Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind.(Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)
We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East.(From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948) With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last.(Friends of Israel Initiative)
Showing posts with label World Jewish Congress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World Jewish Congress. Show all posts
'There have been countless incidents, from Europe to North America. These are just a few recent examples… In Ukraine, antisemitic attacks nearly doubled between 2016 and 2017. There were more than a dozen incidents recorded in April alone. In Berlin, a man was attacked in an upscale neighborhood for wearing a kippah. In Paris, Holocaust survivor Mireille Knoll was brutally murdered in her apartment. Her attacker stated that he carried out the crime because she was Jewish. 2017 set a record for antisemitic activity in Sweden. Authorities prevented a neo-Nazi march in front of a synagogue on Yom Kippur after receiving intense pressure. In Bulgaria, far-right nationalists marched in commemoration of a war time Nazi collaborator. And in the United States, a Georgia town was the site of a Neo-Nazi march despite protests from residents. Marchers there set a swastika ablaze after nightfall. Italian fans of the Lazio football club used images of Anne Frank to insult supporters of rival club Roma. British Jews rallied in response to rampant and institutionalized antisemitism within the Labour Party.'
(Any elephants in the room? Quite a few, I'd say ...)
On 26 May last year, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)adopted a working non-legally binding definition of antisemitism:
“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which
may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical
manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish
individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions
and religious facilities.”
It went on to explain that the ancient hatred includes the following modern manifestations:
"Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.
Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.
Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.
Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust).
Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust. Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.
Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.
Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis. Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel."
On 25 April this year, at its Plenary Assembly, the World Jewish Congress (WJC) will present its full report and detailed report concerning antisemitism on social media during 2016, based on the IHRA’s definition.
In the meantime, stressing that posts criticizing Israel or Israel’s activities were not counted in the study, it has summarised its findings thus, :
'The World Jewish Congress has found that more than 382,000 antisemitic posts were posted to social media platforms over the course of 2016 – an average of more than 43.6 posts per hour, or one post every 83 seconds.
The WJC survey, conducted by the Israeli monitoring firm Vigo Social Intelligence, also determined that an overwhelming 63 percent of all antisemitic content online can be found on Twitter.
“We knew that antisemitism online was on the rise, but the numbers revealed in this report give us concrete data as to how alarming the situation really is,” World Jewish Congress CEO and Executive Vice President Robert R. Singer said. “We hope this serves as a wake-up call to all internet forums to maintain moral standards, rid themselves of offensive content, and make the digital world a safer place for all.”
The WJC research analyzed tens of millions of posts in 20 languages on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, blogs and other forums. After Twitter, the highest number of antisemitic posts online can be found on blogs, at 16 percent. Eleven percent of antisemitic content online was posted to Facebook, followed by Instagram with 6 percent, YouTube with 2 percent, and 2 percent on other forums...
The corresponding posts were identified through a database of searchable word phrases and terms online, then translated into leading languages and scanned through the internet. A representative sample was read and codified by analysts to refine searches and deepen qualitative analysis. A total of 7,600 posts were read in different languages, indicating a representative sample of 2 percent of the total discourse included in the analysis.
Last year I drew attention to some of the eyebrow raising posts of an aspiring Australian federal politician named Alan Lappin.
I don't know whether the WJC counted any of his posts in its study pertaining to 2016, but the bloke from Boorhaman North, near Wangaratta, who had his eye on the seat of Indi in the last election, is still at it this year, with such posts as these:
As aspiring pollies go, Alan Lappin is small fry indeed.
But Boorhaman.
What a bonza name for the habitat of an antisemite!
BDS Norfolk is a genteel and bourgeois-looking collection of dedicated Israel-bashers in and around the English cathedral (and now university) city of Norwich (yes, where the first European blood libel of the Middle Ages occurred).
Note the money symbols
Although many look ready for the pipe and rocking chair, the BDSers there are a dedicated lot, it appears, holding various demos calling for the boycott of Israeli products and an end to arming Israel, with a few stunts along the way.
