen music fans who helped to save 29 Jews from the Nazis, she couldn’t understand why it wasn’t better known.

“The more I read about them, the more intrigued I was and impressed by their incredible story,” says Cotton.

“Yet when you look online, there’s very little about them.”

So overawed was she by the sisters’ story, Cotton has made an album entitled Engelchen in tribute to these “little angels”.

From Sunderland herself, the London-based musician was instantly drawn to the unmarried sisters who’d moved to the capital in pursuit of the opera stars of the day. We have met at the Royal Opera House to discuss Cotton’s project. It is where, she points out, the Cooks would regularly queue from 6am to see their heroes.

“I had similar obsessions with music when I was growing up,” says Cotton, whose classical roots developed into a love of bands such as the Charlatans and Suede. “They’d wait to see the opera stars coming in through the stage door, and that was how they met all of them. I would do the same thing to catch a glimpse of [the bands].”

Both sisters worked in secretarial roles for the civil service, until Ida – younger by two years – started writing Mills & Boon romance novels under a pseudonym. Her earnings funded their tours of the opera circuit around Europe in the 1930s – Germany in particular. They sent bouquets to dressing rooms and took photographs of their musical heroes, gaining an access to them that was to lead to their missions secretly helping Jewish people escape the Nazi regime.

They befriended the A-listers of the scene, including the Austrian conductor Clemens Krauss and his wife, the soprano Viorica Ursuleac, with whom they had struck up a bond while taking their photographs. On one of the Cooks’ trips to Germany in 1935, Krauss asked the sisters to help a musicologist friend called Mitia Mayer-Lismann and her daughter leave the country. It was only when Mayer-Lismann had reached London that the sisters realised she was Jewish.
Square next to Liverpool Street station could be renamed after Sir Nicholas Winton
The square next to Liverpool St Station could be renamed to Sir Nicholas Winton Square, in honour of the British man who played a significant role in saving hundreds of Jewish children from being murdered during the Holocaust.

Liverpool Street station was the main arrival point of the 669 children Sir Nicholas Winton MBE helped evacuate from Czechoslovakia in the late 1930s before the outbreak of the Second World War, and the place where those children met their new sponsors and foster families in Britain.

The City of London is now proposing the renaming of the recently pedestrianised part of Liverpool Street next to the railway station to commemorate Winton, who died in 2015.

The Sir Nicholas Winton Memorial Trust have expressed enthusiasm for the proposal after being consulted by the City Corporation.

In a statement to the JC, Trustee Laurence Winton said: “"We are truly grateful for this initiative, which will serve as a lasting tribute to Sir Nicholas Winton's humanitarian efforts. We believe that a permanent renaming will not only honour his legacy but will also serve as an educational landmark. It will remind passersby of the virtues of compassion and bravery, and the significant impact one individual can make in the lives of many."
How a Set of ‘Chosen Links’ May Offer More Positive Content about Israel
In the weeks following Oct. 7, Boaz Hepner, a registered nurse and member of the local Pico-Robertson Jewish community, began to observe several patterns related to his exposure to Israel-related news and content: “I couldn’t stop doom-scrolling,” he said, “and I realized you could either not look away, and see everything being shared; or you could turn off your social media and opt to see and read nothing; and that there was a reprehensible amount of content that was more than just the usual media bias against Israel than we’re used to, including actual lies.”

Hepner wanted to help social media users avoid virulently anti-Israel content, especially falsified “news,” by tackling one of the roots of the problem: social media algorithms. “I realized how easy it was for people to create a meme, or record a video, or edit existing video footage to say whatever they want,” he said. “Propaganda and lies have never been easier to create and spread like a virus.”

On Oct. 26, he posted on Facebook a series of 14 links, including to several blogs he had written for the Jewish Journal. In one blog, titled “How Social Media Poisons the Discourse About Israel (And So Much More”)written several weeks after Oct. 7, Hepner wrote, “The social media platform has no political agenda, and is incentivized to get you lost in its vortex of both right- and left-wing content, or even true and false content. It is merely designed to keep you engaged as long as possible.” Regarding non-Jewish social media users exposed to hateful anti-Israel content, Hepner asked, “How can so many out there demonize Israel on a daily basis? Don’t they see what I’m seeing? That’s just the thing: They don’t.”

If, argued Hepner, the raison d’être of social media is to keep our eyes on our screens at all times, we should at least maximize our exposure to content that is truthful and nuanced. He received so much positive feedback from friends and social media followers about his first post in late October that the following week he suggested more links to articles, videos and social media threads about Israel and antisemitism that he had spent hours researching. As the weeks passed, Hepner highlighted writers and stories ranging from the Jewish Journal, The Telegram and the Jerusalem Post to posts on X and Instagram. In each post, he also described the links and offered personal commentary.

His goal was also to find reliable, positive content from Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube, based on his theory that if readers clicked on just one, “their content would improve.” He tested his theory on Facebook by clicking on each link in his first post. “I immediately saw great results,” he recalled.

After a series of weekly posts that directed his social media followers to more honest and thought-provoking insights about antisemitism and Israel, Hepner approached David Suissa, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of The Jewish Journal, about publishing his posts on the Journal’s website. According to Hepner, it was Suissa who suggested an apt name for Hepner’s creative new endeavor: “Chosen Links by Boaz.”
‘I Love This Country and Want to Protect the People’
Golan Singh drives a motorcycle throughout north Tel Aviv on workdays delivering meals for a restaurant. Every shift, he stops two or three times at the grave of his best friend, Cydrick Garin, at the Kiryat Shaul Cemetery. Singh smokes cigarettes there and talks to Garin, telling him about their friends’ plans for a memorial project tied to Garin’s artistic talent. When he resolves challenges, he says, “Thanks, Cydrick.” He jokes. He cries.

Singh sometimes tells Garin about the Israel Defense Forces’ ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. He and Garin became friends attending the Bialik Rogozin School, near the Haganah train station in south Tel Aviv. Haganah means defense. It was the name of Israel’s pre-state military. Singh said he sometimes asks Garin “just to watch over us.”

That’s what Garin, a 23-year-old sergeant major, did until Jan. 22, when he and 20 other IDF soldiers were killed after a Hamas-launched rocket-propelled grenade detonated explosives the soldiers were laying inside a building in Gaza.

Garin had striven to become a combat soldier, refusing to leave an enlistment center where he’d gone with Singh until getting the assignment he craved in the IDF’s Givati brigade. Earlier, at age 13 or 14, he watched a television program about the IDF and told his mother, Imelda, “I want to fight. I love this country and want to protect the people.”

Israeli boys are wont to begin pondering their IDF service long before reaching draft age. But Garin wasn’t obligated to serve, certainly not in a combat unit. That’s because his official status in Israel was “temporary resident,” not citizen. Garin was born in Tel Aviv, but his father and mother are Christians from the Philippines who came to Israel in 1995 for a better life; they met while working as caregivers for elderly Israelis.

Approximately 30,000 Filipinos work in Israel, most as caregivers, with others employed in hotels, said Teri Bautista, vice consul of the Philippines’ Embassy in Tel Aviv. They live in and near most of Israel’s largest cities, she said.

After completing his service in the IDF—he earned an award for bravery for killing a terrorist during an attack in Hebron—Garin became an Israeli citizen. Imelda was thus entitled to apply for citizenship. It was finalized this year, after her son’s death.
Ex-Mumford & Sons’ star on Britain's identity crisis & political correctness
Visegrad24 presents an in-depth series covering the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. This comprehensive series features on-the-ground interviews, bringing firsthand insights from a diverse range of voices, including politicians, professors, journalists, experts and influencers.

Our guest today: Winston Marshall

Winston is co-founder and former lead guitarist of the folk rock band Mumford & Sons. In 2021, he left the band so that he could exercise free speech about politics without involving his former bandmates.

In 2022, he launched the "Marshall Matters" podcast. It was hosted by British the magazine The Spectator, for which he became a contributor in 2021.

Interviewed by Matthew Tyrmand, journalist and Visegrad24 contributor

00:00 - Introduction
01:20 - Jewish heritage and antisemitism
01:58 - Antisemitism in the UK after Oct. 7th
02:40 - Attack on British identity
05:28 - Britishness and Islamist attacks
07:58 - Grooming gang scandal in the UK
08:58 - Taboos and media silence
11:15 - Brexit, migration and sovereignty
13:17 - The Nova Musical Festival Massacre
16:04 - The two-state solution after October 7th
18:50 - Islamist threat in Europe
19:51 - Media and universities paint Jews as oppressors
23:01 - Learning from history, white privilege and antisemitism
36:51 - International marxism and antisemitism






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