Sunday, May 12, 2024

05/12 Links: US withholding ‘sensitive intelligence’ on Hamas from Israel; Europe's public vote shines for Eden Golan at Eurovision; Israel marks first post-Oct. 7 Memorial Day

From Ian:

Jonathan Tobin: Liberal media is still in denial about post-Oct. 7 antisemitism
Seven months of an unprecedented surge in antisemitism that has turned American college campuses and even K-12 schools into hostile environments for Jews has changed a lot of minds about the issue. The willingness of much of the political left to downplay or even justify the atrocities of Oct. 7—and then to flip the narrative about the war that Hamas started to one in which the victims of terrorism are somehow the real villains of the story—has shocked even many political liberals into rethinking their assumptions about where the real danger for Jews lies.

But not The New York Times.

As two lengthy news features published in the paper this week confirmed, the flagship of liberal journalism in the United States hasn’t let events or the reality of a post-Oct. 7 world interfere with their ideological or political agendas.

In one story, the newspaper devoted the time of four reporters to take a deep dive into contemporary antisemitism. But the result of what is described as their extensive research is that they have come to the conclusion that the real culprits are not the people who seek the destruction of the one Jewish state on the planet, legitimize a genocidal terrorist movement as justified “resistance” or attempt to allow those responsible for the mass murder of 1,200 people to get away with it. Instead, the Times believes that the problem rests with (surprise!) Republicans who are rallying in support of a beleaguered State of Israel and who are opposed to the deluge of Jew-hatred on display in the American public square since the current war began.

In another article, the paper reported a congressional hearing about the growing problem of antisemitism in K-12 schools throughout the country as primarily one about how those in charge of these institutions scored points against members of Congress who care about the issue.

These are just two prominent examples out of many that could be pointed to that show how the Times and other liberal media outlets manipulate coverage of this issue to promote their own partisan agendas. They are worth noting precisely because they illustrate how ideological agendas work to present a distorted picture of an antisemitism crisis that serves primarily to deflect attention from the real cause.

In this case, that means denying or downplaying the fact that the principal engines of antisemitism in 2024 America are left-wing ideologies like critical race theory and intersectionality, which grant a permission slip to Jew-hatred. The pervasive influence of these toxic ideas in American education has helped to indoctrinate largely ignorant students to parrot what earlier generations might have easily understood to be Soviet-era Marxist propaganda about Zionism being racism and Israel being an “apartheid state” against which all “resistance”—even the orgy of rape, torture, kidnapping and wanton destruction that Palestinians carried on Oct. 7—can be justified.
Israel’s PR-War Pandemonium
The job of international spokesperson for Israel, in a state of war, is fit for a patriot, a masochist, or a diva, or better yet all three. For most of the past six months, it was occupied by Eylon Levy, a 32-year-old British Israeli with an affinity for television cameras and seemingly infinite ability to absorb the abuse that comes from publicly defending Israel, at its least defensible and at its most. When Israel was still picking through the corpses in the kibbutzim near Gaza, he reminded viewers of the carnage—both the dead concertgoers and elderly (who were real victims) and “beheaded babies” (who turned out not to be). When Israel began hunting Hamas in Gaza, he defended his country’s actions without reservation, even when the civilian toll became unbearable. His tenure ended on the last day of March, reportedly after British Foreign Minister David Cameron took exception to Levy’s rhetoric. The story goes that Cameron’s office sent a curt message to Levy’s bosses, who suspended him and encouraged his resignation.

Levy says that these reports are inaccurate, and that he was forced out because he is not, and never was, a Netanyahu loyalist. He told me he has “no reason to doubt” a conflicting report that Sara Netanyahu, the child psychologist and former El Al flight attendant married to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, orchestrated his overthrow. Cameron was a pretext, he says. Levy’s version of events is one of many data points suggesting that the Netanyahu government is obsessed with the slavish loyalty of its staff. And Levy is not alone in wondering whether such a government is fit to lead a country as divided as Israel, during this time of maximum stress. (Netanyahu’s office did not reply to a request for comment on Levy and the circumstances of his hiring and departure.)

When I met him last month in Tel Aviv, Levy still seemed dazed by the speed of his rise and fall. He said he’d never met Sara Netanyahu or her husband, but if they thought he was less than devoted to Bibi’s politics, they were onto something. Before the war, he said, he had been among the hundreds of thousands who had filled Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv to protest the government and heap disgust on Netanyahu. “The protests became a social happening—just what people did on a Saturday night,” he said. His presence was sincere, but also, in that sense, “entirely unremarkable and quite expected for someone in my demographic.”

And his distaste for Netanyahu did not evaporate after October 7. Levy’s feed on X (formerly Twitter) confirms much of what he told me about his personal distaste for the prime minister, before the Hamas attack and indeed even in the days after it. He tweeted witheringly about Netanyahu’s failure to stop the attack (“This will be [his] legacy”), and about his “useless” ministers’ failure to address the public. But he went into spokesperson mode in record time—even before he was officially tapped for the job. Levy, who says he was “taking a professional break,” when the attack happened, had previously worked as a media adviser to Israeli President Isaac Herzog. Now he saw an opportunity. “The prime minister’s office had been caught with its pants down,” Levy told me. “It was simply not prepared to deal with the deluge of media attention.” He stacked his laptop on a pile of books on his dining-room table and positioned his lamp and webcam just so. “I thought: I know how to do media. So I put out the message that I was available to give media interviews.”

