LLX News

By: Clifford D. May – Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

It defames, demonizes and attempts to delegitimize the Jewish state.

Anti-Semitism is an easily transmissible virus. Mutations are not necessarily less lethal.

The latest variant: Amnesty International—an organization formerly committed to freeing political prisoners—has issued a report accusing Jewish Israelis of apartheid.

That term, of course, is Afrikaans for separateness or segregation—the racial supremacist policy of the South African government from 1948 to 1994.

Amnesty’s allegation is, as U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides noted, “absurd.” I’ll explain why in a moment, but first, I want you to appreciate the trap that has been set: To declare “Israel is not apartheid!” is akin to President Nixon insisting, “I am not a crook!” The effect is to reinforce the impression. When it comes to propaganda, Amnesty is no amateur.

cont’d…

https://www.jns.org/opinion/amnesty-international-spreads-the-virus-of-antisemitism/

By: Lyn Julius – Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

It is not Haj Amin al-Husseini’s effect on the Nazis that Yad Vashem chair Dani Dayan ignores, but rather, the Mufti’s impact on the Arabs.

What impact did the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, have on the Nazi enterprise? According to Dani Dayan, chairman of Yad Vashem, the Mufti’s role was limited—so marginal, in fact, that Dayan refused to reinstate a large photo of the Mufti meeting Hitler in November 1941.

The floor-to-ceiling photo used to feature at the Museum before it was redesigned in the 1990s. Denying at first that the photo was ever at Yad Vashem, Dayan even told Haaretz: “Those who want me to put it up aren’t really interested in the Mufti’s part in the Holocaust, which was limited anyway, but seek to harm the image of the Palestinians today. The Mufti was an anti-Semite. But even if I abhor him, I won’t turn Yad Vashem into a tool serving ends not directly related to the study and memorialization of the Holocaust. Hasbara [puboic diplomacy] … is an utterly irrelevant consideration that shall not enter our gates.”

It is certainly true that the Mufti was marginal to the “final solution.” Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was wrong to remark in 2018 that the Mufti “convinced” Hitler to annihilate the Jews.

cont’d…

https://www.jns.org/opinion/the-nazi-roots-of-arab-anti-semitism-must-not-be-denied/

By: Yoseph Hadad – The Jerusalem Post; jpost.com

Palestinians live under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank or under the control of the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza. What of Israeli Arabs?

As an Israeli Arab who grew up in Nazareth, Amnesty International’s recent report tries to distort my identity. The 211-page document constantly refers to an “apartheid” against “Palestinian citizens of Israel,” making no differentiation between Israeli Arabs and Palestinians. 

Palestinians live under the control of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank or under the control of the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.

What about Israeli Arabs like me? We live under the democratically elected government of Israel with equal rights like any Jewish citizen. No matter how many times Amnesty International tries to erase my identity for trying to advance their political agenda, that doesn’t make it the truth.

cont’d…

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-695337

By: Michael Gryboski – The Christian Post; christianpost.com

During the Passover observance in 2019, 19-year-old John Earnest allegedly walked into a synagogue in Poway, California and opened fire, killing one worshipper and wounding three others.

It was later revealed that Earnest was an active member of an Orthodox Presbyterian Church congregation and specifically believed that he was doing God’s will by killing Jews.

The revelation that the lone suspect in the mass shooting was a devout Christian stirred reactions from many, including author and columnist Michael Brown, a proponent of Messianic Judaism and host of the nationally syndicated radio show, “The Line of Fire.”

In his latest book, scheduled to be released Tuesday, Christian Antisemitism: Confronting the Lies in Today’s Church, Brown documents a new resurgence of anti-Semitism within American churches.

cont’d…

https://www.christianpost.com/news/michael-brown-warns-about-the-rise-of-christian-anti-semitism.html

By: Esther Posner – The Jerusalem Post; jpost.com’

Ben-Zion and Suzie Lowinger made aliyah 50 years ago to Beersheba with a fierce and enduring Zionist spirit. This is their story.

‘Our children and grandchildren were born in Israel,” says Ben-Zion. “How can they grasp the meaning of aliyah? How can they understand what a privilege they have to be born here? One of our goals has always been to shine a light on how important it is for us to live in this country, ours after 2,000 years of exile.”

July 2021 marked the 50th anniversary of the aliyah of Ben-Zion and Suzie Lowinger, who arrived in Beersheba with a fierce and enduring Zionist spirit.

During their three-day celebration, everyone in the family wore a blue T-shirt inscribed with the words, “I have come to the land.” (Deuteronomy, 26:3) The grandchildren were then challenged to answer the question: “But why are you, who were born here, wearing those significant words?”

“I explained that just as we emphasize on the night of the Passover seder that in every generation we must view ourselves as if we were taken out of Egypt, so they too must see themselves as if they have come to this land from far away, but thankful that they were born here,” says Ben-Zion.

cont’d…

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/thanking-god-for-50-years-of-living-in-israel-682062

By: Melanie Phillips – Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

British intelligence has much to answer for. But there’s also the question of how Malik Faisal Akram was allowed into America in the first place.

