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Ruth King

Assault on 2 Young Jewish Boys Among 4 Antisemitic Attacks in New York City in 48 Hours, Cops Confirm

https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/12/26/assault-on-2-young-jewish-boys-among-4-antisemitic-attacks-in-new-york-city-in-48-hours-cops-confirm/

“More than half of the hate crimes reported in New York City this year have been antisemitic in nature, with over 150 incidents targeting Jews — a rise of 63 percent on the previous year, according to figures released by the New York Police Department in September.”

An assault on a pair of Jewish children was among the four antisemitic attacks in New York City to have occurred in the space of two days this week, police in the city confirmed on Thursday.

The two boys, ages 6 and 7, were allegedly struck from behind by a group of teenagers in the lobby of a residential building in Williamsburg section of Brooklyn on Monday night. according to police. The victims were treated for minor injuries.

The incident took place just hours after an Orthodox Jewish man was attacked on a busy Manhattan street by an assailant who reportedly yelled, “F–k you, Jew bastard.”

A suspect, 28-year-old Steven Jorge of Miami, was arrested following the assault — which took place on E. 41st Street, near 3rd Avenue — and charged with a hate crime.

One occurred around 2 a.m. on Kingston Avenue, where a group hurled antisemitic slurs at a 25-year-old man — with one of them throwing a drink at the victim.

  The ICC decision on Israel would make Himmler proud   The ICC chief prosecutor’s hand is now controlled by organizations linked to the 3rd Reich.  By Richard Kemp KEMP

https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/The-ICC-decision-on-Israel-would-make-Himmler-proud-612211 

PROSECUTOR FATOU BENSOUDA waits for the start of the trial against former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo and former youth minister Charles Ble Goude at the International Criminal Court in The Hague last month.

SS Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler, architect and director of the Holocaust, would be proud of the latest move by Fatou Bensouda, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Intent on the total elimination of the Jewish race, Himmler supported Amin al-Huseini, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, in his plans to eradicate the Jews in Palestine.
Now Bensouda and the ICC have joined the international campaign aimed at eliminating the Jewish state, led by al-Huseini’s successors. In a grotesque inversion, the ICC, heir to the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal, has become a propaganda weapon of anti-Semitic hate. This represents a shameful betrayal of its honourable anti-Nazi progenitor. Its path more closely resembles that of the Nazis’ notorious People’s Court, the Volksgerichthof, than the Nuremberg trials.

Nuremberg laid low many of the Nazi monsters that perpetrated the Holocaust. The ICC chief prosecutor’s hand is now controlled by organizations linked to the 3rd Reich. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Al-Haq, Addameer and Al-Dameer,
Palestinian NGOs backed by EU and Swiss funds, have been lobbying the ICC to bring prosecutions against Israel for more than a decade according to the Israeli research institute NGO Monitor. All are connected to the Palestinian group PFLP whose founding leaders in the 1970s were trained in terrorism and political warfare by former SS Colonel Otto Skorzeny and Dr Gerhard Hartmut von Schubert, once of Josef Goebbels’s propaganda ministry.

California Faces Lowest Population Growth Since 1900 After Decades Of Economically Ignorant Policies Thanks to excessive regulations, rent control, and increased homelessness among other things, more people are leaving California than entering it. By Erielle Davidson

https://thefederalist.com/2019/12/26/california-faces-lowest-population-growth-since-1900-after-decades-of-economically-ignorant-policies/

As reported by the LA Times, according to data recently released by the Department of Finance, California’s population growth rate for the year ending July 1, 2019, was the lowest the state has experienced since 1900. Estimates indicate the Golden State’s population grew by 0.35 percent over the course of the year (or by 141,000 people), down from 0.57 percent for the previous year ending July 1, 2018.

California’s growth in population was buoyed by the net difference between births and deaths in the state, which amounted to 180,800 people. However, this number was tempered by net losses in migration, which indicate more people are exiting the state than entering it.

While international migration or legal immigration into the state added to California’s population, there was significant negative domestic migration — or rather, people leaving California for other states — amounting to nearly 40,000 residents. According to the Department of Finance, this phenomenon represents “the first time since the 2010 census that California has had more people leaving the state than moving in from abroad or other states.”

What Happened to California’s Population Growth?

But where are these people going? According to William Frey of Brookings Institution, they’re heading elsewhere in the West to places economies are picking up, housing costs are cheaper, and there may be no state income tax. According to Frey, the most popular destinations were Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.

Immigration levels are also declining, which accounts for some of California’s drop in population growth. “In the past, California would be growing because immigration would counteract domestic outmigration,” Frey told the LA times. “The outmigration is in places where housing prices are high and therefore immigration is not being able to counter that.”

Dowell Myers, a demographics expert at USC, told the LA Times that California housing prices are preventing millennials from really establishing the requisite “nest” needed to have kids. He pointed to the shortage of housing choking the supply.

“I think we need to have enough housing for workers to live in and for people to start families. Older people have the right to stay in their houses, but we need to make room for the young people or else we will turn into a retirement city by the sea,” Myers explained. He pointed to LA County as an example, given it experienced a 17 percent decline in the amount of children residing in the area over the last 10 years.

U.S. jobless claims fall, point to sustained labor market strength

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-unemployment/u-s-jobless-claims-fall-point-to-sustained-labor-market-strength-idUSKBN1YU0SM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits fell last week in a sign of ongoing labor market strength.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits decreased 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 222,000 for the week ended Dec. 21, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims would fall to 224,000 in the latest week. Claims have been volatile in recent weeks around the U.S. holiday season and end of the year.

Setting the Record Straight on Allegations Against Israel by Moshe Phillips

https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/12/26/setting-the-record-straight-on-allegations-

A news article by Marcy Oster on the JTA news agency/wire service website dated December 24 stated, “The Palestinian village of Deir Yassin was the site of a massacre by Israeli troops in 1948.” The problem: while it is true that Arab and pro-Arab sources have for many years alleged there was a massacre in Deir Yassin — just as they later alleged many Israeli army massacres — there is no evidence that it actually happened.

There were many Arab civilian casualties in the battle of Deir Yassin, but this was because the Arab military forces there employed the time-honored tactic of using Arab residents as human shields. The Jewish forces at Deir Yassin were the pre-state Zionist militias the Irgun Zvai Leumi and LEHI (the Stern Group).

The Zionist militias left one exit from the village open and pleaded with the residents, through a bullhorn, to leave. Many did. But many others were forced to stay in their homes by Arab soldiers. As a result, civilians were killed in the inevitable house-to-house fighting that ensued.

As an aside, it is well worth noting that there were no “Israeli troops” at Deir Yassin as there was no State of Israel when the battle was fought. The Irgun and the Stern Group attacked Deir Yassin because it was where snipers were based who targeted Jewish civilians in western suburban Jerusalem neighborhoods and the British authorities were doing nothing to stop the snipers.

So…Is It Ignorance Or Animus? by Gerald A. Honigman

Democrats had their latest debate to see who will oppose President Trump in 2020 on December 19th. Questions regarding the Trump Administration’s new policies regarding the Middle East came up–the Settlement Issue in particular. Among others, Senator Bernie Sanders and ex-VP Joe Biden offered alleged words of wisdom. Here’s some excerpts: 

“Former vice president Joe Biden said that President Trump is ‘no longer being an honest broker in Israel,’ and called promote the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. ‘There’s no solution for Israel other than the two-state solution…It’s not possible to have a Jewish state…without there being a two-state solution. ‘Bibi Netanyahu and I know one another well. He knows that I think what he’s doing is outrageous. What we do is we have to put pressure constantly on the Israelis to move to a two-state solution.” https://www.jpost.com/American-Politics/Sanders-We-must-be-pro-Palestinian-as-well-611549 

At one time, to his credit, Senator Biden used to also talk about justice for another people—almost 40 million truly stateless Kurds, in particular. For a variety of reasons, he’s dropped that like a hot potato.

As he stated, Joe knows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu well–along with Bibi’s earlier Likud predecessor, the late prime minister, Israeli War of Independence freedom fighter for Zion Reborn…Menachem Begin. See how that relationship went in these next excerpts:

The Song of Names – A Review By Marilyn Penn

http://politicalmavens.com/

Memo to writer, director and producer: Kadish the Hebrew prayer for the dead, is not pronounced like radish; it is pronounced like Kahdish or Coddish. Though this may seem picayune, it’s a word that comes up often in a movie about the Holocaust, and particularly one that deals with showing respect for murdered Jews, it’s inexcusable to hear it constantly mispronounced by the Jewish protagonist as well as others. Imagine a movie about French people who call their capital Parees – could we take it seriously?

The Song of Names deals with a Jewish violin prodigy who is brought from Poland to London by his father in an attempt to save his son from the mounting threat of Hitler’s war. The young boy called Dovid’l lives with a non-Jewish family who have a son his age, Martin, who both admires and resents him for being his own father’s favorite. The story is told with a series of flash-forwards and back until it becomes clear that the prodigy has disappeared from London without leaving a trace, presumably leading to the foster father’s stroke and death and the resulting search by the foster brother to find him.

Dovid’l skips out on a prominent concert prior to his departure, a plot point that becomes significant later. More than 30 years elapse during Martin’s search, revealing many heart-breaking scenes that one can imagine dealing with the slaughter of six million Jews seen through the lens of one gifted “genius.” This, along with the hauntingly beautiful violin music, including Bruch’s sonata, make the movie worthwhile. Second memo to writer: the movie’s final revelation is unmoored to anything else that the viewer has seen, leaving the audience confused and uncomprehending. It’s an unnecessary tag-on that should be cut before this goes to Netflix or Amazon. It cheapens the ending and trivializes far more important points that have been made. The cast, headed by Tim Roth and Clive Owen is solid as expected.

Israeli Intelligence Continues to Help Thwart Terrorist Attacks Abroad

https://www.investigativeproject.org/8228/israeli-intelligence-continues-to-help-thwart

Denmark’s security authorities foiled several jihadist terrorist attacksearlier this month after arresting 20 suspects in raids throughout the country. That same week, two brothers were sentenced to long prison terms in Australia after planning to down a commercial airplane on behalf of the Islamic State group in 2017. These developments point to a rising trend in thwarted jihadist terror plots.
But the two cases also share another commonality: Israel’s intelligence services reportedly played an integral role in stifling the mass-casualty plots. Denmark and Australia join a long list of countries that relied on Israeli intelligence to prevent serious violence around the world.
According to Israel’s Channel 12 news, information from Israel’s Mossad foreign intelligence service helped Danish authorities prevent attacks shortly before they were to be executed. Prosecutors allege that two of the suspects tried to purchase guns and ammunition “to be used in connection with one or several terror attacks in Denmark or abroad.” The Copenhagen City Court also ordered two other suspects remain imprisoned for allegedly attempting to build several explosive devices.
The relative threat posed by various terrorist actors can be skewed if analysts only look at realized attacks. Europol reports consistently show that European separatists conduct more attacks than jihadists on the continent. But these assessments misrepresent the fact that the jihadist threat is transnational, not inherently localized like separatist movements, and are more likely to generate more fatalities.

Headstones discovered vandalized at second Jewish cemetery in Slovakia

The aftermath of vandalism at the ancient Jewish cemetery of Námestovo, Slovakia in December 2019. (Courtesy of ZCN)

(JTA) — More than 20 headstones were vandalized at a Jewish cemetery in northern Slovakia in the second such incident in the country in a week.

The 22 gravestones vandalized at a Jewish cemetery in the country’s northern town of Rajec appear to have been damaged in mid-December, according to the World Jewish Congress. The vandalism is currently under investigation by police.

The 60 gravestones knocked down and set on fire in the Jewish cemetery of Námestovo, a town in northern Slovakia near the Polish border, were discovered on December 16.

It is not known yet whether the two incidents are connected.

Anti-Semitic incidents of this nature are extremely rare in Slovakia, according to the World Jewish Congress.

In Central and Eastern Europe, inactive Jewish cemeteries often attract vagrants because they are often located outside urban centers and out of sight of law enforcement. Some incidents of vandalism have been attributed to drunks and drug users and are not always deemed hate crimes.

Three assaults against Jews reported in New York in just over 24 hours

https://www.jta.org/quick-reads/three-assaults-against-jews-reported-in-new-york-just-over-24-hours

Two blocks from Grand Central it is no longer safe to wear a yarmulke — Three assaults against Jews reported in New York in just over 24 hours DPS

(JTA) — A Jewish man wearing a yarmulke was physically and verbally assaulted in Manhattan in one of three assaults against Jews in New York just over a 24-hour period.

A Miami man was arrested and charged with assault as a hate crime for the attack late Monday morning about two blocks from Grand Central Terminal, New York Police Sgt. Lee Jones told CNN.

The alleged assailant, Steven Jorge, 28, reportedly punched the 65-year-old victim in the face, knocking him to the ground, and then kicked him repeatedly. He also allegedly yelled “F*** you, Jew” at the victim, who was looking at his cellphone when the attack began, CBS New York reported.

The NYPD Bias Unit is investigating, according to CBS.

The attack was one of three assaults against Jews in New York in 24 hours, according to the Anti-Defamation League.