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Sunday, September 29, 2019

From Ian:

President Rivlin wishes Jews around the world a happy new year
President Reuven Rivlin wished Israeli citizens and Jews around the world a happy Jewish new year in a new video.

"Another year has past and a new year starts," Rivlin said. "In our prayers, we say, 'let the new year and its blessings begin.' After a difficult year for the safety of Jewish communities and relations between Israel and the Jewish world, let the new year be better and different."

Rivlin stated, "Over the last year, I have been honored to meet so many of your from across the Jewish world. Your commitment to the future of the Jewish people and to the State of Israel is inspiring.

"Despite the difference and the disagreements between us, we must take care to protect our relations and ensure they are strong and silent," he emphasized. "I believe our bonds are stronger than any difference."

Rivlin took pride in the country's accomplishments, noting that Israel "got to the moon, even if the landing was not entirely successful. We hosted the Eurovision, we printed an artificial heard and we have a Judo world champion.

"Many of those achievements are shared with you," he concluded. "I want to thank you for your partnership and for standing with the people and the State of Israel. Israel was and will remain your home, the home of all Jewish people. Happy new year!"

Trump wishes Jewish community a happy New Year
US President Donald Trump on Sunday issued a message to the Jewish community in honor of the holiday of Rosh Hashanah.

“As the High Holy Days commence, Melania and I wish those observing Rosh Hashanah a blessed and happy New Year.”

“This sacred day marks the start of a 10-day period of both celebration and reflection. Throughout the High Holy Days, those in the Jewish community engage in prayer and repentance, which culminate in the holiest day of the year in Judaism, Yom Kippur. Each day, with the blowing of the shofar, the Jewish people embark on a new spiritual journey to grow closer to Hashem and find a renewed sense of purpose in their faith,” said Trump.

“As men, women, and children around the world partake in traditional liturgy and enjoy customary meals with loved ones, we are all reminded of the virtues we can incorporate into our lives to better us as a Nation—kindness, compassion, and love. Together, with devotion to these ideals, we can form more sincere bonds with people of all faiths to help spread peace and prosperity in the United States and abroad.”

“Melania and I pray that those celebrating Rosh Hashanah build a more meaningful relationship with God throughout the High Holy Days. May the Almighty bless you all,” the President concluded.




In Rosh Hashanah message, Boris Johnson vows to defend Jews from anti-Semitism
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed to protect Jews against anti-Semitism in the United Kingdom, in a video message to Jews ahead of the Rosh Hashanah holiday on Sunday evening.

“I will always be there to defend you against the shameful anti-Semitism that we are increasingly seeing and which is such a terrible blight on our country,” he said.

According to the Community Security Trust, Britain’s primary anti-Semitism watchdog, the first half of 2019 saw a precipitous rise in incidents targeting members of the UK Jewish community.

The group counted a record high total of 892 anti-Semitic incidents during that period. It further said it was the highest number of incidents it had ever recorded in the January-to-June period of any year and is a 10 percent increase from the 810 incidents recorded during the same period in 2018 — itself a record high for a six-month period. There was a record annual total of 1,688 anti-Semitic incidents in the UK in 2018.




Jewish MP who called Corbyn an anti-Semite faces Labour ousting
A veteran Jewish lawmaker in the British Labour Party who last year called leader Jeremy Corbyn an anti-Semite will have to run in a local primary to keep her seat after losing a key party vote Saturday.

Dame Margaret Hodge, who has served as MP for Barking in London since 1994, will face a reselection vote, her local constituency party decided.

“I am obviously disappointed. My priority remains serving the people of Barking as I have done for the last 25 years,” Hodge told the Huffington Post. “At a vital time for the country, with a general election looming, we should be focusing our efforts on holding Boris Johnson and the Tories to account.”

According to the Guardian, new rules in the Labour party mean a reselection contest can be triggered if a third of local party members vote in favor.

Reselection allows parties to replace MPs by opening the door for other party members to run for the seat in a primary election. Labour has been accused of using the procedure to purge anti-Corbyn elements from within its ranks.
Hitler Hologram to Feature at Columbia University’s Next World Leaders Forum (satire)
Drawing inspiration from the successful performance of a Tupac hologram at the Coachella music festival in 2012, Columbia University has announced that the man voted ‘Most Awkward Threesome Partner’ will make an exciting comeback at their next World Leaders Forum.

The hologram is being designed by researchers at Columbia University’s Engineering School using the latest in Artificial Intelligence technology to truly recreate the cheeky dictator who must be well overdue an historical re-evaluation.

“Our past events with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and more recently with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Bin Mohamad, generated so much interest that we knew we’d have to do something really special to outdo those events,” remarked a spokeswoman for Columbia University’s Department of Visiting Despots.

Many Jewish students at the university expressed upset at the announcement. “It’s like the university isn’t even trying to pretend anymore” remarked one sophomore.
David Friedman talks Iran, annexation, diplomacy in 'Post' interview
Israel has never had a better friend in the White House than President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said repeatedly over the last year.

And during a ceremony in May marking the first anniversary of the US Embassy move to the capital, Netanyahu added a twist to that well-worn sentence, saying about Ambassador David Friedman that, “there has never been a greater friend in Israel representing the US.”

There has also rarely been a US ambassador in this country who has had such influence over his administration or proven to be such a lightening rod, both because he is considered so close to Trump – a president loathed by some and loved by others – and because of his unabashedly pro-Israel sentiments.

As a result, Trump’s former bankruptcy lawyer, who has been his ambassador for the last 2 ½ years and has been a key driver behind some of the president’s pro-Israel positions – such as the Jerusalem embassy move and the decision to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights – knows that he is going to get criticized whenever he opens his mouth.

No matter what he does and says, someone out there is going to take offense and slam him. Though this is not a situation he was used to in his previous life, Friedman told The Jerusalem Post in an interview in his official residence at the US Embassy’s annex on Agron Street – formerly the US consulate-general in Jerusalem – that it is something he has gotten used to.

“I decided early on that I have to be true to myself. I have to be able to live with my own decisions, live with my own conscience, and my wife and kids have to love and respect me – and that’s all it is,” he said. “And I have to have the support of the president. If I have all those things, everything else is just conversation.”
Melanie Phillips: Israeli Arabs deserve better from their leaders
The former MK Haneen Zoabi accused Israel of harvesting the organs of Palestinian prisoners and made a speech arguing that “Zionism is hostile to human rights all over the world” and that Jews had no right to self-determination.

There’s a long record of similar incitement by other members of the Joint List. Which is why even Avigdor Liberman, who is intent upon ousting Netanyahu, says he would never join forces with the Arab parties because “they are our enemies”.

They are also out of step with a growing number of Israeli Arabs who really do want to integrate into the Jewish state. Before last April’s election, some were quoted bitterly criticising the Joint List MKs.

“It didn’t represent us, and it did great damage to the [average] Arab citizen who wants to integrate,” said one resident of Abu Ghosh, an Arab village near Jerusalem. “We recognise the existence of the only democratic country in the Middle East and want to be a part of the country. And we’re proud of it. We, Israeli Arabs, exist with our Jewish brothers. Not coexist, exist.”

A woman doctor from Acre said: “To earn a decent living, to live like human beings – that’s what the average citizen wants. And the people who are supposedly meant to take care of us — the Arab parties — have quite simply abandoned us.

“I’m proud to be a Muslim and Arab Israeli woman. What the heads of the Arab parties are doing is honoring and glorifying murderous terrorists. They take the stage, talk about Palestine and don’t notice what’s happening here.”

Israeli Arabs need better representation. It would be a great advance if they were to participate in Israeli politics rather than shun it. They can’t do so, however, through racist leaders who want to destroy Israel.

A truly shared future will come only if Arab leaders learn from the growing number of Arab Israelis who are proud to be citizens of Israel, and finally start attending to their needs rather than plotting its demise.
The EU is waging war on Israel!
In May, we drafted a bill to outlaw BDS in Germany, forcing the other parties to draft their own, watered-down version.

In June, we drafted a bill to outlaw Hezbollah in Germany, which does a lot of its business here. The other parties all sided with Hezbollah.

And now, my colleague Beatrix von Storch revealed that, while countries including the USA, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium and New Zealand have cut funding for the blatantly corrupt and Hamas-friendly UNRWA, the Merkel government has stepped in to keep UNRWA afloat, more than doubling its funding from €80 million in 2018 to €173,2 million in 2018. The AfD is the only party in Germany that demands an immediate end to this. The AfD is also the only party in Germany which does not fund NGOs that support BDS and terrorism, as NGO Monitor found.

On August 15, I unfortunately had to return to Germany from Israel on important party business, while our delegation from the “Jews in the AfD” stayed on to tour Judea with Naomi Linder Kahn from NGO Regavim. She showed us the Bedouin settlements in the Adumim Area and Khan al Ahmar on Highway 1, and explained how EU money is used to fund illegal Arab settlements in Area C, on land that should belong to the state of Israel. She told us about the Fayyad Plan to illegally annex Israeli territory, and how it is supported by the EU governments.

