Franklin D. Roosevelt is widely remembered as a strong leader who boldly led America out of the Great Depression and to the brink of victory in World War II. Yet when it comes to the Holocaust, some defenders of FDR's record want us to believe he was not responsible for keeping Jewish refugees out of America—as if that was all the handiwork of the State Department, which supposedly ran U.S. immigration policy and foreign policy independently of the president's wishes.
Sorry, but you can't have it both ways.
Prof. Daniel Greene, speaking recently at the University of Oklahoma, continued to perpetuate the implausible notion that President Roosevelt was too hapless to make his own foreign policy. Remarkably, Greene spoke for nearly an hour about America's response to Nazism and the Holocaust, yet barely mentioned the president.
This tendentious approach is consistent with the theme of the controversial exhibit on "Americans and the Holocaust" at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, for which Greene was senior curator. The exhibit has been criticized by many scholars for downplaying President Roosevelt's abandonment of European Jewry.
Greene told his Oklahoma audience that the reason so few German Jews were admitted to the U.S. in the 1930s was because of "bureaucratic walls put in place by the State Department" —as if the White House had no occupant.
What actually happened is that the State Department implemented Roosevelt's policy of restricting immigration far below what the existing law allowed. The annual quota of German immigrants—about 26,000—was filled only once in FDR's twelve years in office; in most of those years, it was less than 25% filled.
There are letters from the president himself at the time in which he acknowledged and defended the fact that visas were, as he put it, "considerably under-issued." There are documents showing that State Department officials briefed the president on their efforts to keep refugees out.
Those who attack the IHRA definition of antisemitism are those who discriminate against Jews, practicing antisemitism, as defined by the IHRA. They are primarily proponents of the BDS movement. Among the bill's fiercest adversaries are leaders and members of a BDS organization inaptly called "Jewish Voice for Peace" (JVP), who try to put a "Jewish" seal of approval on antisemitism, misrepresenting their own antisemitic campaigns and rhetoric as human rights activism and valid criticism of Israel. The group actively agitates against the use of the IHRA definition of antisemitism and attacks the anti-BDS legislation introduced in Senate and Congress, as well as other efforts to raise awareness of antisemitism. They write op-eds and circulate petitions that falsely claim the bills are "intended to codify criticism of Israel as antisemitic" and to "make dissent about Israel illegal" when, in fact, neither the definition of antisemitism nor the bills proposing its use would outlaw criticism or dissent about Israel. On the contrary: The definition includes language specifying that "criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic."
JVP leads the charge that the widely-accepted IHRA definition of antisemitism is undemocratic. The group substitutes its own alternate definition that restricts age-old hatred against Jews to Christian theology-based or Nazi white supremacist-based racial theories alone. This disingenuous propaganda is aimed at those who are unacquainted with antisemitism or with the proposed legislation against it, as it sounds an alarm against any practical attempt to hold people accountable for anti-Semitic racism and persecution of others. JVP demands that:It is vital that Jewish organizations across the globe stand united against harmful definitions of antisemitism and together for human rights and the freedom to protest. We at JVP are proud to have initiated this historic effort.
In November 2017, Former Executive Director Rebecca Vilkomerson joined Linda Sarsour—a vitriolic, anti-Israel, BDS activist who has been accused of outright antisemitism—on a panel that redefined antisemitism to exclude the panelists' own activities.
Former Executive Director Rebecca Vilkomerson (2nd to right) joining Linda Sarsour (right) in panel that redefined antisemitism.
On December 15, 2020, several BDS and anti-Israel organizations are convening a panel made up of those who seek the demise of the Jewish state, in order to redefine antisemitism. The panelists include Rashida Tlaib—a U.S. congress member accused of using antisemitic tropes of dual loyalty, spreading anti-Jewish blood libels, singling out politicians for criticism because of their Jewish identity, and having close ties to a Holocaust denying, conspiracy theorist and terror-supporting anti-Zionist activists; Barbara Ransby — a university professor in History, African American Studies and Gender and Women's Studies who is prominent player in the BDS movement, supporting violent anti-Israel terrorists and using her platform to spread false and vicious anti-Israel propaganda; Marc Lamont Hill— BDS proponent and one-time CNN journalist who advocates the elimination of a Jewish state, justifies anti-Israel terrorism, and is associated with the notoriously antisemitic Louis Farrakhan. The single Jew on the antisemitism panel is Peter Beinart — an "as a Jew" Jew who has made a career of vilifying the Jewish state and advocating its abolition.
If you were assembling a panel of experts to teach the world how to dismantle anti-Semitism, who would you choose? Perhaps a well-known journalist who deals with Jewish issues like Bari Weiss or a dynamic young activist like Hen Mazzig, or perhaps you would contact one of the myriad of great organizations tackling anti-Semitism.
Well, Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow and friends have done the opposite. They have put together a team of anti-Israel pundits, anti-Semites and terror supporters; and asked them to lead the discussion on dismantling anti-Semitism.
The farcical panel titled "Dismantling Antisemitism, Winning Justice" is set to take place on December 15th.
LET'S GET TO KNOW THE "QUALIFICATIONS" OF THESE PANELISTS:Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib is widely known for her anti-Israel activism and support of the BDS movement, for which she was barred from entering Israel in 2019. She has claimed that Palestinians saved Holocaust survivors and compared boycotting Israel to boycotting Nazi Germany.
Peter Beinart, the ONLY Jew on the panel, has called the Jewish state a "cancer" and lamented the Jews' "unfortunate Zionist obsession" with Jewish statehood. He has referred to Israeli society as "racist" and has implied that Israeli and American Jews are Nazis in relation to the Palestinians.
Marc Lamont Hill was fired from his position at CNN in November 2018 for using language associated with the destruction of Israel. He has also promoted anti-Semitism, fundraised for a convicted terrorist and glorified anti-Israel violence. Read more in his NEW Canary Mission Profile.
Barbara Ransby is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is a long-time supporter and friend of terrorist Rasmea Odeh; she has also demonized Israel and promoted violent anti-Israel protests. Read more in her UPDATED Canary Mission Profile.
OUTRAGEOUS: Upcoming @jvplive panel on antisemitism includes @thisisUIC professor Barbara Ransby, a long-time supporter and personal friend of PFLP terrorist Rasmea Odeh, who masterminded the bombing of a Jerusalem supermarket that killed two students.https://t.co/kb04N8LBoUpic.twitter.com/mRsgDl6HB3
The Jerusalem Post and the Khaleej Times, the two-largest English-language media organizations in Israel and the United Arab Emirates, announced Monday that they are partnering to present the first in-person joint conference in February 2021 in Dubai.
The announcement comes on the heels of the historic signing off the Abraham Accords earlier this year.
The in-person event will be preceded by a virtual confab on January 13, 2021.
"This is a new era for Israel, the UAE and the entire Middle East," said Jerusalem Post editor-in-chief Yaakov Katz.
"We are moving toward an era of progress, prosperity, peace and friendship in the Middle East," said Vaman Vassudev Kamat, editor-in-chief of the Khaleej Times.
The virtual event, the UAE-Israel Peace & Prosperity Roundtable, will set the tone for the bilateral relations between the two countries. The half-day conference will bring together government and business leaders around topics ranging from healthcare technology, trade and investment to politics and the stability of the Middle East.
Then, in February, hundreds are expected to attend the live event to discuss the growing importance of the peace accord.
8+ years ago, when I moderated session at the Milken Global Conference in LA on Middle East. Sitting on my panel were top biz leaders from the UAE, Israel, Palestine & Egypt. The 2 am calls on what I could raise at the session were fun! That was pioneering at that time, no? 😉 pic.twitter.com/15aRPrkeSL
The Jewish community in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in cooperation with the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, will open a Jewish school in Dubai, the first of its kind in the Gulf state.
