Aliyah North American Style, Explained

Posted on February 4, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
To be or not to be (an Israeli American) that is the question? #2
Beth Kopin
February 1, 2024

…Having received Aliyah I wanted to share some hard earned wisdom and bring some clarity. We have friends who went through the process, ten and some five years out, still guiding us who are dual citizens and commute. We are a unique category and have different challenges than those who reside full time in Israel. We all plan to spend more time in Israel as time goes on, to ease in. Our friends recommended Nefesh B’ Nefesh, NBN, (soul to soul) as the organization to work with. Each one had stories to share, all hilarious. We still ask them about next steps as we are adjusting to our new status. The biggest advantage to working with NBN is their connection to the Jewish Agency which is key to Aliyah. READ MORE

Apply for Aliyah from North American, click here

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“What if ‘what the Palestinian people want’ is mostly to destroy Israel?”

Posted on February 4, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

TABLET MAG
The Two State Delusion
Elliott Abrams
February 1, 2024

…In the West, the call for a “two-state solution” is mostly a magical incantation these days. Diplomats and politicians want the Gaza war to stop. They want a way out that seems fair and just to voters and makes for good speeches. But they are not even beginning to grapple with the issues that negotiating a “two-state solution” raises, and they are not seriously asking what kind of state “Palestine” would be. Instead they simply imagine a peaceful, well-ordered place called “Palestine” and assure everyone that it is just around the corner. By doing so they avoid asking the most important question: Would not an autocratic, revanchist Palestinian state be a threat to peace? READ MORE

JNS Dennis Ross is blaming Israel again Former U.S. Middle East envoy Dennis Ross just can’t stop blaming Israel. Speaking via Zoom for the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism & Policy on Jan. 31, Ross offered some expected, perfunctory criticism of Hamas, Iran and Hezbollah. But again and again, he managed to bring in one-sided and unfair criticism of Israel. Referring to Israel’s counter-terrorism actions in Judea and Samaria, Ross said: “West Bank violence [by Arabs] is not disconnected from Israel’s policies in the West Bank.” That’s just absurd. The terrorists are not responding to Israeli policies. They were murdering Jews long before there were any settlements or so-called occupied territories. They oppose Israel’s existence, not its borders. It’s these terrorists who are the aggressors, and Israelis must respond to them.

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“No military in modern history has faced over 30,000 urban defenders in more than seven cities using human shields and hiding in hundreds of miles of underground networks purposely built under civilian sites, while holding hundreds of hostages”

Posted on February 3, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

NEWSWEEK
Israel Implemented More Measures to Prevent Civilian Casualties Than Any Other Nation in History
John Spencer
January 31, 2024

No military fighting an entrenched enemy in dense urban terrain in an area barely twice the size of Washington D.C. can avoid all civilian casualties. Reports of over 25,000 Palestinians killed, be they civilians or Hamas, have made headlines. But Israel has taken more measures to avoid needless civilian harm than virtually any other nation that’s fought an urban war. In fact, as someone who has served two tours in Iraq and studied urban warfare for over a decade, Israel has taken precautionary measures even the United States did not do during its recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. READ MORE

GATESTONE Daniel Greenfield: Israel’s War on Hamas is the Least Deadly War in the Region On October 7 and in the months since, Hamas has engaged in the deliberate killings of civilians. Israel has not. The number games are meant to be a distraction from that simple fact. Morality is defined by intent, not statistics.

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Netanyahu is trying to defeat Hamas. The Biden administration’s efforts—and its fictional “doctrine”—seek to depose the Israeli prime minister and re-elect the president.

