Reviewing a Month of Hypocrisy and Moral Decadence: Isi Leibler, Jerusalem Post, May 28, 2018— Never have we witnessed such morally decadent political behavior as what has transpired these past weeks.
Canada: A “Different” Kind of Antisemitism?: Philip Carl Salzman, Gatestone Institute, May 26, 2018— In Berlin, on evening of the May 17, 2018, two men wearing Jewish skull caps were attacked by three Arabic speaking men, who repeatedly cursed at them and called them “yahudi,” Jew, in Arabic.
What Else is New: A Nazi-Like Cartoon in a Major German Daily: Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld, Arutz Sheva, May 27, 2018 — After yet another anti-Semitic cartoon was published in the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), most media mistakenly treated the following developments as an isolated case.
The Roots of Anti-Semitism: Reuven Brenner, Wall Street Journal, May 10, 2018— Seventy years after the founding of modern Israel, expressions of anti-Semitism are still all too common…
On Topic Links
Not Mere Prejudice, But the Organization of Politics Against the Jews: Ruth R. Wisse, Mosaic, May 2018
Nashville’s Jewish Community Schadenfreude: Gregg Roman, Jewish News Syndicate, May 23, 2018
The 1928-29 Battle For The Kotel: Saul Jay Singer, Jewish Press, May 31, 2018
Why International Farhud Day Stymies Invented Palestinian History: Edwin Black, Gatestone Institute, May 30, 2018
REVIEWING A MONTH OF HYPOCRISY AND MORAL DECADENCE
Isi Leibler
Jerusalem Post, May 28, 2018
Never have we witnessed such morally decadent political behavior as what has transpired these past weeks. Paradoxically, this occurred in the wake of a series of incredible Israeli achievements. It was Israel’s founding leader David Ben-Gurion, an avowed secularist, who stated, “In Israel, in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles.” “Kibbutz galuyot” – the ingathering of the exiles – has become a reality. Israel has emerged as a military and economic superpower, is water-independent and is a major high-tech powerhouse. Its standing on a global level is unsurpassed.
The Trump administration, in contrast to its predecessor, treats Israel as a genuine ally. It abrogated the bogus 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, imposing tough sanctions on the Islamic Republic despite the bleating of the Europeans, who are desperate to continue appeasing the Iranians. In addition, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanded that the Iranians pull out of Syria and desist from engaging in international terrorism and explicitly warned them to cease calling for Israel’s destruction. No longer is Israel facing Iran alone.
At the same time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been able to maintain a friendly relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also called on Iran to withdraw from Syria. Today, Israel is in great demand and sought out by many countries in Africa, Asia and South America. Last month, Israel scored a remarkable military victory against the Iranians and virtually destroyed their infrastructure in Syria in overnight raids, suffering no casualties. This was followed by the dramatic disclosure of the Mossad, which, having incredibly purloined literally half a ton of classified Iranian documents, demonstrated to the world with conclusive evidence that the Iranians were lying when they claimed that they had no intention of creating a nuclear bomb.
The peak of Israel’s jubilation came with the American administration’s opening of its embassy in Jerusalem in a gala ceremony that thrilled the nation. Despite repeated criticisms and condemnations of this by European and other countries, Israelis were in an exuberant mood, that climaxed with Netta Barzilai’s spectacular win for Israel at the Eurovision song contest.
Now we turn to Gaza. There have been continuous complaints about the appalling living standards and the high level of unemployment in Gaza. The bulk of funds from Israel and other countries flowing into Gaza are siphoned off by Hamas to produce rockets, dig tunnels and prepare for a military confrontation with Israel. The most obvious example is the concrete – allowed to enter Gaza by Israel – being diverted to the building of tunnels into Israel instead of building homes. As recently as last month, Hamas rejected vital medication from Israel to avoid showing Israel in a positive light. If Hamas would give up its obsession with destroying the Jewish state, Israeli and global aid would pour into the country and could transform it into a Middle Eastern Singapore.
