California school asks students: Was Holocaust real?

 

8th-graders were asked to write for a homework assignment, an essay on if the Holocaust was an actual historical event or a political scheme designed to influence public emotion.

By Reuters

 

A California school district is under fire after eighth-graders were given an assignment to write an essay explaining whether they believed the Holocaust was a real historical event or a political scheme to influence public emotion and gain.

Auschwitz: Essay on whether it really happened.

A new program for Holocaust studies at the University of Haifa is allowing students to shine a light on their families’ own personal histories. – Photo: AP

“It was an error,” Syeda Jafri, spokesperson of the Rialto Unified School District near Los Angeles, said on Monday.

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Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox community quietly joins the IDF

“There is a ‘Haredi Spring’ taking place as the Internet & smartphones develop. You can’t avoid it…..What the rabbis are afraid of is [their] culture changing. Incrementally, it is seeping through,” says Moshe Prigan, 30, a captain who recruits other ultra-Orthodox Jewish men to enlist into the IDF.

The Associated Press & Israel Hayom Staff

 

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Hamas’ Meshaal & PA’s Abbas hold 1st talks since unity deal

 

Hamas leaders in Gaza release 6 imprisoned members of Abbas’ Fatah party as goodwill gesture to form Palestinian unity gov’t.

By i24news

 

The Hamas government in Gaza announced late Monday it released six imprisoned members of the West Bank-based Fatah party. A statement by the interior ministry of the coastal enclave also said Hamas hopes the goodwill gesture will be reciprocated by Ramallah.

لقاء عباس ومشعل في الدوحة ( ثائر غنيم (اف ب) )Abbas and Meshaal hold first talks in Gaza since unity deal

The announcement came after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas convened with Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal in Doha in the first meeting since their rival movements signed a surprise unity deal last month.

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Liberman: ‘We offer our hand in peace – but we’ll cut off the hand that threatens us’

 

Israel’s Foreign Minister Liberman spoke at Remembrance Day ceremony Monday, emphasized Israel’s commitment to peace and security.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

 

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman addressed the Remembrance Day ceremony in Kiryat Gat on Monday where he stated that the Jewish people are “a peace-seeking nation” but also said that, “We extend our hands in peace, but we will cut off every hand that threatens us.”

Liberman

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman – Photo: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST

The foreign minister told listeners that regarding recent peace efforts with the Palestinians, “Special efforts were made by successive Israeli governments who were willing to make concessions to attain this goal, but when there is no willingness on the other side this becomes a virtually impossible task.”

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Putin signs law outlawing denial of Nazi crimes

Opponents of the new law say Russia’s aim is to silence historians & journalists who dispute the glorification of the ex-USSR’s actions during World War II.

By Reuters

 

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Monday making the denial of Nazi crimes and distortion of the Soviet Union’s role in the World War Two a criminal offence punishable by up to five years in jail.

Russian military vehicles rehearsing for Victory Day parade, Red Square, Moscow, May 5, 2014.

Russian military vehicles rehearsing for Victory Day parade, Red Square, Moscow, May 5, 2014. – Photo: AP

The law, described by critics as an attempt to curb freedom of expression to appease conservative Russians, the ex-KGB spy’s main support base, also criminalizes the public desecration of war memorials. Continue Reading »

Israel’s Prime Objective: To Make the World a Better Place

Minister Bennett releases heartfelt, if quirky, address of ‘Tikkun Olam’ for Independence Day – bridging ancient heritage & modern marvels.

By Tova Dvorin

 

Economics Minister and Jewish Home (Bayit Yehudi) Chairman Naftali Bennett released a special video address in honor of Israel’s Independence Day on Monday, noting Israel’s synthesis between ancient heritage and modern miracle.

“Today we are celebrating Israel’s sixty-sixth birthday,” he stated, in a video posted on Facebook. “This is a young country, but our people is a very ancient one. We’ve been around for 3,800 years – you and I, our forefathers.”

Bennett illustrated this with a vivid – if unconventional – example. Continue Reading »

Bereaved families yelled at Israel PM Netanyahu: ‘You’re freeing our children’s killers’

 

Israel’s annual Memorial service held at Mount Herzl disrupted when families of victims of terrorist attacks start yelling at Israel’s Prime Minister.

Netanyahu responds: ‘Today, the waves of hate of our enemies shatter at the defensive shield, the iron wall of the IDF.’

By Omri Efraim

 

The memorial service for Victims of Terror Acts was disrupted Monday afternoon when bereaved families prevented Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of starting his speech by yelling at him and waving red flags.

Rami Cohen, who was wounded in a terror attack in 2000, got up from his seat and called at Netanyahu: “Mister Prime Minister, you are freeing the murderers of our children!” Continue Reading »

Proof – AGAIN: In 1695 Palestine showed no local Arab ‘Palestinian’ nationality

A tour & census of Palestine in the year 1695 showed no records or evidence of Arabian names or ‘Palestinian’ nationality.

By

 

There was no Palestinian nationality before the 1960s, when it was invented in order to reposition what was then universally known as the Arab/Israeli conflict. Up to the invention of “Palestinians,” the Israelis were the tiny, besieged people amidst a huge number of hostile Arabs; after that invention, the “Palestinians” themselves became the tiny, besieged people against the big, bad Israelis.

RFK Bostan dispatch

PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein said this in 1977:

The Palestinian people does not exist.

