03/15 Links Pt2: Glick: Democrats Join Farrakhan and British Labour Party in Antisemitic Sewer; Shapiro: Not All Anti-Semitism Is Created Equal; SJP advocates gun violence and armed resistance ~ EoZ

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Democrats Join Farrakhan and British Labour Party in Antisemitic Sewer

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has asked DNC Chairman Tom Perez to address his party’s ties to Farrakhan “America’s leading anti-Semite.” To date, Perez has remained mum.

Then there is Obama’s consigliere, Valerie Jarrett. In an appearance on NBC’s The View, Jarrett tried to defend Mallory for her association with Farrakhan. Jarrett compared Mallory’s association with Farrakahn to her association with Rupert Murdoch and the Koch brothers, whom Jarrett met with during her tenure at the White House.

Which brings us back to Britain’s Labour party.

Like Corbyn, the Democrats have responded to the exposure of their close ties to the most powerful antisemite in the United States by deflecting the issue. They have drawn moral equivalences between Farrakhan and the government of Israel, and between Farrakhan and leading conservatives.

They have also embraced him as a “great man” who cannot be dismissed or rejected simply because he seeks the annihilation of the Jewish state of Israel, views the American Jewish community as his “enemy,” thinks the Holocaust was justified, and regards Hitler as a “very great man.”

Until he took over Labour, Corbyn was considered a fringe figure in the Labour party. Likewise, until recently, the Congressional Black Caucus was viewed as being on the leftist margins of the party. But as the forces of the far left have risen to positions of prominence in the party, the CBC has become a major player.

Ellison is not a fringe Democrat. He nearly won the election for DNC chair. His constituency is so large and committed that Perez made him Vice Chairman immediately after he was elected.

Collier’s damning report strengthens the growing sense that Britain’s Labour Party has already gone over the brink. Antisemitism is a central and undeniable rationale for its policies. As for the Democratic Party, it is still possible that the party’s rank-and-file will reject their leadership’s embrace of antisemitism through Farrakhan.

But with each passing day, it is becoming more difficult to imagine that happening.

Ben Shapiro: Not All Anti-Semitism Is Created Equal

That’s the rub, here, naturally. A good number of leftist Jews are leftists first and Jews second; their religious identity runs second to their political identity. And the Women’s March is a deeply leftist institution — its leadership routinely pushes abortion-on-demand, government-paid child care and so-called anti-discrimination laws that target religious institutions. Jews who find this sort of agenda primary are willing to let a little bit of anti-Semitism slide, much in the way that Jews who preferred President Donald Trump were willing to wink at Steve Bannon.

Even more disappointing is the willingness of leftist Jews to let Jewish ethnicity slide into the background in favor of the intersectional coalition building. Intersectionality suggests that we can determine the value of viewpoints by looking at the “interlocking” group identities of the person speaking — so, for example, a Black lesbian has different experiences and, to the left’s point, more valuable experiences than a white straight man. Jewish ethnic identity, therefore, should play some role in the intersectional coalition of the left, which is dedicated to the proposition that America is a brutal place to those of minority status.

But there’s one problem: In the intersectional hierarchy of identity politics, Jews rank relatively low. That’s because Jews are on average financially successful and educationally overachieving. And this means that Jews slandered by the likes of Louis Farrakhan or his Women’s March allies must take a back seat on the intersectional bus. Anti-Semitism matters less coming from minority victim groups than it does from others, apparently.

This has been the case for years. Last year, the self-titled Dyke March in Chicago banned rainbow flags with Jewish stars because they supposedly “made people feel unsafe” — pro-Palestinian groups were unhappy with the juxtaposition of gay rights and a flag that looked somewhat Israeli. The march was billed as an “anti-racist, anti-violent, volunteer-led, grass-roots mobilization and celebration of dyke, queer, bisexual, and transgender resilience.” Tolerance was not extended, however, to gay Jews flying their flag.

