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David Friedman Sworn In as U.S. Ambassador to Israel Vice president says nomination shows ‘America stands with Israel’

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump gained his first ambassador Wednesday when attorney David Friedman was sworn in as America’s envoy to Israel.

Vice President Mike Pence administered the oath of office to Mr. Friedman and hailed Mr. Trump’s decision to nominate his former bankruptcy attorney for the sensitive diplomatic post as “one of the clearest signs” of the president’s commitment to the state of Israel and the Jewish people.

“If the world knows nothing else, the world will know this: America stands with Israel,” Mr. Pence said as Mr. Friedman’s wife, Tammy, their five children and most of their grandchildren watched. Ron Dermer, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., also attended the ceremony.
Mr. Friedman, whose nomination faced resistance from Democrats and some Jewish groups, said he was “humbled” by the trust Mr. Trump had placed in him. He also noted his standing as the first of Mr. Trump’s ambassador nominees to win Senate confirmation and be sworn in to office.

“Those facts speak volumes about how highly the Trump-Pence administration prioritizes our unbreakable bond with the state of Israel,” Mr. Friedman said.

He said he recently resigned from the law firm in which he was a founding partner.

The Senate approved Mr. Friedman’s nomination last week by a vote of 52-46, largely along party lines.
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Jews are safer in Israel’s bunkers than in French ghettos France is losing its Jews, who prefer a place where their children are free to live normal lives, where they are defended and can defend themselves. ByGiulio Meotti

Abdelghani Merah, the brother of the terrorist who, five years ago, killed a little girl, a rabbi and two of his children in front of Toulouse’s Jewish school Ozar Hatorah, is busy these days with a kind of “journey” of tolerance to preach against his brother’s deeds. That massacre was the first of a long series of anti-Semitic attacks, culminating in the attack at the supermarket Hyper Kasher in Paris.

But Merah’s victims, the Jewish community, is busy with another kind of “trip”. Le Figaro newspaper reported the data on the situation in the French city. 300 Jewish families have packed and left Toulouse since the killing spree. The French newspaper speaks openly of “exile”.

300 Jewish families have packed and left Toulouse since the killing spree. The French newspaper speaks openly of “exile”.
Jean-Michel Cohen was among the first to rush to the site of the massacre, where the Muslim extremist killed Jonathan Sandler, his two sons Gabriel and Arieh, and Myriam Monsonego. “The situation has become unbearable and I was afraid for my family”, he says today from Israel. “Toulouse is the French city most affected by departures”, says Marc Fridman, vice president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in the Midi-Pyrenees. “It is a paradise for us”, says Cohen from Tel Aviv. “Here we are safe. My children walk to school. We have no concern for them. They are freer than in France”. His wife now works as educator in the city of Netanya, the “French Riviera” as it is called for its high number of immigrants from France.

Marc Fridman speaks of “a terrible sense of isolation and frustration after 2012. Only ten thousand people participated in the march for the Ozar HaTorah” school. The Jewish community of Toulouse then consisted of up to 20,000 people. Today only 10,000 Jews remain. Another bombing could be the end for one of the cradles of French Judaism.

Jérôme left the outskirts of Toulouse to settle in the suburbs of Tel Aviv with his wife and two children. “It was no longer France, where I was born. One day I asked myself what future I wanted to give to my children and I decided to go to Israel”. Despite the threat of terror attacks and the hostility of neighboring countries, Jérôme feels safer in Israel than in France. “You get used to living with sirens and shelters”.

France — Where an Age of Enlightenment Once Flourished, Turbidity Now Reigns Lt. Colonel James G. Zumwalt, USMC (Ret.)

Recent incidents in France are most telling about an Age of Enlightenment giving way, albeit centuries later, to an “Age of Turbidity.”

Seventeen/eighteenth century Europeans sparked the Age of Enlightenment. Mankind-motivated to move toward reason as the primary source of authority and legitimacy and away from traditional orthodoxies such as religion and absolute monarchy-enjoyed tremendous benefits by doing so.

In France, particularly, challenges arose to the dogmas of the Catholic Church. Overcoming those challenges gave rise to many ideals we enjoy today such as liberty, progress, tolerance, constitutional government and separation of church and state.

Sadly, these ideals are now being lost in a new age-one of turbidity in which facts are hidden. As seen by this week’s attack in London, the Muslim perpetrator had been previously investigated over concerns about his “violent extremism”-more accurately known as “radical Islam.”

Originally credited with seeding acceptance for an enlightening age, France now irresponsibly sows seeds of disenlightenment-clouding individual cognitive thinking about the very ideals that made Western civilization and influence so great.

Take the case of two of France’ s Muslim cultural heroes-darlings of both the country’s leftist mainstream media and its Hollywood set. As popular news stories about Mehdi Meklat, a writer and documentary film producer, appeared in the French press, the U.S. mainstream media also portrayed him in a very positive light.

The Washington Post last year noted Meklat, at 23, was already a celebrity, among “France’s youngest public intellectuals” who sees no point in a university education, whose world begins where Paris ends, whose works reveal an “overarching intent: showing the world the complicated reality of the Paris suburbs where…(he was) born and raised.”

The public was led to believe Meklat effectively had integrated into French life, earning Western tolerance himself as one contributing to society. But, last February, his image was severely tarnished as it was exposed to the light of truth. An unidentified Facebook user shared some of his tweets over the past several years, revealing a much different person than the human rights activist portrayed by the media.

As for conservative presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, Meklat wrote, “I am going to slit your throat Muslim-style.”

As for Jews, he called for Hitler’s return “to kill” them.

As for former Charlie Hebdo editor-in-chief Charb before he was killed in the January 2015 terrorist attack, he wanted to “rape” him by shoving “Lagulole knives up his…”

As for white people, “they must die as soon as possible.”

As for movie legend Brigitte Bardot, he desired to sodomize her with light bulbs.

French Presidential Campaign: Part 1 by Nidra Poller

Why should you be interested in the French presidential campaign? Because it might as well be going on next door to you. We are facing the same major challenges in a similar state of confusion. The differences are circumstantial, the stakes are the same. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Liberté, égalité, fraternité. Our freedom is on the line.

Besides, this cliffhanging French campaign is a fascinating mixture of Shakespear, Greek tragedy, soap opera, and courtly intrigues.

First, a brief summary of the overall situation: The incumbent Socialist president, François Hollande, didn’t dare run for reelection. His 5 year-term has been a disaster, the Socialist party is in a shambles, the winner of the (Belle Alliance Populaire) primary, Benoît Hamon, is a Kinder Surprise with goodies for all the small people paid for by the Big Bad Rich. He has no chance of getting to the 2nd round. ID: Socialist

The callow 38 year-old Emmanuel Macron, generally assumed to make it past the first round (April 23) to confront and defeat Marine Le Pen in the second round (May 7), is running on a vacuous Somewhat Right Somewhat Left platform. How did the fabulously unpopular François Hollande manage to place his alter ego in pole position while standing aside in studied absence as the cream of the Socialist party boards Macron’s cruise ship? ID: En Marche

François Fillon, who served for five years as Nicolas Sarkozy’s prime minister, came out of the Primaries (Right and Center-Right) with a strong mandate, upsetting the media’s favorite Alain Juppé, and polling above Macron and Le Pen. Then, out of the blue, Fillon was hit with a sensational smear campaign and a judicial ton of bricks that would have crushed a weaker constitution. The character assassination putsch against Fillon is the centerpiece of an extraordinarily dramatic campaign. It will be treated briefly below and more amply in Part 2 of this ongoing series. Fillon’s platform is built on a Thatcherite revolution aimed at releasing France from decades of stagnation and double digit unemployment, and a resolute combat against Islamic Totalitarianism at home and abroad. ID: Les Républicains.

And then there is Marine Le Pen. ID: Front National

The top issue on the list of voter preoccupations in February, whether expressed directly or indirectly, was Islam. They wanted to know where candidates stood on the question. Would it be sweet submission or tough resistance? Instead of the issue-based campaign they clearly wanted, voters have been dragged into the quicksand of moralizing purification-aimed at eliminating François Fillon-and thrown a lifesaver attached to the gossamer rope of the Little Prince Emmanuel Macron.

