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Jewish Journal

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February 25, 2020

Bloomberg to Speak at AIPAC Policy Conference

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Presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg will be speaking live at the 2020 AIPAC Policy Conference.

On Tuesday, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee confirmed that Bloomberg will attend the event in person. The conference will occur on the eve of Super Tuesday – the first primary the former NYC Mayor will compete in, and therefore a major moment in his campaign.

 

On Sunday, Senator Bernie Sanders, the other Jewish presidential candidate, said he would boycott the conference.

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“The Israeli people have the right to live in peace and security. So do the Palestinian people. I remain concerned about the platform AIPAC provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights. For that reason I will not attend their conference,” Sanders announced via Twitter.

“The toxic culture the president has created is harming our relationship with Israel,” Bloomberg said while speaking at a synagogue in Miami last month. “If I am elected, you will never have to choose between supporting Israel and supporting our values here at home.”

Bloomberg has a long history of support for the Jewish state; as a philanthropist, he has donated to build the Magen David Adom Blood Center and a wing of Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital

Is 2020 Really the Year for America’s First Jewish President?

“So it’s with a personal attachment to Israel that I say: As president, I will always have Israel’s back,” Bloomberg continued. “I will never impose conditions on our military aid, including missile defense – no matter who is Prime Minister. And I will never walk away from our commitment to guarantee Israel’s security.”

Bloomberg to Speak at AIPAC Policy Conference Read More »

Report: PA Repeatedly Referred to All of Israel as ‘Palestine’

Leave a Comment / Israel, Online /

A Feb. 25 report from Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) compiled myriad instances throughout the month of February of the Palestinian Authority (PA) referring to all of Israel as “Palestine.”

The report highlighted Fatah Deputy Chairman Mahmoud Al-Aloul saying at a PA event on Feb. 11, “This is Palestine” as he held up a map of Israel. Al-Aloul’s statement was shared in a video on PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh’s Facebook page.

PMW also pointed to Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi writing on his Facebook page on Feb. 2, “Our Palestinian land is from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea. I dare any Palestinian, any senior Palestinian official, or any Palestinian leader to reduce the Palestinian map to the West Bank and Gaza! He would not be able to walk one meter in the streets of our Palestinian cities among our people!”

Fatah is PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ ruling party in the PA.

Additionally, the PA’s official newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, had a crossword puzzle in its Feb. 10 edition calling the Galilee as the answer to “a mountain in Palestine that overlooks the Mediterranean Sea.” PA TV also gave airtime on Feb. 2 to activists attempting to distribute a map showing all of Israel as “Palestine” throughout all PA schools

PMW argued that such recent statements contradict Abbas’ assertion to the United Nations on Feb. 11 that “we recognize Israel” as he criticized President Donald Trump’s proposed peace plan.

In August, Abbas said in a speech regarding Israel, “Every stone you have built on our land and every house you have built on our land — there is no escaping that they will disappear, Allah willing. And the more they announce houses here or settlements there — they will all disappear, Allah willing, and will be in the garbage dump of history.”

He added that the Palestinians “will enter Jerusalem as fighters by the millions. We will all enter it, all of the Palestinian people and all of the Arab and Islamic and Christian nations! Everyone will enter Jerusalem!”

Additionally, in 2009 Abbas said in a speech, “The ‘Jewish State’ … I will not accept it.”

The Trump peace plan would give the Palestinians $50 billion for economic investment should they agree to a de-militarized state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel would also be able to annex Jewish settlements in the West Bank in exchange for a four-year freeze in building new settlements.

When the plan was unveiled in late January, protesters burned tires and images of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. There also were clashes between protesters and Israeli forces on the outskirts of Ramallah.

Report: PA Repeatedly Referred to All of Israel as ‘Palestine’ Read More »

Uncle Bernie’s Anti-Semitism Problem

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Democratic presidential front-runner Bernie Sanders announced he will boycott this week’s American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference because of the “bigotry” of leaders it hosts. If Sanders wants to boycott bigotry, he should look closer to home: at his anti-Semitic political cheerleaders. 

Last Labor Day weekend, Sanders was the headliner in Houston at the 56th annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America, where the theme was, “What’s your super power for social good?”

