01/04 Links Pt2: How anti-Israel voices made a hypocritical, inaccurate story on vaccines; The EU makes double standards a policy when it comes to boycotts ~ EoZ

From Ian:

Seth Frantzman: How anti-Israel voices made a hypocritical, inaccurate story on vaccines

The slander against Israel claiming that Israel is not vaccinating Palestinians is built on a variety of misleading information. A better line of questioning might ask why the international community has not aided the Palestinians more. However, the international community has in general done a poor job helping the global south with vaccines. Many wealthy countries can’t even vaccinate their own people, so the process in general is chaotic. Israel is an exception, but even its rapid vaccination is a first and in a way experimental because Israel is billing itself as a kind of test case.

The Palestinian Authority has decided which groups will get priority when a vaccine arrives. These include the elderly, journalists and security forces. So it isn’t like they haven’t been planning. They have. Reports should look at their plans. The Palestinian Authority spent late December trying to arrest a DJ accused of hosting a party at a shrine called Nebi Musa, rather than getting vaccines.

There is an added layer of hypocrisy to the story alleging Israel doesn’t vaccinate Palestinians. Neighboring states have not been vaccinating almost anyone. When it comes to providing vaccinations Israel has done an exemplary job, providing them to Arabs and Jews. For many who refer to Arabs in Jerusalem as Palestinians, Israel has been vaccinating Palestinians. The invention of the story was conjured up to try to tarnish the positive image, rather than report facts. Israel didn’t “exclude” anyone or “fail” to do something in Gaza or the West Bank. The same people who recognize Palestine as a state are the ones arguing Israel should vaccinate that state and the same ones who refer to Palestinians in Jerusalem as Palestinians, claim Israel didn’t vaccinate them, when Israel has provided for them.

The hypocritical attitude toward Israel has no parallel when looking at other occupied or disputed areas. The same voices have not asked who will vaccinate Idlib province in Syria, or Palestinians in Lebanon, or who will vaccinate northern Cyprus or Abkhazia and Crimea and the Donbas.

Health provision is a right for citizens, but it’s not clear what states are required to do for non-citizens. In general health authorities are often not discriminatory, they try to provide life-saving health care when needed. That’s how health care should work because when it comes to a virus the virus doesn’t distinguish citizen from non-citizen. In situations where you have self-governed areas, like the Gaza Strip, the sudden claim that Israel should take responsibility for vaccinations, but not other health services is designed solely to slander Israel for being at fault for something it is not at fault for. If Israel were to provide vaccinations that would be phenomenal, slandering it for not doing that and trying to refashion it as “occupying” an area it left 15 years ago is part of an agenda.

Hatred of Israel always finds a way to target Israel. Instead of celebrating Israel’s accomplishment and learning from it, the goal of the critics is to find some misleading fault in Israel’s unprecedented program. Instead of asserting that countries might learn from this and also help Palestinians, the goal is simply to excoriate Israel.

The Palestinian Vaccine Blood Libel

The facts are the Palestinians demanded autonomy, including over their people’s health care, under the Oslo Accords. As the Accords read, “Powers and responsibilities in the sphere of health in the West Bank and Gaza Strip will be transferred to the Palestinian side, including health insurance. The Palestinian side shall provide vaccinations.” Israel signed it and the Palestinians are responsible for the health care of their people. It is Palestinian incompetence that led to their inability to provide vaccines to their people.

The Guardian article also claims the Palestinian Authority are “cash strapped.” The Palestinian Authority dedicates over $300 million annually to their “pay for slay” program which pays Palestinians a monthly stiped on a sliding scale based on how many Israelis they’ve killed or injured. This pay for slay burden on the Palestinian budget precludes their ability to pay for their people’s health care.

As if these weren’t enough to show how baseless the allegations against Israel are, Palestinians also denied help from Israel to acquire vaccinations. You can almost hear Abba Eben repeating from the grave, “Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.” The most damning piece of evidence to the slanderous nature of these accusations is that Palestinian Ministry of Health officials announced they had secured vaccines.

Lazy journalists who try to play the moral high ground by demonizing Israel are a dime a dozen. Some are motivated by the need for approval of other moral crusaders and some are run of the mill anti-Semites. It’s easy pickings. It isn’t journalism.

