From Ian:
With the arrival of the Omicron variant in Israel, the Israeli government made a sweeping decision to close its skies from the entry of foreigners. This decision insensitively equates Jews living in the Diaspora with foreigners, denying them entry into Israel, the Jewish State. This decision widens the chasm between Israel and world Jewry.Significant and fundamental values are tested precisely in moments of crisis. We must recall our values and principles.
The Zionist revolution took place in the last two hundred years thanks to the resourcefulness of Jews from around the world whose devotion to the Land of Israel overcame material challenges, diseases, and security threats. The State of Israel was established thanks to the Zionist movements that operated in the Diaspora and in Israel, throughout the years. These efforts included opening the gates of the country to Diaspora Jews to visit, learn, experience, and connect with Israel, thereby preserving the national entity of the Jewish people globally.
Jews are not foreigners. We must not create a precedent in which the State of Israel will treat our brothers in the Diaspora as foreigners. Over the past two years, Jewish communities throughout the Diaspora have expressed frustration at the decisions to prevent their community members from entering Israel, and in many cases, preventing the reunion and reunification of families.
If Zionism is at the forefront of our values, then we must find creative solutions that are less harmful to the relations between the Jewish state and the Jewish people. Government ministries must convene and produce circumstance-specific criteria in which Jews can be allowed to enter Israel while maintaining health guidelines. Just as it is clear to us that Israelis cannot be prevented from entering Israel simply because it is their home, so we must work to find solutions for Diaspora Jews seeking to arrive in Israel, as it is their home as well.
Bassem Eid: Israel – the best place to be an Arab
Although Israel is the world’s only Jewish state, it is home to a free and thriving Arab community. For decades, anti-Israel activists have decried Israel as an illegitimate state which represses Arabs and Muslims. Israel has been incorrectly labeled as a state for “settler colonialism” and apartheid. These baseless claims could not be further from the truth.Researchers have conducted surveys to shine a light on the true treatment of Arabs living in Israel. According to these surveys, there is a growing trend of Israeli Arabs ditching their former Palestinian identity and starting to identify more heavily with their Israeli nationality. This switch in national identity is great news for everyone who holds a stake in the Middle East. It proves that Arabs have been able to call Israel home, while Israel is able to maintain its Jewish majority. Despite being the world’s only Jewish state, Israel is a welcoming, diverse country that boasts a thriving Arab population.
Arabs make up 20% of Israel’s 8.8 million people population. Israel’s Arabs have been integrating into society and live in every corner of the country. Israel’s Arabs enjoy the same freedoms as their Jewish neighbors. Contrary to anti-Israel talking points, Israel’s Arabs live and work side-by-side with Jews, Christians, Armenians, and all others who call Israel their homes. As they do in other western democracies, Arabs can vote in elections, own businesses, work, speak, and worship freely, wherever in Israel they call home. In the recent Israeli elections, Ra’am, a pan-Arab party, became a part of Israel’s governing coalition. These results could not be more clear: Israel, a heterogeneous society, is among the leading nations in the Middle East. Israel’s Arabs have taken notice.
Arabs, no matter how long they have been Israelis, are increasingly supportive of their home country. According to a 2019 survey by Dahlia Scheindlin and David Reis, two leading progressive pollsters, 51% of Israel’s Arabs identify themselves as “Arab-Israeli” and 23% identify as “Israeli”. The survey went on to indicate that 76% of Israeli-Arabs went on to say that, within Israel, Jewish-Muslim relations are overwhelmingly positive and that 58% want to continue to advance coexistence and improvement of relations between Muslims and Jews.
Miss Universe’s pro-Israel post creates online firestorm
India’s Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu, the winner of the Miss Universe pageant that was recently held in Israel has come under fire in recent days for sharing her positive reviews of the Jewish state.Sandhu uploaded an Instagram reel on Dec. 15 sharing her experience and even wrote alongside the video “Shallom, Thank you from the bottom of my heart ISRAEL for hosting the 70th edition of Miss Universe in your beautiful country, the Holy Land. It’s a pleasure and honor for me to witness the great historic places in Jerusalem and Marvellous hotels in Eilat, can’t wait to come back again in Israel, Toda 🙏🏻✨ Escape from the sun.”