Posted on February 3, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
It’s Biden who’s playing politics with the Gaza war, not Bibi
Jonathan S. Tobin
February 2, 2024

…Netanyahu probably still hopes to salvage his reputation and serve out the rest of his term after being returned to office in November 2022. But the widespread characterizations in both the Israeli and the international press of his stand on the hostage negotiations, the conduct of the war and what will happen in Gaza once the fighting ends, as merely another example of his desperate attempts to cling to office is largely inaccurate. He may be pursuing two goals that cannot both be achieved as well as clinging to his pre-war strategic objective of getting Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel. Yet the real scheming going on right now is in Washington, not Jerusalem. It is Biden who is playing a double game in which he seems willing to ensure Hamas’s survival in power in order to settle scores with Netanyahu, as well as to defeat former President Donald Trump in November. READ MORE

NEW YORK POST Michael Goodwin: Joe Biden is playing with fire in the Middle East and risking World War 3 With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly objecting on both counts, Biden is offering him a sweetener that would have Saudi Arabia normalize relations with the Jewish state. As its reward, the Saudis would get American civilian nuclear technology and a promise of military protection for the monarchy. The Saudis would also likely be expected to pump more oil to keep the price of gasoline in America from rising during the campaign. Biden aims to get all this done by summer so he can run as the president who stopped the war in Gaza, brought the Saudis and Israelis together and created a Palestinian state.

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Prayer for the IDF- Netanel Hershtik & The Maccabeats featuring Lt. Gen Benny Gantz

Posted on February 3, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

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“The 2011 deal with Hamas that freed Gilad Shalit led to the taking of hundreds more”

Posted on February 2, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

WALL STREET JOURNAL
Overvaluing Hostages Is Israel’s Weakness
Michael Segal
February 6, 2024

Nothing illustrates this better than Israel’s release of 1,027 terrorists and other security prisoners in 2011 in exchange for one hostage, Gilad Shalit. Among those released was Yahya Sinwar, now leader of Hamas in Gaza. Hamas learned that Israeli hostages are hugely valuable and promised a cash bounty for each hostage brought back to Gaza on Oct. 7. An estimated 80 hostages are alive in Gaza. Some hostage families, prominent Israelis and Western leaders have urged Israel to release its thousands of security prisoners in exchange. Yet the conflict is far from over, and releasing terrorists would lead to more attacks. It would create the impression that Hamas didn’t lose the war and that being captured in the next round is temporary until the next hostage release. The willingness to pay a high price for captives has deep roots in Jewish tradition. It is discussed in detail in the Talmud, though tempered by the concern that paying too high a price would encourage seizing of more captives. READ MORE

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Would Biden adminstration actually reward Hamas for the October 7 massacre by unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian state ?

Posted on February 1, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

BREITBART
Blinken, Biden Considering Unilateral Recognition of Palestinian State
Joel B. Pollak
January 31, 2024

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has reportedly asked the State Department to review options for a unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state at the end of the war between Hamas and Israel — a major break from past U.S. policy, and from Israel. Barak Ravid of Axios reported: While U.S. officials say there has been no policy change, the fact the State Department is even considering such options signals a shift in thinking within the Biden administration on possible Palestinian statehood recognition, which is highly sensitive both internationally and domestically. For decades, U.S. policy has been to oppose the recognition of Palestine as a state both bilaterally and in UN institutions and to stress Palestinian statehood should only be achieved through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. READ MORE

TABLET MAG Elliott Abrams: The Two-State Delusion The Biden administration is leading a push to recognize a Palestinian state that will be a danger to the security of Israel No one is explaining how that state will live in “peace and security” with Israel if its people would prefer war with Israel. What if, to use Blinken’s language, “what the Palestinian people want” is mostly to destroy Israel? And they may: Opinion polls suggest that very many Palestinians and not just those in Hamas consider the State of Israel illegitimate, want it eliminated, and favor “armed struggle.” That is, their Palestinian nationalism is not positive—mainly about building a democratic, prosperous, peaceful state of their own—but negative, mainly about destroying the Jewish state. 