She even drove us out to Khashem ad Daraj, where the EU spent €310,000 last year to build a road to illegal settlements on IDF training ground. This is a blatant violation of the Oslo Peace Accords, which the EU member states claim to support, and a fraudulent use of taxpayer money. Also, we learned how all the other German parties, from the Leftists’ UAWC to the Christian Democrats’ Society of St. Yves, finance NGOs who support illegal land grabs in Area C.

These are all parties and governments who routinely pay lip service to Israel’s right to exist and the importance of a negotiated settlement in Judea and Samaria. At the same time, they are waging financial warfare and lawfare against the state of Israel. We in the AfD are shocked and appalled to discover just how duplicitous and destructive German and EU policy is toward Israel.

We are only an opposition party at the moment. But we will use all our political leverage to combat this injustice, and invite our friends in the Israeli government, the Israeli parties and the Israeli Ambassador in Berlin, to join us in this fight!
Palestinian Islamist convicted of attempted murder of German officials
A German court in the southern city of Augsburg on Wednesday sentenced a radical Islamist Palestinian asylum seeker to a 10 year prison term for attempting to murder judges and prosectors. Haidar A, the extremist Palestinian, had previously been sentenced in 2017 for attempting to behead a refugee.

"It's amazing how a young man can be so caught up in hate, anger and blind rage," said presiding judge Sandra Mayer, " reported the local paper Augsburger Allgemeine. She added that "Haidar A. is caught in almost medieval ways of thinking and the court has little hope that he will develop for the better."

The court sentenced the 26-year-old Haidar for six attempted murders on Wednesday. Haidar sought during the judicial process in the Summer of 2017 to take the weapon of a police office in the courtroom. He was, according to the Augsburger Allgemeine, upset that the court sentenced him to a lengthy prison term for attempting to behead a asylum seeker with a knife in the town of Hurlach--a municipality in the district of Landsberg in the southern German state of Bavaria .

Haider also spat in the direction of the judge's bench and screamed: "To hell with you and those who created you."

Haidar wanted to behead the refugee because he "insulted his religious feelings," according to the paper's report. The court sentenced him to 12 years and nine months in prison. When the prison sentence was announced, Haidar tossed his shoe in the direction of the judge and attempted to secure the firearm of a police officer. The combined sentences from 2017 and Wednesday likely mean that Haidar could serve a prison term longer than 20 years.

Haidar wrote in a letter to cousins that judge is a "whore" and the other judges are her "pimps." He wrote in the letter that he wants to kill the judges. Haidar also admitted in a letter that he sent to the court that he wanted to carry out a campaign of bloody revenge on Germans and Christians. The German Bild paper reported that he wrote the panel of judges overseeing his case:
"I promise, if I get a pig from your worshipers of the cross in the hands, I will drink his blood. I'll spit at you and your cross. "
David Horovitz: Bill Murray’s ‘Groundhog Day’ moral for Israel’s politicians
Underappreciated at first, the Bill Murray movie “Groundhog Day,” a comedic fable about an embittered TV weatherman trapped in a time loop until he becomes a better person, has come to be regarded as something of a classic. Over the quarter-century since its release, it has also sometimes been pressed into service when describing political or military deadlock. And that’s just where Israeli politics finds itself today — paralyzed in “Groundhog Day,” condemned to repeat its election cycle over and over and over again, with no realistic prospect of a significant reordering of our reality.

Our national leadership standoff is not a complete case of gloom and doom. The climate of debate in Israel right now is less hysterical than that in the United States, where the president is battling efforts at impeachment. Our democracy — battered by a prime minister who has sought to demonize the Arab electorate and alleges that the media, the cops and the prosecutors are engaged in a witch hunt to oust him with trumped-up charges of corruption — seems nonetheless to be holding up a little better than that in the UK. There, the prime minister has just been castigated by the Supreme Court, in an 11-0 ruling, for acting illegally in suspending Parliament, but shows little respect and no contrition.

Here, an impressive 70 percent of us dutifully went off to vote on September 17, even though we’d done so just five months earlier. All the diverse sectors of the Israeli demographic exercised their rights, including the Arabs, where turnout rose from 50% in April to 60% this time. The voting process unfolded without major disruption, disproving widespread fears to the contrary. And, despite the prime minister’s pre-election warnings that nefarious forces were bent on stealing the elections, nobody seriously queried the results.

Our problem is that the enmity between our various would-be leaders is so profound, our electorate is so divided between them, and our election system so purely reflects those divides, that we cannot find our way out of our very own post-elections Groundhog Day.
President Reuven Rivlin meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem on September 23, 2019. (Haim Zach/GPO )

To his credit, we do have one key political figure who is trying to break the loop: President Reuven Rivlin. Conscious of the limitations of his largely ceremonial powers, he presented a framework on Wednesday evening designed to enable our two would-be prime ministers, Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, to co-habit, but did so rather subtly. He suggested that the rivals share the premiership, with Netanyahu going first since he heads the larger bloc of Knesset supporters, and that legislation be introduced to allocate full prime ministerial powers to an “interim prime minister” should the prime minister be required to take a protracted leave of absence.
Liberman: Israelis won’t forgive Gantz, Netanyahu if third elections called
Yisrael Beytenu party chairman Avigdor Liberman on Sunday warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz that the public would not forgive them if they fail to form a unity government and send the country to elections for the third time in less than a year.

“The citizens of Israel will not forgive you if you lead us to another round of elections just because of ego and personal matters,” Liberman wrote in a Facebook post ahead of the Rosh Hashanah holiday.

Liberman helped trigger the September 17 vote by refusing to join a Netanyahu-led government after elections on April 9 unless a bill regulating military conscription for seminary students was passed without changes — a demand rejected by the prime minister’s ultra-Orthodox allies.

Falling one seat short of a majority without Yisrael Beytenu, Netanyahu pushed through a vote at the end of May to dissolve the Knesset and call fresh elections, rather than have another lawmaker get a crack at forming a government.

Liberman, whose party rose from five to eight seats in the September 17 elections and holds the balance of power in the Knesset between Netanyahu’s Likud and Gantz’s Blue and White, campaigned on forcing a unity government between the two parties if neither could form a coalition without him — a vow he has reiterated since the vote.

“The public demands a unity government,” he said, pointing out that Gantz and Netanyahu’s parties don’t even need Yisrael Beytenu to form such a coalition, as they hold a majority of seats between them. (Blue and White won 33 seats and Likud 32.)
West Bank terror bombing suspect in critical condition after interrogation
The suspected ringleader of a terror cell accused of carrying out deadly bombing attack last month was hospitalized Saturday in critical condition after an interrogation by the Shin Bet security service, his attorneys said.

On Saturday night, the Shin Bet revealed that it had arrested three Palestinian men suspected of carrying out the August 23 attack at a natural spring in the West Bank, killing Israeli Rina Shnerb, 17, and seriously injuring her father and brother.

This cell was allegedly led by Samer Mina Salim Arbid, 44, who has a history of involvement in terrorist activities with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group, according to Israeli authorities.

Arbid was arrested earlier this month and then released due to lack of evidence. He was picked up again on Wednesday.

According to the Haaretz newspaper, which first reported on him being hospitalized, the Shin Bet was given legal permission to employ “extraordinary measures” in its interrogation of Arbid. Such measures can include forcing prisoners into uncomfortable positions, sleep deprivation, shackling and subjecting prisoners to extreme temperatures.

This is typically allowed in cases of a “ticking time bomb,” where there is concern that the suspect could provide security forces with information that could prevent an imminent attack.

The Shin Bet said the cell was planning additional attacks when the suspects were arrested, including shootings and kidnappings. During the arrest raids, security forces also found and safely detonated an improvised explosive device that the group had made.

Arbid was taken to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus in critical condition after he apparently suffered a heart-related problem during the interrogation.
MEMRI: Jordanian Physics Professor Hisham Ghassib: Judaism Is A Despicable Religion That Should Not Be Respected; I Would Fight Alongside Hizbullah Against Israel, America, 'Petro-Reactionaries'
This clip is a compilation of videos that were published in September 2019 by Feeneeq Internet TV (Jordan) featuring Jordanian physics professor Hisham Ghassib discussing Zionism, Israel, and the Jews. In a September 7 video of a lecture at the Jordanian Philosophical Society, Ghassib said that the concept of a Jewish nation is a myth, and he strongly discouraged his colleagues from respecting and defending Judaism as a religion. Rather, Ghassib said that Judaism, the Talmud, and the Torah are "primitive" and "despicable" and that Zionism nationalized them and turned them into a modern fascist ideology. He added that "global Jewry" is very powerful because of its control of the international banking system, which he said it has controlled since the Middle Ages. In a September 10 video of a lecture at the Socialist Thought Club, Ghassib said that he would support Hizbullah in its fight against Israel, America, and "petro-reactionaries" despite its religious orientation because "its compass is pointing in the right direction." He praised Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah for "acting humanely" and for, according to Ghassib, only targeting Israeli military targets. Ghassib was born in Amman and has studied at Leeds University in the United Kingdom. He has previously served as the President of the Princess Sumaya University College for Technology in Amman, and he has received two national cultural prizes

Following are excerpts:
September 7, 2019 – "Accepting The Zionist Entity Means Accepting The Myth Of A Jewish Nation, It's A Myth"

Hisham Ghassib: "Accepting the Zionist entity means accepting the myth of a Jewish nation. It's a myth. Anyone who studies history knows this."

