09/02 Links Pt2: The dumb Jewish supporters of BLM; Senior BBC journalist used pseudonym account to back attacks on Emma Barnett after Shoah speech ~ EoZ

From Ian:

Jonathan S. Tobin of JNS wrote a reasoned article panning the recent ad in the NYTimes supporting Black Lives Matter and signed by 600 Jewish groups. There were no Orthodox umbrella groups, haredi or centrist, such as OU, Igud Harabanim or the RCA among the signers.

I, in contrast, will be less polite.

What is the Jewish street terminology for those who egregiously give support and comfort to their enemies? One word.....well, Arutz Sheva won't print it (those with a penchant for rhymes can figure it out at the end of this article.)

And so, trusting to your imagination, I'll apply this adjective to the 600 Jewish groups that signed on to a full-page ad in this past week's New York Times supporting and gushing over the Black Lives Matter movement (BLM) and its leaders.

We'd expect such radical self hating Jewish groups such as T'ruah, Jewish Voice for Peace, J Street and Bend the Arc to stand strong with any Jew/Israel hating bunch of common street thugs. But to have the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the national umbrella group and spokesperson for such normally credible organizations as Hadassah, Jewish War Veterans, ORT, B'nai B'rith, and our Jewish Federations, join in the parade to glorify the horrific platform of the BLM, blows one's mind.

To begin with, recall please, the demonstrations down the streets of NYC, led by thousands of BLM supporters chanting, "Kill the cops!" along with shouts of "What do we want? Dead pigs in blankets!" and "Fry 'em in bacon!"

Those signed Jewish groups support such outrageous, dangerous, calls-for-murder-of-cops statements? And what of the 2016 BLM platform accusing Israel of being an "apartheid" state committing "genocide" against Palestinian Arabs and claiming that Jewish supporters pushed the U.S. into wars in the Middle East?

The BLM platform also officially joined forces with the BDS campaign to "free Palestine from the River to the sea" and to "dismantle (destroy) the State of Israel." They said it, they mean it and they will stick to it.

David Collier: Toxic. BBC journalists as antisemitic trolls and the battle for academia

The sickness of the PSC

This week exposed the weakness and failure of the anti-Israel movements more than most. The deal between the UAE and Israel is a historic one. Whilst the lies of the PSC may persuade a foolish pensioner in Newcastle to stop buying Israeli avocados, the Arab boycott itself is crumbling. So it was no surprise that the latest online event put on by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign was a depressing affair.

The online ‘demonstration’ was hosted by Director Ben Jamal and lasted 90 minutes. Yes, of course Jeremy Corbyn was a keynote speaker. Two other MPs made an appearance, along with a couple of trade unionists. As PSC events go, it was relatively tame. They had a few political propagandists speak from Gaza and coincidentally, there was no problem with Gaza’s electricity supply when they did so. There were the usual smears but nothing too outlandish. The only surprising thing was that the ageing crowd did not fall asleep.

One of the hardest parts of my research is putting names to faces, so for me an online Zoom event like this which does the work for me, is like receiving an early Chanukah present:

They claimed over 1000 people watching, which is a bit silly when these online apps give an accurate headcount. There were roughly 430 on Zoom and 50 on Facebook. What made it even sadder is that every Zionist activist I know was in the crowd too. What was also clear was the demographic of the online viewers. One of the cases that I have been making for years is that ‘PSC’ people are mainly older, majority female and very white. For most of these sad individuals ‘Palestine’ is the cause they picked up as they would a bridge or chess club. Something that gets them out of the house to meet people at a local coffee evening.

Their online weakness was also exposed. During the event they ran two ‘online’ campaigns using #hashtags. #endthesiege and #stoparmingisrael. They both only received a few dozen tweets and almost all of these were a direct copy and paste comment from empty trolls. The same type of thing we see coming from online Gazan troll factories. This exact comment, word for word, made up over 90% of the tweets made:

There was almost no original input whatsoever.

It is time to undress the toxic BBC
Far more worrying is what is taking place elsewhere. Yesterday the news broke that a senior BBC journalist had been running an antisemitic sock account. Nimesh Thaker used the Twitter account ‘Not That Bothered‘ to belittle antisemitism and promote posts by people such as Jackie Walker and Kerry-Anne Mendoza. The account was also used to ‘support attacks on the organisation’s Jewish presenter Emma Barnett after she spoke out about the personal impact of antisemitism on her life’. By the time I went looking, the journalist appeared to have completely disabled all his social media accounts.

