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ANTI-SEMITISM

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Interfaith or Bad Faith? Dialogue with Jews Rachael Kohn

By on April 4th, 2024

“..That would explain why there is currently no basis for Jewish–Muslim relations in Australia, for without acknowledging that Israel is legitimate, sovereign and Jewish, and that its right to exist will be defended against any threat to its existence and its people, then interfaith dialogue is nothing more than a pious lie.”

The resignation of the current and past presidents of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim Association (JCMA), both rabbis, and the suspension of participation by the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, speaks volumes about the nature of Muslim–Jewish relations in Australia. The stated reason given was Muslim leaders’ “failure to recognise the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas”.

Speaking at a pro-Palestinian rally in Broadmeadows, Victoria, the President of the Islamic Council of Victoria, Adel Salman, defended as “legitimate acts of resistance” the October 7 attacks in which 1200 Israeli men, women and children were tortured, slaughtered and raped and more than 253 civilians at a music festival were taken hostage. Clearly, nothing has changed in the six months since the Australian Muslim Times jubilantly reported news of the attack, which was followed soon after by footage of rallies in Lakemba where Muslim sheiks were in celebration mode. Sheik Dadoun (see the video below) punched the sky with his fists as he cheered, calling it “a day of courage, it’s a day of happiness, it’s a day of pride, it’s a day of victory. This is the day we’ve been waiting for.” The failure of the Muslim leadership to denounce and remove preachers who had a reputation for calling on Muslims to kill Jews, such as Wassam Hadad (also known as Abu Ousayd) of the Madina Dawah Centre in Blacktown, Western Sydney, has underlined how artificial the Jewish–Muslim interfaith relationship has been.

In striking contrast, leaders of the Christian community including Rev Sandy Grant from St Andrew’s Cathedral, Michelle Pearse, Director of the Australian Christian Lobby, and Anglican Senior Minister Mark Leach led a rally in Sydney’s Domain on Sunday, February 18, under the banner “Never Again Is Now” (NAIN), attracting an estimated 10,000 people over two and a half hours. They responded to the 738 per cent surge in anti-Semitic incidents since the Hamas attack on Israel, including the recent “doxing” of over 600 Jewish Australians—writers, professionals, business people and academics—by anti-Israel activists.

The speakers at NAIN started with the Christian former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who addressed the crowd saying, “Instead of support, we have seen those living under the freedom of democracy in this country calling for the extinction of the State of Israel from the river to the sea.” He said, “people were ignorant of the real meaning of the words” and the “violent and anti-Semitic nature of those statements”. Former Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson also spoke at the event, along with senators Jacquie Lambie and Hollie Hughes, as well as indigenous affairs activist and devout Catholic Warren Mundine.

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Anatomy of an antisemite By Ruthie Blum

By on March 29th, 2024

https://www.jns.org/anatomy-of-an-antisemite/

Francesca Albanese is at it again, cloaking her Jew-hatred in legalese and justifying it through denial. Yes, if there’s one thing that offends the United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the so-called “occupied Palestinian territories,” it’s being exposed as an antisemite.

Not that it’s ever prevented the Italian international lawyer, who was appointed in 2022 to her three-year position, from going above and beyond the call of duty in bashing Israel at every opportunity. But her latest one-two-punch, in the form of a “report” on the war in Gaza, is a new low.

The document, titled “Anatomy of a Genocide,” is laden with footnotes to support its slanted hypotheses and wrong conclusions. It’s a practice that’s par for the course, so to speak, in the world of academia from which Albanese hails.

The problem isn’t with the headline of the 25-page screed. No, the name would be perfectly apt for a dissection of the religious-political ideology behind the Hamas-perpetrated massacre on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, which coincided with Shabbat.

But in the Orwellian universe of the United Nations, where “Jewish lobby” conspiracy theorists like Albanese are embraced, right is wrong and good is evil. Hence, while the description of “genocide” in the report actually applies to the aims and behavior of Hamas, the “pay-for-slay” Palestinian Authority and all radical Islamists bent on the annihilation of the Jewish state, it is presented as proof of Israeli culpability—before and after Oct. 7.

Take, for instance, the passage stating that genocide is codified as “any of the [specified] acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.”

