“The main point many of them wanted to get across is that it is important to meet with Israelis and for both sides to share their views”

Posted on November 27, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

BREITBART
While Airbnb boycotts, Israel builds its diplomatic strength
by Caroline Glick
November 28, 2018

…The Arab leaders assembled in Rome for the MED2018 conference, in contrast to the Western Europeans and the left, are tired of the Palestinians. The clear preference of the leaders of these states is not to boycott Israel, but to expand contacts and relations with the Jewish state. Their behavior in Rome made clear that they are unwilling to subordinate their shared interests with Israel to the Palestinians’ unappeasable animosity towards the Jewish state. For instance, although Qatar has been one the chief sponsors of Hamas’s terror state in Gaza in the past, its foreign minister chose not to mention the Palestinians in his enumeration of the chief challenges facing the Middle East. READ MORE

JERUSALEM POST Seth J. Frantzman: Israelis, Arabs and Kurds discuss a Middle East confederation in Jerusalem …These were some of the ideas that emerged from a unique event last week at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA), where a group of Israeli, Arab and Kurdish speakers – some speaking via Skype from abroad – discussed the current state of the Middle East and its future…The meeting was a closed-door session and some of the participants did not want to be identified because they are from Middle Eastern countries that do not have relations with Israel. 

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“Nachal Haredi, an army unit made up entirely of former yeshiva students, is growing and is a highly trained and successful combat unit”

Posted on November 27, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

MOMENT
What Will It Take to Get the Haredim to Enlist?
by Naomi Ragen
November/December 2018

…Ever since the nascent State of Israel agreed in 1948 in return for Orthodox support not to draft 400 yeshiva students—a number that by 2012 had risen to an astounding 58,000—the unequal sharing of the burden of military service has become an ever more toxic and explosive element in Israeli public life. In the 1980s, religious Zionists (in American terms, Modern Orthodox) voluntarily chose to obligate their yeshiva sons to join the army. Not so the haredim, who zealously guard their exemption and are deaf to all entreaties to compromise. READ MORE

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Los Angeles: “Police say the 32-year-old yelled anti-Semitic remarks at the pair of victims, made a U-turn and then drove at the men, who were on a sidewalk”

Posted on November 26, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

CBS LOS ANGELES
Prosecutors: Seattle Man Traveled To LA Specifically For Attack Outside Synagogue
November 27, 2018

A Seattle man was charged Tuesday with a hate crime attack for allegedly trying to hit two men leaving a synagogue with his vehicle last week in Hancock Park, prosecutors said. Mohamed Abdi Mohamed is charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office…Deputy District Attorney Richard Ceballos told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Teresa Sullivan that authorities believe Mohamed traveled to California to commit the crime, while an attorney from the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office countered that the prosecution’s theory was “purely speculative.” READ MORE

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Opening in Jerusalem, “Czech House will house Czech cultural, investment, trade and tourism offices”

Posted on November 26, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Czech president in Israel, to begin moving embassy to Jerusalem
by Herb Keinon
November 25, 2018

Miloš Zeman, the president of the Czech Republic – one of the friendliest countries to Israel in Europe – arrived on Sunday for a four-day state visit. During his visit, Zeman will inaugurate an office in Jerusalem he said will be the precursor to moving the country’s embassy to the city. Zeman will open the Czech House in the capital on Tuesday, in the presence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu was present at the opening of the US, Guatemala and Paraguay embassies in the capital in May. Paraguay has since moved its embassy back to Tel Aviv. READ MORE

ALGEMEINER Israel’s ‘Best Friend,’ Czech President Miloš Zeman, Calls for European Solidarity With Jewish State in Knesset Address

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“Hamas military wing recruited militants in the West Bank and taught them how to build bombs to carry out attacks within the Green Line”

Posted on November 25, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

YNET
Shin Bet foils Hamas-planned bombing in Israel
by Zoav Zitun
November 22, 2018

The Shin Bet has thwarted an attempt by the heads of Hamas in Gaza to establish terror infrastructure in the West Bank to plan and carry out bombings in Israel, the agency said on Thursday. According to the Shin Bet, members of Hamas’s military wing recruited fighters in the West Bank, taught them how to build bombs and instructed them to find crowded places within the Green Line to target—such as a large building, mall, restaurant, hotel, train or bus. The Shin Bet noted this plot was at a much larger scope and posed far greater danger than similar attempts in the past…READ MORE

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“Beverly Hills city council unanimously calls for boycott of Airbnb until the company reconsiders its policy against Israeli ‘settlements'”

Posted on November 25, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

ARUTZ SHEVA
Beverly Hills boycotts Airbnb
by Staff
November 25, 2018

The Beverly Hills, California city council unanimously passed a resolution condemning  Airbnb’s decision to remove its list of apartments and holiday units in Judea and Samaria “settlements” from its website. “We find the actions of Airbnb deplorable. On behalf of our residents, this unanimous resolution reflects the City Council’s ongoing commitment to Israel and to exposing hatred anywhere it exists,” Beverly Hills Mayor Julian Gold said in a statement released by the city. “Airbnb is not welcome in Beverly Hills as long as its policies are based on anti-Jewish double standards,” added Vice Mayor John Mirisch. READ MORE

THE SPECTATOR Brendan O’Neill: Airbnb’s ban on Israeli settlements is shameful
It is only Israeli-claimed territory that is singled out. It is only Jewish settlements that are punished. It is only apartments being offered for rent by Jewish people who believe in the idea of Greater Israel that are delisted. Only those people. But we shouldn’t be surprised. It is always only those people. Israel is always singled out. It is treated by right-on Westerners as being more wicked, more toxic, more evil and more destructive than any other state on Earth. That is why they boycott it, rage about it and take to the streets about it in a way they never do about Turkey, Saudi Arabia or anywhere else.”

WALL STREET JOURNAL Eugene Kontorovich: Airbnb’s Anti-Israel Hypocrisy Under Airbnb’s policy, an American Jew with a rental property in the West Bank is barred from listing it for rent on the website. But an American Arab is welcome to list his home a few hundred meters away, even though the Palestinian law forbidding real-estate deals with Jews carries a maximum penalty of death. That openly racist policy doesn’t trigger Airbnb’s delisting policy.

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“Not only women, but almost one out of three Swedes, do not feel safe in Sweden, according to a new poll”

Posted on November 25, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

GATESTONE
Sweden: Women Raped, Authorities Too Busy
by Judith Bergman
November 28, 2018

…Unlike what the Swedish media has been preaching for years — that most rapes occur in private settings and are committed against victims who know already their attacker — the large majority of rapes are, in fact, committed in the public sphere by men who have never previously met their victim, according to Brå. Out of the 842 men sentenced for rape or attempted rape in the past five years…58% were foreign-born — from the Middle East and North Africa, southern parts of Africa and other places outside of Europe. When it came to men sentenced for attempted rape, as well as violent rape, where victim and perpetrator did not know each other beforehand, 80% of the men were foreign born and 40% had only been in Sweden for a year or less. READ MORE

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“Hamas Stunned by ‘Israeli Base’ in the Heart of the Gaza Strip”

Posted on November 24, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Hamas is searching for members of elite IDF unit in Gaza
by Khaled Abu Toameh
November 24, 2018

Hamas said over the weekend that it was continuing its investigation into the November 11 clash with an elite IDF unit near Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. A Hamas official in the Gaza Strip confirmed on Saturday that his men were searching for a van allegedly used by the members of the unit. Hamas policemen and members of the movement’s military wing, Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades, set up checkpoints in various parts of the Gaza Strip during the past few days in an attempt to capture Palestinians who may have collaborated with the IDF unit. READ MORE

ALGEMEINER Hamas Stunned by ‘Israeli Base’ in the Heart of the Gaza Strip Hamas has been stunned by the revelation that the IDF essentially operated an “Israeli base” in the heart of the Gaza Strip, exposed by a botched intelligence-gathering operation earlier this month. The operation resulted in a firefight in which seven people were killed, including a Hamas leader and an Israeli commander. The incident led to massive Hamas rocket fire on Israel’s south, and nearly sparked a war before both sides accepted a ceasefire.

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Rand Paul, who has opposed Israeli military aid in the past, trying to block passage of bipartisan legislation ensuring Jewish state’s security

Posted on November 24, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Sen. Rand Paul places hold on US security assistance to Israel
by Jackson Richman
November 21, 2018

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has a history of being skeptical about U.S. taxpayer funds toward the Jewish state, has placed a hold on the U.S.-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act of 2018, which provides Israel with $38 billion in military aid over the next decade. This has caused backlash from organizations such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). “This bipartisan legislation authorizes full funding of security assistance to ensure Israel has the means to defend itself,” AIPAC posted on Facebook with a link to “urge Sen. Paul to stop blocking aid to Israel.” READ MORE

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“Airbnb’s removal of Israeli listings may run afoul of such statutes as the Export Administration Act of 1979 and regulations promulgated thereunder, the Ribicoff Amendment to the Tax Reform Act of 1976, and the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890″

Posted on November 23, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

REUTERS
Airbnb faces Israeli class-action lawsuit for delisting settlements
by Ori Lewis
November 22, 2018

Lawyers launched a class action lawsuit in Israel on Thursday against Airbnb, accusing the company of “outrageous discrimination” and demanding monetary damages after it withdrew listings of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.  The San Francisco-based company said this week it was removing listings of around 200 homes in settlements after hearing criticism from people who “believe companies should not profit on lands where people have been displaced” READ MORE

JNS Fiamma Nirenstein:Airbnb joins the lineup of classic anti-Semites [The Airbnb] decision is particularly disheartening in light of the fact that Airbnb has not removed a single listing from its platform of properties owned by Turks in Cyprus, Moroccans in Sahara, Chinese in Tibet or Russians in the Crimea—in other words, the occupiers in other disputed territories around the world.

ALGEMEINER Airbnb Warned Over Potential Legal Ramifications of Delisting Israeli Settlements A number of American Jewish and pro-Israel groups have reacted with concern to Airbnb’s decision to remove listings in West Bank settlements, and one is warning that the home-renting company could be running afoul of US law. 

TIMES OF ISRAEL Dropped from Airbnb, settlers lament loss of connections, income For renters across the Green Line, the vacation rental behemoth had been a godsend, opening them up to the world; now they hope potential lodgers will find other ways to find them.

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