“I once asked her why she married him [her first husband], and she said, quite succinctly and enigmatically, “because he made me feel like shit”

COMMENTARY
A Son’s Eulogy for Midge Decter (1927-2022)
John Podhoretz
May 12, 2022

Where did she come from? That’s what we were asking ourselves, my sister and my father and I, after she left us and this world on the morning of May 9, 2022. Of course, we know where she came from in the strictest sense. She was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on July 25, 1927. Her mother had also been born, amazingly enough for a Jew, in the Twin Cities in the year 1894, the youngest of ten whose parents had immigrated from Lithuania quite a while earlier. And her father? His mother bore him at 14 in Poland after marrying a much older man over her own parents’s objections. He was a widower with children of his own who turned out to be a drunk. He beat her one night when she was newly pregnant. READ MORE

This eulogy was delivered at the funeral of Midge Podhoretz, which took place on May 11 at Riverside Memorial Chapel in New York City. She died on May 9, 2022, at the age of 94.

Posted in Jewish, Politics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

“A Kremlin readout of the phone call made no mention of an apology, rather stressing that Russia and Israel shared the same commitment to preserving the memory of the Holocaust’

ALGEMEINER
Putin Apologizes for Lavrov’s Holocaust Comments, Israeli PM’s Office Says
Ben Cohen
May 5, 2022

Israel said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had apologized to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for the widely-panned comments of his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, about the Nazi Holocaust in the context of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. A statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s office noted that the two leaders had “discussed Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov’s remarks” during a phone call. “The Prime Minister accepted President Putin’s apology for Lavrov’s remarks and thanked him for clarifying his attitude towards the Jewish people and the memory of the Holocaust,” the statement said. READ MORE

JNS Melanie Phillips: Why Russia has once again turned on the Jews Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, caused outrage earlier this week after he was asked on Italian TV how Russia could claim to be “de-Nazifying” Ukraine when its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish. Lavrov replied: “I could be wrong, but Hitler also had Jewish blood. That [Zelensky is Jewish] means absolutely nothing. Wise Jewish people say that the most rabid anti-Semites are usually Jews.”

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

“This is a massacre and bloodbath that is reminiscent of dark days in the history of Israel”

JPOST
3 dead, 4 injured in terror attack in Elad in central Israel
Anna Ahronheim and Tzvi Joffre
May 5, 2022

At least three people were killed and four others injured in a terrorist attack in the Israeli city of Elad near Petah Tikva towards the end of Independence Day. All three victims were men in their 40s….”Unfortunately, this incident will be deeply etched in my heart,” said MDA volunteer Moti Tsinvert. “In all my years as an emergency medicine paramedic, I have not encountered such a severe scene of multiple casualties with significant penetrating injuries, residents who went out just to breathe fresh air in the park, and their lives were ended so harshly.” READ MORE

JPOST From grief to joy: Why Israel marks Remembrance Day the day before Independence Day The sudden transition from mourning to celebration is tied to events that marred the birth of the state, historians reveal. To date, some 24,068 soldiers have died due to their service since 1860; this figure also includes members of underground militias that existed before the state was formed. At the same time, 4,217 civilians have been killed in terrorist acts since 1881.

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

Bipartisan Senate measure calls for addressing a wider range of Iranian activity and opposes removing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ terror designation

JEWISH INSIDER
62 senators, including 16 Democrats, vote to oppose nuclear-only Iran deal
Marc Rod
May 4, 2022

A majority of senators, including 16 Democrats, voted on Wednesday night in favor of a non-binding Senate measure that opposes entering into an Iran deal addressing only the regime’s nuclear program as well as the removal of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ terrorism designation. The final vote on the measure was 62 to 33…The motion instructs the senators negotiating the final bill with the House to “insist” that the legislation include language requiring any nuclear weapons agreement with Iran to include provisions “addressing the full range of Iran’s destabilizing activities,” including missiles, terrorism and sanctions evasion; does not lift any sanctions on the IRGC; and does not revoke the IRGC’s terror designation. READ MORE

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

New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage bans the Florida governor to promote ‘its message of inclusivity.’

WALL STREET JOURNAL
Ron DeSantis Is Persona Non Grata at a Holocaust Memorial
Elliott Abrams and Eric Cohen
May 5, 2022

…A few years ago, we helped launch the Jewish Leadership Conference, an annual gathering to consider the challenges facing the Jewish people and Israel. It is hosted by Tikvah, a 20-year old Jewish educational and cultural institution whose main activity in America is teaching young Jews about Jewish history and civilization. We thought it would be interesting to invite Gov. Ron DeSantis to discuss how the “Florida model” has contributed to the growth and vitality of Jewish life in his state. The event was to be held at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City. Until, as the saying goes, we got canceled. READ MORE

The Jewish Leadership Conference has moved to a new venue (with Governor DeSantis).

