Local News
Adas Yeshurun Herzlia Congregation to present famed anti-terrorist fighter Nitsana Darshan-Leitner
How much responsibility do social media groups bear for fomenting terrorist and extremist behaviour?
That question lies at the heart of a momentous lawsuit that has been making its way through the US legal system and which is about to be decided by the United States Supreme Court this June.
The driving force behind the legal challenge, which aims to curb the ability of social media giants to serve as conduits for terrorist messaging, is Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, head of Shurat Ha-Din (or the Israel Law Centre, as it is known in English).
On Sunday, May 7, Darshan-Leitner will appear live from Israel via Zoom to explain how, for years, Shurat Ha-Din has been using the courts in various countries, to attempt to mitigate the terrible toll that terrorist activities have had on Jews and non-Jews alike, in Israel and beyond.
Following is some background information about Shurat Ha-Din’s latest court challenge:
Terror and extremist groups have been using social media to broadcast hateful propaganda, incite murder, recruit members, disseminate orders, and generate donations for 3 decades. We have grown accustomed to videos of terror attacks and photos of terrorists celebrating death and mayhem around the world. The world stood by helplessly as the expanding power of social media shaped opinion and fostered intolerance. Meanwhile, social media platforms have done little to address the toxicity that festers online, and social media shareholders have profited from growing viewership and use.
Social media platform owners have consistently rejected responsibility for their role in supporting terror because Section 230 of the US 1996 Communication Decency Act states that “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”
Section 230 has provided terrorists with unlimited opportunities to promote themselves and their actions on social media platforms for 22 years – in spite of the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act forbidding US companies and citizens from providing support to designated terrorist groups.
Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center shifted attention from interrupting terror financing to understanding California-based social media giants’ role when terror groups started urging online followers to commit lone-wolf attacks in Israel in 2014. Dozens of Israelis were killed, and scores of by-standers were wounded in a series of stabbings and car-ramming attacks during “the Facebook Intifada”.
Shurat HaDin realized that social media algorithms amplified terrorist messages, and suspected complaints about hateful content were handled subjectively if at all. To prove their suspicion, Shurat HaDin created 2 identical posts targeting different groups, and then raised concerns with Google. The post targeting Arabs was immediately removed. The post targeting Jews remained online.
Shurat HaDin reached out to Facebook to demand that proprietary algorithms be created to block dangerous content. When those efforts failed, Shurat HaDin sued on behalf of the victims of the Facebook Intifada in state and federal courts and lost. Section 230 was interpreted at every level of the judiciary to protect Facebook, even though aiding and abetting the murder of Jews, Israelis and American citizens was illegal and in direct conflict with anti-terrorism legislation.
When ISIS murdered 130 people in Paris on November 13, 2015, the sole American casualty was a twenty-three-year-old exchange student named Nohemi Gonzalez. Her parents sued Google, arguing that the tech giant used its algorithms to promote and recommend terrorist videos and propaganda for profit in direct violation of the Anti-Terrorism Act. Faced with Google’s army of attorneys and lobbyists, Shurat HaDin again repeatedly lost in state and federal courts.
Nohemi’s parents remained resolute and after years of legal defeat, the US Supreme Court decided it would hear their case, Gonzalez vs. Google. Oral arguments were presented by Shurat HaDin lawyers in February 2023, and a ruling is expected in June 2023. If the Supreme Court decides in favour of Big Tech, Congress has already indicated it will amend the law. The Internet will be radically altered because of the unrelenting efforts of Shurat HaDin on behalf of terror victims around the world.
Nitsana Darshan – Leitner, President of Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Centre, will join us live from Israel to discuss her team’s remarkable journey to the US Supreme Court on Sunday, May 7th. You are invited to attend Nitsana’s Zoom presentation in person at Adas Yeshurun Herzlia, 620 Brock Street at 12:30 pm, or watch via Zoom from home. A dessert reception will follow the presentation at the synagogue. Contact Adas Yeshurun at 204-489-6262 or reception@adasyeshurun.ca for more information.
Local News
Winnipeg-born Elliot Lazar to star as Paul Simon in “The Simon & Garfunkel Story” at Centennial Concert Hall
By BERNIE BELLAN Elliot Lazar’s career has long been chronicled in the pages of The Jewish Post & News. Do a search for his name in our “Search Archives” button and you will find a multitude of stories about Elliot from the time he was five years old.
A talented singer, musician, and musical arranger, also a graduate of Gray Academy, the University of Manitoba’s Desautels Faculty of Music, and the Boston Conservatory, Elliot has appeared many times in Winnipeg, including most recently last summer in Rainbow Stage’s production of “Rent.”
He’s been constantly busy – as a review of some of his past acting credits reveals. Last season alone, in addition to his performing in “Rent,” Elliot also appeared in the National Tour of “Fiddler on the Roof,” and “The Band’s Visit” (Huntington/Speakeasy Stage).
We’re excited to announce that Elliot will be appearing in Winnipeg for one night only, May 21, starring as Paul Simon in “The Simon & Garfunkel Story.”
Here’s Elliot’s own story about his growing up in Winnipeg:
“I grew up in Garden City, attended Gray Academy (K-12) and majored in vocal performance at the University of Manitoba’s Desautels Faculty of Music. I lived in Winnipeg until I was 22, so I’m pretty connected with the arts scene there still. The venue we’re playing, the Centennial Concert Hall, I was last seen in Guys and Dolls in concert with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Rainbow Stage (2019), and before that I sang with the Manitoba Opera Chorus in 3 productions there. My last performance in Winnipeg was in Rent with Rainbow Stage this past summer. Other local performing arts companies I have a history with there are Winnipeg Jewish Theatre, Winnipeg Studio Theatre, Dry Cold Productions, Manitoba Theatre for Young People, Manitoba Underground Opera, Little Opera Company, and the Winnipeg Fringe Festival. I grew up going to see shows at the Concert Hall, so it’s a wonderful full circle moment for me.”
About “The Simon & Garfunkel Story”:
Nostalgia-inducing unforgettable hits! The internationally-acclaimed hit theater show The Simon & Garfunkel Story (www.thesimonandgarfunkelstory.com) returns to the road in 2024 with a North American tour to more than 25 cities. Kicking off in Richmond, Kentucky on January 28, 2024, the immersive concert-style tribute show will recreate the magic and authenticity of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel on stage and chronicles the amazing journey shared by the iconic, GRAMMY-award winning folk-rock duo. It tells the story from their humble beginnings as Tom & Jerry, to their incredible success as one of the best-selling music groups of the ‘60s, and to their dramatic split in 1970. The Simon & Garfunkel Story culminates with the pair’s famous “The Concert in Central Park” reunion in 1981 which had more than half a million fans in attendance. Tickets are on sale now.
The show features a set list of nearly 30 songs and uses state-of-the-art video projection, photos and original film footage. A full live band will perform all of the hits including “Mrs. Robinson,” “Cecilia,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Homeward Bound” and many more complete with the unmistakably perfect harmonies that will transport audiences down memory lane.
With more than 100 million album sales since 1965, Simon & Garfunkel’s unforgettable songs and poetic lyrics poignantly captured the times made them one of the most successful folk-rock duos of all time. Over the years, they won 10 GRAMMY Awards and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. In 1977, the Brit Awards honored their “Bridge Over Troubled Water” album with Best International Album. In 2003, Simon & Garfunkel were awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the following year saw their “The Sound of Silence” awarded a Grammy Hall of Fame Award.
Local News
Ida and the late Saul Alpern have donated 2 ambulances and a scooter to Magen David Adom in past 4 years
By BERNIE BELLAN Saul Alpern passed away in 2022, but before he died he and his wife Ida had decided to make Magen David Adom a major recipient of their generosity.
As Myron Love noted in an October 2020 article the Alperns had been contributing small amounts to the Canadian Magen David Adom for some time, but it was in that year they decided to donate $160,000 for the purchase of a Mobile Intensive Care Unit for Israel’s Magen David Adom.
