Displaying the most recent of 90911 posts written by

Ruth King

BOOKS, ISRAEL Comments turned off

The Crackup of the Israeli Left A new book details how the Left chose to surrender to the Arab enemy. Mark Tapson

By on July 3rd, 2019

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/274177/crackup-israeli-left-mark-tapson

In recent weeks the mostly left-leaning news media have published articles about the turbulence of this year’s elections in Israel with such handwringing titles as “Is the Israeli left doomed to marginalisation?,” “The Decline of the Israeli Left,” and “Whatever Happened to the Israeli Left?” But if one really wants to educate oneself deeply and broadly about this shift in the tiny democracy’s political landscape, one can hardly do better than to read Mordechai Nisan’s new book, The Crack-Up of the Israeli Left, published by Mantua Books. In it, Dr. Nisan brilliantly dissects the rise of the Right and the decline of the Left in the Jewish state. To quote from the book cover’s description, it details how “the Left detached its moorings from reality and principle, raised its voice against the Zionist enterprise, and chose surrender to the Arab enemy.”

If anyone is qualified to expound upon Israel’s political and cultural battlegrounds, it’s Mordechai Nisan. Dr. Nisan (with a doctorate in Political Studies from McGill University) has been a teacher and consultant for a number of academic and public institutions in Israel, including Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where he taught Middle East Studies for 35 years. Among his many books are Toward a New Israel: The Jewish State and the Arab Question (1992), Only Israel West of the River: The Jewish State and the Palestinian Question (2011), and Politics and War in Lebanon (2015). He has written articles for The Jerusalem Post, Israel National News, Global Affairs, Middle East Journal, and many other publications. He has also been an activist for Jewish settlement in the territories of Judea and Samaria.

Dr. Nisan was kind enough to take time to answer some questions for FrontPage Mag.

Mark Tapson: You begin your book by describing Israel as “a fable and a myth, but also a Great Truth.” What do you mean by that?

Mordechai Nisan: Myth as an expression of inner thoughts and memories mobilizes people to action. Fables arouse children’s imagination, as myths do for adults. Israel was born from a great myth rooted in the Biblical story of liberation and conquest, awakening the Jewish people to relive their past through the medium of Zionism and reconstituting their freedom and sovereignty in modern times. This is a revitalized myth actualizing an ancient truth of God and Jewish peoplehood in history.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Bearing False Witness How the Anti-Defamation League conspired to have a critic investigated for a fake hate crime. Ilya Feoktistov

By on July 3rd, 2019

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/274154/bearing-false-witness-ilya-feoktistov

On the morning of February 25, 2019, two prominent leaders of the New England Jewish community walked into a Boston police station to report that I had committed an anti-Jewish hate crime against both of them by threatening them with bodily harm. Robert Trestan, the New England regional executive director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), and Jeremy Burton, the executive director of Boston’s Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), told the police that I was motivated by anti-Jewish bias, and that they were in fear for their physical safety as a result.

But, when Boston Police Department (BPD) detectives spoke to my attorney, Jewish civil rights advocate Karen Hurvitz, they were surprised to learn that I myself am Jewish and that, like Trestan and Burton, I am the executive director of a Jewish 501(c)(3) non-profit, Americans for Peace and Tolerance (APT), which confronts anti-Jewish bias as part of its primary mission.

In these troubled times, law enforcement cannot take reports of violent threats against Jewish leaders lightly. The level of urgency was upped several notches in this case because Messrs. Trestan and Burton, as prominent civic leaders in New England, have close personal relationships with Boston’s chief of police and mayor, the Suffolk County district attorney, the local U.S. Attorney’s office, and the governor of Massachusetts, among others. Mr. Trestan is a civil rights attorney, had advised the Obama White House on countering violent extremism, was honored by the Boston Police Foundation, and currently sits on the governor’s Task Force on Hate Crimes. Galvanized by the threat of prominent Jewish leaders being targeted by a dangerous criminal, scarce police resources were immediately mobilized to investigate the alleged threats.

Once the BPD detectives learned that I was a Jewish community leader, they were, understandably, confused as to why two Jewish executive directors would call the cops on another one and falsely accuse him of an anti-Jewish hate crime. My attorney explained the likely motive: my recent article in The Federalist, in which I was highly critical of Trestan and Burton’s leadership. The article criticized Trestan and Burton for politicizing the Boston Jewish community’s vigil for the victims of the 2018 Pittsburg synagogue massacre by turning it into an anti-Trump resistance rally.

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P.C.-CULTURE Comments turned off

On Moving to the Wacky, Wacky West By David Solway

By on July 3rd, 2019

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/07/on_moving_to_the_wacky_wacky_west.html

Now that my wife and I are moving to Vancouver on the west coast of Canada, I’ve begun thinking about the prospects, literary and political, that await us. We had no option in the matter, family obligations having trumped prior intentions. Life, as they say, happens while you plan. Still, the dwelling we bought on Westminster Quay bordering the Fraser River is ideal from the perspective of sheer beauty, the expansive view, the vivacity of river and boardwalk life, and a far less punishing climate than the iron winters and mosquito-infested summers of rural Ontario. But it must be admitted that the political and cultural climate is gruesome. Though we have good friends and know of many admirable people living in la-la land, the West Coast of Canada, like that of the U.S., is for the most part where the lunatic fringe makes its home.

The Gulf Islands, for example, just off the littoral of British Columbia, are a hotbed of social justice warriors, medullary lefties and a clique of novelists and poets whose literary productions would bring any self-respecting country into terminal disrepute. Whole districts of Vancouver itself might be renamed Needle City, swarming with junkies, pushers and spaced-out derelicts, to such an extent that first responders and ambulances struggle to serve other citizens. Moreover, social welfare governments issue asymmetrical budgets favoring the parasitical class at the expense of laboring citizens — West Coast economic thinking with a vengeance.

A litre of gas is equivalent to a mortgage. The land transfer tax for buying a house and for the privilege of contributing to the economy of the region is, in our case, $9000, over and above the cost of purchasing the dwelling. The job-creating oil pipelines are stalled by the social justice types and the leftist NGOs. Clearly, the vast substratum of freeloaders, idlers, sycophants and, well, coasters constitute the growing profiteering class like a colony of aphid-milking ants.

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POLITICS Comments turned off

Kamala 2020 Makes Obama 2008 Look Positively Right Wing John Merline

By on July 3rd, 2019

https://issuesinsights.com/2019/07/03/kamala

With the first primary still eight long months away, making any sort of prediction about the Democratic candidates is pointless. Nevertheless, some have noticed an interesting parallel shaping up, one that involves an old Democrat with plenty of establishment backing and a formidable lead in the polls, and a young, biracial newcomer with a winning smile and an exotic first name.

Except that where Barack Obama tried to portray himself as a sensible centrist in 2008, Sen. Kamala Harris is among the most radical in the large crop of far-left Democratic candidates hoping to run against President Trump. 

Consider the striking contrast between positions Obama espoused and those Harris has embraced.

In 2008, Obama complained about “the orgy of spending” under President George W. Bush. He pledged that all his spending plans would be more than offset with expenditure reductions.

“What I’ve done throughout this campaign is to propose a net spending cut,” he said.

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IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

Poll: Two-Thirds of Voters Say Citizenship Question Should Be Allowed on Census By Mairead McArdle

By on July 3rd, 2019

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/poll-most-voters-support-citizenship-question-census/

Two-thirds of voters support allowing the U.S. census to include a question about an individual’s citizenship status, disagreeing with the Supreme Court’s decision to block the question.

In a Harvard CAPS/Harris poll released Tuesday, 67 percent of respondents said the question, “Is this person a citizen of the United States?” should be allowed on the census. That number included about 88 percent of Republicans, 52 percent of Democrats, and 63 percent of independents agreed.

“The public here agrees with the administration that it makes sense to ask citizenship on the census,” said poll director Mark Penn. “It is a clear supermajority of Americans on this issue.”

The question has become a contentious issue because of its implications for undocumented immigrants, who may not want to reveal their citizenship statusfor fear of potential repercussions. Last week, the Supreme Court shot down the Trump administration’s push to include the question in the 2020 census, temporarily prohibiting the question’s inclusion while requesting that the Commerce Department explain in more detail why it is necessary. The administration said the question would enhance the enforcement of part of the Voting Rights Act.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

A Leftist Mob Attacked Me in Portland I have been targeted by Antifa and its allies for my critical reporting of their violent extremism. Andy Ngo

By on July 3rd, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-leftist-mob-attacked-me-in-portland-11562109768

‘No hate! No fear!” chanted the left-wing crowd as they marched downtown Saturday. I walked to the front of the line to record the protesters with my new GoPro camera when I was suddenly slammed on the back of my head with something hard. Dazed and still hearing faint chants of “no hate,” I was then punched and kicked by perhaps a dozen masked people in black. At an Antifa event meant to resist “fascist violence,” I—a gay journalist of color—was beaten so badly that I was hospitalized for a brain hemorrhage.

Since last year, I have been targeted by Antifa and its allies for my critical coverage of their violent extremism. I’ve reported those incidents to the Portland Police Bureau, and in some cases I’ve identified suspects, but there were no arrests. The mainstream media describe Antifa as “antifascist,” but in fact it is a far-left paramilitary-style movement of anarchists and communists agitating for a revolution.

Antifa is known for wearing black and concealing faces with masks to commit crimes under the protection of group anonymity. The Homeland Security Department has described some of Antifa’s activities as “domestic terrorist violence,” but Portland recently voted to withdraw from the Joint Terrorism Task Force, citing concerns the Federal Bureau of Investigation targeted left-wing activists.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

INDEPENDENCE DAY 1976- ENTEBBE GERALD HONIGMAN

By on July 3rd, 2019

It was a moment in time truly never to be forgotten–July 4, 1976.

I was watching those spectacular tall sailing ships from countries all over the world passing under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in salute to America’s two hundredth birthday. Tears of pride were in many an eye that day.

Arie and I were there together, but, at almost the very same moment that those ships were sailing by, something else was happening which would link Israel and America together in many a heart and soul forever after…

During the night before and the early morning hours of July 4, 1976, Israel launched Operation Thunderball–aka, Operation Entebbe—aka, Operation Yonatan.

On June 27, Air France Flight 139 had been hijacked by Arabs and some European soul mates. The plane was taken to Idi Amin’s Uganda, where the hijackers were met with open arms.

The passengers were soon asked to form two lines–one for Jews, the other for Gentiles. Most of the latter were freed, but the Jews became Idi Amin’s “guests.” Amin’s buddies next announced that the Jews would be killed if demands were not met.

I won’t go into all of the details, but it is truly an amazing story which sired books, movies, and so forth.

The bare basics, however, are that on July 4, 1976, while I was watching the parade of sailing  ships, Israel raided Entebbe (almost 2,200 miles away), freed the hostages, and showed the world that it was possible to defeat terror–a lesson many still need to learn today, especially when the chief enabler of much of the world’s terror is on the verge of becoming a nuclear power…the would-be atomic ayatollahs. Entebbe was also a wonderful gift, commemorating America’s own liberty as well.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

Israel’s foreign minister visits United Arab Emirates

By on July 3rd, 2019

https://worldisraelnews.com/watch-israels-foreign-minister-visits-united-arab-emirates

Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz visited Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, where he presented a regional economic plan linking Israel with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

Ruthie Blum : Ehud Barak, Yair Golan and Israel’s ‘New Left’

By on July 2nd, 2019

https://www.jns.org/opinion/ehud-barak-yair-golan-and-israels-new-left/

Only radical leftists in Israel and abroad believe that the IDF is ethically reckless, or that the Jewish state is not “very strict” when it comes to monitoring its own morality.

Maj. Gen. (ret) Yair Golan, former deputy chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, is a gift to the left that keeps on giving.

But don’t take my word for it. Just ask former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who proudly displayed Golan last week in a Tel Aviv press conference that he held to announce his formation of a new party to run in the Sept. 17 elections for the 22nd Knesset.

Barak’s recruitment of Golan to the yet-to-be-named party—whose campaign pledge is to “do whatever it takes” to defeat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—was clear. Older-generation Israeli politicians, particularly failed peace-camp has-beens like Barak, continue to harbor the dated notion that having military men on their ticket is an electoral draw, if not a must.

The idea, from a left-wing perspective, is that a highly decorated IDF uniform serves as a shield against accusations of disloyalty or a lack of patriotism. It is a perfect cloak to enable selling the country down the tubes, as Barak himself nearly did at Camp David in 2000, by offering arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat the moon and the stars. Oh, and swathes of Israeli territory in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Arafat’s response—the launch of a suicide-bombing war against innocent Israelis going about their business on buses, in restaurants and at shopping malls—led to Barak’s ouster in 2001. Later, he would insist that his overly generous offer to Arafat had been calculated to call the PLO chief’s bluff. But nobody bought it. Or cared. The daily sounds of sirens wailing through the streets on the way to the latest blown-up bodies will do that.

At the time, Barak was the head of the Labor Party, which presented itself as the sane center-left. You know, the successors of the founding fathers of the state. The rightful heirs to the throne, which had been “stolen” from them in 1977 by Menachem Begin and the increasingly riff-raff, right-leaning public.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

BDS ‘Anti-Normalization’ Is a Mockery of Progressive Values by Miriam F. Elman

By on July 2nd, 2019

https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/07/01/bds-anti-normalization-is-a-m
Anti-Israel BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) promoters have long tried to stake out the moral high ground — depicting themselves as the champions of the oppressed, and positioning their movement as being on the right side of history.

But the reality is that BDS rarely acknowledges, or works to prevent, harm to Palestinians that is meted out by their own governments and societal extremists.

What’s even worse is that BDS leaders often egg on and incite these depredations with an anti-normalization campaign characterized by coercion and strong-arm tactics against peace activists and co-existence groups — along with just about any Palestinian who dares to cross the BDS picket line to cooperate with or even just talk to Israelis.

This strategy of anti-normalization, long a mainstay of the BDS movement, originated at the 2001 UN World Conference Against Racism held in Durban, South Africa — an antisemitic hate fest where Jew-hatred became so ugly that the US delegation walked out. Ever since, BDS has opposed any contact between Palestinians and Israelis that fosters dialogue, so as not to “normalize” Israel’s existence.

 
The Roots of the Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace Lobby

I have been going through the archives of the pro-peace, pro-Jewish state (later Israel) lobby, and I’ve found some interesting…

Basically, BDS calls for the boycott of all Israeli-Palestinian projects and programs that don’t sufficiently emphasize Israel’s alleged brutality and wrongdoings. In fact, the only people-to-people engagements that PACBI (Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel) condones are those that support “resistance.” All others are rejected as undermining Palestinian rights and the national struggle.

Consider, for example, how the Palestinian Authority (PA), which strictly enforces an anti-normalization policy, reacted several weeks ago to the “heartwarming scenes of coexistence” between young religious Jews and Palestinian revelers dancing together at a wedding in the West Bank village of Deir Qaddis.

For Palestinian leaders, ultra-Orthodox Jews from the nearby settlement of Modiin Ilit celebrating at the wedding of the son of village council leader Radi Nasser was unacceptable. It didn’t take long for the PA to sack him, and for the Fatah party, the PA’s largest faction, to condemn Nasser and remove him from its ranks on account of his “harmful behavior” in “the shadow of … threats of normalization between the Arab world and the Israeli occupation.”

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