Modern day blood libels aren’t as rare as one would think. Articles frequently appear demonizing Israel for mistreating Palestinians. After looking into these articles its easy to find the false information twisted to disparage Israel. It’s easy to defend these articles from charges of anti-Semitism, but those who have faced anti-Semitism know that the best spread anti-Semitism is hate disguised to look like legitimate criticism. The Guardian and all those spreading the vaccine lie are just as guilty of anti-Semitism as the haters who used to fabricate blood libels.

The malice and ignorance here are staggering:
1. The Oslo Accords grant responsibility for healthcare to the autonomous Palestinian Authority;
2. The Palestinians have procured their own vaccines;
3. The Palestinians have not asked Israel for help with vaccines. https://t.co/a4CIdbdwlS
— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) January 3, 2021

Daniel Gordis: Vaccination Miracle Brings Israel Back to Its Roots

At the vaccination station at a large Jerusalem sports arena, a small army of nurses and medical techs injected one person after another with utter efficiency. We were reminded of the old Israel, the Israel that knows how to show our national resilience when facing a mortal enemy.

This is still a country that when a little kid is crying outside without an adult in obvious proximity, people scoop him or her up and wait for someone to show. These past few weeks have evoked once again that Israel that sees itself as a family.

I was momentarily confused as we waited the required 15 minutes after the shot, as staff members walked around handing out copies of little booklets: games for children. "What on earth are these for?" I wondered. "There isn't a kid in sight. We're all over 60." And then it struck me, as people happily and gratefully took copies of the booklet - and then asked for another copy or two. The booklets weren't for us - they were for our grandchildren.

There are still moments here when we recognize that this is not a country like any other. It is a country that was founded to give sanctuary to a particular people that desperately needed it, one that has weathered more in seven decades than most countries do in centuries, and that has produced a sort of familial resilience that can't be replicated anywhere else.

Kan retracts claim millionth vaccinee was murderer; ToI apologizes for citing it

The Kan public broadcaster on Monday retracted its claim and apologized for reporting on Sunday that the man highlighted as the millionth Israeli to receive the coronavirus vaccine, who was given his inoculation last week with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu standing alongside him, served time for murder.

The Times of Israel apologizes for citing the erroneous reports in earlier versions of its article on the incident.

Muhammad Abd al-Wahhab Jabarin, 66, who got his shot on Friday, as Netanyahu was visiting a vaccination center in the Arab Israeli town of Umm al-Fahm, served 14 years for robbery and weapons charges, and was released in 1992.

Kan initially reported Sunday that Jabarin had been jailed for murder, and later said he had served time for manslaughter. The claim, carried prominently in Kan’s hourly news bulletins, was widely reported in Israeli media outlets, including ToI. On Monday, Kan retracted (Hebrew link) its reports, saying they were erroneous. It said two of its reporters had separately checked the information with multiple sources, some of whom it has worked with for years, who had verified it, but in fact were mistaken.

Jabarin later Sunday acknowledged the lengthy jail term, while denying the reports of more serious crimes. “It’s a lie that I did time for murder. I was jailed for robbery, and for [charges related to] weapons,” he told Kan.

Media adopts canard Israel denies vaccine to Palestinians - analysis

Why have so many supposedly respectable outlets gotten this story wrong? There is the general adage in news that “if it bleeds, it leads,” that a feel-good news item like a successful vaccination operation will not get as much traction as a more tragic-sounding story. There are the usual reasons when it comes to anti-Israel bias in the media, about which many books have been written.

In this particular case, it looks like some reporters are being led by the nose by activists with a certain point of view. The accusation that Israel is to blame for the PA’s slower vaccine rollout has trended on activist and NGO social media in recent weeks. The reporters follow these activists, and the seed gets planted in their minds.

Considering the fact that the PA didn’t even ask for Israel’s help, it’s apparent that activists spreading the falsehoods that have since gotten into the news are not even aiming for a result that the Palestinian leadership wants; it’s all about attacking Israel.

As former Labor MK Einat Wilf wrote on Twitter: “Israel advances status of LGBTQ? ‘Pinkwashing’ Israelis lead world as vegans? ‘Veganwashing’ Israel sets up first mobile hospital in devastated Haiti? ‘Harvesting organs’ Israeli is global vaccination leader? ‘What about Palestinians?’ A bit pathetic, no?”

