01/15 Links Pt2: World Council of Churches Trained 2,000 Anti-Israel Activists, Funded by UNICEF; Democrats drop Women’s March support; Enough with the Hysterics, Anti-BDS Laws Are Perfectly Constitutional ~ EoZ

From Ian:

The WCC, which was established in 1948, the same year as Israel, once performed a similar role in its campaign against apartheid South Africa. And if that analogy is not appalling enough, its activists have gone as far as comparing the Jewish state to Nazi Germany.

South African EAPPI activist Itani Rasalanavho, for example, said during an “Apartheid Week” event in his home country that “the time has come to say that the victims of the Holocaust have now become the perpetrators,” while EAPPI national coordinator in South Africa Dudu Mahlangu-Masango called for “total sanctions” on Israel.

The organization, according to NGO Monitor, also combats Christian Zionism. At a 2015 WCC event, it notes, Zionism was called “heresy” under Christian theology, modern Israelis were said to have no connection to ancient Israelites, and Israeli society was described as being “full of racism and light-skin privilege.”

In response, the WCC told the Post that its unique focus on Israel was the result of “a specific call from WCC’s member churches in the region.” However, it stressed that it “does not countenance equating Israel to Nazi Germany, neither in the training of participants in the EAPPI nor otherwise,” and does not support economic measures against Israel.

Since its establishment, “the WCC has denounced antisemitism as a sin against God and humanity, and we strongly maintain that position,” declared WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs director Peter Prove.

So who do we believe? Perhaps the best response, Mr. Prove, is: Prove it! If the WCC is not anti-Israel, then why is it funding what seems like a nefarious program in support of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against the Jewish state?

Its aim is to harm Israel’s good name, and someone needed to blow the whistle. WCC needs to put its house in order.

World Council of Churches Trained 2,000 Anti-Israel Activists, Funded by UNICEF

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has sent nearly 2,000 participants to Israel, and Judea and Samaria, since 2002 to train them in anti-Israel narratives and assign them to communities worldwide, according to a report from NGO Monitor.

With no similar program in other conflict zones, the WCC’s Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) consists of activists being sent to “witness life under occupation.”

“EAPPI misuse tourist visas to enter Israel, where the group has no legal status,” according to NGO Monitor. “They are hosted in Jerusalem by a WCC affiliate, the Jerusalem Interchurch Center (JIC). Notably, the head of JIC, Yusuf Dahar, is one of the authors of the Kairos Palestine Document, which legitimizes terror, embraces anti-Jewish theology and rejects Jewish history. Similar views have been expressed by a number of WCC officials.”

The NGO Monitor report also stated that EAPPI has been funded by UNICEF and countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, Finland, Denmark, Canada and Japan.

Norway contributed nearly $2 million between 2017 to 2019, while Sweden gave $500,000 between 2017 and 2018.

“We are sharing our research with the public and decision-makers as part of an informed discussion on EAPPI’s agenda and funding. The research highlights EAPPI’s radical agenda, which, rather than advancing or defending human rights, is a platform for conflict and antisemitism,” said NGO Monitor Founder and President Gerald Steinberg. “We have received numerous inquiries from Christian and Jewish groups calling attention to the central role played by EAPPI alumni in leading BDS and other delegitimization campaigns.”

A cautionary tale of European antisemitism

And if a recent large survey of antisemitism in Europe conducted by CNN is any indication, then there is truly reason to fear for the future of Jews on the continent.

Published last November, the poll, which included more than 7,000 interviewees, found that, “antisemitic stereotypes are alive and well in Europe, while the memory of the Holocaust is starting to fade.” Over a quarter of all Europeans say Jews have too much influence in business and finance and nearly the same percentage link Jews with global conflict and wars. Incredibly, according to CNN, “a third of Europeans in the poll said they knew just a little or nothing at all about the Holocaust.” In France, 20% of people between the ages of 18 and 34 said they had never even heard of it.

I am neither an alarmist nor a pessimist by nature. But anyone with even a modicum of historical memory cannot help but be frightened by what is happening in places such as Paris, London and Stockholm.

Unfortunately, in recent years, warnings of mounting European antisemitism have begun to resemble various traffic signs on the highway: little-noticed and largely unheeded. We have come to assume that, like the weather, all we can do in the face of European hatred of Jews is to shrug and move on with our lives.

Perhaps that may be true. But we must nonetheless try to stem this dangerous tide, first and foremost by calling out European leaders and holding them to account for failing to stamp out the antisemitism and Holocaust-denial that is metastasizing in their midst. By neglecting to educate the next generation about the horrors of the past and persistently bashing Israel for defending itself, Europe’s leaders are fanning the flames still further.

Indeed, if a lonesome loser such as Anton Drexler was able a century ago to kindle the spark that gave rise to Nazism, who knows what calamities today’s brand of open and brash European antisemitism, armed with popularity and the power of social media, may yet produce. The old cliché is that history repeats itself, but that is only partly true. In fact, it is people who enable it to happen and it is they who will bear the blame.

David Collier: Shaun Lawson smears Jewish anti-racists and lies about them

A few days ago, an *11500* word article was published on Medium. Titled ‘Enough is Enough: Rachel Riley, GnasherJew, and the Political Weaponisation of Antisemitism‘, it was written by ‘Shaun Lawson‘ and was quickly shared amongst many of the Corbyn hard-left support group. Everyone from Aaron Bastani to Owen Jones seems to have acknowledged it.

Antisemitism and anti-Zionism
As Lawson draws to a close, he attempts to sound rational on the issue of antisemitism and anti-Zionism. It doesn’t work. Nothing he does works. I’ve spent years in Labour forums: either Lawson is blind or he is deluded. He understates the correlations between antisemitism and anti-Zionism and minimises the true nature of antisemitism by portraying it as little more than someone’s anger at Israel, causing them to slightly exaggerate their feelings. I don’t remember too many people at the height of their opposition to the Iraq war asking for the entire UK to burn in hell. Lawson has clearly swallowed anti-Israel propaganda whole and his rants on Israel are not intellectually supportable.

Like many far-left Zionists (are you really still a Zionist Shaun – who quotes Greenstein?), his emotional ties with Israel are a mixture of guilt and anger. He feels as if Israel is personally letting him down. It is poppycock of course, but as we have already seen, when Shaun thinks you have let him down, he holds a grudge. Shaun’s anti-Israel rants are his spiteful revenge.

Shaun attacks Riley again
Lawson clearly has a fetish for Rachel Riley, because on the subject of Zionism, he brings her up again. Lawson simply will not leave Rachel Riley alone. Yet of all the people who fight against antisemitism who also speak out on Zionism why on earth is he picking on Rachel for this? He even says ‘Riley is especially fond of educating her audience on Zionism‘. Riley hardly ever touches the subject and when she does, she can be quite critical. But ‘truth’ is of no relevance here. Lawson is trying to smear everyone who has annoyed him, with as much baggage as possible.

And his conclusion
Mercifully for us, Lawson’s conclusion is only as long as an average blog should be (1300 words). I use it just to make sure I have covered all his central points. 75% of his conclusion gives away his motives. It is all about how bad the world is, how bad our government is and how good a true socialist government could be. The final quarter is just to accuse Jews of weaponising antisemitism. Of a calculated smear designed to unseat Corbyn. And he ends as all leftist fools end, by talking about the threat of right-wing antisemitism, totally oblivious to the hard-core antisemitism of the left that swims alongside him. Take a look at this tweet from a couple of days ago:

This is the level of Corbyn’s thugs and their vindictive nature. These people are looking at my family. Once the British Jews have been firmly disenfranchised (we are just working for a foreign power), we then become legitimate targets for this level of abuse. I mean, this isn’t even hidden. This is just a signal. An act of intimidation. Which articles such as Shaun’s enable and empower.

