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World Jewish Congress will be rolling out a number of new virtual programs. Announce the launch of a new WebTalk series.
The spread of COVID-19 has not halted the challenges facing Jewish communities worldwide. Remaining engaged during this trying time is critical. With the closing of schools and institutions and much of the world practising social distancing, the World Jewish Congress will be rolling out a number of new virtual programs designed to ensure that activists working from home have a steady stream of timely educational and enriching content about the issues that they care about. Each week we will invite a different guest to join us on Facebook Live to talk about a wide range of issues including the United Nations’ fight against antisemitism, the latest from the field of Holocaust education, Israel’s battle to end the bias at the Human Rights Council, the effects of COVID-19 on Jewish communities around the world, and more.
Join WJC on Monday, April 6th at 10:00am ET for their first WebTalk, featuring Noemi Di Segni, President of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities to hear her first-hand account about how COVID-19 is impacting daily life for the citizens of her country as well as the operations of the Jewish community there. Click here to set a reminder for Monday at 10:00AM ET.
The UK: Keir Starmer vows to ‘tear out the poison’ of Labour antisemitism as he is elected party leader.
Politics Home reports – Keir Starmer pledged to “tear out the poison” of anti-semitism from the Labour Party after his landslide victory in the leadership election. He said he was “sorry” for the hurt caused to the Jewish community during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership and vowed to make Labour a welcoming environment for them again. Labour is currently under investigation for anti-Jewish racism by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The probe follows years of controversies involving the behaviour of left-wing party members.
The USA: Were some in Lakewood’s Jewish community irresponsible? Yes. Are most? No, rabbi says.
NJ.com reports – Attention has been focused on the Orthodox Jewish population of Lakewood, where several arrests have been made for violations of Gov. Phil Murphy’s March 21 executive order forbidding a wide variety of nonessential gatherings. Earlier this week, 10 people were arrested at an engagement party, a synagogue study session of 35 men was broken up, and there have been numerous reports of backyard weddings, with multiple police interventions. On Wednesday, after reports that some 60-70 people gathered near a Jewish temple for a funeral, 15 people were issued a summons or defying the state’s ban on public gatherings.
Blood Libel: Why is Facebook Permitting Antisemitism?
ITALY: Marginalia.com reports – Paul Franks on Facebook’s Refusal to Remove Hate Speech: On 24th March 2020, the Italian artist Giovanni Gasparro posted pictures on Facebook of his painting portraying what he called “the martyrdom of Saint Simon of Trent by Jewish ritual murder.” Gasparro has been celebrated as a great hope for the revival of Catholic art; in the wake of his Facebook post, this judgment has – I am relieved to report – been revised. Simon was not the first alleged victim of a Jewish ritual that existed only in fantasy, and he was certainly not the last. But there was something special about the Trent affair in 1475. Most importantly, according to Ronnie Po-Chia Hsia, it occurred at just the right time to take advantage of the new medium of print. Of course, the story found receptive ears, because it repeated what its audience already thought they knew: that “the Jew” in their midst was the Christ-killer, the one responsible for the blemishes of a world that would otherwise be perfect. In print, for the first time, it found thousands of these receptive ears, with murderous consequences. On Facebook, today, it finds millions.
Jew-Haters Using Coronavirus Pandemic to Spread Antisemitism and Anti-Israel Hatred, New Report Says
USA: Algemeiner.com reports – The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) published a new report on Thursday detailing a surge of antisemitism tied to the global coronavirus crisis. “Jews as Christ-killers. Jews as Shylocks. Jews as disease purveyors. These centuries-old, antisemitic stereotypes are being unleashed once again today,” the SWC said. “The coronavirus pandemic may be new, but Jews have had a long and tragic history of being accused of spreading deadly viruses.” “Today, as the world struggles to deal with coronavirus, Jew-haters are hard at work, once again fueling and spreading antisemitism and anti-Israel hatred by blaming Jews for spreading this new virus,” it added. The full seven-page report can be read here.
Israel locks down ultra-Orthodox town over coronavirus
ISRAEL: Aljareeza.com reports– Israel has set up roadblocks to seal off an ultra-Orthodox Jewish town due to its high rate of coronavirus cases, ordering in soldiers to support the residents. The development came on Friday morning, hours after emergency regulations approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet declared Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, a “restricted zone”. The new designation allows authorities to tighten curbs on public movement. Police units, wearing surgical masks and gloves, moved swiftly early on Friday to cordon off important intersections around the town and enforce the new rules. “Bnei Brak is on lockdown, as of this morning, and police will prevent any movements in or out of the city,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. “People are only allowed in or out for medical reasons or medical support.” Israel has confirmed at least 36 deaths linked to the coronavirus and more than 7,000 infections – but medical experts estimate that as many as 75,000 people or 38 per cent of Bnei Brak’s 200,000 residents are infected.
France launches terror probe after two killed in stabbing
FRANCE: DW.com reports – A knife attack in southeastern France has killed two people, with several others injured. A terror investigation is now underway. France has launched a terror inquiry after a Sudanese refugee attacked several people in shops and outside a bakery in the southeastern French town of Romans-sur-Isere on Saturday, killing two people. Five people were reported to have been wounded. The man has now been identified as Abdallah A.O, reported being in his 30s. Witnesses told Reuters news agency that the attacker appeared to target people at random while moving about the centre of the town, situated south of Lyon. “Anyone who had the misfortune to find themselves in his way were attacked,” the town’s mayor, Marie-Helene Thoraval, told AFP. Counterterrorism prosecutors have initiated a probe into “murder linked to a terrorist enterprise.” David Olivier Reverdy, from the National Police Alliance union, said the assailant had called on the police to kill him when they came to arrest him. “He was found on his knees on the pavement praying in Arabic,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
Israel rations coronavirus testing; health minister under fire
ISRAEL: Al-Bab.com reports – In a sudden reversal of policy, Israel’s health ministry has announced a cutback in coronavirus testing. The World Health Organisation regards testing as an essential component in the battle against COVID-19 and Israel had been planning to increase testing levels to 10,000 a day by early next week. However, supplies of the essential chemical reagent are running low and in an effort to conserve them testing will, in effect, be rationed. Under the ministry’s new guidelines, people with typical coronavirus symptoms will not be tested unless they have been abroad during the previous two weeks. Those without symptoms will only be tested if they have spent more than 15 minutes with a confirmed coronavirus patient or have returned from a country with a high rate of infections. Meanwhile, there are calls for the dismissal of health minister Ya’acov Litzman, a follower of Hasidic Judaism. He is currently under fire for flouting his own ministry’s rules on social distancing and is reported to have attended group prayers on at least two occasions during the past week. On Wednesday he was diagnosed with the virus, forcing prime minister Netanyahu, the heads of the Mossad and the National Security Council, and the director-general of the health ministry all to go into quarantine.
Hezbollah’s coronavirus public relations act won’t save Lebanon
LEBANON: Alarabiya.net reports – While Lebanon witnesses a continuing rise in the rate of COVID-19 cases, and the public healthcare system struggles to secure medical equipment to treat patients infected by the virus, Hezbollah decided to organize a media tour on Tuesday to unveil its coronavirus response plan. Journalists were taken on a tour in Beirut’s southern suburbs, as social distancing rules were ignored by the party and its supporters. Hezbollah – which obviously lacks the resources to implement this health emergency plan – is investing its resources in a public relations campaign. The party’s main goal is to polish its image, not stop the spread of the coronavirus in Lebanon. If it was the latter, a media tour would’ve been a very bad idea. But a public relations campaign is now is what Hezbollah needs after it helped the virus to invade Lebanon, mostly from Iran.
An opportunity for Israel to do the right thing
ISRAEL: ArabNews.com reports – Beth Oppenheimer, director of international relations for the Israeli humanitarian organisation Gisha, told me of her worries at the prospect of the spread of coronavirus in Gaza: “The Strip’s critical infrastructure and services have been decimated by decades of Israeli occupation, 13 years of suffocating closure, and recurrent conflicts. Gaza’s ailing health sector is ill-prepared to manage a crisis of this magnitude.” It is no surprise, then, to learn that her organization, whose goal is to protect the freedom of movement of Palestinians, especially Gaza residents, and ensure that they enjoy rights enshrined by international and Israeli law, has written to Israel’s Defense Minister, Naftali Bennet, and to the coordinator of government activities in the territories, appealing, or more accurately demanding, that Israel take immediate action to “ensure the maintenance of a functioning economy and food security in the Gaza Strip.” … Putting aside for a moment the legal and moral obligations Israel has toward Gaza, it would also serve Israel’s interests and make good sense to ease the enclave’s health and economic pressures. If COVID-19 spreads across Gaza, responsibility will stick with those who had the power to prevent (or at least mitigate) it and neglected to do so. The Israeli government can no longer adhere to the old assumption that the worse it gets in Gaza the closer will come to the downfall of Hamas. This has already failed to materialize; now, responsibility for – heaven forfend – mass infections and an enormous death toll in Gaza would be, and seen to be, to a large extent Israel’s.
German Government approves TKMS license to supply submarine to Egypt and four warships to Israel
GERMANY: NavyRecognition.com reports – The German government has approved Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems’ license to supply a submarine to Egypt and four warships to Israel. Minister for Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier (CDU) announced these decisions of the Federal Security Council on Tuesday to the Bundestag’s Economic Committee in a letter that was made available to the German Press Agency. ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems is due to deliver one Type 209 submarine to Egypt and four naval Sa’ar 6 corvettes (pictured) to Israel according to Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier. Last year, Egypt was the third-best foreign customer of German manufacturers, ordering armaments for 802 million euros. The contract for the delivery of the first two 209/1400mod class submarines to Egypt was signed in 2011. In 2015, Egypt decided to take the option for two additional units of the most recent version of 209/1400mod class submarines. The contract for the delivery of four SA’AR 6 class missile corvettes was signed in May 2015 with Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems’ as the general contractor. The ships have the stealthy design of a low-signature missile corvette with tailor-made solutions and numerous new technologies onboard.
The Chabad-Lubavitch movement of Hasidism projects it will distribute 250,000 seder kits throughout North America.
The Daily Mail (UK) reports: – Passover´s power to bring Jews both observant and secular to the seder table is unparalleled among holidays on the faith´s calendar, according to 2013 polling by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. Seven in 10 Jews reported participating in a seder the previous year, compared with 53% who reported fasting during Yom Kippur, the holy Jewish day of atonement. With the coronavirus shaking up Passover tradition, different branches of the faith are offering their own seder guidance. For those permitted and planning to use Zoom, FaceTime or other digital platforms for a virtual seder, the Union of Reform Judaism created a guide for creative ways to get online guests involved. For Orthodox Jews, the six leading organizations that made a unique joint plea last month for worshippers to curb outside interactions during the pandemic released further united guidance on Passover last month.
George Soros donates £900,000 to Budapest for coronavirus preparation
HUNGARY: Jewish News reports – Jewish billionaire who is often the target of far-right attacks supports country of birth before virus expected to impact it. Jewish billionaire philanthropist George Soros, who was targeted by the Hungarian government in what some called an antisemitic campaign, has donated £900,000 ($1.1 million) to help Budapest prepare for the coronavirus pandemic. The donation earned praise from the Hungarian capital’s mayor. “(I)t would be good if, instead of petty and offensive misinterpretations, this aid would be seen by everyone as a generous and noble gesture, as effective help,” Mayor Gergely Karácsony said in a post on Facebook.
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