Why wasn’t there a Jewish army in World War II to fight the Nazis? No group had more motivation to do so. Well, it’s not that they didn’t want one. Rick Richman’s Racing Against History skillfully recounts the efforts by three major Zionist leaders to raise a Jewish army in America to fight Hitler. Chaim Weizmann, Vladimir Jabotinsky, and David Ben-Gurion, representing the center, right, and left of the political spectrum, came to the United States on separate missions with the same goal in 1940…Vladimir Jabotinsky held to precisely the opposite approach of Weizmann, believing public pressure was the key to political results. READ MORE
Danish Foreign Ministry decides to stop funding for 14 Palestinian organizations in the wake of an internal investigation that found these groups used the money to promote terrorism and the boycott against Israel…Denmark’s Foreign Ministry announced on Friday that it was halting financial aid to several Palestinian NGOs over ties with terror groups. In addition, Copenhagen set stricter conditions for Palestinian NGOs’ eligibility for aid in the future to ensure the money is used for the right purposes, rather than go to terror groups or the BDS Movement. The decision was made in the wake of an internal investigation in the Danish Foreign Ministry ordered by Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen…READ MORE
The course that landed Orthodox Jewish journalist Joel Pollak behind the senior editor’s desk at staunchly conservative Breitbart News was far from simple. “When you are brought up to believe that Republicans and conservatives are motivated by racism and motivated by greed, to say you are one of those people was not easy,” says Pollak. Breitbart, the outlet where Pollak reigns as senior editor-at-large, and its executive chairman, Stephen Bannon, have become associated with the radical right since remarks Bannon made during the 2016 United States presidential election campaign…So what is a nice Jewish [Harvard] boy doing in a place like that? READ MORE
…The Trump administration has been preparing a plan in secret which is expected to be presented to the two sides in 2018. “The United States has proven to be a dishonest mediator in the peace process and we will no longer accept any plan from the United States,” Abbas said after meeting French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris…Abbas also hit out at efforts by the US to intimidate countries ahead of a vote at the UN on Thursday which saw 128 countries condemn Washington’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. Seven countries voted with the US and Israel to oppose the resolution, 35 abstained and 21 were no-shows. READ MORE
…I first met my friend Nina Rosenwald in Jerusalem and we were chatting and she asked me, “Why are you so unhappy? What’s going on over here?” And I told her, “Listen, I mean we have a very serious problem. I am offering all these journalists many stories that they do not want to report, mainly, because these stories do not reflect negatively on Israel,” and she said, “You know what? Give me all the stories that your editors don’t want to publish.” And that’s how we started publishing in Gatestone. I found it to be very helpful because it actually provided a voice for those who do not have a voice over there or those who want to offer the other side of the story.READ MORE
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Wednesday his new coalition would focus on fighting antisemitism, after Israel made it clear it would not work directly with any ministers from the far-right party now back in government. Kurz, a 31-year-old conservative, was sworn in with the rest of his government on Monday after reaching a coalition deal that handed control of much of Austria’s security apparatus to the anti-Islam Freedom Party (FPO)…Israel reacted to the inauguration by saying it would do business only with the “operational echelons” of government departments headed by an FPO minister. The FPO now controls the foreign, interior and defense ministries…READ MORE
…The demonization of the Jewish state – modern antisemitism – has been one of many UN policy priorities totally antithetical to American values and interests. The General Assembly vote on December 21 condemning President Donald Trump’s implementation of American law recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel ought to be the last time America takes it lying down…The issue Thursday was not about Jerusalem. It was about Jew-hatred. The resolution is the General Assembly’s twenty-first resolution in 2017 slamming Israel for violating “rights” and “law.” There was one resolution on North Korea. One on Iran. And one on the United States – criticizing U.S. Cuba policy. Altogether, there were nine resolutions critical of human rights records in specific states in the rest of the world combined.READ MORE
The Donald Trump administration’s new National Security Strategy has made waves for its unexpected emphasis on alliances, tough talk on trade, and focus on homeland protection. But few have noticed, buried on page 49, a paragraph that marks a sea change in decades of American strategic thinking about the Middle East: “For generations the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has been understood as the prime irritant preventing peace and prosperity in the region. Today, the threats from radical jihadist terrorist organizations and the threat from Iran are creating the realization that Israel is not the cause of the region’s problems.” READ MORE
The trustee charged with recovering the investments for victims of Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme has recovered about 73 percent of the lost principal of $17.5 billion. New payouts of $584 million will be made after the start of the new year, Crain’s New York reported. “Nearly a decade since the unmasking of the Madoff fraud, we are still finding and recovering millions of dollars for the victims of this complex global deception,” trustee Irving Picard said in a statement. Picard has said he expects to recover all of the lost principal and perhaps more, according to Crain’s. READ MORE
Disgraced ex-journalist Juan Thompson was sentenced this morning in New York City to five years in federal prison for calling in bomb threats to Jewish community centers across the country. The threats were part of the St. Louis native’s bonkers campaign to terrorize an ex-girlfriend. Thompson, 32, harassed the woman for months after she ended their relationship in the summer of 2016. The bizarre onslaught that followed included revenge-porn-style threats to release nude pictures of her, vile anonymous emails to her bosses and eventually attempts to frame her in the hoax bomb threats. READ MORE
ArchitectGuy on Israel 