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IAEA: IRAN ADHERING TO NUCLEAR DEAL, AS RENEWED U.S. SANCTIONS TAKE EFFECT

REUTERS

EU powers have been scrambling to prevent a collapse of the deal, under which international sanctions against Tehran were lifted in exchange for strict limits on Iran’s nuclear activities

Recently appointed Iran’s governor to IAEA Kazem Gharib Abadi prepares for the opening of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors meeting at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria on September 10, 2018. (photo credit: JOE KLAMAR / AFP)

VIENNA- Iran is implementing its side of its nuclear deal with major powers, the U.N. atomic watchdog policing the pact reaffirmed on Thursday, two weeks after the latest wave of reimposed U.S. sanctions against Tehran took effect.

President Donald Trump said in May he was pulling the United States out of the 2015 nuclear deal for reasons including Iran’s influence on the wars in Syria and Yemen and its ballistic missile program, none of which are covered by the pact.

Germany, France and Britain have been scrambling to prevent a collapse of the deal, under which international sanctions against Tehran were lifted in exchange for strict limits being placed on Iran’s nuclear activities.

Many Western companies have cancelled plans to do business with Iran for fear of breaching the sanctions Washington has put back in place. That has raised fears that Iran will breach the deal’s nuclear limits, which are designed to keep it a year away from being able to build a nuclear weapon if it chose to.

“Iran is implementing its nuclear-related commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Yukiya Amano told a quarterly meeting of his agency’s 35-nation Board of Governors.

The JCPOA is the official name of the nuclear accord.

“It is essential that Iran continues to fully implement those commitments,” he added, confirming the findings of a confidential report to IAEA member states last week.

Amano did not comment on the broader impact of U.S. sanctions, the latest round of which took effect on Nov. 5. Iran has warned it could scrap the deal if signatories France, Britain and Germany and their allies fail to preserve the economic benefits promised by its terms.

The European powers have been working on setting up a so-called special-purpose vehicle that would act as a kind of clearing house matching Iranian exports with EU exports in what amounts to a barter arrangement to circumvent U.S. sanctions.

PITTSBURGH AND THE ERASURE OF ANTISEMITISM

MICAH THAU

The continuous shoving of antisemitism to the sidelines is not only hurtful but it flies in stark contradiction to the facts.

Police near the “Tree of Life” synagogue in Pittsburgh. (photo credit: REUTERS)

On October 27, the Jewish American safety bubble was abruptly shattered with the deafening bang of an AR-15 and the gunning down of 11 Jews praying at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. 

In the immediate aftermath, some on the Left blamed the attack on the president’s rhetoric, claiming that it emboldens white nationalists. The president, on the other hand, suggested that the lack of an armed guard endangered the synagogue. And some, like British lawmaker Jenny Tonge, unsurprisingly blamed Israel.

Yet, while many are busy finger pointing, there is a quiet debate being carried out under the surface that is equally important, and that is whether to use the word antisemitism in describing the terrorist attack. 

Antisemitism is defined by Google as: “Hostility to or prejudice against Jews.” Under that simple definition it would seem self evident that a mass murderer who runs into a synagogue yelling “All Jews must die!” as he slaughters innocent Jewish civilians should be called antisemitic. Yet, one may notice from a cursory glance at several condemnations of the attack that the word antisemitism is eerily absent. UC Berkley, for instance, referred to the shooting as a “hate-driven incident” and Columbia University initially failed to mention Jews at all. Similarly, other institutions and activists used vague and broad language in describing the motives for the attack.  

The choice to erase antisemitism from the discussion is a calculated one. In fact, the British Labour Party recently voted down a motion condemning the attack precisely because of its reference to antisemitism. This deliberate evasion is part of a coordinated effort to convince Jews that antisemitism is dead.    

The argument itself relies on the idea that Jews’ economic and social prosperity warrants their removal from the list of oppressed peoples. This is due to the progressive doctrine that economic and social power are intrinsically tied to systems that are themselves prejudiced against certain groups of people. Thus, success within such a system automatically places one as part of the system. Because social and economic power are indicators of acceptance, Jews, who are undeniably successful in American society, cannot be victims of antisemitism.
    
However, antisemitism historically has always behaved in a different manner than other brands of prejudices. Indeed, it has been in the midst of the utmost Jewish prosperity that the ugly face of antisemitism has reared its head and where the greatest Jewish tragedies have occurred, including the Inquisition and the Holocaust. 

Today is no different. In 2016 the FBI found that Jews were targets of more hate crimes than any other minority group in the United States and last year the Anti-Defamation League reported a nearly 60% increase in antisemitic incidents. Evidently for Jews, progressives’ outcome-tied perspective on bigotry fails to be an accurate barometer. Jews are the outlier – fortunate yet despised, the ultimate progressive oxymoron. 

Unfortunately, instead of admitting the flaws inherent in the tying of prejudice to social and economic stature, progressives have chosen instead to do something far worse: erase Jewish peoplehood altogether. At the core, there has been a profound but silent re-framing of Jews as those only belonging to a particular faith. Under this standard, a Jew could, in theory, reject Judaism and not be considered a Jew. This would make Jews only a religion rather than an ethnic group with a shared history and tradition. Moreover, it means antisemitism, an ethnic word, is obsolete because hatred against Jews revolves around practice rather than ancestry.  

Yet, even a superficial analysis of modern antisemitism shows this is false. Hitler, for example, targeted Jews who had assimilated, employing a genetic table to determine what level of Jewish ancestry was “criminal” in nature. Moreover, the age-old tropes painting Jews as manipulative and greedy continue to surround modern Jewish antisemitic targets regardless of their practice. From kippa-clad right-wing hero Ben Shapiro to secular liberal billionaire philanthropist George Soros, no Jew is safe. 

It is true that some Jews are converts and their Judaism is not inherited by blood, but rest assured, Robert Bowers shot up a synagogue because it was a gathering of Jews, not because it was a form of religious expression. As he said clearly: “All Jews must die.” 

This is to say, Jews find themselves without true defenders. 

While the president did refer to the attack as antisemitic, during the bulk of his presidency he has been willing to turn a blind eye to a brand of white supremacy surfacing in his base that is unsurprisingly hostile to Jews. One can hardly forget Trump’s assertion that there was blame on “both sides” following a neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virgina, that featured chants such as “Jews will not replace us.” 

Meanwhile, the far Left, while they are willing to fight “hate,” refuse to accept the existence of antisemitism, much less use the word. This is unacceptable.  

The continuous shoving of antisemitism to the sidelines is not only hurtful but it flies in stark contradiction to the facts. 

It is high time to wake up and smell the swastikas. The uncomfortable conundrum of the Jew not fitting into a particular progressive agenda does not justify the systematic sidelining and, more importantly, the erasure of antisemitism. An antisemitic far Right and a Left that remains in denial is a toxic combination for the American Jew. 

It is incumbent on all sectors of society to condemn the attack in Pittsburgh in clear and unabashed terms as an antisemitic terrorist attack. The word to describe the sentiment behind the attack is not “hate,” “prejudice,” or “racism.” The word is “antisemitism.” Use it.   

The writer is an author of the Eshel Pledge, has written in the Los Angeles Jewish Journal and has a blog for the Times of Israel. He recently immigrated to Israel and lives in Modi’in as he prepares to enlist as a lone soldier in the IDF. 

WOMEN’S MARCH CO-FOUNDER CALLS ON PEERS TO STEP DOWN OVER ANTISEMITISM

JTA

Tamika Mallory, National Co-Chair, Women’s March, addresses the audience during the opening session of the three-day Women’s Convention at Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan, US, October 27, 2017. (photo credit: REUTERS/REBECCA COOK)

Women’s March co-founder Teresa Shook called on its current organizers to step down Monday, saying they “allowed anti-Semitism.”

In a Facebook post, Shook said Bob Bland, Tamika Mallory, Linda Sarsour and Carmen Perez “have steered the Movement away from its true course.”

“In opposition to our Unity Principles, they have allowed anti-Semitism, anti-LBGTQIA sentiment and hateful, racist rhetoric to become a part of the platform by their refusal to separate themselves from groups that espouse these racist, hateful beliefs,” Shook wrote.

The controversy surrounding the Women’s March arose from Mallory’s ties to anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Earlier this year, Mallory was criticized for not speaking out after she attended an event during which Farrakhan said “the powerful Jews are my enemy” and accused “Satanic Jews” of having a “grip on the media.”

The organizers later said Farrakhan’s statements “are not aligned with the Women’s March Unity Principles,” but also defended Mallory against criticism.

Farrakhan has a history of making anti-Semitic, homophobic and transphobic statements. Last month he was widely criticized, including by Chelsea Clinton, for a tweet that compared Jews to termites.

Following the 2016 presidential election, Shook created the Facebook event that eventually turned into the Women’s March on Washington. She became one of several Women’s March co-founders, including Bland, Vanessa Wruble and Evvie Harmon. Wruble recruited Sarsour, Mallory and Perez to serve as co-chairs of the movement, alongside Bland.

Earlier this month, actress Alyssa Milano cited the organizers’ stance on Farrakhan as a reason she won’t speak at the next Women’s March.

Sarsour, a Palestinian American, has come under fire in the past several days for appearing to criticize American Jewish liberals for putting their support for Israel ahead of their commitment to democracy. Some said her comments echoed charges that Jews have divided loyalties.

“Accusing Jews of dual loyalty is one of the oldest and most pernicious antisemitic tropes,” the American Jewish Committee wrote in a tweet.

ISRAEL HIGH SCHOOL DEBATE TEAM SNAGS FIRST PLACE IN EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

TAMAR BEERI

The team performed better than 37 of the best debate teams in the world, including those of Germany, China, and the US.

The Israeli high school debate team in the European championships, who came out in first, 2018.. (photo credit: NICOLE CHAN/LEARNING LEADERS)

Israel’s national high school debate team was crowned champion at the EurOpen debate competition last Wednesday in Stuttgart, Germany, marking it the first win for Israel in the competition.

The team performed better than 37 of the best debate teams in the world, including those of Germany, China and the US. They were unbeaten throughout all twelve rounds – a rare achievement in debate, and even more so for a team comprised of non-native English speakers.

Maya Carmon and Omer Zilberberg, two of the members on the team, are students at the Atid High School for Arts and Sciences in Lod. The other students on the team, Tamir West and Tomer Zucker, study at the Israel Arts and Science Academy in Jerusalem and at Oleh Shem High School in Ramat Hasharon, respectively.

“It was a privilege to witness the team making history,” said Elijah Kochin, the team’s coach who accompanied them to Stuttgart.

Kochin expressed his and the team’s gratitude to the English teachers who helped the students “debate in a foreign language,” as well as “the university debaters who spend their free time helping to coach, judge and give feedback” to the team.