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It’s on Video: The Vice Tightens on Jewish Life in Boston
Anyone who has any doubts about the success enjoyed by the Islamist-led campaign to squeeze Jews out of the public square in the US needs to watch the video of the Boston City Council meeting that took place on February 14, 2024. The success of this campaign was on full display when District Six City Councilor Ben Weber, the only Jew on the council, withdrew a “negotiated ceasefire” resolution from the agenda. It was yet another moment when the Tikkun Olam agenda of “repairing the world” was handed its head by Islamist activism in the United States.
Weber’s resolution was pretty straightforward and “balanced.” In addition to highlighting the suffering of both Israelis and Palestinians and calling for a negotiated ceasefire between Hamas and the Netanyahu government, Weber’s resolution asked councilors to call on Hamas to return the hostages it took on October 7, and work for the safe return of Massachusetts residents stuck in Gaza.
Before announcing that he was withdrawing the resolution from consideration, Weber declared that while writing the resolution, he sought input from fellow councilors, officials from Boston’s Jewish Community Relations Council, and a prominent Boston-area Palestinian-American lawyer working to get Massachusetts families safely out of Gaza. Weber didn’t say which councilors he spoke to, but The Boston Globe subsequently reported that Weber had spoken with former council president (and Israel supporter) Ed Flynn and anti-Israel zealot Tania Fernandes Anderson.
The dialogue was to no avail. “It has come to my attention that the language of the resolution I drafted may cause more division, which is the opposite of what I hope to do,” Weber said. “So out of my respect to my council colleagues and members of the Boston community, I withdraw this resolution to have further conversations.” In short, Weber, a first-term city councilor, didn’t want to force his colleagues to declare their response to the October 7 massacre openly, because to do so would make him a one-term city councilor.
After the meeting, Weber told me that he felt obligated to withdraw the resolution after unnamed people expressed concerns that it was promoting the involuntary departure of Palestinians from Gaza and that it appeared to promote “one side over the other.” The notion that Weber’s resolution promoted the involuntary evacuation of Palestinians from Gaza is an intentional misreading of the text. Weber’s resolution says nothing about the expulsion of Palestinians. And as far as “taking sides,” the resolution was clearly written as an attempt to mollify “pro-Palestinian” (anti-Israel) activists, including Fernandes Anderson, by highlighting the suffering in Gaza without acknowledging it was Hamas who was responsible for this suffering. The logic is simple. If there would have been no October 7 massacre (and no terrorism from Gaza before that), there would never have been any conflict in Gaza.
If Weber had been paying attention, he would likely have spared himself the humiliation of having to withdraw the resolution by not submitting it in the first place. It’s not as if Boston isn’t in bad need of some Tikkun Olam.
But beyond these problems, speaking openly about Hamas’ October 7 massacre and its aftermath is becoming increasingly out of bounds for Israel and its supporters, Jews especially, in American civil society. Jews on college campuses have been bullied and harassed for years and this bullying has only become more intense in the aftermath of October 7. Jewish students have been forced to seek shelter in libraries and classrooms, as Hamas supporters, campus Islamists, and their progressive allies recreate the modern-day equivalent of the “ghetto bench,” which drove Jews into hiding in Polish colleges and universities in the 1930s.
A good metaphor for the decline of the Jewish condition in American society, which was so evident at the Boston City Council’s February 14 meeting, is that of a shrinking apartment in which the walls move imperceptibly inward — just a centimeter or so — every day, reducing the space available for occupants to move about. The ceiling descends as well, forcing tenants into a crouch upon entering. And as the room gets smaller and smaller, the ceiling lamp is no longer a source of illumination, but a tool of surveillance, scrutiny, and judgement of the increasingly isolated, confined, and stooping inhabitants. Looking out the window, which offers a view of hateful protesters screaming out obscenities against Israel, provides no relief. The inhabitants of these rooms sit fearfully on their sofas listening as the chants, which began in the late afternoon as gentle calls for peace, morph into hateful accusations of genocide and calls for Israel’s destruction once the sun goes down.
Counter-protests by Jews and their allies have become, by fits and starts, less prevalent in Boston and other cities in the US in the years since the Palestinian wave of terrorism know as the Second Intifada, which ended in 2005. Jews and their allies stood their ground during the Gaza War in 2006, and there was some pro-Israel activism during the 2014 Gaza War. But these days, Jews count themselves as lucky if they are to post images of kidnapped children without them being harassed; protesting the perpetrators of these crimes is not allowed.
Anyone who denies that public space for Jews is shrinking needs to compare Weber’s submissive behavior with that of his colleague Tania Fernandes Anderson. Like many elites in Western democracies, Anderson, the first Muslim elected to Boston’s City Council, has surfed the excitement generated by the October 7 massacre like a wave. Soon after the attack, she put forth a ceasefire resolution of her own that called Hamas’ massacre a “military operation.” The resolution failed to pass, but upon leaving the chamber, she was fawned over by green- and purple-haired women in the lobby outside the council chambers.
In early November, she spoke at an an anti-Israel march from Boston Common to the Federal building. At this rally, where Fernandes was a featured speaker, she wept openly for the Palestinian children killed as a result of the conflict, but said little, if anything, about the loss of Israeli life. The following month, she brought two high school students to a City Council meeting to receive a commendation from the body. During the ceremony, the two students started chanting “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” to the dismay of then Council President Ed Flynn. And later that month, she got a resolution passed on the city council’s consent agenda praising Abdullah Faaruuq, the imam of a local mosque who has advocated for a convicted terrorist and engaged in virulent anti-Israel and anti-American radicalism over the years. And as reward for her anti-Israel activism, she was invited to speak at a fundraising gala being held at Faaruuq’s mosque on January 13, 2024, the 100th day after the October 7 massacre.
And while at the gala, Fernandes Anderson spread a patently false narrative of everything being fine between Muslims and Jews in the Holy Land before Israel’s creation.
The massacre that took place in Israel on October 7 — where Jews were slaughtered just for being Jews — hasn’t convinced Israeli Jews to abandon their rights as a sovereign people, but thanks to people like Tania Fernandes Anderson, it is driving American Jews into the shadowy margins of American society. And thanks to the Boston City Council, it’s on video, just like the October 7 massacre.
Dexter Van Zile, the Middle East Forum’s Violin Family Research Fellow, serves as Managing Editor of Focus on Western Islamism.
The post It’s on Video: The Vice Tightens on Jewish Life in Boston first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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The Algemeiner’s Top 10 Most-Read News Stories of 2024
In a year when Israel was at war on several fronts, Donald Trump was reelected president of the United States, and antisemitism continued to skyrocket globally in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 invasion, these were the 10 stories that most captured the attention of The Algemeiner‘s readers.
1. Masked Activists Violently Attack Jews at North Carolina Public Library
Three pro-Israel attendees of a public event titled “Strategic Lessons From the Palestinian Resistance” reported being attacked and forcibly dragged out by anti-Israel activists also in attendance at the West Asheville Library in North Carolina.
2. Network Behind Eruption of Anti-Israel College Campus Protests Revealed in New Report
Anti-Zionist protests striking US colleges and universities across the country have been the result of “tightly coordinated” efforts backed by the financial power and logistical support of groups linked to terrorist organizations and some of America’s most prestigious philanthropic foundations, according to a new report.
Former boxing world champion Floyd Mayweather will donate $100,000 to United Hatzalah of Israel for the organization to purchase 100 bulletproof vests to keep volunteers safe amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
In an emotional hearing at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, former hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza recounted harrowing tales of sexual harassment and abuse, as families of those still held captive pleaded for the Israeli government to do more to secure their release.
Hamas has responded to US President-elect Donald Trump’s warning that there will be “all hell to pay” in the Middle East if the Palestinian terrorist group does not release all of the remaining hostages in Gaza before his inauguration on Jan. 20, claiming that Israel has “sabotaged” several potential ceasefire deals and should be held responsible for perpetuating the ongoing war.
George Washington University psychology professor Lara Sheehi, who was accused of verbally abusing and discriminating against her Jewish graduate students, has left the school and accepted a job at an institution based in Qatar, according to a correspondence obtained by The Algemeiner.
7. Chanel, Tory Burch, Others in Fashion Donate to Help Israelis Impacted by Hamas War
Several fashion brands and their parent companies have announced that they are making donations to help provide humanitarian aid to Israeli victims of Hamas atrocities following the Palestinian terror group’s infiltration of Israel on Oct. 7.
A mob of hundreds pro-Palestinian students and non-students shut down an event at the University of California, Berkeley featuring an Israeli soldier, forcing Jewish students to flee to a secret safe room as the protestors overwhelmed campus police.
9. Prominent Pro-Hamas Activist in Australia Arrested on Kidnapping and Torture Charges
Australian police announced the arrest of a prominent pro-Hamas advocate accused of orchestrating the kidnapping and torture of a man whose perceived offense was to work for a Jewish employer.
10. ‘You Corrupt the World!’ Jewish Man Wearing Kippah Assaulted in Washington, DC
A Jewish man wearing a kippah was assaulted in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, DC in what police are investigating as a hate crime.
The post The Algemeiner’s Top 10 Most-Read News Stories of 2024 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Pushes to Expand Ties With Cuba as Both Countries Seek to Counter US Sanctions
One of Iran’s top foreign policy priorities will be working to enhance its relationship with Cuba across several domains, according to a senior adviser to the Iranian health minister.
Ali Jafarian also explained during a coordination meeting of the 19th Iran-Cuba Joint Commission in Tehran on Tuesday that Iran’s Islamist regime has made it a central focus to expand cooperation with Latin American countries more broadly, Iranian state-run media reported.
The meeting came as both countries continued looking for ways to combat US sanctions, which are only expected to become more harsh on both Tehran and Havana when US President-elect Donald Trump enters office on Jan. 20.
Jafarian said that a comprehensive 10-year strategic plan between Iran and Cuba should serve as the foundation for all documents related to the 19th Commission on Iran-Cuba Economic Cooperation, which is scheduled to take place in Havana in February.
During Tuesday’s gathering, Mohammad Hossein Niknam, the director-general of international cooperation at the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said that, despite being thousands of miles apart, Iran and Cuba have long supported each other and are committed to strengthening their economic relations.
Iranian Ambassador to Cuba Mohammad Hadi Sobhani said during a virtual appearance that, beyond economic matters, the 19th Iran-Cuba Joint Commission will also allow the two countries to expand political cooperation.
Iran and Cuba have taken several steps to grow closer over the past year, motivated in large part by a joint opposition to the United States
Last December, both countries vowed to strengthen relations and stand together against sanctions imposed on them by Washington.
“What can neutralize the sanctions is the exchange of capacities between the two countries,” then-Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said during a joint statement with his visiting Cuban counterpart, Miguel Diaz-Canel.
“There is a serious determination between the two countries to develop relations,” Raisi said, adding that “the common feature of the two countries is that they both stand against the system of domination.”
That meeting came months after both leaders met in Havana and each said their countries faced similar situations and had to confront “Yankee imperialism and its allies with a tenacious resistance.”
Cuba has been under a US embargo since 1962 and is included on Washington’s list of countries supporting terrorism — like Iran, which is also subject to severe sanctions. Earlier this year, the US also removed Cuba from a short list of countries that it alleges are “not cooperating fully” in its fight against terrorism.
It’s unclear if Iran will end up pursuing a relationship with Cuba to resist US sanctions in a formalized way as it has with Russia.
Iranian and Russian leaders have been working on an initiative to form an international alliance against US sanctions known as the International Union Against US Sanctions. An Iranian lawmaker spearheading the effort said earlier this month that it will soon be completed.
Beyond shared hostility toward the US, Iran and Cuba have also taken several steps to expand their economic relationship. In April, for example, they established a twinning relationship between two major ports in each country to facilitate shipping and trade.
The post Iran Pushes to Expand Ties With Cuba as Both Countries Seek to Counter US Sanctions first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese Calls for Medical Professionals to Cut Ties With Israel
The United Nations’ special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories has called on all medical professionals to cut ties with Israel, accusing the Jewish state of committing “genocide” and unfairly detaining Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safiya.
“I urge medical professionals worldwide to pursue the severance of all ties with Israel as a concrete way to forcefully denounce Israel’s full destruction of the Palestinian healthcare system in Gaza, a critical tool of its ongoing genocide,” Francesca Albanese wrote on X/Twitter on Monday.
The post came after Israel last week arrested Safiya and several other people while conducting a raid on the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, where the Israeli military is fighting Hamas terrorists. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it arrested Safiya because he was “suspected of being a Hamas terrorist operative.” The IDF also insisted that the hospital has been used as a “command and control center” for the Palestinian terrorist group.
Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), an allied terrorist group in Gaza, have extensive histories of using hospitals — as well as schools, apartment buildings, and other forms of civilian infrastructure in Gaza — as bases for storing weapons and planning and conducting attacks. A PIJ spokesman in April confessed that terrorists have taken over all of the hospitals in Gaza, using the medical facilities to hide military activities and launch attacks.
Israel has reportedly relocated Safiya to a detention facility for further investigation into his purported ties to the Hamas terrorist group.
Albanese’s comments came amid a surge of antisemitism directed at Jewish health-care professionals in the West. In the year following Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel last Oct. 7, about 75 percent of Jewish health workers and students have been subjected to antisemitism, according to a recent study in the peer-reviewed Journal of Religion and Health.
A separate recent study conducted by the Data & Analytics Department of StandWithUs, a Jewish civil rights group, found that nearly 40 percent of Jewish American health-care professionals have encountered antisemitism in the workplace.
That study followed a similar one published in Canada earlier this month, in which Jewish doctors reported being chased not only out of the field of medicine but also out of the country. Commissioned by the Jewish Medical Association of Ontario (JMAO), the survey found that 80 percent of Jewish medical workers who responded to it “have faced antisemitism at work” since Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre and that 31 percent of Jewish doctors — 98 percent of whom “are worried about the impact of antisemitism on health care” — have weighed emigrating from Canada to another country.
Earlier this month, members of the US Congress raised alarm bells about growing antisemitism in the medical field.
“That’s truly scary; the idea that somehow your religious background or your identity would inform or impact the type of care that you get is not only antisemitic, it’s not only anti-American, it is anti-democratic,” Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) said during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
Albanese has an extensive history of using her role at the UN to denigrate Israel and seemingly rationalize Hamas’s attacks on the Jewish state. In the months following the Oct. 7 atrocities, Albanese has accused Israel of enacting a “genocide” against the Palestinian people in revenge for the attacks and circulated a widely derided and heavily disputed report alleging that 186,000 people have been killed in Gaza as a result of Israeli actions.
The United Nations launched a probe into Albanese over the summer for allegedly accepting a trip to Australia funded by pro-Hamas organizations. She has also celebrated the anti-Israel protesters rampaging across US college campuses, saying they represent a “revolution” and that they give her “hope.”
The post UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese Calls for Medical Professionals to Cut Ties With Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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