From Ian:
Antisemitism’s ‘Long March Through the Institutions’
This antisemitism was once, perhaps, an annoyance that could be swept under the rug with claims of academic freedom and diversity. It can’t be anymore. It has become pervasive, institutionalized, and systemic. And it is enforced by brutal means — both physical and psychological. The violence is bold and public, as it is intended to be, and could not possibly be sustained without the open collaboration of students, faculty, and administration. It has become something like a pogrom in slow motion — an intellectual pogrom, perhaps, but a pogrom nonetheless.Jews have reacted to this in ways that are hardly unprecedented: surrender, apathy or defiance. In other words, they internalize the institutional antisemitism and become activists on its behalf, as have groups like Jewish Voice for Peace. Or they keep their heads down and try to go on with their lives. Or they become activists on behalf of the Jewish people and Zionism, despite the high cost of doing so.
I do not want to demean any one of these groups. We should admire, encourage and support the defiant ones, and reach out to the apathetic ones, but we should not demonize those who surrender. Most of them are young, impressionable, unsure of themselves and their identity, and most importantly vastly outnumbered by forces far more powerful than they are. And those forces are happy to engage in the most debased and sadistic exploitation of that power.
In many ways, the fault is our own. For decades, the Jewish community and Jewish leadership allowed the poison to fester, accepted the excuses of academic freedom and diversity, and left Jewish students to their own devices, which were very few. Until recently, when several organizations have thankfully emerged to address the problem, little attention was being paid to the horrors committed by the “Long Marchers” or the suffering of their Jewish victims. It was we who abandoned those Jews, and it is we who must make amends for it. They were left to face the beast alone, and they can hardly be blamed for sometimes choosing to feed it rather than fight it.
Ironically, however, because of the very emotional and physical violence the “Long Marchers” have used, the mere fact that some Jews have surrendered to antisemitism and anti-Zionism says absolutely nothing about the Jews or Zionism. This is because we do not and cannot know what these Jews really think, or what they would think if they were not subjected to the Long Marchers’ oppression and violence. What a person says under torture cannot be trusted, and what a person thinks while being abused is equally malleable. Should we succeed in rolling back the “Long March” and providing young Jews the freedom to make up their own minds without psychological coercion or physical violence, we would likely be pleasantly surprised. The truth is, we shouldn’t be worrying about the alienation of young Jews. We should be worrying about how to help them fight for that freedom they so desperately need.
Jonathan Tobin: The Left wants no part of liberal Israel
AOC initially accepted the group’s invitation to help honor Rabin. However, once that became known, she received an avalanche of criticism from her allies on the intersectional left and immediately backed down. She later claimed that her hosts had misrepresented the nature of the event and withdrew from it.To the party’s activist base, anything associated with Israel—even a program dedicated to the memory of a man who was assassinated by a right-wing extremist because of his efforts to make peace—is beyond the pale.
BDS supporters smear Rabin, who received a Nobel Peace Prize for signing the Oslo Accords in 1993, as a war criminal because of his service during Israel’s 1948 War of Independence and as Minister of Defense during the First Intifada, when he is supposed to have urged the troops under his command to “break the bones” of those Palestinians committing violence.
Arguments about Rabin’s record are beside the point. Those who, like “The Squad” and their fellow travelers on the left, believe in intersectional canards about the Palestinian war on the Jewish state being morally equivalent to the struggle for civil rights in the United States see all Israelis as alike. If they think the one Jewish state on the planet has a right to exist or defend itself, in the eyes of the BDS movement, they are evil oppressors exercising “white privilege” over “indigenous people,” even if they are persons of color who are indigenous to the land of Israel.
AOC is someone who, as we have repeatedly seen these last two years, doesn’t blink an eye about defying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. That she thought it necessary to acquiesce to the demands of a Twitter mob—led in this instance by an anti-Zionist writer for the far-left Jewish Currents publication—speaks volumes not only about her ideology, but about the disciplined nature of the intersectional left when it comes to policing its adherents with respect to Israel. Her overt snub of liberal Jews sends a loud message that there is no place for them in the party base if they are not willing to renounce support for Israel’s right to exist.
This is yet another wake-up call for Jewish Democrats who may think Biden’s defeat of AOC ally Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), ensured that their party is going to remain solidly in the pro-Israel camp. AOC and her allies can no longer be dismissed as noisy non-entities. Unless and until they are explicitly repudiated by Biden, rather than appeased and coddled, they can be forgiven for thinking the future of the Democratic Party belongs to them.
Indy piece on AOC backing out of Rabin event doesn’t even feign fairness
The Independent recently reported on the decision by US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) to back out of an Americans for Peace Now event commemorating Yitzhak Rabin following criticism by anti-Israel activists. The article (“AOC pulls out of memorial event for ex-Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin”, Sept. 27), by Matt Mathers, was notable in that, whilst quoting propagandists like Ali Abunimah agreeing with AOC’s decision, it failed to devote any space to the many voices critical of the New York congresswoman.The article noted that AOC’s about-face seemed influenced by a tweet by pro-Palestinian voices, such as a contributor to the anti-Zionist Jewish Currents Magazine, who said that, for Palestinians, Rabin is “remembered [for] his brutal rule suppressing Palestinian protest during the First Intifada, [and] someone who reportedly ordered the breaking of Palestinian bones”.
The Indy failed to note, however, the prominent left-wing pro-peace voices who were highly critical of AOC, including officials from Peace Now Israel, the head of J Street, and Rabin’s granddaughter Noa Rothman.
Indeed, the demonisation of Rabin is especially inexplicable to the Israeli left given that the prime minister was murdered by a far-right extremist opposed to his peace efforts, and in fact is one of the few Israeli political figures lionized by those generally critical of the state. Those vilifying Rabin are in effect saying that all Israeli leaders are beyond the moral pale – suggesting that their problem isn’t with any particular Israeli policy or government, but with the country’s very essence.
Ilhan Omar Alleged Voter Fraud Funded by Anti-Israel Arab Businessman
We have been on top of exposing the evils of Ilhan Omar even before she was elected to Congress. It was actually Laura Loomer, the most banned woman on social media turned Congressional candidate, who was on top of exposing Ilhan Omar, and we helped promote Laura’s videos exposing her.
Qatari and Turkish support for Muslim Brotherhood networks exposed in 100-page report
A leading British think tank has concluded that Qatar and Turkey are bankrolling and supporting an interlinked network of Muslim Brotherhood organisations across Europe. A report from the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College London titled The Islamic Movement in Britain, said Doha’s funds flowed through Qatar Charity to bodies based in Britain and elsewhere. Some of the recipients looked to Qatar based figures like Yusuf Al Qaradawi for ideological leadership.Alongside this there has been a steady expansion of the Turkish presence across the network.
“Through Qatar Charity, Doha has spent vast sums of money on European Brotherhood‐associated projects,” it said. “A review of these projects allows a glimpse not just of the extent to which Qatar is funding Islam in Britain and the rest of Europe, but also of how British, European and Qatari organisations are interlinked through their partnerships and the multiple roles of some of their key staff. Another important player on the world stage for the Islamic Movement, an ally of Qatar, is Turkey.”
The report found multiple links between a range of bodies that could be traced back to common front organisations.
“There is a cluster of groups, for example, most of which have their origins in the Muslim Brotherhood and which are concerned with Palestine. This cluster includes the Muslim Association of Britain, the British Muslim Initiative, Muslim Welfare House, the European Institute for the Human Sciences, the Cordoba Foundation, the Palestinian Return Centre, and the Palestinian Relief and Development Fund (Interpal),” it said. “Another cluster, which overlaps with this, includes Muslim charities, such as Muslim Aid, Muslim Hands, Human Appeal, Education Aid for Palestinians, and Islamic Relief. It is difficult to explore every connection in every cluster, but there are several key nodes in the network worth exploring that demonstrate the complex and intricate links that comprise it.” (h/t Zvi)
Trump, antisemitic? This is madness
The Internet is alight with the accusation made by reporter Greg Miller in The Washington Post that U.S. President Donald Trump declared that Jews “stick together” and are “only in it for themselves.” Indeed, such statements represent a classically anti-Semitic ideology, so if I thought the president actually said them (at least about Jews, rather than a group of political opponents), I would be seriously troubled.The problem with this claim, along with the larger narrative accusing Trump of racism and anti-Semitism, is that it is contradicted by his known statements and actions since before his taking office.
Remember last year’s brouhaha over the president saying that Jews who vote Democrat are insufficiently loyal to Jewish and Israeli interests? While it may not have been his place to say that, those sentiments were diametrically opposed to the dual-loyalty trope that accuses Jews of being disloyal to their countries of citizenship. Either Trump believes Jews are too loyal to Jewish interests or insufficiently so. Both cannot be true, and it’s not difficult to discern which is correct.
Perhaps the most obvious “tell” in Miller’s piece is the ludicrous claim—made in the name of a “former senior White House official”—that if the president weren’t bigoted, he “wouldn’t need to say it,” that he could “let [his] actions speak.” This insults our intelligence. It is obvious both that people bristle when slandered, and that if his actions were permitted to speak for themselves, the matter would be long since settled.
Trump and his organization forced integration upon Palm Beach country clubs and cultivated black advancement; as president, he allocated unprecedented, consistent funding to enlarge Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs); and celebrated the lowest black unemployment in history prior to the pandemic.
That he removed “white privilege” from federal sensitivity training does not contradict this history. Among other things, “white privilege” posits that Arabs, being “of color,” suffered persecution, but Jews who came to America fleeing bigotry in Arab countries, being Jews and therefore “white” (despite European history), are privileged. It is both fact-free and morally execrable; the problem here lies with Miller, not Trump.
Biden compares Trump to Nazi propaganda chief Goebbels
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has compared U.S. President Donald Trump to Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.When asked in a Sept. 26 interview on MSNBC about Trump’s repeated accusation that Biden was pushing a socialist agenda, Biden replied that Trump is “sort of like Goebbels. You say the lie long enough, keep repeating it, repeating it, repeating it, it becomes common knowledge.”
The Trump campaign slammed back against the comparison.
“Rather than launching preposterous accusations against the president, Joe Biden and his team should answer for inviting notorious anti-Semites Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour to speak at the Democrat National Convention,” said Ken Farnaso, the campaign’s deputy national press secretary. “Biden is desperately trying to distract Americans from his disastrous record and socialist policies.” Subscribe to The JNS Daily Syndicate by email and never miss our top stories
The Republican Jewish Coalition followed suit and called on the former U.S. vice president “to retract and apologize for that egregious comment.”
“The rule in debate is that if your only argument is to call your opponent a Nazi, you have no argument at all,” said the organization’s executive director, Matt Brooks, in a statement. “Instead of engaging in a debate on policy, Joe Biden has descended to name-calling and Holocaust references.”
“There is no place in political discourse for Holocaust imagery or comparing candidates to Nazis. It’s offensive, and it demeans the memory of the Holocaust, the suffering of the victims and the lessons we must learn from that terribly dark chapter of history,” he continued. “Joe Biden has been in politics long enough to know this. To diminish the horrors of Goebbels and the Nazis by trying to attack the president with that comparison is, as we say, a shanda.”
On Sunday, the Biden campaign doubled down on the comparison.
“His point was that you cannot trust what comes out of Donald Trump’s mouth. That’s a tragedy,” said Biden deputy campaign manager and communications director Kate Bedingfield on CNN. “Donald Trump is the American president. You can’t trust what comes out of his mouth.”
The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Rabbi Abraham Cooper called the comparison “just really ludicrous” and the ad “almost beyond the pale.”
“The president is not Hitler. Joe Biden is not Castro,” he told JNS, adding that the comparison “degrades the memory of the Shoah.”
B’nai B’rith International also rebuked Biden and told JNS, “Over the years, we have consistently pointed out to all candidates and all parties that one can strongly disagree without using Holocaust-era imagery.”
Good for AJC for calling out this ad, and in general for displaying the nonpartisan leadership abdicated by so many groups today. https://t.co/L8g8Yr920X
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) September 29, 2020
Who are the Proud Boys, the far-right group that got a shoutout from Trump?
Who are the Proud Boys, the far-right group that US President Donald Trump name-checked at the first 2020 presidential campaign debate? And do they hate Jews?The answer to the second question: Some of them — including their founder — certainly do.
Let’s back up: At the debate Tuesday night in Cleveland, moderator Chris Wallace asked Trump whether he would condemn white supremacists from the debate stage. He did not. What he did say, amid denunciations of the far-left antifa, was this:
“Proud Boys, stand back and stand by, but I’ll tell you what, somebody’s gotta do something about antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem, this is a left-wing problem.”
The group Trump referred to, the Proud Boys, is a far-right, “western chauvinist” fraternal organization founded by Gavin McInnes that supports Trump and has engaged in street violence. Anti-Semitism is not core to the group’s ideology, but according to the Anti-Defamation League, the group has allied with white supremacists, and McInnes has made a series of anti-Semitic statements. The ADL estimates that it has several hundred members.
A former member of the Proud Boys, Jason Kessler, was the primary organizer of the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, which Joe Biden again criticized for its anti-Semitism during the debate Tuesday. Chapters of the Proud Boys have marched with neo-Nazis on other occasions as well.
UK Jewish Group Praises Labour Leader for Supporting New London Holocaust Museum
A top UK Jewish group praised Labour party leader Keir Starmer on Wednesday for expressing support for a new Holocaust museum to be built in London.Despite controversies over location and design, the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre is slated to be established in a park adjacent to Britain’s iconic House of Commons.
Since replacing Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader earlier this year, Starmer has worked to rebuild the party’s relations with the UK Jewish community — ties that had become strained during the Corbyn era, due to wave of antisemitism scandals that plagued Labour, some of which involved Corbyn personally.
Starmer tweeted on Wednesday, “It’s vital that we commemorate the six million Jewish men, women and children murdered during the Holocaust. The fight against intolerance, prejudice and antisemitism goes on. I offer my wholehearted support to the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre.”
It’s vital that we commemorate the six million Jewish men, women and children murdered during the Holocaust.
The fight against intolerance, prejudice and antisemitism goes on. I offer my wholehearted support to the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre. https://t.co/6fUi16GKyR
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) September 30, 2020
Illinois U student govt passes BLM resolution, calls to divest from Israel
The University of Illinois student government included a call for divestment from companies that do business with Israel as part of a resolution in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.The university’s Office of Student Affairs condemned the nonbinding resolution, which passed last week in a 22-11 vote with seven abstentions.
“It is unfortunate that a resolution before the group tonight was designed to force students who oppose efforts to divest from Israel to also vote against support for the Black Lives Matter movement,” the Office of Student Affairs said in a statement signed by Chancellor Robert Jones and five vice chancellors.
“This resolution includes several points on which we can agree, but a foundational value of this institution is inclusion, and this resolution includes language that we cannot and will not support, the statement continued.
CUNY Law School Condemns Antisemitism, Then Backtracks, Amid Controversy Over IDF Sweatshirt Video
The City University of New York School of Law condemned antisemitism, but then later backtracked, after a video recently emerged online recently that appeared to show one of its students threatening to set on fire a man wearing an Israel Defense Forces sweatshirt.The video is said to show student Nerdeen Kiswani holding a flaming lighter near the stomach of a Black man wearing a sweatshirt displaying the logo of the Israeli military.
“I hate your shirt,” a female voice is heard saying. “I’m gonna set it on fire. I’m serious!”
The circumstances of the incident, such as when it occurred, or whether the video was in fact genuine were unclear. The alleged victim has not been identified.
The video went viral on social media when the advocacy group Stop Antisemitism posted it on Twitter last week, calling it “horrific.”
“We demand this is immediately looked into and the (sic) Ms. Kiswani face disciplinary actions,” the group said.
The law school initially condemned the incident, saying, “CUNY School of Law stands against hate and antisemitism.”
After an uproar from backers of Kiswani, however, CUNY Law School Dean Mary Lu Bilek subsequently issued a statement to all students withdrawing and apologizing for the initial denunciation, claiming that Kiswani had simply “exercised her First Amendment right to express her opinion.”
“In responding to this situation, we moved too quickly, which led to several mistakes,” Bilek asserted. “I apologize for taking these actions and for the words we used and for the harm they caused.”
Anti-Israel Claims of Ethnic Cleansing Have No Place in a Student Paper – or Anywhere
“A Jewish Argument for Divestment,” the recent opinion piece in the Columbia Spectator (Sept. 23, 2020), is distressing on two counts. First, that it was penned by two Jewish Columbia University students, who take pride in their “dramatic unlearning” of “dogma” they received to support the State of Israel as youngsters. Along with glaring historical distortions, the two undergraduates unleash vile accusations against the Jewish state, including that of ethnic cleansing – an accusation as obscene as it is absurd to any educated ear.The second disturbing point is that their views appear, not on the website of a group whose documented ties to terror and radical Islamist bodies leave no doubt as to their questionable accuracy (organizations such as Students for Justice in Palestine or Jewish Voices for Peace come to mind), but in the Columbia Spectator. The paper is the official student mouthpiece of an Ivy League university – the same Columbia University whose student body voted overwhelmingly yesterday (61% to 27%, 11% abstaining) “to recommend that the University should divest from companies profiting from or otherwise supporting Israeli policy toward the Palestinian people.” That a claim so outrageous, leading to such a vote, could be vetted and published in a respectable venue is indication of the traction and influence it has gained through rote repetition, which has not been effectively combatted.
At this time of year, Jews the world over engage in soul-searching. Just as each of us examines where we have fallen short in our relationships with God and with one another, this article in the Spectator and too many others like it call us to improve our tactics and long-range strategy to combat a false charge as abhorrent as ethnic cleansing.
A pro-Israel education group has filed an amicus brief in support of Fordham University for denying recognition to a campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).The New York City university made its decision in 2016 based on SJP’s specific targeting of a single group — i.e. Jews — which, it said, “conflict with and run contrary to the mission and values of the University.”
This decision was reversed in court last year after SJP took legal action.
The amicus brief filed by StandWithUS said in part, “While the substantive basis for the university’s decision should have been, and must properly remain, outside the scope of judicial review, StandWithUs must note that there was more than ample basis for Fordham reasonably to decline recognition due to the documented antisemitic nature of the conduct of the student organization involved.”
The brief also cited “the federally-imposed obligation of the university administration to act in a manner that prevents a hostile campus environment for its students.”
StandWithUs attorney Aaron Eitan Meyer said in a statement, “The issue here is not about freedom of expression.”
“A private university chose not to recognize what they perceived to be a divisive student organization, and when the court incorrectly compelled the university to do so, it was the private university’s rights that were ignored,” he asserted.
Canary Mission: So-Called Jewish Organization Supports Anti-Semitic Doctor!
Dr. Walid Khass has advocated for violence against Jews. Yet in a shocking new low for Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), they have supported and endorsed this potentially dangerous doctor.
Part 2: pic.twitter.com/dTymHNJvSS
— ~Legacy~ נפתלי בן מתתיהו (@Immort4l_Legacy) September 30, 2020
So let me get this straight, @hrw, which fervently champions boycotts against #Israel, get all upset when one of their own is boycotted? Awww, shucks! https://t.co/EqGLeYGIKu
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) September 30, 2020
Remember that time @sarahleah1 went running to Riyadh, begging the Saudis for money by using Israel as bait? https://t.co/Q3SvdshskF pic.twitter.com/ZtICwSOGsj
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) September 29, 2020
.@UCRiverside professor Jeffrey Sacks defended fellow professor who withheld a recommendation letter because he claimed Israel has shown “the right of the state to kill, mame, and exclude.”https://t.co/C9RowRlHE4 pic.twitter.com/IowmNNhhrd
— Canary Mission (@canarymission) September 30, 2020
SICK: @Reuters reports more than 50 women in DR Congo were sexually exploited & abused by Ebola aid workers from @WHO, as well as by @UNICEF, @MSF, @Oxfam, @WorldVision & @UNmigration. They were forced to have sex for a job, or fired when they refused.https://t.co/ZHYlSgYw63
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) September 29, 2020
Ahead of the signing of the Israel-UAE-Bahrain peace agreements, senior Palestinian-British journalist ‘Abd Al-Bari ‘Atwan, editor of the online pan-Arab daily Raialyoum.com, wrote that these agreements, which serve only the interests of the U.S., enrage the vast majority of Arabs. As a result, he said, they may bring the Arabs, and especially the Palestinians, back to the path of armed resistance.Citing the opinion of the commanders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), ‘Atwan argues that concessions can be won from the U.S. and Israel only by means of terror and force, for instance by hijacking planes, attacking embassies, and using other forms of armed struggle, as practiced today by the Taliban in Afghanistan and by the Houthis in Yemen.
Referring to the launch this month in Doha, Qatar of formal peace talks between the Afghanistan government and the Taliban, with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in attendance, ‘Atwan stated that the Taliban, with simple military means but with great determination and steadfastness, waged uncompromising war against the American occupation. Now, he added, it seems to be “very close to victory,” for it is negotiating with a superpower like the U.S. from a position of strength and forcing it to meet all its demands – so much so that Pompeo “is standing humiliated beside the group of Afghan mujahideen representing the Taliban.” The Houthis in Yemen have presented a similar model, he said: using relatively simple weapons, they managed to upend the power balance and bring the war to the cities, airports and oil facilities of their enemy, who possess advanced Western-made weapons. ‘Atwan concluded that the “humiliating and disgraceful state of defeat in the Arab regions,” in which Arab governments rush to normalize relations with Israel, may “lead to the ultimate triumph of the models of the Taliban and the Houthis,” thus restoring the Arabs’ and Palestinians’ national honor.
Following complaint from CAMERA UK, BBC removes video from YouTube
Back in August we noted that BBC coverage of the the announcement concerning the normalisation of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates included two TV reports by the BBC’s State Department correspondent Barbara Plett Usher aired on the BBC News channel on August 13th in which viewers were given inaccurate information.“…what happened is that the Israeli prime minister began to say he was going to annex parts of the occupied West Bank and in a quite unusual move the US ambassador to the UAE made a very public appeal to the Israelis. He had an article printed in the Hebrew press. He also sent a video in which he said if you do this we will not be able to move forward with any sort of normalisation…” [emphasis added]
“There was a very direct intervention by the US ambassador to the UAE in June in which he said directly to the Israelis if you go ahead with this, this is going to jeopardise any relations you want with the Arab countries.” [emphasis added]
As we noted at the time, the US ambassador to the UAE (Ambassador Rakolta) made no such statements. The op-ed and the video were in fact produced by the UAE’s current ambassador to the United States, Yousef Al Otaiba.
CAMERA UK made a complaint to the BBC on that very straightforward issue. Nevertheless, on August 24th we received a response informing us that it would take more time to deal with our complaint and on September 14th we were informed that the time frame for handling it had expired.
Anti-Israel hatred @guardian
The world stops mass protest during Covid. In London – police make arrests. The Guardian quotes – “changes introduced to keep people safe and save lives”
Israel does it and its “Anti-Democratic”.
They cannot help themselves. h/t @HonestReporting pic.twitter.com/pgtRnTqDRa
— David Collier (@mishtal) September 30, 2020
Knesset, parliaments across the world form antisemitism task force
Lawmakers from Israel, the US, the UK, Canada and Australia launched the Inter-Parliamentary Task Force to Combat Online Antisemitism on Tuesday.“Over the last several years, there has been an alarming increase in antisemitic incidents across the globe, with many originating online,” the parliamentarians wrote in a joint statement, adding that they are working across the globe – and party lines – because “social media posts do not stop at international borders.”
Blue and White MK Michal Cotler-Wunsh is a founding member of the task force, along with Members of the US Congress Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Ted Deutch of the Democratic Party and Chris Smith of the Republican Party. In Canada, there is MP Anthony Housefather of the Liberal Party and Conservative MP Marty Morantz, and in Australia there is Josh Burns of Labour and Liberal MP Dave Sharma. Representing the UK are MPs Andrew Percy (Conservative) and Alex Sobel (Labour and Co-Operative). They plan to expand the group to more politicians and more countries after the launch.
The task force hopes to work on consistent policies for their countries related to hate speech, and to hold social media platforms, such as Twitter, TikTok, Facebook and Google accountable.
The lawmakers also hope to raise awareness about online antisemitism, and hope that the policies they advance will help protect all minority groups from hate.
Several Jewish leaders in Hungary have criticised Laszlo Bíró, a joint candidate of the opposition parties, for his past antisemitic remarks.Mr Bíró, a member of the Jobbik Party, has apologised after accusations were made surrounding multiple antisemitic and racist comments he is alleged to have made.
In an earlier letter sent to several parliamentary groups, Hungarian MEPs Tamas Deutsch and József Szájer highlighted the worrying decision by Hungarian opposition parties to support a candidate with such accusations.
Deutsch and Szájer wrote: “Mr Bíró has made several racist, xenophobia, antisemitic and anti-Roma comments on social media. For example, among these, he has referred to Budapest as ‘Judapest’ and on another occasion complained that there were too many foreign Jews among the guests at spa hotels in his constituency.”
Chief Rabbi Tamas Rona has argued that politicians with a great influence upon public opinion are obliged to consider their words and take responsibility for their conduct in the political sphere. The Rabbi maintains there is no place in the legislature for politicians who use offensive language and hold such prejudices.
Nordic neo-Nazi group targets Jewish communities over Yom Kippur
A Nordic neo-Nazi organisation has launched a string of targeted campaigns against Jewish communities in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland over Yom Kippur.Members of the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM) were shown on the group’s website confronting worshipers standing in front of synagogues, fixing antisemitic posters placed in public areas and distributing leaflets in public areas.
The NRM said they had launched the campaign over Yom Kippur to “make the Nordic people aware of foreign customs and Zionist ruling plans throughout the Nordic region,” with posters attacking kosher slaughter, circumcision and the custom of kaparot.
Actions also included the distribution of antisemitic handbills in several Swedish cities, as well as outside a synagogue in Norrköping, Sweden, during religious services.
One NRM leaflet circulated the antisemitic trope that Jews sought “proactive forgiveness for all the lies and injustices that they will commit until the next Yom Kippur.”
Finland’s Supreme Court issued a cease-and-desist order to the NRM last week – the first such order issued since the 1970s.
Sweden allocates $1.1 million to start work on its first Holocaust museum
Sweden has allocated $1.1 million to prepare for the opening of the country’s first Holocaust museum.The Ministry of Culture said last week that the government was giving the money to the Living History Forum, a Stockholm-based government agency that educates about the Holocaust, human rights and tolerance.
The money will go toward collecting documents and interviewing Holocaust survivors to make up the museum’s exhibits.
In 2018, Sweden said it was planning to build a Holocaust museum with a focus on survivors from the Scandinavian country and a center devoted to Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust.
Many of the details of the museum, including when it will open, its location and whether it will operate as an independent government agency, are still undecided. Lawmakers are debating whether the museum should be located in the capital, Stockholm, or in Malmö, a city that has seen intense anti-Semitism in recent years.
“The Holocaust is a crime against humanity that is unparalleled in our history,” the Culture Ministry said in its statement.
“Its memory and lessons must continue to be preserved and communicated about. Never again must something similar to this happen.”
Israeli company achieves success in possible cannabis treatment
Canassure, an Israeli company that focuses on medical cannabis research, announced the successful completion of the first stage of research meant to examine the effects of the plant on skin-related diseases.The fruit of ongoing cooperation between Canassure and a Swedish company named Lipidor, the research examined the possibility of using cannabinoids – the active substance in the plant – together with one the Lipidor’s experimental skin products.
The idea behind the innovative research is to use cannabinoids in the form of aerosol that can be applied on the patient’s skin.
The combination of Lipidor’s unique aerosol technology together with Canassure’s cannabinoids formula has proven its worth in pre-clinical trials.
Dr. Hadie Ounallah-Saad, vice president of Canassure’s R&D division, explained the idea behind the research, saying that “there is evidence showing that medical cannabis may alleviate skin problems.”
The only difficulty is to ensure that the cannabinoids are properly absorbed by the skin.
Modern scans may show traces of the original dimensions of the ‘tefach’
Modern-day sukkah builders may find it interesting that recently created 3D scans of ancient pottery could reveal the original dimensions of the tefah, a unit of biblical measurement based on the dimensions of a male hand.The tefah was used primarily by ancient Israelites. It appears frequently in the Bible and is the basis for many Jewish laws. It is an especially important measurement at this time of year, as it is used by observant Jews to calculate the precise dimensions according to Jewish law for building a sukkah, the outdoor structure where the holiday of Sukkot, which begins on Friday, is celebrated.
In a paper published recently, three Israeli archaeologists report that they found a surprising common denominator in a variety of storage jars from a period of over 350 years, from the Kingdom Judah and the Israelite Kingdom: the inner-rim diameter of the jars’ necks are consistent with measurements of the palm of a male hand and may reflect the original metrics for the biblical measurement of the tefah.
The three archaeologists – the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Ortal Harush, Antiquities Authority’s Avshalom Karasik and Weizmann Institute of Science’s Uzy Smilansky – published their findings in the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, which is published by the University of Chicago Press Journals.
In the article, the researchers describe how they did 3D scans of 307 Iron Age jars found in Khirbet Qeiyafa from the Judean Kingdom in the early 10th century BCE; “hippo” jars from northern Israel from the Israelite Kingdom, ninth century BCE – nicknamed for their large size and loop handles which were thought to resemble hippopotamuses; and royal Judean Kingdom storage jars from the 8th-7th century BCE.
Ancient ritual bath makes journey to new kibbutz home
A 2000-year-old ritual bath (mikveh) that provides the first significant evidence that there were Jewish farmsteads in the Galilee during the Second Temple Period was transferred on Tuesday to Kibbutz Hannaton in the Galilee.The ancient facility was revealed during a salvage excavation by the Antiquities Authority in preparation for construction work of a new highway intersection near the kibbutz and was slated for destruction.
Kibbutz residents launched a crowd-funding campaign for the project earlier this year, with the goal of saving the ancient mikveh and placing it next to the modern, functioning mikveh on the religiously pluralistic kibbutz.
With support from the IAA, the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage, Netivei Israel, the Jezreel Valley Regional Council and the kibbutz residents, the campaign received the funding needed to move the ancient mikveh.
Anat Harrel, a tour guide and member of the mikveh committee at Kibbutz Hannaton, was ecstatic that the crowdfunding campaign had worked and that the mikveh had found a new home on the kibbutz.
“We are elated,” she said. “It’s just 20 meters from our current mikveh. Our motto is, ‘Renewing the old and sanctifying the new.’ We feel we’ve really done it, we’ve taken something very old and are renewing it… We plan to refurbish it and make it usable.”
Babi Yar Massacres Remembered in Ukrainian Capital of Kyiv, 79 Years Later
The president of the Ukraine, ministers of his government, the country’s chief rabbi and the head of a top global Jewish organization on Tuesday marked the 79th anniversary of the slaughter of over 30,000 Jews at Babi Yar by the Nazis.In one of the earliest mass killings of the Holocaust, after occupying the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv in September 1941, a German SS unit ordered all the city’s Jews to gather at a collection point and then took them to the Babi Yar ravine.
Using machine guns, SS troops and Ukrainian police murdered over 33,700 Jews and buried them in the ravine.
Following the massacre of the Kyiv Jews, the site was used several more times by the Nazis to commit mass killings of political dissidents, the mentally ill, Ukrainian cultural figures, prisoners of war and Roma civilians.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky laid flowers at a monument to the massacre on Tuesday, saying, “Executed in Babi Yar are thousands of destroyed human fates. Thousands of families that have been exterminated. Thousands of fearful children’s eyes that do not understand that they are being led to death.”
“These are thousands of reminders to humanity of xenophobia, racism, and intolerance,” he continued. “And thousands of pieces of evidence that, contrary to science, show that not all people have a heart.”
“We bow our heads to all the victims of Babi Yar,” Zalensky said. “And we have no right to forget these terrible crimes. Never again.”
In First, Israeli, Emirati Singers Release Duet
In another sign of the warming ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, following the Sept. 15 signing of the Abraham Accords, singers from both countries came together for a first-of-its-kind duet.Appropriately titled “Hello, friend,” the duet—featuring Israel’s Elkana Martziano and the UAE’s Walid Aljassim—was the brainchild of the two singers’ musical managers, and was released on Wednesday.
Martziano is the winner of the third season of the Israeli version of “The Voice.” Aljassim has a huge following in the UAE, where he sings many of the country’s most beloved musical numbers.
The song, written by Israeli hitmakers Doron Medalie and Henree, includes Hebrew, Arabic and English lyrics, and seeks to convey a message of peace between the two countries.
The video, directed by Uzi George, was filmed partially in Israel and partially in Dubai.
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