Arab Likud candidate praises Netanyahu as strong leader and “brushes aside criticism of the party’s spearheading of the recently-passed Nation State law”

Posted on January 12, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

i24 NEWS
Muslim woman running for Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party shunned by family
January 10, 2019

A Muslim Arab woman running as a candidate for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party defended her decision in an interview with i24NEWS on Tuesday, despite her having been shunned as “disloyal” by her family.Dima Tayeh, from the village of Kafr Manda in Israel’s northern Galilee region, announced earlier this week that she would be seeking a spot on the Likud list. If elected, she would be the first Muslim Arab lawmaker to join the Likud party…On Wednesday, Tayeh’s family released a statement denouncing her opinions and shunning her until she “declares loyalty to her people and her faith”. READ MORE

ELDER OF ZIYON/JNS Donna Shalala: The Arab freshman member of Congress you AREN’T hearing about – because she is pro-Israel and anti-BDS  “I’m absolutely opposed to a boycott of any kind both in terms of disinvestment, as well as in the attacks on Israeli academics by the British Union. I was one of the first college presidents in the country to denounce that…” Interestingly, Shalala was honored by the American University of Beirut with an honorary degree (she’s of Lebanese ancestry) and students protested because she is “Zionist.”

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“Supporters of armed congregants say that with responsible training, they are a necessary defense in an age of frequent mass shootings. Call it the good Jewish guy with a gun”

Posted on January 11, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

JTA
After Pittsburgh, some synagogues are more comfortable with guns in the pews
by Ben Sales
January 8, 2019

On an average Saturday morning at the Orthodox Ohel Tefillah synagogue on Chicago’s North Side, about 10 percent of the men carry a handgun. That number may seem high in a liberal city with some of the strictest gun laws in the country. But in the aftermath of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre last year, Rabbi Moshe Revah expects it will grow. He wouldn’t be surprised if soon, 10 of the 40 or so men who pray there each week — 25% — will be packing heat. “Definitely, Pittsburgh sparked the interest,” the rabbi said regarding gun ownership. “Originally it was much more of a taboo topic in the community… Definitely people are much more understanding of the idea.” READ MORE

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“Israel’s ostensible peace partner, the Palestinian Authority, educates its people to an almost pathological hatred of Israel”

Posted on January 11, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

COMMENTARY
Peace: The Missing Israeli Election Issue
by Evelyn Gordon
January 10, 2019

Israel’s election campaign has only just begun, but one key issue is already notable by its absence: peace with the Palestinians. To many Americans—especially American Jews, who overwhelmingly consider this the most important issue facing Israel—the fact that almost none of the candidates are talking about the peace process may seem surprising. But several recent incidents help explain why it’s a very low priority for most Israeli voters…Ordinary human interaction with Israelis, aka “normalization,” is anathema to many Palestinians, including many PA officials…READ MORE

GATESTONE Bassam Tawil: The New Palestinian ‘Catastrophe’: A Shopping Mall Hiring Palestinians Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction is angry. It seems a Jewish Israeli businessman has just built a shopping mall in east Jerusalem and most of its workers and customers are Arabs. Fatah leaders have called for boycotting the mall.

ELDER OF ZIYON Fatah leader: Arab leaders meeting Israelis a “stab in the back” of Palestinians

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“A fellow flier who witnessed the tumult said he overheard a steward utter “those retarded Jews” in conversation with a female flight attendant before the plane took off”

Posted on January 11, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK POST
Spirit Airlines turned our flight into an anti-Semitic nightmare: couple
by Yaron Steinbuch
January 10, 2019

A Borough Park couple is accusing Spirit Airlines of turning a trip to Florida into an anti-Semitic “nightmare” from start to finish — calling them “retarded” as the plane took off, harassing them throughout the flight, and having cops escort them off the plane after landing. Chana and Yisroel Beck arrived at Newark Airport on Tuesday along with their 6-week-old, 2-year-old and 3-year-old daughters, eager to embark on their weeklong trip to Fort Lauderdale…Once the plane landed, an announcement was made for all the passengers to remain seated as two police officers and two Spirit supervisors came aboard to escort the family off without explanation, she said. READ MORE

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Israel boycott ban is not about free speech

Posted on January 10, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

CAMERA BLOG
Reuters Misrepresents New Congress’ Anti-BDS Bill
by Tamar Sternthal
January 10, 2019

Reuters’ article yesterday on the “Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act,” a bill which stalled Tuesday in the Senate, opens with a misleading and ominous reference to the legislation’s “measure to punish Americans who boycott Israel” (“First bill of new U.S. Congress, on Middle East policy, stalls in Senate“). Further down, the article repeats this inaccurate and overly broad characterization of the bill’s supposed application to Americans at large, stating that it “would let state and local governments punish Americans for boycotting Israel.” In fact, the bill would not sweepingly apply to “Americans” at large, but to “entities” engaged in geographically specific boycott activity…READ MORE

TOWER ACLU Falsely Claims That Anti-Boycott Legislation Limits Free Speech The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), one time the nation’s premier civil rights organization, has falsely characterized legislation that would penalize companies that boycott Israel as limiting free speech. 