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

“But integral as The Crimson has been, I am first and foremost a Jew; and in light of the role Israel plays in my people’s history as our homeland and haven from persecution, I am a Zionist, and I stand with Israel”

HARVARD CRIMSON
I Am a Crimson Editor and I Stand with Israel
Natalie L. Kahn
May 3, 2022

On April 29, I woke up to a flurry of messages from students, alumni, and journalists regarding a new piece published by The Crimson’s Editorial Board declaring it was “proud to finally lend our support to both Palestinian liberation and [Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions]” and now would “call on everyone to do the same.” As both president of Harvard Hillel and Associate News Editor for The Crimson, many of the questions I received pertained to my dual affiliation with these two organizations, now seemingly at odds with one another. I have worked for The Crimson since freshman year, and it has been an integral part of my time at Harvard — some nights I am there until 2 or 3 a.m. as an executive, after four semesters of reporting. READ MORE

ALGEMEINER Ronn Torossian: More Antisemitism at Harvard Last month, in a report sent to the United Nations, a clinic at Harvard Law School deemed Israel to be an “an apartheid regime.” Now, the editorial board of the Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper at Harvard, has endorsed the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. They also expressed support for Harvard’s Palestine Solidarity Committee, a student group that annually hosts an “Israeli Apartheid Week” on campus. The editorial says, “We are proud to finally lend our support to both Palestinian liberation and BDS — and we call on everyone to do the same.”

HARVARD CRIMSON To the Editor: In Response to ‘In Support of Boycott, Divest, Sanctions and a Free Palestine’ In general I think the content of the Crimson should be up to undergraduates not alumni, and in the almost 30 years since I was president this is the first time I can remember that I am furious enough to write with a complaint. That is an indicator of how disgusted I was with the staff editorial, published the morning after Holocaust Remembrance Day, singling out Israel, among all other nations, for boycott, divestment, and sanctions.

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

The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas warned Saturday of attacks on synagogues if Israeli forces carry out another raid on the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque in annexed east Jerusalem.

FRANCE 24
Hamas warns of synagogue attacks in case of new Al-Aqsa raid
April 30, 2022

“Whoever takes the decision to repeat this scene (of a deployment inside the mosque) will be taking the decision to destroy thousands of synagogues across the world,” Yahya Sinwar, Hamas chief in the Gaza Strip, said in a speech. Israeli police have over the past two weeks clashed repeatedly with Palestinian protesters at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, with footage showing them firing tear gas inside the mosque, sparking condemnation from across the Muslim world. “You should be ready for a great battle if the (Israeli) occupation does not stop attacking Al-Aqsa mosque,” said Sinwar. READ MORE

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

A new documentary about the making of #FiddlerOnTheRoof evokes wonder at our idealization of a past that wasn’t very nice

TABLET MAG
Nostalgia for the Slaughterhouse
Phyllis Chesler
April 27, 2022

…Remember the wedding scene in Fiddler? Tevye is warned by a friendly, local official that he was ordered to disrupt, make a little trouble, nothing too serious … but the real pogroms were all too serious. According to Astashkevich, pogroms came in waves, one after the other, and each one may have “lasted for ten days while the town changed hands … (then) the pogrom would start over with the most vigorous brutality.” In this time period (1917-1921), there were “over a thousand pogroms in about five hundred localities.” Astashkevich considers this a “genocide” and the frequent, systematic use of rape as a weapon may be considered “genocidal rape.” READ MORE

TIMES OF ISRAEL Documentary takes film lovers behind the scenes of making ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ ‘Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen’ breaks down the movie magic of a beloved 50-year-old musical, and shows how the film brought gentile director Norman Jewison closer to Judaism

Posted in Jewish, Politics | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

FBI investigating Highland Park hate fliers

LAKE MCHENRY SCANNER
Flyers containing anti-Semitic hate speech littered in Highland Park on Holocaust remembrance day
Sam Borcia
April 29, 2022

City officials say they are working with police and the FBI after flyers containing “repugnant” anti-Semitic hate speech were found littered in Highland Park on Yom HaShoah, a Holocaust remembrance day. The City of Highland Park said in a statement that members of the community, along with other communities throughout the North Shore, discovered the flyers in their neighborhoods Thursday morning. The Highland Park Police Department is working closely with area police departments, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to “ensure continued community safety.” READ MORE

Posted in Israel & Middle East | Leave a comment

“Biden administration continues to court Iran and seems poised to remove the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations even as the IRGC has deployed cells to assassinate former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former national security advisor John Bolton”

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
No one to talk to in Washington
Caroline Glick
April 29, 2022

…The [Biden] administration green-lighted the transfer to Tehran of billions of dollars of Iranian government funds frozen under US sanctions imposed by Trump’s maximum pressure campaign. The administration stopped enforcing bans on Iranian oil and gas exports. Due to the administration’s moves, today Iran reportedly earns as much from oil and gas exports as it did before Trump barred the sale of Iranian fuels on international markets. The Biden administration blocked the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency from publishing a harsh report condemning Iran’s massive breaches of the 2015 nuclear deal and outlining its illicit nuclear activities…READ MORE

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