06/05 Links: Jerusalem: The Media Myth of Two Cities; ((( How Twitter Is Teaming Up to Mess With the Nazis )))

From Ian:

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Cuomo, Fighting Boycott Against Israel, Will Halt State Business With Groups That Back It

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York is planning to order agencies under his control to divest themselves of companies and organizations aligned with a Palestinian-backed boycott movement against Israel.
Wading into a delicate international issue, Mr. Cuomo will set executive-branch and other state agencies in opposition to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, or B.D.S., which has grown in popularity in some quarters of the United States and elsewhere, alarming Jewish leaders who fear its toll on Israel’s international image and economy.
Several states have moved to support Israel and prevent their governments and agencies from doing business with companies or individuals that endorse the boycotts. Similar bills are currently pending in both houses of the New York Legislature.
But on Sunday, Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, intends to flex his executive power — a more familiar demonstration in the governor’s second term — to expedite such action.
According to a draft version of an executive order obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Cuomo will command the commissioner of the Office of General Services to devise a list over the next six months of businesses and groups engaged in any “boycott, divestment or sanctions activity targeting Israel, either directly or through a parent or subsidiary.”

((( How Twitter Is Teaming Up to Mess With the Nazis )))

Spend any time around prominent opinionated Jews on the Internet, particularly on platforms like Reddit or Twitter, and you’re likely to encounter an odd anti-Semitic practice. White supremacists associated with the alt-right, many of them avid supporters of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, like to highlight Jewish users for targeting with parentheses: (((Rosenberg))), for example.
As Mic reported, the Internet’s neo-Nazis even have their very own Chrome browser extension that automatically places these parentheses around Jewish names on web pages. But on social media, they typically add the symbols themselves to troll Jews and alert fellow bigots to a potential target. Mic’s staff, for example, received these charming tweets singling out Jews on their team:
(((Echoes))), Exposed: The Secret Symbol Neo-Nazis Use to Target Jews Online
With a name like “Yair Rosenberg,” I might as well be called Jewy McJewface on Twitter. As a result, I’ve been on the receiving end of this sort of treatment for years, long before Donald Trump entered the political fray. Likewise, The Atlantic‘s Jeffrey Goldberg, being a Very Prominent Jew With Opinions on the Internet, has been a lightning rod for such abuse. So last night, he decided to preempt the neo-Nazis and put parentheses around his own Twitter username. It seemed like a good idea to me, so I tweeted this:
Then I went to bed. It turned out a lot of people—not just Jews—liked the idea. Some anonymous accounts even outed themselves as Jews to show solidarity. Muslims, Christians, and Hindus changed their names to show their support. As of now, hundreds of accounts have appropriated the Nazi symbols as their own.
It’s worth noting that the internet’s anti-Semites hate when their culture is appropriated by their opponents.

IsraellyCool: Proleptic Dhimmitude, Palestinianisation And A Bottle Of Beer

Some very big words used in this week’s video.
Palestinianisation: this comes from the prophetic mind of Bat Ye’or. She started writing about what Europe would become back in the 1980’s. And she’s been proved right. Everything concerning Islam, going on in Europe today is predicted in her books going back more than 25 years. This interview is absolutely essential reading if you want to understand how Israel has become so hated.
Proleptic Dhimmitude: first you have to understand dhimmitude (which I’ve written about before) or you can understand it from Bat Ye’or (see above). Then you have to understand the fairly obscure, but brilliant, word “proleptic” which comes from “prolepsis”:
Rhetoric. the anticipation of possible objections in order to answer them in advance.
So this is submission to the rules of Islam by non-Muslims before one is actually living under a Muslim ruler. For instance judging that insulting the prophet of Islam or desecrating one of Islam’s holy texts should be illegal so as to avoid “unpleasant consequences”. That is “proleptic dhimmitude”.

