Wednesday, November 20, 2024

11/20 Links Pt2: Why they refuse to see Jews as victims; Hamas' sexual crimes: Uncollected evidence come to light; Twitch star: 'Cheerleading for terrorism'

From Ian:

Brendan O'Neill: Why they refuse to see Jews as victims
It was the speed with which the racism fearmongers became racism deniers that was most unnerving. Virtually overnight, as men whose only crime was their Jewishness were still being patched up in Amsterdam hospitals, the preening racism denouncers of what passes for the Euro-left were saying this wasn’t racism. The very people who see racism everywhere could not see it here, in the broken teeth, black eyes and bloodied faces of Israelis who became the prey of a self-described Jew hunt earlier this month in Amsterdam. Confronted with beaten, bruised Jews, they said, for the first time I can remember, ‘Maybe it wasn’t a hate crime. Maybe it was something else.’

It has been extraordinary. The people who wring their hands over the racial microaggression of asking a woman in African garb ‘Where are you from?’ were positively blasé about the racial macroaggression of a mob smashing in a man’s face because he ‘helped a Jew’. The people who cry ‘Islamophobia!’ when a schoolkid lightly scuffs a page of the Koran struggled to see the Judeaophobia in a gang of self-styled Jew-hunters accosting men and asking them: ‘Are you Yehudi? Are you Jewish?’ The people who madly insist that every tabloid piss-take of Meghan Markle is an act of unforgivable ‘racist bullying’ refused to accept that ‘Jew hunters’ on mopeds who fired fireworks at Israelis might have been racist bullies.

The zeal of the downplayers felt alarming. There are prominent British and American leftists who for a whole week devoted every waking hour to disproving the claim that Israeli Jews were the victims of a mass, coordinated racist attack. The moral energy they normally reserve for proving that the West is institutionally racist they now expended on proving that a pogrom did not take place in Amsterdam. That was their main beef: the use of that p-word by Dutch and Israeli politicians, Jewish groups and sections of the media. ‘There were no “anti-Semitic pogroms” in Amsterdam’, they cried, as noisily as they normally cry that racism is the disease our societies will never shake off.

On the rubble of the ‘pogrom’ – their scare quotes – that they feverishly rebutted, they built a new narrative. It was the visiting Israeli Jews, the brutes and bigots who support Maccabi Tel Aviv, who really instigated the violence. They were the real racists. They brought the ‘spirit of Israeli facism’ to Amsterdam. It was these ‘marauding gangs’ of foreign fans who carried out a ‘racist rampage’, cried the BDS movement. They tore down a Palestinian flag, they made offensive anti-Arab chants – ‘incitement to genocide’. These thugs embody ‘the most fascistic, right-wing, racist, misogynist elements of Israeli political culture’, said one observer. The Israeli disease, infecting Europe.

And in this retelling, in this ruthless confiscation of the rights of victimhood from the Israelis battered for being Israelis, the ‘Jew hunt’ came to be reimagined as ‘street justice’. That’s how one left-wing commentator in the UK referred to the hunting and assaulting of the visiting fans – these ‘notoriously thuggish’ football followers started a fight in the Dutch capital and ‘the street justice [was] swift’. You know who else thought that beating Jews to a pulp was a ‘just’ response to alleged misbehaviour by other members of their ‘race’? I’m not even going to say. It’s too easy.

It has added up to one of the most pitiless dismantlings of a people’s experience of racism that I can remember. The very activist class that insists we respect the ‘truth’ of what ethnic-minority people tell us were now giddily shredding the truth of what happened on the streets of Amsterdam, of this jodenjacht organised via Telegram and visited on anyone in the city that night who looked Israeli or Jewish or who just helped a Jew. And here’s the worst thing: the dismantling has been successful. These radicals’ jealous, furious chipping away at the Israeli Jews’ experience of racial hatred has had the desired effect: more people are backing off from the word pogrom. Now even the political class and media elites wonder out loud if it was just a scrap, no big deal, nothing to trouble the history books with.
Kassy Akiva: Ketanji Brown Jackson To Headline Event Featuring Activists Who Justified October 7
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is set to headline a conference in Boston this week that will also feature activists who justified Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.

Jackson will deliver a Thursday keynote address at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) convention. Representing educators from K-12 to college, the 100-year-old organization adopted a 2017 vision calling on members to “apply the power of language and literacy to actively pursue justice and equity.”

The four-day-long convention, which has the theme “Heart, Hope, Humanity,” will also include Sawsan Jaber and Hannah Moushabeck, two activists who have been outspoken in justifying Hamas’s October 7 attack multiple times.

Jackson faced criticism during her confirmation hearings for her membership in Harvard’s Black Student Association, which invited anti-Semitic speaker Leonard Jeffries to speak during her time at the school. Jackson told Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-NC) that she did not attend Jeffries’ speech and does not share his views.

Mika Hackner, a Senior Research Associate for the Jewish Institute For Liberal Values, said it is “distasteful and unconscionable” that NCTE put Jackson in a position where she will be appearing at an event with anti-Israel activists.

“A Supreme Court justice, a representative of the highest court in our land, charged with protecting the laws and values of our liberal democracy, should not be sharing any kind of engagement or platform with activists who promote the view that Hamas are “legitimate resistance,” Hackner said.

Hackner noted that several sessions as a whole focus on “using education as a tool of social justice activism.”
Canadian-Israeli philanthropist Sylvan Adams challenges Roger Waters to debate
Roger Waters, co-founder of the renowned British rock group Pink Floyd, who has become notorious for his outspoken anti-Israel and antisemitic statements in recent years, may have met his match in Sylvan Adams, the noted Canadian-Israeli philanthropist who made aliyah in 2015 who bills himself as Israel’s “self-appointed ambassador-at-large.”

In October, Adams appeared on the CJN Daily podcast of the Canadian Jewish News, in which he discussed the anti-Israel protests that took place at McGill University in Montreal and the defacement of the $30 million Sylvan Adams Sports Science Institute which he donated to the school – the largest-ever gift to a Canadian university campus.

In the course of the podcast, Adams, who has long promoted Israel to the world through sports, music, and culture, expressed an interest in initiating a commemorative concert after the Swords of Iron War that would feature the two remaining members of Pink Floyd – who have repudiated Waters’ antisemitic views – and Irish musician Bono, who condemned the October 7 attack.

Ideally, he said, the concert would be held in Re’im, where hundreds of Israeli youth were massacred at the Nova Music Festival on October 7.

In response to Adams’ podcast, Waters penned an article that appeared on a progressive Canadian website called “rabble,” in which he termed Adams a “looney Zionist billionaire who thinks that he can reunite Pink Floyd to promote and celebrate the genocide of the Palestinian people.” He called Adams a “racist supremacist” and suggested that he lacked the courage to participate in a debate to discuss whether Israel’s actions in the war could be defined as genocidal.

Waters also accused Adams of bringing Madonna and the Argentine national soccer team to appear in Israel as an attempt to “whitewash Israeli apartheid.”

Speaking with the Jerusalem Post, Adams said, “He accuses me of being a looney Zionist billionaire. I don’t think I’m looney, and I don’t think that being called a Zionist is an insult. I think that Zionism, the love of our Jewish homeland of Israel, and appreciation for our 3,500-year magnificent journey is a beautiful story of a persecuted yet indestructible people who achieved something seemingly impossible by returning home. If Roger Waters thinks that Zionism is a dirty word, I vehemently disagree. It’s simple Jewish nationalism for our homeland of Israel. Not only am I not ashamed, I’m extremely proud and proud to call myself a Zionist.”


Jonathan Greenblatt: Antisemitic attacks in Europe are a dire warning to Jews in US. We may be next
What I saw, heard and felt in Europe has been nothing short of appalling, and it should serve as an alarm bell for everyone in the United States – we’re next. This kind of terror easily could easily spread and appear on our shores.

As some ask themselves how this happened, it’s clear to me. Anti-Zionist calls for Israel’s eradication have not only paved the way for antisemitism but also provide a rationale for it.

That is because Zionism – supporting Israel’s right to exist - is indivisible from Jewish identity. And so, slandering the Jewish state as illegitimate or evil easily extends to the notion that all Jews, by association, are illegitimate and evil.

As populations across Europe are increasingly radicalized by anti-Zionist propaganda flooding their news and social media feeds through platforms like Al Jazeera or TikTok, we shouldn’t be surprised when violent imagery explodes into real violence.

In the United States, it began with campus protests. Then it extended to faux wanted posters and red triangles defacing synagogues and homes. Now, months later, what remains are the core organizations that openly embrace the hate-filled, violent ideologies of Hamas, the Iranian regime and Hezbollah.

As history has shown us time and time again, antisemitism starts with the Jews – but never ends with the Jews. It is a virus that eventually will sicken entire societies. It will destroy everything in its path.

Amsterdam was a warning. America will be next. For all our sakes, it is time for leaders to act before it’s too late.
Police force at centre of Allison Pearson row did not investigate controversial imam
The police force at the centre of the Allison Pearson row has not investigated a controversial imam who called for “Zionists” to be destroyed.

Users of X, formerly Twitter, alerted Essex Police to comments by Shaykh Shams Ad-Duha Muhammad after footage of him calling for “punishment” of those who support the existence of Israel was posted.

The imam’s remarks came during a sermon at Hamptons Sports and Leisure Centre, in Chelmsford, last year. On Monday, Essex’s police, fire and crime commissioner had been due to speak at the same leisure centre before the address was cancelled with 90 minutes notice.

Users responding to the post tagged Essex Police’s X account, urging it to “investigate”, but the force said this cannot be used as a report of a crime.

Essex Police has come under scrutiny over its decision to investigate Pearson, a Telegraph columnist, over an allegedly offensive tweet a year ago.

Two officers visited her home on Remembrance Sunday and invited her for an interview over “an incident or offence of potentially inciting racial hatred online”.

She is being investigated under section 17 of the Public Order Act 1986, relating to material allegedly “likely or intended to cause racial hatred” over a tweet on Nov 16 last year.

It can now be revealed that, three days before Pearson tweeted, the footage of Ad-Duha Muhammad’s comments was flagged to the force on social media.

Speaking in Arabic, he called in prayer: “O Allah, destroy the Zionists who fight your allies and obstruct your path. O Allah, seize them with a mighty and powerful grip, O Lord of the worlds, and unleash upon them your punishment that cannot be repelled by the criminal people.”

In the footage, viewed more than 6,000 times, he called for Allah to “defeat the enemy” and to “support their fighters” and to “grant us victory over the disbelieving people”.

In another clip, in which he spoke in English, he said the word jihad had been “polluted” in “the age of counter-terrorism”, and appeared to suggest that fighting against Israel in Gaza was “virtuous”.
Imam’s ‘destroy Jewish homes’ sermon is not a crime, say police
The Metropolitan Police have said that an imam who led a prayer for the destruction of Jewish homes "did not meet the threshold of a crime” in a decision that has baffled security experts.

Just two weeks after Hamas’s massacre in southern Israel last year, a preacher at an east London mosque – located near a sizeable Jewish community – told his followers: “Oh Allah, curse the Jews and the children of Israel. Oh Allah, curse the infidels and the polytheists.

“Oh Allah, break their words, shake their feet, disperse and tear apart their unity and ruin their houses and destroy their homes.”

Footage of the sermon by the preacher was broadcast in late 2023 as part of an investigation into antisemitic hate speech in British mosques. In response, police said they would examine the video.

A spokesperson for the Met has now told the JC that despite the fact that “many people found the content upsetting… the entire sermon, including the wording, context and narrative have been reviewed and officers concluded that it does not meet the threshold of a crime”.

The government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, Lord Mann, urged the force to “re-investigate” and said he would be “raising the details of this specific case with the policing minister”.

Jewish security group Community Security Trust (CST), which has a close and cooperative relationship with the police, said that many Jews would “struggle to understand” the decision, while a former policeman suggested this was a sign of “two-tier policing” that followed different rules for different communities.

It comes after Essex Police prompted uproar over their decision to launch a criminal investigation into a tweet by Allison Pearson, a journalist at The Daily Telegraph.

The Guardian reported that the tweet, which was posted after Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel last year, featured an image of two Asian men holding the flag of a Pakistani political party flanked by smiling police officers.

Pearson accused the Met of double standards, saying that officers had refused to pose with a British Friends of Israel banner but happily did so with people she described as “Jew haters”.

In fact, the men in the image were delegates from Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan’s political party, and were posing a year earlier with the Greater Manchester Police, not the Met. Pearson deleted her post the next day.
The police handle crimes against Jews strangely leniently
The news that the Metropolitan Police has decided to take no further action against an Imam at an east London mosque who led a prayer for the destruction of Jewish homes does not come as a surprise.

But it’s ironic that it should follow so quickly on the heels of Essex Police’s investigation into Allison Pearson for a year-old tweet in which she accused the Met of double standards, saying that officers refused to pose with a British Friends of Israel banner but happily did so with some South Asian men holding up a green and red flag whom she described as “Jew haters”.

In fact, the men in the image were not pro-Hamas protesters celebrating the October 7 massacre but delegates from Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan’s political party, and were posing a year earlier with the Greater Manchester Police, not the Met. But she had a point: why were police officers allowing themselves to be photographed next to men holding up a PTI flag, given the party’s history of tolerating antisemitism? In 2020, PTI’s vice-chairman, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, then Pakistan’s foreign minister, described Jews as having “deep pockets” and said they “control the media”.

In spite of the fact that Pearson deleted the tweet the following day, Essex Police are still investigating her more than a year later. Indeed, it’s been escalated to Gold Command status by the Chief Constable, a category usually reserved for the most serious crimes such as terror attacks. It seems that criticising the police – or accusing the PTI of harbouring antisemites, it isn’t clear which – is a far graver matter in their eyes than calling for the destruction of Jewish homes.

According to the Guardian, the claim that Britain suffers from two-tier policing is a “myth” put about by the “far right”. But as several people pointed out when the newspaper made this charge, the Guardian has published numerous articles accusing the authorities of two-tier policing when it comes to race and sexuality. In other words, it’s a truth universally acknowledged that the police are racist and sexist, but to accuse them of being more relaxed about antisemitism than Islamophobia is a conspiracy theory. Sounds like two-tier reporting.

The fact that you’re less likely to be prosecuted for antisemitism than you are for stirring up other forms of racial hatred is hard to dispute. At the Free Speech Union, the advocacy group I run, we’re currently defending a man who is due to stand trial in February for posting an allegedly Islamophobic video on Facebook. We are also appealing the sentences of two people who received serious jail time for saying supposedly inflammatory things in the wake of the Southport attack.

Contrast their fate with that of the men arrested in 2021 for allegedly being part of a convoy driving through East Finchley and nearby areas in cars draped with Palestinian flags, from which people were heard calling for the rape and murder of Jews. Four were initially charged with using “threatening, abusive or insulting words” that were likely to stir up racial hatred, but the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided there was no realistic prospect of a conviction.


Hamas' sexual crimes: Uncollected evidence come to light
In the chaos at the IDF's Shura base on the days following the October 7 massacre, bodies of the murdered – soldiers, civilians and the occasional body that, after examination, turned out to be that of an abominable Nukhba terrorist, were piling up.

On one body alongside grenades, they found an open packet of condoms. “I read about this in the newspaper. It was part of a journal kept by a guy from Shura,” says leading Israeli lawyer, Prof. Yifat Bitton. “Our investigator contacted him and asked, ‘Tell me, did you report this to anyone?’ He said, ‘No. We had to deal with neutralizing the grenades. Why should I be dealing with condoms?’”

What might have been regarded on the ground as a rather marginal detail, for Prof. Bitton leading the struggle for recognition of Hamas’s sexual offenses, it was a warning sign. “For me, a terrorist with condoms indicates sexual offense. Maybe the packet of condoms was on him because he’d had consensual sex just before that, and the box had simply remained in his pocket.

"However as, in the wave of terrorist incursion incidents, we have no way of verifying this, and as we know that when armed men are in an environment where women are helpless, there’s a very high risk of sexual harm, these condoms may attest to sexual assault. If Hamas can, they’re welcome to prove otherwise. Until October 7, we hadn’t seen sexual assault as part of organized Hamas operations. This perception, however, needs to change.”

What does this story prove in terms of our investigations? That condoms are marginal to grenades?

“Not just marginal. It’s about seeing an outright indication right before your eyes, and erasing it from your mind. Not just because it’s not important.

"Yes, some people thought it was less important - like the senior Division of Identification and Forensic Science (DIFS) official who told me, ‘Listen, when I have the worst crime of all, murder, I don’t have to, and can’t, deal with this too.' But what they were looking at was sexual offense. Conditions also play a role: under any other circumstances, I’d examine the body in great detail, but I had 500 more bodies waiting in line.”

The mass of bodies meant you couldn’t tell the whole story.

“Yes. Everyone in the Hell that was Shura had a very specific task in identifying the bodies. They remained within the area and didn’t leave it. Either their eyes didn’t look over the entire body, or they did, and decided that they couldn’t really see it and couldn’t deal with it. Psychologists we interviewed told us that this is how it works – so as to protect the workers’ mental health from permanent damage. But this, apparently minor, story is a new way of looking at what happened here.”


British-Israeli daughter of Gaza hostages gives moving speech at JLM annual meeting
Jewish Labour Movement leaders have praised a “moving and inspirational” speech given by Sharone Lifschitz, the British-Israeli daughter of Gaza hostages, at the group’s Annual General Meeting.

Addressing Monday’s meeting Sharone Lifschitz – whose 85-year-old mother, Yocheved, was among the first hostages to be freed by the terror group Hamas after October 7, but whose 84-year-old father, Oded remains in Gaza – read out a heartbreaking letter in her possession from the father of another hostage.

Yehiel Yehud had written to his 28 year old daughter Arbel who was also taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7.

In the letter, which Arbel’s father had also read in the Knesset, her father begs her:”Don’t break down, because as long as we know you are full of hope, it gives us strength for the struggle, which focuses on Prime Minister Netanyahu who refuses to see you as his daughter, because he is afraid the government will fall because of ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. Their threats are made in public all the time, while in meetings with me they commit to working for your release.”

The letter continued:”Arbali, please know that the majority of the country’s citizens want your release. I ask you to know that people are working in the world and in Israel for this. Don’t break down, my love, My heart, don’t let your heart break, hold on, for us. Love and wait, mom and dad.”

Arbel’s brother, Dolev was murdered by Hamas terrorists during the massacre.

Respected academic Lifschitz also talked to JLM members about her own father, the journalist and lifelong peace activist, Oded.

Sharone said: “My father would give his life gladly to save the life of Arbel or Sasha. He is humble and caring and believes in working now for a future we can recognise. He believes in young people who have a life ahead of them: his community’s children and young people but also the young people of our region.

“I ask you in light of all the devastation, to remain clear headed. I ask in light of such antidemocratic and anti-liberal forces rising around us, to remain clear headed and compassionate. I ask you to remember we are all human. And then I ask to keep your heart soft towards us, our devastation has not eased. We are still fighting for our loved ones as we did on day one.”


Columbia Needs Countercultural Leadership
Where do we go from here?
The first step is to define what a university is, the parties that make it up, and the responsibilities each of those parties has in serving the institution’s purpose.

Universities are homes for the study of the essential liberal values and ideas of our society. But they are not democracies. University presidents and high-ranking administrators hold their roles to develop and safeguard a flourishing community of teaching, learning, and research. When leaders prove consistently incapable of ensuring a satisfactory learning environment — even after changes in personnel — it’s clear that deep, structural flaws are working against them. These flaws must be corrected. High-level university stakeholders, including Columbia’s trustees — the ultimate keepers of our university — should seriously consider campus-governance reform with the objective of empowering strong executive leadership.

An initial step would be the formation of an independent committee to investigate the structural failures that have left Columbia students vulnerable, and the Columbia administration stuck in the mud, over the greater part of the past two years. This committee could include campus leaders from other universities that have been able to effectively ensure safe and productive campus learning environments, to share what they have learned. Once this committee publicly presents a report and recommendations, reform can begin, with the end goal of a community in which the character of our leaders matter as much as the title of their positions, and they can shape and suffuse our campus with their values.

Once university leaders are positioned to act on their values, rather than as figureheads, they should use their power to create a new covenant for their communities of learning. A university administration has a sacred responsibility to guarantee a physically safe and intellectually rigorous learning environment, in which students may not harass one another or otherwise shirk the civility appropriate to this community. Campus protests that violate the university’s time, place, and manner regulations are not a free-speech issue; they violate content-neutral conduct policies. The language of the covenant must clearly distinguish when and where free speech crosses over into harassment and policy violations, and the administration must be prepared to enforce those lines by which all parties have agreed to abide.

This must apply to faculty and staff as well: Voluntarily entering this community means accepting its terms of discourse. The covenantal commitments should be written into contracts, and consequences for violating them should be applied swiftly, neutrally, and universally. There should be a price for engaging in behavior that stifles free speech, the free exchange of ideas, and the kinds of curiosity and critical thinking that are meant to be the hallmarks of our education. University enforcement of student-conduct regulations do not stifle free speech; rather, they support the creation of an environment where free speech can be exercised in good faith.

Students need to fulfill our side of this covenant by committing to civil learning relationships with our teachers and peers. As a condition of entry into the university, we too must commit to engaging in good faith in our community of learning and to not disrupting its operation. Ensuring that everyone — administrators, faculty, staff, and students — lives up to this covenant is precisely what leaders should be able to use their power to accomplish. To get there, we need our executive leadership to have the power to move for positive, durable change in the first place.
Jewish Students Are Claiming a University Violated Their First Amendment Rights. A Federal Judge Thinks They Might Have a Case
Last spring, UCLA was the location of one of the ugliest campus anti-Israel movements, which took over the main quad and prevented students from crossing it unless they wore a special wristband. “To receive such a wristband,” explains Michael A. Helfand, “one had to pledge allegiance to the anti-Israel views of the protesters and, in addition, be personally vouched for by one of them as ideologically sound.” A Jewish student named Joshua Ghayoum claims that he was physically intimidated when he tried to ignore these rules, and—along with two other students—is now suing the school for violating their First Amendment rights.

The case is still making its way through the courts, but a federal judge has already granted the plaintiffs a preliminary injunction. Helfand explains how religious freedom comes into play:

First, as opposed to most of the universities currently being sued for anti-Semitism, UCLA is a public university. That means access to its buildings, its programs, and its campus is a public benefit. Second, as alleged in the complaint, the plaintiffs’ sincerely held religious beliefs include the support of Israel. Third, the plaintiffs say that the university itself, through its agents and employees, actually facilitated the protestors’ exclusion of Jewish students from public spaces on campus because of their support of Israel.

If campus officials affirmatively facilitated the protestors in setting up and policing the borders of the encampments, which was already in violation of school rules, and those encampments excluded Jews whose religious commitments included a commitment to Israel, then the university violated the First Amendment’s religious liberty protections. A university can maintain uniform, religiously neutral rules for who can and cannot enter particular campus spaces. But it can’t allow some students to set up shop in the middle of campus and then, in effect, require others to abandon their religious commitments to join them.
Activist Who Called Jews ‘Enemy Number One’ Speaking At Minneapolis Teacher’s Union Gathering
The Minneapolis teachers’ union’s pro-Palestinian affinity group is bringing a speaker who called Jews “enemy number one” and called for bombing Israelis to talk to its members on Friday afternoon.

Taher Herzallah, the Associate Director of Outreach & Community Organizing for American Muslims for Palestine, is the featured guest speaker at a MFT Educators for Palestine event Friday at 5 p.m., according to a flyer that is posted in the teacher’s lounge one of the Minneapolis Public Schools. The event is being held at the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers Local 59 office at 67 8th Avenue NE.

On Oct. 17, 2023, Herzallah said: “Anybody who has any relationship or any support or identifies themselves as a Jewish person or as a Christian Zionist, then we shall not be their friend. I will tell you that they are enemy number one and our community needs to recognize that as such.”

An attempt to reach Herzallah at the number on his website from his recent Anoka County Commissioner campaign was met by obscenity from someone who said they were not Herzallah but were “an anti-Zionist Jew.”

The flyer for the event, titled “Being an educator in a time of war and genocide,” says breakout topics include: Zionism and anti-Zionism; how to talk to co-workers about Palestine; teaching Palestine in the classroom; and State Board of Investment and divestment.

In a statement, Minneapolis Public Schools said: “This event is not a Minneapolis Public Schools sponsored event. Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) is composed of Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) educators, but is a separate entity from the district. Minneapolis Public Schools is committed to providing a safe and welcoming learning environment for all students.”

MFT President Marcia Howard did not respond to emails seeking comment.

One Jewish teacher in Minneapolis Public Schools, who was granted anonymity due to concerns of retribution, said this is outside of what the union should be doing.

“Our mission is to ensure the safety and education of students. Political statements shouldn’t be part of the union unless it has to do with district business,” the teacher said. “I don’t want any of the teachers bringing this up and teaching my Jewish kids this. It feels like a misuse of power and authority.”
Hotel in Texas to host two speakers tied to Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood
The Hilton Hotel in Houston Westchase is hosting an event featuring two speakers with reported ties to terror organizations, including Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The event - named "From horror to hope: A benefit event for Gaza aid." - will feature keynote speaker Linda Sarsour and Motivational speaker Monzer Taleb, and is scheduled for 23 November.

Sarsour is a well-known anti-Israel activist of Palestinian descent, who Al-Arabiya reported to be tied to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Sheikh Taleb works for the charity Baitulmaal, which has been reported to fund Hamas proxies, according to Focus on Western Islamism (FWI).

Baitulmaal was created by Palestinian-Jordanian Hasan Hajmohammad, who was arrested in Israel in 2006 for funding a Hamas front organization, according to the Associated Press. Monzer Taleb sings "I am from Hamas," in this 2008 video (The Investigative Project on Terrorism)

Texas-based charity fundraiser for Hamas
The US tried to deny Hajmohammad citizenship due to his links with both Hamas and MAB, according to the US District Court for the Northern Division of Texas Division.

An FWI investigation found that the Texas-based charity fundraises for multiple Hamas-linked or Hamas-run organizations including Generosity Without Limits and Unlimited Friends Association.

Sheikh Taleb sang as part of a pro-Hamas group that called for the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people. He can be seen in a 2008 video singing "I am from Hamas."

In a 2008 terrorism-financing case against the Holy Land Foundation, Taleb was named an "unindicted co-conspirator" for his association with Hamas.

In 2014, he posted on Facebook an image calling Hamas spokesman Abu Obaida a "superhero."
College cancels concert praising 'Palestinian resistance' following outcry
An adult education college in London cancelled a classical music concert themed around Palestinian resistance after admitting the event “slipped through the net” of its processes.

Morley College London was due to host the concert, called ‘The World Stands With Palestine: Compositions for the Palestinian struggle’, on November 15 at its Waterloo Centre for Adult Education on Westminster Bridge Road, with tickets costing £10.

The concert, organised by The Cornelius Cardew Concerts Trust (CCCT), was to feature new music written “in response to the struggle of the Palestinian people”, including piano, violin and electric mandolin compositions entitled Salute to the Resistance and Blood United Us.

Flyers advertising the concert contained an image with hands holding a placard that read “Stand with Palestine!! Stand with the Resistance!!”.

The Principal of Morley College, Andrew Gower, swiftly cancelled the event following a complaint from the UK Lawyers for Israel, admitting that the concert promoted a “one-sided political view”.

“Regrettably on this occasion, the proposed event slipped through the net of our editorial processes,” he wrote in a letter addressed to UKLFI, seen by the JC.

Due to the concert’s potentially controversial nature, he explained that a written request for permission should have been submitted to the college, but that this wasn’t done.

A spokesperson from Morley College London told the JC: “We sincerely regret the offence caused by the proposed Corneluis Cardew Concert Trust (CCCT) concert that had been due to take place [last] Friday on Morley College London premises.
Victorians flock to festive windows
A senior official at Myer has reported an upsurge in visitors to the retail giant’s iconic festive shop windows in the Melbourne CBD after anti-Israel activists tried to link the beloved annual tradition to Israel’s defensive actions in Gaza.

In a social media post, Disrupt Wars, a pro-Palestine organisation, had urged supporters to “bring flags, placards, banners, props, noisemakers”, declaring, “Christmas is cancelled, and there will be no joy or frivolity while children in Gaza are massacred.”

The Christmas windows – this year featuring Wildlife Warriors, a tribute to the Steve Irwin family and Australia Zoo — have gone on display, but the threat led Myer to cancel last Sunday’s annual ‘reveal’ event.

The shopfront launch in Bourke Street, which attracts huge crowds, has only been cancelled one other time in recent years, during the pandemic.

Instead of a festive unveiling at 10.30am, covers were quietly removed around 7.30am, with far smaller numbers watching. After Myer scrapped the traditional launch, Disrupt Wars stated it had called off its plans, although activists still staged random disturbances at the storefront.

When The AJN contacted Myer, its chief customer officer Geoff Ikin said the launch had been cancelled for the sake of “the wellbeing and safety of customers, team members and the broader community”.

“The Christmas windows are a proud symbol of joy and community, loved by everybody who visit them each year,” said Ikin, “and we remain committed to providing a safe, positive and welcoming experience for all who visit.”

Victorians rallied and swelled Bourke Street in higher numbers than last year. Ikin reported “one of the best opening days in the event’s 69-year history … with numbers up almost 20 per cent on last year”.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin said, “Many will be bitterly disappointed that Myer’s Christmas windows’ grand unveiling was cancelled because of risks to public safety from anti-Israel extremists.
Four University of Rochester Students Face Felony Charges Over Jewish ‘Wanted’ Posters
We have been following a disturbing story at the University of Rochester in New York, where ‘wanted’ posters featuring Jewish faculty members recently appeared.

Just days ago, persons of interest in the case were identified. Now four students have been charged.

Rochester First reports:
4 UR students face felony charges in connection with antisemitic posters case

Four University of Rochester students now face felony charges after “wanted” posters described by officials as antisemitic reportedly targeting Jewish faculty were discovered around River Campus, public safety leaders announced Tuesday.

According to Chief Quchee Collins with the Department of Public Safety, a fifth person is still under investigation for their possible involvement in this case.

While their identities haven’t been released, Collins said the students were charged with felony criminal mischief.

“While we always hope to address student misconduct from an educational perspective, there are some acts that require referral to the criminal justice process. As Chief Collins outlined in his message, the activity that we’ve experienced reaches that level,” announced President Sarah Mangelsdorf.

Meanwhile, the investigation into vandalism at UR Medicine’s Brighton Health Center remains open.
US probing two schools, three districts for alleged bias under Title VI
In recent weeks, the U.S. Education Department has announced that it is investigating Case Western Reserve University, North Carolina State University at Raleigh and school districts in Levittown (N.Y.), Montclair (N.J.) and Lakeside (Calif.) for alleged bias under Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The department releases some information weekly about new investigations, but it doesn’t say why the schools and districts are being probed. Many of the recent investigations have related to alleged antisemitic discrimination.

Case Western Reserve told JNS that it was aware of the investigation, which it said was based on allegations from the Council on American-Islamic Relations. (CAIR, which blamed Israel for being attacked on Oct. 7, was initially part of the White House national strategy on antisemitism, but was later removed from the whole-of-government plan.)

CAIR’s Cleveland chapter stated that it had asked the federal government to investigate the private university for “allegedly targeting and intimidating students involved in Students for Justice in Palestine.”

The student group has frequently been accused of Jew-hatred, and some states have banned it from public campuses. Some have sued to be reinstated.


The NHS neurologist freely spouting anti-Semitic hate online
Blaming Mossad for 9/11 and sharing speeches by Holocaust deniers may sound like the actions of an anonymous conspiracy theorist, but are in fact attributable to an NHS consultant neurologist of 21 years standing.

And this is hardly an isolated case. There is growing concern about the nature and quantity of online content promoting a positive view of proscribed terrorist groups such as Hamas, as well as anti-Jewish sentiment posted by NHS staff on social media.

Last week the newspaper Jewish News reported that it had contacted Dr Rehiana Ali, a consultant neurologist who has worked in the NHS for two decades, including 10 years at Imperial College London, for comment on a number of statements it reported she had made on social media (among them, that the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was a “legend”, denying atrocities committed by Hamas, celebrating Israeli deaths and speculating about Israel harvesting human organs). The newspaper received a reply from her questioning the basic humanity of its readers and asking how many have served in the “Israel Occupation Force”.

Since then, Dr Ali – who stood as an independent for the Bradford South constituency at the general election this year, coming fifth out of nine candidates – has continued in much the same vein. In the past few days, her activity on X has included reposting a claim that the Israeli security service Mossad was behind the 9/11 attacks in New York in 2001. She also shared a statement from the British historian David Irving, a notorious Holocaust denier.

This follows scrutiny of the conduct of the doctor nicknamed “Jihad GP”, Dr Wahid Asif Shaida, who – under a pseudonym – was a long-standing executive committee member of the Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamist group, proscribed as a terror organisation by the UK government in January, while he worked as a family doctor in Harrow, north London, for more than 20 years. He was temporarily suspended from the NHS performers list but allowed to continue working in July after NHS England found “insufficient evidence to suspend him permanently as unfit for medical practice”. Wahid Asif Shaida said the attack on Israel on October 7 last year was “a welcome punch on the nose” and led anti-Israel protests where there were shouts of “jihad” following the Hamas attacks.


German architecture foundation revokes award to artist over Israel
The German Schelling Architecture Foundation has rescinded an award previously granted to British artist James Bridle after revelations of their co-signing an open letter pledging to boycott Israeli cultural institutions, the foundation announced in a statement on Tuesday.

James Bridle, an author and theorist, was unanimously selected for the Architectural Theory Prize 2024, the foundation stated in its June 2024 announcement. However, the foundation's committees unanimously decided to revoke the award, which is valued at €10,000 and presented biennially.

The awards ceremony is scheduled for November 20 in Karlsruhe, Germany. In its statement, the foundation acknowledged confronting a “profound and delicate problem.”

“This issue arises from our awareness of Germany’s history and the responsibilities that follow,” the statement read. “James Bridle’s endorsement of a call to boycott Israeli cultural institutions is incompatible with this responsibility, and it is why the Foundation cannot award the prize.”

The statement added: “We respect James Bridle’s right to express their political position, particularly as the Foundation does not accuse Bridle of antisemitism. However, the Foundation cannot support or be associated with any call for the cultural isolation of Israel.”

According to The Guardian, the other nominees for the prize have been notified of the foundation’s decision.

Accusations of antisemitism?
“Although they are clearly not prepared to state it outright, the Foundation’s decision is an accusation of antisemitism, which is abhorrent,” Bridle told The Guardian. “It is particularly so given the organization’s own history.”

In a follow-up statement, the Foundation clarified: “The claim that the Foundation accuses James Bridle of ‘antisemitism’ is decidedly untrue.”

“The Schelling Foundation believes a unilateral call for a boycott is not a suitable means to initiate or support peace initiatives,” it added.
'Cheerleading for terrorism': Twitch star called for new 9/11, dismissed horror of Oct 7
A popular Amazon-owned video platform geared toward teenagers and young adults is filled with extremist content, including one of its biggest stars praising terrorist groups and even blithely calling for another 9/11 to his 2.8 million strong audience, according to a Fox News Digital review.

Hasan Piker, who has millions of followers on Twitch, has broadcast propaganda from Yemen's Houthis, framed violent terrorist acts as "resistance," expressed sympathy for extremist groups who target civilians and downplayed the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks against Jews in Israel. Piker's shocking diatribes are among the most popular on the video game-streaming platform, which allows viewers to listen to their favorite personalities opine on topics ranging from pop culture to current events while playing video games.

"It doesn't matter if f---ing rapes happened on October 7," Piker said in a May 22 stream. "It doesn't change the dynamic [of Palestinians and Israelis] for me."

Piker, a 33-year-old Turkish American commentator who lives in California and grew up in Istanbul, is a former producer for the far-left internet commentary program, "The Young Turks," and is the nephew of its co-creator, Cenk Uygur. His Twitch streams regularly hit over a million views and often have as many as 30,000 viewers at a given time.

The political commentator has a cult leader-like status among his fans and maintains a Discord server with 125,000 dedicated followers. Many are almost certainly very young, as the minimum age to join Twitch and Discord is 13. A 2022 Pew study found that 22% of teenage boys used Twitch, and a 2020 Statista report revealed 34% of Twitch users were between the ages of 10 and 19.

In addition to his massive following on Twitch, Piker has millions more followers on Instagram and X. On YouTube, he regularly posts his Twitch streams to his 1.45 million subscribers.

In a recent stream, Piker broadcast propaganda from the Houthis, an Iranian-backed group in Yemen that has been designated by the U.S. as a terrorist group. Instead of explicitly addressing the materials as questionable propaganda, the streamer instead expressed sympathy and admiration for the group.


PMW: Deceptive BBC headline implies Gazan's criticism of Hamas Oct 7 atrocities ‎
Last week, the BBC published an article about an Islamic leader's response to the Gaza war which opened with the misleading headline: "Gaza's top Islamic scholar issues fatwa criticizing 7 October attack." It then continued to highlight his criticism of Hamas and the religious leaders prominence in Gaza, but never mentioning that he only criticized the devastating impact that the war had on Palestinians. His fatwa did not have one word of criticism of the rape, burning alive, and massacre of Israeli civilians. This approach follows the Palestinian Authority's policy that Palestinian Media Watch has reported on repeatedly, to defend and justify the Oct. 7 atrocities while criticizing Hamas for the destruction in Gaza.

The implication of the BBC headline, on the other hand, and opening paragraphs of the BBC article is clearly that he was criticizing what happened on Oct 7:

"The most prominent Islamic scholar in Gaza has issued a rare, powerful fatwa condemning Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the devastating war in the Palestinian territory… Dr Dayah's fatwa, which was published in a detailed six-page document, criticises Hamas for what he calls ‘violating Islamic principles governing jihad'… Dr Dayah adds: ‘If the pillars, causes, or conditions of jihad are not met, it must be avoided in order to avoid destroying people's lives. This is something that is easy to guess for our country's politicians, so the attack must have been avoided.' For Hamas, the fatwa represents an embarrassing and potentially damaging critique, particularly as the group often justifies its attacks on Israel through religious arguments to garner support from Arab and Muslim communities."

The BBC quoted al-Dayeh that Jihad requires "to avoid destroying people's lives," and since the BBC wrote that he was "criticizing 7 October attack," the implication is that he was critical of Israel's civilian deaths. This was totally false.

The fatwa by Islamic scholar Salman al-Dayeh, has six parts, each critical of a statement made by a senior Hamas figure regarding the war in Gaza. The fatwa states that Hamas did not fulfill the conditions of jihad because it did not take into consideration the disastrous impact on civilian Palestinians.


South Africa’s underground hypocrisy
The South African government recently trapped thousands of people underground in an old gold mine. After the mine was decommissioned from regular use, poor people with no means of earning a living began sneaking in to extract minerals that they could sell to meet their basic needs. To put an end to this, the government decided to secure the entrances and stop the flow of supplies, forbidding even family members from bringing food and water to their loved ones.

As reported by CBS News, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, the government official in charge, said: “We will not send help to criminals. We are not sending help. We will smoke them out. They are not to be helped but persecuted. We didn’t send them there, and they didn’t go down there for the good intentions of the country, so we cannot help them. When they come out, we will arrest them.”

Of course, many will likely never come out. According to that same news report, volunteers who have helped bring some of the weakened miners to the surface have also carried up letters from those still underground saying they simply don’t have the strength to exit from below. They have also found decomposing bodies in the mine.

The South African Human Rights Commission released a statement criticizing the government for violating the basic right to life of those holed up in the mine. That’s in addition to violating their right to dignified treatment and due process of law after declaring them criminals without even a trial.
PMW: PMW's exposing of the PA's pay-for-slay terror rewards continues to impact
PMW comment: In 2011, Palestinian Media Watch exposed the PA's pay-for-slay program, by which every imprisoned Palestinian terrorist receives a salary some as high as 12,000 shekels ($3,200)/month, and all families of terrorists killed by Israel receive an immediate grant of 6000 shekels ($1,600) and monthly stipends of 1400 shekels ($373/month) for life. Many court rulings holding the PA responsible and granting financial compensation to Israeli victims of terror and their families are because of the PA's terror rewards, as in today's ruling described below.

Nov. 19, 2024 (TPS) -- In a precedent-setting ruling, an Israeli court on Tuesday ordered the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization to pay tens of millions of shekels in compensation to victims of a 2001 suicide bombing and their families.

The Jerusalem District Court's ruling is based on a 2022 Supreme Court judgment affirming the PA's liability for damages caused by terrorists. The court's decision is expected to set a precedent, potentially enabling compensation claims by victims of other attacks, including those from the October 7 massacre.

"The ruling is very correct and very important. The Palestinian Authority has been a driving force for terror, certainly since the intifada period. Holding them responsible is both an act of justice as well as an act of deterrence, to deter them from inciting more people to terror," Itamar Marcus, founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch told The Press Service of Israel.

On August 9, 2001, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up inside a busy Sbarro's restaurant in downtown Jerusalem. The blast killed 16 people, including seven children and a pregnant woman. Another 130 people were injured. One of the fatalities, Chana Nachenberg, was comatose for 22 years before dying in 2023.

Under the ruling, victims' families may claim around 10 million shekels ($2.6 million) per fatality. Since 2018, Israel has been withholding funds earmarked for the PA, diverting them to cover debts and legal compensations. These garnished funds are now expected to finance the payouts.

The Palestinian Authority allocates seven percent of its annual budget for its so-called "Martyr's Fund," which provides the stipends. The size of the monthly payouts is primarily determined by the duration of the terrorist's incarceration, with a negligible additional factor based on family size.
PMW: PA to children: Balfour Declaration was “Satan’s promise”
Children taught in school that Balfour Declaration was "Satan's promise"
Britain issued Balfour Declaration to "get rid of the Jews" who "tried to take control of the economy" - Palestinian Writers' Union
Israel was "established through theft" led by "colonialist states" headed by Britain - Ret. PA official
Fatah to kids: Palestinians will "liberate Palestine and nullify all that has happened as a result of the Balfour Declaration."
"Britain and Western colonialism committed the most despicable moral and political crime in modern history when Britain announced the ominous Balfour Promise" – PA Chairman Abbas' advisor
"A shocking injustice and exaggerated oppression, A stain of shame on the history of the 20th century" - Fatah Central Committee Deputy Secretary
The West "acceded to the desires of global Zionism… The Jews succeeded in exploiting this piece of paper" – official PA news agency
"One of the most unfair historical tragedies, as one to whom the land does not belong gave it to one who has no right" – PA Ministry of Culture
Balfour Declaration "favored murderers who turned their crimes into a lifestyle" over Palestinians – Palestinian Writers and Authors' General Union


‘Long overdue’: New Zealand designates Hezbollah, Houthis as terror groups
New Zealand officially designated the Iran-backed terror proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen as terrorist organizations on Wednesday.

“It’s very simple. For any organization to be deemed a terrorist organization under New Zealand legislation, we have to have evidence, and we go through a number of tests under our legislation, that organization has knowingly undertaken terrorist activity,” Christopher Luxon, the New Zealand prime minister, said, per the Post. “This is the case before the four that I’ve designated today.”

The country also designated Somalia’s Al-Shabab and the Kurdish organization PKK.

New Zealand had previously classified only Hezbollah’s military wing as a terror group. The new decision designates the entire organization.

“I congratulate the government of New Zealand on its decision today to designate Hezbollah and the Houthis (Ansar Allah) as terrorist organizations,” wrote Gideon Sa’ar, the Israeli foreign affairs minister.

“New Zealand has now become the 30th country in the world to designate Hezbollah, in its entirety, as a terrorist organization,” he added.

Ran Yaakoby, the Israeli ambassador to New Zealand, congratulated the country for doing “the right thing.”

“As a member of the Five Eyes, this was long overdue for New Zealand,” wrote Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran. (The Five Eyes are Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.)
MEMRI: Article In Qatari Government Daily: The Jews And Zionists Are Inherently And Universally Wicked and Corrupt, 'Devils Of Hell' Who 'Suck The Blood Of The Nations'; Their End Is Clearly Near
The Qatari government daily Al-Sharq posted a virulently antisemitic and anti-Israeli article by Qatari journalist Ibrahim Abd Al-Razzaq Aal Ibrahim, known for his support for jihad and hatred for Jews and for Israel.[1] In the article, from October 24, 2024, he wrote that the Zionists and the Jews are treacherous and corrupt and are full of "filth, wickedness and depravity." He also called them "bats of darkness" and "devils of Hell who suck the blood of the nations… [and are] incorrigibly [full of] resentment and jealousy." He explained that these traits are innate and therefore characterize all Jews and Zionists, but promised that the end of the Jews and the Zionists is surely near. He concluded by warning that the world and humanity will not enjoy security, stability and peace as long as Israel continues to exist on Palestinian soil.

The following are translated excerpts from his article:
"Zionism is characterized by every filth, wickedness and depravity, and in fact by every bad trait. It is grounded in murder, cruelty, expulsion, devastation and destruction of both flora and fauna, ethnic cleansing and criminal racism, [as stated in Quran 5:64]: 'Every time they kindled the fire of war [against you], Allah extinguished it. And they strive throughout the land [causing] corruption, and Allah does not like corrupters.'

"They are the bats of darkness, the devils of Hell who suck the blood of the nations, a corrupt and corrupting junta that devours the assets of others and steals their resources, distorts facts and historical records, and is incorrigibly [full of] resentment and jealousy…

"All these [traits] really characterize them and they will never give them up, because they are the Jewish sons of Zion! They are unreliable, irresponsible and without a moral compass. [In fact,] moral corruption is a universal Jewish trait that characterizes all Jews. It is an inherited genetic characteristic of all Jews everywhere and in every era. A Jew can give up everything except for his moral corruption. A Jew can give up everything except for his moral abominations. He can give up everything except for his depraved actions, his deception, treachery, lies, jealousy and resentment.

"Do those who rush to [embrace] them understand this truth? Or are they encumbered by fear, [which causes them] to rush into their arms? Allah said [in Quran 5:52]: 'So you see those in whose hearts is disease hastening into [association with] them, saying, "We are afraid a misfortune may strike us." But perhaps Allah will bring conquest or a decision from Him, and they will become, over what they have been concealing within themselves, regretful.' This is a Quranic truth that describes the present reality. May Allah protect us from all evil…

"The entire world is witnessing the Zionist barbarity we are experiencing on the beloved soil of Gaza and on every inch of blessed Palestine soil – [barbarity] that includes Judaizing and premeditated murder of every kind, with the support of those who purport to be humane. Blood is shed, infrastructure and the education and health systems are destroyed, and even animals and insects have not escaped [the wrath of] the Zionist leaders – those barbaric gangs devoid of any humanity, [those] rapacious dogs that certainly have no part [of the world to come].


MEMRI: London-Based Saudi Daily: Houthi Ansar Allah Movement Forcibly Recruits Hundreds Of African Immigrants For Military Courses To Bolster Fighting For 'Liberation' Of Palestine
On November 14, 2024, the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat published an article[1] reporting that Yemen's Iran-backed Ansar Allah Movement (the Houthis) had enrolled "hundreds" of African immigrants in Houthi military mobilization camps in the capital Sanaa and its outskirts, as part of "recruitment campaigns targeting all groups" aimed at bolstering the group's fighting for the "liberation" of Palestine. According to the article, the group has sent over 220 such immigrants in recent days, including children and the elderly, to "secret military courses" in the region under the title "Al-Aqsa Flood." The information was attributed to "informed Yemeni sources."

The article detailed that the Houthis engaged in "persecution, kidnapping, attraction, and brainwashing operations" to recruit new operatives for the group's military courses. It noted that the African immigrants recently recruited had been previously captured and transferred from Yemen's Sa'dah governorate, "the group's main stronghold," to military training camps established "away from the monitoring and supervision of international organizations."

The sources accused the Houthis of "bargaining" with some immigrants, forcing them to choose between joining the group's military efforts or being deported to areas under the Yemeni government's control. They also claimed that the "targeting" of immigrants came following instructions from Houthi leader Abdulmalik Badreddine Al-Houthi.

3,480 Immigrants Arrested, Transferred To Sanaa Since Beginning Of 2024

The article noted that the Houthi Security Media Center had acknowledged conducting "persecution campaigns" against African immigrants in Sa'dah, which led to the arrest of 1,694 within one month and their transfer to "detention centers," some of which belong to the group's "Immigration Authority." It added that according to reports from Houthi security apparatuses in Sanaa, Houthi campaigns have resulted in the arrest of more than 3,480 immigrants in Sa'dah and their transfer to Sanaa since the beginning of 2024.


Seth Frantzman: Iran and Syria bolster alliance amid regional tensions and global shifts
Syrian Foreign Minister Bassam al-Sabbagh flew to Iran this week, where he met with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi.

Iranian state media did not initially provide many details about the meeting except that they discussed “various issues.” Afterward, Tehran said it would continue its strong support for Damascus, according to the reports.

This is significant because Iran is a key backer of the Syrian regime. With a new US administration coming into office, Iran and Syria may be considering what comes next. They also know that Russia could escalate its war against Ukraine in the coming months.

Russia is an important backer of the Syrian regime. It recently sent a representative, along with Iran and Turkey, to Astana, Kazakhstan, to discuss Syria.

There have been rumors over the past year that Turkey and the Syrian regime could normalize ties. While this would please Moscow, it might not please Tehran as much.

Sabbagh is in Tehran for his first visit since taking up his post in September, Iranian media reported. Araghchi also recently took up his post. “The two foreign ministers discussed issues of mutual interest and key regional developments,” the Iranian report said.

Araghchi said Iran and Syria would enhance cooperation, and that they had a “very good and positive” discussion about the region, including Gaza and Lebanon. Syria serves as a conduit for Iranian weapons trafficking to Hezbollah.
MEMRI: Syrian And Arab Journalists React To Assad's Anti-Israel Speech At Arab-Islamic Summit: Assad Has Killed More Palestinians Than Israel And Is Responsible For The Massacre Of Hundreds Of Thousands Of Syrians
On November 11, 2024, approximately one year after the Gaza-Israel war broke out following the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led invasion and massacres in southern Israel, and approximately two months after the major escalation in the Israel-Hizbullah conflict in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia hosted the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit in Riyadh. The purpose of the summit was to discuss the "acute crisis" in "the State of Palestine" and the "expansion of the conflict into the Republic of Lebanon."[1]

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad was invited to attend the summit and deliver a speech, a measure that was described in the Arab press as part of normalization with the Assad regime.[2] As expected, during his speech Assad attacked Israel, referring to it as "barbaric" and as an "illegal colonialist entity" with "a secular worldview of bloodshed" and "an illusion of superiority." He also accused it of "schizophrenia," in that it displays "hatred of Nazis outwardly, while adopting Nazism as an integral component." He called on the summit's participants to "make the right decisions, so that we do not speak to a thief using the language of law, to a criminal using the language of morality, and to an arch-murderer using the language of humanity…"[3]

It should be noted that since the anti-regime protests broke out in Syria in March 2011, Bashar Al-Assad's regime has been employing a deliberate policy of violent, unrestrained, and undiscriminating repression against the civilian population, which has included the use of unconventional weapons and barrel bombs against population centers, besieging and starving civilian populations, and carrying out demographic and ethnic cleansing throughout Syria.[4] According to the U.N. and Syrian opposition websites, hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed during the Syrian civil war and millions have been displaced, including a large number of Palestinian refugees.[5]

In light of this, the invitation of Assad to attend the summit and to deliver a speech sparked much criticism among opponents of the Syrian regime, who underlined Assad's responsibility for the massacre and killing of hundreds of thousands of Syrians and Palestinians. They asserted that Assad's invitation to a summit dealing with the death of Palestinians and Lebanese is "a historic farce" and a "joke." They added that not only has Assad never taken any practical action for the sake of the Palestinians, he is in fact responsible for the deaths of thousands of Palestinians in Syria, and he must be tried for all of his crimes.
Seth Frantzman: Iran’s FM Abbas Araghchi moves to cement Russia, Qatar ties
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his Qatari counterpart “met and exchanged views” on Wednesday, Iranian state media reported.

Their talks followed an important meeting between Araghchi and Mikhail Bogdanov, the Russian president’s special representative for West Asia and Africa.

Taken together, the meetings illustrate how Iran is positioning itself by working with Qatar, which is an ally of the US, and Russia, while Moscow has hinted at a major escalation in Ukraine.

Doha has long enjoyed close ties to Iran, while Tehran backs Hamas, which is hosted by Qatar. Iran backed Hamas’s October 7 massacre and rallied its other proxies, Hezbollah and the Houthis, to attack Israel.

The Iran-Qatar relationship is important for managing several regional files.

Doha has much influence over Hamas. According to recent reports, Hamas leaders may have relocated to Turkey due to American pressure on the Qataris to stop hosting the terrorists.

Iran would prefer to coordinate with Doha on key matters, including Tehran’s views about a possible ceasefire in Lebanon.

A Turkish diplomatic source dismissed these reports on Monday, saying Hamas leaders had only visited the country occasionally.


Iranian court drops charges against student protester
Iranian judicial authorities announced Tuesday they will not pursue charges against a female student who staged a dramatic protest earlier this month at Tehran University by removing her clothing after reportedly being harassed by morality police over her hijab.

According to the Agence France-Presse, a judiciary spokesperson stated, "She was transported to a hospital, where doctors determined she was ill. She has since been reunited with her family. No legal proceedings have been initiated."

The incident, which occurred in early November, saw a student take unprecedented action in the religiously conservative nation to protest against the enforcement of strict dress codes. The young woman, following harassment by morality police officers, removed her clothing and voiced anti-government slogans.

Students posting on the university's official Telegram channel reported that the unnamed woman was detained after morality police confronted her about improper hijab wear. Reports indicated she sustained injuries during her arrest, with witnesses saying she suffered head trauma after being forcefully struck, resulting in visible bleeding.
The British anti-racism protest group that took on the world: inside Campaign Against Antisemitism
As a law student, Gideon Falter spent a year studying in the French city of Lille. It was there that he first came across frightened Jews, an experience that changed his life.

“I’d come from a world where you don’t hide as a Jew. But when I went to France, I had a very different experience,” he recalls. “I had my name on the doorbell and Jewish friends would come over and say, ‘Your name is Jewish, you shouldn’t have your name on there for people to see.’

“It took me some time to realise that the restaurant I lived above was owned by a Jewish family and they’d actually chiselled a hole in the door frame, put the mezuzah into the hole and then painted over it so people wouldn’t see. I remember sitting at the computer at university reading an Israeli news website and someone came up behind me and said, ‘I just want you to know, I like Jews but I am really worried about your safety doing this in public.’ The local rabbi had to have a police guard and every week I was reading about vandalism or arson attempts on synagogues.”

That experience, back in 2003, was the start of a journey that in 2014 led Falter to become the figurehead of the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), an insurgent activist group that took Britain’s Jewish establishment by storm, showing the guts to get things done.

The organisation, which celebrates its tenth birthday this week, has chalked up numerous successes over the years, including persuading the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to investigate Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party. But its pugnacious approach has made many enemies as well as friends along the way.

The CAA was born after Operation Protective Edge, Israel’s seven-week war against Hamas in July 2014. Falter was not the only one shocked to see people on pro-Palestine marches holding placards saying “Hitler was right”.
NY judge sentences 23-year-old, who threatened terror attacks against Jews, to 10 years
In a crowded New York State Supreme Court courtroom in Manhattan, Judge Gregory Carro asked the handcuffed Christopher Brown, clad in a beige jumpsuit and white taqiyah skullcap, if he had anything to share before he was sentenced.

“No sir,” the 23-year-old said. “I do not.”

Just before 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Carro sentenced Brown to 10 years in state prison, followed by five years of post-release supervision.

In September, Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, announced that his office had reached an agreement with Brown to plead guilty “for possessing a firearm as part of a planned terror attack on the New York Jewish community in 2022.”

Brown was arrested at Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan on Nov. 18, 2022. Metropolitan Transportation Authority officers recovered a knife, a swastika armband and a ski mask from his backpack, the Manhattan district attorney’s office stated on Wednesday.

Bragg said on Wednesday that Brown’s sentencing was a significant punishment that should counter rising Jew-hatred.

“I know that the Jewish community in Manhattan is continuing to face rising antisemitism and violent threats, and I want everyone to know that we are using every tool possible in coordination with our law enforcement partners to keep them safe,” he stated.

According to court documents, Brown expressed support for Nazi ideology on social media and wanted to emulate Brenton Tarrant, who attacked two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019.
Holocaust charity apologises for referring to ‘violence against Palestinians’ in memorial ceremony invitation
The chair of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT) has issued an “unreserved” apology for mentioning ‘devastating violence against Palestinians’ in the text of the official invitation to next year’s Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony.

Some Holocaust survivors and their descendants who spoke to the JC had accused HMDT of trivialising the memory of the Holocaust.

The official invitation for the ceremony referred to the “devastating violence against Palestinian civilians in Gaza” as a result of Israel’s war against terrorist group Hamas following its atrocities on October 7.

One Holocaust survivor who spoke to the JC on the condition of anonymity said they were “uncomfortable as a survivor in the event being politicised, even indirectly”, adding that there were “legitimately differing views among survivors”.

The text of the invitation issued by the HMDT for the event on January 27 next year, which was seen by the JC, said: “80 years on from the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, our mission is more vital than ever. We remain horrified by the barbaric attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023, including the ongoing plight of those taken as hostages, and the devastating violence against Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”

Lord Carlile KC, the former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation and son of a Holocaust survivor, said HMDT “should have been much more careful in the words they used”.

He continued: “The Shoah is a uniquely horrible event that is not being replicated in Gaza. Whatever criticism one might make of Israel’s military tactics, to equate it with the Holocaust is factually and legally inaccurate.”

Baronness Deech said: “In many countries, sadly now including the UK, the Holocaust is being used to tell a nationalist or politically convenient story. It was shocking and insensitive to see how far HMDT has gone along that road. It is time for the Jewish community to reclaim the memory of our unique tragedy and explain its antisemitic roots our way.”

Conservative Peer Lord Godson was also outraged by the text of the invitation, telling the JC: “What has the HMDT come to when it implicitly seems to place the actions of the IDF on a continuum with those of the SS Einsatzgruppen and the Wehrmacht during the Shoah?”


Holocaust Denial Merchandise Tests Shopify’s Free Speech Ethos
Shopify Inc., Canada’s biggest tech company, is drawing criticism for hosting an online store full of antisemitic merchandise, in a test of what the e-commerce platform is willing to accept under a new lighter-touch rulebook.

The store sells apparel and accessories with designs that depict the Holocaust as “make believe,” feature antisemitic propaganda from the Second World War and parody the likeness of Anne Frank.

