01/08 Links Pt2: Twitter hashtag #firstantisemiticexperience reveals harrowing stories; Civil rights institute voids award for Angela Davis over BDS support ~ EoZ

From Ian:

Twitter hashtag #firstantisemiticexperience reveals harrowing stories

Swastikas. Hate speech. Bullying. Threats.

As the year 2019 kicks off, Twitter users around the globe are showing that antisemitic behavior is not something relegated to history books. Using the hashtag #firstantisemiticexperience, people have been sharing stories of their first exposure to antisemitic taunting and abuse.

The hashtag appears to have been started by Rabbi Zvi Solomons, the spiritual leader of the Jewish Community of the Berkshire synagogue in Reading, England.

On Monday morning, Solomons posted the hashtag, asking his followers to use it – allowing it to become a link on Twitter showing tweets from all those who include it – and share their own experiences.

And the stories began to pour in.

Carly Pildis, a Tablet Magazine writer and nonprofit professional, said that her first antisemitic experience “was when I was 13 and someone drew a swastika on my synagogue.”

Annika Rothstein, a political adviser and activist from Sweden, said hers “was in 7th grade; 6 neo-nazis at school stood next to my locker saying I should be turned into soap like ‘the others.’ For three years they tormented me to the point where I ended up shaving off my big, curly hair, hoping to hide my ‘Jewishness.’”

The New York Times Whitewashes Voltaire and ‘The Dark Enlightenment’

Historians of antisemitism have yet to fully explain why great satirists from the Roman Juvenal to Voltaire to Gore Vidal hated Jews and the Jewish religion.

Gore Vidal’s 2012 obituaries, including a front-page New York Times tribute to the “prolific, elegant, acerbic writer,” generally ignored his hatred of Judaism and Jews, often dismissing it as “anti-Zionism.” After all, his life-long companion was Jewish — Howard Austen, an advertising executive.

Vidal’s solution to the antisemitism that his partner faced in the advertising industry was for him to change his name from “Auster” to “Austen.” He apparently believed that if others took his advice, and abandoned particularism for assimilation by changing names, that would go a long way toward solving the embarrassment of Jew hatred.

But Vidal’s disdain went much deeper than the embarrassing last names, accents, and mannerisms. Vidal loathed The New York Times as not only “homophobic,” but for being unwilling to sell advertising space to Nasser’s Egypt, while Commentary was “the Pravda of our Israeli Fifth Column.” Other literary celebrities like Capote and Mailer were contemptible, but worse were Bellow, Malamud, and Roth — Jewish-American writers unable “to put themselves into gentile skins — much less foreskins.”

Israel’s American supporters like Midge Decter and Norman Podhoretz should be forced to register with the Justice Department as agents of a foreign power, Vidal claimed. And America — “a nation that worships psychopaths” — was “a corrupt society” made up of “ongoing hustlers.” About the country of which Vidal the historical novelist claimed to be “the biographer,” he warned: “We must never underestimate the essential bigotry of the white majority in the United States.”

What is clear is that Hertzberg was correct that Voltaire “opened the door” to the horrors of the 20th century. It is also true that Vidal — who as a young man backed the isolationist “America First” Movement that sought to appease Hitler — did not really try to close the door to intolerance. The Times has forgotten Hertzberg’s 1990 warning in its own columns about Voltaire, just as it ignores the antisemitism of so many bigots masquerading as “anti-Zionists” today.

Voltaire’s motto was “Écrasez l’infâme” — by which he meant that all organized religion, not just infamous prejudices, should be eradicated. Be careful whom you glorify as you seek to slay dragons.

12 CAMERA Accomplishments in 2018

CAMERA broke last year’s record of 185 media corrections. We prompted 206 corrections in US, UK, Spanish-language, Hebrew and Arabic publications.

CAMERA Arabic launched its Arabic website, the first media-monitoring body to monitor Arabic-language reports from Western media outlets, ensuring accurate coverage of Israel and the Middle East and promoting adherence to professional journalistic standards.

CAMERA’s UK Media Watch set a record number of media corrections this year, prompting 51 corrections from publications such as The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph, Times of London, The Financial Times, The Daily Mail, Evening Standard, Irish News and Irish Examiner.

CAMERA ran hundreds of student workshops and events at 86 colleges and universities, including Ivy League schools, as well as Oxford University, Cambridge University, and the University of London.

CAMERA’s Spanish department launched a new college campus program – “CAMERA on Campus Latinos for Israel” – bringing a pro-Israel message to Spanish-speaking students across the world.

