“Reducing Israel to a binary stance is not just reductive; it is the intellectual equivalent of a fast-food meal: satisfying in the moment, but devoid of any real substance”

Posted on November 30, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

FUTURE OF JEWISH
The Most Annoying ‘Pro-Israel’ People
Joshua Hoffman
November 28, 2024

…Being “pro-Israel only when it aligns with my politics” is akin to loving someone for their potential rather than their reality. It is disingenuous, performative, and reeks of a need to appear virtuous without grappling with the messy complexities of reality…If you find yourself “pro-Israel” only when it is convenient, then you are not “pro-Israel.” You are pro-virtue signaling. You are pro-political expediency. And worse, you are undermining not only Israel but the very idea of principled support. By all means, criticize Israel. Debate its policies. Philosophize about the ethical dilemmas it faces. But do not act like your approval is a gift to be doled out when Israel behaves like the idealized nation in your imagination. It is condescending and insulting. READ MORE

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Study on effects of DEI training finds “participants primed with DEI materials were more likely to perceive prejudice where none existed and were more willing to punish the perceived perpetrators”

Posted on November 29, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

NATIONAL REVIEW
DEI Training Material Increases Perception of Nonexistent Prejudice, Agreement with Hitler Rhetoric, Study Finds
Abigail Anthony
November 27, 2024

A new study found that diversity, equity, and inclusion materials have a wide range of negative consequences, including psychological harm, increased hostility, and greater agreement with extreme authoritarian rhetoric, such as adapted Adolf Hitler quotes. Both the New York Times and Bloomberg were preparing stories on the findings, but axed them just before publication citing editorial decisions. The Network Contagion Research Institute, or NCRI, and Rutgers University Social Perception Lab released the study “Instructing Animosity: How DEI Pedagogy Produces the Hostile Attribution Bias” on Monday. READ MORE

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IDF destroys underground missile manufacturing plant, staffed with Hezbollah agents and Iranians, constructed many years ago with the help of Iran

Posted on November 28, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

JEWISH CHRONICLE
IDF says it destroyed Hezbollah’s largest missile production site hours before ceasefire
Imogen Garfinkel
November 28, 2024

Israeli fighter jets demolished Hezbollah’s largest and most strategic precision missile production site just hours before the truce with the terror group came into effect on early Wednesday, the Israel Defence Forces said in a statement. The site, very close to the Syrian border, was hidden 70 metres underground in a subterranean complex that stretched for 1.4 kilometres near the town of Janta in the east of Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley. Military footage from the night before the truce shows airstrikes pounding the strategic site. Fighter jets pummelled the location for over four hours, dealing “a blow to the Hezbollah terror organization’s ability to produce weapons,” said the IDF. READ MORE

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“The incoming administration gives every indication that, unlike the present feckless crew, it sees Iran clearly as an enemy”

Posted on November 27, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

COMMENTARY
Swiss Cheese, the Sot, and the Ceasefire
John Podhoretz
November 26, 2024

The 60-day ceasefire to which Israel has agreed, thus pausing its efforts to degrade Hezbollah in Lebanon to such a degree that 60,000 Israelis can begin to return to their homes near the Lebanese border, may exist because of blackmail. Blackmail from the United States. Netanyahu told the Israeli cabinet that if they did not agree to the Biden terms, the administration would move against the Jewish state in the U.N. Security Council. This threat was a first of its kind for any president; even Barack Obama only allowed a hostile Security Council action to go through without a veto in his final act of aggression against Jerusalem in 2017. This time Biden was threatening to lead the U.N. against its only true ally in the Middle East. READ MORE

JEWISH INSIDER Lahav Harkov: Israel sees violations of cease-fire on Lebanese side within hours of deal taking effect Hours after Israel’s cease-fire agreement with Lebanon went into effect on Wednesday, the IDF shot at a vehicle believed to be violating the terms of the deal. The IDF fired warning shots at a vehicle carrying several people entering Kfar Kileh, near the Lebanon-Israel border, where the Iran-backed terrorist group was barred from entering under the terms of the cease-fire. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Hezbollah terrorists entered the village and that he “instructed the IDF to act aggressively and uncompromisingly against such phenomena and arrest anyone identified with Hezbollah who enters the no-go areas.”

ARUTZ SHEVA Lebanese Minister: We’ll be in dangerous territory if Hezbollah violates ceasefire Lebanon’s Economy Minister, Amin Salam, warned on Wednesday that failure by Hezbollah to adhere to the ceasefire agreement could push the country into “very dangerous territory.” Speaking to Sky News, Salam emphasized the fragile state of Lebanon in the aftermath of the recent conflict with Israel.

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A teenager whose lies about her teacher are accused of contributing to the educator’s beheading by an Islamist radical apologised to his family in a French court on Tuesday

Posted on November 26, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

FRENCH 24
Teen who lied about beheaded French teacher’s class says ‘sorry’
AFP
November 25, 2024

A teenager whose lies about her teacher are accused of contributing to the educator’s murder by an Islamist radical apologised to his family in a French court on Tuesday. Eight people have been on trial since early November, charged with contributing to the climate of hatred that led to an 18-year-old of Chechen origin beheading teacher Samuel Paty outside Paris in 2020…Then aged 13, the adolescent falsely claimed that Paty had asked Muslim students to leave his classroom before showing caricatures of the prophet Mohammed. She was not in the classroom at the time. READ MORE

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Dershowitz: “We’ll argue that ICC has no jurisdiction against Israel, not only because it isn’t a member, but also because the treaty that established that court precludes it from considering cases against any country with a valid judicial system”

Posted on November 26, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

WALL STREET JOURNAL
I’m Putting Together a Legal Dream Team to Defend Israel
Alan M. Dershowitz
November 24, 2024

The International Criminal Court, of which neither Israel nor the U.S. is a member, has issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and former defense minister as well as a Hamas terrorist commander who is probably dead. Although Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant can’t be arrested in the U.S. or Israel, several European countries have already indicated they would arrest them, if they are found within their territory…We will also demonstrate that Israel’s actions in Gaza don’t violate any international law or laws of war over which the ICC has jurisdiction. Even if the inflated numbers of casualties provided by the Hamas Health Services were accurate, the proportion of civilians to combatants killed by the Israel Defense Forces would be lower than in any comparable war anywhere in the world. READ MORE

FRONT PAGE Jason Hill: The Folly of the ICC’s Arrest Warrants…The motives here are obvious. It is to equate a lawful right of defense held by Israel, with the savage and criminal behavior of an outlaw and rogue region (Gaza) and its political leaders (Hamas). Since as far as the ICC is concerned, the right to defend oneself is as equally wrong as an unprovoked attack by a foreign entity, all objective standards of appraisal are eroded. All that is left are baseless accusations of genocide, unlawful retribution, and deliberate starvation on the part of Israel.

JEWISH PRESS WSJ: UN Special Advisor Ousted for Refusing to Blame Israel for ‘Genocide’ Alice Wairimu Nderitu, the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres, is apparently being forced out of office after refusing to categorize Israel’s counterterrorism campaign in the Gaza Strip as genocide. Nderitu, a Kenyan national serving as the Special Adviser since November 2020, was notified by the UN that her contract will not be renewed, seemingly following her refusal to classify the IDF’s maneuvers in Gaza as genocide, the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal charged.

TIMES OF ISRAEL France says Netanyahu, Gallant have immunity from ICC charges, won’t arrest them Paris says that while it respects the international justice system, Israel’s leaders cannot be held accountable by The Hague as the country is not an ICC member

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The meeting held in 2017 showed UNRWA’s Pierre Krahenbuhl cordially meeting up with leaders in different Palestinian terror organizations, asking them to keep the meeting secret.

Posted on November 25, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
UNRWA officials tell Hamas, PIJ ‘we are one’ in secret Lebanon meeting
Ohad Merlin
November 23, 2024

Former UNRWA commissioner-general Pierre Krahenbuhl met with leaders of designated Palestinian terrorist organizations during his term, assuring them that “we are one” and “no one can separate us,” as published in a UN Watch exposé on Thursday. According to the exposé, the meeting took place in Beirut in February 2017, with other participants including UNRWA Chief in Lebanon Hakam Shawan, Ali Baraka from Hamas, Abu Imad Al-Rifai from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and Salah Al-Youssef from the PFLP, as well as other representatives from different Palestinian factions such as the DFLP, the PFLP–Central Command, and Fatah Al-Intifada. READ MORE

ARUTZ SHEVA Anti-Israel UN rapporteur: Israel didn’t have the right to wage a war after October 7 UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, notorious for her anti-Israel rhetoric, tells Piers Morgan: The fact that we call October 7 terrorism doesn’t justify what Israel has done since.

YOUTUBE Piers Morgan: “SHAME On You!” ICC Arrest Warrants Debate With Alan Dershowtiz and Francesca Albanese”

DAILY WIRE Former Human Rights Watch Exec Dismisses Hostages Of Hamas As ‘Utter Irrelevancies’ A former head of Human Rights Watch (HRW) described dozens of hostages held by Hamas as “utter irrelevancies” on Wednesday…International Legal Forum CEO Arsen Ostrovsky called Roth “an absolute heartless monster.”

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Iran played possible role in murder of Rabbi Zvi Kogan

Posted on November 24, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

FDD
‘Abhorrent Antisemitic Terrorist Attack’: Rabbi Kidnapped and Murdered in UAE
November 24, 2024

The body of Rabbi Zvi Kogan, deputy director of the Chabad House in Abu Dhabi, was located on November 24 by Emirati authorities after he went missing the previous Thursday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the incident “an abhorrent antisemitic terrorist attack.” Kogan, 28, was an Israeli-Moldovan dual national and was married to a niece of a rabbi who was murdered in the 2008 Islamist attack on the Chabad House in Mumbai. Kogan doubled as supervisor of a kosher supermarket in Dubai. The Islamic Republic has a history of launching intelligence operations in the UAE, where its operatives are suspected of monitoring Iranian nationals in the country. Iran is also likely to have kidnapped both British-Iranian Abbas Yazdi in 2013 and German-Iranian Jamshid Sharmah in 2020; Sharmah was recently executed in Iran. READ MORE

CHABAD.ORG We Called Him “Rabbi Steve” Anyone who attended the Kogans’ Shabbat table will never forget the experience. Zvi taught me how to host and truly appreciate guests. Even with a full table, he ensured that everyone felt comfortable and had their moment to shine. He set the tone for the most energetic and memorable Shabbat meals. Just last week, I moved back to the UAE—this time with my wife. The first person to greet us was Zvi. The person who offered to help with our suitcases was Zvi. The person who helped us arrange a car was Zvi. The person who guided us through our first kosher run was Zvi. He introduced us to all the right people for all the right things.

JEWISH PHILANTHROPY Kushner brothers and their families pledge $2 million to Chabad of UAE as Jewish community reels after Rabbi Zvi Kogan killed The families of Jared and Joshua Kushner pledged a total of $2 million to Chabad of the United Arab Emirates on Monday in memory of Rabbi Zvi Kogan, the 28-year-old Israeli-Moldovan Chabad emissary who was killed last week after being abducted in Dubai. The donations from Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, followed by Joshua Kushner and his wife, Karlie Kloss, come as the Jewish community in the United Arab Emirates — and in the Arab world in general — reels from the aftermath of the killing.

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Anti-Israel resolutions supported by 17 Democrat Senators including Illinois foreign policy savant Dick Durbin

Posted on November 22, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK POST
Remember the names of the 19 senators who voted to block arms for Israel
Editorial Board
November 22, 2024

On Wednesday, the Senate held a vote on three resolutions aimed at isolating Israel and kneecapping its defense — and 17 Democrats and two Independents voted for them. Now we know who the snakes in the grass are. The bills, filed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, aimed to blocked $20 billion in US arms (military tank and mortar rounds and joint-direct-attack munitions) for the Jewish state. READ MORE

Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Tina Smith (D-Minn.) Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), George Helmy (D-NJ) as well as Angus King (I-Maine) and Sanders each voted in favor of at least one of the three bills, while Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) voted “present.”

TIMES OF ISRAEL J Street and Bernie Sanders are playing a dangerous game with Jewish lives They are signaling that a vulnerable Israel is the only Israel they will support. Meanwhile, Israel’s enemies sharpen their swords. As Israel fights a war of survival on seven fronts, J Street and Bernie Sanders are working to handicap Israel and jeopardize its ability to protect its citizens.

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Badran: “Rising up from his political grave, the ex-president cements a U.S. partnership with Iran in Lebanon while Israel meekly gives up its gains”

Posted on November 22, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

TABLET MAG
Obama Plays a Dead Man’s Hand in Lebanon, and Wins
Tony Badran
November 27, 2024

Barely three weeks ago, Barack Obama’s legacy was in tatters. His party was roundly defeated in the election, after he personally engineered the defenestration of his doddering former vice president from the Oval Office… And yet, two months before the end of his lengthy shadow presidency, and faced with the final undoing of his signature legacy project in the Middle East, Obama went all in—and won big. By forcing Israel to accept a deal with Hezbollah that will formalize America’s role as the terror group’s protector, Obama will have locked in a key piece of his decade-old policy of leveraging American power to secure both Iran’s continuing regional influence and its direct control over Israel’s borders. READ MORE

JNS TV Caroline Glick: Bibi Between Biden and a Hard Place Most Israelis were outraged to hear of what seemed to be capitulation in the form of a ceasefire in the war with Hezbollah. What happened behind the scenes, however, draws a much more complicated picture that forced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to choose between bad and worse options.

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