RSS
‘When Russia Goes Through Bad Times, They Target the Jews,’ Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Warns in Appeal for Unity
Yevgen Korniychuk, Ukraine’s Ambassador to the State of Israel, in his office in Tel Aviv. Photo: Ben Cohen/The Algemeiner
Yevgen Korniychuk, Ukraine’s Ambassador in Tel Aviv, has found himself in a rare position since Oct. 7, when Hamas terrorists unleashed a bestial pogrom in southern Israel, as the diplomatic representative of one country caught in a war of existential survival dispatched to a second country that is engaged in a war with similar stakes.
“Yes, it’s a strange feeling,” Korniychuk told The Algemeiner during an extensive telephone interview on Tuesday, emitting a short laugh. Having served in Israel for more than two years — a period covering the brutal Russian invasion of his country in Feb. 2022 — Korniychuk has encountered several moments of frustration in his bid to win stronger diplomatic and military support from Jerusalem as Ukraine confronts its Russian enemy. “As the ambassador, I have to remain optimistic,” he reflected during a previous interview in Jan. 2023 with this publication. “If I am pessimistic, I may as well retire.”
Korniychuk firmly believes that Israel and Ukraine are natural allies, even if the Israeli government, nervous of poking Moscow, has shied away from saying so explicitly. In part, it’s because both countries are facing the same enemy in the shape of Iran, which has been providing the devastating Shahed drones used by the Russians to attack Ukrainian population centers at the same time as backing proxy terrorist groups, among them Hamas and Hezbollah, dedicated to Israel’s destruction. “Russia, Iran, and the Iranian proxies are the axis of evil,” Korniychuk emphasized.
He also counsels that Israel cannot trust Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime, pointing to the long and violent history of Russian antisemitism and the key role Russia has played in spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories, dating back to the fabricated “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” unveiled by the Tsarist secret police in 1903. “The Russian regime is always looking for the Ukrainian roots of whatever problems they have,” Korniychuk said, referring to Russia’s patently false claim that the democratic government in Kyiv was responsible for last weekend’s attack by ISIS terrorists on a crowded theater in Moscow. “But the truth is that they will be looking for the Jewish roots also. When Russia goes through bad times, they target the Jews and then the other minorities; if you look at Russian history in the 19th and 20th centuries, that was always the case.”
In the last few days, Russian representatives have unwittingly proved Korniychuk’s point, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov ridiculing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in the wake of the ISIS attack, as a “peculiar kind of Jew.” Putin himself has also deployed similar rhetoric, describing Zelensky as a “disgrace to the Jewish people” in comments last June. All this reflects, as Korniychuk remarked, the ultranationalist ideology reigning in Moscow which holds that those Jews living outside of Russia’s orbit have been corrupted by capitalism and the desire to turn a quick profit — in contrast to the “traditionalist” Jews of the east, to use the term of Russian ideologue Alexander Dugin, whose values are supposedly aligned with those espoused by their Russian hosts.
Korniychuk recounted a meeting with officials at the Israeli foreign ministry right before our conversation, in which he had made the same substantive points. The realist calculus deployed by the Israelis in assessing Russian actions — “putting themselves in Russia’s shoes,” as Korniychuk put it — frustrates him, because what Russia is doing “is not rational.” Similarly, talk of Russian “escalation” sounds empty to Ukrainian ears. “We don’t see any further escalation because we’ve already had a full-scale war for the last two years,” the ambassador observed. True, he added, the Russians “could decide to use nuclear weapons, but even then, our resistance will not stop. We believe that anything could happen and we have to be ready for everything, as do our European neighbors. The big European states — France, Germany, Italy — now understand what they are dealing with.”
Another area of Ukrainian-Israeli common interest outlined by Korniychuk concerns the efforts within the US Congress to pass a $95 billion aid package for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. While the measure won Senate approval last month, it has been stalled in the House of Representatives by far right Republican supporters of former President Donald Trump, many of whom have followed Trump’s lead in advocating that Ukraine surrender to Russian conquest. Bipartisan attempts to approve the package have examined other methods for funneling the aid, for example in the form of a loan, but while the deliberations go on, Ukrainian forces are running perilously short of ammunition and other basic materiel.
Korniychuk has been advocating for a united lobbying effort in Washington, DC, to break the deadlock. “This is money that will be spent in the US on ammunition and anti-missile defense, so it’s a win-win for the US,” he asserted. “Israel is experiencing the same problems with ammunition, so this is why it’s important for us to join forces.” He remains hopeful that Ukrainian advocacy groups will work with AIPAC, the main pro-Israel lobby organization in the US, which in the recent past has hailed closer Ukrainian-Israeli cooperation in the face of the Russian threat.
In that regard, Korniychuk also stresses that Putin’s regime maintains close ties with Israel’s deadliest adversaries, pointing out that Moscow has warmly received delegations from Hamas and other radical Palestinian factions, as well as Hezbollah and the rebel Houthis in Yemen, who have caused havoc in the Red Sea with intentional attacks on Western — but not Russian or Chinese — cargo vessels since Oct. 7. As a diplomat he said, he has not seen any intelligence to suggest that Russia had advance knowledge of the Oct. 7 pogrom, but “we have enough evidence of their close ties and relations and support of those groups, so we can reach the appropriate conclusions.”
Korniychuk emphasized that since Oct. 7, he had moderated his criticisms of the Israeli government’s reluctance to ally more openly with Ukraine. “We are not talking about a ceasefire. We have been attacked brutally by Russia, like Hamas attacked Israel. We support the right of Israel to self-defense,” he said. At the same time, he noted with regret that the “excessive loss of civilian life” in Gaza meant that Israel was “losing the propaganda war.”
“I understand the difficult position [the Israelis] are in at the moment, and we are cooperating now on a very good level in terms of security,” he said. “These are difficult times, and we don’t get to choose our circumstances. If we achieve even modest goals, that is something, given the situation in which we find ourselves.”
The post ‘When Russia Goes Through Bad Times, They Target the Jews,’ Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Warns in Appeal for Unity first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
US Senators Urge Secretary of Homeland Security to Secure Northern Border From Gaza Refugees
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
Six US senators sent a letter to US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas this week requesting that he increase security measures along the northern border in response to Canada accepting an influx of refugees from Gaza, the Palestinian enclave ruled by the terrorist group Hamas.
The six Republican lawmakers — Sens. Marco Rubio (FL), Ted Cruz (TX), Joni Ernst (IA), Tom Cotton (AK), Mike Braun (IN), and Josh Hawley (MO) — said they were “deeply concerned” that refugees from Gaza could sneak into the United States. The senators warned that allowing unvetted Palestinian refugees to cross the border poses a serious national security threat.
“On May 27, 2024, the Government of Canada announced its intent to increase the number of Gazans who will be allowed into their country under temporary special measures,” the senators wrote. “We are deeply concerned and request heightened scrutiny by the US Department of Homeland Security should any of them attempt to enter the United States at ports of entry as well as between ports of entry.”
After arriving in Canada, the Palestinian refugees will be given a “Refugee Travel Document,” which serves as a valid form of identification, the letter claimed, adding that US Citizenship and Immigration Services recognizes these documents as a valid substitute for a passport. The senators warned that “individuals with ties to terrorist groups” could potentially enter into the United States.
The letter argued that the US should maintain “common-sense terrorist screening and vetting” for any individual attempting to enter its borders from a foreign country. The lawmakers lamented that the Biden administration’s “”ax border enforcement” has rendered the country vulnerable to potential terrorist attacks. From April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024, the US Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Field Operations intercepted over 233 suspected terrorists at the northern border, according to the letter.
“[T]he possibility of terrorists crossing the US-Canada border is deeply concerning given the deep penetration of Gazan society by Hamas,” the senators wrote. “It would be irresponsible for the US to not take necessary heightened precautions when foreigners attempt to enter the United States.”
On Oct. 7, Hamas launched the ongoing war in Gaza with its Oct. 7 invasion of and massacre of 1,200 people across southern Israel. The Palestinian terrorist group also kidnapped over 250 hostages.
In response, Israel launched defensive military operations in Gaza with the aim of freeing the hostages and permanently dislodging Hamas from the neighboring enclave.
The vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza, as well as the West Bank, still support Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel that started the ongoing war, and they would prefer a “day after” scenario in which Hamas remains in control of Gaza rather than the Palestinian Authority, which governs in the West Bank, or other Arab countries, according to recent Palestinian polling. The same polling found that, when asked about support for Palestinian political parties and movements, a plurality chose Hamas.
US lawmakers are split along party lines as to whether the United States should accept refugees from Gaza. Republicans are largely opposed to importing refugees from Gaza, arguing that individuals from the war-torn enclave present “a national security risk” to the United States.” In May, Ernst and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) sent US President Joe Biden a letter, urging him not to accept any refugees from Gaza.
In June, however, a group of 70 Democratic lawmakers sent Mayorkas a letter, requesting he create “pathways” for more refugees of the Israel-Hamas war to resettle in America.
The post US Senators Urge Secretary of Homeland Security to Secure Northern Border From Gaza Refugees first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Video of Masked Man Vowing ‘Rivers of Blood’ at Paris Olympics Over Israel Support Appears to Be Fake, of Russia Origin
Screenshot of a widely circulated video published on social media showing a masked man vowing that “rivers of blood will flow” at the 2024 Paris Olympics due to France’s support for Israel. According to reports, the video appears to be fake and of Russian origin.
A widely circulated video published on social media this week showing a masked man vowing that “rivers of blood will flow” at the 2024 Paris Olympics due to France’s support for Israel appears to be fake and of Russian origin, according to reports.
The video — published on Tuesday on social media networks including X/Twitter and Telegram — featured a keffiyeh-clad man with his face covered, delivering an Arabic-language address threatening France with violence due to the country’s alleged support for Israel amid its ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza.
Addressing “the people of France” and “French President [Emmanuel] Macron,” the masked individual said, “You supported the Zionist regime in its criminal war against the people of Palestine. You provided Zionists with weapons; you helped murder our brothers and sisters, our children.”
“You invited the Zionists to the Olympic games. You will pay for what you have done!” continued the man, who wore a shirt adorned with a Palestinian flag. “Rivers of blood will flow through the streets of Paris. This day is approaching, God willing. Allah is the greatest.”
The video, published on X/Twitter by the account @endzionism24 and retweeted by Palestinian activist Ihab Hassan, ended with the speaker holding a prop severed head complete with fake blood up for the camera.
He is not a Palestinian:
A video clip has surfaced showing an individual wearing a keffiyeh and a Palestinian flag badge, threatening France with a “river of blood” at the Olympic Games.
It is glaringly obvious to any Arabic speaker that this person is not Arab; his dialect… pic.twitter.com/rwWGkkbiAi
— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) July 23, 2024
Hassan and other social media users immediately noted that the man speaking was clearly not a native Arabic speaker, citing his reasonably fluent but awkward and occasionally incorrect pronunciation.
Many social media users aware of the mispronunciations seemed to blame Israel for the video, implying the clip was a false flag meant to fearmonger and demonize Palestinians and Muslims. They did not address the fact that Israel has access to hundreds of thousands of native Palestinian Arabic speakers who would sound far more convincing than the man in the video.
On Wednesday, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that “French secret services and their partners have not been able to authenticate the veracity of this video.”
According to researchers at Microsoft, however, the video appears to be part of a Russian-linked disinformation campaign meant to disrupt the Olympics, which began with the opening ceremony on Friday.
The researchers from Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center told NBC News that the clip appears to have come from a Russian disinformation group known as Storm-1516, an outgrowth of Russia’s Internet Research Agency.
The latest clip was linked to a similar disinformation video falsely alleging that Ukraine had sent arms to Hamas — a claim for which there is no evidence. According to the researchers, the more recent video appears to be part of a Russian scare campaign meant to disrupt the Olympics.
The video came just days before France’s rail infrastructure was hit on Friday, ahead of the start of the Olympics, with widespread acts of vandalism including arson attacks, paralyzing travel to Paris from the rest of France and Europe just hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympics. French authorities described the acts as “criminal” and “malicious.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that the sabotage of France’s high-speed rail network was directed by Iran, which Western intelligence agencies have for years labeled as the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism.
“The sabotage of railway infrastructure across France ahead of the Olympics was planned and executed under the influence of Iran’s axis of evil and radical Islam,” Katz wrote on X/Twitter. “As I warned my French counterpart [Stéphane Séjourné] this week, based on information held by Israel, Iranians are planning terrorist attacks against the Israeli delegation and all Olympic participants. Increased preventive measures must be taken to thwart their plot. The free world must stop Iran now — before it’s too late.”
Katz was referring to a letter he sent on Thursday to Séjourné raising alarm bells about what he described as a plan by Iran to attack Israel’s Olympic delegation.
Darmanin and French National Police both announced previously that they are taking increased security measures to ensure the safety of Israel’s Olympic delegation while they are in Paris amid mounting threats. These measures include providing them with round the clock security from French police. The Israeli delegation will also receive additional security details from Israel’s Shin Bet security agency during the Olympics.
The post Video of Masked Man Vowing ‘Rivers of Blood’ at Paris Olympics Over Israel Support Appears to Be Fake, of Russia Origin first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Top St. Louis Newspaper Endorses US Rep. Cori Bush’s Opponent, Argues Incumbent’s Israel Stance Is ‘Disqualifying’
US Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) raises her fist as US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) addresses a pro-Hamas demonstration in Washington, DC. Photo: Reuters/Allison Bailey
The editorial board of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the largest daily newspaper in Missouri, has endorsed the opponent of US Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), pointing to the incumbent congresswoman’s lack of legislative accomplishments and stance on the Israel-Hamas war.
The Post-Dispatch argued that Bush’s position on Israel and the Gaza war should be “disqualifying” for any elected representative. The outlet took umbrage with Bush for equating a close democratic ally of the US with a genocidal terrorist organization.
“Israel’s conduct of the war has been far from perfect, but it remains a democracy fighting for survival against an evil terrorist organization. Bush’s tendency to equate both sides — and even to side with the terrorists, as when she cast one of just two House votes against a resolution to bar Hamas members from the US — should in itself be disqualifying for re-election,” the editorial board wrote.
Bush has established herself as one of the most vocal critics of Israel in the US Congress. Only nine days after Hamas’ Oct. 7 slaughter of roughly 1,200 people in southern Israel, Bush called for an “immediate ceasefire” between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group. As the war dragged on, Bush’s rhetoric toward Israel sharpened, with the congresswoman accusing the Jewish state of committing “genocide” in Gaza and “apartheid” in the West Bank. Bush has also accused Israel of inflicting a “famine” in Gaza without providing evidence.
Bush seems more interested in pandering to the far-left fringes of the progressive movement than serving her constituents, the Post-Dispatch argued. Bush’s membership in “The Squad” — a clique of far-left progressive, anti-establishment lawmakers in the House of Representatives — has rendered her completely incapable of “accomplishing anything” in the halls of Congress, according to the newspaper.
The editorial board urged its readers to vote for Wesley Bell, pointing to his moderated approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as an example of his pragmatism and moral clarity.
“On Israel, Bell offers an appropriately measured stance, acknowledging the need to protect Gazan civilians and work toward a two-state solution, while supporting America’s closest ally in the Middle East,” the outlet wrote.
In contrast to Bush, Bell has expressed more sympathy to Israel’s military operations in Gaza, emphatically rejecting the notion that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute “genocide” or “ethnic cleansing.”
Moreover, Bell has strengthened his ties with the Jewish community over the course of his campaign. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the foremost pro-Israel lobbying group in the US, donated a reported $5 million to Bell’s campaign through its United Democracy Project super PAC. A group of 30 St. Louis-area rabbis penned a letter endorsing Bell, accusing Bush of a “lack of decency, disregard for history, and for intentionally fueling antisemitism and hatred.” Bell also brought about an official “director of Jewish outreach” to increase turnout among the Jewish community.
A poll commissioned by McLaughlin & Associates and sponsored by the CCA Action Fund, a pro-Bell super PAC, showed Bell with a commanding 56 percent to 33 percent lead over Bush.
Supporters of Israel see the primary race as a prime opportunity to oust another opponent of the Jewish state from the halls of Congress. Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), a progressive lawmaker, lost his primary race to a pro-Israel challenger on June 25. Over the course of his reelection campaign, Bowman accused Israel of committing “genocide” and enacting “apartheid” against Palestinians. Bowman’s comments incensed Jewish constituents in the leafy suburbs of Westchester County, New York.
Furthermore, observers are looking to the race as a potential indicator of the Democratic electorate’s position on Israel. Opinions of the Jewish state among Democrats have soured in the months following Oct. 7, calling into question whether anti-Israel views are still a liability with American liberals.
The post Top St. Louis Newspaper Endorses US Rep. Cori Bush’s Opponent, Argues Incumbent’s Israel Stance Is ‘Disqualifying’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login