Some misguided “super powers” suggested at the conference for “social good” include actual bigotry laced with anti-Semitism: the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks a “one-state solution” with a “right of return”  for Palestinians so they outnumber Jews; the elimination of Israel from “the river to the sea,” as ally Marc Lamont Hill, a professor and author, declares; and violent hate, including a book, “Reliance of the Traveller,” which I bought in the conference bazaar for $39.99, sanctioning jihad as “war against non-Muslims” and “war upon Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians.”

To my chagrin, as someone who voted for Sanders in the 2016 primary, these anti-Semites enjoy growing influence on Sanders, building a disturbing coalition with anti-Israel groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow and Code Pink. Sanders’ supporters say they are “only anti-Zionist,” and Sanders denies his allies are anti-Semitic. But when you cheer a plan to destroy the state of the Jewish people, it is anti-Semitism. Hate of the Jewish state is anti-Semitism.

In Houston, activist Linda Sarsour slipped into the Grand Ballroom to cheer “Uncle Bernie,” as she calls Sanders. She has backed Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who condemned “Satanic Jews” and said he was “anti-Termite,” not an “anti-Semite.” The year before, at the same conference, I heard Sarsour say it’s a “problem” to “humanize”  Israelis.

Then, Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir stepped onto the main stage. At the Think Progress website of the Center for American Progress, Shakir was editor when anti-Semitism became national news. Think Progress writer Zaid Jilani had tweeted Jews are “Israeli Firsters,” which Shakir acknowledged as “terrible, anti-Semitic language.”  Sanders campaign official Matt Duss, then a Think Progress writer, came under fire for anti-Semitism. Later, working at the ACLU, Shakir defended BDS as “free speech.” 

In Houston, anti-Semitic imams and activists cheered Sanders’ call BDS free speech.

That weekend, Sanders champion Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who supports BDS, spoke. In Tlaib’s congressional office in early 2019 after her swearing-in, comedian Amer Zahr, a new Sanders surrogate, put a Post-it Note with “Palestine” written on it on a map of the Middle East where Israel sits. He once claimed Jewish Americans believe Israel is “their ISIS.”  Soon after, Sanders supporter Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) declared U.S. support for Israel is “all about the Benjamins.”

This past week, Sanders said it is “an honor”  to be endorsed by Emgage PAC, where chief executive Wa’el Alzayat defended Omar’s anti-Semitism. The Sanders team also won the support of Council of American-Islamic Relations leader Zahra Billoo, whom the Women’s March dropped from its board amid backlash for her saying Israel does not have “the right to exist.”  Former Council of American-Islamic Relations staffer Hoda Katebi, a former member of Students for Justice in Palestine, a group that harasses Jewish students on campuses, campaigns for Sanders. In Houston, Hatem Bazian, a UC Berkeley lecturer and cofounder of Students for Justice in Palestine and American Muslims for Palestine, anti-Israel groups pushing BDS, was among early Sanders supporters, 

Sanders also enjoys the growing support of Ali Abunimah, founder of Electronic Intifada, a propaganda machine against the “inherently racist Israeli regime,”  though he recently published an article that Sanders doesn’t oppose Israel enough: “Good, but not perfect.”

When Uncle Bernie throws out words like bigotry, he ought to look a little closer at the anti-Semitic company he keeps.

Asra Q. Nomani is a former Wall Street Journal reporter and codirector of the Pearl Project, which investigated the murder of her friend and colleague Daniel Pearl and now investigates anti-Semitism. @AsraNomani

Uncle Bernie’s Anti-Semitism Problem Read More »

Consul General of Israel in Los Angeles Votes Early in Israeli Election

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Ahead of Israel’s third election cycle in less than a year, Consul General of Israel in Los Angeles Hillel Newman cast his vote early in the Israeli election. 

During a phone interview with the Journal after the vote, Newman said 105 of 140 local Israeli diplomats and civil servants who are eligible to vote early in the election, voted on Feb. 19 at the consulate’s office in West Los Angeles.

The high percentage of people who voted “shows very big interest in the voting,” Newman said, “even though it’s the third election.”

Newman predicted a similar outcome to the previous two elections, saying there would not be a “clear-cut result” in the forthcoming election, scheduled for March 2. 

In the past two elections, neither Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party or the opposition Blue and White Party, led by Benny Gantz, emerged with enough seats to form a governing coalition (minimum 61 seats) in Israel’s 120-seat parliament. 

Nevertheless, Newman pointed to a recent interview with Israeli leader Avigdor Lieberman, who, Newman said, has guaranteed there won’t be a fourth election. 

The election comes at a pivotal time for Israel, Newman said. The consul general pointed to the continued threat from Hamas and Hezbollah and Israel’s improved relationships with several Middle East countries, which will factor into what will happen with President Donald Trump’s recently unveiled “deal of the century” peace plan, Newman said. 

The deal’s success will require a “pact between Israel and the Arab world,” he said.

The question of who leads Israel going forward is of utmost importance, Newman said. 

“We’re taking about a new era,” Newman said. “This needs a strong and stable government to move forward.”

Adding another wrinkle to Israel’s complicated political landscape: Netanyahu’s criminal trial on corruption charges is slated to begin March 17.

Consul General of Israel in Los Angeles Votes Early in Israeli Election Read More »

Two Brooklyn College Students Take a Knee While ‘Hatikvah’ Plays Before Volleyball Match at Yeshiva Univ.

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Two students on the Brooklyn College men’s volleyball team can be seen kneeling on one knee as Israel’s national anthem, “Hatikvah,” is played over speakers before a Feb. 23 match at Yeshiva University (YU).

The StopAntisemitism.org watchdog shared a video on Twitter of what had occurred, alleging that the two players who knelt on one knee declined to shake hands with Yeshiva players after the match.

The Yeshiva University Observer, YU’s student-run paper, confirmed that the kneeling had occurred, quoting a YU student identified as Tehilla Teigman saying that she had felt like her heart was “ripped out of my chest.”

“I’ve never even seen one person show any disrespect,” she later added. “[T]hey listen carefully, they sometimes link their arms with each other … this was the first time I’ve seen it and it was really hard to see.”

The Simon Wiesenthal Center condemned the gesture in a statement.

“We condemn this flagrant display of anti-Semitism,” the statement read. “At a time of increased anti-Semitism in our country, including on the streets of Brooklyn, New York, we demand to know what steps Brooklyn College intends to take with regard to this display of anti-Semitism by members of its volleyball team. The ball is in their court.”

A spokesperson from Brooklyn College denied that the two players declined to shake hands after the game in a statement to the Observer.

“Brooklyn College strongly condemns all forms of anti-Semitism and hatred,” the spokesperson said. “The two students who knelt during the national anthem did not refuse to shake hands with players from the other team. Their kneeling is protected by the First Amendment.”

YU’s Twitter account also denied that the two players refused to shake hands.

YU President Ari Berman told the Observer that the two Brooklyn College players “disrespected Israel’s national anthem. We are proud to be the only university who sings both the American and Israeli national anthems before every athletic competition and major event.”

The gesture became prevalent among some American athletes starting in 2016 to protest issues ranging from racism, police use of force and certain policies of President Donald Trump’s administration. “Taking a knee,” popularized by former San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick and spreading to more than 200 NFL players, sparked a backlash from the president. It also spread to soccer, baseball, basketball, hockey athletes and some high school and college programs. The NFL eventually issued a policy regarding player behavior during the anthem.

Two Brooklyn College Students Take a Knee While ‘Hatikvah’ Plays Before Volleyball Match at Yeshiva Univ. Read More »

Rivlin Gets Israel Studies Award at UCLA

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Israeli President Reuven Rivlin accepted the UCLA Israel Studies Award on the evening of Feb. 18, presented by the UCLA Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies.

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block presented Rivlin with a sculpture designed by artist and Y&S Nazarian Center co-founder Soraya Nazarian, who attended the award ceremony with her daughter, Sharon Nazarian, also a co-founder of center. 

Accepting the award, Rivlin spoke about the inclusive work he is pursuing in Israel to bring together all of Israel’s citizens, including the Charedim and Arabs. 

“Israel is not democracy only to the Jewish people,” he said. “Israel is democracy to all its citizens, and all the people who are living along with us in Israel.”

He emphasized the importance of Jewish unity and the State of Israel’s commitment to working with Diaspora Jewry. He also highlighted how Israel has grown from a fledgling state to a global “success story. We have gone from a developing country to a world leader in innovation. But if we want to preserve this miracle, we must keep Israeli society united. There is no other way. We have to keep the whole Jewish people united.”

Expressing concern about the rise of anti-Semitism worldwide, he denounced the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel as well as the vandalism in December at Iranian Jewish congregation Nessah Synagogue in Beverly Hills. 

Rivlin appeared at UCLA during a stopover in Los Angeles. He was en route to Fiji and Australia, where he was to make his first official visit. 

Consul General of Israel in Los Angeles Hillel Newman, who was among the attendees at the UCLA ceremony, told the Journal that prior to appearing at UCLA, Rivlin met with Beverly Hills City Council members at the Waldorf Astoria.

Rivlin’s visit took place amid political uncertainty in Israel as the country prepares to hold its third election in less than a year on March 2. 

The gathering in Westwood, a tented reception at Block’s residence, began with remarks by Block and Dov Waxman, director of the Nazarian Center.

“UCLA is proud to have numerous relationships with Israeli educational and cultural institutions, and we are honored to have President Rivlin visit our campus,” Block said. “I am especially proud that the Nazarian Center is a vital presence at UCLA, helping us all understand the depth and complexity of Israel’s history, society and culture.”

Introducing Rivlin to the crowd of approximately 120 people, Waxman said Rivlin has elevated the presidential role in Israel above its traditionally symbolic status. 

“In a period when Israeli society is facing numerous challenges and Israeli democracy is under stress, President Rivlin is the leading voice in Israel calling for shared citizenship, social inclusion, civil discourse and respect for democratic norms,” Waxman said.

Many leaders from the local Jewish community turned out, including Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles CEO Jay Sanderson, husband-and-wife philanthropists Naty and Debbie Saidoff, UCLA professor Judea Pearl, American Jewish Committee Los Angeles Director Richard Hirschhaut, Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin, UCLA Hillel Executive Director Rabbi Aaron Lerner, attorney Sam Yebri, UCLA senior Justin Feldman and Journal contributor Tom Teicholz. 

The program included a screening of a short film produced by the Israeli government. 

Rivlin, a lawyer by training, has served as president of the State of Israel since 2014. He also has served as the Speaker of the Knesset and as a Cabinet minister. 

He is the third individual to receive the UCLA Israel Studies Award, which “recognizes individuals of extraordinary character and merit in their chosen fields,” according to a UCLA statement. Previous recipients of the award are former Chief Justice to Israel’s Supreme Court Aharon Barak and the late Israeli author Amos Oz.

Rivlin Gets Israel Studies Award at UCLA Read More »

Chris Matthews Apologizes for Comparing Sanders’ Nevada Win to Nazi Invasion

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MSNBC host Chris Matthews apologized for comparing Sen. Bernie Sanders’ victory in the Nevada caucuses to Nazi Germany’s invasion of France.

On Monday, Matthews addressed his remarks on his show.

“I was wrong to refer to an event from the last days, or actually the first days, of World War II,” he said. “Senator Sanders, I’m sorry for comparing anything from that tragic era in which so many suffered, especially the Jewish people, to an electorate result in which you were the well-deserved winner.”

The “Hardball with Chris Matthews” host faced wide criticism, including calls for his resignation, for his remarks about the Jewish Vermont senator’s victory in the Saturday caucus.

“I was reading last night about the fall of France in the summer of 1940,” Matthews had said while discussing Sanders’ lead in the caucus, “and the general, Reynaud, calls up Churchill and says, ‘It’s over.’ And Churchill says, ‘How can that be? You’ve got the greatest army in Europe. How can it be over?’ He said, ‘It’s over.’”

Chris Matthews Apologizes for Comparing Sanders’ Nevada Win to Nazi Invasion Read More »

Iranians Threaten to Replace Tomb of Esther with Palestinian Consulate

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A hard-line student group in Iran has threatened to destroy the Tomb of Esther and Mordechai in the north of the country in revenge for the Trump administration’s peace plan.