The horror of this should not be understated. This news brutally exposes the mindset we know exists at the BBC – childish, supremacist and Jew-baiting. For years we have complained about the bias and clearly distorted reporting taking place. We don’t need to wonder anymore about why the fringe group JVL were so often given BBC airtime. People like Thaker write the news that millions of people read each day. They’ve been doing so for decades. Nothing in the UK bears more responsibility for the spread of the false anti-Israel narrative than the BBC.

I have never been of the ‘defundthebbc’ bloc, but I am finding it harder and harder to justify that stance. I used to argue it needed reform rather than a complete rebuild, but I no longer oppose those that think the entire structure should be taken down. Pay the license fee – why on earth should I pay for this. BBC journalists have become antisemitic trolls. How do you repair that?

Senior BBC journalist used pseudonym account to back attacks on Emma Barnett after Shoah speech

A senior BBC World News journalist used an anonymous social media account to support attacks on the organisation’s Jewish presenter Emma Barnett after she spoke out about the personal impact of antisemitism on her life.

Nimesh Thaker also used the Twitter account set up under the pseudonym Not That Bothered to support posts written by Kerry-Anne Mendoza and Jackie Walker, both of whom have been at the centre of antisemitism allegations themselves.

In posts from the account, the BBC reporter also suggested Israel was a “racist” and “white supremacist state”. He also branded the BBC Director General a “white male Tory”.

The JC has been given evidence showing that Mr Thaker had used the Not That Bothered account to attempt to make contact with individuals for reports he was making for the BBC – exposing the fact that he was behind the account.

New BBC Director General Tim Davie is expected to outline his disapproval of partisan journalists as he sets out his plans for the Corporation later this week.

Mr Thaker – who has reported for BBC World News for over ten years - was openly critical of BBC 5 Live presenter Ms Barnett after she delivered a widely praised speech about the impact of the Holocaust on her family on the day that Twitter was being boycotted over its failure to act against rapper Wiley’s antisemitic outbursts.

The JC has been sent screenshots showing that the Not That Bothered account retweeted a post sent to Ms Barnett which accused her of using “the same old ‘antisemitism’ excuse whenever people criticise Israel”.

The Palestinian People: What’s in a Name?

Origins of ‘Palestine’

So, where does the name “Palestinian” actually come from and how did the Arabs living in the Holy Land become known as “the Palestinians?”

The term “Palestine” is believed to be a derivative of the Egyptian and Hebrew word “peleshet,” which means “migratory.” The term was used to describe an Aegean people who came to the region in 12th century BCE and conquered the Mediterranean coastline now known as Gaza. They were given this name because they were seen as migrants coming to a region which they had no previous connection to. The book of Judges and Samuel are filled with stories about these Philistines. The term “peleshet” appears in the Jewish Bible at least 250 times.

The term “Palestine” first appears in the writings of the Greek historian Herodotus in 5th century BCE describing the coastal area where these ancient Philistines lived. When the Romans destroyed the Temple, exiled the Jews, and squelched the last Jewish revolt in 132 CE, they adapted the word to be Palaestina and applied it to the entire region in an attempt to minimize Jewish identification with the Land of Israel, which was called Judea at the time.

It is important to emphasize that the entire land was called Palestine 500 years before Islam arrived in the region and that the word “Palestine” or “Filastin” does not appear even once in the Quran.

The name lasted through the invasion of the Muslim caliphate in 634, the Crusaders, and the Mamelukes.

The term “Palestine” was used to describe the land south of Syria during the reign of the Ottoman Empire in the land from 1517 to 1917, but not as its official name which was Southern Syria. It was never an independent, autonomous region, but a province of a larger state.

Facing a coronavirus crisis, Israel calls in the army

Over a three-decade military career, Israeli Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin has led commando raids, fought in wars and even earned a degree at Harvard. But he has never seen anything quite like his latest mission.

As head of the Israeli army’s Home Front Command, Gordin is now overseeing the military’s coronavirus “task force,” formed last month to bring one of the developed world’s worst outbreaks under control. Its main responsibility is taking the lead in contact tracing and breaking chains of infection.

“This is a operation on a different scale,” Gordin told The Associated Press, speaking in his first interview since taking over the Home Front Command in May.

Israel appeared to be a model of crisis management last spring, when the coronavirus first arrived. Authorities quickly sealed the borders and imposed tough lockdown measures, bringing the number of new infections down to just a handful each day in May.

But officials reopened the economy too quickly, and the virus soon returned. Throughout the summer, the rate of new cases has remained at record levels, while the death toll has steadily climbed to over 900 people.

