“The rescue, spearheaded by Likud Knesset member Nir Barkat, involved intense efforts by Israel’s National Security Council and the use of a Boeing 767 belonging to billionaire philanthropists Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson”

Posted on May 14, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Stranded Israelis extracted from Morocco to Israel in secret operation
by Yehuda Shlezinger and Erez Linn
May 14, 2020

Twenty-six Israelis who had been stranded in Morocco for several weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic landed safely in Israel on Thursday morning, after being extracted from the Muslim country in a secret operation devised by Likud Knesset member and former Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat. Among the passengers were Israeli youth who were on an overseas trip, an Israeli Bedouin from eastern Jerusalem, and Israeli and Jewish businessmen with dual Israeli-Moroccan citizenship. READ MORE

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“Divisions over safety of restarting services have resulted in ‘rogue’ minyans”

Posted on May 14, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JTA
‘Rogue’ minyans and divided ranks: Orthodox rabbis are increasingly split over safety of communal prayer
by Shira Hanau
May 15, 2020

When the coronavirus pandemic first descended on the United States in March, the Orthodox rabbis of Dallas shuttered their synagogues together in a remarkable show of unity. In April, as the governor of Texas began reopening the state, the rabbis banded together again, telling their congregants that they all would keep their synagogues closed. But now, as the nation’s lockdown enters its third month, their compact has frayed. This week, the rabbis announced that going forward, each synagogue would decide on its own when to resume in-person services. READ MORE

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Pompeo: “Israel must stop any action that strengthens the Chinese Communist Party, even if that means canceling projects already planned”

Posted on May 14, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

BREAKING DEFENSE
US To Israel: No More Chinese Deals; Pompeo’s Flying Visit
by Arie Egozi
May 13, 2020

The United States delivered a clear message to Jerusalem today – avoid further involvement of China in the Israeli economy. The message was one of the main reasons for the very short visit of American Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Jerusalem — one day before the new cabinet is sworn in. “The fact that the visit takes place in these problematic times proves its urgency ” an Israeli source said. Pompeo came to Israel with a very strict message – stop all Chinese investment in Israel, either in high tech companies or infrastructure. READ MORE

ARUTZ SHEVA State Department: Sovereignty should be part of Israel-PA talks State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a brief with Israeli journalists on Friday that if Israel applies sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, the move should be part of discussions between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs on fulfilling US President Donald Trump’s peace plan.

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“Mireille Knoll was killed because she was a defenseless old woman and because her killers did not like Jews”

Posted on May 14, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

ALGEMEINER
Accused Killers of French Jewish Holocaust Survivor Mireille Knoll Will Face Trial on Antisemitic Murder Charges
by Staff
May 15, 2020

The two men accused of the brutal murder of a French Jewish Holocaust survivor in her Paris apartment in 2018 are to face trial on charges of homicide aggravated by antisemitism…The murder of Knoll — a survivor of the July 1942 Vel d’Hiv roundup of French Jews by the Nazis and their French collaborators — caused an uproar in France. Knoll’s killing came less than one year after the murder of another Jewish woman, 65-year-old Sarah Halimi, by one of her neighbors in a public housing project in eastern Paris. READ MORE

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“Ala Dakka, who plays Palestinian boxer Bashar in the hit show’s third season, grew up between Israel’s Jewish and Arab worlds”

Posted on May 14, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JEWISH INSIDER
The newest ‘Fauda’ star doesn’t want to play identity politics
by Amy Spiro
May 15, 2020

…Dakka has long been one to swim against the tide. The 25-year-old actor, born to Muslim parents, grew up in Beersheba, the southern city whose residents are 90% Jewish. After high school, he completed a year of national service working as an arts counselor with students in Bat Yam, many of whom had never met an Arab before. His father, a lawyer, hoped Dakka would follow in his footsteps, and wasn’t thrilled when he went into the entertainment business instead. But Dakka stuck with acting, forging a path for himself in the in-between world that has epitomized his quarter century on earth. Caught between his Palestinian roots and his Israeli immersion, Dakka chooses not to fully identify as either. READ MORE

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“Those who are anxious to open up the economy have led harder lives than those holding out for safety”

Posted on May 14, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

WALL STREET JOURNAL
Scenes From the Class Struggle in Lockdown
by Peggy Noonan
May 14, 2020

…There’s a class element in the public debate. It’s been there the whole time but it’s getting worse, and few in public life are acting as if they’re sensitive to it. Our news professionals the past three months have made plenty of room for medical and professionals warning of the illness. Good, we needed it, it was news. They are not now paying an equal degree of sympathetic attention to those living the economic story, such as the Dallas woman who pushed back, opened her hair salon, and was thrown in jail by a preening judge. He wanted an apology. She said she couldn’t apologize for trying to feed her family. READ MORE SUBSCRIPTION CONTENT

UNHERD.COM The danger of safetyism Grasping bureaucracies are using lockdown as an excuse to choke the human spirit

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“With seemingly dovish NYT op-ed, Daniel Pipes angered many former allies on the right. He’s not backing down, but stresses his goal is still Israel’s victory over the Palestinians”

Posted on May 10, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
I believe in compromise, says hawkish pundit under fire for opposing annexation
by Raphael Ahren
May 12, 2020

Daniel Pipes caused a serious commotion last week among fellow right-wing pro-Israel pundits by arguing — in the opinion pages of the New York Times, no less — that Jerusalem’s plan to annex large parts of the West Bank was misguided and counterproductive. Yishai Fleisher, the international spokesperson for the Jewish community of Hebron, wrote an article arguing that Pipes’s piece was “entirely founded on needlessly fearful conjecture.” Less courteous, the heads of the hawkish Zionist Organization of America penned a nearly 3,000-word piece rebutting a “fallacy-filled” text column…READ MORE

JNS Daniel Pipes: A reply to my critics I hardly expected my article to arouse high emotions. It deals with a tactical issue distant from philosophical foundations, principles or ideology.

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“Since 1967, the State of Israel has carefully left its position on the legal status of Judea and Samaria ambiguous to avoid unnecessary confrontations”

Posted on May 10, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
The ‘legal’ landmine on the road to sovereignty
by Caroline B. Glick
May 10, 2020

There is a landmine on the road to Israeli sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria. It must be defused before it blows up Israel’s efforts to secure its national interests and takes President Donald Trump’s peace plan, and US-Israel relations along with it. The landmine is not an actual explosive charge but the clique of unelected lawyers at the top of Israel’s legal system. Members of the clique have arrogated the power of the government to themselves to advance their radical, legally unsupported political views about Judea and Samaria. At the same time, Israel has assiduously refused to make any concessions about its actual sovereign rights to the areas READ MORE

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#CyberAttack “Iran used American servers to hack into the Israeli water and sewage facilities”

Posted on May 10, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
National cyber unit warns of incoming Iranian, anti-Israel cyberattack
by Yonah Jeremy Bob
May 13, 2020

The Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD) issued a warning on Wednesday that Iran and other anti-Israel activists were expected to stage a series of cyber attacks on Israel during the May 14-22 period commemorating Iran’s Jerusalem Day. Known as #OpJerusalem, the annual attacks in recent years have used Iran’s Jerusalem Day, May 22 – dedicated to “liberating” Jerusalem from the Jewish state – the end of Ramadan and Israel’s Jerusalem Day as a pivot point to organize around. READ MORE

JERUSALEM POST Security cabinet: Israel didn’t expect Iranian cyberattack on water system An alleged Iranian cyberattack on Israeli water and sewage facilities last month was the subject of the first security cabinet meeting since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak on Thursday…The attack did not cause substantial damage except for a few issues in local water systems

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New York’s Hasidic community “has taken a tragedy and turned it into a superpower” said an expert on using plasma to treat people after virus exposure

Posted on May 10, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK TIMES
Hasidic Jews, Hit Hard by the Outbreak, Flock to Donate Plasma
by Liam Stack
May 12, 2020

They came in waves throughout the day, large groups in car pools and married couples taking advantage of their newfound health for a road trip through the mountains of Eastern Pennsylvania. By the time night had fallen, more than 60 Hasidic Jews from New York had arrived to donate blood plasma, rich in the antibodies they generated when they were sick with Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus…“By far the largest group [of plasma donors] is our Orthodox friends in New York City,” said Dr. Joyner, who said more than 5,000 patients across the country had received plasma treatment so far. READ MORE

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