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Saturday, January 28, 2023

01/28 Links: 14-year-old boy, married couple among those killed in Neve Yaakov terror attack; Father, son shot by 13-year-old at City of David in second attack in Jerusalem in 24 hours

From Ian:

1st Jerusalem terror attack victims named as couple who ran to help those shot
Two of the seven people shot and killed in a terror shooting attack in Jerusalem’s Neve Ya’akov neighborhood were named Saturday as couple Eli and Natali Mizrahi.

Eli’s father, Shimon, said the pair had gone outside to try and help those who had been shot, and were killed by the terrorist at point-blank range.

Eli, 48, and 45-year-old Natali had been married for just two years.

“We were in the middle of our meal, and there were several shots and my son jumped up. We yelled at him, ‘Don’t go anywhere,'” Shimon said.

“It seems that he was speaking with the terrorist, who pulled out a gun and killed him. [Eli] and his wife were murdered,” Shimon said. ‘[The terrorist] was standing next to his car and he shot them. He got into the car and fled.” Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Newsletter email address

The other five victims killed when the terrorist opened fire on Friday evening were not immediately named.

At least three others were wounded — Hadassah’s Mount Scopus Hospital said Saturday morning that a 15-year-old boy injured in the attack was now fully conscious and his condition defined as moderate.

However, a 24-year-old remained sedated on a ventilator. His condition was serious but stable. In addition, a 60-year-woman was also in moderate condition.

Police said Saturday that 42 people were arrested in connection with the attack, many of them relatives or acquaintances of the terrorist, Alqam Khayri, 21, a resident of East Jerusalem with no prior terror-related offenses.

Palestinian media said the gunman’s father was among those summoned by police for questioning.
Additional victims of Jerusalem terror shooting ID’d as 14-year-old boy, father of 3
Additional victims killed in the terror shooting in Jerusalem’s Neve Ya’akov neighborhood on Friday night were named Saturday evening.

The attack left seven people dead, two of whom were identified earlier in the day. The shooting was followed by another terror attack Saturday

The third victim was named as Rafael Ben Eliyahu, 56.

Ben Eliyahu, a resident of the area, was survived by his wife and three children. He worked for the state-owned Israel Post.

The fourth victim of the shooting attack was identified as 14-year-old Asher Natan. There was no immediate further information about him.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said another of the victims was a Ukrainian citizen, who he did not name. According to Hebrew media reports, the woman worked as a caretaker.

The other two victims have not yet been publicly identified.


After Jerusalem attacks, cabinet to discuss expediting gun licenses for civilians
In the wake of the Jerusalem terror attacks, ministers were reportedly set to discuss a number of steps at a Saturday evening meeting of the high-level security cabinet, including expediting the issuing of firearms licenses for civilians and providing further funding for the purchase of guns.

A terrorist killed seven people in an attack near a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Neve Ya’akov neighborhood on Friday evening. The shooter, a resident of East Jerusalem, was later killed in a shootout with officers while attempting to flee, according to police.

In a second terror attack on Saturday morning, two men were seriously injured by a 13-year-old shooter near Jerusalem’s Old City. That shooting was brought to an end when two members of the group targeted by the attacker — one of them an Israel Defense Forces officer — returned fire.

A senior political source told the Kan public broadcaster that the cabinet will consider speeding up the permitting process for Israelis who have already applied for gun licenses and insisted ministers were not currently looking to ease the criteria to receive a fireman. However, the report said ministers will examine the current criteria to possess a pistol and look at a number of ways to make it easier to receive a gun license.

Gun control in Israel is relatively strict, and firearm licenses are generally only granted to those who can show a need for extra security in their line of work or daily life.

According to Hebrew-language media reports, ministers will also discuss the promotion of a law to allow the deportation of the families of terrorists.

Netanyahu’s Likud party previously sought to advance such a measure in a previous government he led, though it was opposed by the then-attorney general, who said the expulsions would violate Israeli and international law.

Ministers will reportedly deliberate permitting the immediate sealing of the homes of terror suspects as well as the arrest of their family members and associates. Police said Saturday morning that they had detained 42 relatives and associates of 21-year-old Alqam Khayri, the terrorist who killed seven in the Neve Ya’akov attack.

Furthermore, ministers will hold a discussion on sending additional military reinforcements to the West Bank and the issuing of work permits for Palestinians, reports said.

“There will be a quick and powerful response,” a senior political source was quoted as saying by Channel 12 news.

Earlier Saturday, police said they were raising the national terror alert to its highest level and commissioner Kobi Shabtai ordered a team of officers from the elite Yamam counterterrorism unit be stationed in Jerusalem following the two attacks.
Police Urging Israeli Gun Owners to Carry their Weapons Everywhere
The political and security cabinet is meeting Saturday night following the attacks of the last day to discuss responses. The issues on the agenda are reinforcement of police forces; immediate sealing of terrorists’ homes––which was not the procedure in the past; arresting family members and associates of terrorists; accelerating the registration and budgeting for thousands of weapons for civilians; and promotion of a law to deport terrorists’ families. Meanwhile, Police urge licensed gun owners to carry them with them wherever they go.

Speaking of police response, Neve Yaakov residents who watched in horror Friday night’s massacre, insisted the police took a long time to respond and arrive at the scene, even though the nearest precinct is a mere 300 meters away. The Shafat station of the Jerusalem district, located 300 from the massacre, controls the entire area of northern Jerusalem, including Neve Ya’akov, Beit Hanina, Shuafat, and Pisgat Ze’ev. In fact, it is located in the middle of the terrorist’s escape route, between the scene of the attack and the Ramallah intersection, where the terrorist was neutralized.

