“Hamas does not invite P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas to visit. But it does tolerate another rival: Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which is fully funded, armed and guided by Iran’s rulers”

Posted on August 11, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
The ‘forever war’ against the West
Clifford D. May
August 11, 2022

…PIJ [Palestinian Islamic Jihad], however, cannot abide even a temporary détente. Israeli intelligence learned that the group was preparing terrorist attacks not only from Gaza but also from the northern West Bank. PIJ fighters have been gradually displacing the PA security forces in this area and clashing with the Israeli Defense Forces, which have been responding to a wave of terrorist attacks that has claimed 19 Israeli lives since March. Knowing PIJ’s intentions, the Israelis decided it was necessary to do what they could to degrade its capabilities. READ MORE

JERUSALEM CENTER FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS What Iranian Officials Told the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Chief Even before Israel’s Operation Breaking Dawn in Gaza was launched, Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Secretary-General Ziad Nakhalah was in Tehran to meet with top regime officials and military commanders.

TIMES OF ISRAEL Gantz accuses Iran of funding Islamic Jihad with tens of millions of dollars a year Defense minister says Gazan terror group is a ‘violent Iranian proxy’ and has ‘an open tab in Iran’; says Israel continues to act to foil Tehran’s plots

Posted in Islam, Israel & Middle East, Politics | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Iranian agent offered $300k to have John Bolton “purged”

Posted on August 5, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

ALGEMEINER
Iran Revolutionary Guard Member Charged With Plot to Murder John Bolton, US Justice Dept Says
Reuters
August 10, 2022

The United States charged a member of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps on Wednesday with plotting to murder John Bolton, a national security adviser to former President Donald Trump. The Justice Department alleged that Shahram Poursafi, also known as Mehdi Rezayi, 45, of Tehran, was likely motivated to kill Bolton in retaliation for the death of Qassem Soleimani, a commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps killed in a US drone strike in January 2020…Investigators said the following month Poursafi contacted the informant on an encrypted messaging application and offered the person $250,000 to hire someone to “eliminate” Bolton — an amount that would later be negotiated up to $300,000. READ MORE

Posted in Islam, Israel & Middle East, Politics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

“As Israel decouples from China, there will be even greater opportunities for greater cooperation between close allies. Israel must support the US and keep a distance from China”

Posted on August 5, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

JPOST
Time for Israel to pivot away from Beijing
Jacob Nagel and Mark Dubowitz
August 9, 2022

The recent tensions between the United States and the People’s Republic of China over Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan could further deteriorate into open conflict. Israel cannot take a direct role in this conflict, but Jerusalem should send a clear message: Israel stands unequivocally with America. This is also the right time to reevaluate Israel’s relations with Taiwan. There is no reason to stick a finger into the eye of the Communist Chinese dragon. This is unnecessary as Jerusalem confronts its near enemies, most notably the Islamic Republic of Iran. But warmer relations between the democratic Jewish state and a democratic Chinese state, both under assault by dangerous dictatorships, is smart policy. READ MORE

Posted in Israel & Middle East, Politics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

“Putin was supposed to be the Good Tsar. Instead he has closed the Jewish Agency. And now tens of thousands of Jews fear being trapped in Russia”

Posted on August 5, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

COMMON SENSE
A New Iron Curtain Descends on Russia’s Jews
Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt
August 9, 2022

Vladimir Putin was supposed to be The Good Tsar—the Russian president who, his KGB past notwithstanding, was a friend of the Jews. In Putin’s Russia, we could be billionaires and presidential advisers. We could go to shul. We could come and go as we pleased. My in-laws, Chief Rabbi Pinchas and Rebbetzin Dara Goldschmidt, were evidence of that. From 1993 until this year, my father-in-law was the chief rabbi of Moscow; my mother-in-law founded a Jewish school there…Since [March], more Jews have emigrated from Russia to Israel than they have from Ukraine. READ MORE

Posted in Israel & Middle East, Jewish, Politics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

“I shake my head in frustration at why so many left-wing Jewish Democrats are willing to abandon Israel and continue to vote blindly for their grandparents’ Democratic Party without demanding that it marginalize its anti-Israel extremists”

Posted on August 5, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

GATESTONE
Is the Jewish Democratic Council Really Jewish – or Just Democrats?
Alan M. Dershowitz
August 3, 2022

As President Joe Biden was returning from his productive trip to the Middle East, the Jewish Democratic Council was holding a fundraiser on Martha’s Vineyard to support Democratic candidates in the 2022 midterm elections and to help elect a Democratic president in 2024. Former President Bill Clinton and former Senator Hillary Clinton were the guests of honor and speakers, thus suggesting that this organization purports to represent mainstream Jewish Democrats…At this so-called “Jewish” event, there was no discussion of Israel, or the existential threat it faces as Iran comes closer to constructing a nuclear arsenal. Nor was there any discussion of the increasing anti-Semitism within the so-called “progressive” wing of the Democratic Party…READ MORE

Posted in Israel & Middle East, Jewish, Politics | Leave a comment

Israelis or Palestinians: Who’s More Tolerant?

