Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) has been quiet lately, largely because the progressive &#8220;squad&#8221; is both fractured by the 2020 Democratic nomination process and sidelined during the impeachment inquiry, but she&#8217;s been busy promoting her causes out of the limelight &#8212; including at the American Muslims for Palestine conference, a pre-eminent gathering of some of the biggest anti-Semitic names in the business.
<a href="https://freebeacon.com/issues/rashida-tlaib-headlined-anti-semitic-hate-fest/">The Washington Free Beacon reports</a> that Tlaib joined &#8221; who&#8217;s who of leading anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists, including Bernie Sanders surrogate Linda Sarsour,&#8221; at the weekend meeting, which took place in Chicago in November.
&#8220;AMP is at the forefront of the anti-Israel movement in the United States,&#8221; the WFB says. &#8220;A report from the Anti-Defamation League, a watchdog group that combats anti-Semitism, <a href="https://www.adl.org/resources/profiles/american-muslims-for-palestine">said</a> the group promotes &#8216;extreme anti-Israel views&#8217; and provides &#8216;a platform for anti-Semitism.'&#8221;
Indeed, this year&#8217;s gathering was no exception. Sarsour, who was also a featured speaker at the event, used her platform to accuse Israel of &#8220;supremacy&#8221; and claim that the state of Israel was built on the idea that &#8220;Jews are supreme to everyone else.&#8221;
“Ask them this,&#8221; Sarsour said about &#8220;progressive Zionists, &#8220;how can you be against white supremacy in America and the idea of being in a state based on race and class, but then you support a state like Israel that is based on supremacy, that is built on the idea that Jews are supreme to everyone else.&#8221;
Sarsour later &#8220;clarified&#8221; her comments, claiming that her &#8220;Jewish supremacy&#8221; quip was in regards to a recent piece of legislation at issue in the Israeli government, but, in her extended &#8220;apology&#8221; on Twitter, she did little to dispell the notion that the original interpretation of her remarks was the correct one.
Tlaib, for her part, compared the Trump Administration&#8217;s efforts to curb illegal immigration to Israel&#8217;s &#8220;oppression&#8221; of Palestinians living in Gaza.
&#8220;In her keynote <a href="https://www.israelhayom.com/2019/12/03/anti-semitic-conspiracy-theories-reign-supreme-at-annual-pro-islamic-conference/">remarks</a>, Tlaib compared the U.S. border with Mexico to the Gaza Strip Palestinian territory that borders Israel and is controlled by the Hamas terror group,&#8221; the Washington Free Beacon reports. &#8220;The lawmaker also accused Israel of running an &#8216;occupation&#8217; of Palestinian lands, saying the movement to carve out key portions of Israel for a Palestinian state is akin to fighting racism in America.&#8221;
&#8220;Do you know what I saw at the [U.S.-Mexico] border? I saw Gaza,&#8221; Tlaib said in her speech to the gathered crowd. &#8220;When you think about the border, you have got to understand how interconnected the oppression in Palestine is with the oppression taking place at the border.&#8221;
&#8220;Every time I see the police going after, killing innocent people, innocent, treating African-American brothers and sisters like they&#8217;re disposable, I think of Palestine and what happens to our brothers and sisters in the occupation,&#8221; she continued, comparing the Black Lives Matter movement to the plight of Palestinians.
The Anti-Defamation League, which tracks anti-Semitism in the United States, has an extensive file on American Muslims for Palestine and considers it an openly anti-Semitic organization, connected directly to terrorist groups in the Middle East.
&#8220;AMP has its organizational roots in the <a href="http://archive.adl.org/israel/cair/links.html">Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP)</a>, an anti-Semitic group that served as the main propaganda arm for Hamas in the United States until it was dissolved in 2004,&#8221; the group notes. &#8220;Since its creation in 2005, AMP continues to work closely with some former IAP leaders who currently hold positions as AMP board members.&#8221;
Tlaib is, of course, no stranger to allegations of anti-Semitism. She has been rotinely criticized for her comments abot fellow legislators, and has even used the anti-Semitic dual loyalty smear against her own Democratic colleagues, accusing them of being in the pocket of Israel to the degree that they place Jewish interests above American ones.

Tlaib

Report: Rep. Rashida Tlaib Headlined Anti-Semitic &#8216;American Muslims For Palestine&#8217; Conference

Anti-Semitism

Linda Sarsour

Rashida Tlaib

The former senior director for European and Russian affairs for the Trump administration, Fiona Hill, testified last week in the House impeachment hearings.
At one point, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., asked her: &#8220;Would you say that these different theories, these conspiracy theories that have been targeting you, spun in part by folks like Mr. Stone as well as fueled by Rudy Giuliani and others, basically have a tinge of anti-Semitism to them at least?&#8221;
This was Ms. Hill&#8217;s response: &#8220;Well, certainly when they involve George Soros, they do. I&#8217;d just like to point out that in the early 1900s, the czarist secret police produced something called &#8216;The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,&#8217; which, actually, you can still obtain on the internet. And you can buy it, actually, sometimes, at bookshops in Russia and elsewhere. This is the longest-running anti-Semitic trope that we have in history. And the trope against Mr. Soros, George Soros, was also created for political purposes, and this is the new &#8216;Protocols of the Elders of Zion.&#8217; I actually intended to write something about this before I was actually invited to come into the administration. Because it&#8217;s an absolute outrage.&#8221;
What is really an &#8220;absolute outrage&#8221; is that anyone — especially someone testifying in Congress before a national audience — would compare criticism of George Soros with &#8220;The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.&#8221; For those unfamiliar with &#8220;The Protocols,&#8221; they are the most infamous anti-Semitic forgery in history. Believed to have been written by Russian czarist officials in the 19th century, they purported to be a document written by Jews that outlined a Jewish plot to take over the world.
&#8220;The Protocols&#8221; are a lie, and their sole intent was to create anti-Semitism.
Criticism of Soros is rarely a lie, and its intent is rarely to create anti-Semitism.
George Soros is a billionaire whose Open Society Foundations, with offices in 70 countries, is the world&#8217;s major funder of left-wing causes.
If Soros were to come from a Lutheran or Catholic family, there would be no less criticism of him. While it is always possible that some people attack Soros solely because he was born into a Jewish family (he does not identify as a Jew), there are few such people.
Much of Israel&#8217;s Jewish population, for example, loathes Soros. Are they anti-Semites?
Moreover, Soros loathes Israel. As Joshua Muravchik reported in the Wall Street Journal, &#8220;(I)n a speech &#8230; to the Yivo Institute for Jewish Research, Mr. Soros likened the behavior of Israel to that of the Nazis &#8230;&#8221;
&#8220;George Soros,&#8221; the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement in July 2017, &#8220;continuously undermines Israel&#8217;s democratically elected governments by funding organizations that defame the Jewish state and seek to deny it the right to defend itself.&#8221;
Martin Peretz, former longtime editor-in-chief of The New Republic, wrote: &#8220;Soros is ostentatiously indifferent to his own Jewishness. He is not a believer. He has no Jewish communal ties. He certainly isn&#8217;t a Zionist. He told Connie Bruck in The New Yorker — testily, she recounted — that &#8216;I don&#8217;t deny the Jews their right to a national existence — but I don&#8217;t want to be part of it.'&#8221;
Hill&#8217;s charge that criticism of Soros is &#8220;the new &#8216;Protocols of the Elders of Zion'&#8221; is vile. It is what leftists like Hill — who was a member of the board of Soros&#8217; Open Society Institute from 2000 to 2006 — always do when a fellow leftist (who is not a Christian white male) is criticized. Leftists constantly labeled criticism of former President Barack Obama &#8220;racist&#8221; and branded criticism of Hillary Clinton &#8220;sexist&#8221; and &#8220;misogynist.&#8221;
Their goal is to inoculate leftists from criticism.
In addition to being an illegitimate tactic to silence critics, what Hill said was immoral because it reduces the evil of real anti-Semitism. The left has already cheapened the terms &#8220;Nazi,&#8221; &#8220;racist&#8221; and &#8220;white supremacist.&#8221; You can now add &#8220;Protocols of the Elders of Zion&#8221; to the list. If &#8220;The Protocols of the Elders of Zion&#8221; is the same as attacking George Soros, then &#8220;The Protocols&#8221; were not all that bad.
Jewish groups like the Anti-Defamation League should have censured Hill. But they won&#8217;t because so many Jewish groups — once run by liberals and conservatives who cared deeply about Israel and the Jewish people — are today run by many Soros-admiring leftists, whose primary commitment is to further left-wing causes.
In fact, it is close to certain that the leaders of most American (not Israeli) Jewish organizations agree with Fiona Hill.
I began a 2007 column on George Soros this way: &#8220;What do Karl Marx, Leon Trotsky, Noam Chomsky and George Soros have in common? They were/are all radicals, born to Jewish parents, had no Jewish identity and hurt Jews (not to mention non-Jews).&#8221;
Criticizing George Soros is no more inherently anti-Semitic than attacking Marx, Trotsky or Chomsky.
As the left sees it, isolating Israel for rhetorical attack, even supporting its economic strangulation — e.g., through the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement — is not anti-Semitic. But attacking George Soros is.
Such is the broken state of the moral compass of the left and people like Fiona Hill.
Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist. His latest book, published by Regnery in May 2019, is &#8220;The Rational Bible,&#8221; a commentary on the book of Genesis. His film, &#8220;No Safe Spaces,&#8221; comes to theaters fall 2019. He is the founder of Prager University and may be contacted at dennisprager.com.

Fiona Hill.

