Weekly roundup of world briefs

Knesset passes ‘Smotrich-Deri’ amendment

(JNS) — Israel’s Knesset on Tuesday morning passed an amendment allowing Shas Party head Aryeh Deri to serve as a minister and Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich to become a second minister in the Defense Ministry.

The amendment to Basic Law: The Government, which passed by a 63-vote majority following an all-night filibuster, merged two bills.

The first limits a law prohibiting elected officials convicted of a criminal offense from serving as a minister to apply only to those serving active jail sentences. Deri, convicted of tax offenses in February, was sentenced to a conditional jail term and a financial penalty.

The second permits more than one minister to be appointed to a ministry, enabling Smotrich to take charge of the Civil Administration, which operates under the Defense Ministry and is responsible for construction and other bureaucratic matters in Area C, which comprises 60 percent of Judea and Samaria.

Smotrich and Deri insisted the amendment pass before the new government was sworn in, currently scheduled for Thursday.

The Yesh Atid Party, soon to be in the opposition, stated, “Deri’s law is further proof of Netanyahu’s embarrassing weakness in the face of his extremist partners.”

Likud MK Shlomo Karhi, who headed the special committee that debated the law, rejected the criticism, saying, “We are laying the groundwork for the new government and we will bring the State of Israel to the dawn of a new day.”

Eli Cohen’s daughter to ask UAE for help retrieving Israeli spy’s body

(JNS) — Eli Cohen’s daughter said on Monday that she plans to formally appeal to the United Arab Emirates to help secure the return of the notorious Israeli spy’s body to the Jewish state.

“I am asking the Emiratis, who occupy a greater place… in the international arena, to help us mediate, and to ask and reach agreements with the Syrians to return my father’s body,” said Sophie Ben-Dor in an interview with the i24NEWS Arabic-language station.

“It seems to me that it’s an unusual channel; it’s also an Arab channel. And I think we will get clearer answers … There will be an official appeal from the family to the Emirati ambassador in Israel [Mohamed Al Khaja],” she added.

Cohen, who was born in Egypt, served as a spy for Israel in Syria under the alias Kamel Amin Thaabet, even moving to Argentina to establish his identity as a Syrian businessman. He befriended top Syrian officials and became an adviser to the Syrian defense minister, passing secret information to Israel that ended up being vital to Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War.

Cohen’s true identity was discovered in 1965; he was subjected to a hasty trial and publicly hanged.

In 2019, New Zealand’s Newshub reported that Khalid al-Hafidh, the son of ex-Syrian President Amin al-Hafiz, had offered to help the Mossad find Cohen’s remains, but was turned down by the spy agency when he asked for $1 million in exchange for his services. Al-Hafiz was in power in Syria when Cohen was executed.

According to the report, al-Hafidh did not claim to know where Cohen’s remains were, but said he was the son of the “only person on this planet” who did know and was willing to “try” to help find the body.

Cohen’s widow, Nadia, has made numerous requests to Syria to return her husband’s remains, even as late as at the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011.

Earlier this month, Mossad Director David Barnea publicly revealed for the first time the last telegram the intelligence agency received from Cohen.

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 al-Hafiz.

The cost of hate: Adidas stuck with $530 million of Ye merch

(JNS) — Hip-hop mogul Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, is not the only one taking a huge financial hit from the fallout of his series of antisemitic remarks. 

Following the plunge in the rapper’s estimated net worth from more than a billion to $400 million, a recent analysis by the Financial Times shows that Ye’s former partner Adidas also faces severe financial consequences.

Adidas has $530 million worth of Ye merchandise, which it hopes to unload at a steep discount. How the shoe company will manage that remains a mystery. Adidas employees have worried for years that the shoe giant was too reliant on the Yeezy brand.

The company previously announced it expected to lose $246 million in profit this year due to canceling the arrangement with Ye. Yeezy provided Adidas with an estimated $1.7 billion in annual revenue in 2021, or 8 percent of the total.

Adidas also revealed it had opened an investigation into Ye after reports surfaced that he had acted inappropriately with employees, showing them explicit photos of his ex-wife Kim Kardashian. 

Ye began his series of antisemitic remarks in early October and has since lost sponsorships and partnerships including with Vogue, Balenciaga, Foot Locker, Gap and J.P. Morgan.

IDF pulling troops from Judea and Samaria as fewer Palestinians cross illegally

(JNS) — The Israel Defense Forces has begun decreasing the number of battalions it has deployed in Judea and Samaria.

The number of battalions in the area, currently at 23, will go down to 21 due to the construction of new sections of the seam line security barrier.

