06/17 Links Pt2: Why neo-Nazis Love the BDS Movement So Much; French Jews face trinity of hate from left, right, and Islamists, says author; Birthright: Why the Controversy? ~ EoZ

From Ian:

Petra Marquardt-Bigman: Why neo-Nazis Love the BDS Movement So Much (click via tweet at the bottom)

It’s been clear for quite some time that "progressive" spaces have a problem with "Zionists"and their "offensive" symbols – including any flags with the most recognizable Jewish symbol, the Star of David, on them.

That must be why, when progressive protesters countered a small Ku Klux Klan demonstration in Dayton, Ohio they tried to burn an Israeli flag. Their passionate "anti-Zionism" must have prompted burning the Jewish state's flag to equate it with KKK white supremacy.

But it's increasingly clear that a similar antipathy for "Zios" energizes the far right. Last weekend, a neo-Nazi, who had come with his buddies to protest the Detroit Pride parade, felt the urge to demonstrate that Jew-haters can also be anti-Zionists when he urinated on an Israeli flag. And the small neo-Nazi German party Die Rechte campaigned for the recent EU elections with the slogan: "Israel is our misfortune."

That’s quite the common denominator. If, as a progressive, you claim to take the fight against the oldest hatred seriously and find yourself on the same side as neo-Nazis, it’s arguably time to reconsider your views.

Which leads to the critical question: what has facilitated this meeting of minds, rhetoric and action? My answer: the tireless efforts of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.

BDS supporters on the far left and far right are only too happy to support the claim that anti-Zionism has nothing whatsoever to do with anti-Semitism – and to assert that in fact it is Zionism that equals racism. But if you insist on treating Israel as the Jew of the nations, don’t feign outrage when that is considered anti-Semitic. (h/t IsaacStorm)

"If, as a progressive, you claim to take the fight against the oldest hatred [anti-Semitism] seriously and find yourself on the same side as neo-Nazis, it’s arguably time to reconsider your views."

An excellent Haaretz piece by @WarpedMirrorPMB: https://t.co/Gir91ms70b
— Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) June 16, 2019

French Jews face trinity of hate from left, right, and Islamists, says author

If France has no monopoly on anti-Semitism in all its vile, even homicidal, manifestations, it’s haunted by its checkered record involving Jews. In 1791, France became the first country in western Europe to emancipate its Jews. It also has many dark chapters, including the Dreyfus Affair, in which a Jewish captain in the French army was framed and falsely convicted in 1894 of spying for Germany, resulting from and feeding already pervasive anti-Semitic sentiment. More notoriously, during World War II, France’s fascist Vichy regime actively collaborated with the Nazis in deporting 75,000 Jews to death camps in the 1940s.

Today, given this charged history and the fact that France’s half-million strong Jewish community is the world’s second-largest outside Israel, what happens to French Jews commands interest far beyond its borders. Indeed, foreign media have long reported on anti-Semitism in France.

In fact, Weitzmann’s book sprouted from a series of five 4,000-word reportages he wrote in 2014 for the US-based Jewish online magazine, Tablet.

“The dismissal of anti-Semitic aspects of what was going on in France at the time by both the media and public authorities made me look abroad to publish my series,” says Weitzmann, who’s written for major French newspapers. “I went to Tablet because I felt French media wouldn’t be interested in publishing what I wanted to do. Even outside France, there weren’t many places where I could publish such a lengthy, in-depth look at this subject.”

Weitzmann had long been troubled by anti-Semitism in France, especially two murder cases French authorities initially refused to treat as hate crimes. In 2006, a gang, led by an openly anti-Semitic Muslim, abducted and killed Ilan Halimi, a 23-year-old Parisian Jew. In 2012, a jihadist gunman opened fire at a Jewish day school in Toulouse, killing three children and a rabbi. However, it was a demonstration in Paris in early 2014 that prompted Weitzmann’s series.

“The situation for Jews in France had actually been bad since the early 2000s,” says Weitzmann. “Synagogues had been attacked in the suburbs and there were several anti-Semitic murders. But in January 2014, something changed. That month, you had this far-right protest march in Paris called Day of Wrath where you heard for the first time since the 1930s, people crying out anti-Semitic slogans in the streets of Paris. Among them was ‘Jew, France is not yours!’ From then on, you had a dramatic rise in anti-Semitic incidents.”

