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Jewish Journal

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July 30, 2019

ADL Highlights ‘Hateful Merchandise’ Sold on Amazon

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The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released a report on July 29 detailing the various “hateful merchandise” that is available on Amazon, mainly consisting of white supremacist material.

The report explains that such products show up when using “obscure search terms,” such as typing in “German Black Cross” to find a Celtic Cross, which the ADL describes as “a popular white supremacist flag.” Other white supremacist flags that can be found on Amazon include the British Union of Fascists (BUF) flag and Othala rune flag.

Additionally, people can purchase busts of Adolf Hitler as well decals emblazoned representing Oathkeeper, which is described in the report as “an anti-government militia,” as well as “hateful books” promulgating white supremacist propaganda.

The ADL report notes that Amazon’s policies state that the platform “does not allow products that promote, incite or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual or religious intolerance or promote organizations with such views.”

“Amazon exerts considerable influence over the global marketplace,” the ADL report states. “Amazon was responsible for over half of online retail traffic in the U.S. in the 4th quarter of last year. Put another way, the number of Amazon users worldwide is likely as big or bigger than the population of the U.S. That adds up to a lot of views – and potential customers – for online purveyors of extremist merchandise.”

The report concluded by noting that the ADL is working with Amazon the matter.

A spokesperson for Amazon said in a statement to the Journal, “We take concerns from the Anti-Defamation League seriously and have worked with them directly for several years. We are committed to providing a positive customer experience and have policies that outline what products may be sold in our stores. We invest significant time and resources to ensure our content guidelines are followed, and remove products that do not adhere to our guidelines– which can be found here for books and here for non-media products. We are always listening to customer feedback and evaluating our policy.”

ADL Highlights ‘Hateful Merchandise’ Sold on Amazon Read More »

AOC Agrees with Radio Host About Israel’s Treatment of Palestinians Being ‘Very Criminal’

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) agreed with a radio host about the Israeli “occupation” being “very, very criminal.”

Ocasio-Cortez made the remarks in a July 30 appearance on the “Ebro in the Morning” show based in New York. 

Host Ebro Darden said there are “multiple corrupt governments working together” worldwide, citing Israel, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United States. He then said that “there are a lot of young Jewish people I know that are against the occupation” and that “what’s going on with Israel and Palestine – while it’s very, very deep – it is very, very criminal and it is very, very unjust.”

Ocascio-Cortez replied, “Absolutely. I think to where we’re at as a country when it comes to Israel-Palestine is very much a generational issue.” She added that “young Jews in Israel” are tired of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said that the Netanyahu government is just like the Trump administration.

“The Right wants to advance this notion that if you engage and critique an Israeli policy you are anti-Semitic. But it’s the furthest thing from the truth,” Ocasio-Cortez said, adding that “criticizing the occupation doesn’t make you anti-Israel… it means that you believe in human rights.”

She also said, “I don’t think that by marginalizing Palestinians, you create safety. “I believe that injustice is a threat to the safety of all people, because once you have a group that is marginalized and marginalized and marginalized — once someone doesn’t have access to clean water, they have no choice but to riot, right? And it doesn’t have to be that way.”

She went onto praise the liberal Jewish group IfNotNow, who were behind the boycotts of Birthright trips, and defended calling the migrant detention facilities concentration camps, saying that she wasn’t referring to the Holocaust and that her use of the term fueled the conversation about the facilities.

Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action Agenda at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Rabbi Abraham Cooper criticized Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks in a phone interview with the Journal.

“The PA has good relations with Venezuela, North Korea, Cuba, China, but they’re not interested in connecting real dots, they’re just interested in linking up Israel to right-wingers and right-wing extremists and criminal in so far as their interaction with the Palestinians,” Cooper said. “She wasn’t just saying ‘Amen’ to the main charge of criminality, she went onto compare the Netanyahu and Trump administrations and that’s an automatic signal to her followers that you can discount any criticism launched by people seeking to defend Israel at a time when it’s led by Bibi Netanyahu.”

He called on Democratic activists and leadership to “be responsive to these kinds of unwarranted, over-the-top attacks that just legitimize defaming Israel and her supporters.”

The Progressive Zionists of California (PZC) said in a statement to the Journal, “A simplistic understanding of the conflict gets one easy district votes but managing the heart of the conflict requires commitment to a multitude of narratives and priorities. PZC is concerned about the spectrum of interests represented in the conflict. We encourage American diaspora policy makers to seek out Mizrahi and former Soviet Union Jews on narrative creation and policy making decisions concerning disputed territories and final status negotiations. These communities form most of the Israeli electorate, are increasingly important but often misunderstood constituencies of the American Jewish community, and no security agreement exists without them.”

