Bill Maher spends nearly 10 minutes discussing recent conflict, takes aim at celebrities such as Bella Hadid: ‘You can’t learn history from Instagram’

Posted on May 30, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

JTA
Bill Maher defends Israel on his HBO show: ‘You can’t learn history from Instagram’
by Gabe Friedman
May 30, 2021

Bill Maher spent nearly 10 minutes of his HBO talk show Friday night defending Israel, bringing up ancient Jewish history and showing comparative maps of the state from its early days to today. The liberal comedian and political commentator reserved a large portion of his comments for those who have criticized Israel before and during its recent military conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Maher took aim at the social media messages posted by celebrities such as model Bella Hadid that accused Israel of war crimes. “You can’t learn history from Instagram. There’s just not enough space,” he said. READ MORE

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“Two decades after a terrorist murdered 21 young people at a Tel Aviv disco, the group’s central goal is the same: The end of Israel”

Posted on May 30, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Hamas then, Hamas now
by David Harris
June 1, 2021

It was exactly 20 years ago. My wife and I were attending a Shabbat dinner in Madrid on June 1st when someone gave us the news. A suicide bomber had struck a seaside discotheque, the Dolphinarium, in Tel Aviv. There were reportedly many casualties. The final death toll was 21 youngsters, ages 14-25. They were mostly Russian-speaking immigrants out for a night of fun. Another 100 people were wounded. The terrorist was armed and sent by Hamas. His aim was to kill as many Israelis, as many Jews, as possible. His father, upon hearing the news, proudly declared his son to be a “martyr.” READ MORE

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The legendary comedian takes a deep dive into the all-too-familiar spike in hatred for diaspora communities when Israel takes on terrorists

Posted on May 30, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

JEWISH NEWS
There are three constants in life: death, taxes and antisemitism
by Jackie Mason
May 21, 2021

Well, it is happening again. My grandfather told me about it. My father told me about it. Every other Jew who came over from Europe told me about it. Even the New York Times told me about it. You got it, antisemitism and the persecution of Jews. When I was a young man sometime in the early part of last century, whenever I looked into the NY Times  classified section for a job that I really needed, the jobs available would say “White Christian only”. The NY Times wasn’t always as woke as it is now. I’m not even as woke as I am now, because I just fell asleep while writing this sentence. READ MORE

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Biden breaks Jerusalem Embassy Act that sought to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem no later than 1999 — a law Biden voted for along with 92 other senators

Posted on May 27, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK POST
Biden’s plan for a diplomatic mission to the Palestinians blatantly violates US law
by Mark Meadows and David Milstein
May 26, 2021

As presidential candidate, Joe Biden was asked if he would reverse President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the relocation of the US Embassy to Jerusalem. Biden promised, “I wouldn’t reverse it.” But candidate Biden also proposed re-opening the US diplomatic mission to the Palestinians in Jerusalem, which had merged with the Jerusalem embassy in 2019. Now Team Biden is moving forward with the latter initiative…The move contradicts Biden’s campaign promise not to renege on the recognition of Jerusalem, since a pair of missions in the same city undercuts Jerusalem’s status as Israel’s capital. READ MORE

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“The IDF used artificial intelligence and supercomputing during the last conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip”

Posted on May 27, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Israel’s operation against Hamas was the world’s first AI war
by Anna Ahronheim
May 27, 2021

Having relied heavily on machine learning, the Israeli military is calling Operation Guardian of the Walls the first artificial-intelligence war. “For the first time, artificial intelligence was a key component and power multiplier in fighting the enemy,” an IDF Intelligence Corps senior officer said. “This is a first-of-its-kind campaign for the IDF. We implemented new methods of operation and used technological developments that were a force multiplier for the entire IDF.” In 11 days of fighting in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military carried out intensive strikes against Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets. It targeted key infrastructure and personnel belonging to the two groups, the IDF said. READ MORE

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How one chooses to celebrate Henry Kissinger’s 98th birthday “may well depend on their previous readings about the former Secretary of State and National Security adviser”

Posted on May 27, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

FORWARD
Kissinger at 98: ‘If it were not for the accident of my birth, I would be antisemitic’
by Benjamin Ivry
May 27, 2021

Those who appreciated Niall Ferguson’s hagiographical two-volume biography will applaud Kissinger’s role as the first Jewish secretary of state and his success in helping to achieve détente with Communist China and the Soviet Union. By contrast, political writers Seymour Hersh and especially Christopher Hitchens have pointed to a series of alleged war crimes by Kissinger in Vietnam, Bangladesh, Chile, Cyprus and East Timor marked by decisions made with apparent blithe unconcern for human suffering and loss of life…Walter Isaacson explains that at a contemporaneous meeting of the Washington Special Actions Group…Kissinger grumbled, “If it were not for the accident of my birth, I would be antisemitic.” He added: “Any people who has been persecuted for two thousand years must be doing something wrong.” READ MORE

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The #NYTimes mantra: It’s all Israel’s fault. It’s all Israel’s fault. It’s all monstrous Israel’s fault.

