Iran hopes to stoke fear that its “breakout timing” is shrinking and thereby increase pressure on the Biden administration to reenter the #IranDeal before time runs out

JINSA
Iran’s Newest Nuclear Steps Won’t Make Up for Delays Caused by Explosion
by Blaise Misztal and Jonathan Ruhe
April 15, 2021

Iran’s Newest Nuclear Steps Won’t Make Up for Delays Caused by ExplosionIran has attempted to make up for an April 11 explosion at its Natanz enrichment facility by announcing new nuclear advances: enriching uranium to 60 percent and installing an additional 1,000 advanced centrifuges. Though these moves are designed to regain leverage and convince the United States to grant Iran sanctions relief, neither of these announcements will, for now, materially accelerate Iran’s ability to sprint for a nuclear weapon. Instead, the explosion at Natanz appears to have set back Iran’s “breakout” clock — the amount of time needed to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for a single nuclear weapon — by roughly two months. READ MORE

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Rep. Betty McCollum’s bill conditioning Israel aid is being backed by several left-wing groups such as J Street, IfNotNow, Jewish Voice for Peace and Americans for Peace Now

JNS
AIPAC Blasts Bill Proposed by Minnesota Rep. McCollum to Condition US Aid to Israel
April 15, 2021

AIPAC blasted a new bill introduced by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) that would condition U.S. aid to Israel to ensure that no tax dollars contribute to alleged civil-rights and human-rights abuses against Palestinians. The proposed legislation, “Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act,” is similar to prior bills McCollum has introduced, reported The Hill. This one would bar the use of American aid for detaining Palestinian youth, destroying Palestinian homes or property or annexing Palestinian-owned land…In a series of tweets, AIPAC said it opposes the anti-Israel bill that “would condition aid to Israel, undermine U.S. interests and make peace less likely.” READ MORE

JEWISH INSIDER Five other Democrat members of Congress have signed on as co-sponsors so far Reps. Bobby Rush (D-IL), Danny Davis (D-IL), Andre Carson (D-IN), Marie Newman (D-IL) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) — have signed on as cosponsors as of 4 p.m. Wednesday, according to a McCollum spokesperson.

AIPAC ALERT The United States provides security assistance to Israel because it advances American interests and helps ensure the Jewish state has the means necessary to defend itself—by itself—against growing threats. Reps. Ted Deutch (D-FL) and Michael McCaul (R-TX) are circulating a letter for signature that reinforces the bipartisan consensus that aid to Israel serves American interests. Please urge your representative to sign the Deutch/McCaul letter. Click this link to send an automatic letter to your congressman.

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“The death in Jerusalem of the 86-year-old leader has robbed the Jewish world of one of its towering figures at a time when it is particularly ill-equipped for such a loss”

JNS
The moral courage of Isi Leibler
by Melanie Phillips
April 15, 2021

The death in Jerusalem of Isi Leibler at the age of 86 has robbed the Jewish world of one of its towering figures at a time when it is particularly ill-equipped for such a loss. Leibler, who was head of the Australian Jewish community before he immigrated to Israel, became a multi-millionaire global Jewish leader who was influential for decades on the international stage. His efforts helped pave the way for diplomatic relations to be established between Israel and China and for full diplomatic relations between Israel and India. READ MORE

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Progressive Democrat takes to House floor with speech honoring Israel on its 73rd birthday

ALGEMEINER
Israel Reminds Us That It Is Possible to Overcome’: Ritchie Torres Gives Israeli Independence Day Speech From House Floor
by Staff
April 16, 2021

US Congressman Ritchie Torres took to the floor of the US House of Representatives Thursday to mark Israel’s Independence Day. “Israel embodies the resilience, the ingenuity, the can-do come back spirit of humanity at its best,” said the New York Democrat in remarks from the House floor, at the end of a day marking Israel’s 73rd year of independence. Torres — a progressive Democrat who was elected to represent New York’s 15th Congressional district in 2020has cast himself as part of the “long tradition of Zionism on the left,” and cautioned against “deep strain of antisemitism” found in some left-wing quarters. READ MORE

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Professor Gil Troy: “Why I am a Zionist”

UNPACKED
Professor Gil Troy’s essay “Why I am a Zionist”

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What many think, but few have the courage to speak: “I object to the view that I should be judged by the color of my skin. I cannot tolerate a school that not only judges my daughter by the color of her skin, but encourages and instructs her to prejudge others by theirs”

NEW YORK POST
Dad who wrote scathing letter to Brearley about race focus: ‘Someone had to’
by Dana Kennedy
April 17, 2021

A father fed up with an elite Manhattan prep school’s heavy-handed focus on race won’t re-enroll his daughter in the fall, accusing the school of trying to “brainwash” kids with woke philosophies rather than teaching them how to think on their own. In a scathing 1,700-word letter Andrew Gutmann mailed to 650 families — a screed since gone viral — he blasted the posh, all-girls Brearley School’s “cowardly and appalling lack of leadership [for] appeasing an anti-intellectual, illiberal mob.” The April 13 missive — published this week on journalist Bari Weiss’ blog — became public the same day the headmaster of the famed Dalton School resigned over controversial “anti-racism” curriculum and policies that had outraged many parents. READ MORE

COMMON SENSE WITH BARI WEISS You Have to Read This Letter It cannot be stated strongly enough that Brearley’s obsession with race must stop. It should be abundantly clear to any thinking parent that Brearley has completely lost its way. The administration and the Board of Trustees have displayed a cowardly and appalling lack of leadership by appeasing an anti-intellectual, illiberal mob, and then allowing the school to be captured by that same mob…By viewing every element of education, every aspect of history, and every facet of society through the lens of skin color and race, we are desecrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and utterly violating the movement for which such civil rights leaders believed, fought, and died. 

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Attack on Iranian nuclear site “reportedly carried out through a remotely detonated device smuggled into the facility”

JERUSALEM POST
Natanz attack hit 50 meters underground, destroyed most of the facility
by Tzvi Joffre, Yonah Jeremy Bob
April 13, 2021

The alleged Israeli attack on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility targeted an electrical substation located 40 to 50 meters underground and damaged “thousands of centrifuges,” Iranian officials revealed in recent days. Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani, former head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, told Iranian media on Monday that the attack hit an electrical substation located deep underground and managed to damage both the power distribution system and the cable leading to the centrifuges in order to cut power to them. The Iranian official stressed that such an operation takes years, saying “the design of the enemy was very beautiful.” READ MORE

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“Alas, as president, Joe Biden has shown that his words as vice president condemning Palestinian terrorism were mere empty gestures. The Martyrs Fund has not gone away. “Pay for slay” lives on”

NEWSWEEK
Biden’s Taylor Force Betrayal
by A.J. Caschetta
April 12, 2021

Joe Biden’s recent gift of $235 million in aid to the Palestinians violates the spirit of the Taylor Force Act and betrays the memory of Taylor Force himself. Any ephemeral policy success Biden achieved with the move comes at the expense of whatever is left of his integrity. Taylor Force was a West Point graduate, U.S. Army veteran and graduate student at Vanderbilt University. He was 28 years old when he was murdered in Israel by a Palestinian terrorist named Bashar Masalha on March 8, 2016. Masalha wounded 10 others in his attack before being killed by Israeli police. His family immediately attained celebrity status among many Palestinians and his “martyrdom” was applauded by major Palestinian groups: Fatah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. READ MORE

JNS Jonathan Tobin: Can Biden fund the Palestinians without breaking the law? The administration thinks that it can legally bypass the Taylor Force Act. Doing so won’t help anyone except Abbas’s corrupt thugs. But it will spite Trump.

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Israel’s new border fence has three levels: “a deep underground layer, an upper fence physical layer, and an upper hi-tech layer that includes detection devices like robots, drones, unmanned ground vehicles and more”

REAL CLEAR DEFENSE
A Closer Look at Israel’s New High-Tech Barrier
by Jacob Nagel and Jonathan Schanzer
April 10, 2021

Israel reported significant progress last month on an underground fence around the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Officials say Israel is close to completing the underground component and can see the finish line with the above-ground elements (roughly 80% complete). Once fully assembled, the three-layered barrier may be the most sophisticated barrier in the world. The threat to Israel from Gaza and other adjacent territories has been constant. Suicide bombings by Hamas, Fatah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad during the Second Intifada prompted Israel to build a barrier to control border crossings. This inspired Hamas to instead construct and fire thousands of crude rockets into Israel. READ MORE

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Israel’s Jewish percentage dropping; “In 1948, the Jewish percentage of the population stood at 82.1%, while today it stands at only 73.9%”

JERUSALEM POST
Jewish population at lowest percentage since founding of Israel
by Moshe Cohen
April 12, 2021

The proportion of Jews in Israel’s population fell below the threshold of 74% for the first time this year, data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) published on Monday in honor of Israel’s 73rd Independence Day has revealed. The report shows that close to the establishment of the state in 1948, the Jewish percentage of the population stood at 82.1%, while today it stands at only 73.9%. On Israel’s 70th Independence Day, the rate of Jews was 74.5%, a decrease of more than half a percent in just three years. Additional data reveals that on the eve of this Independence Day, the population of Israel is about 9.327 million. Segmentation shows that about 6.984 million are Jews (73.9%) and about 1.966 million are Arabs (21.1%), including Muslims, Arab Christians and Druze. READ MORE

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