Civil rights institute voids award for Angela Davis over BDS support

Black activists on Monday called for leadership changes and protests at an Alabama civil rights museum after it rescinded an award for political activist and Israel boycott proponent Angela Davis, a move the mayor said followed complaints from the Jewish community.

Speaking outside the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, located in the same downtown area where civil rights violence once shook the nation, organizers told a news conference that Davis, a Birmingham native, was wronged by the decision to rescind the honor.

Davis, a longtime critic of Israeli policy, is on a par with civil rights legend Rosa Parks, activist Frank Matthews said.

"This is the ultimate insult to deny Angela Davis her inheritance," he said. Museum leaders should quit, he said, and protests will be held. Other speakers called for a boycott of the institute.

The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute announced in September that Davis would receive the Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award, named for the late minister who once prominently led civil rights demonstrations in the city.

In a statement posted on its website over the weekend, the publicly funded museum said it was canceling a gala set for next month and rescinding the award after directors concluded Davis "unfortunately does not meet all of the criteria on which the award is based."

Yisrael Medad: Which "Palestine" Is That, Angela Davis?

Angela Y. Davis published a letter on January 7, 2019 in response to her removal as an awardee of the Fred Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award by the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute Board of Directors.

One small, well, relatively short, phrase caught my eye. It's in this paragraph:
Through my experiences at Elizabeth Irwin High School in New York City and at Brandeis University in the late fifties and early sixties, and my subsequent time in graduate school in Frankfurt, Germany, I learned to be as passionate about opposition to antisemitism as to racism. It was during this period that I was also introduced to the Palestinian cause. I am proud to have worked closely with Jewish organizations and individuals on issues of concern to all of our communities throughout my life. In many ways, this work has been integral to my growing consciousness regarding the importance of protesting the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

My reaction will be short as well: is that, a la Marc Lamont Hill, all of "historic Palestine"?

Exactly which "Palestine" is being "occupied"? As a communist, I am sure she might even be upset with any Jewish nationalism.

Notice she mentions Brandeis. Well, to mark a half century of excellence in and dedication to the Department of African and African-American Studies of Brandeis University which will be held on Feb. 8–9, 2019, one of the speakers is...

...Angela Y. Davis ’65, Distinguished Professor Emerita, UC Santa Cruz. (h/t=JW)

University of North Carolina Asheville Defends Decision to Host Tamika Mallory as Keynote Speaker, Drawing Criticism

The University of North Carolina — Asheville (UNCA) has pushed back against demands to cancel an upcoming talk by Tamika Mallory, a co-president of the Women’s March who has been embroiled in controversy due to her ties to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

Mallory will serve as a keynote speaker on Jan. 24 during UNCA’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Week, which focuses on the late civil rights leader’s enduring moral legacy.

The pick has drawn concern from the off-campus antisemitism watchdog groups CAMERA on Campus and the Center for Combating Hate in America (C4CHA), the latter of which published a petition last week calling on UNCA to replace Mallory with a new keynote speaker. More than 2,400 signatories have expressed their support to date.

University administrators stood by their decision to invite Mallory in a statement released on Friday, in which they declared their rejection of “bias in all of its forms including anti-Semitism and discrimination,” while also affirming their commitment to “freedom of thought and expression.”

“As has been our custom, the university’s invitation to an individual speaker at a university event in no way implies endorsement of that speaker’s comments, critiques, views, ideas, or actions,” Chancellor Nancy Cable and Interim Provost Karin Peterson wrote.

Progressives Disguise the Truth About BDS

Sanders, Tlaib, and other like-minded progressives are either too ignorant or too dishonest to acknowledge what the BDS movement is: nothing less than a form of economic warfare against Israel meant to destroy the Jewish state. Read or listen to any prominent BDS supporter and this truth becomes painfully obvious. They may not always advocate Israel's destruction through force like, for example, Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organization that so many progressives and BDS supporters admire for their "resistance" against Israel. But through BDS, people like Tlaib, who do not believe in Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, seek to undermine Israel to the point that it effectively ceases to continue as we have come to recognize it, despite—or perhaps because of—the implications for Israeli Jews, who live in a region in which most governments have shown no qualms about slaughtering Jews, or watching them be slaughtered by others.

Opposing the BDS movement is a moral imperative, but it is also smart national-security policy, combatting hostile efforts to attack an ally.