The media took him up on the offer, and he did nearly a dozen TV hits. Within days, he says, an envoy from the prime minister’s office asked him whether he’d like to “come on board in some official capacity.” The envoy, Rotem Sella, was the Hebrew publisher of Netanyahu’s 2022 memoir and had now joined the government to correct the pants problem. Sella, Levy says, knew that Levy had protested Bibi but didn’t care. “It was a completely insane proposition,” Levy said—a guy in his living room, openly contemptuous of the government, would now be paid to defend it. “But everyone was doing their bit, so I said, ‘Absolutely. Count me in.’”

“Within 24 hours, I found myself effectively being nationalized,” he told me. The contemporaneous record strikes a vainer tone. He tweeted a photograph of himself at a lectern, with the comment “Cometh the hour,” a Churchillian line (“... cometh the man”) that is, like most compliments, best bestowed by others rather than by oneself. But as long as Israel’s actual leaders were bunkered away from public scrutiny—when they did appear, ordinary Israelis screamed at them—this living-room Churchill could run unopposed as Israel’s man of the hour.
Lowy’s lament: ‘I know how insidious antisemitism can be’
Looking in from the outside, Sir Frank Lowy is shaken by what is happening in Australia. He’s been watching as antisemitism seeps into the country and weakens its famous sense of “a fair go”.

This is new, something he never experienced in his 66 years in Australia.

“When I arrived in Sydney in 1952 and got a job in a factory, I was seen as a ‘New Australian’ and I took it as a term of endearment, not exclusion.

“In the canteen, we ate our sandwiches together and no one remarked on my foreignness or questioned my religion.

“And in six decades of running Westfield, I never experienced antisemitism. Once, a newspaper referred to me as ‘a Jewish businessman’. I objected, and it never happened again.”

While many believe the current conflict in Gaza has not led to antisemitism in Australia, Lowy has seen it before, and he does.

“In Europe in the late ’30s and ’40s, I experienced it directly. I know what it feels like, and I know how insidious it can be.

“In Europe back then, it had become safe for people to express antisemitism, and now it’s becoming safe to do so in Australia. It may take a different form, but the feeling is the same, and it’s deeply disturbing.”


Report: US withholding ‘sensitive intelligence’ on Hamas from Israel
The Biden administration will share key intelligence with Israel about the whereabouts of Hamas’s leadership in Gaza if Israel agrees not to go ahead with its military operation in Rafah, according to The Washington Post.

“The Biden administration, working urgently to stave off a full-scale Israeli invasion of Rafah, is offering Israel valuable assistance if it holds back, including sensitive intelligence to help the Israeli military pinpoint the location of Hamas leaders and find the group’s hidden tunnels, according to four people familiar with the U.S. offers,” said the report.

The United States is seeking to delay the operation, concerned that Israel is not doing enough to ensure the safety of the over one million Gazans sheltered in Rafah should a full-scale invasion move forward, according to the sources cited by the Washington Post.

In addition to intelligence, American officials have also offered to help provide Israel with assistance for Rafah evacuees, including “thousands of shelters so Israel can build tent cities—and to help with the construction of delivery systems for food, water and medicine,” the sources said.

Israel’s military has already evacuated hundreds of thousands of people from eastern Rafah to an expanded humanitarian zone at Al-Mawasi as part of a limited operation in the city that began on May 6. As part of the operation’s initial stage, Israeli forces took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah Crossing between the Strip and Egypt.

IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said on Saturday night that dozens of terrorists have been killed, underground tunnels uncovered and weapons confiscated during the operation so far, stressing that the activities there “remain limited in scope and focus on tactical advances; tactical adjustments; and military advantages—and have avoided densely populated areas.”

The Rafah operation, which Israel estimates will last around two months, is being carried out in phases as opposed to a sudden, full scale invasion, according to Israel’s Channel 12.


Spiked: Islamic sectarianism is poisoning British politics
Paul Embery joins Tom Slater and Fraser Myers to discuss Tory defections, the local elections and the councillor who screamed ‘Allahu Akbar’.


Stephen Pollard: Eurovision’s message to the Israel haters: the world does not share your bigotry
I’ll be 60 at my next birthday. In those near six decades, I doubt I’ve watched Eurovision more than half a dozen times. But like so many people, I was glued to last night’s competition like never before.

Thanks to the Jew haters of Malmo, and their supporters across social media and elsewhere, last night had become far more than a song contest. The hounding of Israel’s 20 year singer, Eden Golan, was so extreme that she required an armed multi-car convoy merely to travel from her hotel to the competition venue. Fellow competitors, like Ireland’s Bambie Thug – nominative determinism is alive and well in that surname – demanded that Israel be barred. The Thug cried when Israel made the final. The haters had decided to make a song contest a proxy for their hatred of Israel and to go after a young Jew on prime time telly.

Others are better qualified than me to comment on the actual competition. To be honest, I couldn’t care less about the music or the winner. Not my kind of music. But I – and, I’m sure, you, too – was forced by the bigots’ behaviour to care deeply about the context of the competition, and the voting. And what a joy it proved to be.

Because when the haters chose to turn Eurovision into their proxy, they made a fundamental mistake. Like bigots and racists throughout history, they assumed that the rest of the world – or, in this case, Europe – shared their bigotry and their hatred of Jews. Well, they don’t.

