07/23 Links Pt2: Glick: In America, Corbyn won; Meet Ben & Jerry’s Board Chair: Anti-Israel Activist Has Published Defenses of Hezbollah, Hamas ~ EoZ

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: In America, Corbyn won

Thanks to the progressive Jews who ordered up the GBAO poll, tomorrow Cong. Ilhan Omar and her fellow Jew-haters inside and outside the Democrat Congressional Caucus will use the poll results to deflect criticism as they spew anti-Semitic blood libels against Israel and its "Benjamins" wielding American Jewish supporters.

This brings us to the moderates who comprise the majority of the American Jewish establishment. Like their counterparts in the Democrat leadership, these leaders know full well that Israel is not an apartheid state or committing genocide or guilty of systemic racism and they know it is anti-Semitic raise to these obscene allegations. But like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, they won't fight progressives to defend the truth.

They will remove Israeli flags from their synagogues, schools, JCCs and stages at rallies. They won't talk about Israel. And they will endorse "Statements of Inclusion" that insist you cannot fight anti-Semitism without fighting all forms of hatred because there isn't anything unique about Jew-hatred. And anyway, "the occupation" is divisive and stuff.

They will repeat these incantations without realizing that they have adopted Jeremy Corbyn's lexicon. Corbyn after all defended himself from allegations of anti-Semitism by saying he couldn't possibly be an anti-Semite because he was anti-racism.

The victims of the failed Jewish-American establishment are the American Jews. Last month, City University of New York's faculty union overwhelmingly passed a resolution labeling Israel an "apartheid…settler-colonial state" that has perpetrated the "massacre" of Palestinians and demanded the Biden administration cease US aid to Israel. The resolution also called for CUNY to join the BDS campaign against Israel.

Some Jewish professors quit the union in protest. In an interview with Algemeiner, Prof. Robert Shapiro of Brooklyn College said that for him, "It's hard to figure out what to do."

"It's more complex than simply anti-Semitism," he said.

"It's the use of the concept of intersectionality and arguing that if you're really in favor of justice for your particular group or certain groups you have to be in favor of justice for everybody discriminated against."

The situation is even more complicated by the fact that many of the intersectionality crowd's preferred victim groups – including the ones included in the "No Fear" rally's "Statement of Inclusion" are the chief instigators of anti-Semitic assaults on Jews on campuses throughout the US The credo of the American Jewish establishment requires Jews to side with groups that are victimizing and deliberately targeting them.

Anti-Semitism in Britain didn't disappear with Corbyn's defeat. It has continued to rise, just as it has in the US All the same, the difference between the two communities is clear. When push came to shove, the British Jewish establishment stood up for the Jews even at the price of turning its back on progressive intersectional slogans.

Through its show of weakness July 11, as in its activities both before and since, the American Jewish establishment has demonstrated to friend and foe alike that in the US the situation is reversed. While the progressive faction of the Jewish establishment promotes and abets anti-Semitism, the moderate majority has opted to give up the fight for Jewish rights without a struggle.

Meet Ben & Jerry’s Board Chair: Anti-Israel Activist Has Published Defenses of Hezbollah, Hamas

Ben & Jerry's board chairwoman isn't your average corporate suit. A social justice warrior who's now under increased scrutiny in the wake of the company's announcement that it will boycott Israel's West Bank and East Jerusalem, she has a lengthy history of left-wing activism that includes publishing columns defending Hezbollah and supporting U.S. funding to Hamas.

Anuradha Mittal, the leading force behind the ice cream company's decision to stop selling its products in parts of Israel, founded the Oakland Institute, which describes itself as an "independent policy think tank," in 2004 and serves as its executive director. The group has published articles defending Hezbollah and Hamas, terrorist groups that seek the destruction of the Jewish state.

Ben & Jerry's is under increased scrutiny for its decision to join the anti-Israel boycott movement, which follows criticism over the ice cream maker's partnership with anti-Semitic figures during the Women's March in 2018. At the time, the company defended its work with Linda Sarsour, one of the march leaders who was ousted for anti-Semitism. Multiple state and local governments, including Texas and Florida, are considering sanctioning Ben & Jerry's and its parent company, Unilever, over the boycott decision.

