7 june 2018
Local Cybercrime Unit raids offices in Angeles after citizens from New Zealand, Russia, Australia and South Africa are duped in online racket into investing huge sums of money for no gains; 'I had to sell my house for my children.'
The Cybercrime Unit of the Philippine Police has arrested eight Israelis who are suspected to have been behind a huge Bitcoin currency and online investments fraud scheme worth millions of dollars.
The Israelis were arrested on Wednesday in raids carried out by the local police at three offices in the city of Angeles.
In addition, 480 Filipinos citizens were arrested who worked in the call center used for gathering customers and convincing them to invest money online. The Israeli Foreign Ministry is looking into the matter.
According to the suspicions, the Israelis ran and supervised the scheme which defrauded citizens of New Zealand, Russia, Australia and South Africa who were asked to invest in foreign trade, Bitcoin and shares.
Two Australian pensioners who fell prey to the online scam flew specially to the Philippines in order to collect the money they had been cheated out of.
“Our whole lives went. Our families went. Our money went. My family is suffering because all the money went,” sid one of the victims, who had been intrigued and excited by the advert on Bitcoin which she had seen online.
She also added that she had been intrigued and excited by the advert on Bitcoin which she had seen online.
“I clicked on the banner and the next thing I know was that I had gotten a phone call and I was asked to give just $250, and I said to myself, ok, you’ll make a lot of money,” she explained.
According to the pensioner, she was asked to provide access to her bank account in order to make more investments. “They took the maximum from all of my cards. They took everything. I have nothing. I can’t even pay the bills.”
‘I sold my home that was for my children’
Another Singapore-Australian victim of the online extortion racket said that she lost half a million Australian dollars.
“I sold my house. It was for my children. My money went. I was left with $100. I couldn’t recover from it and recoup the money they took from me,” she said.
The complainants say that the Israelis who headed the scheme were in their late 20s and that they employed Filipino citizens to carry out their fraudulent activities. “They are young men, and they are full of money after cheating us and now they can enjoy their lives,” one of the victims from Australia said.
The authority that exposed the online deception operation says that their clients would first be given money in order to create the impression that they have made a successful investment. Feeling confident of the potential financial gains involved in further investments, the duped victims would then pump more and more money into investments that would inevitably end in a loss.
One of the workers in the scam said that he and his friend were aware of how the system worked but carried out instructions given by the Israeli bosses for fear of losing their jobs.
One Filipino police officer said that one of the companies had been operating since November 2017 and that it employed 527 people and received a license to work as a business that provides technical, web design and search engine optimization services to customers.
The investigation and raids were carried out, he added, following complaints that were filed by Australian and South African citizens, who said that the company had been taking hundreds of dollars from their bank accounts under the guise of investing in online stock.
One victim, who said that after the initial investment was unable to withdraw her money from the company or establish contact with a representative, was cheated out of 100,000 Australian dollars.
The Cybercrime Unit of the Philippine Police has arrested eight Israelis who are suspected to have been behind a huge Bitcoin currency and online investments fraud scheme worth millions of dollars.
The Israelis were arrested on Wednesday in raids carried out by the local police at three offices in the city of Angeles.
In addition, 480 Filipinos citizens were arrested who worked in the call center used for gathering customers and convincing them to invest money online. The Israeli Foreign Ministry is looking into the matter.
According to the suspicions, the Israelis ran and supervised the scheme which defrauded citizens of New Zealand, Russia, Australia and South Africa who were asked to invest in foreign trade, Bitcoin and shares.
Two Australian pensioners who fell prey to the online scam flew specially to the Philippines in order to collect the money they had been cheated out of.
“Our whole lives went. Our families went. Our money went. My family is suffering because all the money went,” sid one of the victims, who had been intrigued and excited by the advert on Bitcoin which she had seen online.
She also added that she had been intrigued and excited by the advert on Bitcoin which she had seen online.
“I clicked on the banner and the next thing I know was that I had gotten a phone call and I was asked to give just $250, and I said to myself, ok, you’ll make a lot of money,” she explained.
According to the pensioner, she was asked to provide access to her bank account in order to make more investments. “They took the maximum from all of my cards. They took everything. I have nothing. I can’t even pay the bills.”
‘I sold my home that was for my children’
Another Singapore-Australian victim of the online extortion racket said that she lost half a million Australian dollars.
