01/29 Links Pt2: Dani Dayan: Anti-Zionism Is Just Anti-Semitism by Another Name; The role of propaganda in the Holocaust; The Dark Secret of Two-Faced Academics ~ EoZ

From Ian:

Dani Dayan: Anti-Zionism Is Just Anti-Semitism by Another Name

The term anti-Semitism was created in the age of Enlightenment, when the pseudo-science of eugenics laid the seeds of Nazism. The unsubtle racism of neo-Nazis remains a lightning rod for mainstream outrage today, however religious and political hostilities against Jews are often unacknowledged for what they are.

The anti-Judaism of Islamic extremists both in the Middle East and migrant communities is a rising concern, as are the creeping tendencies in some European nations to restrict the rights of their remaining Jewish citizens.

However, it is the increasing acceptance and elevation of anti-Zionists across the world that is cause for particular concern. Those who deny the Jewish people, and only the Jewish people, the right to live in freedom and security in their homeland are routinely paraded as the picture of progressive politics.

When nations like Iran arm their bigotry with ballistic missile programs and powerful proxies like Hezbollah, they can expect acquiescence and appeasement from much of the world.

The inalienable right to self-determination is the one guarantee that Jews can never become victims to genocidal regimes again. Anti-Zionism is an ideology which perpetuates the political oppression of Jews, and by doing so legitimizes and encourages violence in Israel and the Diaspora.

It can be verboten in some circles to call out these activists or dictatorial regimes for their beliefs. Nevertheless, those who seek the political oppression of Jews must not be held to a lower standard of bigotry than their religious or racially motivated counterparts.

Fake News is old news to Jews. Today’s anti-Israel agenda, hailed from college classrooms to the voting chambers of the United Nations, regularly tells of a world in which Solomon’s Temple never stood, Jews were not in Israel and the Middle East for thousands of years, and that Zionists were complicit in the Holocaust.

A son of refuseniks chronicles the slow dissolve of Russia’s Jews

The numbers are telling, he said. There are now about 170,000 Jews in Russia, according to Mark Tolts, a Hebrew University demographer. That’s a tenth of the community’s size in 1989, as counted in the last Soviet census. Factors like an aging population, low birthrate and increased immigration to Israel make Shrayer wonder what the country will look like in 50 years.

“Jewish faces and Jewish names are starting to vanish from the Russian mainstream — from literature, the arts and the entertainment industry, but also from the achievement rolls of science, medicine and the humanities,” he writes.

Has Shrayer overcome his sense of divide with Jews who stay in Russia? As a result of his research, he is both more emotionally connected, but also, paradoxically, more disconnected.

“There’s a feeling of not quite mourning but certainly a feeling of deep sadness. It’s coming from a place that is somewhere deep inside,” he reflected.

It brings Shrayer back to the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, whose galleries and exhibits shed light on the story of Jews in Russia.

“It’s a great museum,” he said. But in part, it’s a museum of those who stayed, for those who stayed – and for their countrymen. Among the museum’s exhibits, pictured on the jacket of his book, are life-size plaster casts of Jews in period garb — all as white as ghosts.

Shrayer learned recently that the audio recording on the No. 19 tram, as well as the sign on its stop, have been changed and riders now hear and see the full name of the museum. He’s not claiming it’s his doing — that would be extremely chutzpahdik, Shrayer said.

Nonetheless, he added, the correction suggests to him that the story of Russia’s Jews resists closure.

Sundance Movie Review: ‘The Oslo Diaries’

What this film shows, more than anything, is that the people in power on both sides of this long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict were able to come together to reach an agreement despite many obstacles. When the initial documents are signed, protests erupt, and it becomes clear that the battle is not between Israelis and Palestinians but rather between those who want peace and those who don’t, regardless of their national or religious identity. Watching Palestinians place olive branches on Israeli tanks to indicate their desire for peace is inspiring. Learning of the organization of a protest for peace is reminiscent of much of what we see today in American society: people marching for rights rather than against them. In his final interview for the film, Shimon Peres puts its best: “No war is ever finished unless it’s being replaced by peace.”

This film, sadly, is far from the end of the story. Watching Yitzhak Rabin sing the words to “Shir LaShalom” — “Song for Peace”— along with Peres just moments before he was assassinated is especially heartbreaking. Knowing that these events took place more than two decades ago and little has changed is disheartening, and this film serves more as a chronicle of history than any call to action since those involved know that there is no easy solution.

The Oslo Diaries is certainly less controversial than the last documentary filmmakers Mor Loushy and Daniel Sivan brought to Sundance. Censored Voices featured recorded testimonies of Israeli soldiers lamenting their misdeeds during the Six Day War, something that, while seemingly true, was seen as easy fodder for critics of Israel to use to denounce it is an imperialist state with an illegal military. Loushy and Sivan seem determined to continue presenting stories that might not always be warmly received, like Sivan’s recent editing of the disturbing documentary Death in the Terminal, which explores the beating and killing of an innocent Eritrean refugee mistaken for a terrorist after an explosion at a bus station. Extensively featuring Bibi Netanyahu in archive footage in The Oslo Diaries railing against Rabin and then being elected prime minister after his death is far from a subtle message that they believe his government isn’t helping the peace process.

There are many stories to tell about Israel and the conflict in which it remains eternally engulfed, and this spotlight on an unlikely early step forward is an optimistic and detailed one, presented as a meeting of two sides in a middle that for so long couldn’t have existed. It’s informative, affirming, and positive while things are going well, and a reminder that there is a way to see the other side.

Martin Kramer: "You remember the filmmakers Mor Loushy and Daniel Sivan, whose last production was “Censored Voices” (2015)? That was predicated on a lie: an allegation of Israeli military censorship. I exposed the manipulation in an internet article entitled “Who Censored the Six-Day War?” (now available, with notes, in my book “The War on Error,” pp. 225-42). Their new film, “The Oslo Diaries,” has now premiered at Sundance, and HBO just bought it. (I guess they needed something to fill the gap left by their last Israel project, a nixed film by Ari Shavit.) I haven’t seen the new offering, but the reviews make me suspect it’s something other than history. I’ll be watching." (h/t Elder of Lobby)

The role of propaganda in the Holocaust

The Shoah was one of the gravest tragedies in history, yet many countries were apathetic and indifferent at the time. It took quite a while for the United States to take action. The United Kingdom was aware of what was happening, nevertheless, it initially followed a policy that emboldened Hitler. Today, even though in Western countries the Holocaust has acquired its status and is affirmed in the legislation of many, things are quite different in the Muslim world.

One-sided propaganda and a lack of information on how the Jews were massacred and the horrors of the gas chambers, the concentration and exterminations camps, leave many Muslims totally indifferent to the inhumane brutality of the Nazis and their collaborators. Thus, it is incumbent on Muslims to put the facts of history straight by examining this horrendous crime against humanity.

The Holocaust did not occur in a vacuum. It was based on antisemitic beliefs, the ancient hatred of the Jews. Hitler used his ideological propaganda to reawaken this dormant sentiment among millions. He used the power of his oratory and persuaded millions into believing that the Jews, who represented less than 1% of the entire German population, had to be eradicated ruthlessly.

The Nazis began by targeting the Jews with ideological propaganda to indoctrinate the German people with hatred and hostility against the Jews. “Propaganda tries to force a doctrine on the whole people,” Adolf Hitler wrote in his book Mein Kampf in 1926. He advocated the use of propaganda to spread hatred against Jews and other minority groups. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, they established a Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, headed by Joseph Goebbels. The aim of this “black propaganda” machine was to spread throughout Germany enmity against the Jews and other minority groups that were targeted, the “undesirables,” as they were coined.