It is easy to dismiss Tlaib as an over-zealous freshmen member of Congress who has no real influence. One can even dismiss Sanders as just one senator who does not reflect the views of the Democratic Party's leadership. Why get too hung up on what they say about Israel? The problem is that their voices are the loudest in the Democratic Party, and while they may not be the most influential yet, they will be soon. The party's progressive base, which almost carried Sanders to a presidential nomination in 2016, is only gaining more control of the political left in America, and its hatred of so-called establishment Democrats, like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), continues to grow.

Before we know it, the Democratic Party may turn into the United Kingdom's Labour Party, which, under the leadership of the ultra-progressive Jeremy Corbyn, has institutionalized anti-Semitism and deep hatred of Israel—the two always come together. That is why British Jews, generally members of the Labour Party, have become genuinely fearful about their situation. It would be unwise to think that the same thing could not happen in the United States.

Antisemitism and the Decline of Oberlin College

Oberlin College is losing alumni support and potential applicants. Why? Because students and families have been shaken by claims of antisemitism that the administration continues to normalize.

In January 2016, a group of more than 200 alumni and 20 current students submitted an Open Letter describing a troubling environment on campus for Jewish students. In February 2016, four alumni — ourselves included — traveled to Ohio to meet with President Marvin Krislov and Diversity Officer Meredith Raimondo to discuss our concerns. We presented a document that chronicled years of antisemitism at Oberlin, including professor Joy Karega’s virulent antisemitic images that had been posted on Facebook for over a year.

We were told that we were out of touch with life on campus, and that all was well — then we were shown the door.

Since then, our alumni group has continued to document incidents of antisemitism, which we have shared with the administration and the Board of Trustees.

Twice, we requested a task force to address campus antisemitism; we asked that antisemitism be included in an orientation program on bigotry; we requested space to hold a symposium on civil discourse; and we asked the administration to offer a more balanced and intellectually rigorous presentation of Israel.

We requested an administrator be present when a student club brought in Ali Abunimah, founder of “The Electronic Intifada,” We questioned President Ambar’s decision to cease informing the college community whenever antisemitic posters or graffiti appeared. We reached out by email and attended the new college president’s alumni tour of major cities.

IsraellyCool: Ha’aretz Spins Roger Waters Fail as Roger Waters Win

Yesterday I posted about how the UK Pink Floyd Experience defied Roger Waters by coming to Israel and playing here, despite severe harassment from Waters and his minions.

It is quite amazing how Ha’aretz found a different spin on it.

The tribute band the UK Pink Floyd Experience did not perform any songs written by the original band’s soloist, Roger Waters, during several concerts in Israel over the weekend, disappointing many fans in attendance.

Waters, a prominent supporter of the anti-Israel boycott, divest and sanctions movement (BDS) called on the band to cancel its performances and said he extracted a promise from the band not to perform any of his songs.

“To sing my songs in front of segregated audiences in Israel, and contribute to the cultural whitewashing of the racist and apartheid government of that country, would be an act of unconscionable malice and disrespect. The people you intend to entertain are executing their neighbor’s children, shooting them down in cold blood every day,” Waters said in December.

To be clear, Waters wanted the band to boycott Israel, and was mighty pissed they didn’t. True, they agreed not to perform any of his songs, but I suspect he may have charged them royalties for those. What is clear is they defied him. The Ha’retz report even ends on a note to affirm this:

IsraellyCool: A Small Victory! Medical Society Facebook Page Removes “Palestinian Superbug” Article

It turns out the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) Facebook page posted a link to the “Palestinian superbug” article I debunked last week.

Reader Tommy posted in the comments a link to my post, as well as a link to another debunking by UK Media Watch. Based on this, ASTMH promised to remove the article from its page…and did so.

Financial Times: Israeli Plants Guilty of “Colonization”

2019 may have only just begun but already we have a strong contender for the most ridiculous anti-Israel article of the year.

Although the Financial Times sells itself as a reliable source of information, a recent piece left the HonestReporting team astounded. An article by academic Shela Sheikh entitled “Corinne Silva: Plants, Power and the Israeli State” attacks Israeli shrubs and trees for “erasing memory” of other peoples.

Yes, plants.

While there certainly is value in researching how plants and infrastructure affect the public sphere and a society’s social fabric, the depth of analysis on Israeli plants and gardens reveals quite a lot more about the researcher’s and writer’s state of mind than it does anything else. For the more academically-inclined among us, we found it useful to periodically remind ourselves – this article is about gardens. Not guns or tanks, not fences or walls, but gardens.