Other Professor: "We hold Judaism as a religion in high esteem. It's like all other religions."

Hisham Ghassib: "Speak for yourself..."

Other Professor: "I'm talking about Judaism as a religion. Our principle is that we respect others. Our problem is that these people occupy Palestine. The founders of Zionism... Perhaps people are unaware of this. They were atheists. Herzl was an atheist."
Rouhani Has Exposed the Futility of European Diplomacy
The reality of the delusional approach adopted by Mr Macron and other European leaders was, though, brutally exposed the moment Mr Rouhani arrived in New York. Instead of showing any sign of seeking to repair Tehran's strained relationship with the West and its allies, he instead indulged in an orgy of self-justification in which he sought to portray his country as an innocent victim of Western aggression rather than accepting, as is really the case, that Iran was the primary instigator of the latest escalation in tensions.

"The security of our region shall be provided when American troops pull out." — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, UN General Assembly, September 25, 2019.

This will have made for uncomfortable listening for all those European leaders who still believe that the best way to resolve the global crisis with Iran is by trying to save the nuclear deal.

The reality is that, so long as Tehran remains committed to its hostile stance towards the West, there is little prospect of having a constructive relationship with Iran.
Tehran's 'We Did, We Didn't' Game
For four decades, the mullahs have successfully practiced their "do-and-deny" tactic thanks to the indulgence, not to say cowardice, of Western leaders and the pathetic anti-Americanism of some Western pseudo-intellectuals.

Western anti-American intellectuals who become apologists for the mullahs are victims of their inability to conceive of a situation in which, while America may be bad, its adversary may be worse.

Then we had America versus the Third Reich. Later, America vs. the Soviet Empire, vs. the Vietcong and Khmer Rouge, vs. the Afghan Taliban, vs. Saddam Hussein. In every case, even if America was not the shining city on the hill, its adversary at the time was much worse.

Apologists for the Islamic Republic do not do it a service. By endorsing its illusions and shielding it against deserved criticism, they encourage its worst tendencies -- tendencies that could cost Iran and the region more than they imagine.
Revolutionary Guards commander: Iran has encircled Israel from all sides
An Iranian Revolutionary Guards top commander threatened Israel, warning against an Israeli attack on Iran, Radio Farda reported on Saturday.

"If Israel makes a strategic mistake, it has to collect bits and pieces of Tel Aviv from the lower depths of the Mediterranean Sea," IRGC Deputy Commander for Operations Abbas Nilforoushan said in an interview with the IRGC's Tasnim news agency, as reported by the US-funded Iranian branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Nilforoushan added that "Israel is not in a position to threaten Iran" and that "Iran has encircled Israel from all four sides."

"Nothing will be left of Israel" in case of a conflict between the two countries, he vowed.

The commander also commented on the confrontation between Israel and Iran forces or proxies in Lebanon and Syria.

"We will perceive any mistake in the region as involvement in a war in the whole region. Any action to start a war in the region will flare up a fire that will burn those who have started the war," he said.

Earlier this year, Israel claimed responsibility for hundreds of strikes against Iranian targets in Syria.

Nilforoushan also stated that Hezbollah would "liberate northern Israel in case a war breaks out."

"This will certainly happen, as Hezbollah has a good capability to do it," he said.
US Rejects Iran’s Zarif Request to Visit UN Envoy at New York Hospital Unless Prisoner Released
The United States rejected a request by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to visit Iran’s United Nations ambassador in a New York hospital where he is being treated for cancer, the US State Department and Iranian UN mission said on Friday.

A US State Department spokesperson said Zarif’s request would be granted if Iran released one of several American citizens it had detained.

In July the United States imposed tight travel restrictions on Zarif before a visit that month to the United Nations, as well as on Iranian diplomats and their families living in New York, which Zarif described as “basically inhuman.”

Unless they receive prior approval from Washington, they are only allowed to travel within a small area of Manhattan, Queens, and to and from John F. Kennedy airport.

Iran’s UN mission spokesman Alireza Miryousefi said Iran’s UN Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi was being treated for cancer in a hospital not far away in Manhattan’s Upper East Side neighborhood. Zarif is in New York for the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations.
‘Beware of parasites’: Anti-Semitic posters put up in Warsaw ahead of elections
Anti-Semitic posters have been put up all over the Polish capital Warsaw in recent days ahead of the country’s national elections.

The posters include images of former and current Israeli diplomats as well as prominent Jewish figures along with the slogan “Beware of parasites” — using a play on the words to include the word for “Jew” as part of the word for “parasites.”

Among those featuring on the posters are US Ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher, former Israeli ambassador Anna Azari, Poland’s Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich, and London-born Israeli activist for Holocaust commemoration Johnny Daniels.

The posters also call for an end of restitution to Jewish owners and their heirs of property that was seized during the Holocaust, saying it is a “mafia” program, and demand that Poland “Stop the Jewish occupation” of the country.

“It’s part of a greater problem,” Daniels told The Times of Israel. “We saw this before the EU elections a few months ago — there is always a wave of hate from the far right about restitution.”
Israeli-Romanian Holocaust Survivors to receive NIS 16 million
The World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) announced that almost NIS 16 million will go to support approximately 2,500 needy Romanian Holocaust survivors in Israel. The Caritatea Foundation in Romania provided the funds through a program administered by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference).

“Since 2016, the Caritatea Foundation has provided Holocaust victims in Israel with nearly NIS 50 million for this program from the proceeds of the restitution of properties that were once wrongfully taken from Jewish communities in Romanian. These funds will help needy Holocaust survivors living in Israel to live with the dignity they deserve,” said Gideon Taylor, Chair of Operations, WJRO and Ambassador Colette Avital, Vice President of the Caritatea Foundation in a joint statement.

14 of the program’s beneficiaries are Holocaust survivors over the age of 100.

According to the WJRO, last week, NIS 15,890,040 million was distributed to 2,431 Romanian Holocaust survivors in need who live in Israel. This year, payments of NIS 9,340 were given to 1,356 Holocaust survivors in need.

The payments have increased by NIS 2,500 since last year and have gone to 1,075 additional survivors in need.

There is a program in place for Romanian Holocaust survivors living outside of Israel called the Romanian Survivor Relief Program (RSRP) and since its launch in December 2018, $1.3 million has gone to over 5,000 people. The RSRP will make more funds available in the coming months, according to WJRO.
Journalist traces grandmother’s Holocaust rescue from Nazis in unique podcast
For more than a decade, Rachael Cerrotti hunted for details of her grandmother’s rescue from the Holocaust. Now, a podcast based on Cerrotti’s work is being released by USC Shoah Foundation, marking the first time a survivor’s testimony is the focus of a narrative podcast.

Born in Prague, Hana Dubova escaped the Nazi onslaught by virtue of belonging to a Zionist youth group. Dubova left her homeland for Denmark at age 14 on a rescue mission for Czech Jewish youth without their parents. Soon afterwards, her loved ones were incarcerated in the Terezin ghetto outside Prague.

As Dubova made her way through Denmark and later Sweden, her family suffered in the ghetto. Eventually, they were “resettled” in the east, a German euphemism for extermination. The remote death camp Sobibor was the train’s destination, and all of Dubova’s relatives were likely murdered upon arrival.

Cerrotti’s podcast about her grandmother spans seven episodes with roughly four hours of content. The series, released September 29, is called “We Share the Same Sky,” and will conclude in November with the release of curricula materials created by “Echoes & Reflections,” a Holocaust education program.
Rosh Hashanah Rescue 1943
On the eve of Rosh Hashanah 1943, an entire Jewish community was hidden by their neighbors from those who sought their annihilation. When Yom Kippur arrived, members of that community were safe, at arms length from danger.

Adolf Hitler claimed he had a kinship with the people of Denmark on account of their common Nordic background. But he was very mistaken. The Danes proved themselves to be humanitarians in a world largely full of indifference to the victims of Nazism.

On April 9, 1940 the Germans invaded and took occupation of Denmark. The Danes did not put up a fight but gave token resistance against the far superior German armed forces. The Germans, seeking the cooperation of the Danes granted them control over their affairs. One of the reasons was that Denmark provided needed agricultural food supplies for Germany. In turn, Danish Prime Minister, Thorvald Stauning issued a proclamation urging cooperation with the occupying forces so “quiet and order would prevail.”

