“Many wrongly believe the United States has already reached full “maximum pressure” on Iran”

Posted on January 23, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK TIMES
Trump has an Iran Strategy. This is it.
by Richard Goldberg
January 24, 2020

President Trump’s strategy to confront Iran is easy to understand: impose maximum pressure to gain maximum leverage ahead of negotiations to dismantle its nuclear program and address its malign activities — all while avoiding a military entanglement or pursuing a policy of regime change. Iran’s leaders, for their part, recognize that Mr. Trump’s strategy has already sent their economy into a tailspin and could bring down their regime if sanctions are not soon lifted. The recent regime-perpetrated murder of about 1,500 Iranian protesters demonstrating against the government’s austerity policy revealed a destabilized Islamic Republic increasingly afraid of its repressed citizens. READ MORE

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In Chicago: Kosher Milt’s Barbecue sold to employees, “will continue charitable giving as a key part of the business model”

Posted on January 23, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JTA
Employees become owners at Chicago’s beloved kosher barbecue restaurant
by Yvette Alt Miller
January 21, 2020

A group of longtime employees is taking ownership of Milt’s Barbecue for the Perplexed, the popular kosher restaurant here that has been donating its profits to support local charities for seven years. Within months of opening in 2013, Milt’s menu of home-smoked meats and barbecue dishes had made it a hit among both kosher and non-kosher diners. Chicago Magazine named it one of the best new restaurants in the city, and it has been a beloved institution. The consortium of employees bought the restaurant for $1 earlier this month. READ MORE

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Trump admin provides “millions of taxpayer dollars” to “pro-jihadist Islamist groups”

Posted on January 23, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

DAILY WIRE
DHS Approves $100K Grant Of Taxpayers’ Money To CAIR
by Sam Westrop
January 17, 2020

In October, the Trump administration handed out $100,000 of taxpayer dollars to the terror-tied Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Middle East Forum has found. In 2009, the FBI blacklisted CAIR after federal prosecutors named the Islamist group as an unindicted co-conspirator during the 2008 Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial. In 2014, the United Arab Emirates designated CAIR as a terrorist organization. And today, its officials continue to promote and excuse violently anti-American and anti-Semitic rhetoric. READ MORE

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One of many amazing Israel statistics: GDP increase, 2000 to 2019, from $132BN to $404BN (206% growth)

Posted on January 23, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

THE ETTINGER REPORT
The 21st Century Israeli Economic Surge
by Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger
January 22, 2020

Selected Israel statistics, 2000 to 2019:
*Population – from 6.2 million to 9.1 million (47% growth);
*GDP per capita – from $21,000 to $44,000 (110% growth);
*Export – from $47BN to $117BN (149% growth);
*Women in the workforce – from 48% to 60% (25% growth);
*University/college students – from 70,000 to 316,000 (351% growth);
*Incoming tourists – from 2.31 million to 4.87 million (108% growth);
*Water desalination – from 2% to 26% (1,300% growth);
*Government debt per GDP – from 77% to 58.5% (24.7% reduction);
*US “aid” per GDP – from 2.3% to 1% (57% reduction);
*Tax burden – from 43% to 32% (26% reduction) READ MORE

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“Every time Israeli leaders have trusted the pen over the sword it has ended in bloodshed and destruction, as in Oslo”

Posted on January 23, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Israel Should Trust the Sword over the Pen
by Rachel Touitou
January 11, 2020

…It is deeply worrying that a nation which spends over 5% of its defense budget, totaling tens of billions of dollars per annum, has complete air supremacy over Gaza, is surrendering to an organization without much heavy weaponry, let alone a single tank division. Only defeated or weak-willed nations seek truces, and if Israel surrenders and admits defeat against Hamas it will only embolden all of the Jewish state’s enemies near and far. The ayatollahs in Iran, Hezbollah in the North, and the many other enemies chomping at the bit will be buoyed by these developments. READ MORE

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President Macron loses temper with Israeli security in Jerusalem’s Old City

Posted on January 22, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

REUTERS
Macron berates Israeli security men in tussle at Jerusalem church
by John Irish
January 22, 2020

“Go outside,” French President Emmanuel Macron demanded in English in a melee with Israeli security men on Wednesday, demanding they leave a Jerusalem basilica that he visited before a Holocaust memorial conference. The French tricolour has flown over the Church of St. Anne in Jerusalem’s walled Old City since it was gifted by the Ottomans to French Emperor Napoleon III in 1856. France views it as a provocation when Israeli police enter the church’s sandstone complex, in a part of Jerusalem captured and annexed by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war…Speaking later to reporters, Macron said the incident ended pleasantly and that he shook hands with the Israeli security officials. READ MORE

JERUSALEM POST Macron is first French leader in over 20 years to visit Western Wall The Western Wall, one of Judaism’s most holy sites after the Temple Mount, is politically significant because it is located in east Jerusalem.

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“Whether you are liberal or conservative, if you love Israel, we share common ground. But if you support organizations that seek to harm Israel, and your declarations of being pro-Israel are insincere, we have nothing to say to each other”

Posted on January 20, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

COPMA
Register & Vote in the World Zionist Congress Election – It’s About Stopping the Radical Anti-Israel Activists Among World Jewry
January 20, 2020

There is an exciting opportunity to help Israel available within days. As an American Jew you (and Jews all over the world) can easily register and vote for delegates to represent you on issues important to Israel. It will take only 5 minutes of your time and can be done online. The only international legislature or parliament for world Jewry is the World Zionist Congress or WZC. It describes itself as “the only democratically elected global Jewish forum.” Elections for the WZC take place every five years. It will meet in October 2020 in Jerusalem, set an agenda and distribute $1 Billion for various causes. You can soon register and vote for delegates to the Congress. American Jewry has 152 delegates out of a total of 500 delegates. This year voting begins on January 21 and ends March 11. Registration is only $7.50 ($5 if you are under 25) for any permanent US resident over 18 and can be easily done online at https://azm.org/elections. READ MORE

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Yad Vashem event marks 75th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation: “Antisemitism is a cancer that eats the world”

Posted on January 19, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
World War II was caused by hatred of Jews, preeminent Holocaust scholar says
by Raphael Ahren
January 20, 2020

World War II and the enormous catastrophe it brought upon mankind occurred “probably mainly” because of anti-Semitism, according to Israel’s preeminent Holocaust scholar. Indeed, Adolf Hitler launched the war to a large extent to prevent “world Jewry” from physically annihilating the German nation, Yehuda Bauer said. “Anti-Semitism is a cancer that eats the world, and World War II is proof of that,” he told The Times of Israel during an hour-long interview in Jerusalem last week. Bauer, 93, will deliver the keynote address at a festive dinner for about 45 leaders from across the world Wednesday evening at President Reuven Rivlin’s residence that will kick off this year’s World Holocaust Forum. READ MORE

JERUSALEM POST Editorial Board: A powerful message at the Fifth World Holocaust Forum With presidents, prime ministers, kings, crown princes, parliamentary speakers and more, the event is truly a historic one for Israel, which has never had so many foreign dignitaries visit at once.

TIME OF ISRAEL Senior Saudi religious leader set for ‘groundbreaking’ visit to Auschwitz Thurs. Saudi prince’s ally Mohammed al-Issa, other Muslim religious leaders and AJC officials also slated to tour a Jewish museum and a mosque in Warsaw, share a Shabbat meal…AJC CEO David Harris said the trip represented “the most senior delegation of Muslim religious leaders to visit Auschwitz ever.”

PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH PA daily calls for murder to stop Holocaust ceremony in Jerusalem As over 40 world leaders gather in Jerusalem this week to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz at the event Remembering the Holocaust: Fighting Antisemitism, the Palestinian Authority wants to disrupt the ceremony. The official PA daily published an op-ed yesterday literally calling for murder in order to ruin the ceremony: “One shot will disrupt the ceremony and one dead body will cancel the ceremony.”

ALGEMEINER World Leaders Are Wrong to Meet With Abbas While in Israel for Holocaust Memorial Ceremonies What is not welcome or heartening is the news that Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prince Charles will exploit the opportunity to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during their visit. It is, in fact, shameful, intolerable and unimaginably disrespectful for them to do so during an event intended to commemorate the Holocaust, because Abbas is one of the Arab world’s most prominent Holocaust deniers.

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“The Brexit referendum and ensuing uncertainty has seemingly not dampened the trading spirit, with Israel becoming the first country to sign a post-Brexit continuity trade agreement with the UK”

Posted on January 19, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Israel, United Kingdom building ‘new strategic relationship’
by Eytan Halon
January 21, 2020

Israel and the United Kingdom are building a “new strategic relationship” driven by soaring bilateral trade and deepening ties in various sectors, according to a new report. The increasing strength of the relationship, the report by the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM) states, is symbolized by soaring bilateral trade between the two countries. Trade increased by 72% from $6.1 billion in 2012 to $10.5b. in 2018, and the UK is now Israel’s third largest export market, surpassed only by the United States and China. READ MORE

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“Likud supporters think that any government Gantz leads would be more likely to make the same blunders that Barak and Olmert made in the course of formulating generous peace offers”

Posted on January 19, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Gantz sends a message to American liberals, but are they listening?
by Jonathan Tobin
January 22, 2020

…But if he has any hope of breaking the stalemate that has left Israel without a governing coalition for more than a year, [Benny] Gantz is going to have to convince more centrist voters that he can be trusted with the nation’s security. That’s why he made a campaign pledge this week designed to win over voters who have supported Netanyahu, but might shock the majority of American Jews who hold negative views of the prime minister. Rather than promising to work for a two-state solution, Gantz proposed something that the Palestinians say would make such a deal impossible: annexation of the Jordan Valley. READ MORE

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