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Israelis Defend UNRWA Ban Amid US Rebuke, Say School Kids Better Off Without Agency’s ‘Poisonous Influence’

Security personnel work at the UNRWA headquarters, in Jerusalem, May 10, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad

Israel’s decision to ban the United Nations agency responsible for Palestinian refugees and their descendants from operating in the country was necessary given the organization’s ties to the Hamas terror group and “poisonous influence” in the Middle East, according to an expert and Israeli officials, who argued that concerns over the move are overblown.

The US blasted its ally Israel for passing legislation on Monday that bans the the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) from operating within Israeli territory and prohibits any Israeli authority from engaging with the agency.

The two laws passed overwhelmingly in Israel’s parliament, known as the Knesset, amid mounting revelations of UNRWA staff involvement in the Hamas-led massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The legislation will close UNRWA’s operations in Jerusalem, where it services hundreds of thousands of Palestinians with education, health, and other aid. It will also limit the agency’s operations in Gaza and the West Bank, which relies on cooperation from Israeli authorities.

The Biden administration said it was “deeply troubled” by the move.

“Implementing the legislation risks catastrophe for the more than 3 million Palestinians who rely on UNRWA for essential services, including health care, and primary and secondary education,” the US State Department said. “We urge the government of Israel to pause and further consider implementation of this legislation to ensure UNRWA can effectively carry out its mission and facilitate humanitarian assistance.”

Marcus Sheff — CEO of the NGO IMPACT-se, which examines anti-Jewish and anti-Israel content in UNRWA’s educational materials — noted that numerous UNRWA-employed teachers were directly involved in the Oct. 7 massacre, while many others “openly celebrated it.” He cited a Wall Street Journal report from earlier this year that found that 23 percent of UNRWA’s male employees have ties to Hamas, a higher percentage than the average of 15 percent for adult males in Gaza. A further 10 percent of UNRWA’s school principals in Gaza and their deputies were leaders in Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another terrorist group.

“These are not a few bad apples but representative of the whole rotten barrel,” Sheff told The Algemeiner.

Sheff downplayed the Biden administration’s warnings about potential “catastrophe” from shutting down the agency.

“Fifteen million refugee children are in school today around the world and 97 percent are being educated without the help of UNRWA. Even UNRWA head [Philippe] Lazzarini acknowledged that other aid agencies could replace UNRWA, but that the Palestinians refuse. So what can UNRWA possibly offer the next generation of Palestinians? More poisonous textbooks taught too often by extremist teachers?”

Sheff testified to a US congressional committee in January that textbooks supplied by UNRWA “teach that Jews are liars and fraudsters that spread corruption, which will lead to their annihilation. Students are taught about cutting the necks of the enemy, that a fire massacre of Jews on a bus is celebrated as a barbecue party.”

Fleur Hassan Nahoum, special envoy for Israel’s foreign ministry, assailed UNRWA’s “poisonous influence” in the Middle East.

“Eighty percent of the terrorists that committed the massacre on Oct. 7 were educated in UNRWA schools. And so not only do they not have legitimacy to do the work that they’re doing, they have actually been a poisonous influence in our region,” she told The Algemeiner.

Hassan Nahoum, who also served as deputy mayor of Jerusalem, said that the curtailing of UNRWA’s operations in the Israeli capital had already shown positive signs.

“In Jerusalem, by offering better opportunities with the Arab-Israeli curriculum, we have managed to move the needle by 20 percent of kids now abandoning the UNRWA school system and learning a curriculum of hope and opportunity,” she said.

UNRWA on Thursday confirmed that a Hamas Nukbha force commander killed in an Israeli strike a day earlier was a staffer. Muhammad Abu Attawi led the killing and abducting of hostages, including American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, from a roadside bomb shelter near the site of the Nova party in Re’im in southern Israel.

Attawi’s name appeared in a July letter that Israel sent to the Palestinian refugee agency, listing more than 100 staff members affiliated with terror groups, including Hamas. An Israeli foreign ministry official said the list was a “small fraction” of the total number of terrorists employed by the UN agency, but that the full list could not be disclosed out of security considerations.

CCTV footage captured the body of Yonatan Samerano, who was murdered by terrorists on Oct. 7, being dragged by an UNRWA social worker, Faisal Ali Musalem al-Naami, and eventually stuffed into an UNRWA marked vehicle.

Last month, Hamas confirmed that Fatah Sharif Abu al-Amin, the chairman of UNRWA’s Teachers’ Association, served as its commander in Lebanon.

In a recording released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) earlier this year, UNRWA teacher Youssef Zidan Suleiman al-Hawajara is heard bragging to a friend: “We have female hostages; I captured one!”

Following the Oct. 7 attack, 18 countries suspended their funding to UNRWA, including the US, which contributes about a third of the agency’s budget, but resumed the flow of money again in March.

In 2018, the Trump administration cut all funding to UNRWA, calling the agency “irredeemably flawed,” a decision reversed by the Biden administration soon after taking office.

Israel has long called for permanently shuttering UNRWA, citing the agency’s ties to terrorism as well as its mandate, which according to Israeli officials perpetuates the conflict. Palestinian refugees are unique in that they pass their status to descendants, regardless of their age and country of residency, a practice Israel claims fuels demands for a “right of return.” The return of over 5 million Palestinians to Israel would destroy the Jewish state by demographic means, critics argue.

UNRWA faced scrutiny in 2019 when a leaked report accused its leadership of corruption, sexual misconduct, and mismanagement. The agency’s own report found that Palestinian terror groups had stored weapons in several empty UNRWA schools in Gaza and that rockets were “probably” fired at Israel from two of these schools during the 2014 Israel-Hamas conflict.

Speaking ahead of a Security Council meeting on Monday, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said, “There is no longer any plausible deniability regarding UNRWA’s infiltration by terrorists. Nor are there any excuses left.”

The post Israelis Defend UNRWA Ban Amid US Rebuke, Say School Kids Better Off Without Agency’s ‘Poisonous Influence’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Obituary: Stanley Diamond, 91, was a Montreal businessman-turned-genealogist whose research changed lives

Stanley Mark Diamond founded Jewish Records Indexing – Poland, the world’s largest special interest genealogy group. JRI – Poland was a “second act” in his life, combining his passion for Jewish continuity with his expertise as a Montreal business leader with a Harvard MBA.

Diamond died in Montreal on Dec.18. He was 91.

JRI – Poland grew over 30 years to approximately 170 volunteers on six continents around the world and amassed a database that now has 6.4 million records reflecting the lives of Polish Jews since the 1500s.

“Stanley had a two-fold superpower,” acting JRI – Poland executive director Robinn Magid says. “He was able to care about people and draw things out of them, but also to contribute and help. They go hand in handz but are not often found in the same person.”

In 1991, Diamond’s nephew was diagnosed as a carrier of beta thalassemia, and he created a family tree to alert relatives about their probability of having the gene. At the time, he was doing consulting work after selling his decorative ceiling business, Intalite, in 1986.

He began attending genealogy conferences and realized that the largest group of Jewish genealogists were Jews who traced their roots to the current or former country of Poland. In 1995, he partnered with two technology experts who had the skills to develop a website that could also incorporate archival information. Several months later, Diamond travelled to Poland with a colleague and persuaded the Polish State Archives to allow JRI – Poland to index his family’s ancestral town’s records. Just four months later, he returned to Poland with a printout of 40,000 entries, to the astonishment of the archives’ director, who then understood the value of the project.

Diamond hoped JRI – Poland would help people capture the essence of their ancestors. In addition to preserving their names, he wanted families to learn about their lives and about their values.

“JRI – Poland specializes in solving puzzles,” says Magid.

