“Kishorit, a self-described neurodiverse kibbutz, is redefining Israeli communal living at a time when these communities are on the decline”

Posted on July 28, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

TABLET MAG
The New Kibbutz
Matti Friedman
July 27, 2022

The kibbutz, one of the greatest ideas ever put into practice, has fallen on hard times. Having pioneered a new country and wrought a revolution in Jewish history, most of these communes no longer subscribe to radical Zionist egalitarianism and have resigned themselves to life as suburbs, leaving a hole at the center of the country’s consciousness that we haven’t managed to fill with anything better. I’m always happy to hear a pulse—like the few kibbutzim that have prospered and stayed socialist, or like the scrappy guerilla activists of the “urban kibbutz” movement, who pool resources and work for the common good but live in cities. For the past few years, I’ve been hearing about one unique evolution of the idea on a hill of grapevines near the border with Lebanon. Last week I drove up to visit. READ MORE

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His Jewish identity doesn’t excuse Rep. Andy Levin resurrecting antisemitic stereotypes by accusing the pro-Israel group of practicing “the politics of domination”

Posted on July 28, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Levin smears AIPAC to try and save his political skin
Jonathan S Tobin
July 28, 2022

Rep. Andy Levin wants to have it both ways. The Michigan Democrat running for re-election to his seat in the House of Representatives has tried to refute criticism from pro-Israel advocates by reminding everyone of his Jewish identity and claiming that he embodies his community’s values. However, he’s also invoking the sort of stereotypes about Jews and money to characterize his opponents’ supporters in a way that would provoke outrage from members of his party if they were spoken by a Republican…Levin is a persistent and bitter critic of the Jewish state, as well as a supporter of a bill that sought to restrict aid to Israel and which the Democratic Majority for Israel correctly described as being about rewriting history to conform to an anti-Zionist narrative and “stirring up anti-Israel hostility. READ MORE

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“Sheikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa was dismissed by the Bahraini king after reportedly refusing to shake the hand of Israel’s ambassador to Manama”

Posted on July 22, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Bahraini official, royal family member sacked over Israeli ambassador snub
July 25, 2022

A top Bahraini official and member of the ruling family was dismissed from her position by the Bahraini king after she refused to shake hands with the Israeli ambassador to the Gulf state, Arab media outlet Rai al-Youm reported on Friday. Sheikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, Bahrain’s Authority for Culture and Antiquities chief, reportedly refused to shake the hand of Eitan Na’eh, Israel’s ambassador in Manama, during a funeral service for the father of US Ambassador Steven C. Bondy held last month. Furthermore, Sheikha Mai left the funeral service when she was informed of Na’eh’s presence and asked the US embassy to not publish any pictures of her attending the American ambassador’s late father’s funeral…READ MORE

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“The #UNHRC, led by some of the world’s most notorious human rights violator regimes, has long been known for its obsession with Israel”

Posted on July 22, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Israeli human rights org calls for UNHRC to be labeled as hate group
Zvika Klein
July 21, 2022

The US should investigate the United Nations Human Rights Council for antisemitism, according to Shurat HaDin (Israel Law Center). In a letter sent on Sunday to US Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism Deborah Lipstadt, the human-rights group said the UNHRC is an “inherently antisemitic organization, obsessively engaged in spreading blood libels, false allegations and delegitimizing the Jewish state by reviving the banner of ‘Zionism is racism.’” In the letter, Shurat HaDin said the US should label the council as a hate group. READ MORE

TIMES OF ISRAEL Head of UN panel probing Israel claims ‘Jewish lobby’ comments taken out of context The head of a UN commission of inquiry looking into alleged Israeli crimes against Palestinians pushed back Thursday against criticism of a member of the panel who was quoted speaking out against the “Jewish lobby” and questioning Israel’s inclusion in the world body.

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“To predict our future, we must first understand our past, especially the huge changes since the founding of the Jewish state”

Posted on July 22, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

JEWISH CHRONICLE
Half of all Jews now live in Israel and that is a source of strength
Vernon Bogdanor
July 26, 2022

…At the recent celebrations of the 74th anniversary of independence, then-Israeli PM Naftali Bennett reminded Israelis that the two previous Jewish kingdoms had not survived to reach their 8th decade. The kingdom of David and Solomon had split in two after internal disputes. The Hasmonean regime, the regime of the second temple, lasted just 77 years, before internal conflicts led to Roman occupation. Jews, Bennett declared, were now being given a third chance. They must be careful not again to squander it by too narrow a conception of what Judaism is. Of course the only real answer to the question of the future of Judaism is that no one really knows, since that future remains to be written. READ MORE

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Argentina’s prosecutor, Alberto Nisman (who was assassinated likely for his investigation into the AMIA bombing) described in granular detail how Iran used embassies in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, and Germany in the planning of the 1994 massacre

Posted on July 22, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

NEWSWEEK
Iran is Testing Us. So far, we are failing
Toby Dershowitz
July 18, 2022

