Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 22, 2020

Analysts say conspiracy theories about Jewish philanthropist George Soros have soared in recent weeks as right-wing commentators blame him for playing a role in both the pandemic and the US race riots.

Soros, 89, is a well-known donor to liberal causes and has long been the subject of antisemitic suggestions that he is part of a shadowy cabal that runs the world.

However, analysis by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) now shows that suspicion of Soros online has skyrocketed, and that during periods of lockdown he has been the subject of more than half a million negative tweets a day. Researchers said this compared to an average daily mention of around 20,000 pre-lockdown tweets.

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In the past three months more than 460,000 people have died of COVID-19 and protesters in the Black Lives Matter movement have brought cities around the world to a standstill, with Soross detractors seeing his hand in all of it.

Among the accusations being spread online are that he hires and transports protesters, keeps piles of bricks to be hurled at shop windows, and colluded with police to fake the death of unarmed black man George Floyd last month.

A billionaire investor whose Open Society Foundation funds liberal causes around the world, Soros is a regular target of nationalists, populists and autocrats, including the increasingly dictatorial Hungarian leader ViktorOrbn, whose anti-democratic policies have been criticised by academics at a Soros-funded Hungarian university.

In 2018 another conspiracy theory suggested that Soros had funded and encouraged a convoy of US-bound migrants from Central America, which resulted in a far-right sympathiser mailing a pipe bomb to his home address.

One reason right-wingers hate Soros is his support for multilateralism, which led to his warning late last month that the coronavirus may lead to the break-up of the European Union if stronger members do not support weaker countries.

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Conspiracy theories about George Soros soared in US amid pandemic and race riots - Jewish News

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Posted By admin on June 22, 2020

The Zionist regime is the real cause of the destabilization in West Asia as the Palestinians claim since they started to lose their land after the invasion of the French Zionists during the world war 1 right after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. This process of occupation was intended to create the puppet state of Israel.

Israelis don't just want to get all of Palestine, they also want to get the entire area, including Africa, west Atlantic Ocean passing for the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf including the Arabic Peninsula - Iran and that makes sense given the recent wars in this zone.Palestine citizens believe these Jews arent Semitic; they are just from Ashkenazic origins. In ancient times they used to live in the eastern part of the Khazar territories (later, the same territories were part of the Russian Empire). Afterward, they moved to West Asia and Africa, Egypt, and Palestine, reaching the rest of the East. In 1934, Stalin created the Hebraists region Oblast with the capital of Birobidzhan, instead of around the 16th century AC the Jews got the UK, just kicking out the Catholics and in recent centuries, they got all of the West and now they have the rest of the world.

Basically they are located in all states along with their Zionist mafia.

Most famous bankers like Rockefeller originally Roggenfelder, British royal family of Windsor a German originally Wettin, Rothschild, Goldman Sachs, Stanley Morgan, Reuters (news agency) originally the owner of the national Iranian central bank on the Shah Qajar and Pahlavi, Lehman Brothers (the guilty of the economy crisis begin in 2008), Elkan (the owners of the Ferrari, Chrysler, Fiat automobiles, most popular and powerful French family originally Elchanan bankers), Alexandre and Simon Lazarre, Zuckerberg the owner of Facebook, Susan Wojcicki CEO of YouTube from a Russian banker family (Anne E. Wojcicki her sister founder of the pharmaceutical company about to develop Personal Genoma), Sergey Brin the founder of Google from a Russian Jewish bankers (how come Russians own the American companies?) his associate is Larry Page a Jewish Israelian origin, Bob Iger CEO of Disney now owner of several film productions and banks even in crypto value, moreover Boris Johnson the Prime Minister of UK years ago used to work in the English television network as reporter writing for the UK automobile magazine GT so he wasn't an expert in political issue but any case working in the Zionist media, Jared Kushner the son in law of Donald Trump originally Berkowitz, Sasson financially supporter of the Italian parties and other in Europe, also Warburg, Kuhn, Loeb, Shiff, Davison originally Davidsohn, Soros, all of these names. Even Walt Disney in the 1930s created a character inspired by the Jewish banker Rockefeller named Rockerduck.

Al Goldstein, a Jewish pornographer, came from a family of bankers.

The industry of films - Porn website belongs to them.How is it possible that a religious person, in this case, Jewish, works with this stuff mistreating the human being humiliating the soul and dignity of the people?

In their movie trash, they repeatedly insult Islam and Christianity, falsely showing the Muslims like terrorists and retro style radical oppressing women and Christians like Mafiosi and priests like pedophilias.

But they, themselves, are the real Mafiosi, Terrorists, and Pedophilias because their set of beliefs since thousands of years ignites war in every corner of the world. They oppress their women with Burka. They have killed people. That's strange that none of the media condemned such things, ah yes maybe cause all the media belong to them.

But if a film producer makes a movie against them, gets fined and may even be arrested too.

But they can freely do instead.

If a person rejects the Jewish Holocaust dogma, he or she will face the same fate.

Some years ago, the former President of Iran Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the truth about the big lies of the Shoah on gas chambers and burning furnaces.

Basically it was impossible to kill millions of Jewish people inside the concentration camp of Auschwitz because on a 75 square meter space, it wasn't possible to deploy 1000 Jewish people per day and in regards of the poisoned gas without a sealed chamber, the German soldiers would also have died poisoned with cyanide gas. Indeed, in the United States, the execution by poisoned gas is done inside a sealed chamber and the procedure is pretty long done one prisoner by one.

Sure it is strange that Americans use this kind of execution while blaming Nazis for same behavior everyday...

