Some really profound statements in his introductory remarks.
FBI report reinforces trend that American Jews are ‘top target’ for hate crimes | JNS
The latest FBI report on hate crimes shows that the number of incidents continues to rise year to year in the U.S., with 7,759 hate crimes reported in 2020 as compared to 7,517 in 2019, but with fewer crimes categorized as “religiously motivated.”
Anti-Jewish bias accounted for 676 incidents — 57 percent of the 1,174 religiously motivated hate crimes in 2020 — aligning with the annual finding that the Jewish community is disproportionately targeted by religiously motivated crimes, given that Jews account for less than 2 percent of the U.S. population. The total number of incidents is down from the 953 anti-Jewish hate crimes reported in 2019, but also occurred a time of national lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mills-Mojab spread’s Iran’s disinformation about Israel | Stuff
Stuff ran an opinion piece written by Donna Mills-Mojab today. It is an example of Iranian propaganda. It weaves a narrative that makes Iran seem like it is doing no wrong. Her article makes no mention of:
- Iran’s sponsorship of terrorist organisations such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and the PFLP.
- Iran’s terrorist activities in Albania, Bahrain, India, Israel, Iraq, Kenya, Argentina, Thailand, France and Denmark.
- Iran’s military units operating in Syria and Iraq
- Iran signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty way back in 1970. Under the treaty, Iran agreed to not develop nuclear weapons, disclose all nuclear technology activities, and allow the International Atomic Energy Agency full access to check and monitor Iran’s compliance. Iran’s non-compliance and intentional deceit under the treaty have been well-documented.
Instead, it lays down a smokescreen of false information which should be corrected here:
- There is no evidence that Israel has nuclear weapons. No independent observer has ever sighted an Israeli nuclear weapon, nor is there any evidence of any Israeli nuclear weapons tests. Unlike North Korea, India, and Pakistan. Nuclear weapons tests can’t be seismologically hidden. The vibrations literally reverberate around the world.
- Any relaxation of economic sanctions against Iran has only accelerated efforts to arm Israel’s enemies, Hamas and Hezbollah.
- That Israel’s existence is a form of colonialism when it is clearly an UN-mandated humanitarian initiative to restore Israel as a Jewish homeland, borne out of the Holocaust, which demonstrated that Jews must have a safe haven from endemic anti-Semitism.
- Mills-Mojab claims Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands is illegal. Actually, Israel’s presence there is the result of an unsuccessful Arab invasion of these territories and their illegal attempt to extinguish a fledgling member of the UN. Now, these lands are disputed and claimed by people who have created a state where no state existed before, to give their claim a false veil of legitimacy.
Iran has demonstrated that it does not act in good faith. Which leaves Israel deeply skeptical of a successful diplomatic outcome. What good is a treaty when it’s highly likely that Iran does not intend to comply with it?
Uranium 235 enrichment to less than 20% is suitable for commercial power generation. Anything beyond that sends a clear signal of Iran’s intentions.
Read Mills-Mojab’s article.
White supremacist propaganda nearly doubled in 2020 to most in a decade, ADL says | JTA
Last year, the United States saw the most white supremacist propaganda in a decade, with thousands of flyers, bumper stickers, banners and other propaganda reported across the country, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
The ADL’s report, published Wednesday, counted 5,125 pieces of propaganda distributed by 30 white supremacist groups across 49 states in 2020. That’s almost double the number recorded in 2019.
The vast majority of the propaganda the group tracked came from one Texas-based group that uses traditional American patriotic language and imagery in its materials — including the phrase “America First,” used by Donald Trump and his supporters.
The rise in propaganda may be attributable to the presidential campaign and election, according to the ADL, a leading anti-Semitism and extremism watchdog. In the months leading up to the vote, government officials and groups including the ADL warned repeatedly of extremist activity surrounding the vote.
Joe Biden is already carving out a different Middle East policy from Trump — and even Obama | Stuff
The Biden administration hasn’t wasted time in making a significant shift in US policy toward the Middle East.