Posted on May 27, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

CAMERA
As Hamas Fired Rockets, NY Times Opinion Joined the Assault on Israel
by Gilead Ini
May 27, 2021

…By publishing one anti-Israel essay after another after another, New York Times editors were taking advantage of a persuasion technique. The “mere-exposure effect” describes how people develop preferences for ideas that they’re more exposed to. By repeating anti-Israel messages, newspaper also manufactures “social proof” — the persuasive phenomenon in which people tend to drift toward positions or behaviors that they believe many others are also engaged in…As the New York Times news section noted this week, the recent surge in antisemitic violence in the U.S. has mostly been at the hands of “perpetrators expressing support for the Palestinian cause.” Opinion editors might consider what their role is in cultivating an atmosphere in which attacks on innocent Israeli Jews, and on innocent American Jews, are viewed as justified. READ MORE

ALGEMEINER Abe Foxman Cancels New York Times Subscription Over Front-Page ‘Blood Libel,’ Anti-Israel Bias The national director emeritus of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, has publicly canceled his subscription to the New York Times, explaining in a tweet: “Today’s blood libel of Israel and the Jewish people on the front page is enough.” Foxman verified the authenticity of the tweet — and the cancellation — in an email to The Algemeiner.

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#EilatMazar, Hebrew University scholar who unearthed ‘King David’s palace’ leaves a lasting contribution to the understanding of the archaeology and history of ancient Israel and Jerusalem

Posted on May 27, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Eilat Mazar, One of Israel’s Founders
by Daniel Polisar, Shalem College
May 27, 2021

Eilat Mazar, one of Israel’s greatest archaeologists, passed away this week at age 64. Though born a decade after the Jewish state was established, Mazar is seen by those privileged to know her as being among the country’s founders because she had that rare and unmistakable character of the generation of leaders who brought the state into being against all odds. She was driven by an instinctive love for the Land of Israel, felt deeply connected to the Bible without being traditionally religious, and embraced archaeology, with its alluring combination of the spiritual and the earthly…READ MORE

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US State Department’s allocation of $100 million in Palestinian aid prompts concerns

Posted on May 27, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

FREE BEACON
Biden Admin Can’t Guarantee Taxpayer Aid Won’t Enrich Hamas
by Adam Kredo
May 27, 2021

As the Biden administration allocates more than $100 million in U.S. taxpayer aid to the Palestinian government and aid groups, critics are raising concerns that the State Department cannot ensure this aid won’t reach the Iranian-backed terror group Hamas. State Department officials have thus far declined to outline what mechanisms, if any, it has put in place to stop a tranche of aid money from reaching Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and is responsible for initiating a deadly conflict with Israel this month. The State Department admitted this week that it could not guarantee the tranche of money will be kept from Hamas. “As we’ve seen in life, as we all know in life, there are no guarantees,” a senior department official said. READ MORE

TIMES OF ISRAEL Blinken: Israel ‘took very significant steps’ to avoid hitting Gaza civilians In interview with Israeli TV, top US diplomat laments lost lives, ‘especially children’; underlines Biden’s support for two-state solution and return to Iran accord

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U.S. Army Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds, one of five American Righteous Among the Nations, never spoke about the 200 Jews he saved

Posted on May 27, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

TABLET MAG
‘We Are All Jews Here’
by Patrick Henry
May 27, 2021

…It was German policy to single out Jewish POWs and send them to extermination or slave labor camps. Accordingly, in January 1945, the Germans announced that all Jewish prisoners in Stalag IXA would report the following morning. Twenty-five-year-old Master Sgt. Edmonds, who was responsible for all the POWs in Stalag IXA, ordered all prisoners, Jews and non-Jews, to fall out. When the German officer in charge, Maj. Siegmann, saw all the prisoners lined up in front of the barracks that next morning, he said to Edmonds: “They cannot all be Jews.” Edmonds responded: “We are all Jews here.” READ MORE

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