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Saturday, February 29, 2020

02/29 Links: US, Taliban sign historic deal aimed at ending war in Afghanistan; Israeli who recovered in Japan develops coronavirus again

From Ian:
US, Taliban sign historic deal aimed at ending war in Afghanistan
The United States signed a peace agreement with Taliban militants on Saturday aimed at bringing an end to 18 years of bloodshed in Afghanistan and allowing US troops to return home from America’s longest war.

Under the agreement, the US would draw its forces down to 8,600 from 13,000 in the next 3-4 months, with the remaining US forces withdrawing in 14 months. The complete pullout, however, would depend on the Taliban meeting their commitments to prevent terrorism.

President George W. Bush ordered the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in response to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Some US troops currently serving there had not yet been born when the World Trade Center collapsed on that crisp, sunny morning that changed how Americans see the world.

It only took a few months to topple the Taliban and send Osama bin Laden and top al-Qaeda militants scrambling across the border into Pakistan, but the war dragged on for years as the United States tried to establish a stable, functioning state in one of the least developed countries in the world. The Taliban regrouped, and currently hold sway over half the country.

The US spent more than $750 billion, and on all sides, the war cost tens of thousands of lives lost, permanently scarred and indelibly interrupted. But the conflict was also frequently ignored by US politicians and the American public.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attended the ceremony in Qatar, where the Taliban have a political office, but did not sign the agreement. Instead, it was signed by US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

Pompeo called on the Taliban to “keep your promises to cut ties with Al-Qaeda.”
Martin Kramer: The Trump Plan Will Be "Transformative" for Palestinians
Martin Kramer, chair of the Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Department at Shalem College in Jerusalem and the Koret Distinguished Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, spoke to Middle East Forum Radio host Gregg Roman on February 5 about President Trump's "deal of the century" plan for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

According to Kramer, the importance of the Trump proposal "transcends whether either of the parties accept it" because "it's not a peace plan, it's a partition plan ... the proposal of a third party, looking from the outside, that has some authority." The Palestinians refused to accept partition plans put forth by the British in 1937 and by the United Nations in 1947, yet both had "historic effects," notably culminating in the establishment of Israel. The details of these plans were largely irrelevant – it was their underlying assumptions and core principles that proved enduring.

The same is true of the "deal of the century." Details of the plan are flexible and sure to be superseded by future negotiations. The important focus should be on the assumptions and principles of the plan.

A key assumption of the Trump initiative, according to Kramer, is that "history only goes in one direction." Previous peace plans, he noted, were based on expectations of "massive movement of peoples" as part of a final settlement – removing thousands of settlers from their settlements in today's Israel and absorbing a large number of descendants of Palestinian refugees from other countries into the West Bank and Gaza – which "is not going to happen."

A core principle of the Trump plan is that "everyone stays in place" – a reality that Palestinians must eventually come to accept. "Much of the responsibility for the predicament of the Palestinians today relies not just on them, but on their ... supposed friends who ... promised they would deliver to them on fantasies which were completely detached from reality."
Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians: No secret talks with Trump administration
The Palestinian Authority on Saturday denied having any contacts with the US administration regarding US President Donald Trump’s recently unveiled plan for peace in the Middle East.

The denial came in response to remarks by US Ambassador David Friedman, who told the Qatari-owned Al-Jazeera network that the Trump administration has “back channels” talks with some Palestinians.

Friedman did not reveal the identity of the Palestinians involved in the alleged talks with the US administration.

He also said there is recognition that some parts of the Trump plan are good for the Palestinians, such as the two-state solution, a Palestinian capital in east Jerusalem, connecting the West Bank with the Gaza Strip and investment in infrastructure and increasing the size of land offered to the Palestinians.

The PA, which has been boycotting the Trump administration since December 2017, when the US president recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, reiterated its rejection of the Trump plan and denied having back channels with the US administration.

“I dare Friedman to reveal a name of a single Palestinian official who is in contact with President Trump’s administration,” said PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat.

Referring to Friedman’s talk about a Palestinian capital, Erekat said that the Trump plan “specified that Abu Dis and Kufr Aqab can be named as Palestine’s capital.”

Erekat added: “East Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine, is the Old City of Jerusalem, including Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary), Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Musrara, and Salah Edin Street. Lies and distortions of one of the authors of the conspiracy of the century are doomed to failure.”









Israeli who recovered in Japan develops coronavirus again
Friday saw a worrisome spike in Israeli coronavirus cases, as four more citizens were diagnosed with the novel coronavirus in Israel, the Health Ministry reported.

Shimon Dahan returned from quarantine in Japan after having having been presumed to be "recovered", following his infection with the virus on the Diamond Princess cruise ship and subsequent quarantine in Tokyo.

The man flew home to Israel after he was released from quarantine and is the third to be diagnosed as having the virus among the passengers who were brought back from the beleagered cruise ship.

Dahan's sister, Rachel Biton, who was the first to be released from quarantine in Japan, was sent home to Israel on Tuesday after recovering from the virus.

A spokesperson for the family says they are not currently responding to the issue, as they are still waiting to receive answers to the many questions that came as a result of the report.

"If there is anything to say about the matter, you will be notified after the Sabbath."

Dahan flew home to Israel on two commercial flights, both with Turkish Airlines: flight TK53 from Tokyo via Istanbul, and flight TK784 from Istanbul to Tel Aviv, which landed in Israel at 8:55.

All passengers who were on either flight must enter a home quarantine immediately for the next 14 days and report to the Health Ministry.
Netta Barzilai cancels performance over coronavirus fears
Netta Barzilai canceled her performance in Croatia's national pre-Eurovision song contest on Saturday over fears of the novel coronavirus, Channel 12 reported Saturday afternoon.

According to Channel 12, Barzilai, who brought the Eurovision Song Contest to Israel after winning it in 2018, decided to cancel her performance in the show after several cases were discovered in Croatia on Tuesday.

While the Croatian show is expected to take place as usual, Barzilai's PR manager Ofer Menahem told Channel 12 that "canceling the performance in Croatia was done by joint agreement with the Croatians following the growing coronavirus-related developments in the state.

"For that reason, we have decided together to cancel one performance so as not to put ourselves and our loved ones in danger."

It should be noted that Barzilai, who is better knows as simply "Netta," is not suspected of having contracted the novel coronavirus.
UAE Tour final stages cancelled due to coronavirus
The two final stages of the 2020 UAE Tour were canceled by the cycling’s governing body Union Cycliste Internationale after two Italian “staff members” on the tour were suspected of contracting the coronavirus.

The tour, featuring 140 of the sport’s biggest stars as well as an Israel-based cycling team Israel Start-Up Nation, was brought to a screeching halt following the two viral tests which were given “in the interests of the health of riders and their staff.”

The W Abu Dhabi and the Crowne Plaza Abu Dhabi, both on Yas Island in the United Arab Emirates’ capital, said they had been placed under lockdown as authorities screened all guests over concerns they might have interacted with the Italians.

“This means that no one can leave or enter the property until it is deemed safe to do so,” said a spokesman for the W Abu Dhabi said.

On Thursday, riders including four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome took to

Twitter to say they were confined to their hotel rooms. “We are all awaiting testing and will remain in the hotel until further notice,” Froome posted.

UAE authorities reported the positive diagnosis of the Italians on Thursday.

But cycling’s governing body UCI said the two cases of the illness among two staff members of one of the participating teams were only suspected ones. It was not immediately clear which of the two hotels the Italians were staying at. One of them was accommodating participants in the race and the other the media following it.
MEMRI: Turkish Government Reacts To Syrian Idlib Strike That Killed 33 Turkish Soldiers: Defense Minister Says Attack Happened 'Even Though Our Units' Positions Were Coordinated With Russian Federation Authorities'; Politician Vows To Bus Syrian Refugees To Europe's Border; Social Media Accounts Are Examined For 'Terror Organization Propaganda'
On February 28, 2020, Turkish presidential spokesman İbrahim Kalın said in a statement that 33 Turkish soldiers had been killed in a Syrian strike in Idlib the day before. He further said: "Our army will certainly bring the Assad regime, which has blood on its hands, to account. The crisis in Idlib has surpassed all limits."[1] The strike came amid escalating violence in Idlib between the Turkish and Syrian militaries, and also only days ahead of a deadline that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan set when he said on February 15: "The solution in Idlib is for the [Syrian] regime to stop its aggression and withdraw to the border in the agreements. Otherwise we will do this job before February is over."[2]

Attorney General's Office Investigates Social Media Accounts That "Contradict The Reality" For "Terror Organization Propaganda"

While the official government count of the number of Turkish soldiers killed in the strike is 33, higher numbers have been given on Turkish social media. One online news outlet claimed to have spoken to a soldier who said that he had counted 165 dead.[3] The attorney general's office in Ankara announced that social media posts about the attack that have "provocative purposes" and that "contradict the reality" were being investigated for crimes including "making terror organization propaganda."[4] The Counter-Cyber Crimes Directorate of the Directorate of Security announced that it had begun investigating provocative posts on social media and that "proceedings" had begun concerning 91 social media accounts.[5]

The NetBlocks internet observatory reported that in Turkey on February 27 "Social platforms Twitter, Facebook and Instagram became unreachable at 11:30 p.m. local time (8:30 p.m. UTC) via national provider Turk Telecom (AS9121) and subsequently other leading service providers. Data show that YouTube and WhatsApp messaging backend servers were also partially restricted at the same time or shortly after. The restrictions are technically consistent with techniques used to filter content in Turkey, with SNI and DNS filters in use varying by provider." It later reported: "The observed core incident duration is in excess of 16 hours with impact to subscribers spanning an 18-hour period."[6]


BBC: Iran’s virus death toll is at least 210 — six times higher than it says
The novel coronavirus has killed at least 210 people in Iran, according to a report Friday, more than six times higher than the death count reported by Iranian authorities.

Citing unnamed sources at Iranian hospitals, BBC Persian reported that the highest number of dead were in the capital Tehran and Qom, a Shiite holy city where the virus first emerged in Iran.

The locations of the hospitals were not specified in the report.

Iran’s health ministry, which earlier Friday reported a death toll of 34, rejected the report.

Health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur accused BBC Persian of joining the Islamic republic’s regional enemies in a “race to spread lies” about Iran.

“Iran’s exemplary transparency in publishing information on the coronavirus has stunned many people,” Jahanpur tweeted.

Jahanpour said 143 cases had been detected over the past 24 hours, increasing the total of confirmed infections to 388.