Over the past week, the US has launched reprisal strikes against Iranian targets in Syria and released damning intelligence overtly linking the crown prince of Saudi Arabia to the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Biden’s decision to launch strikes against Iran-backed militias in Syria showcases what has been described by the US political scientist Joseph Nye as “smart power”. This is when hard power is employed alongside soft power in a carefully calculated way to affect a diplomatic outcome.
A Promised Land: Obama’s Memoirs Malign Israel | CAMERA
“Facts,” the English philosopher and writer Aldous Huxley once observed, “don’t cease to exist because they are ignored.” Yet, in his recently released memoir, A Promised Land, Barack Obama both ignores and omits key facts about the Middle East. In particular, the former president gets relevant Israeli history wrong.
Perhaps most disturbing, however, is Obama’s tendency to minimize Palestinian terrorism. For example, he refers to Hamas as merely a “Palestinian resistance group.” Yet, Obama doesn’t tell readers what exactly Hamas is “resisting.”
Obama’s inability—or perhaps unwillingness—to see Hamas for who they are is part and parcel of a broader trend evidenced in his memoirs. The United States’s 44th president repeatedly strikes a false equivalency between Israel and the terrorists who seek the Jewish state’s destruction.
Obama’s tendency towards striking false equivalency between Israeli security measures and Palestinian terrorist efforts is buttressed by an understanding of relevant history that is rooted in inaccuracies and false assumptions.
And contrary to what the 44th president implies, Jews didn’t take the land. Rather, most of the “settlements” were purchased—and often from the Arabs themselves. As the historian Benny Morris noted in his 2008 book 1948: “A giant question mark hangs over the ethos of the Palestinian Arab elite: Husseinis, as well as Nashashibis, Khalidis, Dajanis, and Tamimis … sold land to the Zionist institutions and/or served as Zionist agents or spies.” These families, many of whom would lead opposition to the existence of Israel and the right of Jewish self-determination, secretly sold land to the very movement that they denounced.
Resurrecting Iran’s Nuclear Deal: A path to peace or sure-fire disaster?
NZFOI held a gathering of members to review the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal (aka JOCPA) and to discuss the high-level issues arising from the Biden administration’s moves to resurrect the deal.
For those who missed the gathering, you may download the slide deck here.
All the Jews Joe Biden has tapped for top roles in his administration | JTA
President Joe Biden filled the months before Inauguration Day lining up a slate of Cabinet secretaries, assistants and advisors, many of them Jewish.
Biden’s choices reflect a diverse cross-section of American Jewry and possess expertise gleaned from decades of experience in government, science and medicine and law.
Here’s a rundown of the Jewish names you should know as the Biden administration begins.
U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem Wins Bipartisan Senate Support in Near-Unanimous Vote | Newsweek
NZFOI: The vote was 97-3. Who were the three? Bernie Sanders (I-Vt), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Tom Carper (D-Del).
The U.S. embassy in Jerusalem won near-unanimous support in the Senate on Thursday night when all but three lawmakers voted to retain the diplomatic post in the city, following its move from Tel Aviv under the Trump administration.
Morocco joins other Arab nations agreeing to normalize Israel ties | Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Israel and Morocco agreed on Thursday to normalize relations in a deal brokered with U.S. help, making Morocco the fourth Arab country to set aside hostilities with Israel in the past four months.
It joins the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan in beginning to forge deals with Israel, driven in part by U.S.-led efforts to present a united front against Iran and roll back Tehran’s regional influence.
In a departure from longstanding U.S. policy, President Donald Trump agreed as part of the deal to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara, a desert region where a decades-old territorial dispute has pitted Morocco against the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, a breakaway movement that seeks to establish an independent state.
President-elect Joe Biden, due to succeed Trump on Jan. 20, will face a decision whether to accept the U.S. deal on the Western Sahara, which no other Western nation has done. A Biden spokesman declined to comment.
While Biden is expected to move U.S. foreign policy away from Trump’s “America First” posture, the Democrat has indicated he will continue the pursuit of what Trump calls “the Abraham Accords” between Israel and Arab and Muslim nations.