The acts in question are specified as: “killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”

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Academia Versus Civilization The antisemitism of campus leftism may be incidental. The barbarism is the point. Tal Fortgang / Jonathan Deluty

By on March 28th, 2024

https://quillette.com/2024/03/25/antisemitism-campus-harvard-leftism-tal-fortgang-jonathan-deluty/

Not one week after the October 7 massacres, as America’s most prestigious institutions revealed themselves to be thoroughly embedded with pro-Hamas revolutionaries, we wrote: “Campus administrators should consider making significant changes before the American people realize what they are condoning.” Unfortunately, those administrators didn’t get the message.

On December 5, in what must surely rank among the most shameful moments in the history of academia, the presidents of MIT, Harvard, and Penn testified before a Congressional committee at a hearing about the surge of antisemitism on their campuses and refused to say that calls for the genocide of Jews would violate institutional policies. They opted instead for consultant-style newspeak, a whiplash-inducing rediscovery of the value of free expression, and contemptuous smirks. Their tone and coordination indicated that they stood not just for themselves but for the academy—a rarefied, insular, self-important world of its own—and they jolted Americans from their state of benign neglect towards our universities. In doing so, they revealed the acute need for a wholesale renovation of American universities to restore them as institutions that serve a socially useful function. We have subsidized and excused universities’ descent into factories of anti-social people and ideas. A band-aid will not suffice.

Many have responded to this moral collapse by demanding scalps. As of this writing, two of the three presidents who testified have resigned. Firings and resignations of leaders (and expulsions of students who vandalize property or occupy buildings) are necessary proximate goals, but cannot be the ultimate goal of the backlash. Rather, we must address the deeper problem of institutional capture by an ideology hostile to its host nation. What do we do when our finest schools have been overrun by students eager to cheer genocidal antisemitism, faculty and administrators who broadly agree, and a culture that could produce credentialed people so smugly disdainful of the West? 

Precisely diagnosing the disease is the first step towards offering effective prescriptions. The renovation of the American academy must be tailored to its problems, both quantitatively and qualitatively. 

One threshold observation is that a focus on the American university is warranted, because what happens on campus shapes our nation’s character and ethical instincts in sustained ways.

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Harvard’s Federal Funds at Risk over Anti-Semitism Investigation By Eric Lendrum

By on March 27th, 2024

https://amgreatness.com/2024/03/26/harvards-federal-funds-at-risk-over-anti-semitism-investigation/

Harvard University could lose over $500 million in federal funding after it has been accused of obstructing a congressional probe into anti-Semitism on campus.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, the threat was made by Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, which is leading the investigation into allegations of systemic anti-Semitism at Harvard and other elite universities in the United States. In the aftermath of the October 7th attacks on Israel, there have been numerous riots, protests, and other instances of anti-Semitic rhetoric, committed overwhelmingly by college-aged agitators and sometimes taking place on campus. Jewish students have been increasingly harassed by anti-Israel activists in the months since the war began.

Harvard received $625 million in federal funds alone in the year 2021, making up 67% of its total sponsored revenue. The Ivy League school could be at risk of losing all of this money after it has stonewalled the committee’s efforts to further investigate the nature of such anti-Semitism on campus, as well as possible lenience on the administration’s part towards the anti-Israel forces.

“The ultimate thing is obviously, trying to hold back some of their money if they’re just not going to make the students safe,” said Foxx in an interview. “That’s always an option for us.”

In February, the committee issued a subpoena for Harvard regarding documents that detailed the university’s handling of anti-Semitism. The university has been slow in handing over documents, including sending numerous documents that were heavily redacted.

“It’s hard to know whether it’s arrogance, ineptness, or indifference that is guiding Harvard,” Foxx continued. “They know the investigation is not going away.”

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The New American Anti-Semitism: The Left, the Right, and the Jews by Benjamin Ginsberg

By on March 26th, 2024

The New American Anti-Semitism: The Left, the Right, and the Jews is a clarion call—not only to Jews, but to all Americans. As a nation, we must wake up and face the rising anti-Semitic threat and act accordingly.

But that threat is not coming from its usual source. The most virulent form of anti-Semitism today, Ginsberg warns, is the result of toxic identity politics and anti-Israeli sentiment coming from today’s political Left.

Perhaps the most persecuted people in all of history, Jews have stood tall in the face of unprecedented persecution in all places, at all times. Their culture’s rigorous emphasis on education and achievement catapults them, Ginsberg argues, to the upper echelons of the societies in which they live. But their success too often breeds resentment and jealousy, leading to an ugly anti-Semitism that has led, historically, to unspeakable violence.