The attack on Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, where the rabbi and three other Jews were taken hostage until they managed to escape unharmed, was shocking enough.

What has subsequently emerged, however, is even more disturbing.

The attacker, Malik Faisal Akram, was a British Muslim from the English town of Blackburn. It turns out that he was able to enter the United States two weeks earlier because of a major foul-up by Britain’s intelligence service, MI5 and the police.

In 2020, MI5 investigated Akram as a possible terrorist threat but concluded that he posed no risk and effectively closed his file.

Now Britain’s Jewish Chronicle reports that in May last year, at a meeting in Blackburn called to discuss “escalating tensions” between Israel and Gaza, Akram declared in a diatribe that Jews needed to be punished and should be “bombed.” A locally elected politician who attended the meeting was so concerned by this that he told the police. To his astonishment, he heard no more about it.

cont’d…

https://www.jns.org/opinion/the-unspoken-truths-behind-the-texas-synagogue-attack/

By: Anna Ahronheim – The Jerusalem Post; jpost.com

Defense Minister Benny Gantz said: We equip the State of Israel with the capabilities to defend itself against developing threats.

Amid ongoing tensions with Iran, Israel’s Defense Ministry, the IDF and the US Missile Defense Agency successfully conducted a planned interception test of the Arrow-3 missile-defense system on Tuesday morning.

The test, led by Israel Aerospace Industries in collaboration with the Israel Air Force, took place in central Israel.

During the test, the Arrow system’s radar detected the target and transferred the data to battle management controL, which analyzed the data, established a defense plan and launched two Arrow 3 interceptors toward the exo-atmospheric target, successfully destroying it.

“The success of this test is an important milestone for Israel’s operational capability to defend itself against existing and evolving threats in the region,” the Defense Ministry said, adding that it was part of the IDF’s multi-year development program.

IAI President and CEO Boaz Levy said the system was tested in a “challenging scenario” against “future threats” and that throughout the test, it gathered “essential information that will be used by the defense establishment and the company’s engineers for the development of future technology.”

cont’d…

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-692828

By: Israel Kasnett – Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

IDF Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah, a special analyst for the Middle East at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, told JNS that Hezbollah and the Shi’ite Amal party “have done everything possible in order to paralyze the government and impose their rule.”

As Lebanon’s citizens deal with a collapsing economy and a paralyzed government, murmurings of dissatisfaction with Hezbollah, Iran’s terror proxy in Beirut, have begun to surface. But experts say it is unrealistic to believe Hezbollah’s iron grip on the country will loosen.

These simmering tensions were expressed even more publicly in a televised speech made by Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Dec. 27, when he called for a “national dialogue” to confront the country’s political and social issues. Aoun warned that Lebanon was “falling apart,” and urged swift action on financial reforms. He also made what could be considered a veiled demand of Hezbollah, seemingly urging the terror group to loosen its grip on Lebanese politics.

“The deliberate, systematic and unjustified disruption that leads to institutions dismantling and the dissolution of the state must stop,” Aoun said.

cont’d…

https://www.jns.org/lebanon-faces-dim-future-as-hezbollah-holds-the-country-hostage/

By: Lahav Harkov – The Jerusalem Post; jpost.com

There is a sense in Jerusalem that if Russia invades Ukraine, it could sharply change how the US deals with Iran.

The US wants to use “snapback sanctions” to deter Iran from enriching weapons-grade uranium – a mechanism that was meant to be used in response to any violation of the 2015 nuclear deal.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told Israelis that he saw snapback sanctions as a possible way to stop Iran from enriching uranium to 90% purity, an Israeli diplomatic source said, confirming a report in Walla News.

Snapback was a UN Security Council resolution passed in tandem with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal with Iran, which stated that any party to the deal can trigger UN Security Council sanctions – which are binding on all member states – if Tehran violates the agreement in any way. That agreement limited Iran’s uranium enrichment to 5%, but the Islamic Republic has enriched to 60% in the past year, among other JCPOA violations.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-691807

Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

The MEPs said that on Nov. 9, which was also the anniversary of Kristallnacht, they tested Facebook’s “reactivity” to flagged anti-Semitic content by reporting posts that contained blood libels, conspiracy theories tying Jews to the COVID-19 pandemic and Holocaust denial.

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are calling on Facebook to take “immediate measures” to better combat the proliferation of anti-Semitic content on its platform.

In a letter sent on Dec. 16 to Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and co-founder of Facebook — which was recently rebranded as Meta — and Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg, eight MEPs expressed concern about Facebook’s “lack of improvement” in removing anti-Semitic posts.

cont’d…

https://www.jns.org/eu-lawmakers-blasts-facebook-for-lack-of-improvement-in-removing-anti-semitic-content/