03/21 Links Pt2: At Falk Talk Students Urged to Read David Irving; Democrats Turn Against Israel

From Ian:

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David Collier: A sickness at the heart of Academia, blindness at the LSE

20th March 2017. The London School of Economics (LSE) in Holborn. I am at a book launch for Richard Falk’s latest collection of essays titled ‘Palestine’s Horizon’. Falk has been invited to the LSE as part of a larger promotional tour of the UK. Last week he was in Scotland. Today sees two events, at the LSE and the P21 Gallery in Euston. On Wednesday he is at Middlesex University. Next week he leaves the UK and travels to Cork, Ireland, where he is the primary keynote speaker at Oren Ben Dor’s anti-Israel hate-fest.
Richard Falk at the LSE
Richard Falk carries a long history of ‘controversial’ comments, statements, positions and actions, regarding Israel. The Jewish Chronicle described him as ‘a conspiracy theorist’ who ‘has praised the work of notorious self-hating Jew Gilad Atzmon, as well as posting an antisemitic cartoon on his blog’. During the talk he bats away the accusations with excuses, historical distortions and empty words, but this merely reflects part of the central problem with Jews and UK academia. He did post an antisemitic cartoon, he has made some remarks about ‘9/11 truth’ and he blamed the Boston bombings on the US and Tel Aviv.
On top of all this, he endorsed Gilad Atzmon’s book ‘The Wandering Who’. Note none of those controversies has anything to do with Palestinian human rights. Only when it comes to offending Jews is this type of activity considered acceptable. Nobody with such a long list of offensive statements against any minority group other than Jews, would still be given a platform inside a UK university.
So when you invite Richard Falk to promote yet another anti-Israel piece he has authored, there should be no doubt most Jews will consider the invitation antagonistic. This isn’t a secret known only to Jews either. Publicly the UK government, has on three separate occasions, ‘condemned’ Richard Falk and his attitude / actions towards Israel and Jews.
Leading the panel was Mary Kaldor, a Professor of Global Governance at the LSE. Kaldor described Falk as a ‘very old friend’. Alongside Falk and Kaldor sat Chris Doyle, Director of CAABU (Council for Arab-British Understanding). Mary Kaldor’s introductory remarks, that set the tone for the entire event, were to suggest the recent UN rejection of Falk’s latest report was the “latest variant” of the argument over free speech and Israel.

Students urged to read works of Holocaust denier David Irving at LSE event

Complaints have been made to the London School of Economics following a talk by a disgraced former UN official during which one of his supporters told students to read the works of notorious Holocaust denier David Irving.
The alleged remarks came amid protests against the presence on campus of Richard Falk, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Palestine from 2008 to 2014 who has been repeatedly condemned for inflammatory actions and statements by the UK. Today’s event was held to promote Falk’s new book ‘Palestine’s Horizon: Towards a Just Peace, in which he claims Jerusalem has been “ethnically cleansed”.
UN Watch had called for Theresa May to expel Falk from Britain after highlighting the fact that in 2012 the UK Foreign Office condemned Falk for providing the cover endorsement for Gilad Atzmon’s book “The Wandering Who” which accuses “the Jews” of being “the only people who managed to maintain and sustain a racially orientated, expansionist and genocidal national identity that is not at all different from Nazi ethnic ideology”. In April 2013, the UK Mission to the UN condemned Falk after he blamed the Boston terrorist attack on “the American global domination project” and “Tel Aviv”.
As Monday’s event descended into chaos with pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian shouting accusations and at least two of the former removed for disruptive behaviour, post-graduate Sapan Maini-Thompson claimed Atzmon audibly claimed Jews were being removed for misbehviour, as in Germany.

