09/16 Links Pt2: German BDS incited against U.S. synagogue; OXFAM faces $160Mil lawsuit, accused of supporting terrorism in Gaza; New Women's March Organizer Accused FBI of Recruiting for ISIS ~ EoZ

From Ian:

German commissioner says local BDS chapter incited against U.S. synagogue

The commissioner of the Hessian Federal State Government for Jewish Life and the Fight Against Antisemitism has filed a criminal complaint against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement’s chapter in the German city of Wiesbaden.

Uwe Becker told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that he made such a move after the chapter posted several tweets that targeted the Jewish state and also led to anti-Jewish incitement.

“[The] Wiesbaden branch of the antisemitic BDS movement stoked incitement on social media that targeted an American synagogue with antisemitic insults” on September 12, Becker said. “Wiesbaden termed the State of Israel, in its statements on social media, as a ‘Zionist colony’ and the flag of the Jewish state as a symbol of a genocidal, colonialist ideology.”

The BDS group’s tweets were replies to a post by American philanthropist Adam Milstein. Milstein tweeted a video showing the Baba Sale Synagogue in Los Angeles, which was vandalized with “Free Palestine” graffiti on September 11.

Milstein condemned the graffiti, tweeting that “BDS is the 21st Century #Antisemitism, it radicalized all other extremist movements, promotes violence against Jews and resembles the Nazi methods to boycott The Jewish people.” Wiesbaden’s BDS chapter replied with several tweets.

The commissioner said he considers the group’s statements on social media “deeply antisemitic” and that the tweets exceed the threshold of incitement.

Oxfam faces $160 million legal threat over Palestine aid project

Oxfam faces a $160 million counter-terror claim in a New York court. The case, brought by a pro-Israel lawyer and activist, alleges that the NGO contravened US law during its work in the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

The lawyer behind the case told The New Humanitarian he has filed five other similar cases, which remain under seal in the US courts.

David Abrams, who runs the Zionist Advocacy Center, alleges that Oxfam’s work on an agriculture policy project in Gaza constituted “material support” to Hamas, a US-designated terrorist group.

The seven-page filing claims that Oxfam should have acknowledged the Gaza project when signing other grants with USAID, the US federal government department that administers aid and development projects, amounting to $53 million.

The agriculture project was largely funded by the Swiss government and the USAID grants mentioned include projects in Iraq, Ethiopia, and the Philippines. Under the alleged offence, the other USAID contracts don’t need to be related to the alleged material support; what matters legally is that Oxfam signed agreements to receive US government monies.

In response to questions, Oxfam emailed TNH a statement saying, “Oxfam takes such matters extremely seriously. We are aware of the lawsuit and reject the allegation made in it."

Petra Marquardt-Bigman: Linda Sarsour — It’s You and Not Bari Weiss Who Is on the Wrong Side of History

If Linda Sarsour wanted to ponder which side of history her longstanding association with AMP puts her, she could check out AMP’s slideshow on “Jerusalem in the crosshairs.” The third slide is a good example of the vileness on display: it justifies the murderous violence incited by the notorious Haj Amin al-Husseini against the Jews of British Mandate Palestine exactly 90 years ago, in 1929.

Arabs murdered 133 Jews and wounded hundreds, but as far as AMP is concerned, the victims were to blame: “The uprising was sparked after Zionist groups came to the wall and planted Zionist flags, declaring that ‘This wall is ours.’” The wall in question is the Western Wall, which had been designated as a Jewish place of prayer for hundreds of years. Revealingly, AMP prefers the term “al-Buraq Wall” since this term is popular among those who want to erase Jewish history on the basis of the myth that one night, a flying horse named Buraq conveyed Islam’s founder to the Al-Aqsa mosque, which of course didn’t exist during Muhammad’s lifetime.

While Linda Sarsour presumably feels she and groups like AMP are on the right side of history, Bari Weiss can only be commended for being on the other side. What angers Sarsour so much is that Weiss doesn’t buy into the illusion promoted by many of today’s self-described “progressives,” who insist that the oldest hatred stopped evolving with the Nazis and, therefore, only right-wing Nazi-style antisemitism deserves to be considered dangerous. But as Bari Weiss points out, “Neo-Nazis, in a way, are straightforward. We know they wish us dead. Antisemites with PhDs, the ones who defend their bigotry as enlightened thinking, are harder to fight.”

