“Many gulf nations are hoping Israel will act — even if it only sets back Iranian nuclear ambitions for a few years”

Posted on March 3, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

BLOOMBERG
Israel’s Window to Strike Iran Narrows As Putin Enters Equation
Ethan Bronner
March 3, 2023

Iran is seeking sophisticated new air-defense systems from Russia that Israeli officials believe will narrow the window for a potential strike on Tehran’s nuclear program, according to people familiar with the matter. The prospect of Iran getting the systems, the S-400s, would accelerate a decision on a possible attack, people in Israel and the US with knowledge of the discussions said. Russia hasn’t said publicly if it will supply the weapons, but Moscow and Tehran have drawn closer since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. It would take less than two years for the S-400s to be operational. “The longer you wait, the harder that becomes,” Netanyahu said of a strike on Iran at a security conference in Tel Aviv last week. READ MORE

GATESTONE Iran’s Regime Days Away from Nuclear Weapons This week, US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl announced, in a statement confirmed by the United Nations, that Iran has enriched uranium to nearly weapons-grade level at an underground nuclear site, and could produce “nuclear material for a bomb in about 12 days.” Since the Biden Administration took office, the Iranian regime seems to have enjoyed having a green light to freely advance its nuclear program, enrich uranium to any higher level it desires, spin as many centrifuges as it likes, and march towards becoming a nuclear-armed state — without any negative consequence.

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In the role he would be best remembered for, Topol played Tevye on and off through 2009

Posted on March 3, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK POST
Chaim Topol, ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ actor, dead at 87
David Russell
March 9, 2023

Chaim Topol, the Academy Award-nominated actor who notably portrayed Tevye in the 1971 film “Fiddler on the Roof,” died at 87 years old. Israeli President Isaac Herzog announced Topol’s death Wednesday. “One of the most outstanding Israeli stage artists,” Herzog said…He first took on the role of Tevye the Dairyman in “Fiddler on the Roof” on stage in Israel and London in the late 1960s. The musical focuses on a man who attempts to maintain his Jewish traditions while three daughters look to be married. For the 1971 movie, Topol was selected to play Tevye over Zero Mostel, who had starred in the Broadway production. READ MORE

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“Wikipedia’s Intentional Distortion of the History of the Holocaust” (another reminder that Wikipedia articles are not always reliably accurate)

Posted on March 3, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

JTA
Wikipedia’s ‘Supreme Court’ tackles alleged conspiracy to distort articles on Holocaust
Asaf Elia-Shalev
February 28, 2023

When a pair of professors earlier this month published a paper accusing a group of Wikipedia editors from Poland of revising articles to distort the history of the Holocaust, their research went viral. Most academic articles are seen by dozens or hundreds of people at best. One published in The Journal of Holocaust Research hit more than 27,000 page-views within weeks. The paper’s reach was fueled by its analysis, unprecedented in the academic literature on Wikipedia, and its finding that a dedicated group has for some 15 years manipulated a source of information used by millions in ways that lay blame for the Holocaust on Jews and absolve Poland of almost any responsibility for its record of antisemitism. READ MORE

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On the campus today, “the left isn’t interested in debate but in conformity”

Posted on March 3, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

HOT AIR
Princeton senior: Campus politics are driving some students to the right
John Sexton
March 1, 2023

The NY Times published an opinion piece by a Princeton senior named Adam Hoffman. Hoffman writes that he’s heard there was a time before he was born when conservatives could get a relatively respectful hearing on campus and most students saw politics as something that could be separated from life in general. But that’s not how it is anymore. Princeton like every other campus has moved to the left and is now a place openly hostile to conservatives…Rebekah Adams [daughter of a Black Guyanese immigrant father] says she faced backlash from classmates because of her views and eventually embraced a conservative political identity. She began writing for The Princeton Tory, a journal of conservative thought, on hot-button issues like Israel and started campaigning for free speech on campus. She described a process of “learning how to think for myself.” READ MORE

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Why did the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations violate the purpose of its leadership mission by refusing to give podiums to Israeli leaders at the forefront of promoting the judicial, anti-terror and other reforms?

Posted on March 2, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
Cancel culture comes to the Conference of Presidents
Morton A. Klein
March 1, 2023

…It is painful for me to report that the Conference of President’s directors violated the leadership mission’s purpose, by refusing to give podiums to the major elected ministers and Israeli leaders who are in the forefront of promoting Israel’s judicial, anti-terror and other reforms…The CoP directors’ refusal to have a session with these important leaders of these critical issues – a form of “cancel culture” – was an enormous missed opportunity to learn from, ask challenging questions to, and exchange views with the judicial and anti-terror reforms’ originators. Americans are being inundated with misinformed, bald claims that the reforms are “undemocratic.” Shouldn’t American leaders have had the opportunity to hear from the Israeli leaders and originators who are in the best position to explain why the reforms would in fact make Israel safer, more democratic, and more like American democracy? READ MORE

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PM’s wife trapped in central Tel Aviv after hundreds of protesters surround storefront; media blames Sara for her “lavish lifestyle at taxpayers’ expense”

Posted on March 2, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Sara Netanyahu accosted by protesters at Tel Aviv hair salon, extricated by police
Staff
March 1, 2023

