02/04 Links Pt2: How Anti-BDS Laws Went Viral; Why BDS can't topple Eurovision; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed for call with Corbyn; Imam of Peace visits Auschwitz ~ EoZ

From Ian:

Two of the most influential people in the country when it comes to American policies toward Israel are a Mormon state representative in South Carolina who used to be an Eagle Scout and a Jewish law professor in Virginia who used to study pirates. You likely haven’t heard of Alan Clemmons or Eugene Kontorovich, but around three-quarters of Americans live in states with laws written or inspired by them — laws that aim to protect Israel from the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign.

Versions of their bill, which bans state entities from investing or contracting in companies that participate in BDS, have been passed by 25 other states since Clemmons shepherded it into law in his state in 2015.

Pro-Israel groups – most notably the Israel Allies Foundation, which brought Kontorovich and Clemmons together - have spread them nationwide, ensuring their passage with strong bipartisan majorities despite the complaints of civil liberties advocates and pro-Palestinian groups. Advocates have tried to keep the laws consistent across states, but have managed to adapt when necessary. Now they’re using the same viral techniques to create statewide legislation to officially define anti-Semitism in a way that includes anti-Zionism.

The anti-BDS bills have spread so far and so fast that the sponsor of the one in Missouri – who said he knows Clemmons well – told the Forward he had no idea that the South Carolinian sponsored the original law.

“The way I see it, BDS efforts are an attempt to harm America’s staunchest ally, and at worst, attempt to destroy the state of Israel,” said Bob Onder, the Republican state senator in Missouri who sponsored the bill.

Clemmons and the IAF did not respond to requests for comment. Kontorovich said he did not have time to respond before the Forward’s deadline.

It’s not just about statehouses anymore. The U.S. Senate has involved itself in protecting these bills. Senators voted this week to advance a bill that would give legal cover to states that pass the anti-BDS laws.

The law’s origin story, as The Jerusalem Post explored, goes something like this: While on a junket to Israel in 2014, Clemmons met with a factory owner who exports automotive filters to South Carolina but said the BDS movement was already hindering sales in Europe. On that same trip, Clemmons met Kontorovich, who had previously focused on international law, and shared his concerns.

The pair worked together with the IAF, a small not-for-profit whose primary mission used to be arranging meetings between Christian legislators and parliamentarians in the U.S. and Europe with their Israeli counterparts. Kontorovich crafted the law’s structure, Clemmons introduced it as a bill, and the Israel Allies Foundation secured the support of other Jewish and pro-Israel organizations to further lobby and advise its nationwide network of legislators about how to best pursue a version of their own.

And to think Syd Barrett is considered the most insane member of Pink Floyd. https://t.co/HFpcMwRPk9
— Cam Edwards (@CamEdwards) February 4, 2019

Why’s Germany’s Best Known Jewish Journalist Giving Speeches to Its Holocaust-Downplaying, Far-Right Party?

The evolution for Broder from young left-wing radical to his current position entertaining neo-Nazis in the Bundestag has been a strange one. In a 2013 profile in Tablet, David Mikics called him “Germany’s Most Annoying Jew,” and compared Broder to the deceased gadfly Christopher Hitchens—another writer with a penchant for provocation and whiplash-inducing swerves in his public positions. In 1986, Broder published a book, The Eternal Anti-Semite, that took aim at all kind of anti-Semites, from conventional right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis to the far left in all its esoteric varieties. At the heart of the book, there is an argument, as Mikics wrote, that “there’s a link between the obsessive thinking about the Holocaust in Germany and what he sees as an increasing German tendency to condemn Israel.”

Yet the members of the AfD for whom Broder offered his recent friendly address exhibit a different disturbing tendency regarding the Holocaust. Rather than obsessing over it as a vehicle for condemning Israel they suggest that it wasn’t really so bad and thus not worth the fuss, let alone an historical obsession. Notoriously, AfD chapter leader Björn Höcke has called the German Holocaust Memorial a “memorial of shame.”

The younger Broder could be bold and insightful. He was correct in 1976 when he condemned the anti-Semites of the German left for joining forces with Palestinian anti-Semites in Entebbe. He was also correct in documenting the spread of anti-Americanism and pro-Islamism across vast parts of the German mainstream immediately after 9/11.

Indeed, there was a time when Broder demonstrated a degree of intellectual consistency in his condemnations of anti-Semitism; attacks on targets of both the left and the right. In 2007, he mocked Jewish journalist Michel Friedman, former deputy president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, for the foolhardy idea of interviewing Holocaust denier and neo-Nazi Horst Mahler. The incident prompted Broder to write in the leading weekly political magazine Der Spiegel, that some Jews have “no dignity” at all in their willingness to speak to Jew haters. He argued, as well, against the pro-Iranian ultra-Orthodox Vienna “Chief Rabbi” Moshe Arye Friedman who went to Tehran’s infamous Holocaust denial conference.

But a staunch opposition to Islamism and the “Red-Green Axis” of the left and political Islam, along with his fervent support for Israel made him hostile toward the values of political correctness and German immigration policies and increasingly sympathetic to the far right.

After a long drift into far-right circles, Broder’s final break with reality seems to have occurred in 2014, a few years earlier than the rise of Trumpism in the U.S., with the right-wing nationalist Pegida movement, “Patriots against the Islamization of the Occident.”

Israel’s Beresheet is first private spacecraft to shoot for the moon

“Moon of Israel” is an epic 1924 film from the golden era of silent movies, and helped launch the directing career of Michael Curtiz, of “Casablanca” fame. Sequels seldom live up to the original.

But if Israel’s plans to put a robotic lander on the moon in February 2019 can be considered a sequel, this new “Moon of Israel” mission, led by the nonprofit company SpaceIL, will be a blockbuster in its own right.

Lunar landings date back to the 1960s. The United States landed 12 people on six separate occasions as part of the Apollo program, along with robotic spacecraft such as Surveyor, which served as a precursor to human missions. The Soviet Union preformed robotic Luna missions and landed Lunokhod automated rovers in the 1970s. Most recently China landed the Chang’e 4 robotic probe on the back side of the moon.

These missions are all amazing technical accomplishments, and marvels of human know-how, sponsored and built by large government space agencies.

The moon’s next visitor is different. SpaceIL’s Beresheet – Hebrew for “In the Beginning” — will become the first privately funded mission to launch from Earth and land on the moon, and the first spacecraft to propel itself over the lunar surface after landing by “hopping” on its rocket engine to a second landing spot. The mission marks yet another milestone, not only in the history and technical arc of space exploration, but also in how humankind goes about space exploration.

Why BDS can't topple Eurovision

LAST MONTH, the BDS movement sent letters to many individuals who are competing to represent their countries at this year’s competition. A copy of one such letter, made available to The Jerusalem Post, told one Eurovision hopeful that: “We hope you are able to make a fully informed decision, because many of your fans would be saddened if you decided to play in Israel, given what is happening to the Palestinian people there – living under siege, or occupation, as refugees, or as second class citizens.” The letter concluded: “Eurovision will happen again in 2020. We hope you will choose to be a contestant then rather than in Israel in 2019.”

It is certainly possible that over the next three months, Eurovision contestants will pull out of the 2019 contest. Those artists – who are often young and relative newcomers to the music world – could succumb to pressure and the likely online campaign waged against their participation. But the BDS forces will be coming up against a formidable foe: national pride. Every country appearing in Tel Aviv this May is hoping to win the competition and bring the contest home next year (with the exception of Australia, which is not eligible to host since it isn’t a full member of the European Broadcasting Union).

The BDS activists are correct that “Eurovision will happen again in 2020” – but if countries don’t take part, they lose any chance of hosting the 2020 competition.

Even if all 42 competitors appear as scheduled in May, it is unlikely that BDS activists will rest during the week of the Eurovision competition. Millions around the world watched as two stage invaders grabbed the microphone from UK contestant SuRie last year, to shout something incomprehensible about “Nazis of the UK media.” While security is always tight at the Eurovision, things will certainly be stepped up this year, and local and international organizers will be on alert for those seeking to disrupt the proceedings.

Eurovision organizers will and should be alert to BDS efforts to disrupt this year’s competition, an event slated to attract tens of thousands of tourists and be watched by millions of fans around the world. While BDS may still have a few battles ahead, it has decidedly lost the war.

Madonna likely to perform at Eurovision in Tel Aviv

It looks like Madonna will perform two songs at the Eurovision Song Contest being hosted in Tel Aviv in May, courtesy of philanthropist Sylvan Adams.

The cost will be about $1.5 million, according to Ynet.

