“Yossi Klein Halevi’s ‘Letters to a Palestinian Neighbor’ may not reach its intended audience, but it may well have another closer to home”

Posted on May 7, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

TABLET MAG
Return to Sender
by Liel Leibovitz
May 4, 2018

The title of Yossi Klein Halevi’s new book gives you some idea about its intended reader. It is Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor, and while the recipient of Halevi’s moving dispatches isn’t a concrete person, he or she is not an abstraction either: From his desk in Jerusalem, Halevi sees the separation barrier, and, just beyond it, the great big Other of Israeli life, the Palestinian men and women who are clearly visible yet ultimately unknown. Having earlier in his career traveled to meet these neighbors and listen to their stories, Halevi now reciprocates by telling them his, the epic of the Jewish people, their history, and their faith. READ MORE

TIMES OF ISRAEL David Horovitz, Publisher: Who we are, why we’re here: Israeli author explains Zionism to the Palestinians We’re rightly outraged by enemy attacks on our legitimacy, says Yossi Klein Halevi. But we’ve never bothered to tell them our story. Hence his ‘Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor’

Posted in Islam, Israel & Middle East, Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

“Despite being born a Muslim, William Mehrvarz felt he was always meant to be a Jew. Now, fearing apostasy laws, he has abandoned his old life — and wife — for refuge in the US”

Posted on May 6, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Fleeing native Iran, a would-be convert to Judaism gets new start in NYC
by Cathryn J.Prince
May 5, 2018

William Mehrvarz touched down at JFK International Airport on November 9, 2017, with one suitcase and $200 in his pocket. Inside the suitcase, a Hebrew prayer book, a kippa, and a Hanukkah menorah were nestled between his hastily packed clothes. Ordinary in design, the objects were remarkable for what they represented — the 25-year-old’s dream to live openly as a Jew. The twist: Mehrvarz was born Muslim in Iran. “Nobody wakes up one day and says, ‘I’m going to leave my country forever. I’m going to leave my family and I’m going to start over…” READ MORE

Posted in Islam, Israel & Middle East, Jewish | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

“The secretive and sensitive Unit 9900, which specializes in visual intelligence, has received some 100 autistic volunteer soldiers so far” [VIDEO]

Posted on May 6, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

JNS.ORG
The IDF’s Unit 9900: ‘Seeing’ their service come to fruition
by Yaakov Lappin
May 4, 2018

A program designed to integrate young people on the autistic spectrum into the military—in fields where they have a relative advantage—is proving to be a “win-win” for all involved. The program, dubbed “Seeing Afar,” which is jointly run by the IDF and the Ono Academic College, is now in its fifth year. It includes a training course that teaches autistic youths to decipher aerial and satellite visual-intelligence images, based on their enhanced visual ability and their tendency towards patience, which allow them to explore the minutest details—an essential attribute for this role…READ MORE

Posted in Israel & Middle East | Tagged , | Leave a comment

#JesseMorton, Columbia University grad and Jihadist jailed for threatening South Park creators, turns a corner [VIDEO]

Posted on May 6, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

WALL STREET JOURNAL
The Making—and Unmaking—of a Jihadist
by James Taranto
May 4, 2018

Meet Jesse Morton, 39. He’s an ex-jihadist now, a onetime leader of a defunct New York-based extremist cell called Revolution Muslim. Visiting the Journal’s offices, he’s accompanied by Mitch Silber, 48, a former intelligence analyst for the New York City Police Department. Mr. Silber’s investigative work helped send Mr. Morton to federal prison, but today the two men collaborate on counterterror projects. Mr. Silber says Mr. Morton’s story of conversion and rehabilitation contains lessons for the West as it faces the next wave of terrorism, the “virtual caliphate” of a displaced Islamic State. READ WSJ SUBSCRIPTION CONTENT

DAILY MAIL (2012) Muslim man gets 11.5 years for threatening South Park writers after they depicted the Prophet Mohammad in a bear suit

Posted in Israel & Middle East | Leave a comment

“New report says Trump’s peace plan will include Israel gifting four Jerusalem neighborhoods to Palestinian Authority”

Posted on May 5, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Trump to ask Israel to withdraw from 4 east J’lem neighborhoods
by Yanir Cozin, Maariv Hashavua
May 4, 2018

The Trump administration will ask Israel to withdraw from four Arab neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, which will likely become the capital of a future Palestinian state, US officials told Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman during his visit to Washington last week. The transfer of control over the neighborhoods – Jebl Mukabar, Isawiya, Shuafat and Abu Dis – was presented to Liberman as just one piece of the larger peace plan the administration has been working on over the last year. Israel, the officials indicated, would be expected to accept the plan once it is presented despite the potentially painful concessions. READ MORE

ARUTZ SHEVA Will Trump’s plan include giving up parts of Jerusalem?

CBN NEWS Jerusalem Steps Up Security Ahead of US Embassy Move

THE TOWER Guatemala Moves Embassy to Jerusalem Ahead of Its Inauguration Later This Month

TIMES OF ISRAEL 10 days before embassy opens in Jerusalem, Israel still not sure if Trump coming

BLOOMBERG Trump Says He Refused to Approve $1 Billion Jerusalem Embassy

Posted in Israel & Middle East, Politics | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

“Itay Milner, Israel’s Deputy Consul General in Chicago, left his office and decided to take an Uber home.” It did not go well.

