Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on April 14, 2020

An online forum hosted by PEN Americas Campus Free Speech Program

NEW YORKThis week, PEN Americas Campus Free Speech Program launched a webinar series, Free Speech and the Virtual Campus, with an inaugural session devoted to What Professors Need to Know about Online Hate and Harassment. Hundreds of participants viewed the session from seven countries, as panelists discussed online attacks and abuse that faculty can prepare for, defend against, and combat.

Viktorya Vilk, program director for digital safety and free expression at PEN America, discussed how online abuse can be defined and outlined the chilling, censoring effects it can have on writers and journalists. She summarized recent trends and offered advice, drawn from PEN Americas Online Harassment Field Manual, on how to protect ones identity, how to document online abuse, and how to be a supportive ally to those targeted. She explained that women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community are disproportionately targeted by abuse and hate, which risks silencing the voices of those who have historically been marginalized in higher education and society writ large. She emphasized that offering institutional support and allyship to students, faculty, and staff targeted by online abuse is critical to ensuring that higher education is more equitable and diverse.

Oren Segal, vice president at the Center on Extremism at the Anti-Defamation League, discussed the rise in white supremacists and extremists using online spaces to spread hate, and their efforts to use the pandemic to reach new audiences. Segal noted that just like everyone else, extremists are also home now, engaging in online aggression, like Zoombombing. Despite some extremists affiliating themselves to hate groups, Segal emphasized that the majority of offenders are lone actors, making some of their actions hard to predict. Segal shared ADLs tips on preventing Zoombombing as well as their hate symbols database, as a reference for faculty to familiarize themselves with.

Cynthia Miller-Idriss, Professor of Education and Sociology at American University, spoke about the current threat of youth radicalization, with K-12 and college students now spending greater amounts of time online. She detailed how faculty members could prepare for such threats proactively, by updating their awareness of hate symbols and familiarizing themselves with digital platforms, as well as getting to know their security settings and available restrictions. She also offered advice for faculty and administrators in the aftermath of an incident of hate or harassment, elaborating on how faculty might deal with the after-effects of a Zoombombing incident in an online class.

Various questions and concerns were also taken up by panelists, as posed from the audience, including:

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[RECAP] What Professors Need to Know about Online Hate and Harassment - PEN America

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Posted By admin on April 14, 2020

An arrest warrant has been issued for a man suspected of drawing anti-Semitic graffiti on the property of a Jewish institution in Brookline, authorities announced Wednesday.

The Brookline Police Department alerted the public Monday that a person had graffitied the Chabad Center on Harvard Street over the weekend. A symbol resembling a swastika was drawn over Russian writing. The offense was being investigated as a hate crime.

Video of the incident was captured. A man, clad in sunglasses and a hat, can be seen approaching the front door of the building with a cigarette in his mouth. He is believed to have left the property headed toward Commonwealth Avenue.

While the investigation is ongoing, at this time we believe that we know the identity of the subject captured on film, and a warrant for his arrest was issued, the Brookline Police Department said in a statement.

The Anti-Defamation League of New England offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to the identification and prosecution of the suspect.

We appreciate your patience as we move forward with this investigation, and wish you all a healthy and peaceful Passover and Easter season, police said.

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Posted By admin on April 14, 2020

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Bernie Sanders speaking during the last Democratic debate, with Joe Biden, on March 15, 2020.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who pushed progressive issues and outlasted nearly all his political opponents on the strength of tremendous small-amount fundraising, has dropped out of the presidential race, clearing the field for former Vice President Joe Biden to serve as the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Sanders campaign had a lively, and sometimes controversial, life on social media. So-called Bernie bros on Twitter and beyond were accused of hyping up their favored candidate to the point of online bullying. Yet Sanders was also meme-ified by his supporters in more ways than one, such as in a fake gif where he spooks Donald Trump at a campaign rally, or an extremely popular spoof on one of his campaign videos.

Although Sanders underperformed among Jewish voters and donors, he had a strong core of support within the Jewish community - as well as people who supported other candidates but still took pride in his historic campaign. Here are some of the latest reactions on Twitter from Jews reacting to the most successful Jewish presidential campaign in American history.

Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. Contact him at feldman@forward.com or follow him on Twitter @aefeldman

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Jews react with sadness to Bernie Sanders dropping out of the presidential race - Forward

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Posted By admin on April 14, 2020

Law360 (April 8, 2020, 11:20 PM EDT) -- Twenty states, 32 cities, 186 federal lawmakers and dozens of interest groups railed against the Trump administrations stance in a blockbuster Affordable Care Act case Wednesday, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down regulations allowing employers that oppose contraception to stop covering workers birth control.

The entities and individuals filed 29 amicus briefs backing Pennsylvania and New Jerseys successful Third Circuit argument that two ACA exemptions finalized by the Trump administration in 2018 are illegal. The exemptions, which are not currently in effect, allow employers to ignore an ACA requirement to offer no-cost birth control options in their employee health...

In the legal profession, information is the key to success. You have to know whats happening with clients, competitors, practice areas, and industries. Law360 provides the intelligence you need to remain an expert and beat the competition.

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Posted By admin on April 14, 2020

On Google's image search (images.google.com), benign search terms relating to Jews or Yiddish phrases yield alarmingly hateful and inciting results. Antisemitic and racist caricatures appear among top search results leading to white supremacist and conspiracy websites. Moreover, Google's search algorithm, which suggests additional search terms for the user to click on in order to narrow the search, includes primarily white supremacist and antisemitic terminology, leading the user toward further misinformation and other hateful content.

