Letter to Netanyahu, signed by 120 out of 198 House Republicans, supports annexation

Posted on June 21, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

HAARETZ
Majority of House Republicans Sign Letter Endorsing Israeli Annexation
by Amir Tibon
June 23, 2020

A majority of Republican members of the House of Representatives have signed a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsing Israeli annexation of settlements in the West Bank. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California was one of 116 of the 198 Republican House members signed the letter. It praises the Middle East plan presented by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, and blames the Palestinian leadership for choosing to reject it. It also says that its signatories support Israel’s “right to sovereignty and defensible borders.” READ MORE

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“Tel Aviv University think tank: Libels blaming Jews and Israel for pandemic are spreading, as crisis sparks new iterations of old hatred”

Posted on June 21, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
COVID-19 fueling worldwide wave of anti-Semitism, researchers find
by Stuart Winer
June 23, 2020

A report published Tuesday by a Tel Aviv research group found that the coronavirus pandemic has become a vehicle for an intense and exceptional wave of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionist propaganda that accuses Jews and Israel of either causing the virus or standing to benefit from it. The pandemic has “unleashed a unique worldwide wave of antisemitism,” researchers at the Kantor Center at Tel Aviv University said. “The new wave of antisemitism includes a range of libels that have one common element: The Jews, the Zionists and/or the state of Israel are to blame for the pandemic and/or stand to gain from it,” they wrote. READ MORE

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Eliot Engel beaten by progressive Jamaal Bowman, “endorsed by progressive leaders like Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez”

Posted on June 21, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

BREITBART
RJC: Eliot Engel‘s Loss Marks Rise of Anti-Israel Forces in Democratic Party
by Joel B. Pollak
June 24, 2020

The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) declared Wednesday that the defeat of Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) in his primary by left-wing challenger Jamaal Bowman marked the rise of anti-Israel forces within the Democratic Party. Engel, who has served in the House of Representatives for more than 30 years, is the Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He had shifted left on Israel in recent years: like the rest of his party, he failed to attend the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, for example. Yet he had been viewed as one of the last pro-Israel holdouts in his party. Now all that is over. Engel lost to Bowman by a massive margin on Tuesday. Given the district’s partisan makeup, Bowman is sure to win in November. READ MORE

FORWARD A top pro-Israel congressman lost his primary. Was it a fluke or a harbinger?
With over 33,000 in-person votes cast in New York’s 16th District, containing parts of the Bronx and Westchester County, progressive challenger Jamaal Bowman was beating Engel 61%-35%. If elected, Bowmaan will join the small but growing group within the Democratic caucus willing to put conditions on assistance to the Israel Defense Forces.

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Annexation opponents “give the false impression that Israel would be seizing areas to which Israel does not have the legal right. In fact, there was never a Palestinian-Arab state or a right to one in these areas”

Posted on June 21, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
American Jews support Israeli sovereignty and for good reasons
by Morton A. Klein and Mark Levenson
June 20, 2020

Poll after poll shows that Israelis overwhelmingly support applying Israeli sovereignty to Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley. American Jews support applying sovereignty too. Record numbers of American Jews (over 120,000 people) voted in the recent 2020 World Zionist Congress elections in the US, and the majority voted for the organizations that favor sovereignty (usually explicitly)…Sovereignty provides Israel with defensible orders, enables Israel to avoid the frightening prospect of an indefensible 9-mile-narrow waistline, and provides stability and normalcy to the lives of the 500,000 Jews currently living in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley. Opposing sovereignty ultimately means ethnically cleansing 500,000 Jews from their existing homes in the Jewish homeland, and subjecting the rest of Israel to non-stop rocket attacks. READ MORE

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With lockdown, Chicago Jewish Day School pivoted to remote learning, providing more than four hours of live, online instruction daily

Posted on June 21, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Amid the pandemic, Jewish day schools survive (and even thrive)
by Faygie Holt
June 19, 2020

On a recent June night, 25 people, primarily young children, sat on their couches and watched as a puppeteer explained how he creates his puppets and how they could build their own with materials they have one hand. In another “room,” about a dozen people watched as an artist explained how he uses paints to create depth and design. Welcome to the annual end-of-year art celebration at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Md. Traditionally held in person, this year’s event—like events at schools around the country—took place online with the “rooms” separate live video streams that families could tune into. READ MORE

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Chase Purdy’s new book explores the industry that could one day give rise to a kosher cheeseburger

Posted on June 21, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JEWISH INSIDER
Is 2020 the year cell-cultured meat arrives?
by Melissa Weiss
June 24, 2020

Picture this: You walk into a kosher burger joint, grab a seat and place your order. Fifteen minutes later, your meal, a hot-off-the-grill cheeseburger, arrives at the table. Does that sound like something out of a Jewish science fiction movie? Perhaps, but not to Chase Purdy, whose new book, Billion Dollar Burger: Inside Big Tech’s Race for the Future of Food, was released last week. In his debut book, Purdy explores the cell-cultured meat industry, considered to be the next frontier in the future of food. The concept of cell-cultured meat is simple. Cells — usually muscle — are harvested from an animal and then multiplied in a lab, creating tissue. READ MORE

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“Black journalists at the NY Times claimed that the op-ed literally endangered their lives”

Posted on June 21, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

COMMENTARY
The New Moralists Take Over Journalism
by Christine Rosen
July/August 2020

The New York Times op-ed page has featured contributions from Vladimir Putin, pedophiles, and the Taliban without a peep from the paper’s staff, so it might seem odd that an opinion piece by Senator Tom Cotton was the one that would spur a professional revolt. But Cotton’s op-ed argued for using the American military to help local police quell violent unrest in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In the eyes of hundreds of Times staffers, that view—shared, according to one poll, by 3 in 5 Americans—could not be permitted. READ MORE

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“There is no compelling moral, historical or political reason why annexation in whole or in part should be made contingent on agreeing to the creation of a Palestinian entity”

Posted on June 18, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Yes: annexation, No: Palestinian state
by Michael Freund
June 18, 2020

…As with many such debates, this has largely devolved into two competing camps. There are those who call for accepting Trump’s plan, saying that the extension of sovereignty to all of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, and its recognition by Washington, is worth paying the price of establishing a Palestinian state. Others categorically reject such a position, arguing that under no circumstances can Israel agree to forgo any part of Judea and Samaria, and certainly not if it means assenting to the creation of a hostile Palestinian entity next door. Hence, they argue, it would be best to forgo the extension of sovereignty altogether. Personally, I believe that both sides are mistaken. There is a third way for Israel to advance…READ MORE

JERUSALEM POST Don’t be fooled – American Jews support sovereignty Despite the noise, empirical evidence does not support the premise that engaged American Jewry opposes Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria. In fact, the exact opposite is the case. Petitions against Israel’s planned extension of sovereignty over Judea and Samaria (or as they put it: annexation of the West Bank) are all the rage these days. Last week we read that “Jewish Studies Scholars Oppose Annexation,” and the week before that “Gap-year alumni are against annexation.”

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UN blacklist of Israel “warmly endorsed by Iran, Syria and North Korea”

Posted on June 18, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

UN WATCH
U.N. presents anti-Israel blacklist of 112 companies, names Airbnb, General Mills, Motorola, Bezeq & Bank Leumi
June 19, 2020

U.N. rights chief Michelle Bachelet appeared in person this week before the U.N. human rights council to present an unprecedented blacklist of 112 companies doing business “related to settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” which for the U.N. includes the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem. The blacklist, originally released online in February, was warmly endorsed by numerous countries like Iran, Syria and North Korea who took the floor in Monday’s agenda item against Israel, a permanent feature of the council. The U.N. blacklist names 94 Israeli companies, including the country’s major banks and its water, railway and telephone utilities, as well as 18 international companies including Airbnb, Motorola, and General Mills. READ MORE

ISRAEL HAYOM UN Human Rights Council doubles down on anti-Israel ‘blacklist’ Palestinians praise UNHRC’s initiatives to establish a group of experts to be charged with providing annual updates to list of businesses that do business with Israeli firms located in east Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and Judea and Samaria.

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Jewish Democratic Council won’t support antisemite Ilhan Omar’s chief primary opponent, progressive Antone Melton-Meaux

Posted on June 18, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Jewish Democratic Council says it won’t back Ilhan Omar, mum on endorsing her primary opponent
by Jackson Richman
June 18, 2020

The Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA) has affirmed that it will not support Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) in her upcoming primary, but did not provide a endorsement to her chief primary opponent, progressive Antone Melton-Meaux. Omar is set to face Melton-Meaux, who has been critical of Omar’s anti-Semitic and anti-Israel statements, in an Aug. 11 primary for Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District. When asked by JNS about whether JDCA would be taking on Omar, executive director Halie Soifer instead chose to comment on the activities of the Republican Jewish Coalition, rather than to explain why her organization is not endorsing the opponent of an incumbent who has a record of anti-Semitic remarks. READ MORE

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