“Poland’s ruling party took a stand on Wednesday against a far-right push to stop the restitution of property owned by Jews and others before the Holocaust”

Posted on April 16, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Polish leaders block bill stopping restitution of property lost in Holocaust
by Cnaan Lipshiz
April 16, 2020

Poland’s ruling party took a stand on Wednesday against a far-right push to stop the restitution of property owned by Jews and others before the Holocaust. Far-right activists had gathered enough signatures to present a draft resolution to the Sejm, the lower house of Polish parliament, that would prohibit the redistribution of “heirless property”— property that belonged to private individuals, many of them Jews, who were killed in the Holocaust and whose heirs, if they exist, never filed for restitution….Maciej Konieczny, a lawmaker for Left Together, called the draft anti-Semitic, adding it was “a scare campaign about Jews who are supposedly going to rob Poland.” READ MORE

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“Some 75% of the Baltimore area’s Jews – around 100,000 people – live in 21215 and four other contiguous ZIP Codes”

Posted on April 16, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

THE FORWARD
Virus outbreak in black-Jewish Baltimore neighborhood leads to anti-Semitic blame game
by Aiden Pink
Apri 15, 2020

An African-American radio host’s public blaming of Jews for Baltimore’s coronavirus outbreak led to an accusation of anti-Semitism, particularly since data shows that the city’s COVID-19 hotspots include neighborhoods popular with both Jews and black residents. “There are a lot of Jewish people moving down here from New York City,” the host, George Mitchell, said on his WOLB 1010 AM show on Monday. “Now where was the hotbed of the virus? In New York City. It’s only obvious to me that if a person moves here from New York City, there’s more of a possibility the person has the virus than if the person was black.” READ MORE

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The Ancient Bond Between America and Israel

Posted on April 16, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

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“China’s defective “gifts” reflect a defective regime—and the world is beginning to notice”

Posted on April 16, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

THE AMERICAN INTEREST
How China’s Mask Diplomacy Backfired
by Charles Dunst
April 15, 2020

….Chinese state media has emphasized the purported strength of the CCP’s response, using this new “Health Silk Road” to portray China as a trustworthy torchbearer amid a crisis that is engulfing the West. And while this narrative has found purchase in mainstream Western media, many claims of Chinese charity are easily debunked. China is not donating but selling ventilators, face masks, COVID-19 tests, and other medical supplies to Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Northern Ireland, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Qatar, Serbia, and Austria, among other countries. Meanwhile, many of these supplies are defective. READ MORE

NPR Bloomberg News Killed Investigation, Fired Reporter, Then Sought To Silence His Wife The Chinese ambassador warned Bloomberg executives against publishing the investigation. But Bloomberg News published the story anyway. Afterward, Forsythe received what he and Fincher considered death threats relayed through other journalists. He and Fincher moved their family to Hong Kong, believing it to be safer. Even so, the reporting team pursued the next chapter, focusing on Chinese leaders’ ties to the country’s richest man, Wang Jianlin. Among those in the reporters’ sights: the family of new Chinese President Xi Jinping.

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“Most expert estimates already have Tehran’s time to break out for a nuclear bomb – if it chooses to do so, which all agree it has not yet – down from 12 months to between three and a half to six months”

Posted on April 12, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
The coming giant internal Israeli war over a nuclear Iran – A 2010 rematch
by Yonah Jeremy Bob
April 12, 2020

A massive internal storm may be coming that the coronavirus may delay, but cannot stop. If it does, it will pit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mossad Director Yossi Cohen and others against Blue and White leaders Benny Gantz and Gabi Ashkenazi, as well as IDF Chief of Staff Lt.- Gen. Aviv Kochavi, over how to deal with Iran. According to numerous interviews by The Jerusalem Post with current and former Mossad, CIA and other national security officials in the US and Israel, a point may get closer where the Islamic Republic of Iran will escalate its levels of uranium enrichment dangerously close to levels where it could weaponize within a short period. READ MORE

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Israel’s sectors with high productivity and employment, such as tech, commerce, and industry, will be the first to resume work