“I can only say with much happiness that there is a green light from the philanthropist,” producer Dani Ben Naim told Army Radio on Sunday morning.

“Adams just wants to help the State of Israel with its foreign relations and we’ll sit with Madonna’s people to work on things, which all look good, and move it forward.”

Canadian-Israeli billionaire Adams has lived in Israel since 2015, and has funded several major projects, including the Giro d’Italia Big Start bike race that took place in the Jerusalem area last year.

France’s Eurovision pick goes on defensive over anti-Israel tweet

France’s Eurovision Song Contest hopeful Bilal Hassani complained Monday of becoming a “punchbag” after the Moroccan-origin singer drew criticism over postings online about Israel and terror attacks in France.

Hassani, 19, who was born in France to Moroccan parents, became an inspiration to LGBT teenagers last month after being picked to represent France at the Eurovision contest in May.

The gender-bending singer, who flaunts what he calls his “fabulousness” in a sleek blonde wig, has had to grapple with a tide of insults over his sexuality and appearance.

The youngster was forced on the defensive again after being accused by online critics of trivializing terrorism and making controversial remarks about Israel while he was in his early teens.

“Leave me alone, leave me in peace… I’m a human being like anyone and they take me for a punchbag,” he told the Parisien newspaper on Monday.

A tweet from August 2014 in which he accused Israel — which will host the Eurovision — of a “crime against humanity” during a ground offensive in Gaza has been shared online.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed for call with Corbyn

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) came under fire on social media on Sunday night after it was revealed that she spoke with UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, embroiled in a number of antisemitic and anti-Israel incidents and comments.

Corbyn tweeted on Sunday that it was "great" to speak with AOC "on the phone this evening and hear first-hand how she’s challenging the status quo."

"Let’s build a movement across borders to take on the billionaires, polluters and migrant baiters, and support a happier, freer and cleaner planet," he said.

Responding soon after, AOC said it was "an honor" to have shared "such a lovely and wide-reaching conversation with you, @jeremycorbyn!"

She added that she was also "honored to share a great hope in the peace, prosperity, + justice that everyday people can create when we uplift one another across class, race, + identity both at home & abroad."

Following her tweet, several well-known figures called on her to look into Corbyn's reputation of antisemitism.

Corbyn has been embroiled in countless antisemitic and anti-Israel incidents. He has also been heavily criticized for being anti-immigrant and pro-Brexit.

American Enterprise Institute scholar and philosopher Christina Sommers chastised AOC saying, "Dear Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Corbyn is antisemitic. You do not want to do to the Democratic Party what @lsarsour & @TamikaDMallory did to the #WomensMarch."

Well-known journalist Yair Rosenberg responded by tweeting statics in which he quoted a poll by The Jewish Chronicle, which stated that 85% of UK Jews think Corbyn is antisemitic.

"Put this another way: Imagine that 85% of Muslims polled said they thought a particular European leader was Islamophobic. Would you take that leader's phone call and laud it as a step toward greater justice and equality? If not, please grant Jews the same consideration," he said. (h/t MtTB)

Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashid Tlaib Should Be Sanctioned — History Demands It

If history teaches lessons, the Democratic Congressional leadership will regret it if they don’t sanction Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashid Tlaib.

Here are some of Congresswoman Omar’s anti-Israel and “anti-Zionist” outbursts:

In 2012, she tweeted, “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.” Under pressure, she has clarified that she was “befuddled” when she made an “unfortunate” word choice. But she still has not removed her 2012 tweet.

Omar has also never stopped labeling the Jewish state an “apartheid regime.”

Now she has further poisoned her relations with the Jewish community by declaring her support for the BDS Movement, which she had disavowed during her campaign. As of today, she favors a draconian boycott of Israel — but no sanctions on the authoritarian Maduro regime in Venezuela.

Finally, Omar asserts that Israel’s new nation-state law “does not recognize the other religions that are living in it.” She equates democratic Israel to repressive Iran — even though her statement on the new Israeli law is plainly false.

Michigan freshman Congresswoman Rashid Tlaib’s extreme anti-Israel rhetoric tracks Omar’s. But she has also accused certain unnamed senators who support Israel of unpatriotic dual loyalties.

So what’s been the response from the Congress’ new Democratic leaders? Mostly mute. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi even appointed Omar to the prestigious House Foreign Affairs Committee.

US Jewish leader accuses congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of anti-Semitism

One of American Jewry’s most senior leaders lashed out at US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib on Monday, accusing the young lawmaker of making anti-Semitic remarks.

“I am very disturbed. I do believe Tlaib has made anti-Semitic comments,” Malcolm Hoenlein, the chief executive officer of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said.

He made the comments in a briefing at The Times of Israel’s offices in Jerusalem; he was in Israel ahead of a trip including 28 member organizations of the Conference of Presidents to Africa.

Tlaib came under fire in January when she suggested that US senators backing an anti-boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) bill hold dual loyalties.

“They forgot what country they represent,” Tlaib said in a tweet at the time. “This is the U.S. where boycotting is a right & part of our historical fight for freedom & equality.”

If signed into law, the bill would protect states that pass anti-BDS bills, including those that ban work with contractors who boycott Israel, from lawsuits. Civil libertarians have decried the state laws as impinging on speech freedoms.

PreOccupiedTerritory: Dem Congresswoman Rejects Donor Over Social Media Posts Lacking Antisemitism (satire)

A first-term congresswoman has pledged to return a campaign contribution from a party stalwart following an investigation into the giver’s Facebook and Twitter posts revealed a suspicious lack of animus toward Jews, a spokeswoman for the lawmaker announced Wednesday.

Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) press officer Adele Fitler told reporters that the legislator will repay every dollar of a $50,000 contribution from businessman Bryce Norton, after reports emerged that Mr. Norton had never participated in online discussions involving antisemitic rhetoric, denial of Jewish peoplehood, Holocaust inversion, anti-Jewish tropes, or accusations that Congress and the federal government answer to Israel and not US voters.

“Ms. Tlaib will not tolerate this aberration,” declared Fitler. “Associating with such a misguided figure can only hurt what our representative is trying to accomplish in Washington. Therefore, she will pay back this contribution down to the last penny. Never let it be said that Congresswoman Tlaib’s hands are soiled with such dirty money.”

Norton, who runs a furniture manufacturing enterprise, has made similar donations to other Democratic candidates; a call to his corporate headquarters went unanswered. Several searches on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other popular social media platforms failed to turn up evidence of an account in his name, though several other people by that name do maintain such accounts. None of the other Bryce Nortons on social media displayed overt antisemitism, either, a fact that one former campaign worker observed could indicate a Jewish conspiracy to harm Ms. Tlaib’s reputation.

British Labour lawmakers look to split over Brexit, anti-Semitism

A group of centrist lawmakers in Britain’s Labour Party is planning to leave the party amid rising discontent over its leftward turn under leader Jeremy Corbyn and its mishandling of concerns over anti-Semitism its ranks.

The move would be a blow to Corbyn, who has struggled to reap political dividends from the Brexit controversy roiling the unpopular Conservative government he seeks to replace.

According to The Observer, the Guardian’s Sunday edition, multiple sources informed the paper that at least six MPs are planning to make the move, forming a “breakaway movement on the political center” over issues including Brexit, immigration, foreign policy and Corbyn’s handling of anti-Semitism in the party.

The group may be just the start of a broader rebellion among centrist Labourites, the paper said, as discussions “involving senior figures” have been held concerning a “far larger group” leaving the party after Brexit if Corbyn “fails to do everything possible to oppose [PM] Theresa May’s plans for taking the UK out of the EU.”

Corbyn has been criticized on the left for what many see as his lukewarm opposition to and even tacit support for Brexit, which is widely and vociferously opposed by most Labour voters.

Pro-BDS NGO protests Israel Philharmonic Orchestra performance in New York

An anti-Israel organization staged a protest against the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) on Sunday.

Adalah- NY, an organization that campaigns for the boycott of Israel, raised signs and carried cardboard guitars that read “apartheid” while chanting against Israel outside New York's Carnegie Hall, causing a small disturbance on February 3. The protesters stood outside a fundraising brunch for the IPO, which was followed by a performance.

On their Facebook page, the organization posted, “As the IPO’s wealthy supporters attend a lavish brunch inside to sustain its whitewashing of Israeli apartheid, we’ll be outside sustaining our love of justice with a small Palestinian brunch and music for liberation with the big freedom sounds of the Rude Mechanical Orchestra.”

Adalah accused IPO of being a political organization because it "represent[s] the State of Israel across the world,” and says that “[T]he goodwill created by these tours…is of enormous value to the State of Israel.”

In July, the same organization staged a protest outside New York’s Joyce Theater. Then, 50 self-described human rights advocates held what Adalah described as a “vibrant, musical protest” on the sidewalk to oppose the opening night performance by the Batsheva Dance Company.

GW Jewish Voice for Peace Chapter Calls for Hillel to Separate From Pro-Israel Group

The Jewish Voice for Peace chapter at George Washington University in Washington, DC, launched a petition calling for the Hillel on campus to cease ties with the Israel on Campus Coalition, whose purpose “is to inspire American college students to see Israel as a source of pride and empower them to stand up for Israel on campus,” according to its website.

The petition has been circulating since last week, despite GW JVP noting in it that “we still do not know the full extent of GW Hillel’s past or present relationship with the ICC,” even though GW JVP has repeatedly asked “for more transparency and earnestness.”

The petition, which had 60 signatures as of Jan. 29, accuses ICC of “[hiring] and [employing] political operatives to combat Palestinian rights and anti-Israel activism on American campuses.” It also implies that it runs an intimidation campaign of “spying on Jewish and Palestinian students,” and launching “targeted advertisements often threaten to expose the identities of student activists [a practice commonly known as ‘doxing’] and report them to blacklists.”

Additionally, it calls for GW Hillel to “clarify the details of its past and present relationship with the ICC,” and “apologize for sanctioning the ICC’s attacks on Jewish, Palestinian and pro-divestment student activists,” as well as “end all engagement with the ICC.”

Jacob Zionts, a senior and member of JVP at GW’s organizing committee, told GW’s student newspaper, The Hatchet: “We believe that GW Hillel’s engagement with the ICC betrays Jewish traditions of pluralism and free expression. We also think it creates a hostile environment for Jewish, Palestinian and pro-divestment activists, and we want them off our campus.”

Spanish priest says ‘powerful Jews’ canceled his anti-Israel film event

A Spanish priest whose church canceled a planned projection of an anti-Israel film blamed the cancellation on threats and how “dying Negroes are less important than the powerful Jews.”

Pastor Javier Baeza’s comments about blacks in a newspaper interview on Friday were decried by the pro-Israel ACOM group as part of a “fundamentally anti-Semitic narrative,” involving both Jews and Israel in the predominantly Catholic kingdom of Spain.

On Saturday, the controversial film, “Gaza, a look into the eyes of barbarism,” which critics say is one-sided and inaccurate, won the “Best Documentary” category of the Goyas, the Spanish equivalent of the Oscars.

Baeza referenced black people in saying that no one complained against his screening last month of a film about Africans dying en route to Europe. But “there were pressures from the Jewish community” to cancel the projection Friday of the film, he told El Pais, before proposing his conclusion about powerful Jews.

The film was scheduled to be screened Friday at the Pastoral Center of San Carlos Borrome in southeastern Madrid, but Carlos Osoro, the archbishop of Madrid, said the church is “obligated” to suspend the projection indefinitely out of security concerns “because of the threats we’ve received in the last few days.”

Indy hatchet job on Israel – charges “unprecedented levels” of racism against Arabs

Trew’s broad contention that diaspora Jews kept Israeli racism in check is as baseless as her specific claims that the nation-state law “promotes the creation of Jewish only settlements” and is akin to “apartheid legislation”. The law doesn’t in any way erode the civil rights of Israel’s non-Jews, as even the left-leaning Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) acknowledged that the law is largely “symbolic and educational”, and merely codifies Israel’s identity as a Jewish state. Regarding the ‘downgrading’ of Arabic, IDI President Yohanan Plesner said that, under the law, the status of the language will not in fact be harmed.

Beyond refuting Trew’s specific allegations, there are other major problems with the article.

First, throughout the piece, she conflates Palestinian terrorists with Palestinians in general – misleadingly suggesting that efforts to vilify the former is no different than doing so to the latter.

Additionally, Trew doesn’t provide any context regarding Palestinian racism towards Jews, such as polls showing that Palestinians are literally the most antisemitic people in the world – and the possible impact this anti-Jewish racism (and culture of incitement and violence) has on Israeli perceptions of Palestinians.

Also, Trew doesn’t even attempt to provide evidence that would serve to counter the charge of Israeli racism. Unlike most articles in the British media critical of Israel which at least try to give the other side, she makes no effort to achieve any semblance of balance. For starters, Trew could have noted that co-existence and tolerance between religious and ethnic groups is the norm and not the exception in Israeli life. She also could have highlighted greatly increased government resources to bridge socio-economic gaps between Arabs and Jews, the fact that Arab Israelis are increasingly more economically.integrated, and that most are proud to be Israeli.

Though, without question, serious problems between Jews and Arabs persist, it’s extraordinarily dishonest to erase the complexity of the relationship, and focus entirely on the negative, in order to confirm a preexisting opinion suggesting endemic Jewish racism.

Finally, in 2011, we interviewed Jonathan Spyer about the publication of his book The Transforming Fire: the Rise of the Israel-Islamist Conflict. Our first question focused on his contrast between the real Israel and what he termed the “mythical Israel” – evoked by anti-Zionists and other delegitmisers – which he characterised as a fictional place of “uninterrupted darkness and horror, in which every human interaction is ugly, crude, racist, brutal.” It’s this mythical Israel – divorced from any trace of nuance, balance or context – which informs Trew’s latest hatchet job, and indeed much of the demonisation of the state in the British media.

BBC source featured in report on links between terror groups and NGOs

As readers may recall, the ‘Palestinian Center for Human Rights’ (PCHR) was the source of baseless allegations of Israeli ‘war crimes’ which appeared in BBC content less than 24 hours after the start of the summer 2014 conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The group’s director was interviewed by the BBC on several occasions during that conflict and, as has been noted here previously, the PCHR is one of several NGOs uncritically quoted and promoted by the BBC despite being active in the lawfare campaign against Israel.

Moreover, the PCHR was one of the sources used by UNOCHA for the compilation of casualty figures and civilian/combatant ratios in the Gaza Strip during the 2014 conflict. Those figures were unquestioningly quoted, promoted – and even defended – by the BBC without any independent verification having taken place and they continue to be cited in its content.

The PCHR is one of the organisations appearing (see page 54 here) in a report recently published by Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs which documents links between terrorist organisations and NGOs promoting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel.

Honest Reporting: Corrected: No Israeli ‘Midnight Music Curfew’ in Ramallah

Palestinian techno music isn’t necessarily to everyone’s taste. Nonetheless, what goes on in Ramallah’s party scene isn’t of much interest to the IDF or Israeli security forces. Which was why we were surprised to see the following claim in a feature-length article in The Independent:

Since when were Israeli authorities responsible for allowing parties or implementing a midnight curfew on music in Ramallah?!

The city is wholly administered by the Palestinian Authority on both civil and security levels as agreed upon in the Oslo Accords.

Not every restriction on Palestinians is Israel’s fault – a framing of the story that the media are only too happy to buy into. The Independent’s editors agreed and fixed the text, which now reads: “The scene in Ramallah is restricted by its limited capabilities, with most events at private houses and small venues.”
Haaretz the ‘most popular newspaper in Israel’

That wasn’t the only glaring error in the article that we got corrected. Haaretz, particularly its English language edition is often the ‘go-to’ media source for foreign journalists and diplomats despite the fact that the Hebrew newspaper has a distinct political agenda, a very low circulation and is certainly not representative of Israeli mainstream public opinion.

So we were surprised to see this:

Haaretz Corrects No Home Evictions at Shiloh Archaeological Site

A detailed report by Emek Shaveh also refers to Palestinians who cultivated the lands at the site into the 1970s, but not Palestinians evicted from their homes.

In response to correspondence from CAMERA, editors amended the digital article to state that Palestinians were “evicted from their lands,” as opposed to their homes. In addition, editors commendably appended a correction making clear that the article had incorrectly reported that Palestinians were corrected from their homes.

In addition, a correction (at left) appeared in the Feb. 1 print edition. While the corrections state as fact that the land in question was Palestinian owned, according to Hasson’s 2015 report, that claim is disputed. The Supreme Planning Council of Judea and Samaria rejected the allegation.

In a separate factual problem in the piece, Maltz refers to West Bank properties as beyond Israel’s “internationally recognized borders.” Maltz has employed this inaccurate terminology on multiple past occasions. The Green Line, or what was the pre-1967 boundary between Israel and Jordan, is an armistice line, not an internationally recognized border. While multiple media outlets, including i24 News, The Washington Post, and USA Today, have previously corrected this error, Haaretz has repeatedly declined to correct this point.

3 men charged with hate crimes for attacks on Jewish men in Brooklyn

Three men were charged with hate crimes for attacks on identifiably Jewish men in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn.

They appeared in a Brooklyn courtroom on Friday.

The men are identified as Nazar Walters, 18, Teshon Bannister, 21, and Joshua Peters, 20.

“We allege that this senseless and violent attack was motivated by bias and are determined to hold the defendants accountable,” Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez said in a statement. “We must all stand up against the proliferation of hate crimes and work with all communities to promote tolerance and unity.”

The assaults took place after 1 a.m. Wednesday.

One attack captured by a surveillance camera shows three assailants knocking over a Hasidic Jewish man before punching and kicking him. The victim, 51, required hospitalization for his injuries, the Post reported.

A 22-year-old yeshiva student from Australia identified as Mendel was the second victim.

“They didn’t say anything at all,” Mendel told the Post. “Next thing I know, I was on the floor — my yarmulke and glasses in the gutter somewhere.”

The attackers did not rob their victims.

'Gas the Jews' shouted at Australian Jewish teens

Three Jewish teenagers have been left traumatized after being subjected to antisemitism on Friday while on a bus in suburban Melbourne, Australia.

According to the Australian daily The Age, the three had gotten onto the wrong bus after an afternoon of shopping when they were accosted by a large group of teenagers, who started shouting abusive language at them.

“A girl in the group asked, ‘What would you do if I grabbed [the skull cap] off your head?’” one of the Jewish boys, Elimelech, said. “The person behind me then said, ‘Gas the Jews.’”

Elimelech said that he attempted to defuse the situation to protect his friends, but they were outnumbered by the group.
He told The Age that he had politely explained that the skull cap, called a kippah, “represented his Jewish heritage and beliefs, but that only seemed to encourage their antisemitic remarks.”

Elimelech added that he has also experienced antisemitism while walking in his neighborhood.

“I’ve had situations where people have yelled out derogatory comments from a car going past on Saturday as we walk to Sabbath [services],” he said. “People should be aware of the Holocaust and how damaging these comments are to someone who is a descendant of people who got killed and murdered.”

Aussie restaurant scraps ‘Schindler’s List’ fries after complaint

A restaurant in Australia said it has removed from its menu a “Schindler’s List” waffle fries item after a Jewish woman complained that it was offensive.

The Arc at Nobbys eatery, located in the Gold Coast metropolitan region on Australia’s eastern coast, intends to print new menus without the offending dish, the UK’s Daily Mail newspaper reported Sunday.

The unusually named menu item was noticed by a Jewish woman, identified only as Lisa, who entered the restaurant on Friday during a visit to the area with her boyfriend, according to a statement from the Anti-Defamation Commission, Australia’s leading civil rights organization.

“Almost immediately I noticed the ‘Schindler’s List’ waffle fries for 15 dollars,” Lisa said. “I cannot express how disturbed, uncomfortable and in plain shock we were both in after reading the menu.”

“Schindler’s List” is a 1993 film about Holocaust-era German factory owner Oskar Schindler, who saved thousands of Jews from the Nazis.

Lisa said she complained to the manager, who then apologized for the menu listing.

Palo Alto Networks in Talks to Acquire Israeli Information Security Firm Demisto

Palo Alto Networks Inc. is in talks to acquire Israeli information security firm Demisto Inc., according to three people familiar with the matter.

Demisto co-founder Dan Sarel declined to comment on the matter. “The company is now experiencing significant growth in both sales and number of employees,” Sarel said.

Palo Alto has yet to reply to Calcalist’s request for comment.

Israel-based Demisto develops and markets automation tools for information security management, including a chatbot that assists security analysts in handling tasks. Customers listed by the company include geographic information company ESRI, and Kansas City.

In October, the Cupertino, California-headquartered company announced it had raised a $43 million Series C funding round led by Greylock Partners, bringing its total equity funding to $69 million. The deal put the company’s pre-money valuation at $175 million, according to Seattle-based market research company Pitchbook Data Inc.

Accel Partners, ClearSky Security, Slack Technologies, Wipro Ventures, Secure Octane, and Cerca Partners are also backers.

Demisto was founded in 2015 by four McAfee executives — Sarel, Slavik Markovich, Guy Rinat, and Rishi Bhargava. Markovich, Sarel, and Rinat joined McAfee in 2011 when the latter bought Israel-based database security company Sentrigo Ltd.

