Pages

▼

Friday, December 06, 2024

12/06 Links Pt2: Winners and losers in the Middle East: The story so far; No more political games: Pass the Antisemitism Awareness Act — NOW!

From Ian:

Winners and losers in the Middle East: The story so far
Dealing with the Iranian regime, whose machinations lie at the core of this conflict, will be a major focus of the next Trump administration’s foreign policy. Yet even before Donald Trump enters the Oval Office (again), Iran is already looking damaged and weaker now when compared with Oct. 7. While its missile attacks on Israel failed to dent either the IDF or the Israeli population’s resolve, Jerusalem’s responses have badly frayed Iran’s air defenses and highlighted the vulnerability of its nuclear program. As well as seeing its Hamas and Hezbollah proxies degraded, Iran is now watching as the Assad regime in Syria clings to survival. Iran still retains its proxies in Iraq and Yemen, but these, too, may also find themselves in the firing line with a new administration in Washington. “Although today’s Iran is confident that it can fight to defend itself, it wants peace,” wrote its former foreign minister in a frankly ludicrous article for Foreign Affairs. That sounds suspiciously like a plea to the regime’s adversaries to hold off because the reality is that the regime cannot defend itself from Israel—not to mention the Iranian people, growing swaths of whom truly loathe the Islamic Republic and are determined to get rid of it.

For two states in the region, the outlook is unfortunately rosier. One is Turkey, whose membership of the NATO Alliance remains undisturbed despite the increasingly unhinged attacks on Israel leveled by its autocratic president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and its open support of Hamas. Ironically, Israel’s punishing of Hezbollah has helped Erdoğan in Syria, where Turkey is backing anti-Assad forces in the north of the country, though don’t expect him to acknowledge that.

Secondly, there is Qatar, an emirate grounded in Sharia law, where a little more than 10% of the population enjoy full citizenship while the vast majority—mainly migrant workers toiling in slave-like conditions—live under a form of real apartheid. The Biden administration’s faith that Qatar—a financial and diplomatic backer of Hamas whose capital hosted the terror organization’s leaders—could act as an honest broker in negotiations to release the hostages was spectacularly misplaced, with more than a year dragging by since the one-and-only prisoner exchange that compelled Israel to release Palestinians convicted of terrorism and violence. Despite this dismal failure and its two-faced stance on terrorism, Qatar’s ruling family continues to be feted by international leaders, most recently in London, where the British Royal Family dutifully trooped to The Mall for a parade welcoming the visiting emir. For the foreseeable future, Qatar’s astonishing wealth, coupled with its financial hold over many of the world’s capitals, is a guarantee of immunity from criticism, let alone actual sanctions.

For Turkey and Qatar, then, net gains. For Iran and its Palestinian and Lebanese proxies, net losses. For Israel, the jury is out. The first year of Trump’s term in office will doubtless tell us more.
Reports: As Syrian rebels take Hama, Israel preparing for possible collapse of regime
Israel is said to be preparing for the possibility that the Syrian army may collapse in the face of rapidly advancing rebel forces, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holding security deliberations on the matter on Thursday night.

Channel 13 reported that the IDF now assesses the rebels may pose a real threat to the continuation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s rule. According to a report on Channel 12, Israel has been surprised by the weakness of the Syrian army, as it continues to swiftly lose ground to the jihadist-led fighters.

The report added that Israel has sent a strong warning to Iran not to send weaponry to Syria that could reach the hands of the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon.

Kan news reported, citing two unnamed sources, that Israel and the United States are “detecting signs of certain collapse” in the Syrian army, and that one of Israel’s main concerns is that the rebels will advance as far south as the Israeli border with Syria in the Golan Heights.

Channel 13 said Israel has conveyed messages to rebel leaders to stay away from the border.

Earlier on Thursday, Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi held an assessment on the developments in Syria, as the rebels led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) captured the key central city of Hama, a little more than a week after they launched their offensive, just as a ceasefire took hold between Israel and Assad’s ally in Lebanon, Hezbollah. Residents take to the streets of Hama, to welcome anti-government fighters after they took control of Syria’s west-central city on December 5, 2024. (Photo by Bakr Alkasem / AFP)

Last week the rebels took control of Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city, and have since pushed south, capturing Hama on Thursday and advancing further south to Homs, a key central city that functions as a crossroads connecting Syria’s most populous regions.

The Israeli military assessment was held with the IDF General Staff Forum, the military’s top brass.

“The IDF is following events and is preparing for any scenario in attack and defense,” the military said in a statement. “The IDF will not allow a threat near the Syrian-Israeli border and will act to thwart any threat to the citizens of the State of Israel.”

Amid the growing concern, two senior Israeli officials told the Axios news site that the collapse of regime defense lines in the past 24 hours had happened faster than expected.

A US official who also spoke to the site said that Israel has expressed concern to Washington over both a potential radical Islamist takeover of Syria and an increased presence of Iranian forces in the country to back Assad.

At the same time, an official told The Times of Israel anonymously that Israel’s interest in the renewed fighting in Syria is “that they continue fighting one another.”

They added: “It’s entirely clear to us that one side is Salafi jihadists and the other side is Iran and Hezbollah. We want them to weaken one another.”

The official stressed that Israel is not getting involved on either side. “We are prepared for any scenario and we will act accordingly.”


No more political games: Pass the Antisemitism Awareness Act — NOW!
In October, a young Mauritanian national murdered an Orthodox Jewish man on his way to synagogue in Chicago. This alone should be sufficient sign of the rising dangers of anti-Semitism. Nathan Diament explains how the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act (AAA) can, if passed, make American Jews safer:

We were off to a promising start when the AAA sailed through the House of Representatives in the spring by a generous vote of 320 to 91, and 30 senators from both sides of the aisle jumped to sponsor the Senate version. Then the bill ground to a halt.

Fearful of antagonizing their left-wing activist base and putting vulnerable senators on the record, especially right before the November election, Democrats delayed bringing the AAA to the Senate floor for a vote. Now, the election is over, but the political games continue.

You can’t combat anti-Semitism if you can’t—or won’t—define it. Modern anti-Semites hide their hate behind virulent anti-Zionism. . . . The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act targets this loophole by codifying that the Department of Education must use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of anti-Semitism in its application of Title VI.


Gov. Hochul kicks off first annual convening against antisemitism
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul hosted the inaugural Anti-Hate in Education Center Convening on Antisemitism on Thursday at the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan, an event that’s slated to take place annually.

The formation of the Anti-Hate in Education Center was first announced by Hochul in September 2023. At the time, the announcement made New York State the first in the nation to respond to President Joe Biden’s national strategy to counter antisemitism, which had been released earlier that year.

At Thursday’s event, Hochul unveiled the education center’s new name, the “New York State Center for Educational Civil Discourse,” and explained that its goal is to create a space for education leaders, “people from different faiths,” to share strategies to combat antisemitism in New York State through education. The center is a partnership with The City University of New York, the State University of New York, New York State Education Department and the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities.

Hochul also announced at the event that the state will provide $350,000 to help New York students access the Anne Frank House exhibit at the Center for Jewish History, scheduled to open in January 2025.

The efforts to combat antisemitism in education come as CUNY schools, which receive $975,381 in city funding and $2.1 billion from the state, have seen a spate of antisemitic incidents since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel. Last month, CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez was scrutinized by lawmakers for providing minimal details about what actions he has taken since a state probe found the public university needed to revamp its policies to combat an “alarming” rise of antisemitism.

Rodríguez, in addition to State University of New York Chancellor John King, spoke at Thursday’s event. Speakers also included Gavriel Rosenfeld, president of the Center for Jewish History; Kathryn Garcia, director of state operations and infrastructure; Commissioner Denise Miranda of the Division of Human Rights (DHR); Hindy Poupko, senior vice president of community relations strategy and external relations at UJA-Federation of New York; Dan Weisberg, first deputy chancellor of the New York City Public Schools; Kapil Longani, senior vice chancellor for legal affairs and general counsel for SUNY; and Laura Shaw Frank, director of contemporary Jewish life at the American Jewish Committee.
Torres raises concerns about Oct. 7 roleplay game on Steam video game store
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) raised concerns on Thursday to the owners of the digital video game store Steam about a video game sold on the platform that allows players to role-play as Palestinian terrorists participating in the Oct. 7 attack.

Steam is a major online marketplace for video games, where developers can sell their games to players. The game, called “Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” sells for $14.99.

“Steam is selling a video game that represents nothing less than an open invitation of violence against Israelis and Jews,” Torres said in a letter to Valve President Gabe Newell. “The complicity of a company like yours in normalizing the most monstrous forms of antisemitic violence and terror — like beheadings, suicide bombings, and the war crimes of October 7th — is as profound an abdication of social responsibility as anything I have seen from any company anywhere in the world.”

Torres urged Valve to stop selling the game or any others that “[promote] the normalization of violence against Jews.”

“Antisemitism is not a business model from which to profit,” he said. “It is a demon that must be exorcised from the soul of humanity.”

British authorities ordered Steam to remove the game from its store in the U.K. in November, describing it as terrorist propaganda, and it is also blocked in Austria and Germany, according to The Telegraph.

Trailers for and images from the game show the player character, a terrorist wearing a Hamas-style green headband shooting Israeli soldiers, prompting sprays of blood and gore, and flying into an Israeli army base on paragliders.
He LEFT Hamas, SPIED for Israel, REJECTED Islam: Mosab Hassan Yousef on love, war, peace and power
Mosab Hassan Yousef speaks to Jonathan Sacerdoti, after they appeared at the Oxford Union together to defend Israel against charges of apartheid and genocide. In this frank and honest interview he talks openly about his relationship with his father – a founder and leader of Hamas, religion, philosophy, freedom, the West, politics and the problem with the pro-Palestinian movement.




Natasha Hausdorff in the Oxford Union debate on Israel on 28/11/2024
Natasha Hausdorff, barrister and UKLFI Charitable Trust Legal Director, replies to allegations that Israel is a genocidal and apartheid state at the Oxford Union debate on 28 November 2024.


Jewish Oxford Union Speaker DISTRAUGHT By Audience CELEBRATING October 7th Attacks 😱
Jewish journalist and broadcaster Jonathan Sacerdoti speaks with Darren Grimes about the Oxford Union's debate on the motion 'Israel is an Apartheid State Responsible For G*nocide', for which he spoke in opposition. Jonathan was baffled by the 'circus of hatred' that occurred at the event where Hamas' October 7th attacks were celebrated by swathes of the audience.


COMPLETE and UNCENSORED: Jonathan Sacerdoti's speech defending Israel at the Oxford Union
See the footage they tried to hide: the FULL and UNCUT version of Jonathan Sacerdoti's speech to the Oxford Union, defending Israel against charges of genocide and apartheid.

The Oxford Union has published a version of this speech at @OxfordUnion , however they have heavily censored it to remove the abuse from the audience levelled at the opposition team. The full version is shown here.

This video is for the purpose of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. It provides extra context which has not otherwise been published fully.




“Cancel culture ruined higher education” | Harvard Rabbi on Campus
Since 1997, Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi has been the founder and head of the Chabad house at Harvard University, one of the largest Chabad campus operations in the United States.

In the aftermath of the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, Zarchi and investor Bill Ackman organized a showing of Bearing Witness, which showed scenes of extreme violence recorded during and after the incursion, on the Harvard campus. The showing was the first campus audience to view the film.

Eylon sits down with Rabbi Zarchi to discuss the ongoing issues faced by Jews on Harvard campus, Zarchi’s criticism of Harvard's stance on antisemitism and described "an atmosphere of fear for Jewish students" while speaking in front of Harvard president Claudine Gay and that Harvard does not allow Chabad to keep a menorah displayed overnight due to fears of vandalism.


US to investigate Spain after port refuses ships reportedly carrying arms to Israel
The United States Federal Maritime Commission is investigating three incidents in which Spain refused port entry to ships reportedly carrying arms to Israel, two of which were US-flagged, the commission and media reported on Thursday.

“The commission is concerned that this apparent policy of denying entry to certain vessels will create conditions unfavorable to shipping in the foreign trade,” it said Thursday in a notice published in the Federal Register.

Spain could be subjected to millions in fines if it has been found to have interfered with commerce. The maximum fine is $2.3 million per voyage. Spanish ships may also be barred from entering US ports in response.

The commission said it had been made aware on November 19 that ships, including those enrolled in the US-run Maritime Security Program, had been denied entry. The Washington Times named two of the ships as he Maersk Denver and Maersk Seletar.

A Maersk spokesman denied that the ships were carrying weapons for Israel in November, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Spanish officials admit to rejected Israel-bound ships
Two of the ships rejected in November were from the Danish shipping giant Maersk and a third was rejected in May.

While Spanish authorities have yet to comment on the US's investigation, Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente admitted in May that the the Danish-flagged ship Marianne Danica was denied port entry for "carrying weapons to Israel," according to the Associated Press.

“We are not going to contribute to any more arms reaching the Middle East,” he said. “The Middle East needs peace. That is why that this first denial of authorization will start a policy for any boat carrying arms to Israel that wants to dock at a Spanish port.”

The refusal came after Spain formally announced it was recognizing Palestinian statehood. Spain also froze arm shipments to and from Israel following the decision.


Israel, Argentina to expand defense cooperation
Argentinian Minister of Defense Luis Petri traveled more than 12,000 miles earlier this week to ink an accord with his Israeli counterpart pledging the countries to a “multi-year” effort to strengthen defense ties.

The agreement, while short on details, said the effort would involve a focus on joint projects “in cyber defense, unmanned aerial vehicles, border protection, satellite communications, and future government-to-government (G2G) contracts in light arms, light munitions, radios, and related equipment,” according to a Israeli Ministry of Defense statement on Monday. It would also establish a “joint program for strategic workshops and seminars across various fields of mutual interest.”

Israel’s Director General of the Ministry of Defense Eyal Zamir, who has sought to step down from his post recently, met with Petri during the visit. The two discussed “strategic issues, including Iran’s destabilizing activities in the Middle East and Latin America. Both emphasized the importance of continued collaboration and fostering stability in their regions,” the Ministry said.

Argentina has grown closer to Israel under President Javier Milei. He was elected in 2023 and visited Israel in May 2024, where he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Two months later, in solidarity with Jerusalem, Argentina declared Hamas a terrorist organization. The Israeli government described his visit at the time as marking a “new milestone” in friendship between the countries.

Israel’s Ministry of Defense characterized the recent visit by Petri as “a testament to Argentina’s unwavering support for Israel in the current war, strengthening the deep and strategic partnership between the nations.” Argentina would be an important partner in South America because Israel has faced struggles in several countries in that region. Colombia, for instance, broke ties with Israel in May 2024 due to the Gaza war. Bolivia has done the same, and Venezuela has been a harsh critic of Israel for years.

A number of Israeli defense companies have made deals in Argentina in recent years. IAI subsidiary Elta’s Drone Guard system was used to protect the G20 meetings in Argentina in 2018. Rafael’s Cyber Dome also won a contract in the country. A report in June said Argentina was considering Rafael’s Spike LR2 anti-tank missile system. In addition, Elbit Systems has upgraded Argentina aircraft in the past.


Boston official who called Oct. 7 a ‘military operation’ under federal investigation
Tania Fernandes Anderson, a Democrat whose 7th District includes Roxbury and parts of the South End and Dorchester, issued a reaction on social media on Wednesday after initial reporting of an FBI investigation, the nature of which is unclear.

“My job is to show up and to fight for you,” she wrote. “I will continue to do just that; the people’s work.”

Boston city councilors are elected to two-year terms, and there is no limit on the number of terms an individual can serve.

In October 2023, days after Hamas terrorists infiltrated and attacked Jewish communities in southern Israel—killing 1,200 men, women and children—Fernandes Anderson introduced a resolution in the city council that described the massacre as a “military operation,” accused Israel of “apartheid” and “war crimes,” and called for an immediate ceasefire in Israel and “occupied Palestine.”

It was met with outrage from some of her colleagues.

“They dragged people out of their houses. They killed people that were in a concert. It’s not a ‘massive military operation,’” said Frank Baker, a city councilor and Democrat representing Boston’s 3rd District. “Those little girls there that were at that rock concert, that were having a fun time, that are being raped now, let’s return them, and then we’ll talk about a ceasefire.”

Fernandes Anderson, 45, who is a black convert to Islam, defended the resolution by making an apparent reference to the conspiracy theory that the “original Jews” were African.

“Arabs are semites, so antisemitism applies totally to Arabs, I don’t get it,” she said. “And it applies to the original Jews, the black people in Ethiopia.”

The resolution ultimately did not pass.
BlueAnon: The Left’s Conspiracy Theories Target Jews w/ David Harsanyi | Think Twice
In this episode of "Think Twice," JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin and journalist David Harsanyi delve into the factors contributing to the rise of conspiracy theories in modern America, particularly focusing on the political left's susceptibility to such beliefs—including the claims of "genocide" in Gaza and the Russian collusion allegations against President-elect Donald Trump.

Tobin and Harsanyi unpack the role of mainstream media, social media and politics in making these theories believable.

Chapters
00:00 The Rise of Conspiracy Theories in America
06:27 Understanding the Appeal of Conspiracy Theories
12:10 The Role of Media in Conspiracy Theorizing
18:15 The Impact of Trump on Political Conspiracies
24:19 The Evolution of Election Denial
30:48 The Intersection of Activism and Journalism
34:03 Cultural Shifts in Journalism and Activism
35:54 The Impact of Racial Narratives and Conspiracy Theories
38:14 The Role of Education in Shaping Ideological Perspectives
39:37 Antisemitism and Its Roots in Political Discourse
42:01 The Failure of Holocaust Education and Its Consequences
44:26 The Intersection of Anti-Israel Sentiment and Identity Politics
47:13 Conspiracy Theories and Environmental Alarmism
55:11 The Religious Undertones of Climate Change Beliefs
01:02:04 Navigating Distrust in Government and Media


Film industry ‘institutionally antisemitic’ says BAFTA-nominated producer
A BAFTA-nominated producer has accused the film industry in Britain of “institutional antisemitism”.

Leo Pearlman, who produced the 2024 documentary Surviving October 7th: We Will Dance Again, said the film, which he “would categorically argue is completely apolitical” and “makes no statements”, was shunned by film associations and by industry advertisers and festivals.

Speaking as part of a panel chaired by barrister and television host Rob Rinder during a Jewish Chronicle event to discuss Jews in the arts on Thursday evening, the producer admitted there was “not much” to be optimistic about in the film industry currently.

He told the audience of more than 200 people: “I’m not going to mince words and say its anti-Israel and anti-Zionism, institutional antisemitism is what it is.”

He claimed certain Jewish people are “more than welcome” in the arts, but only those who create content “deemed acceptable by those who sit to the far left and its extremity.”

Contrasting the industry’s reception to the Nova documentary to one that was seen as acceptable by it, Pearlman predicted that the 2024 film No Other Land – which is a “definitely very pointed and negative” film about settlers in the West Bank – will win this year’s Oscar for best documentary.

The film, made by a Palestinian and Israeli collective, has already been shortlisted for an Oscar, selected by film festivals across the world and picked up multiple awards.

Pearlman said the Nova documentary, however, despite being “made very clearly to be just about” the massacre itself and uses footage “from only those who filmed the massacre and those who suffered it”, has been “shut down at every single turn by [industry bodies], by advertisers, and by festivals.

“At every single turn that film has absolutely no chance whatsoever of competing with No Other Land. If you’re making a film like No Other Land, you’ve got no problem at all. If you’re making a film like ours, then the arts is not a place for you.”
Belgian festival cancels screening of film on trans Gazan after Israel ‘pinkwashing’ claims
A Belgian film festival has canceled the screening of a documentary film that touches on LGBTQ intolerance in Gaza after pressure from pro-Palestinian activists.

The film, “The Belle from Gaza,” by French director Yolande Zauberman, is not Israeli. It tells of a transgender woman who flees the Strip and relocates to Tel Aviv, and of her life in the community there.

In a statement, Cinemamed organizers said that the film was “accused by various activist groups of ‘contributing to the pinkwashing of Israel and the genocidal colonial narrative,’ a point of view that we do not share.”

However, they say that after “lengthy reflection” they decided to cancel the screening to maintain “the quality of the reception and the conviviality of the festival.”
The Belle from Gaza / La Belle de Gaza (2024) - Trailer (English Subs)

A culture of antisemitism at CUNY: Is Chancellor Rodriguez protecting hate?
The most stunning moment at Monday’s City Council hearing on Judge Jonathan Lippman’s report into antisemitism at City University of New York (CUNY) came when Councilman Kalman Yeger asked Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez the simplest possible question about students and faculty at CUNY: “Do you think any [of them] are antisemites?”

To this, in a university of 25 campuses and hundreds of thousands of students and faculty, Rodriguez incomprehensibly said, “I don’t know.” Yeger astutely retorted, “That may be part of the problem.”

Indeed.

The chancellor has already publicly admitted that antisemitism is a serious problem at CUNY. He has seen his own faculty members chant “Zionism out of CUNY” and students chant “globalize the intifada.” He saw vigils – vigils! – for civilian Jews slaughtered by Hamas on October 7 protested.

He saw a Kingsborough/CUNY student beat a Jewish man in a kippah with a bat while yelling, “Kill all Jews, free Palestine.” He has seen CUNY students harass Jewish schoolmates. He has seen the EEOC and the DOE Office of Civil Rights substantiate and excoriate the antisemitism at CUNY. And on and on and on.

Yet he doesn’t know if there are any antisemites at CUNY? Is this a serious person?
Survey shows many Harvard freshmen disapprove of Trump and back anti-Israel movements
A recent survey found that a plurality of Harvard University freshmen support the pro-Palestine student protests that have rocked the school throughout the past year.

The survey was conducted by The Harvard Crimson, the school’s student newspaper, and results were published on Dec. 4. Around a third of Harvard freshmen filled out the survey.

The Crimson found that 37.8% of the Harvard Class of 2028 were “favorable” toward the pro-Palestine demonstrations. Of the freshmen surveyed, 23.7% expressed that they were “unfavorable” toward the protests, 19.2% selected “not enough information,” and 19.2% had “no opinion.”

Of the students who stated that they were “favorable” to the anti-Israel demonstrations, the vast majority (87.7%) also stated that they were “progressive” or “very progressive.” Less than 1% of those who supported the pro-Palestine protests self-identified as “conservative.”

Similar to the protest survey distribution, around 39% of Harvard freshmen stated that they were favorable to the anti-Israel Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Only 19% said that they were unfavorable to BDS.

“Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) is a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality,” a website for the movement states online. “BDS upholds the simple principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity.”

“Israel is occupying and colonising Palestinian land, discriminating against Palestinian citizens of Israel and denying Palestinian refugees the right to return to their homes,” the website continues. “Inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, the BDS call urges action to pressure Israel to comply with international law.”

There have been significant anti-Israel demonstrations at Harvard since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack against Israel. In October, for instance, the Harvard Library placed about two dozen faculty members on suspension for a pro-Palestine protest in the school’s main library.
Pro-Palestine speaker says his lecture was moved to online due to activists who consider him a Zionist 'traitor'
A pro-Palestine activist has alleged that a portion of his speaking appearance at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) needed to be moved online due to threats from activists who view him as a “Zionist ‘traitor.’”

On Nov. 19, Atlantic Council Resident Senior Fellow Ahmed Alkhatib published an X post saying that part of the event that he spoke at the day before at the university had to be moved to Zoom “to avoid security risks.”

Alkhatib, who is originally from Gaza, gave a talk that was sponsored by Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Jewish Coalition Diversity Committee, entitled “Breaking the Cycle of Dehumanization.”

“Some in the ‘pro-Palestine’ community at the school, who are medical professionals and researchers with supposed critical thinking skills, ignored the entirety of my publications, statements, public stances, and clearly pro-Palestine, anti-occupation ethos to claim I am a Zionist ‘traitor’ – simply because I’ve been vehemently anti-Hamas and a proponent of mutual empathy, humanity, and peace,” his post read.

“My Instagram was bombarded with threats, pro-Hamas slogans, pro-resistance symbols, insults, and attacks, claiming that I have no right to speak about the war in Gaza or the broader conflict,” Al-Khatib said.

The activist’s X post also stated that part of the UCSF event had to be moved to Zoom in order to “avoid security risks to myself and others” and that the event “had to have a police presence to secure the space.”

Alkhatib, who identifies as “pro-Palestine, anti-Hamas & violence” and “pro-peace,” wrote in his post that the threats against him may have been due to a “hit piece” by a “Russian/Iranian PsyOp propaganda website run by far-left disinformation agents” who claim he is receiving $30 million from Israel to “promote genocide.”


‘Antisemitism on steroids’: Pro-Israel law professor rips Cornell ‘Gaza’ course
Cornell professor, president condemn course for ‘radical,’ ‘biased view,’ faculty committee fires back
Menachem Rosensaft, a pro-Israel law professor at Cornell University, condemned the school’s course on Gaza for its “inflamingly biased pseudo-scholarship” in an op-ed Wednesday.

The op-ed follows similar criticism from the university president, who faced backlash from a faculty committee accusing him of violating academic freedom in response.

“My principal objection to this course is not that it has a decidedly and unabashedly pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel bent,” Rosensaft wrote in The Cornell Daily Sun.

“What I find most problematic and unacceptable about it is that it is firmly rooted in shoddy, selectively and inflamingly biased pseudo-scholarship,” he wrote.

Rosensaft stated that when he first learned of Professor Eric Cheyfitz’s course, titled “Gaza, Indigeneity, Resistance,” he told Interim President Mike Kotlikoff that it would “promote and inflame political divisiveness at Cornell and encourage antisemitic manifestations against Israeli and Jewish students.”

Rosensaft also wrote:
The course description leaves no doubt that Cheyfitz intends to convey a narrative that casts Palestinians writ large as protagonists while Israelis and, by extension, Jews will be portrayed as villainous antagonists perpetrating “settler colonialism in Palestine/Israel” against a background of “plausible genocide.” Not only is such a narrative historically false — more importantly, it also constitutes antisemitism on steroids, and is likely to incite antisemitic rhetoric and worse against Israeli and Jewish students and faculty at Cornell.

The professor further criticized the course for framing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as part of a “global war against ongoing colonialism,” which justifies Palestinian terrorism against Israeli civilians.

Arguing that there is a double standard in academic discourse, Rosensaft stated that such a course would certainly be rejected if it suggested that Jews had exclusive rights to the land or justified violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians.


Wikipedia’s Quiet Revolution: How a Coordinated Group of Editors Reshaped the Israeli-Palestinian Narrative
In an era dominated by search engines and instant information, Wikipedia holds an outsized influence. For millions of users, it is often the first — and sometimes the only — source of information on global events and historical contexts. Yet, as investigative journalist Ashley Rindsberg revealed in an explosive report, a quiet yet coordinated operation has taken root among the online encyclopedia’s editors, monumentally reshaping the way the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is perceived.

In a conversation with The Algemeiner this week, Rindsberg asserted that the campaign has “actually changed what appears to be the face of not just the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but of the entire justification for Israel’s right to exist and legitimacy, which is the real aim.”

In a detailed exposé published by the American media company Pirate Wires in October, Rindsberg outlined a coalition of approximately 40 Wikipedia editors that has systematically altered thousands of articles to tilt public opinion against Israel. These individuals, acting in concert, have executed around 850,000 edits on nearly 10,000 articles on the conflict, Rindsberg said, subtly shifting the ideological foundation of content related to Israel, the Palestinians, and even broader Middle Eastern geopolitics.

Ideological Subversion at Scale

“What we’ve seen with the Palestine-Israel articles topic area on Wikipedia is a wholesale shift in the ideological underpinning of those articles,” Rindsberg said.

The report cited one prominent example:
These efforts are remarkably successful. Type “Zionism” into Wikipedia’s search box and, aside from the main article on Zionism (and a disambiguation page), the auto-fill returns: “Zionism as settler colonialism,” “Zionism in the Age of the Dictators” (a book by a pro-Palestinian Trotskyite), “Zionism from the Standpoint of its Victims,” and “Racism in Israel.”

The edits in question range from minor tweaks — removing ties between Jewish history and the land of Israel — to major alterations, such as the omission of references to the atrocities committed during the Hamas-led attack across southern Israel last Oct. 7, including, most egregiously, references of rape and other acts of sexual violence.

The group has also reportedly sanitized articles on controversial historical figures, including those with ties to Nazi Germany such as the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini, as well as diluting mentions of human rights abuses by the Iranian regime.

In an article on “Jews,” for example, an editor removed the phrase “Land of Israel” from a key sentence on the origin of Jewish people. The article’s short description (that appears on search results) was changed from “Ethnoreligious group and nation from the Levant” to “Ethnoreligious group and cultural community.”

“Though subtle, the implication is significant: unlike nations, ‘cultural communities’ don’t require, or warrant, their own states,” Rindsberg wrote in his report.
Reuters Carpet Bombs the Truth With Biased Reporting Against Israel
Given that Israel’s military presence in southern Lebanon is permitted for nearly two more months, the smoke and mirrors reference to a lack of provisions on buffer zone and restrictions falsely implies that Israel is in violation of the agreement. That fabrication is the underlying narrative of the entire article.

Reuters’ sustained assault on unbiased and reliable news extends southwards from Lebanon to the Gaza Strip. In his article this week, Nidal al-Mughrabi reports dubious and notoriously unreliable Hamas-supplied fatality statistics as fact, without any attribution: “Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 44,400 Palestinians, injured many others, and reduced much of the enclave to rubble” (“Israel kills 14 people in northern Gaza, orders evacuation in south“).

When it comes to Israel’s verified Oct. 7 victims, in contrast, al-Mughrabi fastidiously attributes the information, as if the data cannot be independently confirmed:
Israel launched its campaign in the densely populated Palestinian enclave after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Reuters took another shot at its unbiased news promise when it dropped key information from its Nov. 30 headline: “Israel says it killed Oct. 7 attack suspect who worked for US-based charity.”

By the next day, the updated version of the same story, carrying the same url as the original article, contained less — not more — information, stating: “Israeli airstrikes on Gaza killed two aid workers.” How does the headline’s omission of the aid workers’ alleged participation in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks against Israel serve Reuters’ Trust Principles?

In contrast, the Associated Press’ headline clearly notes Israel’s information that the targeted Gazan participated in the Oct. 7 massacre: “Israeli strike in Gaza kills World Central Kitchen workers. Israel says 1 was an Oct. 7 attacker.”

News providers face a challenge, wrote chairman of Thomson Reuters Founders Share Company Kim Williams in 2018. “[T]hey must earn the confidence of their clients through convincing efforts to strengthen credibility.” A convincing initial effort towards strengthening credibility would be to forthrightly correct the absurd carpet bombing libel.

As for recovery of trust, integrity and freedom from bias, cessation of scorched-earth journalistic skewing in favor of Hamas and Hezbollah is a good place to start.


Moldova's chief rabbi attacked outside Great Synagogue in Chisinău
After several years without any documented antisemitic attacks, two antisemitic incidents related to the war in the Gaza Strip have been reported in Moldova.

In the first case, a young man with Eastern European appearance arrived in a car bearing a Latvian license plate outside Chisinau's central synagogue, known as the Glazer Shul, located on Chabad Lubavitch Street, and began taking pictures of the synagogue building. The 130-year-old building was destroyed in World War II, and later restored by Soviet Jewish soldiers and was the only one that continued to operate even under communism.

The security guard of the compound approached the young man and and to ask why he was photographing the building and the man began cursing the Jews and Israel.

The chief rabbi of Moldova, Rabbi Mendel Axelrod, then came out of the synagogue building and the young man turned his anger on the rabbi, shouting: "What are you doing here? How come no one has finished you off for everything you are doing to the Palestinians?"

The assailant tried to approach the rabbi, but the guard separated the two. The rabbi went back into the synagogue building and the attacker left in his car.

This case joins another antisemitic incident, which happened about a week ago, when vandals spray painted slogans calling for the liberation of Palestine on a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust in the Moldovan city of Soroka.

On Thursday morning, Religious Services Minister Michael Malchieli, together with the Israeli Ambassador to Moldova Joel Lion, visited the Chisinau synagogue, where they met with Axelrod and other Moldovan rabbis and community leaders. "This is a solidarity visit with the chief rabbi to Moldova. Antisemitism is a local social problem, a sociological problem of the local society. We strengthen your hands in this matter and hope that you will see better and better days here as well," Lion said.
Gary Lineker: ‘I’m not antisemitic, I’m anti-bad people’
Sports broadcaster Gary Lineker has pushed back at claims that he is antisemitic, claiming instead that he is “anti-Israel government”.

Speaking in an interview with the New Statesman, the Match of the Day presenter denied the accusation that he is anti-Israeli, a claim that arose due to his tweets about the Israel-Gaza conflict.

“I’m anti-Israel government. I’m not in the slightest bit anti-Semitic,” Lineker said.

“I’m not anti-anybody. I am anti-bad people, and there are really bad people involved in this,” he added, referring to the war in the Middle East.

“Eventually, whether it’s five years’, 10 years’, 20 years’ time, I think we’ll look at that and we’ll see it the same way as Iraq times ten. I do, I just genuinely do.”

Lineker has faced accusations that he is anti-Israel after reposting a call on X/Twitter by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel calling for the Jewish state to be barred from tournaments and games.

Lineker has since said that he did not understand the post he shared with his 8.9 million followers and misread it as a statement that the ban on Israel had already happened.

The football pundit revealed that he follows the Instagram account of a ten-year-old girl, Renad Attallah, who lives in the Gaza Strip and posts about daily life there. The footage of the war makes him “cry on a regular basis,” he said.