Academic Distorts History on Anniversary of Gaza Operation

It is telling that nowhere else in his piece does Shlaim mention terror or terrorism. In Shlaim’s eyes, Hamas attacks aren’t terrorism. Only Israel is capable of such a crime.

Indeed, Hamas is never held responsible by Shlaim for the situation of Gaza, which he describes as a “prison” and all subsequent Israeli military operations against Hamas as “offensive attacks on defenceless civilians and civilian infrastructure.”

Shlaim writes:
Israeli generals talk about their recurrent military incursions into Gaza as “mowing the lawn”. This operative metaphor implies a task that has to be performed regularly and mechanically and without end. It also alludes to the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians and the inflicting of damage on civilian infrastructure that takes several years to repair.

Yes Israel has had to carry out repeated military operations. Why? Because Hamas terrorism continues and Israel has a duty to respond in order to protect its civilians.

While Shlaim claim that “mowing the lawn” (read more about this military concept here) “alludes to the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians,” there is only one side that intentionally sets out to achieve this. While Hamas sends its rockets indiscriminately at civilian targets (a war crime), Israel has proven time and again that it takes enormous efforts to avoid civilian casualties and that its operations are deliberately targeted against terrorists and terrorist infrastructure. This within the complications caused by Hamas deliberately embedding itself within the civilian population of Gaza.

That Shlaim concludes by referring to Israel’s
shunning of diplomacy and repeated resort to brute military force in response to all manifestations of lawful resistance and peaceful protest on its southern border

is the final piece of evidence that this Oxford professor is blinded by his sympathy for terror. One wonders just how far his definition of “lawful resistance” extends given his refusal to define Hamas actions as terror.

It appears that ten years after Operation Cast Lead, commentators such as Avi Shlaim are attempting to alter both history and reality in order to attack Israel.

Guardian condemns antisemitism against Soros, but legitimises it against Adelson

Whilst civil criticism of Soros for his foundation’s funding of radical groups which attempt to undermine Israel’s legitimacy is fair, it’s also undoubtedly true that he is often vilified by some on the right in a manner which evokes classic antisemitic tropes about Jewish power. As is the case with many antisemitic conspiracy theories, those who obsess over Soros’s financial influence in the world insist that he is the root cause of whatever political phenomena they find undesirable, a myopia which results in a failure to acknowledge other far more important factors influencing events.

However, many commentators and media outlets – such as the Guardian – have a glaring blind spot when it comes to the vilification of another Jewish billionaire, one who’s on the ‘wrong side’ of the political fence: Sheldon Adelson.

A 2012 Guardian article warned darkly of Adelson using his fortune to purchase the outcome of the U.S. elections – this despite the fact that Adelson’s preferred candidate, former Congressman Newt Gingrich, lost the GOP primary. And, in 2015, the Guardian literally cast the decidedly high-profile Jewish billionaire as the “invisible hand” that “controls” Republican politics.

A Jan. 7th, 2019, Guardian article by Christina Binkley represents a good illustration of this double standard in concern over the use of antisemitic tropes:

Even if Guardian readers don’t read the article, the message is clearly conveyed in the headline: Wealthy Jews are “driving” US policy on Israel.

The article is unusual in one respect, in claiming that Sheldon Adelson’s wife Miriam, an Israeli-born naturalized US citizen, is actually the the driving force behind the couple’s political and philanthropic activities, and the main reason why the US president moved the embassy to Jerusalem. However, there’s little if any actual evidence provided to back up this claim. In the nearly 2,000 word piece, there are only a few sentences which even attempt to support the central narrative:

Why the new BBC editorial guidelines may not mean less terror showcasing

While the UK government currently proscribes only the so-called ‘military wings’ of Hamas and Hizballah it does proscribe in full the PFLP-GC and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) – which has been featured in BBC content in the past.

If those clauses do find their way into the new BBC editorial guidelines scheduled to be published this year, it will be interesting to see whether or not they will have any effect on the appearance of interviews with representatives of Hamas and Hizballah and whether BBC journalists will continue to report from events such as the ‘Great Return March’ which is organised and facilitated by an organisation “responsible for acts of terror”.

It is after all worth remembering that in April 2017 the BBC had this to say:
“Where there is an ongoing geopolitical conflict – as in the Middle East – to use the term “terror attack” or similar might be seen to be taking sides. There are those who might consider the actions of the Israeli government to be considered as terrorist acts.”