The Nazis also initiated a boycott aimed at Jewish shops and businesses, a similar antisemitic strategy to what we see in today’s BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement. Throughout Germany posters were hung, portraying the Jews as ugly monsters and carrying slogans like “Don’t buy Jewish goods.” In 1940, the antisemitic film The Eternal Jew was screened in cinemas all over Germany. In schools, teachers warned their students of the so-called “Jewish menace,” and during lessons Jews were wickedly insulted and maligned.

On January 20, 1942, at the Wansee Conference, senior Nazi officials decided up on a “Final Solution to the Jewish problem.” This meant the systematic extermination of all Jews: men, women and children, even babies, not leaving one Jew alive. This barbarity would take place in all the territories occupied and controlled by the Nazis. In accordance with this decision, the extermination camps were established. In these camps, under horrendous conditions, the Nazis murdered some 11 million people, of whom nearly six million were Jews. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

Mossad chose not to nab Mengele, didn’t hunt down Munich terrorists, new book claims

Ronen Bergman’s “Rise and Kill First,” a 630-page chronicle of “targeted assassinations” by Israel, pre-state and in the 70 years of statehood, is filled with frequently staggering revelations and claims. The author, who said he carried out 1,000 interviews, gained access and pored through innumerable crates of previously unpublished documents, and worked on the book for eight years, highlighted some of the most dramatic disclosures in a two-hour interview with The Times of Israel.

Some of his discoveries shed new light on familiar episodes. Others venture into hitherto entirely unfamiliar territory.

Mossad had Mengele in its sights in 1962, but ‘chose to leave it’

On July 23, 1962, Mossad operatives Rafi Eitan and Zvi Aharoni observed Auschwitz doctor Josef Mengele leaving his farm in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with some bodyguards. They anticipated kidnapping him and bringing him back to Israel for trial, Eichmann-style. But their sighting coincided with the test-firing by Egypt’s President Nasser of the missiles he’d been secretly developing, Bergman said, “and they were called back to the Middle East.”

A year later, Mossad chief Isser Harel left the service, and from then on, until 1977, Bergman said, “all Mossad chiefs and all Israeli prime ministers made Nazi war criminals the lowest priority.” So the notion that the Mossad, in those crucial years, went looking for Nazi war criminals, is plain false, Bergman said, and documentedly so. “Generally speaking, Israeli intelligence did not hunt Nazi war criminals.”

There was one exception – Herberts Cukurs — a Latvian war criminal who was killed in Paraguay, he said, “but this was an exception for some personal reasons: he had killed members of the family of (IDF military intelligence chief) Aharon Yariv, and (Harel’s successor) Meir Amit was a close friend of Yariv’s… Cukurs had burned much of his family, so this was sort of, you know, doing something for a friend.”

Indeed, Bergman said, Mossad chiefs actually called home an agent who had traced Mengele again, in 1968, “because they were afraid that he was going to carry out a rogue operation.”

Ken Livingstone appears on Iranian state TV on Holocaust Remembrance Day

Former London mayor Ken Livingstone appeared on Iranian state television to discuss the topic “Has the Holocaust been exploited to oppress others,” repeating his claims that his claim that Hitler worked with the Zionist movement.

Livingstone appeared on the Press TV show on Saturday, which was observed as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The show, which was aired on Press TV’s YouTube channel, invited callers to offer their opinions. Several callers to the show repeated anti-Semitic rhetoric and praised Hitler. One caller asserted that Hitler was “fantastic” for Israel, since “if it wasn’t for Hitler there would be no Israel.”

At the same time, host Roshan Muhammed Salih talked about how the Holocaust has become an “industry.” He also said “I don’t know if 6 million died or four million or two million died…no point arguing over figures, is there, Ken?” Livingstone responded that there is “no credible alternative” to the six million figure.

During the broadcast, Livingstone repeated his claim that Hitler worked with the Zionist movement to convince Jews to move to Israel. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

Corbyn on Iran – Crooked Talking, Dishonest Politics

To recap, this was your message:

* You called the Islamic Centre of England “a wonderful centre” and said it was a “great honour” to be there.

* You then hailed Iran, which has driven so many Iranian Jews and Ahwazi Arabs into exile, for its “tolerance”. Yes, you really did.
The Jewish community has always been present in Tehran; the Zoroastrians have always been there, as have people of many other faiths. There is much to be very proud of in the history of Iran and in the tolerance of ordinary people in Iran towards those of different faiths.

* To make it worse, in this instance you were referring to an earlier speech by the Centre’s director, which was an ode to Khomeini.

* Then came “it’s our fault”, your lifelong dirge:
The problems of today stem from the history of relations and the history of European relations with all the countries in the region.

* In fact, a real problem, you noted, was the “demonisation” of Iran.

* You also praised Iran for being helpful in the Syrian conflict. Yes, the murderous regime backing Assad. That Iran.

* You did mention human rights. There is nothing to worry about, really, you implied in the briefest and most perfunctory of words:
I also recognise that Iran is a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, which I also attend, and Iran, like every other country, must undergo its universal periodic review. Every country has to undergo it. And I raised these questions with the foreign minister during our visit [to Iran] and the assurance was given that the full response will be given at the UN Human Rights Council in June, as is required.

* You were certainly in your stride towards the end, offering warm words:
The message I got from my visit was that Iran is a country that is strong, a country with the most amazing history.
…
I respect Iran’s history. I respect what brought about the revolution in 1979.

I am glad we could clear this up for you.

Opposing the Zionist land-grab known as “Tu B’Shevat”, by Jeremy Corbyn (satire)

This week we observe another sad anniversary of displacement and dispossession in Historic Palestine: The Zionist Land-Grab masquerading as Environmentalism known as “Tu B’Shevat“. This so-called “Birthday of the Trees” is sadly little more than another attempt by the Zionists to create “Facts on the Ground“, or more specifically “In the Ground“. While some Zionists attempt to portray the scheme as a sort of Poor Man’s Earth Day, it is rather little more than a Naqba with a green facade. Additionally, Israeli school children are encouraged to plant trees, once again contributing to the gradual marginalization of the Palestinian people from their land, tree by planted tree.

Furthermore, On Tu B’Shevat it is customary to have a “Seder“, where the Israelis commit mass amounts of cultural appropriation by displaying and then eating various indigenous Palestinian fruit and nuts. To add insult to injury, the debacle gains a festive air as attendees consume four glasses of wine.

But all is not lost. The outspoken Palestinian activists known as “Hamas“, whom I count among my friends, have their own ecological beliefs. Something about helpful trees and rocks that talk. And in this parable, perhaps we can strive to find a solution to the current impasse. A Solution that is indeed rather Final, if you will. Quite Fascinating, to tell the truth. Quite Fascinating.

The Dark Secret of Two-Faced Academics

The United States government's restrictions (or "ban") on the admission of travelers from six Muslim-majority countries (which were chosen by former President Obama) -- unless, as President Donald J. Trump has said, there can be vetting -- triggered the anger of the Western academic community. Their distress seems to center around the exclusion from the United States of researchers and scholars from Islamic countries sanctioned by the American administration. Harvard, Yale and Stanford sued the White House. 171 scientific societies and academic organizations protested what they wrongly titled Trump's "Muslim ban". "Among those affected by the Order are academics and students who are unable to participate in conferences and the free communication of ideas", says an appeal signed by 6,000 scientists, academics and researchers around the world.

What is more "progressive" than a Western academic community struggling to keep the scientific gates open? Sadly, however, many of those who have promoted these appeals have been instrumental in spreading other, racist, appeals to boycott their Israeli colleagues. It is, in the same universities, the "Israel Ban". The discrimination is not directed at scientists from Yemen or Somalia, but only at those with a passport from the Jewish State.

