RSS
Pittsburgh Organizers Stopped an Effort to Boycott Israel; But It Was Far Too Close
A man pauses at a memorial for the 11 victims shot by a neo-Nazi at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue. Photo: Reuters/Cathal McNaughton
The city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is known for many things: bridges, steel, sports teams, and sadly, the Tree of Life Synagogue building shooting, where the worst massacre of Jews in US history took place on October 27, 2018.
After the Tree of Life attack, we felt a sense of community, support, and understanding in the area. Non-Jewish social justice and religious groups showered our community with love, and elected officials rallied to help our community recover and rebuild.
Unfortunately, that sense of love and community has shifted dramatically since October 7. After the brutal Hamas attack against Israel, the likes of which we have not seen since the Holocaust, many of us felt that Americans would more deeply understand the threats that Israelis are facing, and the risk that antisemitism poses to communities everywhere.
Sadly, the Jewish community in Pittsburgh has not felt even a fraction of the support we once felt, and we’ve often been left to fight battles with very few allies.
Like many Jewish communities around the world, my Squirrel Hill community has seen a dramatic rise in antisemitic incidents, including graffiti on my synagogue walls and my local Jewish Federation, physical and verbal attacks, hateful rhetoric during ceasefire resolution debates, encampments, and other anti-Israel protests.
In early June, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) Pittsburgh tried a new tactic, dedicating their time to trying to introduce a ballot question that would have asked whether the city should participate in a boycott against Israel, and prohibit investments and public funds to “entities that conduct business operations with or in the State of Israel unless and until Israel ends its military action in Gaza.”
Such a referendum would have targeted our city’s synagogues and Jewish organizations, almost all of which have strong bonds — historical, religious, and commercial — with the State of Israel.
Anti-Israel activists spent months going to concerts, farmers markets, festivals, public pools, and anywhere they could think of with petitions for people to sign “if you’re in favor of a ceasefire.”
Of course, in many cases, the DSA activists failed to mention that this was a boycott petition that would force Israel to meet impossible (and unattainable) standards, threaten local Jewish institutions, and bring our city to a grinding halt, since some Israeli companies play an integral role in the day-to-day functions of our local government and institutions.
Those of us who have been fighting back against anti-Israel entities knew immediately how dangerous this was, and that we had our work cut out for us. We watched and waited to see if the DSA would submit the minimum number of signatures required to make it onto the ballot. All the while, we started researching, planning, and mobilizing. We found out the process for petition approval, created legal arguments, recruited legal counsel, mobilized community members, and worked to educate elected officials on the dangers of this referendum.
Finally, on August 6, our fears came true. The DSA submitted their petition, and we got to work. Our legal counsel began drafting our challenge, community leaders started recruiting hundreds of volunteers to challenge the petition, and we worked to encourage elected officials to oppose this petition on separate grounds.
We were overwhelmed with the response from within our community. Within a day, hundreds of Jewish community members were being trained on the very complex way to check signatories. Our legal counsel prepared their arguments, and City Controller Rachael Heisler issued her own challenge. We organized plaintiffs, witnesses, and testimony.
Volunteers spent hundreds of hours combing through signatures multiple times to identify those that did not meet the criteria for submission. The DSA continued to insist that, despite all evidence to the contrary, they had the minimum verifiable signatures to proceed.
However, we were able to find enough invalid signatures to stop the referendum from moving forward, and the DSA had no choice but to concede. On August 19, StandWithUs, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, and a coalition of four local Jewish clergy, successfully defeated the petition. We were well prepared to argue the legal challenges as well, but never got the chance to do so.
This effort took massive collaboration, mobilization, and community engagement. As the Regional Director of StandWithUs, I was so proud to partner with the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, the Beacon Coalition, local synagogues and Jewish institutions, and community members to fight back against this precedent-setting referendum.
A growing number of anti-Israel entities, including the DSA, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), pose a serious threat to local Jewish communities. Their goal is to spread misinformation and propaganda, and to wear down our community by exhausting us and our resources, but we won’t let them. We’ll continue to fight back against all attempts to discriminate against our community and work to defend Israel against misinformation and propaganda.
This success was truly a community effort that required time, resources, and dedication, in order to defeat the first attempt to put an anti-Israel boycott proposal on a US city ballot. We are grateful for this result and to our partners in this work, and we will continue to fight back against all attempts to harm our community and unfairly attack the State of Israel. At a time of rising antisemitism, these efforts have never been more important.
Julie Paris is Mid-Atlantic Regional Director for StandWithUs, an international, nonpartisan education organization that supports Israel and fights antisemitism.
The post Pittsburgh Organizers Stopped an Effort to Boycott Israel; But It Was Far Too Close first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Iran Tells France to Review ‘Unconstructive’ Approach Ahead of Nuclear Talks
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei visits the Iranian centrifuges in Tehran, Iran, June 11, 2023. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iran‘s foreign ministry called upon Paris to review its “unconstructive” approach, a few days before Tehran is set to hold a new round of talks about its nuclear program with major European countries.
On Monday, Emmanuel Macron said Tehran’s uranium enrichment drive is nearing a point of no return and warned that European partners in a moribund 2015 nuclear deal with Iran should consider reimposing sanctions if no progress is reached.
“Untrue claims by a government that has itself refused to fulfill its obligations under the nuclear deal and has played a major role in [Israel’s] acquisition of nuclear weapons is deceitful and projective,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei wrote on X on Wednesday.
France, Germany, and Britain were co-signatories to the 2015 deal in which Iran agreed to curb enrichment, seen by the West as a disguised effort to develop nuclear-weapons capability, in return for lifting international sanctions.
Iran says it is enriching uranium for peaceful purposes and has stepped up the program since US President-elect Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the 2015 deal during his first term of office and restored tough US sanctions on Tehran.
French, German, and British diplomats are set to hold a follow-up meeting with Iranian counterparts on Jan. 13 after one in November held to discuss the possibility of serious negotiations in coming months to defuse tensions with Tehran, as Trump is due to return to the White House on Jan. 20.
Baghaei did not mention French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot’s comment regarding three French citizens held in Iran.
Barrot said on Tuesday that future ties and any lifting of sanctions on Iran would depend on their release.
The post Iran Tells France to Review ‘Unconstructive’ Approach Ahead of Nuclear Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
With Hezbollah Weakened, Lebanon to Hold Presidential Vote
Suleiman Frangieh, leader of the Marada movement, gestures as he speaks after meeting with Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, in Bkerke, Lebanon, Oct.30, 2021. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Lebanon‘s parliament will try to elect a president on Thursday, with officials seeing better chances of success in a political landscape shaken by Israel’s war with Hezbollah and the toppling of the Lebanese terrorist group’s ally Bashar al-Assad in neighboring Syria.
The post, reserved for a Maronite Christian in the country’s sectarian power-sharing system, has been vacant since Michel Aoun’s term ended in October, 2022. None of the political groups in the 128-seat parliament have enough seats to impose their choice, and they have so far been unable to agree on a consensus candidate.
The vote marks the first test of Lebanon‘s power balance since the Iran-backed Shi’ite terrorist group Hezbollah — which propelled its then Christian ally Aoun to the presidency in 2016 ‚ emerged badly pummeled from the war with Israel.
It takes place against a backdrop of historic change in the wider Middle East, where the Assad-led Syrian state exercised sway over Lebanon for decades, both directly and through allies such as Hezbollah.
Reflecting the shifts, Hezbollah and its ally the Shi’ite Amal Movement led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri have dropped their insistence on Suleiman Frangieh, their declared candidate for the last two years, and are ready to go with a less divisive figure, three senior sources familiar with their thinking said.
Candidates in focus include army commander General Joseph Aoun — said by Lebanese politicians to enjoy US approval — Jihad Azour, a senior International Monetary Fund official who formerly served as finance minister, and Major-General Elias al-Baysari — head of General Security, a state security agency.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said he felt happy because “God willing, tomorrow we will have a new president,” according to a statement from his office.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot also expressed hope in comments to France Inter radio, saying the election was “a prerequisite for the continuation of this dynamic of peace” and also for Lebanon‘s economic and social recovery.
However, two of the sources and an analyst cautioned that it was not yet certain any candidate would be elected. To win, a candidate must secure 86 votes in a first round, or 65 in a second round.
Reflecting Western and regional interest in the vote, French and Saudi envoys met Lebanese politicians in Beirut on Wednesday. Four Lebanese political sources who met the Saudi envoy, Prince Yazid bin Farhan, last week said he spelt out preferred qualifications which signal Saudi support for Aoun.
Saudi Arabia was once a big player in Lebanon, vying with Tehran for influence in Beirut, before seeing its role eclipsed by Iran and Hezbollah.
HEZBOLLAH STILL SEEN WITH SWAY
Aoun, head of Lebanon‘s US-backed army, would still need 86 votes because his election requires a constitutional amendment, as he is a still-serving state employee, Berri has said.
A State Department spokesperson said it was “up to Lebanon to choose its next president, not the United States or any external actor.”
“We have been consistent in our efforts to press Lebanon to elect a new president, which we see as important to strengthening Lebanon’s political institutions,” the spokesperson said.
Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa said last week there was “no veto” on Aoun. But the sources said Hezbollah, designated a terrorist group by the United States and other countries, will not support Aoun.
Aoun has a key role in shoring up the ceasefire brokered by Washington and Paris in November. The terms require the Lebanese military to deploy into south Lebanon as Israeli troops and Hezbollah withdraw forces.
Still reeling from a financial collapse in 2019, Lebanon desperately needs foreign aid to rebuild.
Much of the damage is in Shi’ite majority areas.
Hezbollah, its supply line to Iran severed by Assad’s ousting, has urged Arab and international support for Lebanon.
Lebanon‘s Maronite Bishops called on lawmakers to elect a president, urging a “national awakening.”
Nabil Boumonsef, deputy editor-in-chief of Annahar newspaper, was not certain anyone would be elected, even after the major shift in the balance of power in Lebanon, where Hezbollah‘s weapons have long been a source of division.
Underlining the influence Hezbollah and Amal still wield, he said the only way a president could be elected would be if they agreed on Aoun or Azour. But if they tried to install their preferred candidate, this would “sever the oxygen from Lebanon.”
Saudi Minister Faisal bin Farhan said last October that Riyadh had never fully disengaged from Lebanon and that outside countries should not tell Lebanese what to do.
The post With Hezbollah Weakened, Lebanon to Hold Presidential Vote first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Bodies of Hostages Youssef and Hamza Ziyadne Retrieved From Gaza
People walk past images of hostages kidnapped in the deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas from Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, April 11, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Hannah McKay
JNS.org — Israel Defense Forces troops located the bodies of hostages Youssef and Hamza Ziyadne during military operations in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed on Wednesday evening.
In a statement shared by the Defense Ministry, Katz expressed his “deep condolences to the Ziyadne family upon the discovery of the bodies of Youssef and Hamza, who were kidnapped by Hamas murderers on Oct. 7 and were rescued in a heroic operation by our heroic soldiers.”
“We continue to do everything to fulfill our supreme moral obligation — the return of all the hostages, living and dead, to Israeli soil,” he added.
The IDF and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) confirmed that Youssef’s remains were found in a tunnel in the Rafah area of southern Gaza. The statement did not immediately confirm the discovery of Hamza’s body, though it said that findings in the tunnel raised “serious concerns” for his life.
“Our hearts ache,” Ali Ziyadne, Youssef’s brother, told Israel’s Ynet news outlet. He added, “We wanted them to return to our family alive, but unfortunately they returned dead. Aisha and her brother Bilal were waiting to embrace them. This is a difficult and shocking disaster.”
Youssef Ziyadne, 53, and his children Hamza, 22, Bilal, 18, and Aisha, 17, residents of the Israeli Bedouin community of Rahat, were abducted by Palestinian Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre while they were working in Kibbutz Holit near the border with Gaza.
Bilal and Aisha were released as part of the November 2023 ceasefire agreement between Jerusalem and Hamas after 55 days in captivity.
On Oct. 7, 2023, 25 residents of Rahat, the largest Muslim Bedouin city in Israel’s Negev desert, headed to Gaza border communities Kibbutz Holit and Kibbutz Sufa to work and did not return.
They were among the 1,200 people killed by Hamas during its invasion of Israel that morning. Thousands more were wounded, and more than 250 were taken back to the Strip as hostages, including six Bedouins.
According to Israeli estimates, there are 98 hostages still in Hamas captivity in Gaza, including 94 abducted during the Oct. 7 attacks.
Of the 251 hostages taken on Oct. 7, 157 have been returned or rescued, and Hamas is believed to be holding 36 bodies, 34 of them taken on Oct. 7 and the remaining two being IDF soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, who were kidnapped in 2014.
The post Bodies of Hostages Youssef and Hamza Ziyadne Retrieved From Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.