Your daily spiel for Monday, Aug. 22

Shawn Dawson WIKI COMMONS PHOTO

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Campaigning against his own country. Following his anti-Israel lecture at the World Social Forum in Montreal last week, Israeli-Arab member of Knesset Basel Ghattas continued on his pro-BDS tour throughout Ontario, ending his tour in Toronto on Aug. 18. According to B’nai Brith, there has never been a sitting member of Knesset to vocally call for a boycott against Israel before Ghattas. “It is an unheard of act in any sane country in the world. It is not only delusional, it is against the law,” says Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer. Delusional does seem to be the appropriate word here.

Basel Ghattas
Joint List Member of Knesset Basel Ghattas

The third Israeli in the NBA. Omri Casspi will finally have a fellow sabra in the NBA next season (he used to have Gal Merkel) after the New Orleans Pelicans announced the signing of 22-year-old Israeli Shawn Dawson. Dawson, a native of Eilat, was formerly a member of Maccabi Rishon LeZion and made the Israeli All-Star team in 2015 and 2016. Last year, he averaged 15.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.8 steals. Welcome to Louisiana, achi.

And FIFA’s still fine with hosting the World Cup there. Pro-Israel blog Israellycool points out that, in ranking countries that participated in the Rio Olympics, Qatar neglected to list the State of Israel, which was ranked 77th. Meanwhile, despite the scandals and controversy, the 2022 World Cup is still scheduled to be hosted there. If Israel actually made it to the tournament, whatever jeers its athletes experienced at Rio would be a literal cakewalk compared to what’s to come.

He must have really hated his in-laws. According to a new report, Magda Goebbels, the wife of infamous Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels known as the “First Lady of the Third Reich,” was actually born to a Jewish father. The Goebbels were known throughout Nazi Germany as the perfect Aryan family. However, Magda’s father was mysteriously absent from her identity card, perhaps in a bid to hide the truth? Following Hitler’s suicide in May, 1945 Joseph and Magda followed suit, murdering their seven children before taking their own lives as well.

Teaching Siri proper pronunciation. Iconic Jewish songstress Barbra Streisand was apparently annoyed with how Siri was pronouncing her name, and decided to do something about it. “I called the head of Apple, Tim Cook, and he delightfully agreed to have Siri change the pronunciation of my name, finally,” she told the BBC. Apparently, Siri was staying Streisand too “harshly,” and should instead say the name with “a soft S, like sand on the beach.” A modest request.

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