PRAGER: Fiona Hill Should Be Condemned by Jewish Groups. She Won&#8217;t Be

George Soros

Notorious anti-Semitic British Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn repeatedly refused to apologize for his anti-Semitism and struggled to answer questions about anti-Semitism from members of his party in a new interview with the BBC after his party was slammed by Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis for being anti-Semitic.
In an interview with Andrew Neil, Corbyn refused to apologize for his anti-Semitism after Neil pressed him four times on the matter.
Here is the exchange between Neil and Corbyn on Corbyn&#8217;s anti-Semitism:
<blockquote>Neil: Many Jews. 80 per cent of Jews think that you’re anti-Semitic. That’s quite a lot of British Jews. I mean wouldn’t you like to take this opportunity tonight to apologise to the British Jewish community for what’s happened?
Corbyn: What I’ll say is this. I am determined that our society will be safe for people of all faiths. I don’t want anyone to be feeling insecure in our society and our government will protect every community –
Neil: So no apology?
Corbyn: – against the abuse they receive on the streets, on the trains or in any –
Neil: So no apology for how you’ve handled this?
Corbyn: – or any other form of life.
Neil: I’ll try one more time. No apology?
Corbyn: No, hang on a minute, Andrew. Can I explain what we’re trying to do?
Neil: You have and you’ve been given plenty of time to do that. I asked you if you wanted to apologise and you haven’t.
Corbyn: Andrew, I don’t want anyone to go through what anyone has gone through –
Neil: And you’ve said that several times. I understand that Mr Corbyn, I was asking you about an apology. Let’s move onto Brexit –</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
No apology to the Jewish community from Jeremy Corbyn, as he is repeatedly challenged over claims of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party
[Tap to expand] <a href="https://t.co/ewcGeo7yOY">https://t.co/ewcGeo7yOY</a> <a href="https://t.co/L1z52YZ9eu">pic.twitter.com/L1z52YZ9eu</a>
&mdash; BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) <a href="https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1199393787149242368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 26, 2019</a></blockquote>
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National Review published a brief <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/11/jeremy-corbyn-not-a-man-of-the-people/">overview</a> of just a few of the examples of anti-Semitism that have been leveled against Corbyn:
<blockquote>When it comes to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-45030552" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">anti-Semitism in the Labour party</a>, the media have fallen for Corbyn’s deception too. Corbyn’s longstanding support for radical causes includes a penchant for Islamist anti-Semites. He invited members of Hamas and Hezbollah to the British Parliament as <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/01/jeremy-corbyn-under-pressure-to-denounce-friends-hamas-and-hezbo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">“friends”</a> and was paid perhaps as much as £20,000 (about $27,000 at the time) to appear on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeremy-corbyn-paid-iran-press-tv-tortured-journalist-2016-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Iranian Press TV</a> — the same network that was <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9028435/Britain-bans-Irans-Press-TV-from-airwaves.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">banned</a> in the U.K. for its broadcast of a forced confession by a tortured Iranian journalist. In one appearance Corbyn mused that <a href="https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/corbyn-suspected-hand-of-israel-in-egypt-bombing-during-press-tv-interview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">“the hand of Israel”</a> was involved in a terror attack in Egypt. He traveled to Tunisia in 2014 and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-45196409" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">participated in a ceremony</a> honoring terrorists who murdered eleven Israelis at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Corbyn also hosted an event at the British Parliament in 2010 <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/jeremy-corbyn-hosted-event-likening-israel-to-nazis-6sb5rqd5x" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">comparing Israel to Nazi Germany</a> (part of a U.K. tour called “Never Again for Anyone — Auschwitz to Gaza”) and attended events by <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/20/jeremy-corbyns-10-year-association-group-denies-holocaust/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Deir Yassin Remembered</a>, a group chaired by Holocaust denier Paul Eisen.</blockquote>
During another portion of the interview, Corbyn repeatedly struggled to say that &#8220;Rothschild’s Zionists run Israel and world governments&#8221; was an anti-Semitic statement, a comment that was made by a member of his party.
Finally, after Corbyn agreed that the statement was an anti-Semitic trope, Neil pressed him on why the official had not been suspended or expelled from the far-left Labour Party.
&#8220;So we’re agreed it’s anti-Semitic? Right, that’s all I wanted to establish,&#8221; Neil said. &#8220;Yet these were the words used by Liam Moore. He’s a Labour member, former council candidate. Your party’s actually been investigating him now for almost a year. &#8230; But has he been suspended? He hasn’t been suspended. You said everybody’s been suspended or expelled –&#8221;
Corbyn responde by claiming that the investigation is still on-going regarding what was said, an idea that Neil dismissed because the investigation has been going on for a year.
&#8220;Why does it take a year to investigate someone who says Rothschild Zionists run Israel and world governments?&#8221; Neil asked.
&#8220;Look, I don’t know the process that is involved with him,&#8221; Corbyn claimed. &#8220;In some cases, I don’t know about his case, there is legal representations which often delay things a great deal.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
“The investigation is ongoing so far as I’m aware, and action will be taken”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says investigations are continuing into comments by party member Liam Moore that “Rothschilds Zionists run Israel and world governments”<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BBCElection?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BBCElection</a> <a href="https://t.co/6OYlLQaFZW">https://t.co/6OYlLQaFZW</a> <a href="https://t.co/pT96eLYFKB">pic.twitter.com/pT96eLYFKB</a>
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) <a href="https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1199415726706020352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 26, 2019</a></blockquote>
During another portion of the interview, Neil grilled Corbyn over another member of his party who engaged in Holocaust denial.
&#8220;Is questioning whether six million Jews died in the Holocaust the kind of thing that should get you thrown out of the Labour Party?&#8221; Neil asked.
&#8220;It’s completely unacceptable and should not be happening,&#8221; Corbyn responded.
&#8220;Then let me give you the case of Lesley Perrin,&#8221; Neil responded. &#8220;She was a Labour Party member. She posted a video denying the Holocaust and questioned whether the six million figure was accurate. And what did the Labour Party do? It gave her a written warning. No expulsion, no zero tolerance, just a written warning.&#8221;
&#8220;That was some time ago I believe,&#8221; Corbyn answered. &#8220;You could perhaps give me the date of that.&#8221;
&#8220;The timing doesn’t matter, that’s what happened,&#8221; Neil responded. &#8220;But she posted it on Facebook on 2017, August. It’s not that long ago.&#8221;
&#8220;I’ve strengthened the processes since then,&#8221; Corbyn claimed.
&#8220;But all you get for questioning the Holocaust, implying perhaps it didn’t happen and the six million figure she said was a real problem that you get a warning letter,&#8221; Neil fired back.
&#8220;Look, denying the Holocaust is appalling and it’s totally wrong. Holocaust denial is not acceptable in any &#8211; is not acceptable in any way whatsoever,&#8221; Corbyn responded.
&#8220;So why did she just get a letter of warning? Neil pressed. &#8220;Why did she just get a letter of warning?&#8221;
&#8220;Andrew, I’ve made it very clear. Holocaust denial is not acceptable,&#8221; Corbyn responded.
It&#8217;s worth noting that Corbyn is popular with the far-left in the United States, including with socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) who has publicly praised him.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
It was an honor to share such a lovely and wide-reaching conversation with you, <a href="https://twitter.com/jeremycorbyn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@jeremycorbyn</a>!
Also honored to share a great hope in the peace, prosperity, + justice that everyday people can create when we uplift one another across class, race, + identity both at home &amp; abroad. <a href="https://t.co/7qnz42I8du">https://t.co/7qnz42I8du</a>
&mdash; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) <a href="https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1092210825228636161?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Jeremy Corbyn Andrew Neil

WATCH: BBC Host Andrew Neil Grills Jeremy Corbyn Over Holocaust Denial, Anti-Semitism

Jeremy Corbyn

Daily Wire Editor-at-Large Josh Hammer has the following piece today at <a href="https://dallasjewishmonthly.com/djm/">Dallas Jewish Monthly</a>.
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Many of the leading bastions of America’s progressive Jewish establishment cling to a fundamentally misbegotten conception of what religious liberty entails in our pluralistic, but historically Christian-centric, constitutional republic. Consider the leftist Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which <a href="https://www.adl.org/what-we-do/discrimination/religious-freedom">publicly declares its commitment</a> to “safeguard religious freedom for all Americans by protecting the separation of church and state mandated by the First Amendment.” Consider also the far-left Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism (RAC), which <a href="https://rac.org/jewish-values-and-church-and-state">similarly proclaims</a> that “the principle of separation of church and state is best for both church and state and is indispensable for the preservation of that spirit of religious liberty which is a unique blessing of American democracy.”
In placing such a clear and unmistakable emphasis on the notion of “separation of church and state,” the ADL and the RAC are summoning the long-dead spirit of Thomas Jefferson’s <a href="https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danpre.html">famous 1802 letter</a> to Connecticut’s Danbury Baptist association. In that letter, Jefferson opines that the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment combine to “build[] a wall of separation between Church &amp; State.” But Jefferson, as every high school civics student learns, was not even present during the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Ever the Francophile, Jefferson was instead gallivanting off in pre-revolutionary France during that sweltering Philadelphia summer. Jefferson instead left it to his fellow Virginians — namely Convention president George Washington and leading visionary James Madison — to help draft a new governmental charter.
Furthermore, while the Bill of Rights was not proposed until two years following the end of the Convention, there is ample historical evidence that the Establishment Clause of the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/first_amendment">First Amendment</a>— that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” — had an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43626/hammer-bladensburg-cross-memorial-case-supreme-josh-hammer">original public meaning that is inconsistent</a> with the views of the ADL and the RAC. Indeed, as the constitutional scholar Philip Hamburger has persuasively <a href="https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D87S7N7S">argued</a>, the Establishment Clause “say[s] nothing about separation of church and state, and therefore notwithstanding the claims made on behalf of separation, there is reason to believe it is not the religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution.” On the contrary, public religiosity was never understood, at the time of the Founding, as inconsistent in any way with American ideals. Three days after the First Amendment was submitted to the states for ratification, Congress <a href="https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/thanksgiving">established a public day of Thanksgiving</a> which, a mere five days later, President Washington <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/mgw8a.124/?q=1789+Thanksgiving&amp;sp=132&amp;st=text">explained</a> as a “public thanks-giving and prayer” based upon “the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor.”
But even on a deeper and more profound level, the innate hostility toward public and overt religiosity demonstrated by progressive “separation[ists]” such as the ADL and the RAC is ultimately a betrayal of even narrower Jewish religious liberty interests. The George Washington who helped push the ratification of the First Amendment and declared Thanksgiving as a day to “acknowledge … Almighty God” is the same man who wrote the following timeless and awe-inspiring <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-06-02-0135">1790 letter</a> to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island:
<blockquote>[H]appily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support. … May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. </blockquote>
<a href="https://dallasjewishmonthly.com/djm/religious-liberty-for-all-is-good-for-jews/">Read the rest here</a>.

Stained glass window at synagogue

Hammer At ‘Dallas Jewish Monthly’: Religious Liberty For All Is Good For Jews

Constitution

First Amendment

Judaism

Religion

According to a <a href="https://www.jewishasu.com">Chabad of Arizona State University</a> (ASU) email forwarded along to The Daily Wire earlier today, the on-campus ASU Jewish community experienced a horrific act of anti-Semitism earlier this week. Worse still, this latest flare-up seems to be part of an ongoing troubling trend.
&#8220;The current semester has brought some alarming events with it,&#8221; the email from Rabbi Shmuel Tiechtel begins. &#8220;In the past months the State Press has printed multiple articles supporting the Antisemitic BDS movement. Horrible Antisemitism flyers were distributed on campus. And then there was the incident [on Wednesday night].&#8221;
The email from Rabbi Tiechtel went on to explain the details of a terrible interruption of an event from earlier this week at ASU that honored wounded veterans of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The protesters — who, to once again emphasize, deemed it fit to protest an event honoring wounded IDF veterans — apparently spewed anti-Semitic, Jew-hating vitriol in an attempt to harass students  and possibly shut down the event in its entirety.
&#8220;Last night (Wednesday), here at Arizona State University, students wearing emblems of anti-Israel organizations, and waving signs encouraging violence against Jews, tried to shut down an event right here on campus in the Memorial Union,&#8221; the email explained. &#8220;We were hosting a special event together with Hillel, JAC, Students Supporting Israel and Stand with Us which featured Dor Moguiliansky and Aviv Yasmin Bar, two wounded IDF veterans who were going to share their stories. Before the event began, approximately 80 anti-Israel protesters sat in and blockaded the room where our event was supposed to be held and were screaming against Israel,&#8221; the email continued.
&#8220;Campus police asked us to move to another room in the [Memorial Union]. We went to the other room but those who espoused hate and anti-Israel slogans followed and tried to disrupt the event once again. ASU police had to stand guard at the door the entire event to make the Jewish students feel safe. Understandably, the protests caused many Jewish students to feel uncomfortable, many Jewish students felt intimidated and if not for the ASU police presence there, they would not have felt safe,&#8221; Rabbi Tiechtel wrote.
The incident brings to mind a similarly vile IfNotNow protest of an Austin, Texas, on-campus Chabad house-hosted Shabbat service from this past February, which The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hellenized-jews-ifnotnow-protesters-disrupt-josh-hammer">covered</a> at the time. The Chabad Jewish Center at the Univeristy of Texas-Austin described the affair in a <a href="https://www.jewishlonghorns.com/templates/blog/default_cdo/aid/1939391/jewish/Jewish-Longhorns-Blog.htm">blog post</a>:
<blockquote>A small group of students and young adults affiliated with [IfNotNow] decided it was a good time to protest a guest speaker, who was going to speak at our center later in the day: A sweet and soft-spoken IDF soldier.
Shockingly, these protesters spoke to my young children and gave them flyers. They also videotaped and photographed us on Chabad property, something which is traditionally prohibited on Shabbat for religious reasons. All of this didn’t happen during any speech, but during Shabbat morning prayers.
I’m not against protests, even if I disagree with the cause. But on Shabbat — during prayer services — really? There’s a time and place for protests. It would have been nice to see them show some respect while claiming to advocate dialogue, because there is none without the other.
It reminded me of a fringe religious group, who were very active a few years ago, and would find the most inappropriate times to demonstrate. They didn’t make any friends, but cruelly garnered a lot of media attention.</blockquote>

Arizona State football helmet

Anti-Semitism At Arizona State University Highlights Tense On-Campus Atmosphere For Jewish Students

Arizona

Israel

Israel Defense Forces (IDF)

The following is satirical.
There seems to be some confusion in the media about the difference between the Right and the Alt-Right. For instance, the Alt-Right is famously anti-Semitic and yet The New York Times, a former newspaper, has associated them with Orthodox Jew Ben Shapiro in such sentences as, “Ben Shapiro is Alt-Right, and if you believe that, we have a yarn about Trump colluding with the Russians you’re really going to love, you sucker.” I guess the New York Times isn’t even pretending anymore.
In any case, as a public service to the Times and other dishonest organs of misinformation strangling on their hatred of ordinary people’s freedom, here is a handy guide on how to distinguish between right-wingers, who believe in the noble concepts of liberty handed down to us by our forefathers, and Alt-Righters, who are sniggering little femboys spewing hatred on YouTube. It’s a subtle distinction but with a little help, even the New York Times might figure it out.
One. Real right-wingers come in all different skin colors and religions and no religion and various sexualities and also include a startling number of women who somehow manage to be extremely intelligent and also smoking hot, which is an amazing side benefit of the whole movement.
Alt-Righters have never been with a woman because they hate everybody who doesn’t look like them, and, I mean, look at them.
Two. Real right-wingers believe in ordered liberty as established over centuries of western history and enshrined in the Constitution.
Alt-Righters don’t even believe the Holocaust happened, so they’re evil melonheads.
Three. Real right-wingers believe in essentially Christian principles, like a fallen humanity made in the image of God and therefore deserving of equality and freedom.
Alt-Righters express their &#8220;Christian principles&#8221; by waving rosaries at people, then doing absolutely nothing they were commanded to do by Jesus, because they found out he was a Jew.
I hope this handy guide will help the media either distinguish between right-wingers and Alt-Right-wingers, or get stuffed.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-shapiro-dismantles-the-alt-right-and-radical-lefts-dangerous-game">WATCH: Shapiro Dismantles The Alt-Right And Radical Left’s ‘Dangerous Game’</a>

