Leaflet Tells Jews To Register In East Ukraine

*World leaders and Jewish groups condemned a leaflet handed out in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk in which Jews were told to "register" with the pro-Russian militants who have taken over a government office in an attempt to make Ukraine part of Russia, according to Ukrainian and Israeli media. Jews emerging from a synagogue say they were handed leaflets that ordered the city's Jews to provide a list of property they own and pay a registration fee "or else have their citizenship revoked, face deportation and see their assets confiscated," reported Ynet News, Israel's largest news website, and Ukraine's Donbass news agency. Secretary of State John Kerry said the language of the leaflets "is beyond unacceptable" and condemned whomever is responsible...* Could this be a false flag operation, or propaganda? The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.
Read more here from Oren Dorell at USA Today

Paris Demonstrators Chant 'Jew, France is Not Yours'

A chilling new video clip recorded yesterday captures the reality of rising anti-Semitism in France. In it, a group of anti-government demonstrators march through Paris, singing the French national anthem and chanting “Juif, la France n’est pas a toi” (“Jew, France is not yours”)–all on the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day:

Perhaps the most disturbing quality of the video is its vantage point–peering out a window onto the streets of Paris. The implication of the image is as disturbing as it is mundane. Today, in the capital of a European Union member state, one can look out the window and see demonstrators march proudly down the street while shouting anti-Semitic slogans. (A minority of viewers, in an attempt to dispute the chant’s prejudice, have claimed that the protesters are not denouncing “Juif,” but rather “CRIF,” which is the acronym for the Representative Council of the French Jewish Institutions, as though this ameliorates the problem.)

Tablet Magazine

Meryl Streep attacks Walt Disney on antisemitism and sexism

While honouring Emma Thompson at a dinner for the National Board of Review on Tuesday night, Meryl Streep made an extraordinary speech that criticised Walt Disney for being a "gender bigot" who was a member of an antisemitic lobbying organisation.

Streep, perhaps Hollywood's most respected and beloved actor, showed she is far from a cosy establishment figure as she carefully trod a line between praising Thompson and attacking Disney. The very film Thompson was being celebrated for, Saving Mr Banks, is based around Walt Disney's persuading of PL Travers to allow him to adapt Mary Poppins.

According to Variety's Ramin Setoodeh, Streep called Thompson "a beautiful artist" who is "practically a saint", and read out a self-penned poem to the actor, before launching into her criticisms of Disney. She quoted a letter he wrote to a female animator that read: "Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparing the cartoons for the screen, as that task is performed entirely by young men." She also noted that Disney's colleague Walter Kimball said that his boss "didn't trust women or cats."

The Guardian

The Age-Old Rumors of Walt Disney’s Dark Side (Vulture.com) - The 9 Most Racist Disney Characters on Cracked.com - Are These Disney Movies Racist (Buzzfeed.com)

Anti-Semitism: Uses and Abuses

ft Norman Finkelstein

'Hate Speech' laws in Canada

Critics say that Hate Speech laws are not applied consistently in Canada as every day we see the mainstream media stigmatizing and dehumanizing Middle Eastern people with impunity. On the other hand those anti-racists who criticize Israel's policies of genocide and apartheid are finding their freedom of speech to do so increasingly challenged with powerful pro-Israel lobbyists seeking to conflate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism.

Why does any Jew who criticizes Israel automatically become an anti-Semite?

In mid December, Ron Dermer, a senior advisor to Israel’s prime minister, sent a letter to one of the New York Times’ editors. The letter was polite and bordered on flattery, yet it was meant to serve as a declaration of war. The New York Times offered Netanyahu the opportunity to write an opinion piece. Dermer declined the offer on Netanyahu’s behalf. The explanation given: Last May, the newspaper published, without qualifications, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ distorted version regarding the historical events that preceded the State of Israel’s inception.

Dermer was also unpleased by the positions expressed by some New York Times columnists. He looked into it and discovered that out of 20 columns written about Israel in recent months, 19 criticized Netanyahu and his government, and only one (written by Richard Goldstone) was positive. “We wouldn't want to be seen as ‘Bibiwashing’ the op-ed page of the New York Times,” Dermer wrote. The letter was not meant only for the eyes of the recipient, of course. The Prime Minister’s Office quickly leaked it to the Jerusalem Post, a newspaper whose website is read by many US Jews. The objective was to silence criticism of Netanyahu in the American media, and mostly criticism leveled by Jews.

The means to do so was to delegitimize media outlets that publish such criticism. Those who dare write against Netanyahu are anti-Semites. A Jew who dares write against Netanyahu is a Jewish anti-Semite. Every loyal Jew must shut up. The New York Times is without a doubt the world’s most prominent newspaper. Any head of state given the opportunity to share his thoughts with the paper’s readers would jump at it: There is no global platform that is more important or influential. Yet Netanyahu prefers boycotts.

Ynetnews - See 'Bibi's Brain' on TabletMag