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US officials speak up: Why Israeli-Palestinian negotiations failed

In an exclusive interview, undisclosed American officials who were directly involved with the Israeli-Palestinian talks reveal the real reason, in their opinion, for the collapse of the peace negotiations.

By Nahum Barnea

 

The American version of why the current round of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians failed is fundamentally different to the one presented by Israeli officials. The list of those to blame for this failure is also very different. From the US perspective, the issue of the settlements was largely to blame.

John Kerry

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has made many errors along the way – Photo: AP

Senior American officials involved in Secretary of State John Kerry’s peace push this week agreed to share with me their take on the talks’ failure. Continue Reading »

Pakistani intelligence agency planned attacks on US & Israel consulates in India

 

Indian intelligence interrogated a detained Sri Lankan national who admits providing terror surveillance to his handler, a Pakistani ISI official.

By Ynetnews

 

The Pakistani intelligence agency known as ISI planned terror attacks on US and Israeli consulates in India reported the Press Trust of India on Sunday.

Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan - Photo:  Wikimedia Commons

Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan – Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Indian official sources said that proof of the planned attacks was given during the interrogation of Sakir Hussain, a Sri Lankan national who was arrested on April 29 in Southeast Asia when investigators informed an Indian security agency of his possible connection to planned attacks in India. Continue Reading »

Watch: BDS Activist Arrested When He Attacked Pro-Israel Rally

As pro-Israel group continues to fight against BDS boycotters in Brighton, British police detained least 6 anti-Israel activists.

By Ari Soffer

 

At least six anti-Israel protesters were arrested after attempting to disrupt a pro-Israel rally in the English town of Brighton on Saturday.

SFI activists supporting Eco Stream in Brighton – Photo: Oren Teichman

The arrests came during weekly protests and counter-protests at the Israeli Eco Stream store in the southern town, which supporters of the so-called BDS movement have been calling on people to boycott.

For their latest protest, BDS groups – including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) – enlisted support from several trade union groups in an attempt to re-energize their campaign, which began to flounder after a concerted effort by locals, led by Sussex Friends of Israel (SFI), to counter their calls for an anti-Israel boycott. Continue Reading »

Entry for Israeli tourists causes heated debate in Tunisia

 

Tunisia, which does not recognize Israel, but is desperate for tourism, questions permitting Israelis into the country for annual pilgrimage.

By i24news

 

Tunisians are embroiled in a heated debate over allowing Israeli tourists into the country, which does not recognize the Jewish state, before an annual pilgrimage that attracts Jews from around the world.

File picture shows an Israeli tourist taking a picture outside the synagogue of La Ghriba on the southern Tunisian island of Djerba on May 25, 2005 ( AFP Photo/Fethi Belaid )

Israeli tourist taking a picture outside the synagogue of La Ghriba on the southern Tunisian island of Djerba on May 25, 2005 – AFP Photo/Fethi Belaid

It is an open secret that Israelis have been visiting Tunisia for years on the quiet.

The dispute is not over Jews from third countries, who are openly welcome, just Israelis.

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Israeli Minister vows, ‘Jews Will Pray on Temple Mount’

Christian pastor who was ordered off the Temple Mount by Muslims after speaking to a Jew addresses Jewish group seeking rights in freedom of religion.

By Ryan Jones

 

Israel’s deputy minister of religious affairs, Eli Ben-Dahan (Jewish Home), reiterated in a video posted to YouTube this week that the Israeli government is working on new regulations that would finally permit Jews to pray at Judaism’s holiest site, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

American Christian pastor Keith Johnson - YouTube screenshot

American Christian pastor Keith Johnson – YouTube screenshot

“I believe and expect that the prime minister and his government will adopt these regulations …and allow any Jew who wants to ascend the Temple Mount and pray there to do so,” Ben-Dahan said in a video address to an emergency conference organized by the Liba Project for Jewish Freedom at the Temple Mount. Continue Reading »

U.S. envoy Indyk said to resign for collapse of peace-talks

Special U.S. envoy for peace talks Martin Indyk said to blame Israel for breakup of peace negotiations.

The U.S. special envoy for peace talks, Martin Indyk, is considering resigning following the blowup of talks between Israel and the Palestinians, and in light of President Barack Obama’s intention to suspend American mediation, according to Israeli officials in Jerusalem who are close to the matter. The officials asked to remain anonymous due to the issue’s sensitivity.
Kerry and Indyk.

Kerry and Indyk at the State Department in Washington. – Photo: Reuters

The officials said Indyk had already informed the Brookings Institute – where he is vice president and director for foreign policy – that he might soon be returning to his post, from which he took a leave of absence nine months ago.

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Tehran outlaws Israel’s WhatsApp, claims Facebook’s Zuckerberg is ‘American Zionist’

 

US Commission on Int’l Religious Freedom blasts Iran for its anti-Semitism & “targeting members of the Jewish community.”

 

 

Iran’s Committee on Internet Crimes has banned WhatsApp, the cross-platform instant messaging subscription service for smartphones  that American hi-tech tycoon Mark Zuckerberg recently acquired.

whatsapp

WhatsApp logo – Photo: Wikimedia Commons

“The reason for this is the assumption of WhatsApp by the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who is an American Zionist,” Abdolsamad Khorramabadi, head of the committee, said, Fox News reported on Friday.

Meanwhile, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom blasted the Islamic Republic last week in a report on the repression of religious freedom, Fox News reported.

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