Anti-Semitism is unacceptable in any guise. During the last election cycle, I spoke out repeatedly about anti-Semitism in the alt-right, and blasted the Trump campaign for failing to properly disassociate from the alt-right. Trump, thankfully, has disassociated from the alt-right publicly. The fact that so much of the left is willing to embrace the Women’s March leadership rather than calling them to account is a true shandah.

Doulgas Murray: The High Price of Denial

Instead, newspapers like the New York Times have tended in recent years towards the same denialism as Angela Merkel about the problems which mass immigration from the developing world is causing in Europe. They have tended to praise the "courage" of suspending normal border controls while covering over or ignoring the terrible consequences of importing millions of people whose identities are unknown. And of course, like Mayor Hidalgo in Paris, they have tended to shoot the messengers more than report the news, dismissing any such stories as "fake news", "alt-right" or "far right" propaganda.

Just last year, when Donald Trump famously mentioned "what happened last night in Sweden", the mainstream media knew what he was referring to. They knew that he was loosely referencing a report that he had seen on Fox news the night before about the increasingly bad situation in that country. The media, however, chose not to address that problem. Instead they chose -- in the main -- to laugh at the President and ridicule the idea that there were any troubles in the Scandinavian paradise.

Back then the New York Times headlined that President Trump's comments were "baffling", while much of the rest of the media simply pretended that Sweden was a land of infinite peace and Ikea which had been sorely slandered by the President.

The surprise that within days of each other, both Chancellor Merkel and the New York Times have become willing to admit facts which they and their apologists have long pretended to be imaginary could be progress of a kind. It may not, however, be a cause for optimism. Rather than being a demonstration that things are getting better, that they are now admitting what is visible to the eyes of ordinary Europeans may be an admission that things have got so bad -- and are so well-known -- that even the Gray Lady and Mutti Merkel are no longer able to ignore them. If so, one thought must surely follow: imagine what might have been solved if the denials had never even begun?

For people complaining about yesterdays article The American Black-Jewish alliance---a fiction laid to rest. Read this Henry Louis Gates NYTs article from 1992. A little dated, quotes Cornel West and Jessie Jackson as being against antisemitism. But it makes the same point.
1992 Henry Louis Gates Jr: Black Demagogues and Pseudo-Scholars

During the past decade, the historic relationship between African Americans and Jewish Americans -- a relationship that sponsored so many of the concrete advances of the civil rights era -- showed another and less attractive face.

While anti-Semitism is generally on the wane in this country, it has been on the rise among black Americans. A recent survey finds not only that blacks are twice as likely as whites to hold anti-Semitic views but -- significantly -- that it is among the younger and more educated blacks that anti-Semitism is most pronounced.

I myself think that the great French aphorist Rochefoucault put his finger on something germane when he observed, "We can rarely bring ourselves to forgive those who have helped us." For sometimes it seems that the trajectory of black-Jewish relations is a protracted enactment of Rochefoucault's paradox.

Many American Jews are puzzled by the recrudescence of black anti-Semitism, in view of the historic alliance between the two groups. The brutal truth has escaped them: that the new anti-Semitism arises not in spite of the black-Jewish alliance but because of that alliance.

For precisely such trans-ethnic, trans-racial cooperation -- epitomized by the historic partnership between blacks and Jews -- is what poses the greatest threat to the isolationist movement.

In short, for the tacticians of the new anti-Semitism, the original sin of American Jews was their involvement -- truly "inordinate," truly "disproportionate" -- not in slavery, but in the front ranks of the civil rights struggle.

From Wakanda to Israel: a Zionist Pan-Africanist’s takeaway from “Black Panther”

Marvel’s newest superhero flick, “Black Panther” is breaking box office records, and for good reason. The revolutionary production of this movie aside, the film is an archetypal goldmine (or should I say “Vibranium mine”), chock full of explicit and implicit messages and symbolism that speak to the historical and lived experiences of, not only African peoples, but all persecuted and/or post-colonial nations pursuing auto-emancipation.

