Weekly roundup of world briefs

 


The Guardian says supporting the pro-Zionist Balfour Declaration in 1917 was a mistake

By Cnaan Liphshiz

(JTA) — In an article about its “worst errors of judgment” from its 200-year history, a Guardian writer implied that the storied British paper’s editorial support of the Balfour Declaration of 1917 — the then-British foreign minister’s approval of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine — was a mistake.

“The Guardian of 1917 supported, celebrated and could even be said to have helped facilitate the Balfour declaration,” editorial writer Randeep Ramesh wrote in the article published Friday.

“Whatever else can be said, Israel today is not the country the Guardian foresaw or would have wanted,” he added, arguing that the Guardian’s editor at the time, Charles Prestwich Scott, was ignorant about Palestinian rights.

Like many news organizations, the Guardian is reckoning with the ways its past coverage may have offended certain groups, and how some of it is now seen as on the wrong side of history. Other examples Ramesh mentions include the paper’s support of the Confederacy during the Civil War and its opinions on voting rights before women were allowed to vote.

The Balfour Declaration, in which the United Kingdom committed itself to creating a national home for Jews in lands it controlled and today comprise the territories of Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan, was an important milestone for the Zionist movement.

Pakistani movie star Veena Malik tweets Hitler quote about killing Jews in response to Israel-Gaza violence

By Gabe Friedman

(JTA) — Veena Malik, an actress who has starred in over a dozen Pakistani and Bollywood films and shows, tweeted a series of incendiary remarks about the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict, including a quote by Adolf Hitler about killing Jews.

“I would have killed all the Jews of the world … but I kept some to show the world why I killed them,” Malik tweeted Tuesday.

She also tweeted “#IronDome is doomed” with a laughing emoji, referencing Israel’s missile defense system, which has been overwhelmed by rockets fired from Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

By Wednesday afternoon, all of the tweets were gone from her account. The only remaining one about the conflict was a retweet of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan urging the “international community” to “take immediate action to protect the Palestinian people and their rights.”

Malik, 37, a former comedian and sex symbol, has won honors from Pakistani awards shows for her acting performances over the past two decades.

Six Israelis and at least 53 Palestinians in Gaza have died from rockets fired by both sides. Hamas initiated the conflict in the wake of weeks of Palestinian protests across Israel during Ramadan.

Follow the latest on the violence here.

Senior Hamas official calls on Arabs of Jerusalem to ‘cut off the heads of the Jews’

(MEMRI via JNS) — Hours before clashes in Jerusalem that resulted in 17 injured police officers and more than 200 wounded rioters, a senior Hamas official made a public call for the Arab residents of Jerusalem to go out and murder Jews.

In a video aired on Hamas’s Al-Aqsa TV on May 7, Hamas Political Bureau member and former Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hammad urged people to “cut off the heads of the Jews,” demonstrating with his hands how to begin by severing the artery.

“Buy a knife, sharpen it, put it there, and just cut off [their heads]. It costs just five shekels. With those five shekels, you will humiliate the Jewish state,” he said.

He went on to say that the Jews have “spread corruption and acted with arrogance,” and that “their moment of reckoning had come.”

“The moment of their destruction by your hand has arrived,” he said.

The U.S. State Department designated Hammad as a terrorist in 2016.

This article was first published by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

Biden sends letter to Abbas addressing ‘current situation’ between Israelis, Palestinians

(JNS) — U.S. President Joe Biden sent a letter to Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas about escalating tensions between Israel and the Palestinians.

“President Mahmoud Abbas received today a letter from U.S. President Joe Biden,” the Palestinian WAFA news agency reported. “The letter dealt with the latest political developments, current situations and bilateral relations between the United States and the State of Palestine.”

It reportedly came as a response to one that Abbas had sent Biden congratulating him on his election win earlier this year.

The letter was delivered by George Noll, chief of the Palestinian Affairs Unit at the U.S. embassy in Israel.

The correspondence between Biden and Abbas appears to be part of the Biden administration’s efforts to restore ties with the P.A. Last month, the U.S. sent aid to the Palestinians to help with COVID-19 relief ad to UNRWA, the U.N. agency that works with Palestinian refugees. Biden has also pledged to reopen the PLO mission in Washington, D.C.

The outreach, however, comes at an uncertain time amid violence within the last month. Rioting in Jerusalem and in Arab neighbors inside of Israel, as well as hundreds of rockets being fired on the Jewish state Israel from the Gaza Strip, leaves the possibility of peace between the two sides as far apart as ever.

