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South African Anti-Israel NGOs Commemorate the Holocaust by Hijacking Its Memory

November 2023: An Israeli soldier helps to provide incubators to Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza. Photo: Screenshot

Anti-Israel groups commemorated the Holocaust by hijacking its memory. Gift of the Givers and other South African anti-Israel organizations marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day by screening a film that falsely portrays the descendants of Holocaust survivors as the reincarnation of the Nazis.

The South African government established itself as an anti-Israel trailblazer in late 2023 by bringing Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on false charges of genocide. Meanwhile, the South African government is hosting an array of groups that have been alleged by some to be part of a Hamas funding umbrella.

Gift of the Givers calls itself “the largest disaster response, non-governmental organisation of African origin on the African continent,” and claims to have distributed $320 million in 47 countries over 32 years. It was also part of the Union of Good — according to the Union’s website in the early 2000s — which the United States sanctioned in 2008 for funding Hamas.

In recent months, Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman has crossed the line into blatant antisemitism on at least two occasions. At a rally in honor of the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s October 2023 massacre, Sooliman declared that “Zionists … run the world with fear. They control the world with money.” At a gala in November 2024, Sooliman doubled down on his overt Jew-hatred, railing about “Zionists” using “fear” and “money,” according to the South African Jewish Report.

Sooliman’s recent remarks call into question his organization’s motivations for hosting a “Holocaust Memorial Day screening” of the film “Al-Shifa Hospital: The Crimes They Tried to Bury” on January 27.

That day marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, where the Nazis murdered over 1 million Jews during the Holocaust — via starvation, disease, shooting, and gas chambers.

Gift of the Givers played the movie — produced by Qatari state-owned media network Al Jazeera — at a hospital lecture hall. Apparently, this venue would help viewers relate to the supposed victims of Israel’s two-week, surprise raid on the Hamas-controlled health facility in late March 2024.

But Shifa isn’t just a hospital. There is evidence of Hamas operating out of Shifa Hospital since at least 2006. By 2014, the hospital had become a “de facto” command center for Hamas. Hamas’ control of Shifa Hospital was an open secret.

In February 2024, The New York Times wrote that evidence suggests that Hamas “used the hospital for cover, stored weapons inside it and maintained a hardened tunnel beneath the complex that was supplied with water, power and air-conditioning.”

During the raid that is the subject of the documentary, Israel killed top Hamas officials, while Hamas fired from the emergency room, maternity ward, and elsewhere. Over the course of the operation, according to the IDF, the Israelis detained up to 900 suspects, 513 of whom were confirmed to be Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad members, and killed around 200 terrorists in gun battles.

Despite the mountain of evidence, a hospital staffer interviewed in the film contends that the Israelis tried to push a false narrative about Hamas using the hospital. Instead, the documentary tries to frame the operation as a vindictive assault on one of the few places of refuge in Gaza.

Erasing the security context of Israeli actions has been central to the attempts to charge Israel with war crimes, including genocide. The film does not ask why hundreds of terrorists were operating in a hospital and endangering its patients and staff.

There are other reasons to doubt the Al Jazeera narrative. In October 2024, Israel published information indicating that six Al Jazeera journalists were members of Hamas.

In March 2024, Al Jazeera published a report featuring the testimony of a woman who claimed that the Israelis “raped a number of women” during the operation. The former managing director of Al Jazeera said that a Hamas investigation found the rape allegation to be fabricated, and that the woman lied to “arouse the nation’s zeal.” Nevertheless, the false rape allegation remains on Al Jazeera’s site.

Portraying Israel as the reincarnation of the Nazis both trivializes the suffering of the Jews during the Holocaust, and seeks to cast Israel as a villain. It is also a prime example of how modern antisemitism is manifested, according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, the most widely accepted definition of Jew-hatred.

Holocaust Remembrance Day is a somber occasion to remember the victims of the Nazi genocide and to resolve to never allow it to happen again.

Alternatively, for Gift of the Givers, it is an opportunity to justify attacking, kidnapping, and killing Holocaust survivors and their descendants in their homes in southern Israel by claiming that Israelis are like the Nazis. The same backwards morality and distortion of reality that underpin a leading South African humanitarian organization’s descent into antisemitism, have also allowed Pretoria to establish itself as Hamas’ lawyer at the ICJ.

David May is a research manager and senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy. Follow David on X@DavidSamuelMay. Follow FDD on X@FDD.

The post South African Anti-Israel NGOs Commemorate the Holocaust by Hijacking Its Memory first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Germany’s Scholz Rebukes Vance, Defends Europe’s Stance on Hate Speech and Far Right

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks to the media after he met former prisoners following the largest prisoner exchange between Russia and the West in decades, at the military area of Cologne Bonn Airport in Cologne, Germany, August 1, 2024. Photo: Christoph Reichwein/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz delivered a strong rebuke on Saturday to US Vice President JD Vance’s attack on Europe’s stance toward hate speech and the far right, saying it was not right for others to tell Germany and Europe what to do.

Vance lambasted European leaders on Friday, the first day of the Munich Security Conference, accusing them of censoring free speech and criticizing German mainstream parties’ “firewall” against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

“That is not appropriate, especially not among friends and allies. We firmly reject that,” Scholz told the conference on Saturday, adding there were “good reasons” not to work with the AfD.

The anti-immigration party, currently polling at around 20% ahead of Germany’s February 23 national election, has pariah status among other major German parties in a country with a taboo about ultranationalist politics because of its Nazi past.

“Never again fascism, never again racism, never again aggressive war. That is why an overwhelming majority in our country opposes anyone who glorifies or justifies criminal National Socialism,” Scholz said, referring to the ideology of Adolf Hitler’s 1933-45 Nazi regime.

Vance met on Friday with the leader of AfD, after endorsing the party as a political partner — a stance Berlin dismissed as unwelcome election interference.

Referring more broadly to Vance’s criticism of Europe’s curtailing of hate speech, which he has likened to censorship, Scholz said: “Today’s democracies in Germany and Europe are founded on the historic awareness and realization that democracies can be destroyed by radical anti-democrats.

“And this is why we’ve created institutions that ensure that our democracies can defend themselves against their enemies, and rules that do not restrict or limit our freedom but protect it.”

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot added his voice to the defense of Europe’s stance on hate speech.

“No one is required to adopt our model but no one can impose theirs on us,” Barrot said on X from Munich. “Freedom of speech is guaranteed in Europe.”

UKRAINE

The prospect of talks to end the Ukraine-Russia war had been expected to dominate the annual Munich conference after a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin this week, but Vance barely mentioned Russia or Ukraine in his speech to the gathering on Friday.

Instead, he said the threat to Europe that worried him most was not Russia or China but what he called a retreat from fundamental values of protecting free speech – as well as immigration, which he said was “out of control” in Europe.

Many conference delegates watched Vance’s speech in stunned silence. There was little applause as he delivered his remarks.

Asked by the panel moderator if he thought there was anything in Vance’s speech worth reflecting on, Scholz drew laughter and applause in the crowd when he responded, in a deadpan manner: “You mean all these very relevant discussions about Ukraine and security in Europe?”

The post Germany’s Scholz Rebukes Vance, Defends Europe’s Stance on Hate Speech and Far Right first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Trump Team to Start Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks in Saudi Arabia in Coming Days, Politico Reports

US Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) speaks on Day 1 of the Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, July 15, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Mike Segar

Senior officials from US President Donald Trump’s administration will start peace talks with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Saudi Arabia in the coming days, Politico reported on Saturday, citing sources familiar with the plan.

US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Saudi Arabia, the report said. Special envoy for Ukraine-Russia talks, Keith Kellogg, will not be in attendance, according to the report.

The post Trump Team to Start Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks in Saudi Arabia in Coming Days, Politico Reports first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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UN Peacekeeping Mission Deputy Commander Injured After Convoy Attacked in Beirut

FILE PHOTO: A UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicle is seen next to piled up debris at Beirut’s port, Lebanon October 23, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo

The outgoing deputy force commander of the United Nations Interim Force (UNIFIL) in Lebanon was injured on Friday after a convoy taking peacekeepers to Beirut airport was “violently attacked,” UNIFIL said.

The mission demanded a full and immediate investigation by Lebanese authorities and for all perpetrators to be brought to justice, it said in a statement.

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun condemned the attack on Saturday, saying that security forces would not tolerate anyone who tries to destabilize the country, according to a statement from his office.

The French government also condemned the attack.

“France calls on the Lebanese security forces to guarantee the security of blue-helmet peacekeeping forces, and calls on Lebanon’s judicial authorities to shed all light on this unacceptable attack and to go after those responsible,” the French foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Lebanon’s Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar called for an emergency meeting before noon on Saturday to discuss the security situation, Lebanese state news agency NNA reported.

“He affirmed the Lebanese government’s rejection of this assault that is considered a crime against UNIFIL forces,” NNA reported, citing the minister.

He also gave instructions to work on identifying the perpetrators and referring them to the relevant judicial authorities.

The minister told reporters on Saturday that more than 25 people had been detained for investigation over the attack.

The United States earlier condemned the attack. A State Department statement said the attack was carried out “reportedly by a group of Hezbollah supporters”, referring to the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon.

The post UN Peacekeeping Mission Deputy Commander Injured After Convoy Attacked in Beirut first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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