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Sunday, December 3, 2023

France: Paris Attacker Identified

On Saturday night, a man identified as Armand Rajabpour Miyandoub went on a rampage in Paris stabbing a German tourist to death and injuring two others with a hammer. The suspect is 26 years of age and was born near Paris to Iranian immigrant parents.

Today's edition of Le Figaro gives background on the suspect's criminal past. The article is translated by Fousesqauwk.

https://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/je-ne-suis-plus-musulman-les-dissimulations-du-terroriste-armand-rajabpour-miyandoab-20231203

 "I am no longer Muslim," The dissembling of the terrorist Armand Rajabpour-Miyandoub

By EM with AFP

Posted one hour ago. Updated one hour ago.

Caption: Armand Rajabpour Miyandoub stabbed a German-Filipino tourist Saturday evening and attacked two other persons armed with a hammer.

After the murder of Samuel Paty in 2020, the terrorist of Bir-Hakeim (Brdige) assured investigators who interrogated him that he had become "anti-Islamist" after his time in prison.

Was it a form of Taqiyya? Known to the justice (system) for several years for his radical Islam and psychiatric troubles, Armand Rajabpour-Miyandoub had established contacts with several Islamist terrorists who had struck France in recent years. In October 2020, after the murder of Samuel Paty, he spontaneously went to the police station to explain the fact that he had had exchanges on social media with the assailant, Abdoullakh Anzorov, two weeks earlier, according to AFP (Agence France Presse).  Over the course of the (police interview), he claimed to have become,"anti-Islamist, radical or non-radical," after his time in prison.  According to OBS (political magazine), his mother had claimed that "he had left detention with a sort of hate towards Islam because of because of what he experienced after his detention." Above all, he felt 100% French, he got out with a love for France," she had claimed when her son was released without prosecution.

In 2016, the year in which he was prosecuted for a planned attack against La Defense (business district just outside Paris), the assailant gave the same speech. "I am radicalized and self-deradicalized." " I am no longer a Muslim, but I am still interested in what is happening there," he said. But for the justice system, the process of radicalization seemed "fragile": In June 2016, the young man was making searches online on "phosphorous bombs" as well as on Adel Kermiche, murderer of Father Hamel at Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray (Seine-Maritime). 

"Black thoughts"

Confronted with his contradictions, he admitted, in 2016, to still having "black thoughts". "The Nice attack did not displease him" and he felt "the need to do a follow-up". At his trial in 2018, his mother said he was "manipulated" and confided he had a very bad experience in his conversion to Islam in 2015 through contact with the jihadist Maximilien Thibaut, through a graffiti site. His older sister spoke of his "morbid timidity."

Sentenced on 16 March 2018 to 5 years in detention for association with terrorist criminals in the La Defense case to 5 years in detention, one of which was, suspended on probation, he got out in 2020 after 4 years of detention, according to sources close to the case. On Saturday, shortly after 9 pm, near the Bir-Hakeim Bridge spanning the Seine, he cried, "Allahu akhbar" several times as he stabbed a German-Filipino tourist and attacked two other persons, armed with a hammer. 


     


Saturday, December 2, 2023

France: One Dead in Jihadist Knife Attack in Paris

Quai de Grenelle, Paris


On Saturday, a 26-year-old Muslim man went on a stabbing rampage near the Eifel Tower in Paris. He stabbed a German tourist to death and wounded two others before being arrested. He reportedly cried, "Allahu akhbar" during the attack and told police that he was upset about the situation in Gaza.

The suspect was born in France in 1997. Le Figaro partially identifies him as Armand R., known to the police for an association with radical Islam.

The below article from France 24 is translated by Fousesquawk. (Note that there is a contradiction in the article as to whether one or two persons were wounded.)

https://www.france24.com/fr/france/20231202-attaque-meurtri%C3%A8re-au-couteau-dans-le-15e-arrondissement-de-paris-l-assaillant-interpell%C3%A9

Deadly knife attack in 15th arrondissement of Paris. Assailant arrested

An assailant stabbed one person to death and wounded two others near the Bir Hakeim Bridge in Paris. He was arrested.

Posted 12-3-2023 at 00:16

Updated  12-3-23 00;29

Caption: French police secure access to Bir-Hakeim Bridge after a knife attack in Paris, France on 2 December 2023.

An assailant stabbed a man to death and wounded another Saturday evening in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. He was arrested by police.

Gerald Darmain on X:

"Police have just courageously arrested an assailant attacking passersby in Paris near the Grenelle Dock. One person deceased and one wounded, treated by Paris first responders. Please avoid the sector." 

According to the Minister of Interior, Gerald Darmanin, the assailant reportedly cried, "Allahu Akhbar" and told police that he did not support the situation in Gaza.

The assailant, of French nationality and born in 1997, was arrested and placed in custody in the framework of an open case for murder and attempted murder and was turned over to the Criminal Brigade of Paris, the office of the prosecutor stated.

According to Gerald Darmanin, the deceased person is a tourist of German nationality.

Also according to the Minister, the perpetrator of the stabbings had already been convicted in 2016 for intending to carry out another attack and was known to the intelligence services.

With Agence France Presse and Reuters

*Update (12-3-2023). Today's edition of Le Figaro is identifying the attacker as Armand Rajabpour Miyandoab.


The "Red State" "Blue State" Debate

This article first appeared in New English Review. 



Aside from the possible implications of the Newsom-DeSantis debate for the 2024 presidential election, there is another issue that I hope will get more play in the coming months: As Sean Hannity, himself has stressed, hopefully, the nation will take a serious look at why so many people are leaving states like California, New York, and Illinois for states like Florida, Texas, the Carolinas, and Tennessee. Is it just for lower taxes, or together with many other factors, the promise of a better life?

As a native and current retiree in California, I have pondered that question myself, especially after a recent two-week trip to Tennessee, Georgia, and the Carolinas. It would be great to spend the remaining years in one of those states even if I had to give up the ideal weather of Southern California. Realistically, however, it's just a pipe dream. All of our close relatives are here in Southern California, and our house is completely paid off. So we are not going anywhere.

But what made Gavin Newsom the loser in the debate was the undeniable comparison between California and Florida. Newsom had no credible answers for the high cost of living, taxes, gas prices, crime, lax law enforcement, homelessness, etc, all of which are driving thousands of people and businesses out of the Golden State. To use a baseball metaphor, he stepped into the batter's box with two strikes against him. He fouled off a lot of pitches, but the facts were there for all to see. Hannity and his staff did their homework and came armed with empirical numbers that proved DeSantis' points for him.

When people vote with their legs, it's hard to argue that they are making a big mistake. Newsom, however, basically told his audience not to believe their lying eyes. California really is a better place than Florida, he tried to argue. It just wasn't convincing, especially to a California native and current resident who has been watching the deterioration first-hand. 

It is true that many residents of southern states are worried that the influx of transplants will bring their blue voting habits with them and turn red states into purple states, and eventually, into blue states. Others (like DeSantis) believe that the transplants are fleeing the political situation in blue states above all else in favor of places where people think like they do. It may turn out in the end that the transplants will strengthen the conservative (Republican numbers) in places like Tennessee, Texas, Florida, etc, and as those states gain population, they could gain more electoral votes with states like California losing electoral votes and  House of Representatives representation. All that is above my pay grade. It may be anecdotal, but I know a fair number of people who have made the move, and they tend to list as reasons the lower cost of living, quality of life, and to escape liberal government rule. Is it any coincidence that many residents of eastern Oregon have expressed their desire to secede from Oregon (a liberal state: think Portland) and join Idaho, a conservative state in stark contrast to its western neighbors of Oregon and Washington? That will likely never happen. Those folks will just have to move to Idaho, but that state is another place with a lot of transplants, including from California.

Putting aside the question of how the debate affected the 2024 presidential election, I think it served a valuable purpose in getting people to think about the differences between red states and blue states. Work and family ties will keep some people (like me) in blue states, but the bottom line is which states are better places to live in overall?



Friday, December 1, 2023

Anti-Semitism at Stanford

I am cross-posting an article running in the Stanford Daily, the campus newspaper of Stanford University. It concerns a meeting that Stanford President Richard Seller held with 275 Jewish alumni on the problem of campus anti-Semitism. There are a multitude of complaints at Stanford including the appearance of swastikas on campus.

 https://stanforddaily.com/2023/11/28/president-addresses-jewish-alumni-concerns-about-antisemitism-on-campus/

Not surprisingly, the Israeli-Palestinian issue is the main engine driving the complaint of anti-Semitism. It is good that President Seller has expressed a willingness to address anti-Semitism on campus, but as usual, there is also the standard reference to Islamophobia that Sellers thinks must also be addressed, as if there exists some equivalency. This is standard fare when universities concede there is a problem with anti-Semitism on campus. It is as if both Jews and Muslims are victims of a common enemy, which in many cases, is defined (falsely) as bigotry coming from white, nationalist, MAGA hat-wearing racists.

I take exception to that not because I think Muslim students should be exposed to bigotry, which I don't, rather because in my experience at UC Irvine, I never saw this kind of activity directed at Muslim students. In fact, it was generally, some-not all- Muslim students and their far-left Woke allies who were guilty of driving anti-Semitism on campus in the name of supporting the Palestinian cause. 

So I hope that Stanford President Sellers will take concrete steps to confront the anti-Semitic problem on his campus without having to pay lip service to "Islamophobia", which, in my opinion, is a false flag.

The Newsom-DeSantis Debate

 Last night, I watched the debate between Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis. I should mention here that I am a California native and current resident who knows a thing or two about Newsom.  As I watched the post-debate "expert analyses", my gut feeling is that they were largely based on what end of the political spectrum the commentators were on. I don't think either governor scored a knockout blow, but if I had to pick a winner, it would be DeSantis, who I was rooting for and who is my preferred candidate.

Newsom, to his credit, was at a disadvantage going in. The debate was on Fox, the moderator was Sean Hannity, and the third problem was his state-California. From crime to leftist prosecutors like LA's George Gascon, to homelessness, to illegal immigration, to taxes and regulations, to the numbers of California residents fleeing to other states (like Florida), Newsom had a lot to answer for. Hannity hit him with a lot of hard questions, backed up by empirical evidence, as to the state of California and its myriad of problems. On occasion, Newsom did not answer specific questions.

Newsom had to defend the indefensible, and he did so aggressively. He defended his state and attacked Florida in every way he could even insisting that California was in better condition than Florida when asked about his own state's problems. The only thing he left out when attacking Florida was the alligators, which California, thankfully, doesn't have. He also attacked DeSantis, calling him a bully and a liar. DeSantis gave as well as he got, and it was clear that these two men do not have a high opinion of each other. 

As to who won the charm contest, there was no clear winner. Newsom came across as what he is, a slick operator. On the other hand, I wasn't convinced I would want to share a few beers with DeSantis, but I could care less about charm and charisma when it comes to politicians. I care about what they believe and what they will do in office.

Non-California voters should beware the smooth-talking Newsom. He has been a disaster as governor. To be fair, California has suffered from a long line of bad governors before Newsom; Jerry Brown, Gray Davis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the list goes back decades. Newsom took over a state in bad shape and made it much worse. Of course, none of that matters to liberal Democrat voters. 

Germany: Police Thwart 2 Planned Terror Attacks on Christmas Markets

 

Christmas market in Nuremberg



The Christmas season is now upon us, and for Europe, that also brings the threat of Islamic terror attacks on the continent's fabled Christmas markets, particularly in Germany. In December 2016, the Christmas market in Berlin was the target of a truck attack in which 12 people were killed. The truck had been stolen by a Tunisian man and deliberately driven into the crowd of people visiting the site. The terrorist was later tracked down and killed by Italian police outside Milan.

Now German police are on high alert and with good reason. Today, authorities in Lower Saxony and North Rhine Westphalia, in two separate cases, are announcing the arrests of three suspects who were allegedly planning to carry out attacks upon Christmas markets in Germany.

The below article in today's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) is translated by Fousesquawk. It concerns the arrest of a 20-year-old Iraqi man in Lower Saxony. It also mentions the arrests of two teenagers (15 and 16)  in North Rhein Westphalia who were also planning separate attack(s) in that region of the country. In a separate article today, the FAZ identifies the latter two suspects as being of Afghan origin and Russian-Chechen origin.


https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/terrorverdacht-in-weihnachtszeit-festnahme-wegen-anschlaggefahr-19352610.html

Attack in the Christmas season?