The United States has defended Israel’s right to self-defense and has condemned the loss of life on both sides, urging calm.

Democrats prompt Biden to reopen PLO office, consulate in eastern Jerusalem

(JNS) — A group of Senate Democrats is urging the Biden administration to follow through on its pledge to reopen the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s office in Washington, in addition to the U.S. consulate in eastern Jerusalem.

The letter, organized by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), praises the Biden administration for its recent moves to “repair” U.S.-Palestinian relations and to restore “vital economic and humanitarian assistance” to the West Bank and Gaza Strip that had been cut under the Trump administration. This funding includes $75 million in bilateral aid, $150 million in funding for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and $15 million in coronavirus relief.

The Trump administration shuttered the PLO Mission in 2018 and the eastern Jerusalem consulate, which handled affairs with the Palestinian Authority, was merged into the U.S. embassy when it relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, also in 2018. For now, it operates as part of the Palestinian Affairs Unit.

According to the letter, reopening the PLO Mission and eastern Jerusalem consulate “is a crucial step toward reversing the range of harmful actions by the previous administration that undermined the United States’ capacity as an effective and impartial broker for peace and exacerbated distrust between Israelis and Palestinians.”

The Biden administration has pledged to reopen both diplomatic offices. However, the PLO Mission faces several legal hurdles that have so far prevented that, as the Palestinians would become liable for more than $650 in financial penalties in U.S. courts.

The letter has been circulating since mid-April and will close for signatures on May 14. To date, it has been signed by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), reported the Jewish Insider.

Omar accuses Israel of ‘act of terrorism’ for Gaza strikes

By Aaron Bandler

(Jewish Journal via JNS) — Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) has accused the Israeli government of committing an “act of terrorism” with its airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Monday. The Israeli strikes were in response to Hamas bombarding Israel with rockets earlier in the day.

Omar was quote-tweeting the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU), which claimed that the Israeli strikes had resulted in the deaths of 20 Palestinians, including nine children.

“Israeli airstrikes killing civilians in Gaza is an act of terrorism,” she tweeted. “Palestinians deserve protection. Unlike Israel, missile defense programs, such as Iron Dome, don’t exist to protect Palestinian civilians. It’s unconscionable to not condemn these attacks on the week of Eid.”

Eid al-Fitr is the Muslim holiday marking the end of Ramadan.

The nonprofit group StopAntisemitism.org took Omar to task for the remark, tweeting in response: “Hamas, a U.S. designated terror group, is sending rockets to Israel. Israel, a key global ally to the U.S., defends herself by attacking Hamas. Ilhan Omar, a sitting U.S. Congresswoman, defends HAMAS! How dangerously low can Ilhan Omar go??!!”

International human-rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky accused Omar of being “a shill for Hamas,” noting that she had said nothing about how “it is Hamas and Palestinian terrorists in #Gaza that have fired over 100 rockets at #Israel tonight!”

This article was first published by the Jewish Journal.

British neo-Nazi on trial says Jews a ‘cancer,’ encouraged their extermination

(JNS) — An alleged neo-Nazi in the United Kingdom who is currently on trial is charged with 15 terrorism and public-order offenses, the BBC reported.

Andrew Dymock, 23, of Bath, is accused of being part of the now-banned extremist groups System Resistance Network and Sonnenkrieg Division.

He allegedly used the SRN website to publish an article that said Jewish people are a “cancer.” Prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward said one article written by Dymock, titled “The Truth About the Holocaust,” is “clear in its encouragement of the eradication of Jewish people.”

She added that “such encouragement constitutes encouragement to commit acts of terrorism. The author calls for the destruction, the eradication, the extermination of an entire race of people.”

Ledward said the defendant also wrote and published an article titled “Hail Victory,” in which he claimed that a “racial holy war is inevitable,” and that “every stabbing, bombing, shooting further plays into our hands.”

The court was also told that Dymock owned a neo-Nazi poster that encouraged the rape of female police officers and is responsible for spreading homophobic propaganda.

Dymock is charged with five counts of encouraging terrorism, four of distributing terrorist publications, two of terrorist fundraising, one of possessing material useful to a terrorist, one of owning racially inflammatory material, one of inciting racial hatred and one of inciting hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation, according to the BBC.

He denies all charges.