Linda Sarsour may not have a PhD, but she’s still rather good at defending her hatred for the world’s only Jewish state and her whitewashing of murderous Islamist Jew-hatred as enlightened thinking. And she arguably deserves a dishonorary PhD in hypocrisy and cynicism for pretending to cheer Bernie Sanders’ candidacy as a historic Jewish milestone, while dismissing mainstream Jewish concerns about contemporary antisemitism as “being on the wrong side of history.”

Women's March cutting ties with three original board members accused of anti-Semitism

The Women's March is cutting ties with three inaugural board members who have been dogged by accusations of anti-Semitism, infighting and financial mismanagement - controversies some say have slowed the organization's progress and diminished its impact.

Co-Chairs Bob Bland, Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour stepped down from the board July 15, though the organization has been slow to announce their departures. The Women's March website continued to host their photos and titles as co-chairs through this week, when the group announced the board turnover.

A diverse cast of 16 new board members that includes three Jewish women, a transgender woman, a former legislator, two religious leaders and a member of the Oglala tribe of the Lakota nation will inherit an organization recovering from a failed attempt to trademark the Women's March name and fractured relationships with local activist groups and the Jewish community.

The shake-up comes at a critical time for the organization. With the 2020 election kicking into high gear, experts said organizers can no longer afford the distractions and controversies that have muddled the group's message and loomed over its every move.

"There's an opportunity here for a group to rise out of the ashes of divisiveness and continue on with the mission that was the Women's March, and, honestly, that would be wonderful," said Dana Fisher, a sociology professor at the University of Maryland who studies and tracks protest movements. "There were so many things that were odd decisions, and decisions that made it unclear whether they actually cared about building toward a blue wave and building on the energy and enthusiasm that was built in 2017."

New Women's March Organizer Accused FBI of Recruiting for ISIS

The Women’s March announced the introduction of 16 new members to its board on Monday, one of whom once accused the FBI of recruiting for ISIS.

Zahra Billoo, a civil-rights attorney who is also the director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’s San Francisco chapter, made the accusation in a 2015 tweet.

Billoo did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

The news comes as the Women’s March announced the departure of former organizers Linda Sarsour, Tamika Mallory, and Bob Bland following allegations of anti-Semitism within the group’s leadership.

Mallory was condemned after appearing in rallies with Louis Farrakhan, the anti-Semitic leader of the Nation of Islam. According to a report in Tablet magazine, she also spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories at the first organizers’ meeting of the Women’s March, claiming that Jews were leaders in the African slave trade. One of the group’s original leaders, Carmen Perez, is staying on despite the fact that she too has been accused of blaming Jews for the slave trade.

Sarsour, also a supporter of Farrakhan, is active in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which advocates an economic boycott of Israel. She was recently hired by Bernie Sanders to work on his presidential campaign.

July 19, 2019: CAIR Leader 'Proud' of Genocidal California Imam

California imam Ahmed Billoo recently called for the mass extermination of Jews. Apparently impatient at the border-security protocols at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel, he posted a prayer to Twitter with the hashtag "Zionists": "Oh God, reduce their numbers, exterminate them, and don't leave a single one alive."

Ahmed Billoo's sister is Zahra Billoo, director of the San Francisco branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). She is also an important figure in the Women's March movement, and has appeared alongside her brother at Women's March events. Billoo's own colleagues at CAIR "liked" Ahmed's post. When asked, CAIR and Zahra Billoo herself refused to comment on Ahmed Billoo's genocidal call.

Publicly, Zahra Billoo prides herself on her commitment to progressive causes. When explaining her involvement in the Women's March, she said that "what we need right now is to send a clear message" "that we will work together across communities to defend and protect each other."

Women’s March Replaces Anti-Semitic Board Members With Anti-Semites

The Women's March announced 16 new board members, one of whom, Zahra Billoo, has attacked Israel as a "terrorist state" indistinguishable from ISIS.

Billoo, a civil rights lawyer and executive director of the San Francisco Bay area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, has accused the U.S. and Israel of enabling terrorism in tweets shared by the Daily Wire‘s Ryan Saavedra.

Billoo thinks Israel and ISIS are the same pic.twitter.com/TKJLToKmRJ
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) September 16, 2019

Another new board member, Palestinian-American activist Samia Assed, has questioned Israel's existence and declared it effectively illegitimate.

