07/24 Links Pt2: The Forward Opinion Page Defends “Pay-to-Slay”; BDS, Omar Shakir, and Israel Eliminationism; A CAIR Leader’s Consequence-Free Antisemitism ~ EoZ

From Ian:

The Forward Opinion Page Defends “Pay-to-Slay”

Last December, the Forward gaslit Jews with the claim that “‘From The River To The Sea’ Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means,” an opinion piece by University of Arizona professor Maha Nassar. In January, the publication gave space to Ariel Gold, an activist with the pro-Iran, pro-Maduro group Code Pink, to advocate for housing discrimination against Jews. This month, the publication once again defies all credible expectations, hitting yet another new low with justifications for Palestinian Authority payments to terrorists who murder Jews. (“Does The Palestinian Authority ‘Pay To Slay’ Jews? Here’s How We Palestinians See It,” July 10.)

In the second paragraph, author Muhammad Shehada claims “Pay to Slay” is a “canard” that has been debunked by the Washington Post. This is grossly dishonest. The Post fact-check to which he refers took issue only with the claimed total amount of the payments, $350 million, that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted in a speech – but the Post’s piece acknowledges, without caveat, that such payments are in fact being made: “the State Department, by law, already deducts from its Palestinian aid budget a figure that represents the amount of money the Palestinian Authority pays to people convicted of terrorism. The exact number is classified ….”

The same Post article continues, “in the Palestinian Authority’s budget, one can find $350 million in annual payments to Palestinian prisoners, ‘martyrs’ and injured, but can one with certainty say they are all terrorists?”

BDS, Omar Shakir, and Israel Eliminationism

BDS and the accompanying delegitimization are also closely correlated with violent attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions. Data published by the UK Community Security Trust (CST) shows that when reports of clashes in Gaza increase, often quoting accusations from HRW and other NGOs, the number of antisemitic incidents also goes up. HRW and other members of the NGO network ignore the antisemitic implications of their campaigns.

To promote this demonizing agenda, Shakir and other BDS campaigners need to sell the defamatory mythology that Zionism, unique among nationalisms, is racism; that Israel is a uniquely evil pariah (racist, apartheid, genocidal) state - worse than Iran, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela, China; and that Israel uniquely fits the description of a “colonial settler state” that deserves to be eliminated. HRW and BDS allies have not invested resources in campaigns to boycot Russia over the occupation in Ukraine; or China regarding Tibet and the suppression of human rights in Hong Kong; or Turkey over its occupation of northern Cyprus, to cite a few examples.

For these reasons, in 2009, Robert Bernstein, who founded HRW in the 1970s, condemned the leaders of his own organization in an opinion piece in the New York Times. HRW’s activities and biases, he declared, played a leading role in turning Israel into a pariah state. Later, he detailed the criticism of the bias, false accusations, and demonization. But Roth and the HRW Middle East division leaders, steeped in anti-Israel campaigns, expanded the efforts and hired BDS activist Shakir.

All of this is vital to the context of the case being heard in the High Court, and goes far beyond the legal issues of whether the State’s refusal to renew Shakir’s work visa is lawful. Antisemitism and eliminationism are moral and political concepts, and will remain even if Shakir is technically allowed to stay.

Regardless of the High Court’s decision, Shakir has been exposed as a major activist in the elimination campaign. And far beyond the legal arena, HRW and Shakir, like Corbyn and his ilk, are clearly in violation of basic moral norms.

NGO Monitor: Omar Shakir Fact Sheet

In October 2016, Human Rights Watch (HRW) hired Omar Shakir to serve as its “Israel and Palestine Country Director.” Shakir has been a consistent supporter of a one-state framework and advocate for BDS (boycotts, divestment, sanctions) campaigns, fitting the longstanding HRW practice of hiring anti-Israel activists to serve in key positions relating to Israel.