US sanctions seven people linked to Hezbollah financing

(JNS) — The United States sanctioned seven individuals involved in financing the terror group Hezbollah on Tuesday.

One of them is Ibrahim Ali Daher, who serves as director of Hezbollah’s Central Finance Unit, announced the U.S. State Department in a statement.

The other designated individuals used personal accounts to avoid sanctions targeting Al-Qard al-Hassan, which serves as a front for monetarily supporting Hezbollah. About $500 million was transferred on behalf of the entity, according to the State Department.

“From the highest levels of Hezbollah’s financial apparatus to working level individuals, Hezbollah continues to abuse the Lebanese financial sector and drain Lebanon’s financial resources at an already dire time,” said director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control Andrea Gacki, according to a separate statement by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

“As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of these individuals named above, and of any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by them, individually, or with other blocked persons, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked,” it stated.

Israel’s presidential election set for June 2

By Danielle Roth-Avneri

(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin on Monday set June 2 as the date for Israel’s presidential election.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin’s term expires in July, and by law, the vote must take place no later than one month prior to the end of his tenure.

The Israeli president is elected by the members of the Knesset for a single seven-year term. The vote is confidential.

Current hopefuls include former Knesset members Yehudah Glick, Michael Bar-Zohar and Shimon Sheetrit.

It is unclear at this time whether Jewish Agency chairman Isaac Herzog, the son of Israel’s sixth president, Chaim Herzog, will enter the race, although it is predicted he would be the leading candidate.

Refuting rumors, former Labor Party leader Amir Peretz made it clear last week that he would not make a bid for the role.

Other names that have been suggested as potential candidates include iconic Israeli performer and 2004 Israel Prize laureate Yehoram Gaon and Miriam Peretz, an Israeli educator and public speaker, the 2018 laureate of the Israel Prize for lifetime achievement.

Candidates must present the speaker with the signatures of at least 10 Knesset members supporting their presidential bid by May 19.

This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.

French-Israeli author wins France’s top literary prize

(JNS) — A French-Israeli author has been awarded France’s most prestigious literary honor, the Spring Goncourt Prize, reported Haaretz on Monday.

Shmuel T. Meyer, 64, won the prize for Et la guerre est finie … (And the War Is Over …) and will receive the award in a ceremony set to take place in June. He said about the honor: “It’s tremendously exciting, a once-in-a-lifetime thrill.”

The book, a trilogy of stories about three different people who live with emotional wounds related to war, won in the category of best novella.

The first story, “Les Grands Express Européens” (“The Great European Express”), takes place in post-war France; the second story, “Kibbutz,” is tied to Israel’s War of Independence; and the third story “The Great American Disaster,” is set in New York with the protagonist a veteran of the Korean War.

Meyer found out about the win shortly after arriving in Israel to visit family, after being away for so long due to the coronavirus pandemic.

He was born in France in 1957 and raised in Switzerland. He told Haaretz, “my culture is French, my heart is in Switzerland, where I grew up, and I miss the landscape there, but my soul is in Israel — I arrived in 1980 and lived there until 2008. My soul is there.”

Israel prepares to vaccinate 12- to 15-year-olds following Pfizer FDA nod

By Nicky Blackburn

(Israel21c via JNS) — The Israeli Health Ministry has begun preparations to vaccinate adolescents aged 12 to 15 against the COVID-19 virus, after news this week that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children in this age group.

Health Ministry Director-General Hezi Levi is holding meetings with representatives of Israel’s health management organizations, pediatric doctor associations and other relevant bodies in preparation for the expansion of the inoculation drive, the ministry announced in a statement.

It is also holding talks with Israel’s HMOs, which administer the bulk of vaccine shots, to ready the new campaign drive.

The move comes after the FDA declared on Monday that the Pfizer vaccine is safe for younger teens and offers strong protection against the coronavirus.

Pfizer tested the vaccine in the United States on more than 2,000 volunteers aged 12 to 15. The study found there were no cases of COVID-19 among fully vaccinated teens, compared to 18 among kids given a placebo. Researchers also discovered that the kids developed higher levels of virus-fighting antibodies than found in earlier studies of young adults.

The children in the study received the same dosage of vaccine as adults and suffered the same mild side effects, including painful arms, fever, chills and aches.

On Tuesday, the Health Ministry announced that just 53 new COVID cases were detected on Monday, and the total number of active patients was 974.

 

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