And about the crematory ovens the story tells us that they used to burn 3 bodies each time, but in the reality to burn a single body inside a wooden coffin takes more than 1 hr. so with no coffin more than a double time, then it wasn't possible to kill millions of Jewish in that way because even the German soldiers would die because of exhaustion and it would have taken some century to accomplish the mission.

The reality is that Jewish people surely died in this prison because of disease, hunger, and mayhem, but so did the Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and Atheists. The real Holocaust was the entire World War II, but strangely nobody mentions things like bombings by Anglo Americans.

So Zionists are kidding us for their business purpose.

Some of their symbols such as Menorah, Magen star, Pyramid, Eye, Sun, Swastika are vlearly visible in their music, books, media and films. 5G technology is developed by NASA then by them.

Many Palestinians are wondering why Israel HAS TO find a Jewish land when all the Jews, since before the Egyptian Empire, used to live there and recently under the Ottoman Empire managed to own the banks like Moise Caimondo? It is really strange that they could keep their role of command while a Muslim Emperor used to rule the Empire!

The truth is, in fact, the Jews are the owners of the world through UN. They force each country to accept their wrong policies to destroy the progress of the civilization and to bring about a dirty life style filled with Criminals, Jobless people, economy crisis, misery, loss of family values, prostitution, pedophilia, homosexuality, and many other abnormalities. Lesbians are supported by the criminal association like LGBT, and Amnesty International protects the fake asylum seekers but pushes Negro African to invade west to kill people and rape the Aryan woman making them pregnant to change the race of the people and to turn them into people with low the degree of knowledge creating the best slaves in the New World Order while Jewish white leaders will keep marrying each other to become stronger more than before.

Our real Pope Ratzinger was removed by Zionists while the actual second Francis, a perfect character for the Atlantic agenda of the Gesuita order close to Hebraism, goes in Arabia; a place territory with no Christian churches but he doesn't go in Iran which is full of Christian churches. This is while in 1970s, our Pope Paul VI the last King of Vatican used to go to Iran very often and welcomed by the Iranian Priests.

Today, because Vatican and Mecca are in the hands of Zionists, like many other Italian media as well as religious magazines, there is general censorship.

Indeed, by the end of 1960s, there was an imposed deal made by the Jewish monarchy forcing the Vatican to submit on an agreement or contract called Concilium Vatican 2 which obligated Christians to accept and recognize the Hebraism as the father of Christianity, to stop and apologies for being Anti-Semitic and to forget the assassination of Jesus by the Jews.

Basically this is what may happen to Islam one day because Hebraism is trying to take all other religions under Jewish domain.

In the future, the cross may disappear from the Church with the excuse that Christianity has accepted to forget the killing Jesus.

In Hebraism, every person is born Jewish and even if they convert to another religion or atheism, they will remain Jewish any case.

In 1998, in our Italian square in Rome, the Jewish leaders refurbished this ideology by placing a Menorah chandler on the ground in front of the door of our Italian parliament.

Right after 1992, things changed. The process of privatization started in our national companies like what happened in Russia which ended the Soviet Union.

In the Vatican, previous Popes were all Italians for centuries. After the assassination of Pope Luciani came Voityla a Jewish Polish Pope as in Poland. There live many Jew and strangely Auschwitz camp is located there.

So hearing the words of Palestinians about that, I was just shocked. I believe Zionists claim all the countries in their hands as a real, lasting empire nowadays.

They were capable of creating and later destroying all the empires including the Egyptian, Assyrian, Roman, Ottoman, Russian, Chinese, and Serbian, all for the globalization imperial project domain named UN.

Although all the monarchies in several countries were removed, strangely up to now, television promotes most of the royal British family like Hollywood stars imposing upon us to be devotees of them.

Paul Elliot Singer is the banker owner of the Italian telecommunications company Telecom which is now becoming European major phone company and he holds the debt of some South American countries like Argentina as well as Peru. He is one of the founders of the LGBT and financial supporter for the American students of universities like Harvard. Efforts to relocate these students in Israel are paid all by him.

The Federal Reserve of United States of America belongs to Jews as the Bank of Gold in UK which is the main controller of the worldwide economy. That's why Brexit happened.

Strangely in this period of Coronavirus quarantine, an American Jewish from an old family of bankers, Kevin Mayers, became the CEO of Tik Tok, the Chinese competitor of YouTube, so how come an American Ashkenazi Hebrew owns a Chinese billion-dollar company if America is against China?

Actually there are many other laws in favor of the Jews. One risks going to prison even for having a different idea about their story, so isnt that a dictatorship?

People who celebrate Quds' day are screened by media as Anti-Semitic, while in fact are protesting against the tyrant of Zionists that invaded Palestine.

Thats why in 1948 they created the forced state of Israel, not caring about the genocide they did killing and deporting from their concentration camps all the Palestinian citizens who did not acquiesce to their invasion.

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Why Zionist regime was created in 1948 - Tehran Times

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Posted By admin on June 22, 2020

I am many things

I am a Jew

I am Israeli

I am American

I am Ashkenazi

I am not European

I am Middle Eastern

I am not White

I am a light-skinned Levantine Semite

I am White-Passing

I am White in the eyes of most Systems

I am hated for not being white enough

I am hated for being too white

I am a beneficiary of White Privilege

I am hurt by White Supremacy

I am helped by White Supremacy

I am not the cause of White Supremacy

I am passively perpetuating White Supremacy

I am RESPONSIBLE for doing my small part to dismantle White Supremacy

I am often asked by white people what ARE you?, because my big nose, my big hair shouts something different!

I am scared when this happens

I am proud when this happens

I am never told you dont look Jewish when this happens

I am a Jew whose Jewishness is never doubted, never challenged because of the color of my skin. I am never asked to show my papers, to prove I belong, unlike my Black and of Color Jewish brothers and sisters

I am part of the Jews who were exiled to Europe; who blossomed in poisoned soil, but whose roots never took

I am part of the Jews who were told to go home; who never stopped praying for the day we could

I am part of the Jews who thought we were passinguntil they finally came up with a solution to weed us out

I am part of the Jews who escaped to Ellis Island, who successfully blended, who enjoyed upward mobility, comfort, stability

I am a descendant of 2000 years of suffering, persecution, and inherited trauma; of 4000 years of uplifting wisdom, tradition, ingroup empowerment, community and success despite all odds passed down from generation to generation

I am a descendent of great-grandparents who fled pogroms, who were beaten and killed for being Jewish; of grandparents who were mocked and taunted and excluded from clubs and workplaces; of parents who had no inherited wealth and fought and saved and suffered to become respected physicians

I am the Jewish generation born not ever knowing a time without Israel able to walk tall without fear because of this psychological security blanket

I am the Jewish generation that is still attacked; by knives, by spit, by rockets, by libel; once again turned into the symbol of all that is evil

I am the generation that knows Jewish Power for the first time since we were carried away from our home in chains for the first time truly free in our own land, able to participate actively in the redemption

I am the generation stumbling, trying to learn to enjoy that power responsibly, often succeeding, often erring

I am a cis-gendered woman; benefiting from and disadvantaged by conditionally white womanhood

I am able to get pulled over on the Jersey Turnpike and worry about the impact on my wallet, not my life; to smile and wink and be on my merry way

I am scared to ride the subway alone at night in NYC because I have been shoved and harassed for being a woman, for being a Jew

I am able to approach an Israeli Police officer in the Old City of Jerusalem and ask for directions knowing worst-case scenario Ill be ignored

I am forbidden from entering some countries, I am in danger in many more countries, simply for being a visible Jew

I am NEVER IN FEAR, in either of MY countries, that the AUTHORITIES are not on my side due to the amount of melanin in my skin

I am propelled ahead as a result

I am selected for success, as a result chosen by systems designed for me and not others

I am handed on a silver platter all that I need to succeed by a deeply supportive and stable family, and their network of successful people

I am held back by mental health issues woven so deeply into my being, preserved by, hard-coded into my nucleic acids from which I can never fully break free

I am able to afford tools to cope that others can not

I am still struggling to succeed because I am afraid of failure and

I am flawed

I am standing at the edge of a diving board, peeking below at the safety net of deep soft waters; soothing me, beckoning, whispering well catch you; and yet,

I am paralyzed stiff while others have NO CHOICE but to jump into the shallows, no forgiving waters to break the fall if they slip

I am afforded the luxury of failure and paralysis

I am PRIVILEGED

I am a lover of tradition

I am a fighter for reform

I am a pursuer of Justice

I am a pursuer of Peace

I am in need of protection from police

I am in debt to those who protect me

I am in AWE of those who risk and give their lives to protect me

I am in recognition of the fact that this protection disadvantages and harms others, both in the US and here in Israel

I am aware of the need to change this inequity

I am terrified of the physical dangers that could befall my people, both here and in the US, as a result of this change

I am ready to talk about ways to reconcile those competing needs, to think creatively about solutions to meet both

I am striving to become anti-racist

I am striving to fight anti-Semitism

I am striving to become an effective ally in the fight to make Black Lives Matter

I am striving to acknowledge my buried biases and own my shame;to notice my many embarrassing, past and continued, subconscious microaggressions against Arabs, against Blacks, against Jews who dont look like me

I am striving to smile and emit warmth instead of crossing the street in fear when I pass a Palestinian in Tel Aviv; I am mortified that I have to even think to do so; I am aware she may be just as afraid of me

I am striving to seek justice for my Palestinian neighbors

I am striving to uphold justice for my People

I am failing

I am learning and growing through failure

I am taking lessons and inspiration from conversations about systemic racism in America and recognizing an opportunity to learn from and apply them here

I am going to continue pointing out fundamental differences between our circumstances

I am pro constructive criticism

I am against destructive demonization

I am not a western colonizer

I am a tragically imperfect self-emancipator; part of a decolonization movement that both advanced and regressed because of western colonizers

I am an immigrant by choice, not by necessity

I am an immigrant foreigner, yet home amongst family

I am the fulfillment of the 2000-year-old righteous dream to return home and join those who never left

I am tacitly complicit in oppression

I am just a girl trying not to burn toast

I am an occupier of people

I am a liberator of land

I am indigenous to this land. I belong to this land

I am taking up the space of others who belong to this land

I am comfortable saying my People have a RIGHT, maybe even an obligation, to settle and self-determine in all of our indigenous lands including Judea and Samaria

I am prepared to NOT ACTUALIZE certain rights or obligations in order to uphold other divine values and commandments to guarantee essential rights for others

I am keen on finding a more creative solution

I am a Jew who learns from Torah an obligation to love and protect my own; who says never again for my People

I am a Jew who learns from Torah an obligation to extend that love and protection to others; who says never again for other Peoples

I am a Jew who knows sometimes these sentiments are in direct opposition

I am a Jew who knows these distinctions between us and others, between the I and the oneness, are only necessary illusions a part of this temporary, physical realm

I am a Jew who wants to use these distinctions productively because effective external care emerges when we first care for ourselves

I am a Jew who believes in the dignity of difference

I am able to listen to and learn from others who hold very different beliefs

I am understanding of the momentum achieved by drawing lines in the sand

I am aware that change through divide is easier and faster and sometimes necessary

I am hesitant to draw lines in most situations, because

I am a believer that change through unity is harder and slower, but ultimately more enduring

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A poem on racism, identity, Jewishness, Zionism and complexity - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on June 22, 2020

If ever there was a time to re-examine colonial legacies and responsibilities, this is it. The theft of Palestine from the Palestinians is one such legacy. On 2 November 1917, the foreign secretary, Arthur James Balfour, issued his famous declaration in support of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. In 1917, Jews constituted 10% of the population, the rest were Arabs. Yet Britain recognised the national rights of a tiny minority and denied it to the majority.

In his 2014 biography of Winston Churchill, Boris Johnson described the Balfour declaration as bizarre, tragically incoherent and an exquisite piece of Foreign Office fudgerama a rare example of sound judgment and historical accuracy from the pen of Johnson.

The Balfour declaration enabled the Zionist movement to embark on the systematic takeover of Palestine, a process the Zionists themselves initially described as settler colonialism, a process which is still continuing.

In 1917, only 2% of Palestine was owned by Jews. In 1947 the UN proposed partitioning the territory of the British mandate in Palestine into two states, one Arab and one Jewish. Under this plan, the Jews were allocated 55% of the land although they still owned only 7%. In the course of the 1948 war, the newly established State of Israel extended the territory under its control to 78% of Mandatory Palestine. This postwar status quo was confirmed in the 1949 armistice agreements concluded by Israel with its Arab neighbours, the only internationally recognised borders it has ever had.

In the June 1967 war, Israel completed the conquest of Palestine by occupying the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. By signing the Oslo Accord with Israel in 1993, the Palestine Liberation Organisation gave up its claim to 78% of Palestine. In return they hoped to achieve an independent Palestinian state on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with a capital city in East Jerusalem. It was not to be.

There were many reasons for the breakdown of the Oslo peace process but the most fundamental was the relentless expansion of Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land in flagrant violation of international law. Settlements consolidate the colonial project beyond the green line, the pre-1967 border. By expanding these settlements, all Israeli governments since Oslo Labour as well as Likud have demonstrated that they are more interested in land than in peace.

Having just formed a new coalition government following a third inconclusive election in one year, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Likud leader, has announced his plan to formally annex about 30% of the West Bank, including the settlement blocs and the Jordan Valley. There is a majority in the Knesset, Israels parliament, for annexation. If annexation takes place, it would leave the Palestinians with roughly 15% of historic Palestine. It would also hammer the last nail in the coffin of the two-state solution to which the international community still clings.

Support for annexation comes from Donald Trump, Netanyahus friend and close political ally. In January 2019, Trump unveiled his much-vaunted deal of the century. This is not a peace plan but a US endorsement of every item on Netanyahus wish list. Unsurprisingly, it was hailed by Netanyahu and his rightwing cronies as a second Balfour declaration. It gives Israel a free pass to annex roughly a third of the West Bank without having to negotiate with the Palestinians, let alone make any concessions.

To the Palestinians, Trumps plan offers a paltry reward of $50bn over five years if they acquiesce in a state consisting of a collection of enclaves surrounded by Israeli settlements and military bases, with no territorial contiguity, no capital in East Jerusalem, no army, no borders with the outside world, and no control over their airspace or natural resources. They will only be allowed to call this a state if they meet a list of conditions determined by Israel. By any standard, this is a grotesquely unfair and insulting proposal.

Netanyahu is inundated with protests against annexation from leftwing Israeli political parties, from a network of diaspora Jewish organisations, and from a group of 220 former Israeli generals and heads of security services who call themselves Commanders for Israels Security. The main arguments advanced by these diverse groups are that annexation will be detrimental to Israels security, that it will be difficult and costly to police the extended borders, that it risks igniting a third Palestinian uprising, poses a threat to the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, ends the prospect of normalisation with the rest of the Arab world, and turns Israel officially into an apartheid state. Significantly, all these arguments are more concerned with Israels welfare and reputation than with Palestinian rights.

The same can be said of the group of prominent British Jews describing themselves as committed Zionists and passionately outspoken friends of Israel. In a letter to Mark Regev, Israels ambassador to London, they warn that unilateral annexation would pose an existential threat to the traditions of Zionism in Britain, and to Israel as we know it. Concern for the wellbeing of the oppressor rather than the oppressed is another well-worn trope of colonial discourse.

The British government joined 10 European Union countries to warn Israel against annexation, while 130 MPs signed an open letter urging Johnson to impose economic sanctions on Israel if it went ahead with the move. The MPs are right that action is needed; tepid expressions of disapproval have never deterred the Israeli government. Recognising Palestine as a state within the 1967 borders is another way for Britain to right the wrongs of Balfour and end up on the right side of history.

More than a dozen European parliaments have recognised Palestine but only one government Sweden. In 2017, Johnson, then foreign secretary, rejected Labours call for the UK to mark the Balfour declarations centenary by officially recognising the state of Palestine, declaring that the moment is not yet right to play that card. Surely today the moment has come.

Avi Shlaim is emeritus professor of international relations at Oxford and author of The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World.

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By recognising Palestine, Britain can help right the wrongs of the Balfour declaration - The Guardian

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Posted By admin on June 22, 2020

Black lives matter. It is a simple truth. This week I found myself having to explain what ought to be self-evident to fellow Jews who say the movement promotes BDS (the Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement) and is anti-Israel, and therefore they cannot support it. This week I also saw an event supporting Black lives in which Zionists were specifically told not to come. This makes the task of helping Jews understand why they must help confront and root out racism that much more difficult.

To them, I say the following:

There are two sites that I am aware of that support the Black Lives Matter movement. But neither the movement nor the hashtag is owned by a site. It is bigger than that.

The first site, Black Lives Matter, does not intertwine any anti-Israel content into its platforms. See for yourself. It does list 16 chapters (none in Georgia yet!). Some people have also mistakenly noted that because the donation page mentions ActBlue, they are going to the Democratic Party. Wrong. Donations pass through ActBlues platform and go to the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation.

There is also a second site, called Movement for Black Lives. Its donation page notes that it is made up of over 150 organizations, including Black Lives Matter; it too uses ActBlue, but those donations go to the Movement for Black Lives. This site is the one which used to specify under Invest-Divest that they support BDS and see the US complicit in the genocide of Palestinians. There are many issues with how Israel treats both Palestinians under the PA and those within Israel, but none of it is genocide and so supporters of Israel felt that a difficult pill to swallow. When it was on the page, I felt that had this language not been included, Jews wouldve been more vocal in their support of the movement and it bothered me that this issues was being unnecessarily embedded into a very worthy cause. Since then, the Movement for Black Lives moved the anti-Israel content off the websites platform page and relegated it to a pdf document on cutting military spending linked at the bottom of the page.

When Movement for Black Lives featured the anti-Israel content on their sites platform, it was difficult for many to overlook. Because they have moved it off the page and because the issue of Black lives being so harmed by this country is so overwhelmingly in need of support and because as a coalition site their platform cannot possiblyvrelect all of its member organizations platforms (and because perhaps there are other sites for the cause and because no one owns the hashtag or the movement), I certainly cannot abide by people using M4BLs inclusion of BDS as a reason not to support BLM. (I also would wager to guess that most who use that as a reason to withhold support heard something from someone somewhere and never bothered to check the site either then or now.)

When I now see fellow Jews using this as an excuse not support BLM, it hurts because 1. it is not the obstacle they thought given the reasons spelled above; and 2. I fear they may be using this as an excuse to hide behind, in order to perpetuate their own racism. And that thought is awful.

I shared these comments this week in a number of places.

Then, over the weekend I saw on Twitter that MPower Change and Believers Bail Out were promoting a Muslims for Abolition Juneteenth rally and day of action. Believers Bail Out provides bail money to Muslims who are incarcerated. On its site, MPower says it works towards social, spiritual, racial, and economic justice for all people [while also aiming] to build political power online and offline for Muslims. Its executive director is Linda Sarsour. The site also claims that Everyone has a place in this movement.

But not everyone can come to their Juneteenth rally. Open to all, minus cops & Zionists.

As I wrote back in 2018, Linda Sarsours anti-Zionism is anti-Semitic, no matter how much she wants to believe otherwise. What her organization did this week by specifically excluding those who support Israels right to exist needs to be called out by everyone, especially by those who refuse to support Israel. Because this is wrong. Just wrong. (For more on why anti-Zionism is antisemitc, please read fellow Times of Israel bloggers Justin Feldmans 8 Reasons why anti-Zionism is always anti-Semitism.)

I am a Zionist. I support Israel as a homeland for the Jews. I, like many other Zionists, disapprove of Israel annexing land and of many things that Israeli governments have done. I also believe that a two-state solution that gives Palestinians autonomy must happen, and that it must be negotiated bilaterally. None of this is contradictory to being a Zionist.

As I explained in another blog addressing the stalemate, one can be pro-Israel without being anti-Palestinian. I am. I consider myself pro-Israel, pro-Palestinian, pro-peace. I am not alone.

On the flip side, one can be pro-Palestinian without being anti-Israel. But Linda Sarsour isnt one of those people. In equating the two, Linda Sarsour demonstrated that it is hate that motivates her. Not unity. In my opinion, thats not the kind of person who should be driving any movement. And what her organizations message about the Juneteenth rally is doing is divisive and exclusionary, pure and simple.

So, where do Jews fit in to the Black Lives Matter movement?

Black lives matter and all Jews should give their support to this vital cause which is larger than any single website.

Black lives matter and no Jews should be shut out from showing their support.

Born in Brooklyn and raised on Lawn Guyland, Wendy lived in Jerusalem for over a decade submerged in Israeli culture; she has been soaked in Southern life in metro Atlanta since returning to the U.S. in 2003. Recently remarried, this Ashkenazi mom and MIL to three Mizrahi sons and a DIL in their 20s splits her time between managing knowledge in corporate America, pursuing a dual masters in public administration and integrated global communications, relentlessly Facebooking, enjoying the arts and trying to bring a wider perspective to the topics she covers while blogging.

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Where Jews fit in to the Black Live Matter movement - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on June 22, 2020