Among the new cases, 64 were in Tehran while the number of provinces hit by the outbreak rose to 24, Jahanpour said.

“We are currently in a phase in which infections are increasing,” he said, predicting that the situation “will continue for some days, even weeks.”
US Grants Sanctions Waiver for Humanitarian Trade to Iran
The United States on Thursday granted a license to allow for certain humanitarian trade transactions with Iran’s sanctioned central bank, a move it said was in step with the formalization of a Swiss humanitarian trade channel.

The newly created channel, which the US Treasury Department said became fully operational on Thursday as it granted the license, would allow for companies to send food, medicine and other critical supplies to Iran.




Yisrael Medad: Bernie’s Kibbutz – A Research Challenge
As we know, the known extent of Senator Bernie Sanders’ Israel connection was a stay of a few months at Kibbutz Sha’ar HaAmakim in 1963. A report notes he was “a guest”. In other words, he may not have been a volunteer picking apples or pears but there was a specific reach-out, either by him or by the kibbutz or the Mapam Marxist party that supervised the affairs of the kibbutz, a member of Mapam’s Kibbutz Artzi Federation. But that is just a supposition.

On the other hand, married couples usually did not come together as part of the ethos of going to kibbutz was the less-than-stringent sexual mores practiced at such places.

Perhaps either he or his then wife, Deborah Shiling now Messing, have friends or relatives there? It is claimed his older brother, Larry, was spending some time there. Had either of them been a member of the HaShomer HaTzair Zionist youth movement that commited its member to settle on kibbutz? If, indeed, his brother was there, perhaps he was in HaShaomer HaTzair and Bernie followed.

Sha’ar Ha’Amakim celebrated 25 years of its founder settling on the land and the headline of the article in the Mapam daily, “Al HaMishmar, of May 27, 1958, reviewing its history, read “25 Years to the Settlement”. As noted in The Forward, “The kibbutz founders had a strong admiration for the Communist system in the Soviet Union.”

But the author of that article, Aharon Cohen, adds another mystery to Sanders’ kibbutz stay. His biography includes several interesting aspects. He set up Hakibbutz Ha'artzi's Arab Department. Mapam advocated an undivided and Socialist Palestine and he went around lecturing and publishing articles in favor of good relations with Arabs.
Bernie, ‘Proud To Be Jewish,’ Skips AIPAC. Instead, He’s Appearing With Israel-Hating Rapper
On Sunday, Senator Bernie Sanders, who has been boasting recently that he is “proud to be Jewish” despite his constant association with virulent Israel-haters such as Rep. Ilhan Omar and Linda Sarsour, will skip the AIPAC conference, which is devoted to the support of the state of Israel, and instead hold a rally in Los Angeles, joined by another Israel-hater, Public Enemy’s Chuck D.






The Bernie Doctrine: Praise the Commies, Trash the Jews | SUPERcuts! #743


Sanders would beat Trump 65-30% among US Jewish voters, new poll finds
Democratic presidential frontrunner Bernie Sanders would overwhelmingly outperform US President Donald Trump with Jewish voters in a head-to-head match-up this fall, according to new polling from the non-partisan Jewish Electorate Institute (JEI).

The self-proclaimed democratic socialist would defeat Trump with the demographic group 65% to 30%, despite only 52% of American Jews having a favorable view of Sanders and 45% having an unfavorable view of him, the survey found.

Trump is far more unpopular with the US Jewish community. Sixty-six percent of the poll’s respondents disapprove of the job he’s doing in office.

Indeed, according to JEI, every 2020 Democratic presidential candidate would defeat Trump handily with Jewish voters in a general election.

Former South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg would win 69% to 31%; Bloomberg 67% to 28%; Biden 67% to 31%; and Warren 65% to 32%.

But Sanders leads the pack after winning the New Hampshire primary and Nevada caucuses and claiming the highest number of pledged delegates to date.


Sanders advisor: We won’t have a problem working with the Israeli government
Matt Duss, a foreign policy advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders, discussed the 2020 frontrunner’s views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and relations with Israel during the Quincy Institute leadership forum, held in conjunction with Foreign Policy, in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

Vocal and critical: “Senator Sanders has been clear about the principles that he supports and the goal and it’s a goal that is shared by — I think — a clear majority of Americans,” Duss said. “I think he’s been willing to be more critical of [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu in particular, as he has been more vocal and critical about right-wing nationalists around the world, recognizing that is a global trend that is very problematic for those of us who support human rights and democracy. At the end of the day, the Israeli government is full of professionals who understand Israel’s security needs. There are longstanding relationships at various levels between the U.S. and Israel. And we don’t think we’ll have a problem moving forward in trying — trying at least — and probably finding very quickly some common ground.”

Jerusalem reaction: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted on Wednesday to Sanders’s constant attacks against him, most recently calling him a “reactionary racist” during Tuesday night’s debate in South Carolina. “What I think about this matter is that he is definitely wrong,” Netanyahu said during an interview with Army Radio. “No question about it.” Netanyahu pointed out that the reason he withstood pressure from the Obama administration for eight years was because he was able to influence U.S. public opinion, “and if we will be pressured into doing dangerous things, I will know how to oppose that — and I am not afraid of a showdown.”
Labour asked Facebook to ban left-wing antisemitic social media groups that support the Party
The Labour Party has asked Facebook to ban left-wing antisemitic groups on its platform that support the Party.

It is understood that staff at the Party’s governance and legal unit contacted the social media giant last year to ask that eleven groups be moderated or removed because they contained antisemitic material.

The material is believed to include conspiracy theories about Jews, Holocaust denial and explicit expressions of anti-Jewish hatred.

In a meeting last October, Party staff handed over four reports containing hundreds of pieces of evidence to Facebook, and one of the groups, “Truthers Against Zionist Lobbies”, was shut down in December after an intervention by the celebrity antisemitism campaigner Rachel Riley. In a February meeting, the staff reiterated their request to Facebook and provided supplementary evidence.

The administrators are not believed to be current Labour members, although some may have been suspended or expelled by the Party.

In a statement, Facebook said that its standards “make very clear that there is absolutely no place for hate speech” on its platform.

The revelation comes as it also emerged that the largest Facebook group supporting the Labour leadership candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey is reportedly replete with antisemitic material.
BBC Radio 4’s promotion of an ‘epic novel’ and an appealing narrative
In other interviews McCann has stated that before he spent a week in Israel and the Palestinian controlled territories in 2015 he was “completely ignorant of what was going on there” and at 11:29 listeners hear a little about his learning process, which apparently included consultation with “one of my great heroes” the political activist Raja Shehadeh and reading Mahmoud Darwish.

Perhaps the most revealing part of the interview concerns McCann’s view – exaggerated in the opinion of this reviewer – of the importance of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

“I think it is one of the central questions as to who we are and where we are and I think we all identify with it in some way, in a way that’s different to other conflicts. There’s something about Jerusalem, there’s something about that being the birthplace of so many things that we’re drawn to and confused by and we’re wondering why all this is happening.”

The Guardian’s review of the novel states:
“For all its grief, Apeirogon is a novel that buoys the heart. The friendship of Bassam and Rami is a thing of great and sustaining beauty. There’s a picture of the two of them, asleep together on a train in Germany, travelling from one speaking engagement to the next. They lean against each another, Rami – the older man – supporting the smaller Bassam as he sleeps. This, the novel suggests, is the solution to the conflict: something as simple and easy as friendship, as the acknowledgement of a shared experience, as love.”

The reassuring notion that “something as simple as friendship” and “love” are the solution to the conflict of course avoids the basic fact that Smadar Elhanan was murdered – along with two other teenage girls who are not mentioned in this programme – by Hamas suicide bombers in an attack intended to kill human beings simply because of their Israeli identity.

The reduction of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the tidy and appealing narrative promoted in McCann’s book perhaps explains why the BBC – itself no stranger to the promotion of simplistic narratives concerning that issue – decided to dedicate two weeks of radio broadcasts to a novel which frames that conflict in terms far more palatable and comfortable to its audiences than actually exist.
Talent agency ‘Money Management’ defends then removes antisemitic Fagin image from website
The talent agency Money Management, which represents numerous celebrity clients, defended the use of an antisemitic caricature on its website, before apparently removing it.

The caricature, based on the Jewish character Fagin from the Charles Dickens novel, Oliver Twist, featured on the company’s website and apparently was also recently offered as part of an auction lot called “Antisemitism and Nazi propaganda”. It was also not lost on visitors to the website that the company’s name incorporates the word ‘money’ as well.

The company’s director defended the image, saying that he is a third generation Holocaust survivor and that he loved the Oliver! musical songs, including “You’ve got to pick-a-pocket or two”, which he noted was composed by a Jewish musician. He accused critics of having rushed to judgment.

However, the website now no longer appears to feature the image.
Serbian MPs Vote for New Holocaust Memorial in Belgrade
A total of 159 out of 250 MPs in the Serbian parliament voted this week for the establishment of a memorial center at the Staro Sajmiste (Old Trade Fair) site to remember those killed at the Nazi concentration camp in the country’s occupied capital of Belgrade during World War II.

Under the legislation passed on Monday, the memorial center will collect and exhibit material from museums and archives in order to ensure a “lasting memory of the victims of the Holocaust,” the website Balkan Insight reported on Friday.

Some 10,000 Serbs, 7,000 Jews and at least 60 Roma died at Staro Sajmiste in 1941 and 1942. The camp was run by the Waffen SS, but the Serbian police carried out the arrests of the Jews.

After the war, nothing was done to preserve the site of the former concentration camp. A monument to the victims was erected nearby in 1995.

The buildings have been used for a variety of purposes, housing artists, a restaurant and a gym. Controversially, an office of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s governing Progressive Party was opened there in 2018.
Orthodox rapper Nissim Black reintroduces himself to the world
Alma via JTA — Nissim Black knows that wherever he goes, he’s going to turn heads.

“There’s always these questions,” the rapper explains to me from his home in Israel. “Like, ‘Well, are you still black? How black are you? How does that work? But you’re also Jewish? Jews are white?’ No they’re not!”

The questions annoy him, and rightfully so. Yes, he’s black and Jewish and Orthodox. No, that combination does not make him any less of any of those identities.

His new single, “Mothaland Bounce,” sets the record straight.

“I wanted to be able to just sort of lay it all out there, and make a statement, so I could at least limit the questions,” he says.

