Jerusalem News, 5 April, 2022; 3 Nissan, 5782.
Contents:
1. Nazi-Affiliated Army Unit in Ukrainian Forces.
(a) Profile: Who are Ukraine's far-right Azov regiment?
(b) The Facts on 'De-Nazifying' Ukraine
2. Coalition head MK Idit Silman (Yamina) said on Sunday that "on my watch," no chametz will be allowed in Israel's hospitals during Pesach (Passover).
by Yehonatan Gottlieb
3. Is the US Joining the Enemies of Israel?
Blinken's Obscene Western 'Progressive' Agenda
4. Samaria Leader to European Commission: Stop Funding Anti-Settler Campaign that Encourages Antisemitism
By TPS / Tazpit News Agency -
5. Shaked: 90% of Ukrainian Arrivals Not Recognized by Law of Return, We Can't Continue Like This
6. UN: Israel is 9th Happiest Country in the World
7. New South Wales (Australia) to Ban Public Display of Nazi Flags, Swastikas
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1. Nazi-Affiliated Army Unit in Ukrainian Forces:
(a) Profile: Who are Ukraine's far-right Azov regiment?
The far-right neo-Nazi group has expanded to become part of Ukraine's armed forces, a street militia and a political party.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/1/who-are-the-azov-regiment
Published On 1 Mar 2022
Extracts:
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its sixth day, a Ukrainian far-right military regiment is back in the headlines.
Russian President Vladimir Putin referenced the presence of such units within the Ukrainian military as one of the reasons for launching his so-called 'special military operation' to de-militarise and de-Nazify Ukrain.
On Monday, Ukraine's national guard tweeted a video showing Azov fighters coating their bullets in pig fat to be used allegedly against Muslim Chechens, allies of Russia, deployed in their country.
Azov has also been involved in training civilians through military exercises in the run-up to Russia's invasion.
So what is the Azov regiment?
Azov is a far-right all-volunteer infantry military unit whose members, estimated at 900, are ultra-nationalists and accused of harbouring neo-Nazi and white supremacist ideology.
The unit was initially formed as a volunteer group in May 2014 out of the ultra-nationalist Patriot of Ukraine gang, and the neo-Nazi Social National Assembly (SNA) group. Both groups engaged in xenophobic and neo-Nazi ideals and physically assaulted migrants, the Roma community and people opposing their views.
As a battalion, the group fought on the front lines against pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk, the eastern region of Ukraine. Just before launching the invasion, Putin recognised the independence of two rebel-held regions from Donbas.
A few months after recapturing the strategic port city of Mariupol from the Russian-backed separatists, the unit was officially integrated into the National Guard of Ukraine on November 12, 2014, and exacted high praise from then-President Petro Poroshenko.
'These are our best warriors,' he said at an awards ceremony in 2014. 'Our best volunteers.'
Who founded Azov?
The unit was led by Andriy Biletsky, who served as the leader of both the Patriot of Ukraine (founded in 2005) and the SNA (founded in 2008). The SNA is known to have carried out attacks on minority groups in Ukraine.
In 2010, Biletsky said Ukraine's national purpose was to 'lead the white races of the world in a final crusade, against Semite-led Untermenschen [inferior races]'.
Biletsky was elected to parliament in 2014. He left Azov as elected officials cannot be in the military or police force. He remained an MP until 2019.
The 42-year-old is nicknamed Bely Vozd, or White Ruler, by his supporters. He established the far-right National Corps party in October 2016, whose core base is veterans of Azov.
Before becoming part of Ukraine's armed forces, who funded Azov?
The unit received backing from Ukraine's interior minister in 2014, as the government had recognised its own military was too weak to fight off the pro-Russian separatists and relied on paramilitary volunteer forces.
Neo-Nazi ideology
In 2015, Andriy Diachenko, the spokesperson for the regiment at the time said that 10 to 20 percent of Azov's recruits were Nazis.
The unit has denied it adheres to Nazi ideology as a whole, but Nazi symbols such as the swastika and SS regalia are rife on the uniforms and bodies of Azov members.