Life continued for the Danes and the Jewish community. The Nazis were aware that anti-Jewish activities would be opposed by the Danes and initially left the Jews unharmed. The Jews nonetheless maintained a low profile. Community activities continued but in a private manner so as to not attract attention. Amid the turmoil and horrors in Europe, there was a strange calm in Denmark.
Gal Gadot: Beauty, strength and brains make her Israel's best ambassador
There is no royalty in Israel, but if there were, Gal Gadot would be our queen.

Gadot, who combines beauty, strength and brains with that ineffable something extra that has made her a worldwide sensation, is the ultimate ambassador for Israeli and Jewish pride.

While Gadot didn’t have a new movie out this year, her presence loomed large in the entertainment world and the social media landscape, proving she is more than just another superhero actress.

With more than 30 million followers on Instagram, Gadot is more than an influencer. Even the men’s magazine Maxim, which tends to focus more on women’s measurements than their minds, noticed that Gadot has become far more than another pretty face, as it wrote in its description of her on its Hot 100 feature that she was “the only woman on this list who can field strip an M16.”

Gadot is still an actress, of course, best known for playing Wonder Woman, who will reprise that role in the new Cold War-set installment in the series, Wonder Woman 1984, which is currently in post-production and is slated to be released in 2020. This time around, Gadot earned $10 million for the role, a big improvement over the $300,000 (plus bonuses) she made for the original Wonder Woman.

She has proved herself on screen but she is much more than just a comic book heroine. In addition to the Wonder Woman sequel, she will be hitting both the big and small screens in three other projects in 2020. In the movie, Death in the Nile, Kenneth Branagh’s latest Agatha Christie adaptation, she will play a wealthy heiress. Red Notice, the biggest budget film in the history of Netflix, will star Gadot opposite Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds in an international heist story.






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I came across a Time-Life book about Jerusalem published in 1976. It includes this vignette:

I peered into one of the shops. Its Arab keeper tried to sell me a dagger, then a cricifix, then a Jewish candlestick. "You sell Israeli things?" I asked.

He avoided my stare. ...."Our people take work from the Israelis because they have to. They've no choice."

"You can't grow to like them?"

He jerked back his head in denial. ..."None of us here minds whether we belong to Jordan, Egypt or Palestine - what does it matter? So long as we're ruled by Arabs." With a dark bitterness, he added, "Only take away Israel. That's all we ask. Set us free from Israel."
Similarly, many Gazans voluntarily left to go to Jordan in 1967 because they didn't want to be ruled by Jews, even though Egypt turned Gaza into a large ghetto for Palestinians. Those Gazans' children and grandchildren are still in Jordan, still stateless, still living in camps.

The book also includes a series of sketches made by David Roberts in the 1830s. These two scenes of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives do not show any Arab villages between the Mount and Jerusalem - no "ancient" Silwan.






We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
Screenshot from video accusing Abdelmajid Taboun of being Jewish


In Algeria, university professor Issa Bin Aggoun has accused former Prime Minister Abdelmajid Taboun of really being Jewish whose real first name was Benjamin.

Taboun who announced his candidacy for the December 12 presidential election. It is a time honored tradition that Arabs accuse their political opponents of being secret Jews.

However, Taboun is a popular name, and other Tabouns have filed a lawsuit against Bin Aggoun for his sullying their good names by claiming that the Taboun family members are really crypto-Jews.

Human rights activist Hassan Bouras denounced the accusation as"slander," saying that while the government is corrupt and he is no fan of Taboun, calling him Jewish is not a principled way to defeat him politically.

A video with over 12,000 views in 12 hours shows Taboun's face juxtaposed with various images of Orthodox Jews to incite hate.

Not one Arabic-language commentator I could find has said that it is not a slander to call someone Jewish.

The antisemitism behind these accusations is blindingly obvious, but is rarely called out in the West.




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Bari Weiss' How To Fight Anti-Semitism has been the talk of the Jewish world for the past couple of weeks.

In six relatively short chapters, Weiss goes into details of her shock at the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, where she grew up. It then surveys the history of antisemitism (my preferred spelling), and then goes into a bit of detail on antsemitism on the Right, the Left and by Muslims. Finally she discusses "How to Fight" the phenomenon.

Weiss' audience does not seem to be Americans as a whole. The entire book, especially the last chapter, is really aimed at overwhelmingly liberal American Jews.

And here is the real surprise of the book: Despite how Weiss is described in the media, she is a liberal. She supports the right of immigration, she is a feminist, she supports equal rights for all, she is against Israel's rabbinate's exclusion of non-Orthodox in some aspects of life. All of Weiss' arguments in this book are from within a firm liberal mindset and tradition.

This is why, despite the title, the centerpiece of the book really isn't the last chapter. It is the chapter on the antisemitism of the Left. The longest chapter in the book, Weiss knows all of the arguments that the Right is the only real threat to Jews today, and she methodically demolishes them. While it is true that the antisemites from the Right are the ones with the guns, the ones on the Left are limiting how American Jews can even think if they want to be accepted in progressive circles.

In a stunning analogy that she quotes from Dana Horn, there are two categories of antisemitism: Purim antisemitism and Chanukah antisemitism.

Purim antisemitism is the Jew-hatred of the Nazis and the Islamists: the desire to eliminate all Jews. Chanukah antisemitism is the desire to eliminate Jewish civilization - and, worse, it asks Jews to be willing participants in that destruction, just as the Hellenized Jews of the Seleucid regime did. This is today's Leftist antisemitism, where solidarity with the Jews of Israel is enough to cut Jews off from the causes that they gravitate to most such as anti-racism or feminism.

Weiss also spends a bit of time analyzing historic socialist antisemitism - how it turned against the very socialist Jews who enthusiastically joined up and persecuted their fellow Jews in the Soviet Union, and how that immoral philosophy has survived to attack Jews today under the guise of supporting human rights.

She also shows how the concept of intersectionality, originally a noble idea, has been hijacked and twisted into a perverted show of who is the biggest victim - and how the biggest victims are automatically assumed to be righteous, no matter what they say or how they act.

This is where Weiss' liberalism shines. To her, people's words and actions are important, not their race or gender. In the bizarre progressive world, Ilhan Omar's antisemitic words simply do not matter because she is a black female Muslim. Islamic misogyny should be condemned every bit as much as any other type, and the fact that it comes from a group perceived as non-white doesn't excuse it.

The book has been praised by Zionists and vilified by anti-Zionists, because Weiss proves quite handily that the anti-Zionism that delegitimizes Israel is an fact antisemitism. (Although this review in The American Prospect actually tries to argue that Muslim and Arab antisemitism is not really a thing - Pew surveys notwithstanding.)

The last chapter, on how to fight antisemitism, is again aimed at liberal American Jews. It is not a chapter on how to defeat antisemitism, but how to respond to it. Weiss starts the chapter off with a lengthy quote from a terrific manifesto written by Ze'ev Maghen in the late 1980s. That essay covers most of Weiss' points in the chapter Here's an excerpt:

A man calls you a pig. Do you walk around with a sign explaining that, in fact, you are not a pig? Do you hand out leaflets expostulating in detail upon the manifold differences between you and a pig ("A pig has a snout, I have a nose; a pig wallows in mud, I only occasionally step in a puddle, and then, of course, inadvertently...")? Do you stand on a soap box and discourse eruditely on why, in general, it is extremely not nice to call people pigs, and appeal to the populace to please have no truck with an individual rude and nasty enough to say such things about an upstanding citizen like yourself?

Fellow Jews, where in hell is your dignity? Where is your abhorrence of useless, thoughtless, counterproductive endeavor? Of course we want people to befriend us, to treat us with proper regard, that's only natural. Of course we desire and advocate amicable relations between ourselves and other ethnic and religious groups (after all, who came up with "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore"-a Martian?). But let's make a moment's inquiry, shall we, into the analogous microcosm of a healthy, strapping, youthful, well-adjusted organism-say, the reader- and examine how s/he interacts socially toward the same ends in his/her individual life.

You want people to like you, right? Well, and how do you go about achieving this? Do you launch a campus-wide "Don't Dislike Dan!" campaign, replete with billboard, petition, full-page ads, a couple of lobbying organizations and occasional sky-writing? If some miscreant simply won't be your pal, in fact actually takes an overt aversion to you despite all your exertions to woo his affection and heal the breaches, would you....picket in front of his dorm? Or do you run your life a bit differently, concentrating your time and effort on being the best "yourself" that you can, growing and learning and living and enjoying, treating others fairly and kindly, setting up criteria for right and wrong and trying like the dickens to adhere to them and if despite all this a few folks nevertheless persist in being incurable slimeballs and absolutely refuse to interact genially and courteously........@!%#?& them, as my grandmother says-you move on.

