“The US government under President Trump has spoken forcefully against the ICC for this travesty, and I urge all your viewers to do the same. …. We now have the capacity to defend ourselves and I think the lesson of Auschwitz is, One, stop bad things when they’re small, and Iran is a very bad thing. … And second, understand that the Jews will never ever again be defenseless in the face of those who want to destroy them,” – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Matt Crouch from TBN, the largest Christian Network in the world, in an interview. (Jewish Press, Jan. 21, 2020)
“One shot will disrupt the ceremony and one dead body will cancel the ceremony,” – writes columnist Yahya Rabah wrote in the official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida. He was referring to the upcoming memorial ceremony in Israel marking 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz. (Algemeiner, Jan. 19, 2020)
“The death of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) Commander … is likely to shape the coming decade in Iran, in the Middle East and globally. Soleimani was significant as a cultural persona because he represented the Islamic Republic’s quest for domestic and regional legitimacy buttressed by its cultural identity… Far from a unifying national symbol as some supposed, Soleimani has become a deeply divisive figure within the Middle East region. … Like Iran’s official identity, the country’s regional role and Soleimani’s image have left Iranians disunited. Internal unrest, decades of mismanagement and regional adventurism are revealing the limits of Islamic Republic’s Shiite-based rhetoric and its failure of combining that with a viable notion of nationhood. … Iran as a civilizational idea has deep cultural, historical and familial roots in the region and may thus survive. But the Islamic Republic and its brand of identity and politics are likely to have a different fate.” – writes Ali Mozaffari, a Fellow of the Australian Research Council with Alfred Deakin Institute, at Australia’s Deakin University. (Radio Farda, Jan. 18, 2020)
“The past year was filled with security challenges on all the fronts in which we operate. During it, we prevented upwards of 560 significant terror attacks, including 10 suicide bombings, four kidnappings and more than 300 shooting attacks,” – Shin Bet agency chief Nadav Argaman said. The number was a slight uptick from 2018, when the Shin Bet was credited with foiling some 500 terror attacks. (Times of Israel, Jan. 20, 2020)
“Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done. He was a career politician. It’s all just baloney and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it.” – Hillary Clinton said during an interview in an upcoming four-part Hulu series titled ‘Hillary’. (Hollywood Reporter, Jan. 21, 2020)
“By the most stringent progressive standards, Mr. Sanders has been a steadfast supporter of the Jewish state. He opposes the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. Even if a two-state solution fails, Mr. Sanders has said he opposes a one-state solution because “that would be the end of the state of Israel, and I support Israel’s right to exist.” … Playing both sides isn’t easy. “It’s not just being pro-Israel. We must be pro-Palestinian as well,” Mr. Sanders said at a Democratic debate in December. How, exactly? He hasn’t explained. For now, Mr. Sanders’s pro-Israel sentiments may not cost him many votes. Progressives have no better alternative. But if the crisis between the U.S. and Iran or some other Middle Eastern flashpoint heats up and Israel is dragged into the fighting, Mr. Sanders could be forced to choose between his support for Israel and his progressive base.” – writes political cartoonist and author Ted Rall. (WSJ, Jan. 20, 2020)
“In the fight against this growing threat…we need to send a strong signal. The choice of Professor [ Milena] Santerini, an authoritative figure who has been engaged in this field for years, is an important step in the right direction,” said Noemi di Segni, president of UCEI, Italian Jewry’s communal representative body. The Milan-based academic was appointed national coordinator against antisemitism by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. In appointing Santerini, Italy joins with other European countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom, who appointed senior officials to combat rising antisemitism, as well as formally adopting the definition of antisemitism endorsed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). (Algemeiner, Jan. 20, 2020)
SHORT TAKES
ISRAEL PREPARES FOR HOSTING 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF AUSCHWITZ LIBERATION WITH 50 WORLD LEADERS ARRIVING(Jerusalem) — Security and traffic preparations were finalized for the arrival in Israel at midweek of over four dozen heads of state and government who are expected in the Jewish State to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Poland from the Nazis. Notable arrivals will include U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, together with a bipartisan Congressional representation. The main event of the Fifth World Holocaust Forum will take place at Yad Vashem, The World Holocaust Remembrance Center, under the title “Remembering the Holocaust: Fighting Anti-Semitism.” The event will mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day a little early, as the official date is January 27, the day the Soviet Red Army liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest and most infamous Nazi concentration and death camp. The objective is also to send a clear message that Jew hatred is an unacceptable phenomenon in today’s world. (WIN, Jan. 19, 2020)