But the abject living conditions of those under its rule do not concern Hamas, whose primary aim remains “armed conflict” and the destruction of Israel. After its efforts to undermine Israel with rockets and tunnels had been thwarted, it used the opening of the US embassy and the 70th anniversary of the “Nakba” as the pretext to launch a new campaign against Israel, enlisting thousands of Gazans to storm the borders and actualize their claimed “right of return” to Israel.
Hailed to the outside world as “peaceful, nonviolent demonstrations,” the participants were provided with maps of nearby Jewish towns and encouraged to bring weapons to kill as many Jews as possible and take Israelis as hostages. Peaceful farming communities only a kilometer from the border were intended as their initial targets. They descended en masse to the border, hurling rocks and firebombs, armed with pipe bombs, grenades, machetes and firearms, as well as sending burning kites, some emblazoned with swastikas, to destroy Israeli fields. Hamas proclaimed that the purpose of this campaign was to bring an end to the Jewish state and that the casualties would be celebrated as martyrs, their families compensated.
The Israeli government responded in the same manner as any nation whose borders were attacked by swarms of terrorists seeking to murder their civilians. The IDF was instructed to ensure that no terrorist cross the border. While doing their utmost to avoid needless casualties, soldiers had no choice but to resort to live fire when terrorists tore down the barriers and penetrated Israel. Hamas operatives were instructed to dress in civilian attire. Extras and their families were also bused in and promised payment for their services and larger sums if they were wounded. Maps were posted on Facebook displaying locations of Israeli homes, schools and daycare centers adjacent to the border.
Many youngsters and even infants were pushed to the forefront, forced to assume the role of human shields. During almost two months of rioting and attacks on the border, over 100 people were killed and thousands allegedly wounded. Although Hamas itself proudly proclaimed to its followers that the majority killed were Hamas activists, it announced to the world that this was a massacre of innocent, peaceful demonstrators. The higher the number of casualties, the more Hamas rejoiced.
Despite clear visual evidence of the Hamas attacks on the border, the liberal media – which had been frustrated with Israel’s recent run of successes – totally adopted the Hamas lies and ran screaming headlines describing callous, bloodthirsty Israelis killing peaceful protesters, including women and children. Political leaders joined in the hysteria, accusing Israel of responding disproportionately, implying that if 500 Israelis had been killed, the death of the Hamas thugs would have been more justified. Some, like Turkey’s antisemitic President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accused Israel of war crimes and even of treating the Palestinians worse than the Nazis treated the Jews.
It was only the US that stood by Israel’s right to defend itself, vetoing a call for a commission of inquiry by the UN Security Council. It was joined by Australia in the UN Human Rights Council, where the hypocrites passed a resolution calling for a commission of inquiry into Israel’s actions without even referring to the Hamas provocation. This has been one of the worst examples of double standards and the pogrom atmosphere generated against Israel. Fourteen countries, including five EU member states, to their eternal disgrace, stooped to the depths of depravity when they stood aside and abstained. Included among these were purported friends of Israel like Germany, the United Kingdom and Hungary. Their complete passivity when Israel is condemned for defending itself against terrorists committed to its annihilation is nothing short of moral turpitude. Shame on them…[To Read the Full Article Click the Following Link—Ed.]
CANADA: A “DIFFERENT” KIND OF ANTISEMITISM?
Philip Carl Salzman
Gatestone Institute, May 26, 2018
In Berlin, on evening of the May 17, 2018, two men wearing Jewish skull caps were attacked by three Arabic speaking men, who repeatedly cursed at them and called them “yahudi,” Jew, in Arabic. One of the Arabs knifed one of the men, Adam Armoush, with his belt. The attack was recorded, and the video widely seen. Ironically, Adam is not a Jew. He is an Israeli Arab, who was wearing the skull cap to test whether it was unsafe to show oneself as a Jew in Berlin. He was skeptical; he has now reconsidered. One of the assailants, a 19 year old refugee, claiming he was from Syria, later turned himself into the police.