In the end it we all need to put Shaun’s ‘hornswoggling boondoggle’ (H/T Susie Dent) to one side and ask a series of simple questions.

Do the antisemites in the Labour Party exist? And the answer is yes they do. Far more than Corbyn’s cultists are willing to admit.

So question two – have the Labour Party dealt with them? The answer is that they most certainly have not.

Which leave one final question. Why not? And it is the answer to that question that Shaun Lawson wrote 11500 words deflecting attention from. It doesn’t matter that there isn’t an ounce of value or honesty in any of it. It wasn’t written to do anything but change the subject.

Rachel Riley to join Sajid Javid and Dame Margaret Hodge at HET memorial event

Countdown’s Rachel Riley is set to join Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Dame Margaret Hodge and Holocaust survivor Eva Clarke in the Houses of Parliament at a Holocaust Educational Trust event next week.

The TV presenter will take part in the Lord Merlyn-Rees Memorial Event on 22 January, just two weeks after a Channel 4 News podcast of her explaining how she had been subjected to antisemitic abuse online went viral.

Maths ace Riley, from Essex, waded into the debate about the Labour Party in September last year, attacking Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for sharing a platform with Holocaust deniers. She said she had since suffered offensive messages from his supporters, including former MP George Galloway.

“In recent months, Rachel has been a brave and outspoken opponent of antisemitism,” said an HET spokeswoman. “She will be speaking to us about her experience as a victim of online antisemitic abuse and the importance of standing up against hatred.”

I reject identity politics

Instead of allowing us our own narrative, our own trauma and story, this template forces us to deny it, to dissect it in language where people are divided by color and the idea that one can be only oppressor or oppressed.

In this black and white world where one is always wrong and the other always right, where one is privileged and the other disadvantaged, the Jew’s story — individual and collective — cannot exist. There is no space for it.

Because, when Jews succeed despite our oppression, when we make the best of whatever we are given – because that is what we are taught to do – we lose our “victim” status.

Our suffering, trauma and the grit it bears becomes something to mock when we don’t allow it to define us.

And we don’t allow it to define us. And so, we don’t fit the color gauge, the oppressor rules or the privilege test. (One might argue that no one truly does.) It is human to want to succeed, to not want to be defined by one’s oppression — or one’s color.

So, I refuse to engage in these conversations, to play by these rules, to force our people to give up one identification for another, to be victim or oppressor, to be black or white. I reject this attempt to pit Jews against one another, to divide us by color, and force allegiances based on made up values and newfangled language.

I reject all of this.

And I refuse to be told Zionism is racism, that supporting Israel means supporting oppression. I refuse to be saddled with other people’s sins, to let others define our story. We have a history, we have a present and if we want a future, we cannot let it be denied.

Nothing is black or white, not even people.

Democrats drop Women’s March support

The Democratic National Committee has dropped its partnership in the Women’s March over anti-Semitism concerns, the Jewish News Syndicate reported Tuesday night.

The Women’s March, slated for January 19, has come under fire in recent months due to its leaders’ handling of allegations of antisemitism, with celebrities and activists openly criticizing the organizers’ actions.

The controversy started when organizer Tamika Mallory attended a speech by, and then praised, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has a long history of making anti-Jewish and homophobic statements. Though the organizers eventually disavowed Farrakhan’s antisemitism, many felt their response took too long and did not go far enough in denouncing him.

More recently, a report on Tablet online magazine said that Mallory and fellow organizer Carmen Perez had made antisemitic statements at two Women’s March planning meetings, claims the organizers deny.

These complaints are in addition to a series of antisemitic statements made by Women’s March co-chair Linda Sarsour.

A number of organizations have dropped out as March sponsors, including the National Council of Jewish Women, the Southern Poverty Law Center and EMILY’s List. Last week, the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, a major Reform congregation in New York, announced it was disassociating itself from Women’s March, Inc.

Earlier this week, the Women’s March named three Jewish women to its 32-member teering committee.

The Jewish members are transgender-rights activist Abby Stein; Union for Reform Judaism staffer April Baskin; and Jewish-diversity activist Yavilah McCoy.

New York Reform Synagogue Distances Itself From Women’s March Leadership

The Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York City announced last week it has disassociated from the Women’s March amid accusations of antisemitism against a few of the movement’s leaders including their association with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

Instead, it will join the 2019 Women’s March on NYC under the auspices of the Women’s March Alliance, which has no relationship to the Women’s March Inc.

“We are not disassociating from the original goals of Women’s March,” said Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, senior rabbi at the synagogue. “To the contrary, we are joining other progressive organizations that have also been critical of Women’s March Inc. and share the same concerns we have: that its current leadership has distorted the values and thwarted the goals articulated on that amazing January day in 2017.”

“As early as 2017, we heard rumblings of troubling accusations of antisemitism and anti-Zionism within and amongst the leadership of the Washington march. At the time, we pushed our discomfort aside in deference to what we considered the bigger issues threatening our country,” he added. “But now, in the aftermath of Pittsburgh and mindful of the surge in antisemitic incidents in the past two years, antisemitism can no longer be a narrow concern. If you tolerate or are sympathetic to those who are prejudiced against Jews, we cannot stand with you. If you deny Israel’s right to exist, we cannot stand with you.”

In recent months, a number of prominent Jewish groups and activists have disavowed the Women’s March leadership over concerns regarding antisemitism.

Ah, the Caring About Anti-Semitism era https://t.co/4C7GH8BTCF
— Armin Rosen (@ArminRosen) January 14, 2019

House Democrat Who Was Criticized for Appearance on Nation of Islam Radio Show Now Set to Lead Hate Group Investigation

A House Democrat who recently announced his intention to investigate right-wing hate groups once appeared on a Nation of Islam radio show and made controversial racial remarks.

After Democrats took control of the House of Representatives, "Hate groups are about to find lawmakers eager to scrutinize them," McClatchy reported Friday.

"Rep. Bennie Thompson, an African American lawmaker from Mississippi, is in charge of the House Homeland Security Committee. He plans to act," McClatchy reported. "Thompson intends to hold hearings to spotlight what experts say is a growth of deadly right wing extremism in America, even if the hearings could feature members of white supremacist groups."

Republican members of the committee tell McClatchy that they are concerned the hearings could become politicized. "I worry that it becomes completely political – a political cudgel and a political issue and we don’t focus on the violence and the problems we have in society and any potential solutions," argued Rep. Scott Perry (R., Pa.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus. "I just think it would be better to characterize it as violent extremism and look at all of it."

Thompson himself has a history of flirtation with extremist groups, appearing in 2014 on the New Nation of Islam radio show and making a series of controversial statements, such as calling Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas an "Uncle Tom" and suggesting Republican opposition to Obamacare was due entirely to race.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley teaches fellow Dems how to denounce ‘anti-Semitism, prejudice and bigotry’

Denouncing anti-Semitism is more difficult for some than for others, particularly on the tolerant Left. That’s what makes this statement from über-liberal new Rep. Ayanna Pressley so refreshing:

I fully condemn and denounce anti-Semitism, prejudice and bigotry in all their forms - and the hateful actions they embolden. I appreciate my friends, including my brothers and sisters in the Jewish community, who brought these statements to my attention. 2/2
— Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) January 14, 2019

Good on Rep. Pressley.

Enough with the Hysterics, Anti-BDS Laws Are Perfectly Constitutional

The constitutionality of laws penalizing the boycott of Israel is being called into question as the Senate considers the Combating BDS Act. The act is designed to assist states and the federal government as they enforce anti-discrimination laws that focus on combating the spread of BDS.

These laws are similar to other anti-discrimination laws that protect women, racial minorities and LGBTQ individuals. All of these laws balance the right to free speech with the government's obligation to protect vulnerable classes of people from discrimination.