The police insist they showed up five minutes after the event had ended, at which point the terrorist had already been eliminated. Credible? National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir should investigate.

Ben Gvir, for his part, was involved in other matters. In an urgent press conference, the National Security minister said that as soon as he heard about the attack, “I came to the Prime Minister with two High Court petitions to seal the terrorist’s home on the spot. We had a late-night discussion and agreed to seal the home on the spot, to send a very clear message. At 8 AM it was on the AG’s desk, but to my astonishment, to this moment she does not allow us to seal the house.”

The AG released a statement saying, “As was made clear to Minister Ben Gvir by the professionals in the security authorities and the justice ministry, decisions about action by the political echelon must be supported by a factual foundation which he must present. Accordingly, just an hour ago, the security opinions were completed and handed to the AG, and these are currently being reviewed.”
Father, son shot by 13-year-old at City of David in second attack in Jerusalem in 24 hours
A 13-year-old resident of east Jerusalem opened fire on a group of pedestrians walking home from Shabbat services on Saturday morning near the City of David archaeological site in Jerusalem.

A 47-year-old father and his 22-year-old son were shot by the child terrorist.

The younger man, an off-duty IDF paratrooper officer, was able to shoot back and wound the terrorist, as shown by security cameras from the site. The video showed the youth lurking behind parked cars with a handgun – and when a group of Jewish pedestrians passed, he sprang out and started firing.

The father was reported in moderate condition and his son in serious but stable condition on Saturday night. The terrorist was in serious condition.

Police later raided the home of the youth in Silwan and arrested his familiy members, including his mother and father. Police believe the child stole the handgun he used from a family member without them knowing about it.

According to KAN News, the terrorist had posted on Facebook a message to his mother saying, “Mom, please don’t be angry with me,” before setting off on the attack.

The people injured in the incident

“We quickly arrived at the scene and saw the victims. They were fully conscious and suffered gunshot wounds to their upper bodies,” said MDA paramedic Fadi Dekidak. “We quickly put them in an intensive care unit and evacuated them with life-saving medical treatment to Shaare Zedek Hospital.”


‘The nation grieves with the families of those murdered’
Israeli President Isaac Herzog extended condolences on Saturday night to the families of the victims of two terrorist attacks in Jerusalem in the previous 24 hours.

“My heart breaks at news of the horrific terror attacks over Shabbat in Jerusalem. We have lost seven innocent civilians in a murderous terror attack, who had only just welcomed Shabbat into their homes and communities. May their memories be a blessing,” said Herzog in a statement.

“This morning in synagogue, as the cantor recited the El Malei Rachamim prayer for the souls of the victims of the attack, there was not a single dry eye among the worshippers, including me. We were all moved together. These awful terror attacks remind us again of a simple and painful truth: Whatever disagreements we may have between us, against our enemies, who want to harm us and rise up to kill us, we must maintain our unity,” added the Israeli president.

Seven people were killed and several others wounded in a terrorist shooting attack on Friday night at a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Neve Ya’akov neighborhood.

Israeli security forces have since arrested dozens of suspects in connection with the attack. Many of the more than 40 people detained are relatives or acquaintances of the terrorist, 21-year-old Alqam Khayri, from the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of a-Tur, who was shot and killed by police during the attack.

On Saturday morning, another Palestinian terrorist shot an Israeli father and son near the entrance to the City of David National Park adjacent to Jerusalem’s Old City.

The Magen David Adom emergency medical service said the victims were treated at the scene for gunshot wounds to the upper body and then taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in serious but stable condition. The father’s condition subsequently improved to moderate.

Police said the attacker, a 13-year-old from the nearby Silwan/Shiloach neighborhood, was shot and neutralized by armed civilians. He was arrested and taken to Hadassah Medical Center on Mount Scopus for treatment.
7 dead in east Jerusalem terror attack at ultra-Orthodox synagogue



Anti-government protests to begin with minute’s silence for Jerusalem terror attack
Organizers of the protests against the government’s plans to remake Israel’s judiciary and weaken its powers said Saturday that the demonstrations would begin with a minute of silence in the wake of Friday night’s deadly Jerusalem terror attack.

“The murderous attack last night in Jerusalem tears the heart and soul. We share in the pain and mourning of the families of the murdered and wish for the recovery of the injured,” organizers said in a statement.

The main Tel Aviv event will be held without music as a mark of respect for the families of those murdered, the statement read.

Rallies were to be held Saturday evening, as they were last week, at Tel Aviv’s Habima Square and near the Azrieli Center towers.

Additional protests were expected in Jerusalem, Haifa, Beersheba, Herzliya and other cities.

The events are all expected to be held under heavy security, after forces were bolstered across the country and in the West Bank after seven people were shot dead by a Palestinian terrorist outside a synagogue in the Neve Yaakov neighborhood in East Jerusalem.

Police said Saturday morning that the national alert had been raised to its highest level but have not clarified if and how the policing of the protests may be impacted.


NYPD to increase patrols city-wide after Jerusalem terror attack
In response to the terrorist attack at the synagogue in Neve Yaakov, in which seven people were killed, the NYPD announced that it is increasing patrols across New York City, including at synagogues, Yeshiva World News reported.

Inspector Richie Taylor, the NYPD Commanding Officer of Community Affairs, told the news outlet that the NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey ordered extra officers to patrol outside synagogues and other houses of worship across the city.