Clearly any sane human would opt for the latter course, seeing as the alternative is not only laughably ludicrous, but profusely demeaning and unforgivably ineffective. And yet as a group, as a people, we Jews have inexplicably chosen to live this very same absurd alternative. The current trend among the vast majority of American Jewish youth is lamentably not toward being the best "ourselves," the best Jews, we can be; for most Jewish young people in this country the condition is rather one of fundamental ignorance of the enormous treasure and incomparable high that is full, glorious, meaningful Jewish life. At the same time, the preponderance of highly-funded Jewish organizations in America today (and the ones gobbling up the largest chunks of young, activist Jewish talent), rather than confronting this lethal problem, are focused almost entirely on one thing: perimeter "defense." So terribly many of us have never experienced the warmth and splendor of a genuine Shabbat, have never learned a word of our language or set a foot down in our homeland, so terribly many of us are assimilating and intermarrying at a rate auguring nothing short of national oblivion-yet dare anybody disturb us during this gradual (not so gradual!) disappearing act by calling us names or painting swastikas on our walls, and we and our organizations will raise a hue-and-cry so loud, so fierce and so heavily financed that it will be sure to accomplish..nothing. Instead of brilliant rays of edifying, stimulating light pointed inward at our own people, we have dull, feckless, tinker-toy weapons (like those demonstrations) trained outward at "them."
Weiss' chapter does not have the effective anger of the Maghen piece, but her advice boils down to the same thing: call out injustice, don't hide, engage more with Judaism and be proud of your beliefs rather than hiding them. These is not exactly earth shattering ideas but, unfortunately, many liberal American Jews need to hear this.  (No, having a seder to push the latest progressive agenda while ignoring anything about Judaism doesn't count.)

The book is quite up to date, with many examples from 2019 up through this past summer.

The reason that the anti-Zionists of the world hate Weiss isn't because she is "conservative" - it is because she uses liberal arguments to show that they are in the wrong. As such, this book is a must read for American Jews who are uncomfortable with their being forced to hide their Zionism.






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Wishing my readers a sweet and healthy New Year!





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Ma'an says:

The extremist "Temple Communities" commissioned a Jewish artist to prepare an attractive design depicting the Temple building.

The design is to be used as a central greeting card for the so-called Hebrew New Year Day next Monday and Tuesday, September 30, October 1.

The Temple Group, which holds 45 percent of the seats in the current caretaker government, is planning major incursions into al-Aqsa during the holiday season.

These groups are also looking to change the status quo in Al-Aqsa, circulating ideas such as "closing Al-Aqsa completely to Muslims during the holidays."
45% of the current government is part of a group supporting building a Third Temple now? That's a hell of a statistic. It would be most interesting if it were remotely true.




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Saturday, September 28, 2019

From Ian:

‘Jews exploit Poles,’ report leads to massive online hate in Poland
Polish portals such as Wiadomosci began to fill with hateful comments against Israel and Jews on Friday when news broke out that Polish President Andrzej Duda allegedly blamed antisemitism in Poland – on Israel.

The report, by the Jewish Insider, was quickly denied by the office of the President as well as people who were at the meeting such as Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and President of B’nai B’rith International Charles Kaufman. Yet, at least online, Polish anger began to shape in hundreds of comments, the Algemeiner reported.

“I used to feel sorry for the Jews, but having observed Israel’s actions over the last year, I now understand that they are guilty,” one person wrote.

“Poles don’t like Jews because Jews exploit Poles with privatization, they rob Poles because they are cunning and better-organized, and they own newspapers like the New York Times that slander Poles,” another added.

Duda did speak in the New York meeting with Jewish leaders about a February statement made by Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who said that Poles "suckle antisemitism with their mother's milk."

Katz was repeating a famous statement made by the late prime minister of Israel Yitzhak Shamir, who said so during a conversation in which he confessed that his father was murdered by Poles.

Duda said Katz's comments were a "humiliation," and seemed disappointed that Katz never apologized for them, Boteach wrote.
Duda went on to say that several advisors had suggested that he should not go to Israel until Katz apologizes.

One Polish online user, unaware that the Polish leader never accused Israel of responsibility for antisemtisim in Poland, said “Finally, we have a President who isn’t afraid of the truth.”

“Yes Jews — draw your own conclusions from this,” he added.

Love and hateThunberg’s tweets on Tel Aviv climate change rally draws likes, protests
Swedish protest leader and teenager Greta Thunberg on Friday posted images to Twitter from a protest in Tel Aviv amid dozens of other pictures on her feed from demonstrations across the world demanding swift action on climate change, which brought messages of support as well as comments on Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.

Thunberg posted the first image, simply captioned “Tel Aviv!” in the same style that she used for publicizing all cities participating in the social action. The image had over 7.2 thousand likes and more than 400 comments, many of them urging a “free Palestine” or calling on Thunberg to do more “research” on Israel.

Some social media users suggested that the protests should be about the Palestinians rather than climate change. “Awesome! Now if only they would protest the brutal occupation and institutionalized racism of Israel,” wrote one user in a comment on a video from the Tel Aviv protest retweeted by Thunberg. The footage drew over 140,000 views and almost 8,000 likes.
Austrian Parliament MPs pledge to classify BDS as antisemitic
Leading Austrian lawmakers have vowed they will declare the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions campaign targeting Israel as antisemitic during the next legislative session.

“We hope that words will be followed by deeds and that ... there will soon be a parliamentary resolution,” wrote the organization of Jewish-Austrian students, which hosted the politicians at its event in Vienna earlier this month.

In response to a question at the event from college student Noah Scheer, who asked if the Austrian parliament will replicate the decision of the German Bundestag in May to classify BDS as antisemitic, the MPs pledged to do so.

Sibylle Hamann from the Green Party compared BDS to the Nazi-era “Don’t buy from Jews” campaign. She said the Nazi slogan “resonates” with the BDS campaign.

The other Austrian MPs present were Pamela Rendi-Wagner (Social Democrats), Wolfgang Sobotka (People’s Party), Helmut Brandstätter (NEOS), and Peter Pilz (JETZT).

In 2018, Vienna’s city council passed an anti-BDS resolution, which unanimously prescribed the organization as antisemitic and banned support for “events that advertise for BDS.”

Howewer, the national parliament has yet to pass a similar resolution.

The lawmakers did not specify a specific target date, although elections for a new parliament are on Sunday.

The United States House of Representatives overwhelmingly condemned BDS in July.



Security forces nab suspects in August terror bombing that killed Israeli teen
Israeli security forces arrested three Palestinian men suspected of carrying out a deadly terror bombing at a West Bank natural spring that killed a 17-year-old Israeli girl and injured her father and brother last month, the Shin Bet security service said Saturday night.

According to the Shin Bet, the suspects were members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group from the Ramallah area.

A fourth man believed to be involved in the terror cell’s activities was also arrested.

Two of the men were arrested days after the terror attack, the other two were picked up by security forces over the past two weeks, a Shin Bet official told The Times of Israel.

The security service said the cell was planning additional attacks when the suspects were arrested, including shooting attacks and kidnappings.

During the arrest raids, security forces also found and safely detonated an improvised explosive device that the group had made.

On August 23, an IED that had been planted next to the Bubin natural spring in the central West Bank, near the Dolev settlement, was triggered by terrorists as the Shnerb family from the central Israeli town of Lod visited the site, killing the daughter Rina and seriously injuring her father Eitan and brother Dvir, 19.
Tank shell from Egypt damages shul during services at Israeli community
A tank shell fired from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula exploded in the Israeli community of Bnei Netzarim Saturday morning, in what appeared to be a case of internal fighting between Egyptian forces and militants spilling over the border.

There were no casualties, though light damage was caused to the community’s synagogue. A parked car’s back windscreen was smashed.

The Ynet news site reported that there were several worshipers inside the synagogue for Shabbat services when the shell hit. Initial reports had indicated that the projectile was a mortar shell.

The police and the army were looking into the incident.

Egypt has battled an insurgency led by an Islamic State affiliate for years in the Sinai Peninsula and in recent days has conducted major operations in the territory.

Egypt’s Ministry of Defense claimed Friday that its troops had killed 118 militants in the restive peninsula in the “past period.” Also on Friday a terrorist ambush in the peninsula’s Bir al-Abed killed seven soldiers and one civilian.
Egyptian delegation said to make secret visit to Israel fearing Gaza flareup
Fearing a fresh flareup between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip amid the political deadlock in Jerusalem, an Egyptian intelligence delegation paid a secret visit to Israel, Channel 13 reported on Friday.

The envoys from Cairo met with senior officials from the Prime Minister’s Office on Thursday for the first time since the September 17 elections in Israel, which resulted in no clear winner. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday was given the first stab at forming a coalition, but the bloc of his traditional partners is not large enough to form a government.

Egyptian officials are concerned that the situation in Gaza will once again spiral into violence, and with only a caretaker prime minister governing in Jerusalem, Israel will have a harder time preventing the situation from escalating to a full-blown war.

