Donate Us
4:02 PM
Elder of Ziyon
No comments
1:59 PMElder of ZiyonNo comments
The children of the Lubavitcher Yeshivoth are Orthodox Jews and do not look like other American children. They wear skullcaps and have the fuzzy beginnings of beards and there is to them a look of the Old World and of the ghetto.
They do in fact, go to school in a ghetto. It is not the ghetto of the Old World, but a ghetto of the new, the black ghetto of Bedford‐Stuyvesant.
In that black world that one Negro referred to yesterday as “the bottom of the bottom” they represent a curious focus of hatred. They are white, yet they are a minority, and in the eyes of the Negroes, a weak and defenseless minority. For about a decade trouble has been simmering.
Tuesday the tension erupted in a brief explosion when a gang of older Negro youths shouting anti‐Semitic slogans attacked the Jews. Several of the students and two rabbis were injured.
Yesterday the police kept a close watch on the school and promised a round‐the‐clock guard for an indefinite period. The Jews were shaken, more emotionally than physically, and during the day there was a long series of visitors of all faiths and colors, come to assure them that the incident was unfortunate.
Yet in the eyes of the school's officials it was more inevitable than unfortunate.
“It's been building up for several years,” said Rabbi Samuel Schrage. “We are desperate to get out of here.
“We are not wanted here, we are not liked here, and we do not have the respect of our neighbors.”
At almost the same time a police official, a Negro, was saying: “It has all the makings of trouble. This is a very tough area. You don't have to be a genius or a sociologist to spot the dangers.”
Another police officer added: “The Negroes are simply doing to the Jews what the Irish used to do to the Jews.”
Rabbi Schrage disputed this. The yeshiva had trouble with the Irish, he said, “but the Negroes are more flagrant, more audacious.” He smiled and added: “They have more chutzpa.' Chutzpa means gall, among other things.
Tuesday's incident, because of its racial and anti‐Semitie nature, overshadowed an event of far greater violence that indirectly triggered the Tuesday attack.
This was a stabbing on Saturday night that took the life of a 14‐year‐old Negro boy, Major Jones. The attack took place in a dispute among a group of Negro youths. According to the police, young Jones was probably not a member of a gang, and so technically he did not die in a gang fight.
On Tuesday a wake was held for him at the Brown and Mitchell funeral home, which is only a block and a half from the yeshiva. Many of the youth's friends were at the wake. The mood was highly emotional. Many of the young Negroes sobbed.
After the wake, a group of Negroes ‐ not an organized gang ‐ passed the yeshiva as the students were having a lunchtime break. Some of the Negroes, shouting epithets, tried to shake down the Jewish children. Rabbis went to the aid of the students, and soon there was a fight. The Negroes reportedly were armed with knives, bottles, chains and sticks.
“It was like watching a movie from Africa, one of those rebellions where the Africans attack the whites,” Rabbi Schrage said.
A crowd of about 50 persons, almost all of them Negroes, gathered to watch. They made no move to stop the fight.
Finally a white man, Leo Berman, grabbed one of the Negroes, and the others fled.
The neighborhood was not always Negro. Twenty years ago, when the yeshiva opened, it was primarily Irish. The school building, bought at an auction, had once housed the old Unity Republican Club.
In the early days on Bedford Avenue, the Jews with their skull‐caps and the older students with their beards were frequently taunted by the Irish.
“They had beards, and people with beards are different, and so people threw water on them,” Rabbi Schrage related. “But with the Irish kids it was mostly a case of yelling a curse and running. And some of the parents would come by the school and apologize. That doesn't happen now.”
Other, less Orthodox, Jews in the neighborhood at that time began to move, partly because the neighborhood was changing and partly because the anti-Semitism that went with the yeshiva also affected them.
The Irish, too, moved away, and about 10 years ago the neighborhood became predominantly Negro—and then finally altogether Negro.
At the same time, ironically, the yeshiva flourished as Orthodox families all, over the city sent their children there. Many of the fathers of the current students are rabbis. Many work in the garment, diamond or pearl industries. More than a third of the students, according to Rabbi Schrage, will become rabbis.
They could hardly offer a sharper contrast with the young Negroes in the area. They know nothing of fighting, nothing of gangs. In many of their homes television is not permitted because there is too much violence on it.
“These kids don't know dancing or dating,” said Rabbi Schrage. “For them a big treat is if someone reads a Bible story.
“They can't protect themselves, and the Negroes know this. So the Negroes would sooner go after them than some white kid who might fight back.”
The shakedown of the Jews began almost immediately after the neighborhood became a Negro one. “It was always anti-Semitic,” he said. “It was always: ‘Give me a dime, Jew,’ not ‘Give me a dime, boy.’ ”
The students, he said, were regularly shaken down for small change, and frequently lost hats, coats and briefcases. The transit passes that all city school children get are specially stamped “Good on Sunday” because the Yeshiva students go to school on Sunday, and the Negroes covet these, too, Rabbi Schrage said.
The Negro youths' world, in contrast, is a violent one. It is a world of gangs, of absenteeism from school, of early sexual experience and sometimes of early death.
To the Negroes, the Jews are white, richer, different. They are also obviously weaker. In addition, said a rabbi, an undercurrent of anti‐Semitism is frequently evident in the meetings and teachings of the Black Muslims.
All this, added to what one police official called “the overpowering feeling of frustration in that area,” led to the conflict.
12:14 PMElder of ZiyonNo commentsAs readers may be aware, an internal UN report has been leaked accusing the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the UN body that looks after Palestinian refugees, of corruption, sexual misconduct, nepotism, waste, and poor management among its leadership team. This comes on top of long-standing complaints about the agency, including:
- Its tolerance of incitement to hatred and violence in its schools and other institutions;
- Its unique definition of who is a Palestinian refugee that means the number of such refugees will expand forever;
- Its political promotion of the legally-baseless Palestinian “right of return”, contradicting the two-state solution and thus damaging any realistic hopes for Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Now, the American blogger “Elder of Ziyon” has called attention to some material from UNRWA’s own website demonstrating how the latter two political stances lead to gross waste by the agency, quite apart from the current scandal.
Basically, “Elder of Ziyon” points to three facts noted on the UNRWA website:
- UNWRA says it has “started construction on a new health centre in Zohour area within the Jordanian capital Amman. … The actual construction activities started late in July 2019 and the health centre is expected to be functional by August 2020 and will improve access to health care for over 68,000 Palestine refugees in the area.”
- UNRWA admits “In Jordan, the 2.2 million Palestine refugees who are registered with UNRWA enjoy broad inclusion in social and economic life. The vast majority have Jordanian nationality, with the exception of some 158,000 ‘ex-Gazan’ refugees,” and “[M]ost of the over 2 million Palestine refugees in Jordan have been granted citizenship, and have the same access to health care as other Jordanian citizens.”
- UNRWA says “In Jordan, our clinics serve more than 1.1 million people, nearly 56 per cent of the registered Palestine refugees in the country.”
What these three facts amount to is this: UNRWA is paying to run, and even currently expanding, a separate and discriminatory health care system in Jordan which is almost completely unnecessary.
Completely reliant on donors, UNRWA is always living on the edge, with uncertain funding and a culture of secrecy. The agency regularly assesses its management, but it publishes uniformly positive reports. The imperative is always to support calls for future funding and avoid lending ammunition to critics, namely the US and Israel.
One lesson is that funders must demand internal controls, external audits and public access to information. Assurances regarding Palestinian needs aren’t enough. Scrutiny is also needed for the Palestinian Authority, which uses foreign aid to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in pensions to terrorists and their families.
A second lesson concerns the danger of devoting an international organisation to a single population. UNRWA was effectively taken over by Palestinians decades ago. Politicisation began at the bottom with school curricula, but crept upward with senior managers calling for the Palestinian “right of return”.
The US funding cuts were the first serious challenges to a long overripe status quo. This latest scandal is an opportunity for the US, joined by other angry donors, to demand a phaseout plan for the entire organisation.
UNRWA’s 30,000 employees could join the Palestinian Authority, which would take over its health, education and welfare responsibilities like the state it claims to be. UNRWA’s expensive international cadre, including lobbyists in Washington and Geneva, should be disbanded. And Palestinian residents of Arab states – all of whom are considered refugees by UNRWA – should become citizens of those states, as they are in Jordan, or of the Palestinian Authority. If Palestinians truly desire a state, they should join the call for UNRWA’s abolition.
No joke: 🇨🇠Switzerland paid for this.
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) August 29, 2019
"In 2015, UNRWA chief Pierre Krähenbühl created a post of “Special Advisor” and gave the position to his mistress. Costs of this post were funded by the Swiss foreign ministry from March 2015 to December 2018." https://t.co/Tvhmxr4nyo https://t.co/DyePU0dA0C
Video has emerged showing Palestinian children staging a mock terrorist raid on an Israeli military outpost as part of a kindergarten graduation ceremony.Voice of UNRWA Judenrein: Mohammad Assaf
The footage was filmed at Dar al Huda school in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City in March last year, and shows five youngsters wearing uniforms of terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad staging the raid.
In the video - which includes footage shot by a drone and bodycamera - the children can be seen carrying replica sniper rifles and assault weapons as they perform sophisticated military manoeuvres in order to 'capture' the building.
Inside are two children - one dressed as an Israeli civilian and another as an Israeli soldier - both of whom are shown being captured.
The video was posted to Facebook and uncovered by research organisation NGO Monitor, which passed the footage to Mail Online.