The increase in patrols is said to be city-wide. The NYPD told Yeshiva World News that it is not in response to a specific threat but rather being done as a precaution.


Washington, UN, Abu Dhabi and others condemn ‘horrific’ Jerusalem shooting
Israeli allies around the world as well as Israeli political figures condemned a Palestinian terror attack Friday evening at a Jerusalem synagogue that left at least seven dead and several others wounded, with many of them highlighting that it took place on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

At the start of the US State Department’s daily press briefing, the deputy spokesman opened by noting the attack in Jerusalem.

“This is absolutely horrific. Our thoughts, prayers and condolences go out to those killed and injured in this heinous act of violence. We condemn this apparent terror attack in the strongest terms,” Vedant Patel said.

“Our commitment to Israel’s security remains ironclad and we are in direct touch with our Israeli partners and our thoughts are with the Israeli people,” he added.

Patel said he did not believe the attack would impact Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s planned visit to the region early next week. Blinken’s trip will come as CIA chief William Burns reportedly holds talks in Israel and the West Bank and less than two weeks after US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan also visited.

Condemning the shooting, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre noted that it “tragically occurred on International Holocaust Remembrance Day when the memory of those lost in the Holocaust is commemorated around the world.”

“The United States will extend our full support to the government and people of Israel. Accordingly, the president has directed his national security team to engage immediately with Israeli counterparts to offer all appropriate support in assisting the wounded and bringing the perpetrators of this horrible crime to justice,” the White House press secretary added in a statement.
Biden calls Netanyahu to denounce ‘horrific’ Jerusalem terror attack
US President Joe Biden spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Friday, condemning what he called a “horrific terror attack” outside a Jerusalem synagogue in which a Palestinian gunman killed seven people.

“The president made clear that this was an attack against the civilized world,” the White House said in a readout of the call, adding that Biden also “stressed the ironclad US commitment to Israel’s security.”

Biden offered support to Israel’s government and people following the attack.

“The President stressed the ironclad US commitment to Israel’s security, and agreed that his team would remain in constant touch with their Israeli counterparts,” the White House said. There was no immediate statement on the call from the Prime Minister’s Office.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US “condemns in the strongest terms the horrific terrorist attack.”

“We mourn those killed in the attack, and our thoughts are with the injured, including children. The notion of people being targeted as they leave a house of worship is abhorrent,” Blinken said.

US Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides also denounced the shooting, expressing shock and disgust at the “horrific act of violence,” as did the EU’s envoy to the Jewish state and the French embassy, among others.

Biden welcomed Israel’s new government when it took office late last month, saying he looked forward to working with Netanyahu to advance regional peace, but ties between Jerusalem and Washington have been tense due to the Israeli government’s hardline agenda and fraught relationship with the Palestinians.

Blinken is set to visit Israel and the West Bank next week for meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leadership. The trip will take place less than two weeks after a similar visit by White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.


Jerusalem attack unanimously condemned at UN Security Council session on conflict
All 15 members of the United Nations Security Council condemned Friday’s deadly terror attack in East Jerusalem during an emergency session that was scheduled a day earlier to discuss a deadly IDF raid in the Palestinian city of Jenin, two UN diplomats told The Times of Israel.

The meeting was the second emergency session that the council has held on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the past month, as tensions have surged since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline government took office late last month.

Had the session been held 24 hours earlier, the focus of many members might have been on the Israeli military’s tactics in an operation that left nine Palestinians dead in Jenin.

Instead, council members paid significant attention to the attack in Jerusalem that saw a Palestinian terrorist open fire at civilians outside of a synagogue in the Neve Ya’akov neighborhood, killing seven people and injuring at least three others, the diplomats said.

The military operation in Jenin targeted a terror cell that was preparing an imminent attack, the IDF said. Most of the deaths were members of the cell or gunmen, although at least one civilian was also killed.

The Security Council representatives from China, France, Russian Federation, the UK, the US, Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates all condemned the Jerusalem attack.


PA doubles down on decision to end security coordination
The Palestinian Authority said on Saturday that it will proceed with its decision to end security coordination with Israel, regardless of demands by the US and European Union to reverse the move.

The decision to end the security coordination was announced last Thursday after an emergency meeting of the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah. It came in response to the killing of nine Palestinians, most of them gunmen, during an Israeli military operation in Jenin Refugee Camp earlier in the day.

“The Palestinian leadership affirmed the continuation of implementing the decisions it took during its meeting last Thursday, and it will continue to work with international and Arab parties to provide support and protection for the Palestinian people,” the Palestinian leadership said in a statement after holding another meeting in Ramallah on Saturday to discuss the latest tensions and violence.

Palestinian leadership points fingers at Israel
The Palestinian leadership said it holds Israel fully responsible for the “dangerous escalation because of its crimes,” noting that 31 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces since the beginning of January.

The Palestinian leadership also condemned Israel for is “colonial settlement actions, policies of ethnic cleansing and apartheid, and the assaults on Islamic and Christian holy sites.”

“These policies are a result of the Israeli occupation government’s evasion of its commitment to implement the signed agreements and its violation of the resolutions of international legitimacy,” the Palestinian leadership said.

It warned that Israel’s current policies and measures “will lead to further deterioration and threaten security and stability in the entire region.” It also repeated is appeal to the international community and the US administration to oblige the Israeli government to “stop its unilateral actions.”
Palestinian factions welcome Jerusalem ‘heroic operation’
Several Palestinian factions have welcomed Friday night’s shooting attack in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Neve Yaakov, where seven people were killed. They said the attack was a “natural response to Israeli crimes" and showed that the Palestinians in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip were united in the fight against Israel.