JPost Editorial: Jerusalem Day

In many ways, Jerusalem still suffers violence that did not end with the War of Independence, let alone the Six Day War. Under the 1947 UN Partition Plan, whose two-state solution was rejected by the Arabs, Jerusalem was to be an international city, neither exclusively Arab nor Jewish, for a trial period of 10 years, after which a referendum would be held by residents to determine which country to join, Jewish or Arab.
The Palestinian Authority is now insisting that one condition of a peace agreement is that the city be redivided, and east Jerusalem become the capital of a future Palestinian state. If that Partition Plan referendum were held today, most of Jerusalem’s nearly 900,000 residents would opt for keeping it Israel’s united capital.
It is well to remember that, immediately following the Six Day War, then-defense minister Moshe Dayan relinquished control over the heart of Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, to the Wakf, the Muslim religious trust. At the time, it seemed like a good idea. As Dayan stated: “We have returned to the holiest of our places, never to be parted from them again....
We did not come to conquer the sacred sites of others or to restrict their religious rights, but rather to ensure the integrity of the city and to live in it with others in fraternity.”
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
In Israel’s capital, the interface of the earthly and the heavenly moves on, sometimes veering in one direction or another. Jerusalem’s physical and spiritual beauty is shared by Jews the world over who feel its presence, perhaps no more beautifully than under the wedding canopy, where building a home in Israel begins. The wedding blessing itself acknowledges that all Jewish weddings symbolically take place in Jerusalem, and reminds us never to forget it.

Few incidents as Jerusalem Day march passes through Muslim Quarter

An annual parade of Jewish Israelis through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem passed with few incidents as tens of thousands waved Israeli flags under heavy guard Sunday to mark 49 years since the city’s capture and unification in 1967.
Police deployed over 2,000 officers across Jerusalem on Sunday, amid fears that the nationalist demonstration could inflame tensions as it wound its way through the Muslim Quarter.
Raising the stakes even higher, this year’s march came as Muslims prepare to begin observing the fasting month of Ramadan, when many Palestinians visit the flashpoint al-Aqsa Mosque in the Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem’s Old City.
The so-called Jerusalem Day Flag March plans to pass through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City before arriving at the Western Wall, which is directly below the Temple Mount compound.
Damascus Gate and the route of the march have been the site of several attacks on Israeli civilians and security personnel since the outbreak of violence in September of last year.

US advises ‘caution’ for travelers in capital on Jerusalem Day

The US Consulate General Jerusalem on Saturday issued a security message cautioning against visiting the capital during Jerusalem Day Sunday and the corresponding Naksa Day, marked by Palestinians.
The consulate also warned its citizens about travel to the Old City of Jerusalem over the coming month, the Muslim festival of Ramadan.
The message, which was also posted to the US State Department consular affairs Facebook page, noted that Sunday is celebrated by Israelis as the day East Jerusalem — including the Old City and the Temple Mount — was captured during the 1967 Six Day War, placing the Temple Mount under Israeli control.
“The day is marked by ceremonies, and large gatherings, and a march through Jerusalem,” the message said. “In previous years, clashes have erupted between Israeli and Palestinian residents during marches.”

PA police push back protesters at Joseph’s Tomb

Palestinian security forces managed to push back protesters who were advancing on the Joseph’s Tomb shrine late Saturday.
According to Hebrew media reports, the protesters tried to set the site on fire.
The demonstration began Saturday night after the Palestinian Health Ministry reported that a wounded Palestinian teen, said to have been hurt by IDF fire on Thursday after allegedly trying to throw a firebomb at Jews praying at the site, had taken a turn for the worse in hospital.
After rumors spread through the city that Jamal Dawiqat, 20, of the nearby Balata Refugee Camp, had died, protesters took to the streets, setting tires on fire and clashing with PA police.
Palestinian forces surrounded the shrine and fired tear gas at the crowd, which soon dispersed.
There were no immediate reports of injuries from the clashes.

Secrets under the Al Aqsa Mosque

The current Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Muhammed Ahmad Hussein, declared on October 25, 2015, that the Al-Aqsa Mosque was a mosque built on the site “3,000 years ago, and 30,000 years ago… since the creation of the world.”
In his interview with Israel’s Channel 2, the Mufti also insisted that there never was a Jewish Temple or shrine atop the Temple Mount.
Short History Lesson
Jews believe that the “foundation rock” beneath the Dome of the Rock is atop Mt. Moriah, the site of the binding of Isaac.
King Solomon built his Temple upon that rock in the tenth century before the Common Era (BCE), but it was destroyed in 587 BCE by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. Seventy years later, the second Temple was built by Jews returning from Babylon with King Cyrus’s blessing. Years later it was rededicated by the Maccabees in approximately 160 BCE after its defiling by the Seleucids.
In the first century BCE, the Second Temple, built by the returnees from Babylon, was rebuilt and massively expanded by King Herod. To accommodate the large Temple building and administrative offices, the Mt. Moriah plateau was expanded to become a colossal platform with huge retaining walls.
The Western Wall, the prayer site for Jews over the centuries, was part of the retaining walls. Roman armies commanded by Titus destroyed the Temple in 70 CE.

IN PICTURES: Jerusalem pre-Six Day War era and the British Mandate period

Have you ever wondered what Jerusalem looked like a century ago?
As Israel prepares to celebrate Jerusalem Day - which marks the reunification of the city - The National Library of Israel has shared with The Jerusalem Post photographs of the capital dating back to the pre-Six Day War era and the British Mandate period.
The annual national holiday commemorates the establishment of Israeli control over Jerusalem's Old City after the 1967 Six Day War, following 19 years of Jordanian rule.
The vintage pictures show Jews visiting the Western Wall and other sites in the city.

Jerusalem: The Media Myth of Two Cities

The history of Jerusalem did not start in 1967. Thousands of years of Jewish history took place in what is now called "Arab East Jerusalem."
Only when the Jewish residents were driven from their homes in 1948 was the city divided between East and West.
This video shows the reality of Jerusalem today and includes interviews from survivors of the fall of Jerusalem. To discuss the issue of Jerusalem, join our Facebook Group "The History of Jerusalem Did Not Start in 1967."

Defense Ministry releases new Six Day War testimonies by IDF generals

The IDF Archives in the Defense Ministry unveiled on Sunday new testimonies by military generals in the aftermath of the 1967 Six Day War, which shed new light on the concerns, frustrations, and assessments of IDF brass relating to the conflict that shapes Israel to this day.
The testimonies include lessons learned after the war, and major concerns held by generals on the eve of the conflict, including over the outcome of the battles, and the lack of faith they felt they had received from elected officials.
Testimonies by the former chief of staff Yitzhak Rabin, OC Southern Command David Elazar, OC Central Command Uzi Narkis, and OC Southern Command Yeshayahu Gavish were released by the archives.
Rabin was quoted as saying that one would "have to be stupid" not to realize the intentions of then Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser after the threats that he made prior to hostilities breaking out.

Six Days of Miracles – Setting the Record Straight [video]

Six Days of Miracles
An exciting and uplifting historic short movie, highlighting the miraculous events of the Six Day War, and emphasizing the Divine hand orchestrating these remarkable events from behind the scenes.
The movie is based on the book entitled "The Six-Day War Scroll".

The Mottle Wolfe Show: Yom Yerushalayim with Yossie Klein Halevi

Yossie Klein Halevi sits down with Mottle to discuss his book ‘Like Dreamers’. The book Follows the lives of seven young members from the 55th Paratroopers Reserve Brigade, the unit responsible for restoring Jewish sovereignty to Jerusalem, Halevi reveals how this band of brothers played pivotal roles in shaping Israel’s destiny long after their historic victory. While they worked together to reunite their country in 1967, these men harbored drastically different visions for Israel’s future.

Alan Dershowitz: Sanders’ Bigoted Appointees Endanger Clinton’s Election

For many years now, support for Israel has been a rare point of bipartisan consensus in an increasingly polarized political climate. Bernie Sanders apparently seems determined to undermine that consensus.
Sanders has demonstrated a consistent bias against the nation state of the Jewish people and surrounded himself with foreign-policy “experts” who often describe Israel as an apartheid state, and have repeatedly accused the IDF of committing war crimes. Sanders has clearly absorbed some of this rhetoric, as demonstrated in a series of interviews last month, in which he grossly overstated the number of Palestinian civilian deaths in Operation Protective Edge, and accused Israel of using disproportionate force in response to Hamas’ rocket attacks.
Following these statements, primary voters in New York and across the Northeast decisively rejected Sanders’ candidacy, and effectively ensured that Hillary Clinton will be the next Democratic presidential nominee. But Sanders’ efforts to end the Democratic Party’s support for Israel may well endanger Clinton’s prospects in the general election. Rather than modify or moderate his positions on Israel, Sanders now seems intent on remolding the Democratic Party to reflect the views of his most radical anti-Israel (and anti-American) supporters. Sanders apparently wants to use his newfound political clout to revise the language of the Democratic Party platform as regards the only true democracy in the Middle East.
Sanders claims that he wants Democrats to embrace a more “balanced approach” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but his appointment of James Zogby and Cornel West to the Democratic Platform Committee suggests anything but. Indeed, both Zogby and West are notorious for espousing policy positions that are extremely critical of Israel, and for using rhetoric that sometimes borders on antisemitic.

Abbas demands Jerusalem on 'Naksa Day'

Jerusalem Day on Sunday marks 49 years since Israel miraculously liberated eastern Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, Gaza and the Golan Heights against all the odds in the 1967 Six Day War - but Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairperson Mahmoud Abbas was busy mourning the day.
Abbas sent out a statement on "Naksa Day" as the Palestinian Arabs term it, with Naksa meaning setback in Arabic and indicating the "setback" as five Arab armies were unable to destroy Israel. The day is different than "Nakba Day," which marks the "catastrophe" when the Arab armies were unable to annihilate the fledgling renascent Jewish state in 1948.
"Our nation will in no way agree to anything less than a full end to the Israeli occupation which began in the June 1967 war," said Abbas in his Naksa Day statement as quoted by Channel 10.
The PA head elaborated his demand as including "the establishment of an independent sovereign Palestinian state whose capital is east Jerusalem on the '67 borders."

PreOccupiedTerritory: Left Insists Hezekiah Give Half Of Jerusalem To Assyrians (satire)

Leaders of the self-styled Peace Camp in the Kingdom of Judah are urging King Hezekiah to surrender half of the capital city to the Assyrian army under Sennacherib, palace sources are reporting.
Assyrian forces have begun to encamp around Jerusalem and lay siege to the city to force its surrender, and various figures on the political left are arguing that concessions to Sennacherib are the only way to resolve the conflict, including letting the Assyrians take control of large swaths of the Holy City.
The Assyrian expeditionary force has already captured the Northern Kingdom and exiled its populace to places unknown in Mesopotamia, and taken most of the southern kingdom of Judah, save for Jerusalem and several isolated outposts. Concessions proved useless in resolving the conflicts to date, but the leaders of the left believe Sennacherib and his troops will leave the Jews alone if they are given valuable parts of Jerusalem such as the Temple Mount, the City of David, and the Mount of Olives.
“We have defied the will of the international community for too long,” insisted Ravshakeh Livni, who was once an adviser to the king but changed loyalties. “The king appears bent on ignoring what the Philistines, Emorites, Moabites, Canaanites, Arameans, and other regional powers through the ages have demanded. It is time to end the militarism and start negotiating. Maybe then they’ll stop and we’ll have peace once and for all.”

Israelis raise NIS 1.3m to renovate disabled veteran’s home

Israelis over the weekend raised NIS 1.3 million ($337,000) to make the home of an IDF veteran badly hurt in the 2014 Gaza war wheelchair-accessible, after the Defense Ministry denied him coverage because he lives in a West Bank settlement.
Yehuda Yitzhak HaYisraeli was critically injured in Gaza and remained in a coma for over a year. After nearly two years of hospitalization, HaYisraeli, who is married and has two children, was set to be discharged.
But citing its policy on construction in his settlement of Ofra, the Defense Ministry said it could not renovate the home, including building a ramp and a new housing unit, to accommodate his disability.
The right-wing My Israel organization last week set up a crowdfunding campaign to cover the construction costs, estimated at some NIS 600,000 ($155,000). Over the weekend, over 7,000 people donated, doubling the fundraising goal to hit NIS 1.3 million. Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog also donated some NIS 1,000 ($259) to HaYisraeli.

In Visit to New York, IDF Soldier Who Survived Terror Attack Moved by Support of American Jews for Israel

An IDF soldier recovering from a Palestinian terror attack told The Algemeiner about the positive experiences she and fellow victims had while on a sponsored trip to the United States.
“The love my friends and I have received from the American Jewish community while visiting New York is beyond words,” said Lee Strachman, 20, who was among a group of Israeli terror victims recently brought to the US by the Belev Echad organization, whose self-described mission is to “repay… the enormous debt of gratitude we owe the brave warriors [of Israel], through support and a whole lot of love.”
Strachman, one of four Israeli Border Police wounded in a car-ramming attack near east Jerusalem on March 6, 2015, recounted the trauma. “We went out on patrol to secure the area because of the Purim holiday. A terrorist circled around us for two hours before ramming his car into me and my friends, where we were standing on the sidewalk,” Lee recalled. “I flew very far and broke my knees, ankles, the bottom of my spine, my jaw and my head was split open. I had many other injuries over my entire body.”
Strachman, who walks with the aid of crutches, spent three months recovering in the hospital and told The Algemeiner that “until today, I am doing daily rehabilitation, including a lot of physical therapy.” In six weeks, she said, she will undergo her third major surgery. She will be operated on by surgeons from New York, who will travel to Israel specially for that purpose.

16-year-old Jerusalem bus bomb victim released from hospital

Eden Dadon, the 16-year-old who was seriously wounded in the number 12 bus line bombing in southeast Jerusalem this April, was finally released from Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital on Sunday in time for Jerusalem Day.
Upon her release from the hospital Dadon's medical status was classified as good, and she is now to start her rehabilitation process.
Dr. Eyal Hasidim of Hadassah's plastic surgery department said that Eden "arrived seven weeks ago with complex burns on a wide region of her upper and lower limbs and even on her face."
"She was on artificial respiration and put to sleep with anesthetics at the intensive care unit for several weeks, she was treated by the team with devotion due to the serious wounds. With the transfer to the plastic surgery department we focused on treatment of the burns, physical therapy and occupational therapy in order to heal her and return her vital mobility," said Hasidim.
The doctor predicted Dadon will successfully make a full recovery following her rehabilitation, adding, "she will be able to do everything in her life, whatever she chooses with no limitations."

State sentences Palestinian terrorist tackled by ‘super’ Mayor Barkat to 18 years

A 17-year-old Palestinian minor was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Sunday at the Jerusalem District Court for an attempted terror attack partially halted when the assailant was tackled by Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.
The Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office filed an indictment with the Jerusalem District Court Juvenile Division against the minor in March.
The Palestinian was videoed stabbing a 30-year-old haredi man at IDF Square in Jerusalem on February 22, before being subdued by Barkat.
Multiple spectators referred to Barkat as the "super" mayor following the incident.
The Palestinian’s name is being kept under gag order since he is a minor.
The defendant was also indicted for separate counts of throwing Molotov cocktails, an improvised explosive pipe, firecrackers and stones at IDF soldiers near the Atarot checkpoint during the summer Gaza War.

PreOccupiedTerritory: IDF Cadet Pretty Sure He Missed Knife-Planting Portion Of Training (satire)

Private (First Class) Lior Amedi expressed near-certainty today that his basic training regimen for the combat unit he will soon join did not include the crucial component of planting knives near or on the persons of Palestinians who have been shot, to make it appear as if a stabbing attempt was made before the shots were fired.
The soldier, who will begin active duty with the Givati infantry brigade next week following his formal induction, conducted a careful review of his training with several comrades, and determined that none of them had been provided even the slightest instruction on knife-planting for use in covering up cold-blooded murder. Amedi shared his concerns that the training was not complete with two non-commissioned officers in the training corps, but was reassured that his unit’s regimen followed the same rigorous, comprehensive process as all previous ones.
“I’m more than a little confused,” confessed Amedi, 18. “I get my news from reliable sources such as Al-Arabiya, Al-Jazeera, Maan News, and other reputable Middle Eastern media outlets, and they’ve been consistently clear that the hundreds of Palestinians who have been shot in recent months by the IDF were innocent – that the Israeli military shoots first, then places a weapon in the vicinity of the victim’s body to make it look like self-defense instead of execution. But I haven’t received any training at all on such a procedure, which I’ve also been given to understand from the same sources that executing Palestinians and then framing them for terrorist acts – not necessarily in that order – constitutes the bulk of IDF activity. There’s a serious lapse going on here.”
Amedi dismissed the notion that such procedures do not exist. “The military has official procedures for everything,” he noted. “If I’m going to be spending my time killing Palestinians and planting knives on or near them, I better be following correct procedure. A soldier can get in serious trouble for not following the proper guidelines.”

