“At American universities, personal grievances are what everyone’s talking about”

Posted on September 12, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

BLOOMBERG
The Rise of the Comfort College
by Steven B. Gerrard
September 9, 2019

Last year, in the fall of 2018, I tried to stand up for campus free speech. A small group of faculty at Williams College in Massachusetts, where I teach philosophy, had circulated a petition to have our institution sign a national pledge of allegiance to principles of free expression that originated at the University of Chicago. Over 50 colleges and universities, including Princeton and the Citadel, had already adopted the mainstream liberal principles, protecting both speakers and protesters. READ MORE

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“Sources in Washington acknowledged that there is no contradiction between Netanyahu’s plan to annex the Jordan Valley and Trump’s peace plan. It is impossible to overstate the significance of these statements”

Posted on September 11, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
Netanyahu’s earth-shattering announcement
by Caroline B. Glick
September 11, 2019

Hamas, which seeks to annihilate Israel, certainly was none too pleased with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement Tuesday evening that if re-elected, he would apply Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea in coordination with the United States. Hamas has good reason not to like what Netanyahu said. It even made sense that Gaza’s terror regime tried to harm Netanyahu politically by launching a volley of missiles at Ashdod while Netanyahu was giving a speech in the city. READ MORE

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John Bolton “acted as a break on the president’s neo-isolationism. The future of diplomacy with North Korea, the Taliban and even Tehran now hangs in the balance”

Posted on September 11, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
With Bolton gone, will Trump make a deal with Iran?
by Jonathan Tobin
September 10, 2019

Perhaps it was as much about personalities as policy. The notoriously brusque and hard-driving John Bolton was always an awkward fit as National Security Advisor for a president like Donald Trump, who prefers subordinates to be sycophants…Despite the opposition of the Democrats at home and America’s feckless European allies abroad, Trump is now interested in talking with the Iranians. That appalled Bolton, as it did Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both of them believe that negotiations with Islamist dictators will never achieve a thing, and both fear that talks with Iran will inevitably lead to appeasement. READ MORE

BLOOMBERG U.S. President Trump could meet with Iran’s Rouhani at U.N. with no preconditions: Pompeo

NEW YORK SUN Editorial Board: Can Trump Hew the Hard Line After Bolton?

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On the morning of 9/11, former IDF commando Danny Lewin boarded American Airlines Flight No. 11 to fly from Boston to LA.

Posted on September 11, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

JEWISH JOURNAL
Honoring Danny Lewin. A Genius, a Hero, and the First Victim of 9/11
by Micha Danzig
September 11, 2019

…Based on the investigation done by the FBI’s and FAA, it appears rather certain that Danny Lewin was the first victim of the largest terrorist attack in history, an attack that murdered almost 3,000 people in one day. An internal memorandum of the FAA says “that in the course of a struggle that took place between Lewin, a graduate of Israel’s elite commando unit, Sayeret Matkal, and the four hijackers who were assaulting that cockpit, Lewin was murdered by Satam Al Suqami, a 25-year-old Saudi.” READ MORE

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“The greatest strategic threat to the future of Israel and the Jewish people is growing divide between my generation of American Millennial Diaspora Jews and those previous generations of diaspora Jews and current Israelis who believe in the survival of the Jewish state”

Posted on September 10, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
The Privilege of American Millennial Diaspora Jews
by Micah Q. Jones
September 7, 2019

This August, I traveled to Israel as one of 40 Israel Law and Policy (“I-LAP”) delegates. The I-LAP tour was hosted by Our Soldiers Speak (“OSS”)—a non-profit organization focused on elevating the discourse surrounding Israel. In addition to international trips like the one I was participating in, OSS facilitates high-level, pro-Israel, speaking events at elite universities throughout the Western world…Despite the incredible briefings, I believe that many of the speakers, and my fellow delegates, are ignorant to one of the greatest threats facing Israel and the Jewish people…READ MORE

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“The decisive factor in next week’s election — and the reason for Benjamin Netanyahu’s durability — is a repressed memory”

Posted on September 9, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK TIMES
The One Thing No Israeli Wants to Discuss
by Matti Friedman
September 9, 2019