The Basij group in Hamadan province, where the tomb is located, earlier this month said it would tear down the historic building and replace it with a Palestinian consulate in revenge against Israel and Washington over the recently unveiled proposal.

The threat was first published in the Iranian Student News Network.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom tweeted last week that it was “troubled by reported threats to the tomb of Esther and Mordechai in Hamadan, Iran, and emphasizes the Iranian government’s responsibility to protect religious sites.”

The Alliance for Rights of All Minorities in Iran also tweeted about the plan to destroy the tomb and put a Palestinian consulate in its place.

The building is believed to house the tombs of Esther and Mordechai, the heroes of the Purim story. Purim will be celebrated this year on March 10.

The tweet noted that the burial site “has been a significant Jewish landmark for Jews and history buffs around the world.”

Critics of the plan point to the fractured, multi-enclave Palestinian entity at its heart and at the green light to Israel to annex about 30 percent of the West Bank.

 

Iranians Threaten to Replace Tomb of Esther with Palestinian Consulate Read More »

Dozens of Jewish Immigrants Arrive in Israel from Ethiopia

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More than 40 new immigrants arrived in Israel on Tuesday from Ethiopia, less than a week before national elections.

The new immigrants are from nine families and are being reunited with relatives who live in Israel. They are part of the Falash Mura community, which claim links to descendants of Jews who converted to Christianity generations ago under duress but now seek a return to Judaism.

The interim government earlier this month announced that it had approved the arrival of nearly 400 of the Falash Mura waiting in Gondar to immigrate and that it would try to bring them all before the March 2 elections. But it only managed to locate 43 that it could immediately bring over, Ynet reported.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit opposed the action, saying they did not need to be brought over immediately and that it was clearly a politically motivated decision ahead of the election.

Some 8,000 Falash Mura in Ethiopia are awaiting permission to immigrate to Israel, most of whom have some family members in Israel. A Cabinet resolution in 2015 committed to bring all 8,000 to Israel by 2020, but limited money has been allocated in successive budgets to make that happen.

In October 2018, the Cabinet approved a plan for the immigration of 1,000 candidates in the following year who met the criterion of having first-degree relatives who entered Israel under previous government decisions regarding the Falash Mura community. But in 2019 only about 600 arrived.

About 140,000 Ethiopians live in Israel.

Dozens of Jewish Immigrants Arrive in Israel from Ethiopia Read More »

Spain Carnival Features People Dressed As Nazi Camp Guards, Jewish Prisoners

Leave a Comment / Online, Worldwide /

A Feb. 24 carnival in Spain featured people dressed as Nazi concentration camp guards and Jewish camp prisoners in a parade.

Pictures from the carnival showed women dressed as Jewish concentration camp prisoners while holding Israeli flags, as well as a float featuring a menorah in between two gas chamber chimneys.

According to the UK Guardian, the parade was part of an annual carnival in the Spanish city of Campo de Criptana and was intended to commemorate those who lost their lives in the Holocaust.

The Auschwitz Museum condemned the parade in a tweet.

“Hard to describe: memory upside-down, far beyond vulgar kitsch, without any relevance, without reflection & respect,” the museum wrote.

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt similarly tweeted, “The participants’ purported good intentions are completely lost with this wildly inappropriate display. Evoking Holocaust imagery like this is disrespectful at best and dehumanizing at worst to the victims of the Shoah. An apology should be forthcoming.”

StandWithUs Israel Executive Director Michael Dickson also tweeted that the parade was “a disgusting display regaling in anti-Semitism with the intent to cause maximum hurt.”

https://twitter.com/michaeldickson/status/1232374137169022989

New York Times opinion editor and columnist Bari Weiss tweeted, “Totally normal event underway in Spain.”

The Spain carnival display comes on the heels of a Feb. 23 carnival in Aalst, Belgium, that featured people depicting Jews as insects and people dressed in Nazi uniforms. The Jerusalem Post wrote in a Feb. 24 editorial that the Aalst carnival was “an absolutely deliberate anti-Semitic assault,” later adding: “Welcome to Europe 2020.”

Spain Carnival Features People Dressed As Nazi Camp Guards, Jewish Prisoners Read More »