“What the hell is going on?” is a weekly series in which we bring you the most bizarre, outlandish, and surreal developments from around the Jewish world during the past week.
By Joshua Hoffman, FUTURE OF JEWISH 12 May 2024
Hamas declared that it had “accepted” a ceasefire agreement, prompting some 3,000 news organizations to breathlessly push out news alerts to that effect.
The truth is Hamas has not accepted any of the 1,401 proposals which Israel has offered in recent weeks. Regardless, the foundation was laid for reports to be, “Israel rejected a ceasefire and invaded Rafah.”
And, as Israel entered Rafah this past week, the United Nations was back with its “Gaza is imminently collapsing!” propaganda — claiming that Israel’s incursion into Rafah “chokes” aid.
As one social media user lamented: “Seriously, we are back to this 1 day of fuel bullsh*t?”1
Another wrote: “They’ve had one day of fuel for six months. Gaza is the modern Hanukkah miracle.”2
Ironically, a few days before Israel’s incursion into Rafah, international organizations told COGAT (Israel’s official liaison to the Palestinian Territories) that the volume of goods transported to northern Gaza must be reduced since the quantities are too high in relation to the population.3
Delegates at a National Union of Students conference in the United Kingdom voted in a breakout meeting to stop recognizing their Jewish members’ main representative body (the Union of Jewish Students) because of its support for Israel.4
The vote was carried out after calls to “dismantle” the Jewish state as a “racist project of colonialism.”
They also said that they support the “Thawabit,” a set of demands issued in the 1970s by the Palestine Liberation Organization (the world’s top terror group at the time) that would lead to the end of the Jewish state, including a right of return for six million Palestinian “refugees” and their descendants.
Keeping it classy as always, anti-Israel protesters hold a demonstration outside the Auschwitz concentration camp — as thousands of Jews convened there in observance of Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day.
As one social media user wrote: “The behavior of Palestinians and their regional and global allies is the best argument there is for Zionism.”5
Another added: “Living in the West and supporting Hamas is like living in Israel and supporting Hitler.”6
Last week, Maher Bitar was appointed as U.S. President Joe Biden’s special counsel. He also serves as the Director of Intelligence and Defense Programs in the United States National Security Council. Naturally, he was already appointed by the Obama administration, during which he managed the “Israeli-Palestinian case.”
Before that, as a student, he was the president of the Islamist extremist, violent, and antisemitic organization Students for Justice in Palestine at Georgetown University.
And another interesting fact: In 2007, Bitar worked at the notorious “Palestinian refugee” organization UNRWA — you know, the organization that knowingly employs hundreds Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists and houses Hamas’ largest data center directly under its headquarters in Gaza.
This is the guy who is now advising President Biden.
In yet another demonstration of pure genius and complete sophistication, campus encampment folks spelled “Palestine” wrong.
Or maybe they are advocating for another make-believe group of eternal refugees who live in a place called “Palastine.”
Your guess is as good as mine.
Tabaret Hall at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada
A United Nations official, the notoriously antisemitic mouthpiece Francesca Albanese, was duped by an invitation from the satirical “Chief Rabbi of Gaza” social media account to speak to anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University about the “Morality of Intifada.”
The parody account “Rabbi Linda Goldstein,” known for using progressive anti-Israel talking points to mock them, emailed an invitation to Albanese, who is the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories.
To add insult to injury, Albanese’s team asked for an “honorarium” (payment) to be transferred to some “fellowship” which supports Albanese’s “mandate work” — seemingly a clear violation of her duties at the UN.
More than 100 Swedish policemen, including a police helicopter, had to transport the Israeli singer Eden Golan to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest at Malmo Arena.
Golan was largely confined to her hotel room for the weeks leading up to the show, skipping virtually all events surrounding the contest except for the live shows and dress rehearsals, due to a high threat level against her and the delegation.
While this year’s Eurovision has been wrapped in controversy for months, the 24 hours preceding the grand final were particularly intense, with a number of incidents surrounding Israel’s participation. The representatives from both Finland and Norway who were supposed to be announcing their country’s jury votes backed out ahead of the show, saying they did not want to take part, and were replaced by other representatives.
At the Final, Israel’s points were presented live by Maya Alkulumbre, who did not wear a yellow hostage pin on air despite being seen with it during preparation for the show. According to the Israeli news site Ynet, she was asked to remove the pin ahead of the broadcast.
Loud boos could be heard during the broadcast when Alkulumbre appeared on screen, as well as when countries awarded points to Israel. Boos during Golan’s performance were muted by anti-boo technology deployed by the European Broadcasting Union, which stages the contest each year.
Sweden’s winner last year, Loreen, reportedly said before the competition that she would refuse to hand the trophy to Golan if Israel won.
Eden Golan’s security detail for the Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden (photo: Visegrád 24/X)
In a highly anticipated report to Congress, U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration said Friday that it found “credible and reliable” Israeli assurances that it will use U.S. weapons in accordance with international humanitarian law, allowing for the further transfer of American arms amid Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.
However, in the strongest such statement from Biden officials, the State Department report also said it was “reasonable” to assess that Israel has used U.S.-supplied weapons since Hamas’s October 7th attack in instances that were “inconsistent” with its international humanitarian law obligations, but that it does not have complete information to verify Israeli forces did so.
The completely contradictory assessment came after the State Department was asked to report to Congress, under a new National Security Memorandum that Biden issued in early February, on whether it finds credible Israel’s assurances that its use of American weapons does not violate U.S. or international law.
Meanwhile, Biden keeps saying that he wants Israel to be more “precise” in its attacks — yet his administration is withholding precision-guided munitions that would reduce civilian casualties.
What the hell is going on?
I love it. I’m going to repost it on my Facebook news feed. 😀