New York Times

A Media Guide For Distinguishing Conservatives From Alt-Right Lunatics [Satire]

Alt-Right

Ben Shapiro

Conservatism

Satire

Last week, a pro-Israel group called <a href="https://theisraelgroup.org">The Israel Group</a> launched an important campaign in the broader fight back against the anti-Israel hostility that pervades high-profile media and educational institutions.
The Israel Group, which <a href="https://theisraelgroup.org/about-the-israel-group/">describes</a> itself as &#8220;a nonprofit that protects Israel in the diaspora by developing and launching initiatives to cripple the [Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions] (BDS) movement against at Israel&#8221; and features many powerful Jewish/pro-Israel individuals on the organization&#8217;s board of advisors, began rolling out its &#8220;<a href="https://theisraelgroup.org/wikipedias-war-against-israel/">Battle Against Wikipedia</a>.&#8221; According to The Israel Group, Wikipedia is the fifth most trafficked website but is ranked number one in terms of both global online educational resources, more generally, and dissemination of anti-Israel propaganda, in particular. The Israel Group&#8217;s website <a href="https://theisraelgroup.org/wikipedias-war-against-israel/">describes</a> the importance of the project:
<blockquote>For more than a decade, Wikipedia — the number one online educational resource globally — has allowed anonymous anti-Israel editors to falsely and negatively alter Israel’s factual history in Wikipedia articles pertaining to the Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.
A cabal of virulently anti-Israel anonymous editors is responsible for decimating virtually the entire pro-Israel editing community. Volunteer &#8220;administrators&#8221; (with lifetime positions), responsible for overseeing the editing process of Wikipedia, have not only allowed anti-Israel editors freedom to take over Wikipedia, they have participated by blocking and banning predominantly Jewish and pro-Israel editors. &#8230;
The Israel Group has been working for many years, under the radar, on a confidential initiative, Wiki-Israel, that combats Wikipedia’s antisemitic bias against Israel. The initiative includes a dedicated website that, among many other things, shows how anti-Israel editors smear Israel — both subtly and overtly — across hundreds of articles, and how the pro-Israel community can stop it.</blockquote>
While the formal launch of the project is not set to commence until January 2020, The Israel Group has teased the endeavor&#8217;s formal launch by already divulging the identities of what it has deemed to be the two most notorious anti-Israel editors on all of Wikipedia: Brendan McKay, a math scientist at the Australian National University (described by The Israel Group as &#8220;the unofficial leader of the entire cabal of anti-Israel Wikipedia editors&#8221;), and Peter Nicholas Dale, an Australian author born in 1950 (described by The Israel Group as &#8220;the most prolific and proficient&#8221; of the Wikipedia&#8217;s anti-Israel editors).
Reached for exclusive comment by The Daily Wire, Jack Saltzberg, The Israel Group&#8217;s founder and president, provided the following:
<blockquote>For more than a decade, there have been many articles and blog posts calling attention to Wikipedia’s clear bias against Israel. Generally these complaints vanish into the ether. Even worse, too many people insist, &#8220;Wikipedia is meaningless, nobody takes it seriously,&#8221; or &#8220;I never go to Wikipedia.&#8221; Both statements couldn’t be faultier. As Wikipedia <a href="https://wikiedu.org/partnerships/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://wikiedu.org/partnerships/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1573373339611000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFRKHTkg5jg34hftU0s2K06-uc_Fw">itself states</a>, &#8220;As the top online educational resource on the planet, with more links from search engines than any other site, Wikipedia is one of the most powerful platforms for the dissemination of knowledge.&#8221; Additionally, a <a href="https://firstmonday.org/article/view/2830/2476" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://firstmonday.org/article/view/2830/2476&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1573373339611000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG-aPn3v82LEpOmKz4xxY5iLcT9OQ">majority of university students now</a> use Wikipedia for background information.
The [BDS] campaigns waged against Israel have succeeded through the promulgation of lies, smears, and libels against Israel; and Wikipedia is the number one vehicle substantiating, reinforcing, and disseminating that false propaganda.
As an organization established for one reason — to help cripple the BDS movement — The Israel Group decided five years ago that stopping Wikipedia’s anti-Israel bias is the most important endeavor in the war against BDS. Subsequently, The Israel Group has, under the radar and confidentially, been researching and battling the anti-Semitism and anti-Israel radicalism inside Wikipedia’s pages related to the Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.
The Israel Group has identified the primary anti-Israel offenders who go to extremes and use an array of techniques to illegitimately silence and block pro-Israel editors.
They’ve spent more than a decade — both subtly and overtly — embedding anti-Israel rhetoric within nearly 1,000 Wikipedia articles. The Israel Group is the first to publicly expose the true identities of the two leading anti-Israel anonymous Wikipedia editors. &#8230;
When the Wiki-Israel initiative launches in January 2020, we will not only reveal the depth of the problem and its many challenging aspects, but we&#8217;ll also guide people who care about Israel on how they can become experienced editors capable of fighting back.
The Israel Group has also investigated other related subjects and groups that receive similar smears and libels — namely, Christians and conservatives. For many years, those on the Right, especially those who support Israel, have been well aware of Wikipedia&#8217;s bias against them. In 2020, the Wiki-Israel initiative will reveal innovative, original research quantifying and proving this bias beyond a reasonable doubt, exposing the methods and madness of the political activists who have hijacked the world&#8217;s most popular and largest encyclopedia.</blockquote>
Godspeed to a valiant and indispensable organization. Sunlight, as Justice Louis Brandeis once said, is oftentimes the best disinfectant.

Wikipedia

Pro-Israel Group Launches Initiative Fighting Back Against Anti-Israel Wikipedia Editors

Media Bias

Palestinians

At a Young America’s Foundation’s Fred Allen Lecture Series event on the campus of Stanford University Thursday evening, Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro unpacked the &#8220;dangerous game&#8221; being played by both the radical Left and Alt-Right — two groups, he argued, that &#8220;feed off one another.&#8221;
Leading up to the event, Shapiro’s speech was protested by social justice activists, who organized a “silent rally,” erased messages by Stanford College Republicans promoting the event, and decried Shapiro’s supposedly “dehumanizing” ideas while simultaneously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/see-it-stanford-activists-compare-ben-shapiro-to-insect-while-condemning-dehumanizing-speech">comparing him to an insect</a> in need of extermination — in other words, all the usual antics that have become common on college campuses with Shapiro’s speeches, in particular, and those of any right-leaning personalities, in general.
Shapiro’s speech was initially titled “No, Leftist Idiots Don’t Get To Raise My Kids,” but, as Shapiro explained Thursday night, a heckling campaign by the Alt-Right inspired him to shift the focus to not just leftists, which he shredded succinctly in his opening comments, but those on the fringe-right who, he argued, are similarly destructive to political discourse.
“I want to talk about the dangerous game being played by two particular nasty groups who feed off one another: I am speaking about the radical Left and the Alt-Right,” the bestselling author and podcast host told the packed auditorium (video of full speech below).  While he noted that he rips the radical Left all the time on campuses because they are &#8220;dominated by the censorious and nasty radical Left,&#8221; Shapiro explained that he chose to focus more on the Alt-Right for this speech, in part because they&#8217;ve been &#8220;encouraging their minions to show up to ask pre-written questions designed to elicit LOLs from likeminded idiots who populate 8chan and Gab.&#8221;
As The Daily Wire reported, two days before Shapiro’s speech at Stanford, Alt-Right hecklers descended on a speech at Cal State LA by Daily Wire podcast host Matt Walsh to ask him trolling questions — the stunt <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-daily-wires-matt-walsh-slaps-down-alt-right-hecklers">didn’t go well for the hecklers</a>. Their appearance at the event is part of a larger coordinated attempt by Alt-Right influencers to disrupt mainstream conservative events. Hecklers similarly crashed an event a few days earlier involving Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
“The radical Left and the Alt-Right need each other,&#8221; said Shapiro. &#8220;And they’re playing a game, in which the radical Left seeks to delegitimize anyone who isn’t radically Left by lumping them in with the despicable Alt-Right — and in which the Alt-Right seeks to make common cause with anyone ‘cancelled’ by the radical Left, specifically with the supporters of President Trump who have been maligned falsely as evil by the radical Left, in order to artificially boost their numbers.”
“These two goals are mutually reinforcing,” Shapiro explained. “Here’s how this garbage works… Let’s say, for example, that you believe that ‘white civilization’ — a nonsensical term, since civilization is not defined by color but by history, culture, and philosophy — is under attack from multiracial hordes. Let’s say that you’re antipathetic toward Jews and enraged by the liberties guaranteed and protected by the Constitution of the United States. Let’s say you spend your days ranting about how American conservatives and traditional classical liberals — the sole protective force against the radical Left — haven’t ‘conserved’ anything. You say America is not a propositional or creedal nation, even though the nation’s founding literally begins with the words, ‘We hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights&#8230; Let’s say you cite Christianity as the basis of your values, but you’re more likely to quote Nietzsche than Christ.&#8221;
After exposing the self-contradictory and transparently racist ideology espoused by Alt-Right influencers, Shapiro addressed their four-part strategy for mainstreaming their fringe movement.
“First, you declare your allegiance to President Trump, and declare that you aren’t really Alt-Right, even though you obviously are,” he explained. “You show up to lectures wearing a MAGA hat in order to get the media to cover it – and in order to demonstrate that you’re truly a representative of the 63 million Americans who voted for Trump. You call yourself ‘America First,’ hijacking Trump’s slogan, but twisting it to mean ‘white Americans first.’ The media will eat it up, because the media love nothing better than suggesting that Trump is a white supremacist, despite the fact that he has repeatedly condemned white supremacism.”
<iframe title="Ben Exposes Leftists &amp; The Alt-Right In Six Minutes" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-f8UK-bSCnQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Strategy two, Shapiro explained, the Alt-Right attempts to define themselves as &#8220;the heirs to conservatism.&#8221;
&#8220;You do so by simply lying about mainstream conservatives. You suggest that mainstream conservatives are insufficiently committed to social conservatism. You do this by asking questions like, ‘How does anal sex help us win the culture war?’” he said in reference to an Alt-Right heckler’s question at a TPUSA event. “The purpose is to simultaneously pose as edgy and also preserve your ability to say you were just joking.&#8221; Such actions, said Shapiro, &#8220;is by definition losing the culture war.”
“What helps America win the culture war is freedom: freedom against a government encroaching on your activities that don’t harm anyone else,&#8221; he said, offering a true conservative response. &#8220;As Edmund Burke put it, ‘Whatever each man can separately do, without trespassing upon others, he has a right to do for himself.’ You know what else helps win the culture war? Engaging with your community, involving yourself in the social fabric. Not creating Pepe memes online and then jabbering about anal sex.”
“In fact, there’s great irony in watching alt-righters claim that they should use the commanding heights of government to cram down their viewpoints on others – while complaining that the Left uses the commanding heights of government to cram down their viewpoint on others,” he added. “You can’t really whine about other people shutting down your viewpoint and activity that harms no one else while planning to shut down everybody else’s viewpoints.”
Shapiro also dismantled the Alt-Right’s racially charged rhetoric about “white European” ideals. “Race doesn’t have ideals,” said Shapiro. “And if you think it does, you’re indistinguishable from the identity politics Left. Spoiler alert: you are.”
As for the Alt-Right belief that “white people are superior to others,” Shapiro said the alt-righters’ “own idiocy and bigotry are a perfect rebuttal of [their supposed] supremacy.”
The third Alt-Right strategy, Shapiro argued, is to “troll” their enemies, as they have at recent conservative events.
Their fourth strategy, Shapiro said, is to “count on the Left to help” them. And the Left absolutely will, said Shapiro. &#8220;They’ll label anyone on the right Alt-Right, even if we say vocally and in no uncertain terms that the Alt-Right is pure, unbridled, vile garbage — even if members of the Alt-Right target those on the mainstream right. Even if Donald Trump condemns the worldview. You can argue with anything we say&#8230; we all disagree with each other pretty frequently. But there’s no doubt none of us are Alt-Right.”
Despite these glaring differences, Shapiro said, “the media and the Left will push the lie anyway.”
“So the Boston Globe will call my website, The Daily Wire, an &#8216;Alt-Right outpost&#8217; (we forced them to recant); the Economist will call me &#8216;the Alt-Right sage without the rage&#8217; (we’ll force them to recant),” he said. “Students at Boston University are festooning my posters with a Hitler mustache. Students at this university will mob those trying to put up posters for this lecture; they’ll tear down a large banner advertising my speech and replace it with a banner reading ‘Be tolerant, accept racism’… They’ll issue a flyer that literally depicts me as a cockroach on a bottle of bug spray with the label, ‘<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/see-it-stanford-activists-compare-ben-shapiro-to-insect-while-condemning-dehumanizing-speech">Ben B Gone</a>.’”
Shapiro then forcefully defended Trump against the smear. “The media will suggest that Trump is in league with the Alt-Right, even at this late date – they’ll neglect all Trump has done to purge his administration to those who were remotely friendly with the Alt-Right (see Bannon, Steve) and his forcible disavowal of the alt-right and white supremacism,” he said. “They’ll simply overlook that Trump isn’t a white supremacist, and declare that the MAGA hat is equivalent to a Nazi swastika – and they’ll say that by extension, anyone who wears a MAGA hat or votes for Trump is a secret Brownshirt.”
Shapiro then offered a “clarification” for the disingenuous Left: “If someone believes that all men are created equal, &#8230; that every American should have equality before the law, in free market capitalism, in small government, in equal opportunity for all people of all races, that person is not on the Alt-Right,” he said. “In fact, they despise the Alt-Right, and the Alt-Right despises them. But people on the Left know this, they just prefer the lie. Why? Because their goal is to delegitimize the entire right.”
The Left’s shutting down of free speech in the name of political correctness and identity politics promotes the growth of the Alt-Right, with whom they share tactics and aspects of their worldview. The only difference between the radical Left and the Alt-Right, is they reverse the victim hierarchy. &#8220;All of this is terrible for the country, it&#8217;s terrible for the discourse,&#8221; Shapiro concluded.
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&#8220;So, here I am, stuck in the middle with you,&#8221; Shapiro concluded. &#8220;Anyone, on the Right or Left, who wants to have an actual conversation about tough issues, that isn&#8217;t the bumper sticker, but that also is not willing to pretend that ugly bigotry is decency, that identity politics reflects truth, or that trollish meming is a substitute for an actual worldview,&#8221; Shapiro concluded. &#8220;Let’s have the conversation.&#8221;
Video of the full speech below:
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<iframe title="Ben Shapiro Speaking at Stanford University" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ge_RUxBTHN4?start=919&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/see-it-stanford-activists-compare-ben-shapiro-to-insect-while-condemning-dehumanizing-speech">SEE IT: Stanford Activists Compare Ben Shapiro To Insect While Condemning ‘Dehumanizing’ Speech</a>
Partial transcript based on Shapiro’s prepared remarks.

