As for the second article, please refer to my previous posting (http://d.hatena.ne.jp/itunalily2/20141017)(http://d.hatena.ne.jp/itunalily2/20141026). (Lily)
1.Algemeiner(http://www.algemeiner.com)
BBC Panel Discussion of Wealthy Jews Ripped Over Anti-Semitic Stereotypes , 11 November 2014
A late-night BBC television news broadcast about the disillusionment among Jewish donors with Britain’s Labour Party leader Ed Miliband quickly degenerated into an exchange of anti-Semitic tropes, as the program host and a panelist speculated about the impact “prominent Jewish faces” would have on party policy both at home and in the Middle East.
The panel had been discussing the headline on the November 8 edition of The Independent newspaper, which read: “Jewish donors drop ‘toxic’ Miliband.” As The Algemeiner reported last week, Miliband, who is Jewish, has been facing growing criticism from within the Jewish community since Maureen Lipman, a leading British Jewish actress, declared she was abandoning the party after the Labour leader gave his backing to British recognition of a Palestinian state independently of any negotiations with Israel.
Panelist Jo Phillips, billed as a “BBC political adviser,” began with a forthright, if inarticulate, defense of Miliband, saying: “You’re not supposed, apparently, to say anything anti-Israeli, um, and if you attack Israeli political, um, policies or the government policies, then you know, this is what you get. Um, you know it seems to me that it is totally hypocritical that on the one hand they are now going to have to look perhaps to the unions to get some funding, but will be accused of being in the unions’ pockets, and when he’s being brave and principled and standing up and saying, you know, ‘this time Israel has gone too far’ um, people take their money away, so he can’t win, can he?”
Phillips was speculating that Miliband would be forced to turn to labor unions for financial support if rich donors were to withdraw backing from the party. But presenter Tim Wilcox then decided to take the conversation in a different direction. “A lot of these prominent Jewish faces will be very much against the mansion tax,” Wilcox said, singling out Maureen Lipman as an example – the tax refers to a Labour proposal for an additional tax on properties worth $3.5 million or more.
“The idea that a wealthy Jewish lobby seeks to use money to manipulate political policy is a centuries-old antisemitic trope,” Jonathan Sacerdoti of the UK’s Campaign Against Antisemitism, which has complained to the BBC about the broadcast, told The Algemeiner. “The BBC’s unchallenged promotion of this slur is shocking and causes many Jews to feel threatened and persecuted by the broadcaster.”
Sacerdoti added: “The BBC claimed that the ‘Jewish lobby’ is thwarting a ‘principled’ foreign policy position, but there is no factual basis for this accusation. Also, with no evidence at all, the BBC claimed that wealthy Jews are challenging taxation proposals to hang onto their mansions.”
The broadcast was also heavily criticized by the Community Security Trust (CST,) the official security body of the UK Jewish community.
“The BBC host Tim Wilcox then went a bit further, suggesting that ‘a lot of these prominent Jewish faces will be very much against the mansion tax,’” wrote the CST’s Mark Gardner on the organization’s blog. “His two guests responded that non-Jews oppose the mansion tax also: but, as with the original article, the stench of toxic assumptions about Jews and money / influence for Israel was now out there.”
Gardner concluded: “There is no widespread revulsion at this, because such slurs are seldom directed at Jewish individuals, made at Jews qua Jews: simply for being Jewish. So, they lack the ugly obvious racism spewed by neo-Nazis…It is still, however, a very slippery slope, liberally oiled with deep seated antisemitic toxins about Jews acting in concert with other Jews: whether that is in Glasgow, Westminster or Washington.”
2. Sperofurum (http://www.speroforum.com)
Washington National Cathedral to hold Muslim worship, 11 November 2014
One of the sponsoring groups has been linked to the Hamas terrorist organizations.
by Martin Barillas
Washington National Cathedral in the District of Colombia has long been known for presidential funerals and other worship services under the auspices of its owner, the Episcopal Church of the United States. On Friday, November 14, a Muslim prayer service will be held at the historic church. Organizers of the event say that they seek to make a statement by inviting Muslim prayer leaders come to the church to hold their midday worship in a Christian worship space. According to the Washington Post, Rizwan Jaka - who represents the co-sponsoring All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) mosque in nearby Sterling VA said “We want the world to see the Christian community is partnering with us and is supporting our religious freedom in the same way we are calling for religious freedom for all minorities in Muslim countries,” adding “Let this be a lesson to the world.”
The Muslim prayer known as 'jummah' will commence at 12:20 PM in the soaring Gothic cathedral. Only those specifically invited are welcome. Rev. Gina Campbell, who is the director of liturgy at the cathedral, and South Africa's ambassador to the United States, Ebrahim Rasool, worked on bringing the two faiths together for the event. In a prepared statement, Rasool, a Muslim, said “This is a dramatic moment in the world and in Muslim-Christian relations.” There will be approximately 100 persons in attendance; Muslims will bring their own rugs. A statement from the cathedral that the worship space limited iconography, which Islam abhores, making it "almost mosque-like"
“This needs to be a world in which all are free to believe and practice and in which we avoid bigotry, Islamaphobia, racism, anti-Semitism, and anti-Christianity and to embrace our humanity and to embrace faith.” Rasool will deliver the sermon.
Of the discussions concerning the Muslim worship service at the cathedral, Campbell said that Rasool understands what the building represents in the United States and that it is aware of the power of the cathedral to "shape relationships, community, conversation, to do deep, important things.”
The Muslim prayer event is co-sponsored by the Episcopal Church of the USA, as well as ADAMS, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Islamic Society of North America, Muslim Public Affairs Council, and Masjid Muhammad mosque in Northwest Washington. The worship service will be streamed live at the Cathedral’s Web site.
The Council on American Islamic Relations has been controversial. For example, it was named by Federal prosecutors in a list of unindicted co-conspirators and/or joint venturers in a case involving the Holy Land Foundation and possible funding by the Hamas terrorist organization. This prompted the FBI to cease cooperation with CAIR on criminal investigations. CAIR was never charged with any crime, and in 2010 a federal appeals court sealed the list after having ruled that the designation violated the group's rights and was the result of "simply an untested allegation of the Government, made in anticipation of a possible evidentiary dispute that never came to pass."
・Spero News editor Martin Barillas is a former US diplomat, who also worked as a democracy advocate and election observer in Latin America. He is also a freelance translator.
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