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Thursday, October 28, 2021

10/28 Links Pt2: Tree of Life rabbi: ‘We can’t let evil win, and it won’t go away on its own’; If boycotting Israel: Ben & Jerry's should also cut ties with China

From Ian:

David Singer: UN''s racist plan to exclude Jews from East Jerusalem backed by Biden
Biden’s decision will certainly give added impetus to United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 – passed on 23 December 2016 as then Vice President Biden was vacating his office in the White House prior to the handover of power from President Obama to President-elect Trump.

Security Council Resolution 2334: If you have never read it, now is the time to see the extent of Obama's betrayal of Israel when he did not keep lto the ongstanding American tradition of vetoing anti-Israel resolutions.

1. Reaffirmed that the establishment by Israel of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, had no legal validity and constituted a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-State solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace;

2. Reiterated its demand that Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and that it fully respect all of its legal obligations in this regard;

3. Underlined that it will not recognize any changes to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties through negotiations;

This racist resolution:
-Ignored that all Jews living in East Jerusalem before 1948 had been ethnically cleansed from there following Jerusalem’s invasion and partial conquest by Transjordan in 1948.

-Denied Jews had any right to return or take up residence there after 1967

-Failed to acknowledge that Jews had lived there for 3000 years

The Obama-Biden administration failed to veto this overtly anti-Jewish Resolution to ensure it could never be weaponised to attack Israeli policies.


NGO Monitor: PFLP Ties of Six Newly Designated Terror NGOs
On October 22, 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Defense (MoD) designated six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist organizations. According to the MoD, Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P), Union of Agricultural Work Committees, Al-Haq, Addameer, Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC), and Bisan were included on Israel’s list of terrorist organizations because they are operated by and for the benefit of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), designated as a terrorist organization by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel.1 (A seventh PFLP-linked organization – Health Workers Committee (HWC) – was designated in January 2020.)

The MoD, building off a ISA (Shabak) May 2021 press release, explained that these NGOs diverted humanitarian funds from European donors to the PFLP and recruited members into the terror group. Relatedly, a security official told Israel’s N12 news site on October 23 that these NGOs provided a funding “lifeline” for the PFLP, employed PFLP terrorists, and that PFLP terror operatives used NGO offices for meetings.

In addition, since 2007, NGO Monitor has published numerous reports, based on open sources, documenting the close connections between these and other Palestinian NGOs and the PFLP. It is likely that Israeli authorities possess further materials on the NGO-PFLP ties, but it is unknown whether they will make this public.

See below for details – all previously published by NGO Monitor – regarding each of the newly designated organizations, including organizational ties between the NGOs and the PFLP, as well as individual links between NGO board members, officials, and employees and the terror group. We have also included statements made by NGO officials that glorify or excuse violence.
The Caroline Glick show: Ep24: The West’s War Against the Jewish State (and the Abraham Accords) | Guest: David Wurmser
In Episode 24 of the Caroline Glick Mideast News Hour, while Gadi is travelling, Caroline was joined again by her colleague at the Center for Security Policy in Washington Dr. David Wurmser. The two discussed the Biden administration’s unmoving hostility to Israel and the new unity of anti-Israel purpose joining the U.S. with Europe. Caroline and David then moved on to the political instability in Sudan and the Biden administration’s weird request that Israel suspend its normalization talks with Sudan. It was a riveting, eye opening discussion. Watch, enjoy, subscribe and share and together we’ll win the war of ideas!




Why Israel is boycotting human rights NGOs.

Progressive Dems submit motion panning Israel for outlawing Palestinian groups
A group of progressive Democrats introduced a resolution in the United States House of Representatives on Thursday condemning Israel for its “repressive” and “anti-democratic” decision to blacklist half a dozen Palestinian human rights organizations.

The resolution describes the labeling of the six Palestinian groups as “a repressive act designed to criminalize and persecute important Palestinian human rights organizations.”

It is highly unlikely to pass, given the unwillingness of the vast majority of lawmakers from either party to criticize the Israeli government so harshly.

The measure was introduced by Rep. Betty McCollum, one of the most vocal critics of the Israeli government in Congress, but also a proponent of the two-state solution who sometimes votes in favor of pro-Israel bills (McCollum voted in favor of legislation to offer $1 billion in supplemental funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system last month).

Her latest resolution was co-sponsored by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Cori Bush, Chuy Garcia, Marie Newman, Raul Grijalva and Andre Carson. All of them voted against the Iron Dome supplemental funding — except Ocasio-Cortez who chose to abstain on the legislation.

The resolution calls on US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to “publicly condemn this authoritarian and antidemocratic act of repression” and publicly call on Israel to cease such measures.


Tree of Life rabbi: ‘We can’t let evil win, and it won’t go away on its own’
Three years after the deadly shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who was leading services when the attack took place, wants his community to serve as a beacon of hope to the world.