The terrorist was identified as Kheiry Alkam, 21, a resident of east Jerusalem.

In some parts of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, Palestinians took to the streets to celebrate the terror attack by handing out sweets and launching fireworks.

The attack came one day after some Palestinian factions threatened to avenge the killing of nine Palestinians, most of them gunmen, during an Israeli military operation against Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists in Jenin Refugee Camp.

Hamas spokesmen welcomed the attack in Neve Yaakov and called for stepping up the “resistance” against Israel.

“The Jerusalem operation is a natural response to the Jenin massacre,” said Mohammed Hamadeh, a spokesperson for Hamas. “Our people don’t forget the blood of their martyrs and avenge their death at the appropriate time and place.”

Hamadeh said the Palestinians were “united behind the resistance.” He added: “The battle with the occupation is a long one. Our people will continue the path of resistance as a strategic option to achieve their aspirations.”


Palestinians celebrate Jerusalem attack across Judea and Samaria, Gaza
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi has ordered the reinforcement of troops in Judea and Samaria in preparation for a possible escalation in the wake of the deadly Palestinian terrorist attack on Friday night in Jerusalem.

Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai similarly ordered the alert level raised to the highest level in the capital after seven people were killed in a shooting attack at a synagogue in the northern Neve Ya’akov neighborhood.

“This is one of the most heinous terrorist attacks that we have seen in recent years, and a significant rise in the level of terror,” said Israel Police International Spokesman Dean Elsdunne.

The moves were announced after a security assessment led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who visited the scene of the attack.

“Our hearts go out to the families of the wounded and dead. We have assessed the situation and decided on some immediate actions. We will act decisively,” said Netanyahu.

“The Security Cabinet will convene tomorrow after Shabbat is over. I call on citizens not to take the law into their own hands; for this we have the army and police that receive instructions from the government,” added the premier.


Israeli envoy: The UN, founded on the ashes of the Holocaust, is failing its purpose
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, lashed the world body for its disproportionate focus on Israel and for antisemitism in its ranks in a speech to the General Assembly on Friday marking Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“The UN was founded upon the ashes of the Holocaust. It was established to ensure such darkness never befell humanity again,” Erdan said. “It is a living monument to the horrors suffered by the Jewish people.”

“As such, it is the UN’s responsibility to lead the world in combating hatred, yet when it comes to fighting antisemitism, sadly, the UN ignores its purpose,” he said to an audience that included UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Holocaust survivors and Erdan’s parents, the children of survivors.

“Educational programs are very, very important. Learning about history is crucial. But at a time when antisemitism is on the rise and Holocaust denial is spreading, words are not enough,” Erdan said. “In the past year, what has the UN done to combat bigotry? There’s a politicized — we all know it — and an institutionalized bias among member states. This bias is the source of the disproportionate number of anti-Israel resolutions.”

The UN General Assembly condemned Israel more than all other countries combined last year, and the Jewish State is the only country with a mandated agenda item at every session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

“Mandating Israel bashing at every council session, singling out the one and only Jewish state — yes, it is antisemitism, and on Holocaust Remembrance Day it is our duty to call out this heinous double standard,” Erdan said.

He blasted the UN for inaction against officials who have made antisemitic statements, including two UN-appointed investigators into Israel, Miloon Kothari and Francesca Alabanese.
Serving member of the British Army is charged with terror offence: Suspect, 21, is set to appear in court
A 21-year-old serving member of the British Army has been charged with a terror offence, the Metropolitan Police said.

Daniel Abed Khalife, of Beaconside, Stafford, was charged on Friday over two incidents in August 2021 and January of this year.

He is accused of attempting to 'elicit information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism', at Beaconside, Stafford, on August 2 2021.

He has also been charged with placing an article 'with the intention of inducing in another a belief that the said article was likely to explode or ignite and thereby cause personal injury or damage to property' at Beaconside, Stafford, on or before January 2 of this year.

Khalife is in police custody and is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Saturday.
Student nurse charged with possession of a homemade bomb outside Leeds hospital, court hears
A student nurse has appeared in court accused of planning a terrorist attack at an RAF base after he was allegedly found with a pressure cooker bomb outside a hospital in Leeds.

Mohammad Farooq, 27, is accused of constructing a viable bomb made from a pressure cooker and homemade explosive mixture.

He was arrested in the early hours of last Friday outside the maternity unit at St James’s University Hospital in Leeds, where he had been due to work a shift.

His actions at the hospital are not alleged to have been motivated by terrorism but a grudge towards another member of staff.

Mr Farooq, from Leeds, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday from a police station in Bradford wearing a grey tracksuit.

He spoke to confirm his name, address and date of birth but was not asked to enter pleas to the three charges he faces.

Mr Farooq is charged with one count of engaging in conduct with the intention of committing acts of terrorism between July 12 and last year and January 20.

Prosecutor Mark Luckett said he allegedly had instructions to assemble a homemade explosive device, bought equipment and made the bomb, researched the RAF base online, and engaged in reconnaissance of the alleged target.

He is also charged with possessing an explosive substance on January 20 with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property.
MEMRI: International Holocaust Remembrance Day In Iran: Iran's Islamic Regime Denies The Holocaust
The Iranian regime is known for its statements denying the Holocaust, and for organizing and encouraging activity promoting this denial – including via conferences, exhibitions, and cartoon contests. It also supports Holocaust deniers outside Iran.

While over the years Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has called the Holocaust a "myth" that never happened, in recent years, he and other Iranian regime spokesmen have adopted a more sophisticated approach. Along with expressing doubt about whether the Holocaust actually happened, they also call defiantly for allowing research to "determine" whether it did or not, and criticize the West for banning such research, particularly European countries where Holocaust denial is outlawed.

Khamenei's Holocaust denial statements have usually preceded Iranian national holidays such as the anniversary of the founding of the Islamic regime, in February, or the Persian New Year – Nowruz – in March. He also makes such statements in advance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27 every year.

Such statements are also being made recently against the backdrop of blatant anti-Islam and anti-Khamenei cartoons published in France, in October 2020 and in the past month. Recently, Iranian regime representatives have protested that the West, and particularly France, were insulting Islam and Khamenei in the name of free speech. They say that the West must treat insulting things sacred to Islam in the name of free speech as it treats raising doubts about the Holocaust.

This report reviews MEMRI reports and MEMRI TV clips of Holocaust denial statements by Iranian regime officials and regime mouthpieces, and includes an Appendix of MEMRI reports and clips on this topic. MEMRI is also publishing an in-depth report on Holocaust denial in the Arab world.
Iranian Human Rights Leader: ‘We Are in the Middle of our Revolution’
Iranian citizens "are in the middle of our revolution," according to a leading Iranian journalist and human rights activist.

Masih Alinejad, an Iranian dissident living in the United States and key figure in the protest movement that has swept across the Islamic Republic over the past five months, said in an interview that the demonstrations have transformed into a full-blown revolution that aims to depose the hardline regime.

"We are in the middle of our revolution," Alinejad told Sen. James Lankford (R., Okla.) in the latest episode of his podcast, an advance copy of which was provided to the Washington Free Beacon. "It’s not just because of the hijab [head covering]. Now, it’s beyond that. Iranians are actually chanting against the dictator."

"This is just the beginning and we want to end the gender apartheid regime," Alinejad said.

Her remarks are the latest sign that the protests in Iran—which have been heavily censored by the Iranian regime in a bid to dimish world attention—have become a referendum on the regime itself. They began last year after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was murdered by the regime’s morality policy for not properly wearing her head scarf. The protests began with women and young people taking to the streets to protest Amini’s death, but now Iranians of all ages are calling for the regime’s demise.

"It’s not just the young generation, it's not just small cities, it’s everywhere and it’s mixed," Alinejad told Lankford. "People are united. This is the first time in our history."

Iran, Alinejad said, has killed more than 700 people since the protests started and have imprisoned more than 19,000. "These are not numbers, these are not statistics, 50 of them are on death row, 5 of them got hanged," she said. Government security forces also have "raped woman in prison" and blinded others, according to Alinejad.


Three Men Accused of Conspiracy to Murder NY-Based Iranian Dissident
A US federal court unsealed murder-for-hire and money laundering charges against three members of an eastern European criminal organization who allegedly plotted the murder of a US-based Iranian dissident at the behest of the Iranian regime.

The three men have been named as Rafat Amirov, a resident of Iran; Polad Omarov, who resides in both the Czech Republic and Slovenia; and Khalid Mehdiyev, the sole US resident among the indicted, who is based in Yonkers, NY.

Last July, Mehdiyev was apprehended carrying an AK-47-style assault rifle near the Brooklyn home of Masih Alinejad, a prominent critic of the Iranian regime. According to the indictment, Mehdiyev was “about to execute the attack on the victim” when he was arrested.

Alinejad had been targeted “for exercising the rights to which every American citizen is entitled,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement in Friday.

Noting that Alinejad had “publicized the Iranian Government’s human rights abuses; discriminatory treatment of women; suppression of democratic participation and expression; and use of arbitrary imprisonment, torture, and execution,” Garland declared: “We will not tolerate attempts by a foreign power to threaten, silence, or harm Americans. We will stop at nothing to identify, find, and bring to justice those who endanger the safety of the American people.”

Separately, FBI Director Christopher Wray said that the plot to assassinate Alinejad “shows how far Iranian actors are willing to go to silence critics, even attempting to assassinate a U.S. citizen on American soil.”

Added Wray: “We are determined to safeguard the rights of all Americans from the oppressive reach of hostile regimes.”

According to the Justice Department, after Mehdiyev’s initial surveillance of Alinejad’s residence, Amirov and Omarov transferred $30,000 in cash for him to purchase an AK-47-style assault rifle along with two magazines for ammunition and at least 66 rounds. Mehdiyev bragged in electronic communications that he had procured for himself a “war machine.”


Hard-left Corbynite who was once forced to apologise for an anti-Semitic slur is tipped to become education union leader
A hard-left Corbynite who was once forced to apologise for an anti-Semitic comment is tipped to become leader of the National Education Union, the Mail can reveal.

Daniel Kebede, a trade unionist and former primary school teacher, is campaigning to take over the leadership of the largest teaching union.

A self-professed ‘anti-racist’, he was once compelled to say sorry for using an anti-Semitic phrase while defending disgraced former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn online.

Mr Kebede, 35, claimed those close to the downfall of Mr Corbyn were being paid ‘30 pieces of silver’ for book deals – the price for which Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus Christ in the Bible.

The phrase was used by the Nazis to suggest that the Jews were traitors and responsible for Christ’s death.

He has posed in ‘absolute solidarity’ with Mick Lynch and told of his ‘privilege’ of watching the RMT baron ‘run rings around the media’ while he caused misery to millions with strikes.

His anti-Semitic remark and eagerness to strike were last night slammed by MPs who said Mr Kebede was another ‘looney-Lefty’ within the union’s ranks. Former education minister Sir John Hayes said: ‘The last thing we want is for teachers, who for the most part do such a great job, having a Bolshevik represent their interests.’


CNN Publishes Cartoon Depicting Jews Celebrating Passover Surrounded by Blood
If CNN needs to flirt with antisemitic tropes in order to report on controversial Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, what does that say about the network?

In an article dated January 25, 2023 titled “As Israel bans Palestinian flags, one artist protests with his brush,” CNN’s Abeer Salman seemed to go out of her way to not just include ahistorical swipes at the Jewish state, but also – in borrowing from centuries of antisemitic blood libels – associate the holiday of Passover with Jews benefiting from the shedding of blood of non-Jews.

The focus of the article is a portrait by the largely unknown, far-left Israeli cartoonist Michael Rozanov – who goes by “Mysh” – that portrays Ben-Gvir in the colors of the Palestinian flag. The portrait followed Ben-Gvir’s controversial decision to order police to remove Palestinian flags from public spaces.

Such is Mysh’s significance and the attention that his Ben-Gvir portrait drew that “dozens” of Israel’s 9.3 million citizens also asked him to draw their portraits in the colors. Meanwhile, Ben-Gvir’s decision was widely criticized by much of the rest of Israeli society, including editorials in national newspapers.

However, CNN and Salman did not limit themselves to publishing a puff piece on a far-left cartoonist lampooning a controversial minister. Instead, they inexplicably included a cartoon recalling multiple antisemitic themes, as well as unchallenged, ahistorical commentary depicting Israelis as needlessly cruel.

Of all Mysh’s other cartoons, Salman chose to highlight one that depicts a Jewish family celebrating Passover, surrounded by a sea of blood. The imagery echoes multiple antisemitic themes and conspiracy theories. For one, it flirts with the ancient blood libel that Jews use the blood of non-Jews during Passover to bake matzah. For another, it plays on themes of Jews accruing benefits at the expense of the blood and freedom of others. Aside from being a vacuous viewpoint of the conflict, it plays into the countless conspiracies of Jews manipulating the world for their own selfish benefit.


An Idiot’s Guide to Glowing Coverage in the New York Times
Searching for sympathetic coverage from the New York Times? Here’s a hack: Earn an advanced degree, then commit a violent crime in the service of your radical politics.

We have closely followed the cases of Urooj Rahman and Colinford Mattis, the New York City attorneys who tossed a Molotov cocktail into a police cruiser in May of 2020. Or, as the New York Times put it, their legal careers were sidetracked when "a Molotov cocktail ignited the center console of an empty police car during a Black Lives Matter protest." Rotten luck!

Rahman went to Fordham. Mattis went to Princeton and NYU. They are precisely the sort of well-resourced and well-connected people that the New York Times is always telling us the criminal justice system favors—unjustifiably.

The Trump administration reached a plea deal with the defendants that discarded six of the seven counts against them, but argued that the incident qualified for a so-called terrorism enhancement that would have made them eligible for steeper prison sentences. Then the Biden Justice Department rolled out the red carpet, allowing Rahman and Mattis to cop to a lesser charge and pressing the court for a light sentence.

Enter the New York Times, on the eve of Mattis’s sentencing, for a window into how the mainstream media’s blinkered view of the world skews news coverage. The paper omitted the details of Team Biden’s lenient approach but swooped in to inform readers that Rahman and Mattis are "both first-time offenders" who "had been high achievers." Rahman was "the primary caretaker of her aging mother," Mattis of three foster children.

Funny, we never got those sorts of loving details about the hundreds of January 6 defendants, like Thomas Webster, the former New York Police Department officer and retired Marine convicted of assault, or Dustin Thompson, the Ohio exterminator who stole a bottle of bourbon and a coat rack from the Capitol. Whether they were first-time offenders, high achievers, caretakers for aging parents, or guardians of foster children, we’ll never know.


Horseshoe antisemitism: Jew hatred on the far Right, Left - opinion
THE OTHER speaker to address antisemitism also grew up in New York. Michelle Rojas-Tal lived in a housing project in the Bronx. Her mother is Jewish, and her late father was a non-Jew from Puerto Rico. She calls herself a “hybrid-Jew,” a term she urges the Jewish community to adopt for the now majority of Jewish college students who have only one Jewish parent.

Unlike Lipstadt, who grew up with a strong Jewish education, Rojas-Tal’s awareness of her Jewish heritage came after 9/11, before which she knew or cared little about Judaism or Israel. She’s proof that there can be a wake-up call for young American Jews. The “Tal” in her name comes from her husband, Oran Tal, the IDF guard on her Birthright Israel trip.

They lived in Israel for a decade before being drafted by Hillel International to work with young leaders on campuses. Rojas-Tal is currently the Zionist scholar-in-residence for Hadassah’s 300,000 members. Aged 38, she describes herself as “a hybrid millennial.” Should you be confused, “millennial” means any person born between the early 1980s and late ‘90s. They’re also called Generation Y, or Gen Y. Expanding the statistics of the Pew report (by the Pew Research Center, a think tank based in Washington), Rojas-Tal believes that as many as 80% of the Jews on campus are hybrids like her.

One of Rojas-Tal’s golden rules when confronting antisemitism is to speak to the person “from where they’re coming from.” If you’re like me, dear reader, a farbrent (burning) Zionist with a short fuse when it comes to insults to my country or my people, that’s not easy. But that’s what she does. “It’s not true that Gen Y’ers are passive. Just the opposite,” she says. “They want to be moved. You have to start with their own identity and what they don’t know, or you’re not going to get anywhere.”

When she asks the audience who has a guard at their synagogue entrance, every hand, including mine, goes up. Where’s the threat? Horseshoe antisemitism, she says, refers to the theory in which the far Left and the far Right hold a common set of anti-Jewish prejudicial attitudes that distinguish them from the ideological center. In other words, they can’t agree on anything except blaming the Jews and Israel for the world’s ills.

The mid-January 2023 report of the American-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) described widespread belief in antisemitic conspiracy theories and tropes as having almost doubled since 2019 – as well as substantially negative anti-Israel sentiment among Americans. A question that always comes up, of course, is whether so-called anti-Zionism is a cover for antisemitism

Here, Rojas-Tal says that former Jewish Agency head Natan Sharansky’s 20-year-old 3D test is still relevant today:
- Demonization: when comparisons are made between Israelis and Nazis and between Palestinian refugee camps and Auschwitz - this is antisemitism, not legitimate criticism of Israel.
- Double standards: when Israel is singled out by the UN for human rights abuses, while the behavior of known major abusers is ignored.
- Delegitimization: when Israel’s fundamental right to exist is denied – alone among the nations.

A paradoxical ADL finding for those of us concerned about our brethren’s – particularly millennials’ – attachment to Israel is that 39 percent of respondents believe that Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the US. Antisemitism isn’t the reason I would like to see Jews move to Israel. Strengthening Jewish roots is a better strategy. How good it is to report that these two outstanding women are generals in the battles ahead.
New AI Powered Tool Monitors Social Media Antisemitism in Real Time
A new technology startup is offering social media companies an AI (artificial intelligence) powered tool for becoming more effective at removing antisemitism and Holocaust denial from their platforms at a time when anti-Jewish hatred is spreading rapidly online.

Only 23 percent of antisemitic content and 36 percent of content denying the Holocaust is deleted from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and others, CyberWell founder and CEO Tal-Or Cohen told The Algemeiner on Wednesday. The total is even less for content posted in Arabic, falling to ten percent.

The problem, she said, is that English speaking users are likely to report antisemitic posts. In Arabic speaking countries and others in which antisemitism is normalized, users are not and the content is seldom detected or deleted. Platforms in Germany and France are also teeming with antisemitic content, a report by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) said in 2021. Telegram, a company started by two Russian entrepreneurs in 2013, contained two-thirds of all antisemitic keywords found during the group’s data analysis.

“Platforms will only devote resources to keeping users safe if enough people report problems,” Cohen explained. “Social media platforms’ over relying on user reports and under-investment in combating Jew-hatred online in non-English languages has allowed blatant hate to proliferate in Arabic. By alerting them to these data insights, we hope to direct their attention to fixing the problem.”

Founded in 2022, CyberWell markets itself as the “world’s first live database of online antisemitism.” Using the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, its bot peruses the world wide web to find social media posts that, for example, use the hashtag “Holohoax.” Searching for that term in English yields no results and directs users to resources about the Holocaust, but searching it in Arabic prompts pages of the worst antisemitic conspiracies, including that Israel “invented” or “exaggerated” the Holocaust. Cohen hopes Cyberwell can change that.
‘You People’: Delta Airlines Investigating Orthodox Jewish Man’s Complaint of Antisemitism Against Flight Attendant
Delta Airlines has launched an investigation into accusations of antisemitism against one of its flight attendants after an Orthodox Jewish man was removed from a flight from Florida to New York earlier this week.

The unnamed individual told the Orthodox Jewish news outlet Hamodia that he and his family had boarded flight DL 1541 from Fort Lauderdale to New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Monday afternoon. The man brought a single suitcase and a hat box onto the aircraft, which his lawyers insisted had conformed to Delta’s carry-on luggage weight restrictions.

Moments after taking his seat, the Jewish man was approached by two members of staff, including the flight attendant, who told him, “You people always have tons of luggage. Why can’t you put the hat box under your feet?”

The man responded that he would place the box under his feet should it become necessary, but at that moment there was plenty of space in the locker. The flight attendant then walked off, returning in a rage two minutes later and seizing the man’s suitcase from the locker. When the man told her that he did not consent to his property being moved, she responded, “If you don’t let me, I’ll show you.”

Shortly afterwards, the man was escorted from the plane by security guards who decided, after hearing his side of the story, to allow him to reboard the flight. However, upon learning this, the attendant threatened to leave the plane, which would have resulted in the flight’s cancelation. As a result, Delta provided the passenger with a hotel room and a $500 voucher.

Witnesses to the incident who spoke to ABC News expressed sympathy with the Jewish man, with one passenger shooting cellphone video that showed available space in the overhead locker. Michelle Landsman, who was sitting a few rows behind the man, told the broadcaster that the attendant “took his bag in a rage for no reason.”

“I’m Jewish, I just felt terrible, I believe it’s an antisemitic act towards this man, or towards the Hassidim,” Landsman said.

Another unnamed passenger who is also Jewish said that he and his son had been intimidated by the attendant’s behavior.
Lawmakers in Switzlerand’s Geneva move to ban Nazi symbols
Despite dismay at a large swastika flag hung at a military memorabilia market this month and the open trade of Third Reich insignia online, it remains perfectly legal to display Nazi symbols in Switzerland.

But moves are underway to change things at least in Geneva, one of the country’s 26 cantons.

A cross-party group of lawmakers in the region proposed changing the canton’s constitution to “prohibit the display or wearing of Nazi symbols, emblems or any other Nazi object” in public.

Geneva’s legislature debated the proposal on Friday — International Holocaust Remembrance Day — and decided by 56 votes to 28 to send the plan for closer scrutiny to its human rights commission.

“Everyone said they agreed with the text; that it was welcome, necessary and useful,” Green lawmaker Francois Lefort told AFP.

The proposal, if accepted by the Geneva council, would then have to be approved by Switzerland’s federal parliament in Bern and then by a referendum in Geneva.


Doug Emhoff says ‘solemn’ visit to Auschwitz key to antisemitism fight
Doug Emhoff, the husband of US Vice President Kamala Harris, described being deeply moved by a “solemn and sad” visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau, and said Saturday that the trip was an important part of his work combating antisemitism for the Biden administration.

Emhoff told reporters that he will never forget his emotional visit to the site Friday, where he saw children’s shoes and human hair stripped from people before they were murdered in the Nazi German death camp. Some 1.1 million people were killed there during World War II, around 90 percent of them Jews.

Friday was the 78th anniversary of the liberation of the camp on January 27, 1945, with observances that the second gentleman joined. He laid a wreath at an execution wall and listened to survivors recall what they had suffered there.

He followed that visit with other events giving him the chance to learn more about the tragic fate of Jews in Europe. On Saturday, he visited the Oskar Schindler Enamel Factory in Krakow, where he saw an exhibit about “Schindler’s List,” the 1,000 Jews saved by the German industrialist during the Holocaust.

On Saturday evening, he joined a Shabbat dinner with members of Krakow’s Jewish community, a chance to see how Jewish life is also growing again in central Europe.

Emhoff is the first Jewish spouse of either a US president or vice president. He is on a six-day tour of Poland and Germany meant to further the Biden administration’s work fighting antisemitism.

He described antisemitism as a growing problem across the world and in the United States.
Artist paints ‘The Simpsons’ characters as Holocaust victims outside Milan memorial
Just before International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Milan’s Holocaust memorial debuted an eye-grabbing new addition on some of its exterior walls: murals of characters from “The Simpsons” dressed as Jews under Nazi rule.

But the Shoah Memorial Foundation said the well-known Italian pop artist who painted the murals didn’t reach out before creating the series of images, some of which show Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa Simpson in concentration camp garb.

“We were not involved in the decision process, and found the painting yesterday morning along with everybody else,” a spokesperson told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Friday.

In the end, the foundation didn’t mind the gesture.

“We appreciate the intention behind it, and don’t find it particularly harmful,” said Roberto Jarach, president of the foundation.

The memorial is found at Platform 21 inside the Milano Centrale, the city’s main train station. Around 1,200 Jews were deported to Nazi camps from the platform in 1943. AleXsandro [sic] Palombo, whose style usually involves using figures from popular culture to tackle dark issues, made the murals on the outside of the station.
78 years on, Hungarian Jewish Holocaust rescuers want their story told
Just before Nazi Germany invaded Hungary in March 1944, Jewish youth leaders in the eastern European country jumped into action: They formed an underground network that in the coming months would save tens of thousands of fellow Jews from the gas chambers.

This chapter of the Holocaust heroism is scarcely remembered in Israel. Nor is it part of the official curriculum in schools. But the few remaining members of Hungary’s Jewish underground want their story told. Dismayed at the prospect of being forgotten, they are determined to keep memories of their mission alive.

“The story of the struggle to save tens of thousands needs to be a part of the chronicles of the people of Israel,” said David Gur, 97, one of a handful of members still alive. “It is a lighthouse during the period of the Holocaust, a lesson and exemplar for the generations.”

As the world marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Friday, historians, activists, survivors and their families were

all preparing for the time when there will no longer be living witnesses to share first-person accounts of the horrors of the Nazi genocide during World War II. In the Holocaust, 6 million Jews were wiped out by the Nazis and their allies.

Israel, which was established as a refuge for Jews in the wake of the Holocaust, has gone to great lengths over the years to recognize thousands of “Righteous Among the Nations” — non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.

Accounts of Jewish resistance to the Nazis, such as the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, are mainstays in the national narrative but rescue missions by fellow Jews — such as the Hungarian resistance — are less known.
In Germany, an American family honors locals working to preserve Jewish memory
Ahead of Friday’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day, several Germans were honored this week with Obermayer Awards for their work to ensure that local Jewish history and culture, though destroyed by the Nazis, are not forgotten.

The award was initiated 23 years ago by the late businessman and philanthropist Arthur Obermayer, an American Jew of German heritage who was inspired by the remembrance work of volunteers in his family’s ancestral town, Creglingen. Over the years, more than 100 projects have been feted in ceremonies sponsored by the Senate of Berlin.

This year’s winners included projects that teach local children about the Jews who used to live in their towns, introduce new immigrants to German history, and connect today’s citizens with Jews and their families who came from their towns.

Winners receive a stipend of $1,000, but more important is the recognition the award brings, said Joel Obermayer, 55, who took over running the foundation after his father died in 2016.

“You cannot meet these honorees and hear about the sacrifices they made and not be moved,” said Obermayer, whose brother Hank Obermayer is on the jury and sister Marjorie Raven is on the board of directors.

“Arthur would have loved that Joel is passionate about this, that one of his children took it and ran with it because he cared,” said Joel Obermayer’s mother, Judith Obermayer.

It does not go without saying. Many American Jews keep an understandable distance from Germany; even if they don’t blame the current generation for the crimes of their grandparents, they want to ensure that those crimes are not forgotten.

Judith Obermayer said that in fact, this is what the award is all about.




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