#Ofer Neiman

[theivorybilledwoodpecker]

On Monday, a peace activist from Be’er Sheva, in southern Israel, learned that his friend, Khalil Abu Yahia, a resident of the war-torn Gaza Strip, had been killed in an Israeli air strike. “He was one of the organisers of the Great March of Return,” said Yossef Mekyton, visibly shaken and emotional when referring to the March 2018 to December 2019 pro-Palestinian protests held along the Israel-Gaza border. “And he was killed with his whole family.” Mekyton, an Israeli citizen, has long supported the rights of the Palestinians. But since the events of October 7 – when Hamas fighters breached the Gaza border with Israel, killing some 1,400 Israelis, prompting an unprecedented scale of bombardment on the Palestinian enclave – Mekyton says that many Israeli-based activists live in a climate of “fear”. “I think one of the most effective ways to commit suicide these days in Israel is to go out on the street with a Palestinian flag,” the graphic designer told Al Jazeera. While the treatment of activists felt threatening before October 7, it is “much more threatening” now, he said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to destroy Hamas – which has controlled the impoverished Gaza Strip since 2007 – following the group’s incursion and kidnapping spree. But Israel’s relentless shelling of Gaza has killed 8,500 Palestinian civilians, including more than 3,500 children. Israeli troops claim that among the dead are several Hamas commanders. The Palestinian group has not yet announced any deaths of its fighters. Fear and panic have gripped most sections of Israeli society following the Hamas attacks, making the activities of Israel’s activist population more conspicuous than ever. “I am facing harassment by individuals on social media,” said Israeli Ofer Neiman, a pro-Palestinian resident of Jerusalem and supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, which is committed to putting political and economic pressure on Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian West Bank and blockade of the Gaza Strip. “Will it get worse? Yes, perhaps – it is concerning.” On October 28, dozens of Israelis attended an anti-war protest in Tel Aviv – widely regarded as a liberal city. “In terms of going out to demonstrate, I would feel reasonably safe in the Tel Aviv demonstration. But in other places, such as in Jerusalem where I live, I would not feel safe,” said Neiman. Right-wing voices ‘dominate’ discourse Last month, Israeli Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai warned there would be “zero tolerance” for domestic rallies supporting Gaza. But there are signs of a crackdown that go beyond protests. Israeli Jewish sociolinguist Uri Horesh recently announced that he had been suspended from his lecturing role at Israel’s Achva Academic College, citing his opposition to the attacks on Gaza as the reason for his dismissal. Israel Frey, an ultra-Orthodox Israeli journalist, was forced into hiding after expressing support for the people of Gaza – which he said made him the target of far-right activists. And it was reported that an Israeli citizen had been arrested on account of a publicly displayed sign. “There is no sanctity in an occupied city,” read the sign, which had reportedly been hung from the window of his Jerusalem home for years.

[eretzyisrael]

I have just spent several dark weeks back inside Palestine Live. Today I publish a new report that focuses on the activity of American anti-Zionists, many of them Jewish (download link below). It is impossible to do a 262-page report justice in a small blog. The catalyst was the unfolding events in the United States. Jewish life for American Jews is different to the experience of Jews in the UK. Yet there are also similarities. I read an interesting article by Jonathan S Tobin, editor in chief of JNS.org, that was titled ‘How progressives are destroying the Jewish ‘big tent‘.

The subject matter will be familiar with Jewish people in the UK – Tobin discusses fringe organisations and where you draw the line when deciding which Jewish groups can be allowed in the ‘big tent’. Tobin had written the article because the week before, the Boston Jewish Community Relations Council votedto start a process to by which one of their constituent organizations might be booted out – why? Because they had indicated support for the Boycott movement, BDS.

I see the daily news in the US and it reminds me of the UK a few years ago. There are signs they are on a similar divisive path. Antisemitism rises and Jewish anti-Zionists leap into action, claiming it is about ‘criticism of Israel’. Creating an industry of antisemitism denial that legitmises antisemites. They write articles, they sign petitions, they appear on TV. In the States they have vocal anti-Zionist Jewish activists running organisations such as JVP and Codepink. Did you see the way they ran to protect Ilhan Omar? They create an environment within which antisemitism is given protection. Just like the anti-Zionists of Jewish Voice for Labour did in the UK. Only in the US, both anti-Zionist Jews and antisemites are more numerous.