“I sold my house. It was for my children. My money went. I was left with $100. I couldn’t recover from it and recoup the money they took from me,” she said.
The complainants say that the Israelis who headed the scheme were in their late 20s and that they employed Filipino citizens to carry out their fraudulent activities. “They are young men, and they are full of money after cheating us and now they can enjoy their lives,” one of the victims from Australia said.
The authority that exposed the online deception operation says that their clients would first be given money in order to create the impression that they have made a successful investment. Feeling confident of the potential financial gains involved in further investments, the duped victims would then pump more and more money into investments that would inevitably end in a loss.
One of the workers in the scam said that he and his friend were aware of how the system worked but carried out instructions given by the Israeli bosses for fear of losing their jobs.
One Filipino police officer said that one of the companies had been operating since November 2017 and that it employed 527 people and received a license to work as a business that provides technical, web design and search engine optimization services to customers.
The investigation and raids were carried out, he added, following complaints that were filed by Australian and South African citizens, who said that the company had been taking hundreds of dollars from their bank accounts under the guise of investing in online stock.
One victim, who said that after the initial investment was unable to withdraw her money from the company or establish contact with a representative, was cheated out of 100,000 Australian dollars.
IDF's Arabic-language spokesman posts video on Facebook purporting to show Razan Najjar, who was killed in clashes on the Gaza border last week, throwing a gas grenade; 'Hamas used her as a human shield,' the IDF says.
The IDF's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted a video on his Facebook page on Thursday purporting to show Palestinian nurse Razan Najjar, who was killed in clashes on the Gaza border last week, throwing a gas grenade.
"She's not a merciful angel," text on the screen says. "Hamas used her as a human shield."
Najjar, 21, is the second woman killed in the rioting since they began in March. She lived Khuzaa, a village near Khan Yunis that is close to the border and has served as one of five protest encampments across Gaza in recent weeks.
Palestinian health officials and witnesses claimed IDF forces shot dead Najjar, a volunteer medic, as she ran towards the border fence, east of the south Gaza city of Khan Yunis, in a bid to reach a casualty.
Fares al-Kidra, a colleague of Najjar, said they were approaching the fence to evacuate a wounded man and, as they were leaving, three gunshots were heard and Najjar fell to the ground.
Al-Mezan, a Gaza-based rights group, said Najjar was 100 meters from the fence and wearing a clearly marked paramedic's vest when she was shot.
Social media videos, and one captured by Associated Press footage, purported to show Najjar and a cohort of medics walking toward the fence and raising their hands to reach a wounded man lying on the ground. Najjar wore a dark blue headscarf and a white coat with the logo of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, where she volunteered.
An initial IDF investigation of the incident found that while a small number of bullets were fired during the incident, the gunfire wasn't aimed at the Palestinian nurse. One possibility is that Najjar was killed by the ricochet of a bullet.
The IDF said the investigation is still ongoing.
The IDF's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted a video on his Facebook page on Thursday purporting to show Palestinian nurse Razan Najjar, who was killed in clashes on the Gaza border last week, throwing a gas grenade.
"She's not a merciful angel," text on the screen says. "Hamas used her as a human shield."
Najjar, 21, is the second woman killed in the rioting since they began in March. She lived Khuzaa, a village near Khan Yunis that is close to the border and has served as one of five protest encampments across Gaza in recent weeks.
Palestinian health officials and witnesses claimed IDF forces shot dead Najjar, a volunteer medic, as she ran towards the border fence, east of the south Gaza city of Khan Yunis, in a bid to reach a casualty.
Fares al-Kidra, a colleague of Najjar, said they were approaching the fence to evacuate a wounded man and, as they were leaving, three gunshots were heard and Najjar fell to the ground.
Al-Mezan, a Gaza-based rights group, said Najjar was 100 meters from the fence and wearing a clearly marked paramedic's vest when she was shot.
Social media videos, and one captured by Associated Press footage, purported to show Najjar and a cohort of medics walking toward the fence and raising their hands to reach a wounded man lying on the ground. Najjar wore a dark blue headscarf and a white coat with the logo of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, where she volunteered.
An initial IDF investigation of the incident found that while a small number of bullets were fired during the incident, the gunfire wasn't aimed at the Palestinian nurse. One possibility is that Najjar was killed by the ricochet of a bullet.
The IDF said the investigation is still ongoing.
29 may 2018
Retaliating to barrage of 28 mortar shells fired into Israel, military begins assault on Islamic Jihad targets after Netanyahu convenes urgent security meeting and vows to respond with 'great power'; PM removes erroneous Twitter post claiming 57 rockets were fired.
The IDF began hitting Palestinian Jihad targets on Tuesday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to respond with “great power” against a flurry of 28 rockets that were fired into Israeli towns bordering the Gaza Strip earlier.
“Israel views gravely the attacks against it and against its communities by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad from the Gaza Strip,” the prime minister said at the Ma'alot-Tarshiha Galilee Conference. The IDF will respond with great power to these attacks. Israel will exact a heavy price and I see Hamas as bearing responsibility.”
Israeli jets began dropping bombs at what security officials in Gaza called Islamic Jihad militant training site. Smoke was seen rising near the town of Deir al-Balah in the coastal strip and the Israeli military said the explosions there were related to its activity. No injuries were reported.
Despite the number of mortar shells fired from Gaza on Tuesday morning standing at 28, Netanyahu more than doubled the figure in an original post that was later removed on his Twitter feed.
“Peaceful protests? 57 rockets were fired at Israeli civilians, including at a kindergarten. Share the truth,” he wrote in an apparent error before removing the post and launching a fresh edited statement which said "dozens."
One person was lightly injured in the rapid barrage which began at 6:59am, triggering 24 consecutive Code Red alert sirens to blare throughout the region, and local residents were told shortly after they could leave their bomb shelters and return to normality.
A Hamas spokesperson said: “Israel will fail in an attempt to change the rules of the conflict and establish a new equation on the ground. The resistance in Gaza reserves the right to respond and to remain silent in accordance with the interests of our people, and this is not due to weakness.”
"We are sticking to the right of return as well as responding to the Zionist crimes," said Khaled al-Batsh, an Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza.
Ismail Radwan, a Hamas official, said the barrage proved that the "resistance is capable of hurting the occupation and it proved this today by responding to its crimes."
Radwan spoke as two fishing boats carrying students and medical patients set sail out of Gaza City's port, aiming to break 11 years of naval blockade that Egypt and Israel imposed after the mterror group violently took control of the coastal territory.
During his speech, Netanyahu addressed the military situation in Syria, reiterating his intention to enforce Israel’s red lines.
“I have made clear many times what our red lines are and we are enforcing them without compromise. Iran cannot be allowed to militarily entrench itself in Syrian and act from there against us or to transfer a lethal weapon from Syria to Lebanon or manufacture one in Lebanon” he said, a day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that only Syrian government troops should have a presence on Syria’s southern border.
However, Netanyahu made clear that Lavrov’s staements would not suffice in allaying Israeli concerns. “I want to clarify something: We are working against Iranian military entrenchment in any of Syria’s territory. We will not make do with the removal of Iranian forces from south Syria alone,” he said.
“The long-range missiles that Iran is working to install in Syria will endanger us, as it also will beyond a distance of a few kilometers from south Syria. Therefore, Iran must completely leave Syria,” the premier explained.
Israel recently notified Russia of its decision to expand its "red lines"—as it pertains to operations against Iran in Syria—to the entirety of its northern neighbor's territory rather than just the southern portion of the country as it had so far, the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported.
Regarding reports that Israel and Russia had reached an understanding on returning Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s army to the border on the Golan Heights and the full removal of Iranian forces, Netanyahu indicated that a full agreement had yet to have been reached.
“We don’t share an understanding as if we agreed to less than (a full Iranian withdrawal). In any event, we will always work in the interests of our security with or without understandings,” he said. “We will defend ourselves as an independent force, determined to ensure our security and our future.
As Netanyahu spoke, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov also condemned the rocket fire from Gaza.
“I am deeply concerned by the indiscriminate firing of rockets by Palestinian militants from Gaza towards communities in Southern Israel. At least one of which hit in the immediate vicinity of a kindergarten and could have killed or injured children," the said in a statement.
"Such attacks are unacceptable and undermine the serious efforts by the international community to improve the situation in Gaza. All parties must exercise restraint, avoid escalation and prevent incidents that jeopardize the lives of Palestinians and Israelis.”