There was no mention of the delegation also visiting Gaza. Egypt has brokered a number of truces between Israel and Hamas in recent times.

On September 10, two rockets were launched from Gaza, at Ashkelon and another at Ashdod during a campaign rally by the prime minister, who was whisked off the stage by his bodyguards to take shelter.
After 4 years at UN, Danon plans plunge back into Israeli politics, eyes top job
Danny Danon is ready for a change. Next month, he will hit his four-year anniversary as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations — a sign, for him, that it’s time to move on.

“I always joke with my dear friend, Ambassador Haley, that she got the shortest sentence in this building, because she got to leave after two years and I’m now finishing four years,” he told The Times of Israel this week, at United Nations headquarters, referring to former US envoy Nikki Haley. “I think that after four years, it’s time to think about the next step.”

The former Likud MK is not shy about his plans to get back into politics upon returning to Jerusalem, nor about the loftiness of his ambitions.

“Next time you come to my office, you will see the list of the former ambassadors. You will see one of them became the president, one became minister of foreign affairs, and Bibi became the prime minister,” he said, using Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nickname.

For now, he is living in a kind of limbo. With Israel’s political future anything but certain, he’s unable to plan an exact departure from Turtle Bay, but Danon said he will stay on until at least early 2020.
Palestinians protest in northern Dead Sea against PM’s West Bank annexation plan
Over a hundred Palestinians gathered at an abandoned hotel in the northern Dead Sea on Saturday to protest a pre-election promise by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea and apply Israeli sovereignty there.

The protesters climbed onto the Lido structure, which has largely remained empty since 1967 and is located south of the West Bank city of Jericho, and waved Palestinian flags before they were dispersed by Israel Defense Forces soldiers. There were no reports of arrests, but videos from the scene showed scuffles between troops and demonstrators.

The Kan public broadcaster reported that protesters were also demonstrating against house demolitions in the area.

The prime minister said before the elections earlier this month that he would annex the Jordan Valley area and the northern Dead Sea (some 25 percent of the West Bank) immediately after he formed a new government, and then later, in coordination with the US, would annex “all the settlements” in the West Bank, the Jewish enclaves in Hebron and other unspecified “vital” areas.

“There is one place where we can apply Israeli sovereignty immediately after the elections,” Netanyahu said earlier this month, speaking with a map of the Jordan Valley on an easel next to him. “If I receive from you, citizens of Israel, a clear mandate to do so… today I announce my intention to apply, with the formation of the next government, Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea.”
IDF nabs 8 Hamas 'leaders' in Hebron
The detention of eight Hamas “leaders” in the Hebron area by the IDF won’t intimidate the Palestinians or stop them from “pursuing their national role in defending their land and holy sites,” the terrorist organization said on Saturday.

Palestinian sources said the men were detained during IDF raids on their homes early Saturday in the towns of Dura, Deir Samet, Surif and Idhna in the Hebron area.

The sources identified the Hamas suspects as Mohammed Yusef al-Huroub, Ahmed Dib al-Huroub, Ezz Qassem, Ayed Dudin, Fadi Ghneimat, Khaled al-Fasfous, Tawfik Abdel Fattah al-Huroub, and Imsail al-Nattah.

Hamas spokesperson Abdel Hakim Hanini said that the detainees, who previously served time in Israeli prison for terrorist-related offenses, were “paying the price for their defense of the holy sites and the freedom of the land and Palestinians.”

Hanini pointed out that Mohammed Yusef al-Huroub was detained in Dura by the IDF shortly after he was summoned for interrogation by the Palestinian Authority security forces. Al-Huroub’s ID card was still being held by the PA security forces, he said.

The Hamas spokesperson condemned the “revolving door policy” between the IDF and the PA security forces in the West Bank, a reference to the security coordination between the two sides.

Hamas has repeatedly condemned the security coordination and called on the PA to halt all forms of collaboration with Israel.
Can the Palestinians hold new elections?
Hamas and Islamic Jihad have welcomed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s intention to call for a general election upon his return to Ramallah from New York, where he delivered a speech last Thursday before the UN General Assembly.

The Palestinian Central Elections Commission said on Saturday that it was ready to hold new elections, and that a date would be set for holding the election as soon as Abbas issues a “presidential decree” regarding the vote.

Palestinian political analysts, however, expressed skepticism over the prospects of holding a new election, especially in the wake of the continued rivalry between Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction and Hamas.

Abbas said in his speech that he has decided, upon his return to Ramallah, “to announce a date for the holding of a general election in Palestine – in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip.” He called on the UN and international organizations to monitor the election, and warned that he will “attribute full responsibility to those who may attempt to prevent it from happening on the date determined.”

Noting that the last Palestinian parliamentary election was held in 2006, Abbas said that “this democratic process was paralyzed by the coup of Hamas in 2007,” referring to the terror group’s violent takeover of the Gaza Strip that year.

Welcoming the call for holding the long overdue election, Hamas called on Abbas to renounce the Oslo Accords with Israel to ensure the success of the vote.
Hamas Environment Minister Vows to Cut Tire Burning 20% by 2030 (satire)
In one of the region’s most ambitious initiatives to address climate change, Hamas Minister of the Environment Ahmet al-Buluti has vowed to reduce tire-burning emissions 20% by 2030.

“We must all do our part to confront the reality of global warming, and these targets will be an important step towards reducing our carbon footprint,” al-Buluti said in a press conference. “By 2050, we hope to cut tire-burning emissions in half, because all nations must make sacrifices to ensure that our planet remains inhabitable.”

While Hamas’s targets are the most aggressive to date, Gaza’s is just one of many Middle Eastern governments looking to reduce emissions. Syria has begun transitioning from high-carbon carpet-bombing to zero-carbon sarin gas, while ISIS is on its way to phasing out burning prisoners alive, beheading them instead.
Nasrallah: 'We are threatening them and we will enter occupied Palestine.'
Secretary-general of the terrorist group Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, continues his psychological warfare against Israel. Quoted on Saturday in the El Akhbar newspaper, he reiterating the large amount of intelligence information the organization has accumulated that could be used in a war or military conflict. According to Nasrallah, "we are threatening them and we will enter occupied Palestine."

He said "we have abundant information, unprecedented in fact, about all events and developments occurring on the enemy side, using both public and secretive measures."

He added that, "we have very good intelligence and very good oversight."

In early September, Nasrallah claimed that "there are no redlines left in regards to defending Lebanon from Israeli aggression," adding that "Lebanon has a right to defend itself from Israeli attacks."

Nasrallah even went so far as to state in his speech that any attack on Iran would "destroy the area," saying that ,"if you think attacking Iran will end the resistance, I assure you just the opposite will happen. An attack like that would result in Israel ceasing to exist."

In his speech, he also called the IDF a "Hollywood army," claiming that "we have learned our lesson from the show you put on," most likely referring to the fake diversion attack staged by the IDF in early September.
Another 'airstrike' on Syria’s Albukamal days before border crossing open
Syrian air defenses responded to an alleged airstrike on the Iraq-Syrian border town of Albukamal just after midnight on Saturday. It is the latest of several airstrikes reported in the same vicinity that are alleged to have struck Iranian-backed groups or bases linked to Iran. Albukamal is a key strategic crossing between Iraq and Syria and could be conduit for weapons trafficking from Iranian-backed groups to Hezbollah or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria.

The raids were first reported by Arabic media, particularly Russia’s Sputnik in Arabic. The report claimed that local sources had said missiles were fired at Albukamal and air defense responded, hitting some of them. Albukamal has been increasing in the spotlight after reports that the border crossing would re-open in August. Those reports were premature and the opening appeared delayed until early September. Now the crossing is supposed to open on Monday. Oddly, the latest reports of the crossing opening came just four hours after the reports of the airstrikes, as if to show that despite the strikes the crossing will open.

September was a hot month in the border town. On September 3 Fox News reported, based on Image Sat International images, that Iran was building a new base at the site. This followed reports in May that Iran was seeking to upgrade the crossing. On September 9 airstrikes ripped apart some of the buildings at the alleged Iranian base in Albukamal. Satellite images from Image Sat International showed the results. Nine fortified storehouses were destroyed. On September 24 Image Sat International again showed images of the “Iranian border crossing under intense construction.”

The overall picture at Albukamal is that the crossing is proceeding despite the strikes. It also is unclear what the strikes have accomplished. Regardless of the mystery about who has carried out airstrikes, and demands by Iraqi-based Iranian-backed paramilitaries that the area needs better air defense, the equation isn’t changing. Last summer an airstrike hit a headquarters of Kata’ib Hezbollah. This group is linked to the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) which are mostly Shi’ite militias who have been incorporated into the Iraqi Security Forces. These forces were supposed to be fighting ISIS, but when the ISIS war mostly ended in 2017 some of them began to go to Syria to support the Syrian regime in Damascus. They are now thought to form a “land bridge” or “road to the sea” for Iran and its regional ambitions.
‘Nothing will be left of Israel’ if it attacks us, Iranian commander threatens
If Israel attacks Iran, it will have to collect “bits and pieces” of Tel Aviv from the Mediterranean Sea, an Iranian commander threatened on Saturday.