As Myron wrote in that 2020 article, an MICUA (which is larger than an ambulance, is staffed by paramedics, and responds only to the most medically serious cases) was donated “to the people of Israel in memory of Saul Alpern’s parents and siblings who perished in the Holocaust.
“It is an expression of my love for my family and my love of Israel,” Saul Alpern said at the time.
In early 2022 the Alperns donated yet another $170,000 for the purchase of a second MICU for Magen David Adom.
Saul Alpern passed away in November 2022, but Ida Alpern has now continued the legacy of giving to Canadian Magen David Adom that she and Saul had begun several years before. Just recently Ida contributed $39,000 toward the purchase of an emergency medical scooter. According to the CMDA website, “the scooter, which is driven by a paramedic, can get through traffic faster than the Standard Ambulance or MICU and provide pre-hospital care. It contains life-saving equipment, including a defibrillator, an oxygen tank, and other essential medical equipment.”
I asked Ida whether she wanted to say anything about the motivation for her and her late husband’s support for CMDA. She wrote, “Having survived the Holocaust, and being a Zionist, Saul felt that supporting Israel was of the utmost importance.”
On May 7, CMDA will be honouring Ida and Saul z”l Alpern at a dinner and show at the Centro Caboto Centre. Another highlight that evening will be the announcement of the purchase of an ambulance for CMDA by another Winnipegger, Ruth Ann Borenstein. That ambulance will be in honour of Ruth’s late parents, Gertrude and Harry Mitchell. The evening will also commemorate the late Yoram East (aka Hamizrachi), who was a well-known figure both in Israel and here in Winnipeg.
For more information about the May 7 event go to https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/canadian-magen-david-adom-for-israel/events/cmda-winnipeg-an-evening-of-appreciation/ or to purchase tickets phone 587-435-5808 or email sfraiman@cmdai.org
Local News
Simkin Centre looking for volunteers
We received the following email from Heather Blackman, Simkin Centre Director of Volunteers & Resident Experience:
Happy Spring Everyone! Hope you all are well. We have a number of upcoming volunteer opportunities that I wanted to share with you. Please take a look at what we have listed here and let me know if you are available for any of the following. I can be reached at heather.blackman@simkincentre.ca or 204-589-9008.
Save the date! The Simkin Stroll is on June 25th this year and we need tons of volunteers to assist. This is our annual fundraiser and there is something for everyone to help with from walking with Residents in the Stroll to manning booths and tables, event set up and take down and much more. Volunteers will be needed from 3 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on this day. Come and help for the full event or for any period within that timeframe that works for you.
Resident Store – This tuck shop style cart will be up for business shortly. Residents will be assisting to stock and run the store for 2 hours 2- 3 times per week in the afternoons. Volunteer support is needed to assist residents with restocking items and monetary transactions.
Passover Volunteers
Volunteers are needed to assist with plating Seder plates for Residents (date to be determined for plating)
Volunteers are needed to assist Residents to and from Passover Services and Come and Go Teas.
Times volunteers are needed for services/teas:
April 22cnd – First Seder 1:30-3:30 p.m.
April 23rd – Passover Service Day 1 – 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
April 23rd – Second Seder – 1:30-3:30 p.m.
April 24th – Passover Service – Day 2 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
April 29th – Passover Service – 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
April 29th- Passover Tea – 1:30-3:30 p.m.
April 30th – Passover Service – 9:30 -11:30 a.m.
April 30th – Passover Tea – 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Admin/Paperwork Volunteers – Volunteers are needed to assist with filing and other administrative duties. A monthly volunteering job is also available to input information on programming into Recreation activity calendars. Support would be provided for this.
Adult Day Program – A volunteer is needed to assist with the Mondays Adult Day Program Group. A regular ongoing weekly commitment on Mondays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Assist with Recreation programming and lunch supervision for our Adult Day Program participants that come in from the community for the day.
Biking Volunteers – Take our residents out for a spin on one of our specialty mobility bicycles. Training is provided and volunteers will be needed throughout the Spring, Summer and early Fall.
With summer coming there is also opportunity to assist with outings and other outdoor programming! Please let me know if you are interested!
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