Hundreds of American rabbis across the political spectrum sign open letter pushing back against increasing intolerance within Jewish community

Posted on January 14, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

JEWISH JOURNAL
Will Rabbis’ Statement Spark a Moment of Reckoning for the Jewish Community?
by Monica Osborne
January 13, 2022

The past nearly two years have left indelible marks on the soul of America. We have become increasingly divided on every issue imaginable. Whether it’s how best to address racial injustice, how to understand the delicate nuances of gender and sexuality, whether to establish COVID-19 mandates, or which voices we can trust when it comes to vaccines and the pandemic, our rhetoric has become explosive and alienating almost without exception. We wear our outrage and anger more prominently than our compassion and understanding, which have become little more than remnants of a time barely recalled. Battle lines are drawn on every front, and we’ve stopped both listening and talking to one another. With societal cracks and fissures more apparent than ever, we’ve ceased to be a community in the truest sense of the word. READ MORE

Read letter from “Committee of Concerned Rabbis” with signatories

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The bad guy was killed. The good guys were saved. But the reaction to the hostage-taking in Colleyville, Texas, should alarm American Jews.

Posted on January 14, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

COMMON SENSE
Being Jewish in an Unraveling America
by Bari Weiss
January 17, 2022

Last week, I met a rabbi in Los Angeles. We talked about surfing where to get the best pizza in the city and her kids and politics. At the end of the evening, she was making plans with a colleague, and they extended an invitation. Would I want to go to the shooting range with them next weekend? I thought about the rabbi with her guns a lot over this Shabbat, as Jews who had gathered for services at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, were taken hostage by a man named Malik Faisal Akram. After nearly 11 hours, thanks to earthly miracles of law enforcement and perhaps heavenly ones as well, they were freed unharmed. Akram, who had predicted his own death in his rantings captured on Facebook livestream, was dead. READ MORE

NEW YORK POST Jewish leaders call FBI comments on Texas hostages ‘insulting’ Jewish leaders ripped the FBI on Monday and said the bureau “got it wrong” when they said the terrorist who took hostages at a Texas synagogue didn’t make demands that were “specifically related to the Jewish community,” reports said.

Brooke Goldstein on Fox News: FBI Slammed for Downplaying Antisemitism Motive

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Only 2nd time an Israeli-led measure at UN has ever passed; initiative earns 114 cosponsors, approved by consensus; Iran opposes but can’t force vote since it hasn’t paid UN dues

Posted on January 14, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
UN General Assembly adopts Israeli resolution aimed at combating Holocaust denial
by Jacob Magid
January 20, 2022

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution aimed at combatting Holocaust denial on Thursday, in what was just the second time since Israel’s establishment that a measure its delegation brought before the forum managed to pass. The resolution provides a specific classification for Holocaust denial, using the working definition put together by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. It also provides actions expected to be taken by signatory countries in order to address the phenomenon, and demands social media networks remove posts that fall under the IHRA definition. One hundred and fourteen countries cosponsored Resolution A/76/L30 and only Iran publicly voiced its opposition. READ MORE

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Since announcing its boycott of Judea and Samaria, “Unilever stock value has plunged 20.7% translating into a $26 billion loss”

Posted on January 14, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

J-WIRE
Following boycott on Israel, Unilever shares in unprecedented dive
by Aryeh Savir, TPS
January 20, 2022

Half a year after notifying Avi Singer, the owner of Ben & Jerry’s Israel, of the termination of the company’s contract with him due to his refusal to boycott Judea and Samaria, Unilever shares are in an unprecedented dive. Over the last six months, the company’s stock plunged 20.7% translating into a $26 billion loss. For comparison, the stock of major competitor Nestle has risen 5% in the last six months…Through cooperation with 33 US states that enacted anti-boycott laws against Israel, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Jewish communities have managed to trigger the anti-boycott laws against Unilever which led to the withdrawal of investments, holdings and pension funds. READ MORE

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“While the PA says that it is strongly opposed to the idea of Israel being a Jewish state, it has no problem defining itself as “Arab” and “Islamic”

