New Gaza-Israel fence will sit atop tunnel-blocking subterranean wall and connect to sea barrier

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Israel starts construction on 20-foot-high fence surrounding Gaza
by Judah Ari Gross
February 3, 2019

The Defense Ministry has begun the final phase of construction of a 20-foot high galvanized steel fence that will completely surround the Gaza Strip, Israeli officials said Sunday. The barrier will extend 65 kilometers (40 miles) miles around the enclave and sit atop the subterranean concrete wall Israel is constructing around the Gaza Strip to block terrorist groups’ attack tunnels from the coastal enclave…The overall Gaza barrier project is due to be completed by the end of 2019, according to the army. READ MORE

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#SOTU “was one pro-Jewish speech”

COMMENTARY
The State of the Union is Pro-Jewish
by Abe Greenwald
February 6, 2019

…Trump talked about a great many other things, but it’s remarkable the extent to which his speech acknowledged, celebrated, and urged on America’s doing right by the Jews. It would be welcome enough if he emphasized such things in an address to an exclusively Jewish audience, but this was a State of the Union speech, and so his righteous words were meant to shape our very understanding of America. This takes on additional importance because Congress is now home to some anti-Semites of unprecedented ferocity and because the larger left has failed to call out the Jew-hatred that now permeates its ranks. Say what you want about Trump, this was glorious. READ MORE

AMERICAN GREATNESS Karin McQuillan: Why Liberals Don’t Call Out Democrat Hate Everything America has ever stood for must go. Being colorblind is attacked as racist. Equality before the law is attacked as sexist. The list of Democrat doublespeak becomes a tedious rant, and what’s the point? Democrats are not listening and if forced to listen, plug their ears and scream at the top of the lungs that it is Trump, Trump, Trump who is ruining everything.

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“Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein says that views on Israeli sovereignty are changing and the idea of a Palestinian state is looking more and more like a pipe dream”

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
‘The next Knesset will apply Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria’
by Ariel Kahana
February 1, 2019

“The 21st Knesset will be the one to start applying Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” he tells Israel Hayom, voicing a political opinion that no other Israeli figure of his status has yet…“Either something to ‘start with,’ like Maaleh Adumim or Gush Etzion, or all of Area C, or Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria. There [would be] a legal debate about that. There will be bills, maybe more than one, but the in the next Knesset it will be possible to move on to practical steps. READ MORE

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“Israel’s principal supporters in the US today are the evangelical Christians, whereas the Jewish community is utterly disunited and betraying its loyalty and obligations to the Jewish state”

JERUSALEM POST
American Jewish leaders: Where are you?
by Isi Leibler
January 31, 2019

.. American Jews are free to support or oppose Trump, but they should do so as American citizens, not as Jews. If there is a case for or against Trump acting with regard to Jewish issues, a consensual statement should be made by mainstream leaders – one that will not detract from bipartisanship. What is now taking place has defied all precedents and is fomenting needless antisemitism among Trump’s supporters, who represent half the electorate. If the Jewish leaders do not reverse the tide, most American Jews will be betraying Israel and, in the process, obliterating what little is left of Jewish identity. READ MORE

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Prager U asks: What Do People Know About the Holocaust?

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“Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, president of the organization, described the efforts to find a way to continue Palestinian funding as “outrageous””

WASHINGTON POST
A U.S. law is about to end security aid to the Palestinians, and Israel is not happy
by Loveday Morris
January 31, 2019

U.S. security funding to the Palestinian Authority is set to dry up by midnight Thursday unless administration officials find a workaround to circumvent a law that was intended to help American victims of terrorist attacks secure damages, but which has also sparked concerns that it may hurt Israel’s security…However, an Israeli official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic, said Israel is supporting efforts now underway by U.S. State Department and other Trump administration officials to find a legal fix that will “maintain security cooperation on one hand and also justice to the families of the victims of terror.” READ MORE

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“There’s a particularly sweet spot in the enormous technology deal Israel has just pulled off”

JERUSALEM POST
Ireland’s obsessional hatred of Israel
by Melanie Phillips
February 1, 2019

…Over the next five years, the tech giant Intel will invest a whopping $11 billion in a new semiconductor fabrication plant in Israel. The investment will be worth around 0.7% of Israel’s gross domestic product and is expected to produce thousands of jobs. The sweet spot is that in securing this deal, Israel beat off competition from Ireland. For Ireland has become the most extreme Israel-bashing country in the West. Its Dáil, or parliament, recently gave a first reading to a bill which would make it a serious criminal offense to supply goods or services provided by Israelis in east Jerusalem or the disputed territories of Judea or Samaria. READ MORE

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Democrat Omar and Republican Zeldin agree to meet to discuss antisemitism, Israel

THE HILL
Zeldin accepts Omar’s invitation to discuss religious discrimination over Somali tea
by Morgan Gstalter
February 1, 2019

Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) on Friday accepted Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-Minn.) invitation to discuss religious discrimination over Somali tea after the two lawmakers traded brbs over social media this week. Zeldin, who is Jewish, on Twitter this week shared a vulgar anti-Semitic voicemail message from a man who wished “Hitler would have done his … job.” “This new VM just came into my office,” Zeldin wrote in a tweet that tagged Omar on Thursday. “This is just another day in my world as an American Jew in Congress. Would love to know what part of this hate filled, anti-Semitic rant you disagree with?” READ MORE

ROLL CALL A Jewish Republican accused a Muslim Democrat of anti-Semitism, she accused him of Islamophobia Twitter spat appears to end after Rep. Omar offers Rep. Zeldin an olive branch

ALGEMEINER In New Interview, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, Who Has Faced Antisemitism Allegations, Compares Israel to Iran

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Israeli team to head home from Brazil after almost a week; 99 victims confirmed dead and over 200 more still missing

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Bolsonaro thanks ‘brave troops’ as IDF rescuers end search mission in Brazil
by TOI staff and AP
January 31, 2019

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday thanked Israeli rescuers who have been searching for survivors of a deadly dam collapse, saying their mission had ended after almost a week. A 130-strong Israeli military and search-and-rescue team landed in Brazil on Sunday and have been working to find survivors after a dam collapsed last Friday around a mining operation in a rural area of the Minas Gerais state. The dam disaster left at least 99 people confirmed dead, with 259 missing. READ MORE

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“Tom Brokaw was pilloried for urging immigrants to do a better job of assimilating. But he was right, and the success of the Jewish community is proof of it”

JNS
Assimilation and the American Jewish immigrant experience
by Jonathan S. Tobin
February 1, 2019

…While he implied that hostile attitudes towards immigration were rooted in racism, he [Tom Brokaw] also said the following: “I also happen to believe that the Hispanics should work harder at assimilation. That’s one of the things I’ve been saying for a long time…”For saying this, Brokaw—a liberal icon and darling of the mainstream media for decades—was called a “white supremacist” by the left-wing Latino Victory political action group. Democratic presidential candidate in the 2020 elections Joaquin Castro accused him of “xenophobia.” READ MORE

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