The following year, French right wing comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, who has been convicted several times for anti-Jewish incitement, popularized an arm gesture widely seen as an inverted Nazi salute and intended as an expression of anti-Semitism. Some Yellow Vests protestors have used it at demonstrations, a few of which Dieudonné has attended with right wing, anti-Semitic writer Alain Soral, who recently was sentenced to a year in prison for Holocaust denial. (h/t IsaacStorm)

HonestReporting Prompts Improved Guardian Headline on Planned ‘Trump’ Village

With Sunday’s unveiling of a plaque marking the site of a planned village in the Golan to be named after United States President Donald Trump, media coverage was assured, and the vast majority of news outlets managed to keep their comments accurate and fair.

Not The Guardian.

Despite the fact that the plaque unveiling was merely symbolic, the Guardian’s headline informed readers that Israel has in fact already “built” a settlement in Trump’s honor. “Israeli settlement called Trump built on conquered land”

This is, of course, false. With no budget allocated, no planning done, no final location decided for the project, and not even so much as a binding decision to actually oversee the construction of Ramat Trump, (Trump Heights in Hebrew,) no building whatsoever has been undertaken.

HonestReporting swiftly called the Guardian out on social media, including Facebook and Twitter, and the Guardian consequently renamed the article to more accurately reflect the reality: “‘Trump Heights’: Israeli settlement in Golan named after US president.”

Though the revised headline could make clear that Trump Heights is only being planned at this stage, and has not yet received funding or a government mandate, it at least doesn’t claim that it has already been “built”.

Appreciative Laughter Greets Malaysian PM’s Antisemitic Barb at Cambridge University Appearance

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad — infamous for his antisemitic views across several decades — delivered an anti-Jewish barb that was greeted with laughter during an appearance at the Cambridge University Union in the UK on Sunday night.

The 93-year-old was responding to a respectfully-posed question from the event moderator who asked him, “Why do you say that the Jewish people in general are inclined towards money? There are lots of Jews who care about human rights, care about social justice, care about democracy.”

Mahathir answered: “I have some Jewish friends, very good friends. They are not like the other Jews, that’s why they are my friends.”

This comment was met with an appreciative peal of laughter that rippled across the audience. This was immediately followed by an awkward silence, during which Mahathir grinned at the moderator and then the audience.

At no point was Mahathir challenged or reprimanded by the moderator. There were no audible protests from the audience.

Mahathir also found an opportunity at the event to demonize the LGBTQ+ community with a rant against gay marriage that was approvingly reported in the Malaysian media.

“I don’t understand gay marriage. Marriage is about producing children. Do you get children in a gay marriage? What do they do? They adopt children and things like that,” said Mahathir, who was re-elected as Malaysia’s prime minister in 2018.

“I have some Jewish friends, very good friends. They are not like the other Jews, that’s why they are my friends"- Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad at the Cambridge Union last night.

The audience laughs.

Freedom of speech is not a joke when it incites hatred against one people. pic.twitter.com/2ZRrMDtfKy
— Union of Jewish Students (@UJS_UK) June 17, 2019

Why ‘Mein Kampf’ was published in Arabic, Turkish, Persian, but not Hebrew – yet

Israel is the world leader in Holocaust research. There is no aspect of Nazi Germany’s systematic annihilation of the Jewish people that Israeli historians have not delved into in great depth. And yet, no complete edition of Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf,” which laid the ideological foundation of Nazism and was arguably one of the most influential books of the 20th century, has ever been published in Hebrew.

The book was translated into at least 16 languages — including Arabic, Persian and Turkish — and in 1933 Chaim Weizmann, who would later become Israel’s first president, was instrumental in rendering parts of it into English. But 94 years after it was first published in Germany, Hebrew speakers have never had the opportunity to read the hateful screed in its entirety.

“Israeli Holocaust and German Jewry researchers have included a number of excerpts of ‘Mein Kampf’ in their textbooks, and of course referred their students to the relevant chapters in the English version of the book in courses discussing Nazism and the Holocaust in Europe. But nothing further,” historian Oded Heilbronner notes in an article for a new German anthology about various translations of the Nazi manifesto.

“To this day, no attempt has been made to translate and distribute a Hebrew version of the entire book,” he writes — though he himself is currently planning to publish precisely such an edition in the coming months.

In the mid-1990s, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem released, in a very limited edition, a partial translation. Members of Knesset from across the political spectrum promptly denounced the decision to publish parts of the book in the holy tongue, with more than one lawmaker wanting it to be banned lest the text harm the “spiritual health” of the nation.

That Hebrew University venture came to life after Holocaust survivor Dan Yaron, who had spent years translating the book on his own initiative, approached Moshe Zimmermann, who at the time headed the university’s Institute for German History.

JPost Editorial: Berlin’s Jewish problem

The director of Berlin’s Jewish Museum, Peter Schäfer, resigned last week following severe criticism from Germany’s Jewish community over the museum’s support for BDS efforts in the country.

At issue was Schäfer’s behavior amid incidents that stretched back years, but “the final straw,” according to Josef Schuster, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, was a tweet sent out June 6 by the museum’s spokeswoman, encouraging Twitter followers to read an article critical of the German parliament’s passage of a resolution declaring the BDS movement antisemitic.

Putting aside the issue of BDS itself, what does it have to do with a Jewish museum? And not any Jewish museum, but one in Germany – and not just one in Germany, but the Berlin showcase, ever since Daniel Libeskind first sketched his plans for the celebrated zigzag-shaped building.

Opened in 2001, it now attracts 700,000 visitors annually, a destination it itself describes as a “place for reflection” on Jewish history, culture, migration and diversity in Germany.

So what does that have to do with the Bundestag voting on the BDS movement? At a time when Germany’s government commissioner on antisemitism suggests that Jews should not always wear their kippah in public, in the wake of a spike in anti-Jewish attacks in Germany, the BDS resolution should have nothing to do with a cultural institution whose mission is explaining Jewish traditions, history and art.

We again salute the Bundestag for its courageous action, for becoming the first European parliament to officially define and state clearly how BDS uses antisemitic methods to promote its political goals.

“‘Don’t buy’ stickers of the BDS movement on Israeli products remind one of inevitable associations with the Nazi call ‘Don’t buy from Jews,’ and other corresponding graffiti on facades and shop windows,” said the non-binding parliament resolution.

MEMRI: National Commission Needed To Monitor And Combat Anti-Semitism

The following is an op-ed by MEMRI Executive Director Steven Stalinsky that was originally published in The Hill on May 25, 2019.

Following the recent successful and many attempted attacks on Jewish targets inside the U.S., there has been a great deal of condemnation of anti-Semitism, but almost no conversation about what to do about it. On Capitol Hill, there have been multiple statements; earlier this month, in a strongly worded bipartisan Resolution in the Senate, 39 Republicans and five Democrats expressed their commitment to combating all forms of anti-Semitism. While this and other resolutions have powerfully denounced the attacks on the Jewish community, what is needed is a plan of action to fight it.

In addition to the shootings at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pa., and the Chabad synagogue in Poway, Calif., there has been a recent slew of thwarted attacks on other synagogues and Jewish targets. Among those arrested for plotting attacks were a U.S. Army veteran who had sworn loyalty to ISIS and sought to cause "mass casualties," including against Jews; a man with his head wrapped in a kaffiyeh outside a synagogue brandishing a sword like an ISIS fighter about to behead a prisoner; a man planning to join ISIS and to attack a Montana synagogue; another expressing intent to execute White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and family for being Jewish. Additionally, an Ohio man was arrested and charged with planning a Tree of Life-style attack on a Toledo-area synagogue in the name of ISIS, telling a federal agent: "I admire what the guy [i.e. the Tree of Life shooter] did... I can see myself carrying out this type of operation inshallah."

The Jewish community is now actively training and preparing for such attacks. Exercises involving dozens of law enforcement personnel and representatives from Jewish groups have examined imaginary scenarios of simultaneous attacks against multiple targets in the U.S. And while last year's successful deadly attacks were all by white supremacists and calls now are for directing focus and resources against this threat instead of the jihadi threat, there is a need to focus on both. A major reason why there has been no jihadi attacks on Jewish targets is because of extensive counterterrorism efforts.

Additionally, over the past two years, sermons and lectures at U.S. mosques – many of them considered mainstream and celebrated for their interfaith work – have been inciting to violence against Jews. Because of the sensitive nature of this problem, there have, to date, been no serious efforts to address this issue.

Honest Reporting: Birthright: Why the Controversy?

Remaining Apolitical

Birthright Despite calls from left-wing groups such as IfNotNow and J-Street that Birthright is a right-wing organization, Birthright maintains that it is apolitical. However, left-wing groups claim that by not taking students to places like checkpoints and the West Bank, they are inherently being political.

Let’s be honest: Birthright knows its audience.

College campuses are more polarized than ever. In an annual survey of first year college students taken by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2016, a little over 42 percent of incoming college freshmen defined themselves as politically “middle of road,” the fewest percentage of moderates since the annual survey’s inception more than fifty years ago. The report also calls the 2016 incoming class “the most politically polarized” in its history.

If the goal of Birthright is to ensure Jewish continuity in the midst of a rising tide of assimilation and intermarriage, while at the same time appealing to a wide range of polarized political views, then the only solution is to not be political. If going to a settlement would anger liberals, and visiting a checkpoint would anger conservatives, then the only solution is to do what would satisfy the greatest number of people: Don’t do either.

Some Concluding Thoughts…

Something must be said about Birthright loud and clear: No one is forced to go on Birthright.

Birthright is just what it is described as – a gift that every Jewish young adult is entitled to. Just like any gift, one can politely decline.

Birthright also gives every participant the opportunity to extend their trip for a small cost and stay up to three months, during which participants are free and unrestricted to travel to places within Israel proper and the West Bank, talking to whomever they wish. There are plenty of low-cost programs that offer opportunities to travel to settlements, Palestinian cities and villages, and checkpoints in the West Bank. Information about these programs is just a Google search away.

In the social justice world, people often speak of privilege: white privilege, male privilege, etc. What about the privilege of Jewish identity? Of having had the ability to grow up learning about who you are and about Jewish values and history. Birthright is about equalizing that privilege. Leveling the playing field for all Jews, so that everyone has an opportunity to experience what it is like to be a part of a people – the Jewish People. Surely the opportunity Birthright provides outweighs any controversy.

Fighting BDS Online with Israel’s DigiTell Defenders

At the Jerusalem Post Conference in New York, special recognition was given to Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs and the DigiTell network for its pro-Israel online activism.

Established by the ministry last year, the DigiTell network consists of 100 bloggers and activists who have an on-line reach of 15 million people, communicate in five languages, defend Israel online, and combat BDS and antisemitism on a full-time basis.

Minister of Strategic Affairs Gilad Erdan presented awards to DigiTell representatives on stage. Aviva Klompas, representing the bloggers, pointed out that while Israel recently celebrated its 71st birthday, 100 generations of Jews dreamed of a sovereign state in the Land of Israel. “Freedom is not free,” she noted. “Since its first day, Israel has had to defend itself from hostile neighbors.”

Explaining the power of DigiTell, Klompas said: “To do something that has impact, a small group of people had an idea to connect a global community of activists to tell Israel’s incredible story and stand against those who would delegitimize the state. We can amplify our voices because we collaborate.”

Bhad Bhabie concert in Jordan canceled over Israel support

Bhad Bhabie - an American rapper best known for launching the "cash me outside" meme - is under fire in Jordan for her purported support of Israel.

Jordanian media reported on Monday that a concert by Bhad Bhabie - whose real name is Danielle Bregoli - slated for Amman on July 8 has been cancelled. The show was reportedly scrapped because Bregoli is also slated to host a concert in Tel Aviv on July 9.

The POP agency in Jordan announced the cancellation on its Instagram page early Monday morning.

"Unfortunately due to the artist's recent statements that violets [sic] our values & the contract between us and the artist, we are informing you that Bhad Bhabie's show is canceled," the statement read. "Thank you for understanding and we hope we don't fail to satisfy our audience in future events."

The BDS Jordan group took credit for the cancellation on Twitter on Monday.

"Our joint efforts to influence by sending messages to the organizers, venue and ticket sellers have resulted directly in influencing the decision of the organizers to cancel the event," BDS Jordan wrote on Twitter. "This collective victory would not have happened had we not stood united in the face of cultural normalization, one of the most dangerous tools used to penetrate our society."

Another Anti-Israel Academic Coming to Campus Near You

Usually by the time we hear about an anti-Israel professor at some university, it’s too late — she or he already has tenure, is chair of the department, or is so deeply entrenched in other ways that there’s simply no way to prevent him or her from turning young minds against Israel for decade after decade.

But once in a while, fate hands us an alert. Take the case of Kyle Stanton of Albany, New York. He hasn’t even finished his PhD yet, but he has already joined the world of academic Israel-haters. So get ready. Pretty soon he could be teaching your sons and daughters at their college.

Stanton is a PhD candidate and a teaching assistant at the State University of New York at Albany. During the past year or so, his articles have begun to appear in a variety of journals. Academic writing is among the prized stepping stones to a full-fledged university teaching position.

Stanton’s first published writings reveal that he has some very strong opinions about the Arab-Israeli conflict — and a profound bias against Israel.

His first book review appeared in the pages of the journal New Politics. He reviewed a book called War Against the People: Israel, the Palestinians, and Global Pacification. From the title alone, you can guess the theme of the book. Its author is Jeff Halper, a radical-left anthropologist who has publicly compared Israel to Nazi Germany.