Minister of Diaspora Affairs Omer Yankelevich decided to greenlight the move following a series of discussions with the leader of the local Jewish community Ross Kriel, in which they touched on the developing Jewish community in Dubai and its needs.
UnitEd, the ministry's worldwide Jewish education initiative, will direct the process in tandem with "significant philanthropic elements" from the Jewish world.
The school is planned to open as early as next year.
The Jewish community in the UAE, numbering about a thousand members, is in the process of gaining formal recognition from the Emirati government.
Following the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords the Gulf state signed with Israel in September, the community is expected to grow significantly in the coming years and the number of children is expected to stand at around 200 next year.
Most community members are English speakers who moved to the UAE in the last decade from the U.S. and Europe for business purposes.
Jebel Ali Port, Dubai's major shipping port, has received one of the first export shipments from Israel.
The shipment, sent by Emirati firm Kimoha from Ashdod, contained adhesive tape manufactured by Israeli company Davik.
The shipment is the first to arrive in the United Arab Emirates, and even more notably at one of the busiest ports in the world, since the Abraham Accords normalized ties between the country and Israel.
"We would like to congratulate Kimoha Entrepreneurs FZCO for adding value to the UAE and Israel diplomatic relations by initiating trade association with Israel-based establishments," Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, CEO and chairman of port operator Dubai Ports World, said in a statement.
"And we are glad that Jebel Ali Port could be an intrinsic part of the transfer from Israel to the UAE," he said. "We take great pride in being involved in this momentous achievement that is integral for both countries.
"This operation is just the beginning of trade and commerce activities," Sulayem said. "We are confident that this move will be the starting point for trade activities that will have a significant impact on both economies, and business in the region. We are in complete support of the leadership of the UAE and will do everything in our capacity to foster trade ties with Israel and accelerate economic growth."
Tennis player Mika Dagan-Fruchtman has become the first Israeli tennis player to receive an official invitation to participate in a ranking tournament in Dubai which will take place over the weekend.
Dagan-Fruchtman is also the first Israeli tennis player to compete in the United Arab Emirates since the normalization agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel was signed.
The athlete received a free ticket to Dubai from the organizers of the Al Habtoor Challenge tournament with $100,000 in prize money and ranking points in the world round at stake. The tournament will be taking place for the 23rd time in Dubai with the message "Bring the stars of tomorrow to Dubai today."
Dagan-Fruchtman, 17, is from Raanana and is an athlete for the National Tennis Academy. She is ranked among the top eight tennis players in Israel and among the top 200 in the world.
She will be joined by an official delegation from the Tennis and Education Centers in Israel to promote tennis cooperation between the two nations, including former tennis player Andy Ram, who received a special permit to compete at a tournament in the UAE in 2009 after international pressure following the refusal to grant tennis player Shahar Pe'er a visa for a women's tournament in Dubai.
The second ministerial delegation from Bahrain in two weeks landed in Israel Tuesday morning with hopes of deepening the two countries' budding economic ties.
During his three-day stay, Bahraini Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism Zayed R. Alzayani, who arrived with a delegation of about 40 businesspeople, is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and four Israeli cabinet members.
"The visit is very significant from our perspective," said Eliav Benjamin, the head of the Arab world desk at Israel's Foreign Ministry. "It is an illustration of what we and what the Bahrainis want to see in our relations — progress in our cooperation. This is true normalization between our two countries: trade, commerce, meetings between delegations and ministers and businesspeople."
Alzayani's visit comes just two weeks after Bahrain's foreign minister, Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, became the first minister from the tiny Gulf kingdom to visit the Jewish state.
The commerce minister's Gulf Air plane touched down Tuesday afternoon at Ben Gurion Airport, where he was greeted by Economy Minister Amir Peretz, Regional Cooperation Minister Ofir Akunis and Tourism Minister Orit Farkash-Hacohen. His delegation was then set to head to Jerusalem for various meetings with Israeli officials and businesspeople.
The first official Jewish wedding taking place now in Dubai.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) scrubbed a tweet on Monday that included an anti-Semitic phrase often used by terrorist groups that seek the destruction of Israel.
Screenshots from the Internet Archive's "Wayback Machine" show that Tlaib retweeted a Saturday post that included a graphic promoting Palestinian solidarity and the phrase "From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free."
The Palestinian Liberation Organization, Hamas, and Hezbollah regularly use the phrase as a rallying cry against the Jewish state. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah used the phrase in remarks in which he also called Israel a "cancerous growth" that needed to be destroyed.
Tlaib deleted the controversial tweet after critics slammed her, and did the same as recently as last January after she blamed Israelis for the death of a Palestinian child who had slipped and drowned in a pond, prompting accusations from an Israel government official that she was spreading a "blood libel."
In 2018, Professor Marc Lamont Hill lost his position as a CNN contributor for parroting the Hamas rallying cry, and several Jewish groups blasted his remarks.
I get why many Jews find slogan "Palestine from River to Sea" frightening. Some have used it to disregard Jewish rights (1st Hamas charter, for instance). But @RashidaTlaib has been clear that Jews + Palestinians deserve equality. Suggesting otherwise is a smear https://t.co/2YXZCdcbV7
UK Labour leader Keir Starmer has blasted his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn for damaging the party's attempt to deal with antisemitism in its ranks, saying, "I'm deeply frustrated that we're in this place."
Labour experienced a series of antisemitism scandals during Corbyn's tenure as leader from September 2015 to this past April. He stepped down after Labour suffered a crushing defeat in the December 2019 general election, and Starmer has expressed determination to purge antisemitism from Labour's ranks.
Corbyn caused yet another scandal last month after the government's Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) found that Labour suffered from systemic antisemitism while he was in charge. Corbyn claimed that the EHRC findings were the result of a conspiracy against him.
In response, Corbyn was suspended from Labour, only to be reinstated shortly after. Starmer then "withheld the whip" from Corbyn, a maneuver that prevents Corbyn from sitting in parliament with the Labour delegation.
The Jewish Chronicle reported that Starmer told a conference held by the Jewish Labour Movement on Sunday that Corbyn's latest antics caused serious damage to his attempts to end antisemitism in Labour and win back the goodwill of the Jewish community, saying Corbyn "undermined me and what I was trying to achieve."
"I felt that over the last six, seven months that we had slowly taken some steps in that direction," he said of his campaign against antisemitism in the party. "We had got better processes in place; we'd begun to have the engagement that we needed."
"I wanted the publication of the EHRC report to be a defining moment where we could move on to the mend part of the exercise," he continued. "My team and I spent a lot of time in the days leading up to the launch of that report making sure that everybody understood the approach we would be taking so we could actually move on to that action plan."
It is amazing the way the radical left is moving against the EHRC. The organisation's crime is finding anti-Semitism in the Labour Party. So it must be undermined. A reminder that The Guardian etc do not care about racism, anti-Semitism or anything else. They just want to win.
The matter arose after the radio channel LBC and Campaign Against Antisemitism referred a secret dossier, which was compiled by the Labour Party and subsequently leaked, to the Metropolitan Police. Earlier this year, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police came under pressure for taking so long to decide on how to proceed even on the few cases that the CPS determined might be actionable.
The CPS has now reportedly ruled that the cases still held by the police did not meet the threshold for prosecution.
Stephen Silverman, Director of Investigations and Enforcement at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: "While the rest of British society has been appalled by the rampant antisemitism in the Labour Party, the CPS is living on another planet. We referred cases from Labour to the police more than two years ago. At the time, the cases were said by top police officials and criminal barristers to be clear cut, but the CPS has only charged one of them and has now told the police to close cases on ten more activists.
