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Why the White House turned on Israel The rift is all about the U.S. State Department’s desire to reassert control. David Wurmser

Posted By on May 14th, 2024

https://www.jns.org/why-the-white-house-turned-on-israel/

The chattering class in Israel is struggling to understand American behavior. They ask: How did the United States go from supporting Israel in the first days of the war with Hamas in Gaza to essentially shielding the terror organization? The Israeli right asks: What happened to the Americans? The left asks: What has Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu done to destroy U.S.-Israel relations?

I believe I have some insight into this. I held a senior policy position at the U.S. State Department for several years. Afterwards, I was a senior advisor to the vice president from 2001 to 2007 and then to the Trump administration’s National Security Advisor John Bolton. I also served a decade in the Pentagon as a senior intelligence officer. I have learned a great deal about the mentality of these bureaucracies.

It is important to understand that the U.S. State Department is not a foreign ministry. It is a super-bureaucracy with domestic as well as foreign functions. Its power over foreign policy far outstrips that of other countries’ foreign ministries.

The Biden administration’s National Security Council is ultimately a political body, but it is not opposed to State Department policy, which is increasingly pushed by younger staffers and senior figures aligned with progressive ideology. There are also the professional foreign service officers who have invested their entire careers advancing foreign policy paradigms that are now collapsing.

The NSC lacks a vast bureaucracy of its own. So, it outsources the drafting of policy to relevant bureaus. On foreign policy, this is almost always the State Department. As in any large organization, the person tasked with drafting the policy defines the policy. Everything that follows is a reactive revision, not a reset.

Intelligence agencies control and distribute information, including the information made available to the president. Thus, they also exercise significant power. But ever since the tenure of George Tenet as CIA director, the intelligence agencies have become active in the implementation of policy as well.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Debra Heine: Coalition of 22 State AGs Call on Biden to Reject Treaty Drastically Expanding WHO Authority

Posted By on May 13th, 2024

https://amgreatness.com/2024/05/09/coalition-of-22-state-ags-call-on-biden-to-reject-treaty-drastically-expanding-who-authority/

A coalition of 22 state attorneys general have sent a letter to Joe Biden voicing their opposition to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) proposed pandemic treaty and amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR).

Attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia, led by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, raised concerns that the proposed agreement threatens U.S. sovereignty by giving the WHO “unprecedented and unconstitutional powers over the people of the United States.”

Critics say that the proposed “pandemic accord” and IHR amendments would give the WHO sweeping new powers over national governments and public health authorities in the event of a new pandemic, and would help set up a global system of “digital health passports.”

In a press release Wednesday, Knudsen asserted that the proposed amendments would give the organization “authority over United States public health policy after failing to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for its lies during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

SOS: Stop the World Health Organization’s Tyrannical May 27 Power Grab by Robert Williams

Posted By on May 13th, 2024

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20637/who-tyrannical-power-grab

The proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations give the WHO Director General the authority to declare not just an actual but a potential international public health emergency and set out binding recommendations on how to address it, whether individual states agree with him or not.

Worse, no criticism of the new WHO regime and its decisions to declare potential or actual pandemics, lockdowns and treatment, including vaccines, will be allowed under the amended IHR… In other words, the government lies, obfuscations and cover-ups that so dominated the last pandemic will become normalized, and all criticism outlawed.

Already, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (not a medical doctor) has castigated critics of the planned amendments and new Pandemic Treaty as conspiracy theorists who spread “fake news, lies and conspiracy theories.”

Since the UN claims that to “owns the science,” it is now brainwashing the public into believing that “climate change” threatens global health. This view makes it likely that you will one day find yourself in a WHO-mandated lockdown to mitigate the effects of the “climate crisis,” along with limits on where you go, how you may get there, what you do, and what you can own.

The US is already seeing forerunners of this in the Biden administration’s unconstitutional executive orders, possibly including his attempts to ban internal combustion engine vehicles and gas stoves; mandating dishwashing machines that may need repeated cycles to clean dishes, and new stricter regulations on air conditioners, washing machines, refrigerators, and even leaf-blowers — and this is only the beginning.