It’s being marketed via an anti-Jewish account on Elon Musk’s social media network X called TheOfficial1984 with more than 200,000 followers. Both the X account and store tout a Telegram account that shared content celebrating Adolf Hitler.

On Nov. 13, the Anti-Defamation League newsletter focused on the X account and its promotion of “antisemitic” merchandise, while on Nov. 16 the widely followed account Stop Antisemitism joined other social media users alerting Shopify to the account.

Shopify representatives did not respond to five requests for comment.

In a response by email and on their X account, the store’s operator said: “Free speech is our inalienable right and extends to what we wear.”

They cited the store’s mission statement characterizing the enterprise as “resistance,” and pointed to the US Constitution’s First Amendment.

Shopify’s Acceptable Use Policy says users can’t do anything illegal where they conduct business, or promote or threaten violence. Previous versions of its policy banned “hateful content,” according to archives available on the Wayback Machine, but the clause appears to have been removed in July 2024, based on cached versions of the page reviewed by Bloomberg.

Whether the store breaches the newly permissive policy is unclear. However, in 2022, Canada outlawed denying or downplaying the Nazis’ murder of Jews in the Holocaust. Some of the merchandise in question “would absolutely consist of Holocaust distortion and denial,” said Montreal Holocaust Museum spokeswoman Sarah Fogg.
Sotheby’s to auction a Ten Commandments tablet with a disclaimer: Israel always wanted it to be put on public display.
The oldest stone inscription of the Ten Commandments will go up for auction next month, but with an important disclaimer: Israel allowed the 1,500-year-old tablet to leave the country 20 years ago only on condition that whoever owns it ensures that it’s always available for public display.

Sotheby’s is planning to note this history on the web page advertising the sale, according to Sharon Mintz, the senior Judaica specialist for the auction house.

Mintz said in an interview that she’d like to see the tablet end up with a public institution but that the terms of the sale do not include any such requirement.

Beyond the artifact’s cultural significance, its history and ultimate fate matter because of an ongoing reckoning over the antiquities trade, which has forced many collectors and museums to relinquish objects that had been looted from their country of origin.

The issue was far less prominent 20 years ago when an American rabbi named Shaul Shimon Deutsch requested a license to export the ancient Samaritan tablet. The Israel Antiquities Authority agreed, but only on the condition that the artifact be publicly displayed. Deutsch was allowed to sell it to a third party under the same condition. Deutsch complied, taking the tablet to his Living Torah Museum in Brooklyn.

The tablet remained there until 2016 when Deutsch decided to put it up for auction. As part of the sale, the requirements of the export license were publicized, and an anonymous buyer purchased the artifact for $850,000. After that, it disappeared.

Steven Fine, a history professor at Yeshiva University, attempted to track down the Ten Commandments tablet several years ago. He was gathering the most important ancient Samaritan artifacts from museums and libraries around the world for an exhibit on the role of the Samaritan people in the history of Western and Jewish civilizations A small ethnoreligious group, the Samaritans are thought to be descendants of ancient Israelites, whose religion developed and diverged over the millennia alongside Judaism.
El Al’s record-breaking year continues with near-monopoly amid Israel-Hamas war
El Al’s record-breaking year continued in the third quarter with revenue just over $1 billion, or 20% more than the second quarter. Net profit was $187 million in the third quarter, compared with $52m. in the same quarter last year, El Al reported Wednesday.

Demand for El Al tickets has surged as foreign airlines have canceled flights to Israel due to the Israel-Hamas War, leaving El Al with near-monopoly status. Many Israelis are reluctant to book with other airlines even if tickets are available, fearing foreign carriers will cancel flights if the security situation changes.

El Al said it was able to increase its available seat kilometers (ASK), a measure of its passenger carrying capacity, by 15% in the third quarter as it worked to meet increased demand.

El Al’s revenue per available seat kilometer (RASK) increased 23% in the third quarter compared with the same quarter last year, it reported, adding that this was “primarily due to a significant and unusual increase in the occupancy rate.”
NewMed Energy sees record quarter, with $147m. net profit
NewMed Energy reported record results in the third quarter of 2024, with net profit jumping 25% to $147 million as production from its Leviathan gas field reached an all-time high of 3.1 billion cubic meters (BCM).

The increase in net profit is mainly due to an increase in revenue alongside a decrease in net financing expenses.

Revenues in the third quarter increased to approximately $313.6 million compared to $285.8 million in the corresponding quarter of 2023, and production also reached an all-time high, with approximately 3.1 BCM produced in the third quarter of 2024, compared to 2.9 BCM in the corresponding quarter in 2023.

At the same time, Leviathan sales to the domestic market have continued to increase alongside increased exports to Egypt, even amid the regional tensions and war.

“The Leviathan reservoir is an anchor of stability in turbulent times, which continues, in the face of all challenges, to present record performance and constant growth in production and sales in Israel and the region,” said NewMed Energy CEO Yossi Abu.

Increase in revenue due to Leviathan output
The increase in revenues by approximately 10%, to a total of $313.6 million, compared to approximately $285.8 million in the corresponding period last year, was due, among other things, to an increase in the quantities of natural gas sold from Leviathan, an increase in the Metric Million British Thermal Unit (MMBTu) in export markets, as well as thanks to revenues from the sale of condensate to the Ashdod Oil Refineries (AOR), following the agreement between Leviathan and AOR from earlier this year.

Pre-tax profit was estimated at approximately $192 million, compared to approximately $158 million in the corresponding quarter last year.

NewMed Energy announced approving an additional self-purchase program of Leviathan Bonds valued at $100 million in October, lasting two years.
ZIM reports $1.13 billion net profit in Q3 , driven by record cargo volume
ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd., one of the world’s leading container shipping companies, announced on Wednesday a net profit of $1.13 billion for the third quarter of 2024. The company achieved a 12% increase in revenue compared to the same period last year, reaching $2.77 billion. This performance was supported by a record-high cargo volume of 970,000 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) transported during the quarter.

The company reported adjusted EBITDA of $1.53 billion and adjusted EBIT of $1.24 billion, with margins of 55% and 45%, respectively. Following these results, ZIM raised its 2024 guidance, projecting adjusted EBITDA in the range of $3.3 billion to $3.6 billion and adjusted EBIT between $2.15 billion and $2.45 billion.

Dividend payout and financial highlights
ZIM announced a special dividend of approximately $100 million in addition to its regular quarterly dividend of 30% of net profit, totaling around $440 million, or $3.65 per share.

The company attributed its improved profitability to operational efficiencies, enhanced fleet capacity, and a strategic focus on reducing costs. CEO Eli Glickman highlighted the company's success, stating, "ZIM achieved outstanding financial results for Q3 2024, including a record in cargo volume. Beyond the favorable pricing environment, our operational excellence, expanded fleet capacity, and streamlined cost structure have driven these exceptional results."
Stars of David with Elon Gold: Shai Davidai Is the Modern Day Mordecai
Shai Davidai talks to Elon about his unwavering commitment to protecting Jewish students on campus at the risk of his own job, sharing the realities of Jewish life in today’s academic environment post-October 7th, and he reflects on his upbringing in Israel.

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
07:14 Speaking out for Jewish students
10:53 Helping Columbia University protect its students
13:39 The backstory of October 7 memorial at Columbia University
17:42 Free speech or hate speech?
20:00 The tyranny of incompetence
22:13 Stand up comedy about Jewishness
30:44 Yom Kippur
32:28 Better names for Shai's podcast
35:01 Who inspires you?
37:00 What are you most proud of?
37:14 What is you least favorite thing about yourself?
38:15 What's your favorite type of couch?
39:47 Disspelling stereotypes
42:50 Yiddish word of the day
45:37 What we learned
46:44 Outro


Stars of David with Elon Gold: Montana Tucker Is a Bright, Shining Star
Montana Tucker talks to Elon about starting her career as a dancer, the influence of her Holocaust survivor grandparents, and how she uses her platform to combat antisemitism.

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
09:20 Montana Tucker is Jewish
11:45 Educating about the Holocaust
14:20 Reaction to October 7
15:20 Visiting Israel after October 7
18:50 Getting beyond the echo chamber
24:07 "The Children of October 7" documentary
27:17 Worry about the war in Israel
28:32 Wishing for unity
29:37 Hardest part about being in Israel
32:29 Who inspires you?
32:46 What is your vice?
33:34 What do you get your nails done?
33:55 If you have to pick between dancing or activism videos?
38:57 Yiddish word of the day
41:37 Upcoming Hanukkah show
42:12 Outro






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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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