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Senate declines to consider Bernie Sanders bill to review whether Israel follows US human rights law

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly declined to consider a bill advanced by Sen. Bernie Sanders to assess whether Israel is complying with U.S. human rights laws governing the American military aid it receives.

The Senate voted 72-11 across parties to shelve the bill, which would have required the State Department to report to Congress within 30 days on Israeli compliance with international and U.S. human rights laws. All but one of the votes in favor were Democrats. Rand Paul of Kentucky was the single Republican who supported the measure. The motion to shelve the bill was advanced by Sen. Ben Cardin, the Jewish Maryland Democrat who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee.

Sanders, a Jewish Vermonter who caucuses with Democrats and is the unofficial leader of progressives in Congress, spoke passionately on Tuesday for 10 minutes, flanked by two large photos of Palestinian children in Gaza waiting for food. International aid organizations say the coastal enclave is on the verge of starvation after more than 100 days of war between Israel and Hamas.

Sanders pointed to Israel’s use of American weapons in its campaign against the terror group.

“Almost 2 million people are trying to survive with an inadequate supply for food, water, medicine or fuel, and the humanitarian situation is getting worse by the minute,” Sanders said. “Hundreds of thousands of beautiful children are facing starvation. Given the scale of the destruction and the extensive use of American armed military equipment in this campaign, Congress must act and that is why we must have is vital to the resolution. We must ensure that U.S. aid is being used in accordance with international human rights and our own laws.”

Israel has said it is not obstructing the entry of aid, and blames the slowness of delivery on hapless humanitarian organizations. It also claims Hamas is stealing the aid.

The war began on Oct. 7 when Hamas invaded Israel, killing approximately 1,200 and taking some 250 hostages. More than 23,000 Palestinians have died since Israel launched counterstrikes on Oct. 8, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. Israel has said approximately third of the dead in Gaza are combatants.

Sanders was a vocal defender of Israel’s war effort at first but has grown more critical of the campaign.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbied against the bill. “Take 45 seconds to email your Senators and urge them to vote NO on this dangerous resolution,” it said in an action alert to its membership. The bill “falsely implies that Israel is committing gross violations of human rights in its effort to defend itself from Hamas’ barbaric terrorist attack,” the alert said.

It didn’t help Sanders that even among more left-leaning Jewish organizations there was less than full-throated support. Americans for Peace Now, which has called for a ceasefire, backed the bill. But J Street, the larger liberal Israel lobby, said in a statement that while it backed oversight of defense assistance to Israel, it had problems with the bill as written.

“J Street has concerns with specific provisions that have prevented us from offering our full support for this particular resolution, and we have reviewed these concerns with Senator Sanders,” but said in a statement. “We look forward to working with him and others in the near future to craft a resolution that we can support to ensure US oversight and enforcement of Israel’s compliance with U.S. law in its current war in Gaza.”

A spokesman did not answer a query about which “specific provisions” troubled J Street.

Also opposing the bill was the Jewish Democratic Council of America, which, like AIPAC and J Street, fundraises for Democrats.  JDCA said the bill could jeopardize aid to Israel.

“The resolution requires the State Department to issue a report on alleged Israeli human rights violations, and if it fails to do so within 30 days, all U.S. security assistance to Israel would be cut,” JDCA in a statement. “JDCA and the vast majority – 80% – of Jewish voters support U.S. aid to Israel.”


The post Senate declines to consider Bernie Sanders bill to review whether Israel follows US human rights law appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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UN in Geneva Opens Exhibit on How Nazis Weaponized Soccer to Spread Hatred, Persecute Jewish Athletes

The Nuremberg rally in 1929 that the Nazi Party Congress held in Nuremberg, Germany on August 1–4. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

An exhibition that opened at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, this week spotlights how the Nazis during World War II used sports, especially soccer, to spread their hateful ideology, underscore their power, and persecute Jewish athletes.

The exhibit, titled “Sports. Crowds. Power. Football under the Nazis,” opened on Monday at the Palais des Nations. It was created by the German non-profit What Matters and the Berlin Sports Museum, which hosted the exhibit last year from May 24-Aug. 15, and presented in cooperation with the World Jewish Congress. It was created in honor of the UEFA EURO 2024 in Germany and was shown at the Olympiapark in Berlin.

“Visitors might assume that it is an exhibition about football. I would say that through the lens of football and sports, you learn a great deal about the history of National Socialism,” said Andreas Kahrs from What Matters.

The exhibit “explores the nefarious role of sports under National Socialism and delves into how the Nazis manipulated sports to consolidate power, the tragic impact of the Holocaust on European Jewish athletes and sporting clubs, and the contemporary role of sports in combating antisemitism.”

It highlights the playing of soccer in Nazi concentration camps and draws attention to Jewish athletes who faced antisemitism and persecution, including American soccer star and former Ajax player Eddie Hamel, who was murdered with his family in the Auschwitz concentration camp, and German track-and-field athlete Lilli Henoch, who was also murdered by the Nazis. The exhibit does not skip over the fact that some German soccer players were Nazis like SS member Otto “Tull” Harder, a multiple German championship team member and national team striker who was commander of a Nazi subcamp where thousands of people died.

“The exhibition tells of destroyed and disappeared football clubs across Europe and looks at the long shadow of National Socialism in both West and East Germany,” What Matters explained. “Lines of continuity are drawn into the present as it further explores discrimination and exclusion in today’s football.”

The exhibit is currently on tour, with the UN in Geneva as its first stop. It was showcased at the UN from Sept. 8-12 and was not open to the public. It will open to the general public on Sunday until the 19th at the Hôtel Ramada Encore, next door to the Geneva Football Stadium, for daily guided tours.

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Ted Cruz Says Tucker Carlson ‘Turning Into Ilhan Omar,’ Warns of ‘Rising Antisemitism on the Right’

US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaking at a press conference about the United States restricting weapons for Israel, at the US Capitol, Washington, DC. Photo: Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

US Sen. Ted Cruz (TX) raised alarm bells this week over what he described as “rising antisemitism” on the political right, warning that podcaster and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson is “turning into Ilhan Omar,” the far-left US lawmaker, by spreading anti-Israel and even antisemitic rhetoric.

Cruz made the remarks on Wednesday during an event at the Heritage Foundation, a prominent conservative think tank, where he also discussed his legislation to designate the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates, including Hamas, as foreign terrorist organizations.

Cruz criticized Carlson for questioning Hamas’s status as a terrorist group and for hosting guests who have minimized historical atrocities, including the Holocaust. He expressed concern that antisemitism could be emerging as a more potent political force on the right. 

“I will say I am concerned about rising antisemitism on the right,” Cruz said. “In the last six months, what we’ve seen on the right has been deeply disturbing.”

The conservative lawmaker specifically pointed to Carlson, a right-wing commentator and online provocateur.

“Tucker Carlson is turning into Ilhan Omar. This is bizarre. This is ridiculous,” Cruz added.

In a June interview with Cruz, Carlson questioned the merits of the US-Israel alliance, asking why lobbyists for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) shouldn’t register as foreign agents and whether the US was receiving adequate returns on its financial support to Israel. Cruz, a staunch supporter of Israel, suggested Carlson’s questions were motivated by antisemitism, leading to a heated exchange between the two.

“You’re asking, ‘Why are the Jews controlling our foreign policy?’” Cruz stated. “If you’re not an antisemite, give me another reason why the obsession is Israel.”

Omar has established herself as harsh critic of Israel who has accused the Jewish state of committing “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza and erecting an “apartheid” government in the West Bank. The lawmaker has also publicly declared support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement (BDS), an initiative which seeks to turn the Jewish state into an international pariah as a first step to its eventual destruction.

Omar further drew backlash on Thursday over her comments regarding the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk this week.

Omar strongly criticized attempts to frame Kirk purely as an advocate of civil debate, calling such portrayals “full of s**t” and a “complete rewriting of history.”

“These people are out there talking about him just wanting to have a civil debate,” Omar said. “It’s important for us to call them out while we feel anger and sadness.”

“What I do know for sure is that, you know, Charlie was someone who once said, you know, guns save lives after a school shooting. Charlie was someone who was willing to debate and downplay the death of George Floyd in the hands of Minneapolis police,” she stated. 

Omar also said that Kirk inflamed racial tensions through downplaying “slavery and what Black people have gone through in this country by saying Juneteenth should never exist.”

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Jerry Seinfeld Compares ‘Free Palestine’ Movement to KKK at Duke Event for Former Hamas Hostage

Jerry Seinfeld attends the premiere of Netflix’s “Unfrosted” at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles, California, US, April 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/David Swanson

Jewish comedian Jerry Seinfeld said during an appearance at Duke University on Tuesday that supporters of the “Free Palestine”movement are worse than the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan group.

Seinfeld, whose youngest son attends the school in Durham, North Carolina, made the remarks while introducing Omer Shem Tov, a former Hamas hostage who was kidnapped by terrorists from the Nova music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. He was freed after 505 days in captivity as part of a ceasefire agreement in February. Hundreds attended the event at Duke’s Page Auditorium to hear Shem Tov speak about experiences in a discussion on stage with the event’s moderator, North Carolina State Sen. Sophia Chitlik (D-Durham). The event was organized largely by Chabad at Duke, with sponsorship from Duke’s Provost’s Initiative on the Middle East, university centers, and Jewish student groups on campus.

During Seinfeld’s opening remarks, he said, “Free Palestine is, to me, just — you’re free to say you don’t like Jews. Just say you don’t like Jews.”

“By saying ‘Free Palestine,’ you’re not admitting what you really think,” he continued. “So, it’s actually — compared to the Ku Klux Klan, I’m actually thinking the Klan is actually a little better here because they can come right out and say, ‘We don’t like Blacks, we don’t like Jews.’ OK, that’s honest.” His comments were reported by Duke’s student newspaper, The Chronicle. 

Only Duke students, staff, and faculty were permitted to attend the event. Seinfeld’s appearance was a surprise and was not publicized beforehand. A university spokesperson told The Chronicle on Tuesday night that Seinfeld had “requested his appearance not be announced beforehand, given Omer Shem Tov’s experiences were the focus of the event.”

“Duke does not preview the remarks of speakers who are invited to campus, and the invitation of speakers to campus does not imply any endorsement of their remarks,” the spokesperson added.

Mason Herman, a senior at Duke and student president of the school’s Chabad, told NBC News that Chabad and the university are not responsible for remarks made by an invited speaker. “This event was highlighting the fact that there are more than 40 hostages still in Gaza,” he said. “To one, raise awareness of that fact, and two, to share their plight while in captivity. And to share Omer’s story.”

The last time Seinfeld spoke publicly at Duke was when he delivered the school’s commencement address in May 2024. His older son graduated that year from Duke. The school’s decision to have Seinfeld deliver the commencement address was criticized by some because of his pro-Israel views and dozens of students walked out of the ceremony in protest. Seinfeld’s daughter, Sascha, who is now a reporter for Bari Weiss’ news outlet The Free Press, is also an alum of Duke.

After the deadly massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Seinfeld posted a message on Instagram that said, “I Stand With Israel,” and shared that he lived and worked on a kibbutz in Israel when he was a teenager. In December of the same year, Seinfeld’s family traveled to Israel to meet with families of Israeli hostages and others impacted by the attack. During the trip, there was a missile attack, and the family had to seek shelter.

Seinfeld later said the experience gave him an understanding of what it means to live through and experience a war. He also told Weiss during an emotional interview that the trip was “the most powerful experience of my life.” He added that when he made “Seinfeld” in the 1990s, he thought that antisemitism was “seemingly a relic of history books.”

Seinfeld talked more about that trip to Israel during his remarks at Duke on Tuesday. He said his family visited Israel to “call attention to the plight of the hostages” and met with “several groups of hostage family members,” with whom they connected in a “heartbreaking moment.”

“So, to be here tonight and experiencing this is really incredible,” the comedian said before Shem Tov’s address on stage.

Shem Tov, who was 20 years old when he was kidnapped, told the crowd on Tuesday that he remembers being kicked, punched, and spit on as he was taken into captivity. “You cannot take your life for granted,” he told the audience, as reported by The Chronicle. “You have to understand that in a split second your life could change.”

Hamas-led terrorists murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Hamas is still holding captive 48 people who were abducted and 20 of those hostages are believed to be alive.

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