Memorial to the Jews Massacred in Hebron, 1929
There are too many dates to remember the murders and massacres, terrorism and pogroms carried out against the Jewish people, but these memories are essential for us to understand the imperative to stand with Israel, to know our history, to memorialize the dead, name our heroes, and build Jewish pride and resilience.
On August 24, 1929, 67 innocent men, women and children were murdered by rioting Arabs in Hebron, the ancient city of our forefathers and mothers, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.
Some important facts about Hebron from the Jewish Virtual Library
“This was the first parcel of land owned by the Jewish people in their Promised Land. As recorded in Genesis, the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the Matriarchs Sarah, Rebekah and Leah, are buried there, and — according to a Jewish tradition — Adam and Eve are also buried there.”
“Hebron is mentioned 87 times in the Bible and is the world’s oldest Jewish community.”
“Following the death of King Saul, God instructed David to go to Hebron, where he was anointed King of Judah (II Samuel 2:1-4) and reigned in the city for seven years before being anointed King over all Israel (II Samuel 5:1-3).”
“Jews lived in Hebron continuously throughout the Byzantine, Arab, Mameluke and Ottoman periods and it was only in 1929 that the city became temporarily “free” of Jews…”
“After the 1967 Six-Day War, the Jewish community of Hebron was re-established.”
Continuing the Tradition of Haj Mohammed Amin al-Husseini
The Palestinian Authority, the successor to the Mufti of Jerusalem’s Nazi backed murderous rein, calls for the murder of Jews and handsomely rewards the terrorists. Below is an example of the PA’s salary scheme as reported by Palestinian Media Watch.
The Illegal Occupation That Was
If/when you hear the phrase “illegal occupation” of the West Bank, of Jerusalem, of Israel, or “occupied Palestinian Territory,” be prepared to point out the lies inherent in all of these words. The land of our forefathers is not illegally occupied by Jews, but it was illegally occupied by Jordan.
Know the story behind the betrayal of Jerusalem. Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, and investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical left and Islamic terrorism, wrote a succinct piece for JNS which details the forgotten Muslim occupation.
We cannot afford to forget!
Demanding Justice for Jews Today
There are strong actors in the Jewish world demanding justice, following up with actions. Here are a few positive, hopeful stories.
The Tel Aviv-based Shurat HaDin Law Center is pressing the United States to urgently investigate the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for anti-Semitism. This council is composed entirely of anti-human rights country reps, antisemites, bigots and terror supporters.
David Matas, B’nai Brith Canada’s Senior Legal Counsel and a world-renowned human-rights activist, outlined to a recent international conference why the highly-biased United Nations (UN) Commission on the Israel-Hamas conflict must be disbanded.
Israel on Wednesday (August 17) ratified an October 2021 decision to designate three PFLP-affiliated NGOs as terrorist organizations, according to the Israeli Defense Ministry.
The International Legal Forum (ILF), together with a global coalition of partners responded to this latest and most egregious assault against Israel at the UN. They produced an in-depth Report and Executive Summary, exposing the flagrant bias of this Commission of Inquiry and specifically its Chair, Navi Pillay, as well as materials in response to her Report, handed down 7 June 2022.
Muslims Who Support the Truth
Thankfully, there are both Islamic countries which support Israel commerically, politically, culturally, and see distinct advantages in doing so, and individual Muslims in and out of Israel who love that country.
Here is a story that appeared in a Saudi Arabia magazine to showcase the relationship’s benefits.
Here is a story about a young Muslim Israeli who has become a huge commercial success with his innovative approach to bringing people together and marketing himself as a brand.
Jewish Leadership Project
The Jewish Leadership Project, the brainchild of Charles Jacobs and Avi Goldwasser, is challenging the leaders of our many traditional Jewish agencies and institutions across the US and Canada, to be more focused, aggressive, and coordinated in their condemnation of antisemitism, and to demand action from all levels of government and media.
JLP emphasizes the need to speak up proactively and preventively, to name all the sources and methods that threaten our communities, to define antisemitism to include anti-Zionism, and refuse to be passive and accepting of any and all acts of Jew hatred.
New Fellowship for Studying Antisemitism
CAEF was very pleased to learn of a new fellowship established to explore antisemitism in health care, particularly since we have seen examples of it in the recent year when a clutch of docs at the U of T Medical faculty objected to a talk by Irwin Cotler, Canada’s Special Envoy on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism.
Congratulations to Joanna Krongold for being the first to receive this fellowship.
Advocacy and Action
Following the revelation of the disgustingly antisemitic social media postings by Diversity and Inclusion Consultant, Laith Marouf, there were many outraged statements and calls for the agency which most recently contracted him to return the funds to the federal Ministry of Canadian Heritage. In the view of CAEF, this is an inadequate demand.
Read the CAEF letter to the Minister of Diversity and Inclusion, and Minister of Canadian Heritage, copied to the critics in both Conservative and NDP parties.
CAEF has called for a formal investigation into the decision-making process and decision makers that approved the grant to Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC) and into the work and possible bias of CMAC which seems to have been established with support by Laith Marouf, whom we learn has been spewing antisemitic poison for years.
As of writing, CMAC has not issued a statement about returning the funds, the level of racist antisemitic ranting their consultant posted, nor attempted to distance themselves from him.
CAEF has written to UTFA to demand the end of antisemitism from faculty leadership and to demand they provide appropriate education of faculty, first adopting IHRA. Read here