In many ways, the song serves as a declaration of who he is. Even though he’s been active as a rapper since 2006, “Mothaland Bounce” is a re-introduction of sorts: He’s black, Jewish, from Seattle, living in Jerusalem and “Hitler’s worst nightmare” (arguably my favorite lyric in the entire song).

Making “Mothaland Bounce” was a “relief,” Black says. “I’ve been spending time with a friend of mine in LA, and he [told me], ‘Back in ‘hood, everybody feels like you just forgot about them.’ I’m living in a different world. I’m living in Jerusalem, I’m across the world. Even though I keep up with some family, I’m not as involved right now. People feel like I may have left that struggle, [but] it’s not really true, you know what I’m saying? It’s just a different type of struggle, but I’m still there in the struggle. I’m still with the people.”

The video for “Mothaland Bounce” pays homage to his past and his present; the visuals are inspired by one of Black’s favorite films, “Coming to America.” (In the iconic film, Eddie Murphy’s character arrives in America from the wealthy, fictional African nation of Zamunda.) The video ends with Black in a barbershop, where the barber asks him to take off his hat — when he does, he reveals a kippah underneath. The barber goes, “Another one?!” It’s funny, Jewish and pays homage to the barbershop scenes in “Coming to America.”


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.@IfNotNowOrg echoes neo-Nazis by accusing member of Congress of "pandering to Jews"

IfNotNow tweeted:


In a tweet that accused the Republican party of inciting white nationalist violence, the purportedly Jewish organization parroted neo-Nazi talking points of politicians "pandering" to all-powerful Jews to gain politically.

Because, obviously, no sane Gentile would ever support a position most Jews support unless they are politically forced to.

Usually posts like this will substitute the word "Zionists" for "Jews" to maintain the fiction that the anti-Zionists are animated by the exact same hate that antisemites have had for millennia. In this case, the mask slipped off, and IfNotNow showed not only that it is a deeply antisemitic organization itself but that its pretense of being a Jewish organization is a sham.

As of this writing, IfNotNow has not removed the tweet, nor has it apologized, 25 hours after it was posted.



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Friday, February 28, 2020

02/28 Links Pt2: Melanie Phillips: The post-modern, anti-Jewish reconfiguration of the WestCaroline B. Glick: Gaza, elections and the Corbynization of the Democratic party

From Ian:
Melanie Phillips: From Aalst to America: The post-modern, anti-Jewish reconfiguration of the West
This eruption hasn’t been created by Bernie Sanders or Jeremy Corbyn; nor, as some believe, by the populism of Donald Trump or Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Victor Orbán.

Populism is not in itself an extremist movement (although some bits undoubtedly are). It is rather a response to the extremism that has overtaken the entire progressive movement, and which represents the idea of the West as intrinsically evil and sinful.

Sanders and Corbyn, who are both undoubtedly extreme, are not the cause of the phenomenon, but the product of a broad cultural shift. When Bernie Sanders called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a reactionary racist” in Tuesday’s Democratic presidential candidates’ debate, the audience broke into applause.

The real cause of the descent into anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist hatred is secular liberalism, and the cultural fissure that has opened up along fault lines stretching back to the 18th-century Enlightenment.

This proclaimed the death of God and the enthronement instead of the autonomous individual freed from biblical moral codes. This led to the destruction of hierarchies of values without which there can be no morality, the replacement of duty by man-made and highly contingent human rights, and the collapse of truth and reason.

The result is the moral and philosophical carnage we see all around us. There’s the psycho-pathological unmooring of individuals caused by the undermining of the family. There’s the abolition of objectivity in the universities by moral and cultural relativism.

And there’s the apocalyptic environmental movement, which mirrors the belief by medieval, Jew-massacring Christians that fallen humanity must be punished for its sins to bring about the perfection of the world—and which has sanctified as its prophet a psychologically damaged child.

Better advocacy for Israel, necessary as that is, will not address this anti-Jewish derangement. That’s because what’s driving it is the repudiation of the Jewish precepts at the heart of the Christian West. And the problem—and tragedy—for the Jewish people is that so many of those subscribing to this liberal onslaught are themselves Jews.

The Aalst Carnival shows how quickly we forgot 'Never Again'
When I look at disturbing displays like those at the Aalst parade, I don’t just see modern-day antisemitism; I see a societal willingness to ignore religiously motivated hate, akin to that shown in the Weimar Republic and elsewhere throughout pre-war Europe. The promise of “never forget” means that we must remember the Nazis’ violence against Jews, and also those non-violent tactics which enabled the Holocaust.

We must keep in mind that hatred toward Jews quickly morphs into hatred toward other minority groups. Hate has no borders, and those with antisemitic beliefs can easily target other vulnerable people. If we turn a blind eye to antisemitic tropes today, there’s no telling what we might permit tomorrow, and soon, violence is at hand.

Indeed, antisemitic beliefs similar to those widespread in Western Europe are responsible in part for motivating some of the worst mass violence against Jews in recent years. The Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue shooter shared Holocaust-denial memes, and posted about Jews exercising control over major world events, like immigration.

The Poway shooter published a manifesto espousing the white genocide conspiracy theory, and one of the Jersey City shooters was connected to the Black Hebrew Israelites, many sects of which have been designated hate groups for their antisemitic beliefs and practices.

Antisemitic tropes and stereotypes do not always lead directly to murder, but there is an inescapable correlation between their perpetuation and violence targeting Jews. It is for this reason most of all that the international community, as well as leaders throughout Belgium, both national and local, must not afford antisemitism any public forum, whether in the name of free expression, humor or any other excuse used to justify hate.

Only by taking decisive and immediate action can we fulfill the promise of “never again.”
The Gay Rights Movement Has an Anti-Semitism Problem
My identity as a Jew and my identity as a gay man are inseparable. Contrary to traditional beliefs regarding religion and sexuality, I believe these two parts of myself enhance each other rather than compromise each other. The LGBTQ Jewish community carries a long history of excellence. We are writers, activists, artists, politicians, academics and teachers. The convergence of identity and the greatness that has been born from this community are special to me. From Rabbi Sandra Lawson to Troye Sivan to Efrat Tilma, queer, Jewish expression seems to be stronger than ever.

Yet, despite this representation, blatant anti-Semitism currently wreaks havoc in the LGBTQ community.

The first time I heard the word “pinkwashing” was when I mentioned to a friend that I was interested in attending the Tel Aviv Pride Parade last summer. My friend supported me but warned me against posting any photos of the parade online, as I would be accused of pinkwashing. I asked her what she meant. “Pinkwashing?” she said. “When Zionists pretend that Israel is the pinnacle of human rights because of how they treat gays? To distract from the way they treat Palestinians?”

This was the first time I heard this term, but it certainly was not the last.

The “anti-pinkwashing” movement is gaining traction in the gay community. My friend was correct in her description: Its mission is to end government-sponsored exploitation of gay constituents so as not to distract from inexcusable corruption or wrongdoing. On paper, the movement seeks to separate nationalism from queer liberation and to honor the voices of queer, oppressed people worldwide. But in reality, the movement tethers the identities of gay Israelis to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and undermines their autonomy simply because they are citizens of the Jewish state. To the devout gay rights activist, any display of Jewish gay pride is now conditional; it must totally and officially distance itself from the Jewish state to be valid.



Caroline B. Glick: Gaza, elections and the Corbynization of the Democratic party
The primary threat Sanders poses to Israel, of course, is that he becomes the next President of the United States. But he poses an additional danger. If, as now seems likely, Sanders wins the Democratic nomination, he will transform the Democratic Party into an Americanized version of Jeremy Corbyn's British Labour Party. Like Labour under Corbyn, the Democrats under Sanders will become an anti-Semitic party that supports the boycott of Israel and gives a warm and supportive shoulder to Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas and their allies and partners. Sanders and his Democratic Party will reject the morality of Zionism, the Jewish national liberation movement, just as Corbyn and his people have done.

Sanders himself has said on numerous occasions that he sees Corbyn as his overseas twin and that his vision for the Democratic Party is to turn it into Corbyn's Labour party in America.

Which brings us back to Gaza.

In a world where the best-case scenario has a Democratic Party that is openly hostile to Israel and its American Jewish supporters, and the worst-case scenario has the White House openly hostile to the Jewish state and its American Jewish supporters, how is Israel supposed to deal with Hamas/Gaza – the sweethearts of the radical left?

Since then-president Dwight D. Eisenhower compelled then-Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion to withdraw IDF forces from the Sinai in 1956, a central plank of Israel's national security doctrine has been to avoid going to war without US support. A Corbynized Democratic party – not to mention a Corbynized White House – will not back any Israeli military operations in Gaza.

Israel faced a similar quandary six years ago. In Operation Protective Edge, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then-IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz and then-Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon were blindsided when then-Secretary of State John Kerry adopted as the US position, Hamas' ceasefire demands as presented by its representatives Turkey and Qatar.

They were stunned again when then-President Barack Obama decided to prohibit US civilian flights to Ben-Gurion International Airport in the middle of the war. They were shocked when the administration embargoed the supply of Hellfire missiles to the IDF and they were flummoxed by the steady stream of condemnations of IDF operations by senior administration spokesmen and officials.
Terrorism and the danger of the far left - Colonel Richard Kemp interview
Colonel Richard Kemp talks to The Sun's Steven Edginton and explains why the public should fight back in a terrorist situation. Kemp also talked about how the far-left encourages terrorism, Jeremy Corbyn, Isreal and his life advice to young people who feel lost. Kemp has served in the Balkans, Northern Ireland, the Middle East and worked in the Cabinet Office combatting terrorism. His seasoned military career covered 9/11, the Troubles and the war on terror.


Eli Lake: Bernie Sanders Boycotts Pro-Israel Americans
If Sanders wished to highlight this ugly episode in a speech to AIPAC, it would be uncomfortable for the audience. If he wanted to make the case against President Donald Trump’s peace plan or defend Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, it would be tense. Instead, by boycotting the conference altogether, Sanders is lending legitimacy to a movement that seeks to make the pro-Israel lobby itself toxic within the Democratic Party.

There is a double standard at work here. In 2016 Sanders said he would work to normalize U.S. relations with Iran, a regime that sponsors terrorists who kill Jews and Americans. In January, Sanders and Elizabeth Warren hosted a conference call with the National Iranian American Council, a group that supports the U.S.-Iran relationship in the same way AIPAC advocates for the U.S.-Israel relationship.