As an Israeli of a Caribbean background, an unapologetic Zionist and Pan-Africanist, I couldn’t help but appreciate this meaningful cinematic expression of internal conflicts that appear to be unique and highly relevant to the Jewish and African Diasporic experiences. A unique likeness, that both Binyamin Ze’ev Herzl (the father of modern Zionism) and Edward Wilmot Blyden (the father of Pan-Africanism) identified as sources for mutual inspiration in what may be the first and best case of meaningful intersectionality, which lead to revolutionary social movements. There are many aspects of this film that warrant in depth analysis and articulation, but four main points (detailed below) stood out to me as particularly relating to the shared African and Jewish experience with colonialism and slavery (at the hands of both European supremacists and Arab supremacists).

First things first, however, much respect to the creators of the Black Panther character and universe, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Two Jews who utilized their artistic talent to express a quintessentially Jewish response to a world full of pain, oppression, and tyranny; to highlight the clash between good and evil, and give us heroes to inspire us in our individual and collective struggles. In the era of the civil rights movement, when Africa and African life was popularly viewed as inferior, they dared create a fictional African country untainted by colonialism, rich in super-natural resources (Vibranium), and a technological/military/political powerhouse. A narrative, that in the age of sh*thole gate, BLM, and the Libyan slave trade couldn’t be more relevant. A story, Director Ryan Coogler, was able to adapt to cinema with ease.

Five Key Takeaways from Gallup’s Annual Poll That Found American Support for Israel At Record High

1. While news reports tend to emphasize shifts in polls like these because changes make for exciting headlines, what is remarkable about the polling on Israel is how consistent it has been. Notably, despite endless talk about the Democratic party “turning against Israel” under Obama, Democratic support for Israel is essentially the same in 2018 (49%) as it was when Obama took office in 2008 (48%). Likewise, support for Israel has continued to trend up overall, despite the stream of partisan bickering over Obama’s Iran deal and Trump’s Jerusalem move. To the extent that far-left activists are pushing the Democratic party to be more antagonistic to Israel, then, they are pushing against its own voters.

2. Israel is viewed even more positively than head-to-head polling about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would indicate. When asked simply whether they viewed Israel favorably (rather than to choose a side in the conflict), large majorities of respondents said they did: “83% of Republicans, 72% of independents and 64% of Democrats view Israel favorably.” This data suggests that steps towards peace would boost Israel’s standing even more among Americans, as such progress would close the gap between the country’s lower polling within the context of the conflict and its higher polling outside it.

3. Like most issues in polarized American politics, the middle ground on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is fast eroding. As can be seen in the top poll above, not only did support for Israel over the Palestinians reach a record high in 2018, but those respondents who answered “both/neither/unsure” hit a record low. Whereas Americans might once have been inclined to say they supported both Israelis and Palestinians—as many American Jews currently do—today that middle has been hollowed out. Those seeking a peaceful solution to the conflict will need to fight this zero-sum trend if they are to succeed.

4. Support for Israel is higher among older brackets, but still robust among the young. As Gallup puts it, “Israel also receives higher favorable ratings from adults 55 and older (80% favorable) than from those 35 to 54 (72%) or 18 to 34 (65%). Conversely, the Palestinian Authority receives somewhat better ratings from adults 18 to 34 (31% favorable) than from those 35 to 54 (15%) or 55 and older (18%).”

5. Finally, as it does every year, this poll illustrates the reason why American foreign policy has long been pro-Israel: because Americans have long been pro-Israel. In other words, contrary to the fulminations of anti-Semites, there is no conspiracy or shadowy cabal setting the American agenda on Israel; there is simply democracy reflecting the will of the voters.

Top DNC Lawyer Personally Condemns Louis Farrakhan But Committee Remains Silent

A top lawyer for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) strongly condemned the anti-Semitic rhetoric of Louis Farrakhan, saying that anyone who is unable to condemn Farrakhan is "clearly and unequivocally" not part of the Democratic Party, despite the fact that the DNC itself has remained silent on Farrakhan.

"Louis Farrakhan is an virulent anti-Semite who should be condemned by all. Period," tweeted Marc Elias, a top lawyer for the DNC and many Democratic politicians, on March 2. Five days later—when Farrakhan, the head of the Nation of Islam, stated the "FBI has been the worst enemy of Black advancement" and "Jews have control over those agencies of government"—Elias again took to Twitter to condemn Farrakhan.

"Farrakhan is a vile anti-Semite. Period," Elias said. "There is no context or explanation. If you are unable to say this clearly and unequivocally then you are not part of the same party or movement that I have fought my entire life to support."

Elias, a partner at the Washington, D.C., office of the Perkins Coie law firm, represents the DNC, which has yet to publicly address or condemn Farrakhan since the controversial leader resurfaced in recent weeks following his rhetoric and the revelation of his ties to at least seven Democratic politicians.

Nation of Islam Leaders to Dems Denouncing Farrakhan: Don’t Give in to ‘Satanic Jews’

Nation of Islam ministers published an open letter last week calling on black lawmakers to reverse their denunciations of fellow minister and organization leader Louis Farrakhan for being anti-Semitic.

The letter, signed "On Behalf of The Executive Council of the Nation of Islam" by Ishmael R. Mohammed and Ava Muhammad, quotes extensively from a letter Farrakhan wrote in 2010 to black leaders. This new letter tells Democratic Reps. Danny Davis (Ill.), Gregory Meeks (N.Y.), and Barbara Lee (Calif.) that they should not listen to "Satanic Jews."

"Remember, it was the same Satanic Jews of yesterday that conspired against Jesus and had him killed by the ruling authority of the Roman Empire," they wrote. "They hated Jesus because he told the truth. Jesus was ridiculed, falsely charged, lied on, evil spoken of and called a hater and a bigot."

This argument echoes a tweet from Women’s March co-founder Tamika Mallory, whose connection to Farrakhan has brought him back into the news recently. Mallory praised Farrakhan for having "the same enemies as Jesus."
If your leader does not have the same enemies as Jesus, they may not be THE leader! Study the Bible and u will find the similarities. Ostracizing, ridicule and rejection is a painful part of the process…but faith is the substance of things! — Tamika D. Mallory (@TamikaDMallory) March 1, 2018

Mallory has denied that she was referring to Jews with this tweet, saying she was just pointing out that both Farrakhan and Jesus had enemies.

SJP Santa Cruz advocates gun violence and armed resistance

While young people across the country are mobilizing to condemn gun violence, Students for Justice in Palestine Santa Cruz are taking a different route. This deeply disturbing post advocating for "armed resistance" recently appeared on
the Santa Cruz SJP chapter Facebook page.

Students for Justice in Palestine is not now, nor have they ever been, a peace group.

University of Illinois Students Reject Anti-Israel Divestment Referendum for Second Year in a Row

Students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign voted down a divestment referendum targeting companies that do business with Israel, the Campus Student Election Commission announced earlier this week.

A total of 3,133 students voted against and 1,700 others in favor of the measure, which called on the university to divest from companies “that actively normalize, engage in, or fund human rights violations as defined by the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

While the referendum question did not explicitly mention Israel, an explanatory note submitted alongside it and made available to students included references to “Israeli wars of aggression” and alleged violations against Palestinians.

The anti-Zionist campus group Students for Justice in Palestine — which petitioned to place the question on the ballot — promoted its initiative under the campaign UIUC Divest, with a logo that seemed to elucidate its goal: the word “divest” overlaying an outline of Israel and the Palestinian territories, depicted as a single entity.

SJP’s proposal was endorsed by several allied organizations, including the Muslim Students Association, Asian Pacific American Coalition, Campus Union for Trans Equality and Support, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlán, and Black Lives Matter Champaign-Urbana. But it faced steep opposition from UIUC’s Jewish and pro-Israel community, which saw the referendum as an extension of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel, and launched a multi-front drive to educate and mobilize the student body against BDS.

IsraellyCool: Terror Supporter Reem Assil Does Not Make Finals of Prestigious Culinary Award

A month ago I posted how terror supporter Reem Assil was a semifinalist for the James Beard Award for Best Chef.