Young man arrested due to possible terror plans

Updated 11-30-2023 at 23:46

A 20-year-old man had announced that he would carry out attacks during the Christmas season. Now he is in custody. Generally, the police think they are well prepared for security issues at the Christmas markets. 

Due to suspicion that he planned a terror attack during the Christmas season, a 20-year-old man has been arrested in Lower Saxony. "He announced that he wanted to carry out attacks in connection with large events during the Christmas season, and that is why we have taken him into preventative custody," said Lower Saxony Interior Minister, Daniela Behrens (SPD)  to NDR (North German Radio)  Lower Saxony on Thursday.

The NDR reported after a joint investigation with WDR (West German Radio) that the suspect from Sachsen-Anhalt was arrested in Helmstedt on November 21. He comes from Iraq, said the interior minister. 

"Very visible there and in force"

He "is in police custody based on security measures. The State Police of Lower Saxony are not giving further background due to tactical-investigative reasons at this time," the NDR quoted a State Police spokesperson.

With a view to the security situation at Christmas markets, Interior Minister Behrens, said that the police are "very visible there and in force," among other things because of the military conflict in the Middle East. And: " We also have other Islamists, who are no longer in the public eye, but who have announced (plans for) further attacks in the West."

Most recently, in North Rhine Westphalia, two young men were arrested who reportedly sympathized with the Islamic State and who allegedly planned a Christmas market attack. They are in custody. Ultimately, they allegedly agreed to kill visitors to a Christmas market in Leverkusen by a fuel-generated explosion in a small truck at the beginning of December," as the Public Prosecutor's Office reported on Thursday.




Thursday, November 30, 2023

Netherlands: Wilders Visits Kijkduin

Hat tip Vlad Tepes, Gates of Vienna, and RAIR Foundation USA


 This week, a fresh controversy arose in the Netherlands when a bus full of asylum-seekers was spotted discharging its passengers at a seaside resort hotel in the community of Kijkduin. An investigative reporter from the conservative news outlet, Ongehoord Nederland, managed to visit one of the rooms and filmed what asylum-seekers (who had been bussed from the migrant center at Ter Apel) were being treated to at Dutch taxpayers' expense.



Subsequently, Party for Freedom leader Geert Wilders visited the community to show his support for outraged residents. The below video is subtitled by Gates of Vienna and Vlad Tepes with translation by Fousesquawk. 

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

The Middle East War and Campus Newspapers

This article first appeared in Times of Israel Blogs.


 In covering the craziness on our university campuses, part of the story is how the campus newspapers are covering and reporting controversial events on campus. This also applies to the demonstrations and events surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The highly organized Palestinian movement in the US has been quite successful in making this conflict a hot-button issue on campuses all over the country. Thus, the issue is often found in campus newspapers, especially now.

So it is with the events of October 7 up to the present day. More than ever, our campuses are awash in pro-Palestinian demonstrations condemning the Israeli assault upon Gaza in the wake of October 7 and openly calling for the destruction of the Jewish state. Predictably, most campus papers I have read during this time are trying to walk a fine line between covering the pro-Palestinian side and expressing concern over the civilian deaths in Gaza while reporting Jewish students' concerns over anti-Semitism. What I fail to see is any strong condemnation over the horrific events of October 7 aside from reporting the university administration's condemnation, which inevitably leads to protests by groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), whose narrative and claims are covered extensively without question. I also fail to see any editorial condemnation of the brown shirt antics of SJP by the editorial staff of any paper.

The problem is that campus newspapers in general, in keeping with the times, try to maintain political correctness in dealing with controversial issues. At worst, they are overly sympathetic to the  Palestinian side, often reporting that they cannot disclose the names of pro-Palestinian students whom they quote due to "threats against their personal safety". Imagine that: The bully boys (and girls) of SJP are afraid for their personal safety.

To be clear and blunt: There can be no moral equivalence between Israel's assault on Gaza in pursuit of Hamas and attempts to find their hostages with the horrific atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7. I have yet to find in any campus newspaper a detailed description of what those animals did, beheading babies, placing them in ovens, raping women, massacring over 1,200 innocent civilians, and kidnapping over 200 people, including small children, to Gaza. True, I cannot account for every campus newspaper in the nation. Still, I have yet to find any example where Israel is defended other than an occasional op-ed by a particularly courageous Jewish student whom the newspaper has allowed to publish a piece. 