Nadine el Enany, for instance, the first signatory of the appeal against the United States "Muslim ban", is one of the signers of the appeal to boycott her Israeli academic colleagues. The same double standards apply to Sarah Keenan and Bill Bowring, and to Italian professor Paola Bacchetta, who teaches "gender studies" at Berkeley. Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, a professor of literature at SOAS University in London, announced that, to protest Trump's supposed "xenophobia", he will cancel a U.S. tour for his book. What about protesting his own xenophobia? A progressive "conscience" did not prevent Adib-Moghaddam from also signing an appeal to boycott Israeli researchers and professors.

Edgar Davidson: How NOT to respond to antisemites claiming 'only to be against Israeli government'

Every day in the main stream media we hear antisemites 'people opposed to the Israeli government' spew hatred and lies against Israel and say "it is not antisemitic to point these things out".

In Britain - if any response at all is offered - it is usually in the form of an apologetic 'Jewish spokesperson' who, instead of challenging the lies about Israel, says meekly: "It is antisemitic to blame British Jews for the actions of the Israeli government".

This short video explains what the response should be.

BDS is failing – a continuing series (Feb. 2018)

Here’s the latest installment in our ongoing series of posts documenting BDS fails.
Political BDS Fails

New Orleans City Council rescinds controversial human rights resolution
Amid dueling cries of “anti-Semitism” and “Islamophobia,” the New Orleans City Council voted 7-0 Thursday to rescind a human rights resolution it passed on a 5-0 vote just two weeks ago.

The Jan. 11 resolution, which calls for a review of contracts and investments to make sure city money doesn’t go to support human rights violations but mentions no specific groups or violators, was quickly hailed as a victory for an international movement to boycott Israel over its treatment of Palestinians.…

…Williams previously told WWL-TV he felt duped by the New Orleans Palestinian Solidarity Committee that had pushed the original resolution.

Norway said set to cut funding for pro-BDS Palestinian NGOs
Dec 25, 2017 – “We will continue to work consistently to expose European funding for Palestinian organizations that delegitimize [Israel].” Norway’s decision comes just days after fellow Scandinavian country Denmark said it will revoke funding from several Palestinian NGOs and tighten aid criteria for others after they were found to be tied to anti-Israel activities.

Switzerland stops funds to Palestinian NGO due to terrorism …
Aug 22, 2017 – “In halting payment to WATC [Women Affairs Technical Committee], the Swiss follow similar moves by Denmark and Holland. The radical Palestinian NGO is one of many funded by these countries through the Ramallah-based Human Rights Secretariat, with an annual budget of $4 million,” he added.

Reviewing BBC reporting on the BDS campaign in 2017

As has often been noted here, for years the BBC has reported stories relating to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign (BDS) without adequately clarifying to its audiences that what that campaign ultimately seeks to achieve is the end of Israel as the Jewish state. Moreover, in August 2015, we learned that the BBC considers the provision of such crucial background information “not our role“.

So did BBC audiences see any improvement in 2017?

In February BBC One’s “moral, ethical and religious” debate programme ‘The Big Questions’ aired a discussion billed “should we trade with Israel now settlements are recognised?” which included contributors from controversial organisations that support the BDS anti-Israel campaign – without audiences being informed of that fact.

In March the BBC News website reported a story about a member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign denied entry to Israel but – despite the obvious relevance to the story – failed to inform audiences what the BDS campaign aspires to achieve.

In April BBC Two audiences were given an airbrushed account of the aim of the BDS campaign and visitors to the BBC News website were told that it is “a human rights organisation”.

Oakland bakery draws protests with life-size mural of Palestinian terrorist

Some 30 protesters gathered outside of an Arab-style bakery and restaurant in Oakland, California, to protest a life-size mural in the shop featuring convicted Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh.