Then there is the Sanders campaign’s embrace of surrogates who support the movement to boycott, divest and sanction Israel itself, something Sanders has said he opposes. The most prominent is Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian-American activist who in December said Israel is built on the idea of Jewish supremacy. (Unsurprisingly, she applauded his decision to skip AIPAC.) Another Sanders surrogate is Representative Ilhan Omar, the Minnesota Democrat who attacked her fellow Democrats last year, saying she “should not be expected to have allegiance/pledge support for a foreign country,” meaning Israel.

The list goes on. The Sanders campaign is a magnet for Americans who are hostile to both the Jewish state and those who support it.

All of this puts AIPAC, and the American Jewish community, in a bind. There is no doubt that it’s better for Israel if both major parties support the U.S.-Israel relationship. At the same time, it’s dangerous to pretend one’s adversaries are allies. Sanders has made it clear that he is no friend of Israel.
Jonathan S. Tobin: What AIPAC needs is an effective Democratic champion
Michael Bloomberg had his chance. During the Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina this week, he had the perfect opportunity to directly answer Bernie Sanders' smears of Israel and AIPAC. Sanders had been challenged by one of the moderators to account for his outrageous attack on the pro-Israel lobby as a platform for "bigotry" and asked whether he would move the US embassy to the Jewish state back to Tel Aviv from the country's capital of Jerusalem, where President Donald Trump had moved it in May 2018.

Sanders ignored the chance to substantiate his fallacious attack on AIPAC, but then doubled down on the canard that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a "reactionary racist," a line that earned him applause from an audience that was otherwise not very friendly to him. The Vermont senator then hinted that keeping the embassy in place would be a card he would play in order to get Israeli concessions in some theoretical negotiation with the Palestinians.

At that point, CBS correspondent Major Garrett turned to Bloomberg, the one candidate on stage who has made the greatest effort to put himself forward as a pro-Israel alternative to Sanders.

What should have followed was an evisceration of Sanders's stands on Israel. It was the moment pro-Israel Democrats – many of whom would be heading to Washington in a few days to attend the AIPAC conference that Sanders had spurned and which Bloomberg, alone of the presidential candidates, would address – had been waiting for.

Instead, what they got was a bumbling, stumbling, confused and somewhat inaccurate and inarticulate response that failed to establish why Sanders was wrong about AIPAC, Jerusalem or the peace process: "Well, the battle has been going on for a long time in the Middle East, whether it's the Arabs versus the Persians, the Shias versus the Sunnis, the Jews in Israel and the Palestinians, it's only gone on for 40 or 50 years."
Dershowitz: Nominating Sanders as Democratic candidate would boost BDS
Electing Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders as the Democratic Party's candidate in the upcoming presidential elections would give momentum to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, renowned US attorney Alan Dershowitz has said.

Speaking at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Dershowitz, who has previously stated that he is a member of the Democratic Party, said that he would not vote for the party if it put Sanders up as it's nominee. He added that, in his estimation, many American Jews would likewise fail to back the party, although he noted that he still expected more than half to do so.

"He (Sanders) called Netanyahu a racist, but he did not address comments by Ilhan Omar," he said, referring to the Democratic Representative for Minnesota, who has come under sustained criticism over antisemitic comments.

The BDS movement calls for economic sanctions against Israel to bring pressure on the country over the conflict with the Palestinians, but has been decried as antisemitic due to its singling out of the Jewish State for criticism. In May 2019 the German parliament condemned the movement, voting in favor of a motion which read “The argumentation patterns and methods used by the BDS movement are antisemitic.”

On Wednesday at a book launch event at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Dershowitz also criticized the other Jewish candidate in the race - Michael Bloomberg - for failing to criticize Senator Sanders for his comments, and for his "lack of knowledge" on Middle Eastern issues.

He also levelled further criticism of Sanders, calling him the "Corbyn of the United States," a reference to the leader of the British Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, whose party is currently being investigated on charges of institutional antisemitism by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Sanders was "only Jewish by birth," he added.
Bernie Sanders Went to ISNA Convention w/Supporters of Killing Gays, Won't Go To AIPAC
Obviously.

You don't go to AIPAC when your campaign manager, surrogates and volunteers violently hate Israel. But Bernie did initially say he might go, and then the people actually running his campaign, pulled him into a closet, and explained to him why he can't go.

Then they gave him his pills.

And here's Bernie!
"The Israeli people have the right to live in peace and security. So do the Palestinian people. I remain concerned about the platform AIPAC provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights. For that reason I will not attend their conference," he wrote.

Basic Palestinian rights being the right to kill Jews.

But Bernie did go to ISNA where there are plenty of supporters of killing Jews, Americans, and other people Bernie hates.
Muzammil Siddiqi, ISNA's former president who chairs its Fiqh Council, which dispenses Islamic sharia law, has assented to the death penalty for homosexuality.

At the 2019 ISNA convention, Siddiqi spoke on “Strengthening Our Connection with Allah.”

Imam Siraj Wahhaj, an unindicted co-conspirator in the World Trade Center bombing, was there at an Imam Round Table. Wahhaj has repeatedly endorsed violence against non-Muslims. That wouldn’t bother Democrats, but Wahhaj has also declared that “masculine women” are “cursed”, claimed that the “feminist movement” is headed by “lesbians” and then offered a reminder of Islam’s LGBT position.
Most Democratic Presidential Candidates Oppose Israel. How Did We Get Here?
The publication of the book The Israel Lobby in 2007 gave an intellectual veneer to the new anti-Israel extremism. And some Democrats, fueled by the anti-war movement, began to consider Israel a political enemy. George Soros called for a new lobby group in Washington, one that would break apart AIPAC’s monopoly.

AIPAC simply asserted that a strong U.S. – Israel alliance was in the best interests of both. J Street was created to argue the opposite in the age of Obama.

Barack Obama came from radical left-wing roots and enjoyed close relations with pro-Palestinian radicals. He presented himself as pro-Israel, speaking at AIPAC’s policy conference in 2008 — the one today’s Democrats are skipping — and promising to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s undivided capital.

But in office, he created “distance” with Israel, ultimately throwing Israel under the bus in his effort to appease the nuclear-bound Iranian regime.

Netanyahu’s opposition to the Iran deal was both necessary and inevitable. But Democrats could not bear to see their embattled president called out, even if they knew Netanyahu was right. They longed to see Bibi ousted from office. He survived, confirming that ordinary Israelis — even on the left — supported his stance against Obama’s policy. Meanwhile, J Street grew in influence among Democrats, even as it opposed Israel’s defensive wars.

After 2016, Democrats wanted Donald Trump to be an antisemitic caricature. Instead, he has been the most pro-Israel president since Harry Truman.

Democrats hate Trump so much that they have reacted to his embrace of Israel — the Jerusalem embassy, the Golan Heights, the peace plan — by hating Israel. New voices — including much of the growing American Muslim community — have rewarded Democrats for their about-face.

Now it is complete.


Israel Emerges as Issue in California Primary
Former Republican congressman Darrell Issa is being attacked for a litany of anti-Israel comments he made early in his political career, statements his current campaign says don't represent his record as a friend and ally of the Jewish state.

"Darrell Issa claims he's a conservative, but every time he talks about Israel he sounds more like Ilhan Omar than President Trump," the new ad from American Unity PAC states, pointing to comments Issa made during his first terms in Congress. Among them is a 2001 statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Israel would be "an apartheid state" if it failed to achieve peace with the Palestinians. It also points to Issa's 2006 proposal for the United Nations to redraw Israel's borders, in which he argued that Israel was drawn with "artificial lines" in the first place.

"We've drawn artificial lines before, not the least of which is the very creation of the state of Israel, so let's finish drawing that part of the map," Issa told the Washington Post.

The new line of attack comes a week before the primary in California's 50th Congressional District, where Issa is attempting a return to the House after retiring his seat in the neighboring 49th District in 2018. The group behind the ad is American Unity PAC, a Republican group that supports pro-gay rights candidates and is supporting Carl DeMaio to be the party's candidate in November.

The ad also takes issue with a July 2006 accusation by Issa that Israel was bombing Hezbollah targets in Lebanon "just so they can have a July Fourth fireworks event."

A spokesman for Issa's campaign says the quotes pinpointed in the ad do not adequately portray his record of support for Israel, which is "unassailable."
Watch Baroness Tonge make yet another antisemitic statement in the House of Lords, calling the Israel “America’s puppetmaster”
The disgraced peer, Jenny Tonge, has made yet another antisemitic statement, describing Israel as “America’s puppetmaster” in a remark in the House of Lords.

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions” is an example of antisemitism, as is: “Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism to characterise Israel or Israelis.”

Baroness Tonge, who was suspended from the Liberal Democrats before eventually resigning, has a long history of Jew-baiting, denouncing Campaign Against Antisemitism, suggesting that the antisemitic attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue might be Israel’s fault, blaming Israel for a rise in antisemitism, and sharing a cartoon comparing Israel’s policies to those of the Nazis, which is a breach of the International Definition.

In December 2019, Campaign Against Antisemitism joined 88 members of the House of Lords in condemning remarks on Facebook by Baroness Tonge following the general election, in which she commented: “The Chief RabbI must be dancing in the street. The pro-Israel lobby won our General Election by lying about Jeremy Corbyn.”




Motion branding Board of Deputies as pro-Tory tabled at Liverpool Riverside Labour meeting
The Board of Deputies has been branded "consistent in its support for the Conservative Party" in a motion proposed for debate at the meeting of Liverpool Riverside Labour Party on Friday night.

Leaked details of the motions tabled for this month's Riverside CLP meeting, which have been seen by the JC, reveal a claim the Board reflects "the views of only one section of the British Jewish community."

The same motion, which is tabled by the Princes Park local branch, also accuses the Board of trying to "proscribe the views of other Jewish groups such as the JVL (Jewish Voice for Labour)".

Up until the December election, Liverpool Riverside had been represented by Jewish MP Dame Louise Ellman.

But she quit Labour after being a member for over 50 years, saying that under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, "antisemitism has become mainstream in the party."

She added that: "Jewish members have been bullied, abused and driven out."

Friday's motion - which was headlined 'In opposition to interference by Jewish Board of Deputies in LP disciplinary process' - also stated that it "condemns the Jewish Board of Deputies' attempt to interfere in the Labour leadership and deputy leadership elections by demanding that candidates sign ten pledges."

It added that the "pledges breach the principles of free speech and human rights and do not include all forms of racism. They do not represent the diversity that exists in our constituency or the country as a whole."


Former Labour activist to be prosecuted over alleged “rid the Jews” comments is named, but prosecutors reduced charges on other offenders so that it is now too late to prosecute
The former Labour activist who has been charged by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) after Campaign Against Antisemitism reported a leaked secret Labour dossier to the Metropolitan Police live on LBC has been named.

