Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery: “Now I know why your soldiers fight so hard. You take better care of your dead than we do our living”

Posted on May 23, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

IMPRIMIS
Sacred Duty: A Soldier’s Tour at Arlington National Cemetery
by Senator Tom Cotton
April/May 2019

…Nothing interferes with The Old Guard’s mission in Arlington—and when I say nothing, I mean nothing, not even 9/11. On that beautiful morning, the 9 o’clock funerals were underway when American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the Pentagon, blasting debris across Washington Boulevard into the cemetery’s southeastern corner. The Old Guard’s Medical Platoon rushed to the scene, becoming the first soldiers to deploy to a battlefield in the War on Terror. Yet those funerals continued. So did the 10 o’clock funerals. And the 11 o’clock funerals. READ MORE

WALL STREET JOURNAL Peggy Noonan:‘Which Way to Pointe du Hoc?’ Each generation is tested, from the Army Rangers of D-Day to the college graduates of 2019…This holiday weekend I find myself reflecting again on the boys who seized back the continent of Europe, and the boys and girls now graduating college and trying to figure out what history asks of them.

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It would be far better if The New York Times waited until the plan was released and then commented on its specific provisions rather than stacking the deck against it by quoting only its most strident critics

Posted on May 23, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

GATESTONE
Why is The New York Times Trying to Abort the Trump Peace Plan?
by Alan M. Dershowitz
May 24, 2019

…Every single expert quoted in the article predicted that it would not succeed. Many of these experts have been involved in past unsuccessful efforts to bring about a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is not surprising that these experts would not want to see others succeed where they have failed, especially if those others were members of the Trump administration. Then one expert went so far as to say: “The only way to protect the long-term viability of the best aspects of the Kushner plan,” he wrote, “is to kill the plan.”…There are those who will criticize any plan, no matter how positive it may be, if it emanates from the Trump administration. READ MORE

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Chicago synagogue on alert on after an attempted arson

Posted on May 20, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

USA TODAY
Chicago synagogues targets of arson, vandalism; police step up patrols
by John Bacon
May 20, 2019

Police in Chicago were stepping up patrols at Jewish schools, businesses and synagogues Monday after someone attempted to set fire to a synagogue with Molotov cocktails. Police released a surveillance photo of a man in a hoodie walking near Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel Congregation in the Lakeview section of the city. Police say he is accused of attempted aggravated arson at two adjoining sites. “The offender used a Molotov at both locations but resulted in no fire damage and no injuries,” police said in a community alert. READ MORE

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Germany becomes first European country to pass landmark resolution designating BDS campaign against Israel as antisemitic

Posted on May 20, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

REUTERS
Germany designates BDS Israel boycott movement as anti-Semitic
by Joseph Nasr, Riham Alkousaa
May 17, 2019

The German parliament voted on Friday to condemn as anti-Semitic a movement that calls for economic pressure on Israel to end the occupation of Palestinian land, grant Arab citizens equal rights and recognize the right of return of Palestinian refugees. In a move welcomed by Israel, a majority of lawmakers in the Bundestag voted in favor of a motion to label the international Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement as an entity that uses anti-Semitic tactics to fulfill its political goals…With Friday’s Bundestag motion, Germany has effectively backed Israel’s position that international boycotts are discriminatory and anti-Semitic. READ MORE

TIMES OF ISRAEL In first, Germany votes against anti-Israel measure at World Health Organization Israeli ambassador thanks Berlin for ‘significant and principled stand’; resolution blaming Israel for poor health conditions in Palestinian areas passes with overwhelming majority

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Palestinian focus should be on prosperity and good government, not perpetual resistance.

Posted on May 20, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

WALL STREET JOURNAL
Palestinians Need to Get Real About Israel
by Walter Russell Mead
May 20, 2019

As Palestinian officials nervously await the Trump administration’s peace plan, one fundamental reality shapes their long and bitter contest with Israel. Diplomatically, economically, militarily, Israel has never been stronger than it is today. By contrast, the Palestinian cause has never been in worse shape. Neither Hamas, which alternates between firing rockets and begging Israel to admit to Gaza the supplies it needs to stay in power, nor the Palestinian Authority, which is compromised by corruption and divided by factionalism, can find a viable policy either to defeat the Israelis or to make peace with them. READ MORE SUBSCRIPTION CONTENT

NEW YORK TIMES Palestinian Business Leaders Reject Trump’s Economic Overture
Promising tens of billions of dollars in foreign investment as part of its peace plan for the Mideast, the Trump administration announced an “economic workshop” in Bahrain next month to show Palestinian business leaders the potential windfall they would reap under the American proposal, which has yet to be publicly disclosed.

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Al Sharpton addresses Jewish conference in DC

Posted on May 20, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

JTA
Al Sharpton admits to using ‘cheap’ rhetoric about Jews
by Ron Kampeas
May 20, 2019

Al Sharpton appealed to Reform Jews for a united front in facing down anti-Semitism, racism and other forms of bias and acknowledged his role in stoking division, recounting how the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s widow reprimanded him for his “cheap” rhetoric. The civil rights activist and MSNBC host reportedly has expressed regrets privately to Jewish leaders for the incendiary rhetoric that helped fuel the deadly Crown Heights riots in 1991. But Monday’s remarks here at the Religious Action Center’s Consultation on Conscience were the closest he has come in public in acknowledging his role. READ MORE

WASHINGTON EXAMINER Why is Al Sharpton, inciter of Crown Heights, speaking at a Jewish conference in Washington? The disgraceful decision by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism to have Al Sharpton speak this morning at a plenary session of its conference in Washington, D.C., (titled “Consultation on Conscience”) sends a very dangerous and intolerable message to the anti-Semites among us.

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IDF lone soldier Michaela ‘Mika’ Levit was found dead outside her base last week, having left a note to her family describing recent ‘hardships’

Posted on May 20, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Family searching for answers after US-born IDF lone soldier dies by suicide
by Judah Ari Gross
May 19, 2019

After US-born lone soldier Michaela Levit died by suicide outside her base in central Israel last week, her family started looking for answers, turning to her friends and comrades for an explanation of what led the 19-year-old woman to end her own life. Levit, who served in the mixed-gender Caracal Battalion, was found dead on her base last Wednesday. Her body was flown back for burial in North Lauderdale, Florida, on Friday afternoon…Levit moved to Israel in 2017, joining the Israel Defense Forces that November through the Garin Tzabar program, which assists young men and women who come to the Jewish state without their parents to join the military. READ MORE

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This weekend Israel was experienced by hundreds of millions in an unprecedentedly positive way with #TelAviv “the natural home for camp, party-loving #Eurovision”

Posted on May 19, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
The real winner of Eurovision was Israel
by Michael Dickson
May 19, 2019

Israel’s Eurovision entry barely made a dent on the scoreboard but there’s no doubt that the Jewish State was the real winner of the Eurovision Song Content 2019. Israel was hosting the competition for the fourth time in history but for the first in twenty years – and in an era where Eurovision is simulcast on YouTube and more and more countries have joined the contest, in an age of age of instant responses and scrutiny via social media with a global viewing audience that has swelled to 200 million people…Israel can feel vindicated on every level. READ  MORE

TIMES OF ISRAEL Israel’s Eurovision chief: Madonna slipped Israeli, Palestinian flags into show Meital Cohen says organizers did not notice pop stars’ backup dancers wore political symbols banned by contest; Culture Minister Regev condemns ‘inappropriate’ display

EURONEWS Iceland’s Hatari raises Palestinian flags during Eurovision results Iceland’s punk rock band Hatari controversially raised scarves showing Palestinian flags during the announcement of their results in Eurovision 2019…A chorus of boos and gasps rained down from the crowd when the Icelandic team unveiled the flags as their name was called, prompted the broadcaster to quickly revert back to the hosts.

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Two of Chicago’s Orthodox Jewish community “outed as Christian missionaries”

Posted on May 19, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

JTA
A Chicago couple lives like Orthodox Jews — and preaches the word of Jesus
by Josefin Dolsten
May 18, 2019

A few months ago, a couple got involved in the Chicago Jewish community. Rivkah Weber and David Costello started attending an Orthodox synagogue in the West Ridge neighborhood. They looked and acted like Orthodox Jews: Weber covered her hair and wore long skirts, while Costello sported sidelocks and a kippah. The latter took a job at a kosher supermarket. But on Wednesday, warnings started spreading on Jewish Facebook groups in Chicago and beyond saying the couple, the parents of two children, were actually Christian missionaries. READ MORE

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Due to Iran sanctions imposed by Trump “Hezbollah, the best funded and most senior of Tehran’s proxies, has seen a sharp fall in its revenue and is being forced to make draconian cuts to its spending”

Posted on May 19, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

WASHINGTON POST
Trump’s sanctions on Iran are hitting Hezbollah, and it hurts
by Suzan Haidamous
May 18, 2019

The powerful Lebanese Hezbollah militia has thrived for decades on generous cash handouts from Iran, spending lavishly on benefits for its fighters, funding social services for its constituents and accumulating a formidable arsenal that has helped make the group a significant regional force, with troops in Syria and Iraq. But since President Trump introduced sweeping new restrictions on trade with Iran last year, raising tensions with Tehran that reached a crescendo in recent days, Iran’s ability to finance allies such as Hezbollah has been curtailed. READ MORE

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