In July, we wrote about the city of Champaign, Illinois, where Mayor Deb Feinen decided to appoint a violently-minded antisemitic Islamist activist to the city’s Human Relations Commission, which advises on minority rights and serves as “a hearing board for complaints” about minority rights…Ahmed Taha has promoted calls for the killing of Jews, republishing text that stated: “There is a Jew behind me, come kill him.” He also spreads antisemitic conspiracy theories about Egypt’s President Sisi, and even Joe Biden. He is a prominent advocate for Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, one of the most dangerous theocratic Islamist movements in the Middle East. READ MORE
…The French officials act and speak as if the Iranian regime was totally honorable, and as if they did not discern the obvious: that the Iranian regime has destructive goals. The nuclear deal did not divert the regime from its goal of building nuclear weapons. The deal, in fact, floated the regime toward precisely that end. The American strategy of applying maximum pressure through economic sanctions seems the only non-military way to pressure this regime to change course.In light of France’s history of appeasing hostile regimes, France’s attitude toward the Iranian regime is not really surprising. READ MORE
In a down and dirty campaign, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cannibalized the Right, declared that Israeli-Arabs are the enemy of the state – and came up short at the ballot box. In 2015 he had a bloc of 48 right-wing politicians that, combined with 13 seats from the ultra-Orthodox parties, gave Netanyahu the required majority. That bloc fell to 44 right-wing politicians, plus 16 ultra-Orthodox parties in April – just one seat short of a majority in the 120-member Knesset. Now that many of the ballots have been counted, it seems as if he has fared even worse, with a right-wing bloc of 39 right-wing politicians and 17 ultra-Orthodox, for a bloc of 56.READ MORE
AMERICAN SPECTATOR Dov Fischer: Israeli Election Makes As Much Sense As the Prior and NextSo Gantz’s only play would be to get Likud to agree to join in a “national unity” Government under his leadership. But Gantz, Ashkenazi, Ya’alon, and Lapid have one thing in common that led them to create their party: They all hate Netanyahu. So they never would sit with Bibi; rather, they would have to convince the other leaders of Bibi’s Likud Party to stab Netanyahu in the back and to dump him.
John Bolton’s sudden departure from the White House last week cheered progressives who believe America has no enemies, just friends whose grievances we’ve failed to address, as well as those conservatives who believe if we leave our enemies alone, they’ll return the favor. And you thought there was no common ground between left and right! Count me among those not cheered. READ MORE
The New York Times architecture critic seems to have a problem with Jerusalem, the holiest city in Judaism. In a Sept. 13 article, the Times critic, Michael Kimmelman, took aim at a planned line of cable cars that the Jerusalem municipality hopes will soon shuttle visitors toward the Old City’s archaeological and touristic center. But the cable car, which some worry will be an eyesore in the ancient city, isn’t the real problem in Kimmelman’s article. It’s just the hook. The deeper problem relates to Jews, and the value they place on their rich history…[The author] relays criticism about efforts “to inculcate a Jewish narrative of occupied Jerusalem.” READ MORE
…Halprin, who was serving a 30-year sentence for injury to a child before fleeing with the “Texas 7” gang of prison escapees, was found guilty days after his testimony, and it did not take long for Dallas County District Judge Vickers “Vic” Cunningham to give him the death penalty. But as Halprin was sentenced to die, the judge who sent him to death row referred to him by an anti-Semitic slur and as “that f—in’ Jew,” while adding that Jews “needed to be shut down because they controlled all the money,” according to attorneys for Halprin.READ MORE
HAARETZ U.S. Jewish Groups Call to Halt Execution of Inmate Who Says His Judge Was anti-Semitic“Mr. Halprin’s trial judge, who presided over the death-penalty trial, made critical decisions about what evidence the jury would hear, and sentenced Mr. Halprin to die, was biased against Mr. Halprin, referring to him as a “f****n’ Jew” and a “G*****n k**e”