They have even photographed and plugged the rows of old and oldish books in the cathedral library with "Palestine" in their titles, as if that somehow proves that there was an independent nation so-named until da Joos stole it.
And just look (above) how they've made these coins spin! It's so naive and laughable it's almost charming!
Anyway, here's World Jewish Congress (WJC) president Ronald S. Lauder addressing the plenary session of "Building Bridges, Not Boycotts," the international summit on the delegitimisation of Israel at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, and affirming his organisation's commitment to the fightback against BDS.
Addressing more than 1,500 students, dignitaries, public officials and representatives of Jewish organisations at the conference convened by, inter alia, the WJC and Israel’s Mission to the United Nations, Lauder pledged that the WJC “will commit all of our resources, and all of our abilities, to help fight BDS."
And he observed, inter alia:
"I wonder if all those people who support BDS have the slightest understanding of what this movement really means. Those BDS supporters who join marches on campus and chant: ‘From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!’ I wonder if they realize that the River is the Jordan, the Sea is the Mediterranean. These activists are calling for the destruction of the State of Israel. The Muslim groups have their roots in the Muslim Brotherhood ...
Make no mistake. The BDS movement doesn’t support the Palestinian people. It is strictly a campaign to delegitimise Israel, which is simply the latest attempt to deny the Jewish People their right to self-determination. Every other people on earth have the right, but BDS wants to deny that basic right to Jews.... ”
"[T]he day of the quiet Jew ... of the ghetto Jew are long over," he warned.
As reported here, Lauder has also recently declared:
“Over the last 20 years, and for the first time since the Holocaust, antisemitism is acceptable again. Unlike the antisemitism of the past, today it comes not just from the Far-Right, but increasingly it comes from the Far-Left. And the new target for this age-old hatred is not the ‘International Jew,’ as Henry Ford called us. Today, it is the Jewish state of Israel, which is constantly vilified throughout the media, on the internet, at the United Nations, and on almost every college campus.
Let’s make one thing crystal-clear right now. When someone says they are not anti-Jewish, they are only anti-Israel, that is a lie. When you hold the only Jewish nation to a different standard than any other country, when you make up lies about the only Jewish nation, its past and its present, and when you want the only Jewish nation on earth to disappear, that makes you an antisemite. Pure and simple...."
Pertinent new graphics on BDS by Edgar Davidson here
Including Al Beeb, which when all is said and done should be telling us!
In a recent survey conducted by Pechter Middle East Polls, Dr David Pollock, a former senior adviser on the Middle East at the US State Department, has made a groundbreaking investigation of Arab public opinion in east Jerusalem.
Less than a third of those polled - 31 per cent - would prefer to live in a Palestinian state.
A further 23 per cent were undecided.
About 40 per cent of respondents would try to move to Israel if their neighbourhoods came under Palestinian rule, giving as reasons for their choice such benefits as freedom of movement, more job opportunities, higher income, and the availability of health insurance.
A majority of respondents claimed that a unilateral Palestinian declaration of independence would prove either detrimental to their status or irrelevant, with many fearing that under Palestinian rule they would lack the right to free speech and freedom of expression.
Presenting his findings to a roundtable meeting of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) in Jerusalem, Dr Pollock noted that “any attempt to transfer control over Palestinian neighborhoods would be contrary to the wishes of the majority of Jerusalem's Palestinian population. Many Jerusalem Arabs believe that Israel has 'won the war of attitudes' and prefer the status quo.”
Arab Christians, who comprise only 7 percent of Jerusalem's population, were found to be particularly fearful of a future under Palestinian statehood.
Remarked the WJC Institute 's chairman, retired diplomat Mordechai Palzur:
“Dr. Pollock’s groundbreaking research highlights the complexity of the situation in Jerusalem, which is not always understood, and makes clear that any division of the city is impossible.”