For example, the uniform carries the neo-Nazi Wolfsangel symbol, which resembles a black swastika on a yellow background. The group said it is merely an amalgam of the letters 'N' and 'I' which represent 'national idea'.
Individual members have professed to being neo-Nazis, and hardcore far-right ultra-nationalism is pervasive among members.
In January 2018, Azov rolled out its street patrol unit called National Druzhyna to 'restore' order in the capital, Kyiv. Instead, the unit carried out pogroms against the Roma community and attacked members of the LGBTQ community.
'Ukraine is the world's only nation to have a neo-Nazi formation in its armed forces,' a correspondent for the US-based magazine, the Nation, wrote in 2019.
Human rights violations and war crimes
A 2016 report by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OCHA) has accused the Azov regiment of violating international humanitarian law.
The report detailed incidents over a period from November 2015-February 2016 where Azov had embedded their weapons and forces in used civilian buildings, and displaced residents after looting civilian properties. The report also accused the battalion of raping and torturing detainees in the Donbas region.
(b) The Facts on 'De-Nazifying' Ukraine
By Robert Farley
Extracts:
https://www.factcheck.org/2022/03/the-facts-on-de-nazifying-ukraine/
The Azov battalion, which has about 1,000 members, represents a small minority of the overall Ukrainian military. As the BBC reported, the Ukrainian armed forces number some 250,000, and the National Guard, of which Azov is a part, has around 50,000 members.
And some say the ultra-nationalist, neo-Nazi leanings of the Azov regiment have become less prevalent. In 2015, a spokesman for the Azov brigade told USA Today that 10% to 20% of the group's members are Nazis. The leader of the Azov regiment, Biletsky, has since left to start a political party. And while there are still some far-right ties remaining in the unit, there have also been a flow of new recruits 'who mostly are not there because of the regiment's ideology, but because of its reputation as a particularly tough fighting unit,' Andreas Umland, an analyst at the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, told us in a Skype interview.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2. Coalition head MK Idit Silman (Yamina) said on Sunday that "on my watch," no chametz will be allowed in Israel's hospitals during Pesach (Passover).
by Yehonatan Gottlieb
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/325132
Extracts:
Chametz is the term for any grain product that is leavened (such as bread or cake); consuming it and even seeing it or possessing it is strictly forbidden during the festival of Pesach (Passover).
Silman made her comments at a meeting of the Knesset's Health Committee, in criticism of Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz [a noted left-wing homosexual], warning that if Horowitz continued to insist on ordering hospitals to allow the entry of chametz on Pesach, "We will not be able to allow this person to continue to serve as a minister."
"At such a turbulent time, the Health Minister has seen fit to make such an announcement with regard to chametz on Pesach, instead of demonstrating concern for others. This is not behavior that is expected from an Israeli government minister," she said.
"During the Holocaust, there were those who fasted throughout Pesach rather than eat chametz, but unfortunately, a minister of the State of Israel, within this coalition, has given an order to allow chametz to be brought into our hospitals," she continued. "Aside from the fact that this is an insult to other members of the coalition, it is also an insult to a sizeable segment of Israeli society - almost 70 percent of the country, in fact," which refrains from eating chametz on Pesach.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
3. Is the US Joining the Enemies of Israel?
Blinken's Obscene Western 'Progressive' Agenda
By
Melanie Phillips
-
2 Nisan 5782 - April 3, 2022
https://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/blinkens-obscene-western-progressive-agenda/2022/04/03/
When an Arab terrorist murdered five Israelis in Bnei Brak this week by opening fire indiscriminately with an M-16 rifle, Palestinian Arabs in the Gaza Strip and the 'West Bank' handed out sweets in celebration and held jubilant rallies.
It made no difference to them that one of the five victims, police officer Amir Khoury, was an Israeli Arab who was gunned down as he shot the terrorist dead. Palestinian Arabs celebrate with sweets and fireworks whenever they murder Jews.
This was the third such deadly terrorist attack in eight days, leaving a total of 11 Israelis dead. Once more, Israeli families have been left devastated and grieving after attacks perpetrated against them simply because they are Israelis.
