05/16 Links Pt2: Judaism and Zionism Are Inseparable; Nakba was result of Palestinians backing Nazis during WWII; Eugene Kontorovich: BDS: Russia vs. Israel ~ EoZ

From Ian:

The Nakba continues

It is indeed ironic that Arabs within Israel would see today as a catastrophe as well. Arabs in Israel need only survey the state of things in the nations that surround them to see how well they have done, how much they have benefited for being Israelis.

Is their situation ideal? Hardly. There is room for improvement, and assuming Arabs’ collegial interest in being part of the ongoing saga of Israel, there is a growing desire among Jews to integrate them into the warp and woof of Israeli society.

As it is, Arabs enjoy full civil and religious rights. They have extensive access to the best education and the most respected careers. They enjoy untrammeled access to Jewish towns and cities without offering reciprocal accessibility to Jews in their own villages.

If being an Arab in Israel is a catastrophe, one is hard pressed to imagine what a success would look like.

The sad reality is that quality of life – a good one in the case of Israeli Arabs and a poor one in the case of Palestinian Arabs – does not trump ideological considerations. Those Israeli Arabs who ignore the blessings of their Israeli citizenship while actively hoping for its demise define ingratitude.

The Palestinian Arabs who refuse to demand better conditions in their host countries are willing participants in a futile endeavor.

The common thread linking all of the various Nakba sensibilities is the simple refusal to accept that there is and will continue to be a State of Israel. This refusal makes it nigh unto impossible to have any sympathy for the self-inflicted wound of the continuing Nakba.

At the end of the day, people have the wherewithal to embrace reality and to move on with their lives. Woe to those who willingly refuse to do so.

Ben-Dror Yemini: Nakba was result of Palestinians backing Nazis during WWII

The question remains, however, does the fact that thousands of Palestinian Arabs enlisted to the British Army proves that only a tiny minority of Palestinian backed the Nazis? Israeli researcher and author Yoni Rainey claims it doesn't.

In his books - "Closed Case" and "The Hidden Side of Nazism and the Holocaust" - he claims that about 9,000 Palestinian and Jordanian Arabs did enlist to the British Army during the war (in comparison with about 27,000 Jews). But, from the moment it became evident the Germans may pass through Egypt and reach Palestine in spring 1942, Palestinian Arabs switched sides.

About 78% of the Arab volunteers deserted the British army, often times stealing weapons for the purpose of helping the Germans fight the Jews when the time came. Additionally, a survey conducted in 1941 shows that 88% of Palestinian Arabs supported Nazi Germany, while only 9% backed the British mandate.

These are facts! They're important for the same reason the Jews must recognize that there were cases of massacre targeting Palestinians, even if only few, and that there was displacement, not merely desertion of the local Arabs.

Likewise, the Arab side needs to take responsibility for their collective support of the Nazis. The Mufti and Qawuqji faithfully represented the Arab people. And if, God forbid, the war would've ended with a German victory, no Nakba would've taken place. Rather, the extermination of all Jews in Mideast would have commenced.

So no, there is no reason to apologize. And for anyone still wondering, the aggressor which refused any form of a partition plan and plotted to wipe out a nation, has no right to restitution or compensation, and certainly no right of return.

However, the Jews who were displaced from the Arab countries, whose property and possessions were confiscated, should have the right to get it back.

Whoever cultivates the Palestinian narrative is feeding the flames of hatred, incitement, and bloodshed. The road to peace requires us to take the opposite approach: recognize the historical truth and take responsibility in order to start a new chapter of peace and reconciliation.

When Arabs Became Palestinians

Not until Israel defeated and humiliated Arab countries in the Six-Day War (1967), ending Jordanian control over West Bank Arabs, did a distinctive Palestinian identity begin to emerge. Why was it, wondered Walid Shoebat of Bethlehem, “that on June 4th 1967 I was a Jordanian and overnight I became a Palestinian.” Even PLO military commander Zuhair Mushin acknowledged: “There are no differences between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. We are all part of one nation.” The vision of a Palestinian state, he recognized, was merely “a new tool in the continuing battle against Israel.”

Without a history of their own, Palestinians plundered Jewish history to define themselves. The ancient Canaanites were identified as the original “Palestinians.” So, too, were Jebusites, the Biblical inhabitants of Jerusalem. Based on these fanciful claims an imaginary “Palestinian” history of 5,000 years was implanted in the Land of Israel.

Palestinians’ identity theft has taken strange turns. They have absurdly equated the Nakba (disaster) of 1948, when Arabs launched — and lost — a war of Jewish extermination, with the Holocaust. Indeed, Holocaust denial was the core of the doctoral dissertation of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. He preposterously claimed that Zionist leaders were “fundamental partners” of the Nazis, jointly responsible for the slaughter of six million Jews.