It should be reporters’ and editors’ jobs to see through people who are looking for any way to portray Israel in a negative light, rather than amplify their biases.

The good news is that the Foreign Ministry and UN Watch are not aware of any actions or complaints by government officials who may have fallen for this libel.

“These reports are based on a lie,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. “Everyone who knows the facts knows that... Most of the reports on the vaccines are very, very positive.”

Luckily, in the real world, not everyone is “very online” and taking anti-Israel tweets as gospel. But the fact that the narrative echoing old antisemitic canards of Jews spreading diseases has taken root in some major media quarters is still reason for alarm.

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
- Albert Einstein pic.twitter.com/laWQVFJ3K9
— Peace to Jews and Arabs 🇦🇪🇮🇱🇧🇭🇸🇦🇲🇦🕊️ (@UAE_YOT2019) January 4, 2021

Guardian takes ongoing vaccine-related smear of Israel to the next level

However, in addition to the false premise of the headline and text, there’s another dynamic at play: the Guardian’s repeated framing of Israel’s successes – economic, diplomatic or, in this case, with regard to positive healthcare outcomes – not as the result of sound public policy but, rather, the product of an unjust system which privileges Israelis at the expense of the Palestinians.

This zero-sum framing, in which Israeli gains are measured against Palestinian losses, the latter assumed to be connected to the former, not only denies Palestinians agency, but deters journalists from critically scrutinising the PA to determine how their decisions may have contributed to their misfortune.

Questions not asked by reporters include:
- If the PA foresaw a shortage of vaccines, what did they do to address the problem?
- Why didn’t they ask Israel for help?
- Did their decision to cut off ties with Israel over the summer negatively impact their COVID prevention capabilities, and their capacity to secure a sufficient number of vaccines?
- Did they consider suspending, or, at least, significantly curtailing, their pay to slay program, which siphons off limited resources that could be spent on COVID prevention and vaccinations?
- Have they aggressively sought their share of the two billion doses of the vaccine secured by the World Health Organization as part of their program to provide the COVID jabs to all countries in need?

Guardian journalists won’t ask these questions, because to do so requires accepting that bad Palestinian decisions invariably produce bad outcomes for their population – the adoption of a view of Palestinians as not merely victims that would represent a radical break from decades of reporting, and implicitly acknowledge the profound cognitive distortion that lies at the heart of their demonisation of the Jewish state.

BBC’s Lyse Doucet exploits Corona vaccinations story to promote political narrative

Citing “criticism” from sources she chose not to identify, Doucet however shifted the topic from health to politics in the second half of that nearly six-minute interview (from 03:33), despite the fact that her sole interviewee is an expert in obstetrics and gynecology and medical management rather than ‘international law’.

Doucet: “There’s been some criticism though about the…whether vaccines are being given to Palestinians. I know there’s a difference because there’s the Arab Israelis who are Israeli citizens and then there are Palestinians living in areas which legally Israel controls them.”

Gamzu: “Israel controls them on a limited way. We do not run the health system there. All the civilian activities are being run by the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza strip as well as in the West Bank. So we are not really involved but, but I must say that we do our best and we coordinate a lot of operations.”

Doucet: “But under international rules of occupied territories, the areas which Israel controls which are in the international law regarded as occupied, Israel has the responsibility to take care of its residents so that would mean that Israel is also obligated to provide vaccines for many Palestinians.”

Gamzu: “You know what, I believe this is the case and it will be the case. I believe that…”

Doucet [interrupts]: “Is it the case now?”

Gamzu: “No it’s not the case now because, you know, we are very early in the operation of vaccination all around the world. But I believe Israel should take the lead with coordination with the Palestinian Authority and put their efforts to get vaccines for the Palestinian territories because really we have a role there. But I must say this must also come both ways. They have to be in the position that they really will ask for that and really will want that. There are 100,000 Palestinians who are coming every day to work in Israel and we have a rule that they will be given tests – Corona tests – as others. And I believe that this is the same thing. Any Palestinian that is coming to work in Israel must be given vaccination according to indication here in Israel. Any leader in Israel should do his best to protect any human being that is around us and we have some kind of responsibility for them to hand over vaccines whenever it’s necessary and possible.”

