TABLET MAG
The Koufax Curse
by Armin Rosen
October 10, 2019
Baseball games are complex events whose outcomes hinge on scores of interlocking factors, many of them invisible to the naked eye. Writers probably shouldn’t be making sweeping off-hand claims about the inner and outer workings of Almighty God. All true. Anyway, let’s take a look at the three MLB playoff games that unfolded during Yom Kippur and involved notable Jewish stars who had to decide whether to play or not. READ MORE
THE GUARDIAN
Halle synagogue was fortified before antisemitic attack
by Oliver Holmes and Philip Oltermann
October 11, 2019
A German synagogue targeted in an attempted mass shooting this week had been upgraded to fortify its main entrance and install security cameras, measures that probably saved the lives of dozens of people hiding inside. The attack on Wednesday in the city of Halle left two people dead but the number could have been much higher as the gunman failed to break through the synagogue door, despite repeatedly shooting at it and attempting to blast it open with an improvised bomb. Frustrated by his failure, the man went on a rampage in the surrounding streets, while about 70 people inside hid behind chairs and tables. READ MORE
FRONT PAGE MAG
Jews, African Americans and the Democrat Party
by Kenneth Levin
October 11, 2019
In democracies, minority groups will often embrace one political party and cling to that attachment irrespective of changing political circumstances. This seems especially true of minorities that have experienced discrimination, marginalization, and other forms of abuse. In America, the groups that have been most closely attached to the Democrat Party for virtually the last century are African Americans and Jews. Even consideration in the abstract of the wisdom of being predictably committed to one party would suggest likely more negative than positive consequences – for example, being taken for granted by that party while given up on and not pursued by the other – and experience has borne that out. READ MORE
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 Steven 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.
Steven Harper: Why I support Israel
JERUSALEM POST
Syrian Kurds outgunned but vow to inflict toll on Turkish army
by Reuters
October 10, 2019
Kurdish fighters who defeated Islamic State across much of Syria with U.S. help will struggle to fend off the Turkish army and its Syrian rebel allies who thrust across the border on Wednesday in a long-threatened offensive. Under Turkish attack after their U.S. allies withdrew from part of the border, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – which the Kurdish YPG militia spearheads – is heavily outgunned by NATO’s second-largest military. While the United States has armed and trained the SDF through years of fighting IS, Washington held back from supplying its Kurdish allies with a more sophisticated arsenal, reflecting the needs of the battle but also Turkish concerns. READ MORE
The column that likely inspired Trump’s controversial “Kurds didn’t help us in Normandy” comment…TOWN HALL Kurt Schlichter: Critics Aghast As Trump Keeps Word About No More Wars I generally like the Kurds. I generally dislike the Turks. But they’ve been killing each other for a long time and no one has yet offered a sufficient reason why America should stick its troops in the crossfire between them. We hear words like “betrayal” tossed around, often by people whose track record re: honor is (charitably) lacking, but that assumes America had a say in this latest round ramping up.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Two Killed in Germany Shooting After Failed Attack on Synagogue
by Petra Sorge, Sara Germano and Bertrand Benoit
Oct. 9, 2019
Police said a woman had been shot dead on the street near the synagogue, as had a man in a kebab restaurant. A hospital spokesman said two people had been wounded during the incident and treated at Halle’s University Hospital. But a much larger death toll seemed to have been averted, according to the testimony of two witnesses who saw the attacker try and fail to gain access to the synagogue where members of Halle’s Jewish community gathered for Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. READ MORE SUBSCRIPTION CONTENT
TIMES OF ISRAEL German police confirm suspected gunman held in deadly attack targeting synagogue Jewish community leader Max Privorotzki, who was in the Halle synagogue, told Stuttgarter Zeitung of the harrowing minutes as the religious site came under assault…“We barricaded our doors from inside and waited for the police,” he said, adding that “in between, we carried on with our service.” Between 70 and 80 people were in the synagogue on a day when Jews around the world were marking one of the holiest days in the Jewish calendar, Privorotzki said.
