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Global Response to Oct. 7 Shows the ‘Collapse of Morality,’ Says Israel’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism
US Capitol Police and NYPD officers clash with anti-Israel demonstrators, on the day Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of Congress, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, DC, July 24, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Israel’s special envoy for combating antisemitism on Wednesday night lamented what she described as the global “collapse of morality” revealed in the world’s response to the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel.
“What the responses to 10/7 were, were an indication to a collapse of morality,” Michal Cotler-Wunsh said to a packed room at the Moise Safra Center in New York City. “If you could not unconditionally condemn without a ‘but,’ — unequivocally, without a ‘but’ at the end of the sentence — what happened on 10/7, that’s not progress that’s regress. If you could not unequivocally condemn it that was an indication of collapse of morality.”
Cotler-Wunsch, who currently has three children serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, made the remarks at an event celebrating the publication of the 20th anniversary edition of “A Letter in the Scroll” by the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the former chief rabbi of the United Kingdom. The event involved a panel discussion about Jewish identity, antisemitism, and other topics that featured Cotler-Wunsh, as well as human rights activist Natan Sharansky and others.
Cotler-Wunsh, who grew up in Canada but now lives in Israel, also discussed the “tsunami of antisemitism” that has taken place around the world post-Oct. 7, and how it can “only be identified and combated” with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. Beyond classic antisemitic behavior associated with the likes of the medieval period and Nazi Germany, the IHRA definition includes denial of the Holocaust and newer forms of antisemitism targeting Israel such as demonizing the Jewish state, denying its right to exist, and holding it to standards not expected of any other democratic state.
Wednesday’s event came after the Anti-Defamation League released a report earlier this year showing antisemitic incidents in the US rose 140 percent last year, reaching a record high. Most of the outrages occurred after Oct. 7, during the ensuing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Meanwhile, such outrages have also skyrocketed to record highs in several other countries around the world, especially in Europe, since the Hamas atrocities.
Cotler-Wunsh told the crowd gathered at the Moise Safra Center that she believes its also important to educate the younger generation about antisemitism and help them interpret and understand the rise in anti-Israel and anti-Zionist sentiments around the world following Oct. 7.
“What has been the most overwhelming piece of my exchanges and interactions with young Jews is to try to make it accessible how it can be that in response to the worst attack of Jews since the Holocaust — fueled by antisemitic hate that burned, raped, mutilated, massacred, and abducted hundreds on 10/7 — what we have witnessed is a tsunami of antisemitism.”
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people, kidnapped 251 hostages, and perpetrated mass sexual violence, including torture, and gang-rape, during their surprise invasion of the Jewish state last fall. The onslaught started the ongoing war in Gaza, the enclave ruled by Hamas.
“It is the oldest hatred in the world that has mutated, as Rabbi Sacks explained, by latching on to the guiding social constructs of the time,” Cotler-Wunsh said on Wednesday, while explaining the evolution of antisemitism to now include visceral opposition to Israel. “And the understanding that in that way antisemitism has mutated over thousands of years, creating new strains, enables us to understand what we have seen.”
“The IHRA definition has never been more important if we are going to be able to identify and combat all strains of what Rabbi Sacks described as an ever-mutating, shape-shifting virus [that is antisemitism],” she added.
During the panel discussion, Sharansky discussed being “shocked” at how anti-Israel sentiment has spread like wildfire across American college and university campuses following the Oct. 7 attacks, and how “they will be so open talking against human rights [and] rights of women.” The famed refusenik, who was a political prisoner in the Soviet Union, also talked about “celebrations on campuses” following the deadly Hamas massacre and said he was extremely disappointed in how “easily American public opinion, a big part of it, is not our allies in this.”
Anti-Israel protests erupted on university campuses across the US this past academic year, with demonstrators declaring support for Hamas, calling for Israel’s destruction, and in some cases even threatening and attacking Jewish students.
Sharansky — who has been appointed chair of the global advisory board of The Rabbi Sacks Legacy Foundation — was also critical of Israeli intelligence agencies for being “arrogant” and “so unprepared” regarding the Oct. 7 massacre, and failing to prevent it from happening or taking action to stop the attacks early on.
Wednesday night’s event ended on a positive note as Cotler-Wunsh discussed an “awakening” that has happened among Jews around the world and how they have risen up to show support for Israel after Oct. 7. She mentioned the troves of people from all corners of the world who traveled to Israel post-Oct. 7 to show support for the country as volunteers but also to serve as reservists in the military.
She said, “140 percent of the people called up on 10/7, showed up. That’s an incredible statistic. That’s unbelieved. They came from all over the world. They got on planes, they sat in the bathrooms that El Al let them sit on. When you were collecting money for tactical gear [for the IDF] that my 17-year-old was then disseminating all over Israel, the reason that you were collecting is because [you] showed up.”
“And that is the most important notion of ‘Hineni,’” she said, citing the Hebrew word from the Torah that translates to “here I am.” In Judaism, it refers to the concept of being present in the moment.
“If this is not going to wake us up, I don’t know what will,” she said of Oct. 7 and how it is affecting global Jewry. “[Do] not wait for the someone else to do it. There is no one else. It is on us, each and every one.”
The post Global Response to Oct. 7 Shows the ‘Collapse of Morality,’ Says Israel’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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CIA Director Says More Detailed Gaza Ceasefire Proposal Due in Days
William Burns, nominee for Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director, testifies during his Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, February 24, 2021. Tom Williams/Pool via REUTERS
The head of the CIA, who is also the chief US negotiator for an end to the Gaza war and release of hostages held by Hamas, said a more detailed ceasefire proposal would be made in the next several days.
After 11 months of conflict in Gaza, CIA Director William Burns said he was working very hard on “texts and creative formulas” with mediators Qatar and Egypt to secure a ceasefire, by finding a proposal which satisfies both parties.
“We will make this more detailed proposal, I hope in the next several days, and then we’ll see,” said Burns, speaking at a Financial Times event in London alongside Richard Moore, head of Britain’s MI6 foreign spy agency, in an unprecedented joint public appearance.
Burns added that it was a question of political will and he hoped leaders on both sides recognized “the time has come finally to make some hard choices and some difficult compromises.”
He said 90% of the paragraphs had been agreed but the last 10% were always the hardest.
“My hope is that you know, they’ll recognize what’s at stake here and be willing to move ahead on that basis,” he said.
Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.
BACKING UKRAINE
In an joint op-ed for Saturday’s FT newspaper, Burns and Moore highlighted joint efforts to help Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the British spy chief said it was critical the West maintained its support.
Discussing Ukraine’s offensive into the Kursk region of Russia where Kyiv has seized land, Moore called it an “audacious and bold” move to try and change the game.
“It’s too early to say how long the Ukrainians will be able to hang on in there (in Kursk),” he added, saying the incursion had brought the war home to ordinary Russians.
While Burns called the offensive a “significant tactical achievement” for the Ukrainians. But while he said it had exposed the Russian military’s vulnerabilities, he did not see any evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power was weakening.
“It did raise questions on the part of people we could see across the Russian elite about where is this all headed,” he said.
Burns also disclosed that earlier in the conflict he had been sent by US President Joe Biden to meet one of his Russian counterparts to warn him of the consequences of the use of nuclear weapons.
“There was a moment in the fall of 2022 when I think there was a genuine risk of the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons,” the CIA director said. “We’ve continued to be very direct about that. So I don’t think we can afford to be intimidated by that saber rattling or bullying.”
In their op-ed, the spy chiefs also warned about a reckless campaign of sabotage being waged across Europe by Russian intelligence operatives.
“I think Russian intelligence services has gone a bit feral, frankly, in some of their behavior,” Moore said. “The fact that they are using criminal elements shows you that they’re becoming a bit desperate … It’s become a bit more amateurish.”
He added: “Amateurish can actually be more reckless and more dangerous as well.”
The post CIA Director Says More Detailed Gaza Ceasefire Proposal Due in Days first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Blinken to Travel to UK Monday to Discuss Middle East, Ukraine
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a joint news conference with President of the Dominican Republic Luis Abinader at the National Palace, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, September 6, 2024. Photo: Roberto Schmidt/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to travel to the United Kingdom on Monday, the State Department said, a week after Britain suspended some arms export licenses with Israel over equipment that could be used in the war in Gaza.
In the trip slated to go through Tuesday, Blinken will open the US-UK Strategic Dialogue, “reaffirming our special relationship,” Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesperson, said on Saturday.
Blinken will also meet with senior government officials to discuss issues including the Indo-Pacific, the AUKUS defense pact between the US, Australia, Britain and the Middle East, and collective efforts to support Ukraine in the war against Russia.
Britain said on Sept. 2 it was immediately suspending 30 of its 350 arms export licenses with Israel, saying there was a risk such equipment might be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law in Israel’s war with Hamas in the densely populated Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
The administration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running to succeed him, is under pressure from critics of the war to suspend some arms deliveries to Israel, Washington’s closest Middle East ally. A US official said in July the Biden administration would resume shipping 500-pound bombs to Israel but would continue to hold back on supplying 2,000-poind bombs over concerns about their use in Gaza.
CIA Director William Burns, chief US negotiator for an end to the war in Gaza, said in London on Saturday that a more detailed ceasefire proposal would be made in the coming days.
The post Blinken to Travel to UK Monday to Discuss Middle East, Ukraine first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Treasure Trove: If you own a share like this, Israel could owe you some money
The Jewish Colonial Trust was established on March 20, 1899. The first Zionist bank was the brainchild of Theodor Herzl who understood that funding would be required to make his vision of a Jewish homeland a reality. Each share cost one English pound, the equivalent of $280 today. (Herzl bought the first 1,000 shares which was a […]
The post Treasure Trove: If you own a share like this, Israel could owe you some money first appeared on The Canadian Jewish News.
The post Treasure Trove: If you own a share like this, Israel could owe you some money appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.