In May 2018, due to Shakir’s BDS ties, the Israeli Ministry of Interior chose not to renew his work visa. HRW and Shakir have been challenging this decision in Israeli courts. In April 2019, he lost his case in the Jerusalem District Court and immediately appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court. The hearing will take place on July 25, 2019. While Shakir regularly assails Israel for its “lack of democracy,” in fact, the Israeli courts allowed him to remain in the country during his appeal process despite having no obligation to do so.

Omar Shakir’s background and history of anti-Israel activity exemplifies the organization’s troubling ideological approach to Israel and retreat from the universal principles of human rights.

High Court changes tune about quick hearing to expel HRW official

In a surprise move, the High Court of Justice postponed Thursday’s hearing on whether the Israel and Palestine director for Human Rights Watch could be deported for calls he made to boycott Israel.

After the court had earlier fast-tracked the case, the postponement left many scratching their heads.

Omar Shakir, the HRW official, has been fighting government efforts to use a 2017 law to expel him for his alleged support of boycotting Israel for 14 months. Shakir denies the charge, saying that he criticizes Israel in an attempt to improve its human rights record just as the HRW criticizes other countries.

Following a long battle before the Jerusalem District Court in which the government and a range of outside groups, such as NGO Monitor, obtained an order to expel him, Shakir appealed to the High Court. NGO Monitor is neutral on whether he must be expelled, but wants him to “own” his outlook.

The High Court appeared to side with Shakir by freezing the order to expel him, and pushing off the hearing until November. However, following additional efforts by the state and some of right-wing NGOs, the court was convinced to move up the date by nearly four months to July 25.

This decision itself was highly unusual, as the court typically delays cases and rarely expedites them. This makes the latest decision on Wednesday even rarer.

5 Jewish things to know about Boris Johnson

For British Jews, Johnson is a mixed bag because of his record on Israel, his own Jewish roots and his apparent disregard for how many Britons expect senior politicians to speak about religious minorities.

1. Brexit on one side, Labour on the other.
Unlike May, Johnson is a hardliner and longtime supporter of Brexit. In other words, he has committed himself to getting the United Kingdom out of the European Union no matter what, with or without a deal with EU officials (May had desperately tried to strike a deal).

This is risky because a no-deal Brexit would likely slow down the economy, which in turn could increase the chances that Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is elected after Johnson. Many British Jews believe that this would pose an existential threat to their community because of the explosion of anti-Semitism in Labour since Corbyn became its leader in 2015.

2. Boris feels Jewish (sometimes).
Johnson’s maternal great-grandfather, Elias Avery Lowe, was a Moscow-born Jew born to a textile merchant. Johnson confirmed this in a 2007 interview for the Jewish Chronicle.

“I feel Jewish when I feel the Jewish people are threatened or under attack, that’s when it sort of comes out,” Johnson said. “When I suddenly get a whiff of anti-Semitism, it’s then that you feel angry and protective.”

3. Still, Jews had complaints when he was mayor …
Throughout his tenure as London mayor, Johnson consistently ignored pleas from Jewish groups to ban the infamous pro-Palestinian Al Quds Day marches through London — events that have featured calls to kill Jews along with other anti-Semitic language and imagery. It was only last year that London police said they would intervene at the event to stop Hezbollah flags from flying. The move came with Sadiq Khan, a Labour politician and practicing Muslim, as mayor.

BREAKING: British FM @BorisJohnson announces @UN_HRC that unless they remove Agenda Item 7 which targets Israel alone in every session—a treatment he called “damaging to the cause of peace”—the UK “shall move next year to vote against all resolutions” introduced under that label. pic.twitter.com/7hBuCFjbPv
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) June 18, 2018

Priti Patel, previously ousted over Israel meetings, named UK home secretary

Priti Patel, who resigned as UK aid minister in 2017 over unauthorized meetings with senior Israeli officials, was named as home secretary by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday.