In February, a jet carrying Iran’s minister of the interior, Ahmad Vahidi, landed at Pakistan’s Nur Khan air base and he was not arrested. He should have been. Vahidi, and four other senior Iranians, are wanted by INTERPOL for “aggravated murder and damages,” for their role in the July 18, 1994, bombing of the Argentine-Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA in Spanish) center in Buenos Aires. On that day, a Renault van laden with 600 pounds of ammonium nitrate rammed into the AMIA building, killing 85 Jews and non-Jews. READ MORE

TIMES OF ISRAEL Mossad finds Iran didn’t play ‘on the ground’ role in Hezbollah’s Argentina bombings Tehran trained terrorists but its agents weren’t directly involved, says Mossad probe reported by NYT; Hezbollah hid explosives in chocolate, shampoo bottles on flights from Europe

NEW YORK TIMES Mossad Sheds New Light on Argentina Terrorist Attacks in 1990s An investigation by the Israeli spy agency found that Hezbollah had set up a cell to conduct the attacks and rejected suspicions that Argentines or Iranian officials in Buenos Aires had been involved.

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“Like many characters in the movie, Mira is based on a real person, radio operator Mira Ben-Ari, who was killed by Egyptian soldiers on June 7, 1948, moments after she stunned the Arab combatants by shooting an Egyptian officer”

Posted on July 22, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

KVELLER
A New Israeli Netflix Movie Tells the Story of an Incredible Jewish Mom
Lior Zaltzman
July 22, 2022

We first meet Mira moments before her death. She is one of the main characters of the new Israeli Netflix movie “Image of Victory,” which retells the story of the 1948 battle of Nitzanim — one of the battles Israel bitterly lost in the war of independence. Her face is bloodied and sand-dappled, appearing through the lens of an Egyptian camera. Yet she is mesmerizing: At first, her expression is full of fury, and then she gives a haunting, tearful smile. READ MORE

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“The Biden regime is decoupled from both the past and reality, and quite capable of destroying Americans’ lives as they have known them”

Posted on July 22, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

AMERICAN GREATNESS
Biden and The Destruction of Wisdom
Victor Davis Hanson
July 17, 2022

There used to be an agreed-on body of wisdom, which both Left and Right, Republicans and Democrats, generally accepted. Heated arguments and invective centered on implementations and methods of solving problems, which at least both sides agreed were problems. Both ideologies accepted a common core of wisdom, despite their radical differences in interpreting it. Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and especially Biden’s strange cabinet of loud Jacobin amateurs, reject the very hallowed knowledge upon which civilization is based. In that sense the public has begun to recognize them as nihilist and anarchist. Nearly two out of three Americans in some polls hold unfavorable views of the Biden Administration. They fear that it is decoupled from both the past and reality, and quite capable of destroying their lives as they have known them. READ MORE

TABLET MAG Lee Smith: The National Tragedy of Hunter Biden’s Laptop How a country’s political corruption, institutional decay, and moral decline can be summed up in one sad family saga

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“While Biden’s contradictory pandering was sufficient to render the president’s trip a bust, the unbridgeable gap between his words and his administration’s policies made it strategically catastrophic”

Posted on July 21, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
The strategic fallout of Biden’s failure
Caroline Glick
July 20, 2022

…Biden’s visit to the all-Arab hospital was the most controversial stop during Biden’s visit to the Jewish state, because it signaled an about-face on America’s long standing support for an undivided Jerusalem. Not only did Biden refuse to permit Israeli officials to accompany him on his visit to the Jerusalem hospital, but his team removed the Israeli flag from Biden’s limousine as he made his way to it, and refused to permit Israeli reporters to participate in the press pool. Quite simply, even before Biden made the visit, the hospital tour represented a glaring contradiction of his repeated protestations of undying friendship and support for Israel. READ MORE

AMERICAN SPECTATOR Biden Courts Abbas, Ignores Palestinian Pay-for-Slay. And directly violates the Taylor Force Act The Biden administration’s disbursement of American tax dollars through entities like the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) is redirected to fund Palestinian terrorism, which includes establishing terrorist training summer camps for children.

ISRAEL HAYOM Mark Dubowitz and Jacob Nagel: Will new nuclear deal render Israel’s capabilities hollow? Tehran wants to keep up the negotiations facade until such time as the IAEA convenes, but Iran’s leaders must be made to understand that the era of impervious immunity is over. When dealing with Hamas in Gaza, the Israeli response to any provocation must be disproportionate.

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“Moscow’s action against organization that oversees immigration to Israel seen as retaliation for Israel’s stance on Ukraine war”

Posted on July 15, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Russia officially calls for Jewish Agency operations to be ‘dissolved’ 
Judah Ari Gross
July 21, 2022

Russian authorities officially called Thursday for the “dissolution” of the Jewish Agency’s offices in the country, filing an appeal to that effect with the district court in Moscow, according to a court spokesperson quoted by Russian media outlets. This represents a significant step forward in Russia’s campaign against the Israeli quasi-governmental organization, which facilitates and encourages Jewish immigration to Israel, or aliyah…The aggressive posturing by the Russian government is seen as highly unusual, coming in apparent retaliation for Israel’s stance on Moscow’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine, as well as for Israel’s ongoing campaign against Iran in Syria, which Russia at times opposes. READ MORE

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