The following report shows the terms suggested by Google image search after inputting the Yiddish exclamation of surprise "oy vey," along with the terms "Shoah" Holocaust and others.

"Oy Vey"

After searching images.google.com with the term "oy vey", the engine suggests numerous additional related search terms. The first suggestions include: "merchant," "shoah," "6 trillion," "shlomo," and "6 million." Many of the images yielded by the search originate on platforms that are popular with white supremacists and neo-Nazis, including 4Chan, 8Chan, Reddit, and others. Clicking on these images will direct the user to those websites.

Screenshot of a Google Images search for the term "Oy Vey," showing the search terms suggested by the algorithm, including "merchant," "shoah" (paired with an image of the merchant), "6 trillion," "Shlomo," and "6 million."

One of the antisemitic images that appear among the first search results for the term "Oy Vey," originally from the online forum Reddit, shows popular white supremacist meme Pepe the Frog, here depicted as a Jewish caricature, with the text: "Knowing you would jew your own friends in a heartbeat."

Image of Pepe the Frog as a Jewish caricature with the text: "Knowing you would jew your own friends in a heartbeat."

The Happy Merchant

The first suggestion, "merchant," is paired with a thumbnail depicting a popular antisemitic caricature of a Jew, called the happy merchant, or simply the merchant. Clicking on the suggestion yields endless iterations of the antisemitic meme.

The results after clicking the suggested term "merchant."

Some examples of the images include the merchant character being sprayed with a can marked with a Star of David and the text "Jew-B-Gone." The merchant is depicted as weeping and saying "Oy Vey! It's like second Shoah!" The text on the bottom of the image reads: "Exterminates 99.99% of pesky rodents!" This image appears twice in the first three rows of search results. When clicking on the image, the Google algorithm suggests similar images, including one titled "Backstabbing Jew", depicting the Merchant hugging another figure and brandishing a knife behind their back.

One of the first results yielded by adding the suggested term "merchant."

Another result in the search above is a comic strip depicting the merchant brokering a trade of African slaves to the U.S. Africans are also represented in the comic with a racist stereotype,

Another of the first results yielded by adding the suggested term "merchant" is a racist and antisemitic depiction of the Jew as slave trader.

"Shoah"

"Shoah," referring to the Jewish Holocaust, is accompanied by a thumbnail of the same merchant caricature rendered on a pizza in a reference to the conspiracy theory known as Pizzagate.[1] Clicking on the suggestion yields similarly antisemitic results.

Results after clicking the suggested term "shoah."

One of the first images is a caricature of a grotesque Jewish figure, shown with a bag of money labeled "Your tax dollars," standing in a crematorium. The text around the image reads: "If you see this image while scrolling the first page you have been visited by the JEW OF OTHERWORLDLY GREED[;] Great riches and prosperity will come to you but only if you post 'Muh six million, it's a whole new shoah!' in this thread[.] Oy very, it's a whole new shoah!"

Image result for searching the suggested term "shoah."

Another image shows the merchant figure saying: "Oy vey I can't believe you want to gas six million more of my ancestors. Tis like anudda shoah." The other character responds: "I don't want to become a minority in a nation build by my race and have what my ancestors built become a anti-white corporate shithole, I also question the Holocaust."

Image result for searching the suggested term "shoah."

Another image shows a different caricature of a Jew under the words "Six million!" holding up a magazine with the text "Holocaust Weekly."

Image result for searching the suggested term "shoah."

"6 Trillion"

The suggested search term "6 trillion," yields further antisemitic and Holocaust denial memes.

Results after clicking the suggested term "6 trillion."

The first result is a cartoon image depicting a Jewish figure as obese and disabled, in a room littered with fast food, guns, and Zionist posters.

Image result for searching the suggested term "6 trillion."

Another image shows a Jew with the text: "What the population of Europe drops below 50% European."

Image result for searching the suggested term "6 trillion."

Another image simply includes the text "Oyyyy veeeeeeyyyy!" with an antisemitic caricature of a Jew.

Image result for searching the suggested term "6 trillion."

"Shlomo Shekelstein"

The suggestion "shlomo" yields more antisemitic variations on the merchant character, who is frequently referred to as Shlomo or Shlomo Shekelstein.

Results after clicking the suggested term "Shlomo."

Among the many antisemitic caricatures is one depiction of the merchant character hiding behind a mask of a seemingly normal human.

Image result for searching the suggested term "shlomo."

Another result is a parody of a movie poster with two merchant figures, alluding to the supposedly treacherous nature of the Jew. The text reads: "Dr. Shekyll nad Mr. Kike[;] a Bagel Brothers Production[;] See Shlomo Shekelberg in the role he was born to play!"

Image result for searching the suggested term "Shlomo."

Another result shows a meme featuring Pepe the Frog torturing the merchant character. The text reads: "You racist bigots said the Jews were lying about pedal powered skull smashers. Read it and weep. 1943 Auschwitz, colorized."

Image result for searching the suggested term "Shlomo."

"6 Million Wasn't Enough"

The suggested term "6 million" yields more antisemitic memes, prompting additional search terms like "shlomo," and "wasnt enough."

Top results include an image of prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp, with the text "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."

[1] Snopes.com/fact-check/pizzagate-conspiracy, accessed March 18, 2020.

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Posted By admin on April 14, 2020

Aron Bielski is the youngest and last living member of the Bielski brigade, which he founded along with three of his brothers. Their activities have become widely known as one of the largest partisan groups that rescued Jews during the Holocaust.

He was born on July 21, 1927, into the family of Davidand Beila Bielski, who had 10 sons and two daughters, in what is today Belarus. According to Aron Bielski, they were the only known Jewish family in the Belarusian village of Stankiewicze. His parents and two of his brothers, Yankel and Avraham, were killed by the Nazis and buried in a mass grave on Dec. 5, 1941.

The story of the Bielski brigadeled by the brothersthat fought Nazis and other pro-German forces while rescuing escapees from their grips has been written about over the years in a number of books, as well as portrayed in the 2008 feature film Defiance, starring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber (George MacKay played Aron).

After World War II and the Holocaust, during which his brothers saved more than 1,200 Jews, Aron Bielski moved to British Mandate Palestine and served in Israels army during the 1948 War of Independence.

He then moved to the United States, where his brothers and the rest of the family lived, changing his name to Bell. He and his first wife, Judith, had three children.

Today, Bielski, 92 and the grandfather of 12, lives in Florida with his wife Henryka, 80, who was born in Poland in 1939 and is also a survivor.

JNS talked with Aron and Henryka Bielski by phone on April 12. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Q: What was your role in the Bielski brigade?

AB: To pick up children in the ghetto. For some reason or another, I never wore a yellow Star of David. I dont know why, maybe I was stupid. By the help of G-d, I dont know why every Jew was wearing the star. Therefore, it gave me the opportunity to walk into places where no Jew could. I lost two brothers because they had the Star of David.

It is very hard to be a good Jew, but at the end, it is indescribable how much rewarding it is.

Dont think for a moment that I was a hero in any way or matter. This was pure luck because there were stronger people than me, and they were butchered. But I was lucky enough to prevail.

A view of the Bielski partisans. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Q: What was your relationship with your brothers before and after you went into the forest, becoming partisans and rescuers?

AB: I was always lucky and privileged to have brothers. Asael was probably the most powerful individual that I ever met in my life. Smart and a very powerful, strong individual. With the help of G-d, because how smart could you be? You are nothing against the regular army that is working to destroy you. How smart can you be?

HB: The oldest brother, Walter, and [the second oldest] of the brothers, Nathan, went to America before the war. Yehoshua, a rabbi, went to Siberia during the war. A sister, Tove, lived with her husband, Avraham, in another village but they joined her brothers in the forest.

Q: What was life like in the forest?

AB: Life in the forest was great.

[There was] freedom. You saw the sunshine. All we needed was food, and we [felt that we] won. If you wanted to sleep, you slept. If there was no bed, you slept on the snow. Whatever it was, it was. Its hard to believe, but thats what it is. I had a rifle, but I didnt think I should be on the first line [of defense]. They wouldnt let me. They protected me.

Q: How did you get food while in the forest?

AB: You went by people; some gave you, some didnt want to give you, some we got by force. We got whatever food we could get. Believe it or not, there was some religious people who didnt touch a piece of meat because it was not kosher. This Ill never forget.

HB: They had potatoes, eggs and even killed a cow. In the summertime, the forest had fruit.

Q: Can you elaborate on those who wouldnt eat the meat despite the dire circumstances?

AB: They would rather die than eat the non-kosher meat. They would take leaves from a tree and cook them. They did not eat non-kosher food. Its something for the books.

Q: How was survival different as a partisan than other stories of survival during World War II and the Holocaust? Was there a different mindset?

AB: Youre a different person than if you were born in the city and never been to the woods. Youre afraid of animals, wild animals. We were only afraid of G-d himself.

HB: My mother survived with me, and we were not in the ghetto. The Polish army helped us. My father was in Auschwitz.

AB: And she also survived because she knew, G-d told her, that I needed a very good wife, a very good friend. Shes still here, believe it or not.

Q: How did you two meet?

HB: We met in the Catskills in Upstate New York in 1992 and got married in 1995. My husband had two daughters and one son. The daughter had four children, and one son had four and the other had five. I have two biological and two adopted children.

Q: There has been a great deal written and featured about the experiences of you and your brothers, including the 2008 film Defiance. How accurate are the stories and portrayals, and can you address the accuracy of memory in general, particularly when it comes to the Holocaust?

AB: What happened was much worse than what the movie portrays.

HB: The movie did not show how they fought for their freedom. How Aron was running to the ghetto and bringing people there to the forest. How they were going to fight for the food and bring the food to the forest. How there was a cow in the forest, and the milk was only for children. Aron was 13 years old and was helping younger children.

The movie didnt show how they trekked through the snow, how they were freezing to death.

Q: What happened after the war?

HB: Arons brother, Asael, served in the Russian army fighting Hitler and was killed in battle. His wife, Chaja, gave birth to their daughter.

Aron was sitting on the sidewalk, thinking about what to do with his life. No parents, no family, nobody. It was the hardest time in his life because he didnt know what to do. His brothers, Zus and Tuvia, went to check on their wives.

AB: I sat down on the sidewalk and came to the conclusion: Theres no sense thinking. You get hungry. You got to go to work. I went and worked for whoever needed help.

Q: What kind of work did you do?

AB: Cleaning the village oven that cooked food. Whatever I was told to do, I was happy to do it.

Q: What are your thoughts on Holocaust revisionism, such as Polands recent laws about terminology? On Holocaust denial? On those who say that nothing so extreme as the Shoah could have happened?

AB: Some of the Poles had to [keep quiet]. If they didnt collaborate, they would die. Some of them had to save their own lives. Of course, not all gentiles are Jew-haters; not all gentiles are bad people. There were some Jews [who acted] worse.

HB: I used to live in Canada and knew a Jew who came to North America at the same time as Aron. He was a Nazi collaborator in Auschwitz. He was taking gold from Jews. He said he was doing it because he wanted to save his life. But with that gold he brought to Canada with his cousin, he bought a two-story mansion.

Polish families saved me and my mom.

There were a lot of Poles who behaved badly. But there were a lot of Poles who did what they did because they were forced to. However, Poles did attack Jewish property and got richer from Jewish houses. They were jealous.

Q: As one of the remaining survivors of the Holocaust, ahead of Yom Hashoah on April 20-21, what is your message to the Jewish community, the United States and the world?

HB: We should love each other. Doesnt matter what is your skin color, what is your religion. You should always be nice to each other. Were all human. Were sharing the same Earth, same sun and moon. Were sharing everything. Love everybody, be nice to everybody.

AB: People should be nice to each other, to help each other, whoever needs help. Be good to your family and to people. If you see a person needs help, help him or her. Because the good Lord will know about it.

The post A conversation with Aron Bielski, last of the Bielski brothers appeared first on JNS.org.

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Posted By admin on April 14, 2020

At the entrance to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Hall of Remembrance stands a quote from Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, from Ohrdruf Concentration Camp on April 15, 1945 which he warned "The things I saw beggar description... The visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty, and bestiality were so overpowering... I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations to propaganda."

Eisenhower at Ordhruf concentration camp, April 15, 1945; Eisenhower's statement at entrance to U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Tomorrow marks 75 years to the day since Gen. Eisenhower made that powerful statement. His words could be used to describe the rampant anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial now finding fertile ground online. As Yom HaShoah Holocaust Remembrance Day is marked on April 20, the events of the past two years and the ones happening daily worldwide are all reminders of today's unprecedented anti-Semitism. Often, what drives these attacks is online incitement to violence. Hitler's propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels would "like" today's social media and have many followers.

Just as it is impossible to imagine the development of the global jihad movement without the Internet, the same can be said about the current development and spread of anti-Semitism. Major search engines and social media platforms, both established and mainstream and new and obscure, figure prominently in the surging spread of hatred and incitement to violence against Jews. Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Telegram, and Instagram not to mention secondary networks known to host anti-Semitic content are all to blame.

While these companies are under pressure to institute changes on issues from terrorist content to Russian election interference to various forms of "fake news," they must also be pressured to find solutions for the anti-Semitism they are hosting and promoting. This certainly applies to the vast amount of anti-Semitism all over social media related to the coronavirus.

On these platforms mentioned above, neo-Nazis and white Supremist groups are now using the pandemic as an opportunity to spread hate against Jews and other minorities, especially the Chinese something jihadis have done as well. A growing number of these groups and their supporters are speculating that the pandemic is a hoax; some are saying that the global health crisis is orchestrated by the Jews, and they are involved in cyberattacks such as hacking into synagogues' and Jewish organizations' online meetings. This highlights domestic terrorists' growing reliance within the cyber realm in addition to hacking, using encryption, fundraising with cryptocurrency, and continuing to expand their efforts recruiting.

They are also using the pandemic to spread fear online and, most troubling, have called for deliberately infecting Jews with the virus offline. There is extensive online chatter in which participants state that they are infected and seek to become biological weapons. Sites for spreading infection are discussed, among them supermarkets and hospitals. Also discussed is visiting synagogues and coughing in the faces of rabbis.

The vast and ever-growing amount of anti-Semitism online today that is driving white supremacist and domestic terrorist groups parallels the massive quantity of online jihadi content that played a direct role in the rapid rise of ISIS. In 2014, the dissemination on Twitter and YouTube of the video of ISIS's beheading of American journalist James Foley prompted the companies to finally take action. Likewise, the Pittsburgh and Poway synagogue attacks, which were linked to social media, should have motivated the platforms to finally tackle anti-Semitism online but so far, they have not.

These platforms include 8chan, where the Poway shooter, Christchurch mosque shooter and El Paso Walmart shooter posted their manifestos; Gab, where the Pittsburgh shooter posted warnings prior to his attack, and Facebook, where the Christchurch shooter livestreamed his. While 8chan went offline following the El Paso shooting, it has now returned as 8kun.

Like a modern-day Der Strmer, the Nazi propaganda publication, these online apps and networks spread anti-Semitic content, ranging from timeworn canards such as blood libels and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion to conspiracy theories. They host accounts of well-known anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers, including David Duke and groups like the Ku Klux Klan, and many others who are not household names but are major influencers of white supremacists and domestic terrorism groups. Their videos, audios, and books, not to mention actual Nazi-era propaganda and memorabilia, are also easily available on Amazon.

Thousands of videos of Hitler, Nazi Germany, and other Nazi content, including issues of Der Strmer itself, are being shared, liked, tweeted, and forwarded on these platforms. At the same time, newer material such as explicit calls for targeting and killing Jews, including "hunting" guides and naming of specific Jews for doxxing, violence, and even killing, are prevalent as well. It was reported recently that on one Telegram channel, suspected neo-Nazis are listing Jews and using violent rhetoric against them including ones such as "[W]e should kill all of these Jews. Who's with me?"

Anti-Semites on social media are also using other sophisticated methods, including bots, to facilitate their efforts, and are also impersonating prominent Orthodox rabbis and other Jewish leaders online, creating fake Twitter and other accounts that promote virulent anti-Semitic content. An anonymous 4chan user explained: "We must create a massive movement of fake Jewish profiles on Facebook, Twitter, etc" with the aim of avoiding censorship by social media companies and spreading conspiracy theories about Jewish involvement in slavery, the global economy, mass media, and the porn industry.

Anti-Semitic groups previously on life support are, via social media, having new life breathed into them; old, tired propaganda is gaining new adherents; and the online community of haters is growing exponentially. This online activity is another reminder that tech companies and Congress are still failing to address the issue of stopping hate groups from using their platforms so freely. For years now, well-meaning Members of Congress have tried unsuccessfully to tackle this issue,but have so far failed to make any serious impact. Tech companies must come up with industry standards to deal with anti-Semitism. They must institute a revolutionary change before still more attacks are initiated through their platforms. It should not take another Tree of Life shooting for real progress to be made.

*Steven Stalinsky is Executive Director of MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute), which, through its Domestic Terrorist Threat Monitor (DTTM) Project, is actively working with Congress and tech companies on ways to fight anti-Semitism online.

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Posted By admin on April 14, 2020

Morocco could be the next Arab state to establish formal diplomatic relations with Israel, becoming the third to do so after Egypt and Jordan. The move could have far-reaching implications for Israel, for Morocco, and for the Trump administration.

A few days after the Trump administration announced the so-called Deal of the Century, a story broke that Israel was lobbying the Trump administration to officially endorse Moroccos claims to sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara territory in exchange for Morocco normalizing ties with Israel. Reports also surfaced that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was planning a visit to Morocco this month, echoing a similar visit Netanyahu made to Oman last year. Oman, Morocco, and most Arab states have no formal ties with Israel.

This story was released more than a year after Axios reported that Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita secretly met with the Israeli prime minister during the UN General Assembly meeting to discuss normalizing ties, organizing a visit to Morocco for the Israeli PM, and countering Iranian influence in the region.

The Moroccan government denied these claims, and both the United States and Israel have refused to comment. Nonetheless, these reports reflect a pattern of growing economic and security ties between Morocco and Israel.

Given the special (albeit discrete) relationship between Morocco and Israel, as well as the current geopolitics of the Middle East, this potential policy shift should come as no surprise.

Morocco and the Peace Process

Morocco and Israel have a special relationship thatis rooted in geopolitical and cultural ties. Morocco likes to present itself as a mediator, between East and West, as well as between Israelis and Palestinians. Moroccos former monarch, King Hassan II, played a significant role in promoting the peace process and hosted Israeli officials, even though Morocco participated in the coalition fighting Israel during the October 1973 war. Morocco secretly hosted Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1976 and then organized covert talks between Egyptian and Israeli officials in 1977, right before the Camp David Accords were signed in 1978. Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres officially visited Morocco in 1986 looking for support in pursuing Arab-Israel peace (after two previously unofficial visits when he was out of power).

Rabat and Tel Aviv established low-level diplomatic relations in 1994 after the Oslo Accords were signed, but these ties were eventually severed after the second intifada in 2000. Even after this rupture, Morocco and Israel have maintained important economic and security ties over shared regional concerns.

During Jared Kushners visit to Morocco in May 2019, the presidents son-in-law was invited to tour a Jewish cemetery in Morocco with a Moroccan Jewish businessman, Yariv Elbaz. Reports stated that Elbaz had set up the backchannel between the Moroccan foreign minister and Netanyahus national security advisor, Meir Ben Shabbat. Both Kushners visit to Morocco and this backchannel were ostensibly laying the groundwork for the Deal of the Century announcement and talks about normalizing ties.

After it was officially released, Morocco issued a statement saying it appreciated the Trump administrations peace planfollowing the laudatory tone taken by several of the Gulf Arab states. It did not condemn the plan, which was rejected by the Palestinians and the United Nations. Rather, Morocco positioned itself more closely with its Arab allies in the Gulf, as well as Israel, who issued largely positive reactions to the plan.

Security and Economic Ties

Security ties between Morocco and Israel, especially among their intelligence services, go back decades. In 1965, Mossad, along with French and American intelligence actors, allegedly helped Morocco to kidnap and murder Mehdi Ben Barka in Paris, a Moroccan opposition activist and thorn in the side of King Hassan II.

Both Morocco and Israel were solidly rooted in the Western bloc during the Cold Warunited by a shared animosity toward Arab nationalism. This geopolitical alignment continues in other forms today. They view Iran as a key threat to the region and market themselves as integral counterterrorism allies to the West. This positions them firmly in the Saudi-led bloc of Middle East countries that prioritize combatting Iranian regional influence.

Both states are members of the Warsaw conference, which convened in Poland in February 2019 and most recently in Morocco this month. The security group constitutes a major part of the Trump administration's Middle East policy, namely supporting Israels alliances with Sunni Arab states against Iran. Morocco broke off ties with Iran in May 2018, just days before Trump pulled out of the Iran nucleardeal, in protest of Irans alleged meddling in Moroccos internal affairs. The Moroccan foreign minister even gave an exclusive interview to Breitbart News to say that they supported Trumps maximum pressure policy against Iran.

Morocco and Israel both look to the United States and Western allies for diplomatic support in the face of global criticism about international law violations. For Israel, its Palestine. For Morocco, its Western Sahara. Moroccos number one foreign policy priority is to maintain control over the disputed Western Sahara territory. It has lobbied for decades to cultivate international support for its control over the land, not unlike Israels lobbying efforts across the globe to shore up allies that back its occupation of the Palestinian Territories.

Economic ties are also on the rise. It is an open secret that trade is growing between the two states. According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, trade with Morocco between 2014 and 2017 is valued at $149 million, while Israel is not mentioned in any Moroccan statistics. Reports also allege that Israel has been selling arms to Middle East countries, including Morocco, for years. Most recently, Morocco received three Israeli reconnaissance drones as part of a $48 million arms deal package. Tourism and religious primage visits are also expanding. In 2017, 50,000 Israelis visited Morocco, and thousand of Moroccans Jews take part in religious pilgrimages to Israel every year.

Shared Jewish Heritage

Beyond realpolitik, shared cultural heritage is also important. At the time of independence, Morocco had the largest community of Jews in the Arab world, estimated at around 270,000. Today, estimates show there are about 3000 left, and Morocco has invested heavily in celebrating this small community.

The countrys Hebraic heritage is cited in the preamble of the 2011 constitution and celebrated in museums. Casablanca hosts the largest Jewish population in Morocco. It has an impressive museum about the Moroccan Jewish community, the only one in the Arab world, over a dozen synagogues, and a Jewish school. It hosted the first-ever Jewish film festival in 2016. Thousands of Israelis make religious pilgrimages to Morocco each year. The longest-serving royal advisors, Andre Azoulay, is one of the citys most famous Jewish residents, who sponsors festivals celebrating Moroccos Jewish heritage.

Is Normalization Even Possible?

The normalization of ties between Morocco and Israel may offer significant political benefits to Morocco, Israel, and the Trump administration. For Morocco, it could ensure U.S. full diplomatic support for its sovereignty over Western Sahara while also providing the added benefits of greater economic and security with Israel. For Israel, normalizing ties with another Arab state like Morocco would bolster its geostrategic alliance with Arab Gulf states. It would be a major diplomatic accomplishment and help Israel reach its goals of sidelining the Palestinian cause and establishing formal diplomatic relations with most Arab states. For the White House, this could give greater clout to the Deal of the Century while also expanding on its mission to cultivate Arab-Israeli ties.

But such a move is fraught with risks.

Some Arab states may want to cultivate greater economic and security ties with Israel, but their societies do not, and these regimes are fearful of a major backlash. Arab publics are still overwhelmingly supportive of the Palestinians (and critical of the United States). Protests against Trumps Deal of the Century broke out in Morocco and across the Arab world after it was announced in late January.

Morocco officially maintains a pro-Palestinian position. King Mohammed VI chairs the Al-Quds Committee and opposes the Israeli occupation. Moroccan political parties have introduced anti-normalization legislation.

The North African country is walking a tightrope, but the geopolitical and economic fruits of normalizing ties with Israel will likely be enough to convince the regime. They dont pay much attention to public outcry.

Anna L. Jacobs is a researcher that focuses on the politics of North Africa. She works as the Senior Research Assistant at the Brookings Doha Center.

Image: Reuters.

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Posted By admin on April 14, 2020

The Seder was different for everybody this year. Gatherings were smaller, some were live-streamed, others had empty seats where family members should be sitting. But digital technology also brought some people together for the first time in years. Here are four stories; maybe they match your own.

Shank bone doorpost blood/angel of death pass over/thank you little lamb

Hallie Dolcourts haiku about the shank bone was just one of the untraditional elements in her familys Passover seder this year untraditional for most, perhaps, but perfectly in line with the style of the Dolcourt family, she said.

Were rather irreverent, and we have a lot of fun with it, she said. Really a lot of kidding.

For the Sunnyvale resident, there were a lot of things that were the same at this years seder, in spite of coronavirus: the vegetarian dishes, the multiple generations, the wise-cracking over the haggadah. But unlike other years, Dolcourt wasnt seeing anyone face-to-face, and once the seder was over, she was eating by herself. Thats because the 75-year-old has lived alone since her husband, Victor, passed away in February.

That felt a little bit lonely, she said.

For the most part, Dolcourt said she had a fabulous seder, joined by 13 members of her extended family, including children and grandchildren from around the state. Older generations were there symbolically, with her mothers candlesticks, her husbands shofar Kiddush cup and her daughters cup for Elijah.

The family kept it light for the seder. Instead of the usual potluck, they shared pictures of the food they made, which is always experimental in the Dolcourt family. One matzah ball soup was beef-based with Asian flavors, while another turned mauve after the broth was cooked with purple potatoes. Hallies own dinner was what she called a seder salad.

I took mixed greens and threw whatever was on top of the seder plate on top of the greens! she said.

One family tradition was already perfect for a virtual Pesach: They forgo hiding the afikomen, and instead play a fun little game. The winner gets to decide which charity the family will donate to each year. This year, of course, coronavirus and the economic effects of the shutdown were on everyones mind.

Were going to give to one of the food banks because so many people are going hungry, she said.

Living alone, Dolcourt has been dealing with the shelter-in-place order with optimism. Her kids are checking in regularly, and shes keeping active.

I dont feel isolated, she said. And I think that Im lucky.

Or, as she put it in another haiku: 2020 plague/seder on the internet/next year in good health.