“Iran has encircled Israel from all four sides. Nothing will be left of Israel,” said Abbas Nilforoushan, the deputy commander of operations of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in an interview with the Iranian news agency Tasnim. “Israel is not in a position to threaten Iran,” he said according to a translation published by Radio Farda, the Iranian branch of the US government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

“If Israel makes a strategic mistake, it has to collect bits and pieces of Tel Aviv from the lower depths of the Mediterranean Sea,” he added.

Iran has been on edge, fearing an attack on the country over a drone-and-missile strike on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry earlier this month attributed to Tehran. Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have claimed the attack, but the US alleges Iran carried out the assault.
Satellite image from Planet Labs Inc. shows thick black smoke rising from Saudi Aramco’s Abqaiq oil processing facility in Buqyaq, Saudi Arabia, September 14, 2019. (Planet Labs Inc via AP)

In the aftermath of the attack, the US formed a coalition with regional and global powers including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, the United Kingdom and Australia to protect waterways across the Mideast. Iran denies being behind the tanker explosions, though the attacks came after Tehran threatened to stop oil exports from the Persian Gulf.

The attack in Saudi Arabia was the latest incident following the collapse of Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, over a year after US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord. The nuclear deal was meant to keep Tehran from building atomic weapons — something Iran denies it wants to do — in exchange for economic incentives.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a sharp critic of the nuclear deal negotiated under the administration of former President Barack Obama, and welcomed Washington’s pull-back from the accord, urging further pressure on Iran.
Seth Frantzman: How did one of the world’s poorest countries build state-of-art drones?
The array of Yemeni drones and missiles, including their increasing use against Saudi Arabia shows that the Houthis are able to operate a sophisticated industrial production line for drones, or that they have found a way to easily smuggle them from Iran. It’s not entirely clear how either is possible given their isolation and the fact that the technologies of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and others have been arrayed against them.

The Houthi successes are causing celebrations across the Middle East among Iran’s allies. In Lebanon Hezbollah has said the attack on Abqaiq, which the Houthis claimed but which the US blamed on Iran, shows the “military equation” in the region has changed. “The US is on the decline,” says the leader of Iran’s IRGC. “The US and allies have lost hope,” asserts Syrian President Bashar Assad. One almost gets the sense that the recent use of drones and cruise missiles, whether by the Houthis or Iran, has stoked the feeling that Iran and its allies are winning.

Since air-defense systems have costs that run into the billions, with a recent price tag in Poland costing $10.5 billion for four Patriot systems, the fact that one of the poorest areas in one of the poorest countries has used drones and cruise missiles to outmaneuver such a system would seem to send a big message.

Even under siege, in Yemen, or sanctions, in Iran, the “axis of resistance” is able to defeat Western technology. This may be a bit of bragging, because air defense experts say that properly deployed systems can take down the cruise missiles and drone swarms.

Maybe. So far an Iranian drone swarm and cruise missile attack, of the kind used against Saudi Arabia, whether by Yemenis or by Iran itself or its allies, has not been stopped.
Iran-backed Houthi rebels claim attack on Saudi military post
Yemen’s Houthi rebels, an Iranian-backed movement, claimed on Saturday that they carried out an attack on a Saudi Arabian military post near the border with Yemen, capturing military personnel and military vehicles.

A spokesperson for the Houthis said in a statement that three “enemy military brigades had fallen” in the attack near the border with the southern Saudi region of Najran, launched 72 hours ago and supported by the group’s “drone, missile and air defense units,” Reuters reported on Saturday. There was no immediate confirmation from Riyadh.

A Houthi-run TV channel said “thousands of enemy troops,” including Saudi Arabian military officers and soldiers, were captured in the attack.

Saudi Arabia has been at war with the Houthi rebels in Yemen since early 2015 after their operations led to the ouster of the internationally recognized government of Ali Abdullah Saleh in the capital Sanaa. The Houthis have control of Sanaa and most big urban centers in Yemen.

The Houthis claimed an attack earlier this month on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry, but Tehran is widely seen as the culprit. The September 14 drone attacks on two plants owned by Saudi Arabian giant Aramco, including the world’s largest crude oil processing plant, slashed the company’s oil production by half. The US pointed the finger squarely at Iran and vowed to hold it responsible. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the assault an “unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply.”
US is urged to end probe of Middle East studies program
The American Civil Liberties Union urged the Trump administration Friday to drop its investigation into a Middle East studies program the administration says has focused too much on the “positive aspects of Islam” and misused grant money to promote “ideological priorities.”

A letter from the group’s Washington office urged Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to revoke her agency’s threat to cut grant funding to the Duke University of North Carolina Consortium for Middle East Studies unless it revises its programs.

The ACLU said the Education Department is abusing grant rules to push its own views and is injecting the process with “the presidential administration’s long pattern of anti-Muslim bigotry and discrimination.”

But the investigation is not “anti-Muslim or pro-any other group,” the department said.

“It is absurd to be accused of bigotry for recommending the inclusion of religious and ethnic minorities,” spokeswoman Angela Morabito said in a prepared statement. “Real bigotry would be ignoring or dismissing the existence of religious minorities as immaterial to a full understanding of the region.”

The ACLU joins a growing number of schools and scholars expressing outrage over the investigation.


Congressmen Demand Answers About Horrifying Anti-Semitic Video In Philadelphia
Two U.S. congressmen are asking the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission to reveal the details of its investigation into the April 2019 video of Muslim children from a Philadelphia mosque performing anti-Semitic skits and singing violent songs.

The shocking video was presented by the Muslim American Society Islamic Center and Masjid A-Hidaya Mosque in Philadelphia in celebration of “Ummah Day.” As reported at the time by The Daily Wire, the video featured Muslim children singing,

We will chop off their heads … we will lead the army of Allah fulfilling his promise, we will subject them to eternal torture … we will defend the land of divine guidance with our bodies … sacrifice our souls without hesitation.

Following multiple press articles, the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations announced an investigation into the event.

But more than five months have elapsed — with no follow-up from the Commission regarding its findings. Recently, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) and Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) sent a letter to the Commission’s executive director, Rue Landau, requesting an update of its findings and asking whether further investigation needs to be made by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The letter also informed Landau of the Muslim American Society’s (MAS) role as an “overt arm” of the Muslim Brotherhood and notes that “several senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood are designated as terrorists.” Perry and Zeldin also noted that, given the Muslim American Society has 50 chapters throughout the United States, the results of the Philadelphia investigation are of national importance in trying to understand the role played by the organization and similar groups in indoctrinating American Muslims children towards extremist Islamism.

Contacted about the letter, Landau did not respond.

The disturbing video received both local and national attention at the time, but why is there only continuing interest in the results of the Commission’s investigation from a congressman from New York and a congressman from Dauphin County, Pennsylvania?
The silence on increasing antisemitism cannot be tolerated in NY
Several weeks ago, I penned an article that appeared on both the Arutz Sheva (Israel National News) web site on the egregious phenomenon known as the “politicization” of anti-Semitism in New York and beyond. In the first part of the article, entitled, I place a specific focus on the alarming escalation of brutal attacks on Jews throughout Brooklyn. The victims have been Orthodox Jews; who are clearly identifiable by their traditional garb.

In my piece, I specifically identify the long-range objectives of the “politicization” process and they are fairly simple to comprehend.

Politicians and elected officials of the Democrat party in New York State have remained mum when the lion’s share of vicious attacks directed at Jews are perpetrated by members of minorities.

Significant, however, and quite noteworthy to document is the substantiated fact that when anti-Semitism rears its ugly head from those who are considered on the political “right” such as white supremacists, nationalists or those who are considered to be Trump supporters, then our Democratic elected officials are up in arms, falling all over each other to stridently and unequivocally condemn such hate in the public square.
Well, if you sense that something enigmatic and hypocritical is lurking behind the scenes, then you have hit the nail on the proverbial head.

Among the many politicians who are guilty of imposing such contemptible double standards in addressing hate are New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and New York State Attorney General Letitia James.
Labour’s Dame Louise Ellman says she “understands” why Jews “would seriously consider” leaving UK if Corbyn becomes PM
The veteran Labour MP Dame Louise Ellman, who is Jewish, delivered a powerful attack on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn over his record on antisemitism at a Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) reception the sidelines of the Labour Party Conference. LFI had opted not to host a stand at the Conference for fear of abuse to those manning the stand.

In her speech, Dame Louise condemned Mr Corbyn as someone “who would…label a propagator of the blood libel a ‘very honoured citizen’ and would peddle and endorse vile, trope-laden conspiracy theories,” and remarked, in a thinly-disguised reference to Mr Corbyn, that “too many claim to abhor racism ‘in all its forms’, while ignoring the racism against Jews which stalks party meetings, social media and the highest institutions of the party.”

