Friday, July 12, 2024

07/12 Links Pt2: UN says it paid for Albanese’s anti-Israel lobbying trip; 2,500 Rabbis Call for Columbia Uni Pres. Resignation; Rashid Khalidi’s distortion of history

From Ian:

UN finally says it paid for Albanese’s anti-Israel lobbying trip
After months of refusing to state publicly who paid for an anti-Israel United Nations official’s politically-centered visit to Australia and New Zealand, the U.N. Human Rights Office told JNS on Friday that the global body paid for the trip in November.

Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for Palestinian rights, has become the focus of an internal U.N. investigation into allegations launched by U.N. Watch, a watchdog that alleges that pro-Hamas lobbying groups funded the trip.

The Australian Friends of Palestine Association claimed publicly that it had “sponsored” Albanese’s visit, and Free Palestine Melbourne, the Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network and Palestinian Christians in Australia stated that they “supported” the trip. All four are lobbying groups.

During the visit to Australia, Albanese participated in media and fundraising events, as well as meetings with pro-Palestinian politicians and civil society members.

A connected trip to New Zealand included what U.N. Watch calls a meeting “to lobby a major New Zealand sovereign wealth fund to divest from Israel-related companies.”

JNS sought a copy from the United Nations of its payment for Albanese’s travel and correspondence between her office and the global body that would confirm the timeline of when the United Nations agreed to pay for the travel.

Albanese’s special rapporteur position is a volunteer role that is technically independent of the United Nations. The global body pays her expenses out of a designated budget.

Her trips to Australia and New Zealand did not appear in the mandated U.N. special procedures annual report. The U.N. Human Rights Office told JNS that the trip was not included, because “it was not a designated ‘country visit’ per se.”

“Only official country visits aimed at assessing the human-rights situation in that country itself, and that are followed by a country visit report to the Human Rights Council, are included in this list,” it added.

JNS asked how the U.N. Human Rights Office, which has said it is in a dire financial state, justified spending an estimated $22,000 for Albanese’s politically-motivated trip.
Jonathan Tobin: Candace Owens is a cautionary tale about platforming ignorance
The manner by which she slipped effortlessly from normal political discourse to defending rabid antisemites like Kanye West to attacks on Israel and mimicking Hamas propaganda to her current bout of Holocaust denial also illustrates the way hucksters like her can exploit partisan divisions to gain clicks and then a foothold for hate. Having first established herself as a supporter of former President Donald Trump, and with the imprimatur of PragerU and Daily Wire behind her, it was all too easy for decent people to give her a pass when she first started demonstrating signs of extremism. In a media culture where “owning” one’s foes has become a paramount objective, anyone who can infuriate the other side is always initially assumed to be either trolling them for effect when they say outrageous things or are victims of groupthink and censorship when they get negative blowback. With Owens, there was also a tendency to see any criticism of her as evidence of the unfair way in which liberals always seek to smear blacks who choose to dissent from the leftist orthodoxy.

That’s how she got away with her defense of West, though her poor excuses for arguments demonstrated that she was woefully ignorant about the subject.

More to the point, having gifted her with a large audience, those who ran the Daily Wire seemed to be stuck with her, even as her opinions diverged more and more from the conservative beliefs they espoused and her weakness for Jew-hatred became more noticeable. They should have booted her off their platform nearly two years ago, as some of us said at the time. Whether it was because they feared losing her followers or because it had already become a complicated business transaction, there she stayed until her post-Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and Jews forced their hand.

It’s hardly surprising that Owens has now gone completely off the deep end now that she’s no longer held accountable, even in theory, to other more responsible people. The same was true for Tucker Carlson, who kept his animus for Israel mostly under wraps while he was hosting the most popular show on cable news but unleashed it once he was fired by Fox News Channel last year and was relegated to a smaller but still significant viewership via his X account.

We needn’t waste time refuting the lies Owens tells about the past or her falsehoods about being a victim of a corrupt establishment. Her decision to become a Holocaust denier puts her beyond the pale and should render her too toxic for anyone with a shred of credibility to bother defending. Much like crackpots like Nick Fuentes, who are called “groypers,” and Michelle Malkin, another former mainstream conservative pundit turned antisemitic fever swamp dweller, Owens is now likely to fade from view. We can only hope that from now on, only fellow extremists and antisemites like Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, will have anything to do with her.

Yet before she is rightly relegated to the dustbin of history where such hatemongers usually wind up, we do well to ponder just how easy it was for her to gain access to so many readers, listeners and viewers. Owens’s journey towards Jew-hatred isn’t unique to the right or to African-Americans. In the future, we should be wary of people with no track record of fully thought-out beliefs and whose only qualifications are their ability to talk fast, along with a particular ethnic or racial identity that makes them stand out. Those who initially applauded her stands should establish a policy of zero tolerance for hate that we would expect to be observed by those on the other end of the political spectrum. Failing to do that is a formula for disaster that will only produce more Holocaust deniers with a mass audience.
Ben Cohen: ‘The Neck and the Sword’ is Rashid Khalidi’s distortion of history
“The Neck and the Sword” is the title of an extensive interview with the prominent Palestinian historian Rashid Khalidi in the latest issue of New Left Review, a London-based Marxist journal that, despite its name, is deep in the throes of middle age.

The interview’s title stems from one of the points made by Khalidi’s interlocutor, Tariq Ali, an aging New Leftist who used their discussion as an excuse to revisit his late 1960s heyday as a political activist.

Ali recalled that on a trip to the Middle East following the 1967 Six-Day War, he asked the Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani whether a negotiated settlement was possible with these “bastards”—his term for the Israeli people. “Tariq, explain to me how the neck negotiates with the sword,” Kanafani apparently replied.

Ali was, of course, thrilled with this answer, because it articulated through a poetic metaphor one of the key elements of the Palestinian self-image: We are powerless; we are always and everywhere the victims of others, especially the Zionists; and we resist whenever we can garner the strength.

As romantic as that notion seems to the Western leftists who have adopted Palestine as the core element of their political identity, it is more properly understood as a license for Palestinian terrorist groups to carry out the sorts of monstrosities we witnessed on Oct. 7—reinforced by the adulation of their outside admirers—instead of admitting and accepting moral culpability.

Aided by Ali’s fawning line of questioning, Khalidi uncomplicatedly pushes this notion of perpetual victimhood throughout the interview. In my view, it is the clearest expression of an essentially secular Palestinian nationalist standpoint to have appeared in the last nine months, which is why it’s worth reading.

A Columbia University professor who is arguably the most erudite exponent of the Palestinian cause today, Khalidi certainly sounds more nuanced and historically literate when compared to the imbecilic, expletive-laden sloganeering disseminated by violently antisemitic groups like Within Our Lifetime and Students for Justice in Palestine.

For example, rather than denying the rapes, decapitations, hostage-taking and mass murder on Oct. 7—as these vile organizations do whenever they are not celebrating them—Khalidi acknowledges that these took place. Rather than denying or denigrating the Holocaust, he concedes that the Nazi genocide “produced a kind of understandable uniformity in support of Zionism” among the Jews who survived.

But does this cursory nod to the humanity and historical experience of the Jews meaningfully alter Khalidi’s perspective? The answer to that is negative. Khalidi’s softer touch on these questions actually makes the rest of his interview all the more disturbing. He has a historian’s knack for remembering dates, names, locations and quotes, and he marshals this information into a narrative that, for those who don’t know any better, is highly compelling. But for those who do know better, what stands out are the multitude of omissions and distortions in his account.


The Egoz Boys
We talked to some members of the Israel Defense Forces Egoz unit, an elite commando unit specializing in guerrilla warfare, special reconnaissance, and fighting in complex terrains.

We asked them about going into Gaza after Oct. 7, near-death experiences, and staying sane when you’re a 24-year-old with your friends’ lives in your hands.


Rabbi Efrem Goldberg: Behind the Bima - Douglas Murray
From Boca Raton, Florida, this is Behind the Bima. On this week’s episode, host Rabbi Efrem Goldberg is joined by author and journalist Douglas Murray.

Douglas Murray is a renowned British author, journalist, and political commentator. He is the associate editor of The Spectator and the author of several best-selling books, including “The Madness of Crowds” and “The Strange Death of Europe.” Murray is widely respected for his incisive analysis and eloquent defense of Western values and freedom of speech. His recent work has focused on defending Israel and combating anti-Semitism.

Murray discusses his unwavering support for Israel, explains the root causes of media bias against Israel, and shares his personal experiences and observations from his travels to the region.

All this and more, Behind the Bima.


The Lancet: A disingenuous one-sided challenge on the Hamas–Israel conflict
In their Correspondence, Joelle M Abi-Rached and Eric Reinhart challenge the US medical establishment's “reluctance to take any meaningful stand” against Israel. This communication is problematic for several reasons.

In characterising the war, the authors dismiss Hamas’ invasion with genocidal intent and assign Israel singular responsibility for the ongoing conflict in Gaza. Israeli attacks on medical facilities are condemned but Abi-Rached and Reinhart neglect to mention Hamas deliberately uses these facilities for terrorist activity.

The authors decry “blockades to humanitarian aid” but ignore Hamas’ purposeful targeting of aid entry points, which forces closure.

The authors also unquestioningly present disputed allegations that Israel dug a mass grave and use Hamas-generated casualty counts that cannot be verified and have also been challenged.

Hamas’ irrefutable abuse of more than 120 hostages goes unstated.

Abi-Rached and Reinhart frame Israelis as colonial, thereby erasing the historical Jewish presence in Israel. The authors compare the medical community's “silence” with complicity during the Holocaust, equating Israeli policy with Nazi genocide despite assertions to the contrary from the former President of the International Court of Justice and multiple world leaders.

This unconscionable analogy delegitimises Israel, fuelling a rising wave of antisemitism and beggars belief. The Nazis never shipped humanitarian aid into extermination camps or designated safe zones where Jews could avoid the gas chambers.

We mourn the undeniably tragic humanitarian crisis within complex urban combat and the resulting loss of civilian lives, including health-care workers; however, we reject Abi-Rached and Reinhart's challenge to US medical ethics, which relies on one-sided, anti-Israel narratives and entirely overlooks Hamas’ fundamental role in this conflict.

HSW is a Commissioner of the Lancet Commission on medicine, Nazism, and the Holocaust. The views presented in this Correspondence do not represent other members of the Lancet Commission on medicine, Nazism, and the Holocaust, but rather the views of the authors only. DMS is a member of the American Jewish Medical Association publication committee. SM declares no competing interests.
The Three Best Books on Soviet Anti-Zionism, recommended by Izabella Tabarovsky
Izabella Tabarovsky is one of the world’s leading scholars of anti-Zionism. As she says, the

manipulations, fabrications and incitement that have flooded global media over the past nine months have been shocking. But have they been unprecedented? From the technical standpoint, the answer is yes: never before has it been so cheap and easy to pump out lies and anti-Zionist conspiracy theory to so many people simultaneously. In terms of content, however, the current campaign is hardly innovative, borrowing wholesale from the global anti-Zionist propaganda campaigns the USSR ran in the wake of the Six-Day war.

She goes on to prove that claim by recommending three books on the subject. One, on the KGB and the battle for the Third World, shows a key motivation for the USSR’s endeavors.

Israel’s victory over the Soviet Arab clients in the Six Day War—unexpected and inexplicable from the Soviet perspective—set off major alarms in Moscow. With anti-Semitic conspiracy theory firmly part of KGB’s thinking, the agency’s head, Yuri Andropov, elevated Zionism to the rank of USSR’s primary ideological nemesis.

Another book “provides a detailed look at the themes, techniques and infrastructure of the Soviet anti-Israel campaign,” and shows how “Moscow spread sensationalist lies often sourced from Arab media,” including, often, variations on the blood libel theme.

Tabarovsky’s final choice, meanwhile, examines why so many intellectuals were drawn to the USSR and to other repressive and corrupt societies—and, by extension, why they are still.
Yisrael Medad: The cause of Palestine transnationalization
Since October, calls for the elimination of Zionism and of “revolution, intifada” have been sounded by so many, using the “river to the sea” slogan to represent the physical disappearance of Israel. The success of Palestinianism’s transnational portrayal results in the Jewish people’s de-nationalism—the negating of the Jewish people’s national identity. Israel and Zionism are the so-called bogeymen, but the actual goal is the Jews.

As we have witnessed recently on the North American continent and in Europe, mostly Arab immigrants together with their followers have beaten up Jews sipping coffee, laid siege to Jews in synagogues and shot at Jewish schools. In league with Jewish anti-Zionists of both the Neturei Karta variety and the IfNotNow kind, they have targeted Jewish politicians as Jews, and AIPAC and the ADL as specifically Jewish institutions. Jews and Jewish, for them, have replaced Israel. In a convoluted but purposeful pattern, Palestine transnationalization has become the vehicle of the 21st century’s retransformed antisemitism, channeling black anti-Jewish feelings with the Marxist negation of Jewish nationalism and Islamist triumphalism.

It was, once again, Baldwin who, in the fall of 1979, published “Open Letter to the Born Again” with pro-Palestine thinking. While denying any antisemitism on his part, writing that “the despicable, utterly cowardly accusation that ‘the Jews killed Christ’” did not “reverberate” in him, although he did point out that “it is worth observing that non-Jewish Zionists are very frequently anti-Semitic.” And he did postulate that Israel was not created for “the salvation of the Jews” but for “the salvation of the Western interests.” In his view, “Palestinians have been paying for … Europe’s guilty Christian conscience” and then he added:

“The Jew, in America, is a white man … he is still doing the Christian’s dirty work, and black men know it.”

Six decades later, anyone with eyes and ears open and attentive knows that all this mash and mix of ideology, of a kind of thinking that creates “facts” rather than the facts formulating the paradigms and understandings, of transnationalism and intersectionality, are coming home to roost. “White privilege.” “Holocaust guilt.”

Are Jewish leaders aware? Are they cognizant of what is developing? Have they a strategy and plans prepared? Can they protect Jewish students? Can they hold back the modern-day version of the “barbarians at the gate”?
'Palestine': Just The Latest Pretext for Bringing Down Western Civilization
The university encampments, it turns out, were planned as early as November 2023, belying any claims that the student protests occurred organically and spontaneously.

The mainstream media, the authors say, is complicit because it fails to vet the activists and financiers behind the pro-Hamas ecosystem, preferring instead to portray the protests as if they are spontaneous occurrences.

"The protesters are being generously funded and expertly coached by the same anti-U.S., anti-capitalist, anti-West puppet-masters who sprang Black Lives Matter on us a decade ago... It's all part of a giant web, a revolutionary ecosystem, that spans the globe from Havana to Shanghai and coordinates and sustains these often-violent, always-threatening protests." — Mike Gonzales, Heritage Foundation, June 27, 2024.

At the May 2024 "People's Conference for Palestine" in Detroit, featuring US Rep. Rashida Tlaib, among many others, the People's Forum's executive director Manolo De Los Santos, to great applause, called for the complete destruction of the United States.

The People's Forum, it seems, is closely affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party.

One protester said: "The actual conversation is getting rid of this country, getting rid of America, getting rid of the West. This is what this [the protest] is for. Everyone here understands that at some level we need to get rid of America completely."

"The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution," a writer in the 1960s radical Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) publication, New Left Notes, wrote.

The Communist protesters evidently do not want to just "Free Palestine" by "genociding" the Jews; they want to get rid of everyone that stands in the way of their revolution, which is why fighting this "revolutionary ecosystem" is not only about antisemitism and the Jews but an issue for everyone who wants to preserve Western civilization.

Several of the tax-exempt groups inside this revolutionary ecosystem... apparently have links to terrorist organizations, about which the US Treasury Department, while targeting allegedly "conservative organizations," seems to have done exactly nothing.

[US Rep. Jim] Banks, in his letter to the IRS, pointed out that tax-exempt organizations that incite civil unrest do not qualify for exemption.
The Palestinian State: A Springboard for Iran’s Plan to Destroy Israel
E. Policy Recommendations
The pressures from the Biden administration and the “dowry” offered in the form of normalization with Saudi Arabia do not justify taking the immense risk inherent in establishing a Palestinian state in the heart of the country. Hamas’s significant popularity in Judea and Samaria and its extensive cooperation with Iran constitute a recipe for disaster, endangering Israel’s very existence. Instead of being a leverage for promoting the end of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, we assess that a prospective Palestinian state might serve as a significant springboard for advancing Hamas’ and Iran’s goal of destroying Israel.

Israel must wage an all-out war against Hamas and formulate a persistent and prolonged fight against the organization’s infrastructure, its leaders, its pool of operatives, its economic apparatus, and even its Da’wah network (religiously inspired terror operative recruitment) in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria. As seen by its declarations since October 7th massacre, Hamas intends to repeat it, and there is no doubt that it has only been prevented from doing so because of the war Israel has so far waged against it.

Israel’s advocacy networks must effectively convey to the Biden administration and the international community that a Palestinian state will serve as a significant reward for Palestinian terrorism, carried out under Iranian auspices. Israel must engage in detailed advocacy about the various units of the Quds Force and the IRGC Intelligence Organization that will operate in Judea and Samaria and assist Hamas in promoting the joint aspiration of Hamas and Iran to destroy Israel. Such advocacy should incorporate various examples of the different attempts of these Iranian units to advance terrorist activities against Israel, while also explaining the severe danger that a hypothetical Palestinian state that would pose as an instrument to tighten Iran’s noose against Israel. Importantly, Israel must clarify to the Sunni bloc countries in the region that a Hamas-led state in Gaza and Judea and Samaria under Iranian influence would also be contrary to their security interests, as it would significantly strengthen the Iranian Shiite-led Axis of Resistance in the region and might harm their security as well.

Moreover, a Palestinian state in Gaza would render Israel’s victories against Hamas so far as pointless. Hamas would be able to gradually rebuild its damaged capabilities and, with Iran’s assistance, reestablish its sophisticated underground tunnel network and missile arsenal, and even upgrading them through the missile precision project. Hamas’s underground tunnel network under the Philadelphi Route proves that Israel cannot let a foreign force become the guarantor of its security. Israel must maintain its hold on the Philadelphi Route, which serves as a primary economic-military lifeline for Hamas. Furthermore, Israel must pursue Hamas’s financiers, including the middlemen who assist it circumvent sanctions, in order to make it financially difficult for Hamas to rebuild itself.

Israel cannot focus solely on pursuing Hamas and Islamic Jihad and ignore the source of their support: Iran. Limiting the confrontation to Iran’s Palestinian proxies will not constitute a lasting national security strategy. Therefore, Israel’s updated national security doctrine following the events of October 7th must include a response to the challenge Iran poses to Israel through its proxy network. Israel cannot tolerate the smuggled weapons that Iran delivers to its Palestinian proxies, so it must target the UAV and missile networks in Iran before they reach the Palestinian terror organizations. To this end, it must search for the formula that will facilitate operations against Iran, especially the Quds Force, utilizing all the power components it developed (kinetic, cyber, and influence operations), and efficiently exploiting Tehran’s weaknesses – mainly its aversion to a direct war against Israel.

Additionally, given the increasing activity of the Axis of Resistance led by Iran against Israel from the Jordanian arena, Israel must accordingly improve its preparedness on this border. This includes completing the border fence and reinforcing the fence at weak points to make it difficult for Iran and its partners to smuggle in weapons or terrorist operatives. Furthermore, security coordination with Jordan must be enhanced according to the vital interest of both parties, in light of Iran’s intensive pressures against the Jordanian royal family.
MEMRI: Despite Being Banned In Germany Since November 2023, PFLP-Affiliated Samidoun, Which Openly Supports Hamas And Hizbullah, Launches Fundraising Campaign To 'Counter Anti-Palestinian Repression In Germany' – Listing Bank Information Of Extremist German Group Rote Hilfe
Since 2021, a leading left-wing extremist group in Germany, "Rote Hilfe e.V." (RH), led by Anja Sommerfeld, has been supporting the Palestinian cause. This includes supporting the Palestinian prisoner solidarity network, "Samidoun," the foreign arm of the terrorist "Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine" (PFLP).

RH's support is part of its expanding role in promoting left-wing activism and fighting what it considers repression. RH's newly launched hashtag, #StandWithZaid," aims to combat what it perceives as anti-Palestinian repression in Germany. The hashtag specifically focuses on preventing the revocation of residency for Zaid Abdulnasser, a Syrian-born Palestinian who coordinates the now-banned Samidoun Germany and has acted as its spokesman. The decision to revoke Abdulnasser's residency was based on involvement with "Masar Badil – Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement." This campaign also advocates for Palestinian prisoners and challenges broader steps taken against some Palestinian activists in Germany.[1]

Founded in 1975, RH is among Germany's largest leftwing extremist groups. It describes itself as a "non-partisan, cross-current, left-wing protection and solidarity organization." With members in the two-digit thousands drawn from the far Left and other extremists, RH offers political and financial support to extremists on the Left facing legal challenges, including providing legal fees and court costs. RH's support extends to those imprisoned, aiming at maintaining their affiliation with the movement and encouraging ongoing resistance. RH engages in strategic public relations to challenge the legitimacy of security and judicial authorities and of constitutional democracy itself, all under its "anti-repression" mandate.

RH promotes networking nationwide among left-wing extremist movements, and openly legitimizes criminal and violent acts. It actively discourages cooperation with security authorities, using slogans such as: "No cooperation with the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, State Security, or other repressive authorities!" Those who defy this stance by cooperating with authorities are denied support from RH, underscoring a rigid policy that seeks to buffer members from the repercussions of their political activities.

The Verfassungsschutz, or the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, states that Rote Hilfe exhibits left-extremist tendencies; hence, RH is a "suspected extremist" case. The Office notes that the group facilitates financial and ideological support for individuals and actions that challenge and potentially undermine the constitutional democratic order.

Despite its general opposition to politically motivated deportations, RH's stance has been controversial in the case of Samidoun and its members. In the past, RH has supported Zaid Abdulnasser and Musaab Abu Atta.[2]

RH's support of the Palestinian cause has been consistent. It has collected donations through its own banking channel, the community bank "GLS Gemeinschaftsbank"[3] whose Bochum branch is in the Christstraße 9. The GLS is part of the Federal Association of Deutsche Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken (The National Association of German Cooperative Banks).
MEMRI: Dari-Language Report By Afghan Media Reveals Turkish Charity's Aid To Families Of Afghan Taliban's Suicide Bombers: 'This Foundation Pays $100 USD... To Each Child'; '$180,000 USD Has Been Given To The Families Of Suicide Bombers'
In a Dari-language report, the Afghan media group Paigah News recently revealed that a Turkish charity is involved in providing financial aid to the families of Afghan Taliban suicide bombers who fought against the U.S. and NATO forces during the 20 years of jihad (2001-2021).

The Dari-language report is titled "A Turkish Foundation Provides Financial Support To The Families Of Taliban Suicide Bombers."

Following are excerpts from the report:
"According to credible sources, a foundation named 'Turks Charity Foundation,' which has been active at Ansari intersection in Kabul city for the past six months, has given money to dozens of families of the Taliban suicide bombers since the first day of Eid [al-Adha, April 10, 2024].

"On Friday, Sartan 1 [June 21, 2024], sources told Paigah news agency that this foundation pays 100 U.S. dollars, or its equivalent in afghanis, to each child. According to the sources, dozens of children who are related to the families of the Taliban suicide bombers are exchanging dollars in Ansari Square, which they have received from the Turkish foundation, and exchanging them for afghanis in the local currency exchange offices.

"A source, quoting security guards of the Turks Charity Foundation, informed Salar Azadi, the reporter of Paigah news, that the financial aid from this entity is specifically allocated to the families of suicide bombers, and dozens of families of the Taliban suicide bombers have visited there in the past few days to receive financial assistance.

"The source also added that in the past three days [before June 21], $180,000 USD has been given to the families of suicide bombers by this foundation, and it continues...

"It should be said that suicide attacks have been among the ugliest terrorist acts perpetrated by the Taliban group in the past 20 years - in mosques, schools, and cities, resulting in the killing and injuring of thousands of innocent civilians. This act by the Taliban, carried out under the pretext of Istishhadi [martyrdom-seeker], has been repeatedly declared haram [forbidden] by the council of Islamic religious scholars of the world, especially by Afghan scholars."
Palestinian Arab vs. Saudi education - ignored by Foggy Bottom
The October 7, 2023 horrific Palestinian Arab terrorism was committed by graduates of the hate-driven K-12 Palestinian Authorityschool curriculum, which has been a most effective production-line of terrorists, since it was established in 1993 by Mahmoud Abbas. The tightly controlled Palestinian Authority school curriculum, as well as the official Palestinian Authority mosque sermons, constitute the most authentic reflection of the Palestinian Arab culture, aspirations, strategy and policy.

In contrast, the UAEschool curriculum was thoroughly overhauled since the conclusion of the 2020 peace accord with Israel, highlighting peaceful coexistence, and reflecting the peace-driven vision of the UAE.

Likewise, the substantial expansion of Saudi-Israeli defense and commercial cooperation has reflected the game-changing moderation of the Saudi school curriculum. It has been introduced by Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman in defiance of severe domestic opposition – including within the ruling family – with which the ruling families of the UAE do not have to contend. More on the Saudi school curriculum at the end of this article.

In contrast to the oppression of women by Iran’s Ayatollahs, the Saudi Crown Prince has also introduced a dramatic enhancement in the status of women, despite the strident opposition by the fundamentalist, puritan Wahabi establishment, whose support has been critical to the domestic legitimacy of the House of Saud.

Middle East reality has demonstrated a direct correlation between the intensity of hate education and mosque incitement, on the one hand, and the level of violence, terrorism and hostility toward the Western and Jewish “infidels,” on the other hand.

The State Department’s policy toward the Palestinian Authority and Iran’s Ayatollahs has been largely based on their moderate talk – when communicating with Western movers and shakers – at the same time taking lightly their walk, which has also been reflected by hate education and mosque incitement, and have been consistent with the 1964 Charter of the PLO (which controls the Palestinian Authority) and the 1979 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

While the State Department has pressured the pro-US Saudi Arabia to soften its wars on Moslem Brotherhood Sunni terrorism and Houthi Shiite terrorism – by restricting the sale of advanced military systems – it has extended annual foreign aid to the anti-US Palestinian Authority – and to UNRWA which funds much of the Palestinian Authority hate education system - and has showered the anti-US Ayatollahs with mega billions of dollars, irrespective of the Iranian and Palestinian Arab hate education and mosque incitement.
What happened to Thomas Friedman?
Listen to a story, or more accurately, an American Jewish tale: Once upon a time, many years ago, a child was born to a warm Jewish family in Minnesota. Brilliant, ambitious, and clear-eyed, the boy looked around and immediately understood that two obstacles stood between him and glory: First, he lived in the Midwest, while the smart and beautiful people who defined America for themselves clustered in New York or Los Angeles or Boston. And second, he grew up Jewish in a country that still marched to the beat of centuries-old Protestant elites. To reinvent himself, the clever boy realized, he would first need to reinvent America, and, moreover, to create it in his own image.

Who are we talking about? Bob Dylan, born in Duluth, is not a bad guess. But while the iconic singer remained true to the truth even when it wasn't so popular, and was rewarded for his stubbornness and integrity with a Nobel Prize, the second-most important Jew to ever emerge from Minnesota took a different path, which has come to an end now. Thomas Friedman, a close personal friend of President Joe Biden who insisted for years that his friend was sharp as a tack, was forced, in light of the latter's shocking performance in the televised debate against Donald Trump, to admit that Biden is no longer fit to be president and should withdraw from the race.

This admission, which Friedman published in his New York Times column, revealed more about Friedman himself than about his friend in the Oval Office. It exposed, to anyone who still had doubts, that Friedman, one of America's most talented and influential writers of the last four decades, no longer bothers himself with facts or even original ideas, but prints whatever his friends in the political elite decide should be printed. Which says more about the elite than about Friedman: When the parroting reporter himself is called to do damage control, it's a sign that the group that still presumes to dictate the American agenda – and according to every possible poll, does so against the voters' opinion and will – is in deep trouble.

"Jewish power, Jewish generals, Jewish tanks, Jewish pride" – this is how Friedman describes in his book, with obvious mockery, what he defines as Menachem Begin's supposed pornographic worldview, a view according to which only strength will lead to Israeli survival in the region. For the Jew from Minnesota, the Israelis he fell in love with as a teenager were beautiful and righteous, the people of the Labour kibbutzim and moshavim – not the Likud thugs, not to mention the messianic kippa wearers or God forbid the ultra-Orthodox. One of the most quoted passages in his book likened Israelis and American Jews to a couple who met and fell in love at first sight, until the latter visited the former's home and realized that Israel also has other sides.

"While Bob Dylan created himself as an American outsider who spoke only in riddles, Thomas Friedman is a professional sycophant who speaks in clichés," David Samuels, a former senior writer at The New York Times Magazine, tells Israel Hayom. "Using his skills as a salesman, he marketed misguided ideas about the Middle East, technology, and China to an audience of Americans uninterested in deep thinking. And like Dylan himself, Friedman can't stop performing. He is the house poet of mediocrity, arrogance, and foolish naivety."

It wasn't always like this. Once, a long time ago, Friedman was a serious, respected, even revered journalist. And to understand how sad his decline is, one needs, as in any tragedy, to understand how inspiring the rise that preceded it was.
Cam Higby: Debating Jackson Hinkle: Is Israel Comitting Genocide?



Attendees at PSC “antisemitism training” at local National Education Union event told “Israel is the biggest amplifier of antisemitism there is”
Last night, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Redbridge National Education Union (NEU) hosted an event “in association with” the Newham, Tower Hamlets and Redbridge branches of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC).

PSC is known to regularly organise national anti-Israel demonstrations and earlier this year, its Director, Ben Jamal, encouraged thousands of protestors to “ramp up pressure on MPs” and flood into Parliament “so that they would have to lock the doors of Parliament itself”.

The event, which took place in Newham, East London, was titled, “How to talk about Palestine in our schools”. According to an online flyer for the event, the supposed conference would include “workshops on antisemitism and anti-Zionism”.

Approximately 40 people attended the event, which was open to parents, carers, youth-workers and the general public. Attendees were split into smaller workshops to talk about specific topics.

Several people, including three children, attended a workshop on antisemitism and anti-Zionism, which was led by two representatives of the PSC. The discussion in the workshop was primarily focused on criticising the widely-accepted International Definition of Antisemitism, which was reportedly dubbed “the bad one”, whilst promoting the adoption of the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism, which was allegedly referred to as “the good one”.

The Jerusalem Declaration is a wrecking document intended to undermine the globally-recognised Definition.

In the supposed critique of the International Definition, the PSC representatives allegedly said: “Speak against Israel, oh you’re antisemitic,” and “If people say something against Israel, they say it is antisemitic.”

Another reported comment regarding the Definition was: “They use the Holocaust as a sort of cover because it says once you’ve got Holocaust in there, it must be right.”

During the workshop, the PSC session leaders allegedly claimed that “Israel is nothing to do with being Jewish” and are understood to have told attendees that “if you’re anti-racist you’re anti-the-State-of-Israel.”

One of the representatives allegedly stated: “Israel is a racist endeavour.” According to the International Definition, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination (e.g. by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour)” is an example of antisemitism.

Organisers were also heard saying: “A large proportion of the people killed on October the 7th were killed by the Israeli army,” before going on to later claim that Israel has not fought for its hostages that currently remain in Gaza.
Three quarters of European Jews now hide their identity in public
Antisemitism surged by up to 400 per cent in some European countries following the October 7 attack, a new report from the European Union has revealed.

Three quarters of Jews sometimes conceal their identity to avoid persecution, while almost 40 per cent say they were harassed in the previous year because they are Jewish.

The survey, carried out by the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency, questioned over 8,000 Jews across the continent in the first half of 2023, before consulting 11 national Jewish bodies in the wake of Hamas’s invasion of Israel.

Prior to October 7, 56 per cent of respondents said they had encountered antisemitism offline from people they know, while 90 per cent had experienced anti-Jewish bigotry online.

Fifty-one per cent said they had witnessed it in the media.

Thirty-seven per cent said they had been harassed because they are Jewish in the previous year, with most of them having experienced harassment multiple times.

Over three-quarters of European Jews meanwhile said they had hidden their Jewish identity "at least occasionally" while 34 per cent said they avoid Jewish events or sites because they do not feel safe.

A quarter avoid posting content online that might identify them as Jewish.

Over half of respondents said they continue to worry for their own and their family’s safety and security.

Seventy-five per cent feel that people hold them responsible for the Israeli government’s actions because they are Jewish.
The sinister truth about the ‘Gaza independents’
The recent UK General Election was marred by intimidation and harassment. ‘British politics must soon wake up to what happened at this election’, said Shabana Mahmood, Labour MP for Birmingham Ladywood. Jess Phillips, Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, said that this was the ‘worst election I have ever stood in’. Even before the election was announced and campaigning had kicked off, now deputy prime minister Angela Rayner spoke in February of being too afraid to leave the house.

What unites these politicians is the aggression, hate and intimidation they faced, seemingly over Labour’s stance on the Gaza conflict. Mahmood said that masked men burst into a community meeting she was hosting and ‘terrified’ people. Some of Phillips’s campaigners were harassed, filmed, screamed at and had their tyres slashed. Phillips herself was heckled during her acceptance speech on election night.

Clearly something is deeply wrong with the political climate in this country. Much of it is the result of an ever-growing shadow of sectarianism, from which some candidates have managed to profit. In several constituencies, independent candidates won seats off the back of supposedly ‘pro-Palestine’ campaigns. But it doesn’t take much digging to find something more sinister beneath the surface when it comes to these new MPs.

One such independent is Shockat Adam, recently elected MP for Leicester South. Jewish News identifies Adam’s brother to be none other than Ismail Patel, founder of a hardline Islamist group called Friends of Al Aqsa. Patel has previously said that he ‘salutes Hamas’ and has been seen meeting with Hamas leaders in Gaza.

During his campaign, Adam received support from Majid Freeman. Freeman played a leading role in stoking community tensions during the unrest in Leicester in 2022 and just this week, he was arrested on terrorism charges. When Adam won his seat last week, Freeman celebrated the victory saying ‘This is for Gaza’.

Adam himself has close ties to an organisation called Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND). Earlier this year, MEND was labelled as an Islamist extremist organisation by then communities secretary Michael Gove. Adam was apparently the former chair of the Leicester branch and had previously fundraised for the group.
In France, Bernard-Henri Lévy fights a lonely battle on behalf of a solitary Israel
Since publishing his first book in 1973, French writer, philosopher and activist, Bernard-Henri Lévy has always aroused strong reactions. Few of his compatriots seem indifferent to his outspoken views, fame, influence, wealth and dapper image — not to mention his Jewish identity. A high-profile, public intellectual, often referred to in France by his initials, BHL, he garners long-faced fierce disdain from some, lavish praise from others — no more so than in the nine months since October 7, during which he’s been one of France’s most inescapable voices defending Israel.

Whether in his frequent TV appearances, his weekly column in Le Point magazine, his remarks at public events, or his new book, “Solitude d’Israel,” Lévy is resolute in standing up for the Jewish state. In the process, as a prominent Jew in a country now plagued by widespread antisemitism and hostility to Israel, he’s the target of more abuse than ever, including threats to his personal safety.

Having written 48 books and thousands of reports, columns and speeches in his prolific career, Lévy is rarely at a loss for words. Recently, during an interview with The Times of Israel in his art-filled, two-floor Parisian apartment, when asked if he’s bothered by the intense vitriol directed at him, he pauses briefly before replying.

“Frankly, I don’t care,” says Lévy, 75, dressed in his signature open white shirt and black suit. “I don’t often think about how much hate I’m attracting for being a defender of Israel. But based on what I see on social media, it’s obviously a lot.”

On October 7, Lévy was in Paris when he learned of Hamas’s murderous invasion from Gaza, which saw 1,200 people butchered in southern Israel and 251 kidnapped to the Gaza Strip. The next morning, in what he calls “a reflex, an instinct,” he flew to Israel in solidarity and to bear witness in the media of what had happened.

“I went down to the south immediately, arriving first in Sderot the evening of October 8,” says Lévy, who in subsequent days spent time in other places ravaged by Hamas terrorists including kibbutzim and the site of the Nova festival massacre.

“I was terribly shaken by what I saw. Everywhere you looked, there were traces of barbarism,” he says. “Like everyone, I was devastated. I felt powerless. I promised the survivors I met in Kfar Aza and Be’eri, and families of hostages and my Israeli friends, that I would write about the horror Israel had just suffered and the aftermath.”

The result is “Solitude d’Israel,” which was published in French in the spring and will come out in English in North America in September with the less evocative title of “Israel Alone.”

A combination of reportage, contemplation, stream of consciousness and cri de coeur, the book offers a passionate, informative analysis of the loneliness of Israel post-October 7 and its impact on Diaspora Jewry. It explains why for Israel the Gaza war is existential and what’s at stake for the world, especially the West, while refuting false accusations against Israel.

Lévy dedicates “Solitude d’Israel” to those still held hostage by Hamas at the time of writing, listing them alphabetically at the start of the book, which is composed of three parts: “October 7 and After”; “Negationism in Real Time”; and “History and Truth.”
French Jews reel over shock election results boosting extreme parties
Following the election, prominent Jews in the community lamented the rise of a left-wing bloc that also contains some virulently antisemitic voices. Rabbi Moshe Sebbag of the Synagogue de la Victoire or Grand Synagogue in Paris, told The Times of Israel that “France has no future for Jews,” and that he was already advising young French Jews to leave for Israel.

On X, French-Jewish philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy wrote that France’s left has been “kidnapped by the infamous Melenchon” and that “around him right now are some incarnations of the new antisemitism.”

“A chilling moment. A stain: Continue to fight against these people,” he urged.

According to reports, many Jews see Melenchon as contributing to the sharp rise of antisemitism in France since Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attacks on southern Israel sparked an ongoing war on the Gaza Strip. The longtime politician has refuted that, downplaying reports of antisemitism in his own party and across France despite the fact that figures show a 284% increase in attacks against the Jewish community over the past year.

Also considered a polarizing figure in French politics in general, Melenchon has refused to condemn, or even acknowledge Hamas’ brutal attack and made comments accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.

“I don’t think Melenchon will become prime minister, he is too controversial for that,” said Dachs, pointing out that while some left-wing supporters celebrated Sunday’s victory with Palestinian flags, the bloc also contains some more moderate voices who Macron may appoint.

“It is still unclear if this was the worst outcome for the Jews,” she said, noting that even though Le Pen has been attempting to recast her party’s image as more pro-Israel and pro-Jewish, courting the Jewish vote by attending demonstrations against antisemitism, some view her moves as highly superficial.

“They [National Rally] claim they are pro-Israeli and pro-Jewish but at the same time they continue to have contacts in the extreme right,” said Dachs. “They say they have thrown these extreme elements out of the party, but they have not really.”

She also said it was “a cliche” to think that Le Pen’s party is only against Islamization and Muslims “because if you look at their overall plans, they are also against dual citizenship, which could eventually go against the Jews.”
Who'd have thought Jews would fear the far Left more than the Right?
There is almost nothing that remains of the idea that the Left is – by virtue of being historically the more intellectual zone of politics and due to being “anti-fascist” – somehow a natural home of the Jews. Instead, the global Left is sliding from liberalism to a variant of progressivism – often called “wokeness” in the US – that prizes binary narratives of oppressed and oppressors, and is obsessed with the underprivileged and with “decolonization.”

Across the channel: Similar fears
THE JEWS – in part due to the misconception that they are necessarily white – have run afoul of this bandwagon, a phenomenon driven not just by their professional and economic success in the Diaspora but the common perception of Israel (in these circles) as oppressing the Palestinians.

That’s why a very similar phenomenon has occurred in Britain, where in the 2019 election the traditionally robust Jewish support for Labour cratered amid a torrent of revelations about antisemitism in the party’s ranks and its tolerance by then-party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who could fairly be called a friend of Hezbollah. Corbyn’s successor Sir Keir Starmer, the new UK prime minister, made a convincing show of expunging antisemitism (and indeed Corbyn himself) from the party, and is rather supportive of Israel. But Labour paid dearly for that in last Thursday’s election.

The strong majority the party won is not the result of an especially strong performance. Starmer only won 34% of the vote, far less than expected, because of a rebellion by leftists and Muslims who ran separate candidates out of anger with Labour on Israel. He was lucky the Conservatives faced an even bigger rebellion from the far right – the Reform UK Party, which won 14% of the vote. As in France, the Jews are not especially concerned with this far-right surge. Reform UK is angry at Muslims (and others) – not Jews.

The situation applies all over. The Netherlands’ far right party, led by firebrand Geert Wilders, is now at the helm of the recently appointed coalition government. The Jews are not too concerned: Wilders, who spent time as a youth in Israel, views the country as a model of standing up to Islam. The far right in Sweden similarly has no problem with the Jews – only with the Muslims who now form much of the population of the area of Malmö, and are blamed for a rise in crime.

Indeed, the French election this Sunday came amid a wave of antisemitic incidents in France culminating in a widely reported case involving three boys accused of raping a 12-year-old Jewish girl while making anti-Israel slurs against her. Among the loudest voices against this was Le Pen who wrote in daily Le Figaro that the incident illustrated the anti-Jewish violence of immigrants from Muslim countries that “should outrage the whole of France.”

Le Pen’s party performance in the vote was somewhat weaker than expected (she still won over a third of the vote) outpolled President Emanuel Macron’s Ensemble Party, but won somewhat fewer seats because her support was more concentrated. Either way, under the electoral system the Leftist alliance won a plurality of the seats – and in a quirk of history – that is what worries many Jews.

It is not so very different from the US: Although more than three-quarters of the Jews have tended to vote Democrat, few would be happy by a huge success for the Squad and for the woke movement, which is ground zero today for anti-Zionism. The MAGA movement, despite its own vulnerability to charges of antisemitism, can seem somehow more benign.
Silence is complicity: Three non-Jewish allies talk about their recent experiences confronting campus antisemitism in Canada
Hate and division are spreading like wildfire, and the global resurgence of antisemitism is a wake-up call we can’t afford to ignore.

This isn’t just a Jewish issue; it’s a fundamental human crisis that demands our immediate attention.

Our diverse backgrounds—Black, Muslim, and Hongkongese—offer unique perspectives on this pressing issue. We’ve seen firsthand how antisemitism corrodes the foundations of our academic communities, threatening the values of inclusivity and respect that should be at the heart of higher education.

Raihaana Adira, an Islamic Studies and International Development student at McGill University
I experienced a profound shift in perspective during my visit to Israel. The reality I encountered stood in stark contrast to the narrative I’d absorbed on campus. Instead of the “genocidal apartheid state” I’d heard about, I discovered a vibrant, loving society striving for peace and co-existence.

My interactions with Israelis, who shared their stories of resilience and hope, shattered the propaganda I’d previously encountered. I saw families working hard to build a future, communities coming together across religious and ethnic lines, and a complex society grappling with challenges much like any other.

However, upon returning to McGill, my newfound empathy was met with severe backlash. I was labeled a “Zio-Nazi” and accused of supporting genocide. The ignorance and hate I encountered showed just how urgent it is to fight antisemitism on our campuses. It became clear that advocating for understanding and nuance when it comes to Jews and Israel is met with hostility and rejection.

Jean-Luc Mudingayi, a Political Science and Haskayne School of Business student at the University of Calgary
I’ve dedicated the past two years to showcasing Israel and connecting Jewish and non-Jewish communities. As a board member of Students Supporting Israel, I’ve seen the power of dialogue and cultural exchange in breaking down barriers.

My visit to Israel as a Common Ground Ambassador for Allied Voices for Israel (AVI) was transformative. I immersed myself in Jewish culture through Shabbat dinners, wearing a kippah, and enjoying traditional foods like shakshuka. These experiences elevated my appreciation for the rich heritage and resilience of the Jewish people, highlighting the importance of firsthand encounters in fostering understanding.

The Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad brought a new urgency to our work. The disruptions at hostage vigils were deeply troubling, revealing a lack of empathy and a willingness to justify violence against civilians. Yet, the Jewish community’s resilience in the face of such hate has been inspiring. Their strength reinforces the importance of allyship—we must stand in solidarity to ensure they do not face these challenges alone.

Justin Chow, a recent graduate of the University of Toronto
As a Hongkongese international student, I’ve realized that the fight against antisemitism is not just a Jewish issue but a human one. Witnessing the escalating hostility and proliferation of antisemitic rhetoric on a systemic level at UofT has only galvanized my commitment to advocacy.

Since Oct. 7, I’ve faced verbal assault, intimidation, and discrimination both online and in-person due to my support for the Jewish community and my commitment to peace. I’ve seen our universities fail to protect the physical, emotional, and academic safety of their students, allowing hateful, anti-Jewish encampments to proliferate on our campuses.

The normalization of antisemitism in academic settings is particularly insidious. Dog whistles, tropes, and unfounded accusations against Israel masquerade as intellectual discourse and logically sound debate. This poisoning of academic dialogue not only marginalizes Jewish students but also degrades the quality of education for all.
2,500 Rabbis Call for Columbia University President’s Resignation
Thousands of rabbis are calling on Columbia University president Minouche Shafik to resign over her choosing not to fire four administrators who sent each other text messages which, she said herself, “disturbingly touched on ancient antisemitic tropes” during a panel featuring Jewish speakers.

As previously reported, Columbia administrators Susan Chang-Kim, Cristen Kromm, Matthew Patashnick, and Josef Sorett, who is dean of Columbia College, sent a series of messages which denigrated Jews while spurning their concerns about rising antisemitism and the fate of Israel, denouncing them as “privileged” and venal. The remarks were exchanged amid a deluge of antisemitic incidents at Columbia and specifically denounced Jewish leaders who appeared at the school as panelists to plea for help and explain the link between anti-Zionism and antisemitism.

According to Columbia provost Angela Olinto, it has been decided that Sorett will remain in his position to “mend relationships, repair trust, and rebuild accountability.” There is, however, deep-seated opposition among Jewish alumni, faculty, and students to his remaining as dean, and since last week, over 2,000 people have signed a petition calling for his firing, arguing that he “actively joined his colleagues in mocking panelists” and is equally culpable for the comments they wrote.

On Thursday, 2,500 rabbis organized by the Coalition for Jewish Values (CVJ), which represents “traditional, Orthodox rabbis in American public policy,” echoed their sentiment while shifting focus to Shafik’s tenure in office, which, to them, has harmed both the school’s Jewish community and its reputation.

“The bigotry and double standards are blatant, and entirely at odds with the experiences that I and others had at Columbia in the past. Imagine if something like this had happened during a session when Black, Latino, Pacific Islander, or LGBTQ faculty and students were speaking about hostility they faced on campus,” CVJ vice president Rabbi Steven Pruzansky said in a statement. “Any faculty dismissing their concerns, much less ridiculing them or sharing hateful sentiments, would find themselves unemployed without delay.”

He continued, “But regarding antisemitism, President Shafik demonstrates the very ‘lack of seriousness’ she claims to decry. It is clear that all four who exchanged antisemitic messages, plus Shafik herself, must be removed from the faculty and replaced by others committed to opposing and preventing hate against Jews and all other campus minorities. This is the only way that Columbia can hope to return to being a serious academic institution where all students feel safe and valued.”
CAIR Slams US Intel Chief for Statement Warning of Iranian Influence in Anti-Israel Protests
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called on US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines to “clarify” her warning from earlier this week that “actors tied to Iran’s government” have encouraged and provided financial support to anti-Israel protests that have erupted across the US during the ongoing war in Gaza.

CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell decried the US intelligence community’s statement that Iran has influenced the rampant, sometimes violent protests against Israel’s defensive military operations in Gaza, insisting that the demonstrations were organized “organically and independently.” He argued that Haines’s statement could incite hate crime attacks against Muslim and Palestinian protesters opposing the so-called “genocide” in Gaza.

“Like the Americans who protested against segregation, the Vietnam war, and the illegal invasion of Iraq, the diverse group of Americans protesting against the Gaza genocide have done so organically and independently,” Mitchell said in a statement. “Director Haines must immediately clarify her vague and potentially dangerous public claim that over the past few weeks Iranians using social media have attempted to stoke protests or give donations in support of protests.”

CAIR also penned a letter to Haines expressing similar sentiments.

On Tuesday, Haines released a statement arguing that Iran has sought to expand its “influence efforts” with the objective of sowing distrust in American institutions. According to the US intelligence chief, Iran has deployed online influencers to push narratives that advance their goals of undermining the United States and fomenting hatred against Israel.

“In recent weeks, Iranian government actors have sought to opportunistically take advantage of ongoing protests regarding the war in Gaza, using a playbook we’ve seen other actors use over the years,” Haines said. “We have observed actors tied to Iran’s government posing as activists online, seeking to encourage protests, and even providing financial support to protesters.”
Pro-Palestinian Protests in Germany and the Responsibility of Academics
Throughout Germany, there are student protests that define themselves as “pro-Palestinian.” What they have in common is that they decontextualize and ignore the bestial massacres carried out by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and their supporters on October 7, 2023 in southern Israel. For it was precisely these massacres of children, women and men that were the starting point for the Israeli army’s war against Hamas and its supporters.

The eviction of the protest camps in Berlin and elsewhere in Germany by police forces has been met with fierce criticism, including from Berlin lecturers and professors and other supporters who see it as a threat to freedom of expression and demonstration as well as the rule of law. An open letter from Berlin lecturers and professors states: “Regardless of whether we agree with the specific demands of the protest camp, we stand in front of our students and defend their right to peaceful protest, which also includes the occupation of university grounds.”

Implicitly, this letter supports a narrative that has been circulating online and in the press for months, and not only in Germany: “pro-Palestinian” or Palestinian voices are “suppressed” or “not heard.” The reality is quite different. The “pro-Palestinian voices” have been the loudest ever since October 7, 2023, fueled by an unprecedented antisemitic smear campaign on TikTok, Instagram and other social media, as well as in the press and on the streets.

There are protests on the streets of Germany that publicize their views on the war in Gaza and the sadistic actions of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and some Gazan civilians who participated in rape and looting on October 7 and celebrated the abduction of Israeli hostages on the streets of Gaza. The majority of these protests are whitewashing terror and reinterpreting it as “resistance.” The demands for a ceasefire or an end to the war are directed exclusively at Israel, not Hamas and collaborators; nor is there any demand that Hamas lay down arms.

Since October 7, false, presuppositional claims have circulated, many of which have been well known for decades. Some claim there is a “sense of guilt over the Holocaust” in Germany that does “not allow” for criticism of Israel. This narrative has also been perpetuated by countless journalists over the past few months—journalists who, supposedly objectively, can describe a “war of extermination” against Palestinian civilians in Gaza, calling it a “slaughterhouse,” but do not even question the figures from the Ministry of Health in Gaza. Nor is the sudden halving of the number of 14,500 children killed in Gaza (every child killed is one too many!) on May 8 explained. Perhaps “child murderer” Israel should just leave it at that.

What these claims make clear is that this is an antisemitic smear campaign, nothing more.
Muslim student allegedly lied that her Jewish roommate threatened her with a knife following dispute about October 7 Hamas attack in viral post
A Muslim student who allegedly lied that her Jewish roommate had threatened her life following a dispute about October 7 will not face any repercussions.

University of Washington student Isha Hussein claimed that her roommate made Islamophobic remarks and threatened to stab her with a knife as she prayed.

The roommate denied the allegations but was temporarily removed from her dorm and later moved out due to the hostility she faced.

However, a campus police report concluded it 'could not establish probable cause' after a witness contradicted Hussein's account.

In a viral post which garnered almost 44,000 likes, Hussein claimed her roommate had made racist remarks to her when they moved in together in September 2023.

'My roommate noticed I was a black Muslim and started making comments such as, 'My family and I don't like black people', 'That's why my religion is better than yours' and 'Muslims are suicide bombers',' she wrote in the post.

Their relationship came to a head around the time of the October 7 attack after the two clashed during a discussion about Israel's response, according to both parties.

During one exchange Hussein's roommate said to her that she would, 'pull a knife on her while praying [...] then grabbed a knife from the kitchen drawer', a campus police report states.

The report was filed on October 24 when officers were called to the dorm to reports of harassment.

Both students' names have been redacted, however the allegations match those made in Hussein's Instagram post.

At the time of the alleged knife incident, Hussein told campus police during an interview she did not want to assist with prosecution, but just wanted the incident to be documented, the report states.

She also complained to the university, who she accused of failing to take her concerns seriously in the Instagram post shared in February.


‘Death to Israel’ journalist still used by BBC
A Lebanon-based television pundit who called for “death to Israel” and defended a disgraced journalist who had joked about Hitler barbecuing Jews is still appearing as a commentator on the BBC, despite the JC disclosing her disturbing remarks.

In January, we revealed that Mayssaa Abdul Khalek had called on Arab states to attack Israel, described an Israeli city as an “imperialist colony” and labelled Israel “occupied Palestine”.

The BBC said in response that while the reporter was not a presenter, she should have been “challenged” on her comments on air.

Since then, however, Abdul Khalek has been seen on BBC Arabic referring to Israel as “an imperialist colony” and describing its cities as “occupied Palestinian territories” without being challenged, according to researchers at media monitoring group Camera Arabic, who have examined the channel’s output.

In March, Abdul Khalek praised Joelle Maroun, France 24’s former correspondent in Lebanon, who had been sacked after a series of posts she made about Adolf Hitler were revealed.

Writing on social media in 2013, Maroun said: “They asked Hitler, ‘what did you do with the Jews?’ He said ‘nothing extraordinary, just having barbecue with the guys.’”

In other tweets, she wrote, “if only Hitler was Lebanese,” and “rise, Sir Hitler, rise, there are a few people that need to be burned”.
Montreal Gazette, Misrepresenting Anti-Israel Disinformation, Reports That Death Toll In Gaza Could Be “Several Times Higher” Than Hamas Claims
After more than two months of obstinate refusal to tackle head-on the hateful and often violent anti-Israel occupation at McGill University, on July 10, private security services, hired by the university administration and overseen by Montreal police, finally removed a group of tents and protesters from McGill University, most of whom were not students at the school.

While the removal of the occupation was a justifiably significant news update in Montreal, a recent article in The Montreal Gazette covering the story featured multiple problems.

The July 10 article, “Movement ‘will not end with the encampments,’ pro-Palestinian protester says,” written by Jason Magder, Katelyn Thomas, René Bruemmer, Harry North, and Andy Riga, reports on the immediate aftermath of the takedown of the occupation, but in a number of instances, either failed to provide full context for readers, or otherwise shared misleading or false information.

At one point in the article, the authors reported that “In a social media post, a group called Désinvestir pour la Palestine called on pro-Palestinian Montrealers to converge on Phillips Square at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday,” before quoting their statements on social media “Intifada everywhere! Free Palestine!”

What the authors did not share with readers is the chilling context behind the term “intifada.” It is an Arabic word which refers to a violent campaign of terrorism against Israeli civilians, and by calling for “intifada everywhere,” the not-so-veiled threat is readily apparent. But by not providing any background on this term, the authors effectively whitewash one of the most heinous and blood-thirsty expressions used by anti-Israel activists into just another chant.
RJC endorses challengers to eight endangered House Democrats
The Republican Jewish Coalition on Thursday announced its first round of endorsements of GOP candidates challenging incumbent Democrats in swing districts.

The group’s eight endorsees include military veteran and police officer Gabe Evans, challenging Rep. Yadira Caraveo (D-CO); NASCAR driver and Maine state legislator Austin Theriault, challenging Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME); former Rep. Yvette Herrell (R-NM), challenging Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM); military veteran Laurie Buckhout, challenging Rep. Don Davis (D-NC); Ohio state Rep. Derek Merrin, challenging Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH); Ohio state Rep. Kevin Coughlin, challenging Rep. Emilia Sykes (D-OH); Pennsylvania state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, challenging Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA); and businessman Rob Bresnahan, challenging Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA).

The incumbents hold varying records on Israel and other Jewish issues, although some have broken with others in the Democratic Party on multiple occasions in recent months in support of pro-Israel legislation and issues. In a statement, the RJC described many of its endorsees as strong supporters of Israel, while characterizing their opponents as unreliable on or hostile toward Israel.

The incumbents are among the most endangered House Democrats — all of their districts are rated as toss-ups by the Cook Political Report.


Cori Bush Steered Nearly $1 Million in Taxpayer Dollars to Nonprofit Led by Anti-Semite Who Says ‘Real Jews’ Don’t Live in Israel
Democratic Rep. Cori Bush (Mo.) steered nearly $1 million in taxpayer money to a youth nonprofit led by Farrakhan Shegog, an anti-Semitic activist who said that those living in Israel are not "real Jews" and that the nation is ruled by "the ones who crucified Jesus."

Bush boasted on July 7 about her role in funding a new headquarters for Young Voices With Action, a St. Louis group that encourages young people to become involved in leadership in the city. She included a photo of herself at the groundbreaking alongside Shegog, the group’s founder and president, and posted a follow-up featuring another picture of the two with their arms around each other.

Shegog has been a harsh critic of Israel and Jewish people for years, making him just the latest example of Bush associates who have pushed anti-Semitic rhetoric. He’s praised Iran for attacking Israel and has accused the Jewish state of "genocide" and conspiring with the terror group ISIS. He also called to freeze aid to Israel nearly a decade before the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack.

"The people of modern day Israel are not the real Jews. The ones ruling the country now are the ones who crucified Jesus," Shegog posted in 2017. He also posted a statement in Spanish translating to "F—k Israel" in 2015.

And on the same day as the Hamas attack, he wrote, "We must resist!" and "no one will ever have peace" unless a Palestinian state is created.

Bush is facing a difficult primary battle against her pro-Israel opponent, St. Louis prosecuting attorney Wesley Bell. A coalition of rabbis and Jewish leaders threw their support behind Bell over Bush’s "fanning the flames of anti-Semitism" since Oct. 7.

"Representative Bush has shown little outrage against the horrendous attacks by an organization whose very charter calls for the killing of all Jewish people," the coalition wrote in a November letter.


‘You were wrong not to kill me’: Gazan activist slams Hamas for attack on him
Gaza-based activist Amin Abed has continued criticizing Hamas from his hospital bed, said to be in northern Gaza, where he is recuperating from a Monday attack by some 20 masked men who were said to have identified themselves as members of the terror group’s internal security forces.

Hamas, whose once-ubiquitous police presence has all but vanished throughout the Gaza war, has not commented on the incident.

In a video published Tuesday by the Saudi state-owned Al-Arabiya news channel, Abed, 35, addressed Hamas directly, saying he had expected the terror group to kill him, “but you were wrong not to kill me.”

“You are partners of the occupation in killing us,” he accused Hamas, referring to Israel.

“[Yitzhak] Rabin and [Yitzhak] Shamir used the policy of bone-breaking against the Palestinian people,” claimed Abed, referring to the Israeli prime ministers whose terms coincided with the first Palestinian Intifada in the late 1980s and early 1990s. “You have used the policy of breaking teeth and bones against me three times.”

“As long as this weak heart beats and this tongue speaks, you won’t enjoy your abduction of Gaza’s poor residents, whom you have been kidnapping and torturing for 17 years,” Abed said, referring to Hamas’s violent takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007.

“As long as this tongue speaks and this heart beats with love for Palestine and its people, I will continue to speak out,” he concluded.


Defying U.S. Law, Biden Administration Fails to Report on Iran’s Nuclear Program
Latest Developments
The Biden administration is defying U.S. law by failing to submit congressionally mandated reports on the status of Iran’s nuclear program, a Wall Street Journal editorial noted on July 10. Pursuant to the Iran Nuclear Weapons Capability and Terrorism Act of 2022, the director of national intelligence (DNI) is required to submit a report to Congress every six months assessing “any uranium enrichment, nuclear weapons development, delivery vehicle development, and associated engineering and research activities of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” However, the administration has missed two deadlines this year “in violation of the law,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) explained in a letter to Director of National Intelligence Director Avril Haines on July 10. Graham, one of the law’s authors, observed that Iran has increased its stockpile of 60 percent enriched uranium which, he warns, is only “a small technical step away from weapons grade 90% purity.” Graham threatened to hold up DNI nominations and withhold funding from the agency until the administration complies with the law.

Expert Analysis
“Congress and the American people deserve a timely assessment of the status of Iran’s nuclear program — particularly Tehran’s nuclear weapons development. Considering new intelligence information about the Islamic Republic conducting covert weaponization work, the administration must expeditiously meet these legal requirements — otherwise, we are left wondering what they aren’t telling us.” — Andrea Stricker, FDD Research Fellow and Deputy Director of FDD’s Nonproliferation and Biodefense Program

“Iran is vastly expanding its enrichment capacity, building a new underground facility and reportedly working on computer modeling for nuclear weapons. The intelligence community should be over-communicating with Congress about the threat, not under-communicating.” — Richard Goldberg, FDD Senior Advisor

The Biden Administration’s Lax Iran Policy
Upon taking office, the Biden administration pledged that Washington would resume diplomacy with Iran and revive the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. However, Tehran rejected America’s overtures, including Biden’s robust sanctions relief, and intensified its malign conduct, including its nuclear program, which remains on the threshold of a nuclear weapons capability.

Meanwhile, Washington has pushed back against international attempts to censure Iran for its nonproliferation violations. On May 27, The Wall Street Journal reported that the United States was blocking European states from pursuing a formal censure of Iran at the June board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), despite a push by the United Kingdom, Germany, and France. According to the Journal, the “U.S. has pressed a number of other countries to abstain in a censure vote, saying that is what Washington will do.” The IAEA ultimately passed the censure resolution on June 5.
Graham to place hold on all ODNI nominations
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) will place a hold on all nominations for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, accusing the office of being in violation of the law over its failure to deliver its assessment to Congress on the status of Iran’s nuclear program.

Graham sent a letter to Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, on Wednesday notifying her that he planned to work with colleagues to condition funding to ODNI in the next appropriations bill and put holds on all nominations because the office had missed two Section 5593 report deadlines in the past year and failed to submit Section 7413 assessments, as required by law.

Graham is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which makes him a key player in the appropriations process in the upper chamber. He is also the author of the law that he claims is being skirted.

“I am formally notifying you that I plan to hold all ODNI affiliated nominations and will work with my colleagues to condition ODNI headquarters funding in the next appropriations bill upon submission of these assessments. As the author of these two provisions designed to protect the national security interests of the United States, I find it unconscionable that the requirements to submit the assessments under Section 5593 and Section 7413 are being ignored,” Graham wrote in the letter.

The South Carolina senator also noted that the latest report from the International Atomic Energy Agency estimates that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium is only a “small technical step away” from reaching weapons-grade purity necessary to create a nuclear weapon.

Graham goes on to allege that Haines offered to speak with him next week “after [she] disregarded my six previous requests” for the assessments.

Speaking to Jewish Insider about the letter on Thursday, Graham said that he decided to move forward on the holds following multiple failed attempts to get answers from Haines and her office.


2040: The year Iran predicts Israel will be destroyed. Now is the time to prepare - opinion
The eminent Jewish writer, Nobel Prize laureate and Holocaust survivor Eli Wiesel famously said that "the greatest tragedy of the Jewish people is that they listened to the promises of their friends and not the threats of their enemies." The wisdom of that insight is illustrated every time we hear the supreme leader Ali Khamenei speaking of the terrible fate his regime has planned for the state of Israel.

In a social media post in 2015, Khamenei told Israelis that their state would be destroyed by 2040. “God willing, there will be nothing of the Zionist regime in 25 years,” he wrote. As Wiesel would advise, we should take the supreme leader at his word, and understand that he will do everything possible to realize that genocidal goal, in cooperation with the forces that support him at home and abroad.

The Islamic Republic is developing a comprehensive strategy to bring about Israel’s elimination as a sovereign state. In military terms, this is built around both conventional and nuclear capabilities. The regime has invested heavily in conventional weapons to attack Israel, as demonstrated by the unprecedented attack on the Jewish state on the night of April 13, when Tehran launched over 300 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones. At the same time, the Islamic Republic has doggedly pursued its nuclear weapon ambitions, in the first place as a means of deterring Israel from defending itself against conventional attacks; and in the second place, to give it weapons of mass destruction to destroy Israel.

Iran turns up the heat on Israel
In parallel, Iran is turning the heat up on its “ring of fire” encircling Israel, combining military strategy with lawfare and propaganda efforts. Israel is being dragged into a regional war on several fronts, including Judea and Samaria and Gaza, where Iran’s proxy Hamas holds sway; Lebanon, where its most powerful ally Hezbollah continues to be the most powerful element in that shattered country; Yemen, where Houthi rebels backed by Tehran have declared their support for Hamas by all but shutting down commercial traffic through the Red Sea with missile attacks on civilian shipping; Iraq, where the Iranians have armed and trained Islamist militias; and Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has emerged unchallenged from the civil war, thanks to the backing of Iran and Russia.

In addition to these military fronts, Khamenei has launched a campaign of lawfare and diplomatic warfare, supporting attempts at the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice to demonize Israel, and providing financial and political support to the increasingly vocal pro-Hamas protest movements in the US. and throughout the West.


Most Dutch Jewish people experience more antisemitism than five years ago
Most of the Jewish people in the Netherlands think that there is more antisemitism than five years ago, a study that was released on Thursday showed. Around 83 percent think this, which is higher than the European average of 80 percent. Almost all the Jewish people who live in the Netherlands have had to deal with antisemitism in their daily lives.

Jewish people deal with antisemitism on the streets and online, according to the third edition of a survey by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). The agency monitors racism and xenophobia in the European Union.

Almost one in eight Jewish people in the Netherlands do not usually wear Jewish symbols in public for safety reasons; almost half of the people surveyed said that they never do. This is slightly more than the European average.

Over a quarter of the Jewish people in the Netherlands feel discriminated against, which is also more than the 20 percent average in Europe. As is the case in other places in Europe, Jewish people are pestered and sometimes even attacked in the Netherlands. They worry that this will increase.

This survey was conducted before the attack of Hamas on Israel on 7 October and the Israeli military actions that followed this. Researchers also gathered information from 12 organizations of Jewish communities after these events. Some of the organizations reported an increase in antisemitism of more than 400 percent.

Almost 8,000 Jewish people from 13 European countries took part in the study. It is estimated that 96 percent of the Jewish people in the European Union live in these countries.

"Europe is witnessing an antisemitism wave which is partly caused by the conflict in the Middle East. This severely limits Jewish people in their opportunities to live a safe and dignified life," said FRA director Sirpa Rautio. The Jewish communities need to be protected "against all forms of hate and intolerance, online as well as offline."
NJ man, who allegedly encouraged anti-Jewish violence, arrested for targeting energy facility
Law-enforcement authorities arrested an 18-year-old man from East Brunswick, N.J., on Wednesday for “allegedly soliciting another individual to destroy energy facilities,” the U.S. Justice Department said.

“Andrew Takhistov was allegedly on his way to Ukraine to join the Russian Volunteer Corps when we arrested him on charges of recruiting an individual to destroy an electrical substation here in the United States in order to advance his white supremacist ideology,” said Merrick Garland, the U.S. attorney general.

Garland credited the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force for “exceptional work disrupting this dangerous plot.”

Philip Sellinger, U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, said that Takhistov allegedly made pro-Hitler posts and “encouraged violence against black and Jewish communities, praised mass shooters and discussed causing death and destruction on a large scale.

“The defendant was allegedly en route to join the Russian Volunteer Corps, which he described as specializing in assassinations, attacks on power grids and other infrastructure sabotage, so that he could act on his violent plans,” Sellinger stated.

“We will not tolerate these kinds of alleged terroristic threats, and working with our partners, we will always be ready to root out and bring to justice anyone who attempts to carry out these acts,” he added.


Assailant Tries to Torch Hatzalah Vehicle in New York City, Police Investigating as Possible Hate Crime
An assailant was caught on video attempting to torch a Hatzalah ambulance parked on the street in New York City last week in an incident that police are investigating as a possible hate crime.

Hatzalah volunteer ambulances serve predominantly Jewish communities around the world.

The New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) Hate Crime Task Force is searching for the suspect who, in surveillance camera footage, can be seen wearing khaki shorts, a light blue t-shirt, and holding an unidentifiable beverage. In the footage, the suspect casually walks up and bends down next to the Hatzalah vehicle.

In the next frame of the video, after the man kneels beside the car, a fire spreads in the rear of the vehicle near the rear tire and tail pipe.

The attempted arson occurred in Manhattan’s Lower East Side on Grand Street near Madison Avenue, a few blocks from Hatzalah’s Lower East Side Garage. The area is home to several synagogues including the Young Israel of Manhattan and the historic Bialystoker Synagogue.

Joel Petlin, superintendent of the Kiryas Joel school district and a commentator, lambasted the incident on X / Twitter, writing, “Nothing says ‘Free Palestine’ quite like someone in New York City setting fire to a first responder vehicle owned by Hatzalah, a respected organization that serves the Jewish community and anyone else who calls for their emergency medical services.”


Lipstadt to travel to South America for antisemitism forum, AMIA memorial
Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, is scheduled to visit Argentina and Brazil from July 15-23, according to the U.S. State Department.

In Argentina, she is slated to appear at a forum with counterparts from other nations.

She also plans to attend the 30th-anniversary memorial for the 85 people killed and more than 300 wounded in the July 19, 1994 bombing of the AMIA (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires.

Lipstadt and antisemitism envoys from a host of other nations will launch the “Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism” plan supported by multiple governments and international bodies.

In Brazil, Lipstadt will travel to São Paulo to speak with government officials, educators, human-rights organizations and local Jewish community members.

In related news, Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) announced a resolution in the Senate on Wednesday that seeks to continue the fight for justice for those murdered and injured in the suicide attack that has been linked to Iran.
Memorial for Buenos Aires Jewish center bombing to highlight connection to Oct. 7 terrorism
Thirty years after a Lebanese suicide bomber aligned with Hezbollah killed 85 people at a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, senior government officials from the U.S. and around the world will gather in Argentina next week to mark the solemn anniversary of the unresolved crime. No one has been brought to justice for the attack, which took place on July 18, 1994, at the Associación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA), a hub of the Buenos Aires Jewish community.

The commemoration, set to take place over multiple days and culminating in a major memorial event that will bring together Latin American leaders, members of Congress and antisemitism envoys from more than two dozen nations, will highlight “that there has been no justice for Argentina and for the community,” U.S. Ambassador to Argentina Marc Stanley told Jewish Insider on Monday.

More than that, the event will serve as a reminder that “terrorism still exists,” Stanley said. “That was dramatically pointed out on Oct. 7 when this time it was Iran and Hamas, versus here in Argentina, it was Iran and Hezbollah. But it’s still happening.”

In April, Argentina’s highest criminal court issued a landmark ruling blaming Iran for the 1994 attack. The ruling came months after the U.S. issued its first indictment related to the attack, charging a Lebanese-Colombian citizen with playing a key role in the bombing. But no one tied to the attack has yet faced extradition or gone on trial.

“Iran and Hamas and Hezbollah still engage in terrorist attacks, not only against the Jewish community, but in terrorist acts around the world. We need to constantly be vigilant, and we need to constantly shine a light on this terrorism and we need to work to stop it,” Stanley said. “We need to work for justice.”

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) will be in Buenos Aires for the 30th anniversary events, alongside officials from Israel and the leaders of several international Jewish organizations. Cardin and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced a resolution on Wednesday honoring the victims of the bombing and “underscor[ing] the concern of the United States regarding the continuing, decades-long delay in resolving the 1992 and 1994 terrorist attacks in Argentina.”

Argentine President Javier Milei is also expected to attend the official memorial event. Shelley Greenspan, the White House Jewish liaison, will represent the Biden administration at the event.
A Moroccan delegation sees a different Israel in person
A group of two dozen Moroccan social-media influencers and young professionals are visiting Israel this week to promote peace, as the war against Hamas in Gaza entered its tenth month.

The Muslim delegation in the Holy Land, organized by the Sharaka (Arabic for “Partnership”) nongovernmental organization, aims to build on the historic peace agreement signed between the two countries four years ago and serve as a counterweight to the vehemently anti-Israel reporting being broadcast around the world.

“In a world where nuance and balanced opinion have vanished, and where words like ‘Holocaust,’ ‘genocide’ and ‘massacre’ are being used left and right by people with more than questionable intentions, we must see the truth with our own eyes,” said delegation member and Casablanca resident Achraf Ibra, 29, during a gala evening at Jerusalem’s Friends of Zion Museum on Tuesday.

“In Morocco, we are getting only one narrative, and it’s the Al Jazeera narrative,” said Youssef Elazhari, director of Sharaka Morocco. “Some 99% believe this narrative, but we are the 1% who are trying to seek another narrative.”

Israel and Morocco, which had maintained decades of covert cooperation on defense and intelligence, formalized relations as part of the 2020 Abraham Accords that saw four Muslim-majority countries make peace with Israel. But with the Hamas Oct. 7 massacre that triggered the current war, the region has been on edge.

The weeklong visit, one of more than a dozen Sharaka has organized over the last four years from several Arab countries, was geared to strengthen the ties between the two peoples even as friends and family members back home were getting a different picture from the news.

Half the members of the well-educated delegation participated in March of the Living in Poland and toured Auschwitz.
Revealed: Disney characters drawn by Holocaust survivors
The Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem is set to showcase a collection of Disney-inspired artworks created by Holocaust survivors and victims.

These rare pieces, including a Pinocchio-adorned jar buried to escape Nazi looting and a Mickey Mouse birthday card preserved for more than seven decades, offer a unique window into how Jews, especially children, found solace and expression through familiar cartoon characters during one of history’s darkest periods.

For 80 years, these artworks remained hidden—some wrapped, damaged or concealed—yet they managed to survive the journey from concentration camps and ghettos. Often the sole possessions of Holocaust survivors, they have now found their way into Yad Vashem’s collections.

As part of the relocation to the new Shaffer Collections Center, which houses millions of historical artifacts, documents, artworks and photographs from countless sources, artistic treasures created by Jews during the Holocaust have been uncovered. Most of these were made by children and teenagers who expressed their emotions through works featuring characters familiar to almost everyone, Walt Disney films.

“One of the most touching Disney drawings was created in March 1941, at the height of the war, inspired by the film ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,'” says curator Eliad Moreh-Rosenberg, director of Yad Vashem’s Art Collection.

“Henry Kichka, father of Israeli artist Michel Kichka, was then a 15-year-old boy who had lost his family in the gas chambers and found refuge in the magical world of fairy tales.

“After the war, he returned to Brussels and collected items from the family apartment, including this drawing which he gave to his daughter Hanna, who immigrated to Israel in 1970. Hanna passed the drawing to her son Yaron, who received a dedication from his grandfather—’To Yaron, from his grandpa.'”




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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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