In this urgent new work, Dr. Benjamin Ginsberg—political scientist, professor, and bestselling author—exposes the ugly face of this new, progressive anti-Semitism (which is also thriving in Europe). To combat it, he urges American Jews to form new political alliances, particularly with evangelical Christians.

The stakes of not doing so, says Ginsberg, are horrifically high—not only for the survival of the Jewish people, but for America’s survival. After all, the Jews have contributed immeasurably to America’s scientific, cultural, and economic achievements. Jews have been good for America; and America has been good to the Jews. But what once was so can change … and Jews can never afford to forget their history.

Read this book and learn:

Why the Jews have always persisted in the face of persecution;
Why the new face of Jewish persecution has found a home on university campuses, Left-leaning media outlets, and other unlikely places;
The high and horrible costs of anti-Semitism;
The profound benefits of philo-Semitism;
The details of the new alliances that must be made to ensure the continuing success of American Jews—and America itself;
And much, much more…

In this must-read tour de force, Ginsberg enlightens readers by tracing the history of the Jewish people—starting from the children of Abraham and ending with Jews today—and urging all Jews and all Americans to learn the lessons of that history. Now.

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POSITIVE NEWS FROM ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

By on March 24th, 2024

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

Jews around the world have just heard how Queen Esther saved the Jewish people from annihilation over 2,000 years ago. This week, the positive Israeli news is full of the achievements of Israeli women.

They include the discoverer of a treatment for a common eye disease.
Three women who developed a test for newborns at risk of disabilities.
The Oct 7 survivor who is back on her feet thanks to Israeli technology.
Technion’s first female dean of aerospace engineering.
The winner of the “Nobel Prize” for Electrical Engineering.
And the founder of an NGO that has brought water & electricity to 1,100 African villages. Michael Ordman

POSITIVE NEWS DURING A WAR

Israel Prize for heroes. The Israel Prize for civilian heroism will be awarded to Menachem & Elchanan Kalmanson and Itiel Zohar, for saving over 100 lives on Oct 7. They named themselves “Team Elchanan” in honor of Elchanan Kalmanson, who died in the rescue operation.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/heroic-civilians-to-receive-israel-prize-for-saving-nearly-a-100-people-on-oct-7th/

Bedouin Arab policeman rescues hundreds. On Oct 7 Police Sgt. Remo Salman El-Hozayel, a member of the southern Israel Bedouin community, drove hundreds of Nova partygoers to safety in a small, abandoned car he found after Hamas blew his up with a grenade. He later returned the car to its owner who had escaped on foot.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/california-synagogue-leases-space-to-muslim-group-werent-expecting-this-result-2/

Technion UK solidarity trip to Israel. UK readers can join Technion UK (May 6 – 10), for the “Solidarity trip to Israel”. Experience Israel’s innovative spirit firsthand through privileged encounters with pioneering startups, interactive sessions at the Technion Institute and adventure into the heart of Israel’s past, present, and future.
https://technionuk.org/event/solidarity-trip-to-israel/

Directing $800 million of donations to Israel. (TY Yanky) North American Jewish response to the Gaza war has been phenomenal. Jeff Schoenfeld, co-chair of the Israel Emergency Allocations Committee, is busy allocating $800 million of funds raised by Jewish Federations of North America and other institutions.
https://jweekly.com/2024/03/13/the-man-directing-800m-in-post-oct-7-donations-to-israel-on-where-the-money-goes/

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Another approach to curing Alzheimer’s? (TY Nevet) In 2023, Bar-Ilan University Prof Shai Rahimipour (see here previously) worked with Canadian scientists on a peptide therapy for Alzheimer’s disease. Now he is working with Italian scientists developing nanoparticles to attack an early version of the Amyloid-beta protein.
https://tps.co.il/articles/nanotechnology-breakthrough-could-transform-alzheimers-care/

New pathway for treating wet AMD. Prof. Ofra Benny, cofounder and CSO of Israel’s Orsight, has developed a small molecule that (in lab tests) stops the formation of excess blood vessels in the eye, thus preventing the worst effects of wet AMD. It also has prospects for use in cutting off blood supply to tumors.
https://www.israel21c.org/orsights-novel-amd-drug-may-preserve-sight/
https://ngt-healthcare2.com/orsight-pharma/