Posted on January 14, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

GATESTONE
Arab Racism and the ‘Jewish State’
by Khaled Abu Toameh
January 13, 2022

Palestinians and other Arabs are furious because Mansour Abbas — an Arab member of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, and head of the United List Party — announced that he recognizes Israel as a Jewish state. Abbas is being denounced as a “traitor” and “Zionist” by many Palestinians and Arabs who define their countries and political systems as “Arab” or “Islamic.” They claim that the idea of a Jewish state is “racist” but seem not to feel the same way about openly Islamic states: The Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. If the Palestinians, as well as Arab and Islamic countries, are labelling Israel as racist because it wants to define itself as a Jewish state, then they too are racists because they insist on defining themselves as “Arabs” and “Muslims.” READ MORE

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Watch Daniel Rosenberg, a British Jewish podcast host, excoriate his friends and countrymen for being “content” with antisemitism under the guise of pity for Palestinians

Posted on January 14, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

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#LosAngeles: Four months after new cultural center’s splashy opening, big donors and showbiz veterans wonder why many of Hollywood’s “founding fathers” are absent from its exhibits

Posted on January 14, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

ROLLING STONE
‘Where Are the Jews?’: Scandal Erupts at the Academy Museum
by Tatiana Siegel
January 13, 2022

…Though eyebrows were raised by the fact that the A-list revelers mingled maskless inside the 33,000-square-foot space on Wilshire Boulevard at a time when celebrities were publicly chastising those who ignored Covid precautions, a much bigger controversy was brewing. Donors and influential Academy members, many of whom already had received private tours, were outraged that Hollywood’s origin story — wherein a group of mostly Jewish émigrés fled persecution in their home countries to create what would become a multibillion-dollar, American-led industry — was conspicuously absent. READ MORE

TIMES OF ISRAEL Absence of Jewish legacy at LA’s Academy Museum of Motion Pictures spurs outcry Patrons threaten to pull their support if mention isn’t made of Hollywood’s ‘founding fathers,’ immigrant Jews who laid foundations for the filmmaking industry…ADL’s Jonathan Greenblatt: “As I walked through, I literally turned to the person I was there with and said to him, ‘Where are the Jews?’” 

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Kontorovich: Does Israel occupy the West Bank ?

Posted on January 14, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

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Biden: If you oppose my plan to nationalize elections—seizing control from the states—you’re a knuckle-dragging, “Bull Connor” racist

Posted on January 14, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

SPECTATOR WORLD
The little president who cried racism
by Charles Lipson
January 15, 2022

President Biden’s wisdom and penetrating intelligence sometimes escape him. So far, they have stayed away for fifty years and show no signs of returning. They are often accompanied by wild exaggerations, invented personal stories and hyperbolic attacks on opponents. Examples are not hard to find, and the public is catching on. The latest fulmination came during a campaign-style rally in Atlanta on Tuesday, aimed at supporting his bill to nationalize election laws. Since that bill contravenes America’s long, constitutionally enshrined tradition that state legislatures control voting rules (as long as they don’t violate individual civil rights), the bill will fail in the Senate, blocked by the filibuster. READ MORE

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“The fact that the White House messaging is focused on assigning blame is a harbinger of bad news from the talks in Vienna”

Posted on January 7, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
White House’s Trump blame game is a bad sign for Iran talks
by Lahav Harkov
January 13, 2022

When asked how the indirect negotiations between the US and Iran to restore the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal were going, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki avoided answering the actual question, and instead launched into a revisionist history lesson blaming former president Donald Trump for Iran’s aggression. There are many good-faith criticisms of Trump’s decision to be made, but many of the things Psaki said were simply false. Plus, the fact that the White House messaging is focused on assigning blame is a harbinger of bad news from the talks in Vienna. READ MORE

JERUSALEM POST Is Biden team right that Trump caused Iran proxy wars? The Iran nuclear deal of 2015 never actually slowed the Islamic Republic’s terror activities in the Middle East, but actually expanded them.

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