Palestinians have relied upon the model of the Israeli Law of Return to claim that millions of “refugees” — fewer than thirty thousand of whom are still alive — should be permitted to return to the land they abandoned in 1947-48 during the Arab war to annihilate Jews. Teenage Arab girls have been taught to equate their plight with that of Holocaust victim Anne Frank.

So it is that a people without a national history until well into the 20th century has attempted to persuade a gullible world audience that Palestinians are the rightful inheritors of Jewish history — and land. Ironically, even the holy Koran (which makes frequent mention of Jews but does not mention Palestinians) was interpreted by Muslims more than a millennium ago to affirm that the Land of Israel was given by God to “the children of Israel” as a perpetual covenant. Murdering Jews was not mentioned. But as scholar and novelist Dara Horn aptly titles her new book, People Love Dead Jews.

The Message of Nakba Day: Palestinians Want to Undo Israeli Independence

Palestinians and their supporters on Sunday marked “Nakba Day,” or the day of the “catastrophe.”

Why May 15? Because on the Gregorian calendar, this is the day after Israel’s Declaration of Independence in 1948.

Up until 1998, the day was marked in only a minor way: a few strikes, some demonstrations, the flying of black flags. But in 1998, even as the Oslo process was still alive, Yasser Arafat changed all that, deciding that with Israel celebrating its Jubilee anniversary – as it was that year – the Palestinians should mark 50 years to their displacement. As a result, Palestinian rallies – which turned violent – were held both in Israel and in the territories.

Arafat’s choice of this particular day to mark the “nakba’’ was disingenuous. Because for Arafat the “catastrophe” was less David Ben-Gurion declaring independence when the British left Mandatory Palestine, and more about when the army of the nascent Jewish state fought and defeated the invading Arab states that tried to drive it into the sea – just like the cliché says.

In other words, the “catastrophe” was that the Jews won. From the vantage point of the vanquished, this is understandable. In war there are victors and vanquished, and the vanquished will always view their defeat as a catastrophe.

In some cases, however, the vanquished recognize the new reality, pick up the pieces as best they can and move forward. Not here. For the last 74 years, the Palestinians have been trying to undo the “catastrophe” – a catastrophe that could have been avoided had they accepted the offers before the state was created for partition. But they refused, because they wanted it all – a refrain that has repeated itself numerous times since.

Had the Israeli forces not withstood the attack, there would have been no Israel, and the fate of many of the 650,000 Jews gathered in the Yishuv at the time would have been similar to that of six million of their European brethren just a few years earlier: They would have been slaughtered. But at least there would have been no “nakba.”

Judaism and Zionism Are Inseparable

We have rediscovered our strengths since the convening of the First Zionist Congress in 1897. Many dreams were realized. Many remain unfulfilled. There is still much work to be done.

We should always distinguish between those who are critical of this or that Israeli policy and those who oppose the very existence of the Jewish state. To oppose a government policy, even vociferously, is consistent with the best of Jewish values. Our entire tradition is built on the premise of dispute, argumentation, debate, and controversy. Often, the most authentic, honest, and loyal act is to oppose prevailing opinion. Many critics of Israel are right to be critical. The unresolved Israeli–Palestinian disputes create moral dilemmas that should trouble all of us deeply.

Even as Jewish anti-Zionism seems to be intensifying, in particular among the younger generations in America, anti-Zionist Jews constitute a small minority of our people. On the Right, this minority is composed largely of Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jews, whose lifestyles and values are outside the mainstream of world Jewry. On the Left, they are largely so-called progressive Jews, who, whether by word or deed, are regurgitating the old, discarded Classical Reform rejection of Jewish peoplehood. In truth, Jewish anti-Zionism is an anachronism. The majority of the world’s Jews already — or will soon — live in Israel. With every passing year, Israel becomes stronger, and its influence on world Jewry increases. Israel is here to stay. Anti-Zionism is a luxury of secure Jews, those who do not feel threatened by widespread Jew-hatred. It is hard to find any anti-Zionist Ukrainian Jews. To the contrary, Israel is preparing to absorb tens of thousands of immigrants from Russia and Ukraine in years to come.

“Zionism is the return to Judaism even before the return to the Land of Israel,” Herzl said to the delegates of the First Zionist Congress. It was an astonishing insight, a prophecy we now know to be true: By reviving the Jewish nation, Zionism revived Judaism itself. It is impossible to envision Judaism today without the State of Israel. Zionism restored the Jewish people to history, propelling us back to the future.