The group also uncovered an image of a training guide the school uploaded to its Facebook page in the same year which shows the Save the Children and Swedish Government logo at the top.
The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) website shows that the country was giving aid money to schools in the West Bank and Gaza that year as part of a programme running from 2017 until 2019.
Last week, UNRWA “youth idol” Mohammad Assaf performed at the new Arab city of Rawabi to conduct a rally in honor of the new school year for 321,000 UNRWA students from UNRWA refugee camps spread throughout Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem and Gaza.What will happen to Palestinian children if UNRWA schools don’t open?
We dispatched a TV crew to cover that event, which will be screened this week at the UN.Filming a rock concert where a crowd is swayed by a sexy singer is not unusual. Who has not seen that in their lifetime? What is new this time?
After all, the singer who sways the crowd does so in the spirit of a United Nations agency. What could possibly be wrong with that? Except that the message from this UNRWA youth idol is that Jews must be wiped out of Palestine, and replaced with by Palestinian Arabs, only by Palestinian Arabs.
And where does such an agency get its support? Yes, from the usual suspects: Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Yet also from leading democratic nations of the world – Germany, the UK, the US, Canada, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Spain, Italy and Belgium. All turn a blind eye and closed ear to the “Voice of Judenrein”, presented so clearly by UNRWA Youth Idol Mohammad Assaf, who has emerged as the singular voice of the UNRWA path of destruction.
The new school year in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem comes amid growing concern among Palestinians over the fate of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), which operates hundreds of schools and provides educational programs to hundreds of thousands of students.
In the West Bank and east Jerusalem, UNRWA provides education to more than 45,000 students in 96 schools. In addition, UNRWA runs two vocational training centers that serve more than 1,000 students.
The remaining schools in east Jerusalem are privately-owned or belong to the Jerusalem Municipality or the Islamic Wakf.
In the Gaza Strip, UNRWA schools and education programs serve nearly 180,000 students in 274 schools that are run by the agency.
Palestinian officials are worried that recent reports about corruption among the top brass of UNRWA may result in ending the agency’s mission and deprive hundreds of thousands of students from going to school.
On the eve of the new school year, New Zealand announced that it was suspending funding to UNRWA pending the end of an investigation surrounding allegations that senior agency officials had engaged in “sexual misconduct, nepotism, retaliation, discrimination, and other abuses of authority.”
Why doesn't UNRWA Commissioner Gen. Krahenbuhl focus on Hamas when he says “Gazans live under real suffering & that they are deprived of their basic rights, including the right to movement”?! I agree Gazans suffer badly, but making a statement w/o laying blame on Hamas is absurd
— Jason D. Greenblatt (@jdgreenblatt45) August 29, 2019
Senior administration officials told reporters via teleconference on Thursday:'Israel can rely on diplomatic, military aid in any war with Iran'
"For the last 40 years, the [Iranian] regime has prioritized developing proxy militias that have their own long and bloody legacies to violence against civilians. Hamas has utterly ruined Gaza, isolating and impoverishing the Palestinian people living there, while Hamas uses the funds from Iran to support an endless cycle of violence against Israel."
"Hizbullah has systematically infiltrated Lebanese institutions. And the designation of the Jammal Trust Bank illustrates how they are trying to exploit the Lebanese financial system....All legitimate institutions should be extremely wary of any interactions with Hizbullah or its affiliates."
"The United States neither encourages nor discourages the Israeli attacks. The United States believes that the government of Israel has a right to defend itself from threatening activities throughout the region, wherever they may be."
"It's our position that Israel is only acting because of Iran's actions. If Iran was not pouring heavy weapons and fighters into Israel's neighbors with the express purpose of threatening Israel, I don't think Israel would be needing to take any of these actions. And we fully support Israel's right to self-defense, and denounce Iran's regional campaign of violence."
Q: "If Israel attacks targets in Iraq, what does the United States do when Israel's right to defend tramples over Iraq's sovereignty?"
A: "I think that's actually an excellent question for the Iranians. Where is their respect for Iraqi sovereignty when they are putting this material into Iraq? That seems, to me, a pretty gross violation of sovereignty."
"It's our position that if neighbors of Israel allow a malign third country that does not share a border with Israel to use their sovereign territory as a holding ground for increasingly sophisticated dangerous weapons, the only purpose of which is to attack Israel, I think those governments, if they cannot curb or control those elements, are going to have to be prepared to be responsible for them. So, be it Lebanon, be it Syria, be it Iraq, I think that has to be our very clear message to those governments."
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated on Thursday that Israel can rely on diplomatic, legal and military assistance from Washington in the event of a war with Iran, however long.Pompeo: ‘Jerusalem, Israel’ on US passports is ‘actively being looked at’
In an interview with syndicated radio host Hugh Hewitt, Pompeo pledged that Israel can rely on the United States for aid if the growing tensions with the Islamic republic escalate into a full-fledged war.
Pompeo stressed that the Trump administration has been “incredibly supportive each time Israel has been forced to take actions to defend itself.”
"We’ve been very clear about a couple of things. First, with respect to Iran, we flipped the US policy there. The previous administration guaranteed Iran a path to nuclear weapons systems, allowed them to foment terror, and allowed their missile system to run amok. President Trump has directed that we do just the opposite – to deny them the resources to create risks not only for the United States and its citizens but for Israel as well. And we’ve been successful with that."
"We’ve also been incredibly supportive each time Israel has been forced to take actions to defend itself – the United States has made it very clear that that country has not only the right but the duty to protect its own people. And we are always supportive of their efforts to do that. So with respect to ensuring that Israel is treated fairly at the United Nations, Israel can certainly count on the United States of America," Pompeo said.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that the Trump administration is considering allowing U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem to list “Jerusalem, Israel” on their U.S. passports.UN extends Lebanon border peacekeeping mission, urges full access to Blue Line
“We’re constantly evaluating the way we handle what can be listed on passports,” he told JNS in a wide-ranging interview. “It’s something that’s actively being looked at.”
Despite the United States recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017 and relocating its embassy from Tel Aviv months later, Americans born in Jerusalem are still unable to list “Jerusalem, Israel” on U.S. passports.
“The president has made clear that the specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem remain subject to final-status negotiations between the [Israelis and the Palestinians],” a State Department spokesperson told JNS in October. “We have not changed our practice regarding place of birth on passports or Consular Reports of Birth Abroad at this time.”
Pro-Israel organizations responded positively to JNS regarding the development.
B’nai B’rith International CEO and executive vice president Dan Mariaschin said “it’s encouraging news. This is a logical follow-on to moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, and in the process, corrects a historical wrong which denied this designation for over seven decades.”
“The [U.S.] Supreme Court has determined that the passport issue is within the purview of the administration, which has recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” said American Zionist Movement president Richard Heideman. “It is most appropriate for passports for those born in Jerusalem, such as my three grandchildren born at Hadassah Hospital, to be listed as born in Jerusalem, Israel and not simply born in Jerusalem as if they were stateless, which they are not.”
The UN Security Council on Thursday voted to renew its long-running peacekeeping mission in Lebanon for a year, warning of a “new conflict” with neighboring Israel as tensions with the Hezbollah terror group spike.Israel Welcomes Renewed, Stronger Mandate for UN Peacekeeping Force in Lebanon
The draft resolution, written by France and approved unanimously, would allow for the approximately 10,000 members of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, to stay in place. It also calls for a review of the peacekeeping mission, amid Israeli concerns that Hezbollah and Lebanon “continue to significantly hinder the full and effective implementation” of the Blue Helmets’ mandate.
“Should these restrictions remain, UNIFIL’s relevance is questioned,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry said
According to the draft text, the Security Council warned that “violations of the cessation of hostilities could lead to a new conflict that none of the parties or the region can afford.”
It “condemns all violations of the Blue Line” between Lebanon and Israel, “both by air and ground, and strongly calls upon all parties to respect the cessation of hostilities.”
IDF soldiers in northern Israel have been on high alert this week over fears of a reprisal attack from Hezbollah or another Iranian proxy following Israeli airstrikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria, and an armed drone attack on Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold, which has been blamed on Israel.
Israel welcomed a United Nations Security Council vote on Thursday afternoon that renewed and strengthened the mandate of UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon.
The new provisions in the mandate include a clear call on the Lebanese government to allow access to UNIFIL forces and increased reporting on the transfer of weapons to terrorist groups in Lebanon such as Hezbollah, a political and military proxy of the Iranian regime.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, commented in a statement that the “updated mandate sends a clear message to the Lebanese government: restrain Hezbollah.”
Danon asserted that Hezbollah’s “grip on southern Lebanon is intended to only harm the State of Israel and endanger the entire region.”
He continued: “Israel will not accept such a reality, and calls on the international community to act resolutely against the Iranian proxy in Lebanon.”
The strengthened mandate of UNIFIL — a force of more than 10,000 UN peacekeepers from countries including India, France, Ireland, Nepal and Ghana — was a result of diplomatic efforts by Israel and the United States to strengthen the peacekeeping force following revelations of Hezbollah attacks on UNIFIL personnel.
"We must ask ourselves a question that has arisen as a result of this experience. People in our country and in many countries ask: What is the use of a United Nations presence if it is in effect an umbrella which is taken away as soon as it begins to rain?"
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) August 29, 2019
—A. Eban, 6 June 1967
Since 2013, #Iran has been trying to arm Hezbollah in Lebanon with precision guided missiles. Here's how: pic.twitter.com/S0d1ckvu3e
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) August 29, 2019
What’s more dangerous than a missile pointed at Israel?
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) August 29, 2019
A missile with @waze. pic.twitter.com/N3doKzRe8R
A week passed since Rina Shnerb, 17, of Lod, was critically wounded in a terror attack at Ein Bubin spring and was treated at the scene before succumbing to her wounds, as her father Rabbi Eitan Shnerb and her 19-year-old brother Dvir were also injured.
The place where the IED that killed Rina Shnerb exploded near Ein Bubin spring (Credit: TPS)The place where the IED that killed Rina Shnerb exploded near Ein Bubin spring (Credit: TPS)
Today, Friday, hundreds left their homes to visit the place where the terror attack occurred, sending a clear message that terrorism will not stop or scare them.
The water at the Ein Bubin spring where Rina, Eitan and Dvir were planning to spend their Friday at could barely be seen due to the amount of people who came in spite of last week's terror attack.
We are strengthened by the Bible of the people of Israel in the Land of Israel,” rabbi Shnerb said from his hospital bed last week.
The IDF on Saturday arrested three Palestinians as part of a manhunt for the terrorists responsible for the terror attack.
The stabbers at the Chain Gate to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the car-rammers near Elazar, the strangler on the Allenby Bridge, and the bombers at the Talmon spring all feed off the same religious source - the modern-day blood libel that "Al-Aqsa is in danger." This false story describes Israel as working to take down the Temple Mount mosques, a story preached at mosques, in media, in cartoons, and in speeches of both Hamas and PA leaders.Israeli Education Minister Reacts to Jerusalem Schools Possibly Linked to Hamas
Hundreds of attackers have taken action "to protect Al-Aqsa." The Palestinian public has been drinking it in for years. This is part of an ongoing "festival" of glorifying terrorism, jihad, and bloodshed against Jews, and its roots are religious. The battle against Israel and over Jerusalem is repeatedly described as "ribat" - a holy war to defend Islamic territory. That is how they truly see the conflict
Israel is doing everything it can to protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque. It even made an enormous, inconceivable concession by giving up the basic Jewish right of allowing Jews to pray on the Mount at Judaism's holiest site.
Israel’s Minister of Education Rabbi Rafi Peretz said on Thursday that private schools run by Hamas affiliates in eastern Jerusalem, even with the official approval of the Ministry of Education, would close if the allegations are corroborated.There is no magic solution for the Gaza Strip
“It shall not be. I say it unequivocally: An association or a school that has an affiliation to terrorism and Hamas will close. If it turns out that this is true, we will not allow the association’s activities,” he tweeted.
Peretz was responding to a report in Ynet news that schools in eastern Jerusalem were being run by the Al-Iman group that works with Hamas-supporting organizations.
The schools had been recognized as an educational institution that could receive funding from the Education Ministry, according to the report.
The Al-Iman network has ties with Turkish organizations that identify with Hamas.
Last Friday, the Hamas-organized demonstrations along Gaza’s border with Israel were the largest and most violent in some time, with protestors throwing Molotov cocktails at Israeli soldiers; Sunday, Hamas fired rockets into Israel; on Tuesday, an Islamic State-linked group carried out two suicide bombings in Gaza, killing three Hamas police officers. Michael Milshtein warns that these events, which follow nearly two years of increased violence from the Strip, could be the harbinger of greater unrest to come. But he also cautions that Israel’s options for dealing with Hamas are limited:4 Gazans caught crossing into Israel with grenade, knife as thousands protest
[I]t would best if Israel were to drop . . . the idea it can find a solution to the Gaza problem. . . . In practice, there is no willingness or ability on the part of Egypt, the United Nations, or any other local government to step into Hamas’s shoes. [Moreover], although Hamas is [Israel’s] bitter enemy, it may be the lesser of two evils compared with a possible power vacuum that could give rise to anarchy or the ascendance of more extreme forces in the Strip.
[T]here needs to be a long-term plan that has at its core the downfall of Hamas. We should, however, strive to avoid two opposite scenarios—one in which a [new] king is named in Gaza and the other Israel’s total and lengthy direct control of the Strip. Israel must wait for internal change in Gaza, especially by the younger generation, whose distance from Islamic rule only deepens with time and occasionally bursts into civil protests.
Ultimately, Israel needs to understand that it must choose between bad or worse scenarios as a solution to the Gaza issue. Its decisionmakers have to wake up from the dream of easy and quick solutions in either the military or political spheres, . . . and adopt a more patient state of mind.
Israeli soldiers on Friday captured four Palestinians who crossed into Israel from the Gaza Strip armed with a grenade and a knifeEgypt proposes long-term ceasefire between Israel and Hamas - report
The four were arrested shortly after crossing the border and taken in for further questioning, the army said.
The incident came shortly after an incendiary balloon launched from Gaza started a fire in the Sdot Hanegev Regional Council and as Palestinians took part in the weekly “March of Return” rallies along the border.
Channel 13 news reported some 2,000 Palestinians took part in the protests.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said seven Palestinians were injured during clashes with Israeli troops, five of whom from live fire.
Recent weeks have seen an increase in violence from Gaza, which is ruled by the Hamas terror group.
Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since the Islamist organization took over Gaza in 2007, the last of which ended five years ago this week.
According to a report Friday in Lebanon’s al-Akhbar newspaper, Israel has offered Hamas economic concessions and to ease its blockade of Gaza in return for a long-term ceasefire.
During the talks between the Hamas delegation, Egyptian intelligence officials proposed a long-term ceasefire between Israel and Hamas - Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported Friday morning.
According to the report, the Egyptians suggested a long-term ceasefire in exchange for humanitarian and economic improvements for the Gaza Strip.
The Egyptian officials warned the Hamas delegation that, given the tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel would strike a fatal blow to the strip in a case of conflict.
During the talks, the Hamas delegation guaranteed that the March of Return protests will be restrained this Friday - Ynet reported.
According to the report, if Hamas maintains its promise, Israel will restore the fuel supply to Gaza to its full capacity on Sunday after cutting it by half this week following rocket launches.
While the Palestinian Authority (PA) has been threatening a financial meltdown over the U.S. decision to withhold aid and its own refusal to accept taxes collected by Jerusalem, the residents of the areas under its control have been flourishing. Dan Zaken explains why:War and Poverty Drive Gazans to Seek Better Life in Europe Despite Dangers
Exports from the West Bank to Israel have grown and Israelis—mainly Israeli Arabs—are coming to West Bank cities to buy goods. The shopping malls of Jenin, Tulkarem, and Kalkilya are packed every weekend with tens of thousands of Israeli Arabs who come to buy in the stores and eat in the restaurants. Jerusalem Arabs go shopping in Ramallah and Bethlehem. . . .
[P]erhaps most significant of all is that the Palestinian economy is based mainly on the private rather than the public sector. . . . [T]he 130,000 Palestinian workers employed in Israel [have an] average salary of over 5,000 shekels ($1,400) per month, two-and-a-half times the average salary in the Palestinian autonomous areas. Income in this sector . . . is even rising, as are the number of requests for licenses to work in Israel. The number of Palestinians working in Israel, [whether in Jewish areas of the West Bank or in other parts of the country], also is rising constantly. New facilities at the border checkpoints have shortened lines and waiting times at the crossings from hours to minutes.
The continual growth of construction in Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria, after years in which new building was frozen, has also . . . provided more work for Palestinians. Moreover, it’s easier and quicker for a Palestinian to get a work permit for such work, which pays “Israel-level” salaries.
Shaban Khalaf’s advice to any other Gazans thinking of heading to Europe in search of a better life, as he did, is blunt: don’t bother — it’s not worth the danger and the expense.Former Iraqi MP: Sunni Iraqis Will Seek Help from America, Israel to Get Rid of Injustice in Iraq
Khalaf should know. Despairing of ever finding a decent job in Gaza, where the economy is near collapse, the journalism graduate flew to Turkey via Egypt in June 2018 and tried no fewer than 18 times to cross into Europe, mostly by boat.
“One time a naval boat hit ours, our boat flipped and we almost died,” said Khalaf, 25, adding that each time Turkish or Greek authorities would send them back to Turkey’s shores.
By February this year he had given up and returned home to Gaza, much poorer for his ordeal after having paid off the people smugglers who had tried in vain to get him to Europe.
“I don’t advise people to leave unless a job is waiting for them there. It is better to stay and die with their families in Gaza than to throw themselves into the unknown, or die in the sea,” he said.
Thousands of other Palestinians have had similar experiences as they try to escape the rampant unemployment, poverty and violence of life in Gaza, a tiny enclave between Israel and Egypt run by the Islamist Hamas group.
Former Iraqi MP Misha'an Al-Juburi said in an August 22, 2019 interview on Alsharqiya News TV (Iraq) that the government's harshness in Iraq's Sunni provinces is worse than the American occupation was. He gave the example of a family from which 40 members were arrested, and he said: "Today, the people in the Sunni areas are longing [for the return] of the Americans [and] are willing to accept any occupation and any invader that will rid them of this injustice… [They] will seek help [in] confederalism, in federalism, from America, from Israel, [and even] from Satan himself."
The Trump administration on Thursday issued a new batch of sanctions on the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah in the latest salvo aimed at disrupting the Iranian-backed organization's illicit funding and weapons networks, according to information provided by the State and Treasury Departments.Netanyahu tells Macron ‘now precisely not the time to talk to Iran’
As Iran continues to ratchet up regional support for terror groups that have attacked American and allied forces, the Trump administration is moving to disrupt these terror groups by hitting them in their pocketbooks. The latest sanctions target Lebanon's Jammal Trust Bank SAL, which the Trump administration has identified as providing "illicit financial and banking activities" for Hezbollah.
The Trump administration has walked a tricky diplomatic line with Lebanon as it seeks to support the country's legitimate military forces while attempting to ensure money and military hardware does not make its way to Hezbollah operatives, who have bragged in the past about siphoning American weapons from the Lebanese Armed Forces.
Hezbollah continues to keep an overwhelming grip on Lebanon's economy, government, and military, making it all the more difficult for the international community to work with the country's government.
"Today's designation reflects our determination to counter Hezbollah's terrorist and illicit activities in Lebanon," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement accompanying the sanctions. "We will continue to target individuals and entities involved in financing and providing support to Hezbollah while working closely with the Central Bank of Lebanon and other Lebanese institutions which work to preserve the integrity and stability of Lebanon's banking system."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron, urging him not to negotiate with Iran at the present time.Bolton: Trump’s readiness to talk with Iran doesn’t signal shift in stance
According to a readout from his office, the Israeli premier said that, with Tehran increasing its regional aggression and threatening Israel and others, “now is “precisely not the time” to hold conciliatory talks with the regime.
In the phone call, initiated by the French side, the two discussed recent regional tensions in Israel’s north as well as with the Gaza Strip. The Prime Minister’s Office said Netanyahu told Macron Israel would defend itself from attacks by enemies who desire its destruction.
He added that whoever gives cover to aggression against Israel will not be safe from attack, in apparent reference to Israeli strikes in Syria and Lebanon. Israel has also been blamed for a series of recent strikes against pro-Iranian militias in Iraq.
Macron has been one of the leading voices in the European Union for dialogue with the Islamic Republic. This week he arranged the surprise arrival of Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, and proposed a summit between US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
US President Donald Trump’s willingness to hold direct talks with Iran doesn’t signal any change in his administration’s stance toward the Islamic Republic, his national security adviser, John Bolton, said Tuesday.Israel alarmed by possible Trump-Rouhani talks, fears he’ll let Iran off hook
“Talking with them [Iran] does not imply for President Trump changing your position and the idea that Iran would receive some tangible economic benefit merely for stopping doing things it shouldn’t have been in the first place is just a nonstarter,” Bolton told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in an interview as he visited Ukraine.
“If there is a comprehensive deal then of course the sanctions will come off at point. When the regime in Iran is ready to talk about that then there’ll be a meeting,” he said.
Earlier, Iran’s top diplomat called a meeting between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Trump unthinkable.
Israel is deeply worried by US President Donald Trump’s declared readiness in principle to meet in the near future with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, top ministers were quoted saying on Monday evening. The fear is that the US president will open a dialogue with Iran similar to the ongoing one he has with North Korea, taking pressure off Tehran.What does Trump-Rouhani meeting mean for Israel? - analysis
To say that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is uncomfortable with the US president’s newly open-minded stance on Iran “is the understatement of the millennium,” Israel’s Channel 13 reported, quoting what it said were three senior cabinet ministers expressing profound concern that just as Trump has “gotten nowhere” with North Korea, while relieving the economic pressure on Pyongyang, the same would now happen with Iran.
“We have no interest in a negotiations between the United States and Iran,” the TV report quoted one minister saying, “but our capacity to influence and confront Trump is extremely limited.” This, the report went on, was because Trump has “bear-hugged” Netanyahu so tightly that going out against him is deemed impossible.
Netanyahu has been a strident opponent of the P5+1 countries’ 2015 deal with Iran on its rogue nuclear program, arguing that Tehran is intent on attaining a nuclear weapons arsenal, has lied to the world about its plans, and that the 2015 accord actually paves the way to an Iranian bomb. Trump has hitherto adopted a similar stance, and pulled the US out of the accord last year.
Mark Dubowitz is the chief executive of FDD, a Washington think-tank that is known for its hawkish stance on Iran. Just last Saturday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry threatened Dubowitz personally, as well as FDD as an organization.Israel asks UK to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guards a terror organization
“I don’t think it’s a surprise,” he told The Jerusalem Post. “The president has indicated repeatedly a willingness to meet with officials from the regime in Iran.”
According to Dubowitz, “Israel and US supporters of the president should be making it very clear to Trump that his maximum pressure campaign should not be diminished in any way, and if there is an agreement it has to be an agreement that meets the 12 demands that the president and Secretary [of State Mike] Pompeo laid out last year.”
Dubowitz said that a meeting by itself is not a negative development, but that he’s worried about the possibility that such a meeting would come with American concessions.
“When the president is now talking about what he expects from Iran, he doesn’t even mention terrorism,” said Dubowitz. “He mentioned the nuclear program and the sunsets. He mentioned ballistic missiles. But he doesn’t mention Iran support for terrorism. He doesn’t mention Iran’s destructive regional behavior. So at least rhetorically he sounds like backing off from these 12 very specific demands that were laid out by the president through Secretary Pompeo last year.”
As for the Iranian threats against his think-tank, Dubowitz said, “We’re certainly taking the threat seriously. We’re taking the proper steps to secure and defend our organization and our personnel. We’re heartened by the significant support that we’ve received across the policy and political spectrum. But we also hope that our think tank colleagues would not meet with Zarif in New York when he comes for UNGA.”
Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday urged the United Kingdom to follow in the US’s footsteps and designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization.Iranian Satellite Launch Fails Due to Technical Issues: Official
In a meeting with his British counterpart Dominic Raab, Katz thanked the UK government for officially designating the Iran-backed group Hezbollah a terrorist organization earlier this year, but pressed for the IRGC to also be included on the government’s terror blacklist, the Walla news site reported.
Citing Iran’s malign activities throughout the region, Katz said the terror designation would be the “appropriate and just response” to the attacks masterminded by IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani.
Raab made no formal comment on the matter. Following the meeting, he tweeted a photo of himself and Katz and said Israel “remains a close partner and friend.”
An Iranian rocket exploded on its launch pad at Imam Khomeini Space Center in northern Iran before its scheduled launch on Thursday, an Iranian official said.Turkey: "Death to Jews" at Summer Camp
The launch was due to have taken place despite US warnings to Iran that it should avoid such activity.
“It was due to some technical issues and it exploded but our young scientists are working to fix the problem,” the Iranian official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. He gave no further details.
A US official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, also said that Iran suffered a satellite launch failure.
The United States, Iran’s long time foe, fears long-range ballistic technology used to put satellites into orbit could also be used to launch nuclear warheads.
Tehran denies the US accusation that such activity is a cover for ballistic missile development.
Turkey's Jewish community is still reeling from the content of a video that went viral at the end of July. The video shows what appears to be a summer camp at which young children, with a group of burqa-clad women behind them, are being led in an anti-Semitic cheer in Turkish by a young girl or woman counselor.Russia to resume S-400 missile deliveries to Turkey this week
In the 39-second clip, when the girl says, "The Jews," the women and children reply, "Death!"
When she says, "Palestine," they reply, "It will be saved."
When she calls out, "Hagia Sophia" -- referring to the Byzantine cathedral-museum in Istanbul that Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan has announced will be turned into a mosque -- they chant, "It will be opened."
A few days after the footage began to circulate, Garo Paylan, a Member of Parliament from the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party, tweeted his outrage. He announced his intention to file a criminal complaint against the camp counselor and the organization behind her. Two days after posting the tweet, Paylan submitted the following parliamentary questions to Family, Labor and Social Services Minister Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu and Justice Minister Abdülhamit Gül:
- Where and under whose care were the children in the film?
- Were their parents or other family members present during the event?
- Did the children who were instructed to shout "Death to the Jews" come together at that event as part of an organization?
- Did the event take place with the knowledge of your ministry?
- Will you launch an investigation into the organizers and the families of those children who abuse and encourage them to commit hate crimes?
- Will you launch administrative investigations into the authorities that neglected to expose the event?
- Will you put these children under the protection of your ministry?
- What kind of precautions will your ministry take so that our children are not exposed to such abuses again?
Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Monday that Russia would resume the delivery of its S-400 missile defense system to Turkey this week.
Akar told reporters that Russia would begin transporting parts of a second S-400 battery to Turkey on Tuesday.
“Our aim is to protect our country and people from external aerial and missile threats,” he told reporters in the eastern province of Erzincan.
Turkey took delivery of the first part of the Russian system last month despite strong objections from the United States, which had been pressing Ankara to cancel the deal with Russia by threatening to sanction its NATO ally.
Washington said the S-400 batteries would compromise the F-35 stealth aircraft program and aid Russian intelligence.
In a major break with a longtime ally, US President Donald Trump last month announced that Ankara was being kicked out of the F-35 program for purchasing the Russian-made system.
FACT: The UN Human Rights Council has never once condemned Erdogan’s Turkish regime for anything & cannot even say the word ‘Kurd’.
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) August 26, 2019
Since the council was created in 2006:
0 resolutions
0 urgent sessions
0 commissions of inquiry@UN_HRC, why are you silent for Erdogan’s victims? https://t.co/ghZkfjQmt0
10:04 AMElder of ZiyonNo comments
8:04 AMElder of ZiyonNo commentsThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned Honduras' decision to open a diplomatic mission in Jerusalem linked to its embassy in Tel Aviv, calling it a direct aggression against the Palestinian people and their rights and a flagrant violation of international law and international legitimacy and its resolutions.Hyperbole is normal diplomatic language for Palestinians. because they know that it can intimidate Western diplomats who want to keep the peace so an irrational actor must be coddled rather than more appropriately being confronted or mocked.
It decided to file a complaint against Honduras with the Secretary-General of the United Nations over the opening of an official diplomatic mission in Jerusalem linked to its embassy in Tel Aviv, and to submit a draft resolution in the General Assembly against Honduras for violating Security Council resolution 478 of 1980, and announced that it had withdrawn from its intention to open an embassy in Tegucigalpa.
The Foreign Ministry also decided to ask the Arab League Ministerial Council, which will hold its ordinary session chaired by Iraq on September 10, to condemn this step and push for punitive measures against Honduras for the crime committed against the Palestinian people, ignoring its obligations towards the resolutions of the Security Council, which condemns the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and the transfer of any embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The Ministry indicated that it would go to the OIC General Secretariat for the same purpose and ask for a trade boycott action against Honduras.
"The status of Jerusalem as an occupied city is endorsed by the vast majority of states, in line with their standing legal and moral obligations to uphold international law," [Hanan] Ashrawi said.Honduras will almost certainly locate its mission to the west of the Green Line. Hanan Ashrawi is saying that all of Jerusalem is occupied, proving yet again that Palestinians have no interest in sharing anything.
6:04 AMElder of ZiyonNo comments
Q Hi, it's Karen DeYoung at the Washington Post. ...On the larger question of Hizballah and Iran, I wonder if you could -- any of you -- talk a bit about the recent Israeli strikes in Syria and Lebanon, and whether the United States is playing any role in encouraging or discouraging those attacks, and just what you think of them in general. Thank you.
OFFICIAL 1: I'll leave it for the Israelis to comment on what they did or they didn’t do. But the United States neither encourages nor discourages the Israeli attacks. The United States believes that the government of Israel has a right to defend itself from threatening activities throughout the region, wherever they may be.
The press conference also revealed that Iran has transferred over $200 million to Hamas in the past four years. This is besides the funding of other terror groups in Gaza.
OFFICIAL 2: ...It's our position that Israel is only acting because of Iran's actions. If Iran was not pouring heavy weapons and fighters into Israel's neighbors with the express purpose of threatening Israel, I don't think Israel would be needing to take any of these actions. And we fully support Israel's right to self-defense, and denounce Iran's regional campaign to violence.
Q Hi. This is Jeff Schogol with Task & Purpose. I just wanted to follow up on my colleague's question. The U.S. supports Israel's right to self-defense and Iraqi sovereignty. But if Israel attacks targets in Iraq, what does the United States do when Israel's right to defend tramples over Iraq's sovereignty?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I think that's actually an excellent question for the Iranians. Where is their respect for Iraqi sovereignty when they are putting this material into Iraq? That seems, to me, a pretty gross violation of sovereignty if that's the topic under discussion.
6:04 PMElder of ZiyonNo commentsWhen Israel barred two US congresswomen from entering the country earlier this month, I initially thought it was a stupid decision. But after hearing the reactions from both American politicians and American Jews, I’ve started to think that it may have been necessary.The Tlaib-Omar Show Was a BDS Masterstroke
This isn’t to deny the substantial damage it has caused. Pro-Israel Democrats felt betrayed and even some pro-Israel Republicans were outraged. Most of the organized Jewish community was horrified. And the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement received media exposure it could never have gained on its own.
But nobody would have felt outraged or betrayed had Israel barred, say, white-supremacist politicians. Thus the underlying message of these reactions was that unlike white supremacism, advocating Israel’s destruction is a legitimate opinion, and is entitled to the same respectful treatment as the view that Israel should continue to exist. Yet, no country can or should treat its own erasure as a legitimate option.
To understand why this was the issue at stake, a brief review of the facts is needed. When Israel originally agreed to allow a visit by Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), it knew that they enthusiastically supported BDS, a movement unambiguously committed to eliminating the Jewish state. It also knew they would use the visit to tar Israel in every possible way.
However, it assumed that they would at least pay lip service to Israel’s existence by following the standard protocol for official visitors – meeting Israeli officials and visiting some Israeli sites. On that assumption, and since the law banning entry to prominent BDS supporters permits exceptions for the sake of Israel’s foreign relations, Israel decided to admit them “out of respect for the US Congress,” as Israeli Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer said at the time.
A few days before the visit, however, the proposed itinerary arrived and proved that assumption wrong. Far from paying lip service to Israel’s existence, the trip literally erased the country from the map.
US-Israel relations have been through worse, and they will survive this too. But the incident is worth contextualizing within the US-Israel political framework. Tlaib and Omar displayed remarkable audacity in openly lying about their trip, both in advance and then again after it was canceled. They falsely claimed they were planning to meet Israeli officials when their itinerary included only ‘Palestine’, Palestinians, and supporters of Palestinians.Book review: The trials – and tribulations – of Judge Richard Goldstone
Tlaib’s actions proved that her visit was never meant to be an impartial trip to the scene of the conflict. Nor was it about seeing her grandmother. The point was to showcase the so-called “occupation.” Such manipulations, compounded by the soft power enjoyed by pro-Palestinian groups, magnify a fictitious reality. They allow those groups to hijack the narrative of peace, justice, and human rights while yearning for Israel’s destruction.
US-Israel relations do not exist in vacuum, and US opinion is neither monolithic nor frozen in time. It has undergone significant shifts since 1948, with some groups becoming more favorable toward Israel and others less so. Nevertheless, as polls illustrate, support for Israel has become an American value, even if some elected officials feel otherwise. Sustaining this requires work and perseverance.
It is a serious challenge to get past the self-delusion and zero-sum exclusion of the BDS worldview, which polarizes American politics regarding Israel, and convey the actual reality of the Middle East. The normalization of antisemitism in American politics and culture – together with our growing collective dependency on technology and the general tone of politics – reduces complex issues to sound bites and drives polarization and ignorance. (h/t IsaacStorm)
In The book, The Trials of Richard Goldstone, Daniel Terris, a friend and admirer, provides us with an in-depth account of a remarkable career.
Goldstone, 80, is a third-generation South African who was born into a Jewish family in Boksburg, near Johannesburg.
In the book, we follow, and are helped to understand, the events and circumstances that led to the emergence of Goldstone as a towering figure in international jurisprudence.
As his legal career progressed in South Africa, where he combated and helped defeat apartheid from within the system, and as chief prosecutor for the UN in bringing the Bosnian Serb political and military leaders to justice, Goldstone proved himself a dedicated advocate of human rights and an unwavering upholder of international humanitarian law.
Terris both describes and explains the challenges that Goldstone faced along the way, and the principles that informed his many decisions – principles that evolved over the course of his career, and have become his legacy.
Then late in the story, when he was already past 70, came the debacle of the Goldstone Report, a pivotal episode in his life and in his career. Terris describes the episode with scrupulous honesty.
It is well known that a couple of years later, Goldstone published an article in The Washington Post containing the key sentence: “If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.” His partial retraction of the report’s conclusions was condemned at the time as “too little, too late,” and in a sense this was true. Yet Terris also highlights the reactions of some in the human rights world who applauded Goldstone’s moral courage in acknowledging when mistakes had been made. “Heroism of the first order,” one editorial called it.
A Facebook campaign ad from a US Republican branch has been slammed as anti-Semitic and “deeply disturbing.”
Titled “A storm is brewing in Rockland,” the video by an upstate New York county’s Republican Party took aim at the large and growing Hasidic Jewish community in the county, the specter of “overdevelopment” and a proposed yeshiva campus.
The video, which appeared to have been removed on Thursday morning, features menacing music, the slogan “If They Win, We Lose” and a warning that “they” will “change our way of life.”
“Aron Wieder and his Ramapo bloc are plotting a takeover,” the video intones, referring to a Hasidic legislator representing a Rockland County town with a large Orthodox population. The ad warns that “chaotic development” and redistricting threaten “our” home, schools, families — and water.
“This video is deeply disturbing and should be removed and condemned immediately by the Rockland County Republican Party,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. “To clearly state that members of the Jewish community are a threat to families and our safety and that they must be stopped is despicable and completely unacceptable. Attacking those who are different than we are only breeds hate and makes us weaker. We must all stand together to denounce this hateful video.”
The Republican Party chairman in Rockland County, Lawrence Garvey, defended the video in a Facebook post on the party’s page.
“Regardless of your thoughts of the video, there are facts that cannot be ignored. This is not, nor has it ever been a religious issue. It is an issue of right and wrong,” he wrote. “For those not living in Rockland, it is harder to see a real and unique problem that exists here. The people of Rockland have become desperate for attention to the problems facing our communities and many live every day with the threat of losing their homes and neighborhoods.
“Anyone who dares speak up about overdevelopment, corruption, or education is immediately labeled as anti-Semitic without any concern for facts or without any idea of the true issues at hand.”
The Republican Jewish Coalition in a tweet called the video “absolutely despicable” and “pure anti-Semitism.”
WATCH: a shocking & brazen display of antisemitism!
— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) August 28, 2019
The Republican Party of Rockland Cty has the audacity to put out this vile trash that amounts to “the Jews are taking over” with “Jewish money and power”!
I expect Dems but more so Republicans to denounce this in full force! pic.twitter.com/5QrZ6uakZK
After winning the semifinal judo match, Israeli victor Sagi Muki's Egyptian opponent would not shake his hand for political reasons. Muki discusses with host Jeff Smith.
Marzouk Ali, vice president of the Egyptian Judo Federation who led the Egyptian delegation in the Japan world competition this week, on Thursday explained why his player Mohamed Abdel Aal refused to shake hands with the Israeli who beat him, Sagi Muki, in a semi-final match, saying: “The judge was not fair, in that he should have disqualified Muki. Since he was not disqualified – the Egyptian player left without shaking his hand.”Egyptian Foreign Ministry: Politics should not be involved in sports
Ali did not explain why Sagi Muki, who went on to win the gold medal, deserved to be disqualified.
This is not the first time an Egyptian judoka refuses to shake the hand of an Israeli rival who had defeated him. In the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, judoka Islam El Shehaby was thrown twice and lost to Israeli Or Sasson, who later won a bronze medal in the competition. After the match, El Shehaby refused to shake hands with his opponent, after the Israeli winner had bowed to him. As a result of this major breach of judo etiquette, the Egyptian was loudly booed and jeered by the crowd.
In the semi-finals on his way to becoming a judo world champion, Sagi Muki encountered Egyptian judoka Mohamed Abdelaal, who refused to shake Muki's hand at the end of the match.Israel says Iran forced its judoka to throw semifinal to avoid facing Sagi Muki
On Thursday, Vice President of the Egyptian Judo Federation Marzouk Ali commented on the incident, saying that "The loss of judoka Mohammed Abdelaal to the judoka of Israel in the semi-finals was arbitrary injustice."
"The Israeli judoka deserved to be sent off, which did not happen, leading the Egyptian athlete not to shake his hand at the end of the match," Ali claimed.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry was quick to counter Ali's statement, as well as the Iranian judoka's Saeid Mollaei, who was expected not to show up to a match against Muki in case they would happen to compete, saying that, "politics should not be involved in sports."
The Israeli embassy in Cairo published on their Twitter page that, "After forty years of peace and countless handshakes, Israeli judo player Sagi Moki approached Egyptian player Mohamed Abdelaal after defeating him in the semi-finals of the World Judo Championship with a sporting spirit," along with the photo of the Abdelaal walking away from Muki's handshake.
The chairman of the Israel Judo Association said Thursday that Iranian judoka Saeid Mollaei was coerced into throwing his semifinal battle against Belgium’s Matthias Casse a day earlier at the World Judo Championship in Tokyo in order to avoid facing Israel’s Sagi Muki in the final.Will Qatar let Israelis, Egyptians and LGBTQ people attend 2022 World Cup?
In the past Iran has forbidden its athletes to compete against Israelis. In May, the International Judo Federation said it had reached an agreement with Iran to end the boycott, though the head of Iran’s national Olympic committee later denied it.
Mollaei has been accused of faking injuries and intentionally losing fights in the past to avoid facing Muki.
IJO head Moshe Fonti, speaking to Army Radio, said that an hour before Wednesday’s semifinals, the Israeli team heard that Mollaei, ranked No. 1 in the world, “intended to continue the contest, even if he had to face Sagi Muki at the final. We heard he’d asked the head of the Iranian judo association to ensure his family was kept safe.”
A damning new report obtained by Fox News exposes discrimination by Qatar’s Islamist regime targeting Israelis, Egyptians and LGBTQ people ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in the Gulf monarchy.Isn’t security a Jewish value?
The report raises serious questions about whether Qatar can comply with the Code of Ethics of FIFA, the international soccer association that governs the world’s biggest single-event sporting competition, held every four years.
Cornerstone Global Associates, a prominent British consulting company, noted in its 12-page report, “FIFA World Cup 2022: Reputational risk and sponsorship,” that “banning fans based on a nationality is a clear breach of the FIFA Code of Ethics.”
“As of June, 2019, Israeli citizens are unable to apply for visas to visit Qatar. The Qatari official website does not list Israel as a country where visas can be applied for, let alone visa-free entry,” Cornerstone wrote.
According to the report, Akbar al Baker, the CEO of Qatar Airways, said in May that Qatar would not issue visas to “its enemies.”
Al Baker was referring to Egyptians.
An ally of Iran’s regime, Qatar is currently the subject of a diplomatic and economic embargo by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
About 10 hours after the horrible murder of 17-year-old Rina Shnerb in a terror attack last Friday, I was curious to see the reaction of the Jewish community. There was widespread condemnation across mainstream and right-wing groups. Among progressive groups more focused on politics and policy, J Street and Americans for Peace Now, unequivocally condemned the attack.Why Israel Needs Security
J Street tweeted: “We are heartbroken by this fatal attack near Dolev in the West Bank. Our thoughts are with the victim’s family, two of whom are still in serious condition. This violence must be condemned without equivocation.”
Americans for Peace Now tweeted: “We unequivocally condemn the heinous killing of 17-year-old Israeli Rina Shnerb in a terrorist bombing today in the West Bank, which also seriously injured her 19-year-old brother and father.”
But I saw no such statements from other progressive groups, such as T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights; The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC); Rabbis for Human Rights and The New Israel Fund. Two days later, there was still no reaction. How could that be? Why would they not condemn such a deliberate, depraved act of violence against Jews?
So, I took a closer look at their websites to get a better sense of the Jewish values that animate their work.
Lying Through Omission: Congresswomen Tlaib and Omar made multiple statements about how Israel’s security measures have impacted the lives of the Palestinians. Yet they chose to leave out important details about how these security fences and checkpoints have saved the lives of people in the region. We decided to set the Congresswomen straight.
US President Donald Trump never criticized Jews for “dual loyalty.” The president did the opposite: He urged greater Jewish loyalty to Israel.Pro-Israel politicians, NGOs and activists act like battered women
Moreover, the president’s statement urging greater loyalty to Israel and the Jewish people was certainly not antisemitic. Rather, it was the opposite of antisemitic; it was philosemitic.
Antisemites depict loyalty to Israel as a negative, and as inconsistent with American interests. By contrast, the president upheld loyalty and caring about Israel as a positive good.
The president’s detractors also ignored the context of President Trump’s statement – namely, the Democratic leadership’s refusal to take action against Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) for their frightening, real and virulent antisemitism.
Moreover, in light of the great friendship that President Trump has repeatedly displayed toward the Jewish people, it is particularly wrong to twist the meaning and intent of his words to malign him.
President Trump has demonstrated with real action as well as words that he is truly the greatest friend that the Jewish people and Jewish state have ever had in the White House. He is pursuing civil rights probes to protect Jewish and pro-Israel students on American college campuses; moved the US Embassy to Israel’s eternal capital Jerusalem; recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights; left the Israel-bashing UN Human Rights Council; closed the PLO/Palestinian Authority office in Washington; stopped funding to the terror-supporting PA and UNRWA; withdrew from the catastrophic Iran deal; made numerous strong statements against antisemitism, neo-Nazism and white supremacy; and demanded that the PA must end its incitement of terror and heinous “pay to slay” payments to terrorists to murder Jews and Americans.
In the world of pro-Israel advocacy today, too many people are reluctant to go on the offensive and to respond properly to arguments put forward by anti-Israel activists. Instead of explaining why Israel has a legal right to Judea and Samaria, pro-Israel advocates in America prefer to beat around the bush. They speak out about the wonders of Israeli innovation, how Israel is helping poor people in Haiti and what a great mitzvah Israel did in rescuing Ethiopian Jewry. They only care about spreading good news from Israel, not about responding professionally to arguments put forward by Israel’s adversaries.When Jews Kept Quiet
And when they are confronted with questions asking why Israel doesn’t withdraw from Judea and Samaria, they say simply that we cannot do so for security reasons or point the finger at Syria, pondering why Israel’s detractors don’t speak out more about what is going on there.
We need to have a moratorium on solutions until we successfully get out the truth about who this land belongs to legallly.
Not too many people in the world of pro-Israel advocacy are willing to confront BDS activists head on and tell them that we are owners of the land under international law, not occupiers. And for this reason, Israel’s public relations has been a dismal failure for we are simply not addressing the issues at hand.
Nevertheless, even though this policy has been a failed strategy, not too many people in the field of pro-Israel advocacy today are considering changing course. The question remains, why so? Mark Vandermaas, who heads Israel Truth Week and is the official lecturer of Canadians for Israel’s Legal Rights, stated in an exclusive interview that too many pro-Israel activists behave like battered women in their advocacy approach.
The appalling failure of President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide an American refuge for European Jews confronting the horrors of the Holocaust has long been carefully analyzed and documented by historian Rafael Medoff. Ever since his first book, more than thirty years ago, explored the “deafening silence” of American Jewish leaders in response to the Nazi slaughter, he has probed the evasion in the highest circles of American government and Jewish leadership of the issue of the annihilation of European Jewry.Lord Haw-Haw’s Lifetime of Hating the Jews, and the Jew Who Brought Him to Justice
In his newest book, The Jews Should Keep Quiet, Medoff carefully and scathingly analyzes the collaboration of Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, leader of American Jewry in the 1930s and 1940s, with the President revered by American Jews. The dilemma for Wise and his followers, Medoff writes, was whether to speak out against their beloved president’s acquiescence in the Nazi annihilation of European Jewry, thereby jeopardizing their yearning to be recognized as loyal Americans not pushy Jews.
Why, Medoff asks, did Roosevelt do so little to save European Jews? He suppressed immigration, left restrictive quotas unfilled, turned away refugees to the Virgin Islands where they would be willingly accepted, and refused to grant even temporary residence (not citizenship) to desperate Jews fleeing for their lives. His administration would not authorize bombing the railroad and bridges leading to Auschwitz although targets only a few miles away were attacked.
If the president’s indifference to the plight of European Jews seems inexplicable, when so little could have saved so many, how to explain the sycophancy of Rabbi Wise? Founder of the American Jewish Congress and an outspoken Zionist who advocated the fusion of Jewish principles with progressive social and political causes, Wise lavished praise on Roosevelt for his social justice agenda. He was, to be sure, concerned about Roosevelt’s silent response to the worsening plight of European Jews. But at a time of serious economic depression at home he thought it “unfair” to trouble the President with the “lesser problem” across the ocean. Criticizing “court Jews” who were subservient to the president, Wise became prominent among them even as he grasped the mounting danger confronting European Jews.
Born in New York in 1906 and spending his childhood in Ireland and most of his adulthood in Britain, William Joyce has the dubious distinction of being the last person hanged by the United Kingdom for the crime of treason. Joyce left Britain for Germany in 1939, a mere six days before Hitler’s armies invaded Poland, and remained there to broadcast English-language propaganda, the activity that earned him his death sentence. But his fascist sympathies began earlier in 1922, when he joined a pro-Mussolini group in England; in 1937 he left another group, the British Union of Fascists—in part because his anti-Semitism was too extreme even for its leaders—in order to establish the British National Socialist party. Robert Philpot tells his story:Guardian writer claims Israel is first country since Holocaust to shoot asylum seekers at border.
As Martin Pugh writes in his book on British interwar fascism: “Increasingly consumed with a hatred toward Catholics, Communists, and Jews, Joyce saw fascism as the best means of prosecuting his crusade against his and the nation’s enemies.” These hatreds were fueled by a powerful sense of resentment stemming from his own multitude of personal failures. Joyce blamed his inability to complete his master’s degree, for instance, on a Jewish tutor who supposedly stole his research. His rejection for posts in the civil service and Foreign Office were similarly attributed to the malign power exercised by Jews and others.
Joyce’s growing power [in the British Union of Facists]—together with that of the former Labor MP John Beckett and the journalist A.K. Chesterton—accelerated the increasing emphasis the Union of Fascists placed on anti-Semitism. . . . . Joyce [would later] argue for an alliance with Hitler and war against the “twin Jewish manifestations” of Bolshevism and international finance.
Joyce was not entirely the political outsider he made himself out to be. Instead, he was involved with a string of shadowy groups, such as the Nordic League, the Link, and the Right Club, which were frequented by right-wing Tory MPs, members of the aristocracy, and former military officers.
Once in Germany, Joyce’s subversive wartime radio broadcasts—for which he adopted the name “Lord Haw-Haw”—earned him the praise of Joseph Goebbels and a large audience in the UK. After the war, he was identified and captured by the British soldier Geoffrey Perry, né Horst Pinschewer, a Jew who had fled the Third Reich in 1936.
The Guardian has published a long extract from This Land Is Our Land, a new book by author Suketu Mehta. It’s basically a criticism of white civilisation’s fear of “brown and black people reproducing”. Mehta praises Trudeau, Macron and Merkel but attacks Obama, Clinton, Trump, Orban, Poland, Austria and….Israel.
On Israel Mehta writes:
“Jews fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe were the harbinger of today’s global migrants; many of today’s covenants that protect refugees came into existence in response to their predicament. So it is particularly painful to hear that the first army in our time to shoot at people crossing the border looking for asylum was the Israeli army. In 2015, Israeli soldiers fired on African migrants crossing the Egyptian border, wounding a number of them. In December 2017, the Knesset passed a law under which the 40,000 asylum seekers in Israel “will have the option to be imprisoned or leave the country”.”
Mehta is referring to an incident in August 2015 when the IDF shot warnings into the air when a group of Sudanese migrants were trying to cross from Egypt into Israel. One of the potential migrants (who didn’t end up crossing into Israel) had a gun which he was firing at the Egyptian army. When the other migrants still didn’t desist from entering Israel three were shot in the leg, survived and were taken to hospital immediately. The IDF admitted the firing was unjustified and the incident was being investigated by Israel’s military advocate general.
A quick search reveals that in 2010 the UN condemned Egypt for killing 60 migrants at that same border since 2007.
What a shameful episode.
— Dave Sharma (@DaveSharma) August 29, 2019
The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network promotes peace by ... wait ...
urging the boycott one of the most pro-peace Israeli politicians around, Tzipi Livni. She is welcome in Ramallah, but — according to APAN — not in Sydney. pic.twitter.com/MTGpIK4h5y
.@EternallyJewish's thoughts on the #Israel-diaspora relationship https://t.co/HmfITLAftw
— (((David Lange))) (@Israellycool) August 28, 2019
The third of the programme’s panellists to respond to the question (from 37:24) was the Conservative MEP for South East England Daniel Hannan.BBC News whitewashes one terror group, uncritically quotes another
Hannan: “…I think it’s important to look at and learn from things but it’s also important to remember the basis of modernity, the basis of post-enlightenment civilisation, which is that every individual is responsible for himself and that we shouldn’t define people through membership of a group. We should all ultimately stand in defence of our own actions. It’s striking to me that when…very often the kind of people who say ‘well, you know, we need to have reparations or we need to have kind of collective identity on these things’, when the same argument is made in the case of…I dunno…eh…Israel flattening a Palestinian village as a collective punishment, they are quite rightly the first to say ‘well hang on; you don’t do collective guilt. It’s banned by the Geneva Conventions’. And they’re right the second time. So we should never lose sight of the fact that everyone is ultimately responsible for himself.” [emphasis added]
Neither Ritula Shah nor anyone else challenged that highlighted offensive and factually inaccurate statement at the time that it was made. The BBC allowed it to remain in situ in the repeat broadcast and it appears in the archived version of the programme which will be available on demand for a very long time to come, thus leading the BBC’s funding public to wrongly believe that Israel ‘flattens’ Palestinian villages “as a collective punishment”.
Once again we see just how seriously the BBC takes its own editorial guidelines.
The BBC of course did not bother to inform readers that under those so-called “rules of engagement” – i.e. UN SC resolution 1701 – there should be “no authority other than that of the Government of Lebanon” and that previous accords pertaining to “the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon” should have been implemented. Neither were readers told that Hizballah is funded and supplied with weapons (also in violation of that same UN resolution) by a foreign power.More Jewish Blood Spilled in Crown Heights
The article continued with more uncritical amplification of quotes from Nasrallah’s speech as well as from the Lebanese president and prime minister (who are of course well aware that their country is held to ransom by the Iranian backed terror group) before unquestioningly promoting what the BBC undoubtedly knows to be a blatant falsehood from Nasrallah:
“Hassan Nasrallah also said the Israeli air strikes south-west of the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Saturday had hit a Hezbollah rest house and not a military facility.”
The article closed with the BBC’s usual unnecessarily qualified portrayal of Iranian activities and more amplification of claims from Iranian assets in Iraq.
“Israel has been so concerned by what it calls Iran’s “military entrenchment” in Syria and shipments of Iranian weapons to Hezbollah that it has conducted hundreds of air strikes in an attempt to thwart them since 2011.
Meanwhile in Iraq, the powerful Iranian-backed paramilitary Popular Mobilisation force again accused Israel of what it said was a drone attack near the Syrian border in Anbar province on Sunday that killed two of its members.”
In other words BBC audiences reading this article found a tepid and euphemistic portrayal of the PFLP-GC terror group along with uncritical repetition of unsubstantiated claims and utter falsehoods from the leader of another terrorist organisation proscribed by the UK government.
Quite how the BBC can claim that such coverage will “build people’s understanding” of the story is beyond belief.
Jews are still routinely being beaten on the streets of New York City. On Aug. 27, a young man heaved a large brick at Abraham Gopin, a 63-year-old member of the Chabad Hasidic community exercising in Lincoln Terrace Park, toward the eastern end of Crown Heights. Gopin was then approached by a man who yelled an anti-Jewish slur and then began punching him before hurling a large paving stone, knocking out Gopin’s front teeth and fracturing his nose. Benny Friedman, a Hasidic musician and Gopin’s son-in-law, tweeted a photo of the victim’s blood-stained tzitzit. “This is absolutely frightening,” Friedman wrote, “and obviously something that a civilization should never tolerate.”
Like others attacked over the past year and even over the past month—including three members of Williamsburg’s Satmar community assaulted the day after Tisha B’Av—there was no mistaking Gopin for a member of any other ethnic or religious group, and no discernible motive or provocation on the attacker’s part, other than his target being a Jew.
The attack on Gopin was especially violent—the brick left a gash large enough to require staples in his forehead. There have been dozens of violent incidents targeting Jews in New York over the past couple of years, but few have produced images of blood-soaked religious objects, an especially visceral reminder of how any outward expression of identity can endanger Jews even in some of the most Jewish places in the most Jewish city in America. And yet the daily experience of anti-Semitism in the city is often more routine. Later on the morning of Gopin’s attack, an East Flatbush resident named Yossi Blachman tweeted, “My 12 year old was just at that park 2 hours ago. As soon as he gets there he sees an Anti Semite talk to his friend pointing at my son saying those F***ing Jews…. he was frightened and immediately left the park.”
When Tablet reached him, Blachman explained that the people who had pointed and cursed at his son were in their teens or early 20s. “It happened to my kid today, but it happens so often,” Blachman added, explaining he’d had almost identical language directed at him near his home one year earlier. “It’s not like a one in a million thing. It’s something that’s happening to people daily.” Still, it was the first time his son had experienced anti-Semitic harassment of this kind, in a place not far from where a man in his mid-60s had been bludgeoned just a few hours earlier.
Hear from the man who was viciously attacked by a violent Antisemite with a huge rock for no other reason than being an identifiable Jew: pic.twitter.com/AEKcfAmHvw
— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) August 28, 2019
Federal authorities announced charges Thursday against an Ohio man accused of threatening a Jewish community center in a video police say shows him shooting a rifle.German Hezbollah mosque declares it is proud of terrorism and pro-Khamenei
Police in New Middletown in northeastern Ohio arrested 20-year-old James Reardon in mid-August after police say he posted a video on Instagram on July 11 of himself shooting a semiautomatic rifle.
The video included sounds of sirens and screaming with the caption: “Police identified the Youngstown Jewish Family Community shooter as local white nationalist.”
A federal charge filed August 19 and unsealed Thursday charges Reardon with transmitting threatening communications via interstate commerce.
Police and FBI officers raided Reardon’s home on August 16.
The Hezbollah mosque in the German city of Münster posted a shocking video in December on its Facebook page, announcing it was proud of terrorism and its allegiance to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.Dutch Holocaust museum drops ex-director’s claim Jews threatened to kill him
The Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), an independent, nonpartisan press monitoring organization, first revealed the video and wrote on its website “Poem Recited in a Münster, Germany Shiite Mosque: We Have Pledged Allegiance to Khamenei; We Are Accused of Terrorism and Are Proud of It.”
According to a MEMRI transcription of the video from the Imam Mahdi Zentrum Shi’ite mosque in Münster, a man recited a poem with the lyrics, “We have pledged our allegiance to the Jurisprudent Ruler [Khamenei]. We are soldiers willing to sacrifice our lives for Nasrallah [‘Victory of Allah’]. We belong to the party of Ruhollah [Khomeini]. We have been accused of being terrorists – we are proud of terrorism.
“Listen all nations! Listen, oh Wahhabis! The roaring Arab wave will never retreat. The convoys will not wait long with their march. We will not come to you in small numbers. We will come to you from all over. The brigades will cross [the border] from Yemen, and we will pray in Al-Baqi regardless of the [Sunni] Nasibis [haters]. We are the Shi’ites of Ali Bin Abu Taleb, and will only die free.”
A Dutch Holocaust museum decided not to complain to police about what its former director said were death threats by Jews over his support of Middle Eastern immigrants.Israel inaugurates vast Negev thermo-solar power plant
The decision last week by Memorial Center Camp Westerbork followed a heated debate about politicization of the Holocaust’s memory that leaders of Dutch Jewry said featured false accusations against their community by the museum’s former director, Dirk Mulder.
Mulder, who is not Jewish, claimed in April that anti-immigration activists and people from “the Jewish circle” had threatened to kill him over his plans to host an event highlighting the plight of people whom he considers refugees. Jewish community leaders protested the initiative, saying it falsely equates immigrants’ ordeals and the genocide.
The allegation about threats, which Mulder has not publicly retracted, angered some Dutch Jews who doubted its veracity and challenged him to back it up or take it back. Mulder, who has since retired, has not made public any examples of alleged threats. Mulder’s successor, Gerdien Verschoor, told RTV Drenthe last week: “We want to focus on the future and leave this issue behind.”
The largest renewable energy project in Israel, a vast thermo-solar power plant near Ashalim in the Negev, was inaugurated on Thursday at a ceremony attended by Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz and senior government and business officials.McKinsey: Israel on Road to Become a Global Autotech Hub
Spanning approximately 390 hectares, larger than the central city of Givatayim, the 121-megawatt solar power facility will supply electricity to approximately 70,000 households in Israel, or approximately 0.75% of all electricity generated in Israel.
The $1.13 billion plant – a public-private partnership (PPP) – was constructed by Negev Energy, a special purpose company held by Shikun & Binui Renewable Energy, Israeli investment fund Noy Fund and Spanish engineering group TSK. The Noy Fund and TSK joined the project in April 2016 after Spanish company Abengoa, a former project partner, went bankrupt.
“If our main purpose in the past was to supply energy for the people in Israel, the Israeli economy and industry, and public health was maybe secondary, we have changed our perspective,” said Steinitz. “The main goal now is to supply energy but also to make it clean and to make sure that we will reduce rather than increase air pollution.”
The power plant, Steinitz said, will contribute significantly to Israel’s target of making 10% of the country’s electricity supply renewable by 2020, and 17% by 2030. At full capacity, the plant will reduce approximately 245,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel sources, equivalent to taking 50,000 vehicles off the road.
Israel is on the road to becoming a global mobility hub, according to a report published earlier this month by the McKinsey Center for Future Mobility (MCFM) of multinational consulting firm McKinsey & Company.Nate Ebner New England Patriots: My First Trip to Israel
While Israel has no domestic automotive manufacturing activity, in recent years it has become a significant attraction to multinational automakers. According to McKinsey’s analysts, this is in part due to the country’s high expenditure on research and development, and its proficiency in both cybersecurity and artificial intelligence technologies, which are vital technologies for the autonomous and connected vehicle industry.
According to the report, Israel invests well above the OECD average on R&D, up to 4.5 percent of its GDP, compared with the 2.4 percent average. Israel ranked below South Korea (4.6 percent) and above Japan (3.2 percent), Germany (3.0 percent), and the US (2.8 percent). Israel also boasts a high ratio of researchers out of the country’s working population, 17 out of every 1,000 people, according to the report. This is more than in South Korea, Japan, and the US, and more than double the OECD average of eight to 1,000.
According to the report, much of the innovation that occurs in the mobility field is driven by startups, and Israeli startups have gotten a healthy slice of the pie. Since 2010, 40 Israeli mobility-focused startups and an additional 300 startups developing technologies with applications for the auto industry have received investments totaling $18.4 billion. The sum, according to the report, places Israel in fourth place after the US, China, and the UK.
One major takeaway from my first trip to Israel this past June: There’s a certain art to wearing a yarmulke on top of an Afro.Moroccan Jewry in Israel set to commemorate 60 years of aliya
For real, an art.
Having been raised Jewish, I still remembered the snug feel of a kippah on the crown of my head, even though it had been a few years since I’d worn one. So when we went into buildings and areas that observed the custom of covering your head, it wasn’t a big deal.
But for quite a few of my Patriots teammates on the trip with me who had not been raised Jewish, the yarmulke thing was a bit more complicated.
During one of our dinners, Isaiah Wynn accidentally had his yarmulke fall off his head and into his meal. Got it absolutely covered in food. Hummus everywhere. He made a solid effort to clean it off — A+ for effort to him — but, yeah, it wasn’t pretty.
You can also take my guy Brandon King for example. Great person. Huge hair. Could not keep that thing on his head. B-King was struggling with hair clips to no avail for the entire trip. It was one of the great subplots of the entire six-day trip.
For all of us, this was a journey about firsts. It’s not often you get the opportunity to take a first-class trip to an exotic and historic place. It’s even rarer that you get to do it with the guys who you just won a Super Bowl with.
The story of Moroccan Jewry’s immigration to Israel is not simple, beginning many years before the State of Israel was established.
To mark their difficult journey home, as well as the major contributions Moroccan Jewry has made to Israeli society, the World Federation of Moroccan Jewry has organized dozens of events in the forthcoming months for the approximately one million Israeli Jews who are Moroccan or of Moroccan descent.
Toward the end of the rule of the Ottoman Empire, and prior to the signing of the Fez Treaty in 1912 that entailed French protection of Moroccan Jews, there was a mass immigration of Jews from large cities – including Fez, Rabat and Marrakech – to the smaller towns and villages surrounding the cities.
However, the decline in the financial circumstances, overcrowding, and the need to pray in secret to avoid persecution by locals caused some young families to immigrate to Israel. Between 1908 and 1918, some 80 families moved to Tiberius and Jerusalem.
In the years prior to the Holocaust, Moroccan Jews were encouraged to enroll their children in French schools. The community was also prompted to receive a French education and integrate into French culture, as French influence in Morocco began to grow in the early part of the 20th century.
But as the Vichy regime came to power in 1940 and the Holocaust began, the situation for Moroccan Jewry began to change.
Although King Mohammed V is credited with blocking efforts by Vichy officials to impose anti-Jewish legislation upon Morocco and deport the country’s 250,000 Jews to their deaths in Nazi concentration camps in Europe, partial Nazi race measures were put in place in Morocco despite Mohammed’s objection.
![[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] 02/19 Links Pt1: Is Israel the Problem, or Are Jews the Problem?; Matt Lee embarrasses Jen Psaki again](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_s557rX4gS9CxgDKWOsH5mN-XRvLsgCLrGtmh44c6Tj84lHLVsklhrwIH-XJzsQmlDSVuKkQFU0bCz7kxXu_5NHtTK3Pdf0DcCh6jIeULtJIQ)
.jpg)
![[Elder of Ziyon] Facebook may add "Insha'Allah" button for events](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9KIDYyRBYSDMD-x2PZwXZNYKl0eHCeNWbuEWt6IvsNL6IFhtZTpF2SvNRlui4o-nPTjPMcmSOxJ1nPo0pPGPzI5r7GHO_ZfKV9WUcNnkMeMslnkgWq0GeILJg-5vXLLCLckj6SUmdJqmc/s72-c/arabic_facebook_logo_by_ali_normal-d37tr0q.jpg){kind=logo}