Palestinians: We Have the Right to Poison the Minds of our Children by Bassam Tawil

They Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas wish to continue teaching children that the conflict with Israel is not over a two-state solution, but the “liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea,” which means the annihilation of Israel. The goal is for the students to believe that Israel is one big settlement that has no place in the Middle East.

Along with Hamas, Abbas and his PA plan to continue inculcating Palestinian children with the idea that they should look to terrorists who kill Jews as their role models. It might be illuminating if the conversation between Trump and Abbas were to be informed by these uncomfortable facts.

In an ironic turnaround, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) is now the object of intimidation and threats made by many Palestinians.

UNRWA is reportedly planning to introduce some changes to the curriculum in its schools in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the Palestinians are rather unhappy about it. They claim that UNRWA has “succumbed” to Israeli pressure to make the changes.

The proposed changes are based on leaks to Palestinians and have not been confirmed by UNRWA. Palestinians claim that they learned about the plans to introduce the changes during meetings with senior UNRWA officials.

According to the Palestinians, the changes are intended to “eradicate” their “national identity” and “history” and distort their “struggle” against Israel.

The Palestinians claim that the new textbooks have replaced the map of “historic Palestine” (including Israel) with pictures of a pumpkin and a bird. Palestinian textbooks often feature maps of “historic Palestine” without Israel. Cities inside Israel, such as Haifa, Jaffa, Tiberias and Ramle, are referred to as “Palestinian cities.” The Palestinian Authority (PA) media also refer to these cities as “Palestinian cities inside the 1948 Land.”

Europe: Unwilling to Defend Itself by Giulio Meotti

“The problem in Europe is that there are far too many people in uniform, and too few of them able to go into action.” — NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson.

“A majority of the German public opposes combat missions, and supports the Bundeswehr [German military] only as a quasi-humanitarian organization, a kind of Médecins Sans Frontières with guns”. — Konstantin Richter, Politico.eu.

The relative abundance enjoyed by the Western post-war generations have created a kind of shame instead of pride.

It has been said that when German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer signed the reconstitution of the military in 1955, he proclaimed: “It is crazy, gentlemen, that I have to create a German army, it is just crazy”.

Sixty years have passed, but that sentiment still seems very strong in Germany. A few days ago Sigmar Gabriel, the German foreign minister, said: “We have to be a bit careful here that we don’t over-interpret the 2 percent target.” Gabriel then became clearer: “Maintain perspective, stay focused on the target, but avoid being consumed by the bliss of a new rearmament spiral!”

A few days earlier, Germany had made an announcement: to raise the number of soldiers from 170,000 to 198,000 by 2024 — a modest “rearmament”.

It is a direct consequence of the Trump Administration’s important pressure on European allies, urging them to invest more in defense and security. European armies have become, to quote The Economist, “Potemkin Euro-armies”. Germany’s views are crucial to understanding Europe’s attitude about security and defense. Germany, the world’s fourth-largest economy and Europe’s financial giant, is a military dwarf, proud of being weak and disarmed.

Take the countries which suffered most of terror attacks in the last two years. Belgium? It spends 0.85% of its gross domestic product on defense. France? 1.78%. Germany? 1.19%. Spain, which in 2004 experienced the most severe attack in Europe’s recent history? 0.94%.

Europe is enjoying a big siesta. It is disarmed not only militarly but also mentally. Seventy-five percent of Belgium’s military spending goes to pay army pensions. As NATO’s Secretary General Lord Robertson put it, “The problem in Europe is that there are far too many people in uniform, and too few of them able to go into action.”

Another NATO official, Joseph Ralston, the former supreme commander for Europe, defined European armies as “fat and redundant”.

These countries have all embraced the moral vanity of pacifism.

Thanks to it, Germany’s military supply depots are now almost completely empty, according to the newspaper, Die Welt. Possibly fearing a “rearmament spiral”, Germany in fact ended up with a shy army with no drums.

Britain to Set Historic Brexit Process in Motion Prime minister’s notification will open a two-year window for negotiations to extricate Britain from the EU By Jenny Gross

LONDON—The U.K. on Wednesday is set to make official its planned exit from the European Union, starting on an unprecedented path to reshape its relationship with its closest allies in some of the most complex negotiations the country has ever undertaken.

Nine months after Britain voted to leave the EU, Tim Barrow, Britain’s ambassador to the bloc, is expected to hand deliver a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk formally notifying the bloc that the U.K. will be the first country ever to leave. U.K. government officials say there is no going back from there.

“It is my fierce determination to get the right deal for every single person in this country,” Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to say in a speech to Parliament after the letter is delivered, according to excerpts from her office.

Managing Britain’s exit will be a major political test for Mrs. May, who has only a small majority in Parliament. She​faces competing pressure from​lawmakers on the right wing of her Conservative​party​who want a complete cutting of ties with Brussels and​from​politicians in Scotland, who say they will secede from the U.K. if Mrs. May fails to cut a deal that maintains close​trade ties.

Satellite Images Suggest North Korea Is Preparing New Nuclear Test Analysts say satellite images indicate activity at North Korea’s nuclear test site By Jonathan Cheng

SEOUL—New commercial satellite imagery suggests that North Korea is preparing to test its sixth nuclear device, as the U.S. and Chinese leaders plan to meet next month on how to contain Pyongyang’s weapons program.

An analysis of commercial satellite imagery released on Tuesday by North Korea experts showed signs of activity at the nuclear test site at Punggye-ri in the country’s northeast, where North Korea had previously conducted tests.

Joseph Bermudez and Jack Liu, analysts for 38 North, said the imagery, taken on March 25, suggested that communications cables had recently been laid, and that water had been drained, at an entrance to an underground site.

That evidence “strongly suggests that test preparations are well under way,” said the men, writing for 38 North, a North Korea-focused website run by the U.S.-Korea Institute of the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies in Washington.

The analysts cautioned, however, that the apparent actions may be an effort to deceive experts monitoring North Korea’s nuclear test site for signs of activity.

North Korea has a history of timing internationally banned tests for maximum impact. If often launches missiles during joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises to protest them and bolster domestic support.

In January, Pyongyang launched a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan Mr. Trump met with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the American leader’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

Mr. Trump is tentatively scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida next month. No official itinerary has been released.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali vs the Muslimas Downunder By Olivia Pierson (Posted by Ed Cline)

https://ruleofreason.blogspot.com/2017/03/ayaan-hirsi-ali.html

It is with pleasure that I publish here another guest column by Olivia Pierson. I have retained the original spellings and syntax in her column.E.C.

The beautiful Somali born ex Muslim, ex right-wing-Dutch-politician-come-American, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, is coming to speak to Australians and New Zealanders.

Being a much ruder culture than we Kiwis, Ozzies have already started to protest Hirsi Ali’s arrival using Australian Muslim women academics, business owners (and of course Diversity Peddlers) as spokeswomen. They even have a little on-line petition. You can read it here.

The message of this petition is laughable. Its dishonesty and hypocrisy are so palpably “on the page” I almost cringed on their behalf. The powerful Hirsi Ali is just so intellectually superior to these women that I don’t think she has anything much to worry about – except for the usual death threats, but then, as an ex Muslim female with a very persuasive voice, she’s used to those.

The group claim that their disappointment in having Hirsi Ali come to speak in Australia is “reflective of the huge diversity of opinion amongst Australian Muslim women. Although we are not a homogenous group, we are united in our condemnation of Hirsi-Ali’s discourse which is grounded in hate-mongering and bigotry.”

The petition has 348 signatories so far – in a country of 23 million people where about half a million identify as Muslim, they can’t even rustle up 0.1% from their “huge diversity of opinion amongst Australian Muslim women.” Not that I’m complaining.

Really Lovees, just go home and be quiet. Hirsi Ali is coming and she is going to blow your backward religion verbally to kingdom-not-coming-for-you. The most enjoyable part is that she will do this as she always does, eloquently, prettily, cleverly, without ever raising her beautiful, sonorous voice. She will crisply slice your 7th Century superstition to pieces – just as her Muslim family members once held her down and sliced off her genitals with scissors and no anaesthetic.

Like all Muslim-flavoured protestors, this group are supremely anti the great Western value of free-speech – unheard of in their own (or their parents’) countries of origin. This value is the only reason that these autocratic little Jezebels are allowed to speak. The petition states:

“Hirsi-Ali’s sheer presence in Australia undermines both intra and inter-community efforts toward social cohesion and in providing platforms for Muslim women to champion their own causes.”

Take a note of that (within all the intra, inter, social cohesion, platform weasel wordery) – they view Hirsi Ali’s “sheer presence in Australia” as a threat. Never mind that we have to breathe the very same planetary air as the likes of these sneaky vixens, who want the benefits of our cultural gifts, like capitalism & freedom, yet seek to culturally destroy our values as they set about thriving off them.

Not on my watch – nor Hirsi Ali’s obviously. And why do Muslim women need to champion their own causes in Western lands – the lands of freedom and tolerance? In this multicultural day and age, who stops them from doing anything they want to do? Nobody. Only their co-religionists would aggress them enough to warrant this nonsense about “championing their own causes.” They are pointing their irrelevant fingers at fake oppressors. It is either a twisted psychological projection inflicted via Stockholm Syndrome, or it’s a blatant deception.

Either way, they are not telling the truth.

Terrorism Trend Setters – The Palestinians By Rachel Ehrenfeld

http://acdemocracy.org/terrorism-trend-setters-theRight: Hit the gas at 199 [km/h] for Al-Aqsa,” urges the Palestinian “Run over Organization” calling on Palestinians to use their cars to kill Jews. [Facebook, “Fatah – The Main Page” Nov. 6, 2014]” Source: Palestinian Media Watch. –

Plowing into crowds in speeding cars to kill large numbers of people and stabbing more when the car is forced to stop, is becoming the rage among jihadists operating in Europe. Most counter-terrorism experts in major media outlets claim these are signs of a new trend of terrorism by individuals “inspired” to commit such heinous crimes by ISIS but decline to mention radical Political Islam as the origin.

The Palestinian loving Europeans are now shocked by jihadist attacks the like Israelis had to cope with for many decades.

Israeli civilians have been terrorized for years by speeding car and knife attacks by Palestinians who are inspired by the same jihadist ideology as the London, Brussels, Paris, Munich and Nice attackers. While ISIS followers receive some funding and help from local supporters, the Palestinian terrorists are encouraged to launch such attacks by the Palestinian Authority and are guaranteed a national hero status, large financial rewards and special benefits to their families.

The flow of funds rewarding Palestinian terrorists’ atrocities using cars, knives, guns and explosives against Israelis have been steadily on the rise since the establishment of the PA in 1993. The more incitement by the Palestinian leadership, the more funds to the PA coffers. Some originated in the Gulf-States and Iran, but most of the money have been flowing from the European Union, the United Nations, and the United States. It was not designated for terrorist activities but for “Humanitarian Aid” in the spirit of the PA, the PLO and HAMAS’s support of future orphans and widows. No amount evidence provided by Israelis of the PA ongoing incitement and payments for terrorists stopped the money flow. To the contrary, funding of the Palestinians increased over the years. Moreover, the international donor community increased funding to Palestinian murderers who claimed they are forced to commit such crimes by the occupying Israelis. This has been going on since the establishment of the PA in 1993.

No amount evidence provided by Israelis of the PA ongoing incitement and payments for terrorists stopped the money flow. To the contrary. The louder the Palestinian murderers claimed to be victims, forced to terrorism by the occupying Israelis, the more sympathy and funds from their donors, especially the EU.

Last week attack near the British Parliament was not the first jihadist attack in the United Kingdom. But successive British government and apparently the security services have turned a blind eye to the evolving terrorist tactics used by the Palestinian against Israelis. And until Theresa May became Prime Minster last year, they have also paid no attention to ever-growing, public and often violent Palestinian anti-Israeli incitement and activities, including BDS, everywhere in the U.K. The Kafiya clad Palestinians have been setting the global jihadist terrorist trend for many decades. Ignoring that was a mistake many Britons, and other infidels will be paying for with their lives.

As a reminder, here are a few examples of widely publicized Palestinian terror incitement:

Palestinians encouraged for vehicular terrorist attacks against Jews. PA Twitter

Zahran Barbah, A Gazan writing under the Facebook hashtag “Stab,” posted the anatomical chart showing how to make attacks as deadly as possible. October 16, 2015