Linking heart disease to cancer. (TY Nevet & UWI) Researchers at Tel Aviv University and Sheba Medical Center found that a diseased heart releases bubbles, called extracellular vesicles (sEVs). These travel through the bloodstream and promote the growth of cancer cells. Spironolactone stops sEVs and prevents cancer.
https://tps.co.il/articles/israeli-researchers-uncover-biological-pathway-between-heart-disease-and-cancer/
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.123.066911

Saliva tests can prevent lifelong disabilities. (TY Nevet) Congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) infection causes (often lifelong) health problems for one in every 1,000 newborns in the USA. Hadassah / Hebrew Uni researchers have developed an efficient cCMV PCR saliva-based screening test for early detection & treatment.
https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-791556
https://www.hadassah.org/story/newborn-saliva-screen-could-revolutionize-ccmv-protocol

Innovative tech gets survivor back on her feet. Neta from Kibbutz Kfar Aza was badly wounded by Hamas on Oct 7. Technion doctors created a unique orthotic device tailored specifically for Neta based on 3D scans of her leg, to aid her in walking while her ankle is unable to bear weight. It allows for adjustment as her leg heals.
https://technionuk.org/news-post/a-new-step-toward-healing-with-innovative-orthotic-technology/

New technologies for treating wounded. (TY Nevet) Doctors at Hadassah’s hospitals in Jerusalem are using the latest technologies, like robot-assisted surgeries, 3D printing, and computer games, to treat wounded soldiers and civilians. A robot can extract a bullet easily, without damage to other organs.
https://www.hadassah.org/story/voa-hadassah-treats-wounded-using-advanced-technology
https://www.voanews.com/a/israeli-medical-technology-helps-treat-save-soldiers/7508578.html

Increasing fertility with AI. Israel’s FertilAI has developed Fertilane – an AI platform for clinicians, to offer solutions for better patient care throughout the entire fertility journey. It also includes an app to help patients throughout the complicated process of fertility treatments and to improve clinic-patient communication.
https://www.israel21c.org/fertilais-ai-platform-increases-clinical-fertility-by-8/ https://fertilai.com/

ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL

Female-friendly Technion. (TY Nevet) This year, 50% of new undergraduate students at Israel’s Technion Institute are women. To encourage more new mothers to enroll, the Technion has installed 18 nursing rooms. They are located in each faculty, as well as in the Student House and the Ulman Building used by all faculties.
https://ats.org/our-impact/the-technion-opens-18-rooms-for-nursing-moms/

First female head of aerospace engineering faculty. (TY Nevet) Professor Daniella Raveh is the first woman to become dean of the Israel Technion’s faculty of Aerospace Engineering. An alumna of the faculty, she graduated with honors and went on to earn both a master’s and Ph.D. degree at the Technion.
https://ats.org/our-impact/making-history-first-woman-to-head-the-faculty-of-aerospace-engineering-at-the-technion/ https://ats.org/about/faces-of-the-technion/daniella-raveh/

80,000 Muslims pray peacefully at Al-Aqsa. Tens of thousands of Moslems peacefully worshipped in the compound of the Al-Aqsa mosque on the first Friday prayers of Ramadan. Police reported no unusual incidents, despite Hamas calling for violence. The Islamic Waqf estimated that 80,000 people took part.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/police-gird-for-first-ramadan-friday-prayers-after-hamas-calls-to-defend-al-aqsa/

Medtech hub utilizes Israeli Arab creativity. Israel’s MEDX Xelerator (see here previously) has generated the NorthMed innovation hub in the northern town of Sakhnin. In its first year, NorthMed helped Swift Duct (see here previously) develop its endoscope for navigating the bile duct.
https://nocamels.com/2024/03/medtech-hub-fostering-underutilized-creativity-of-israeli-arabs/
https://medxelerator.com/

Ramadan parade led by Israeli flagbearer. (TY Yanky) The Israeli Bedouin settlement of Bir al-Maksur, which means Broken Well, and is located near the Jezreel Valley. The village held a parade to mark the start of Ramadan. Leading the parade was someone proudly carrying the Israeli flag.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Israel/comments/1bbk7i0/this_is_how_we_welcome_ramadan_in_my_arab_home/

“Nobel Prize” for Electrical Engineering. Tel Aviv University Prof. Hagit Messer-Yaron has been awarded the top prize in electrical engineering – IEEE’s Medal for Environmental and Safety Technologies – for her groundbreaking technology that uses existing cellular networks to monitor meteorological phenomena.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/tau-professor-wins-top-electrical-engineering-prize-for-weather-monitoring-work/ https://corporate-awards.ieee.org/wp-content/uploads/env-safety-rl.pdf

Still happy despite the war. (TY Nevet) Although at war, Israel is fifth on the World Happiness Report 2024, just one place lower than in 2023 and four higher than in 2022 (see here). The scores are from asking citizens questions about GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and corruption.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/387047
https://tps.co.il/articles/despite-war-israel-ranks-5th-in-world-happiness-report/
https://happiness-report.s3.amazonaws.com/2024/WHR+24.pdf

1,000+ African villages. Israeli NGO Innovation: Africa has brought water and electricity to 1,100 villages in Africa. Each village costs $65,000 to provide costs for drilling, solar pump, solar panels, tanks, piping, taps, a 10-meter tower, and remote monitoring. $20,000 brings light to all school classrooms and teacher’s homes.
https://innoafrica.org/ https://innoafrica.org/projects/

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Shaping future technology with India. (TY Nevet) Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has signed a strategic partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi to foster research initiatives through collaborative projects, training programs, and research consultancy.
https://tps.co.il/articles/iai-iit-collab/

Sensing food that has gone bad. Israel’s Sensifi promises to revolutionize pathogen detection. Using an ‘artificial nose’, Sensifi’s tiny sensors – electrodes covered with carbon nanoparticles – enable rapid detection of harmful pathogens like E. Coli and Salmonella in under an hour, far less than current alternatives.
https://nocamels.com/2024/03/artificial-nose-sniffs-out-bacteria-making-your-food-go-bad/
https://www.startuphub.ai/startups/sensifi/

Printing on the moon. Israeli 3D printing firm Stratasys is sending its 3D-printed materials on an upcoming lunar mission to test their performance on the surface of the moon. It is part NASA’s Tipping Point which is promoting companies that develop space technologies.
https://nocamels.com/2024/03/3d-printing-firm-testing-how-its-products-perform-on-the-moon/

Innovative cooling technology. Israel’s Storage Drop (see here previously) has won a 1 million Euros grant in the EU funding program – HORIZON in the Clean and Efficient Cooling 2023 Track. The system, receiving energy from solar panels, aims to supply electricity to the system to produce 5 TR of cooling 24/7.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-storage-drop-wins-eu-grant-to-develop-innovative-cooling-systems-1001473896

Turning Beersheva into Singapore. A comprehensive article about the Synergy7 hub (see here previously) located in the Gav-Yam Advanced Technologies Park in Beersheva. It has just opened its new, first-of-its-kind robotics lab, with specialists from Israel’s Elbit enabling entrepreneurs to gain valuable practical experience.
https://www.israel21c.org/ambitious-new-robotics-lab-opens-in-war-hit-negev/
https://www.gavyam-negev.co.il/en/ https://synergy7.co.il/

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

Thousands more foreign workers. (TY Hazel) The Ministry of Housing plans to bring about 40,000 more foreign workers to Israel for jobs in the construction industry. Already some 1,200 Indian workers are in Israel, increasing to 10,000 by end June. Similar numbers will be employed from Georgia, Sri Lanka, and Azerbaijan.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-792325

Facts about Canadian trade. (TY Hazel) In his announcement of an arms embargo on sales to Israel, Canada’s Foreign Minister forgot to mention that in the last decade, the Canadian Defense Ministry purchased Israeli weapon systems worth more than a billion dollars. (see also here previously)
https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-792943

Israel Resilience Fund invests in 34 companies. Israel’s OurCrowd has announced that commitment by investors to its Israel Resilience Fund had increased to $17 million, enabling it to increase funding to a current total of 34 startups. In addition, PwC Israel will provide business support to portfolio companies in the fund.
https://www.ourcrowd.com/startup-news/pwc-israel-collaborates-with-ourcrowds-israel-resilience-fund-to-support-israels-tech-sector-at-time-of-crisis

Europe continues to invest. The tenth Europe Days conference in Tel Aviv (see here previously) featured some 200 Israeli startups and entrepreneurs. All were hoping for investment from the 14 venture capital funds and 18 representatives of companies, authorities, and municipal bodies from Europe.
https://www.israel21c.org/foreign-investors-eye-israeli-startups-at-europe-days/

Europe invests in Israeli AI startup. Israel’s NeuReality (see here previously) has raised $20 million including from The European Innovation Council and Israel’s OurCrowd.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-israeli-chip-co-neureality-raises-20m-lincluding-eus-eic-1001474101

Securing payments in Africa. (TY OurCrowd) Egyptian-based PAPSS (the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System) has selected Israel’s Thetaray (see here previously) as its anti-money laundering (AML) and screening partner.
https://nocamels.com/2024/03/egypt-based-pay-platform-taps-israeli-anti-money-laundering-startup/

Sports Illustrated is (for 10 years) Israeli. Israel’s Minute Media has reached a 10-year licensing deal for digital and print rights to publish Sports Illustrated. The Israeli company will oversee all digital and print editorial operations across the SI portfolio. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/s1tq0kuap

Exits, takeovers and mergers – to 24/3/24: US-based Gitlab is acquiring Israel’s cloud security startup Oxeye for $30-40 million. Israeli-founded Redis has acquired Israel’s Speedb.

Startup investment – to 24/3/24: BigID raised $60 million and achieved Unicorn status; NeuReality raised $20 million; Euno raised $6.25 million; IO River raised $5.4 million,

CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT

International Photography Festival. The 11th International Photography Festival has been rescheduled and will now take place Mar 27 – Apr 6 at the Enav Cultural Center and Ofer Garden complex in Tel Aviv. It is free and includes the Meitar 2024 exhibition, focusing on photographs of the evacuees of the Negev and the Galilee.
https://www.nbn.org.il/events/photo-israel-11th-international-photography-festival/
https://photoisrael.org/en

Visit the Israel Museum. There are currently some interesting exhibits and lectures at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Shekels true or false (ends Apr 30); a VR tour of Aleppo’s Great Synagogue. Roman Road in the Desert; The lost album of Yemenite photos;
https://www.imj.org.il/en/current-exhibitions https://www.imj.org.il/en/exhibitions/shekels-true-or-false https://www.imj.org.il/en/exhibitions/wonders-deep
https://www.imj.org.il/en/exhibitions/lost-album-jakob-rosner%E2%80%99s-yemenite-photographs

International Music Festival. The Felicja Blumental International Music Festival runs Mar 25 – 30 at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. It advertises as “the best of our Israeli songwriters and classical Arabic music, all wrapped within European classical music performed by orchestras and chamber ensembles”.
https://www.nbn.org.il/events/felicja-bloomental-international-music-festival/
https://fbmc.co.il/en/festival/felicja-blumental-festival/

Jerusalem in Harmony. The “Emunah” Concert – Jerusalem in Harmony, takes place on Weds Mar 27 at the Jerusalem Theatre. Chazanut, Classics, Broadway, Israeli, and more. Featuring Shai Abramson, Simon Cohen, Halellu Choir, & Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. Proceeds go to the Emunah Centers for Trauma Counselling.
https://www.nbn.org.il/events/the-emunah-concert-jerusalem-in-harmony/
https://www.jso.co.il/en/concert/the-emunah-concert-jerusalem-in-harmony/?bt=1

Jerusalem’s new laser light show. The city of Jerusalem has just started its new laser light show along the Tower of David promenade. Through music and visuals, the show tells the story of Jerusalem’s cultural tapestry while offering spectators a panoramic view of the iconic landmarks of Israel’s capital city.
https://www.israel21c.org/jerusalem-debuts-spectacular-laser-light-and-sound-show/
https://www.jwire.com.au/lasers-light-up-jerusalem-night-sky/

Cycling team wins Tour de Taiwan. (TY WIN) Israel Premier – Tech cycling team continued its success at the Tour de Taiwan. After winning the first stage last week (see here previously) it won the overall team event after clinching the 5th and final stage in Kaohsiung City. The team’s 13th win of the year already beats 2023.
https://tps.co.il/articles/israeli-cycling-team-clinches-overall-victory-in-tour-de-taiwan/

The Israelis heading for the Paris Paralympics. Israel has 15 athletes so far in its team for August’s Paris Paralympics. Israel won nine medals at the 2021 games – eight of them in the swimming events.
https://www.israel21c.org/israeli-paralympic-team-so-far-15-athletes-heading-to-paris/