Posted on April 12, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

CTECH
Back to Normal: Tech First, Culture Last
by Omri Milman
April 12, 2020

Israel’s return to normalcy post coronavirus (Covid-19) lockdown is set to start with its most productive sectors, first among them the country’s tech sector, according to a new report. The report was submitted by the Israeli Ministry of Finance Saturday to officials at the Ministry of Health and the National Security Council and was viewed by Calcalist. The final report will contain the time table for the return to activity of the various sectors, to be determined by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In the report, the finance ministry recommended gradually restoring industries with the lowest health risk potential and the most substantial contribution to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). READ MORE

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“That Israel’s health system had to enlist Mossad was evidence that it had not readied itself to respond to the type of threat represented by the coronavirus”

Posted on April 12, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK TIMES
Israel’s Not-So-Secret Weapon in Coronavirus Fight: The Spies of Mossad
by Ronen Bergman
April 13, 2020

When Israel’s health minister was found to be infected with the coronavirus early this month, all high-level officials in close contact with him were quarantined, including one who stood out: the director of the Mossad, the storied Israeli spy service. Mossad officers, primarily associated with covert operations abroad in the name of protecting Israel, are not normally in the business of public health. So Israelis were immediately intrigued. Why would the Mossad director, Yossi Cohen, a widely respected figure in the country, have even been in the same room as the health minister, Yaakov Litzman? READ MORE

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Amnesty International employee betrays Gazan peace activist for “collaborating” with Israels

Posted on April 12, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

UN WATCH
Amnesty researcher prompts Hamas to arrest peace activist
April 13, 2020

Amnesty International, the group that was founded to free political prisoners, is being asked to terminate its relationship with a Gaza researcher after the New York Times reported that she prompted Hamas to arrest a Palestinian peace activist for holding a Zoom call with Israeli peace activists. Gaza Youth Committee leader Rami Aman, 38, who organized the peace dialogue, has not been heard from since he surrendered Thursday morning at Hamas Internal Security headquarters in Gaza City…According to the Times, Ms. Hind Khoudary “posted angry denunciations on Facebook of Mr. Aman and others on the call, tagging three Hamas officials to ensure it got their attention.” READ MORE

ALGEMEINER Amnesty International Employee Denounced for Getting Gaza Peace Activist Arrested by Hamas for Virtual Meeting With Israeli In response, Human Rights Watch official Peter Bouckaert, who is himself often hostile to Israel, told Khoudary, “You should be ashamed of yourself.” “It is disgusting that a so-called ‘journalist’ got an activist for dialogue arrested by Hamas,” he later said. “Conflicts are resolved through dialogue and understanding, not hatred.” Khoudary replied to Bouckaert in a tweet, asking, “Being ashamed of myself for fighting normalization with Israel?”

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“For the past 26 years, I’ve worked at Zabar’s, the famous appetizing store located on 80th Street and Broadway in New York City”

Posted on April 12, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

THE FORWARD
The unkindest cut: Last call for a Zabar’s lox slicer
by Len Berk
April 8, 2020

…I was three quarters through the slice when my supervisor came behind the counter. I stopped slicing and looked up at him. “I don’t think I want you here next Thursday, Len.” he said. “We’ll talk later.” My stomach sank. What had I done?…“There are over 230 people that work in the store,” he said. “The way I see it, it’s not a matter of if, but when. What will I do when it happens? Close the store for a week or two, do a major clean-up and sanitize everything?…I told the same thing to Saul (Zabar), but I can’t tell him not to come in to the store. It’s his store! But I do have the power to let you go.” READ MORE

Len Berk: Lox Me Tender

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“A low-tech, high-energy hour managed to be both perfectly silly and profoundly moving” (and it was almost 100% non-political)

Posted on April 12, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JEWISH WEEK
How a Celebrity ‘Seder’ Modeled Real Jewish Pluralism
by Andrew Silow-Carroll
April 14, 2020

I’ll confess: I get a little giddy when Jewish celebrities acknowledge, never mind celebrate, their Jewishness. Over the years, I’ve spilled more ink over the B-list star or ho-hum athlete who drops a Yiddish word than, say, the day school teacher who has dedicated her life to Limmudei Kodesh. I’m not proud. But my enjoyment of last week’s “Saturday Night Seder” was more than mere stargazing. Somehow, this low-tech, high-energy hour managed to be both perfectly silly and often profoundly moving, while capturing our terrifying global reality. And at a time when we were all forced to host attenuated seders, it amplified Passover and its themes — of hope, of family, of tradition — in cheerful defiance of the coronavirus. READ MORE

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