Maya Mirsky

Last year, Chabad of Pacific Heights Rabbi Moshe Langer hosted more than 300 people on the first night of Passover, at a seder held at a coworking space in SoMa. This year, it was just him, his wife, Taliah, and their four children.

Langer, who grew up in a Chabad house in the Richmond District before becoming a rabbi himself, is used to celebrating Jewish holidays with scores, even hundreds of others often people he has never met. But this year, due to shelter-in place orders, it felt like there was a void.

In the haggadah we say, Everybody who is hungry should come and eat, Langer said by phone Monday morning. The foundation of the seder is to invite a guest. You have got to invite a guest to your seder.

So, instead of inviting guests to his home this year, Langer brought the seder to theirs. Through Chabads seder-in-a-box program, inspired by initiatives that bring holiday essentials to soldiers and Jewish prisoners, Langer and Chabad of San Francisco delivered matzah, wine, seder plate materials and full meals to about 500 people across the Bay Area. Theirs and similar efforts were covered by KPIX, the local CBS affiliate.

Most meaningful, Langer said, was delivering the items to isolated seniors, many of them Russian emigres who were afraid to leave their homes because of the coronavirus. Those visits served two vital purposes:

We gave them basic food in a time of crisis, and an opportunity to connect to their heritage, he said.

At the Langer household, there certainly was a silver lining to the intimate family gathering. Langer said he, Taliah and the children read the haggadah together and had a discussion about the Four Questions.

I think the kids really enjoyed it, he said. They got a lot more attention.

Gabe Stutman

After several years in New York, Alex Schwarzstein moved to Palo Alto in 2017 to live closer to her family in Los Angeles. One benefit of the move was being able to go home for Passover, something she has done for the last few years.

But like everyone else in the Bay Area, her Passover plans were disrupted this year by the coronavirus pandemic. Schwarzstein, 35, stayed home with her roommate, Shelli Carol, for two nights of intimate seders with just the two of them.

Due to Carols religious practice, a virtual seder wasnt an option. But Schwarzstein tuned into her familys first-night seder, which started at 5:30 p.m. About two hours later, at candlelighting time, she logged off and started the full seder with her roommate.

One difference was that Shelli feels like she needs to say everything in Hebrew, which was a first for me, Schwarzstein said. It was kind of refreshing, a nice way to change it up.

She and Carol also discovered that they like the singing the same parts of the seder, which added to the camaraderie.

It didnt feel like I was expecting, Schwarzstein said. I was expecting it to be kind of depressing. It was kind of nice, actually. It helped that I was with my family for a little while before the seder. But the haggadah is the haggadah it varies from one edition to another, the translation varies, but its all the same, to an extent. The seder is the seder, so that helps a lot.

David A.M. Wilensky

Gary Yabrove has lived in the Bay Area ever since leaving Colorado 45 years ago to attend college at UC Santa Cruz. His parents, brother and sister remained behind. He has taken his wife and now-grown son back to Colorado only once to celebrate Passover with his birth family. That was when my parents were still alive, he said. Since moving to Oakland, wed always go to my next-door neighbors for the seder.

Last month, as isolation kicked in with shelter in place, he, his siblings and their three widely scattered first cousins starting calling each other. The phone calls quickly moved online, and the six families decided to hold a Zoom seder on April 8.

This group has never gotten together to celebrate Passover, said Yabrove, an Oakland resident for more than 25 years and recently retired from a teaching career at UC Berkeley. Participants hailed from D.C., Colorado, L.A., Sacramento and even Hong Kong. It was 7 a.m. there, they were just getting up for work.

While the actual seder was kind of chaotic, he found himself meeting albeit virtually grandnieces and grandnephews hed never met before. That would not have happened without the video conferencing app, or without the pandemic. It was less about the seder and more about reinforcing the family connections weve developed these past few weeks, he said.

Sue Fishkoff

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Posted By admin on April 14, 2020

Herman Schafer brought his bride, Rosa Goldsmith, to their home in Mount Airy in 1888, they were the only Jewish couple they knew of in the county. The nearest Jewish synagogue was in Statesville so Rosa instructed her sons and, eventually, other Jewish children and a few Christian children in the tenets of the faith. The Schafer boys are seen in this 1910 photo. From left are Henry, Isadora, and Sigried. Isador ran a lumberyard on West Pine Street in Mount Airy for many years.

Easter is a tricky holiday. It moves around.

The scriptures are clear on when the events happened that are celebrated today as Easter. Jesus and his disciples were in Jerusalem to observe Passover. That always happens on the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month called Nisan.

The Hebrew calendar has always been calculated by the moon, so Nisan 15 is always on whatever day the full moon closest to the spring equinox happens.

Because the Christian world operated on a different sort of calendar, in 325 CE church leaders determined Easter would happen on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.

Are you still with me?

Sometimes these competing calendar calculations mean Passover and the Easter Holy Week line up, more or less, as they do this year. The festival of Passover started on Wednesday, April 8 and ends this Thursday.

Regardless of when theyve happened, folks in this region have observed both. Surry County is filled with a wide variety of religious traditions. Herman Shafer, a successful retailer and real estate investor moved his new wife, Rosa Goldsmith, to Mount Airy in 1888. She noted in an interview not long before her death in 1964 they were there only members of the Jewish faith for 12 years,

There is a larger variety of faiths today but the majority in Surry have always been some form of Christianity.

From the earliest records of the region people living here in the 1700s had little or no access to churches or preachers of any faith on a regular basis. When a minister traveled on a survey crew, with merchants, or newly arriving settlers, word spread like wild fire. People would walk for days to hear a church service or to have their children baptized.