The reaction by Israel haters was quick, and they have been flooding her profile with hostile comments over the past several days.
One user wrote, “free Palestine,” and another said, “You spelt Palestine wrong,” another wrote. Others resorted to emojis with the Palestinian flag.
Illinois Votes to Divest State Pension Fund From Unilever Due to Ben & Jerry’s Boycott
The Illinois Investment Policy Board voted on Wednesday to divest the state’s pension funds from Unilever.The move comes after a July announcement by Unilever’s subsidiary, Ben & Jerry’s, that it plans to stop selling its product in parts of Israel that it called “occupied Palestinian territories,” but are in fact parts of Israel including eastern Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank. Though owned by Unilever, Ben & Jerry’s maintains some decision-making autonomy, particularly around social issues.
Several states, including Illinois, have laws on the books that prohibit them from investing in companies that boycott Israel, leading them to reconsider their stakes in Unilever. Arizona has already sold off $93 million worth of investments, while New Jersey began pulling out its $182 million investment earlier this month.
Responding to the Illinois decision, Yinam Cohen, the consul general of Israel to the Midwest, said, “Israel has always claimed that any solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must be reached through direct, bilateral negotiations between the two sides. Any third party’s attempts to predetermine the parameters of the final status agreement are counterproductive to solving the conflict. Today’s decision by the Illinois Investment Policy Board towards Unilever reaffirms this message.”
Not all agree. The group Americans for Peace Now previously released a letter asking the policy board to “refrain from adding Unilever PLC to the Illinois Prohibited Investment List,” saying to do so would be a “departure” from US foreign policy. Referring to themselves as “Jewish Illinoisans” they said the decision by Ben & Jerry’s “to cease sales of its product in Israeli settlements is a principled pro-Israel position.”
Breaking: Illinois Investment Policy Board votes unanimously to divest state pension funds from @Unilever. Vote of 7-0-0.
— Richard Goldberg (@rich_goldberg) December 22, 2021
The first person to speak today during the Illinois board’s public comment period was Black. He spoke passionately about his support for Israel and his opposition to BDS discrimination. He urged Illinois to divest from Unilever. What a disgusting tweet, Peter. https://t.co/1LVlJqN13v
— Richard Goldberg (@rich_goldberg) December 23, 2021
One of the states that has been firm against BDS is Florida. We reached out for comment to Gov. DeSantis’ Office.Christina Pushaw, Press Secretary, Executive Office of the Governor, provided us with a statement which reads in pertinent part (emphasis in original):
Florida has long had a strong relationship with the State of Israel. As a matter of law and principle, the State of Florida does not tolerate discrimination against the State of Israel or the Israeli people, including boycotts and divestments targeting Israel (the BDS movement).Recently, this problem has arisen with corporations, such as Ben & Jerry’s earlier this year. Here’s the statute that applied in that case.
As you can see, the law is designed to ensure that the state of Florida is not doing business with companies participating in boycotts of Israel. It does not explicitly address public postsecondary institutions. Nevertheless, Governor DeSantis’ position has been clear: It is unacceptable for Florida taxpayer funds to subsidize BDS or any other anti-Israel activist movement.
It is our expectation that Florida State University will not permit MESA to operate a boycott of Israel through a public institution, will not accept the academic boycott of Israel, and will not allow university funds to be paid indirectly or directly to any organization that endorses BDS. The same goes for any other institution that receives state funding.
CAIR Executive Director Zahra Billoo Steps Aside Following Revelation of Antisemitic Speech
Zahra Billoo, the San Francisco Executive Director at the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), announced this week that she was going on a “sabbatical” from her position. The decision was made following the backlash provoked by her comments at the 14th Annual Convention for Palestine in the US. At the conference, organized by American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Billoo blamed ‘Zionists’ for Islamophobia and police violence in the US. During her speech, which was discovered and publicized by the Israellycool advocacy group, Billoo clearly defined who these ‘Zionists’ are:
We need to pay attention to the Jewish Federation, we need to pay attention to the Zionist synagogues, we need to pay attention to the Hillel chapters on campus. […] Make no mistake about it: They would sell you down the line if they could. And they often do behind your back.”A few years earlier, when Billoo was voted off the board of the Women’s March for antisemitic tweets, she likewise responded by labeling anyone who opposed her ‘Islamophobic.’
Indeed, CAIR’s alleged antisemitism is an issue that HonestReporting has been tracking for some time.
Brown University Graduate Labor Union Approves BDS Referendum
The Graduate Labor Organization (GLO) of Brown University on Tuesday announced the passage of a referendum calling on school officials to endorse the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel, and give students “oversight of the university’s investments.”In a Facebook post, GLO said “87 percent of voters called on the Brown Corporation to divest all stocks, funds, endowment and other monetary instruments from companies complicit in human rights abuses in Palestine.”
Ninety percent of voters in the referendum “called on Brown to establish a means of implementing financial transparency and student oversight of the university’s investments,” said the student labor union, which formed in 2020.
The school’s Hillel rabbi, Joshua Bolton, told The Algemeiner on Wednesday that “anti-Israel activism at Brown is reflective of trends we are all familiar with from around the country.”
“Brown RISD Hillel is on the record against BDS in all its forms,” he said. “We are forging a strong, diverse, and vital Jewish community on College Hill, one that enables students to grow in relation to the breadth of Jewish history, identity, and meaning — where students learn with and from one another, across commonality as well as difference.”
Brown University President Christina Paxson did not immediately return The Algemeiner‘s request for comment.
After rejecting a similar referendum approved by 27.5 percent of Brown’s undergraduates in April 2019, Paxson told the student-run Brown Daily Herald, “We don’t do this by popular vote … a referendum that garners the majority of whoever is voting is not the way that these types of issues are decided.”
If Jesus were born in Bethlehem today…
Antisemites would call him an illegal settler as they do any Jew living in Judea
As a Jew he’d likely be murdered if his parents were in an Arab area
European nations would then pay the killers huge sums of moneyhttps://t.co/OWwRB2lBMW
— Israel Advocacy Movement (@israel_advocacy) December 23, 2021
In a Friday, December 17, 2021 sermon at Muslim Youth Victoria, Canadian Sheikh Younus Kathrada discussed congratulating non-Muslims on their festivals during the Christmas season. Sheikh Kathrada said to his audience that since they would not congratulate fornicators, murderers, or pedophiles, they must also not congratulate people who are insulting Allah by celebrating Christmas. Sheikh Kathrada then prayed for Allah to humiliate the infidels, to annihilate the atheists, to destroy the enemies of Islam, and to support those who wage jihad. Sheikh Kathrada’s sermon was uploaded to Muslim Youth Victoria’s YouTube channel on December 19, 2021. For more about Sheikh Younus Kathrada, including similar remarks about Christmas, see MEMRI TV Clips Nos. 9050, 8878, 8409, 8289, 8003, 7896, 7534, 7098, 6950, and 6906.“Would You Congratulate A Fornicator? Would You Congratulate A Murderer? Obviously Not!”
Sheikh Younus Kathrada: “Yes, it’s Christmas season, so many people ask: ‘Why should I not congratulate the people on this occasion?’
“There is no such thing as an innocent congratulation. No! Would you congratulate a fornicator? Would you congratulate a murderer? Obviously not! Would you congratulate a pedophile? Obviously not! So how then can you congratulate people for insulting Allah?
“Where is your love for your Creator, when you approve of people insulting Allah?
“Oh Allah, Give Strength To Islam And The Muslims, Humiliate The Infidels And The Polytheists, Destroy The Enemies Of [Our] Religion, Annihilate The Heretics And The Atheists”
“It is a major sin, and it is disbelief.
BBC touts an unquestioned narrative about ‘Christians in the Holy Land’
Visitors to the BBC News website’s ‘Middle East’ page on the afternoon of December 21st found a written report on the same topic titled ‘Israel rejects ‘alarm call’ by Christian leaders in Jerusalem’. The opening sentence of that report contradicts Bateman’s implication that the “local church leaders” had mentioned “Jewish ultra-nationalists” in their statement:
“Israel has rejected allegations from Church leaders that unnamed “fringe radical groups” are trying to drive Christians out of the Holy Land.”Once again ignoring relevant factors influencing the proportion of Christians in Israel’s population as well as the issues faced by Christians in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian Authority controlled areas, that report states:
“While the overall number of Palestinian Arab Christians in Israel, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip is growing, the community has been in decline for years as a proportion of the population.Christians now make up less than 2% of the population and fewer than 2,000 are believed to be left in the Old City of Jerusalem.”
Readers are not informed that the Christian population of Jerusalem (rather than just the 0.9 km2 Old City, as selectively cited by the BBC) is 12,900.
As we see, all three of these reports uncritically promote claims made in the statement put out by the heads of churches in Jerusalem and the much criticised article by Justin Welby and Hosam Naoum. While amplifying a narrative that the BBC has been promoting for years (see ‘related articles’ below), especially around this time of year, none of these reports made any serious journalistic effort to provide BBC audiences with the factual information needed to comprehend their subject matter properly and comprehensively – including on the topic of the Israeli authorities’ action against perpetrators of anti-Christian incidents.
The Sunday Times joins media tradition of blaming Israel for ruining Christmas
So, how can they claim that Christians are being “driven from the Holy Land” whilst also acknowledging and that the number of Christians in Israel “has risen” and that the Jewish state is a “beacon in the region” for “religious freedom”?Most of their argument seems based on unsubstantiated claims of Jerusalem “church leaders” who described “countless incidents” of “physical and verbal assaults against priests and other clergy, and attacks on Christian churches”. Yet, while there have been a some incidents of vandalism in recent years, the authors fail to cite even one actual example of physical violence – nor are are any statistics provided.
But, the dearth of real evidence that Christians are under siege and being ‘driven from Israel’ doesn’t prevent them from citing an ominous, though anonymous and anecdotal, remark like this:
…when you speak to Palestinian Christians in Jerusalem today, you will often hear this cry: “In 15 years’ time, there’ll be none of us left!”Interestingly, the article often speaks of the threat to Christianity in the “Holy Land”, a term which elides the fact that the area of greatest concern for Christians in the region is not within Israel, but in the Palestinian territories.
Whilst annual reports by Open Doors, which fights the persecution of Christians around the world, shows that Israel is one of the few Mid-East countries where Christians are NOT endangered, a 2019 Open Doors report put “the Palestinian Territories” on its World Watch List of countries where the persecution of Christians was especially problematic. The report cited “Islamic oppression” as the main source of persecution.
Israel’s Christian Community Is Growing, 84 Percent Satisfied with Life
Israel’s Christian community grew by 1.4 percent in 2020 and numbers some 182,000 people, with 84% saying they were satisfied with life in the country, the Central Bureau of Statistics said in a report released ahead of Christmas.The report, released Tuesday, came several days after Christian leaders in the Holy Land warned that their communities are under threat of being driven from the region by extremist Israeli groups, and called for dialogue on preserving their presence.
However, the statistics released by the CBS painted a different picture, indicating the community was growing and prospering, with particularly high tertiary education rates compared to the rest of the population.
According to the CBS, Christians make up about 1.9% of Israel’s population and grew by 1.4% in 2020.
Christians make up 7% of Israel’s Arab population, and 76.7% of Christians in Israel are Arab. The largest Arab Christian population centers in Israel are Nazareth (21,400), Haifa (16,500) and Jerusalem (12,900).
Among non-Arab Christians, the majority lived in the Tel Aviv area.
The statistics revealed that Arab Christian women had some of the highest education rates in the country.
LTC Ihab Shlian is the highest-ranking Armenian Christian in the IDF.
He is one of 100s of Christians who serve alongside Jews, Druze & Muslims.
We all stand together in defense of Israel.
We wish him and everyone celebrating a Merry Christmas. pic.twitter.com/JzdqX4TypH
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 23, 2021
PreOccupiedTerritory: The True Meaning Of Christmas Is To Make It About Palestinians (satire)
Most of the Christian world heads into the Festival of the Nativity this weekend. We residents of the city where Christ was born, Christian and non-Christian alike, relish this opportunity to remind everyone that the proper observance of the holiday, and the one that produces true spiritual fulfillment, requires centering the sacred rhetoric, liturgy, and good works of the season around Palestine.Far be it from me to insist on the simplistic and risible assertions we encounter each year at this time, that “Jesus was Palestinian.” Of course he was, but that opens up the thorny point that Palestinians killed Jesus. We avoid such complications by instead indulging in parallels between restrictions on modern Palestinians and the suffering of the Christ-child and his human family. The wicked Herod sought to prevent the prophesied birth of the Messiah, and was thwarted! So, too, good Christians will work to thwart the machinations of the Herod-like Zionist enemy that seeks to prevent Palestinian nationhood from becoming. As for the implication that there was a Jewish kingdom here at the time, long before 1948, just gloss over it.
How else to celebrate the birth of hope for an otherwise-damned world than by making it about a conflict that could have ended decades ago if Arabs were able to stomach the thought of Jews with actual political power, and not a perpetual dhimmi underclass? Peace on Earth and Goodwill toward Men, indeed. Look how few people can come to the Church of the Nativity! I mean, it’s entirely under Palestinian control, but that doesn’t fit the narrative. Even the authors of the Gospels knew you had to keep revising until you get the most politically-useful narrative, which is why we ended up with four versions of the story. And those are just the canonical ones.
Community members are demanding action after eight alleged Wheatland Union High School students were pictured in an apparent racist photographThe photo, which DailyMail.com has muzzed due to the individuals being minors, shows the group topless and sporting swastikas painted on their chests
Wheatland Union High School has launched an investigation into the photo and other inappropriate social media posts made by students
Superintendent Nicole Newman said the district ‘prohibits any discrimination, harassment, intimidation or bullying of any student or staff member’
Despite Newman’s assertion the incident is under investigation, some students and parents believe not enough is being done to combat racism in the district
Award-Winning German Singer Can Be Called ‘Antisemitic,’ Federal Court Declares
One of Germany’s most popular singers has lost a legal battle over whether he can be legitimately labeled an “antisemite” as a result of his public statements and ties with an extremist group.On Wednesday, the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe overturned previous lower court rulings in favor of the singer, Xavier Naidoo. The recipient of several music awards in Germany, Naidoo has a long record of promoting conspiracy theories and has spoken at meetings of the “Reichsbürger” (“Reich Citizens”) — a proscribed organization of Nazi sympathizers who believe that the Federal Republic of Germany created after World War II represents the occupation of the country by foreign forces.
The latest court battle began in 2017, when the litigious Naidoo was described as an “antisemite” by an analyst working for the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, a German NGO that combats racism and antisemitism. Asked how Naidoo should be classified, the analyst responded: “He’s an antisemite, I can say that, I think, but not so openly because he likes to sue. But that’s factually verifiable.”
Naidoo launched a legal campaign to clear his name following that statement, insisting that being identified as antisemitic would severely damage his reputation and career. Two regional courts found in his favor before Wednesday’s higher court ruling overturned those earlier verdicts.
The judges in Karlsruhe observed that Naidoo had “voluntarily entered the public sphere with his controversial political views” and claimed “appropriate public attention for himself.” Their ruling argued that providing him with “special protection would make it impossible to criticize the political views he has spread.”
NJ Governor Condemns Swastikas Graffitied at Local Synagogue and Schools
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy on Tuesday condemned a spate of antisemitic graffiti incidents that recently came to light throughout his state, including at a synagogue and local schools.Murphy’s statement followed reports that a jogger in West Orange discovered a “trio” of swastikas drawn on the sidewalk of B’nai Shalom Temple on Saturday afternoon. According to a local outlet, police immediately launched an investigation of the incident and the symbols were erased.
“I am appalled that swastikas were recently drawn outside a synagogue in West Orange, at Westfield High School, and at Marlton Middle School,” the governor tweeted on Tuesday. “We will not let antisemitism or hatred go unchallenged here in New Jersey, and we will hold those behind these despicable acts responsible.”
His remarks drew praise from the local Anti-Defamation League chapter, which said it had “been in touch with all victims” involved.
Earlier in the week, the West Orange municipal government condemned “the cowardly acts of hate perpetrated against our Jewish brothers and sisters,” while a local resident who said B’nai Shalom Temple was his “family’s life long synagogue” pledged to “never let hate or antisemitism win. We’re not going anywhere. Jewish and proud.”
Sheryl Sandberg donates $5 million to United Hatzalah’s women’s unit
Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Meta, Facebook’s parent company, wants more women to lean into saving lives.Sandberg gave United Hatzalah, the Jerusalem-based volunteer first responder organization, $5 million in honor of her parents at a Miami fundraiser on Sunday.
The money will go toward United Hatzalah’s women’s unit in Israel, which will now be named the Adele and Dr. Joel Sandberg Women’s Unit. A spokesman for the organization said Sandberg and her parents were impressed with the unit when they visited Israel two years ago. Her parents are major donors to the group.
The gala, where Adele and Joel Sandberg were honored and Sheryl Sandberg delivered the keynote speech, brought in a total of $18 million.
As Facebook’s COO, Sandberg rose to prominence in 2013 with a tract on feminism and capitalism, “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead.”
Peace: The final frontierUAE astronaut gifts Jewish state with Israeli flag he took to space
The first Emirati astronaut brought an Israeli flag with him when he traveled to the International Space Station in 2019, the director-general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday.Alon Ushpiz said in a tweet that Hazzaa al-Mansoori gifted the flag to Israeli officials during a visit this week to the Israeli pavilion at the Expo 2020 in Dubai.
Photos posted by Ushpiz showed al-Mansoori with a small, framed Israeli flag.
“This is a gift for all Israelis,” al-Mansoori said at the pavilion, according to the Ynet news site.
“I am happy to be here and to give the Israeli flag as a gift to the people here and to the public in Israel,” he said.
The astronaut’s trip — the first by an Arab to the International Space Station — came nearly a year before Israel and the United Arab Emirates agreed to normalize diplomatic ties as part of the United States-backed Abraham Accords.
Who are the 18 famous Jews we lost this year?
Every year brings the deaths of Jewish icons who leave behind outsized legacies, from the realms of art and culture, government, business, philanthropy and beyond. Here are 18 whom we lost in 2021 — none from COVIDSheldon Adelson
Few people have exerted as significant an influence on American and Israeli politics as Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate who gave lavishly to Republican candidates and Israeli causes. The founder and CEO of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation and one of the world’s richest men, Adelson regularly set records for his donations. At $25 million, he was the largest donor to Donald Trump’s successful 2016 presidential bid and the biggest giver in the 2012 American election cycle, at nearly $93 million. He was also a major supporter of AIPAC and a principal backer of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He died in January at 87.Jessica Walter
Jessica Walter earned a cult following for her portrayal of the manipulative Bluth family matriarch Lucille Bluth in the beloved TV comedy Arrested Development. But that role capped a long career in which she specialized in playing predatory women, beginning with Bye Bye Braverman in 1968. Another beloved character in recent years was Malory Archer, the mother to a dysfunctional secret agent in the animated sitcom Archer, to which Walter lent her voice. Walter died in March at the age of 80.Shirley Zussman
While Shirley Zussman may not be as well-known as Dr. Ruth Westheimer, one of the world’s most famous sex therapists, Zussman served as an inspiration to her fellow Jewish New Yorker. After studying with the famed Masters and Johnson sex experts, Zussman and her husband ran the Human Sexuality Program at Long Island Jewish Hillside Medical Center together for a decade, wrote a book about sexuality for couples, worked for several clinics and advised young people about sex into her 90s. She died earlier this month at 107.
Manhattan Intersection to Be Named After Former Israeli President Shimon Peres
Israel’s former Prime Minister and President Shimon Peres will have an intersection named after him on the Upper West Side in Manhattan.The intersection of West 95th Street and Riverside Drive will be named “Shimon Peres Place,” the New York City Council’s Committee on Parks and Recreation approved on Dec. 14 along with hundreds of other new names for public places.
Peres lived with his wife Sonia and their daughter in an apartment on the corner of West 95th Street and Riverside while he studied at New York University and the New School. Peres was also the first cousin of legendary film star Lauren Bacall, a longtime Upper West Side resident.
The late Israeli leader, who died in 2016, served three times as Israel’s prime minister and was the country’s president from 2007 to 2014.
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