News outlets such as Mondoweiss push their propaganda at an alarming rate. This air of legitimacy is attracting people. Yet I know the truth.

I know that these people ally themselves with hard-core antisemites. I have watched as they have organised petitions, events and demos with people who share neo-Nazi and white supremacist material.

Ariel Gold, Rebecca Vilkomerson, Medea Benjamin, David Mivasair are just some of the key American activists who have played inside the antisemitic swamp that is Palestine Live. A group that contains other members such as Greta Berlin, Cynthia Mckinney, Miko Peled and Alison Weir. Daniella Ravitzki, Larry Derfner, Ofer Neiman, Pam Bailey, Jonathan Ofir, Jennifer Loewenstein, Mark Levine, Seth Morrison and many more.

I’ve watched people like Codepink’s Ariel Gold deploy her Jewish identity, time after time, just as she aligns with people who push the ideology of the Renegade Tribune in a fight against Israel. Several key JVP figures are inside the group, people from the Rabbinical council, academic council and the JVP Board. Almost the entire front line of Codepink are inside too. Why are Amnesty personnel inside a secret antisemitic Facebook group?

In public they put pretty profile pictures up suggesting they stand ‘together against antisemitism’. They adamantly suggest they fight against it. In private the bitter truth is revealed. Time after time, these actvists are found alongside people who share rabid white supremacist or neo-Nazi material. Not once, not twice, but EVERY time. These people have created an industry of antisemitism denial to protect their precious cause, no matter who they need to align with.

David Mivasair, from the JVP Rabbinical council was in one thread with FIVE people who share material from neo-Nazi or white supremacist websites. FIVE. He conspires with them to weaken Israel, jokes about antisemitism with them and then in public he sings a different tune. Almost NONE of the activists were EVER seen confronting any antisemitism, inside a group that is overburdened with hard-core antisemites. All they did is engage in joint initiatives to attack the Jewish state. The antisemites and the anti-Zionist Jews. Attacking Israel together.

These activists consider me the enemy because I am a Zionist. They align themselves with people who share material from the Renegade Tribune, Rense, Stormfront, Daily Stormer and Whiteresister. Those people are their allies – and I am the enemy?

And Mondoweiss? I lost count of the number of contributors to Mondoweiss I found active in the group. It is the same story. In public they write articles suggesting the allegations of antisemitism are a smear – in secret, knowingly or not, they hold hands with people who share some of the most viciously antisemitic websites on the net.

I also captured an anti-AIPAC demonstration in 2017. Analysed the people present and the findings are truly horrific. When you remove Jewish people and Palestinians from the crowd, what is left is a mob of rabid antisemites. This is what those Jewish activists hold hands with when they attack the Jewish state. These people are their allies.

Remember this when you see angry crowds outside AIPAC next week. This is a message that must be spread around. These people are either playing with us or have no idea what antisemitism is. Opposition to Israeli policies is legitimate, but Zionism acts as a protective layer around the Jews outside and inside Israel. Once you remove it as a central requirement, by not caring if members support BDS or Israel’s core right to exist, you will inevitably dance with the devil. Just as JVP, Mondoweiss and others such as Codepink have already chosen to do.

There are 262 pages in total. Hundreds of examples and dozens of activists. I found it shocking to write, I have no choice but to show the ugly truth. You can download the report here (DOWNLOAD REPORT)-  Please if you can  – consider contributing something towards the research.

[redress-newsbites]

Human rights activists have lodged a freedom of information request under Israeli law seeking documents about the state’s ongoing disinformation campaign against UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Israeli lawyer Eitay Mack on Sunday sent a letter on behalf of 18 Israeli citizens to the ministries of foreign affairs and strategic affairs.

They include Palestine solidarity activists Kobi Snitz, Sahar Vardi and Ofer Neiman, as well as academic Neve Gordon.

Some of the signatories are supporters of of Boycott From Within, a group in present-day Israel which advocates boycott, divestment and sanctions – or BDS.

“In the past two years, it has been revealed that the two ministries carry out activities against critics of the State of Israel in the UK,” the letter to the ministries states.

The full letter is below.

It also cites Israeli media coverage of Al Jazeera’s undercover investigation The Lobby broadcast last year.

The film revealed that Israeli embassy spy Shai Masot was working with front organizations in Labour that smear critics of Israel as anti-Semitic.

Masot was also trying to engineer the creation of a fake grassroots youth organization within Labour that would espouse pro-Israel positions...