The WHO is not elected, has no democratic legitimacy, is not accountable to anyone and has no control mechanisms to restrain its reach. After the horrifying failures of the WHO during Covid-19, the answer is not to give the organization more power, but to disengage from it entirely.

The UN and the WHO evidently want unlimited control. If they are not stopped right now by national governments that refuse to approve the new Pandemic Treaty and proposed International Health Regulations amendments, unlimited control is what they will have — and it is we who will have given it to them.

EDUCATION, ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Trump Promises to ‘Immediately Deport’ Foreign Students Involved in Anti-Israel Protests By Caroline Downey

Posted By on May 13th, 2024

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/trump-promises-to-immediately-deport-foreign-students-involved-in-anti-israel-protests/

Former president Donald Trump, at a Sunday rally in Democratic-heavy New Jersey, promised to “immediately deport” foreign students who participate in anti-Israel protests amid recent chaotic campus demonstrations disrupting academia.

“When I’m president, we will not allow our colleges to be taken over by violent radicals,” he said. “If you come here from another country and try to bring jihadism or anti-Americanism or antisemitism to campuses, we will immediately deport you. You’ll be out of that school.”

After protests erupted on college campuses in the weeks following Hamas’s brutal invasion of Israel on October 7, House Republicans sent a letter to the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security demanding that foreign students who participated in rallies in support of Hamas be deported.

“We are concerned by recent reports of demonstrations on U.S. soil, including student demonstrations, in support of Hamas, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, following the shocking terrorist attacks by Hamas on our closest ally in the Middle East, Israel. These demonstrations potentially involve student visa holders,” Representatives Jim Banks (R., Ind.) and Jeff Duncan (R., S.C.) wrote in a letter addressed to Secretaries Antony Blinken and Alejandro Mayorkas.

The letter noted the many Students for Justice in Palestine chapters have issued statements praising Hamas terrorists as freedom fighters or martyrs and justifying their onslaught as necessary for the liberation of the Palestinian people.

Signed by more than a dozen House Republicans, the letter demanded that the State Department and DHS investigate whether non–immigrant visa holders “have been rendered ineligible as a result of ‘endorsing or espousing’ terrorist activity by Hamas?”

Many prominent GOP lawmakers have for months called for the expulsion of foreign students engaged in such inflammatory behavior. Senator Tom Cotton has urged for aliens on student visas who have endorsed or espoused terrorist activity to be deported.

ISRAEL, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

A UN Vote That Will Live in Infamy Peter O’Brien

Posted By on May 13th, 2024

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/israel/2024/05/a-un-vote-that-will-live-in-infamy/

On the 7th of October last year, the terrorist group Hamas, which rules in Gaza and purports to represent the state of “Palestine”, committed the most foul attack upon Jewish people since the Holocaust.  Within days, that atrocity was celebrated all over the world, including in Australia.  Polls have shown the majority of Arabs in Gaza and the West Bank supported that action by Hamas, which is still the nominal government in Gaza. Hamas has vowed to repeat the actions of October 7 as often as is necessary to achieve their aim of eliminating Israel. Does anyone believe that if an election were held in Gaza today, even under, say, UN supervision, Hamas would not win?

Israel is in the middle of defending itself against this future. Australia has now voted in favour of granting Palestine, that non-existent nation, UN membership. In God’s name, what could have convinced the Albanese government that this is the right time to muddy the waters on this vexed question and signal that our support for Israel’s right to exist is less than 100 per cent?  To signal to Hamas that they are winning the propaganda war? To signal Hamas to hang in there, we’ve got your back?

Oh wait, I’m guessing Jason Clare and Tony Burke, inter alia, might have something to do with this appalling decision. The mealy-mouthed defence of this move, i.e., that it is in furtherance of a two-state solution, totally ignores the fact that Israel has offered a two-state solution, on generous terms, on at least three occasions and been rebuffed. From The Weekend Australian:

Australia’s ambassador to the United Nations James Larsen said Canberra had been “frustrated” by a “lack of progress” and wanted to signal “unwavering support for the two-state solution of Israel and Palestine living side-by-side in peace and security within recognised borders”.

So, in order to boost the chance of a two-state solution, our government has supported granting full UN membership to a non-existent state – an entity that does not possess the pre-requisites for nation status – that, under its current governance, repudiates that very same two-state solution.  Regardless of the status of Palestine, I would have thought a non-negotiable pre-condition would be that all its neighbours unconditionally support Israel’s right to exist and to defend itself to the maximum extent required.  

BOOKS Comments turned off

New book by Chuck Brooks for Amazon Pre-order: Inside Cyber: How AI, 5G, and Quantum Computing Will Transform Privacy and Our Security

Posted By on May 13th, 2024

https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Cyber-Computing-Transform-Security/dp/1394254946

In an era where technological innovation evolves at an exponential rate, Inside Cyber: How AI, 5G, and Quantum Computing Will Transform Privacy and Our Security by Chuck Brooks emerges as a critical roadmap for understanding and leveraging the next wave of tech advancements. Brooks, a renowned executive and consultant, breaks down complex technological trends into digestible insights, offering a deep dive into how emerging technologies will shape the future of industry and society. 

In the book, you’ll: 

Gain clear, accessible explanations of cutting-edge technologies such as AI, blockchain, and quantum computing, and their impact on the business world 
Learn how to navigate the cybersecurity landscape, safeguarding your business against the vulnerabilities introduced by rapid technological progress 
Uncover the opportunities that technological advancements present for disrupting traditional industries and creating new value 

Perfect for entrepreneurs, executives, technology professionals, and anyone interested in the intersection of tech and business, Inside Cyber equips you with the knowledge to lead in the digital age. Embrace the future confidently with this indispensable guide. 

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

This may be the week Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump falls apart Jonathan Turley

Posted By on May 13th, 2024

https://nypost.com/2024/05/12/opinion/this-may-be-the-week-alvin-braggs-case-against-trump-falls-apart/

Even for those of us who have long been critics of the “hush money” case against Donald Trump and its dubious legal theory, it has been surprising to see that the prosecutors had no more evidence than we previously knew about.

The assumption was that no rational prosecutor would base a major criminal case almost entirely on the testimony of Michael Cohen, who was recently denounced by a judge as a serial perjurer peddling “perverse” theories in court.

The calculus of Alvin Bragg is now obvious. He is counting on the jury convicting Trump regardless of the evidence.

Which is also why Bragg likely fears that the judge, not the jury, will decide the case. After the government closes its evidence this week, the defense will move for a direct verdict by the judge on the basis that the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction.

Many of us agree with that assessment. After three weeks of testimony, there is still confusion on what crime Trump allegedly committed.

Bragg has vaguely referred to the labelling of payments to Stormy Daniels as “legal expenses” as a fraud committed to steal the election.

However, the election was over when those denotations were made.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The Fall of the House of Presidential Persecutions What will be the endgame of all these attacks on the American legal system and the warping of it for blatant political purposes? By Victor Davis Hanson

Posted By on May 13th, 2024

https://amgreatness.com/2024/05/13/the-fall-of-the-house-of-presidential-persecutions/

None of the five civil and criminal cases currently lodged against former President Donald Trump have ever had merit. They were all predicated on using the law to injure his re-election candidacy—given a widespread derangement syndrome among the left and a fear they cannot entrust a Trump/Biden election to the people.

These criminal and civil trials are merely the continuation of extra-legal efforts of the last eight years to destroy a presidential candidate in lieu of opposing him in transparent elections.

As such, the current lawfare joins the Mueller investigation of the Russian-collusion hoax. It is a continuation of the laptop disinformation caper and the “51 intelligence authorities” who lied about its Russian origins. It logically follows from the two impeachments, the Senate trial of Trump as a private citizen, and states’ efforts to remove him from their ballots.

The E. Jean Carroll case, the Alvin Bragg, Letitia James, and Fani Willis local and state trials, and the Smith federal indictment share various embarrassments.

Suspension of statutes of limitations: Carroll and Bragg could only go to court through the legal gymnastics of enlisting sympathetic judges and legislators to change or amend the law to suspend the statute of limitations as a veritable bill of attainder to go after Trump.

Violations of the Bill of Rights: In the Bragg case, Judge Merchan’s selective and asymmetrical gag order likely violates the First Amendment (prohibiting “abridging the freedom of speech”). Bragg violated the Sixth Amendment by denying Trump the right “to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation”. Judge Engoron, in the juryless James case, violated the Eighth Amendment (“nor excessive fines imposed”) in assessing Donald Trump an unheard of $354 million fine for supposedly overstating the value of real estate collateral for loans, while violating the Sixth Amendment as well (“the accused shall enjoy the right … to trial by an impartial jury”). The FBI likely violated the Fourth Amendment (“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures”) by raiding Trump’s private residence, seizing his papers and effects (many of them private), and then lying about its own shenanigans of rearranging the seized classified files to incriminate Trump.

The invention of crimes: The indictments of Bragg, James, Willis, and Smith had no prior precedents. These cases will likely never be seen again. Bragg bootstrapped a federal campaign violation allegation onto a state crime. Yet still, he has never explained exactly how Trump violated any particular law.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

UN Halves Its Estimate of Women and Children Killed in Gaza

Posted By on May 13th, 2024

https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2024/05/11/un-halves-its-estimate-of-women-and-children-killed-in-gaza/

The United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) revised its child fatality figure from the Gaza war sharply downward, reporting more than 14,500 deaths on May 6 but then 7,797 on May 8. OCHA also revised downward its figure for women fatalities from more than 9,500 deaths to 4,959 deaths. The Jerusalem Post first reported the changes on May 11.

The UN attributed its original, higher figures to the Hamas-controlled Government Media Office (GMO) in Gaza, whose figures OCHA has cited continually for the past two months. The UN gave no source for the lower figures in its May 8 update, but the figures precisely match those in a May 2 report from a different Hamas-controlled organization, the Gaza Ministry of Health.

“This change may signal that the UN has finally recognized the lack of evidence behind Hamas’s original claims that more than 14,000 children and 9,000 women have been killed in Gaza. If so, the UN should state clearly that it has lost confidence in sources whose credibility it has affirmed for months. While this change may only reflect the conclusion of one UN office out of the many operating in Gaza, it is a clear step forward.” — David Adesnik, FDD Senior Fellow and Director of Research

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Chamberlain and Biden: Appeasement Then and Now Are we going to stand with the heirs of the Nazis, or with an embattled democratic ally? by Shmuel Klatzkin

Posted By on May 13th, 2024

https://spectator.org/chamberlain-and-biden-appeasement-then-and-now/

Holocaust Day was marked by solemn remembrances in Israel and in Jewish communities around the world. It was marked in the U.S., as has been customary, by a presidential address, where Biden said nothing that would garner more than perfunctory notice.

Turns out that that was by design. For Biden had already approved a decision that gives cheer to the shade of Hitler and all his modern wanna-be-s — embargoing any arms to Israel that would allow them to keep Hamas from surviving intact and reasserting its plan for death to Israel.

What is different between now and 1938 is just this — Israel is not going to slink away to its dismemberment.

Old Joe’s cowardice extends even to speaking plainly to his own people.

Let’s put his cowardice in perspective by looking at what is often held up as the gold standard for foolishness and fecklessness, the betrayal of the cause of freedom in the leadup to World War II by the appeasers.

By 1938, Hitler had already consolidated his control over Germany. This included freeing himself from the bonds of the treaty which had ended the First World War, with all its limitations on German rearmament and it prohibition of militarizing the German territory west of the Rhine River. As the year progressed, his plans progressed further as he raped an Austria whose people seemed — in a huge demonstration in Vienna — to be stimulated to ecstasy by Hitler’s attentions.