“The king’s tough reaction — placing his popular half-brother under house arrest and accusing him of serious crimes — illustrated the limits on public dissent he is willing to tolerate”

Posted on April 4, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jordan’s king sends tough message on dissent in royal family
by Josef Federman
April 4, 2021

Jordanian authorities said Sunday they foiled a “malicious plot” by a former crown prince to destabilize the kingdom with foreign support, contradicting the senior royal’s claims that he was being punished for speaking out against corruption and incompetence. Faced with rival narratives, the United States and Arab governments quickly sided with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, reflecting the country’s strategic importance in a turbulent region. Domestically, Prince Hamzah’s unprecedented criticism of the ruling class — without naming the king — could lend support to growing complaints about poor governance and human rights abuses in Jordan. READ MORE

AXIOS Jordan claims businessman who offered to help arrested prince is former Mossad agent An Israeli businessman with ties to the U.S. government was in touch with former Jordanian Crown Prince Hamzah bin Hussein when he was put on house arrest on Saturday, and proposed to send a private jet to take his wife and kids to Europe.

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“Speaking at the state ceremony at Yad Vashem, President Reuven Rivlin called on Israelis to embrace Holocaust survivors as they struggle with their old age and the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic”

Posted on April 4, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
Israel to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day with memorial events, 2-minute siren
by Yori Yalon
April 7, 2021

Events for the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day got underway on Wednesday evening at a state ceremony at the national memorial Yad Vashem, in Jerusalem. Speaking at the event, President Reuven Rivlin called on Israelis to embrace Holocaust survivors as they struggle with their old age and the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Some 900 died because of the virus; they survived the death camp and the ghettos, the detention and the journey to Israel, but they waged their final battle behind masks, frightened,” Rivlin said…On Thursday, Israelis will observe a two-minute moment of silence as a siren will sound all across the nation, in memory of the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. READ MORE

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US State Department report: “Palestinians distributed at least $151 million in 2019 on their “pay-to-slay” program, in which international aid dollars are spent to support imprisoned terrorists and their families”

Posted on April 4, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

GATESTONE
Palestinians: US Taxpayer Money Going to Terrorists
by Bassam Tawil
April 6, 2021

The Biden administration’s decision to resume unconditional US financial aid to the Palestinians will allow the Palestinian Authority (PA) to continue rewarding terrorists who kill Jews, and sometimes, as “collateral damage,” others. Last week, the Biden administration reportedly confirmed to Congress that the PA has continued to use international aid money to reward terrorists and their families. The Biden administration, however, emphasized that the PA’s actions will not impact its plan to renew funding to the Palestinians. READ MORE

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“It is the ADL that the American Jewish community long looked to for leadership in the fight against anti-Semitism from whatever source, and it is therefore the ADL’s failure to provide that leadership that is most damaging to the community”

Posted on April 4, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Meghan McCain vs. the ADL
by Kenneth Levin
April 5, 2021

…The ADL has for decades been largely silent, or forgiving, vis-à-vis anti-Semitism coming from sources other than the far-right…Beyond its silence in the face of anti-Semitism emanating from groups and individuals not associated with white supremacy, the ADL has on various occasions lent its support to such groups and individuals. The Black Lives Matter organization has trafficked for years in anti-Semitism, whether calling for Israel’s annihilation or targeting synagogues and Jewish businesses during last year’s riots in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Nevertheless, the ADL was the most prominent signer of a full-page Jewish ad in The New York Times in August 2020, backing BLM…READ MORE

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Is Israel an Occupying Power ?

Posted on April 4, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

UNPACKED
Is Israel an Occupying Power? | The Israeli-Palestinian Context
March 31, 2021

Israel’s presence in the West Bank, or Judea and Samaria, has a laundry list of labels, many of which have been built on historical assumptions and modern ideas. At the top of this list is one word that has been capitalized on by the Palestinian cause, political left, and anti-Israeli groups for decades: Occupation. In this episode, we seek to thoroughly understand how “Israeli Occupation” came to be synonymous with the call for Palestinian statehood and what this means for peace between Jews and Arabs.

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In exclusive interview, Jeyhun Bayramov lauds the “close and mutually beneficial” ties between Azerbaijan and Israel, which cover “political, economic, military and other fields”

Posted on April 4, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Partnership with Israel ‘strong, multidimensional,’ says Azeri foreign minister
by Dean Shmuel Elmas
April 4, 2021

The relationship between Israel and Azerbaijan is one of Jerusalem’s most unique achievements: close ties with a Shi’ite-majority country that sees Israel as one of its oldest allies, and certainly one of its most strategic partners. The scope of the two nations’ deep friendship was revealed during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, in which Azerbaijan marked a resounding victory, in part with the help of Israeli weapons. One must also remember that Azerbaijan borders Iran on its south and Baku has been able to successfully navigate relations with Jerusalem and Tehran. Steering Azerbaijan’s diplomatic course is 47-year-old Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, who previously served as the country’s education minister. READ MORE

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“A shift towards the Palestinians and anti-Israel international organizations, coupled with an ominous silence about a drift to Iran appeasement, are all recreating Obama’s “daylight” strategy”

Posted on April 4, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Has Biden already betrayed the trust of pro-Israel Democrats?
by Jonathan S. Tobin
April 5, 2021

It’s only been 11 weeks since Joe Biden was sworn in as president of the United States. With the president preoccupied with domestic politics and waging rhetorical warfare on his Republican opponents, it’s clear that foreign policy is a low priority for the new administration. And with Biden diving headfirst into partisan scrums—accusing Republicans of being racists with brazenly false accusations about a Georgia voting law and promoting an infrastructure bill that is more of a liberal project wish list than it is about rebuilding bridges and highways—there seems to be little space or oxygen left for a debate about his intentions abroad. READ MORE

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Jews gaslighting Jews over reopening of public schools

Posted on April 4, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

AMERICAN THINKER
Teachers’ union head blames Jews for school reopening controversy
by Thomas Lifson
April 7, 2021

It’s finally come to this, the last refuge for scoundrels in need of scapegoats. It’s the Jooooz who are responsible for all the problems over school reopening…[Teachers] Union leader Randi Weingarten criticized Jews as “part of the ownership class” dedicated to denying opportunities to others in an interview released on Friday. Weingarten — who is herself Jewish and draws a six-figure salary as head of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) — took aim at American Jews in an interview with the Jerusalem Post…As with most efforts to blame Jews for the world’s ills, this is not just blatantly false; it deflects blame away from the accuser, where it belongs. READ MORE

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Biden administration resumes use of ‘Occupied Territories’

Posted on April 1, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

ARUTZ SHEVA
State Dept. Spokesman Ned Price: ‘Is the West Bank occupied? Yes’
by Staff
April 2, 2021

US State Department spokesman Ned Price has said that Israel’s “occupation” of Judea and Samaria is a “historical fact.” At a daily briefing, Price said: “It is a historical fact that Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights after the 1967 war. That’s precisely why the 2020 Human Rights Report uses that term in the current context of the West Bank. It has been the longstanding position of previous administrations of both parties over the course of many decades.” “Do we think that the West Bank is occupied? Yes,” he added…On Tuesday, the US State Department published its annual report on human rights violations, referring to Judea, Samaria, Gaza, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights as territories “occupied” by Israel. READ MORE

TIMES OF ISRAEL Blinken tells Israel: Palestinians should enjoy same rights, freedoms as you do US secretary of state to Foreign Minister Ashkenazi: ‘Israelis and Palestinians should enjoy equal measures of freedom, security, prosperity and democracy’

JERUSALEM POST Blinken puts more focus on Palestinians, security in call to Ashkenazi Later on Friday, President Joe Biden announced that the US would be lifting its sanctions on the International Criminal Court, which were announced during the Trump administration.

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“Israel has until April 9 to respond to an ICC letter it received last month informing it that a war crimes investigation had been opened”

Posted on April 1, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Netanyahu to call meeting on ICC investigation of Israel
by Tovah Lazaroff
April 3, 2021

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to hold a meeting Tuesday to determine whether Israel should participate in the ICC’s war crimes investigation or boycott the matter, according to reports in the Israeli media…Israel has to date participated only inadvertently in the process and has believed that it is in the country’s best interest not to be formally involved in a proceeding like this one that it deems illegitimate. The former Trump administration had denounced the ICC, which is also investing US activity in Afghanistan and had imposed sanctions on its top official. Neither Israel or the US are parties to the Rome Statute which governs the court. READ MORE

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