Antisemitic Hate Crime Suspect in Montreal Ordered to Stay Away From Jewish Institutions

A Montreal man facing hate crimes charges has been ordered to stay away from Jewish institutions as a condition of his bail.

The Canadian Press reported that Robert Gosselin, 55, has been charged with two counts of issuing violent threats and one count of inciting hatred over messages he is suspected of having posted on the Facebook page of Le Journal de Montreal newspaper.

One of the messages contained a threat to “eliminate Jews by killing an entire school of Jewish girls.”

Gosselin has been released on bail, causing great worry among Montreal’s Jewish community of around 100,000 people.

Additional conditions were added on Monday that prohibit Gosselin from approaching Jewish schools and synagogues.

David Ouellette, director of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, was quoted as saying of the news, “There was a lot of concern within the community that these conditions had not been imposed from the beginning.”

FA to investigate alleged nazi salute by Crystal Palace keeper, Hennessey

The English Football Association (FA) is looking into an alleged Nazi salute made by Crystal Palace keeper Wayne Hennessey in a group photo with team mates.

Wales international Hennessey was pictured with his right arm in the air in a photo posted on Instagram by Palace's German midfielder Max Meyer.

The 31-year-old has denied making such a salute, claiming on Twitter that he was calling out the person taking the photograph.

"It's been brought to my attention that frozen in a moment by the camera this looks like I am making a completely inappropriate type of salute," Hennessey said.

"I can assure everyone I would never ever do that and any resemblance to that kind of gesture is absolutely coincidental. Love and peace Wayne."

The FA said it is aware of the incident and is now making inquiries.

Bridgeport Bishop: Anti-Semitism Is ‘Morally Abhorrent’ and ‘Unspeakable Evil’

The Catholic bishop of Bridgeport, CT, has condemned anti-Semitism in the strongest of terms, following the discovery of a swastika painted on the door of his cathedral.

“I am appalled and outraged by this act of vandalism against the Mother Church of our Diocese and this brazen and disgusting display of anti-Semitism which is morally abhorrent and an affront to our Catholic faith,” said Bishop Frank J. Caggiano in a statement over the weekend.

“It is deeply distressing to see such a display of hatred at a time when we need to strengthen our efforts to come together as a community in mutual respect and support,” said the bishop, who is on retreat with the other bishops of the United States outside Chicago.

“My thoughts and prayers are with our Jewish brothers and sisters in the city of Bridgeport and beyond,” he said. “We stand with you and condemn every form of anti-Semitism, racism, and bigotry wherever it may be found.”

Noting that the perpetrator of the church vandalism is still at large, Caggiano expressed his hope that the person may be apprehended soon, while repeating his revulsion at the act and what it bespeaks.

“I am deeply disturbed and outraged that someone would violate the sanctity of our Church,” he said. “To use a clearly anti-Semitic symbol is participating in unspeakable evil.”

“I know I speak for everyone at the Cathedral Parish and the Diocese as we condemn the act, we condemn what it signifies, and we hope the perpetrator will be found,” he concluded.

Germany returns Nazi-looted painting to heirs of Jewish French resistance leader

Germany on Tuesday returned a painting looted by the Nazis to the heirs of French Jewish politician and resistance leader Georges Mandel.

The portrait of a seated woman by 19th century French painter Thomas Couture had been on display in a spectacular collection hoarded by Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of a Nazi-era art dealer.

German Culture Minister Monika Gruetters presented the work to family members of Mandel, executed by French fascists near Paris in 1944, in a ceremony at the Martin Gropius Bau museum in Berlin.

Experts determined two years ago that the painting had been looted from Mandel, relying on a small hole in the canvas as evidence of its provenance.

Mandel’s lover had cited the hole above the seated woman’s torso when she reported the painting stolen after the war.

Gruetters was joined in the ceremony by a representative of the Kunstmuseum Bern, which inherited Gurlitt’s collection when he died in 2014, and an envoy from the French embassy.

In repressive Myanmar, a tiny Jewish community hangs on to the past

There was a Hanukkah party last month in this former capital city and enough guests — over 200 — to surprise an uninvited tourist.

“They’re no Jews here anymore,” the tourist proclaims, confused about the celebration at Yangon’s regal Chatrium Hotel.

“Yes there are,” replies Ari Solomon, a guest from Australia.

“No, they said there are 10 families,” the tourist responds.

“Well, that’s not nothing – that’s 10 families,” Solomon counters. “That’s a lot. You go back to my hometown, Calcutta, and there are lucky to be 16 Jews, let alone 10 families.”

Indeed, Myanmar’s Jewish community has dwindled to about 20 people. Most of the Jews had fled when Japan invaded the country in World War II, as the Axis power distrusted them for their perceived political alignment with the British. The majority who remained left in the mid-1960s, when the new regime nationalized businesses as part of a socialist agenda that would soon run the country into the ground.

Still, Sammy Samuels, 38, the de facto leader of this Southeast Asian nation’s remaining Jewish community, has held out hope for its future, if not a revival. In recent years his father, Moses, had maintained the community, opening the door of Yangon’s sole synagogue daily in the hopes of welcoming tourists.

Following his father’s death in 2015, Samuels has taken over, embracing social media and tourism to keep the community alive. But while he has replenished the dried-up well of history with the fresh water of modernity, Myanmar’s fraught politics – most notably the crime perpetrated by its military against the Rohingya Muslims – are bringing a downturn in tourism and putting those gains at risk.

“[Everyone] thinks that we’re small community [and that there’s] nothing going on,” Samuels says at the Dec. 7 Hanukkah celebration. “But we have this kind of event, the government people come — the embassy, friends and family, too.”

The man who fought for persecuted Jews

As head of the umbrella group representing Jews from Arab and Muslim states, Meir Kahlon presided over the first 30 November commemorative day of the exodus of Jews from Arab countries in 2014. Before that, he fought to get Israel to recognise the suffering of Libyan Jewry during the Holocaust. He died last week. Obituary by Ofer Aderet in Haaretz (wth thanks: Lily, Itzik):

“Arab nations didn’t accept the UN’s partition plan, and launched riots against the Jews. Today we want to remember this as a Jewish nakba day in Arab countries,” Kahlon told Haaretz at the time, employing the Arabic word for “catastrophe” that Palestinians use for their mass exile and loss of their homeland in the 1948 war.

“It wasn’t only the Palestinians who had a nakba, it was also our nakba, the Jews of Arab lands who were expelled and massacred,” he said. His uncle, Bachar Kahlon, was born in 1938 in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, where the Jewish community numbered 40,000.

His father, Shalom Kahlon, had arrived there from El-Khoms in northern Libya and married Margalit Gita of the Fadlun clan. An uncle on his father’s side had been head of the Jewish community in Zuwarah on the Tunisian border. One of his ancestors had been Rabbi Hacham Binyamin Kahlon.

Thousands mourn ‘great leader’ as 3-time defense minister Moshe Arens buried

Thousands of people on Tuesday attended the funeral of former defense minister Moshe Arens in his hometown of Savyon in central Israel.

Attendees include Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who began his career as Arens’s protege, as well as President Reuven Rivlin and senior Likud officials.

Arens, who died Monday at 93, was an English-speaking aeronautics engineer and defense industry executive who served as defense minister three times, as foreign minister, and as Israel’s envoy in Washington. He is widely credited with helping to develop Israel’s indigenous defense industry.

“Israel is saying goodbye today to a great leader, and I am saying goodbye to a guide and a dear friend,” Netanyahu said at the funeral. He characterized Arens as a standard-bearer of the legacy of Ze’ev Jabotinsky, one who “advanced the notion of a Hebrew army and the Jewish state.

“His legs were planted firmly in reality. He served three times as defense minister and contributed in so many ways to bolstering the iron wall that protects us from our enemies,” said Netanyahu.

Netanyahu said he felt as though Arens’s death had left him “orphaned — as a son who has lost his father…with grief and with tears touched with pride in our shared path.

“You will live on within us as long as Jewish history lives.”

Israel unveils logo for 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv

Israeli public broadcaster KAN has unveiled the logo for the 2019 Eurovision in Tel Aviv.

The logo is made up of three triangles – two gold and one blue neon – that together form a star. It’s accompanied by the already-announced slogan for this year’s competition: “Dare to Dream.”

“As the triangles join and combine, they become a new single entity reflecting the infinite stellar sky,” said KAN on Tuesday, “as the stars of the future come together in Tel Aviv for the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest.”
Eurovision logo announcement (Credit: Courtesy Kan)

The logo was designed by the Awesome Tel Aviv branding firm and Studio Adam Feinberg. Many online wondered if it was intended to echo the Star of David, a central Jewish symbol. But a traditional Star of David has six points, while the Eurovision logo’s star has just five points. The KAN Hebrew announcement called it a “golden kinetic symbol... which simulates a star, which corresponds to other Israeli symbols.”

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.