Iranian media has reported that southern Yemen is now linked to Zionists claiming that news reports in Israel suggested southern Yemen might one day have a connection to Israel. This is the usual Iranian model of suggesting every enemy is a Zionist. But it has larger regional ramifications because Yemen is divided now between the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and the Saudi-backed coalition that includes other parts of Yemen. The latest Yemen crisis involves the island of Socotra where UAE-backed supporters are accused of a coup by pro-Turkish media. Al-Jazeera and Anadolu media have weighed in, using the usual language they craft to portray one side as good and the other bad. Because Qatar and Turkey oppose the UAE they also oppose any group backed by the UAE.The Southern Transitional Council is apparently now running Socotra. This island has long been a hot spot of intrigue and investment by regional powers. Rumors abound now that Turkey, which has a base in Somalia, wants to get involved in the Yemen conflict. Turkey and Iran already back the Government of the National Accord in Libya where they are fighting the Egyptian and UAE-backed Libyan National Army. Turkey is also waging military campaigns in Iraq and Syria. Were Turkey to try to also involve itself in Yemen, potentially on the side of Iran, that would be a major step. How Ankara would do that is unclear, but Ankara and Doha want to pressure Saudi Arabia, so they may seek to find a way.More likely, the Yemen conflict is about narratives and intrigue when it comes to Turkey and Qatar. The accusation is that there are plots afoot to divide Yemen permanently between separatists and the Houthis and the government. But Yemen has been divided for years. It has been infiltrated in the past by Al-Qaeda and then fell apart in 2015 as the Houthis almost took Aden. The Saudi intervention has been a grueling conflict. Iran uses the Houthis as proxies, sending them weapons, drones and air defense. The US tries to interdict Irans shipments. The UAE allegedly was involved in recruiting contractors to fight in Yemen.Yemen was only reunified in 1990 after many years of conflict. It should be recalled that there was once north and south Yemen, the north supported by Saudi Arabia and the south by the Soviet Union from 1972 to 1990. North Yemen also had a civil war from 1962 to 1970 where monarchies supported the royalists in northern Yemen and Egypt and the Arab nationalist and socialist regimes supported the republic. This is all history now, but the insinuation that Yemen is unified and that some conspiracy exists to divide is not in line with historical developments in Yemen.

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Yemen caught in the crosshairs of Iran and others - analysis - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on June 22, 2020

Jacqueline VanDusen is wheely tired.

But after pedaling 4,415 miles, the Williamsburg resident has just enough energy for the home stretch of a mission three years in the making: to bike every block in Brooklyn. Her ambitious project finishes off on Saturday with a final 10-mile ride through Red Hook and Bed-Stuy.

In May 2017, the creative director hopped on her old single-speed bike with a plan to traverse the borough that was simple but far from modest. The designer and skilled photographer documented each step of the journey, uploading lovely snaps and progress maps to an interactive website and the nearly 10,000 followers of her Instagram account @BKbyBike.

The 31-year-old Philly native, who moved to NYC in 2006 to attend college at Pratt, wanted to get to know the ins and outs of her adopted home, from pretty to gritty. I wanted to better understand where I live, VanDusen tells The Post.

Two hundred and ninety jaunts later, she reflects on the thousands of hours, hundreds of stops and 15,000 photos shes accrued.

First, the gear: Who needs a head-to-toe spandex getup and shoe clips when leggings, a tank top and sneakers work just as well? And despite the great lengths shes traveled, VanDusen only recently upgraded from a single-speed set of wheels to a three-speed Cooper, which cost $400 from Tribeca-based Brilliant Bicycle Co. Im going to say its a hybrid, says VanDusen, laughing at her lack of technical prowess. I dont even know how to change a bike tire.

VanDusen, who covers between 10 and 14 miles in an hour, will only say, No comment when The Post asks if she wears a helmet. But the now-seasoned cyclist insists shes been safe and (mostly) unharmed during her hundreds of outings. There were two memorable falls one that involved sinking into a sewer, and another time she was almost slammed by a swinging car door that opened into the bike lane. And I still have shoulder pain from riding over a loose manhole cover, she says.

The war stories are well-earned. There were hairy rides over some of Brooklyns trafficky main drags Linden Boulevard, Atlantic Avenue and Shore Parkway among them and VanDusen admits, I have to jump up on the sidewalk occasionally.

The savvy cartographer plots out her routes in advance with an app; after each is complete, it is added to a map she has hand drawn.

VanDusen cant help but have some favorite ride-by spots. I really love Bed-Stuy. It has some of the most gorgeous brownstones. The food is amazing. It has so much personality, she says. I dont know if outsiders quite know how awesome it is. Another architectural obsession: the ornate megamansions in Mill Basin and Manhattan Beach.

In a borough famous for hipsters and Hasidic Jews, Nathans Famous hot dogs in Coney Island and Michelin-starred eateries in Dumbo, she admits its hard to keep up with how rapidly the streetscape can evolve. Neighborhoods definitely look different, says VanDusen, who occasionally enlists friends to keep her company on long rides. Williamsburg changed so much. Watching Domino Park evolve from a dirt bike track to a beautiful park is a huge change. Everything just moves so fast.

While the coronavirus lockdown was a mood-killer for many, it offered VanDusen an opportunity to lock down miles on several solo rides. Shes cleared 1,002 miles since March alone. Im reading more about the history of Brooklyn to build my knowledge and tell a better story, she says. I think my project is helping to inspire others to get creative with their free time, to bike more or start a project of their own.

While she usually kicks off two-hour excursions around 1 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, quarantine has allowed for more challenging 20- to 30-mile treks through the heart of Brooklyn, tackling blank areas like East New York (Annoying to get to) and Sunset Park (Too hilly on my single speed).

While the project is definitely a responsibility its a lot of work, the end of the road is bittersweet. And the indefatigable biker cant wait for her next albeit easier endeavor: Its summer, she says. Im going to the beach.

Check VanDusens website for details of her journey as well as interactive routes.

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Cyclist completes 4,000-mile trek of every block in Brooklyn - New York Post

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Posted By admin on June 22, 2020

Artist Ben Schachter is taking a slice of the Talmud and seasoning it anew in his upcoming graphic novel, Akhnais Pizza, a reimagining of the dispute between Rabbi Eliezer and the sages.

In its original telling, the Talmud notes a disagreement between Rabbi Eliezer and the rabbis. According to Rabbi Eliezer, if one cut an earthenware oven into segments and placed sand between those segments, the oven is ritually pure, as it is no longer a complete vessel.

According to the sages, however, the oven is impure, because regardless of the sand, the oven is functionally still an oven.

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Akhnai Pizza cover art. Illustration courtesy of Ben Schachter

Schachter, 46, said he was drawn to the story, not only because of its vivid imagery of a coiled snakelike oven, but because of how the tale unfolds.

As the Talmud relates, after attempting to sway his peers position through logic, Rabbi Eliezer calls upon a carob tree, a stream and the study halls walls to prove his opinion.

Miraculously, the tree, the stream and the walls all signal agreement with Rabbi Eliezer. In fact, when Rabbi Eliezer finally asks heaven to support his claim, a divine voice asks the sages, Why are you arguing with Rabbi Eliezer? Jewish law follows his position everywhere that he expresses an opinion.

Despite the divine proclamation, Rabbi Yehoshua (one of the sages arguing with Rabbi Eliezer) rises and says, It is not in heaven, and reaffirms that Rabbi Eliezer remains in the minority and that Jewish law follows the rabbis majority rule.

The discussion of an ovens ritual purity status may seem arcane, but that episode and the progression of the tale gives insight into human nature.

Illustrations from Akhnai Pizza courtesy of Ben Schachter

According to the Talmud, after Rabbi Eliezer and the sages finished their discussion, the sages gathered all of the items deemed ritually pure by Rabbi Eliezer, brought them to the oven and burned them in a fire. The sages then ostracized Rabbi Eliezer.

These acts not only shed light on the personalities of Talmudic figures, but reflect modern tendencies in a way that can be observed through Akhnais Pizza, noted Schachter.

Set in Pittsburgh, the storys characters begin a friendly argument over which pizza is the citys best. Local landmarks demonstrate preference for one opinion, but ultimately civil disagreement descends into destruction.

My goal isnt just to retell the story, or to teach the story, but to tell it and engage the emotions and human responses the characters show, said Schachter, a professor of visual art at St. Vincent College in Latrobe.

Schachter, a conceptual artist, is well known for his yearslong Eruv Maps project. The paintings, which used acrylic and thread on heavy paper, mirror various communities' eruv maps. Used primarily by Orthodox Jews, an eruv map visualizes the boundaries within which it is permitted to carry objects on the Sabbath. Schachters Eruv Maps paintings have been displayed at museums and galleries, including the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburghs American Jewish Museum; the Hebrew Union College Museum in New York; the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation Art Gallery; the Yeshiva University Museum; the Yale University Institute for Sacred Music; and the Jerusalem Biennale in 2017.

Johannesberg Eruvin, 2013, acrylic and thread on paper. Photo courtesy of Ben Schachter

Akhnai Pizza is a bit of a departure from Schachters earlier efforts because Im really telling stories as opposed to engaging in conceptual laws, he said. When a conceptual artist makes a work they often follow rules they set up for themselves, but with the eruvs I was making pictures based on rules that were set up by other people. When it comes to this graphic novel, Im much more interested in telling the story of a minority and majority point of view, and how poorly things go based on that.

Both the Talmudic episode and Schachters retelling offer lessons for readers, explained the artist. The characters start out as peers of some kind. They might not have been friends, but at least they engaged each other intellectually, and then they have an argument and then theres violence. Between the destruction and excommunication that sounds like an overreaction.

Schachter, who is crowdfunding the project on Jewcer, began Akhnais Pizza approximately eight months ago. He anticipates completing the drawings in another month.

As for where the project ultimately fits within his collective works, its another piece of the puzzle, said Schachter.

Or, perhaps better put, its another piece of the pie. PJC

Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Posted By admin on June 22, 2020

Whether it was risking her life to bring food to hungry students at an underground yeshivah in the Soviet Union or standing by her husband as he taught thousands of students in Canada who were thirsty for the Torahs wisdom, Mrs. Rivkah Karp, 90, who passed away April 4, was a stalwart for Jewish education and tending to the needs of others.

Born in 1929 in the Russian city of Voronezh, young Riva, as she was known, lived a happy and relatively comfortable lifestyle in the home of her parents, Zev Avraham and Shaina Chaya Slavin. A family of wealthy merchants for generations, they readily shared their fortune with others, so much so that the very name Slavin was synonymous with the virtue of hachnasat orchimhosting guests.

Her idyllic childhood shattered by increasing Soviet religious and economic persecution, Rivkah and her family, along with many other Lubavitch Chassidim at the time, fled to the remote city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan, to gain somewhat of a reprieve from the tentacles of repression.

Life in Samarkand was difficult, as even there, the ever-watchful eye of the Soviet Union was alive and well. Undeterred, the Chassidim there organized underground venues of Jewish life: schools and yeshivahs for the youth, tiny synagogues, clandestine mikvahs and other such dangerous operations.

It was in this climate that young Rivkah was commissioned for her first act of community service, conveniently using her image as an innocent young girl as a cover to secretly deliver food to starving yeshivah students stuck in their basement, unable to come out for fear of being caught by the Soviet authorities. Her guise notwithstanding, the act was highly dangerous, yet she repeatedly risked her life to carry it through.

After the war years, the Slavin family eventually made their way to Paris. Rabbi Avraham Karp, a Polish native, had spent his war years in Siberia, and he, too, made his way to Paris, where he met Rivkah. They were married in 1951 in the festive month of Tishrei.

Life eventually brought the young Karp family to Montreal, Canada, where they spent the rest of their lives as anchors of the Chabad and larger Jewish community. Avraham found a job teaching in a small yeshivah affiliated with the Klausenberg Chassidim, where he was still referred to as the The Lubavitcher.

His first job in the New World was teaching Torahand he never looked back. Switching to the Chabad Yeshivah in Montreal, Avraham Karps Torah instruction did not remain in the school hall, as he started a Daf Yomi class in his house that reached up to 60 participants every night.

Crammed into the small living room, these seekers of Gd leafed through a full page of Talmud every evening under the skilled guidance of Avraham Karp. Delighted and thrilled to be hosting such an abundance of Torah study, Rivkah stood by his side for many years, ever the gracious hostess, setting the class up nightly and plying the participants with tea and sweets.

Rabbi Avraham Karps Daf Yomi classes were recorded, and today have been used to teach thousands. They are well-known in the Torah-study world as clear, concise and mixed with just the right touch of entertainment to make covering a full page of complex Talmud every day achievable.

Helping people and seeking out needs that others overlooked was literally my mothers hobby, her son, Yanki, a longtime teacher himself, told Chabad.org. She always looked out for others and ensured that they were taken care of.

When her mother passed, what was she concerned with on the day of the funeral? That her mothers hospital mate, whom she had befriended, had warm soup that she personally sent. That was my mother.

Her passion and love for Judaism was legendary. Her daughter, Rochel Lustig notes that, as a young girl in Soviet Russia, my mother didnt even receive a formal Jewish education; dedication to Judaism was simply ingrained in her very being.

Indeed, her profoundest joy was to sit surrounded by her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, rocking lightly as she whispered the sweet words of Psalms that she held so close to her heart.

Predeceased by her husband, Rivkah Karp is survived by her children, Rochel Lustig, Esti Lobenstein, Rabbi Yanki Karp, Rabbi Velly Karp, Rabbi Leibel Karp and Rabbi Zalman Karp; grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

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Rivkah Karp, 90, Stalwart Supporter of Jewish Education - Became an anchor of Montreal's Jewish community after fleeing the Soviet Union - Chabad.org

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Posted By admin on June 22, 2020

In most major religions there is scripture encouraging the protection and care of nature. From Buddhism to Christianity, Hinduism to Islam, faiths recognize the need for environmental stewardship and urge followers to be caretakers of the planet and its biodiversity.

Spiritual leaders play an important role in sharing religious practices and passages so that followers can live a more sustainable lifestyle respecting the 8 million species we share our planet with.

That message was echoed by World Environment Day 2020, which fell on 5 June. The celebration cast a spotlight on the services nature provides usfrom food to medicineand highlighted that, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, life on earth would not be possible without natures bounty.

Here are how seven faiths remind us how we are connected to nature.

The Bahai writings are replete with statements on the importance of the harmony between human life and the natural world. Bahullhs writings are imbued with a deep respect for nature and the interconnectedness of all things, seeing especially in nature a reflection of the divine:

Nature in its essence is the embodiment of My Name, the Maker, the Creator. Its manifestations are diversified by varying causes, and in this diversity, there are signs for men of discernment.

Buddhism inspires ecological mindfulness to address the loss of biodiversity. It seeks wisdom through adherence to the Five Precepts, the pursuit of the Noble Eightfold Path, and the understanding of karma. Buddhists find themselves in harmony with nature by acknowledging the interdependence of all forms of life.

At the core of Brahma Kumaris' work is the understanding of the connection between our consciousness, thoughts and actions, and their impact on the world. It is seen that long-lasting change in any social or environmental system starts with a profound shift in the minds and hearts of people. The current loss of biodiversity is therefore a clear call to transform our awareness and lifestyle, and start caring for all living forms on the planet.

"Our capacity to change ecosystems is proportional to our capacity to change our own consciousness - Brahma Kumaris

For Christians, biodiversity conservation is a role that is at the heart of their daily lives. In the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi, Christians are called to experience the world as a joyful mystery to be contemplated with gladness and praise, as St. Francis does in the words of the Canticle of Creation:

Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs.

Hinduism has a deep reverence for biodiversity which is reflected in several of its scriptures, texts and followed through daily rituals and practices. The references of flora, terrestrial fauna, birds and fishes are found in the Rig Veda, Yajurveda, Upanishads, and Manusmriti, along with the sacred books of Ramayana and Mahabharata and later in folklore stories, like Hitopadesha and Panchatantra. Cattle, birds, animals and fish are personified as agents for sharing knowledge, and acquiring wisdom, peace and moksha (enlightenment).

To the animals of the earth and those of heaven, to the wild beasts of the forest, to the winged birds, do we speak: they shall deliver us from calamity! - Atharva Veda, 7.11.6.1

The teachings of Islam are inherently environmental and promote the protection of biodiversity. These teachings make it clear that the human population must coexist with nature to ensure the good health of all the species living on earth. For example, if there were no pollinating insects on earth like bees and butterflies, there would not be any fruit. Many ecosystems rely on a wide variety of plants and animals interacting with one another. The Quran mentions this balance:

Allah raised the heaven and established the balance, so that you would not transgress the balance. Give just weight do not skimp in the balance. (Quran 55:7-9)

The Jewish tradition is rich with sources indicating the importance that God places on the continuity of species, from the prohibition against mixing species (kilayim) to the requirement to send away the mother bird before taking eggs (shiluach haken). The Ramban understands the continued existence of creation to be a key reason for why God considered it very good on the sixth day. In the Talmud, Rabbi Hanina bar Papa explains a verse about Gods great joy with the creation as stemming from the fact that even simple species seek to ensure their genetic survival.

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From Islam to Buddhism, faiths have long encouraged stewardship of nature - UN Environment

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