AFTER OUTCRY, NOWTHIS REMOVES VIDEO OF STUDENT CLAIMING ANNE FRANK ‘DIDN’T DIE IN A CONCENTRATION CAMP’ (Washington, DC) — The progressive news outlet NowThis removed a segment of a video it had posted online in which Becca Lewis a Jewish George Washington University student claimed Anne Frank “didn’t die in a concentration camp.” The comment during a group discussion about US President Donald Trump’s recently-issued executive order on combating antisemitism on college campuses. She said, “What’s going to happen if there’s another Holocaust? Well, we’re seeing what’s happening. We’re seeing people die at the border for lack of medical care. That’s how Anne Frank died. She didn’t die in a concentration camp, she died from typhus.” Lewis faced withering criticism on social media for the remark, including a Holocaust denial accusation. (Algemeiner, Jan. 17, 2020)
BRAZIL’S CULTURE MINISTER FIRED FOR GIVING A SPEECH THAT USED EXCERPTS OF ONE BY THE NAZI GOEBBELS (Rio De Janeiro) — Roberto Alvim, Brazil’s culture minister was ousted after sparking outrage across Latin America’s largest nation for paraphrasing a speech by Nazi Germany’s propaganda mastermind. In a now-deleted video revealing the National Arts Awards posted on the ministry’s Twitter page, Alvim used excerpts of a speech by Joseph Goebbels, but he later called it a “rhetorical coincidence.” Richard Wagner, one of Adolf Hitler’s favorite composers who is commonly associated with German nationalism, played in the background. (JTA, Jan. 20, 2020)
AT 97, A DUTCH RESISTANCE HERO WANTS TO GIVE FELLOW JEWISH FIGHTERS OVERDUE RECOGNITION(Amsterdam) — Shortly after her capture by the Nazis in 1944, van de Perre was transferred from a regular prison to the worst concentration camp in the Netherlands. Though van de Perre is Jewish, the resistance had given her a false identity. Passing for Aryan was the only thing that kept her from the gas chamber. The 97-year-old Dutch resistance fighter Selma Van de Perre’s remarkable survival story is told in her first book, which is being published this month ahead of the 75th anniversary of Europe’s liberation from the Nazis.The book also aims to give belated acknowledgement to the largely ignored contributions to the resistance of Dutch Jews, who are widely seen has having been hapless victims of the Nazis rather than vital partners in the fight against them. (JTA, Jan. 17, 2020)
GAZA BALLOON BOMBS EXPLODE OVER ISRAELI CITIES AND TOWNS(Gaza Strip) — All weekend long terror balloons were being released by Gaza terrorists into Israel, some of which landed in residential areas in the south. One landed for the first time in the middle of the city of Ashdod, a bit North of the Gaza border. (Israel Unwired, Jan. 18, 2020)
POLL: 84% OF YOUNG FRENCH JEWS HAVE BEEN VICTIMS OF ANTI-ANTISEMITISM (Paris) — The poll, conducted by the Institut Français D’opinion Publique (IFOP) on behalf of the American Jewish Committee from October 14th to November 19th surveyed 505 French Jews and 1,027 French non-Jews. It found that 67% of Jews say France is suffering from a high level of anti-Semitism, compared to just 22% who say the country has a low level of anti-Semitism. Among non-Jews, slightly more respondents said France has a low level of anti-Semitism, 27%, while a plurality (47%) said the country had a high level of anti-Semitism, with 26% giving no response. (Arutz Sheva, Jan. 20, 2020)
UKRAINIAN RETAILER BLASTED FOR SELLING ANTI-SEMITIC APPAREL (Kiev) — A Ukrainian apparel company caused an uproar from the country’s Jewish community for selling a T-shirt with the phrase, “Holy s**t, What are you? A Yid.” The anti-Semitic apparel was advertised on Instagram from a store in the city of Ternopil. Jewish leaders demanded the immediate removal of the shirt, threatening to ask law enforcement officials to conduct a criminal investigation into the matter. Since then, the retailer has removed the offensive shirt from its social media account and offered an apology. (United With Israel, Jan. 21, 2020)
UK TREASURY ANNOUNCES FREEZE ON ALL HEZBOLLAH FINANCIAL ASSETS (London) — The UK government announced that it would add the entirety of Hezbollah — Iran’s Shi’a proxy based in Lebanon — to its list of terrorist groups that are subject to asset freezing, drawing a line under its earlier position that sanctions against Hezbollah should apply only to its “military wing” and not its so-called “political wing.” Last February, Sajid Javid — who was then Home Secretary and is now Chancellor of the Exchequer in Boris Johnson’s recently-elected Conservative government — announced that Hezbollah in its entirety would be designated as a terror entity. (Algemeiner, Jan. 17, 2020)
IRANIAN MP PLACES $3 MILLION BOUNTY ON TRUMP’S HEAD: ‘WHOEVER KILLS HIM’ (Tehran) —Ahmad Hamzeh, an Iranian lawmaker has placed a bounty on President Donald Trump for $3 million “on behalf of the people of Kerman province,” reported Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA.) Kerman was the hometown of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by a U.S. drone on Jan. 3. Hamzeh also advocated for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. (WIN, Jan. 21, 2020)
INFLUENTIAL IRANIANS BREAK RANKS WITH STATE AFTER UKRAINIAN JET DOWNING (Tehran) — A slew of influential Iranian artists, television personalities and sports stars have publicly broken with Tehran after the government denied for days that it shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane this month. Many students and middle-class Iranians took to the streets in protest. In Tehran, some students refused to trample on paintings of U.S. and Israeli flags in an apparent rejection of the government’s attempts to deflect blame. (NBC News,Jan. 19, 2020)
JORDAN’S PARLIAMENT VOTES TO CANCEL ISRAEL-JORDAN GAS DEAL (Amman) — The Jordanian parliament voted in favor of a law to ban gas imports from Israel. In order to become law, the motion needs to be sent for approval to the government, which in turn must send it back to the legislature for a formal vote. Thousands of Jordanians took to the streets of Amman, the Jordanian capital, to demonstrate against the “shameful” $10 billion dollar gas deal signed between Jordan and Israel. (WIN, Jan. 19, 2020)
ETHIOPIAN JEWISH COMMUNITY OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZED BY CHIEF RABBINATE COUNCIL (Jerusalem) –– Israel’s Chief Rabbinate Council decided in November to accept the Jewishness of immigrants to the Jewish State from Ethiopia. It marked an official acceptance of a ruling already handed down about 47 years ago by Israel’s Sephardic chief rabbi at the time, Ovadia Yosef, accepting the Ethiopian Jewish community, which calls itself Beta Israel. The ruling reportedly does not apply to Falash Mura, descendants of Ethiopian Jews who involuntarily converted to Christianity centuries ago. This segment of the population must still undergo an Orthodox conversion to gain acceptance as Jews. (WIN, Jan. 20, 2020)
HEBRON STABBING VICTIM SAYS NON-JEWS JUST ‘STOOD BY AND WATCHED’(Hebron) – Moshe Greenblatt, the victim of a Saturday stabbing attack near Hebron has expressed shock that numerous non-Jews just stood by watching without doing anything to help. “I had half a knife in my back and was shouting ‘soldier! soldier!’ Only one guy, named Meir Lapid, fought with the terrorist. There were some men and women who just stood, watched, and didn’t interfere. They didn’t call anyone. Nothing,” he added. Greenblatt also told the radio station 103FM that his girlfriend, who was beaten by the terrorist, did not suffer any lasting physical damage, “The big miracle is that he tried to pull the knife out of me and it broke,” he said. (WIN, Jan. 19, 2020)
MOTHER OF JAILED AMERICAN-ISRAELI BACKPACKER NAAMA ISSACHAR BELIEVES PUTIN WILL PARDON HER THIS WEEK(Jerusalem) — The mother of Naama Issachar, an American-Israeli woman jailed in Russia for flying with 9 grams of marijuana said she believes Russian President Vladimir Putin will pardon her daughter and allow her to come home to Israel. Putin is scheduled visit to Israel later this week to speak at the Fifth World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem. An unnamed senior Israeli official told Israel’s Channel 12 that Israel does have something to give Putin in exchange for the pardon, though he did not elaborate beyond saying it “does not hurt” Israel. It is believed to involve Israel showing support for the Russian narrative that Poland bears partial responsibility for the outbreak of World War II. (JTA, Jan. 20, 2020)
SON OF BAGEL DYNASTY FOUNDER IN LONDON ADMITS TO KILLING MOTHER AND SISTER (London) — Joshua Cohen, 29, entered a plea of guilty to two counts of manslaughter by diminished responsibility, though he has continued to deny their murders. In 2018, he was sent to a high-security psychiatric hospital where he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, after being found mentally unfit to enter pleas in the murders. Cohen had worked at his family’s Beigel Bake bakery in Brick Lane, in the east end of London, but stopped after he could not get along with customers. (Jerusalem Post, Jan. 21, 2020)
FOR FURTHER REFERENCE
Why Russia’s Putin Has A Soft Spot For Israel And Jews: Yochanan Visser, Arutz Sheva, Jan. 19, 2020 — Russian President Vladimir Putin is coming to Israel this week to attend the 75th commemoration of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp where 1.41 million Jews were gassed to death during World War II.
WATCH: Republican Iraqi Refugee Sets Her Sights on Omar’s Seat in Congress:United With Israel, Jan. 19, 2020 — Dalia al-Aqidi is a former refugee who fled Iraq. She is also a Muslim and registered Republican who is ready to take on Ilhan Omar in the upcoming congressional elections in the U.S.