In response to the attack, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that she was saddened, and that it was depressing that antisemitism had not been destroyed for good in Germany. There were, in fact, more than 1,000 antisemitic incidents in Berlin last year alone. Merkel pointed out that, in addition to some traditional German antisemitism remaining, “We have a new phenomenon of refugees or people of Arab origin who bring another form of anti-Semitism into the country.” Germany’s first Antisemitism Commissioner, Felix Klein, pointed out that “We’ve observed that Salafist and Islamist extremists seek to approach refugees in Germany and try to incite anti-Semitism and hatred.” Muslim Arabs speakers as well as Iranians, Pakistanis, Afghans, Muslim Africans and Turkic speakers from Turkey and Central Asia, would be vulnerable to such influences.
Throughout Europe during the past decade, there have been many attacks on Jews. Christian antisemitism used to be based on Jews not accepting Jesus as the Messiah, and the belief that the Jews were responsible for Jesus’s death. Little consideration was given to the facts that both One God and the Messiah were Jewish ideas, that the Ten Commandments were given to the Jews, or that Jesus and his Apostles were themselves Orthodox Jews. Christian antisemitism frequently broke out in violence, as with Western European Crusaders slaughtering Jews in the cities they passed through on the way to the Holy Land, where they also murdered Jews, and as with the regular Pogrom attacks in Eastern Europe that were a beloved feature of Easter. Then there were the expulsions of Jews from England, Spain, Austria, Hungary, and Germany, among 109 mostly European locations that expelled them, and, in Spain, the torture and execution of converted Jews during the Holy Inquisition. Fortunately, in recent times, many Christian churches have distanced themselves from this kind of antisemitism.
Meanwhile, Islamic antisemitism arose in reaction to the frustration of Mohammed’s fond hopes that the Arabian Jewish tribes would accept him as the final Prophet of the line of Jewish prophets. Mohammed had drawn much from Judaism: One God, the Prophets, repeated daily prayer, circumcision, and food prohibitions. When the Jewish tribes declined to accept Mohammed’s offer, that he was their final Prophet, Mohammed declared war on them, executed all of the men in one Jewish tribe, and distributed the women and children among his followers, and exiled another tribe from their traditional territory.
The foundational documents of Islam also reflect total rejection of the Jews and all “disbelievers”. In the hadith (sayings and deeds of Mohammad), there is a verse, still quoted in Article 7 of Hamas’s charter: In Saheeh Muslim (2922), it is narrated from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “The Hour will not begin until the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims will kill them, until a Jew hides behind a rock or a tree, and the rock or tree will say: O Muslim, O slave of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Except the gharqad (a thorny tree), for it is one of the trees of the Jews.”…
Does Islamic antisemitism exist in Canada? We know that Jews are the most targeted religious group, with 221 antisemitic hate crimes in 2016. There were 139 hate crimes directed against Muslims. With a Canadian Jewish population of 329,500, and a Canadian Muslim population of 1,053,945, there was an antisemitic hate crime for every 1491 Canadian Jews, and an anti-Muslim hate crime for every 7582 Muslims. On a per capita basis, Jews were by far the most targeted religious group. While the authors of many hate crimes are unknown, some cases stand out. Muslim Sleiman Elmerhebi firebombed the United Talmud Torahs Jewish elementary school in Montreal. He was convicted and jailed, and his mother given probation as an accessory after the fact.
While Muslim attackers of Jews often keep a low profile and are not found by police, Muslim religious and political figures, whose job it is to speak out, have been frank about their views of Jews: “In Canada, at the Al-Andalous Islamic Centre in the St-Laurent borough of Montreal, Wael al-Ghitawi, the center’s imam, in November 2014, and Sayed al-Ghitawi, who was visiting from the Middle East, in August 2014, both called for the death of Jews. The sermons came to public attention in February 2017, when YouTube videos of the talks were translated into English. In February 2017, two Jewish groups filed complaints against the imams with the Montreal police. Quebec’s prosecutors, however, chose not to proceed, arguing that that too much time had elapsed.”
Later, in July 2017, a Quebec judge issued an arrest warrant for an imam who had made several violent anti-Semitic statements at another Montreal mosque in December 2016. Sheikh Muhammad bin Musa al-Nasr, a Palestinian-Jordanian, while visiting Canada had said in the video that Allah has ordained that Jews should be killed by Muslims “at the end of time.” He was apparently drawing on the same Jew-killing hadith (Sahih al-Bukhari Book Number 56 Hadith Number 791 – Muflihun) invoked by the U.S. imams. After an investigation by the Montreal police hate crimes unit, he was charged under Section 319(2) of the Criminal Code with the willful promotion of hatred…[To Read the Full Article Click the Following Link—Ed.]
