The Jewish community relations umbrella group has broken from the Federations, and has now chosen a veteran of J Street and progressive Democratic politics.

Posted on May 12, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
The JCPA will fight for the hard left, not Jewish interests
Jonathan S. Tobin
May 10, 2023

Perhaps it was inevitable. The partisan split among American Jews is such that the majority of them are loyal Democratic voters and lean to the left on most issues. So, having the group that purports to best represent Jewish interests shed even the pretense of nonpartisanship or interest in speaking for every segment of the community may have always been in the cards. Yet now that it’s happened, and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs has made it clear that it is not just at home among liberal Democrats but aligned with the hard-left progressive wing of that party, the correct response to this shouldn’t be indifference. By hiring Amy Spitalnick, a former staffer for J Street and Democratic politicians like former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, the group has sent a clear message to the rest of the Jewish world about its priorities. READ MORE

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Alongside Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Bibi warns terrorists ‘blood is on your hands,’ claims Islamic Jihad has been dealt harshest blow ever

Posted on May 10, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Netanyahu says IDF ‘at height of battle,’ as resumed fighting sinks ceasefire bid
Carrie Keller-Lynn
May 10, 2023

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was not diminishing its offensive against Gaza-based terrorists Wednesday, pushing back against claims that a ceasefire brokered by Egypt was set to take effect. Netanyahu spoke as Israeli cities in southern Israel were pummeled by successive rounds of rocket fire, with some penetrating Israel’s missile defense system and damaging homes, though no serious injuries were reported. The salvos, which also targeted the Tel Aviv area, sparked Israeli reprisal attacks and Hebrew-language media reported that the resumption of fighting had made ceasefire efforts more distant. Speaking in a televised address, Netanyahu said Israel was still “at the height of the battle,” claiming that Israeli forces were dealing the Islamic Jihad terror group “the hardest blow” it had ever known. READ MORE

FDD Palestinian Rocket from Gaza Kills Israeli in Rehovot A rocket fired by terrorists in Gaza killed one Israeli and wounded several others on May 11 when it struck an apartment building in the city of Rehovot…The attack, which occurred shortly after 6 p.m. local time and yielded the first Israeli fatality of the conflict, comes in the wake of Israel’s killing of two senior Islamic Jihad commanders responsible for engineering rocket attacks against the Jewish state. 

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Targeted killing of Ali Ghali part of the latest wave of attacks by the IDF in the southern Gaza strip

Posted on May 10, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

JPOST
Senior Islamic Jihad commander killed in IDF targeted attack
Staff
May 11, 2023

The IDF killed the commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s rocket force, Ali Ghali, in a targeted attack on his home in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit announced on Thursday morning. The attack happened in cooperation between the IDF Air Force and the Shin Bet, which helped in locating Ghali who was hiding in an apartment in Khan Younis. Two additional PIJ terrorists were hiding with him in the apartment and were killed in the attack, according to the IDF. The IDF described Ghali as responsible for aiming and firing rockets into Israel. READ MORE

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IDF spokesman: “I think it’s an opportunity for me to say here that we are very sorry of the death of Shireen Abu Akleh”

Posted on May 10, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

CNN
Israel Defense Forces apologizes for death of Al Jazeera’s Shireen Abu Akleh for the first time
Eoin McSweeney
May 11, 2023

The Israel Defense Forces has apologized for the death of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, a year to the day after she was killed by a bullet to the back of the head while covering an Israeli military operation in Jenin in the occupied West Bank. It is the first time the IDF has apologized for the killing of the well-known correspondent, after conceding last year that there was a “high possibility” she was shot by an Israeli soldier. The apology came from the IDF’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, in an interview with CNN’s Eleni Giokos on Connect the World on Thursday. READ MORE

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Bernie Sanders assists Democrat congresswoman commemorating “catastrophe” that created Israel

Posted on May 5, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK POST
Rashida Tlaib hosts anti-Israel event at the Capitol despite Kevin McCarthy’s move to block it
Victor Nava and Josh Christenson
May 10, 2023

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) on Wednesday held an event at the Capitol decrying the founding of Israel as a “catastrophe” despite House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s move to block it. The event, hosted by Tlaib and organized by nine anti-Israel groups, was moved at the last minute to the Senate side of the Capitol complex after McCarthy intervened late Tuesday to reserve the space in the Capitol Visitor Center where Tlaib’s event was initially slated to be held. READ MORE

ARUTZ SHEVA Bernie Sanders gives Rashida Tlaib venue for ‘Nakba Day’ event Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) enabled a previously canceled “Nakba Day” event hosted Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) along with anti-Israel organizations to take place after it was blocked from occurring by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

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Israel no longer needs American philanthropy, but American Jews need Israel for more

Posted on May 5, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

SAPIR
Israel Is Doing Fine; We’re the Ones Who Need Help
Michaek Steinhardt
Spring 2023

For generations, Diaspora Jews have seen Israel as a hardship case requiring the urgent mobilization of resources. Even today, we hear that Israel is “surrounded by enemies,” facing “existential threats unlike any other country.” Without our help, and especially our money, Israel will surely fail. All this may once have been true. But it isn’t anymore. Yes, there is terrorism, Iran, and the Palestinians. There is periodic political turmoil. But these do not amount to an existential crisis. They are no longer the stories that define the country. And until we recognize this change, we will forever be confused by the smoke and mirrors of a billion-dollar nonprofit industry telling us we need to “save” Israel. READ MORE

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#FreeYishaiFleisher Yishai Fleisher banned from Twitter after he suggested throwing bodies of dead terrorists into the sea

Posted on May 5, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Twitter reinstates adviser to Israel’s national security minister
May 7, 2023

Twitter briefly banned Yishai Fleisher, an adviser to Israel’s Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, over the weekend following a May 4 post in which he suggested throwing the bodies of dead terrorists into the sea. The ban was lifted on Sunday. Twitter initially banned Fleisher for his response to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s decision to return to their families the bodies of the terrorists who murdered three members of the Dee family. The IDF operation that killed the terrorists took place on May 4. READ MORE

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Chicago’s Standard Club: The shuttered club near the Dirksen Federal Building is being used to house 761 migrants now and up to 1,200 in the coming months

Posted on May 5, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

CHICAGO SUN TIMES
Storied Standard Club latest to house asylum-seekers
Fran Spielman
May 5, 2023

For 150 years, the Standard Club was a mecca for Chicago’s business titans, many of them Jews who were banned by the discriminatory membership policies of the University Club and Union League Club. Now, the shuttered club near the Dirksen Federal Building is being used to house 761 asylum-seekers, a number that could grow to as many as 1,200 in the coming months. “As the city continues to respond to this humanitarian crisis,” the club is one of the sites being used as a temporary shelter to support new arrivals, a city statement said in response to questions from the Chicago Sun-Times. It’s been a temporary shelter since March 1, the city stated. READ MORE

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Veteran Chicago prosecutor quits with blistering letter on crime: ‘I will not raise my son here’

Posted on May 5, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

REAL CLEAR POLITICS
After 20 Years as a Prosecutor in Illinois, I Quit
Jason Poje
May 10, 2023

Editor’s note: The following is an email written by Cook County prosecutor Jason Poje, circulated to colleagues last week.

To my colleagues: After 20 years, I always kind of figured an email like this would start with “It is with a heavy heart that I leave…” The truth is, I can’t get out of here fast enough…And yet, I’m leaving. Why could that be? The simple fact is that this State and County have set themselves on a course to disaster. And the worst part is that the agency for whom I work has backed literally every policy change that had the predictable, and predicted, outcome of more crime and more people getting hurt…I will not raise my son here. I am fortunate enough to have the means to escape, so my entire family is leaving the State of Illinois. I grew up here, my family and friends are here, and yet my own employer has turned it into a place from which I am no longer proud to be, and in which my son is not safe. READ MORE

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IAF said Thursday that interception rate of rockets headed for populated areas during the flare-up was 90.5%

Posted on May 4, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
‘Technical error’ caused Iron Dome to malfunction during Gaza terror onslaught
May 4, 2023

A “technical error” caused a malfunction in the Iron Dome missile defense system during Tuesday’s conflagration with Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip, an Israel Air Force investigation found. During a barrage on Tuesday afternoon, several rockets hit populated areas in Sderot, including one that wounded three foreign nationals working on a construction site. A ceasefire that took effect early Wednesday ended 24 hours of fighting during which more than 100 rockets were fired at the Jewish state…The exchange erupted early Tuesday morning when senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative Khader Adnan died in an Israeli prison after an 87-day hunger strike. READ MORE

JNS Yaakov Lappin: Rocket attacks from Gaza demonstrate the fragility of Israeli deterrence Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are prepared to absorb airstrikes in order to terrorize Israeli civilians and market themselves as “authentic” fighters against the Jewish state.

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