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Monday, August 05, 2024

08/05 Links Pt2: The Origins of Anti-Zionism; Drawing on the legacy of Ze'ev Jabotinsky is critical in fighting Iran; An apology to Ariel Bibas

From Ian:

The Origins of Anti-Zionism
Berger’s motivations remain open to debate. What is clear, however, is that he was right on the money in thinking that the more his views were perceived as part of internal American Jewish discourse and motivated by “authentically” American Jewish values and interests, the better these views served Arab critics of Israel.

Notably, Berger’s critique of Zionism went well beyond his insistence on the rejection of Jewish nationhood, and exposed what he saw as Israel’s racist laws and acts. Moreover, he ultimately expressed profound sympathy for Palestinian nationalism and specifically for the PLO. In 1983, a few years after the publication of his Memoirs and in the wake of the 1982 Israeli war against the PLO in Lebanon, Berger reviewed a book about the PLO published that same year. This book, Cheryl Rubenberg’s The Palestine Liberation Organization, Berger wrote, “breathes a living soul into the recognized leaders of the Palestinian nation” and “eliminates any excuse for caricaturing the PLO as one-dimensional ‘terrorists,’ single-mindedly devoted to the ‘destruction’ of the State of Israel.” Adopting a laudatory tone, Berger opined that the PLO’s “dedication to the total welfare of its forcibly dispersed people approximates a religious commitment.” In fact, the PLO’s “network of institutions serving Palestinian education, arts, health services, labor organizations, and many other needs,” Berger declared, is comparable “to only enlightened, humanistic, socially conscious States.” Berger singled out the Research Center as the PLO’s crown jewel.

Another layer of complexity in this nexus between the PLO Research Center and the American Council for Judaism is the fact that Elmer Berger apparently had, as late as the 1950s, professional ties to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Historian Hugh Wilford has argued that the network of the ACJ and the American Friends of the Middle East (AFME), on the board of which Berger served, was “both a government front and a lobby group with an agenda of its own.” Berger, who acted as AFME’s “chief pamphleteer,” wrote in his 1978 memoirs that “by now … everyone knows it [AFME] was conceived and financed by the CIA.” In private correspondence from 1978, Berger wrote to an associate that “at one point in my life, when [Kermit] Kim Roosevelt was running the Middle East section of CIA, I served as a consultant—part time.”

Wilford contended that Berger was not doing the CIA’s work so much as engaging in coordinated efforts to advance interests he shared with the CIA Arabists (and with the anti-Zionist Arabist Protestants at the helm of AFME). “Berger and his friends did not see Kim Roosevelt as their boss,” according to Wilford, but rather as “a partner working in a common cause.” Nonetheless, the CIA’s support of Berger and its role in connecting him to figures in the Middle East lead us to ponder how the conception of Judaism espoused by the PLO and its Research Center may have been, however indirectly, informed and influenced by an American intelligence agency.

This excerpt is reprinted with minor modifications from Jonathan Marc Gribetz, “Reading Herzl in Beirut: The PLO Effort to Know the Enemy” (2024), with permission of Princeton University Press.
JPost Editorial: Drawing on the legacy of Ze'ev Jabotinsky is critical in fighting Iran
Jabotinsky’s doctrine of defense was encapsulated in his famous Iron Wall concept, which argued that only through an unassailable defense could Jews ensure their security and sovereignty. Israel has built on this since the state’s founding, from the strength of the IDF and its ability to call upon reservists in times of war to the modern-day technological phenomenon that keeps Israel’s citizens relatively safe from incoming rockets, UAVs, and missiles. His insistence on a strong military is mirrored in Israel’s contemporary defense strategies, including its preemptive strikes on Iranian targets in Syria and advanced missile defense systems like the Iron Dome.

Another pillar of Jabotinsky’s thought was the importance of strategic alliances. He understood that Israel could not stand alone against its adversaries. This belief is evident in Israel’s current diplomatic efforts to build coalitions against Iranian aggression. Many have sought to alienate the State of Israel after Hamas’s attacks on October 7, but we have seen (and saw in April during Iran’s attack) that our neighbors and allies can and will come to our aid when necessary. Israel’s close relationship with the US echoes Jabotinsky’s foresight in recognizing the necessity of having powerful friends. This alliance is crucial in countering Iran’s influence and ensuring continued support for Israel’s security needs.

One of Jabotinsky’s most vital tenets of Zionism also emphasized fostering a resilient and culturally proud Jewish population. He believed that a strong national identity was essential for the survival of the Jewish state. Today, as Israel faces one of the greatest threats in its 75 years of statehood, this principle is reflected in our efforts to stand together as one and face our enemies. This comes after a year of civil unrest and a divided nation over the government’s attempted judicial reforms.

Jabotinsky’s advocacy for military strength, strategic alliances, and national pride offers a blueprint for navigating the complexities of modern threats, particularly from Iran. By adhering to these principles, Israel can increasingly maintain its security and sovereignty in the region. Drawing on Jabotinsky’s legacy will be essential as the country continues to confront Iran’s nuclear ambitions and regional hostility.
Yisrael Medad: Words and thoughts from Ze’ev Jabotinsky
To mark the death date of Ze’ev Jabotinsky, which falls this year, as it did 84 years ago, on the convergence of the Hebrew and Gregorian calendars—the 29th of Tammuz and Aug. 4—it would be appropriate to allow some of his thoughts be remembered. There is no need to recall his roles and activities, as they were of the past. What is proper at this occasion is to remember his analyses, his predictions and his instructions since they are relevant at this time.

I have selected from some of his lesser-known articles to illustrate the breadth and depth of his thinking that can affect our approaches to today’s events.

From “Two Tablets: One Torah,” 1934:
“I did not learn my Zionism from Ahad Ha’am or even from Herzl and Nordau: I learned it from non-Jews. I spent the best years of my youth in Rome and managed to take a good look at Italy. A lovely and free country … liberal, peaceful, without a shadow of chauvinism. … No one bothers anyone, no one oppresses anyone. This is how, it seemed, every nation should live, and we Jews too.

“Now they sometimes say that the ‘non-Jewish school’ of Zionism gave a bad education, that Zionism should be studied from Jewish sources, from a catechism with various paragraphs, with arguments for and against. I believe that this is not so. In Zionism there is no place for pilpul, commentaries or arguments for and against. Zionism is as clear and simple as air and water, as a mountain and a valley. Just as it is enough to look at God’s world to understand its wisdom, so Zionism can be understood without any special intellectual approaches. A piece of God’s land, whether it is called Italy, France, England or something else; it does not matter …

“ … Forgive me for being wary of the category of ideas that make up the complex of spiritual Zionism in my Zionist youth. At that time, it sounded like an attempt to instill in Zionism the dangerous features of ghetto psychology: political passivity, admiration for the East, its quietism and patriarchy—a kind of pacifism that boils down to Eretz-Yisrael being conquered for us by strangers. … Spirit can also be ‘imperialist’ and can annex everything—from the right and from the left. Spirit demands both banks of the Jordan, and state independence, and the gathering of millions of the dispersed. Spirit believes in the West, in Europe and America, in technical progress and in women’s suffrage. Spirit is not afraid of the Jewish legion. Spirit is not only a university with a technical school and a commercial academy and even a military academy (until the prophet Isaiah’s dream of disarmament comes true). Herzl, Nordau, Ahad Ha’am—they had disagreements in life, but today we know their common truth: two tablets, one Torah. Spirit is building a kingdom for itself on earth.”


An apology to Ariel Bibas
Ariel, today is your fifth birthday. I wish I could say happy birthday, but this birthday is anything but happy. Instead of celebrating with friends and family, instead of party hats, cakes, and presents, you are being held captive in Gaza by evil people along with your parents and baby brother.

You have spent nearly a fifth of your life in captivity, and little Kfir has spent more than half his life as a hostage. The whole world owes you so much more, beginning with an apology, an apology that will never come, because the world does not care about Jews. So I will apologize to you instead.

Ariel, I’m sorry that instead of learning to read and write in kindergarten, you are a prisoner, denied all the rights children around the world take for granted.

I’m sorry that instead of watching your baby brother learn to walk and talk in a loving home, you are forced to watch him grow in a world of darkness and hate.

I’m sorry that you do not have your father to comfort you in these dark times, despite the fact that he is also being held captive.

I’m sorry this country's intelligence failed to see the signs of an impending attack and massacre, leaving you and your family unprotected when the butchers stormed the border.

I’m sorry the world’s oldest hatred, antisemitism, is as prevalent and potent as ever. It is a hatred that spares no one, not even babies and children like you and Kfir.

I’m sorry the world is full of antisemites who rejoice at your suffering, who think that you and Kfir deserve to have these atrocities committed against you just because you are Jewish children, who tear down posters of you and Kfir because their hearts are so full of hate that they cannot abide the idea that Jewish babies and toddlers deserve empathy or even sympathy.
Today is my grandson Ariel’s fifth birthday – and he is still in captivity
The horror of what unfolded was distributed through images and videos gleefully distributed by Hamas. The entire world has surely seen by now my beautiful daughter-in-law Shiri, clutching the world’s most famous redheaded children, fear etched across their faces as they were dragged into captivity. My son Yarden was also violently kidnapped into Gaza on a motorcycle, shown bloodied and surrounded by terrorists and civilians in images.

In the months since their abduction, we've all been victims of cruel psychological warfare waged by Hamas. They forced my son to appear in a video, telling him his children were dead – to break his spirit. But we can’t help but cling to hope, even as each passing day makes it that much harder.

Ariel, my eldest grandson, should be celebrating his fifth birthday today. Instead, he marks this milestone in the darkness of captivity. And little Kfir, barely 9 months old when he was taken, has now spent more of his young life in Hamas captivity than in the loving arms of his family. They are the last children remaining in Hamas captivity.

We've met everyone we could across the world who might be able to help keep up the pressure. We've spoken, pleaded, shaken hands and pressed for action. And when Prime Minister Netanyahu invited me to join his delegation to speak in front of the joint session of the US Congress last week, I saw an opportunity I couldn't refuse. I wanted to be a living, breathing reminder of this ongoing tragedy.

Every time Netanyahu and people around the world see me, I want them to remember those two small, ginger-haired boys – the last children still in Hamas captivity. I want my family's faces to be seared into his mind as he makes decisions that will determine the fate of my loved ones and the other 116 hostages still held.

My presence serves as a constant reminder that we need a deal urgently. We have no time to waste. Every week, every day, and every minute in captivity is a danger to the lives of my grandchildren, my son, my daughter-in-law, and all the other hostages.

I will never stop hoping that one day I will see my family again, embrace them, kiss them, and witness their innocent smiles once more. But hope alone is not enough. We need action, and we need it now.
Can you feel our longing? Grandmother of Ariel Bibas who is being held captive in Gaza by Hamas pens poignant letter to grandson on fifth birthday
As Ariel Bibas turns five today all his grandmother wants is to give him piggyback rides and watch him play in her garden.

But it has been nearly 10 months since Pnina Bibas has heard from her sweet, sensitive grandson who adores the kumquat trees that blossom around his birthday.

She will not see him today, either, because on October 7 terrorists stormed his home, shot his dog, and kidnapped him into Gaza.

The little boy who loves Batman was last seen in Israel desperately clinging to his mother, Shiri, 33, alongside his then nine-month-old brother, Kfir, as they were led away.

Besides some footage of their first few hours in captivity and a cruel hostage video of his father, Yarden, 37, who is held separately, there has been no word.

Today, Pnina, 64, pens a deeply moving open letter to her 'dear Luli' to wish him happy birthday, and asks: 'Can you feel our longing, the immense love that fills our hearts?'

She also shares touching family photographs of her hugging and playing with her adored first grandson before their family's nightmare began.

'Nine months have passed since you were taken from us by bad people,' she writes in the Daily Mail. 'Nine months of tears, prayers, and unwavering hope.

'The world around us continues to turn, but time seems to have frozen without you. You've grown a year older, but there's no celebration.'

She asks if he 'even knows that his big day is approaching', continuing: 'My heart skips a beat every time I remember how much you're missed.

'I try to imagine the moment you'll return to us. Will you still call me 'Grandma Nini'? Will you still want to play 'piggyback'?

'I can almost hear your laughter as you splash water on me while we water the plants in the garden.'


UKLFI Charitable Trust: The Legal Case for Palestine - A Critical Assessment
This is a recording of a UKLFI Charitable Trust webinar on “The Legal Case for Palestine: A Critical Assessment” with Professor Steve Zipperstein, and chaired by Jacob Turner. It took place on Sunday 4th August 2024.

For the past two decades, Palestinians have chosen to pursue their claims against Israel through litigation at the international courts.




Could a One Jewish State Plan Secure Israel’s Future?
Israel is facing a significant escalation in the ongoing war as Iran and its proxies threaten the nation. As Israel targets Hamas leaders and considers establishing a civil administration in Gaza run by local clans, diplomats and thought leaders are developing strategies to ensure that Israel does not face another crisis like October 7.

In February, former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman introduced the first draft of a one-state plan for Israel and the territories, and last month, he presented the idea to lawmakers in the Knesset. The plan will be detailed in his upcoming book, One Jewish State: The Last, Best Hope to Resolve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, which is set to be published on September 3.

Friedman’s plan is meant to send a message to the Palestinians, which he described as follows: “You have two choices: You can try to kill us. We’re not going to let you do that. We’re certainly going to win that fight. If you don’t want to kill us, do you want to live with us? We will bend over backward to try to bring your lives up to standard.”

In essence, the plan proposes extending Israeli sovereignty over all of the West Bank, known by religious Jews as Judea and Samaria, and granting permanent residency to the 2.7 million or so Palestinians living there. It also seeks American and Gulf support for a “Marshall Plan” to improve the region’s health care, education, and overall prosperity.

Friedman said the plan aligns with biblical covenants, addresses security concerns, and promotes human dignity for everyone. It aims to maximize Palestinian self-governance and prosperity while ensuring Israel’s security.

“It is not right-wing or left-wing; it is about the best outcome for the most people,” Friedman said.

Friedman said his plan crystallized after October 7, when he concluded that the two-state solution was no longer viable. Instead, he believes Israel needs a strategy that balances its right to exist in peace and security with Jewish self-determination while ensuring fundamental human rights for everyone who lives in the country, including Palestinians.

According to Friedman’s plan, Israel would assert sovereignty over the West Bank, provide care for Palestinians, and empower them with local self-rule. Palestinians in these areas, who currently lack Israeli citizenship, would receive it – including Israeli documents. Still, they would only vote in local elections, not national ones, to maintain Israel’s Jewish character and leadership.

“There are more than 50 Muslim nations around the world. There are Christian nations, as well as Buddhist and Hindu nations. We are talking about one Jewish state,” Friedman told The Media Line.

Friedman compared the situation to American territories like Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands, where residents are American citizens but cannot elect a US president and have nonvoting congressional representation.

“These arrangements are accepted because of significant reciprocal benefits,” Friedman said. “Israel has to help the Palestinians get out from the depths.”


The Portrayal of Jews and Israel in Muslim and Arab Textbooks: Major Trends
What do children and teenagers in the Islamic world learn about Jews and Israel in school? Yonatan Negev and Eldad Pardo examined textbooks from over ten countries to answer that question, and found everything from the vilest anti-Semitism to, occasionally, positive attitudes. They distill three separate patterns from their findings. The first, they write,
is followed by countries promoting a religiously moderate, inclusive vision sensitive to international norms of peace and tolerance, such as the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Morocco, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia. The [second] is followed by countries espousing Islamic fundamentalism . . . and includes Iran, Syria, Iraq, and the Yemeni Houthis. In addition, there is a sub-category of countries—namely Qatar, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority (PA)—that espouse some of the worst views against Jews and Israel in their textbooks, despite having long-standing engagements with them.

The textbooks in Morocco and Azerbaijan have the most favorable portrayals of Jews, with the UAE not far behind. In the less tolerant countries, by contrast,
Jews are continuously maligned as the enemies of Islam in the various textbooks. The Palestinian curriculum, for instance, implies that Jews are the “enemies of Islam in all times and places.” The Syrian textbooks teach a pan-Arab revolutionary worldview that suggests its universalism is incompatible with the “prejudiced” exclusionist nature of Judaism. Furthermore, anti-Semitic motifs such as stereotypical references to the character of Shylock from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice are found.

For example, a Qatari textbook from 2017 contained apologetic messages explaining Nazi hatred toward Jews, such as Nazi Germany’s “canceling the rights of the Jews because they had a great impact on the defeat of Germany in the First World War.” This content has been removed, and the Holocaust is no longer mentioned at all.
Bassem Youssef is not a satirist, he’s a dangerous conspiracy theorist
In the early 2000s, during the fleeting promise of the Arab Spring, we were told there was a new generation of brave Arab voices, pro-democracy, liberal, ready to break the centuries of authoritarianism that had marred their societies. One of them was Bassem Youssef. A surgeon by training, he became the voice of millions of angry Egyptians frustrated by the Muslim Brotherhood’s rule of their country. He used razor-sharp satire to parody Egyptian generals, earning the moniker of Egypt’s Jon Stewart - after the acerbic host of The Daily Show, who found fame trashing the Bush presidency to his coastal, liberal audience.

But Egypt is not America, and Bassem’s cheerleading of the anti-Muslim brotherhood movement was not confined to jokes and silly impressions. He’s been accused of mocking a bloody massacre in which 1000 Egyptians were killed on the streets of Cairo, and in his often well-placed desire to oust Islamists from government, he vilified millions of Egyptians as domestic enemies to support a military coup - all in the name of free speech and “liberal values.”

This is not the Bassem Youssef the Western World sees. In various fawning interviews, Youssef the social media star comes out. With his dazzling blue eyes and shock of silver hair, the elder statesman of anti-Islamism goes out to justify and excuse the violent Islamists in Hamas.

Since October 7, like so many who have used the suffering to inflate their public personas, Youssef has been given a platform to sound off in the name of “balance.”

But like so many that sip the poisoned chalice of viral fame, the views Bassem’s espousing have only got more extreme. In a podcast a few months ago, he said that Israel has been “corrupting the West morally for 100 years.” He was not challenged on this.

Never mind the fact that Israel has only existed for 76 years, or that the Holocaust was perpetrated by the West against Jews, or even that the West doesn’t have a monopoly on violence (Tiananmen, Rwanda, Syria, etc etc) the problem is all Israel. And in recent weeks, he’s gone further still. On a podcast with American provocateur Theo Von, Bassem makes allusions to Jews controlling the media, saying he can’t spell it out too much, for fear of being labelled an antisemite - a label he wears almost as a badge of honour, while simultaneously mocking anyone who suggests his change of views towards Islamists might be motivated by something more sinister.


The ghettoization of Josh Shapiro
After all, what Shapiro wrote was obviously correct. If the Oct. 7 massacre and the ensuing months of war have proven anything, it is that the Palestinians are unwilling to “peacefully coexist” and “are too battle-minded to be able to establish a peaceful homeland of their own.”

Moreover, the Red-Green Alliance itself declares as much. Its infamous and endlessly repeated “river to the sea” slogan, for example, is nothing more than a call for endless war unto genocide.

In other words, Shapiro had their number back in the 1990s, and they know it. That he nonetheless rushed to appease them speaks volumes about the deplorable state of the Democratic Party: It is not the genocidal antisemites who must beg forgiveness, but the man who points out that they are genocidal antisemites.

In this sense, it is irrelevant whether Shapiro is ultimately chosen or not. What is important is what lies behind the Red-Green Alliance’s assault on him.

The Red-Green Alliance has adopted a simple and ambitious strategy: to ghettoize the American Jewish community. This strategy is based on the most fervently held principle of the Alliance’s catechism: that the Jews are a corrupt plutocracy that rules the world in order to oppress, exploit, dispossess and slaughter non-Jews. American Jews, the Alliance believes, are the head of this particular snake. Thus, to break the Jewish conspiracy and with it Israel, the American Jewish community must be broken.

The Alliance plans to accomplish this by stripping American Jews of whatever political, economic and cultural power they have achieved over their long sojourn in the United States; relegating them to the margins of American life.

The Alliance believes that making support for Israel verboten will force Jews out of politics, academia, K-12 education, the activist and entertainment industries, government bureaucracy and so on. Certainly, no Jewish politician will be permitted to achieve high office.

Then, through the use of mob violence and intimidation, the Alliance will begin to push Jews out of certain neighborhoods, cities and perhaps even entire sections of the country by making Jewish life unlivable. The endgame is to impose on American Jews what the Alliance has already imposed on European Jews, who are politically powerless and confined to small neighborhoods with their synagogues under heavy guard and their children afraid to walk the streets.

Obviously, a Jewish vice president would be a massive if not fatal setback for the Red-Green Alliance. So, the Alliance intends to prevent it at all costs.

American Jews should be on notice: The attacks on Shapiro are merely warning shots, signs of things to come. So, American Jews must hit back—and hard. Demanding Shapiro’s nomination as the price of Jewish political support would be a good start.
Shapiro need not apologize for a prescient op-ed he wrote 31 years ago
“I do not believe that the Israelis and the Palestinians have achieved peace, nor do I believe that this will mark an end to the blood and tears,” the 20-year-old student argued in a 1993 op-ed in his college paper. This wasn’t a popular view at the time. The writer, Pennsylvania Governor and potential Democratic vice presidential nominee Josh Shapiro, wrote that “although I am an advocate of peace I’m also an advocate of realism. I’m somewhat skeptical of this notion of a peace plan or at the very least an agreement to coexist in a civilized manner.”

Shapiro was weighing in during the euphoria of the Oslo Accords, when the famous Rose Garden handshake between Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO terror maestro Yasser Arafat electrified the hopes of peace lovers everywhere. Shapiro refused to be seduced by the wishful thinking that marked those heady days.

In the op-ed, he argued that the Palestinians are too “battle-minded” to pursue peace with Israel. “The only way the ‘peace plan’ will be successful is if the Palestinians do not ruin it,” Shapiro wrote, adding, “Palestinians will not coexist peacefully.” He went as far as calling peace between the parties “virtually impossible.”

Evidently, the op-ed has landed him in hot water and forced Shapiro to distance himself from what he wrote. But why should he?

Even at the age of 20, when students are at their most idealistic, Shapiro was able to see what most diplomats, politicians, pundits and peace processors could not: Arafat was a phony. His desire to eradicate the hated Zionist entity never waned; it was his brand, his calling, his source of glory with his people.

Just ask President Bill Clinton, who blamed Arafat directly for the failure of the Camp David peace summit in 2000. Ask any serious analyst, for that matter, and most will tell you the same thing: The Palestinian refusal to accept a sovereign Jewish state under any borders, the glorifying of terrorism and the repeated rejection of Israeli peace offers suffocated the naive dreams of Oslo.

I once asked Dennis Ross, arguably the man most involved with the peace process, if he had any regrets in the wake of the Oslo failure. He replied immediately: They should have done more to enforce the anti-incitement clauses. Evidently, the fact that Palestinian leaders were encouraging the murder of Israelis while pretending to discuss peace was a recipe for, yes, an impossible peace plan.

Shapiro, as a prescient observer, saw all that ahead of most everyone.

Now, under pressure, he’s trying to distance himself from the prophetic message of his college days.


Cori Bush rallied with pro-Kremlin activist critical of CBC PAC chair Greg Meeks
Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), who is facing a tough fight for reelection ahead of Tuesday’s primary, attended a late-July rally for her campaign organized by a pro-Kremlin activist in St. Louis with a history of criticizing the head of the Congressional Black Caucus Political Action Committee, which is backing her in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.

On July 20, the Universal African Peoples Organization and its chairman, Lavoy “Zaki Baruti” Reed, assembled Bush supporters at the Beloved Community United Methodist Church in St. Louis’ Gate District. The incumbent congresswoman, who faces a serious challenge from St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell, subsequently posted a photo to Facebook of herself at the event with Baruti, who has backed her since her first bid for federal office in 2016.

Baruti has a long-running relationship with another activist who came to prominence amid the protest movement following the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.: Omali Yeshitela, chairman of the African People’s Socialist Party, also called the Uhuru movement. In December 2014, the pair convened a “black people’s grand jury” to hear the evidence against Brown’s shooter, Officer Darren Wilson, and in the succeeding years the duo participated jointly in events held by the “Black is Back Coalition” and served together on the National Black Radical Convention’s organizing committee.

The two were even photographed together wearing matching Soviet-style ushankas, complete with red star-shaped pins emblazoned with the hammer-and-sickle.

But according to a federal indictment unsealed April 2023, that entire time Yeshitela and two of his associates in the African People’s Socialist Party served as illegal agents of Russia’s FSB intelligence service, pushing Kremlin narratives in America while accepting financing and amplification from Moscow’s undercover operatives. Foreshadowing the criminal allegations was a Federal Bureau of Investigation raid on Yeshitela’s St. Louis home in July 2022.

In addition to attending a press conference with Yeshitela in the wake of FBI action, Baruti showed his support at a Zoom rally for the Uhuru chair in early 2023. On the call, Baruti lashed out at Rep. Greg Meeks (D-NY) for backing Ukraine in its conflict with Moscow and for proposing the Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act in 2022, a bill Bush voted for. Meeks is the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and chairs the CBC PAC, one of the most important institutions now backing Bush.


Lawmakers urge U.S. crackdown on Hezbollah financing networks
A bipartisan group of 46 House members, led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), called on the administration on Monday to “fully utilize all the tools at its disposal to crack down on Hezbollah’s international financing network, including the imposition of sanctions,” as well as law enforcement, criminal prosecutions and diplomatic tools.

The letter, addressed to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Attorney General Merrick Garland, comes just over a week after a Hezbollah attack killed 12 children in the Golan Heights and as fears of escalation in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and Iran hit new heights after the recent assassinations of a senior Hezbollah official in Lebanon and a top Hamas leader in Iran.

“We urge you to take further action to weaken Hezbollah’s access to financial resources used to carry out terrorism that threatens Americans, Israelis, and other allies around the world,” the lawmakers said. “It is imperative that the United States leads in this critical moment and protects its greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel.”

The lawmakers called on the administration to fully implement the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act, including sanctioning financial institutions processing and laundering Hezbollah’s money and any foreign government official or entity, including the Central Bank of Iran, that provides monetary support to Hezbollah.

They urged implementation of an executive order allowing the administration to sanction members of Hezbollah, to deter financial institutions and other businesses from transacting with the terrorist group.

Outside of sanctions, the lawmakers urged the administration to offer rewards for information on Hezbollah terrorists, to pursue the group as a drug trafficking entity, to prosecute Hezbollah for a variety of transnational criminal activity it uses to finance its operations, revive a law enforcement campaign targeting Hezbollah’s criminal activities known as Project Cassandra, pursue other similar law enforcement activities and pressure the Europe Union to fully designate Hezbollah as a terrorist group.
Lawmakers demand administration respond to Iranian influence in Gaza protests
A bipartisan group of 22 House members on Thursday demanded further action from the administration in response to a recent intelligence report that the Iranian government had covertly provided funding to some protests in the U.S. related to the war in Gaza.

The lawmakers, all but one of them Republicans, said that the funding constitutes a potential violation of U.S. law, and called on the administration to pursue monetary and criminal penalties for anyone involved in those transactions, as well as sanction those involved in providing the funding. The administration has not indicated any plans to act further on the intelligence report.

“Given that the aforementioned funding almost certainly violates the U.S. anti-terrorism statutes … we call on you to aggressively prosecute any violations by U.S. individuals and entities of these laws, to impose civil penalties on any violators, and to sanction those entities which provided this funding or facilitated these transactions,” they said.

The lawmakers also called on the administration to provide as much information as possible about the groups, which the letter describes as “pro-Hamas organizations,” that received funding from Iran.

“If U.S. organizations are receiving funding from [state sponsors of terrorism], the United States government has a duty to inform the public and to warn all protestors involved with these groups that they are acting at the behest of a terrorist state,” the lawmakers added. “The American public should not be left in the dark, and it is critical that neither [the Office of the Director of National Intelligence] nor Treasury withhold information that would reveal the depth of this Iranian influence operation.”

The lawmakers asked the administration to provide further information to Congress about those who have received Iranian funding, whether they’ve been notified and how they’ve responded, the total amount and duration of funding provided, whether the groups were aware they were receiving Iranian funding, whether the administration views the receipt of this funding to be a violation of the law and what steps the administration is taking to prevent future payments.
North Carolina State University Settles Antisemitism Complaint
North Carolina State University (NCSU) has settled a civil rights complaint which accused school officials of failing to respond to a series of antisemitic incidents in which a Jewish student was allegedly subjected to bullying, violent threats, and doxxing.

Brought by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, the complaint alleged that the Jewish plaintiff was abused by her peers for supporting Israel. Anti-Zionist students, it said, frequently uttered threats while walking past her on campus and also published her picture and private information online.

The alleged misconduct wasn’t limited to students. In another incident, the administration told the student nothing could be done when, in her first week on campus, she discovered swastika graffiti all over the walls of a tunnel on campus.

As part of the settlement, an outcome achieved during an “early” mediation process administered by the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the university agreed to update its anti-discrimination policies to adhere to a 2019 Trump administration executive order which recognized anti-Zionism as a form of antisemitism, include antisemitism in its programming on racial and ethnic hatred, and hold regular meetings with Jewish organizations on campus. The university will also base its handling of future antisemitic incidents on North Carolina’s Shalom Act (House Bill 942), which explicitly refers to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.

“The Brandeis Center’s settlement with NCSU represents a significant step forward in our efforts to combat antisemitism on college campuses,” Brandeis Center chairman and founder Kenneth Marcus said in a statement. “This settlement paves the way for meaningful change on both NCSU’s campus and on college campuses throughout the country.”

He continued, “The settlement agreement includes a commitment to abide by Executive Order 13899 and North Carolina Statutes, including North Carolina House Bill 942, which explicitly references the IHRA definition of antisemitism and its contemporary examples for combating antisemitism. We commend the university for its commitment to include references to these important tools in the settlement agreement and in their revised anti-discrimination policy.”
Anti-Israel activism spreading in teachers’ unions, education schools, new report outlines
A new report from the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values raises concerns about the rise of anti-Israel activism in teachers’ unions in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks in Israel and the subsequent increase of incidents of antisemitism in public K-12 classrooms.

At their conventions this year, both the National Education Association, the largest teachers’ union in the U.S., and the American Federation of Teachers, the second largest — which together represent 4.7 million members — have made anti-Israel resolutions a central theme of both gatherings. Last month, the NEA signed a joint letter calling on President Joe Biden to halt all military aid to Israel.

David Bernstein, the founder of JILV, told Jewish Insider that his group “saw a radicalization of many public school systems around the country” immediately following Oct. 7. “We started to look into where it was coming from, and over and over again we started to see teachers’ associations involved in these efforts,” Bernstein said.

The report, titled “How Teachers Unions and Associations are being radicalized,” outlines several examples of “radical actors within teachers unions.”

At the AFT convention last month, for instance, members voted on a total of seven resolutions regarding Israel, including one against the “weaponization of antisemitism” to defend Israel. “The resolution regarding the war in Gaza uses debunked Hamas figures and blames Israeli Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu for prolonging the war for his own interests,” the report states. “The resolution further states the way that Israel is conducting the war is ‘unjust.’ These resolutions were brought forward by local AFT unions.”
Student Radicals from DSA Prepare for Another Round of Pro-Hamas Activism
Parents and families who are sending children off to college this fall need to be on guard. The Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), a radical left-wing organization infiltrating more than 100 U.S. college campuses, is planning a national student strike in support of Hamas, the terrorist organization responsible for brutal attacks on Israeli civilians. Set to unfold in the coming academic year, this planned strike aims to strong-arm universities into divesting from Israel and to protect pro-Hamas activists from facing consequences for their extremist activities on campuses.

This alarming development follows the disruptive protests led by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) last year, indicating an escalation in coordinated efforts to legitimize terrorism and undermine support for Israel. The YDSA's embrace of Hamas, known for its violent tactics and genocidal ideology, represents a dangerous shift in campus activism. Parents and families preparing to send their children to college this fall must be on high alert against these impending pro-terrorist campaigns that not only endanger Jewish students but also seek to subvert fundamental values of the United States and Western civilization.

The YDSA announced its declaration of war on Israel and its supporters in the U.S. by passing a resolution, titled "Towards a National Student Strike for Palestine," at its annual conference on July 20. The goal of the planned strike is to force colleges and universities to divest from Israel and prohibit the punishment of any misdeeds perpetrated by pro-Hamas activists on college campuses. The resolution, which passed by a vote of 75 to 69 with five abstentions, also calls on local YDSA chapters to organize "Palestine Committees" that will train students on how to organize an anti-Israel campaign on their college campuses.

Another resolution urging local YDSA chapters to impose anti-Israel litmus tests on candidates for student government and candidates for Congress was passed by a much narrower margin of 73 to 72, with four abstentions. The delegates passed a third pro-Hamas resolution declaring that there is only one way to bring an end to the Israel-Palestinian conflict: "Intifada! Revolution!" This resolution passed with 91 percent support of the body. Given that thousands of Israelis have been killed under the banner of two intifadas over the past three decades, this YDSA is not uttering a slogan but calling for violence against Jews throughout the world.

These resolutions indicate that the YDSA, which said almost nothing about "Palestine" at its 2023 conference, has embraced the cause of pro-Hamas activism in the aftermath of the October 7 massacre — one of the worst acts of violence against Jews (and women) since the Holocaust. Nearly every one of the statements of YDSA members running for office at the convention affirms pro-Hamas activism. For example, Sean Bridge, a self-described "Self-identified Genderqueer Transfemme White Person" from the University of Cincinnati, declared that "Palestine is the issue of our time" and called on YDSA activists to be "clear eyed on Palestine" and to get as many YDSA chapters as possible to campaign "to get their universities to divest from Genocide."
US Reps. Ocasio-Cortez, Bowman, Omar Slapped With Lawsuit for ‘Inciting’ Columbia University Anti-Israel Encampment
Three progressive US lawmakers are facing a class-action lawsuit for allegedly “inciting” anti-Israel protests at Columbia University.

The lawsuit, filed by five anonymous students, names Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), Ilhan Omar (MN), and Jamaal Bowman (NY) — all members of the so-called “Squad” of far-left members of the House of Representatives — as key instigators of the “extreme and outrageous” anti-Israel protests on the Ivy League campus. The lawsuit also implicates nearly a dozen pro-Palestinian groups.

“The Gaza Encampment was extreme and outrageous conduct. It was illegal. It violated university rules. Its occupants harassed, followed, physically blocked, intimidated, and bullied Jewish students,” the lawsuit says.

Starting in mid-April, dozens of student organizers at Columbia University commandeered the South Lawn and erected an encampment in protest of Israel’s military campaign against the Hamas terror group in Gaza. The students vowed not to dismantle the encampment until the university agreed to boycott and divest from all Israel-related entities, including divesting from companies that do business with the Jewish state and cutting ties with Israeli universities.

The demonstration, which included chants in support of Hamas and calls for Israel’s destruction, quickly grew in numbers amid allegations that Columbia wasn’t doing enough to punish rampant antisemitism on campus.

The lawsuit argues that the three lawmakers were among the “outside champions” who encouraged the protests. The three progressives issued statements defending the at-times violent protesters and criticizing law enforcement.

“If any kid is hurt tonight, responsibility will fall on the mayor and [university] presidents,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X/Twitter on April 30.

Ocasio-Cortez, Bowman, and Omar each visited the encampments at Columbia University in a show of support for the campus agitators. Omar suggested that Jewish students critical of the Columbia University anti-Israel protests were “pro-genocide,” sparking a firestorm of outrage. Bowman defended the anti-Israel protests as “peaceful” and said he was “outraged” at Columbia administrators for calling in police officers to protect the campus.
UChicago Prof, the Brother of a Convicted Iranian Spy, Says Iran Has Nothing To Do With Anti-Semitic Campus Protests
A University of Chicago professor whose brother is a convicted Iranian spy dismissed the notion that Tehran has boosted anti-Semitic protests on U.S. college campuses. Next semester, that professor will teach students about "Zionist settler colonialism."

Alireza Doostdar, an associate professor of Islamic studies and dual United States-Iranian citizen, is slated to teach a course later this year on "liberatory violence" with a focus on "Zionist settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid," according to a copy of the class overview obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. His brother, Ahmadreza, was sentenced in 2020 to 38 months in prison for spying on Iranian dissidents as well as Jewish centers on behalf of the hardline regime.

Iran has also used campus protests to spread its tentacles in the United States, according to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, who issued a rare public statement in July asserting that the Iranian government has encouraged and paid protesters in the United States.

For Doostdar, such accusations are "ridiculous."