WATCH: Shapiro Dismantles The Alt-Right And Radical Left’s ‘Dangerous Game’

Leftism

Racism

White Supremacy

Today, news broke that former New York City mayor and prominent billionaire philanthropist Michael Bloomberg is considering tossing his hat into the dystopian ring that is the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primary. The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/michael-bloomberg-preparing-to-enter-2020-democratic-race-11573167459?mod=hp_lead_pos3">quotes</a> a Bloomberg adviser named Howard Wolfson, who suggests that the main reason Bloomberg might jump in is his fear that none of the current 2020 Democrats can defeat President Donald Trump at the ballot box.
<blockquote>
&#8220;Mike believes that Donald Trump represents an unprecedented threat to our nation,&#8221; Mr. Wolfson said.
&#8220;Mike is increasingly concerned that the current field of candidates is not well positioned to [defeat Trump],&#8221; Mr. Wolfson said. &#8220;If Mike runs he would offer a new choice to Democrats built on a unique record running America’s biggest city, building a business from scratch and taking on some of America’s toughest challenges as a high-impact philanthropist.&#8221;
</blockquote>
By all means, Bloomberg should enter the fray if he feels called to do so. But we should not mince words here: There is no chance whatsoever that Bloomberg would successfully win the Democratic presidential nomination if he were to enter the field. And the chief reason for that is very simple. Bloomberg would have no shot because he is a somewhat sane person who would be seeking the presidential nomination of a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-democratic-party-has-become-parody-itself-josh-hammer">fully insane</a> political party.
Bloomberg, who has made a veritable fortune over the course of a lifetime working in the financial services industry, is an ex-Republican who openly identifies as a <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/01/30/bloomberg_we_shouldnt_be_embarrassed_about_capitalism_non-capitalistic_venezuela_is_collapsing.html">capitalist</a>. But he would be seeking the presidential nomination of a political party whose grassroots <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/240725/democrats-positive-socialism-capitalism.aspx">increasingly identify</a> as more socialistic than capitalistic. He would be seeking the presidential nomination of a political party in which the leading sources of disagreement over the course of the past few televised primary debates have been whether the harebrained &#8220;Medicare for All&#8221; nostrums has a bankrupting price tag best estimated at $40 trillion or $50 trillion, and whether it is appropriate to literally eliminate private health insurance for over a hundred million American citizens while implementing that quixotic socialized medicine scheme.
Bloomberg, furthermore, is nothing if not a lifelong friend of the Jewish state of Israel. In 2014, when anti-Israel President Barack Obama oversaw a temporary <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/213288-obama-defends-israel-flight-ban">U.S. flight ban</a> to Israel amidst the jihadist rocket fire that rained down on the Jewish state that summer from the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-israel-must-destroy-hamas-once-and-all-josh-hammer">Hamas</a>-controlled Gaza Strip, Bloomberg personally <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2014-07-23/why-i-flew-to-israel">flew to Israel</a> solely to demonstrate to his fellow Americans that it was safe to do so. Bloomberg may not be a hardcore <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-the-pro-israel-case-against-u-s-military-aid-to-israel">Caroline Glick-style Zionist</a>, but he is, at minimum, an AIPAC-style pro-Israel advocate. But the modern Democratic Party is no longer an AIPAC-style pro-Israel political party. On the contrary, the 2020 Democrats now shirk AIPAC en masse in favor of obeisance at the sycophantically pro-Palestinian altar of the vehemently anti-Israel group <a href="https://www.creators.com/read/ben-shapiro/10/19/the-j-street-democrats">J Street</a>.
Additionally, it must be noted that Bloomberg, while hardly Orthodox in identification, is nonetheless proudly and publicly Jewish. This too is a problem for the modern Democratic Party, which extols the virtues of Holocaust deniers like Palestinian Authority chieftain Mahmoud Abbas, glorifies Jew-haters like Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and is being rapidly Corbynized into an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-stark-choice-facing-jewish-democrats-josh-hammer">overtly anti-Semitic</a> political vehicle. It is difficult to see how Bloomberg&#8217;s proud Jewishness counts, in the eyes of today&#8217;s Democratic Party, as anything other than a net negative.
Bloomberg would have no chance for the Democratic presidential nomination were he to formally enter the fray. He is a sane Jew who would be seeking the presidential nomination in a fully insane, socialist, increasingly Jew-hating political party.

Michael Bloomberg.

HAMMER: Michael Bloomberg Would Have No Chance At The Democratic Presidential Nomination

2020 Election

American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)

Capitalism

Democratic Party

Michael Bloomberg

Progressivism

On the campus of Cal State LA on Tuesday, Daily Wire podcast host Matt Walsh offered the audience a chance to ask some questions after his speech on &#8220;the Left&#8217;s plan to redefine life marriage and gender.&#8221; Among those who lined up to talk with Walsh were some hecklers that are a part of an organized attempt led by an Alt-Right online personality to disrupt conservative events. The exchanges didn&#8217;t go well for the hecklers.
Walsh closed his speech by urging rational argumentation over being &#8220;intellectually lazy&#8221; and &#8220;hiding behind a fortress of ignorance while flinging labels at opponents.&#8221;
&#8220;Calling someone bigoted is not an argument,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Accusing them of homophobia or racism or sexism or transphobia, or any other -phobia or -ism you can think of, is not an argument — it is a tantrum. It is a way of shutting down debate, not engaging it. If someone has really put forth a bigoted argument, you should have no trouble disproving it. It should be very easy to do. If you can&#8217;t, then perhaps that means there&#8217;s more to that point of view than you think.&#8221;
The first person in line for the Q&amp;A after Walsh&#8217;s speech was a formally dressed young man with a pre-written question focused on Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro, an Orthodox Jew.
&#8220;As a Christian, how do you get past working for someone who originally contributed to shaming the Covington Catholic kids by retweeting left-wing attacks and called Jesus a &#8216;Jewish rebel who tried to lead a revolt against Romans and got killed for his trouble&#8217;?&#8221; he asked.
&#8220;Wait, you&#8217;re telling me that my Jewish boss doesn&#8217;t believe that Jesus is the son of God?&#8221; Walsh responded in his trademark sarcasm. &#8220;My god, I&#8217;m scandalized by this! I had no idea.&#8221;
Walsh then helped the heckler out by phrasing his question more directly: &#8220;As a Christian, how do I justify working for someone who is not a Christian?&#8221; he said. &#8220;I find that to be a total non sequitur.&#8221;
&#8220;Who blasphemed Christ. That&#8217;s my main question,&#8221; the questioner interjected.
&#8220;Are you suggesting everyone who is not Christian is guilty of blasphemy?&#8221; Walsh asked.
&#8220;You are a Christian, and you are working for someone who blasphemed Christ, Jesus Christ,&#8221; the self-described Catholic questioner responded.
&#8220;Just to clarify, you&#8217;re not going to work for anyone who&#8217;s not Christian — that&#8217;s what you&#8217;re saying?&#8221; said Walsh.
When the questioner said &#8220;not if they publicly state&#8221; something blasphemous about Christ &#8220;to millions upon millions of people,&#8221; Walsh added sarcastically, &#8220;I promise, when I get back to the studio, I&#8217;m going to talk to Ben and tell him, &#8216;You must be a Christian right now,&#8217; because that is unacceptable.&#8221;
&#8220;If you have worked for any non-Christian, then you have worked for people who feel exactly that same way about Jesus,&#8221; said Walsh. &#8220;Because there are 7 billion people on earth; 5 billion of them are not Christian.&#8221; Making employment decisions based on people&#8217;s lack of faith in Christ, said Walsh, is &#8220;totally absurd.&#8221;
The next questioner brought up the guy that is helping orchestrate the Alt-Right hecklers, who recently <a href="https://twitchy.com/sarahd-313035/2019/10/30/alt-right-charlie-kirk-antagonist-nick-fuentes-holocaust-denial-routine-is-one-of-the-most-utterly-disgusting-things-ive-ever-seen-in-my-life-video/">scoffed</a> at estimates that some 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust and who has been pounding his chest on his show about his followers crashing events, including a recent <a href="https://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2019/10/30/charlie-kirk-and-rob-smith-slap-down-white-nationalist-and-anti-gay-trolls-at-tpusa-event-chris-hayes-hardest-hit/">event</a> featuring TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk.
&#8220;Recently you got into a little bit of a Twitter spat with [known Alt-Right leader],&#8221; said the second questioner. &#8220;You went on your show and called him a punk and said he became a neo-Nazi to get attention. You said if someone&#8217;s arguments are truly bigoted, they should be easy to disprove. So will you have a conversation with [the Alt-Right leader] and if not, isn&#8217;t that kind of the same thing you just said that we shouldn&#8217;t do, you know, labeling people to shut down conversations?&#8221;
Walsh responded by providing some context to his online dispute with the Alt-Righter.
&#8220;That little back and forth began because your buddy &#8230; went on his show, or whatever it is, having a tantrum — even though I hadn&#8217;t said anything to him,&#8221; Walsh explained. &#8220;I think what I had done is I had actually tweeted that the guy who killed a bunch of Mexicans was a racist piece of sh**. Which I stand by. For some reason, &#8230; that upset him. He didn&#8217;t like that — talk about blasphemy, I&#8217;d blasphemed a mass shooter. He went off on a rant, started calling me homophobic slurs, that I&#8217;m a race traitor because I work for Jews &#8230; &#8221;
Walsh then addressed the questioner&#8217;s initial query: &#8220;Do I want to have a debate with him about whether I am those homophobic slurs or whether a race traitor working for Jews? No, I don&#8217;t think I need to debate with him — for the same reason I don&#8217;t need to debate a 6-year-old who&#8217;s crying because I took away the lollipop.&#8221;
Highlights of Walsh&#8217;s responses (full video below):
<iframe title="Matt Walsh DECIMATES The Alt-Right (YAF Q&amp;A)" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aI_IZzfDlGA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Shapiro and The Daily Wire have long been targets of the Alt-Right. A study by the Anti-Defamation League found that Shapiro was the number one target of the Alt-Right in 2016. The Daily Wire was one of the first outlets on the right to come out in unequivocal condemnation of the Alt-Right movement. As laid out in a piece by Daily Wire podcast host Michael Knowles in September 2016 (“<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/actual-conservatives-guide-alt-right-8-things-you-michael-knowles">An Actual Conservative’s Guide To The Alt-Right: 8 Things You Need To Know”</a>), &#8220;racism is not a fringe element of the Alt-Right; it’s the movement’s central premise.&#8221; The movement focuses on &#8220;white identity&#8221; ideology, Knowles writes, and it&#8217;s leaders are &#8220;explicitly anti-Semitic,&#8221; as the leader of the heckler&#8217;s rhetoric demonstrates.
The Alt-Right, The Daily Wire has consistently maintained, &#8220;is <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/19658/7-things-you-need-know-about-charlottesville-ben-shapiro">not conservative</a>; its leaders vociferously reject prominent conservative thinkers, ideas of human equality, core Judeo-Christian values, and the concept of America as a nation built on ideas, rather than racial or ethnic identity.&#8221;
The coordinated targeting of Walsh&#8217;s speech by Alt-Righters comes just days after the Boston Globe published a column smearing The Daily Wire as a “white supremacist-adjacent alt-right outpost.”
“Most recently we’ve seen Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stammering before a congressional committee as he tried to shove his proprietary cryptocurrency, Libra, into reality, but ended up hitting a wall as committee members grilled him over the company’s ‘say whatever’ to political advertising,” the article read. “In response, we saw him launch a repurposed ‘News’ section that sets up partnerships between the networks and a ‘wide range’ of publishers (including white supremacist-adjacent alt-right outposts like The Daily Wire — because … news?).”
Walsh was among those who publicly shamed the Boston Globe for printing the smear.
“Boston Globe calls the Daily Wire an ‘alt-right outpost.’ Meanwhile the alt-right despises everyone who works at the Daily Wire, has targeted all of us with harassment and hate mail, and is planning to sabotage our events. [Boston Globe] needs to delete this bullsh** and apologize,” wrote Walsh. “Before you call any of us alt-right, why don’t you idiots actually ask the alt-right if we’re on their team. They’ll tell you, emphatically, no.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Before you call any of us alt-right, why don&#8217;t you idiots actually ask the alt-right if we&#8217;re on their team. They&#8217;ll tell you, emphatically, no.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1190261726035484672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
After backlash, the Boston Globe issued a correction. “Because of a reporting error, the <a href="http://twitter.com/Large">@Large</a> column in today’s Arts section, which is printed in advance, mischaracterizes the conservative media outlet The Daily Wire,” the <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2019/11/02/for-record/IHSagsyowMOcuccDWB4IWJ/story.html">correction</a> reads. “Its founder, Ben Shapiro, has spoken out against the alt-right. The Globe regrets the error.”
Full video of Walsh&#8217;s Q&amp;A below (relevant section begins at around the 42:55-minute mark):
<iframe title="FULL SPEECH: Matt Walsh - The War On Reality: The Left&#039;s Plan To Redefine Life, Marriage, and Gender" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/82-VQYvzBoQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/actual-conservatives-guide-alt-right-8-things-you-michael-knowles">An Actual Conservative’s Guide To The Alt-Right: 8 Things You Need To Know</a>

