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Comments (1)The Jewish humanitarian agency World Jewish Relief has launched an emergency appeal to help the victims of major flooding in northwest Pakistan.
Since Sunday, an unprecedented foot of rain in the northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has killed more than 1,000 people and affected over 2 million.
The monsoon rains are the heaviest to hit Pakistan in 80 years, and already have contaminated vital water sources, according to the agency. The devastation could become worse if the floodwaters reach more populous areas.
The United Kingdom-based World Jewish Relief organization is working with partners on the ground in Pakistan to help provide items such as emergency shelter and immediate health care.
“The devastating monsoon has left a trail of disaster in its wake and the scale of need is overwhelming,” World Jewish Relief Chief Executive Paul Anticoni said in a statement, adding that “WJR will work as closely as possible with trusted partners on the ground to ensure that all funds raised will directly benefit those who need them most.”
To donate to WJR’s Pakistan Emergency Appeal, go to http://www.wjr.org.uk.
Australian Jews Warn of Radical Anti-Israel Group
Jewish groups are expressing concern about a radical Islamic group banned in America that has held two recent conferences in Australia.
Hizb ut-Tahrir, a global movement that promotes a single Islamic state, or caliphate, is accused of promoting jihad and inciting anti-Israel and anti-Jewish invective.
It staged a conference in Sydney last month and a meeting in Melbourne on Sunday in a bid to recruit new members, prompting the Anti-Defamation Commission of B’nai B’rith to warn that “Australians would be foolish to ignore the violence and hatred this group has expressed in other countries.”
Jewish Community Council of Victoria President John Searle said he would be writing to the local government council to ensure that it was aware it rented its town hall to an anti-democratic group with a history of racial hatred.
“Hizb ut-Tahrir describes Israel as ‘a dagger in Muslim lands’ and argues that democracy is not for Muslims,” he said.
But in a statement on its website, Hizb ut-Tahrir said of the Melbourne meeting, “There is no room for anti-Semitism or another form of racism in Islam. In Palestine, Islam is in conflict with ‘Israelis’ not in their capacity as Jews but in their capacity as occupiers and aggressors.”
Despite two investigations by Australia’s counterterror organization, the group is allowed to operate in the country. Hizb ut-Tahrir has been banned in Germany, Russia and several Muslim countries.
Conservative British commentator Melanie Phillips in an article last month in The Australian newspaper blasted British Prime Minister David Cameron for failing to keep a pre-election promise to ban the organization.
“It has taken no legal action against it, despite calls by British Jewish leaders for Hizb ut-Tahrir to be prosecuted after it repeatedly called on its website for the killing of Jews and the annihilation of Israel,” Phillips wrote.
Peres Denies Calling British Anti-Semites
Israeli President Shimon Peres has denied calling the British anti-Semites.
In a statement issued late Sunday night by his spokesman, Peres backtracked on quotes attributed to him in an interview with the Jewish news website Tablet.
“President Peres never accused the British people of anti-Semitism,” the statement said, according to the Telegraph of London. “The president does not believe that British governments are motivated by anti-Semitism, nor were they in the past.”
Peres had caused a storm in England after accusing the British establishment of being “deeply pro-Arab” and “anti-Israeli.”
“In England there has always been something deeply pro-Arab, of course, not among all Englishmen, and anti-Israeli, in the establishment,” he told Tablet in a Q&A conducted by the Israeli historian Benny Morris.
Peres, who in 2008 received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II, said the British “abstained in the [pro-Zionist] 1947 U.N. partition resolution ... They maintained an arms embargo against us in the 1950s ... They had a defense treaty with Jordan, they always worked against us.”
The Israeli president went on to say that the British “think the Palestinians are the underdog ... “Even though this is irrational.”
On British anti-Semitism, Peres, 86, noted that “There is in England a saying that an anti-Semite is someone who hates the Jews more than is necessary.”
Peres accused British lawmakers of pandering to Muslim voters in order to retain their seats in Parliament.
“There are several million Muslim voters, and for many members of Parliament, that’s the difference between getting elected and not getting elected,” he said.
British Prime Minister David Cameron last week described Gaza as a “prison camp” during a visit to Turkey.
Peres’ comments generated angry reactions from Jewish and non-Jewish members of Parliament.
Conservative lawmaker James Clappison, vice chairman of Conservative Friends of Israel, said Peres “got it wrong.”
“There are pro- and anti-Israel views in all European countries,” Clappison said in an interview that appeared Sunday in the Telegraph of London. “Things are certainly no worse, as far as Israel is concerned, in this country than other European countries.”
Rabbi Jonathan Romain of the Maidenhead synagogue also told the newspaper, “It is a sweeping statement that is far too one-sided,” adding that “The tolerance and pluralism here make Britain one of the best countries in the world in which to live.”
However, Jacob Vince, the director of Christian Friends of Israel, described Peres’ remarks as “measured and moderate.” He added that there was anti-Semitism in Britain, although many people had a positive view of Israel but were unwilling to express it publicly.
Vince said it was “difficult to see how many MPs would not be influenced by the number of Muslim voters in their constituencies.”
The past decade has seen a significant rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Britain, according to data collected by the Community Security Trust, which was established in 1984 to monitor such incidents. In 2009 there were 924 anti-Semitic incidents—55 percent higher than the record set in 2006.
The incidents include only verifiable reports of physical assaults, verbal abuse and racist graffiti.