While listeners heard Professor Gamzu’s personal opinion about how Israel should help the Palestinian Authority secure a supply of vaccines and should offer vaccinations to Palestinians working in Israel, they were not adequately informed of the fact that under the terms of the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority took on responsibility for the healthcare of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

2/ See Oslo Accords, 1995 Interim Agreement, Annex I, Art. 17:

Powers and responsibilities in the sphere of Health...will be transferred to the Palestinian side...

...the Palestinian side shall continue the vaccination of the population...https://t.co/DhIieKwiUn
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) January 4, 2021

PreOccupiedTerritory: It’s Cute How You Think Agreements Giving Palestinians Self-Governance Will Stop Us From Blasting Israel For Palestinian Misgovernment by Ken Roth, Director, Human Rights Watch (satire)

It never ceases to amaze and amuse me that people think just because Palestinian leaders signed a binding document accepting responsibility for their own internal affairs covering the vast majority of their population, we in the “human rights” community will somehow view the Palestinian leadership as responsible for the welfare and internal affairs of the vast majority of their population instead of laying that responsibility at Israel’s doorstep every time something goes wrong. Just adorable.

Just over the last week or two, as Israel has vaccinated more than ten percent of its population, including a huge percentage of the elderly and more vulnerable to COVID, we and our like-minded colleagues across the human rights community, plus assorted sympathetic hacks in the journalism industry, automatically contrasted that impressive operation with the situation in areas under Palestinian Authority control, where health care and public health have remained a Palestinian governmental responsibility since 1993. We ignore that unimportant detail, because only by doing so can we blame Israel for taking care only of its own and neglecting others for whom they are obligated to care. It would simply not do to acknowledge that it is not, in fact, Israel’s responsibility to see to Palestinian COVID immunization. And it’s just no innocent, no naïve, when defenders of Israel – or of basic facts – get all worked up about such distortions. As if we care.

You can’t help but feel a kind of warm sympathy for people who still maintain the illusion that if we, groups such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, simply had the facts at our disposal, we would refrain from making such pronouncements. It’s quaint, in a way, and it engenders in us the kind of reaction normally triggered when watching an overweight pet get caught in the dog door for the tenth time.

The EU makes double standards a policy when it comes to boycotts

On December 31, 2020 Jonah Gottshalk wrote in the Federalist about the “Tibet Policy and Support Act”, widely ignored by the mainstream media.

"President Trump has signed into law a series of measures creating sanctions for Chinese Communist Party officials assaulting religious rights in Tibet, as well as blocking all new Chinese consulates in the United States until the ancient state is allowed an American consulate.

"The bill, which was first spearheaded by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., was officially signed into law by Trump on Sunday. Entitled the “Tibet Policy and Support Act,” the forceful policy is already winning praise from the democratically elected Tibetan government-in-exile — and enraging Communist China."

It seems Biden is already planning to reject “Tibet Policy and Support Act”. On December 31, 2020 the Epoch Times reported "Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will issue an executive order on the day he takes office, if he wins the presidency, that would halt regulations President Donald Trump issued in the final weeks of his first term."

The EU is also abandoning Trump and drifting towards China as a new world leader. On January 1, 2021 Mary Clark wrote in the Epoch Times "The White House Deputy National Security Advisor has reportedly slammed a major business investment deal that was made “in principle” between the EU and China on Wednesday.

"On Thursday, Matthew Pottinger said that the deal, made despite China’s “grotesque human rights abuses,” has shocked American politicians on both sides of the aisle at a time when a new U.S. presidential administration is imminent, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), an international group of lawmakers focused on combating threats posed by the Chinese regime...

France gives $10M to Palestinian group that promotes Israel boycott

The French government has allocated about $10 million to a Palestinian organization that is a leading promoter of the boycott Israel movement.

Promoting that boycott has been found illegal in France in several high-profile cases.

The French Development Agency, or AFD, which focuses on “on climate, biodiversity, peace, education, urban development, health and governance,” last year gave an 8 million Euro grant to the NGO Development Center, or NDC, a Palestinian group that says it promotes good government practices in the West Bank. It was behind the 2008 “Palestinian NGO Code of Conduct,” a document includes a rejection of “any normalization activities with the occupier [Israel], neither at the political-security nor the cultural or developmental levels.”

NGO Monitor, an Israeli group that investigates the activities of non-governmental organizations and foreign government in the framework of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, in a statement last week called on the French government to “revise its grant in line with France’s clear rejection of BDS.”

In France, dozens of promoters of a boycott against Israel — including through the Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment Movement, or BDS — have been convicted of inciting hate or discrimination based on the Lellouche law, passed in 2003, which extends anti-racism laws to the targeting of specific nations for discriminatory treatment.

Encouraging all friends - esp. those in Jewish and pro-Israel communities, to follow Congressman Torres's new account. "The embodiment of the pro-Israel progressive."! https://t.co/L9V3Zk6vUx
— Michael Granoff (@mikejgr) January 3, 2021

Muslim Former US Professor Renews Call for Israel’s Destruction

Longtime FrontPage readers will remember Sami Al-Arian, the former University of South Florida professor who for years was a darling of the Leftist intelligentsia. IPT News reported Monday that he has resurfaced, but that the stalwart old Jew-hater hasn’t changed: while he has reined in his rhetoric a bit and speaks in a more civilized manner, he is still calling for Israel’s destruction, which would result in the murder of millions of Jews.

Back in 1991, during a speech in Chicago, al-Arian screamed: “The Quran is our constitution,” he bellowed. “Jihad is our path … Victory to Islam… Death to Israel… Revolution… revolution till the victory.”

Showing he hasn’t changed, in mid-December 2020, al-Arian spoke via Zoom at the Fourth International Conference on the Muslim Ummah, which was co-sponsored by his present employer, Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University’s Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). In the course of his remarks, he called for “defeating and dismantling the Zionist project,” adding: “We cannot pursue an ummah project without actually attaining our real independence. We cannot attain our real independence without dealing with the problem of Israel….As long as Israel exists, the ummah will stay weak and fragmented, and disunited and divided and dependent and under control.”

This was not an obscure conference in a little-known university. According to IPT, “prominent Muslim Brotherhood-tied individuals such as Amr Darrag, Louay Safi, and Sabri Samirah addressed the week-long conference. Several American academics and Islamists also participated in the conference, including Georgetown University’s John Esposito and Jonathan Brown.”

That was not all that surprising. Esposito and numerous other American academics, as well as other Leftists, have counted al-Arian as a friend for years, and were anxious to portray him as a victim of “Islamophobia.” In a letter to the President of the University of South Florida after she fired Al-Arian, Esposito reminded her that “the University did a thorough independent review several years ago which found no merit in accusations made at that time” and worried that Al-Arian was merely falling victim to “anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigotry.”

Guardian again peddles 'Israeli apartheid' lie

Rather, it is a decades-long political and territorial conflict amongst two parties historically at war to varying degrees with one-another. Further, it’s telling that those who peddle the “apartheid” smear against Israel give Palestinian terror leaders – and their many supporters within the Palestinian territories – who openly call for the mass murder of Jews a moral pass on the question of racism.

Indeed, Tutu’s entire argument seems to rest upon the existence of checkpoints employed of course to protect Israeli citizens from Palestinian terrorists – strangely suggesting that any barrier to unlimited Palestinian entry into Israel is representative of “apartheid”.

Tutu continues:
It’s quite possible that one of the reasons that Israel’s version of apartheid has outlived South Africa’s is that Israel has managed to maintain its oppressive system using not just the guns of soldiers, but also by keeping this nuclear gun pointed at the heads of millions. The solution for this is not for Palestinians and other Arabs to try to attain such weapons. The solution is peace, justice and disarmament.

It’s not totally clear who Tutu is referring to when he speaks of “the heads of millions”, but he of course omits the most important historical context: Israel’s military strategy since 1948 – including their purported nuclear arsenal – was based the existential danger posed by the guns of millions of hostile Arab and Muslim states pointed at its head. Whilst the threat posed by neighboring Arab states has significantly receded, the Islamic Republic of Iran – whose nuclear weapons program Tutu conveniently ignores – and its regional proxies continue to threaten the Jewish state with annihilation.

Though Tutu naturally deserves credit for his activism during the fight against South African apartheid, he unfortunately doesn’t seem to possess a serious understanding of the unique dynamics that give rise to conflict and instability in the Middle East.

The noble cause of co-existence in the region certainly won’t be advanced by demonising the lone progressive democracy in the region based on intellectually unserious political analogies, nor, it should be added, by employing empty bromides about “peace, justice and disarmament”.

Psychiatric Report Finds Antisemitic Monsey Attacker Unfit to Stand Trial, Hearing to Be Held This Month

A hearing will be held this month to determine whether the man who stabbed five people, killing one, in an antisemitic attack in Monsey, New York is fit to stand trial.

Grafton Thomas attacked a Hanukkah celebration in 2019 with a machete. He was later found to have antisemitic materials in his home and on his computer.

Though four of the victims survived, 72-year-old Josef Neumann died of his wounds several months later.

Thomas faces federal hate crimes charges, as well as separate state charges, including attempted murder.

New York NBC affiliate Channel 4 reports that Thomas was recently assessed as mentally incompetent to stand trial because he suffers from schizophrenia. The evaluation was made at a federal mental health facility in Missouri, where Thomas is being held.

Thomas’ lawyers have held that the attack was not a hate crime and that Thomas is not an antisemite, and seek to have him remanded to the Bureau of Prisons for treatment.

Following the psychiatric report, US District Judge Cathy Seibel ruled that there will be an evidentiary hearing on Thomas’ competence and whether he should continue to be hospitalized until he is competent to stand trial.

Antisemitic Fliers Claiming Antifa Is a ‘Jewish Communist Militia’ Found in Staten Island

Antisemitic fliers were discovered placed in public areas in the New Dorp area of Staten Island, New York on Saturday, local online outlet SILive.com reports.

The fliers claim that the far-left group Antifa is a “Jewish communist militia” engaged in a “a war against all non-Jewish European-American nationalists.”

This war, says the fliers, is “anti-white nationalist, anti-American, anti-Christian.”

Antifa is a loosely-organized group of far-left activists who seek to disrupt far-right activities, with no connections to any Jewish organization. Members of the group have been involved in violent incidents but it is not a “militia.”

According to SILive, four fliers in total were spotted on a single commercial stretch, with two on a medical office building, another at a bus stop, and a fourth on a sign in a supermarket parking lot.

Another flier was seen on Friday.

The New York Police Department’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the fliers, according to a spokeswoman.

The name and website address of a New Jersey-based white supremacist group, the New Jersey European Heritage Association (NJEHA), is listed on the fliers.

Hundreds march with torches in tribute to Nazi collaborator in Ukraine

Hundreds of people marched bearing torches in the capital city of Ukraine Friday in an annual tribute to a leader who collaborated with Nazi Germany.

Israel’s ambassador condemned the torchlight march Friday in Kyiv in memory of Stepan Bandera, issuing the strongest rebuke yet by an Israeli official of the event, which has grown in scope amid rising nationalism in Ukraine.

“We strongly condemn any glorification of collaborators with the Nazi regime. It is time for Ukraine to come to terms with its past,” Ambassador Joel Lion wrote on Twitter Saturday.

At the march, many participants waved banners carrying the symbol of the far-right Svoboda party, whose leaders have often made antisemitic comments, and banners reading: “Nationalism is our religion. Bandera is our prophet,” Pravda Ukraine reported.

During World War II, Bandera led the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, whose men killed thousands of Jews and Poles, including women and children, while fighting alongside Nazi Germany against the Red Army and communists.

Expat Iranian joins with US Holocaust Museum to teach Jewish genocide in Persian

For decades, Iran’s government has denied the Holocaust took place while threatening to annihilate the state of Israel. Now, acclaimed expat filmmaker and journalist Maziar Bahari is bringing Holocaust education to Iranians in their own language.

This fall, Bahari and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) launched “The Sardari Project,” an initiative to teach Iranians about the genocide in Persian. A series of 13 articles and videos are being released on topics including Holocaust history; Iranians fighting anti-Semitism, and anti-Jewish conspiracy theories.

“I really think the world has to learn about the Holocaust because of the enormity of the tragedy,” said Bahari. “Every aspect of the Holocaust has a lesson for us now,” he told The Times of Israel in a recent conversation.

Growing up in Tehran during the 1970s, Bahari lived as a minority Muslim in a largely Jewish neighborhood. He immigrated to Canada in 1988 to study communications, but his Iranian chapter was still ahead of him.

In 2009, while visiting family in Tehran, Bahari was incarcerated by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards for allegedly collaborating with foreign intelligence services. After 118 days of interrogation and torture, he was released on $300,000 bail and allowed to leave for London — just in time for the birth of his daughter.

Not long after gaining freedom, Bahari began to envision what became “IranWire,” a rare independent Persian-language news site aimed at young Iranians. The site focuses heavily on expats who now contribute to their adopted countries, including Iranian Jews. According to Bahari, some of these expats could have used their talents in Iran under a different regime.

“The cost of discrimination frustrates me,” said Bahari. “This discrimination has hurt Iran as a whole. It not only hurts those [minority] communities, but the nation as a whole,” said Bahari, whose experience in prison was documented in Jon Stewart’s film “Rosewater.”

UAE- Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure discusses co-cooperation frameworks with Israel's National Water Company Mekorot

Sherif Al Olama, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure for Energy and Petroleum Affairs, has welcomed a high-level delegation from the Israeli Mekorot Water Company headed by Elie Cohen, CEO of the company, where the two sides discussed the frameworks of joint cooperation in the field of water, and exchanged experiences supporting the development of innovative and sustainable solutions in the water sector, which is one of the global challenges.

The meeting also discussed ways possibilities for creating joint ventures in this vital area, turn challenges into opportunities, work on the exchange of visions and plans, develop an exceptional partnership in this vital area, and the possibility of working interactively between the two sides to improve the efficiency of water services projects.

Al Olama reviewed UAE's Water Security Strategy 2036, the UAE's efforts and achievements in the water sector, and the ambitious future goals in the development and security of this sector.

The Israeli delegation reviewed its most important current hydrological projects and use of related technology, as well as cutting-edge techniques for recycling water for agricultural use.

They further expressed hopes to expand the circle of cooperation in the field of water to achieve mutual benefit.

Al Olama said: "The Israeli-UAE relations are expanding and deepening by the day to the benefit of both countries, and there is a particular interest related to the fields of energy, infrastructure, and oil which are key to sustainable development. Given our geography, we are also keen to see the development of innovative and sustainable solutions to optimise water use".

Israeli spray-on ‘skin’ tech has burns in Europe, India covered – report

Doctors in Israel, Europe and India have begun using an Israeli-developed device that enables them to spray a translucent skin substitute onto burns and wounds, replacing painful, restrictive bandages, the UK Guardian newspaper reported Monday.

The Spincare system, designed by Lod-based Nanomedic, uses a special medical gun to spin out the breathable, web-like nano-fiber material that attaches to the wounded area.

The flexible layer gives greater mobility to patients, often a key part of recovery from burns, and also allows them to shower, an activity that can be difficult with regular bandages. For doctors, the translucent layer enables examinations without contact with the sensitive spot.

Though the technique used by Spincare to spin the fibers has existed for years, it has never before been available in a device small and compact enough for doctors to easily bring it to a patient’s bed for application.

Five patients who were treated with the system at Britain’s Queen Victoria hospital in Sussex had positive results on superficial burns, according to Baljit Dheansa, a UK doctor who specializes in burns and scarring.

“You get your laser-guided weapon system,” Dheansa said, referring to a laser dot on the Spincare gun that helps doctors to aim the device. “You just spin.”

These are the most innovative economies in the world https://t.co/sZUddyaLkU #innovation #economy pic.twitter.com/YN04wd2My5
— World Economic Forum (@wef) January 3, 2021

Lt. Col. (Res.) Alex Ziloni, one of the founders of the Israeli Air Force in 1948 and the Tel-Nof Airbase's first Commander, celebrated his 105th birthday this week.

On behalf of the Israel Defense Forces, Mazal tov, Alex! pic.twitter.com/wWgWsV65rB
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) January 4, 2021

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