I am pleased to report she did not reach the finals.

I am not sure whether the bad publicity she has received (including my post) had an impact, but whatever the reason, yay!

Now imagine for a second she had made it to the finals – the article might look something like this:

Here’s hoping more and more people find out about this woman’s public support of the murderer of innocent people – and it leaves a bad taste in their mouth.

UKMW prompts correction to Indy claim that no Arabs in Jerusalem are citizens

The Independent published an article (Outrage over new Israeli law allowing Palestinians in Jerusalem to be stripped of residency, March 11) by their Middle East correspondent Bethan McKernan which claims that “Arabs living in [Jerusalem] do not have Israeli citizenship”.

This is not an accurate statement.

Whilst it’s true that most of the more than 325,000 Arabs living in the city are permanent residents, thousands are full Israeli citizens. Roughly 7 percent of the city’s Arabs (more than 20,000 people) are citizens and have the same rights (including the right to vote in national elections) as all other Israelis.

In 2005, CAMERA prompted a New York Times correction to the same false claim:

Just a few days ago, CAMERA prompted a Haaretz correction to an article which similarly claimed that “Jerusalem’s Palestinians have no right to vote for the Knesset.” The new language now includes accurate statistics on the percentage of Palestinians who have citizenship and can vote for the Knesset.

BBC News ignores Gaza humanitarian conference

For over ten years the BBC has been reporting on “Gaza’s humanitarian crisis” and for over five years it has been telling its audiences that the Gaza Strip will soon become “unlivable”.

BBC audiences would therefore have expected to see some coverage of a meeting designed to address the topic of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip that included representatives from eight Middle East countries.

In a March 8th op-ed in the Washington Post the US special representative Jason Greenblatt wrote:

“In response to the burgeoning humanitarian situation in Gaza, key countries and stakeholders are preparing to act: There was a meeting in Cairo on Thursday, and there will be a brainstorming session at the White House next week to find real solutions to the problems that Hamas has caused. […]

Outrage after University of Baghdad medical students dress up as Nazis

Five graduate students in the faculty of medicine at the University of Baghdad donned Nazi uniforms and posed for glamour shots in a bizarre incident. The photos came to light Wednesday when they were published online by Shakwmakw, a local media group that is followed by three million people on Facebook, many of them in Iraq.

The high quality photos show the five graduate students in tan uniforms, tall black boots and caps posing among ruined buildings and trucks. Dana Zangna, a local Kurdish journalist, saw them online and tweeted them.

The six photos show that the Iraqi men found matching swastika armbands and small swastika pins. In one photo a man sits on a truck, looking down pensively. In another, with a large Nazi flag, a man stares off into the distance. The men put work into making the outfits appear to fit with the Nazi-era Sturmabteilung or SA Brownshirts uniforms worn by Nazi paramilitary units after 1921. They even found proper black belts that also connected with a band over the shoulder. Hitler can be seen in a similar uniform shaking hands with Brownshirts during a Nazi Party rally in 1937.

Macedonia adopts definition of anti-Semitism mentioning Israel

The Balkan nation of Macedonia joined the United Kingdom, Romania and Bulgaria in adopting a definition of anti-Semitism that includes the demonization of Israel.

Macedonia, where the 75th anniversary of the deportation of the country’s Jews during the Holocaust is being commemorated this week, adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition last week, the World Jewish Congress said on its website.

Next month, the country will see the opening of the Holocaust Memorial Center for the Jews of Macedonia. Designed by Berenbaum Jacobs Associates, the new museum tells the story of the Macedonian Jewry beginning two millennia ago to the growth of the community as a haven from the Spanish Inquisition all the way to post-Holocaust Jewish Macedonia.

Nearly all of Macedonia’s more than 10,000 Jews were murdered in Treblinka, a former German death camp in occupied Poland, after their deportation by Bulgarian forces that had ruled the country with the approval of Nazi Germany.

New Polish holiday honors Poles who saved Jews in WWII

Polish lawmakers have approved a new national holiday honoring Poles who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.