The IDF began hitting Palestinian Jihad targets on Tuesday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to respond with “great power” against a flurry of 28 rockets that were fired into Israeli towns bordering the Gaza Strip earlier.
“Israel views gravely the attacks against it and against its communities by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad from the Gaza Strip,” the prime minister said at the Ma'alot-Tarshiha Galilee Conference. The IDF will respond with great power to these attacks. Israel will exact a heavy price and I see Hamas as bearing responsibility.”
Israeli jets began dropping bombs at what security officials in Gaza called Islamic Jihad militant training site. Smoke was seen rising near the town of Deir al-Balah in the coastal strip and the Israeli military said the explosions there were related to its activity. No injuries were reported.
Despite the number of mortar shells fired from Gaza on Tuesday morning standing at 28, Netanyahu more than doubled the figure in an original post that was later removed on his Twitter feed.
“Peaceful protests? 57 rockets were fired at Israeli civilians, including at a kindergarten. Share the truth,” he wrote in an apparent error before removing the post and launching a fresh edited statement which said "dozens."
One person was lightly injured in the rapid barrage which began at 6:59am, triggering 24 consecutive Code Red alert sirens to blare throughout the region, and local residents were told shortly after they could leave their bomb shelters and return to normality.
A Hamas spokesperson said: “Israel will fail in an attempt to change the rules of the conflict and establish a new equation on the ground. The resistance in Gaza reserves the right to respond and to remain silent in accordance with the interests of our people, and this is not due to weakness.”
"We are sticking to the right of return as well as responding to the Zionist crimes," said Khaled al-Batsh, an Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza.
Ismail Radwan, a Hamas official, said the barrage proved that the "resistance is capable of hurting the occupation and it proved this today by responding to its crimes."
Radwan spoke as two fishing boats carrying students and medical patients set sail out of Gaza City's port, aiming to break 11 years of naval blockade that Egypt and Israel imposed after the mterror group violently took control of the coastal territory.
During his speech, Netanyahu addressed the military situation in Syria, reiterating his intention to enforce Israel’s red lines.
“I have made clear many times what our red lines are and we are enforcing them without compromise. Iran cannot be allowed to militarily entrench itself in Syrian and act from there against us or to transfer a lethal weapon from Syria to Lebanon or manufacture one in Lebanon” he said, a day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that only Syrian government troops should have a presence on Syria’s southern border.
However, Netanyahu made clear that Lavrov’s staements would not suffice in allaying Israeli concerns. “I want to clarify something: We are working against Iranian military entrenchment in any of Syria’s territory. We will not make do with the removal of Iranian forces from south Syria alone,” he said.
“The long-range missiles that Iran is working to install in Syria will endanger us, as it also will beyond a distance of a few kilometers from south Syria. Therefore, Iran must completely leave Syria,” the premier explained.
Israel recently notified Russia of its decision to expand its "red lines"—as it pertains to operations against Iran in Syria—to the entirety of its northern neighbor's territory rather than just the southern portion of the country as it had so far, the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported.
Regarding reports that Israel and Russia had reached an understanding on returning Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s army to the border on the Golan Heights and the full removal of Iranian forces, Netanyahu indicated that a full agreement had yet to have been reached.
“We don’t share an understanding as if we agreed to less than (a full Iranian withdrawal). In any event, we will always work in the interests of our security with or without understandings,” he said. “We will defend ourselves as an independent force, determined to ensure our security and our future.
As Netanyahu spoke, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov also condemned the rocket fire from Gaza.
“I am deeply concerned by the indiscriminate firing of rockets by Palestinian militants from Gaza towards communities in Southern Israel. At least one of which hit in the immediate vicinity of a kindergarten and could have killed or injured children," the said in a statement.
"Such attacks are unacceptable and undermine the serious efforts by the international community to improve the situation in Gaza. All parties must exercise restraint, avoid escalation and prevent incidents that jeopardize the lives of Palestinians and Israelis.”
24 may 2018
The Israeli occupation government approved the construction of thousands of settlement units across the occupied West Bank.
Israel’s war minister Avigdor Lieberman said Thursday he requested approval from a planning committee for the building of 2,500 new homes in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
"The 2,500 new units we'll approve in the planning committee next week are for immediate construction in 2018," Lieberman said in a statement, adding he would also seek the committee's approval for a further 1,400 settlement units for later construction.
"We will promote building in all of Judea and Samaria, from the north to the south, in small communities and in large ones," Lieberman tweeted, using the Biblical names for the West Bank.
"In the coming months we will bring forward thousands more units for approval."
In a Tuesday appeal to the International Criminal Court, the Palestinian foreign ministry called Israeli settlements "the single most dangerous threat to Palestinian lives and livelihoods".
Israel’s war minister Avigdor Lieberman said Thursday he requested approval from a planning committee for the building of 2,500 new homes in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
"The 2,500 new units we'll approve in the planning committee next week are for immediate construction in 2018," Lieberman said in a statement, adding he would also seek the committee's approval for a further 1,400 settlement units for later construction.
"We will promote building in all of Judea and Samaria, from the north to the south, in small communities and in large ones," Lieberman tweeted, using the Biblical names for the West Bank.
"In the coming months we will bring forward thousands more units for approval."
In a Tuesday appeal to the International Criminal Court, the Palestinian foreign ministry called Israeli settlements "the single most dangerous threat to Palestinian lives and livelihoods".
18 may 2018
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Palestinians protest at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, May 23, 2012. Photo credit: Afif Amira for WAFA.
POSTED BY: COREY SHERMAN MAY 17, 2018 Palestinian student organizers respond to backlash: ‘if we irritated some people then we did our job.’ On May 16, 2018, Palestinian students at Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design set up a memorial for the 61 protesters slain in Gaza on Monday. Organizers displayed the names and ages of each of the killed in Arabic on a piece of black paper in the school’s hallways. The students planned the memorial in a private Facebook group, according |
to Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot. “There are many people who don’t know what is going on in Gaza and don’t know how many people were killed. So we reminded them,” one of the organizers told Yediot. “All of us are Palestinians. We are all together and this is the only way that we are able to make our voice heard,” said another. The organizers chose to remain anonymous in media interviews.
Later that day, a student ripped the posters off of the wall. The right wing Israeli student organization Im Tirzu captured the action on video. Onlookers in the video can be heard saying, “freedom of speech has gone too far at Bezalel.” Responding to the removal, one of the Palestinian organizers told Yediot, “if we irritated some people then we did our job.”
Bezalel responded by saying: “Bezalel Academy is a protected space for free speech in Israel, and it is possible for students to engage in open dialogue, as well as critical and creative discourse about the different issues that concern them.” A student quoted by Israeli newspaper Walla! expressed similar sentiments, stating that the banners and the responses to it opened up space for students to speak about what is going on in Gaza.
The head of Im Tirzu at Hebrew University celebrated the student who pulled down the memorials. “Instead of bringing a janitor to clean up the incitement and punish the student, now we have a cloud of joy,” he told Yediot. On Thursday, students affiliated with Im Tirzu put up signs labeling the organizers of the memorial as members of Hamas and calling the Nakba “fake”.
Israeli politicians derided the memorial put up by the Palestinian students. Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat responded by blaming Palestinians victims and demanding censorship on Twitter: “I was shocked to see on the walls of Bezalel the names of terrorists that were injured when they tried to break through the border fence in Gaza in order to hurt Jews. There are borders and a clear red line that shows how freedom of expression can be used cynically. I demanded from the leadership of Bezalel that they remove the signs and ban such provocations.”
Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein told Yediot, “freedom of expression is a supreme value in my eyes but a person and an artist should know how to set boundaries for himself. I would remind the students protesting to remember that Israeli soldiers on the border of the Gaza Strip are also protecting them.”
Member of Knesset (MK) Pnina Tamano-Shata (Kulanu) told Walla!, “before we even address the arguments and criticism of the anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic BDS movement, it is necessary to recognize the work that is in front of us in the House of Israel [sic]: all the respected academic institutions abuse freedom to incite against soldiers in the IDF [sic] in the name of freedom of expression and under the guise of humanitarianism.
MK Yoav Kish (Likud) also offered criticism. “Students chose to be creative without values. They confuse freedom of expression and basic morality.”
MK Hanin Zoabi (Joint List) praised the efforts of the students while critiquing the general silence in Israeli academia surrounding the massacres in Gaza:
“The atmosphere of openness at Bezalel diverges a bit from the view of Israeli academia, which has been silent in a thunderous and terrifying manner against the cruel massacre. It is a poor reflection on Israeli academia that only Palestinian students, without the presence of Jewish students or lecturers, found a logical way to protest against the horror of the mass murder in Gaza.”