But Stanton thought Halper’s book was just great. Most of the review consisted of quotes and paraphrases from the author, but occasionally, Stanton expressed his own views, which are quite similar to Halper’s. “How is Israel able to continually occupy Palestinian territory in contravention of international law?” Stanton asks. And “The Palestinians have become human test subjects for tactics and weapons that will be used in securitizing others across the globe.”

UK Media Watch prompts improved Daily Mail headline on Gaza girl’s death

Last week, we posted about a complaint we filed with the Daily Mail over the following headline accompanying a June 12th Associated Press (AP) article published on their website.

We noted that the initial claim, by anti-Israel media outlets, that Aisha Lulu, a five-year-old from Gaza who died a brain tumour, passed away alone in a Jerusalem hospital because COGAT refused to grant permission for family members to accompany her, was proven to be untrue weeks ago. The claim that authorities denied permission to Aisha’s family to accompany her was false, and the girl in fact died in Gaza after she was released, not in the Israeli hospital where she was treated.

Further, the actual Daily Mail/AP article never makes the claim – asserted in the headline – that the girl died alone.

Though editors initially refused to correct the headline, we filed an appeal, which was upheld.

Despite the fact that their new headline (“Sick Palestinian girl suffers lonely end”) is, in our view, still problematic, it is, nonetheless, a significant improvement over the original in that it no longer explicitly claims that the child “died alone”, and doesn’t attribute blame to the “Israeli permit regime”.

BBC’s Yolande Knell recycles her Jerusalem pride report – with a little help

As in her previous report, Knell amplified inadequately attributed politically motivated allegations of ‘pinkwashing’.

Knell: “There are also strong differences of opinion among gay Palestinians. Social and legal prohibitions on homosexuality mean they don’t have their own pride events so some with access to the Israeli parades embrace them, like an East Jerusalemite drag queen in a tight black dress and bright red lipstick. Others, like Zizou, choose to boycott. ‘Pride week just helps Israel pinkwash its image’ he complains, accusing the country of presenting itself as progressive, liberal and LGBT friendly to distract from its conflict with the Palestinians.”

Before closing her report Knell managed to get a reference to the ‘peace process’ into an item ostensibly about pride marches in Israel while giving an imaginative portrayal of the country’s current “political climate”.

Knell: “This year pride in Israel takes place in a febrile political climate. After a recent bitterly fought election, Mr Netanyahu looked set to form a new government but failed to do so. Now the country must vote again. The campaign’s unlikely to see much talk of peace with the Palestinians but issues of religion and state will be hotly contested once more. Many of those flying rainbow flags this month will be hoping for political changes but they won’t have to look far for proof of how tough those will be.”

And so, for the second time in a week, Knell’s message to BBC audiences in the UK was that the advancement of LGBTQ rights in Israel is held back by “Jewish ultra-orthodox parties” – with no mention of how Arab parties in the Knesset relate to that issue. Yet again Knell failed to inform Radio 4 listeners what LGBTQ rights in Israel do include, while the issue of “social and legal prohibitions on homosexuality” in Palestinian society and the wider region is obviously of no real interest to the BBC’s Middle East correspondent.

Context-free political slogans go unchallenged on BBC WS ‘Newshour’

After listeners had heard Nassar explain why he decided to found the museum, Marshall continued with a question apparently inspired by the museum’s press release:

Marshall: “You’re wanting to counter what might be described as…ehm…negative stereotypes of Palestinians as…as either victims or…or terrorists so what will visitors to the museum see to reflect a more positive image of Palestinians?”

Nassar: “Well the museum will show the Palestinian culture, Palestinian arts, will celebrate everything that’s related to Palestine like culture, food, poetry so, you know, showing the story, the culture, the arts of the Palestinian people. Our first exhibit is about reimagining the future. The question is, you know, we get all the time like why are you starting with the future? Why not the past? Our answer is that as oppressed people, right, like any other oppressed people around the world, it’s really hard for us to imagine a future that’s different from what we’re living right now and that said is that reimagining a positive future, imagining Palestinians with rights, Palestinians with freedom.”

Marshall: “I mean you say that you want to counter this view of Palestinians as victims and yet you have described them to me as an oppressed people.”

Nassar: “Right, right. Well it’s what’s happening. I mean it’s…this is what’s the reality on the ground. Palestinians are living under the occupation, under Israeli occupation, lands being confiscated, there is no water. That’s what’s happening. What we want to say that we have a rich culture. We have a beautiful dance, beautiful traditions. If you go to the West Bank right now, which is where I’m from, from Bethlehem, people not necessarily sitting around talking about the occupation all day, right. There is weddings, there is celebrations, there is life. There is so much positive contributions that as Palestinians we’re bringing to the whole world.”

