Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on September 19, 2022

As Pope Francis trip to Kazakhstan finishes on Thursday, he has come under fire from his most outspoken critic who overtly challenged the value of mega faith meetings such as the one the pontiff attended, dubbing them a supermarket of religions that undermined the status of the Catholic Church.

Crowning his three-day visit, a great meeting of bishops, priests and nuns took place in the cathedral of the Kazakh capital, presided over by Pope Francis. But among the congregation also was local bishop Athanasius Schneider an arch-conservative and fervent critic of the progressive pope.

What had brought Francis to Kazakhstan and its capital of Nur Sultan was the Seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions that started on Wednesday. It brought together Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and many other, mostly smaller, faiths. The head of the Catholic Church gave an address during the event at the Independence Palace presided over by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

A total of 100 people from 50 countries took part, including apart from Pope Francis, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed El-Tayyeb, and Israels Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau.

But to the mind of Bishop Schneider, who comes across as a man dedicated to speaking the truth as ugly as it may be, events such as the congress, whose ability to promote mutual respect in the world he recognised but at the same time felt it would put Catholicism at risk of being perceived on a level parallel to that of other religions.

It could give the impression of a supermarket of religions, and that is not correct, because there is only one true religion, which is the Catholic Church founded by God himself, a vituperative Schneider told reporters at the cathedral on Wednesday.

Bishop Schneider and his conservative fellows have blasted parts of the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council, which urged dialogue with other religions. In their eyes, Catholics should actively proselytise to convert others to Catholicism and challenge Francis' line that potential converts should be attracted to the faith by nothing more than the example of Christians.

Re-thinking its presence at congresses such as the one held in Nur Sultan is Bishop Schneiders piece of advice for the Vatican. His message, if not reckoned with within the Holy See, could fall on fertile soil among the readership of Catholic media, where he has made frequent appearances, with an impeccable command over the English language helping him to put his ideas across globally.

For the bishop, dialogue was better left on the local level.

The clergyman has no qualms about criticising the Pope in public, seeing it as a fraternal duty that is helpful for the entire 1.3 billion-member Church.We are not employees of the pope, the bishops, we are brothers. When in good conscience I feel that something is not correct or ambiguous I have to say it to him, with respect, fraternally, Bishop Schneider said, adding that those bishops who did not see eye to eye with the pontiff had to be forthright about it and not be caught in adulations and incense or behave like an employee to a boss.Apart from his Wednesday address, the Pope is scheduled to give another speech to the delegates on Thursday afternoon before returning to Rome.While about 70 percent of Kazakhs are Muslim and around 26 percent Orthodox Christians, there are only some 125,000 Catholics among the 19 million population of the vast Central Asian country.

source:Reuters, Anadolu, TVP World

Go here to read the rest:

Pope criticised over running 'supermarket of religions' - TVP World

Category: Ashkenazi | Comments Off on Pope criticised over running ‘supermarket of religions’ – TVP World
Tags:

Posted By admin on September 19, 2022

Posted on 20 September, 2022October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and with breast cancer still being the most diagnosed cancer in women, we wouldnt blame you if you had a few questions.

So to answer everything youve ever wondered about genetic breast cancer, Breast Cancer Trials (Australias largest oncology research group) is hosting an expert Q&A.

Hosted by Australian political journalist, commentator, and television host Annabel Crabb, some of the countrys top genetic breast cancer experts along with breast cancer survivor Karen Alexander will talk about genetics, how it relates to breast cancer as well as current research.

Ahead of the Q&A, HerCanberra sat down with Breast Cancer Trials to ask a few questions.

Approximately 5-10% of breast cancer cases are thought to be hereditary, where the gene mutation has been passed on directly from a parent.

The most commonly inherited gene mutations are known as the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations. In normal cells, these genes help make proteins that repair damaged DNA. Mutated versions of these genes result in the accumulation of damaged DNA which can lead to abnormal cell growth, which can then lead to cancer.

Both women and men who have inherited an abnormal breast cancer gene have a 50% risk (or one-in-two chance) of passing the abnormal gene on to their child.

It is estimated that in Australia today, about one in 400 women are at the highest risk of breast cancer because they carry a BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation. For these people, carrying a BRCA1 gene mutation is associated with an approximate 72% risk of developing breast cancer over the course of their lifetime. And they can have a risk of up to 44% of developing ovarian cancer. BRCA2 is associated with around a 69% chance of breast cancer and 17% chance of ovarian cancer of a lifetime.

Jewish women of eastern European ancestry (Ashkenazi) are more likely to carry a BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation, estimated to be present in about one in 40 women. This is 20 times more common than in the general population.

Genetic testing is often offered to women who are diagnosed with breast cancer at an early age (35 and under), who have a strong family history or who are diagnosed with certain types of breast cancer such as triple negative breast cancer. If a gene mutation such as in BRCA1 or BRCA2 (the most common types) is identified, this can be associated with a family history of breast, ovarian, prostate and some other types of cancer. It is important to note that family history can come from your mothers or fathers side of the family.

Genetic testing is offered only through a Familial Cancer Clinic or appropriately qualified professionals such as an oncologist. If a woman is referred to a Familial Cancer Clinic, the availability, limitations, potential benefits, and possible consequences of genetic testing will be discussed with her. If you are concerned about your strong family history of breast cancer, or you have a close family member with a BRCA gene mutation, speak with your doctor about a referral to a Familial Cancer Clinic.

THE ESSENTIALS

What: Q&A: Breast Cancer and GeneticsWhen: Monday 24 OctoberWhere: OnlineHow much: FreeWeb + tickets: breastcancertrials.org.au

Read more from the original source:

Want to know more about breast cancer and genetics? This Q&A will have all the answers - HerCanberra

Category: Ashkenazi | Comments Off on Want to know more about breast cancer and genetics? This Q&A will have all the answers – HerCanberra
Tags:

Posted By admin on September 19, 2022

They have their secret. Now I have a secret too: The story behind SumiLicious, the only Scarborough restaurant to receive a Michelin award

As the international spotlight (finally) shone down on Torontos food scene during a glitzy Michelin Guide reveal last Tuesday night at Evergreen Brick Works, one award recipient stood out from the rest. SumiLicious, a deli housed in a Scarborough strip mall, was the only one of the 30 acknowledged restaurants located outside of the citys core. It picked up a Bib Gourmandan award given to restaurants where a two-course meal and dessert or a glass of wine costs less than $60 per personfor its Montreal-style smoked meat and poutine.

Chef and owner Sumith Fernando (who puts the Sumi in SumiLicious) wasnt in attendance to hear his name called or receive a well-deserved round of applause. Too busy with the restaurant and his two-and-a-half-month-old baby, Shevenka, he missed the invitation. But, when Fernando came to work the next morning, he heard the good news. Some customers, they didnt even come to eatjust to say congrats to me, he says.

A Catholic born in Sri Lanka, Fernando isnt exactly the stereotype of a deli ownersomething typically associated with Montreal and New York Ashkenazi Jews. When he moved to Montreal in 2002, a friend hooked him up with a job at the iconic Schwartzs, which has been dishing out telephone booksize piles of spiced brisket crammed between slices of rye for nearly a century. When I worked at Schwartzs, I saw so many customers shaking their heads at how good it was as soon as they had the first bite, says Fernando. That was when he realized what he wanted to do with his life.

Over his 16 years at Schwartzs, Fernando did a bit of everything: he marinated the meat, smoked it, and hung it up to dry in the window facing Saint-Laurent Boulevard. He also worked in the kitchen and behind the counter serving customers. In his down time, dreaming of opening his own deli counter, Fernando mixed different spice combinations, trying to come up with his own signature blend. Finally, he was ready to make the move, but his wife, Shalika de Fonseka, wasnt so sure. I was actually holding him up, she says. We were scared. It was a big risk. I had to quit my job and he had to quit his job, and he wasnt sure if it was going to work or not. At last we decided that it was a risk worth taking.

