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American supporters of the European Fascists
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11 killed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania synagogue shooting October 27, 2018/18 Cheshvan, 5779From Rabbi Lazer Brody: Pittsburgh, Wild Fires and Hamas RocketsThursday, 15 November 2018 https://www.lazerbrody.net/lazer_beams/2018/11/pittsburgh-wild-fires-and-hamas-rockets.html I didn’t want to write about Pittsburgh or the wild fires, but people have been repeatedly requesting. So before I write, I recite this short prayer and ask Hashem to illuminate my eyes to the message He wants to convey to our people wherever they are, in Israel and abroad. I pray that Hashem should guide me to truth, which as Rebbe Nachman teaches, can only be attained through emuna and self-nullification. Hashem, let this post be for Your honor exclusively and for the good of our people, amen! On Shabbat, Oct. 27, 2018, the angel of death masquerading as arch Jew-hater Robert Bowers entered the Shabbat morning services of the “Tree of Life” synagogue in Pittsburgh and gunned down eleven of our holy brethren, of blessed and sacred memory, all martyrs, including a 97-year-old woman, a husband and wife, and two brothers. Yes, they were conservative Jews but all hand-picked by Hashem to be holy martyrs. Why holy martyrs? Our people, because of a certain blemish they’ve not yet overcome, need martyrs to atone for them. The angel of death and his accomplices such as the Neo-Nazis and other terrorists simply do the dirty work. Guns fire bullets; the martyrs’ deaths according to Kabbalah was death by fire. At the time of this writing, the fires in California have taken the lives of 48 people that authorities know about; that number is expected to rise as rescue teams make it into areas that they previously had no access to. Over 8000 people have lost their homes, many of them Jews. Many others have been evacuated (remindful of Gush Katif?). They are now in a double exile, or an exile within an exile. This is a double atonement, not only for them but for all of our people. The Gemara says that losing one’s assets is tantamount to death. This atonement and cleansing of sin here is again by fire. By no small coincidence, when the final campaigning for the runoff of the municipal elections in Israel was taking place, and Jews were slinging the worst type of mud at one another including the worst type of infighting between different camps of Orthodox Jews, Hostilities broke out in Gaza. 470 missiles rained down on the south of Israel, also leading to repeated exile – from homes to bomb shelters. Miraculously, only one person was killed but many suffered loss of homes just like our brethren in Southern Califormia. I repeat – missile fire – once again, the atonement and cleansing of sin here is again by fire, and that’s after the recent weeks where thousands of acres in the south of Israel have been burned by wild fires caused by incendiary balloons from Gaza. Once more, the culprit of fire. Pittsburgh, California, Sderot or Ashkelon – it doesn’t matter. We are one people like one body. The schism between American and Israeli Jews is inane. OK, there’s an ideological difference between Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jews – granted. But we’re all brothers. The intramural hate destroyed the holy Temple. Our sages call the intramural hate, fire of contention. This comes from one of King Solomon’s sayings (Proverbs 25:24) which says, “It is better to dwell in a roof corner than in a house with with the fire of contention.” Your dictionary will define contention as discord, conflict, friction, strife, dissension, and/or disharmony. Is this not the state of the Jewish People today? My beloved teacher Rav Shalom Arush constantly calls for an end to this. He warns against speaking detrimentally against any other Jew on earth, even those who cause us the worst grief. Do we hear any other voice saying the same thing, or do we only hear the so-called leaders who despise other Jews “for the sake of Hashem”. When will they ever learn? The fire of Pittsburgh, California and the South of Israel all come to atone for the fire of contention and intramural hate. Guess what: Almost a thousand years ago, the holy Rabbi Yehuda HaChassid said that an enemy can not touch a hair on a Jewish head until one Jew harms another Jew, even verbally. The holy Chafetz Chaim said the same thing before he left this world, less than nine decades ago. Do you realize what that means? Any Jew who hates any other Jew – no matter the color, origin, creed or ideology – creates a negative spiritual force that embodies itself in a terrorist, a missile or a wildfire. Anyone who doesn’t do immediate teshuva for hating their fellow Jew cannot say, “My hands did not spill the blood of Pittsburgh, give power to Hamas, or fan the fires of California. For our own future, let’s start loving one another. One cannot love a fellow Jew unless he/she first strengthens themselves in emuna, believing that we all have the same Father in Heaven, for the Torah tells us that we are His children. Nothing gives a parent more pleasure when his/her children love each other. May we all follow the path of loving one another and may this be the end of sorry for our people everywhere, amen. |
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Special Editorial: #WeAreAllJewsby Dovid Efune October 31, 2018 https://www.algemeiner.com/2018/10/31/special-editorial-wearealljews/ The following is a joint editorial drafted by Jane Eisner, Editor-in-Chief of The Forward, and Dovid Efune, Editor-in-Chief and CEO of The Algemeiner, and signed by a dozen leaders in American Jewish journalism. Earlier this year, our colleagues at the three leading Jewish newspapers in the UK published the same front-page headline and joint editorial voicing concern over rising antisemitism in Britain’s Labor party. Today we have found a mournful occasion to follow in their footsteps. For many Jews, the United States has long held a unique role in our collective imagination. It has been an unprecedented land of promise, of refuge, of freedom, opportunity and of safety. But after the horrific attack this past Shabbat at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in which 11 of our brothers and sisters were brutally murdered, we can’t help but be shaken and concerned for the America we have come to know and love. We therefore join together to unequivocally condemn this brutal act of antisemitism and all deadly acts of hate. We also condemn the climate of hate that has been building for some time now, especially on college campuses and on social media, where the veneer of anonymity has allowed antisemitic cesspools to flourish, and from irresponsible political leaders who engage in hateful speech and who are abetted by the silence of others. As journalists, we hold a variety of opinions about politics in this country and in Israel; the American Jewish community is diverse, and those differences are reflected on the pages of its media. In coming together now, we are not erasing those differences, but rising above them, to issue a call for solidarity and respect, and asking our political and communal leaders to do the same. The gunman who invaded a sanctuary on Shabbat did not distinguish among his victims. To him, they were all Jews. We are all Jews. Let this horrific massacre be a moment of redemption as well as grieving. Let us argue with each other as Hillel argued with Shammai — with civility. Let us acknowledge our common humanity with other Americans who have been subject to unconscionable violence, too. Jewish media has a long and proud history in America, and we pledge to continue our mission to inform, reflect and bind our communities, even more necessary in this painful time. Jane Eisner, Editor-in-Chief, The Forward Dovid Efune, Editor-in-Chief and CEO, The Algemeiner Ami Eden, CEO and Executive Editor, 70 Faces Media Nadine Epstein, Editor-in-Chief and CEO, Moment Magazine Ellen Futterman, Editor, St. Louis Jewish Light Sue Fishkoff, Editor, J. The Jewish News of Northern California Jeffrey Gaeser, Publisher, The Heritage Florida Jewish News Jerry Greenwald, Managing Editor, The Jewish Press Lisa Hostein, Executive Editor, Hadassah Magazine Gabe Kahn, Editor, New Jersey Jewish News Joanne Palmer, Editor, The Jewish Standard Janet Perez, Managing Editor, Jewish News of Greater Phoenix Brett R. Rhyne, Editor, The Jewish Advocate, Boston Gary Rosenblatt, Editor and Publisher, Jewish Week of New York Joshua Runyan, Senior Editorial Director, Washington Jewish Week Liz Spikol, Editorial Director, Baltimore Jewish Times Leon J. Sternheim, Editor and Publisher, The Jewish Herald David Suissa, President, Tribe Media/Jewish Journal Jonathan S. Tobin, Editor-in-Chief, Jewish News Syndicate  Kristallnacht 1938 and 2018 |
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Pittsburgh Synagogue Massacre Victims Identified, Include 97-Year-Old, Pair of BrothersOctober 28, 2018 https://www.algemeiner.com/2018/10/28/victims-of-pittsburgh-synagogue-massacre-identified/  The victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue-shooting 27October2018 – Joyce Fienberg, 75, of Oakland, City of Pittsburgh – Richard Gottfried, 65, of Ross Township – Rose Mallinger, 97, of Squirrel Hill, City of Pittsburgh – Jerry Rabinowitz, 66, of Edgewood Borough – Cecil Rosenthal, 59, of Squirrel Hill, City of Pittsburgh – David Rosenthal, 54, (brother of Cecil), of Squirrel Hill – Bernice Simon, 84, of Wilkinsburg – Sylvan Simon, 86, (husband of Bernice), of Wilkinsburg – Daniel Stein, 71, of Squirrel Hill, City of Pittsburgh – Melvin Wax, 88, of Squirrel Hill, City of Pittsburgh – Irving Younger, 69, of Mount Washington, City of Pittsburgh Six other people — among them four police officers — were wounded in the attack. Officials said on Sunday that the suspected perpetrator – 46-year-old Robert Bowers — likely acted alone. Bowers, who was arrested at the scene of the attack, will make an initial appearance before a judge on Monday afternoon. During the rampage, Bowers made statements about genocide and his desire to kill Jewish people, officials said. The mass shooting prompted security alerts at houses of worship around the country and condemnation from politicians and religious leaders. “We’ll get through this darkest day of Pittsburgh history by working together,” the city’s mayor, Bill Peduto, told reporters on Sunday. Bowers had made many antisemitic posts online, including one early on Saturday. The final post said a Jewish refugee organization, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), “likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in.” Bowers surrendered after a shootout with a SWAT team. Federal prosecutors charged him late on Saturday with 29 criminal counts including violence and firearms offenses, and violating US civil rights laws. The Anti-Defamation League and Jewish Council for Public Affairs described Saturday’s incident as the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United States. KDKA television cited police sources as saying Bowers walked into the building and yelled, “All Jews must die.” FBI Special Agent Robert Jones said Bowers was armed with an assault rifle and three handguns. He said authorities believed the suspect entered the synagogue, murdered the worshippers and was leaving when he encountered a uniformed police officer. The pair exchanged gunfire, Jones said, and Bowers reentered the building before a SWAT team arrived. Bowers was taken to a hospital where he was listed in fair condition with multiple gunshot wounds. |
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In Pittsburgh a year later, the shofar-blower is dead and the shul is shutteredAs first anniversary nears of Tree of Life shooting, in which 11 were killed, congregations struggle to get through High Holidays, community tries to figure out how to move forwardBy Ben Sales 3 October 2019, https://www.timesofisrael.com/reliving-the-massacre-every-minute-pittsburgh-survivors-struggle-a-year-later/  The doors of the Tree of Life synagogue feature memorials surrounding the building nearly a year after the attack there that killed 11 worshipers (Grace Yagel via JTA) PITTSBURGH (JTA) — As this city’s Jewish community celebrated Rosh Hashanah this week, the Tree of Life synagogue stood closed, its doors blocked by a chain-link fence. A brown, wilted wreath hung on a tree near the synagogue, where a gunman killed 11 worshipers last year in the worst anti-Semitic attack in American history. Jewish stars bearing the names of the victims are taped to a glass door at the front entrance, behind a fence and under an Israeli flag and a sign thanking first responders. A makeshift wooden sign on a barricade next to the building reads “No day shall erase you from the memory of time.” The synagogue is built to welcome hundreds of Jews. But the only person to enter regularly now is a custodian who maintains the building while the three congregations that meet there decide what to do. Tree of Life has been shuttered since the attack. “I hope it’s torn down,” said Ellen Surloff, who was president of one of the congregations, the Reconstructionist Dor Hadash, at the time of the shooting. “I don’t think that I could ever go back in that building and not be continually reminded of what took place there.”  A Jewish emergency crew and police officers at the site of the mass shooting that killed 11 people and wounded 6, including 4 police, at the Tree of Life Synagogue on October 28, 2018, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images/via JTA) Signs of the attack remain everywhere in Squirrel Hill, the quiet, warm, tree-lined community that has been the home to Pittsburgh’s Jews for more than a century, and which otherwise feels idyllic as summer turns into fall. Local businesses display a sign created shortly after the attack that reads “Stronger than Hate” alongside a yellow Star of David and blue and red diamonds — the city’s traditional colors. The kosher supermarket hangs a banner with the names of the 11 victims. The local Starbucks has three large hearts painted on its windows with the words “love,” “kindness” and “hope” painted in Hebrew and English on each one.  The window of the Starbucks in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh bears three hearts with the words ‘love,’ ‘kindness’ and ‘hope’ written in English and Hebrew. (Ben Sales via JTA) As the first anniversary of the Oct. 27 attack nears, bearing up has become especially difficult. The shooting’s survivors and the rest of the community are just trying to get through the High Holidays — the busiest time of the Jewish calendar, when Jews are traditionally called to account for their souls. “We’re figuring it out an hour at a time, a day at a time, what to do,” said Rabbi Jeffrey Myers of Tree Of Life*Or L’Simcha Congregation at a recent news conference organized by the community. As the shooting began, Myers dialed 911 from his cellphone and then rushed to protect his congregants. “I live with Oct. 27 every minute of every hour of every day, and I will for the rest of my life,” he said. “Each of us finds the strength and courage to integrate what happened into our beings, to move forward.” Every month, survivors of the Tree of Life shooting get together in a room to process their feelings. Many of them live next to each other in Squirrel Hill, and they can relax and schmooze about everyday life.  A group gathers outside the Tree of Life Synagogue for a vigil to honor the victims of the Saturday attack on a synagogue in California, Saturday, April 27, 2019, in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar) At the meeting last week, however, the conversation turned to the mechanics of getting past October. Some survivors attended Rosh Hashanah services in the neighborhood and will go to memorial events. Others will not, concerned that the communal prayers will be too painful. One person decided to leave home and rent an Airbnb for the weekend of Oct. 27 to avoid reporters who might come knocking. There have been signs of progress, too. One survivor realized that 11 months after the attack, they could finally relax — a little. For the first time that year, the survivor didn’t feel the need to constantly monitor those who were entering and exiting the room. “One of the people there had this aha moment and said, ‘I need to tell you all something: I am sitting with my back to the door,’” said Lulu Orr, the clinical specialist and care navigator from the Jewish Family and Community Services of Pittsburgh, who did not discuss the survivors’ personal details in order to respect their privacy. “They’re the only ones who experienced what they experienced. They support each other. They laugh with each other.” Beyond the circle of survivors, the congregations that lived through the shooting are also figuring out how to move forward. As needed, they are training people for the ritual chanting and prayers that used to be led by those who were killed. Rabbi Jonathan Perlman, who leads the Conservative New Light Congregation and survived the attack, composed a prayer in remembrance of the victims to be read during a section of the Yom Kippur service that commemorates Jewish martyrs throughout history. “Like all the others, he did not deserve to die,” Perlman said at the news conference speaking of Melvin Wax, a congregant who was killed and remembered as a devoted grandfather, passionate baseball fan and energetic community volunteer. “That’s survivor’s guilt. “I go through these scenarios in my mind, and I think a lot of other victims do, too, about I could have done more, I could have saved people, why did this person choose to do x, y and z, why did they turn the other way. And it’s part of the trauma, and it’s part of being human. You carry those kinds of things with you.” The victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue-shooting 27October2018 Dor Hadash met for Rosh Hashanah in the local Jewish community center, with survivors of the shooting in attendance but a new person blowing the shofar. The usual shofar blower, Jerry Rabinowitz, was killed in the attack. Daniel Leger, who was injured, will be speaking to the congregation on Yom Kippur. Surloff, the Dor Hadash president, was not at the synagogue when the gunman entered: She was feeling sick and came late. She recalls seeing a row of police cars surrounding the building.  Ellen Surloff, who was president of the Dor Hadash congregation at the time of the Pittsburgh shooting (Ben Sales via JTA) When Surloff told a policewoman, “I have to go, that’s my synagogue,” the officer gave her a hug and did not let her pass. The synagogue leader later found out that Rabinowitz, a mainstay of the congregation, had been killed. “Not only was he such an integral part and member of the congregation, but he was also a really important part of the congregation at the time of the High Holidays,” Surloff said. “Jerry was in charge of the greeting and ushering. You walk in the door and there was Jerry with his smiling face.” Some community members and survivors said that amid the stream of commemorative events, logistical decisions and media interviews, they have not had time to even begin processing the shooting. A few refer to the day as “10/27,” giving it a name similar to 9/11. Surloff said that the four months after that day were consumed with meetings on everything from insurance claims to finding a new prayer space to writing thank-you notes to those who had reached out after the shooting. “They’re all feeling anxious about the upcoming High Holidays, as well as the commemoration,” Orr of Jewish Family and Community Services said about the attack survivors. “This past year has been very public, and they really believe that Oct. 28 of this year will be the first day of their grief journey.”
JerusalemCats Comments:
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Daniel Libeskind hired to redesign Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life SynagogueJewish American architect will head project to transform synagogue hit by worst anti-Semitic attack in US history into synagogue, memorial.Dan Verbin , May 05 , 2021 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/305560 Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh Alexi RosenfeldRenowned American Jewish architect Daniel Libeskind will be the lead architect in charge of creating a plan for rebuilding the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, site of the worst anti-Semitic attack in US history, reported CBS Pittsburgh. Libeskind was the architect who crafted the design for the post-9/11 World Trade Center site and also designed the Jewish Museum in Berlin. The Tree of Life Synagogue has been closed since the October 2018 attack in which 11 congregants were killed by a white supremacist gunman who opened fire during Shabbat services. The congregation wanted the main building to be used as a synagogue again along with functioning as a memorial so that people can learn about how to resist hate. Libeskind, the son of Holocaust survivors from Poland, released a statement on Tuesday confirming that he had been hired. “It is with a great sense of urgency and meaning that I join the Tree of Life to create a new center in Pittsburgh. Our team is committed to creating a powerful and memorable space that addresses the worst antisemitic attack in United States history,” he stated. The synagogue’s renovation will include restoring its main sanctuary space, which was not being used on the day of the attack, and demolishing its smaller chapel and other rooms where the attack took place. Its stained glass windows depicting biblical themes will be part of the new building, reported the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. |
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Please see next post for examples of Leftist and Mainstream Media Antisemitism.
Don’t Give Anti-Semites What They SeekBY Ben Shapiro | May 1, 2019 https://jewishjournal.com/columnist/297872/dont-give-anti-semites-what-they-seek/ When you look at an Israeli living in Sderot, what do you see? Anti-Semites see an emissary of Israeli intolerance, a thumb in the face of Palestinians, a hypnotizer of the world. But what do you see? When you look at a 60-year-old Jewish woman living near San Diego, what do you see? Anti-Semites see a recipient of privilege, an inherent victimizer in the hierarchical power structure. But what do you see? Anti-Semites see the Jews as part of a pattern. Each Jew is a data point in that pattern; every Jew can be pigeonholed as a member of a broader conspiracy. Right-wing white supremacist anti-Semites see the Jews as an eternal threat, a racially “mongrelizing” threat to white purity, a religious blot, a nefarious group of schemers threatening their race-based civilization. Radical Islamist anti-Semites see the Jews as the sons of pigs and monkeys, religious threats who must be exterminated. Left-wing anti-Semites see the Jews as defenders of brutal hierarchies, purveyors of exploitation. Each of these types of anti-Semitism carries its own level of threat. White supremacist anti-Semitism, in the United States, is the type most likely to end with dead bodies: White supremacists have been responsible for an ever-increasing number of terrorist attacks, as more and more young men are radicalized through online forums. Radical Islamic anti-Semitism is the type most likely to end with dead Jews worldwide, in anti-Semitic attacks throughout Europe, as well as terrorist attacks against Jews in Israel. Left-wing anti-Semitism is the type most likely to be mainstreamed — just view The New York Times’ decision to print a virulently anti-Semitic cartoon that could have come from the pages of Der Sturmer. The fact that the Times’ editors didn’t even notice the anti-Semitism shows how easily anti-Zionism has merged, for the mainstream left, into outright anti-Semitic propagandizing. Members of the media, unfortunately, wish to distinguish the three types of anti-Semitism. Because the media lean to the left, they wish to downplay left-wing anti-Semitism, even as they engage in it — and thus media members come out of the woodwork to defend both Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who has engaged in anti-Semitism openly and repeatedly, and the Democratic Party that rushed to cover for her. Because the media generally dislike Israel and see it as an imperialist power, they have sympathy, too, for the claims for the radical Islamist brand of anti-Semitism — they simply dismiss the murderous anti-Semitism of radical Muslims as a form of anti-Zionism. They’re more than happy to point out white supremacist anti-Semitism, however, because they believe they can blame that type of anti-Semitism on President Donald Trump. Here’s the truth: If you don’t oppose all types of anti-Semitism, you don’t oppose anti-Semitism. Unfortunately, many Jews are just as political as media members when it comes to anti-Semitism. We find excuses to let purported allies off the hook by disassociating with our co-religionists. Thus, I ask: What do you see when you see a fellow Jew? Do you see an “other” — a person with no relationship to you, who can be safely excised? Do you see a tool, to be used for political purposes? Or do you see that fellow Jew as a brother or a sister — a person who, if attacked for their Jewishness, must be defended? Do you see the rabbi in Poway as a Trump supporter who supports gun ownership — or as a Jew shot for his identity? Do you see Almog Peretz as an Israeli citizen, and thus as a victim of anti-Zionism — or as a Jew shot for his identity? Would you feel the same way if a rocket had hit his home in Sderot? Do you see Lori Gilbert-Kaye as a woman of intersectional privilege — or as a Jew shot for her identity? The anti-Semites are evil. But they are right in one respect only: Jews are members of a family. If we fail to see one another as members of the same family — a family wherein an attack on one is an attack on all — then we will be giving anti-Semites that which they have so long sought: an end to the Jewish people. |
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Jewish Activists Push Failed Leaders to Publicly Defend the Community by Charles Jacobs JNS.org – It’s hard to ignore the simple fact that Jewish leaders have failed to stop or even slow the accelerating epidemic of Jew-hatred in America. Like failed generals fighting the last war, they have focused on Nazis and the political right — and have mostly ignored the changed battlefield for as long as they could. They have deliberately, out of political considerations, minimized the assaults coming from “progressives,” black antisemites, and radical Islamists. They failed utterly to understand how promoting tolerance of the intolerant may backfire. In response to this failure, grassroots activists have been organizing to expose and to challenge established Jewish organizations. On June 21, 2021, Patti Munter published a scathing exposé of her Federation in Rochester, NY — a warning that establishment Jewish “leaders” in that city are not defending or protecting the community. And now we hear from activists in Raleigh, NC how they had to ignore bullying threats from their local Jewish Community and Relations Council and other Jewish leaders in order to confront a clear and present danger to the Jewish community. “Deadly Exchange” is a vicious campaign that blames Israeli and American Jews for police assaults on American black people. It falsely claims that American police departments that take part in counter-terrorism and leadership training in Israel are actually trained to “terrorize black and brown communities” in America. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Yet promoters of a campaign to force city officials to boycott the Israeli training had a victory in Durham, NC, when on April 16, 2018, the city council voted to ban that city’s police department from participating in the Israeli programs. Those who led the “Deadly Exchange” campaign were affiliated with Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Israel, pro-BDS organization that has partnered with antisemites like political activist Linda Sarsour and convicted terrorist Rasmea Odeh. By explicitly promoting Jew-hatred — particularly in black and brown communities — their efforts encouraged non-Jewish antisemites to come out of the woodwork, including a member of Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam, who called attention to the “Synagogue of Satan that’s always lingering in the background” and the “inordinate [amount of] control that some Jews have over the political system in this city.” Those behind the Durham victory were encouraged to bring the campaign to its sister city, Raleigh. Josh Ravitch and Amy Rosenthal, who co-founded the North Carolina Coalition for Israel (NCCI), were shocked to learn that Raleigh was the next target. They had already seen what the campaign did to Durham, the first (and only) city to pass the boycott against training with Israeli police. Following approval of the “Deadly Exchange” resolution, Durham was beset with vile antisemitic posters, fliers, and swastikas around town. When NCCI board member Deborah Friedman discovered a petition for a “Deadly Exchange” campaign in Raleigh that had more than 700 signatures, NCCI activists felt that Jews had to do everything they could to prevent a repeat of the Durham fiasco. NCCI reached out to other community members to see if they were aware and to coordinate our efforts. What they learned was that other local Jewish institutions were, in fact, aware of the Raleigh petition, but had not shared this information. One of those who had met privately with two of Raleigh’s seven city council members told Ravitch and Rosenthal, “If I had to guess, it’s not going to pass.” However, NCCI knew that council members in Durham had lied to some of these same Jewish community leaders, reassuring them that the council members would not be voting to approve a resolution. NCCI found the guessing part to be less than reassuring. One NCCI member, Kathryn Wolf, was an especially strong advocate for a robust, proactive response to prevent Raleigh from following in Durham’s footsteps, and the NCCI board wholeheartedly agreed. When the NCCI activists made plans to speak at the Raleigh City Council meeting, pressure came down hard to silence them. There were phone calls and emails almost daily, telling them not to speak, some of them angry and threatening. They were told that if Raleigh were to pass the boycott, the fault would be deliberately and publicly laid on them. They were told that the mayor was angry that NCCI planned to speak. They were told that the JCRC didn’t want them to speak or be involved. They were told that it was none of their business since many of them don’t live in Raleigh. They were told that it shouldn’t look like one fringe group battling against another. They were told they would be giving JVP undeserved press. Ravitch and Rosenthal explained to their critics that while they were grateful these other Jewish institutions were working behind the scenes, they believed that speaking publicly about this issue would be vital. “Why not get the pro-Israel narrative publicly out first so that we don’t play defense as we did in Durham?” The Raleigh “Deadly Exchange” petitioners were running a stealth campaign, they explained, so why let them control the rules of engagement? They quoted James Garfield to their critics: “Light itself is a great corrective. A thousand wrongs and abuses that are grown in darkness disappear like owls and bats before the light of day.” The pressure on NCCI to be silent continued and from different sources. “If you decide to speak up, all you will be doing is opening up opportunity for JVP to present their case to the media. No one knows about the issue, so why bring it up? I see nothing good that can come out of you coming to speak up. Creating a brouhaha over a non-issue is a mistake.” Their critics even used the Torah portion of the week, the story of Korach, in an effort to stop the NCCI, implying that their public speaking was dividing the community. One person with a large distribution list let people know that he had decided to lay low. Therefore, he didn’t think his people would be coming to support the speeches, so NCCI should “not expect a turnout from my list.” The attacks on NCCI from so many directions were difficult to bear and took a toll. Ravitch and Rosenthal were on edge and losing sleep, yet remained certain that they needed to be more proactive and public in their efforts than the old guard in Durham. In the end, people came out to support NCCI at the June 15 city council meeting, enduring a three-hour session together. Four NCCI members — Amy Rosenthal, Deborah Friedman, Josh Ravitch, and Kathryn Wolf — spoke up passionately and eloquently. They were pleasantly surprised to learn that the leader of the JCRC had signed up after they did and spoke at the end. Afterwards, one person who had opposed them graciously reached out to congratulate Ravitch and Rosenthal. Others who presented a colder shoulder started to speak with them again too. The chair of the JCRC expressed the desire to work with them in the future. The result of NCCI’s efforts is still unknown, but the hope is that the old guard institutions have learned that today’s daunting challenges demand more forceful approaches in defense of the Jewish community. Jewish activists across the country must begin to challenge failed Jewish leaders. The lesson from Durham and Raleigh is clear: Where there is no leadership, step up and lead. Our “leaders” might actually follow. Charles Jacobs is president of Americans for Peace and Tolerance. |
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 Elder of Ziyon logo http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/
When 11 Jews Are Murdered In Their Synagogue – Jews Blame Other Jews? (Daled Amos)October 28, 2018 http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2018/10/when-11-jews-are-murdered-in-their.html  daled amos
 Tree of Life Synagogue, Pittsburgh. From their website This past Shabbos a vicious Antisemite entered the Tree of Life Synagogue – where he shot and killed 11 Jews. At issue is the spread of rabid Antisemitism, not only globally…  Category:21st-century attacks on synagogues and Jewish communal organizations
The ADL has also described the “Pittsburgh shooting likely deadliest anti-Semitic attack in US history” the deadliness of Antisemitism has now reached the level of Europe, and he talks about the “Europeanization of American Jewry”:
 NYPDCounterterrorism-tweet-27October2019-We continue to closely monitor the active shooter incident in Pittsburgh. Currently, there is no nexus to New York City. This is a sight we are used to seeing elsewhere. Muslim police refuse to protect French synagoguesMuslim police officers refuse to protect synagogues or to observe a minute of silence to commemorate victims of terror attacks.Shoshana Miskin Mar 21, 2016, 12:20 PM GMT+2 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/209676  French soldiers guard the entrance to a Paris synagogue. Source: Arutz Sheva. Credit: Serge Attal / Flash 90 Denmark posts troops at Copenhagen synagogue and the Israeli embassy for Jewish holidayThe deployment is the first by troops in the Danish capital since the Second World WarAgence France Presse 29September2017 https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/europe/denmark-posts-troops-at-copenhagen-synagogue-and-the-israeli-embassy-for-jewish-holiday-1.662745  Danish soldiers replace the police guard outside the Jewish Synagogue in Copenhagen, Denmark, on September 29, 2017. Source: The National. Credit: Mads Claus Rasmussen / Denmark OUT/AFP
Thousands back call for armed security outside Jewish schools and synagoguesGolders Green resident Moses Hoffman said the UK should follow other European countries by providing armed security outside schools and synagoguesBy Jamie Bullen  Protection: Thousands support calls for armed security outside Jewish buildings in the UK. Source: The Evening Standard. Credit: PA Condemnations of the attack were not slow in coming. But just who were they condemning? Here is just a sampling of whom some Jews held responsible for the murder of 11 Jews: From The Forward, on the very same day:
But Trump wasn’t the only target. Here is a tweet by Julia Ioffe, a correspondent for GQ:
 Julia-Ioffe-tweet-27October2018- And a word to my fellow American Jews: This president makes this possible. Here. Where you live. I hope the embassy move over there, where you don’t live was worth it. Here is a tweet by a Rabbi Mivasair, who describes himself as “Active in peace, justice; 4 yrs in Israel-Palestine” — in response to Naftali Bennett announcing he is traveling to Pittsburgh to show solidarity:
 r DavidMivasair-tweet-27October2018-Stay home JerusalemCats Comments: The following JINO (Jews In Name Only) “rabbis” have deleted their tweets. Here is a tweet by Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East analyst and negotiator in both Republican and Democratic Administrations, who is normally more level-headed.  Aaron David Miller-tweet-27October2018-The price many in the American Jewish
This is from Franklin Foer, a staff writer at The Atlantic, who offers a prayer for the murdered Jews — and then suggests going after other Jews.  Franklin Foer-tweet-27October2018 Rabbi Jill Jacobs, Executive Director of Truah, took the opportunity to tweet she agrees with Foer about shunning Jews who support Trump and even thanked him for the idea — but then thought better of the idea and deleted the tweet, with neither comment or apology.  Jill Jacobs-tweet-27October2018 Here is a tweet from Rebecca Vilkomerson, Executive Director of Jewish Voice for Peace which is responsible for so much of the anti-Jewish hatred that permeates college campuses. Regardless of her motives, even she knew better:
 Hen Mazzig-tweet-27October2018-just shut up The anti-Trump rhetoric has already reached fever pitch, so naturally, it feeds on tragedies like this.We expect it. But when a tragedy that should lead Jews to unite instead leads Jews to turn against other Jews, that is worse than a tragedy; it is a disaster |
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Time for Teshuvah
Prominent NY architect, synagogue board member killed by brickErica Tishman, a prominent architect and Jewish philanthropist, was killed by falling brick while walking through midtown Manhattan.Sam Sokol, JTA, 20December2019 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/273427 Erica Tishman, a prominent member of the New York Jewish community, was killed by falling debris while walking through Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday. Tishman, an architect and vice president of the project management company Zubatkin, died instantly on Tuesday after being struck by a brick that fell off the facade of a building on Seventh Avenue and 49th Street. She was 60. Tishman, a married mother of three, was active in Jewish and philanthropic affairs. She was on the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees of the Central Synagogue on the Upper East Side and served as chair of the Real Estate Committee for the Educational Alliance, a social service agency. According to the New York Post, the owners of the stricken building were aware of the danger and had received a citation last year for “failure to maintain exterior building facade and appurtenances.” The city classed the damage as severe enough to require immediate correction but no action was taken. One witness told the New York Daily News that he saw medical personnel “working to try to revive her,” describing the scene as “pretty horrific.” “We all work right over here,” the witness said. “Could have happened to anyone. It’s very scary.” Tishman, a graduate of Harvard and Princeton, was a founding partner of DeWitt Tishman Architects LLP. She is survived by her husband, Steven, and their children Adam, Stuart and Julia. |
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The muddled obsessions of progressive American JewsNovember 16, 2018 http://www.melaniephillips.com/muddled-obsessions-progressive-american-jews/ I have also been exposed to the even more intense divisions within that community over President Donald Trump. One of the most bizarre conceits among those who hate him is that he’s an antisemite, or at the very least knowingly encourages antisemites. A guest of the Hanukkah celebration at the White House last year told me he had the opportunity to observe the president up close. Surrounded by Jewish friends and Republican colleagues, Trump said proudly when his family arrived: “Here are my Jewish grandchildren.” It was simply inconceivable, said my informant, that anyone could seriously believe there was an antisemitic bone in his body. For those who hate him, however, it’s as if all the evils and problems in the world are somehow his fault. It’s not simply a question of loathing his uncouthness or finding his personality objectionable. He has become their obsession. He occupies their every waking thought. He is their personal demon. The same people, however, are overwhelmingly silent about the antisemites and Israel-bashers in the Democratic Party, more of whom have been elected to Congress in the mid-terms. There’s silence from such quarters over Ilhan Omar, elected in Minnesota and who has said: “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.” Silence over Rashida Tlaib, elected for a Michigan seat and who, asked if she would vote against military aid to Israel, replied: “Absolutely … I will be using my position in Congress so that no country, not one, should be able to get aid from the U.S. when they still promote that kind of injustice.” Silence, too, over Women’s March leaders Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour, despite their support for Louis Farrakhan who raves about “satanic” Jews. This evacuation of morality over American politics has echoes of the way Israel itself is treated: demonized by falsehoods and distortion while Palestinian depravity and antisemitism are ignored or even sanitized. The issues of Trump and Israel intersect among many progressive Jews in a further distressing way. They hate Trump also for his decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, which they think has somehow prevented peace in our time in the Middle East. And they hate Israel even more because Israel regards Trump as a true friend – not least because he moved the embassy to Jerusalem. So Trump, himself toxified through an unhinged thought process which casts him as an enabler of antisemitism, is therefore in turn toxifying Israel in the eyes of progressive Jews – and all because he’s actually so philosemitic, one of the most pro-Israel presidents in American history. Just how crazy is this? Meanwhile, the problem remains how to combat BDS on campus. This weekend, despite an outcry, a conference is taking place at UCLA held by National Students for Justice in Palestine. NSJP has a record not only of advocating Israel’s eventual destruction and supporting pro-terrorism figures, but also bullying and intimidating pro-Israel and Jewish students with vicious and sometimes antisemitic rhetoric and even physical violence. Yet UCLA Chancellor Gene Block has refused to cancel the conference on the basis that all forms of speech must be permitted on campus. He has acknowledged that anti-Israel statements can turn into “hostility against the Jewish people.” However, he said, NSJP still had a legal right to host its conference even if this was “infused with antisemitic rhetoric.” “Ultimately,” he wrote, “we must combat speech that is distasteful with more and better speech.” Would he say the same if, say, David Duke or the Aryan Nations group wanted to speak on campus? Of course not; these would rightly be seen as contributing nothing to rational debate but posing instead a threat to minority students. To put it another way, despite expressing concern about NSJP Block is implicitly accepting there is some validity in what they say. But since he accepts their discourse is “infused with antisemitic rhetoric,” he should consider no part of that discourse to be acceptable. He writes of “democracy’s commitment to open debate.” He therefore appears to believe that democracy has a commitment to permit antisemitism. As Judea Pearl, professor of computer science at UCLA and father of slain journalist Daniel Pearl, wrote to the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles: “This is ‘viewpoint neutrality’ UCLA style.” He continued: “When xenophobic Milo Yiannopoulos requested to speak at UCLA [he was invited by Republican students last February to speak on ‘Ten things I hate about Mexico’] Chancellor Block wrote (paraphrased): I can’t stop you legally but be aware, you are not exactly welcome on this campus, you are in fact disgusting, your values clash with ours. “When antisemitic-Zionophobic NSJP requested to speak at UCLA, Chancellor Block wrote (paraphrased): I can’t stop you legally, but I won’t stop you even if I could, here’s why, here’s why, here’s why.” Even Los Angeles City Council unanimously called on UCLA to cancel the conference, with one member telling Block he was “shocked and disappointed” that it was allowing it to occur. Yet the response by both Hillel and the Anti-Defamation League echoed Block’s feebleness. UCLA Hillel Director Aaron Lerner said: “The Chancellor has made his voice heard, and confirmed his opposition to BDS. That’s a win.” You wonder what Lerner would consider a loss. As for the ADL, it said it was “deeply concerned about the potential impact the SJP conference might have on the campus climate at UCLA,” and “on the safety and security of all students on campus.” It called upon the university to ensure “that all UCLA communities are treated with respect, free from vilification and harassment, and to continue to denounce messages coming from SJP that are to the contrary.” But allowing the NSJP to spread their poison on campus makes all students unsafe. Despite acknowledging this, though, the ADL accepts their right to do so. Free speech is not an absolute right. It must be limited if it incites harm. Promoting Jew-hatred causes harm. Yet like other campuses, UCLA permits this while kowtowing to those who want to silence free speech on the grounds of merely sparing people’s feelings – as in the troubling dismissal of conservative communication-studies lecturer Keith Fink, who had expressed robust views critical of UCLA on, of all issues, freedom of speech. Progressive Jews and others accuse President Trump of sowing social division, hatred and antisemitism. They can’t see that that they are themselves effectively enabling social division, hatred and antisemitism by their spurious equivalence, tunnel vision and outright double standards. The more they scream about Trump, the more they create an alibi for that very same ugliness in their own souls. And that, of course, is precisely what antisemites do to the Jews and to Israel. JerusalemCats Comments: Is there a Civil War in America? Jews need to unify of stead of fighting between themselves. Are you a REAL JEW or a Jew In Name Only (JINO)? Then act like it and stop blaming Trump or whoever. It is time for American Jews to return to their God, Hashem and do Teshuva, Return to their Homeland, The Land of Israel, Make Aliyah and return to their People, The Jews. |
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American Jews were warned by Rabbi Meir Kahane who was assassinated on the same date as the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre Rabbi Meir Kahane
 Why Be Jewish
Why Be Jewish ? Intermarriage, Assimilation, and AlienationISBN-10: 1607961555 ISBN-13: 978-1607961550 A battle plan for Jews who do not want to disappear.BiographyRabbi Meir Kahane was born in New York City in 1932. He studied at the Mir Yeshiva in Brooklyn and was ordained in 1956. The same year, he completed New York Law School and later received a masters degree in International Relations from New York University. After serving as a congregational rabbi, he found the Jewish Defense League in 1968 to combat anti-Semitism. Concerned about the alienation and assimilation of Jewish youth, Rabbi Kahane spent two decades touring American college campuses, exhorting Jewish students to learn about Judaism, make Aliya to Israel, and to stand up proudly as Jews. In 1970 he spearheaed a campaign of Jewish activism which led to the emigration of tens of thousands of oppressed Jews from the Soviet Union. He entered the political arena in Israel when he made Aliya in 1971, and was a member of the Knesset in Israel from 1984 to 1988. He authored several best-selling books, including Never Again, Why Be Jewish and The Story of the Jewish Defense League. His widely-read columns appeared weekly in the Jewish Press from 1961 to 1990. On this Date:18 Cheshvan 5751 (November 6, 1990): Assassination of Meir Kahane
 Nefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream US & CAN 1-866-4-ALIYAH | UK 020-8150-6690 or 0800-085-2105 | Israel 02-659-5800 https://www.nbn.org.il/ info@nbn.org.il |
הרב לאו: יהודים נרצחו במקום עם סממן יהודי בולטבית כנסת? הרב הראשי לישראל דוד לאו בשיחה עם ‘מקור ראשון’: “כל רצח של כל יהודי בכל פינה בעולם על רקע היותו יהודי זה לא נסלח”מאת צביקה קליין י״ט במרחשון ה׳תשע״ט (28-10-2018) https://www.makorrishon.co.il/news/87083/  Israeli Chief Rabbi HaRav David Lau “אגיד דבר אחד פשוט: כל רצח של כל יהודי בכל פינה בעולם על רקע היותו יהודי זה לא נסלח, זה פשע שאי אפשר בשום פנים ואופן לעבור לסדר היום” – את האמירה החד משמעית הזו השמיע הרב הראשי לישראל דוד לאו בשיחה עם מקור ראשון, בעקבות הטבח בבית הכנסת “עץ חיים” בפיטסבורג, פנסילבניה ביום שבת. הרב לאו דחה באופן נחרץ את השיח הער ברשתות החברתיות ובתקשורת העוסק בזרם היהדות הקונסרבטיבי שאליו שייכים הנרצחים וקרא לחדול ממנו. “מה הקשר?!”, אמר הרב, “אין מה לערב פה את הנושא. מדובר על יהודים שנרצחו בגלל היותם יהודים. מה השאלה בכלל?! אני לא שומע ומבין איזה שיח יכול להיות על שאלה כזאת. הם נרצחו בעקבות היותם יהודים. זה משנה באיזה בית כנסת או נוסח הם מתפללים?!” Israeli Chief Rabbi HaRav David Lau הרב דוד לאו. צילום: אבישג שאר ישוב בתקשורת החרדית סירבו להתייחס ל”עץ החיים” כאל בית כנסת קונסרבטיבי, אלא כאל “מרכז יהודי” במקרה הטוב. “אני דובר של התקשורת?! אני יכול להגיד לך כמה פעמים שאני אוהב ולא אוהב או מעריך ולא מעריך דברים שפורסמו. אני מודע למה שכותבים, ויודע לפעמים שמה שכותבים בינם לבין המציאות אין קשר. אני חוזר ואומר: מדובר ביהודים וצריך לא לנצל רגעים מיותרים. לא להפוך את הדברים הכואבים לנושא. זה לא הנושא בכלל. יש לי מחלוקת אידאולוגית קשה עמם בנושא יהדות, לגבי עברו וממנה השלכה לגבי עתידו של העם היהודי לדורותיו. אז מה?! אבל בגלל זה הם לא יהודיים?!” אבל זה כן בית כנסת? “יהודים נרצחו במקום שעבור הרוצח נחשב מקום עם סממן יהודי בולט. מקום עם ספרי תורה, יהודים עם טליתות, יש שם סידורים, יש שם אנשים שהגיעו לשם לצורך קרבת אלוהים. היות שכך הרוצח הגיע דווקא לשם לרצוח ולא במקום אחר. על זה הכאב והכעס”. האם היהודים צריכים להצניע את לבושם ואולי להסיר את הכיפה ברחוב? “חס ושלום. אסור להצניע. באירופה בזמנו היה רב בקהילת במארסיי שקרא לחברי קהילתו לא ללכת עם כיפה. אמרתי: חס ושלום, אנחנו חייבים לשמור על זהותנו היהודית”.  בית הכנסת עץ חיים בפיטסבורג. צילום: AFP Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Photo: AFP  עצרת הזדהות עם קורבנות הטבח בפיטסבורג. צילום: AFP A rally of solidarity with the victims of the Pittsburgh massacre. Photo: AFP עצרת הזדהות עם קורבנות הטבח בפיטסבורג. צילום: AFP  עצרת הזדהות עם קורבנות הטבח בפיטסבורג. צילום: AFP A rally of solidarity with the victims of the Pittsburgh massacre. Photo AFP-Havdalah candle עצרת הזדהות עם קורבנות הטבח בפיטסבורג. צילום: AFP בסיום דבריו, היה חשוב לרב הראשי לישראל להעביר מסר מפייס לקהילות היהודיות בעולם ובארה”ב בפרט. “אני מזמין את כל היהודים לעלות לארץ, אבל אם לא זכינו והם לא נמצאים כאן, אין שאלה. כל יהודי שנרצח צריך לגנות זאת, כדי שחלילה זה לא יקרה שוב”. בנוסף, פנה הרב לאו לראשי מדינות ברחבי העולם והביע תקווה כי אלו ישפרו את ההגנה על הקהילות היהודיות במדינתם. “אני קורא לגופי השלטון בכל מקום שהוא: לעקוב אחרי אנשים וההתבטאויות שלהם. הרי הרוצח האחרון, אפשר היה לראות שהוא אדם אנטישמי, שונא יהודים, היה צריך לעשות הכול לעצור אותו קודם לכן. כואב הלב על 11 יהודים שנרצחו”. גם הראשון לציון הרב הראשי לישראל ונשיא מועצת הרבנות הראשית הגאון רבי יצחק יוסף פרסם תגובה ביחס לטבח האכזרי: “נחרדתי לשמוע על הירצחם של יהודים חפים מפשע בפיטסבורג שבפנסילבניה אך ורק בגלל היותם יהודים על ידי מרצח נתעב ושטוף שנאה אנטישמית. ליבי עם המשפחות השכולות ועם כל אחינו היהודים תושבי ארה״ב. לצערנו, בתקופה האחרונה שוב האנטישמיות בארה״ב מרימה ראש. על היהודים לנהוג במשנה זהירות על פי הוראות הביטחון של רשויות החוק מדין ונשמרתם מאד לנפשותיכם ועל כולנו מוטלת חובת התפילה לשלומם מדין ערבות. שנשמע ונתבשר בשורות טובות”.  עצרת הזדהות עם הנרצחים בפיטסבורג פנסילבניה. צילום: גטי אימג’ס A rally of solidarity with the murdered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Photo: Getty Images עצרת הזדהות עם הנרצחים בפיטסבורג פנסילבניה. צילום: גטי אימג’ס  עצרת הזדהות עם קורבנות הטבח בפיטסבורג. צילום: AFP A rally of solidarity with the victims of the Pittsburgh massacre. Photo: AFP עצרת הזדהות עם קורבנות הטבח בפיטסבורג. צילום: AFP  הקהילה היהודית מתאבלת על קורבנות הפיגוע בבית הכנסת בפיטסבורג. צילום: AFP The Jewish community mourns the victims of the attack in the Pittsburgh synagogue. Photo: AFP הקהילה היהודית מתאבלת על קורבנות הפיגוע בבית הכנסת בפיטסבורג. צילום: AFP  מתפללים מחוץ לבית הכנסת בפיטסבורג בו נרצחו 11 יהודים בפיגוע שנאה. צילום: AFP Praying outside the synagogue in Pittsburgh where 11 Jews were killed in a hate attack. Photo: AFP מתפללים מחוץ לבית הכנסת בפיטסבורג בו נרצחו 11 יהודים בפיגוע שנאה. צילום: AFP  מתפללים מחוץ לבית הכנסת בפיטסבורג בו נרצחו 11 יהודים בפיגוע שנאה. צילום: AFP Praying outside the synagogue in Pittsburgh where 11 Jews were killed in a hate attack. Photo: AFP |
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 https://www.breslev.co.il/ Who is a Martyr?Can a person who violated Torah in any way be considered a martyr? What’s the status of fallen IDF soldiers, those who died in the Holocaust and the Pittsburgh Eleven?By: Rabbi Lazer Brody 17 December 2018 https://www.breslev.co.il/articles/judaism/practical_halacha/who_is_a_martyr.aspx?id=33643&language=english Question: Can a person one who violates Torah in any way be considered a martyr? What’s the status of fallen IDF soldiers, those who died in the Holocaust and the Pittsburgh Eleven? Answer: After the October 27, 2018 Pittsburgh massacre, I wrote an essay on Lazer Beams about the dangers and damages of baseless hate. I also mentioned that the 11 victims from the “Tree of Life” Conservative Synagogue in Pittsburgh were all martyrs. A chorus of voices rang out against me asking how I can call Jews who violate laws of Torah, “martyrs”. Many other people were confused, swayed by the zealous voices. I promised to deliver an orderly response to the bewildered, which I present here, with Hashem’s help. Nothing here is my opinion, but totally the rulings of our great rabbinical lawgivers, particularly those of contemporary times who understood the challenges facing the post-Holocaust era.
The “Shomrei Emunim” Rebbe, Rebbe Aaron Roth osb”m, rules:[1] “Any Jew who suffers at the hand of an anti-Semite is absolved of all sin and his sorrow ascends to the Heavenly Throne. The Divine Presence shares in his sorrow. The Almighty puts the portrait of such a victim in His porfira[2]. And, if Heaven forbid, the Jew – even a wicked sinner – was killed by the anti-Semite, all his sins are forgiven and he is deemed a martyr, which is not the case when a sinner is killed in a different manner and not by an anti-Semite. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai elaborates in great detail the honor that the martyred soul merits in Heaven.[3] The “Reishit Chochma”, famed Kabbalist and lawgiver Rabbi Eliahu Vidash osb”m, one of the prime disciples of the holy Rabbi Moshe Cordovero osb”m, lists twelve types of tribulations that save a person from ever seeing purgatory. The eleventh is death in sanctification of Hashem’s Name, even for a sinner, for “there is no greater teshuva than this.” In other words, the sinner who died in sanctification of Hashem’s Name is a martyr; all the more so if he was a tinok shenishba who is considered an accidental sinner and not an intentional sinner. If that’s not enough, the Gemara tells the story of Ketiya bar Shalom, a non-Jew who was killed because he helped the Jews.[4] From this precedent, any non-Jew such as a non-Jewish IDF soldier who was killed in defense of, fighting for or helping Jews enjoys martyr status.[5] With the above in mind, a tinok shenishba carries all the privileges of an observant Jew: one may not speak badly about him or hate him. One may not disparage him or cheat him. One must love him as any other Jew. And, if he died a martyr’s death, as the Pittsburgh eleven did, we must treat their holy memories as martyrs, just as we do any fallen IDF soldier or Holocaust victim. Summary: 1. Any child that failed to receive a Torah and emuna education is deemed a tinok shenishba – as a non-Orthodox adult, he or she has the status of an accidental sinner and not a willful sinner or an apostate. 2. Any Jew – even a wicked sinner – who was killed as a Jew by an anti-Semite, all his sins are forgiven and he is deemed a martyr. 3. Any non-Jew such as a non-Jewish IDF soldier who was killed in defense of, fighting for or helping Jews enjoys martyr status. May we all love one another and may we soon see the full redemption of our people Israel, the coming of Moshiach and our rebuilt Holy Temple in Jerusalem, speedily and in our days, amen! * * * We invite you to visit Rabbi Lazer Brody’s award-winning daily web journal Lazer Beams. [1] Shomer Emunim, Hashgacha Pratis, Ch. 10 [2] See Zohar, Breishit 38b – this is the cloak that the Almighty dons on the day that He judges the anti-Semites [3] Ibid. [4] AvodaZara 10b [5] A point I clarified with a number of poskim, including Dayan Elchonon Elgorod shlit’a from Jerusalem and the Melitzer Rebbe shlit’a from Ashdod.
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America’s hidden JewsJihad at Columbia University.Jack Engelhard, 03 December 2018 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/23101 Professor of Jewish and Holocaust studies at Columbia University Elizabeth Midlarsky is about the only one at the college who dares to identify herself openly as Jewish.
Let that sink in.
Remember, this is America. This is New York. A few days ago she walked into her office to find it vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti. “They got me,” she told The Washington Post. “I’m afraid.”
A few days ago she walked into her office to find it vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti. “They got me,” she told The Washington Post. “I’m afraid.”
The paper goes on to tell what happened, how she was shocked, how anti-Semitic incidents have skyrocketed by 60 percent throughout the land, but this was the stopper…this fact, when she says, “I’m a Jew at this college, one of the only ones who acts like a Jew.” The others? Are they hidden Jews?
Look up “Marranos.” Those were the Jews of Spain and Portugal in the Middle Ages who converted to Christianity by force, but kept to their Jewish faith in secret. (1)
Let it sink in, that something like this is happening in America – Jews in hiding, Jews afraid to walk with their heads held high…JEWS TREMBLING.
Arutz Sheva Editor Rochel Sylvetsky recently said something that shook me for its truth, its flash of clarity.
“Jewish history,” she said, “is being made in Israel.”
That puts us squarely in the bullseye of a Lost Generation. As they, in Israel, have been marching their Jewishness triumphantly, we in America have been in retreat.
We are on the verge of being extinct…despite our contributions through science, medicine, law, commerce, literature, military, music, founders of Broadway and Hollywood.
Toynbee’s “fossils of civilization,” certainly not so in Israel; very much so in the United States.
The reasons are many. Jews themselves, for example, gone Torah-less secular, and sleeping with the enemy, namely the Democrats…as if Farrakhan needs more partners.
But something else happened, this in 1964, which changed the demographic complexion in America; quite favorably if your name is Ibrahim.
But not so favorable if your name is Abraham…or even Joe.
That was in 1964 when Ted Kennedy pushed through the Hart-Celler Immigration Act. Quotas were severely tightened for people coming in with Bibles, but loosened considerably for people coming in with the Koran. Hence the influx of Muslims and therefore, over the years, the handover of our schools to BDS, SJP and similar groups who come for jihad but fake as students.
They are not afraid. They have numbers…and they have a cause…to turn every synagogue into a mosque…and to eradicate any semblance of our Judeo/Christian Heritage.
Our colleges are prime for that purpose. That’s where Jews go to become Einsteins and Salks, while the others go to harass, intimidate and disrupt.
Columbia is not alone. It merely ranks Number One as among the worst campuses for Jewish students.
Quick side note pertinent to the topic: A reader writes: “I did see the movie some time ago, but I have just read the novel “Indecent Proposal,” which everyone else appears to have read and loved. I can see why. No wonder it became a bestseller around the world. I am Jewish myself, loved it, too, but did not see this coming.”
More proof that everyone’s a critic, she continues: “You did not stereotype the Ibrahim antagonist. Impressive writing – throughout. But I was surprised that so much of the content is Jewish and pro-Israel. There is nothing like that in the film. Would you not have been selling even more copies of your novel if you, as the author, would have been more neutral?”
Maybe so. But this novelist won’t be a hidden Jew.
New York-based bestselling American novelist Jack Engelhard writes regularly for Arutz Sheva. He is the author of the international book-to-movie bestseller “Indecent Proposal” and most recently “News Anchor Sweetheart.” Contemporaries have hailed him “The last Hemingway, a writer without peer, and the conscience of us all.” Engelhard is the recipient of the Ben Hecht Award for Literary Excellence. Website: www.jackengelhard.com 1. The Spaniards called them “Marranos” which is derogatory and means “swine.” It became the word used to denote the Crypto-Jews of the Inquistion as non-Spanish speakers did not know its meaning. Recently, the less known words “conversos” or “anousim (forced to sin)” have been used instead. |
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The New York Times’ antisemitic cartoon, its non-apology and the silence of the “anti-Zionist not antisemitic” crowdThe International Edition of the New York Times published this editorial cartoon on Thursday:  Bibi Netanyahu, with a large Star of David around his neck, is a seeing eye dog leading a blind Donald Trump.
Bibi Netanyahu, with a large Star of David around his neck, is a seeing eye dog leading a blind Donald Trump. This image trades in the classic antisemitic tropes of the Jew as a dog, of Jews secretly controlling the US, as this Serbian antisemitic poster from the 1940s shows a Jew acting as a puppet master over both Churchill and Stalin.  Serbian antisemitic poster from the 1940s shows a Jew acting as a puppet master over both Churchill and Stalin
Or this Arab cartoon during the 2008 presidential campaign.  Arab antisemitic cartoon during the 2008 US Presidential campaign
If the cartoon was only that, the New York Times could excuse it as just a giant dog whistle that was meant only to criticize Israel and Trump, that was published by an “error in judgment.” Which is exactly what it did:
 New York Times Opinion-tweet-27April-2019-An Editors Note to appear in Monday’s international edition
But how can anyone explain the yarmulke on Trump’s head? No matter how much one wants to stretch one’s imagination, it is impossible to look at this cartoon and not see the blatantly antisemitic message. Not a “trope,” not a “dog-whistle” to antisemites – a cartoon that would have fit perfectly, unaltered, in Der Sturmer. Trump isn’t merely a puppet – he is a Jew himself, making him even more odious. Saying that this is Nazi-level antisemitism is not hyperbole. The neo-Nazi Daily Stormer said that “the image of the blind man Trump being led by the Jewish dog Netanyahu is such a powerfully accurate portrayal of their relationship.” The editorial pages of any major newspaper has multiple editors that stories and cartoons have to pass by. Seth Frantzman of the Jerusalem Post says that there are four such checkpoints in his newspaper. I know from speaking to people who have worked at the NYT that the gauntlet that pro-Israel op-ed writers have to go through to get published is crazy, much more than anti-Israel op-ed writers have to go through. Lahav Harkov, of the Jerusalem Post, reports “Source tells me NY Times office in NY was genuinely surprised and disturbed by the cartoon. Someone in the International NY Times office in France should answer for this.” I believe this; the US edition of the NYT is and has been rabidly anti-Israel and anti-Zionist for a century but it doesn’t often cross the line this egregiously. And, as Mark Horowitz notes, the international edition of the NYT has a much more anti-Israel vibe than even the US edition in an front page example earlier this month:  Mark Horowitz-tweet-27April2019-International edition feels more anti-Israel
The conclusion? European antisemitism has been so mainstreamed, under the umbrella of “anti-Zionism,” that the average NYT International Edition editor in Paris sees nothing at all wrong with a cartoon that treats Jews exactly the way Nazi propaganda did. The New York Times’ reaction is nearly as bad as the cartoon itself. It never said it apologizes, it doesn’t say “sorry,” it merely makes it sound like an honest mistake. There is no soul-searching, no promises to overhaul the editorial cartoon approval process, no investigative articles in its own newspaper as of yet about how it could have made such a “mistake.” It minimizes the offensiveness of the cartoon by merely saying it engages in antisemitic “tropes,” when in fact is is pure Jew-hatred. Their mishandling of this explicit Jew-hatred in its pages means we can expect more such “oversights.” It is also notable that the usual anti-Zionist crowd was almost gleeful to be able to condemn the shooting at the Chabad synagogue near San Diego yesterday, in order to prove how much they are against anti-semitism and implying that the shooting proves that the only antisemitism is from white nationalists, not from their liberal friends. Not one of them – Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow, J-Street – that condemned the shootings said a negative word about the New York Times. Which proves once again that they aren’t against antisemitism at all unless it conforms with their fiction that the only Jew-hatred is from the Right. That is not exactly a brave position to take. This is a pivotal moment, and the reactions so far to this cartoon indicate that the US is well on its way to become as blind to certain types of antisemitism as Europe has been for years. |
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Hate Endangers Us All |
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New Damning Report Exposes the Dangerous Connection Between BDS Movement and Jew HatredBy David Lange 17December2019 https://www.israellycool.com/2019/12/17/new-damning-report-exposes-the-dangerous-connection-between-bds-movement-and-jew-hatred/
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One Dead, Three Injured in Shooting at Chabad Synagogue Near San DiegoRabbi and two others hospitalized; 19-year-old is in custodyBy Yaakov Ort April 27, 2019 7:41 PM https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/4365316/jewish/One-Dead-Three-Injured-in-Shooting-at-Chabad-Synagogue-Near-San-Diego.htm
 A gunman killed a woman and wounded three others at the Chabad of Poway synagogue during Saturday-morning services on the last day of Passover. Updated 4/28/19 8:15 a.m. EST A gunman walked into a Chabad-Lubavitch center outside San Diego during services on the last day of Passover on Saturday morning and opened fire, killing one person and injuring three. The suspect, John Earnest, a 19-year-old white male from San Diego, is in custody. Around 11:30 a.m., as the congregation had been listening to the biblical verses describing the observance of Passover, the service was abruptly interrupted by gunshots. Once, twice, they rang out from the lobby, fatally striking Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, of Poway and grievously injuring the synagogue’s rabbi, Yisroel Goldstein, who later required surgery on both hands. Six more shots then rang out, injuring 8-year-old Noya Dahan and her uncle,34-year-old Almog Peretz of Sderot, Israel, who suffered a gunshot wound to the leg as he led his niece and a group of children to safety. As the terrorist paused to reload, a Chabad regular and U.S. military veteran heroically rushed him. As the shooter fled, an off-duty Border Patrol officer shot and struck the shooter’s vehicle four times. Police evacuated the congregants to a nearby building and began triaging the wounded. But before he would allow himself to be rushed to the hospital, Goldstein turned to his congregation and spoke. He referenced a passage from the Haggadah, read at the Passover Seder: “Not just one alone has risen against us to destroy us, but in every generation they rise against us to destroy us; and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand.” He went on to speak about remaining strong in the face of adversity and hate. Congregation member Minoo Anvari, who said that her husband witnessed the shooting, said the rabbi called for unity and prayed for peace even after getting shot. “The rabbi said, ‘We are united,’ ” said Anvari, a refugee from Iran.  Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein “He prayed for peace,” said Anvari. “Even in spite of being injured, he refused to go to the hospital until he spoke. And he finished his speech and then left the synagogue.” Goldstein, who is originally from the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., is also a Jewish chaplain with the San Diego sheriff’s department. Goldstein has been described as “talkative, warm and kind” by members of the Southern California community. Anvari said her husband told her that the shooter was screaming and cursing when he opened fire. According to a witness, the wounded rabbi tried to calm the gunman and members of the congregation. Vaus said the congregation was targeted by “someone with hate in their heart … towards our Jewish community and that just will not stand.” The congregation “took security very seriously,” he said. “I also understand from folks on the scene that this shooter was engaged by people in the congregation and those brave people certainly prevented this from being a much worse tragedy,” Vaus told reporters.  Lori Gilbert Kaye A Special Prayer at Yizkor ServiceLater that afternoon, the police allowed the congregants to regroup in the nearby home of Rabbi Mendel Goldstein, where the prayers were concluded. The service included Yizkor, in which the souls of the departed loved ones are recalled. Having been informed that Gilbert-Kaye had succumbed, they said a special prayer for her soul. Following Chassidic custom, as the day came to an end, they sat down for a festive meal known as Moshiach’s meal, which included joyous singing and dancing. Poway Mayor Steve Vaus joined them along with other guests. U.S. President Donald J. Trump and others offered thought, prayers and condolences after the attack. “In the face of senseless hate we commit to live proudly as Jews in this glorious country,” said Rabbi Yonah Fradkin, executive director of Chabad of San Diego County. “We strongly believe that love is exponentially more powerful than hate. We are deeply shaken by the loss of a true woman of valor, Lori Kaye, who lost her life solely for living as a Jew.” Most synagogues around the nation had increased security after a gunman opened fire inside Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, killing 11 people. On learning of the attack there were calls for prayers (Psalm 20), charity, and acts of kindness for a complete and speedy recovery of those injured, including the rabbi, Yisroel ben Chana Priva. The Hebrew names of Noya Dahan and Almog Peretz will be published when available. … |
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April 29, 2019 10:02 https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/04/29/chabad-statement-expresses-concern-over-more-antisemitic-attacks/ Chabad Statement Expresses Concern Over More Antisemitic AttacksJNS.org – Chabad-Lubavitch leaders worldwide are warning Jewish communities about the possibility of more antisemitic attacks like the Saturday synagogue shooting in Poway, Calif., on the last day of Passover. In a message put out after the April 27 shooting that claimed the life of 60-year-old Lori-Gilbert Kaye, Chabad said that “our regional leaders are very worried about the security of every Chabad House and center in hundreds of communities in the US and throughout the world.” Chabad expressed its gratitude to the municipal and national agencies that worked closely with the organization to ensure the safety of community members. Nevertheless, the statement warned, “Antisemitic violence in the US has risen to a level that cannot be ignored. We are asking city council members and state legislators, federal agencies, media outlets, college professors, university leaders and schoolteachers to take responsibility and root out the gangrene [of antisemitism] that threatens the core values of this country.” Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, one of the senior rabbinical figures in the Chabad movement, said “the warning bells of recent events are tolling, and we call on leaders from both political sides to stop the dangerous spiral of antisemitism.” The statement also both lamented and condemned the shooting during Shabbat morning services at Chabad of Poway, Calif. “As the Passover holiday ended, we learned of the shooting at a Chabad House, the murder of an innocent woman, and that others who were praying had been wounded. This is a horrific, heartbreaking incident,” the statement read. |
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New Jersey Kosher Market ShootingDec 11December2019 | by Dr. Yvette Alt Miller https://www.aish.com/jw/s/New-Jersey-Kosher-Market-Shooting.html A little-known cult is behind the targeted attack of the kosher supermarket in New Jersey.“They mostly trade in anti-Semitism,” explains Heidi Beirish, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)’s Intelligence Project, which tracks extremist groups, of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement. “They call (Jews) sometimes devilish imposters or devils, because they think of themselves as the true Israelites.” The extreme group has roots in the 1800s, when some fringe Black Pentecostal preachers in the South began asserting that far from present day Jews being the “real” descendants of the ancient Israelites, black Africans were, and it is the descendants of America’s former slaves who are the “real” Jews, The movement gave birth to many factions, some of which are peaceful. But some factions have become extremist and angry. “Although most Hebrew Israelites are neither explicitly racist nor anti-Semitic and do not advocate violence,” the SPLC noted, “there is a rising extremist sector within the Hebrew Israelite movement” that foments intense hatred of Jews and calls for the death of slavery of Jews and Whites. In the past decade, hostile, anti-Semitic Black Hebrew Israelite branches have proliferated, with dozens of new Black Hebrew churches springing up, particularly in the Northeastern United States. Members confront and harass both Jews and Whites. Black Hebrews gained attention in January 2019 when four racist Black Hebrew members spewed racist bile at a group of students from Covington Catholic High School when they visited the National Mall in Washington DC on a school trip. One student’s face-off with a Native American drummer, who later said he was trying to heal over the hateful rhetoric, went viral. More recently, groups of Hebrew Israelites from South London gathered to terrify and scream at Hassidic Jews on Shabbat in the North London neighborhood of Stamford Hill, which is home to the largest Hassidic population in Europe. Police were called to the scene on September 7, 2019, after a group of 20-30 Hebrew Israelites gathered and screamed insults at passing Jews. The London group said they went by many names, not only Hebrew Israelites, perhaps contributing to confusion about just how big their hateful cult is and what they stand for. On Tuesday, December 10, 2019, two Hebrew Israelite members in New Jersey took their hate much further, writing an anti-Semitic manifesto. Though police have not released this document, they described it as brief and “rambling”. It seemed to call for violence and death to Jews. The two killers, whose names I won’t dignify by using here, a woman aged 50 and a man aged 47, were wanted for murder in connection the earlier killing of Jersey City resident MIchael Rumberger, who was killed by a blow to his head and was found dead in the trunk of his car in Bayonne, New Jersey, on December 8. Two days later, a veteran Jersey City Detective, Joe Seals, spied the killers in a cemetery in Jersey City. Realizing that they matched the description of suspects in Mr. Rumberger’s murder, Det. Seals approached the pair, who shot him dead in cold blood. Det. Seals, a 40-year-old married father with five children, was left dead on the ground in the cemetery. The murderers then entered a U-Haul truck that they’d stolen and seemingly outfitted for a major terror attack. Inside were a pipe bomb as well as a second explosive device. The truck also housed their hateful manifest. The pair drove the truck slowly and deliberately about a mile, to the JC Kosher Supermarket. Owned by Moshe and Mindel Ferencz, the store opened three years ago to cater to a small but growing Jewish Hassidic population that has been moving to Jersey City from nearby Brooklyn. The Ferenczs were among the first Hassidic families to move, and they were raising their three young children in their new community. Moshe had just stepped out of the store to attend the brief afternoon Mincha service in a synagogue next door when the killers pulled up outside. They pulled out high powered rifles and started firing at the kosher market, then burst inside and continued shooting. Panicked synagogue members witnessed the scene and frantically dialed 911. Within moments, SWAT teams and other police officers from across New York and New Jersey were congregating at the scene. As police helicopters circled overhead, law enforcement officers came under intense fire from high profile rifles. The firefight lasted for hours. One nearby resident, 67-year-old Willy McDonald told reporters, “This is one of the biggest gunfights I’ve seen in a while, and I’ve been in Vietnam.” Schools in the area were put on lockdown and police officers went door to door urging residents to stay inside for their safety. Bus and train service were suspended in the area and an exit of the New Jersey Turnpike was closed amid the firefight. A shopper inside JC Kosher Supermarket managed to escape and described what it was like when the killers burst in: “I was standing by the salad bar in the grocery and I heard three shots, bullets shattered the glass of the grocery. Suddenly I saw two people come in, with long black raincoats and long guns. They tried to point the gun at me. I pushed it away and ran away.” Inside the store, two Hassidic Jews and one employee were murdered by the killers. Mindel Ferencz, 33, died in her store, leaving her three young children without their mother. 49-year-old worker Miguel Douglas was also murdered. The third victim was Moshe Deutsch, a 24-year-old rabbinical student from nearby Brooklyn. Several others were injured, including at least one Hassidic passer by outside, and one Hassidic customer who seems to have been shot several times as they ran out of the store. Shockingly, Jewish members of a group called Americans Against Anti-Semitism visited the scene of the shooting later that night, and found that non-Jewish neighbors who’d gathered were blaming the Jews for the violence that had just resulted in their deaths. “They would do that to us,” one local woman said of the Jewish victims, somehow inverting the situation to make it seem as if Jews were killers. “I blame the Jews,” another local complained. “If they was dead, they got shot dead, that’s great” one local man declared. Several neighbors expressed the hope that Jews would move away. “I’ve cried my eyes out already,” said Victoria Ferencz, Mindel’s mother-in-law. “I’m feeling pretty broken… I feel sorry for my son. (Mindel’s) going to heaven, but he and his children will have it hard.” Mindel personified “a life of selflessness, and dedication to others,” said a local Jewish organization. She and her husband Moshe, among the first Hassidic families to move into Jersey City five years ago, decided to open their supermarket to help support their friends and neighbors so they could easily access kosher food in their new community. Grocery employee Miguel Douglas was praised by his pastor who told local reporters that Mr. Douglas was an immigrant from Ecuador and lived with his wife and eleven-year-old daughter: “He was an excellent person, he really looked out for his family, and they were inseparable.” The day after the attack, Rabbi David Niederman, the Executive Director and President of the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, praised the victims, including Mr. Deutsch, whom he described as an “extremely kind and generous” and a “go-to person when his peers needed help”. Mr. Deutsch recently helped lead a food drive during the Jewish holidays that helped feed 2,000 people. In the midst of speaking to reporters, Rabbi Niederman began to cry, saying, “Can you imagine a few hundred bullets went into the body of a 24-year-old?” referring to Mr. Deutsch. “How can we as a people, a community, bear that?” His question is one all of us must ask. With this horrific attack, a new front has opened in what increasingly feels like a war against America’s Jews. Last year the FBI reported that Jews, which make up fewer than 2% of Americans, accounted for 57% of victims of hate crimes in the USA. The Anti-Defamation League reported that violent attacks on American Jews doubled in 2018 from their already high levels in 2017. In fact, 2018, the most recent year for which records are available, saw the third highest levels of ant-Jewish hate and attacks since records began. With the attack in Jersey City, a new hate group has taken its place among the many that seek our destruction. As we mourn our murdered brethren and pray for the recovery of the shoppers and passersby who were injured in the attack, let’s take a moment to appreciate the Jewish life that was so brutally attacked. In the memory of those who were killed and injured, let’s embrace the Jewish life they so loved, and commit ourselves to doing mitzvot in their memories.
 Dov Hikind-tweet-11December2019-American Antisemitism
shocking Antisemitism Reaction to the New Jersey Kosher Market Shooting |
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Jersey City killers’ bomb could have killed people 5 football fields away: fedsBy Bruce Golding 13January2020 https://nypost.com/2020/01/13/jersey-city-killers-bomb-could-have-killed-people-5-football-fields-away-feds/ The bomb left in a van by the couple who slaughtered a cop and three people during an anti-Semitic rampage in Jersey City was powerful enough to have killed or maimed victims as far as five football fields away, federal officials said Monday. David Anderson and Francine Graham also had enough material in the van to make a second bomb, the officials said, according to a report by WNBC. New Jersey US Attorney Craig Carpenito said slain Detective Joseph Seals “threw off a broader plan” and “probably saved dozens, if not more, lives” when he confronted Anderson and Graham at a Jersey City cemetery. After fatally shooting Seals, Anderson and Graham drove to the Jersey City Kosher Supermarket, where they killed co-owner Leah Mindel Ferencz, employee Douglas Miguel Rodriguez and customer Moshe Deutsch before dying during a furious firefight with cops. Officials have labeled the Dec. 10 incident domestic terrorism and blamed the carnage on “hatred of the Jewish people as well as hatred of law enforcement.” Anderson and Graham cased the store several times, including hours before the attack, and they both had handcuff keys hidden in their underwear, Carpenito said Monday. One of their guns has also been tied to another shooting that targeted a Jewish man driving near Newark Airport several days earlier, officials said. The same weapon was also used to kill livery driver Michael Rumberger, who was found stuffed in the trunk of a Lincoln Town Car in Bayonnne on Dec. 7, officials said. Authorities have previously described Anderson and Graham as the “prime suspects” in that slaying. |
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Jersey City shooters were targeting Yeshiva students, Mayor Steven Fulop saysBy Reuven Fenton and Lia Eustachewich December 13, 2019 https://nypost.com/2019/12/13/jersey-city-shooters-were-targeting-yeshiva-students-mayor-steven-fulop-says/ Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop believes the couple responsible for killing a detective and three innocent bystanders in a possible domestic terrorist attack were actually targeting students. “My opinion is that as more info comes out, it’ll become increasingly clear that the target was the 50 children at the Yeshiva attached to that store,” Fulop tweeted Friday morning. “We will never know 100% but the doorway to the yeshiva was 3 feet away + it seems he goes in that direction 1st.” The mayor was referring to surveillance video that shows David Anderson and girlfriend Francine Graham storming the Jersey City Kosher Supermarket with their guns drawn. Anderson appears to open fire at the storefront from the street — as people on the sidewalk flee in terror. At an event Friday, Fulop doubled down, saying the shooting spree could’ve been far worse — “the equivalent of a Sandy Hook-type tragedy.” “We believe it’s fairly clear that he walks to the door directly adjacent and then he pivots,” he said. “As you all know, the yeshiva and the school is directly adjacent and attached to that building. That’s number one. “Number two is he brought a lot of ammunition and a lot of firearms. It’s fairly safe to conclude from that that his intentions were to do more than just murder three people. Number three, he drove to a location that is a known yeshiva and the center of that Jewish community.” Fulop was speaking at the Stephen Siller Tunnels to Towers Foundation event announcing plans to pay off the mortgage on the home belonging to slain Jersey City Detective Joseph Seals. The mayor has called the chaotic shootout — which lasted for hours and left Seals and three people inside the market dead — a “This is a horrible tragedy but even in so much darkness with lives lost there is some light in that without question had the bravery/quick response of the police not trapped them in the store this could have been much much worse,” Fulop tweeted Friday. Anderson and Graham were both adherents of the Black Hebrew Israelites, sources have said. After the shooting, police found that one of them left behind a handwritten note that said, “I do this because my creator makes me do this and I hate who he hates” inside a stolen U-Haul van used in the attack. The FBI is now handling the investigation. |
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SHOCKING Antisemitism: SDSU invited Nation of Islam spokesperson, Ava Muhammad
 SDSU Nation of Islam spokesperson Ava Muhammad-tweet-22December2019
SHOCKING Antisemitism: SDSU invited Nation of Islam spokesperson, Ava Muhammad |
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[JerudalemCats Comments: are American Jews Five years behind French Jews in the wave of Terror?]
Saturday Night Terror At Rabbi Rottenburg’s Shul, 15 Transported To Hospital, Suspect In CustodyDecember 28, 2019 10:24 pm https://vosizneias.com/2019/12/28/monsey-stabbing-multiple-people-stabbed-in-synagogue-saturday-night/#.XggdjcfxTVM.twitter MONSEY (VINnews) — Multiple people were stabbed Saturday night in a synagogue. According to reports, a black male entered Rabbi Rottenburg’s Shul with his face covered by a scarf, and pulled out a machete. He pulled off the cover and stabbed 5 people. One of the victims was stabbed in the chest. According to reports, 15 victims were transported to the hospital, but 5 were ultimately hospitalized. 1 victim is in critical condition. The perpetrator ran out after his attack and escaped in a Nissan Sentra. His license plate (HPT 5747) was spotted before he left. The vehicle was then identified to have passed over the George Washington Bridge to New York City at 11:02PM. Police initially tracked the vehicle to an address located in Greewood Lake. Police also tracked down the father of the suspect and are interviewied him. At approximately midnight, the NYPD stopped a vehicle matching the description at W 177 Street and 7 Avenue in Harlem. A suspect from the vehicle was taken into custody. Police would not confirm for certain that the suspect in custody is the perpetrator of the stabbing. Rabbi Rottenburg’s Shul is located in the Forshay neighborhood in Monsey. This attack comes amid a frightening spike in anti-Semitic attacks on Jews across New York. Since the beginning of Chanukah alone, there have been at least 5 recorded attacks on Jews across New York, not including this stabbing. In the first incident, a 65-year-old Jewish man was standing on East 41st Street between 2nd and 3rd Ave, when he was suddenly approached by a man who yelled expletives at him. When he looked up, he was punched in the face and fell to the ground. His attacker continued to pummel him on his face and torso as he lay on the ground. The second incident occured on Monday as well. Williamsburg Shomrim and NYPD were called after 2 Jewish children were attacked in front of 99 Wilson Street. In the third incident, a Jewish man was walking on Kingston Ave in Crown Heights on Tuesday morning, at approximately 2 AM. As he was walking, he was approached by a gang of black youths who proceeded to yell anti-Semitic slurs at him. When he took out his cellphone to film the incident, one of the youths threw his drink at him. The fourth incident took place in Crown Heights as well. A Jewish man was walking on Union Street from Albany Ave towards Kingston Ave, when he noticed that he was being followed by a group of 8 teenagers. As the victim turned off Kingston Ave, the teens closed the distance and accosted him. One of the teens hit the victim in the back of the head, knocking him down to the ground. In a fifth incident, a man was attacked Wednesday morning in Boro Park, on 13th Ave near 48th Street. The victim was walking down the street, when he was approached out of the blue by a man who promptly punched him. There were no words exchanged before the assault. |
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Israeli Prime Minister, President Voice ‘Outrage’ Over New York Stabbing Attack on Worshipers at Rabbi’s House by Benjamin Kerstein 29December2019 https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/12/29/israeli-prime-minister-president-voice-outrage-over-new-york-stabbing-attack-on-worshipers-at-rabbis-house/ Five people were wounded in the attack on a Hanukkah celebration, two of them critically. A suspect has been taken into custody. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said he was “shocked and outraged by the terrible attack in New York.” He added, “We are praying for the rapid recovery of those injured.” “The rise of antisemitism is not just a Jewish problem, and certainly not just the State of Israel’s problem,” he asserted. “We must work together to confront this evil, which is raising its head again and is a genuine threat around the world.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement, “Israel strongly condemns the recent displays of antisemitism including the vicious attack at the home of a rabbi in Monsey, New York, during Hanukkah. We send our best wishes for recovery to the wounded.” “We will cooperate however possible with the local authorities in order to assist in defeating this phenomenon,” he added. “We offer our assistance to every country.” Isaac Herzog, chairman of the Jewish Agency, said, “This is an attempt of cold-blooded murder of Jews, in the heart of a warm and thriving Jewish community that gathered to light Hanukkah candles.” “This past year, the Jewish holidays have turned from joyous times of light to dark days filled with fear for Jews around the world,” he said. “Law enforcement agencies in the United States are making huge efforts to protect Jewish communities, but a relentless battle must be waged against this horrifying and painful spate of violent antisemitic acts. It’s unacceptable that a Jew wearing a kippah cannot safely walk the streets of New York.” “It always starts with the Jews, but never ends just with the Jews,” Herzog said. Benny Gantz, leader of the opposition Blue and White party, tweeted, “I send my wishes for a speedy recovery to the victims of the hate crime in Monsey, New York. We have become witness to a surge in antisemitic violence around the world, and this horrific attack, during a Hanukkah celebration, is further evidence of a global problem that we face.” “I have no doubt that the American authorities, who took the attacker into custody, will show zero tolerance and will do everything to stop this alarming trend,” he said. Blue and White number two Yair Lapid also issued a statement, saying, “I send best wishes for recovery to the victims of the stabbing in Monsey. Antisemitism will not defeat us; our spirit will not fall. The community in Monsey will light the last candle of Hanukkah today and pray for good news.” Avigdor Lieberman, head of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, issued a more controversial statement, saying, “Alongside the deep sorrow and wishes for a speedy recovery to the victims, it is important to know that the essential solution to such phenomena is aliyah to Israel.” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz stated, “I am shocked and deeply upset by the antisemitic attack in Monsey, New York. I wish all those injured and affected a speedy recovery. This attack on Hanukkah is another reminder of the murderous nature of antisemitism and the need for it to be tackled by everyone.” The attack is the latest in a string of antisemitic assaults in the US, some deadly. Earlier this month, three were killed in a shooting attack at a kosher supermarket in Jersey City. The killer had posted antisemitic and anti-police messages online. In April, a gunman killed a woman and wounded three people during services at Congregation Chabad in Poway, near San Diego, on the last day of Passover. Six months before that, a gunman killed 11 worshipers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in the deadliest antisemitic attack in US history. The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah commemorates the 2nd century B.C. victory of Judah Maccabee and his followers in a revolt against armies of the Seleucid Empire. |
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On the precipice of a volcano – history repeating itself for US JewsThe bell curve of Jewish existence in the Diaspora tells a clear story: We start at the bottom, reach an apex, and then plummet into an abyss of terrifying violence.Ariel Kahana Published on 30December2019 https://www.israelhayom.com/2019/12/30/on-the-precipice-of-a-volcano-history-repeating-itself-for-us-jews/ The dark corner of the Washington, DC metro station provided ample opportunity for the guy who spotted the kippah on my head. He wore a plaid shirt and had long, curly hair. “Free Palestine!” he shouted, moving toward me. I tensed up and ignored him at the same time. Luckily, he only carried on for a few more seconds before going on his way. I’ve walked around dozens of cities across the globe while wearing a kippah, but this was the first time Jewish attire put me in danger and it’s clear that what I experienced last month is simply another incident in a wave that can no longer be denied. American Jewry is under attack. Jews are being attacked with knives and guns, physically and verbally, in broad daylight or the dead of night. They are being assaulted in the streets, in their synagogues, and on social media. The virulent eruption is neither isolated nor local. On the East Coast, the West Coast and the vast spaces in between, Jews are in danger simply because they are Jews. This wasn’t the case in America a decade ago, but is certainly the reality today. There’s no point in pretending anymore. The even worse news is that we’re only at the start of the wave. The bell curve of Jewish existence in the Diaspora tells a clear story: We start at the bottom, reach an apex, and then plummet into an abyss of terrifying violence. Such was our history in Spain, Egypt, and England, in Poland and Russia, Portugal and Iraq, and more. After the golden period, comes the period of hatred. This is what’s in store for our brothers and sisters in the United States. Such is the fate of the Jews, to which only Zionism has offered an alternative. From a state of destitution and indigence in impoverished neighborhoods, the descendants of Jewish immigrants in the United States climbed the social ladder to inhabit a broad range of key positions – in politics, media, business, culture, and technology. It is at this point, history tells us, that hatred begins to foment. This hatred permeated the intellectual elite in the US a long time ago, spread to the ground level and has carved out a niche in politics as well – due to the failure of Democratic leaders to clearly condemn anti-Semitism two years ago. These were the initial signs, which we all found convenient to ignore. American Jews, and us with them, hoped this time would be different, that history wouldn’t repeat itself. It is in this belief that they have marched in the footsteps of their forefathers. Then, too, they thought “this time will be different,” that “after all we contributed to the host nation, it won’t reject us,” and that “the lessons of the past have been learned and therefore history won’t repeat itself.” Until, of course, reality provided its inevitable, sobering wake-up call. The Jews in the United States, sadly, are sitting on the precipice of a volcano. The initial upsurge of lava is bubbling, signaling the massive eruption sure to follow. Maybe this will happen in five years, maybe 50, perhaps in the form of a series of shootings or a wave of neighborhood riots; maybe in synagogues or Jewish community centers; maybe in schools or in the streets. American Jewry is in danger. The time has come for it and us to open our eyes and reach the appropriate conclusions. Nefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream US & CAN 1-866-4-ALIYAH | UK 020-8150-6690 or 0800-085-2105 | Israel 02-659-5800 https://www.nbn.org.il/ info@nbn.org.il |
Jewish women’s group: Time to leave US28January2016 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/207203#.VqpJuj_ANTA When do we leave?Lori Palatnik of the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project thinks it is time for Jews to send their kids to live in Israel. She explained that after 9/11, she started reading about “the end of days,” and asked “a very great” rabbi – “when do we leave?” He said that the time to get out was when “they start killing Jews in the street.” Unfortunately, she said – this is precisely what is already happening in France and New York. She said that it is time for Jews to start sending their children to Israel before them, if they are not ready to leave themselves. JWRP was founded in 2008 by eight women in the Washington DC area with the goal of “chang[ing] the world through Jewish women.” Now partnering with Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, JFRP plans to bring 6,000 women from 20 different countries to the Jewish state in the next two years. |
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Time Is Running Out For Us |
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American Jewry’s implosionWide segments of American Jewry remain silent as the Democratic Party radicals gain influence. Should this trend continue and bipartisanship break down, this would undermine one of the pillars of Israeli security.by Isi Leibler Published on 2019-08-22 https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/american-jewrys-implosion/ These “non-Jewish Jews” have assumed leading roles in promoting the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement and in protesting against US President Donald Trump, who has supported Israel more than any past American president. Incomprehensibly, Jews are among America’s most anti-Trump minorities. Compounding this, they frame their protests in a Jewish context, comparing restrictive immigration rules to Nazi policies and migrant detention centers to concentration camps. Previously nonpartisan Jewish leaders and organizations now display anti-Trump bias, blaming the president for white nationalist anti-Semitism. One result has been the erosion of bipartisan support for Israel. Democratic radicals sense division among Jews, who now tolerate anti-Israel voices within their ranks. Three radicals – Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – won congressional seats in the 2018 elections. Their anti-Israel and anti-Semitic outbursts include justifications of terrorism, support for BDS, allegations of American Jewish dual loyalties, and denunciations of Israel for “evil doings” and having “hypnotized the world.” Despite this, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib to the powerful Oversight and Financial Services committees and Omar to the influential Foreign Affairs Committee. A day after passionately promoting BDS, Tlaib and Omar requested entry visas to Israel. Initially, Ambassador Ron Dermer indicated that their requests would be approved, but two weeks later, Israel rejected their applications. Tlaib’s appeal on humanitarian grounds to visit her 90-year-old grandmother was granted, subject to her not promoting BDS during her visit. But after undertaking not to engage in such activities, she canceled her trip, citing humiliating conditions. Irrefutably, Israel has the right to deny entry to congresswomen who engaged in anti-Semitic rhetoric, promoted BDS, and met with Hamas and Hezbollah supporters. The visit was planned by Miftah, a Palestinian group that praises suicide bombers, accuses Israel of massacring children, and once alleged that Jews drank the blood of Christians on Passover. The denial of entry to undesirable foreign government officials has many precedents: Menachem Begin was denied entry to the UK in the 1950s, Narendra Modi was banned from the US in 2005, as was Austrian President Kurt Waldheim from 1987. In 2012, the US denied entry to far-right MK Michael Ben-Ari. It is doubtful if American officials would permit entry to a parliamentarian who delegitimized the US government and supported anti-American terrorism. As far as Israel is concerned, Tlaib and Omar’s pro-BDS sentiments amount to support for Israel’s destruction and their sympathy for terrorists is support for terror. After Israel rejected their visa requests, these extremists posted an image by anti-Semitic cartoonist Carlos Latuff, depicting Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu silencing them. Whatever the rationale justifying their exclusion, reversing the initial approval resulted in a no-win situation. They could now misrepresent themselves as martyrs, accuse Israel of denying freedom of expression, and unite the Democrats against Israel. Most of the 23 contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination are already on record appeasing the radicals. Even former Vice President Joe Biden, the front-runner, stated, “I will insist on Israel, which I’ve done, to stop the occupation of those territories, period.” Jewish Senator Bernie Sanders, second in the polls, boycotts AIPAC, condemns Israel for the “ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” rails against the “occupation,” and sees Netanyahu as part of a “new authoritarian axis.” He undertakes, if elected president, to cut military aid unless Israel changes its policies. Senator Elizabeth Warren, third in the polls, appointed Max Berger, co-founder of the anti-Israel organization IfNotNow, as her progressive partnerships director. Nearly all Democratic leaders, and even some Republicans, condemned Israel’s refusal to grant the visas. A group of Democrats bizarrely sought to censure the American and Israeli ambassadors, demonstrating the extent to which even congressional friends of Israel were succumbing to pressure by the radicals. Almost all the establishment Jewish groups, including AIPAC, joined the pack criticizing Israel – an improper intervention by organizations that should have remained silent or at least pointed out the historical precedents. Although the media has inflamed the situation, most Democrats still support Israel whereas wide segments of American Jewry remain silent as the Democratic Party radicals gain influence. Should this trend continue and bipartisanship break down, this would undermine one of the pillars of Israeli security. Jewish leaders – especially AIPAC – must intensify their activities in the Democratic Party, which remains largely pro-Israel. Last month the party explicitly condemned BDS. Even Pelosi, after condemning the Israeli government, stressed that the bipartisan relationship based on shared values and common interests must take priority over temporary political differences. More importantly, polls show that Israel’s standing with the American public – and not only among evangelical Christians – is at an all-time high. |
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HAMMER: The Stark Choice Facing Jewish DemocratsBy Josh Hammer March 8, 2019 https://www.dailywire.com/news/44424/hammer-stark-choice-facing-jewish-democrats-josh-hammer The week of March 4, 2019 will go down in history as the week that the Democratic Party wholly, completely, and unequivocally sold out its Jewish supporters. There is truly no other possible conclusion. The Democrats’ profound moral cowardice and shameful obfuscation this week was, at its core, not about criticism of the State of Israel’s (entirely lawful and morally just) presence in the historical Jewish heartland of Judea and Samaria. It was not about what Sen. Bernie Sanders (Communist – VT) so mendaciously and disingenuously calls “legitimate criticism of the right-wing, Netanyahu government in Israel.” It is not even about “anti-Zionism” — a legitimate academic debate in the half-century between Herzl’s initial formulation and Ben-Gurion’s ultimate declaration, but which now serves as the thinnest of all thinly veiled ruses for genocidal aspirants who want to throw all the Juden into the Mediterranean. No, what happened this week was qualitatively worse. It was worse not merely in degree, but in kind. What the Democratic Party did this week was refuse to condemn one of its own for relentlessly trafficking in at least two of the oldest, most pernicious canards used to defame the Jewish people. What the Democratic Party did this week was whitewash, deflect, and (oftentimes) openly apologize for open, transparent Jew-hatred. What the Democratic Party covered for this week was not mere criticism of Israeli government policies. Indeed, what the Democratic Party covered for this week was not even criticism of Israel’s existence. But what the Party of Truman covered for this week is a rogue misanthrope who peddles Judeophobic screeds about financial control and “dual loyalty” so blatant and unvarnished that they might make some “blood libel” dolts blush. The Democrats’ remarkable — and yet, paradoxically, all too predictable — betrayal of the people who George Washington so lovingly called “the Children of the Stock of Abraham” ought to have profound ramifications for their obstinately loyal Jewish supporters. As Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro wrote yesterday, in summarizing this most lamentable of sagas: “This week, the Democratic Party proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is willing to not only countenance but embrace anti-Semitism, so long as the anti-Semitism comes from members of their intersectional coalition.” And as David Harsanyi of The Federalist powerfully put it, “In the progressive worldview, Jews, who are successful and predominately white, should put up with a little bigotry for the common good.” Tough as it may be for inveterate leftist Jews to process, true Corbynization — the metastasization of the once-pro-Israel Democratic Party into a U.K. Labour Party-esque leftist outfit that routinely shills for Jew-haters — continues apace. How far — and how quickly — we have fallen from Islamic Republic of Iran Sycophant-in-Chief Barack Obama’s egregious description of a 2015 Parisian kosher supermarket shooting executed by Islamic State jihadis as “a bunch of folks [randomly shot] in a deli.” Four years later, Obama’s party cannot bring itself to support a toothless, anodyne, non-personalized resolution that is merely condemnatory of the world’s oldest, bloodiest, crudest, most systemic bigotry. The time has come for Jewish Democrats — or at least those Jewish Democrats who are proudly Jewish and/or proudly pro-Israel — to do some deep thinking. Don’t take it from me — heck, take it from far-Left Batya Ungar-Sargon of the Forward. The issue is no longer about support for Israel — though that once-manageable partisan divide has transmogrified into a monumental chasm.
 Josh Hammer-tweet-8March2019-the vile opinions that Tlaib/Omar are spouting The issue, instead, is whether Jews can find a political home in a major party that refuses to condemn Jew-hatred. Unfortunately, it really is that simple. Can Jewish Democrats who are proud of and secure with their Jewish identity properly call the Democratic Party a political home when that same Democratic Party refuses to condemn an unrepentant bigot in its ranks who smears Jews with accusations of undue financial control and “dual loyalty” — smears which have been proffered as excuses to persecute Jews for centuries, if not millennia? Is it, indeed, time for a “Jexodus?” Far be it from me to try to directly persuade all Left-leaning Jewish Democrats — those with whom I would disagree on any number of other issues, from borders and sovereignty to life and gun rights — to register as Republicans. And to be sure, the Republican Party has a myriad flaws of its own. The question, instead, is much simpler. Can Jewish Democrats who care about their Jewish identity and Jewish/Israel-related issues proudly and properly remain Democrats? Increasingly, it seems that the answer may be “no.” |
Voice Of The Jewish News: United We StandThis week, the UK’s leading Jewish papers – Jewish News, Jewish Chronicle and Jewish Telegraph – carry the same front page on the community’s anger over Labour’s anti-Semitism rowJuly 25, 2018 https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/voice-of-the-jewish-news-united-we-stand/
 UnitedWeStand Today, Britain’s three leading Jewish newspapers – Jewish News, Jewish Chronicle and Jewish Telegraph – take the unprecedented step of speaking as one by publishing the same front page. We do so because of the existential threat to Jewish life in this country that would be posed by a Jeremy Corbyn-led government. We do so because the party that was, until recently, the natural home for our community has seen its values and integrity eroded by Corbynite contempt for Jews and Israel. The stain and shame of anti-Semitism has coursed through Her Majesty’s Opposition since Jeremy Corbyn became leader in 2015. From Chakrabarti to Livingstone, there have been many alarming lows. Last week’s stubborn refusal to adopt the full International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism, provoking Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge to call her leader an anti-Semite to his face, was the most sinister yet. Labour has diluted the IHRA definition, accepted in full by the government and more than 130 local councils, deleting and amending four key examples of anti-Semitism relating to Israel. Under its adapted guidelines, a Labour Party member is free to claim Israel’s existence is a racist endeavour and compare Israeli policies to those of Nazi Germany, unless “intent” – whatever that means – can be proved. “Dirty Jew” is wrong, “Zionist bitch” fair game? In so doing, Labour makes a distinction between racial anti-Semitism targeting Jews (unacceptable) and political anti-Semitism targeting Israel (acceptable). The reason for this move? Had the full IHRA definition with examples relating to Israel been approved, hundreds, if not thousands, of Labour and Momentum members would need to be expelled. With the government in Brexit disarray, there is a clear and present danger that a man with a default blindness to the Jewish community’s fears, a man who has a problem seeing that hateful rhetoric aimed at Israel can easily step into anti-Semitism, could be our next prime minister. On 5 September, Labour MPs vote on an emergency motion, calling for the party to adopt the full IHRA definition into its rulebook. Following that, it will face a binary choice: implement IHRA in full or be seen by all decent people as an institutionally racist and anti-Semitic party. After three deeply painful years for our community, September is finally make or break.
 Jewish News-tweet-25July2018-Britain’s leading Jewish newspapers all carry the same front page |
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Experiences and perceptions of antisemitism – Second survey on discrimination and hate crime against Jews in the EU
 Table 1: Assessing social and political issues as a problem, by EU Member State
 Figure 1: Antisemitism is seen to be a problem in the country today, by EU Member State
 level of antisemitism has increased a lot or increased a little over the past 5 years
 Table 2:Assessment of manifestations of antisemitism against Jewish community as a problem by EU Member State OverviewThe key findings, which make for a sobering read, are:
The important information provided in this report can support policymakers across the EU in stepping up their efforts to ensure the safety and dignity of all Jewish people living in the EU.
Antisemitism pervades everyday lifeThe survey findings suggest that antisemitism pervades the public sphere, reproducing and engraining negative stereotypes about Jews. Simply being Jewish increases people’s likelihood of being faced with a sustained stream of abuse expressed in different forms, wherever they go, whatever they read and with whomever they engage. A comparison of the 2012 and 2018 surveys shows that the perception among respondents that antisemitism is a worsening problem in the country where they live is growing. Overall, nine in 10 (89 %) respondents in the 2018 survey feel that antisemitism increased in their country in the five years before the survey; more than eight in 10 (85 %) consider it to be a serious problem. Respondents tend to rate antisemitism as the biggest social or political problem where they live. They assess antisemitism as being most problematic on the internet and on social media (89 %), followed by public spaces (73 %), media (71 %) and in political life (70 %). The most common antisemitic statements they come across – and on a regular basis – include that “Israelis behave like Nazis toward Palestinians” (51 %), that “Jews have too much power” (43 %) and that “Jews exploit Holocaust victimhood for their own purposes” (35 %). Respondents most commonly come across such statements online (80 %), followed by media other than the internet (56 %) and at political events (48 %). In this context, it is encouraging that the European Parliament adopted a resolution on combating antisemitism in June 2017, which calls for increased efforts on local, national and European levels. This follows a number of initiatives by the European Commission at EU level, as well as globally. These include appointing a coordinator on combating antisemitism in December 2015; establishing in 2016 an EU High Level Group on combating racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance, which produced policy guidance for improving responses to hate crime and hate speech including antisemitic crime and speech; and agreeing with IT companies on a code of conduct for countering illegal hate speech online in May 2016. Some Member States responded by appointing coordinators on combating antisemitism, while others adopted or endorsed a non-legally binding, working definition of antisemitism agreed on in May 2016 by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) and welcomed by the Commission as a useful initiative aiming to prevent and combat antisemitism. A link to the IHRA definition is available on the Commission’s website. However, several Member States have yet to fully and correctly transpose the Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia (2008/913/JHA) into national law. This Framework Decision defines a common EU-wide criminal law approach to countering severe manifestations of racism or xenophobia, and therefore also antisemitism, including in “cases where the conduct is committed through an information system” (Article 9). Eradicating antisemitism from the public sphere calls for sustained and decisive action to break down the persistent negative stereotyping of Jews, including online. Pervasive antisemitism undermines Jews’ feelings of safety and securityThe survey findings show that many Jews across the EU cannot live a life free of worry for their own safety and that of their family members and other individuals to whom they are close. This is due to a risk of becoming targets of antisemitic harassment and attacks. Feelings of insecurity among Jews have also prompted some to consider emigrating. A comparison of findings from the 2012 and 2018 surveys shows similar levels of experiences of antisemitic harassment and violence among Jews in the EU. The findings also show similar levels of worry among respondents about becoming, or their family members and other persons to whom they are close becoming, targets of antisemitic harassment or violence. Findings from the 2018 survey show that hundreds of respondents personally experienced an antisemitic physical attack in the 12 months preceding the survey. More than one in four (28 %) of all respondents experienced antisemitic harassment at least once during that period. Those who wear, carry or display items in public that could identify them as Jewish are subject to more antisemitic harassment (37 %) than those who do not (21 %). One in five (20 %) respondents know family members or other people close to them who were verbally insulted, harassed or physically attacked. Nearly half of the respondents worried about being subjected to antisemitic verbal insults or harassment (47 %), and four in 10 worried about an antisemitic physical attack (40 %). One in three (34 %) respondents avoid visiting Jewish events or sites because they do not feel safe as Jews when there or on their way there. More than one third considered emigrating (38 %) in the five years preceding the survey because they did not feel safe as Jews in the country where they live. More than half of the respondents (54 %) positively assess their national governments’ efforts to ensure the security needs of the Jewish communities. But seven in 10 (70 %) believe that the government in their country does not combat antisemitism effectively. Sustained encounters with antisemitism severely limit people’s enjoyment of their fundamental rights, including the protection of their human dignity, the right to respect for their private and family life, or their freedom of thought, conscience and religion. It is encouraging that many Jews believe that their government does enough to meet the protection needs of their communities. However, the very fact that special security measures – for example, around synagogues, Jewish community centres and schools – are required on a more or less permanent basis to ensure the safety of Jewish communities points to a persisting and deeper societal malaise. Member States need to be steadfast in their commitment to meet the protection needs of Jewish communities. Antisemitic harassment is so common that it becomes normalisedThe survey findings suggest that people face so much antisemitic abuse that some of the incidents they experience appear trivial to them. But any antisemitic incident is at its core an attack on a person’s dignity and cannot be brushed away as a mere inconvenience. Both the 2012 and 2018 surveys show that respondents report very few experienced incidents of antisemitism to the police or other institution. A comparison of the two surveys’ results shows that the categories of perpetrators of antisemitic harassment remain consistent, with certain categories of individuals consistently over-represented as perpetrators. Findings from the 2018 survey show that eight in 10 respondents (79 %) who experienced antisemitic harassment in the five years before the survey did not report the most serious incident to the police or other organisation. The main reasons given for not reporting incidents are the feeling that nothing would change as a result (48 %); not considering the incident to be serious enough to be reported (43 %); or because reporting would be too inconvenient or cause too much trouble (22 %). The normalisation of antisemitism is also evidenced by the wide range of perpetrators, which spans the entire social and political spectrum. The most frequently mentioned categories of perpetrators of the most serious incident of antisemitic harassment experienced by the respondents include someone they did not know (31 %); someone with an extremist Muslim view (30 %); someone with a left-wing political view (21 %); a colleague from work or school/college (16 %); an acquaintance or friend (15 %); and someone with a right-wing political view (13 %). The Victims’ Rights Directive provides that victims are to be treated in a respectful and sensitive manner without discrimination based on any ground, including religion (Recital 9). According to Article 22 of the directive, all victims are entitled to an assessment of whether measures are necessary to protect them against further victimisation. This assessment must take personal characteristics of the victim into account, including their religion where it is relevant for assessing a victim’s protection needs. The directive particularly highlights cases where a crime was committed with a discriminatory motive that relates to a victim’s personal characteristics, including their religion. In such cases, Member State authorities are under a special duty to asses the risks of further victimisation motivated by this characteristic. The Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia requires that the bias motivation is considered an aggravating circumstance or taken into consideration by the courts in the determination of the penalties handed down to offenders (Article 4). The full implementation of EU law entails encouraging victims to report antisemitic offences to the police, as well as ensuring that the police properly record the bias motivation at the time of reporting. Antisemitic discrimination in key areas of life remains invisibleThe survey findings suggest that antisemitism translates not only into hate crime, but also into unequal treatment in key areas of life. But the very low reporting rate for antisemitic discrimination, combined with the apparent normalisation of incidents, prevent the true extent of antisemitic discrimination from coming to the attention of relevant authorities, equality bodies or community organisations. A comparison of findings from the 2012 and 2018 surveys shows that levels of perceived antisemitic discrimination in employment, education, health and housing and education remained the same. No changes can be observed in the reporting rate, which remains low. Findings from the 2018 survey show that, in the 12 months preceding the survey, one in 10 (11 %) respondents felt discriminated against in employment, education, health or housing because they are Jewish. Nearly eight in 10 (77 %) of those who say they experienced such discrimination did not report the most serious incident to any authority or organisation. The main reasons given for not reporting are the perception that nothing would change as a result (52 %); the incident is not serious enough (34 %); and not having any proof of discrimination (33 %). Meanwhile, the vast majority of respondents are aware of anti-discrimination legislation (85 % in the area of employment, for example), as well as of organisations that can offer advice or support in cases of discrimination (71 %), including Jewish community organisations and national equality bodies. The Racial Equality Directive (2000/43/EC) prohibits ethnic discrimination in key areas of life, including employment, education, health or housing. The Employment Equality Directive (2000/78/EC) prohibits discrimination on the ground of religion or belief in employment. The directives require Member States to ensure that their provisions are communicated to those concerned through all appropriate means and throughout the territory of each country. The directives foresee effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions for offenders in cases of discrimination. How common do respondents consider antisemitism to be
How common is antisemitic hate crime in the countries surveyed
How safe do Jewish people feel
How common is antisemitic discrimination in the countries surveyed
How do these findings compare with the 2012 surveyComparisons are possible for the seven countries included in both surveys – Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Sweden and the UK. However, due to the nature of an open online survey, the comparison should be read with caution as it is affected by several factors. What can be done to tackle antisemitism
 Table 3-Respondents who have heard or seen the selected statements made by non-Jewish people by EU Member State
 Figure 7-Context of specific comments by non-Jewish people in the 12 months before the survey average of the 12 EU Member States surveyed  Table 5-Respondents who consider certain opinions or actions by non-Jews to be antisemitic by type of opinion or action by EU Member State  Figure 12-Avoidance of wearing carrying or displaying in public things that could identify a person as Jewish by EU Member State Comment:JerusalemCats; Is this what we are leading into?
 The Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses is the model for the current EU guidelines for boycotting Israeli products. Leftist policies are, by their very nature, totalitarian in impulse and execution http://moshe.blogit.fi/luokka/countries/israel/boycott/ |
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The Death of Europe, with Douglas Murray |
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The exodus begins15january2015 http://israelmatzav.blogspot.co.il/2015/01/the-exodus-begins.html  French Jews in concentration camp Prime Minister Manuel Valls’ sincere empathy notwithstanding, French Jews are leaving. Here’s one whose family has lived in France for nearly 300 years who has decided this week that enough is enough (Hat Tip: Instapundit).
Oh my…. Two of the three times I have been to Paris, I have stayed in the 9th arrondissement. I remember that street well, although usually I prayed in the nearby Rashi Synagogue (link in French).
It’s the end of an era. And it’s time to move on. |
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French Jewish students encouraged to head to Israel due to antisemitism“Jewish Experience in Blue and White” project brings 1,000 school-aged French Jews to the country.By ILANIT CHERNICK 19December2019 https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/French-Jewish-students-encouraged-to-head-to-Israel-due-to-antisemitism-611472  A group of French Jewish students visiting Israel with Israel Experience pray on top of Masada. (photo credit: Courtesy) As antisemitism continues to rise in France, emphasis is now being put on encouraging Jewish students to study in Israel after school.
The program exposes participants to Israeli universities, academic opportunities and options for aliyah. Participants also tour the country. Paul Fitoussi, director of the Yavne school in Marseille, stressed: “All Jews should move to Israel. France is not our home anymore. The younger generation must do this. My two daughters immigrated to Israel and learn in Beersheba, and I am encouraging my third daughter to do the same.” Yoni Elimelech, deputy director of the Otzar Torah School in Paris’s 13th District, echoed those sentiments. “While this may sound strange, for us the fact that we encourage our guys to immigrate to Israel is perfectly natural. I think every 18-year-old [Jewish] boy or girl living in France should immigrate to Israel.” Fitoussi and Elimelech, who are both on the tour with the students, described the rise of antisemitism in France. “Because of the increased antisemitic attacks,” Fitoussi said that he decided “not to allow students to eat or have sports classes outside of school building. “Often, stones are thrown at students or they yell slurs like ‘dirty Jews’ towards them,” he said. Elimelech added that only last week, his school received a transfer student from a public school in the 19th district “due to antisemitic attacks” the child had to endure. According to Israel Experience, to date, over 40% of participants in each program have immigrated to Israel. Some of the students, who asked that their full last names not be used for safety reasons, recalled difficult antisemitic experiences they have endured while living in France. Audrey T, of Ort Marseille Jewish School, said that last September she was sitting with a friend on a bench in front of their school when suddenly three thugs grabbed him by the hair. “They hit him, and then they started beating him,” she said. In shock by the whole situation, she and another person that was there just froze. Finally, one of the teachers came and helped them. Their complaint to the police was ignored. Since then, Audrey said that “I am afraid every time I get onto a bus or if I’m sitting in a park. I’m afraid to also be attacked like that. In the past, I didn’t think so much about my Jewish identity but since [last September], I think about it a lot.” Another student on the trip, Lena S, also from Marseille, said that she now “hides the necklace I wear with the Star of David and Jewish symbols. I don’t want to be that religious Jew [who is] attacked in the metro or one of the less safer neighborhoods.” She added she is “always equipped with pepper spray.” Eitan Z of the 12th district of Paris said he only wears a kippah on Shabbat and Jewish holidays, “and even then I walk fast out of fear for being attacked. It does not matter Saturday or weekday. There is always a fear that I will be attacked because I am a Jew.” He added that although he was born and raised in Paris, only in Israel do “I feel at home.” Yoav Z, who is a student at a Jewish school in Strasbourg, said that when the cemetery in the nearby village of Westhoffen was desecrated a few weeks ago, he realized that “there are neighborhoods that I can’t enter with a kippah on my head. When I saw the desecration of the cemetery, I thought I have nowhere else to go but Israel. But, at the same time it’s not that simple to make the move,” he said. Yonah G. of the 19th borough in Paris said she is unsure about her future in France. “I am thinking of staying in France but I will only know after I start studying,” she said. “There is a different atmosphere in Paris and I feel much safer here. But it’s very hard to decide what to do because if I move to Israel, there are problems I worry about, like integration into Israeli society, language and integration issues and the different nature of the Israelis.” During the trip the students went up Masada, visited the Dead Sea, and visited several universities including the University of Haifa and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, among others. Amos Hermon, CEO of the Israel Experience, said it a statement that “in recent years we have seen an increase in the trend of antisemitism in Europe as a whole, and in France in particular. The Israeli Experience works to encourage the youth in France to get to know Israel better, and to our delight many decide to come here,” he said. |
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American Chernobylby Tyler Durden 30May2019 – https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-30/american-chernobyl Authored by Hardscrabble Farmer via The Burning Platform blog, In the Spring of 1986 the Soviet Union was in a slow motion collapse. No one in the US intelligence agencies predicted it, the military was taken completely by surprise and no apologies were ever made for the thirty year, multi-trillion dollar oversight. It’s political and social institutions were Potemkin villages kept alive by little more than inertia yet on the outside everything appeared normal, and if not healthy, at least it seemed monolithic in it’s outward appearance.
The structural rot that had taken hold after the death of Stalin had become the central pillar of Eastern European civilization and the foundation upon which it was built- the blood of tens of millions of murdered citizens- softened the ground further, leading to it’s eventual implosion five short years later. On the 26th of April a failed experiment at a nuclear power plant in the Ukraine initiated a slow and steady series of system failures, leading to a full blown meltdown that forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of inhabitants from the exclusion zone.
Most Americans recall the event as a catastrophic ecological disaster that threatened- at that time- to spread radioactive particles across wide swaths of Europe, poisoning the groundwater that fed the Dnieper River, leading directly to the Black Sea. No one was certain in the aftermath of the extent of the damage, nor of the ability of the Soviet system to respond truthfully to international inquiries. It was assumed throughout the Free and Democratic nations of the West that the USSR was incapable of sharing anything that would reflect poorly on their ability to govern.
The Cold War was still in full force and despite offers from the NATO alliance including the US to render aid, the Soviet Union remained steadfast in it’s commitment to face any political exigency. What happened in Chernobyl, stayed in Chernobyl, except for the radioactivity. That spread out across the Earth like a funeral shroud, unchecked by Marxist dogma.  10 Corporations That Control Almost Everything You Buy
Click to Enlarge The United States has entered it’s terminal phase and most of it’s citizens are as blithely unaware of this reality as they were of the impending dissolution of the Soviet system in the late 1980’s. On the surface each one projects it’s hegemony and influence far beyond their limitations through a combination of propaganda and threats. Both systems were thoroughly corrupted, perhaps from their inception, but certainly and absolutely as they neared their nadir, yet both systems affected a nonchalance that soon- very soon, every knee would bend before their majesty and morally superior aspirations.
For the USSR it was based upon the trite concept that everyone should share equally of the labors of others when no such possibility ever existed during mankind’s reign over the Earth. In America it was the equally vapid and hollow claim that all men are created equal when no such thing had ever been so at any time, nor could it ever be possible. To base an entire National mythos on pure sophistry is a guarantee of failure and yet their remains an eternal optimism rooted in these fanciful phrases that distorted and diffused before our eyes.
The elites always managed somehow, regardless of the system and it’s ideals, to rise above equality and find a toehold in a neo-aristocracy, where rather than blood-ties, loyalties were developed in the institutions and secret societies; Ivy League universities, Intelligence agencies, International banking cartels, Media conglomerates and Corporate boardrooms. The differences between the Politburo under Gorbachev and the current Congress are most noticeable in attire and decor rather than in behavior and outcomes.
In America today here is a complete symbiosis between the organs of information- the MSM- and the political parties and their apparatchiks, and it is used solely for the control of the populations and the promotion of The Narrative rather than as a means of explaining the events of the day. Much in the same way that the Soviet Union new organizations Pravda (Truth) and Izvestia (News) were able to control information to such a degree that the people of the USSR joked that “there is no truth in Pravda and no news in Izvestia”, the current state of media in America is summed up in the equally derogatory slur. “Fake News”.
The populations are keenly aware that they are being misled, but are powerless- in their minds- to do anything about it. The problem of course isn’t that the populations fail to believe the lies, but that the elites of both systems have chosen falsehoods as their basic premise for rule. Any system predicated upon falsehoods cannot survive the exposure of those lies when reality comes knocking.
The current HBO series Chernobyl is a compelling examination of the personal experiences of those brave, and cowardly citizens and officers of the dying USSR who either rose to the challenge or deliberately impeded the process in the aftermath of the nuclear meltdown. While minor party officials clung desperately to the fiction they had been operating under for their entire lifetime, passing the blame for their failures or deliberately ignoring physical reality in order to keep up appearances of competency, simple soldiers and civilian volunteers freely gave their lives in order to save those of their fellow man.
It is both heart wrenching and exasperating to watch the honorable men and women of the Ukraine work night and day to mitigate a disaster they had no part in causing while those responsible for the faulty engineering and inadequate training sought only to promote themselves by concealing the full scope of the disaster. In this series, whether unintentionally or not, it becomes quite clear what a population can expect when forced to submit to the venal and obsequious for political gain and just how similar our current situation is today.
The unwinding tale of Russian collusion, with all of it’s reeking details rooted in pure fiction, have done nothing to resolve the deeper issues that cause the greatest amount of suffering for the population. It has, in fact, rent the fabric of an already frayed body politic, driving the divide further apart than at any other time since the War Between the States. It is clear that these animosities and resentments are being deliberately stoked by a compliant press in order to sow division so that no one might notice the wholesale plunder of the American people by a small cohort of deeply corrupted and morally bankrupt criminals who care nothing for the country they are employed to serve.
Like their counterparts in the Soviet era they live lives completely detached from the populations they pretend to champion and in fact work tirelessly to strip from them the last vestiges of their God-given rights under the pretext of keeping them safe. They know neither shame nor guilt and their avarice is second only to their venality making them equally corrupt and unrepentant.
Several years ago I became acquainted with the FedEx driver who serves our region. I recognized his Russian accent and one afternoon while exchanging hellos it was revealed that he had served in a Soviet Airborne unit. I told him that I too was a former paratrooper and as we traded stories it was revealed that we had crossed paths, in October of 1983 on the island of Grenada. My squad had secured the campus in St. Georges and after rescuing several dozen American med school students that had been trapped in their dorm for several days, we moved on the Soviet Embassy to protect the ambassador until transportation could be arranged.
The FedEx driver had been assigned as a guard for the facility and I was on the other side of the fence, rifles pointed in both directions. Both of us traded enough details to assure each other that we’d both been in that same place at that same time, and over time we became fairly good friends. I can say without reservation that the two of us share far more in common than I do with anyone currently serving in Washington D.C. and that he shares the same sentiments about his former country and the politicians who ran things. Soldiers, workers, farmers, citizens, regardless of their homeland are more or less similar in their beliefs and behaviors than the politicians and mandarins who serve them in the citadels of power.
Commoners, the comrade class in the USSR and the Deplorables of flyover country, are the ones who grease the wheels of civilization and keep it functioning. They are more than satisfactory as cannon fodder and as dependents of The State, but in the eyes of the ruling classes they are disposable. In the aftermath of the explosions at Chernobyl nearly three quarters of a million souls were used like donkeys to rid the world of the radioactive debris, to tunnel underneath the core itself to prevent further contamination of the water table and to relocate their fellow citizens, often against their will while the heads of state continued to spin their fantasies of a controlled situation.
And that is our present situation today in America, where our betters have sold us out to foreign interests, undermined our history and culture in order to usher in a utopian fantasy that they neither believe in, nor practice while we suffer in a simmering silence, filled with righteous indignation, on the verge of a meltdown of equal proportions to that of April 26th, 1986.
It would be impossible to predict exactly what set of circumstance will lead us to our own moment of complete and undeniable political collapse, where tanks surround the Capitol rather than the Kremlin, but it approaches, slouching towards Gomorrah. The disaster of Chernobyl may have appeared on the surface to have been a failure of engineering, poor training and scientific ineptitude, but it was more the direct result of a failed political system built on paranoia, rooted in lies, and nursed at the twin teats of corruption and degeneracy.
Our own system is far worse today, having grown to enormous size and influence globally, while practicing callous indifference to it’s own citizenry in every form, and endlessly lashing out with organized violence across the face of the Earth in the name of Freedom and Democracy. The hypocrisy required to maintain such a ideological system has strained what little is left that still holds us together. Whatever triggers our own dissolution is yet to be revealed, but it is coming and when it does there will be a reckoning not unlike the one experienced by the Supreme Soviet that saw it’s entire premise swept away in the blink of an eye while the world turned away, indifferent to the loss.
Chernobyl was an event that never need have happened and at every step along the route to that ecological and political debacle there was room to correct and repair the structural damage that led to its inevitable outcome. And just like today, there was no one left with the moral compass to correct the failures when they were still possible, creating something less than Destiny and more of a reckoning well earned. |
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The World Transformed And No One In America Noticedby Tyler Durden June 24, 2018 https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-06-24/world-transformed-and-no-one-america-noticed The world transformed and nobody in the West noticed. India and Pakistan have joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The 17 year-old body since its founding on June 15, 2001 has quietly established itself as the main alliance and grouping of nations across Eurasia. Now it has expanded from six nations to eight, and the two new members are the giant nuclear-armed regional powers of South Asia, India, with a population of 1.324 billion and Pakistan, with 193.2 million people (both in 2016).
In other words, the combined population of the SCO powers or already well over 1.5 billion has virtually doubled at a single stroke.
The long-term global consequences of this development are enormous. It is likely to prove the single most important factor insuring peace and removing the threat of nuclear war over South Asia and from 20 percent of the human race. It now raises the total population of the world in the eight SCO nations to 40 percent, including one of the two most powerful thermonuclear armed nations (Russia) and three other nuclear powers (China, India and Pakistan).
This development is a diplomatic triumph especially for Moscow. Russia has been seeking for decades to ease its longtime close strategic ally India into the SCO umbrella. This vision was clearly articulated by one of Russia’s greatest strategic minds of the 20th century, former Premier and Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov, who died in 2015. In the past China quietly but steadfastly blocked the India’s accession, but with Pakistan, China’s ally joining at the same time, the influence of Beijing and Moscow is harmonized.
The move can only boost Russia’s already leading role in the diplomacy and national security of the Asian continent. For both Beijing and Delhi, the road for good relations with each other and the resolution of issues such as sharing the water resources of the Himalayas and investing in the economic development of Africa now runs through Moscow. President Vladimir Putin is ideally placed to be the regular interlocutor between the two giant nations of Asia.
The move also must be seen as a most significant reaction by India to the increasing volatility and unpredictability of the United States in the global arena. In Washington and Western Europe, it is fashionable and indeed reflexively inevitable that this is entirely blamed on President Donald Trump.
But in reality this alarming trend goes back at least to the bombing of Kosovo by the United States and its NATO allies in 1998, defying the lack of sanction in international law for any such action at the time because other key members of the United Nations Security Council opposed it.
Since then, under four successive presidents, the US appetite for unpredictable military interventions around the world – usually bungled and open-ended – has inflicted suffering and instability on a wide range of nations, primarily in the Middle East (Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen) but also in Eurasia (Ukraine) and South Asia (Afghanistan).
The accession of both India and Pakistan to the SCO is also a stunning repudiation of the United States. The US has been Pakistan’s main strategic ally and protector over the past more than 70 years since it achieved independence (Dean Acheson, secretary of state through the 1949-53 Truman administration was notorious for his racist contempt for all Indians, as well as for his anti-Semitism and hatred of the Irish).
US-Pakistan relations have steadily deteriorated even since the United States charged into Afghanistan in November 2001, but through it all, US policymakers have always taken for granted that Islamabad at the end of the day would “stay on the reservation” and ultimately dance to their tune.
The United States has courted India for 17 years since President Bill Clinton’s state visit in 2000, which I covered in his press party. Current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a Joint Session of Congress in 2016, the ultimate accolade of approval by the US political establishment for any foreign leader.
US policymakers and pundits have endlessly pontificated that India, as an English speaking democracy would become America‘s ideological and strategic partner in opposing the inevitable rise of China on the world stage. It turned out to be a fantasy.
During the era of the Cold War, the “loss” of any nation of the size and standing of India or Pakistan to a rival or just independent ideological camp and security grouping would have provoked waves of shock, hurt, rage and even openly expressed fear in the US media.
However, what we have seen following this latest epochal development is far more extraordinary. The decisions by Delhi and Islamabad have not been praised, condemned or even acknowledged in the mainstream of US political and strategic debate. They have just been entirely ignored. To see the leaders and opinion-shapers of a major superpower that still imagines it is the dominant hyper-power conduct its affairs in this way is potentially worrying and alarming.
The reality is that we live in a multipolar world – and that we have clearly done so at least since 2001. However, this obvious truth will continue to be denied in Washington, London and Paris in flat defiance of the abundantly clear facts. |
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The Crusades have finally started as predicted!(http://www.ini-world-report.org/2017/07/12/have-the-modern-day-crusades-begun/) The Religious/Cultural Enemy is Getting to be Known – and Rejected.The Crusades have finally started as predicted.The first countries to ban Islam:See how the world is acting fast on the threat posed by Islam and its barbaric Sharia Law. Japan has always refused Muslims to live permanently in their country and they cannot own any real estate or any type of business, and have banned any worship of Islam. Any Muslim tourist caught spreading the word of Islam will be deported immediately, including all family members. Cuba rejects plans for first mosque. The African nation of Angola and several other nations have officially banned Islam. Record number of Muslims, (over 2,000) deported from Norway as a way of fighting crime. Since these Muslim criminals have been deported, crime has dropped by a staggering 72%. Prison Officials are reporting that nearly half of their jail cells are now vacant, Courtrooms nearly empty, Police now free to attend to other matters, mainly traffic offenses to keep their roads and highways safe and assisting the public in as many ways as they can. In Germany alone in the last year there were 81 violent attacks targeting mosques. Austrian police arrested 13 men targeting suspected jihad recruiters. A Chinese court sends 22 Muslim Imams to jail for 16 to 20 years for spreading Islam hatred and have executed eighteen jihadists; China campaigns against Separatism (disallowing Islamist to have their own separate state). Muslim prayers banned in government buildings and schools in Xinjiang (Western China). Hundreds of Muslim families prepared to leave China for their own safety and return back to their own Middle Eastern countries. Muslim refugees beginning to realize that they are not welcome in Christian countries because of their violent ways and the continuing Wars in Syria and Iraq whipped up by the hideous ISIS who are murdering young children and using mothers and daughters as sex slaves. British Home Secretary prepares to introduce ‘Anti-social Behavior Order’ for extremists and strip dual nationals of their Citizenship. Deportation laws also being prepared. The Czech Republic blatantly refuses Islam in their country, regarding it as evil. Alabama – A new controversial amendment that will ban the recognition of “foreign laws which would include Sharia law”. 16 other States have all Introduced Legislation to Ban Sharia Law. North Carolina bans Islamic “Sharia Law” in the State, regarding it now as a criminal offense. The Polish Defense League issues a warning to Muslims. Many Muslims in Northern Ireland have announced plans to leave the country to avoid anti-Islamic violence by Irish locals. The Announcement comes after an attack on groups of Muslims in the city of Belfast, Groups of Irish locals went berserk and bashed teenage Muslim gangs who were referring to young Irish girls as sluts and should be all gang raped, according to Islam and ”Sharia Law”. Even hospital staff were reluctant to treat the battered Muslim patients, the majority were given the Band-Aid treatment and sent home with staff muttering ”Good Riddance”. Dutch MP’s call for removal of all mosques in the Netherlands. One Member of the Dutch Parliament said: “We want to clean Netherlands of Islam”. Dutch MP Machiel De Graaf spoke on behalf of the Party for Freedom when he said, “All mosques in the Netherlands should be shut down. Without Islam, the Netherlands would be a wonderful safe country to live in, as it was before the arrival of Muslim refugees”. |
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The Pashtuns: Lost Brothers پښتانه ورک شوي ورونه The Pashtuns Lost Brothers
Monday, 23 October 2017 http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2017/10/the-pashtuns-lost-brothers.html The holy Talmudic sage Reish Lakish (Rebbe Shimon ben Lakish) was a Baal Teshuva and even a gladiator before Rebbe Yochanan – his future brother-in-law and learning partner – brought him back to Hashem. Reish Lakish was skilled in all areas of combat arts. As such, he was an authority on fighting, weapons and warfare. Reish Lakish says (see Gemara in Tractate Sota, 25b) that Israel is the fiercest of nations. The Maharsha, in his classic elaboration of the Gemara, says that Israel inherited its fierceness from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The “Pnai Yehoshua” adds that if Israel would put its efforts into fighting rather than Torah, it would rule the world. The Malbim in his elaboration of Parshat Vayichi and Jacob’s blessing to each of his twelvw sons before he died, says that each of the tribes of Israel had its own style of combat. In short, as opposed to the wimpy stereotypes of “Fiddler on the Roof” and the cowering Jew make that above-cited Gemara hard to believe for those Jews who don’t know enough about their own people, the Jews are rough dudes.
Here’s more to substantiate Reish Lakish’s point: stop and think who the greatest guerrilla fighters of all time were: how about Abraham and Eliezer, who defeated four entire armies. Or how about Shimon and Levi, who right after their Bar Mitzva, wiped out the Canaanite town whose prince raped their sister Dina. Don’t forget the Maccabees, a small family of Cohanim who routed the Syrian-Greek army. Think about Bar Kochba, who with his small band of followers defeated the Roman Army and reigned as king for two years. If I had the time, I’d write a book on this, for there’s so much to add…
Let’s fast forward in history: who is the one people that the Moguls, the British, the Russian Army, the entire US military or anyone else has ever been able to defeat? If you answered the Afghan Pashtuns, you’re right.
The are loads of research, proofs and documents showing the link between the Pashtuns (aka Pathans) and the Jewish People. Anthropologist Shalva Weil of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem says, “Of all the many groups in the world who claim a connection to the 10 lost tribes, the Pashtuns, or Pathans, have the most compelling case.” Researcher Nadav Sofy notes, “The Pashtuns are beyond any doubt the 10 tribes of Israel. The have more than 40 Jewish customs and commandments rooted in Torah, Talmud and Kabala.”
If you’re still skeptical about the Pashtuns being one of the Lost Tribes of Israel, take a long at some of their customs (gleaned from the above links and other resources, especially this article):
I can go on and on, for there are dozens of additional points, but I’m sure you get the idea. Compare the Pashto language to Hebrew; for example: * Gazera means carrot. In Hebrew it is Gezer * Dor means an era. In Hebrew the word Dor refers to an era or a generation. * Orezy means rice. In Hebrew it is Orez. * Qurban means sacrifice. In Hebrew it is Qorban What do our own sages say about this? Professor Navras Jaat Aafreedi of the Presidency University in India refers to our great rabbis Rebbe Saadia Ga’on (9th Century, CE) and Moses Ibn Ezra (11th Century, CE) who mention Afghanistan and the Pathan territories in Pakistan as the home of Jews descended from the lost tribes.
What does all this have to do with today?
Rebbe Eliezer ben Hyrcanos says in tractate Sanhedrin that when Moshiach comes, he’ll tell the lost tribes who they really are and bring them back to Israel – this is the Israel of Moshiach and Torah, for Hashem’s law will reign. You know what that means? The Pashtuns, who today make up the bulk of the Taliban, will become the defenders of Israel.
Just looking at them is like looking at brothers. Change the attire of the Pashtan elders pictured below (image with appreciation to thepashtuntimes.com), and you could be looking at the men around a Seuda Shlishit table in our local Sefardi synagogue – notice that all these men have untrimmed beards and sidecurls tucked under their lungee, their traditional turbans. As we can see, a lot of excitement awaits us as Moshiach comes, may it be soon, with the ingathering of all the exiles, amen!  The Pashtuns Lost Brothers |
Canadian Antisemitism
 Anti-Semitic graffiti in the Toronto area. A survey by the U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League found 14% of Canadians harbour anti-Jewish attitudes, compared with only 9% of Americans. Canadians more likely to be anti-Semitic than Americans, poll finds
 Canadian Antisemitism poll Katrina Clarke | May 13, 2014 http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/05/13/canadians-more-likely-to-be-anti-semitic-than-americans-poll-finds/ A new global poll reveals Canadians are more likely to be anti-Semitic than Americans.
The survey by the U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) found 14% of Canadians harbour anti-Jewish attitudes, compared with only 9% of Americans.
“I’m a little bit surprised that the figures aren’t greater in the United States but I’m not surprised at the 14% in Canada,” said Frank Dimant, chief executive officer of B’nai Brith Canada. “We have always surmised that it is in that range — that range of ‘hardcore.’”
Although many Canadians want to dismiss anti-Semitism as being a problem of the past, the survey makes it clear it persists.
“We’re talking about 4.8 million people. That’s a lot of people who harbour this kind of hatred in their hearts.”
If anything, the modern form of anti-Semitism may be even more dangerous than it was in the past. In Canada, anti-Jewish bullying and abuse take place on campuses, in classrooms and workplaces
“Once, we had certain pre-conceived notions as to the stereotypic image of an anti-Semite as an illiterate boor. Today, that is simply not the case,” he said.
“We see the penetration of this disease of anti-Semitism in many new components of society… much of it is in the guise of anti-Israel.
“The coalition of hate is widespread so it ranges from academics to neo-Nazis to Islamic jihadists to radical feminists to trade unionists.”
Shimon Koffler Fogel, head of the Centre for Israel & Jewish Affairs (CJIA), said the survey should provide the catalyst for a national discussion.
“For us, the real take-away is that issues like anti-Semitism and racism in general have not diminished to the point where as a society we can say we don’t have to address these concerns,” he said.
The ADL survey interviewed 53,000 people in more than 100 countries and territories, 505 of them in Canada. They were asked to respond to such statements as “Jews still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust” and “Jews have too much power in the business world.”
The results will help the CIJA to better target its education programs, Mr. Fogel said. For example, only 54% of respondents said they had heard of the Holocaust.
“We have to be focusing a fair amount of effort on bringing the lessons of the Holocaust to broader cross-sections of Canadians … both as a particular event and as a moral tale that should direct Canadian sensitivities,” he said.
Ira Robinson, professor of Judaic studies and director of the Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies at Concordia University, Montreal, said historically Quebec scores a bit higher on “the anti-Semitism scale.”
French Canadians typically align their beliefs between those of France and English-speaking Canada, he said, adding he was not surprised the survey found 37% of French people were anti-Semitic. |
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Threat of Violence Forces Cancellation of Pro-Israel EventDaniel Mael 15January2015 http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/threat-violence-forces-cancellation-pro-israel-event#.VLgDqooJ-GQ.twitter The Canadian Institute for Jewish Research (CIJR) and the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) were forced to cancel a pro-Israel event after conversations with police indicated a legitimate threat of violent protests.CIJR and CAMERA were schedule to host Canadian MP Marc Garneau for a talk about Canada-Israel relations. When Montreal police alerted CIJR that there was an organized protest scheduled for outside of the event, CIJR moved to postpone the lecture indefinitely.According to the Concordian, those who intended to attend the lecture were informed that it was canceled via Facebook.
Jack Kinsler, CIJR’s National Chairman, made the decision to cancel the event and told the Concordian that he felt the they had no choice but to cancel the event because the call from the police happened so soon before the talk was set to happen, and because they hadn’t organized the event themselves.
“On the very same day that 40 world leaders joined one million people in Paris, France in a march to honor the 17 innocent victims murdered by radical Islamists, the Montreal community was targeted by it’s own extremists,” Aviva Slomich, International Director of CAMERA on Campus told TruthRevolt. “CAMERA, along with the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research, had scheduled months in advance Canadian Member of Parliament Marc Garneau to speak on Canadian- Israeli Relations.”
“The Montreal community, which was already rocked by the horrific attacks that occurred only a fews days ago in Paris, as many Canadian Jews have relatives in France, was again forced to fear for its safety by those who threatened a peaceful event at the Concordia campus with violence,” she added. “CAMERA refuses to ignore such harassment of pro-Israel students and community members. The true nature of supposed “pro-Palestinian” activists must be exposed. the Universities, the community and the police must stand and support those who truly support the values of the West instead of giving way to threats and intimidation.”
Protest threats nix Israel-Canada eventby Nathalie Laflamme January 13, 2015 http://theconcordian.com/2015/01/protest-threats-nix-israel-canada-event/ Chance of violence forces police to cancel Canada-Israel relations talk An event scheduled for Jan. 12 with MP Marc Garneau, was postponed indefinitely because the Montreal Police allegedly alerted organizers that they were anticipating violent protests in response to the talk. The talk, organized by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting (CAMERA) and the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research (CIJR), was supposed to look at Canada-Israel relations.
Garneau is the MP for Westmount—Ville-Marie and was one of the first Canadian to go to outer space back in October 1984. He was appointed as the executive vice-president of the Canadian Space Agency in 2001, and became the president in November of the same year.
Bradley Martin, CAMERA Fellow and Representative for Montreal and a student at Concordia, wrote on the event’s Facebook page at around noon on Jan. 12 announcing the talk had been cancelled because the Montreal Police had notified them of a violent protest was set to take place because of this event. At around 7 p.m., Martin posted to clarify what had happened, writing the following: “This morning, the Montreal Police informed CIJR that their cyber division detected a planned protest of the event. This protest was estimated to consist of about sixty demonstrators and considered to be hostile and violent. Under the circumstances, it was determined that the venue could not be secured properly and the safety of attendants would be at risk. It was therefore decided that the event would not take place as planned and be postponed indefinitely.”
In the post, Martin spoke for both organizations and said that they were very unhappy with the situation. “We are very disappointed and outraged about the fact that our rights, and the rights of an elected Member of Parliament, to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly have been compromised,” Martin wrote. “Threats of violence and intimidation tactics are not acceptable behaviors and cannot be tolerated under any circumstances. We live in a beautiful country, where the freedom of speech and assembly are foundational to our way of life.”
The decision to postpone said event was made by the CIJR’s National Chairman
Jack Kinsler. He felt the they had no choice but to cancel the event because the call from the police happened so soon before the talk was set to happen, and because they hadn’t organized the event themselves. The CIJR had allowed CAMERA to use one of their spaces to host the talk, located at 1396 rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest, Suite 218. Kinsler told The Concordian that he was very unhappy with the situation, especially after this week’s attack on Charlie Hebdo staff this week in France.
“[The threat of a violent protest] shouldn’t have happened in the first place. MP Marc Garneau should have been able to come and speak to people in a civilized manner without threats … as soon as one side intimidates the other something is wrong there, there’s a malice, there’s a problem,” Kinsler said.
The Montreal Police were contacted and said that they were not the ones who contacted the event organizers, although both CAMERA and the CIJR confirmed that they had been contacted by them. According to CIJR, the information concerning the protest came from the police’s information department.
Israel on Campus: Concordia has posted on their page that they are unhappy with the situation. They wrote the following in a Facebook post: “It is extremely disheartening and upsetting that members of our own national government are not given the chance to share their ideas freely for fear of violent consequences. Israel on Campus believes in free speech and the right for a free flow of ideas. We will not be silenced and we will continue to fight for Israel on our campus and in our country.”
The event has been postponed indefinitely. |
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Crossing the Line 2: The New Face of Anti-Semitism on Campus (ABRIDGED) |
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Mainstreaming Jew hatred in AmericaFrom Caroline Glick 13February2015 http://carolineglick.com/mainstreaming-jew-hatred-in-america/
This week, apropos of seemingly nothing, in an interview with Mathew Yglesias from the Vox.com website, Obama was asked about terrorism. In his answer the president said the terrorism threat is overrated. And that was far from the most disturbing statement he made.
Moving from the general to the specific, Obama referred to the jihadists who committed last month’s massacres in Paris as “a bunch of violent vicious zealots,” who “randomly shot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris.”
In other words, Ahmedy Coulibaly, the terrorist at Hyper Cacher, the kosher supermarket he targeted, was just some zealot. The Jews he murdered while they were shopping for Shabbat were just “a bunch of folks in a deli,” presumably shot down while ordering their turkey and cheese sandwiches.
No matter that Coulibaly called a French TV station from the kosher supermarket and said he was an al-Qaida terrorist and that he chose the kosher supermarket because he wanted to kill Jews.
As far as the leader of the free world is concerned, his massacre of four Jews at the market can teach us nothing about anything other than that some random people are mean and some random people are unlucky.
And anyway, Obama explained, we’re only talking about this random act of senseless violence because as he said, “If it bleeds, it leads.” The media, desperate for an audience, inflates the significance of these acts of random violence, for ratings.
Obama’s statement about the massacre of Jews in Paris is notable first and foremost for what it reveals about his comfort level with anti-Semitism.
By de-judaizing the victims, who were targets only because they were Jews, Obama denied the uniqueness of the threat jihadist Islam and its adherents pose to Jews. By pretending that Jews are not specifically targeted for murder simply because they are Jews, he dismissed the legitimate concerns Jews harbor for their safety, whether in Diaspora communities or in Israel.
If nothing distinguished Coulibaly’s massacre at Hyper Cacher from a mugging or an armed robbery gone bad, then Jews have no right to receive unique consideration – whether for their community’s security in London or Paris, or San Francisco – or for Israel’s security.
As subsequent statements from administration spokespeople made clear, Obama’s statement was not a gaffe. When questioned about his remarks, both White House spokesman Josh Earnest and State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki doubled down on Obama’s denial of the anti-Semitic nature of the massacre at Hyper Cacher. Earnest said that the Jews who were murdered were people who just “randomly happened to be” at the supermarket.
Psaki said that the victims didn’t share a common background or nationality, pretending away the bothersome fact that they were all Jews.
Just as bad as their denials of the anti-Jewish nature of the attack on Hyper Cacher, were Psaki’s and Earnest’s belated revisions of their remarks. After coming under a storm of criticism from American Jews and from the conservative media, both Psaki and Earnest turned to their Twitter accounts to walk back their remarks and admit that indeed, the massacre at Hyper Cacher was an anti-Semitic assault.
Their walk back was no better than their initial denial of the anti-Jewish nature of the Islamist attack, because it amplified the very anti-Semitism they previously promoted.
As many Obama supporters no doubt interpreted their behavior, first Obama and his flaks stood strong in their conviction that Jews are not specifically targeted. Then after they were excoriated for their statements by Jews and conservatives, they changed their tune.
The subtext is clear. The same Jews who are targeted no more than anyone else, are so powerful and all controlling that they forced the poor Obama administration to bow to their will and parrot their false and self-serving narrative of victimization.
The administration’s denial of the unique threat Jews face from jihadists is not limited to its anti-Semitic characterizations of the attack at Hyper Cacher.
It runs as well through Obama’s treatment of Israel and its actions to defend itself against its jihadist enemies from Hamas to Hezbollah to Iran.
Today, the most outstanding example of Obama’s exploitation of anti-Semitic tropes to diminish US support for Israel is his campaign to delegitimize Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ahead of his scheduled speech before the joint houses of Congress on March 3.
As we belatedly learned from a small correction at the bottom of a New York Times article on January 30, contrary to the White House’s claim, Netanyahu did not blindside Obama when he accepted Speaker of the House John Boehner’s invitation to address the Congress. He informed the White House of his intention to accept Boehner’s offer before he accepted it.
Netanyahu did not breach White House protocol.
He did not behave rudely or disrespectfully toward Obama.
The only one that behaved disrespectfully and rudely was Obama in his shabby and slanderous treatment of Netanyahu. It was Obama who peddled the lie that Netanyahu was using the speech not to legitimately present Israel’s concerns regarding the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran, but to selfishly advance his political fortunes on the back of America’s national security interests and the independence of its foreign policy.
It was Obama and Vice President Joe Biden who spearheaded efforts to coerce Democratic lawmakers to boycott Netanyahu’s speech by announcing that they would refuse to meet with the leader of the US’s closest ally in the Middle East during his stay in Washington.
So far only 15 members of the House and three Senators have announced their intention to boycott Netanyahu’s speech. But even if all the other Democratic lawmakers do attend his speech, the impact of Obama’s campaign to defame Netanyahu will long be felt.
First of all, if all goes as he hopes, the media and his party members will use his demonization of Netanyahu’s character as a means to dismiss the warnings that Netanyahu will clearly sound in his address.
Second, by boycotting Netanyahu and encouraging Democrats to do the same, Obama is mainstreaming the anti-Semitic boycott, divestment and sanctions movement to isolate Israel.
Moreover, he is mobilizing Democratic pressure groups like J Street and MoveOn.org to make it costly for Democratic politicians to continue to support Israel.
There is another aspect of the Hyper Cacher massacre, which was similarly ignored by the White House and that bears a direct relationship to Obama’s attempt to destroy the credibility of Netanyahu’s warnings about his Iran policy.
Whereas the journalists murdered at Charlie Hebdo magazine were killed because their illustrations of Muhammad offended Muslim fascists, the Jews murdered at Hyper Cacher were targeted for murder because they were Jews. In other words, the Islamist hatred of Jews is inherently genocidal, not situational.
If Islamists have the capacity to annihilate the Jews, they will do so. And this brings us back to Obama’s statement to Vox.com. As is his habit, Obama refused to use the term Islamic to describe the “violent, vicious zealots” who randomly targeted Jews at the Hyper Cacher.
Since the outset of his presidency, Obama has vigilantly denied the connection between Islamism and terrorism and has mischaracterized jihad as peaceful self-reflection, along the lines of psychotherapy. Last week his denial of the Islamist nature of jihadist assaults worldwide rose to new heights when in his remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast he compared today’s jihadists to the Crusaders from a thousand years ago. And whereas he identified the Crusaders as Christians, he refused to acknowledge that today’s mass murdering zealots act in the name of Islam.
Obama’s stubborn, absurd and dangerous refusal to mention the word Islam in connection with the war being waged worldwide by millions in its name, coupled with his eagerness to always compare this unnamed scourge to the past evils of Western societies, indicates that his defense of Islamic supremacism is not merely a policy preference but rather reflects a deeper ideological commitment. The perception that Obama either does not oppose or embraces Islamic extremism is strengthened when coupled with his appalling attempts to ignore the fact of Islamic Jew-hatred and its genocidal nature and his moves to demonize Netanyahu for daring to oppose his policy toward Iran.
It is in this policy and in Obama’s wider Middle East strategy that we find the real world consequences of Obama’s denial of the unique victimization and targeting of Jews and the Jewish state by Islamic terrorists and Islamist regimes.
Loopholes in Obama’s interim nuclear framework deal with Iran from November 2013 have allowed Iran to make significant advances in its nuclear weapons program while still formally abiding by its commitments under the agreement. Iran has stopped enriching uranium to 20 percent purity levels, and sufficed with enriching uranium to 3.5% purity. But at the same time it has developed and begun using advanced centrifuges that enrich so quickly that the distinction between 3.5% and 20% enrichment levels becomes irrelevant. Iran has made significant advances in its ballistic missile program, including in its development of intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads. It has continued its development of nuclear bombs, and it has enriched sufficient quantities of uranium to produce one to two nuclear bombs.
According to leaked reports, the permanent nuclear deal that Obama seeks to convince Iran to sign would further facilitate Iran’s ascension to the nuclear club. Among other things, the deal will place a time limit on the already ineffective inspections regime, thus blinding the world entirely to Iran’s nuclear activities.
At the same time that Obama is facilitating Iran’s emergence as a nuclear power, he is doing nothing to stop its regional empowerment. Today Iran controls Syria, Iraq and Yemen and holds sway over Lebanon and Gaza. It threatens Saudi Arabia, and its Muslim Brotherhood allies threaten Egypt and Jordan.
As for Obama’s allied campaign against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, the largest beneficiary to date of the US-led campaign has been Iran. Since the US-led campaign began last fall, Iran has achieved all but public US support for its control over the Iraqi military and for the survival of the Assad regime in Syria.
The trajectory of Obama’s policies is obvious. He is clearing the path for a nuclear armed Iran that controls large swathes of the Arab world through its proxies.
It is also clear that Iran intends to use its nuclear arsenal in the same way that Coulibaly used his Kalashnikov – to kill Jews, as many Jews as possible.
Perhaps Obama is acting out of anti-Semitism, perhaps he acts out of sympathy for Islamic fascism.
Whatever the case may be, what is required from Israel, and from Netanyahu, is clear. Speaking to Congress may be a necessary precondition for that action, but it is not the action itself. |
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World Privileged Yet Unequal: An Essay on the Anglo-American Legal Principle of ‘Jews Lose’Why have Jews in the U.K. never won a reported discrimination case against non-Jewish defendants?by David Schraub Last week, the Community Security Trust—the institutional body primarily responsible for the safety of Jews in Britain—released its preliminary figures on the number of anti-Semitic incidents that had occurred over the course of 2014. The news was not good. Anti-Semitism had hit an all-time high, with a particular spike occurring in July during the course of renewed hostilities between Israel and Gaza. Another poll found that nearly half of all non-Jewish Britons held at least some anti-Semitic views, and for their part British Jews expressed unprecedented feelings of fear and vulnerability. More than half of the Jewish community stated that they feared for their future in Great Britain, and a quarter claimed to have considered leaving the country.
Because I am a lawyer and law professor (albeit not a British one), my natural instinct in these circumstances is to appeal to the law for protection. Anti-Semitic harassment, intimidation, violence, and discrimination are illegal, and a primary purpose of the courts is to provide a shield for vulnerable minorities. Unfortunately, when it comes to Jewish litigants coming to the English courts with allegations of discrimination, doctrine, precedent, and case law all fall away at the hands of one simple rule: Jews lose. They lose consistently, they lose badly, and they will often be humiliated in the process. In her magnificent 2011 book An Unfortunate Coincidence: Jews, Jewishness, and English Law, English law professor Didi Herman concludes that—since the passage of the Race Relations Act of 1976—a Jew has never won a reported discrimination case against a non-Jewish defendant.
British courts seem to bend over backward to avoid finding wrongdoing, even in the most obvious cases. To take one particularly egregious example, one case involved a job applicant who was told by the hiring agency that the company in question simply would not hire Jews. It then asked the candidate what his religion was; instead of answering, the applicant (who was indeed Jewish) stormed out. The court concluded that no discrimination occurred because the plaintiff voluntarily terminated the interview without revealing his Jewish identity.
Indeed, the only time that a Jewish claimant has succeeded in a discrimination case was in a suit brought against a Jewish day school whose admissions policy used the traditional matrilineal descent test to define who was Jewish. This, the court found, was a form of racial discrimination against Jews—the court concluded that Jewish schools were obligated to use a “religious” test (by which it meant some inquiry into a family’s religious practice; obviously from a traditional Jewish standpoint matrilineal heritage is a “religious” test) to define who was and was not Jewish. So, as far as the English courts are concerned, the only people who have ever discriminated against Jews are other Jews.
*** Herman skillfully demonstrates how English courts maintain a studied, almost deliberate, ignorance about Jews as a means to easily dispense with otherwise uncomfortable Jewish claims, an approach that occasionally reaches absurd heights. R v. Elias involved an appeal by a Jewish man convicted of handling stolen goods; he alleged that the prosecution’s closing argument deployed anti-Semitic stereotypes that improperly prejudiced the jury. The prosecution repeatedly compared the defendant to Oliver Twist’s Fagin in the course of describing him as “a completely different sort of man” from his co-defendants, one who “is utterly and thoroughly dishonest to the heart … [t]he most self-regarding, utterly cynical, greedy man, you can’t believe a word he says.” The court rejected the appeal, finding Fagin analogies to be a “daily” occurrence in the courts and that it was but an “unfortunate coincidence” that this particular defendant happened to be Jewish. It doubted that anyone but the defendant would perceive the Fagin references as a slur targeted at him specifically. After all, while the defendant knows his own faith, the judge and jury could at most “suspect” that Misha Chaim Baruch Elias might be a Jew.
So, as far as the English courts are concerned, the only people who have ever discriminated against Jews are other Jews.
Unfortunately, this trend has not abated since the publication of Herman’s book. In 2012, Ronnie Fraser brought a harassment lawsuit against the British University and Colleges Union, contending that it had fostered an atmosphere of “institutional anti-Semitism” against Jewish members—particularly those Jewish members who were perceived as Zionist or attached to Israel. His evidence included a near-obsessive focus on Israel by the union (between one-third and half of all international resolutions debated by the union related to Israel and Palestine), resolutions singling Israel out for a boycott applied to no other country, a trend of anti-Semitic messages being posted on union listservs, a stream of resignations by Jewish members (many specifically complaining about a hostile environment), the union disavowing the EUMC working definition of anti-Semitism as “being used to silence debate about Israel and Palestine on campus,” and the invitation of a man found by the South African Human Rights Commission to have engaged in anti-Semitic hate speech to present at a union-sponsored conference favoring BDS (the union later rejected a resolution disassociating itself from said hate speech). Most important, Fraser contended that when Jews in the union complained about what they considered to be anti-Semitic harassment, the union leadership refused to take the claims seriously. They were simply “crying anti-Semitism”—disingenuously pretending to be victims.
The Fraser opinion expressed some well-known and well-worn tropes about how Jews talk about anti-Semitism. First and foremost is the idea that Jews constantly and consistently “play the anti-Semitism card.” Functionally identical to its close cousin “the race card,” this allegation posits that the prototypical claim of anti-Semitism is made in bad faith as a tactical gambit to gain an advantage in political discussion. The cruel irony, of course, is it was precisely this type of blithe dismissal of the motives of anti-Semitism claimants that was a key reason why Fraser felt compelled to launch his suit. He felt unprotected by a union that, upon hearing the allegation that anti-Semitism was a problem, assumed that it was a false alarm set off by trouble-making racist Zionists. And the court, more or less, agreed in only slightly softer language—Fraser was hypersensitive at best, irrational at worst, to perceive the normal slings and arrows of charged political debate as having anything to do with anti-Semitism.
The view taken by the court and the union holds that anti-Semitism claimants do not seriously believe that their interlocutors are engaging in prejudiced or bigoted behavior—they only claim to do so opportunistically, as a means of browbeating their opponents into submission. As David Hirsh and I have both written, this response has become prominent—almost ubiquitous—as a means of dismissing discrimination claims without having to discuss their merits. It is no accident that the “bad faith” argument was how Steven Salaita and his backers defended perhaps his most controversial tweet: “Zionists: transforming ‘anti-Semitism’ from something horrible into something honorable since 1948.” Salaita, we are told, was most certainly not saying that because of Zionism it is now good to be anti-Semitic. Rather, he was talking about false accusations of anti-Semitism—that “since 1948” the prototypical claim of “anti-Semitism” is not actually a horrible instance of Jew-hatred, but rather refers to “honorable” opposition to Zionist perfidy. I’m actually inclined to believe this is what Salaita meant—in another tweet, he states that he has come to regard claims of anti-Semitism with “bemused indifference”—I just fail to see how it is not itself obviously anti-Semitic. One can hardly claim to have egalitarian views about Jews while simultaneously casting them as pathological liars whose claims of discrimination are patently frivolous and unworthy of consideration.
But there is another element latent in the Fraser decision and the broader legal history Herman develops. Even as it consistently rules against Jews in particular cases, the English judiciary perceives itself as generally protective of the Jewish community. Indeed, Jews are if anything seen as a model in this respect—the quintessential example of a minority group that lies under the protective umbrella of the liberal and tolerant state. When debating whether to include additional groups under the ambit of anti-discrimination laws, English politicians cited Jews as an example—others should receive what the Jews already have.
This might seem to be little more than an innocuous fiction. It isn’t. Viewing Jews as the paradigmatic protected group, courts that in fact consistently deny Jews protection at the level of particular cases see themselves as breaking from the script, rather than repeating a continuous and damaging pattern. Because Jews are already a success story, the essential question of anti-Semitism discourse is not how to prevent anti-Semitism—it’s how to give other groups the bounty Jews enjoy while simultaneously ensuring that Jews don’t exploit their supposedly privileged position.
*** Things are better in the United States—but not by as much as one would hope. In terms of raw numbers, Jews are the third-most common victim of hate crimes in America, behind African-Americans and gay men (per capita, they rank second). Yet in his own examination of American First Amendment jurisprudence, University of Wyoming law professor Stephen Feldman found that Jews had never successfully won a Free Exercise challenge before the United States Supreme Court (they also have not, to my knowledge, won a Supreme Court case under the primary federal statute providing for religious liberty, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act). Free Exercise and RFRA cases typically concern the asserted need for an exemption from a generally applicable legal rule that conflicts with a person’s religious obligations. Christians certainly do not always win these cases, but they do sometimes—most recently (and notoriously) in the Hobby Lobby case about insurance coverage for contraception under the Affordable Care Act. Jews, by contrast, have enjoyed a constant string of defeats before the high court.
Perhaps the most striking of these losses came in the 1961 case of Gallagher v. Crown Kosher Super Market, seeking an exemption from the Massachusetts “Sunday closing” law. Jewish-owned businesses were particularly vulnerable to such laws since it effectively forced them to close for two days of the week (Saturday for religious reasons, and Sundays for legal purposes). The Supreme Court had expressed skepticism regarding that argument, suggesting that the state had a strong interest in guaranteeing a uniform, generally applicable day of rest available to all workers. But here the Gallagher plaintiffs seemed to have an advantage, since the Massachusetts law at issue could in no way be described as uniform. It was riddled with what the district court categorized as an “unbelievable hodgepodge” of exclusions for everything from clam digging to miniature golf to tobacco sales. Given the multitude of exceptions, couldn’t Massachusetts also be required to extend the same courtesy to Orthodox Jewish merchants (who, after all, would simply be observing the Sabbath on a different day)? The court was unmoved and upheld the Massachusetts law, exceptions and all. To be sure, it is good to be cautious about relying solely on Supreme Court opinions because of the small sample size, and Jews have benefited indirectly from other Supreme Court cases (brought by Christians) that did provide some protections for Saturday-Sabbath observers. But this makes Gallagher all the more distinctive—a court unmoved by religious freedom claims presented by Jews became markedly more sympathetic when similar concerns were raised by Christian litigants.
The Jewish situation is marked by a disjuncture between what we say about ourselves and what is said about us.
Despite this history, the same tropes discussed above—that Jews perpetually cry anti-Semitism, that discourse about anti-Semitism is so ubiquitous in America to the extent that it squeezes out other important discussions—are prevalent here as well. The far left and far right unify around the idea that Americans need to struggle against “Jewish privilege.” Moving closer to the mainstream, John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt devote an entire section of The Israel Lobby to the idea of “anti-Semitism” as “the great silencer” (they suggest that while “the charge of anti-Semitism can be an effective smear tactic, it is usually groundless”). They are in grand historical company—in 1941 it was Charles Lindbergh who complained about the “smear” of anti-Semitism in the course of assailing Jewish desire for the United States to intervene in World War II and indicting “their large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio and our government.”
The point is not to oversell the peril of being Jewish in America. Rather, it is to stress that even where Jews are well-integrated these stereotypes about the Jewish position—Jews are dominant, Jews are hyper-powerful, Jews have infinite political sway and influence—remain active and distort our view of the world. When talking about the role of the “bad faith” response against claims of anti-Semitism at an academic conference this past November, I was asked about AIPAC—AIPAC really does use “anti-Semitism” cynically and opportunistically for political ends, right? Well, wrong—AIPAC actually refers to anti-Semitism very rarely. It isn’t a substantial part of their political playbook. Yet it is so ingrained in our collective psyche that Jews of the AIPAC sort deploy anti-Semitism incessantly, even recklessly, that we “know” about AIPAC’s malfeasance in this regard even though they really don’t participate in the discourse at all. One does not have to be a backer of AIPAC to be alarmed at the distorted, even mythic, role they play in discussions about the status of Jews in American life. (I get similar shivers when I listen to conservatives talk about George Soros’ links to progressive organizations, a discourse which has a distinct undertone of “… backed by the Jewish money you didn’t know about.”)
Christine Littleton once described the heart of the feminist method as beginning with “the very radical act of taking women seriously, believing that what we say about ourselves and our experience is important and valid, even when (or perhaps especially when) it has little or no relationship to what has been or is being said about us.” The Jewish situation, too, is marked by a disjuncture between what we say about ourselves and what is said about us. Said to be fully protected in modern law and society, we express concern about ourselves that we do not actually feel as if we can trust non-Jews to come to our aid when we feel threatened or vulnerable or intimidated. Are these concerns taken to be “important and valid”? Too often, they are not. They are not because others, more powerful others, others whose opinions about Jews do carry a presumptive validity, drown them out. They insist that we are anti-discrimination winners, a group that can always count on the law to have its back, a people who if anything are abusing the beneficence of its neighbors and who maybe need to understand that society will not forever be suckered and pushed around, by the last group of people who have any rightful claim to be the targets of unequal treatment.
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New Poll Reveals Widespread Antisemitism in UK Society, 84 Percent of British Jews Regard Anti-Israel Boycotts as ‘Intimidation’14january2015 Ben Cohen http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/01/14/new-poll-reveals-widespread-antisemitism-in-uk-84-percent-of-british-jews-regard-anti-israel-boycotts-as-intimidation/ A new opinion poll released by the UK-based Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) has revealed worrying levels of prejudice in British society towards the Jewish community, demonstrating as well that an overwhelming majority of British Jews regard the public debate about Israel as stained by antisemitic beliefs and expressions.
The 2015 Annual Antisemitism Barometer discovered that 45 percent of respondents believed to be true at least one of several antisemitic statements shown to them. A full 17 percent believed three or more antisemitic statements – among them the claims that “Jews chase money more than other British people,” “Jews loyalty to Israel makes them less loyal to Britain than other British people” and “Jews talk about the Holocaust too much in order to get sympathy” – to be true.
The poll was carried out for the CAA by YouGov, which posed the statements to a nationally representative sample of 3,411 adults.
The findings showed that Britain was at a “tipping point,” the CAA said. “Unless antisemitism is met with zero tolerance, it will continue to grow and British Jews may increasingly question their place in their own country,” the report, issued a few days after the murderous antisemitic attack at a kosher supermarket in Paris, warned starkly.
The poll also surveyed Jewish responses to antisemitism, through a sample of 2,230 British Jews covering a spectrum of opinion from the anti-Zionist “Jews for Justice for Palestinians” to the mainstream United Synagogue movement, as well as other denominations like the Reform and Spanish & Portuguese congregations.
A full 45 percent of Jewish respondents agreed with the statement, “I am concerned that Jews may not have a long-term future in Britain.” When asked about the long-term future in Europe, 58 percent believed that there wasn’t one.
Arguably even more significant, though, are Jewish perceptions of antisemitism in public debate and activism around the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel. A huge 84 percent of respondents said that boycotts of businesses selling Israeli products constituted “intimidation.” 82 percent agreed with the statement that “Media bias against Israel fuels persecution of Jews in Britain.” And 77 percent said that they had “witnessed antisemitism that was disguised as a political comment about Israel.”
Jonathan Sacerdoti, the CAA’s Communication Director, told The Algemeiner that he was “surprised by those figures,” especially as such a wide range of Jewish views had been sampled.
Sacerdoti noted that “often people are told that it’s the other way around – that Jews silence criticism of Israel by invoking antisemitism.” What the CAA survey demonstrated, he explained, is that “there are people who use a legitimate debate about Israel to prevent Jews from speaking out when they feel they have been the victims of antisemitism.”
The CAA poll also showed that fear of Islamist terrorism is not confined to the Jewish community in France: 65 percent of British Jews agreed with the statement that, “My family and I are threatened by Islamic extremism in Britain.”
“France is further along the scale than we are, and there is a larger exodus of Jews from France,” Sacerdoti said. “Jews in Britain are keeping a close eye on the rest of Europe, to remain aware of any shift towards the French direction over here. However, there’s time for us to turn the tide: That requires the coming together of all parts of British society to make clear that Britain is a tolerant and safe place for Jewish people and Jewish life.” comments: This is the great tipping point for the “Grand Alliance” that will soon break it. Americans (not the Islamonazis in the White House and MSM, but mainstream Americans) are pro-Israel. Limeys – both the elites and the mainstream – are pro 2nd Shoah.” |
 Charlie Hebdo shooting: Islamic attack on Paris offices of satirical newspaper on 7 January 2015 and Paris HyperCacher Kosher Supermarket attack on 9 January 2015
Hypercacher kosher supermarket siegehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercacher_kosher_supermarket_siege The Hypercacher kosher supermarket siege was an attack and hostage crisis that occurred in Porte de Vincennes (20th arrondissement of Paris) in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shooting two days earlier, and concurrently with the Dammartin-en-Goële hostage crisis in which the two Charlie Hebdo gunmen were cornered.
On 9 January 2015, Amedy Coulibaly, who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,[4] attacked the people in a Hypercacher kosher food supermarket at Porte de Vincennes in east Paris. He killed four people, all of whom were Jewish,[5][6][7] and took several hostages.[8][9] Some media outlets claimed he had a female accomplice, speculated initially to be his common-law wife, Hayat Boumeddiene.[10] Victims
 Philippe Braham  Yohan Cohen  Yoav Hattab  François-Michel Saada |
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| The victims were posthumously awarded the Legion of Honour by the French Republic.[37] At the instigation of the Israeli government, and after some pressure on the families,[38] it was decided that they should be buried at the Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem on 13 January 2015.[39] The funeral was attended by thousands, some holding signs reading “Je suis juif” or “Je suis Israelien“, with pictures of the four dead.[40] During the ceremony, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, and French Ecology Minister Ségolène Royal gave brief speeches.[39][40] Royal said, “Anti-Semitism has no place in France. I want to assure you of the unfailing determination of the French government to fight against all forms and acts of anti-Semitism.”[37][39][40][41]
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Charlie Hebdo shootinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Hebdo_shooting
Here are a collection of Charlie Hedbo Mohammed cartoons in solidarity with Charlie Hedbo (whose editor in chief and several cartoonists were among the dead,). and the original Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons |
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An NYT story by Liz Alderman titled “Survivors Retrace a Scene of Horror at Charlie Hebdo.” Take note of these two paragraphs from that story:January 09, 2015 http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2015/01/charlie-hebdo-terrorists-order-female.html |
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 Charlie Hedbo emam |
 Sigolene Vinson |
 Charlie Hedbo iPhone 5 screen you can see they’ve insulted the prophet Yet another instance of the New York Times not wanting to offend ‘Muslim sensibilities‘? An account in the newspaper from one of the persons present at the Charlie Hebdo editorial meeting that was attacked includes this threat from the terrorists:
But if you read Alderman’s story in the Times (Hat Tip: Memeorandum), you won’t find that quote anymore. First, the Times dropped the quote.
Then, when the Daily Caller called them on it, the Times added this:
Who pressured Ms. Vinson to change her story? Inquiring minds want to know. The only listed correction to the article is this:
Hmmm. If we’re afraid to even identify the enemy, how can we fight it? Waiting for the French reporter to come up with a tape of his/her interview or their original notes. commentsupyernoz said… Who pressured Ms. Vinson to change her story?
Why assume that is what happened? It seems a lot more likely that she was misquoted by RFI, that the misquote was picked up by other media outlets (including the NYT when they first ran the article), but then when the NYT actually contacted the witness she told them what she actually heard, so the Times corrected the story. |
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 Charlie Hebdo shooting-Berliner Kurier Frontpage  Dry Bones-Killing Charlie Hebdo  The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy (or Muhammad cartoons crisis) began after 12 editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005 |
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Paris HyperCacher Kosher Supermarket attack on 9 January 2015 The 4 Jewish victims CRIF identified the victims of the attack Friday as Yoav Hattab, Philippe Braham, Yohan Cohen and Francois-Michel Saada.  What a statement: thousands attend funeral of 4 murdered Paris Jews who were buried today in Israel: pic.twitter.com/op5Evv9oQm via @LukeReuters Yair Rosenberg @Yair_Rosenberg |
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| Cohen was the grandson of a famous Jewish-Tunisian singer, Doukha who died last month. His parents, of Algerian and Tunisian descent, immigrated to Sarcells, a Jewish neighborhood of Paris, in the 1960s.He was a fan of rap music, according to his Facebook page, and had recently published an image bearing the popular “Je Suis Charlie” slogan, in honor of the 12 people massacred on Wednesday at the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris by two terrorist brothers who, it later turned out, were working together with the gunman of the market attack.
Cohen is believed to have been the first victim of Coulibaly, who started his siege of the market under a hail of gunfire, according to an account on JSSnews. Reports still differ but it seems Barham and Saada were also shot and killed during the take-over or shortly after the siege began
Saada leaves behind two children, both of whom live in Israel. “He was a remarkable husband and father, a man who lived his life for his family,” an unnamed friend told AFP.
Barham’s children go to a Jewish school, near the site where a policewoman was gunned down by Coulibaly on Thursday.
Hattab, one of seven children to parents living in Tunisia, was a university student living alone in Paris. He is reported to be the son of the chief rabbi of Tunis.
According to reports, Hattab was the market customer who managed to snatch one of Coulibaly’s weapons, turning it on him before realizing it was jammed. Coulibaly then executed him on the spot, according to a witness who spoke to Le Point. |
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Alyah : mode d’emploi Alyah : mode d’emploi http://www.jewishagency.org/fr/aliyah/program/7618 Choisissez celle qui vous correspond et inscrivez-vous sur notre site Internet en cliquant ICI ou par téléphone, en appelant le Global Center au 0800 916 647 (si vous entendez un message vocal d’accueil, vous devez patienter jusqu’à ce que quelqu’un vous réponde). Le Global Center est joignable 6 jours par semaine, de 7h00 à 19h00 (du dimanche au jeudi) et de 8h00 à 12h00 le vendredi. Choisissez celle qui vous correspond et inscrivez-vous sur notre site Internet en cliquant ICI ou par téléphone, en appelant le Global Center au 0800 916 647 (si vous entendez un message vocal d’accueil, vous devez patienter jusqu’à ce que quelqu’un vous réponde). Le Global Center est joignable 6 jours par semaine, de 7h00 à 19h00 (du dimanche au jeudi) et de 8h00 à 12h00 le vendredi. |
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PM Netanyahu’s Remarks at the Great Synagogue of Paris11January2015 https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/PressRoom/2015/Pages/PM-Netanyahus-remarks-at-the-Great-Synagogue-of-Paris-11-January-2015.aspx Translation
I wish to convey my condolences to the families of the journalists and police and all those innocent people who were murdered while realizing their most basic rights: freedom of expression, freedom of thought and freedom of belief, even the freedom not to believe. These are the values on which modern France is built and these are values that are worth fighting for.
Today I marched through the streets of Paris, in one line with leaders from around the world, in order to say that terror must end. It is time that we fight against terror together. And I would like to use this opportunity to salute the French security forces who acted with remarkable bravery, as well as to express my appreciation to the Malian, who is a Muslim, who helped save seven Jews.
My dear brothers and sisters, I came here from Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Israel, to share in your pain over the murders of Francois-Michel, Philippe, Yoav and of Yohan, who bravely tried to grab the terrorist’s gun and was fatally wounded. The memory of our four holy brothers will be forever engraved on the hearts of our people.
Unfortunately the people of Israel have experienced this pain. We have experienced it many times because we have been fighting against terror for many years, and like many in Israel, I am personally familiar with the wounds of terror as well as the agony of bereavement. As a soldier, I was wounded in an operation to free hostages who had been kidnapped on a Sabena airplane. My late brother, Yoni, was killed in Entebbe when rescuing the hostages kidnapped on an Air France airplane. For years, the best of our sons and daughters were killed in many terror attacks, and the finest of our fighters fell in heroic battles against terrorism, including just recently during Operation Protective Edge.
Today we bow our heads in memory of the victims in Paris. However, as representatives of an ancient and proud people, we stand tall against evil because we can overcome it. “The more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread” – because truth and justice are on our side. And here is the truth: Our shared enemy is radical Islam, not Islam and not just radicals – radical Islam. This form of Islam has many names: ISIS, Hamas, Boko Haram, al-Qaeda, al-Nusra, al-Shabab, Hezbollah; but they are all branches from the same poison tree.
Although the various factions of radical Islam are given to local bloody conflicts, including amongst themselves, they all share the same aspiration: To impose a dark tyranny on the world, to return humanity one thousand years to the past. They trample anyone who does not share their path, first and foremost their Muslim brothers, but their greatest hatred is saved for Western culture, that same culture that respects freedom and equal rights – all the things they so despise.
For this reason it is not a coincidence that radical Islam has sought to destroy Israel from the very day it declared its independence: Because Israel is the only Western democracy in the Middle East, because Israel is the only place that is truly safe for Christians, women, minorities, that respects all human rights.
Well, here is another truth: Radical Islam does not hate the West because of Israel. It hates Israel because it is an organic part of the West. It rightly views Israel as an island of Western democracy and tolerance in an ocean of fanaticism and violence that it wishes to impose on the Middle East, Europe and the entire world.
Israel is not under attack because of this or that detail of its policies, but rather because of its very existence and nature. But we are not the only ones under attack. Look around you: The entire world is under attack, the entire world – the Twin Towers in New York, the subways in London and Madrid, tourists in Bali, students at schools in Russia and Pakistan, a hotel in Mumbai, the mall in Nairobi.
A very short path connects the issuing of the fatwa against the author Salman Rushdie, the murder of Theo van Gogh in Holland and the attacks on Jews in Israel and around the world – it is a short distance from this to the murderous attacks in Paris on the office of Charlie Hebdo and the kosher supermarket not far from here. These are not isolated actions and we must see what they have in common. Otherwise we will not be able to fight against terror in methodical and consistent manner.
We must recognize that there is a global network of radical Islam at work – a network of hatred, fanaticism and murder. I believe that this threat will only grow larger when thousands of terrorists come to Europe from the killing fields of the Middle East. The danger will grow much greater and will become a serious threat to humanity at large if radical Islam gains control over nuclear weapons, and therefore we must use all means to prevent Iran from acquiring an atomic weapon. We must support each other in this fateful struggle against radical Islamic fanatics wherever they are.
Israel stands with Europe and Europe must stand with Israel. As the civilized world today stands with France against terror, so must it stand with Israel against terror. It is the exact same terror. Those who slaughtered Jews in the synagogue in Jerusalem and those who slaughtered Jews and journalists in Paris belong to the same murderous terrorist movement. They should be condemned in the same measure and they must be fought in the same manner.
Only when the international community fights our shared enemy in a uniform manner will we know that we are on the path to victory. I promise you: Israel will continue to fight against terror. Israel will continue to defend itself and we know that when we defend ourselves, we defend the entire civilized world.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, Jews of France, I would like to say to you what I say to our Jewish brothers and sisters from all countries: You have the full right to live in safety and tranquility as citizens with equal rights wherever you wish, including here in France. But Jews of our time have been blessed with another right, a right that did not exist for previous generations of Jews: The right to join their Jewish brothers and sisters in our historic homeland, the Land of Israel; the right to live in our free country, the one and only Jewish state, the State of Israel; the right to stand tall and proud at the walls of Zion, our eternal capital of Jerusalem.
Any Jew who wishes to immigrate to Israel will be welcomed with open arms and warm and accepting hearts. They will not arrive in a foreign land but rather the land of our forefathers. God willing, they will come and many of you will come to our home. Am Yisrael Chai. |
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Netanyahu’s epic understandings with Egyptian, Saudi and UAE rulersDEBKAfile 06December2014 http://debka.com/article/24285/Netanyahu%E2%80%99s-epic-understandings-with-Egyptian-Saudi-and-UAE-rulers-%E2%80%93-a-potential-campaign-weapon Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20150102052344/https://www.debka.com/article/24285/Netanyahu%E2%80%99s-epic-understandings-with-Egyptian-Saudi-and-UAE-rulers-%E2%80%93-a-potential-campaign-weapon The six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) rulers meet in the Qatari capital of Doha next week amid high suspense across the Arab world. Its agenda is topped by moves to finally unravel the 2010 Arab Spring policy championed by US President Barack Obama, moves that also bear the imprint of extensive cooperation maintained on the quiet between Israel and key Arab rulers.
debkafile reports that the Doha parley is designed to restore Egypt under the rule of President Abdel Fatteh El-Sisi to the lead role it occupied before the decline of Hosni Mubarak. Another is to root out the Muslim Brotherhood by inducing their champion, the young Qatari ruler, Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to drop his government’s support.
At talks taking place in Riyadh ahead of the summit, Qatari officials appeared ready to discontinue the flow of weapons, funds and intelligence maintained since 2011 to the Brothers and their affiliates across the Arab world (Libya, Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Hamas-ruled Gaza), as well shutting down the El Jazeera TV network – or at least stopping the channel’s use as the Brotherhood’s main propaganda platform.
The Doha summit is designed to crown a historic effort led by Saudi King Abdullah, UAE ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed and President El-Sisi to undo the effects of the Obama administration’s support for elements dedicated to the removal of conservative Arab rulers, such as the Brotherhood.
They have found a key ally in this drive in Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who took advantage of the chance of an epic breakthrough in relations with the leading bloc of Arab nations, with immediate and far-reaching effect on Israeli security and its standing in the region.
Yet at the same time, Netanyahu has kept this feat under his hat – even while smarting under a vicious assault by his detractors – ex-finance minister Yair Lapid and opposition leader Yakov Herzog of Labor – on his personal authority and leadership credibility (“everything is stuck,” “he’s out of touch.”) and obliged to cut short the life of his government for a general election on March 17.
He faces the voter with the secret still in his pocket of having achieved close coordination with the most important Arab leaders – not just on the Iranian nuclear issue and the Syrian conflict, but also the Palestinian question, which has throughout Israel’s history bedeviled its ties with the Arab world.
When Yair Lapid, whom Netanyahu sacked this week, boasted, “I am talking to the Americans” while accusing the prime minister of messing up ties with Washington, he meant he was talking to the Americans close to Barack Obama, whom Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, hand in hand with Netanyahu, have judged adverse to their regimes.
This Arab-Israeli collaboration encompasses too many areas to keep completely hidden. Its fruits have begun breaking surface in a string of events.
This week, Israel apparently out of the blue, quietly agreed to Egypt deploying 13 army battalions in Sinai (demilitarized under their 1979 peace treaty), including tanks, and flying fighter jets over terrorist targets.
A joint Saudi-Israeli diplomatic operation was instrumental in obstructing a US-Iran deal on Tehran’s nuclear program. Another key arena of cooperation is Jerusalem.
Friday, Dec. 5, Jordan announced the appointment of 75 new guards for the Al Aqsa Mosque compound on Temple Mount. The director of the mosque, Sheikh Omar al-Kiswani, said they will begin work in the coming days.
This was the outcome of Jordanian King Abdullah’s talks with the Egyptian president in Cairo Sunday, Nov. 30, in which they agreed that the Muslim Waqf Authority on Temple Mount must change its mode of conduct and replace with new staff the violent elements from Hamas, the Al Tahrir movement and Israeli Arab Islamists, which had taken charge of “security.”.
The Moslem attacks from the Mount on Jewish worshippers praying at the Western Wall below and Israeli police have accordingly ceased in the two weeks since Israel lifted its age restrictions on Muslim worshippers attending Friday prayers at Al Aqsa. Israel groups advocating the right to Jewish prayer on Temple Mount were discreetly advised to cool their public campaign.
The Palestinian riots plaguing Jerusalem for months have died down, except for isolated instances, since, as debkafile revealed, Saudi and Gulf funds were funneled to pacify the city’s restive Palestinian neighborhoods.
Cairo and the Gulf emirates have used their influence with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to get him to moderate his invective against Israel and its prime minister, and slow his applications for Palestinian membership of international bodies as platforms for campaigning against the Jewish state.
Concerned by the way the mainstream Arab world was marginalizing the Palestinian question, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal chose his moment Friday – ahead of the White House meeting between the Jordanian monarch and President Obama – to try and re-ignite the flames of violence in Jerusalem. He went unheeded.
Netanyahu may or may not opt to brandish Israel’s diplomatic breakthrough to the Arab world as campaign fodder to boost his run for re-election. Whatever he decides, the rulers of Saudi Arabia, the Arab emirates and Egypt are turning out to have acquired an interest in maintaining him in office as head of the Israeli government, in direct opposition to President Obama’s ambition to unseat him.
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| From Zero Hedge.com
A Practical Guide to Hawaiian SecessionSubmitted by Tyler Durden on 11/05/2015 http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-05/practical-guide-hawaiian-secession Submitted by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute,
 Queen Liliuokalani (seen here at Victoria’s Golden Jubilee) led efforts to oppose Hawai’i’s annexation to the US The BBC reports this week that a secession movement in Hawaii continues to simmer under the surface:
Much of the antipathy to DC stems from the grievances of the indigenous population which is quite familiar of how wealthy white ranchers in the late 19th century overthrew the legitimate government of Hawaii and formed a pro-US puppet government in its stead. Eventually, annexation followed.
Nevertheless, the fact that some Hawaiians want independence does not mean that most do. While it’s true that whites are only 25 percent of the Hawaiian population, it’s also true that indigenous Hawaiians and other pacific islander groups only comprise ten percent of Hawaii’s population. The largest demographic group in Hawaii is Asian-Americans, who make up 38 percent of the population (not including people of mixed parentage.)
If the secessionists are ever to sell secession to the overall population, they would have to offer something more practical than solidarity with the indigenous population or appeals to local patriotism.
Potentially, the costs of secession could be high if the US decided to regard the Hawaiian government as a hostile regime (thus bringing economic sanctions), and of course, spending by the US government in Hawaii — funded by mainland taxpayers — is extensive.
Practically speaking, however, there is a lot of real estate between the current status quo for Hawaii and full-blown independence. It is unlikely that Hawaii would fully remove the US from the islands any time soon, no matter how unpopular the regime in DC became. It is likely that Washington would resort to military action before it would be willing to give up its military installations in and around Pearl Harbor. Look, for example, at how the US has held onto Guantanamo Bay, even when Cuba became aligned militarily with the Soviet Union.
However, there is no reason that that Hawaii could not reach a compromise with the US in which Hawaii obtains domestic autonomy while remaining a military ally and resource for the US. The world is full of such arrangement, and many countries have relationships with regions (many of which are islands and overseas territories) that use their own currency and have their own systems of government while remaining part of a larger political body.
It does not follow logically, of course, that Hawaii, even if it were to allow a US military presence, would have to use US currency or submit to US regulations of trade.
In fact, freedom from federally imposed restrictions on trade would be among the greatest benefits for Hawaiians in the case of independence. As Gary Galles noted here in Mises Daily, Hawaii, as part of the US’s domestic market, is heavily restricted by the Jones Act. The Jones Act restricts the nature and extent of shipping that can take place in and out of American ports. Galles writes:
(International trade is restricted by the Jones Act as well, although not in the same way as domestic shipping.) Thanks in part to trade restrictions such as these, the cost of living in Hawaii is notoriously high. For example, in nominal terms, Hawaii has a rather high median income at $59,000. (The US median is $58,000.) But when adjusted for cost of living, the median income in Hawaii plummets to $50,900. This disparity is the nation’s largest, although, New Jersey comes in just slightly behind Hawaii in this measure:  Cost of Living We can’t blame all of this on federal law, of course, as Hawaii is a long way from other major shipping ports, but the fact remains that the Jones Act severely limits what can be shipped from the US mainland, and by whom, while international trade further is controlled by a Congress where only four people out of 535 are from Hawaii.
Thus, economic freedom for Hawaii would allow Hawaiians greater power to control tariffs and trade in a manner that benefited Hawaii rather than special interests far away on the mainland. (Naturally, I prefer unilateral free trade in this regard.) This isn’t to say that some Hawaiians never benefit from US trade restrictions. International trade restrictions on sugar are a famous example. But for every pro-Hawaii government regulation, there are countless others that benefit far away interests much more.
The US cannot be faulted for all of Hawaii’s inability to take advantage of its geographical advantages. As just one example, we might note that a majority of Hawaiians have long refused to allow gambling on the islands, even though such a move could turn the islands, or a subregion of them, into a Monaco of the Pacific where wealthy Asians and Americans would leave behind thousands of dollars in gambling losses with every trip.
The biggest obstacle to successful secession for the time being, however, is not ideological. As long as the federal money keeps coming in the form of social security checks, welfare checks, and military spending, its unlikely many will want to kill that golden goose. If those checks ever start bouncing, however, and if the feds start to scale back the fiat-money and taxpayer funded largesse, things will start to look very different. |
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How Hawaii Lost Its Last Queen, Liliuokalani, to the Fruit Tycoons at DoleBy Kristin Hugo  A mural of Queen Liliuokalani. Photographed by Mark Faviell on Flickr How Hawaii Lost Its Last Queen, Liliuokalani, to the Fruit Tycoons at DoleBy Kristin Hugo Today, Hawaii has a democratically elected governor. Until 1893, it had a queen, who died 100 years ago today. But plantations, the American government and a coup changed all that. Smithsonian recently published an article on Liliuokalani, just shy of the hundredth anniversary of the former Hawaiian queen’s death. As the story details, her rise to power involved the deaths of a former king, which led to her brother ruling; his death led to her queenship. The fall of Liliuokalani, and of Hawaii as a kingdom, is stranger, and involves sugar and pineapples. In the 1880s, American sugar and pineapple companies grew tremendously on the islands which at the time were subject to the rule of a native monarchy. The businesspeople had a problem with the royalty of the island, and in 1887, people who were affiliated with pineapple and sugar plantations forced Liliuokalani’s brother, who was king at the time, to sign a new constitution. The Bayonet Constitution, which was signed at literal gunpoint, reduced monarchy rule and mandated that only people of certain ethnicities and who were rich enough could vote. When Liliuokalani inherited the throne, she had no interest in this new constitution and proposed her own. The move angered the businesspeople, and only a coup to overthrow Hawaiian royalty entirely would do. Sanford Dole led the coup with the help of the American government. His cousin once removed, James Dole, started The Hawaiian Pineapple Company, which is now Dole Food Company, on the islands. American militia came to the island, threatening battle, and Liliuokalani surrendered. After the coup succeeded, Sanford Dole was named president of the Republic of Hawaii. Hawaii later became a state, of which David Ige is the current governor. Some descendants of Hawaiian royalty are trying to reinstate a monarchy. Liliuokalani’s life before the coup was more picturesque and fitting of a tropical queen. She married an American, adopted several children and was a songwriter. One of her songs, “Aloha Oe,” remains to this day the most well-known Hawaiian song. Translated as “Farewell to Thee,” it ultimately became a somber allusion to the sun setting on the Kingdom of Hawaii. |
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| From Zero Hedge.com
Putin To Western Elites: Play-Time Is OverSubmitted by Tyler Durden on 10/30/2014 https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-30/putin-western-elites-play-time-over Most people in the English-speaking parts of the world missed Putin’s speech at the Valdai conference in Sochi a few days ago, and, chances are, those of you who have heard of the speech didn’t get a chance to read it, and missed its importance. Western media did their best to ignore it or to twist its meaning. Regardless of what you think or don’t think of Putin (like the sun and the moon, he does not exist for you to cultivate an opinion) this is probably the most important political speech since Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech of March 5, 1946.
In this speech, Putin abruptly changed the rules of the game. Previously, the game of international politics was played as follows: politicians made public pronouncements, for the sake of maintaining a pleasant fiction of national sovereignty, but they were strictly for show and had nothing to do with the substance of international politics; in the meantime, they engaged in secret back-room negotiations, in which the actual deals were hammered out. Previously, Putin tried to play this game, expecting only that Russia be treated as an equal. But these hopes have been dashed, and at this conference he declared the game to be over, explicitly violating Western taboo by speaking directly to the people over the heads of elite clans and political leaders. The Russian blogger chipstone summarized the most salient points from Putin speech as follows:
To these nine points I would like to add a tenth:
To sum it all up:
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Putin: if Turkey’s Erdoğan doesn’t stop supporting terrorists in Syria, I shall restore Constantinople (Istanbul) to Christendom16 April 2016 ח בניסן ה׳תשע״ו http://awdnews.com/top-news/putin-if-turkey-s-erdo%C4%9Fan-doesn-t-stop-supporting-terrorists-in-syria,-i-shall-restore-constantinople-istanbul-to-christendom Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20160419010952/http://awdnews.com/top-news/putin-if-turkey-s-erdo%C4%9Fan-doesn-t-stop-supporting-terrorists-in-syria,-i-shall-restore-constantinople-istanbul-to-christendom
Sat, 16 Apr 2016 (Moscow) – According to state-owned Россия-24 news channel, President Vladimir Putin addressed a delegation of Ukrainian Orthodox Church and reiterated that nothing can shake Russia’s perpetual blood alliance with Ukraine in spite of all malicious efforts exerted by the ruling junta in Kiev, adding, ” rising neo-Fascism in Ukraine is like the infectious Gangrene which can spread across the European continent , and we, the people of the Russian Federation and descendents of the Soviet Union , we are determined to stop this plague.”
“Should Turkey not stop supporting al-Qaeda’s Syria branch, I am indeed eager to end the job the late Tsar Nicholas II left unfinished. During the World War I , He [Tsar] sought to restore Constantinople (Istanbul) to Christendom and protect Russian maritime security by liberating Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits but fate prevented him,” TASS Russian News Agency cited President Putin as saying on Saturday. We also advocate Greek sovereignty over the Cyprus, added Putin, and call the Turkish regime to end its decades-long occupation of this Mediterranean island.
Referring to five-year-old Syrian crisis, Mr. Putin launched a scathing attack on Turkish president’s dreadful dreams of breathing life into dead Ottoman Empire by supporting al-Qaeda terrorists in Syria and Iraq, saying prospects for a lasting cease-fire in Syria remains doubtful due to Ankara’s war-like agenda and its vicious alliance with Saudi Arabia.
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Russia’s “Startling” Proposal To Europe: Dump The US, Join The Eurasian Economic UnionSubmitted by Tyler Durden on 04January2015 http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-04/russias-startling-proposal-europe-dump-us-join-eurasian-economic-union Slowly but surely Europe is figuring out that as a result of the western economic and financial blockade of Russian, it is Europe itself that is suffering the most. And while Germany was first to acknowledge this late in 2014 when its economy swooned and is now on the verge of a recession, now others are catching on. Case in point: the former head of the European Commission, and Italy’s former Prime Minister, Romano Prodi who told Messaggero newspaper that the “weaker Russian economy is extremely unprofitable for Italy.” The other details from Prodi’s statement:
In other words, just as slowly, the world is starting to grasp the bottom line: it is not the financial exposure to Russia, or the threat of financial contagion should Russia suffer a major recession or worse: it is something far simpler that will lead to the biggest harm for Europe’s countries. The lack of trade. Because while central banks can monetize everything, leading to an unprecedented asset bubble which if only for the time being boosts investor and consumer confidence, they can’t print trade – that all important driver of growth in a globalized world long before central banks were set to monetize over $1 trillion in bonds each and every year to mask the fact that the world is deep in a global depression.
Which is why we read the following report written in yesterday’s Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten with great interest because it goes right to the bottom line. In it Russia has a not so modest proposal to Europe: dump trade with the US, whose call for Russian “costs” has cost you another year of declining economic growth, and instead join the Eurasian Economic Union! From the source:
It surely would, but then how will Europe feign outrage when the NSA is found to have spied yet again on its “closest trading partners?” Some more on Russia’s proposal from EUobserver:
And as a reminder: The Eurasian Economic Union, a trade bloc of former Soviet states, expanded to four nations Friday when Armenia formally joined, a day after the union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan began.
So the ball is in your court, Europe: will it be a triple-dip (and soon thereafter quadruple: see Japan) recession as your Goldman-controlled central bank plunders ever more of what little is left of middle-class wealth with promises that this year – for real – is when it all turns around, or will Europe acknowledge it has had enough and shifts its strategic, and trade, focus from west (speaking of the TTIP, Germany’s agriculture minister just said “We can’t protect every sausage” referring to the TTIP) to east? Considering just whose interests are represented by the unelected bureaucrats in Brussels, we won’t be holding our breath. |
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The Power Of “Nyet” – How One Word Staggered Imperial Washingtonby Tyler Durden Jul 29, 2016 http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-28/power-nyet-how-one-word-staggered-imperial-washington The way things are supposed to work on this planet is like this: in the United States, the power structures (public and private) decide what they want the rest of the world to do. They communicate their wishes through official and unofficial channels, expecting automatic cooperation. If cooperation is not immediately forthcoming, they apply political, financial and economic pressure. If that still doesn’t produce the intended effect, they attempt regime change through a color revolution or a military coup, or organize and finance an insurgency leading to terrorist attacks and civil war in the recalcitrant nation. If that still doesn’t work, they bomb the country back to the stone age. This is the way it worked in the 1990s and the 2000s, but as of late a new dynamic has emerged.
In the beginning it was centered on Russia, but the phenomenon has since spread around the world and is about to engulf the United States itself. It works like this: the United States decides what it wants Russia to do and communicates its wishes, expecting automatic cooperation. Russia says “Nyet.” The United States then runs through all of the above steps up to but not including the bombing campaign, from which it is deterred by Russia’s nuclear deterrent. The answer remains “Nyet.” One could perhaps imagine that some smart person within the US power structure would pipe up and say: “Based on the evidence before us, dictating our terms to Russia doesn’t work; let’s try negotiating with Russia in good faith as equals.” And then everybody else would slap their heads and say, “Wow! That’s brilliant! Why didn’t we think of that?” But instead that person would be fired that very same day because, you see, American global hegemony is nonnegotiable. And so what happens instead is that the Americans act baffled, regroup and try again, making for quite an amusing spectacle.
The whole Edward Snowden imbroglio was particularly fun to watch. The US demanded his extradition. The Russians said: “Nyet, our constitution forbids it.” And then, hilariously, some voices in the West demanded in response that Russia change its constitution! The response, requiring no translation, was “Xa-xa-xa-xa-xa!” Less funny is the impasse over Syria: the Americans have been continuously demanding that Russia go along with their plan to overthrow Bashar Assad. The unchanging Russian response has been: “Nyet, the Syrians get to decide on their leadership, not Russia, and not the US.” Each time they hear it, the Americans scratch their heads and… try again. John Kerry was just recently in Moscow, holding a marathon “negotiating session” with Putin and Lavrov. Above is a photo of Kerry talking to Putin and Lavrov in Moscow a week or so ago and their facial expressions are hard to misread. There’s Kerry, with his back to the camera, babbling away as per usual. Lavrov’s face says: “I can’t believe I have to sit here and listen to this nonsense again.” Putin’s face says: “Oh the poor idiot, he can’t bring himself to understand that we’re just going to say ‘nyet’ again.” Kerry flew home with yet another “nyet.”  Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov
The corrosive psychological effect of “nyet” on the American hegemonic psyche cannot be underestimated. If you are supposed to think and act like a hegemon, but only the thinking part still works, then the result is cognitive dissonance. If your job is to bully nations around, and the nations can no longer be bullied, then your job becomes a joke, and you turn into a mental patient. The resulting madness has recently produced quite an interesting symptom: some number of US State Department staffers signed a letter, which was promptly leaked, calling for a bombing campaign against Syria in order to overthrow Bashar Assad. These are diplomats. Diplomacy is the art of avoiding war by talking. Diplomats who call for war are not being exactly… diplomatic. You could say that they are incompetent diplomats, but that wouldn’t go far enough (most of the competent diplomats left the service during the second Bush administration, many of them in disgust over having to lie about the rationale for the Iraq war). The truth is, they are sick, deranged non-diplomatic warmongers. Such is the power of this one simple Russian word that they have quite literally lost their minds.
But it would be unfair to single out the State Department. It is as if the entire American body politic has been infected by a putrid miasma. It permeates all things and makes life miserable. In spite of the mounting problems, most other things in the US are still somewhat manageable, but this one thing—the draining away of the ability to bully the whole world—ruins everything. It’s mid-summer, the nation is at the beach. The beach blanket is moth-eaten and threadbare, the beach umbrella has holes in it, the soft drinks in the cooler are laced with nasty chemicals and the summer reading is boring… and then there is a dead whale decomposing nearby, whose name is “Nyet.” It just ruins the whole ambiance!
The media chattering heads and the establishment politicos are at this point painfully aware of this problem, and their predictable reaction is to blame it on what they perceive as its ultimate source: Russia, conveniently personified by Putin. “If you aren’t voting for Clinton, you are voting for Putin” is one recently minted political trope. Another is that Trump is Putin’s agent. Any public figure that declines to take a pro-establishment stance is automatically labeled “Putin’s useful idiot.” Taken at face value, such claims are preposterous. But there is a deeper explanation for them: what ties them all together is the power of “nyet.” A vote for Sanders is a “nyet” vote: the Democratic establishment produced a candidate and told people to vote for her, and most of the young people said “nyet.” Same thing with Trump: the Republican establishment trotted out its Seven Dwarfs and told people to vote for any one of them, and yet most of the disenfranchised working-class white people said “nyet” and voted for Snow White the outsider.
It is a hopeful sign that people throughout the Washington-dominated world are discovering the power of “nyet.” The establishment may still look spiffy on the outside, but under the shiny new paint there hides a rotten hull, with water coming in though every open seam. A sufficiently resounding “nyet” will probably be enough to cause it to founder, suddenly making room for some very necessary changes. When that happens, please remember to thank Russia… or, if you insist, Putin. |
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From Rabbi Lazer Brody’s Lazer Beams website:Uman, Ukraine and Geula06 May 2014 http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2014/05/ukraine-and-geula.html According to Breslever tradition, the annual gathering of Breslever Chassidim in Uman on Rosh Hashana and the Geula, the full and final redemption of our people, are closely intertwined. Hashem gave Rebbe Nachman both secrets. Consequently, Rebbe Nachman said before his death that we should all come to Uman on Rosh Hashana. He also said that his fire shall burn until the coming of Moshiach. That could be ever so close, as many of today’s spiritual leaders are saying. Let’s see what’s happening now in the Ukraine:
 Map: Ukraine 9 May 2014
Double-click on the above map of the Ukraine to view it enlarged and more clearly The red circle in the center of the map is Uman, the site where Rebbe Nachman of Breslev is buried. Uman is slightly north of the imaginary line, which I drew in blue, that separates the northwestern pro-Ukraine half of the Ukraine from the southeastern pro-Russia side of the Ukraine. The purple box at the bottom right is the Crimean Peninsula, which has already been annexed by Russia. The black boxes indicate places where violence has already erupted on a large scale.
According to Reuters, the Ukraine is quickly slipping into a civil war. Few would have believed that several days ago, but since 42 people were killed in Odessa this past Friday, violence has been spreading fast. Odessa is a mere 2.5 hour drive from Uman.
People have been writing and asking what will be with Uman this Rosh Hashana. As it is, the USA and Germany have already issued travel restrictions to the Ukraine. Israel has not at this point. Flights are on schedule between Kiev and Tel Aviv, and every day, new immigrants from the Ukraine are arriving in Israel in growing numbers.
I can’t verbally explain how, but my heart tells me that the unrest in the Ukraine is closely tied to the Geula. Interestingly, Uman is the pivot point between the two sides. If the hostilities blow over, then we’ll certainly be in Uman on Rosh Hashana. And if the Ukraine is ablaze, with travel there impossible, then it means that we’ll hopefully celebrate this coming Rosh Hashana in our rebuilt Holy Temple in Jerusalem, amen! – See more at: http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2014/05/ukraine-and-geula.html#sthash.RobVSbZL.dpuf From Zero Hedge.com
Guest Post: How Can You Tell Whether Russia Has Invaded Ukraine?Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/02/2014 Submitted by Dmitry Orlov via ClubOrlov blog, http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-09-02/guest-post-how-can-you-tell-whether-russia-has-invaded-ukraine
Last Thursday the Ukrainian government, echoed by NATO spokesmen, declared that the the Russian military is now operating within Ukraine’s borders. Well, maybe it is and maybe it isn’t; what do you know? They said the same thing before, most recently on August 13, and then on August 17, each time with either no evidence or fake evidence. But let’s give them the benefit of the doubt.
You be the judge. I put together this helpful list of top ten telltale signs that will allow you to determine whether indeed Russia invaded Ukraine last Thursday, or whether Thursday’s announcement is yet another confabulation. (Credit to Roman Kretsul).
Because if Russia invaded on Thursday morning, this is what the situation on the ground would look like by Saturday afternoon.
Armed with this list, you too should be able to determine whether or not Russia has invaded Ukraine last Thursday. |
From Rabbi Lazer Brody’s Lazer Beams website:Kansas City and the Red Sea20April2014 lazer_beams/2014/04/kansas-city-and-the-red-sea.html In the aftermath of the Kansas City killings at the local JCC, the National Council of Young Israel are now taking all types of security precautions. Is Frazier Glenn Cross is a lone phenomena? It doesn’t seem that way; the mayor of his town agrees with him. If they’d listen carefully to our spiritual leaders, who don’t want to be alarmists, our brothers and sisters outside of Israel be rethinking any plans to continue living outside of Israel.
 Rav Yehuda Zev Leibowitz’s Third Prediction Over two years ago, I wrote about the legacy of Rabbi Shalom Arush’s spiritual guide and teacher, Rabbi Yehuda Zev Leibowitz of saintly and blessed memory. Rabbi Yehuda Zev (image, right), according to true Kabbalists who stay far away from the limelight, was one of the 36 hidden tzaddikim of the generation. Before he died, he told Rav Shalom 3 things; the first two have materialized fully already: 1. Uprisings and infighting is still sweeping through the Arab countries, as he said; 2. Bibi has not been able to attack Iran as he said. I never wanted to reveal the third thing he said, but for the last two years, I’ve been urging people to make aliya. I keep debating with myself about whether to reveal #3. With Moshiach so close, it’s probably time, for it could save lives. Rav Yehuda Zev said that American Jews would targeted and attacked. He used more emphatic language.
Our people crossed the Red Sea to freedom on the 7th day of Passover. Our brethren in North America and everywhere else should start thinking seriously about crossing the Atlantic and coming home to Eretz Yisrael. Have a wonderful week and a good Yomtov. |
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From Rabbi Lazer Brody’s Lazer Beams website:Donetsk: Nuremburg Laws with a Russian Accent17 April 2014  Ukraine-Donetsk Jewish property registration fee Donetsk. This is a name that could end up being Nuremburg revisited. Suppose you’re watching a boxing match between a rapist and a murderer. Who do you cheer for? I would cheer for both, hoping that they’d knock each other out simultaneously…
One cannot walk a single meter in the Ukraine without stepping on ground that’s soaked with Jewish blood. A third of our people lost there lives in the uprisings of 1648-49, the Cossack rebellion of 1768 and intermittent pogroms that continued until the Soviet Revolution.
Hitler could not have accomplished what he did without the cooperation of the vehemently anti-Semitic Ukraine population.
So, don’t shed a tear for the Ukraine, which is on the verge of a civil war. Before Moshiach comes, Hashem is systematically giving each nation what it deserves.
As for the Russians, maybe they didn’t kill Jewish bodies like Hitler and the Ukrainian Cossacks did, but they killed millions of Jewish souls, waging their seventy-year war against Torah and Judaism while the Communists were in power from 1921-1991. Don’t think the Russian on the street loves Jews any more than the Communists did.
The Russian nationalists who have taken over the Donetsk region in the Eastern Ukraine yesterday disturbed the sanctity of Pesach prayers in the local synagogue to pass an official leaflet demanding Donetsk Jews to register, declare their property, or be deported. This is something that the civilized world should not tolerate for a moment, yet it’s no surprise. We now see the pro-Russian militias – none other than KGB operatives – in all their disgusting ugliness. The Russians and the Ukraines deserve each other.
We pray for the welfare of our Jewish brethren in Donetsk. I for one call them to make Aliya immediately and not wait until they’re herded into a ghetto.
Historically, whenever there was war between Poland, the Ukraine and Russia, the Jews were caught in the middle and killed by both sides.
Gunte, the Cossack who murdered Uman’s 33,000 Jewish martyrs in 1768, is celebrated as a Ukrainian national hero.
The Jews of the Ukraine should leave en masse and come to Israel immediately. Donetsk is only the beginning. Brothers and sisters, it’s time to come home and be free. Time is running out. Don’t stay in your 21st Century version of Egypt. No wonder this is happening during Pesach. We’re waiting for you with open arms.
– See more at: http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2014/04/donetsk-nuremburg-laws-with-a-russian-accent.html#sthash.DR28edE7.dpuf |
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From Rabbi Lazer Brody’s Lazer Beams website:Svoboda: Another State Department Bad Bet24April2014 http://www.lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2014/04/svoboda-another-state-department-bad-bet.html Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20140503105533/http://www.lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2014/04/svoboda-another-state-department-bad-bet.html  International Neo Nazi Fund
 Victoria Nulland meets with Svoboda neo-nazis
The Israeli media reports that the USA is really pieved about Israel’s failure to condemn Russia about the Crimean annexation and recent tension in Eastern Ukraine.
I’m sharply critical about our current government in Israel for a long list of reasons, but they did do one thing right: they didn’t vote in favor of the USA’s condemnation of Russia in the UN.
The facts on the ground are that, according to the highly authoratative Global Research Center, the USA has spent over $5 billion to install an extreme right-wing government in the Ukraine, while giving support and legitimacy to the neo-Nazi Svoboda Party. This is not hearsay, for the facts have been confirmed by US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland.
Don’t shed a tear for the Ukraine. Antisemitism there is getting worse by the minute. In recent days alone, the grave of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s brother has been desecrated and a synagogue firebombed. Try Googling “Ukraine Antisemitism”, and see how many millions of results you get in less than a quarter of a second. What’s so disgusting is that the current forces behind the perpetrators of hate crimes against the Ukrainian Jews is the United States State Department. This is the same State Department that supported the Moslem Brotherhood in Egypt and supports Al Qaida in Syria. How do you like where your tax dollars are going, America? Yet, we look at everything in the world through eyes of emuna. Like everything else in the world, the chaos in the Ukraine is also from Hashem. How much more must Hashem shout at our brethern in the Jew-hating Ukraine to leave there right away? Why a Ukrainian Jew remains for another 5 minutes in the Ukraine is beyond my comprehension. It’s time to get out of there and to come home to the only true home a Jew has on earth – the Land of Israel. – See more at: http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2014/04/svoboda-another-state-department-bad-bet.html#sthash.9pOJBx6K.dpuf |
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American CIA provocation starts trouble for the Jews
Donetsk leaflet: Jews must register or face deportationFear in Donetsk’s Jewish community as armed men hand out leaflet on Passover eve calling on Jews to register their religion and property with the interim pro-Russian government or face deportation and loss of citizenship.Michal Margalit| Published: 16April2014 , 23:48 https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4510688,00.html A leaflet distributed in Donetsk, Ukraine calling for all Jews over 16 years old to register their religion marred the Jewish community’s Passover festivities Monday (Passover eve), causing concern among the Jewish community.
The leaflet demanded the city’s Jews supply a detailed list of all the property they own, or else have their citizenship revoked, face deportion and see their assets confiscated.
Donetsk, a Ukraine province with 4.3 million people – 10 percent of Ukraine’s population – and 17,000 Jews, is home to much of the country’s heavy industry, and is thus the biggest prize of the eastern regions where pro-Russian separatists have captured government buildings in the past week.
The leaflet, signed by the Chairman of Donetsk’s temporary government Denis Pushilin, was distrbiuted to Jews near the Donetsk synagogue and later in other areas of the city where pro-Russians activists have declared Donetsk as an independent “people’s republic”, defying an ultimatum from Kiev to surrender.
Related stories:
The leaflet was written in Russian and had Russia’s national symbol on it, as well as the Donetsk People’s Republic insignia.
“Dear Ukraine citizens of Jewish nationality,” the flyer began, “due to the fact that the leaders of the Jewish community of Ukraine supported Bendery Junta,” a reference to Stepan Bandera, the leader of the Ukrainian nationalist movement which fought for Ukrainian independence at the end of World War II, “and oppose the pro-Slavic People’s Republic of Donetsk, (the interim government) has decided that all citizens of Jewish descent, over 16 years of age and residing within the republic’s territory are required to report to the Commissioner for Nationalities in the Donetsk Regional Administration building and register.”
The leaflet detailed what type of documents the Jewish citizens would need to supply: “ID and passport are required to register your Jewish religion, religious documents of family members, as well as documents establishing the rights to all real estate property that belongs to you, including vehicles.”
If the message was not made clear enough, the leaflet further stipulated the consequences that would come to those who failed to abide by the new demands: “Evasion of registration will result in citizenship revoke and you will be forced outside the country with a confiscation of property.”
To add insult to injury, the leaflet demanded the Jews pay a registration fee of $50.
Ukraine-Donetsk Jewish property registration fee The leaflet demanding the Jews to register their nationality or face deportation (Photo: Olga Reznikova)According to Alex Tenzer, a Kiev native and one of the directors of the National Association of Immigrants from the Former USSR in Israel, said: “The Jewish-Ukrainian leadership supports Ukraine’s new government, but it’s hard to tell whether the leaflet is valid or simply a provocation.
“Anyway, the material is very anti-Semitic and reminds me of the kind of material distributed by the Nazis in WWII.”
Emanuelle Shechter, from Israel, received a copy of the leaflet via Whatsapp from his friends in Donetsk. “They told me that masked men were waiting for Jewish people after the Passover evening prayer, handed them the flyer and told them to obey its instructions.”
Olga Reznikova, a member of Donetsk’s Jewish community, told Ynet that “We do not know if the leaflet was spread by pro-Russian forces or someone else, but it did manage to create quite a fear. This reminds me of texts from darker times. Other members of the Jewish community I spoke with are not afraid, but it is unpleasant.”
“I do not intend to register, I am 32, I have lived in Donetsk my entire life and have never had to deal with anti-Semitism until I laid eyes on this piece of paper. Though I take it very seriously, I am uncertain of its authenticity,” said Reznikova.
 Ukrainian soldiers and pro-Russians activists in Donetsk (Photo EPA)
Jenia from Israel, who also received the letter from a Jewish acquaintance, said “the Jews in Donetsk are uncertain of anything; it is unclear who is responsible for the leaflet and who controls the city at the moment.
“We don’t feel safe like we used to because of the political instability in the area; there isn’t a legitimate president or sovereign. Currently Donetsk is ruled by a junta.”
In a response to a request by a Ukrainian Jewish website, Pushilin, the interim government’s regional chairman, confirmed that the flyers were distributed by his organization, but denied any connection to the leaflet’s content.
פרסום ראשון: 04.16.14, 23:48< From Israel Matzav
The flyer may have been fake, but the fire was realMonday, April 21, 2014 http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-flyer-may-have-been-fake-but-fire.html?gl=us A Ukrainian synagogue was set on fire by two firebombs around 2:00 am on Saturday (Hat Tip: MFS – The Other News).
Let’s go to the videotape. Synagogue in Nikolaev, Ukraine – firebombYisrolik Gottlib April 20, 2014 From Zero Hedge.com
Donetsk “Letter To Jews” Found To Be A ForgerySubmitted by Tyler Durden on 04/20/2014 https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-04-20/donetsk-letter-jews-found-be-forgery In the days before the Geneva “de-escalation” conference (and coincidentally, days after the secret visit of CIA director Brennan to Kiev), the top story across western media was the “undisputed” proof that east-Ukraine, populated by “terrorist separatists”, is preparing to unleash a neo-nazi wave against local jews, when a leaflet was unveiled, beckoning the Jewish population to register and declare their assets. Ukraine-Donetsk Jewish property registration fee The USA Today promptly reported (joined by CBS and CNN): “Jews emerging from a synagogue say they were handed leaflets that ordered the city’s Jews to provide a list of property they own and pay a registration fee “or else have their citizenship revoked, face deportation and see their assets confiscated,” reported Ynet News, Israel’s largest news website, and Ukraine’s Donbass news agency.”
Odd because as the same USA Today further reported, “Olga Reznikova, 32, a Jewish resident of Donetsk, told Ynet she never experienced anti-Semitism in the city until she saw this leaflet.” Perversely, even the local Jewish community issued a statement saying the leaflet distribution “smells like a provocation.” The chief rabbi of nearby Dnipropetrovsk, Shmuel Kaminezki said, “Everything must be done to catch them.” So the bottom line, namely that this was merely a provocation designed to generate a kneejerk emotional response from the west and paint the pro-Russia militia as neo-nazis and generally, as fascists (even though it was the ultra nationalist Right Sector that was instrumental in the overthrow of the Yanukovich government) was clear to most – even the population that was seemingly being targeted. But not to John Kerry. “Secretary of State John Kerry said the language of the leaflets “is beyond unacceptable” and condemned whomever is responsible.”
“The real deal”… with the small exception that they were forged, in everything from the photoshopped stamp, to the fact that the person who allegedly signed the leaflets, Denis Pushilin – the Chair of the recently created Donetsk republic – explicitly stated he had nothing to do with this attempt to rile up anti-semitic sentiment in Donetsk. Of course, with the CIA operating freely in Kiev, and having been rather instrumental in the establishment of the current political regime (as it did in the US-foreign policy “success stories” of Libya and Egypt), one can be sure that the provocations will only gets more grotesque, surreal and most likely, violent from this point onward./td> |
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Across the USA, Jews urged not to walk home from synagogue aloneApril 20, 2014 http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2014/04/oh-my-across-usa-jews-urged-not-to-walk.html  Welcome To Teaneck We’d rather be in Israel but you know parnassa In an unprecedented move, the National Council of Young Israel has urged American Jews not to walk home from synagogue alone on the two final days of the Passover holiday.
In America? |
From breslev.co.ilAnti-Semites: In Their Own Wordshttp://www.breslev.co.il/articles/society/current_affairs/anti_semites__in_their_own_words.aspx?id=26038&language=english By: Ari Davidson During Passover, the Bloomberg news site ran a story with the headline, “Ukrainian Jews Seek Extra Security After Anti-Semitic Incident.” The article reported that the Jewish community of the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetskrequested increased police protection. Chief Rabbi Pinchas Vyshedski was quoted saying that the Jews of Donetsk were “not comfortable” with the current rise of nationalism in Ukraine.
And for good reason. It was just two daysafter five men in ski masks handed out leaflets in front of a synagogue ordering all Jews over 16 to register themselves and their assets with pro-Russian separatists (and pay a $50 fee) or face deportation, loss of citizenship and confiscation of their property.
Though the decree for Jews to register turned out not to be real, the targeting of Ukrainian Jews was very real. And it hit a raw nerve for Jews living in a country with a centuries-rich tradition of targeting and killing Jews.
Yet what made this Bloomberg story especially interesting is that it revealed an ugly eruption of anti-Semitism not just in Ukraine — but also in America.
To be clear, it wasn’t the article itself that revealed this; it was the comments section that followed the article. Unexpectedly, much of the American reaction to this story was alarmingly anti-Semitic.
Rather than supporting the Ukrainian Jews who were terrorized and forced to relive a Holocaust-era nightmare, many of the comments to the story attacked Jews and exposed a virulent brand of anti-Semitism that’s very much alive in America. The comments, filled with libel and hate, seemed to briefly turn a mainstream news website into a forum for neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
Here, then, are just a few eye-opening samples of the many anti-Semitic comments to this news story on Bloomberg. These are all verbatim, complete with typos, grammatical errors, lies and rage. * * * John Schilling If Ukraine can get rid of their jooz, they’ll have a chance at a decent country…without all the financial spider-webbing that comes with theKikes. C. Adkins The Jews don’t need extra security, they’re not special. WagTheDawg Simply a slimy trick by the Israeli arm of the CIA to embarrass the Russians. Ignore it. mrbarry Proving that Jews will do anything for power and money …the scum sucking parasite chameleons of the world Guest When not stealing or buggering gentile children, always so eager to play the victim’s card. Meanwhile, they continue their stealth campaign against Muslims and Christians. JeffS Here’s my long list of countries who are happy that Jews live within their borders. * Crickets * PCisDangerous Huh… Jews uncomfortable with nationalism. Imagine that. Apartheid is alive and well in israel. Larry Martin Indeed. Almost *every* war the US has fought was a proxy war for the Jews, or was at least engineered by them behind the scenes. And the whole world is tired of it. Robert Trip The Jewish controlled media made sure it’s on the front page or the top story all across our country. Totally irrational. Anchor Babe Surprise…surprise….the Jews are making it all about themselves. hihellothere Why is it that the joos are always whining about something or other, while they wreck nations, corrupt the politicians and foul impressionable minds with pornography and propaganda? “The jew cries out in pain as he strikes you.” CQeY0bAz2NNe The Jews are up to their old tricks again. G21 The Jews’ war against our sacred Constitution must cease. EdG1955 Perhaps Ukraine should follow the Israeli model of civilized behavior and set up partitioned areas for Jews. Areas which are then systematically eviscerated as non-Jewish settlements are built one after another. WhatUSaid? Oh lord….Jews are threatened….that will send us into war against Putin! Because as we all know…Jews are the ONLY people to ever suffer in this world! Please…. It’s almost over It starts a war every time. Say anything against the Jews and its war…but only the Gentiles go fight though, not the Jews in Amerika! Isn’t that interesting? Tom Smith Where was the protection for America when the jews sold us out. BRING OUR SONS HOME FREE US FROM THE JEWISH JIHAD Brad What about the 8 million Ukrainians the Jewish Soviet commissars starved to death in the Holodomor? ThothAmon Oy vey! It’s anutha shoah!!! We must file a suit for our shekels. Matthew Bailey The Israel lobby exerts an influence far in excess of what it should do. Israel controls American foreign policy. The ability for foreign backed lobbyists from any nation to bribe politicians and exert excessive influence on domestic and foreign policy needs to be addressed peter the great I believe those knock out games were Jewish propaganda spread by Jewish media to gain christian sympathy of jews. Everybody in the world is waking up to your lies and soon you will pay dearly for your crimes against humanity. You are the cancer and we are the cure Frank Lee Jews will do anything to fan the flames of “antisemitism”. They managed to start WW2, so why shouldn’t they be stirring the pot in Ukraine? They are shameless, and will do anything to keep the myth of the Holohoax live. * * * This eruption of anti-Semitism on a mainstream news site should not be ignored or dismissed as merely the ravings of unemployed, frustrated loners still living in their mothers’ homes. These words of hate can easily materialize into violence. As Dr. Moshe Kantor, the president of the European Jewish Congress, recently said, “It is often easy to ignore such types of anti-Semitism because there are usually no direct victims, no physical harm ….However, we received a stark lesson [a few] weeks ago in Kansas City that there are many dangerous anti-Semites out there who just need the trigger and the opportunity to transfer their hate speech into violent action.”
If the dozens (or more) of anti-Semites who expressed hatred and even violent language against the Jews on a Bloomberg news article can be viewed as a viable focus group, this is indeed a wake-up call for Jews in America. It shows us anti-Semitism can pop up anywhere. And it reminds us that the anti-Semitic speech that evolved into large-scale violence throughout Jewish history can easily happen here in America in our own time — and that the only home Jews really have on earth is Israel. |
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Field of Vision – A Night at the Garden from Field of Vision on Vimeo. In 1939, 20,000 Americans rallied in New York’s Madison Square Garden to celebrate the rise of Nazism — an event largely forgotten from U.S. history. A NIGHT AT THE GARDEN, made entirely from archival footage filmed that night, transports audiences to this chilling gathering and shines a light on the power of demagoguery and anti-Semitism in the United States. Directed by Marshall Curry See more from Field of Vision here: fieldofvision.org For more on the rally, read a Q&A with Marshall Curry here: Comment: Philip K. Dick’s “Man in the High Castle” was correct. |
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 The Present — October 24, 2020 America of the 1930s saw thousands of people become NaziPaul Ratner https://bigthink.com/the-present/thousands-of-nazis-held-big-rallies-in-america-less-than-100-years-ago/ Nazi supporters held huge rallies and summer camps for kids throughout the United States in the 1930s.
Having radical fringe groups tearing at the seams of America is not a new phenomenon. Less than a 100 years ago, the Nazis were gathering for big rallies on U.S. soil, running youth camps, their numbers growing by tens of thousands.
In the America of the 1930s, pro-Hitler groups like The Friends of New Germany carried out propaganda and intimidation campaigns to disseminate the National Socialist agenda. Their members wore uniforms, consisting of a white shirt and black trousers for men, topped by a black hat with a red symbol. Female attire included a white blouse and a black skirt.
In 1936, the Amerikadeutscher Volksbund, or German American Bund, was created as “an organization of patriotic Americans of German stock.” They ran around 20 camps for youth and training, eventually establishing 70 regional divisions around the nation.
The ostensible goal of the German American Bund was to represent Americans of German descent but its true objective was to promote the views of Nazi Germany. The Bund played into the growing “America First” stance that sought to keep the U.S. out of World War 2, while amplifying its racist messages.  A Bund parade in New York, October 30, 1939. Credit: Library of Congress A Bund parade in New York, October 30, 1939. Credit: Library of Congress One of the most astonishing events held by the Bund was the “Americanization” rally it held at Madison Square Garden in New York on February 20th, 1939. The event, attended by 20,000 people, consisted of railing against Jewish conspiracies, President Roosevelt and similar sentiment. While speaking, the leader (Bundesführer) of the organization, Fritz Julius Kuhn (a chemical engineer by trade), spewed anti-Semitism, calling the President “Frank D. Rosenfield” while describing his New Deal as a “Jew Deal”. He referred to the U.S government as a whole as “Bolshevik-Jewish” and kept attacking the press and American culture as being run by the Jews.
The rally featured a giant banner of George Washington, as the speakers tried to link the event to his birthday and supposed non-interventionist positions.
Huge crowds of up to 100,000 people comprising of anti-Nazi protestors also came to make their voices heard at this event, but were held back by 1,700 New York police officers.
For chilling footage and more on the Manhattan rally, check out the Academy Award-nominated short documentary film A Night at the Garden: Field of Vision – A Night at the Garden from Field of Vision on Vimeo. Besides the rallies—there were many held throughout the ’30s—one of the main efforts to inculcate Nazi ideology in America took place in summer camps.
Audrey Amidon from the National Archives shared the significance of the camps in her interview with Gizmodo:
“The summer camps, complete with the official uniforms and banners of the Hitler Youth, might be the most visual and chilling example of the [Bund’s] attempts to instill Nazi sympathies in German-American children,” said Amidon.
The camps had boys and girls from 8 to 18, most often the children or grandchildren of German immigrants. Nearly a quarter of all U.S. citizens was of German descent in the 1930s, but the vast majority of them did not support Nazi ideology.
Along with usual activities you might find at a summer camp, the kids who attended were taught about Hitler’s racial ideas, dressed in Nazi-esque uniforms, practiced drills and addressed higher-ups with Hitler salutes.
One prominent such camp was Camp Siegfried, in the Yaphank hamlet on Long Island. The town regularly held Nazi parades, while its streets were named after Hitler and his top brass like Goebbels.  Postcards from Camp Siegfried Credit-Herald Tribune Credit: Herald Tribune  Postcards from Camp Siegfried Credit Unknown Postcards from Camp Siegfried Credit: Unknown The Bund’s activities obviously wound down as the U.S. entered World War 2, with many of their leaders eventually arrested as enemy agents. For more striking fascist Bund camp footage, check out this home movie: 1930s AMERICAN FASCIST BUND CAMP HOME MOVIE BERGWALD NEW JERSEY 901206March2021 PeriscopeFilm In early 1941 the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided a camp run by the American Bund at Bergwald, New Jersey. This camp was operated by the German American League, a group of American fascists and based around the idea of the so-called “Nazi Youth” camps in Germany. Among the items confiscated by the FBI to be used as evidence against camp founders was this reel of silent 16mm home movies which reveal activities in the camp. As you can see in the footage, children at the camp were taught Nazi ideology and went through many of the same routines as their German counterparts, including marching, bonfire events, and even Seig Heil’ing and singing of patriotic German songs. The majority of the campers were children or grandchildren of German immigrants and naturalized American citizens who were part of the Bund. This camp and others like it closed after the leader of the German Bund, Fritz Kuhn, was arrested and imprisoned after being charged with embezzlement. The arrest followed an investigation spearheaded by New York’s Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, and eventually it led to Kuhn’s loss of citizenship and deportation to Germany in 1945. He died in Munich in 1951. The German American Bund (German: Amerikadeutscher Bund), also known as the German American Federation was a pro-National Socialist organization established in the United States March 29, 1936. Often derided in the press as America’s Brownshirts, the organization was the successor of an earlier German American group, Friends of New Germany, which had a large number of non-American German nationals as its members. The Bund had strong ideological ties to the New Germany however there has never been any evidence National Socialist Germany ever financed the group. According to the Justice Department the Bund had its largest membership of 8500 in 1937-1938. Around this same time undercover reporters from the Chicago Daily Times who infiltrated the Bund for six months estimated their membership to be 20,000. One of the Chicago reporters John C. Metcalfe believed 90 percent of German Americans did not support the organization or its activities. The German American Bund slogan was “Free America!” German-American Vocational League, Inc., also known as Deutsch – Amerikanische Berufsgemeinschaft (DAB), was a German-American social and trade union associated with the German Labor Front in National Socialist Germany. In 1936 the German American Vocational League was created and became a subsidiary of the German American Bund. The DAB grew from the German-American Commercial League, Inc. which was incorporated in New York in 1928. The DAB maintained active branches in Rochester, Newark, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. They had 2,000 members throughout the country. These branches were used as propaganda outlets to the American people in praising National Socialism and promoting isolationism. Several of the leaders of the DAB were indicted and later convicted as being in unregistered agents of the New Germany. We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.” This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com JerusalemCats Addendum: Clip from the 1939 movie Confessions of a Nazi SpyThat was actor Ward Bond who portrayed the American Legionnaire who speaks out against the Bund at the meeting. He was uncredited in the film. The scene is based on an incident when 30 American Legionnaires were assaulted at a meeting of the German-American Bund in 1939 in New York after they protested against Nazism. The American Legion is a patriotic veterans organization that was founded by soldiers of the American Expeditionary Force in Paris, France in 1919. They stood up to both fascists and communists as threats to democracy in the 1930s and 1940s. The German-American Bund or Amerikadeutsche Volksbund had pro-Nazi youth organizations similar to the Hitler Jugend and Bund Deutsche Madels. They had a uniformed paramiltary organization called the Ordnungsdienst or OD, modeled on the NSDAP’s brownshirted Sturmabteliungen (SA) or Stormtroopers. The Bund established a number of training camps, including Camp Nordland in Sussex County, New Jersey, Camp Siegfried in Yaphank, New York, Camp Hindenburg in Grafton, Wisconsin, Deutschhorst Country Club in Sellersville, Pennsylvania, Camp Bergwald in Bloomingdale, New Jersey, and Camp Highland up in Windham, New York. The Bund held rallies with Nazi insignia and procedures such as the Hitler salute and attacked the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jewish-American groups, Communism, “Moscow-directed” trade unions and American boycotts of German goods.The organization claimed to show its loyalty to America by displaying the flag of the United States alongside the flag of Nazi Germany at Bund meetings, and declared that George Washington was “the first Fascist” who did not believe democracy would work. They held a massive rally of 20,000 people in old Madison Square Garden, New York City in February 20, 1939. It petered out after their leader, Fritz Kuhn, got indicted and convicted of embezzling $14,000 in Bund funds for his mistress. America’s entry into the Second World War ended their activities once and for all. |
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American supporters of the European Fascistshttp://www.rationalrevolution.net/war/american_supporters_of_the_europ.htm  Charles Lindbergh attending Nazi party in Berlin – 1935 A number of prominent and wealthy American businessmen helped to support fascist regimes in Europe from the 1920s through the 1940s. These people helped to support Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War of 1936, as well as Benito Mussolini, and Adolph Hitler.
Some of the primary and more famous Americans and companies that were involved with the fascist regimes of Europe are: William Randolph Hearst, Joseph Kennedy (JFK’s father), Charles Lindbergh, John Rockefeller, Andrew Mellon (head of Alcoa, banker, and Secretary of Treasury), DuPont, General Motors, Standard Oil (now Exxon), Ford, ITT, Allen Dulles (later head of the CIA), Prescott Bush, National City Bank, and General Electric.
It should be noted that businessmen from many countries, including England and Australia, also worked with the fascist regimes of Europe prior to WWII. The fascist governments were involved in a high level of construction, production, and international business.
I.G. Farben, a German company, was the largest chemical manufacturing enterprise in the world during the early part of the 20th century. As such the company had many holdings in a variety of countries, including America. The American holdings of I.G. Farben included Bayer Co., General Aniline Works, Agfa Ansco, and Winthrop Chemical Company.
I.G. Farben was critical in the development of the German economy and war machine leading up to WWII. During this time I.G. Farben’s international holdings along with its international business contracts with companies like Standard Oil, DuPont, Alcoa, and Dow Chemical were crucial in supplying the Nazi regime with the materials needed for war as well as financial support.
The Spanish Civil War was the precursor to World War II. Fascist Francisco Franco was aided by Hitler and Mussolini during the Spanish Civil War. At this time GM, Ford, DuPont, and Standard Oil were working with Franco and supplying the fascist powers of Europe. At this same time many Americans were protesting the goings on in Europe as well as the involvement of American companies in helping the fascist powers. A group of American volunteer soldiers known as the Abe Lincoln Brigade went to Spain during this time to fight against Franco in defense of the Spanish Republic. This group was made up primarily of leftist American groups, such as members of American socialist parties and communist parties.  This Spanish Poster reads: “Greed, Militarism, War – this is fascism. Unite to destroy it.” The success of the fascists in Spain was an important first step in the building of fascist power in Europe and the stepping-stone for the Italian and German powers.
The support of American corporations, and lack of American intervention by the government, was crucial in the success of this first step.
American banks and businesses continued to support the fascist regimes of Europe legally up until the day Germany declared war on America and the activities were stopped under the Trading with the Enemy Act. Despite this, some companies and individuals still maintained a business relationship with the Third Reich. Ford and GM supplied European fascists with trucks and equipment as well as investing money in I.G. Farben plants. Standard Oil supplied the fascists with fuel. US Steel and Alcoa supplied them with critically needed metals. American banks gave them billion’s of dollars worth of loans.
The following is excerpted from a report printed by the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary in 1974:
http://www.corpwatch.org/campaigns/PCD.jsp?articleid=4368 In 1940 Graeme K. Howard, Vice President of General Motors, published America and a New World Order, in which he advised that America give full cooperation to the Nazi regime. In his book he blames FDR for causing the war in Europe and goes on to say that the fascists should be supported as the better alternative to the spread of Communism.  In 1940 Graeme K. Howard, Vice President of General Motors, published America and a New World Order
 The du Ponts helped to finance the Black Legion. The du Ponts helped to finance the Black Legion. The Black Legion was a Nazi style group supported by the du Ponts who were supporters of the Nazi movement in Germany and fanatical followers of the Third Reich. The organization was an American anti-socialist group that used violence against union leaders and union members. They have been implicated in the murder of several members of workers groups who were working in support of workers rights and benefits. The Black Legion was reported to have over 1.5 million members in the United States and was a group that was opposed to the FDR administration and was supposedly working to overthrow the administration. The Black Legion also had ties with the Ku Klux Klan, which was also a pro-Nazi group. The American Liberty League was another such organization.
For more on the Black Legion you can refer to the Federal Freedom of Information archives at: http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/blackleg.htm
William Randolph Hearst is known as one of the largest media moguls of all time. During the 1930s he worked with the Nazi party to help promote a positive image of the Nazi party in American media. He also received loans from Italian fascists bankers during this time. The actions of Hearst were an important element in shaping American sentiment about not getting involved in the political situation in Europe as many Americans were led to believe that there was nothing terribly wrong going on in Europe, and even after the war started some Americans continued to support the Nazi regime based on the propaganda that they had been exposed to through Hearst media sources.
Below is an example of what was said about the Nazis in Hearst publications, in this case the Reader’s Digest, 1933:
– Clifford Sharp, former editor of the New Statesman writing in The New Statesman and Nation. Reprinted in Readers Digest, September, 1933
Below is a copy of a 1938 article published in Better Homes and Gardens, a Hearst publication:  Better Homes and Gardens-a Hearst Publication-1938 Hitler’s Mountain Home
 Hearst and Hitler-US letter
In 1935 American Ambassador to Germany wrote to President Roosevelt about the extent of Hearst’s dealings with the Nazis. In this letter it was stated:
“For this service Hearst was to receive $200,000 a year, and he at once began to bring pressure to bear on his correspondents to give only friendly accounts of what happened in Germany.”
“…I [reporter Karl von Wiegand] learned a little later that all my reports from Germany went directly to Hearst and were re-edited so as to fit the new program.”
“…he [Hearst] at the same time sent Dosch-Fleurot here from Paris to administer the service in such a way that it would always be friendly to the Hitler regime.”
Hearst publications continued to present the fascist regimes in Europe in a positive light until America finally entered the war.
Perhaps one of the most egregious contributors to the Nazi cause was IBM under the direction of Thomas J. Watson.
 IBM’s Thomas J. Watson is decorated by Hitler for work in bettering economic relations – New York Times
IBM knowing helped to setup Nazi census databases through the use of data sorting machines that enabled the Nazis to carry out the Holocaust in a way that they would not have otherwise been able to. Point blank, IBM increased the size and scope of the Holocaust, and did it for profit. Not only this, but IBM leased the machines, which they had developed especially for the Nazis, to the regime with the intention of taking them back, “once they were finished with them”. Thomas Watson was awarded a medal by Adolph Hitler for his role in assisting in the Nazi regime, .and Watson expressed, “the necessity of extending a sympathetic understanding to the German people, and their leader Adolph Hitler.” He also expressed “the highest esteem for Hitler, his country, and his people.”
More on IBM and Thomas J. Watson can be found here: http://www.ibmandtheholocaust.com http://www.waragainsttheweak.com/ Charles Lindbergh was perhaps the most vocal and public supporter of the fascists, especially the Germans. Lindbergh was not so much a financial supporter of the Nazis, as he was a public advocate for allying with Germany to fight against Communism and promote White racial superiority. Lindbergh attended the Olympics as a guest of the Nazis and in 1938 he was given the Service Cross of the German Eagle while attending a dinner party in Berlin. He founded the America First Committee in 1940 to build opposition to FDR and FDR’s support for American entry into the war in Europe.
 Charles Lindbergh was perhaps the most vocal and public supporter of the fascists, especially the Germans After American entry into World War II Lindbergh went to work for Henry Ford as an aircraft design consultant, and then went on to Japan to support American efforts in the Pacific. This was actually against the approval of the Roosevelt administration.
Henry Ford was an avowed anti-Semite, and significant contributor to the Nazi movement in Germany.
In 1920 Ford stated: “The international financiers are behind all war. They are what is called the International Jew — German Jews, French Jews, English Jews, American Jews. I believe that in all these countries except our own the Jewish financier is supreme… Here, the Jew is a threat.
 The International Jew
In the 1920s he published The International Jew. Hitler himself ordered many copies of this book and was said to keep a copy on his desk. It is easy to see why when reading the book, because the attack on the Jews is vehement. The book states:
People today try to put all of this blame on Hitler, but it was not just Hitler, in fact the ideas of the Nazis were far more pervasive and were publicized by Henry Ford.
Why? Because he believed in an international Jewish conspiracy. Ford was more then just anti-Semitic, you can see by reading his publications that it went well beyond a matter of racism and not liking people. He viewed this, and many others did as well, as a war between the Anglo way of life and that of the Jews.
The hate that so many talk about in America today, it runs much deeper then many would imagine, and it is founded in much more substantial ideas then most would think as well.
Ford helped shape Hitler’s views on the Jews, and those of many people around he world.
At the Nuremberg Trials Baldur Von Shirach claimed that Henry Ford was the primary inspiration for his anti-Semitism.
Shirach, a former Nazi youth leader, stated: “You have no idea what a great influence this book had on the thinking of the German youth…I read Henry Ford’s book ‘The International Jewry’…and became anti-Semitic.”
http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Holocaust/verdicts.html Ford also made large personal contributions to Hitler’s political campaigns. Hitler spoke of Ford in his speeches and had a portrait of Ford in his office.
 1938 Henry Ford received the Grand Cross from Hitler
In 1938 Henry Ford received the Grand Cross of the Order of the German Eagle as a birthday present from Adolph Hitler. He was given the medal in his office in Michigan by two officials from the Third Reich, as seen below:
Ford never returned this medal, even after WWII. The head of IBM, who had also been given a medal from Hitler because he was a supporter of the Third-Reich, returned his medal after WWII, but Henry did not despite public outcry.
Overall, what is critical to recognize is that American corporations and wealthy individuals played an important part in the construction of the Nazi Empire and the various fascist groups of Europe leading up to World War II. Without American support it is doubtful that the fascist powers of Europe would have ever achieved their positions of power and been able to develop the military institutions necessary to wage the Second World War. Indeed Ford himself contributed not only monetarily but ideologically as well. It is important to note that America was still the wealthiest country in the world at that time even though America was also in a state of economic depression. Many of America’s wealthy were only mildly affected by the depression, if at all, and many of them were opposed to the FDR administration.
Important information about the ties between American businessmen and the fascist powers of Europe was communicated to FDR by the American Ambassador to Germany during the 1930s, William E. Dodd. His writings on the matter are of critical importance. He wrote about connections between Hearst and the Nazis as well as Hearst and the Italians, in addition to Nazi connections with other wealthy Americans.
This is the only internet library of the writings of William E. Dodd: http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/psf/box32/folt299.html The Diary of William E. Dodd: What is also critical to observe is that this information is not a part of standard American history. The fact that this information is not openly disclosed is very important from many perspectives. For one, how can we as a people truly learn from history if we don’t know real history? We have to know what really happened if we are to learn to really prevent it from happening again. For another, why is it that so many of America’s largest corporations and most influential political officials have direct ties to the Nazi empire?
For more information on fascism see:
Understanding Fascism and anti-Semitism For more information on fascist – American connections go to: http://www.wealth4freedom.com/Elkhorn.html http://reformed-theology.org/html/books/wall_street/ http://www.serendipity.li/wod/nsmith_forew.htm This page is a part of This War Is About So Much More which was written in March and April of 2003. This document should be read in the order that it is presented. If you are coming to this page from an outside source, such as a search engine, and you are interested in how this information relates to Operation Iraqi Freedom, then please start at the Foreword. In addition, if you have been directed here from an outside search engine then you may want to re-search this website with the same criteria because it is likely that this website contains additional information on the same topics. |
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The Secret History of the British and American Elite Who Worked for HitlerBy Janet Levy 09March2023
Susan Ronald’s meticulously researched book, Hitler’s Aristocrats: The Secret Power Players in Britain and America Who Supported the Nazis, 1923-1941, begins with a dramatis personae including lords, ladies, barons, dukes, duchesses, and many more titles. It also includes a veritable who’s who of the industrialists, businessmen, bankers, socialites, and media barons of the time from both sides of the Atlantic. But the most prominent British name on the list is Edward, Duke of Windsor, who ascended the throne in 1936 as King Edward VIII, abdicated less than a year later and, in 1937, married Wallis Simpson, an American socialite.
The first chapter describes how disappointed Joachim von Ribbentrop, the German ambassador in London, was that he would be attending the 1937 coronation of Albert (George VI) and not Edward. Edward was enchanted with Adolf Hitler and Nazism and, later in the same year, visited Germany, met Hitler, dined with Rudolf Hess, and was taken on a concentration camp tour. As World War II was nearing its end, Edward is reported to have remarked that “it would be a tragic thing for the world if Hitler is overthrown.” If Hitler won the war, Edward hoped, he could be back as a “leader” in an England that did not want him as a king.
Hitler, too, was taken with Edward. The Fuhrer obliged when, at Edward’s suggestion, the British Legion, a charity that assisted war veterans, decided to visit Germany in the spirit of friendship. The visiting veterans were dazzled with a grand reception. They dined with Heinrich Himmler and were deceived into thinking that Hitler was a man of peace. The fit prisoners they were shown at Dachau were SS men. The delegation went back singing Hitler’s praises.  Cover of Hitler’s Aristocrats: The Secret Power Players in Britain and America Who Supported the Nazis, 1923–1941, by Susan Ronald.
Lord Londenderry was another important British personage and Nazi sympathizer von Ribbentrop introduced to Hitler and top Nazis. As a member of the elite Anglo-German Group, he aimed to forge an alliance between the two countries, disseminating the German view that the Franco-Soviet pact was a valid justification for militarizing the Rhineland. At this time, most British elite believed there was nothing wrong with Neville Chamberlain appeasing Germany. Winston Churchill was the lone voice of dissent; he alone sensed the portents of war.
How did Hitler achieve such acceptance? The answer lies in the book’s epigraph, from none other than Hitler: “By the clever and continuous use of propaganda, a people can even be made to mistake heaven for hell, and vice versa.” Hitler applied it in Germany, of course, along with his oratorical skills, to channel into support for him the German public’s frustration with Germany’s defeat in the Great War and their anger at the Versailles Treaty’s punitive measures. Even more skillfully, he deployed subtle propaganda in the very countries he would later go to war with, getting his big lie accepted among the people who mattered. Well before the war began, Hitler had been creating and cultivating networks of influence—the crème of Europe, Britain, and America, who portrayed him as a man of peace; disseminated his propaganda among high society, wealthy powerbrokers, and the political class; and reported back to him. Some of the most important of them are the subject of Ronald’s book. She clarifies at the outset that there were hundreds of them, so the book cannot cover them all. To qualify as “one of my aristocrats,” she writes, they should have stridden on the international stage, “exerting their power on world events.” Her research uncovers how Hitler used the twin forces of power and propaganda to achieve his nefarious aims.
While Ronald identifies Edward the abdicator as a blueblood apologist Hitler chanced upon, she also chronicles the activities of a supportive commoner with royal pretensions who was just as fake as her name was long: Princess Stephanie Julianne zu Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst. Nevertheless, she was always “liebe Prinzessin” to Hitler, her adoring fan, and ferried messages for him, arranged meetings, and helped build useful relationships. She always denied her Jewish origins, though they were well known. For her services, she was awarded the gold medal of the Nazi party and declared an Ehrenarier or honorary Aryan.
Stephanie was a formidable woman who used wealthy men to guard her royal status and ensure her financial security. In London, she cultivated support for the Nazis among the British aristocracy and developed a friendship with Harold Harmsworth (aka the 1st Viscount Rothermere), a newspaper tycoon who owned the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror. She introduced Rothermere, one of a series of wealthy men who financed her, to Hitler’s inner circle; his papers praised the Nazi regime, acknowledging only “minor misdeeds.” Churchill wrathfully remarked, “I was disgusted by the Daily Mail’s boosting of Hitler.”
It was Stephanie who had arranged for von Ribbentrop to be made ambassador, and organized a warm reception for him in London’s social circles, intrigued at the time by the rise of the dictators—Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini. Von Ribbentrop would oblige when some society hosts and hostesses requested meetings with top Nazi hierarchs. He met the likes of Lady Astor, the Aga Khan, George Bernard Shaw, the Archbishop of Canterbury and, of course, Edward.
According to Hitler’s Aristocrats, in the U.S., the Nazi influence extended to captains of industry and finance. The list runs long: Prescott Bush, Thomas Watson of IBM, Henry Ford, Alfred Sloan, Joseph Kennedy, Charles Lindbergh, and others. Bush, a banker-politician, was linked to a New York-based investment bank that acted for German armaments manufacturer Fritz Thyssen, who later employed slave labor at Auschwitz. Bush was also linked to shell companies that helped the Nazis obtain foreign exchange to payroll war preparations. Lindbergh was awed by Germany’s post-war rejuvenation; the Nazis, in turn, feted him when he inspected aviation facilities in Germany. He attended the opening of the Berlin Olympics, sponsored by Standard Oil and Coca-Cola.
Ford, whom Hitler viewed as an inspiration, used his Dearborn Independent to espouse his Jew-hatred, knowingly printing fake quotes from the “Learned Elders of Zion” in 1923. Influenced in part by Ford’s praise of Hitler, Father Charles Coughlin, a Catholic radio priest with over 30 million listeners, advanced the view that fascism was an antidote to communism. Like Ford, he was an antisemite and criticized President Roosevelt for being friendly with Jewish bankers, whom he blamed for the Russian revolution.
The book also covers those from whom sympathy for Germany, and by association, Nazism, might be expected: immigrants, outright spies, and organizations such as the Friends of the New Germany, later called the German-American Bund. The Bund promoted Nazism through events such as a 1939 Madison Square Garden rally which criticized the allegedly malign Jewish influence on American politics.
Of these Bund members, the notable are Heinz Spanknoebel, an immigrant settled in Detroit and founder of the Friends of New Germany; Hans-Heindrich Dieckhoff, German ambassador (1937-38) to the U.S., who supervised the works of Spanknoebel; and Nikolaus Adolph Fritz Ritter, who settled in the U.S. in 1924 before returning to Germany in 1935-36 to run spy networks in America and Britain as the Nazis’ chief of air intelligence (Abwehr). One of Ritter’s recruits was Rudolph Ilgner, who, as the New York manager of the German firm I.G. Farben, conducted industrial and financial espionage for the Nazis. Other German companies, like Siemens, too, had eyes and ears in America.
Ronald has extensively researched and written on prominent people with Nazi sympathies and connections: The Ambassador, on Joseph Kennedy; A Dangerous Woman, on Florence Gould, a socialite and Nazi collaborator who later ran a money-laundering operation for Nazis in hiding; and Hitler’s Art Thief, on Hildebrand Gurlitt. Hitler’s Aristocrats, her latest work, scheduled for release on March 14, combs through the extensive networks of influence that the Nazis created—Hitler’s fifth column—and lays bare how it worked.
Now discredited and interred in the dustbin of history, that network is nevertheless a case study of the virtuoso deployment of guile in the service of abominable evil. Ronald does a masterful job of chronicling the creation and operation of that spider’s web. In doing so, she offers a cautionary tale for our times. Image: Cover of Hitler’s Aristocrats: The Secret Power Players in Britain and America Who Supported the Nazis, 1923–1941, by Susan Ronald. |
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Historian: New evidence shows FDR’s bigotry derailed many Holocaust rescue plansIn his book about Franklin Roosevelt and the Holocaust, Rafael Medoff finds links between the US president’s anti-Japanese stances and his policies against Jews fleeing HitlerBy Matt Lebovic 4 November 2019, https://www.timesofisrael.com/historian-new-evidence-shows-fdrs-bigotry-derailed-many-holocaust-rescue-plans/
 President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers a ‘fireside chat’ from the White House. (public domain) Not only was US president Franklin Roosevelt perfunctory about rescuing Jews from the Nazis, but he obstructed rescue opportunities that would have cost him little or nothing, according to Holocaust historian Rafael Medoff.
FDR’s role in preventing the rescue of European Jewry is detailed in a new book called, “The Jews Should Keep Quiet: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, and the Holocaust.”
Published in September through The Jewish Publication Society, Medoff’s book includes new archival materials about the relationship between Roosevelt and Rabbi Stephen Wise, who the author sees as a sycophantic Jewish leader used by Roosevelt to “keep the Jews quiet.”
Wrote Medoff, “Franklin Roosevelt took advantage of Wise’s adoration of his policies and leadership to manipulate Wise through flattery and intermittent access to the White House.” In return for visits to the White House and Roosevelt calling him by his first name, Wise undermined Jewish activists who demanded the administration let more Jewish refugees into the US.
According to Medoff, Roosevelt’s policies toward European Jews were motivated by sentiments similar to those that spurred him to intern 120,000 Japanese Americans in detention camps as potential spies.
“Roosevelt used almost identical language in recommending that the Jews and the Japanese be forcibly ‘spread thin’ around the country,” Medoff told The Times of Israel. “I was struck by the similarity between the language FDR used regarding the Japanese, and that which he used in private concerning Jews — that they can’t be trusted, they won’t ever become fully loyal Americans, they’ll try to dominate wherever they go.”
 ‘The Jews Should Keep Quiet,’ by Rafael Medoff During the 1920s, when Roosevelt was already a seasoned politician and a vice presidential candidate, he expressed racist views in editorials and interviews. Regarding new immigrants — and Asians in particular — he bemoaned the creation of ethnic “colonies” in major cities.
“Our main trouble in the past has been that we have permitted the foreign elements to segregate in colonies,” Roosevelt told the Brooklyn Eagle daily newspaper in a 1920 interview. “They have crowded into one district and they have brought congestion and racial prejudices to our large cities.”
During these key years before Roosevelt entered the White House, he also wrote and spoke about “the mingling of white with Oriental blood” and preserving other forms of “racial purity.” According to Medoff, all of this was part of a long-held worldview that later guided Roosevelt during his three terms in office.
“Roosevelt’s unflattering statements about Jews consistently reflected one of several interrelated notions: that is was undesirable to have too many Jews in any single profession, institution, or geographic locale; that America was by nature, and should remain, an overwhelmingly white, Protestant country; and that Jews on the whole possessed certain innate and distasteful characteristics,” wrote Medoff.  During the 1920s, members of the KKK march in Washington, DC (Public domain) Even as late in the war as 1944, when a Gallup poll found that the American public overwhelmingly approved of letting in an unlimited number of Jewish refugees, Roosevelt worked to make sure nothing of the sort took place.
“It wasn’t the public mood that set Roosevelt’s immigration policy; he could have quietly allowed the quotas to be filled without anybody knowing it,” said Medoff. “His harsh policy was a choice that he made, which emanated from his vision of what he thought America should look like.”
‘They’ll try to dominate wherever they go’Last year, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum opened an exhibition called “Americans and the Holocaust.” In many ways, Medoff’s book challenges the premises of that installation, although the exhibition is not mentioned by the author.
According to Medoff, the USHMM exhibition “distorts and minimizes Roosevelt’s abandonment of Jewish refugees during the Holocaust.” The president is depicted as having been virtually powerless to enact rescue efforts, despite overwhelming evidence the administration worked to torpedo rescue plans at nearly every opportunity, explained the author.
 Historian Rafael Medoff “[Roosevelt] would not have had to incur substantial political risks had he permitted immigration up to the limits set by US law, admitted refugees temporarily to a US territory, utilized empty Liberty ships to carry refugees, or authorized dropping bombs on Auschwitz or the railways from planes that were already flying over the camp and its environs,” wrote Medoff.
The Holocaust museum’s portrait of Roosevelt is particularly problematic, believes Medoff, because the president’s torpedoing of Jewish rescue efforts has been well-documented for several decades. Specifically, Medoff pointed to David Wyman’s seminal 1984 book, “The Abandonment of the Jews,” as well as research conducted by historians Henry Feingold and Monty Penkower.
“I’m told that the museum’s bookstore ordered only three copies [of Medoff’s new book, ‘The Jews Should Keep Quiet’],” said the author, who directs the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies. “It would be interesting to compare that to the number of copies they have ordered of books that defend Roosevelt’s response to the Holocaust.”
Asked for a response to Medoff’s take on “Americans and the Holocaust,” USHMM communications director Andrew Hollinger said the exhibition “clearly” shows instance in which Roosevelt declined to save Jews from Hitler.
 An image from the exhibition, ‘Americans and the Holocaust,’ running at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum through 2021 (courtesy) “[Rescuing Jews] was not a priority for President Roosevelt or virtually anyone else in the government, which the exhibition lays out,” Hollinger told The Times of Israel. “The exhibition clearly shows President Roosevelt led the effort to prepare America to enter the war, but never made rescuing the victims of Nazism a priority.”
The installation, said Hollinger, asks a key question: “If Americans knew so much about Nazi Germany’s persecution of Jews, why didn’t rescue become a priority?” The installation poses that question not only with regard to Roosevelt but to various sectors of the American public, said Hollinger.
“[FDR] condemned Kristallnacht but did not loosen immigration quotas despite pleas to do so,” said Hollinger. “His State Department took steps to prevent Jews and other refugees from entering the country… All of this is examined in the exhibition. I would encourage people to visit the exhibition in person or online to see it for themselves.” ‘Not to repeat the failure of their parents’During the 1930s, Roosevelt maintained trade with Nazi Germany, and his administration even helped the Germans evade the boycott against German goods that many Americans were practicing.
As detailed by Medoff in “The Jews Should Keep Quiet,” products from Germany were permitted to enter the US with misleading labels that disguised the country of origin. This helped FDR undercut the boycott movement supported by Jewish leaders and millions of other Americans.
Even after the Kristallnacht pogrom in November of 1938, Roosevelt refused to criticize the leaders of Nazi Germany. His statement about the slaughter merely called the night’s events “unbelievable,” and he declined to name the victims or perpetrators. Indeed, FDR did not issue a single statement critical of the Nazis during the first five years of Hitler’s rule.
 Synagogue in Hanover, Germany, set ablaze during the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 9-10, 1938 (public domain) In 1939, as the world went to war, Hitler broadcast his intentions to annihilate European Jewry. Simultaneously, FDR refused to support a bill that would have let 20,000 Jewish German adolescents into the US. Anne Frank and her sister Margot could have qualified to be included, since they were German citizens and under age 16, said Medoff.
Roosevelt’s determination to keep Jews away from America knew few limits, as probed in several chapters of Medoff’s book. Although it is well-known that Roosevelt turned away the St. Louis ship packed with German Jewish refugees, the president took other steps that have been omitted by most of his biographers.
For example, when the Dominican Republic made a public offer to take in 100,000 Jews on visas, the administration undermined the plan. From Roosevelt’s point of view, explained Medoff, that country was too close to home, and Jews deposited there would inevitably come to America. Officials in the US Virgin Islands, too, were willing to rescue Jews by letting them into the country, but Roosevelt halted the plan, wrote Medoff.  US president Franklin D. Roosevelt meets with the National Jewish Welfare Board — (left to right) Walter Rothschild, Chaplain Aryeh Lev, Barnett Brickner and Louis Kraft — at the White House on November 8, 1943 (public domain) When asked what Jewish leaders in the US learned from those dark years, Medoff pointed to the community’s later activism for the Jewish state and Jews endangered behind the Iron Curtain.
“Where we can really see the impact of remorse over the Holocaust is in the rise of the Soviet Jewry protest movement and pro-Israel activism by American Jews,” said Medoff. “Many of the key figures in those efforts have said they were driven by a determination not to repeat the failure of their parents’ generation to speak out during the Shoah.” |
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Not Much Help from America for Jews Caught in the HolocaustAmerican public opinion before World War II was deeply divided about what to do about Nazi Germany, and even less interested in the fate of German Jews under the Nazi regime.By Bob Bahr May 22, 2019, https://atlantajewishtimes.timesofisrael.com/not-much-help-from-america-for-jews-in-holocaust/
 Program at Atlanta’s National Center for Civil and Human Rights discussed how the media influenced public opinion in America during the Holocaust.
American public opinion before World War II was deeply divided about what to do about Nazi Germany, and even less interested in the fate of German Jews under the Nazi regime.
Those are two of the conclusions that emerge from recent examinations of the period, which were highlighted last week at a program in Atlanta, “What Were We Watching? American’s Responses through Cinema, Radio and Media.” It was presented at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in downtown Atlanta by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
The program featured Daniel Greene, a distinguished historian and curator of a major new exhibit at the Holocaust museum in Washington, “Americans and The Holocaust,” which opened last year. The exhibit details how many of the issues that America wrestled with in the Depression years of the 1930s shaped the response to the rise of Nazis. Issues such as how to cope with isolationism, racism and extremism on the left and right made it difficult for Americans to come to terms with anti-Semitism in America, much less what was happening in Europe.
Greene spoke about America’s response to Kristallnacht, the German attack on Jews in November of 1938. While Roosevelt condemned the attack and recalled America’s ambassador to Germany, he kept a firm lid on Jewish immigration to America, Greene said.
“There was no political will to liberalize the immigration system.”
In a 1939 poll, two-thirds of Americans were even against taking in any refugee children threatened with annihilation.  Eddie Cantor, the popular Jewish-American entertainer, lost his radio program’s sponsor when he spoke out about the Nazis in 1939. “It was Southern Democrats led by Sen. Robert Reynolds of North Carolina, who argued that American children had their own problems and we needed to take care of American children.”
Nor was there much interest in criticizing the racial policies of Germany. The major film studios in Hollywood, with the exception of Warner Brothers, avoided any direct criticism of Nazi Germany through the 1930s. Economic concerns about the possible loss of the lucrative German film market led many of the important Jewish producers and studio heads to avoid any direct criticism or even the use of the term, Nazi, in films of the period.
Americans could hear such famous American admirers of Adolf Hitler as Charles Lindbergh and Henry Ford blame the Jews for the world ills, but opposing voices were often muted.
Jewish American comedian and entertainer Eddie Cantor was an exception. In last week’s program in Atlanta, David Weinstein discussed his book “The Eddie Cantor Story: A Jewish Life in Performance and Politics.”
Cantor was an early and outspoken voice against the Nazi persecution of the Jews and was a frequent participant in philanthropic efforts to aid Jews in America and in Europe.
 “The Great Dictator,” starring Charlie Chaplin in 1940, was one of the few films that directly attacked Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. “Of all the major radio stars of the 1930s, he was the most outspoken both on and off the air, speaking about anti-Semitism, opposing Nazism at a time when it was very difficult to do that,” Weinstein said. “Really, in a number of areas, but especially for celebrities.”
Because of his fervid opposition to the Nazis, the sponsor of Cantor’s successful network radio program, Camel cigarettes, dropped him in 1939, which was a serious personal blow.
The event last week is part of a newly energized program by the Holocaust museum in Washington to cultivate new audiences and donors in the Southeast. The same presentation was seen in Miami in November.
A full-time office has been set up in Atlanta to bring programs like the one last week to audiences here. Next month they are sponsoring a program at the Atlanta History Center and have hired a professional public relations firm to spread the word.
The event last week at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights was co-sponsored by the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, the Georgia Commission On the Holocaust and Eternal Life-Hemshech. |
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How the US Press Soft-Pedaled HitlerJanuary 23, 2013 https://www.algemeiner.com/2013/01/23/how-the-us-press-soft-pedaled-hitler/ Author: Rafael Medoff / JNS.org Cartoonist Keith Temple, in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, echoed the naive but widespread belief in the West that conservative leaders in the German political and industrial communities would restrain Hitler’s radicalism. Photo: Courtesy of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies.
“There is at least one official voice in Europe that expresses understanding of the methods and motives of President Roosevelt—the voice of Germany, as represented by Chancellor Adolf Hitler.”
That incredible statement was the opening line of a flattering feature story about the Nazi leader that appeared on the front page of the New York Times in 1933, and was typical of some early press coverage of Hitler, who rose to power 80 years ago on Jan. 30.
Hitler’s ascent caught much of the world by surprise. As late as May 1928, the Nazis had won less than 3 percent of the vote in elections to the Reichstag, Germany’s parliament, and the Nazi party’s candidate for president received barely 1 percent of the votes in March 1929. But as Germany’s economic and social crises worsened, the Nazis rose to 18.3 percent of the vote in the parliamentary election of July 1930. They doubled that total two years later, becoming the largest party in the Reichstag.
Negotiations between the Nazis and other parties then produced a coalition government, with Hitler as chancellor. The Nazis celebrated with a huge torchlight parade through the streets of Berlin on the night of Hitler’s appointment, Jan. 30, 1933. A ‘moderate’ Hitler? Relatively little was known in America about Hitler, and many leading newspapers predicted that the Nazis would not turn out to be as bad as some feared.
An editorial in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin on Jan. 30 claimed that “there have been indications of moderation” on Hitler’s part. The editors of the Cleveland Press, on Jan. 31, asserted that the “appointment of Hitler as German chancellor may not be such a threat to world peace as it appears at first blush.”
Officials of the Roosevelt administration were quoted in the press as saying they “had faith that Hitler would act with moderation compared to the extremist agitation [i]n his recent election campaigning… [They] based this belief on past events showing that so-called ‘radical’ groups usually moderated, once in power.” A wave of terror  Jay Darling, cartoonist for the New York Herald-Tribune, suggested that German president Paul von Hindenburg had appointed Hitler chancellor in the expectation that the Nazi leader was not up to the job. Photo: Courtesy of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies. In the weeks to follow, however, events on the ground contradicted those optimistic forecasts. Outbursts of anti-Jewish violence were tolerated, and often encouraged and assisted, by the Nazi regime.
In early March, for example, the Chicago Tribune published an eyewitness account of “bands of Nazis throughout Germany carr[ying] out wholesale raids to intimidate the opposition, particularly the Jews.” Victims were “hit over the heads with blackjacks, dragged out of their homes in night clothes and otherwise molested,” with many Jews “taken off to jail and put to work in a concentration camp.”
The following month, the New York Evening Post reported that the Nazis had launched “a violent campaign of murderous agitation” against Germany’s Jews: “An indeterminate number of Jews… have been killed. Hundreds of Jews have been beaten or tortured. Thousands of Jews have fled. Thousands of Jews have been, or will be deprived of their livelihood. All of Germany’s 600,000 Jews are in terror.”
The Hitler regime was determined to eliminate the Jewish community from German society. During the Nazis’ first weeks in power, violence and intimidation were used to force Jewish judges, attorneys, journalists, university professors, and orchestra conductors and musicians out of their jobs.
A law passed on April 7 required the dismissal of Jews from all government jobs. Additional legislation in the months to follow banned Jews from a whole range of professions, from dentistry to the movie industry. The government even sponsored a one-day nationwide boycott of Jewish businesses, with Nazi storm troopers stationed outside Jewish-owned stores to prevent customers from entering. Hitler’s ‘sensitive hand’ Nevertheless, in July 1933, nearly six months after Hitler’s rise to power, the New York Times ran a front-page feature about the Fuhrer that presented him in a flattering light. For Hitler, it was a golden opportunity to soften his image by praising President Roosevelt as well as a platform to deliver lengthy justifications of his totalitarian policies and attacks on Jews.
The article, titled “Hitler Seeks Jobs for All Germans,” began with Hitler’s remark that FDR was looking out “for the best interests and welfare of the people of the United States.” He added: “I have sympathy with President Roosevelt because he marches straight toward his objective over Congress, over lobbies, over stubborn bureaucracies.”
 This cartoon by Rollin Kirby, in the New York World, alluded to the Nazis’ torchlight parade celebrating their rise to power. Photo: Courtesy of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies. The story was based on an interview with the Nazi leader by Times correspondent Anne O’Hare McCormick. She gave Hitler paragraph after paragraph to explain his policies as necessary to address Germany’s unemployment, improve its roads, and promote national unity. The Times correspondent lobbed the Nazi chief softball questions such as “What character in history do you admire most, Caesar, Napoleon, or Frederick the Great?”
McCormick also described Hitler’s appearance and mannerisms in a strongly positive tone: Hitler is “a rather shy and simple man, younger than one expects, more robust, taller… His eyes are almost the color of the blue larkspur in a vase behind him, curiously childlike and candid… His voice is as quiet as his black tie and his double-breasted black suit… Herr Hitler has the sensitive hand of the artist.”
Whatever her intentions, articles like McCormick’s helped dull the American public’s awareness of the dangers of Nazism. The image of a pro-American moderate undermined the chances for mobilizing serious international opposition to Hitler during the early months of his regime.
Dr. Rafael Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, in Washington, DC, and coauthor, with Craig Yoe, of the forthcoming book “Cartoonists Against the Holocaust.”
This cartoon by Rollin Kirby, in the New York World, alluded to the Nazis’ torchlight parade celebrating their rise to power. Photo: Courtesy of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies. |
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Two examples of NYT apathy during the HolocaustThursday, May 02, 2019 Elder of Ziyon http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2019/05/two-examples-of-nyt-apathy-during.html |
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From The New York Times, December 4, 1942, page 11:
 From The New York Times, December 4, 1942, page 11: 2/3s of Jews in Poland held slain Not only was the story relegated to an easily overlooked part of the paper, but the language is detached. “Eight months of work of extermination columns” – well, OK. |
Things improved slightly in this report from 1944:
 NY Times May 1944 Savage blows hit Jew in Hungary There is passion and anger in the writing by Joseph M. Levy. |
| Editors are the ones who decide which stories are on page 1, which are on page 17, and which ones won’t see the light of day. Which will have photos, how many column inches, whether there will be a followup story.
Joseph Levy did his job, unlike the anonymous author of the 1942 article. But he can only do so much when the editors decided that the mass murder of millions of Jews was simply not that important a story. |
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Downplaying the Holocaust — Sulzberger & NY Times: Anna Blech at TEDxHunterCCSTEDx Talks 30October2013 Section One: Cultural Commentators. Anna Blech, HCHS ’14 “Downplaying the Holocaust: Arthur Hays Sulzberger and the New York Times”
Anna Blech won first prize at the New York City History Day competition for her research paper, “Downplaying the Holocaust: Arthur Hays Sulzberger and The New York Times.” For this paper, she also was awarded The Eleanor Light Prize from the Hunter College High School Social Studies Department and membership in the Society of Student Historians. |
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Associated Press willingly cooperated with the Nazis, new report shows An Associated Press photograph shows some of over 132,000 members of the Hitler youth organisation assembled at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, where German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and Dr. Joseph Goebbels addressed them, as part of the usual round of May Day festivities and demonstrations in Germany on May 1, 1939. The AP caption notes: ‘The Fuhrer arrives and the members of the Hitler youth organisation rise as one man to give the Nazi salute at the demonstration in the Olympic Stadium, Berlin.’ (AP Photo) http://www.timesofisrael.com/associated-press-willingly-cooperated-with-the-nazis-new-report-shows/ 30March2016 The Associated Press news agency willingly cooperated with Nazi Germany, submitting to the regime’s restrictive rulings on the freedom of the press and providing it with images from its photo archives to be used in its anti-Semitic and anti-Western propaganda machine, a new report reveals.
When Adolf Hitler’s National Socialists rose to power in 1933, all international news agencies but the US-based AP were forced to leave Germany. The AP continued to operate in the Third Reich until 1941, when the United States joined World War II.
According to German historian Harriet Scharnberg, the world’s biggest news agency was only allowed to remain in Germany because it signed a deal with the regime.
The news agency lost control over its copy by submitting itself to the Schriftleitergesetz (editor’s law), agreeing not to print any material “calculated to weaken the strength of the Reich abroad or at home,” she wrote in an article published in the academic journal Studies in Contemporary History.
Scharnberg’s research was first reported by the UK-based Guardian newspaper. According to the paper, the Nazis’ so-called editor’s law forced AP employees to contribute material for the Nazi party’s propaganda division. One of the four photographers working for the company in the 1930s was Franz Roth, a member of the SS paramilitary unit’s propaganda division. His pictures were handpicked by Hitler, the Guardian writes.  Photocollage cover of Der Untermensch (The Subhuman), a 52-page SS pamphlet that used images taken by the Associated Press (Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin) The AP’s images appeared in many of the regime’s propaganda publications. Most of the images in a pamphlet called “Jews in the US” were provided by the AP. In a different publication entitled “The Subhuman,” the AP provided the second-largest number of photographs, according to Scharnberg.
It is possible to argue that the AP’s agreement with the Nazis allowed the West a “peek into a repressive society that may otherwise have been entirely hidden from view,” the Guardian writes. On the other hand, the deal allowed to Nazis to cover up their war crimes. The cooperation with the prestigious American news agency allowed Hitler to portray his “war of extermination as a conventional war,” Scharnberg told the Guardian. Harriet Scharnberg (Courtesy) “Instead of printing pictures of the days-long Lviv pogroms with its thousands of Jewish victims, the American press was only supplied with photographs showing the victims of the Soviet police and ‘brute’ Red Army war criminals,” Scharnberg, a historian at Halle’s Martin Luther University, told the paper, citing one example of the agency’s work helping the Nazis.
“To that extent it is fair to say that these pictures played their part in disguising the true character of the war led by the Germans,” she added. “Which events were made visible and which remained invisible in AP’s supply of pictures followed German interests and the German narrative of the war.”
Responding to the Guardian’s report, the AP said it would research the matter but rejected the notion that it deliberately collaborated with the Nazis.
“An accurate characterization is that the AP and other foreign news organizations were subjected to intense pressure from the Nazi regime from the year of Hitler’s coming to power in 1932 until the AP’s expulsion from Germany in 1941. AP management resisted the pressure while working to gather accurate, vital and objective news in a dark and dangerous time,” the agency stated. AP later issued a lengthier statement, in which it said it “rejects the suggestion that it collaborated with the Nazi regime at any time.” |
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Some things never change: Associated Press worked with Nazis against Jews in WWII, now AP working with Hamas to target Jews anew19May2021 by: JD Heyes https://www.naturalnews.com/2021-05-19-ap-with-nazis-against-jews-wwii-now-with-hamas-target-jews-anew.html (Natural News) As Adolph Hitler rose to prominence and then absolute power in the 1930s, countries and organizations around the world scrambled to align themselves with the Nazi leader either because he appeared to be the future, because they agreed with his authoritarianism, or both.
Included in those organizations were American media companies and outlets including The New York Times and The Associated Press.
As reported by The Daily Wire in April 2017: After the United States entered World War II in December 1941, virtually all American journalists and photo departments left. One prominent photo department stayed and worked with the Nazi regime: The Associated Press.
As German historian Harriet Scharnberg of Halle’s Martin Luther University discovered, the Associated Press photo department remained in Germany, working under the auspices of the Nazi Ministry of Propaganda and employing Germans, including the notorious prominent SS photographer, Franz Roth.
A German researcher and fellow at the University of Vienna’s history department, Norman Domeier, found additional documents showing how complicit the AP was with Hitler and the Nazis.
“Between 1941 and 1945, while the Nazis sought to exterminate European Jewry, slaughtering six million Jews and five million other people, the Associated Press and the Nazis exchanged tens of thousands of pictures. The Nazis then used them in their propaganda; Hitler even had them regularly delivered to his office,” the site added.
So it’s been confirmed: For whatever reason, the AP decided to work with the Nazis and, no doubt, was aware of Hitler’s “Final Solution” for the Jews — genocide.
Fast-forward to present day, and we find that the AP is working hand-in-hand with another armed militant group whose objective is to wipe out all Jews: Hamas.
In recent days, Israel has been under near-constant rocket barrages fired by Hamas and Palestinian forces from inside the Gaza Strip and neighboring Lebanon. Israel has responded with more lethal and more accurate force, including striking and destroying a building where Hamas operatives shared similar space with Associated Press and Al-Jazeera staffers and correspondents.
Officials in more than one government office confirmed that US President Joe Biden’s phone call to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday was, in part, about the bombing of the building, and that Israel showed Biden and American officials the intelligence behind the action.
“We showed them the smoking gun proving Hamas worked out of that building,” a senior diplomatic source told the Post. “I understand they found the explanation satisfactory.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went on to confirm the diplomatic source’s story. “We share all the intelligence with our American friends,” the prime minister told “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “The intelligence we had is about an intelligence office for [Hamas] housed in that building that plots and organizes terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians. It is a perfectly legit target.”
He went on to say that no one was killed in the attack because everyone inside was warned that it was coming — which is more warning than AP staffers gave the Jews in the 1940s as Hitler waged his campaign of extermination against them.
But the fact is, the AP was sharing a building — sharing office space — with an avowed enemy of Israel.
Mind you, the AP claimed that it had no idea its Gaza correspondents were sharing space with a U.S.-listed terrorist organization.
“We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building,” AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement. “This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.” He went on to say he was “shocked and horrified” that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing AP’s bureau and other news organizations in Gaza.
But he’s lying, plain and simple. However, a 2014 article published by The Atlantic outs the AP big-time. “When Hamas’s leaders surveyed their assets before this summer’s round of fighting, they knew that among those assets was the international press. The AP staff in Gaza City would witness a rocket launch right beside their office, endangering reporters and other civilians nearby—and the AP wouldn’t report it,” the article reads.
The story also claimed that Hamas fighters would regularly “burst into the AP’s Gaza bureau and threaten the staff—and the AP wouldn’t report it.”
More than that, however, Israeli diplomats and intelligence officials were certain that the newswire’s staffers were all aware of their proximity to Hamas operators.
“Spoke to a well-placed friend in the IDF just now. The bombed AP office building contained multiple Hamas operations & offices including weapons manufacturing and military intelligence. The building also housed an Islamic Jihad office. And AP’s local reporters knew about it,” Free Beacon correspondent Noah Pollak tweeted last week.
 Noah Pollak-tweet 16May2021 IDF bomb Gaza AP office
Meanwhile, another Twitter user noted that the AP claim “doesn’t say much for their reporting abilities if they missed a Hamas staging office a floor away.”
To believe that the AP wasn’t aware of Hamas is to believe the AP also did not collude with Hitler and Nazi Germany — when all the evidence says otherwise. Sources include: |
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The Media Intifada: Bad Math, Ugly Truths About New York Times In Israel-Hamas WarRichard Behar Contributor 21August2014 http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbehar/2014/08/21/the-media-intifada-bad-math-ugly-truths-about-new-york-times-in-israel-hamas-war/ It’s a “media intifada,” notes Gary Weiss, an old colleague and one of the world’s top business investigative reporters. He is referring of course to the ongoing war in Gaza, where journalists working for American news outlets have, he says, “become part of the Hamas war machine.”
As more than a month has passed since Israel began its Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, it’s high time to dig through the carnage that many of my colleagues from major U.S. media outlets are leaving behind—especially the New York Times.
On August 11th, the normally Israel-averse Foreign Press Association in Israel conceded what those closely following the war coverage already knew: That Hamas has been intimidating foreign reporters. In a harsh statement, it condemned the terrorist group for “the blatant, incessant, forceful and unorthodox methods employed by the Hamas authorities and their representatives against visiting international journalists in Gaza over the past month.”
This is hardly surprising, as who can expect a terrorist group to treat reporters nicely—except perhaps many reporters themselves? But what is surprising is that New York Times’ Jerusalem bureau chief Jodi Rudoren undermined her own newspaper—quickly denouncing the FPA’s statement. She said in a tweet that she wasn’t aware of any such harassed reporters, even though she concedes she spent only one week in Gaza herself during the height of the conflict. In an email to the FPA, she said that the FPA’s statement could be “dangerous” to the “credibility” of the foreign press who are covering the conflict. “Every reporter I’ve met who was in Gaza during war says this Israeli/now FPA narrative of Hamas harassment is nonsense,” she tweeted. [Boldface type hers.]
I agree that there’s a lot of nonsense being disseminated about Israel’s war with Hamas, and about the media role in the conflict. And I agree that there is a danger—if people believe that the media, including the New York Times, provides a fair picture of the war in Gaza. (I would argue it is not.)
Since late July, I’ve conducted an in-depth look at the credibility of the media coverage, plus interviews with military experts and some journalists covering the war. Among other things, I’ve discovered that the Times’ most important reporter in Gaza for the past few years has used the late Yasser Arafat as his profile photo on Facebook, and, in a second photo, praised the former Palestinian leader. This suggests that the Times may have less to worry about in terms of Hamas intimidation than others in the press corps. Indeed, this Times reporter’s parallel pieces for Qatar’s Al Jazeera since the war began can only be pleasing to the terrorists.  HIS MAN ARAFAT: Screenshot of a Facebook homepage of Fares Akram, the New York Times’ most important Gaza-based reporter HIS MAN ARAFAT: Screenshot of a Facebook homepage of Fares Akram, the New York Times’ most important Gaza-based reporter. *My results are hardly complete, as it’s impossible to keep up with all the coverage while the fighting ensues (and rockets have again been fired at Israel today, hours before the end of a lengthy truce.) I’ll be focusing heavily on the Times, because it is, without question, the most important media outlet in the world, in terms of setting the table each day for other outlets. It is also widely regarded as the most authoritative media outlet in the world for international coverage. Since the operation (now clearly a war—albeit interspersed with ceasefires) began on July 8th, so much of the Western coverage has been predictably skewed against Israel—through those time-honored journalism tools of sloppy and lazy reporting, superficiality, nuance, omission, lack of historical knowledge, or flat-out agenda-driven lies and bias.
Journalism ethics professors and historians take note: You are bearing witness, with few exceptions, to some of the most abysmal overseas reporting since Hearst’s New York Journal in 1898 got us into the Spanish-American War and Walter Duranty of the New York Times was ignoring Stalin’s crimes in the 1930s. “We’re not just talking bad journalism,” says Weiss. “We’re talking about journalism that functions as a tool of a terrorist organization, Hamas: breathlessly pushing its narrative, whether cowed by its threats, sympathetic to its cause, or simply ignorant.”
It’s not for lack of personnel. Israel’s Government Press Office says just over 700 foreign journalists from more than 40 countries have come to Israel to cover the war (joining the 750 already there). But only a few of them are doing their jobs right—that is, moving beyond the surface imagery and the heavy-handed (and wrong) “David and Goliath” agenda being advanced by the fascistic, death-worshipping terrorist group Hamas.
I raised the topic last week with Ambassador Ido Aharoni, Consul General of Israel in New York. “As someone who is a student of the media and a former journalist,” he says, “I find it bizarre— journalistically and morally—that after a month of intense fighting between Israel and Hamas, there were hardly any images shown in Western media of Hamas terrorists holding guns or Hamas terrorists engaged in hostile activities against Israel. It’s as if there’s only one side, and this could be a result of two reasons: Either journalists are looking for the easy story, the available story, what’s in front of their eyes. Or they’re being intimidated by Hamas. And I believe that what we’ve probably had is a combination of both.”  Cartoon courtesy of Legal Insurrection Cartoon courtesy of LegalInsurrection.com *This epidemic of journalistic malpractice is contributing to the pain and loss of life that Palestinians in Gaza are suffering—as it helps to empower Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., the EU, Canada, Japan, Egypt and Jordan. (This designation is too often not-fit-to-print by the New York Times and other media outlets.) In turn, this no doubt helps spread oil on the rising and frightening anti-Semitism we’re seeing in Europe and elsewhere.
And that is no accident. Hamas’s rarely-mentioned 1988 charter is a throwback to 1930s Nazi anti-Semitism, pure and simple, with a genocidal intent that is unambiguous. Indeed, Hamas is the spiritual successor to the anti-Semitic Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Palestinian leader who famously met and worked with Adolf Hitler and his henchman Heinrich Himmler, chief of the SS and architect of the Final Solution, as he aligned the Palestinian Arab cause with the Axis during World War II.
You might say that the battle that Hamas is fighting is not a new one at all, but a continuation of Hitler’s unfinished business from World War II. If this all sounds new to you it’s no wonder—the media rarely delves beyond the surface into Hamas’s ideology and historical antecedents. But that is but one of many problems with the coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict, and not even the worst.
(Note: If readers alert me to anything I’m mistaken about in this article, I will, unlike many of my colleagues, correct it. Again, events move too quickly during a war to follow everything, especially in a 24-7 Internet news world.)
Here is a sampling of what the Times, and the media in general, feel is not fit to print:
*** Proof of the use by Hamas of civilians as human shields has finally been ably exposed by reporters for media outlets in Finland, France, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, and others—but not by news organizations with greater resources at hand such as BBC, CNN, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and numerous others. (A too-brief exception: the Washington Post.) Sadly, the Associated Press has failed dismally. As for Reuters, in 2011, its new editor-in-chief, Stephen Adler, promised to bolster the newswire’s enterprise reporting. In some ways he has, but its coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues to be weak and riddled with falsities.
*** In late 2012, during Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza, I examined the Facebook page of Fares Akram—the most important Gaza-based reporter for the New York Times. His profile photo was not of himself, but of PLO leader Arafat. A second photo, still in his album, waxes poetically about Arafat in the context of “heights by great men.” But Arafat, among many things as the longtime leader of the Palestinians (the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre comes to mind), opted for the Second Intifada in 2000, rather than accept a generous peace offer from Israel. Before he died, he said on TV that dead Palestinian children are good for the cause. In 2009, following an Israeli air strike that tragically killed his father and a cousin, Akram wrote that “I am finding it hard to distinguish between what the Israelis call terrorists and the Israeli pilots and tank crews who are invading Gaza.” Akram, a Palestinian resident of Gaza, has also published more than a dozen dispatches for Al Jazeera, parallel to his Times reporting, since the war began last month.
*** Abeer Ayyoub, another Palestinian resident of Gaza and former Times reporter there (until 2013), was boycotting all products made in Israel before and after her Times gig. Her Facebook posts and stories for other publications in 2014 are hostile to Israel.  DICTATOR’S TREASURE: The network’s Qatari owners are funding and sheltering Hamas leaders **** Now more than ever, it is incumbent on our mainstream media community to scrutinize Al Jazeera America, the TV news network that is working hard to gain a foothold in American living rooms. Many big-name U.S. journalists have been lured there—the latest, Pulitzer Prize-winning business journalist David Cay Johnston (long at the New York Times)—despite the fact that it’s owned by the dictatorship of Qatar, which funds Hamas and gives shelter today to the terror group’s top leaders. Few major reporters in the U.S. will publicly discuss this Al Jazeera America-Hamas connection. Perhaps some of them want to keep their future job prospects open, given the turmoil and cutbacks in the traditional media world—and the fat paychecks that Al Jazeera America is dispensing.
“Al Jazeera is the long hand of the regime of Qatar that abuses its endless resources in order to support and fund terror organizations all over the globe, including al-Qaeda, says Kobi Michael, who served until recently as Deputy Director General of Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs (where he also ran the Palestinian desk.) “They use Al Jazeera in order to destabilize the moderate Arab regimes by encouraging and supporting political Islam.”
*** The arithmetic of civilian casualties in Gaza is one of the principal media crimes in this war. It became obvious weeks ago that major Western journalists routinely swallowed the huge civilian-casualty figures dished out to them by Gaza’s Ministry of Health, a bureaucratic arm of a terrorist group that was shown to have lied about such figures in past wars. In some cases, reporters cite numbers instead from the United Nations, which gets its numbers from—surprise—the Hamas ministry, a dubious source of information, akin to relying on the Reich Health Office for German civilian-casualty statistics during World War II. On many occasions, major American news outlets haven’t bothered to even attribute the numbers to either the ministry or the UN—simply reporting as fact that “most,” or “the majority” or the “vast majority” of casualties in Gaza are civilians.
At the very least, readers or viewers should be told by those reporters (or their editors/producers) to take the figures with some salt. Meanwhile, Israel’s best research institute on the subject, the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, is to this day all but ignored by Western media. And yet they are the only independent outfit that takes the time to match the names of the dead with known terrorists. Their results thus far (with 450 deaths analyzed) show that approximately half are civilians. Based on prior wars with Hamas, it’s highly likely that, in the final analysis, the majority of the dead will have been terrorist operatives.
When the first 72-hour ceasefire (broken by Hamas) began on August 5th, the New York Times quickly tried to play catch-up with reality by posting an “analysis” that day about the reliability of casualty figures. (It was also published on the newspaper’s front page on August 6th.) The Meir Amit center was mentioned in passing, not given the depth its numbers deserved, and by then the damage had already been long done by the newspaper, which had doggedly advanced the Hamas narrative in its news and editorial pages.
*** Crossing over to Britain, the reports and dispatches of one of that country’s top newsmen (Jon Snow, known as “the face of Channel 4 News”) is a parody of journalism, and arguably is helping to fuel the tide of Israel- and Jew-hatred that is sweeping Britain and Europe. His Twitter feed is said to be the most popular among UK news hosts.  HERO’S FAREWELL: Funeral of 20-year-old Israeli soldier Bnaya Rubel, killed on July 19th by a Hamas gunman who suddenly emerged from a tunnel. With rare exceptions, Western journos are not interested in telling the stories of Israel’s fallen. (photo: Oren Ziv/ActiveStills) HERO’S FAREWELL: Funeral of 20-year-old Israeli soldier Bnaya Rubel, killed on July 19th by a Hamas gunman who suddenly emerged from a tunnel. With rare exceptions, Western journos are not interested in telling the stories of Israel’s fallen. (photo: Oren Ziv/ActiveStills). *CIVILIAN SHIELDS? WHAT CIVILIAN SHIELDS?On July 27th, I spoke at length with a reporter in Gaza who is covering the war for a major, highly respectable U.S. media outlet that has enormous resources. Regrettably, the reporter insisted on not being named, as his company wouldn’t permit it. Our talk took place just as Gaza-based reporters for smaller, non-English-speaking media outlets were beginning to reveal proof that Hamas was using civilian centers (such as schools, hospitals, dense residential neighborhoods—even the main hotel in Gaza City where reporters are staying) as rocket-launching sites.
Q: Israel received severe condemnation from many world leaders after a strike on Al-Shifa, Gaza City’s largest hospital. [Evidence is now showing that it was actually an errant Hamas missile that hit it.] Are Hamas leaders and fighters using it as a base for operations?
A: It’s not the fighters who are there, and they’re not using the hospital to launch rockets from, they’re using it to see media. These are Hamas spokesmen [at the hospital], not leaders. This is also something that has not been understood fully. There are probably a couple of reasons [for holding press conferences there]. It’s a safe place. Israel doesn’t kill spokespeople. Also, it’s a good place to get journalists, as we’re passing through the hospital, since that’s where the bodies are coming in. It’s a place journalists have to go anyway.
This has been a brilliant strategy by Hamas, although any skeptical reporter would have seen through it—and a couple did. Why are press conferences being held in a hospital, as opposed to another location such as the main hotel where they stay? Surely, hotels are also fine places for Hamas to “get journalists” to come to.
Clearly, Hamas wants the reporters to have to see the dead and injured on a regular basis if they want access to spokespeople. It safely gives lazy reporters a constant stream of tragedies to write about. A seasoned reporter would have surmised that this could be the perfect location for Hamas’s leaders to operate from, especially below the first floor. And, in fact, that is what happened.
Moreover, this was nothing new. In 2006, PBS’s Wide Angle aired a documentary showing how gunmen move through the corridors of that hospital, intimidate the staff, and deny them access to protected locations inside the facility—where the camera crew was forbidden from filming.
On the same day I spoke with this reporter, I also reached out to Eado Hecht, an independent defense analyst who has taught military theory and history at the IDF Command and General Staff College. He currently works with the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (Israel’s leading think tank), and sits on the board of The Journal of Military Operations, whose CEO A.E. Stahl tells me, “Regarding military history, and Israeli military affairs in particular, I have yet to meet anyone as knowledgeable as Eado.”
I asked Hecht about what I call “human-shield blindness,” a rare medical condition that afflicts American reporters based in Gaza— from the New York Times to CNN and Reuters. “As to foreign journalists seeing things, I am certain they are seeing the use of supposedly innocent buildings for military purposes, but most are either too scared to report this or ideologically motivated not to,” he said. “Yesterday [Aug 1st], a Finnish reporter did talk shortly about the use of Shifa hospital to launch rockets after seeing it with her own eyes. But who watches Finnish TV except the Finns? The use of fear to influence journalists is not new—it has been happening for decades. The ideological motivation is not new either—many of the camera crews are locals.”  HOLY OF HOLIES! The IDF says 331 rockets have been shot from mosques in Gaza. This mosque reportedly had a 46-foot-deep tunnel shaft that connected to other tunnels. (source: IDF) HOLY OF HOLIES! The IDF says 331 rockets have been shot from mosques in Gaza. This mosque reportedly had a 46-foot-deep tunnel shaft that connected to other tunnels. (source: IDF) *Fortunately, it wasn’t just a Finnish reporter who earned her pay (although she later showed her own biased stripes by tweeting that she didn’t want it used a “tool of propaganda” by people “looking for excuses to Israeli actions in Gaza”). Hamas’ operations at the same hospital were the focus of a report by a French-Palestinian journalist for France’s Libération. He said that Hamas had summoned him to Al-Shifa Hospital, where he was interrogated by a group of young fighters and told to immediately leave Gaza without his papers; he later asked the newspaper to take down the story.
“No Israeli missile hit the [Al-Shifa] hospital,” says military expert Hecht. “It was a Hamas rocket, one of approximately 300 that have malfunctioned and landed inside Gaza instead of in Israel. Apparently there are also cases in which Hamas deliberately bombarded its own residential areas to blame Israel (this was not the case at Shifa)—but the only evidence is not good enough to prove it. Shifa hospital has been identified by the IDF as providing cover to a network of underground rooms and tunnels that serve it; they have simply stated that under Shifa is the most developed and senior Hamas command post and left it at that. There are certainly many Hamas security personnel around the hospital (they can be seen in the background in TV reports) and they have used the hospital as a launch site for rockets.”
To his credit, William Booth of the Washington Post wrote back on July 15th that Shifa “has become a de facto headquarters for Hamas leaders, who can be seen in the hallways and offices.” Two days later, Booth and colleagues Sudarsan Raghavan and Ruth Eglash reported that a group of men at a mosque in northern Gaza said they had returned “to clean up the green glass from windows shattered in the previous day’s bombardment.” But those men, the Post wrote, “could be seen moving small rockets into the mosque.”
Bottom-line: With the exception of the Washington Post, audiences in America might need to turn to other countries to follow the war, as well as any future wars between Israel and Hamas. A sampling: AUSTRALIA: On July 23rd, Peter Stefanovic of Australia’s Channel Nine News tweeted: “Hamas rockets just launched over our hotel, from a site about two hundred metres away. So a missile launch site is basically next door.”
BRITAIN: Financial Times’ Jerusalem correspondent John Reed noted that Hamas fired two rockets from a launch site “near Al-Shifa hospital, even as more bombing victims were brought in.”
CANADA: On July 20th, Patrick Martin of the Globe and Mail reported that he saw a pair of long-range rockets fired from “very near a UN school filled with more than 1,000 people seeking refuge.” He also noted that two gunmen were disguised as women; one of them had his weapon “wrapped in a baby blanket and held on his chest as if it were an infant.” Canadian Broadcasting Corp (CBC) reporter Derek Stoffel says outright what so many of his American colleagues won’t: “Hamas uses Palestinian civilians as human shields.”
FINLAND: Finnish reporter Aishi Zidan confirms that a rocket was launched from a parking lot at Al-Shifa Hospital.
FRANCE: On August 2nd, a rocket was launched close to where a correspondent for France 24, inside Al-Shifa Hospital, was broadcasting. “Rockets were just shot right next to where we are standing, so I’m not going to sit here, stand here very long, because usually there is a [IDF] strike just moments after this occurs,” correspondent Gallagher Fenwick stated. The rocket, was fired from about 160 feet away from a hotel where foreign reporters were staying. “This type of setup is at the heart of the debate,” Fenwick observed. “The Israeli army has repeatedly accused Palestinian militants of shooting from within densely-populated civilian areas and that is precisely the type of setup we have right here. Rockets set up right next to buildings with a lot of residents in them.” (Palestinian kids can be seen playing near the rocket launchers).
INDIA: A reporter for NDTV (New Delhi Television) witnessed a rocket silo under a tent just outside his room in a hotel where he and his team were staying. The reporter, Sreenivasan Jain, then filmed the rocket being fired. The hotel is located in a dense residential neighborhood, close to a UN facility. [See three screenshots below.]  ROOM WITH A VIEW: Reporter for India’s NDTV shows viewers a blue tent outside his hotel where Hamas terrorists assembled a rocket ROOM WITH A VIEW: Reporter for India’s NDTV shows viewers a blue tent outside his hotel where Hamas terrorists assembled a rocket  PEEK-A-BOO: A close-up by NDTV of the tent where a Hamas terrorist used shrubbery to try and hide that rocket PEEK-A-BOO: A close-up by NDTV of the tent where a Hamas terrorist used shrubbery to try and hide that rocket  WHILE THE TIMES SLEPT: Reporters from NDTV captured footage of Hamas rocket fired from outside their hotel WHILE THE TIMES SLEPT: Reporters from NDTV captured footage of Hamas rocket fired from outside their hotel. NDTV exclusive – how Hamas assembles and fires rockets*ITALY: On July 29th, Gabriele Barbati, an Italian reporter for Radio Popolare Milano tweeted: “Out of Gaza far from Hamas retaliation: misfired rocket killed children yday [sic] in Shati [a refugee camp]. Witness: militants rushed and cleared debris.” Nine children died. Barbati followed his tweet with another: “IDF Spokesperson said truth in communiqué released yesterday about Shati camp massacre. It was not Israel behind it.”
JAPAN: A correspondent based in Gaza for a Japanese daily wrote that Hamas “tries to use evacuating civilians and journalists by stopping them and turning them into ‘human shields’… strategy is also aimed at foreign journalists.” He recounted how some 20 journalists were blocked by Hamas from going through a checkpoint into Israel, after Hamas staffers falsely told them that the IDF had closed it. In fact, it appeared that the terrorists were plotting to have the reporters stuck there for (and right inside) a pending airstrike.
RUSSIA: RT (formerly Russia Today) correspondent Harry Fear was told to leave Gaza after he tweeted that Hamas fired rockets from near his hotel. In another tweet, Fear called the Al-Wafa rehabilitation hospital in Gaza “the hospital with human shields.”
SPAIN: A Spanish journalist named Fernando Gutiérrez, writing for Diario Melilla Hoy tweeted on August 9th that “Hamas launched a battery of rockets from the press hotel. What was their intent? To provoke Israel to kill us?”
Even Al Jazeera America comes in for some credit, but only fleetingly. On July 31st, its Jerusalem correspondent, Nick Schifrin—he joined the network in February—had to rush away from a live report when an Israeli missile struck a building about 300 feet behind him. “From that field a few days ago we saw rockets launched towards Israel,” he later told viewers. “And that’s what we’ve seen a lot over the last few weeks. These rockets are launched or embedded really within civilian neighborhoods, in residential neighborhoods, and eventually almost every single one is targeted by an Israeli air strike.”
I took a screenshot [see below] of Schifrin just as an Israeli missile was striking the building behind him. But a few days ago I went back to see if I could get a better shot, and couldn’t find the video. Apparently it had been removed by the network.  ABRACADABRA: Nick Schifrin of Al Jazeera America witnessed an Israeli air strike (right) on a building behind him. He explained to his viewers that “we’ve seen a lot” of Hamas rockets “embedded really within civilian neighborhoods, in residential neighborhoods.” But Nick’s report seems to have been embedded into the network’s trash bin. ABRACADABRA: Nick Schifrin of Al Jazeera America witnessed an Israeli air strike (right) on a building behind him. He explained to his viewers that “we’ve seen a lot” of Hamas rockets “embedded really within civilian neighborhoods, in residential neighborhoods.” But Nick’s report seems to have been embedded into the network’s trash bin. *Some foreign reporters have been so spooked by Hamas that they don’t even have the guts to step forward and talk about it after they leave Gaza. An Israeli filmmaker named Michael Grynszpan told me last week that he was filming on a Tel Aviv street when he and a colleague “met this nice guy. He told us that he was a Spanish journalist and even showed us his press card.” The journalist told the filmmakers that he had just come back from Gaza. They asked why they don’t see TV reporting of Hamas leaders, gunmen, and rocket launches—only civilian casualties.
The Spanish newsman responded that he had, in fact, seen Hamas fighters launching rockets close to his hotel, but that if he’d dared to point his camera at them, “they would simply shoot and kill us.” (Grynszpan’s colleague, Max Wildenhaus, adds: “He said they had snipers and would shoot them.”)
When Grynszpan asked the Spanish reporter if they could film him saying that, “he freaked out” and “almost ran off.”
Fortunately, there are some prominent individuals who live in Gaza who have more courage. Take Archbishop Alexios, the Strip’s most prominent Christian among a population of about 1,500 adherents there. On August 9th, he showed Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN News) a church compound where Hamas had fired rockets from, despite the fact that he had opened the church doors to 2,000 Muslims seeking shelter from the war. “Islam is the rule of this place,” he said, “and whatever Hamas says we must obey or face consequences.”
Curiously, Reuters’ reporter Nidal Al-Mughrabi took the time to interview Archbishop Alexios two weeks earlier (on July 22nd), when the Christian leader complained to him that Israeli aircraft bombed a nearby field, causing shrapnel to land on the church and damaging graves. But Reuters hasn’t yet returned to the scene to report that the church was used as a rocket launch site—by Hamas. Nidal?
In the case of the Wall Street Journal, its correspondent based in Egypt, Tamer El-Ghobashy, tweeted a photo of rubble with the explanation: “An outside wall on the campus of Gaza’s main hospital [Al-Shifa] was hit by a strike. Low level damage suggest [sic] Hamas misfire.” Soon after, he deleted the tweet.
His Gaza-based colleague, Nicholas (Nick) Casey, also tweeted that he wondered how patients at Al-Shifa felt about their hospital being used for press conferences. He even ran a photo of a Hamas spokesman giving a briefing there. He then deleted the tweet, as well.
I reached out to Casey to see if he would discuss the matter on-record, as he and El-Ghobashy have received some criticism for deleting their tweets. A response came instead from the newspaper’s headquarters in New York. “Neither the reporters themselves nor any editors would in any way censor our journalism out of fear or favor,” wrote Journal editor in chief Gerard Baker. “We publish what we find. Our reporting from the Middle East is unsurpassed in its fair and accurate portrayal of the issues, and regular readers of our daily articles from Gaza and the Middle East know this to be true. Our many courageous reporters around the world often take considerable risks and incur significant hardship in defying efforts by authorities and other forces to bend the truth. We are beholden to no-one but our readers.”
I was intrigued that Baker used the famous ‘fear-of-favor’ line from rival Times’ founder Adolph Ochs. After all, the Journal’s coverage of the war certainly does surpass the Times’s.
Clearly, the preponderance of the evidence is that reporters have indeed been intimidated, and that there is a reason for the intimidation—Hamas has a lot to hide. The media, in other words, is part of the story. Yet this is a story that does not exist to the readers of the New York Times, which include the policymakers in Washington.
 ASLEEP AT THE SWITCH: New York Times’ Jerusalem bureau chief Jodi Rudoren. If her team can’t or won’t do true enterprise reporting during this war, then why not at least cite the other reporters who have? (screenshot: Twitter) ASLEEP AT THE SWITCH: New York Times’ Jerusalem bureau chief Jodi Rudoren. If her team can’t or won’t do true enterprise reporting during this war, then why not at least cite the other reporters who have? (screenshot: Twitter) *Earlier this week, Israel released updated figures that are startling: The IDF says 30 rockets were shot by Hamas from UN facilities, 248 rockets shot from schools, and 331 from mosques. One wonders: If the New York Times isn’t doing its own fresh reporting on such matters, why not at least follow the information and footage that the IDF releases of rockets being fired from residential areas, and then interviewing the residents there? Or why not suck it up and at least cite other media outlets for what they have found?
Finally, rockets have been discovered being stored inside three UN-run schools since the war began. “The militants, Hamas, and the other armed groups, they are firing also their weaponry, the rockets, into Israel from the vicinity of these [UN] installations and housing and so on,” John Ging, director of the U.N. Office of Humanitarian Affairs, told Canada’s CBC. “So the combat is being conducted very much in a residential built up area.”
Hamas’s position on this could not be clearer. On Al-Aqsa TV in Gaza on July 8th—the first day of the war—the terror group’s spokesperson, Sami Abu Zuhri, called on Palestinian civilians to serve as human shields. “The people oppose the Israeli fighter planes with their bodies alone… We, the [Hamas] movement, call on our people to adopt this method to protect the Palestinian homes,” he declared.
A week later, the Hamas Interior Ministry issued guidelines for who it called its “activists” on social media: “Don’t forget to always add ‘innocent civilian’ or ‘innocent citizen’ in your description of those killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza… Avoid publishing pictures of rockets fired into Israel from city centers… Do not publish or share photos or video clips showing rocket-launching sites or the movement of resistance [forces] in Gaza… Avoid entering into a political argument with a Westerner aimed at convincing him that the Holocaust is a lie and deceit.”
The Times’s Rudoren wrote about this groundbreaking news, but only one sentence from it [the “always add ‘innocent civilian” instruction], and only in a larger story about how Israelis and Palestinians are similarly using social media to further their beliefs and positions. Thus, she diluted and muddied up the significance of the ministry’s video.
I’m having trouble finding any other major media outlet in North America (aside from Canada’s Globe and Mail) that has even cited the ministry’s statement at all. And it’s been more than a month. On this, and on so much else in my article, viewers and readers must turn to the Jewish press for the information, or—no matter their political leanings—to the conservative press. It shouldn’t have to be that way.
I found similar results regarding a Hamas urban-combat manual that the IDF on August 4th reported capturing. The manual refers to civilians as helpful “pockets of resistance” that cause all kinds of problems for Israeli soldiers who Hamas acknowledges are trying to minimize civilian deaths. It also discusses the benefits for Hamas when civilian homes are destroyed.
(As the old Columbia Journalism Review would say, a “laurel” to CNN, Fox News, the New York Post and States News Service for writing about the manual. And a “dart” to the New York Times and other big mainstream outlets for ignoring it. Do they not believe it’s genuine? If that’s the case, say so. Otherwise, readers and viewers would surely find it valuable.)
 BUT IT’S IN ARABIC: The IDF announced the capture of a Hamas urban-combat manual that lays out the benefits of using civilians as human shields. For the New York Times, it’s apparently not fit to print. (source: IDF) BUT IT’S IN ARABIC: The IDF announced the capture of a Hamas urban-combat manual that lays out the benefits of using civilians as human shields. For the New York Times, it’s apparently not fit to print. (source: IDF) *Although by then I knew the answer, on August 3rd I asked Kobi Michael (the former Israeli strategic-affairs official) if he believes that Western reporters were seeing civilian centers—mosques, schools, hospitals—being used as shields, but not reporting it. “Are you kidding me?” he responded. “Do you have any doubt about it? It is a question of life or death most times, and biased journalists who don’t care about truth, motivated by hatred to Israel and sympathy to Hamas in other cases. In other cases, there are journalists who are looking for the touching story, for the title, for the excitement and—in these cases—the more the scenes are horrible and bloody the better.”
So what’s an American reader or viewer to conclude about all this? Perhaps to amp-up your satellite dish, and quickly learn a few foreign languages, if you want to closely follow this war.
Khaled Abu Toameh, a highly-regarded Arab-Israeli journalist (born in the West Bank), had this advice for foreign media five years ago in an article about turning a blind eye to Hamas atrocities: “Journalists who are afraid to report the truth should not be covering a conflict like the Israeli-Arab one. They should go back to their editors and demand that they be reassigned to cover sports or the environment. As long as such journalists continue to operate in the region, Hamas will feel safe to bomb as many mosques as it wants and to kill as many Palestinians as it wants.”
In other words, if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the desert.
Israeli defense analyst Hecht makes three valuable observations about the media coverage, worth publishing in full:
* “First, my experience is that Western media in general is more about telling interesting stories than of giving the actual facts. This is often true also of Israeli media, which is no different than that of the rest of the Western cultures. I have truly lost faith in Western ‘free’ media as a good source of information for topics on which I am not fully conversant from my own studies. In fact, often I prefer looking at the non-free media because I am then able to assess the bias and adjust accordingly.
* “Second, very few journalists who cover wars really understand any of what they are seeing and hearing. This was so clear in the famous [U.S. General Norman] Schwarzkopf interviews during the 1991 war against Iraq. One supreme example is the case in which he showed them photographs of destroyed Scud Launchers in western Iraq. Anyone with a modicum of intelligence and who had actually seen what Scud launchers looked like (i.e. bothered to look at photographs in the enormous weapons literature available on the market) could see that he was lying (they were actually civilian fuel tanker trucks destroyed by the American air force). But the journalists in the briefing all swallowed the show.
“This is just an example, I have seen and heard so many more that I stopped keeping track. These journalists may be very professional at sniffing out information and at writing interesting articles, but quite frankly totally unprofessional in anything pertaining to the wars they were covering. This is true not only on the technical military aspects. The amount of nonsense I have seen and heard on what was going on in Syria over the past 3.5 years or Iraq—what are Syria and Iraq, what makes them tick, etc., is simply astounding. And back to our little corner, the same is true of anything to do with the Arab-Israeli conflict: our geography, demography, cultures, military aspects, political aspects, etc. They throw out a few statistics, quote a few ‘good sound bites,’ tie them together nicely with a ribbon and really do not get the issues. As a friend put it sarcastically, it is the [CNN’s Christiane] ‘Amanpour Effect’: she lands in a country she has never been in and within a couple of hours is explaining to the world all the intricacies of the local situation with a fake confidence of someone who had studied the place for decades.
 BLOOD CELLS EVERYWHERE: An IDF map of the locations of rockets launched from Gaza from July 8th to August 4th. (Still awaiting a map from Hamas, in case the terrorist group disagrees.) BLOOD CELLS EVERYWHERE: An IDF map of the locations of rockets launched from Gaza from July 8th to August 4th. (Still awaiting a map from Hamas, in case the terrorist group disagrees.) ** “Third, more than most other conflicts, reporting on the Israeli-Arab conflict is agenda-driven. Just today I rifled through a piece on Gaza written for a British paper that would have made Goebbels proud. All that was missing was a repeat of the allegation that Jews use the blood of Christian children for Passover bread. Of course, not all anti-Israeli writing is that extreme—there are shades of anti, but often the facts are twisted to suit the ideology rather than provided dispassionately and objectively and then analyzed. For example: an article written a couple of years ago castigating Israel for being a benevolent environment for homosexuals (Tel Aviv is one of the favorite tourist centers for European homosexuals on vacation), not because we actually do not care what a person’s sexual preferences are, but as a deliberate propaganda move—”pinkwashing”—to hide our inherently evil natures vis-à-vis the Arabs. Though obviously I am more pained by the examples that attack me and my people, this is just as true, if generally less extreme, of pro-Israeli writing. I truly believe that setting out the objective facts (as close as anything can be called objective) would change the general trend of most writing on Israel from hostile to at least understanding, if not agreeing, with us. In Israel we joke that the BBC is actually the PPC—Palestine Propaganda Corporation. That is the way we see most of Western media, though in this particular war the handling has been slightly more even (emphasis on slightly)—perhaps because of the effects of the carnage of the Arab Winter over the past four years.” *A “VAST MAJORITY” OF CIVILIAN CASUALTIES Let’s move to the civilian body counts in Gaza.
As I mentioned earlier, the New York Times marched quickly to get a front-page story online (on August 5th) and into print the next day—immediately following the commencement of the first 72-hour ceasefire. It’s a story they could, and should, have done weeks before.
What the Times did not do was use history as a guide when Operation Protective Edge began a month earlier—as to how to cover and interpret civilian casualty figures reported by Hamas. Indeed, in 2008, Brett Stephens of the Wall Street Journal wrote that at the height of the “so-called al-Aqsa Intifada [2002], I reviewed Israeli and Palestinian casualty figures, sticking to Palestinian sources for Palestinian numbers and Israeli sources for Israeli ones. Much was then being made in the Western media of the fact that three times as many Palestinians as Israelis had been killed in the conflict—evidence, supposedly, that despite the suicide bombings, lynchings and roadside ambushes perpetrated daily against Israelis, Palestinians were the ones who really were getting it in the neck.”
Stephens continued: “But drilling down into the data, something interesting turned up. At the time, 1,296 Palestinians had been killed by Israelis—of whom a grand total of 37, or 2.8%, were female. By contrast, of the 496 Israelis killed by Palestinians (including 138 soldiers and policemen), there were 126 female fatalities, or 25%. To be female is a fairly reliable indicator of being a noncombatant. Females are also half the population. If Israel had been guilty of indiscriminate violence against Palestinians, the ratio of male-to-female fatalities would not have been 35-1.”
Today, we can marvel at how one big news outlet after another has violated a golden rule of journalism: If your source has an ax to grind, at least tell the reader—and certainly you must cite the source in your account. Moreover, be consistent from one article to the next (i.e. don’t attribute the Gaza civilian casualty rates to a source in one story, only to not attribute it to anybody in another.) The Times is guilty of this in Gaza, as we’ll see below.
Recall my talk on July 27th with the major reporter in Gaza who declined to be named. I questioned him about the civilian body counts. “You’re right to be suspicious of any government figures in a war where the government is also taking part in the fighting,” he concedes, “and certainly because Gaza doesn’t have many other tools to defend itself in public opinion, their trying to inflate the public opinion around the death toll would make sense.”
But then he adds this caveat: “The reason why we’re using the [Hamas] government figures is because they’re tracking pretty well with the UN figures too.”
I asked whether the UN is simply relying on the Hamas government figures for its own. “I think the UN is relying on the Gaza ministry for the names,” he explains. “I’m not sure how much independent verification they are doing.”
He continued: “Actually, the Gaza ministry hasn’t broken out civilian numbers, what they often do at the end of the day is to say X number were children, X number were women, and X number were elderly men. And of the remainder, X number are fighters and X are not. But there’s not gonna be any way to tell from that number who’s who. Elderly men could also be fighters, some of the women could potentially be fighters, although that’s very unlikely with Hamas.”
The biggest problem with this reporter’s explanation is that it was being provided to me off-record, and not to his media outlet’s audience.
Moreover, some, if not many, of the kids could also be fighters. Earlier this year, a handful of media outlets exposed Hamas military-training summer camps for kids aged 6-16 in Gaza. Did the Western press corps in Israel pay any heed? (Reuters and NBC News, to their credit, did a slideshow and photo blog, respectively. The New York Times didn’t even touch it, although its reporter Akram lives in Gaza and surely must know about the camps.)  READY TO ROAST MARSHMALLOWS, KIDS?: A Gaza summer camp. Were any of these children among the “civilian casualties” that Hamas is claiming? (screenshot: from a Reuters slideshow in June) READY TO ROAST MARSHMALLOWS, KIDS?: A Gaza summer camp. Were any of these children among the “civilian casualties” that Hamas is claiming? (screenshot: from a Reuters slideshow in June) *“Nobody has accurate casualty figures except the Gaza hospitals that receive the wounded and dead,” points out Israeli military expert Hecht. “They are also the only ones who know whether the injury was indeed incurred by military action or by an ordinary every day accident—these do not stop because there is a war on. The UN has no ability or incentive to check the real figures. The IDF simply claims that the number given by the Palestinians includes the combatants and tries to count them with intelligence information (getting the names and comparing them to the lists it has compiled of Hamas members and so on). A true and accurate accounting will take a long time to acquire all the information, so it is always behind in the media race.”
I asked Hecht for his best estimate of civilian casualties. “According to the numbers given so far, the IDF thinks that about half the total number declared by the Palestinians as killed are actually combatants,” he says. [That figure also jibes with what the Amit Meir center is finding; more on that later.] After Cast Lead [2008-9], nearly two years passed before a Palestinian minister inadvertently let slip that the IDF figures then were correct.”
Hecht adds that, for all its attempts to prevent civilian casualties, “the IDF does not claim total success; only that relative to what other armies do in similar circumstances it is making a greater effort than anyone else. From the testimony I have heard and read from other wars I can say that it is true. War is a confusing mess and mistakes will invariably be made.”
True enough. In fact, a groundbreaking study ignored by my colleagues came out in June, a month before the Israel-Hamas war started. A prominent group of American public health experts found that civilian casualties constituted 85% to 90% of the 248 armed conflicts in the world since the end of World War II. While even one civilian casualty in Gaza is a tragedy, if Israel comes in at 40-50% (or even 60%), given the complexities and civilian-shielding in Gaza, what they’ve accomplished will be a model for future warfare.
The last time the U.S. fought a Gaza-like battle was in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004. Some 800 civilians were killed and at least 9,000 homes destroyed. On August 8th, the U.S. began air strikes on ISIS (while the rest of the Arab and Western world sits and yawns), and it remains to be seen what the percentage of civilian casualties there will be.
Aharoni  GETTING REAL: “If the only criteria for the Western media to measure the moral validity of any military campaign is the number of civilian casualties, then Germany was clearly the victim in WWII—hands down,” says Ambassador Ido Aharoni, Israel’s Consul General in New York. GETTING REAL: “If the only criteria for the Western media to measure the moral validity of any military campaign is the number of civilian casualties, then Germany was clearly the victim in WWII—hands down,” says Ambassador Ido Aharoni, Israel’s Consul General in New York. *It’s also easy to forget that in WWII, over one million German civilians died at Allied hands, compared with only 67,000 British and 12,000 Americans civilians. “If the only criteria for the Western media to measure the moral validity of any military campaign is the number of civilian casualties, then Germany was clearly the victim in WWII—hands down,” points out Ambassador Aharoni.
“This is not to say that we don’t have to work hard to minimize civilian casualties,” he adds. “But it cannot be the only way you measure the morality of a military campaign. There are other considerations. For example, the fact that a democratically-elected Hamas won the largest share of votes [in 2006] among 1.8 million Palestinians, they are directly and indirectly responsible for their situation—just as the German people voted for Hitler and were responsible for their situation…The first two years after Israel pulled out in 2005, Gaza was ruled by Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas). So, willingly the people of Gaza voted for Hamas and preferred Hamas over Abbas. It was their choice.”
In 2009, retired British officer, Colonel Richard Kemp, who served in Afghanistan and was involved with planning operations in Iraq, testified before the UN on Operation Cast Lead, the IDF’s operation in Gaza from 2008-9: “…the Israel Defence Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in the combat zones than any army in the history of warfare.” Contrary to media inflation, there is nothing to indicate that the IDF’s conduct this time around has been anything different. More recently, Kemp told Newsweek, “There is an automatic assumption that what the IDF are doing here is brutal, is wrong, is illegal and is different from what we would do in the British or American forces, but the reality is that the IDF are fighting a very similar enemy to the one that we fought in Afghanistan and Iraq and they use very similar tactics.”
A reason the Israelis are prepared to continue attacking even when they know there’s going to be a high civilian death toll, says Kemp, “is that they know this [Hamas] is going to be a direct, immediate and lethal threat to their people… The Israelis are explaining it but many people don’t want to hear it. And no explanation counts for anything if you show me a photograph of a dead baby on a mortuary slab or four dead boys lying on the beach.”
[By the way, other than in Newsweek, you won’t find Kemp’s defense of Israel mentioned in any major Western media outlet.]
Perhaps anti-Israel crusaders this month would be happier about the whole situation if more Israeli civilians were dying-by-rocket. Sarah Tuttle-Singer, the new-media editor at the Times of Israel puts it perfectly: ”Do we need to line up somewhere and let Hamas have a free shot at us for you to understand that we are dealing with a terrorist organization hell-bent on destroying us even at the expense of their people?,” writes Tuttle-Singer, who tells me that she and her two young children are traumatized by all the rockets, sirens and hours spent in bomb shelters. “ How many of us have to die for people to understand the extent of Hamas’s evil? Will six million do it for you?”
One of Israel’s most famous novelists, Amos Oz, has long been a hero among the country’s left wing. But he recently turned the tables on a reporter from Deutsche Welle (a German broadcaster) to point out the moral dilemma that Israelis currently face.
Oz: “I would like to begin the interview in a very unusual way: by presenting one or two questions to your readers and listeners. May I do that?”
Deutsche Welle: “Go ahead!”
Oz: Question 1. What would you do if your neighbor across the street sits down on the balcony, puts his little boy on his lap and starts shooting machine gun fire into your nursery? Question 2. What would you do if your neighbor across the street digs a tunnel from his nursery to your nursery in order to blow up your home or in order to kidnap your family? With these two questions I pass the interview to you.”
Later in the interview, Oz said: “I have been a man of compromise all my life…But even a man of compromise cannot approach Hamas and say: ‘Maybe we meet halfway and Israel only exists on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.’”
A month after the 9-11 terror attacks, which killed more than 3,000 civilians, I went on a ten-week assignment for Fortune magazine to Pakistan, to try and follow terrorism’s money trail. I also struck a joint venture with CNN, owned by the same media parent (Time Warner). I worked at times out of CNN’s makeshift bureau in a hotel in Islamabad, where I witnessed how much obsessive coverage was being planned and done of civilians killed as a result of the U.S bombing of Afghanistan. It was so over-the-top that CNN’s then-chairman Walter Isaacson approved a memo to all staff saying that CNN should show civilian casualties, but should put them in context and not focus disproportionately on them. (The memo also stated that correspondents must talk about how the Taliban are using civilian shields.)
The CNN correspondents in Islamabad were furious.
Getting back to the UN reliance on Hamas civilian casualty figures, I brought up the problem with Kobi Michael, the ex-Israeli national security official I’ve cited previously. (Michael today is a senior research fellow at the Institute of National Security Studies, an Israeli think tank.) “UNRWA [United Nations Relief and Works Agency] has very limited capabilities and it can only have figures of its own from its clinics and shelters, all other figures are provided by Hamas,” he says, adding: “There are at least two or three cases where Israel was accused of shelling UNRWA schools and a market where there is evidence for a possibility that it was Hamas failure [in the] shelling.”  HARD MATH: Based in part on numbers-fudging by Hamas in past wars, ex-Israeli national security official Kobi Michael (pictured above) predicts that—in the final analysis— “at least 60% of Palestinian casualties are not innocent citizens.” HARD MATH: Based in part on numbers-fudging by Hamas in past wars, ex-Israeli national security official Kobi Michael (pictured above) predicts that—in the final analysis— “at least 60% of Palestinian casualties are not innocent citizens.” *He continues: “As we knew in previous operations, Hamas lies and minimize its casualties in order to score points in the international domain as well as in the domestic one—and to create the victory-and-achievement image. As it was found after Cast Lead when Hamas declared about 49 casualties while Israel mentioned 709, after a year or so Hamas admitted that it lost between 600-700 of its fighters.”
His prediction today? “Israel will be very cautious and will check it carefully based on intelligence, but eventually the numbers will be very similar and maybe even higher—which means that at least 60% of Palestinian casualties are not innocent citizens. I can ensure you that the IDF prepares itself for the coming days (the investigation) with very well-documented evidence and the reason it doesn’t publish all materials is in order to prevent Hamas from preparing its alibi. Hamas will be surprised from the quality and the quantity of the documentation. Don’t forget that there are dozens of Hamas prisoners captured during the operation and they provide a lot of materials.”
So with all of this in mind, how has American major media been handling the civilian casualty counts? See for yourself. Following is just a tiny snapshot. Worst: Reuters. Best: Nobody. [Boldface added, and my comments are in brackets.] *REUTERS [note the lack, or vagueness, of attribution]:
July 22th (reporters Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dan Williams): “…in the Palestinian enclave where officials said 624 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in 15 days of fighting.”
July 26th (Noah Browning): “… almost three weeks of conflict that has killed almost a thousand Palestinians, most of them civilians.”
July 27th (Michelle Nichols): “Some 1,031 Palestinians, mainly civilians and many of them children, have been killed in the 20-day conflict.”
July 28th (Steve Holland): “…the death toll from Israeli-Palestinian violence in Gaza has climbed past 1,000, most of them civilians in Gaza.”
July 28th (Al-Mughrabi and Cripsian Balmer): “Some 1,060 Gazans, most of them civilians, have died in the conflagration…”
August 13th (Al-Mughrabi and Lin Noueihed): “Most of the Palestinian dead have been civilians, hospital officials in the small, densely populated enclave say.” *NEW YORK TIMES [note how often there is no attribution]: July 14th (Anne Barnard): “At least 180 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed since last week by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.”
July 17th (Jodi Rudoren): “Still, Israel says it is the rocket fire that has prompted a military bombing campaign that has killed more than 235 Gazans, most of them civilians.”
July 26th (Isabel Kershner and Michael R. Gordon): “ International alarm has been growing over the war that has claimed the lives of more than 800 Palestinians, most of them civilians, as well as 35 Israeli soldiers…”
July 27th (Kershner): “More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to the health ministry in Gaza and monitoring groups.”
August 11th (Kershner and Merna Thomas): “Palestinian militants and the Israeli military exchanged blows through Sunday, but on a much smaller scale than the fierce fighting of the past month, which claimed more than 1,900 Palestinian lives—a majority of them probably civilians.” [Note how the reporters now use the word “probably,” as they are starting to hedge in case they’ve been wrong in prior accounts. But it’s negated four days later by the story below.]
August 15th (Christopher F. Schuetze and Barnard): “…the moral debate over Israel’s military air and ground assault in the Gaza Strip, in which about 2,000 people, a majority of them civilians, have been killed.”
August 20th (Rudoren and Fares Akram): “…most of the more than 2,000 Palestinians killed have been civilians, according to rights groups.”
[Summing up, despite finally publishing a story on August 5th citing skepticism that exists about the civilian casualty figures, the Times now seems unable to make up its mind. Readers were told (on August 11th) that “probably” a majority of the deaths are civilians, and next were told that “a majority” were definitely civilians (with no attribution; August 15th). Just yesterday, the preferred language is that “most” of the dead are civilians, according to “rights groups,” whatever that means. What will tomorrow bring?]
 TAKE YOUR PICK: Isabel Kershner, a Jerusalem-based reporter for the New York Times, can’t seem to decide how to report Palestinian civilian casualty figures. Is it “most of them civilians” or “a majority of them probably civilians”? Meanwhile, colleague Anne Barnard is so certain it’s a “majority” that she doesn’t even see the need to cite attribution. (screenshot) TAKE YOUR PICK: Isabel Kershner, a Jerusalem-based reporter for the New York Times, can’t seem to decide how to report Palestinian civilian casualty figures. Is it “most of them civilians” or “a majority of them probably civilians”? Meanwhile, colleague Anne Barnard is so certain it’s a “majority” that she doesn’t even see the need to cite attribution. (screenshot) *AL JAZEERA AMERICA: July 29th: “Since the military offensive began on July 8, more than 1,216 Palestinians—most of them civilians—have died.” Al JAZEERA ENGLISH: July 29th: “At least 1,110 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have died in the ongoing Israeli offensive.” *CNN: July 13th (CNN’s Diana Magnay to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer): “…The death toll rising, 166 and more than 1,000 people injured—the majority of them civilians…”
[Magnay was subsequently transferred by CNN to Russia after a tweet referring to a group of Israelis in Sderot—where rockets have caused more damage than anywhere in Israel—as “scum.” She claims they made a threat to her. Even if true, a seasoned, professional journalist would never respond publically with such a slur. Such slurs are to be left for drinks with colleagues afterwards. If Magnay is tempted to repeat her bad judgment in the future, the word for scum in Russian is pronounced mraz]
July 25th (Chelsea J. Carter, Salma Abdelaziz and Karl Penhaul): “More than two weeks of violence that has claimed more than 800 lives, most of them civilians.”
July 26th (Elise Labott): “Israel and Hamas agreed to a 12-hour cease-fire starting Saturday morning, temporarily halting more than two weeks of bloodshed that has claimed more than 900 mostly civilian lives.”
July 27th (CNN’s Candy Crowley interviewing Palestinian official Mohammad Shtayyeh):
MS: “Eighty percent of those who have been killed in Gaza are civilians, women, children, old men; 1,080 Palestinians have been killed in the last 18 days. Eighty percent of them are innocent people.”
CC: “Mr. Shtayyeh – right.” [Why Crowley let’s his claim slide is anyone’s guess.]
July 28th (Hala Gorani): “Over 1,000 people are dead in the latest round. The vast majority Palestinian civilians. So will the humanitarian situation ever get so bad that world leaders have to step in rather than just urge the Israelis and Palestinians to cooperate with strongly worded statements?”
July 28th (CNN’s Carol Costello interviewing former Israeli ambassador Michael B. Oren): “So, I hear you. You want Israel to crush Hamas, now is the time still and we have to mention the civilians, more than 1,000 people have died. Most of them civilians. Is that worth the cost then?”
August 3rd (CNN’s Crowley interviewing Texas governor Rick Perry): “Governor, you have long been a staunch supporter of Israel. But I wonder, if you will, when you look at the pictures that we’re seeing, and we know that Netanyahu has expressed his regret for the civilian deaths, but when you look at the 1,700-plus Palestinian deaths in Gaza, the large majority of which are civilians, we are told, what is your thought about that? What is your reaction to that?”
August 4th (Anderson Cooper 260): “The conflict is entering into its fourth week and already more than 1800 Palestinians have died in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to local health officials.”
August 7th (John Vause in Gaza, Reza Sayah in Cairo, Michael Pearson in Atlanta. Jethro Mullen, Claudia Rebaza, Samira Said and Karl Penhaul also contributed to this report. Total: Seven reporters.) “It’s unclear how many of the Palestinian dead were militants. The United Nations has estimated that at least 70% of the dead were civilians.” *ASSOCIATED PRESS: July 24th (Tia Goldenberg): “More than 30 have died, along with three civilians on the Israeli side and more than 700 Palestinians, most of them civilians.”
July 25th (Khalil Hamra): “The United Nations says civilians make up three-fourths of the dead…”
July 28th (Edith Lederer): “The war, now in its 21st day, has killed more than 1,030 Palestinians, mainly civilians, according to the Palestinian health ministry.”
August 4th: “The war has taken nearly 1,900 Palestinian lives, most of them civilians caught in fighting inside Gaza’s crowded urban landscape, according to Hamas medical officials”
August 13th (Mohammed Daraghmeh and Goldenberg): “The fighting has so far killed more than 1,900 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, Palestinian and U.N. officials say.”
August 14th (Hamza Hendawi): “More than 1,900 Palestinians have been killed, mostly civilians…”
August 17th (Daraghmeh): “Nearly 2,000 Palestinians have been killed—mostly civilians—and more than 10,000 people have been wounded since the war began July 8, according to United Nations figures.”
August 18th (Karin Laub): “Israel has fired thousands of tank and artillery shells toward what it said were targets linked to militants during the war, though a majority of those killed were civilians, according to Gaza health officials.” *WALL STREET JOURNAL: July 23rd (Nick Casey and Asa Fitch): “Palestinian health officials say nearly 700 Palestinians have been killed in the last 16 days, most of them civilians including 166 children and 67 women.”
July 28th (Josh Mitnick and Casey): “The Palestinian Health Ministry said 1,032 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched an aerial offensive on July 8.” *NPR (Morning Edition) August 6th (Alice Fordham): “Gaza officials say more than 1,800 died. The U.N. says that about 1,300 were civilians.” [This computes to 72%.]  LONGSHOT: At a cost of as much as $100,000 per unit, Israel’s Iron Dome, seen here in action, has a rocket-interception rate of 85-90%. But it doesn’t cover the whole country—not by a longshot. LONGSHOT: At a cost of as much as $100,000 per unit, Israel’s Iron Dome, seen here in action, has a rocket-interception rate of 85-90%. But it doesn’t cover the whole country—not by a longshot. *TIME MAGAZINE: July 27th: “More than 1,050 Palestinians have been killed in the 20-day bombing and subsequent invasion, the vast majority of them civilians, according to Palestinian health officials.” *FOX NEWS: July 27th (Chris Wallace): “..Gaza officials say now that more than 1,000 Palestinians, the vast majority of them civilians, have been killed….” *WASHINGTON POST: July 22nd (Sudarsan Raghavan, Anne Gearan and Ruth Eglash): “By Tuesday night, the Palestinian death toll had risen to more than 630 since the conflict erupted July 8, according to officials with the Gaza Health Ministry, with more than half the deaths occurring since Israel launched its ground incursion Thursday night. The United Nations says more than 70 percent of the casualties are civilians, including many children.”
July 28th (Raghavan and Eglash): “The current conflict has killed more than 1,035 Palestinians, more than 70 percent of them civilians, according to the United Nations.”
July 30th (Raghavan, William Booth and Eglash): “The Palestinian casualty toll rose to at least 1,340 killed and about 7,200 injured, Gaza health officials said. Many of the casualties have been civilians, including about a third who are children, according to the United Nations.”
August 4th (Griff Witte): “Well over half of those dead are civilians, including at least 354 children, according to a U.N. estimate released Sunday.” *CBS NEWS: July 10th (Holly Williams): “So far this week at least 80 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed.”
CBS MORNING NEWS: July 29th (Susan McGinnis): “… Casualties on the Palestinian side are far greater with more than eleven hundred dead so far, most of them civilians.” *USA TODAY: August 1st (Jim Michaels): “The Palestinian Health Ministry said more than 1,400 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, three-fourths of them civilians.” *NBC NEWS: July 29th (Alexander Smith): “The current push, Operation Protective Edge, has seen more than 1,150 Palestinians die, most of them civilians.”
NBC’s MEET THE PRESS: August 3rd (Host David Gregory interviewing Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of Palestine to the UN):
RM: “…We have a tragic humanitarian problem in Gaza, which you have indicated more than 1,700 Palestinians, most of them civilians, 80 percent or more, and more than 9,000 have been injured. 80 percent of them, according to you and statistics, have been injured.”
DG: “Let me stop you on that point. [Note: He doesn’t stop him on the point of the casualty figures.] Your anger at Israel—certainly understandable, the loss of civilians horrific. There is agreement about that. I’m wondering though whether you’re outraged by the conduct of Hamas? Starting the conflict by firing rockets, building tunnels to kill and kidnap Israelis, being more than willing to sacrifice Palestinian lives by embedding them into their own kind of arsenal and using them, as Israel contends, as human shields. Do you have a level of outrage at Hamas itself?”
DG: [Following RM’s response to those issues]: “Fair enough. Fair enough. And indeed, the reason I’m pressing this point is not to challenge you about how horrific the loss of civilians are.”
 TREATING THE ENEMY: Israeli medics tend to an injured Palestinian fighter on July 18th in the Gaza Strip. It’s an image that one rarely, if ever, sees in wars, and not fit-to-print in the New York Times and other big Western media outlets. (photo: IDF spokesperson/Flash90) TREATING THE ENEMY: Israeli medics tend to an injured Palestinian fighter on July 18th in the Gaza Strip. It’s an image that one rarely, if ever, sees in wars, and not fit-to-print in the New York Times and other big Western media outlets. (photo: IDF spokesperson/Flash90) *BLOOMBERG: July 29th (Elliott Gotkine and David Wainer): “The Israeli offensive against Gaza rocket operations and tunnels militants built to infiltrate Israel has killed more than 1,100 Palestinians, most of them civilians.”
BLOOMBERG-BUSINESS WEEK: July 29th (Saud Abu Ramadan, Alisa Odenheimer and Jonathan Ferziger): “The third major military showdown in Hamas-ruled Gaza in less than six years has claimed the lives of more than 1,200 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and fifty-five Israelis, all but two of them soldiers, as well as a Thai citizen killed in Israel, according to officials.” *BBC: July 29th: “More than 1,100 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in the fighting since 8 July.”
BBC MONITORING EUROPEAN (from Anatolia news agency, Turkey): August 13th: “At least 1944 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 10,000 others injured—the vast majority of them civilians—in relentless Israeli attacks on the strip since July 7.”
BBC MONITORING MIDDLE EAST: August 8th: “According to the latest count from the UN, Israel’s Operation Protective Edge against Hamas and other militants in Gaza has claimed the lives of more than 1,800 Palestinians, 72 per cent of whom were civilians.” *LOS ANGELES TIMES: July 29th (Paul Richter): “More than 1,050 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in three weeks, officials said Monday.”
August 9th (Laura King, Batsheva Sobelman and Maher Abukhater): “During four weeks of fighting, about 1,900 Palestinians have died—a large majority of them civilians, according to the United Nations—and 64 Israeli soldiers and three civilians were killed.” *UPI: July 17th: “Hamas agreed to the temporary truce after 220 of Gaza’s residents, the majority of them civilians, were killed in the nine-day confrontation.” *XINHAU [China news agency; distributed by BBC Monitoring Newsfile]: August 4th: “During the almost 30 days of the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, the death toll on the Palestinian side has reached 1,800, mostly civilians, plus 9,500 wounded.” *What may be happening here is yet another time-honored tradition in our field: copycat journalism. Given the deadlines, more fierce today than before, it’s too easy to simply pick up the wording from a rival media outlet—particular when numbers are involved.
That said, in the end, these media outlets may be right about the numbers. But today they are rolling the dice on it—unfair to their audiences—and the odds are against them.
The IDF will not release its own figures on civilian casualty rate in Gaza. This fact is almost never mentioned by major media outlets. “We are choosing not to get into a mudslinging war about the numbers at this point,” IDF spokesman Eytan Buchman explained to me on July 26th. On the issue of UN figures, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said, “They’re not UN estimates: these figures are provided by Gaza health authorities (so: Hamas) and the UN merely redistributes these figures, for lack of the possibility to hold an independent survey. So these stats must be presented for what they are: Hamas processed figures.”
On August 9th, Palmor wrote me an update: “We had no access to primary info sources at first so we could not honestly present clear-cut figures. After Cast Lead [2009], it took a few months of investigations to ascertain the exact number of armed militants vs. civilians among the dead. We are now collecting more data from primary sources and the number of verified gunmen among the casualties is constantly and significantly rising.”
But it is regrettable, astounding really, that not one of these news outlets (again, except short shrift from the Times) reviewed and cited the work of the independent Amit Meir center. By not doing so, they’ve let down their viewers and readers, while helping Hamas in the war (if unwittingly or not) and fueling anti-Semitism globally.
![REUVEN’S WAR: “We are the only ones who are trying to check each name [Palestinian casualties], to examine every day,” he says of his Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. So why isn’t Western media ringing his phone? [YouTube screenshot]](http://www.jerusalemcats.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/REUVEN-ERLICH.jpg) REUVEN’S WAR: “We are the only ones who are trying to check each name [Palestinian casualties], to examine every day,” he says of his Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. So why isn’t Western media ringing his phone? [YouTube screenshot] REUVEN’S WAR: “We are the only ones who are trying to check each name [Palestinian casualties], to examine every day,” he says of his Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. So why isn’t Western media ringing his phone? [YouTube screenshot] I first spoke with Erlich on August 5th. He was not a happy man. For one thing, the New York Times had just posted its Page-One story that finally raised questions about the casualty figures—but it didn’t go far enough (and the newspaper has since reverted to form with a lack of skepticism about the numbers.) “It’s propaganda,” he said about Western media’s reporting that the ‘majority’ or ‘vast majority’ of Palestinian deaths are civilians. “First, it’s based on Hamas control of officials. They are controlling all the results and all the lies so they can control the results. It’s not based on examination of each name. We are the only ones who are trying to check, to examine every day.”
Second point, he says: “The impression is that in all their figures, there are no terrorists, no operatives, only civilians. Only Palestinian ‘martyrs.’ Nobody tried to make the association between terrorist operatives and civilians. So the inference is that Israel is killing many, many hundreds who are not terrorists. So it is a big lie that is spreading all over the world, and I am frustrated because everybody who is quoting the numbers—1,000 or 1,500, 2,000—nobody is mentioning terrorists. There are no terrorists. It’s deliberate. This is the system, it’s a system based on lies, unfortunately. The same methods were used in the past. It’s not something new. But it’s a lost battle, believe me. I’m frustrated. There’s nothing we can do.”
Erlich says the center has a small staff of experienced researchers, all of whom know Arabic and are familiar with Palestinian issues. “The basis of our study is our own work, and we are also gathering information about the names [of the dead] from security sources. We take everything into consideration, like journalists. We can also verify terrorists by photographs.” As for Gazan children who have been killed, he says, “I don’t know, I don’t believe them [Hamas]. We found some examples of children, we checked their names and we saw a youngster with a rifle. Nobody can really control the figures—they can write as many children as they want—only an examination like we are making.”
When we spoke on the 5th, his center had already studied 150 names and concluded that only about 50% were true civilians. He said he was preparing the next day to release the next 150, which he said showed essentially the same results. [This didn’t make the August 6th print edition version of the Times story, although it should have.] “All other lists, including the [Gaza] Ministry of Health are guesses,” he said. “Nobody tried to check even 50 names. We are the only ones. That’s why it’s a huge task to check and fight against Hamas deception. But this is the only way, and it takes time. All other figures are not reliable. I would like the New York Times to find somebody who tried to check the list, name by name. That’s all. And believe me, it’s a media war. I have a name for this war: The Casualty War…Hamas did the same in [Operation] Cast Lead.”
Last Wednesday, I spoke again with Erlich. He was in a better mood. “Five hours after we published (including in Arabic) the second batch of 150 names [August 6th], the Hamas Interior Ministry published an announcement, calling on Palestinians to be very careful about publishing information and photos of their ‘martyrs’ because Israel is collecting and publishing sensitive information and using it for ‘justification of its crimes’ and to ‘damage our positions.'” Such is the effect that his center’s work apparently has on Hamas.
Four days ago, the Meir Amit center released its third installment of its analysis of the Palestinians killed in the war. Of the 450 names now studied, reports Erlich’s team, terrorist operatives constitute approximately 46% of the names, while non-involved civilians constitute approximately 54%. (The identities of 44 of the 450 are still unknown at this stage.) The ratio may vary as the center continues its work, and it’s anticipated—based on prior conflicts in Gaza—that the final result will likely show that most of the dead are terrorist operatives.
Long-term, perhaps the biggest problem with media outlets serving the civilian-casualty soup before it’s ready is that phony numbers help inflame the world against Israel—and Jews generally. And that damage can’t be undone, even if big media outlets suddenly woke up and started doing their jobs.
Anti-Jewish riots have taken place throughout Europe and elsewhere. Jewish kids have been attacked; rabbis threatened, one beaten.
In Ireland on August 11th, shoppers—many chanting “Free Palestine”—stormed a Belfast supermarket to remove what they said were products that had ties to Israel. Watching the scene is like taking a horrific trip back to 1930s Europe. (It should be said that if boycotters of Israeli goods want to be consistent, they should also dispose of their iPhones, their computers with Intel chips, and a slew of medical devices that Israeli entrepreneurs have invented.)  HATE IN AISLE 5: Belfast shoppers teaching their kids how to single out Israel, the Jew among nations. (Don’t forget to dispose of your iPhones, your computers made from Intel chips, and the vast amount of medical devices invented in Israel.)
HATE IN AISLE 5: Belfast shoppers teaching their kids how to single out Israel, the Jew among nations. (Don’t forget to dispose of your iPhones, your computers made from Intel chips, and the vast amount of medical devices invented in Israel.) *In California, hundreds of protesters blocked an Israeli ship for several days from unloading cargo.
In Rome on August 9th, posters citing the “massacre” of Palestinians urge locals not to buy from a whole list of shops allegedly owned by Italian Jews. Spanish playwright Antonio Gala wrote that it wasn’t surprising that Jews have been expelled so many times in their history, while a city councilman in Ireland urges the UN to bomb Israel.
A riot by Gazan sympathizers outside a synagogue in central Paris trapped nearly 200 terrified worshippers inside the building. It sparked a street brawl between the rioters and dozens of Jewish men who arrived to defend the temple.
In Austria, an Israeli soccer team was attacked on a field by pro-Hamas fans.
In Belgium, a doctor refused to treat a 90-year-old Jewish woman—instead suggesting she go to Gaza for a few hours to “get rid of the pain.”
The list goes on and on.
Politicians like the UK’s John Prescott, a former deputy prime minister, parrots the media stats, jacks them up, and inflames the Israel-hatred to greater heights. “Of the 1,000-plus to die, more than 80 per cent were civilians, mostly women and children,” he wrote in a late July op-ed in the Daily Mirror. “But who is to say some of the other 20 per cent weren’t innocent too? Israel brands them terrorists but it is acting as judge, jury and executioner in the concentration camp that is Gaza.”
Little surprise that Britain is now reviewing all arms export licenses to Israel. Little surprise that France’s Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, wants the world powers to impose from outside a political solution.
“For all the formerly fascist and colonial regimes of Europe, Israel is a godsend,” says journalist Weiss.  WELCOME TO BISCHOFSHOFEN: Anti-Israeli protesters stormed a soccer field recently in the Austrian town of Bischofshofen to attack Israeli players—one of whom was kicked in the chest. (screenshot: Irish Independent) WELCOME TO BISCHOFSHOFEN: Anti-Israeli protesters stormed a soccer field recently in the Austrian town of Bischofshofen to attack Israeli players—one of whom was kicked in the chest. (screenshot: Irish Independent) *NEW YORK TIMES REPORTERS IN GAZA So what is going on at the New York Times? Why is the “paper of record” leaving out so much of consequence, and failing to cover in any adequate way—indeed, seems to be avoiding like the plague—the aspect of the story to which it is closest, the media role in the war? We can’t read the minds of the reporters the Times has in Gaza, but we can what they’ve put in the social media for all to see.
New York Times reporter Fares Akram was recently described by the Jerusalem bureau chief Rudoren as “brave, committed, talented…indefatigable.” I published that screenshot (taken by me in November 2012) of his Facebook homepage, with Arafat as his profile photo, for several reasons. First, I think it’s reasonable to ask what would happen if a current Times reporter had used as his profile picture, not his own face, but the face of Menachem Begin, who—decades before becoming Israel’s Prime Minister—was the leader of an underground Jewish group that ordered the 1946 bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 91 Brits, Jews and Arabs? I think there would be an uproar in the media world, way beyond Facebook. The reporter might even be dismissed, or dispatched to another region.
Without getting deep into Arafat’s long and illustrious career as a terror leader, let’s just focus on a statement he made in 2002 that’s highly relevant for today’s Gaza conflict. Asked on official Palestinian TV what message he would like to send to “the Palestinian people in general, and the Palestinian children in particular,” he spoke of the value of dead children to the cause: “This child, who is grasping the stone, facing the tank, is it not the greatest message to the world when that hero becomes a Shahid [martyr]? We are proud of them.”
In September of last year, Akram posted a photo of a king-sized painting of Arafat being lifted onto an airplane. The caption he placed with it is a line from Longfellow: “The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night.”  TAKING SIDES: New York Times reporter Fares Akram has lofty words to say about the “heights of great men” like the PLO’s Yasser Arafat (whose portrait here is being carried onto a plane.) Arafat knew plenty about the glory of heights, as his terrorists hijacked planes belonging to Pan-Am, Swissair and others. (Facebook screenshot) TAKING SIDES: New York Times reporter Fares Akram has lofty words to say about the “heights of great men” like the PLO’s Yasser Arafat (whose portrait here is being carried onto a plane.) Arafat knew plenty about the glory of heights, as his terrorists hijacked planes belonging to Pan-Am, Swissair and others. (Facebook screenshot) *Is it thus reasonable to ask whether Akram supports what his idol said in 2002 about how wonderful dead children are?
Finally, it’s worth remembering that when a peace offer was made to Arafat in 2000 that would give the Palestinians 95% of the West Bank, all of the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem as their capital, plus a $30 billion compensation package for the 1948 refugees—fewer than 50,000 of whom are still alive today— Arafat rejected it and initiated the Second Intifada instead. At the time, Saudi Prince Bandar characterized that rejection as “a crime against the Palestinians—in fact, against the entire region.” And he held Arafat responsible for all the ensuing deaths of Israelis and Palestinians.
Akram’s Linked-In page reveals that he worked as a consultant for Human Rights Watch from 2007 to 2010, overlapping briefly with his Times gig. HRW is a group so vicious to Israel that its own founder, Robert L. Bernstein, severed ties with it long ago. While at the NGO, Akram contributed to three publications alledging Israeli war crimes during the 2008-9 Israel-Hamas war.
Tragically, his father, a judge in the Palestinian Authority, was killed in an Israeli air strike during that war. Is it unreasonable to ask if this tragedy presents at least the appearance of a conflict of interest? Readers may wonder how impartial Akram, or anyone in his shoes, could be after such a tragedy.
Consider the case of Michael Brown, the unarmed black teenager in Missouri who was shot and killed by a white police officer on August 9th, after allegedly robbing a convenience store. The incident has led to riots. Today the New York Times editorialized that, in order for there to be a fair inquiry, the prosecuting attorney in the case “needs to step aside or be replaced.” Why? In part because the prosecutor’s father was killed by a black suspect in 1964 while assisting a fellow officer.
Shouldn’t the same standard be applied to Akram, who wrote in 2009: “My grief carries no desire for revenge, which I know to be always in vain. But, in truth, as a grieving son, I am finding it hard to distinguish between what the Israelis call terrorists and the Israeli pilots and tank crews who are invading Gaza. What is the difference between the pilot who blew my father to pieces and the militant who fires a small rocket? I have no answers but, just as I am to become a father, I have lost my father.
Putting aside Akram’s past work, let’s look at his accomplishments for Al Jazeera, a gig that he enjoys alongside his Times position, which the newspaper’s editors apparently are fine with. Frankly, his recent articles for Al Jazeera read like pretty much what you would expect from the Qatari news site that never met a Palestinian terrorist it didn’t admire. His pieces show a stark blood-soaked landscape of burned Palestinian corpses and suffering Palestinian civilians—with not a single Hamas fighter to be found. His articles sometimes verge into self-parody but they are actually only slightly worse than the Hamas propaganda that has been generated by the Gaza press corps, as it has completed its transmogrification into tools of the terrorist group.
“The smell of death was everywhere” was the headline of one typical piece, which tossed at Al Jazeera readers the kind of anti-Israel red meat that they eagerly consume. The article was a description of Shujayea, the eastern Gaza City neighborhood in which the Israelis discovered a rabbit warren of tunnels and Hamas command centers, its tentacles extending well into Israeli territory. In Akram’s reporting of the neighborhood’s devastation the word “Hamas” appears but once in a quote, but nowhere does he even suggest that Hamas bears any responsibility for what happened here. There is simply suffering, and for no reason—just bloodthirsty Israelis, killing perhaps for the sheer joy of it.
Reading his articles, one can see why he is so popular from an Al Jazeera standpoint. After all, AJ is a Hamas cheerleader. Its Qatari funders are Hamas’s chief bankroll. But it’s harder to see what the Times sees in a reporter who can’t find Hamas people in the middle of what was, for all intents and purposes, the Pentagon of Hamas.
Akram continues in the same vein in an August 3rd article. In this one, Hamas is present only as a spokesman parroting propaganda. A typical paragraph:
“Israel’s offensive on the Gaza Strip has killed at least 1,762 Palestinians and injured over 9,200 others. Sixty-four Israeli soldiers have also been killed, along with two Israeli civilians and a Thai worker.”
The “offensive” killed 1,762 Palestinians. But against whom was that offensive? In describing Israeli casualties, Akram conveniently lapses into the passive voice.
Same Hamas-less landscape is portrayed in this August 1st article on the short ceasefire between Israel and Party or Parties Unknown.
In his July 30th dispatch, again Akram presents a Hamas-less portrait. The Gaza power plant is down because of an Israeli bombardment. The Israelis deny they hit the plant but not to worry, there’s no mention of that. What there is, as usual, is a detailed micro-recitation of Gaza misery and repeated descriptions of casualties of Israeli actions, with the word “Hamas” never used. In the fairyland of Akram’s reporting, there is only aggressive Israel, firing for no reason, against an enemy that does not exist.
His Twitter feed is very much like his reporting: “See no [Hamas] evil.” Where are the Hamas combatants? That to me is the major flaw in the reporting out of Gaza. Hamas combatants are never mentioned. They only have cameo roles, not the starring roles they should have. And their absence is never explained or mentioned only in passing.
Given this portfolio of stories, the New York Times (nor Al Jazeera) should have no fear that Hamas will intimidate Akram anytime soon. Nor for that matter, its Jerusalem bureau chief Rudoren, for when she skips in and out of Gaza.
As for Rudoren’s attack on the Foreign Press Association, in which she was dismissive of the claim that foreign reporters have been intimidated by Hamas, one only hopes she has seen the video last Thursday of a Hamas official conceding that the terrorist group has strong-armed journalists. The official, Isra Al-Mudallal, the head of foreign relations in Hamas’s Information Ministry, also admitted that some reporters were kept under surveillance—and some booted out of Gaza after they tried to film the launching of rockets against Israel, which the official called “collaborating with the occupation.”
Unfortunately, we cannot be certain whether Rudoren or her staff in Jerusalem or Gaza has seen it. There’s still no mention of the video in the newspaper. Not fit to print, apparently.
Let’s move to Abeer Ayyoub, who Rudoren also praised (in November 2012, during Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza) as her “wonderful fixer/journalist.” At that time, Ayyoub was getting reporting credit on stories written by Rudoren, even as she (like Akram) served as a consultant at the Israel-viperous Human Rights Watch.
Ayyoub no longer reports for the Times, but earlier this year she stated publicly that she has been boycotting all Israeli products for three years, which would cover her period at the Times. ![FIT TO BOYCOTT: Abeer Ayyoub was reporting for the New York Times from Gaza at the same time she was working for Israel-hostile Human Rights Watch—and boycotting all Israeli products. [Facebook screenshot, November 2012]](http://www.jerusalemcats.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/ABEER-AYYOUB.jpg) FIT TO BOYCOTT: Abeer Ayyoub was reporting for the New York Times from Gaza at the same time she was working for Israel-hostile Human Rights Watch—and boycotting all Israeli products. [Facebook screenshot, November 2012] In a Facebook post on July 29th, Ayyoub parroted the Hamas line. She said she was asked in an interview “why Palestinians in Gaza are not feeling angry because of Hamas using the building materials for their tunnels and not for building houses and schools.” Her response was straight-up Hamas propaganda. “My answer was: why people in Israel [sic] won’t feel angry about Israeli government spending more money on enhancing its army instead of raising the level of education and health there? More importantly, why the U.S. wouldn’t save the money it supports the Israeli army with for sheltering its [America’s] thousands of homeless there in the U.S.” It went on like this. She never really answered the question, but it was plain: Hamas diverting cement from kindergartens to terror tunnels was fine with her.
It gets worse.
In a particularly vile Facebook post on August 3rd, she attacked “so-called journalists” who “posted stuff and gave interviews that they left because they were threatened by Hamas to be kicked outta [sic] country if they don’t report what Hamas wants.” While excoriating those brave journalists, she defended Hamas. But she went beyond that. Using the term “we,” she actually implied that she was complicit in the cover-up of Hamas launching sites:
“…since the war began, Hamas has totally, and even more than enuf, facilitated the entrance of foreign journalists, no visa, no security clearance, nothing! they got the security support, decent hotels, friendly people. and, when it comes to the concern, WE THE LOCALS, tell the foreign journalists what can’t be reported, such as the places where rockets are fired from. Hamas never made a formal statement saying these thing shouldn’t be reported HOWEVER IT TOTALLY HAS THE RIGHT TO.” [Boldface added]
In a Facebook post in Arabic on April 6th, Ayyoub thanked Hamas for the great job it was doing educating the kids of Gaza.
Why was this Hamas apologist and defender ever representing the New York Times in Gaza?
Back in January of 2013, after I published a story that was critical of the Times and other major outlets for having ignored then-Egypt president Morsi calling Jews “apes and pigs,” I spoke with the paper’s foreign editor, Joseph Kahn. He told me that the Times didn’t feel it needed a permanent full-time reporter in Gaza. But I disagree. Given the importance of the conflict and the Times’ obsession with it at the expense of other global conflicts where far more civilians are dying, I don’t see how anyone can argue that such a position isn’t warranted. Especially right now.
It has long been said at the New York Times that if both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide complain about their coverage, then that’s proof they are doing a good job. In fact, a year or so ago, a former Times reporter commented on Rudoren’s Facebook page that this was what she herself was told when she arrived at the paper. Indeed, when the Times responds to criticism about its anti-Israel bias, it’s spokesperson Eileen Murphy likes to call attention to the enormous criticism they get from both sides. The truth is that upsetting both sides of a conflict does not mean you’re doing your job. It can often mean you’re just lazy. There are facts, there is history, and there is reporting that can get to the bottom of much.
It’s also an absurd excuse. If Nazis and Fascists both complained about Times coverage of Germany before World War II, does this mean that the coverage was flawless? The assumption is that criticism from both sides “cancels each other out.” But it’s possible that one side may have well-warranted complaints while the other might be totally frivolous—and might be complaining just to create the “two sides are complaining” effect. *AL JAZEERA: A SHILL FOR TERRORISTS Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based parent of Al Jazeera America, has long been venomous towards Israel. That’s no secret to anybody with eyes and ears—or a passport from Israel, whose citizens are prevented by the Emir of Qatar from visiting the country where the network is based.
A confidential State Department cable from February 2006 describes former Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, who founded Al-Jazeera by a royal decree in 1996, as a “a big friend of Hamas.” He pledged $400 million to Hamas during a visit to Gaza in 2012. Two months ago, Qatar’s prime minister, Abdullah bin Naser bin Khalifa Al Thani, announced that Qatar would give Hamas $60 million to pay the salaries of its civil servants in Gaza. And just last weekend, Qatar announced it would give funds to every Palestinian whose home was destroyed in the current war. (We can assume that the Emir will include the homes where terrorists stored or launched rockets from.)
Qatar is also comfortably housing Hamas leaders in Doha while Palestinian fighters and civilians in Gaza die. However, the Jerusalem Post reported yesterday that the Qatari government may have threatened to boot Hamas’s political bureau chief, Khaled Meshaal, from his sanctuary if he agreed to an Egyptian ceasefire proposal. (Egypt refuses to allow Qatar, a virulent supporter of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood group, a seat at the table.)
Government officials in Iraq and Germany claim that Qatar has also funded ISIS, the new terrorist “state” where U.S. journalist James Foley was recently beheaded.
As for Al Jazeera, a State Department cable from December 2009 stated that Qatar was using the network as “an informal tool … of foreign policy.”
Israel’s Kobi Michael, the former national security official, points out that Al Jazeera does criticize certain corrupted regimes, “but nobody at Al Jazeera can say something about the Qatari corruption. Qatar is a tiny state with less than 250,000 citizens and more than 1.8 million slaves [migrants] with no dignity and human rights.”
While polls suggest that the majority of Gazans still seem to support Hamas, I’ve long wondered why moderate Gazans don’t form an underground to take on the terror group. Michael says Hamas’s terrorizing of the population is still too widespread to allow that to happen. “Since 2007 they have established an infrastructure and atmosphere of incitement—and those who refuse to collaborate with these efforts are forced to do it or just executed. Therefore citizens in Gaza cannot resist.”
He adds: “It is even worst than that due to the direct support for Hamas mainly by Qatar and the indirect support by international politics and media that collaborate with Hamas propaganda and the fabrication of figures and facts and pictures. The people of Gaza look at the international community’s approach and reaction towards other bloody arenas like Syria, Nigeria, Yemen and Libya, and understands that there will be no backing and support and they will be left alone. Think about it.”
And what of the Qatari government’s subsidiary, Al Jazeera America? I posed the matter to Steven Emerson, who has studied the network extensively. He is a longtime expert on Islamist terror who runs the Investigative Project in Terrorism (IPT), and he worked prior to that as an former investigative journalist for CNN and U.S. News and World Report.
“AJ America does very good reporting, but it was set up to provide cover as a propaganda outlet for its unabashed pro-Islamist, pro-Muslim Brotherhood, pro-Hamas owners,” says Emerson. “Qatar is the Number One financial supporter of the Brotherhood and Hamas today. Its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war has been scurrilously one-sided even though they pretend to be “evenhanded” by interviewing official Israeli spokesmen.”
On July 30, Al Jazeera’s coverage of the war was slammed by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif), who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “Every one of those rockets [fired by Hamas into Israel] is a war crime, almost every one,” Sherman said, noting that Hamas seeks to hit civilian targets. “Of course it’s a war crime committed by Hamas. And of course the owners of this TV network help fund Hamas.”
A story on Al Jazeera America on July 31st focused on the long-term psychological and physical affects that Gazan children will suffer because of “Israel’s onslaught.” Reporter Hashem Said interviewed various medical experts on the subject. Not once was the word Hamas even mentioned, let alone the long-term effects on the kids of having such a ruthless government in power.
And, as I wrote earlier, the video of AJ America’s Nick Schifrin showing viewers how Hamas launches rockets from civilian areas has been removed by his employer.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman says Israel is re-evaluating whether to boot Al Jazeera out of the country. “Just as Great Britain would not permit Der Stürmer to establish a television channel to broadcast from London, and the United States would not permit an Al Qaeda channel to broadcast from New York,” the foreign minister said.
On Monday, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, held a press conference—in part to wake reporters up to what Qatar is doing. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, “Hamas has been able to get away with its crimes thanks to the support and sponsorship it receives from Qatar. The Emir wants to appear to be progressive. After all, he and his family have gone on an international shopping spree buying the campuses of six American universities…” [One of those colleges is a virtual clone of New York University, my alma mater, which was established in Doha. Meanwhile, NYU’s New York campus serves as a de facto U.S. headquarters for an attempted academic boycott of Israel—a subject I’ve explored.
“It [Qatar] can buy, bribe or bully its way to owning anything,” the Israeli ambassador added. “Now Qatar is spending its way to becoming the world’s biggest sponsor of terrorism, second only to Iran.”
If Qatar is aiding Hamas in various ways—financial, media, diplomatic, harboring war criminal—at what point is Qatar violating U.S. law against supplying material support to a designated terror group? “If Hamas were ever to be convicted of war crimes by the International Criminal Court, as it may well be, any individual who was an accessory to such crimes would be guilty as well,” writes former Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz. “It is entirely fair, therefore, to describe Qatar as a criminal regime, guilty of accessory to mass murder.”
An old friend and talented colleague of mine went to Al Jazeera America. (We worked together once on the Al Qaeda terrorism trail.) So did the highly-regarded veteran reporter Ed Pound, who runs AJ America’s investigative unit, as well as Marcy McGinnis—the accomplished former CBS News executive who is now AJ America’s vice president of newsgathering. When I think of them, I reflect back at what former ABC Nightline correspondent David Marash said publicly after he quit Al Jazeera English in 2008 because of anti-American bias. Today, I wonder if any of the dozen or so talented Western journos will quit AJ America in light of the Qatar-Hamas connection coming into sharper focus.
Terrorism expert Emerson puts it bluntly: “The journalists who joined AJ America have sold their souls, I’m sure for a very good price. Some of them went over to AJ America because it perfectly suited their ideological agendas.” *THE BIG LIE: A RACIST STATE Thanks in good measure to what investigative reporter Weiss calls “the media intifada”—the trans-Atlantic epidemic of lazy, incomplete, sometimes mendacious journalism and imitations thereof that has plagued the conflict—the cries of Israel as a racist-colonial state are being vomited forth from San Francisco to Spain.
So goes the monotonously screamed lie, despite the presence on the Israeli side of Arab Israelis, Bedouin tribesmen, Druze and black African soldiers—as well as Mizrahi (Middle Eastern) Jewish youngsters—comprising much of the Israel Defense Forces.
Israel’s diversity is a subject almost never covered in the West. The Times contributes to the racism label, adding to the nonfeasance in its news pages, by printing on its famously predictable op-ed page, cookie-cutter, paint-by-numbers tracts by Palestinian officials and Israel-hating academics that label Israel a racist state—a tedious litany of drivel repeated dozens of times before.
Case in point: ‘Israel’s Colonialism Must End,” an August 4th op-ed by Ali Jarbawi, a professor and former Palestinian Authority minister, which is chock full of variants of the words racism and colonialism that he uses to smack Israel with. But it’s all nonsense, and it’s high time that the newspaper’s editorial board stopped inflaming anti-Semitism with this stuff.
Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of dining with Dumisani Washington, the head of a group called the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel. “The claim that Israel is a racist/colonial/apartheid state is a blatant, bald-faced lie,” he says. “Further, those false accusations cheapen the experiences of South Africans, Black Americans and others who experienced those horrors—like my parents and grandparents. Israel is diverse in virtually every facet of society. It is intellectual dishonesty to affix those gross labels on a liberal democracy.”
Washington, a California-based author, pastor and music teacher, will be publishing a book next month called “Zionism and the Black Church.” His institute educates young people and college students about what Israel really is. Among other things, he focuses on Martin Luther King Jr’s strong support of Zionism. Born in the segregated south (Little Rock), he knows a thing or two about what racism is.
 A LIBEL’S RESURGENCE: Dumisani Washington, of the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel, tours the U.S. to teach students some truths. “The claim that Israel is a racist/colonial/apartheid state is a blatant, bald-faced lie.” A LIBEL’S RESURGENCE: Dumisani Washington, of the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel, tours the U.S. to teach students some truths. “The claim that Israel is a racist/colonial/apartheid state is a blatant, bald-faced lie.” *While discrimination certainly exists in Israel (although not in its laws), as it does in most countries, the situation is improving and the Israeli-Palestinian struggle has nothing to do with race. For starters, Judaism is not a race, and anybody can choose to become a Jew. The late senator and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, made that clear enough in 1975, when he rose to the rostrum to condemn the UN’s labeling Zionism as “a form of racism and racial discrimination” (a designation the UN reversed). Moynihan called it “a lie” and “this obscenity.” (And he warned that corrupting the language of human rights in this way would cause irreparable harm to the UN and to actual racism.)
Nor is Zionism a colonial enterprise, as Jews immigrated in large numbers to escape persecution, not to plant the flags of other nations.
Nor is Israel engaged in “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians, another farcical slander. Since 1948, the Palestinian population has increased eightfold.
But for those who insist on brainwashing themselves into believing it’s a racist conflict, they might want to see a photo posted on Twitter by Gutiérrez—the Spanish journalist who exposed Hamas’ firing a battery of rockets from the press hotel in Gaza. It’s a picture of an Arab IDF soldier kissing his mother, who is wearing a hijab, on the cheek. “I would be lying if I told you I saw signs of apartheid in Israel,” the journalist wrote next to the photo. “But I’m not going to lie.”
Or perhaps the brainwashed can meet Arab Israeli teenagers like Mohammad Zoabi, a proud Muslim Zionist. Or perhaps Israel haters can learn about the Druze IDF commander, Col. Ghassan Alian, who was injured in battle last month but insisted his doctors let him go back on the front because “I have many soldiers there. I need to return.”
Or perhaps they can meet people like Arab Israeli Anett Haskia, whose two sons and daughter serve in the IDF, and who encourages Israeli soldiers to “keep on fighting in Gaza until total victory.” As for those who don’t accept the state of Israel, she suggests they are “welcome to go to an Arab country.”
Where are their stories in the New York Times and elsewhere in Western media?
 LOVE FOR SON, AND FOR COUNTRY: Arab Israeli mother Anett Haskia with son Hussam, one of her three children (including a daughter) who are serving in the IDF. All three are in the photo below. She encourages Israel’s soldiers to “keep fighting in Gaza until total victory.” (screenshots: Facebook) LOVE FOR SON, AND FOR COUNTRY: Arab Israeli mother Anett Haskia with son Hussam, one of her three children (including a daughter) who are serving in the IDF. All three are in the photo below. She encourages Israel’s soldiers to “keep fighting in Gaza until total victory.” (screenshots: Facebook)
 The three children of a proud Arab Israeli, Anett Haskia (pictured in photo above): Her son Hussam, daughter Suha, and son Dado. ANETT HASKIA CHILDREN The three children of a proud Arab Israeli, Anett Haskia (pictured in photo above): Her son Hussam, daughter Suha, and son Dado. *For that matter, where are the features of young, dead Israeli soldiers and their families? Or is it only the tragic deaths of Palestinian civilians that are worthy of ink?
There are 64 stories of fallen Israeli soldiers to choose from, and here is one, sent to me in late July by an Israeli cousin named Liraz:
“A week ago we celebrated our dear Nitsan’s 24th birthday. It was not easy to take a decision to celebrate during a war (this is absolutely not an operation)—but after all, these brave soldiers who are fighting there are doing it to protect us and allow us to celebrate life.
“Today [August 1st], I had to face Nitsan’s face, with heavy tears falling along her cheeks, and to realize how difficult it is to supply an answer to her question: ‘Why Mom, why is this world so unfair? So cruel? Why do they hate us so much?’
“Today, during a very hard battle, two soldiers were killed… One of them—Benaya Sarel—was the fiancée of Gali Nir, a very close friend of Nitsan’s, with whom she travelled to the Far East last year. Gali & Benaya, such a lovely young couple—met in the army, lived and loved, and were supposed to get married in ~3 weeks. Instead of dancing at their wedding, their family and friends will have to escort his coffin tomorrow on his last way. Benaya was a captain in Givati, one of our combat units. What a guy. You should have seen his pictures—taken in Gaza only a few days ago. He presented to the television camera ammunitions they found in a house. Great deal of ammunitions that it’s hard to believe.
“He was an admired officer, and, like our commanders, he was in front of his troops—killed by the suicide terrorist who came in front of the Israeli force, to distract them to [try and] take one of them into captivity.
“Nitsan and her girlfriends were trying to plan the party for Gali before the wedding. They knew she was in great tension, because Benaya is ‘inside.’ How tragic and awful it is now. No party, no wedding dress, a 24-year-old young fragile woman cannot start her life with her beloved man. Nitsan said she feels like she’s in a bad dream. And she wants to wake up, NOW.
“Honestly, I didn’t know what to tell my daughter. I know all the good reasons why I am growing up my children here, in this country. But to see them grow up and experience the unbearable pain—this is something that as a parent you are not prepared to do. Her sorrow, and the tragedy that her friend Gali will have to cope with now, just breaks my heart.
“I wish some of the [foreign] politicians who tell us what to do and how much to do and when to stop or how to handle this battle—I wish they would come to live here only for a short while. Realize who are our enemies and perhaps understand how wrong they [politicians] are not to support Israel all the way to the end, and not to assist us in any possible method to destroy this enormous evil called Hamas.”
Liraz told me that Nitsan was “devastated..crying all day” after the funeral to speak with me. A friend of hers permitted me to publish this photo (below) that she took of Benaya proposing to Gali.
 A FALLEN SOLDIER, A GRIEVING FIANCÉE: Benaya Sarel (left) and Gali Nir were planning an August wedding, not a funeral with 10,000 in attendance. Western media outlets are all-but-uninterested in such stories. (photo courtesy of Talya Peled Keinan) A FALLEN SOLDIER, A GRIEVING FIANCÉE: Benaya Sarel (left) and Gali Nir were planning an August wedding, not a funeral with 10,000 in attendance. Western media outlets are all-but-uninterested in such stories. (photo courtesy of Talya Peled Keinan) *Back in November 2012, during Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense, I learned that another cousin was the commander of a patrol jeep that was hit by an anti-tank missile fired into Israel from Gaza. After an IDF spokesperson told me that the incident was “the immediate catalyst” for Israel’s operation that month, I wrote a piece about it. From time to time, I still think about the jeep’s driver, now blind in both eyes as a result of the attack. At the time I published, doctors were still trying to save one of his eyes. It could have made for a moving feature in the Times or any major American media outlet. Still would.
But since my colleagues in major media are all-but-uninterested in the stories of injured or fallen Israeli soldiers, I’ve compiled a few other pieces that they might consider:
** When Israel pulled every one of its citizens out of Gaza in 2005, it left behind an advanced infrastructure for agriculture that included roughly 3,000 greenhouses donated by American Jewish philanthropists. “Instead of building on the agricultural high-tech, the people of Gaza stole it all; they took it apart and destroyed it,” recalls historian Michael B. Oren, who served as Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. from 2009 until last September.
I spoke last month with Oren. He said that if world leaders would stand down and let Israel deal Hamas a decisive military defeat, followed by a demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, the population there could flourish—if they choose a different path than the one they selected in 2005. “Here’s a second chance,” he says, pointing out that Gaza could develop a booming tourism sector (thanks to beautiful beaches), lure international investment, and do joint ventures in high-tech with Israel just as Palestinian entrepreneurs on the West Bank are doing today.
I wrote a cover story in Forbes magazine a year ago about these promising high-tech co-ventures. Google the subject, and you’ll see that such a positive subject is still all-but-ignored by my colleagues. Why? Too positive?
** Another area rich for stronger coverage are the “terror tunnels”—32 of which the IDF says it has destroyed. Israel’s Hecht, an expert on underground warfare, points out that Egypt’s prior destruction of the Gazan smuggling operation—most of which has taken place since Egyptian President el-Sisi took power in June—is “one of the prime causes of the present war.” I didn’t know this until I spoke with him, and perhaps most American readers and viewers don’t know it either. Hecht has written extensively on tunnel warfare, and one of his papers (from July 27th) on the subject can be seen here.
Q: Has Israel destroyed any tunnels that are used for just moving food and other needed products into Gaza, as well as for trade outside Gaza? Or are there no such tunnels used exclusively for these purposes? Has Egypt been destroying any tunnels since Israel’s Operation Protective Edge began on July 8th?
Hecht: “The smuggling tunnels are all between Gaza and Egypt. They have in the past been targeted by Israel when specific intelligence provided the location of arms shipments moving through a specific tunnel. But it is a very inefficient and ineffective way to stop them. The bomb has to hit within a couple of meters at most in order to do any damage at all. Most of the tunnels are so deep that the only feasible target is the entrance and even if the bomb hits and blocks the entrance or a section of tunnel, the damage is so limited that it only takes a few days to dig a bypass. If, as has sometimes happened, there is a lot of explosive material in the tunnel when it is hit, then there might be a chain-reaction explosion that demolishes it along a considerable length, forcing it to be abandoned and then they have to dig a new one. This is the reason that the IDF had to go in on the ground against the offensive tunnels; to destroy them you need to climb in, place tons of explosive in a chain along the entire length and then explode it all at once.
“What really shut down the Gazan smuggling operation and can keep it shut in the future is the Egyptian army’s ground forces. They have shut down more than 1,630 smuggling tunnels—most of them since el-Sisi came to power [in June]. This is one of the prime causes of the present war: Taxation on the smuggling tunnels provided Hamas with 40% (some claim even 50%) of its revenues. They also were the only route of entrance of new weapons into Gaza, though these weapons were only a small percentage of the traffic, most of which was civilian.”
Q: You’ve written about the revolutionary work that the IDF has done in analyzing the location of tunnels and the techniques for destroying them. Is that knowledge of value for the U.S. military? How and why? And is there currently R&D work being done in Israel to learn more and further the technology?
Hecht: “This sort of knowledge is discussed and exchanged continuously between the two militaries. The problem is that, as yet, neither has found a solution that works well enough to make this specific problem easy. The U.S., led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has invested a lot of money into solving a similar problem on the Mexican border with similarly dismal results. For the time being the only working solution is intelligence culled from inside the rival organization that points to an area or the exact location of an entrance — and then to send patrols to find that entrance. R&D is being conducted, but the results are simply not good enough. All the existing technology can discover these tunnels only to a shallow depth that is less than half the depth they are being dug.”
On August 11th, Fox News editor-at-large George Russell (a former colleague of mine at Time magazine, who I later wrote a batch of investigative stories for at FoxNews.com) exposed an internal UN report revealing financial mismanagement at the agency that “adds a new level of potential credibility to Israeli accusations that internationally-managed relief supplies to Gaza were diverted into construction” of tunnels used by Hamas to organize rocket attacks and infiltrations into Israel.
In 2004, the NGO Human Rights Watch (where Times reporters Fares and Ayyoub once worked) published a lengthy, clearly-politicized “report” condemning Israel for actions designed to stop terror tunneling in Gaza. The report, an accompanying publication (“Razing Rafah”), and a big media campaign “repeated false allegations that Israel was violating international law,” says Gerald Steinberg, who runs NGO Monitor, a group that tracks the falsehoods of NGOs operating in the Middle East. “This was the only HRW ‘report’ on the Gaza tunnels, which have grown massively in the past decade.”
Steinberg says that during the past decade, Amnesty International and other such “political” NGOs, as well as UNRWA, ignored Hamas’s strategic [offensive] tunnel construction. “They also turned a blind eye to the abused Palestinian children who were forced to dig the tunnels, causing at least 160 deaths, and perhaps many more,” he says. “In obsessive posts on Twitter, in which most target Israel, HRW head Ken Roth continues to ignore these issues.”  FUNDING AL JAZEERA AMERICA—AND TERROR: The Emir of Qatar in 2012 with the PA’s Mahmoud Abbas (left) and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal. (screenshot: World News Network) FUNDING AL JAZEERA AMERICA—AND TERROR: The Emir of Qatar in 2012 with the PA’s Mahmoud Abbas (left) and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal. (screenshot: World News Network) *Instead, HRW, Amnesty and UNRWA led the campaign demanding that Israel allow the import of cement into Gaza, where it was used to prepare the tunnels for deadly attacks on Israel. “Under the facade of human rights, the leaders of these organizations are morally complicit in the rampant child abuse, the deadly Hamas attacks through the tunnels, and the immeasurable cost to Gaza’s residents,” says Steinberg.
With media focused on Palestinian children, certainly the abuse of them during the construction of such tunnels should be a natural angle? But that might get foreign reporters booted from Gaza.
** Another idea for my colleagues might be to probe deeply into the Qatar-Hamas links. Poking around Al Jazeera’s home nation won’t be easy, as there’s no freedom of the press there. But it remains one of the most important stories of the entire war, and it’s sitting there waiting to be done.
** Finally, another investigative story worth pursuing, although it will also upset the press corps’ hosts in Gaza, is the sordid relationship between Hamas and UNRWA. While the UN has called for a probe of Israel for war crimes, the agency itself has been caught red-handed three times storing Hamas rockets—and has publicly admitted handing rockets back to Hamas. UNRWA has also admitted to hiring Hamas teachers at the schools, which are sometimes used as recruitment centers for child soldiers. The curriculum brainwashes the kids into working for the elimination of Israel. *SNOWING HIS VIEWERS IN THE UK Of the dozen big-circulation newspapers in the UK, the Guardian stands alone in its virulent hatred of Israel. (even worse: the Independent, although it’s circulation is far lower.) This is clear to anyone who can stand to follow it, and one need only read Middle East commentator Tom Gross’s account of Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger’s first visit to Israel in 2001 to see who is steering the paper’s biased reportage.
Less well known to those outside the UK is the hostility of TV’s Jon Snow, long known as “the face of Channel 4 News” (since 1989). He reputedly enjoys the biggest Twitter ratings in the country of any TV news reporter, and his network is one of the most followed by viewers there.
I decided to explore Snow’s coverage because an old friend and extremely talented colleague of mine (we worked closely in Pakistan after 9-11 on the terrorism trail) posted a link to a Snow broadcast in mid-July, with the comment “Lord I miss Jon Snow.” The colleague, who was based until recently in London, now works for Al Jazeera America.
So how is Snow covering the Israel-Hamas war? The newsman has become obsessed with injured and dead children in Gaza, to the expense of everything else. I could locate no broadcasts, however, on the harm being done to Israeli children near the Gaza border—where studies show that nearly half of the kids suffer post-traumatic stress-related symptoms from years of rockets and countless hours spent in bomb shelters.
A review of many of Snow’s broadcasts and dispatches shows one bias, absurdity and falsity after another, in such a format that it resembles a satire. *Examples: ** Following a brief visit to Gaza in mid-July, he referred only twice to Israeli security guards at a checkpoint into and out of Gaza—and each time stated that they “barked” orders [like dogs?]
** He referred to “three half-hearted aerial sirens” in Israel, as if citizens rushing to bomb shelters there deserve little sympathy.
** He falsely stated that Israel’s Iron Dome catches all the rockets. “Israel, courtesy of American finance [he uses his hands to create a half globe effect], has invented the most brilliant shield, which is keeping absolutely everything out—and that’s a big difference.”
In fact, the Iron Dome’s success rate in this war is about 85%. Given that all of Israel cannot be protected by it (75% of Israelis live within range of Hamas missiles), the IDF focuses on those rockets that are falling over population centers. From the start of the war until July 26th—the day of Snow’s on-air claim—the IDF identified 2,478 launches into Israel. Of these, 488 were intercepted successfully and exploded in mid-air, while 1,790 landed in Israel in open areas. (Perhaps 200 landed inside Gaza. Of course, any damage they caused was falsely attributed to Israeli bombing or artillery.)
So much for “keeping absolutely everything out.” One must ask, given such falsities, are viewers watching Snow purely for entertainment value, or do they buy what he hawks?  VISITING GAZA’S WOUNDED: UK newsman Jon Snow (right) says that Israeli officials “seem to be happy” when IDF strikes kill women and children. (screenshot: Channel 4 News) VISITING GAZA’S WOUNDED: UK newsman Jon Snow (right) says that Israeli officials “seem to be happy” when IDF strikes kill women and children. (screenshot: Channel 4 News) *** In the past Snow has referred to the Israel lobby in Washington as the “Jewish lobby”—despite the facts that Israel’s population is 75% Jewish, with the rest Muslim, Christian, Druze and other minorities. Does Snow have a problem with Jews, or is he simply ignorant?
** In a discussion inside Gaza’s Al Aksa Hospital with the institution’s medical director, the doctor told Snow: “These [children] are the declared target of the Israeli army. They are only killing children.” Snow doesn’t challenge him on that, not even slightly.
** In a clear broadside against Israel, he stated, “The world is witnessing what is happening in Gaza. There is bound to be judgment.”
** Snow told a Hamas spokesperson on air that, “If you stopped firing your rockets tonight, you would embarrass Israel into stopping fighting you.” Embarrass? Why use such a word? In fact, Israeli officials have said over and over that the missiles will stop when the rockets do—while Hamas has broken every ceasefire.
** He exaggerates ridiculously. In an interview with Israel’s former National Security Advisor, Yaakov Amidror, Snow called a rocket that landed near Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, “clearly…a disaster…an enormous economic setback [due to a 24-hour flight ban by the U.S. and Europe.] “Please don’t exaggerate,” responds Amidror, adding sarcastically: “It’s Britain, I understand. So, it’s not a ‘disaster.’ It’s a problem. We will solve it, if not in the next 24 hours, in another 24 hours….This is not a disaster for Israel.”
Snow punches back: “How many 24 hours do you need to deal with the problem you describe as Hamas?” Amidror then educates the newsman on how Hamas is “the problem of Palestinians, not us, and Qatar money…[and running a] military machine instead of taking care of its own population.”
Amidror then lands the knockout, even as Snow tried to cut him off. “Remember—you are from Britain—what happened the last time someone decided to launch rockets and missiles into your own cities, so we will have to deal with it.”
Snow keeps trying. He complains that the IDF is “having to kill civilians on behalf of the political classes who will not talk to Hamas. That position simply cannot be sustained. I would argue, and I think there are many in the West who would support this, many would argue that you’re losing the propaganda war thereby.”
Amidror then educates Snow on something that most of the media does not seem to ever grasp. “You know, we are not fighting for propaganda,” he said. “We are fighting for our life. When Hamas decided to launch more than 1,500 missiles and rockets into Israel [now up to nearly 3,500], the problem is not propaganda, with all due respect to the propaganda. And what we are doing now, we are defending our ability to live in Israel. And what our pilots and our commanders on the ground are doing is to try to convince the civilians to leave the areas in which Hamas put its launchers and is fighting for within populated areas behind the shield of children of its own people. What we try to do is to defend our civilians. What they are doing is to use their civilians.”
** Snow began an interview with Mark Regev, the spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, by stating: “Mark Regev, the operation that you’re engaged in is Protective Edge, and its stated purpose is to protect Israeli civilians. Uhh, how does killing children on a beach contribute to that purpose?” After a discussion of the nature of war as he thinks Israel views it, Snow then states: “You seem to be happy for it to, frankly, well if it results in dead children, dead women, that’s it.”
Indeed, in a tragedy that was well-reported by media in the US and elsewhere, four Palestinian kids playing on beach in Gaza were killed by Israeli fire. As far as I could tell, what wasn’t asked by my mainstream colleagues was what they were even doing on a beach with Israeli naval forces stationed right off it Did not one of the four sets of parents think of keeping a tight eye on them? At what stage are parents responsible for their children?
** In that interview with Regev, Snow asked why Israel doesn’t talk to Hamas directly—as if this could somehow lead to a duet of Kumbaya. “Let me ask a final question,” said Snow, before sounding like a child himself. “You’ve tried three wars. You’ve tried virtually everything…You’ve besieged it [Gaza] for seven years. People live an intolerable and ghastly life, and you know that better than anybody. Why don’t you try one other thing: Talking. Why not talk? Why not be brave and talk directly with them? Why not?”
I’ll let Israeli military expert Hecht and Kobi address that absurdity.
Hecht: “I guess we should have negotiated with the Nazis too—just as Churchill did, oh wait—he didn’t. Or perhaps the way Britain and the U.S.A. negotiated with Saddam Hussein and are negotiating very effectively with the Taliban.”
Kobi: “Has this Brit asked himself why the UK or U.S. doesn’t negotiate with Al Qaeda or ISIS? Israel has negotiated with Hamas, but indirectly. There is not any cause to negotiate with them [directly] because any negotiation with them legitimizes them, strengthens their political position and weakens the moderates.
“[Second] Israel has no interest in having two Palestinian states competing against each other on its back. The PLO is the only and sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people; why does Israel have to undermine it?
“[Third] Hamas is a terror organization that seeks eliminating and destroying not only the state of Israel but the Jews as a whole.”
Not surprisingly, Snow doesn’t mention the inconvenient fact of Hamas’ charter, which calls for the killing of Jews everywhere.
 SNOWING HIS VIEWERS: Top UK newsman Jon Snow calls on Israel to negotiate directly with Hamas, but apparently has never read its charter. (Cartoon courtesy of Legal Insurrection.) SNOWING HIS VIEWERS: Top UK newsman Jon Snow calls on Israel to negotiate directly with Hamas, but apparently has never read its charter. (Cartoon courtesy of Legal Insurrection.) *What is one to do when watching and reading Jon Snow? Perhaps simply laugh. But what Snow doesn’t seem to understand is that, to those who actually know the facts, his falsities and bias actually undermine the lives and deaths of the Palestinian children that he obsesses over.
And that applies to Western media generally, on both sides of the Atlantic.
As for the New York Times, having failed to do any serious enterprise reporting since the war began, here’s the big crumb the newspaper tossed out to its readers after the last ceasefire went into effect:
On Saturday, a Page One story about a 91-year-old man named Henk Zanoli who rescued Jews during the Holocaust but who has now decided to return a medal he received because he’s upset about the numbers of Palestinian civilians who have died in the warfare. According to Times’ reporters Christopher F. Schuete and Anne Barnard, “his act crystalized the moral debate over Israel’s military air and ground assault…in which about 2,000 people, a majority of them civilians, have been killed.”
Of course, it “crystalized” nothing of the sort. The man is a genuine hero who genuinely rescued Jews, and he’s a genuine anti-Zionist going back many decades, as his letter to the Israeli ambassador to the Netherlands points out. He obviously went to the trouble of publicizing the letter, probably sending it out widely to the media [the story appeared first in Israel’s Haaretz]. A publicity stunt, and one eagerly utilized.
Zanoli’s wartime exploits are not to be minimized. His actions today, falling in line with European Israel-hatred, are anything but heroic. (He refers to the deaths in Gaza as “murder carried out by the State of Israel.”) A nonbiased article—remember, this is a lengthy front-page story—would have explored his views on European anti-Semitism, the spread of Islamist beliefs, and his callous disregard of the perils facing Jews today.
Also, note how the two Times reporters state emphatically and without attribution that a majority of those killed are civilians. A day earlier, at least Times reporter Kershner began using the word “probably” on that point. Knock, knock, New York Times, any editors home?
That Times piece made me reflect on the newspaper’s coverage during the Holocaust. In 2001, just two months after 9-11, the paper’s former executive editor, Max Frankel, wrote a scathing come-to-Jesus op-ed on what he called “the staggering, staining failure of the New York Times to depict Hitler’s methodical extermination of the Jews of Europe as a horror beyond all other horrors in World War II—a Nazi war within the war crying out for illumination.”
While the Times today is, to some degree, following down the same path with Hamas, we fortunately live in a 24/7 global online-media world, where we don’t need to depend on such an important newspaper for its coverage.
Not content with its ‘morally-crystalizing’ Page One story about the Holocaust hero, the Times struck again the following day with yet another Page One story that was malevolent towards Israel. This one, odd enough just for its timing during the current war, focused on how three Israeli men are allegedly among the central operators in Israel’s underground kidney market (i.e. the trafficking of kidneys to save lives.) The reporter—Kevin Sack—concluded that while the trade is extremely active in China, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Eastern Europe and elsewhere, Israelis have played “a disproportionate role.” It’s a word the Times has used a great deal this summer to describe the ratio of Israeli-to-Palestinian fatalities.
Students of the New York Times may conclude that, given the space allotted to the piece (it included two full pages inside), this is the kind of ”exposé” the editors may be submitting for journalism awards next year.
I realize that kidneys are off-point for an article about the current war, but it’s not off-point for a critique of how the Times covers Israel. Therefore, I reached out yesterday to Dr. Asif Efrat, one of Israel’s leading experts on the country’s role in the global kidney trade. I asked Asif, who teaches at IDC Herzliya, one of Israel’s most prestigious colleges, what he thought of this Times triumph. His response, in full:
“The main problem with the article is that it does not mention the changes in Israel’s regulation of transplantation since 2008. The reporter says that an analysis of ‘trafficking cases since 2000 suggests that Israelis have played a disproportionate role.’ This was certainly true before 2008: from the mid 1990s to 2008, the HMOs reimbursed Israeli patients for transplants done abroad, and this was a strong incentive to pursue those transplants. Yet in 2008 Israel enacted an Organ Transplantation Law that made organ brokering a criminal offence and prohibited the HMOs from paying for commercial transplants abroad. The law also includes a set of measures to encourage altruistic organ donations in Israel in order to reduce the organ shortage.
“As a result of this law, the number of Israelis who buy organs abroad has significantly decreased. Indeed, the trade has not completely disappeared, as the Times article documents, but there has been a significant decline. Prior to 2008, Israel was denounced by the international transplant community for sponsoring the organ trade through the HMO reimbursement; but leaders of the transplant community—those behind the Declaration of Istanbul—have praised the Israeli law. I believe this should have been mentioned. And to put things into perspective, it could have been noted that patients who buy organs come not only from Israel, but from a variety of countries in Asia, the Arab world, and Europe.”
There you have it: Two questionably-important Page One distractions from the kind of enterprise pieces about Israel that the Times should be doing this month— while the Israel-Hamas war continues. Media watchdogs such as the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) and HonestReporting have been tracking the paper’s record in the war. It took just one day for the Times to start the crooked ball rolling with a front-page headline flipping reality itself on its head: ”Israel presses air barrage and Hamas strikes back.”
One thing I wish the Times had deemed worthy of sharing with its readers is an electrifying speech delivered by Florida Senator Marco Rubio on the Senate floor in late July. It was about as strong a statement in support of Israel as anything I’ve heard presented in that great body since the war began. Rubio places all the blame for the deaths of Palestinian civilians where it belongs: at the door of Hamas.
“Please don’t tell me that this was caused by Israel,” Rubio implored a Palestinian official in Washington who had sent him a blistering letter. “In my time here in the Senate, I’ve had the opportunity to visit multiple countries. I have never met a people more desirous of peace than the people in Israel. But peace cannot mean your destruction. And that’s what they’re facing here… They [Hamas] are willing to sacrifice their own people to win a PR war. And I think it is absolutely outrageous that some in the press corps domestically, and most of the press corps internationally, is falling for this game. So please don’t tell me that both sides are to blame here.”
Comedian and political commentator Bill Maher has noted the absurdity of constantly blaming Israel for its efforts to exist. ”What I find so ironic is that after World War II, everybody said, ‘I don’t understand the Jews. How could they have just gone to their slaughter like that?’” he told the Los Angeles-based Jewish Journal in 2012. “OK, and then when they fight back: ‘I don’t understand the Jews. Why can’t they just go to their slaughter?’ It’s like, ‘You know what? We did that once. It’s not gonna happen again. You’re just gonna have to get used to the fact that Jews now defend themselves…”
I recently attended a benefit dinner held by OneFamily, a charity that helps Israeli victims of terrorism. (It was launched in 2001, following a suicide bombing at a Sbarro restaurant in downtown Jerusalem that killed 15 and injured 130). On the night of the dinner, the group was raising funds to help move Israeli families from the south of the country, where they’ve been cooped up in bomb shelters, to the north.
The keynote speaker that night, Eric Mandel, has briefed members of Congress on Israel since the 1980s, and he speaks frequently to students. “Media bias against Israel will never end,” he told the audience. “However, the American people are enigmatically both sympathetic to Israel while at the same time ill-informed of the facts of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This makes Americans particularly vulnerable to distortions and lies about Israel…In this war, the mainstream media is not challenging Hamas’ defenders. You would never know that the ‘siege against Gaza is of Hamas’ own making. The borders were open for trade and commerce until Hamas decided to continually fire missiles into Israeli civilian areas.”
 RAINWASH VICTIM: Mia Warshofsky, a 19-year-old Jewish college student in Florida who is organizing boycotts of Israel, has never been there. Why bother, when she can rely on Western media outlets for her knowledge. (screenshot: Central Florida Future) BRAINWASH VICTIM: Mia Warshofsky, a 19-year-old Jewish college student in Florida who is organizing boycotts of Israel, has never been there. Why bother, when she can rely on Western media outlets for her knowledge. (screenshot: Central Florida Future) *Speakers like Mandel and Dumisani Washington (of the Institute for Black Solidarity With Israel) are going to have their work cut out for them this autumn, as the boycott-Israel movement (BDS) on college campuses will likely be rocketing as never before. On Sunday, Haaretz focused on a few of those students who are desperately in need of history lessons and accurate media reports.
Among them: a Jewish sophomore in Florida named Mia Warshofsky. In a column she wrote on August 11th for her school paper, the 19-year-old teaches us that “an operation with a 76 percent civilian casualty rate is ineffective and disproportionate in scope. Targeting hospitals, schools, civilians and civilian infrastructure is not self-defense.” As she “cannot be complacent in the Israeli occupation,” she is planning to launch chapters of the Israel-hating Jewish Voice for Peace, and Students for Justice in Palestine, at her 60,000-student campus, the University of Central Florida.
Mia has never been to Israel.
Reading through her tedious repetition of the Hamas narrative, it’s hard not to wonder about the role played in molding her thinking by biased coverage of the Gaza conflict in the media. It’s as if an entire mythology of Israeli aggression and Hamas innocence has been foisted on the public by a media that is too feckless, too lazy, too prejudiced, and sometimes too just plain dumb to know any better. Regrettably, as history has taught us, bad journalism has made truth the first casualty of war.
A memorable line from the 1962 John Ford film “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” comes to mind. The main character, played by Jimmy Stewart, has just spent hours explaining to a frontier journalist why he did not in fact kill Liberty Valance, the notorious outlaw, but the myth nonetheless had propelled the Stewart character into a successful career in politics.
The journalist throws his notes into a fire and refuses to print the truth. The Stewart character asks why. The journalist replies: “This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”
Substitute “Gaza” for “West” and the problem can be summarized in that one sentence. *–With assistance from Susan Radlauer, Director of Research Services, Forbes ### Richard Behar is the Contributing Editor, Investigations, for Forbes magazine. He can be reached at rbehar@forbes.com |
Math vs. Anti-Semitic Propaganda04August2014 http://blog.joeol.com/2014/08/04/math-vs-anti-semitic-propaganda/ or https://attorneysdefendingisrael.blogspot.com/2014/08/math-vs-anti-semitic-propaganda-joeol.html While it seems to be standard reporting to claim that the “vast majority” of Gaza casualties from Israel’s 2014 “Operation Protective Edge” are civilians, the claims must be approached with a healthy level of skepticism. While Israel’s casualties can easily be determined by a well-organized and uniformed military, Hamas strikes from civilian areas often wearing civilian clothing. So do the health officials really always know the difference between a “civilian” and a “combatant” just by looking at a maimed corpse? By looking at the age structure of the Gaza casualties and comparing it to the age structure of the entire population, not only does the answer to this question seem to be a resounding “no” but the data implies that the civilian to combatant ratio in the current conflict is at least as low as 1:1.
Aljazeera (which is heavily pro-Palestinian) last updated their list of Gaza casualties on July 24, 2014, but even from it we have a sample size of over 600. After eliminating those listed as “unknown age”, “Jihad member”, “Jihad commander”, etc., we end up with a sample of 515 “civilians”. Since the claim is that these civilians are being massacred indiscriminately, we would expect that the age structure of this sampling should roughly resemble the age structure of the entire population, at least to a degree.
So I did some filtering on the list from Aljazeera above to obtain just the list of “civilian” ages. I outputted these to this file. Please feel free to check the file against the website yourself and verify my data and calculations are accurate. What we might expect is something like the following age structure provided by the CIA World Factbook in 2013:
 Gaza Strip population pyramid-2014
But surprisingly enough, this is what we get instead:
 Gaza casualties bar graph
It is clear that the huge spikes in fighting-age people, particularly 20-40 years, from the data imply that this is not a “random” sampling of civilians who were targeted indiscriminately. If that were the case, it would resemble much better the pattern of the overall population. Operation Protective Edge Has a 1:1 Civilian to Combatant Casualty Ratio We can take this one step further to have a pretty strong argument that Operation Protective Edge has a 1:1 civilian to combatant casualty ratio, a ratio far lower than the average of 3:1 since WWII. (For reference, the U.S.-led Iraq war from 2003 to 2013 averaged 3.35:1 civilian to combatant casualty ratio.) To show the casualty ratio for Operation Protective Edge, we will simply leave the age ranges 0-15 and 65-100+ intact from the data, since these are age ranges that will most likely not include combatants. In between, we will fill in what we might expect based on the actual age structure of the Gaza population as a whole as shown in the first part of this article. This gives us the following expected values (and note I did err well on the side of higher numbers of civilians as you can see in this overlay).
 Expected Gaza casualties bar graph
I’m not about to go through the trouble of figuring out based on names the statistics for females versus males, since I’m not familiar with Arabic names, but if anyone knows of somewhere that lists the casualties as well as the genders, I will be happy to include this analysis as well. I would definitely theorize that the spikes would have an incongruous majority of males within that age group.
There is obviously some order here that results in many more deaths in the young adult age range, the very age range where we would imagine most fighters would fall. These numbers that were obtained from the pro-Palestinian Aljazeera and on which we performed calculations suggest nearly exactly what Israel claims it has proof of (which we will see in the coming weeks and months for sure). These figures are 3 times better than even that of U.S. vs Iraq, and all this in the difficult situation that is Hamas and human shields.
Besides, we all know if Israel wanted to indiscriminately kill 1500 people (the current death toll), all they would have had to do is indiscriminately (and unannounced) level 55 football fields worth of Gaza (yeah, more math, check it if you want), which could be easily achieved in one night for Israel. Most people don’t understand numbers, but mathematicians do. Israel is not indiscriminately “carpet bombing” anyone. And considering Israel has one of the greatest armies on Earth, if they’re trying to commit genocide, they’re doing a horrible job at it!
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Chairman Dempsey of Joint Chiefs exposes Obama agendaNovember 09, 2014 http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2014/11/chairman-dempsey-of-joint-chiefs.html In a speech in New York this week, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey gave his evaluation of Israel’s attempts at avoiding civilian casualties in Gaza this past summer.
That’s a very different tune than what’s being sung by the Obama administration and the ‘human rights’ organizations, isn’t it? Jonathan Tobin comments.
It’s only going to get worse over the next two years…. |
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From Rabbi Lazer Brody’s Lazer Beams website:Who Will Survive?By: Rabbi Lazer Brody https://www.breslev.co.il/articles/israel_and_society/current_affairs/who_will_survive.aspx?id=25877&language=english
 the beginning of world war 3 The world is arming to the hilt and nations are daring one another. Will the West call Putin’s hand in the Ukraine? Will global Jihad get its hands on dirty nukes? Will Iran use its nuclear wild card? Will a missile battle in the Middle East trigger a global conflict? Any of these are likely scenarios; with such an international backdrop, Armageddon and Gog-Magog appear to be eventual realities. Will anyone survive a push-button war?
The famed mashgiach, or spiritual dean of the Lakewood Yeshiva in New Jersey, Rabbi Natan Meir Wachtfogel of saintly and blessed memory, heard from the Lakewood Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Aaron Kotler osb”m, that during World War I, many people went to the holy “Chafetz Chaim”, Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kagan of Radin osb”m, and asked him if this terrible conflict would be the final war. They thought that this might be the war of Gog and Magog.
The “Chafetz Chaim” in his spirit of holiness and humility replied, “After this war, there will be an intermission of several years. Then, there will be another war, much worse than this. Afterwards, there will be another intermission of several decades. Then, there will be another war that makes the previous one look like nothing. Moshiach will come with this war!”
On another occasion, Rabbi Aaron Kotler told the Lakewood Mashgiach that the “Chafetz Chaim” said that the third war will be the beginning of the Geula, the full redemption of our people; despite the utter severity of this global conflict, the true “sons and daughters of Torah” will survive. These are the people who live their lives according to Torah, severed completely from the ways of the nations. The Lakewood Mashgiach added that he has a promise, handed from teacher to pupil all the way back to Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin obs”m, that in the final war before the coming of Moshiach, all the ehrlicher yidden – the G-d fearing Jews – will survive.
Who is an ehrlicher yid – a G-d fearing Jew?
The Lakewood Mashgiach answered, “He who is separated from the nations is a G-d fearing Jew! Such an individual has no connection to their culture, their society, their behavior, their music or their books. He or she doesn’t read their magazines and newspapers. They’re completely disconnected from them, their thoughts, their outlook, their manner of speech and their dress.”
Once, the Lakewood Mashgiach heard a group of boys in the yeshiva talking about the prospects of a nuclear war. They asked each other, “Who can possibly survive a nuclear attack and an atom bomb?” The Mashgiach then gave a shmooz, an ethics lecture for the whole yeshiva and said, “How can a ‘son of Torah’ ask a question like that? A ‘son of Torah’ is separated from the nations so he has no danger to fear! It’s guaranteed one-hudred percent that he’ll survive!!! There’s no room for doubt or for nervousness (B’ikvata D’Moshicha, Rabbi Yaacov Yisrael Lugasi, pg. 132).
Much effort is required if we want to be Bnei Torah and ehrlicher yidden – children of Torah and G-d fearing Jews. We must cleanse ourselves of any influence that is foreign to Torah.
Once, while saying his morning blessings, the “Chafetz Chaim” stood in silence for ten minutes before reciting the blessing, shelo asani goy – thank You, Hashem, for not making me a gentile. When asked why he hesitated so long, he answered, “I had to first check myself and make sure that I am free of any gentile influence; only then, did I proceed to make the blessing…”
One of the married students in Lakewood asked the Mashgiach, “My friend and I were both candidates for the same teaching position in the yeshiva; he was accepted and I was not. Why?”
The Mashgiach, who knew both students well, answered: “You friend never learned or read any foreign books; that’s why he received the teaching position in the yeshiva.”
The other young men in the yeshiva, who overheard the conversation between the Mashgiach and their peer, exclaimed, “Mashgiach, we all have our share of foreign influence.”
The Mashgiach, in his characteristic candor and humility replied, “So do I.” * * * If the Lakewood Mashgiach, a tzaddik of tremendous stature, claimed to suffer from foreign influence, then what can we say? The Torah commands us to avoid the ways of the nations (Vayikra 20:23), for it’s the key to our survival and our redemption. The Midrash teaches us that our redemption from Egypt was by virtue of the fact the our ancestors did not change their language, did not change their names, preserved personal holiness and didn’t speak slander (Yayikra Raba 32:5). In other words, they followed Torah and not Hollywood. We’d be wise to follow in their footsteps, for there’s no better insurance policy in the world.
We invite you to visit Rabbi Lazer Brody’s award-winning daily web journal Lazer Beams. |
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Eight Founding MothersWednesday, 29 May 2013http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2013/05/eight-founding-mothers.html Divine wisdom is amazing. In Judaism, one is a Jew if the mother is a Jew.
In an amazing research paper, the American Journal of Human Genetics calls our people, a “female-defined ethnicity”; that’s enough to silence the chauvinists.
But that’s not my main point here: extensive research shows that all the Jewish People are descendents of “eight small, distinct nuclei of women”. And, Ashkenazi Jews alone stem from four founding mothers.
Do you realize what that means?
When one Jew seeks to harm another Jew, he or she is targeting a brother or sister. That’s most hateful to our Father in Heaven.
Our Torah doesn’t need scientific confirmation when it tells us that we’re Hashem’s beloved children, namely, that we’re all brothers and sisters. Since that’s the case, let’s begin loving one another; it could save our lives. Help put an end to intramural hate. – See more at: http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2013/05/eight-founding-mothers.html#sthash.sDvQPN4b.dpuf |
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It Don’t Come EasyMonday, 27 May 2013 http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2013/05/it-dont-come-easy.html
Due to the nature of the unit where I was privileged to serve in the IDF, our training was gruelling, long and forever challenging, both metally and physically. In one instance, during a night-time run with full backpack on rough terrain, my legs and lungs were about to give out. Anyone who wouldn’t complete this run would be kicked out of the unit. I had no more physical strength. The game was about to be over for me. Suddenly, one of my favorite songs from way back when popped into my head: it was Ringo Starr singing, “It Don’t Come Easy”. I kicked into gear with a second wind and a surge of strength, playing that song over and over in my head until I finished the run. This is the song that became my personal theme song during all my years of army service. And thanks to you, Ringo: |
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Unity and JerusalemThursday, 02 June 2011 http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2011/06/unity-and-jerusalem.html
Hashem in His everloving compassion gave me some amazing revelations during personal prayer earlier today. Ever since the massive pressure began to divide Jerusalem and sever us from Judea and Samaria, I’ve been begging Hashem that a single Jew should not lose his home anywhere in our beloved holy homeland.
Hashem helped me understand that Jerusalem is the heart of all the Jewish people. If you cull other Jews or cut yourself off from any group – not only Chassidic, Lithuanian, Nationalistic or Sephardi but Conservative and Reform as well, then you cut yourself off from a part of Jerusalem. No wonder Jerusalem is under the threat of being split! It’s all the result of infighting and hate, no matter how seemingly justified it may be. The Chafetz Chaim says that Hashem doesn’t want hate or contention in any form, even if you think it’s a mitzva. So, if you care about Jerusalem remaining unified, love every Jew. You don’t have to agree with his ideology or lifestyle, but you are commanded to love him like yourself.
By the same token, every Jew has a portion of the Land of Israel.
Large segments of our homeland are in danger, measure for measure with our actions: we cut ourselves off from other Jews, and we get part of our homeland cut away from is. Think about it, for I know it’s true.
The unity of the Land of Israel depends on Jewish unity – this should be our goal, now more than ever. – See more at: http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2011/06/unity-and-jerusalem.html#sthash.9a7b9RsJ.dpuf |
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As Tim Cook “Comes Out”, These Nations Still View Homosexuality As “Morally Unacceptable”Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/30/2014 https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-30/tim-cook-comes-out-these-nations-still-view-homosexuality-morally-unacceptable Tim Cook’s decision to openly discuss his sexual orientation is dominating the news cycle with many hoping it can be a watershed moment in the acceptance of openly gay people in the workforce. While it appears nothing but a positive in the United States, there are still stunningly many nations around the world (including Iran, where Apple is trying to sell to now) where Tim Cook’s admission is considered “morally unacceptable” by the great majority.  Do you personally believe the homosexuality is morally acceptable, morally unacceptable, or is not a moral issue? Will his Op-Ed affect sales? Source: @ConradHackett |
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Crony Capitalism Tribute: Mafia Dons vs. Politicians; Who Really Won the Election?07November 2014 http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2014/11/crony-capitalism-tribute-mafia-dons-vs.html#BmOjWqmwTLIuOOa6.99 Who Really Won the Election? If you think Republicans won the recent mid-term election you are mistaken. PolicyMic has One Chart that Shows Who Won. Most Expensive Senate Races
 Most Expensive Senate Races
Money Won the Election! The Center for Responsive Politics projects the 2014 mid-term election will cost roughly $3.67 billion.
Finger-Pointing Each side can (and does) point the finger at the other. Regardless, the end results show incumbents get reelected year after year. Even in the 2014 mid-term rout, Republicans only picked up 12 House seats. Want to get elected? First you need to pass a litmus test for your party.
Want to reform Social Security or Medicare? If you do, you better not say so. Next, you better not offend both unions and the NRA. Depending on where you live, one of those alone may do you in. Both and you are toast.
Live in a state that gets military contracts? If so, you cannot get elected if you are “weak on defense”.
Bottom line: If you want to get elected, you better listen to what big money wants, or you don’t get any of it. And you need money to win! Mafia Dons vs. Politicians Gordon Long has an interesting post this week called The Crony Tribute System.
Instead of clipping text here are some self-explanatory graphics. Crony Tribute  Crony 1 Mafia Tribute System  Crony 2 US Political System
 crony 3 Evolution of Crony Capitalism  crony 4 “Impenetrable” Firewall Between Public Service and Private Profit
 crony 5
Why Does It Takes a Crowbar to Review Regulations?
 crony 6 Investigating Fraud and Corruption
 crony 7 Corporations are People, Money is Speech
 crony 8 Checks and Balances
 crony 9 Does It Matter Which Party Controls the Senate? I believe those graphics from Gordon Long sum things up quite nicely.
If you believe differently, Charles Hugh Smith may change your mind with an excellent set of questions in his post If You Really Think It Matters Which Party Controls the Senate, Answer These Questions. Eight Questions
Financial Repression I define financial repression as “a set of fiscal and monetary policies for the expressed benefit of the ruling class: politicians, banks, and the already wealthy, at the expense of everyone else.”
Any doubt that financial repression by central banks and lobbyist-sponsored government legislation explains income inequality?
For further discussion, please see Gordon Long Video Interview of Mish: Topic – Financial Repression (and How to Defend Yourself From It). Mike “Mish” Shedlock . Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2014/11/crony-capitalism-tribute-mafia-dons-vs.html#BmOjWqmwTLIuOOa6.99 |
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Melanie Phillips: “The Left is Racist” |
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Conversations: Featuring Melanie Phillips II |