"This is just the latest failure of the CPS to prosecute antisemitic hate crime. The CPS must stop ignoring Jewish victims and take antisemitic crime seriously. After years of vile antisemitic abuse from within the Labour Party, the CPS seems determined to do nothing at all about it."
Campaign Against Antisemitism's Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that almost half of British Jews believe that the CPS is doing too little to fight antisemitism.
The youth wing of Germany's main center-left political party was accused of antisemitism over the weekend after it passed a solidarity resolution with a Palestinian youth group.
The Jusos — the Socialist Youth Movement of the German SPD party — held a virtual congress during which a resolution that described the youth wing of Fatah, the main faction of the PLO, as a "sister organization."
The resolution lamented the "current lack of prospects" for the Palestinians, saying that a general "resignation and frustration" was hampering efforts for a "peaceful solution."
"We highly appreciate that our Palestinian sister organization, the Fatah Youth, is committed to a peaceful and sustainable solution to the conflict, even in the face of this difficult situation," the resolution declared.
Critics rounded on the Jusos embrace of a Palestinian nationalist movement whose logo renders the entire territory that is now Israel in Palestinian colors.
"Normally, youth organizations stand out for their progressive thinking, but the Jusos do it backwards: Talking about peace, promoting antisemitism," Frank Müller-Rosentritt — a parliamentarian from the FDP party — commented on Twitter.
The reason the BDS movement isn't targeting political leaders even in countries like Egypt is because they know they have no chance for success. Instead, they focus on artists, cultural events, and random party photos in a desperate attempt to shame artists into "supporting Palestine" and condemning Israel. Take for example Mohamed Ramadan, who in response to the "outrage" over his photograph made his cover photo a Palestinian flag this week. Artists and athletes are browbeaten into anything to appease the ignorant mob. But for policymakers, the mob doesn't even try.
The reason that photographs of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi with Israeli officials (including the prime minister of Israel himself) aren't a target for anti-normalization advocates is because no one in the government actually cares what they think. Attacking musicians and cultural figures for collaborating (or even just taking a photograph) with Israelis, while ignoring the actual policymakers in the state working with Israel, demonstrates one of the core hypocritical elements of the BDS movement. They aren't interested in actual change, or in improving life for Palestinians. Their focus is demonizing Israel.
The path to a better situation for Palestinians will not be paved by anti-normalization campaigns that target Jews, Israel, or Arab nations who work with Israel. Oppressing artists, musicians, authors, and athletes who interact in a professional capacity with Jews (or any Israelis) will not only fail to improve the lives of Palestinians, but will harm efforts toward peace. Anti-normalization campaigns harm artistic efforts to bridge the divides in our world. We must speak out against this toxic tactic.
Lancaster University's Students' Union's Black and Minority Ethnic Officer was told to "stop being a Zionist shill" and ""stop being a gay n*****r" in a feedback form.
Last Wednesday, Max Kafula contacted students inviting them to provide feedback on his work in his capacity as an officer in the Students' Union, but he was forced to shut down the online portal following a spate a antisemitic, racist and homophobic abuse.
The responses quoted above came in reply to a question on the form: "If you said that you did not have confidence in me, what could I do to improve it?"
In another question, Mr Kafula asked for suggestions of what he could do in the remainder of his term in office. One response was: "Stop selling out to the illegitimate state of Israel."
In a statement on social media, Mr Kafula wrote: "This is not only outright homophobic, racist and antisemitic, but it is also absolutely disgusting," adding: "No one should even have these views."
He has reported the comments to the police as a hate crime, reportedly saying: "No ifs, no buts, it's a textbook hate crime."
Chicago-based @AMPalestine activist Leena Yousef gave her view on when there would be peace in the Middle East: "its forever unfortunately. Palestinians will fight the Jews until 'blood reaches knees.'"https://t.co/R8IDGMyshwpic.twitter.com/JvD8HWFMrZ
A French court in Monday sentenced a man accused of assaulting a Jewish graffiti artist in the northeastern city of Strasbourg to six months in prison.
The 38-year-old man was also ordered to pay damages of 500 euros to his victim and another 1,000 euros to the anti-racism organizations SOS Racisme and Licra.
The incident occurred on Aug. 26 as the artist was working in the center of Strasbourg on a project commissioned by the municipality. He was verbally insulted and jostled by two men after they noticed him wearing a t-shirt that displayed the names of several countries and cities, including Israel.
One of the assailants aggressively told the artist, "You are a Jew, you have no place here," before telling the artist to change his shirt — which he duly did.
But when he returned to complete his work, the artist was confronted again by the same man, who grabbed one of his paint canisters and sprayed offensive slogans on the ground, including "forbidden to Jews" and "bitch."
In testimony to the court, the victim described his ordeal as "the worst three hours of my life."
A dead pig was left on the doorstep of a New Jersey rabbi over the Jewish Sabbath — an incident that's being probed as an apparent bias crime, police told The Post on Monday.
The small dead pig was discovered at the rabbi's Treetop Lane home in Lakewood at about 7 a.m. Saturday during the weekly Jewish Shabbos that began at sunset Friday. Investigators later determined the animal was left behind by someone between midnight and 7 a.m., police said.
"Currently, we are actively pursuing several leads and hope to bring this to a conclusion very soon," Lakewood police Capt. Gregory Staffordsmith wrote in an email.
No note was attached to the frightening find, which was first reported by the Lakewood Scoop.
"At this time, it's being investigated as a bias crime," Lakewood police Lt. Leroy Marshall told The Post, adding that no arrests had been made as of midday Monday.
Marshall declined to identify the rabbi, citing an ongoing criminal investigation. No injuries were reported at the residence, he said.
Lakewood's police chief, Greg Meyer, told the Scoop that detectives from the agency were being assisted by the Ocean County Sheriff's Office crime scene investigations unit.
"We will not tolerate such acts in our town," Meyer told the outlet.
Germany has outlawed a far-right neo-Nazi group called "Sturmbrigade 44" for spreading hatred, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Tuesday.
Seehofer said the group, also known as "Wolfsbrigade 44," "sows hatred" and "advocates the reestablishment of a Nazi state."
"Anyone who fights against the fundamental values of our liberal society will feel the determined reaction of the constitutional state," the minister said in a statement.
Early on Tuesday, almost 200 police officers began searches of premises linked to 11 alleged members of the group in a number of regional states.
Police found weapons, including knives and crossbows, as well as propaganda items such as swastikas and Nazi flags, the interior ministry said.
Members "openly declared their support for Adolf Hitler," the ministry said, adding that the group was "particularly characterized by militaristic appearance" and "pronounced racism" as part of an "inhuman ideology."
In July last year, prosecutors raided apartments in several German states of members accused of being part of the group, which was founded in 2016.
Six were suspected of having formed an armed group within the organization, authorities said at the time.
An American rapper has produced a podcast denying the scale of the Holocaust.
Lord Jamar, 52 (real name Lorenzo Dechalus), former member of hip-hop band Brand Nubian, is now a record producer and podcaster.
In a podcast with Muslim Scientologist Rizza Islam, Lord Jamar claimed that a far smaller number of Jews died in the Nazi genocide, saying that the numbers have been exaggerated because "there was [sic] no six million Jews living in Europe at that time."
Rizza Islam appeared to agree, asserting that he "did the research." If he had, he would have seen census records confirming that there were more than 9.5 million Jews in Europe before WWII, more than six million of whom were murdered in the Holocaust.
The First Secretary and Consul of the Philippines Embassy, Reichel Quinones was awarded a special certificate by The Confederation of General Zionists (CGZ) faction of the World Zionist congress, on Sunday. The certificate is in recognition of the republic's vote in favor of UN General Assembly resolution 181 and for the Open Doors policy of former president Manuel Quezon.
The certificate was awarded in a ceremony at the Philippine Embassy in Tel Aviv.
The Open Door policy, in which Quezon chose to open the gates of his country to Jews after being confronted with the reality of the persecution of the Jews, their confinement to ghettos and concentration camps and their execution for no reason other than that they were Jews, saved over 1,300, according to a CGZ press release.
Resolution 181 called for independent Jewish and Arab states on territory that had been under British control since the end of World War I. "The Jewish people have a long memory and president Quezon deserves to be remembered for his brave act of kindness during such a dark period of Jewish history," said CGZ vice chairman David Yaari.
An Israeli woman with muscular dystrophy was elected Monday to serve on a United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, garnering praise from Israeli leaders.
Odelia Fitoussi, 43, is the first Israeli to serve on the committee. She was elected to one of nine available spots, receiving support from 109 countries, according to Israel's Mission to the UN in New York.
"I am sure your important voice at the UN will be a positive influence for people with #disabilities around the world. We are so proud of you!" President Reuven Rivlin tweeted on Tuesday morning.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Fitoussi, who was born with a genetic neuromuscular disorder known as SMA2, telling her that he appreciates her "abilities and skills that led her to be elected to a significant and important position in the international arena," according to a readout of the call provided by his office.
The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, or CRPD, is a body of independent experts tasked with monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was signed by nearly all countries in the world.
Israeli startup NewRocket has unveiled what it says is a "new generation" of rocket engines that are gel-fueled, low-cost and environmentally friendly.
The company's engines are suited for space and defense purposes – in crafts of all sizes, "anywhere you have a rocket," CEO Ilan Harel said.
The PowerGel fuel the company uses is based on technology developed by Prof. Benny Natan of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, which was licensed exclusively to the company.
"The fuel is made of commonly used kerosene to which we added materials to transform it into a gel. And then other substances are added, that transforms this gel into a high performing, energetic and hypergolic propellant," said Harel, declining to reveal the identity of the substances. A hypergolic propellant is a substance that can spontaneously ignite when it comes into contact with an oxidizer, he explained.
The firm is still developing the rockets with the fuel, and is running development projects with "leading aerospace corporations," the Israel Innovation Authority, and the Israel Space Agency for a total of some $6 million, Harel said.
An Israeli delegation of 20 doctors and medical experts from the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan will fly to Italy on Tuesday in order to help contain the spread of coronavirus in the Piedmont District in the country's northern area.
The delegation was initiated by Israel's Ambassador to Rome, Dror Eydar.
In a letter dispatched by Foreign Ministry director-general Alon Ushpiz to Health Ministry director-general Chezy Levy, Ushpiz explained that "the Governor of the Piedmont District in northern Italy approached Israel's Ambassador to Rome with an urgent request to provide the district assistance in combating the spread of coronavirus, due to a dramatic increase in the number of new infections and the lack of doctors and medical equipment in the area."
The letter indicated that Israel's embassy in Italy then connected between the Israeli and Italian health ministries, which coordinated the necessary operation and agreed on the required urgent needs of the Piedmont District. The ministries also agreed on the departure of an Israeli medical delegation that will provide assistance to local Italian experts.
It was agreed that the Sheba Medical Center, Israel's largest hospital, would be responsible for choosing the doctors most appropriate for the mission. The delegation will be headed by Prof. Elhanan Bar On and will include some 20 doctors from different fields of expertise.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi announced on Monday that an Israeli relief and rescue team will be sent to assist the Republic of Honduras, following the devastation left behind by hurricanes Eta and Iota which left thousands of people homeless and entire cities in rubble throughout Central America.
The aid mission will be led by Head of the IDF Home Front Command, Maj.-Gen. Uri Gordon and by Tal Yitchakov, spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in Mexico, who will serve as representative of the Israeli Foreign Affairs.
Israel considers Honduras one of its most important friends in Latin America, the joint statement by Gantz and Ashkenazi said. The statement mentioned that the Central American country "regularly supports Israel in international forums" and "has recently made the decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem."
Shortly after the statement was published, the IDF announced that a group of experts will depart Israel later tonight in order to provide humanitarian aid in the area most affected by the hurricanes in Honduras. The group will include 15 Home Front Command retired officers and will be headed by commander of the Search and Rescue National Unit, Col. (res.) Golan Wach.
The delegation will reach cities in the northwestern part of the country that were heavily damaged during the natural disaster. The Israeli delegation will be in charge of evaluating the damage and reviewing the remaining transportation, housing and sewage infrastructure and its durability. It will also work together with local authorities in order to develop response plans for similar disasters in the future.
Israel is sending an aid delegation to Honduras to provide assistance & help evaluate damages from hurricanes #Eta & #Iota that struck #Honduras earlier this month. 🇮🇱🤝🇭🇳 pic.twitter.com/MbeEEICRtZ
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Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of JStreet, on Sunday condemnedthe assassination of senior Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. Ben-Ami took his cue from the EU, which took its cue from Tehran. One can understand why Tehran would condemn the assassination of the man considered to be the father of Iran's nuclear program, someone considered "irreplaceable"in the mullahs' quest to get the bomb. Iran wants the bomb, and the elimination of Fakhrizadeh is a setback. Big time. The condemnations coming out of Brussels and from Ben-Ami, on the other hand, can be explained only by the famous quote from Winston Churchill:
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last."
It makes sense that JStreet would want to appease Iran by condemning the elimination of Fakhrizadeh, a man with deep knowledge of the Iranian nuclear program. A nuclear Iran threatens the free world, not least of all the United States. Go to any protest, or even to the Iranian parliament after Soleimani was killed, and you will hear the chants of, "Marg bar Āmrikā," (Death to America).
JStreet's Ben-Ami hopes that in agreeing with his wannabe murderers, they will consent to eat him last.
Perhaps more to the point, JStreet is an anti-Israel organization pretending to engage in Israel advocacy. JStreet actually shares the aim of the Iranian nuclear program: the elimination of the Jewish State—witness the organization's covert support for BDS. It is believed that Israel is behind the assassination of Fakhrizadeh, though the Jewish State has neither confirmed nor denied a role in the targeted killing of the scientist. Israel has a good motive for taking out Fakhrizadeh and that is that while a nuclear Iran may be the greatest existential threat to the free world—which unfortunately includes Jeremy Ben-Ami among its inhabitants—Israel is Iran's closest target, and the elimination of the Jewish State a primary goal for Khameini.
Ben-Ami, knowing that Israel is first on the menu, hopes that in condemning the actions of the Jewish State, he will be last on the list of tasty items to be consumed by the crocodile named Iran. That is why Ben-Ami was pleased to be included on the guest list of Jewish leaders invited to Obama's table to discuss how Israel might be pressured to give away more indigenous Jewish land to the Arabs. Obama is the main architect of that ultimate appeasement of Iran: the JCPOA (which Iran never signed). It is Obama who sent the world's leading state sponsor of terror, pallets of untraceable cash.
It is only natural that Ben-Ami would wish to be a starring ingredient in the dessert course, to ally himself with Obama. Ben-Ami, like Obama, wants to be eaten last. Alas, the only way for these men to fulfill this aim is to make themselves relevant until the end. They hope that if they appear to share the goal of the crocodile, and even assist in procuring food for the beast, the beast might save them for another day, when there is nothing tastier to eat.
The problem is that the crocodile is a bully, and the problem with appeasing a bully is that the bully always comes back for more. Which means that the bullied are never free, even as they delude themselves that the opposite is true, that they are saved. Being last to be eaten, on the other hand, by definition means that one is eventually eaten. Which is how the game ends.
And the game always ends unless you stand up to the crocodile, to cut off its sustenance for good. That is the only way to do away with the crocodile, once and for all. Which Israel knew. Which is why Fakhrizadeh had to go.
It only makes sense. It's the only real way to game the system, to not get eaten, last or otherwise.
Anyone who understands this, anyone with a modicum of sechel or common sense, therefore did not vote for Joe Biden. Biden, predictably, intends to revive the JCPOA, because he too, hopes to be eaten last, as do those who voted for him. The Biden voters either hope to be last to be eaten by the Iranian crocodile, or else they are oblivious to the danger in the swamp. They are oblivious because the media dangles progressive sugar plums before their eyes, the shiny and exciting causes they prefer to embrace above life itself: BLM, Antifa, illegal immigrants, and above all, a supreme hatred of the Orange Man.
The people who voted for Biden (and Obama before him), can't see the crocodile lurking, waiting to pounce on those with no clue of the danger waiting for them in the wings. The crocodile, meanwhile, watches on as its early prey, the Biden voters, spew their hatred of anyone who thinks differently from them: the people who won't get with the plan. The Biden voters don't know that all along, the plan has been out of their hands and even unknown to them, the people to be eaten first.
The people who voted for Biden, knowing he would probably reinstitute the JCPOA, are like so much unwitting chum. They have no idea how delicious they are, as an appetizer, or even a main course. Ben-Ami, meanwhile, awaits his turn on the platter with bated breath—perhaps garnished with edible gold—as the crocodile opens its yawning cavern of a mouth, never to be sated or satisfied.
Always wanting more.
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The Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture in Gaza announced on Thursday that it will be importing [sic] Palestinian olive oil for the first time from the besieged enclave, to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Speaking to the press, the ministry's Spokesman Adham Al-Basyouni disclosed: "44 tones of olive oil were exported to Arab countries after achieving self-sufficiency for the first time."
He stated that his ministry exerted efforts to export the surplus of Gaza's olive oil as part of its support for farmers.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Palestinian businessman Hamdi al-Jerjawi said that "990 olive oil tins [15 tons] were exported to Saudi Arabia and 600 olive oil tins [9 tons] were exported to the United Arab Emirates."
This is the first time Gaza exported olive oil to Saudi Arabia and the UAE - right when Israel is cementing ties with those same Gulf countries.
Normally, Gaza produce for export outside the West Bank requires Israeli approval. The PA exports some West Bank produce straight to Jordan but I am not aware of them exporting Gaza goods.
Which means that although Arab and Turkish media are loathe to admit it, Israel almost certainly facilitated this export to help Gaza farmers.
This is not the sort of thing that the media wants to report.
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Last week one tweet by 'Double Down News' was shared 2000 times and received 3400 likes. It was an upload of a 9-minute video of Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi from Jewish Voice for Labour. On YouTube, the same video was watched over 120,000 times in 4 days.
Above the video 'Double Down News' used the headline -'Meet the Wrong Type of Jew, The Media Doesn't Want You To Know Exists'. Putting aside the fact that Idrissi and all of her JVL buddies have been given more than their fair share of mainstream media platforms, the underlying accusation here is stark. Zionists control the media. Why else would anti-Zionists not be given a platform? In other words, this is an antisemitic conspiracy theory.
The recent video even starts with Wimborne Idrissi saying she has been called the wrong sort of Jew. Except nowhere in any of the google searches was there any indication Idrissi and co regularly face such an accusation. All of the 'wrong sort of Jew' results were of Jews on hard-left websites batting away at an accusation that does not really exist.
They built the straw man and are now busy playing victims as they publicly demolish it.
The video by 'the wrong sort of Jew.'In just nine minutes, Naomi Wimborne Idrissi takes the viewer through most of the rancid arguments we have come to recognise in the fight against antisemitism. The pillars of hard-left antisemitic – anti-Zionist discourse.
That Jewish people are weaponising antisemitism and are harming the fight against real antisemitism.Idrissi distorts the truth by implying that the Jewish community is evenly divided. She is well aware that her opinion resides in a fringe minority group.She deals in historical distortion by decontextualising pre-Holocaust anti-Zionism.Raises the antisemitic idea that the treatment of the Palestinians by Israeli forces is comparable to the way Jews were treated by the Nazis.Touches on freedom of speech and truth – which is ludicrous hypocrisy coming from a spin artist who publicly calls for no platforming those she opposes.Tell viewers that media has 'sidelined and ignored' left wing Jews because they support Palestine. Which is a blatant lie.Takes ownership for the historical Jewish fights for justice.Finishes off by saying that her group are the decent ones – people who want justice and peace. Which means that 93% of Jews must be indecent and against justice and peace.
On August 21, it was announced that the employee would be fired on 1 September. She was left with the cancellation of her medical insurance amid the COVID -19 pandemic.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center for over a year has acted in support of a Spanish Jewish employee, tenured since 1996 and now a senior official of the European Commission. In 2013, she was transferred to the EU diplomatic service, European External Action Service (EEAS), to work in the Middle East (Israel and Palestinian Territories).
One of her colleagues informed her that their Division Head allegedly suspected her of spying for the Mossad. She was thus transferred to the Turkish Division, entrusted with counterterrorism files.
According to her lawyers, then began a "slanderous... defamatory... campaign with antisemitic overtones." She was again suspected of passing information to Turkish representatives. In 2016, she was dismissed "in the interest of this service." Thus a long and painful process began. The story appeared in last week's Paris Match weekly (Belgian edition). The author, Frédéric Loore, gave the official an anonymous identity, the nom-de-plume of "Eva." Loore suggested that his article was fit for the cover of a novel by John Le Carré.
He questioned: "Has the EEAS been infiltrated by a Mossad mole or have some of its managers engaged in harassment on the grounds of antisemitism? Was there a Mata Hari in the ranks of the service in charge of the European Union's foreign and security policy? Or was it a fabricated plot to get rid of a cumbersome senior civil servant of Jewish descent?"
"Eva" had sought an investigation to find out on what these gratuitous accusations were based. "In the end, it was carried out only to harm me... After six years, they still refuse to tell me who accused me of these facts and on what basis," the employee said.
In an official announcement by the "Belgian Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs" department, on Nov. 6 the Belgian government voiced its condemnation of the demolition by Israel of structures built illegally and without any planning and zoning approval in parts of the disputed territories administered by Israel. The buildings were constructed with Belgian funding.
According to this official announcement, "Belgium supports such infrastructure projects because they meet urgent needs. They are always carried out in accordance with international humanitarian law … the demolition of infrastructure and housing is contrary to international humanitarian law, in particular, the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel's obligations as occupying power, and UN Security Council resolutions."
Belgium's heavy involvement in illegal construction in violation of the planning, zoning, and construction regulations and requirements applicable in what the Palestinians and Israelis have denominated as "Area C" is made clear in the announcement:
"Since 2017, at the initiative of Belgium, a group of partner countries affected by similar actions has systematically intervened with the Israeli authorities to ask them to stop the demolitions and to repair the affected projects or to compensate for the damage suffered."
Belgium's audacity in demanding compensation is equaled by its blatant disregard of the legal infrastructure agreed upon between Israel and the Palestinians, applicable in the areas in which Belgium is so actively involved in illegal construction.
Israel Advocacy Movement: Israelis and Palestinian clash over Sheikh Jarrah
The pending eviction of the al-Kurd family from Shiekh Jarrah has made headlines for 40 years. In this video, we reveal the truth behind the headlines.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) promoted a tweet on her Twitter account on Sunday that contained a phrase that is associated with calling for the elimination of Israel.
StopAntisemitism.org highlighted the tweet that Tlaib retweeted, which stated: "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."
"Rashida Tlaib RT's out the same message that got Marc Lamont Hill canned from CNN," StopAntisemitism.org noted. "From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free – code for eradicating the State of Israel and its millions of Jews. Reminder – this is a sitting U.S. Congresswoman."
The Daily Beast, a left-wing publication, wrote the following about the meaning of the phrase:The river in this formulation is the Jordan, the naturally occurring eastern border of Israel and of the West Bank; the sea is the Mediterranean to the west. Uttered by advocates of the Palestinian cause for decades, the pithy slogan very pointedly makes no place for Israel. It evokes a strip of Middle Eastern land where Israel is no more, replaced by a unified Palestinian entity in the space it once occupied. It could be that this entity would welcome and protect a Jewish population. But when supporters of the Jewish state hear those 10 words, they worry about their potentially violent implications.
CNN did fire then-contributor Marc Lamont Hill in 2018 after he used the slogan, which The Times of Israel noted was associated with "Palestinian extremists," during a speech at the United Nations. Hamas has repeatedly used the phrase, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). A recent report from the ADL described the phrase as "extreme."
Rashida Tlaib RT's out the same message that got Marc Lamont Hill canned from CNN.
From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free - code for eradicating the State of Israel and its millions of Jews.
Rasha Mubarak claims there is a "strong dislike" of her in the Democratic Party. In October, the Party canceled an event that she was featured in, due to her participation. Mubarak says the party's disdain for her is due to "Islamophobia" and "anti-Palestinian" prejudice, but given her support for Palestinian terrorists and her extreme bigotry aimed at Jews and Israel, Mubarak's victimhood appears only to be an excuse to cover up for her insidious behavior. And she persists in doubling down. On November 11th, Mubarak once again embraced terror, when she used her social media to promote a "prominent" member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
Maher al-Akhras, whose hunger strike has been widely reported, has been held prisoner in Israel, since his arrest this past July. The Shin Bet suspects him of being a "prominent Islamic Jihad activist." According to the Asra Media Office (AMO), a Palestinian prisoner rights advocacy group, whose spokesman, Ali al-Maghrabi, is also a spokesman for the Hamas Office of Prisoners' Affairs, al-Akhras is a PIJ leader. One photo shows him next to a PIJ flag, wearing a PIJ scarf. Other photos of him contain the PIJ logo appended to them. Al-Akhras has been arrested on at least five separate occasions for involvement in terror-related activities.
"FREE THEM ALL" – That is the caption atop the al-Akhras drawing Rasha Mubarak tweeted. The drawing depicts al-Akhras lying in bed, smiling as a little girl hugs him. It is a cynical propaganda ploy aimed at generating sympathy, by presenting Al-Akhras in a benign light to those unaware of his involvement in a brutal terrorist group that is responsible for the murders of over 100 innocent people, many via suicide bombings. Mubarak's endorsement to free him and other killers is but one manifestation of her own psychotic rage and pathological rejection of all civilized norms.
This is not the only time Mubarak has shown support for Palestinian terrorists. This past June and July, Mubarak posted memorials onto her social media for car-ramming terrorist Ahmed Erekat, who was shot and killed after attempting to run over an Israeli border officer stationed at a checkpoint. At the end of the 2014 Israel-Gaza Conflict, along with photos of a jubilant Hamas, Mubarak tweeted, "Thousands of people celebrating in the streets of Gaza for the victory. Alhamdulillah. #VictoryForGaza." Mubarak has promoted material from Hamas-related media, and she has personally been affiliated with the Hamas-linked groups CAIR and Islamic Relief.
Time to stop giving antisemites a platform to lecture the Jewish community on #antisemitism
❌ Rashida Tlaib ❌ Peter Beinart ❌ Barbara Ransby ❌ Marc Lamont Hill
Sir Keir Starmer speaks on Sunday to the Annual Meeting of the Jewish Labour Movement.
Appropriately socially distanced, he will not feel the mood of his audience, but he is well advised to remember the words of Emile Zola on the notorious Dreyfus scandal, which was the first to highlight antisemitism to the world;
'My fiery protest is simply the cry of my very soul'.
The Jewish Labour movement, under their Zionist name Poale Zion, were there at the very founding of the Labour Party. My own family, from the Trade Unions, established the Leeds Labour Party with Jewish workers.
There will be, I have no doubt, lots of discussion and advice on the detail of how Sir Keir Starmer should rinse out the stain of antisemitism from the Labour Party. But the overwhelming mood will be one of anguish. His audience will include those who dedicated their life to the Labour Party but could not bring themselves to vote at the election. Those who persevered, despite the intensity of hostility and abuse they received. Those who were on the receiving end, every day for four years and still today of attacks and abuse because of their Jewish identity.
Some on the left refuse to allow Jewish people to be themselves. For too many, there are good Jews and bad Jews, and the only good Jews are those who agree with Corbyn.
Sir Keir Starmer's speech is more than the usual rallying cry. It is about the battle for the soul of our country. We were not alone when we fought the Nazis, fascism and its inherent evil antisemitism, but we were unwavering. The British people can still recognise the stench of antisemitism and they do not like it.
Controversially reinstated in the Labour Party, but denied a return to the Parliamentary Labour Party by the leader Keir Starmer, Jeremy Corbyn's defiant response to the recent EHRC report, which found the party had breached the Equality Act in its treatment of Jewish people under his leadership, continues to roil the UK left.
In his initial statement, Corbyn said he did not 'accept all of [the report's] findings,' because in his view the 'scale' of antisemitism had been 'dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media.' In a later interview, Corbyn clarified that this claim was based on supposed disparity between the general public's perception of the number of Labour members 'under suspicion of antisemitism' and the actual number of formal complaints. While his most recent intervention, released shortly before the hearing which readmitted him to the party, made 'clear' that 'concerns over antisemitism' were not 'overstated,' he did not withdraw his contention that the 'scale' of the problem had been exaggerated.
On the face of it, Corbyn's argument is flatly empirical, resting on raw numbers and unrelated to the wider question of antisemitism on the left. But this ostensibly value-free statement is premised on a series of ideological presuppositions that, once unpicked, demonstrate that the anti-Jewish discrimination the EHRC confirmed is not an inexplicable anomaly or random occurrence. Rather, it derives from a specific worldview, bordering on conspiracy theory, that has come to dominate large swathes of the left, and which is all-too-often receptive to antisemitism.
A Labour Councillor has been suspended after claiming there is "no factual basis whatsoever for a Jewish race, nation or homeland".
Tower Hamlets official Puru Miah has been 'administratively suspended', the Labour Party has confirmed, as it investigates a claim of antisemitism. He issued a statement on Saturday saying "I unreservedly apologise for the hurt caused" and that he is "embarrassed" by what he wrote.
This comes after the Equality and Human Rrights Commission found evidence of "unlawful acts harassment and discrimination" as well as "political interference" in cases of antisemitism within the party.
Miah shared a post on Facebook in 2014, which said: "'The invention of the Jewish people' by Israeli historian Shlomo Sand'" was an "absolutely 'must read' for everyone who wants truth and justice for Palestine/Israel.
"The essential historical evidence will amaze you – there is no factual basis whatsoever for a Jewish race, nation or homeland, it is all a recently invented propaganda called 'Zionism'."
A Labour Party spokesperson said: "The Labour Party takes all complaints of antisemitism extremely seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken."
The November election produced a mixed result for the BDS movement. The pro-BDS faction in the House of Representatives was enlarged, but large gains for Republicans in the House and in state elections portends continued opposition. The reelection of the "Squad," Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) was expected. This BDS-supporting bloc has been augmented by the election of Democrat Cori Bush of Missouri.
In contrast, one newly elected progressive Democrat, Ritchie Torres of New York, has spoken strongly in favor of Israel and a two state solution. Torres, a gay Afro-Latino, noted that "pink-washing" attacks on him for participating in a trip to Israel had been shocking, but impelled him to investigate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict more deeply.
A Senate runoff election in January pits two Democrats against two Republicans for control of the Senate. One of the Democrats, Rev. Raphael Warnock, in the past signed a letter that alleged that Israel was an "apartheid state," and made the accusation that the "government of Israel shoot down unarmed Palestinian sisters and brothers like birds of prey." He says that he supports Israel, and favors a two-state solution. Warnock also defended the notorious Rev. Jeremiah Wright and invited a Farrakhan-linked minister to his congregation on numerous occasions.
Biden's presumptive cabinet repudiates progressives and mostly includes veterans such as Antony Blinken as Secretary of State, who have held close to the Clinton-era consensus on Israel. Other staff appointments are more problematic, including Reema Dodin, appointed deputy director of the Office of Legislative Affairs. Dodin, a Palestinian-American, was a student BDS activist at the University of California at Berkeley, who reportedly defended suicide bombings before attending law school and becoming a Congressional staff member.
In a manifestation of pressure from the far-left, BDS leader Linda Sarsour and other faith-based activists expressed preemptive disappointment with the Biden team, including for the candidate's criticism of her support for BDS. Referring to current State Department efforts to combat BDS, Representative Rashida Tlaib also greeted news of Blinken's appointment with the demand that he not "suppress my First Amendment right to speak out against Netanyahu's racist and inhumane policies."
It's as if the signatories on this letter against the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism read my latest article on the Democrats' new anti-Semitism. Nazi anti-Semitism is bad. Arab and socialist anti-Semitism isn't anti-Semitism because Jews are bad.https://t.co/HKR0u88Zvc
The Palestinian signatories then proceed to provide seven basic principles, which includes, in principle number one, their characterisation of Israel as a "predatory state".
The fight against antisemitism…. is deeply distorted when geared towards the defence of an oppressive and predatory state.
In their second principle, we see again an example of why they wish to undermine IHRA's defining as antisemitic the description of Zionism as an intrinsically racist endeavor
There is a huge difference between a condition where Jews are singled out, oppressed and suppressed as a minority by antisemitic regimes or groups, and a condition where the self-determination of a Jewish population in Palestine/Israel has been implemented in the form of an ethnic exclusivist and territorially expansionist state.
One of the basic principles of IHRA is that it recognizes that some forms of criticism of Israel is a new form of antisemitism, whereby the Jewish collective, Israel, is vilified in a manner that's morally indistinguishable from classic antisemitism. In its relatively short history, Israel has been the target of hate and violence not because of what it's done, because of what it is: a Jewish state. To deny that Israel has been hated largely because of its Jewish character is deny reality.
The fact is that crude, classic and often eliminationist antisemitism in the Middle East (especially in the Palestinian territories) has been demonsrated in opinion polls and countless examples, year after year, of antisemitic propaganda by both state and non-state actors. This hatred of Jews, it should be noted, took root not only before the 1967 war, but decades before statehood.
Are we really to believe that the widespread anti-Jewish racism throughout the Arab and Muslim world is not in any way related to their hatred of the Jewish state?
One of the best brief explanations on when criticism of Israel crosses the line to antisemitism was offered by dovish Israeli writer Yossi Klein Halevi, as he responded to a student asking why humanizing Zionists was acceptable, and compared that to asking black Americans to humanize members of the KKK.
Listeners were also told that the Hamas-run ministries in the Gaza Strip cannot impose a full lockdown because "people are poor" and such a measure would "break the economy, which is already broken" along with a context-free reference to "a blockade for more than 14 years now".
Audiences however heard nothing about the terrorism which necessitates that blockade and which is prioritised by Hamas at the expense of public services and welfare, including healthcare.
A similarly context-free account was heard in another BBC World Service radio programme aired on the same day. In a programme described as "factual" called 'The Documentary' presenter Alan Dein 'connected' with a person presented only as "Mohammed in Gaza" (from 11:48) who recounted how – obviously like millions of other people in the world – his travel plans had been postponed because of the pandemic while making context-free references to "a tank", "a soldier", "buildings turned into ashes" and the fact that the Gaza Strip has no functioning airport or trains.
It was recently reported that the BBC has become the lowest-ranked British news provider on impartiality, according to OFCOM. These three items aired on BBC World Service radio serve as examples of how context-free promotion of a chosen narrative, inadequately presented contributors, unchallenged promotion of the agendas of NGOs and political activist interviewees and the failure to meet the simple practice of adequately identifying a person given a BBC platform harm the BBC's claim to produce impartial news and current affairs coverage.
The Jerusalem-based ZAKA International Rescue Unit announced this week that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with its counterparts in the United Arab Emirates.
The Israeli humanitarian organization, made up of volunteers who lead search, rescue and recovery missions at home and around the world, said that it signed the MoU with the organizing committee of the Dubai International Humanitarian Aid & Development Conference & Exhibition (DIHAD).
The signing ceremony took place on Wednesday at DIHAD headquarters in Dubai. According to ZAKA, the MoU "supports future collaborations between the two in the humanitarian field in international crises and disasters, and ensures the provision of all the necessary support to those affected, regardless of color, race, gender, religion or political opinions."
ZAKA Chairman Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, whose delegation was among the passengers that arrived on Thursday in Tel Aviv aboard the historic first direct commercial flight from Dubai, told JNS, "When the water cannon sprayed the plane at Ben-Gurion International Airport—the traditional welcome for a historic flight—we felt that we were making history, twice in one day."
"We see it as a great privilege, within the implementation of the Abraham Accords, to be the first Israeli humanitarian organization to sign a cooperation agreement with DIHAD. There is no greater expression of peace than volunteer units partnering for mutual humanitarian aid and assistance, as well as professional training in search, rescue and recovery," he said.
UAE-based agribusiness firm Al Dahra has signed a partnership agreement with the Israeli Watergen company, the two announced on Sunday – part of the Memorandum of Understanding signed when a delegation of Al Dahra executives visited Israel in October.
Within the agreement, Watergen will be tasked with supplying the UAE and other countries in the region with its patented water solutions that generate water out of thin air – serving economic sectors ranging from agriculture to hospitality.
"From the moment that we signed this agreement, it has shown how important the signing of the Abraham Accords was and the tremendous wisdom of our leaders in making this breakthrough for our region and the world," said Watergen president and CEO Dr. Michael Mirilashvili.
"Though I had other plans, as soon as I learned of the accords, I rushed here in order to show the world the tremendous impact and importance of this historic step," he said. "With this agreement, we're showing our two nations, the region and the world, what is possible with peace." Created by the environmentally savvy Rishon Lezion-based tech company, Watergen's Gen-L water-from-air system taps into atmospheric water using patented heat-exchange technology, producing up to 5,000 liters of clean water per day – and requiring no infrastructure other than a standard electricity supply.
According to the company's website, it is "perfect for villages, off-grid settlements and factories."
At an emotional online press conference on Monday, representatives of the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem unveiled the full Hannah Senesh Archival Collection, which they had just received from Szenes's family.
Hannah Szenes (sometimes spelled Senesh) is celebrated in Israel, both for her beautiful poetry and her wartime heroism. Her Hebrew poems, such as "Eli, Eli" (also known as "A Walk to Caesarea") and "Blessed is the Match," have been set to music and have become anthems.
Born in 1921 in Budapest, she came to Palestine in 1939 to study agriculture. In 1941, she joined the Hagana, the paramilitary group that preceded the IDF, and eventually volunteered for a mission in which she parachuted into Yugoslavia. The plan was that she and several other volunteers would cross the border into Hungary and bring supplies to anti-Nazi resistance groups, help downed Allied pilots and organize Jewish self-defense efforts.
Szenes was captured at the Hungarian border and executed after she resisted torture and refused to divulge information about her comrades. She was 23.
About a year after her death, a suitcase containing her poems, songs, diaries, letters and other items was found in Kibbutz Sdot Yam, where she had been living before embarking on the mission. Her mother, Katherine, came to Palestine with her daughter's other writings and her estate was managed by her brother and his children. But now, the NLI has her entire literary archive, which it will display and make available to scholars.
In the press conference, Hezi Amiur, curator of the Israel Collection at the NLI, displayed handwritten poems, photographs, diaries and even a card she made for her grandmother, as well as her Hungarian typewriter and the suitcase in which the bulk of the poems were found.
You won't hear their stories in European Union meetings or see their photographs exhibited in the hallways of the United Nations. Their names cannot be found anywhere among the thousands of UN resolutions discussed and passed over the last seven decades. There is no special day dedicated to their communities or to their memory. They are the 850,000 Jewish refugees expelled from Arab countries and from Iran following Israel's creation.
For international bodies such as the UN, they are forgotten refugees. But for us Israelis, their struggle will go on.
There is no argument over the facts: In a display of anger, after failing to prevent the November 29, 1947, UN Partition Plan and the subsequent creation of the State of Israel, Arab countries waged war not only on the newly established Jewish state but also against the peaceful and thriving Jewish communities that lived among them.
Entire communities from Morocco to Iraq, from Egypt to Syria, Lebanon, Iran and more were effectively wiped out. Along with them thousands of years of Jewish heritage, history and culture was erased, too.
The UN offered no help to those forced from their homes and has done little since to recognize the huge injustice they suffered. There was no international condemnation of the fact that these Jews were attacked and murdered, their property looted and their assets stolen, often by their neighbors and with the backing of the authorities.
In the decades since this treacherous expulsion, the UN has worked to only assist so-called Palestinian refugees. Billions of dollars have been handed over to UNRWA, which while caring for the welfare of families, simultaneously encourages terrorism and incitement through its school programs and, in the process, perpetuates a false narrative of the Palestinian's "right of return."
#JewishRefugeesDay serves as memory & reminder to recognize the 850,000+ Jewish refugees ethnically cleansed from Arab Lands & Iran, destroying lives & communities.
We must acknowledge & empower these voices, identifying the opportunity to transform trauma into a bridge to peace pic.twitter.com/De7sKalMBQ
— מיכל קוטלר-וונש | Michal Cotler-Wunsh (@CotlerWunsh) November 30, 2020
Tomorrow is Jewish Refugees Day: 850,000 Jewish refugees forced out of Arab countries & Iran in the 20th century. Communities dating back 2,500 years were destroyed.
At the UN, I asked Algeria, Egypt, Iraq & the others: "Where are your Jews?"
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This one is entitled "The Zionist Lobby," showing the entire world is just an attachment to the Zionist keychain.
And this one is "Trump's Legacy," showing Donald Trump hypnotizing the Arab world while the evil religious Jew sneaks away stealing the Dome of the Rock.
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.
This is an except of a much longer speech by David Ben Gurion to the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, at the YMCA in Jerusalem, on July 4, 1947.
And now I put the question to you: Who is prepared and able to guarantee that what happened to us in Europe will not happen again? Can human conscience, and we believe that there is a human conscience, free itself of all responsibility for that catastrophe? There is only one safeguard: a Homeland and Statehood! A Homeland, where a Jew can return freely as of right. Statehood, where he can be master of his own destiny. These two things are possible here, and here only. The Jewish people cannot give up, cannot renounce these two fundamental rights, whatever may happen.
The problem of Jewish-Arab relations is not merely the problem of Jews and Arabs in Palestine. It is the problem of the relations of the Jewish and Arab peoples as a whole. Their national aspirations in that broader sense are not only compatible but complementary.
Nobody can seriously claim that a Jewish Palestine could in any way endanger or harm the independence or unity of the Arab race. The area of Western Palestine is less than 1% of the vast territory occupied by the Arab States in the Near East, excluding Egypt. The number of Arabs in this country is less than 3% of the number of Arabs who have gained their political independence. The Arabs in Palestine, even if they were a minority, would still be a part of that large Arab majority in the Middle East. The existence of Arab States to the north, east, and south of Palestine is an automatic guarantee, not only of the civil, religious and political rights of the Arabs in Palestine, but also of their national aspirations.
But a Jewish Palestine, a populous, highly-developed Jewish State has something of great value and importance to offer, not only to the Arabs in Palestine, but to those in the neighbouring countries as well. Even the small beginnings of the Jewish State, where Jews have occupied and developed only a small fraction of the country, have already had a marked effect on the advancement of the population in Palestine. Even now the position of the Arab peasant and farmer in Palestine is superior to that of the Arab peasant and farmer in Arab States. Our national aim cannot be achieved without great constructive work, agricultural, industrial, material and cultural, and this must, by its nature, raise the economic and social standards of all the inhabitants of the country. We cannot fully utilize the water resources of Palestine, which are now being wasted, without providing larger irrigation possibilities for the Arab fellah as well. We cannot introduce modern methods of cultivation without the Arabs learning from that example. We cannot organize Jewish labour and improve conditions of work without similarly organizing the Arab worker and improving his conditions.
As long as the government is in foreign hands, the impact of our development on Arab advancement is small. The theory of holding the balance between Jews and Arabs, which in practice meant curbing and obstructing our work, was not only injurious to us but to the Arabs as well.
One may rightly ask: Why is it that a million Arabs can be safely left in a Jewish State and why should not a million Jews be left in an Arab State? If the Jews and the Arabs who are in Palestine ,were all the Jews and all the Arabs that exist in the world, this would be a very logical and conclusive argument. There would then be no reason whatsoever why one should prefer an Arab to a Jew or a Jew to an Arab, and only numbers would count. But one cannot ignore the fact that both communities living in Palestine are merely fragments of larger communities living outside, and both of them belong to these larger units and their fates are inextricably bound up with the larger units. By depriving the Jews in Palestine of a national home, by preventing them from becoming a majority and attaining statehood, you are depriving not only 600,000 Jews who are here, but also the millions of Jews who are still left in the world, of independence and statehood. In no other place can they have the desire or the prospect of attaining statehood.
In depriving the million Arabs of the same prospect, you do not affect the status of the Arab race at all. An Arab minority in a Jewish State would mean that only a certain number of individual Arabs would not enjoy the privilege of Arab statehood, but it would in no way diminish the independence and position of the free Arab race. The Arab minority in Palestine, being surrounded by Arab States, would remain safe in national association with their race. But a Jewish minority in an Arab State, even with the most ideal paper guarantee, would mean the final extinction of Jewish hope not in Palestine alone, but for the entire Jewish people, for national equality and independence, with all the disastrous consequences so familiar in Jewish history.
The conscience of humanity ought to weigh this: Where is the balance of justice, where is the greater need, where is the greater peril, where is the lesser evil and where is the lesser injustice?
The fate of the Jewish minority in Palestine will not differ from the fate of the Jewish minority in any other country, except that here it might be much worse.
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