While some of these puzzles solve simple questions about basic family history, others are much more complex. The group has helped save lives by sharing information on hereditary health conditions. They have been able to repair damage caused by the Holocaust, connecting and reconnecting fragmented families who lost each other or did not know they even existed. They have assisted people who wanted to prove that they were Jewish and were entitled to an Orthodox Jewish wedding.

The group also assists Jews at risk. “Three years ago, when Putin invaded Ukraine, we saw an upswing in people writing us from Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Poland and other places saying they needed to prove their Polish-Jewish heritage,” says Magid. “In the past we’ve had people from Venezuela and from various South American countries like Argentina. They are in countries that have gone through turmoil and feel at risk. They are either trying to prove their halachic Jewish heritage and move to Israel, or they are trying to prove their Polish-Jewish heritage to get a Polish passport and move to the European Union. These are the people who Stanley personally helped.”

Diamond also provided his research expertise for the television series Finding your Roots and Who Do You Think You Are?, and in 2016 located documentation for the Guinness organization that verified that Israeli Holocaust survivor Yisrael Kristal was the world’s oldest living man at age 112.

Diamond was born in Montreal to Harry and Annie Diamond. He attended West Hill High School and McGill, and graduated from Harvard Business School in 1958. He was an exceptional baseball player, playing in a semi-pro league. He met his wife, Ruth Peerlkamp, at a party, and they were married for 59 years.

“Stanley Diamond’s first passion was for his family, but that soon spread to your families,” daughter Jessika said in her eulogy. “He loved doing for others, advising other genealogists, teaching, speaking out on the importance of genetic testing, reuniting families separated in the Holocaust, finding lost heirs and potential bone marrow matches.” 

In 2021, Yad Vashem granted JRI – Poland third-party access to their Pages of Testimony. Diamond advocated for the organization to support amateur genealogists who could provide hard data, and they agreed for the first time.  

“He was passionate about his work and personally devoted to helping anyone who asked for assistance,” his daughter Rachel said. “He was president of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal, and he was honored by the governor general of Canada with the Meritorious Service Medal. He considered it to be the crowning achievement of his second career. He had a huge footprint that will be felt for a very long time.” 

“It’s hard to imagine doing our jobs without Stanley Diamond advocating and referring and providing knowledge in the background of what we do for people,” said Janice Rosen, director of the Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives. “He was the go-to person in so many ways. The European side, the Canadian side. He was so determined to ferret out information to help people. He was involved in so many aspects of genealogy which grew out of his need to know about his own genetic background, and he made the whole world benefit from it.”

“We say people were lifetime learners. But more importantly, he was a lifetime contributor. And I don’t think we say that about many people,” said Magid. “He wanted to make a difference because he could envision something and get the right people to do it. And that is unique. He understood that we are part of a chain of continuity of the Jewish people.”

Diamond is survived by his wife, Ruth, daughters Paula, Rachel and Jessika, and his grandchildren.

The post Obituary: Stanley Diamond, 91, was a Montreal businessman-turned-genealogist whose research changed lives appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.

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Dutch Court Blasted for ‘Woefully Insufficient’ Sentencing of Men Who Attacked Israeli Soccer Fans in Amsterdam

Israeli soccer fans under assault, near Amsterdam Central station, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Nov. 8, 2024, in this still image obtained from a social media video. X/iAnnet/via REUTERS

A district court in Amsterdam sentenced five men on Tuesday for participating in violent attacks against Israeli soccer fans in the Dutch city last month, imposing punishments that were roundly criticized as inadequate by many pro-Israel supporters.

The five suspects were sentenced to community service and up to six months in jail for violent public assault, which included kicking fans of the Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv before and after the team’s match against their Dutch rivals Ajax and inciting the premeditated and coordinated violence that took place on Nov. 7.

A man identified as Sefa O was given the longest sentence — six months in prison for public violence against several people, minus the time he has already been held in custody. Prosecutors argued that he had a “leading role” in the violence that ensued. In court earlier this month, images were shown of a man identified as Sefa O kicking a person on the ground, chasing fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv in the streets of Amsterdam, and punching people in the head and the body.

A man identified as Umutcan A was sentenced to one month in jail, and Rachid O, who shared messages in the Whatsapp group chat that incited the violence, was sentenced to 10 weeks in jail. Karavan S was given one month for the same offense. Nineteen-year-old Lucas D — the only one of the five men to appear in court for the sentencing on Tuesday — was tried under juvenile law and ordered to complete 100 hours of community service, minus his pre-trial detention. The young man helped incite violence by participating in chat conversations that called for people to gather and attack Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, according to the court, which added that he also sent discriminatory messages in the chat group.

The five men were given sentences that were much less than what prosecutors demanded. The court defended its ruling by saying that community service is typically ordered for such crimes and for first time criminal offenders, which some of the suspects are, but “given the seriousness of the facts and the context in which they took place, the court is of the opinion that a prison sentence is the only appropriate punishment.” However, many have argued that the sentencing is not severe enough.

“Seriously Amsterdam? 6 months maximum prison, while excusing their pogromist actions? Shame on you,” Arsen Ostrovsky, a leading human rights attorney and CEO of The International Legal Forum, said in a post on X. “No wonder Jew-hatred and Islamic extremism is out of control in the Netherlands!”

Tal-Or Cohen, the founder and CEO of CyberWell, a technology company that monitors antisemitism and Holocaust denial on social media, called the sentencing on Tuesday “a shameful slap on the wrist and CYA [cover your ass] by Dutch authorities.”

“One of the leaders of the Amsterdam pogrom ‘possessed illegal fireworks with the power of a hand grenade,’ – But according to Dutch prosecutors no need to pursue charges for terrorism,” she noted, citing a Dutch report about the violence. “What if the leaders of the ‘Jew-Hunt’ brought their grenade to a Christmas market in Amsterdam?”

The Center for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI) described the severity of the sentencing as “disappointing” on its website. In a post on X, it further called the punishment “regrettable” since it was much less than what prosecutors had hoped for. “Nevertheless,” the group said, “it is good that prison sentences were imposed and that community service alone was not enough.”

“This shows that the legal order is also shocked. There was no justification for the actions of that night,” the CIDI added. “With this verdict, we as a society draw a clear line that this is not acceptable and that we do not accept this violence. We hope that other suspects will soon be arrested and that prosecutions can be initiated with the same speed.”

Others on X called the sentencing “woefully insufficient,” a “joke,” and a “disgrace.”

“This was an opportunity to show that antisemitism comes with a price. A 6 month jail sentence does not serve as a deterrent,” said one social media user.

After a soccer match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax on the night of Nov. 7, Israeli soccer fans were attacked in the streets by assailants who physically assaulted them, ran them over by cars, chased them with knives and sticks, and forced them to say “Free Palestine” to avoid further harm. Chief prosecutor René de Beukelaer said “several dozen” people were attacked. The violence continued into the early hours of Nov. 8 and five Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were hospitalized for injuries sustained during the attack that has been described as a “pogrom.” Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema called the attackers “antisemitic hit-and-run squads” who went “Jew hunting.” 

Seven people appeared in court earlier this month in connection to the violence, but two of the cases have been delayed. The defense in one case requested a later date, to have more time to prepare evidence, and the second case, involving a Palestinian refugee accused of “attempted manslaughter,” is pushed back as the court awaits the results of a psychiatric evaluation, according to AFP. A total of 62 people were arrested on the day of the soccer match in relation to the violence, but most were released shortly afterward, the news outlet noted. Dutch police have already identified at least 45 suspects  and are trying to identify more.

The prosecutor previously said that the violence last month “had little to do” with soccer. “In this case, there was no evidence of … a terrorist intent and the violence was not motivated by antisemitic sentiment,” he claimed. “The violence was influenced by the situation in Gaza, not by antisemitism.”

More than 47 people who were attacked during the violence in Amsterdam have obtained legal counsel from The Lawfare Project, which is helping the victims review legal options after also assisting them in securing local counsel in Amsterdam.

The post Dutch Court Blasted for ‘Woefully Insufficient’ Sentencing of Men Who Attacked Israeli Soccer Fans in Amsterdam first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Outremont MP Rachel Bendayan makes history as first Sephardi woman to join federal cabinet

Outremont MP Rachel Bendayan is Canada’s new minister of official languages and associate minister of public safety, following a Dec. 20 cabinet shuffle by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The 44-year-old lawyer was first elected in a 2019 byelection to fill the seat vacated by Thomas Mulcair, who represented Outremont for more than a decade, including as the leader of the federal NDP. Bendayan was twice re-elected in the riding, which has seen the NDP’s popularity rise over the last year. The seat is now considered a toss-up between the NDP and Liberals, according to 338 Canada poll projections.

Canada’s first Sephardi woman appointed to cabinet is also the former parliamentary secretary to former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland, who stunned the nation by resigning last week.

She is a strong advocate for federal gun control measures and has a background in international trade law. She is one of two new cabinet members from Quebec, alongside Minister of National Revenue Élisabeth Brière, who represents Sherbrooke.

After her swearing-in ceremony on Friday, Bendayan spoke about the third shooting of a Toronto Jewish school just hours earlier and Wednesday’s firebombing of Beth Tikvah synagogue in Montreal. She also noted Jewish schools in her own riding were shot at “not once, twice, but three times” since October 2023.

She used the opportunity to reveal a new federal summit on antisemitism, which The CJN reported on Dec. 20.

https://twitter.com/RachelBendayan/status/1870194541372027232

“I think everybody is aware that hate-motivated crime in particular is on the rise since 2019, police reporting that hate crimes have more than doubled, that there is a significant increase in hate crimes committed against the Muslim community, and, strikingly, antisemitic hate crimes have almost tripled in that same time period.

“As a result, and in order to ensure that we stem this violence, I’ll be convening along with the minister of justice, our counterparts provincially and territorially, also municipally as well as police authorities,” she said, announcing a national forum on combatting antisemitism. “We are going to be working all together in order to address this heinous and intolerable rise in hate crimes in Canada.”

Reactions range from silence to skepticism

When asked by The CJN, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs and the Communauté Sépharade Unifiée de Québec had no comment about Bendayan’s appointment.

The president of the Canadian Sephardi Federation, Avraham Elarar, told The CJN that Bendayan’s appointment is “not a bad thing for the community, but I wish she had done more for the community at large, regardless of whether she is Sephardi, but as a member of the Liberal Party…. I like her, but where was she? Unfortunately, I didn’t see her much during the tumultuous 14 months that we have just gone through.”

(Bendayan was absent from Parliament for about six months following a debilitating concussion in January 2024.)

Nevertheless, Elarar told The CJN, the move can seem “a desperate attempt by Justin Trudeau to cater to the Jewish community. Canada has had similar experiences as democracies like France and Britain, where every time a leader proclaims itself against Israel in any way, it becomes open season on Jews in their countries. Unfortunately, Trudeau fell into the same trap…. Antisemitic acts in Canada are some of the most virulent we’ve seen in Western countries,” he says.

“It takes courage, of course, and just because Bendayan is a Jewish MP does not mean it was her burden alone to fight antisemitism, but the ethical obligations as a human, as a Canadian regardless of affiliation, should have enticed her.”

In the hot seat in Quebec

For her part, Bendayan fended off questions about Trudeau’s future and election talk, stressing the importance of looking at political crises in Germany, France and instability across the world, including in the United States, where Donald Trump will be sworn in as president in January. She noted, “It is important for us to be a stable country here in Canada. It is important for us to defend Canadian interests. I don’t intend to waste any time on partisan politics.”

Indeed, Bendayan got her first taste of the delicate ministerial portfolio she now commands, when asked the question posed by Quebec journalists to every politician working on any language file, if “French in Quebec is in decline, yes or no?”

“Quebec has a very important role,” she replied. “It is the province that must first and foremost be francophone in order to ensure that the linguistic duality that we have here in Canada is protected and maintained.”

Pressed again for a “yes or no” answer, Bendayan replied, “I think my role as minister of official languages is to make sure that we maintain bilingualism, to make sure that the English-speaking minority in Quebec is protected and that the French-speaking minority outside Quebec is protected, so that bilingualism is protected everywhere across the country and that we maintain the linguistic duality that we have and that we are so proud of.”

She was immediately pilloried by nationalists and language hawks before she backtracked, telling reporters shortly after that it’s “true that French is in decline in Quebec.” Quebec’s French Language Minister Jean-François Roberge called Bendayan’s initial response irresponsible. “The decline of French in Quebec and Canada is a fact proven by Statistics Canada figures,” he posted on social media. “The new Minister of Official Languages must absolutely recognize this, because it is her responsibility to reverse this decline.”

According to StatsCan, Quebec’s overall population grew 4.1 percent between 2016 and 2021 (to 8,501,833) while the number of those whose mother tongue is French grew by less than 1.2 percent, comprising 74.9 percent of the population. Moreover, the number of Quebecers who most often spoke French at home was outpaced by those speaking English. Nationwide, French was the first official language spoken by more than 7.8 million Canadians in 2021, up from 7.7 million in 2016, a 1.6-percent hike that lagged far behind Canada’s population growth (5.2 percent).

Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet and Quebec’s sole NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice also took her to task. Boulerice posted, minutes after her appointment, “When you come to appointing Rachel Bendayan as (minister of) official languages, you’ve reached the bottom of the barrel.”

Outremont is a diverse riding encompassing the borough of Outremont, parts of Côte des Neiges-Notre Dame de Grâce borough and Mile End, and is home to the city’s largest Haredi Jewish community, an older Greek community and new immigrants. The riding is majority French-speaking, and about 12 percent Jewish.

Known as a long-time Liberal activist and Trudeau loyalist, Bendayan joins fellow Montreal cabinet members Marc Miller, Mélanie Joly, Steve Guilbeault and Soraya Martinez. As new official languages minister, she succeeds Randy Boissonnault, who resigned from cabinet in November over controversies surrounding his business activities and claims to Indigenous heritage.

Bendayan’s predecessor-turned-pundit, Thomas Mulcair, described her the day before her appointment as a solid lawyer and backbencher. The former NDP leader told CTV, “She’s well respected and, since Oct. 7, the Trudeau-Joly team has been under a lot of criticism from that [Jewish] community. The Liberals are expecting to lose Anthony Housefather’s riding to the Conservatives on the island of Montreal, so she would be a way of sending a positive signal.”

Bendayan “is young, she’s strong, and I like her,” added Elarar. “But an associate minister means nothing. As for language issues, she’s going to have her hands very full…. I’m also realistic to know that this government will not last, and the government that will replace it will continue the tradition of Stephen Harper, who was tremendously supportive of Israel and the Jewish community.”

Housefather has been elected three times in Mount Royal—which was, until recently, one of Canada’s safest Liberal ridings, which previously elected Irwin Cotler, Sheila Finestone and Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Housefather has publicly called on Trudeau to resign, saying his remaining in place is a liability for Liberal members of Parliament across the country. While the riding has been inching closer towards the Conservatives, and their candidate, Neil Oberman, over the last year, polling aggregate 338 Canada shows Housefather’s fortunes rising over the last two weeks, amid the turmoil of the Trudeau government and his calls for the leader to step down.

The post Outremont MP Rachel Bendayan makes history as first Sephardi woman to join federal cabinet appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.

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