Patel quit in November 2017 after it emerged that she held a series of meeting with Israeli leaders — including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — about allocating aid to the Israeli army’s Syrian relief efforts, without properly informing the government.

Patel had apologized for holding 12 separate meetings during a family holiday to Israel in August of that year without notifying the Foreign Office or Downing Street in advance.

The Jewish Chronicle reported at the time that Patel had informed 10 Downing Street of the meetings and had been advised to keep a sit-down with Israeli Foreign Ministry official Yuval Rotem in New York off the list of meetings she disclosed to save face for the Foreign Office. Downing Street denied the claims as “categorically untrue.”

J Post Editorial: Save Labour Party

The Board of Deputies of British Jews issued a statement after the program saying that Corbyn and his allies “are personally responsible for having turned a once-great, anti-racist party into a cesspit of antisemitism.”

In February, Jewish MP Luciana Berger called Labour “institutionally antisemitic” and quit the party, along with 10 others this year. But Corbyn’s personal track record, going back a decade, makes it impossible for him to root out antisemitism in Labour. Corbyn called Hamas and Hezbollah his friends, and claimed that Hamas is “an organization that is dedicated towards the good of the Palestinian people and bringing about peace and social justice and political justice…”

In 2014, he stood by as others laid flowers on the graves of Palestinian terrorists who murdered Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972.

This represents open support for those who call for, and work to advance, the genocide of world Jewry. Such a man cannot root out antisemitism in Labour until he roots it out of himself. He does not seem to understand that his is the most virulent antisemitism of our time.

However the British do understand the odor of the new antisemitism wafting through the Labour Party. Indeed, 87% of British Jews believe that Corbyn is himself an antisemite, according to a poll conducted by the Jewish Chronicle in March.

The good news is that the party faithful are starting to rebel, starting to take back Labour: two-fifths of party members want Corbyn to resign before the next general election, while 27% agreed that Corbyn should step down immediately.

Unless he denounces this genocidally antisemitic sentiment in his party, we urge Labour Party members to disavow Corbyn who could potentially become head of state of one of the most important countries in the world. Corbyn must radically reform his form of antisemitism, or Labour must make sure he leaves the world stage.

New Revelations About Antisemitism in the UK Labour Party

The BBC Panorama documentary on antisemitism in the British Labour Party, broadcast on July 10, has unleashed a torrent of reactions. A number of these are important new developments.

Probably the most spectacular was a full page advertisement paid for by 67 Labour Lords in the liberal daily The Guardian. They represent about one-third of all Labour Lords. They accused party leader Jeremy Corbyn of not having defended Labour’s anti-racist values. Their key statement was: “The Labour Party welcomes everyone* irrespective or race, creed, gender identity, or sexual orientation (*except, it seems, Jews).” They added: “This is your legacy, Mr Corbyn.”

It was telling that these Lords did not write an open letter. They were apparently trying to maximize their audience about their disagreement with the party leader. Quotes from the advert were picked up by other British media outlets.

An additional front of dissent opened between Labour staff members and the party’s leadership. Staff members affiliated with the major GMB trade union voted 124 in favor — with only four against — for a motion condemning the Labour press office’s response to the BBC documentary.

Meghan McCain vs. Beto O’Rourke: How dare you compare the people at Trump’s rally to a Nuremberg rally?

He did in fact compare Trump’s “send her back” rally last week to a Nuremberg rally. Not on “The View” but in a separate interview with ABC News:

McCain was ready for him when he joined her panel today. She got warmed up by reminding him that he’s now at zero percent in the polls and trailing Marianne Williamson in a recent survey of New Hampshire…