Under heavy public pressure, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in July appointed Dr. Ronni Gamzu, a respected hospital director and former Health Ministry director, as the national “coronavirus project manager.”

One of Gamzu’s first acts was to turn to the military for help, giving it the critical mission of cutting the chain of infections.

“You have to have the best operational forces, and in Israel, it’s the IDF,” he told journalists recently, referring to the Israel Defense Forces.

Yaskawa Israel’s Covid-19 Testing Robot Installed in IDF Lab

The R&D Center of Yaskawa Electric in Israel has completed the development of a robotic system that can conduct Covid-19 tests. Yaskawa Europe Technology (YET), which is the Israeli branch of the Japanese giant, is planning on providing labs in Israel with the robotic arm, which is capable of conducting around 2,800 tests a day. The arm, which has already been installed in the IDF’s main Covid-19 testing lab, is meant to replace human testers and is built to be faster and prevent human errors. Operating the robot doesn’t require any expertise and can reduce the strain currently being experienced by lab staff across the world and free them for additional tasks.

“The new corona inspection robots answer Israel’s need as well as any other country in the world, to accelerate the testing speed rate and increase them significantly,” said Arik Dan, President and CEO of Yaskawa Europe Technology.

Founded in 1915, Yaskawa provides solutions in industrial robotics, motion control, inverters, positioning stages, as well as semiconductors solutions. In January 2015, the company launched in Israel a Technological Robotic and Motion Control Center, aimed to expose and simplify robotics technologies within the Israeli industry.

“YET’s robotic system accelerates the testing rate significantly. This could become a turning point for the pandemic inspection management, since as the testing samples number is increased, national decisions are more easily taken and ultimately the infection chain can be stopped,” added Dan. “In addition, the system will minimize the risk of lab workers who could be infected by coronavirus. The corona robot system has great global commercial potential for health organizations around the world.”

COVID-19 'became opportunity for hatemongers' – deputy antisemitism envoy

Ellie Cohanim, the US assistant special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, said on Tuesday that COVID-19 "became an opportunity for the hatemongers."

In a webinar hosted by the Hudson Institute, Cohanim addressed the challenges of fighting global antisemitism. "It's a sad shame that people would use a pandemic as an opportunity to spread hatred of Jews," she said.

"What happened when the virus came out was that we saw forces either spreading conspiracy theories that Israel or the Jews somehow created the virus or that they were going to somehow profit from the virus. No matter that we know this virus emanated from Wuhan, China," said Cohanim.

She noted that the unfortunate thing was that a lot of these conspiracy theories emanated from government officials as well. "We saw that coming out of the Palestinian Authority, from Turkey, and from Iran as well. Ayatollah Khamenei posted a tweet in which he used the hashtag 'COVID 48,'" she continued. "We all know that what you need to do with the coronaviruses is to wipe it out. And so obviously, he was, again, advocating for the wiping out of Israel with this COVID 48 hashtag."

WATCH: Joy Reid Accuses Trump Supporters of Acting Like ‘Muslims’

Joy Reid, the MSNBC host who (sort of) acknowledged and (sort of) apologized for having authored homophobic blog posts, condemned Donald Trump for encouraging violence and radicalizing his supporters "the way Muslims [do]."

"When leaders, let's say in the Muslim world, talk a lot of violent talk, and encourage their supporters to be willing to commit violence, including on their own bodies, in order to win against whoever they decide is the enemy, we in the U.S. media describe that as they are ‘radicalizing' those people, particularly when they're radicalizing young people," Reid said during a panel discussion about Trump's response to the violence taking place in Kenosha, Wis. "That's how we talk about the way Muslims act."

Leftwing radicals criticized Reid for engaging in Islamophobia. Linda Sarsour, the controversial activist whose proclivity for anti-Semitism precipitated her resignation from the Women's March movement, described Reid's comments as "not good."

It remains to be seen whether Reid will attempt to blame her vile outburst on foreign hackers who altered the text in her teleprompter or simply issue a half-hearted apology.

Cuomo, De Blasio Go After Jewish Weddings, Cheer Black Lives Matter Riots

Governor Andrew Cuomo, whose horrifying move forcing nursing homes to accept coronavirus patients may have killed between 6,000 and 11,000 senior citizens, has vowed to crack down.

On Jewish weddings.

“Whether it’s young people at a bar or religious people at a wedding, it’s the same thing to me. It’s ignorant, it’s disrespectful and it violates the law,” Cuomo fumed.