The Senate voted Wednesday on the bill, initiated by President Andrzej Duda, to make March 24 a national day of remembrance. It was approved 58-14 in the Senate with three abstentions.

The bill now only requires Duda's signature to become law.

The bill pays tribute to Poles who showed courage and compassion and were "faithful to the highest ethical values."

The new holiday follows the passage of legislation in Poland recently that criminalizes falsely attributing the crimes of Nazi Germany to Poland. Poland's government says the law aims to protect Poland and Polish nationals from being accused of crimes they did not commit. However, Israeli and U.S. officials fear that the law could undermine free speech and academic research into the cases of Polish violence against Jews during World War II.

The law and the new holiday are being seen as a larger effort by nationalist authorities to stress Polish heroism during World War II.

Elbit gets $65 million search & rescue deal from Asian-Pacific country

Elbit Systems Ltd., Israel’s largest non-government-owned defense firm, has won a $65 million contract from an Asian-Pacific country to provide it with a comprehensive search and rescue (SAR) solution. The project will be implemented over a three-year period, the company said on Wednesday.

Elbit will install airborne locator systems and emergency locator transmitters on board a number of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft used by the customer’s air force, army and navy. The Israeli firm will also supply thousands of personal survival radio systems, Elbit said in a statement.

The supply of a comprehensive search and rescue solution attests to the “maturity” of Elbit’s systems and its market leadership, said Yehuda Vered, general manager of Elbit Systems Land and C4I. “Based on our vast portfolio of Radio and Communication solutions, already operational with dozens of armed forces worldwide, we are able to provide a technological edge, and we hope that additional customers will follow in selecting our unique SAR systems as their solution of choice.”

Five Israeli companies are planning IPOs in 2018, says Nasdaq president

More than 100 companies will issue an initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq in 2018, of which five are Israeli companies, Nasdaq President Nelson Griggs said on Tuesday.

Mr. Griggs spoke at the Mind the Tech conference in New York, hosted by Calcalist in collaboration with Bank Leumi and the Israeli Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage.

“We are very optimistic about this year,” Mr. Griggs said. IT security company Zscaler Inc. is set to IPO in the next few days and Dropbox, Inc.'s planned IPO is next week.

Mr. Griggs said that 70 Israeli companies are listed on the Nasdaq today and that after the U.S. and China, Israel provides the stock exchange with the most companies. “We have met with companies and founders who are on their second, third and fourth companies that they’ve started and we are looking at the late-stage capital that now is coming to Israel,” Mr. Griggs said. “The goal for Israel is that it will expand well beyond the Startup Nation moniker.”

Check Point billionaire seeks to make Israel global leader in healthcare

Billionaire Marius Nacht, the co-founder of $17 billion cybersecurity firm Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., has set his sights on Israel’s healthcare technology. Having set up aMoon, a life sciences venture capital fund that invests in innovative health technologies, after he saw his father agonize in a battle with cancer, he has now founded a nonprofit organization that aims to make Israel a global leader on the healthcare map.

Set up 10 months ago, the 8400 Health Network run by Nacht and co-founder Yair Schindel aims to gather the brightest brains at the intersection of health and technology to help Israel become a life science powerhouse.

The medtech revolution he hopes Israel will be leading is set to see robots performing surgery in developing countries, customized 3D-printed pills, and laser-focused treatments.

Global healthcare expenditure is forecast to reach $9.5 trillion in 2018, according to World Health Organization data, and tech giants such as Apple Inc., Intel Corp, Facebook and IBM have all started investing in the field, according to New York based data firm CB Insights.

“Technology is meeting healthcare and science in a big way,” Schindel said in an interview with The Times of Israel at aMoon’s offices in Raanana, in central Israel.

HBO’s VICE News showcases Israel as global cybersecurity powerhouse

VICE News, a newsmagazine series by HBO that tackles global issues, has published a documentary on Israel’s cybersecurity prowess.

In the video, released by HBO on Thursday, Vice News reporter Ben Ferguson takes a dive into Startup Nation’s cybersecurity scene.

