International Olympics Committee: Games 'Mirror of Society'

"This exhibit tries to show ... this relationship between ideology, power and the Olympic Games."

"[The exhibit's purpose is to show the historical and political significance of the Olympics] through the life of big stars or champions like Alfred Nakashe, who was a Jew from Algeria competing in swimming and who was deported to Auschwitz [concentration camp during the Second World War. Nakashe competed with the French team in Berlin in 1936 and in the first postwar Summer Olympics in London in 1948 after surviving the Holocaust]."

"So the Olympic Games of Paris are a huge moment, because we will see if the peace values will be respected."

"We'll see if sports can be also a way of spreading universal democratic values."

Historian Paul Dietschy, Mirror of our Societies Exhibit, show curator

 

"The 1936 Games are emblematic with Jesse Owens' story, because he is both an immense champion who left his mark on the history of sport ... but also because of his personality, his career, his close ties to German champion Luz Long."

"Owens embodies this struggle to confront Hitler and the Nazi ideology ... But he himself was a victim of racism and segregation in the United States."

Historian Caroline Francois, show curator

Emmanuel Macron has said Russia will be asked to observe a ceasefire in Ukraine during the Games. Photograph: Christophe Petit-Tesson/EPA

 

History has shown the Olympics as an international forum of competitive sports excellence, but they have also been seen, and used as a powerful political stage used by totalitarian regimes as a tool for propaganda, while on the other hand, athletes themselves have used their presence on the world stage in competitive sports at its optimum level, as a driver of change against racial inequalities and injustice.

An exhibit is scheduled to be unveiled in Paris prior to this summer's Paris Olympics which intends to demonstrate through its focus on past events, that the games have been a 'mirror of society' reflecting issues at the fore in human relations, since the beginning of the 20th century. The exhibit is to be housed at the Shoah Memorial [Holocaust Memorial], located in central Paris, featuring photographs, documents and Olympic items, along with film archives from the past century.

Its opening date was March 29, and the exhibit will be available for viewing until mid-November. The 1936 infamous Berlin Olympics is highlighted as the tool it was for Nazi Germany for its bleak, black propaganda features. Also featured is the Mexico Olympics of 1968 where Tommie Smith and John Carlos -- Black sprinters -- raised their fists to protest racial injustice in the United States.

 

Two West German border police helicopters that carried armed terrorists and their nine Israeli Olympian hostages, stand at Fuerstenfeldbruck air force base, twenty miles west of Munich, Germany, on September 7, 1972. (AP Photo, File)

 

The scene of a brutal attack on eleven Israeli Olympic team members, murdered by Palestinian 'Black September' terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics serves as a haunting bookend to Hitler's 1936 Olympic event. Athletes who embody Olympic values like Jesse Owens, the American Black athlete who won four Olympic gold medals in Berlin -- to the Nazi Regime's extreme discomfort -- are featured as athletes who embody Olympic values.

The issue of Olympic stadiums transformed into internment camps during the Second World War is also addressed. In the wake of the Nazi invasion of France in 1940, the succeeding collaborationist Vichy government has its own place in the exhibition. Photographs of the Vel d'Hiv stadium outside of Paris, when French police ordered13,000 French Jews to assemble within the stadium that had been a venue for boxing, wrestling and weightlifting during the 1924 Paris Olympics.

 

The expectation is that at the Paris Olympics of 2024, international politics will again be on the agenda. Earlier this month the International Olympic Committee announced that Russian and Belarusian athletes will not be permitted to be part of the traditional parade in the French capital's opening ceremony. Both Russia and Belarus have been barred from team sports, reflecting Moscow's war on Ukraine.

 

Israel, on the other hand, faces no threat to its Olympic status, while in the throes of the Israel-Hamas Gaza war, explained IOC President Thomas Bach. "Since the heinous attack on the Israeli team [during the 1972 Munich Olympics], there were always special measures being taken with Israeli athletes."

From left to right, Dr. Joseph Goebbels, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler, Reichs Sports Leader Hans von Tschammer und Osten and General Field Marschall Werner von Blomberg observe the Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany in August 1936. (AP Photo, File)

Ambient Air Pollution and Alzheimer's

"This suggests that environmental factors like air pollution could be a contributing factor to Alzheimer's disease, especially in patients in which the disease cannot be explained by genetics."

