All posts tagged: Hanukkah

Inquiry into antisemitism in Australia condemns online hatred and bigotry targeting witnesses

Inquiry into antisemitism in Australia condemns online hatred and bigotry targeting witnesses

Published by Sam Flores

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The head of an inquiry into antisemitism in Australia on Tuesday said Jewish witnesses who appeared before it are facing online harassment and bigotry and issued a condemnation. The Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion was created in response to two gunmen allegedly inspired by the Islamic State group slaying 15 people at a Sydney Hanukkah celebration in December. Royal commissions are Australia’s highest form of public inquiry. The commission’s head, former High Court judge Virginia Bell, said Jewish witnesses who testified about their experiences of antisemitism since public hearings began on May 4 have been subjected to online “harassment and intimidation.” “We have received reports from a number of witnesses concerning a dramatic increase in online hate messages after they have given evidence,” Bell said. “Quite what this undiluted level of hatred and bigotry directed towards members of the Jewish community is thought to benefit by those who post these remarks is lost on me,” she added. The commission was recording the “offensive social media posts,” Bell said, and …

Australia bans a neo-Nazi network under new law that criminalizes hate groups

Australia bans a neo-Nazi network under new law that criminalizes hate groups

Published by Sam Flores

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Australia identified a neo-Nazi network as the second organization being banned under its new law criminalizing hate groups and support for them. The group, formerly known as the National Socialist Network and sometimes called White Australia, said it would disband after the government in January passed the law allowing certain organizations to be banned. The law was in response to the antisemitic attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach in December in which 15 people were killed. The National Socialist Network “changed their name, but didn’t change the fact that they were still an organization and were still engaging in the same sort of behavior that met the thresholds for this legislation,” Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told reporters in Canberra on Friday. Members of hate groups face 15 years in prison The ban, which would take effect at the end of Friday, makes it illegal to support, fund, train, recruit, join or direct the group, including if it reformed under a new name, Burke said. Breaking the …

Did Jesus Attend Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights? – OpentheWord.org

Did Jesus Attend Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights? – OpentheWord.org

Published by Sam Flores

Hanukkah Celebration in Berlin, Germany in 2019. Notice the use of electricity to lite the Menorah. Credit: Olga Ernst, Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 This year’s celebration of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah was front and center for all the wrong reasons. It was brutally marred by two alleged Islamic extremists who killed 16 people attending the ceremony at Bondi Beach in Australia. There have also been reports of disruptions at several other events around the world. Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, takes place in December. Because of its close connection to the Christmas season. it is one of the better known Jewish festivals. However, it is not one of the seven Jewish festivals mandated in the Bible in Leviticus 23: Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Pentecost (Shavuot), Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). The Maccaben Revolt Hanukkah was set up after the Maccabean revolt in 165 BC to celebrate a miracle involving the Menorah. In 168 BC, Antiochus IV attacked Jerusalem and looted the Jewish …