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German Domestic Intelligence Agency Designates BDS a ‘Suspected Extremist Case’
Anti-Israel demonstration supporting the BDS movement, Paris France, June 8, 2024. Photo: Claire Serie / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect
Germany’s federal domestic intelligence agency has classified the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel as a “suspected extremist case,” according to German media.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) on Tuesday issued a new report stating that after the Hamas terror group’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, groups linked to the BDS movement “frequently took part in anti-Israel gatherings” and called for “an end to the state existence of Israel,” the German news site Watson reported.
The BfV report also cited BDS’s links to “secular Palestinian extremism” and noted the movement is not a homogeneous association, party, or organization. The agency’s designation allows the German government to more closely monitor BDS activities, as they may be in support of an extremist movement.
BDS seeks to isolate Israel from the international community as a step toward the Jewish state’s eventual elimination. Prominent leaders of the movement have frequently declared their intention to abolish the Jewish state.
The BfV report is not the first time the German government has acted against BDS. In 2019, Germany’s parliament voted to condemn BDS as antisemitic. Israel’s then-ambassador to Germany, Jeremy Issacharoff, praised the move on X / Twitter, writing, “We welcome this initiative by its sponsors. It has broader European significance given that BDS makes no attempt to build coexistence and peace between Israel and its neighbors.”
The new report was issued by German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, who since Oct. 7 has challenged Muslim associations in Germany to condemn antisemitism without reservation and expressed support for deporting Hamas supporters from the country. Germany has experienced a sharp spike in antisemitic incidents since Hamas’ invasion of Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.
Germany is not the only country to act against BDS. Spain, Canada, and the Netherlands are among the other countries that have passed anti-BDS legislation. In the US, 38 states have adopted laws, executive, orders, or resolutions designed to discourage boycotts against Israel, according to Jewish Virtual Library.
In the aftermath of the Oct. 7 atrocities, proponents of BDS have continued to call for a complete boycott of Israel and repeatedly referred to Israel’s defensive war in Gaza as a “genocide” while accusing the Israeli military of war crimes. According to the Anti-Defamation League, BDS “demonizes the Jewish state” and openly calls for policies that “if implemented, would result in the eradication of the world’s only Jewish state.”
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Treasure Trove: How a Polish-Jewish artist told Canadians about the horrors of Nazi Germany and produced beautiful illustrations
Arthur Szyk (1894-1951) was a Polish-Jewish artist whose work reflected the historic times he lived: the two world wars, the rise of totalitarianism in Europe and the birth of the State of Israel. In 1940, with the support of the British government and the Polish government-in-exile, he visited Canada to popularize the struggle against Nazism. […]
The post Treasure Trove: How a Polish-Jewish artist told Canadians about the horrors of Nazi Germany and produced beautiful illustrations appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Biden hits Fundraising Trail in Show of Strength after Dismal Debate Performance
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S., June 28, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo
President Joe Biden embarks on a series of fundraising events across two states on Saturday as he works to stamp out a crisis of confidence in his re-election campaign following a feeble debate performance that dismayed his fellow Democrats.
Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will visit the upscale New York beach enclave known as the Hamptons for a campaign fundraiser hosted by hedge-fund billionaire Barry Rosentein. Later in the day, he will travel to New Jersey for a fundraiser hosted by wealthy New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat.
Fellow hedge-fund founder Eric Mindich and his Tony Award-winning producer wife Stacey, celebrity couple Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, and actor Michael J. Fox are all listed as members of the host committee at the New York event, according to an invitation seen by Reuters.
Biden told a rally in North Carolina on Friday he intended to defeat Republican rival Donald Trump in the November presidential election, giving no sign he would heed calls from Democrats who want him to drop out of the race.
Biden‘s verbal stumbles and occasionally meandering responses during Thursday night’s debate heightened voter concerns that the 81-year-old might not be fit to serve another four-year term.
The Biden campaign on Saturday boasted it had raised more than $27 million between debate day through Friday evening, but questions remain about whether the debate performance will hurt fundraising, at least in the short term.
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Arab League Rescinds the Classification of Hezbollah as a Terrorist Group
Mourners carry a coffin during the funeral of Wissam Tawil, a commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces who according to Lebanese security sources was killed during an Israeli strike on south Lebanon, in Khirbet Selm, Lebanon, Jan. 9, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Aziz Taher
i24 News – The Arab League no longer defines Hezbollah as a proscribed terrorist group, an official said on Saturday.
Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based Shiite militia and a proxy of the Islamic regime in Iran, boasts the world’s largest rocket arsenal of any non-state actor. It is animated by the antisemitic ideology of jihad and is committed to the destruction of Israel.
“In earlier Arab League decisions, Hezbollah was designated as a terrorist organization, and this designation was reflected in the resolutions,” Hossam Zaki, the assistant secretary-general of the Arab League, was quoted in Arab media as saying.
“The League’s member states concurred that the labeling of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization should no longer be employed,” Zaki said, adding that the regional body “does not maintain terrorist lists and does not actively seek to designate entities in such a manner.”
Hezbollah has unleashed numerous rockets, mortars and drones on northern Israel in the past eight months starting on October 8, a day after the Jewish state suffered the worst antisemitic massacre since the Holocaust at the hands of the Palestinian jihadists of Hamas.
The post Arab League Rescinds the Classification of Hezbollah as a Terrorist Group first appeared on Algemeiner.com.