“Now comes the normalisation of Omani relations with Israel, following the step taken by the UAE and Bahrain and blessed by the Sultanate of Oman”

Posted on September 13, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

THE ARAB WEEKLY
Oman preparing for peace agreement with Israel
September 14, 2020

Arab diplomatic sources closely monitoring the situation in the Gulf said that the Sultanate of Oman’s welcoming attitude towards the Bahraini-Israeli peace agreement is an additional indication that it is next in line to fully normalising relations with Israel. These sources indicated that the Sultanate of Oman has all the characteristics that could make it the fifth Arab country, after Egypt, Jordan, the UAE and Bahrain, to make such a step. They pointed out that the late Sultan Qaboos bin Said had played a crucial role in paving the way for his successor, Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, to take the step of signing a peace deal with Israel…READ MORE

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“As the High Holidays approach in the midst of an ongoing pandemic, synagogues rethink their offerings”

Posted on September 13, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

TABLET MAG
A New Year Like No Other
by Paula Jacobs
September 13, 2020

…Rosh Hashanah represents a time of hope and renewal. But in 5781, as the pandemic continues to surge with no apparent end in sight, clergy are under intense pressure during the High Holidays to help congregants overcome their anxiety, pain, and grief, especially after months of loss and social isolation. And they’ll have to do it in a new way that doesn’t look like any High Holiday season they’ve seen before…For cantors, this sense of loss is especially profound. Music has always played an important role in setting the mood and tone for the High Holidays, but because of COVID-19, cantors must now sing in isolation. “We desperately want to sing and lead the service…” READ MORE

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“However commendable Biden’s decision was to disavow an antisemite like Linda Sarsour, the Democratic Party nominee should clean up his own house first”

Posted on September 13, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

THE FEDERALIST
Biden Condemns Antisemitism While Ignoring Democrats Who Support It
by Benjamin Baird
September 12, 2020

…Despite these concerns, Biden continues to ignore the BDS advocate on his staff. In June 2018, his liaison to the Muslim American community, Farooq Mitha, shared a Facebook post opposing federal legislation to prohibit U.S. businesses from joining foreign boycotts against Israel. Mitha is a founding board member of Emgage, an umbrella of civic engagement projects consumed with electing pro-Islamist political candidates. Emgage holds many of its political literacy programs at terror-tied mosques, such as Florida’s  Darul Uloom Institute, former home to Al Qaeda “Dirty Bomber” Jose Padilla. READ MORE

JNS Jonathan Tobin: What does ‘dangerous for Israel’ and the Jews mean to Biden? It’s fortunate for Joe Biden that his ability to win the support of most Jewish voters doesn’t depend on his stance on Israel. As a new poll from the liberal Jewish Electorate Institute showed, Israel ranked at the bottom of a list of 11 issues that respondents cared about. With President Donald Trump hosting a White House ceremony this week that will commemorate the signing of normalization agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates as well as Bahrain, it’s difficult for the Democrats to claim that Trump shouldn’t be trusted when it comes to safeguarding the alliance with the Jewish state.

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Radical Islam: “The conflict former CIA Director James Woolsey once termed “the long war of the 21st century” remains precisely that”

Posted on September 13, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

THE HILL
Nineteen years on, we face a resilient Islamist threat
by Ilan Berman
September 14, 2020

Last week marked the 19th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon that ushered in what has come to be known as the “global war on terror.” The occasion provides an opportune moment to take stock of the prevailing trends in America’s longstanding struggle against Islamic extremism. Unfortunately, the news is anything but encouraging. ISIS is resurgent. A year-and-a-half after the destruction of its physical caliphate in Iraq and Syria, the world’s most notorious terrorist group is showing alarming new signs of life. While the Coronavirus has dominated the news, this year has also seen a surge of Islamic State-directed violence in both Iraq and Syria…READ MORE

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Trump’s negotiators buck the wisdom that led to decades of bipartisan failure (Washington’s talking heads got it wrong once again)

Posted on September 13, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

FREE BEACON
The ‘Coffee Boy’ Makes Peace in the Middle East
Editorial Board
September 15, 2020

Avi Berkowitz’s elevation to a top negotiating position on President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace team was met with near-universal derision by so-called experts and the mainstream press. Martin Indyk, who served as ambassador to Israel under President Bill Clinton, mocked the appointment of Jared Kushner’s onetime “assistant.” The Brookings Institution’s Natan Sachs declared the then 29-year-old Berkowitz “young and inexperienced.” The media were less diplomatic: Politico derided Berkowitz as Kushner’s “mini-me”; Vanity Fair dubbed him a “coffee boy.” On Tuesday, Trump oversaw the signing of the Kushner- and Berkowitz-orchestrated Abraham Accords that officially normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, as well as an agreement between Israel and Bahrain—the first such deals in over four decades. Pretty good for a coffee boy. READ MORE

FLASHBACK: This is priceless seeing how wrong they were….Experts say moving U.S. embassy to Jerusalem kills Middle East peace

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Bibi speaks to the first national virtual FIDF gala: “The great transformation of our people’s history took place when the Jewish people restored the capacity to defend ourselves by ourselves”

Posted on September 13, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
$15-plus million raised at first virtual FIDF national gala
September 14, 2020

Thousands of supporters from across the globe joined Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) in saluting Israel’s soldiers and veterans at the first-ever virtual FIDF National Gala on Sunday. Themed “A Night of Heroes,” the event raised a total of $15 million to support educational programs for Israeli soldiers, with donations still being made. The program featured several segments honoring IDF soldiers, including lone soldiers who join the IDF with no immediate family in Israel…READ MORE

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Ayaan Hirsi Ali: “Neither Islamists nor the Woke will engage in debate, and both prefer indoctrination of the submissive and damnation of those who resist”

Posted on September 13, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

WALL STREET JOURNAL
What Islamists and ‘Wokeists’ Have in Common
by Ayaan Hersi Ali
September 10, 2020

…Nineteen years on, we see a similar dynamic, only this time it is within our borders. Naive observers explain this summer’s protests in terms of African-Americans’ material disadvantages. These are real, as are the (worse) socio-economic problems of the Arab world. But they aren’t the main driver of the protests, which appear to be led mainly by well-off white people. Their ideology goes by many names: cancel culture, social justice, critical race theory, intersectionality. For simplicity, I call it all Wokeism. I am not about to equate Wokeism and Islamism. Islamism is a militant strain of an ancient faith. Its adherents have a coherent sense of what God wants them to achieve on earth to earn rewards in the afterlife. Wokeism is in many ways a Marxist creed…READ MORE

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Bahrain becomes fourth Arab nation to recognize Israel; MSM ignores story because, you know, #OrangeManBad

Posted on September 10, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK TIMES
Bahrain Will Normalize Relations With Israel, in Deal Brokered by Trump
by Michael Crowley and David M. Halbfinger
September 11, 2020

President Trump announced on Friday that Bahrain would establish full diplomatic relations with Israel, following the United Arab Emirates, in another sign of shifting Middle East dynamics that are bringing Arab nations closer to Israel…The announcement came after a similar one last month by Israel and the United Arab Emirates…”Its importance is mostly because it’s an indication that the new leadership in Saudi Arabia supports normalization,” Ms. Fontenrose said. “Bahrain doesn’t make a foreign policy move without Saudi Arabia’s express permission.” READ MORE

FOX NEWS CNN, MSNBC ignore Trump’s major Israel-Bahrain peace deal during primetime Earlier in the day, MSNBC spent less than two minutes covering the major Middle East agreement

JERUSALEM POST Israel, Morocco to establish direct flights Israel and Morocco are expected to establish direct flights as the next step in US President Donald Trump’s normalization efforts, N12 reported Saturday. This is a developing story.

THE SPECTATOR Professor Charles Lipson: What Bahrain’s Deal with Israel Really Means On September 15, representatives from the oil-rich Kingdom of Bahrain will meet Israeli leaders at the White House to sign a historic peace deal. It will normalize relations between the Muslim state and the Jewish one, not long after the United Arab Emirates concluded a similar pact. Expect more such ‘normalization deals’…These deals also signal that Arab-Muslim regimes are less concerned with domestic, Islamist opposition to their outreach to Israel. Equally important, they show that the Palestinian Authority no longer holds a veto over fellow Muslims’ relations with Israel.

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Iran executes again after torturing wrestler for confession

Posted on September 10, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

AL JAZEERA
Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari executed, says state media
September 12, 2020

Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari has been executed after being convicted of stabbing to death a security guard, according to state media…Authorities had accused Afkari, 27, of stabbing the water supply company employee in the southern city of Shiraz. Iran broadcast the wrestler’s televised confession last week. But Afkari said he was tortured into making a false confession, according to his family and activists…The provincial court in Shiraz also sentenced Afkari’s brothers Vahid Afkari and Habib Afkari to 54 and 27 years in prison, respectively, over the killing. READ MORE

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“Emgage’s main crime, to Abunimah, is that it is not focused like he is on hating Israel”

Posted on September 10, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

ELDER OF ZIYON
Moderate Muslim-American group supporting Biden is angering Israel-haters for not sharing their bigotry
September 10, 2020

Emgage is a moderate American Muslim group that “seeks to educate, engage and empower Muslim American communities through educational events, voter initiatives, and leadership development for the purpose of creating a community of equitable, knowledgeable, and motivated citizens.” Joe Biden’s Muslim American outreach advisor is a member of Emgage, and it seems to have raised its profile significantly during the Biden campaign. The pro-terror extremists at Electronic Intifada are very upset – because Emgage is not rabidly anti-Israel. Ali Abunimah goes through his usual attempts of smearing by association as he ticks off the supposed offenses of Emgage’s leadership. READ MORE

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