Religious people being ignorant, disrespectful, and violating the law by attending a wedding is awful. But when celebrities want to perform at MTV’s VMA awards, they get a special exemption from quarantine regulations because Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, and Miley Cyrus gyrating on a stage is respectful, whereas the communal celebration of G-d and family life is disrespectful.

Cuomo then vowed that if Mayor de Blasio wouldn't crack down on the Jewish weddings, he would come after the Jews.

But De Blasio, who has a history of targeting the Chassidic Jews of Brooklyn, is no slouch and had blamed a rise in coronavirus cases on a Jewish wedding even before Cuomo kvetched.

"We were looking at two solid months of rallies and demonstrations and violence, not a word, not one spike? And he’s going to tell me that he’s not picking on somebody or he’s not selecting a particular group?" a Chassidic community activist had responded.

New York City’s government, which can’t manage to keep stores from being looted, is dispatching personnel for “proactive inspections of event spaces” for weddings.

A win for the pro-Israel community and a loss for the anti-Israel community, including @IfNotNowOrg, which endorsed @AlexBMorse. https://t.co/AvVZfd8tsy Via @JNS_org https://t.co/2BasCkz38p
— Jackson Richman (@jacksonrichman) September 2, 2020

MEMRI: Musician Roger Waters: Israeli Ministry Of Strategic Affairs Plotted A Conspiracy That Destroyed Jeremy Corbyn's Chances Of Becoming U.K. Prime Minister

British musician and activist Roger Waters said in an August 29, 2020 interview on Al-Jazeera Network (Qatar) that the Palestinians had not invited European Jews to come to Palestine, and that the "antisemitic story" spread against him and against the British Labour Party was a well-orchestrated conspiracy that successfully destroyed Jeremy Corbyn's chances of being elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. In addition, Waters thanked Al-Jazeera Network for being one of the only networks that give him a platform to express his opinions.

To view the clip of musician Roger Waters on MEMRI TV, click here or below.

"It Is Not As If The Palestinians In 1948 Suddenly Said: 'Could You Send Down A Load Of Jewish People From North-Eastern Europe, Please, To Throw Us Out Of Our Homes?'"

Roger Waters: "The people of Crimea were polled, and 98% of them said: 'We don't want to be any part of this new illegal government of the Ukraine. We wish to join the Russian Federation.'
[...]
"You cannot talk about the 70-year-old Israeli occupation of Palestine and the relatively recent annexation or change of power in Crimea in the same breath – they are entirely different things, one is that there are... It is not as if the Palestinians in 1948 suddenly said: 'Could you send down a load of Jewish people from north-eastern Europe, please, to throw us out of our homes?'
[...]
"The Conspiracy... To Spread The Antisemitic Story About People Like Me And About The Labour Party... Probably... Came Out Of The Ministry Of Strategic Affairs In Tel Aviv"

"The conspiracy... The plan to spread the antisemitic story about people like me and about the Labour Party, in England, abroad – it probably centered and out of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs in Tel Aviv.

"This was completely orchestrated and very well done, and [it] succeeded totally in destroying Jeremy Corbyn's chances of becoming the next Prime Minister of the UK. The biggest mistake that [Corbyn] and the Labour Party made was at a Labour Party conference in 2019, where they failed to totally dismiss the new IHRA – International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance – definition of antisemitism. They re-wrote the definition of antisemitism to include any criticism of the policies of the government of the State of Israel.

Musician Roger Waters: Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs Plotted a Conspiracy that Destroyed Jeremy Corbyn’s Chances of Becoming U.K. Prime Minister pic.twitter.com/NACIWxrdvj
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) September 2, 2020

Taxpayer‐Funded Spanish University Under Fire for Pushing ‘Palestinian Propaganda’ in Summer Program

A pro-Israel advocacy group in Spain has accused one of the country’s largest universities of teaching “Palestinian propaganda…masquerading as another option in the cycle of summer courses” at the school.

In a statement on Wednesday, ACOM — a group which conducts political and media advocacy for Israel — highlighted a course with the title “Apartheid in Palestine and the Criminalization of Solidarity” that is being offered by the Public University of Navarra, a government-funded institution in northern Spanish city of Pamplona.

“The title of the course reveals its biased and evidently propagandistic nature,” ACOM said. “The program is just a part of an intense campaign that, following the antisemitic narrative in universities, intends to falsify facts, hide data, and justify terrorist and Jew-hating violence that the legitimate state of Israel has had to face since it came into existence.”