If you literally can't find non-antisemites for your national protest movement maybe it's time to acknowledge you have a massive Jew-hatred problem. Except not maybe.
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) September 16, 2019

(h/t IsaacStorm)

Ilhan Omar: Netanyahu's 'existence' a problem

Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar called Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's "existence" a problem in an interview with CBS' Face the Nation program.

"I certainly hope that the people of Israel make a different decision. And my hope is that they recognize that his existence, his policies, his rhetoric really is contradictory to the peace that we are all hoping that that region receives and receives soon," Omar told host Margaret Brennan.

The congresswoman then reiterated her support for the anti-Israel BDS movement. "Just right now if you look at the annexation that's taking place, for many of us in Congress, there has been long standing support for its two-state solution, and this annexation now is going to make sure that that peace process does not happen, and we will not get to a two-state solution. I think what is really important is for people to understand that you have to give people the opportunity to seek the kind of justice they want in a peaceful way. And I think the opportunity to boycott, divest, sanction is the kind of pressure that leads to that peaceful process."

Omar: BDS Movement Will Lead to Peace Process

CBS's Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan asked the freshman congresswoman if she would attempt to return to Israel—after she was banned earlier this year—and stood by her calls for a boycott of Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not win re-election.

"I certainly hope that the people of Israel make a different decision, and my hope is that they recognize that his existence, his policies, his rhetoric really is contradictory to the peace that we are all hoping for that that region receives and receives soon," Omar said.

She added she believes Netanyahu's promise to annex the Jordan Valley, a large swathe of the West Bank, if re-elected is antithetical to Israel bringing about peace with its neighbors.

"For many of us in Congress, there has been a longstanding support for a two-state solution, and this annexation now is going to make sure that peace process does not happen and we will not get to a two-state solution," Omar said. "I think what is really important is for people to understand that you have to give people the opportunity to seek the kind of justice they want in a peaceful way, and I think the opportunity to boycott, divest, sanction is the kind of pressure that leads to that peaceful process."

When she was running for Congress in 2018, Omar said the BDS movement was "counteractive" and "not helpful in getting" the two-state solution. Upon being elected, however, Omar said she "supports the BDS movement."

Also, BDS opposes a two state solution and openly advocates, as part of its founding aims and principles, the destruction of the Jewish state. So, lol: pic.twitter.com/EIfh9cmdKm
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) September 15, 2019

Sick https://t.co/W9oM8yuzuU #September11 #September11th
— (((David Lange))) (@Israellycool) September 15, 2019

Valerie Plame: Elect me and find out what they put in the Matzoh! (satire)

Political Nerds everywhere (Hi!) are beyond excited this week with the news that former CIA Agent Valerie Plame is running for Congress in New Mexico! For those of you playing along at home, Ms. Plame was in the middle of a giant Balagan about 15 years ago about the Iraq War, secret identities, Dick Cheney, Weapons of Mass Destruction and a bunch of other things from a decade Before the Covfefe Era (BCE). Anyhoo, in addition to all that, Ms. Plame used to be really into Twitter, but now we can’t find her account. Which is weird, cuz it had some pretty cool stuff on it. Like the time she retweeted a story called “America’s Jews Are Driving America’s Wars“. But that was an honest mistake that she owned up to by saying…. ummm…. “Many neocon hawks ARE Jewish.” Yet this was really just an isolated incident, except, umm, for the other time that she retweeted a 9/11 Conspiracy theory about Dancing Jooz.

Fortunately, Ms. Plame has moved on ~~after her campaign manager snatched her Iphone and deleted her Twitter account~~ and just launched her Congressional Campaign with an A-Ma-Zing video where she drives a Camaro in the desert in reverse ~~faster than Israel created ISIS~~. Because let’s face it, there’s not a minute to spare. We need Ms. Plame to put on her old CIA sleuth hat and get to the bottom of some stuff that’s been keeping us up at night. Such as….
1. Who poisoned the village well?
2. (Something about the Rothschilds. And The Freemasons. And an Octopus.)
And of course…
3. What’s gives their matzoh that special zing?

As a special treat, Ms. Plame also informed us that she has previously unmentioned Jewish ancestors! You know, like Ken Livingstone’s grandmother! And, umm….Julia Salazar. OMG! Or as Ms. Plame now says, ‘Oy Gevalt!’