"Donors who lived in areas with particularly high levels of traffic-related air pollution showed more plaques related to Alzheimer's disease at death than donors who lived in areas with lower air pollution concentrations." 

"In our study we used air pollution models, which can give us an estimate of the residential traffic-related air pollution concentration with a very fine resolution up to 200 to 250 meters. Of course you would see the highest levels of these pollutants around major highways, so people who lived very close to major highways had the highest exposure to traffic-related pollutants."

Anke Huels, assistant professor, Emory University, School of Public Health 

Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University

 Recently published in the journal Neurology, a new study on the association between ambient air pollution concentrations and signs of Alzheimer's disease in the brain, led to the conclusion that people exposed to higher concentrations of fine particulate matter [air pollution; PM2.5] a year before death were likelier to have higher levels of plaques [abnormally high clusters of protein fragments accumulated between nerve cells, a sign of Alzheimer's present in brain tissue].

 

It has long been accepted by experts in the field that PM2.5 concentrations are capable of triggering short-term respiratory problems. The particulate matter is minuscule -- measuring 2.5 microns and even less in diameter, enabling them to enter the bloodstream following inhalation. Breathing smoke also can irritate sinuses, throat and eyes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Severe exposure can also link to heart attacks, stroke, lung cancer and cognitive function damage.

A strong association was also found between the pollution and dementia in people not genetically predisposed to Alzheimer's. The study found an association between exposure to specific kinds of pollution and signs of the disease, but it does not provide evidence that Alzheimer's disease is caused by air pollution. Tissue from 224 donors in the Atlanta metropolitan area who had donated their brains to research formed the base of the study.

What the study results did clarify for the researchers was that exposure to high levels of pollution increases the risk of Alzheimer's. Over half of the donors were seen to have the APOE gene, a strong genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Researchers, however, found a stronger association between traffic-related air pollution and signs of Alzheimer's disease in donors not already genetically predisposed.

The Atlanta skyline. A new study from Emory University researchers using tissue donated by metro Atlanta residents found association between traffic-related air pollution and Alzheimer’s disease in humans. The study does not prove air pollution causes Alzheimer’s, but it found an association between exposure to air pollution caused by traffic and signs of Alzheimer’s in brain tissue. [ JOHN SPINK | TNS ]

"We often think about air pollution in the lungs, but it's critical that we put the brain at the forefront of the conversation of the ways that air pollution impacts our health."

Gaurab Basu, director of Education and policy, Harvard centre for climate, health and the environment

Islamist Terror Threatening Putin's Tolerance

"They were caught. Well done to everyone who  helped catch them. Should they be killed?"

"They should and they will be."

"But it is much more important to kill everyone involved. Everyone."

"Who paid them, who sympathized  with them, who helped them. Kill them all."

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head, Security Council, Russia

 

"There are a lot of questions circulating about the issue of the death penalty now. This topic will certainly be deeply, professionally and meaningfully studied."

"And a decision will be made that will meet the moods and expectations of our society."

Vladimir Vasilyev, leader, United Russia Party, State Duma

Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, a suspect in the shooting attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue, is escorted after a court hearing at the Basmanny district court in Moscow, Russia, March 24, 2024.

 

The Kremlin and certainly Vladimir Putin have no problem condemning Israel for unleashing the Israel Defense Forces for responding in recrimination against the barbaric October 7 attack by Hamas terrorists against civilian populations in southern Israel, where a rampage of mass rape, the carnage of a bloodbath and the outrage of children, the elderly, women and men taken hostage back to Gaza to be held as bankable 'insurance' against a total bombing campaign of the rats'-nest warren of tunnels Hamas leaders and operatives hid themselves within along with their store of rockets, leaving Gaza's civilian population to bear the brunt of Israel's response.

Moscow/Putin have placed themselves fully and foursquare behind the sadistic savagery meted out against the innocents, in essence supporting the atrocities carried out against Israelis by the Hamas death squad whose charter calls for the complete destruction of Israel and murder of Jews wherever they happen to live. Russia values the benefits that accrue to it, in supporting the Islamist Arabs of the Middle East, many of whose agendas reflecting the values of the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran fully engage in efforts to destroy Israel. In lock-step with those 'values', Russia/Putin calls for the unilateral withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza, interrupting their determination to destroy Hamas's capacity to mount further Oct7 horrors.

