New nation-state law: “Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish people and they have an exclusive right to national self-determination in it”

Posted on July 17, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

REUTERS
Israel adopts divisive Jewish nation-state law
by Maayan Lubell
July 18, 2018

Israel passed a law on Thursday to declare that only Jews have the right of self-determination in the country, something members of the Arab minority called racist and verging on apartheid.  The “nation-state” law, backed by the right-wing government, passed by a vote of 62-55 and two abstentions in the 120-member parliament after months of political argument. Some Arab lawmakers shouted and ripped up papers after the vote. “This is a defining moment in the annals of Zionism and the history of the state of Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset after the vote. READ MORE

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“The leaders of the two countries said Russia and the United States are working together to ensure Israel’s security.”

Posted on July 17, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Trump and Putin praise Israel in Helsinki, diverge on Syria and Iran
by Seth J. Frantzman
July 17, 2018

…Trump spoke first with a discussion of Israel. “We’ve worked with Israel long and hard for many years,” he said, adding that the US has never been closer to Israel than it is today. “President Putin also is helping Israel, and we both spoke with ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu and they would like to do certain things with respect to Syria, having to do with the safety of Israel.” Trump said “we,” which apparently indicated that Moscow and Washington are both working with Israel and “Israel working with us.” He continued, “I think their working with Israel is a great thing – and creating safety for Israel is something both President Putin and I would like to see very much.” READ MORE

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CAMERA on Campus: “We’re seeing Jewish-led anti-Israel groups such as If Not Now working hard to infiltrate campuses, summer camps and Israel trips”

Posted on July 16, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Young Jews address new campus threats at CAMERA’s annual student conference
July 12, 2018

More than 80 students from nearly 70 campuses will be in Boston from July 29 to Aug. 1 for a high-level training conference on how to successfully respond to campus anti-Semitism and anti-Israel activism. The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) is hosting the conference…“The fact that this is our eighth Student Leadership Conference, with one of the highest attendance records to date, means that students who support Israel are still plagued by hatred-filled anti-Zionist campaigns on campus,” said Aviva Rosenschein, CAMERA’s international campus director. READ MORE

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“Lambasting progressive Jewry as inauthentic at best, Jonathan Neumann writes that ‘American Judaism is broken because the Jewish Left broke it’”

Posted on July 16, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
An author predicts Diaspora Jewry’s death, at the hands of Tikkun Olam liberals
by Matt Lebovic
July 13, 2018

Liberal Jews in the United States have “distorted” Jewish teachings to align with a narrow political agenda, according to the author of a new book called, “To Heal the World? How the Jewish Left Corrupts Judaism and Endangers Israel.”  Published on June 26, the book “sets out to slaughter the sacred cow of Tikkun Olam, at whose udder too many unlearned Jews have suckled,” according to author Jonathan Neumann. He blames American Jewry’s leaders for not only reinventing aspects of their ancient heritage, but also for causing damage to Israel by aligning with groups hostile to the Jewish state. READ MORE

JEWISH PHILANTHROPY Can Israeli Culture Save Jewish Philanthropy? Once a source of unity for the community, support for Israel’s defense has instead become a growing source of division. This however is no more than a symptom of a deeper problem. Simply put, the communal life, culture, and cohesion of the American Jewish community is declining to the point of existential crisis.

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“Cease-fire follows more than 40 Israeli air-strikes launched since Friday amid more than 100 rockets fired at southern Israel by militants in the Gaza Strip”

Posted on July 14, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK POST
Israel agrees to cease-fire with Hamas
by Eileen AJ Connelly
July 14, 2018

Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire brokered by Egypt on Saturday after waves of Israeli jets slammed the Gaza Strip in retaliation for dozens of rockets fired from the Palestinian territory — one of the worst flare-ups of violence since 2014. “Egyptian and international efforts succeeded in ending the current round of escalation,” a Palestinian official told Reuters. A spokesman for Hamas, which controls Gaza, and a statement from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group separately confirmed a truce was reached. READ MORE

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“As far as the Europeans are concerned, Iran can kill whoever it wants [eg Israelis] so long as it doesn’t attack Europe”

Posted on July 14, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

WASHINGTON TIMES
Iran’s greedy demands
by Clifford D. May
July 10, 2018

Britain, France and Germany are three of America’s closest allies, but they don’t always act like it. Last week in Vienna, their foreign ministers met with the foreign ministers of China and Russia, strategic adversaries of the U.S., as well as the foreign minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, a regime whose rallying cry for almost 40 years has been “Death to America!” Their mission: To undermine U.S. policy; to relieve the economic pressure that the Trump administration is attempting to bring to bear on Iran’s rulers in order to change their aggressive and lethal behavior both at home and abroad. READ MORE

JERUSALEM POST Caroline Glick: A glimpse of Europe’s true face Six days before the Vienna summit, Belgian security forces arrested members of an Iranian terror cell as they made their way to Paris to blow up a rally held that day by the Iranian opposition movement Mujahedin e-Khalq…Thousands attended the rally in Paris. Among the many VIPS present were former prime minister Ehud Barak, former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani. The arrests in Belgium drove home the fact that Iran has developed a massive terror infrastructure in Europe.

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Leibler: “Despite their incessant grumbling, Israelis are a very happy and proud people”

Posted on July 13, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
Balancing dangers and opportunities
by Isi Leibler
July 12, 2018

…Although Israelis are exasperated with corruption and the multiple allegations against the Netanyahus, polls show that were an election to take place now, Benjamin Netanyahu would be re-elected as head of a strong coalition government. Support for his Likud party has escalated to heights not seen by any party in decades. Despite the frenzied internal debates, the people of Israel today are more united than ever since the massive chasm created by the adoption of the ill-fated Oslo Accords. Most recognize that under the present Palestinian leadership, a two-state policy would create a terrorist state and provide a potential launching pad against Israel for Iran. READ MORE

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Katie Hopkins in Israel with Yishai Fleisher: Why Jewish youth flock to Hebron from around the world

Posted on July 13, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

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“Unfortunately for Trump, he enters the summit with a decidedly weakened hand — largely of his own making”

Posted on July 13, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

FOREIGN POLICY
Putin Sees Trump as an Easy Mark on Syria
by John Hannah
July 13, 2018

As U.S. President Donald Trump approaches his July 16 summit in Helsinki with Russian President Vladimir Putin, there’s much speculation that Syria will be near the top of the agenda. Trump is reportedly eager for a deal in which Russia would use its influence to contain Iran’s expanding military presence in Syria, especially close to Israel’s northern border. In exchange, the United States would consent to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s reconquest of most of the country, acknowledge Russia’s role as Syria’s dominant outside power, and commit to the withdrawal of several thousand U.S. troops from [Syria]. READ MORE

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“While the success of BDS has been limited, we are seeing younger people buy the propaganda”

Posted on July 12, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

SPECTATOR
Boycott Israel Founder Confirms BDS Is About Ending the Jewish State
by Paul Miller
July 12, 2018

Supporters of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement claim that BDS is about a two-state solution and bettering the lives of the Palestinian people. At least that’s what leftist college students, progressive activist groups, and most media outlets want to believe. But if you take the word of BDS founder Omar Barghouti, peaceful coexistence is the last thing BDS is about. Barghouti “piles falsehood upon falsehood to present Israel as relentlessly oppressing the Palestinians in violation of human decency, and to hold Israel exclusively responsible for the ills afflicting them,” wrote the New York Daily News in a 2013 editorial…READ MORE

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