Weekly roundup of world briefs

Noam Chomsky says Scottish university newspaper shouldn’t apologize for article it deemed ‘antisemitic’

By Cnaan Liphshiz

(JTA) — Some 500 scholars, including the prominent linguist and Israel critic Noam Chomsky, accused a Scottish university of curbing free speech after a student publication apologized for a 2017 essay it said promoted “an unfounded antisemitic theory.”

The essay, published in the University of Glasgow’s eSharp magazine in 2017, was titled “Advocating Occupation: Outsourcing Zionist Propaganda in the UK.”

It’s author, Jane Jackman, wrote that, “Whilst initially strengthening ties with the Jewish diaspora, Israel’s longer-term objective was to conscript and resource a cohort of grassroots Zionist supporters to carry the Israeli narrative into the broader sphere of society.”

She also suggested that Jewish media downplayed an Al Jazeera series from 2017 suggesting that the pro-Israel lobby had unusual clout in the United Kingdom.

In May, the student-run magazine apologized, saying that the essay doesn’t meet “standards of scholarship. In particular, this article employs some discursive strategies, including a biased selection of sources as well as the misrepresentation of data, which promote an unfounded antisemitic theory regarding the State of Israel and its activity in the United Kingdom.”

In response to the apology, a petition on Monday accused the university of curbing free speech, The Times of London reported.

The apology by eSharp is a “capitulation by the University of Glasgow,” The Times of London quoted Chomsky as saying, and “a serious blow to academic freedom that should not be allowed to stand.”

eSharp noted that it is run entirely by postgraduate researchers from within the University of Glasgow’s College of Arts.

Israel declines to sign UN statement on China’s treatment of Uighurs

By Shira Hanau

(JTA) — Israel chose not to sign a United Nations statement expressing concern about welfare of the Uighurs, a Muslim minority group in China that has been forced into “re-education camps,” which some have likened to concentration camps.

While the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Australia were among the group of 43 countries that signed the statement last week, an Israeli diplomatic official told The Times of Israel that the Israeli government had “other interests that it has to balance” in its relationship with China.

The two nations have grown closer over trade ties in recent years.

The U.N. statement calls on China to “ensure full respect for the rule of law and to comply with its obligations under national and international law with regard to the protection of human rights.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry told The Times of Israel in a statement: “Israel expresses its concerns about the Uighurs in various diplomatic tracks. One example of this was our signing onto the Canadian statement [on the Uighurs] in June at the Human Rights Council. Our position on the issue has not changed.”

Concern over China’s treatment of the Uighur minority — and comparisons of its “re-education camps” to concentration camps during the Holocaust — have been growing within the global Jewish community for years. Activists in the United States have tried to mobilize the Jewish community behind the Uighurs’ cause as in the case of the genocide in Darfur in the early 2000s, while British Jews have led the fight against the abuses of the Uighurs in the United Kingdom.

Iranian hackers leak ‘Israeli Defense Ministry files’ online

(JNS) — An Iranian hacker group on Thursday released data allegedly stolen from the Israeli Defense Ministry that contained sensitive information about Israeli soldiers, Ynet reported.

The group, which calls itself “Moses Staff,” leaked, among other details, information related to the deployment of an Israel Defense Forces brigade, including “job descriptions, a full list of names, e-mail addresses, phone numbers and residential addresses of members of the brigade,” according to the report.

Information also included details about IDF reserve officers and military units, thousands of Israeli teens set to enlist and sensitive material concerning psychological information and socio-economic status.

The group also posted pictures of Defense Minister Benny Gantz, warning that he was being surveilled by the group.

“We know every decision you make and will hit you where you least expect it. We have secret Defense Ministry documents, operational military maps and troop deployment information and will publish your crimes to the world,” the groups said in their post, according to the report.

The leaks were posted on the dark web and in Telegram groups.

The group had also leaked databases containing information on thousands of Israelis, which had been stolen from private firms, the report said.

The Israel National Cyber Directorate said on Wednesday that it had warned previously about the security risks some organizations face and urged them to patch known security holes, according to the report.

Chinese hackers believed responsible for cyber attack on Hillel Yaffe Medical Center

(JNS) — There is growing certainty in Israel’s defense establishment that the cyber attack against the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera two weeks ago had a financial motive, according to Israeli media reports.

It is believed that a Chinese group was behind the attack, and that it was testing its abilities, perhaps in preparation for larger attacks against more important targets, Channel 12 reported. The hacker group is well known in the global cyber-security field, having made many attempts to infiltrate various institutions around the world, according to the report.

The incident is being investigated by the cybercrime unit of the Israel Police’s Lahav 433, in coordination with a number of foreign governments and law-enforcement agencies.

According to Channel 12, while the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center is currently operating normally from a medical standpoint, some of its IT systems have not yet been restored to full functionality.

Israel’s defense establishment views the attack, which follows a recent sharp spike in cyber attacks on strategic targets in the country by foreign parties, as a significant event.

While critical infrastructure and security facilities are relatively hard targets, attackers have marked hospitals and academic institutions as weak points, according to the report.

Shekel hits highest mark against dollar in 10 months

(JNS) — The Israeli shekel is increasing in value against the dollar and euro, with the dollar equal to less than 3.2 shekels this week—the first time since January it fell below 3.2.

“Excessive surplus supply of foreign currency in the domestic market is pushing the appreciation of the shekel,” said Yossi Fraiman, CEO of Prico Risk Management and Investments, reported the Israeli business daily Globes on Wednesday.

“Supply of foreign currency is due to foreign-currency sales by importers and companies holding overseas offerings, as well as the movement of foreign currency to Israel to invest in shekel bonds by foreign investors,” he said.

“According to our estimates, and with the U.S. Federal Reserve due to meet next week, the potential for the continued strengthening of the shekel is limited in the short term, and the Israeli currency may start weakening,” explained Fraiman. “But looking to the long term, there is no change in our estimates that the shekel is expected to strengthen in a significant way.”

Germany censures Israel’s linking of NGOs to terrorism

(JNS) — The German government criticized Israel’s decision on Oct. 22 to name six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist groups.

“We are very concerned by the Israeli decision,” said a spokeswoman from the German foreign ministry on Wednesday, reported AFP. “We are waiting for further information from the Israeli government.”

Jerusalem said its decision was due to NGO financing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a designated terror group by Israel, the United States and a number of other countries. Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz accused the NGOs of secretly working with the group.

Earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett greeted visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a special Cabinet meeting at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem by stating that the alliance between their two countries had “turned into a friendship.”

With the center-left Social Democrats in Germany emerging as the victor in last month’s elections, it remains to be seen how the new relationship will move forward.

Virginia Tech graduate senate OKs BDS resolution, accuses Israel of ‘ethnic cleansing’

(JNS) — The Graduate and Professional Student Senate at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Va., passed a resolution on Oct. 21 endorsing BDS.

It calls for the boycott of “all Israeli academic institutions complicit in maintaining the Israeli occupation and the denial of basic Palestinian rights,” as well as to divest from “all institutional investments from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation and apartheid.”

It also accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” against Arabs during the 1948 War of Independence, slamming the Jewish state for perpetuating “colonial violence” against the Palestinians.

Additionally, the student senate claimed that the resolution came despite the “hate and anti-Semitism” directed at the senate and executive board.

Aviva Rosenschein, International Campus Director for CAMERA, said in a statement to JNS that it was “shocking” that the graduate student senate would pass a resolution calling for the boycott of all Israeli academics.

“What’s even more deplorable is that the Graduate and Professional Student Senate of Virginia Tech would dare to suggest that they are the victims. Any hate and anti-Semitism felt on the VT campus today is due to their unabashed support for targeting Israeli and Jewish students. If they are going to bring anti-Semitism to the campus, they should at least own up to it,” she said.

Other Jewish and pro-Israel groups lambasted the resolution on social media.

“Virginia Tech Graduate and Professional Student Senate passed an anti-Semitic resolution. Hopefully, the university admin will speak out against this egregious resolution!” said StandWithUs CEO Roz Rothstein.

Similarly, the AMCHA Initiative noted that the BDS resolution “endorses an academic boycott” that “directly subverts the educational opportunities and academic freedom of students at Virginia Tech.”

IDF Chief of Staff visits nighttime war drill held by Nahal Brigade on Golan

(JNS) — Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi visited a nocturnal war drill on Monday night by the Nahal Brigade on the Golan Heights, aimed to simulate conflict breaking out in the northern arena.

The IDF said in a statement on Tuesday that Kochavi met with Col. Nadav Lotan, commander of the 162 Armored Division, dubbed the “Steel Formation”; Col. Oren Simha, commander of the Nahal Brigade; and other battalion commanders.

“The brigade exercise is intensive and advanced, simulating various combat scenarios,” the military stated. “In its essence, [it simulates] a maneuver to the depth of enemy territory in a northern outline and fully utilizing all of the IDF’s capabilities through the combination of firepower, air, intelligence, intelligence collection and teleprocessing,” it added.

The goal of the exercise is to train infantry soldiers to handle combat scenarios most predicted by the military and to engage enemy forces while sharpening operational sharpness.

The exercise includes infantry battalions, as well as an armored battalion, a reserves artillery battalion and a reserves engineering battalion.