Making no effort to inform listeners that, like the rest of the areas in which the majority of Palestinians live, Bethlehem has been under Palestinian Authority rule for twenty-four years and failing to provide any information at all which would put Nassar’s trite political slogans into context, Marshall asked a final question about the museum’s take-away messaging.

Hence in this item promoting what is essentially the continuation of a political project, BBC World Service listeners found no trace of the impartiality which is supposedly a required component in BBC reporting.

How one man unraveled the mystery of his mother’s Holocaust nightmare

Part history and part memoir, Goldman’s book mines the terror of his mother’s captivity, her unlikely survival and the long-term effects of her experience on both of their lives. Because Malka never shared many details about the war with her son it wasn’t until 2012, years after she died, that he summoned the courage to tell her story.
‘Left to the Mercy of a Rude Stream,’ by Stanley Goldman

“I set out to tell my mother’s story, her time in the camps, her rescue. I had not planned to write about my mother and me. But a friend of mine once said I am the epitome of children of survivors. Although there was a visceral pain of having to relive certain moments of my life, I realized I had to include my relationship with my mother,” said Goldman, director of Loyola University’s Center for the Study of Law and Genocide.

Because his mother spoke so little about her experience, save for one bedside interview, Goldman had several interviews with his mother’s friend Genya Morag (who survived the camps with her) and Genya’s daughter Dvora Morag. He researched the archives at Yad Vashem and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Additionally, he relied on previous research and articles he’d written for the Loyola Law School International and Comparative Law Review.

While delving into his mother’s story he discovered how chance often conspired for and against her.

To start, Malka was almost born in the United States.

Goldman’s grandfather and grandmother had arrived in the United States just after World War I. But they grew homesick and returned to their Polish shtetl, Biala Rawska, where the couple had nine more children, including Malka.

Israeli families struggle as their kids move back to Germany and Austria

On the surface, Gil Levanon and Kat Rohrer seem unlikely friends.

Levanon is an Israeli, the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor. Rohrer, an Austrian, is the granddaughter of an avowed Nazi officer. If their friendship seems a little odd, their collaboration on the documentary “Back to the Fatherland” makes perfect sense.

The film is about the exodus of many young Israelis spurred to emigrate mostly by economic issues or politics. But it focuses on two specific destinations that are of particular interest to the Israeli families whose offspring are leaving: Germany and Austria

For some Israeli Holocaust survivors, it’s hard to see their grandchildren return to the countries that, under the Nazis, sought to exterminate them.

Levanon and Rohrer’s collaboration goes back a decade, when they were students at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Rohrer’s thesis project was called “The Search,” for which she researched her family’s history and discovered a great-aunt who was banished when she married a Jewish man.

Levanon helped with the project, and they stayed in touch after graduation. Rohrer visited Levanon in Israel in 2013, and
inspiration struck as they were walking on the Tel Aviv beach.

Man Screams At Hasidic Jew In NYC: ‘Hitler Did Not Kill Enough’ ‘Rat Jews’

On Sunday evening, a man in New York City hurled vile anti-Semitic remarks at a Hasidic Jew who was on his way to visit Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson's resting place in preparation of the 25th anniversary of his passing.

The alleged assailant, who has not yet been identified, verbally attacked Menachem B. as Menachem was on his way to pay his respects to Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known to many as the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

"We were on our way in preparation for his 25th passing anniversary which is on July 6," Menachem told The Daily Wire.

According to Menachem, the man randomly approached him and his friend Moshe R. as they were leaving a barber shop in Brooklyn and began screaming at them: "You guys robbed me."

Menachem said that he tried to get the man to calm down so he could figure out what the man's problem was but then the man launched into hurling anti-Semitic remarks at them.

"Hitler didn't not, Hitler did not kill enough of f--king all you," the man can be seen screaming in one video. “Hitler did not kill enough. He had the right to kill all because [inaudible] rat Jews. The rat Jews."

Moshe's parents, who are both still alive, are both Holocaust survivors.

Polish stonemason workshop targeted for promoting Jewish memory

The workshop of a Polish stonemason was targeted by unknown hooligans on Sunday, Fundacja Zapomniane reported on social media.

Slurs against Jews were written on stone fragments in the man’s workshop. Authorities are looking into the case.

On Saturday, the foundation reported on social media that the mason, who created the original monument, was restoring it after it was vandalized by hooligans on June 8. The monument was created with the cooperation of the Matzevah Foundation.