Sunday’s vigil also protested a book reading and signing by Sunaina Maira, an Asian-American studies professor at the University of California, Davis, whose new book is about boycotting Israeli academic institutions, the East Bay Times reported.

The vigil is part of a series of protests against the mural by a group called Oakland United Against Hate, the newspaper reported.

“In Oakland, a community devastated by violence, this kind of glorification of terror and violence is just inappropriate, so we’re here to express our dissatisfaction,” protester Faith Meltzer told the East Bay Times. “This is about hate in our community, the normalization of violence in our community — and that’s why we’re here.”

About 15 people from local social-justice groups, including the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, who support the eatery, monitored the protest. Several months ago, owner Reem Assil filed a restraining order against at least one of protesters.

IsraellyCool: Jew Hater Jordina Salabert Expresses Wish That Nikki Haley Would Be Burned At The Stake

Those who vehemently oppose Israel paint themselves as human rights defenders, compassionate people who care about humanity and the rights of all to live their lives in dignity.

And from my experience, this is true in some cases. They are just ignorant about what is going on, either because they have been brainwashed to believe the other side’s narrative, or just refuse to dig deeper beyond the headlines and news photos that mislead.

However, I find that in a majority of cases, prejudice against Jews and outright antisemitism are at work, like my regular anti-Zionist-not-antisemite series illustrates. And if it was not at all abundantly clear already from their dehumanization of Jewish people, these haters really do not care about human rights at all.

In the latest example of this, anti-Zionist-not-antisemite Jordina Salabert aka Jil Love recently posted this about (the incredible) Nikki Haley.

Jerusalem Post Corrects False Headline About Bounty for Civilians Who Catch Asylum Seekers

Earlier today, CAMERA's Snapshots blog posted about headlines in Quartz (a digital business media outlet) and Haaretz which falsely stated that Israel is paying civilians $9000 to capture or deport African asylum seekers. Haaretz commendably corrected its erroneous Jan. 12 headline (seen below) yesterday, and Quartz has yet to correct. Meanwhile, The Jerusalem Post has also corrected.

What's the real story? As Haaretz's corrected headline (below) makes clear, as does the accompanying article, Israel's Population and Immigration Authority launched a recruitment drive to attract new inspectors, offering bonuses of up to $9000.

BBC brushes off a complaint about a journalist’s Tweets

A member of the public who submitted a complaint to the BBC concerning Tweets sent by its Washington correspondent Kim Ghattas criticising a ‘Newsweek’ headline to a story about Ahed Tamimi received the following reply from BBC Complaints.

“Thanks for contacting us with your comments regarding a tweet by Middle East [sic] correspondent Kim Ghattas. Please accept our apologies for the delay in replying.

Kim was making the point that the newspaper concerned had not placed enough context in its headline. That’s made clear in the follow up tweets.

She is making a point about there being two sides to the issue. Her tweets were not about the incident itself but the need for more sophisticated reporting from Newsweek. She was pointing out the other perspective on the issue which was not reflected in the Newsweek headline.

We hope this is helpful, and thank you again for your feedback.”

Leaving aside the obviously highly relevant question of whether it is in fact a BBC journalist’s job to call out “the need for more sophisticated reporting” at another media organisation, let’s take another look at those Tweets which the BBC claims “were not about the incident itself”.

Times of Israel Clarifies About Palestinian Refugees

CAMERA's Israel office today prompted improved Times of Israel wording regarding the number of living Palestinian refugees. The Jan. 27 article, "TV report: Israel now wants Trump to reject Palestinian 'right of return,'" had been unclear about the number of living Palestinian refugee, stating: "The Palestinians demand this right not only for those of the hundreds of thousands of refugees who are still alive but also for their descendants, who number in the millions." Readers could easily misunderstand from this language that there are hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees still alive.

The number of Palestinian refugees still alive today numbers in the low tens of thousands. As Times of Israel previously noted

If the normal UN definition had been applied to the estimated 650,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from what became Israel in the late 1940s, the Palestinian refugee problem today would extend to the relatively few survivors among those 650,000 — a number estimated in the low tens of thousands.

In addition, Times of Israel previously published this 2012 AP story, which reported:

The U.N. agency counted 860,000 individuals in 1951. Those registered refugees and their descendants now total 5 million living in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Gaza and the West Bank. Those who favor a distinction between the two argue that more than a half-century later, there are only 30,000 original refugees left.

Israel-India ties defy absurd media narrative of Jerusalem’s “increasing isolation”.

Last month, Israel took significant steps to solve humanitarian problems in Africa, and we drew attention to the fact that this was completely ignored by the UK media. This month, the pattern has continued, this time regarding Israel’s burgeoning ties with India.

With a population of 1.2 billion, India is the world’s second most populous country, and its highly rural population faces some of the largest humanitarian issues in the world. The numbers are staggering: 240 million Indians are not connected to electricity, 63 million Indians do not have access to clean water, and in 2016, 330 million Indians were affected by drought.

Raising living standards in India is one of the great social challenges of our time and, naturally, these issues have received much coverage in the UK press (see the links above, as well as here, here, here.)

Last week, six months after Prime Minister Modi’s historic trip to Jerusalem, Prime Minister Netanyahu became the second Israeli Prime Minister to visit India.

During his six-day trip, Netanyahu witnessed existing Israeli projects in India, and he and his delegation signed deals and announced new projects.

Three BBC articles on US aid promote an irrelevant false comparison

Obviously the amount of military aid the US chooses to give to Israel has nothing whatsoever to do with either of these stories.

Moreover, despite having introduced the topic, in none of those three articles did BBC journalists bother to clarify that Israel is a longstanding US ally or that currently some 74% (set to rise to 100% in 2019) of that military assistance is conditioned on it being spent on purchases from American companies: an arrangement described in the Washington Post as follows:

“In other words, U.S. foreign military financing is essentially a way of subsidizing its domestic defense industry while strengthening the military capabilities of its strategic allies.”

The promotion of a false comparison between the level of US donations to the PA and UNRWA and the amount of US military aid to Israel obviously contributes nothing to audience understanding of the stories the BBC purports to tell in these three articles. And yet, BBC journalists continue to repeatedly shoehorn that irrelevant information into reports supposedly about US donations to a UN agency and to the Palestinian Authority.

BBC policy on use of term migrants ignored in WS report about Israel

As readers may be aware, the BBC sometimes appends a footnote to relevant articles concerning its use of the term migrant.

“A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants.”

That editorial policy was also the subject of an article published on the BBC News website in August 2015.

However, listeners to the January 2nd edition of the BBC World Service radio podcast “Africa Today” heard presenter Bola Mosuro repeatedly use terminology that does not conform to that editorial policy.

Mosuro:”Coming up: Israel gives over thirty thousand refugees and asylum seekers just three months to leave the country voluntarily. If not, they will face indefinite jail terms or be forcibly repatriated.”

In addition to her use of partial language to describe migrants, Mosuro’s claims that they “face indefinite jail terms” or being “forcibly repatriated” are inaccurate. Repatriated of course means being sent back to one’s own country but that is not what the programme entails.

Radical imams are spewing anti-Semitism in the US with impunity

Muslim clerics are threatening the lives of Jews from the pulpits of American mosques, and they are doing it with virtual impunity, say former US law-enforcement officials who worry that the rhetoric could lead to violent attacks.

Over the past six months, at least five prominent US imams have been caught on tape preaching violence against Jews in sermons at mosques across America.

Yet these radical preachers inciting anti-Semitic violence aren’t prosecuted or even permanently banished by the leadership of their mosques.

“It’s outrageous they aren’t immediately removed and investigated for what may be solicitation [to commit a crime of violence],” was the view of veteran FBI Special Agent John Guandolo, who now runs a counterterrorism consulting firm, Understanding the Threat LLC.

Jewish people already are disproportionately targeted for hate crimes in America, but recent sermons could fan the flames of anti-Semitism. In November, the FBI released new data showing there were more Jewish victims of anti-religious hate crimes in 2016 (the last reported year) than victims of all other religious groups combined.

Canadian Imam Munir Elkassem: MEMRI Cuts and Pastes My Sermons; Jihad is a Very Noble Principle Where We Exert Energy to Effect Goodness pic.twitter.com/79mWgn4YnM
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) January 29, 2018

Israel Hosts Thousands at Biggest Cyber Technology Conference Outside of U.S.

Some 13,500 attendees, 120 companies, 90 startups and 67 multinational delegations are expected at Cybertech Israel conference and expo, January 29-31 at the Tel Aviv Convention Center.

Cybertech Israel, the biggest annual cyber technologies event outside of the United States, will showcase commercial problem-solving strategies and solutions for the global cyber threat in a wide range of sectors: finance, transportation, utilities, defense, R&D, manufacturing, telecommunication, health and government.

Among special events planned are Cyber NYC sponsored by the New York City Economic Development Corporation, Tech against Terrorism sponsored by the UN, Cyber for Airports, Cybermed, and sessions focusing on cyber for trains, ports and maritime.

A startup competition powered by YL Ventures will gift the lucky winner with two tickets and airfare to the RSA security conference in San Francisco next April.

A new special feature this year will be Cyber Junior, a platform sponsored by the Rashi Foundation enabling 120 Israeli teenagers to attend event and the startup competition, and meet presenters and featured speakers.

What? There were Jews in Somalia?!

On Friday, July 6, 2007, Gregory Levey at The Jerusalem Post wrote an article: “Reaching out – Picture – Scene from Somalia."

"It’s not easy being a Jew in this predominantly Muslim country. The only Jewish blogger in Mogadishu longs for a community.”

Little did Levey know that he had brought to light what only a few knew – that there had been a Jewish presence in Somalia. I had stumbled upon the article by chance. I was living in St. Paul-Minneapolis at the time, which has the largest Somali diaspora in the world. After 9/11 the police took note of the burgeoning Somali community.

The majority are law-abiding citizens, yet Minnesota has achieved the distinction of being the recruitment center for Islamic State (ISIS) in the US.

I asked to be put in touch with Av, who also called himself Rami.

We corresponded from 2007 to 2010 – over 300 emails. I came to know this wonderful young Jewish man and his inspiring mother, Ashira Haybi. They were alone without family, with roots extending back well over one hundred years. Rami’s dad, killed during the civil war, traced his roots to Aden, Yemen, while his mom traced hers to Ta’iz, also in Yemen. Ashira was an accomplished businesswoman trading in textiles. She kept a kosher home, was Shabbat observant and raised Rami to continue the tradition. They fought vigorously to preserve their Judaism under extreme duress.

Jazz musician, Nazi camp survivor Coco Schumann dies at 93

Heinz Jakob “Coco” Schumann, a jazz guitarist who survived Nazi concentration camps to return to his musical career in Berlin after World War II, has died. He was 93.

His record label Trikont said Schumann died Sunday in Berlin, the dpa news agency reported Monday.

Schumann made a name for himself as a young musician in Berlin’s underground jazz and swing scene in the 1930s. He was arrested in 1943 after authorities learned his mother was Jewish, and deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in German-occupied Czechoslovakia.

There, he played in a band known as the “Ghetto Swingers” before being transferred to Auschwitz in 1944, where he played music to entertain guards.

After the war he emigrated to Australia, before returning to Berlin in the mid-1950s and re-establishing his career.

Schumann was featured in a 2013 documentary called “Refuge in Music,” about the life of Jewish musicians, composers and artists under the Third Reich.

A look back at 70 years in 30 seconds pic.twitter.com/R1mqwGbWe8
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) January 28, 2018

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