You’ll have read the story of Samira Ibrahim, an outspoken racist who was to have received an International Woman of Courage award presented by Michele Obama.
Among the worst tweets was one describing the Saudi royal family as “dirtier than Jews” and another expressing the following sentiments:
“An explosion on a bus carrying Israelis in Burgas airport in Bulgaria on the Black Sea. Today is a very sweet day with a lot of very sweet news.”
That award has now been ‘deferred’.
Well worth reading is the following piece by Arieh Kovler in The Times of Israel, which considers twitter metadata to illustrate the implausibility of her claim that her twitter account was hacked. Arieh also points out the following:
And, when she referenced ‘Jews’ in the Saudi tweet, another tweeter helpfully contacts to her to suggest she uses ‘Zionists’ or ‘Israelis’ in the future. Samira (or the supposed hacker) replies to this suggestion politely saying she would learn from it!
So, now let’s turn to Mira Bar-Hillel. Bar-Hillel is the daughter of the academic and Haganah fighter, Yehoshua Bar-Hillel. She was a “runner up” in the Ha’aretz “summarise the meaning of antisemitism” competition that was “won” by The CST’s Mark Gardner. Here was her entry:
The Jews of today scare me and I find it almost impossible to talk to most of them, including relatives. Any criticism of the policies of Israel – including the disgraceful treatment of Holocaust survivors as well as refugees from murderous regimes – is regarded as treason and/or anti-Semitism. Most papers and journals will not even publish articles on the subject for fear of a Jewish backlash. Goyim (gentiles ) are often treated with ill-concealed contempt, yet the Jews are always the victims. Am I prejudiced against Jews? Alas, yes.
Bar-Hillel also pops up in support of an anti-Zionist Jewish activist, Mike Marcus, who claims that there is no real antisemitism today. Mira Bar-Hillel has this to say:
I am jewish, born to Holocaust survivors in Jerusalem just after WWII. I left Israel in 1972 as I could see which way the govt was heading and couldn’t be a part of it. Since arriving in London I have not ONCE experienced anti-Semitism, although jews talk about it a lot, as Marcus said. I am not a self-hating jew – I hate people you use the label to gag into submission any critic of Israel and its deplorable actions. And very effective they are too. Mike Marcus is a very brave man.
If Mira Bar-Hillel doesn’t recognise the phrase “dirty Jews” as antisemitic, she might possibly not be very good at identifying antisemitism. That may explain her response on Twitter to the news of the cancellation of Samira Ibrahim’s award:
Mira Bar-Hillel: Are Egyptians now required to love Israel too? Oy vey.
Brandt: No one is required to “love” anything. Just important to make sure bigots don’t receive awards.
Mira Bar-Hillel: And who defines “bigots”? AIPAC?
Gilad Atzmon – move over! You’ve got a challenger.
UPDATE
I delayed posting to confirm the identity of Mike Marcus with a former colleague.
Here’s all you need to know about Mike Marcus. He is a performance artist who dresses up as a concentration camp inmate, sprays CS gas in his own face, and then photographs himself crying:
The purpose of this exhibition is to protest against the use of CS gas in riots, during the Al Aqsa Intifada:
Although the Jews own encounter with the gas chambers makes the use of chemical warfare notable for its irony, it is only one example of many human rights abuses exercised by Israel during its 41 years of military occupation.
