With a wide-open field of nine candidates to succeed Democrat Rep. Joe Kennedy, some fear that a split of the pro-Israel/Jewish vote could let a pro-BDS candidate enter Congress

Posted on August 13, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Could a congressional candidate win in New England’s largest Jewish district?
by Sean Savage and Jackson Richman
August 14, 2020

The Democratic Party has undergone a shift in recent years, with a number of longtime incumbents falling to progressive upstarts. In heavily blue Massachusetts, the race to succeed Democrat Rep. Joe Kennedy (who is running for Senate) has become somewhat of a free-for-all featuring candidates ranging from a Jewish former U.S. Marine captain with a Republican history, a suburban mother fed up with President Donald Trump, to a progressive former Planned Parenthood senior leader and a Democratic socialist. However, the campaign of Ihssane Leckey, Democratic Socialist who has endorsed the BDS movement, is making many Jewish/pro-Israel observers in Massachusetts’s 4th District nervous. READ MORE

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“Raytheon Missiles and Defense and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems announce plans to build Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system in the US”

Posted on August 13, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

NATIONAL INTEREST
America Will Build Israel’s Iron Dome Missile Defense System
by Seth Frantzman
August 10, 2020

Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system has been instrumental in defending Israel against thousands of Hamas rockets and other threats over the last decade. It has fundamentally changed the way Israel wages war, providing the home front protection and giving the armed forces and political leadership time to consider a response confident that they have an air defense umbrella. Now the U.S. Army is testing the system and a new joint venture between Israeli and U.S. companies to build the system in America will see the missiles take to new heights on the world stage. READ MORE

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NYT redefines antisemitism “conveniently allowing them to promote the antisemitic BDS Movement against Israel”

Posted on August 13, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

CLARION PROJECT
NY Times Decides Int’l Accepted Definition of Antisemitism is ‘Disputed’
by Meira Svirsky
August 12, 2020

To promote its tacit support of the antisemitic Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Movement against the state of Israel, The New York Times recently decided that the internationally accepted definition of antisemitism is “disputed.” That definition, which is crucial to fighting antisemitism worldwide — and particularly on U.S. college campuses — was penned by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and adopted by the U.S. State Department as well as 34 other nations (including 25 of the 27 European Union members). READ MORE

STANDWITHUS StandWithUs Welcomes Facebook Action on Antisemitism; Will Monitor Progress & Advise The StandWithUs Saidoff Legal Department was pleased to receive an encouraging response from Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, to a detailed letter we sent the Facebook Board of Directors stating ways for them to toughen their policy against Antisemitism on Facebook. This week we joined dozens of partner organizations in a campaign initiated by the Gila and Adam Milstein Foundation to ensure that the international standard definition of Antisemitism – known as the IHRA definition – forms the core of their policy to define and remove antisemitic content from the social media platform.

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#KamalaHarris‘s New Chief of Staff Praised Democrats for Boycotting #AIPAC Conference

Posted on August 13, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

BREITBART
Kamala Harris‘s Chief of Staff Praised Democrats for Boycotting Pro-Israel Conference
by Joel Pollak
August 14, 2020

Karine Jean-Pierre, the new chief of staff for Kamala Harris as Joe Biden’s running mate, praised Democrats in 2019 for boycotting the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference, an annual pro-Israel gathering. As a report in the Jewish News Syndicate notes, Jean-Pierre wrote an op-ed in Newsweek arguing that supporting the pro-Israel group was the “antithesis” of being “progressive”: “You cannot call yourself a progressive while continuing to associate yourself with an organization like AIPAC that has often been the antithesis of what it means to be progressive.” READ MORE

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“Nothing says, “We protest racial injustice” like burning down the corner grocery or smashing windows to grab boxes of expensive Nikes”

Posted on August 13, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

REAL CLEAR POLITICS
The Fiasco of ‘Go Ahead, Break Our Windows’ Policing
by Charles Lipson
August 13, 2020

After looters struck downtown Chicago on Sunday night, officials literally raised the bridges to prevent rioting hordes from roaming so easily. They also blocked road access and stopped public transit. So, we have come to this: a major American city is replicating the strategy of medieval castles: flood the moats and raise the drawbridges. All that is missing are crenelated battlements and Welsh longbowmen. In Portland, officials aren’t even raising the drawbridges. After more than 70 nights of rioting, Mayor Ted Wheeler’s strategy seems to be, “If you insist on doing this, we might write a strong letter.” READ MORE

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Illinois Democrats and Republicans agree: Madigan must go

Posted on August 13, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

MEDIUM
A Call for New Leadership for the Democratic Party of Illinois
ILDem Leaders for New Leadership
August 11, 2020

We come from across Illinois; from Bloomington to Rockford and from Carbondale to Chicago. We are or were elected officials, Democratic Party officials, or Democratic candidates. We represent the socioeconomic and geographic diversity that is the true strength of the Democratic Party of Illinois, and today we echo the call for new leadership for our party and for the Illinois House…We urge Michael Madigan to do right by the people of Illinois and step down from his roles as Speaker and as Chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois. READ MORE

CENTER SQUARE Attorneys seek to remove Madigan as head of Democratic Party of Illinois as part of civil RICO suit A group of attorneys who filed a civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act [RICO] case against House Speaker Michael Madigan and ComEd want to remove the speaker from power. Prosecutors sometimes use RICO in cases involving the mob. One of the attorneys who brought a civil RICO lawsuit in federal court against Madigan and ComEd seeking $450 million said that jury trial could take years. But they are looking for more immediate steps against Madigan in the weeks ahead.

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IDF says warplanes, tanks, helicopters hit terror sites after airborne devices spark over 80 fires in recent days

Posted on August 9, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Israel strikes Hamas targets in Gaza amid spate of balloon-borne arson attacks
by Staff and Aaron Boxerman
August 13, 2020

Israel attacked targets in the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Thursday morning in response to a spate of balloon-borne arson and explosive devices launched from the Strip into Israel in recent days. The Israel Defense Forces said that Israeli warplanes, combat helicopters and tanks hit a number of targets belonging to the Hamas terror group. “During the attack, military facilities of Hamas’s naval force, underground infrastructure and observation posts belonging to the Hamas terror group were attacked,” the IDF said in a statement. READ MORE

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The stockpile of weapons-grade ammonium nitrate and the collateral damage it caused to the Beirut port may well have been earmarked for Israel

Posted on August 9, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Israel’s August 4 miracle
by Alex Traiman
August 9, 2020

Many of Israel’s modern military accomplishments have defied all odds and logic. Surprise victories in Israel’s War of Independence in 1948, Six-Day War in 1967 and Yom Kippur War in 1973 will forever stand among Israel’s most miraculous and unlikely historical achievements. This past week, Israel may have recorded another security miracle, but one unlikely to be entered into Israeli history books. The reason? It did not take place on Israeli soil, or at the hands of the Israeli military...While Israel and the rest of the international community have been offering humanitarian aid to Lebanon in the wake of one of the largest explosions since the Chernobyl nuclear reactor blew in 1986, the greatest aid to the people of Lebanon would be the complete disarmament and expulsion of Hezbollah. READ MORE

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Netanyahu’s comments on annexation delays “come as speculation is high that the country could be heading to a fourth round of elections”

Posted on August 9, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Netanyahu: US has kept me from annexing West Bank settlements
by Tovah Lazaroff
August 11, 2020

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed the US for his failure to annex West Bank settlements. “It was clear from the start that the application of sovereignty would be done only with agreement from the United States. Otherwise, I would have already done it a while ago,” Netanyahu said during an interview Monday with Channel 20. Similarly, “other prime ministers would also have done it,” he added. US President Donald “Trump is now busy with other things, and this [sovereignty] is not on the top of his mind,” Netanyahu said. “I hope that in the near future we will be able to advance recognition of the application of sovereignty as well as other diplomatic issues of importance to Israel.” READ MORE

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Although the country was unnamed, Iran has attempted several major cyber-attacks against Israel in recent months

Posted on August 9, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

ALGEMEINER
Israel Says It Thwarted Massive Cyber-Attack on Defense Industry
by Benjamin Kerstein
August 11, 2020

A massive cyber-attack on Israel’s defense industry was successfully thwarted, it was reported on Wednesday. The government cleared for publication that the attack was perpetrated by an international group of hackers known as “Lazarus,” which infiltrated the social network LinkedIn using fake profiles. The hackers then impersonated high-level employees of large international companies and approached their supposed “counterparts” in the Israeli defense industry, offering them jobs. When the Israeli employees responded, the hackers attempted to attack their computers and penetrate their companies’ networks. READ MORE

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