In response to the memorial at Bezalel, Science, Technology and Space Minister Ofir Akunis has barred Bezalel students from submitting work to an international science conference this month in Jerusalem. ”
The controversy at Bezalel came one day after Dr. Lina Salaimeh, a lecturer at the Tel Aviv University Law School, informed her students she would be canceling class to observe the general strike taking place across Palestine – a move that drew outrage from Israeli media outlets.
Bezalel removed a poster display hung by a student in its hallways in 2016. Those posters depicted the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the word “rope” underneath and an image of a noose superimposed onto him in the style of the iconic “hope” poster of U.S. President Barak Obama. Police questioned the student, but closed the investigation two months later.
Corey Sherman is a teacher in Washington D.C. and contributing editor to aicnews.org.
Later that day, a student ripped the posters off of the wall. The right wing Israeli student organization Im Tirzu captured the action on video. Onlookers in the video can be heard saying, “freedom of speech has gone too far at Bezalel.” Responding to the removal, one of the Palestinian organizers told Yediot, “if we irritated some people then we did our job.”
Bezalel responded by saying: “Bezalel Academy is a protected space for free speech in Israel, and it is possible for students to engage in open dialogue, as well as critical and creative discourse about the different issues that concern them.” A student quoted by Israeli newspaper Walla! expressed similar sentiments, stating that the banners and the responses to it opened up space for students to speak about what is going on in Gaza.
The head of Im Tirzu at Hebrew University celebrated the student who pulled down the memorials. “Instead of bringing a janitor to clean up the incitement and punish the student, now we have a cloud of joy,” he told Yediot. On Thursday, students affiliated with Im Tirzu put up signs labeling the organizers of the memorial as members of Hamas and calling the Nakba “fake”.
Israeli politicians derided the memorial put up by the Palestinian students. Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat responded by blaming Palestinians victims and demanding censorship on Twitter: “I was shocked to see on the walls of Bezalel the names of terrorists that were injured when they tried to break through the border fence in Gaza in order to hurt Jews. There are borders and a clear red line that shows how freedom of expression can be used cynically. I demanded from the leadership of Bezalel that they remove the signs and ban such provocations.”
Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein told Yediot, “freedom of expression is a supreme value in my eyes but a person and an artist should know how to set boundaries for himself. I would remind the students protesting to remember that Israeli soldiers on the border of the Gaza Strip are also protecting them.”
Member of Knesset (MK) Pnina Tamano-Shata (Kulanu) told Walla!, “before we even address the arguments and criticism of the anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic BDS movement, it is necessary to recognize the work that is in front of us in the House of Israel [sic]: all the respected academic institutions abuse freedom to incite against soldiers in the IDF [sic] in the name of freedom of expression and under the guise of humanitarianism.
MK Yoav Kish (Likud) also offered criticism. “Students chose to be creative without values. They confuse freedom of expression and basic morality.”
MK Hanin Zoabi (Joint List) praised the efforts of the students while critiquing the general silence in Israeli academia surrounding the massacres in Gaza:
“The atmosphere of openness at Bezalel diverges a bit from the view of Israeli academia, which has been silent in a thunderous and terrifying manner against the cruel massacre. It is a poor reflection on Israeli academia that only Palestinian students, without the presence of Jewish students or lecturers, found a logical way to protest against the horror of the mass murder in Gaza.”
In response to the memorial at Bezalel, Science, Technology and Space Minister Ofir Akunis has barred Bezalel students from submitting work to an international science conference this month in Jerusalem. ”
The controversy at Bezalel came one day after Dr. Lina Salaimeh, a lecturer at the Tel Aviv University Law School, informed her students she would be canceling class to observe the general strike taking place across Palestine – a move that drew outrage from Israeli media outlets.
Bezalel removed a poster display hung by a student in its hallways in 2016. Those posters depicted the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the word “rope” underneath and an image of a noose superimposed onto him in the style of the iconic “hope” poster of U.S. President Barak Obama. Police questioned the student, but closed the investigation two months later.
Corey Sherman is a teacher in Washington D.C. and contributing editor to aicnews.org.
