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Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) Guide for the Perplexed, 2024 Yoram Ettinger

Posted By on October 9th, 2024

1. Yom Kippur is observed on the 10th day of the Jewish month of Tishrei (October 12, 2024), starting on the evening of October 11.  Yom Kippur is a Super Sabbath (Shabbat Shabbaton in Hebrew), concluding 10 days of soul-searching and spiritual self-awareness and self-enhancement, which begins on Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the Jewish year.

2. Ten, which represents wholesomeness, has a special significance in Jewish history: God’s abbreviation is the 10th Hebrew letter (Yod – י); the 10 Commandments; the 10 Plagues of Egypt; Yom Kippur on the 10th day of Tishrei; the 10 spheres of the spiritual universe, which were highlighted during the Biblical Creation; 10 reasons for blowing the Shofar (ram’s horn) on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur; the 10% Biblical gift to God (tithe); the 10th day of the Jewish month of Tevet commemorates the beginning of the 586-589 BCE siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar; the 10 Martyrs (Jewish leaders), who were tortured/murdered by the Roman Empire; the 10 generations between Adam and Noah and between Noah and Abraham; the 10 divine tests passed by Abraham; the 10-person-quorum (Minyan in Hebrew), which is required for a collective Jewish prayer service; the 10 sons of Haman and the 10 Nazi leaders, who were hung; etc.   

3. According to Leviticus 23:26-32: “The Lord said to Moses, that the tenth day of this seventh month [Tishrei] is the Day of Atonement…. Do not do any work on that day…. This is a lasting ordinance for generations to come….”
Yom Kippur commemorates the day of divine forgiveness for the sin of worshipping the golden calf idol, and the introduction of the Moses-made second set of the Two Tablets (Ten Commandments). It induces human beings to marshal the capacity to learn from mistakes, while warning against a recurring human fallibility: the temptation to sacrifice spiritual values on the altar of materialism.

4. The astrological sign of the months of Tishrei is Libra (♎), which symbolizes the scales of justice, truth, optimism, humility and tolerance. Libra is ruled by the planet Venus (Noga – נגה in Hebrew – is the name of my oldest granddaughter), which represents divine light and compassion. 

5. The Hebrew word Kippur [כיפור] means atonement/repentance – a derivative of the Biblical word Kaporet [כפורת], which was the dome/cover of the Holy Ark in the Sanctuary, and the word Kopher [כופר], which was the cover/dome of Noah’s Ark and the Holy Altar in the Jerusalem Temple. 

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Let The Economy Roll

Posted By on October 9th, 2024

https://issuesinsights.com/2024/10/09/let-the-economy-roll/

Maybe the primary complaint against Kamala Harris is that voters don’t know who she is nor where she stands on issues, given her flip-flopping-for-votes campaign. But we can be sure that her instincts are to bridle the economy rather than unleash it.

Not many weeks ago, we argued that Harris’ Marxist roots, from both her mother and father, inform her economic positions. It should be kept in mind whenever looking at her economic proposals.

Without giving her economic positions a label, Harris, who has spoken appreciatively of the impact her parents had on her, is definitively, though not necessarily nominally, a Marxist. She insists that public policy objectives have ‘to be about’ ensuring that everybody ends ‘up in the same place.’ She favors ‘equitable distribution’ and ‘giving resources based on equity.’

…

How is this different than the socialist creed ‘from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs’ that Karl Marx popularized?

This is the opposite of letting the U.S. economy, the most powerful force on Earth when not bound by ideological chains, roll freely.

It is not a radical position to support a free market economy. The moral and material benefits of an open economy are enormous. No other system can match its dynamism and positive outcomes. (We must emphasize that the free market, or capitalism, as not a system but instead the natural human interaction.)

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Anti-Semitism in the Antipodes Gavin Silbert

Posted By on October 8th, 2024

https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/anti-semitism/anti-semitism-in-the-antipodes/

The appearance of anti-Semitism in Australia, a country remarkable for its absence of anti-Semitism, raises several questions. Ignited by the Israel Gaza war and fuelled by a combination of ignorance, the current anti-Western zeitgeist of the Left, and some major failings by the Australian Jewish community and by Israel itself, the result has been an upsurge in anti-Semitism in social media, left-wing politics and the public domain. We have seen blatant breaches of the law by way of public demonstrations and damage to property both public and private. The encampments on Australian university campuses, aping those in the United States, and the damage caused to politicians’ electoral offices, have continued unabated since October 7, 2023.

