California Democratic Delegate Hussam Ayloush condemned for antisemitic rhetoric

CAIR Los Angeles Executive Director Hussam Ayloush currently serves as an Assembly District Delegate to the California Democratic Party.  He has a long history of  unchallenged extremist and antisemitic rhetoric.  Now leaders in the  local Jewish community are demanding he be held accountable for his vitriole.

In an open letter to California Governor Gavin Newson, California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks, and Assembly Member Jesse Gabriel,  Jewish community leaders representing  Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish communities in the state of California expressed their concern regarding  the  "multiple antisemitic statements made by California Democratic Party (CDP) leader Hussam Ayloush."

They write:

As an institution whose mission is to be a “leading advocate for justice and mutual understanding” and whose Los Angeles Executive Director, Hussam Ayloush, currently serves as an Assembly District Delegate to the CDP, we are deeply concerned by CAIR LA’s role in influencing California’s Democratic Party with revisionist lies about Israel and the Jewish people, and the Middle Eastern Jewish community in particular. These lies are contributing to the rising tides of antisemitism our communities are currently experiencing, and are making the CDP an increasingly hostile place for many Jews – particularly those of North African and Middle Eastern descent.

We feel it is critical to open this letter by asserting that the vast majority of Jewish people are indigenous to Israel. As Mizrahi Jews, our ancestors lived continuously in the Middle East since the dawn of Judaism itself. In the mid to late 20^th century, state-sanctioned antisemitism—frequently taken under the banner of anti-Zionism—led to the ethnic cleansing and displacement of close to one million Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews from countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa. About 650,000 of these Jews fled to Israel as stateless refugees and the remainder scattered to countries around the world, including the USA, with an estimated 200,000 residing in California. Today, Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews comprise over half of Israel’s Jewish population.

Hussam Ayloush's repeated dehuanization of the Jewish people is doumented in the letter:

Since 2014, former CDP Executive Board member Hussam Ayloush has gone on record with antisemitic, genocidal calls for the state of Israel to be “terminated. We are deeply disturbed to learn that Mr. Ayloush has also referred to those who support Israel as “heartless hateful bloodthirsty humans” and compared them to "Nazis"....We are also deeply concerned that Mr. Ayloush’s ongoing and repeated characterization of Zionism as a “political ideology whose tentacles are rooted in racism” is directly contributing to antisemitic, revisionist histories of the Jewish people.

California deserves Democratic leadership that bridges gaps and unifies our diverse community.  We deserve better than Hussam Ayloush.

Read the entire letter here:

Letter Denouncing Antisemitic Statements made by California Democratic Party Leader Hussam Aylous

Pediatric Radiologist Dr. Fidaa Wishah accuses Israel of Cannibalism

Fidaa Wishah,  a Pediatric radiologist at the Phoenix Children's Hospital appears to have grown up on a steady diet of Jew-hate. 

Her father Jaber Wishah served as  head of the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in Gaza,  responsible for the PFLP’s military apparatus. Her father Jaber Wishah  had been sentenced to life in prison and spent 15 years in Israeli prison, convicted on charges of “holding a leading position in a terrorist organization of which he was a member, intentionally attempting to kill an Israeli Staff Sergeant in Gaza, configuring a bomb and planting a bomb, possession of fire arms and conspiring to commit murder.”

Wishah was imprisoned with child-killer Samir Kuntar. When Kuntar was released from prison, Wishah declared “Today is a true day of joy for all Palestinians and all freedom lovers across the world.”   

It would take a particularly strong person to rise above an upbringing that glorifies hate and violence  but sadly, Dr. Fidaa Wishah was not able to.  As an adult employed as a pediatric radiologist at Phoenix Children's Hospital, Fidaa took blood libel to a new low,  accusing Israel of cannibalism.

Pediatric Radiologist Fidaa Wishah accuses Israelis of cannibalism.

Fortunately, her employer, Phoenix Children's Hospital, recognized this was the hateful raving of an unhinged person who ought not be working with children and she has been suspended from her position.

The sanctimonious hypocrisy of Soli Alpert

On his Facebook Page, Soli Apert admits his Berkeley Rent Board anti-Israel resolution was submitted with the hope it would be passed without any "fanfare", writing.
"I submitted a resolution for tomorrow's Rent Board meeting condemning the "evictions" in Shekih Jarrah with the naïve hope that we could pass it with no fanfare on consent. It is evident that will not be the case." Soli, if your resolution can't hold up to public scrutiny, maybe you need to rethink it.

He continues: "Finally, it's been insulting and revealing how many people have seen fit to speak about me rather than to me the past few days. If you have issue with what I have written, call me." Sorry, Soli. If you wanted to have a discussion about this terribly one-sided, factually incorrect resolution, maybe you shouldn't have tried to sneak it through.

Gaza summer camp. This is No Way to treat a Child

There are no lanyards, s'mores, swim lessons or silly songs around the campfire in Gaza summer camps. They are dead serious affairs, intent on indoctrinating and training the next generation of martyrs.

The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades was founded in 1991 as the military wing of Hamas. It is the largest and best-equipped of the Gaza terror groups.   Al-Qassam Brigades has begun recruiting  for its  "Vanguards of Liberation" summer camp 

Al-Qassam Brigades "Vanguards of Liberation" summer camp in Gaza

The stated goal of these camps aim to "ignite the flame of jihad in the generation of liberation, sow Islamic values ​​and prepare the expected victory army for the liberation of Palestine"

Recruiting for Al-Qassam Brigades "Vanguards of Liberation" summer camp in Gaza

Recruitment, at several locations in Gaza, was brisk.

Sadly, it looks like there will be no shortage of  jihadi-wannabe's and young martyrs for the next conflict.

In which Berkeley's Rent Stabilization Board attempts to issue a foreign policy statement

Via Emunah: On Thursday June 17 the elected representatives at the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board, whose stated mission is “to regulate residential rent increases in the City of Berkeley and to protect against unwarranted rent increases and evictions and to provide a fair return to property owners.” will be voting on a foreign policy resolution accusing Israel of violence, oppression, ethnic cleansing and calling for the “end of American funding of Israeli apartheid”

This resolution is one sided, inflammatory and does nothing to further a lasting peace between the people of the Middle East. Even more concerning is that the extremist rhetoric may led to an increase in attacks on Israeli-Americans and the local Jewish community, as we have seen worldwide. The use of false accusations against Israel including “apartheid” and “ethnic cleansing” have been used to justify antisemitic violence.

Antisemitic incidents, with 83% referencing the conflict in Gaza and Israel have skyrocketed 438% in the U.K. in the last month. Four men were arrested in London for shouting “F*** the Jews. Rape their daughters.” A group of Iranian American Jews were attacked in Los Angeles – one was hospitalized. Jews were assaulted near an anti-Israel rally in downtown Toronto. In our own community, Jewish owned businesses and community centers have been targeted with anti-Israel and antisemitic graffiti

How can you help? Please write or email the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board, expressing your concern. TheRentBoard@cityofberkeley.info.

CC the Berkeley City Council. rkesarwani@cityofberkeley.info,mayor@cityofberkeley.info, ttaplin@cityofberkeley.info, jchang@cityofberkeley.info , KHarrison@cityofberkeley.info, SHahn@cityofberkeley.info, swengraf@cityofberkeley.info, RRobinson@cityofberkeley.info, ldroste@cityofberkeley.info, auditor@cityofberkeley.info

To submit an e-mail comment to be read aloud during public comment, email amueller@cityofberkeley.info .

Remember, these are our elected officials- they are accountable to the voters. The resolution appears below

UPDATE

Oh, well, Soli. Better get used to the Jews fighting back.

Google Diversity executive Kamau Bobb lectures Jews on the lessons of the Holocaust

 Cross-posted at Bluetruth.  Written by Dr. Mike

The Google Diversity Annual Report says: “Building a culture of belonging empowers people to do their best work. Google is a company where people of different views, backgrounds and experiences can come together and show up for one another.” 

Dr. Kamau Bobb is the Global Lead for Diversity Strategy and Research for Google, so you’d think that he would have a great deal of sensitivity to how people of different views, backgrounds and experiences should relate to each other. Which makes it quite surprising to read the audaciously offensive post that he wrote on his blog in 2007.

In this era of “cancel culture”, we’ve seen people held to account for what they posted online before they were adults. But Dr. Bobb had already received his PhD from Georgia Tech by the time he wrote the piece under discussion. Given that it was 14 years ago, it is possible that his views have changed since then, and if so, I’d genuinely welcome hearing from him about it. Because it certainly strikes me as grossly inappropriate for a non-Jew to be lecturing Jews on what we should have learned from the Holocaust (and prior centuries of persecution).

“Wait, what?”, you say. Yes, indeed. You can read his post  “If I Were a Jew” here.  His utter erasure of the genocidal calls to eradicate the Jews from the Jewish homeland, from the Mufti’s incitement in the 1920’s, though Azzam Pasha’s promise in 1947 that “this will be a momentous massacre”, all the way up to Fathi Hammad’s “cut off the heads of the Jews”, screams louder than his multiple misstatements of fact and his characterizations of Israel as having “an insatiable appetite for vengeful violence.”

Perhaps Dr. Bobb might consider this: some of the lessons that many Jews learned from the Holocaust (reinforced by subsequent events such as the Rwandan genocide and the oppression of the Uighurs) are 1) that the Jewish state has to be able to defend itself because we know that the world won’t act on “never again”, and 2) that we take antisemites quite seriously when they say that they intend to kill us.

Discussions along these lines do occur within the Jewish community-- and even within Israel itself. But those discussions occur among those with a shared sense of reference-- and in Israel, with a shared set of experiences and responsibilities. Just as I'd expect that there are certain conversations which take place within the Black community, in which outsiders are not welcome to lecture them.  

We’ve seen far more than our share of “Jews didn’t learn the lessons of the Holocaust.”  But those don’t usually come from those who are professionally employed to promote inclusion at worldwide companies. I’m sure that after reading that, many Jewish employees at Google won’t feel that he’s ready to show up for them against antisemitic abuse.

(h/t Alana Goodman)

UPDATE 6/2
Kamau Bobb “will no longer be a part of our diversity team going forward"

UC Berkeley Bears for Palestine Facebook Page is Managed From Jordan

Interesting tidbit from UC Berkeley.
The Bears for Palestine Facebook page is managed from Jordan.  

Real grassroots activism.

Screenshot before it goes away.

Hostile take-over! The Israeli Jewish Antifa has hacked a KKK website

 Buy these folk a beer for us.   

The Israeli Jewish Antifa has left a warning on a white power website: "We never forgive, never forget, and never stop coming."

The group has allegedly hacked a website belonging to the Patriotic Brigade Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, exposing pictures, names and rap sheets of some of the organizations leaders.  The group is one of the fastest growing Klan organizations in the US, with least different four cells in several states.

The altered website, still standing displays messages in English and in Hebrew, including "Shabbat Shalom! Good Night White Pride  ; - ) " and "Solidarity with Oppressed People Everywhere" and my personal favorite, "Yes You mouth- breathing crackers, We Got your info"

The "Imperial Kaillif" of the organization has been identified as Kevin J. Smith.

The hacked webpage includes a link to the Texas Public Sex Offender Registry, where he is registered for the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl.

The hackers included a receipt as proof that Smith had paid for the website , which as of today, remains altered.

Other direct actions appear to be in the pipeline.  A message on the hacked website reads "Any Klansmen reading this, we know who you are, and we are coming for you." 

On Twitter "Justice Jew" has taken credit for the action.

Am Yisroel Chai.

Professor Kaveh Afrasiabi arrested as a unregistered agent for Iran

This is who is teaching our children. This is who is writing op eds for the New York Times. This who is lobbying Congress.

Dr. Kaveh Afrasiabi taught political science at Boston University, and Bentley College. He was a visiting scholar at Harvard University, UC Berkeley, Binghamton University, Center For Strategic Research.

But Dr. Kaveh Afrasiabi had some secrets. 

He was working for the Iranian government.

This week, a criminal complaint was filed charging Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi, also known as Lotfolah Kaveh Afrasiabi, with acting and conspiring to act as an unregistered agent of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

“Afrasiabi allegedly sought to influence the American public and American policymakers for the benefit of his employer, the Iranian government, by disguising propaganda as objective policy analysis and expertise,” said Acting U.S. Attorney DuCharme.

“For over a decade, Kaveh Afrasiabi pitched himself to Congress, journalists, and the American public as a neutral and objective expert on Iran,” said John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security. “However, all the while, Afrasiabi was actually a secret employee of the Government of Iran and the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations (IMUN) who was being paid to spread their propaganda. In doing so, he intentionally avoided registering with the Department of Justice as the Foreign Agents Registration Act required. He likewise evaded his obligation to disclose who was sponsoring his views. We now begin to hold him responsible for those deeds.”

Read More here: 

Defendant Lobbied U.S. Officials, Published Books and Articles Advancing Iranian Viewpoints While Secretly Employed by the Iranian Mission to the United Nations

The Apartheid state of Lebanon.

The Lebanon Budget Draft for 2021 grants permanent residency in Lebanon for any foreigner that invests in real estate. As long as the investor keeps  property in their name permanent residency will be granted to the investor and their family.

Syrian and Palestinian nationals are excluded.

Over 470,000  Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with 45 per cent of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps.  Palestinians in Lebanon cannot work in at least 39 professions and cannot own property. The refugee status is passed down from generation to generation.   Even third and fourth generation Lebanese born Palestinians do not have the rights of citizens.

Lebanon is an apartheid state, and the silence of the so-called Palestinian civil society and international human rights organizations is quite telling. This is one of the 3 "Ds" of Natan Sharansky's  definition of antisemitism- the double standard.  

Hamas: Killing its Own in Gaza

Earlier this week, a devastating explosion rocked Gaza, destroying homes and wounding 36 people, including many children. 

The explosion was caused by the accidental detonation of weapons stored in a home in a civilian neighborhood in Gaza.

 
Israel's military Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, said on Twitter. “ Homes have been turned into warehouses for weapons... and missiles for terrorist organizations, and those who pay the price in the end are innocent civilians”

This was not the first time weapons earmarked for Israeli civilians have killed their creators.

In 2005, a  Palestinian pickup truck carrying rockets exploded during a Hamas military parade through the densely populated Gaza Strip. According to Palestinian officials at least 19 Palestinians were killed, and  over 80 were injured. The casualties included 5 children. The initial explosion triggered secondary blasts in nearby vehicles that were also carrying rockets and ammunition. 

Hamas and other extremist factions within Gaza have seldom showed any hesitation using their civilians as shields for their weapons, while targetting Israeli civilians.  Its a double war crime that rarely makes the papers.

In a rare moment of candor, even Amnesty International has admitted that Palestinian rocket fire during the 2014  war in Gaza had killed more civilians in the Gaza Strip than in Israel.  Rockets aimed at Israel  had fallen short of their target, and killed at least 13 civilians, 11 of them children, in Gaza.

After the end of the 2014 war, it was calculated that terror factions in  Gaza fired 4,591 projectiles at Israel.  3,659 struck Israeli territory, 735 were intercepted by Iron Dome and another 197 fell within Gaza, terrorizing its inhabitants, who  like the Israelis, are also victims of Hamas terror.