“Jewish allegiance to Germany in the early days of the Third Reich is one of the great unrequited love stories of history”

Posted on August 9, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

TABLET MAG
The Jews Who Fought for Nazi Germany
by Ellen Feldman
August 4, 2020

What was the safest place for a Jew in Hitler’s Germany? A cellar or an attic? A forest? At home with a well-connected Aryan spouse? The answer was in Hitler’s military—in the Wehrmacht, the Kriegsmarine, or the Luftwaffe—at least until the tide of war turned and all three began to suffer staggering losses. Some said the Luftwaffe was the best bet because Goering protected his own. Whichever branch, wearing a uniform was like slipping into a coat of armor, or invisibility…According to Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers by Bryan Mark Rigg, thousands of full Jews and more than a hundred-thousand part-Jews joined the military of the Third Reich. The stories of these men and of the psychological as well as the physical hazards they endured altered the book I had originally set out to write. READ MORE

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“The more affluent and more established Israel’s Arab population has become, the stronger its Palestinian identification to the point of openly challenging the fundamental principles underpinning Israel’s existence”

Posted on August 9, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

MIDDLE EAST QUARTERLY
The Conundrum of Israeli-Arab Citizenship
by Mordechai Nisan
Summer 2020

Issued in the midst of a sustained attempt by the Palestinian Arabs to destroy it at birth, Israel’s 1948 declaration of independence urged them “to participate in the upbuilding of the state on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.” The invitation to these inveterate foes to be fellow citizens was based on the belief that once their aggression had been defeated, they would resign themselves to a minority status in the nascent Jewish state. Seventy-two years on, the fulfillment of this assumption seems as remote as ever. READ MORE

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“She masterminded the 2001 murder of my daughter and 14 others in the Sbarro pizzeria bombing. Not only is she still free, she’s a celebrity”

Posted on August 9, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
I wish others knew what I know about Malki’s killer
by Arnold Roth
August 9, 2020

This coming Sunday August 9, 2020, marks the completion of nineteen years since the stunningly heartless attack by a thuggery of Hamas terrorists on a pizzeria in the center of Jerusalem; a massacre directed explicitly at the many youngsters predictably found inside it, happily busy with getting lunch and with having fun on a school vacation afternoon. This was a midday attack at Jerusalem’s busiest intersection, the heart of Israel’s capital city. There’s no room to doubt that the strategic goal explicitly involved dead Jewish children – as many as could be murdered. The bomber herself said so and for the record. READ MORE

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“The Democrats’ 2020 platform is a return to the Obama policy of appeasement to Iran’s nuclear ambitions and to Iran’s plans for regional hegemony”

Posted on August 9, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

AMERICAN THINKER
The Democrats’ 2020 platform resurrects Obama’s hostility to Israel and appeasement of Iran
by Carol S. Greenwald
August 2, 2020

Democrats’ crowing that their 2020 platform on Israel is a victory for the moderates is disingenuous. The Democrat party’s 2020 platform is not pro-Israel. It is pro-Iran. The Democrat party’s platform promises to return to the Iran nuclear deal and rejects regime change “as the goal of U.S. policy toward Iran.” The opening statement of the platform stresses: “Democrats will call off the Trump Administration’s race to war with Iran and prioritize nuclear diplomacy, de-escalation and regional dialogue. Democrats believe the United States should not impose regime change on other countries and reject that as the goal of U.S policy towards Iran.” Translation: Obama’s appeasement of Iran’s nuclear and regional ambitions is back. READ MORE

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“Without a word of warning to residents or elected officials, the Department of Homeless Services, citing “emergency Covid powers,” in May moved more than 100 single men into the boutique Belnord Hotel on a quiet residential block of West 87th Street”

Posted on August 9, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

WALL STREET JOURNAL
‘Covid Powers’ Wreck My Neighborhood
by Julia Vitullo-Martin
August 12, 2020

For many years I’ve lived in par­adise—the Up­per West Side. We have con­vivial neigh­bors, beau­ti­ful build­ings, great sub­ways, ex­cel­lent the­ater and dance, fine li­braries and book­stores, won­der­ful restau­rants, pleas­ant mar­kets. There were prob­lems but we worked them out am­i­ca­bly. Then Covid-19 hit. The streets emp­tied as peo­ple shel­tered in place. Re­tail stores, al­ready hurt by on­line shop­ping, closed. Restau­rants were shut down. The city cut san­i­ta­tion pick­ups. Cops stopped walk­ing the beat. At the same time, va­grancy—a peren­nial prob­lem—seemed to in­crease, with pan­han­dlers on many cor­ners, and peo­ple with their be­long­ings oc­cu­py­ing space on the side­walks. READ MORE

NEW YORK POST Editorial Board: A mad rush for the exits as New York City goes down the tubes It’s not just a few Upper West Siders who are fleeing New York: Moving companies say they’re swamped with calls from residents looking to ditch the city — even though the COVID crisis has waned. One likely reason: The virus was but the last straw; New Yorkers are fed up with the shootings and lootings, homelessness on the streets, sub-par online schools, sky-high taxes and the sheer obliviousness of pols like Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo. On Sunday, The Post highlighted families who’ve given up on the Upper West Side — now teeming with junkies, the homeless, convicts and others — and are headed for greener pastures outside Gotham.

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Beirut protesters reportedly hanged Hezbollah leader Nasrallah and President of Lebanon Aoun in effigy

Posted on August 6, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Lebanon protesters storm ministry buildings over Beirut blast
by Reuters
August 8, 2020

Lebanese protesters stormed government ministries in Beirut and trashed the offices of the Association of Lebanese Banks on Saturday as shots rang out in increasingly angry demonstrations over this week’s devastating explosion. The protesters said their politicians should resign and be punished for negligence they say led to Tuesday’s blast, the biggest ever to hit Beirut, that killed 158 people and injured more than 6,000, compounding months of political and economic meltdown. A policeman was killed during the clashes, a spokesman said. READ MORE

TIMES OF ISRAEL Israel TV: Hezbollah apparently wanted Beirut’s ammonium nitrate for Israel war Hezbollah apparently planned to use the ammonium nitrate stockpile that caused a massive bast at Beirut’s port this week against Israel in a “Third Lebanon War,” according to an unsourced assessment publicized on Israel’s Channel 13 Friday night. The report was broadcast hours after Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, gave a speech “categorically” denying that his group had stored any weapons or explosives at Beirut’s port, following the massive explosion there Tuesday that has claimed over 157 lives and wounded thousands. 

FREE BEACON Democrats Gutted Anti-Hezbollah Legislation Days Before Attack on Israel Just days before the Iranian-funded terror group Hezbollah waged a terrorist attack on Israel’s northern border, congressional Democrats gutted legislation that would have halted U.S. funding to the Lebanese military, which is almost entirely controlled by the terror group. Congress has been working on legislation that would slash millions in American taxpayer funding to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), which has long been under Hezbollah’s thumb. Republican lawmakers in both the House and Senate have been pushing to cut this funding for some time.

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DNC “platform on Israel and Palestine is a clear victory for those supporting return to mainstream Democratic policies of the past, a loss for progressives seeking more conditional support for Israel”

Posted on August 6, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

FOREIGN POLICY
Biden Bucks Progressives, Won’t Denounce Israeli Occupation
by Colum Lynch
August 6, 2020

In early July, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and other influential progressives were convinced that they had secured a critical concession from Joe Biden’s campaign: For the first time, the Democratic Party platform would assert that Palestinians had a right to live free of foreign “occupation,” a scarcely veiled reference to Israel. But days before a draft platform was released on July 15, the presumptive Democratic nominee personally weighed in, according to three sources familiar with the discussion, ordering his advisors not to include any reference to Israeli “occupation.” The decision, according to these sources, followed heavy last-minute lobbying by pro-Israel advocacy groups. READ MORE

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“Despite coronavirus, we must take advantage of this US initiative to accept a plan that enables us to incorporate into Israeli boundaries the large settlement blocs and the Jordan Valley”

Posted on August 6, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
Don’t Forego an Historic Opportunity
by Isi Leibler
August 7, 2020

…Despite the coronavirus, should Netanyahu proceed now with the Trump plan, the parameters of the national unity government would ensure his success. Even more importantly, subject to minor concessions, he would be able to obtain consensus with Blue and White, setting a long-term precedent of applying Israeli sovereignty to Judea and Samaria with international recognition led by the US. The US administration has indicated that it will provide full support to annexation of major settlement blocs and the Jordan Valley if supported by the Israeli consensus and within the framework of the Trump plan. READ MORE

JERUSALEM POST Eric Mandel:What does pro-Israel mean in the age of Trump?
What should define pro-Israel in 2020 across the political spectrum? Here are a few suggestions.

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“An engaging spy series just bought by Apple TV does more than caricature Iran and the Mossad”

Posted on August 6, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

TABLET MAG
What’s So Great About the New Israeli Thriller ‘Tehran’?
by Raz Greenberg
August 6, 2020

The opening scenes of Tehran, the new thriller from the Israeli public broadcast corporation Kan 11, tell the story of two Israeli backpackers who decide to take a cheap flight from Jordan on their way to India, and find themselves in trouble when their plane must make an emergency stop in Iran. It is a tight and tense opening, yet it also carries a somewhat unintentional hilarious subtext…Even before its broadcast, the show made headlines when it was purchased in a multimillion-dollar deal for international broadcast by the Apple TV streaming service. Iranian media added to the hype, publishing angry responses to the show’s production—again, long before it even debuted. READ MORE

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The late Rabbi Steinsaltz, Israel Prize laureate and scholar “was credited with revolutionary translation and commentary of seminal Jewish texts”

Posted on August 6, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, who made the Talmud accessible, dies at 83
by Marissa Newman
August 7, 2020

Rabbi Adin Even Yisrael Steinsaltz, whose translation and groundbreaking commentary of the entire Babylonian Talmud and Bible has been lauded for making the ancient Jewish texts approachable, died Friday at the age of 83. A longtime educator, prolific author of over 60 books and Israel Prize laureate, Steinsaltz (who years ago switched to a Hebraicized version of his surname, Even-Israel, but never shook off the original) was also a physicist and chemist, a biting social critic and a beloved public figure in Israel — revered for his encyclopedic mind, and admired for his down-to-earth and kindly bearing. His first name means “gentle” in Hebrew, and by all accounts, he was. READ MORE

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