More than 40 years ago, in response to the Arab League boycott of Israel, laws were passed to prevent entities from imposing foreign policy in the U.S., prohibiting unauthorized boycotts against foreign nations. These laws have survived challenges in federal courts.

In response to the spread of discrimination against Israel perpetrated by BDS, U.S. states began enacting laws that prohibit the state from spending taxpayers' money to contract with or invest in those who engage in BDS discrimination. These state anti-BDS laws do not infringe upon the First Amendment.

There is a long line of Supreme Court decisions that allow states to choose who they do business with and to exclude discriminatory actions from First Amendment protection.

Malaysia’s ‘blatant discrimination’ of Israeli swimmers blasted by UK groups

Israel’s supporters in the UK have called on the Malaysian High Commissioner to the UK to let disabled Israeli swimmers take part in a tournament in the city of Kuching this summer.

More than 1,300 people had signed an online petition by Tuesday afternoon urging the country to reverse its decision to deny entry to Israeli athletes for the World Para Swimming Championships due to be held at the end of July.

The tournament is a qualifying event for the Tokyo Paralympics in 2020 but although swimmers from 70 countries are set to take part, the Israelis have been denied entry for political and diplomatic reasons.

Supporters signing a petition set up by We Believe in Israel told High Commissioner H.E. Dato’ Ahmad Rasidi Bin Hazizi that it was “blatant discrimination against citizens of the world’s only Jewish state” and contrary to the fundamental principles of Olympism, whereby sport is deemed a human right, regardless of race or religion.

“We call on Malaysia to reconsider this totally inappropriate decision and call on the International Paralympic Committee and World Para Swimming to relocate the Championships if Malaysia continues to politically abuse its role as host nation by barring the Israeli swimmers from participating,” they wrote.

Durham, NC rejects recommendation to revise its anti-Israel police exchange policy

Last week Durham, North Carolina’s Human Relations Commission (HRC) disappointed the vast majority of the city’s Jewish community by rejecting a draft proposal that had urged city officials to remove reference to Israel from their April 2018 ‘Statement by Durham City Council on International Police Exchanges’.

At issue was the statement that passed unanimously on April 16t, 2018, by Durham’s City Council and which imposed a total ban on any and all law enforcement trainings with only one country in the world: Israel.

We wrote about the blood-libelous Durham City Council statement, which mentioned only Israel by name and thereby singled out police training programs there, in prior posts:
Demonization: Durham NC City Council bans police exchanges with Israel
Update: Durham NC Pro-Israel groups organize against City Council ban on police exchanges with Israel
As we noted, Durham became the first American city to align a municipal public policy with “Deadly Exchange”—a national campaign promoted by the virulently anti-Jewish and anti-peace extremist organization Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) which falsely blames Israel and American Jewish organizations for U.S. domestic police militarization and instances of police violence against blacks and other minorities in America.

In our prior posts, we discussed how the City Council statement drew intense criticism from Durham’s Jewish residents and community leaders, garnered national and international attention and condemnation and eventually led to two lawsuits against the city.

Local Jewish organizations and community leaders in Durham opposed to the anti-Israel policing statement have tried to use various avenues available to them to get the City Council statement revoked—or at least revised.

Tel Aviv Moves to Triple Municipal Taxes on Airbnb Units

The Tel Aviv Municipal Council was set on Monday to debate a proposal that would raise the municipal tax known as arnona by a factor of three on apartments rented for over three months through the Airbnb website.

According to Israel’s Channel 10, the proposal was put forth due to a rise in the number of long-term Airbnb rentals in the city. This has resulted in large sections of certain neighborhoods being essentially empty of permanent residents.

The municipality believes this damages housing prices and the rental market, as well as hotels, which are required to pay VAT, arnona, and other taxes that Airbnb rentals are not, placing them at a disadvantage.

Airbnb became controversial in Israel last year when it chose to drop listings in the West Bank settlements, prompting charges that the company was endorsing the anti-Israel BDS movement.

The company has since declared that it was involved in an ongoing dialogue with the Israeli government and, as long as that dialogue continued, it would not delist settlement offerings.