At the start of December, the IDF had 26 battalions in the area, many of them reinforcements sent to respond to a sharp increase in Palestinian terrorism and rioting, with a focus on Jenin and Nablus in Samaria, and other units sent to plug gaps in the seam line exploited by Palestinians to illegally enter Green Line Israel.

The IDF plans to further reduce the number of battalions to 19 deployed to the area in the first quarter of 2023 since some that were sent in to plug gaps in the seam line are no longer needed.  These gaps are now being filled by the new security barrier section being built by the Defense Ministry, which is complete with hi-tech sensors and alert systems.

Walla cited a senior defense source as stating that a year ago, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians crossed into Israel every week without interruption, some with work permits (doing so to avoid lines at checkpoints) and many without, while today, that number has dropped to hundreds.

The battalions will be able to return to their combat training programs.

Pandemic’s end: Israel to downgrade Covid to flu status

(JNS) — Israel is set to declare the Coronavirus pandemic over, according to Hebrew media reports.

As of Jan. 18, the country’s civilian health system will assume responsibility for conducting Covid tests in place of the Israel Defense Forces’ Home Front Command.

Then, on Jan. 31, SARS-CoV-2 will be categorized as an influenza-like virus, according to Kan News. The pandemic control center will be closed, and Covid patients will no longer need to be isolated.

Professor Cyrille Cohen, a member of the Health Ministry’s advisory council for clinical Covid vaccine trials, told i24NEWS that the goal was to get the virus to an “endemic” stage, where it spreads at a typical or expected rate.

“We’re hoping that our health care system can cope with these winter infections, including Covid,” said Cohen.

Google fixes antisemitic definition of ‘Jew’ following uproar

(JNS) — Google users who typed the word “Jew” in the search feature on Tuesday found that the top definition was an antisemitic stereotype. The search engine’s first listed definition of “Jew” was: “to bargain with someone in a miserly or petty way.”

Further down in the search results were several conjugations of the word, as “jewed” and “jewing.”

Jewish advocacy groups flagged the offensive definition to Google and demanded an explanation.

“This is shocking. If you Google ‘Jew’ the dictionary definition that comes up can be seen below,” tweeted Aviva Klompas, former head of speechwriting and Israel’s Mission to the United Nations in reference to a screenshot of the offensive definition.

“This is unacceptable Google,” tweeted StopAntisemitism in reference to the antisemitic trope.

“Deeply troubling that Google’s artificial intelligence fails to recognize obvious antisemitic hate speech in featured search results for the term ‘Jew.’ the World Jewish Congress tweeted. “We expect corrective action to be taken immediately.”

After fixing the error, Google Search Liaison Danny Sullivan took to Twitter to apologize on behalf of the search engine company.

“Our apologies. Google licenses definitions from third-party dictionary experts,” Sullivan posted. “We only display offensive definitions by default if they are the main meaning of a term. As this is not the case here, we have blocked this & passed along feedback to the partner for further review.”

Desantis offered ‘Libs of TikTok’ founder a place to stay following doxxing

(JNS) — The founder of popular conservative Twitter account @libsoftiktok told Tucker Carlson in an interview released on Tuesday that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reached out and offered her a place to stay following her doxxing.

“When I was doxxed, someone from Ron DeSantis’ team called me,” Chaya Raichik told Carlson. “And she said the governor wanted me to give you a message. He said, if you don’t feel safe, or you or your family, if you need a place to go, to hide, to stay here, you can come to the governor’s mansion. That we have a guest house for you and you can come and stay as long as you need.”

Raichik, whose social media accounts recycle extremist rants from far-left ideologues, was doxxed by Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz in April. Lorenz tracked Raichik down, showed up at her relatives’ home and then published an article that included links to professional documents that listed her home address and place of business.

Lorenz also went out of her way to note that Raichik is an Orthodox Jewish woman.

Following her doxxing, Raichik went into hiding in a “safe location.”

She later revealed on her Twitter account that she was able to express her gratitude to Gov. DeSantis in person.

“I recently got the opportunity to thank Gov. Ron DeSantis in person,” Raichik posted on @libsoftiktok. “He was so gracious. Brushed it off. He said ‘of course! You do great work!’ It wasn’t even a question for him. Genuinely a kindhearted person.”

Israeli government guidelines envision settlement of Judea and Samaria

(JNS) — Israel’s incoming government on Wednesday published a list of policy guidelines that includes a vow to promote settlement throughout the country.

“The Jewish people have an exclusive and inalienable right to all parts of the Land of Israel. The government will promote and develop the settlement of all parts of the Land of Israel—in the Galilee, the Negev, the Golan Heights and Judea and Samaria,” a clause in the document states.