H/T: Washington Examiner

This article has been updated.

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The Youngest Correspondent Covering the Debates is a 10-Year-Old Jewish Kid

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DETROIT (JTA) — For any reporter, careening in a year from reviewing restaurants to covering the presidential debates would be a pretty fast rise. But then again, Jefferson Henry Kraft is only 10 years old.

Kraft is the KidScoop Media correspondent covering the Democratic presidential debates, taking place here tonight and Wednesday night. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency was fortunate enough to be assigned the “spin room” seat right next to his, and in one of those conversations typical of the friendly yet guarded way that reporters introduce themselves to one another, it turned out Jeffrey (his byline moniker) is Jewish.

KidScoop Media was founded over a decade ago “to make young people’s voices a part of the national conversation.” When JTA spoke with him, Jeffrey and the non-profit’s founder, Michelle Mayans, were formulating questions for the candidates when they and their surrogates work the room after Tuesday’s debates.

“When you become president what is your plan to stop the glaciers from melting?” was one of the questions Jeffrey, sporting a neat black bow tie and a pinstripe shirt, carefully entered into his notebook in neat, large letters.

The idea, Mayans explained, was that Jeffrey would be able to show the candidate the question during one of the crazed spin room gaggles that follow the debates, in case his voice isn’t heard.

He’s probably the youngest reporter covering the debates. Jaden Jefferson, 11, on Monday scored an exclusive with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, in Toledo, Ohio
Jeffrey knows the candidate he wants to interview: Joe Biden, fronting the pack among the 25 Democrats seeking the party’s presidential nomination.

Why Biden? “Because he was the vice president of Obama and I also want to interview Joe Biden because I’ve heard many good things about him and he seems to look nice,” he explained.

Jeffrey’s mom originally contacted the Los Angeles-area outlet — its copy appears in print in the Culver City News, Jeffrey’s hometown paper — because Jeffrey is something of a foodie. “I eat a lot of interesting foods,” he said. He was assigned a restaurant review.
Jeffrey’s writing style is breezy and effusive. “Sauce that takes a special person to come in at 4 AM (I’m sleeping then) to prepare and cook for hours with love,” he wrote of Pasta Sisters. “The gnocchi recipe was passed from Chef Paola’s Grandmother (Maria Giovanna). By the way, that was my absolute favorite!!!! Ricotta cheese made in Italy is heaven, I think!!! I’m sure if Darth Vader had a meal at Pasta Sisters he would have been, just a bit nicer.”

His passion for the environment led to the debates assignment. “My interest in the environment is the climate and how the ice caps are melting and endangered species,” he said. “I’ve been interested in that pretty much my whole life, I love animals, animals are important to me, and to all of us.”

Jeffrey couldn’t come up with a Jewish themed question for the candidates (yes, JTA did ask him for one). But he did share his favorite holiday.

“Hanukkah, because on Hanukkah I love lighting one candle every day and the other thing I love about it is every day you get a small present,” he said.

The Youngest Correspondent Covering the Debates is a 10-Year-Old Jewish Kid Read More »

Five Leaders of Extreme Jewish Religious Sect Lev Tahor Indicted for Kidnapping Attempt

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(JTA) — Five leaders of Lev Tahor, a fringe haredi Orthodox sect, were indicted in White Plains, N.Y. for conspiring to kidnap two children from their mother and return them to their sect.

The accused were arrested in December and accused of kidnapping two children, a 14-year-old girl and her 12-year-old brother.Their mother is Sara Helbrans, the daughter of sect founder Shlomo Helbrans. The mother had fled the group, based in Central America, and returned to with three of her six children to New York’s Sullivan County. Three other children were returned to her 10 days later.

The indictment alleges a plot by Nachman Helbrans, 36, who leads the sect since his father’s death, and sect members Mayer Rosner, 42; his son Jacob Rosner, 20; and Mayer’s brother, Aron Rosner, 45, of Brooklyn. A fifth man, Matityau Malka, was charged with aiding a second kidnapping plot in March, according to the Times Herald-Record.

They were indicted earlier this month in District Court in New York on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and international parental kidnapping. They have all pleaded not guilty. Four are being held without bond. Aron Rosner was released on a $10 million bond to home confinement and electronic monitoring.

Lev Tahor, which has about 230 members, relocated to Guatemala from Canada in 2014 following allegations of mistreatment of its children including abuse and child marriages.
It moved in 2016 from the outskirts of Guatemala City to the small village of Oratorio after religious disputes with its neighbors, and reportedly crossed the border from Guatemala to Mexico in June 2017. Members may have returned later to Guatemala.

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German Historian who Invented 22 Holocaust Victims Found Dead at Age 31

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German historian and blogger Marie Sophie Hingst, 31, who fabricated that 22 members of her family were Holocaust victims, was found dead in her apartment in Dublin on July 17, just weeks after her false claims were uncovered.

Police have not yet confirmed the cause of her death but said “there was no sign of third party involvement,” according to an article in The Jewish Chronicle.

Journalist Martin Doerry of Der Spiegel magazine published an article on June 6 uncovering Hingst’s story as completely made up. Doerry, a grandchild himself of a Holocaust survivor, wrote in his article, “Inventing Holocaust victims is essentially a mockery of all those who really were tortured and killed by the Nazis … This kind of con job may not be a crime per se, but it is nevertheless scandalous.”

Hingst reported the 22 names to Yad Vashem’s archives, but most of the people had no record of existence. Only three of the names were real, but none of them were Jewish nor murdered. The Israeli Holocaust museum announced in June that it would be removing Hingst’s submission from its Pages of Testimony.

Using her blog called “Read On My Dear, Read On,” which she started in 2013 and attracted nearly 240,000 readers, Hingst circulated her false claims to the public, regularly posting stories about her allegedly Jewish grandmother who survived Auschwitz.  Dedicated readers began to notice inconsistencies in her blogs, and she was later confronted by multiple journalists. 

Hingst, who received her Ph.D. from Trinity College in Dublin, even won the Golden Bloggers “Blogger of the Year” award in 2017, but it was revoked in June after her fabrication was revealed.

In an article published by the Irish Times on July 27, Hingst’s mother, Cornelia, said her daughter faced multiple therapists and struggled with mental illness for years.

Hingst will be buried in her hometown, Wittenburg, on July 31.

German Historian who Invented 22 Holocaust Victims Found Dead at Age 31 Read More »

US Delegation to UN ‘Deeply Disturbed’ by Report Detailing Allegations of UNRWA ‘Ethical Abuses’

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The United States Mission to the United Nations tweeted on July 29 that they were “deeply disturbed” by allegations of “ethical abuses” occurring at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

U.N. investigators alleged in a July 29 report, which was obtained by Agence-France Presse (AFP), that UNRWA senior management engaged in “sexual misconduct, nepotism, retaliation, discrimination and other abuses of authority, for personal gain, to suppress legitimate dissent, and to otherwise achieve their personal objectives.” One of the examples AFP cites includes UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl appointing a female he was “romantically involved with” to a senior advisor position in 2015 so she could “join him on business class flights across the globe.”

Additionally, the report alleges that senior officials bullied staff members; one of these senior officials allegedly used her position “to find a well-paid job for her husband” in 2018, according to AFP. A senior UNRWA staffer claimed to AFP that she was fired in July as “retaliation” for her warnings of alleged misconduct from UNRWA management.

The U.S. Mission to the U.N. tweeted:

U.S. Middle East Envoy Jason Greenblatt similarly tweeted, “We’re extremely concerned abt UNRWA allegations. We urge a full & transparent investigation by the UN. UNRWA’s model is broken/unsustainable & based on an endless expanding # of beneficiaries. Palestinians residing in refugee camps deserve much better.”

https://twitter.com/jdgreenblatt45/status/1155854297759965184

U.N. Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer also weighed in:

Switzerland’s foreign ministry told AFP that they are ceasing any further funds to UNRWA in light of the report for the time being.

Krahenbuhl told AFP that UNRWA will take corrective action based on the investigators’ recommendations.

UNRWA was established in 1949 to provide services to Palestinian refugees in the aftermath of the 1948 War of Independence. The Trump administration zeroed out funding to UNRWA in 2018, calling for the agency to be reformed and for Arab countries to step up in providing aid to the organization.

Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Dany Danon said in a January 2018 statement, “Just over the last year alone, UNRWA officials were elected to the leadership of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, UNRWA schools denied the existence of Israel, and terror tunnels were dug under UNRWA facilities. It is time for this absurdity to end and for humanitarian funds to be directed towards their intended purpose — the welfare of refugees.”

US Delegation to UN ‘Deeply Disturbed’ by Report Detailing Allegations of UNRWA ‘Ethical Abuses’ Read More »

House Legislation Would Help Care for Holocaust Survivors

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(JTA) — Bipartisan legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives that will prioritize health care and nutrition services for Holocaust survivors.

The bill, the Trauma-Informed Modernization of Eldercare for Holocaust Survivors Act or “TIME for Holocaust Survivors Act,” was introduced earlier this month in the Senate. It increases the chances that survivors could age in their own homes rather than an in institutions.

It was introduced by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., who is Jewish, and Reps. Donna Shalala, D-Fla. and Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y.

The bill incorporates several provisions into the Older Americans Act to ensure that Holocaust survivors have care and services tailored to their needs.

“My district has among the largest populations of survivors in the country. The trauma and grief that these survivors endured is unimaginable. The TIME for Holocaust Survivors Act can tend to that unique pain in this closing chapter of their lives, and allow them to live out their remaining years with dignity,” Wasserman Schultz said in a statement.

There are about 80,000 Holocaust survivors living in the United States, with one-third of them living at or below the poverty line. Aging Holocaust survivors have needs similar to other older Americans, but institutionalized settings, with confined spaces or restrictions on food, can induce panic, anxiety and trauma due to their Holocaust experiences, the bill notes.

House Legislation Would Help Care for Holocaust Survivors Read More »

London Jewish Museum Extends Jewish Stereotypes Exhibition

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The ‘Jews, Money, Myth’ exhibition at the Jewish Museum in London only intended to run until July 7, but “due to popular demand,” it’s being extended to October 17, according to the museum. 

Museum Director Abigail Morris reaffirmed it’s been “a huge success. The feedback and comments have been mostly glowing — except for one visitor who wrote ‘you Jews are all rich.’” 

The museum’s aim is to “debunk a lot of the myths that still circulate today, such as Jews exerting a kind of sinister influence on world events, Jews financing disastrous wars around the world for profit, Jews being naturally drawn to money making,” Exhibition Curator Joanne Rosenthal said. The exhibit encourages visitors to look in a “calm and levelheaded way at the historical realities,” she added.

The display explores the association between Jews and money over the course of 2,000 years — from the Biblical era to the 21st century. The exhibit highlights many of the museum’s own collection of British historical objects, as well as objects from other European countries. “It opens with an entry from the 1933 Oxford English Dictionary that lists one of the definitions of the word ‘Jew’ as a verb meaning ‘to cheat,’” according to an article in The New York Times. 

The exhibit also showcases ancient drawings, sculptures, ceremonial objects, art, film, literature and cartoons that display myths and typical anti-Semitic stereotypes, such as Jews as beggars, peddlers and greedy bankers with large noses. It also shows posters blaming Jews for the Russian Revolution, as well as World War II propaganda. 

“[The exhibit] shows how certain dangerous, even deadly, interpretations emerged and still proliferate around the world,” Morris said. “We are more aware than ever of the importance of providing a safe space to consider and challenge such stereotypes if we are to combat hatred and challenge ignorance.”

The “Jews, Money, Myth” exhibition was created by the Jewish Museum in partnership with the Pears Institute for the study of Anti-Semitism at Birkbeck, University of London. Times of Israel reports Jewish museums in Brussels, Amsterdam, New York, Krakow, Warsaw and Sydney are interested in displaying the exhibit.

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Trump Commutes Sentence of Orthodox Drug Dealer Whose Wife Has Stage 4 Cancer

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(JTA) — President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of an Israeli-born haredi Orthodox man in jail on first-time drug charges.

The commutation of the 20-year prison sentence of Ronen Nahmani was announced by the White House on Monday.

Nahmani was convicted in 2015 of distributing synthetic marijuana, known as Spice and K2, obtained from China. He received the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

He is the father of five children and his wife has stage 4 cancer.

“Mr. Nahmani is a non-violent, first-time offender with no criminal history. He has five young children at home and his wife is suffering from terminal cancer. These extenuating circumstances underscore the urgency of his request for clemency,” the White House said in the statement announcing the commutation.

Trump commuted the sentences of two people and granted clemency to five others on Monday.

Trump Commutes Sentence of Orthodox Drug Dealer Whose Wife Has Stage 4 Cancer Read More »