Eurovision has a public vote alongside the so-called ‘professional’ national juries. It’s not remotely scientific. But while it’s not a poll, it is an indicator of the popularity of the bigots’ hatred of Israel and their dream that Hamas be handed control of the land from the river to the sea. (FYI to the chanters: since none of you have a clue what your chant means, let me help. It’s the Jordan river and the Mediterranean sea.) I imagine they assumed that the public vote would reflect the unhinged booing inside the Malmo Arena last night when Eden Golan sang. Israel is the world’s pariah and all that.


What anti-Israel feeling? Europe's public vote shines for Eden Golan at Eurovision
Despite the loud and proud pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel camp, one may be surprised to see just how well Israel did across the board when it came to the public televoting.

Israel received a total of 323 points from televoters. Here’s how the points were distributed:

Israel received 12 points (the maximum) from the televoters in the following countries/groups: Rest of the World, Australia, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Several of these countries have large Jewish populations but while there is a slight tendency for countries with larger Jewish populations to give more points to Israel, the relationship is not strong enough to suggest a direct or significant influence.

Israel also received 10 points from televoters in Albania, Austria, Cyprus, Czechia, Ireland, Moldova, and Slovenia. Perhaps the surprise package here is the public vote from the Irish, who are generally regarded as not Israel’s greatest friend.

Some of the smaller nations, such as San Marino and Iceland, with negligible Jewish populations, still gave Israel relatively high scores, further illustrating that Eurovision voting is influenced by factors beyond just demographic similarities.

The breakdown of the remaining televoters is as follows:

Israel received 8 points from televoters in Denmark, Georgia, and Iceland.

Israel received 7 points from televoters in Azerbaijan, Greece, and Latvia, 6 points from televoters in Estonia, 5 points from Malta, Norway, and Poland, 3 points from televoters in Lithuania and Serbia, and 1 point from Armenia.

Finally, Israel received zero points from televoters in Ukraine and Croatia, indicating a lack of support or visibility in these countries.

Israel’s diverse range of points from different countries, some of whom have almost no Jewish presence, signifies that despite the ongoing public noise in the pro-Palestinian arena, despite the constant attacks against the Jewish State, there is a silent majority.


Pro-Palestine Irish contestant who lost out to Eden Golan launches profanity-filled rant
Irish Eurovision contestant Bambie Thug, who finished one place behind Israel’s Eden Golan, has launched a tearful, profanity-laden rant accusing the competition organisers of not supporting them over a row with an Israeli TV station.

Thug, who has been outspoken about their pro-Palestine views, accused Israeli broadcaster Kan of breaching the rules after the TV station branded their semi-final performance “Satanic”.

The 'ouji pop' star secured a sixth place finish in Ireland's first grand final of the music event since 2018, one place behind Israel’s Golan, whose entry sparked anger from pro-Palestine protesters amid the war in Gaza.

Thug, who identifies as non-binary, told journalists in the press centre: “So now that I’m free. I can talk about everything right?

“Yeah, so Kan the broadcaster incited violence against me twice, three times. We brought it up to the EBU. They said they'd follow up.

“They waited to the last minute, still haven’t gotten a statement back to us, allowed us to be scapegoats, allowed us to be the spokesperson for standing up for ourselves.

“And yeah, the broadcaster has disobeyed the rules and I hope next year they won’t be able to compete because of that.

“And behind the scenes you don’t know the amount of pressure and the amount of work that we have been doing to change things and I’m so proud of Nemo for winning,

“I’m so proud that all of us are in the top 10 that have been fighting for this s**t behind the scenes. Because it’s been so hard and I’m so proud of us.

“And I just want to say we are what the Eurovision is. The EBU is not what the Eurovision is. F**k the EBU. I don’t even care anymore.”

The EBU reportedly made Thug remove the words "Ceasefire" and "Saoirse Don Phalistin" - which translates from Irish Gaelic to "freedom for Palestine" - after they were written into their costume.


Biden’s Jekyll-and-Hyde approach to Israel is a disaster in the making
There are three ways to evaluate Biden’s moves.

Who do they hurt, who do they help and what is the payoff for his campaign?

Catastrophic timing
Israel, of course, suffers the most adverse consequences.

Because it is locked in an existential conflict with Hamas, Biden has picked a terrible time to gut his pledge of “ironclad” support for the Jewish state.

Coming just days after he used a Holocaust Remembrance event to passionately link the Hamas attack of Oct. 7 to the horrors of Nazi Germany, Biden’s sudden military freeze smacks of a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality.

If the freeze stops Israel’s plan to eliminate Hamas, it will guarantee more Islamic terrorism and another war, which will mean more civilian casualties on both sides.

But Biden’s “f–k up” doesn’t end there. It also simultaneously undercuts America’s relationship with other allies who have new reason to worry they could be next on his hit list.

Can Saudi Arabia really trust an administration that mercilessly undercut America’s closest ally?

Should European allies be worried that they, too, will somehow run afoul of a White House that treats its enemies better than its friends?

Then there’s Ukraine, which has another reason to worry, while Russia and China must be delighted to see American weakness in action.

Meanwhile, Hamas immediately benefits from the freeze.

Biden’s previous efforts to force Israel to protect, feed and care for Gaza’s civilians already rewarded the Hamas strategy of using its fellow Arabs as human shields.

No military can simultaneously protect its own soldiers, fight an embedded force of terrorists and also care for the civilian population the enemy hides behind.