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“It’s now clear that the UN heads were lying when they said they were unaware of the involvement of their employees with terror groups. In fact, they knew but did their utmost to appease Hamas”

Posted on January 31, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

ALGEMEINER
US Suspends Funding for UN Palestinian Refugee Agency Over Employees Participation in Hamas Pogrom
Ben Cohen
January 26, 2024

The US announced on Friday that it was temporarily suspending funding for UNRWA, the UN agency dedicated to Palestinian refugees and their descendants, citing concerns about the participation of several of its employees in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas pogrom in southern Israel. “The United States is extremely troubled by the allegations that twelve UNRWA employees may have been involved in the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel,” US State Department Matthew Miller said in a statement. “The Department of State has temporarily paused additional funding for UNRWA while we review these allegations and the steps the United Nations is taking to address them.” The US announcement came after UNRWA confirmed that it was launching an investigation into the employees suspected of involvement in the pogrom. READ MORE

UN WATCH Evidence Shows Widespread Support for October 7th Terrorists Among UNRWA Teachers in Gaza UN Watch continues to find abhorrent antisemitism and support for jihadi terrorism by UNRWA staff on social media. This report details how UNRWA teachers in a 3,000-member UNRWA staff Telegram group cheered and celebrated Hamas’s October 7th massacre while at the same time asking when their UNRWA salaries will be paid.

GATESTONE Bassam Tawil: Time to End UNRWA’s Jihad against Israel The UN, which has long ignored or denied the involvement of its employees in anti-Israeli terrorism and incitement, is now feigning shock and horror by the participation of some of its employees in the Hamas atrocities… The UN does not need to launch an investigation “to establish the truth” about the involvement of its employees in terrorism and incitement against Israel…For years, there has been ample evidence regarding the close connection between UNRWA and Hamas, the Palestinian terror group that seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007.

WASHINGTON EXAMINER GOP demands Biden permanently cut off UNRWA after staffers allegedly joined Hamas in Oct. 7 Israel attack The Trump administration decided in 2018 to cease funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, a move the Biden administration reversed in 2021 but paused on Friday after UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini announced the termination of the accused staffers.

UN WATCH UNRWA’S Terrogram How a Telegram group of 3,000 UNRWA teachers in Gaza celebrated the October 7th Hamas massacre.

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American taxpayers have been subsidizing educators who call for the murder of Jews. Suspending these funds isn’t enough. UNRWA must be abolished for good.

Posted on January 30, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

THE FREE PRESS
The UN’s Terrorism Teachers
Hillel C. Neuer
January 28, 2024

Many who watched the October 7 massacre likely wondered how a man’s mind can become so warped that he not only commits heinous acts of murder, rape, and mutilation, but proudly films this carnage for the world to see. It is a complicated question. But one of the primary answers is found in the schools that mold the minds of young people in their formative years. In Gaza, the organization that does much of the molding is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA. That organization pays the salaries of teachers who call for the murder of Jews. READ MORE

OPEN THE BOOKS Biden Allocated $1.2 Billion To The United Nations Relief And Works Agency (UNRWA). It’s Laced With Terrorist Extremists. Biden Administration re-started Palestinian aid by pumping $1.2 billion through the United Nations aid agency. It was a reversal of the 2018 policy when President Trump had zeroed them out.

CAMERA BLOG CNN Errs on UNRWA’s Refugee Definition, Downplays Scandals In a January 29 CNN article entitled “What we know about Israel’s allegations against UN staffers in Gaza,” the network gets it wrong when it comes to definitions of Palestinian “refugees.” The authors (Sophie Tanno, Hira Humayun, Richard Roth, Heather Chen, and Alex Marquardt) also fail to capture the extent of the scandals plaguing UNRWA, the refugee agency for Palestinians.

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“Qatar should no longer be allowed to be both the arsonist and the fireman; the party responsible for setting the fire and then the firefighter deserving credit for putting it out”

Posted on January 29, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Call out Qatar’s double game
Herb Keinon
January 28, 2024

Qatar, its Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said last week, was “appalled” at words of criticism Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leveled against it. That’s right, appalled. Qatar, a state that has provided diplomatic, media, and financial support to Hamas – a barbaric terrorist organization that murders and mutilates the bodies of men, rapes, and kidnaps women, and burns to death entire families – is appalled.…For years the Qataris perfected the art of appearing civilized, modern, and forward-looking while backing the most vile, vicious, antisemitic terrorist organization on the planet. It is time to consider an organized, diplomatic campaign to expose the charade. READ MORE

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