Effi Eitam, a retired brigadier-general in the Israel Defense Forces and former housing minister, warned this week that Israel is currently facing a violent, Islamic-nationalist uprising among Arab Israelis, whose ultimate goal is to dismantle the Jewish state.
Speaking on Army Radio about the hundreds of thousands of weapons stolen from IDF bases and police stations over the last decade, he said: 'The [Arab] sector is building a military force against the state. Israeli Arabs are becoming a separatist population.'
The main reason is that, while many Israeli Arabs have been steadily becoming more educated, prosperous and assimilated, there have also been systematic attempts to radicalize them by Hamas, the P.A., Isis and Iran.
Even more significant is their belief that final victory over the Jews is now within their grasp. These attacks are being fueled by an exultant fervor that the United States is in retreat and, by its craven submission to Iran, is surrendering to Islam.
This plays into the strand of apocalyptic Islamic messianism promoted by Islamic preachers whipping up expectations that the weakness of America and the resulting likely victory over the Jews means that the end of days is imminent.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
4. Samaria Leader to European Commission: Stop Funding Anti-Settler Campaign that Encourages Antisemitism
By TPS / Tazpit News Agency -
https://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/settlements-israel/samaria-leader-to-european-commission-stop-funding-anti-settler-campaign-that-encourages-antisemitism/2022/02/28/
Samaria Leader to European Commission: Stop Funding Anti-Settler Campaign that Encourages Antisemitism
By TPS / Tazpit News Agency - 27 Adar I 5782 - February 28, 2022
Share on Facebook Tweet on Twitter
Ukraine
Photo Credit: Shalev Shalom / TPS
Samaria Regional Council head, Yossi Dagan, during a press conference outside the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem. Jerusalem, Jan 6, 2022.
The head of the Samaria Council Yossi Dagan has dispatched a scathing letter to the President of the European Commission, demanding that she end funding to campaigns that he warned could lead to anti-Semitism against Israelis living in Judea and Samaria.
Following the exposure of foreign funding for the 'Violent Settlers' campaign against Israelis in Judea and Samaria, Dagan sent a missive to the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen demanding the immediate cessation of funding for the campaign. According to reports, the European Union has dedicated NIS 1 million through the Breaking the Silence organization for this media campaign.
In the letter, Dagan warned that 'recently, a campaign has been conducted in Israel that could lead to anti-Semitism, by far-left Israeli radical organizations, which accuse the Jews of Judea and Samaria of violence.'
The campaign is 'false and inciting' and 'marks a large population of about half a million people with false accusations solely because they are Jews living in Judea and Samaria. This is a campaign that takes the victims, who are murdered and suffer daily from severe Arab terrorism, and portrays them as violent,' Dagan wrote.
The EU funding for such campaigns is shocking, he noted. 'It was recently revealed that the EU is behind the funding of the abusive campaign. Beyond the deep insolence in which the Union Commission allows itself to intervene rudely and incite against Israeli citizens, the organization is participating in a false and fabricated campaign, between which it and the reality on the ground there is not a single gram of truth,' Dagan added.
According to data published by the IDF, which Dagan cited in his letter, in 2020, there were about 4,000 cases of stone-throwing at Jews throughout Judea and Samaria. In 2021, there was a sharp increase in the number of attempted murders of Jews when about 5,500 were reported. This is an attempted murder of a Jew every other hour on average. In the territories of the Samaria Regional Council alone, there was a 45% increase compared to the previous year in terrorist incidents. Of all the recorded incidents of violence in Judea and Samaria, only 1.4% are committed by Jews against Arabs, while the remaining 98% are of Arab violence against Jews.
In addition, quite a few of the reports presented in the media by far-left organizations as part of the 'Settler Violence' campaign turn out time and time again to be fabricated or misleading, he pointed out. For example, a report of a shattered tombstone in the Palestinian village of Burka in January 2022 turned out to be false, and no complaint had been filed with the police on this issue.
