Corrupt and mismanaged UNRWA–the only UN agency that exists solely to manage one group of “refugees”–has been renewed

Posted on December 13, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

REUTERS
In face of U.S. opposition, U.N. renews agency helping Palestinian refugees
Michelle Nichols
December 13, 2019

The United Nations General Assembly on Friday overwhelmingly renewed the mandate for a U.N. agency supporting Palestinian refugees for another three years amid misconduct allegations and a cash shortfall triggered by a halt in U.S. funding. The mandate of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) was extended until June 30, 2023, with 169 votes in favor and nine abstentions, while the United States and Israel voted against. UNRWA, which as established in 1949, provides education, health and relief services as well as housing and microfinance assistance to more than 5 million registered refugees in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, as well as in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. READ MORE

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“In 2019, two in every three religious or racially motivated assaults in the New York City area were on Jews”

Posted on December 13, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

SPECTATOR USA
Trump’s ‘Jew shenanigans’
by Domenic Green
December 12, 2019

…In Europe, the majority of assaults upon Jewish people or schools or synagogues seem to be committed by Muslim immigrants. In the United States, and in the New York area in particular, the majority of the assaults against Jews seem to be committed by African Americans against their ultra-Orthodox neighbors. The number and range of these assaults has risen sharply over the last year: beatings by gangs, a man with a gun smashing synagogue windows, rocks thrown at a school bus…These figures correlate to three awkward facts. Ultra-Orthodox Jews are nothing if not distinctive. They are frequently poor, so they cannot deal with racial tension in the American way and retreat to the suburbs. READ MORE

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The Illinois financial crisis: “Outside of unfunded state employee pension obligations, no other challenge facing legislators poses a greater threat to the state’s long-term prosperity”

Posted on December 13, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

CRAINS
The other financial storm threatening to capsize Illinois’ economy
by Joe Cahill
December 10, 2019

We’ll soon find out if Illinois lawmakers are serious about easing the state’s unsustainable property tax burden. As you may know, Illinois has the second-highest property tax rate in the nation, trailing New Jersey by just five one-hundredths of a percentage point. The pain has become so acute for homeowners and landlords across Illinois that Gov. J.B. Pritzker appointed a task force this year to study the causes and recommend solutions. The task force report is due Dec. 31, setting up possible legislative action on the issue when state lawmakers reconvene next month. READ MORE

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“Kosher store opened by Leah Mindel Ferencz, who was killed in attack, and her husband, was a foundation stone of new community of Hasidic Jews escaping Brooklyn’s high prices”

Posted on December 11, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Orthodox Jews tried to build a home in Jersey City, the shooting won’t end it
by Ben Sales and Laura E. Adkins
December 11, 2019

Every Friday afternoon, Leah Mindel Ferencz would cook hot kugel and cholent and serve them in the small grocery store she and her husband, Moshe, opened here about four years ago. The couple had moved from Brooklyn, and the store they opened, JC Kosher Supermarket, became a cornerstone of the small but growing Jewish community of Greenville, a largely African-American neighborhood in this city across the Hudson River from Manhattan. The sole kosher grocery for the 100 or so Orthodox families here, the store signaled that the community was there to stay, hopefully for years to come. READ MORE

WASHINGTON POST Jersey City shootout: Mayor says deadly attack on kosher deli was a targeted hate crime The pair had already killed, police say, when their van slowed to a stop on a rain-drenched street opposite the Jersey City Kosher Supermarket and David Anderson jumped out, ready to fire. Inside the shop — a small store catering to the city’s growing population of ultra-Orthodox Jews — co-owner and mother of three Mindy Ferencz was working alongside an employee.

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“How could a speech that centered on advocating support for Israel and opposition to anti-Semitism, and in particular, the BDS movement, be considered anti-Semitic incitement?”

Posted on December 9, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Donald Trump to IAC: Some American Jews ‘Don’t love Israel enough’
by Omri Nahmias, Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman
December 8, 2019

Some American Jews “don’t love Israel enough,” US President Donald Trump said to a crowd of around 4,000 people in southern Florida on Saturday night at the Israeli-American Council’s (IAC) annual event, a comment reminiscent of previous remarks made by the president. “I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty,” Trump told reporters in April. READ MORE

JNS Is it anti-Semitic to urge Jews to support Israel and oppose a wealth tax? Context matters. While talk of Jews and money can be dangerous, labeling Trump’s latest speech Jew-hatred is a partisan talking point, not community advocacy.

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Executive order to protects Jewish students “will effectively interpret Judaism as a race or nationality, not just a religion” but J Street opposes it

Posted on December 8, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

WASHINGTON POST
Trump’s expected executive order on campus anti-Semitism draws praise and concern
by Laura Meckler, Julie Zauzmer and Ashley Parker
December 11, 2019

President Trump plans to sign an executive order Wednesday that defines the Jewish people as a nationality for purposes of federal civil rights law, an effort to step up enforcement against episodes of anti-Semitism on college campuses, two administration officials said. Defining Jewish people as an ethnic group and not just a religious one allows the government to consider discrimination against the group as a violation of a key civil rights law. That means schools could lose federal funding if they fail to combat discrimination against Jewish students. READ MORE

ISRAEL HAYOM Left labels Trump an anti-Semite for defending Jews Trump’s executive order protecting Jews against anti-Semitism on campus is embraced by Republicans, but slammed by liberals.

TIMES OF ISRAEL Jewish groups divided on Trump order targeting college anti-Semitism However, the left-leaning J Street lobby group said in a statement that “Trump’s executive order is a cynical, harmful measure designed to suppress free speech on college campuses, not fight anti-Semitism. 

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“The global surge in Jew-hatred barely registers in the West”

Posted on December 8, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK TIMES
Inconvenient Murders
by Bari Weiss
December 5, 2019

Two years ago, a 27-year-old man named Kobili Traoré walked into the Paris apartment of a 65-year-old kindergarten teacher named Sarah Halimi. Mr. Traoré beat Ms. Halimi and stabbed her. According to witnesses, he called her a demon and a dirty Jew. He shouted, “Allahu akbar,” then threw Ms. Halimi’s battered body out of her third-story apartment window…If France’s betrayal of Sarah Halimi is shocking to you, perhaps you haven’t been paying much attention to what by now can be described as a moral calamity sweeping the West of which her story is only the clearest example. A crisis, I hasten to add, that’s perhaps less known because it has been largely overlooked by the mainstream press. READ MORE

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“By all accounts, peace with Jordan, and the survival of the Hashemite monarchy are among Israel’s key strategic interests”

Posted on December 8, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
Preserving the peace with Jordan
by Caroline Glick
December 6, 2019

Tuesday Israel’s Channel 13 reported that President Donald Trump’s Deputy National Security Advisor Victoria Coates held a meeting at the White House last week with the ambassadors of Oman, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco. She reportedly asked the emissaries to check whether their governments are willing to consider signing non-aggression pacts with Israel…The idea is that through the non-aggression pacts, which are less than peace treaties, Israel and its Arab neighbors will be able to sidestep the issue of formal relations, replete with embassy opening ceremonies, and simply engage in open relations, for the benefit of all sides. READ MORE

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Sunday Times reveals Corbyn’s party ignored numerous allegations of antisemitism: “Labour members calling for “extermination of every Jew on the planet” and labeling them “bent nose manipulative liars”

Posted on December 8, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Massive leak debunks UK Labour’s claim it is dealing with anti-Semitism
by Michael Bachner and Staff
December 8, 2019

Documents refuting claims by Britain’s Labour party that it is adequately dealing with rampant anti-Semitism within the party have been leaked and were reported Sunday, days before the country’s general election. The leaked files from the main UK opposition party’s internal disciplinary department show that many Labour members, several of whom had called for the extermination of all Jews, remained in the party for months and even over a year and were given a lenient punishment or none at all, according to The Sunday Times. READ MORE

DAILY MAIL Jeremy Corbyn is the biggest global threat to Jews, warns world’s leading Nazi-hunting organisation The Prime Minister’s late Election plea comes as The Mail on Sunday can reveal that the Labour leader has been named as the worst antisemite on the planet by the world’s leading Nazi-hunting organisation. The Simon Wiesenthal Centre warns that Corbyn would turn Britain into a ‘pariah state’ if he wins Thursday’s Election.

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Pensacola shooting: Authorities were investigating whether the attack was “terrorism-related”

Posted on December 8, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Base shooter watched shooting videos before attack
by Brendan Farrington
December 8, 2019

The Saudi student who fatally shot three sailors at a U.S. naval base in Florida hosted a dinner party earlier in the week where he and three others watched videos of mass shootings, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on Saturday…The shooter opened fire inside a classroom at the naval base on Friday, killing three people and wounding two sheriff’s deputies…The official who spoke Saturday said one of the three students who attended the dinner party hosted by the attacker recorded video outside the classroom building while the shooting was taking place. Two other Saudi students watched from a car, the official said. READ MORE

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