During a BBC News interview in May, Doostdar—a Faculty for Justice in Palestine member who supported unauthorized anti-Israel encampments on campus and was arrested during a "sit-in" protest in November—categorically denied that foreign entities such as Iran are supporting the protest movement in America. He also said he has "never heard anti-Semitic chants" at the University of Chicago, where Jewish students have been targeted with graffiti reading, "Zionist freakshow off our campus" and "Zionist IDF terrorists off our campus."

"This is a ridiculous claim," Doostdar said after a BBC host asked the professor if he had seen "any signs of foreign interference or extremism" in the anti-Semitic protest movement. He specifically targeted New York City mayor Eric Adams, a vocal critic of the protests who linked them to foreign influence efforts, saying the "NYPD has always had close ties to Israel and is still currently close."

"This is an allegation made by authoritarian states, when they frequently label protests as foreign conspirators, like what we see in Iran," Doostdar said. "What I see here at our university, the protests are very inclusive and diverse." Just two months later, Haines revealed that "Iranian government actors have sought to opportunistically take advantage of ongoing protests regarding the war in Gaza."
'The brand of Harvard has been damaged': Exploring antisemitism on US college campuses
In this episode of the 'Israel Unpacked' series by the Jerusalem Post and the Jewish National Fund-USA , Michael Starr, Diaspora Affairs Correspondent, engages with Rabbi David Wolpe to dissect misconceptions about anti-Semitism, focusing on its prevalence on US college campuses. Rabbi Wolpe, the Max Webb Emeritus Rabbi at Sinai Temple and scholar at Maimonides Fund and ADL, brings his extensive experience from his time at Harvard to shed light on the issue.

Describing the university's reaction as "tepid," Wolpe criticizes Harvard for allowing an encampment to take over the main thoroughfare of the campus, making Jewish students feel extremely uncomfortable. He recalls, "The idea, for example, that an encampment can take over Harvard Yard for weeks such that Jewish students were made extremely uncomfortable crossing the main thoroughfare of campus... did Harvard, I think, tremendous credibility in terms of its damage, in terms of its reputation."

When asked about the administration's handling of disciplinary actions, Wolpe is clear: suspensions and expulsions are not only warranted but essential. "The way that you signal that this behavior is not appropriate is not by saying this behavior is not appropriate, but by taking actions that demonstrate that the school won't tolerate this kind of behavior," he asserts.

Starr and Wolpe explore the rise of ideological zealotry on campuses like Harvard. Wolpe attributes this to a long history of progressive ideology filtering into academia, beginning in the 70s and 80s, significantly influenced by Soviet seeding of campuses with these ideologies. Additionally, funding from Middle Eastern countries like Qatar has encouraged certain positions among students and faculty, creating a "toxic brew" of hard leftist and Islamist resentment towards Jews and Israel.

For students entering college, Wolpe advises thorough research on campus atmospheres. "Go knowing what you're going to face and be ready, be prepared to push back if need be," he advises. He suggests considering universities that have shown strong support for Jewish students, stating, "There are so many colleges, Brandeis, Vanderbilt, Florida, many others that have opened their arms to the Jewish community."

Despite the current climate, Wolpe remains cautiously optimistic. He believes that exposing these issues can lead to positive changes. "I really think all ideological excesses, in the end, find their balance," he says. "My hope is that some of the ideological insanity that has seized some of our campuses will abate as people get older."


A Dallas School District Is Being Investigated for Antisemitism; Here’s How Other Schools Can Avoid That Fate
On July 15, 2024, the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) informed my organization that it opened a civil rights investigation into the Dallas Independent School District (“DISD”) in response to our complaint that a student was subjected to years of “severe, pervasive and persistent harassment” solely because of his Jewish identity.

The team at StandWithUs argued that DISD violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in federally-funded programs such as public schools.

After months of witnessing the harassment, receiving reports of discrimination, and being offered educational training by StandWithUs, DISD is only just now (hopefully) taking antisemitism seriously — and that is only because of legal force.

Here’s what happened:
In September 2023, we sent a letter to the principal of Hillcrest High School in Dallas and the DISD Superintendent urging them to address antisemitism and ignorance at the school, and offering our support.

We described one student’s experience — being called a “dirty Jew” and a “filthy kike,” being told by classmates “Bye kike, hope the Nazis grab you tonight,” and “go back to Auschwitz, you don’t belong here.” School leadership consistently ignored or downplayed the seriousness of these incidents. One teacher told the student, “You shouldn’t let antisemitism bother you so much.” Swastikas discovered on school property were simply covered up.

Despite our letter and subsequent meetings with school leadership, DISD allowed the hostile environment to continue. After exhausting all other administrative options, we submitted our complaint to the US Department of Education. The student bravely returned to school and was barraged with mistreatment by teachers and administrators.


Guardian 'correction' on ICJ genocide ruling still gets it wrong.
In an op-ed by Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi (“Nearly 21,000 children are missing in Gaza. And there’s no end to this nightmare”, June 27), it was claimed that “the ICJ…has ruled that South Africa’s claims of genocide are “plausible”. Following our complaint, the text was only slightly revised to “the international court of justice has found to be a “plausible risk of genocide“. Here’s the correction note:


This language is significantly different than the wording of the two previous corrections, which made it clear that the court did NOT rule on the merits of the charge, but only on the “plausibility” of the Palestinians’ right to be protected. If you search the full ICJ ruling document, you will see that there is no assertion that there is a “risk” of genocide occurring.

Similarly, on July 12, we complained about another piece which misrepresented the ICJ decision. The op-ed, by the outlet’s data editor Mona Chalabi (“Why researchers fear the Gaza death toll could reach 186,000″, July 12, which shamefully legitimised a fictitious allegation on the Gaza death count based on a non-peer reviewed letter in The Lancet, also alleged that the ICJ…ruled that South Africa’s claims of genocide are “plausible”.

In response to our complaint to that op-ed, editors again merely changed the wording from “claims of genocide” being “plausible” to “risks of genocide” being “plausible”. Here’s the misleading ‘correction’ note:


We contacted the Guardian to ask that the wording of both the text and the correction note be revised to accurately reflect the ICJ’s decision as outlined by the court’s former president.
Hill Times Columnist & Conspiracy Theorist Gwynne Dyer Spreads Shameless Disinformation Claiming 20 Palestinian Civilians Die For Each Hamas Terrorist
In his latest commentary in The Hill Times, London-based syndicated columnist and conspiracy theorist Gwynne Dyer dishonestly presented unsubstantiated Hamas propaganda as veritable truth, all while hiding his source from readers.

While his July 29 column, which was also published in The Telegram on July 31 entitled: “Gaza deaths are being used as a tragic pawn,” pointed out the obvious reality that Hamas happily uses its own people as human shields and that “nobody can say that Israel’s response was unprovoked” – facts that remains lost on many other columnists, Dyer’s column repeated unfounded Hamas disinformation with no attribution whatsoever.

Dyer’s opening line read that “the Palestinian death toll in the Gaza Strip since last October’s Hamas attacks on Israeli settlements will reach 40,000 people in the next week or so.” Hamas Attacked Sovereign Israeli Territory On October 7

In addition to using the highly charged and misleading term “settlement,” which created a false and misleading impression that Israeli towns near the Gaza boundary were in contested territory (they were not, other than by Hamas, which considers every inch of Israel to be theirs), Dyer offered no source for his claim of 40,000 deaths, let alone for his next line that the figure includes “around 50-100 civilians dead per day.”

The only source for the 40,000 claim is none other than Hamas, via its so-called “Gaza Ministry of Health,” an organization that exists entirely under the control of the Islamic terrorist group, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, does not include those killed by errant Palestinian rockets, includes those who died through natural means, and whose numbers are statistically improbable.

But Dyer, either through malice or ignorance, evidently finds it easier to simply present Hamas lies as truth and hide the details from readers.

Dyer showed that he is not content to simply parrot propaganda from a terrorist organization, and soon proceeded to apparently concoct information entirely out of thin air, writing that “five or 10 or 20 Palestinian civilians—about a third of them children—will die as collateral damage for every Hamas fighter who is eliminated.”

There is simply no factual basis for this preposterous claim.
Three Articles By CBC Reporter Yasmine Hassan Uncritically Regurgitate Anti-Israel Propaganda
Three recent news articles from CBC News written by reporter Yasmine Hassan have portrayed Israel as a villain and severely downplayed Hamas’ role in the suffering of Palestinians.

The first article, published on July 27 entitled: “Former Palestinian detainees detail accounts of abuse and torture while in Israeli jails,” described the alleged plight of a number of Palestinian prisoner and detainees under Israeli authority. The second article, published on July 29 entitled: “A highly contagious skin disease is spreading across parts of the Gaza Strip,” detailed some of the health issues plaguing people in Gaza as the Hamas-provoked war nears the 10-month mark, and a third entitled: “Gaza’s Health Ministry has declared a polio epidemic. What does it mean for the territory?” describes a non-existent health emergency in apocalyptic terms.

Yasmine Hassan’s Long Track Record Of Anti-Israel Bias
Hassan’s skewed reporting has been flagged by HonestReporting Canada in recent weeks.

In the July 27 article, Hassan reported accounts of alleged mistreatment of Gazan civilians at the hands of the Israeli police and military. One former prisoner claimed that she endured “various forms of mistreatment while in Israeli custody, including being blindfolded most of the day, no access to bathrooms and limited water and food.” Another alleged that he was held in a small room and repeatedly threatened with death by Israeli military personnel.