She went on to ask: “what does it say about Jeremy Corbyn that he looks at a grossly antisemitic mural and apparently cannot see how grotesque and offensive it is; that he was active in an antisemitic Facebook group whose members discussed reading Mein Kampf, used the terms ‘ZioNazi’ and ‘JewNazi’ and discussed whether the BBC was controlled by Zionists, but, again, never seemed to see any of this; and that he was willing to take the pay of Press TV, the mouthpiece of a regime which denies the Holocaust and threatens to annihilate Israel — and even now refuses to apologise for having done so.

“What does it tell us about Jeremy Corbyn that he can describe the words of Hamas terrorists as ‘fascinating and electrifying’? Men who blew up families as they sat enjoying a meal in a pizza restaurant. Men who murdered Israeli teenagers as they excitedly waited to enter a club on a night out with friends. Men who butchered Holocaust survivors as they shared a Passover Seder.

“And what are we left to think when Jeremy Corbyn finds the time to lay wreaths at the graves of those who masterminded the torture and murder of Israeli athletes at Munich, but repeatedly refuses invitations to visit Yad Vashem — the museum and monument to the greatest crime in human history?”
Also in September: a selection of other antisemitic incidents that we did not cover
In West Sussex, the graffiti message “F*** Jews” was discovered scrawled on a bus shelter in Handcross, before it was painted over by contractors. Local councillor Norman Webster insisted that “there must be zero-tolerance of antisemitism in our community.”

In Stamford Hill on 9th September, two Jewish women were confronted by a male wearing dark clothing who spat at them. The incident took place near Leweston Place. Anyone with further information should contact the police on 101 or Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish neighbourhood watch patrol, on 020 7118 7756, citing CAD 6035.

In Gateshead in Tyne and Wear on 12th September, as twenty Jews left a wedding, a male on a bicycle shouted racist remarks and expletives referencing Jews on Bewick Road.

In Stamford Hill on 25th September three teenagers approached a Jewish man on Fairholt Road and threw off his hat and skullcap, laughed and made off. Anyone with further information should contact the police on 101, or Stamford Hill Shomrim on 020 7118 7756, citing CAD 1181.
Israel Shares Best Practices with Indian Farmers
Dan Alluf is an agricultural counsellor in India for Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation (MASHAV). Centers of Excellence (CoE) are being set up across the country to share best practices and train Indian farmers. There are 28 centers in 12 states.

Alluf said, "We try to figure out the farmers' and markets' needs and develop solutions accordingly....[For example,] in Israel, we have developed a special kind of packaging which extends the shelf life of pomegranates by three months. This is a game-changer - it gives a three-month window to the farmer to sell when prices are at their highest."

"We try to protect and promote the bugs that pollinate flowers. To fight pests, we try to introduce insects that control their population rather than spraying insecticides. It is a win-win - farmers reduce their costs and customers get produce with less pesticide residues."

"In Israel, we are using the bombus bee, which is like a bumble bee. We have 'domesticated' it by putting up special hives for it in greenhouses. It pollinates all kinds of flowers and does not sting, so farmers can work peacefully."

In Bhuj, Gujarat, farmer Ishwar Pindoria "diligently implemented the lessons learned in the training and after one year, not only did he have premium quality dates, but for the first time, he also exported his produce to Germany."

"In 2018, we trained 147,000 farmers in India."
Shenzhen Hifuture to Invest $45 Million in Israeli 3D Printing Startup XJet
Shenzhen-listed electrical equipment company Shenzhen Hifuture Information Technology is set to invest $45 million in Israel-based ceramic 3D printing startup XJet, the former announced in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Wednesday. According to the filing, Shenzhen Hifuture is set to make an initial investment of $25 million, and intends to invest an additional $20 million at a later date.

Based in central Israel, XJet develops and manufactures a 3D metal jetting system made to produce metal and ceramic parts. The company was founded in 2005 and has raised $105 million to date.
‘Jewish Life Must Flourish in Europe’: EU Commissioner Sends Rosh Hashanah Message to Continent’s Jews
Jewish citizens of the European Union were warmly praised in a message on Friday issued by one of the bloc’s top leaders in advance of the Jewish New Year, which begins on Sunday night.

“May you celebrate Erev Rosh Hashanah surrounded by your loved ones and enjoy blessed High Holidays,” the message from the European Commission’s first vice-president, Frans Timmermans, declared. “The enduring traditions of Rosh Hashanah remind us of the deep values of Judaism and allow us to celebrate its remarkable heritage and contribution to our continent.”

That heritage included the Jewish contribution to Europe’s intellectual culture. “Europe would be different without Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein or Simone Veil, while Judaism would be poorer without Maimonides or Rashi, Theodor Herzl or Golda Meir,” Timmermans observed.

The message continued: “The coming year will remind us of the 75th anniversary of the end of the Shoah and the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau which I visited earlier this year on Holocaust Memorial Day. I was fortunate to speak to hundreds of young people about the lessons we should heed, and the responsibility we all must bear. We will also commemorate 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall leading to the end of the Communist regimes, which is concomitantly the liberation of Jewish life beyond the ‘Iron Curtain’ and the unification of Europe.”
Algemeiner Unveils 6th Annual ‘J100’ List at Gala Featuring Sir Ben Kingsley and Rachel Riley
The Algemeiner unveiled its 6th annual “J100” list of the top 100 people “positively influencing Jewish life” on Thursday night, at a lavish gala in New York City. Honorees in attendance included famed actor Sir Ben Kingsley and TV star Rachel Riley.

The event, held at Gotham Hall, was attended by some 500 people, who gathered in support of The Algemeiner.

Both Kingsley and Riley received The Algemeiner’s prestigious “Warrior for Truth” award, and the 2019 Algemeiner Honoree was entrepreneur and philanthropist Michael David Heller.

The evening’s Master of Ceremonies was CNN journalist Bianna Golodryga, and the Event Chairs were Robert H. and Amy Book, and Neil and Sharon Book. Bernard-Henri Lévy served as Honorary Chairman, and News 12 anchor Emily Lorsch hosted the red carpet.

Other high-profile attendees at the event included artist Ron Agam, journalist James Taranto, designer Rickie Freeman, radio host Buck Sexton, Consul General of Israel in New York Dani Dayan, activist George Farmer, writer and musician Dominic Green, publisher Marty Peretz, journalist Jere Van Dyk, publicist Stu Loeser, Carnegie Hall Executive and Artistic Director Sir Clive Gillinson, author Tuvia Tenenbom, journalist Tunku Varadarajan and jeweler Erwin Pearl, among many other notable community and industry leaders.

US President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin — all of whom were included on this year’s “J100” list — sent greeting messages.
The Algemeiner's 'J100' list, 2019 -- in one minute
The Algemeiner unveiled its 6th annual 'J100' list of top 100 people “positively influencing Jewish life” on Thursday, September 26, 2019 at a star-studded gala in New York City. Honorees in attendance included Sir Ben Kingsley and Rachel Riley.


Real-Life ‘Schindler’s List’ Holocaust Survivor Introduces Algemeiner Honoree Sir Ben Kingsley at ‘J100’ Gala
Famed British actor Sir Ben Kingsley was honored with the prestigious “Warrior for Truth” award on Thursday at the 6th annual Algemeiner ‘J100’ gala in New York City.

Kingsley, whose most prominent Jewish role was as Itzhak Stern in the 1993 Steven Spielberg film “Schindler’s List,” was introduced by Holocaust survivor Halina Silber — who was No. 16 on the real-life list compiled by German industrialist Oskar Schindler.

In his subsequent remarks, Kingsley remembered, “When I met with the great Steven Spielberg to discuss playing Itzhak Stern, I asked him, ‘What is my narrative function in this role?’ and he said, ‘Conscience. Witness.’ As I was filming, I had in my pocket a photograph of Anne Frank and I would say to this beautiful photograph, ‘Dear girl, I’m doing this for you.’ Everyday on the set I would say that.”

“Well, dear friends, tonight I can assure you that if given another opportunity to tell your story I can say wholeheartedly, ‘I’m doing this for you,’” he added.


NYU Student Who Fought BDS Movement on Campus: ‘When You’re Silent, There Can Be No Justice’
“When you’re silent, there can be no justice,” New York University student leader Ben Newhouse said on Thursday, in remarks at The Algemeiner’s 6th annual “J100” gala in Manhattan.

Newhouse recalled his efforts to fight the anti-Israel BDS movement on campus, which were brought attention to by The Algemeiner, drawing a response from the university, which issued a condemnation of the boycott initiative.

“If you care about antisemitism being exposed and the pro-Israel viewpoint having a voice, you will stand up and support The Algemeiner,” he said. “It is that simple. No one should have to go through what I went through at NYU. But I’m so grateful that The Algemeiner was there for me when I needed it the most…’Never again’ begins with your voice.”




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