BBC News coverage of terrorism in Israel – December 2018 and year end summary

The Israel Security Agency’s report on terror attacks (Hebrew) during December 2018 shows that throughout the month a total of 155 incidents took place: 118 in Judea & Samaria, 20 in Jerusalem and 17 in the Gaza Strip sector.

In Judea & Samaria and Jerusalem the agency recorded 103 attacks with petrol bombs, 22 attacks using improvised explosive devices (IEDs), one arson attack, three shooting attacks, four vehicular attacks, two stabbing attacks, two attacks using grenades and one stone-throwing attack.

Incidents recorded in the Gaza Strip sector included 6 attacks with petrol bombs, 4 attacks using IEDs, one shooting attack, five grenade attacks and one incident of rocket fire.

Throughout December three people were killed and fourteen wounded in terror attacks.

In summary, four out of 155 terror attacks – 2.6% – which took place during December 2018 were reported on the BBC News website.

Throughout 2018 the BBC News website reported at most 30.2% of the terror attacks that actually took place and 93.3% of the resulting fatalities.

Israeli Divers to Search Danube River in Budapest for Remains of Hungarian Jews Murdered in Holocaust

An Israeli search-and-rescue group will begin scouring the waters of the Danube River in the Hungarian capital of Budapest this week for the remains of Jews murdered during the Holocaust.

The mission was announced on Monday after a meeting in Budapest between Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri and his Hungarian counterpart, Pinter Sandor.

It will be carried out by divers from the ZAKA organization.

“I am pleased that the Hungarian interior minister has promised assistance, support and technological equipment for the benefit of this project, and I hope that the ZAKA divers will be able to bring these holy martyrs to a full Jewish burial,” Deri said.

The divers, according to a ZAKA statement, will be aided by a newly-purchased sonar device.

ZAKA said negotiations over the first-of-its-kind operation began three years ago.

Toward the end of World War II, thousands of Hungarian Jews who had not already been sent to death camps were executed on the banks of the Danube by members of the Arrow Cross — the far-right fascist party that collaborated with the Nazis and ruled Hungary from October 1944 to March 1945.

Approximately 565,000 Hungarian Jews were killed in the Holocaust — mostly at Auschwitz, in Nazi-occupied Poland, where they were deported en masse in mid-1944.

Anti-Semitic fliers distributed across Massachusetts city

Anti-Semitic fliers were found distributed across the US city of Newton, Massachusetts, on Sunday.

The fliers, which referenced the Daily Stormer Book Club, included a caricature of a man with horns, a long nose and a beard, and read “Why do Jews push pornography and degeneracy on our children,” according to images of the fliers published by local news outlets.

According to the ADL, the Daily Stormer Book Club chapters, or SBCs, are “small crews of young white men who follow and support Andrew Anglin and his neo-Nazi website, the Daily Stormer.”

One Jewish resident found a flier posted inside a book swap box, WHDH reported. Newton police called the placement of the fliers random.

The police said it is the first such incident in the city in a decade.

London mosque secretly agrees to host Holocaust exhibition

An undisclosed London mosque has agreed to host an exhibition on the Holocaust that another Muslim house of worship cancelled amid protests by members of that faith, activists said.

The new venue is being kept under wraps for fear of a repeat of the campaign that led to the Golders Green mosque scrapping their event earlier this month, Fiyaz Mughal of the interfaith group Faith Matters told The Jewish News of London in an article published Friday.

The Golders Green mosque cancelled – without giving a reason – the exhibition titled “Love they Neighbor” about Albanians who rescued Jews during the Holocaust. The cancellation followed a journalist’s calls on a Muslim community news web site to protest over the fact that the exhibition was created by Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust museum.

“Thankfully, the exhibition on Muslims who saved Jews is being held in Redbridge,” Mughal said. “There is some fantastic work being done” in that borough of London, he added.

Separately, the Board of Deputies of British Jews said it would host next month the exhibition at a meeting in the presence of the Albanian ambassador to the United Kingdom, Qirjako Qirko.

Israeli Group Buys Section of Endangered Belize Reef to Protect Biodiversity

The Turneffe Atoll on the Caribbean island of Belize is the largest and most biologically diverse coral reef in the Western Hemisphere.

Destructive and unsustainable development have damaged or destroyed Turneffe’s coral reef, backreef flats, seagrasses, and mangrove forests, according to the Turneffe Atoll Trust (TAT).

But hope is on the horizon, thanks to a $30,000 crowdfunding campaign by the Israeli-led international nonprofit organization This is My Earth (TiME).

According to TiME founder and CEO Prof. Uri Shanas, a conservation biologist at the University of Haifa-Oranim, the funds will enable TAT to buy and protect a five-acre strategic parcel of the Turneffe Atoll and ensure there will be no development on what Shanas calls “an amazingly beautiful spot.”

Talmud-inspired learning craze sweeps South Korea

In 2014, Kim Hye-kyung found herself staring into an educational abyss.

The mother of two lives in study-mad South Korea, a nation where parents fork over a combined $17 billion on private tutoring every year. Children start early – 83 percent of 5-year-olds receive private education — and the pace keeps intensifying until, at age 18, students take the dreaded eight-hour suneung university entrance exam. Flunk the suneung and your job prospects could nosedive. Pass with flying colors and you may land a coveted spot at a top-ranked university.

“I hated the idea of sending my children to private academies, where teachers cram information into young heads with no thought for nurturing creativity,” Kim Hye-kyung said. “When my kids were younger, I read them books or took them out instead of sending them to academies. But as they grew older, I started worrying that their school results would suffer as a result of my decisions.”

Kim Hye-kyung was in this quandary when, by chance, she came across a book by a Korean author about what for her was a novel study method. It was chavruta, a method used by Talmud scholars in which pairs of students debate and ask one another questions based on ancient rabbinic texts.

“When I read about chavruta, I immediately felt an emotional connection,” Kim Hye-kyung said. “It was the educational path I’d been dreaming of. I thought my heart was about to burst with joy.”

Israel's Top Cargo Shipping Firm Zim Opens Blockchain Platform to all clients

Israel’s largest cargo shipping company Zim has opened its blockchain platform for electronic bills of lading (eB/Ls) to all clients in selected trades. Global shipping news outlet TradeWinds reported the news today, Jan. 14.

Following a successful pilot of its blockchain-powered eB/Ls platform that lasted for over a year, the shipping firm has claimed that blockchain can not only replace the currently existing paper-based processes, but also improve the workflow conducted via email, fax, and other channels.

According to TradeWinds’ report, two recent transactions on the platform were successfully conducted in less than two hours each — as opposed to multiple days or weeks that the process usually takes — with electronic bills of lading being delivered via the blockchain-based system.

As part of Zim’s new initiative, blockchain-based trades will be opened up to all customers, with a focus on Asian, South African, North American, and Mediterranean countries during the first quarter.

Eyal Ben-Amram, Zim's chief information officer, has stated that maximising digitisation is a part of the company’s strategy.

According to the shipping data provider Alphaliner, Zim is currently ranked 11th largest container operator in the world by yearly volume of freight transported. (h/t MtTB)

Procurement: Herons Headed For Vietnam

Vietnam has purchased $140 million worth of Israeli Heron 1 UAVs. Vietnam will use the Herons for “strategic reconnaissance” which probably includes patrolling coastal waters. That is something the Heron does a lot of for many foreign customers.

The Heron first flew in the 1990s and is not only similar to the American Predator but has been produced in larger quantities and sold to more foreign customers. Heron is the primary heavy UAV for the Israeli military, which makes sense as it was Israel, not the United States that pioneered UAVs of this type. It was the Israeli successes in UAV technology that motivated an American firm (General Atomics) to create the MQ-1 Predator.