But do tell me how Israel is an "apartheid" state https://t.co/0ffCwIu1x2
— (((David Lange))) (@Israellycool) September 16, 2019

PreOccupiedTerritory: Dark Silhouettes At IDF Firing Range Prove Israel Targeting By Race (satire)

Somewhere near Beersheva, Negev Desert, September 16 – Black, humanoid paper shapes affixed to posts at this Israeli military facility serve to aid soldiers in practicing their aim, a phenomenon that activists cite as further evidence that the Jewish state trains its fighters to view all dark-skinned people as targets.

Prominent advocacy organizations such as Btselem, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch issued a statement Monday morning decrying the IDF’s use of dark silhouettes in target practice, calling it dehumanizing of people of color, in which category the same organizations group Palestinians of every complexion.

Firing ranges and field exercise courses across the country, where trainees, active duty soldiers, and reservists sharpen their weapons skills, feature dark, human-shaped pieces of paper of approximately life-size. A Btselem representative noted that no such units exist with lighter-colored silhouettes, indicating that the racist IDF views only dark figures as a threat.

“We have spent months visiting numerous IDF bases,” reported Dan Lekhafkhova of Btselem. “At every one, without exception, the target silhouettes at the firing ranges and other live-fire exercise facilities are black. Further evidence indicates that the IDF does not maintain non-black silhouettes anywhere in its inventory, which constitutes damning evidence of ingrained, institutional racism through all the ranks of the service.”

Here’s how to write critically about Jewish Trump officials without evoking antisemitic tropes

Let’s turn now to another article, one published on Sept. 15th by Bel Trew at the Independent – a publication which, unlike the Telegraph, hasn’t always been so vigilant about preventing antisemitic narratives from being promoted.

Like the Telegraph piece, Trew’s article also raises the question of conflicts of interest against some Jewish members of Trump’s Mid-East team.

However, Trew raises the concerns in a completely different manner than Molana-Allen did at the Telegraph, noting not the religion of US Ambassador David Friedman and Senior Advisor Jared Kushner (architect of the US peace plan), but, rather, their personal and financial ties to Israeli settlements, particularly the community of Beit El.

Trew highlights the fact that Friedman and Kushner’s family have given significant donations to Beit El. (She also adds that former US National Security Advisor John Bolton spoke at a fundraising event for the settlement.)

AFP Corrects Over a Dozen Captions Prisoner Bassam Al-Sayeh Convicted in Henkins’ Murder

CAMERA’s Israel office has prompted Agence France Presse to correct over a dozen captions which last week whitewashed Hamas terrorist Bassam al-Sayeh, erasing his conviction for his role in the October 2015 shooting murder of Rabbi Eitam and Naama Henkin in front of their four children. In response to CAMERA’s communication, editors commendably added the essential information about the Henkins and fixed additional problematic elements of the captions.

As CAMERA first reported last week, when convict al-Sayeh died in an Israeli hospital, as a result of complications from cancer, AFP photo captions ignored both his crime and his disease. While the captions erred that he reportedly died in Israeli prison, and included many other biographical details such as his age, that he was from Nablus, that he was allegedly the 221st Palestinian prisoner to die in Israeli jail, and that he was arrested by Israeli forces in October 2015, they omitted the two key points to understanding why he died in prison. 1) He died from his disease. 2) He was in prison for his role in a double murder. The failure to note his fatal medication condition falsely implied that he died due to prison conditions.

Here is a sample of the more than one dozen captions in which AFP originally omitted his terror conviction but nevertheless included far less significant and less relevant biographical information about al-Sayeh:

Four Questions the AP Won’t Dare Ask Palestinians

Imagine if these AP reporters – or any reporters – asked Mr. Saleh or other Palestinians questions like:
1. Do you think it was a mistake for the Palestinians to reject UN Resolution 181, that would have created a Palestinian state 71 years ago? The Jews accepted the compromise resolution, but the Arab states and the Palestinian leadership rejected it and instead launched a genocidal war against the newly declared state of Israel, killing 6000 people, over 1% of Israel’s population.

2. Do you think it was a mistake for the Palestinians and all the other Arab states to reject Egyptian President Sadat’s Palestinian autonomy plan under the 1978 Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel, which was brokered by US President Jimmy Carter?

3. Do you think it was a mistake for the Palestinians under their leader Yasir Arafat to reject the Clinton Parameters, presented by US President Bill Clinton at the culmination of peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel in 2000? Israel accepted the proposal, which would have created a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, ended the occupation, and given the Palestinians control of the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism. Arafat rejected Clinton’s plan and instead started a new uprising, or intifada, leading to the deaths of over 1000 Israelis in various terror attacks, mostly suicide bombings of civilian targets like restaurants, buses and shopping malls. Had Arafat accepted the proposal, the occupation would have ended and a Palestinian state would have been created 19 years ago.

