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In the years after the Nazis took power in 1933, they instituted hundreds of laws and policies at the national, state and local levels to systematically remove Jews from German society. Bans were placed on Jews working as doctors and lawyers and in other professions, and quotas were set, limiting Jews in schools and universities.
By 1935 Nazi-institutionalized anti-Semitism had stripped Jews of their German citizenship and barred them from municipal hospitals, legal practice, the military and even World War I memorials, effectively excommunicating them from civic life and laying the groundwork for the Nazis’ future escalation to even more severe anti-Semitic persecution, according to the Holocaust Memorial Museum.
It’s tempting to look back at the dark days of 1930s Germany under the Nazis as a distant chapter in history when ignorance and racism fueled by hateful rhetoric were allowed to contaminate an entire society and national leadership. We want to believe that could never happen again in modern times.
But a video shared by Campaign Against Antisemitism from a pro-Palestinian march in London reveals a scene that could have been right out of the 1930s.
In the video taken during the protest in central London, an officer can be seen blocking the path of Gideon Falter, a Jewish man wearing a kippah, a religious head covering, asking him to stay in place while the protesters march, according to the BBC.
“You are quite openly Jewish. This is a pro-Palestinian march. I am not accusing you of anything, but I am worried about the reaction to your presence.”
Enough is enough. It is time for a major change.
On Saturday 27th April — the next anti-Israel march — we are asking you,… pic.twitter.com/lfJr7UZnif
— Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) April 18, 2024
Falter, who is the chief executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism said he was simply walking around London after synagogue, according to the BBC.
“I don’t want to stay here, I want to leave,” Falter replied, after being blocked by the officer.
“In that case sir, when the crowd is gone, I will happily escort you out,” the officer responded.
When Falter tried to move past the police officer, the officer blocked his path, preventing him from leaving.
“I don’t want anybody antagonizing anybody …” the officer said as Falter protested, saying, “I just want to walk across …”
“At the moment sir, you are quite openly Jewish,” the officer responded. “This is a pro-Palestinian march. I am not accusing you of anything, but I am worried about the reaction to your presence,” the officer said.
Later in the video, another police officer attempted to defuse the situation, explaining to Falter that they were just trying to protect him.
“Do you have any idea what it’s like being a Jew in London at the moment?” Falter asked the officer.
Falter went on to explain that every Saturday, as protest routes change unpredictably through neighborhoods, being visibly Jewish means having to cross and face down “huge groups of people” in an “intimidating” atmosphere.
He said they were told repeatedly that Jews were safe in the city, “and yet,” he said, “here I find myself in this bubble. This guy has just been shouting at me and shoving me because I want to cross the road.”
Later in the video, another police officer can be seen telling Falter, “There’s a unit of people here now. You will be escorted out of this area so you can go about your business, go where you want freely, or if you choose to remain here, because you are causing a breach of peace, with all these other people, you will be arrested.”
“If I remain here, you will arrest me?” Falter asks incredulously.
“Your presence here is antagonizing a large group of people that we can’t deal with all of them if they attack you … because your presence is antagonizing them,” the officer responds.
The video also shows some people shouting “Scum” at the Jewish man. Another protester shouted “Nazi,” while yet another brazenly confronted him in front of officers, telling him, “I’m watching your movement … that’s right. We’re all going to watch your movements and record you. The police ain’t gonna help you in this scenario.”
“After months of being gaslit by the [Metropolitan Police], it’s not safe for Jews to be walking in the presence of these protests. And was there anything so crazy about what we were trying to do? Just walking around our home city on a Saturday?” Falter said in the accompanying video narrative.
“‘Is this something that we are willing to accept? That now the police have to keep Jews away? We mustn’t accept it,” he said.
“It has been six months now,” Falter said in the accompanying narrative, “six months, where every single weekend, we have to witness the streets of London awash with people, many of whom seem to have no problem at all declaring their full-throated support for Hamas, waving around anti-Semitic placards, calling for jihad, showing swastikas, waving anti-Semitic flags. It’s enough. Enough,” he said.
The police have since apologized for the officer’s choice of words, stating, “Being Jewish is not a provocation. Jewish Londoners must be able to feel safe in this city,” according to the BBC, but the incident is a clear example of a growing sentiment.
We are watching an eerie flashback of the 1930s playing right before our eyes.
And the U.S. is not far behind.
Chants of “From the river to the sea” have been heard on almost every city street and college campus, even in New York — a city that holds the largest population of Jewish people outside of Israel.
Domestic Terrorism: Today in NYC
Outside of Wall St. Today – An organized Pro HAMAS Rally takes off In New York City
– Protesters called for the Death of America and The Death Of Israe while a Nationwide protest shut down traffic, highways and bridges across the US.
