-
Provocation on the High Seas: U.S. Naval Adventures
Eve Ottenberg - CounterPunch
… One thing is sure: the military’s focus has shifted, from the Middle East to Russia and China. That means U.S. soldiers and materiel will continue to be in places they shouldn’t, in ever greater numbers, namely the Black Sea and the South China Sea … As Time reported on July 29, Iran is negotiating a 25-year deal with China, with “billions of dollars worth of Chinese investments in energy, transportation, banking and cybersecurity in Iran.” There also could be “weapons development and intelligence sharing and joint military drills.” In short, this $400 billion deal is huge and alarm bells are ringing frantically in Washington. They shouldn’t be. If the Trump regime had been paying attention, they would have seen this coming, because it’s the logical outcome of their absurd hostility to both countries.
-
China’s Dilemma: Confucius or Marx or Both?
Pepe Escobar
… China is widely accused by the West of lack of democratic legitimacy exactly as it enjoys a four-decade, sustainable, history-making economic boom … Virtually everyone in the West, apart from a few non-Eurocentric scholars, completely ignores that China was the world’s dominant economic superpower from the 12th century to the second decade of the 19th century … Xiang stress how a popular consensus in China is that the Communist Party is “neither Marxist nor capitalist, and its moral standard has little to do with the Confucian value system”. Consequently, the Mandate of Heaven is “seriously damaged”. The problem is that “marrying Marxism and Confucianism is too dangerous.”
-
Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waded into the controversy over “Islamophobia” in France on Wednesday, urging young French citizens to ask President Emmanuel Macron why he approves of cartoons lampooning Mohammed but outlaws Holocaust denial. “Ask your President why he supports insulting God’s Messenger in the name of freedom of expression,” Khamenei tweeted. “Does freedom of expression mean insulting, especially a sacred personage? Isn’t this stupid act an insult to the reason of the [people] who elected him?” “The next question to ask is: why is it a crime to raise doubts about the Holocaust? Why should anyone who writes about such doubts be imprisoned while insulting the Prophet (pbuh) is allowed?” PBUH stands for “peace be upon him.”
-
Lobby Displays Double Standards Toward Holocaust Deniers
David Cronin - Electronic Intifada
The American Jewish Committee displays double standards toward Holocaust deniers and the far-right … Facebook is working closely with the AJC to determine what material it will delete. Jordana Cutler is representing Facebook in these efforts; she was previously an adviser to Netanyahu, a campaign strategist with his party Likud and a senior official in Israel’s Washington embassy … Numerous Palestinians have been blocked by the social media giant. Facebook has been using algorithms to ensure that fewer people see posts from left-wing media outlets. Like all corporations, Facebook undoubtedly needs some kind of oversight but that task should be carried out by people who can prove their impartiality. There is nothing impartial about the pro-Israel lobby.
-
Hitler Acclaimed in the Saar Region, After Vote to Return to Germany
Video - British Pathé
This British newsreel report shows Hitler in Saarbrücken, the largest city of the Saar region of western Germany. Large, joyful crowds acclaim the German leader, who salutes the people and columns of marching men. In the aftermath of World War I, the victorious powers separated the region from the rest of the nation, and put it under international League of Nations administration. In a plebiscite on Jan. 13, 1935, Saarlanders voted 91 percent to return to Germany. The results, which indisputably reflected authentic popular opinion, was an expression not only of national solidarity, but also of confidence in the leadership of Hitler and the National Socialist Party. English-language narration. Runtime: 40 secs.
-
… When people are offended or otherwise greatly displeased by historical analysis, they often employ the term “historical revisionism” as a synonym for falsified, distorted, or doctored accounts that fly in the face of what they, their history teachers, and perhaps even the most respected university historians believe to have been the case. The irony of such use of the term “historical revision,” which makes it practically a swear word, is that revisionism is and always has been an integral part of historical research and writing.
-
On the Importance of Revisionism For Our Time
Murray Rothbard
Revisionism as applied to World War II and its origins (as also for previous wars) has the general function of bringing historical truth to an American and a world public that had been drugged by wartime lies and propaganda … Revisionism brings to the artificial frenzy of daily events and day-to-day propaganda, the cool but in the last analysis glorious light of historical truth. Such truth is almost desperately needed in today’s world.
-
On October 25 Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) announced a partnership with Jewish Future Pledge (JFP) that calls on “all Jews to sign a pledge that commits half or more of the charitable giving in their estate plan to support the Jewish people and/or the State of Israel.” This could result in $600 billion to Jewish causes and/or the State of Israel … The JFP website features a promotional video that states “Jews are the most influential people the world has ever known.” It claims Jews were “the word’s first social critics,” “the first people to speak truth to power,” and are “the most resilient, creative, transformative, faith-defying people the world has ever known.”
-
Can America Do It All?
Patrick J. Buchanan
In fiscal year 2020, which ended on Sept. 30, the U.S. government set some impressive new records. The deficit came in at $3.1 trillion, twice the previous record of $1.4 trillion in 2009, which was set during the Great Recession, and three times the 2019 deficit of about $1 trillion. Federal spending hit $6.5 trillion, one-third of U.S. gross domestic product, a share unrivaled except for the later years of World War II … The U.S. national debt, $14 trillion when Donald Trump took office, now stands at $21 trillion, roughly the same size as U.S. GDP. In fiscal year 2021, the deficit could be of the same magnitude as 2020 … Where does this end? … Can we continue to do it all? Our resources are not inexhaustible.
-
… Ten years ago last week, Julian Assange’s Wikileaks organization published an exposé of US government wrongdoing on par with the above Hersh bombshell stories. Publication of the “Iraq War Diaries” showed us all the brutality of the US attack on Iraq … The release of nearly 400,000 classified US Army field reports showed us in dirty detail that the US attack was a war of aggression, based on lies, where hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed and injured … On the Iraq war we have punished the truth-tellers and rewarded the criminals. People who knowingly lied us into the war like Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, the Beltway neocon “experts,” and most of the media, faced neither punishment nor professional shaming for their acts. In fact, they got off scot free and many even prospered.
-
War for Oil Revisited Once Again: Why It Is Both Fallacious and Popular
Stephen J. Sniegoski
The belief that America went to war with Iraq for oil and that the war was promoted by the oil companies never seems to die even though it lacks much in the way of empirical evidence … There is considerable counter-evidence … to show that oil companies were not only not involved in driving the United States into war but actually opposed this undertaking. The oil companies certainly wanted to have access to Iraqi oil but they wanted to do this in peaceful ways. Thus the oil companies were pushing for an end to sanctions against Iraq … Also, blaming the oil companies as the driving force for the war on Iraq is much safer than the neoconservative explanation.
-
Iraq: A War For Israel
Mark Weber
So, if the official reasons given for the war were untrue, why did the United States attack? Whatever the secondary reasons for the Iraq war, the crucial factor in President Bush’s decision to attack was to help Israel. With support from Israel and America’s Jewish-Zionist lobby, and prodded by Jewish “neo-conservatives” holding high-level positions in his administration, President Bush – who was already fervently committed to Israel – resolved to invade and subdue one of Israel’s chief regional enemies.
-
They’ve Got to Get Rid of Western Civ – They Have To
Mark Bauerlein - Martin Center
… The Woke generation doesn’t know very much about the past, but they have sufficient moral scruple to forget it, to judge it as white privilege and carry onward. To them, historical ignorance is no crime. On the contrary, a proud dismissal of a venal heritage is praiseworthy. This is the natural next step in the decline of the humanities — the decline of culture … The traditional literary canon is out, or at least the systematic study of it. The old call for more diversity on the syllabus sounds downright tepid to the Woke. They want a whole new discipline. English is “too white.” That’s the blunt problem, and it has risen to decisive status.
-
Nearly half of Americans don’t know what the phrase “anti-Semitism” means. That’s one takeaway from two surveys published Monday by the American Jewish Committee. The surveys asked Jews and the general American public about anti-Semitism in the United States. The Jewish survey found that a large majority of Jews consider anti-Semitism a problem, and that most see it as a problem on the right and in the Republican Part … The new surveys found that, in a year when 88% of American Jews say anti-Semitism remains a problem in the United States, 21% of Americans overall – more than one in five – say they’ve never even heard of the term. An additional 25% of Americans overall have heard the term but are unsure of what it means.
-
Hypocrisy Thy Name is Zion
Philip Giraldi
There is a tendency on the part of major Jewish groups in the United States and in Europe to discover what they describe as anti-Semitism wherever one turns … Jewish groups in the United States have been in the forefront in supporting BLM’s apparent mission to upend what used to pass for America’s European-derived culture … The lead organization in shaping the acceptable narrative is the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which promotes itself as “Fighting Hate for Good.” In other words, anyone on the other side of the narrative is by definition a “hater.” … It is of course the ultimate irony that Jewish groups are very sensitive to the suffering of blacks in the United State while at the same time largely ignoring the war crimes and other devastation going on in Israel and Palestine at the hands of their co-religionists.
-
US Holds Conference on Combating Online 'Anti-Semitism'
The Jerusalem Post (Israel)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo kicked off the first-ever US government-sponsored conference on fighting online antisemitism this week by noting results from Israel’s tracking system: In the first eight months of 2020, 1.7 million messages on Twitter and YouTube were identified as promoting hatred toward Jews … “The Trump Administration is combating Jew hatred wherever we find it,” the secretary said. “Nowadays, bigots everywhere can spread antisemitism anonymously online.” The online confab was titled Ancient Hatred, Modern Medium: Conference on Internet antisemitism. Social media representatives, academics, religious figures and NGO leaders came together with Israeli and US officials to discuss how to fight the age-old hatred toward Jews in new mediums, such as social media platforms.
-
U.S. Urges Countries to Withdraw From UN Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty
Associated Press
The United States is urging countries that have ratified a U.N. treaty to ban nuclear weapons to withdraw their support as the pact nears the 50 ratifications needed to trigger its entry into force, which supporters say could happen this week … The treaty requires that all ratifying countries “never under any circumstances … develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.” It also bans any transfer or use of nuclear weapons or nuclear explosive devices — and the threat to use such weapons — and requires parties to promote the treaty to other countries.
-
Debate: If This is the Future of Foreign Policy, We’re in Trouble
Kelley Beaucar Vlahos - Responsible Statecraft
… What we heard clearly indicated that neither Donald Trump nor Joe Biden have a clear vision or desire for addressing our wars and military operations overseas without being forced to, or even an interest in defining what comes next in our tense relations with China, Russia, or Iran … What could have turned into a more substantive exchange about how either man would approach their great power cohorts, any mention of “Russia” or “China” led to lengthy exchanges about Biden’s son Hunter and Trump’s taxes. “The debate delivered an absurdly shallow discussion of relations with China, the world’s number-two power, by both candidates and the moderator. Most of the discussion revolved around accusations about personal financial entanglements” …
-
What Would Biden’s Foreign Policy Look Like? Just Look at His Supporters
John Kiriakou - Consortium News
… What would we get with a “President” Joe Biden? What would a Biden foreign policy look like? … Let’s look at what it really means. It means that they believe Biden will continue an interventionist, neoliberal, pro-war foreign policy … The former VP opposes a troop drawdown in Europe, saying that such a move would embolden the Russians, for example. He supports a more engaged military policy against China in the South China Sea. He supports an extension of President Barack Obama’s policy of maintaining military bases in more than 100 countries, including Forward Operating Bases across Africa … If you think things will change in foreign policy under a President Biden, think again. It’ll be the same old expansionist, militarist policy that we had under Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. So, go into the voting booth with your eyes open.
-
Joe Biden Once Warned Israel’s Prime Minister Against 'Creeping Annexation' and Faulted US Senate for Blind Support for Israel
Philip Weiss - Mondoweiss
… There’s fresh evidence that as a young senator, Joe Biden was critical of the [Israeli] settlements policy. In 1973, when Biden was 30 years old and a freshman senator, he met with Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and confronted her over the same issue. Official notes of that meeting in Hebrew were just published in translation by Channel 13 in Israel. From reporter Nadav Eyal’s twitter feed: … >> “Biden criticizes the Nixon admi[nistration] for being “dragged by Israel”. He says, according to this government memo, that there is no debate in the Senate about the ME [Middle East] because the Senators are “afraid” to say things that Jewish voters will dislike. (He says that to Golda) He criticizes the Israeli labor platform arguing that it’s leading to a creeping annexation of the occupied territories. <<
-
Pulitzer Board Must Revoke Nikole Hannah-Jones' Prize
National Association of Scholars
We call on the Pulitzer Prize Board to rescind the 2020 Prize for Commentary awarded to Nikole Hannah-Jones for her lead essay in “The 1619 Project” [of The New York Times Magazine]. That essay was entitled, “Our democracy’s founding ideals were false when they were written.” But it turns out the article itself was false when written, making a large claim that protecting the institution of slavery was a primary motive for the American Revolution, a claim for which there is simply no evidence. When the Board announced the prize on May 4, 2020, it praised Hannah-Jones for “a sweeping, deeply reported and personal essay for the ground-breaking 1619 Project, which seeks to place the enslavement of Africans at the center of America’s story, prompting public conversation about the nation’s founding and evolution.”
-
German Big Business and the Rise of Hitler
John Ries - Institute for Historical Review
… The picture of the relationship between German big business and the Nazi party which Turner provides us is one that reveals how little big business had to do with the party’s success … Most of the NSDAP funds were derived from membership dues, interest-free loans, and the gate receipts from the many mass rallies the party held … In sum, the NSDAP was a prototypical “grass-roots” political organization able to expand and prosper during a period when most of the bourgeois parties suffered a serious loss of support.
-
After 1,300 Messages About Holocaust-Agnostic Principal, Florida Board Delays Rehiring Vote
Jewish Voice (New York)
Due to an overwhelming level of public feedback, the school board of Palm Beach County, Florida, was forced to delay a vote Wednesday night [Oct. 21] to reverse the rehiring of William Latson, a high school principal who was fired last year after telling a parent that he couldn’t say the Holocaust was a factual event … The vast majority of public comments were urging the board to take back an Oct. 7 vote to rehire Latson, who had been fired in October 2019 … Richard Cravatts, member of the Florida board of the Zionist Organization of America, said his organization opposes Latson’s rehiring … Steve White said, “As I observe this unwarranted persecution of Mr. Latson, a black man, I wonder if the actions of those who are persecuting him are motivated by racism and if the individuals are racists.”
-
Handwritten speech notes by Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler sold at auction in Munich on Friday despite concerns from Jewish groups they could encourage neo-Nazis. The Hermann Historica auction house defended the sale of the manuscripts, all dated before the outbreak of World War II, saying they were of historical significance and belong preserved in a museum. The documents all sold to anonymous bidders for well above their starting prices. A nine-page manuscript by Hitler outlining his speech to new military officers in Berlin in 1939 about eight months before the beginning of World War II fetched the top price of 34,000 euros ($40,300).
-
Alaska Man’s Weapons Sentence Included 'Holocaust Education'
Associated Press
An Alaska man was required to learn about the Holocaust and read books about overcoming extremist beliefs as part of a federal sentence for illegally owning a machine gun and silencers. Michael Graves of Anchorage read assigned books and took classes during his incarceration that were aimed at moving him away from extremist viewpoints, The Anchorage Daily News reported Thursday. Graves, now 21, was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months in prison, which he has already served since his arrest, and three years of supervised release.
-
America: A Land of Ceaseless Conflict
Patrick J. Buchanan
… This rampage of iconoclasts reveals a belief among many of the nation’s young that “The Making of America” they were taught about in history books in schools was a pack of lies. By their words and deeds, they profess America to have been the creation of racist white colonialists who enslaved Africans and brought them here to do the hard labor as they perpetrated genocide against the indigenous peoples they encountered when they came to settle and claims these lands. These new divides in our society, manifest in 2020, are piled upon old divisions dating back decades. Now, not only are we fractured over ideology, religion, race, culture and morality, but also our country’s history has become a cause of irreconcilable conflict.
-
Students Are Clueless About History
Shannon Watkins - Martin Center
Colleges and universities across the country don’t require students to study history. Although students at many colleges are “technically” required to take a history course to fulfill their general education requirements, many institutions are extremely lenient about what counts as a foundational history class … Even history majors at UNC-Chapel Hill don’t need to study American history for their degree. They are, however, required to take a class in African, Asian, and Middle Eastern history, or Latin American history … Universities, however, don’t only fail to teach American history – they actively promote material that depicts America as racist, sexist, xenophobic, and fundamentally immoral. Pseudo-historians like Howard Zinn and error-ridden publications such as the 1619 Project have gained special prominence in both the K-12 and higher education systems.
-
Trump Could Label Oxfam and Amnesty Anti-Semitic Over Criticism of Israel
The Guardian (Britain)
The Trump administration is reportedly considering labelling a number of leading international humanitarian organisations as antisemitic after they documented Israeli rights abuses against Palestinians, including settlement building in the occupied territories. The groups include the UK-based Amnesty International and Oxfam as well as the US organisation Human Rights Watch. Amnesty International accused the Trump administration, and the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, of attempting “to silence and intimidate international human rights organisations.” The plans were detailed in reports in Politico and the Washington Post and based on briefings from unnamed officials and a congressional aide who said that a declaration labelling the groups antisemitic could come as early as this week.
-
Trump Has Overwhelming Support of Israeli Jews (But Media and Dems Aren’t Going to Tell You That)
Mondoweiss
A recurring theme on this site is that Americans have no idea of Israel’s real character, a rightwing society with a strong militarist authoritarian streak. Israel supporters don’t want that picture to get out in the U.S., because they will surely lose bipartisan political support for the $4 billion we send Israel every year, and the complete impunity we provide for Israel’s human rights violations … Jewish Israel is a lot like the Jim Crow south; Jews have more rights than Palestinians, including land and language, and Jews campaign for prime minister by promising voters they won’t let Palestinians into the government. If Americans had any real sense of that political culture, a lot more of them would be critical, and would ask why our money is going to such a discriminatory society.
-
Video snippet sharing sensation TikTok on Wednesday said it is cracking down on hateful content, banning anti-Semitic stereotypes and white nationalism posts. Expanded rules against promoting hateful ideologies at TikTok include barring “misinformation and hurtful stereotypes” about Jewish, Muslim and other communities, the company said in a blog post. “This includes misinformation about notable Jewish individuals and families who are used as proxies to spread anti-Semitism,” TikTok said. The platform has already banned posts denying the Holocaust. TikTok will also remove posts hurtful content aimed at the LGBTQ+ community, including promotion of conversion therapy or the notion that sexuality is not innate.
-
With Hitler Across Germany
Gareth Jones
If this aeroplane should crash then the whole history of Europe would be changed. For a few feet away sits Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of Germany and leader of the most volcanic nationalist awakening which the world has seen. Six thousand feet beneath us, hidden by a sea of rolling white clouds, is the land which he has roused to a frenzy. We are rushing along at a speed of 142 miles per hour from Berlin to Frankfurt-on-Main, where Hitler is to begin his lightning election campaign. The occupants of the aeroplane are, indeed, a mass of human dynamite. I can see Hitler studying the map and then reading a number of blue reports. He does not look impressive.
-
Lady Michele Renouf’s Thought Crimes Trial in Germany Suddenly Adjourned, Gag Order Imposed
Canadian Association for Free of Expression
British actress, model and longtime videographer (through her company Telling Films) and free speech activist Lady Michele Renouf was to go on trial in Dresden, Germany on October 16. We can’t report on the proceedings because neither Lady Michele nor her associate and publicist Peter Rushton is allowed to comment on the proceedings. We have been advised that they were suddenly halted and no date set for their continuation … In February 2018 Lady Renouf attended a public commemoration in central Dresden, marking the anniversary of the 1945 terror bombing by the Royal Air Force and the USAAF. Responding to an anti-British comment by someone in the crowd, Lady Renouf was invited to give a brief spontaneous speech in which she acknowledged Britain’s shame for its deliberate wartime policy of targeting civilians.
-
Jewish Group Condemns Auction of Hitler Speech Notes
Associated Press
A prominent European Jewish organization slammed a Munich auction house’s decision to sell several of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler’s handwritten speech notes, saying Tuesday it “defies logic, decency and humanity” to put them on the market. Rabbi Menachem Margolin, the head of the Brussels-based European Jewish Association, said the upcoming sale of the manuscripts is particularly worrisome amid recent figures showing rising anti-Semitism in Germany, and could encourage neo-Nazis … The speech notes being offered, all dated before World War II, are directed to Nazi-party organizations and contributors at various functions …
-
… While President Trump’s statement on bringing the troops home is to be applauded, he has a real problem getting his policies implemented by the very people he has hired to do the implementing … But you cannot pursue an “America first” foreign policy if you put people like Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, Nikki Haley, Mark Milley, and others in charge of carrying it out. They simply won’t do it. We are seeing that again when it comes to withdrawing our troops from the long and foolish war in Afghanistan. For a president once made famous for uttering the line “you’re fired,” Trump seems unwilling or perhaps unable to dismiss those who actively seek to undermine his policies.
-
Trump’s Endless Wars
Nicolas J S Davies, Medea Benjamin
… Despite Democratic hawks smearing him as a Russian puppet, Trump has led the United States back into a Cold War with Russia and China that most Americans thought we had left behind a generation ago. His National Security and Defense Strategy documents have unequivocally redefined Russia and China as enemies of the United States, courting major power confrontations and ensuring record military budgets for years to come … Behind the smoke and mirrors of Trump’s tweets and publicity stunts, he has doubled down on everything that was already wrong with America’s catastrophic militarist foreign policy … The only positive aspect of Trump’s foreign policy legacy may be his unintended contribution to hastening the day when the sun finally sets on the U.S. empire.
-
The news late yesterday was that Sheldon and Miriam Adelson poured $75 million in September into a new super PAC that supports Donald Trump. Way more money than other donors, on either side. Many news outlets have now reported the outsized sum, which is plainly important to Trump’s flailing campaign. Oddly, none of them is reporting the Adelsons’ number one issue, Israel, or the fact that Miriam Adelson is Israeli, or that the Adelsons are close to Netanyahu, or that our transactional president has done just about everything Israel wants. Nope, the big story is still Russian influence.
-
Are Christian Zionists the ‘Largest Pro-Israel Lobby’?
Grant Smith - Antiwar.com
The claim that US Christian Zionists are “the largest Israel lobby” is a canard now so commonplace that it appears within the first paragraph of Wikipedia’s page on the “Israel lobby in the United States.” But are Christian Zionists really the largest Israel lobby? … A look at a key set of lobbying numbers indicates Christian Zionists are not major lobby players. They could disappear tomorrow and the US Israel lobbying engine would not even sputter … In other words, millions of Christian Zionists pulling voting booth levers do not really matter much, except for, perhaps, as cover … Large, Jewish establishment organizations that have been around for decades – by far – lobby the most for unconditional support of Israel.
-
Christian Zionism
Mark Weber – Video
The fundamentalist and evangelical Protestant Christians in the US who fervently embrace Israel are the single most important block of non-Jewish American supporters of the Zionist state and its policies. But few of these “Christian Zionists” realize just what an odd minority they are among the world’s Christians, and how out of step their views are with traditional Christian principles. Christian Zionists reject the ethical values of Jesus as laid out in the Gospels, and betray fellow Christians in Palestine who are victims of Israeli dispossession and oppression.
-
Pro-Israel Groups Air Ads for Trump and Biden
Alison Weir
The Republican Jewish Coalition and the Democratic Majority for Israel are both airing ads in Florida claiming that their presidential candidate will do the most to help Israel. Both groups hope to swing the presidential election to their candidate in Florida, the nation’s most populous swing state, and in other contested states.
-
Justice Dept Seizes 92 Domains, Claiming ‘Iranian Propaganda’
Jason Ditz - Antiwar.com
Armed with claims of propaganda, fake news, and going after Iran, the US Justice Department has seized 92 websites operating around the world, and which they say were spreading “pro-Iranian disinformation.” According to a statement from the department, Google initiated the investigation by providing intelligence to the FBI, while Facebook and Twitter also helped. The list of 92 sites shows a lot of very small, very similar sites, declaring themselves progressive media … All of this just points to the Justice Department continuing to use censorship to get rid of sites which offered an embarrassing take on international news, with Iran’s involvement serving as legal cover for mass shutdowns.
-
Twitter will now ban posts that deny the Holocaust. Bloomberg News reported Wednesday [Oct. 14] that a Twitter spokesperson said posts that “deny or distort” violent events including the Holocaust would be banned. Twitter is the second major social media network to ban Holocaust denial this week. Facebook announced on Monday that it would ban posts that deny or distort the Holocaust, two years after Mark Zuckerberg said Holocaust denial should be allowed in the name of free speech. “We strongly condemn anti-semitism, and hateful conduct has absolutely no place on our service,” the Twitter spokesperson said in a statement. “We also have a robust ‘glorification of violence’ policy in place and take action against content that glorifies or praises historical acts of violence and genocide, including the Holocaust.”
-
In this first-ever debate between US presidential candidates, Senator John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon faced each other before millions of television viewers. (Runtime: 58 mins.) This historic exchange was generally considered a “win” for Kennedy, who went on to narrowly defeat Nixon on Nov. 8. Television viewership for this Sept. 26, 1960, exchange was larger than for the three follow-up debates. Viewing it today, one cannot help but note the striking contrast in content, tone and demeanor compared with the recent “debate” between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. In the 1960 exchange, both Kennedy and Nixon were composed, self-controlled and focused. Each expressed himself clearly and cogently. Each spoke of the other with respect. Neither was rude or demeaning.
-
Congress Wants to Let Israel Nix US Weapon Sales
J. Ruebner - Mondoweiss
Earlier this month, Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) introduced a bill with potentially far-reaching and unprecedented implications for Israel’s ability to nix US weapons sales to the Middle East. H.R.8494, the Guaranteeing Israel’s QME Act of 2020, would mandate the president “to consult with appropriate officials of the Government of Israel for information regarding Israel’s qualitative military edge” before the proposed sale or export of weapons to other Middle Eastern countries … If enacted into law, this bill would broaden the already existing US statutory commitment to Israel’s qualitative military edge, which was surreptitiously enacted into law in 2008 …
-
Facebook COO Pledges $2.5 Million to Israel Advocacy Group, ADL, Brushing Off Palestinian Complaints of Censorship
If Americans Knew
In the midst of a campaign by Palestinian journalists accusing Facebook of suppressing their content, Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer, Sheryl Sandberg, has pledged $2.5 million to the ADL [Anti-Defamation League], an organization that devotes much of its work to Israel advocacy. We’ll first look at the complaints about censorship, then at the ADL, and then at Sandberg. The current campaign is the latest in a long line of complaints that Facebook discriminates against Palestinian users … A 2017 article in The Intercept reported: “Facebook has been on a censorship rampage against Palestinian activists who protest the decades-long, illegal Israeli occupation, all directed and determined by Israeli officials. Indeed, Israeli officials have been publicly boasting about how obedient Facebook is when it comes to Israeli censorship orders.”
-
Thought Control American Style: The Social Justice Warriors Will Destroy Our Basic Freedoms
Philip Giraldi
… Just as the Israel Firsters in Congress and in the state legislative bodies have had great success in criminalizing any criticism of the Jewish state, the mainstream media’s “fake news” in support of the “woke” crowd agenda has already succeeded in forcing out many alternative voices in the public space … Universities in particular, which once were bastions of free speech and free thought, are now defining what is acceptable language and behavior even when the alleged perpetrators are neither threatening or abusive … The worst aspect of the increasing thought control taking place in America’s public space is that it is not only not over, it is increasing.
-
Iran Hails Lifting of 13-Year UN Arms Embargo as 'Momentous Day'
The Guardian (Britain)
Iranian officials have hailed the lifting of a 13-year UN arms embargo on their military as a momentous day, claiming they were once again free to buy and sell conventional weapons in an effort to strengthen their country’s security. The embargo was lifted on Sunday morning despite US protests and was in line with the five-year timetable set out in the Iran nuclear deal, which was signed in 2015. Russia and China are the two countries now most likely to offer arms to Tehran, making Iran less dependent on its own weapons industry – and smuggling. But Iran’s parlous financial state, and the continued threat of US sanctions on anyone trading with the country, means Tehran is unlikely to go on a short-term buying spree, or reach anything like the defence spending levels of its chief Gulf rivals Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
-
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that the U.S. will levy sanctions for selling arms to Iran even as the United Nations embargo against sales to the nation expires. “The United States is prepared to use its domestic authorities to sanction any individual or entity that materially contributes to the supply, sale, or transfer of conventional arms to or from Iran, as well as those who provide technical training, financial support and services, and other assistance related to these arms,” Pompeo said in a statement. “For the past ten years, countries have refrained from selling weapons to Iran under various U.N. measures,” Pompeo added.