…No single episode has shaped Israel’s population and politics like the wave of suicide bombings perpetrated by Palestinians in the first years of the 21st century. Much of what you see here in 2019 is the aftermath of that time, and every election since has been held in its shadow. The attacks, which killed hundreds of Israeli civilians, ended hopes for a negotiated peace and destroyed the left, which was in power when the wave began. Any sympathy that the Israeli majority had toward Palestinians evaporated. READ MORE

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“Many people in the Arab countries are now saying that it is high time for the Palestinians to start looking after their own interests and thinking of a better future for their children”

Posted on September 9, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

GATESTONE
Why Arabs Hate Palestinians
by Khaled Abu Toameh
September 9, 2019

Is it true? If so, why? Sadly, the Palestinians are known for betraying their Arab brothers, even effectively stabbing them in the back. The Palestinians, for example, supported Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait – a Gulf state that, together with its neighbors, used to give the Palestinians tens of millions of dollars in aid each year. This disloyalty is precisely how a growing number of Arabs, particularly those living in the Gulf states, have been describing the Palestinians for the past few years.In recent months, however, Arab criticism of the Palestinians, mostly aired through traditional and social media, has further escalated, and sometimes turned ugly. READ MORE

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Ethiopian Israelis: Police brutality and other tragedies force a reckoning

Posted on September 9, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

MOMENT MAGAZINE
How Israel Is Failing Its Ethiopian Citizens
by Naomi Ragen
August 26, 2019

This July, thousands of Ethiopian Jews participated in sit-ins, blocking main roads all over Israel with burning tires. More than 100 police officers were injured and more than 136 demonstrators arrested. The immediate catalyst was the death of Ethiopian Israeli teenager Soloman Teka at the hands of an off-duty policeman. While protesters claimed Teka had been shot in cold blood, the officer testified he had simply been relaxing in the park with his family when a fight broke out and he attempted to break it up, at which point his life was threatened. The bullet, he claimed, had been aimed at the ground but ricocheted, killing Teka accidentally. Forensic reports later corroborated this. READ MORE

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“Yes, 2019, Warsaw, Poland, and the reality is returning”

Posted on September 9, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

ALGEMEINER
Group of Israelis Said Brutally Attacked in Warsaw by Arab Men Shouting ‘Free Gaza’
by Benjamin Kerstein
September 8, 2019

A group of Israelis were accosted and one severely beaten in Warsaw, Poland by a group of Arab men, who attacked them because of their national origin, the brother of one of the victims alleged on Sunday. Yotam Kashpizky was left with facial and ocular fractures by the assault, which his brother Barak described in a Facebook post together with photographs of his brother’s injuries. Barak stated that Yotam was assaulted in the early hours of Sunday morning by “a group of Arabs” who attacked him without provocation...“An Arab man, who was apparently wearing brass knuckles, punched him and Yotam lost consciousness,” said Barak. READ MORE

JERUSALEM POST BDS activists assault Israeli film festival attendees in Berlin A group of BDS activists violently assaulted visitors at the Israeli Seret International film festival on Sunday in Berlin, causing injuries and disrupting a podium discussion, according to German police. An estimated 10-12 BDS activists participated in the disruption and attacks. According to the police notice reviewed by The Jerusalem Post, the BDS activists refused to leave the cinema when requested, resulting in violence.

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“To Israeli ears, when American Jews say, “End the occupation,” it sounds like “Abolish taxes.” It’s a great idea but entirely unrealistic”

Posted on September 8, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK POST
What American Jews just don’t get about Israel
by Daniel Gordis
September 7, 2019

With Israeli elections just days away, many American Jews are watching closely, hoping that Benjamin Netanyahu will finally be defeated. American Jews, overwhelmingly Democrats and liberals, have a litany of complaints about Israel’s longest-serving prime minister. They believe he insulted President Barack Obama by trying to prevent the passage of his Iran nuclear deal with an address to a joint session of Congress. They claim Netanyahu’s 2018 law declaring Israel the nation-state of the Jewish people has eroded the country’s democracy. Above all, they blame Netanyahu for the lack of progress on the Palestinian front. READ MORE

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