
Israeli Minister’s Visit To Canada Sparks Controversy And Educational Mission
Concerns over protocol breach, focus on Jewish education result
Popular Articles
Concerns over protocol breach, focus on Jewish education result
The event listing refers to the “chilling” effect of the IHRA working definition
Palestinian claims of forced expulsion and victimhood countered by historical evidence
Credit being taken where it is not due, claims former Winnipeg activist
Sitting in her role in Jerusalem would allow Susie Gelman to wage diplomatic war against Israel
Montreal’s McGill University rife with misconceptions about Jewish history
Four professors who wrote this defamatory rant are indoctrinating generation of students
Yaron Dekal’s documentary sheds light on Israeli immigrants living in North America
Beit Halochem Canada fundraising events celebrate Israel’s 75th birthday
Herzog calls his visit to Azerbaijan “a dream come true”
Click an icon above to share, email, or save this article
Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg now promises platform moderators will delete Holocaust denial and steer users to reputable sources
Click an icon above to share, email, or save this article
After immense pressure this summer, including a petition from 140 organizations including TheJ.ca to implement a hate speech policy, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced his company is “updating our hate-speech policy to ban Holocaust denial.” However he stopped short of adopting the IRHA definition of antisemitism, as requested by the coalition, as the standard for the platform.
“We’ve long taken down posts that praise hate crimes or mass murder, including the Holocaust,” he announced. “But with rising anti-Semitism, we’re expanding our policy to prohibit any content that denies or distorts the Holocaust as well. If people search for the Holocaust on Facebook, we’ll start directing you to authoritative sources to get accurate information.”
Zuckerberg, who is Jewish, stated his “own thinking has evolved as I’ve seen data showing an increase in anti-Semitic violence, as have our wider policies on hate speech.” Anticipating pushback from free-speech advocates, he explained that, “Drawing the right lines between what is and isn’t acceptable speech isn’t straightforward, but with the current state of the world, I believe this is the right balance.”
Facebook was one of the targets of a major advertising boycott in June under the banner #StopHateForProfit, with 1000 brands ranging from Coca-Cola, American Honda, Verizon and Hershey’s participating because “Tech companies are not doing enough to fight hate on their digital social platforms. “
Pinchas Gutter, Co-President of the Canadian Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants (CJHSD), welcomed the measures to throttle antisemites on the site.
“Holocaust deniers call us liars. We are not liars. We are survivors. I witnessed with my own eyes the cattle cars and the horrors of the Majdanek concentration camp, where my mother, my father, and my twin sister, Sabina, were sent immediately to the death chamber to be gassed. By directing users to institutions focused on Holocaust research and remembrance, like Yad Vashem, Facebook will be taking an active role in countering the spread of antisemitism online.”
“Denying the Holocaust has never been about free speech, but only as a tool for genocide-seeking Iran, neo-Nazis and bigots to demean the dead and threaten the living,” said Rabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in a statement. “We welcome Facebook’s change of policy to stand with historic fact and the 6 million Jews murdered by Nazi Germany during World War II. Now is the time,” they concluded, “for all Social Media companies to erase this hate from their platforms.”
Jewish New Yorkers Push Back On COVID-19 Blame From De Blasio, Cuomo
The Jewish community of New York has scheduled a rally on Thursday afternoon to protest comments and actions by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo that organizers say has targeted them over pandemic outbreaks.
Herut has joined with the vocal grassroots movement, #EndJewHatred, The Lawfare Project, and 6 others to hold the “End Jew Hatred, de Blasio” event outside the New York Public Library, asserting the Democrat political leaders are blaming Jews for increased coronavirus rates and they are “fanning the flames of racism.”
The event post states, “Accusing Jews of spreading plague was common in medieval times. But now mainstream politicians are using it to join in and spread Jew hatred.”
Get thej.ca a Pro Israel Voice by Email. Never miss a top story that effects you, your family & your community
“When it comes to protests he supports, such as the BLM Movement, not only doesn’t he have the police crack down on non-mask-wearing or socially distancing violators, who destroy and steal property and harm others, he actually joins in with them,” said Herut in their statement. “However, when it comes to dealing with the Orthodox Jewish community, he has had zero tolerance. One should question why he continuously singles out the Orthodox Jewish community when clearly others are also not abiding by the rules. It is fair to question why he has closed religious institutions, and has even gone as far to say that if he finds there are synagogues open, he will have them shut down permanently, yet he allows other secular activities to proceed without threat.”
A pitched dispute has seen Hareidi congregations exceed pandemic capacity limits over the High Holidays and some Jewish areas have registered infection rates 500 per cent higher than others. Cuomo said Monday, “They have never been following the regulations with any rigour. I had an eye-opener in talking to them. Now you see the result.”
Law enforcement clashed with Orthodox protesters last Tuesday, and radio host Heshy Tischler, a grassroots leader and Council candidate in the city’s Borough Park district, was arrested and charged with inciting to riot, unlawful imprisonment, menacing, and harassment at a Brooklyn protest that occurred as a result the next day.
At the alleged riot, video showed an Orthodox reporter for Jewish Insider was chased and assaulted by a crowd of about 100, seemingly at Tischler’s direction. Prior to Tischler’s arraignment on Oct 12, his supporters surrounded the reporter’s home until 3 a.m., chanting “No Heshy, no peace!”
Rabbi Yonatan Halevy was assaulted near his San Diego synagogue, after weeks of harassment by area youths
San Diego Sephardi Spiritual Leader Assaulted On Shabbat
San Diego police have reversed their stand and are now stepping up patrols after a University City rabbi reported that on his walk to his synagogue on the Shemini Atzerit Holy Day (Saturday), a teenager on a bicycle punched him on the head and yelled a racial slur.
The teen split from his cohorts after they passed Rabbi Yonatan Halevy and his father and circled back, and as the victim told KUSI-TV, he biked over, hit the rabbi over the head with a closed fist, called him the N-word and yelled a variation of ‘white power’ before biking away.
“I felt very scared, definitely unsafe for the first time in my life in this neighborhood,” Halevi said, so shaken he used his phone on the Sabbath to call police, take photos and type details from bystanders.
The spiritual leader of the Shiviti Congregation/Kehillat Shaar HaShamayim, he told the media he was dressed in Moroccan Yom Tov finery as he strolled with his elderly father Shalom, who is a stroke victim, but as they do not look Black, it made the offensive remarks bizarre. Halavi told police investigators that since Rosh Hashana, a group of young troublemakers “are looking for trouble and they found an easy target,” in the temporary shul space being rented in a shopping centre. The set-up allows his 44 family congregation sufficient space for pandemic precautions.
The hooligans raided the kiddish area on Rosh Hashanah pilfering food, and the everyday harassment, which included tossing taunts and bottles, stealing property, blasting music, and breaking a window on the Rabbi’s van, escalated until the Sukkot assault. The suspect intimidatingly circled the area afterwards for about 25 minutes, leaving before police arrived. Halevi met with investigators this week and got a commitment for added patrol support, after the attending officers on Saturday disregarded his concerns.
“I have never felt so disregarded by the police – whom I proudly support and stand beside – in my life,” Rabbi Halevy told VINnews. “The overall attitude was dismissive. I was told that Clairemont and UC are safe neighborhoods and therefore response times are much longer. They were wary of taking down the young man’s name, didn’t want a copy of his picture, and told me that ultimately there was nothing they could or would do aside from file the report.”
“I asked if they would help me find him to speak with him or his parents or his school. They said no. I asked if they would go look for him in the direction he fled, they said no. I asked if he would return, could I call them? They said I should not call police unless he assaults me again or does something worse,” VINnews reported.
Captain Matt Novak of the SDPD, Northern Division, issued a media release on October 12 confirming, “Today a detective met with the victim and will be making it a priority to identify and apprehend the suspect. In addition, all of my patrol supervisors are aware of this incident and we will be doing extra patrol in the area. Please assure the community that this is a high priority and their safety is of upmost importance to us.”
Click an icon above to share, email, or save this article
Click an icon above to share, email, or save this article
Read More
Thank you for choosing TheJ.Ca as your source for Canadian Jewish News.
We do news differently!
Our positioning as a Zionist News Media platform sets us apart from the rest. While other Canadian Jewish media are advocating increasingly biased progressive political and social agendas, TheJ.Ca is providing more and more readers with a welcome alternative and an ideological home.
We revealed the incursion of anti-Israel progressive elements such as IfNotNow into our communities. We have exposed the distorted hateful agenda of the “progressive” left political radicals who brought Linda Sarsour to our cities, and we were first to report on many disturbing incidents of Nazi-based hate towards Jews across Canada.
But we can’t do it alone. We need your HELP!
Our ability to thrive and grow in 2020 and beyond depends on the generosity of committed readers and supporters like you.
Monthly support is a great way to help us sustain our operations. We greatly appreciate any contributions you can make to support Jewish Journalism.
We thank you for your ongoing support.
Happy reading!
Thank you for choosing TheJ.Ca as your source for Canadian Jewish News.
We do news differently!
Our positioning as a Zionist News Media platform sets us apart from the rest. While other Canadian Jewish media are advocating increasingly biased progressive political and social agendas, TheJ.Ca is providing more and more readers with a welcome alternative and an ideological home.
We revealed the incursion of anti-Israel progressive elements such as IfNotNow into our communities. We have exposed the distorted hateful agenda of the “progressive” left political radicals who brought Linda Sarsour to our cities, and we were first to report on many disturbing incidents of Nazi-based hate towards Jews across Canada.
But we can’t do it alone. We need your HELP!
Our ability to thrive and grow in 2020 and beyond depends on the generosity of committed readers and supporters like you.
Monthly support is a great way to help us sustain our operations. We greatly appreciate any contributions you can make to support Jewish Journalism.
We thank you for your ongoing support.
Happy reading!
cOMING SOON…….
Breaking News
Recent
Features
News
Current Events
Opinions
Politics
Religion
Culture
Memoriam and Obituaries
PodcastS
Receive the latest in community & international Jewish news direct to your inbox