Now an abhorrent attack in Moscow on the Crocus City Hall concert venue by Islamist jihadists directly caused the death of 137 Russians. A deadly gruesome bloodbath of innocent people going about the quite ordinary business of citizens taking advantage of the recreational enjoyment of attending a concert. But then, where people gather in numbers becomes a huge draw to the thoughts of terrorists mindful of acclaim from their death-cult world of slaughtering those in the non-Muslim world whose choice is not to bow to the terror imposed on their society of a religion that repulses them.

 

Saidakrami Rachabalizoda, a suspect in the deadly terrorist attack in Moscow, sits behind a glass wall of an enclosure during a court appearance on Sunday. His ear was heavily bandaged. Yulia Morozova/Reuters

 

Russian authorities have arrested a handful of new suspects believing them to have provided transportation to the four men alleged to have carried out the atrocity. As for the four suspects themselves, they provided a spectacle themselves appearing in court in obvious physical incapacity, the result of having been tortured and beaten in a raw display of Russian brutality which, given the horror of the attack and its outcome, elicits no compassion for their tortured state, though they remain suspects, the proof of their guilt yet to be validated.

Photographs and videos have been displayed on social media showing Russian security agents, unrestrainedly torturing the suspects, one of whom was forced to chew his own mutilated ear, another man stripped to the buff, subjected to electric shocks, wires attached to his genitals. Russia and its security agents are not known to fastidiously adhere to any conventions recognized elsewhere in the civilized world of humane treatment of captured criminals in the hands of authorities, to be proven guilty as charged.

The four suspects have been identified as migrant workers originating from Tajikistan, bordering Afghanistan, where a branch of Islamic State named as ISIS-K, claimed to have been responsible for the attack. President Vladimir Putin doesn't mind Islamist terrorists plying their trade elsewhere in the world, and particularly against Israel, but he draws the line at the kind of virulent impudence that emboldens Islamist Jihadists operating on Russian territory to target Russian citizens. 

Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon distanced himself and his nation from the suspects. "terrorists have no nationality, no homeland and no religion", he said to Mr. Putin through a telephone conversation. Perhaps he meant other than the Islamic Republic of Iran, the paramount theocratic nation of terrorism-promotion in the Middle East. And while under most circumstances, Russian security services are more discreet publicly about human rights violations, such was not the case when the four accused appeared in court.

One of whom, Saidakrami Rachabalizoda, wore a large bandage over his obviously-severed ear while Muhammadsobir Fayzov appeared in a semi-unconscious state as he was wheeled on a stretcher into the courtroom. Over the weekend that followed, Vladimir Putin took the opportunity to confer with the leaders of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Syria, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan. This, despite that the Kremlin holds that Ukraine is behind the Islamic State terrorist attack, with its successful death count.

"During the conversation, Vladimir Putin and Emomali Rahmon noted that special services and relevant departments of Russia and Tajikistan are working closely in the field of countering terrorism, and this work will be intensified."

Kremlin statement

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a statement on Monday. Kremlin

 

The atrocity has led to Kremlin thoughts turning to the restoration of the death penalty, banned since 1996, following a variety of human rights treaties which Russia signed. Those in Russia approving of their nation's invasion of Ukraine have become more aggressively radical as time passes and as assessment of Russian advances on the battlefield have failed to materialize. The concern is that within Russia the Kremlin and security services will utilize the deadly attack as reason to tighten repression and the target will be political opposition figures.

"I look at these faces and again think that the death penalty is too easy."

"Lifelong hard labour somewhere underground, without the opportunity to ever see the light, on bread and water, with a ban on conversations and with not very humane guards."

Margarita Simonyan, head, RT propaganda network

Members of the Russian Emergencies Ministry and workers remove debris inside the burnt-out Crocus City Hall following a deadly attack on the concert venue outside Moscow, in this still image taken from video released March 26, 2024. (Russian Emergencies Ministry/Handout)

 

 

 

"Undesirables" Blacklisted by the Kremlin

"[Anyone affiliated with Carleton University's Norman Paterson School of International Affairs] could be subject to criminal punishment, including a possible prison sentence [if they travel to Russian territory]."

