Saturday, December 06, 2025

12/06 Links: American Antizionism; Natasha Hausdorff on Israel Eurovision row, new UN Resolutions and Marwan Barghouti; Scarlett Johansson’s ‘Eleanor the Great’ lives up to its name

From Ian:

American Antizionism
A year after the Six Day War, the French scholar Leon Poliakov published the penultimate volume of his magnum opus, a millennia-spanning four-part history of antisemitism. He concluded Volume 3, From Voltaire to Wagner, with the declaration, “Historians are not prophets, and I will refrain, finally, from making any prognosis. Only the future will show if, and to what degree, a hatred of the Jews, justified theologically until the French Revolution and ‘racially’ until the Hitlerite holocaust, will have a third incarnation under a new ‘anti-Zionist’ guise.”

Poliakov did not refrain for long, perhaps because the future showed itself more quickly than he had anticipated. Before turning to the final volume, which carried the history of antisemitism through the rise of Nazism, he rendered his prognosis on the Jewish question of his own day. “[T]he devil painted on the wall has swapped his name from ‘Jewish conspiracy’ to ‘Zionist conspiracy,’” Poliakov wrote in a 1969 monograph. The title of that book, De l’antisionisme à l’antisemitisme, telegraphed the argument. “Under the pretext of a critical attitude toward the Jewish state and its supporters, an ancient passion inspired by hatred continues to make its way.” A meticulous historian, Poliakov then added a nuance that current debates over antizionism routinely ignore: “However, it does so in different ways, depending on the region and the regime.”

Two years after Hamas’s “Al-Aqsa Flood” (we must confront the name for reasons that I will explain below), it is less the horrors perpetrated on October 7 than the traumas of October 8 that have forced an American Jewish reckoning. What does it mean that, of all places, America’s campuses and cities were the most likely to meet Jews in their grief with rationalizations, exhilaration, silence, abandonment, and shunning? Jews in the United States are now discovering how antizionism makes its way here in this region. The experience has caught them intellectually, emotionally, and politically unprepared. I am neither a pastor nor a politician, so I cannot offer much on the latter two. But to those hoping to gain some intellectual footing, I can offer my perspective as a sociologist who has written on social movement activism, a historian who has studied antizionism in the USSR, and a professor who has been navigating academic antizionism in the US since the 1990s. These shape how I understand what American antizionism is, how educational failures enabled it to gain a foothold, how it has become more dangerous (at least for now) than race-based antisemitism, and how Jewish Americans might begin to blaze a path forward.
Nicole Lampert: All the ways Israel is being cancelled
Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands boycotting the Eurovision Song Contest due to Israel’s inclusion in the competition is only the latest attempt to “cancel” the Jewish state over its war against Hamas.

Indeed, only this week, it emerged that Guinness World Records had informed the Matnat Chaim charity that its plans to bring together 2,000 people to donate kidneys couldn’t become an official record because it is an Israeli organisation. The London-based organisation claimed this was fair, as it was also banning submissions from the Palestinian territories unless they were done in co-operation with the UN (an organisation with which Israel now refuses to work due to perceived bias).

Guinness World Records justified its policy on the basis of “just how sensitive this is at the moment”.

“Sensitivity” has become a familiar refrain, as Israel has been cancelled by individuals and organisations in almost every area of public life since Hamas’s attack on the country on Oct 7 2023.

Academia
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel has been going strong for more than 20 years in academia, led by the University and College Union, which represents lecturers, but it took on a new momentum after the Israel-Gaza war started in 2023.

In general, the attempted boycotts have not worked in the UK, but in Europe, it is a different story. Universities in Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain have increasingly voted to suspend agreements with Israeli institutions.

Emmanuel Nahshon, head of an Association of Israeli Universities task force to combat academic boycotts, told The Times of Israel that his organisation tallied 300 instances of boycotts in the year following the Oct 7 attacks, and a year later, that number had more than doubled to 700. This includes boycotts on individual researchers, as well as restrictions on those working with institutions.

In other cases, known as “shadow boycotts”, universities simply stop working with Israeli researchers or avoid engaging in joint projects without giving any reason.
Senior West Midlands Police chief 'apologises to Jewish community in Birmingham for telling MPs they BACKED ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans for Aston Villa match'
A police chief has apologised after appearing to mislead MPs by telling them that Jewish people in Birmingham had backed a ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attending an Aston Villa match last month.

West Midlands Police assistant chief constable Mike O'Hara told a select committee last week that concerns were raised by the religious community over supporters of the Israeli football team travelling to the city.

He said this contributed to the decision to bar the fans from their Europa League fixture at Villa Park on November 6, which sparked a huge backlash - with claims officials were caving into Islamist thugs.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was among those who condemned the ban, declaring: 'We will not tolerate antisemitism on our streets.'

However, the force has now been accused of using the community as a shield to avoid scrutiny after sources within the local community claimed there was no 'meaningful consultation' before the ban was decided.

One source told The Sunday Times that O'Hara's comments were a 'twisted' distortion of the facts and consultation with Birmingham Jews had been minimal.

The senior officer has since written to representatives of the city's Jewish community to apologise, emphasising he had 'no intention' of implying its members 'had explicitly expressed support for the exclusion of Maccabi fans'.

He also accepted it was 'not the case' that members of the Jewish community had expressed support for the ban and will 'ensure this is clearly articulated' to MPs in further written questions.

In a letter seen by The Sunday Times, O'Hara wrote: 'I am aware that there is some consternation within the local Jewish community about what I presented on Monday. There were a number of questions asked, often with several parts and secondary points.

'Please can I apologise and make very clear that it was not my intention to imply that there were members of the Jewish community who had explicitly expressed support for the exclusion of Maccabi fans.

'Having re-watched the footage, I am sorry if my response has created confusion by suggesting members of the Jewish community had expressed support for the ban. From my perspective that is not the case and I will ensure this is clearly articulated when I respond to the further written questions we are anticipating.'
Sweden’s funding scandal empowered antisemitic networks, endangered Jews
In a country that prides itself on democratic and liberal values, social media discourse has become increasingly toxic, fueled by misinformation about Jews, Israel, and the Middle East conflict, often amplified by the very institutions that received public funding.

A central question emerging from the scandal is how a developed state with a robust regulatory framework failed to detect a phenomenon involving $100 million in misallocated funds.

It appears that Sweden’s commitment to a tolerant and open immigration policy created a dangerous blind spot that allowed extremist groups to exploit the system.

Authorities reacted only after the investigation went public. Schools were closed, arrests were made, and assets seized. But for the Jewish community, much of the damage had already been done.

This affair is not merely a story of financial corruption. It illustrates how ideological organizations can infiltrate state mechanisms to advance hatred.

Like much of Europe, Sweden is waking up too late to the reality that antisemitism is not a marginal phenomenon. It is sustained by funding, ideology, and the absence of oversight – and when granted institutional support, it becomes a threat to democratic society as a whole.

The Swedish government is now being called upon to take full responsibility: strengthen security, remove extremist influence from public institutions, and ensure that taxpayer funds serve their intended purposes rather than fueling hatred.

The $100 million scandal is more than an oversight failure. It is evidence that even advanced democracies can fall victim to networks of radical incitement. Antisemitism in Sweden reached new heights because it was allowed to grow unchecked for years – and once it received public funding, it became a tangible threat.

In a country that fails to protect its Jewish community, it is not only Jews who suffer-the entire democratic order is at risk.




Natasha Hausdorff on Israel Eurovision row, new UN Resolutions and Marwan Barghouti
In a new wide-ranging interview, UKLFI Charitable Trust Legal Director, Natasha Hausdorff, discusses legal issues relating to three developments relating to Israel.

First, we’ve seen Israel remain in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, despite attempts by the tournament’s broadcasters in Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands and Slovenia to kick them out. After failing in that attempt, those broadcasters are currently boycotting the event.

At the same time, the UN General Assembly has passed another round of sweeping resolutions calling for Israel’s withdrawal from what it terms “occupied territories”, while omitting any reference to terror organisations or the wider context.

And finally, we’ve seen more than 200 cultural figures signing a letter calling for the release of Marwan Barghouti — a man convicted of multiple counts of murder and terrorism.




Nicole Lampert: FIXED ON JEWISH HATRED
LIKE toddlers having a tantrum, Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands and Slovenia have walked out of the Eurovision Song Contest because Israel wasn’t barred.

It is no coincidence that these are nations whose leaderships are particularly obsessed with the Jewish state.

The demonic focus on Israel means they don’t have to answer more challenging questions from their electorates about problems in their own nations.

Jew hatred has always been a popular European pastime.

That’s why Israel exists. Because Europeans couldn’t be trusted to stop killing Jews.

The great storm-out happened in the same week that Irish politicians admitted that it might “look” antisemitic that a council in Dublin planned to rename a park in the city’s only Jewish area – honouring an Irishman who became President of Israel – to the name of a Palestinian.

Oh, these noble Europeans, eh?

The Spanish murdered thousands of Jews during the Spanish Inquisition; the Netherlands had the worst record for protecting Jews from the Nazis in Western Europe. Slovenia has just 130 Jews.


Behind Middle East Eye’s Viral Reach: Alleged Ties to Hamas and Qatar
Middle East Eye isn’t just growing. It’s skyrocketing.

The London-based outlet describes itself as “an independently funded digital news organisation covering stories from the Middle East and North Africa, as well as related content from beyond the region.”

It claims that “Its unique coverage offers on-the-ground news, comment and analysis that brings local viewpoints to the fore. Reporters are encouraged to read between the lines and take stories one step further rather than simply follow the official narrative.”

On TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook, MEE’s videos now reach millions of young viewers, turning it into one of the most influential narrators of Middle East coverage. Its explainers and emotional reels circulate widely with no disclosure of who funds the outlet, who controls it, or any connections it may have through past leadership roles to extremists or associated groups.

Middle East Eye’s significance today isn’t just about its content. It’s about its sheer reach. On TikTok alone, the outlet’s videos regularly draw hundreds of thousands to millions of views. This makes MEE one of the most influential, yet least scrutinized, narrators of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict on social media. Its ascent mirrors the rise of AJ+, which similarly built enormous online influence while operating largely under the radar of traditional media oversight. Understanding MEE’s impact means recognizing that it isn’t a fringe publication. It is shaping the worldview of a generation.

Because Middle East Eye positions itself as an “independent” authority on Israel and Gaza for a global Gen Z audience, the public deserves to understand the origins, ownership, and ideological infrastructure behind the brand.

And the documents tell a very different story from the outlet’s marketing.
Syria’s Sharaa slams Israel for ‘exporting’ conflict to region to hide Gaza ‘massacres’
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Saturday accused Israel of “exporting crises” to other countries around the region in order to distract from its “horrifying massacres” in Gaza.

Sharaa’s comments, which were perhaps his sharpest against Israel since becoming Syria’s leader a year ago, were made during the annual Doha Forum hosted in the Qatari capital and followed several other regional leaders who also spoke about the war in Gaza.

“Israel… tries to run away from the horrifying massacres committed in Gaza, and it does so by attempting to export crises,” Sharaa said during an onstage interview.

“Israel has become a country that is in a fight against ghosts,” he claimed, saying that Israel uses the guise of security concerns and the need to prevent another October 7 massacre to justify every action it takes, even though no such correlation exists.

“Since we arrived in Damascus, we sent positive messages regarding regional peace and stability… and that we are not interested in being a country that exports conflict, including to Israel,” Sharaa continued, referring to his jihadist group’s toppling of the Assad regime last year.

“But in return, Israel has met us with extreme violence,” Sharaa said, highlighting the deadly Israeli raid on terrorists in the southern Syrian town of Beit Jinn last month.

“Syria has suffered massive violations of our airspace, and we’ve been victim of over 1000 airstrikes and over 400 incursions,” he said.

Sharaa reiterated his call for Israel to withdraw from the Golan territories in southern Syria that it has occupied since December, after Assad fled, with Jerusalem wary of the new Syrian leader’s past as an al-Qaeda commander and citing fears the area would fall into the wrong hands.


UNGA votes to extend UNRWA's mandate by three years
The United Nations General Assembly voted to extend the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)'s mandate by three years on Friday.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said he "saluted the overwhelming vote," adding that it "reflects the broad solidarity of people across the world with Palestine Refugees. It is also an acknowledgement of the international community’s responsibility to support the humanitarian and human development needs of Palestine Refugees pending a just and lasting solution to their decades-long plight.

"The vote needs now to be translated into a genuine commitment and matching resources to ensure the mandate is fulfilled," he concluded.

UNRWA "helps Palestine Refugees achieve their full potential in human development through quality services it provides in education, health care, relief and social services, protection, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance, and emergency assistance," according to its website.

Israel banned the organization stating that it "has been a facilitator for Hamas’s military buildup."

Who are the few that voted against the renewal?
The only countries to not vote for the renewal besides Israel are Argentina, Fiji, Hungary, North Macedonia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Tonga, and the United States. 14 other countries abstained in the vote.


With Gaza a rallying cry in Italy, a growing number justify hostility against its Jews
On September 22, 2025, a general protest and strike against Israel’s war in Gaza was organized by a group of smaller and far-left unions. It caught many in Italy by surprise: In Rome, police forces expected a few thousand to join the rally, but by the end of the day, authorities estimated that some 50,000 had taken to the streets. The organizers boasted that 300,000 participants had marched in the capital, in addition to hundreds of thousands more in some 80 cities across the country.

The same day, dockworkers in Genoa blocked access to the city’s major port, demanding that Italy not allow shipments to Israel, and several Italian celebrities either joined the protest or expressed solidarity with it. On live TV, celebrity host Antonella Clerici asked viewers not to remain indifferent to “the massacre” in Gaza during a beloved morning cooking show on Rai1, the most-watched Italian channel.

The following week, Italy’s largest union, the (self-reported) 5-million-strong Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro (CGIL), which had not supported the September 22 initiative, announced its own general strike and protest for Gaza. This took place on October 3, with support from Italy’s two main opposition parties, the center-left Partito Democratico (PD) and the populist Five Star Movement, as well as a smaller coalition of far-left parties, AVS-Verdi.

The organizers claimed that over 2 million people attended its rallies across the country, making it the most successful protest in years.

“Today’s rally is a huge demonstration for Gaza that shows how Italy is better than those who govern it,” said PD general secretary Elly Schlein.

At the same time, according to a survey published in September by prominent pollster SWG, around 15% of Italians consider physical attacks on Jewish people “entirely or fairly justifiable.”


IDF slays three Gaza terrorists who violated truce
The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday killed three Palestinian terrorists who violated the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the military said.

In two separate incidents, troops identified terrorists who crossed the Yellow Line and posed an immediate threat to them. Following the identification, the soldiers opened fire to neutralize the threats.

The Yellow Line is a demarcation established as part of the first phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal with Hamas in October.

“IDF troops in the Southern Command remain deployed in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat,” added the military.

On Wednesday, an IDF soldier was severely wounded and three others sustained lighter injuries after Palestinian terrorists emerged from a tunnel in eastern Rafah in the Gaza Strip.

The terrorists reportedly detonated an explosive device against the troops’ armored vehicle, prompting Israeli forces to kill two of the attackers. At least one terrorist reportedly escaped through the tunnel.

Later on Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said that the second phase of the Gaza peace plan is “going to happen pretty soon,” despite ongoing Hamas ceasefire violations.


Palestinian speeding car toward troops in Hebron killed, as is passerby; soldier lightly hurt
A Palestinian was shot dead by IDF soldiers on Saturday after accelerating in a vehicle toward the troops, Paratroopers Brigade soldiers who were operating near a checkpoint in the West Bank city of Hebron.

An uninvolved Palestinian civilian who was passing by was also shot dead by the soldiers amid the incident.

The army initially said that both of the Palestinians killed were in the accelerating car, but later issued another statement saying that, after a preliminary investigation, it was determined that only one of them was in the car, and the other was uninvolved.

First responders said one soldier was lightly hurt in the incident.

Last Monday, another soldier was lightly wounded in a car-ramming attack near Hebron. The assailant was killed during a subsequent attempt to arrest him. Hours later, two soldiers were lightly wounded in a stabbing attack near the northern West Bank settlement of Ateret. That attacker, too, was shot dead.


Tucker Carlson to headline Qatar’s Doha Forum, triggering pro-Israel backlash
Right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson is now listed as a featured speaker at the Doha Forum in Qatar this weekend, sharpening a growing fight inside the pro-Trump camp over Qatar’s ties to Hamas and its role as a global platform for Islamist movements.

Florida-based activist Laura Loomer, a close ally of United States President Donald Trump, flagged Carlson’s addition in a new post on X on Thursday, sharing what she said was a screenshot from the Doha Forum website that shows the former Fox News host on the official speakers list. Loomer has spent months accusing Carlson of being too soft on Qatar and Iran and of undermining support for Israel.

The Doha Forum website confirms that Carlson and his media partner, Daily Caller co-founder Neil Patel, are participating in this year’s gathering, which runs December 6–7 in Doha under the theme “Justice in Action: Beyond Promises to Progress.”

According to the event agenda and parallel reporting by US media outlet Mediaite, Carlson is scheduled to interview Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, on stage, while Patel appears in his capacity as co-founder and CEO of the Tucker Carlson Network.

They will share the program with an unusually eclectic roster that includes former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump Jr., Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, senior European and Gulf officials, and high-profile journalists such as CNN’s Christiane Amanpour and editors from outlets including The Guardian and Foreign Policy.


NYU Hosts "Palestinian Prisoners' Movement" Event—Code for Imprisoned Terrorists
New York University has scheduled a December 3, 2025 campus event featuring Kaleem Hawa, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), a group that multiple watchdog organizations allege maintains ties to U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Hamas.

The event, titled “The Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement and Transcultural Solidarity,” is organized by NYU Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine and co-sponsored by the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies—a Title VI National Resource Center for modern Middle Eastern Studies that receives federal funding from the United States Department of Education—along with NYU’s Departments of Social and Cultural Analysis and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies

Joining Hawa is NYU Professor Andrew Ross, who was arrested and barred from certain NYU buildings in December 2024 following participation in pro-Palestinian protests. Ross served on the advisory board of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI) and also said he was part of Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP), which is part of USACBI. He has previously published articles glorifying Palestinian terrorists as “martyrs” and justifying the wave of stabbing attacks during the 2015 “Knife Intifada.”

In November 2024, Ross was named in a federal lawsuit filed against NYU by three Jewish students, who claimed the university failed to adequately address harassment and discrimination. The lawsuit was settled in July 2024, with plaintiffs stating their complaints about antisemitic threats had been “ignored, slow-walked, or met with gaslighting by NYU.”


PRC-linked Spamouflage works to spread antisemitic disinformation
Fears among the Jewish community in the United States are on the rise, and for good reason. In early October a non-profit security organization warned that extremist groups are stepping up the use of antisemitic propaganda, including through artificial intelligence, to accelerate radicalization and, potentially, hate crimes against Jewish communities in North America.

2024 was the worst year in terms of anti-Jewish hate crimes in America since the FBI began collecting data in 1991, and following the horrific events of Oct. 7, 2025 and Israel’s subsequent campaigns against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Anti-Defamation League said antisemitic hate crimes in the US spiked nearly 400%.

It is not just Islamic extremists, white nationalists, and fringe religious movements spreading such content, however. Others include adversarial nations seeking to undermine the US’ global position, given Washington’s support for Israel. It may surprise few people that Iran’s state media levies such attacks on Jewish institutions and “Zionists,” or that Russia attempts to delegitimize Ukraine’s Jewish president and accused “rootless” Jews of attacking the Orthodox Church in Russia.

What may be less known is China’s role in spreading such pernicious narratives: In October 2024 a joint report by VOA and the Taiwanese NGO DoubleThink Lab noted that China-linked Spamouflage networks, consisting of up to 140 accounts, spread such content painting the US government as under Jewish control.

Such accounts, the report notes
suggested that entire branches of the US government are controlled by Jewish elites and/or the Israeli government,
made insinuations about the high proportion of US officials of Jewish descent in Washington and
claimed that both candidates in that year’s US presidential race were beholden to Israel.

These networks appear to be just a small sample of the antisemitism frequently spread on the Chinese internet ecosystem but the presence of Spamouflage networks means the PRC cannot dismiss such activity as the product of random internet trolls.

Doublethink Lab’s post-election analysis published at the end of 2024 suggested that Spamouflage accounts primarily sought to amplify existing content rather than create their own, and that such content used the ongoing conflict in Gaza to degrade the United States and its relationship with Israel, amplifying not only Chinese state media outlets but also anti-Israel and pro-Palestine accounts.

Such themes inter-mingled with other content typical of PRC information operations online, such as support for Beijing, criticism of US foreign policy, or highlighting of US domestic problems such as homelessness or gun violence.


Lithuania: Coalition lawmaker fined for antisemitic remarks
A Lithuanian court on Thursday convicted a political leader in the country’s governing coalition for his antisemitic remarks.

The court has found that “Remigijus Žemaitaitis incited hatred against Jews, grossly downplayed Nazi Germany’s crimes and grossly minimized the Holocaust in an offensive and insulting manner,” AP reported.

Žemaitaitis, leader of the Nemuno Aušra party, was fined about $5,800, significantly less than the approximately $60,000 the prosecutors requested.

The fine will be directed to a fund for victims of crimes, AP reported.

Judge Nida Vigelienė said that “Žemaitaitis chose and used language that was degrading, violated human dignity and demonstrated hatred,” according to the report.

The antisemitic comments came in social media posts and public statements that Žemaitaitis made in May and June 2023. In one social media post, he wrote, “Apparently, for our journalists and local Lithuanian Jews, the demolition of schools in Palestine is yet another pastime?!”

The politician also quoted an antisemitic nursery rhyme, according to AP.
Toronto model says she was kicked out of Uber for being Jewish
A Toronto model says her Uber driver kicked her out of the vehicle into the dark night because she was Jewish.

“What happened isn’t just an unpleasant moment. It’s a reminder of why speaking up matters,” Miriam Mattova, 33, told National Post. “And discrimination must be met with accountability, not silence.”

Mattova is a Jewish Slovakian-Canadian model and former Miss Slovakia. She said the incident occurred just after midnight on Nov. 30. Her friend ordered her an Uber so she could get home. After she got into the car, she FaceTimed another friend and was “speaking casually” about a recent trip to Israel a few weeks prior.

The female Uber driver slammed on the brakes, said Mattova, and told her to get out of the car at a busy intersection.

When Mattova questioned the driver, the driver told her she didn’t feel “comfortable” with Mattova in the car. “So I asked why, and the driver told me that they do not drive Jewish people,” Mattova said.

Mattova got out of the vehicle and ordered another Uber to get home. She reported the incident to the ride-sharing company, as did her friend who ordered the ride. A representative from Uber called her in response to her complaint on Dec. 4. Over email later the same day, a representative apologized for her experience and said they would be “following up with this driver to try to ensure an incident like this does not occur again.” The fare would be refunded, they said.

“A serious incident involving hate should trigger immediate action within 24 hours. Anything less allows prejudice to just go unchecked. Basically, it took them four days to get back to me,” Mattova said. “I want to be clear that what happened is about far more than an uncomfortable ride home or a refunded fair. The incident I experienced was a direct act of antisemitism, and the reason I’m speaking about it is because moments like this must be confronted openly.”
Final disgraceful defendant sentenced in brutal Times Square antisemitism attack
A Florida man involved in the brutal caught-on-camera beating of a Jewish victim in Times Square became the sixth and final defendant sentenced in the disgrace, landing two years behind bars Thursday.

Salem Seleiman, 30, was sentenced after he admitted to joining the hate-fueled mob who pummeled victim Joseph Borgen during clashes between Israel and Palestinian supporters in Midtown on May 20, 2021.

Seleiman was arrested on a warrant in May 2024 for the hate-crime attack.

“Salem Seleiman took part in the repugnant and bias-motivated assault of a Jewish man who was peacefully attending a rally,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement. “The victim was targeted based on his religion and did nothing to warrant physical violence.

According to prosecutors, Seleiman, of Tampa encountered Borgen, who was wearing a yarmulke, and was part of the group of men that hurled antisemitic slurs such as “dirty Jews,” “filthy Jew” and “f–k Israel.”

Borgen, who was 29 at the time of the attack, was thrown to the ground, punched, hit with a crutch and pepper-sprayed, prosecutors have said.

Video of the vicious beating later went viral on social media.

While good Samaritans tried to intervene and protect the victim, Seleiman urged onlookers to leave before he kicked Borgen, according to prosecutors.


How Holocaust Movies Help Us Understand Rising Antisemitism
Films tend to reflect our anxieties. So it’s probably not a coincidence that we’re getting so many Holocaust-themed movies at the same time as rising antisemitism has been in the news.

Historical dramas that deal with the Holocaust directly make stern warnings against ever letting it happen again, like “Bonhoeffer,” “Truth & Treason,” “The Zone of Interest” and “Nuremberg.” Meanwhile, modern-day dramas like “A Real Pain,” “Eleanor the Great,” and “Guns & Moses” wrestle with very real modern struggles of those who live in the aftermath of its legacy.

But these films also give us hints as to potential “whys” behind rising Western antisemitism. When you look at the lessons the historical dramas teach, and the movies made about their legacy today, you see deep tensions. These tensions suggest that some of the popular secular lessons our culture has derived from the Holocaust are also planting the seeds of its rejection.

Most of the Holocaust dramas of the past couple of years have focused on real-life heroic Gentiles who stood up for Jews against the Nazis — a tradition going all the way back to “Schindler’s List.” 2024’s “Bonhoeffer” follows the famous preacher Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who saw the rise of Hitler and both publicly opposed him and secretly worked to undermine him from within Germany.

In this year’s “Truth & Treason,” the film follows a young Mormon boy who sees his friend get mistreated and then arrested by the Nazis, so he starts an underground newspaper telling the truth about the fascist regime. Meanwhile, “Triumph of the Heart” tells the story of St. Maximilian Kolbe, the Catholic saint who died in the Holocaust in another man’s place.

Others focus on the villains — real or fictional — who were complicit in the horror by their action or inaction. “The Zone of Interest, from 2023, chronicles the family life of a Nazi commandant of a concentration camp. He treats his job with the humdrum attitude of any other office job, even as we see hints of the bodies piling up. “Nuremberg” follows a psychiatrist interviewing the Nazi high command prior to their trial at Nuremberg. His experiences led him to practically begin a crusade to warn Americans against becoming like the Nazis as well.

These movies are all — at their heart — simple moral fables designed to distill the lessons we are supposed to take from the Jewish genocide that took place during World War II. The lesson is: Evil looks like powerful people hurting weaker people; good looks like weak people fighting back against stronger people or a bystander standing up for one of those weaker people.

The “simple moral lesson” nature of these films is emphasized by 2023’s “White Bird.” This historical drama is about a grandmother who tells the story of her surviving the Holocaust to help her grandson understand the importance of standing up to victims being bullied. She tells him exactly the lesson he’s supposed to get out of this: don’t be like the Nazis and bully the weak; be like the good guys and help the weak.

It makes sense that this would be the lesson our culture would imbibe from WWII. As historian Tom Holland pointed out in his landmark book “Dominion,” Christianity’s moral precept for siding with the victim so completely dominated Western thought over the 2,000 years since Christ that by the time WWII rolled around, even secular people took it for granted. But as historian Alec Ryrie notes in his First Things piece “The End of the Age of Hitler,” the failure of so many Christians (particularly in Germany) to stop the Holocaust caused many (already secularizing) cultural elites to lose faith in Christianity as a moral guide.
The Reel Schmooze: Scarlett Johansson’s ‘Eleanor the Great’ lives up to its name
Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.

This week, the pair speaks about two films, “Eleanor the Great,” directed by Scarlett Johansson, and the documentary, “Son of a Seeker,” by first-time filmmaker Kai Balin.
WATCH the full episode here:


But first, we hear in this week’s “Jangle” segment, Hoffman recounts the recent votes of the New York Film Critics Circle for their annual “best-ofs,” which are also known as the “Elite Oscars.”

Next, we turn to two news items surrounding “Eleanor the Great.” The first is that first-time director Scarlett Johansson said in an interview that she was asked by a would-be financial backer to change her film’s plot away from the Holocaust. And then we also heard this week that one of the Holocaust survivors featured in the film, Sami Steigmann, was asked not to speak at a Brooklyn middle school about antisemitism due to his pro-Israel views.

We then review the film “Eleanor the Great,” directed by Johansson and written by Tory Kamen. It stars the great June Squibb, Erin Kellyman, Jessica Hecht, and Chiwetel Ejiofor.




Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    
 

 



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Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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