According to a source, Mohson Rasool, a 60-year-old from Hollybank Road, Birmingham, commented on Facebook that “We shall rid the Jews who are a cancer on us all [sic]”. He is also alleged to have suggested that the Jews should be sent into the Red Sea rather than expending expensive gas on them in what appeared to be an allusion to the use of gas chambers by the Nazis to murder Jews. Among other alleged remarks, he claimed that “hatred of Jews and Hindus is in my DNA”.

Mr Rasool is being charged with sending a grossly offensive message or other matter on a public electronic communications network on 10th February, 2018, in breach of section 127 of the Communications Act, and will appear at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on 25th March.

It is understood that Mr Rasool had been expelled by the Labour Party prior to his arrest.

Of the ten cases so far referred to the CPS considered, five apparently remain under consideration, four will be dropped and Mr Rasool will be prosecuted.

However, it is understood that the four cases being dropped may have passed the threshold for lesser offences, but because the CPS took so long reviewing the cases, it is now too late to bring charges.

This is despite Lord MacDonald, a former Director of Public Prosecutions, saying last month that he believed that the CPS had had sufficient time to review the cases and should announce its conclusions, and that charges should be brought.
Austrian Parliament condemns BDS movement as antisemitic
Austria’s national parliament unanimously passed a resolution on Thursday condemning the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign as antisemitic, and urging that the anti-Israel movement not be supported.

“BDS, which has also increasingly appeared in Austria in recent years, makes use of this antisemitic pattern,” stated the resolution. The antisemitic pattern refers to one of the alleged antisemitic BDS goals that seeks to not "recognize the right of the Jewish people to self-determination," the resolution explained.

The Austrian Member of the European Parliament Lukas Mandl said: “The Austrian parliament’s historic decision today to condemn any boycotts of Israeli goods shows that Austria stands on the side of Israel – not half-heartedly, but with full conviction. Israel is Europe’s key partner in the Middle East for security, economic cooperation and job creation, and shares our fundamental values of the rule of law and democracy.

"Austria’s partnership with Israel is a shining example for other European countries to follow," he continued. "But we need to go even further and set a positive agenda with the Jewish state, both in Vienna and in Brussels. We must urgently hold an EU-Israel Association Council which inexplicably hasn’t been convened since 2012.

"What’s more, the Association Agreement facilitating free trade with Israel needs to be updated and deepened,” added Mandl, who is the Chair of the Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI) group in the European Parliament.
LA charter school supporters target Jewish school board member
Charter school supporters in Los Angeles are targeting a Jewish school board member with attack mailers that some critics have called anti-Semitic.

The mailers portray Scott Schmerelson as greedy, corrupt and determined to score fast cash by exposing children to deadly vaping and McDonald’s French fries, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

Schmerelson owned stock in Altria, the tobacco company that bought 35 percent of Juul, and owned stock in McDonald’s, according to the report.
One mailer shows Schmerelson wearing a gold chain with a dollar sign hanging from it and holding a fistful of cash.

The United Teachers Los Angeles union is putting money and effort behind Schmerelson, who opposes charter schools. Its president, Alex Caputo-Pearl, told the Times that the ads are an “attempt to eviscerate Scott, a lifelong educator and champion of our public schools. … Scott’s likeness is literally made into a caricature, with clear anti-Semitic overtones.”

Meanwhile, a California Charter Schools Association Advocates spokesman suggested to the Times that the other side also has used anti-Semitic stereotypes, saying it has depicted charter backers as “greedy, corporate billionaires,” and called the supporters “American Jewish philanthropists.”
Jewish and Other Minority Groups Denounce California’s Narrow Focus on ‘People of Color’ in Ethnic-Studies Curriculum
Several Jewish and other ethnic minority organizations are urging California’s leaders to reconsider narrowing the state’s proposed ethnic-studies curriculum, which focuses solely on “people of color” at the expense of other minority groups in the state. The new course of study has generated controversy over allegations of antisemitism in past proposals.

In a letter addressed to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Department of Education Superintendent Tony Thurmond and State Board of Education President Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, the groups raise concern over a recent decision that will exclude many California ethnic minority groups from the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC) currently being developed.

“A curriculum based on a narrowly focused and politicized approach consciously and erroneously divides Californians into ‘people of color,’ on the one hand, and all other supposedly ethnic and non-ethnic whites, on the other,” wrote the groups. “Such exclusion is inconsistent with AB 2016, the assurances made after the release of the unacceptable first draft of the ESMC, and is contrary to California and federal law.”

Referring to Assembly Bill 2016, the groups added that: “California legislators envisioned a multi-cultural approach to ethnic studies in which the focus is for students to gain a deeper understanding of American society and its diverse ethnic composition and to develop respect for cultural diversity in our pluralistic society.”
Jewish Student Says She Left City University of New York Law School After Being Targeted by Antisemitic Harassment for Supporting Israel
A Jewish former law student at City University of New York told The Algemeiner this week about what she described as antisemitic and anti-Zionist harassment she faced due to her pro-Israel activism, which caused her to ultimately leave the school, saying that “no one helped me, no one came to my defense.”

Rafaella Gunz — a journalist focusing on LGBT and feminist issues — was studying at the CUNY School of Law when she became a target of pro-Palestinian groups, particularly Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), as a result of her criticism of their attitudes toward Jews and Israel.

Last month, she published an article in The Jewish Journal, titled “Campus Antisemitism Made Me a Zionist,” that detailed her struggle, saying that her Jewish identity had been strengthened as a consequence.

“This experience compelled me to purchase a small, rose-gold Star of David necklace. … I am no longer ashamed to let the world know I am a Jew,” she wrote.

But Gunz has now decided to leave the school as a result of what she called a campaign of harassment.

“There were reactions to my article, if you look at the comments on there, basically calling me Islamophobic, calling me racist, a liar, just all these horrible things by my classmates, telling people that are supporting me to shut the f**k up, all these types of things,” she told The Algemeiner in an interview.

Anti-Israel groups on campus then circulated a petition that, Gunz said, did not mention her name, but given that she was the only pro-Israel activist on campus, was unquestionably directed at her personally.
Congressman Sends Letter to DeVos About Mideast Studies at University of Arizona
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) has called for the US Department of Education to investigate whether the Center for Middle East Studies (CMES) at the University of Arizona has misused federal dollars.

In a Feb. 24 letter to US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, Gosar wrote that CMES has used federal funding under Title VI of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to “support biased, anti-American, pro-BDS faculty and research.”

As an example, the letter cites CMES associate professor Maha Nassar, who “wrote a defense of the antisemitic ‘Students for Justice in Palestine’ in the antisemitic publication Mondoweiss,” in which she wrote that “conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism is a well-worn tactic of pro-Israel advocacy groups.”

Another example of pro-BDS faculty that the letter cites is history professor Linda Darling, “who signed a 2014 petition calling on Middle East scholars and librarians to boycott Israeli academic institutions.”
YU President Slams Decision by Brooklyn College Athletes to Kneel During Israeli Anthem
Yeshiva University President Ari Berman slammed the “disrespectful” decision by two Brooklyn College volleyball players to kneel during the playing of “Hatikvah,” Israel’s national anthem, at a recent match hosted by the university.

“It is unfortunate that some members of the opposing team disrespected Israel’s national anthem,” Berman told JNS. “We are proud to be the only university who sings both the American and Israeli national anthems before every athletic competition and major event. Nothing makes me prouder to be an American than living in a country where our religious freedom, our Zionism and our commitment to our people will never be impeded and always be prized.”

The two athletes, part of the Brooklyn College Bulldogs men’s volleyball team, kneeled on the ground when the song blared on the loudspeaker before the match against Yeshiva University’s Maccabees on Feb. 23.

The Brooklyn players were later identified as Omar Rezika and Hunnan Butt in social media posts about the event.

A video of the athletes kneeling on the ground was posted on Facebook by Sarah Serfaty, a Stern College student watching from the stands inside Yeshiva University’s Max Stern Athletic Center.

The Bulldogs won the game 3-0.




A third BBC report from Beit Ijza highlights omissions in previous two
Listeners then heard Bateman paraphrasing statements from his interviewee which they later find out he knows not to be true.

Bateman: “On Sa’adat’s driveway the fence rises around us. We look at the homes of the Israeli settlement a few meters away on the other side. He tells me he feels under siege. ‘The settlers confiscated my land’ he says. ‘They haven’t left me air to breathe’. His father built the bungalow in the late 70s. Then, Israel declared the territory around the house state land. Swathes of the West Bank were treated in the same way. Israel adopted an old land law introduced in Palestine in the 19th century. That was when the ruling Ottoman sultan could declare public ownership of any lands he said hadn’t been used to grow crops or keep livestock. Israel used this as a legal basis in the 1980s to claim land for settlements. Sa’adat’s father challenged this at the Israeli courts, claiming ownership of the land around his house. He lost. The judges ruled much of the territory had been bought by Jewish owners in the 1920s.”

Bateman did not bother to inform Radio 4 audiences that the 1858 Ottoman Land Code was also used by the British during their time as administrator of the Mandate for Palestine or that had Israel not used that Ottoman law post-1967, it would be in breach of Article 43 of the 1907 Hague Regulations which refer to “respecting, unless absolutely prevented, the laws in force in the country”.

Failing to inform listeners that the US proposal does not propose uprooting either Palestinian or Israeli residents of Judea & Samaria from their homes (and of course makes no claim of US ‘ownership’ of the land),
Economist obfuscates Houthi antisemitic slogan
The February 8th print edition of the Economist included an article titled “The Houthi model of government”, which made the following claim:
“The Houthis belong to a small branch of Shiism called Zaydism, which is closer to Sunnism than most other branches. For decades Saudi missionaries crossed into Saada, the Houthis’ home province, converting Zaydis into Sunnis. But Abdel-Malik al-Houthi, the 41-year-old leader of the rebels, has tried to stem Saudi influence and has embellished Zaydism with symbols of Shia resistance. The Houthis’ flag, like that of Hizbullah, the Lebanese armed movement backed by Iran, features a clenched fist, a Kalashnikov and the words “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”.

First, even though Zaydism is a “small branch” of Shi’a globallly, in Yemen it is actually the only branch of Shi’a that is widely observed; more than 40% of the country’s population are Zaydis, while other Shi’ite communities make up less than 3% of the country’s population.

More importantly, the article conflates two of the Houthi flags, thus egregiously misleading readers.

The flag most commonly associated with the Houthis contains only their five slogans, in Yuletide colors: The Takbir (God is Great) in green, then “Death to America”, “Death to Israel” and “Curse/Damnation Upon the Jews” in red, then “Victory to Islam” in green.


Compulsory Holocaust education for schools
THE history and impact of the Holocaust will be taught in all Victorian secondary schools, in a breakthrough acclaimed by the Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) and other Jewish organisations.

The Andrews government this week announced an initiative with Gandel Philanthropy and the Jewish Holocaust Centre (JHC) to adapt Holocaust studies resources to the Victorian curriculum.

It makes Victoria the second state after NSW to introduce mandatory Holocaust education in public schools and comes after horrific incidents of antisemitic bullying in two Victorian schools were reported in The AJN and raised in state Parliament last year. NSW introduced compulsory Holocaust education for years 9 and 10 in 2014.

Victorian Education Minister James Merlino stated, “While the teaching of the Holocaust is in the current Victorian curriculum, it is not taught in all schools, and when it is, it is often not taught as well as it could be. It concerns me that if asked, most kids today wouldn’t be able to explain what the Holocaust was.”

Guided by a working paper from Gandel Philanthropy developed with Jewish organisations, the program will include Holocaust education for all year 9 and 10 students in government schools, with the Education Department ensuring it is implemented effectively.
National Library of Israel releases rare photos of Black Hebrew community
As we mark 50 years since the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem, referred to as the Black Hebrews, first came to Israel, the National Library has released some rare photos taken just a few weeks after they arrived in Israel from Liberia.

The images are part of the Dan Hadani Archive, from the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection.

In a statement, the National Library tells the story of the Black Hebrews and of their charismatic leader, Ben Ammi Ben-Israel.

In the 1960s, Ben-Israel, who was living in Chicago at the time, said he had a vision and realized he was "the Messiah."

In the 1970s, Ben-Israel and his followers decided to move from the United States, with some moving to Liberia, before finally settling in the "Promised Land", in the Negev Desert, and to establish their community in Dimona.

The group are "self-proclaimed descendants of the lost tribes of Israel who appeared to practice some form of Judaism, yet also had customs and a belief system all their own," writes The National Library.

The photos were taken a few weeks after the community was established in Dimona.
FDA Clears Israeli-Developed Standing Robotic Wheelchair for U.S. Distribution
UPnRIDE Robotics announced on Thursday that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared its Robotic Standing Wheelchair for marketing and use across the United States. The UPnRIDE will become available to wheelchair users and the elderly in the US, the Israeli company said.

The FDA gave UPnRIDE initial clearance in September. The device provides users with safe and functional mobility in a standing position in almost any environment, indoors and outdoors, the company says. It is suitable for most wheelchair users, including paraplegics, quadriplegics, the elderly and people suffering from MS, ALS, CP, stroke or TBI.

“The approval of our UPnRIDE standing wheelchair is another very important milestone in our mission to offer health benefits and improved quality of life to millions of people suffering from walking impairments,” said Dr. Amit Goffer, founder and president of UPnRIDE Robotics.

“I have had a long-standing vision that all people confined to a wheelchair should have access to enhanced mobility and enjoy the many health benefits associated with the ability to perform everyday tasks in a standing position. With the introduction of UPnRIDE, this dream is becoming a reality,” said Dr. Goffer, a quadriplegic himself following a vehicle accident. He is also the founder of ReWalk Robotics, the company that developed an FDA-approved wearable robotic exoskeleton that provides hip and knee motion to enable individuals with spinal cord injury to stand upright and walk.

UPnRIDE CEO Oren Tamari said that “by enabling upright mobility, UPnRIDE delivers numerous health, economic and societal benefits.”
Mother Courage
At best, Salka Viertel should be a Hollywood footnote. Before coming to California in 1928, she had been a moderately successful stage actress in Germany and Austria. When she arrived on these shores—one of 10,000 European exiles and refugees who washed up in Los Angeles during the ’20s and ’30s—she couldn’t find work as an actress (not beautiful enough, too old) and ended up writing screenplays for her friend Greta Garbo. Later, she published a memoir, The Kindness of Strangers, that went out of print almost immediately.

It shouldn’t have. The memoir is spectacular—more modern than most modern memoirs, filled with the same struggles that 21st-century women reckon with (career, identity, sexual independence, difficult marriages). And what a life! Viertel played a significant role in Hollywood history, hosting a legendary Sunday salon at her home in Santa Monica. She was what Malcolm Gladwell has called a “connector,” a woman whose vitality and ingenuity helped émigré artists find their place in an otherwise Byzantine and impenetrable studio system. These same émigrés transformed Hollywood.

Now, at long last, Salka Viertel is trending. Late last year, her memoir was finally reissued, and the Los Angeles writer and critic Donna Rifkind has just published a lusciously detailed new biography, The Sun and Her Stars: Salka Viertel and Hitler’s Exiles in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Rifkind makes a convincing case that Viertel is a prime example of how immigrants, even involuntary exiles, make America great. “The look, the sound, and the speech of Hollywood’s Golden Age did not originate in Hollywood,” Rifkind writes. “Much of it came from Europe, through the work of successive waves of immigrants during the first half of the 20th century. The last several of those waves brought a group of traumatized artists who were lucky enough to escape Hitler’s death trains and extermination camps. All were anti-fascists; some were Communists; most were Jews.”

Viertel, “a builder of bridges,” was instrumental in getting their voices heard. Her house on Mabery Road in Santa Monica, a short walk from the beach, was “filled with the dispossessed,” Rifkind writes, “drawn to her compassion and her European cooking.” There, they rubbed shoulders with studio grandees and, under her prodding, discovered common ground.

She had acquired her ingathering style years earlier, in a far corner of the Habsburg Empire, where her prosperous Jewish parents maintained an open house, welcoming a steady flow of friends and visitors through the front door while distributing food and money to indigent Jews and starving peasants through the back.

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.

An interfaith memorial in Morocco for victims of 1960 earthquake



In 1960, a devastating earthquake shook the city of Agadir in Morocco, killing between 12,000 and 15,000 people.

On the 60th anniversary of the event, Morocco held a ceremony today at the Ihasha cemetery in Agadir, where the victims (of all religions)  were buried.

Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders participated. On the stage of the event, a rabbi, a priest, and an imam took turns to pray for those killed by the Agadir earthquake.

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02/28 Links Pt1: UNRWA’s Future Reconsidered; The UN Against the Palestinian People; Israeli scientists: 'In a few weeks, we will have coronavirus vaccine'; PA: You're a "traitor" if you sell land to Jews

From Ian:
UNRWA’s Future Reconsidered
The British Government has given more than £300million to a UN aid programme whose schools teach six and seven years olds the words for ‘martyr’ and ‘attack’, while the textbooks it uses glorify jihad and falsely teach of a Jewish plot to kill the Muslim prophet, Muhammed.

UNRWA, the UN aid body established to support Palestinians, has been dogged by repeated allegations of mismanagement which led to the USA withdrawing all funding in 2018. Following further allegations of misconduct in 2019; Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands froze funding to the body. In contrast, the UK increased its annual contribution by over $25 million between 2017 and 2018.

Despite the UK’s continued support for UNRWA, allegations that educational materials provided by the body include extremism have dogged the organisation. UNRWA blames the disturbing material within its schools on the local authorities whose educational ministries determine curricula within their respective jurisdictions. While UNRWA claims to routinely review its materials, the report argues that the problem is longstanding and measures to end the problem have been subsequently reversed.

The report details other charges against UNRWA, including that:
- In 2012, its staff union elections returned Hamas candidates in 22 of 27 available positions.
- Dozens of UNRWA employees have celebrated the stabbings of Israelis, posting videos of extremists calling for the murder of Jews and for an ‘intifada’ or uprising against Israel. Examples include an UNRWA teacher who posted photographs of Adolf Hitler on Facebook, praising him as “our beloved”.
- In 2005, it was estimated that 46 UNRWA school graduates have gone on to become suicide bombers. In 2002, its Jordanian director admitted that the majority of Palestinian suicide bombers were graduates of UNRWA schools.
- In 2008, after Awad al-Qiq, a science teacher and headmaster of an UNRWA school, was assassinated it was revealed that he was a leading rocket maker for Palestinian Islamic Jihad. One of the founders of PIJ was Mahmud Khawaja, who was an UNRWA worker.

Not only is UNRWA routinely exploited by extremists but the report argues that its structures inhibit steps towards peace. UNRWA’s unique definition of ‘refugees’ has meant that the number of ‘refugees’ eligible for its assistance has ballooned from 711,000 Palestinians displaced in 1948 to 5 million today leading to a culture of victimhood and resentment in ever larger pools of people.
The UN Against the Palestinian People
In a blatant capitulation to the BDS movement, the UN Human Rights Council published a list of 112 Israeli businesses linked to Jewish West Bank neighborhoods in an effort to stigmatize those businesses and encourage their boycott. This highly politicized decision will not hurt Israel, as it was intended to do, but will instead undermine the livelihood of the many Palestinians who — due to the lack of sufficient employment opportunities in Palestinian-governed areas — earn their living by working for those very Israeli businesses.

The UN has thus inflicted yet another economic blow in a series of such blows suffered by the Palestinian people. The Palestinian Authority (PA) declined an invitation to participate in the US-led economic conference in Bahrain in June 2019, and rejected the economic incentives offered in President Trump’s “Deal of a Century” without even hearing them. Trump’s proposal, dismissed by the PA out of hand, included, among many other benefits, plans to naturalize Palestinian refugees currently living in subsistence conditions in surrounding Arab states. The UN only adds to the Palestinians’ suffering by causing harm to one of their sources of income.

The PA’s wholesale violation of the Oslo Accords of the 1990s only worsened the economic position of the Palestinians living in today’s areas A and B. Many of them still reminisce about the more prosperous days when Israelis would come to their villages as well to Gaza to buy Palestinian products. All that changed with the stroke of a pen when the Accords birthed the PA and granted it authority over economic and social policy in areas A and B.

The establishment of Palestinian economic autonomy was intended to improve the prospects for prosperity and significantly improve the Palestinians’ quality of life. Despite good intentions, exactly the opposite came to pass. The PA’s incompetent and corrupt governance led to the deterioration of Palestinian quality of life and increased poverty while allowing cronies to steal public resources and exchange political favors for personal benefit. It’s no wonder that many Palestinians long for the days before Oslo.
David Singer: Sanders and Bloomberg Boost Hopes for Netanyahu Election Win
Democratic Party contenders for the American Presidency – Bernie Sanders and Michael Bloomberg – have unwittingly given Israel’s Prime Minister – Bibi Netanyahu – an unexpected boost to becoming Israel’s next Prime Minister on 2 March.

During a nationally-televised Democratic Party Presidential contenders’ debate – Sanders made this inflammatory claim:
“I am very proud of being Jewish. I actually lived in Israel for some months. But what I happen to believe is that, right now, sadly, tragically, in Israel, through Bibi Netanyahu, you have a reactionary racist who is now running that country.”

This “reactionary racist” just happens to be Israel’s longest-serving Prime Minister – victorious after six election campaigns conducted in fully democratic and openly transparent elections. Sanders’ comment doesn’t say much for his opinion of the majority of Israelis whose votes have kept Netanyahu there.

Bloomberg was motivated to chime in with his take on Israel:
“Well, the battle has been going on for a long time in the Middle East, whether it’s the Arabs versus the Persians, the Shias versus the Sunnis, the Jews in Israel and the Palestinians, it’s only gone on for 40 or 50 years.

Number one, you can’t move the embassy back. We should not have done it without getting something from the Israeli government. But it was done, and you’re going to have to leave it there.

Number two, only solution here is a two-state solution. The Palestinians have to be accommodated…”

The conflict between Jews and Arabs in former Palestine has been going on for 100 years – not 40 or 50 years. Brainwashed by Arab propaganda, Bloomberg had erased the origins of the conflict which began with the San Remo conference and Treaty of Sevres in 1920 and the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine.

Bloomberg – in mentioning the need for a two-state solution – was apparently ignorant of the fact that the Palestinian Arabs had been allocated 78% of Palestine in 1922 – which subsequently became a sovereign state renamed the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan in 1946 – today called Jordan.

For someone aspiring to be America’s next President, Bloomberg displayed an appalling lack of knowledge about this long-running and unresolved conflict.



Israeli scientists: 'In a few weeks, we will have coronavirus vaccine'
Israeli scientists are on the cusp of developing the first vaccine against the novel coronavirus, according to Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis. If all goes as planned, the vaccine could be ready within a few weeks and available in 90 days, according to a release.

“Congratulations to MIGAL [The Galilee Research Institute] on this exciting breakthrough,” Akunis said. “I am confident there will be further rapid progress, enabling us to provide a needed response to the grave global COVID-19 threat,” Akunis said, referring to the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

For the past four years, a team of MIGAL scientists has been developing a vaccine against infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), which causes a bronchial disease affecting poultry. The effectiveness of the vaccine has been proven in preclinical trials carried out at the Veterinary Institute.

MIGAL is located in the Galilee.

“Our basic concept was to develop the technology and not specifically a vaccine for this kind or that kind of virus,” said Dr. Chen Katz, MIGAL’s biotechnology group leader. “The scientific framework for the vaccine is based on a new protein expression vector, which forms and secretes a chimeric soluble protein that delivers the viral antigen into mucosal tissues by self-activated endocytosis, causing the body to form antibodies against the virus.”
Israeli firm unveils kit to diagnose coronavirus, as 2nd team works on a vaccine
An Israeli firm said Thursday it has developed a kit to test for the coronavirus, sending its stocks soaring as the world hunts for an effective way to confirm who is carrying the fast-spreading contagion.

Hod Hasharon based BATM said production on the quick diagnostic kit was underway at a facility in Rome owned by Adaltis, which manufactures various medical testing devices.

Health officials have urged the development of rapid testing devices to screen who may have the virus, as questions have arisen about current diagnostic tools’ ability to flag carriers. Health officials have also worried about overtesting and deluging health systems with false positives that will lead to public panic.

The debate over testing has taken on added urgency as the number of cases worldwide has climbed past 82,000, including over 2,800 reported deaths, with cases now present on every continent and dozens of countries.

BATM said in a statement that its test’s ability to successfully screen those carrying COVID-19 had been verified by several labs and hospitals, and that customers in several countries had expressed interest. It did not provide details.

It said the test met criteria set out by the US-based Centers of Disease Control and that it was working with European research institutions to develop “a price point suitable for large scale production.”

The company’s stock rose 16.4% on the London Stock Exchange and 9.3% in Tel Aviv’s boursa Thursday, making it one of the few winners on an otherwise brutal day on the trading floor.
Israeli who recovered in Japan develops coronavirus again in Israel
A third Israeli has been diagnosed with the Wuhan coronavirus within Israel, the Israeli Health Ministry reported on Friday afternoon.

Shimon Dahan returned from quarantine in Japan after having having been presumed to be "recovered", following his infection with the virus on the Princess Diamond cruise ship and subsequent quarantine in Tokyo.

The man flew home to Israel after he was released from quarantine in Japan and is the third to be diagnosed as having the virus of the passengers who were brought back to Israel from the Princess Diamond.

Dahan's sister, Rachel Biton, was the first to be released from quarantine and sent home to Israel on Tuesday after recovering from the virus.

A spokesperson for the family says they are not currently responding to the issue, as they are still waiting to receive answers to the many questions that came as a result of the report.

"If there is anything to say about the matter, you will be notified after the Sabbath."
Israel's Iran Confrontation Is Pointing the Way to the Future of War
Iran is shipping sophisticated surface-to-air missiles, drones and other missiles to its allies across the Middle East. A seized shipment, revealed by U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) on Feb. 19, included drone and cruise missile components reportedly linked to an attack on Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq oil facility last September. To confront the threat, Israel rolled out a new multi-year plan to transform its armed forces’ ability to both fight a multi-front war and to confront Iran.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is trying to do something unique in history by preparing the army for a potential future war that does not look like any before. Often armies end up planning to face enemies of the past, with disastrous results. This was the case with tactics of the U.S. Civil War, or the French army’s static defenses in World War II. Recent conflicts have revealed how technology is transforming the battlefield. This is illustrated in the counter-insurgency campaigns of the kind the U.S. has faced in the Global War on Terror, and inter-state conflicts such as tensions between Iran and other countries in the Middle East.

Israel dubs its new plan “Momentum,” and it says the concept is to combine all the elements of its armed forces, including land, sea, air, intelligence and cyber. Using one kind of force, such as just the air force or just infantry, is a relic of the past. That means putting more resources into units at the front, and more capabilities such as drones and even high-energy lasers to confront drone threats. It also means using more accurate precision-guided munitions. In a recent briefing by the IDF, the army characterized this as going into “uncharted territory and leading the way. There is focus throughout the world on what we are doing.”

To imagine what the future battlefield might look like, it’s worth looking at a few Israeli technologies. One is called Fire Weaver, which will be integrated into the army in the next several years. It links all the soldiers in an area to a network, sort of like when you play a first-person-shooter video game and see all the other players. It also uses artificial intelligence to optimize which weapon system can be used against threats. For example, if one soldier with an M-16 can’t hit an enemy who is hiding in a building, the system can calculate that a drone or another team on the other side of the village could hit the enemy. The system is supposed to reduce friendly-fire, collateral damage to civilians and give commanders faster intelligence to make decisions. It is a bit like applying management information systems, or efficiency concepts one might find in business, to war.
How the Israeli Navy Stays Two Steps Ahead of the Enemy
As Israel's adversaries equip themselves with growing numbers of advanced anti-ship cruise missiles, the Israel Navy's Weapons Systems Department must ensure that countermeasures are installed onboard Israeli ships in time.

The department's technological personnel are soldiers in their early 20s who have completed degrees in electrical engineering, mathematics and physics as part of their enlistment.

Air-defense systems, electronic warfare, radars, sonars, command and control, missiles and other systems must be developed quickly enough to allow Israel to stay two steps ahead of Hizbullah and Iran.

A senior naval officer said their counterparts in Western militaries were shocked at the age of the Israeli personnel.

"We have conducted trials with partners. Their personnel in equivalent departments is made up of people in their 50s or 60s. I show up with a group of 'kids.' They used to smile when they saw that, but now they know us."

One of the key projects of the navy is to develop sensors and command systems that hermetically seal Israel's sea borders, both on the surface and underwater.

To achieve this, complex algorithms were developed for radar and sonar so that operators could quickly tell the difference between an enemy scuba diver and a sea turtle.
Why does UN report ignore 1400 rockets fired at Israeli communities?
Thank you, Madam President.

This week, in violation of international humanitarian law, Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired over 100 rockets at communities in southern Israel.

Two of these rockets hit a children’s playground in the town of Sderot. Under the Geneva Conventions, these are war crimes.

Children should not have to live their lives in fear of terrorist rockets raining down on them.

The United Nations should condemn these war crimes. It should show its solidarity with Israeli communities now living under imminent risk from rockets and other terrorist threats. This Council should strongly support Israel’s right to defend itself, and its people, against acts of terror.

The report before us today purports to address “all violations of international law” in the Palestinian territories.

Why, then, does the report mention nowhere that Palestinian terrorist groups, in the past year alone, fired more than 1400 rockets at Israeli communities?

The rocket attacks by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad threaten the security of innocent Israelis, and Palestinians.

When fired at Israeli civilians, the rocket attacks are war crimes; when fired from civilian areas in Gaza, using civilians as human shields, they are double war crimes.

Thank you, Madam President.






Israeli helicopters said to attack Syrian army posts along border
Israeli aircraft attacked Syrian army positions in the Golan Heights, Syrian state media said late Thursday, as tensions rose along the border following an earlier reported strike.

Helicopters fired missiles at army positions in Quneitra, and the nearby towns of al-Qataniyah and al-Hurriyet, the state-run SANA news agency said.

It said three soldiers were injured in the strikes.

There was no immediate response from Israel, which rarely acknowledges strikes conducted in Syria.

The bombings came hours after SANA reported that an Israeli drone killed one person in southern Syria’s Quneitra province, in the demilitarized zone near the border with Israel.

“A civilian was martyred when his car was targeted by a drone belonging to the Israeli enemy south of the town of Hader,” the SANA news agency reported.




PMW: PA: You're a "traitor" if you sell land to Jews
Any Palestinian who sells land to Jews is “a traitor,” according to the Palestinian Authority. This was recently reiterated by a PA governor who instructed the PA police to “take the firmest steps” against anyone who has sold or transferred land to Jews. He emphasized that anyone doing so is “a traitor”:
"Salfit District Governor Abdallah Kmeil… emphasized that it is important to defend the land, cultivate it, and defend it from the occupation and the danger of the settler enterprise. He emphasized that it is necessary to receive a security permit from the district before any land sale, both from within Palestine and from outside of it. He said that he has instructed the [PA] Security Forces to take the firmest steps against anyone who is proven to have secretly sold or transferred lands to the occupation, or to have collaborated in the matter. He also emphasized that anyone who does not follow these instructions will be labeled a traitor."
[Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 19, 2020]

PA Chairman Abbas himself in 2014 issued a decision that gives “life imprisonment with forced labor for the clandestine transfer, leasing or selling of lands to a hostile country or its citizens”:
PA TV newsreader: "[PA] Chairman Mahmoud Abbas published a decision on an amendment to the Jordanian penal law and on its previous amendments in the northern districts (i.e., the West Bank). In the new amendment, he instituted life imprisonment with forced labor for the clandestine transfer, leasing or selling of lands to a hostile country or its citizens. The previous penalty for the clandestine transfer of land was temporary forced labor.”
[Official PA TV, Oct. 21, 2014]

Palestinian law signed by PA Chairman Abbas states that one who attempts to sell land to Jews will be sentenced to 5 years of hard labor, and one who actually succeeds in selling land to Jews will be given a life sentence with hard labor.
Salfit District Governor Abdallah Kmeil’s statements echo that of Fatah official Tawfiq Tirawi reported by Palestinian Media Watch earlier this month who suggested that PA Security Forces should not stop Palestinian terrorists targeting Israelis but instead pursue “real estate agents” and “collaborators.”




Turkey not stopping Syrian refugees reaching Europe, US stands with Turkey
Turkey, faced with a possible new wave of Syrian migrants and dozens more dead Turkish soldiers in Idlib, will no longer stop Syrian refugees from reaching Europe, a senior Turkish official said as President Tayyip Erdogan chaired an emergency meeting.

An air strike by Syrian government forces in Syria's northwest Idlib region killed 29 Turkish soldiers and seriously wounded others, the local governor in Turkey's southeastern province of Hatay said separately early on Friday.

The US said that it supports Turkey following the reported attack. "We stand by our NATO Ally Turkey and continue to call for an immediate end to this despicable offensive by the Assad regime, Russia, and Iranian-backed forces," a State Department representative said in a statement.

Nearly a million civilians have been displaced in Idlib near the Turkish border since December as Russia-backed Syrian government forces seized territory from Turkey-backed Syrian rebels, marking the worst humanitarian crisis of the country's nine-year war.

The threat to open the way for refugees to Europe would, if executed, reverse a pledge Turkey made to the European Union in 2016 and could quickly draw Western powers into the standoff over Idlib and stalled negotiations between Ankara and Moscow.

In anticipation of the imminent arrival of refugees from Idlib, Turkish police, coast guard and border security officials have been ordered to stand down on refugees' land and sea crossings, the Turkish official told Reuters.

"We have decided, effectively immediately, not to stop Syrian refugees from reaching Europe by land or sea," said the official, who requested anonymity. "All refugees, including Syrians, are now welcome to cross into the European Union."

The burden of hosting refugees "is too heavy for any single country to carry," the official said.
Turkey Opens Frontier for Syrian Refugees to Enter Europe After Strike Kills Troops
Refugees in Turkey headed towards European frontiers on Friday after an official declared that borders had been thrown open in response to the escalating war in Syria, a day after 33 Turkish soldiers were killed by Russian-backed Syrian government troops.

European officials rushed to respond to a direct threat to reverse an agreement with Turkey that halted the migration crisis of 2015-2016, when more than a million people arrived by sea in Greece and crossed the Balkans on foot.

Moscow and Ankara traded blame over the strike in northwest Syria, the deadliest attack suffered by the Turkish army in nearly 30 years. Turkish financial markets plunged over the prospect of the country being plunged far more deeply into a new escalation of the nine-year-old war across the border in Syria.

“We have decided, effectively immediately, not to stop Syrian refugees from reaching Europe by land or sea,” a senior Turkish official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

“All refugees, including Syrians, are now welcome to cross into the European Union,” the official said, adding that police and border guards had been stood down.

Within hours, a column of dozens of migrants was heading on foot towards the European frontier in the early morning light. A man carried a small child in his arms. Others rode in taxis.

“We heard about it on the television,” said Afghan migrant Sahin Nebizade, 16, in a group packed into one of three taxis parked on a highway.

“We’ve been living in Istanbul. We want to go to Edirne and then on to Greece,” Nebizade said before the taxis headed for the northwestern province of Edirne and border crossings with Bulgaria and Greece, 200 kilometers (124 miles) west of Istanbul.
Turkish army retaliates against 'all known' Syrian government targets
The Turkish army is retaliating with artillery fire at Syrian government targets in Syria after an airstrike killed 22 Turkish soldiers in the northwestern Idlib province, two Turkish security officials said on Friday.

"All known" Syrian government targets are under fire by Turkish air and land support units, Turkey's communications director Fahrettin Altun said separately on Friday, according to state-run Anadolu news agency. Turkey has decided to "respond in kind" to the attack by the Syrian government, Altun added.
Report: Over 300 Syrian troops killed in massive Turkish reprisal
At least 309 Syrian soldiers were killed early Friday in attacks by the Turkish military on more than 200 Syrian army targets, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told Anadolu Agency. The Turkish army released video footage of the alleged attacks.

Akar said the Syrian soldiers had been "neutralized" after Turkey on Friday raised the death toll from a Syrian government airstrike on its forces in northwestern Syria the previous night to 33 Turkish troops, the highest number of Turkish soldiers killed in a single day since Ankara first intervened in the Syrian conflict in 2016.

According to the Anadolu report, 55 tanks, three helicopters, 18 armored vehicles and six ammunition depots belonging to the Syrian regime were destroyed.

The deaths of the Turkish troops, which came in an attack late Thursday, were a serious escalation in the direct conflict between Turkish and Russia-backed Syrian forces that has been waged since early February. The earlier reported death toll was 29 troops.

Ambassadors from NATO countries were holding emergency talks on Friday at the request of Turkey, a member of the alliance.

Rhami Dogan, the governor of Turkey's Hatay province bordering Syria's Idlib region, said 32 wounded troops were being treated in hospitals. Turkey has had 54 soldiers killed in Syria's northwestern Idlib province since the beginning of February, including the latest fatalities.
Iran Coronavirus Death Toll Reaches 26, Tehran Friday Prayers Canceled
Iran said on Thursday its death toll from coronavirus had risen to 26, the highest number of fatalities from the virus outside China, and the total number of infected people now stood at 245, including several senior officials.

The outbreak prompted authorities to call off Friday prayers in several cities including Tehran, state TV later reported, while state news agency IRNA said Iran has banned Chinese citizens from entering the country.

Those infected include Masoumeh Ebtekar, the vice president for women and family affairs, and the country’s deputy health minister Iraj Harirchi. Ebtekar’s case was said to be mild and she has not been hospitalized.

“In the last 24 hours, we have had 106 (new) confirmed cases … The death toll has reached 26,” Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur told state TV, calling on Iranians to avoid “unnecessary trips inside the country”.

Jahanpur said there were plans to impose some restrictions at Shi’ite Muslim holy sites and cancel some sermons on Friday, the Islamic Republic’s traditional day of public prayer.

“But it needs the approval of the president before being carried out,” he said, adding that hundreds of those suspected of being infected by the virus had recovered and been discharged from hospital.
MEMRI: Veteran Saudi Journalist: The Iranian Regime Is 'The Deadliest Virus' – And The West's Lenience Towards It Endangers The Region
Four days after the February 21, 2020 elections for Iran's parliament, the Majlis, veteran Saudi journalist Tareq Al-Homayed, former editor of the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, published an op-ed in the Saudi daily 'Okaz headlined "The Virus of the Khomeini [Regime]." In it, he criticized Western media, leftist organizations and U.S. Democrats for hypocritically turning a blind eye to "the farce of the Iranian parliamentary elections" in advance of which thousands of reformist and moderate candidates had been disqualified by the regime.[1]

Attacking the Iranian regime for its destructive activity in Iran and in the countries of the region, Al-Homayed warned that this "deadly virus" is wiping out all progress and reform. He added that the West's puzzling lenience vis-à-vis Iran's activity endangers not only Iran but the entire region.

The following are excerpts from Al-Homayed's op-ed:
"The farce of the Iranian parliamentary elections ended without [sparking] a commotion in the West... There was no media uproar and no articles in the major press outlets in recent days.

"This is despite the fact that the [Iranian] Guardian Council, whose 12 members are appointed by the Iranian Supreme Leader, prevented 6,850 Iranians from running for election for 290 parliamentary seats, on various [false] claims including 'disloyalty to Islam!' The regime of the ayatollahs has done all this, yet we have seen no storm of criticism or of [newspaper] editorials in the West. Even the [U.S.] Democrats did not protest – not even as much as they [protested] after the Trump administration assassinated the terrorist Qassem Soleimani, the leader of the destruction in Iran and in the region...

"I am not talking here about the hypocrisy of the left, or of the Democrats, or of some media institutions and organizations in the West – but about the risk of ignoring the Iranian danger that threatens not only the Iranians but also the region, and of underestimating it.
Saudi Arabia suspends entry of Mecca pilgrims amid coronavirus spread
As diagnosis of the first case of coronavirus was announced in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, Saudi Arabia on February 27 suspended the entry of “umrah” pilgrims to the kingdom, according to a statement issued by the Saudi Foreign Ministry.

Umrah is the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca that, in contrast to the hajj, can be undertaken at any time of the year. The statement explained that the decision was a part of international efforts by governments and organizations, in particular the World Health Organization, to stop the spread of the virus. The decision, the statement said, was taken “to provide the utmost protection for the safety of citizens and residents, and whoever intends to come to the kingdom’s lands to perform umrah, or to visit the Prophet’s Mosque, or for the purpose of tourism.”

Suliman al-Ogaily, a member of the board of directors of the Saudi Society for Political Science, told The Media Line that the Saudis took these measures to protect pilgrims, as well as the Saudi people and residents in the kingdom, from infection. “The two most important factors in the spreading of this epidemic are traveling and joining crowds of human gatherings,” al-Ogaily said. “These are temporary measures to prevent spread of this dangerous virus, which is exacerbated by the gathering of people and their movement from one place to another.”
He further clarified that the Saudi leadership regularly adheres to the recommendations of public health experts and the World Health Organization and would cooperate with international efforts “to achieve full control of the epidemic and its containment and eradication, God willing.”

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