Fernando didnt want to open a deli in downtown or midtown Toronto because there were so many in those areas already. So, in 2018, he opened a shop on the border of Markham and Scarborough, an area close enough to the citys Jewish communities to give an initial base of support. The first year and the second year, he was there all day and working so hard, says de Fonseka. But it started to pay off.

At Schwartzs, Fernando says, they marinate the meat for 10 days and then smoke it for up to eight hours. At SumiLicious, he likes to marinate and smoke the brisket even longer to bump up the flavour. I see the difference when I marinate it for more days, he says. He has also fiddled with his spice mix to get it just right. But, of course, like Schwartzs, he wont reveal whats in it. They have their secret, he says. Now I have a secret too.

At first, the challenge was convincing those who had never tried smoked meat to give it a go, but before long, more and more business was coming through word of mouth. It also helped that SumiLicious serves Halal-certified meat and dishes out Fernandos version of one of the worlds best comfort foods. I didnt expect the poutine to be so popular, he says.

Four years after opening, SumiLicious is as busy as ever and only stands to grow after being added to Torontos Michelin Guide. We are happy and thrilled today, especially with this recognition and customer support, de Fonseka says. But Fernando doesnt plan to stop experimenting with his recipes. One day, I want to try something different, something spicy, he says, adding that he plans to add butterfly chicken to the menu.

As for whether the family prefers Montreal or Toronto, lets put it this way: theyll be cheering for the Leafs this season. We still love Montreal, but this city is welcoming and theres lots of opportunity, de Fonseka says. We love Toronto.

SumiLicious, 5-5631 Steeles Ave. E., Scarborough, 647-347-8899, sumilicious.ca

Continued here:

They have their secret. Now I have a secret too: The story behind SumiLicious, the only Scarborough restaurant to receive a Michelin award - Toronto...

Category: Ashkenazi | Comments Off on They have their secret. Now I have a secret too: The story behind SumiLicious, the only Scarborough restaurant to receive a Michelin award – Toronto…
Tags:

Posted By admin on September 19, 2022

ROME Pope Francis returned last night from a three-day trip to Kazakhstan to attend a Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, which, at the big-picture level, produced few real surprises.

The pope traveled to a country located cheek by jowl with both Ukraine and Russia and, while he firmly denounced war and urged religious leaders to avoid the rhetoric that justifies it, he didnt specifically call out either Russian President Vladimir Putin or the Russian Orthodox power structure supporting the invasion. (He did, however, acknowledge Ukraines right to self-defense, calling it an expression of love for the homeland, in his inflight news conference on the way back to Rome.)

Chinese Premier Xi Jinping was in the Kazakh capital at the same time as the pope Wednesday, but the two men never met despite a Vatican request. Francis artfully dodged a question from Crux about whether he sees the upcoming sedition trial in Hong Kong of Cardinal Joseph Zen as a violation of religious freedom, saying only that with China one must be patient.

In general, the pope buttressed his profile this week as what one might call the chairman of the board of religious moderates everywhere, and in every tradition, by insisting that true religious faith is incompatible with terror, violence, and injustice.

All this is entirely consistent with Franciss general approach, and none of it was unexpected.

Once we increase the focus to granular detail, however, there are a few interesting elements of the Kazakhstan outing which merit at least a moments thought.

Although Francis was in Kazakhstan only three days, he managed to draw fire from two prominent clerics while he was in town: Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Anthony Sevryuk of Volokolamsk, basically the number two figure in the Russian Orthodox power structure, who was attending in place of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, and the Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Astana, Athanasius Schneider, a longtime skeptic about many of the progressive policies of the Francis papacy.

In essence, Sevryuk rebuked Pope Francis for having criticized his boss. Back in March, when Francis took part in a zoom call with Kirill, he warned him about the risk of coming off as an altar boy of Putin through his full-throated support for the war in Ukraine, in a comment the pope later revealed in a media interview.

Floating such language publicly, Sevryuk told reporters, was very unexpected, and said it was clearly not useful for Christian unity.

Nonetheless, Sevryuk said that its important that both sides must go forward in the quest for common ground.

For Schneiders part, he wondered aloud about the symbolism of inter-faith summits such as this weeks event in Nur-Sultan, the Kazakh capital, formerly known as Astana.

There is only one true religion, and that is the Catholic Church, founded by God himself, and God commanded all men, all religions, to believe and accept his son Jesus Christ. There is no other way to salvation, and in these meetings the Catholic Church is visually and exteriorly such one of the many religions, and this is, in my opinion, a negative point and a dangerous point, Schneider said.

Theres little surprising about the reaction, especially since its the sort of thing critics have said about papally-sponsored inter-faith summits since St. John Paul IIs in Assisi in 1986.

Whats more interesting, however, is to ponder which of these two critiques likely bothered Francis more, and why. The correct answer almost certainly is the Orthodox prelate Sevryuk, not his fellow Catholic bishop Schneider.

Thats not because Francis necessarily takes Sevryuks objection more seriously in truth, it was every bit as formulaic as Schneiders but simply because Francis doesnt really appear to be trying to win over Catholic traditionalists anyway, while, within reason, he does seem to want to make ecumenical headway with the Russian Orthodox.

Plus, to be honest, a pope has more tools to deal with internal criticism than he does when it comes from the outside. Under this pope, at any rate, Schneider has about the same chance of ever being more than an auxiliary bishop as a fencepost, but Sevryuk could very well end up being the Patriarch of Moscow one day, so the pope cant just write him off.

Thats the thing about the decision popes made long ago to embrace the ecumenical movement: Its strengthened their moral authority considerably, but also made them more vulnerable to pressures they cant directly control. But as a riff off the old saying goes, I suppose, even a pope has to take the bitter with the sweet.

Over and over again in Kazakhstan, as he does routinely in virtually every setting, Pope Francis stressed the importance of working to understand one another, with mutual comprehension being critical, he insisted, to the cause of peace.

Ironically, he delivered that message in Italian, a language virtually no one at the inter-faith event, outside the small Vatican retinue flanking the pope, actually understood. Of course there was translation available, but everyone knows its not quite the same.

One small measure of the language gap was that early in his closing talk, Francis tossed off a quick thank you very much in English before plunging back into his prepared text. Thats not exactly rousing stuff, but it drew a small ripple of applause anyway, presumably because people actually understood it.

Granted, Francis isnt comfortable enough in either French, the language of global diplomacy, or English, the language of media and commerce, to use either language in public. But one might wonder why he doesnt employ Spanish, which, according to Babbel, is the fourth most-spoken language in the world behind English, Mandarin Chinese and Hindi.

However, Im told that because Francis employs a dialect of Spanish native to Buenos Aires called porteo, hes often difficult to understand even for mother-tongue Spanish speakers from anywhere else.

In reality, therefore, Italian is probably his best choice. He employs standard Italian and is perfectly comprehensible to anyone who knows the language, and hes also comfortable enough to be able to go off the cuff with ease.

Frankly, Pope Francis is probably the greatest ambassador for the Italian language on the global stage right now. I have no idea how many American schools offer courses in Italian, but if my income were dependent on how many people want to learn the language, Id be rooting for Francis to stick around as long as possible.

The Argentine pontiff, whose family hails from the northern Italian region of Piedmont, does have a tendency once in a while to invent new Italian words on the fly but even that could be seen as a boon, by keeping the language alive.

As we saw with Schneider, a standard criticism of inter-religious gatherings in which any pope participates is that they project the idea that all religions are on the same level, meaning in effect, that ones as good as another.

Superficially, anyway, one can maybe understand the reaction, since an inter-faith meeting is one of the few times you do actually get to see a pope physically standing, or sitting, on the same level as everyone else, not just for brief meet-and-greets but the main event, too.

