02/19 Links Pt2: Melanie Phillips: Christian Leaders Remain Silent as the Church Recycles Its Oldest Hatred; David Baddiel encounters SOAS professor excusing Palestinian Holocaust denial

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: Christian Leaders Remain Silent as the Church Recycles Its Oldest Hatred

The WCC’s Zoom event was reported last week in the Algemeiner by Dexter Van Zile, the specialist in Christian affairs for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting (CAMERA) and who has long charted the conflation of Christian anti-Semitism with anti-Israel incitement.

In a subsequent article this week, Van Zile reports that the WCC has now tried to distance itself from Chikane’s remarks by claiming that he was from the African National Congress and therefore wasn’t speaking on behalf of the WCC when he made his comments.

He wrote that theologian Gerald McDermott expressed strong disagreement with Chikane’s statements and declared that he was “out of touch with the situation on the ground.”

In such circumstances, that would seem to be a considerable understatement. The situation on the church’s ground is that influential Christian organizations continue to pump out inflammatory falsehoods about Israel and Zionism which don’t just demonize and delegitimize Israel but draw upon the church’s own theology to demonize the Jewish people.

The most shocking aspect of this is that with just a handful of exceptions, the churches remain mute about it.

Church leaders usually flatly deny that Christian supersessionism has any contemporary resonance. Yet you don’t have to scratch very hard below the surface of the anti-Israel utterances by Western church leaders to pick up the supersessionist allusions.

It’s true that some of the most passionately pro-Israel people in the world today are Christians, in America and elsewhere. But these tend to be the biblically faithful. The obsessive animus against Israel and Zionism, along with its supersessionist underpinning, is mainly to be found among liberal Christians.

And their influence — through Christian NGOs and a wide range of other public and cultural institutions — is immense.

It’s not just that they influence other Christians. Even in relatively godless places like today’s Britain, the assumption that Christians stand for truth, justice and compassion means that even secular people tend to believe what they say. The pernicious falsehoods that such Christians pump out about Israel are therefore regarded as unchallengeably true.

Extreme as it was, Chikane’s diatribe on Zoom illustrated an even more unpalatable state of affairs — the silent acquiescence of church leaders in the contemporary mutation of Christianity’s own murderous history, and its virulent spread into the cultural arteries of the West.

Caroline Glick: One week in progressive America

Progressive America also targets American Jews through its Israel-anchored anti-Semitism. Anti-Zionism does not simply reject the moral basis for Israel's existence and support systemically discriminating against and eventually eliminating it. It also supports ostracizing American Jews who support Israel and barring them from expressing their views in public. That is the actual purpose of the BDS campaigns that at least two senior Biden administration officials – Maher Bitar and Reema Dodin – led in their student days.

Today, anti-Semitism is not a bar for advancement in progressive circles. To the contrary, it is an asset. Consider the big promotion that Cong. Ilhan "It's all about the Benjamins baby" Omar just received.

When Nancy Pelosi gave Omar a seat on the prestigious House Foreign Affairs Committee in 2019, the move provoked both anger and fear among many American Jews. They were angry because Omar, with her long record of anti-Jewish pronouncements would certainly use her position to advance her anti-Semitic positions. And they were scared because the fact that Pelosi appointed Omar over a loud chorus of objections was a sign of the power of progressive anti-Semites in the Democrat party.

When this week Pelosi appointed Omar chair of the subcommittee for Africa, global health and human rights. Outside a few conservative Jewish groups, the move met with no opposition. And there is a reason for that. Two years on, anti-Semitism is so ingrained in progressive circles that objecting to it is enough to get you tagged as a racist.

To drive this point home, last week the Jewish Democratic Council of America – the Jewish arm of the Democrat Party – hosted an online discussion of Biden's appointment of outspoken Israel haters and Palestinian terror supporters. Barack Obama's ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro was one of the participants. Shapiro insisted angrily that Jewish criticism of these officials is "racist." He added, "There is unfortunately this bias, this prejudice against Arab and Muslim Americans, particularly if they're working on issues related to the Middle East."

In other words, like objectivity and merit, in Work America, substantive criticism of others based on their actions and statements is now "racist." Fighting anti-Semitism is racist. Fighting hatred is racist. Fighting ignorance is racist.