The letter also accused the EU of incitement. 'We take very seriously the EU's support for a campaign that could lead to anti-Semitism, including a 'double standard' towards those who are Jews. Half a million Jews live in Judea and Samaria. Crime to one degree or another exists in every population, and here it is one of the lowest crime rates in the world, but due to the double standard applied here towards non-Jews, unlike any other region in the world, the EU is helping an inciting campaign to 'stop the violence.' A 'double standard' towards a Jew is one of the characteristics of modern anti-Semitism,' Dagan cautioned.
Dagan further explained in the letter that such campaigns obscure attempts at coexistence in the region. 'The campaign you are funding with European taxpayer money takes us back to dark times in European history, in which Jews faced false accusations. The Jews of Judea and Samaria are in fact known as benefactors, helping anyone who seeks aid, with Arabs from nearby villages working side by side in the industrial areas of Judea and Samaria with the settlers,' Dagan said.
At the end of his letter, he demanded an end to the funding and asked to meet with the president to present his case.
'We demand that the European Union immediately cease from collaborating with radical organizations that harm the victims of terrorism in Judea and Samaria, and distort and lie about the truth that shows one thing is clear, the Arab population continues its murderous actions against the Jewish population without restraint,' Dagan concluded.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
5. Shaked: 90% of Ukrainian Arrivals Not Recognized by Law of Return, We Can't Continue Like This
https://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/shaked-90-of-ukrainian-arrivals-not-recognized-by-law-of-return-we-cant-continue-like-this/2022/03/06/
by
David Israel
-
3 Adar II 5782 - March 6, 2022 I
Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked (Yamina) on Sunday morning declared that she intends to formulate a policy to introduce some balance to the mass arrival of Ukrainian refugees in Israel since she says 90% of them are not entitled to citizenship under the Law of Return.
The minister insisted that Israel has already absorbed more refugees than any other Western country that does not border Ukraine....
Minister Shaked noted that in Israel today there are 26,000 Ukrainians who are not citizens of Israel, of whom 13,000 are without a visa, 2,500 with a tourist visa, 4,000 are asylum seekers, and the rest have a work visa. She stressed that the Israeli authorities are now preparing to absorb about one hundred thousand Jews and their extended family members from Ukraine and Russia who are entitled to shelter in the Jewish State under the Law of Return.
There are about 1, 200,000 relatively recent (since the 1990s) arrivals from Russia and the Ukraine in Israel today.About 900,000 are considered halachically Jewish while ca. 300, 000 are not.
From the year 2019 the number of non-Jews arriving from these areas outnumbered the Jewish ones.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
6. UN: Israel is 9th Happiest Country in the World
https://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/un-israel-is-9th-happiest-country-in-the-world/2022/03/19/
Israel has been ranked the ninth happiest country in the world by the United Nations-sponsored tenth annual World Happiness Report, published Friday.
It is the highest ranking ever by the Jewish State, which ranked at 11 in 2021, and 14 in 2020.
Israel was ahead of the US (ranked at 16), the UK (ranked at 17) and France (ranked at 20) among the 146 nations on the list.
Finland topped the list, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden and Norway. New Zealand ranked at 10.
Israel stands out as quite unique from the first nine of that list of mostly homologous countries.
Afghanistan was listed at the very bottom with Lebanon next to last. Belarus ranked at 65.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
7. New South Wales (Australia) to Ban Public Display of Nazi Flags, Swastikas
by Shiryn Ghermezian
https://www.algemeiner.com/2022/04/04/new-south-wales-to-ban-public-display-of-nazi-flags-swastikas/
Extracts:
The Australian state of New South Wales is preparing to pass legislation that would outlaw waving Nazi flags and publicly displaying memorabilia featuring swastikas.
NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman said the government is set on introducing a bill criminalizing the public display of Nazi symbols in order to 'provide an additional safeguard to the existing protections in NSW against vilifying conduct,' Australian Associated Press reported on Sunday.
Australia has one of the highest number of Holocaust survivors in the world per capita, and NSW was the first Australian state to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's working definition of antisemitism in December 2021.
Last year, Victoria became the first Australian state to advance legislation outlawing the public display of Nazi symbols.