This… pic.twitter.com/oxUwkNFLJO
— Asher Press (@AsherPress) April 16, 2024
The 1930s did not begin with gas chambers and concentration camps, but with the pervasive mindset that one’s religious identity alone is a provocation worthy of exclusion from society.
It doesn’t feel like we have learned anything from that dark time in history.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
The post Watch: UK Police Threaten to Arrest an ‘Openly Jewish Man’ for Walking Near Palestinian Protest appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
One day after Senate Democrats squashed the House Republican effort to remove Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas from office, GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky held Mayorkas’ feet to the fire during a Senate hearing, making him squirm in his seat.
On Wednesday, Democratic senators shut down the impeachment proceedings initiated last week by the Republican-controlled House over Mayorkas’ handling of immigration and border security.
On Thursday, during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing, Paul masterfully laid bare the utter disregard for the law Mayorkas has shown in his time as homeland security secretary in a systematic and deliberate line of questioning without accusing or raising his voice.
The senator first asked Mayorkas what the criteria for paroling someone from detention was.
Mayorkas replied that the parole process, according to the law, involved “individualized determinations with respect to significant public benefit or an urgent humanitarian reason.”
“So for what reason was the alleged killer of Laken Riley, Jose Ibarra, paroled and allowed to come into this country?” Paul shot back.
Paul was, of course, referring to the high-profile case of a Georgia college student who was allegedly killed by an illegal immigrant.
Mayorkas refused to answer based on the fact the case is currently being prosecuted.
“You’re refusing to give any specifics about Jose Ibarra?” the senator said. “Well, I have the documentation, and the document says that the parole, the subject, the person accused of killing Laken Riley, was paroled due to detention capacity — it was full.
“So is detention capacity statutorily allowed to be used as a reasoning for parole?”
Mayorkas acknowledged that people were paroled because of a lack of beds for those encountered at the border, causing Paul to quickly retort, “You might have more beds if they remained in Mexico.”
The senator noted that the Biden administration had reversed “92 executive orders of the Trump administration which allowed them to apparently have people remain in Mexico, allowed them to have, you know, probably 90 percent less parolees than you have.”
“When you come to us and say, ‘Oh gosh, if we only had more legislation, we could do it,’ why don’t you bring back the executive orders of Donald Trump that seemed to be working? You immediately got rid of them for political purposes. The border is a disaster. Why don’t you bring back the 92 executive orders that you reversed?” he demanded.
The fiery exchange escalated as Paul listed other recent crimes allegedly perpetrated by illegal immigrants, including the killings of a Washington state trooper and a Michigan woman.
“I think a lot of people in America are going to be appalled, you know, that you refuse to answer the questions,” he said.
When asked about Ibarra’s unlawful entry, Mayorkas deflected again, saying that criminal perpetrators “need to be held accountable for their crimes.”
“Well, that’s not much consolation if you wait until after he’s murdered somebody,” Paul retorted.
The senator then went on to explain to Mayorkas the major flaws in how the Department of Homeland Security screens and processes migrants who are paroled into the United States — the most crucial of which is that DHS relies heavily on the “honor system,” i.e., just taking migrants at their word for their name and background information.
Paul pointed out that when migrants arrive at the border and claim to be from a country such as Venezuela, DHS has no real way to verify that is their true identity or country of origin because “most domestic crimes in Venezuela probably are not in any kind of international database.”
“So if you waltz into the country through your generous parole programs and say, ‘I’m John Smith from Venezuela,’ you have no way of ascertaining that,” he said. “You still let them go. So you say, ‘Well we’re going to make sure that they’re not a violent criminal.’ You have no way.”
What’s even worse, Paul pointed out that when DHS does collect biometric data such as fingerprints from paroled migrants, since their identities were not properly vetted initially, the agency is essentially just issuing them a new official identity in the United States.
“You look in some databases, maybe they’re not in the database, but you have no way of even knowing that that’s their name. Then you give them biometrics … you give them fingerprints, now they have a new name and fingerprints, they essentially have been given a new identity by your agency,” he said.
Today, I confronted Mayorkas over the damage inflicted upon America and the families who have tragically lost loved ones due to the abject failure of the Biden administration’s border policies. https://t.co/q2ejsC69NV
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) April 18, 2024
Hearing the senator speak, I had the feeling that if a person from another country, completely unaware of our laws, saw the process, he or she would be convinced that the DHS was hoping for an attack on American soil.
To pretend to “vet” people by taking their word for who they are after they have just broken your laws by entering your country illegally is already ludicrous.
But then Mayorkas’ department takes it a step further by collecting fingerprints without first properly vetting migrants’ stated identities, effectively issuing them new official identities in the U.S. based on unverified information.
As Paul bluntly put it, the agency is just “giving a new identity” to these migrants.
It’s no wonder 90 percent of migrants are now turning themselves in to U.S. authorities instead of trying to escape them, according to Bloomberg.
It’s like the Biden administration has put up a sign: If you’re looking for a new start to get away from your criminal past, come to America. We’ll give you a new identity and a ticket to a city of your choice so that you can start all over again.
“I’m just so sickened and sad by the families of lost loved ones from this,” Paul said in conclusion. “I don’t see real remorse. I don’t see you willing to answer the questions. I mean, if it were me, I would be so upset by this, I would be doing everything possible to make sure another Jose Ibarra doesn’t get in.”
He concluded by saying, “All I can express is disappointment and bewilderment that the Democrats let you get away with it.”
Senator, you are not alone.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
The post Watch: Rand Paul Holds Mayorkas’ Feet to the Fire Regarding Laken Riley’s Suspected Killer, Swats Down Excuses appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
Is China getting ready to take on the world superpower in battle, or is it just being a bully on the playground?
The question is keeping analysts up at night, especially in light of increasingly aggressive behavior from the People’s Republic of China.
On Sunday, the United States held its first joint naval exercises in the South China Sea with the Philippines, Japan and Australia.
The purported reason for the drills was to demonstrate the four countries’ “collective commitment to strengthen regional and international cooperation in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” according to a statement by the four nations’ defense chiefs on Saturday.
While the statement did not explicitly name China, Beijing’s increasing forcefulness in claiming territorial rights over the maritime region was widely viewed as the driving force behind the military exercise, according to the Japan Times.
However, it seems as if China did not like being left out of the picture.
On Sunday, Beijing made a surprise announcement that they were having military “joint naval and air combat patrols” on the same day, in the same contested waters, according to Voice of America.
China holds ‘combat patrol’ in South China Sea amid US-led war games https://t.co/dTFNqK6QeM pic.twitter.com/LnFGFym31U
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) April 7, 2024
To add insult to injury, Beijing’s People’s Liberation Army Southern Theater Command released a statement that read, “All military activities that mess up the situation in the South China Sea and create hotspots are under control,” — a move that seemed aimed at belittling the cooperative efforts of the four nations.
The drill was a precursor to the first trilateral summit with the leaders of the Philippines and Japan, due to be held by President Joe Biden in a few days. China is reportedly high on the agenda with growing concerns over the disputed South China Sea, according to Voice of America.
Prior to the PLA’s combat patrol, the Chinese side issued several strong warnings against “Philippines’ provocations and its attempts to introduce external forces as well as Manila’s tricks of “playing victim,” according to the China Communist Party-owned Global Times.
The Global Times also claimed that on April 2, Chinese President Xi Jinping directly conveyed China’s stance on the South China Sea to U.S. President Joe Biden, stating that “China has indisputable sovereignty over Nansha Qundao and its adjacent waters, noting the U.S. is not a party to the South China Sea issue and should not intervene in matters between China and the Philippines.”
The Southern Theater Command of the PLA organized a joint naval and air combat patrol in the South China Sea on Sunday, the PLA announced, on the same day of joint drills attended by the US, the Philippines, Japan and Australia, which analysts said was a highly defiant and… pic.twitter.com/P1stKcMoQF
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) April 7, 2024
China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, a claim rejected by the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
The U.S. relies on free passage through the South China Sea for trade and military movement, CFR reports.
To strengthen its claims, China is building up islands in the area, adding military bases and airstrips.
Additionally, Xi Jinping has instructed China to brace for “dangerous storms,” in addition to stockpiling fuel and food supplies, and trying to insulate its economy against potential sanctions — moves that could signal preparations for a worst-case scenario, according to a recent essay by professors Michael Beckley and Hal Brands in ForeignPolicy.com.
Beckley and Brands contend that “many of Xi’s actions — the brutal zero-COVID lockdowns, the concentration camps in Xinjiang, the crushing of Hong Kong’s freedoms — betray ruthlessness.”
“Combined with the other changes China is undergoing, these forms of internal aggression should make us very nervous about the external aggression that may lie ahead,” they warn.
China undoubtedly has ambitions to expand its sphere of influence and displace the United States as the preeminent global power.
But its actions also seem driven by more immediate concerns, such as securing its territorial claims in the South China Sea and countering what it sees as foreign interference in its domestic affairs.
However, the threat is a real one.
China is no mere “desert country” that can be easily conquered or controlled. It is a military and economic powerhouse that would pose an immense challenge in any confrontation.
Given these stakes, the question is not whether China is preparing to take on the U.S. but whether the U.S. has the strength to withstand such an attack, should it come.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
The post Beijing Conducts ‘Combat Patrol’ as US Ships Enter Contested Waters appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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