…before they got into it over the “send her back” stuff, which, as you’ll see in the clip below, ends up essentially as a rehash of the “deplorables” episode from 2016 using different terminology. Do you really mean to say that all Trump fans at that rally were deplorables/Nazis, McCain asks incredulously? Nope, says O’Rourke. In fact, not even Hillary claimed *all* Trumpers were “deplorable.” Her estimate when she made her infamous remark on the trail three years ago was that half were, with the other half composed of people who felt that the government had let them down. “Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well,” she said at the time. That was her attempt to convince gettable right-wing Trump supporters that she wasn’t talking about them, she was talking about those other people. But that’s too cute, McCain complains. If you’re going to use heavy rhetorical artillery like Nuremberg comparisons or claims that Trump is running “concentration camps” at the border, don’t be surprised if there’s electoral collateral damage. Some of the people in the not-deplorable group who’ve been to rallies and/or disagree that the only alternative to “concentration camps” is to let everyone in who wants to come may think you’re referring to them.

Ilhan Omar 'Disgusted' by Muslim Woman Asking Her to Condemn FGM

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) lambasted a female Muslim audience member Tuesday for asking her to renounce female genital mutilation (FGM), a practice common in Omar’s native Somalia.

Omar was reportedly taking questions an event for the Muslim Collective for Equitable Democracy event when Muslim audience member Ani Osman-Zonneveld of Muslims for Progressive Values asked Omar to condemn FGM.

Omar said she was “disgusted” by people who ask Muslim politicians specific questions on issues and groups embraced by extreme members of their religion – such as FGM, al-Qaeda, and Hamas – and called it a “waste” of time.

“I am, I think, quite disgusted I think to be honest that as Muslim legislators, we are constantly being asked to waste our time speaking to issues that other people are not asked to speak to because of the assumption exist that we somehow support and are for [the issue],” Omar said, according to BuzzFeed News.

She urged audience members to think twice before asking Muslim lawmakers questions, pressing them to ensure that it is a “proper question that they would probably ask any member of Congress, any legislator, [or] any politician.”

While Omar condemned FGM as “abhorrent,” she continued to focus on the sentiment of the question, claiming that she and fellow “Squad” member and Muslim Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) are held to different standards than non-Muslim members of Congress.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) explodes at an audience member who asked her if she could condemn female genital mutilation

Omar responds by saying the question is "appalling" and she is "disgusted" to be asked if she condemns "al-Qaeda," "FGM," and "Hamas," saying it's a "waste" of time pic.twitter.com/9Ipl55wig9
— Molly Prince (@mollyfprince) July 23, 2019

A CAIR Leader’s Consequence-Free Antisemitism

He’s a public figure who repeatedly preaches about the evil done by Jews. They are accursed, he said last month, justifying the claim with scripture. They incurred God’s justifiable wrath, he said in 2012, also citing scripture.

And today, he argues that the Jewish state of Israel is partly to blame when American police officers kill unarmed black people.

This might sound like Louis Farrakhan, but it’s not. It’s not even someone generally regarded as a fringe character. These blatantly antisemitic statements come from Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)’s Michigan office.

He’s also an assistant imam at Masjid Wali Muhammad in Detroit. In a June 21 khutbah, or sermon, Walid railed against sexual immorality, particularly adultery, sodomy, and lesbianism, saying that “even us here in this society that is majority non-Muslim, if we want to protect the society, to help the society be healthy, then we have to be involved in promoting that which is just and wholesome, and forbid that which is unjust and not wholesome.”

That sounds like a call to prohibit homosexuality. Societies which “openly promote sin” lose Allah’s favor, he said. “Allah will not change a condition of a people until they change what is inside of themselves.”

Jews provided his historical examples.

Lebanese-American Delays Opening Burger Joint With Israeli Ties After Receiving Threats

A Lebanese-American delayed the opening of a hamburger franchise with Israeli roots after receiving threats from anti-Israel activists.

Sam Zahir planned to open a franchise of the burger chain Burgerim in Dearborn, Mich., according to The Detroit Free Press. He made the decision to delay its opening indefinitely after receiving threats from people opposed to the burger restaurant's Israeli origins.