TIMES OF ISRAEL
Trump’s new actions, inactions on Kurds, Syria, Iran have Israel deeply worried
by David Horovitz
October 9, 2019
…Writing in Israel’s biggest-selling Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth on the eve of Yom Kippur, veteran diplomatic correspondent Shimon Shiffer warned that Trump’s decision on the Syrian withdrawal, and his “abandoning of the Kurdish allies, who believed that the US would stand with them… must set all our red lights flashing.” And the conclusion for Israel, Shiffer charged, “needs to be unequivocal: Trump has become unreliable for Israel. He can no longer be trusted.” Shiffer, whose column was headlined “A knife in our backs,” noted that the president didn’t even tell Israel in advance of his Syrian withdrawal plans. READ MORE
JNS Jonathan Tobin: The Dark Side of Trump’s ‘America First’ Agenda Letting Turkey have its way in Syria at the expense of the Kurds isn’t just an atrocity in the making, but a huge gift to one of the worst actors in the region: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Erdoğan and his Islamist party are working to destroy the last vestiges of Turkish democracy, rendering the country unfit for continued membership in the NATO alliance. He’s also a virulent anti-Semite and enemy of Israel, who would—if he is allowed more influence in the region—inflame the conflict with the Palestinians and undermine efforts to create an alliance between the Jewish state and the Arab regimes that are threatened by Iran.
WASHINGTON POST
We fought ISIS side by side with the Americans. Now they’re leaving us to our fate.
by Ilham Ahmed
October 9, 2019
The organization I represent, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), is the ally of the global coalition against the Islamic State. Our relationship with the United States began in 2014, after the battle of Kobani, when our men and women in uniform astonished the world with their heroic defense against Islamic State jihadists. I was one of the main advocates for sustaining and improving the relationship between Syrians and Americans. Skeptics warned me: “The U.S has no friends, only interests.” But I rejected such sentiments as an anti-American narrative encouraged by our enemies. Now it turns out that the pessimists were right. I was wrong. READ MORE
THE HILL Nikki Haley criticizes Trump’s Syria withdrawal: Leaving allies to die ‘is a big mistake’ Former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Monday ripped President Trump‘s decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria and allow Turkey to carry out an operation in the region, warning it will damage America’s standing with its allies… “The Kurds were instrumental in our successful fight against ISIS in Syria. Leaving them to die is a big mistake.
POLITICO Trump’s GOP allies condemn president after ‘sickening’ Turkish incursion Turkey’s incursion into Syria on Wednesday is prompting fresh bipartisan condemnation of President Donald Trump’s moves and more congressional threats to hamstring Turkey economically, with some Republicans calling the situation “sickening” and a “terrible mistake” by the president.
ELDER OF ZIYON
Arab plumbers in Haifa refuse to charge Holocaust survivor
October 6, 2019
Here is a nice story that was only in the Hebrew-language media a couple of weeks ago. Simon and Salim Matri, Arab citizens of Israel, came to Haifa to do plumbing work worth around NIS 1000 for an elderly woman, Rosa Meyer. As they spoke to her, Rosa revealed that she was a Holocaust survivor. Simon said, “At one point, while working, my brother Salim started talking to Rosa about her life. Her life story touched me. At that moment, I decided I wouldn’t charge her a penny.” READ MORE
JERUSALEM POST
Merkel’s government days Iran’s call to ‘wipe Israel off the map’ not antisemitic
by Benjamin Weinthal
October 6, 2019
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government has declared that Iran’s call to obliterate the State of Israel is not an expression of antisemitism. On October 1, Merkel’s Foreign Ministry labeled the call to destroy Israel by commander-in-chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Gen. Hossein Salami as “anti-Israel rhetoric.” When the Post asked the Merkel administration if it agreed with the Foreign Ministry statement, a government spokesman told The Jerusalem Post: “We have nothing to add to the reply of the foreign office. READ MORE
ArchitectGuy on Israel 