French Jews Decry 'Wall of Indifference' Surrounding
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
PATRIOTS Opinion. Tradition. OWNER HRW: BROTHERS: KRAFT ANTI-ISRAEL A DRAMA IN OFFERS ACTIVIST GROUP FIVE ACTS THANKS A2. A10. A11. THE algemeiner JOURNAL $1.00 - PRINTED IN NEW YORK FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2019 | 10 ADAR I 5779 VOL. XLVI NO. 2393 French Jews Decry Congresswoman Omar ‘Apologizes’ ‘Wall of Indifference’ for Offensive Surrounding AIPAC Tweet Antisemitism BY ALGEMEINER STAFF Freshman Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN) attempted to head off a storm of criticism on Monday with a statement saying she was “listening and learning, but standing strong” following the furor over her tweets the previous day that were widely slammed as antisemitic. While Omar said that she “unequivocally apolo- gized” for causing offense, she also appeared to stick by her earlier false allegation that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) exercises an outsize influence One of the antisemitic slogans ap- pearing with increasing frequency in pubic spaces in France. Photo: Screenshot. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN) speaks to the media on Capitol Hill. Photo: Reuters / Joshua Roberts. BY BEN COHEN “disturbing liberation” in France on Sunday of a mural of the from the taboo around antisemitic late Simone Veil — a Holocaust in national politics because of its financial clout — a claim hatred established after World War survivor and pioneer of women’s that echoes modern antisemitic conspiracy theories about The representative body of II, Francis Kalifat — president of the rights in France who was interred Jewish economic and political power. Omar claimed she Jews in France called on Tuesday French Jewish communal organi- last July in the famous Pantheon in was learning about “antisemitic tropes,” but her statement for French society to “break the zation CRIF — said in a statement. Paris that commemorates French did not connect her study of the problem with the senti- wall of indifference that surrounds Kalifat emphasized that citizens of distinction. ments expressed in her tweet. antisemitism,” as figures published incidents recorded only in the last Kalifat also pointed out that Omar’s statement on Monday came shortly after by the country’s Interior Ministry few days “testify to the banalizing on Monday, a tree commemo- top Democrats called her Sunday tweets “antisemitic.” showed a colossal increase of 74 and violence of antisemitism in rating Ilan Halimi — the young “Congresswoman Omar’s use of antisemitic tropes and percent in the number of attacks France in 2019.” French Jew kidnapped, tortured on Jews in 2018. Among the outrages he cited and murdered by an antisemitic Continued on Page A3 The increase reflected the was the defacing with swastikas Continued on Page A3 Al Jolson in ShabbatCalendar Parshat TETZAVEH Times for New York City, Friday Candle Lighting Shabbat Begins: 5:13pm | Shabbat Ends: 6:13pm פרשת תצוה 21st Century Perspective P.O.B. 208 East 51st St, Suite 185 New York, NY 10022 page A8 Tel: (718) 771.0400 | Fax: (718) 771.0308 Email: [email protected] www.algemeiner.com © Copyright 2018 The Algemeiner Journal - All Rights Reserved. A2 | FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2019 Opinion. Why Has Human Rights Watch Become an Anti-Israel Activist Group? Sarah Leah Whitson. Soon after she took over appointed Jabarin as an adviser. as Middle East director, HRW endorsed a Labeled a terrorist group by the US, DAVID MAY & campaign led by vehemently anti-Israel groups European Union, Canada, and Israel, the JONATHAN SCHANZER to suspend sales of Caterpillar equipment to PFLP was notorious in the 1960s and 1970s the Jewish state after pro-Palestinian activist for high-profile hijackings and attacks against Rachel Corrie was killed when she stood in the Israelis. In October 2001, the group assas- way of an Israeli military bulldozer. sinated an Israeli minister. In 2014, the PFLP When Airbnb, the online lodging service, By 2009, the anti-Israel invective reached claimed responsibility for a gruesome attack announced in November that it would a fever pitch, prompting HRW founder Robert on a Jerusalem synagogue that left six dead, ban Israeli listings in the disputed West Bernstein to pen a critical New York Times including three American rabbis. Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Bank, hardcore anti-Israel groups took an op-ed. Around this time, HRW became part Jabarin denies his PFLP connections Rights Watch, speaks at the World Economic Forum in January 23, 2015. Photo: World Economic undeserved victory lap. Surprisingly, though, of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions while he continues to assail Israel through his Forum/Benedikt von Loebell. the credit belongs to Human Rights Watch, campaign. The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a NGO, which has called for a European boycott a non-governmental organization with group dedicated to countering antisemitism, on Jewish goods from the West Bank and a to blacklist Israel as an abuser of children in seemingly no reason to enter into the circus of describes BDS as a “thinly-veiled, anti-Israel French financial boycott of Israel. Jabarin armed conflict. In 2016, the group unsuccess- anti-Israel activism. and anti-Semitic ‘poison pill,’ whose goal is the submitted several reports to the Interna- fully petitioned the world soccer federation With ground support from a big tent of demonization, delegitimization, and ultimate tional Criminal Court as part of an anti-Israel FIFA to block matches in Israeli settlements. vitriolic groups, it was HRW that pressured demise of the Jewish State.” lawfare campaign, and he was instrumental In January 2016, HRW published “Occupa- Airbnb into boycotting Israel. It was HRW Connections to the Palestinian NGO in the recent push in Ireland to criminalize tion, Inc.,” a report claiming Israeli businesses that published “Bed and Breakfast on Stolen al-Haq may also explain HRW’s BDS contor- business transactions with Jewish businesses in the West Bank contribute to Palestinian Land,” a report documenting alleged human tions. The two groups have collaborated since in the West Bank. human rights violations. The UN Human Rights rights violations associated with renting at least 2007, when HRW urged Israel to allow Jabarin is not al-Haq’s only contribu- Council, the group former US ambassador Jewish properties in the West Bank. To avoid al-Haq director Shawan Jabarin to travel tion to HRW. A former legal researcher with to the UN Nikki Haley blasted as a “cesspool bad press, Airbnb yanked its Jewish-owned abroad. According to a 1994 Israeli submis- al-Haq, Anan Abu Shanab, is currently HRW’s of political bias,” soon called for a blacklist of listings one day before the report dropped. sion to the United Nations, Jabarin is a senior West Bank researcher. There is also Charles companies operating in Israeli settlements, in It’s unclear exactly when HRW began to member of the terrorist group known as the Shamas, a co-founder of al-Haq, who has been line with HRW’s vision. HRW brass cheered the juggle both human rights research and anti- Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. an HRW adviser since at least 2002. Shamas move and even recommended three compa- Israel activism. One could point to the joint He was detained on seven occasions for his also founded the MATTIN Group, which nies to blacklist for good measure. declaration of the 2001 NGO Forum in South ties to the group, which he denies. In 2007, lobbied Europe to exclude Israeli products In October 2016, HRW hired BDS Africa, reportedly formulated with Human Israel Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubin- from free trade agreements. advocate Omar Shakir as its new Israel-Pales- Rights Watch’s assistance, which endorsed stein described Jabarin as a “Doctor Jekyll HRW has since joined several other tine director. In 2017 and 2018, HRW began sanctions against the Jewish state. It also could and Mister Hyde,” heading an NGO while also controversial BDS campaigns. This includes pressuring banks to cease operations in Israeli have been 2004, when it hired anti-Israel activist belonging to a terrorist group. In 2011, HRW the malicious 2015 effort to lobby the UN Continued on Page A4 Ilhan Omar’s Anti-Semitic Tropes Echo the New York Times Even New York Times columnist lican donors Sheldon and Miriam Adelson the Michelle Goldberg, last seen insisting, “Anti- described Dr. Miriam Adelson as “Israeli,” Algemeiner Journal IRA STOLL Zionism Isn’t the Same as Anti-Semitism” and ignoring that she is also an American. The BOSTON defending the movement to boyoctt, divest Times article, as I wrote at the time in the (USPS 927800) is published weekly from, and sanction Israel, acknowledged, Algemeiner, tried to make it seem like the (except for the week of Passover “Omar invoked a poisonous anti-Semitic Adelsons were buying Trump’s positions on and Succos) narrative about Jews using their money things such as the Jerusalem embassy and the Subscription rate $40 per year Could the intense and outraged reaction to manipulate global affairs.” Explained Iran nuclear deal in a kind of quid pro quo, to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s tweet be Algemeiner Journal Goldberg, “it’s particularly incumbent on using phrases like “return on investment” and the key to reforming The New York Times’ Israel’s legitimate critics to avoid anything that “deliver major, long-sought policy victories 508 Montgomery Street coverage of Israel and Jewish topics? smacks of anti-Jewish bigotry. And the idea for conservative Jews like the Adelsons.” The Brooklyn, N.Y. 11225-3023 When Omar tweeted recently suggesting of Jews as global puppet masters, using their Times said, “More than a dozen people who that Jewish campaign contributions had Periodicals Postage financial savvy to make the gentiles do their know the Adelsons professionally or person- swayed America’s Middle East policy, nearly Paid at Brooklyn, N.Y. bidding, clearly does.” ally, some of whom are also friendly with Mr.