Sunlight is the best disinfectant. And scrutiny of the Democrats will likely make it difficult for them to maintain their Senate and House majorities in 2022. But the damage progressives are already causing to public health, to America's standing in the world, to American schoolchildren, and to American Jews will take more than one election to repair.

On BBC, David Baddiel encounters SOAS professor excusing Palestinian Holocaust denial

A broadcast last month on BBC 2 (“Confronting Holocaust Denial with David Baddiel’) included one extremely telling exchange we want to highlight. Baddiel is a British Jewish comedian and writer, who recently published a book on antisemitism.

At 33 minutes into the broadcast, Baddiel notes that, based on global polling, Holocaust denial (those who believe the Holocaust has been exaggerated or is entirely a myth) is extremely low in Europe, including the UK, with the percentage of people subscribing to such beliefs in the low single digits. The highest rate of denial is found, according to the data, in the Palestinian territories, where 82% of the population denies, to varying extents, the Holocaust.

Baddiel seeks to get answers for the extraordinary high rates of Holocaust denial amongst Palestinians, and visits SOAS professor Gilbert Achcar, who published a book titled ‘Arabs and the Holocaust’.

Here’s the exchange between Achcar and Baddeil:
Achcar: I don’t think you can generally, without some degree of… ..pathology, to be frank with you, be a Holocaust denier in Europe. But you can be perfectly sane, mentally, and be a Holocaust denier in the Middle East because of ignorance on the topic and therefore adherence to a view that says, well, the Israelis, the Zionists, have inflated the figures and all that, in order to blackmail Western governments. Whereas, imagine yourself in Gaza, if you are a Palestinian, and being pounded and having had all these wars waged by the Israeli state, killing thousands of people, destroying and all that. When you live there, Holocaust denial is an attitude. It’s not something that… It’s not a belief of people, it’s more a kind of provocative attitude. You are oppressing me every day, how can I hurt you? By denying..

Baddiel: A central part of your identity?

Achcar: Yeah.

COVID-19 pandemic ebbs in Israel with lowest positive rate in almost 2 months

Israel’s coronavirus infection rate continued to drop Friday, with just 6.2 percent of tests coming back positive Thursday, or some 3,000 cases, the lowest figures seen since the beginning of January. The R-value, the reproduction rate of the virus measuring the average number of people each positive person infects, dropped to 0.79.

Meanwhile, 40% of new serious cases are in the under 60 age groups, likely due to slower vaccine rollout among those under 60, according to the Coronavirus National Information and Knowledge Center, operating under the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate in cooperation with the Health Ministry,

Currently, 89% of those over 50 are either vaccinated with at least the first Pfizer vaccine dose or recovered from the virus, the report said.

The Health Ministry has been attempting to encourage the younger population to get vaccinated by holding events for those who come to get their shot.

“It is possible additional infection will be noted in the coming weeks,” the report warned, “especially during the Purim holiday next week.”

The Education Ministry Thursday approved for some educational institutions to hold events on the Jewish holiday amid the pandemic.

The number of active serious cases on Friday stood at 858, the lowest recorded number since the beginning of the year, after it climbed to an all-time high of 1,201 in mid-January.

Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Medical Center, one of the country’s largest hospitals, stated that nine out of 10 new cases that arrived for treatment Friday were unvaccinated. The one who was vaccinated is in light condition, while the remainder who were not inoculated were in serious and critical condition.

Israeli study: 75% protection from 1st Pfizer vaccine dose, so okay to delay 2nd

Pfizer’s vaccine is 75 percent effective two to four weeks after a single shot, according to a “groundbreaking” new Israeli study that may guide policy internationally on one of the most burning vaccine questions.

This figure reflects symptomatic and asymptomatic illness. When the Sheba Medical Center team homed in on stats just for people who felt unwell, they found that a single dose has 85% effectiveness.

This constitutes a “very, very significant reduction,” said Prof. Gili Regev-Yochay, Director of Sheba Medical Center’s Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit.

In some countries racing to vaccinate large populations, doctors are arguing over whether they should delay second shots so they can give more people partial protection with one shot. The UK has controversially adopted this approach, despite growing concern in the medical profession.

On Thursday, Sheba researchers released research which it says supports the UK’s approach. Unlike most of the Israeli data on vaccine effectiveness, which hasn’t yet been subject to peer review, this study has been peer-reviewed and published in the prestigious journal The Lancet.

“This ground-breaking research supports the British government’s decision to begin inoculating its citizens with a single dose of the vaccine,” claimed Prof. Arnon Afek, the hospital’s director-general.

Arab nurse recites 'Shema' prayer to Jewish patient dying of COVID

Shlomo Galster, a Chabad Hassid from northern Israel, contracted COVID-19 more than a month ago and was hospitalized at Ha'emek Medical Center in Afula. On Thursday morning, his family was informed that he was on his deathbed and it was time for them to say goodbye.

Medical workers on the medical center's COVID unit realized that time was short, and it was unlikely that his family would arrive in time to recite the traditional "Shema Yisrael" prayer.

Then head nurse on the COVID unit, Ibrahim Maher, who had been treating Galster since he was hospitalized, stepped in and recited the Shema for him, without knowing by heart the precise wording of the Hebrew prayer.

"I knew he was a religious man and it was important to him that his family pray with him," Maher told Israel Hayom. "I don't know the entire prayer exactly, but I knew how important it was that he hear the words 'Shema Yisrael.' We knew him and his family. We were fond of him. We prayed with him, for his own sake and his family."

"It was clear to me that he wanted us to recite the Shema prayer for him. We have one God," Maher continued.

Maher said that when Galster's family arrived at the hospital, they already knew that he had passed.

Pittsburgh Steelers’ Zach Banner Urges NFL to Adopt IHRA Definition of Antisemitism, Speaks Out on ‘Lack of Understanding’

Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Zach Banner is encouraging the National Football League and all its teams to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.

“The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Anti-Semitism has been adopted by 30+ countries & companies around the world. I encourage the @steelers and teams across the @NFL to adopt the IHRA Working Definition as we stand against hate,” he said in a Twitter post Wednesday night.

Banner’s comment came shortly after he led a virtual 90-minute panel discussion, “Athletes Against Antisemitism,” which featured Washington Nationals first baseman Josh Bell; Washington Mystics WNBA champion Alysha Clark; Jasiri X, hip-hop artist and co-founder of activist group 1Hood Media; and Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, leader of the Tree of Life-Or L’Simcha Synagogue in Pittsburgh, where a deadly mass shooting took place in October 2018.

During the online event, Banner urged the NFL to adopt the leading definition of antisemitism, saying, “there’s a real lack of understanding of what antisemitism is today. How can a society begin to address a problem if we don’t even agree or define what the problem is?”

Clark and Bell said they will speak to their teams about also adopting the IHRA definition, which says: “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

In July 2020, Banner shared a video on Twitter condemning antisemitism and showing solidarity with the Jewish community after fellow NFL player DeSean Jackson posted online antisemitic comments made by Hitler. Many Jewish NFL players and executives thanked Banner for publicity denouncing Jackson’s behavior when others did not, he told viewers on Wednesday night.

StandWithUs UK – Isresilience Book Launch

‘Nefarious’ UCL Effort to Weaken Definition of Antisemitism Aims to ‘Undermine Jewish Concerns,’ Says Algemeiner Editor-in-Chief

An effort at University College London to rescind the leading definition of antisemitism threatens to clear the way for bigotry and bias against Jewish students on campus, said Algemeiner editor-in-chief Dovid Efune during an interview with i24 News on Wednesday.

The UCL Academic Board has called on the school to use a “more precise definition of antisemitism” than the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition, which it adopted in 2019, as have governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Efune called it “the definitive definition today,” and said that “anyone who is looking to undermine it inherently is looking to undermine Jewish concerns and Jewish interests.”

“Discrimination against the Jew today, in many cases, has been replaced by discrimination against the Jewish state,” he said. “What the IHRA definition does is it makes clear that certain forms of discrimination and bigotry, where they are directed against people of Israeli origin, or the concept of Zionism in general — do fit the criteria of antisemitism, bias, and bigotry against Jewish people.”

In a Feb. 9 blog post, UCL scholar of Hebrew and Jewish studies Lars Fischer resigned from his position over the Academic Board’s recommendation and told colleagues that they were “going to hell.” The UCL Jewish Society and the Union of Jewish Students also spoke out against the Board.

“If you really want to help marginalized and vulnerable Jewish students on college campuses around the world, you need to recognize what the challenge they’re up against is,” said Efune. “And in most cases it’s discrimination against them on the basis of their association with the world’s only Jewish state.”

WATCH: self-proclaimed “Anti-Zionists” keep using the same accusations when they attack Jews or Israel. What do all of these accusations have in common? They all go back to age-old #antisemitic tropes.

pic.twitter.com/o6MEU4x9KB

— Club Z (@ClubZTeens) February 18, 2021

It is with regret that we have felt the need to write the following letter to Professor Hugh Brady, Vice-Chancellor of @BristolUni. But the situation calls for it.

We urge allies to join our community in standing with @BristolJsoc against the vile behaviour of David Miller. pic.twitter.com/sd93pgVfze

— Board of Deputies of British Jews (@BoardofDeputies) February 19, 2021

I just received this disgusting statement from David Miller, a lecturer at @BristolUni.@TheTab could not publish it in full, but everyone needs to see this. As a Jewish student myself, I cannot tell you hard it is to read this from a staff member at my own uni.#antisemitism https://t.co/2QREHxyAo6 pic.twitter.com/Tu8ETPmQEN

— Ben Bloch (@bensince96) February 18, 2021

Today we say Enough.

We have tolerated this hateful speech on our campus for far too long, and we are exhausted.

We are tired of silence, tired of inaction, tired of hate.

David Miller and his views have no place on our campus.

Action must be taken. pic.twitter.com/3rlBSXv5qj

— Bristol JSoc (@BristolJsoc) February 19, 2021

Verizon Cut Off Donations to Republicans, Partnered With Marxist Thought Author

Cornel West has veered between denouncing antisemitism and blaming Jews for antisemitism.

In Black Anti-Semitism and the Rhetoric of Resentment, an article that West wrote for Michael Lerner's Tikkun, he blamed black antisemitism on, among other things, "the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza... and the visible conservative Jewish opposition to... affirmative action."

It’s doubtful that black antisemitism has anything to do with Israel’s fight against Islamic terrorism. Even the Nation of Islam’s antisemitism predated the rebirth of the Jewish State.

But West has a particular obsession with hating Israel that is all his own.

Cornel West repeatedly falsely accused Israel of killing “Palestinian babies”. In one broadcast, he spoke of, "500 Palestinian babies killed in 50 days" and in another interview blasted, "a right wing government that allows for the killing of 427 precious Palestinian babies."

To paraphrase The Manchurian Candidate, it might have been helpful if West had decided exactly how many “Palestinian babies” the Jews had killed while opposing affirmative action.

These numbers, like “ethical Marxism”, were of course garbage. But that didn’t stop West from pushing them anyway. Or describing Israel’s defense against Hamas as “Jewish racism”.

“The rockets of Hamas indeed are morally wrong and politically ineffective – but these crimes pale in the face of the U.S. supported Israeli slaughters of innocent civilians,” West argued.

Hamas has actually slaughtered innocent civilians, not just with rockets, but with suicide bombers in buses and pizzerias, and with the kidnapping and murder of Jewish teenagers.

But West has never cared about such details when there’s a terrorist regime to support.

Propagandist Muhammad Shehada Continues to Promote False Claims

For over a year, CAMERA has been documenting the false statements of Muhammad Shehada, a Gaza-based columnist who is connected to Richard Falk’s NGO, Euro-Med Monitor for Human Rights.

Writing in the Forward, Shehada has:
- Called the Palestinian Authority’s payments to convicted terrorists a “canard” that was debunked by the Washington Post, when the Post article he referenced actually confirmed that the payments were being made;
- Claimed that he could not buy fruit for his dying father due to Israeli restrictions, then subsequently backtracked on the claim after being called out by CAMERA;
- Claimed that sewage ran through the streets of Gaza due to Israel’s bombing of Gaza’s power plant, when in fact the cause of the sewage problem was a tax dispute between Hamas and the PA;
- And falsely claimed, at the start of the pandemic, that Israel banned chemicals necessary to make disinfectants from reaching Gaza.

Other than the claims about disinfectant, the Forward failed to correct Shehada’s false claims.

Shehada has now found a new venue from which to spread his falsehoods. On February 11, Shehada wrote in Newsweek:
In June 2016, Issa [Amro] was indicted on eighteen counts by the Israeli military, on charges—some of them over six years old—that ranged from insulting a soldier to incitement to resisting arrest to participating in an assembly without a permit. In other words, he was indicted for nonviolent resistance. And this week, he was convicted of six of the charges, receiving a suspended sentence.

Fury Over Polish Government’s Appointment of Former Far Right ‘100% Aryan’ Activist to Leading State Post

Poland’s nationalist government was enveloped in yet another bitter controversy over antisemitism this week, following the appointment of a former far-right activist who used the online moniker “100%Aryan” to head a regional branch of the state-run Institute for National Remembrance (IPN).

A storm of protest greeted the news on Feb. 9 that 38-year-old Tomasz Greniuch — one of the founders of the ultranationalist National Radical Camp (ONR) group — had been named as head of the IPN’s branch in the city of Wroclaw. Greniuch’s academic research at the Catholic University of Lublin’s history department focused on the wartime National Armed Forces (NSZ), an underground military organization with an openly antisemitic ideology that frequently betrayed Jews in hiding to the German occupation authorities during the Nazi Holocaust.

As a prominent leader of the ONR until 2013, Greniuch openly embraced neo-Nazi and white power symbols and rhetoric. One set of images widely published on social media and in liberal Polish news outlets showed Greniuch at the front of a group of young neo-Nazis who marched through the town of Myślenice on the anniversary of an infamous 1936 pogrom against local Jews.

In one photo from that event, Greniuch was seen with his right arm outstretched in a Nazi salute.

French comedian Dieudonné ordered to pay €9,000 for antisemitic 'choaa' song

The controversial French comedian Dieudonné M'Bala M'Bala was convicted by the Paris Court of Appeals to pay a fine of 9,000 euros for complicity in an antisemitic insult after the publication of a video and a song entitled "C'est mon choaaa," French media reported on Thursday.

In case of non-payment, the sentence could be turned into a ten-month imprisonment.

In November 2019, the court sentenced the polemicist to a fine of 9,000 euros, while the prosecution requested ten months' imprisonment for his song "C’est mon choaaa".

Dieudonné M'Bala M'Bala had denied being the singer and author of this song, that was written - according to him - by a prison inmate during a “schoolboy song workshop,” he said.

The court ruled that the lyrics referred "unquestionably, by innuendo, to the drama of the Shoah which is mocked" and the "right to humor" invoked by Dieudonné "collides with another right, that of human dignity".

Asylum seeker who reportedly wrote foreword of a book urging the killing of Jews is granted asylum in Britain

An asylum seeker who wrote the foreword of a book urging the killing of Jews has been granted permission to live in the UK.

Egyptian-born Yasser Al-Siri faces the death penalty in his home country and was allegedly part of a conspiracy to murder a general as ordered by Osama Bin Laden.

It has been reported that 2,000 copies of books espousing “the killing of Jews” were found at addresses linked to Mr Al-Siri, but a 2015 Immigration Tribunal did not consider that this evidence was sufficient to overcome the apparent absence of evidence of his involvement in the conspiracy to murder the general.

The Home Office rejected his asylum case on security grounds again in 2018, claiming that Mr Al-Siri had “advocated the use of violent jihad” on social media, and the Government sought to keep him out of the UK. But the Court of Appeal ruled last week that Mr Al-Siri should be allowed to stay, on the grounds that the evidence of his “sympathy for extremist views” was insufficient.

Lord Justice Phillips stated at the conclusion of the case on 8th February: “The starting point is that an unappealed Tribunal decision is final and binding and must be accepted and implemented by the Home Secretary, unless there is a good basis for impugning that decision.”

The Home Office is reportedly “disappointed” with the result and considering its next steps.

Is Bonne Maman an anti-Nazi jam? The internet wants to think so.

The heartwarming story has been hard to miss: A law professor is shopping at his local grocery store when sees an elderly woman struggling to get her favorite jam from a high shelf. Why is it her favorite? “I am a Holocaust survivor,” she says. “During the war, the family that owns the company hid my family in Paris.”

Tens of thousands of people — at least — have shared the story since it began circulating on social media this weekend. It has prompted countless people to vow to buy only Bonne Maman-brand jam, whose 26 varieties are almost all kosher, in the future.

But is Bonne Maman, with its can’t-miss red gingham jar lids, really an anti-Nazi jam?

The company, whose founding families are famously secretive, isn’t taking any credit for the activity of its founders’ families during World War II.

“The family prefers to maintain privacy and does not comment on inquiries about personal matters,” Bonne Maman told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in a statement.

Michael Perino, the St. John’s University professor who originally posted the story on Twitter, told JTA that the incident happened on Sunday morning in his northern New Jersey grocery store. He said he was surprised by the woman’s composure and ability to shop alone at her age, which he estimated to be late 80s or early 90s. He didn’t ask for her name, not wanting to pry.

“It was a beautiful moment,” Perino said. “When she gave the explanation, you know, it’s one of these things where your kind of your heart stops for a moment, because it’s totally unexpected.”

Bonne Maman, founded in 1971 by members of the Gervoson family, is based in Biars-sur-Cère, a town in southern France. Neither the town nor any of its inhabitants are listed on the registry of “righteous gentiles” — non-Jews who rescued Jews from the Holocaust — that is maintained by Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial and museum.

Propelled by pandemic, Fiverr reports 77% jump in 2020 revenue to $190 million

Fiverr International Ltd., a company that connects businesses with freelancers offering digital services, said revenue in “landmark year” 2020 jumped 77 percent, reaching $190 million, as the pandemic sent businesses online and owners searched for a variety of digital services.

For the fourth quarter of 2020, the firm said, revenue increased 89% to $55.9 million. Net loss in the fourth quarter of 2020 widened to $8.1 million compared to $7.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. Net loss for the full year was $14.8 million, compared to a net loss of $33.5 million in 2019.

“2020 was a landmark year for our business with 77% year over year revenue growth driven largely by bringing more freelancers and businesses together during a critical time of global change,” said Micha Kaufman, founder and CEO of Fiverr.

“We are carrying that momentum into the new year and I’m thrilled about what lies ahead for us in 2021. We started this year with our first Super Bowl campaign, which allowed us to reach millions of people in a way that was unprecedented for our brand. In the year ahead, we also expect to continue to roll out significant products, features and capabilities and continue to help lead and power the global trend towards digital transformation and remote work.”

The company forecast revenues in a range of $63 million to $65 million for the first quarter of 2021, a year-on-year growth of 84%-90%, and of $277 million to $284 million for the full year 2021, a rise of 46%-50% compared to full year 2020.

Israeli Cycling Team Starting Second UAE Tour on Sunday

One year after its historic inaugural participation in the United Arab Emirates Tour, which was followed by the peace accord between the UAE and Israel, Team Israel Start-Up Nation will begin its second UAE Tour on Sunday.

Featuring a squad of seven riders, including Israeli champion Omer Goldstein, Andre Greipel, and Alex Dowsett, the UAE Tour will see the much-anticipated debut of Chris Froome in Team Israel Start-Up Nation (ISN) uniform.

“It is with much anticipation that I will be kicking off my 2021 season in Dubai at the UAE Tour,” said Froome, who will compete in the race following three months of rehab and training in California. “It will be my first race with Israel Start-Up Nation and the start of a new and exciting adventure for me. I look forward to racing with my new teammates and testing out my legs after a productive winter.”

“Last year I noted that our Israeli team was warmly welcomed in the UAE,” said the team’s co-owner Sylvan Adams, who was part of an intimate group invited to witness the signing of the Abraham Peace Accords at the White House. “Emiratis stood in line to get our riders’ autographs and souvenir bidons with the word ‘Israel’ emblazoned on them,” he recalled.

Adams, who accompanies his team again this year at the UAE Tour, added: “I truly believe that sports interactions, such as ISN’s racing in the UAE Tour, were building blocks, bridging these new, very warm relations with our neighbors. Happy to be back.”

Making his second appearance in the race will be Israeli Omer Goldstein, this time as national champion, a title he won for the first time in November. “Racing is one thing,” said Goldstein, “but if we, as a team, can also contribute to the positive relations between people or countries, then it is even better.”

The UAE Tour consists of four flat stages, one individual time trial, and two mountain stages.

Winning silver in Tel Aviv, Iranian judoka ‘will never forget Israeli kindness’

In a historic achievement, Iranian dissident judoka Saeid Mollaei won a silver medal Friday at the Grand Slam international judo competition held in Tel Aviv.

Mollaei took second place in the under-81kg category after losing to Uzbekistan’s Sahrofiddin Boltaboev.

The Iranian competed under the Mongolian flag after becoming a citizen of the Asian nation.

He fled his home country after being forced to lose a match on purpose to avoid facing Israel’s Sagi Muki in 2019.

Ahead of his second-place finish, Mollaei said Israel had been “very good to me since I arrived,” CNN reported Friday, citing comments conveyed by the International Judo Federation.

He said the Israeli judo team “have been very kind. That is something I will never forget.”

Israeli judoka Timna Nelson Levy takes gold medal at Tel Aviv Grand Slam

In an electrifying 20-second victory, Israeli judoka Timna Nelson Levy won the gold medal at the Tel Aviv Grand Slam on Thursday night, beating France's Sarah Leonie Cysique in the 57-kilogram (126-pound) weight class.

It was the second medal for the host Israeli team after Gili Cohen took the silver in the 52 kilogram (115-pound) weight class.

Nelson Levy had the perfect morning. She began her first day in the second round by defeating Turkish rival Ozlem Yildiz in a wazari and advanced to the quarterfinals. Later, she defeated Kaja Kajzer of Slovenia by ippon and advanced to the semifinals, where she met Georgia's Eteri Liparteliani, who she overcame with a wazari at the very last minute.

Nelson Levy said after her victory: "It's fun to win the gold, certainly here in Israel. It's just a shame there are no fans in the stands, because we have the best in the world. But we feel their love and warmth. I've competed against [Cysique] in the past and lost. It's simply a joy for me."

2 Roman-era sarcophagi excavated during work on clinic at Ramat Gan Safari

Two ancient sarcophagi have been discovered during construction at the Ramat Gan Safari, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Thursday.

Construction workers were building a new wildlife medical center on-site when they came across the ancient coffins that archeologists said are 1,800 years old.

The ornate nature of the sarcophagi suggests that they were most likely made for people of high social standing, IAA researchers Alon Klein and Uzi Rothstein explained.

The coffins date back to the Roman period, 200-300 CE, and bear identical decoration of garlands and discs, suggesting they might have belonged to a husband and wife.

Flower garlands were often used as sarcophagi decorations in both the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Ancient Romans used disc ornaments to decorate coffins to protect and accompany the soul on its journey to the afterlife.

The original burial site of the sarcophagi is unknown, but archeologists estimate that it was in the vicinity of the safari, in the region of Messubim – modern-day Bnei Brak.

IDF Mission to Brazil: Our Aim is Saving Lives

On January 25, 2019, a dam near the city of Brumadinho, Brazil collapsed, releasing 11.7 million cubic meters of mudflow. The disaster left hundreds dead and countless missing. 130 IDF soldiers and commanders from the IDF Search and Rescue Unit flew across the globe to help save lives, recover bodies, treat the wounded, and more. Maj. Rivka Cohen was a member of this brave delegation. Working hand in hand, the IDF and the Brazilian authorities were able to locate many of those who went missing and help people reunite with their families.

At 105 years old, founding IAF member Alex Ziloni was promoted to Colonel by LTG Aviv Kochavi & IAF Commander MG Amikam Norkin today as a token of appreciation for his many decades of dedication to the State of Israel.

We salute you, Col. (Res.) Alex! pic.twitter.com/MH2QL8yfEP

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) February 19, 2021

---

---