"We strongly advise anyone with a NPSIA affiliation [faculty, students, staff and alumni] to avoid travelling to Russia or Belarus and to curtail research and other partnerships with anyone based in Russia or Belarus at this time."

"We are working with our community and partners to review any implications the decision may have."

Carleton University media representative

Carleton University in Ottawa. Photo by Tony Caldwell /POSTMEDIA

"Due to the impacts of the armed conflict with Ukraine and the risk of terrorism [Canadians should avoid all travel to Russia]."

"If you are in Russia,  you should leave while commercial means are still available. If you remain in Russia maintain a low profile."

"Canadians holding Russian citizenship may be subject to call-up for mandatory military service."

Global Affairs Canada travel advisory 

 

"Putin has long tried to regulate activities of NGOs receiving foreign funding."

"[Russian citizens may be fined or imprisoned for engaging with blacklisted entities]."

"Undesirable [organizations have to cease operating in Russia and may face fines if they do not]."

Nicole Jackson, associate professor of international studies, Simon Fraser University

Carleton University's international affairs program has been labelled an 'undesirable organization' by Russia's Ministry of Justice. Russia's General Prosecutor's Office has also issued a press release alerting Russians that the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at University of Toronto has been deemed by Russian authorities to be 'undesirable'. The Kremlin states that both these Canadian universities are part of a broad Western campaign to "discredit the Russian Federation and incite anti-Russian sentiments".

According to the Kremlin's statement both universities have met with leaders of "unfriendly countries with anti-Russian orientation". The Canada-based non- governmental organization, Russian-Canadian Democratic Alliance is also listed by the Kremlin as 'undesirable'.

 

Since Russia's invasion of February 2022 launched into Ukraine, its two-year-and-counting assaults have killed and injured thousands in Ukraine. Canada imposed sanctions on Russian individuals and organizations, provoking Russian condemnation and ire. Along with the United States and the United Kingdom, Canada also recently announced a new group of sanctions in the wake of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's death, when ten individuals and 153 entities increased Canada's Russian-sanction list.  

Canadian public figures, in turn, including provincial and federal politicians, Governor General Mary Simon and Canadian athletes who support banning Russian athletes from competing in the 2024 Olympics, have been sanctioned by the Kremlin. 

Reports by Radio Free Europe have it that the Kremlin adopted its "undesirable organizations" law in 2014 for the purpose of targeting media outlets and organizations engaging in political, cultural and educational activities, along with their support for democratic institutions. As one of more than 140 organizations on the 'undesirable' list Radio Free Europe enjoys the distinction of being in the Kremlin's bad books.

The "undesirable organization" label has been applied to dozens of foreign groups since Moscow began using the classification and effectively bans organizations outright.

"Essentially it is about control -- [Vladimir] Putin consistently increasing actions to clamp down on dissenting views and attempting to control the narrative."

"More broadly, it is another way that Putin is showing his anger and impotence at being unable to change Canadian foreign policy."

"[Russia's move, targeting post-secondary institutions, could also be seen as an] assault on academic freedom."

"[Canadian institutions should] warn their people not to travel to Russia, and be careful how they communicate with those inside Russia [so as to avoid] administrative and criminal responsibility."

"[Carleton and University of Toronto are] just the latest in a very long list of Putin's targets."

Nicole Jackson, associate professor of international studies, Simon Fraser University

 

Antisemitic Mob Rule in Canada

"After receiving numerous security and safety related emails, phone calls, and social media messages, the Playhouse Cinema reached a difficult decision to postpone the Hamilton Jewish Federation's venue rental."

"The Playhouse Cinema's mission is to be a welcome home to a variety of cultural groups, serving the Hamilton area through our film programming."

Playhouse Cinema, Hamilton, Ontario

 

"In withdrawing its support of a Jewish film festival based on outrageous claims by a few individuals that any film produced in Israel is a form of 'Zionist propaganda', the Playhouse Cinema is prioritizing the will of antisemites over an apolitical cultural festival that stands for artistic excellence and integration."