Jews anti-Semitically abused at London School of Economics event with Richard Falk

As Falk started his summing-up two of us held up signs in a silent protest. One sign said “Richard Falk: Shame on CAABU”, the other “Richard Falk: Condemned for Antisemitism”. There were several security guards in the room and one came and ripped up my sign even though it was a silent protest – I will be complaining. I then held up a sign saying “Richard Falk: Shame on LSE”. The meeting became rowdier and Mary Kaldor the Chair asked for the two of us to leave (apparently we were holding the signs too high…)
The Q+A was vile. One student got up and walked out upset. A man near the back of the room kept interrupting speakers, saying how awful Zionists were. Students at the back challenged him and then the man physically threatened them. Security surrounded him but didn’t remove him.
As I left the room, I held up my Israel flag. Our departure caused chaos with people complaining that silent protesters were being removed. Gilad Atzmon said “’Raus” as I left the room (it is on film though I didn’t hear it). He was admonished by the pro-Palestinians. Atzmon then turned around to the Jewish students at the back and said “being chucked out for causing trouble, just like you lot were in Germany”. The pro-Israel people then went ballistic at him and asked him to repeat it – which he happily did. Security was called to remove him – even the pro-Palestinians told him he had crossed a red line. Then (I was told – I was outside) the event descended into chaos as Security refused to remove Atzmon. It ended earlier than the 90 minutes planned.
Appalling. This was an official LSE event – not a student society one. Silent protesters are expelled but a vile anti-Semite is allowed to stay. Shame on LSE – and I speak as an Alumnus.

WSJ: Democrats Turn Against Israel

There are still pro-Israel Democrats, but they are beleaguered and equivocal. New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, now the minority leader, described himself in 2010 as the Senate’s protector of Israel: “My name . . . comes from a Hebrew word. It comes from the word shomer, which mean guardian.” But how effectively has he played that role?
In 2015 Mr. Schumer was one of four Senate Democrats to vote against Mr. Obama’s Iran deal. But killing it would have taken 13 Democrats, and Politico reported Mr. Schumer phoned Democratic colleagues to “assure them he would not be whipping opposition to the deal.” Mr. Schumer—whose Brooklyn apartment building has been protested by leftist opponents of President Trump—was also an early backer of Mr. Ellison for the party chairmanship.
One reason Democrats have continued the move away from Israel is that Jewish voters haven’t exacted a price for it. Exit polls in 2016 found they supported Mrs. Clinton over Mr. Trump, 71% to 23%, in line with their historic levels of Democratic support.
There’s still an opportunity here for the GOP. Especially if Mr. Trump delivers on his promise to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, the Jewish vote could start trending Republican. Unless Democrats reaffirm their support for Israel, many lifelong party members—ourselves included—may decide that the time has come to find new political affiliations.

Ryan Bellerose: Join B’nai Brith Canada in Our Fight Against Hatred

The incredibly lenient sentence for blatantly antisemitic, Holocaust-denying B.C. grandfather Arthur Topham – the first Canadian in recent memory to be charged with wilfully promoting hatred against Jewish people – personifies, to many, why there’s no point to strive for justice at all when all the perpetrator gets is a slap on the wrist (or, in this case, six months curfew and a ban on online activity).
But in taking this stance, you’d be closing your eyes to the good that’s come out of this, and to the good that can be achieved if we continue to take an active approach in shutting down promoters of hate speech and intolerance.
Yes, it’s frustrating that a man who ran a website only to further age-old antisemitic blood libels and other egregiously racist tropes will not at least be placed under house arrest. But on the other hand (to quote Tevye the Milkman), even if the punishment is light, we can take solace in the fact that Topham was convicted and will indeed be punished. Given that hate crime convictions are extraordinarily rare in Canada, we will take this as a win.
With every new case we take on, B’nai Brith Canada is actively leading the way and changing the discourse. With every new antisemitic influencer we expose masquerading under the guise of “anti-Zionism,” with every new professor preaching cultural boycotts, with every student group marginalizing and alienating Jewish students on campus, we are helping to change the paradigm and finally see justice being served. We are the voice of the grassroots Jewish community, and we literally could not do any of this without your support.
If you’d like to join us in our fight, I urge you to consider becoming a member. It does have its privileges.

The hijacking of the feminist movement

Anti-Israel protests and propaganda are appearing more and more in the guise of feminism.
Jewish American women have been active in the feminist movement in America since the early days of the Suffragettes, to the Second Wave of Feminism and up to and including the present day. Now, a new form of antisemitism is arising which would require a feminist to renounce her support of the Jewish homeland in Israel.
March 8, 2017, the day of the international women’s strike, was supposed to symbolize the unity of women and was a call for feminists to unite. However, the platform for this day included the statement: “Ending neo colonization of Palestine is the beating heart of feminism.” This was not the first conflation of feminism and pro-Palestinianism, and, unfortunately, will probably not be the last.
I have considered myself a feminist for many years. For example, I taught the first Women and the Law course in an American law school, in 1969, the description of which was included in the book Sisterhood is Powerful. I also co-authored the book Abortion Rap with my good friend the late Florynce Kennedy, who was a leader in the black civil rights struggle and the founder of the Feminist Party. Flo was not in any way anti-Israel, let alone antisemitic. Am I now being asked to choose between my feminism and my support for Jewish self-determination? This serious dilemma was expressed recently by Emily Shire in her excellent piece in The New York Times online, “Does Feminism Have Room for Zionists?” Feminism seeks to achieve political, economic, personal and social rights for women. However, now when feminists rally they are joined by people pursuing a distinctly different agenda, an anti-Israel agenda. This is most unfortunate. Feminists who are also supportive of Israel are being driven away.

JPost Editorial: Justice in Argentina

There is reason for optimism. Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri, who took office in November 2015, has declared on numerous occasions that his government is committed to bringing the perpetrators to justice. Shortly after taking office, Macri canceled the controversial memorandum of understanding signed between Iran and his predecessor, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, that sought to set up a joint Iranian-Argentinian “truth commission” to investigate the AMIA bombing. But the memorandum was rightly seen as an attempt to whitewash Iranian involvement by incorporating the Iranians in the investigative process.
During the ceremony, Michetti announced a project to declassify Argentinian information about the attack, but more needs to be done.
Iran’s involvement in terrorism, both in the region and worldwide, is well documented. Though it denied involvement, Iran is believed to have perpetrated the July, 2012, bus bombing in Burgas, Bulgaria, that killed six and wounded more than 30. Iran is also the major source of instability in the region – from Syria to Iraq to Yemen.
The Islamic Republic also supports terrorists on Israel’s borders.
We cannot forget the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, not just because of its tragic outcome, but because similar threats coming from Iran continue to plague the free world. As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted recently, 80% of Israel’s security problems stem from Iran.
Bringing those responsible for the 1992 bombing to justice would be an important step in pushing back Iran’s inimical influence.

Shame On Brooklyn Public Library

Those who stand against Israel should not be afforded open forums uncontested in New York City publicly-funded venues. As New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind recently uncovered, the Brooklyn Public Library is offering a ten-week class taught by Norman Finkelstein whom the ADL has deemed a “Holocaust denier” and Anti-Israel propagandist.
Who is Norman Finkelstein?
- In his book The Holocaust Industry, Finkelstein argues that "Jewish elites" have created an "industry" to perpetuate the memory of the Holocaust as a ploy to extort money and to gain influence, as well a tactic "to crush any dissent, any criticism, of the State of Israel." The New York Times' review of the book described its premise as a "novel variation" of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the fraudulent essay concocted in the late nineteenth century by the Czarist secret police which purports to uncover a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world.
- Finkelstein has described Elie Wiesel as the "resident clown," and charges he is responsible for creating a "meaningless version of the Nazi Holocaust" and for only exposing "genocides that serve the interest of the US and Israel" (Salon.com, Aug. 30, 2000).

Michael Lumish: This Week on Nothing Left

This week the first half of the program is dedicated to discussing J Street - we hear from Daniel Greenfield (aka Sultan Knish) and speak with Daniel Mandel of the Zionist Organisation of America.
We then hear from journalist Sol Stern on the disgrace that is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and hear from Italian journalist Giulio Meotti on the Islamisation of Europe.
Alan Dershowitz and Isi Leibler in Jerusalem shares their thoughts on J Street and American Jewry.

Report: Jewish Voice for Peace blocks memorial for Rasmea Odeh victims

Rasmea Odeh, a military member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was convicted in 1970 in Israel for the 1969 bombing of the SuperSol supermarket that killed two Hebrew University students, Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner. Rasmea also was convicted of the attempted bombing of the British consulate.
Rasmea faces a re-trial in May 2017 on immigration fraud charges, based on her failing to disclose her convictions and imprisonment for the bombings, and her involvement with a terrorist group.
Despite the overwhelming evidence of Rasmea’s involvement in the supermarket bombing, including video statements for pro-Palestinian documentary films by Rasmea’s two co-conspirators, Jewish Voice for Peace has been one of Rasmea’s strongest supporters.

PMW: Palestinian Campaign To Sue Britain, Demand Reparation For Balfour Declaration

In July 2016, ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, Palestinians initiated a campaign to sue Britain for issuing this declaration on the grounds that it led to the establishment of the State of Israel and the Palestinian Nakba. The campaign was launched at the Arab League summit held July 25-27 in Nouakchott, Mauretania, when Palestinian President Mahmoud 'Abbas requested the help of the Arab leaders in filing such as lawsuit. He was apparently prompted to take this decision by reports that Britain is planning to mark the centenary of the Balfour Declaration with an event attended by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki stated that holding such an event "would have a negative impact Palestinian-British relations," and PLO Executive Committee Secretary Saeb Erekat said that marking the centenary of the Balfour Declaration "doubles the [Palestinians'] pain and makes a mockery of justice."
Following Abbas's statements at the Arab League summit, Palestinian figures and elements called upon Britain to acknowledge that the Balfour Declaration had been a "historic crime" that had brought upon the Palestinian people a tragedy from which it suffers to this day. They urged Britain to "atone" for this crime by taking a series of measures, including apologizing to the Palestinian people; recognizing the Palestinian state without delay; revoking the Balfour Declaration and issuing a new declaration in its stead that does justice with the Palestinians, and compensating the Palestinians for the suffering caused by the declaration, just as Germany compensated the Jews for the Holocaust. As for the lawsuit itself, it seems that the initiative is still being considered by experts on international law and no decision has been taken as to how and where it will be filed.
Columnists and analysts in the Palestinian press welcomed the initiative to sue Britain, accusing that since 1917 and until today Britain has always taken a stand against the Palestinian aspirations and rights. One analyst called upon the Palestinian leadership to continue pursuing Britain and all the countries that enabled their Jewish citizens to emigrate to Palestine, and even to demand the halt of Jewish immigration to Israel today, since it contravenes the Palestinian refugees' right to return to their homes.

Alan Dershowitz Joined by Prominent Academics in Railing Against 'Hypocrisy' of BDS Intellectual Leader Cornel West for Statement on 'Truth-Seeking, Freedom of Thought'

The co-signing of a statement calling for “truth-seeking and freedom of thought” by a well-known BDS proponent elicited harsh reactions from academics, who said they otherwise would have endorsed the document.
The statement, jointly issued last week by conservative Princeton professor Robert P. George and Harvard’s Cornel West, reads in part: “…all of us should seek respectfully to engage with people who challenge our views. And we should oppose efforts to silence those with whom we disagree — especially on college and university campuses.”
World-renowned legal expert and human rights activist Alan Dershowitz called West a “major hypocrite” for “believing in free speech for me and not for thee.”
Dershowitz told The Algemeiner, “I have yet to see him actively involved in protesting groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) when they try to shut down pro-Israel speakers on campuses. He supports radical anti-Israel tactics in an unprincipled way and is the ultimate denier of free speech.”
Dr. Richard Cravatts, president emeritus of anti-BDS faculty group Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, said that given West’s “strident and hysterical anti-Israelism, the statement he co-authored seems to confirm that he is exhibiting doublethink.”