There Francis was on Thursday in Nur-Sultan, the Kazakh capital, sitting at a large conference table between Rabbi David Lau, the chief Ashkenazi rabbi of Israel, and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan, a Muslim, with assorted muftis, sheikhs, sages and shamans also arrayed around the table, along with a smattering of other Christian clergy, with no one obviously dominating the others.

Most of the time when the pope appears in public hes on a stage or elevated platform, for the very good reason that people want to see him. Even during a session of the Synod of Bishops, where you might think the spirit of collegiality would dictate seating arrangements, the pope always sits on an elevated dais at the front of the room because, lets face it, the bishops want to see him too.

So, in that limited sense, yes, an inter-faith summit does put a pope on the same level with other religions. Of course, thats by design, as a visual demonstration of solidarity among the gathered leaders even if its a little bit artificial, since a pope is easily the most recognized religious figure on the planet, and simply isnt on the same level with everyone else in terms of star power no matter where he sits or stands.

Anyway, theres a serious leap involved in arguing that physically being on the same level necessarily implies theological equivalence. After all, John Paul II sat on the same level with MehmetAli Aca when he visited him in prison after the 1981 assassination attempt, but I dont think anyone felt John Paul was implying that Ali Acas belief system whatever it might have been at the time, because it seems to change like the weather was just as good as the Nicene Creed.

The sensitivity to such matters is, however, a good reminder that popes speak all the time, but only part of the time do they actually use words. Thursday was proof that sometimes, the most important statement theyll make all day is simply taking a place at the table.

Continued here:

Trip notebook: Papal critics, an ambassador for Italian and sitting on the same level - Crux Now

Category: Ashkenazi | Comments Off on Trip notebook: Papal critics, an ambassador for Italian and sitting on the same level – Crux Now
Tags:

Posted By admin on September 19, 2022

September 15 was a deadline for the submission of parties for the Israeli elections, set for November 1. At this point it appears likely that Israel will be seeing one of its most extreme right-wing governments in history.

Benjamin Netanyahu has reemerged as a beacon of stability for the right, and if he leads Israels next government he will likely bring a considerable number of representatives from the Kahanist Jewish Power party with him. Although ironically, Netanyahu is also helping coalesce what is left of the Left as their opposition to him is the only thing holding them together. If he wasnt running, the next Israeli government would probably swing even further to the right.

There were several last-minute dramas as the party lists were finalized, the biggest probably being the split that occurred in what used to be the Joint List the conglomerate of several Palestinian-representative parties.

For a while, Balad, which stands for a democratic secular state, was speaking of running separately from Hadash and Taal. The latter two are more poised to recommend a candidate like current Prime Minister Yair Lapid (thus lending their support to a potential anti-Netanyahu bloc), and Balad is more opposed to it. Nonetheless, they had reportedly reached an agreement accommodating all concerns right when Hadash and Taal suddenly called it off and decided to go without Balad.

In the speech declaring the new merger Hadash-Taal, leader Ayman Odeh suggested that their party would get 6 seats, enough to make them kingmakers and bring the anti-Netanyahu bloc out of the roughly 55-seat situation (a 61-seat majority is needed in the 120-seat parliament). Alas, all four polls since that decision point to exactly 4 seats for Hadash-Taal putting into question whether they will clear the electoral threshold (4 seats, 3.25%). Odeh seemed to be hinging his optimistic projection on the precedent of the April 2019 elections, where such a merger ran and got 6 seats.

But the political landscape has shifted, and Israels forever-elections carry a toll on the stamina of voters. All of those polls point to Balad not even making it beyond the electoral threshold (the highest they poll is 1.5%). When the Joint List ran together as four parties in the September 2019 elections, they got 13 seats and became the third biggest party after Blue-White and Likud.

Remember that Raam, the conservative Islamist party, split from the other three in the 2021 elections, and joined the government of change then led by Naftali Bennett, Israels historically most right-wing premier. It was, quite predictably, a government of apartheid status quo.

These splits among the Palestinian-representative parties seem to have a very negative effect for projected voter turnout, and recent polls suggest that perhaps only about one out of three Palestinian citizens of Israel will turn up for voting in this situation.

It is now possible, that all the Palestinian-representative parties running, including Raam, will simply not clear the electoral threshold, and that there will simply be no united Palestinian representation in the Israeli parliament.

Meanwhile, on the Zionist far-right, Ayelet Shaked was attempting to save what was left of the Yamina (Rightwards) party, which was her ticket for governing with Naftali Bennett as premier. Bennett will not be running after the failure of the recent one-year government, and Shaked was attempting to forge alignments which would maintain her political relevance. First she made an alliance with Yoaz Hendel (the Minister of Communications) at the end of July, forming what they called The Zionist Spirit. That 1.5-month venture ended five days before the mid-September deadline, where they split amidst disagreements about whether to support Netanyahu. Shaked is open for it, whereas Hendel is apparently a hardcore not-Netanyahu right-winger.

Shaked decided to go back to her former ideological home, the Jewish Home party, which is now led by her. Alas, the Jewish Home is only polling around 2%, and Shakeds leadership has not helped it by much.

In the wake of the mid-September deadline, there have been four official polls. While the first three (channel 12, 13 and 11) gave the hardcore, Jewish-fundamentalist Netanyahu bloc 60 seats, the fourth from yesterday (Channel 14) gave it a clear win of 62. That bloc consists of Likud, Religious Zionism (including the Kahanist Jewish Power in majority representation), the orthodox-Ashkenazi United Torah Judaism and the orthodox-Mizrahi Shas.

Netanyahu has been pushing this point very hard in his media messages, that we are touching 61. The recent poll suggests they are passing it.

One must also regard the possibility of smaller parties not making it over the electoral threshold, and their wasted votes being distributed to the remaining parties. If this happens, statistically, the bigger parties have an advantage at gathering another mandate or more.

It thus appears rather likely that Israel will be seeing one of its most extreme right-wing governments in history.

Is it possible that Israel will be thrown into yet another forever-election, maybe even a sixth election within four years? In theory, yes.

But the political landscape appears to tilt the weights rightwards. It is worth mentioning that the left-Zionist Meretz also polled only 4 seats in the recent poll. That party sold its soul to apartheid during its governance, passing apartheid laws and regulations for the sake of governmental unity. Its raison detre is in question. Even if it makes it through, that anti-Netanyahu bloc appears weaker than ever.

Meanwhile, time seems to have worked for Netanyahu. He is a patient campaigner. Although the four elections since April 2019 have produced stalemates and short-lived governments, Likud is still by far the largest bloc, and is demonstrating stability among a landscape of considerable disarray. Netanyahu won party primaries last month, cementing his leadership.

It is worth noting that while Lapid presents himself as a beacon of liberalism, his leadership has not been democratically contested he has led the Yesh Atid party since its establishment in 2012, and his chairmanship has been extended three times (although the rules allow only twice). Last year Lapid was challenged to hold primaries by Ofer Shelah, one of the partys founders. Lapid refused and pushed him out. Finally, the party announced it would hold primaries in January of this year, but then canceled it, instead extending Lapids tenure for the next three parliamentary cycles, citing the political deadlock and special circumstances. A one-man party indeed.

But Lapid, despite the fact that he now governs and leads the second largest party (which polls about 23 compared to Likuds roughly 33), does not measure up to Netanyahu in terms of public trust for him as premier. The recent poll indicated that between Netanyahu, Lapid, and Benny Gantz, 50% want Netanyahu as premier. Only 25% want Lapid. And less than one out of six want Gantz.

If Netanyahu wins it, as seems to be likely, it will now be with a considerable representation of the Kahanist Jewish Power. Netanyahu has lobbied hard to merge Jewish Power with Bezalel Smotrichs religious Zionism, and that has resulted in getting Itamar Ben Gvir into the parliament. Ben Gvir is an admirer of the Jewish terrorist Baruch Goldstein, who massacred Palestinian worshippers at the Al Ibrahimi Mosque in Al-Khalil (Hebron) in 1994, killing 29 and wounding 125. Ben Gvirs official appearance as a lawmaker broke a taboo in Israeli politics since the banning of Meir Kahane from running in elections in 1988. Goldstein was a disciple of Kahane.

This time, Jewish Power seems to have a much more considerable representation. During the summer, Ben Gvir first split from Religious Zionism, citing displeasure with Jewish Power representation in the joint party. Polls then predicted greater support for the merger if Ben Gvir was leader rather than Smotrich. Netanyahu again lobbied hard to get them together, and they did now with more substantial representation of Jewish Power (with Ben Gvir as number 2). This caused Ben Gvir to announce:

With Gods help, in the next Knesset there will be five Ben Gvirs serving. We will establish a national government, a full right-wing government, stable and strong for Israel.

His prophecy appears reasonably viable.

Finally, it is worth reflecting upon the political landscape in Israel as a whole, without Netanyahu as a focus as the anti-Netanyahu bloc is not necessarily opposed to his right-wing ideology. If Netanyahu were theoretically not the leader of Likud, and another leader more amenable to the other right-wing forces were leading Likud, this would open up for a decidedly right-wing government of over 80, and this is counting out Lapids Yesh Atid (which is not really left-wing).

Indeed, if Netanyahu were not in the picture, Israel would look even more right-wing than it does today.

The problem isnt with Netanyahu, its with Israel. And whatever political force may come instead of him may even be worse.

This movement needs a newsroom that can cover all of Palestine and the global Palestinian freedom movement.

The Israeli government and its economic, cultural, and political backers here in the U.S. have made a decades-long investment in silencing and delegitimizing Palestinian voices.

Were building a powerful challenge to those mainstream norms, and proving that listening to Palestinians is essential for moving the needle.

Become a donor today and support our critical work.

See more here:

Netanyahu poised to lead most rightwing government in Israeli history - Mondoweiss

Category: Ashkenazi | Comments Off on Netanyahu poised to lead most rightwing government in Israeli history – Mondoweiss
Tags:

Posted By admin on September 19, 2022

AGARWAL: How did decide on the treatment path you did?

Chowdhury: I have been involved in the TITAN study [NCT02489318] as one of the clinical chairs, so I have [vast] experience with apalutamide.1 We know that a significant subgroup in the TITAN study [benefited from therapy] and we know that that subgroup continued to show a benefit. This is a very reasonable treatment. The best evidence [from TITAN] supports apalutamide, and enzalutamide [Xtandi] is supported by the ARCHES study [NCT02677896], and both are very reasonable treatments.2 Certainly in my own practice, we have a lot of experience with apalutamide from TITAN for routine clinical practice. We also use the drug in nonmetastatic [castration-sensitive prostate cancer (CSPC) based on results from the phase 3 SPARTAN trial (NCT01946204)]. Doublets rather than ADT alone have been shown to produce a significant benefit, and sometimes we underestimate that. [This patient] has a poor prognosis and high-volume disease; he isnt someone with a super scan and a PSA level of several hundred ng/mL. Sometimes we can underestimate the disease and the lethality of disease in a man who has many years to live and is young.

Agarwal: How do you determine a treatment based on the available options for a certain patient?

Liaw: [The results of] multiple studies have shown us that moving some of the drugs that we once reserved for castration-resistant disease into the hormone-sensitive metastatic setting gives us a much more augmented long-term disease benefit in terms of disease control and overall survival [OS] benefit. I will talk to a patient who has high-volume disease about 4 options: docetaxel; apalutamide, such as what was done for this particular patient; abiraterone [Zytiga]; and enzalutamide. In someone who might have low-volume disease, sometimes theres a good discussion as to whether we do prostate radiation. In this case, he doesnt have a prostate anymore, so we wouldnt talk about that. But for de novo metastatic low-volume disease, you might think about that.

Often patients question how we choose among these 4 agents to use for systemic therapy, and no one necessarily has the right answer. Many times, it does come down to the patient themselves and their characteristics. In a patient like this who otherwise has an excellent performance status, is young, and has very few comorbidities, hes [a candidate] for all treatment options, vs some patients who might have more issues with steroid use, which would make things like abiraterone a bit harder for us to challenge them with. Patients who have hepatic or renal insufficiency might not be quite as good candidates for chemotherapy. One last thing that sometimes comes into the mix is cost issues with medications. For drugs like abiraterone which are off patent at this point, the price point might be more attractive, vs a drug like enzalutamide or apalutamide that is still branded.

Agarwal: How do you decide among the 4 options to treat prostate cancer?

Lowentritt: In 2019, apalutamide and enzalutamide got their approvals in the metastatic CSPC [mCSPC] space.3,4 Until then, only chemotherapy and abiraterone were available, and only 30% of people received abiraterone, so you still had the vast majority of people getting ADT alone. When I see my patients today and I talk to my partners and colleagues, its important to get to that first level of understanding that we need to intensify their therapy. Plenty of evidence shows that the standard of care [SOC] has long evolved past ADT alone. When Im talking to my patients now with a menu of offerings, I still do counsel them and encourage them. It is very clear that an oral option is often favored, although [in the future,] ways will evolve where theyre not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Abiraterone is still a wonderful medication because the exposure is a little bit longer in this part of the disease state, and patients will be on this for a longer period. Theres a slight concern about chronic steroid use in these patients. I dont know if that weighs heavier than the other concerns about chronic exposure to these medications on other systems in the body, but thats a component of it. Theres also a considerable cost-saving for patients who will be on drugs for a long time, so I definitely consider abiraterone as an excellent option. I have used both other options that are approved, apalutamide and enzalutamide, in this space, and there are differences. I tend to avoid enzalutamide in my elderly patients. My personal experience is there can be some increased level of problems with equilibrium or memory or just word finding for those patients over the long haul. I do think we have to recognize that this will be a longer course of therapy. Thankfully theyre all successful in extending life and having a long course, so I have these discussions [with my patients]. I try to do personal assessments, and there are some drug-drug interactions, although theyre minimal. Thyroid disease is more of a unique marker for apalutamide, but it generally occurs as small incidents and is easily managed. I have these discussions, but it ends up being a personal choice based on a lot of individual patient factors.

Agarwal: How do drug interactions play a role in your clinic? When do you decide to switch an anticoagulant rather than the prostate cancer treatment?

Liaw: In my personal practice, we do run into drug interactions here and there. It usually boils down to what options we have for anticoagulants and for treatment of prostate cancer. If their need for coagulation is a much more urgent issue, like in someone who has a saddle embolism, Im not touching their anticoagulant. Its more of an issue and is my bigger priority. For prostate cancer, if there are other equally suitable options and I can easily make a substitution, Im willing to do so if its a drug interaction issue. I dont come up against these tough decisions daily, but here and there we do have to make a decision to switch away from one drug to another.

Agarwal: When looking at the quality of life, why choose ADT plus apalutamide?

Chowdhury: For quality of life, we look at the studies, personal experiences, and at the patient in front of usand sometimes we underestimate how scary it is for a patient faced with metastatic disease. Patients like this want the best treatment. Sometimes because ADT works well, its an active treatment. Its among the most active treatments we have in solid tumor oncology. We focus on the current outlook rather than thinking about whats coming for the patient in a relatively short period of time. We see that [progression-free survival] on ADT alone is 12 to 18 months, and its shorter in terms of PSA, which obviously drives decision-making anxiety and treatment change. What I discuss with them are the data.

