UNESCO-listed Flemish festival comes under fire for anti-Semitic floats

“Nasrallah right now seems to have no reason to continue on the path he took after October 7. He is losing top commanders and cells and this creates fear and demoralizes his militiamen,” says reitered general Israel Ziv, one of Israel’s most influential military strategic and defense commentator.

“The responsibility for the failure of  October 7 falls as much on the intelligence as on the political leadership.” What happened was due to the fact that Israel did not realize, or perhaps did not want to realize, that Hamas was transforming from a terrorist group to a large-scale military organization. We saw pieces of it but we didn’t catch the whole picture.”

‘’In the October 7 attack, Hamas put into practice the doctrine of Qasem Soleimani, the general killed in 2020 by a U.S. raid. The pattern is that, surround Israel, force it to respond on multiple fronts, overpower it.’’

This is the analysis of retired IDF general Israel Ziv, one of Israel’s most influential military strategic and defense commentators. He spoke at a briefing for journalists organized by Europe Israel Press Association (EIPA) in Rome.

Ziv is an expert on military operations particularly in Gaza, where he played a key role in the Israeli disengagement in 2005, and in Lebanon by helping to formulate the strategic agreement between Israel and the United States.

Hamas is a piece on Iran’s chessboard, like Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in the Red Sea, and Shiite groups in Syria. Iran, he said, concurs in gaining positions and increasing its weight within the coalition with Russia and China.

“Nasrallah, for his part right now seems to have no reason to continue on the path he took after October 7. He is losing top commanders and cells and this creates fear and demoralizes his militiamen,” Ziv  added.

The military analyst outlined the personality of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by trying to explain why he attacked Israel specifically on October 7: “I know people in Khan Yunis (Sinwar’s hometown), there they describe him as a true radical, one who kills with his own hands those he considers his traitors. A fanatic of Islamic rules, absolutely anti-Semitic,” Ziv said.

“For the October 7 assault he was already preparing when he was detained in an Israeli prison, sentenced to several life sentences. When he was released, along with 1,000 other Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011, Sinwar quickly cornered Ismail Haniyeh, who was sent to be a political leader in Qatar. He took all the power and put himself next to Mohammed Deif, whom he knew well. Most likely now Sinwar is still in some tunnel in Khan Yunis, where he travels with his family. Although we cannot be 100 percent sure. Palestinian civilians don’t think about it: captured militiamen were asked why they don’t have the tunnels used as shelters. They answered that the tunnels are only for fighters, not for civilians.”

“The agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia certainly affected the choice to attack,” he said. “Israel’s biggest mistake? Not understanding that Sinwar created an army, Hamas is a military organization, an extensive underground structure that is difficult to attack, it has the capacity to produce weapons. It has been underestimated.”

“The only possible solution is for Gaza to be independent, to develop its economy, to be dependent on no one, for the Palestinian population to prosper, to have a future. Without Unrwa, which in its school books teaches children to hate Jews and kill them,” Ziv added.

Who is Israel Ziv ?

Ziv is an expert on military operations particularly in Gaza, where he played a key role in the Israeli disengagement in 2005, and in Lebanon by helping to formulate the strategic agreement between Israel and the United States.

A retired general, upon learning of the October 7  incursion and resulting significant civilian and military turmoil, Ziv, equipped with a nine-millimeter pistol, proceeded towards the conflict zone, organizing soldiers, supervising evacuations, and participating in combat. His actions, widely reported by Israeli media, subsequently transformed him into a notable figure representing individual initiative, particularly in the context of what some observers and Ziv himself viewed as a failure by the government and military to sufficiently safeguard civilians.

‘The responsibility for the failure of October 7 falls as much on the intelligence as on the political leadership’

The EJA thanks the European Commission for producing this practical handbook on implementing the IHRA definition of antisemitism. It will be a valuable tool for governments and organisations who are currently navigating the difficult political waters we find ourselves in, where intolerance and antisemitism are alarmingly on the rise.

We shudder to think what could possibly come out of Poland next, a country that is well and truly positioning itself outside of the pale.

Poland is now beyond the pale. This expression was deliberately chosen. The Pale of Settlement was a historical region of Imperial Russia, including a large chunk of modern-day Poland, where Jews were permitted to live.
First, we had the Holocaust Law, making it illegal to critique Poland for what happened during the Holocaust, under pain of imprisonment. So I’m going to take a risk and spell out a few facts for you about Poland. As many have noted, “the few who survived Auschwitz went back and found their homes vandalized. Their jobs were taken. Their shops were confiscated. They were further welcomed by their former neighbors with slurs, curses, fists, knives, riots, broken glass, and often murder.” Just like pop singer Katie Melua’s “Nine Million Bicycles” says, “that’s a fact, that’s a thing you can’t deny.” If that appears trite, it’s because it’s meant to. The Holocaust Bill is an affront to decency, honesty and good grace. It deserves resentment, but also ridicule, for the sheer unparalleled scale of its stupidity.
And then what modicum of common sense was left in Poland’s armory of credibility also packed its bags and decided to move beyond the pale: Poland is about to make it illegal to export kosher meat and perform kosher slaughter. Oh, and for good measure, slap a four-year prison sentence on the offense.
The text of this was uncovered by us at the European Jewish Association, hidden in a 48-page general bill on animal welfare, which the lower house of the Polish Parliament is expected to vote on this week.
Back in 2013 the EJA – when a kosher ban reared its ugly head – challenged the law in Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal and won. Rabbi Menachem Margolin, our chairman and founder, has said the EJA will do so again, and also challenge the Holocaust Law.
But Poland is today a very different political beast than it was five years ago. The Law and Justice Party has brought in its own brand of ultra-conservative, good old-fashioned xenophobia and parochial politics front and center, appealing to the worst instincts of a disenfranchised demographic, a trend that is increasing in popularity across the European Union to the detriment of immigrants, Muslims, Jews and anyone else who doesn’t fit the nationalistic bill.
“Panem et circenses” is now the leitmotif in Poland. So very apt. In a political context, this old Roman phrase, meaning “bread and circuses,” means to generate public approval, not by excellence in public service or public policy but by diversion, distraction or by satisfying the most immediate or base requirements of a populace.
Mission accomplished, with both these laws.
What is most alarming though is what little recourse is left to challenge it. You see, Law and Justice quickly realized that the Constitutional Tribunal was blocking their carts laden with bread and so removed the judges, replacing them with appointed party acolytes, using the smear of former communist sympathies to oust the incumbents. That means simply that gross and demeaning legislation such as this can be steamrolled through (it won’t prevent us from trying to stop them though.) Little wonder that Israel is considering withdrawing its ambassador to Poland, and little wonder that the EU is considering Article 7 as a punishment for Poland. We shudder to think what could possibly come out of Poland next, a country that is well and truly positioning itself outside of the pale.
But we shudder more that in 2018, in a supposedly modern and enlightened Europe, we even have to write opinion pieces such as this one, on subjects that stir up the hot coals of what we all thought and hoped were dying embers: Jew hatred.
This Op-Ed was written by the director of public affairs for European Jewish Association, Alex Benjamin. It was publish on The Jerusalem Post .

The European Jewish Association is proud and delighted to welcome another organisation to our growing roster of partners and communities.
We have just concluded and signed a memorandum of understanding with The Jewish Community of the NIG-Groningen (Nederlands – Israëlitische Gemeente Groningen).
We are sure that this cooperation will bring with it beautiful and important accomplishments. We look forward to working for the betterment of Dutch and European Jewry together.