It is now clear the impossibility of Biden’s straitjacket was the whole point.

By putting unreasonable demands on Israel and threatening to abandon it if it doesn’t comply, Biden hopes to end what is for Israel a war of self defense.

His monthslong campaign of criticism convinced the terrorist group time was on its side and played a role in its refusal to seriously negotiate the release of Israeli and American hostages in exchange for a cease-fire.

And now Yahya Sinwar and other Hamas butchers are being rewarded again by Biden’s withholding of munitions for Israel’s push into Rafah, the group’s last stronghold.

Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States, told reporters that “by declaring open season on Israel,” Biden “created an American diplomatic Iron Dome for Hamas.”

Iran, too, benefits big time from the freeze.

Flush with cash, thanks to Biden lifting oil sanctions and paying billions to ransom hostages, the murderous mullahs have effectively gotten a green light to continue their campaign of targeting Israel and trying to drive America out of the Mideast.


Cameron says Israel arms embargo would strengthen Hamas
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron voiced opposition to an arms embargo on Israel on Sunday, telling the BBC in an interview it would embolden the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza.

“Just to simply announce today that we will change our approach on arms exports, it would make Hamas stronger and it would make a hostage deal less likely,” Cameron told British journalist Laura Kuenssberg.

London, like Washington, is against a full-scale military invasion of the last Hamas stronghold in Rafah city, with both governments citing humanitarian concerns. However, Cameron has split with the Biden administration, which said it would stop providing offensive weapons to Israel should it conduct a wider operation in Gaza’s southernmost city.

Cameron noted that the U.K. supplies just 1% of Israel’s weapons.

He was asked whether he would follow U.S. President Joe Biden and stop weapons shipments to Israel over Rafah.

“The last time I was urged to do that, I didn’t do it. Just a few days later there was a brutal attack by Iran on Israel including 140 cruise missiles. That’s not some tiny drones, huge cruise missiles blasting into Israel. I think it [stopping arms shipments] would have sent an entirely wrong message, it would have been a very unwise move.”


Pretoria returns to ICJ with fresh filing against Israel
South Africa on Friday again asked the International Court of Justice in the Hague to impose emergency measures on Israel, this time citing the latter’s military operations in Rafah.

In its latest request, South Africa said that the court’s previous measures “are not capable of ‘fully address[ing]’ the changed circumstances and new facts on which [its] Request is founded.”

It said Israel’s attack on Rafah poses “extreme risk” to humanitarian services and supplies, the Gaza medical system and the survival of Arabs in Gaza, and causes “irreparable harm to the rights” of Gazans, according to a press release on the ICJ website.

Israel has been carrying out limited operations in the city of Rafah, located in the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip, and the last bastion of Hamas’s remaining battalions.

Egypt on Sunday announced it would formally support South Africa’s suit. Cairo has opposed Israel’s seizure of the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing to Sinai.

This is at least the third time that South Africa has petitioned the ICJ since the start of the current Gaza war.

Pretoria brought its first request on Dec. 29, accusing Israel of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention. But on Jan. 26, the court rejected South Africa’s request that it order a ceasefire.


Israel peace treaty at ‘high risk’ amid Rafah op, Cairo threatens
Egypt has again threatened to suspend its 45-year-old peace treaty with Israel if the latter further expands its offensive against Hamas in Rafah.

Cairo has lodged formal protests with Israel, the United States and European governments following the Israel Defense Forces’ invasion of eastern Rafah, which was launched last week, AP reported on Sunday.

An Egyptian official cited by the report, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the operation has put the peace treaty at “high risk.”

The peace agreement with Jerusalem is a “strategic choice,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told reporters later on Sunday.

Peace “has been Egypt’s strategic choice for 40 years, and it represents a main pillar of peace in the region to achieve peace and stability,” Turkey’s state news agency Anadolu quoted the diplomat as saying.

Also on Sunday, Egypt announced its intention to formally join South Africa’s lawsuit against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

Cairo said the decision was made in light of what it called the “worsening severity and scope of Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, and the continued perpetration of systematic practices against the Palestinian people, including direct targeting of civilians and the destruction of infrastructure in the Strip, and pushing Palestinians to flee.”


Heartbreak after Hamas claims British-Israeli hostage is dead
The Foreign Office is investigating a claim by the terror group Hamas that a British-Israeli hostage has died in Gaza.

Hamas claims Nadav Popplewell died of wounds sustained in an Israeli airstrike more than a month ago, a report that has prompted heartbreak in his UK and Israeli communities.

The terror group released footage of Popplewell, 51, on Saturday .

Popplewell was taken hostage with his mother, Channah Peri, 79, from their home in Kibbutz Nirim during the Hamas onslaught on October 7.

His brother, Roi Popplewell, 54, was killed by terrorists near his home in the kibbutz.

In the 10-second video, Popplewell appears to be suffering from an eye injury. It is unclear when the footage was filmed.

Barrister Adam Wagner said in a post on LinkedIn: “We are devastated to hear the news (not yet confirmed by the British government) that Nadav Popplewell, a British hostage of Hamas whose family we have been acting for, has died.

“We have been acting for British linked families of hostages since October. Some have been released, two have now died.

"We have become close to their families as they have experienced the extreme trauma of the uncertainty around the hostage situation, the cruelty of Hamas (eg in this case, as with Yossi Sharabi before, they revealed Nadav’s death through a series of ‘tease’ videos like a reality TV series).