Three fundamental propositions should be stated at the outset. First, we have a right of freedom of political expression which lies at the root of our democracy and, subject to well-established legal constraints, should never be interfered with.

Second, where the exercise of such legal expression contravenes the law, the perpetrators should be charged and prosecuted. The current public displays of support for Palestinian solidarity are notable for their blatant breach of state laws criminalising hate speech, unlawful assembly and causing damage to property, and also of section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act of the Commonwealth. It is beyond belief that no prosecutions have been instituted by state or federal police forces, which calls into question our faith in the rule of law.

Third, criticism of Israel, however ill-informed, is not anti-Semitic. We are currently hearing repetition of the words genocide and apartheid. Genocide has a specific meaning in law and its use to describe the horrific civilian deaths in Gaza is not accurate. Similarly, the use of the term apartheid to describe Israel, which has over two million Arab citizens enjoying full civil rights and an Arab justice on its supreme court is also not accurate. Both terms are pejorative and ignorant, but not anti-Semitic.

Perhaps more interesting is the relationship between Australian Jews and the State of Israel. The vitriolic debate between Sir Isaac Isaacs and his supporters and Professor Julius Stone over Zionism and a home for the Jewish people came to an end with the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Jews have lived in Australia since the arrival of the First Fleet and numbered approximately 25,000 at the time of the Second World War. They were mainly born in Australia or Britain, and considered themselves Australians of the Jewish faith. Their Judaism centred on synagogue membership and religious worship in a country which was highly sectarian, with a division between Protestant and Catholic. Multiculturalism was a term as yet uninvented. Post-war immigration introduced large numbers of European immigrants including European Jews who were the survivors of the Holocaust. By the 2021 Census the Jewish population of Australia was estimated to be around 117,000 or roughly 0.5 per cent of the population. The existence of over 300,000 Australians who are not Jewish but have a Jewish ancestor indicates the extent of assimilation.

At the time of the 2021 Census 57 per cent of Australian Jews were Australian-born, which is smaller than for the general population, which was at 71 per cent. It follows that most Australian Jews are post-war immigrants or their descendants. This makes them conscious of a need for a Jewish refuge as a protection from anti-Semitism, an attitude embedded in their psyches. Some Jewish schools and Jewish youth groups foster a love of Israel as a central part of Jewish identity, which reinforces a cultural as opposed to a religious affiliation. It is not surprising, therefore, that a study carried out by Monash University in 2017 of 8621 Australian Jews found that 69 per cent identified as Zionist and that the security of Israel was the most immediate issue of concern unifying them. The fact that 81 per cent of respondents ranked Israel above a belief in God (46 per cent) demonstrates the move away from religion and towards cultural identity.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

POSITIVE NEWS IN A WAR FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

Posted By on October 8th, 2024

https://mailchi.mp/929a3eddd75d/100-blasts-israels-positive-newsletter-to-29924?e=fb15f100f3

Can one name another country with war on its borders and terrorism within its cities, constantly bombarded with missiles and rockets, that works 24/7 to continue research and development of  state of the art  science, technology, medicine, and defense that benefit civilization itself?  The answer, cleared of bias, libel, defamation and anti-Semitism  is simply no. Only Israel does the foregoing, and Michael Ordman proves it every week.  rsk

POSITIVE NEWS IN A WAR
 
IDF soldier saved by his prayers. An IDF soldier was praying in Gaza, wearing tefillin (phylacteries). When warned about a nearby Hamas terrorist, he removed his tefillin, but had no time to remove the metal night vision support plate on his helmet.  The terrorist shot 3 bullets at his head, which were absorbed by the plate.
https://worldisraelnews.com/watch-idf-soldiers-miraculous-story-shows-the-power-of-tefillin/  
 
Pre-school program to treat PTSD. NGOs SASA Setton (see here previously) and Alumot Or have partnered Israeli bank Hapoalim to set up early-years centers of educational excellence in areas most affected by Oct 7. The program will help hundreds of children aged 3 to 6 who have experienced trauma, along with their parents.
https://nocamels.com/2024/09/innovative-israeli-project-supporting-negev-preschoolers-in-wartime/Jo
https://sasasetton.org.il/en/  https://www.alumotor.org/en
 
Galvanizing Jewish advocates. Eitan Chitayat, creative director and founder of Tel Aviv-based international Natie Branding Agency, has dropped all his commercial work to focus on promoting Israel to the world. He created the slogan “I’m that Jew” and urges his 100,000+ followers, and all of us, to be advocates for Israel.
https://www.israel21c.org/since-7-10-everything-takes-a-backseat-to-my-advocacy-work/
https://www.instagram.com/eitanchitayat_words/?hl=en
 