Matt Walsh

WATCH: Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh Slaps Down Alt-Right Hecklers

Michael Knowles

On Monday, the FBI announced they had arrested a 27-year-old suspected white supremacist on Friday who was reportedly going to bomb a Colorado synagogue.
The suspect was allegedly targeting Temple Emanuel in Pueblo, according to <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/suspected-white-supremacist-arrested-thwarted-synagogue-attack-fbi/story?id=66745997">ABC News</a>. The synagogue, dedicated in 1900, is Colorado’s second oldest synagogue and has a small community of 30 families, according to its <a href="https://templeemanuelpueblo.net">website</a>.
According to an arrest affidavit, the suspect told an undercover FBI agent that he wanted to poison the members of the synagogue, adding that he paid a &#8220;Mexican cook to hex and poison&#8221; members of the synagogue by putting arsenic in the water pipes. The suspect reportedly saw a Facebook account that indicated the agent was a white female sympathetic with white supremacist views, prompting the suspect to allegedly write that he was &#8220;a skinhead&#8221; and former member of the Ku Klux Klan along with photos of him dressed in symbols related to white supremacy.
The FBI reported that the suspect posted in a group chat, &#8220;I wish the holocaust really did happen … they need to die.” An October 3 post showed the suspect claiming he was preparing for a racial holy war, adding that he was going to the temple to “scope it out.”
<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/synagogue-attack-pueblo-colorado-stopped-by-fbi-alleged-white-supremacist-arrested-today-2019-11-04/">CBS News</a> reported, “The next day, he sent a video showing a woman outside the temple in which he used anti-Semitic language, according to the complaint. A video he allegedly sent earlier that day showed Nazi propaganda, knives and masks, the complaint says.” On October 17, three undercover FBI agents met the suspect at a Colorado Springs restaurant, according to the complaint, the suspect gave the agents white supremacist paraphernalia as &#8220;gifts&#8221; and &#8220;repeatedly expressed his hatred of the Jewish people.&#8221;
ABC News added that court documents attest that the suspect initially planned to use Molotov cocktails, but after his plans changed to use something more lethal, agents told him they could supply him with pipe bombs and dynamite. On October 31, the suspect told undercover agents that November 1 was his target date. The affidavit noted the suspect “said that he wanted to put the Synagogue on the ground and demolish it.”
ABC News noted, “On Nov. 1, (the suspect) met three undercover FBI agents at a hotel. They showed him pipe bombs and dynamite. That is when he was arrested, at which point (the suspect) allegedly waived his Miranda rights and confessed.” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/11/04/fbi-arrests-self-proclaimed-white-supremacist-alleged-plot-blow-up-historic-synagogue/">The Washington Post</a> reported, “He was wearing a Nazi armband during the meeting and carrying a copy of ‘Mein Kampf,’ FBI Special Agent John W. Smith wrote in the filing.”
According to CBS News, when the undercover agents met the suspect, they had false bombs that could not cause damage. The suspect, seeing the phony bombs, pronounced them “absolutely gorgeous,” suggesting the attack should happen the next day to avoid police.”
ABC News reported, “When asked what he would have done if someone had been inside the synagogue during the bombing, he allegedly said he would have gone through with the attack because anyone inside would be Jewish.”
Michael Atlas-Acuna, the president of Temple Emanuel, told ABC News, &#8220;We take our security very seriously here. We have been since what happened in Pittsburgh &#8230; we&#8217;re not going to be victimized and we&#8217;re going to defend ourselves. I&#8217;ve never been naive to think that it couldn&#8217;t happen to us because there&#8217;s been other things that have happened in small communities like shooting churches, so I&#8217;ve never been that naive. I think that all Jewish communities have to continue to protect themselves. Make sure they have armed guards, make sure they have security. We don&#8217;t like the idea that [in] America that we have to deal with this, but again, it&#8217;s just a reality of where we live right now.”
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

FBI arrest Richard Holzer on dometic terrorism for plot to blow up a synagogue in Pueblo.

Suspected White Supremacist Arrested For Alleged Plan To Bomb Colorado Synagogue

Colorado

synagogue

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) issued a formal apology to former Brooklyn Democratic State Assemblyman Dov Hikind on Monday as part of a settlement over a lawsuit regarding her decision to block him on Twitter.
&#8220;I have reconsidered my decision to block Dov Hikind from my Twitter account,&#8221; Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement obtained by <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/11/04/aoc-says-shes-sorry-for-trying-to-block-dov-hikind-on-twitter/?utm_source=NYPTwitter&amp;utm_medium=SocialFlow&amp;utm_campaign=SocialFlow">The New York Post</a>. &#8220;Mr. Hikind has a First Amendment right to express his views and should not be blocked for them.&#8221;
&#8220;In retrospect, it was wrong and improper and does not reflect the values I cherish. I sincerely apologize for blocking Mr. Hikind,&#8221; the statement continued. &#8220;Now and in the future, however, I reserve the right to block users who engage in actual harassment or exploit my personal/campaign account, @AOC, for commercial or other improper purposes.&#8221;
The apology comes only a day before the self-proclaimed &#8220;radical&#8221; congresswoman was set to testify in federal court. Hikind filed a lawsuit against Ocasio-Cortez for blocking him over the summer after a federal appeals court ruled that President Donald Trump had violated the First Amendment by blocking people on Twitter. The three-judge panel determined that the president&#8217;s action was in violation of the Constitution because he used his account to conduct official government business.
The lawsuit put forth that Ocasio-Cortez blocked Hikind after he criticized the freshman lawmaker for repeatedly comparing Nazi concentration camps to illegal immigrant detention facilities. The former Brooklyn assemblyman, who founded a nonprofit organization seeking to combat anti-Semitism, referred to her analogy as an &#8220;incredibly egregious, insensitive, uneducated, disrespectful comment.&#8221;
While Ocasio-Cortez has claimed in the past to have Sephardic Jewish ancestry, she has also made eyebrow-raising statements about the Jewish people — leading repeated allegations of anti-Semitism to swirl around the congresswoman. In addition to comparing detainment facilities to concentration camps, she has compared a migrant caravan trying to enter the United States illegally to Jews fleeing the Holocaust.
She has also vehemently defended her fellow Democratic colleagues, Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), amid widespread backlash for promoting age-old anti-Semitic canards.
In addition, she has also come out in support of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to punish the Jewish state of Israel by politically and economically depriving the country for its alleged mistreatment of Palestinian-Arabs. The movement initially metastasized on American college campuses and is described by the Anti-Defamation League as &#8220;the most prominent effort to undermine Israel&#8217;s existence.&#8221; Ocasio-Cortez co-sponsored Omar&#8217;s bill defending BDS and was only one of 17 members of Congress to vote against a resolution condemning BDS.
While Hikind expressed disappointment that he would not be able face Ocasio-Cortez in court, he extended an invitation to the New York lawmaker to meet Holocaust survivors in his community and learn what a concentration camp means to them.
&#8220;I also want to address to Ocasio-Cortez, to ask her, we have had an outbreak of anti-Semitism in New York that we have never had before — the numbers are unprecedented,&#8221; Hikind said during a press conference on Monday &#8220;[A]ttacks upon Jews, Jewish blood in the streets, Swastikas being painted on synagogues, hate speech all over the place in New York.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://t.co/979FD31ruV">https://t.co/979FD31ruV</a>
&mdash; Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) <a href="https://twitter.com/HikindDov/status/1191395529676050434?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;I want to challenge Ocasio-Cortez, who speaks out on everything that&#8217;s important for America, has not spoken out about anti-Semitism,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;I challenge Ocasio-Cortez to speak up, to stand up, with me, with others, and speak out against the anti-Semitism that has invaded the streets of our city and our community.&#8221;

House Financial Services Committee Hearing On Administration&#8217;s Plans To Change Housing Finance