Burgerim, which combines the word "burger" with the Hebrew suffix "-im," meaning "many burgers," was founded in 2011 by an Israeli woman and opened its first location in Tel Aviv. It has hundreds of locations in the United States. Zahir is opening two other franchises in Michigan this month, which contributed to his cancelling the opening of the Dearborn location.

The decision to try to open a franchise in Dearborn has been a source of tension for months, the Free Press reports. Supporters and opponents of the opening argued on social media about boycotting the restaurant.

"I told you, you are not like us," one individual wrote to Zahir on Facebook. "You have Palestinian and Lebanese blood on your hand if you open up that joint."

A Dearborn-based activist and law professor wrote a blog post urging members of the Dearborn community to boycott the burger restaurant, saying that the franchise's success was "was performed on stolen Palestinian land."

Smithsonian Cover Story Misinforms About the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

Claims About Israeli-Issued Medical Permits

As a continuation to Raheb’s false charge that Bethlehem is entirely walled in by Israel, the author informs readers that
When Raheb’s mother was hospitalized for cancer treatment in East Jerusalem, he was able to get a permit from Israel to visit her; his mother’s sisters were denied. When his father-in-law was suffering a heart attack, a border guard required him to exit the ambulance and walk through the checkpoint. He died a few days later.

The insinuation that Israel randomly prevents Palestinian patients or those accompanying them to enter Israel for medical treatment is also a popular one with which to besmirch Israel. Thus, no reason is given as to why there are restrictions at the crossings into Israel. Rather, readers are given the impression that Israeli authorities are simply trying to exert control over a subjugated Palestinian population whose lives are at risk.

Readers do not learn that Hamas is trying to build its terror infrastructure in the West Bank and continues to exploit Palestinians entering Israel for medical treatment by using them as couriers to transfer money, explosives and terrorism directives. A Hamas bomb-maker was recently arrested, using a medical permit to travel to Israel through the West Bank and Israel to set up a bomb-making facility in the West Bank.

Perhaps the biggest omission is that Palestinians have repeatedly rejected independent statehood because they were unwilling to accept a neighboring Jewish state within any boundaries. Had these underlying truths been included, it would have provided a more balanced perspective of the conflict. Without this and other relevant context and replete with errors and the presentation of disputed anti-Israel allegations as fact, the article is just another one-sided narrative that misleads about the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict. It is particularly insidious because it does this under the guise of providing an even-handed exploration of both sides. (h/t IsaacStorm)

At Los Angeles Times, Sliding Scale for Israeli, Palestinian Extremists

The Los Angeles Times’ Noga Tarnopolsky applies a sliding scale when it comes to Israeli and Palestinians extremists and hard-liners. According to Lexis-Nexis searches, the Jerusalem-based correspondent has yet to identify any Palestinian politicians, policies, or parties as hard-line, despite the fact that the Gaza Strip is ruled by Hamas, a designated terror group.

On the other hand, Tarnopolsky regularly finds hard-line or extremist Israeli politicians, policies or parties. Earlier this month, at the U.S. Embassy’s Independence Day celebration in Jerusalem she even found “some of the most far-right Jewish settlers that Israel has to offer,” as she wrote together with Tracey Wilkinson (who reported from Washington, DC) in the July 8 article entitled “The provocations of Trump’s ambassador to Israel are upending decades of U.S. diplomacy.” About the July 2 celebration at the Jerusalem Convention Center, Wilkinson and Tarnopolsky wrote:
Joining in a toast that extolled what Friedman called the biblical connection of Jerusalem to the birth of the United States were Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and, making a rare appearance at an official U.S. event, some of the most far-right Jewish settlers that Israel has to offer. The scores of Palestinians who were typically guests in years past were nowhere in sight.

This CAMERA researcher attended the July 2 event, and saw plenty of activists and representatives of Israel’s right-wing but did not see any “of the most far-right Jewish settlers that Israel has to offer.” Members of this most extreme group would likely be affiliated or identified with the Jewish Power party, an ideological heir of Meir Kahane’s racist Kach party. The most extreme settlers that Israel has to offer would be those who advocate violence (including price tag attacks against property or Israeli forces), incite violence, or take part in violence. The most far-right elements have been involved in deadly attacks including the horrific fatal attack against the Dawabsheh family.

