Qatar funded Al Jazeera conference features helpful perspectives on October 7: “What happened was merely a rehearsal that shows that liberating Jerusalem is possible”

Posted on December 8, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

FDD
Al Jazeera’s Academic Arm Platforms Hamas Denialism and Anti-Israel Propaganda
Toby Dershowitz
December 8, 2025

Al Jazeera Centre for Studies, the research arm of Qatar’s state-backed media giant, co-hosted an academic conference last week in Qatar’s Education City that whitewashed Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre — where terrorists raped, mutilated, and murdered 1,200 people — and dismissed UN-verified sexual violence and other terrorist acts as Israeli fabrications. Al Jazeera partnered with Hamad Bin Khalifa University to host the November 29-30 gathering, titled “International Media and the War on Gaza: Modalities of Discourse and the Clash of Narratives,” which drew academics to “deconstruct Western narratives” and the alleged role of Western media in producing “propaganda manipulating international public opinion.” READ MORE

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In effort to dismiss suit, DePaul University argues it has no duty to protect its students

Posted on December 7, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

JPOST
Jewish students at DePaul continue to face threats after violent campus attack
Mathilda Heller
December 11, 2025

Jewish students at DePaul continue to face threats after violent campus attack “We know that the university [DePaul] is worried because of this lawsuit because they’re exposed, but it also gives us the ability to work with the other Jewish students to help advance the other things that need to happen to make it a safe space. Such as the idea of the Jewish tax.” The Jewish Tax concept refers to how Jewish clubs or institutions are expected to pay for their own security for events or other, a cost which is not reimbursed, but which many believe should be. “I’ve had students reach out to me and say they went to DePaul seven years ago and that the atmosphere on campus then was also not safe for Jewish students…The university has filed a motion to dismiss Kaminsky and Long’s lawsuit against it, which will be heard tomorrow, on Wednesday. The university is arguing that it did not have a duty to protect Long. READ MORE

JEWISH INSIDER Jewish leaders cautiously optimistic over Northwestern deal with Trump administration Jewish leaders with ties to Northwestern University are cautiously celebrating a $75 million settlement reached on Friday with the Trump administration to restore federal funding that was frozen earlier this year over allegations that administrators failed to address campus antisemitism. Under the agreement — which will restore at least $790 million in funding that was frozen in April — the Illinois private university agreed to end its commitment to the Deering Meadow agreement, a controversial pact made with anti-Israel encampment participants in the spring of 2024. The agreement allowed students to protest the war in Gaza until the end of the school year so long as tents were removed and encouraged employers not to rescind job offers for student protesters.

JEWISH INSIDER Columbia antisemitism task force report finds all its Middle East faculty are anti-Zionist The report calls for more ideological diversity among faculty, while recommending a balance between free expression and preventing discrimination

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“The massive Somali scam shows how much has changed in the place where I grew up—and not for the better”

Posted on December 7, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

FREE PRESS
Minnesota Vice: How Corruption Took Hold In My State
Dave Kansas
December 9, 2025

…Things have changed in the past few years. If I had a save/get key on my computer that wrote “so strange for this to happen in Minnesota,” it would be worn out by now. George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police. We had Somali immigrants go to Syria to fight alongside ISIS. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar joined the Squad. Democratic socialists were chic here long before Zohran Mamdani. “Murderapolis,” the nickname Minneapolis received during a murder surge in the 1990s, made a comeback. A Minnesota state representative and her husband were shot dead in the middle of the night in their home by a man posing as a police officer. A shooter fired through the windows of Annunciation Catholic School during a Mass to celebrate the start of the school year, killing two children and injuring dozens. READ MORE

FREE PRESS Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Putting Clan over Country Will Ruin America The Minnesota fraud scheme shows that only full assimilation can change certain immigrants’ sectarian tendencies. Minnesota takes pride in its restraint, decency, and an earnestness that sometimes verges on self-parody. Yet that identity is complicated by the presence of one of the world’s largest Somali communities, which hasn’t simply settled in Minnesota but has clustered, tightly and predictably, with the same social logic that governs life in Mogadishu, where I was born. Anyone who knows Somali culture has long known where this would lead. Anyone familiar with Edward Banfield could have predicted it twice

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“The real problem isn’t Israel or Zionism. It’s whether Western civilization still matters”

Posted on December 7, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

FUTURE OF JEWISH
The ’I don’t support Israel’ conversation needs to stop.
Joshua Hoffman
December 6, 2025

At some point over the last few decades, “I don’t support Israel” became a makeshift virtue badge, a way for people to signal solidarity without ever interrogating what they were actually defending. But the truth is simple: This conversation has never really been about supporting Israel. It’s about supporting the core values that built the West — values Israel embodies more consistently and courageously than almost any other nation under siege. When people, particularly in the West, say “I support Israel,” what they are really saying, whether they realize it or not, is that they support the basic moral framework that makes free societies possible. When Westerners say, “I don’t support Israel,” what they are really saying is that they reject the very values that make their own freedoms possible, even as they continue to benefit from them. READ MORE

ARUTZ SHEVA 1000 leaders in Shiloh: ‘Israel is the firewall between radical Islam and America’ More than one thousand American Christian leaders and influencers visited ancient Shiloh last Friday, in what organizers described as the flagship event of the largest public‑diplomacy mission in Israel’s history. The delegation toured the site in the Binyamin region, prayed for the State of Israel, and expressed their solidarity.

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“Baranes is a repeated donor to Democratic candidates who has openly advocated against one of Trump’s signature policies, his efforts to limit refugee admissions”

Posted on December 7, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Trump taps pro-refugee Jewish immigrant as new White House ballroom architect
Philissa Cramer
December 6, 2025

After parting ways with the first architect hired to carry out his vision for the White House’s East Wing, US President Donald Trump has picked a replacement — turning to a firm run by prominent Jewish architect who once called on Trump to keep the country’s doors open to refugees and immigrants. Shalom Baranes was born soon after his parents fled Libya amid antisemitic sentiment there, coming to the United States as a child with the help of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, now known as HIAS. He rose to prominence as an architect in Washington, DC, where he has designed and renovated both private and government buildings, including the post-9/11 Pentagon, that trend toward the modern. READ MORE

PUNCH LIST ARCHITECTURE NEWSLETTER Trump’s new ballroom architect, Shalom Baranes, is a self-described “refugee” who publicly challenged the president on immigration What might turn a few heads are these details: The new architect in question, Shalom Baranes, is a self-described refugee who was born in Italy to Jewish parents who had fled Libya, and who arrived in New York with his family at age six. During Trump’s first term, Baranes published an op-ed in the Washington Post that delicately, but unmistakably, challenged the administration’s policies on immigration, taking aim at the Muslim travel ban in particular.

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“Israel-Lebanon meeting marked the first time in over 40 years that the two states held direct talks”

Posted on December 4, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
Israel, Lebanon launch non-military economic talks
December 3, 2025

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed acting head of The National Security Council Gil Reich to send a representative on Wednesday to meet with Lebanese governmental-economic officials. This marks a first attempt to establish a basis for a relationship and economic cooperation between Israel and Lebanon in many years…The representative will be Dr. Uri Resnick, signaling the start of civilian negotiations with Lebanon that include civilian – not only military – representatives on both sides, unlike in the past. Earlier on Wednesday, the Lebanese Presidential Office announced the appointment of former Ambassador Simon Karam, an attorney, as the head of the Lebanese delegation to the meetings of “the mechanism” (supervision committee that governs the implementation of the 2024 ceasefire). READ MORE

ALGEMEINER Israel, Lebanon Send Civilian Envoys to Truce Committee for First Direct Talks in Decades Israel and Lebanon sent civilian envoys to a military committee monitoring their ceasefire, top officials from both said on Wednesday, in a move set to expand the scope of talks between the long-time foes for the first time. The meeting was a step toward a months-old US demand that the two countries broaden talks beyond monitoring the 2024 ceasefire, in line with US President Donald Trump’s agenda of peace agreements across the Middle East. It came even as fears of a renewed flare-up between Israel and powerful Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah persist.

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“Those who think that Hamas, by agreeing to Trump’s “peace plan,” has abandoned its desire to eliminate Israel or has softened its position toward Israel are unfortunately dead wrong”

Posted on December 3, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

GATESTONE
Why Trump’s Gaza Plan is Not a Peace Deal
Khaled Abu Toameh
December 4, 2025

US President Donald J. Trump’s plan for ending the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip is not a “peace plan.” In the eyes of Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups, the plan is nothing but another temporary ceasefire, not different than previous ones reached between Israel and Hamas over the past two decades. It is a mistake even to call it a “peace plan”: Hamas has not yet abandoned its stated goal of destroying Israel and replacing it with an Islamist state. Hamas, moreover, has never — to this day — recognized Israel’s right to exist. Instead, Hamas continues to hold onto the idea that: “The land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered; it, or any part of it, should not be given up. Neither a single Arab country nor all Arab countries, neither any king or president, nor all kings and presidents, neither any organization nor all of them, be they Palestinian or Arab, possess the right to do that.” (Hamas Charter, Article 11). READ MORE

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“Investigators are also finding that Somali migrants have sent millions in taxpayer dollars to the African Islamic terror group known as Al-Shabaab”

Posted on December 3, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

BREITBART
NY Times Admits Somalis Are ‘Raised in a Culture of Stealing’ Following Massive Welfare Fraud in Minnesota
Walter Todd Huston
December 1, 2025

Even the far-left New York Times has admitted that Somalians are raised in a culture of widespread theft and graft in their country as the news of massive welfare fraud among the Somali community in Democrat Gov. Tim Walz’s Minnesota grows. The paper’s opening line for its Nov. 29 article gets straight to the point, reading, “The fraud scandal that rattled Minnesota was staggering in its scale and brazenness.” …One of the first such cases centered around an organization called “Feeding Our Future,” run by a group of Minneapolis-area Somali migrants. Prosecutors say that the organizers bilked $250 million from the state in child food assistance funding. In a different case, tens of millions were stolen from Minnesota’s autism treatment program, again by Somali migrants. There is also the case of more than $550 million stolen from the state’s coronavirus pandemic relief program. READ MORE

CBS NEWS Treasury investigating whether Minnesota welfare money went to Somali terror group al Shabaab, Bessent says The Trump administration is looking into whether Minnesota tax money found its way to al Shabaab, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization and al Qaeda affiliate based in Somalia, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday. Bessent wrote on X that the Treasury is “investigating allegations that under the feckless mismanagement of the Biden Administration and Governor Tim Walz, hardworking Minnesotans’ tax dollars may have been diverted to the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab.”

CITY JOURNAL Chris Rufo: The Somali Fraud Story Busts Liberal Myths There is a moment when every news story either achieves lift-off or tumbles back to the earth. Having covered a few that drove national headlines, I’ve discovered there is no universal formula for which ones hit the stratosphere, and which do not. Our recent story detailing Minnesota’s Somali fraud rings has been one of the lucky ones, achieving liftoff in record time. City Journal reporter Ryan Thorpe and I summarized a decade of Somali fraud schemes that stole billions of taxpayer dollars, some of which ended up with Al-Shabaab terrorists back in Somalia. These were sophisticated criminal enterprises that exploited Minnesota’s generous welfare state, deployed accusations of racism to deter scrutiny, and looted the public treasury until local prosecutors did the hard work to bring them down.

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“Argentina has formally launched the Isaac Accords, a new initiative aimed at strengthening political, economic and cultural cooperation between Israel and Latin America”

Posted on December 3, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

ALGEMEINER
Israel, Argentina Strengthen Ties as Milei Plans to Open Embassy in Jerusalem, Saar Leads Diplomatic Mission
Ailin Vilches Arguello
November 26, 2025

Israel expects Argentine President Javier Milei to open his country’s embassy in Jerusalem next year, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday, as the two allies continue to strengthen their bilateral ties. “We hope to have the president in April or May to open Argentina’s embassy in Jerusalem, DC — David’s Capital,” the top Israeli diplomat said during a speech at the Israel-Argentina Business Forum in Buenos Aires. Earlier this year, the Argentine leader announced during his visit to Israel that his country plans to open its embassy in Jerusalem in 2026. READ MORE

JPOST Milei announces launch of Isaac Accords in meeting with Israel’s foreign minister Argentina positions itself as the regional driver of a new Latin America–Israel cooperation framework, modeled on the Abraham Accords and advanced in coordination with Washington.

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“The poll suggests that majorities of Hispanic, black and young male Republican voters “believe the Holocaust was greatly exaggerated or did not happen”

Posted on December 3, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Manhattan Institute poll finds 17% of GOP members are ‘anti-Jewish Republicans’
Andrew Bernard
December 2, 2025

Some 17% of GOP supporters are “anti-Jewish Republicans” with beliefs including Holocaust denial or the view that Israel is a “settler-colonial state” that drags the United States “into wars we have no business in,” according to a poll which the conservative Manhattan Institute released on Monday. The survey defined current GOP supporters as either registered Republicans or voters who backed U.S. President Donald Trump in 2024, regardless of formal party affiliation. It found that 37% of these Republicans believe the Holocaust “was greatly exaggerated or did not happen as historians describe,” with 77% of Hispanic GOP voters, 66% of black GOP voters and 54% of male GOP voters under 50-years-old holding that view. READ MORE

FORWARD Anti-BDS order will test Mamdani on day one Outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams is immediately testing his successor’s position on the boycott Israel movement as Zohran Mamdani takes office, at a moment when the city’s Jewish community remains divided over the next mayor’s priorities and his stance on Israel. On Wednesday, Adams signed an executive order barring city agencies from participating in Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions efforts, which would pre-empt any moves by city officials to divest from Israel Bonds and other Israeli investments. Mamdani, a strident critic of Israel, has pledged to end the city’s decades-long practice of investing millions in Israeli government debt securities and has said he would order the arrest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits New York.

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