RSS
Holocaust Survivors Confront Denial Posts From Social Media in New Digital Campaign
The Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati has created a Holocaust gravesite marker to honor survivors of the Holocaust who were victims of Nazi persecution between 1933-1945. The photo is taken in the Walnut Hills Cemetery in Walnut Hills, April 17, 2024. Photo: USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters Connect
The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) will share videos of Holocaust survivors from around the world reading and responding to posts from social media that deny the Nazis’ murder of six million Jews as part of a new digital campaign launched on Thursday ahead of Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah).
In each video as part of the #CancelHate campaign, Holocaust survivors introduces themselves, read social media posts about Holocaust denial, and then address the lies they’ve read while sharing their personal experiences under Nazi persecution. Every video ends with the tagline, “Words matter. Cancel hate.”
Starting on Thursday, the Claims Conference will post a video every day for 30 days on social media and on the organization’s website. The month-long campaign aims to tackle the issue of Holocaust denial and distortion on social media, showing how these false narratives promote antisemitism and spread hate.
“Holocaust denial is cruel. When it is on social media it has the potential to spread misinformation even faster,” Holocaust survivor and #CancelHate campaign participant Abe Foxman told The Algemeiner. “It is important that we all do what we can to combat denial and disinformation.”
Thirteen members of Foxman’s immediate family died in the Holocaust. As part of the #CancelHate campaign, he read a post from social media in which the writer said in part: “There were no gas chambers. Every single thing we know about World War II is a lie … I have the same goals as Hitler: exile the Jews and keep their degeneracy and corruption and lies out of society.”
Posts on social media that deny the Holocaust “are hateful and deny the suffering of millions of people,” said Foxman. “We must take our words seriously. Our words matter.”
#CancelHate: Abe Foxman survived the Holocaust but 13 members of his immediate family did not. Today he reads a post found on social media that denies that history. These posts are hateful and deny the suffering of millions of people. #WordsMatter #YomHaShoah Hate will not win. pic.twitter.com/YcrQIFar5X
— Claims Conference (@ClaimsCon) May 2, 2024
“Campaigns like #CancelHate are incredibly important in the fight against Holocaust denial and distortion,” Greg Schneider, executive vice president of the Claims Conference, told The Algemeiner. “We are seeing these hateful posts while we still have survivors here to tell their stories. Imagine when we don’t. These kinds of hurtful posts are an epidemic of hate online and we cannot let them go unanswered.”
Announcing the campaign on Thursday, he said: “We all saw what unchecked hatred led to — words of hate and antisemitism led to deportations, gas chambers, and crematoria. Holocaust survivors from around the world are participating in this campaign to show that hate will not win. Those who read these depraved posts are putting aside their own discomfort and trauma to ensure that current and future generations understand that unchecked hatred has no place in society.”
Herbert Rubinstein, a Holocaust survivor in Germany who read a denial post shared by a social media user in his home country, added: “I lived through the Holocaust. Six million were murdered. Hate and Holocaust denial have returned to our society today. I am very, very, very sad about this and I am fighting it with all my might and strength. Words matter. Our words are our power.”
In January, Meta’s Oversight Board announced that it would not allow Holocaust denial content on its platforms, which include Facebook and Instagram. It said the “prohibition is consistent with Meta’s human rights responsibilities” and that “it is important to understand Holocaust denial as an element of antisemitism, which is discriminatory in its consequences.”
The post Holocaust Survivors Confront Denial Posts From Social Media in New Digital Campaign first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
The Israeli army said on Saturday that a missile fired from Yemen towards Israeli territory had been “most likely successfully intercepted,” while Yemen’s Houthi forces claimed responsibility for the launch.
Israel has threatened Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement – which has been attacking Israel in what it says is solidarity with Gaza – with a naval and air blockade if its attacks on Israel persist.
The Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group was responsible for Saturday’s attack, adding that it fired a missile towards the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
Since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade.
Most of the dozens of missiles and drones they have launched have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.
The post Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel
People attend the funeral procession of Iranian military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 28, 2025. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Large crowds of mourners dressed in black lined streets in Iran’s capital Tehran as the country held a funeral on Saturday for top military commanders, nuclear scientists and some of the civilians killed during this month’s aerial war with Israel.
At least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among those mourned at the funeral, according to state media, including armed forces chief Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards commander General Hossein Salami, and Guards Aerospace Force chief General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
Their coffins were driven into Tehran’s Azadi Square adorned with their photos and national flags, as crowds waved flags and some reached out to touch the caskets and throw rose petals onto them. State-run Press TV showed an image of ballistic missiles on display.
Mass prayers were later held in the square.
State TV said the funeral, dubbed the “procession of the Martyrs of Power,” was held for a total of 60 people killed in the war, including four women and four children.
In attendance were President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior figures including Ali Shamkhani, who was seriously wounded during the conflict and is an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as Khamenei’s son Mojtaba.
“Today, Iranians, through heroic resistance against two regimes armed with nuclear weapons, protected their honor and dignity, and look to the future prouder, more dignified, and more resolute than ever,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who also attended the funeral, said in a Telegram post.
There was no immediate statement from Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since the conflict began. In past funerals, he led prayers over the coffins of senior commanders ahead of public ceremonies broadcast on state television.
Israel launched the air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.
Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
TRUMP THREAT
Israel, the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons, said it aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.
Iran denies having a nuclear weapons program. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has said it has “no credible indication” of an active, coordinated weapons program in Iran.
Bagheri, Salami and Hajizadeh were killed on June 13, the first day of the war. Bagheri was being buried at the Behesht Zahra cemetery outside Tehran mid-afternoon on Saturday. Salami and Hajizadeh were due to be buried on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would consider bombing Iran again, while Khamenei, who has appeared in two pre-recorded video messages since the start of the war, has said Iran would respond to any future US attack by striking US military bases in the Middle East.
A senior Israeli military official said on Friday that Israel had delivered a “major blow” to Iran’s nuclear project. On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that Israel and the US “failed to achieve their stated objectives” in the war.
According to Iranian health ministry figures, 610 people were killed on the Iranian side in the war before a ceasefire went into effect on Tuesday. More than 4,700 were injured.
Activist news agency HRANA put the number of killed at 974, including 387 civilians.
Israel’s health ministry said 28 were killed in Israel and 3,238 injured.
The post Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival
Revellers dance as Avril Lavigne performs on the Other Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
i24 News – Chants of “death to the IDF” were heard during the English Glastonbury music festival on Saturday ahead of the appearance of the pro-Palestinian Irish rappers Kneecap.
One half of punk duo based Bob Vylan (who both use aliases to protect their privacy) shouted out during a section of their show “Death to the IDF” – the Israeli military. Videos posted on X (formerly Twitter) show the crowd responding to and repeating the cheer.
This comes after officials had petitioned the music festival to drop the band. The rap duo also expressed support for the following act, Kneecap, who the BCC refused to show live after one of its members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – better known by stage name Mo Chara – was charged with a terror offense.
The post Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival first appeared on Algemeiner.com.