Mittal published an article written by Green Party Senate candidate Todd Chretien during the Israel-Lebanon war in 2006 arguing that progressives should support Hezbollah.

"You do not have to agree with all of Hezbollah's ideas to support their resistance to Israel," wrote Chretien. "Condemning ‘both sides' in the Middle East is just like condemning ‘both sides' in the American Civil War. During the Civil War, with all its complications, one side fought for slavery and the other fought for emancipation. Today in the Middle East, one side fights to rob and pillage, the other seeks self-determination and dignity."

Chretien added that Hezbollah's actions would encourage militants who were fighting U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

"Hezbollah has emerged as the hero to millions of Arabs and Muslims. Hezbollah's fight will encourage the resistance in Iraq and it will give a boost to opposition forces in Egypt, Jordan and other American client states," he wrote.

The Arabian Massacre: Jews’ First Contact with Islam Led to Dstruction that set the Stage for the Future

Arabian MassacreWhen we sit down for the kinos on Tisha B’Av, we will be recalling not only the destruction of the two Batei Mikdash but also a series of other calamities that have befallen our people. Some of these are already specified in the Mishnah (Taanis 4:6) , but some happened much later. For example, we will recall the death of many Jews at the hands of anti-Semitic mobs during the First Crusade (1096). Virtually everybody will recite a kinah in memory of the six million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust. But there is one massacre, the effects of which are still with us today, that remains virtually unknown and uncommemorated. It is the massacre of between 600 and 900 Arabian Jews that resulted from Muhammad’s withdrawal from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE, known in Arabic as the hijra or hegira (“departure, migration”).

Read the rest at Ami Magazine.

Diary of a Jewish Palestinian refugee family

After the creation of Israel in 1948, 900,000 Jews were compelled to leave Muslim countries in which they had lived for millennia. They fled and left their property behind. No international effort was made to help them. Why? Over 600,000 homeless and penniless Jewish refugees were absorbed into Israel. Congressional Resolution 311 called for the international community to recognize the plight of the 900,000 Jewish refugees and called on UNRWA to resettle Arab Palestinian refugees who are denied citizenship and basic rights in Arab countries.

The UNRWA and Arab sponsored refugee narrative distorts the history of Israel/Palestine/Judea. The Jews maintained a presence in their homeland for over 3500 years and Jerusalem was always the heart of the Jewish nation. The Muslim Arabs invaded from Arabia and never created a sovereign state. During the late Ottoman Period (1810-1917) and then under the British Mandate (1919-1948) many Arabs immigrated to Palestine. The Jewish presence also expanded. The Ottoman Turk census of 1848 Jerusalem counted a Jewish plurality.

Unfortunately, in 1900, Arab terror and threats were a daily part of life. My grandmother, Sarah, remembered when in 1911 how her father Chaim Hirsch Eisenbach, at the foot of the Western Wall, saved the life of Rabbi Rachmastrivka, by shielding his bloodied body from Arab attackers. Violent mobs roamed the alleyways of Jerusalem responding to exhortations of local Imams to drive the Jews from the land.

Sarah married Shimon, who traced his ancestry back to the Shlah Ha’Kadosh, the scion of the Horowitz and Gotlieb families, who lived in Safad and died in 1690. These families lived in Jerusalem long before 95% of the Arab Bedouins and fellahin immigrated from Syria, Egypt, and Arabia. My mom’s parents lived in the Sheikh Jarakh neighborhood of Jerusalem and were often terrified by marauding mobs of Arabs.

They were finally driven out of Jerusalem and Palestine in 1927 and became Jewish Palestinian refugees. Others Jewish owner/residents of Sheikh Jarakh including my wife and her father, Professor Chaim Gevaryahu’s family were driven out in 1948 when the Jordanian Army occupied parts of Jerusalem. I could certainly declare per the UNRWA definition that our children and grandchildren are Jewish Palestinian refugees from Sheikh Jarrakh!

Chaim Eisenbach’s other 8 children remained in Jerusalem. They were there during the Arab pogroms of 1927, 1929, 1932, 1937, 1941, 1946, and suffered in the siege of Jerusalem when the Jordanian Legions attacked in 1948. The Old City of Jerusalem fell and long-term Jewish residents retreated to western parts of Jerusalem. Some fled the country and became Jewish Palestinian refugees. Many Eisenbach’s remained and today there are more than 10,000 Eisenbach’s in Israel. The Gotlieb’s and Horowitz’s are not far behind.

My dad’s family, the Rivlins and Reichmans, lived in Palestine for centuries, primarily in Safad and Jerusalem. My grandfather was the grandson of Joseph Rivlin aka Yosef Shtetlmacher, the “builder of settlements”. Joseph Rivlin founded eleven Jerusalem neighborhoods including Meah Shearim and Nahlat Shivah (“the settlement of seven”). In 1869, he and six friends joined together to build the first inhabited community outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. Back then, Jerusalem’s Jewish community was growing and running out of space in the walled city.

Unfortunately, it was very dangerous for Jews to be found outside the walls after dusk. Arabs and Bedouin would attack any Jew found outside the walls. Thus, buying a plot of land and building thereon was fraught with danger. Many had tried but had lost their lives and properties. Not Rivlin, he purchased land several hundred yards outside the city’s walls. He built during the day and slept armed at night to protect his property. He was fearless and the local trouble-makers knew that it was best not to upset him. He built and others followed. That was back in 1869. Theodore Herzl, called the Father of Zionism by the secular, was nine years old at the time and did not know Dreyfus! But there was a dynamic Jewish community living under Ottoman rule.

The Tikvah Podcast: Nir Barkat on a Decade of Governing the World’s Most Spiritual City

Home to the Temple Mount, the Dome of the Rock, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the city of Jerusalem has unparalleled spiritual significance for millions of people around the world. But in addition to all of its religious and philosophical importance, Jerusalem is also an actual city, with gas stations and grocery stores and office buildings and more. It has to be governed and managed just as New York, Chicago, and Moscow do. So what’s it like to be responsible for garbage collection, and all the other everyday city needs, in the most spiritual city in the West?

That’s what, Nir Barkat, the former mayor of Jerusalem and now a member of Knesset from the Likud party, joins our podcast this week to talk about. Barkat was Jerusalem’s mayor from 2008 to 2018, a decade that saw tremendous growth for Israel’s capital. In conversation with Mosaic editor Jonathan Silver, he explains what it takes to govern Jerusalem, what he learned from his time as mayor, and how the challenges facing Jerusalem mirror the challenges faced by the Jewish state itself.

Jewish Rights Groups: Johns Hopkins University 'Must Do More' After TA's Anti-Israel Tweets

The controversy surrounding the anti-Israel tweets of a Teaching Assistant (TA) at Johns Hopkins University won't go away, as Jewish rights groups press the university to reveal the actions they have taken against the young graduate student who posted them.

In a series of tweets, copies of some of which were provided to Newsweek in the form of screenshots, Rasha Anayah, a Ph.D. candidate and teaching assistant in the university's chemistry department, tweeted out a question posted as a survey, and followed it up with other posts.

On November 15, 2020, Anaya tweeted, "ethical dilemma: if you have to grade a zionist students exam, do you still give them all their points even though they support your ethnic cleansing? like idk [I don't know]."

Anayah posted two possible answers: "Yes [redacted] be a good ta"; and "free Palestine! Fail them."

According to the post, there were 18 replies that day, 77% of which favored failing the students. On November 16, she posted a response to the poll results that supported failing the students by saying, "like I agree but too many of you want me to get fired."

Anayah made her anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian views clear in a series of tweets on November 20, postings which also indicated the presence of racial and graduate/undergraduate tension in her classroom.

"we had an undergrad in lab who had been on birthright [to Israel] and had one of the street signs to tel aviv on her laptop. it stabbed me every time she opened it. if i had been paired to one of them or one of these conceited white boys i would have lost it," she wrote.

In another tweet, she appeared to acknowledge that she was struggling with university administration over her postings on Twitter.

"people be starting s**t for the sake of starting s**t. don't underestimate me fam if I can take on the university's admin and still come out on top then why do some of these undergrads think they can come for me?" she tweeted.

It is not clear from the tweets what, if anything, any of this had to do with the subject matter of the class: Chemistry. The posts have since been removed from Twitter.

After Attacks On Black Jewish Woman Who Resigned As Diversity Officer, Children’s Book Group Director Announces Retirement

The Society of Children’s Bookmakers and Illustrators’ (SCBWI) executive director announced this week that she will retire at the end of this year as the group weathers a controversy over the sudden resignation of its diversity officer, a black Jewish woman.

Executive Director Lin Oliver told faculty for the society’s summer conference in a July 19 email that she will retire this year, according to Publisher’s Weekly.

Her announcement comes as the professional group, which has 22,000 members globally, grapples with the resignation of its chief equity and inclusion officer April Powers, who was attacked and sent death threats after she posted a statement of solidarity with Jewish people last month.

Powers, who is black and Jewish, resigned on June 27, shortly after SCBWI posted the statement to its website and Facebook on June 10.

In its statement, the SCBWI said it “unequivocally recognizes” that the world’s Jewish people “have the right to life, safety, and freedom from scapegoating and fear.”

Can you imagine @stanleycohenlaw saying…

The answer to homophobia is for gay people to self-identify as human beings, rather than gay.

Or that the answer to misogyny is for women to self-identify as human beings, rather than women.

Neither can we. pic.twitter.com/WpE6ZHh7xI
— Israel Advocacy Movement (@israel_advocacy) July 23, 2021

Honest Reporting: As FC Barcelona Employs BDS Tactics Against Israel’s Beitar Jerusalem, Will Same Standard Apply to Every Capital City?

On July 23, the Tokyo Olympic Games opening ceremony will include the Israeli delegation, to be composed of a record number of athletes from the Jewish state. Yet, while Israelis are increasingly participating in international competitions, one of the world’s best-known sports franchises recently torpedoed a friendly match scheduled in Jerusalem by coopting tactics employed by the boycott, divestment, sanctions movement.

The owner of Israel’s Beitar Jerusalem Football Club said on July 15 that he was forced to cancel a game against Spanish powerhouse FC Barcelona (FCB) after the Catalan team insisted the match be played anywhere other than Jerusalem.

The development came after Palestinians launched a campaign against FCB in the wake of reports that it would play a preseason game in Israel, scheduled for August 4 at Jerusalem’s Teddy Stadium.

In a bizarre rant, a spokesperson representing anti-Israel “activists” suggested the game be scratched from Israel’s capital because the venue at which the country’s national team plays its home matches is located next to the city’s eastern neighborhoods of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan, where a number of Arab squatters are facing eviction from their homes. Other Israel-haters started circulating on Twitter the hashtag in Arabic “Boycott Barcelona,” in an attempt to pressure the club.

As HonestReporting has repeatedly documented, the goal of BDS is to transform Israel into a binational state that would effectively end Jewish self-determination. But does the same apply to Spain given that Barcelona is where Catalonia’s independence movement led to a constitutional crisis and violence in the streets?

Why haven’t there been calls around the world for football teams to stop traveling to play in Madrid?

BBC continues to frame spyware story as exclusively Israel linked

Previously we looked at how the BBC News website and BBC World Service radio failed to inform their audiences that a company they portrayed exclusively as Israeli is in fact majority owned by a London-based firm:

The same BBC departments and an additional one continued to promote that framing in subsequent reports.

Listeners to BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme on July 19th heard a news bulletin (from 2:37:18 here) in which they were informed that: [emphasis in italics in the original, emphasis in bold added]

“A data leak suggests that thousands of activists, politicians and journalists may have been monitored using mobile phone spyware designed to target criminals and terrorists. The Israeli company behind the technology denies it’s been used in this way.”

Immediately after that news bulletin (from 2:37:43), presenter Mishal Husain introduced an item that included interviews with the BBC’s Gordon Corera and Agnes Callamard of Amnesty International. Once again BBC audiences were not informed of the relevant fact that in 2019 that political NGO had filed a lawsuit against NSO which it later lost.

Husain: “…journalists including the editor of the Financial Times, lawyers, human rights activists are all among those that the Guardian is today reporting have been targeted by surveillance software made by the Israeli firm NSO and then sold to governments.”

Excellent reading here from @bethanyshondark https://t.co/pVc0Na1PSF
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 23, 2021

It’s always interesting when antisemites based in Germany report your tweets. SMH ????? pic.twitter.com/9ZISPFYLsR
— (((GnasherJew®?????))) (@GnasherJew) July 22, 2021

Trudeau says Canada to spend $5M to strengthen security at Jewish institutions

Amid an unprecedented number of antisemitic incidents in Canada, the government is set to spend more than $5 million to shore up the security of the nation’s Jewish community institutions.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement Wednesday at a special virtual national “summit” on antisemitism.

The new funding is part of his government’s Security Infrastructure Program to bolster the safety of at-risk minorities.

A main message at the conference was that good intentions won’t be enough to rid the world of one of its oldest scourges.

According to B’nai Brith Canada, more than 2,600 antisemitic incidents took place in Canada in 2020, a fifth consecutive record-setting year. Some 44% of them appeared to be related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the group said.

“The rise in hate-motivated crimes against the Jewish community in the past few months is not only alarming, it’s completely unacceptable,” Trudeau said. “As Jewish Canadians, too many of you have told me you’re feeling isolated and vulnerable.”

Trudeau was among the number of prominent voices heard at the conference, which was chaired by Diversity and Inclusion Minister Bardish Chagger and former Justice Minister Irwin Cotler. Along with the many government officials, the participants included Jewish advocacy organizations, the Black community, educators, law enforcement and students.

Teenager charged after Jewish man targeted with antisemitic abuse inside Oxford Circus Underground station

A teenager has been charged with a religiously aggravated public order offence after a Jewish man was targeted with antisemitic abuse inside Oxford Circus Underground station on 4th July.

The seventeen-year-old suspect is due to appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on 2nd August.

The boy in question is believed to have been involved in an incident where a person shouted “I f***ing hate the Jews” at a Jewish man whilst he was travelling down the escalators at Oxford Circus station.

In a statement, British Transport Police said: “We’re aware of a video posted online of…antisemitic behaviour on a London Underground escalator. We take such incidents very seriously and are investigating. If anybody has any information contact us on 0800 405040 or text 61016 quoting ref 90 of 4 July 2021.”

Immediately following the incident, Campaign Against Antisemitism released a statement thanking the victim’s brother for publicising the incident. The statement added: “We will be following up privately, but for those reading the thread [on Twitter] we wanted to note that police investigations have now been opened and we are in touch with police and Transport for London. #ZeroTolerance”

US Justice Department Recovers Valuable Scrolls and Manuscripts Stolen During Holocaust, Pledges to Restore Them to ‘Rightful Jewish Communities’

The US Justice Department has announced the seizure of 17 funeral scrolls, manuscripts and community records looted from Jewish communities in different parts of Eastern Europe during the Nazi Holocaust, pledging them to return them “to theirn rightful Jewish communities.”

The items were seized from an auction house in Brooklyn that had offered them for sale. According to a Justice Department statement on Thursday, in February of this year, “law enforcement learned that an auction house located in the Eastern District of New York had offered for sale 21 Manuscripts and Scrolls originating from Jewish communities that existed before World War II and the Holocaust. The members of those communities from which the Scrolls and Manuscripts were taken had been gathered in ghettos, robbed of their property and deported to Nazi death camps, where the majority of them were killed. After the end of World War II, surviving members of the communities returned to find their homes ransacked and buildings emptied of property.”

The age of the manuscripts and scrolls that were seized ranges from the 1840s to the eve of World War II a century later.

“The recovery of these 19th century Judaica Manuscripts and Scrolls looted during the Holocaust from Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Ukraine in the midst of our world’s darkest of times, is the culmination of an extensive HSI cultural property investigation, and we are fortunate to be part of the team that is able to return these artifacts to their rightful Jewish communities,” stated Special Agent-in-Charge Peter Fitzhugh.

The Justice Department pointed out that the Judaica items “were confiscated by individuals who had no right to do so during and after the Holocaust. Absent any provenance or documentation of conveyance from any survivors of those communities, there is no legitimate means by which the Manuscripts and Scrolls could have been imported into the United States.”

New campaign 'Athletes Against Antisemitism' launched

International March of the Living, Macabbi World Union and the Maccabiah are launching a campaign to combat antisemitism by having athletes take a public stand for the cause, according to a press release sent on Thursday.

The campaign is timed to coincide with the start of the Olympics. It will be branded under the slogan "Athletes say no to antisemitism" and promoted through the hashtags #NeverMeansNever and #AthletesAgainstAntisemitism.

Chairman of the 21st Maccabiah Games, Olympic medalist and former judoka Arik Ze’evi said from Tokyo that, “Antisemitism, like all racism, is contrary to the spirit of sport and has no place in sport. Athletes can and should also serve as role models for how we accept one another and look for what unites rather than divides us. Everywhere I went in our sport, I was always proud of my Judaism and never encountered discrimination. This is the spirit of judo, this is the spirit of sport, and this is the human spirit.”

Part of the campaign against antisemitism (Creidt: March of the Living)Part of the campaign against antisemitism (Creidt: March of the Living) The campaign encourages leading athletes to take a public stand against hatred and inspire people to make a change.

Israeli jiu-jitsu team sweeps 3 golds, 11 total medals at European Championship

The Israeli national jiu-jitsu team won a whopping 11 medals at the European Championship in Germany this week.

On the first day of the competition, two athletes won golds − Vicky Dabush, who defeated her French opponent, and Meshi Rosenfeld, who beat her opponent from the Russian team. On the same day, two other fighters – Nimrod Ryder and Alon Jan – each pocketed a bronze medal.

On the second day of the competition, Roni Nissimian won a gold medal, and athletes Saar Shemesh and Shaked Nissimian pocketed silvers. Three fighters – Roy Dagan, Avi Ibragimov, and Noa Lifshitz – went home with bronze medals. Nadav Bar-Gil also won a bronze medal.

The Israeli athletes now have their eyes set on the World Championships, slated to be held in November in Abu Dhabi, where they will hopefully qualify for the World Games scheduled to take place in July 2022 in Birmingham, Alabama.

Altogether the Israeli team won three gold, two silver and six bronze medals.

Future Jewish Agency emissaries plant tree to honor Argentina bombing victims

The Jewish Agency held a special ceremony on Wednesday to honor the victims of the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community office building in Buenos Aires, Argentina. July 18 marked the 27th anniversary of the attack, which claimed the lives of 85 people.

The event was attended by more than 200 young men and women who came to Israel from Argentina and other countries to be trained as emissaries. The attendees planted a tree on the Jewish Agency's campus in Jerusalem in memory of the victims.

"The ceremony honoring the memory of those killed in the horrific attack is another step in the partnership between Diaspora Jewry and the State of Israel," Acting Chairman of the Jewish Agency Yaakov Hagoel said.

Israeli doctors managed to restore the sight of a girl from #Gaza in an innovative surgical procedure.

For many years Hadassah Medical Center has been providing medical services to Palestinians who live in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/KdcAwf3csu
— Yonatan Gonen (@GonenYonatan) July 23, 2021

This is Fethi Nourine. He is an Algerian judo fighter who just turned down an opportunity to represent his country because he would have had to compete against an Israeli.
Fethi Nourine is an antisemite. Don't be like him (he would have lost anyway). pic.twitter.com/Sj8C623Szq
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) July 23, 2021

Jpost Editorial: It's time for Israel to get into the Olympic spirit - editorial

After 69 years of Olympic participation, Israel has sent hundreds of athletes but they have yielded only nine medals since Arad’s inaugural success, and there has only been one Gold, by windsurfer Gal Fridman in 2004. It’s exacting proof that Israel is not a sporting powerhouse, but the Olympic Games have a habit of throwing up major shocks for some and glorious surprises for others. Israel has dispatched its largest-ever and probably its most hopeful Olympic delegation to Tokyo. There are 90 athletes, including a baseball team made up largely of North American-born players who will no doubt attract the attention of many Jerusalem Post readers. As always, medals are being demanded, but it’s hugely difficult to be among the top three finishers in any Olympic competition.

A far more scientific approach in preparing modern teams is also no guarantee for medals but the experts predict that there could be as many as five this time. The empty surroundings might help in some events, although they could do the opposite.

Traditionally, Olympic Games have been a time of amnesty in global conflicts but there is no reason to think that any current warring factions will lay down their arms for a couple of weeks to make the world a more friendly place while the world tries to celebrate with Tokyo.

This should also be a time to take stock at home and ponder why, in almost eight decades of Israel’s Olympic participation, among the hundreds of athletes there have only ever been two Arab-Israelis. Unquestionably, 20% of the population deserves a much bigger representation but that cannot happen until far, far more funding is invested into raising the levels of sports infrastructure in Arab towns and villages, where soccer is almost the only available sport for boys and girls.

Let’s pause for a moment and think about that and about the sporting success that we would like to celebrate. Let’s wish all our participants success, but most of all, let’s support them and wish them to do their very best in the most auspicious sporting arena.

Full schedule for Israel’s athletes at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics

The Tokyo Olympics are kicking off, after a year’s delay due to the coronavirus pandemic and without fans, with the world’s top athletes hoping to provide the world with a semblance of normality. Israel’s delegation to Japan is the country’s biggest-ever by far, numbering 90 athletes.

The website Olympic Medals Predictions — which gathers data from world championships and other international competitions, in an attempt to guess the outcome of the games — has suggested Israel will take home five medals this year, while The Associated Press has predicted seven medals.

That could increase the pressure on the athletes, since the country has taken home a total of nine medals in its history, and has never won more than two medals at the same Olympics.

The Tokyo 2020 Games — still named so, despite the delay to 2021 — begin on July 23, and end on August 8.

They are broadcast in Israel by the Sports Channel, in the United States by NBC, and in the United Kingdom by the BBC and Eurosport.

After 49 years, Israeli victims of 1972 Olympic massacre honored at Tokyo opener

Forty-nine years after the 1972 massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, Friday’s opening ceremony for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics included, for the first time, an official commemoration of those who died in the terror attack.

Tributes were paid to those lost during the pandemic and throughout Olympic history. The Israeli delegation that was killed at the Munich Games was specifically mentioned. A moment of silence was offered inside the stadium, alongside a dance performance honoring the dead.

“In particular we remember those who lost their lives during the Olympic games,” the announcer said. “One group still holds a strong place in all our memories and stands for all of those we have lost at the games: the members of the Israel delegation at the Olympic Games Munich 1972.”

The 1972 attack at the Munich Olympics saw 11 Israeli athletes murdered by the Black September Palestinian terror group. Two of the Israelis were murdered in the Olympic Village. The Palestinian terrorists kidnapped another nine and demanded the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, as well as two prominent West German leftist militants.

After a failed attempt by German security forces to retake the hostages, the Palestinians turned their weapons on the Israelis, killing them all.

The 11 victims were David Berger, Ze’ev Friedman, Yoseff Gutfreund, Moshe Weinberg, Yoseff Romano, Mark Slavin, Eliezer Halfin, Yakov Springer, Andre Spitzer, Amitzur Shapira and Kehat Shorr. Their individual stories can be read in this 2014 blog post.

Footage from the first ever moment of silence for the victims of the 1972 Munich massacre of Israeli athletes. May their memories be blessed.

pic.twitter.com/ewty5J6YJm
— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? (@emilykschrader) July 23, 2021