Trump’s UNRWA pronouncement could have major implications relating to lawsuit filed by victims’ families of 10/7 massacre

Posted on April 26, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Trump administration strips UNRWA of legal immunity in court filing
Mike Wagenheim
April 25, 2025

The U.S. Department of Justice told the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Thursday that the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees has been stripped of its legal immunity. The decision was taken as part of a case filed last year in which families of victims of the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, sued UNRWA for its ties to terrorism. Israel has said that at least 18 UNRWA staff members took part directly in the assault across the Gaza border into southern Israel. The plaintiffs also allege long-term fraud and corruption in handling financial aid routed through UNRWA into the Gaza Strip—$1 billion of which critics say has fallen into the hands of Hamas and other terror groups. READ MORE

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Wisse: “If Harvard shirks its responsibility to shore up the foundations of America and allows itself to be hijacked by an Islamist-inspired grievance coalition, why would it expect any support from the government?”

Posted on April 25, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

WALL STREET JOURNAL
Harvard Is an Islamist Outpost
Ruth R. Wisse
April 24, 2025

…Harvard was a soft target for foreign penetration, having developed an adversarial relationship to the American government and increasingly to the country itself. Veterans of the antiwar movement banished the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps from Harvard in the 1970s and kept it off campus for 40 years. When memories of Vietnam faded, the military’s exclusion of open homosexuals became the high-minded excuse for shutting out recruiters—but not government funding. This selective antigovernment policy was reflected in the curriculum, which took an increasingly critical approach to America and Western civilization. READ MORE

FREE PRESS Harvard’s Antisemitism Report Found Harvard University released its long-overdue report on campus antisemitism exactly 10 days after Trump officials demanded to see it. The findings are disturbing. Nearly 60 percent of Jewish students at Harvard said they had experienced “discrimination, stereotyping, or negative bias on campus due to [their] views on current events,” according to the 311-page report. The report said that 73 percent of Jewish students expressed discomfort sharing their political opinions, while 75 percent believed there was an “academic or professional penalty” for expressing their views at Harvard.

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The administration’s executive order eliminating disparate-impact theory restores the 1964 Civil Rights Act to its original meaning

Posted on April 25, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

CITY JOURNAL
Trump Takes His Biggest Step Yet Toward Restoring Meritocracy
Heather MacDonald
April 24, 2025

Measured in Trump time, it took them eons to get around to it, but the White House has finally taken the most important step it can to restore meritocracy to American society: eliminating disparate-impact theory from civil rights analysis and enforcement. Disparate-impact theory holds that if a neutral, colorblind standard of achievement or behavior has a disproportionately negative effect on underrepresented minorities (overwhelmingly, on blacks), it violates civil rights laws. It has been used to invalidate literacy and numeracy standards for police officers and firemen, cognitive skills and basic knowledge tests for teachers, the use of SATs in college admissions, the use of grades for medical licensing exams, credit-based mortgage lending, the ability to discipline insubordinate students, and criminal background checks for employees and renters. READ MORE

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Israelis have “deep concern that Trump’s admin does not understand the importance of the details of setting back Iran’s nuclear program”

Posted on April 24, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

JPOST
Mossad director, Dermer seemingly unable to deter Witkoff from Iran nuclear strategy
Yonah Jeremy Bob
April 20, 2025

Mossad Director David Barnea and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer were seemingly unable to talk down US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff from the direction he is taking in the Iran nuclear negotiations during a secret meeting on Friday in Paris, The Jerusalem Post has learned…In lieu of a deal that essentially shuts down Tehran’s nuclear program, most Israeli officials prefer to exploit the current unique window of vulnerability to attack its nuclear facilities opened up by the Israel Air Force disabling Iran’s best anti-aircraft systems in October 2024 and the crushing of much of Hezbollah and Hamas’s power to retaliate against Israel for a strike on the Islamic Republic. READ MORE

TIMES OF ISRAEL Israel said to fear US moving fast toward a ‘bad deal’ that won’t block Iran from bomb Israel is deeply concerned that the US is closing in on a “bad deal” with Iran that will not meet Israel’s stated essential conditions for ensuring the regime cannot attain nuclear weapons, Israeli television reported Thursday. Channel 12 news reported that Israel believes the negotiations ordered by President Donald Trump with Iran, led by envoy Steve Witkoff, are “very, very advanced,” and that the US is not sharing enough information with Israel on key specific issues. This, despite an ostensibly deep ongoing dialogue between Witkoff and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, the report said.

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‘Never again? An Israeli citizen is crying out for help in a Hamas tunnel’: Family allows publication of still from clip of father of two small girls lighting 48th birthday candle

Posted on April 24, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Hamas posts video of Omri Miran; Family: ‘Disgrace’ he’s in tunnel on Holocaust day
Nurit Yohanan
April 23, 2025

The family of hostage Omri Miran said Wednesday that it was a “disgrace” that he is still being held in a tunnel on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, after Hamas published a propaganda video showing the hostage. The family approved the release of a still image, but asked that the full video, in which the hostage is seen walking through a tunnel in Gaza and lighting a candle to mark his birthday, not be published. Miran, who was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, marked his 48th birthday on April 11, his second in captivity. He is married, with two small daughters. READ MORE

YNET ‘Situation here is extremely difficult’: Family of hostage Omri Miran approve publication of Hamas video In the video, delivered in clear Hebrew, Miran pleads for help and urges both public demonstrations and international intervention to end the war in Gaza and the release of his fellow captives. “Hello, I’m Omri Miran, and I’m 48. This is the second birthday I’ve spent here — not celebrating, but simply surviving in Hamas captivity,” he says.

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Mandel: “Gabbard’s isolationist leanings and Vance’s incoherent FDR-style cynicism toward allies are now the dominant ideological strands in Trump’s Cabinet, and the president nixed the strike plans”

Posted on April 24, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

COMMENTARY
The Leak Was the Whole Point
Seth Mandel
April 17, 2025

…To understand why, it’s crucial to have a clear picture of the two factions within Trump’s national-security inner circle. There are the non-proliferationists, who prioritize stopping the spread of nuclear-weapons capability. The nonproliferationists’ internal rivals are those who believe in 20th-century types of spheres of influence with the goal of divesting America of its obligations. Divestors within the administration include Tulsi Gabbard, the pro-authoritarian former Democratic congresswoman who is now the director of national intelligence; JD Vance, the vice president; and Susie Wiles, the president’s chief of staff. Those naturally inclined toward nonproliferation include Mike Waltz, the national-security adviser; Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense; and Gen. Michael Kurilla, the head of U.S. Central Command. READ MORE

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“The administration isn’t abandoning the cause of human rights. A reorganization will stop bureaucratic ideologues from using the government to attack the Jewish state”

Posted on April 24, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Rubio torpedoes the left’s anti-Israel stronghold inside the State Department
Jonathan Tobin
April 24, 2025

For decades, a group of so-called “human rights” organizations—in particular, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch—have been waging war on the State of Israel. As NGO Monitor, the authoritative source on the subject, has documented, these groups have conducted a multifaceted campaign involving support for boycotts across the board, smearing it as an “apartheid” state, and promoting its isolation and prosecution on the international stage…Most Americans have been largely unaware that a band of activists with similar goals and beliefs to those at Human Rights Watch and Amnesty have been operating from a base inside the U.S. government. Thanks to a reorganization of the U.S. State Department, announced this week by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, that may now be coming to an end. READ MORE

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“In the case of its client Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown academic facing deportation following CAMERA’s exposé of his and his wife’s Hamas ties, the ACLU has resorted to specious accusations of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian bigotry”

Posted on April 24, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

ALGEMEINER
The ACLU’s Egregiously Dishonest Attack on CAMERA for Exposing Georgetown Academics
David M. Litman
April 23, 2025

…In February, CAMERA exposed that Saleh, the daughter of a senior Hamas official, had herself worked with entities directly tied to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization. Shortly after, another organization, Middle East Forum, exposed several reprehensible social media posts by her husband, Suri. In March, Suri, an Indian national, was detained by immigration authorities and now faces deportation. Further research by CAMERA uncovered evidence that Suri had participated in a 2010-2011 “convoy” organized by a terrorist organization, IHH[2], for the purpose of aiding Hamas. CAMERA also uncovered years of public statements by Saleh and Suri spreading hate-filled rhetoric and propaganda. READ MORE

COMMENTARY MAG Seth Mandel: Objectively Pro-Hamas To sum up: The “pro-Palestinian” protest groups are actually pro-Hamas. They are violent. They call for violence against Jews. They are anti-Semitic in its most base and undeniable form, which is enthusiastic support for the explicit racial purification-by-Arabization of the one Jewish state. I point all this out because there has been a feeble gaslighting attempt online that goes something like this: It is unfair to call these people pro-Hamas or to broadly paint them as anti-Semitic. It was worth refuting this whiny cowardice definitively. The mobs are objectively anti-Semitic and pro-Hamas.

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“PA Gov. Shapiro not talking about what happened because condemning antisemitism and support for terrorism within his own party is a career killer”

Posted on April 23, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

FRONT PAGE MAG
Gov. Josh Shapiro Keeps Dodging Motive for Arson Attack
Daniel Greenfield
April 21, 2025

Even by the convoluted standards of politics, Gov. Josh Shapiro and Democrats are playing a strange game after the arson attack over Gaza on the governor’s mansion. Gov. Shapiro has refused to discuss the motive for the attack even while Democrats, including supporters of campus Hamas activists like Halie Soifer, who heads the Jewish Democratic Council of America, blame Trump for an attack by one of their own people. This bait and switch depends on Shapiro keeping his mouth shut even as Dems attack Trump for not saying enough about the attack by a terrorist supporter. What does Gov. Shapiro think about an attempt to kill his family over Gaza? Don’t ask him. Is it a hate crime? [He says] it would be inappropriate for him to comment on the matter… READ MORE

WLS RADIO Morton Klein to Newsmax: Shapiro Must Rescind $5M Mosque Grant Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro must rescind a $5 million grant awarded in March to the Al-Aqsa Islamic Society in Philadelphia, Morton Klein, national president of the Zionist Organization of America, tells Newsmax…Shapiro, who is Jewish, announced the grant while attending an iftar dinner, as people gathered to break their Ramadan fast. The money is targeted for the mosque’s community center and is reportedly the largest grant awarded to a Muslim organization. “This is really astonishing,” Klein said. “This is $5 million of taxpayers’ money… They’re a group that promotes hatred of America, not only Israel, Jews, and others. They are a threat to America, not just Israel.”

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Schanzer on Qatar: Why does everybody bow before this terror-supporting country?

Posted on April 22, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

COMMENTARY
Catering to Qatar
Jonathan Schanzer
May 2025

…The fawning treatment of Qatar did not begin with the new Trump administration. Rubio’s predecessor, Antony Blinken, did it too. On January 19, just before the Biden administration’s departure, Blinken “thanked the Prime Minister for his critical role in mediation efforts to reach a cease-fire that will end fighting in Gaza, bring the hostages home, and enable a surge in humanitarian assistance.” Set aside the undeniable fact that Qatar is a financial patron of both Hamas and the Taliban. Qatar is an autocratic, Islamist, terrorist-supporting, human rights–abusing regime that should not have any hand in U.S. foreign policy. Moreover, this tiny country of just 330,000 citizens represents roughly 0.00004 of the world’s population. Yet it somehow has gained immense influence in American politics. That must end. READ MORE

ISRAEL HAYOM Qatar’s comeback Mossad Director David Barnea is set to meet with Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Doha, amid ongoing efforts to broker a deal for the release of all hostages in exchange for a ceasefire. The visit is especially significant in light of Qatar’s recent shift regarding the demand for Hamas to disarm. The most significant development in recent days in the secret negotiations over a hostage deal and ceasefire in the Gaza Strip is Qatar’s agreement to the demand that Hamas disarm “the day after.”

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