In Wadi Hummus Demolitions Story, Journalistic Precision Is a Casualty

Given the complicated geopolitical realities of the disputed city of Jerusalem, including municipal boundaries, a 1949 armistice line, and a security barrier, journalists have a particular responsibility to be precise. Unfortunately, multiple news items earlier this week erroneously reported that Israeli demolished residential buildings within Jerusalem, when in fact the Wadi Hummus residences in question – most of them still under construction – were outside municipal boundaries.

Haaretz‘s English-language headlines referred to the demolition of East Jerusalem homes under Palestinian control. Of course, there are no parts of Jerusalem, eastern or anywhere else, under Palestinian control. Haaretz‘s inaccurate digital headline states: “Israel Demolishes 70 Homes in Palestinian-controlled East Jerusalem neighborhood.” Similarly, the front-page headline in yesterday’s print edition erred: “Israel demolishes 70 homes in area of East Jerusalem under control of PA.”

The first paragraph in both the digital and print editions repeats the error, wrongly stating that the area lies within east Jerusalem. The digital edition, for instance, states:
Israeli forces began Monday demolishing buildings in an East Jerusalem neighborhood under the control of the Palestinian Authority. . .

While the Wadi Hummus buildings did lie in territory under the control of the Palestinian Authority, that land is in the West Bank, outside the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem.

BBC radio audiences hear one-sided reports from Yolande Knell

Knell closed her report with more unquestioning promotion of PLO talking points.

Knell: “This year there’s been an increase in house demolitions by Israeli authorities in East Jerusalem. Palestinians say it’s difficult for them to get building permits. And now these homes have been cleared, they worry it could set a precedent for many more that lie along the route of Israel’s West Bank barrier.”

In neither of these reports were BBC audiences told why the anti-terrorist fence had to be constructed or how it has dramatically reduced the scale of terror attacks against Israeli citizens. Had they been given that information listeners could have decided for themselves whether the demolition of mostly partly built buildings or the politically motivated murder of Israeli civilians contributes more to “undermining the chances of peace and a two-state solution to the conflict”.

As well as the omissions and largely one-sided content in these two reports, we see the exclusive use of partisan language such as “occupied West Bank” and “occupied East Jerusalem” which severely erodes the BBC’s claim to ‘impartiality’.

Nazi ideology no longer to appear in Google search results in Spain

Some of the most defamatory content will no longer appear in Spain's Google search results, including material promoting Nazi ideology and denying the Holocaust, according to the Lawfare Project.

The Lawfare Project, representing a group of Spanish Jews, filed several take-down notices with Google LLC after Jews identified content in Google search results that included extreme and defamatory racism against the Jewish people. Google's lawyers examined the complaints and, subsequently, various examples of antisemitic content identified in the notices are now blocked from appearing in Google searches in Spain, the advocacy group explained in a release.

Articles published by the Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi website promoting extreme racism against Jews and others, will now not appear in results, among other examples.

To the best knowledge of the parties involved, this is the first time that Google has blocked illegal content against the Jewish people based on defamation complaints. The understanding with the Internet giant allows for the blocking of specific content from its search engine by filing detailed blocking notices, which the Lawfare Project said marks a turning point in the company's approach to violent and defamatory antisemitic content.

The Lawfare Project is "a global network of legal professionals that... [is] defending the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and pro-Israel community, and fighting discrimination wherever we see it," according to its website.

NEW: A neo-Nazi has been charged in SDNY with making threats to an unnamed Jewish organization in Manhattan.

The criminal complaint has a photo from his Facebook page, bearing a Pepe meme with a Warsaw ghetto backdrop.

Doc: https://t.co/ozM1jxtjpq

cc: @CourthouseNews pic.twitter.com/TG6P3wJemd
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) July 23, 2019

Jojo Rabbit, satirical film about Nazi Germany, releases trailer

Adolf Hitler will be a prominent character in Jojo Rabbit, a satirical movie by Taika Waititi, who released the trailer for it on his Twitter account on Tuesday.

Waititi, who will direct the upcoming Thor film starring Natalie Portman, wrote, directed and stars as Hitler in Jojo Rabbit, which he has called an “anti-hate movie.”
The satirical film focuses on a preteen boy, Jojo "Rabbit" Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis), living in Nazi Germany, who dreams that Adolf Hitler (Waititi) is his imaginary friend. Hitler counsels the sensitive boy on how to fight back against bullies and Jojo worships him and venerates Nazism. But when he discovers that his mother, Rosie (Scarlett Johansson), is hiding a Jewish girl (Thomasin McKenzie) in their attic, he is forced to confront the contradictions in his life.

Other cast members include Rebel Wilson, Alfie Allen, Sam Rockwell and Stephen Merchant, and the movie is an adaptation of Christine Leunens' book Caging Skies.

Concert Review: Tears for Fears still rule the world

English pop rock band Tears for Fears returned to Israel after two years away for a performance Tuesday night at a near-capacity Menorah Mivtahim Arena in Tel Aviv.

Despite a slightly delayed start, due to electrical problems at the arena, the band more than made up for it with a medley of their well-known pop hits such as “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” “Shout,” and “Mad World.”

Tears for Fears these days consists of long-time front men, Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, backed up by a superb backing group of guitar, drums, keyboard and the fantastic Carina Round, who provided back-up vocals. Orzabal and Smith shared singing duty, as they did during the band’s heyday.

As the lights dimmed and smoke filled the stage, singer Lorde’s cover version of “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” played out as fans waited expectantly. Suddenly, the familiar intro blared over the speakers and the crowd was soon up on its feet dancing as if it was 1985 all over again.

And that pretty much set the tone for the whole evening.

Google wants in on 6,000 Israeli startups within the next 3 years, says exec

Google’s goal for Israel in the next three years is to play a meaningful role in the “lives” of 6,000 local startups, according to Matthew John Brittin, the company’s president of business and operations, Europe, the Middle East, and Afrika. Brittin spoke to Calcalist earlier this month while on a visit to the company’s Tel Aviv campus. Google, he said, wants to help the next generation of startups grow, scale-up, create jobs, and promote prosperity.

According to Brittin, while 6,000 is an ambitious number, with 1,250 local employees—1,000 of whom are in engineering roles—the company is ready for the task.

In recent years, Google has been investing a lot of resources in an effort to establish its foothold within the Israeli tech sector. Less than a year ago, Google launched its new, 1,800-square-meter Tel Aviv Campus. It features a cafe that serves as a meeting place for entrepreneurs and event spaces where the company hosts meetups and lectures. In this campus, Google operates digital trainings, startup mentorship programs, and accelerators.

Magen David Adom assists in developing first-responder system in Chile

The Providencia municipality in the Chilean capital has started a pilot project to train municipal security personnel as first responders in medical emergencies, in cooperation with the Emergency Medical Services SAMU R.M.

The partnership is part of a series of activities initiated by the Israeli embassy in Santiago, led by the ambassador and his deputy in an effort to support emergency medical services in the Chilean capital.

“Magen David Adom EMTs and paramedics are saving lives every day throughout the country,” said the organization’s Director General Eli Bin. “It is gratifying to see how, with the experience accumulated by the MDA teams in Israel, we can contribute to saving lives around the world.”

Senior MDA officials flew to Chile last week and signed a cooperation agreement between the SAMU.R.M – The Capital Region EMS services – and MDA. As part of this project and in light of the cooperation agreement signed between the Prime Minister of Israel and the President of Chile during his last visit to Israel, a workshop was organized by SAMU who invited service managers throughout Chile, to learn on MDA’s organization of emergency medical services and the way MDA is structured.

Japan's largest insurance company to work with Israeli companies

Harel Insurance Group was chosen by Japan’s largest insurance company Tokio Marine Holdings to collaborate on finding Israeli hi-tech companies in the innovation and digital sectors. According to this agreement, Harel Group and Tokio Marine will identify Israeli companies that specialize in innovative technologies and services, and will allow Harel Group access the cutting-edge technological infrastructure of Tokio Marine, which is engaged in the technological sectors.

Tokio Marine Group is the largest P&C insurance group in Japan founded in 1879. It currently operates in 38 countries worldwide, and generated 4.6 trillion JPY (150 Billion NIS) revenue in the last year (Net premiums written + life insurance premium ) . It has realized stable growth through well diversified business model with a stable profit base in Japan as well as a strong specialty franchise in developed countries and a business footprint capturing high market growth in emerging countries.

In recent years, the Japanese group is driving innovation based on 3 concepts which are “Mission driven”, “Fusion of people’s power and technologies” and “Global Digital Synergies”.

Israel’s Wix.com Lifts 2019 Revenue Outlook as Second-Quarter Profit Rises

Wix.com, which helps small businesses build and operate websites, reported higher than expected profit in the second quarter and raised its revenue forecast for 2019 amid solid sales growth from a host of new products.

It reported on Wednesday quarterly net profit of 34 cents a share excluding one-time items, compared with 29 cents a year earlier. Revenue grew 27% to $185.4 million.

Wix was forecast to earn 18 cents a share excluding one-offs on revenue of $184 million, according to I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv.

The Israel-based firm offers free basic features for setting up websites but users must pay for extra services such as shopping carts, individual web addresses and site traffic analysis.

It has launched a number of new products to allow companies to manage their businesses, including development tool Corvid, all-in-one business platform Ascend and Wix Payments, which allows firms to manage income.

“We are starting to see a good sign of monetization of these products… that enables us to generate higher growth in the future,” Chief Financial Officer Lior Shemesh told Reuters.

Growth in those products led to Wix raise its 2019 outlook, and the second half is expected to be better than the first, Shemesh said.

Captain America ‘passionate’ about role as Israeli agent, says Netflix director

There are no shortage of amazing stories about The Land of Israel, and more are still being uncovered. Some are from antiquity, others are from the 1980s. Of this second group comes the true tale of the Red Sea Diving Resort, a fake hotel up the coast from Port Sudan.

It was here, decades ago, that the Mossad kept their base of operations open in plain sight, organizing the secret movement of thousands of Jewish refugees to Israel from the civil war destruction of Ethiopia. It was a plan just crazy enough to work, the type of thing to make one say, “someone should turn that into a movie.”

And so we have Netflix’s “The Red Sea Diving Resort.” Gideon Raff, the creator of “Prisoner of War,” the Israeli series adapted into the Emmy-winning “Homeland,” has assembled an outstanding team of actors to pull off this caper. Leading the charge is Marvel’s Captain America, Chris Evans.

With him are fellow Israeli agents played by Haley Bennett, Alessandro Nivolo and Michiel Huisman. Michael K. Williams is their operative inside the Ethiopian community and Greg Kinnear is the mostly-helpful CIA man inside of Sudan. Lastly, Sir Ben Kingsley adds weight as the Mossad head tasked with keeping Chris Evans, a typically hot-headed cowboy who gets results, dammit, from getting in over his head.

It’s a fun flick, but also touching, especially when it shows the desperation of the refugees. Though set close to 40 years ago, it remains quite timely.

Judah Samet is a double survivor

Over 70 years ago he lived through the horrors of the Holocaust, surviving Bergen-Belsen. Last October his life was spared once again when a gunman entered his place of prayer – the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh – and massacred 11 people who were in the middle of a Shabbat service.

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