WHAT ELSE IS NEW: A NAZI-LIKE CARTOON IN A MAJOR GERMAN DAILY Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld
Arutz Sheva, May 27, 2018
After yet another anti-Semitic cartoon was published in the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), most media mistakenly treated the following developments as an isolated case. This German ‘progressive’ liberal daily is one of the most read papers in Germany. The SZ is considered, together with the Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung and Die Welt as one of three nationwide quality papers. On May 15 the SZ published a cartoon by 85 year old Dieter Hanitzsch. He depicted Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu as Israeli Eurovision winner, Netta Barzilay, celebrating the victory while holding a missile with a star of David on it. Hanitzsch drew the Israeli leader with an oversized nose, ears and lips, classic anti-Semitic stereotypes.
There were many negative reactions. A few days later the SZ’s editor in chief Ernst Krach wrote that the cartoon had led to discussions both inside and outside the paper. He stated that the caricaturist claimed that he had only wanted to draw attention to the fact that the 2019 Eurovision contest will be taking place in Jerusalem. Krach added that one could however also understand the drawing differently and consider it anti-Semitic. The SZ apologized saying it was a mistake to have published it. After such a statement the controversy would usually have been closed. Yet the recently appointed German Anti-Semitism Commissioner, Felix Klein, also reacted. He stated that the “caricature created associations with the intolerable drawings of national-socialist propaganda. Even when caricatures are satirical and should provoke, this one had crossed a red line.” Since then the German Press Council has launched an inquiry into the cartoon.
Klein’s statement meant that a government official was accusing the mainstream SZ of publishing Nazi-like material. The paper then fired Hanitzsch who had been with them for decades. The cartoonist had in the past been awarded the Federal Cross of Merit. Hanitzsch reacted with a lengthy explanation about why his cartoon was not anti-Semitic. He also mentioned that he had received reactions which said that his cartoon fitted in very well with the extreme publications of the Nazi Julius Streicher who was condemned to death at the Nuremberg trials and hanged. It is for psychologists to assess how much the cartoonist was influenced by the thoughts of the Nazi period which he lived through at school age.
The anti-Israeli hate-mongering record of the SZ is far more important than this single case. In fact, the daily’s incitement has a lengthy history. In 2013, the SZ published a caricature from Ernst Kahl of a monster with two horns which was on the verge of eating. The accompanying caption said: “Germany serves. For decades Israel is served, partly without payment, with weapons.” n 2014, yet another anti-Semitic cartoon appeared in the SZ. Burkhard Mohr drew Jewish Facebook entrepreneur, Mark Zuckerberg as an octopus reaching with its tentacles to control social media. The cartoonist depicted Zuckerberg with a long nose and thick lips, once again typical anti-Semitic stereotypes. The Simon Wiesenthal Center reacted by stating that the cartoon proved that the artist was anti-Semitic. The cartoonist denied that his drawing was anti-Semitic and apologized…
[To Read the Full Article Click the Following Link—Ed.]
THE ROOTS OF ANTI-SEMITISM
Reuven Brenner
Wall Street Journal, May 10, 2018
Seventy years after the founding of modern Israel, expressions of anti-Semitism are still all too common, from Britian’s Labour Party and America’s Women’s March to the Iranian regime and the United Nations Human Rights Council. Since I began writing on anti-Semitism half a century ago, I am still continuously confronted with the question: Why? My answer has been that for accidental reasons, Jews have constantly found themselves opposing dominant ideologies of the times.
Thousands of years ago they bet on a religion drawing on a sacred book. The rest of the world was still illiterate, betting on oral traditions and local deities. Memories are mutable and among illiterates lead to flexible behavior. In contrast, a literate religion anchored and guided people no matter where they found themselves—reluctant to accept newer books, sacred or not. Starting with Antiochus Epiphanes around 170 B.C., Hellenistic rulers complained that only Jews among all conquered nations refused to adopt Greek laws and beliefs. Both the Greek and later Roman and Christian authorities interpreted the Jews’ adherence to their faith as a refusal to recognize the authority of the state.
Later, as Jews dispersed around the world, they stood out again. Other small tribes disappeared—either killed or absorbed and assimilated into bigger ones. Jews, despite persecution and some assimilation, survived through the centuries. What to make of that? In part it was still their sacred book. But it was also their dispersal. In some places, such as Spain, they disappeared. Yet they survived in more tolerant lands.
As with literacy, lack of geographic concentration had advantages and disadvantages. The greater their number, the greater the chances of political, rebellious and military clout. But smaller groups have to rely on stronger solidarity and individual effort, the education for both of which becomes part of their deeply ingrained culture. Consider the Passover story. Jews were a loosely related group when they arrived in Egypt; they became a nation only after overcoming the slave mentality. The matzo—unleavened bread—stands literally in the Exodus story for not having time to bake bread. But it is also a metaphor: The Jewish nation was only “half baked” before leaving for the Promised Land.
Which brings us to the Jews’ disproportionate scientific, commercial and financial successes. The culture of self-reliance has been a necessity. There is no alternative for a people too small to achieve much through politics or military might. Laws drawing on the misinterpreted biblical text—condemnation of “usury” among them—initially harmed Jews but later contributed to their success. They found themselves in banking and finance when the rest of the population was excluded from those professions—which turned out to be the currents of the future.
Jump to the present, with academics and politicians of the left, singling out Jews and Israel for ancient accusations and new ones. The attitude has a certain logic: Jews’ success through ages and countries despite severe discrimination is an eyesore to the ideology of blaming others for one’s lack of achievement. McGill, the Montreal university with which I have been associated, imposed a 10% ceiling on Jewish medical students until the 1960s; the University of Toronto’s medical school required higher marks of Jewish students until the 1960s; and Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital was denied status as a teaching hospital until 1962. Yet the Canadian Jews managed to succeed. The tribe’s performance suggests that “culture” and diminished expectations of political clout are a better and faster path to prosper than redistributionist policies.
Which brings us to Europe’s stand toward Israel. If Jews stood against the currents of the times through centuries, Israel does the same today. Europe is trying to unite its tribes under a secular, supranational union—and having considerable difficulty. Standing as a counterexample to the European delusion is Israel—a nation state, in which religion plays a significant part, which is successful despite war, terror and the stress of absorbing millions of immigrants. Once again, the Jews stand against faddish currents and are resented for it.
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On Topic Links
Not Mere Prejudice, But the Organization of Politics Against the Jews: Ruth R. Wisse, Mosaic, May 2018—Using her 2017 essay “The Functions of Anti-Semitism” as a point of departure, Ruth R. Wisse explains how the hatred of Jews cannot be seen merely as a generic form of bigotry, but is a unique political strategy, almost always used to attack liberalism. (Interview by Jonathan Silver. Audio, 47 minutes.)
Nashville’s Jewish Community Schadenfreude: Gregg Roman, Jewish News Syndicate, May 23, 2018—During my years as the director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Pittsburgh, I worked hard to build partnerships and to promote harmony within and beyond Pittsburgh’s Jewish community. But, as a representative of a long- targeted minority, I knew I had to be careful when picking my allies.
The 1928-29 Battle For The Kotel: Saul Jay Singer, Jewish Press, May 31, 2018 —In December 1917, when Allied forces captured Jerusalem, General Edmund Allenby pledged “that every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine, traditional site, endowment, pious bequest, or customary place of prayer of whatsoever form of the three religions will be maintained and protected according to the existing customs and beliefs of those to whose faith they are sacred.”
Why International Farhud Day Stymies Invented Palestinian History: Edwin Black, Gatestone Institute, May 30, 2018—When International Farhud Day was proclaimed at a conference convened at the United Nations headquarters on June 1, 2015, its proponents wanted to achieve more than merely establish a commemoration of the ghastly 1941 Arab-Nazi pogrom in Baghdad that killed and injured hundreds of Iraqi Jews.
