Pages

▼

Thursday, December 12, 2024

12/12 Links Pt2: The American university is rotting from within; Murdoch visits firebombed Melbourne synagogue; Paraguay reopens its embassy in Jerusalem

From Ian:

The American university is rotting from within
American universities face an unprecedented challenge with the return of Donald Trump. His administration seems likely to attack such things as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, while pushing to defund programmes favourable to terrorists, expel unruly students and deport those who are in the US illegally. Loss of federal support to universities, the educrats fear, could cause major financial setbacks, even among the Ivies. Like medieval clerics, the rapidly growing ranks of university administrators, deans and tenured faculty have grown used to living in what one writer describes as a ‘modern form of manorialism’, where luxury and leisure come as of right.

Universities are likely to try resisting any changes, no matter how justified. Nationally, 78 per cent of professors voted for Kamala Harris. To many, Trump’s election represents a rebellion of ‘uneducated’. The University of California at Berkeley blames his rise on ‘racism and sexism’. Wesleyan University president Michael Roth calls on universities to abandon ‘institutional neutrality’ for activism in the Trump era, predictably comparing neutral professors to those who accommodated the Nazis. Democracy dies, apparently, whenever the progressive monopoly is threatened.

This arrogance reflects decades of the sector’s rising power and influence. University became the ultimate passport into what Daniel Bell called the ‘knowledge class’ a half century ago. A National Journal survey of 250 top American public-sector decision-makers found that 40 per cent of them are Ivy League graduates. Looking at the question globally, David Rothkopf, author of Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making, compiled a list of more than six thousand members of what he calls the global ‘superclass’: leaders of corporations, banks and investment firms, governments, the military, the media and religious groups. Nearly a third attended one of 20 elite universities.

Also like their clerical ancestors, today’s academics tend to embrace a common ideology. By 2017, according to one oft-cited study, 60 per cent of the faculty identified as either far left or liberal compared with just 12 per cent as conservative or far right. In less than three decades, the ratio of liberal faculty to conservative faculty has more than doubled. As pollster Samuel Abrams and historian Amna Khalid note, all this has occurred just as the US itself became somewhat more conservative.

Ideologically homogenous universities have become something akin to indoctrination camps, where traditional Western values are trashed while woke ideology is promoted. Not surprisingly, the graduates of today’s universities are inclined to maintain rigid positions on various issues, confident of their own superior intelligence and perspicuity while being intolerant of other views. They also tend to be not particularly proud to be American. The kind of support professors gave to the war effort in the Second World War would be hard to imagine today.

Ideological orthodoxy and fear of cancellation for the ‘wrong views’ is widespread on campus. A majority of students say they would report professors who say something offensive. Some 40 per cent of millennials, according to the Pew Research Center, favour suppressing speech deemed offensive to minorities – well above the 27 per cent among Gen X, 24 per cent among baby boomers, and 12 per cent among the oldest cohorts. The expansion of higher education, once seen as fulfilling the promise of liberal civilisation, is now accelerating its decline.

More remarkable still, the college campus has become the epicentre of movements embracing Islamist regimes like Iran and terrorist groups like Hamas. A Cornell professor who found the 7 October pogrom ‘exhilarating’ was briefly suspended but is now back in the classroom. He’s not alone. The American Association of University Professors this year rescinded its longstanding opposition to academic boycotts, which invariably target only Israel. The slaughter of innocent Israelis has occasioned celebrations on radicalised campuses, most notably Columbia, Harvard and other elite schools. Ignorance, rather than knowledge, now sparks college protests. Pro-Hamas demonstrators rarely know the geography of either the river or the sea that they’re chanting about.
Jonathan Tobin: Trump’s pick for civil rights can doom DEI racism
Such lawsuits would raise the real possibility that any college, university, K-12 school system, corporation or arts organization that used DEI to determine hiring or admissions would lose federal funding, and be subjected to sanctions in the same way that institutions that enforced racial segregation and discrimination were punished. In the face of a DOJ determined to oppose these toxic policies, it is entirely possible that support for DEI—something that is not just current liberal intellectual fashion but a new orthodoxy that seeks to suppress and punish all those who dissent from it—will be rolled up like a cheap carpet.

No other measure undertaken by private or governmental initiatives could do more to reverse the dominance of woke ideology. It would also go far in stemming the surge of antisemitism that was enabled by DEI policies and racial ideologues, and that has swept across the nation since the Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The opposition to such an effort from not just congressional Democrats but the mainstream media and those who now rule so many of our institutions will be ferocious. Pursuing the end of DEI will take a keen legal mind, courage and willingness to fight, as has already been demonstrated by Dhillon. Her confirmation should be treated not just as a test of loyalty to Trump, but of support for the values of Western civilization and American liberty that the left has been so eager to undermine under Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. And Jewish groups who purport to care about the fight against antisemitism, even those that are dominated by liberals, should stand with her.

While cynics often say that politics and elections don’t affect much in our everyday lives, putting someone like Harmeet Dhillon at the helm of the Civil Rights Division could be a crucial turning point that marks the moment the tide was turned against a destructive ideology threatening to change America for the worst for the foreseeable future.
Kassy Akiva: Universities That Ignored Anti-Semitism Will Face Consequences Under Trump, Ernst Says
Colleges and universities that did not work to stop campus anti-Semitism will face consequences under the Trump administration and Republican-dominated Senate, Senator Joni Ernst told The Daily Wire.

“The new Senate Republican majority is going to work with the Trump administration to enforce the law in the face of campuses that have fanned the flames of hate through inaction,” the Iowa Republican told The Daily Wire. “Elite universities have made their bed, and they’ve got to lie in it, but not on the taxpayers’ dime.”

Anti-Semitic incidents have increased by over 500% since Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israeli civilians. Ernst is one of several senators who have raised the alarm about the harm anti-Semitism has had on Jewish students. She says the Biden administration has repeatedly ignored her.

“The Biden administration ignored my repeated calls for action and sat on its hands as anti-Semitic violence exploded on college campuses across the country,” said Ernst.

In contrast, President-elect Donald Trump has threatened both public and private universities with repercussions for enabling hatred and promoting a diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda.

“My first week back in the Oval Office, my administration will inform every college president that if you do not end anti-Semitic propaganda, they will lose their accreditation and federal taxpayer support,” Donald Trump said in a September speech.

He added that Jewish Americans must have “equal protection” and that the United States government will not “subsidize the creation of terrorist sympathizers, and we’re not going to do it, certainly [not] on American soil.”


In debut book, Yardena Schwartz links past and present horrors in Hebron and the Gaza envelope
Journalist Yardena Schwartz had nearly finished the manuscript for her first book, focused on the 1929 Hebron pogrom in which dozens of Jews were killed and a community was destroyed, on the morning of Oct. 7, 2023.

As reports emerged in the following days of the atrocities that took place across southern Israeli communities and the Nova music festival, “it I felt as if I was living the pages of testimony that I had spent years reading and researching for this book,” Schwartz told Jewish Insider in a recent interview about her book, Ghosts of a Holy War: The 1929 Massacre in Palestine That Ignited the Arab-Israeli Conflict. “It felt like they were coming to life. I felt like it was exactly what happened in Hebron occurring today. And it was so chilling.”

Schwartz intended to write a book based on the letters and diaries written by a young Jewish American man named David Shainberg, who, inspired by his faith, moved to Hebron to study at a renowned yeshiva, when he was killed on Aug. 24, 1929. A niece of Shainberg’s found the writings in the family’s home in Tennessee, where they had been collecting dust, and reached out to author Yossi Klein Halevi, who in turn suggested Schwartz take on the challenge of giving life to the story of a young man whose life was cut short.

What Schwartz found was extensive, if scattered, documentation of the 1929 pogrom and its aftermath. There was no English-language compendium focused on the massacre that killed nearly 70 Jews and left more than 100 wounded.

“I felt that if I’m going to write the first book in English that really goes into detail about the massacre and its causes and its aftermath,” Schwartz, a former NBC News journalist, told JI, “I need to do justice to those victims by detailing in as much detail as I can what what happened to them, not only for future generations to know about it, but so that it can’t be denied.”

It was an unintentionally prescient concern that was validated last year, when denials about the extent of Hamas’ atrocities on Oct. 7 began to emerge in the days and weeks that followed. It was through that lens that Schwartz finished the final chapters of her book, which took on a new direction in the wake of last year’s attacks, to weave together the stories, separated by a century, of Jewish pain and resilience.
A Soviet-Jewish Writer’s Post-Stalin Novel
How Vladimir Putin will respond to these setbacks is anyone’s guess. But Leon Aron contends that something can be learned about his regime by looking at a largely forgotten short Russian novel, which testifies to “mankind’s ineradicable yearning for the dignity in gaining moral autonomy from the totalitarian state.”

Titled The Thaw, the book appeared just a year and a half after Stalin’s death in 1953. On the surface, the narrative tells of the goings-on in a small Soviet town and the large industrial plant that sustains it. But readers at that time took it for what it was: a lightly penciled yet unmistakable outline of a thin but durable shoot of civil society breaking through the Stalinist permafrost.

Its author, Ilya Ehrenburg, co-edited, along with his fellow Soviet Jewish novelist Vasiliy Grossman, The Black Book of Soviet Jewry, one of the first systematic accounts of the Holocaust. The authorities deemed the book anti-Soviet, and it wasn’t published in Russian until 1980, and then only in Jerusalem. But for the most part, Ehrenburg adhered to the party line and, Aron writes, was “uncannily” good at anticipating its abrupt changes. Aron goes so far as to call Ehrenburg “Stalin’s favorite Jew.”

The admiration, however, was not necessarily mutual, as The Thaw makes as clear as any book published inside a totalitarian regime can:

Recovering from the memory hole the shameful and scary events that the party wished to bury, Ehrenburg writes about Anna Sherer, a Jewish doctor at the plant’s clinic. Having lost a husband in the war and her mother and sister to the Holocaust, Anna is brought to tears by Pravda’s “announcement” about an “uncovered group of doctors-wreckers, almost all Jews,” who had been alleged to poison the country’s leaders—the nightmarish Doctors’ Plot that was intended as a prologue to a nationwide pogrom and was cancelled only by Stalin’s death. “Sometimes people say such dreadful things,” she confides to a friend. “Don’t trust the doctors!” workers had groused loudly in the clinic’s reception. “Especially the likes of her!”
Arabella Advisors dark money group behind black Communist ‘solidarity’ magazine boosting Hamas
The sole funder of a website “inspired by the courageous black Communists in Alabama” in the 1930s and 1940s and platforming pro-Hamas talking points is a key cog in the largest Democratic dark money network in the United States, documents show.

Last year, on the heels of Hamas terrorists attacking Israel on Oct. 7 and killing 1,200 people, a little-known magazine called Hammer & Hope worked to amplify terrorist-aligned voices on its website and on social media, appearing to downplay the massacre. Hammer & Hope declared its endorsement of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel — a group the Washington Examiner reported in 2023 was removed from the fundraising platform ActBlue and is tied to a charity sponsoring a since-sanctioned terrorist fundraiser.

On its face, Hammer & Hope appears to be a relatively grassroots website embracing left-wing dogma with a lean staff of progressive writers. In actuality, the website is closely connected to the national political landscape — receiving its funding from a group managed by Arabella Advisors, a consulting firm in Washington, D.C., overseeing a shadowy network of nonprofit groups shaping the Democratic Party’s agenda.

All of Hammer & Hope’s funding in fiscal 2023, $150,000, came from the New Venture Fund, a nonprofit group in the Arabella umbrella that doles out hundreds of millions of dollars each year for left-leaning causes, according to tax forms reviewed by the Washington Examiner.

In the preceding fiscal 2022, Hammer & Hope raked in $1.5 million from the New Venture Fund through a registered nonprofit group for its publisher in New York called the Black Radical Project. Hammer & Hope‘s publisher was incubated at the New Venture Fund as a project, allowing it to be routed a $750,000 check from the Ford Foundation, a top grantmaker aligned with Democrats, through the Arabella-managed entity, financial disclosures show.

Arabella’s ties to Hammer & Hope, which calls itself “a project rooted in the power of solidarity,” illustrate how the top dark money network maintains allies in the anti-Israel orbit as it attempts to distance itself from other groups. In 2023, the New Venture Fund and another Arabella-managed group announced they would discontinue grants to Alliance for Global Justice, an Arizona-based group that has long sponsored a fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist faction.
Mohammed Hijab sues Douglas Murray for defamation
An Islamic influencer with 1.28 million YouTube subscribers is suing The Spectator and its associate editor, Douglas Murray, for defamation after an article accused him of aggravating racial tensions during the 2022 Leicester riots.

Controversial anti-Israel campaigner Mohammed Hijab maintains that the allegation is false and claims that it caused him “to suffer, damage to his reputation, distress, humiliation, embarrassment, hurt and injury to his feelings”.

Hijab’s lawyers allege that he lost income as a result of the article – including a £3,500-a-month advertising deal with the One Ummah Charity and £30,000 payment for a Ramadan fundraising campaign.

Lawyers for Murray and The Spectator, led by Mark Lewis of Patron Law, have hit back against Hijab’s claims.

They argue that as a public figure who regularly engages in contentious debates, Hijab’s reputation is already subject to scrutiny. Any “adverse consequences” to the YouTuber stem from his own behaviour, not the article, they state.

Murray’s article includes a reference to Hijab's trip to Leicester during the 2022 unrest, in which Hindu buildings were attacked and dozens of arrests made as tensions with the city’s Muslim community exploded. Speaking to a large crowd of mostly masked men, Hijab delivered an apparent warning, saying: “I’m saying this directly to all the so-called Hindutva wannabe gangsters: Don’t ever come out like that again”. He also led calls of “Allahu Akbar”.

In his column, Murray – who recently received an award from President Isaac Herzog for being a “friend to the Jewish people” – accused Hijab of “cropping up in Leicester to whip up his followers.

“Hijab claimed that the Hindus must live in fear because they have been reincarnated as such ‘pathetic, weak cowardly people’. ‘I’d rather be an animal,’ he went on,” Murray wrote.
Wes Streeting calls for NHS chiefs to take action over antisemitic staff
Heath Secretary Wes Streeting has said he expects NHS chiefs to “take action against anyone working in the NHS who promotes hatred against Jewish people” after meeting with communal leaders to discuss growing evidence of antisemitism.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care addressed the issue at Tuesday’s meeting adding:”“I am grateful to members of the Jewish community delegation for raising these important issues with me, and I will work with employers and regulators to address it.

“We are fortunate to have an NHS built by people of all different faiths and backgrounds, and everyone working in or using the health service has the right to feel safe and respected.

“I expect employers and regulators to take action against anyone working in the NHS who promotes hatred against Jewish people, and we have a zero-tolerance policy towards racism, aggression or intimidation.”

A delegation, including officials from the Board of Deputies, the Jewish Medical Association (JMA), Community Security Trust and Jewish Leadership Council, met with Streeting to discuss a series of concerns.

There were calls. for action in a number of key areas, including making clear to staff across the entire NHS that wearing symbols of an overtly political nature is unacceptable, as well as emphasising that no NHS workers should be be wearing their uniforms for any external political protest save ones which are explicitly directed at the Government with regards to NHS policies.
“It Was A Setup” | Oxford Union Faces Criticism For Muting Debate On Israel
The Oxford Union is facing criticism for muting parts of a debate on genocide.

Jewish journalist Jonathan Sacerdoti, opposing a motion labelling Israel an "apartheid state responsible for genocide," was heckled and abused during his speech.

Sacerdoti accused the 200-year-old society of censoring the abuse by muting sections of the video posted on YouTube, including audience reactions when he mentioned Israel's aid to Gaza.

Counter Terrorism Policing South East is investigating reports of someone supporting a banned group during the event.

Kevin O’Sullivan speaks with the journalist involved, Jonathan Sacerdoti about his experience.




Rupert Murdoch visits firebombed Melbourne synagogue
Rupert Murdoch has visited the Adass Israel synagogue in the Melbourne suburb of Ripponlea, six days after it was firebombed in what is being investigated as a terrorist attack.

He visited alongside his wife, Elena Zhukova, shortly after making an appearance at News Corp’s Melbourne headquarters, where he met former colleagues and executives. It was the first time he has been seen in public since losing his bid to shift the terms of his family trust.

Murdoch was joined by Adass Israel community members at the damaged synagogue and long-time News Corp columnist and TV host Andrew Bolt.

Murdoch, who is making his first visit to Australia in six years, spent several hours at News Corp’s Melbourne offices on Thursday after arriving in Australia last week.

On Monday, a Nevada probate commissioner rejected his bid to alter his family trust and hand control of his global media assets in the event of his death to his eldest son, Lachlan, at the expense of his other children – James, Elisabeth and Prudence.

A News Corp spokesman declined to comment but Murdoch told his company’s news outlet The Australian that the attack was “evil” and that he was “deeply moved” by the visit to the synagogue.

“We felt it was important to pay our respects and show solidarity with the Jewish community after such an appalling terror attack on a place of worship. To think such an evil act can happen in the suburbs of Melbourne is extremely disturbing,” he said.

Victorian Rabbinical Council president Rabbi Moshe Kahn said Murdoch spent about 30 minutes meeting with the Jewish leaders and touring the synagogue.

“I thought it was incredible,” Kahn said. “It was a really important statement. Even though he’s 93 years old, he took the time to come down and see what happened. He really took a genuine interest. It was deeply heartening.”


CCTV footage salvaged from inside Melbourne synagogue
Police have obtained crucial new evidence in their investigation into the terror attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne - the first footage of the alleged arsonists.

Sky News' Sharri Markson on Thursday evening aired CCTV footage obtained by Victoria Police and Counter-terrorism police that was salvaged from inside the Melbourne synagogue.

The extraordinary footage captures the precise time that arsonists targeted the temple and the moment it suddenly goes up in flames.

"It is a truly horrifying when a synagogue is set alight and torched," Markson said on Thursday.

She highlighted the speed at which the place of worship became engulfed with flames and smoke after the alleged arsonists set the place on fire.

"It's so terrifying isn't it?" she said.

"Just look how quickly that fire spreads. In a matter of seconds, the synagogue turns from a peaceful place of worship, a safe room for study and prayer, into a potentially deadly inferno - the flames raging inside with thick acrid smoke."

Markson continued to highlight footage showing the alleged arsonists setting the synagogue on fire as a frightened worshipper was still inside.

The worshipper - who appears to be a middle aged man - is seen peering into a room through two small windows to look at the alleged arsonists dousing a room with petrol.

The man opens the door and appears to say something to the intruders before closing the door and running "for his life".
EXCLUSIVE: CCTV reveals ‘horrifying moment’ synagogue was set alight and torched
Sky News host Sharri Markson has revealed the “horrifying moment” the Adass Israel Synagogue of Melbourne was set alight and torched.

“Police have obtained crucial new evidence that shows the alleged arsonists behind this terror attack,” Ms Markson said.

“The exclusive pictures I’m about to show you, obtained by police, are captured from CCTV inside the temple.”


‘Find these people’: Call for antisemitic perpetrators to be brought to justice
Nationals Senator Matt Canavan calls for the perpetrators of the antisemitic attacks against Jews to be brought into “account” in the law.

“There is obviously a small minority among us that are trying to cause us to divide ourselves to fight against each other,” Mr Canavan said.

“But what we have got to do is bring those perpetrators to justice, find who these people are, make them account for the full account of the law.”


Australian man arrested for threats against Victoria Jewish community center
An Australian man was arrested by Queensland Police on Saturday for making threats toward a Jewish community center in Victoria, law enforcement said on Tuesday.

The 52-year-old Holland Park man had made the threats on social media the same day of his arrest, and has since been charged with "using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence" and is set to appear before the Nanango Magistrates Court on January 16.

The police emphasized that there was no indication that the suspect was involved with the December 6 arson attack on the Melbourne Adass Israel Synagogue.


Palestinians ‘have a right’ to have their ‘legitimate aspirations fulfilled’: Anthony Albanese
A vast majority of countries are expected to vote for an emergency ceasefire in Gaza at the United Nations General Assembly.

The UN will vote on a draft resolution which seeks an immediate unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

“Palestinians having a right to have their legitimate aspirations fulfilled, it has to be done in a way that provides security for everyone in the region, that is my position, that is the position overwhelmingly of countries in the United Nations as well,” Mr Albanese said.


Australia supports UNRWA motion at United Nations
Australia has voted yes to a draft resolution that seeks an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.


Israeli government ‘disappointed’ with Australia voting in favour of UN motion
Sky News host Rita Panahi discusses Israeli government official’s reaction to Australia voting for an unconditional ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.

“It’s a mixture of dismay and disappointment, they don’t understand why our government has deviated from the position they expected them to have,” Ms Panahi said.

“I think they [Israeli government officials] are putting together that with the explosion in antisemitism, and we’re seeing that Australia is no longer a friend of Isreal – they are questioning that relationship."




Australia votes for immediate Gaza ceasefire at UN
It is a “mark of shame” that Australia voted at the UN General Assembly early on Thursday for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion said on Thursday.

Australia joined 170 other countries in voting Yes to the resolution, which also called for the release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza but did not make a ceasefire dependent on that happening.

Australia also voted for a resolution condemning Israel for barring the UN Palestinian aid agency UNRWA from operating within its borders.

“This is arguably the most immoral resolution passed by the UN General Assembly since the infamous ‘Zionism is racism’ resolution in 1975, that was subsequently rescinded.” Aghion said.

“By calling for an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the General Assembly is effectively demanding that Israel abandon the hostages to their fate, and allow the Hamas terrorists to re-establish themselves as the de facto rulers of Gaza. No country in the world should be expected to betray its own citizens as Israel is being called upon to do.”

Aghion noted that “although the resolution calls for the ‘immediate and unconditional release of all hostages’, it does not make the release of the hostages interdependent with the ceasefire and does not require Hamas to lay down its arms.

“Nor does the resolution condemn Hamas for initiating the war on October 7, 2023 or for its many atrocities,” he said.

“If this resolution were to be put into effect, it would be a green light to Hamas to regroup, rearm and prepare for the next terrorist attack against Israel.

“Mere voting numbers do not determine the truth or what is just. It is a mark of shame for Australia that our government decided to support this vote, knowing full well how wrong it is in so many ways, as was evident in the reservations expressed by the Australian representative.”
‘Species of racism’: Tony Abbott speaks out on Australia’s rise in antisemitism
Former prime minister Tony Abbott claims antisemitism is a “species of racism”.

“And you can’t be against some racism, you’ve got to be against all racism,” Mr Abbott told Sky News host Peta Credlin.

Mr Abbott criticised the Albanese Labor government for voting “in favour of racism at the UN”.


UN becoming ‘increasingly’ anti-Western: Alexander Downer
Former foreign minister Alexander Downer says the United Nations is becoming “increasingly anti-Western".

Penny Wong has again called for a ceasefire in Gaza after Australia backed a United Nations resolution demanding an “immediate, unconditional and permanent” end to the fighting in the Palestinian territory.

The former foreign minister claims UNRWA “can’t stand” and has called for the relief agency to be “dismantled”.


Albanese is ‘gaslighting’ Jewish community by backing UN ceasefire vote
Shadow Home Affairs and Cyber Security Minister James Paterson condemns the Labor government for backing the UN General Assembly vote for a ceasefire in Gaza.

“When he was asked about this, he pretended not to know what the reporters were talking about. He said there were lots of votes coming up at the United Nations,” Mr Paterson said.

“The Prime Minister was gaslighting the Australian Jewish community while standing at the Sydney Jewish Museum supposedly being concerned about antisemitism.

“When the Australian government abandons, or even worse, vilifies Israel, antisemites take encouragement from that and it gives them a license and that’s why it’s a serious problem.”


Albanese’s ‘epiphany’ on antisemitism was rather ‘short-lived’
Sky News host James Macpherson says Jewish Australians dared to imagine the Prime Minister had undergone an “epiphany”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has supported banning demonstrations outside places of worship in an emotional press conference where he called for "an end to antisemitism".

“But as epiphanies go, it was rather short-lived; less than 24 hours later, his government voted at the United Nations for an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza,” Mr Macpherson said.

“Who says, ‘I support Jews’, and in the next breath, ‘Jews should stop fighting a terrorist organisation committed to their destruction’?”


Committee's endorsement of 'anti-Palestinian racism' report splits Liberal caucus
Tensions were apparent in the Liberal caucus Wednesday after a committee chaired by Liberal MP Lena Metlege Diab released a report endorsing the disputed concept of anti-Palestinian racism.

Attorney General Arif Virani said he was “alive to concerns” about the notion of anti-Palestinian racism, but stressed the need to confront the rise in hatred since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in southern Israel.

“I think what’s really important is that Canadians understand we’re trying to address the divisions and the hatred that we’re seeing in society,” Virani told reporters on his way to the Liberals’ weekly caucus meeting. “And we’re seeing a lot that’s related to geopolitical conflicts on the other side of the world.”

“That’s why it’s critical to address antisemitism, but it’s also critical to address reprisals and backlash that we’ve seen against people that are Arab or Palestinian, including looking in more detail at the definition of anti-Palestinian racism.”

Anthony Housefather, the Liberal MP for Mount Royal, said he wasn’t convinced Palestinians need special protections.

“We’d have to understand why … you would have this nationality and not other nationalities,” said Housefather.

“If you’re going to adopt anti-Palestinian racism, are you going to have anti Israeli-racism? Are you going to have anti other country racism?”

Housefather, who is Jewish, was a vocal backer of the Trudeau government’s adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism in 2019.

Your guide to the world of Canadian politics. (Subscriber exclusive on Saturdays)

The committee report, titled Islamophobia on the Rise, uses the term “anti-Palestinian racism” more than a dozen times. It also recommends that the federal government, joined by the provinces, direct educational institutions to appoint “special advisors” on anti-Palestinian racism.

The report stops short of recommending that anti-Palestinian racism be added to Canada’s anti-racism strategy, as some activists have pushed for.
He Sits on Columbia's Top Disciplinary Body. He Also Lauds Terrorist Plane Hijackings as 'Spectacular.'
As a member of Columbia University's top disciplinary body, Joseph Slaughter helped draft guidelines meant to provide students with a "contemporary understanding" of school rules on campus protests. As an English professor, he delivered a lecture that lauded a string of terrorist plane hijackings as "spectacular" and "remarkable," according to audio obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

During his Oct. 9 talk, titled "Hijacking Human Rights," Slaughter referenced "pretty spectacular" footage of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) plane hijackings from the early 1970s. He suggested those hijackings were peaceful, saying, "nobody dies except one of the hijackers." He also said the hijackings were part of a "national liberation imaginary" and lauded their terrorist perpetrators for feeding their captives.

"I'd like to show you what a hijacking looked like in 1972. A PFLP hijacking, a Palestinian hijacking in 1972, where the PFLP hijackers, nobody dies except one of the hijackers," he told a crowd of mostly student attendees. "What's remarkable about the historical footage from this thing is the way that the PFLP hijackers are helping people off the airplane and taking them over to tables to eat."

"This is a national liberation imaginary that is just so different from the moment that we are living in that it's really, I think, important to try to conceive of a different structure of feeling," he continued. "There is no place in the reporting in the 1970s where any of the people who are doing the hijackings are called terrorists. They're called guerrillas, they're called liberation fighters, they're called liberation movements."

Slaughter's remarks reflect the institutional support anti-Israel radicals enjoy at Columbia. They came just weeks after the university senate's rules committee, which Slaughter sits on, approved guidelines "intended to promote a common understanding" of school rules "for the entire Columbia community." Those guidelines, which Slaughter voted for and defended in a September interview with the Columbia Spectator, sent a clear message to unruly protesters—one of protection, not discipline.


Jewish leaders outraged after independent school conference featured radical anti-Israel rhetoric
Jewish leaders expressed “deep concern” in a letter on Wednesday to the president of the National Association of Independent Schools — a group that counts more than 100 Jewish day schools as members — after the association held a recent conference where several speakers accused Israel of genocide and spread anti-Israel rhetoric.

At the NAIS People of Color Conference (PoCC), held last week in Denver, “a Jewish student stated that he and his peers ‘felt so targeted, so unsafe, that we tucked our Magen Davids in our shirts and walked out as those around us glared and whispered,’” according to the letter.

In addition, keynote speaker Dr. Suzanne Barakat, an assistant clinical professor at the School of Medicine and executive director of the University of California, San Francisco Health and Human Rights Initiative, defined Zionism as when “some European Jews decided that the solution to solving antisemitism in Europe and Russia was the establishment of a state in Palestine,” the letter states.

According to the letter, signed by Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League; Paul Bernstein, CEO of Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools; Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee; and Eric Fingerhut, CEO of Jewish Federations of North America, the keynote address featured “a patent erasure of the millennia-old connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel and a flattening of Jewish identity, excluding MENA Jews who also yearned to return to their ancient homeland.”

The letter goes on, “[Barakat] and others, such as Dr. Ruha Benjamin, used the term ‘genocide’ in relation to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, a grossly inaccurate and misleading use of a well-defined legal term. Independent schools should champion nuanced and fact-based teaching of history and current affairs; students should learn that international conflicts are complex and easy answers and accusations are rarely a panacea.”

“The pervasiveness of this rhetoric and the absence of any alternate perspectives created an atmosphere that was hostile for many Jewish students and faculty members in attendance,” the letter continued. “The vast majority of the Jewish community is Zionist … Anti-Zionism fuels antisemitism. Since October 7th 2023, many people claiming to be ‘solely’ anti-Zionists have verbally and physically attacked Jews, protested in front of Jewish religious and communal institutions, and attacked Jewish owned businesses.”
Court Rejects Anti-Israel Activist’s Claim Against Major Law Firm For Revoking Job Offer
An Arab Muslim woman who sued the prominent law firm Foley & Lardner for revoking its job offer over her anti-Israel activism just had part of her case dismissed by an Illinois federal court.

Georgetown Law School grad Jinan Chehade claims the firm’s director of diversity and inclusion promised her they “valued and supported” her Arab Muslim heritage—a promise she says she relied on when she accepted a job there.

But U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman, an Obama appointee, ruled that those assurances didn’t amount to an “unambiguous promise” that her job offer would not be rescinded over her pro-Palestinian activism.

Chehade had worked as a summer clerk at Foley in 2023 and was to begin as a full-time associate at the firm’s Chicago office in late October. In the interim, and following the October 7th attacks on Israel, she began speaking out against the Jewish state on her social media accounts and at an October 11th Chicago City Hall meeting.

Chehade appeared at the meeting wrapped in a keffiyeh to oppose a resolution condemning the Hamas massacre. Though “the Western Zionist-controlled media machine would have you believe” it was an unprovoked attack, she raged, Hamas’s murderous rampage was justified: it was their “legal right” and a “natural response” to “75 years of occupation” by Israel’s “apartheid regime”:

After that rant, Foley apparently thought better of its offer. Ten days later, Chehade claims she was called to its Chicago office, where members of the firm grilled her about her remarks at the meeting, as well her social media posts about the Gaza conflict and her past involvement with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). SJP is the pro-Palestinian student group behind the unauthorized anti-Israel protests and encampments that disrupted daily life on the country’s college campuses over the past year.

Shortly after her meeting with the firm—and the day before she was to start her new job—Foley withdrew its offer.

Chehade sued the law firm this past spring, alleging promissory estoppel: she claimed the diversity and inclusion director’s statements were an “unambiguous promise” that she would not be punished for actions that she took as an Arab Muslim woman in support of her beliefs.

Judge Coleman disagreed. The firm had not promised Chehade “total job protection no matter what she did or said so long as she believed those actions were related to her ethnicity, religion, or association.” To conclude otherwise, the judge wrote, would be like giving Chehade a “get out of jail free card” for any action that she took, even if it violated Foley’s values and policies, due to her status as an Arab Muslim woman.


39 Holocaust groups and educators quit X in stand against hate and distortion
Holocaust education organisations and experts worldwide are quitting social media platform Twitter/X en masse in a collective stand against the online sharing of dangerous and harmful narratives.

In a group statement, the 39 organisations and individuals involved in Holocaust education, remembrance and research as well as fighting contemporary antisemitism, confirmed they will stop posting on the social media platform as part of their ‘Not One More Word’ campaign.

All involved have vowed to silence their accounts as of 13 December.

Signatories include The Association of Jewish Refugees, Holocaust Centre North, Bergen-Belsen Memorial, Sir Martin Gilbert Learning Centre and the Museu do Holocausto de Curitiba, Brazil, alongside Dame Helen Hyde, a trustee of the National Holocaust Centre and Museum, the Holocaust Education Trust and an advisor to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, Austrian historian Brigitte Bailer and film and media historian Professor Steven Alan Carr.

The full statement reads: “Twitter was once a platform where we could build communities and engage in productive communication in support of our work. Then Twitter became X and over the ensuing two years, its users have suffered changes that have made the platform a far different place than it once was. Misinformation, distortion and abuse have flourished while security and content moderation measures have all but disappeared.

“Meanwhile, as a business, X relies on our content to keep its users engaged. More engagement means more advertising revenue. Simply put, X profits from our presence there – it profits from each word we post. We say NOT ONE MORE WORD. It’s time to stop posting. We will silence our accounts as of 13 December 2024. In the coming days, you may find us posting links to our other social media accounts and publicising the ways in which you can continue to engage with our work elsewhere. And we pledge to support our valued colleagues who join in this effort by promoting each other’s content however possible.”


Wikipedia suspends pro-Palestine editors coordinating efforts behind the scenes
An Arbitration Committee set by Wikipedia for “Palestine-Israel Cases” has banned two editors indefinitely and imposed restrictions on three others.

These measures were taken against the said editors following attempts at “canvassing,” which is regarded by Wikipedia as bringing fellow editors into a discussion regarding a specific edit “with the intention of influencing the outcome of a discussion in a particular way, and is considered inappropriate.”

According to Wikipedia’s standards, such instances of canvassing are deemed inappropriate “because they compromise the normal consensus decision-making process, and therefore (it) is generally considered disruptive behavior.”

The Committee highlighted the off-wiki misconduct in the Palestine–Israel topic area, accusing editors of making edits in the Palestine–Israel topic area after off-wiki canvassing requests and “encouraging other users to game the extended confirmed restriction and engage in disruptive editing.”

“Wikibias,” an X account that examines these attempts and exposes anti-Israel bias on the Free Encyclopedia, lauded the decision taken by the committee, adding that other “toxic editors” are still manipulating information in articles such as “Use of Human Shields by Hamas.” The outlet continued: “it is high time the Arbitration Committee takes immediate action to thoroughly investigate and hold all editors… accountable for their distortion of Wikipedia content.”


Indy publishes wildly inaccurate Gaza death toll claim
An article in the Independent by their new world affairs editor Sam Kiley (“How Assad’s downfall could turn Syria into a new haven for Islamist extremists“, Dec. 9) pivoted to Israel deep into the article, making the following claim:
Some 80 per cent of the 43,000 people killed by Israel in Gaza over the last 13 months have been women and children.

As we noted in a complaint to Indy editors, this statistic is wildly inaccurate.

The journalist is almost certainly basing his claim on a UN report which, in addition to containing serious methodological flaws, narrowly relates to the number of “verified” dead in the first six months of fighting between Israel and Hamas. As the UN has only been able to verify 8,119 of those allegedly killed in the territory during that period, this represents a fraction of the overall alleged Gaza death toll over the last 14 months.

Moreover, as an Associated Press study demonstrated, the death rate for women and children in Gaza declined dramatically beginning in April – that is, at the end point of the UN’s six month report on verified casualties. It’s therefore extremely likely that a study of war deaths in the territory in the eight months after April — even one carried out according to OHCHR’s skewed methodology — would produce a vastly lower ratio of fatalities for women and children.

(Further, the UN report in question claims that women and children represent nearly 70% of the total verified, not 80%, as the Indy claims.)

We, in fact, previously prompted a correction at the Indy last month to that same error, as did our CAMERA colleague at Voice Of America and Deutsche Welle.

We sent an official complaint to Indy editors about this most recent error, and are awaiting their reply.
BBC News continues to ignore its own guidelines on ‘material from third parties’
Although the IDF’s original statement noted those secondary blasts and their likely cause, Gritten’s account – which was updated the following day – ignores that part of the story, along with the issue of Hamas’ exploitation of civilians sheltering in a designated humanitarian zone as human shields.

Quoting the same spokesman (who has previously appeared in BBC content) for the Hamas-run Gaza civil defence, along with unidentified “local media”, Gritten goes on to promote more claims which the BBC has not independently verified.

“Another 10 people were killed when Israeli strikes hit three houses in Gaza City, in northern Gaza, according to Mr Bassal.

Earlier, five people were killed in an Israeli strike on the urban Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, medics said. Local media said four of the dead were children and that the strike had targeted a queue outside a bakery.

The Israeli military said it had struck a “terrorist target” in Nuseirat, without giving any details, according to the Associated Press.”

BBC editorial guidelines on Accuracy include the following, under the subheading “Material from Third Parties”:
“3.3.13 Material supplied by third parties, including news providers, needs to be treated with appropriate caution, taking account of the reputation of the source.

We should normally only rely on an agency report if it can be substantiated by a BBC correspondent or if it is attributed to a reputable news agency.

We should only use other material supplied by third parties if it is credible and reliable. […]

3.3.14 We should only broadcast material from third parties who may have a personal or professional interest in its subject matter if there is an editorial justification. The source of this material should be identified. This includes material from the emergency services, charities and environmental groups.”

The “reputation” of the murderous terrorist organisation Hamas has obviously not deterred the BBC from repeatedly amplifying claims that have not been “substantiated by a BBC correspondent”, made by staff from its emergency services and other departments who have a clear “interest” in promoting the topic of civilian casualties – particularly children – in the Gaza Strip.

Nevertheless, for the past fourteen months the BBC has not only repeatedly ignored the instructions in those editorial guidelines but has serially failed to update its reporting when the actual circumstances of events become clear.

And yet, the BBC would still have its audiences believe that it is a source of ‘news you can trust’.
Egypt's School Curriculum Removes Antisemitism, Focuses on Promoting Peace
Egypt's reformed school curriculum is now teaching a more positive representation of Israel and peaceful coexistence, according to a report by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), published in December.

Over 80% of Egyptian elementary school students are now learning from revised textbooks focused on promoting peace, while rejecting violence and extremism.

There is growing positivity in the presentation of Israel, with anti-Israel statements removed from textbooks for younger students.

Ninth grade social studies students are being required to memorize the Israel-Egypt peace treaty and outline the "advantages of peace for Egypt and the Arab states."

However, while antisemitic references and Jew-hatred were removed from textbooks for younger students, textbooks for higher grades still feature hatred of Israel and Jews.


Candace Owens as a symptom of the times
On August 18, Owens held a live broadcast on X titled “The Truth About Zionism”. In the broadcast, she began by presumably talking about Jews, declaring: “There is ...a group of people in this country who can just keep lying on people …trying to ruin people’s lives and there’s just no accountability, because then you just get to flip it and say oh, it’s antisemitism.” She then turned her focus on Israel. “It's the fact that when things happen on our soil and we find out that there is potentially Israeli involvement we are basically hushed up, called crazy.”

Owens has also promoted the “blood libel” conspiracy, the false charge that Jews used the blood of Christian children for ritual purposes, which in past centuries led to Jews being violently attacked and killed. She claimed that the family of Leo Frank (a Jewish man lynched in 1913 by a mob in Georgia after being wrongfully and falsely accused of murdering a young girl who worked at his factory) believed in pedophilia and incest “as the sacramental rites and they would commit these acts, things that would normally be termed blood libels were actually happening.” (!)

In a July 2024 podcast episode, Owens engaged in Holocaust distortion and denial,: “The reason why this particular episode is so detrimental to Zionism is because they have polluted American minds to believe that we must defend Israel out of morality and the evils of the Holocaust.” In July she was criticized for minimizing the Holocaust after calling Mengele’s experiments on Auschwitz prisoners “bizarre propaganda”.

Candace Owens has moved from one conservative outlet to another after leaving or being forced to leave, yet still maintains her fan base. She has a huge social media following, with over 5 million followers on X and Instagram each, and over 2 million followers on YouTube.

Much of her antisemitic rants are reminiscent of what’s written in “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” (a fabricated text purporting to detail a Jewish plot for global domination”, published in 1903.) The “Protocols” are deeply imbedded in the mindset of today’s Jew hating, anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian coalition of white supremacists, progressive-leftist activists, and Muslim-Americans. Candace Owens has joined this blood-thirsty crowd of Jew haters by giving them the platform to espouse ideas that have fueled this past year’s declaration of war on the Jews of America, and is very much a symptom of the times.


US Catholic group aims to get AJC Jew-hatred guide into ‘hands of every bishop’
Some five years ago, the American Jewish Committee began publishing a “Translate Hate” glossary of antisemitic terms, themes and online memes. The initial list of 25 entries has grown to 59 this year, according to the AJC, which is now partnering with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on an edition with Catholic commentary.

Rabbi Noam Marans, director of interreligious affairs at AJC, told JNS that this is the first time that the group has had “a partner beyond the Jewish community that is using the template of ‘Translate Hate,’ which is a very successful template that can be used within their constituency that has a Catholic flavor.”

“The genius of the ‘Translate Hate’ project is that it has infinite applications in languages, in different faiths and it’s a model that can really make an educational and practical difference in combating antisemitism,” Marans told JNS.

The AJC and USCCB held a panel discussion on Wednesday to mark the release of the Catholic edition of the glossary.

The glossary, for example, defines “deicide” as the “killing of a god,” and says that the term is antisemitic when it refers to “the charge that Jews bear eternal responsibility for the death of Jesus Christ,” which it calls a “misguided interpretation” of Christian scripture. The new Catholic commentary on the glossary notes that “this trope is a classic anti-Jewish charge leveled against the Jewish people for nearly 17 centuries.”

“They have been labeled as ‘Christ-killers’ and suffered persecution under that name. The allegation stems from an early Christian misreading of the Gospels to blame all Jews for the death of Jesus,” the new commentary states in part. “The dangers of such a distorted interpretation are particularly heightened in the Lenten and Paschal seasons as the faithful contemplate the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection.”


Pittsburgh man ‘idolized’ anti-Jewish violence, tried to join Hezbollah, Justice Department says
Jack Danaher Molloy, 24, a dual Irish-American citizen, traveled to Lebanon in August and to Syria in October trying to join the Hezbollah terror organization, according to a federal complaint unsealed on Monday.

In Lebanon, “Molloy was told by multiple individuals that the time was not right and that he needed to take other steps before he could join the foreign terrorist organization,” per the 27-page complaint. He then “traveled from Lebanon to Syria in October 2024 in the hopes of joining the Syrian branch of Hezbollah.”

Molloy also “supported and idolized violence and wanted to kill Jews, as evidenced by multiple images and videos on his electronic devices and the names he chose as his monikers for his social media and email accounts,” per the complaint. The latter “included variations of the phrase ‘kike killer’ and ‘gas the Jews,’” it adds.

Molloy, who is a former active duty member of the U.S. military and who converted to Islam in or around February 2024, used an email address on his PayPal that included the phrase “glassofjuice88,” according to the Justice Department.

“Your affiant is aware, based on training and experience, that ‘glassofjuice’ is a homophone for ‘gas the Jews,’ and the number ‘88’ is a reference to a white supremacist numerical code for ‘Heil Hitler,’” according to the complaint. “‘H’ is the eighth letter of the alphabet, so 88 = ‘HH’ = ‘Heil Hitler.’”

In August and September, Molloy searched on Google for “Hezbollah training” and “Hezbollah reserves,” according to the complaint, and he communicated via WhatsApp voice notes with unknown individuals, who advised him to frequent mosques that had Hezbollah membership and to learn Arabic.

“On or about Sept. 20, 2024, Molloy sent a message to an individual with a Snapchat username of [redacted] stating that Molloy had attended a Hezbollah funeral and that ‘the gate guards even though they were different ones from last week, knew of me, they knew that I’m Irish, that I’m Shia, and somehow they knew that I want in with Hezbollah,’” per the complaint. “‘They were entertaining the idea of me being Hezb. I fully expect to be taken off the streets at any moment for questioning and vetting.’”


Israeli high-tech exits surge to $13.4B in 2024 amid sobering market realities
“The Israeli high-tech paradox”, that’s how the accounting and consulting firm PwC Israel describes the state of exits in 2024. Despite the ongoing war and a global environment of soaring interest rates—perhaps even because of them—the past year (up to December 8) has seen a 78% surge in the value of exits by Israeli companies. The total amount reached $13.4 billion, compared to $7.5 billion in 2023. These figures are impressive even when measured against 2021, a historic record year for Israeli high-tech. Excluding IPOs, the value of company sales in 2024 represents a 9% increase over 2021 as well.

According to Yaron Weizenbluth, Hi-Tech Partner and Assurance Leader at PwC Israel, 2024 appears to be the best year for mergers and acquisitions in the last decade. PwC’s methodology does not include follow-on transactions—secondary sales of public companies whose initial exits were already counted. Including such deals, like the sales of WalkMe and Innovid for a combined $2 billion, the total value of exits climbs to $17.2 billion.

"Against the backdrop of the war and amid internal and global challenges, the Israeli high-tech industry demonstrates recovery signs in 2024, showing significant upward trends in both average deal size and total transaction values," said Weizenbluth. "However, we must address the evident paradox in the local tech sector, stemming from international macroeconomic conditions that impact the local economy, leading to a sobering reality check for both investors and entrepreneurs. Consequently, the 2024 exits landscape reflects an evolving approach characterized by a balance between pragmatism and strategic maturity. Entrepreneurs and strategic buyers are seeking to generate value while weighing various risks, such as forgoing the chance for potentially higher future returns."

Weizenbluth’s comments come as the IPO market on Nasdaq remains largely dormant, despite earlier expectations of renewed activity in the latter half of 2024. Current projections now anticipate a revival of high-tech IPOs in late 2025. Companies are also reconciling with the reality that the valuations achieved during the boom years no longer reflect market conditions. This is evident in deals like those of WalkMe and Innoviid, which sold for significantly lower valuations than their IPOs in 2021.

Another notable trend is the rise of “blue-and-white” transactions—deals where both the acquirer and the target have strong Israeli ties. These accounted for approximately 28% of all transactions in 2024. A prominent example is the sale of the cybersecurity startup Dazz to decacorn Wiz, though Wiz notably rejected a $23 billion acquisition offer from Google earlier this year.
Seth Frantzman: Israel’s defense tech sector showcases Israel’s pioneering edge
Recently, over 120 students took part in a hackathon aimed at providing solutions to the defense technology sector. One of the teams was made up entirely of students from the minority Druze community.

The team showcased their innovation by offering a solution to a problem that combat vehicles and sensors that are deployed on the battlefield face.

In essence, many combat vehicles and other systems rely on cameras and various sensors and electro-optics that provide the operators with a way to see what is happening. The problem: Sensors can become clouded with dirt and dust.

The team, all of whom are reservists, sought to solve this with a way to clean the external cameras using a system of rolling film. This was one of the many technologies presented at the recent DefenseTech Summit at Tel Aviv University.

Significantly, Israel has been at war for more than a year. During this time, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have been called up to fight. This has caused many young people to put aside their studies and go to the front. It also means that people have not been working in companies, such as start-ups.

Now, Israel needs to keep producing the best cutting edge defense technology to manage the future battlefield and confront future threats. The war has reached a less intense phase. There is a two-month ceasefire in Lebanon.

In Gaza, there are three IDF divisions deployed but the fighting is less intense. That means that many people have been able to return home. It also means that the Defense Ministry is focused on acquiring a lot more defense systems.
Elbit Systems wins $175m orders from European NATO country
Elbit Systems announced on Tuesday that it has been awarded two contracts worth a total of $175 million (NIS 620 million) for the supply of EW (Electronic Warfare) and DIRCM (Directed Infrared Countermeasure) Self-Protection Suites to a European NATO country. The contracts will be performed over a period of five years.

Elbit Systems will deliver its Self-Protection Suites for installation on the country’s Embraer C-390 Millennium aircraft and Airbus H225M helicopters. The C-390 contract also includes an agreement with another European country, providing for the delivery of the Advanced EW suite for installation on its Embraer C-390 Millenium aircraft.

“The state-of-the-art EW and DIRCM Self-Protection Suite, to be installed on both platforms, provides enhanced defense capabilities by autonomously detecting, analyzing, and countering a wide range of threats,” Elbit Systems’ announcement said. “The suite includes Elbit Systems’ advanced Digital Radar Warning Receiver, IR Missile Warning System (MWS), Laser Warning System (LWS), Countermeasure Dispenser System (CMDS), and the MUSIC family DIRCM System. Additionally, as part of the C-390 contract, Elbit Systems will provide its SPEAR Advanced ECM (AECM) Pod, which can be easily installed and transferred between aircraft on the flight line.”
Trump nominee for economic role is Jewish, pro-Israel author, national security adviser
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced earlier in the week that Jacob Helberg, a member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission and national security author and adviser, is his nominee for under secretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment.

“In this role, Jacob will be a champion of our America first foreign policy,” Trump stated. “He will guide State Department policy on economic statecraft, promoting America’s economic security and growth and American technological dominance abroad.”

“Jacob is a successful technology executive, has the knowledge, expertise and pragmatism to defend America’s economic interests abroad and always puts America first,” Trump added.

Helberg wrote that he is “deeply honored and humbled” by Trump’s trust. “President Trump’s historic landslide election gave new hope and strength to the American people and was a reminder that brighter days are ahead—both at home and abroad,” he wrote.

In July, Helberg, who is Jewish, told JNS that “President Trump is by far the most pro-Israel president in history.”

“Anyone who cares about Israel recognizes that. He moved our embassy to Jerusalem, recognized the Golan Heights, signed the historic Abraham Accords to help strengthen the U.S.-Israel alliance structure in the Middle East, instituted a maximum pressure campaign against Iran and, at every step of the way, always had Israel’s back,” he told JNS.

“In the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre and in the rise of antisemitism on college campuses across the U.S., I have no doubt that President Trump’s support for Israel will be just as resolute,” he told JNS at the time.
Paraguay reopens its embassy in Jerusalem
The Republic of Paraguay restored its embassy in Jerusalem on Thursday, resetting bilateral ties in high gear in a sign of support for Israel in Latin America.

The embassy move, which had been planned before the start of the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, is a diplomatic boon for Israel at a time when it has faced consistent international opprobrium during the 14-month-old war triggered by the Hamas-led massacre of 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2023.

“There is a basic sympathy between our people and the people of Paraguay … because you too were a small people, you too were beset by great powers, you too suffered the specter of annihilation,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told President Santiago Peña at the embassy opening ceremony located in a high-tech section of the city. “This desire to both to seize the future to create the benefits for humanity … is coupled with the understanding that we have a heritage and a commitment to our past and our future that transcends time.”

The Israeli leader noted that Paraguay’s decision to relocate its embassy was a recognition of the truth that Jerusalem has been Israel’s historic capital for 3,000 years.

“This is the correction of a historical distortion, and you recognize the truth here,” he said as the Latin American leader nodded in approval. “Jerusalem is and will always be the undivided capital of Israel, and it will never change. This is a fact and you recognize it, and we recognize the fact that you speak out and stand up for that because of the common values.”

“I am very happy that this is taking place at this very moment where a lot of people talk but not many act,” Peña said in English in his remarks. “For us, not only saying but doing is very important.”

“We were with you, we are with you, and we will stay with the people of Israel forever,” he added before the two leaders embraced.




Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024)

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    
 

 

at