The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy
Newsletter
Volume 6 No. 2
15 August 2014
UPCOMING LECTURE
American Sociological Association (ASA) Annual Meeting
Saturday, August 16, 2014 @ 6:30pm
“Breaking a Post Modern Academic Taboo: The Urgency of Developing Contemporary Interdisciplinary Antisemitism Studies”
Location: Union Square 21, 4th Floor, Hilton Union Square, 333 O’Farrell St, San Francisco, CA 94102
Lead Discussant: Dr. Charles Asher Small, Director of ISGAP
Session Abstract: This session provides an informal opportunity for participants to engage in discussion in regard to research and teaching on contemporary forms of antisemitism, with special attention to social policy implications.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Forming an investigatory committee headed by Schabas is like inviting ISIS to organize religious tolerance week at the UN.” — Ambassador Ron Prosor
SPECIAL ARTICLE OF INTEREST
Liberals, look at the new Middle East (Haaretz) Liberals can no longer ignore the awful plague of Middle Eastern brutality and the fact that millions of Arabs live with no rights and no future. Click here to read this article by Ari Shavit.
REPORTS
The Muslim Brotherhood in North America (Canada/USA) (TSEC: The Terrorism and Security Experts of Canada Network) Concurrent research at the TSEC network includes a methodology project for intelligence analysts involved in the analysis of extremism. A Horizon Scanning project on the convergence of extremist ideologies is being readied for distribution in late 2014. Click here to read this report by Tom Quiggin.
Six Ways Hamas Could Limit Civilian Casualties in Gaza (The Washington Institute for Near East Policy) Hamas should be shielding the people of Gaza from the worst of the fighting, not using them as human shields. Click here to read this article by Jeffrey White
The Foreign Press Association Castigates Hamas, August 11 The FPA strongly condemns deliberate official and unofficial incitement against journalists working to cover the current warfare under very difficult circumstances as well as forcible attempts to prevent journalists and TV crews from carrying out their news assignments. Click here to read this statement by the FPA.
ARTICLES OF INTEREST
NORTH AMERICA
Why Wasn’t Obama Better Informed? (Commentary Magazine) That was an extraordinary interview that President Obama gave to Tom Friedman last week, and it bears some more analysis. Click here to read this article by Max Boot.
Why I’m no longer president of the Green Party of Canada (The Canadian Jewish News) “As a Jew – and one who has supported and continues to support Israel’s right to exist – I have long been sensitive to, and bothered by, the negative one-sidedness of many with whom I have worked and volunteered.” Click here to read this article by Paul Estrin.
Think Again: The solution is in the semantics (Jerusalem Post) The refusal of American and Western policymakers to understand the Arab/Islamic world in its own cultural terms has fueled decades of futile peacemaking. Click here to read this article by Jonathan Rosenblum.
MIDDLE EAST
Hitting ISIS Where It Hurts (The New York Times) As ISIS’s most recent annual report shows, the group is sophisticated, strategic, financially savvy and building structures that could survive for years to come. ISIS currently brings in more than $1 million a day in revenue and is now the richest terrorist group on the planet. Click here to read this article by Benjamin Bahney.
No Iran Deal Is Better Than Any (Feasible) Deal (The Washington Institute for Near East Policy) At present, Iran is unlikely to accept more limitations on its nuclear activities, but that doesn’t mean Washington has to settle for a watered-down deal that further damages U.S. strategic interests. Click here to read this article by James F. Jeffrey.
Palestinian Envoy: Israel’s Annihilation Just Started (Fars News) “Israel’s annihilation has begun and the new generation in Iran will certainly witness our victory over Israel,” said Palestinian Ambassador to Tehran Salah al-Zawawi.Click here to read.
Gaza Crisis: Israel Outflanks the White House on Strategy (Wall Street Journal) White House Now Scrutinizing Israeli Requests for Ammunition. Click here to readthis article by Adam Entous.
ADL Urges U.S. Postmaster General to Ensure Mail Delivery to Israel (Anti-Defamation League) Following up on reports from around the country that some local post offices are refusing to accept mail for delivery in Israel, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is urging the U.S. Postmaster General to take prompt action to ensure that offices in all 50 states accept and process packages and letters destined for Israel. Click here to read the Anti-Defamation League’s press release.
The Gaza Wake Up Call (International Institute for Counter-Terrorism) This article was written as a wake-up call to the Western world – the world that believes in the values of democracy, liberalism and humanity; the world that believes in human rights, civil society, minority rights and, above all, the right of all civilians to live in security and peace regardless of religion, race or gender.Click here to read this article by Dr. Boaz Ganor.
Supporting Hamas is Anti-Semitic (Gatestone Institute) Criticizing specific Israeli policies is certainly not anti-Semitic. Indeed many Israelis are critical of some of their nation’s policies. But support for Hamas is anti-Semitic, because Hamas’ policies and actions are based, at their core, on Jew-hatred. Click here to read this article by Alan M. Dershowitz.
Sun News Video news account of Hamas activists physically attacking innocent Canadian citizens in Calgary Alberta. Pro-Hamas supporters praising Hitler and the killing of Jewish People. Click here to watch this video.
Washington said limiting arms transfers to Israel as ties fray (The Times of Israel) Obama-Netanyahu hold ‘combative’ phone call; White House, State said ‘blindsided’ by Pentagon’s supply of weapons to Israel, WSJ reports. Click here to read this article by Marissa Newman.
Obama’s ambush of Israel (The Times of Israel) In the midst of a perfect storm of shoddy “journalism”, an alarming number of increasingly violent anti-Semitic acts worldwide, and a global outcry indicting Israel of genocide as it responded to Hamas’s barrage of rockets into Israel, President Obama, together with the UK, has launched an ambush on Israel that endorses terrorism and sabotages Israel’s self defense. Click here to read this article by Izzy Lemberg.
The Geography of Horror (The American Interest) We are in effect at war with Islamist radicalism. It is very unhelpful if this reality is denied, as the Obama administration has tried to do. Click here to read this article by Peter Berger.
Hamas Needs the Palestinians’ Deaths in Order to Claim Victory (Mosaic) The majority of Palestinians has opposed firing rockets into Israel. The Palestinians have understood that these rockets will achieve nothing. Palestinians have called on Hamas to stop firing on Israel and to try to negotiate with the Israeli occupation. But Hamas has never considered Palestinian needs – only its own political interests. Click here to read this article by Bassem Eid.
Head of UN Gaza Inquiry Commission Called to Try Netanyahu at ICC (YNET) The United Nations named William Schabas to chair an international commission of inquiry into possible human rights violations and war crimes by both sides during Operation Protective Edge. Click here to read this article by Yitzhak Benhorin.
Foreign journalists reveal Hamas’ false front (YNET) The world didn’t believe Israel, but it might believe foreign reporters who were afraid to report real-time but now tell all: Hamas HQ at Al-Shifa Hospital, launchers near UN facilities, threats and staged bombed scenes. Click here to read this article by Daniel Bettini.
Iraq crisis: Islamic militants ‘buried alive Yazidi women and children in attack that killed 500’ (The Independent) Militants in north-western Iraq have buried women and children alive during their offensive against the Yazidi ethnic minority, according to Iraq’s minister for human rights. Click here to read this article by Adam Withnall.
Reuel Marc Gerecht and Mark Dubowitz: Iran ignores a lucrative deal over its nuclear activities (Washington Post) Why hasn’t Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, agreed to the offer the West put on the table in Vienna last month in negotiations over the country’s nuclear activities? If he were simply motivated by economics, he certainly should have. Click here to read this article by Reuel Marc Gerecht and Mark Dubowitz.
Saudi Arabia and the third Gaza war (Al-Monitor) The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has assumed a very low profile so far during the third Gaza war, speaking publicly rarely and primarily backing its Egyptian ally behind the scenes. Some have confused this quiet as a tacit entente with Israel against Hamas misreading the Saudi position; the kingdom increasingly regards the Netanyahu government as a criminal state. Click here to read this article by Bruce Riedel.
EUROPE
Radical students hand out ISIS leaflets on Oxford Street in attempt to get British Muslims to join jihad (London Evening Standard) Police were today probing leaflets handed out in the West End by radical students encouraging British Muslims to join the Islamic State (ISIS). Click here to read this article by David Churchill.
EXCLUSIVE: Tricycle donors pull funding after Film Festival boycott (Jewish News) Leading supporters of the Tricycle Theatre have told the Jewish News they will stop funding the institution over its decision to bar the Jewish Film Festival. Click here to read this article by Justin Cohen.
London Times refuses to run Elie Wiesel ad denouncing Hamas’ human shields (Haaretz) The London Times refused to run an ad featuring Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel speaking out against Hamas’ use of children as human shields. Click here to read this article by JTA.
Belfast plaque marking Herzog’s birthplace removed (The Times of Israel) Repeated vandalism prompts authorities to take down marker on building where Israeli president was born. Click here to read this article by JTA.
Anti-Jewish hatred is rising – we must see it for what it is (The Guardian) Confronting and defeating all forms of antisemitism involves being able to defend its meaning from abuse. Click here to read this article by Owen Jones.
A Tablet Exclusive Interview With Marine Le Pen, Head of the National Front (Tablet) Is the queen of Europe’s Far Right, and possible future president of France, an enemy of Islamists, Jews, or both? This is the fourth of a five-part series, France’s Toxic Hate. Click here to read this article by Marc Weitzmann.
MALAYSIA
Malaysian police investigate teen who ‘liked’ Israel on Facebook (Haaretz) Boy who turned to police for protection after teacher ratted him out on Facebook could face sedition charges. Click here to read this article by Haaretz.