The program shows how vulnerable cars can be to cyber-attacks by demonstrating how hackers can control windows and indicators or cause an engine malfunction; speaks to government officials and startup entrepreneurs; and visits army bases to ask officers about the traits needed in cyber warfare. The show also mentions the belief that Israel was responsible for STUXNET, “one of the most aggressive cyber-attacks in history,” which sabotaged Iran’s nuclear program.

The reporter mulls over the blurred lines and interactions between academia, military, technology and entrepreneurship, and the difficulties of balancing the needs of security with those of citizens’ privacy.

Two Dead Sea Scrolls to go on display for the first time in new Denver exhibit

Two Dead Sea Scrolls will be shown for the first time in an unprecedentedly large-scale Israel Antiquities Authority exhibition in Denver, Colorado. The two scrolls will be presented along with a three-ton stone from the Western Wall, some 600 artifacts from the biblical to Bar Kochba periods, and 18 other Dead Sea Scrolls in an exhibit set to run for six months, starting Friday.

The unveiling of two new fragments is fitting in a year celebrating the 70th anniversary of what is arguably the most important archaeological find of the 20th century.

The first scroll, designated Scroll 4Q274 Tohorot (Purities) A, deals with the rules of ritual purity. It was written at the end of the first century BCE, in Second Temple-period Hebrew.

According to an IAA press release on the exhibit, the scroll foreshadows later rabbinic writings and states that “ritually impure individuals had to be isolated not only from those who were ritually pure, but also from those with a different form of impurity.” The notion of purity and impurity is borne out by archaeological artifacts from the period, including the prominence of stone vessels, which cannot become impure.

Gal Gadot announces sponsorship deal with Reebok said to be worth $10 million

Israeli superstar Gal Gadot and Reebok on Thursday announced an endorsement deal reported to be worth $10 million (NIS 34 million) to the “Wonder Woman” actress, with the athletic apparel maker hailing Gadot as a symbol of “courage and strength.”

Gadot star said on Instagram that she was “pumped” about the sponsorship and urged women to, “Get ahead of the game! Get into the action!”

Hadashot news reported that the sponsorship deal was worth $10 million.

In a statement on its website, Reebok praised Gadot as “a worldwide symbol of confidence, defiant courage, and strength.”

It's a bird, it's a plane – it's Superman at the Western Wall

American actor Dean Cain, known for his role as Superman in the hit 1990s TV show "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman," visited the Western Wall on Wednesday as part of a trip to Israel.

The actor wore a Superman kippah at the holy site, making for a perfect photo-op.

"Israel is all I've imagined and more! Such a beautiful country, wonderful people and vibrant democracy," Cain told the British Jewish News.

"I've not yet had a chance to see all the country and deeply look forward to the rest of my time here, and I'm sure I'll be back again soon.

"For me, the most moving is being able to share this visit with my son Christopher, to walk the streets that kings and prophets walked, share this history with him as well as show him how much a country can build and succeed in just 70 years," he said.

Cain's visit was organized by From the Depths, an organization dedicated to Holocaust remembrance and education.

Netanyahu Meets ‘Superman’ Actor Dean Cain, Jokes, ‘Now You’re Coming?’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and American actor Dean Cain, known for his iconic portrayal of Superman, met on Tuesday in Israel for the first time ever.

Cain, who starred as the “Man of Steel” in the American television series “Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” from 1993-1997, visited the prime minister at his Jerusalem office after arriving in Israel earlier in the day.

A video of their meeting shows Cain approaching Netanyahu while saying, “There he is. I’ve wanted to meet the real Superman.” Netanyahu jokingly replies, “So Superman, you know we’ve solved everything. Now you’re coming?”

“You’re the real Superman!” Cain answers back after laughing. “That’s what it is, and well done sir.”

Cain, who is not Jewish, told The Jerusalem Post he had “dreamed” about visiting Israel “for as long as I can remember.” He said, “I always wanted to be here… I love history. There are few places on earth that have as much historical value.”

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