Ohio State Hillel cuts ties with Jewish LGBTQ group over BDS

Ohio State University’s Hillel cut ties with a Jewish LGBTQ student group for co-sponsoring an event organized by Jewish Voices for Peace, an organization that supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
The divorce is the latest flare-up in an ongoing dispute among campus Jewish groups over Hillel International guidelines rejecting partnerships with groups deemed hostile toward Israel.
Ohio State Hillel ended its affiliation with the LGBTQ group B’nai Keshet after it decided to co-sponsor a Purim drag show, which took place on March 3 and raised money for a Columbus-based initiative to aid LGBTQ refugees.
In its standards on partnership, Hillel International bans partnerships between its affiliates and groups that deny Israel’s right to exist, delegitimize the Jewish state or support the BDS movement.
B’nai Keshet Vice President Elaine Cleary told JTA on Monday that Hillel dropped funding and support of the group at the end of February, when B’nai Keshet refused to withdraw its co-sponsorship of the JVP event following an overwhelming vote by its 12 members. The event was co-sponsored by 15 student and local groups.

Palestinian Supporters Get Duped By Avaaz Online Petition

No matter how many times you reread the text, the lack of factual information stands out. While the petition is filled with pathos and a heart wrenching description of families facing eviction while waiting for a miracle to save them, it is devoid of any specifics explaining why the community is facing this tragedy. The context of where the community is situated or why it is facing such a brutal eviction is mysteriously left out.
Here are the missing facts of the story.
Bethany, the town mentioned in the petition, is the ancient post-biblical Jewish town of Beit Anya. According to the New Testament, it is the place where Jesus brought Lazarus back to life.
Today the Palestinian city of Al-Eizariya resides on the ancient ruins of Beit Anya, located near the Israeli city of Ma'aleh Adumim. The Bedouin community facing eviction are members of the Ja'alin tribe which mostly resides in the West Bank territory commonly known as E1.
The Ja'alin tribe illegally settled in an area that is part of the territory allocated to the city of Ma'aleh Adumim. The buildings they constructed are illegal in every aspect: They were built without a permit, on land they don't own (its partly state land and partly private land not owned by the tribe), and lastly the houses do not match the local zoning plan.
The Ja'alin tribe claims that they are Palestinian Bedouins who have lived on the land for decades. According to their own narrative, they were evicted in 1948 from their lands in the Negev desert in southern Israel, roamed, and finally settled in the current location before 1967.
In the Avaaz petition, they are presented as the "indigenous" community. However, even their own narrative shows that their claim to the land is at best a few decades old.

Minnesota Public School Rented Out for Event Organized by, Featuring Proponents of Terrorism Against Israel

A Minnesota public high school has been rented out for an upcoming event whose organizers and speakers have expressed support for terrorism against Israel, The Algemeiner has learned.
Spring Lake Park High School will be the site of the Al-Aqsa Institute of Minnesota‘s “Palestine Day,” which will feature a speech by activist-lawyer Lamis Deek, who has hailed terrorists who killed Jews as “martyrs” acting in “self-defense.”
Deek is a board member of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2007 Holy Land Foundation terrorism finance trial, and a co-founder of Al Awda-the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, listed in 2012 as one of the Anti-Defamation League’s “Top Ten Anti-Israel Groups in America.”
According to the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT), Deek also reportedly called Israelis “serial killers” at last year’s annual conference of the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), one of the organizations behind “Palestine Day.”
The AMP’s chairman is Hatem Bazian, a University of California, Berkeley professor who co-founded Students for Justice in Palestine, the student group behind many anti-Israel incidents on campuses worldwide.

Labour Gorton Shortlist Israel-Hater Hot Favourite

The shortlist for the Labour candidate in Manchester Gorton is:
Afzal Khan, Luthfur Rahman, Amina Lone, Yasmin Dar, Nasrin Ali
Afzal Khan is the overwhelming favourite, he has been after the seat for years. Guido readers will remember he tweeted comparing Israelis to Nazis. The Corbynistas once again failed to stitch up the seat for their preferred candidate Sam Wheeler, despite interventions from Corbyn and Karie Murphy. Pity the people of Gorton…

Apartheid Slur: Another Journalism Fail at the IBT

The story begins:
The political and social system of institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination known as apartheid originated in South Africa, after the region was colonized by the English and Dutch in the seventeenth century. However, the term apartheid has been often used for Israel in the last few years, following reports of Palestinians being denied equal rights by the state of Israel, allegedly under a deliberate policy of racial or ethnic segregation.
Even though the journalist employs the word “allegedly,” it is clear that she is attempting to conform to a predetermined framework that Israel is an apartheid state.
UPDATE
Shortly after HR contacted the IBT, the offending article was removed in its entirety to be replaced with the following:

Report: Major Global Ad Agency Pulls UK Clients From Google Websites, Including YouTube, Over Concerns About Extremist Content

A top global advertising agency has withdrawn all of its 240 UK clients from Google websites — including YouTube — due to concerns about ads being displayed next to extremist content, the Times of London reported this weekend.
According the report, Havas — which represents companies such as O2, Dominos and Hyundai, among many others – spends around £175 million a year in the UK on digital advertising, of which Google gets around £35 million.
Google, the report said, failed to give Havas “specific reassurances, policy and guarantees that their video or display content is classified either quickly enough or with the correct filters.”
“We have a duty of care to our clients in the UK marketplace,” Paul Frampton, chief executive of Havas UK, was quoted as saying. “Our position will remain until we are confident in the YouTube platform and Google Display Network’s ability to deliver the standards we and our clients expect.”
Ronan Harris — managing director of Google UK — was quoted as saying his company had “begun a thorough review of our ads policies and brand controls, and we will be making changes in the coming weeks to give brands more control over where their ads appear across YouTube and the Google Display Network.”

Washington Post Notes Jordanian Terrorist Hailed as a ‘Hero’

The Post reported that following his release, Daqamseh told Al-Jazeera, “Don’t believe the lie of normalization with the Zionist entity. Don’t believe the lie of the two-state solution. Palestine united is from the ocean to the river…there is no state called ‘Israel.’”
The Washington Post should be commended for highlighting the grotesque celebration of anti-Jewish violence and the rejection of Israel’s right to exist that permeates Arab society.
However, The Post’s report was not without fault. For example, it uncritically quoted a Jordanian shopkeeper named Mohammed Youssef, who justified the celebrations of Daqamseh’s release with the spurious claim that “Israelis kill Palestinians by the hundreds every month, and no one is brought to justice.” This accusation, of course, is false. As CAMERA has highlighted (see, for example “Where’s the Coverage? Joint Chief Chairman Declares ‘Israel Went to Extraordinary Length’ to Protect Gaza Civilians” Nov. 13, 2014), various military officials and inquires have noted Israel’s judicious use of force. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, then serving as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has stated: “The IDF is not interested in creating civilian casualties.”
By contrast, self-avowed enemies of the Jewish state purposefully target civilians, including schoolgirls—and are praised in many sections of Arab society for their efforts.

PreOccupiedTerritory: BBC Hires New Reporter To Ignore Hezbollah Arms Buildup, Hiding Among Civilians (satire)

The British Broadcasting Corporation has implemented several staffing changes in its Middle East bureaus, most notably the addition of a journalist to the Beirut office whose main focus will be turning a blind eye to Hezbollah’s embedding its positions and weapons among civilians and the movement’s preparations to shower Israeli towns with long-range rockets.
Dess Troyer, who formerly covered political issues in Scotland, will join the Beirut bureau next week, according to a announcement from BBC headquarters in London. Troyer will survey the myriad ways in which the Shiite terrorist organization that is a de facto partner in the Lebanese government threatens to bring devastation on the country by provoking Israel into another war, and then to decline to report on those developments.
“We are pleased to announce the addition of Ms. Dess Troyer to our team in Beirut,” read the statement. “Dess brings with her more than a decade of experience filtering real-world events through the BBC prism to provide viewers and readers everywhere with our unique blend of European guilt, bigotry of low expectations for non-whites, and less-than-subtle antisemitism. We are confident she will contribute to our Beirut staff, and our reporting on the Middle East region as whole, in ways that will appreciated for decades to come, at least by haters of Israel and Jews.”
Among Troyer’s responsibilities will be touring the areas of South Lebanon that Israel is likely to strike if Hezbollah attacks, and to make note of the war crimes inherent in the organization’s endangerment of civilians by placing its positions and weaponry in, under, and adjacent to civilian facilities and residences. With those details firmly in hand, Troyer will manage the bureau’s efforts to ensure no such information is broadcast or otherwise included in reports, lest audiences gain the impression that civilian casualties in the next Hezbollah-Israel war are attributable to factors other than wanton Israeli brutality.

Virginia Tech Rabbi: 100 Swastika Leaflets Strewn in Front of Jewish Student Center on Shabbat ‘Disgusting Act of Hatred’

One of the heads of a Jewish center on the campus of Virginia Tech University (VT) called the scattering of more than 100 hand-drawn swastika leaflets in front of his building on Saturday a “disgusting act of hatred.”
Rabbi Zvi Yaakov Zweibel, co-director of VT’s Chabad Librescu Jewish Student Center, said in a statement obtained Monday by The Algemeiner that he was shocked to discover that the fliers had been strewn across the front yard “as we celebrated the Jewish Sabbath.”
Zweibel, who said that this was the first such incident since Chabad on Campus opened at VT eight years ago, promptly organized a solidarity rally for Monday afternoon — attended by university officials, campus police and students — “to fight hatred by increasing our efforts in spreading Jewish pride and the beauty of our heritage.”
The leaflets were found a day after Chabad at VT announced that it would be hosting a lecture in April by renowned Holocaust survivor Rabbi Nissen Mangel.

In ‘Ultimate Sign of Victory,’ Elderly Holocaust Survivor Returns to Auschwitz-Birkenau, Recounts His Harrowing Experiences There

A video of an elderly Hasidic Holocaust survivor returning to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Poland and emotionally recounting his harrowing experiences there has gone viral on Facebook, drawing hundreds of thousands of views in just a few days.
In the video, Rabbi Nissen Mangel is seen telling a group of Boyaner Hasidim in Yiddish about how he, at the age of 10, underwent the “selectzia” process — supervised by infamous Nazi doctor Josef Mengele — with his family, who were from Bratislava. Mangel lied to Mengele about his age — claiming he was 17. Even though Mengele realized this was not true, Mangel and his father were chosen for slave labor, rather than immediate execution.
“It was a miracle,” Mangel said. “1.5 million children were sent to the gas chambers and to me Mengele said to work with my father.”
The video was posted online on Friday by Mangel’s grandson Leibel.

10 ways Israel’s water expertise is helping the world

Using ingenuity to overcome its serious water challenges, Israel has become the go-to expert for a world facing an impending water crisis.
This year’s WATEC expo and conference, to be held in September in Tel Aviv, is expected to attract 10,000 stakeholders from 90 countries seeking Israeli solutions for water issues.
Israel exports $2.2 billion annually in water technology and expertise. In addition, these commodities are shared on a humanitarian basis through training courses, consultations and projects.
Keren Kayemeth L’Israel-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) often hosts delegations from around the world – most recently, from California, Argentina and the European Policy Center – to see how Israel’s system of treatment facilities and 230 reservoirs has achieved the world’s highest ratio of wastewater reuse.
About 92% of Israeli wastewater gets treated and 75% is used for agricultural irrigation. Israel plans to recycle 95% of its wastewater for irrigation by the end of 2025.