Quiet heroism is everywhere. Reporter Canaan Lidor lives in the north of Israel. He was looking for ordinary brave people who are inspiring others. He found people eating outside bomb shelters; zoom-learning schools; sharing safe rooms with neighbors; plus ex-pats returning to Israel to defend the country.
https://www.jns.org/in-israels-targeted-north-quiet-heroism-is-everywhere/
 
Starlink for the north. Dozens of satellite internet stations from Elon Musk’s Starlink have arrived in Israel’s north for government offices, hospitals and emergency centers. Israel’s Communications Ministry approved Starlink’s use, enabling Israelis to access broadband services if ground-based communications are disrupted.
https://www.jns.org/starlink-stations-arrive-in-israel-for-embattled-north/
 
Quiet diplomacy at work in Europe. Israel has many supporters in Europe, “but they are in need of relevant information,” says IDSF’s Brig-Gen Amir Avivi. Meetings between IDSF and Italian Chamber of Deputies officials resulted in the Italian Parliament’s lower house passing a multifaceted pro-Israel resolution in July.
https://www.jns.org/italian-pro-israel-resolution-shows-power-of-quiet-diplomacy/
https://idsf.org.il/en/team-members/brigadier-general-res-amir-avivi-2/
 
 
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Protein missing in lung cancer patients. Scientists at Israel’s Technion Institute have discovered that the protein RBM10 is absent or has mutated in 40% of lung cancer patients. The protein helps the body to repair damaged DNA. The scientists inhibited the WEE1 gene to eradicate RBM10-deficient lung cancer in mice.
https://nocamels.com/2024/09/missing-protein-could-unlock-treatment-for-aggressive-lung-cancer/
 
ALS treatment slows progression. A 12-months Phase 2b trial of PrimeC from Israel’s NeuroSense (see here previously) showed a 73% improvement over placebo in slowing ALS progression among patients. It also achieved a 63% increase in survival rates.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/neurosenses-paradigm-als-clinical-trial-132700722.html
 
The remedy is skin deep. Israeli startup Dermab.io is developing personalized biologic therapies for people suffering from chronic and autoimmune diseases. It aims to produce tailored, precision treatments, based purely on individual biomarkers gathered in a simple, non-invasive skin swab.   
https://nocamels.com/2024/08/simple-skin-swab-is-key-to-precision-drugs-for-autoimmune-disease/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/dermab-io/
https://finder.startupnationcentral.org/company_page/dermab-io
 
Early warning of Parkinson’s. (TY Ron M) Tel Aviv University researchers have developed a method to detect protein aggregation in cells that are the hallmark of Parkinson’s disease. With super-resolution microscopy, they analyzed skin cells on patients with gene mutations on specific cells .
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/molecular- neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnmol.2024.1431549/full
https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-breakthrough-israeli-researchers-detect-parkinsons-markers-15-years-before-symptoms/ 
 
Wolt rider delivers baby. Remember last week when MDA began the medical training of 1,000 Wolt delivery drivers. Well Ilan had already been trained, so when he was called while delivering pizza, he knew what to do.  He didn’t deliver pizza, he delivered a baby instead.  Meanwhile, the ambulance team ate the pizza.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/israeli-food-order-worker-delivers-baby-instead-of-pizza/
 
1-2-3. Motti, a United Hatzala volunteer EMT, rushed to an Ashdod apartment to deliver a baby – the second in two days (to different mothers of course!). It is rare for an EMT to deliver one baby at home, and extremely unusual for two on consecutive days.  It was also the third birth that he had helped deliver in the same month!
https://israelrescue.org/stories/united-hatzalah-volunteer-delivers-two-babies-in-two-days/
 
11th down. Einat had already brought 10 children into the world.  But her 11th was the first to be born underground. The maternity ward at Israel’s Rambam Medical Center had been relocated to the level minus 3 car park. Nevertheless, a healthy baby was born and all 10 siblings came to visit mother and newborn.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/defying-hezbollah-missiles-israeli-woman-gives-birth-to-11th-child-in-underground-facility/
 
A better MRI. Researchers at Israel’s Technion Institute have used new materials to enhance Magnetic Resonance Imaging signals by up to 4 times and preserve the signal for 10 mins (previously only 1 min). This gives doctors time to track metabolites in the tissues – important clinical markers for diseases including cancer.
https://nocamels.com/2024/09/technion-team-develops-materials-to-improve-mri-performance/
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ado2483
 
US approval for heart ultrasound system. Israel’s AISAP (see here previously) has received US FDA approval for its CARDIO point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) platform. It allows accurate diagnosis of up to 90% of the most common cardiac parameters within minutes, either in an incident or during treatment.
https://nocamels.com/2024/08/startup-gets-fda-approval-for-cardiac-ultrasound-software/
https://streetlight.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/Review-screen.mp4
 
Why he developed stroke therapy device. Yaron Segal’s son Lear was born with familial dysautonomia (Riley-Day syndrome). Yaron established the startup BrainQ (see here previously) to search for a solution. His brainwave helmet doesn’t help Lear, but its low-intensity electromagnetic field is curing many stroke patients.
https://www.israel21c.org/dads-quest-to-aid-son-leads-to-stroke-recovery-technology/
https://www.brainqtech.com/
 
Treating knee replacement infections. 2% of the millions of knee replacements each year result in untreatable infections due to the bacteria protecting themselves with an impenetrable biofilm. Israel’s Dimoveo Medical has developed a process using nanoparticles to “sandblast” the biofilm and allow antibiotics to kill the bacteria.
https://nocamels.com/2024/09/nanoparticles-sandblast-hard-to-handle-bacteria-from-joint-implants/
https://dimoveomedical.com/   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLHrdDoTZQ8
 
Keeping mosquitoes away. Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed a cellulose-based gel that dries on the skin and blocks mosquitoes from detecting human scents. Even those mosquitoes that get through are unable to lay eggs due to the effects of the gel.
https://nocamels.com/2024/09/gel-that-stops-mosquitoes-biting-and-reproducing-is-creating-a-buzz/
https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/2/4/pgad069/7103447
 

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Eitan Fischberger 365 Days of October 7 The defense of Israel and of Western civilization are one.

Posted By on October 8th, 2024

https://www.city-journal.org/article/365-days-of-october-7

How do you commemorate something still unfolding? That question looms large, on the 365th day since October 7, as we grapple with the brutal reality of a world irrevocably changed. How do we honor the lives lost on that terrible day and in the ensuing war for Israel’s survival, while also committing to build a future defined not by tragedy but by strength and resilience? We might never find a satisfactory answer. But to begin our search for one, we must recognize that the struggle spans both physical and ideological battlefields.

First is the literal battlefield. The horrific attack by Hamas on October 7 was not just a terrorist assault; it was an attempt to break the spirit of a nation, to humiliate and destroy it. That day will be forever etched into our collective memory, a deep national wound. But out of that darkness, and perhaps because of it, Israel has risen with a fierce resolve, fighting an existential war that has now spread far beyond its original borders, as the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies besiege the Jewish state from all sides.

And yet, the tragedy of October 7 has been followed by victories that nobody could have imagined. Hamas, whose brutality knows no bounds, is now on its knees. Hezbollah, until last week viewed as an existential threat to Israel, has been defeated in what will inevitably be viewed as the most jaw-dropping counterterrorism campaign in history. The targeted killings of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran serve as a stark warning to the Grand Ayatollah that nowhere, not even within the heart of Iran, is safe.

ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

The woke dehumanisation of Jews Why the ‘anti-racist’ left keeps making excuses for anti-Semitic barbarism. Frank Furedi

Posted By on October 8th, 2024

https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/10/08/129680the-woke-dehumanisation-of-jews/

That there is more to identity politics than just preferred pronouns or demanding more culturally sensitive university courses has been amply demonstrated since the atrocities committed by Hamas on 7 October 2023. Woke activist groups – including LGBT activists, Black Lives Matter, feminists and eco-zealots – responded to this barbaric event by becoming Hamas cheerleaders. They had no hesitation in communicating their hatred for Israel in a language riddled with anti-Semitic tropes.

The narrative promoted by the identitarians rarely recognises Jews as a historically oppressed people. On the contrary, Jews are frequently cast in the role of oppressors and even as white supremacists. This outlook echoes the age-old trope that asserts that Jews possess vast global power. It fuses this traditional claim about Jewish power with contemporary identitarian obsessions about white privilege and white supremacy.

Since the ascendancy of identity politics, Jewishness has become what sociologist Erving Goffman characterised as a ‘spoiled identity’. A spoiled identity is one that lacks any redeeming moral qualities. It is an identity that invites stigma and scorn.

Since the turn of the century, anti-racist activists have gone to great lengths to associate ‘whiteness’ with negative characteristics and unattractive features. Mention the term ‘white men’ on a university campus or TV show and it will be met with groans and sneers. This negative framing of white identity has also impacted how Jewish identity is perceived and represented. In an interesting account of this development, Pamela Paresky has coined the term the ‘hyper-white Jew’. Jews are often portrayed as a unique, hyper-white community who have far more privileges to check than others – including other white people.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

The Palestinian Tradition of Celebrating the Death of Jews by Bassam Tawil

Posted By on October 8th, 2024

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20998/palestinians-celebrate-death-of-jews

Palestinians have a custom of celebrating in the streets every time Israel is attacked or a Jew is murdered by terrorists.

It is hard, if not impossible, to find one senior Palestinian official who is willing to criticize his own people for celebrating terrorist attacks. It is also hard, if not impossible, to find one senior Palestinian official who is willing to condemn the October 7 atrocities and massacres against Israelis. Palestinian leaders have good reason not to speak out: they are afraid of being killed by their own people.

Last month, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly, ignored the Hamas attack and instead accused Israel of committing “massacres,” “crimes,” and “genocide” against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Needless to say, Abbas also ignored the fact that a large number of Palestinians expressed support for the Hamas-led October 7 attack and took to the streets to celebrate the brutal mass-murder of Israeli women, children and the elderly.

Palestinian leaders who do not have the courage, or are unwilling, to denounce terrorism will never be able to call on their people to recognize Israel’s right to exist, let alone make peace with it. Palestinians who celebrate the murder of their neighbors are not ready for a state, which will undoubtedly be used as a springboard to slaughter more Jews and to try to destroy Israel.

There is no excuse for celebrating murder. A society that celebrates murder will never be a partner for peace. True peace will only come when Palestinian leaders values their people’s lives more than celebrating the murder of Jews.

Palestinians have a custom of celebrating in the streets every time Israel is attacked or a Jew is murdered by terrorists.

The latest Palestinian celebrations took place on October 1, 2024, when Iran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel. The celebrations occurred even though some of the missiles fell in Palestinian areas in the West Bank and the only person killed was, ironically, a Palestinian man in the city of Jericho.

In one West Bank village, Palestinians erected a monument from the tail of an Iranian missile to celebrate Iran’s attack on Israel.

Similar celebrations took place in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and in many countries when Iran launched its first direct missile and drone attack against Israel in April. According to a report by Iran’s Tehran Times:

“It was also a sleepless night in Ramallah and other cities in the occupied West Bank, that saw excited crowds of Palestinians gathering in the streets and pointing to the skies amid the visible trails of Iranian missiles flying, with a celebratory mood until the early hours of Sunday morning.”

The largest celebrations occurred a year ago, on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Iran-backed Hamas terrorists and “ordinary” Palestinians invaded Israel from the Gaza Strip and murdered 1,200 Israelis. During the attack, thousands of Israelis were raped, tortured, and burned alive, while more than 240 others were kidnapped into the Gaza Strip. A year later, 101 Israeli hostages are still being held by Hamas terrorists.

ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

The West has turned its back on Jews A year on from 7 October, the Jewish diaspora has rarely felt so isolated. Joel Kotkin

Posted By on October 8th, 2024

https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/10/07/the-west-has-turned-its-back-on-jews/

In the wake of last year’s 7 October pogrom, and amid rapidly rising anti-Semitism, most Jews are even more convinced of the importance of the Jewish State and the need for greater solidarity. As researchers such as Tufts Eitan Hersh and others have demonstrated, the Hamas assaults have led many in America to emphatically embrace their Jewish identity.

Yet, increasingly, these same Jews find themselves isolated and widely demonised. This reflects how much Jewish influence in the US, as I suggested almost a year ago, is itself ‘peaking’. Certainly it’s clear that Jewish media power has faded, as evidenced by the consistently biased coverage against Israel in places like the New York Times, the BBC and the Washington Post. Similar bias has become embedded in the internet, as seen by Wikipedia’s new negative description of Zionism.

As Israel faces an existential challenge, diaspora Jews confront a rising wave of anti-Semitism unseen since the 1930s. Politicians and the media alike emphasise the parallel rise of Islamophobia. Yet two-thirds of all religious hate crimes in America were directed at Jews, despite them accounting for just two per cent of the population. Last year in New York, there were over 100 anti-Semitic crimes in November and December, almost 10 times the number of equivalent crimes committed against Muslims.

Jews are frequently discovering that any sympathy for Israel now means cancellation. The progressive political and cultural establishment increasingly seeks to eliminate ‘Zionists’ and elevate those Jews, like journalist Joshua Liefer, who excoriate the Jewish state, and non-Jews like Ta-Nehisi Coates, who embrace a radical, anti-Israel perspective.

Even in traditional haunts, such as Brooklyn bookstores, elite campuses and big Jewish cities like Los Angeles, Jews no longer feel safe. Today, they are inextricably identified with Israel, whether they like it or not.

This merging of Jewish and Israeli interests seems inevitable. Already, a majority of all Jewish children live in Israel. By 2030, Israel could become, for the first time since early antiquity, the home to a majority of all Jews. This is somewhat hard to digest for left-of-centre or secular Jews, given the nature of the current Israeli government with its dependence on messianic nationalistic and ultra-religious allies. Yet, despite the relative unpopularity of Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration, the vast majority of diaspora Jews – 80 per cent in America – support the Jewish State, as do the vast majority of Jewish college students.

EDUCATION, ISRAEL Comments turned off

Hundreds of Anti-Israel Protesters Demonstrate at Columbia on Anniversary of 10/7 By Alex Welz

Posted By on October 8th, 2024

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/hundreds-of-anti-israel-protesters-demonstrate-at-columbia-on-anniversary-of-10-7/

Anti-Israel demonstrations returned to Columbia University on Monday, marking one year since Hamas’s 2023 massacre and kidnapping of innocent Israelis.

These came as part of a wider protest known as Students Flood NYC for Gaza, organized by the pro-Palestinian group Within Our Lifetime. This followed a coordinated student walkout in support of the Palestinians that included hundreds of students. Nearby, pro-Israel demonstrators could be seen waving Israeli flags and calling attention to the hostages taken by Hamas. Pro-Palestinian protesters later swarmed the 110th Street subway station, expanding their activities beyond campus.

In the days leading up to the protests, Columbia University interim president Katrina Armstrong introduced additional security measures in anticipation of campus clashes. “We anticipated and have been preparing for a period of uncertainty in the coming days,” university spokeswoman Samantha Slater told the Columbia Spectator. Barricades were erected across campus in an attempt to quell any ensuing unrest.

In preparation for the event, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, another pro-Palestinian campus organization, encouraged attendees to conceal their identities. This included wearing all-black clothing, covering up any tattoos/piercings, and wearing masks (allowing one to be “protected from surveillance”). The organization even urged students to avoid using the university Wi-Fi or their Columbia-affiliated email addresses to communicate.

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Vance Shows the Power of a Silver Tongue Vance presented Trump’s policies in a completely different way; he was polite yet firm, steeped in deep knowledge of policy, and rich in empathy for ordinary people and their struggles. By Christopher Roach

Posted By on October 8th, 2024

https://amgreatness.com/2024/10/08/vance-shows-the-power-of-a-silver-tongue/

J.D. Vance was my number one draft pick for vice president, and his complete slaughter of Tim Walz at the debate last week only reassured me of my choice.

Vance is a breath of fresh air for many, including conservatives still harboring misgivings about Donald Trump. Vance is appealing because he has qualities that used to be more familiar in politics and lately have become rare, as most offices have become less competitive and the American people have become less engaged in the process.

Most important of these qualities, Vance is a “good talker,” and this used to be a prerequisite to being an effective politician. By this, I mean he was articulate, organized, calm, and friendly. He also was steeped in detailed policy knowledge, avoided rhetorical traps, calmly and politely objected to the biased moderators’ fake fact-checking, and generally did circles around Walz.

Walz was tongue-tied, looked nervous, and rarely made his points in an articulate way. Even though Kamala Harris and Walz have had longer careers in public life, Vance is everything they are not.

There has not really been a skilled debater on the presidential stage since Bill Clinton. We have instead been burdened by a parade of tin-eared, rhetorical failures. Neither George W. Bush nor Al Gore were compelling speakers, nor were John McCain or John Kerry. Stilted, stammering, and just generally unsmooth and unmemorable describes them all.

Obama had a deserved reputation as a good speaker, and he was certainly more skilled than most of his peers, but all of his words were completely vaporous and forgettable. What the hell was the “audacity of hope?” Also, while Obama was a decent orator when he had a teleprompter and a good speechwriter, he was not particularly memorable on the debate stage or when speaking extemporaneously.