I honestly believe ADT is an elephant in the room. In the [United Kingdom], we underestimate toxicity to the detriment of our patients. Going forward, particularly in patients with lower-volume disease and good responses. Im hoping well see the escalation of therapy, particularly ADT, and get men on single-agent AR [androgen receptor] inhibitors, although that is not [an approved indication].

Something that weve talked about quite a lot in studies such as TITAN, ARCHES, and ARASEN [NCT02799602] is that PSA was blinded to patients and investigators.5 The benefit of PSA psychologically is massive for patients. When patients walk into our clinic room, one of the first, if not the first, question is about PSA. PSA is critical and PSA responsesthe depth, duration, and how that also ties in with the quality of lifeare important. For me, apalutamide and darolutamide [Nubeqa] are both good drugs. I chose apalutamide because of my experience in TITAN.

Agarwal: Why did you choose to use triplet therapy for this patient?

Liaw: In a case like this, we have many of the same options that we spoke about earlier in terms of doublet therapy. One thing to highlight is that this is a patient who has come in with de novo disease, which typically has a worse prognosis vs [a case where] metastatic recurrence has come back on the metachronous end. We want to put our best foot forward, so to speak. He is a 59-year-old patient who is otherwise independent with no medical issues, and he is also highly symptomatic. He has already had a pathologic fracture. His PSA numbers are tremendously elevated. Everything leads to not just high-volume disease, but many aspects of this disease that are high risk as well.

Data that support the use of triplet regimens like ADT, docetaxel, and abirateronea regimen that was championed in the PEACE-1 study [NCT01957436]and the backdrop of understanding the [benefit of] adding an additional layer of intensification to doublet combination therapy have led to success across all the different agents for mCSPC.6 [The PEACE-1] study looked to push that envelope a little bit further by adding on a third agent. We know that prostate cancer has some intrinsic heterogeneity. There will be some early clones that are more inherently insensitive or resistant to ADT, or maybe AR-directed therapy, through mechanisms such as AR variants or alterations. Trying to have something in the chemotherapy category as well as the AR-directed category, investigators hoped to show that a triplet regimen would elevate survival on top of just ADT plus docetaxel alone.

PEACE-1 has an interesting study design; it evolved as the SOC evolved. It was initially designed as a large randomized study to test whether the addition of abiraterone or radiation therapy, or the combination of both, to the SOC of ADT would benefit men with hormone-sensitive prostate cancer. However, [the SOC changed] as data from the CHAARTED trial [NCT00309985] and the STAMPEDE trial [NCT00268476] came out showing the additional benefits of docetaxel.7,8 [PEACE-1] laid out a prespecified statistical plan that provides for primary efficacy analysis of survival with the addition of abiraterone to the docetaxel-treated population. This study was very positive, but more to our point, the triplet regimen focused on the population of patients who got both ADT and docetaxel as part of the SOC. The addition of abiraterone demonstrated significant improvement in OS with a hazard ratio of 0.75 [95% CI, 0.59-0.95; P = .017]. This positive effect on OS was primarily pronounced in the patients with high-volume disease. The addition of abiraterone to hormonal therapy [must be] seriously considered because it is linked to a survival benefit.

Agarwal: As a urologist, how do you choose between doublet and triplet therapy?

Lowentritt: The latest data indicate that only about 3% of [patients] were getting docetaxel for metastatic hormone-sensitive disease. Its hard to call that the SOC, so you would love to see what the results are. My focus now is on intensifying therapy up front for these patients with high-volume disease who can tolerate it. Even in the ARCHES and TITAN trials, you had patients who had received docetaxel and then were put on oral therapy. [Patients enrolled were] usually in the low double digits or high single digits in those trials, but they did well and there were prespecified analyses to look at those that did equally well. [Some] data suggest that patients dont do worse when we combine [treatments].

Now, its about finding those patients whom my medical oncology colleagues will treat and the ones who will tolerate [treatment] well. Patients are [presenting at a] younger age, with better performance status, and they undergo a more intensified treatment up front due to high-volume disease. We are seeing this increased incidence of high-volume de novo disease, likely linked to decreased screening in the United States in the last 5 to 10 years. Regardless, we were seeing that trend even before then, and this disease seems to be getting worse. I do think itll be about finding those patients who fit the criteria and can go through [docetaxel plus oral therapy] together. We do not give cytotoxic chemotherapy in our practice; we give all the other types of therapies. Its about the patients having a good discussion with us and then making sure they have access to the medical oncologist, who can have a discussion with them and give them more details. Thats how I have approached it.

Agarwal: How is the process different if the patient has low-volume disease but is still de novo?

Liaw: PEACE-1 also included patients with low-volume disease, and it also tried to determine what type of [patient] benefited from the triplet regimen. As of the most recent data analysis, [we have no conclusive answers] in terms of OS benefit for these low-volume patients. Further longitudinal follow-up may change that, but right now, not a lot of strong evidence shows that patients with low-volume disease would necessarily benefit from a triplet regimen. Im generally not going to convince patients with low-volume disease to take 3 different therapies at the same time. Some exceptions to that [exist,] because when we define high-volume disease, were looking at the CHAARTED criteria, which are primarily focused on a [particular] number of lesions. It doesnt get at the heart of the matter, which is the overall volume of disease. One tiny, half-millimeter bone lesion still counts as a bone lesion in the CHAARTED trial. If you have a 10-centimeter lymph node thats obstructing kidney function, thats still 1 lesion. CHAARTED doesnt fully accommodate some well-known poor prognostic features of disease, such as a Gleason score or height of PSA [bounce].

There are some gray areas here, [such as if a patient] has low-volume disease and large, obstructive lymph nodes that dont quite meet high-volume disease criteria. If theyre highly symptomatic and they need an immediate response, I think theres still room to make a case for much more aggressive triplet therapy. Does that mean that its necessarily better over a doublet? I dont have those data. I dont know that well have great randomized prospective studies to be able to demonstrate this soon. Most likely, what well have to do is come together as a medical community to understand what the real-world data tell us, to help inform some of these decision-making processes. For patients with low-volume disease, Im still mostly thinking about doublet therapies.

Agarwal: How do you approach genomic profiling?

Chowdhury: [We have] both germline genomic profiling and somatic genomic profiling. From the somatic genomic profiling [perspective], its difficult because many patients [with homologous recombination repair gene alteration] from the PROfound study [NCT02987543] failed the FoundationOne testing.9 A lot of the samples had insufficient DNA extraction, so we need to think about that. When we have a patient with metastatic disease, particularly poor-prognosis metastatic disease, we need to be getting the DNA from those patients to check whether they have somatic mutations or germline mutations. Those are patients who will need options going forward, potentially like a PARP inhibitor.

From the germline side, the [National Comprehensive Cancer Network] guidelines are good. We dont have [enough] geneticist capacity in the [United Kingdom] for every high-risk localizedpatient. One must be a bit more pragmatic and look at particularly high-risk [ancestry] groups, such as Ashkenazi Jews [and others] with a significant history of likely BRCA-related cancers, and [consider] education around that. Its an evolving field. Tests are evolving, and not all genes are equal. BRCA1, BRCA2, and ATM are different genes with different actionability. Not all mutations are equal, so a homozygous deletion is different than a missense. And not all tests are equal. We must be careful about tests that [identify] mutations that just arent actionable. A lot of work [remains] to be done there. Its an interesting area, and you and your group demonstrated with olaparib [Lynparza] that there is actionability that can benefit patients. These are exciting times, but the data are early.