I don't know if this is all a result of fear or actual belief on the part of the student journalists, or a combination of both. In the past, I have tried to be generous because, after all, they are students. Ten years down the road in life, they may have different beliefs. On the other hand, these are the future journalists for the New York Times, Washington Post, etc, and their biases will bring further discredit to American journalism, an institution that is already in serious decline. 

The latest round of fighting between Israel and Hamas, which was started by one of the most horrific attacks against civilians in recent history, has brought a spotlight on the issue of campus anti-Semitism and the failure of universities to confront it seriously. The public in general is now aware not only of the present-day scope of Jew hatred around the world but the role of our own universities in spreading it. A few universities, and hopefully more, are starting to realize that the presence of SJP on their campuses is not only disruptive but downright dangerous. As we keep the spotlight shining on our morally corrupt universities, let us not overlook the role campus newspapers are playing, consciously or unconsciously.


Tuesday, November 28, 2023

UC Berkeley Sued for Failure to Protect Jewish Students

The Loius D Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, an organization dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism, particularly on campus, has brought a lawsuit against the University of California at Berkeley citing a long list of complaints of intimidation against Jewish students by anti-Israel activists on that campus. The below article was sent to me today by the Brandeis Center. I applaud what they are doing, and more of this is needed across the country. It is way past time to hold these universities accountable. For far too long they have turned a blind eye to brown shirt tactics by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and various chapters of the Muslim Student Association.  


BRANDEIS CENTER SUES UC BERKELEY FOR “LONGSTANDING, UNCHECKED SPREAD OF ANTI-SEMITISM”

 

Once a Beacon of Civil Rights, Berkeley Now Home to Physical Intimidation and Violence Against Jews and 23 Orgs that Ban “Zionists”

 

Washington, D.C., Nov. 28, 2023:  The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law is suing the University of California (UC) Regents, UC President Michael Drake, UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ, and other officials, for the “longstanding, unchecked spread of anti-Semitism” on Berkeley’s campus that has resulted in a current hotbed of anti-Jewish hostility and harassment. The complaint was filed today in the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

 

Since Oct. 7 anti-Semitism has run rampant at the school, according to the Brandeis Center. Reported for the very first time in this complaint are numerous incidents of intimidation, harassment and physical violence against Jewish students. 

 

For example, during one of the numerous rallies held at UC Berkeley celebrating Hamas, a Jewish undergraduate draped in an Israeli flag was set upon by two protesters who struck him in the head with a metal water bottle. Jewish students and faculty are receiving hate mail calling for their gassing and murder.  Many Jewish students report feeling afraid to go to class.  

 

Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted a prayer gathering by Jewish students. Pro-Palestinian rallies blocked the main entrance to campus.   And a UC Berkeley faculty member went on an anti-Israel rant for 18 minutes, with roughly 1,000 freshman as his captive audience.  

 

Students participating in the pro-Hamas rallies have spouted hatred and threats against Jews, harassed Jewish students, demanded the dismantling of Israel, honored Hamas “martyrs” who were killed while butchering Jewish civilians, and chanted phrases such as “intifada, intifada,” condoning violence against Jews, and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” calls for the elimination of Israel and the eradication of the 7 million Jews that live there.

 

UC Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky acknowledges the rampant anti-Semitism at his school, writing recently, “I am a 70-year-old Jewish man, but never in my life have I seen or felt the antisemitism of the last few weeks.” He noted that, “[t]wo weeks ago, at a town hall, a student told me that what would make her feel safe in the law school would be to ‘get rid of the Zionists.’” He added he had “heard several times that I have been called ‘part of a Zionist conspiracy,’ which echoes antisemitic tropes that have been expressed for centuries.”

 

UC Berkely Jewish students shared in the complaint that the school does so little to protect Jewish students, it feels as if the school is condoning anti-Semitism. They added that officials at the university display a “general disregard” for Jewish students. Indeed, many Jewish students have reported feeling afraid to go to class during the pro-Hamas rallies because they have little confidence UC will protect them from anti-Semitic mobs.  