The prime minister’s wife became trapped in a Tel Aviv hair salon Wednesday as hundreds of protesters against the government gathered outside, with police called to the scene to keep demonstrators away and Sara Netanyahu forced to wait for hours to be extricated. Protesters against the government and its plans to curb the judiciary rallied and marched in Tel Aviv and other cities around the country throughout the day and resumed protesting at night in several places, including Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Nahariya, Pardes Hanna-Karkur and Zichron Ya’akov. In Tel Aviv, which had seen rare clashes between protesters and police earlier in the day, demonstrators rushed to Kikar HaMedina Plaza upon hearing that Sara Netanyahu was at an establishment there for a haircut. READ MORE

I24 NEWS Sara Netanyahu trapped in hair salon by angry crowd, rescued by police Netanyahu condemned the incident, saying it provided more evidence that those protesting the government’s overhaul of the judiciary are “anarchists trying to sow disorder.” Throughout the day, police tried to contain demonstrators who brought Israel’s financial capital to a virtual standstill. Protesters blocked highways, major intersections, and railway stations, rallying against the judicial reform legislation as lawmakers held a preliminary vote on two of the bills.

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U.S. support for demonstrations in Tel Aviv isn’t about the future of Israel’s judiciary. It’s about handcuffing Israel while Iran gets the bomb.

Posted on March 2, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

TABLET MAG
Biden Sets Israel on Fire
Lee Smith
March 2, 2023

Is the current Israeli government truly on the verge of an authoritarian turn? No, of course not. The mass protests and over-the-top rhetoric from Israel’s domestic opposition, Joe Biden’s warnings that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reform agenda will curtail minority rights, gleeful announcements by the U.S. ambassador about his right to interfere in domestic Israeli politics, group letters from 50 former commandos and 75 economists who all oppose judicial reform, the financing of Palestinian groups with terror links, public harassment of Netanyahu’s wife: These are among the details of a single blueprint. The fact that this blueprint is designed in Washington, D.C., gives courage and direction to the demonstrators acting out their color revolution fantasies on the ground in Tel Aviv. And it’s evidence that Bibi is in Washington’s crosshairs, for regime change has come to Israel. READ MORE

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“The recent shift of Israel from being a partner in the European Command Area of Responsibility to that of Central Command presents a historic opportunity in the ongoing mission to ensure regional peace and stability”

Posted on February 24, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

US CENTRAL COMMAND
Exercise Intrepid Maven 23.2 Begins in Israel
Capt. Joseph Leitner U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central Command
February 21, 2023

Approximately 200 Marines and Sailors, alongside partnering infantry and artillery elements of the Israeli Defense Force, are participating in Exercise Intrepid Maven 23.2, set to occur at various locations within Israel from 19 February to 1 March, 2023. Exercise Intrepid Maven is a U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central Command conceptualized and implemented exercise series designed in late 2021, with the first iteration having occurred in Jordan in March 2022. The series, to include IM 23.2, is designed to strengthen partnerships, produce training opportunities, contribute to interoperability and improve conditions for regional security. “This is a great opportunity for our Marines and Sailors to work alongside our Israeli Defense Force counterparts,” said Major General Paul J. Rock Jr., commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central Command. READ MORE

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Has Biden ever called on Palestinians to compensate Israeli victims?

Posted on February 24, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
US expects Israel to ensure ‘full accountability’ for Huwara riot
February 28, 2023

The U.S. administration said on Monday that it expects Israel to prosecute those who participated in the Huwara riot following the murder of two Israeli siblings in the Palestinian town and to compensate those whose homes and property were damaged or destroyed. “We expect the Israeli government to ensure full accountability and legal prosecution of those responsible for these attacks in addition to compensation for the loss of homes and property,” said State Department spokesperson Ned Price during a press briefing. He called the Sunday night riot by hundreds of Israeli Jews in the Palestinian town of Huwara “completely unacceptable.” READ MORE

ALL ISRAEL NEWS Netanyahu, Herzog and other Israeli leaders condemn settler riots in Huwara ‘There is no place for anarchy, we will not accept anarchy,’ says Israeli premier

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Gonzalez’s call for justice heard before US Supreme Court, in case alleging that Google is liable for algorithmic amplification of terrorist content on YouTube

Posted on February 24, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK POST
How Israeli fight against online terrorism led to SCOTUS Section 230 case
Michael Starr
February 24, 2023

…In 2015, the so-called knife intifada erupted in Israel. As the name of the yearlong wave of violence suggests, the period was characterized by frequent stabbing attacks by Palestinian terrorists against Israeli civilians. However, as noted by Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, head of the NGO Shurat Hadin, which takes legal action on behalf of terrorism victims, the period was also known as the “Facebook intifada.”The attackers were incited to violence on social media, explained Darshan-Leitner. “There were posts, thousands of posts, calling to kill, illustrating how to kill in videos, examples of how to twist the knife.” READ MORE

MEMRI Hamas Video Provides Instructions for Carrying Out Drive-By Shooting Attacks Against Israelis On February 22, 2023, the official Hamas media outlet Al-Risala published a video on its Telegram channel providing detailed instructions for carrying out drive-by shooting attacks against Israelis. The instructions include: “Do reconnaissance… Divide roles between the driver and the shooter… Make sure there are no police roadblocks along your route. With your weapon loaded, approach [your target and] open fire suddenly from very close range. Finish off the target. Retreat quickly and carefully.”

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