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Articles by Manfred Gerstenfeld
ההוצאות בארנקים דיגיטליים זינקו תוך 24 חודשים פי 25
נתוני חברת שבא (שירותי בנק אוטומטיים), המפתחת ומנהלת את מערכת התשלומים הלאומית בכרטיסי אשראי בישראל, מצביעים על כך שנמשכת מגמת הצמיחה בהוצאות ובשימוש של הציבור הישראלי בארנקים הדיגיטליים ובחודש מאי 2023 נרשם שיא חדש של הוצאות בהיקף כולל של 3.242 מיליארד ₪. מדובר על עלייה של פי 2.7 בהוצאות בארנקים דיגיטליים לעומת מאי 2022 בו סך ההוצאות עמדו על 1.182 מיליארד ₪.
כיצד להשיג זכויות סיעודיות?
דווקא בזמנים מורכבים אלו התפרסם כי משרד האוצר החל לדון בקיצוץ בקצבאות סיעוד, וכן בהפחתת זכויות סיעודיות המוקנות למי שזקוק לסיוע יום-יומי. המהלך הדרמטי ביותר במסגרת השינויים המתוכננים (שהם חלק מחוק ההסדרים) אמור לבטל את הזכאות לטיפול סיעודי לישראלים הנמצאים בשתי דרגות הסיעוד הנמוכות ביותר. חקיקה שכזו, אם תאושר, תהווה פגיעה אנושה ביכולתם של אנשים סיעודיים להתנהל באופן שוטף. מהלכים דוגמת זה מציפים מחדש את הסוגיה הרגישה של ההכרה בזכאות של אדם כסיעודי, והקביעה של כמה ומה מגיע לו לפי דרגת מוגבלותו.
ארה"ב בירכה על עצירת החקיקה של הרפורמה המשפטית
ארה"ב בירכה על הודעתו של ראש הממשלה בנימין נתניהו כי החקיקה של הרפורמה המשפטית תוקפא. "אנו מברכים על ההכרזה הזו כהזדמנות ליצור זמן ומרחב נוספים לפשרה", אמרה דוברת הבית הלבן, קארין ז'אן-פייר, שהוסיפה: "פשרה היא בדיוק מה שקראנו לו". מצאתם טעות או פרסומת לא ראויה? דווחו לנו
ממכללת אימג' מציגה: כך תרכשו מקצוע יצירתי וגמיש שיאפשר לכן להשקיע בילדים
השינויים הדרמטיים בחיינו הכלכליים כבר לא מאפשרים לנו לנהל את הבית בפורמט שבו בן זוג אחד עובד והשני מפרנס, או פורמט שבו כל הורה עובד בחצי משרה. על מנת "לסגור את החודש" נאלצים היום שני ההורים לעבוד במשרה מלאה, מה שכמובן מהווה אתגר כאשר מדובר במשפחות דתיות שהחינוך והקשר עם הילדים וההשקעה במשפחה, חשובה להם לא פחות. משרות רבות שנחשבו בעבר לכדאיות עבור אמהות, כבר לא מתאימות היום, ולכן אמהות דתיות רבות מחפשות מקצוע שיאפשר להן גם וגם. בואי ללמוד ולקבל כלים להצלחה למה כדאי ללמוד עיצוב גרפי ודיגיטל?
Israel’s Multifaceted Power
Photo Credit: Shai Pal via Unsplash Tel Aviv and Jaffa, {Reposted from the BESA website} *The following is the final Perspective Paper submitted to the BESA Center byDr. Manfred Gerstenfeld before his passing. May his memory be blessed. Advertisement Israel is an unusually difficult and confusing country to assess in terms of strengths and weaknesses. This becomes clear when one compares it to a Western European country with a more or less similar size population, such as Belgium.
Israel has a great deal of hard and soft power
Oped Published on March 15, 2021 It is far more difficult to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Israel than it is to do the same for a Western European country. Israel has a great deal of hard and soft power, but it also seriously underperforms in terms of diplomatic power and the combating of anti-Israel propaganda. Wrote Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is the last article by our regular contributor Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld before his passing on February 25, 2021.
Analyzing Israel’s Multifaceted Power
A general view shows thousands of Jewish worshipers attending the priestly blessing on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City, Sept. 26, 2018. Photo: Reuters / Ammar Awad. Note: The following is the final Perspective Paper submitted to the BESA Center by Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld before his passing on February 25, 2021. May his memory be blessed. Israel is an unusually difficult and confusing country to assess in terms of strengths and weaknesses.
The need to batter the ICC verbally
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is a body whose dissolution is more justified than its continued functioning. In its 18 years of existence it has spent in excess of $1.5 billion, much of it wasted. Israel has always has to be careful with supra-national bodies. As most countries in the world are not free, dictatorships and other non-democracies often control them. The highly problematic Chief Prosecutor of the ICC is Fatou Bensouda, from Gambia. Freedom House does not rate Gambia a democracy.
Israel's hasbara efforts - it's time for an anti-propaganda agency
Over the years a variety of voluntary organizations have emerged to defend Israel against the many verbal attacks emanating from the Western world. As the cost of such activities is substantial and fundraising abilities are limited, each of them usually acts in a specific, yet often very narrow field. I am often asked why the combination of the activities of all these organizations is not a worthy substitute for the anti-propaganda agency which the Israeli state should have established long ago.
Coronavirus and widespread conspiracy theories
Oped Published on January 30, 2021 The coronavirus pandemic has sparked widespread conspiracy theories. Such theories are an integral part of contemporary Western culture, even in places that are purportedly enlightened. The irrational elements in Western society are very significant, and it will take serious study to begin to understand the many ways in which this irrationality affects Western attitudes.
Conspiracy Theories Are an Integral Part of Western Culture
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons US Capitol grounds prior to siege, January 6, 2021. Q-Anon image is visible on the left. {Reposted from the BESA website} The public’s reactions to the coronavirus pandemic illustrate that conspiracy theories continue to be an integral part of contemporary Western culture.One might have thought the Enlightenment had dealt a devastating blow to the power of conspiracy theories to capture the minds of Westerners.
The ongoing Dutch preoccupation with Holocaust-related issues
Holocaust-related issues keep reemerging in the Dutch public domain in recent years. It is difficult to determine why disparate subjects in this area are raised more or less at the same time. Yet there are too many of them to claim that the revival of the subject is coincidental. The battle between memory and its distortion and forgetting in the Netherlands has many aspects.
The Shoah's impact on survivor's post-war children
Manfred Gerstenfeld interviews Prof. Sam Juni “Given the enormity of the death camp survivors’ experience, some of their adaptations to maintain sanity in their lives inevitably engendered significant negative repercussions on the children they raised. Thus, psychiatric and personality pathology is usually more severe in the families of former death camp inmates. Survivors who were not in death camps – and their families -- often present no untoward adjustment problems.
Governments need to start planning for the post-coronavirus era
Oped Published on January 24, 2021 Governments need to start planning for the post-coronavirus era. This will have to include more components than economic and social policies. Populations have to be given renewed hope for the future. Empathy, human warmth, and solidarity will be needed to support those whose lives were made more difficult by the pandemic. This will require the involvement of as many civil actors as possible. The Western world remains in great confusion over the coronavirus crisis.
After Coronavirus, Governments Must Promote Health, Empathy, and Solidarity
People queue to receive their COVID 19 vaccines inside Lichfield Cathedral which had been turned into an emergency vaccination centre, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Lichfield, in Birmingham, Britain, January 15, 2021. Photo: REUTERS/Carl Recine The Western world remains in great confusion over the coronavirus crisis. In several countries, many tens and hundreds of thousands have died, and large numbers of people continue to be infected.
Israel's enemies attack Israel about everything, even its vaccination program
The recent peace accords with a number of additional Arab states created a certain euphoria in Israel. These agreements were not only a great setback for the Palestinian Arabs. They also came as a shock to those Westerners looking away from, minimizing or whitewashing the Palestinian genocide promoters and the death cult, which permeates Palestinian Arab society. Many of these Westerners can best be characterized as progressive perverts.
How to fight Pro-BDS Academics more effectively
Sometimes developments seemingly not related to Jews or Israel provide useful insights in matters concerning them. That is for instance he case with the critical examination of plagiarism and mistakes in several doctorates of prominent people in Germany. If doctorate titles can be canceled in Germany perhaps the same can be achieved elsewhere concerning some academically weak anti-Israel BDS supporters.