The young Gazan who fell in love with clowning amidst overcoming illness

“Where are you from?” a young girl being treated at Hadassah-University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem asked Abdullah Abu Shaaban, a medical clown from the central Gaza Strip.
“I am from haaretz,” Abu Shaaban responded in fluent Hebrew, referring to the Hebrew term meaning the land.
“In the North or the South?” the young girl responded, sitting alongside her mother.
“I will make this easier for you,” Abu Shaaban said. “I live in the center.”
After a number of incorrect guesses, Abu Shaaban told the girl that his home is next to Egypt.
“Gaza?” she asked incredulously.
Abu Shaaban replied in the affirmative, smiling at the girl, who had not expected to meet a medical clown from Gaza.
Abu Shaaban, a 23-year-old resident of Deir al-Balah, a modest neighborhood south of Gaza City, first came to Israel in July 2007 for cancer treatment.

Upcoming Film Details Smuggling Ring That Armed Israel’s Nascent Military

Producer and director Jeff Hoffman has started editing his trailblazing documentary, “4 Million Bullets: The Untold Fight for Survival,” which tells the pre-state story of Israel’s military.
The documentary details the secret initiative of wealthy Jewish businessmen, in 1945, to raise $190 million for the purchase of airplanes, arms and ships to be smuggled to the emerging Israel Defense Forces. In a twist, some of the supplies that eventually reached the new Zionist army through the elaborate smuggling network included Nazi weapons that were seized in Europe.
Hoffman—a nephew of an Auschwitz death camp survivor—has worked on famed television shows and music videos such as “60 Minutes,” “Melrose Place” and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”
The producer’s latest work, the self-funded “4 Million Bullets” documentary series, was inspired by his late grandfather, Leo Quint, who personally assisted the effort to supply Israelis with work vans that were converted into ambulances.
“My Zionist grandfather shot 8mm black-and-white movies covering some 20 years…I mentioned [the footage] to my dentist…and he said, ‘Do you know about the secret bullet factory in Israel?’ A fake kibbutz, Machon Ayalon, was built, disguised as a bakery and laundromat, and young volunteers worked around the clock underground making bullets used in the War of Independence. I researched it and was hooked,” Hoffman told the Daily Item newspaper last year.

Israeli American Council raises $2 million at annual gala

More than $2 million was raised at the ninth annual Israeli American Council gala in Los Angeles on Sunday. Philanthropists Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson, who have donated more than $50 million to the organization since its establishment, attended the event.
This year's gala took place at the Beverly Hilton hotel, with mentalist Lior Suchard as master of ceremonies, and a performance by the Revivo Project band.
Among those at the event were the Israeli Consul General in Los Angeles Sam Grundwerg and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, the first Jewish American to hold the position. Garcetti delivered a speech in which he addressed the recent rise in anti-Semitism and the United States' commitment to stand by the Jewish and Israeli community. He called anti-Semitism an attack "on all of us" and said it was time to work against it together.
A video message from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also broadcast, in which he thanked the IAC for its work in strengthening ties between Israel and the community in the United States and creating a true bond.

IsraellyCool: Arch Enemy Of Pro-Palestinians

Exciting news in the world of archaeology, with archaeologists in Rome uncovering the remains of a second arch of Titus.
Like the first arch, this second one is dedicated to Titus and his success in putting down the Great Revolt of the indigenous Palestinian population in the first century C.E.
Oh sorry, I meant the Jews.
It wasn’t enough for the Romans to enslave the Jews, plunder Judea, conquer Jerusalem, destroy the Temple and then erect a massive triumphal arch to commemorate those feats of war for millennia to come: They had to build a second, even larger monument to celebrate their victory.
Archaeologists in Rome have uncovered the remains of a second triumphal arch dedicated to the emperor Titus and his success in putting down the Great Revolt of the Jews in the first century C.E.
It must really suck to be pro-palestinian – with history and facts so inconveniently getting in the way all the time.

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