4. Do you think it was a mistake for the current Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, to reject the peace proposal of Israeli Prime Minister Olmert in 2008, which would have created a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza and ended the occupation 11 years ago, with Palestinians getting a part of Jerusalem and a limited “right of return”?

More details about the various peace proposals rejected by the Palestinians can be found in Palestinians Rejected Statehood Three Times, Claim Frustration — with Israel.

Wow, the Association of British Scrabble Players's official site defines "Jew" as "to swindle" and "to get the better of." This was pointed out days ago, and it's still right there. The casual banality of anti-Semitism.https://t.co/eucvRdT3ec https://t.co/Is2sxt1wXf https://t.co/cf9d1CxZbf
— (((Yair Rosenberg))) (@Yair_Rosenberg) September 15, 2019

Trump submits first report mandated under Wiesel Genocide Prevention Act

US President Donald Trump has submitted the first congressional report mandated under the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act.

The report was submitted to Congress on Thursday.

The report provides an overview of the United States government’s current and planned efforts to prevent, mitigate, and respond to mass atrocities globally, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. “Specifically, the report highlights how the Department of State uses foreign assistance, diplomatic advocacy, and multilateral engagement, as well as training for our diplomats,” the statement said.

The report marks the launch of the Atrocity Early Warning Task Force, an interagency mechanism led by the White House. The task force will meet regularly, according to a senior Trump administration official, and not just be activated during times of emergency.

The Wiesel Act was signed into law in January 2019, after receiving bipartisan support in both houses of Congress.

A Polish Film Provides a New Perspective on the Warsaw Ghetto

Reviewing a new Polish documentary about the Warsaw Ghetto, titled Warsaw: A City Divided, Rokhl Kafrissen reflects on the lessons of a film she terms “remarkable”:

The ghetto was officially justified by the Nazis as a “public-health” measure, serving, they said, to protect the population from “disease-carrying Jews.” The exact placement of the walls was subject to haggling with city administrators who worried about things like traffic problems. It’s odd to think about traffic patterns in relation to the murder of Jews, but it reminds us that genocide was built on thousands of acts of seemingly mundane bureaucracy.

The Warsaw Ghetto was the first and largest ghetto established by the Nazis. After the Germans finally crushed the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising [in 1943], the ghetto was methodically razed, its building-by-building destruction meticulously documented by Nazi photographers and architects. Before the war, Warsaw had been the second-largest Jewish community in the world. At the end of the war, only a handful of its Jews were left alive. Today, only a few scattered pieces of the ghetto walls that imprisoned them still stand, including fragments between properties as well as the sections of the wall that were part of buildings.

Unlike Auschwitz or Dachau, the Warsaw Ghetto cannot be visited in any meaningful way. And yet, the ghetto looms large in Holocaust memory. The uprising there in 1943 is still the most famous act of Jewish resistance.

Flier threatening 2nd Holocaust posted on vandalized monument in Ukraine for the genocide

A Holocaust monument in Ukraine was vandalized with graffiti and a note threatening another genocide.

The graffiti appeared last week on a plaque commemorating Holocaust victims in Bogdanovka, a killing site near the southern port city of Odessa, Eduard Dolinksy, director of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee, wrote on Facebook Sunday.

The perpetrators, who have not been identified, etched swastikas onto the monument and left a pamphlet mentioning Dolinky and Ukraine’s president, Vlodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish. They demanded a stop to “land sale” and threatened that “a Holocaust 2” would come if their demands were not met.

“Come to your senses, stop, because selling Ukrainian land will quickly lead you to the Holocaust 2,“ read the Ukrainian-language flier, signed as coming from “the Ukrainian people.”

The flier did not specify what land transactions they meant.

Israel’s ambassador to Ukraine, called on the Ukrainian government to “condemn this crime and promptly bring the perpetrators to justice.” He also called the incident an “anti-Semitic hate crime.”

Police: No sign that Duluth synagogue fire was hate crime

Steve Hunegs, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, said in a statement Sunday that while authorities don't think the fire was a hate crime, "the destruction of Adas Israel Congregation remains a tragedy for generations of Jewish Duluthians." He added that the group has heard from families with decades of history within the congregation.

"We understand that our Jewish community feels uneasy in this current political and social environment where synagogues, mosques, and predominantly black churches have been attacked in recent years. The image of a house of worship ablaze is a searing reminder of the challenges we face with rising anti-Semitism and bigotry in this country," Hunegs said.

Police previously have had "multiple contacts" with Amiot, but nothing that rose to the level of arson, the police chief said. Authorities are unaware if Amiot has had previous contact with the synagogue. He remains in jail, and the police chief said that Amiot probably does not have a defense attorney yet.

The Adas Israel Congregation, described on its website as "Orthodox/High Conservative," includes among its 75 members both Modern Orthodox and traditionalist Conservative Jews.

Eight of 14 Torah scrolls, the holy books of Judaism, that were in the synagogue were saved.

Good time to mention that synagogues across the country have stepped up security at their own expense and folks should throw a donation their way for the security fund. https://t.co/2Mqb4QceI4
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) September 15, 2019

Monaco Prince installs Israeli air-to-water technology in palace

Monaco's Prince Albert II installed the Watergen machine in his palace, an Israeli piece of technology which manages to turn air into water.

The Prince is known for his efforts in combating plastic pollution and global warming and was therein presented with the technology by WaterGen chairman, Israeli-Georgian businessman and philanthropist Mikhael Mirilashvili.

The two met in an event organized by Tel Aviv University and investor and philanthropist Aaron Frenkel that marked the launching of the "Combat Pollution Initiative," which aims to use various Israeli technologies to battle pollution in the Mediterranean region.

The event was held at the Hermitage Hotel in Monaco, where several leaders in the fields of energy and the environment signed the Principality's National Energy Transition Pact to mark their support for the actions of the Principality ofr Monaco in the field of energy efficiency and the promotion of renewable energies.

The Monaco princes have lived in the palace where Watergen was installed for over 700 years.

Tel Aviv pizza shop scores top 10 slot in world's best pizza list

Bezzo Pizza in Tel Aviv ranked seventh on Big 7 Travel's list for "The 50 Best Slices Of Pizza In The World," outranking some New York and Italian pizza shops.

Bezzo Pizza is a neighborhood boutique pizzeria known for cooking long, rectangular pizzas made with all natural cheeses and hand-made dough. The original recipe stems from Yemeni culture, adding a Middle Eastern flavor to the Italian classic in the heart of Tel Aviv.

"Their pizzas look absolutely stunning, but the key is that they are also melt in the mouth good," Big Travel 7 said. "Bezzo Pizza is up there with the best pizza slices in the world."

The finalists in the competition were selected by Big 7's readers, editors and members of its social media community, in Israel and abroad.

The Man Behind Netflix’s Eli Cohen Spy Series

Sacha Baron Cohen might seem a highly unlikely choice to portray Eli Cohen, Israel’s most famous, successful and tragic spy, in the six-part miniseries, “The Spy,” now streaming on Netflix.

But the British comic, who has made a career out of disguising his identity to fool others in outrageous and often hilarious ways as Borat, Bruno and Ali G, excels in the deadly serious role of a courageous patriot whose life depended on deceiving enemies of the young Jewish state in the 1960s.

While Baron Cohen, understandably, is getting most of the attention around the taut spy thriller, the man who created, wrote and directed it, Gideon Raff, has become a key cultural connector between Tel Aviv and Hollywood and his influence is profound in Israel, the U.S. and beyond.

It was Raff who persuaded Baron Cohen to play Eli Cohen (no relation), and to act in the role as seriously as he does. “He didn’t really have to be convinced,” Raff, 46, who shuttles between his native Israel and home in Los Angeles, told The Jewish Week in a phone interview. “Seeing him outside of his comfort zone was something appealing and scary — courageous.”

And it was Raff who created the hit Israeli series “Hatufim” (Hebrew for “kidnapped”), on which the American drama “Homeland” was based, about the emotional and psychological baggage that prisoners of war bring home with them. In the U.S. version, the plot hinged on whether the returning Marine hero had been brainwashed and switched sides while he was held by the enemy. The original Israeli series dealt with issues of post-traumatic stress and the difficult adjustments for the soldiers and their families.

Sacha Baron Cohen's Netflix Series The Spy Faces Backlash
The wife of Eli Cohen says the Sacha Baron Cohen, Netflix series, "The Spy", is 'all a lie and distorted.'

Israel offers preview of its pavilion at the World Expo 2020 in Dubai

Israel recently offered a first taste of its planned pavilion at the Expo 2020 in Dubai, under the headline “Towards tomorrow,” that hopes to showcase Israeli innovation to the Arab World and beyond.

A short clip posted on several of the Foreign Ministry’s social media accounts shows a simulation of the pavilion, which is described as an “icon, hope and aspiration” and appears to focus on Israeli innovation and technology.

The pavilion has “no walls and no borders,” according to the narrator of the short clip. “An open invitation to join hands on the amazing journey forward and to shape our future together.”

Israel’s invitation to the capital of the United Arab Emirates — a country that has no formal diplomatic relations with the Jewish state — for the expo was hailed by Israel and others as another sign of warming ties between Jerusalem and the Gulf states. In light of their common enmity to Iran, Israel and the Sunni Arab states have in recent years cooperated clandestinely.

“The Foreign Ministry is pleased to be the leading [government agency] in Israel’s participation in the Dubai Expo, which opens in October 2020 and closes in April 2021,” the Foreign Ministry’s director-general, Yuval Rotem, told The Times of Israel.

Next year, Israel will be taking part in #Expo2020 in #Dubai🇦🇪.

The Israeli pavilion will showcase our vision of #innovation & 🌎 #cooperation for a better future.

👇Take a stroll along the path of innovation to see what 🇮🇱 plans for @expo2020dubai: pic.twitter.com/yiCqa0IyjF
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) September 13, 2019

Discovery CEO David Zaslav on Israel, Innovation & Democracy
CEO and President of Discovery David Zaslav is dedicated to building a brand that empowers peoples' passions. Zaslav discusses with host and Altice President Jon Steinberg on why he believes Israel is a great market for Discovery.

How Britannia ruled the waves in the Bronze Age: 3,000-year-old tin ingots from Devon and Cornwall found in Israel reveal island's ancient trade routes dating back to 1,300 BC

New evidence has surfaced suggesting that the British Isles had developed maritime trade routes with the rest of the world as early as the Bronze Age.

Researchers at Heidelburg University in Germany have discovered that 3000-year-old tin ingots found in Israel are actually from Cornwall and Devon.

The ingots, which date back to around 1,300 BC, were also found at archaeological sites in Turkey and Greece.

The findings are proof that complex and far-reaching trade routes must have existed between Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean as far back as the Bronze Age.

Raw materials like tin as well as amber, glass, and copper were highly appreciated and the driving forces of this early international trade network.

Dr Ernst Pernicka, a retired professor from Heidelberg University, said: 'Bronze was used to make weapons, jewellery, and all types of daily objects, justifiably bequeathing its name to an entire epoch.

'The origin of tin has long been an enigma in archaeological research. Tin objects and deposits are rare in Europe and Asia.'

'The Eastern Mediterranean region, where some of the objects we studied originated, had practically none of its own deposits, so the raw material in this region must have been imported.'

Post-WWII Torah ark built by US soldiers in DP camp sparks battle between rabbis

A Torah ark built for survivors in the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust was to be the centerpiece of an upcoming public sale. Instead, a legal dispute has caused it to be pulled from the auction block just days before going under the hammer.

Originally built by US Army Corps of Engineers soldiers for a post-World War II Displaced Persons camp in Krumbach, Germany, the ark had been put up for auction by Rabbi Shaul Shimon Deutsch to raise funds for his financially strapped Living Torah Museum and associated food pantry program in Brooklyn.

Stopping the sale is Rabbi Chaim (Hyman) Rubin, the son of the Auschwitz survivor and Hasidic rabbi, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Rubin, who brought the ark to the US from Europe and used it in his Boro Park congregation for decades. Rubin claimed that although the ark had been on longterm display at the museum, Deutsch did not have the right to consign the ark for sale without the permission and cooperation of the Rubin family.

Rubin filed suit in the Supreme Court of the State of New York on September 9. At a hearing two days later, a judge issued a temporary restraining order, and the Krumbach Torah Ark was removed from among the lots to be offered at Guernsey’s Auction House’s “Humanity & Inhumanity” auction on September 19 at Fifth Avenue Synagogue in New York.

In an interview with The Times of Israel prior to the filing of the lawsuit, Guernsey’s president Arlan Ettinger said that there was no reserve (minimum) price set for the ark.

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