“If Netanyahu fails to apply Israeli sovereignty to the Judea and Samaria communities before the election, not only will he almost certainly lose the elections, his defeat will bury Trump’s peace plan”

Posted on February 9, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Israeli sovereignty and the future of Trump’s peace plan
by Caroline Glick
February 8, 2020

On Wednesday morning, NeverTrump propagandist Bill Kristol told his MSNBC audience that Democratic chances of victory over U.S. President Donald Trump will rise if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is defeated in Israel’s March 2 elections. Along the same lines, if Netanyahu fails to apply Israeli sovereignty to the Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria before the election, not only will he almost certainly lose those elections, his defeat will bury Trump’s peace plan and harm Trump’s reelection chances. READ MORE

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“Restaurants in Israel push for changes to kosher-certification rules”

Posted on February 9, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

TABLET MAG
Open for Business—on Shabbat?
by Sara Toth Stub
February 5, 2020

…If Bab al Yemen wins the case, it will be a game changer for the dining scene in Israel, where restaurants often forgo kashrut certification because they want to be open on Shabbat, said Shai Berman, general manager of the Israel Restaurants Association, which represents hundreds of eateries, and recently joined the legal case against the chief rabbinate. “Finally restaurants will have this option,” he said. “And we see growing demand for it: Tourists want to eat their Shabbat meals out in the city, not stuck inside their hotels, and local people, especially those who are traditional, would also prefer to sit at a kosher place on Shabbat.” READ MORE

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“The Jerusalem-born teen sings everywhere, from the bathtub to the bus stop, her mother says”

Posted on February 9, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
How Eden Alene became the 1st Israeli of Ethiopian descent bound for Eurovision
by Jessica Steinberg
February 7, 2020

A visibly emotional Eden Alene took the stage Tuesday for a final rendition of “Halo,” the Beyonce song that had just made her Israel’s contestant for the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest in the Netherlands. Onstage and surrounded by judges, presenters and other contestants, Alene, who clutched a small Israeli flag under her arm, wrapped her other arm around her mother, Zehava Varkanesh, as she hugged her tight…Alene’s win has been significant for Israel and its Ethiopian community, as she will be the first Israeli of Ethiopian descent to represent the Jewish state at Eurovision. READ MORE

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Understanding the Reluctant Trump Voter

Posted on February 9, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

NATIONAL REVIEW
Understanding Why Religious Conservatives Would Vote for Trump
by Andrew T. Walker
February 10, 2020

Rather than wait for the postmortem, I can tell you what will happen now: Millions of religious conservatives will approach their votes with a political realism that requires balancing undesirable tensions and conflicting realities. They will vote not so much for Donald Trump — with his uncouth speech and incessantly immature tweets — as they will vote against the worldview of the Democratic platform. Those who make this calculation are not sell-outs, nor have they forfeited the credibility of their values carte blanche. For blind allegiance does not explain the voting relationship. That religious conservatives are not progressives does. Between Never Trump and Always Trump is a third category: Reluctant Trump.  READ MORE

GALLUP Socialism and Atheism Still U.S. Political Liabilities More than nine in 10 Americans say they would vote for a presidential candidate nominated by their party who happened to be black, Catholic, Hispanic, Jewish or a woman. Such willingness drops to eight in 10 for candidates who are evangelical Christians or are gays or lesbians. Between six and seven in 10 would vote for someone who is under 40 years of age, over 70, a Muslim or an atheist. Just one group tested — socialists — receives majority opposition. Less than half of Americans, 45%, say they would vote for a socialist for president, while 53% say they would not.

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POSTPONED TO A DATE TBD: NYC CAMERA Gala 2020 with Nikki Haley

Posted on February 9, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

2020 Annual CAMERA Gala featuring Nikki Haley

Sunday, May 3, 2020
Cocktail Reception | 5:30 pm
Dinner | 6:30 pm
Dietary laws observed
Pier Sixty | Chelsea Piers | NYC
Click here for more information and to purchase tickets

Gala Leadership and Sponsorship opportunities available. Please contact Tracey Johnson, National Director of Development at Tracey@CAMERA.org or 617.377.6898

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“Intensive talks are ongoing between Washington, Jerusalem, Cairo and Riyadh to convene a summit in the Egyptian capital in the coming weeks, which will include a meeting between PM Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman”

Posted on February 6, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
US promoting historic meeting between PM, Saudi crown prince
by Daniel Siryoti
February 7, 2020

Senior Arab diplomatic sources on Thursday night said intensive talks were taking place between Washington, Jerusalem, Cairo and Riyadh to convene a summit in the Egyptian capital, which will include a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman…One senior Arab diplomatic source, who confirmed the details to Israel Hayom, said, “In recent days there have been very intensive discussions between Washington, Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia to arrange a summit meeting in Cairo as early as the coming weeks, even before the election in Israel, which aside from the host, Egypt, will be attended by the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia and also the leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Bahrain and Oman.” READ MORE

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Car-ramming attacker said to be East Jerusalem man with flower shop in Jerusalem shopping mall

Posted on February 6, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Troops nab suspected car rammer, as soldiers he hit are sworn into unit
by Judah Ari Gross
6 February 2020

Israeli security forces on Thursday evening arrested the suspected terrorist believed to have carried out a car-ramming attack that injured a dozen soldiers in Jerusalem earlier in the day, security officials said. The arrest came as Golani Brigade soldiers run over in the attack went ahead with their swearing-in ceremony, some of them on crutches after being released from the hospital….In recent days [alleged attacker Sanad] Turman had made several Facebook posts possible signaling his intentions, writing in one update: “I’ve found my answers,” and in another: “Whoever seeks peace with the enemy is living under an illusion. Never surrender.” READ MORE

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The Deal of the Century: “Far more voices—including most individual Arab and European states—have expressed cautious support”

Posted on February 6, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

MIDDLE EAST FORUM
Democrats, Experts, and Peace Plans
by Alex Joffe
February 4, 2020

Cutting Gordian Knots is a signature of the Trump administration, and the long-rumored “Deal of the Century” is no exception. At its core, the plan explicitly acknowledges reality: the Palestinians are losing the conflict, Israel will not return to the 1949 armistice lines, there will be no evacuation of the settlement blocs, and there is no Palestinian “right of return.” As historian Martin Kramer points out, the plan is not so much about peace as about partition. In that sense, the break it represents from the past 50 years of “peace processing” is profound. Equally striking is the plan’s reception. For all its vagaries, only a small handful of countries and entities, namely the Palestinian Authority (PA), Turkey, and Iran, have spoken out bitterly against it...READ MORE

THE HILL More than 100 House Dems reject Trump peace plan in open letter More than 100 House Democrats on Friday signed a letter to President Trump rejecting his Middle East peace plan, saying it would “hurt Israelis and Palestinians alike, pushing them toward further conflict.” The open letter, led by Democratic Reps. Alan Lowenthal (Calif.) and Andy Levin (Mich.), warned that Trump’s plan “paves the way for a permanent occupation of the West Bank.” Click here to read the letter. Illinois Democrat Congressman Brad Schneider (10th District), deviates from the group, issuing a less critical, more nuanced “Statement on Trump Administration’s Plan for Peace in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”

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“Why is a prominent Massachusetts rabbi, Toba Spitzer, urging Jews to sacrifice their money and lives at the altar of Marxist envy?”

Posted on February 6, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

AMERICANS FOR PEACE & TOLERANCE
Boston’s Toba Spitzer: An Anti-Jewish Rabbi
by Charles Jacobs
February 6, 2020

Rabbi Toba Spitzer has written that, when it comes to Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, American Jews should ask themselves, “Do we believe that the physical continuity of the Jewish people supersedes other Jewish values?” And in a 2017 interview, Rabbi Spitzer echoed the insidious economic anti-Semitism that is one of the unifying hallmarks of socialism: “The Jewish community in Boston is — certainly with exceptions — disproportionately well-off. I think that real change is going to require that we give up some of that economic privilege.” READ MORE

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Democratic “push to boycott AIPAC is by no means new. Liberal advocacy groups have long viewed AIPAC as overly hawkish on Israel and out of line with the Democratic Party’s evolving stance on the Jewish state”

Posted on February 6, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

FREE BEACON
The Campaign to Sever the Democratic Alliance With AIPAC
by Adam Kredo
February 7, 2020

A Democrat-backed effort to boycott the nation’s leading pro-Israel group is gaining steam, worrying center-left advocates of the Jewish state who have been struggling in recent months to ensure their party continues to uphold the historically close U.S.-Israel relationship. Far-left critics of Israel and its supporters in the United States have been gaining traction in the Democratic Party for some time. As young leaders such as Reps. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) gain increasing control of the party, anti-Israel voices once shunned by mainstream Democrats are beginning to find themselves welcomed with open arms READ MORE

JERUSALEM POST AIPAC apologizes for ad slamming ‘radicals in the Democratic Party’ The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) issued an apology on Saturday after sponsoring a Facebook ad that slammed “radicals in the Democratic Party” and blamed them for “pushing their antisemitic policies down the throats of the American people.” It also called supporters to sign a letter to Democrats in Congress “don’t abandon Israel.”

JNS The goal of pro-Israel Democrats: Stop Bernie! Though Sanders is bidding, along with the more centrist billionaire Michael Bloomberg, to be the first Jewish president, he is easily the most critical towards Israel of any of the Democratic candidates.

TIMES OF ISRAEL Democratic hopeful Elizabeth Warren says she will skip AIPAC “I’m an American Jew and I’m terrified by the unholy alliance that AIPAC is forming with Islamophobes and anti-Semites and white nationalists and no Democrat should legitimize that kind of bigotry by attending their annual policy conference,” a woman attending a town hall with Warren in Derry, New Hampshire said. “And I’m really grateful that you skipped the AIPAC conference last year and so my question is if you’ll join me in committing to skip the AIPAC conference this March”

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