Al-Aqsa Mosque congregant charged with helping Hamas

Prosecutors in Lod have filed charges against Omar Riyad Abd al-Razak Uda, a 21-year-old man from Qalansawe in central Israel, for contacting a foreign agent and providing services for an illegal organization.
According to the statements, Uda periodically visited the al-Aqsa Mosque, located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
On three occasions in 2015, he allegedly took part in actions organized by Hamas, which including yelling at Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount, helping reinforce the mosque while wearing a face mask, and throwing rocks at security forces trying to enter the mosque.
During the same year, Uda was in contact with a man in Gaza, even though he knew that the person in question was active in Hamas and the organization Al-Kutla al-Islamiya. Al-Kutla al-Islamiya is a branch of Hamas.
The terrorist asked Uda to photograph the al-Aqsa Mosque in order to publish the pictures on Al-Kutla al-Islamiya's Facebook page. He later asked Uda to take still photographs and videos of a rally in Umm al-Fahm. Uda did so and sent the files to the Gazan man over Whatsapp.

Hamas tunnels crisscross entire Gaza Strip, Israel says

Hamas operatives can travel throughout the Gaza Strip entirely underground using the terror group’s extensive tunnel network, Israeli security forces said Sunday.
Information about the tunnel system came from the testimony of a 17-year-old Hamas member who was picked up by Israeli troops last month after he illegally crossed into Israel from Gaza, the Shin Bet security service said.
The underage operative “belonged to the Beit Lahiya Battalion” in the northern Gaza Strip and “most of his activity was in the field of tunnels,” the security agency said in a statement.
Through his testimony, Israel learned “Hamas is working to construct tunnels that are linked to combat tunnels throughout the Gaza Strip,” the Shin Bet said.
“Hamas has dug a extensive network for moving fighters around the Strip exclusively underground. This network of tunnels includes rest quarters for use by elite unites in time of emergency,” the service said.

Gazans slam Hamas leader Haniyeh for painting life in Gaza as 'wonderful'

Relating to the 10-year Israeli-imposed blockade on Gaza, the senior Hamas leader said: "They will never push us to give up on our principles. The continuation of the siege amounts to a continuation of Palestinian steadfastness and resistance."
To many Gazans who are suffering from growing economic distress and dire humanitarian conditions, Haniyeh's description of life in Gaza sounded like a pipe dream.
Thus, a group of Gazan activists launched an anti-Hamas campaign on Twitter under the hashtag "#WhatIsWonderful?"
A Twitter user named Hussein from Gaza wrote: "Wonderful is a planet Haniyeh and his people are living on, disconnected from the Palestinian people."
Another Gazan citizen, Tareq Farra, posted to social media saying: "Ismail Haniyeh said that life in Gaza is wonderful, ignoring all the problems of poverty and unemployment."

John Pilger in the Guardian: “Killing children seems like sport for the IDF”

John Pilger is an Australian-based Guardian contributor who’s arguably one of the most vociferous demonizers of the Jewish state given a platform in the mainstream media. He’s suggested that Hezbollah represented “humanity at its noblest”, approvingly cited the arguments of Gilad Atzmon, has suggested that ‘influential’ Jews around the world are culpable in ‘Israeli crimes’ and has likened Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians to the Nazi’s treatment of the Jews.
According to Pilger “the Zionist state remains the cause of more regional grievance and sheer terror than all the Muslim states combined.”
Yet, despite Pilger’s record of extremism and antisemitism, Guardian editors saw fit to offer readers a live ‘web chat’ with him earlier in the year.
During the web chat (published in Feb. 2016, but which we only recently became aware of), he offered the following “analysis” in response to a question about the putatively high number of Palestinian children killed by “IOF” soldiers.

‘Fire up the oven’: Neo-Nazis target Jewish candidate in California

Erin Schrode, 25, is hoping to become the Democratic candidate for Congress from California’s second district after the state’s Democratic primary this week.
Schrode is also Jewish.
This week, she says, she has seen a torrent of anti-Semitic abuse hurled at her online in a coordinated campaign on a neo-Nazi blog that has backed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
The attacks reflect “more and more anti-Semitism this election cycle,” Schrode told BuzzFeed.
Late Saturday, she posted on Facebook some of the vitriol she has received.

Israel’s universities go global

On June 16, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and other dignitaries will break ground for the 12-acre campus of Cornell Tech, a joint program launched in 2013 by the Ivy League university and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa.
Last December, on the other side of the world, the Technion broke ground for the Guangdong Technion Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT) in Shantou, China, planned to accommodate 4,000 undergraduate and 1,000 graduate students in engineering and science as well as a high-tech park for Israeli and Chinese companies.
These revolutionary partnerships are significant indicators of the growing involvement of Israeli academia abroad. Most of Israel’s nine universities have joint programs in other countries, ranging from student-faculty exchanges and research projects to brick-and-mortar institutes.
Research collaborations between individuals in Israeli and overseas universities have been flourishing for decades. However, institutional collaborations are a newer phenomenon, says Liat Maoz, deputy director-general for policy and research at Israel’s Council for Higher Education (CHE).

With eye on Arab Israelis, Microsoft launches Nazareth R&D center

Twenty five years after Microsoft launched its first foreign R&D center in Israel, the tech giant on Thursday officially opened its latest research and development facility in the northern city of Nazareth.
"The new site is an additional step in our efforts to integrate Arab engineers in our development enterprise in Israel, and to deepen our activities in the country's north," said Microsoft Israel CEO Yoram Yaacovi.
Israel's Arab population were a source of untapped potential, he continued, noting that they comprise 25% of the Technion's computer science graduates each year, but that only a tenth of those graduates end up working in the industry.
"We're striving to ensure that the number of Arab engineers we employ is will be close to their relative share of the population," Yaacovi said.
Microsoft's other R&D centers in Haifa and Hertzliya employ roughly 1,000 engineers and researchers specializing in cloud, business intelligence, big data and personalization, the same fields of focus expected for the new facility. At first, only some 30-50 people will be employed there.

Alternative rock band Garbage headed to Israel

The alternative rock band Garbage, which famously performed the title song for the James Bond movie “The World is Not Enough,” is booked to play in Israel in August.
The American-Scottish group will play at the Rishon Lezion Amphitheater on August 16.
Early tickets are expected to cost NIS 269 ($70).
It will be the second performance in Israel for Scottish vocalist Shirley Manson and her American co-band members Duke Erikson, Steve Marker, and Butch Vig. The group last played in Tel Aviv in June 1999 as part of its Version 2.0 world tour.
Garbage was formed in Wisconsin in 1994 and launched its first album, the eponymous “Garbage,” in 1995, selling over four million copies.

Thousands attend memorial for Ethiopian Jews who died on the way to Israel

More than 3,000 turned out for an the annual ceremony memorializing Jews who died on the way to Israel from Ethiopian. Between 1984 and 1985 around 8,000 Jews came to Israel, mostly via the Sudan from Ethiopia; 4,000 perished on the journey.
In 2007 a monument was erected on Mount Herzl to commemorate the fallen and in 2011 the Knesset passed a resolution making the memorial an annual event that is held on Jerusalem Day.
Thousands journeyed from across the country this year for the morning ceremonies where political leaders and Ethiopian Jewish dignitaries gave blessings and speeches.
President Reuven Rivlin spoke about the many challenges olim faced in integrating into Israeli society. He noted that Jerusalem was a fitting place to commemorate these events because it is a diverse city for all.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referenced the suffering Jews went through on the journey and the sacrifice it entailed. He noted that the government is working to alleviate discrimination, an issue that has been in the media since last years anti-racism protests in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Swedish nurse who saved Jews gets sainthood

A Swedish nurse who converted to Catholicism and helped dozens of Jews during the Holocaust was made a saint on Sunday, Sweden’s first in six centuries.
Pope Francis canonized Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad at a ceremony in Saint Peter’s Square that took place just a few months before he is due to visit Sweden, a largely secular country.
She had been beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2000 after a 30-year campaign.
Hesselblad is only the second Swede to receive sainthood, following Saint Bridget 625 years ago.
She reportedly saved more than 60 Jews during World War II, hiding families inside her convent in Rome for about six months before the war ended.
Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust remembrance center, recognized her actions when it honored her as one of the Righteous Among the Nations in 2004, an award bestowed upon non-Jews who helped Jews during the Holocaust.

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