-
Israel has pressed forward on plans for more than 3,000 West Bank settlement homes, making 2020 one of the most prolific years for illegal settlement building, according to a watchdog group. Thursday’s approvals, along with more than 2,000 new homes approved a day earlier by a defence ministry planning committee, are part of a building boom that has gained steam during the presidency of US President Donald Trump, a staunch ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It also comes months after Israel promised to put on hold plans to annex parts of the West Bank in exchange for a US-brokered normalisation deal with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and later Bahrain. The latest approvals raised the number of settlement homes to be advanced this year to more than 12,150, according to Peace Now, the settlement watchdog group.
-
French Court Sentenced Alain Soral to Pay Jewish Organization $158,500 for Re-Releasing 128-Year-Old Book
Guillaume Durocher
… French civic nationalist and publisher Alain Sorel was sentenced last month to pay 134,000 euros ($158,500) to the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA) … His crime? Republishing Le Salut par le Juifs (“Salvation Through the Jews) by Léon Bloy, a classic French Christian author, first released in 1892. A French court had ordered Soral in 2013 to bowdlerize Bloy’s book by removing 15 passages deemed anti-Semitic. One wonders if it will still be legal in France to publish unabridged editions of the works of Shakespeare or Voltaire, both of which, like many classic authors, expressed sharp criticism of the Jews’ behavior.
-
Questions for the Candidates
Doug Bandow
… Most people at least have a general sense about the economy. However, for many of them international issues are mysterious, involving esoteric controversies about bizarre places that not only seem but are far, far away. Unfortunately, distant doesn’t mean cheap. Washington’s Mideast misadventures have cost the U.S. thousands of lives and trillions of dollars, while exacerbating other foreign problems … Have you looked at the latest Congressional Budget Office estimates, which show that the US government is essentially bankrupt? How should Washington finance its continued attempt to maintain a de facto global empire?
-
The Jewish Forward has just published an article saying that Joe Biden’s long loyalty to a foreign country is a reason to vote for him. The article is entitled “38 billion reasons to vote for Joe Biden.” The title refers to the $38 billion aid package to Israel, which works out to $7,000 per minute from American taxpayers and is approximately $23,000 per each Jewish Israeli family of four … The article celebrating this aid to Israel is by Robert Wexler, who was a Democratic member of the House of Representatives … [Wexler writes:] … “As Vice President, Biden took a leading role in negotiating the ten-year, $38 billion U.S. aid package to Israel that Congress passed in 2016 – the largest in U.S. history. Biden opposes conditioning aid to Israel, even when the U.S. and Israel disagree on policy.”
-
Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam Adelson gave $75 million to a super PAC that flooded battleground states with anti-Joe Biden ads in September, a huge investment from the GOP megadonors as President Donald Trump slipped in the polls. The Adelsons gave the massive sum to Preserve America PAC, accounting for roughly 90 percent of the group’s fundraising in September, according to a person familiar with the group’s finances who shared details with Politico ahead of the group’s campaign finance filing. The money for Preserve America brought the Adelsons’ giving to Republican candidates and committees to a whopping $176 million for the 2020 election cycle, according to FEC data.
-
Ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential elections, a little more than 63 percent of Israelis think that U.S. President Donald Trump “will be better for Israel,” according to an i24 News poll released on Monday. It reported that 63.3 percent of respondents chose the Republican incumbent, 18.8 percent chose former Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, 10.4 percent said “both are equally good for Israel,” 4.4 percent responded they don’t know, and 3.1 percent said neither candidate.
-
The most widely anticipated speech ever given by Adolf Hitler was his address of April 28, 1939. It’s also widely regarded, even by his most vehement critics, as perhaps his most impressive address ever. It was a response to a much-publicized message from US President Franklin Roosevelt, who had called on the Chancellor to promise not to attack 31 countries. Broadcast on radio stations around the world, Hitler’s two-hour Reichstag speech was heard by millions. In the US, major radio networks broadcast it live. The next day, it was the leading news item on the front page of every major US daily newspaper. In his address, Hitler laid out his view of Germany’s place in the world, lucidly reviewed his government’s foreign policy objectives and achievements in recent years, and concluded with an eloquent, imposing retort to the US President.
-
'Do Not Respond': Did The Soviet Government Abandon Its WWII Prisoners?
R. Coalson, D. Volchek – RFE/ RL
… According to the archival materials, Bogoslavsky said, the Axis powers offered to exchange lists of prisoners with the Soviets in December 1941 … “But Molotov wrote on the message, ‘…don’t send the lists (the Germans are violating legal and other norms),’” Bogoslavsky said. “After that, almost all the letters and telegrams received from the Red Cross … were marked by Molotov as ‘Do Not Respond’.” The Soviet government adopted this policy as a result of a cold-blooded calculus … During the course of the war, the Soviet government also refused to cooperate with the governments of German allies Finland and Romania on the prisoners issue … “The Soviet Union was the only country that refused to cooperate with the Red Cross and did not even allow Red Cross delegations onto its territory,” he added.
-
Stalin's War Against His Own Troops
Yuri Teplyakov
… In August 1941 Hitler permitted a Red Cross delegation to visit the camp for Soviet POWs in Hammerstadt. It is these contacts that resulted in an appeal to the Soviet government, requesting that it should send food parcels for our officers and men. We are prepared to fulfill and comply with the norms of the Geneva convention, Moscow said in its reply, but sending food in the given situation and under fascist control is the same as making presents to the enemy … How great was Stalin’s hatred for those who had found themselves behind enemy lines. It made no difference: who, where, how and why? Even the dead were considered to be criminals.
-
The Undeniable Cruelty of Trump’s ‘Maximum Pressure’ on Iran
Tyler Cullis - Responsible Statecraft
The Trump administration calls its policy towards Iran one of “maximum pressure.” By its latest move, it would more properly be called “siege and starve,” as the feigned interest in establishing leverage for comprehensive negotiations with Iran has been replaced by a full-throttle push to pulverize Iran’s economy and collapse its social and economic life … Based on reports, the Trump administration’s new policy came after visits from the Israeli government and FDD’s lobbying efforts. This is par for the course: FDD has long laundered Israeli talking points and intelligence before the U.S. government to make it seem as if there is a natural constituency for the policy being advocated. But there is no sizable constituency, at least not an American one.
-
Is Israel Even an Actual Country?
Yuli Tamir - Haaretz (Israel)
Many people have been wondering recently whether Israel is a democratic country or a Jewish and democratic one. Or has Israel’s democracy been eroded perhaps, turning it into an autocratic country? I would like to ask a much simpler question. Is Israel a country? … Israel does not meet these basic conditions. It does not have a defined territory: As long as its northern and eastern borders have not been approved on a final basis, Israel is a political entity whose territory is subject to domestic and external dispute. Secondly, Israel lacks a source of authority accepted by all of its citizens.
-
Can the Fed End Racism?
Ron Paul
House Financial Services Chair Maxine Waters and Senator Elizabeth Warren have introduced the Federal Reserve Racial and Economic Equity Act. This legislation directs the Federal Reserve to eliminate racial disparities in income, employment, wealth, and access to credit. Eliminating racial disparities in access to credit is code for forcing banks and other financial institutions to approve loans based on the applicants’ race, instead of based on their income and credit history … Forcing banks to make loans based on political considerations damages the economy by misallocating resources. This reduces economic growth and inflicts more pain on lower-income Americans … This legislation also requires the Fed to shape monetary policy with an eye toward eliminating racial disparities.
-
Twitter has announced it will ban content that denies the Holocaust, a few days after Facebook announced a similar policy. “We strongly condemn anti-Semitism, and hateful conduct has absolutely no place on our service,” a Twitter spokesperson said. “We also have a robust ‘glorification of violence’ policy in place and take action against content that glorifies or praises historical acts of violence and genocide, including the Holocaust.” The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, an American Jewish umbrella group, hailed the move, saying it was “an encouraging sign of progress in the increasingly urgent fight against Jew-hatred that is on the rise at home and abroad.”
-
Out-of-Touch, Incoherent Foreign Policy on Display in Harris-Pence Showdown
Kelley Beaucar Vlahos - Responsible Statecraft
Anyone expecting to get a sense of where the vice presidential candidates stood on the most pressing national security and foreign policy issues of the day were left head shaking and empty handed last night [Oct. 7], a testament to how low a priority our overseas wars have become – and how out of touch our elites are with the American people. Shopworn tropes about President Trump not being nice “to our friends” (Kamala Harris) and boastful talking points like “we destroyed ISIS caliphate” (Mike Pence) prevailed over any serious discussion at the one and only vice-presidential debate, and shows how ill-equipped the Trump or Biden campaigns are in talking about America’s role in the world.
-
Every Presidential Election Since the Iraq War Has Featured Candidates Who Supported It
Caitlin Johnstone
… The United States has done many, many profoundly evil things throughout its history, but the 2003 invasion of Iraq is surely in the top ten. It killed over a million human beings, destabilized an entire region, led to the rise of ISIS and Al Nusra and facilitated a rush of new Middle Eastern interventionism, all to no benefit for the American people whatsoever … The argument that the Iraq invasion was supported by most prominent politicians at the time is not a defense of those politicians, it’s an indictment of mainstream American politics. Nobody who supported the Iraq invasion should be working in politics at all … It’s entirely legitimate for any voter to reject anyone who supported the unforgivable invasion of Iraq, and indeed to reject the entire political system that gave rise to them.
-
A content advisory notice for racism in classic Disney films, in place since last year, has been updated with a strengthened message. When played on the Disney+ streaming service, films such as Dumbo, Peter Pan and Jungle Book now flash up with a warning about stereotypes. “This programme includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures,” the warning says. “These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now.” The message adds that rather than remove the content, “we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together” … Some films, such as Song of the South, are not available to stream on Disney+ at all because of racism.
-
Five people have been arrested following a protest in San Rafael which resulted in the vandalism and toppling of a Junipero Serra statue at a San Rafael church. The suspected vandals joined a group of 40 to 50 protesters Monday at Saint Raphael’s Catholic Church. They broke from the group’s planned protest to spray red paint on the statue before pulling off its pedestal … Protesters had shared information on the protest on social media to coincide with Indigenous Peoples’ Day, recognized by those who object to Columbus Day commemorations. Junipero Serra is recognized as a saint in the Catholic church. However Native American tribes accuse the 18th century missionary of presiding over a brutal colonization campaign …
-
Germany has agreed to provide more than a half billion euros to aid Holocaust survivors struggling under the burdens of the coronavirus pandemic, the organization that negotiates compensation with the German government said Wednesday. The payments will be going to approximately 240,000 survivors around the world, primarily in Israel, North America, the former Soviet Union and Western Europe, over the next two years, according to the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany … As a result of negotiations with the Claims Conference since 1952, the German government has paid more than $80 billion in Holocaust reparations. Part of the Claims Conference’s annual negotiations also includes working with Germany to expand the number of people eligible for compensation.
-
Twenty Years After the Second Intifada, the Israeli Victory is Nearly Complete
Amira Hass - Haaretz (Israel)
The second intifada erupted because Israel exploited the negotiations with the Palestinians to advance its land grab project. The hypocrisy cried out to the heavens – talk of peace on one hand while continuing to take over Palestinian expanse for the benefit of the Jews. The hypocrisy cried out, but the Israelis didn’t listen. The anger and disgust at Israeli underhandedness built up over years of disappointment and sobriety following the Oslo Accords, erupting on September 29, 2000 … Then, as now, the Israeli majority paid little heed to the Palestinian casualties, and did not view the seizure of their lands as institutional aggression … Twenty years later, the Israeli victory is nearly complete: The well-planned armed robbery of Palestinian land goes on daily unhindered.
-
Lady Michele Renouf to Face Trial in Dresden for Criticizing Allied Firebombing
Canadian Association for Free of Expression
On Friday, Oct. 16, an Australian-born Briton goes on trial in Dresden for “incitement” – not for terrorism or threats, but because of a ten-minute speech given to 300 mourners at a commemoration of the Allied terror bombing of Dresden in 1945 … In February 2018 Lady Renouf attended a public commemoration in central Dresden, marking the anniversary of the 1945 terror bombing by the Royal Air Force and the USAAF … Lady Renouf was invited to give a brief spontaneous speech in which she acknowledged Britain’s shame for its deliberate wartime policy of targeting civilians … It is for making these points in her brief impromptu speech that Lady Renouf was arrested and now faces trial in Dresden … Her trial will focus press and public attention on the extraordinary German laws that deny normal historical debate and rational argument.
-
My Intellectual Odyssey
Michele Renouf -- Institute for Historical Review
In this heart-felt address, an actress, professional model and author who lives in London looks back on the intellectual-spiritual odyssey that brought her to a heightened awareness of the importance of truthful history. Lady Renouf describes the campaign to oust her as a member of the Reform Club in London for having brought along as her guest the “notorious” historian David Irving. Alluring photos of her appeared in Britain’s sensational tabloid press along with reports about the “scandal.” This address was given at an IHR Conference in April 2004. Runtime: 53 mins.
-
Dresden 1945: The Devil's Tinderbox
Charles Lutton – The Journal of Historical Review
The destruction of the virtually undefended German city of Dresden by bombers of the Royal Air Force and U.S. Army Air Force, in mid-February 1945, remains one of the most controversial episodes of the Second World War … British military historian, Alexander McKee, has produced a new account of the Dresden bombing, based in part upon an examination of official records recently declassified, as well as interviews from survivors of the attack and Allied airmen who flew in the raids. McKee had doubts about the efficacy of area bombing when, as a soldier with the 1st Canadian Army, he witnessed the results of the Allied bombing of “friendly” French towns.
-
What Sort of Man Was Columbus?
Jared Taylor
What sort of man was Christopher Columbus? Why did he cross the Atlantic and what did he do in the New World? The fashion is to despise him as a greedy, genocidal racist and slave driver, but Prof. Carol Delaney of Brown University refutes these charges. His motives were almost entirely – even fanatically – Christian, and he was kind to Indians. She is mystified by the evil reputation he has acquired. As Prof. Delaney explains, it is impossible to understand Columbus without understanding what committed Catholics thought in the 15th century … Prof. Delaney is baffled by Columbus’ bad reputation … Columbus was kind to Indians and hanged Spaniards who mistreated them. Columbus’ crime is to have come here; he brought white people to the New World. He used to be honored for this, but today, that makes him a villain.
-
Getting Rid of the Myth of ‘Isolationism’
Daniel Larison - The American Conservative
No one claims to be an isolationist, but foreign policy analysts keep imagining and fearing a “resurgence” of isolationism around every corner. This fear was on display in a recent Atlantic article by Charles Kupchan, who tries to rehabilitate the label in order to oppose the substance of a policy of nonintervention and non-entanglement … The key thing to remember in all this is that the U.S. has never been isolationist in its foreign relations … Isolationism is the pejorative term that expansionists and interventionists have used over the last century to ridicule and dismiss opposition to unnecessary wars. Isolationism as U.S. policy in the 1920s and 1930s is a myth, and the myth is deployed whenever there has been a serious challenge to the status quo in post-1945 U.S. foreign policy.
-
A photo of the leading candidate for mayor of Portland, Ore., has resurfaced showing her wearing a skirt patterned with the faces of famous Communist dictators. Sarah Iannarone – who, like all other candidates in the race, is unaffiliated with a political party – can be seen in the photo, shared earlier this week by independent journalist Andy Ngo, wearing a skirt covered in the faces of Che Guevara, Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin. Iannarone is beating incumbent Mayor Ted Wheeler in the race, which uses a nonpartisan voting system in local elections, by upward of 11 points, according to the latest survey … The mother and Portland State University educator paired her Communist garb with a shirt from her campaign merchandise, bearing her first name.
-
In Slovakia, Leader of Nationalist Party Sentenced to Four Years In Prison For Use of 'Neo-Nazi' Symbols
Associated Press
The leader of a far-right party with seats in the Slovak parliament was convicted of illegal use of neo-Nazi symbols and sentenced to four years and four months in prison on Monday. Marian Kotleba, head of the People’s Party Our Slovakia, was standing trial after he presented three poor families with checks for 1,488 euros in 2017. The number 1,488 has a symbolic meaning for neo-Nazis and white supremacists. The verdict isn’t final. Kotleba pleaded not guilty and can appeal the verdict … The extreme far-right People’s Party Our Slovakia, whose members use Nazi salutes and want Slovakia out of the European Union and NATO, was the fourth-most popular party in the country in February’s parliamentary elections with 8% support. It has 17 seats in the 150-seat the Slovak Parliament and two seats in the European Parliament.
-
The 59 Americans whose fortunes have ballooned amid the coronavirus pandemic now have more wealth than half the nation’s population, new data show. The poorest 50 percent of Americans, or roughly 165 million people, collectively owned about $2.08 trillion in wealth in the second quarter of 2020, according to Federal Reserve data last week. That’s less than the net worth of the nation’s 59 richest billionaires, who have a combined fortune of about $2.09 trillion, Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index shows — a number that’s grown this year despite the COVID-19 crisis kneecapping the global economy. Those elite tycoons are among the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans, who were worth a total of $34.23 trillion in the second quarter — meaning they were more than 16 times richer than the nation’s poorest 50 percent, the Fed’s figures reveal.
-
The average Black family had less than 15 percent of the wealth of white families in 2019, a trend that barely budged despite economic gains among minorities over the past three years, the Federal Reserve said on Monday. According to a Fed survey of consumer finances conducted every three years, the median wealth of white families was $188,200, compared with only $24,100 for Black families. Central bank economists attributed that gap to “many complex societal, governmental, and individual factors that play out over the life cycle and across generations.” … The median Black family in the under 35 age group had only $600 in wealth, compared with $25,400 among young white families.
-
Facebook has explicitly banned Holocaust denial for the first time. The social network said its new policy prohibits “any content that denies or distorts the Holocaust”. Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg wrote that he had “struggled with the tension” between free speech and banning such posts, but that “this is the right balance”. Two years ago, Zuckerberg said that such posts should not automatically be taken down for “getting it wrong”. “I’m Jewish and there’s a set of people who deny that the Holocaust happened,” he told Recode at the time. “I find it deeply offensive. But at the end of the day, I don’t believe that our platform should take that down because I think there are things that different people get wrong. I don’t think that they’re intentionally getting it wrong.” His remarks led to a large public backlash.
-
Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, welcomed Facebook’s decision to update their hate speech policy to prohibit all forms of Holocaust denial and distortion on its platform … Facebook said Monday it will remove all content on its platform and on Instagram that “denies or distorts the Holocaust.” … World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder declared, “By taking the critical step to remove Holocaust denial content, Facebook is showing that it recognizes Holocaust denial for what it truly is – a form of antisemitism and therefore hate speech.’’
-
What is 'Holocaust Denial'?
Barbara Kulaszka
In recent years, considerable attention has been devoted to the supposed danger of “Holocaust denial.” Politicians, newspapers and television warn about the growing influence of those who reject the Holocaust story that some six million European Jews were systematically exterminated during the Second World War, most of them in gas chambers. In several countries, including Israel, France, Germany and Austria, “Holocaust denial” is against the law, and “deniers” have been punished with stiff fines and prison sentences … Often overlooked in this controversy is the crucial question: Just what constitutes “Holocaust denial”?
-
Protesters in Portland overturned statues of former Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln Sunday night in a declaration of “rage” toward Columbus Day. Protest organizers dubbed the event “Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage,” in response to Monday’s federal holiday named after 15th-century Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, a polarizing figure who Native American advocates have said spurred centuries of genocide against indigenous populations in the Americas … After toppling the statues, the crowd began smashing windows at the Oregon Historical Society and later moved onto the Portland State University Campus Public Safety office … Police later declared the event a riot and ordered the group to disperse.
-
Principal Who Declined to Say Holocaust was Real is Rehired
Associated Press
A Florida high school principal who was fired last year after telling a student’s mother “not everyone believes the Holocaust happened” was rehired after a recommendation by an administrative law judge. The Palm Beach County school board voted 4-3 on Wednesday to reinstate former Spanish River High School principal William Latson and give him $152,000 in back pay, the Palm Beach Post reported. “If we rehire Dr. Latson, it is going be a stain on this school district that will never go away,” said Karen Brill, the board’s only Jewish member. Board member Chuck Shaw, who voted to fire Latson last year, said he was voting to rehire him to avoid a costly court battle, the Post reported. He said it was unfortunate Latson’s comments had damaged the public schools’ image, but he blamed the situation primarily on the news media ..
-
A Polish politician who last year called a memorial for Jews killed by Poles during the Holocaust an “anti-Polish scandal” was tapped to become the country’s next education minister. Przemysław Czernek of the ruling Law and Justice party, who was selected to become Poland’s education and science minister in a cabinet reshuffle announced last week, called last year for the removal of the memorial … “This is an anti-Polish scandal, for I do not know whose money paid for it. Why does the president allow this type of slander and anti-Polish actions to happen here in the castle, where Polish heroes died for the independence of our homeland?” Czernek, then the governor of Lublin, said in an interview …
-
… Another area dear to my own heart which the [Democratic and Republican] parties have been silent about is Foreign Policy, which also subsumes National Security, a related issue that the opinion polls do not specifically address. Both parties are strong on issuing position papers that refer to supporting allies, meaning Israel followed by everyone else, confronting threats from Russia and China, and maintaining the world’s number one military. Beyond that it gets a bit vague … Those “wars” have collectively killed tens of thousands of civilians and have done nothing to enhance the security of the United States. Shouldn’t Trump and Biden be talking about that? Instead, we will see much finger pointing and hear a lot about how dangerous a win by either presidential candidate will be, all couched in general terms based on a lot of “what-ifs.”
-
Israel’s Founders Were Thieves, Says Israeli Historian
Middle East Monitor
Early Jewish settlers in Palestine “looted Arab property”, a new book by an Israeli historian has said, adding “authorities turned a blind eye”. In what has been described as the “first-ever comprehensive study” by Israeli historian Adam Raz described “the extent to which Jews looted Arab property” during the Jewish gangs’ attack in 1948 on Palestinians and their homes, and explains why Ben-Gurion said “most of the Jews are thieves.” … Another senior writer at Haaretz, Gideon Levy, commented that the words “most of the Jews are thieves”, “wasn’t uttered by an antisemitic leader, a Jew hater or a neo-Nazi, but by the founder of the State of Israel, two months after it was founded.”
-
The Dark Side of Israeli Independence
Brett Wilkins
On May 14, 1948, Israel declared its independence. Each May 15, Palestinians solemnly commemorate Nakba Day. Nakba means catastrophe, and that’s precisely what Israel’s independence has been for the more than 700,000 Arabs and their five million refugee descendants forced from their homes and into exile, often by horrific violence, to make way for the Jewish state … Zionists and their apologist allies – some with their own competing religious agenda – have aggressively sought to erase the Nakba from memory. This is accomplished by denying Israeli crimes and by tarring critics with allegations of anti-Semitism … Enabled and emboldened, Israel now marks 70 years of statehood and over half a century of illegal occupation in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
-
Israel Triumphant, Israel Powerful, Israel Soulless
Philip Weiss
… As for the superpower, it’s clear to anyone in the Middle East that if you want the friendship of the greatest power on earth, you have to make nice to Israel. What else are you to conclude when the U.S. negotiating team is Jason Greenblatt, David Friedman, Avi Berkowitz and Jared Kushner, in whose childhood room Benjamin Netanyahu once slept? The Israel lobby is all over Washington … The deals serve to expose Israel’s basic problem – its supremacist treatment of Palestinians … Countries that behave like this come to an end …
-
A statue of an anti-Semitic former mayor of Vienna who inspired Hitler has become the focus of competing left- and right-wing protests, with anti-racist activists mounting a “shame vigil” around the monument. The likeness of Karl Lueger, on a prime spot on Vienna’s imposing Ringstrasse Boulevard, has been defaced several times in recent months with graffiti reading “Schande” (“Shame”) … Karl Lueger was mayor from 1897 until his death in 1910 and oversaw a period of transformation in which Vienna’s population boomed to more than two million and much of its modern infrastructure was built … In his rhetoric he railed against what he called Jewish influence over the press and sources of capital and called for the “liberation of the Christian people from Jewish dominance.”
-
Changing Views of Fascism
Mark Weber – Podcast
Fascism is one of the most often misused and widely misunderstood political terms. Publicists of both the left and right use the term “fascist” not to describe but to discredit and smear adversaries. “Fascism” is often inaccurately used as a synonym for tyranny, militarism, Nazism, racism, or capitalism. During the first 13 years of Fascist rule in Italy, the regime and its leader (“Duce”), Benito Mussolini, were widely admired in the US and other countries. Attitudes in the US changed after the Italian subjugation of Ethiopia in 1935-36, and as Mussolini aligned Italy ever more closely with Hitler’s Germany.
-
Evidence Demands America End the Afghan War and Withdraw Now
Daniel L. Davis - The Washington Times
… October marks the beginning of the 20th consecutive year American troops having been fighting and dying in Afghanistan. Eight years ago, as I chronicled in a detailed report, every U.S. commanding general from 2004 through 2012 claimed the war was going well, that things were getting better, and implied that with more time, we would win. Each general’s assessment proved disastrously wrong … In stark contrast to the two decades our generals have been claiming success to the American public, as of mid-2020: The Taliban has control over more of Afghanistan than at any time since 2001; Afghan civilians continue being killed at near-record rates of the war …
-
Iran Media on the U.S. Election
U.S. Institute of Peace
In Iran, both hardline and reformist media have provided extensive coverage of the U.S. presidential election but from widely divergent viewpoints. How America votes could have sweeping military, diplomatic and economic impact on the Islamic Republic over the next four years, especially because the two candidates have disparate positions on what the United States should do to contain Tehran’s nuclear program. “Who is better for Iran: Joe Biden or Donald Trump?” read a front-page headline in Ebtekar, a centrist newspaper … In editorials, the conservative newspapers reported that the world had lost faith in the U.S. form of democracy.
-
Alliance of Liberals, Neocons Set to Shape US Foreign Policy
Marshall Auerback, James Carden
The emergence in recent weeks of a coalition of neoconservative Republicans and former US national-security officials who have thrown their support behind the Democratic candidacy of Joe Biden is an ominous development to those who believe US foreign policy should be guided by the principles of realism and military restraint, rather than perpetual wars of choice … If anything, on foreign policy Democrats have moved rightward in recent years, having fallen not only under the spell of “Russiagate” but also increasingly under the influence of neocons and other former Bush officials who have pushed that discredited narrative for their own ends.
-
The Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu Alliance: Simply Bad News
Paul R. Pillar – The National Interest
The political careers of President Donald Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu have become increasingly linked. The linkage goes well beyond the parallel personal interests they have in such things as the hyping of recent diplomatic developments involving Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates … The upgrading of Israel’s existing relationships with Manama and Abu Dhabi is not a peace deal — neither Bahrain nor the UAE had been at war with Israel — but instead a deepening of an anti-Iran military alliance that intensifies confrontation in the Persian Gulf and risks stimulating an arms race there … Interference by one country in the internal political affairs of the other has become central to that alliance.
-
Soros Conspiracy Views Central to Deluge of Online Attacks on Jews in Congress, Says Zionist ADL
The Times of Israel
Conspiracy theories surrounding liberal, Jewish philanthropist George Soros constitute an “astounding” proportion of a recent deluge of online anti-Semitic attacks against Jewish members of Congress, the Anti-Defamation League said Monday, citing its latest report … The posts included claims that Soros is funding the careers of Jewish incumbents, the media, Black Lives Matter protests and Antifa activists in order to assert a communist or “Jewish supremacy” agenda in the United States … The ADL survey also found that 48% of the problematic tweets questioned the loyalty, honesty, ideology and faith of Jewish incumbents. Many of the posts claimed that the Jewish Congress members are secretly communists and Marxists, or harbor dual loyalties.
-
Are These Antifa/BLM Riots a Jewish Coup?
Kevin MacDonald
… The major new development in this summer’s Cultural Revolution: cleansing the internet of material the Left doesn’t like. Essentially, the Left appears to have figured out a way around the First Amendment, by co-opting the private sector. Jews and Jewish organizations have been heavily involved … Jewish organizations, which had loudly favored free speech when Leftists were being blacklisted in the 1950s, had decided even twenty years ago that the internet represented a threat to their interests … It goes without saying that the giants of internet advertising are Jewish-dominated: Facebook (Sandberg and CEO Mark Zuckerberg) and Google (founded by Sergei Brin and Larry Page). Censorship is also rampant at PayPal whose CEO is Larry Shulman. PayPal, which dominates the internet payment market …
-
The True Test of Supporting Free Speech
Walter E. Williams
The violence, looting and mayhem that this nation has seen over the last several months has much of its roots in academia, where leftist faculty teach immature young people all manner of nonsense that contradicts commonsense and the principles of liberty. Chief among their lessons is a need to attack free speech in the form of prohibitions against so-called hate speech and microaggressions … What is the true test of a person’s commitment to free speech? The true test does not come when he permits people to say those things he deems acceptable. The true test comes when he permits people to say those things that he deems offensive. … Attacks on free speech to accommodate multiculturalism and diversity are really attacks on Western values …
-
Promoting Zionism is Not 'Education to End Hate'
J. Sokolower - Mondoweiss
… California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond [has] announced a new initiative, “Education to End Hate.” …There’s only one problem. Education to End Hate rests on the false premise that any criticism of Israel or Zionism, any effort to examine Palestinian history or current realities in the region is inherently antisemitic. One of the three organizations providing professional development and resources for the program is the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance. The Wiesenthal Center has a long history of promoting Israel at all costs and trying to silence Palestinian voices … The Wiesenthal Center will not provide anti-bias education; it provides pro-Israel propaganda.
-
The Simon Wiesenthal Center: A Bastion of Jewish-Zionist Power
M. Weber - Institute for Historical Review
Since its founding in 1977, the Simon Wiesenthal Center has grown to become one of the most important and influential Jewish organizations in the world … The Wiesenthal Center has a long record of reckless propaganda for war. Long before the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003, it had been pressing for an American attack against the Middle East nation, backing its effort with alarmist “Big Lie” claims about the supposed danger posed by the Baghdad regime.
-
Trump Administration Imposes New Sanctions on Iran in Defiance of European Concerns
The Washington Post
The Trump administration imposed new sanctions on Iran’s financial sector Thursday in defiance of European allies who warned that the move could have devastating humanitarian consequences on a country reeling from the novel coronavirus and a currency crisis. The measures target the few remaining banks not currently subject to secondary sanctions in a step European governments say is likely to diminish channels Iran uses to import humanitarian goods, such as food and medicine, officials said. … Thursday’s action to effectively blacklist the entire Iranian financial industry was pushed by Israeli officials and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish U.S. nonprofit organization that has advocated regime change in Iran.
-
UN Assembly Approves Pandemic Resolution; US, Israel Object
Associated Press
The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a wide-ranging resolution on tackling the coronavirus pandemic Friday [Sept. 11] over objections from the United States and Israel, which protested a successful last-minute Cuban amendment that strongly urged countries to oppose any unilateral economic, financial or trade sanctions. The 193-member world body adopted the resolution by a vote of 169-2, with Ukraine and Hungary abstaining. It was a strong show of unity by the U.N.’s most representative body, though many countries had hoped for adoption by consensus. The resolution, which is not legally binding, is the third and most extensive adopted by the General Assembly.
-
Are You Feeling Safer? ‘War of the Worlds’ Pits U.S. and Israel Against Everyone Else
Philip Giraldi
… An important vote in the United Nations General Assembly [Sept. 11] went heavily against the United States. It was regarding a non-binding resolution that sought to suspend all economic sanctions worldwide while the coronavirus cases continue to increase … The vote prompted one observer, John Whitbeck, a former international lawyer based in Paris, to comment how “On almost every significant issue facing mankind and the planet, it is Israel and the United States against mankind and the planet.” … Nevertheless, when you are on the losing side on a vote in a respected international body by 169 to 2 someone in Washington should at least be smart enough to discern that something is very, very wrong.
-
A bipartisan bill introduced in the House of Representatives would enhance protections for Israel’s qualitative military edge to include an effective Israeli veto on US arms sales to the Middle East. The bill “would require the President to consult with the Israeli government to ensure [qualitative military edge] concerns are settled” when it comes to arms sales to Middle Eastern countries, said the news release Friday announcing its introduction the previous day. The release came from the office of the bill’s lead sponsor … Existing law already guarantees Israel a qualitative military edge in the Middle East, but Congress — not Israel — is the arbiter of whether an arms sale meets QME standards. Most of the sponsors are Democrats … AIPAC, the prominent Israel lobby, supports the new measure.
-
A fascinating look at life in New York City more a century ago. Filmed by the Swedish company Svenska Biografteatern in 1911, this eight-minute film shows daily life in the great, bustling metropolis, including horse-drawn wagons and carriages, elevated trains, pedestrians on sidewalks and crossing streets, a park scene, children, electric trams or street cars, horse-drawn wagons and carriages, automobiles, boats in the harbor, and tall buildings amid the city skyline. Trash, litter and graffiti are seemingly absent. Also noticeable is how well dressed nearly everyone seems to be. Utilizing modern technology, the original footage has been upscaled to look more “true to life,” with speed correction, colorization, and added background or ambient sounds.
-
Trump Confirms U.S. Is Israel’s 'Protector'
Philip Giraldi
… U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East has been all about Israel for a very long time, at least since the presidency of Bill Clinton, who has been sometimes dubbed the first Jewish president for his deference to Israeli interests. The Iraq War is a prime example of how neoconservatives and Israel Firsters inside the United States government conspired to go to war to protect the Jewish State … Even in 2002-3, when the Israel Lobby was not as powerful as it is now, the fact that the U.S. was going to war on a lie and was actually acting on behalf of the Jewish State was never presented in any way to the public, even though America’s children would be dying in the conflict and American taxpayers would be footing the bill. The media, if it knew about the false intelligence, was reliably pro-Israel and helped enable the deception.
-
Today’s US-Iran Crisis Is Rooted in the Decision to Invade Iraq
Stephen Zunes - Truthout
The ramifications of the illegal, unnecessary and predictably tragic U.S. decision to invade Iraq are still with us. This includes the ongoing crisis with Iran, which brought us perilously close to all-out war in early January … It was not “ancient hatreds” that spawned the sectarian conflict which engulfed Iraq and led to heavy Iranian influence in the country, but misguided U.S. policy … If the United States was really concerned about instability in the region, the rise of groups like ISIS, or Iran playing a major role in Iraqi politics, we should have never invaded Iraq in the first place. It fits a longstanding pattern in U.S. foreign policy …
-
Israel Played ‘Key Role’ in Pushing War Against Iraq
Stephen M. Walt
Probably the most controversial claim in my work with John Mearsheimer on the Israel lobby is our argument that it played a key role in the decision to invade Iraq in 2003 … We also pointed out that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and other Israeli officials were initially skeptical of this scheme, because they wanted the U.S. to focus on Iran, not Iraq. However, they became enthusiastic supporters of the idea of invading Iraq once the Bush administration made it clear to them that Iraq was just the first step in a broader campaign of “regional transformation” that would eventually include Iran. At that point top Israeli leaders from across the political spectrum became cheerleaders for the invasion, and they played a prominent role in helping to sell the war here in the United States.
-
The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt - Book available from IHR
An important look at the powerful pro-Israel lobby, its grip on US foreign policy, and the harmful consequences for America and the world. The exceptional US-Israel relationship, this book shows, is due largely to the efforts of individuals and organizations that actively work to steer US policy in a pro-Israel direction. Two outstanding scholars of international affairs – one a professor at the University of Chicago, and the other a professor at Harvard University – present compelling evidence and persuasive arguments to show that this support has been profoundly damaging to American national interests. They also detail the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that the US provides to Israel. With source reference notes, and index.
-
The Associated Press Stylebook tweeted an admonishment to stop using the word “riot” to describe political protests and instead use the milder “unrest” to avoid stigmatizing protesters. The guidance was tweeted on Tuesday amid numerous protests, riots and looting across the country. “Use care in deciding which term best applies: A riot is a wild or violent disturbance of the peace involving a group of people. The term riot suggests uncontrolled chaos and pandemonium,” the official AP Stylebook Twitter account said. “Focusing on rioting and property destruction rather than underlying grievance has been used in the past to stigmatize broad swaths of people protesting against lynching, police brutality or for racial justice, going back to the urban uprisings of the 1960s,” the AP Stylebook explained.
-
China on Friday accused the United States of “fabricating lies” and trying to take the world back to the “jungle age” after Washington blamed Beijing and UN agencies for “the murder of millions of baby girls”. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said on Friday it regretted the accusations by US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, which were made at a UN General Assembly meeting … DeVos and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who issued a statement on Thursday, both accused China of subjecting Uighurs and other minorities to forced abortion, forced sterilization, and involuntary implantation of birth control devices. A spokesperson for China’s U.N. mission in New York said in a statement that the remarks were “sheer fabrication.” “Some U.S. politicians lie and cheat as a habit,” the spokesperson said.
-
For the past several decades, the United States has been the world’s leading producer of major weapons systems and the leader in global arms sales. More of these sales have taken place in the globe’s most volatile region, the Middle East, than in any other region of the world. The so-called peace deals between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which were brokered by the United States, were business deals designed to expand U.S. arms sales in the Persian Gulf. The Trump administration has made arms sales to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other Middle East countries the focus of its foreign policy in the region … For the past twenty years, the United States has been in a permanent state of war with a government, an economy, and a global system of military bases that virtually ensures conflict.
-
‘Worst Presidential Debate in History’: Foreigners Recoil at Trump and Biden’s Prime-Time Brawl
R. Heath – Politico
Foreign leaders and observers are expressing dismay at the spectacle of Tuesday night’s melee between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, with sound bites of the bitter recriminations reverberating around the globe … While global audiences tend to be skeptical of Trump, the global reaction to Tuesday’s debate goes deeper than commentary on one political figure or moment: Allies and foes, alike, are interpreting it as yet another sign of the decline in American democracy … Hu Xijin, editor of China’s state-backed Global Times, tackled it head-on, tweeting that “such a chaos at the top of US politics reflects division, anxiety of US society and the accelerating loss of advantages of the US political system.” Allies know that whoever wins the election in November, they will be dealing with a growing pile of shredded democratic norms.
-
US voters have endured the first of three presidential debates between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The event has also prompted a huge reaction from world audiences who tuned in for the chaotic event. Newspapers and commentators around the world have criticised the tone and tactics of the debate. As The Times in the UK wrote, “The clearest loser from the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden was America.” … The Guardian [of Britain] described it as a “national humiliation”. “The rest of the world – and future historians – will presumably look at it and weep,” the paper wrote … “Never had American politics sunk so low,” [Italy’s] La Repubblica’s US correspondent wrote …
-
… In other words: 69/29, or 2.38 times, as many Americans are closed-minded (prejudiced) regarding information-sources which don’t fit their ideology, than are not … As a consequence of Americans’ strong tendency to be closed-minded, America’s politics are, to a very large extent, driven more by prejudices than by the realities that the public are actually facing. Individuals are seeking for sources that will likeliest confirm what they already believe, and are seeking to avoid sources that are the likeliest to disconfirm their beliefs. This is consequently a population that’s highly vulnerable to being manipulated, by playing up to, and amplifying, the given Party’s propaganda, to which the given individual already subscribes.
-
Belgium’s New Justice Minister Has Spoken of the 'Jewish Lobby'
The Jerusalem Post (Israel)
Belgium’s newly sworn in center-left government has rattled the Jewish community because of its pro-Palestinian stance, its lack of emphasis on antisemitism and its appointment of a justice minister who has publicly spoken of the “Jewish lobby.” On Thursday, Alexander De Croo was sworn in as prime minister … The new justice minister will be Vincent Van Quickenborne of the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats Party. In February, when Van Quickenborne was the mayor of Kortrijk, he tweeted that the “Jewish lobby is working extra hours. After Aalst, now Washington.” … Freilich said he was concerned the new government might remove special protection for Jewish institutions against antisemitic attacks. There also is concern it might support banning circumcision, he added.
-
The Danger and Challenge of Jewish-Zionist Power
Mark Weber / London Forum (Britain) - Video
At this London Forum meeting, American historian Mark Weber looks at the astonishing power and influence of the “Jewish lobby,” and explains why the task of identifying and countering Jewish-Zionist power is vitally important. More than a hundred men and women attended this April 11, 2015, gathering at the Grosvenor Hotel in the English capital. Organizer Jez Turner introduces Weber. Video runtime: 33 mins.
-
How Should We Talk About the Israel Lobby’s Power?
Andrew Sullivan - New York magazine
… The U.S. provides the Jewish state with $3.8 billion a year in aid, and has committed to doing so for each of the next ten years … Again you might ask: What did the U.S. get in return for all this from Israel? And again the answer is: Nothing. Actually, worse than nothing. The U.S. suffers internationally from this alliance. Don’t take it from me … This grotesque distortion of U.S. foreign policy deserves a much wider debate, but is constrained by cheap accusations of anti-Semitism … It seems to me that it is simply a fact that the Israel lobby uses money, passion, and persuasion to warp this country’s foreign policy in favor of another country — out of all proportion to what Israel can do for the U.S. That comes perilously close to anti-Semitic tropes, but it’s also the truth.
-
Twitter has shadow-banned well-known Russian news agency RIA Novosti. In practice, the move means users will no longer see the agency’s tweets in the website’s search results, unless they follow the media organization’s account. The removal of RIA Novosti’s tweets from the search function has been called “media censorship,” as the social network continues to restrict news outlets it considers to be “Russian state-affiliated.” Last month, both RT and Sputnik also faced the same suppression … The company opted to label RT and Sputnik as ‘state-affiliated,’ but left the likes of BBC and US state-run Voice of America and RFE/RL alone.
-
The world was watching the U.S. presidential debate on Tuesday night, and what they saw was not pretty. A “national humiliation,” said the Guardian in the U.K … Israel’s leading TV anchor tweeted “condolences to America,” writing, “It is hard to stoop lower than this.” Global reaction to the debate between President Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden was largely similar to reactions in the U.S. But to many international observers, Tuesday’s spectacle wasn’t just unseemly; it represented an America in decline, eliciting pity in some cases, and in others, leading some to question whether democracy is a political system worth embracing … Former British diplomat John Sawers told The New York Times … “The country we have looked to for leadership has descended into an ugly brawl.”
-
The Night American Democracy Hit Rock Bottom: The Trump-Biden Debate
Nick Bryant – BBC News
… Tuesday’s vicious encounter, more cage-fight than Camelot, spoke of a different era and a different country: a split screen America, a nation of unbridgeable divides, a country beset by democratic decay. Two elderly men, both of them in their 70s, traded insults and barbs, with a sitting president once again trashing in primetime the norms of conventional behaviour … To many international onlookers, to a large portion of Americans as well, the debate offered a real-time rendering of US decline. It reminded us once more of how American exceptionalism has increasingly come to be viewed as a negative construct: something associated with mass shootings, mass incarceration, racial division, and political chaos. Germany’s Der Spiegel called it “A TV duel like a car accident”.
-
By 11:42 a.m. on the morning after Donald Trump refused to condemn white supremacists during the presidential debate, Heather Segal had received four inquiries from Americans interested in moving to Canada … In her 25 years of experience, it’s never been as big as it is now … She gets six or seven inquiries every day. And most of them, she said, are from Jews … Much of the drive to leave has to do with the prospect of President Trump winning reelection, potentially after a chaotic post-election period in which he or others dispute the results of the vote. American Jews, lawyers and advocates say, are also chilled by a climate of rising extremism and antisemitism, some of it stoked or condoned by the president. Last year saw the most antisemitic incidents in the US since at least 1979, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
-
The Holocaust and the Myth of the Past as History
Howard F. Stein – Institute for Historical Review
For the Jews, the term “Holocaust” does not simply denote a single catastrophic era in history, but is a grim metaphor for the meaning of Jewish history. The “Holocaust” lies at the heart of the Jewish experience of time itself. One is either anxiously awaiting persecution, experiencing persecution, recovering from it, or living in a period that is a temporary reprieve from it … Thus the “reality” of the Holocaust is inextricably part of the myth in which it is woven — and for which myth it serves as further confirmatory evidence for the timeless Jewish theme that the world is in conspiracy to annihilate them, one way or another, at least eventually.
-
The Building Blocks of a Restraint Coalition
Daniel Larison – The American Conservative
The American public is increasingly supportive of a foreign policy that is more engaged diplomatically and more restrained in its use of force. Large majorities want the U.S. to rejoin agreements and institutions that the U.S. has left over the last four years, but there is also substantial support for reducing America’s military footprint in many other parts of the world. Most Americans don’t care for the wrecking of successful agreements, including the nuclear deal with Iran, but many would welcome troop withdrawals from deployments overseas. Those are some of the findings from the Eurasia Group Foundation’s annual survey of what Americans think about U.S. foreign policy and our country’s role in the world.
-
Jewish Democratic Group’s Ad Compares Trump Era and 1930s Germany
J. Magid / The Times of Israel
The Jewish Democratic Council of America has released a new ad that explicitly ties what it sees as “the emboldening of white nationalism” under US President Donald Trump to the rise of the Nazis in 1930s Germany. “History shows us what happens when leaders use hatred and nationalism to divide their people,” a narrator in the 30-second clip says. The ad ends with the warning: “Hate does not stop itself. It must be stopped. VOTE.” JDCA said the ad will target Jewish voters in swing states such as Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania ahead of the November 3 election … Several Jewish groups, including the American Jewish Committee, the Simon Wiesenthal and the Republican Jewish Coalition lashed out against the ad.
-
A New Political Ad Suggests that 'Nazi' Comparisons May No Longer be Off-Limit for American Jews
R. Kampeas – JTA
Is it OK to compare Donald Trump to a Nazi? In line with their longtime opposition to such rhetoric, antisemitism watchdog groups are speaking out against the use of Nazi comparisons to attack Trump and his administration … The immediate flashpoint in the debate is a new 30-second ad released Tuesday by the Jewish Democratic Council of America that draws parallels between the rise of fascism in Germany and the Trump presidency. In swift and strong rebukes, the antisemitism watchdogs condemned the ad as offensive. One came from the Anti-Defamation League, which has been anything but shy in calling out a range of Trump’s statements and actions … The condemnations of the ad were part of the longstanding effort of Jewish groups to make Nazi and Holocaust comparisons taboo.
-
Historic California Law Establishes Path to Reparations for Black People, Descendants of Slaves
NBC News
California on Wednesday became the first state to adopt a law paving the way for Black residents and descendants of slaves to receive reparation payments. The legislation, which was authored by Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, a Democrat representing San Diego who is chair of California’s Legislative Black Caucus, does not commit to any specific payment. Instead, it establishes a nine-person task force that will study the impact of slavery on Black people in California and recommend to the Legislature what kind of compensation should be provided, who should receive it and what form it will take. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the law Wednesday afternoon.
-
French Author Jailed for 'Hate Speech' About Jews
G. Durocher - Unz Review
The French identitarian writer and critic of Jewish power Hervé Ryssen was jailed on 18 September after having been found guilty of hate speech on three occasions. He has exhausted his right to appeal. He faces 17 months in jail and potentially more as he has other trials awaiting him. Ryssen was found guilty of “insult, provocation, and public defamation due to origin, ethnicity, nationality, race, or religion.” In 2016, he was sentenced to 5 months in jail for passages in his books Understanding Judaism, Understanding Anti-Semitism. In 2017, he was sentenced to 6 months in jail for “anti-Semitic messages” on Twitter and Facebook … Ryssen is the author of numerous books on Jewry … Many prominent dissident personalities have denounced Ryssen’s imprisonment …