Weekly roundup of world briefs

Biden sets up task force to fight antisemitism and Islamophobia

By Ron Kampeas

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Less than a week after Doug Emhoff, the Jewish second gentleman, chaired a roundtable with Jewish organizational leaders, President Joe Biden has set up an interagency task force to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia.

The group’s first task is coming up with a strategy to tackle the rise in antisemitism.

“This strategy will raise understanding about antisemitism and the threat it poses to the Jewish community and all Americans, address antisemitic harassment and abuse both online and offline, seek to prevent antisemitic attacks and incidents, and encourage whole-of-society efforts to counter antisemitism and build a more inclusive nation,” Karine Jean-Pierre, Biden’s spokeswoman, said in a statement.

Emhoff’s 90-minute meeting last week came on the heels of weeks of antisemitic invective spewed by rapper Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, and the dinner attended last month by West, Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes and former President Donald Trump at Trump’s Florida residence. The discussion also followed alarming spikes in antisemitic invective on Twitter and other platforms.

A bipartisan slate of lawmakers last week urged Biden to establish a task force on antisemitism.

According to Jean-Pierre’s release, the task force will be led by Domestic Policy Council staff and National Security Council staff. She did not say which other government agencies will be involved.

UAE, Israel ratify economic partnership pact

(JNS) — The United Arab Emirates and Israel have ratified a comprehensive economic partnership deal, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade Thani Al Zeyoudi announced via Twitter on Sunday.

“Another major step in our foreign trade agenda: The UAE-Israel Comprehensive Partnership Agreement has now been ratified by both governments. This deal will eliminate or reduce tariffs on 96 percent of products, providing a major boost to our industrial and service sectors,” said Al Zeyoudi.

Another major step in our foreign trade agenda: The UAE-Israel Comprehensive Partnership Agreement has now been ratified by both governments. This deal will eliminate or reduce tariffs on 96 percent of products, providing a major boost to our industrial and service sectors.

“Non-oil #UAE–#Israel trade hit US$2bn in the first 9 months of 2022, up 114 percent from the same period in 2021. The #UAEIsraelCEPA will accelerate this progress as we create opportunities in key sectors such as advanced technology, renewable energy and food security,” he added.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited the UAE and Bahrain earlier this month. “Now we have to…upgrade ties between us even more, to strengthen them and bring more nations into the Abraham Accords,” Herzog said.

Moscow and Tehran moving towards ‘defense partnership’

(JNS) — The relationship between Russia and Iran is becoming “a full-scale defense partnership,” warned U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Friday.

“Support is flowing both ways” as Moscow offers the Islamic Republic “an unprecedented level of military and technical support” in exchange for drones and possibly ballistic missiles to deploy in Ukraine, Kirby said.

“Russia is seeking to collaborate with Iran on areas like weapons development and training,” he said. “We are concerned that Russia intends to provide Iran with advanced military components.

“Let’s be clear. From this partnership a threat has been developing not only against Ukraine but also against Iran’s neighbors,” Kirby said, adding that American allies in the Middle East region and elsewhere have been notified.

When Ukrainian cities came under bombardment by Russia in October, Iranian UAVs were used in the attacks.

“Since August, Iran has transferred several hundred UAVs to Russia and Russia has been using these UAVs to attack Ukraine’s critical infrastructure and kill Ukrainian civilians,” Vedant Patel, principal deputy spokesperson of the U.S. State Department, said on Friday.

The U.S. imposed sanctions on three Russian entities linked to Moscow’s growing military relationship with Tehran, the State Department announced on Friday.

Those entities were involved in training personnel and the transfer of drones.

Four in five Israeli teens have experienced antisemitism online

(JNS) — Eighty-one percent of Israeli teens reports having encountered antisemitism online, according to a new study.

The study, conducted by the Anti-Defamation League and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, found that 71 percent of Israeli teens had encountered antisemitism on social networks, 66 percent were exposed to web pages displaying antisemitic content, 65 percent were exposed to songs or videos with antisemitic content and 30 percent have come across entire websites dedicated to antisemitic content, according to Ynet.

Only 14 percent of the respondents reported never encountering any antisemitism online.

The study also found that an “overwhelming majority” of respondents could distinguish between criticism of the State of Israel or government policies and other antisemitic statements, according to the report.

Eighty-four percent stated that imposing a boycott on Israel constitutes antisemitism, 88 percent said that denying the existence of the State of Israel constitutes antisemitism and 88 percent said that publishing conspiracy theories about Israel and the “Zios” ruling the world constitutes antisemitism.

Only 29 percent of respondents stated that criticizing Israeli policies equates to antisemitism.

The Maagar Mochot Institute conducted the poll using a combined telephone and internet survey of 708 Jewish Israeli respondents between the ages of 15 and 18.

Mossad Director reveals last telegram of Israeli spy Eli Cohen

(JNS) — Mossad Director David Barnea on Monday publicly revealed for the first time the last telegram the intelligence agency received from spy Eli Cohen prior to his capture in Syria.

The telegram, which was revealed during the dedication of the Eli Cohen Museum in Herzliya, is dated Feb. 19, 1965, the day on which Cohen is believed to have been captured. In it, Cohen reports on a Syrian General Staff meeting held the previous evening with the participation of then Syrian President Amin al-Hafez.

“I will honor this holy place and reveal, for the first time, following in-depth research that was carried out recently, that Eli Cohen was not captured due to the quantity of his transmissions or pressure from headquarters to transmit too frequently,” said Barnea. “Eli Cohen was captured because his transmissions were simply intercepted and triangulated by the enemy. This is now an intelligence fact.”

Cohen’s capture has been the subject of conjecture over the years, with some arguing that he was caught because the Mossad demanded that he transmit too much information, compromising his position.

“Eli Cohen was among our best agents,” said Barnea. “He continues to influence us and instill in us a fighting spirit, courage, values and devotion—even from the depths of history,” said Barnea. “He is a source of inspiration not only to today’s agents but to all Mossad employees in their various positions. We all learn from him, even today. From his Zionism, his sacrifice and his dedication.”

The Mossad will give the museum a copy of Cohen’s last telegram; the original will be kept in Israel’s National Archives.

UAE Jewish community opens first kosher supermarket in Gulf

(JNS) — More than 100 people gathered in Dubai on Monday evening as the United Arab Emirates’ Jewish community opened the first-ever kosher supermarket in the Gulf.

The supermarket, named “Rimon,” will meet growing demand for kosher products due to the significant increase in the number of Jews traveling and relocating to the UAE in the wake of the 2020 Abraham Accords.

The agreements, brokered by the Trump administration, normalized relations between Israel and several Arab countries, including the UAE.

“Our wonderful community, which keeps growing and prospering here in the UAE, most gratefully continues to benefit from the extraordinary embrace we have received from the Emirates government and local authorities, for over a decade now,” said UAE-based Rabbi Levi Duchman.

“In order to enable residents and visitors full Jewish life here, we have established Jewish institutions and communities, openly celebrate Shabbat, holidays and simchas [religious celebrations]—and enjoy quality kosher food, any day and everywhere, across the Emirates,” he continued.

“The unique Jewish supermarket, spanning over 130 square meters in the center of Dubai, offers quality kosher produce imported especially from Israel, Europe and the United States, including quality meat and chicken products under the highest Jewish quality standard with Kosher Mehudar certification,” Duchman added.

The store will also feature a Jewish food market every weekend, for those looking for hot kosher meals for Shabbat.

Rimon is located just minutes away by car from the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower.

72 percent of Palestinians support terror groups like Lions’ Den

(JNS) — Seventy-two percent of the Palestinian public supports the activities of terrorist groups such as Lions’ Den, according to the latest poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR).

The poll found that 79 percent oppose the surrender of armed group members and their weapons to the Palestinian Authority to receive protection from Israeli assassination.

Indeed, 87 percent said the P.A. had no right to arrest members of these armed groups, either to stop them from carrying out attacks against Israelis or to protect them from Israeli retaliation.

A majority, 59 percent, expected armed groups to expand and spread to other areas in Judea and Samaria. Fifteen percent said Israel would succeed in arresting or killing their members and 14 percent expected the P.A. to contain or co-opt the groups.

The poll also found that if presidential elections were held today, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh would defeat P.A. leader Mahmoud Abbas (54 percent to 36 percent).

If new legislative elections were held, 34 percent said they would vote for Hamas and 34 percent for Fatah. All third parties combined would garner 10 percent of the vote. Twenty-one percent were undecided.

Abbas’s decision to push off elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council in May 2021 was widely seen as being due to his fear of a Hamas takeover.

The poll included in-person interviews with 1,200 adults in 120 randomly selected locations between Dec. 7 to 10, and had a 3 percent margin of error.

New report reveals why universities fail to protect Jewish and Zionist students

(JNS) — A new report released on Wednesday found that American universities fail to protect Jewish and Zionist students from harassment.

The report was published by the AMCHA Initiative, an organization focused on documenting and combating antisemitism on college campuses.

For a report titled “Falling Through the Cracks: How School Policies Deny Jewish Students Equal Protection for Antisemitism,” AMCHA researchers reviewed how the 100 colleges that are most popular among Jewish students handle antisemitic harassment. The report noted that most schools have two mechanisms available for students experiencing a hostile learning environment: non-discrimination and harassment policies, and student codes of conduct.

The report claims that harassment policies frequently fail to protect Jewish students.

“Jewish students who fall victim to anti-Zionist motivated harassment, the predominant form of antisemitism on campuses today, are often deemed ineligible for coverage under this policy, since many university administrators do not consider support for Israel an expression of a Jewish student’s religious beliefs or ethnicity,” the report states, adding that for a student to take action against harassment, they must rely on the school’s general code of conduct instead.

The report reveals that nearly one-quarter of schools’ codes of conduct do not include verbal abuse in their descriptions of prohibited behavior.

As most universities design their discrimination policies based on federal guidelines, they do not see anti-Zionist harassment as comparable to classically antisemitic or racist harassment, the report explains.

The report also offered a solution to Harvard University, the school named number one in antisemitic incidents this year in another AMCHA report. A new policy planned by the school would guarantee “unprotected” students the same administrative protections regarding harassing behavior as is granted to protected identity students.

AMCHA Initiative’s co-founder and director, Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, told JNS that Harvard has been working to find solutions.

“Yes, we were very surprised, and pleasantly so, to find that Harvard has been working on the problem of inadequate protections for students not covered under the school’s harassment policies,” Rossman-Benjamin said. “Perhaps it was Harvard’s troubling history on Jewish and Zionist issues that actually motivated them to think about how to provide equal and adequate protections for Jewish students—and all students—who don’t fit neatly into a ‘protected class’ identity box, and their proposed anti-bullying policy is the result.”

Israel may punish social media corporations for harmful content

(JNS) — Following the lead of the European Union in addressing illegal and harmful internet content, Israel announced on Wednesday that it aims to regulate social media sites such as TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, Reuters reported.

Outgoing Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel said he would hold social media companies accountable for objectionable and unlawful content while also increasing openness to users and establishing a regulator to oversee companies.

The laws would apply to sites with more than 500,000 users in Israel, or 5 percent of the population.

Social media companies would be required to act speedily to delete “offensive illegal content” under the proposed laws, which still require drafting and parliamentary approval. They would also be required to have an internet hotline for reporting such content, and Israeli courts would be authorized to issue orders to remove the illegal content.

Social media corporations would be obliged to have a local office in Israel as well as a better appeals mechanism for users whose content has been taken down.

Russian, Ukrainian mothers strengthen Jewish identity with Israel tour

(JNS) — Momentum, a group for Jewish mothers, brought 200 women from Ukraine, Russia, the Baltic states and Germany for an eight-day journey to Israel this month. The trip, which ended on Dec. 6, was the group’s first since the outbreak of violence in Eastern Europe nearly a year ago.

The group, which helps Jewish women foster a connection to their heritage and the State of Israel, said this particular trip was logistically challenging, involving dozens of partner organizations in touch with women in high-risk combat zones and in areas where Zionist activity has been severely restricted.

“While most Jewish organizations have been hesitant to bring Russian and Ukrainian women on the same trip due to the tense political climate, Momentum chose to do the opposite and leveraged this challenge into an opportunity for Jewish unity,” the group said in a statement.

To avoid politics, participants were asked not to bring clothing or symbols that could elicit nationalist sentiment.

“We couldn’t imagine how we could possibly bring the Ukrainian and Russian groups together,” Momentum Founding Director Lori Palatnik said. “Courageously and with sensitivity, we did, and the women quickly found their commonality as Jewish mothers, striving for the same values, and united as part of a people. We did more for healing, peace and unity than any geopolitical summit. Women are key.”

The group toured Tel Aviv, Safad, Jerusalem and Masada. On Masada, the participants chose their own Jewish names.