On my first glance at the Tel Aviv skyline in final descent above Ben Gurion Airport, the white city slowly emerging from the azure sea, I often recite to myself these words from Amos 9:14:
I will restore My people, Israel. They shall rebuild ruined cities and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and drink their wine. They shall till gardens and eat their fruits. And I will plant them on their own soil, nevermore to be uprooted from the soil I have given them.

Ruined cities are rebuilt, the people restored, nevermore to be uprooted from the soil of the Promised Land.

Eugene Kontorovich: BDS: Russia vs. Israel

Cultural boycotts are a different matter. Economic sanctions are imposed by the state, and have been a tool of warfare and diplomacy for centuries; in the United States, they require significant actions by Congress and the White House to ban or restrict trade, meaning they derive their legitimacy from the consent of voters, and depend on the continuation of democratic support. Sometimes there is enough public pressure driven by democratic majorities to also include certain kinds of cultural boycotts, as in the case of South Africa. But there has never been any such U.S. popular majority for BDS against Israel, which is why the movement has been so shambolic.

The case of Russia is more complicated. It is unclear at this point how much of U.S. policy is being driven by bottom-up public outrage, and how much by top-down U.S. geopolitical strategy. That lack of clarity has resulted in a sanctions regime that does not seem to be deterring Russian military action or changing the minds of decision-makers in Moscow, but which does appear to be deliberately penalizing private Russian citizens. It’s not surprising that Western companies serving Russian customers have decided to leave Russia, given the sanctions climate and general economic turmoil. Some are motivated, no doubt, by pandering to what they perceive as the prevailing public mood, with echoes of “freedom fries” and “liberty cabbage.” But it’s not clear what is being achieved by intentionally harming private Russian entities and individuals, or by banning the participation of Russian artists and athletes in cultural events abroad.

Some have justified these penalties as a means to encourage ordinary Russians to overthrow Putin or force him to stop the war—actions that would of course be either futile or suicidal for people who have no choice but to live at the mercy of the Russian security services. Sanctions and boycotts designed to magnify civilian suffering also go against the international humanitarian goal of limiting the spillover effects from conflicts between armies.

What’s more, sanctions and boycotts untethered to any specific strategy or policy outcome, but merely designed to express disapproval or to punish people for where they live, only serve to further reduce trust in U.S. foreign policy more generally.

It was around the same time that apartheid ended in South Africa that the United States convinced Ukraine to agree to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, in which Kyiv pledged to decommission its nuclear arsenal in exchange for Western security guarantees and Russian recognition of its sovereign borders. At the same time, Israel was committing to the Oslo Accords. Two decades later, it turned out not only that Russian promises amounted to nothing, but that Western promises were worthless, too. As soon as Putin started biting off pieces of Ukraine in 2014, we were repeatedly reminded that Ukraine is not a NATO ally, and thus we have no obligation to defend it against aggression. It is clear now that if Ukraine had retained even part of its inherited nuclear deterrent, Putin would have had to pick on someone else. Instead, in the first phase of the war, it mostly had to make do with the symbolism of McDonald’s withdrawing from Russia and Russian singers being kicked out of American opera productions.

In Israel, all of this sounds familiar. The stated basis of the “two-state solution” still favored by the Biden administration would require Israel to yield its major strategic asset: control of the Judea and Samaria highlands, which directly overlook the entire coastal plain. In exchange, Israel would get “recognition” from the Palestinians, solemn promises of nonaggression, and security assurances from the West. Let’s say Israel agreed. Is there any question that when war broke out again, those guarantees would be quickly forgotten, and we’d all be reminded that the United States has no mutual defense treaty with Israel? And what difference would cultural boycotts make in a time of war—either U.S. government boycotts of Palestinian institutions or U.S. private institutions boycotting Israel?

Perhaps the only lesson we can draw from the last few months is that while the United States, and the West more broadly, do not base foreign policy on any kind of consistent moral or legal principles, they do occasionally enjoy sanctions and boycotts as one-off ritualistic indulgences.

Eugene Volokh: Are Jews a Race Under U.S. Law?

These days, Jews, Arabs, and the like aren’t usually labeled a “race” in America (though hostility to those groups is sometimes labeled “racism”). As a result, where the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bans discrimination based on race, it might not be understood as covering discrimination against Jews. But such modern statutes, including the 1964 act, also generally ban discrimination based on national origin and religion. If someone discriminates against Jews because he disapproves of their religious beliefs, that’s prohibited religious discrimination.

What if someone (like many antisemites) discriminates against all Jews, whether religious or secular? Some courts say this is prohibited national origin discrimination, but others disagree, reasoning that “Jews, like Catholics and Protestants, hail from a variety of different countries.”

A 2010 letter from the Obama administration’s Education Department took the view that discrimination based on “ancestry or ethnic identity as Jews” qualifies as national origin discrimination. Likewise, Donald Trump’s 2019 Executive Order says that such antisemitic discrimination may be illegal “when the discrimination is based on an individual’s race, color, or national origin,” though it ultimately leaves it to the courts to resolve whether discrimination against Jews really does qualify as national origin discrimination.

“Ethnicity” is the most common modern American term for referring to this quality of being Jewish apart from religion, just as it’s a common way to refer to being of Hispanic, Arab, or Italian extraction. Some modern antidiscrimination laws, such as the California constitutional provision banning discrimination or preferential treatment in public employment, education, and contracting, indeed expressly prohibit discrimination based on ethnicity. But the federal antidiscrimination statutes don’t mention ethnicity (though some courts have effectively equated national origin and ethnicity, covering discrimination against Hispanics and thus, by implication, also discrimination against ethnic Jews).

So in most situations, discrimination against Jews in employment, hate crimes, and the like counts as illegal discrimination. If the discriminator is targeting people because of their Judaism, that’s discrimination based on religion. If the discriminator is targeting people because of their Jewish ethnicity, that’s discrimination based on race (under the post-Civil War statutes) or, often, national origin (under the more recent statutes), and sometimes ethnicity. And, of course, much antisemitic behavior targets Jews based on both their religion and ethnicity, in which case several of these laws might apply.

But every so often there are complications. For instance, religious institutions aren’t barred from discriminating based on religion, but they are barred from discriminating based on race or national origin (at least as to their employees who don’t teach religion); likewise, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which restricts discrimination based on race and national origin in federally funded programs—including education—doesn’t cover religious discrimination. And the modern laws that ban national origin discrimination have particular procedural rules and damages provisions that the post-Civil War laws don’t, so whether ethnic discrimination is labeled race discrimination or national origin discrimination might sometimes matter. This can lead to some complicated litigation, such as Bonadona v. Louisiana College (2019), in which a religious college was allegedly discriminating against the plaintiff (who had earlier converted to Christianity) because of his Jewish ethnicity.

The court allowed Bonadona’s race discrimination claim under the Civil Rights Act of 1866. But the court rejected Bonadona’s claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, because, “Under the canons of statutory construction, words should be given the meaning they had when the text was adopted. This canon was adhered to by the Supreme Court in Shaare Tefila Congregation, when it noted that while Jews were a protected race in 1866, they are no longer thought of as members of a separate race.”

'It's not apartheid': Gulf influencers are shattering stigmas about Israel

"I was educated on the false perspective that Israel is a Jewish Apartheid State, one that doesn't give Arab their rights. A dramatic turning point for me was in 2010, when I was exposed to a totally different truth. The truth is freeing!" Luay Alsharif, a linguist and thinker from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, told Israel Hayom.

Q: What happened in 2010 that changed your negative perception of Jews?
"That year I was living with a Jewish family in France, and I studied the Bible and the shared tradition that Jews and Muslims have – and I was exposed to the historical connection that the Jews have with the region, which is an absolute fact, rather than the lie that they are colonialists. I changed my mind about the Jews. At that stage, I still had a negative attitude to Israel, and the revolution was completed four years ago when I discovered the truth that Israel provides for individual freedom of religion."

Around two years ago Alsharif, an opinion former who today lives in Abu Dhabi, which is in the UAE, met the Arab-Israeli hasbara activist Yoseph Haddad, CEO of Together – Vouch For Each Other, and this received extra validation with the signing of the Abraham Accords. The exciting meeting between them took place in March 2021, in a Muslim country that held a Holocaust Memorial Ceremony for the first time (at the initiative of Together – Vouch for Each Other and the organization Israeliz), during which, among other things, the testimonies of Holocaust survivors were shared.

"During and after the event I cried a lot. It took me a day to gather myself," Hadad says. "The Emiratis said that the ceremony made them understand the depth of the subject in a way they had never realized before, and this of course gave deep significance to the fact that it was being carried out in the light of the Abraham Accords." He has something else to emphasize. "We have to study history, and when an Arab-Israeli learns about the Holocaust it is a catalyst for Jews to come closer to Arab society and to bridge the gaps, without unnecessary racism."

Alsharif adds that "this unique event was extremely emotional. It's important to also note here the part of those Muslims who helped Jews, in the heart of the human tragedy, to escape from the gas chambers [mainly in North Africa and the Balkans]. For the sake of history and the future, inshallah we will have many memorial events like this in the UAE. We will never forget."