CBC News defines its approach to journalism as “reporting based on accuracy, fairness, balance, impartiality and integrity.” In a recent statement from the CBC Ombudsman, CBC News took pains to point out that “balance does not necessarily mean mathematical equivalency.” That is well understood, and a reasonable position. That said, an article that interviews several Palestinians who allege mistreatment, as well as Amnesty International, who have been vocal in the extreme in their criticism of Israel since Hamas’ terrorist attacks on October 7, ought to include more than a boilerplate statement from Israeli authorities to counter these serious allegations.

Perhaps the most important context that was missing from this article was that the Israeli military flatly denies campaigns of mistreating detainees, asserting that “abuse of detainees was illegal and against military orders. It said since the war began there have been cases where correctional staff have been dismissed for violating military rules in their treatment of detainees.”

In the state of Israel, the rule of law prevails, and the law forbids torture. The existential struggle in which Israel finds itself against Hamas means that individuals suspected of ties to the terrorist organization will be detained and questioned. But torture and other forms of mistreatment are not condoned and there are punishments for bad actors.

The same cannot be said for Hamas’ conduct in Gaza. It has been nearly 10 months and for dozens of Israeli hostages, there has been no communication, no proof of life, and certainly no assurance of their gentle treatment. The United Nations reported in March that there is proof that Hamas is torturing Israeli hostages. And yet Hassan did not see fit to provide this crucial context in her report on allegations of Palestinian mistreatment.
Le Devoir Columnist Claims Israel Is A Colonizer In Its Own Land
Sometimes a lie is spread so widely and so successfully that its proponents no longer even feel a need to attempt to present arguments for it, instead treating it completely self-evident.

And one lie stands above all else, namely that Israel, the Jewish State built upon three thousand years of Jewish presence in their own homeland, somehow has no legal basis to be there.

A July 30 opinion column in Le Devoir entitled: “Annexation, apartheid and an injunction ordering an end to the occupation of Palestine,” by Camille Marquis Bissonnette, who is – incredibly – a professor in the department of law at the University of Quebec in Outaouais, presented this ahistorical claim again and again.

In her column, Bissonnette repeatedly made reference to so-called “Palestinian land,” without specifying exactly how the land in question became Palestinian, given that there has never before been any Palestinian state. Judea and Samaria, often called the “West Bank” by news media outlets, was previously occupied by Jordan before Israel gained control of it in a defensive war in 1967, not by any mythical Palestinian state.

After having established the concept of so-called “Palestinian land” as a given, Bissonnette continued by accusing Israel of “colonization,” saying that Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria are “in violation of international law.”

The “Colonization” Libel
By cleverly throwing in the word “colonization” without definition, Bissonnette appears to be attempting to pull the wool over readers’ eyes, but under no definition can Israel’s presence in its historic and ancestral homeland be considered “colonization,” which refers to when a mother country settles a foreign land. But one cannot colonize one’s own land, and certainly when it is not done on the behalf of any ‘mother country,’ rendering the very idea that Israel colonizes anything to be patently absurd.

Perhaps one of the most dishonest statements made by Bissonette in her column is when, citing Israel’s counter-terrorism measures in Judea and Samaria meant to stop Palestinian terrorist attacks, she accused Israel of “racial segregation” against the Palestinians, labeling it “apartheid.”


Police to again probe Ehud Barak on alleged incitement, sedition
Israeli prosecutors are due to decide on whether to prosecute former Prime Minister Ehud Barak on new allegations of incitement and sedition, it emerged on Monday.

Speaking at an anti-government protest rally in Tel Aviv late last month, Barak urged the thousands present to engage in “nonviolent civil noncompliance.”

When Israeli lawmakers return from their summer/High Holiday recess on Oct. 28, “the revolt must be extended to a mass strike around the parliament together with opposition leaders until the government falls,” he told the crowd.

Authorities told the Israeli human-rights organization B’tsalmo, which filed the complaint against Barak, that an investigation file was opened with the Tel Aviv police.

“The authority to order the opening of an investigation into the crimes of incitement and sedition rests with the Department for Special Tasks in the State Attorney’s Office. After the police examine the case, it will be forwarded for review and a decision by the deputy state prosecutor for special tasks at the State Attorney’s Office,” the police wrote to B’tsalmo.

Shai Glick, CEO of B’tslamo, said, “The existing reality in which left-wing people repeatedly incite and riot while they aren’t even called in for questioning, while right-wing people have been sent to prison for much lesser things, is delusional and shows selective enforcement.

“We demand that the State Attorney’s Office immediately order that an indictment be filed against Ehud Barak,” Glick said.

Last year, police also investigated Barak’s calls for encouraging civil unrest to block Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s now-shelved judicial reforms.
Smotrich freezes $26m transfer to PA for its ‘wild incitement’
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday ordered the seizure of 100 million shekels ($26 million) in tax funds slated for the Palestinian Authority.

“The fight against terrorism is not only a military fight but a combined fight that includes a war against the wild incitement of the Palestinian Authority and the terrorist funds which it directs from its budget to the families of terrorists,” Smotrich tweeted.

He noted that since taking office he has moved to transfer funds destined for the P.A. to compensate families of the victims of terrorism.

Smotrich withheld 138.8 million shekels ($39.5 million) from the P.A. in January 2023 and 130 million shekels ($35 million) in June 2024. In both cases, the money was redirected to compensate victims of terrorism.

“There is no greater justice than using the funds for the victims of terror,” he said in January 2023. “The P.A. must stop its involvement in terror if it wants to survive. As long as it continues to encourage terror, it is our enemy and as such, what interest do we have to help it?”

On Sunday, Israel’s High Court of Justice heard a petition from the P.A. against legislation the Knesset approved in March, the “Benefits for Casualties of Hostile Acts Law,” which allows victims of terrorism and their families to collect benefits from those who reward acts of terrorism.

This includes the P.A., which boasts of its “Martyrs Fund,” which provides monthly stipends to terrorists and terrorists’ families.

It does not appear that the court will hold a hearing on the petition as it said there was no need to hear the position of the government or the Knesset on the matter.
IDF reinforces Green Line amid infiltration fears
The Israel Defense Forces has sent reinforcements to towns in the Sharon region along the country’s pre-1967 lines amid fears of terrorist infiltrations, Army Radio reported on Monday.

Troops were deployed to the Seam Zone communities following a warning about Palestinian ground attacks guided by Iran and Hamas.

The warning was received by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), which was mainly focused on terrorists from the Tulkarem area crossing the Green Line to carry out attacks.

Israeli Air Force strikes in the Tulkarem area of Samaria, which abuts the Green Line, killed nine Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists over the weekend, among them members of cells responsible for the murder of an off-duty soldier, a Border Police officer and a civilian, the Israel Defense Forces said on Sunday.

The counterterror operation in the Tulkarem area was launched following the targeted elimination of a terrorist squad on its way to carry out an attack, the military said.

Soldiers sent to communities in the Sharon area in recent days are positioned to provide an immediate response to any infiltration attempts.

Security officials told Army Radio: “Iran and Hamas are trying in every way to draw Israel’s attention to Judea and Samaria and cause an intifada to break out in the territories because they believe that this way they will succeed in preventing an Israeli attack in Lebanon. Judea and Samaria is once again threatening to become the main arena in the war.”

Rafi Saar, mayor of Kfar Saba and chairman of the Seam Line Municipalities Forum, told Army Radio: “We hear the outcry, but when we see what’s happening in the north and the south, it [the local threat] seems like a minor event. If there is an infiltration into the city, we will deal with it on our own.”
PMW: PA: 45,000 Palestinian illegals smuggled into Israel – One murdered two Israelis today
This morning, an Israeli man and woman were murdered by a Palestinian terrorist residing illegally in Israel.

While doing their morning workout, Rina Daniv was stabbed to death and her husband Shimon was critically injured by Palestinian terrorist Ammar Rizq Kamel Odeh. He then stabbed another two people—killing one of them and injuring the other—before being shot and killed by an Israeli policeman.

This highlights the great problem with Palestinians residing and working illegally in Israel, which, according to Secretary-General of the Palestine Labor Union Shaher Sa'ad number no less than 45,000!

Sa'ad recently explained that while 120,000 Palestinians have permits to work in Israel, 45,000 are here illegally. They pay between $410 to climb a ladder over Israel’s security fence or $680 to be smuggled in by car.

Clearly, not only workers come in but also terrorists.
Secretary-General of the Palestine Labor Union Shaher Sa'ad: “There are perhaps more than 120,000 [Palestinian] laborers with [Israeli work] permits… We are speaking about 45,000 [illegals] who are currently inside Israel and a number of laborers are arrested daily… The main thing is that he finds [work], even though the cost of his entry to Israel is very high. The ladder they climb over [the security fence] - they pay 1,500 shekels ($410). If he is smuggled in by car he pays between 2,000-2,500 shekels ($550-$680).”

[Official PA TV, The Economy Following the Attack, July 22, 2024]

According to Palestinian Authority law—the PA’s Pay-for-Slay policy, terrorist murderer Odeh’s family will now receive a one-time grant of 6,000 shekels ($1,592) in reward for his attack and 1,400 shekels/month ($371) for the rest of their lives being the relatives of a “Martyr” who died “struggling against the occupation.”
PMW: Terrorist murders two following Palestinian Authority TV call for genocide: Kill the Jews “one by one”
Yesterday, a Palestinian terrorist stabbed two Israelis to death—one by one, thus fulfilling the call by PA Shari’ah Judge Abdallah Harb just a month ago on Palestinian Authority TV that Allah should “strike [the Jews] and their allies” and “kill them one by one.”
PA Shari’ah Judge Abdallah Harb: “Allah, strike your enemies, the enemies of your religion… Allah, strike the aggressive Jews, strike them and their allies, O Master of the Universe, and those who support them both politically and with weapons and money. O Allah, kill them one by one, Allah count them and kill them one by one, and do not leave even one of them, O Master of the Universe.”

[Official PA TV Live, July 5, 2024]

Earlier in the war, the PA Shari’ah Judge endorsed terror, saying that “everything done by our people is an acceptable response.”
PA Shari’ah Judge Abdallah Harb: “For more than 75 years our people has been subjected to aggression, ever since the occupation (i.e., establishment of Israel) at the least. It is oppressed and suffering, and everything that is done by our people (i.e., including terror) is a response, and this response is acceptable. It is our right, and [our people] must not be reproached for this, and it must not be held accountable for this.”

[Official PA TV, May 31, 2024]

This is not the first time during the current war that PA and Fatah officials urge the murder of Jews and Israelis. On Oct. 7, 2023, after Hamas launched its terror war on Israel and committed a massacre, murdering over 1,100 Israelis, Fatah’s military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, called on Palestinians—and specifically the PA Security Forces—to slaughter Jews, “the sons of apes and pigs”:
Posted text: “Allahu Akbar (i.e., “Allah is greatest”), come to Jihad, come to Jihad.

To all our sons and brothers in the Palestinian [PA] Security Forces throughout the West Bank – today is your day.

Break into the settlements, strike the sons of apes of pigs, kill everyone who is a settler, slaughter everyone who is Israeli, by Allah, they are the most cowardly among men.

Today is a tiding of days of victory, Allah willing – for this is Jihad, Jihad, victory or Martyrdom.”

[The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades – Palestine the Occupied Land, Telegram channel, Oct. 7, 2023]

For three decades, Palestinian Media Watch has exposed that PA and Fatah support and glorify terror and financially reward it. Currently, Fatah is doing its outmost to recover its former position as leading in terror, bragging that it has more terrorists than Hamas.

Top Fatah official Jibril Rajoub has also urged Palestinians to murder Jews during the Gaza war. He instructed them to “set out against the settlers with all possible means”—a Palestinian term that includes the use of terror:
MEMRI: Hamas And Al-Jazeera, A Decades-Long Symbiotic Relationship
As the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza went on day after day, Al-Jazeera dubbed it "Gaza Resists" and used the phrase in all of its advertising and promos for continuing news coverage. Once the war seemed to die down and even end, the Qatari pan-Arab broadcaster switched from "Gaza Resists" to "Gaza has triumphed."

But this was not the current war in Gaza unleashed by Hamas on October 7, 2023, but a war a decade earlier – Operation Protective Edge – waged in July-August 2014. In this earlier conflict, the symbiotic relationship between Al-Jazeera and Hamas was in sharp relief as the broadcaster followed closely Hamas's own guidelines to the media on how to portray the conflict. The Hamas Ministry of the Interior and National Security had issued a video directive for "Facebook activists" to follow on reporting the war.[1] As The National Interest reported at the time, "the channel's Gaza coverage seems to have taken its cues from Hamas' own media playbook."[2]

The network not only provided wall-to-wall coverage of the war but also gave unstinting, positive, uncut, and premium coverage to Hamas leaders. This included a 40-minute speech and press conference by Hamas political leader Khalid Meshaal but also messages from Hamas's military wing and from the allied Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group. Such a scenario of collaboration between Hamas and Al-Jazeera would be repeated in subsequent years. In May 2021, after the end of two weeks of fighting between Hamas in Israel, Hamas political chief in Gaza Yahya Sinwar would be seen on Al-Jazeera giving a victory speech while praising the Qatari broadcaster as "the best pulpit to give the accurate voice to our position."[3]

But the historical record of Al-Jazeera's open support for Palestinian terrorist operations goes back much further. As early as November 1999, Al-Jazeera had invited Hamas leaders to talk about their "resistance" operations against Israel, and in doing so shattered the long-standing Arab media hegemony of Fatah and the PLO. In 2005, after the full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, Al-Jazeera carried footage of Hamas Friday sermons and military parades held in the abandoned Israeli compounds to celebrate the withdrawal.[4] This included remarks by Sheikh Nizar Rayyan, a cleric who was also a senior official in the military wing of Hamas: "The vanquishing of the enemy in Gaza does not mean that this stage has ended. We still have Jerusalem and the pure West Bank. We will not rest until we liberate all our land, all our Palestine. We do not distinguish between what was occupied in the 1940s and what was occupied in the 1960s. Our Jihad continues, and we still have a long way to go. We will continue until the very last usurper is driven out of our land."

At the same 2005 event, Hamas spokesman Mushir Al-Masri commented on Al-Jazeera that liberating Gaza was like liberating Tel Aviv, both were the same. He added a phrase that would become quite famous in the West in 2023: "the weapons of the resistance that you see here will remain, Allah willing, so that we can liberate Palestine – all of Palestine – from the [Mediterranean] Sea to the [Jordan] River, whether they like it or not."[5]

Indeed, the cause of Palestine would be a staple of Al-Jazeera coverage and the media campaigns built by the network around conflict in the Holy Land would be a constant. Other causes would come and go. In 2006, Al-Jazeera's championing of Hezbollah and Hassan Nasrallah during the Tammuz War with Israel succeeded in making the cleric a famous and beloved figure in the region, if only for a few years until Nasrallah sent his fighters into the Syrian Civil War on the side of the Assad regime.

Other media campaigns, especially in the early years after 2001, focused on fawning coverage of Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda and later the head of Al-Qaeda in Iraq (later to become the Islamic State or ISIS) Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. Just as there was a moment when Lebanon was the issue, Iraq had its moment, as did Egypt when Hosni Mubarak was overthrown and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood came to power. In all these incidences – Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, and many others – Al-Jazeera was always consistent, taking the side of the Islamist, anti-Western, and anti-Israel part, the hero in the network's narrative. And yet even when it came to Palestine, Palestinian officials, from the time of Arafat to this day, would sometimes complain that the Qatari network preferred the Islamists (Hamas) over the Palestinian Authority and its security forces.[6]

The bias should come as no surprise. It was baked in from the beginning. Both Hamas and Al-Jazeera come from the same root, from various iterations of the regional Muslim Brotherhood political organization. Hamas, officially dating from December 1987, was a Palestinian offshoot of local Islamist groups heavily influenced by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. Al-Jazeera, launched in November 1996, began from a cell of staffers initially hired and then fired by BBC Arabic.
Palestinians ❤ Hamas
By hailing Haniyeh as a "great leader," Abbas and his Palestinian Authority cohorts are sending a message to all Palestinians that the murderous Hamas leader is their role model.

[T]he Biden-Harris administration and those who continue to talk about the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.... must be reminded that Haniyeh, who is being praised by Abbas and the PA as a "great leader," belongs to a group that has long been waging a Jihad (holy war) to murder Jews and destroy Israel – and that does not have the slightest intention of being "revitalized."

Abbas and other Palestinian Authority leaders have once again demonstrated their preference to ally with Islamist terror groups such as Hamas rather than to secure a brighter future for their own people. Abbas and the PA have also once again served as a reminder that they share the same goal as Hamas: glorify terrorism and destroy Israel.


In Iraq, a Law That Can ‘Legalize Pedophilia’ Is on the Table
Critics say that the amendment, which would create separate family law tracks for Sunni and Shiite Iraqis, would allow legal child marriage and harm women’s status

A proposed amendment to Iraq’s Personal Status Law is causing controversy, especially among women’s rights supporters. The amended law would allow men to decide upon marriage whether to follow Sunni or Shiite family law and would give clerics unprecedented legal authority. Critics say it would deprive Shiite women of basic rights and even open the door to child marriage.

The draft amendment would change inheritance law in Iraq by mandating that inheritance operate by sect. Under the current law, which is based on Sunni inheritance customs, a woman whose husband dies inherits his estate. The amended law would allow women in Sunni marriages to inherit from their husbands but would ban women in Shiite marriages from doing so, in accordance with Shiite custom.

Custody law is also differentiated by sect under the amendment. Sunni custody customs, which currently apply to all Iraqis, mandate that a divorced woman maintain custody of her children until they reach puberty, at which point the children can decide which parent to live with. Under Shiite law, the children’s father automatically receives custody unless he chooses otherwise.

A woman seeking divorce from a Shiite man under the amended law would be forced to pay a sum of money to her husband to end the marriage. In current Iraqi family law, based on Sunni custom, a woman can request a separation and be granted a divorce by a judge if she provides adequate justification.

One of the most controversial effects of the amended law would be the legalization of “pleasure marriage,” a concept unique to the Shiite sect. A pleasure marriage, known in Arabic as nikah mut’ah, is a temporary marriage that can last as little as an hour. Unlike a permanent marriage, a pleasure marriage does not require registration in court or the presence of witnesses.

Critics say that the legalization of pleasure marriage would be devastating to the status of Shiite women and could be used to legitimate child marriage and prostitution.

Iraqi nongovernmental organizations, human rights activists, lawyers, Sunni clerics, and many political parties have heavily criticized the amendment. But the ruling Shiite coalition, known as the Coordination Framework, insists on passing the amendment, as do Iraq’s Shiite clerics.
Will Israel conduct assassinations inside Turkey?
The July 31 assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps guesthouse in northern Tehran shocked Iran. The strike occurred just hours after Haniyeh met Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and newly installed President Masoud Pezeshkian. Khamenei vowed revenge.

Israel’s supporters lauded Haniyeh’s death. His assassination showed both Israel’s intelligence dominance and its ability to act precisely over vast distances. While analysts focus on how Israel pulled off the assassination and speculate about how Iran might retaliate, another question looms.

If Israel is willing to conduct assassinations of terrorists inside Iran, where else might it act? Haniyeh traveled to Iran from his home in Qatar. He felt secure in both countries. He believed Iran was a bridge too far and Israel would never risk its retaliation. As for Qatar, he believed the Persian Gulf sheikhdom’s diplomatic role as mediator between Israel and Hamas immunized him.

With regard to Qatar, he was not wrong. Qatar was a safe haven. For better or worse, neither Israel nor the United States has been ready to act against the militants and terrorists who call Qatar home. Rather than sanction Qatar or designate it as a state sponsor of terrorism, President Joe Biden named Qatar a major non-NATO ally, giving it an endorsement not bestowed upon even Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates.

Qatar is not the only regional country where Hamas believes it can act with impunity. Jordan today also remains largely off-limits to Israeli assassinations after a botched 1997 attempt on Khaled Mashal, Haniyeh’s predecessor, during Benjamin Netanyahu’s first stint as Israel’s prime minister. At the time, Jordanian King Hussein threatened to sever diplomatic relations with Israel if Netanyahu did not provide an antidote to the poison that had caused Mashal to fall into a coma. Under pressure from the U.S., Netanyahu not only sent the necessary medicine but also released a number of high-profile Hamas prisoners.

After Israel was caught, relations with Jordan were too fragile to risk future operations. Jordan, however, would not remain a safe haven. In 1999, after succeeding his father, King Abdullah II expelled Mashal and his top colleagues, convinced that continuing to shelter Hamas was a risk too great to bear.

Qatar and Jordan might have been off-limits to Israeli assassinations, and Iran too up until Haniyeh’s death, but Europe was a different story. European moral equivalence, progressivism, and naivete made the continent a playground for Palestinian and Islamist terrorists alike. Diplomats might denounce both terrorists’ tactics and their attacks, but, when push comes to shove, they do little to stop them. Israeli officials know they are unlikely to be caught operating inside Europe, but, even if they are, consequences will be minimal. In the war against terrorism, neither terrorists nor their targets take European diplomats seriously.

A big question mark now hangs over Turkey. In 1949, Turkey became the first Muslim country to recognize Israel. Under Turgut Ozal’s tenure as prime minister and president from 1983 to 1993, the security partnership between Israel and Turkey grew strong. There could be no discussion of carrying out assassinations on Turkish soil because Turkey would never host terrorists.


Facing family tragedy, online antisemitism, US wrestler Amit Elor vies for gold in Paris
Amit Elor hasn’t lost a wrestling match in five years. When the California native steps onto the Olympic mat on Monday as a gold-medal contender, she will carry the scars born of her personal life and of her Israeli heritage.

Elor is the youngest US Olympic wrestler in history. She has already won eight world championships. She also leads a new generation of female wrestlers who have grown up with Olympic aspirations: Women’s wrestling was added to the Games in 2004, the year Elor was born.

Like many young athletes, Elor has chronicled her efforts on Instagram and TikTok, where she posts regularly about her training regimen, her injuries, her attempts to make weight and, of course, her many international victories.

She has been more subtle, however, about posting about her Jewish identity, especially after the October 7 onslaught on Israel, her parents’ homeland and where her extended family still lives. Each of her grandfathers came to Israel after the Holocaust, one after surviving concentration camps as a young teen and the other after narrowly evading the Nazis by fleeing to Russia with his family as a child.

“I was shocked by the October 7 brutal Hamas attack and deeply saddened and concerned about everything that followed,” she told Israeli news source Ynet. “The enormous pain, suffering, and loss is unbearable. If my wrestling at the Olympics can bring even just a little joy in Israel, it will make all the hard work and sacrifices worth it and extra special. I am an American proudly wrestling for the US, but in my heart, I am also wrestling for Israel.”

After carefully posting a few apolitical messages that were intended to convey hope and strength after the deadly massacre, Elor received several “horrifying, scary messages,” she said, “even death threats, people telling me they were my fan but now they hope things happen to me. After that, it lit this fear in me, a bit. It’s very worrisome.”

She noted that wrestling is popular in Iran, a sworn enemy of Israel. Even people she thought were fans there turned negative.

“I even posted simple things, like ‘Happy Hanukkah’ or writing my name in Hebrew — not saying anything political at all — and I already get quite a few comments,” she said, like “‘Free Palestine,’ or ‘Oh, your people.’ I remember one comment, someone was writing, ‘You missed one.’ I think they think it’s funny.”

Elor said she was proceeding carefully as she decided what and where to post going into the Olympics.

“It’s important for me to be true to myself. I want to be real,” Elor said. “Everything in me wanted to speak up and express how I feel about the situation, but there are things I completely avoid — especially after 1972 in Munich, what happened to Israeli athletes. It’s just not smart for me at the moment.”
International Olympic Committee may probe Israel judoka over online posts supporting IDF
The International Olympics committee is reviewing online posts by Israeli judoka and medalist Peter Paltchik and may launch an investigation, Swiss media reported on Monday. The committee said it is in contact with Israeli Olympics committee officials over a "sensitive matter," but would not elaborate.

Paltchik won the bronze medal Thursday evening in the up to 100 kg category at the Olympics in Paris.

In his posts, Paltchik praised IDF soldiers fighting in Gaza and images of artillery shells with the message "from me with pleasure." Yael Arad, head of Israel's Olympic committee, said Paltchik did not write on the shells himself and had deleted those posts on his own accord.

"This was not against any country, it was against the Hamas terror organization," she said.

Paltchik won the bronze medal in the up to 100 kg competition in judo last week, his second Olympic medal after he won the team medal in Tokyo 2020. His coach is Oren Smadja, whose son Omer was killed in battle in Gaza less than two months ago, and the photos of both of them hugging at the end of the battle for the bronze medal moved everyone. Paltchik defeated the Swiss judoka Daniel Eich to win the bronze medal.He was the flag bearer of the Israeli delegation at the opening ceremony of the Olympics, together with swimmer Andi Morz.

Paltchik burst into tears at the end of the bronze medal match : "I did it for everyone, for all the people of Israel. For Oren, for Daniel, my dear wife, and for my children. I can't describe the feelings in words. Nothing has ever been easy for me. At this time we are going through in the country, I just wanted everyone to be proud of me, that I fought for them, for their flag."


Taekwondo medalist Avishag Semberg set to face Saudi athlete at Olympics
Returning taekwondo medalist Avishag Semberg will face Saudi athlete Dunya Abutaleb in her first match in the women’s under-49kg weight class at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Wednesday, according to the brackets released today.

In the past, Saudi athletes have refused to face Israeli competitors in international competitions, including the Olympics. Tensions are particularly high at the moment against the backdrop of the ongoing Israeli war against Hamas in Gaza. Last week, an Algerian judoka showed up overweight to his weigh-in, forfeiting his match against Israel’s Tohar Butbul.

Semberg could potentially face opponents from Iran, Tunisia, Morocco or Turkey in future rounds.

At the Tokyo Games four years ago, Israeli judoka Raz Hershko made history when she faced off against and later embraced Saudi opponent Tahani Al-Qahtani.
Florida teacher, honored by Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, wants to teach Shoah ‘continuously’
Mary Ellen Richichi, a non-Jewish middle-school teacher in the Florida public school system, grew up immersed in Holocaust education. Her father, who served in the U.S. military during the Cold War, was always watching History Channel documentaries about World War II.

“I’ll never forget, I was probably about 7 or 8, and he said to me, ‘Holocaust and World War II is one of the events you need to know and never forget,’” Richichi told JNS.

Her father passed what she called his extensive immersion in history on to her, which led her to “want to know more and just read as much information as I can about it.”

Richichi is passing that curiosity—particularly, about the Holocaust—along to her students at Independence Middle School in Jupiter, Fla. And as a result, the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous recently recognized her for that instruction with its 2024 Eduard Sonder Award.

“Mary Ellen is an exceptional educator who has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to teaching the Holocaust,” stated Stanlee Stahl, executive vice president of the nonprofit, which provides financial support to Righteous Gentiles who saved Jews during the Holocaust.

“Great work, Mrs. Richichi!” Independence Middle School said. “We are grateful for the education and experiences you bring to the students.”

Not only that: Along with a group of other educators, she was chosen as a 2024 Alfred Lerner Fellow and participated in the JFR’s Summer Institute for Teachers, an intensive five-day course this past June delving into the complex history of the Holocaust and discussing new teaching techniques for introducing the subject into their classrooms.




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