“The Fatah-Hamas rift that has continued for the last 13 years has been constantly used as the excuse for the absence of elections”

Posted on December 8, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Why Israel will be blamed for the absence of PA elections
by Maurice Hirsch
December 4, 2019

…There is zero reason to believe that either of the two potential candidates who eventually will become Israel’s prime minister, will suddenly decide to abandon all of his principles and allow Palestinian terrorist groups to campaign and run in Jerusalem. When Israel refuses this ultimatum, Abbas will declare that the elections must be pushed off, while squarely laying the blame for the delay on Israel. In this manner, the Palestinian elections will be avoided. Abbas and Fatah will continue to control the areas of Judea and Samaria currently under their control, and Hamas will continue to control Gaza. Israel will, of course, be blamed. READ MORE

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Pensacola Saudi gunman’s Twitter account “condemned US support for Israel and included a quote from Al-Qaeda’s deceased leader, the Saudi Osama bin Laden”

Posted on December 7, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Saudi gunman reportedly called US a ‘nation of evil,’ decried support of Israel
by Agencies
December 7, 2019

A Saudi military student reportedly condemned the US as a “nation of evil” in an online manifesto prior to opening fire Friday at a US naval base, killing three people before being shot dead by police. The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist media, identified him as Mohammed al-Shamrani, saying he had posted a short manifesto on Twitter that read: “I’m against evil, and America as a whole has turned into a nation of evil.”…Jerusalem appeared to be a “critical point” for the attacker and one of his most recent tweets shared the text of US President Donald Trump’s December 2017 speech recognizing the city as Israel’s capital. READ MORE

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J Street and Palestinian Authority praise Democratic-led resolution which supports Two-State Solution and condemns proposed West Bank annexations

Posted on December 7, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Palestinian Authority Welcomes House Resolution Backing Two-State Solution
by Khaled Abu Toameh
December 7, 2019

The Palestinian Authority on Saturday welcomed a United States House of Representatives resolution that expresses support for the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Friday’s non-binding resolution also warned Israel against any attempts towards annexation of territory in the West Bank. The resolution declared that “only the outcome of a two-state solution…can both ensure the state of Israel’s survival as a Jewish and democratic state and fulfill the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people for a state of their own.” READ MORE

TIMES OF ISRAEL In rebuke to Trump and Netanyahu, US House passes resolution supporting 2 states Measure that condemns any West Bank annexation passes mostly on partisan lines and comes after two leaders discussed prospects of extending Israeli sovereignty over Jordan Valley

The vote tally for House Resolution 326 – Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding United States efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a negotiated two-state solution (Democrats:221 For; Republicans:183 Against)

ALGEMEINER Pro-Israel Democratic Group Slams Bernie Sanders for Failing to Disassociate Himself From Campaign Surrogate Linda Sarsour After Latest Antisemitic Outburst A top pro-Israel Democratic group has called out presidential candidate Bernie Sanders for failing to disassociate himself from prominent supporter Linda Sarsour following her latest antisemitic outburst [“Israel ‘Is Built on the Idea That Jews are Supreme to Everyone Else”]

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“When people start branding anything they object to as “illegal,” they turn the law into just another player on the political battlefield”

Posted on December 5, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Legalizing politics and politicizing the law
by Evelyn Gordon
November 27, 2019

One of the modern era’s most dangerous problems is the conflation of politics with law. Political questions are increasingly treated as legal ones, which inevitably results in the law becoming politicized. Last week provided two salient examples. One was the response to the U.S. State Department’s announcement that Israeli settlements don’t violate international law. What was striking was that many opponents didn’t actually challenge the department’s (correct) legal conclusions. Instead, they objected on policy grounds…Essentially, all three [opponents] want the settlements declared illegal simply because they think settlements are bad policy, regardless of what international law actually says. READ MORE

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Imagine, if Iran does this to their own people, how would they deal with the Jews? Yet the world stands silent.

Posted on December 5, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

CNBC
Iran’s brutality is getting another pass from Europe
by Jake Novak
December 4, 2019

…But over the last few weeks, the Iranian government’s brutality has been refocused on its own people. The regime’s decision to scrap gasoline subsidies sparked massive protests across the country, and the shocking crackdown on those protesters is providing stunning news stories almost daily. As of now, the human rights group Amnesty International has confirmed a number of those stunning items. They include 208 protesters confirmed killed, a “shoot to kill” policy in place against demonstrators, and the absolutely most stunning revelation of all: in some cases, Iranian security forces are returning the bodies of killed protesters to their families and demanding to be paid for the price of the bullets used to kill them. READ MORE

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The Dreyfus Affair: Why the filmmaker’s depiction of early-20th-century anti-Semitism in ‘J’accuse’ is, with reservations, ‘important and beautiful’

Posted on December 5, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

TABLET MAGAZINE
Roman Polanski’s Dreyfus
by Bernard Henri-Levy
December 3, 2019

I would like to talk here not about Roman Polanski but about Roman Polanski’s new film, J’accuse (An Officer and a Spy), which he dedicates to that key moment in French history, the Dreyfus affair…Admirable and, suddenly, so revealing, the scene where we see, in Paris, an autodafé of the newspaper L’Aurore, which had just published Emile Zola’s “J’accuse,” as well as an attack against a shop tagged with “Jewish Boutique” and “Death to Jews”: Suddenly, in a flash, we are no longer in France, 1906, but in Berlin, 1938, on Kristallnacht—and there could be no better way of showing the affair’s shock wave, the way it ushered in the 20th century, its transhistoric and transnational dimension. READ MORE

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Netanyahu on proposed US-Israel defense pact, something “we could only dream about, but which now we have the opportunity to implement”

Posted on December 5, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
JINSA to ‘Post’: Defense pact wouldn’t restrict Israel freedom of movement
by Omri Nahmias
December 4, 2019

A mutual defense treaty between the US and Israel would not restrict Israel’s freedom of operation, Michael Makovsky, president and CEO of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), told The Jerusalem Post. JINSA has been at the forefront of this issue for 18 months and created a draft treaty in July, which has gained the support of Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina…Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer said that Israel’s top officials would welcome such a treaty. READ MORE

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“With a week to go before general election, as Labour trails Johnson in polls but starts to close the gap, two surveys show Brits’ attitudes to Jews vis-à-vis their politics”

Posted on December 5, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
UK’s Corbyn is the ‘politician of choice for anti-Semites,’ new report claims
by Robert Philpot
December 5, 2019

Jeremy Corbyn is the most popular political leader among Britons who hold anti-Semitic views, a report released this week indicated. Sixty-seven percent of British adults who say they strongly support the hard-left opposition leader hold at least one anti-Semitic view and 33% hold four or more anti-Semitic views, according to the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) report. “Jeremy Corbyn is now the politician of choice for anti-Semites,” Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of CAA, said in a press statement. The CAA study was published as polls appeared to suggest Corbyn’s Labour Party is starting to close the gap on Prime Minister Boris Johnson as Britain’s general election campaign enters its final week. READ MORE

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Philosopher Benedict Beckeld talks to Jonathan Kay about why so many intellectuals and young people loathe the culture of the West

Posted on December 5, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

QUILLETTE
Benedict Beckeld-Jonathan Kay Interview
December 1, 2019

Philosopher Benedict Beckeld talks to Quillette’s Jonathan Kay about Oikophobia—the knee-jerk dislike of your own culture. Click here to listen to podcast.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1vynMFVrQ2pP1R3EON8rp2

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#BDSFail Jewish groups welcome French resolution which recognizes connection between anti-Zionism and antisemitism

Posted on December 3, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

ALGEMEINER
French Lawmakers Adopt Definition of Antisemitism That Includes Anti-Zionism
by Ben Cohen
December 3, 2019

The French parliament approved on Tuesday a resolution that recognizes and condemns anti-Zionism as a form of antisemitism. Deputies in the National Assembly voted 154 to 72 to adopt the motion. Several French news outlets commented on the small overall turnout for the vote on the measure, with the majority of the 577 deputies in the parliament opting to abstain amid the political controversy surrounding its content. READ MORE

MOSAIC A French Court Absolves a Man of Anti-Semitic Murder—because He Smoked Marijuana In 2017, a Muslim man named Kobili Traoré broke into the Paris apartment of a Jewish woman named Sarah Halimi, tortured her for several hours, and then killed her by throwing her off a balcony—while police patiently waited on the street for backup to arrive. A French judge dropped the murder charges last week, ruling that Traoré was temporarily insane since he had smoked marijuana prior to committing his crimes.

TABLET Want to Keep Jews Safe? Criminalize Marijuana A French court ruled that Sarah Halimi’s murderer—who shouted ‘Allahu akbar’ while holding her captive—can’t be held responsible because he smoked pot before killing her.

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