Biden nominee “questioned labeling of Hamas as a terrorist organization”

Posted on February 10, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

ALGEMEINER
US Withdraws Nomination of Activist Who Accused Politician of Being ‘Purchased’ by Pro-Israel Groups
Andrew Bernard
February 14, 2023

The United States has withdrawn its support for a human rights activist who accused US House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) of being “Bought. Purchased. Controlled” by pro-Israel groups, State Department Spokesman Ned Price said Tuesday afternoon. The announcement comes a day after an exclusive Algemeiner investigation revealed that Prof. James Cavallaro had a multi-year history of incendiary posts critical of US foreign policy, Israel, and pro-Israel elected officials. Speaking at a State Department press briefing Tuesday afternoon, Price told The Algemeiner that Cavallaro’s statements “clearly do not reflect US policy.” READ MORE

FRONT PAGE MAG After Biden Sent $1B to PLO, Israeli Deaths Rose 900% In April 2021, the Biden administration restored aid to the PLO. Terror incidents, reflecting attack attempts, shot up sharply from 91 in February and 89 in March to 130 in April. By May, major fighting resumed with 13 Israelis, including two children, killed. By the time the year was over, 17 people in Israeli areas had been killed. The over 400% increase in deaths was only the beginning. In 2022, 31 Israelis or people in Israeli areas were killed, up from only 3 in 2020, for a massive 900% increase in casualties since the restoration of foreign aid to the terrorists. This was the worst death toll since 2015 under Obama.

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Mazzig: “There is nothing more inconvenient to the political mobilization against Israel than the discovery that the Jewish state actually is made up of a majority of Jews of color who were refugees from murderous Arab regimes”

Posted on February 10, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

JEWISH CHICAGO
‘Wrong Kind of Jew,’ right kind of book
Aaron B. Cohen
January/February 2023

Many who oppose Jewish self-determination distort and seek to delegitimize Jewish memory, history, and identity by calling Israel a white, European, colonial, settler state. The assertion is antisemitic, given the millennia-long Jewish history of persecution and “othering” in Europe, which culminated in racist genocide. Hen Mazzig, a young Israel activist, gives the lie to this pernicious misrepresenting of Jews as white Europeans. He is Mizrahi (Eastern in Hebrew), whose parents were persecuted and expelled from Tunisia and Iraq. In his new book The Wrong Kind of Jew: A Mizrahi Manifesto (Post Hill Press), Mazzig writes personally and passionately about Mizrahi identity. His book is a cri de coeur, a call to acknowledge the collective experience and social position of half of Israel’s population: first- and second-generation Israeli Jews from North Africa; Arabia; the Middle East; and Western, Central, and South Asia. READ MORE

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If a Chinese spy balloon flew over Israel

Posted on February 10, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

CENTER FOR SECURITY POLICY
If a Chinese spy balloon flew over Israel
Stephen Bryen
February 6, 2023

Consider this: if China sent one of its high-tech surveillance balloons over Israel, what would happen? The answer: Israel would have sounded air raid sirens telling its citizens to go into shelters. It would then fire an air defense missile to take the balloon down. No hand-wringing. No waiting. No lies. Just eliminate the threat. Israel has an extensive air defense system consisting of a high-low mix. That includes the Arrow 3 which can knock out ballistic missiles outside the atmosphere;  David’s Sling which is designed to intercept  enemy planes, drones, tactical ballistic missiles, medium- to long-range  rockets and cruise missiles and; Iron Dome which can kill short-range rockets, drones and cruise missiles. READ MORE

Posted in Israel & Middle East, Politics | 1 Comment

“These materials reflect BLM’s long affiliation with the anti-Zionist and antisemitic BDS movement”

Posted on February 10, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK POST
How Black Lives Matter is indoctrinating your kids — and what you can do about it
Ricki Hollander
February 7, 2023

…But though the coalition says its goal is to transform US classrooms into “incubators for inclusivity, equity, and justice,” a glance at the curriculum resources it provides teachers gratis makes clear some instead degrade, discriminate and defame certain groups of people as a means of elevating others. A prime example: the offerings in the “Black+Palestinian Solidarity” section of BLMAS’ Curriculum Resource Guide 2.0. They demonize Zionists and supporters of Israel with anti-Israel propaganda and anti-Jewish tropes, encouraging students to become boycott, divestment and sanctions activists against the Jewish state. Examples include…Various petitions calling on black American institutions and affiliated groups to join the BDS campaign against the Jewish state and push to end US military funding to Israel. These petitions vilify and delegitimize Israel with outrageous falsehoods like Israeli soldiers “routinely maim” and “systematically target” disabled Palestinians for murder. READ MORE

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Saudi news site quotes unnamed Israeli military official saying any move by Tehran to ‘take advantage of tragic situation’ will be met with military response ‘without hesitation’

Posted on February 9, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Israel warns Iran against sending arms to Syria under guise of quake aid
Emanuel Fabian
February 9, 2023

The Saudi-owned Elaph news site on Thursday cited an Israeli military official as saying if Iran ships weapons to its regional proxies under the guise of humanitarian aid to Syria following the major earthquake there, the IDF would not hesitate to strike. The unnamed official said “there is information indicating that Iran will take advantage of the tragic situation in Syria” and ship weapons to the Hezbollah terror organization and other Iran-backed groups in Syria. He said Israel would not accept this and it would result in a “firm military response from us without hesitation.” READ MORE

ALGEMEINER Israeli Chief Rabbi: Earthquake Rescue Teams Should Work Through Jewish Sabbath As the death toll from Monday’s devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria passed the 20,000 mark on Thursday, Israel’s chief rabbi issued a letter reminding Israeli Jewish rescue workers to continue their operations through Friday night and Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, in accordance with pikuach nefesh, the halachic concept that the saving of a life overrules the commandments in Jewish law. In his message, Chief Rabbi David Lau urged that during the “holy shabbat,” field hospitals should “continue to function normally.”

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Colonel (Res.) Zeev Raz wrote that if the Prime Minister acts undemocratically, he should be killed, citing a traditional Jewish law

Posted on February 3, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

ARUTZ SHEVA
Former senior Air Force officer hints at murdering Prime Minister
February 4, 2023

Colonel (Res.) Zeev Raz, one of the leaders of the anti-Netanyahu protest movement and a former fighter pilot, is seemingly calling to murder the Prime Minister on the charges of “rodef”, a traditional Jewish law that allows bystanders to preemptively kill a potential murderer..,Raz writes, “If a Prime Minister gets up and takes the authority of a dictator, that Prime Minister is a man of death, it’s that simple, together with his ministers and those who work with him. We also have to have the law of ‘rodef.’ “My rodef law states: If a man, Israeli or foreign, takes over my county and rules it undemocratically, there is an obligation to kill him. READ MORE

ISRAEL HAYOM Former pilot investigated over post calling for assassinating PM Amid public outrage and a rare rebuke by the Shin Ben security agency, former Israeli Air Force pilot Ze’ev Raz was interrogated by the Israel Police on Sunday over alleged incitement after posting online comments that suggested it was legitimate to kill Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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We need a way out of the judicial clash, not more angry rhetoric — a rejoinder to Gordis, Friedman and Klein-Halevi

Posted on February 3, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
We need a way out of the judicial clash, not more angry rhetoric
Gerald M Steinberg
February 3, 2023

I have a great deal of respect for Daniel Gordis, Matti Friedman and Yossi Klein-Halevi. Their contributions as articulate and passionate Zionist voices, standing against the chorus of ignorance and hate, are invaluable. But I strongly disagree with their “letter to Israel’s friends in North America.” Like most of the debate over the new government’s proposals to restructure Israel’s legal system, their rhetoric is dangerously over the top. Instead of contributing positively by suggesting possible paths out of this self-destructive cycle, they became part of it. And in contrast to adding their influential voices to the attempts by both sides to portray the other as entirely lacking in legitimacy, those who take this crisis seriously should begin by acknowledging and addressing real concerns. READ MORE

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Why is Israel under threat from a terrorist group for allowing Jews to pray at Judaism’s holiest site? Why is it okay for everyone else to pray there and not for Jews? And why do these Palestinian groups get away with making such threats?

Posted on February 3, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

COMMENTARY
Moshe Dayan’s Tragic Blunder
Meir Y. Soloveichik
February 2023

…The current contretemps, like all others concerning the Temple Mount, reveals that [Moshe] Dayan’s original decision was a terrible mistake, the worst in Israel’s history. Rather than pacifying Jewish–Muslim relations, the Dayan compromise instead encouraged Israel’s enemies to deny any Jewish rights of access to the Mount. The general’s decree was not only strategically misguided but also terribly unjust, as it has created a situation in which the only faith community in Israel that cannot fully access its most sacred site is made up of religious Jews. One can be a fierce critic of Ben-Gvir, or any other leader in the current government, and still understand that there is something profoundly wrong with the current situation. READ MORE

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Gallup’s 2022 World Happiness Report proves that while Israel is thriving, its enemies are among the world’s most miserable

Posted on February 3, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Amid the noise and hate, Israel is happy
Charles O. Kaufman
February 8, 2023

Israel, home to 53% of world Jewry, is a happy place. Yet you wouldn’t know it if you believed the headlines about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government or saw the latest anti-Israel resolution at the United Nations and the current wave of Jew-hatred propagated by American celebrities. After all, between the International Court of Justice, Whoopi Goldberg, Kyrie Irving and Kanye West, antisemitism appears to be off to a good start in 2023. Yet in the antisemitic worst of times, there are aspects of Israel that represent the best of times. The Startup Nation continues to innovate and flourish. The Abraham Accords continue to deliver positive security and global trade rewards. Israeli companies continue to make a massive impact on the quest to alleviate humanitarian disasters around the world. READ MORE

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Short YouTube explains why Israel’s judicial reform is long past due

Posted on February 3, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

A short explanation on how the judicial reforms in progress will address the anomalies of the Israeli system and bring Israel closer to the rest of the Western democracies. Video produced by the Kohelet Forum. For more information on the need for judicial reform, click here.

JNS
Economists’ warnings about judicial reform are overblown, analysts tell JNS
David Isaac
February 5, 2023

The Netanyahu government’s judicial reform plan has come under heavy fire since it was first announced on Jan. 4. Critics say it spells the end of Israel’s system of checks and balances and even the end of democracy. In the last week, a new argument has taken center stage, an economic one, according to which the reform threatens Israel’s financial well-being. However, analysts JNS spoke with said the warnings of economic collapse are without merit, and are based on political and not economic assumptions. Furthermore, the fear-mongering ignores the positive impact the reforms are likely to have on Israel’s economy, they said. READ MORE

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