“We cannot let evil win, but we can’t just sit back and expect that it’s going to just go away on its own,” he told The Times of Israel. “Every good, decent person must step forward and be able to say that it is not welcome.”

On October 27, 2018, a gunman opened fire in the sanctuary at Tree of Life, a synagogue that housed three congregations, during Sabbath morning services. Eleven people were killed in the attack, the deadliest that the American Jewish community has ever known. In the years following the shooting, antisemitic incidents continued to rise in the United States. Jews were killed in attacks at the Chabad of Poway in California, a kosher supermarket in Jersey City and a rabbi’s Hanukkah party in Monsey, New York, in 2019 alone.

At the time of the shooting, the Newark, New Jersey-born Myers had only been serving as Tree of Life’s pulpit rabbi for a little over a year. But three decades of serving Jewish communities in Illinois, New Jersey, and upstate New York as a Jewish educator and cantor prepared Myers for his public role following the tragic attack. Myers has served as a spokesman for his community, addressing Congress, speaking to the media and hosting the many high-level politicians — including former US president Donald Trump — who made the pilgrimage to Pittsburgh to pay their respects to the victims.

At the same time, he has ministered to his flock, helping congregants in matters of grief and faith, all while grieving himself.

The commemoration period surrounding the anniversary of the shooting is a difficult time, Myers said. “It’s difficult to separate out that short period of remembrance from the rest of the year because once it’s done, you then try to pick up the pieces and move forward,” he said.
David Collier: Antisemitism should be challenged everywhere and everytime
The mistake we must not make is to compartmentalize the problem, by assuming for example that the high level of antisemitism in Malmo or Dublin is unconnected to what is happening in our home towns. This common error gives rise to misplaced confidence and completely misunderstands the universal battle that we face.

Social media has globalized the problem even more. Antisemites in the United Kingdom share material with activists on the ground in Boston or Sydney or Paris. And the work of hostile academics is freely exchanged in academic centers globally. Finally, the image of an action taken to deface a bus stop in London can goes viral, maybe convince someone living in Ottawa to do the same.

This all means that there are virtual factories operating online that are churning out anti-Jewish hatred thousands of miles away – that may still be influencing your neighbourhood. Some of these factories are well beyond reach, such as Hamas propaganda units working online from Gaza.

Every town has some level of activity. In some it may just be a single hostile politician, or an academic, or maybe just a handful of students or hard-left activists. The more the pieces of the puzzle come together, the more aggressive, and ultimately successful, anti-Israel activity in an area can become.

What we see happening in Ireland is a perfect storm.

There is almost no political pressure to tone down antisemitic comments and Ireland only has a tiny Jewish community. Irish anti-Israel activists almost face no opposition.

In this type of environment, incidents such as Sally Rooney’s recent public adherence to the cultural boycott against Israel become well received locally and is therefore commonplace.
Antisemitism migrated from academia onto Capitol Hill
The philosopher Henrich Heine wrote, “Never underestimate the power of ideas. Philosophical concepts nurtured in the stillness of a professor’s study could destroy a civilization.”

Spanning the course of four decades, I have been a political activist for Israel and the Jewish people, centering most of my work on Capitol Hill. Over time, I have watched how ideas shaped in the college classroom have gradually and incrementally made their way into the corridors of power.

When I first began political activism in the 1980s, the memory of the Holocaust was still fresh, and members of both parties would line up to meet with the group I was then affiliated with.

I remember how the late Senator Daniel Inouye (D - Hawaii) spoke, his voice laden with emotion, of what he saw as a young Army officer, when he first entered the concentration camps. That vivid memory made him into a life-long Zionist.

As Inouye was speaking, a revolution was beginning to percolate on college campuses, beginning with the writings of Edward Said and his 1978 book “Orientalism” and culminating in “Critical Race Theory,” which views Jews as privileged and “hyper-white.”

Today, the Middle East Studies Association posts this statement: “MESA’s Board of Directors condemns the ongoing Israeli government assault on the Palestinian people … there can be no academic freedom and adequate access to education, so long as there is apartheid.”

What began in Middle Eastern Studies classrooms has metastasized throughout the humanities and the social sciences. By now, the “educated” have become the policymakers on Capitol Hill.
Jonathan Greenblatt: Antisemitism on the left is subtler than on the right. But it’s getting worse.
The DC Vote coalition, which organized the statehood rally, and eventually the national Sunrise Movement, recognized that. “Naming explicitly Jewish organizations while giving a pass to non-Jewish organizations in the coalition which hold similar position is undoubtedly anti-Semitic and has no place in our movement,” wrote DC Vote in a statement issued on the eve of the rally.

But that suggests that it was fine for the Sunrise chapter to seek to ban groups that believe in supporting the existence of a Jewish state of Israel, that they only erred in singling out just the Jewish pro-Israel groups for exclusion, and not all the groups — such as labor unions — that also have warm ties with Israel.

This is a disingenuous and dangerous distinction.

Despite what others, including some progressive Jewish thinkers, may suggest, denying the right of Jews — alone among the peoples of the world — to the right of self-determination is antisemitism even when you call it “anti-Zionism.” Denying Jews the rights afforded to other people is discrimination.

There are things that the Israeli government has done that deserve rebuke. But criticizing the policies and actions of a government is categorically different than deeming the country itself illegitimate because it is instituting “apartheid” or leading a “genocide” when it is not. It is fundamentally different from calling for its eradication either implicitly or explicitly by supporting a “one-state solution” or “Palestine from the river to the sea.” Slandering Israel as “settler-colonial” or “white supremacist” is flat-out wrong on the facts and little more than a deliberate effort to degrade its support and condition the public for its demise. As is the inclusion of Zionism among a list of forms of “oppression,” including antisemitism and anti-Palestinian racism — as Sunrise DC did in its “reflection” on its original call against the Jewish organizations.

I wish this inflammatory rhetoric was limited to the rants of obscure academics and powerless activist groups. But it is not. It has grown and spread. Increasingly in many mainstream progressive circles, it has become popular and even trendy.

Let’s be clear: Singling out the Jewish state for condemnation while ignoring others is a contemptible expression of prejudice. Yet last month, Sally Rooney, the best-selling Irish writer, announced that she would not allow an Israeli publisher to publish a Hebrew version of her latest novel because of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank — though she said nothing of her plans for China or Russia, countries governed by indisputably repressive regimes, in which her previous books have been published. Similarly, earlier this year, Ben & Jerry’s founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield supported the company’s decision to stop selling ice cream in the West Bank as an expression of their progressive principles. But when asked why the company still sells ice cream in Texas, which violates their beliefs about abortion rights, or in Georgia, which does so on voting rights, all they could do was stammer.


Noam Chomsky bashes Scottish newspaper for apologizing for antisemitism
Some 500 scholars, including the prominent linguist and Israel critic Noam Chomsky, accused a Scottish university of curbing free speech after a student publication apologized for a 2017 essay it said promoted “an unfounded antisemitic theory.”

The essay, published in the University of Glasgow’s eSharp magazine in 2017, was titled “Advocating Occupation: Outsourcing Zionist Propaganda in the UK.”

It’s author, Jane Jackman, wrote that, “Whilst initially strengthening ties with the Jewish diaspora, Israel’s longer-term objective was to conscript and resource a cohort of grassroots Zionist supporters to carry the Israeli narrative into the broader sphere of society.”

She also suggested that Jewish media downplayed an Al Jazeera series from 2017 suggesting that the pro-Israel lobby had unusual clout in the United Kingdom.

In May, the student-run magazine apologized, saying that the essay doesn’t meet “standards of scholarship. In particular, this article employs some discursive strategies, including a biased selection of sources as well as the misrepresentation of data, which promote an unfounded antisemitic theory regarding the State of Israel and its activity in the United Kingdom.”

In response to the apology, a petition on Monday accused the university of curbing free speech, The Times of London reported.

The apology by eSharp is a “capitulation by the University of Glasgow,” The Times of London quoted Chomsky as saying, and “a serious blow to academic freedom that should not be allowed to stand.”
Calling critics of Soros antisemitic undermines fight against Jew-hatred
Some of those who have attacked Soros as an international financier have done so in an antisemitic manner. The same is true of the invective still hurled at him in his native Hungary. To be fair, however, Soros' record as a currency speculator has earned him some justified resentment from those who had to pay the price of his big scores. For example, his 1992 bet against the British pound sterling earned him a cool 1 billion pounds in profit while costing the taxpayers of the United Kingdom 3.4 billion pounds. Similarly, his selling local currencies short in Malaysia and Thailand set off the 1997 financial crisis in Southeast Asia giving further ammunition to antisemitic forces in the region.

Some far-right extremists may use Soros to promote their brand of Jew-hatred. And the Republican Party has some problematic members of its own. But the notion that a man who has been investing unprecedented amounts of money in political races across America to promote a brand of left-wing politics must be considered off-limits for criticism is as absurd as it is cynical.

It's also deeply hypocritical for Democrats to play this card in this way. They have their own antisemitism problem in the form of an increasingly loud and influential left-wing faction whose embrace of intersectional ideology has helped fuel the demonization of Israel and the legitimization of attacks on American Jews. The Democratic leadership, including President Joe Biden, continues to court rather than condemn open antisemites like Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib and the growing number of so-called "progressives" in the House. So for people like Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff to be trotted out as a Democratic Jewish surrogate in Virginia – someone who has never previously been a voice on behalf of Jewish causes or pro-Israel advocacy – in order to label Youngkin as an antisemite is not only outrageous but undermines the credibility of their attempts to stand up against Jew-hatred and renders national unity on the issue impossible.

I have previously noted how partisanship has led to a situation where both sides of the partisan divide find it easy to accuse those that can be linked to their political foes of antisemitism while refusing to be honest about the haters that are their allies. What the Democrats are doing in Virginia isn't just an example of this lamentable trend; it is evidence of how doing so has made the discussion merely an excuse for peddling partisan talking points. Those who play this game are damaging the effort to combat antisemitism, not aiding it. It is long past time for them to give up this discreditable ploy.


Far-right leader Mark Collett interviews Piers Corbyn where they discuss the “Jewish Question”
Mark Collett, the leader of the far-right group Patriotic Alternative, interviewed Piers Corbyn last night where he asked Mr Corbyn about the “Jewish Question”.

Mark Collett is the former head of the BNP’s youth wing who is reported to have dabbled in Holocaust denial, collaborated with the infamous American antisemite David Duke, and espoused antisemitic and racist views. He currently leads Patriotic Alternative, a group known for its efforts to recruit youth to its white nationalist ideology. Previously, the far-right group published an online “alternative” home school curriculum condemned as “poison” and “hateful” and attempted to recruit children as young as twelve through livestreaming events on YouTube, according to The Times.

The interview, which ran for almost one hour and culminated with Mr Collett asking Mr Corbyn, the brother of the antisemitic former Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn, if he wanted “an easy question or a spicy question”. Mr Collett, asking on behalf of one of his listeners who donated money in order to have their question read out, then asked Mr Corbyn: “Is Piers aware of the Jewish question?”

The “Jewish Question” is an antisemitic phrase that arose in nineteenth-century Europe which asserted that Jewish people’s presence in society was a problem that needed to be solved. The “Final Solution of the Jewish Question” was the name given by the Nazis to their programme to exterminate six million Jews during the Holocaust. It has been reported that this term has been reclaimed by neo-Nazis and members of the alt-right, often using “JQ” as a shorthand for the phrase.

Mr Corbyn replied to Mr Collett’s question by saying: “Well I’m not quite sure what that means. I mean…I’m not a Holocaust denier in case it’s leading up to that, because certain things you say, we’re told we’re Holocaust deniers. Well, you know, the Holocaust happened and that was horrific. But that’s all I can say on that.”


Green Party chaotically adopts five definitions of antisemitism in apparent attempt to dilute International Definition of Antisemitism used by all other parties
The Green Party has adopted five distinct definitions of antisemitism in an apparent attempt to dilute the International Definition of Antisemitism used by all other parties.

In addition to adopting the International Definition of Antisemitism, the Green Party has also chosen to adopt the Jerusalem Declaration, a wrecking document intended to undermine the globally recognised International Definition.

Joshua Alston – the motion’s lead proposer – said: “This motion would put us at the vanguard of the fight against antisemitism, and at the vanguard of the fight against the global far-right while protecting our pro-Palestinian policy.”

However, many have pointed out that the International Definition and the Jerusalem Declaration are not mutually compatible. The contradictory decision has sparked a backlash from many British Jews for the Party’s apparent unwillingness to accept the Definition alone.

For contrasting reasons, the decision was also criticised by the Greens’ Policing and Domestic Safety spokesperson and former Deputy Leader, Shahrar Ali, a vocal proponent of the Jerusalem Declaration to replace the International Definition, who labelled the adoption of both a “fudge” and the “worst of all worlds”. Mr Ali speciously described the International Definition last month as “a bad definition of antisemitism [which] could disproportionately affect Palestinians, or their allies, as well as Jews – precisely because it would be counterproductive on its own terms and not help to tackle genuine antisemitism by conflating legitimate political criticism,” and supports the adoption by the Green Party of the Jerusalem Declaration, which he describes as a “good definition”.

Our Antisemitism Barometer survey of British Jews late last year found that the Greens were second only to Labour in how many respondents felt that the Party was too tolerant of antisemitism (43%).


Former Miss Iraq to Nelson Mandela’s Grandson: ‘How Dare You’ Call For Boycott of Pageant in Israel
For the first time in its 70-year history, the Miss Universe beauty pageant is coming to Israel.

The competition is set to take place on December 12 in Eilat. According to the organizers, Israel was chosen due to its “rich history, beautiful landscapes, myriad of cultures and appeal as a global tourist destination.”

But some “activists” are keen on politicizing the event, and have called on participants to drop out.

Nelson Mandela’s grandson launched a campaign to convince Miss South Africa to skip December’s pageant because of Israel’s alleged violations against the Palestinians.

Mandla Mandela’s call to boycott Israel comes after he recently praised the “deep ties” between South Africa and Communist China.

He also called it an “honor” to meet the ambassador from Saudi Arabia, not exactly a bastion of women’s or human rights.

Then the plot thickened: Sarah Idan, Miss Iraq 2017, posted a video to Twitter: The resulting sexist abuse she received from pro-Palestinian users is perhaps the best evidence in support of holding Miss Universe in Israel.
A US Police Chief’s Israel-Inspired Innovation Eviscerates ‘Deadly Exchange’ Narrative
The Washington Post ran a profile on Sunday about the police chief of a small Georgia town, who created a fairly revolutionary training program. Rather than teaching his officers to shoot at a suspect’s “center mass,” LaGrange Police Chief Louis Dekmar wants his cops — when possible — to aim lower. The objective is to incapacitate suspects, rather than kill.

After examining more than 900 fatal police shootings nationwide, Dekmar and his training sergeant found that nearly 25 percent involved suspects armed with weapons other than guns. Shooting to incapacitate, therefore, could significantly reduce deaths in police shootings. It’s too soon to know whether it will work, and there are plenty of skeptics among police.

Where did Dekmar, a past president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, get such a radical idea?

“It was in Israel during a 2004 police exchange that Dekmar first saw how agencies elsewhere practiced shooting beyond center mass to incapacitate suspects — aiming for areas of the body like the legs and hips,” the Post reported. “He was intrigued but thought the idea would never work in cities back home, partly because so many Americans have guns.”

Dekmar’s experiences in Israel, and the lessons he brought home, further expose the shameless and bigoted lie driving efforts to stop the Israeli-US police exchanges.
If boycotting Israel: Ben & Jerry's should also cut ties with China - opinion
Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s are happy to take discriminatory action against Israel because it’s politically convenient. In fact, it’s probably boosted their revenue from ideologically aligned consumers.

Meanwhile, Israel is one of the most democratic and free countries in the world. It is a beacon of freedom in the Middle East, and one of America’s greatest allies. China pales in comparison to Israel in so many ways: respect of basic human rights, religious freedom, free speech, the list goes on and on.

It is disgraceful that any company would refuse to sell products in Israel while continuing to sell in China. Unilever also has no problem selling its products in Russia, Venezuela, Syria and Iran, countries with long lists of human rights violations, and oppression of their citizens.

Companies like Unilever and Ben and Jerry’s act the way they do because they think their “woke” actions will win the favor of consumers. However, for those of us who still believe human rights abuses are never justifiable, it’s time for us as the consumers to hold companies accountable for their actions and their silence.

Englewood Cliffs may benefit from the jobs Unilever provides, but that doesn’t mean we as Americans shouldn’t call them out for their wrongs. The double standard for these companies is unacceptable, and it’s time that we call it out for what it is: hypocrisy. Our message to companies should be clear: if you want to wade into political discourse, be prepared to defend your dirty laundry that you don’t want the public to see. We should be holding Unilever and other hypocritical companies accountable for their double standards, and push them to cut their ties with the Communist Chinese government and their egregious human rights violators. If companies want to discriminate against Israel while trying to cover up their profit from forced labor, it’s going to be a rocky road for them.
Senate Republicans urge Unilever CEO to ‘reverse course’
Seven Republicans on the US Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry have sent a letter to Unilever, the parent company of Ben & Jerry’s, urging its CEO “to end the ice cream maker’s boycott, divestment and sanctions efforts against Israel.”

Ranking Member John Boozman (R-Arkansas) spearheaded the letter. He was joined by his colleagues Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), John Thune (R-South Dakota), John Hoeven (R-North Dakota), Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Mike Braun (R-Indiana).

In a letter to CEO Alan Jope, the lawmakers addressed the decision by Ben & Jerry’s, a Unilever subsidiary, to terminate its relationship with its Israeli licensee when the license agreement expires at the end of next year due to the product being sold in the West Bank and parts of east Jerusalem.

“It is our understanding the decision was made because the Israeli licensee refused to violate Israeli law and end its sales to Israelis and Palestinians living in the West Bank and parts of east Jerusalem,” they wrote. “As strong supporters of Israel, we believe the actions taken by Ben & Jerry’s are an effort to advance the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction [BDS] movement against Israel.”

“We oppose the BDS movement and believe it is important for the United States to combat the movement as a number of countries have sought to isolate Israel, our sole democratic ally in the Middle East, through BDS actions,” the letter said. “We find Ben & Jerry’s actions to be concerning, however it is our understanding that under Unilever’s acquisition agreement, you are able to override this misguided decision.”
William Barber Distances Himself From Anti-Zionism at Lecture Honoring Elie Wiesel
On Wednesday, October 27, Rev. Dr. William Barber II, gave a lecture in honor of Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel. During his lecture, which was sponsored by Boston University’s Jewish Studies Center, Barber — who has said some false and dishonest things about Israel in the past — demonstrated that while he may be an ambitious and attention-seeking opportunist, he is no dummy.

Barber, a prominent African-American activist who has previously and often described Jesus as a “brown-skinned Palestinian Jew,” didn’t use that phrase once last night — and he had nothing to say about the Arab-Israeli conflict.

He may have said the word “Israel” in reference to the prophets in the Bible, but otherwise, the word didn’t come out of his mouth. Last night’s lecture was all about poverty, and garnering support for a poverty march on Washington that Barber is planning for 2022.

Barber was on notice after CAMERA produced an article highlighting his previous statements about the Arab-Israeli conflict, including a tweet in which Barber falsely accused Israel of “targeting” Palestinian children. Barber has also downplayed Palestinian violence against Israeli civilians, including during a 2018 speech, when he said, “Palestinians have a long history of nonviolence.”

There were also other problems with Barber’s rhetoric.

For example, in the same 2018 speech, Barber obliquely accused Israel of perpetrating a “state crucifixion” against the Palestinian people. He also participated in a 2021 Easter service organized by the anti-Zionist Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, whose founder, Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek, deployed crucifixion imagery against Israel during the Second Intifada.


Convicted Member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad Participates at CAIR 2021 Gala
ICT, a.k.a. Masjid al-Qassam, was the sole sponsor of CAIR-Florida’s gala. The mosque was founded by Sami al-Arian, a university professor who set up the Southwest Florida PIJ terror network that both Fariz and the mosque were a part of. Al-Arian, as well, was involved with the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP), yet another Palestine Committee alum. At a 2017 CAIR media brunch, then-CAIR-Florida Executive Director Hassan Shibly said that CAIR-Florida depends on ICT for “programs, fundraising” and more. He said, “Really, we couldn’t do the work without the tremendous support we get from the mosque.”

Al-Arian, who, like Fariz, was convicted for his involvement in PIJ, was the subject of an August 2020 CAIR-Florida video absurdly claiming that he, a leader of a terrorist organization, suffered “civil rights abuses,” the catch-all phrase used by Islamists to discredit terror prosecutions. The group did the same, in December 2020, for the Hamas-related defendants of the Holy Land Foundation trials. CAIR said the HLF officials too endured “civil rights abuses.”

CAIR-Florida’s Communications Director Wilfredo Amr Ruiz was also a speaker for the group’s fundraising gala. This month, on his Facebook page, Ruiz posted a graphic of a painting “honoring” the six Palestinian criminals who recently escaped an Israeli prison. Of the six, five are members of PIJ and one is a commander in the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades (AMB), another group widely-recognized as a terrorist organization. These are murderous terrorists, not the political prisoners or freedom fighters that Ruiz would suggest.

CAIR fanatically conflates Palestinian terror and Muslim subversive activities with civil rights. By calling themselves a civil rights organization, CAIR operates behind a humanitarian façade, while the group aids and abets fear, destruction and violence.

CAIR has been rightfully designated as an illegal terrorist group by the United Arab Emirates – not a civil rights organization but a terrorist group. The United States should follow suit and put an end to CAIR’s operations. If Hamas and PIJ are on the US list of terror entities, CAIR belongs there as well.
NY Times Sells Comical Account of What It Means to be Israeli
A New York Times reporter and photographer go into a car. They travel across one of the world’s happiest countries—and find only anger, alienation, and regret.

The opening paragraph is phrased like a joke because New York Times coverage of Israel—its efforts to curate, conceal, and contrive the faraway land for its American readers—has descended into hilarity. Indeed, yesterday’s front-page story by Jerusalem bureau chief Patrick Kingsley, which promises to help readers “discover what it means to be Israeli today,” is a comical caricature of the paper’s own biases, exposing much more about the New York Times than about the country it is supposedly covering.

To understand why, it helps to first understand a couple of facts about that country: Israel has consistently ranked at the top of measures of global happiness. The 2021 World Happiness Report, for example, found Israelis to be among the happiest in the world, and ranked their country as 12th happiest out of 149 countries over the past three years.

In other words, if you were to ask random Israelis to “think of a ladder, with the best possible life for them being a 10, and the worst possible life being a 0,” then ask them to “rate their own current lives on that 0 to 10 scale,” chances are you’d find them saying that they are living close to the best possible life. That’s what pollsters found.

According to other polling, by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, over 88 percent of Israelis, including 76 percent of the country’s Arab citizens, were satisfied with their lives.

Nearly two in five said they were “very” satisfied.

It was this country that Kingsley set out to explore, meandering from the northern border to the southern tip over ten days to “discover” Israelis and duly report back to readers of the New York Times.
Vice News Mourns Gaza ‘Father’ Who Was Actually a Terrorist
Vice News’ blatant anti-Israel bias continues unabated.

In a compilation titled, “Inside the Final Days of a Father’s Life in Gaza,” the outlet alleges to have “uncover[ed] the tragic human consequences of the Israel-Palestine conflict through the death of Ahmed al-Mansi.”

The piece features a brief 246-word article by Ian Bell about May’s 11-day conflict between Israel and Palestinian terrorist groups, accompanied by a video, “At Home With a Gaza Family as Bombs Fall.”

Instead of making clear who al-Mansi was, readers and viewers are simply told that he is a “father.” But the description is about as relevant as it would have been for Osama Bin Laden.

In reality, Ahmed al-Mansi was identified by Hamas itself as a lieutenant in its internal security forces. Below is a picture taken from Hamas’ Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades website this year.

Nevertheless, the Vice video, an amalgamation of film taken by Gazans during the war, shows no acts of Palestinian violence — only Israeli airstrikes and the aftermath of those strikes, which are interspersed with footage of Ahmad al-Mansi and his children, who continually convey to the camera their sense of fear.

Towards the end, a paragraph of text flashes on-screen:
Ahmad Al-Manis, the father of Hala, Sarah, and Malek, was killed by an IDF strike on May 14. His brother Youssef also died in the blast.”

That is what viewers are told about the identities of the brothers. That’s it. Nothing more.
BBC report on Israel government spending plan falls short
As we have recently had cause to note on several occasions, the BBC’s relatively novel practice of framing Israeli Arabs as Palestinians does not provide audiences with a representative picture of the way in which people self-identify in that richly varied sector of the Israeli population (not all of whom, contrary to the BBC’s claim, descend from Arabs who stayed in what became Israel in 1948).

A survey conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute in 2019 showed that 13% of the respondents described their primary self-identification as Palestinian, with the institute noting that “[t]hese findings have not changed significantly since 2017”. 65% of Arabs polled said that they were “proud to be Israelis” and 85% thought that “Israel is a good place to live”.

In April 2020 the Jerusalem Post reported on a different survey.
“According to the survey, conducted by Prof. Camille Fuchs of Tel Aviv University, about a quarter of Israeli minorities (23%) define themselves primarily as “Israeli” and half (51%) self-identify as “Israeli-Arab.”

The proportion of non-Jewish people who define themselves primarily as “Palestinian” now stands at around 7%, down from 18% this time last year.”

So while the BBC’s claim that “[m]any still self-identify as Palestinian” is not strictly speaking inaccurate (given that many means “a large number of” and 7% translates to around 140,000 people), it certainly does not contribute to audience understanding of Israeli society.
NYPD Seeking Three Suspects Who Hit Brooklyn Jewish Man With ‘Unknown Projectile’
New York police are currently searching for three men who struck a Brooklyn Jewish man with a projectile from a car.

The attack took place on Oct. 11 at around 10:30 at night, the NYPD said Thursday, releasing surveillance footage that captured the attack.

The victim, who wore Orthodox Jewish clothing, was at the intersection of Montgomery Street and Albany Avenue when the three suspects approached in a dark colored Hyundai Sonata with silver wheels.

The suspects fired what police called an “unknown projectile,” striking the victim and lacerating the left side of his head. He was taken in stable condition to New York Presbyterian-Brooklyn Methodist Hospital.

The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the attack.

The three individuals being sought are all described as 20-30 years old with medium complexion. One wore a blue sweater and beige pants; another a black hooded sweater, black pants, and yellow shoes; and the third a red hooded sweater, black pants, and black and white sneakers.
Neo-Nazis Stage Crudely Antisemitic Demonstration Outside Jewish Community Center in San Antonio
Four days after they staged an antisemitic stunt at a highway overpass in Austin, Texas, the same crop of white supremacists appeared in the city San Antonio on Tuesday, where they staged a crudely antisemitic demonstration across the street from a Jewish community center.

Under the eye of local police officers, supporters of the neo-Nazi “Goyim Defense League” flaunted banners carrying vulgar antisemitic slogans that denied the Holocaust, defamed Jewish religious practices and blamed the COVID-19 pandemic on a Jewish conspiracy.

Wearing T-shirts decorated with Nazi swastikas, two of the group’s supporters held a banner reading “Honk if you know the Holocaust is fake.”

Another poster attacked the Jewish tradition of circumcising infant males at the age of eight days using pornographic language. Fliers claiming that “every single aspect of the COVID agenda is Jewish” were scattered by the group as they rallied opposite the San Antonio Jewish Community Center, where a Holocaust commemoration event was taking place.

Local leaders condemned the display.

“Amid a rise of antisemitic incidents in our community, we must stand with our Jewish neighbors and reject the hatred and ignorance that endangers the spirit of our entire city,” the city’s mayor Ron Nirenberg wrote on Twitter. “San Antonio will not tolerate these heinous acts and we will never give a platform to white nationalists.”


Jewish groups alarmed as Greece poised to ban kosher slaughter
The Hellenic Council of State, the highest court, in Greece, ruled on Tuesday to ban halal and kosher slaughter, raising alarm among Jewish religious groups concerned about infringements on religious freedoms.

The ruling saw the court revoke the standing slaughter permit, which was provided through a ministerial decision that exempted ritual Jewish and Muslim slaughter practices from the general requirement to stun animals prior to killing them.

The ruling further called on Greek lawmakers to devise a way to meet the demands of animal rights advocates and the needs of Jews and Muslims who follow the laws about food in their traditions.

"The government should regulate the issue of slaughtering animals in the context of worship in such a way as to ensure both the protection of animals from any inconvenience during slaughter and the religious freedom of religious Muslims and Jews living in Greece," Greek news site Protothema cited the ruling.
National Gallery removes “antisemitic” artwork from online exhibition
The National Gallery has removed a picture that it has deemed antisemitic from its upcoming online exhibition.

Albrecht Dürer’s Christ Among the Doctors tells the story of Jesus as a twelve-year-old debating with Jewish doctors in Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. While many artists have painted the biblical scene, some feel that Dürer’s painting from 1506 uses antisemitic overtones to depict the Jewish characters.

A National Gallery spokesperson said: “We are aware that the representation of the Doctors may cause offence and both the wall texts and the audio guide in the exhibition will acknowledge and address caricature and antisemitic portrayal in the painting.

“We have removed the image and accompanying text from our online gallery of selected exhibited works as we felt that in this format there was not adequate space for the interpretation required for this work.”

The exhibition is set to launch next month and will focus on the work of Dürer.
Startup Genome Ranks Tel Aviv University 5th in the World in Entrepreneurship
Tel Aviv University was ranked fifth in the world in the ranking of Startup Genome (a world-leading innovation policy advisory and research firm) for 2021. The prestigious ranking reflects the involvement of alumni of the world’s leading universities in entrepreneurship and in the establishment of scaleup companies (companies that have advanced beyond the startup stage and their worth is estimated at $50m or more). Link here for the full ranking.The top four institutions in the ranking are leading American universities – Stanford, MIT, UC Berkeley, and Harvard, with Tel Aviv University coming right after. Tel Aviv University is the only non-American university in the ranking’s top 10, which also include Cornell, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University. According to the ranking, about 1,300 TAU alumni have founded active companies in a vast range of areas over the last decades, and about 40 of these have attained the status of scaleup companies.

This designation joins the PitchBook’s, which annually places TAU among the top 10 institutions producing venture capital-backed entrepreneurs Here too, TAU is the only non-American university ranked in the top 10.

Prof. Moshe Zviran, Dean of the Coller School of Management and Chief Entrepreneurship and Innovation Officer at TAU: “This is a very significant achievement for both Tel Aviv University and the State of Israel. The Startup Genome ranking is a standard of entrepreneurial excellence of the highest level in the world. Israel in general, and TAU as its leading entrepreneurial university, form fertile ground for uniquely creative young entrepreneurs who establish independent companies and hold key positions in the world’s leading corporations. The rich toolbox which our students acquire during their studies serves them well when they enter the job market. We are proud of our alumni and students for this achievement and will continue to fortify TAU’s position in the top echelons of global entrepreneurship.”
High Hopes for Israeli Cell Therapy for Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients, Aiming to Help ‘Live With the Virus’
As vaccine effectiveness has been found to wane over time, an Israeli clinical-stage biotech company is optimistic about the authorization of its experimental cell-based drug therapy to treat pneumonia and respiratory distress suffered by severe COVID-19 patients, hoping to keep them out of hospitals.

“The more vaccinated people we will have the less COVID we will have. Nevertheless, vaccination effectiveness reduces so dramatically after four or five months, even after second vaccination, and the third one is not the end of the story — which allowed us to understand that COVID is not going anywhere,” Shai Meretzki, founder and CEO of Bonus Biogroup told The Algemeiner. “The ability to have a therapy which specifically heals severe COVID-19 patients and gets them out of hospitals is amazing, because it means that we can live with the virus.”

Bonus Biogroup, which focuses on the development of biomedical tissue engineering and cell therapy products, announced this month that it has concluded a Phase II clinical trial to assess the safety and efficacy of its MesenCure therapy in 50 severe COVID-19 patients — who suffer from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and other life-threatening lung diseases, and have a mortality rate of 35 percent.

The Haifa, Israel-based company expects to publish results from the trial in November.
Yeshiva University Establishes Rabbi Jonathan Sacks Center for Values and Leadership
With the commemoration of the first yahrzeit of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, who served as chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Great Britain and the Commonwealth, Yeshiva University announced the creation of the Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks Center for Values and Leadership, founded by Terri and Andrew Herenstein.

The new center will be dedicated to the dissemination of the rabbi’s leadership lessons and values in classrooms, communities and through public discussion.

It will also be geared to educate students, communal leaders, teachers, executives and authors using the timeless teachings of Judaism, embodying core Torah values and applying Jewish wisdom in addressing the challenges of modern times, both within the community and beyond.

“Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks uniquely exemplified and articulated Yeshiva University’s worldview and mission to the broader Jewish people and the world at large,” said Ari Berman, president of the university. “While his loss left us bereft, his words and teachings continue to inspire and inform. This new center, powered by his teachings, will be dedicated to both transmitting values and educating next generations’ leaders.”

Sacks died on Nov. 7, 2020, at age 72 after being diagnosed with cancer.

“We are excited to partner in this deeply impactful project,” said Terri Herenstein. “Through his words and life lessons, Rabbi Sacks has been a guiding light for our entire family. A number of years ago, we were fortunate to host Rabbi Sacks and Lady Elaine for Shabbat, and his Torah continues to illuminate our Shabbat table and spiritual lives to this day.”
Media company creates Yom Kippur war simulation game






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