Norman Geras and Alan Johnson launching The Euston Manifesto, 2006. A friend has assigned one of Norman Geras’s essays (Our Morals: The Ethics of Revolution) for his undergraduate course, and as a consequence all the students have to fill in a special form, in accordance with the university’s implementation of the Government’s ‘Prevent’ policy. – Tweet by Cambridge University academic Chris Brooke on 6 November 2018. Alan Johnson is the author of ‘On Geras’s Marxism’ in The Norman Geras Reader, edited by Ben Cohen and Eve Garrard, Manchester University Press, 2017. In this post he argues that it is well worth using the occasion of Prevent’s intervention to encourage people…
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British Jews and Israel: A Fathom Symposium
In July 2018, the Jewish Chronicle identified ‘fundamental questions which must now be urgently asked’ in light of what it termed the ‘potentially seismic change’ in relations between British Jews and Israel. Fathom invited writers from across the spectrum – Sir Mick Davis, Jonathan Hunter, Robin Moss, Tamara Berens, Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, Toby Greene, Hannah Weisfeld and Maya Ilany, Simon Gordon and Keith Kahn-Harris – whether they thought there was still a ‘centre ground’ for British Jews on Israel, what forms of criticism of and engagement with Israel they thought were acceptable and effective, and whether they believed British Jews have a responsibility to avoid helping those who wish to demonise Israel.…
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Liberman Quits Over Gaza Ceasefire
From Times of Israel: Liberman says Israel ‘capitulated to terror’ with ceasefire Resigning defense minister Avigdor Liberman says he quit his position because of the government’s “weak” response to Gaza rockets, as well as allowing Qatari fuel and cash into the Strip and the postponement of the evacuation of Khan al-Ahmar. “I am here to announce my resignation as defense minister of Israel,” he tells a press conference. “What happened yesterday with the ceasefire with Hamas was a capitulation to terror. There is no other word for it. We are buying short-term calm for long-term harm to security.” Liberman says he never agreed to allow Qatari fuel and $15 million…
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Israel and Gaza Toe to Toe Once Again
Israel is currently experiencing the largest barrage ever fired against it by Hamas. In the wake of an undercover Special Forces operation Israel and Hamas are once again on the brink. RAW FOOTAGE: The skies of southern Israel RIGHT NOW. Dozens of rockets are being fired from #Gaza at Israeli civilians. pic.twitter.com/Iu6QwzUo8l — Israel Defense Forces (@IDFSpokesperson) November 12, 2018 Judah Ari Gross at the Times of Israel writes: The Israeli military deployed additional troops and tanks to the Gaza Strip border on Monday following the largest barrage of rockets and mortar shells fired at Israel from the coastal enclave in a single day. The army was reportedly given a…
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Preacher Who Calls for Israel to be “Relocated to Germany” Speaking at Manchester University This Evening
An Islamic scholar who thinks Israel should be relocated to Germany, that “Zionists” are out to destroy the al Aqsa Mosque, that the CIA and Mossad are behind ISIS and who has called the Queen “disgusting” has been invited to speak at the University of Manchester this evening. Sheikh Asrar Rashid was invited by the Madinah Society. The translation site MEMRI quote Rashid as having said the following in December last year: “Israel is a country that should be reestablished in Germany, because Germany was responsible for the killing of those Jews – not the Muslim world, not the Palestinians” “Al-Qaeda was made by the CIA. To this day we have not…
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Channel 4 News fails to challenge anti-Israel lies by Congresswoman-Elect Rashida Tlaib
On Nov. 1st, Rashida Tlaib, who ran unopposed in her race to represent Michigan’s 17th district, become the nation’s first Palestinian-American woman elected to Congress. Tlaib, whose mother was born in Ramallah, was initially endorsed by the far-left group J Street until, during media interviews conducted during the campaign, she contradicted her initial support for a two-state solution and came out instead for the Palestinian ‘right of return’ and a one-state solution. As Ron Kampeas of JTA observed, when it comes to the one-state solution, Tlaib is even an outlier among the other two women elected to Congress on Nov. 1 with whom she is most frequently grouped, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. Like…
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Hungary: Zero tolerance for antisemitism? (Guest post by Karl Pfeifer)
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán declares repeatedly that in Hungary there is zero tolerance for antisemitism. A recent opinion research poll among Jews in Hungary shows that they feel less threatened physically or verbally but that antisemitism has become stronger since the last research in 1999. Why do Jews feel this way, despite of the good relations of Hungary with Israel? Because they know that the government propaganda against George Soros, even without mentioning his Jewish origin, is antisemitic. The same goes for the attempts of Orbán and his close friends to rewrite Hungarian history. Orbán was the most ardent supporter of erecting a statue to honor the antisemitic Bálint Hóman,…
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80th Anniversary of Kristallnacht
Tonight we commemorate the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the “night of broken glass”. That night, 9 November 1938, Nazi fury broke out against Jews throughout Germany and Austria — 92 were killed; 30,000 were seized and sent to concentration camps; 7,500 Jewish businesses were set on fire and destroyed. It was the most ominous sign of what was to come. But it had another dimension no less terrifying: 267 synagogues were burnt. Thousands of Torah scrolls, Judaism’s most sacred objects, were desecrated and thrown into the flames. Suddenly it became clear that the Nazis were intent not only on killing Jews. They sought to kill Judaism itself. They failed. The…
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Momentum’s Antisemitism Video
Momentum have made a little video on antisemitism. As with their last video on the subject they’ve found a friendly Jew to star in it (the last one featuring Michael Segalov). This one features the actress Tania Shew, though they don’t say she’s an actress. Tania (@tania_shew) worked on Jeremy Corbyn’s two leadership campaigns. She’s Jewish. And she’s got something to say 👇 pic.twitter.com/TQKw62R84T — Momentum (@PeoplesMomentum) November 8, 2018 Shew makes a number of comments in the video that don’t pass the rational thinking test, here’s one: “Addressing antisemitism in Britain must never curtail freedom of speech for Palestinians. Palestinians need to have the right to define their oppression…
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‘I had planned to own a farm but I ended up in the Israeli political zoo’: an interview with MK Sharren Haskel
From combat soldier to veterinary nurse to the youngest MK in the Knesset, Sharren Haskel has had an unconventional route into politics. In early October Haskel sat down with deputy editor Samuel Nurding to discuss how she believes she can change Israel for the better, her vision for the future of the West Bank and Gaza, and her long-term goals in what she calls the ‘Israeli political zoo’. Download a PDF version here. Samuel Nurding: How and why did you get into politics? Sharren Haskel: I never thought I would end up in politics. After my military service – I served as a combat fighter in the Border Patrol…
