“Hundreds of angry Palestinians marched towards Abbas’s presidential compound in Ramallah to demand he resign over Banat’s death”

REUTERS
Autopsy shows head blows in death of Abbas critic, Palestinian group says
by Ali Sawafta
June 24, 2021

A Palestinian activist who died in the custody of President Mahmoud Abbas’s security forces on Thursday took blows to the head, a Palestinian rights group said after conducting an autopsy, adding the wounds indicated “an unnatural death”. The family of Nizar Banat, a well-known critic of Abbas’s Palestinian Authority, said PA forces broke into his house in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron overnight and hit him repeatedly with a metal rod before arresting him. A PA spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment on the autopsy findings of the PA’s Independent Commission for Human Rights. READ MORE

JEWISH PRESS PA Arabs Raging over Death of Leading Abbas Critic in Security Forces’ Custody At 3:30 Thursday morning, 20 Palestinian Authority security henchmen stormed the Hebron home of activist Nizar Banat, beat him up in front of his wife who was holding their baby, and his children who were also looking on, and took him alive to the prison, reported the Palestine Twitter account, adding, that by 8 AM, the news of his death—in a Hebron hospital—had been announced.

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From an AG reader: “I keep looking and looking but I can’t find this story in the NY Times or the WashPo or on CNN or NPR – I just don’t understand it”

ALGEMEINER
‘They All Play Together’: 35 Children From West Bank, Gaza and Around the World Find Life-Saving Heart Care in Israel
by Sharon Wrobel
June 24, 2021

A Tel Aviv-area medical center is now treating about 35 children from around the world for life-threatening heart conditions, in what is largest group of patients brought to the country by Israel-based non-profit Save a Child’s Heart (SACH) since the coronavirus pandemic began. The children — hailing from Gaza, the West Bank, Ethiopia, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and Kosovo — include babies, toddlers, and teenagers, who are often accompanied by a guardian or parent. After arriving in Israel they quarantined under Israeli Health Ministry guidelines, before receiving free heart disease treatment at the Sylvan Adams Children’s Hospital of Wolfson Medical Center in Holon. READ MORE

JNS Phoenix Children’s Hospital lets go of doctor who accused Israel of cannibalism Dr. Fidaa Wishah is no longer affiliated with the center after posting that Israel was a state based on inhumanity and cannibalism.

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“The reason the Joe Biden administration will roll out the red carpet for Naftali Bennett stems from three issues”

JERUSALEM POST
Bennett, Biden must work together to prevent gov’t collapse
by Yaakov Katz
June 25, 2021

In the coming weeks, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will likely be invited to Washington for his first meeting with President Joe Biden. The two bureaus – in the Prime Minister’s Office and the White House – are already discussing possible dates for such a visit, and it is expected to take place before the end of the summer. There are a few assumptions that can already be made. Biden will roll out the red carpet for Bennett, who in their meeting will have one chance to influence the trajectory of the top foreign policy issues that are going to accompany his two years in office and beyond. READ MORE

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Matti Friedman: “When consuming news from Israel, there’s a list of questions I ask when deciding if I’m getting sane information or a narrative of a different kind.”

SAPIR
Eight Tips for Reading About Israel
by Matti Friedman
Spring 2021

… Israel is a Jewish country, home to a plurality of the world’s Jews. The powerful story being woven around Israel is a story about Jews. This is an ancient category of Western stories, typically moralistic in nature, in which Jews are used to illustrate the perceived ills of a given place and time. That doesn’t necessarily mean (to cite a tired debate) that “anti-Zionism” is or isn’t “antisemitism,” whatever those two terms are taken to mean. It doesn’t mean that the Israel story of the mainstream press is wrong in every way, or necessarily motivated by dark intentions. It just means that this story belongs to a narrative tradition with a long history, and tragic side effects, and shouldn’t automatically be taken at face value.  READ MORE

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From the Netherlands: “One Israeli-born mother of three teenagers said her two youngest children felt compelled to hide the fact that they are Jews, because of the vilification of Israel by classmates, often with the knowledge of their teachers”

ALGEMEINER
‘My Child Doesn’t Want to be Jewish Anymore’: Dutch Education Ministry Urged to Clamp Down on ‘Free Palestine’ Antisemitic Bullying
by Ben Cohen
June 23, 2021

A Dutch parliamentarian is demanding that the Ministry of Education in The Netherlands take urgent measures to combat antisemitism in schools, following the publication of a shocking article that exposed the antisemitic bullying which some Jewish students suffered during the armed conflict in May between Israel and the Hamas regime in Gaza. In a letter delivered on Tuesday to Dutch education ministers Arie Slob and Ingrid van Engelshoven, the conservative parliamentarian Roelof Bisschop pointedly asked whether they were aware of the June 14 article in the Nieuw Israëlietisch Weekblad, a Dutch Jewish newspaper, that was headlined “My child doesn’t want to be Jewish anymore.” READ MORE

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“Not naming the distinctly left-wing roots of this hatred suggests that those doing the condemning do not want to alienate supposed allies”

JEWISH CHRONICLE
When it comes to anti-Israel attacks on Jews, it’s time to name the enemy
by Gil Troy
June 23, 2021

…On June 3, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs defined “antisemitism, especially in its modern guise of anti-Zionism,” as anti-Jewish violence compounded by “some of our society’s most esteemed institutions — universities, school boards, political parties, unions, the media — ignoring Jew-hatred, and in so doing providing cover for it.” The bold statement detailed five ways that anti-Zionists are not “just” criticizing Israel but committing Jew-hatred, including “When in the name of criticizing Israel, anti-Zionists pelt Canadians with stones, that is antisemitism.” While buoying antisemites, Zio-washing explains how an increasingly loud minority of rabbis and Jewish studies professors feel comfortable bashing Israel and repudiating Zionism. READ MORE

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“Moving Israel to the Pentagon’s Middle East command could lead to progress on the Abraham Accords, experts say”

JEWISH INSIDER
Why Israel’s move to CENTCOM matters
by Gabby Deutch
June 23, 2021

When Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi traveled to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., yesterday, the visit marked the beginning of a new phase in a military relationship between the U.S. and Israel that is already strong and extensive. “The current operational cooperation and the planned improvements agreed during my visit attest to the mutual commitment between CENTCOM and the IDF to deal more effectively with the diverse and emerging challenges,” Kochavi said in a statement….“The easing of tensions between Israel and its Arab neighbors subsequent to the Abraham Accords has provided a strategic opportunity for the United States to align key partners against shared threats in the Middle East,” the Pentagon saidREAD MORE

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“Only time will tell whether Israel has been successful in buying for itself some time before it needs to “mow the grass” in Gaza again”

JERUSALEM POST
10 insights from the recent Gaza war
by Efraim Inbar and Eran Lerman
June 21, 2021

Only time will tell whether Israel has been successful in buying for itself some time before it needs to “mow the grass” in Gaza again. In the meantime, Israel must learn from what transpired in Operation Guardian of the Walls. Here are ten takeaways which should guide IDF and government preparations for the next conflict. Most of the Israeli public is dissatisfied with the results of the operation, mainly because it finds it difficult to accept the assumption that Hamas cannot be deterred from using terror against Israel. Most Israelis think that the operation should have continued until Hamas was crushed, despite the expected casualties. This willingness to continue the fight makes it apparent that Israeli sensitivity to casualties is smaller than generally presumed. READ MORE

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“The Jewish community leadership has become so wedded to the new “progressive” ideology that it forbids community discussions, inquiries or challenges to it”

JNS
America’s failing Jewish establishment:
The case of the Rochester Federation

by Patti Munter
June 21, 2021

…My Federation’s accommodation, if not adoption of this new dispensation, especially its negative treatment of Israel, has been noticed: Back in 2014, I had coffee with a lovely white Christian minister active in the BDS movement. She spends much of her time taking a pro-BDS roadshow to churches across New York State. I explained to her how misguided she is, especially given the history of the Christian church. She seemed surprised. She told me she had assumed every Jew was pro-BDS. Why? She is part of an invitation-only New Testament interfaith Bible study held at the local Federation. The head of the Federation had never brought up BDS, she explained to me. READ MORE

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Khaled Salem, a pro-Israel Arab Democrat in primary to unseat Chuck Schumer

ARUTZ SHEVA
Schumer-Challenger: Israel is “NATO’s South-Eastern Flank”
by Mark Langfan
June 22, 2021

Khaled Salem, a naturalized American Arab running in the Democrat primary to unseat Sen. Chuck Schumer, has a simple message for President Biden: Israel is a “vital” ally protecting NATO’s “southeastern flank.” While congratulating the new Israeli Government, Salem makes clear that Israel is in terrible danger from Iran. The release states that Salem “has repeatedly implored the US government to ‘open its eyes and admit the real danger’ of Iran’s role in trying to annihilate Israel.” Salem goes on to quote the famed Holocaust survivor Eli Wiesel, by stating “If we’ve learned anything from the Nazi Holocaust, if someone says they are going to kill you, believe it.” READ MORE

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