Haddad, who occasionally writes op-eds for Israel Hayom, says emphatically: "You don't understand how thirsty the Emiratis were to learn about Israel, Jewish society and Arab-Israeli society. Peace was formed against this background, as well as the openness and this crazy connection. We can feel something different in the air. Master of the Universe, I said to myself, they didn't know us and we didn't know them, but we wanted to know one another so much, it was a kind of falling in love."

Q: Arabs who are proud of their Israeliness
Haddad is a disabled IDF veteran who was severely wounded during the Second Lebanon War, after he volunteered for the IDF and served as a combat soldier in the Golani Brigade. Following his injury, he decided to devote his life to global hasbara about the beautiful side of Israel and about the real opportunities that Arab-Israelis receive.

In this context, regarding the importance of the Abraham Accords, Haddad, who lives in Nazareth, says: "It was personally fun for me to see how Arab society in Israel responded to this peace. For me, this is very important. The Abraham Accords aren't only important in the context of their direct outcome because first and foremost they broke the assumption that it isn't possible to make peace with Arab states without advancing the peace process with the Palestinians. From this perspective, it's possible to talk about the changes between Jews and Arabs.

Media Mute as Protestors at ‘Nakba’ March Call for Terrorism, Compare Israel to Nazis

Far from being a simple expression of “Palestinian solidarity,” Nakba Day is now a byword for violence against Jews. Israel was placed on high alert this week after Gaza’s terrorist leaders issued threats tied to “Nakba Day.”

Last year, the day coincided with the Hamas-initiated war against Israel, and saw a spike in antisemitism in the UK, including one incident where a convoy of vehicles decorated with Palestinian flags drove through a largely Jewish neighborhood in London, with participants threatening to rape Jewish girls.

The lack of press coverage by the British media of the Jew hatred at the London Nakba march is concerning, particularly because it comes as antisemitic incidents in the country have hit another record high.

The annual report by the antisemitism watchdog, the Community Security Trust (CST), found that British Jews were on the receiving end of 2,255 incidents in 2021, the highest total in Europe.

The UK is clearly grappling with unprecedented levels of Jew hatred. Based on Saturday’s largely unreported events, it is a form of bigotry that is increasingly being displayed openly on the streets of London under the guise of Palestinian “solidarity.”

All the while the UK media notices not.

Anti-hate watchdog criticizes CUNY Law School’s selection of commencement speaker

Canary Mission, an organization that documents people and groups that promote hatred of the United States, Israel and Jews, released a press statement on Tuesday criticizing a decision by the City University of New York (CUNY) Law School to select an anti-Israel activist to deliver a commencement address this Friday.

The statement described the designated speaker, Nerdeen Mohsen Kiswani, as “the force behind a violent and aggressive anti-Israel group in New York City,” adding, “Kiswani, who is known at the law school as Nerdeen Mohsen, founded and heads the organization Within Our Lifetime (WOL), a group dedicated to the complete destruction of Israel. WOL is responsible for a recent series of violent protests on NYC streets that have seen its activists physically attack Jews and passersby. The group targets Jewish groups, businesses and individual philanthropists who support the state of Israel.”

Kiswani was named the “Antisemite of the Year” in 2020 by StopAntisemitism.org, and WOL was banned from Instagram recently for inciteful hate speech.

According to Canary’s statement, Kiswani leads WOL rallies and promotes slogans such as “Resistance, by any means necessary,” and, “We need allies who are gonna help us achieve a victory, not allies who are going to tell us to be non-violent.”

“Kiswani has been front and center at these protests, her voice ringing loud and clear leading chants such as, ‘5-6-7-8 smash the settler state,’ ‘There is only one solution, Intifada revolution,’ and ‘Intifada, Intifada! Long Live the Intifada!’”

Kiswani and WOL’s latest campaign is called “Globalize the Intifada,” said Canary.

Here is the full commencement speech given on Friday by violence inciting Jew-hater, @NerdeenKiswani at @CUNYLaw. For those who who agree that Zionists ought to be dead, she did not disappoint. OUTRAGEOUS @cuny and @ChancellorCUNY! This is a shameful mark that will be remembered pic.twitter.com/btbzkIk22r
— SAFE CUNY (@SAFECUNY) May 15, 2022

The only thing that Peter Beinart cherishes, is his own ego! pic.twitter.com/wvSO5Lq3Lh
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) May 16, 2022

Calls for Global Intifada at Seattle Anti-Israel Rally

About one hundred anti-Israel activists gathered in Seattle’s Westlake Park today to commemorate the day in 1948 in which five arab armies failed in their stated desire to exterminate the Jews of the reborn state of Israel. The rally leaders proffered in conspiracy theories, telling the group that the University of Washington gave “Zionists the power to censor academics”.

“Sarah”, representing SUPER UW went on to rile up the crowd by claiming that anti-Israel activists on the University of Washington campus “are intimidated into silence” while “Zionists have been given space to spout racist and genocidal rhetoric on campus”. Chants accusing the Jewish state of genocide and apartheid were used as filler in-between the lengthy list of speakers.

Isabelle “Izzy” Halaka, representing the Seattle University branch of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) told the crowd that SJP was initiating a BDS Divestment campaign at Seattle U. Halaka concluded her remarks by declaring that “we are here in community with you all today to continue the Intifada across the globe and in the diaspora.” She then closed out the rally with chants of “long live the Intifada!”. The Intifada is a reference to multiple violent spasms of murderous terrorism against Jews in Israel marked by bombings of buses, university cafeterias, hotels and restaurants. Over 138 homicide bombings and other attacks left more than 1000 Jewish civilians dead and many more with horrific injuries.

If history has taught us anything, it is that when someone threatens to harm you, believe them. The shameful demonization, incitement, and public call to violence against Jews that took place in Westlake Park in Seattle today should be taken seriously, we can only hope that local Jewish agencies and law enforcement have taken note and will take appropriate steps to protect their communities..

“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”

Far-left protesters joined Palestinian nationalists for a protest against #Israel in Portland, Ore. pic.twitter.com/LqpjIl9YQr
— Andy Ngô ?????? (@MrAndyNgo) May 15, 2022

Quite a sentence in this @BostonGlobe article, presented in a straight-news fashion: why should Jewish students at US campuses be "pressured to endure" criticism of a foreign country, however purportedly "sincere" the criticism?https://t.co/ZkXhZThxem pic.twitter.com/1KX71E6juL
— KC Johnson (@kcjohnson9) May 16, 2022

SUPPORTING TERRORISTS: Paterson, NJ Celebrates Renaming of Main Street to “Palestine Way”

The city of Paterson, NJ, on Sunday held a celebration renaming a five-block portion of its Main Street to Palestine Way. The name change comes after the city council unanimously voted in April to rename the street in honor of the city’s large Palestinian population.

A street festival, organized by the Palestinian American Community Center, was held in the city to celebrate the renaming. The street was decked out in Palestinian flags and booths selling shirts and other items celebrating the name change.

“Many Palestinians call Paterson home, and this is the day we get to celebrate it,” said Councilman Alaa “Al” Abdelaziz.

“If you’re Palestinian, chances are you started in South Paterson,” Abdelaziz told a cheering crowd. “So, Palestine Way is long overdue… Paterson is a great city because Palestinians call it home.”

Chants of “Free Palestine” rang out as the street sign for Palestine Way was unveiled, with community members saying it demonstrates resistance and defiance against Israel.

The day the unveiling took place – May 15th – was not by chance. Sunday marked Nakba Day, the day on which Palestinians mourn the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.

Saadah Masoud assaulted a Jewish man in NYC nearly a month ago yet is STILL not arrested - Masoud was streaming on Instagram from Nerdeen Kiswani’s blood rally yesterday in Brooklyn (Bay Ridge) yesterday.

This criminal should not be roaming our streets @NYPDHateCrimes @NYCMayor! https://t.co/PTbCWvcRTm pic.twitter.com/8A4c4CWWR4
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) May 16, 2022

Palestine action need to be proscribed immediately, arrested for criminal damage and brought to account for attacking of Jewish owned businesses and property This is 1938 all over again . @pritipatel @Campaign4T @BorisJohnson #antisemitism pic.twitter.com/HEMhS30dDL
— Eye On Antisemitism (@AntisemitismEye) May 16, 2022

Last night in Washington Square Park. Absolutely vile. pic.twitter.com/W048GORMlP
— Isaac de Castro (@isaacdecastrog) May 15, 2022

Zionists control the world, buy up media outlets says Mohamed Hadid

Zionists control the world – and to get around their sway over news outlets, one should follow a controversial BDS figure that has promoted violence and intifadas – Mohamed Hadid, father of International supermodels Bella and Gigi Hadid, said in an Instagram post on Sunday. World under Zionist control

"How long the world can be so silent?" asked Hadid. "The Zionists have the world under their control, unfortunately. They even want to kill the the [sic] journalists and buy the outlets...The New York Times and others."

Hadid made the comments on a post featuring an image made by the Shehab news agency of his daughter Bella, with the caption: "How long will we remain silent, as Israel kills journalists?"

The post was deleted not long after The Jerusalem Post's initial coverage of Hadid's comments.

Bell and Mohamed Hadid's comments were in reference to the death of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in a firefight in Jenin between IDF troops and Palestinian gunmen. Although investigations into her death have so far been inconclusive as to who fired the fatal bullet, some such as the Hadids have been quick to cast Israel as the guilty party.

Mohamed Hadid claims on his verified @instagram account that “Zionists have the world under their control”.

17 hours later and this is still up. Are we waiting for someone to make a move, or Colleyville/Pittsburgh/Poway weren’t enough? pic.twitter.com/XlCjwJcN8A
— Ido Daniel ???? (@IdoDaniel) May 15, 2022

Commentary Magazine makes an excellent point. Amidst massive antisemitism incl the Buffalo attack, the American Billboard Music awards honored Farrakhan radical leftist Tamika Mallory last night with a Black Excellence Award .. Antisemitism is the one hate normalized in the USA.
— Ron M. (@Jewtastic) May 16, 2022

You can be an open hater of Jews - and in primetime on TV on a major network you will get an award! You can be celebrated, not even 24 hours after the country is reeling and everyone is saying it is time to get serious about hatred in America. Isn't that special? 😑✡️
— Ron M. (@Jewtastic) May 16, 2022

Gen Z Must Be at the Frontlines in the Fight Against Antisemitism

I am not being alarmist. According to the FBI, in 2020, 55 percent of all hate crimes targeted Jews — who are only 2% of the population. During the Israel-Gaza conflict in May of 2021, there was a 115% increase in antisemitism, as compared to May 2020. A year ago, we would not have thought that World War II would be playing out in Ukraine. It is not difficult to imagine what could happen if antisemitism is unchecked in the United States.

At the same time, although antisemitism is increasing, we have the opportunity to slow it down and bring attention to the problem. That is why I found Gen Z Jews: Fighting Antisemitism. We need to get educated and have our voices heard. Teens cannot sit on the sidelines in the fight against antisemitism. It is time to start talking about what it means to be Jewish in America.

Back to my kippah, I should be able to wear it proudly in public. College students should be able to go to a Hillel to practice their religion without fear of protests as they were at the University of Illinois. Jews should be able to eat at restaurants without being attacked, as they were in Los Angeles. Jews should be able to walk down the street without being attacked as they were in Lakewood, New Jersey.

If we are silent, our elected leaders will ignore antisemitism. We must be heard to ensure that they know this is a problem. They must act and not allow antisemitism to be on the backburner.

L’dor v’dor. Judaism flows from one generation to the next. Gen Z listen up and join me in the responsibility of standing up for the Jewish people.

Neo-Nazi Who Performed Hitler Salute at Buchenwald Goes on Trial

A neo-Nazi in the United Kingdom who is on trial for allegedly being part of a banned extremist group performed a Hitler salute in the Buchenwald concentration camp, reported The Jewish Chronicle.

Alex Davies, 27, “went on tour to Germany to Buchenwald to give the Nazi salute in the execution chamber that was a flagrant and provocative breach of German law,” prosecutor Barnaby Jameson said in Winchester Crown Court.

He added that Davies told an undercover reporter that he would not say what kind of harm he wanted to do to Jews “because it was so extreme.”

Davies is accused of being a member of National Action (NA), an entity banned by the British government in December 2016 because it “terrorized” towns around the United Kingdom and called for an “all-out race war,” Jameson told the court.

After NA was banned, Davies assembled the group National Socialist Anti-Capitalist Action (NS131), which was also later banned by the government. However, it never really disbanded, argued Jameson.

“To a terrorist hiding in plain sight, which is what Mr. Davies is, bans mean nothing,” noted the prosecutor, as reported by The Jewish Chronicle. “The group was expanding and recruiting [and] what became NS131 was one of the skins worn by continuity factions of National Action. Who was at the center of all this? The founder, the galvanizer, the recruiter—one Alex Davies of Swansea.”

More on Hood and how to help stop his hate here: https://t.co/55qWj6hI4l
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) May 16, 2022

Los Angeles City Council Officially Declares May 12 ‘Anne Frank Day’

The Los Angeles City Council has approved a resolution led by Los Angeles City Council members Paul Koretz and Bob Blumenfield declaring May 12 as “Anne Frank Day” in the city of Los Angeles.

May 12 was the birthday of Otto Frank, Anne Frank’s father.

Anne Frank was a Jewish girl whose diary during World War II documented her life from 1942 to 1944 while hiding with her family from the Nazis. “The Diary of a Young Girl,” also known as “The Diary of Anne Frank,” has become one of the most widely read books in the world. Millions of people have continued to be inspired by Anne’s words in advocating for positive change, raising awareness about the dangers of prejudice and discrimination, and the importance of speaking up against injustices.

“As a son of a Holocaust survivor, it has been a lifelong mission to never forget the atrocities of World War II,” said Koretz. “Anne’s story is still relevant today in combating hateful rhetoric spewed in this current climate that seeks to dehumanize anyone perceived as the ‘other.’ We must continue to educate future generations so that we continue to remember and reflect, and if they see acts of unfairness and injustice, they don’t remain silent and act.”

Olivia Prince, 10, a self-described activist, said, “I was inspired after reading about Anne Frank’s life, so I reached out to councilmember Koretz about creating a day to honor her. Even though Anne was forced to leave her home, her friends and even her cat, and go into hiding during World War II, she still believed that people are good at heart.”

Auschwitz Survivor, 98, Wins Simon Wiesenthal Prize for Holocaust Education

A survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp who became a social media celebrity thanks to her great-grandson was one of four people to win a Simon Wiesenthal Prize.

Lily Ebert, 98, was born in Hungary in 1923 and deported in 1944 to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where her mother, younger brother and sister were killed. After four months in the camp, Ebert and two of her other sisters were transferred to a labor factory. She was liberated by US troops and eventually moved to the United Kingdom.

Her great-grandson, Dov Forman, created a TikTok account for her several years ago so she could tell young people today about her experiences. Ebert has since garnered more than 1.9 million followers.

Last fall, the British citizen published her memoir “Lily’s Promise: How I Survived Auschwitz and Found the Strength to Live,” co-written by Forman.

The other winners are Zwi Nigal, who fought in the British army against Nazi Germany; Austrian journalist Karl Pfeifer; and Holocaust survivor Liliana Segre, president of Italy’s special committee against intolerance, racism and antisemitism.

"Ichilov Reaches Agreement with Ukrainian Embassy to Treat Refugees in Israel"

The Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov) CEO Ronnie Gamzu and Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevhen Korniychuk, last Friday reached an agreement covering emergency medical care for Ukrainian citizens who are currently forced to stay in Israel after fleeing their home country, the Ukrainian embassy’s Facebook page reported.

According to the embassy, “the Israeli side has informed that thanks to the financial assistance of a foreign charitable foundation, this medical center plans to provide assistance to Ukrainian children and women.”

Sure, their English could use an improvement, but the message is clear enough: Ukrainian refugees in Israel will be treated, no questions asked, in one of Israel’s most advanced ER.

The Ambassador took the opportunity to thank the representatives of the Israeli medical industry for the assistance they have already been providing to the affected Ukrainians, and for their commitment to continue doing it in the future.

The ambassador’s demeanor was radically different from what it had been back in March when he threatened to petition Israel’s High Court of Justice to block the policy of Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked on Ukrainian refugees entering the country.

New excavations could uncover final days of besieged Crusader fortress

A new season of excavation work is scheduled to begin May 16 at the ruins of the Apollonia-Arsuf Crusader fortress. It was there that a final, fierce, three-day battle took place in 1265 between the besieged Crusaders of the Knights Hospitaller and the forces of Mamluk Sultan Baybars attacking from the sea.

The structure was built on a fossilized sandstone dune overlooking the Mediterranean Sea in the northwestern part of modern-day Herzliya. The fortress, where surviving defenders of the city had taken refuge, finally fell on April 26, 1265, after a 40-day siege.

With some 1,000 of their warriors, including 90 knights, killed in the battle, the Hospitallers negotiated their surrender on the condition that the survivors be permitted to leave. However, after initially agreeing to the terms, Baybars broke his word and all the Christian prisoners were taken into slavery. The sultan also forced them to participate in the systematic demolition of their own stronghold, razing the entire city of Arsur to be left in ruins.

In 2009, archaeologists were intrigued by a statue of a half-rooster, half-snake French medieval mythological creature called a Basilik, found on the lower level of the fort. Now, finally, they will begin excavating the area. The statue was found in excavations on the cliff on the west side of the crusader fort, just above the central hall.

The project at the Apollonia National Park will build on previous excavations to provide access from the primary floor of the fortress to the sea entrance and exterior sea wall. When complete, visitors will be able to experience a scenic path restored to historic accuracy. It will feature a stone donkey path/walkway and outlet to horse stables built on the cliff just above the sea, and the planned two new rooms. The room excavations are part of separate projects.

Tekoah Valley & the rare coin from the Bar Kochva revolt