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Jewish Groups Pull Support From Oregon Food Bank for Blasting ‘Israel’s Violence’ in Gaza
A total of 12 Jewish organizations based in Oregon, including nonprofits and five synagogues, announced in a joint statement that they will not support the Oregon Food Bank until it retracts its condemnation of Israel’s military actions during the ongoing Israeli campaign targeting Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
The local Jewish groups, including the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, also called on the Oregon Food Bank to issue a new statement “indicating that it will maintain its focus on hunger and its root causes here in Oregon.”
They added, “Until such time we will support other local organizations who are upholding this important mission.”
On April 30, the Oregon Food Bank released a statement that called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire to end “Israel’s violence against Palestinians.” The organization — which collects and distributes food across five main locations in Oregon and southwest Washington — claimed that Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip puts Palestinians in the region “at risk of genocide.” The food bank condemned what it described as “indiscriminate attacks by the Israeli army on Palestinians, including the bombardment of neighborhoods, healthcare facilities, humanitarian aid efforts, and refugee camps.”
“The intentional obstruction of humanitarian relief efforts as well as the deliberate destruction of Palestinian food and lifeways, such as the intentional targeting of bakeries, hospitals, and housing units, exacerbates the suffering and vulnerability of Palestinians,” the food bank added. “These attacks illustrate how blocking food distribution and the weaponization of starvation is a violent tactic of war … Oregon Food Bank’s mission is to end hunger and its root causes. We know that colonial ideologies are root causes of hunger, including the legacy of World War II’s antisemitism, Islamophobia, and hatred, which fuel the current outbreak of violence in Israel and Palestine.”
The statement on April 30 was the first time that the Oregon Food Bank has commented or released a political statement on an international conflict. The food bank also denounced the deadly Oct. 7 attacks committed by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel and called for the release of all hostages abducted that day by the terrorist organization. The group additionally condemned the rise of antisemitism and Islamophobia in Oregon and southwest Washington.
In response, Jewish organizations — including Portland Jewish Academy, Oregon NCSY, and the Oregon Jewish Community Foundation — released a joint statement that accused the food bank of exhibiting a “bias” in its approach to a “complicated international situation.” They said the Oregon Food Bank is wrong for solely blaming the Jewish state for the Israel-Hamas war and “accusing Israel of waging war on a civilian population rather than battling a terrorist organization which brutally murdered, raped, and kidnapped more than a thousand of its citizens.”
The Oregon Food Bank’s statement “also includes false charges of colonialism and genocide which the Oregon Food Bank is not in a position to substantiate,” the Jewish groups said. “Antisemitism is on the rise in our nation and our community. In our view, the false accusations here serve to further fan the flames of Jewish hatred.”
Many of the Jewish groups have been longtime supporters of the Oregon Food Bank as donors and volunteers, some even since the food bank was founded in 1982. “We maintain a commitment to the mission of eliminating hunger in Oregon, and its root causes,” they explained. “But we cannot see how calling on one party of a conflict thousands of miles away to commit to a ceasefire, while allowing the terror organization that broke the ceasefire to continue to flourish on its borders, helps eliminate hunger in Oregon.”
On May 16, the Oregon Food Bank released a statement in recognition of Jewish-American Heritage Month, honoring “the resilience and contributions of Jewish peoples” and recognizing “the deep roots and present actions of antisemitism” across the US. The Jewish organizations said that while they appreciate the food bank’s remarks celebrating Jewish-American Heritage Month, “it does nothing to negate the harm already done.”
The post Jewish Groups Pull Support From Oregon Food Bank for Blasting ‘Israel’s Violence’ in Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Foreign Minister Denies Plot to Kill Trump, Urges Confidence-Building with US
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi denied US charges that Tehran was linked to an alleged plot to kill Donald Trump and called on Saturday for confidence-building between the two hostile countries.
“Now … a new scenario is fabricated … as a killer does not exist in reality, scriptwriters are brought in to manufacture a third-rate comedy,” Araqchi said in a post on X.
He was referring to the alleged plot which Washington said was ordered by Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards to assassinate Trump, who won Tuesday’s presidential election and takes office in January.
“The American people have made their decision. And Iran respects their right to elect the President of their choice. The path forward is also a choice. It begins with respect,” Araqchi said.
“Iran is NOT after nuclear weapons, period. This is a policy based on Islamic teachings and our security calculations. Confidence-building is needed from both sides. It is not a one-way street,” he added.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said earlier that the claim was a “repulsive” plot by Israel and the Iranian opposition outside the country to “complicate matters between America and Iran.”
Iranian analysts and insiders have not dismissed the possibility of a detente between Tehran and Washington under Trump, although without restoring diplomatic ties.
“Iran will act based on its own interests. It is possible that secret talks between Tehran and Washington take place. If security threats against the Islamic Republic are removed, anything is possible,” Tehran-based analyst Saeed Laylaz said this week.
While facing off against arch-foe Israel, Iran’s clerical leadership is also concerned about the possibility of an all-out war in the region, where Israel is engaged in conflicts with Tehran’s allies in Gaza and Lebanon.
The post Iran Foreign Minister Denies Plot to Kill Trump, Urges Confidence-Building with US first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Evidence from WhatsApp, Telegram Groups Shows Amsterdam Pogrom Was Organized
i24 News – Screenshots of electronic messages on WhatsApp and Telegram obtained by the Daily Telegraph show that the attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam represent a planned and organized pogrom.
One message sent to a Dutch-language WhatsApp group the day before Thursday night’s violent outbursts reads “tomorrow after the game, at night, part 2 of the Jew Hunt. Tomorrow we work them.”
Another message reads “who can sort fireworks? We need a lot of fireworks.” The pro-Palestinian activists refer to “cancer dogs,” an insult considered particularly vile in Holland.
The lackluster response of Dutch authorities was noted by many.
Dutch king Willem-Alexander reportedly said to Israel’s President Isaac Herzog in a phone call on Friday morning that “we failed the Jewish community of the Netherlands during World War II, and last night we failed again.”
The post Evidence from WhatsApp, Telegram Groups Shows Amsterdam Pogrom Was Organized first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Qatar to End Gaza-Ceasefire Mediation: Report
JNS.org – Qatar will end its role as a mediator between Hamas and Israel in pursuit of a Gaza-ceasefire and hostage-release deal, an official “briefed on the matter” told Reuters on Saturday.
“The Qataris have said since the start of the conflict that they can only mediate when both parties demonstrate a genuine interest in finding a resolution,” the official added, according to Reuters.
Since diplomatic negotiations have not yielded fruitful results for months, the Gulf state concluded that Hamas’s political office in Doha “no longer serves its purpose,” the official was cited as saying.
These statements come in the wake of a Reuters report on Friday, according to which a senior US official told the outlet: “After rejecting repeated proposals to release hostages, [Hamas’s] leaders should no longer be welcome in the capitals of any American partner. We made that clear to Qatar following Hamas’s rejection weeks ago of another hostage release proposal.”
Doha passed on the message to Hamas around 10 days ago, the official said, adding that the United States was monitoring the situation and pressuring Qatar to close Hamas’s political office.
The last talks intermediated by Qatar broke down in mid-October, after a series of attempts to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and a deal that would swap Palestinian prisoners with the remaining 101 Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Qatar’s foreign ministry did not respond to a request by Reuters for a comment, though three Hamas officials denied they were being expelled from the Gulf state.
Qatar, a major American ally, which senior US officials frequently thank for its role in negotiating on behalf of Hamas in ongoing efforts to broker a ceasefire and hostage-release deal, has long harbored Khaled Mashaal, Hamas’s acting political leader.
At a press conference late last month, JNS asked State Department spokesman Matthew Miller why Washington wasn’t pressuring Qatar to push Mashaal into a deal, given that the terror leader is a guest in the Gulf state.
Miller cited the prior “tireless efforts” and “intense focus” of Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani to try to seal an agreement.
“They have a channel with Hamas that is productive for trying to reach this agreement,” Miller said. “The fact is it’s Hamas that holds the hostages, and so it’s Hamas with whom they have to negotiate.”
In September, the US Justice Department unsealed charges against Mashaal for his role in orchestrating the Oct. 7 attacks.
In a press release, the Justice Department declared, “On Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists, led by these defendants, murdered nearly 1,200 people, including over 40 Americans, and kidnapped hundreds of civilians… The charges unsealed today are just one part of our effort to target every aspect of Hamas’s operations. These actions will not be our last.”
Doha has welcomed Hamas officials since 2012 as part of an agreement with Washington.
On Friday, 14 Republican senators called on the State Department to immediately freeze assets of Hamas leaders living in Qatar. The senators also urged the Biden administration to ask Doha to “end its hospitality to Hamas’s senior leadership.”
Al Thani has reiterated his position since Oct. 7 that Hamas’s presence in his country is contingent on the usefulness of the ongoing negotiations.
According to Israel’s Channel 12 News, a senior official in Jerusalem lauded Doha’s decision, saying that “Israel and the United States have pressured Qatar’s leaders not to host Hamas seniors [in their country] for a long time. It is good that Hamas, which is nothing but a murderous terrorist group, will be persecuted everywhere in the world and not welcomed by any country.”
The post Qatar to End Gaza-Ceasefire Mediation: Report first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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