The slurs written on it claim that Jewish Poles were involved with secret police used by the People's Republic of Poland to brutally reshape Poland as a socialist nation after the end of the war.

The attack caused great dismay to Jewish activists and Polish residents of the town who were "shocked to discover" this violation. The monument was created to honor the memory of local Jews murdered by Nazis in occupied Poland.

The string of attacks could mean that some local residents have decided to destroy and deface efforts to honor the town's local Jewish heritage.

Suspect in Brooklyn arson had tattoo reminding him to ‘KILL’ rabbi

A Pennsylvania man arrested in connection with suspected arson at the home of a Brooklyn rabbi has a long history of threats against the rabbi, including a tattoo on his arm reminding him to “KILL Rabbi Max.”

Menachem Karelefsky of McKeesport, Pennsylvania was arrested by officers from the New York Police Department at about 1:30 a.m. on Sunday and charged with two counts of attempted murder and one count of arson, media reports said.

Thirteen people, including a 6-week-old baby, were injured in the early Friday morning fire. None of the injuries were life-threatening, although 12 people were sent to the hospital, including nine civilians, two firefighters and an EMS medic.

Karelefsky, who also goes by the name Matthew, posted on various social media sites that the homeowner, Rabbi Jonathan Max, a teacher at the Chaim Berlin Yeshiva, molested him in the yeshiva’s dormitory.

And, according to the New York Post, even had a tattoo on his army reminding him to “Never let go of the HATRED – KILL Rabbi Max YEMACH SHMO.” The final two words are a Hebrew term calling for his name to be obliterated from memory.

Palestinian Contractors Poised for Riches From Israeli Tech Firm’s Takeover

Palestinian engineers working for Israeli chip designer Mellanox Technologies are poised to share a $3.5 million payout when the company’s takeover by US chip supplier Nvidia Corp is completed.

Mellanox is one of a handful of Israeli firms that have begun to collaborate with the emerging Palestinian tech scene, bypassing the political conflict to tap a growing pool of engineers at costs they say are comparable to hiring from engineering expertise in India or Ukraine.

The chip maker offered stock options to more than 100 Palestinian engineers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip when it hired them as contractors, even though they are not permanent staff, as a shortage of engineers in Israel makes their skills highly sought after by multinationals.

Mellanox says its Palestinian designers and coders, outsourced through software firm ASAL Technologies, will now be able to exercise those options after Nvidia’s $6.8 billion takeover closes at the end of 2019, and stand to collectively earn as much as $3.5 million.

“We’re very proud they have equity, the same as all other employees in the company,” Mellanox Chief Executive Eyal Waldman told Reuters in an interview.

“Thirty, forty thousand dollars for an employee in the West Bank or in Gaza is a lot of money,” Waldman added, noting that unemployment there hovers at around 40 percent.

The median daily wage in the West Bank is $28 and just $11 in Gaza, according to the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute.

Israel enters World Bank partnership to boost cybersecurity in developing world

Israel on Monday said it has joined the Digital Development Partnership (DDP) of the World Bank to promote digitalization and cybersecurity in the developing world.

By joining the partnership, Israel will for the first time join hands with a global community of developers from Japan, the UK, Finland, Denmark, and Norway and entities like the GSMA, a trade body that represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide, to provide technical assistance to countries in Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia, and build up their cybersecurity resilience.

As part of the agreement with the World Bank, Israel will contribute $1 million into the partnership’s multi-donor trust fund to get access to shared information and developments. In parallel, Israel will make its entrepreneurs and academics available to offer advice and sharing their knowledge with developing countries.

“There is a great demand from African and Asian countries for Israeli knowledge of cybersecurity,” said Yigal Unna, the director general of Israel’s National Cyber Directorate, in a statement. “The agreement will allow the Israeli cyber industry and academy to contribute from its vast knowledge and will continue to position Israel at the forefront of global action in the field of cyber capabilities.”

Israeli tech company says it can break into all iPhones ever made, some Androids

An Israeli company that specializes in helping law enforcement agencies break into cellphones announced it has found a way to break into any iPhone ever made, as well as many Android phones.

The Petah Tikva-based Cellebrite was reportedly the company the FBI used in 2016 to hack into the iPhone of the San Bernardino shooter after Apple refused the US government’s request to build a backdoor into its famously secure operating system.

The announcement from Cellebrite came in the form of an update this week to its website promoting the iPhone-hacking technology, dubbed “UFED Premium,” as “the only on-premise solution for law enforcement agencies to unlock and extract crucial mobile phone evidence from all iOS and high-end Android devices.”

The product enables a full file system extraction, allowing, in effect, a copy of the phone’s data to be transferred to a client’s computer. It lets law enforcement agencies obtain “access to 3rd party app data, chat conversations, downloaded emails and email attachments, deleted content and more,” the company boasts. “Increase your chances of finding the incriminating evidence and bringing your case to a resolution,” it says in its sales pitch.

It also highlights its ability to recover “unallocated data,” or the sometimes still-recoverable remnants of deleted files.

Cellebrite’s technology does not work remotely. It requires a specially designed device to be physically connected to the phone being hacked.

Jim Jefferies returning to Israel this year

Australian-American comedian Jim Jefferies is slated to return to Israel later this year for a stand-up show in Tel Aviv.

Jefferies's show, scheduled for December 21, will be his third in the country, after appearances in 2016 and 2018. The world-famous stand-up comedian is also the host of the Comedy Central show The Jim Jefferies Show, and has filmed several comedy specials for Netflix.

Jefferies is known for his outlandish and vulgar comedy style, and being an equal-opportunity offender.

And he's not afraid to make fun of his host country.

“Stop fighting over this land, it’s not that good,” he said during his set in Tel Aviv in early 2018. “I mean, it’s nice, it’s just not worth the argument, you know? I’ll give you Tazmania or something... Florida maybe.”

During his 2018 visit to Israel, Jefferies filmed two separate segments on the country that later aired on his Comedy Central show. One segment spotlighted the very small anti-circumcision movement in the country, while the other brought a Muslim, a Jew and a Christian together in a bar in Jerusalem to try and "bring peace."

Neil Patrick Harris Celebrates Tel Aviv's 21st Pride Parade

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis and tourists poured into the streets of Tel Aviv on Friday for the city's annual Pride March -- the largest in the Middle East and one of the 10 largest in the world. The colorful march through the streets of Israel's bustling seaside metropolis began at noon, ending in a massive beach party at Charles Clore Park that caps off a week of events celebrating the city's vibrant gay scene, including the first National Conference on LGBT issues as well as art exhibitions, lectures, and all-night parties. Among the 250,000 people taking part in this year's march is American actor and Broadway star Neil Patrick Harris, who was selected as this year's International Pride Ambassador. “I am excited to be in the Pride parade; it’s my first ever Pride parade so I thought I’d start small,” the "How I Met Your Mother" and "Doogie Howser" actor quipped at a press conference Thursday. “I’ll be the guy dancing with his shirt off on one of those floats,” he joked.

Moe Berg’s life as ballplayer and spy, this time as a documentary

Moe Berg’s 15-year career as a major league shortstop, catcher and coach in the 1920s and ’30s wasn’t much to speak of, but his story keeps being told in about as many ways as there are to tell it.

A Columbia Law School graduate who played for the Chicago White Sox, Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox and others, Berg is best known for working as a spy for the Office of Strategic Services, a predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency, during World War II.

His exploits include intelligence-gathering trips to Italy and Switzerland to uncover secrets about the Nazi nuclear program.

Berg’s story has been told in a nonfiction book and a feature film, but veteran filmmaker Aviva Kempner thought his story also deserved a full-length documentary. “The Spy Behind Home Plate” is in selected theaters nationwide.

Kempner, who lives in Washington, D.C., and is the director or producer of four previous documentaries, spoke with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency via email.

JTA: The story of Moe Berg has been told at least twice before — in the 1994 biography by Nicholas Dawidoff, “The Catcher Was a Spy,” and in the 2018 scripted movie of the same name starring Paul Rudd. What does your documentary add to what we know about Berg?

Kempner: I had the advantage of incorporating 18 interviews conducted from 1987 to 1991 by filmmakers Jerry Feldman and Neil Goldstein for “The Best Gloveman in the League,” which was never completed. Their interviews were archived at Princeton, and The Ciesla Foundation supported digitizing them for use in “The Spy Behind Home Plate.”

Their archival interviews include Moe’s brother, Dr. Sam Berg; Berg’s fellow players center fielder Dom DiMaggio, and pitchers Elden Auker and Joseph Cascarella; fellow OSS members Horace Calvert, William Colby and John Lansdale. Two interviews with former OSS members Earl Brodie and Edwin Putzell, conducted by ESPN for its “SportsCentury-Moe Berg” biography, were also included.

I also think the courage and accomplishments of the OSS, our too short-lived intelligence agency, should inspire numerous feature films, more documentaries and even a heroic television series.

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