And this, from a Joe Biden supporter: “Liberals repelled by both a blatant idiot and a bankrupting socialist could simply stay home”

SPECTATOR USA
Where is the Democrat who can take on Trump?
by Lionel Shriver
July 3, 2019

I have plenty of shamefaced company in having rashly predicted, as pundits are warned never to do, that Donald Trump wouldn’t win the White House in 2016. I don’t plan on repeating that mistake. Liberals are especially prone to confuse the words ‘should’ and ‘will’. Just because Trump shouldn’t win in 2020 doesn’t mean he won’t. Nevertheless, American Democrats are approaching an election that ought to be a slam dunk. In Gallup polls, Trump is the only president in modern history never to exceed a 50 percent approval rating (having sunk as low as 36, he’s currently at 42, with a disapproval rating of 53). READ MORE

Posted in Politics | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan acknowledges the “great sorrow and suffering” of the Israeli-Ethiopian community, but says police will be forced to use “all means” to disperse demonstrations if violence continues”

JNS
136 arrested, 111 police wounded during riots over police shooting of young Israeli-Ethiopian man
July 3, 2019

According to the Israel Police, more than 100 people have been arrested across the country in connection with the wave of protests sparked by the shooting of a young Israeli-Ethiopian man by an off-duty police officer on Sunday. The protests devolved into violent riots Tuesday night, following the funeral earlier in the day of 19-year-old Solomon Tekah…According to police, though an effort was made to act with restraint in the early hours of Tuesday’s demonstrations, when things became violent they were forced to act. Those arrested are being held for assaulting police officers, vandalism and disturbing public order, said police. READ MORE

Posted in Israel & Middle East, Jewish, Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

“Two hundred forty-three years ago, a new nation was inspired by the Old Testament”

WALL STREET JOURNAL
A Kosher Fourth of July
by William McGurn
July 1, 2019

Since that fateful July 4 when the Second Continental Congress invoked the unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to declare independence from King George III, an argument has raged over the Christian roots of the American Founding. Now a group of scholars suggest that if we are looking only to the Gospels to understand the new American nation, we may be arguing over the wrong testament. “The American Republic,” they write, “was born to the music of the Hebrew Bible.” The book is called “Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land: The Hebrew Bible in the United States: A Sourcebook.” READ MORE SUBSCRIPTION CONTENT

Posted in Jewish, Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

“After gunmen massacre worshipers at Poway and Pittsburgh, US congregations learning how to hide, flee and fight back against attackers”

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Synagogues are now conducting active shooter drills during services
by Ben Sales
July 2, 2019

When the ushers locked the door to the sanctuary, and the congregants prepared to flee the synagogue in preparation for a mass shooting, Rabbi Neil Cooper made sure it all happened before they had to take the Torahs out of the ark. Ten minutes later the worshipers were back in the pews, doors unlocked, and getting ready to hear the weekly Torah portion. The first active shooter drill at this suburban Philadelphia synagogue was over. “It was not a high-energy, kind of catching people off-guard kind of thing,” Cooper said five days after the June 22 drill at his Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. READ MORE

Posted in Jewish | Leave a comment

“The research on Holocaust survivors and their descendants suggests that the effects of such trauma can continue into a third generation”

ALGEMEINER
Major Neurological Study Reveals Long-Term Mental Health Impact of Holocaust on Survivors and Their Descendants
by Algemeiner Staff
July 1, 2019

A new study by Europe’s leading professional association for neurologists has found that survivors of the Holocaust suffered long-term damage of their brain structures as a result of their trauma, with mental health problems being passed down to their children and grandchildren. The study, issued on Sunday at the 5th Congress of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) — an umbrella body for neurology researchers and professionals across the continent — stated that “surviving the Holocaust had a life-long psychological and biological effect with grey matter reduction affecting the parts of their brain responsible for stress response, memory, motivation, emotion, learning, and behavior.” READ MORE

DEUTSCHE-WELLE Dutch railway to compensate Holocaust survivors At a ceremony in Utrecht, the head of the Dutch state rail company announced compensation for survivors and families of the 100,000 Holocaust victims sent on Dutch trains to Nazi death camps.

Posted in Jewish | Tagged | Leave a comment

“The need to assign American soldiers to fight alongside Israel might undermine Israel’s popularity in the US and constrain its freedom of action”

JERUSALEM INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGY AND SECURITY
Why a U.S.-Israel Alliance is a Terrible Idea
by Efraim Inbar and Eran Lerman
June 25, 2019

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham recently suggested that the United States should conclude a defense treaty with Israel…A defense treaty entails a commitment to take military action in the case of aggression against one of the parties. Yet Israel has declared for decades that it does not want American soldiers to endanger their lives for Israel’s security. Jerusalem has adopted the famous Churchillian dictum “Give us the tools and we shall finish the job.” (Churchill did not necessarily mean this; he did not hide his delight when the US came into WWII.  But Israel does mean it). READ MORE

Posted in Israel & Middle East, Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

“Visitors will be able to “touch history” by walking in the footsteps of ancient pilgrims through a 380-yard stretch of tunnel along the ancient street that ran uphill to the Jewish temple”

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
US envoys lend a hand as Israel digs down in east Jerusalem
by Staff
July 1, 2019

US envoys wielded hammers on Sunday to break open a new tunnel at a Jewish heritage site in east Jerusalem, signaling Washington’s support for Israel’s hold over parts of the city that Palestinians seek for a future state. US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman attended the event along with three other visiting American ambassadors as well as US President Donald Trump’s Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). The City of David Foundation unveiled what it called “the pilgrimage road,” a 2,000-year-old main thoroughfare from Roman-era Jerusalem that served visitors to the ancient Jewish Temple. READ MORE

TIMES OF ISRAEL Palestinians slam US ‘war crimes’ after envoys open East Jerusalem The ceremonial event angered the Palestinian Authority, as well as several left-wing Israeli NGOs, which claimed the opening of the site would further entrench an Israeli presence in eastern parts of the city that Palestinians hope will one day serve as their capital.

Posted in Islam, Israel & Middle East, Jewish, Politics | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

“IfNotNow believes that the time is ripe to put Israel at the center of the primary debate: Only 26 percent of Democrats view the government of Israel favorably”

POLITICO
Progressive Jewish group IfNotNow expands forces for 2020
by Holly Otterbein
June 29, 2019

A progressive group of young Jewish activists opposed to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is expanding its organization in hopes of making a major impact on the Democratic race for the White House. IfNotNow has launched a 501(c)(4) and is training organizers in the early primary state of New Hampshire, the group told POLITICO…The organization is also taking a page out of the playbook of groups such as Black Lives Matter and the American Civil Liberties Union: It plans to “bird-dog” presidential candidates at public events to create viral moments and prod the Democratic Party leftward on the issue of Israel. READ MORE

Posted in Israel & Middle East, Jewish, Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

“Socialism has now risen from the grave”

FDD
Zombie Socialism featuring Joshua Muravchik
with Clifford D. May
June 29, 2019

In 2002, scholar Joshua Muravchik wrote a history of socialism which he thought would serve as the epitaph for an experiment that had failed over and over in country after country around the world, including in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa. But socialism has now risen from the grave — including in the United States. Dr. Muravchik joins Foreign Podicy host Cliff May to discuss where this walking-dead ideology may be heading and who its victims are likely to be. LISTEN TO EPISODE 39

WALL STREET JOURNAL Peggy Noonan:The 2020 Democrats Lack Hindsight I have to say after a week of reading such letters that emotionally this cycle feels like 2016 all over again. Various facts are changed (no Mrs. Clinton) but the same basic dynamic pertains—the two Americas talking past each other, the social and cultural resentments, the great estrangement. It’s four years later but we’re re-enacting the trauma of 2016.

Posted in Politics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

PA security forces raid homes of Palestinian businessmen who attended Bahrain “Peace to Prosperity” conference

JERUSALEM POST
After threat from U.S., PA frees businessman who attended Bahrain summit
by Khaled Abu Toameh
June 30, 2019

Palestinian Authority security forces released Hebron businessman Saleh Abu Mayaleh on Saturday at 10:45 p.m., after he had been detained upon his return from the economic conference in Bahrain. According to Palestinian reports, the decision to release the businessman came following a threatening letter from the US Embassy… Ashraf Jabari, another businessman from Hebron said that the PA security forces also raided the homes of three other Palestinian businessmen in the city in an attempt to arrest them. READ MORE

Posted in Israel & Middle East, Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment