STATEMENT: Further to reports that the man charged in the stabbing death of a mosque caretaker followed a hate group online, I am deeply saddened by this hateful and outrageous attack. The accused is said to have been following an online hate group in the UK with content from a satanic neo-Nazi group. The hate group the perpetrator followed is reportedly anti-semitic and racist. This violent incident once again confirms why online hate incites violence and must be eradicated.
Congratulations to the City of Barrie today and to Mayor Jeff Lehman for adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of Antisemitism. The definition is the most acceptable international standard and is being adopted by multiple cities. Despite some protest, the City council is to be commended for unanimously adopting the definition.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is thankfully relentless about imposing sanctions on Iran - and generally making the regime as miserable as possible. He announced further sanctions on the regime today. Still, according to the Washington Post, The foreign ministers of France, Britain and Germany rejected the U.S. position on Iran sanctions in a joint statement Sunday, while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed hope that European allies would "get on board."
One recent revelation is that Iran already has enough uranium to build a low grade nuclear weapon. If this is true, this may explain the run toward peace by UAE-Bahrain and Israel and the quest for F35s and advanced arms. Is it any surprise therefore that both Bahrain and the UAE have been threatened by Iran?
According to a new revelation, Hezbullah operatives have moved ammonium nitrate from Belgium to France, Greece, Italy, Spain and Switzerland in recent years and are suspected to still be storing the material throughout Europe. This is the material that exploded last month in Beirut.
On the eve of the Jewish New Year, the population of Israel is 9.246 million. 170,000 babies were born, 44,000 people passed away, and 20,000 new immigrants arrived. The Jewish population is 6.841 million (74%). Israel's Arab population is 1.946 million (21%).
Often we are critical of France about its handling of antisemitism. In this case however, a French court jailed an unrepentant antisemitic activist on Friday for two postings on the internet that defamed Jews and a third that denied the Holocaust. In truth, France does have some of the strongest anti-hate laws in the world. We would like to see them used more often.
Covid Stats: Israel has 190,000 active cases of Covid and some 1200 deaths since inception. Israel is under lockdown now and in desperation as cases overwhelm hospitals. The global pandemic has killed 1 million people and has upwards of 30 million infections.
The rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas are set to meet in in Istanbul, Turkey for the first direct talks since 2017, aimed at ending the 15-year-long rift in Palestinian politics, Fatah said Monday. It appears the Abraham Accord has spurred the two warring factions into talks, hosted by hardliner - Erdogan.
At Technical University in Berlin, a team of scientists say they are using AI to combat online antisemitism. Their project, entitled Decoding Anti-Semitism includes discourse analysts, computational linguists and historians to develop complex approaches in identifying antisemitism online. Their aim is to prevent more and more users from becoming radicalized.
According to the California Jewish News, San Francisco State University has scheduled a Zoom event with so called Palestinian terrorist Leila Khaled. The university is refusing to reconsider its decision, calling it academic freedom. The Jewish community is now calling for a boycott of the university.
The Smithsonian Magazine reports about German churches that still have antisemitic sculptures that are degrading to Jews. The report is called "hatred in plain sight" and discusses Wittenberg Germany, the city where Martin Luther revolutionized Christianity and where a "vile 700 year old sculpture openly denigrates Jews". Why is it still there, asks the writer.