"The Hamilton Jewish Federation rejects this attempt to sever Jewish from Israeli identity at a time when fifty percent of the world's Jewish population resides in Israel and to categorize Jews into 'acceptable' and 'unacceptable."

Hamilton Jewish Federation

 

"This shameful attempt to silence the voice, representation and lived experiences of the Jewish community is divisive, it is dangerous and it is blatant antisemitism."

"Enough."

Union leader Joseph Mancinello, Canadian director of the Labourers' International Union of North America

 

After signing a contract with the Hamilton Jewish Federation agreeing to host a Jewish film festival, the Playhouse Cinema in Hamilton, slated to host the festival from April 7 to 9, declared itself unable to fulfill its contractual obligation. Citing "security and safety concerns at this particularly sensitive moment", the Federation has been left at a last-minute juncture in its cultural film showing, to find a replacement venue.

Six films were to have been featured. They were produced in France, Poland and Israel; their aim to represent "the contemporary Jewish experience", as explained by a news release by the annual festival's organizers. Diverse topics from Holocaust denial to an Arab-owned hair salon in Haifa, were to be shown through the films. A commemorative screening of a film by director Yahav Winnter, murdered on October 7 by Hamas terrorists while trying to protect his wife and newborn daughter at a kibbutz was to have been featured.

According to the company behind the theatre, it was faced in an awkward position, contrary to its artistic mandate, when a growing backlash led it to reach "a difficult decision". In response, the Hamilton Jewish Federation announced on its website its intention to announce a new time and location for the festival to proceed. Hope Without Boundaries which features an Israeli field hospital serving Ukrainian patients in the wake of the Russian invasion is one feature film.

Another, Children of Nobody, reflects issues surrounding troubled youth on the margins of Israeli society. Local Conservative Member of Parliament Dan Buys speak of the situation as "quite simply antisemitic. All the more reason for the Film Festival to go on, bigger and better when re-scheduled", wrote the representative for Flamborough-Glanbrook.

 

Protestors attend a march in support of Gaza through downtown Hamilton, Ont., on Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023. Photo by Peter Power /THE CANADIAN PRESS

The deputy leader of the federal Conservative Party, Melissa Lantsman, spoke of "the new normal politicians are appeasing", urging Canadians to "wake up" and stand in support of the Jewish community. While the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs deplored the decision by the Playhouse Cinema to bow "to mob rule", failing to stand courageously against antisemitism's bleak, destructive force.

"What a small Hamilton theatre has experienced is a fraction of what our community has experienced over the past five months. When the theatre received some threatening phone calls and letters over renting their venue to the Hamilton Jewish Federation for a Jewish cultural film festival, instead of standing up to the hate, they caved to it."

"We're angered and disgusted by the whole situation. It's a sad day for Canadian values, the arts and for the people of Hamilton."

Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs

• Hope without Boundaries (Israel 2023): an Israeli field hospital is set up amidst the war in Ukraine.

• March 1968 (Poland 2022): two students fall in love in communist Poland but politics soon catches up with them.

• Women in Sink (Israel 2015): the documentary's director works in a salon and hears from clients what it's like to live in a Christian Arab community in Israel.

• Children of Nobody (Israel 2022): a group of boys band together to save their shelter on Tel Aviv's outskirts.

• The Boy (Israel 2023): a father and son live in a Kibbutz bordering the Gaza strip where they experience rockets and conflict with each other. The film's director, Yahav Winner, was killed in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

• The Man in the Basement (France 2021): a couple sells their apartment to a man who appears to be trustworthy but is actually a Holocaust denier.

The Playhouse Cinema in downtown Hamilton's east end will no longer be hosting an annual Jewish film festival. (The Playhouse Cinema/Doors Open Hamilton)

 

Disgracing Canada

"In the West Bank, we met with President Abbas to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the future governance of the Palestinian Authority and the work to advance towards a two-state solution."

Global Affairs Canada Minister Melanie Joly 

From left, Mélanie Joly, Mahmoud Abbas and Ya’ara Saks. Photo by X

"During the two meetings, Minister Joly raised the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza, including the protection of civilians and the growing threat of hunger and disease for displaced Palestinians."

"The Minister emphasized that a humanitarian ceasefire is urgently needed to stop the violence, bring hostages home and ensure that civilians in Gaza can access humanitarian relief."

Global Affairs Canada statement

The man who graduated from Patrice Lumumba Friendship University in Moscow with a doctoral degree in Holocaust denial is being honoured by Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister, Melanie Joly, and of course, by extension, the government of Canada itself under the current helmsman of a once proud ship, prime minister Justin Trudeau. A man and his Liberal cabinet who find it extremely difficult to honour Canada's heritage, history, traditions, culture and values, finds it politically expedient to honour another man who has proven his credentials as a raving antisemite. 

Canada's prime minister Justin Trudeau has taken it upon himself to solve the problem of the two-state solution, a 'solution' that finds no favour with the Palestinian Authority whose actual solution is the destruction of Israel.  Mahmoud Abbas is committed to a one-state solution, leaving 'Palestine' the award of the entire region, since with Israel absent, the way is free and clear, as planned.

The PA president feels it is only just that Israel finally be cleared out of the way. His and the leadership corps of the Palestinians who claim the entire region, were plans to one way or another, always with the use of violent force, 'persuade' Jews to surrender the territory in question to the rightful owners, Arab Palestinians who claim it is their ancestral right, not that of Jews with their indigenous four-thousand year history of originating in the disputed geography. 

To ensure that the Palestinian population know of a certainty that Jews are their enemy, an enemy that must be destroyed, the PA leadership, led by Mahmoud Abbas, have taught generations of Arab Palestinian children to aspire to martyrdom, to achieve that status by a commitment to kill Jews by any means possible. Funding is always available as a reward for strikes against Israel and the murder of Jews.

"He denied the Holocaust. He denied October 7. He set up the Martyrs Fund that rewards families of terrorists who kill Jews", responded Melissa Lantsman on seeing the boast of Madam Joly, alongside a photograph of herself and another Liberal Cabinet member, a Jewish member of Parliament, clearly suffering discomfort from the company of M. Abbas commemorating the occasion. "You held this guy's hand", wrote Lantsman, the Conservative deputy leader.

According to the PA's Abbas, the October 7 terrorist attack in southern Israel that saw 1,400 Israelis and a handful of foreign farm workers slaughtered, and girls and women gang-raped, mutilated and murdered, along with entire families burnt to death in their torched homes, Israel itself, not the terrorist group Hamas, was responsible for the savagery of horrendous sadistic proportions. The Palestinian Authority approved of the October 7 Hamas carnage, while at the very same time proposes that Israel planned and executed it.

The man who cherishes the PA's 'Martyrs Fund' in a 'pay-for-slay' scheme to formalize and reward the killing of Israelis by Palestinians, speaks of peace, engagement and a two-state solution to his Western, democratic audience, and of destroying Israel to his home audience. Canada's Conservative Party, set to overturn the Liberal governance in a forthcoming election, and to return Canada to its long-held position of supporting Israel, views the current government's stand with absolute abhorrence.

"[It is] absolutely shameful [to see the Liberals] holding hands with rabid antisemite, [H]olocaust and October 7th denier Mahmoud Abbas", declared Conservative Member of Parliament Marty Morantz.  

"[Joly] reaffirmed Canada's position that the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank endangers the prospects for a two-state solution and  highlighted Canada's continued calls for perpetrators of extremist settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank to be held accountable", announced Global Affairs Canada. Condemning 'settlements' established by Jews on heritage Israeli land, but no mention of condemning the deadly violent attacks by Palestinians on Israelis.

Honouring Mahmoud Abbas, the man who claimed Hitler had 'fought' Jews for their 'social role' as money lenders, and not as a result of their religion/ethnic roots. Declaring that European Ashkenazi Jews are not Semites, not descended from the ancient tribes of Judah and Israel, but descendants of a nomadic tribe that during the Middle Ages converted to Judaism.

"When we hear them talk about Semitism and antisemitism -- the Ashkenazi Jews, at least, are not Semites" Abbas said with the full authority of his doctorate from Moscow's Lumumba University. His brand of viral Jew-hate appears to meet with approval by Canada's current prime minister who during the sad years of his administration has made Canada a poorer place in very respect.