The five weekly lectures that compose the course, which runs between Sept. 7 and Oct. 9, are all being delivered by leading activists in the BDS movement, which seeks to subject the Jewish state to cultural, economic and political isolation.

The founder of the BDS movement, Omar Barghouti, is scheduled to speak on Sept. 16 on the topic of the “criminalization of solidarity with the Palestinian people.”

Meanwhile, Alys Samson Estapé — the European coordinator of the BDS movement — will give a talk titled, “The BDS movement in Europe: victories and challenges ahead,” the following week.

More Academics Announce Support for Jewish USC Student Leader Who Quit Over Anti-Zionist Harassment

A group of faculty at the University of Southern California (USC) has lined up in support of a Jewish student whose experience of antisemitism led to her resignation as University of Southern California student vice president earlier this month.

In an “open letter to the USC community on supporting Zionist students” that was posted on Monday, the scholars emphasized that Rose Ritch was “subjected to vicious online harassment, and her qualification to hold elected office was questioned on the basis of her professed Zionism.”

The letter, signed by nearly 40 academics at USC, followed a similar communication last week from a group of progressive American scholars who sprang to Ritch’s defense.

The USC letter identified its signers as “supporters of the Zionist idea ‐‐ the right of the Jewish people to a homeland and self-determination” who “stand by the rights of all people, including Israelis and Palestinians, to freedom, dignity and peaceful coexistence, and to advocate for their causes with fairness and respect on our campus and in the world.”

“As dedicated members of the USC faculty, we are concerned about the long-term impact of Rose Ritch’s resignation on the morale and well-being of supporters, or presumed supporters, of the State of Israel,” the letter noted. “We call on our university’s leadership to uphold the values of open and civilized debate, so that USC can continue its mission of fostering excellence in education and advancing knowledge in a civil and respectful manner.”

PreOccupiedTerritory: It’s Harder To Instill Jew-Hate In My Students Via Zoom by Hassan Kiswani, Palestinian educator (satire)

Coronavirus has upended routine in numerous ways, chief among them the regular attendance of children at school or childcare. Teachers, parents, and students throughout the world struggle this week to resume a semblance of the academic year, often with the aid of technology to replace the classroom environment. The latter offers a measure of protection from the spread of the pathogen, but the context it creates for facilitating the proper fostering of Judaeophobia remains less than ideal.

The personal touch, the direct human presence, plays an outsize role in pedagogical effectiveness. When I embark on my sacred daily mission to rear the next generation of Palestinians who equate their independence and national identity with the elimination of Jewish sovereignty and security, I have come to rely on that personal touch and the inherent adaptability of the in-person medium. Adjusting to the online context has challenged my ability to impart the crucial aspiration of From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be (Jew-)Free.

Thank Allah, the parents have stepped up and stepped in. The work I do in the classroom, whether real or virtual, goes only so far if the lessons I impart receive no reinforcement at home. An engaged parent means a successful student. I am fortunate that the parents of my students, almost to the very last one, display a commitment to antisemitism that makes me proud of our education system.

"We Will Never Give Up": Charlie Hebdo Republishes Mohammed Cartoons

France is starting to reflect on the dramatic decline in its freedom of expression.

"My unfortunate client will be freedom...." — Richard Malka, attorney for Charlie Hebdo, Le Point, August 13, 2020.

Western democracies have paid dearly for the right to freedom of expression and, if not protected and exercised, it can disappear overnight.

"If our colleagues in the public debate do not share part of the risk, then the barbarians have won". — Elisabeth Badinter, French philosopher; the documentary "Je suis Charlie", September 9, 2015.

France's Macron: I won't condemn cartoons of prophet Mohammad

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday it was not his place to pass judgment on the decision by satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to re-publish cartoons of the prophet Mohammad, saying France has freedom of expression.

But Macron, speaking on a visit to Lebanon, said it was incumbent on French citizens to show civility and respect for each other, and avoid a "dialogue of hate."

The magazine re-published the cartoons on the eve of a trial in Paris of alleged accomplices in a 2015 attack on the magazine's offices by Islamist terrorist gunmen in which 12 people were killed.

When they were first published by Charlie Hebdo and other publications, the cartoons unleashed a wave of anger in the Muslim world. For Muslims, any depiction of the prophet Mohammad is blasphemous.

Before the attack on Charlie Hebdo's offices, Islamists online had warned the magazine would pay for publishing the cartoons.

"It's never the place of a president of the Republic to pass judgment on the editorial choice of a journalist or newsroom, never. Because we have freedom of the press," Macron said.

Five years on from the Charlie Hebdo massacre, former columnist at the magazine Zineb El Rhazoui tells Maajid Nawaz "the French have lost the right to blasphemy" in the aftermath of the terror attacks.@MaajidNawaz | @ZinebElRhazoui pic.twitter.com/LxMy2sCrPA
— LBC (@LBC) August 31, 2020

14 Suspects Stand Trial Over Charlie Hebdo Terrorist Attack

‘Lovecraft Country’ plot point resembles age-old antisemitic lie

Like more than 1 million Americans in each of the last three weeks, I’ve been appreciating “Lovecraft Country,” the new HBO series that adds monsters and other fantasy elements to the real-life horror stories faced by Black Americans.

The show’s main characters are all Black, and the white characters are either members of a secret society or racist sheriffs and cross-burning neighbors.

So I was surprised Sunday night to hear a typically Jewish last name applied to a character whose only appearance was as a ghost — and whose story instantly evoked one of history’s most durable antisemitic stereotypes.

Hiram Epstein, the episode reveals, was a University of Chicago scientist who conducted gruesome experiments on Black children and adults in the basement of the Winthrop House, a decrepit mansion in a white neighborhood that a main character, Leti Lewis, purchases and renovates. His spirit haunts the home, making it unsafe for Leti and her tenants and friends, until an exorcism summons the mutilated bodies of his victims and restores psychic order.

Epstein’s story calls to mind the way that Jews have been accused for centuries of stealing the blood of non-Jewish children to use in religious rituals, often to make matzah for Passover, in what is known as a “blood libel.” The blood libel charge was leveled routinely at Jews beginning in the Middle Ages, and it was used to justify countless deadly pogroms and vigilante actions. A blood libel charge tore apart an upstate New York town in 1928, and the trope featured prominently in Nazi propaganda.

Antisemitic hate preacher David Icke joined on stage by conspiracist Piers Corbyn in rally against pandemic rules that included supporters of British Union of Fascists

The conspiracy theorist and antisemitic hate preacher David Icke led a rally in London over the weekend against the lockdown and other pandemic-related rules and restrictions. He was joined on stage by Piers Corbyn, the conspiracist brother of the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Participants at the demonstration displayed the symbol of Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists, among other controversial material.

Other attendees reportedly displayed placards promoting the antisemitic QAnon conspiracy theory, which believes a powerful cabal runs the world.

Mr Icke uses social media, his books and his stage performances to incite hatred. His preaching is so absurd that since the 1990s he has been dismissed as a crank, but because he is dismissed, there has been no major opposition to him and he has built up a following of thousands upon thousands of disciples whom he has persuaded to adamantly believe that the world is in the grip of a conspiracy run by the “Rothschild Zionists”. His repertoire includes conspiracy myths and tropes classified as antisemitic according to the International Definition of Antisemitism. Campaign Against Antisemitism has successfully persuaded some venues to pull out of hosting his events.

Recently, Ofcom sanctioned the television channel London Live for airing an interview with Mr Icke on COVID-19 in which he claimed that Israel is using the pandemic to “test its technology” and Facebook and YouTube resolved to remove Mr Icke from their platforms, albeit because of his conspiracies regarding the pandemic rather than because he is a Jew-hater. Waterstones also recently announced that it would remove from sale all of his books.

Piers Corbyn has his own history of controversy in relation to antisemitic conspiracy theories. He has previously retweeted @whiteknight0011, a notorious neo-Nazi who declared that “They will force Trump in to war What do you think happened to Hitler? Bilderberg CIA IMF Banker Gangsters They are the problem” along with four images. The @whiteknight0011 account has since been suspended. One image showed Lord Jacob Rothschild, the Jewish banker and philanthropist, against the background of a Nazi flag, claiming that he controls the world. A second showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a puppeteer controlling ISIS through Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, orchestrating the war in Syria and Paris attacks as Lord Rothschild and the Queen look on approvingly. A third image showed the faces of supposed Jewish conspirators who run the world to society’s detriment, proclaiming: “Know your enemy”. The last image showed a family photo of the Royal Family, claiming that they are in cahoots with these Jewish conspirators in committing “the worst genocides, invasions and theft in all history.”

Conservatives suspend Cllr Jacqui Harris for the second time after CAA brings her social media history to the Party’s attention

Jacqui Harris, a local councillor, has been suspended again from the Conservatives after Campaign Against Antisemitism brought her social media history to the Party’s attention.

Cllr Harris is currently a Conservative councillor on Stratford-upon-Avon District Council, having previously served as an Independent as well after being suspended by the Conservatives over allegations of antisemitism in 2019. In 2018 she was selected as a prospective parliamentary candidate for the Party.

Some of the examples of her social media history that we brought to the Conservatives’ attention are below.

In January 2019, Councillor Jacqui Harris tweeted: “At this time when we are remembering the horror of Auschwitz – those who were treated so badly back then, seem to have a short memory and are now behaving badly against fellow human beings now! look how they are treating the innocents in GAZA?” According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is an example of antisemitism.

In March 2019, Cllr Harris responded to a tweet which alleged, “The whole AS [antisemitism] thing is a false flag, probably masterminded by mossad/cia…Its [sic] not about AS, its [sic] about removing JC [Jeremy Corbyn]”, by saying: “Spot on, don’t you find it timely that this was encouraged fanned and exploded just before the release of the report on Israel and war crimes?” Suggesting that antisemitism accusations are a political-motivated smear orchestrated by Israel represents several antisemitic tropes woven into one.

Posters lauding Nazism hung at Arizona State University

Posters glorifying Nazism were found on the Tempe campus of Arizona State University for the second time in less than a year.

The posters, discovered on Sunday morning, read “Hitler was right,” “unity of our blood” and other comments deemed anti-Semitic, the Arizona Republic reported. Campus police removed the posters.

The university is investigating the origin of the posters, the newspaper reported, citing a statement from the university.

Similar flyers were posted around the Tempe campus in November.

The neo-Nazi organization Folksfront took credit for both sets of posters. Its website calls it “the official media source for the Folkish Resistance Movement, a National Socialist political organization based primarily out of North America.” It also said the group wants “to spread our message not only in North America but throughout the entire English-speaking world.”

Rabbi Shmuel Tiechtel, head of the Chabad House at Arizona State University, posted a message to his Facebook page on Tuesday, saying “tens of students have reached out for support” after the discovery of the flyers.

US Army Lieutenant Suspended, Investigated After Posting Holocaust Joke on TikTok

A US Army lieutenant and popular social media user has been suspended and is under investigation after he posted a joke about the Holocaust on TikTok.

Lt. Nathan Friehofer ‐‐ who has 220,000 followers on Instagram and 3.1 million on TikTok ‐‐ often posts offensive jokes on his social media platforms.

This time, he said, “What’s a Jewish person’s favorite Pokémon? Ash.”

The clip went viral when the editor of the website Task and Purpose, which deals with military issues, posted it to Twitter, saying it could violate Army social media regulations.

The XVIII Airborne Corps, to which Freihofer belongs, tweeted, “We are investigating reports of a Soldier assigned to XVIII Airborne Corps allegedly making vile remarks on a social media video. The statement made in the video is completely inconsistent with our values. We will review all facts and take appropriate action.”

The 3rd Infantry Division of the XVIII Airborne later tweeted that Freihofer had been “suspended of any and all leadership authorities effective immediately.”

Lithuania to deport activist against glorification of alleged Holocaust culprits

Lithuanian state police have arrested a university lecturer from Spain for criticizing the glorification of alleged Holocaust perpetrators, a fellow activist said.

Miquel Puertas, who several years ago taught the language and history of his native Spain at the Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania, was arrested on August 25 to be deported to Spain, Stanislovas Tomas, a human rights lawyer from Lithuania, wrote Tuesday in his blog on The Times of Israel.

He is being kept until he can be put on a direct flight to Spain, Tomas wrote.

Puertas is a persona non-grata in Lithuania for his critical writings on the state honors conferred there on alleged Holocaust perpetrators, including Jonas Noreika, a governor for the German occupation during World War II who allegedly organized the wholesale murder of Jews and participated in the theft of their property.

Puerto Rico lab to use Israeli AI-based tech to help diagnose prostate cancer

A pathology lab in Puerto Rico has become the first in the Americas to use artificial intelligence-based software developed by Israeli startup Ibex Medical Analytics to detect prostate cancer.

CorePlus Servicios Clínicos y Patológicos, LLC, a clinical and anatomic pathology laboratory, on Tuesday announced the first deployment of the digital pathology solution at its main facilities in Carolina, a municipality located on the northeast coast of Puerto Rico.

The technology will become CorePlus’s new standard of care for the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer, Ibex, a maker of cancer diagnostic software, said in a statement.

Traditional pathology involves manual processes that have remained unchanged for years, with slides analyzed by pathologists using microscopes, and reporting often carried out on pieces of paper. But even as cancer rates have increased over the years, the number of pathologists globally is in decline.

In the United States alone, the number of pathologists has decreased by nearly 20% in the past decade, Ibex said in the statement.

Israel Startup Gabriel Develops Gunshot Detection Software to Augment Crisis Management Solution

Crisis management solution company Gabriel announced on Tuesday the rollout of its next-generation security system capable of recognizing gunshots and terror threats. Using a “network effect,” it can instantly notify multiple locations in the event of an incident at schools, offices, or houses of worship.

Gabriel’s solution can detect the difference between gunshots or explosions and more conventional noises, such as doors slamming or popped balloons. Once the system identifies a danger, the sensors can highlight safe spaces, notify areas that need to be locked down, and show escape routes.

The technology was manufactured by Israeli experts from the security and technology sectors, including the Mossad spy service and Shin Bet internal security agency. It can be used as a standalone item or integrated with existing security systems and includes live video, two-way communication, real-time notifications, and an integrated mobile phone application. Its dashboard allows security teams, community management, or first responders to take control before events escalate into potentially deadly situations. The system is expected to produce fewer false alarms due to mistakes in identifying the source of noises.

“This is another important step towards reducing the time it takes to respond to emergency situations, alert authorities of danger, and provide vital life-saving tools to react faster and smarter; putting help in reach of every hand,” said Yoni Sherizen, the CEO at Gabriel.

California Governor Praises ‘Beautiful Example’ Set by Israeli Firefighters Who Came to Help in Ongoing Wildfire Battle

California’s governor has offered a fulsome tribute to a group of Israeli firefighters who rushed to the state to help their colleagues combat the nearly two dozen wildfires raging there.

The ten Israelis landed in California over the weekend and will spend the coming weeks assisting the state’s emergency response to the blazes.

Tweeting in response to a post that included a photo of the Israeli firefighters, California Governor Gavin Newsom said, “Mutual aid is a beautiful example of people from all backgrounds and communities coming together to help one another.”

“Grateful for the strong partnership between California and Israel, and for this crew of Israeli firefighters who came to CA to help battle these historic fires,” he added.

The fires have burned more than 750,000 acres and forced hundreds of thousands of evacuations.

Steady progress in extinguishing the fires was being reported on Tuesday, but more than 60,000 people remained under mandatory evacuation orders throughout California.

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg tweeted on Sunday, “Today we welcomed a delegation of firefighters from Israel who arrived yesterday. Tomorrow they will report to the CA Office of Emergency Services and be dispatched to fires around the state. As a Jewish mayor, I’m particularly proud and happy to see them come to our aid.”

Today, the first two descendants of victims of National Socialism filed for their Austrian citizenship at the Austrian Embassy in Washington, DC!

They were welcomed by Ambassador @martinoweiss & Consul General @KodymHerzberg

Read more: https://t.co/AA6oldVNiQ pic.twitter.com/KkUEoFVGAz
— Embassy of Austria (@AustriainUSA) September 1, 2020

Natan Sharansky’s memoirs are a made-in-Jerusalem story

This week, PublicAffairs of Hachette published Never Alone: Prison, Politics and My People, by Natan Sharansky and me, culminating a three-year dialogue about the Israel-Diaspora dialogue. The copyright page says: “Printed in the United States of America,” but the book truly was made in Jerusalem.

Although it looks like Sharansky’s memoirs, it’s more like a memoir-festo. We use his extraordinary life story to argue for Jewish unity – continuing our 3,900-year-old mission balancing the two basic desires to belong and to be free. In today’s either-or world, we go countercultural – with a broader message, too. We champion liberalism and nationalism – rejecting the false choice between liberalism or nationalism.

Most of our stories are his; every word and idea is ours. He talked. I wrote. I often finished the latest draft at 4 a.m. He started editing at 5:30 a.m. We differed over tone, wording, logic, structure. But, remarkably, we never disagreed ideologically.

Natan and I were not destined to collaborate. Born into that continental prison camp called the Soviet Union, he was raised to master chess and mathematics. Born into American freedom, I was raised to be an American historian. But Jerusalem summoned us both. Stripped of his identity, Sharansky sought those basics of identity and freedom; I’ve always been free but sought a deeper Jewish identity and more intimate community.

I made a new short film titled "Scenes from the Wall".

It features images from the book "Picturesque Palestine, Arabia, and Syria" published in 1925.

I hope you enjoy it 🎞️ pic.twitter.com/TfMsYlLsQD
— American Zionism (@americanzionism) September 1, 2020

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