The perfect reality-show set up with 200 people from all walks of life: Israelis, Palestinians, religious and secular, all COVID patients recovering under one roof

Posted on May 21, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

NPR ROUGH TRANSLATION
Hotel Corona
by Gregory Warner and Daniel Estrin
May 13, 2020

When the Dan Hotel in Jerusalem was leased by the government to house recovering COVID-19 patients, the new guests gave it the nickname, “Hotel Corona.” The nearly 200 patients inside already had the coronavirus; and so, unlike the outside world on strict lockdown, they could give each other high fives and hugs and hang out together. What was even more surprising than what they could do was what they were doing. Patients from all walks of life – Israelis, Palestinians, religious, secular, groups that don’t normally mix – were getting along and having fun. They were eating together, sharing jokes, even doing Zumba. And because they were documenting themselves on social media, the whole country was tuning in to watch, like a real life reality TV show. LISTEN TO THE NPR SEGMENT

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“The Jordan Valley has always been considered an area that must be under Israeli control in any permanent establishment of borders, because it is essential to Israel’s defense”

Posted on May 21, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

ELDER OF ZIYON
The Manufactured Outrage over “Annexation”
by Vic Rosenthal
May 21, 2020

…A few words about the reality behind the so-called “annexation.” To start with, nothing is being annexed. It is the reasonable position of the Israeli government that it is sovereign in Judea and Samaria according to international law; and you can’t annex something that already belongs to you. But wait, you say, virtually the entire world disagrees, as is pointed out ad nauseum by sources like the BBC and the NY Times. Unhappily for them and the Palestinians they empathize with, international law is neither a popularity contest nor subject to a majority vote in the UN General Assembly. It is quite possible that the Government of Israel is right and “virtually the entire world” is wrong. This isn’t an article about that, but if you are interested, here is a good one. READ MORE

JEWISH INSIDER Democratic senators release letter warning Israel against annexation Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and six other senators sign onto updated version after not joining the initial draft…Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), who did not sign on to the letter, told Jewish Insider earlier this month: “I don’t think it is helpful for us to sow dissension in the United States as it relates to the support for Israel.”

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#HasHeReallyThoughtThisThrough: “By halting the security crackdown on Hamas, Abbas would be paving the way for terrorists to kill him and his associates in the West Bank”

Posted on May 21, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

GATESTONE
Abbas’s Precious Gift to Iran: Hamas
by Khaled Abu Toameh
May 23, 2020

…Khamenei evidently sees Abbas’s decision to renounce all agreements and understandings with Israel and the US as a positive development that would facilitate the mission Iran and Hamas share to export anti-Israel terrorism to the West Bank. The Iranian leader wants the West Bank to become like the Gaza Strip, from where Hamas and its allies have been firing rockets at Israel for several years. If Abbas goes through with his threat to halt security coordination with Israel, that would mean an end to his efforts to prevent Iran’s Palestinian proxies, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, from proceeding with their ambition of extending their control to the West Bank…READ MORE

TIMES OF ISRAEL Khamenei explains ‘final solution’ poster: I want Israel destroyed, not all Jews Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday said he seeks Israel’s destruction but not the annihilation of all Jews, after Israeli and American leaders accused him of encouraging genocide…Khamenei was commenting on a poster published on his website that used the words “final solution” in calling for Israel’s destruction, a term usually associated with Nazi Germany’s efforts to eliminate all Jews during the Holocaust. “Eliminating the Zionist regime doesn’t mean eliminating Jews. We aren’t against Jews.”

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“Unlike AIPAC, the Conference can’t mobilize tens of thousands of activists to lobby Congress, attend an annual conference, or help direct campaign donations to friends of Israel”

Posted on May 21, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

COMMENTARY
Who Really Represents America’s Jews?
by Jonathan S. Tobin
June 2020

…As the memory of the Holocaust faded and Israel grew stronger in its defense of itself, passionate involvement in sympathy for Israel began to wane within the American Jewish community. The overwhelming majority of American Jewry was religiously non-Orthodox and believed the universalist strain within Judaism to be its most authentic expression—one challenged by Israel’s particularism and increasing religiosity. The Conference [of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations]’s standing as a group that embraced all segments of the community helped sidetrack, if not entirely stifle, disaffection with its pro-Israel consensus. READ MORE

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GW University dean selection a sign of “the broader state of academia that continues to produce vapid pro-Palestinian polemics under the thin guise of scholarship”

Posted on May 21, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

NEWSWEEK
Normalizing Palestinian Scholarship and Anti-Semitism in the Nation’s Capital
by Asaf Romirowsky
May 21, 2020

The recent appointment of Ilana Feldman as the interim dean of George Washington University’s (GWU) Elliott School of International Affairs is extremely concerning on several levels. Feldman is an active known supporter of the anti-Israel “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” (BDS) movement through her involvement with the Palestinian American Research Center, and was part of a group that pushed a BDS initiative in the American Anthropological Association. Feldman’s scholarship has long typified the politicization of the academy, especially as it relates to the Arab-Israeli conflict. But her new appointment would allow her pro-Palestinian activism to shape university administration. READ MORE

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“Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters calls for ‘taking back the land’ from the river to the sea during online Nakba Day event”

Posted on May 21, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

ARUTZ SHEVA
Roger Waters: ‘From the River to the Sea, we’ll take the land from Israel’
by David Rosenberg
May 20, 2020

Former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters took part in a Nakba Day event last Friday, during which he performed a song seemingly calling for the termination of the State of Israel and its replacement with a Palestinian state. Waters, 76, a former bassist, rhythm guitarist, and vocalist for the band Pink Floyd, made an appearance at the virtual Nakba Day 2020 event hosted online by the Jewish Voice for Peace and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign this past Friday. READ MORE

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Israel has “annulled” the Oslo Accords, says P.A. leader Mahmoud Abbas

Posted on May 17, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Abbas: PA no longer bound by agreements with Israel, US
by Daniel Siryoti, Shahar Klaiman and Dean Shmuel Elmas
May 20, 2020

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday that he was terminating all agreements with Israel and the United States over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to extend Israeli law to parts of Judea and Samaria under the aegis of the Trump peace plan. In a speech to Palestinian leaders in Ramallah, Abbas warned that Israel would have to assume responsibility for the civilian Palestinian population, currently exceeding 2 million people. “The Palestine Liberation Organization and the State of Palestine are absolved, as of today, of all the agreements and understandings with the American and Israeli governments and of all the obligations based on these understandings and agreements, including the security ones,” said Abbas…READ MORE

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US plan to remove troops from Sinai “has been met with opposition by both the State Department and the Israeli government”

Posted on May 17, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JEWISH INSIDER
Congress warns Trump about withdrawing U.S. troops from Sinai
by Jacob Kornbluh
May 18, 2020

A bipartisan group of members of Congress — led by Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Jim Risch (R-ID) and ranking member Bob Menendez (D-NJ) — are cautioning the Trump administration against withdrawing U.S. troops from the international peacekeeping force in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, calling the move “a grave mistake…The Wall Street Journal reported this month that Secretary of Defense Mark Esper is leading a push within the administration to end Washington’s decades-long participation in the Multinational Force and Observers group, which oversees the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel in the Sinai. READ MORE

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Saudi Arabia: “Our Relations with Israel Are Warm, Have Gone Beyond Normalization”

Posted on May 17, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

MEMRI
Saudi Writer Abdulhameed Al-Ghobain: Saudis Care about National Interests, Not about the Palestinian Cause
from BBC Arabic
May 10, 2020

…Abdulhameed Al-Ghobain: “I am talking about public opinion. Today, the public is informed. There is a deluge [of opinions] against the Palestinian cause. It is no longer just public support for normalization and building ties with Israel. [Our] public has turned against the Palestinians in general. Unfortunately, the Palestinians have lost. The Palestinians have not contributed anything. We can say that they are emotional people whose behavior is governed by their feelings…”If you came to Saudi Arabia and conducted a survey – even among middle school and high school students – they will tell you that not only are they indifferent to the Palestinian cause, but the people in Saudi Arabia no longer care about Arabs as a whole. READ MORE

AL JAZEERA UAE’s Etihad makes first known flight to Israel An Etihad Airways plane flew from the capital of the United Arab Emirates into Israel on Tuesday to deliver coronavirus aid to the Palestinians, the airline said, marking the first known direct commercial flight between the two nations. The flight took place despite the UAE having no formal diplomatic ties with Israel, while there are no commercial flights between the two states.

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“In a region rife with adversaries, Israel considers Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite terrorist group, to be its toughest and most immediate threat”

Posted on May 17, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
20 years after withdrawal, Israel, Hezbollah brace for war
by AP and ILH staff
May 20, 2020

Twenty years after Israel withdrew from the security zone in southern Lebanon, the IDF and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist group are gearing up for a possible war that neither seems to want. Israeli troops are striking Hezbollah targets in neighboring Syria and drilling for what could be an invasion of Lebanon. Hezbollah is beefing up its own forces and threatening to invade Israel. The bitter enemies routinely exchange warnings and threats…During the 2006 war, the group launched some 4,000 rockets into Israel, most of them unguided projectiles with limited ranges. Today, Israeli officials say Hezbollah possesses some 130,000 rockets and missiles capable of striking virtually anywhere in Israel. READ MORE

TABLET MAG FDD’S Tony Badran: Lebanon’s Interwoven Fantasy Worlds All Lead to War With Israel How much should America pay to maintain the fraying fabric?

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