Lowentritt: [My center] was a trial site for PROfound, but I got 0 patients enrolled because all my samples failed. It informed how I then started doing testing, and I am now getting fresher biopsies at diagnosis. Im getting an initial somatic workup because the tissue is fresh. [Genetic testing] is more likely to be successful, and we have more [available samples] so that we can [determine results easier]. If a prostatectomy [has been done], that makes [genetic testing] easier as well. Most patients who were diagnosing with de novo metastatic disease are going to just have a biopsy. Im [receiving tissue samples] upfront with the understanding that many of these [mutations] are currently actionable. My approach now is to test early and test often. We have to recognize that most of the information that we currently know is helpful is available at the beginning. Future discovery will be based on resistance mechanisms and other things that are developing over time, so we can test as patients progress. I have gone to a lot more testing in the de novo setting.

Read the original post:

Recap: Recent Advances in the Treatment of Metastatic Castration-Sensitive Prostate Cancer - Cancer Network

Category: Ashkenazi | Comments Off on Recap: Recent Advances in the Treatment of Metastatic Castration-Sensitive Prostate Cancer – Cancer Network
Tags:

Posted By admin on September 19, 2022

1. ADL and National Urban League Launch Community Solidarity & Safety Coalition  National Urban League
2. Ahead of White House extremism summit, ADL CEO sounds antisemitism alarm  The Jerusalem Post
3. National Leaders Mark Historic Convening of the White House United We Stand Summit  Legal Reader
4. The White House is holding a summit on extremist violence. Heres what must come next  Forward
5. ADLs Jonathan Greenblatt Cant Defend Bidens Fine People Hoax; Pivots to Other Hoaxes  Breitbart
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

Read this article:
ADL and National Urban League Launch Community Solidarity & Safety Coalition - National Urban League

Category: Anti-Defamation League | Comments Off on ADL and National Urban League Launch Community Solidarity & Safety Coalition – National Urban League
Tags:

Posted By admin on September 19, 2022

On todays episode of The Confluence: We talk about the widening availability of COVID-19 vaccines that target certain variants of the virus; and a conversation with an organizer and speaker for the second annual Eradicate Hate Summit, which is convening nearly 300 experts in Pittsburgh to talk about solutions to a rise in hate crimes and hateful rhetoric.

Todays guests include: Dr. Amesh Adalja, infectious disease physician and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security; Laura Ellsworth, partner-in-charge of global community service initiatives at Jones Day and co-chair of the summit, and Julie Platt, board chair of the Jewish Federations of North America.

New COVID-19 boosters will target the original virus and new variants(0:00 - 8:36)

Earlier this month, the CDC recommended an updated COVID-19 booster shot, called the bivalent vaccine. It was formulated to better target newer variants of the virus. As the weather gets colder and seasonal illnesses return, what can we expect from the updated booster as we head into a new season?

It better reformulates the material in the vaccine to target BA.4 and BA.5, so that when your antibodies are formed against this new vaccine, they form against BA.4 and BA.5 versus the original version of this virus, says Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

There is no efficacy data for the new vaccines because they werent tested in humans, but data from mice show the antibody levels are predicted to be protective, says Adalja.

As COVID-19 becomes a seasonal disease, Adalja says the main concern is that hospitals are able to manage the flow of severely affected patients.

We've got to get less focus on cases and just really celebrate the fact that this is now an outpatient illness, says Adalja.

The second Eradicate Hate Summit is convening this week in Pittsburgh(8:48 - 22:30)

In 2021, the Anti-Defamation League tracked a 34% increase in antisemitic attacks, compared to 2020. Other attacks tied to extremism also increased last year.

A global summit is convening in Pittsburgh this week with nearly 300 experts and others motivated to reduce, and perhaps eliminate completely, incidents tied to hate.

Last year, we were very deliberately broad. We went very broad so everyone could see the full landscape, says Laura Ellsworth, co-chair of the summer and partner-in-charge of global community service initiatives at Jones Day. This year, we're going deep, so we have seven tracks that are focused on specific issues of particular interest, which include things like [the] rise of hate among young people.

Julie Platt, board chair of the Jewish Federations of North America and will be giving a keynote at the conference.

What I hope will go forward from this summit is partnerships that grow and that see it and that identify it, says Platt. If we can address it as partners, understanding that hate, sadly, has a lot of recipients, and if we can join together to look at what causes it and how we might address it, won't that be better for all of us?

The summit begins today and ends Wednesday.

The Confluence, where the news comes together, is 90.5 WESAs daily news program. Tune in Monday to Thursday at 9 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. to hear newsmakers and innovators take an in-depth look at stories important to the Pittsburgh region. Find more episodes of The Confluence here or wherever you get your podcasts.

View original post here:
New COVID-19 vaccine will help reduce infection from specific variants - 90.5 WESA

Category: Anti-Defamation League | Comments Off on New COVID-19 vaccine will help reduce infection from specific variants – 90.5 WESA
Tags:

Posted By admin on September 19, 2022

East Room

3:45 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Susan. Thank you. Please be seated. Thank you for that introduction.

And, you know, many of you have lost parts of your heart and soul yourselves. And you know that although moments like this, where we are working like the devil to see to it other people dont go through the same thing, as Susan knows, it just brings back everything. Its hard to stand up here when and recall exactly what happened without it all flooding back as if its happening again.

So, Susan, thank you not only for your words, but for your courage. I really mean it. Thank you, thank you, thank you. (Applause.)

Through your pain, youve found purpose worthy of the life that Heather lived and purpose to help us stand united as she did.

And thats what so many of you have done for so long in your own way as survivors of hate-fueled violence, family, victims, you know, allies and advocates, mayors and community leaders, members of Congress. Your presence is a testament to the truth that we must and we can come together regardless of our backgrounds, our beliefs.

We have to stand united against hate-fueled violence because its real, and you know it better than anyone to affirm that an attack on one group of us is literally an attack on all of us.

I sincerely appreciate all of you joining this first-of-its-kind summit held here in the White House. And I want to thank Ana Navarro and Lisa Ling for participating.

And I want to thank the civil rights organizations that called for such a summit after the evil came to Buffalo four months ago: the National Urban League; the Anti-Defamation League; the Asian Americans Advancing Justice; the League of United Latin Cit- Latin American Citizens; and the National Action Network.

Jill and I my wife Jill and I and shes teaching; thats why shes not here traveled to Buffalo to grieve with families and deliver a message from deep in our nations soul: In America, evil will not win. It will not prevail. (Applause.) Hate will not prevail. And white supremacists will not have the last word. And this venom and violence cannot be the story of our time.

So we convened this summit to make clear what the story of our time must be. It has to be a story in which each and every one of us has a vital role to play. A story a story with this message from the White House: United united united we stand.

Look, I decided to run for President, as Susan knows, after Charlottesville literally, not figuratively. I had no intention of running, I give you my word. I was teaching and I thought that was the best thing for me to do as Chris knows, my colleague from Delaware.

But Charlottesville changed everything, because I believed our story is to unite as people of one nation and one America. When those folks came out of those that field carrying torches the United States of America carrying torches, chanting the same antisemitic bile that was chanted in Germany in the early 30s, accompanied by white supremacists holding Nazi flags. And I thought to myself, My God, this is the United States of America Senator How could it happen?

No, I I really mean it. As my friends in the movement Civil Rights Movement know, I got involved in politics because of civil rights as a kid.

But the idea the idea that in the first quarter of the 20th century wed have people come out of fields carrying torches, Nazi flags and banners, chanting the bile, accompanied by white supremacists, David Duke and his crowd. And an innocent young woman is killed.

When the last guy was asked what did he think, he said he thought there were some fine people on both sides.

Look, folks, there are core values that should bring us together as Americans. And one of them is standing together against hate, racism, bigotry, and violence that have long haunted and plagued our nation.

Another core value is standing united, for the enduring source of our strength is the idea of America. Were the most unique nation in the world.

Every other nation is based on ethnicity, geography. In America, were based on an idea literally, not figuratively an idea. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all [women and] men are created equalendowed by the[ir] Creator et cetera.