The Heron 1, because it was so similar to the Predator has sold well to foreign customers who cannot obtain the MQ-1. In addition to being one of the primary UAVs for the Israeli armed forces security organizations from India, Turkey, Russia, France, Brazil, El Salvador, the United States, Canada, and Australia have either bought, leased, or licensed manufactured the Heron.

The original Heron 1 weighs about the same (1.2 tons) as the Predator and has greater endurance (40 hours). Max speed is 205 kilometers an hour and cruising speed is a bit less. Heron 1 has a slightly higher ceiling (10 kilometers/30,000 feet, versus 8 kilometers) than Predator and software which allows it to automatically take off, carry out a mission, and land. Not all American large UAVs can do this. Heron 1 does have a larger wingspan (16.5 meters/51 feet) than the Predator (13.2 meters/41 feet) and a payload of about 250 kg (550 pounds). The ground control equipment can control a Heron 1 up to 350 kilometers away but Heron can travel much farther using pre-programmed instructions and will automatically try to get back if there are any problems. While under pre-programmed flight Heron 1 cannot be jammed. (h/t MtTB)

Israel's air force set for first-ever joint exercise with the RAF in Britain

Israeli Air Force aircrew and fighter jets are to take part in a joint exercise with the Royal Air Force in Britain for the first time.

While defence cooperation between the two countries has been intensifying at all levels in recent years, this will be the most open level of cooperation between the two air forces yet.

The RAF holds its annual Cobra Warrior exercise in September at Coningsby airbase in Lincolnshire.

It is the culmination of the advanced Qualified Weapons Instructor course, and usually also includes crew and aircraft from other allied air forces who fly together with the British teams in complex combat scenarios.

German and Italian aircraft took part in Cobra Warrior 2018 and, for the 2019 exercise, Israel has been invited to take part.

Recent British-Israeli defence cooperation has included the training of British personnel on the use of Israeli weapons systems acquired by Britain: the Watchkeeper WK450 drone, the Exactor ground-based missile and the Litening targeting pod carried by RAF Typhoon and Tornado aircraft.

Israeli defence company Elbit is also the main partner in the new Military Flight Training System which trains all new RAF pilots.

Historical drama depicts untold story of the 1930s ‘Portuguese Dreyfus Affair’

Inside a country inn in northern Portugal in the early 20th century, a group of men and women sit on wooden benches and hold hands in communal prayer. In this moving scene depicted in the new historical drama, “Sefarad,” it is explained that four centuries earlier, Jews were either expelled from the country or went underground with their religious practices. For these worshippers, descendants of Marranos or crypto-Jews, any religious observance had to be done in secret.

Inspired by real events, “Sefarad,” will screen in its world premiere at the Miami Jewish Film Festival on Tuesday.

Named after the region on the Iberian Peninsula where Sephardic Jews originated, “Sefarad” tells the sweeping story of Jews in Portugal across 500 years — from the Middle Ages to the Inquisition to the modern era. The script was written by the Center for Historical Research of the Jewish community of Oporto (Porto), a large northern port city that witnessed pivotal moments in Portuguese Jewish history in the 20th century.

The film tells its story largely through a depiction of Arthur Carlos de Barros Basto (1887-1961), a real-life Portuguese army captain who converted to Judaism after discovering he had Jewish ancestors.

Portrayed by actor Rodrigo Santos, Barros Basto worked to establish a Jewish community in Porto — including the construction of the Kadoorie Mekor Haim Synagogue, the largest in the Iberian Peninsula, in 1938.

Barros Basto also made outreach efforts to fellow crypto-Jews in northern Portugal, but they resisted his efforts to join an organized community. Adding insult to injury, he was expelled from the army after a tribunal convicted him of conduct unbecoming an officer.

"Israel is the outcome of deliberate Jewish action - not of foreign handouts. Israel is a country attained - not a land given."
Read more in my collection of essays "Telling Our Story":https://t.co/kRD2G0dRAg
— Dr. Einat Wilf (@EWilf) January 14, 2019

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