Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
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Thursday, Apr. 28 '16, Nissan 20, 5776
HEADLINES:
1. SENIOR UK LABOUR PARTY OFFICIAL: HITLER SUPPORTED ZIONISM
2. WATCH: MP ATTACKS 'NAZI APOLOGIST' EX-MAYOR FOR HITLER COMMENTS
3. UK LABOUR CHIEF FACES GROWING BACKLASH OVER ANTI-SEMITISM DENIAL
4. KERRY: US QUIETLY HELPING 'EMBATTLED' EUROPEAN JEWS
5. SANDERS QUIETLY CONCEDES DEFEAT - LOOKS TO SHAPE CONVENTION
6. MAALE ADUMIM: COUPLE FOUND DEAD IN APPARENT MURDER-SUICIDE
7. DEEPENING TIES: FIRST CHINESE COMMERCIAL FLIGHT TO ISRAEL
8. WATCH: HEVRON'S MACHPELA PACKED FOR INSPIRING PESACH PRAYERS
1. SENIOR UK LABOUR PARTY OFFICIAL: HITLER SUPPORTED ZIONISM
by Ari Soffer
The anti-Semitism scandal that never ends: By now it seems that hardly a day goes by without another anti-Semitism scandal rocking the UK Labour Party.
Indeed, just one day after MP Naz Shah was suspended for calling for the mass-deportation of Israeli Jews to America (among other anti-Semitic statements she posted online), a senior party figure close to leader Jeremy Corbyn has publicly backed her - and claimed that Adolf Hitler was "supporting Zionism" for good measure.
Ken Livingstone is no stranger to anti-Semitism himself. The former London Mayor once compared a Jewish reporter to a concentration camp guard, forged a close friendship with the deeply anti-Semitic (and homophobic) Muslim hate preacher Yousef al-Qaradawi, and infamously claimed British Jews don't vote for Labour because they're all "rich."
But Ken has repeatedly denied being anti-Semitic himself and is now defending Shah, whose comments he insists were "over the top, but not anti-Semitic."
Apparently blind to the scandals buffeting his party, Livingstone claimed in a BBC interview on Thursday morning that in his many decades in Labour he had never witnessed any evidence of anti-Semitism.
Relating to Shah's comments - which she herself has acknowledged were anti-Semitic - he appeared to justify calls for ethnically-cleansing Jews from Israel by claiming... that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler "supported Zionism."
He also appeared to play down the premeditated nature of the Holocaust, claiming that Hitler only "ended up" committing genocide after "going mad."
"When Hitler won his election in 1932 his policy then was that Jews should be moved to Israel," Livingstone said. "He was supporting Zionism... before he went mad and ended up killing 6 million Jews."
Indeed the Nazi Party initially considered several measures to ethnically-cleanse Jews from its borders - including the mass-expulsion of Jews to Madagascar or what was then British Mandate Palestine - before those plans were rejected in favor of a campaign of systematic genocide.
But the allegations that he was doing so as a "supporter of Zionism" - as opposed to a racial supremacist murderer - echo some of the worst anti-Semitic conspiracy theories often aired by elements of both the far-left and far-right; namely that Jews are somehow responsible for their own murders during the Holocaust.
He then further defended Shah's hateful rhetoric, by saying she was right to be angry over Israel's battle against terrorists in Gaza.
"The simple fact in all of this is that Naz made these comments at a time when there was another brutal Israeli attack on the Palestinians," he said. Anti-Semitism campaigners have often warned that anti-Semitic hate crimes tend to spike sharply during escalations in the Arab-Israeli conflict - in part due to the tendency of figures on the political left expressing similar statements justifying such acts as understandable forms of protest.
As for the string of anti-Semitism allegations against his party, Livingstone again blamed (you guessed it) a Jewish conspiracy, dismissing Jewish concerns as part of a "pro-Israel" propaganda campaign.
"There's been a very well-orchestrated campaign by the Israel lobby to smear anybody who criticized Israeli policies as anti-Semitic," he said, brushing aside the accusations.
Reacting to his comments, several fellow Labour party officials issued swift condemnations - some even calling for Livingstone to be expelled.
Labour's current Mayoral Election candidate Sadiq Khan tweeted: "Ken Livingstone's comments are appalling and inexcusable. There must be no place for this in our Party."
Labour MP Jess Phillips called for Livinstone's immediate suspension, while MP Wes Streeting tweeted: "Please tell me this is satire and didn't actually happen?"
But happen it did - and for what will certainly not be the last time.
2. WATCH: MP ATTACKS 'NAZI APOLOGIST' EX-MAYOR FOR HITLER COMMENTS
by Ari Soffer
Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone was confronted by an angry fellow Labour Party member inside the British Parliament building Thursday, after comments he made defending an MP suspended for anti-Semitism, during which he claimed that Hitler "supported Zionism."
Livingstone was speaking to the LBC radio station - whose host James O'Brian gave him a relatively easy time and even expressed some sympathy for him - before the tame interview was brought to an abrupt end by MP John Mann who, upon noticing Livingstone, proceeded to shout him down as a "lying racist" and an anti-Semite.
Listen - Angry MP interrupts Ken Livingstone interview:
[youtube:2014855]
Mann, who heads the All-Party Parliamentary Group against Anti-Semitism, continued haranguing Livingstone even after the interview, in a clash which played out in front of stunned journalists.
Part of it was caught on film by senior ITV News editor Chris Ship.
In the video, a visibly angry Mann can be heard calling Livingstone a "lying, disgusting Nazi apologist" and a "disgusting racist" for his latest comments, as Livingstone walks away grinning.
He also branded Livingstone "a f***ing disgrace", according to another senior journalist at the scene - Channel 4 correspondent Michael Crick - who described it as "the most amazing face to face row I've seen in 36 years of political journalism."
Later, in an interview with Sky News, Mann slammed Livingstone as an "anti-Semite" who "is peddling neo-Nazi conspiracy theories that most neo-Nazis don't peddle now!"
Click below to watch:
Livingstone clashed with critics later in the day on BBC, and doubled-down on his comments:
[youtube:2014856]
Livingstone came under fire for his comments, in which he justified MP Naz Shah's call for a mass-deportation of Israeli Jews by claiming that Adolf Hitler had initially proposed something similar and that, in his words, "Hitler was supporting Zionism."
He has previously come under fire for anti-Semitic comments, including claims that Jews don't vote for Labour because they are all rich.
3. UK LABOUR CHIEF FACES GROWING BACKLASH OVER ANTI-SEMITISM DENIAL
by David Rosenberg
Labour UK chief Jeremy Corbyn faces a new wave of criticism after whitewashing the problem of anti-Semitism within his party and opposing the suspension of an MP who called for Israel to be ethnically cleansed.
On Wednesday, Naz Shah, a Labour MP representing Bradford West, was suspended following revelations that she had previously called for Jews to be removed en masse from Israel. Shah also made comments comparing the Jewish state to Nazi Germany.
Corbyn initially refused to issue any punitive actions against Shah, and party officials reportedly whitewashed an apology written by Shah, excising all references to anti-Semitism.
The latest chapter in the ongoing anti-Semitism scandal within the Labour Party took place Thursday morning, when a spokesman for the embattled Labour leader fielded questions from reporters.
Remarkably, when asked whether Mr. Corbyn considered Shah anti-Semitic given her comments, Corbyn's spokesman replied with an apparent denial. The spokesman went on to apparently absolve Shah of responsibility for her own comments, referring to them as remarks that she herself does not agree with.
"We're not suggesting she's anti-Semitic. We're saying she's made remarks that she doesn't agree with."
Notably, Corbyn, who opposed Shah's suspension, only relented after intense pressure from within the party. Corbyn finally accented to the move after a meeting with Labour Party General Secretary, Ian McNicol, who berated Corbyn for defending Shah.
If that was not enough, however, when the suspension was finally announced, any reference or implication of punishment was stripped from the press release. Instead, the announcement stated that Corbyn and Shah had "mutually agreed" that McNicol, the General Secretary was suspending the MP.
"Jeremy Corbyn and Naz Shah have mutually agreed that she is administratively suspended from the Labour Party by the general secretary."
Corbyn's handling of the Shah scandal has led many to question his leadership of the party. Marcus Dysch, an editor at the Jewish Chronicle, excoriated Corbyn, calling his handling of the Shah affair as "pathetic" and "utterly shameful", suggesting that Labour had become the official party of "Jew hate" for 2016.
At least one prominent Labour donor has said he is cutting ties with the party following the Shah debacle. David Abrahams, who gave roughly $1 million to Labour said the party was not taking the problem of anti-Semitism seriously.
Prime Minister David Cameron ridiculed the Labour Party for its failure to crack down on anti-Semitism, reminding party leaders of the pledge by Labor Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell to deal forcefully with anti-Semitism within the party.
In March McDonnell called for the party to purge anti-Semites from its ranks, calling Jew-hatred a danger to the party's soul.
"As soon as Jewish people start telling us there is anti-Semitism in our party, we've got to sit up and listen," McDonnell told the BBC last month.
"[I]f there are people who have expressed anti-Semitic views, there is no role for them in our party and I would like them out of our party for life."
4. KERRY: US QUIETLY HELPING 'EMBATTLED' EUROPEAN JEWS
by David Rosenberg
Anti-Semitism is on the rise again, said Secretary of State John Kerry, and the US is reaching out to Jewish communities across Europe suffering from harassment and hate crimes.
Speaking on Tuesday at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston, Kerry addressed the issue of religious freedom worldwide, focusing on the plight of religious minorities around the globe.
In the course of his address, Kerry discussed the surge in anti-Semitism worldwide, emphasizing America's commitment to stamping out all forms of bigotry.
"It shouldn't be necessary, but silence has been misinterpreted too many times in the past to risk it again. Make no mistake: The United States remains unalterably opposed to bigotry in all forms, including anti-Semitism, and our commitment on this point, I am telling you, will never weaken, never waver, and never change."
Kerry noted that the rise of anti-Semitism was particularly prominent in Europe, and discussed the efforts of US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, Ira Forman, in Jewish communities suffering from regular harassment.
"[I]n Europe and elsewhere, anti-Semitism is again on the rise, as evidenced by a significant increase in hate crimes – many of them violent – and also frequent incidents of intimidation and examples of anti-Semitic graffiti and verbal abuse."
"Ira Forman, America's special envoy, who I mentioned earlier, has quietly reached out to a number of embattled Jewish communities. In one city in northern Europe, he met with the sole remaining rabbi – everybody else had been chased out – a man so frequently harassed by local immigrant youths that he feared to make the short trip home – from his home to the synagogue. In other urban centers, Ira has worked with our embassies to alert local authorities to the need of upgrading security at Jewish facilities."
"And 20 years ago this spring, Holocaust Museum Houston opened its doors with the goal of promoting awareness of the dangers of prejudice. That message matters because, as Rabbi Abraham Heschel warned, 'Speech has power and words do not fade. What starts as a sound ends as a deed.'"
5. SANDERS QUIETLY CONCEDES DEFEAT - LOOKS TO SHAPE CONVENTION
by David Rosenberg
It appears to be the end for the Bernie Sanders campaign.
While the Vermont Senator is not formally withdrawing from the race, his campaign's recently announcement "reassessment" appears to signal a turn away from pursuing the party's nomination – and towards securing a position of influence at the Democratic National Convention.
Following Tuesday's primary votes in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Maryland, Delaware, and Connecticut – four of which were swept by frontrunner Hillary Clinton – the Sanders campaign announced it was undertaking a "reassessment".
Shortly thereafter Sanders adopted a far softer tone towards the presumptive Democratic nominee. Tacitly accepting Clinton's virtually insurmountable lead, Sanders pledged to unite behind the eventual nominee, saying he was committed to barring the Republicans from the White House.
"I will do everything in my power to make sure that no Republican gets into the White House in this election cycle," he said.
With the electoral math making a Sanders win at the convention all but impossible, the candidate appears to be looking to influence within the Democratic Party rather its nod for president.
Further evidence of this came as the campaign began firing hundreds of field staffers on Wednesday, bringing the total number of staffers down to just over 300.
Michael Briggs, the campaign's communications director, told Politico that the move was part of a pattern of "right-sizing the campaign as we move through the calendar".
Including superdelegates, Clinton now holds a massive 778 delegate lead over Sanders, leaving the Vermont Senator with no plausible path the nomination.
Barring a massive shift in superdelegates, who are unbound to a candidate but have largely committed to support Clinton, Sanders would have to secure the support of the remaining 160 or so superdelegates as well as 76% of all remaining delegates allocated in state primaries.
6. MAALE ADUMIM: COUPLE FOUND DEAD IN APPARENT MURDER-SUICIDE
by Ari Soffer
Police in Maale Adumim are investigating a suspected murder-suicide, after a couple in their 60s were found shot dead in their apartment Thursday morning.
A large police force was scrambled to scene after the bodies were discovered, and an investigation was opened immediately.
Police believe they are dealing with a tragic case of a terminally ill woman whose husband resolved to put an end to her suffering and end both their lives - possibly in coordination with her.
It was their son who found their bodies, and alerted police, who unsuccessfully attempted to resuscitate them.
Gun crime is proportionally very low in Israel, despite the large numbers of firearms visible in everyday life. However, private gun ownership stands at around 4% of the population, with most other legally-owned guns held by serving soldiers, police officers and security guards.
7. DEEPENING TIES: FIRST CHINESE COMMERCIAL FLIGHT TO ISRAEL
by Hezki Baruch
On Thursday, a Hainan Airlines flight landed in Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, marking the first commercial Chinese flight to Israel.
The plane's arrival was welcomed by state ceremony at the airport, with Tourism Minister Yariv Levin (Likud) and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) in attendance.
After the welcoming ceremony, Katz spoke to reporters, calling the flight "historic" and a sign of deepening ties between Israel and the world's most populous nation.
"That's it, it's finally happened. The wings of history – the first Chinese plane lands in Israel. I was there, along with Tourism Minister Yariv Levin to receive the new arrivals."
"Ben Gurion dreamed about strengthening ties. Shamir laid [the foundation] of our relations [with China] and Netanyahu expanded and strengthened the economic ties between our two countries."
"I'm happy to have contributed as Transportation Minister to the integration of Chinese [investors] in important Israeli industrial projects and the opening of regular [direct] flights [between Israel and China], that has an enormous potential to strengthen the economic and cultural ties between our countries."
8. WATCH: HEVRON'S MACHPELA PACKED FOR INSPIRING PESACH PRAYERS
by Arutz Sheva Staff
[youtube:2014848]
In what has become a yearly tradition at the holy site, hundreds of Jewish worshipers packed the Cave of the Patriarchs (also known as the Cave of Machpela) in Hevron for a mass prayer led by two leading rabbis from Tzfat (Safed), the heart of Jewish mysticism in Israel: Tzfat Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu and Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Eyal Ya'akobovich.
Worshipers flocked from all across Israel yesterday for dawn prayers, which included an uplifting musical "hallel" prayer - led by a guitar-strumming Rabbi Ya'akobovich.
The second holiest site in Judaism, the Cave of the Patriarchs is the burial site of the Biblical Patriarchs and Matriarchs (apart from Rachel, whose tomb is in Bethlehem). According to some traditions it is also the burial site of Adam and Eve.
After its ancient Jewish community was ethnically-cleansed by Arab rioters in 1929, Hevron - which also served as King David's first capital - remained bereft of Jews for several decades until, after its liberation by the State of Israel in 1967, successive attempts to reestablish the Jewish community finally bore fruit.
Today, though hemmed in on all sides by hostile Arab neighborhoods, the small but resilient Jewish community of Hevron acts as guardians of the Cave of the Patriarchs, which in more recent times Muslims have attempted to claim as the "Mosque of Ibrahim."
Thousands of Jews from Israel and the Diaspora visit the holy site regularly, via a complex but usually effective sharing arrangement with local Muslims.
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