Weve never lived up to that, but we never before walked away from it. We never walked away from it.

Thats why its so important what youre doing. Its so important that we keep hollering. Its so important for people to know thats not who we are.

You know, I do a lot of foreign travel in my business. (Laughter.) I spend an awful lot of time and I know virtually every head of state. When I went to the first G7 meeting in England of the largest democracies in the world, I sat down and I said you know and have heard me say this before, Rev I said, America is back. You know what these leaders said around a small table with no press there? For how long? For how long?

The combination of January the 6th, what they saw in Charlottesville: Thats not America, not who we are.

The idea of America is it guarantees that everyone everyone is treated with dignity and equality. An idea that ensures an inclusive, multi-racial democracy. An idea that we give no safe harbor none to hate.

While weve never, as I said, fully lived up to the idea, weve never walked away from it before.

Look, Im not nave. Kamala and I traveled to Atlanta to grieve with Asian American residents. Violence against the community rose during this pandemic. Too many people fearful just walking the streets in America.

Jewish High Holidays approach. Families will gather for reflection under the shadow of the rise of antisemitism just four years after the attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh the deadliest act of antisemitism in our nations history.

This summer, 31 white supremacists in Idaho were stopped from unleashing hateful violence just before they reached a Pride celebration, a threat following a record year of violence against transgender Americans.

Today, with the fall semester starting, we are joined by presidents of Historically Black Colleges and Universities who should be able to focus on providing the best experience possible for their students, but instead are having to worry about more bomb threats against their institutions.

Too often, Native Americans, disabled Americans face harassment, discrimination, and violence and victimization.

Unfortunately, such hate-fueled violence and threats are not new to America.

There is a through-line of hate from massacres of Indigenous people, to the original sin of slavery, the terror of the Klan, to anti-imm- anti-immigration violence against the Irish, Italians, Chinese, Mexicans, and so many others laced throughout our history.

There is a through-line of violence against religious groups: antisemitic, anti-Catholic, anti-Mormon, anti-Muslim, anti-Hindu, anti-Sikh.

Look, folks, and that through-line of hate never fully goes away. It only hides.

As I said before, when I was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, I felt really good that I got the extension of the Voting Rights Act for 25 years even got Strom Thurmond to vote for it. (Laughter.) No, not a joke. And I thought I thought, Well, you know, hate can be defeated.

But it only hides. And when given any oxygen, it comes out from under the rocks.

In the last few years, its been given much too much oxygen in our politics, in our media, and on the Internet; too much hate all for power and profit. Thats the part we dont thats changed a little bit. Its about power and profit.

Too much hate thats fueled extremist violence thats been allowed to fester and grow.

You know, as a result, our very own intelligence agencies our own intelligence agencies in the United States of America have determined that domestic terrorism rooted in white supremacy is the greatest terrorist threat to our Homeland today.

Ive been around a while. I never thought Id hear that or say that.

Enough.

We need to say it clearly and forcefully: White supremacy, all forms of hate fueled by violence have no place in America.

Failure to call it out is complicity. My dad would say, If youre silent, its complicity. We cant remain silent.

Theres always the saying: If we bring this up, we just divide the country. Bring it up. We silence it, instead of remaining in silence. For in silence, wounds deepen. We have to face the good, the bad, and the truth. Thats what great nations do, and were a great nation.

So, we flace [sic] at this we face at this moment, in my view, an inflection point, one of those moments that determine the shape of everything thats going to come after.

Our great-grandchildren are going to look back and decide whether or not in this two-, four-, six-, eight-year period we stepped up. Because the world is changing.

As the Irish poet said, All changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty [has been] born.

We must choose to be a nation of hope, unity, and optimism or a nation of fear and division and hate. And we choose as we do, we know this: Hate-fueled violence is born into the fertile soil of a toxic division.

And we wont solve the problem by going after the extreme fringes alone. We have to confront the ways in which our toxic divisions fuel this crisis for all of us our differences.

Certainly, dont turn a fellow American into a sworn enemy. Building bridges across divides doesnt mean were sacrificing our own beliefs and our core values. To be a nation of hope and unity and optimism, we have to recognize that there are not were not helpless in the face of hate and fuel violence.

Were far more united than were divided, but we have to focus on it.

In fact, the vast majority of Americans are overwhelmingly united against such violence. The vast majority of us believe in honesty, decency, and respect for others, patriotism, liberty, justice for all, hope, and possibilities.

And I know we can do this together. I really mean it. We can do this together.

Last year, with Susan here at the White House, I signed a bipartisan COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act that included provisions named after Heather that are going to help state and local law enforcement better identify and respond to hate crimes.

Earlier this summer, I signed into law a Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first major gun safety legislation in 30 years. (Applause.) It will help keep weapons out of the hands of people who engage in hate and rage and make them dangerous to themselves and to others.

And Im going to say it again: I am not going to stop until we ban assault weapons. (Applause.) We have to ban assault weapons. I mean it. We did it once before. And when we did,mass crimes plummeted.

My first day in office, I directed my national security and homeland security team to develop a first-ever national strategy for countering domestic terrorism. The goal was to improve and enhance our understanding of this growing threat within our country, prevent people from being mobilized to violence, to counter the relentless exploitation of the Internet to recruit and mobilize domestic terrorism.

And theres more we have to do together for the whole-of-government approach and the whole-of-nation approach.

Thats why today were launching a new White House initiative on hate-motivated violence. Were going to use every federal resource available to help communities counter hate-fueled violence, build resilience, and foster greater national unity.

For example, trainings on identifying, reporting, and combating hate-fueled violence for local law enforcement agencies, workplaces, and houses of worship; partnerships with schools that help them address bullying and harassment.

Im calling for a new era of national service through organizations like AmeriCorps to foster stronger communities and bridge divides in our society.

And Im calling on Congress to do its part: raise the living allowance for national service positions to the equivalent of $15 an hour. (Applause.) This would make national service an accessible pathway to success for more Americans of all backgrounds.

Pass my budget to increase funding to protect nonprofits and houses of worship from hate-fueled violence. (Applause.) And hold social media platforms accountable for spreading hate and fueled violence. (Applause.)

And Im calling on Congress to get rid of special immunity for social media companies and impose much stronger transparency requirements on all of them. (Applause.)

But, folks, its not just the federal government that can act. Everyone has a role to play in this story. Whether youre a researcher seeking to understand the causes of hate-fueled violence, a philanthropist seeking to fund that research, or a concerned neighbor bearing witness to it and most collectively condemn those seeking mainstream violence or the threat of violence.

Look, as part of this summit, nonprofit organizations like the Interfaith America, Habitat for Humanity, and the YMCA are launching new nationwide training to teach 10,000 Americans how to become bridge builders in their communities.

And the U.S. Conference of Mayors is spearheading a compact with over 150 mayors Democrats, Republicans, and independents to address hate-fueled violence in their communities.

And today, a group of philanthropic leaders are announcing theyll mobilize $1 billion investment toward building a culture of respect, peace, and cooperation in our civic life. (Applause.)

But, folks, this is just the beginning. A new bipartisan initiative, Dignity.us, will take this nation and the national conversation we launched today on the road across all 50 states and the District of Columbia territories, Tribal lands to listen and learn from the people doing this work and find ways to scale up the best ideas.

A bipartisan presidential center and senior officials from prior Democrat and Republican administrations will all support this effort.

Were also about to meet some local heroes as were honoring the Uniters 21 fellow Americans pastors, rabbis, imams building relationships across faiths; a police officer educating fellow law enforcement officers; a middle school student mobilizing her community; a filmmaker documentingthe epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous people; and so many more who are taking a stand.

Thats what this summit is summit is all about. We the people, we have to stand united. We have to do more.

Let me close where I started: by thanking all of you and two people in particular, Rana and Sodhi is a brother of Malb- Balbir Singh Sodhi, one of the first American victims of post-9/11 hate crimes.

On this day in 2001, with Ground Zero smoldering, he was targeted, shot, and killed at work in Arizona by a white supremacist. To honor his memory, last year during the Asian American History Month here at the White House, we displayed the turban he used to wear with pride.

Ms. Sarah Collins Randolph [Rudolph] is also here today. On this day in 1963, her sister Addie Mae was one of four little girls preparing for Sunday school who were murdered by white supremacists in the 16th [Street] Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, which I visited. Ms. Collins Rudolph survived the bombing but still carries the scars of that blast.

Ms. Collins Rudolph, Im honored to see you here again. Thank you for being here. I visited the church on this day in 2019. And Ill visit with you and always remember what happened.

All these years later, Ms. Randolph [Rudolph], Mr. Sodhi providing the evidence that we need, proving that grief is universal, but so is hope and so is love.

My fellow Americans, we remain in the battle for the soul of our nation. When I look around at all of you here today, I know well win that battle. I know well win it. The power is within each of us to transform the story of our time, to rise together against hate, to show who we are. We are the United States of America. And theres nothing nothing beyond our capacity.

And one of my reasons for optimism is the young people in this country. Theyre the least prejudiced, most volunteering, least how can I say it? least likely to find blame, and most likely to get engaged.

We have to organize them, just like, Rev, our generation was organized in the Civil Rights days. And we can do this, because the violence and the haters are in a minority. But unless we speak out unless we speak out, its going to continue. Itll continue.

And, folks, we cannot be intimidated by those who are talking about this as somehow were some a bunch of wacko liberals who are engaged in this new (laughter) I mean, thi- think about how its characterized.

We have to stand up, and Im confident we will. Thank you all for being here. And, Susan, thank you for organizing this. (Applause.)

And Ive said many times: Every time Id walk out of my Grandpa Finnegans house, hed yell, Joey, keep the faith. My grandmother No, Joey. Spread it.

Lets go spread the faith. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

4:08 P.M. EDT

See the article here:
Remarks by President Biden at the United We Stand Summit - The White House

Category: Anti-Defamation League | Comments Off on Remarks by President Biden at the United We Stand Summit – The White House
Tags:

Posted By admin on September 19, 2022

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

FIRST ON FOX The Anti-Defamation League promoted an author on its website who previously drew comparisons between the Holocaust and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which appears to be at odds with the organization's mission to fight against anti-Semitism.

The ADL promoted an author named Beverley Naidoo specifically, her book "Making It Home: Real-Life Stories from Children Forced to Flee" despite a history of anti-Israel rhetoric.

The ADL promotes books on its website to educators as part of its mission to combat anti-Semitism and other biases.

Rockets are launched indiscriminately towards Israel from Gaza City, controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement, on May 18, 2021. (MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images)

For example, Naidoo criticized the Israeli security policies which included checkpoints for those living in the West Bank and Gaza in the early 2000s by invoking a Holocaust poem of a victim who was killed in Auschwitz.

ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE LAUNCHES REVIEW OF EDUCATION CONTENT AFTER FOX NEWS DIGITAL INVESTIGATION

About Israel's policy, Naidoo writes: "At the Tamer Institute, people say the time to bring Israeli and Palestinian children together will arrive only when the latter can travel as freely as the former. Once upon a time we lived together in peace in this land Jew, Christian and Arab but then they brought in their settlers. How can we live in peace with people who, every day, are still taking our land? I am reminded of words from a poem written in the ghetto of Terezin, now in the Czech Republic, by 13-year-old Franta Bass before transportation to death in Auschwitz.

Towards the town where I was born,

My town, my native town,

How gladly I would return to you."

View of the main entrance to the Auschwitz camp. The sign above the gate says "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work makes one free). Auschwitz, Poland/ (Keystone/GettyImage)

Israeli officials have argued that restricting the movements of Palestinians in the territories would protect itself from terrorist attacks.

In fact, six months after Naidoo published the criticism of the Israeli policy a terror campaign known as the Second Intifada began. It claimed the lives of hundreds of Israeli civilians through suicide bombings and other terrorist means.

For example, one of the terror attacks the Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing was planned by mastermind Ahlam al-Tamimi in which she thought through how to kill as many victims and children as possible, according to the ADL's own website.

An Israeli policeman stands guard next to the Sbarro pizza restaurant as customers sit inside June 21, 2002 in downtown Jerusalem. (Quique Kierszenbaum/Getty Image)

The family of a 15-year-old victim and American citizen, Malki Roth, continues to fight for the mastermind responsible for the attack to be extradited from Jordan to face justice in the United States.

In other cases, Hamas terrorists would include shrapnel in the bombs that were dipped with rat poison an anticoagulant to ensure that victims' struck by the metal expunged in the blast would continue to bleed out, increasing the likelihood of death.

"Hamas has long sought to increase the lethality of its attacks by lacing shrapnel attached to its suicide bombs with chemicals," said a report from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, an organization recognized as a terror group by the State Department. (MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images)

According to the State Department, drawing comparisons between Israeli policy and the Holocaust is anti-Semitic.

The ADL has previously reiterated this on its website, saying that, "The murder of six million Jews and millions of others carried out by the Nazis and their collaborators was the largest recorded genocide in modern history. Absolutely no comparison can be made between the complex Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the atrocities committed by the Nazis against the Jews."

KENTUCKY DISTRICT OFFICIAL INVOKES ADOLF HITLER IN DEFENSE OF 'PORNOGRAPHY' BOOK CHALLENGED BY MOM

Photo the railway tracks where hundreds of thousands of people arrived to be directed to the gas chambers inside the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz Birkenau, in Oswiecim, Poland. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Naidoo also claimed that Israelis, who won the State of Israel in a defensive war after accepting the partition plan for two states one for Arabs and another for Jews established the Jewish State through "terror meted out by Zionists."

"It makes no sense, it is a total contradiction of who they're supposed to be," said Dov Hikind, the founder of Americans Against Antisemitism, about the ADL. "It's like Jews putting the knife into themselves."

DEMOCRATIC RADICAL LEFT TREATS ANTI-SEMITISM WITH DOUBLE STANDARD COMPARED TO OTHER HATE CRIMES: ACTIVIST

Israelis participate in a rally calling for the release of Israeli soldiers and civilians being held by Hamas in Gaza, In front of the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, Wednesday, May 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

"No one should play politics with racism and Jew-hatred I think the ADL does that unfortunately," he continued. "I think its very much to do with [ADL CEO Jonathan] Greenblatt."

"When [ADL's former CEO] Abe Foxman was there it was a different world," Hikind added. "It's really very sad."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital reported that the ADL's curriculum for K-12 education included concepts of critical race theory. As a result of that investigation, the ADL said it would launch a thorough review of its anti-bias education materials.

When asked whether Hikind believed ADL's donors were aware of the curriculum and materials the ADL has promoted, Hikind said "no, no."

An ADL spokesperson told Fox News Digital, "As wepreviously stated,clearly there is content among our curricular materials that is misaligned with ADLs values and strategy.This appears to be a clear example of this problem. Again, as previously stated,we are conducting a thorough reviewof our materials. We have determined that,as part of this process,we will engage outside experts toreview allour contentso that we can resolve issues such as this one.With that said, we will not continue to address individual items while the materials are under review."

Naidoo did not respond to a request for comment.

Hannah Grossman is an associate editor at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent on Twitter: @GrossmanHannah.

Read the rest here:
Anti-Defamation League promotes author who compared Israeli policy to Nazi actions during the Holocaust - Fox News

Category: Anti-Defamation League | Comments Off on Anti-Defamation League promotes author who compared Israeli policy to Nazi actions during the Holocaust – Fox News
Tags: