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Orit Arfa

Orit Arfa is an author and journalist based in Berlin. Her first of two novels, The Settler, follows the aftermath of the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza. Her work can be found at: www.oritarfa.net.

While lockdowns are believed to be saving lives, some potential new ones will have to wait until they’re are lifted.
A bungled telegram marking the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, coming on the heels of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, puts some Jewish groups on edge.
Prior to Yom Kippur, most Jews had never heard of the city or synagogue targeted by a right-wing extremist. Now the issue is what has changed and how; a glimpse at the past and present may offer some insight for how the future could look.
“The interconnections of modern anti-Semitism among Islamists, the far-left and the far-right are patently obvious, and [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel offers no program of action to blunt the rise of this highly dangerous form of Jew-hatred,” said Benjamin Weinthal, fellow for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and an analyst of German politics.
“Jew-hatred is Jew-hatred, and it’s evil, and it doesn’t matter if it comes from the ethnic supremacist right, from the vicious anti-Zionist left or from radical Islam. Jew-hatred in all its forms needs to be combated, and it’s my job to combat it.”
A conference on anti-Semitism in Berlin revealed varying ideological roots of contemporary anti-Semitism according to different parts of the world.
Germany’s political parties shut down a motion to ban Hezbollah in large part because of the messenger: the right-wing Alternative fur Deutschland.
His statements have indeed triggered discussion, in addition to calls for defying the recommendation.