“It’s just got worse and worse, hasn’t it? There’s nothing we can do. You feel a bit helpless. I mean, it’s awful. I don’t know how you can be on a side on this, other than the side of the children and the side of the women and the innocent people that are being killed constantly now.”
‘Humans of Judaism’ exhibit opens in Philadelphia, a ‘labor of love’ for a first-time author
What does it mean to be human? It’s a trick of a question, really, because the one who asks and the one who answers is one and the same. In that sense, there can never be a definitive answer.

Photos, however, tell another story.

They open a door. They show light and life. They depict death and despair. They relay hope, sorrow, gain, loss, joy and surprise. A picture, as the adage goes, is worth a thousand words.

Nikki Schreiber not only understands that; it’s the basis of her new book, Humans of Judaism, which started as a social-media project a decade ago. Her father, Bayrish Schreiber of Highland Park, N.J., passed away in November 2013, and their family spent the Thanksgiving holiday sitting shiva. About six months later, Schreiber, who lives in nearby Teaneck, N.J., began posting pictures of Jewish people online who inspired her to help alleviate the pain.

“I was at a low point,” Schreiber told JNS. “I wanted to do something in the social-media space, to do something in his memory.”

Fast-forward to Thanksgiving 2024, and she finds herself with a hardcover title in hand—a coffee-table-like book of more than 200 black-and-white and color photos with descriptions of men, women and children she sees as stalwart examples of humanity. “It’s a labor of love,” she said, dedicating the work to her father.

“I was in the middle of the book when Oct. 7 happened,” Schreiber said as she greeted about 75 people at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia, who sipped wine and nibbled on crudités as they poured over an array of nearly 40 photos, culled from the finished product and tacked onto the walls of a long hall on the building’s second floor. The photo gallery opened on Dec. 1, timed to the book’s release, and will be on display at the museum through Feb. 2. “That gave it added importance.”

She was referring to the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, wounded thousands and led to the kidnapping of 251 others back to the Gaza Strip, where nearly 100 men, women and children are still being held 14 months later. The assault resulted in a spate of antisemitism in the United States and around the world that continues unabated.

Does she think her project can help in that regard? Could it counter some of the many misperceptions about Jews, Israel and Judaism?

Schreiber replied that wasn’t a goal or what she had in mind. Through photos and text—she works in the health-care industry, and this is her very first book—she said “we can celebrate our story, the Jewish story. Those who make life as wonderful and full as it is. We can give people a little flavor of our lives.”
Manischewitz to sponsor first Jewish quarterback in BYU history
Brigham Young University's Jake Retzlaff, the first Jewish quarterback in program history, has signed an NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) sponsorship with the kosher food company Manischewitz, both announced Thursday.

Retzlaff, who has adopted the nickname “BYJew,” is one of only three Jewish students at the Latter-day Saints university.

A junior who was named the starter before the season, Retzlaff has led the Cougars to a 10-2 record and a No. 18 ranking in the country. He has thrown for 2,796 yards, 20 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Manischewitz, which was founded in 1888, makes kosher products, including matzo, macaroons and wine.

Retzlaff said the iconic Jewish brand “has always been part of my life.”

“I grew up with matzo with peanut butter as my favorite snack, and every Passover, my family and I made matzo pizza together,” he said in a news release. “At Chanukah time our tradition was making potato latkes. Now, at BYU, I’m able to share these traditions with my teammates. This partnership is about more than football — it’s about creating connections and celebrating Jewish pride in ways I never expected.”

In a viral video announcing the partnership, Retzlaff does football drills with a box of matzo.
Record number of religious women enlist in IDF unit
Over the weekend, more than 120 Orthodox women aged 26-50 enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces as part of the Shlav Bet (“Phase 2”) program track for religious women over the usual recruitment age.

This third and largest cohort of previously exempt religious women arrived at the Bakum recruitment center at Tel Hashomer in Ramat Gan, ready to serve their country.

The majority of these women will undergo a two-week basic training before being assigned to roles that align with their professional backgrounds, including nursing, social work and programming. Some recruits will be immediately integrated into units awaiting their expertise, bypassing basic training. These direct placements include as media representatives for the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, emotional support specialists for IDF Resilience Centers, and a podiatrist to care for soldiers returning from Gaza.

Yehudit Yeres-Weinstein from Otniel, who championed the project, expressed enthusiasm for the program’s success. Yiska Dekel, enlisting as a casualties intelligence officer after her brother Sgt. Maj. (res.) Yishai Greenbaum was mortally wounded in Southern Lebanon in October, embodies the spirit of determination among the recruits.

The integration of religious women into the IDF has been gaining momentum. In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that the Education Ministry must create pre-army programs for national-religious girls, paving the way for increased participation. In 2022, the IDF launched a company for women soldiers only, to cater to female religious women who wish to serve. In August 2023, Ohr Torah Stone launched a initiative called Maaminot BeMadim (“Believers in Uniform“) to provide Torah-observant women with spiritual, halachic and practical support during their service in the Israel Defense Forces.




Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!
 

 

at