Ocasio-Cortez Issues Last-Minute Formal Apology For Blocking Twitter User

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Lawsuit

Twitter

On Tuesday, a Pennsylvania judge struck down three gun-control ordinances in Pittsburgh that were implemented after the Tree of Life synagogue shooting one year ago. Judge Joseph M. James of Allegheny County said state law “pre-empts any local regulation pertaining to the regulation of firearms.”
Almost exactly one year ago, a gunman murdered 11 worshipers in the attack on the synagogue using a Colt AR-15 rifle and three Glock .357 handguns.
The timeline regarding the ordinances went like this, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/30/us/pittsburgh-judge-gun-control.html">The New York Times</a> explained: they were announced in December 2018, as the City Council, resoundingly Democratic, passed the legislation; in January, Allegheny County district attorney Stephen A. Zappala <a style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;" href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wJyzqgcE25t0thSuxMlM9Lo1ETG6CzkX/view">wrote a letter</a> arguing the City Council lacked the authority to pass such laws; in April 2019 Mayor Willam Peduto signed the ordinances into law; and then the Firearms Policy Coalition, Firearm Owners Against Crime and Firearms Policy Foundation along with three individuals, filed suit against the city,
In May, the Court of Common Pleas stayed the ordinances.
The three ordinances “regulate the use of assault weapons in public places in Pittsburgh; prohibit the use of large-capacity magazines in public places; and allow courts to temporarily seize weapons from a person who is exhibiting ‘red flag’ signs of extreme risk to themselves or others,” as the <a href="https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2019/10/29/pittsburgh-gun-ordinances-judge-struck-down/stories/201910290149">Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</a> noted.
Peduto&#8217;s spokesman, Timothy McNulty, responded to the ruling: &#8220;The city and its outside legal counsel have always expected this would be a long legal fight, and will continue to fight for the right to take commonsense steps to prevent future gun violence.”
Attorney Joshua Prince, who represented the plaintiffs, enthused, &#8220;We are extremely pleased with Judge James&#8217; decision today striking down the City of Pittsburgh&#8217;s unlawful firearm ordinances and signage, which only sought to eviscerate the inviolate right of the residents of the Commonwealth to keep and bear arms and ensnare law-abiding citizens through a patchwork of laws,” as the <a href="http://www.startribune.com/judge-tosses-pittsburgh-gun-laws-passed-after-massacre/564063202/">Star-Tribune</a> reported.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs <a href="https://www.jurist.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/04/Anderson-v.-City-of-Pittsburgh-1.pdf">argued</a>:
<blockquote>The City of Pittsburgh has prohibited one of the most common and important means by which its citizens exercise their fundamental right of self-defense. By banning the public possession and transportation of loaded standard-capacity fire magazines that can carry more than 10 rounds of ammunition, Pittsburgh has violated the rights of its citizens and exceeded its authority under Pennsylvania law.
Worse yet, Pittsburgh has committed this violation without any realistic prospect of diminishing the misuse of firearms or the incidence of horrific mass shootings. Pittsburgh’s ban on the carrying of loaded standard-capacity magazines in public will do nothing to ameliorate these public policy concerns. All it will do is leave law-abiding citizens more vulnerable to attack from better-armed and more ruthless assailants …
What is more, due to the porousness of municipal borders, there is no reason to think that a municipal-level ban would have any more effect in reducing violence by those who ignore the law or use alternative means to commit crimes. And there is even less reason to conclude that Pittsburgh’s ordinance will be effective, for it depends on criminals complying with a legal prohibition on loading magazines that may be lawfully possessed in public when unloaded.
&nbsp;</blockquote>

PA Judge Strikes Down Gun Control Ordinances Implemented After Synagogue Massacre

Guns

Pittsburgh

Anti-Semitic Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) repeatedly stated on Wednesday that she was opposed to sanctioning Turkey — a country where 98% of its inhabitants <a href="http://www.globalreligiousfutures.org/countries/turkey#/?affiliations_religion_id=0&amp;affiliations_year=2010&amp;region_name=All%20Countries&amp;restrictions_year=2016">identify</a> as Muslim — because it was &#8220;failed foreign policy&#8221; and it unjustly targeted Turkey&#8217;s citizens.
The problem with Omar opposing sanctions is that she is an avid supporter of the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement that is designed to destroy the state of Israel.
Omar penned an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ilhan-omar-sanctions-are-part-of-a-failed-foreign-policy-playbook-stop-relying-on-them/2019/10/23/b7cbb1ca-f510-11e9-a285-882a8e386a96_story.html">op-ed</a> published in The Washington Post on Wednesday titled: &#8220;Ilhan Omar: Sanctions are part of a failed foreign policy playbook. Stop relying on them.&#8221;
In the op-ed, Omar wrote that enacting sanctions against authoritative regimes that commit human rights abuses — Iran, Venezuela, and Turkey — would hurt the people of those countries and ultimately would not be successful:
<blockquote>In the White House announcement on Oct. 14 of sanctions on Turkey, Trump said, “I am fully prepared to swiftly destroy Turkey’s economy if Turkish leaders continue down this dangerous and destructive path.” He imposed those sanctions before lifting them Tuesday, only to threaten more “crippling sanctions.”
This is an unmistakable echo of the failed U.S. strategy of “maximum pressure” on Iran and Venezuela. And just as with those two countries, it would be a humanitarian and geopolitical disaster.
In so much of our foreign policy, we rely on muscle memory and a limited toolbox to decide the best course of action. And, too often, sanctions regimes are ill considered, incoherent and counterproductive.
Research has shown that sanctions rarely achieve their desired goals. In the worst-case scenario, they hurt the people of a country — generally the very people we’re purporting to help — without making a dent in the country’s behavior. And in the case of human rights abusers, research suggests that more abuses typically occur with economic sanctions in place than without them.</blockquote>
Later in the day, Omar said during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Syria that the “Kurds have the right to exist as Kurds” and have a right to &#8220;self-determination.&#8221;
Omar also said that there needs to be &#8220;accountability&#8221; for Turkey&#8217;s actions, adding that &#8220;accountability does not mean canceling and freezing bank accounts. It does not mean crippling the Turkish economy, enacting mass punishment on populations that didn’t choose this.”
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) on U.S. foreign policy:
-“Kurds have the right to exist as Kurds” 
-Sanctioning Turkey is “enacting mass punishment on populations that didn’t choose this”
Omar is a supporter of the anti-Semitic BDS movement that aims to destroy Israel through sanctions <a href="https://t.co/9GoaKrWTAu">pic.twitter.com/9GoaKrWTAu</a>
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1187207591178334208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 24, 2019</a></blockquote>
Omar&#8217;s support of the anti-Semitic BDS movement has been widely condemned by many in her own party, including by Obama&#8217;s U.S. ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, who tweeted earlier this year: &#8220;Some of us remained uncomfortably quiet after her BDS flip-flop &amp; other offensive remarks because we were aware of efforts to work with her: by colleagues, party leaders, her local Jewish community in MN. She indicated to them she had other policy priorities, not Is/Pal issues.&#8221;
&#8220;But these efforts have failed. Her support for BDS is apparently her essence: blaming Israel alone for the conflict, absolving Palestinians of all responsibility, delegitimizing Israel&#8217;s very existence, &amp; accusing its supporters of shallow motives &amp; manipulation by Jewish money,&#8221; Shapiro continued.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
3. But these efforts have failed. Her support for BDS is apparently her essence: blaming Israel alone for the conflict, absolving Palestinians of all responsibility, delegitimizing Israel&#8217;s very existence, &amp;accusing its supporters of shallow motives &amp;manipulation by Jewish money.
— Dan Shapiro (@DanielBShapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/DanielBShapiro/status/1094942713835913216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
Omar, who even <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ilhan-omar-introduce-pro-bds-resolution-bds-ryan-saavedra">introduced</a> a pro-BDS resolution earlier this year in Congress, was essentially condemned by Pelosi at AIPAC, although Pelosi did not use her name directly.
“We must also be vigilant against bigoted or dangerous ideologies masquerading as policy, and that includes BDS,” Pelosi said. “Did you know this? It does not recognize — and many of its supporters don’t know or explicitly deny — it does not recognize the right of Jewish people to national self-determination.”
“I simply declare to be anti-Semitic is to be anti-American,&#8221; Pelosi added. &#8220;It has no place in our country.”
Earlier this year, Omar <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-ilhan-omar-runs-cnn-when-asked-about-her-ryan-saavedra">ran</a> when she was asked by CNN about why she supported the anti-Semitic BDS movement.

Ilhan Omar

BDS Supporter Ilhan Omar: Sanctions Unjustly Target Citizens, Are ‘Failed Foreign Policy’

Turkey

On the same late September day that Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, a self-declared anti-Semite, spoke before a packed and supportive audience at Columbia University and questioned the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust, a subtler but equally pernicious anti-Semitic event was taking place on the other side of town. Titled “<a href="http://apa.nyu.edu/event/on-comparative-settler-colonialisms-j-kehaulani-kauanui-and-rana-barakat/">On Comparative Settler Colonialism</a>,” the panel discussion at New York University (NYU) featured Wesleyan University Professor J. Kēhaulani Kauanui and Birzeit University Professor Rana Barakat. It was presented by the American Studies Program in the Department of Social Cultural Analysis and co-sponsored by the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU and the NYU Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality.
Moderated by Rutgers University Professor Jasbir Puar, infamous for resurrecting classic anti-Semitic tropes such as the <a href="http://www.thetower.org/3117-rutgers-prof-insists-her-updated-version-of-the-blood-libel-is-not-anti-semitic/">medieval blood libel</a>, participants reveled in bigotry and pseudo-intellectualism. In the spirit of classic anti-Semitism, the panelists advocated stripping the Jewish people of their indigenous history and bond to the land of Israel — leaving them, yet again, without a home. By cleverly manipulating concepts of indigeneity, sovereignty, occupation, and colonialism to fit a politicized, one-dimensional narrative based on a self-declared “anarchist” worldview, panelists distorted the region’s distant past and contemporary events alike.
The panel’s aim, according to Kauanui, was to “think comparatively across several colonial landscapes.” Using the framework of her theory “mobilizing indigeneity,” she posited similarities between Hawaii and “Palestine” “at the structural level,” arguing that both peoples “share the fundamental condition of indigenous territorial dispossession.” Kauanui rejected the two-state solution as “unjust at its core because it is premised on the continued acceptance of the Zionist claim to Palestine” that risks “normalizing Israel as a healthy biological political body.” The core problem, Kauanui said, is not the “occupation” per se, but the “broader settler colonial project” — in other words, Israel itself.
Barakat delivered an emotionally fraught lecture on her project of “decolonizing return.” “I hail from a legacy of generations attempting to return,” she declared. “Our collective Palestinian battle is an ontological imperative.” She told a “story” about Lifta, a village she falsely claimed was decimated by Israelis who allegedly forced out her grandmother and many others. In fact, the Arab Higher Executive <a href="https://www.camera.org/article/updated-la-times-gets-its-facts-wrong-on-lifta/">issued</a> the ultimatum to <a href="https://www.israellycool.com/2019/09/12/know-your-history-theres-something-about-lifta/">evacuate</a> the town, as eight Arab armies had just declared war on the fledging Jewish state.
In elaborating on “indigeneity” and “sovereignty” during the question and answer session, Barakat and Kauanui inadvertently revealed these concepts as political tools for delegitimizing Israel. Asking herself “whether the Jewish state had a right to exist,” Barakat denied that it did and claimed that even posing the question legitimized settler-colonialist “manipulation.” They dwelt on Palestinian dispossession, but ignored the historical dispossession of the Jewish people from the region for three millennia despite their continual presence on the land. Both spoke about the Palestinian right of return, but omitted that returning to Jerusalem has been a fundamental element of Jewish identity through the ages, from the Hebrew scriptures to daily prayers.
That Kauanui and Barakat called for the elimination of a sovereign state with no objections from their elite university audience demonstrates the moral and intellectual depravity of contemporary academe. Their arguments seek to legitimize genocide — yet to students mis-educated by Middle East Studies (MES) professors to view Zionism as a racist, colonialist scheme to steal land, they seem just.
Yet the “Zionist project” is perhaps history’s greatest triumph over colonialism. Through it, an ancient people who had their own nation with Jerusalem as its capital, and who were subsequently sentenced to centuries of exile, were able to re-assert their sovereignty and exist collectively as a people in the 20th century. What the panelists called “settler colonialists” are in fact a composite of Middle Eastern Jewish refugees forcibly expelled from Arab countries in the 1940s and their European Jewish counterparts escaping Holocaust persecution who joined native Jews whose ancestors had lived continuously in the region since Israel’s destruction two-thousand years before. In promoting Palestinian indigeneity and sovereignty but denying this same right to the Jewish people, they hypocritically display their own shade of “settler colonialism.”
UCLA Professor <a href="http://bayes.cs.ucla.edu/WHY/pearl-bio">Judea Pearl</a> once <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0323-pearl-anti-zionism-20160323-story.html">characterized</a> anti-Zionism as anti-Semitism aimed at Jews collectively, rather than individually: “If we examine anti-Zionist ideology closely, we see that its aims are to uproot one people, the Jewish people, from its homeland, to take away its ability to defend itself in sovereignty, and to delegitimize its historical identity. It is racist and fundamentally eliminationist.” Kauanui, Barakat, and Puar’s comments at NYU validate Pearl’s observation.
Their prominence in contemporary MES here and abroad, moreover, illustrates the field’s descent into a morass of politicized, even bigoted indoctrination masquerading as scholarship. Anyone trusting their work — whether students, journalists, government specialists, military leaders, or others — will be dangerously misled on the fundamental history of the region and its people. MES’s systemic problems are well-<a href="https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/">documented</a> and widely known. Unless this corrupt, failing discipline is reformed intellectually and morally, no one should look to it for accurate, truthful analyses.
&nbsp;
Karys Rhea is the New York associate of the Counter-Islamist Grid. She wrote this article for <a href="https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/">Campus Watch</a>, a project of the <a href="https://www.meforum.org/">Middle East Forum</a>.

New York University Challenged on Four Fronts of 40% Expansion

RHEA: NYU Panel Seeks To Delegitimize Jewish History

academia

Middle East

New York University

Zionism

As recently noted in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/16/conservative-activists-want-to-outlaw-antisemitism-in-public-education-why-is-that-a-bad-thing" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/16/conservative-activists-want-to-outlaw-antisemitism-in-public-education-why-is-that-a-bad-thing&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1571946079123000&amp;usg=AFQjCNELb6e0whaZ6VHG50pkn6n0FR0bDQ">The Guardian</a>, legislation regulating against anti-Semitism is likely to be enacted in various American states in response to the mounting persecution of Jews. The pieces of legislation address criminal and discriminatory conduct not protected as free speech; indeed, it includes specific provisions that the law shall “not diminish or infringe upon any right protected under the First Amendment.” Accordingly, laws such as this have now <a href="https://youtu.be/5EiWOebL85c" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://youtu.be/5EiWOebL85c&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1571946079123000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFpyci87uUi2XbvUyxCIjoiehsImA">passed with unanimous bipartisan votes</a> in both Florida and South Carolina. As the primary legal expert who helped develop such legislation, I believe the matter ought to be clarified so that the public can appreciate this important effort to combat hate and bigotry.
All current data indicate that anti-Semitic activity is on the rise. Three years ago, a Louis D. Brandeis Center study found that most Jewish students attending American colleges had personally experienced or witnessed anti-Semitism in 2015. An AMCHA Initiative survey found a 45% increase in anti-Semitic activity on college and university campuses between 2015 and 2016.  And last year, the Anti-Defamation League issued a report detailing a shocking 67% increase in anti-Semitic incidents from 2016 to 2017.
The unanimous bipartisan support for these bills demonstrates that an overwhelming majority of Americans agree that anti-Semitic incidents should be treated in the same manner as other incidents of crime and discrimination that are motivated by hate and bigotry. It is widely recognized that double standards, applied only to Jews and Israel, can be a primary indicator of anti-Semitism. Onlookers unaware of this fact might wonder why anyone would stand opposed to equal protection for Jews.
Critics of legislation addressing the problem of unlawful anti-Semitic activity wrongly argue that it somehow infringes upon free speech rights. However, the First Amendment does not protect criminal and discriminatory conduct — which is what these laws solely address. First Amendment advocates who worry about the anti-Semitism legislation at hand fail to express any concern over the suppression of pro-Israel speech by groups such as the Irvine 11. The truth is that, far from penalizing or restricting anyone’s private right to free expression, these laws will protect against the unlawful suppression of others’ free speech, a sad occurrence happening all too often at educational institutions these days.
Beyond the First Amendment pretense, the real reason why some oppose this legislation is because it is so effective in identifying anti-Semitism. The codified definition has been adopted by branches of the U.S. government and over thirty other countries because it makes it possible to identify when anti-Israel expressions are systematically used as a means of conveying anti-Jewish intent. As Justice Brandeis famously stated, “sunlight is the best disinfectant.” The clarity provided by this definition means that anti-Semitic crime and discrimination can no longer be whitewashed by claims of mere political opposition to Israel.
In the course of promoting discrimination against Israel, <a href="https://www.gov.il/en/Departments/General/terrorists_in_suits" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.gov.il/en/Departments/General/terrorists_in_suits&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1571946079123000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEq2ZJ0tO0iwEV4J3focaWSN0BlEw">terror-affiliated groups</a> within the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement, such as Students for Justice in Palestine, deliberately propagate misinformation and baseless claims, as well as classic anti-Semitic themes such as the suggestion of Jewish subversion, conspiracy, dual loyalty, greed, economic control, and most insidiously, blood libels. <a href="https://4il.org.il/1396/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://4il.org.il/1396/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1571946079123000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEn1f3624AnKFdRRyDfObD4o8fCdg">The BDS Movement’s messaging strategy</a> helps to systematically facilitate the development of bigoted anti-Jewish perspectives that, as history repeatedly shows, will eventually give way to anti-Semitic discrimination and ultimately persecution. It is no coincidence that criminal statistics now indisputably show that Jews are by far one of the most likely of all minority groups to be victimized in incidents motivated by hate. Thankfully, Americans and their elected officials are taking a bold stand against hate and bigotry.
 
Joseph Sabag is the Executive Director of IAC for Action. He is an attorney who has provided legal and policy resources to more than half the American states as they have passed legislation regulating against anti-Semitism and BDS.

PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL-HERITAGE-HISTORY

SABAG: Promoting Anti-Semitism By Perverting The Freedom Of Speech

Free Speech

On Wednesday, a member of the British Parliament who has served in that august body for 32 years and been a member of the Labour Party for 55 years wrote a searing condemnation of Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn as she announced her resignation from the party.
Dame Louise Ellman, who was raised in an observant Jewish home, denounced Corbyn for his toleration of anti-Semites and his consorting with, and never confronting, antisemites, Holocaust deniers, and terrorists. Ellman is the Chair of the All-Party Britain-Israel Parliamentary Group and the Labour Friends of Israel as well as serving as Honorary President of the Jewish Labour Movement, as the <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/breaking-labour-mp-louise-ellman-20637870">Mirror</a> noted.
Last week, activists in her home constituency in the  Liverpool Riverside area called on her to resign, stating, “We have no confidence that our MP Louise Ellman will carry out the wishes of our CLP (Constituency Labour Party) and our Riverside constituency or that she will follow Labour Party policy. This branch therefore call on our Riverside MP, Louise Ellman, to resign.”
In June, Ellman wrote, &#8220;It is time Jeremy Corbyn acted on Labour&#8217;s antisemitism crisis.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
It is time Jeremy Corbyn acted on Labour&#39;s antisemitism crisis. Here are four practical steps that must be taken now. Let&#39;s make progress! <a href="https://t.co/TFf1LYdH9q">pic.twitter.com/TFf1LYdH9q</a>
&mdash; Louise Ellman MP (@LouiseEllman) <a href="https://twitter.com/LouiseEllman/status/1152166541795966977?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 19, 2019</a></blockquote>
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On Wednesday, Ellman stated:
<blockquote>I have made the truly agonizing decision to leave the Labour Party after 55 years. I can no longer advocate voting Labour when it risks Corbyn becoming PM. I will continue to serve the people of Liverpool Riverside as I have had the honour to do since 1997.</blockquote>
She wrote:
<blockquote>I believe that Jeremy Corbyn is not fit to serve as our Prime Minister. With a looming general election and the possibility of him becoming Prime Minister, I feel I have to take a stand. I cannot advocate a government led by Jeremy Corbyn. Under Jeremy Corbyn&#8217;s leadership, antisemitism has become mainstream in the Labour Party. Jewish members have been bullied, abused and driven out. Antisemites have felt comfortable and vile conspiracy theories have been propagated. A party that permits anti-Jewish racism to flourish cannot be called anti-racist …
Jeremy Corbyn — who spent three decades on the backbenches consorting with, and never confronting antisemites, Holocaust deniers and terrorists, has attracted the support of too many anti-Semites.
The Labour Party is no longer a safe place for Jews and Jeremy Corbyn must bear the responsibility for this. We cannot allow him to do to the country what he has done to the Labour Party.
The overwhelming majority of the Jewish community is fearful of what a Corbyn government might mean for Britain’s Jews. I share those concerns. But this issue is not simply about the Jewish community. This is about the nature of our society. Jeremy Corbyn’s seeming tolerance of anti-Semitism would embolden racists, poison our public debate, and damage the social cohesion of our country.
My values — traditional Labour values —have remained the same. It is Labour, under Jeremy Corbyn, that has changed. He has presided over a culture of hatred, fear, and intolerance in the Labour party.
But this issue is no longer about the Labour Party — it is about the threat a Jeremy Corbyn premiership could pose to the country.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I have made the truly agonising decision to leave the Labour Party after 55 years. I can no longer advocate voting Labour when it risks Corbyn becoming PM. I will continue to serve the people of Liverpool Riverside as I have had the honour to do since 1997. <a href="https://t.co/3BTzUacZvo">pic.twitter.com/3BTzUacZvo</a>
&mdash; Louise Ellman MP (@LouiseEllman) <a href="https://twitter.com/LouiseEllman/status/1184575029276745730?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 16, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Delegates Attend The 2018 Jewish Labour Movement Conference

Labour Party MP For 32 Years Quits Party, Writes Searing Letter Condemning Corbyn

On Thursday&#8217;s episode of &#8220;The Ben Shapiro Show,&#8221; the Daily Wire editor-in-chief talks about the recent synagogue shooting in Germany and the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe. Video and partial transcript below:
Over Yom Kippur, there were a bevy of anti-Semitic incidents — as we have become used to. In the United States, there [was] apparently a fire set on the grounds of a synagogue in Brooklyn, which has become sort of rote, frankly. We&#8217;ve seen a bunch of these sorts of attacks in New York, this Brooklyn synagogue was apparently — again somebody who set a fire, right there on the front steps during Yom Kippur, according to the police. New York City has seen a massive surge in hate crimes, many of them have been targeting Jews. 
Also over Yom Kippur, there [was] an attack on a shul in Germany. The attack on the shul in Germany was by a white supremacist, who [livestreamed] this thing on Amazon. It was hideous, obviously. According to the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7554173/Gunman-shoots-dead-woman-outside-German-synagogue-goes-run.html">UK Daily Mail</a>: 
<blockquote>A gunman in a German synagogue rants about feminism, immigration and the Holocaust before he shot two people dead in a live-streamed, anti-Semitic rampage on Judaism&#8217;s holiest day. 
The shooter killed a man and woman, threw a grenade into a Jewish cemetery, and left explosives near the synagogue in Halle after failing to force his way inside while worshipers prayed on Yom Kippur &#8230;
[The suspect] was later arrested after trying to flee in a taxi, according to German media.
Germany&#8217;s interior minister said it appeared to be an anti-Semitic attack, possibly motivated by right-wing extremism, while Chancellor Angela Merkel offered her &#8216;deep sympathy&#8217;. 
[The suspect] was wearing military fatigues and a helmet camera, and he shot a woman dead in the street after she confronted him outside the synagogue where about 80 people were praying.</blockquote>
Now I happen to be in Israel right now, and I will just note that many of the same people who claim that Israel is the rationale for anti-Semitism — the reason people hate Jews is because of Israel, because Israel is so cruel and terrible, and because of how they treat the Palestinians and all of us — these are the same people, where if Israel didn&#8217;t exist, people would still be shooting Jews, there would just be no place for Jews to go. The fact is that thousands of Jews every year are leaving Europe, and good for them, because Europe is becoming a hellhole for Jews. 
Everybody knows this. The Wall Street Journal has reported on it, the New York Times has reported on it. It is not safe for Jews in places like France. It is increasingly not safe for Jews in places like Sweden, places like Germany, [and] places like Great Britain. People are leaving en masse, [and] where they are going is to the state of Israel because the state of Israel is still a safe haven for the Jewish people. And the same people who are claiming that it&#8217;s only Israel&#8217;s presence that is causing anti-Semitism seemed to forget that Jews were killed in the millions when Israel didn&#8217;t exist, specifically because no country would take in the Jews, and because the Jews had no place to go. The British Empire was banning the Jews from entering the nascent State of Israel, before it was the state of Israel — from entering British Palestine during the actual holocaust itself. 
So for all the talk about why Israel was bad, why it shouldn&#8217;t exist, why Israel is terrible and horrible and all of us; the reason that Israel exists is because of stuff like this. It&#8217;s because Jews have been the victims of anti-Semitism, will continue to be the victims of anti-Semitism, and so long as people keep maintaining the absolute stupid fiction that if Israel didn&#8217;t exist everybody would be nice to the — you know how historically accurate you&#8217;d have to be to actually believe that, if Israel didn&#8217;t exist, everyone would be nice to the Jews? 
Within living memory, three-quarters of the Jewish population on planet Earth was slaughtered. So I&#8217;m going to go &#8220;no&#8221; on that. The state of Israel wasn&#8217;t there then. It&#8217;s a &#8220;no&#8221; on that. It&#8217;s just it&#8217;s absurdity at the highest level. Israel is not the cause of anti-Semitism; Israel is a place where people are fleeing anti-Semitism, and that continues to be the truth, certainly in Europe.
<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ben-shapiro-show/id1047335260">Listen to full episodes of &#8220;The Ben Shapiro Show&#8221; on iTunes. </a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-ben-shapiro-show">Watch &#8220;The Ben Shapiro Show&#8221; on-demand!</a>

Anti-Semitic attach in Germany

SHAPIRO: Europe Is Becoming Unsafe For Jews

The Ben Shapiro Show

Authorities say that two people are dead after what early reports suggest are multiple suspects — at least one wearing tactical gear — opened fire at multiple locations near a synagogue in the German town of Halle on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
&#8220;According to initial findings, two people were killed in Halle. There were several shots,&#8221; local police said in a tweet reported by <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/germany-synagogue-attack-halle-grenade-reportedly-thrown-jewish-cemetery-today-2019-10-09/">CBS News</a> early Wednesday.
In follow-up tweets, authorities said that they had detained one suspect they believed to be connected to the attack but urged citizens to stay vigilant. Statements by officials indicate that multiple suspects were involved.
&#8220;According to initial information, two people have been killed in Halle,&#8221; a law enforcement spokesperson said in a statement reported by the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/germany-shooting-synagogue-attack-latest-halle-today-shooter-death-toll-grenade-a9148791.html">Independent</a>. &#8220;Several shots were fired. The alleged perpetrators are fleeing in a vehicle. We are asking the public to stay in their homes.&#8221;
Witnesses told German media they saw at least one of the attackers, dressed in tactical gear, open fire and then flee to a car, CBS reports. Video posted on social media appears to confirm the witness accounts, showing a suspect in &#8220;tactical gear including body armor and a helmet firing several rounds&#8221; with an unidentified weapon, the network notes.
Video has emerged showing a man dressed in tactical gear getting out of a silver car and firing what appears to be a shotgun down the street multiple times (via the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7554173/Gunman-shoots-dead-woman-outside-German-synagogue-goes-run.html">Daily Mail</a>):
<iframe id="molvideoplayer" title="MailOnline Embed Player" src="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/embed/video/2023086.html" width="698" height="573" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> 
Authorities say there were at least two locations targeted around the Anschlag vor Synagogue in Halle, resulting in two fatalities. According to <a href="https://www.mz-web.de/halle-saale/schiesserei-im-paulusviertel-polizei---hallenser-sollen-in-ihren-wohnungen-bleiben-33289538">local media</a>, after reportedly attempting to break into the synagogue, which holds around 80 worshippers, one suspect reportedly shot and killed a passerby outside.
&#8220;The <a class="body-link" href="https://www.bild.de/regional/sachsen-anhalt/sachsen-anhalt-news/schiesserei-in-halle-mindestens-ein-toter-65233386.bild.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-vars-item-name="BL-9148791-https://www.bild.de/regional/sachsen-anhalt/sachsen-anhalt-news/schiesserei-in-halle-mindestens-ein-toter-65233386.bild.html" data-vars-event-id="c6">Bild </a>newspaper reported that the attacker used a submachine gun in the assault, and threw a hand grenade into the cemetery,&#8221; the Independent reports.
Another victim was found at a nearby kebab shop.
&#8220;Konrad Rösler, a 28-year-old railway worker interviewed on German TV, said that he had been in a kebab shop when he saw a man with a helmet and military jacket launch the attack,&#8221; the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7554173/Gunman-shoots-dead-woman-outside-German-synagogue-goes-run.html">Daily Mail</a> reports. &#8220;Rösler said the attacker threw a grenade at the shop, which bounced off the door frame, before he fired shots into the shop. He said he locked himself in the toilet and heard several more loud bangs before police arrived.&#8221;
In the town of Landsberg, about 20 minutes away from Halle, another shooting was reported when a taxi driver was injured after an attempted hijacking, <a class="body-link" href="https://www.bild.de/regional/sachsen-anhalt/sachsen-anhalt-news/schiesserei-in-halle-mindestens-ein-toter-65233386.bild.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-vars-item-name="BL-9148791-https://www.bild.de/regional/sachsen-anhalt/sachsen-anhalt-news/schiesserei-in-halle-mindestens-ein-toter-65233386.bild.html" data-vars-event-id="c6">Bild</a> reports. The Independent notes that police have not confirmed a connection between the incidents.
A police spokesman told the press that they do not yet have &#8220;any indication about the motive of this act.&#8221;
As reported by CBS, the attack comes amid an <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rise-of-extreme-nationalist-groups-in-germany-return-of-anti-semitic-acts/">increase in anti-Semitic acts</a> in Germany, authorities citing over 400 reports of anti-Semitic attacks in the first half of 2018, which constitutes a 10% increase over the previous year. CBS links the attacks to &#8220;a marked rise of extreme nationalist groups in Germany.&#8221;
The Independent reports that the attack comes two days after a 32-year-old Syrian man allegedly hijacked a truck and deliberately drove it into victims, resulting in multiple minor injuries and an investigation into possible Islamist motivations.
This is a developing story; updates to come as more information comes to light.

Halle Germany Attack

Yom Kippur Attack: Two People Killed Near German Synagogue; Video Of Gunman Emerges

Germany

You may have read about the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/devlin-californias-new-ethnic-studies-model-bradley-devlin">proposed ethnic studies curriculum</a> developed for California public high schools, which caused an uproar because of its biased treatment of Jews and Israel, support for the <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/boycott-divestment-sanctions-movement-bds">Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions</a> movement against Israel, and fear that it fomented anti-Semitism. That is one of many battles over curricula as Islamists attempt to rewrite history and erase any mention of Islamic extremism.
The “Islamophobia” industry is engaged in a systemic effort to whitewash the history of Islam and perpetuate the myth that Islam has always been nothing but peaceful toward non-adherents. These propagandists seek to silence and smear their critics as “Islamophobic.”
We have seen this effort across college campuses, which have received nearly $3 billion since 2012 from Arab/Muslim states and individuals who hope to influence the next generation of Americans to adopt their view of Middle East geopolitics. These investments have paid off via the hiring of apologists for Islamist terror who teach, write textbooks, and serve as sources for the media.
Historian Martin Kramer has <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jihad-as-unarmed-struggle">noted</a> how American scholars have made “a deliberate effort to &#8230; turn Islam into a pacifist faith — a kind of oriental Quakerism.”
Equally disturbing, as I wrote in my book <a href="http://mitchellbard.com/lobby.html">The Arab Lobby</a>, is an increasing effort to shape the views of children from kindergarten through high school. The 9/11 terror attacks provoked fear and misunderstanding about Muslims and Islam, while political correctness allowed the lobby to present its sanitized version of events aimed at downplaying Arab/Muslim distinctions, ignoring differences in values and interests, and dismissing links between radical Islam and terror.
U.S. taxpayers underwrite some of these efforts through government-funded Title VI Middle East Studies centers at major universities. Today’s “Islamophobia” lobby has an exponential impact through these centers, whose mandate is to educate teachers about the region. As I’ve <a href="https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/11/08/taxpayer-funded-bias-on-middle-east-invades-k-12-classrooms/">documented</a>, as part of their obligation to engage in outreach, these Title VI-affiliated centers often produce materials that reflect the lobby’s views. Teachers then pass on these views to their students.
Advancing the same politicized agenda that rules academia, Islamist organizations have allied with left-wing interest groups and pressured publishers to revise textbooks to better reflect multicultural ideologies. The result is a reluctance to discuss negative aspects of sharia law (such as the discriminatory treatment of non-believers, women, and gays), the role of radical Islam in pervading terrorism, and the Islamist animus toward the United States, Israel, and the West. A 2008 <a href="http://mylifepath.info/library/index.php?keyword=The+Trouble+with+Textbooks%3A+Distorting+History+and+Religion&amp;subid2=2019-08-28&amp;first_subid=34-290-201909290545463ac5b6ddc">study</a> by Gary Tobin and Dennis Ybarra concluded:
<blockquote>Discovering in our schools a pervasive set of erroneous beliefs about such a vital topic should alarm every taxpayer, every parent, and every school official. To allow biased textbooks and outright propaganda in supplemental materials into the schools is to pervert the very purpose of public education and a misuse of our democratic system.</blockquote>
One such battle occurring in Virginia’s Loudoun County centers around the misrepresentation of the meaning of jihad. Loudoun’s presentation of <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jihad">jihad</a> and Islamic terrorism were criticized for bias. While it is understandable that American Muslims would not want their religion associated with radicalism, teaching that jihad is a wholly benign concept related to a believer’s internal struggle distorts the term’s meaning by ignoring its relationship to extremism, even as terrorist organizations — such as <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/palestine-islamic-jihad">Palestine Islamic Jihad</a> — use the very word itself to convey their malignant mission.
As Middle East scholar Bernard Lewis once <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-evolution-of-the-concept-of-jihad">explained</a>: “Conventionally translated ‘holy war,’ [jihad] has the literal meaning of &#8230; ‘striving in the path of God’ (fi sabil Allah). Some Muslim theologians … have interpreted the duty of ‘striving in the path of God’ in a spiritual and moral sense. The overwhelming majority of early authorities … discuss jihad in military terms.”
The “Islamophobia” lobby could veto Lewis, a Jew smeared by critics as a Western-oriented propagandist. But textbook authors could also cite the medieval Muslim historian Ibn Khaldun, who <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/wcpa/servlet/org.oclc.lac.ui.DialABookServlet?oclcnum=318070877">wrote</a>: “In the Muslim community, the holy war is a religious duty, because of the universalism of the (Muslim) mission and (the obligation to) convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force.”
Students can find a more contemporary definition in the Encyclopaedia of Islam, where Emile Tyan <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jihad-as-unarmed-struggle">wrote</a>: “Jihad consists of military action with the object of the expansion of Islam.”
Learning the meaning of jihad is also key for students to understand the Middle East today, where the commitment to jihad by terrorist organizations such as Palestine Islamic Jihad and Hamas perpetuates the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Students should learn, for example, that Palestine Islamic Jihad considers jihad the only way to liberate Palestine. A Tel Aviv University analysis explains how the group believes that a “Muslim victory and the elimination of Israel are foreordained by God’s words in the Quran.”
By reading primary documents, students can see for themselves the true meaning of jihad. To understand the ideology of <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/hamas-table-of-contents">Hamas</a>, teachers can direct them to the group’s <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/hamas-covenant-full-text">charter</a>, which states that “[t]here is no solution for the Palestine question except through jihad” and calls on Muslims to “raise the banner of jihad” to “rid the land and the people of their uncleanliness, vileness and evils.”
American public schools could also use material taught about Islam in Muslim schools. A <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/a-survey-of-saudi-textbooks">study</a> of Saudi textbooks, for example, found that many “encourage both violent and non-violent jihad against non-believers.”
A Palestinian <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/palestinian-textbook-calls-for-jihad-and-martyrdom-november-2003">textbook</a> for eleventh graders offered a definition of jihad very different from the one proposed for Loudoun school children: “Jihad is an Islamic term that equates to the term war in other nations. The difference is that jihad has noble goals and lofty aims and is carried out only for the sake of Allah and for His glory.”
Unquestionably, students should learn more about Islam. But they should learn it from unbiased sources, not from apologists for Islamism. It is a disservice, and intellectually dishonest, to teach them a sanitized version of history that whitewashes the extremist elements of the religion. If the “Islamophobia” lobby has its way, the next generation will grow up unaware and unprepared to face the danger from Islamists who threaten American lives, values, and interests.
&nbsp;
Mitchell Bard, a <a href="http://www.campus-watch.org/fellows.php">Campus Watch Fellow</a> with the <a href="https://www.meforum.org">Middle East Forum</a>, is the author/editor of 22 books, including the 2017 edition of Myths and Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict, The Arab Lobby, and the novel After Anatevka: Tevye in Palestine.

elementary school classroom

BARD: In Whitewashing Islamism, Some K-12 Programs Advance Jihad

Education

Radical Islam

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