"One thing that people don’t necessarily realise that many of the hostage families have also had family members murdered. They are experiencing double or triple traumas.

“Personally, after 7 months, though I have never met Nadav, or Oded, or Eli, or Emily, I feel like a know them to an extent. I spoke about Oded to my synagogue just yesterday as it was his 84th birthday. And now we have lost another.

“Our hearts go out to them.”

This was the third such video Hamas has aired in recent weeks, following clips of hostages Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Keith Siegel and Omri Miran that were released in late April.


Three wounded in Gaza rocket strike on Ashkelon apartment
Three people were lightly wounded in Ashkelon early on Sunday when a rocket from Gaza scored a direct hit on an apartment in the southern Israeli city.

The victims were evacuated to the city’s Barzilai Medical Center, where they are listed as being in good condition.

Rocket alerts sounded shortly after 1 a.m. in the southern Ashkelon area, including the industrial zone.

Sirens sounded again in southern Ashkelon and the Sderot area on Sunday afternoon.

Earlier in the afternoon, Rafah terrorists targeted the Kerem Shalom area, with two launches from southern Gaza that were intercepted by the IDF aerial defense array, the military said. There was no damage or casualties from the attack.


2018: FIFA bans Palestinian soccer chief for inciting violence against Messi
The international soccer body FIFA on Friday banned the head of the Palestinian Football Association from attending soccer games for a year for inciting hatred and violence toward star player Lionel Messi.

Jibril Rajoub called on Arab soccer fans to burn Messi posters and shirts if he participated in an Argentina game in Jerusalem in June. His campaign led to Argentina canceling the World Cup warm-up match.

In its decision, FIFA’s disciplinary committee cited comments by the Palestinian FA president “calling on football fans to target the Argentinian Football Association and burn jerseys and pictures of Lionel Messi.”

Rajoub was banned from attending any soccer matches in an official capacity for 12 months starting Friday.

Rajoub, who is also head of the Palestinian Olympic Committee, was also fined 20,000 Swiss francs ($20,300).


Roadblock Queers for Palestine block exit to Disney World, infuriating drivers before they’re promptly arrested
A small group of anti-Israel protesters from a Florida chapter of Queers for Palestine blocked access to Walt Disney World Saturday — and were promptly arrested.

The keffiyeh-clad crew used their vehicles to block the Disney exit of Interstate 4 in Orlando, alleging that the company “supports genocide.”

The protesters held banners across the ramp and chanted, “Free free Palestine.”

Some fed-up drivers were seen using the shoulder of the highway to go around the demonstrators — while one angry motorist got out of his car to confront them, video showed.

“You are losing people to your cause because of this … Think a little bit. You are causing people to actually hate you,” he yelled at a demonstrator filming him as they sat in a car after cops showed up, according to footage shared on X.


An open letter to American colleges in the face of antisemitism
As you prepare for your relaxing summer vacations and break from academia, allow me to tell you this: stay put. No one has more work to do this summer than you.

While you’re scrubbing the graffiti off of the beloved statues of your founders, removing Palestine flags flying over your campuses while sweeping away the ashes of burned American and Israel flags, collecting the broiler pans and Stanley cups strewn across your lawns that once contained vegan foods and matcha tea, and scraping off the layers of hate you’ve allowed to foment, you can figure out how you’re going to fix the epic failure that is American higher education.

In your overarching quest to admit diverse classes, you have instead enrolled in a homogenous army devoid of independent thought and a moral compass. I would suggest you analyze your admissions criteria and process and establish new parameters for the same. I would also suggest that you examine who you hire to review these applications to determine whether these individuals are fit for the job. I submit that they are not.

You need to fully investigate this department at your university because it is patently corrupt. Install safeguards immediately so that when candidates are evaluated next year, they are not only judged fairly but they are screened to exclude the types of candidates that have already polluted your university with bold acts of defiance and disgusting, virulent displays.

For the students that you already sadly admitted that continue to diminish your quickly-tarnishing reputation, take aggressive action against them. You might have gathered that they are unafraid of your administration and that is because you have repeatedly failed to follow through with your threats, deadlines, and demands. They know that it is they who run the show, not your administration, not your board, not even local, state, and federal governments or law enforcement. Expel them.

Expel them, please, before they earn one of your prized diplomas and use it to ascend the echelons of American society, only to further infiltrate and destroy American ideals and freedoms. You have more than enough evidence in your midst to expel these students for their brash and willful violations of your Codes of Conduct and applicable laws. What exactly are you waiting for?
US K-12 schools saw 690% rise in antisemitism three months after October 7 - report
The Israeli American Council received a 690% increase in complaints about antisemitic and anti-Israel incidents at American Kindergarten to Grade 12 schools in the three months after the October 7 Hamas rampage, the organizations announced on Thursday.

Through the IAC School Watch program, which allows students and parents to alert to antisemitic incidents in the 25 states that the organization maintains chapters, 324 antisemitic and anti-Israel acts by students and teachers were documented between October and January. In the same time period during the previous year there were only 41 incidents recorded by IAC, and 116 complaints during the entire school year.

Sixty-five percent of the incidents involved bullying and vandalism by students, and the remaining incidents involved anti-Israel class materials, statements or discrimination by school administrators and teachers.

“The majority of these incidents took place in high schools, while a smaller number took place in middle schools and a handful happened in elementary schools,” said IAC.