The Moravian men sent to build Bethabara had at least four guests travel to them to share the first Easter Sunday of what would become Winston-Salem. The community diary of April 14, 1784, notes two men from the Etkin River came and stayed the night. They likely lived in what is today Surry County.

In the early times, resources and effort were spent on establishing farms, businesses, and homes. Few church buildings in the area are recorded before the middle 1800s. Most worship in this region took place in peoples homes or, when needed, theyd open barns, mills, or storehouses. If the weather permitted people simply met in a clearing or meadow for worship.

As communities grew and resources increased, people came together to build simple churches across the countryside. Town congregations, with the strength of wealth generated by businesses, saw more substantial buildings erected in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The closest Jewish Synagogue was built in Statesville in 1891.

The Yadkin Valley News reported on plans to build a magnificent new building to be erected by the Methodists on Franklin Street in April 1893 with a $10,000 price tag.

The end of winter has traditionally brought unpredictable and occasionally, dramatic weather. Newspapers across the region reported on the Great Easter Freeze in 1894, that severely damaged the timber trees, especially with the hot, dry summer that followed.

In 1901 the Mount Airy News wrote about a well-known spring phenomenon: wind. The wind has been howling for several months and now that Easter is past we are having better weather for which we are profoundly thankful.

The Yadkin Valley News summed up this season well in 1893 when it reported:

Easter was a beautiful day. Eggs and chickens were all the go. Everything begins to look like life again with the farmers around Mizpah. Spring work has begun in earnest. Farmers are busy plowing their land and the planting their gardens.

Happy Easter! Chag Pesach samekh! Joyous Spring!

Whether this season is about lamb and bitter herbs or chocolate rabbits and colorful eggs for you and yours However you spend today, the staff of the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History wish you all great joy.

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CAPTIONS:

SCHAFER BOYS Herman Schafer brought his bride, Rosa Goldsmith, to their home in Mount Airy in 1888, they were the only Jewish couple they knew of in the county. The nearest Jewish synagogue was in Statesville so Rosa instructed her sons and, eventually, other Jewish children and a few Christian children in the tenets of the faith. The Schafer boys are seen in this 1910 photo, left to right, Henry, Isadora, and Sigried. Isador ran a lumberyard on West Pine Street in Mount Airy for many years.

t this April 1952 ad used their free chick giveaway as a customer draw to the store on Market Street in Mount Airy.

LITTLE WHITE CHURCH Few congregations had a dedicated church building in the 19th century. People gathered in homes, barns, or storehouses for holidays or when a traveling or circuit minister came to the area. Sometimes impromptu platforms and benches were erected for special occasions or speakers such as the Sunday after Easter when the Crooked Oak Primitive Baptist congregation hosted what the Yadkin Valley News described as a first tabernacle in the wilderness style event that was enjoyed by a great crowd. The photo, from the Surry County Digital Heritage project, is Zion Primitive Baptist in the Crooked Oak community.

Herman Schafer brought his bride, Rosa Goldsmith, to their home in Mount Airy in 1888, they were the only Jewish couple they knew of in the county. The nearest Jewish synagogue was in Statesville so Rosa instructed her sons and, eventually, other Jewish children and a few Christian children in the tenets of the faith. The Schafer boys are seen in this 1910 photo. From left are Henry, Isadora, and Sigried. Isador ran a lumberyard on West Pine Street in Mount Airy for many years.

Maundy Morning sunrise at Mount Airys beautiful Oakdale Cemetery is a place many walk to enjoy the peace and to contemplate their thoughts of those whove passed on. American religious traditions vary but many closely associate the Easter story of Christs resurrection with cemeteries and the hope and certainty their religious beliefs give.

Moravians around the world have celebrated sunrise on Easter morning with brass bands and singing since 1732. Mount Airys Moravians generally traveled to Mount Bethel church in Virginia before they began officially forming in 1923. They met in homes and store fronts and began building what is still their church home, Grace Moravian Church on North Main Street, in September 1925. Rev. Robert Iobst, minister at Grace from 1954-1958,is shown leading the Sunrise Service with the churchs brass band in that time.

Easter is both a major religious holiday and the de facto start of spring. Easter bonnets and dresses for church were joined by garden gloves, flowers, seed packs, and the arrival of chicks. The tradition of giving dyed chicks to children in their Easter baskets began when most families raised chickens. The practice has fallen out of favor as fewer homes have hen houses in the back yard but this April 1952 ad used their free chick giveaway as a customer draw to the store on Market Street in Mount Airy.

Few congregations had a dedicated church building in the 19th century. People gathered in homes, barns, or storehouses for holidays or when a traveling or circuit minister came to the area. Sometimes impromptu platforms and benches were erected for special occasions or speakers such as the Sunday after Easter when the Crooked Oak Primitive Baptist congregation hosted what the Yadkin Valley News described as a first tabernacle in the wilderness style event that was enjoyed by a great crowd. The photo, from the Surry County Digital Heritage project, is Zion Primitive Baptist in the Crooked Oak community.

Often at home in early days

Kate Rauhauser-Smith is the visitor services manager for the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History with 22 years in journalism before joining the museum staff. She and her family moved to Mount Airy in 2005 from Pennsylvania where she was also involved with museums and history tours. She can be reached at KRSmith@NorthCarolinaMuseum.org or by calling 336-786-4478 x228

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