Intel Appoints Seven Israeli VPs, on Heels of $11 Billion to Expand Kiryat Gat Facility

Out of 150 vice presidents in the $226 billion Intel Corporation, a sizable 20 are Israeli, according to a report by financial news site Calcalist.

On Thursday, Intel announced the appointment of a series of vice presidents, including seven Israelis.

Intel has been operating in Israel since 1974 and employs approximately 13,000 people at Intel’s five Israeli research-and-development centers, exporting $4 billion dollars worth of products in 2018.

Of all the patents submitted by Intel from 2015 to 2018, 12 percent originated in Israel, according to intellectual property lawyer Ilan Cohn, who was cited in Calcalist.

Last week, Israel’s Minister of Finance said Intel agreed to invest $11 billion (NIS 40 billion) in an expansion at the Intel facility in Kiryat Gat. Intel also bid $6 billion for Israeli chipmaker Mellanox Technologies.

In 2017, Intel bought Jerusalem-based automotive-safety tech company Mobileye for $15.3 billion.

Israeli Nir Blumberger to Manage Facebook’s Investments in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa

Israeli Nir Blumberger will manage Facebook’s investments and acquisitions across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), two people familiar with the matter said to Calcalist on condition of anonymity. As part of his role, Blumberger will work out of Facebook’s Tel Aviv offices and will be in charge of investments and acquisitions of Israeli startups, these people said.

According to his LinkedIn account, Blumberger rejoined Facebook as the head of EMEA corporate development as of last month.

Blumberger is returning to Facebook after a two-year hiatus during which he worked as the only Israel-based venture partner at the venture capital fund Accel Partners. Blumberger has an MBA from Stanford University and studied computer science at The Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya.

Blumberger worked as a corporate development deal lead at Facebook’s headquarters between 2014-2016.

Learn how to make classic Israeli hummus in one minute

Got a minute? Watch this video to see how you can make your own hummus. Once you try this delicious homemade chickpea spread, you won’t want to buy it in a container ever again.

Click below to watch some of the other videos in our Tayim (tasty) series teaching you how to make classic Israeli dishes at home:

Imam of Peace visits Auschwitz

Wearing a black t-shirt with the words #WeRemember imprinted in white, well-known Australian Imam Mohamad Tawhidi proudly posted about being the first Shia Imam "to pay his respects at Auschwitz."

The photograph, along with several other posts and a video from his time at the death camp museum on Sunday, went viral on social media platforms.

In a video, which he took while standing outside the main entrance to Auschwitz, Tawhiri said that he was visiting the site "to take a stand against antisemitism.

"This is where millions of Jews were killed during the Holocaust," he emphasized. "This is just one of the areas where the horrific crimes took place. It's very important that the mesage goes out that this never happens again - that the atmosphere for this is never created again. That we do not pave the way for these crimes to happen again."

Edoctrinated and raised to hate Jews, Tawhidi said that he "never thought that I would ever come here to pay my respects. I was someone who hated the Jews and the Jewish nation - it's time we woke up and became human beings for real."

During his video address, Tawhidi also criticized the US Congress saying that "it should be focusing on serving the American people, it should not be a platform for Islamist members of the American government to preach their hate against the Jewish people.

He took several jabs at Representatives Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota who he called "absolute frauds and Islamists" adding that they "promote hatred agaist th Jewish people.

I am proud to be the first *Shia* Muslim Imam to pay his respects at Auschwitz. #NeverAgain #WeRemember pic.twitter.com/DIkrT2Mkkz
— Imam Mohamad Tawhidi (@Imamofpeace) February 3, 2019

Patriots’ Julian Edelman becomes first-ever Jewish player to win Super Bowl MVP

The Patriots’ Julian Edelman was selected as the Super Bowl MVP while helping lift the Patriots to a 13-3 victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday night, apparently becoming the first-ever Jewish player to win the honor.

Edelman was forced to watch only as a spectator a year ago as his disappointed Patriots teammates trudged off the field as Super Bowl losers.

Catch after catch in this one, Tom Brady’s favorite wide receiver helped make them winners again as Edelman had 10 receptions for 141 yards.

The two met at midfield with confetti flying, and embraced for several moments — eyes filled with the tears of champions.

“I’m pretty ecstatic,” Edelman said. “I’m emotionally pooped. I’m physically and emotionally pooped.”

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