יום חמישי, 16 בינואר 2020

Elder of Ziyon Will the Iranian Regime’s Obsessive Jew-Hatred be its Undoing? (Vic Rosenthal)

Elder of Ziyon Will the Iranian Regime’s Obsessive Jew-Hatred be its Undoing? (Vic Rosenthal)

Link to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Will the Iranian Regime’s Obsessive Jew-Hatred be its Undoing? (Vic Rosenthal)

Posted: 16 Jan 2020 12:00 AM PST


 Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column


Qassem Soleimani was a terrorist's terrorist, a single man who was directly responsible for numerous acts of terrorism against the West and Israel, but – more importantly – who had the resources of a state at his disposal in his project to develop asymmetric warfare assets in other Middle Eastern countries. He was quite successful in building up Hezbollah in Lebanon into what is arguably the first truly existential threat to the Jewish state since 1973. He was in the process of doing the same for Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria, when Trump wisely put an end to his mischief.

But he had another goal, apart from weakening Iran's rivals Saudi Arabia and Israel, getting control of Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, and forcing the US out of the region. That was to target the Jewish people worldwide. In addition to attacking Israeli diplomats in several locations, Soleimani's terrorists murdered Jews in Argentina, Bulgaria, Panama, and Lebanon. Of course his prime Jewish target was Israel, and although his support for Hezbollah plus various Palestinian factions could be seen as part of Iran's struggle to dominate the region, it could also be understood as part of an overall anti-Jewish project.

Israel, as the Ayatollah Khameini well understands, is the locus of Jewish power in the world. Expressing this idea in 2018 with typical antisemitic imagery, he tweeted that

Our stance against Israel is the same stance we have always taken. #Israel is a malignant cancerous tumor in the West Asian region that has to be removed and eradicated: it is possible and it will happen. …

The supposedly moderate Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, has also used this metaphor, as did his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iranian officials have likened Israel to a dog, and their expressions of hostility toward Israel are far more vicious and "personal" than those directed at their other regional adversaries. The regime regularly holds Holocaust cartoon contests despite the fact that Western countries, even those relatively hostile to Israel, find this kind of antisemitism offensive, and damage the image Iran wishes to project as a modern, progressive nation.

This is an antisemitic regime, and inviting and subsidizing visits from members of the Neturi Karta faction – representatives of which attended Soleimani's funeral – can't wash it away.

Lucy S. Dawidowicz wrote a book called "The War Against the Jews 1933-1945," one of whose theses is that Hitler's ravings against the Jews were more than, in Irving Howe's words, "mere bait for the masses," but rather, "the Nazis' deepest, most 'authentic' persuasion." The murder of millions of Jews was not an epiphenomenon of Hitler's expansionist aggression, but rather one of his main war objectives.

It seems to me that the hostile expression of the Iranian revolutionary regime toward Israel is like that. In this case it draws its hatred from the well of Islamic doctrine rather than the combination of crackpot economic and racial theories that fueled Hitler's enthusiasm, but it is still significantly more than just propaganda to support practical geopolitical ambitions. Like Hitler's, the Jew-hatred of the Iranian regime is not an epiphenomenon; it is the "authentic persuasion" of Khameini (and was of Soleimani, too, until Trump's Hellfire missiles came along).

It's instructive to note that the "Quds Force" that was commanded by Soleimani and which is responsible for covert operations and unconventional warfare (read: terrorism) throughout the world is named after al quds, Jerusalem. It's an obsession with them.

The statements of the Jew-haters in Iran are more honest and straightforward than those from the Palestinian Authority or the still more disingenuous BDS Movement. Ahmadinejad famously threatened that Israel "would be erased from the map," not that Israel would be forced to "end the occupation." It's often said that one of the most important lessons of the Holocaust was that when Jew-haters make threats, it's foolhardy to ignore them. Therefore we must not ignore the nuclear threats of the Iranian regime.

You may notice that I say "the regime" and not "Iran." This is because while the regime in Teheran pumps out anti-Jewish propaganda every day, the Iranian people are arguably the least antisemitic in the Middle East! So says the ADL's Global 100 poll, which found that "only" 60% of Iranians showed attitudes or beliefs that they considered antisemitic. This compares to 93% for our Palestinian peace partners, 74% for the Middle East and North Africa as a whole, 19% for countries in the Americas, and a worldwide average of 26%. Iranians are far less antisemitic than Jordanians (81%) and Egyptians (75%), with whom we are supposedly at peace. Yes, 60% is a high number, but given the conflict and the regime's propaganda, it is surprisingly low.

Iran was a highly developed country before the 1979 popular revolution, with a relatively well-educated and liberal population. The government of the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was an absolute monarchy ("shah" means "emperor") in which dissent was harshly suppressed; but when it was overthrown by a popular revolution, many commentators – and probably many Iranians – were surprised to see it replaced by an Islamic regime that was no less harsh. The Shah had been a relatively enlightened king, a modernizer who improved the economy and introduced women's suffrage. The new regime quickly established clerical rule and decreed mandatory hijab for women.

Today the Islamic regime is in trouble, its economy devastated by sanctions, and popular anger has risen against the choice of the regime to spend large amounts of money to develop militias in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen; to fight a hot proxy war against Saudi Arabia and a warm one against Israel; and to develop ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons. Although the regime has been successful in getting Lebanese, Syrians, Iraqis, and others (Palestinians, too) to die for it in its military adventures, it has to arm and pay them.

Probably a majority of the money it is spending on military programs goes for its strategic encirclement of Israel and the provision of arms with which to try to neutralize Israel's great military advantage. It's probably reasonable to count a large part of the expensive nuclear and missile programs as Israel-related as well. So if it should happen that the Iranian people overthrow the Islamic regime, it will be in part because of the regime's irrational anti-Jewish obsession (and in part because of the actions of Donald Trump).

And this brings up an interesting parallel. Some historians think that Hitler's obsessive desire to kill all the Jews led to his irrational and disastrous decision to invade the Soviet Union in 1941. Others point out that the diversion of resources to murdering Jews greatly damaged his war effort and even led to his defeat on the critical Eastern Front.

It would be particularly ironic if the most dangerous and destabilizing force in the world today, the primary source of the unending misery of the Middle East, were to founder, like Hitler, because of its obsessive Jew-hatred.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

01/15 Links Pt2: In Arab Countries, Restoring Synagogues Means Never Saying Sorry for Past Crimes; Soviet Dissident Recalls Jews And Christians Stood United Against Fear

Posted: 15 Jan 2020 03:00 PM PST

From Ian:
What Did Mike Pompeo Mean?
In his November statement, Pompeo noted that the settlements are not "per se" illegal; meaning that they are not in themselves intrinsically illegal. Last Wednesday, the Secretary of State said that the settlements were not "inherently" illegal; meaning in a permanent, immutable, or fundamental way. Kinda sounds like the same idea, different day.

Kontorovich further places great stock in the combined effect of Pompeo simultaneously "disavowing" any and all legal or other reasoning in the Hansell memo concluding that the settlements are, de facto (a third semantic variation to consider), illegal.

As I understand the combined effect, the language remains somewhat equivocal, leaving Pompeo some "wiggle room" for future negotiations, interpretations, whatevers. Per se/inherently a distinction without a difference.

Pompeo explicitly rejects the Hansell memo. But he stops short of an unequivocal declaration on the legality of all settlement activity by qualifying them as not being inherently illegal. Otherwise, why split hairs? Why not just omit "inherently"?

I know from direct experience that there are many Hansell-like memos and "opinions" yellowing in the off-site archives of numerous foreign services. Diplomatic thinking on the issue has been frozen for 40 years, reflecting a blind commitment to the falsehood of chronic Israeli breaches of the Geneva Convention. The fact that Israel defended its eastern border from an unprovoked attack by Jordan, and subsequently trounced the Kingdom's forces, made the Six Day War a defensive war, which is treated very differently under international law. But that doesn't fit the upside-down narrative that has captured the imaginations of generations of leaders and foreign policy influencers: that Israel is the aggressor and chief violator of international decency.

Pompeo should be commended for exposing the Hansell sham, but he has by no means slain the beast.

Lyn Julius: In Arab Countries, Restoring Synagogues Means Never Saying Sorry for Past Crimes
Last week, to much fanfare, the largest synagogue in the Middle East was reopened in Alexandria, Egypt. Some 300 guests, including Egyptian Antiquities and Tourism Minister Khaled al-Anany, were on hand for the festive occasion.

The event made headlines from the United Kingdom to China — but only The Jerusalem Post pointed out that just three Jews were in attendance.

According to reports, only a handful of Jews now live in a country which once boasted 80,000–100,000. (Israeli diplomats and Egyptian-born Jews living outside the country are planning their own celebration next month, but these visitors will be returning to their homes in Israel, Europe, and the United States after the party.)

The Eliyahu HaNavi synagogue will never again host Jewish weddings or bar mitzvahs, nor will it ever muster a minyan. It will be no more than a museum to an extinct community, and a perfunctory tourist stop.

The media coverage of the event was typical of a trend hailing the restoration of Jewish buildings in countries with no more than a handful of Jews as somehow indicative of pluralism and tolerance in the Arab world. Even Jews fall for the fantasy, grateful for the slightest acknowledgement that members of the Tribe once lived in these countries.

"I'm very proud of what my country has done, and it symbolizes living together — today there is no difference between Egyptian Muslim, Christian, and Egyptian Jew," gushed Magda Haroun, leader of the Cairo "community" of two Jews. "It is recognition that we have always been here and that we have contributed to a lot of things, just like any other Egyptians."

No journalist covering the restoration story bothered to ask why a once-glorious community has been reduced to a handful of souls in Cairo and Alexandria, the youngest of whom (Magda herself) is reportedly 67.
Israeli model says Lebanese designer banned her from show
Arbel Kynan, a top Israeli fashion model, wrote in an Instagram post on Tuesday that a Lebanese designer refused to have her take part in his runway show at the Haute Couture Week in Paris, which starts on January 20, because of her nationality.

"Truthfully... it's still hard for me to digest...." Kynan wrote. She then told of how she arrived in Paris a few days ago to be photographed by a "very respectable fashion company," and was told she would also walk the runway in next week's show, which is a coveted job in the modeling industry.

"Many times, people ask us where we are from, and on the day of the shoot they asked me where I am from and, of course, I answered with a big smile that I am from Tel Aviv." The shoot continued as usual, Kynan said, and they finished early. According to Kynan, a few days passed, and then on Tuesday, she says, "I received an email from my agency stating that the client is Lebanese and he does not want me to take part in the show, because I live in Tel Aviv, Israel – this is the content of the email I received."



Soviet Dissident Recalls Jews And Christians Stood United Against Fear
"In the Soviet Union, the important thing was to overcome the fear." That is what former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky told me over tea in a Jerusalem cafe.

In the totalitarian, atheist Soviet Union, Jewish identity was forcibly submerged. "The only Jewish thing that was in my life," Sharansky says, "was anti-Semitism!" That was until 1967. Israel's victory in the Six-Day War, Sharansky says, changed the way the Soviets viewed Jews, and changed the way Soviet Jews viewed themselves. They were now, to friend and foe alike, part of something larger than themselves, connected to the Jewish state and to Jews the world over. With this knowledge, Soviet Jewish dissidents were no longer afraid and had the courage to confront the Evil Empire.

Sharansky has told this story many times before, but faced with the rising tide of anti-Semitic attacks and libels against Jews worldwide, I asked him about an often forgotten aspect of the crusade for human rights in the Soviet Union. There were many dissident groups with different goals, but the group that was best organized and had the most reliable contacts with the outside world were the Jewish "Refuseniks" (Soviet Jews who were denied the right to emigrate to Israel).

Sharansky, their spokesperson, was happy to help others. And that included many, many persecuted Christians.

Reports about the abuses suffered by Christians in the Soviet Union made their way through Sharansky's network to the Western press and human rights groups. With each new revelation, demands on the Soviets to respect freedom of religion increased.

The importance of this channel wasn't lost on Christians. "A group that I helped to establish their first contacts to reach the foreign press and to speak to the world were Pentecostals. I was very pleased later to find out that when I was arrested, there were tens of thousands of Pentecostals in Siberia who were fasting in solidarity with me."

When the Soviets arrested Sharansky and sent him to the Gulag, his communist tormentors thought they might break him by placing him in a cell with a Christian activist. A religious Jew and a religious Christian would surely tear each other apart, they thought. But it did not turn out that way.
David Singer: Israeli Right Does Not Seek Overthrow of Jordan's Hashemite Monarchy
The claim that "The Israeli right has no solution for civil rights for Palestinians after annexation, except for overthrowing Jordan's Hashemite monarchy" is a canard that must be totally rejected.

This defamation of the Israeli right needs to be debunked before it is allowed to become accepted fact in the run up to Israel's elections on 2 March.

I feel qualified to call out this baseless allegation as the founder of the "Jordan is Palestine Committee" (JIP) 40 years ago.JIP was formed to inform public opinion that:
• Jordan comprised 76.9% of the territory once called Palestine
• The key to ending the conflict between Jews and Arabs required direct negotiations between Israel -17.1% of former Palestine -and Jordan -to allocate sovereignty of the remaining 6% of former Palestine – Judea, Samaria and Gaza – between their two respective States
• Jordan's population alone should determine who Jordan's ruler should be. JIP constantly pointed out the role the Hashemite monarchy had played for 60 years in preserving the major part of Palestine as an exclusively Arab State in which Jews were not permitted to live.

JIP contrasted this with the failed efforts of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) to secure sovereignty in one square metre of territory attempting to wipe Israel off the map.

JIP's stated policy was actually challenged by one member who sought its replacement with a new policy calling for the overthrow of the Hashemites by replacing King Hussein with PLO leader Yasser Arafat. JIP members rejected this argument and the disgruntled member quit the organisation.

However he did more – registering JIP in his name in Israel – then seeking to restrain my organisation using the name in Israel in connection with an international conference.

Jordan's Abdullah: Israel imposing an 'unthinkable situation' on Palestinians
Jordan's King Abdullah II said Wednesday that Israel has been trying to "impose an unthinkable solution" on the Palestinians, lamenting that hopes were fading for the two-state solution backed by the international community.

In a speech in front of the European Union Parliament on the tensions boiling across the Middle East, the Jordanian monarch said Israel's construction of settlements in the West Bank and "disregard of international law" could be summed up as "one state turning its back on its neighborhood, perpetuating divisions among peoples and faiths worldwide."

Abdullah accused the Israeli government of being "propped up by structural inequalities with Palestinians as second class citizens."

He went on to assert that a one-state solution to the conflict would lead to perpetual violence that would destabilize the entire region. "I will say it again and again: A more peaceful world is not possible without a stable Middle East and a stable Middle East is not possible without peace between Israelis and Palestinians," he said to applause.

"What if Jerusalem, a city that is close to my heart personally and of great historic significance, remains disputed? Can we afford to rob Christians and Muslims alike of the spirituality, peace and coexistence that this city symbolizes and instead allow it to descend into political conflict?" asked Abdullah, who carries the hereditary title of "custodian" of holy Muslim and Christian sites in Jerusalem.

While security ties between Israel and Jordan have flourished, political relations have soured recently over a number of matters including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's pledge in September to annex the Jordan Valley in the West Bank, if he is given another term in office.
Trump's ex-Mideast envoy isn't sure Israelis and Palestinians ready for peace
Jason Greenblatt, US President Donald Trump's former Middle East negotiator, made his first public speech since leaving the White House on Sunday night.

Greenblatt, 52, who worked as a lawyer for Trump for two decades prior to joining the administration, spoke at Congregation Keter Torah in Teaneck, New Jersey, the Modern Orthodox synagogue where he is a member. The event was organized by the Northern New Jersey Holocaust Memorial & Education Center to raise money for a new Holocaust memorial in the township, which has a significant Jewish population.

Sporting a black yarmulke and an American and Israeli flag lapel pin, Greenblatt delivered a long and wide-ranging speech that recounted how his Hungarian-born parents survived the Holocaust and how their stories had impacted him. As his wife and four of his six children listened in the audience, he also denounced the recent spike in anti-Semitic attacks, though he cautioned against pointing fingers at anyone in particular for the increase.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency spoke with Greenblatt after the event. Here is the conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity.

Are you hopeful about peace between Israel and the Palestinians?
I think they have a lot of very tough issues to work out. I don't know if the two sides will come to agreement on those tough issues. I don't think anybody can be sure. These are complex issues that the two sides are extraordinarily divided on, and even within the two societies, so I don't think anybody can sit here and say peace can be achieved. But I think it would be a shame if we didn't continue to try desperately.

Do you think you brought Israelis and Palestinians closer to that goal?
I think we've gotten closer to creating a plan that both sides should take seriously. And if they really spend time on it and actually talk to each other, they could make progress. Will they do that? That remains to be seen.
Obama's Middle East policy team has a new home in Warren's campaign
Much of Elizabeth Warren's presidential campaign narrative subtly casts her as the anti-Obama, the potential president who will not broker sweetheart deals for big business.

That was the subtext — actually it was the overt text — of a buzzy Politico magazine article in September titled "'Why Are You Pissing In Our Face?': Inside Warren's War With the Obama Team." It chronicled tensions at the beginning of Barack Obama's first term, when Warren, then a Harvard law professor, was the most prominent critic of the bailout championed by the president.

It's been a narrative useful to the Massachusetts senator as she vies with Sen. Bernie Sanders to be the no-compromise candidate the party's left is dreaming about.

But there was a hiccup in the anti-Obama narrative last month when reports emerged that Obama was "talking up" Warren in private conversations with donors.

Now a CNN story on Warren's foreign policy team reveals that her Middle East policy advisers are nearly all Obama-ites.
Jerusalem deputy mayor to UK: Don't fund anti-Israel Palestinian textbooks
The UK must stop funds for UNRWA unless it agrees to stop anti-Israel and antisemitic incitement in its schools, Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum plans to tell the UK House of Lords on Wednesday.

Hassan-Nahoum is set to attend a cross-party meeting in the House of Lords to discuss the UK's recent pledge of £65.5 million to UNRWA for 2019-2020. She pointed out that the Netherlands, Switzerland, New Zealand and Belgium suspended donations to UNRWA due to its corruption and incitement.

"Hamas has penetrated UNRWA to the extent that most teachers and administration are Hamas members," she said ahead of the meeting. "Hamas actually has representatives in each UNRWA school in order to attract students to join" the terrorist organization.

UNRWA schools' curriculum, designed by the Palestinian Authority, "perpetuates incitement, antisemitism and glorification of martyrdom," Hasson-Nahoum said.

For example, an entire textbook chapter teaching Arabic reading comprehension to fifth-grade girls is dedicated to praising Dalal al-Mughrabi, who massacred 38 people, including 13 children, in 1978.

The capital's deputy mayor also plans to discuss the poor quality of the education in Jerusalem's UNRWA schools, which she says is "woefully inadequate in basic Hebrew, English, mathematics and technological skills" and is not giving the children educated in those schools a chance for success.
Young Israeli Diplomat Torpedoed Russia's Attempt to Move $17 Million to UNRWA
Thanks to a brilliant idea of a young diplomat on Israel's UN mission, Yaron Wax, Israel in late December torpedoed a Russian move at the UN, supported by the PLO, to approve an additional $17 million budget for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Ynet reported.

In 2019, for the first time, UN Secretary-General António Guterres proposed to the Fifth UN Commission, which approves the organization's annual budget for 2020, to allocate $17 million to the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) to assist in the investigation and prosecution of war crimes in Syria, mainly in the context of chemical weapons.

To date, Russia and China have opposed funding this UN agency, and it has been operating on donations alone. The Western countries, including Israel, supported the Secretary-General's proposal, but Russia, China and their allies resisted. In an attempt to kill the Guterres proposal, Russia counter-proposed adding $17 million to UNRWA, which recently has been mired in scandals and corruption, and, like IIIM, relies on country donations for its funding.
In milestone, Israel starts exporting natural gas to Egypt
Israel has started pumping natural gas to Egypt from two massive offshore fields, marking a major milestone and a historic cooperation between the countries, according to a joint statement.

The move comes shortly after natural gas started flowing from the massive Leviathan gas field, and some seven years after Israel starting pumping gas from the nearby Tamar field.

Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz last month signed permits for the export of gas to Egypt, calling it "a historic milestone for the State of Israel."

On Wednesday, Steinitz heralded "the start of the most significant cooperation ever between Israel and Egypt, in energy and the economy, since the peace treaty."

Jerusalem's and Cairo's energy ministries issued the rare joint statement on Wednesday morning, calling the move "an important development that will serve the economic interests of both sides.

"The step will both enable Israel to export some of its natural gas to the region via Egypt's gas liquefaction plants, and promote Egypt's status as a regional gas hub," the statement said.
Report: Israel to use EU funding to build natural gas pipeline for Gaza
Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz has asked the government-owned Israel Natural Gas Lines to submit a detailed plan for the construction of a pipeline to the Gaza Strip, financial daily Calcalist reported on Tuesday.

According to the report, the move followed a series of meetings between Energy Ministry officials and international bodies, during which it was agreed that the project, estimated at $60 million, would be funded by European Union contributors.

The construction of the pipeline would require Israel and Gaza, which is controlled by the Hamas terrorist group, to sign a gas contract.

Egypt has been leading indirect talks between Israel and Hamas in an effort to broker a long-term ceasefire.

A ministry source told Calcalist that if an agreement is reached it could be signed during the first quarter of 2020, allowing for the pipeline to be completed by 2022.

Should the plan come to fruition, the pipeline will be designed to supply Gaza with up to 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year, which could significantly alleviate the energy crisis plaguing the Strip.
JCPA: New Tensions between Egypt and Hamas
In another move, Egypt raised the price of cooking gas that Egypt provides the Gaza Strip. This caused great anger in the Gaza Strip, and Gaza gas importers have decided to stop importing it from Egypt.

Furthermore, the Egyptian media, which for a long time had been restrained from bad-mouthing Hamas, so as not to damage the good atmosphere between the two sides, renewed its attacks on Hamas' relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood, which is considered a terrorist organization in Egypt.

The Egyptian media's attack this time dealt with Khaled Mashaal, a senior official of Hamas, who plans to run for head of the movement in internal elections.

Egyptian journalist Amani al-Khayat revealed on January 11, 2020, in her "News Extra" segment that Khaled Mashaal asked the Muslim Brotherhood senior official Khairat el-Shater, during the reign of President Mohamed Morsi, the following three things:

- Establishing a Hamas representative office in Cairo that will be unconnected to the PA, just like the Hamas offices in Doha and Istanbul.
- Establishing a bank in Egypt that Hamas will partner together with a large Arab bank.
- Finding a way to get rid of senior members of the military wing Izz ad-Din al-Qassam and its leader Mohammed Deif and in order to integrate his people into the organization.

Sources in the Gaza Strip believe that Egyptian intelligence is behind this revelation, which is now trying to create a dispute between Khaled Mashaal and Ismail Haniyeh ahead of Hamas' internal elections.

The two are contesting for Hamas leadership, and there is a great rivalry between them.

Egypt is not interested in severing ties with Hamas leadership because of its national security interests. Egypt is interested in achieving a lull in tensions in Gaza so as not to damage national security in Egypt and prevent Hamas from renewing its relationship with ISIS' branch in northern Sinai. However, Egypt apparently wants to teach Ismail Haniyeh a lesson and restore its national dignity. Therefore, more Egyptian measures should be expected to signal Egypt's displeasure with Hamas' renewed ties with Iran.
Palestinian Authority 'deeply concerned' over Israel-Hamas truce deal
Palestinian officials in Ramallah have expressed deep concern over reports that Israel and Hamas are close to reaching a long-term ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.

The officials warned that Hamas was not authorized to conduct negotiations with Israel or any other party, particularly regarding the situation in the Gaza Strip.

The warning came as Hamas announced that Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Jamie McGoldrick, returned to the Gaza Strip on Wednesday to pursue efforts to reach a long-term ceasefire deal with Israel.

Shortly after the UN official arrived in the Gaza Strip through the Erez Border Crossing, Palestinians fired four rockets (from the Gaza Strip) into Israel. The IDF reported that two of the rockets fell in open territory, while two were intercepted by Iron Dome. It was not immediately clear who was behind the rocket attacks.

In addition to the UN, Egypt and Qatar have also been working toward enforcing previous understandings reached between Israel and Hamas to achieve calm and ease restrictions on the Gaza Strip.
Fatah official: Arafat hinted for us to launch Second Intifada after Camp David
A Fatah party official said Yasser Arafat hinted for Palestinians to launch the Second Intifada following the failure of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in 2000 at Camp David.

"Yasser Arafat, may he rest in peace, signed the Oslo Accords and came here [to the Palestinian territories]," Abd Elah al-Atira said in an interview with Palestine TV earlier this month. "When he went to Camp David and saw that Jerusalem, or part of it, was not part of the deal, he came back and hinted to us to start the Second Intifada."

"Fatah's thermometer is ready to move in any direction," he added, according to a translation of his remarks from the Middle East Media Research Institute.

Atira, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, also said Arafat was behind deadly rioting that broke out after Israel opened the Western Wall tunnels to the public in 1996.

"When he saw [the opening of] the Western Wall tunnel, he was the one who told the people to take to the streets and fight, and so we waged an Intifada," he said.








Israel, Russia to Jointly Mark Auschwitz Liberation at UN
In recent months, Israel and Russia have been forging a unique partnership at the United Nations.

Amid the backdrop of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon and his Russian counterpart, Vasily Nebenzya, decided to join forces and convene a historic event to mark the liberation of the notorious Nazi death camp, to be held at United Nations Headquarters in New York next week.

The event will be attended by Auschwitz survivors and Russian veterans who took part in the Soviet military campaign to liberate the camp. Also attending will be UN Secretary General António Guterres, other senior UN officials, ambassadors from across the globe, and representatives from pro-Israel organizations.

Danon and Nebenzya will also inaugurate a photography exhibit about the Auschwitz liberation.

"Seventy-five years after the liberation of Auschwitz by the Allied forces, we will commemorate that historic event in the place where the decision was made that paved the path to the establishment of the Jewish state. This is the hour for cooperation between [Israel and Russia]," Danon said.
Linking Israel's founding to Holocaust, once cause for outrage, is now accepted
A decade ago, in a speech in Cairo addressing the Islamic world, President Barack Obama issued a call to understand Israel's importance in the context of the Holocaust — and it started a political firestorm in the world of Jewish politics.

Not so this week.

A nonbinding resolution on Holocaust education introduced recently by three Republican lawmakers essentially echoes Obama's call, but it has barely evinced a peep.

Why the differing reactions?

First, people tend to pay more attention to the leader of the free world making a signature foreign policy address than a pack of backbenchers introducing your everyday nonbinding resolution. It's also understandable to chalk up any inconsistency to our political culture of selective outrage.

In this case, however, a third possibility should be considered: Maybe there was nothing wrong with what Obama said in the first place? Or, more to the point, maybe the president never said what his critics say he said.
'Avoid tokenism and empty gestures' on Holocaust Memorial Day, MPs told
The Holocaust Educational Trust has urged MPs to avoid "tokenism and empty gestures" on Holocaust Memorial Day as it warned against the "expanding poison of antisemitism" in the UK.

"We cannot ignore the difficult year we leave behind us, where we faced adversity and sometimes felt abandoned by some we thought we could count on," warned the trust's chief executive Karen Pollock on Monday.

"We are not interested in tokenism and empty gestures but in sincerity and truth," she wrote in a strongly-worded email to MPs.

The stark message comes ahead of 27 January, a national day organised by the trust to commemorate victims of genocide and mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
London to donate £300K to Auschwitz-Birkenau ahead of HMD
London is to donate £300,000 to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation to help preserve the remains of the camp and its accompanying exhibits.

Mayor Sadiq Khan signed off on the city hall grant which will help preserve the ruins of the site's gas chambers and crematoria, barracks, collections and exhibits.

The decision was announced on Wednesday ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January, which will mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, now visited by around 300,000 people from the UK each year.

An estimated 1.1 million were killed at the concentration and extermination camp, with the overwhelming majority of victims Jewish.

"As the years pass, and as we have fewer survivors to pass on their stories, it is vital that we work even harder to preserve the site and ensure younger generations learn the lessons from history," Khan said on Wednesday.

"These lessons are all the more significant as we see antisemitism and hate crime on the rise," he added. "By joining others from around the world in giving a grant to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, we will be able to preserve this hugely important site and educate people about the Holocaust and the history of many Jewish Londoners for decades to come."


Germany donates $4.4 million to Dutch Holocaust museum
Germany has pledged nearly $4.5 million toward renovating the Dutch national Holocaust museum.

Emile Schrijver, director of Amsterdam's Jewish Cultural Quarter, an organization comprising five museums and institutions in the Dutch capital, announced the funding Monday.

"We expected a donation of half a million or a million euros," Schrijver told Het Parool.

The National Holocaust Museum of the Netherlands opened in 2017 in a former religious seminary that was used to smuggle hundreds of Jewish children to safety from an adjacent building in which they were held. Their parents were interned across the street at the Hollandsche Schouwburg, a theater that the Nazis converted into a detention facility.
Inside the secretive Black Hebrew Israelite sect of Harlem, linked to Monsey stabber
Honestly, I didn't know what to expect as I made my way to a chair and someone handed me a Bible. Later, I was given a copy of the Apocrypha, a collection of religious teachings central to the beliefs of the Black Hebrew Israelites.

My relative who was part of the group had once described what was involved in their religious conversions. Basically, it amounted to this: Everything I had been taught in my Christian faith was a lie. Blacks were the "true" children of God. We were the lost Israelite tribes. We could go to heaven if we followed the Ten Commandments and stayed away from eating pork and shellfish, among other beliefs. White people were our oppressors, she said. According to my relative, as an African American woman, I was a "true Jew" even though the religion uses elements from both Christianity and Judaism.

"Jesus Christ loves Israel," said one of the high priests. He spoke in a strong, proud voice, addressing the congregation, which consisted of me and five other people. "Our people are lost because they have been lied to by the European people."

The priest went on to say in a determined and matter-of-fact voice that the mission of the church was to tell people these truths. Somehow, I expected him to be louder, to wave his arms around, maybe even to stomp his feet. But there was none of that. Instead, there was a measured and calm assurance that what he was preaching was simply the truth.

"There is no other church on the planet earth that will teach you the true word of God," he continued. "Other churches are the Anti-Christ. You must be a part of the Israelite church to hear the truth."


Florida Democratic Leader: Criticism of Israel's 'Apartheid Policies' Not Antisemitic
The treasurer of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party in Florida on Tuesday said criticism of Israel's "apartheid policies" is not antisemitic.

"What I will NEVER do is pretend that honest criticism of Israeli apartheid policies is anti-semitism. So you won't see me calling out criticisms of Israeli ethnostatist polices as anti-semitism, because that's not anti-semitism," tweeted William Byatt.

Previously a founding board member of the People's Progressive Caucus of Miami-Dade, Byatt is a senior software engineer at accounting and advisory firm Kaufman Rossin, according to the Miami-Dade Democratic Party website.

"As indicated on his [T]witter page, Mr. Byatt's opinions are his own and do not reflect the views of the Party," the Miami-Dade Democratic Party told JNS. "The Miami-Dade Democratic Party will continue to support a two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiated directly by the parties that guarantees Israel's future as a secure and democratic Jewish state with recognized borders and provides the Palestinians with independence, sovereignty, and dignity."
NGO Monitor: Human Rights Watch Hypocrisy on Settlements
This promotion of Armenian settlement products and groups directly contradicts HRW's assertions regarding Israel. In this context, HRW – and Whitson personally – argue that business activity in Israeli settlements violates international law. They have launched several BDS (boycotts, divestment and sanctions) campaigns targeting corporations that operate there, extensively lobbied for and promoted the UN Human Rights Council "database" of Israeli settlement businesses, and have lobbied the ICC to investigate Israel for war crimes because of its West Bank policies.

This is not the only example of Whitson's human rights hypocrisy. She has a well-documented history of currying favor with despotic Middle Eastern regimes:
- In 2009, Whitson traveled to Saudi Arabia, using the specter of the "pro-Israel pressure groups" to raise money from Saudi elites.
- In 2009, Whitson also visited Libya, claiming to have discovered a "Tripoli spring." In particular, Whitson praised Muammar Qaddafi's son Seif Islam as a leading reformer. In two articles promoting this façade of reform, she repeatedly praised him for creating an "expanded space for discussion and debate."

Whitson has also repeated antisemitic tropes, antagonizing American Jews and equating the situation in Gaza with the Holocaust:
- In February 2019, referring to a tweet on antisemitism in the UK Labour party, Whitson echoed classic antisemitic tropes and Jewish conspiracy theories, tweeting "Why is this #Israel interference in domestic UK politics acceptable? Is it only a problem when Russia does this?"
- In January 2015, Whitson commented on a tweet about the US Holocaust Museum's display of "death and torture in Syria," stating that the Holocaust Museum should "also show pics of death and destruction in #Gaza" – equating the 2014 war with Hamas to the Holocaust and the extermination of 6 million Jews.
- In an April 2011 op-ed in the Huffington Post, Whitson baited American Jews, asked rhetorically "Why should American Jews, who have a history of deep engagement with the U.S. civil rights movement, support settlements built on these kinds of laws and policies in Israel?"
- In the same piece, she writes "This is why Human Rights Watch, which extensively documented these discriminatory practices in a report, has called on the EU to clearly label settlement-produced goods, on businesses to review their activities in the settlements, and on the US to cut aid to Israel equal to what Israel spends on the settlements and to investigate tax exemptions for settlement charities."
Rep. Zeldin brings anti-boycott act to Congress
A House bill introduced Tuesday would extend penalties for boycotting Israel to compliance with boycotts organized by international organizations.

The Israel Anti-Boycott Act, introduced by Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Jewish Republican from New York, would amend the anti-boycott Export Administration Act of 1979 "to prohibit boycotts or requests for boycotts imposed by international governmental organizations against Israel," Zeldin said in a statement.

It ratchets up pressure on Democrats who in recent years have increasingly opposed expanding penalties targeting Israel boycotters, saying they impinge on speech freedoms. A separate bill in the Senate last year garnered the support of just over half the party's caucus. Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the House speaker, has resisted considering the measure in the US House of Representatives.

The bill specifically names the United Nations and affiliated bodies, and the European Union, entities that in recent years have recommended boycotts of goods made in Israeli settlements.

It had 59 cosponsors, 58 of them Republicans. The sole Democratic cosponsor is Tom Suozzi of New York.
South Dakota 28th State to Say NO to BDS
StandWithUs applauds South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem for signing an executive order prohibiting state offices, agencies, commissions, and departments from contracting with companies that engage in boycotts against Israel. The Executive Order is meant to protect taxpayer funds and state policy from companies which discriminate against Israel. It applies only to contracts of $100,000 or more.

South Dakota is the 28th state to either pass legislation of enact an executive order to counter the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which promotes economic warfare against Israel, the only viable democracy in the Middle East and a reliable U.S. ally. The order does not impact any individual's or company's right to free speech.

Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs, an international Israel education organization, commented, "When states stand up against anti-Israel bias and discrimination, it benefits the state's economy, joint research projects with Israel in agriculture, science and environment, and says a firm "NO" to the BDS movement which encourages antisemitism and discourages a peaceful negotiated solution between Israel and its neighbors."

Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs, an international Israel organization, commented, "When states stand up against anti-Israel bias and discrimination, it benefits the state's economy, joint research projects with Israel in agriculture, science and environment,and says a firm "NO!" to the BDS movement which encourages antisemitism and discourages a peaceful negotiated solution between Israel and its neighbors."
York University reinstates both pro-Israel, anti-Israel student groups after clash
York University in Toronto, Canada, reinstated a pro-Israel student group on Monday after it was suspended following Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) protesting a local Herut Canada event on Nov. 20, which featured reservists from the Israel Defense Forces.

Before, during and after the event, anti-Israel SAIA protesters clashed with pro-Israel students.

SAIA was also suspended and reinstated.

The suspensions meant that the student groups' privileges were temporarily revoked, including reserving rooms, and putting up posters and tables around campus for other events.

"The only thing Herut is guilty of is trying to have a meaningful discourse about Judaism and Zionism on a college campus plagued by Jew-hating fanatics," said Brooke Goldstein, executive director of the Lawfare Project, in a statement. "While we strongly disagree with the initial suspension, we are pleased that the university has taken the right action now by restoring Herut's status on campus. Hopefully, this action marks the beginning of increased scrutiny of campus anti-Semitism."
'Jeopardy!' Apologizes for Airing 'Flawed' Bethlehem Clue, Blames 'Human Error'
Producers of the popular game show "Jeopardy!" apologized on Monday for stirring controversy with a clue about the Church of Nativity in the West Bank city of Bethlehem — where Christians believe Jesus was born — during its Friday night episode.

One of the clues in the "Where's That Church?" category read, "Built in the 300s A.D., the Church of the Nativity." Contestant Katie Needle buzzed in first, replying, "What is Palestine?" but host Alex Trebek said her answer was incorrect. Fellow contestant Jack McGuire then buzzed in, answering, "What is Israel?" and his response was deemed correct.

Israel captured Bethlehem — along with the rest of the West Bank — from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War. In 1995, as part of the Oslo II Accord, Israel ceded political and military control of the city to the Palestinian Authority.

"Jeopardy!" producers published a video on Monday titled "Correction to Jeopardy! Bethlehem Clue." In an accompanying statement, they explained they had never meant to air the Church of Nativity clue after concluding there was no clear correct answer.

"In the process of taping this clue, 'BUILT IN THE 300s A.D., THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY' we became aware that the clue was flawed as written and that determining an acceptable response would be problematic," the statement read. "In accordance with our rules and in the interest of fairness, we voided the clue and threw it out. We restored Katie's and Jack's scores to what they were prior to the clue. The outcome of the game was not affected. We then continued the game with this replacement clue. Unfortunately, through human error in post-production, the uncorrected version of the game was broadcast. We regret the error and we will make every effort to ensure this never happens again."


NYT's Headline Deemed Too Jew-Friendly for UK News Site
The New York Times' reporting on Israel and Jewish affairs is regularly critiqued by us, but in this case, a story, penned by Isabel Kershner about Jewish women learning the Talmud, is positive and well-balanced.

Which may be exactly why British newspaper The Independent, which subsequently republished the article, felt the need to change the headline for something more… downbeat.

Compare the original New York Times headline, below:

…with the revised headline when the article was republished by The Independent:

Not only is the new headline significantly more negative, but the claim that the Talmud is a "forbidden text" is clearly at odds with the content of Kershner's article.


Nazi flag removed from Australian home
An Australian woman has taken down the Nazi flag she was flying from her home following a joint effort by neighbors and local police, as well as a Jewish member of Parliament.

Cheryl Lawdron told reporters that she had German ancestry and had the right to fly the flag featuring a large swastika and other Nazi symbols on her property in the country town of Beulah.

Victorian state lawmaker David Southwick of the Liberal Party contacted the municipal council, local police and residents to assist in coordinating efforts to have the flag removed.

The incident drew condemnation from the local community. The flag was removed late on Tuesday evening.

"Once again, this incident demonstrates the rising wave of anti-Semitism and racial hatred in Victoria and highlights the need for greater State Government action to crack down on incidents such as these in the future," Southwick, who is Jewish, said in a statement.
Secret Hitler board game removed from 3 Montreal stores
A board game called Secret Hitler was removed from the shelves of three stores in Montreal.

Branches of the Tour de Jeux chain removed the game following a call from B'nai Brith Canada. Harvey Levine, B'nai Brith's regional director in Quebec, told the Montreal Gazette that his office had received complaints from members of Montreal's Jewish community about the game, which is about the rise of fascism.

"Anything that depicts anything regarding Hitler is a very sensitive issue, especially with growing antisemitism throughout Canada, the U.S. and around the world," Levine told the newspaper.

The game, set in Germany in 1933, divides players into two teams – the liberals and the fascists. The fascists work to put their leader in place, while the liberals try to find and stop the player who is designated the Secret Hitler. The game came out in 2017; it was removed from the Tour de Jeux stores on Sunday.

It remains available on Amazon, which calls it a "fast-paced game of deception and betrayal" with "beautiful wooden components" and "Hidden roles and secret envelopes for five to ten players."
Israeli researchers create algorithm to predict gestational diabetes
Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science say they have created an algorithm that is able to identify women who are at high risk of gestational diabetes — even before they get pregnant.

The study found with just nine questions, they could tell whether the subject was likely to developing gestational diabetes, a condition of high blood sugar that develops during pregnancy. If this information is available in the early stages of pregnancy or even before the woman has gotten pregnant, it might be possible to reduce her risk of diabetes through lifestyle measures such as exercise and diet.

"Our ultimate goal has been to help the health system take measures so as to prevent diabetes from occurring in pregnancy," said Prof. Eran Segal of the Computer Science and Applied Mathematics and Molecular Cell Biology departments, a senior author of the study, in a statement.

The findings were reported by the researchers in Nature Medicine. The study analyzed data on nearly 600,000 pregnancies available from Israel's largest health organization, Clalit Health Services.
Israeli researcher develops molecule to block lupus
Israeli researchers and stateside colleagues have recently discovered a way to prevent the release of DNA associated with the development of lupus, an autoimmune disease affecting 5 million people around the world.

The researchers identified the pathway through which"pro-cell death proteins" and mitochondrial DNA exit cells – a process that triggers autoimmune diseases –and created a molecule to block this route.

The molecule, called VBIT-4, was created by Prof. Varda Shoshan-Barmatz of Ben-Gurion University and the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev.

She tested the discovery on mouse models of lupus with Dr. Jay Chung from the US National Institutes of Health. Their research was recently published in the Science journal.

The pathway that the researchers identified is called mitochondrial protein voltage-dependent anion channel (VDAC1). In some autoimmune diseases VDAC1 is over-expressed, meaning that a large pore composed of several VDAC1 units is formed, allowing the release of pro-cell death factors and mitochondrial DNA.

The researchers used VBIT-4 to prevent the formation of this large pore and the subsequent release of pro-cell death factors associated with diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, as well as the mitochondrial DNA associated with lupus.
US Christian students come to Holy Land to connect to biblical and modern Israel
Five hundred college students streamed into a large party venue in southern Jerusalem with a panoramic view of the Old City. They noshed on mini shwarma sandwiches and cotton candy, and danced with abandon to Israeli pop music — some creating a mosh pit near the DJ's stage at the front of the hall.

But they weren't participating in Birthright Israel, the mega project that since it was founded in 1999 has brought upwards of 750,000 young Jews to the country. These young Americans were in Israel this month with Passages, an organization that brings practicing Christian college and graduate students from all over the United States to the Holy Land for a 10-day trip to connect with the biblical roots of their faith, and with modern Israel.

In operation since January 2016, Passages is expected to bring 10,000 students to Israel by the end of 2020. The students are accepted through a selective application process. This winter break alone, Passages brought more than 1,000 students to the Jewish state on the highly subsidized trip.
Formula One's Williams Racing signs first ever Israeli driver Roy Nissany
British Formula One motor racing team and constructor ROKiT Williams Racing announced that they have signed 25-year-old Israeli Roy Nissany to their 2020 driver lineup as their official test driver.

With this move Nissany joins the illustrious list of Williams drivers, following in the footsteps of world champions like Brazilians Aryton Senna and Nelson Pique, Frenchman Alain Prost, Finland's Kimi "Iceman" Raikonen and Keke Rosberg, as well as Britain's Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill and Jenson Button.

During the announcement at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation in Tel Aviv on Wednesday afternoon, Williams Racing Group President and Deputy Team Principal Claire Williams, warmly welcomed Nissany onto the team.

"It is a pleasure to welcome Roy Nissany to ROKiT Williams Racing in the role of our official test driver," Williams said at Wednesday's event. "Roy demonstrated his capabilities driving in the post-season Abu Dhabi test last year and we were extremely impressed with what he could do in a short space of time. He is a hard-working individual who we are excited to be working with this year."
The Story of a Blind IDF Officer
Ori is a blind officer in the Israeli Air Force. You should take a minute to hear her incredible story!


Is Israel the best country to live in? The verdict is in
Israel maintained its standing as the 29th best place to live in a newly published US News and World Report index.

The 2020 Best Countries report, which ranks countries using a variety of metrics, has Switzerland at the top, followed by Canada and Japan.

The United States made it to the seventh spot, with Lebanon coming last at 73rd place.

"Collectively, the 73 nations represented in the 2020 Best Countries rankings account for nearly 95 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) and represent about three-quarters of the world's population," the report says.

"Israel, the only Jewish nation in the world, is a small country on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. For its relatively small size, the country has played a large role in global affairs. The country has a strong economy, landmarks of significance to several religions and strained relationships with many of its Arab neighbors," the report notes, adding that "Israel has a technologically advanced market economy with cut diamonds, high-technology equipment and pharmaceuticals among its major exports."
Israel's Top 10 songs in the 2010's


We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Betina Thorball to BDS: Herbalists Have a Right to Professional Neutrality (Judean Rose)

Posted: 15 Jan 2020 08:51 PM PST


Ancient Roots Israel 2020  was meant to be a conference where people from all over Israel could hear herbalists speak in English.  The organizers had high expectations for the event. It was to be a meeting of people from all walks of life who share a common interest in herbal wisdom. Instead, anyone who expressed an interest in participating or attending was attacked, abused, and bullied by scary BDS people.
You hear about it and you think, "For goodness sakes! This was supposed to be about herbs. About people coming together to share knowledge!"

But that is the reality of our world today. Create something nice or say anything positive in relation to the one, tiny Jewish state, and the BDS activists will descend on you like vultures.  Did you want to perform in Israel, or sell Israeli products? Rest assured that you will be bullied without mercy and without end, until you change your mind and stay home or buy a local product, instead. Arrange an event as harmless and inoffensive as a conference on herbalism? It makes no difference: if it is in Israel, it is a target.
A call goes out and it begins. Abuse Israelis! Destroy their prospects, their ventures and endeavors, until such time as the State of Israel is gone from the face of the earth and replaced with something called "Palestine." That is what the BDS people have been told to do, and that is, in fact, what they do. It just takes a single voice urging the lemmings on to crush, kill, destroy, to make the bullying and the abuse begin in earnest, like a cloud of hungry locusts converging on a field of greens.
Perhaps it is simplistic, but a conference on herbalism brings to mind gentle, folksy people dressed for the 60's, complete with nursing babies. Did you think this sector of the laidback would be immune from BDS abuse? If so, you are wrong. The nice people who either organized the conference, planned to attend, or serve as speakers, were endlessly threatened by others with some pretty ungentle associations, though the bullies are themselves, herbalists.
It is shameful to mix politics with herbs. But that is what these BDS tools did. And they were so scary that they were effective: the keynote speakers bowed out, and then registration for the conference slowed to a halt.
That is when the organizers of Ancient Roots 2020 got busy, figuring out who was responsible for the nasty, abusive behavior, and the attempt to spoil an innocent conference on innocuous herbs. The conference organizers carefully documented the trail between the individuals responsible for the cancellations and pull-outs to specific anti-Israel BDS organizations and associations. Organizations like Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights and publications like The Peak.

Then the conference organizers took their story to the press, distributing a short form press release, as well as a large press packet of documentation. The conference issued a statement regarding the main instigator of the attacks, Shabina LaFleur-Gangji:
"The evidence clearly shows that we are dealing with a highly experienced, career activist who writes for multiple activist publications both in print and online and has written articles and given lectures and workshops professionally about how to launch resistance/boycott movements. She has cultivated these connections in organized activism for approximately a decade and has the experience and expertise to utilize all rhetoric and resources to launch a carefully orchestrated attack quickly and effectively. She claims credit for this attack and clearly states that the attack was part of a larger BDS movement, that she wholeheartedly supports."
And then Ancient Roots Executive Director J. Rivkah Asoulin gave this interview to Kan English News.
I wrote to Asoulin, wanting to know more. She sent me to Betina Thorball, who explained, "I have kind of slid into the vacuum of a PR spokesperson, mostly because I am quite independent in all this (except for the herbs). I am not Jewish, nor Arab, not Muslim, not Christian, not living in US, not living in Israel—but I am a member of the American Herbalists Guild (AHG), and an organizer and speaker at Ancient Roots."
Thorball was kind enough to answer all my many questions:
Varda Epstein: Can you give us some background on you? 
Betina Thorball
Betina Thorball: I am an Austrian national and resident of Switzerland. I am an herbalist, a mother, a piano player, and in my spare time a cave and mountain guide. My background is in the life sciences, I hold a PhD in Food- and Biotechnology, I worked in research, in Pharma, in Biotech, in business development and management roles, always working towards finding new solutions to health issues in the world. And one day (long story) I realized that a part of the answer is missing, and that this part can be found in a very old solution: To add the power of herbs to the spectrum of health care tools. So I started studying again and became an herbalist.
Varda Epstein: Tell us about the conference. How was it conceived? What is it meant to achieve?
Betina Thorball: Last May at Herbfeast Ireland (the conference of the Irish herbal community that we modelled our conference on), I met Rivkah Asoulin. Together we experienced the positive energy such an herbal gathering is creating and exchanged our mutual "dream" of one day helping to start such a gathering and community in our respective countries. A few weeks later Rivkah had started talking to some people around her and one day she called me, saying: "I am going to do it Betina. I am going to do it now. I am going to put together an international herbal conference here in Israel next February!"
So I said: "How are you going to do this? You have seven children. This is less than a year away. We have no money."
And she said: "I will find a way. I have to do this."
So I said: "Ok I will help you."
I have done these things before (started and managed conferences), and one of my wonderful herbal teachers instilled in us the mission to spread the word of humankind's old herbal knowledge. And here life put this in front of me, something that is my mission to do and something I had acquired skills to help execute. Rivkah, of course, did the majority of the operational work, being on site locally, but I helped with advice, as discussion partner, with website and marketing material etc. A few other wonderful women joined the organizer group, we picked a name (Ancient Roots Israel) to reflect that herbs are the ancient roots of human medicine, and "Israel," as this was the country where it would be held. In my head there was already "Ancient Roots Switzerland" waiting to get its turn.
We wanted to create a local community of herbalist and people interested in herbalism and bring in some local and international teachers to learn from. It would be the first English-speaking international herbal conference in Israel! If it worked out, we saw the possibility to turn this into a community with a recurring annual event, maybe even with sister events in other countries one day.


Varda Epstein: I understand your keynote speaker, 7Song, dropped out after being bullied by pro-BDS activists. Can you tell us the details of that? How was he bullied?
Betina Thorball: 7Song was one of the headline speakers, and yes, he cancelled his commitment after what was described as overwhelming communication and pressure from many, many people, wanting him to withdraw from what they saw as support for Israel, and in a statement of sympathy for the Palestinian cause, as I understand it. He mentioned this was affecting his livelihood. He sounded worried and scared to me. We can only assume the details, but his distress seemed obvious. He was not happy with having to take this decision. We were sorry to read his words and the feeling of distress behind them. I personally think this was – and still is – a real conflict to him.
Varda Epstein: Is it true that some of the people who registered for the conference have canceled? What was said to them that made them change their minds?
Betina Thorball: Nobody who had already bought their ticket has tried to cancel it. We did actually receive messages of support from already-committed participants. Everybody was shocked by this and could not understand that such an initiative could be a meaningful target to pro-BDS activists.
Rivkah asked around for help, while at the same time trying to fill the empty speaker slots, while trying to understand the whole thing, while cracking up a little (as her personal money was in all this), while having to keep her large family afloat and more – you can imagine.
There were many people who said they want to come, and registrations had trickled in at a steady pace until the beginning of January. This did indeed came to a total halt when all this happened, which is also because we suddenly had no time to continue our advertising efforts. Marketing such a new event (in topic and location) is no small task and requires a day-to-day engagement of people around you, on social media and in the real world. So, we published and sent-out a press release, to inform everybody about what has happened and to voice our dismay at a political-inspired disruptive action against a gathering of professionals in the field of health, which by all standards should fall under the same ethical principles executed by Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders, i.e. medicine's political neutrality in all aspects of education, knowledge exchange and aid to everybody without discrimination.
Varda Epstein: Was the conference strictly for Jewish Israelis, or were you inclusive of all sectors of society?
Betina Thorball: Well, by all means was everybody treated in an inclusive manner! Considering we were all volunteers, everybody who came and wanted to help and/or support was embraced! We repeatedly stated everywhere on our communication channels "Everybody is welcome."
Rivkah tried to get as much exposure as she could, going on a local morning radio show to spread the words "everybody is welcome." She said it all the time to everybody. Although we did not feel that as a private group we needed to think about things like "quotas," Rivkah approached potential herbalists from all ethnic backgrounds in the country (yes, also Arab background – and we have been asked this again and again). She looked for speakers who would be experts in one of the herbal topics we wanted to cover at the conference, would be fluent in English, would be willing to travel to our venue, were available at the right dates AND would be willing to waive any customary speaker fees (as there was no money available).
I know for a fact that the racial discussion was never there, she looked for herbalists from wherever really. And the ones that said yes, were put into the program, until we had all slots filled.
Varda Epstein: The ringleader of the bullying appears to be Shabina LaFleur-Gangji editor of the Journal of the American Herbalists Guild (JAHG). The AHG Code of Ethics states:
"AHG Members, including council and committee members, will avoid activities that are in conflict or may appear to be in conflict with any of the provisions of this Code of Ethics or with one's responsibilities and duties as a member of the Guild," and "We strive to ensure an environment of inclusiveness and a commitment to fairness, justice, and diversity, and advocating policies and procedures that foster fair, consistent and equitable treatment for all," and "Abuse, discrimination and bullying of any kind are unacceptable and will not be tolerated."
Do you feel that the conference organizers and attendees were treated in an inclusive manner? Was there a conflict of interest in LaFleur-Gangji's drive to shut down your conference? Have you notified the AHG of what has happened here?
Betina Thorball: Inclusive?? Not at all—and that is the very point! We do feel there is an issue here when reading the AHG code of ethics, which by the way is my code of ethics as an AHG member—and I love it for its language. I do feel that these targeted and planned actions against our conference are indeed in direct conflict with this code of ethics. And for me this language would include actions that are taken privately, while holding a position that is paid by members.

But when it turned out that the leader of the campaign against Ancient Roots was also on the staff of the AHG, in fact the newly-appointed chief editor of their journal, all hell broke loose. The obvious conflict of interest and the larger implications here were just too much for most people who knew about this. It went through all layers of people connected to us and from here on all went crazy. Not only second, but third and fourth degree connections started picking this up and distributing it to more people than I could imagine, including at this point of course, to the press.
Have we notified the AHG? I understand that the Director of the AHG was physically in the same room in Israel with Rivkah Asoulin when all this was starting. A very weird coincidence, how life sometimes works. And other AHG members also connected to the conference were contacting the AHG to discuss what has happened here and how this was not ok at all.
I am an AHG member too, and in my opinion the AHG is a wonderful organization, doing very important work and very difficult work, and all nonprofit too. In the first wave of journalist questions my main concern was actually to protect the AHG and help find a way to fix this situation quickly. They should not get between the fronts of a political-motivated issue either! However, through their dialogue with journalists and other parties it became clear that they did not want to take a position regarding the private actions of their editor, and also not regarding a start-up herbal conference in Israel, even though we were given a harmless, wonderful little video of congratulations and support before. So then all became more and more difficult, the questions we were asked by journalists became more difficult and more in-depth, and we were from various sides asked to prove some of the things we had experienced, so that third parties (journalists) could represent the story based on facts.
Varda Epstein: Tell us about Bevin Clare. What is her connection to the conference?
Betina Thorball: Bevin Clare is the Director of the American Herbalist Guild. Rivkah sent out an invitation to our conference to the most important herbalist organizations, amongst them of course the AHG. She sent it to the official AHG address. Bevin replied to this directly, being all happy and excited about our initiative and congratulating us. Rivkah asked her if she would mind putting these congratulations into a little self-made video which we could post on social media in a series of videos, where we ask different people "Why do you think this conference is important?" She did so immediately.
In the context of this campaign against us, we were also asked by Bevin to remove this video, as it was not something cleared with the board, it seems. I want to say that these were lovely, harmless words which carried no political undertones or political statement of any kind, and I actually do not understand why this video would NOT be endorsed by the AHG board: Words of congrats to a little group of herbalists (including several AHG members) putting together a small herbal gathering in Israel!
Varda Epstein: LaFleur-Gangji makes two claims about your conference here:  "The conference had no Palestinian or Muslim speakers included in their line up [sic], yet included a speaker who referred to Palestinians as a non-people who willfully left their ancestral lands."
Are either of these claims, true?
Betina Thorball: I think I answered the first part above, so yes, at the point in time where Miss LaFleur claimed that, it was true. None of the speakers we could identify under the criteria mentioned above were Palestinian or Muslim. I personally want to say that even though we did not think about anybody in these racial terms at all, it would have been amazing, if the group that led the boycott against us, would have used their efforts to actually identify and help organize such a speaker for us! We would have been very happy about that and it seems this would also have been a way to address the situation for them.
The second part of your question is for me the most unfortunate and most ironic element in this conflict. First, this line is from the personal blog on the personal website of Rebbetzin Chana Bracha Siegelbaum, a speaker at the conference. Second, the post referred to is from 2017. Third, there is no connection to the Ancient Roots conference whatsoever, as she is not invited to speak about her political and historic interpretations, but about herbal traditions. Her views are her own, we cannot police her blog, in fact we did not even know about this until this incident. Lastly, once I read Rebbetzin Siegelbaum's blog, it seemed to me these words were the quote of yet another person, which she used to illustrate her take on historic events.


I am not defending her viewpoint. Again, this is not the forum for such discussions, I am merely stating facts as I researched them when this was made known to us. The irony for me is that this seems to be the main point of the heated antagonism against the conference, i.e. two years ago a nonpaid speaker at our conference expressed controversial personal views on her own private blog on another topic; while Ms. LaFleur is leading controversial private action against an herbal conference, while serving as a paid staff member at a herbal guild of which many people involved here are a member. I will admit this was a bit too much of a double standard for me.
Varda Epstein: Did you have any herbalists among the Arab community who intended to come to the conference? If so, do they still plan to attend?
Betina Thorball: I honestly do not know. People register or write on social media saying "Great effort. Will try to come," without being asked any additional details. I hesitate to jump to conclusions based on how the names sound. And again, the conference is open to all people!
Varda Epstein: Why are you involving yourself in this? After all, you are neither Jewish nor Israeli. Why get involved with a political debate that has nothing to do with you?
Betina Thorball: When things turned all political here, there was a moment when I was too shocked for words and thought, "Okay, I have to let this go, I cannot take the time – and I do not have the expertise – to get involved in a political debate here, and I do not want to. My mission is elsewhere. But then I realized I have to be involved in this. I am speaking for herbalists' rights and duty to be allowed neutrality when acting in our profession, including being at this conference. And I continue to hope that this understanding could be the common ground, on which all parties involved in this current conflict can find peace.
Varda Epstein: Why do you think so many herbalists were willing partners in the attempt to shut down what was essentially a peaceful, informational conference that is completely apolitical?
Betina Thorball: This is a difficult question. I think we all have different stories, different pain in our pasts, different realities we live in. Based on all this we see the same thing through a different colored lens.
I am still in the process of trying to really understand where they are coming from. My best understanding at this point is that they relate to a narrative in which herbs are painted as political, because a lot of herbal knowledge was held by indigenous people; it was part of their culture and traditions. Indigenous people were connected to the land and experienced unspeakable cruelty and pain, their lands taken, their lives taken or corrupted, no access to their traditions, with herbs being one of those traditions.
Access to medicine by minorities seems to be another issue playing into this viewpoint. Somehow in their minds this is connected. But I can't follow, really.
Herbal medicine is the heritage of all humankind, it has developed in every corner of the world and in modern herbal medicine we have knowledge of herbs from so many old traditions from all over the world. And many have been using varieties of the same herb for the same purpose, without learning it from each other, but learning the same thing from nature in different places. And each of us has a heritage line into an indigenous culture, even if some of us cannot trace it anymore. So herbal medicine actually is one of the few things that connects us all! That ropes all humankind's history together. This is the reason why for me herbs and herbal medicine should be this wonderful cause, under which we all can unite ABOVE all our many different viewpoints on many topics. And this is why I care about what is happening here so much and am adding my voice here.
You saw the hashtag #plantsoverpolitics. I deeply believe this, in the context that herbal medicine should follow the ethics of modern medicine, but also in the context that we all need to unite to save the environment, and with it, our world.
Varda Epstein: Why is it important for non-herbalists to get involved in fighting for your right to have a successful conference? What can we do to support your efforts and the conference, going forward?
Betina Thorball: Are you using basil and thyme and garlic and maybe muscat [nutmeg] and turmeric in your cooking? Then you are an herbalist. Are you making chamomile tea to your children when they have tummy ache? Well, then you are an herbalist, a family herbalist. Everybody is an herbalist, just at different levels. We use herbs in cooking and some herbal home remedies, because our mothers and grandmothers did, and taught us. Some of us start looking for more information on some of those common kitchen herbs, and discover a treasure trove of documented information, some as old as thousands of years (e.g. from the Chinese herbal tradition) and start learning from it. Many of these become community herbalists. And then there are some others, who start studying herbal medicine in-depth and take additional relevant education to become a herbal practitioner and/or clinical herbalist, working with herbs at a high level, often in collaboration with physicians.
About fighting for our conference – there are too few topics in this world on which people from all walks of life can come together in the spirit of healing, and herbs are one of them! I want to lend my voice to fight for something so wonderful not being politicized, even if it takes place in a country that is subject to heated political debates.

How to support us? Well, by participating in our conference and experiencing the vibrant atmosphere of an herbal gathering firsthand! I tell you, it is contagious! And you will come home with some useful bits of information on how to handle everyday little health issues by going into your garden. 
Read more Judean Rose interviews:
David Collier's Report on Amnesty International Reveals Its Toxicity and Hate
Richard Landes: The Man Who Gave Pallywood a Name
Genie Milgrom: "I Could Just Feel my Grandmothers Through the Papers"
Phyllis Chesler: The Radical Feminist Who Refuses Your Intersectional Anti-Israel Slot
Otzma Yehudit's Dr Adva Biton: Finding Strength to Fight for Others
Ryan Bellerose: Indigenous Has Nothing to Do with Time and Everything to Do with Connection
Akiva Fuld: "I'm Doing This For Me"
 A Father Speaks Out: The Murder of Malki Roth and the Refusal of Jordan to Extradite the Beast Ahlam Tamimi (Arnold Roth)

Israel's Jewish Indigenous Land Rights: A Conversation with Nan Greer, Part 1


We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
פורסם על ידי zoom ב- 1:07

אין תגובות:

הוסף רשומת תגובה

הירשם ל- תגובות לפרסום (Atom)