REUTERS Israel boycott ban is not about free speech Contrary to the challengers’ free speech narrative, these state laws do not actually impact anyone’s ability to hold, express or advocate any viewpoint. Instead, they only require businesses seeking government contracts (or investments) to certify they are not engaged in discriminatory boycotts.

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“Under a plea bargain reached between Segev’s lawyers and government prosecutors, he will receive 11 years in prison” for spying for Iran

Posted on January 10, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Former cabinet minister Gonen Segev convicted of spying for Iran
by Yonah Jeremy Bob
January 9, 2019

Disgraced former minister Gonen Segev was convicted of spying for Iran by the Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday in a plea bargain. A statement from the prosecution said that the sides would ask the court for an 11-year jail term. Sentencing arguments have been set for February 11. Other details in the case remain under gag order. Channel 10 previously reported that Segev admitted to the spying charges, but that he explained that he was trying to help Israel and return as a “hero” under the guise of spying for Iran. READ MORE

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“Mexico’s war against its cartels always had one prime objective – to capture E lChapo, the world’s most wanted man and the country’s most powerful drug baron. And thanks to a company in Herzliya, with a little help from an unwitting Hollywood actor and telenovella star, it managed to do just that”

Posted on January 10, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

YNET
How Mexican drug baron El Chapo was brought down by technology made in Israel
by Ronen Bergman
January 10, 2019

It was an arrest operation that made headlines all over the world, not only because of the target, the drug baron El Chapo, considered the most-wanted man in the world (once Osama bin Laden was taken down), but also because of the other unwilling participants – one of Mexico’s biggest telenovella stars and American actor Sean Penn. Since then, speculation and stories have surrounded just how the man who managed to escape prison again and again. This weekend, for the first time, we will publish the full story behind the capture of El Chapo, a story that features a phone interception system known as Pegasus, created by the Israeli company NSO. READ MORE

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Lessons from Argentina: “Buenos Aires is a European city encircled by a country that remains very Third World”

Posted on January 10, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

WASHINGTON TIMES
A plaintive cry for Argentina
by Clifford D. May
January 8, 2019

Why isn’t Argentina as wealthy as Canada? For that matter, why are all the countries of Latin America, without exception, so much less prosperous than their neighbors to the North? Such questions are apt to come to mind here in the Argentine capital, a city of grand boulevards, elaborate architecture, and quaint neighborhoods with cozy cafes, old-fashioned tango halls, and elegant restaurants serving enormous slabs of juicy beef raised in the pampas, the vast grassy plains beyond the city. Not far off the beaten track, however, lies a different Buenos Aires: Sprawling shantytowns, shacks made of scrap materials; slums lacking basic sewage, water and electrical services. READ MORE

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“Rubio is alleging that some Senate Democrats oppose the anti-BDS legislation on substance because of the supposedly growing popularity of the boycott movement within the Democratic Party”

Posted on January 9, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

TABLET MAG
Anti-BDS Bill Battles Up Senate Hill
by Armin Rosen
January 7, 2019

…While there is disagreement on the Hill over the extent of internal Democratic opposition to the anti-BDS bill, sources from both parties confirmed to Tablet that it sparked internal disagreements when it came up for discussion at a meeting last Thursday. Republican Senator Marco Rubio tweeted this morning that “The shutdown is not the reason Senate Democrats don’t want to move to Middle East Security Bill. A huge argument broke out at Senate Dem meeting last week over BDS. A significant # of Senate Democrats now support #BDS & Dem leaders want to avoid a floor vote that reveals that.” READ MORE

FEDERALIST David Harsanyi Yes, Anti-Zionism Is The Same As Anti-Semitism What was once festering on the progressive fringes has found its way into elected offices and the heart of the liberal activist movement. As Democrats increasingly turn on Israel, Jewish liberals, many of whom have already purposely muddled Jewish values with progressive ones, are attempting to untether Israel from its central role in Jewish culture and faith for political expediency.

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“Instead of recognizing the fight against antisemitism as a human rights issue worthy of attention, Amnesty International has decided instead to ratchet up its targeting of the Jewish state”

Posted on January 9, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

NGO MONITOR
Amnesty International Singling Out Jews in 2019
January 3, 2019

Leaked documents seen by NGO Monitor and an analysis of public statements from NGO officials indicate that Amnesty International will conduct a series of intense campaigns singling out Israel in early 2019. In this process, Amnesty will delegitimize Jewish historical connections to Jerusalem and elsewhere, as well as promote discriminatory boycotts (BDS) against Israel.  Amnesty’s 2019 attacks will include at least two components: 1. Amnesty’s Blacklist: A “new campaign targeting some of the businesses that are profiting from human rights abuses by operating in the illegal Israeli settlements.”  2. “Ban Israeli settlement goods”: A continuation of a campaign to press governments, in particular the UK, “to ban Israeli settlement goods from entering your markets…” READ MORE

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