Trump “doesn’t deserve criticism for wanting U.S. forces out of Syria — such promises paved his way to becoming president in the first place”

JEWISH JOURNAL
We Are Not All Kurds
by Shmuel Rosner
October 16, 2019

..President Donald Trump deserves all the criticism he is getting — and then some — for ordering the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria and allowing Turkey to send its forces unhindered into Syrian territory without much consideration of the consequences. He deserves criticism for being hasty, unmethodical, impulsive and uninformed about the situation. He doesn’t deserve criticism for eroding America’s standing as a world leader — such erosion started long before he took office. He doesn’t deserve criticism for an incoherent American policy in Syria — this also preceded his presidency. READ MORE

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Attn Mayor de Blasio and JFK Airport: “Airlines refusing to fly Israelis is more than just a stupid business decision – it’s illegal”

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Kuwaiti, Saudi Airlines Illegally Discriminate Against Israelis
by Brooke Goldstein
October 18, 2019

Kuwait Airways and Saudi Arabian Airlines have a “no Israelis” rule. That’s right — citizens of the Jewish state are not allowed to fly on these airlines, even if they just want to buy tickets on connecting flights between countries that welcome Israeli passports. Their anti-Semitism is so strong that they would rather cancel prominent flight routes and lose millions of dollars than allow Israelis to fly on their reportedly decrepit planes. The Lawfare Project, a Jewish civil rights group, has been actively fighting Kuwait’s discrimination in the U.S., Switzerland, and throughout the EU. As a result of our work, Kuwait Airways was forced to cancel its New York – London flight and shut down its entire inter-European route network. READ MORE

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On Melbourne game show, nerdy modern Orthodox Jew has all the answers

TABLET MAG
Watch the most Jewish performance ever on a TV game show
by Yair Rosenberg
October 18, 2019

Meet Hard Quiz, Australia’s more entertaining version of Jeopardy. Its twist on typical game shows is that it doesn’t interrogate its contestants about random trivia. Instead, Hard Quiz tests each one’s mastery of their own chosen area of expertise. At the outset, every contestant picks a favorite topic—from K-Pop to professional rugby—and the show’s expert researchers then try to stump them in their own wheelhouse.This is how Seraphya Berrin, a modern Orthodox Jew living in Melbourne, found himself on national television being quizzed about Jewish holidays and crushing the competition. READ MORE

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“Support for the Palestinian cause is now the default position across the West’s progressive classes, including for many Jews”

JNS
From Congress to classrooms: Reframing the Israel narrative
by Melanie Phillips
October 17, 2019

…In Britain, the pro-Israel investigative blogger David Collier wrote this week about a textbook, The Middle East: Conflict, Crisis and Change, 1917-2012, that is used in schools as part of the history curriculum for the 16-and-over public-education exam. On reading this textbook, Collier found a systematic loading of the narrative to sanitize the Arab war against Israel, disproportionately mention violent Zionist responses and obscure the overwhelming legal, historical and moral Jewish claim to the land…READ MORE

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Meanwhile in Illinois: “As the value of their homes decline, and as property taxes keep increasing, devouring the equity in their homes, serfs (i.e. Illinois taxpayers) pay and pay for these public worker contracts”

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
The Chicago teachers strike and property taxpayers and the road to serfdom
by John Kass
October 18, 2019

…And just who are the serfs in Illinois? The property taxpayers, who are the serfs of the new Democratic machine. Because we serfs live to serve the masters, don’t we? Powerful public workers unions are the spine of this new machine. And Democratic politicians rely on votes from public unions to get elected. It’s a symbiotic relationship. Just ask Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle or state House Speaker Michael J. Madigan. Public contracts for union votes. It all works out for both sides. But who pays ?The property taxpaying serfs….READ MORE

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EVENT Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to be honored at StandWithUs Chicago gala Sunday November 3, 2019

StandWithUs Midwest invites you to their
Campus Champions Gala 2019
5:30 PM Sunday November 3, 2019
Lincolnshire Marriott
Ten Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire, IL (at Milwaukee Ave and Route 22)
Keynote Speaker The Right Honorable Stephen Harper, former prime minister of Canada
Honorees Barbara and Richard Silverman
Click here to register

Award-Winning Emcee! Outstanding Speaker! Exceptional Honorees! Inspiring Student Leaders! Delicious Food! And No Ties Required!

StandWithUs, also known as the Israel Emergency Alliance, is a 501(c)(3) organization. Your gift to StandWithUs is fully tax deductible to the extent provided by law.

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Upcoming J Street conference participants to include Sanders, Klobuchar, Buttigieg, Schumer, Pelosi and the PLO

JNS
Sanders, Klobuchar, Castro, Bennet and Buttigieg plan to attend J Street conference in DC
October 16, 2019

J Street has announced that Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Mayor of South Bend, Ind. Pete Buttigieg are scheduled to attend its annual conference in Washington, D.C., later this month. The 2020 candidates will sit with the hosts of the weekly podcast “Pod Save the World,” former White House National Security Council spokesperson Tommy Vietor and former U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes…READ MORE

For a list of 2019 J Street Conference speakers click here

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University of Illinois presentation “’instead of fostering dialogue, incited division, distrust and anger”

JEWISH JOURNAL
University of Illinois Chancellor Condemns ‘Anti-Semitic Content’ in Housing Staff Meeting Presentation
by Aaron Bandler
October 14, 2019

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Chancellor Robert Jones condemned the “anti-Semitic content” featured in a presentation during a Sept. 25 housing staff meeting as well as a swastika found on campus on Oct. 7. According to Jones’ Oct. 9 email to university members, a student-worker gave the presentation “in a regularly scheduled, staff development program on diversity for Housing Resident Advisors that included 11 other student-employees and one full-time staff member.” The presentation, titled “Palestine and the Great March: Palestinian Resistance to 70 Years of Israeli Terror,” equates Israel with South Africa apartheid and describes Israel’s Operation Protective Edge against Hamas 2014 as an “assault on Gaza.” READ MORE

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“Retreating and abandoning allies may not be the optimum strategy”

WASHINGTON TIMES
How not to end endless wars
by Clifford D. May
October 16, 2019

Whatever might be said about Donald Trump, I always figured him for a savvy New Yorker who knew a good deal when he saw one. A prime example was in Syria where the commander in chief, despite understandable misgivings about foreign entanglements, had deployed a small contingent of highly skilled troops to accomplish a mission vital to America’s national security. In military jargon, President Trump was employing “economy of force.”…“We need an end to endless war,” Rand Paul has said repeatedly. Senator, I feel your pain, but the reason we have an “endless war” is because we have enemies who are patient and determined, and encouraged by the knowledge that Americans like you are neither. READ MORE

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Brig. General Kuperwasser: “The depth of the U.S. commitment to Israel is very different from its commitment to the Syrian Kurds”

JNS
‘Entry of radical Islamist forces into northern Syria is disturbing,’ ex-Israeli intelligence official says
by Yaakov Lappin
October 15, 2019

Israel has been closely monitoring Turkey’s brutal offensive against the Kurds in northeast Syria in recent days. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the Turkish invasion on Oct. 10, stating that Israel “warns against the ethnic cleansing of the Kurds by Turkey and its proxies,” and that “Israel is prepared to extend humanitarian assistance to the gallant Kurdish people.” However, Israel’s concerns with regard to the Turkish operation extend beyond Ankara’s conflict with the Kurds. Israel Defense Forces Brig. Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, former head of the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate’s research division…stressed that Turkey had launched its offensive with “problematic, radical forces, who are exploiting the U.S.’s wish to leave this area.” READ MORE

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