THE JEWISH STATE

2,000-year-old hideout from the Romans. (TY UWI & WIN) Israeli archaeologists have discovered an extensive underground complex at Huqoq in the Galilee, just north of Tiberias, dating from the First Jewish Revolt against the Roman Empire in 66 – 70 CE. It had been converted from a 2nd Temple period water cistern.
https://www.jns.org/2000-year-old-refuge-complex-found-near-sea-of-galilee/
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/386913

Virtual tour – the return to Zion. An immersive virtual tour (one-hour on Zoom) exploring the profound impact of Persian rule on ancient Israel and its enduring influence on the symbols of Zionism.
https://www.nbn.org.il/events/virtual-tour-the-return-to-zion-post-purim/
https://www.museumtours.co.il/event-details/virtual-tour-return-to-zion

Solidarity mission to Israel. This May, join the Friends of the IDF for a truly unforgettable mission to spend Israel’s Memorial Day and Independence Day on Israeli soil with her protectors. Spend Shabbat in Jerusalem; private meeting with Israel’s President; Yom haZikaron at the Kotel; Yom Ha’Azmaut with IDF soldiers.
https://www.fidf.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Israel-Mission-May-Itinerary.pdf

Global hour of Jewish Unity. A global service of solidarity on Mar 21 was streamed live from the Kotel (Western Wall). The hour of psalms and please for the release of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas culminated with the simultaneous recitation of the Shema prayer. Also see the connection between Purim and this war.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiS5dprr0jU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFIKFnWNHzg
https://www.jns.org/thousands-attend-western-wall-prayer-service-for-the-hostages/

Jerusalem’s first Purim parade in 4 decades. Despite the war, Jerusalem will host its first Purim parade since 1982 on Shushan Purim 25th March. It will include 30 floats and seven musical stages along the 1km downtown route. Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion said it is “a victory of spirit and standing strong”.
https://www.jns.org/jerusalem-to-hold-first-purim-parade-since-1982/

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The Triumph of the Blood Libel Caroline Glick

By on March 23rd, 2024

https://carolineglick.com/the-triumph-of-the-blood-libel/

According to Canada’s La Presse, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a vampire, and he is poised to suck the life out of the Palestinians in Rafah, Hamas’s final outpost in southern Gaza. The publication that was once a paper of record in Canada ran a political cartoon on March 20 portraying Netanyahu as a vampire, with a huge hooked nose, pointy ears and claws for fingers, dressed in Dracula’s overcoat while standing on the deck of a pirate ship.

The caption, written in blood-dripping red letters, read: “Nosfenyahou: En Route Vers Rafah.” Nosferatu, the Romanian word for vampire, was the title of a proto-Nazi German silent horror film from 1922 chock-full of anti-Semitic poison. The film, which became something of a cult flick, featured a vampire with a long Jewish nose. He arrived at an idyllic German town with a box full of plague-carrying rats that he released on the innocent villagers as he plotted to suck his realtor’s blood.

La Presse’s cartoon didn’t leave any room for imagination. It wasn’t making a political or military argument against Israel’s planned ground operation in Rafah. Its goal wasn’t to persuade anyone of anything.

The Netanyahu-the-vampire cartoon asserted simply that Netanyahu is a Jewish bloodsucker and, more broadly, the Jewish state—and Jews worldwide—must be vigorously opposed by all right-thinking people who don’t want Jewish vampires to kill them.

As the paper no doubt anticipated, the cartoon provoked an outcry from Canadian Jews and some politicians. And after a few hours, the newspaper took it off its website and apologized. Anyone who thinks that means that the good guys won misses the point of the move. The Jewish outcry and pile-on by politicians and media coverage proved the point. Jews are evil and control everything, even what a private paper can publish. Like Nosferatu in its day, the cartoon will become a piece of folklore, additional proof that the Jews are the enemy of humanity.

In other words, the cartoon was a blood libel.

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Jew-Hate and ‘Inquisitions’ in Canada by Robert Williams

By on March 22nd, 2024

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20511/canada-jew-hate

“I would walk in every single day and I would see ‘f–k you Jews,’ ‘you are not welcome here,’ ‘we hate Zionists,’ and ‘kill yourself.'” — Samantha Kline, student at the Ontario College of Art and Design, Vancouver Sun, March 6, 2024.

In 2022, the Canadian government invoked the Emergencies Act to shut down the so-called trucker convoy protests, in which thousands of truck drivers and their supporters rallied to call for an end to the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Last year, in a move reminiscent of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s “rehabilitation psychiatric wards,” the celebrated psychologist, Professor Jordan Peterson, was ordered by the College of Psychologists of Ontario to be “disciplined” in a “Soviet style re-training camp” or lose his license, simply for having expressed personal opinions about a variety of subjects, from obesity to transgender ideology.

The same Canadian leaders and officials, however, evidently see no need to comment on the mobs calling for the genocide of Jews.

As a final blow to Canadian Jews, the Canadian government has decided, at this time of all times, to implement new standards that will effectively end the practice of kosher slaughter in Canada.

Is Canada trying to get rid of its Jews? And its freedoms? It might just succeed in doing both.

Since the October 7 massacre in southern Israel, Jews in Canada have been under constant attack. Shooting attacks against schools, firebombings of Jewish institutions, boycotts and vandalism against businesses owned by Jews, imams inciting and telling their congregations that Jews are “vermin”, and the constant marches of pro-Hamas activists chanting “long live the intifada” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — a euphemism for annihilating a democratic member of the United Nations, Israel.

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An Inconvenient Truth A former director of German intelligence argues that neo-Nazis are not the primary source of antisemitism in Germany today. It is the intersection of left-wing activists and Muslim migrants. BY August Hanning

By on March 22nd, 2024

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/inconvenient-truth-germany-antisemitism-august-hanning

Germany is currently in a difficult situation that is beginning to recall some of the darker moments of the country’s past. Unprepared for the external crises of the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East, the nation now suffers internally from an unrestrained and uncontrolled influx of migrants. The economy is stagnating. Excessive social spending prevents necessary investments for the country’s future. Faced with an overwhelming bureaucracy, German companies primarily invest abroad, especially in the United States. The state budget is in disarray.

In the face of these crises, which stem from the Merkel era, a large segment of the German population yearns for strong political leadership. Yet Germany’s ruling coalition of three very different parties—the Greens, the Social Democrats (SPD), and the Free Democrats (FDP)—appears divided and ineffective. Chancellor Olaf Scholz is perceived as weak and lacks popular support.

Under Mrs. Merkel, the Christian Democrats (CDU) largely abandoned conservative values, essentially pursuing Social Democratic policies throughout the latter half of her 16-year-long tenure. Merkel’s decision in 2015 to open Germany’s borders to an unlimited influx of migrants remains exceptionally controversial. Socially and economically unprepared for the consequences of this decision, Germany continues to bear the burdens of physical accommodation, escalating social spending, and the difficulties of integrating new immigrants from difficult cultures, including in the education sector. The abandonment of conservative values in the CDU’s politics has led in turn to the rise of right-wing parties that can position themselves outside the country’s comforting, if sometimes stifling, postwar political consensus.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the strongest of the country’s growing opposition parties, especially in eastern Germany. While political opponents derogatorily label the AfD as a “Nazi party,” neither its program nor the vast majority of its members remotely justify this label. Much of the AfD’s political program resembles that of mainstream Trump supporters within the Republican Party. The AfD criticizes the consensus parties, including the CDU, for a loss of control over the migrant influx, bureaucracy in the European Union, and development aid payments from the German state budget to countries in Latin America, India, and China. The AfD demands that the principle of “Germany first” be applied to all political decisions.

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Jew Hate By Joan Swirsky

By on March 22nd, 2024

https://newswithviews.com/jew-hate/

There is nothing new about the fanatical hatred of Jews that we see playing out in today’s world––literally a pandemic of anti-Semitism which echoes the fear and loathing that gave rise to the over-4,000-year history of the Inquisition, the Crusades, centuries of pogroms, the expulsion of Jews from country after country, and the Holocaust of the 20th century in which six-million Jews were savagely incinerated in the crematoria of Hitler’s Germany as the entire world––including U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt––looked on and did nothing!

Plus ça change and all that. But it’s not exactly true that things have remained the same. Today, the staggering power of technology makes the spread of Jew Hate all the more rapid, powerful and lethal.

In America, while blacks, Muslims, feminists, single mothers, immigrants, the global-warming fetishists, college graduates in debt for their exorbitant-but-meaningless “educations” and minorities of every stripe all bleat endlessly about being victims of this or that indignity, slight, “unfairness,” historical insult or crime, the Annual Report on Hate Crimes released by the Uniform Crime Reporting Program of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) show that, by far, it is the world’s tiny population of Jews––15 million in a world of nearly eight billion––who experience the most bias, hatred, assaults, blatant racism and hate crimes.

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