 

“The anti-Semitism Berkeley’s Jewish students find themselves embroiled in today did not start on Oct. 7,” stated Kenneth L. Marcus, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education for the Bush and Trump administrations, current founder and chairman of the Brandeis Center, and a graduate of UC Berkeley’s law school.  “It is a direct result of Berkeley’s leadership repeatedly turning a blind eye to unfettered Jew-hatred.  The school is quick to address other types of hatred, but why not anti-Semitism?  Berkeley, once a beacon of free speech, civil rights, and equal treatment of persons regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, gender, and sexual preference, is heading down a very different and dangerous path from the one I proudly attended as a Jewish law student.”

 

The most prominent example of pre-Oct. 7 willful blindness Marcus is referring to, and a primary focus of this lawsuit, is a decision last year by nine law student organizations to amend their constitutions with a bylaw that bans all Zionist speakers.  The numbers have now swelled to 23 groups, including academic journals that prohibit Zionists from publishing and pro-bono organizations that prevent Jewish students from receiving hands-on legal experience, training, supervision and mentorship. The Zionist ban denies Jewish law students networking opportunities provided to others; deprives them of earning pro-bono hours for state bar requirements; curtails their avenues for developing and improving legal research, writing, and editing skills; and limits their choices for obtaining academic credits towards graduation.  This is all illegal under federal law and university policies.  

 

It has become commonplace for persons seeking to disguise their anti-Semitism to use the word “Zionists” to mean Jews. The Biden National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism notes that, “[w]hen Jews are targeted because of their beliefs or their identity, when Israel is singled out because of anti-Jewish hatred, that is antisemitism.”  The White House explains that protection of Jews as a religious, national and ethnic group includes protection from anti-Israel bias and discrimination.  Anti-Zionism is different from criticism of Israel or opposition to the policies of the Israeli government.  Anti-Zionism rejects the very right of Israel to exist and denies Jews the fundamental right to self-determination. Pew survey found that 80% of Jews view Israel as integral to their Jewish identity. Dean Chemerinsky himself has acknowledged the ban excludes “90 percent or more” of Jewish students at Berkeley law. 

 

While UC Berkeley leaders have repeatedly acknowledged the Zionist ban is blatant anti-Semitism, they have done nothing to address it.  This has allowed anti-Jewish bigotry to normalize and escalate.

 

The UC leaders have, instead, excused the discrimination as “viewpoint discrimination,” protected, they claim, by the First Amendment.  The lawsuit makes abundantly clear, however, that UC Berkeley leaders’ choice to ignore discriminatory behavior violates federal law and university policies.  According to the Brandeis Center, the discriminatory ban does not exclude individuals based on viewpoint because it has nothing to do with anything a given speaker might say or author might write.  Instead it excludes Zionist speakers because of who they are.

 

“Making Jews renounce that core component of their identity to participate in a student organization is no different than asking members of the LGBTQ community to remain ‘in the closet’ as the cost of membership—a cost that is not imposed on other students who are free to participate fully in those organizations without disavowing or hiding their identities,” stated Rachel Lerman, vice chair and general counsel at the Brandeis Center and also a graduate of UC Berkeley Law School. 

 

According to the complaint, Berkeley’s acquiescence to these discriminatory policies has helped give anti-Semitism free reign on campus in violation of the law.  “This suit targets the longstanding, unchecked spread of anti-Semitism at the University of California Berkeley, which, following the October 7 Hamas attacks, has erupted in on-campus displays of hatred, harassment, and physical violence against Jews,” states the complaint.  “Court intervention is now needed to protect students and faculty and to end this anti-Semitic discrimination and harassment, which violates University policy, federal civil rights laws, and the U.S. Constitution.”

 

Earlier this month, the Brandeis Center, along with the ADL, Hillel International, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, and other leading law firms and Jewish organizations, launched the Campus Antisemitism Legal Line (CALL), a free legal protection helpline for college students who have experienced antisemitism. Over the past month, the Brandeis Center has filed two Title VI complaints with the U.S. Department of Education against the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and Wellesley College, and sent a strong legal warning to Harvard University regarding its failure to take action against a professor that Harvard itself admitted had discriminated against Jewish Israeli students.  Two weeks ago the Department of Education announced it was formally investigating Brandeis’ UPenn and Wellesley complaints.

 

The Department of Education recently reached an unprecedented agreement with the University of Vermont to address growing antisemitism on its campus in response to a complaint filed by the Brandeis Center on behalf of UVM Jewish students, and, in addition to UPenn and Wellesley, the Department of Education is investigating another four pending Brandeis Center complaints at SUNY New Paltz, the University of Southern California (USC), Brooklyn College, and the University of Illinois

…………………………
nicole s rosen
rosen communications
www.rosencommunications.com
202 309 5724

Monday, November 27, 2023

Jew Haters and Hamas Supporters at University of Arizona

Hat tip Campus Reform


On October 11, in the wake of the day horrific October 7 Hamas attack upon innocent Jewish civilians in Israel, University of Arizona President, Robert Robbins issued a campus-wide statement in which he condemned the actions of the above terror group. He also expressed the university's disavowal of support for Hamas by the U of A chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

Naturally, that didn't sit right with SJP and their leftist allies on campus, so on November 9 they held a walkout and accused Robbins of, well, genocide.



Meanwhile, Lea Thomas, a Jewish student at U of A has written a letter to the editor of the campus newspaper, the Daily Wildcat, to describe the fear Jewish students feel on campus and accusing SJP of misinformation.

This is just another in a long line of examples from US campuses illustrating the rampant anti-Semitism being spread in the name of supporting the Palestinian cause. This wave of Jew-hatred has now reached epic proportions. I hope that President Robbins will stand up to the Hamas supporters on his campus. 

Kick SJP off campus, once and for all.





Culture Shock in Portugal



You may not read much about it compared to countries like France, Sweden, Germany, and the Netherlands, but Portugal is also having problems with migrants and resultant crime. This report from the Portuguese daily, Correio da Manhã, is a week old, but it seems that at least one Iraqi man, probably three, took offense when they saw people drinking beer at an open-air restaurant or bar. After threatening customers, police were called, and one of the Iraqis allegedly cut two officers with a knife.

According to the below article, a spokesperson for the local police station, apparently somewhat less than outraged, told the press that this is a case of culture shock on the part of the Iraqi(s).

Fortunately, the two officers were only lightly wounded. Meanwhile, our Iraqi friend is sitting in a jail cell recovering from his culture shock.



The below article is translated by Fousesquawk.

https://www.cmjornal.pt/portugal/detalhe/policia-esfaqueado-por-homem-que-ameacava-clientes-em-esplanada-em-ourem

Police officer stabbed by man who threatened customers at an open-air restaurant in Ourem

PSP believes that contempt arose due to "culture shock"

Mario Freire   20 November 2023 at 18:48

An officer of the PSP (Public Safety Police), police force of Ourem was stabbed by an Iraqi man who was threatening several beer-drinking customers with a knife at an open-air restaurant near the Ourem courthouse.

The PSP was called to intervene, and the 29-year-old man maintained an aggressive behavior and lightly stabbed two officers, who were treated at the scene without having to go to the hospital, explained an official of the PSP command of Santarem.

At the time, two other men were also identified for threatening and insulting some of the customers.

"At issue is culture shock since the involved persons are taught that the consumption of alcohol in public places is not permitted," a PSP source said.

The detained individual will stay in a PSP cell until brought to court to appear before a judge.



The Shooting in Vermont

Over the weekend, in Burlington, Vermont, three students identified as Palestinians were shot and wounded near the University of Vermont campus. The young men were reportedly speaking Arabic and two of them were wearing the distinctive Palestinian keffiyas. A 48-year-old man identified as Jason Eaton has been charged with three counts of second-degree attempted murder.

We still don't know all the facts surrounding the incident, but on the surface, one can only say that this must be condemned, assuming the attack was unprovoked and not a case of self-defense. As yet, there has been no release of information suggesting that was the case.

These are tense times we are living in with the Israeli-Hamas war and the emotions that has caused in the US. On November 5, a 69-year-old Jewish man was killed in an altercation with a pro-Palestinian demonstrator near Los Angeles. We don't need any more people hurt or killed in our country over this conflict.

I won't hesitate to report on violence carried out by pro-Palestinian demonstrators, but I will not be a hypocrite. What happened in Vermont is unacceptable and justice must do its job. It should also serve as a reminder that worse violence may be on the way. Although the Vermont incident did not happen during a demonstration, it still underlines the fact that pro-Israel or pro-Palestinian demonstrations must be accompanied by a visible police presence.