The ignorant antisemitism of Europe's top judges
It is a highly negative achievement for the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg to have made the Simon Wiesenthal’s (SWC) 2020 list of the top ten worst global antisemitic incidents. This is even more remarkable as the Court’s inclusion in the list was based on a flawed judgment, which contained a major lie.
Logros en 2020 en la batalla contra el antisemitismo
Diario Judío México - El número de incidentes antisemitas en todo el mundo aumentó en 2020, pero el año pasado también se vieron algunos desarrollos positivos notables en la batalla contra este [tipo de] odio. El más importante fue el resultado de las políticas de Trump, incluida la interrupción del financiamiento estadounidense de la Autoridad Palestina y la UNRWA. Estados Unidos también anunció que considera antisemita el movimiento antiisraelí BDS.
2020 achievements in the battle against anti-Semitism - Opeds
The decision this year by the European Court of Justice that the Flemish and Wallonian governments can only allow ritual slaughter of animals after stunning was a major anti-Semitic act. It also affects part of the Muslim population. When Adolf Hitler came to power, the Nazi government introduced a similar measure in Germany, as it fit their anti-Semitic policies.
The antisemitic hate fest against female UK Labour MPs - Corbyn's collateral damage - Opeds
Many articles have been published about Jeremy Corbyn's prominent role in not preventing – and occasionally also promoting – antisemitism in the British Labour party. His support of extreme antisemites has been well covered in media. Its main element, among a number of others, was declaring that the genocidal antisemitic terror organizations, Hamas and Hezbollah, were his “friends and brothers.” He also invited them to the House of Commons. But there is more.
Should Jews be proud of American Jews in high positions?
Browse > Home / Featured Articles / Should Jews be proud of American Jews in high positions? December 23, 2020 by Manfred Gerstenfeld Read on for article The incoming U.S. President Joe Biden has named a number of Jews to his future cabinet and other senior positions. John Kerry and Ambassador Martin Indyk One regularly hears from American Jews how proud they are that such achievements are possible.
Should Jews be proud of American Jews in high positions? - Opeds
The incoming U.S. President Joe Biden has named a number of Jews to his future cabinet and other senior positions. One regularly hears from American Jews how proud they are that such achievements are possible. The same remark about such pride is heard from time to time when the number of Jews elected to Congress represents a far higher percentage than that of Jews in the US population. Yet a much more critical look at this issue is necessary.
Do Not Give Diaspora Jews a Formal Voice in Israel
Photo Credit: Illustration from Ruderman foundation position paper Jewish American vote Israel’s Blue and White party and its minister for Diaspora Affairs, Omer Yankelevich, are supporting a new bill in favor of the radically misconceived idea that Israel should give a formal voice to Diaspora Jews regarding decisions that could affect Jews abroad. Israel is a sovereign state and should not share any part of its decision-making, however small, with Jews abroad.
What's missing from the EU Declaration on Fighting Antisemitism - Opeds
The European Council consists of the heads of the governments of its member states. It sets the EU policy agenda by identifying issues of concern and action to take. On December 2, the European Council accepted a declaration mainstreaming the fight against antisemitism across policy areas. When analyzing this text one finds that it is at least as important to discuss what is lacking in it as what is there.
Will the EU Develop a Serious Strategy to Combat Antisemitism?
Photo Credit: wikipedia Expulsions of the Jews of Europe, 1100-1600 {Reposted from the BESA website} The EU Commission has stated that in the coming year, it plans to tackle the issue of antisemitic incitement.
Will the EU Develop a Serious Strategy to Combat Antisemitism?
Expulsions of the Jews of Europe, 1100-1600, image via Wikipedia BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,840, December 7, 2020 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: For about 20 years, the EU has been largely inactive, incompetent, negligent, and at times even evil in the battle against antisemitism. During that period, Jew- and Israel hatred has greatly increased in the EU. The EU Commission has announced that in 2021 it will present a comprehensive strategy on combating antisemitism.
Antisemitism imploodes Dutch Right Wing party - Opeds
A few weeks ago, nobody could have forecast that antisemitism in a sizable Dutch populist right wing party would lead to its implosion. The Forum for Democracy (FvD) was founded in 2016 by a young intellectual, Thierry Baudet, who is now 37 years old. In the 2017 parliamentary elections the party gained two seats. The FvD’s greatest success was reached in the 2019 provincial elections when it became the largest party in several provinces.
Economic Globalization After the Pandemic
Photo Credit: Queven via Pixabay London street on lockdown during COVID-19 pandemic, {Reposted from the BESA website} The large increase in the number of people who have contracted COVID-19 in a variety of European countries and the ongoing struggles with the pandemic have apparently pushed mainstream writers’ reflections about post-COVID society into the background.
Malaysian hatemonger Mahathir curses French even more than Jews - Opeds
“Jews are the first but not the last.” This is a rather common expression used to warn societies at large that they are also vulnerable if there is major incitement or aggression against Jews. The statement is very general in nature. Therefore it is advisable to provide from time to time concrete examples. Mohamad Mahathir is a powerful extreme antisemite. He was prime minister of Malaysia from1981 until 2003 and again from February 2018 until March 2020.
Assessing the future of the Palestinian Arabs - Opeds
Israel’s recent peace agreements with three Muslim countries require major new assessments of the country’s strategic position. This will have to be carried out in conjunction with a re-verification of its political aims. Yet, very little of this can be seen so far in the Israeli public domain. It would be a major mistake if in Israel the authorities do not simultaneously reflect on what these changes can mean for the future of the Palestinian Arabs.
US Exposes Do-Gooder Antisemites
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,806, November 9, 2020 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: In the final days before the American presidential election, sources inside the Trump government indicated that the administration might declare three major human rights organizations—Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Oxfam—antisemitic. These organizations practice what might be called “do-gooder” antisemitism, a widespread yet rarely mentioned form of this hatred.
Opinion: George Soros’s Negative Interactions with the Jewish World
By Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, Perspectives Paper No. 1,786 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: From a Jewish and Israeli point of view, there are two main issues to look at when analyzing the activities of American Jewish billionaire George Soros. The first are his damaging statements and actions against Jews and Israel, and the second are antisemitic attacks on Soros himself.
George Soros’s Negative Interactions with the Jewish World
Photo Credit: Niccolò Caranti via wikimedia George Soros {Reposted from the BESA website} George Soros is a complex figure about whom there is much debate. Many of his activities around the world have no impact on Jewish matters, so there is no reason for Jews to enter into public disputes over whether he should be classified as a major philantropist or a king of speculators. Advertisement What does concern Jews, however, is that Soros spreads lies about antisemitism.
George Soros’s Negative Interactions with the Jewish World
George Soros, photo by World Economic Forum via Flickr CC BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,786, October 26, 2020 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: From a Jewish and Israeli point of view, there are two main issues to look at when analyzing the activities of American Jewish billionaire George Soros. The first are his damaging statements and actions against Jews and Israel, and the second are antisemitic attacks on Soros himself.
Verbal agression against Israel - Opeds
A broad range of semantics is used in the verbal battle against Israel. Together they create a formidable front of attacks through language. These expressions have to be investigated one by one. That is the only possible way to understand how they are used and afterwards how Israel should confront them. One can start with an extreme expression not often used. One concrete proposal for it was presented at the United Nations (UN).
Language As an Anti-Israel Tool
{Reposted from the BESA website} Successive Israeli governments have never had comprehensive policies to systematically fight all fronts of attack against the country. Prime ministers and their ministerial colleagues never seemed to understand what any beginning strategist would comprehend: that the fight against the Israeli state involves many weapons and tools, and Israel must combat them all. Advertisement No one can ignore open warfare and terrorism.
Arab voices criticize Palestinian rejectionism - Opeds
The establishment of relations with Israel by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain has had a number of side effects. One was that some figures in the Arab world started to explain why these steps by the two countries were possible despite the fact that there was no promise of the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state. In several articles Arab authors criticized Palestinian rejectionism.
Merkel's malevolent advice to Netanyahu - Opeds
The German press office published a release about a telephone call German Chancellor Angela Merkel made to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The report said that along with the mastering of the Covid19 pandemic regional themes were discussed. -The Chancellor welcomed the ongoing conversations on the normalization of bilateral relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
Repairing the World by Embracing Antisemites: American Jews and Black Lives Matter
BLM protest in London, photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona via Unsplash BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,751, September 17, 2020 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: In a recent public letter permeated with distortions published in The New York Times, 600 Jewish signatory organizations identified themselves with Black Lives Matter (BLM). This decentralized movement was founded by Marxists and had in its original platform expressions of extreme anti-Israel incitement.