Posted on May 4, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

TABLET MAG
Israeli Deputy Consul General in Chicago Kicked Out of Uber for Speaking Hebrew
by Gretchen Rachel Hammond
May 4, 2018

…“I was just sitting in the back seat,” he told Tablet. “We had been driving for about ten minutes and we were on Lower Wacker Drive when I received a call from a colleague. When I picked up the phone, I answered in Hebrew.” According to [Itay] Milner, the driver immediately stopped the car and started yelling at him. “He was saying ‘Get out of my car!’” Milner said. “he was using the F-word. I didn’t understand what was going on. I asked him what was wrong and he didn’t say anything; just repeated ‘get of my car!’”READ MORE

Read Itay Milner’s account of incident on Facebook. “I just had the worst experience of my life. I was just thrown out of an Uber in the middle of the highway only because I answered my phone in my mother tongue.”

JERUSALEM POST Uber suspends Chicago driver accused of kicking out Israeli diplomat

CHICAGO TRIBUNE Israeli diplomat kicked out of Uber after speaking Hebrew: ‘Can’t believe this is happening in America’

TWITTER @TheMossadIL [Parody] “An Uber driver by the name of Yuva just abandoned his passenger in the highway for speaking Hebrew. Agents in the Chicago vicinity are requested to place Israeli flags on his Toyota Camry. Illinois license plate AE1 3524”

Posted in Israel & Middle East, Jewish, Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

“#Gaza riots are just a smokescreen for #Hamas’s true intention: the total rejection of a Jewish presence in all of Israel” [VIDEO]

Posted on May 4, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

THE TOWER
Hamas-led “March of Return” Is Not for Independence, but for End of Israel
by Julie Lenarz
May 4, 2018

Hamas, the Islamist terrorist organization which exercises complete political and military control over the Gaza Strip, on March 30 launched a six week long “March of Return” riot along the Gaza-Israeli border. Large groups of rioters marched on the border with the intent to breach the security fence and infiltrate into the Jewish State – the “peaceful protesters” were carrying guns, knives, stones, explosives, Molotov cocktails, burned thousands of tires and sent kites over Israeli territory with burning objects, causing extensive damage. READ MORE

Posted in Islam, Israel & Middle East, Jewish | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Some of the Zionists insisted that Israel’s Declaration of Independence “express thanks to God, while others were adamantly opposed”

Posted on May 3, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

JEWISH JOURNAL
The Second and Third Israeli Miracles
by Rick Richman
May 2, 2018

…As Israel turns 70, unity is not a notable feature of Israeli democracy. The current Knesset includes 17 political parties. The government is a shaky coalition comprised of five of them, holding a bare majority of seats. The prime minister is surrounded by politicians who believe they could do a better job than he can. Josephus, the first-century historian, described Jewish politics at that time as consisting of disputes between religious and secular parties, with numerous Jewish leaders who “competed for supremacy because no prominent person could bear to be subject to his equals.” Two millennia later, not much has changed. READ MORE

Posted in Israel & Middle East, Jewish | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

“An anti-regime alliance of rich and poor could be the key to ending clerical rule in Iran”

Posted on May 3, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

FOREIGN POLICY
The United States Should Seize on Iran’s Currency Crisis
by Saeed Ghasseminejad, Richard Goldberg
May 4, 2018

While the debate over the future of the Iran nuclear deal and U.S. military strategy in Syria rages in Washington, policymakers cannot afford to miss the historic events unfolding inside Iran. The United States’ response to these developments will not only affect the future of the Islamic Republic but Syria and the broader Middle East, too. Over the first three months of 2018, Iran’s currency collapsed into total free fall, with the dollar gaining 37 percent against the rial — accelerated in part by John Bolton’s appointment as U.S. President Donald Trump’s national security advisor. READ MORE

Posted in Islam, Israel & Middle East, Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Swarthmore College after “careful consideration and research,” will continue to offer Sabra hummus, but will also provide alternative brand [VIDEO]

Posted on May 3, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

CAMPUS REFORM
Swarthmore rejects SJP demand to stop selling Sabra hummus
by Adam Sabes
May 2, 2018

Swarthmore College has rejected student demands that it stop selling Sabra hummus on campus because of the company’s ties to Israel. As Campus Reform previously reported, the Swarthmore Students for Justice Palestine (SJP) chapter created a petition last month calling on the university to take the popular hummus brand off university shelves. According to the petition, the company is “owned by the Strauss Group, a multinational corporation that invests in, financially supports, and even sends care packages to the Golani Brigade of the Israeli armed forces,” a unit that the petition claims is “particularly brutal.” READ MORE

CAMPUS REFORM #Intersectionality: The movement to ban Sabra Hummus from the Swarthmore campus has gotten multiple letters of support from student organizations on campus, including the Swarthmore African American Student Society, the Swarthmore Indigenous Students Association, the LatinX Students Organization, the Interfaith Center Interns, the Muslim Student Association, and the Swarthmore Queer Union.

Posted in Israel & Middle East, Politics | Tagged , | Leave a comment