Student allegedly salutes teacher with Roman salute
Giving examples of some of the incidents, the IAC said that at a Las Vegas area school, a student allegedly saluted a Jewish teacher with the Roman salute. Jewish and Israel-American students were reportedly told that “Israel made up the October 7 attack,” at a Fairlawn, NJ, middle school. One report claimed that a student said that she supported the October 7 massacre and the beheading of Israeli children.

”Hitler should have killed all of the Jews,” one student reportedly told an American-Israeli child.

IAC CEO Elan Carr said that “These cases are deeply disturbing and totally unacceptable, and they reflect the increasing discrimination and violence that the Jewish and Israeli-American community is experiencing across the country since October 7.”

The wave of antisemitism comes after years of neglect of the problem, said IAC Vice President of Civic Engagement and Fighting Antisemitism Karen Bar-Or.

“We urge school administrators to put a focus on this and invest in training for educators to understand antisemitism and know how to recognize and handle cases when they arise in the classroom,” said Bar-Or.
Jewish mom outraged over anti-Israel protesters yelling at NY school: ‘They told my kids their parents were complicit in genocide’
A Jewish mother was left stunned after anti-Israel protesters shut down the road near her children’s upstate New York elementary school and shouted at the kids that their parents were “complicit in genocide” and “baby killers.”

Bryce Gruber, of Woodstock, said she had trouble coming up with answers for her kids about the things they heard when dozens of protesters descended on their small town on Tuesday to target the Ametek Rotron defense manufacturing company, which is based down the road from the Woodstock Elementary School.

“They were screaming at the kids and anyone who tried to get across or got near them,” Gruber told The Post Wednesday. “They told my kids that their parents were complicit in genocide, that they’re baby killers.”

Gruber, a mother of five, shared her encounter with the protesters on Instagram, revealing that the elementary school did not allow students outside for recess over the protest.

While Gruber was in disbelief that such a demonstration broke out in her small town of about 6,000 people, what was even more concerning was that her own neighbors came out in support of it.

“They were cheering them on, shouting, ‘We love you,'” Gruber said. “That was the worst part.”

Gruber added that when she confronted the protesters, a local man had been recording her and her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter, warning them that he would upload their images on a “Zionist Jew watchlist.”

“It was all really disturbing,” Grubber said. “And not a single person has reached out to our Jewish community to say something or check in afterwards.”

The demonstrators, who identified themselves as “Hudson Valley Neighbors,” had chained themselves together and blocked Route 375 to the Ametek building, alleging that the company developed parts of the weapons being supplied to Israel from the US, the Mid Hudson News reported.
Jewish Foundation Cuts Off Millions in Funding to Columbia Over Anti-Semitism
The Russell Berrie Foundation, which has donated tens of millions of dollars to Columbia University, has suspended its funding for the Ivy League university amid rising anti-Semitism on campus, the New York Times reported on Friday.

The Jewish foundation—run by Angelica Berrie and named after her late husband—halted its donations to Columbia in late April, three months after warning in an email that its continuing financial support would depend on the university administrators "taking appropriate steps to create a tolerant and secure environment for Jewish members of the Columbia community."

Columbia president Minouche Shafik in her response to the email did not explicitly address the foundation’s threat of pulling the plug on donations, only stressing that it was her "highest priority" to create "a safe and respectful environment" for students.

The foundation did not like what it had seen on Columbia’s campus since its January warning, according to the New York Times, causing it to cancel a scheduled transfer of more than $600,000 and suspend all future donations to Columbia. The foundation has reportedly given the Ivy League university a total of around $86 million over the years.

"It’s a painful decision for us to have come to this point where we have to tell them, ‘There’s a disconnect between your values and ours,’" Angelica Berrie told the Times, adding that the sharp rise in anti-Semitism at Columbia has made her "weigh the passion my husband had for diabetes against the greater values of our foundation about pluralism, bridge-building and the fact that our Jewish values infuse our philanthropy."

Columbia spokeswoman Samantha Slater said the university is "grateful for [the foundation’s] generosity and support of innumerable and impactful diabetes initiatives throughout the years."

"We are committed to sustained, concrete action to make Columbia a community where anti-Semitism has no place and Jewish students feel safe, valued and are able to thrive," the spokeswoman added.
Columbia professor has mic cut after warning university infiltrated by ‘groups who are supporting terrorists’ at faculty meeting
A Columbia professor was quickly shut down after warning her colleagues that the Morningside Heights campus had been infiltrated by outsiders with “known ties to terrorist organizations.”

Professor Carol Ewing Garber immediately had her mic muted after speaking out about campus security at the May 3 Zoom meeting of the university’s faculty senate — which was held hours after the school’s Hamilton Hall was overrun by a mob of Hamas-supporting students.

“There really is a need for good security on campus and it was very clear . . . that the university was unable to do that given the number of people from outside who were able to pass through our tight security to get onto campus,” Garber said. “We do know that there are groups who are supporting terrorists.”

Garber’s comment prompted pandemonium among the faculty Senate, video of the meeting shows.

The senate is a “policy-making body which may consider all matters of University-wide concern” but has little formal power in practice.

Jeanine D’Armiento, an associate dean for gender equity, shut off Garber’s mic while asserting there was “no evidence” for her claim.

“There is danger in that statement,” said D’Armiento. “I am trying to take our community a level down and that word is not going to do it. Maybe I broke the rules . . . but I cannot allow that kind of thing in a time like this.”

As other senators objected to the forced mute, D’Armiento shouted them down. “This is my meeting, my meeting, my meeting.”

Eventually D’Armiento allowed Garber, a professor of Movement Sciences and Education in the Department of Biobehavioral Sciences at Teachers College, to finished her remarks.


Activist who called Jihadi John ‘beautiful’ visits student Gaza camp to teach Muslim ethics
An activist who described Isis terrorist “Jihadi John” as a “beautiful young man” attended anti-Israel protest camps at London universities to deliver food, books, and a lecture on the Qur’anic ethics of disobedience.

Asim Qureshi, the research director of Cage, visited demonstrators on campus at Soas and UCL this week.

Writing on X/Twitter, he said he had given a “teach-in” for students at the latter university on behalf of the war on terror advocacy organisation.

Cage, founded in 2003, has campaigned on behalf of Muslims accused of terrorism.

Qureshi sparked outrage in 2015 when he referred to Mohammed Emwazi, who appeared in several Isis videos in which western hostages were beheaded, as a “beautiful young man”.

Speaking at a press conference, Qureshi said: “He was the most humble young person that I knew. This is the kind of person that we are talking about.”

In 2013, the Community Security Trust raised concerns over “antisemitic” material on Cage’s website.

A now-deleted article implied that the Jewish owner of the World Trade Centre, Larry Silverstein, was involved in a conspiracy to destroy the twin towers in order to claim insurance.

Describing his visit to anti-Israel protest camps, Qureshi wrote on social media: “I was really honoured to provide a teach-in to the brave students from [UCL Action for Palestine] encamping at UCL for Cage.

"I spoke on the Qur’anic ethics of disobedience in times of structural violence. I was also really glad to bring food cooked for the camp by my wife.”


Blind Acceptance_ Media Outlets Take Hamas’ Lying Word On Ceasefire Approval
The Los Angeles Times was another major media outlet to publish a false headline stating as fact that Hamas had accepted the ceasefire proposal. The front-page print edition headline May 7 falsely stated as fact: “Hamas says yes to truce; Israel mulls over terms; Announcement comes after leaflets dropped in Rafah ordered civilians to evacuate.”

The accompanying article was a touch more cautious. Tracy Wilkinson’s article begins: “Hamas announced Monday that it accepted a cease-fire agreement with Israel in Gaza, a diplomatic breakthrough . . . “

Sixteen long paragraphs later, the article buries: “U.S. officials accused the militant group of moving the goalpost in the negotiations.”

As of this writing, The Los Angeles Times has yet to correct the erroneous print headline. Nor has it reported the American information that Hamas lied about accepting the ceasefire.

The Associated Press also published headlines which stated as fact that Hamas accepted the cease-fire including “Hamas accepts Gaza cease-fire; Israel says it will continue talks . . . ” and “The Latest | Israel launches strikes in Rafah, hours after Hamas agrees to a Gaza cease-fire.”

Similarly, in “Here’s what’s on the table for Israel and Hamas in the latest cease-fire plan,” Samy Magdy and Drew Callister began: “Hamas has formally accepted a cease-fire deal that could end the war in Gaza.”

Even after Miller’s briefing, the AP continued to state as fact on May 8 that Hamas accepted the proposal. For example, “The Latest: Israel forces block Gaza’s Rafah border crossing. . . ” (2:10 AM GMT) stated as fact in the second paragraph: “The Israeli assault into Rafah came just hours after Hamas accepted a cease-fire proposal mediated by Egypt and Qatar” (May 8).

Though AP reporters were present at Miller’s May 7 press briefing and therefore the news agency was well aware of his revelation about Hamas’ fabrication, the wire service nevertheless continued to uncritically report Hamas’ claim to have accepted the deal. Completely disregarding the fact that the United States had debunked Hamas’ fallacious acceptance, AP yesterday reported (“Israel orders new evacuations in Gaza’s last refuge of Rafah as it expands military offensive“):

Another round of cease-fire talks in Cairo ended earlier this week without a breakthrough, after Israel rejected a deal that Hamas said it accepted.

Even with a straightforward State Department statement explicitly substantiating Israel’s information, journalists adamanently refuse to acknowledge that Hamas sold them a lie. Lacking the integrity to set the record straight, journalists reject a longstanding deal — the one in which ethical journalism provides the public with “the free exchange of information that is accurate, fair and thorough.”


Google blasted for AI that refuses to say how many Jews were killed by the Nazis
Google is coming in for sharp criticism after video went viral of the Google Nest assistant refusing to answer basic questions about the Holocaust — but having no problem answer questions about the Nakba.

“Hey Google, how many Jews were killed by the Nazis?” Instagram user Michael Apfel asks a Google Nest virtual assistant. The video was later posted to X by venture capitalist Josh Wolfe on May 8.

“Sorry, I don’t understand,”

The same token answer was offered to other related questions including “How many Jews were killed during World War II? Who did Adolf Hitler try to kill? How many Jews were killed in the concentration camps? How many Jews were killed in the Holocaust? What was the Holocaust?

The Google device was able to deliver a detailed description of “The Nakba” — an Arabic word meaning “catastrophe” used to describe Palestinians being forced from their homes during the creation of Israel. Google’s AI called it the “ethnic cleaning of Palestinians.”

Tim Urban, a notable author and blogger told The Post he was able to successfully recreate the experiment and that Google Nest had no issue clearly stating how many Germans, Americans and Japanese had died during World War II — or deaths from the Rwandan genocide.

“Google is where we go to answer our questions and you just really want to feel like you can trust those answers and the company behind them. And moments like these break that trust and make you feel like Google’s supposed core value—truth—has been co-opted by politics,” Urban told The Post after posting to X about his dismay over the results.

The video, which has been widely reposted by several prominent X accounts, has racked up millions of views on the platform — where its findings were widely condemned.

“This is deeply concerning. Very soon, there will be no living holocaust survivors. Their stories will be silenced by hard coded filters. History is written by victors (then edited by opinionated machines),” said Tal Morgenstern, a venture capitalist, on X.


Israel marks first post-Oct. 7 Memorial Day
Israel marked its first post-Oct. 7 Memorial Day beginning Sunday at sundown and extending until Monday evening.

Memorial Day for the Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism (Yom Hazikaron) was ushered in with a one-minute siren at 8 p.m., followed by a state ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. The event was attended by President Isaac Herzog, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi.

At 9:15 p.m., the parliament will hold an event in memory of the fallen, to be attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and acting Supreme Court President Uzi Vogelman.

At 8:30 a.m. on Monday, the names of the fallen soldiers will be read at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.

Another two-minute siren will sound at 11 a.m., bringing the country to a standstill.

In case of rocket fire, a distinct siren will sound, one with alternating tones rather than a constant steady tone.

Minutes later, Israeli Air Force jets will fly over Mount Herzl, kicking off the main ceremony, to be attended by Herzog, Netanyahu and others. Ceremonies will be held at cemeteries, community centers and schools across the country.

Remembrance events will continue until Monday night, at which point the country will shift to celebrating its 76th Independence Day.

Since last Memorial Day (April 25, 2023), 1,594 Israeli soldiers and civilians have died. This includes 760 Israel Defense Forces soldiers (61 of whom succumbed to their wounds from previous years) and 834 civilians, of which 822 were killed on or after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas in southern Israel, according to numbers released by the Israeli Ministry of Defense on Thursday.

Five additional soldiers were killed in the Gaza Strip over the weekend.

A total of 30,139 security personnel and civilians have been killed defending the Land of Israel and in terrorist attacks since 1860, the year in which the first Jews left the walls of Jerusalem to build new Jewish neighborhoods.

Ahead of Memorial Day, Israel’s leaders gathered on Sunday in a solemn ceremony at the Yad LaBanim organization for bereaved families in Jerusalem.

Addressing the various communities that make up the State of Israel, Netanyahu said, “The firm commitment to our country encompasses all of our fighters in the difficult war—Jews, Druze, Christians, Muslims, Bedouins, Circassians… We all fight together. Because this is the only way to defeat the monsters of Hamas, who want to destroy us all.

“The spirit of the people will continue, with God’s help, to lift us up in the fateful challenges that are still ahead of us, and in the full 76 years of our independence. May the memory of those who fell in the ranks of Israel, and of the victims of hostilities, the heroes beloved of our souls, be with us forever,” added the premier.
Leaders gather at Yad L’Banim to ring in Memorial Day
Israel’s leaders gathered on Sunday in a solemn ceremony before Memorial Day to honor the fallen soldiers of Israel.

“I think of you every day,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the families of the martyrs of Israel at Yad LaBanim in Jerusalem. “Just as I think of my brother Yoni every day. I think about the unrelenting pain and longing, about the feeling that the sun has gone out, about the heroes and heroines we have lost, about the shattered dreams, about the dashed hopes.

“Our loved ones always stand before our eyes with the clear knowledge that thanks to them the State of Israel exists. This is our support, this is also our comfort,” added the premier.

He continued by telling stories of fallen soldiers such as Amichai Weitzen, one of the liberators of Kibbutz Kerem Shalom who ultimately fell in the Oct. 7 battle fighting Hamas terrorists.

Addressing the various communities that make up the State of Israel, Netanyahu said, “The firm commitment to our country encompasses all of our fighters in the difficult war—Jews, Druze, Christians, Muslims, Bedouins, Circassians… We all fight together. Because this is the only way to defeat the monsters of Hamas, who want to destroy us all.”

In conclusion, Netanyahu remarked, “The spirit of the people will continue, with God’s help, to lift us up in the fateful challenges that are still ahead of us, and in the full 76 years of our independence. May the memory of those who fell in the ranks of Israel, and of the victims of hostilities, the heroes beloved of our souls, be with us forever.”

The packed ceremony was attended by Israeli leaders such as the Ashkenazi and Sephardi Chief Rabbis of Israel, David Lau and Yitzhak Yossef. The former recited a chapter of Psalms in honor of the soldiers of Israel. Survivors of the Oct. 7 attack as well as widowers sang for the crowd.

Memorial Day begins on Sunday evening with a nationwide siren at 8 p.m. and is marked by commemorations at military bases and cemeteries throughout the country.
Mission Brief: The Official Podcast of the Israel Defense Forces: Memorial Day Special: Navigating Grief with Care
How does one emotionally handle losing their loved one in battle?

In this special Memorial Day edition, we sat down with two Casualties Officers, CPT Yaakov and MAJ Meytal, for an intimate conversation about grief. Their day-to-day includes accompanying and visiting those who have lost their loved one, and supporting their journey of healing with care.

This episode is dedicated to our sons, our brothers, our sisters, and our loved ones who have fallen in battle to protect Israel.




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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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