Israel Needs an Anti-Propaganda Agency-NOW!
Photo Credit: Asher Schwartz {Reposted from the BESA website} In October 2015, Israel’s political-security cabinet charged the Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy with the responsibility to fight the many delegitimization and boycott campaigns that have been set up against the State of Israel. This was an upgrading of the Israeli government’s battle against hate campaigns. Any strategist knows that one has first to define the main issues at stake and then prioritize them.
Israel Needs an Anti-Propaganda Agency
European Union flags in front of the European Commission building in Brussels. Photo: Amio Cajander via Wikimedia Commons. In October 2015, Israel’s political-security cabinet charged the Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy with the responsibility to fight the many delegitimization and boycott campaigns that have been set up against the State of Israel. This was an upgrading of the Israeli government’s battle against hate campaigns.
Holocaust Compensation claims against national railways - Opeds
Holocaust restitution after the Second World War has only led to a very partial compensation for Jewish pre-war properties. American financial expert Sidney Zabludoff has estimated that less than 20% of what was stolen has been restituted. Well over one hundred billion dollars in current values was not returned to Jewish owners or their heirs. At the end of the previous century, a second round of restitution took place in a number of countries, including Switzerland, the Netherlands and Norway.
Germany as the tip of the iceberg: The various allies of antisemitism - Opeds
Part of the complexity of the current antisemitism debate and its analysis is the multiplicity of aspects. One cannot just compare a specific act to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition (IHRA) of antisemitism in order to determine whether it is antisemitic. The acceptance of this definition in 2016 by the IHRA Board required the agreement of more than 30 western countries and was a major achievement.
Labour may win the UK elections - Opeds
At the beginning of April 2020, Sir Keir Starmer was elected Chairman of the British Labour Party. He replaced Jeremy Corbyn. Starmer made it immediately clear that he wanted to steer the party into a more mainstream direction. Yet it soon became clear that it is difficult to change a structure which is fundamentally not very flexible. One key element in the changes Starmer wants to make concerns antisemitism. He declared that there will be zero antisemitism in the party.
Germany’s Antisemitism Allies
Photo Credit: Asher Schwartz {Reposted from the BESA website} Part of the challenge of the antisemitism debate is its sheer multiplicity of aspects. One cannot simply rate a specific act according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism to determine whether it is or is not antisemitic.
Germany’s Antisemitism Allies
Wolfgang Benz, photo via Wikimedia Commons BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,706, August 24, 2020 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Many people who are not antisemites are nevertheless their allies. This can be seen clearly in Germany, which contains whitewashers and minimizers of antisemitism as well as people who want to abolish the position of national antisemitism commissioner.
Spreading the truth about the Palestinian Arab death ethos - Opeds
Probably never before has an enemy maligned a country without the attacked nation in return widely spreading the truth about that enemy. Yet that is the case in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The Palestinians have accused Israel of many evils of which it is not guilty, most recently of spreading the Coronavirus. Israel is however far from continuously mentioning in its public diplomacy that the Palestinians have a death culture and are glorifiers of genocide and murder.
Attacks on the Uniqueness of the Holocaust
Photo Credit: @_investigate_ Twitter Woman at anti-lockdown protest in Zurich holding sign appropriating Holocaust language {Reposted from the BESA website} The memory of the Holocaust has been under assault for decades from all sides: the extreme right, the extreme left, and parts of the Islamic world. A common tactic is to assert that the Holocaust was not unique, contrary to the Jewish claim. Looking at the question on a purely empirical basis, the Holocaust was unambiguously a unique event.
The rise of part-time antisemitism blurs traditional definitions
Much of contemporary Jew-hatred can best be called part-time antisemitism. Louis Farrakhan (photo credit: REUTERS/REBECCA COOK) Until the Second World War, antisemitism had a limited number of core motifs. These recurred over the centuries. Gradually there were also new mutations of these motifs, while occasionally a new motif appeared. Since the Holocaust, further new expressions of hatred have emerged.
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