Posted on August 5, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

Posted in Islam, Israel & Middle East, Jewish, Politics | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

“Ben and Jerry’s speak with a forked tongue”

Posted on August 5, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK POST
Israeli students accuse Ben & Jerry’s of occupying tribal land in Vermont
Carl Campanile
August 9, 2022

Israeli students claim that ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s is “illegally” occupying land in Vermont that once belonged to a Abenaki native American tribe and should practice what it preaches and immediately evacuate the properties. A cheeky letter sent to B&J — signed by more than 1,000 Israeli students and academics affiliated with Students for Justice in America — accuses B&J of of hypocrisy. “We have concluded that your company’s occupation of the Abenaki lands is illegal and we believe it is wholly inconsistent with the stated values that Ben & Jerry’s purports to maintain…” READ MORE

Posted in Israel & Middle East, Jewish, Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

“President Joe Biden entered office determined to abrogate Trump’s foreign policy initiatives. That the Abraham Accords are the sole survivor is a testament to their logic and strength”

Posted on August 5, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

WASHINGTON JEWISH WEEK
How the Abraham Accords Took a Different Path
Michael Rubin
August 3, 2022

…Greenblatt also describe the evolution and logic of the Bahrain conference that unveiled a $50 billion investment plan for the Palestinians. The plan aimed for Palestinian viability without uprooting anyone from homes, something Greenblatt recognized would lead to civil unrest. Pundits ridiculed it and Palestinians ultimately boycotted, but they miscalculated. Both Arab states and Israel were serious about moving forward with or without the Palestinians. Simply put, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Sudan got tired of waiting. Greenblatt estimates they could sow $70 billion in new trade and investment over the next decade.The peace dividend could increase by an order of magnitude if other countries join in. READ MORE

Posted in Islam, Israel & Middle East, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“The attacks on pro-Israel Professor Hill were launched even though leftist thinking dictates he should enjoy triple-protected status because he checks three boxes on the all-important intersectional checklist: he’s black, gay, and an immigrant”

Posted on August 5, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

FRONT PAGE MAG
Persecuting a Pro-Israel Scholar
Matthew Vadum
August 11, 2022

A white DePaul University professor mocked her black Jamaican-born colleague Jason D. Hill, claiming he came from a “shit-hole” country after Hill wrote an op-ed expressing support for the state of Israel. The smear may be shocking to some but it’s just another day on an American university campus nowadays. To the academic Left, supporting Israel is arguably the worst thing anyone can do. Backing the Jewish state is an unforgivable sin in their eyes. To these people, saying anything good about Israel is a crime against humanity. They believe that perpetrators of such thought crimes need to be made examples of and punished with the utmost severity. READ MORE

Posted in Chicago, Israel & Middle East, Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The race in Michigan between progressive Levin and moderate Stevens caught the attention of both AIPAC and J Street PACs. AIPAC called Stevens’s Tuesday victory “monumental” for US-Israel relationship

Posted on August 4, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Rep. Haley Stevens defeats Rep. Andy Levin in Michigan Dem. primary
Haley Cohen, Omri Nahmias
August 3, 2022

In a critical Michigan primary featuring two incumbent Democratic members of Congress facing off, Rep. Haley Stevens defeated Andy Levin on Tuesday night in a heated race between Jewish and pro-Israel groups. The race between the progressive Levin, 61, who is Jewish, and the moderate Stevens, 38 – one-time cordial allies both first elected to the House in 2018 – caught the attention of political action committees (PACs) of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and J Street. In Tuesday’s primary for the Detroit area’s 11th District, the AIPAC-PAC backed Stevens, while J Street PAC backed Levin. READ MORE

JTA Jewish political dynasty ends as Rep. Haley Stevens ousts Rep. Andy Levin in Michigan Democratic primary Stevens’ decisive win concluded a bank-busting primary that attracted more than $4 million in pro-Israel outside spending to a face-off between two incumbents in the Detroit suburbs.

JNS AIPAC-backed congressional candidate in Michigan loses primary to multi-millionaire Democrat winner Thanedar, who ran for office for the first time in 2018 in a failed bid to get the Democratic nomination for governor of Michigan, has concerned Jewish organizations regarding his positions on Israel.

Posted in Israel & Middle East, Jewish, Politics | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment