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May 2019

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Ruthie Blum A particularly happy anniversary

By on May 14th, 2019

https://www.jns.org/opinion/a-particularly-happy-anniversary/

One year ago, U.S. President Donald Trump, the new sheriff in town, conveyed a loud and clear message that a seismic shift had hit the Middle East. Enemies of freedom and democracy be damned.

One year ago today, on May 14, 2018, the United States officially transferred its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Although the move could be viewed as merely the fulfillment of the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, which also recognized Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel, it was received by supporters and opponents alike with amazement.

In the first place, three previous administrations—those of U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama—had opted to invoke and repeatedly renew the law’s six-month waiver of application on “national security” grounds.

In June 2017, a few months after he assumed office, U.S. President Donald Trump also signed a six-month waiver, which he renewed after recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December. In February 2018, however, he announced that the embassy, finally, would be moved.

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War Crime!: Placing a Note in the Western Wall by Alan M. Dershowitz

By on May 14th, 2019

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14223/western-wall-note

I urge all visitors to join me in a conspiracy to violate the UN Security Council Resolution…Obama, himself, engineered the Resolution. He pushed it through the Security Council despite some reservations by other members, including Egypt, which believed that the Resolution itself could become a barrier to a negotiated two-state solution. After all, if Israel’s control over Judaism’s holiest site is deemed illegal, then Israel would have to negotiate its legality with the Palestinians.

These Jewish areas were illegally occupied by Jordan between 1948 and 1967 and lawfully recaptured by Israel in a defensive war, started by Jordan when it fired mortars at civilian targets inside pre-1967 Israel…. Yet there were no United Nations Resolutions, campus protests or other organized shows of opposition by the international community. Only after Israel liberated these historically Jewish areas, did the world, and Obama, decide — in violation of international law — that they were illegally occupied.

Declaring the Western Wall to be illegally occupied territory is akin to declaring the Vatican, Mecca or other religious, holy sites to be occupied by those who pray at them. The Western Wall is lawfully part of the nation state of the Jewish people. It will remain so as long as Israel exists. If there is to be any hope of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, the world must recognize that historic, moral and legal reality.

Last week, in Israel, I committed a flagrant violation of international law. This “war crime” consisted of placing a note asking for “peace, salaam, shalom” in the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site. The reason the note requesting peace constituted “a flagrant violation of international law” and a “war crime” is that the United Nations Security Council, in a Resolution adopted in December 2016, declared that all areas captured by Israel during the 1967 War are illegally occupied territories. That includes the Western Wall, the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem and the access roads on Mount Scopus to the Hebrew University and Hadassah Hospital.

Former US President Barack Obama demanded that his permanent representative to the United Nations not veto this one-sided, wrong-headed, ahistorical, bigoted, and anti-peace Resolution. Obama changed American policy by allowing such a resolution to be enacted by the Security Council as revenge on Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who, quite correctly, opposed the very bad deal Obama made with Iran enabling it to develop nuclear weapons.

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Inside Brexit The “Simon Cowell of UKIP” tells his story. Bruce Bawer

By on May 14th, 2019

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/273544/inside-brexit-bruce-bawer

Paul Oakley is a London barrister who’s also been a member of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) leadership since 2011. In No-One Likes Us, We Don’t Care he has given us a brisk, gossipy, whimsical diary of these years, during which a small pack of Brexiteers who were alternately dismissed and demonized by the British political and media establishment soared in influence – a process that climaxed in the stunning referendum of June 23, 2016 – only to lose its high-profile leader, Nigel Farage, and, as Brexit itself stumbled, plunge back into insignificance, after which, under Gerard Batten, it began a turnaround that’s still in process, even as the fate of Brexit remains in question.

An ardent opponent of Brussels rule – he proudly boasts of burning the EU flag and tearing the Maastricht Treaty in two at a conference – Oakley tells a rollicking story of political infighting, personality conflicts, organizational screw-ups, negative press, dull meetings, thrilling speeches, endless hours of conversations (and dart games) in pubs, good and bad polls, good and bad election results, sex scandals, financial scandals, scandals that pop up because some party flack said something that some reporter considered homophobic or xenophobic or racist, defections by Tories (beginning with Oakley himself) to UKIP, and, later, defections (not many) by UKIP members to Anne Marie Waters’s newly formed For Britain Party.

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How a US Citizen May Soon Control Libya The fascinating rise to power of a CIA asset and ISIS hunter. Victor Soehngen

By on May 14th, 2019

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/273723/how-us-citizen-may-soon-control-libya-victor-soehngen

As evermore congressional hearings dominate American headlines, a shadowy leader and a massive new offensive are quietly engulfing Africa’s most oil-rich country. In a place already marred by violence, this is different. The new operation began in March and is both larger and better coordinated than anything since the 2011 revolution. Having already secured the nation’s largest oil terminals, A force of 60,000 well-equipped men are now attacking the gates of Tripoli, threatening the UN-backed government forces defending the city. If their successful, this could dramatically change the balance of power and US interests in the region.

Much of the world seems split on the situation or unaware it is happening. Egypt, the UAE, and Moscow are supporting the offensive. France and Italy- whom both have competing oil interests in Libya- have divided the EU on the matter. The UN has predictably condemned the offensive but offered no tangible solution. Meanwhile, the State Dept called for an “immediate halt to these military operations against the Libyan Capital” the same week as President Trump praised the leader behind it.

The attack is being led by a former CIA asset and US citizen with a storied past. He is someone that Al-Qaeda has called “an enemy of Islam”. An old Gadhafi loyalist turned revolutionary and cunning enemy to ISIS. The polarizing figure who has helped both unify and divide modern Libya. He is managing to attack an internationally recognized government with Russian weapons and the complicity of everyone else- but who is he?

A man long prepared to exploit the chaos: “Field Marshall “Khalifa Haftar.

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The Modern Bonfire of the Vanities By Elad Vaida

By on May 14th, 2019

https://amgreatness.com/2019/05/13/the-modern-bonfire-of-the-vanities/

Five centuries ago, in Renaissance Florence, the Dominican priest Girolamo Savonarola, in his quest to purge Florence of all “immoral” works of art, started what came to be known as the “bonfire of the vanities.” Thousands of objects and works of art were burned in the fire; paintings by Sandro Botticelli, works by the poet Boccaccio, and countless other books, paintings, and objects were forever lost to history.

Looking back on this event today, we might be tempted to feel smug. We’re better than that, aren’t we? Surely today, in our enlightened, modern society, we’d never be stupid enough to destroy works of art or irretrievable relics of our history.

Yet it seems like, every day, leftists are more and more eager to prove that yes, they are that stupid. Because of the Left today, we are stuck in a slow-moving, modern version of the bonfire of the vanities. Unlike Savonarola’s bonfire, this isn’t a one-day affair; it’s an ongoing, subtle, never-ending eradication of our Western history and culture.

A story out of George Washington High School in San Francisco is the latest case in point. Earlier this month, the high school convened a “reflection and action working group” to determine the fate of a pair of 83-year-old murals depicting George Washington. The group determined the artwork is “highly problematic” and “traumatic” for students, since one of the murals presents George Washington next to several laboring slaves, and the other represents a dead Native American. The working group’s choice follows an earlier decision in February by a school-board committee that the art “glorifies slavery, genocide, colonization, manifest destiny, white supremacy, oppression, etc.”

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‘You Suck!’: Mayor De Blasio’s ‘Green New Deal’ Rally Inside Trump Tower Backfires Badly By Debra Heine

By on May 14th, 2019

https://amgreatness.com/2019/05/13/you-suck-mayor-de-blasios-green-new-deal-rally-inside-trump-tower-backfires-badly/

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s bright idea to hold a Green New Deal rally inside the lobby of Trump Tower Monday, backfired badly when a crowd of Trump supporters showed up carrying signs that read “Worst Mayor Ever,” “Trump 2020, “Failed Mayor,” and “LGBT for Trump.”

The rally was supposed to be held outside, but due to inclement weather, the mayor had to go inside the Trump Tower lobby, which is considered a public space. The purpose of de Blasio’s rally was to promote his new Green New Deal, which seeks to reduce carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2030 according to Fox News.

De Blasio, who is mulling a Democratic presidential run in 2020, also took the opportunity to blast President Trump’s rollback of Obama-era environmental policies, and threaten his business with millions of dollars in fines if his buildings don’t comply with NYC’s new environmental standards.

But a group of raucous Trump supporters threw a monkey wrench in his plans, repeatedly going up and down the escalators waving their signs and jeering “you suck!”

Someone at Trump Tower also took the liberty of turning up the music in the lobby at the start of the rally, making it hard for de Blasio to be heard.

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The Rantings of Rashida By Julie Kelly

By on May 14th, 2019

https://amgreatness.com/2019/05/13/the-rantings-of-rashida/

For once, I find myself agreeing with the contemptible Rashida Tlaib, the freshman Democratic representative from Michigan. Her vile comment that she gets a “calming feeling” when she thinks about how Palestinians allegedly offered refuge to Jews fleeing the Holocaust indeed was “twisted” and “taken out of context,” as she tweeted over the weekend.

In fact, what she said in a May 10 podcast interview is much worse—and it wasn’t a gaffe or even an example of her propagating the myth that Palestinians aided European Jews after World War II. Tlaib knew exactly what she was talking about.

The “safe haven” Tlaib referred to is the state of Israel, which officially declared its independence 71 years ago Tuesday. Make no mistake: Tlaib, a Muslim who supports a Palestinian-backed “one-state solution” that could make Jews a minority in Israel, views the formation of modern-day Israel as a crime against the Palestinian people. She soothes her rage with the fabulist belief that the sacrifices of Palestinians paved the way for Israel currently to exist—hence her weird “calming feeling” remark.

And far from an act of compassion by the Palestinian people, according to Tlaib, the creation of this “safe haven” was violently forced upon the Palestinians after the World War II.

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Emerald Trash Heap Seattle is overwhelmed by garbage and filth, but the city’s leaders won’t admit it. Christopher F. Rufo

By on May 14th, 2019

https://www.city-journal.org/seattle-trash-crisis

Over the past few years, Seattle has become a dumping ground for millions of pounds of garbage, needles, feces, and biohazardous waste, largely emanating from the hundreds of homeless encampments that have sprouted across the city. Now, the Emerald City is on the verge of a full-blown public-health crisis. Last year saw a 400 percent increase in HIV infections among mostly homeless addicts and prostitutes in the city’s northern corridor. Public-health officials are sounding the alarms about the return of diseases like typhus, tuberculosis, and trench fever. Even the region’s famed mussels and clams have tested positive for opioids.

While anyone who travels through Seattle can see the trash and litter along the roadside and green spaces, I wanted to understand the scale of the problem with more quantitative precision. Last month, I requested from the city all public complaints about trash, needles, tents, feces, and biohazardous waste from 2018. I then geocoded each complaint to create a data visualization that I call the Great Seattle Trash Map. The map documents more than 19,000 citizen complaints, from mundane reports of abandoned appliances to more serious pleas to clean up dangerous waste. Each data point on the map demonstrates that homeless encampments, opioid addiction, and mental illness have created significant disorder in almost every corner of Seattle.

Only a few years ago, while Jenny Durkan, now mayor, was campaigning for office on a centrist policy platform, city government responded to growing public discontent and made an honest effort to clean up the streets. From 2017 to 2018, municipal cleanup crews picked up 8.6 million pounds of trash from illegal homeless encampments.

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The Barring of Eurovision from Jerusalem Is a Win for the BDS Movement By Shay Attias

By on May 14th, 2019

https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/barring-eurovision-jerusalem-win-for-bds/

The €28.5 million Eurovision Song Contest, which draws 200 million viewers from 42 countries, might seem to be just a huge pop spectacle, but it is a good deal more. In addition to serving as an entertainment vehicle, it is a powerful mechanism of soft power – a tool that is critically important to the modern State of Israel and particularly to the city of Jerusalem. Europe’s refusal to allow the contest to be held in Jerusalem, in contravention of Eurovision’s own rules, constitutes a victory for the BDS movement.

The refusal of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to allow the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest to take place in Jerusalem shone a light on the gap that remains between Israel and Europe despite their natural affinity.

Following President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city, the EU has led global opposition to Israel’s sovereignty. Israel is an associated state of the EU, yet its capital – alone among the capitals of all other countries – has never been acknowledged by Europe or, indeed, by most of the world’s states. The 2019 Eurovision Song Contest, which will take place in Israel this weekend, is thus underpinned with years of tension and suspicion.

Despite the fact that Israel has won the contest four times and hosted the competition in Jerusalem twice (in 1979 and 1999), Europe decided that this year it would not tolerate Jerusalem’s hosting of the contest. Israel won Eurovision last year, and according to the event’s protocol, the capital city of the winning country hosts the contest the following year. No matter: Israel’s claim to host the contest in Jerusalem, which would have been in accordance with the contest’s own rules, was rejected.

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Joseph Klein: Tlaib’s Morbid Fantasies of a Palestinian “Safe Haven” for Jews Nancy Pelosi – Where are you?

By on May 14th, 2019

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/273766/tlaibs-morbid-fantasies-palestinian-safe-haven-joseph-klein

Palestinian-American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., is standing by her latest hate-filled statement, which is based on a monstrous falsehood. She said that she has a “kind of calming feeling” when she thinks about the Holocaust because her Palestinian “ancestors” tried “to create a safe haven for Jews, post-the Holocaust, post-the tragedy and the horrific persecution of Jews across the world at that time.” In the same interview by hosts Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman, Rep. Tlaib complained, according to her one-sided Palestinian victimhood narrative, “that it was my ancestors, Palestinians, who lost their land and some lost their lives, their livelihood, their human dignity, their existence in many ways…”

Rep. Tlaib’s Palestinian “ancestors” were in fact amongst the enthusiastic boosters of the Nazi genocide machine during World War II. Palestinian leaders sought to carry on the plan to exterminate as many of the Jews as possible who had managed to escape the Holocaust and reach the Holy Land following the war. Instead of accepting the original two-state solution proposed by the United Nations more than seven decades ago under which the Palestinians could have been living in their own independent state all this time, their leadership rejected the idea of a Jewish state existing side by side in peace with a Palestinian state.

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