It also reinforces a commitment to strengthening the status of Jerusalem, which by law is Israel’s unified capital.

The guidelines outline the incoming government’s desire to “preserve the Jewish character of the state and the heritage of Israel,” while “respecting the practices and traditions of members of all religions in the country in accordance with the values of the Declaration of Independence.”

The government also intends to maintain the status quo on issues of religion and state that has been in effect for decades, including with regard to the holy places.

In call with Abbas, Gantz emphasizes ‘important ties’ with Palestinians

(JNS) — Outgoing Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Wednesday called for continued cooperation with Ramallah, speaking during a phone call with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas.

According to a statement from Gantz’s office, he emphasized “the important ties” with the P.A. and said “it is critical to maintain an open channel of communication and [security] coordination.”

Gantz also told Abbas that the Palestinians’ ongoing effort to delegitimize Israel in international fora would “harm the Palestinian people and further alienate any political process.”

Earlier Wednesday, Abbas’s spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said the incoming Israeli government’s policy agenda constituted a “dangerous escalation.” He issued a veiled warning that there would be ongoing violence unless a Palestinian state was created, according to the official Palestinian Wafa news agency.

Abu Rudeineh called on the Biden administration “to turn its words into deeds since it is committed to the two-state solution, without which there will be no stability in the region.”

In Arizona, all 4 Republicans whose candidacies unsettled Jews have lost

By Ron Kampeas

(JTA) — A recount in Arizona finalized defeat for attorney general candidate Abraham Hamadeh, one of a quartet of Republicans whose campaigns raised concerns for the state’s Jewish community.

A Maricopa County court determined that Democrat Kris Mayes would be the state’s next attorney-general after a mandatory recount in a narrow race.

Hamadeh was just one of four Republicans in top statewide races who had associations with antisemites and antisemitism and who were defeated in close results in a state that is transitioning from solid Republican to lean Democrat.

Kari Lake, the one-time TV newsreader who ran for governor, posed for a photo with a Nazi sympathizer and told him on Twitter, “It was a pleasure to meet you, too!” She endorsed and then withdrew her endorsement of an Oklahoma candidate who called Jews “evil.” She lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs.

Mark Finchem, who ran for secretary of state, proudly accepted the endorsement of Andrew Torba, the openly antisemitic founder of the Gab social media platform. The Phoenix Jewish Community Relations Council in September criticized Finchem for spreading “antisemitic tropes” by claiming Democrats are controlled by George Soros and Mike Bloomberg, both Jewish megadonors. He lost to Democrat Adrian Fontes.

Blake Masters lost his bid to unseat Sen. Mark Kelly. Jewish Insider uncovered an article Masters wrote in 2006 for a publication in which he cites a “poignant” quote by Nazi official Hermann Goering. The publication is owned by Lew Rockwell, the libertarian who is believed to have written content for Ron Paul that included racist and antisemitic tropes.

Israel’s population rises 2.2 percent to over 9.5 million

(JNS) — Israel’s population increased by 2.2 percent in 2022 to a total of 9,656,000, according to Central Bureau of Statistics figures released on Thursday.

Of the country’s residents, 7,106,000 are Jews (73.6 percent), 2,037,000 are Arabs (21.1 percent) and 513,000 are of other denominations.

The population increase dwarfed the 1.8 percent growth in 2021, with the difference being attributed in part to a larger number of immigrants in the past 12 months.

Approximately 73,000 new immigrants arrived in Israel during 2022, compared to 25,000 last year, 80 percent of them coming from Russia and Ukraine.

Jewish Agency data for the period between Jan. 1 and Dec. 1, 2022, shows that 37,364 immigrants arrived from Russia; 14,680 from Ukraine; 3,500 from North America, with assistance from Nefesh B’Nefesh; 2,049 from France; 1,993 from Belarus; 1,498 from Ethiopia as part of Operation Tzur Israel; 985 from Argentina; 526 from Great Britain; 426 from South Africa; and 356 from Brazil. Final totals for 2022 will be available after the year concludes.

“It was a dramatic year that emphasized the value of mutual responsibility among the Jewish people, and during which the Jewish Agency helped strengthen the resilience of Jewish communities, empowered weaker populations in Israel, brought tens of thousands of olim, saved lives from all over Ukraine and brought them to a safe harbor in Israel,” said Jewish Agency chairman IDF Maj. Gen. (res.) Doron Almog.

Overall in 2022, approximately 204,000 persons were added to the Israeli population, including 178,000 infants (74.8 percent born to Jewish mothers, 23.8 percent to Arab mothers), while some 52,000 persons died and approximately 4,000 Israelis left the country for at least 12 months.