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May 2021

FOREIGN POLICY, ISRAEL Comments turned off

About Those ‘DOA’ Abraham Accords Biden Administration policy—not a failed “peace process”—is the underpinning of the current Hamas war against Israel. By Shoshana Bryen

By on May 21st, 2021

https://amgreatness.com/2021/05/20/about-those-doa-abraham-accords/

It is hard to be against a peace agreement. Really hard. But the Biden Administration is giving it a go. 

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki slammed Donald Trump’s policies in the Middle East and called the Israel-United Arab Emirates-Bahrain Abraham Accords “DOA.”

“We felt there was not a constructive action by the prior administration, aside from putting forward a peace proposal that was dead on arrival. We don’t think they did anything constructive really to bring it into the long-standing conflict in the Middle East.”

Psaki appears to be channeling Washington Post columnist Max Boot. “The clashes in recent days between Israelis and Palestinians make clear that there is no ‘peace’ and no ‘new Middle East.’ It remains the same blood-soaked mess as ever. The Abraham Accords were nice, but they did nothing to resolve underlying conflicts in Yemen, Syria, Libya—or the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.”

It is understandable that critics choose not to consider the accords in their own context. Yemen, Syria, and Libya weren’t on the table. Neither was world hunger, relief for China’s Uighurs, or the U.S. national debt. And, deliberately, neither were the Palestinians. 

In the immediate aftermath of the September 2020 signing, a horde of pundits and politicians including Samantha Power, John Kerry, Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Representative Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), and media including Reuters, CNN, The New Yorker, Foreign Policy, the Guardian and more, spewed their litany about how much more dangerous the region had become and how the United States was doomed to fail. They are joined now by Representatives Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Bernie Sanders (again), and others.

They are wrong.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

Glazov Gang: Killing Jews and Double Standards What country in the world would tolerate rockets killing its civilians?

By on May 21st, 2021

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/05/glazov-gang-killing-jews-and-double-standards-frontpagemagcom/

Due to YouTube Censorship, The Glazov Gang has moved to Rumble. Please SUBSCRIBE.

This new Glazov Gang episode features features Barry Nussbaum, the son of Auschwitz survivors, the founder of the American Truth Project, and a news commentator on international affairs who has regularly appeared on major television networks. His new book is Because You Asked.

Barry discusses Killing Jews and Double Standards, reflecting on the question: What country in the world would tolerate rockets killing its civilians? 

Don’t miss it!

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Another U.S. Ally Gets in Bed With Iran One that sits atop vital oil and gas pipelines. So what’s next? Kenneth R. Timmerman

By on May 21st, 2021

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/05/another-us-ally-gets-bed-iran-kenneth-r-timmerman-0/

The answer is obvious: nothing good.

The Republic of Georgia lost 20 percent of its territory in 2008 to Russian invasion, and continues to struggle politically and economically from Russian interference in its domestic affairs.

The ruling Georgia Dream party, dominated by pro-Russian oligarch Bidzia (“Boris”) Ivanishvili, won parliamentary elections last October that the opposition declared were rigged. Since April 19, a new power sharing agreement hammered out by the European Union and the United States, seems have convinced the opposition to rejoin the parliament.

But Georgia’s northern neighbor and election irregularities are only part of the former Soviet republic’s problems. It also sits atop a key pipeline that transports oil from Baku, Azerbaijan, through Georgia to Turkey and Western Europe.

The Iranian regime has long sought to block the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, since it rivaled Iran’s own oil and gas exports to Turkey. Because of this, and because of a succession of weak governments in Georgia, the Iranians have established a powerful commercial and intelligence base inside Georgia that has influenced policies and infiltrated the Georgian security and judicial establishments.

Iran’s infiltration of Georgia and manipulation of Georgian state policy led the U.S. Department of Treasury to expose a network of Iranian sanctions-busting traders based in Tbilisi in 2014. As part of the 2015 Iran deal, U.S. sanctions against them were then lifted. By all accounts they continue to operate in Georgia today with the blessing of Georgian politicians and local banks.

The State Security Service has also established robust ties to its Iranian counterpart, the Ministry of Information and Security.

Under the control of then interior minister GeorgiGakharia, SSS-men raided an Iranian restaurant in Tbilisi in February 2018 and arrested its owner, claiming he was engaged in a dastardly plot to hire an assassin to murder other Iranians in Tbilisi.

The man they arrested, Alireza Soleimane-pak, also known as Hamid Reza Zakeri, was a defector from Iranian intelligence who became a witness in the 9/11 court case against the Iranian regime that ultimately led to a damage award in favor of the victims of over $16 billion. He was also a UN-registered political refugee.

I was involved in the 9/11 case, and have interviewed Mr. Soleimane-pak on many occasions over the past 18 years.Since learning of his arrest, I have traveled to Tbilisi twice to attend court hearings. 

The Republic of Georgia’s courts have struggled since the 2003 Rose Revolution to separate themselves from political interference. 

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BOOKS, EDUCATION Comments turned off

1620: A Critical Response to the 1619 Project Peter W. Wood’s book is a must-read. Danusha Goska

By on May 21st, 2021

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/05/1620-critical-response-1619-project-danusha-v-goska/

Recent years have seen eruptions of violence and hate in America: riots, looting, the tearing down of statues. Often those rioting are privileged white youth. One wonders, why are self-described “anti-racist” riots happening now? Today’s African Americans have power and wealth that would have been unimaginable to their ancestors. Americans have elected a black president, a black vice president, and there are many current and former black governors, senators, congressmen and women, SCOTUS justices, professors, journalists, entrepreneurs, millionaires and billionaires, bestselling authors, A-list film stars, influencers, trend-setters and adored entertainers and athletes. Interracial marriage is an accepted feature of American life; indeed, Prince Harry, Kim Kardashian, John Legend, Tiger Woods, Candace Owens, Clarence Thomas, George Lucas, Robert DeNiro, Serena Williams and Heidi Klum are just a few of the celebrities in current and former interracial love matches. Why then has race-informed rage inflamed so many?

One excellent guide through America’s agonized spasms is Peter W. Wood’s “1620: A Critical Response to the 1619 Project.” Peter W. Wood has a Ph.D. in anthropology and was a tenured professor at Boston University. He is president of the National Association of Scholars. He has written an easy-to-read guide to the 1619 Project. Almost like a pop-up book, “1620” expands into an anthology if one follows the many references to online essays that Wood provides.

Wood is never anything but courteous and cool-headed, but he also refuses to walk on eggshells. His prose is direct and unapologetic. For example, Wood writes that the 1619 Project is “an effort to destroy America by teaching children that America never really existed, except as a lie told by white people in an effort to control black people. It eradicates American history and American values in one sweep.” This effort to destroy America by distorting American history is of great import. “American history is important because … We Americans have so little to substantiate our common identity.” Similarly, Wood cites numerous scholars who are equally plainspoken. Allen Guelzo, for example, said “The 1619 Project is not history; it is ignorance.” Gordon S. Wood called the project “perverse and distorted.”

At the same time, Wood acknowledges that taking on the 1619 Project is a quixotic quest. “Criticisms of the 1619 Project seem as futile as moths beating their wings against a porch light.” Nikole Hannah-Jones is a celebrity and is “exempt from ordinary forms of accountability.” Regarding the 1619 Project’s slickly-produced advertisement, aired during the Academy Awards, Wood wrote, “Historians publishing articles that detail the numerous inaccuracies in the Times’ pseudohistory are up against a famous, popular, and distinctive singer-actress and a soundtrack that dictates what your feelings should be. It is no contest.”

The New York Times premiered the 1619 Project in August, 2019. The Project consists, inter alia, of newspaper and magazine articles, school curricula, live events, and a podcast. The 1619 Project, Wood notes, has, in a precious touch, its very own font. The goal of the 1619 Project is “to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of the United States’ national narrative.” The 1619 Project is promoted by the National Education Association, The Zinn Education Project / Rethinking Schools, and The Pulitzer Center, among others.

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ISRAEL, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Canada: Open Letter Lobbies Journalists on How to Cover the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict The “woke” agenda that tarnished journalism. Joan O’Callaghan

By on May 21st, 2021

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/05/canada-open-letter-lobbies-journalists-how-cover-joan-ocallaghan/

A letter with nearly 1600 signatories was sent on May 14 to newsrooms across Canada, calling for greater “balance” (code for pro-Palestinian) in coverage of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. The letter began with the observation that covering events in the Middle East is “complicated” but then goes on to imply that newsrooms are cowed by pressure from “outside groups” into favoring the Israelis. This amounted to the latest iteration of the old canard that Jews control the media, a favorite trope of the world’s antisemites. It was rather befitting to the victimhood agenda that has grown steadily to morph real journalism into becoming woke activism over time.

An examination of the signatories of this “open letter” revealed that the vast majority of names have a Middle Eastern ring to them, and most were not media people, although several of the signatories did claim to work in the media.  

The letter of course is ironic because–both nationally and internationally–most media outlets have found ways to present Israel as the villain, the bully beating up on innocent Palestinians, booting them out of their homes and dropping bombs on them.

The journalistic rot began a long time ago and is now in full flower.

Take for example, in his memoirs, Maverick Publisher – J. Patrick O’Callaghan: A Life in Newspapers (Carrick Publishing, 2015), O’Callaghan recalled an April, 1995 annual Canadian Press dinner, where Ralph Klein, former premier of Alberta, was the keynote speaker. Klein maintained that newspapers were obsessed with victim-of-the-week journalism. He cited the case of the Edmonton Journal, which in advance of an Alberta budget had prepared a document for reporters suggesting how they might contextualize the budget items. At the head of the list was the proposal to put the case for those who would be “victimized” by certain budget cuts. In other words, reporters were expected to go out and find “victims.”

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

An Anti-Semitic Hate Wave Grows in Los Angeles “Die Jew” and “Free Palestine.” Daniel Greenfield

By on May 21st, 2021

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/05/antisemitic-hate-wave-grows-los-angeles-daniel-greenfield/

In 2019, hate crimes in LA County against black people fell 13%, hate crimes against gays fell 22%, and hate crimes against Mexicans fell 9%, while hate crimes against Jews rose 18%.

89% of anti-religious hate crimes targeted Jews, only 7% affected Muslims.

If you listened to the media, you would get the opposite impression with coverage that ignored antisemitism to focus on racism, homophobia and Islamophobia. A typical example of what they were ignoring was a Jewish Community Center getting a message “from a man with a Middle Eastern accent that said, ‘I will kill every single Jew. F____ Jews. I will kill every single Jew.’”

Instead, California Democrats moved to impose the ethnic studies curriculum which would embed the teaching of BDS and antisemitic tropes into the educational system.

Jewish protests against this government mandated antisemitism were ignored.

By 2020, the antisemitic wave had moved well beyond words.

During the Jewish holiday of Shavuot (Pentecost), a Black Lives Matter LA hate march marched toward Pan Pacific Park which includes a Holocaust museum. The rally headed by Melina Abdullah, an anti-Israel activist allied with Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam, passed near the Fairfax area and degenerated into a race riot which assaulted Jewish stores and synagogues.

At least one of the synagogues was defaced with graffiti reading, “Free Palestine!”

Aryeh Rosenfeld, an Orthodox Jewish small business owner in the area, described hearing screams of, “F___ Jews” during the riots and looting as he tried to protect his store.

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FOREIGN POLICY, ISRAEL Comments turned off

Biden’s Handlers Get the Ceasefire They Wanted All for the benefit of Hamas. Robert Spencer

By on May 21st, 2021

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/05/bidens-handlers-get-ceasefire-they-wanted-robert-spencer/

He demanded it, and he got it: CNN reported Wednesday that according to the White House, Old Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “‘that he expected a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire’ in the raging violence. The statement was a signal Biden is losing patience with Netanyahu, a leader he has known for four decades.” It’s hard to believe the Most Beloved President in History could hold that coherent a conversation, but whatever may be the truth behind this, Biden’s handlers got their ceasefire. According to Reuters on Thursday, “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said his security cabinet had voted unanimously in favour of a ‘mutual and unconditional’ Gaza truce proposed by Egypt.” Nevertheless, the chief beneficiary of the respite is not Israel, but Hamas.

Taher Al-Nono, media adviser to Hamas top dog Ismail Haniyeh, sounded a decidedly tepid note with a hint of a threat, saying: “The Palestinian resistance will abide by this agreement as long as the Occupation (Israel) does the same.” Abu Ubaida, the spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing, was less successful in hiding his enthusiasm: “With the help of God, we were able to humiliate the enemy, its fragile entity and its savage army.”

Abu Ubaida doesn’t have anything he can point to in order to justify this claim of victory. Netanyahu stated: “They received blows that they didn’t expect. And I have no doubt we set them back years.” There is no reason to doubt his word. While Hamas did succeed in firing more rockets at Israel than ever before, most of them were stopped by the Iron Dome Missile Defense System; few did serious damage. 

However, the chief indication to which Abu Ubaida can point in order to justify his claim that Israel has been humiliated is the fact of the ceasefire itself. This is because an Islamic army, which Hamas undoubtedly is, doesn’t ask for or want a ceasefire unless it is losing. And Hamas, according to Israeli Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen, was “begging for a ceasefire.” 

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ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

U.S. Army to prioritize fight against climate change By Eric Utter

By on May 21st, 2021

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/05/us_army_to_prioritize_fight_against_climate_change.html

The U.S. Army recently released a bulletin stating that it will henceforth be “prioritizing climate change“ in its strategic defense planning. The Defense Department has already established the “Department of Defense Climate Working Group,” a new office that will coordinate the DOD’s ongoing response to the allegedly grave threat that climate change poses to the national security of the United States. I wonder if Greta Thunberg will be heading up the DDCWG.

The Army’s laser focus on climate change appears to be in response to President Biden’s stated agenda of aggressively addressing climate change across governmental bodies and is occurring simultaneously with the culture change being imposed on the U.S. military from the top down. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, for example, fully supports Biden’s emphasis on climate change…as long as it doesn’t take time away from the troops’ mandatory “Diversity, Inclusion and Equity Training,” or their indoctrination into Marxist theory.

This past April, Austin asserted that “climate change is making the world more unsafe and we need to act.” He added, “Today, no nation can find lasting security without addressing the climate crisis. We face all kinds of threats in our line of work, but few of them truly deserve to be called existential. The climate crisis does.”

Am I the only one concerned that the most important military in the world is frightened by climate change?

Austin also noted that his military is committed to electrifying its vehicle fleets and operating more sustainably. What about the cost to build/retrofit, as well as issues with performance and charging time, etc.? All things considered, will these vehicles really be better for the environment? And is that the point of a military?

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EDUCATION Comments turned off

Maryland’s Largest School District Spent $454K in Taxpayer Money on ‘Anti-Racist System Audit’ By Brittany Bernstein

By on May 21st, 2021

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/marylands-largest-school-district-spent-454k-in-taxpayer-money-on-anti-racist-system-audit/

Maryland’s largest school district spent over $454,000 for an “anti-racist system audit,” according to documents obtained by Judicial Watch, while the district’s middle school students were taught that the phrase “Make America Great Again” was an example of “covert white supremacy” that ranks just below “lynching,” hate crimes,” “the N-word” and “racial slurs.”

Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, says it obtained 685 pages of records on Montgomery County Public Schools’ (MCPS) “anti-racist system audit” and critical race theory classes.

The district hired The Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium to conduct the audit, a company that claims its “expertise in using intersectionality as part of its theory of change makes us uniquely positioned to conduct the Anti-Racist Audit and mitigate the root causes of systemic barriers.” 

The documents include Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium’s “anti-racist system audit” proposal, which describes intersectional theory as “people are often disadvantaged by multiple sources of oppression: their race, class, gender identity, native language, sexual orientation, religion, and other identity markers. Intersectionality recognizes that identity markers (e.g. “female” and “Black”) do not exist independently of each other, and that each informs the others, often creating a complex merging of oppression.” 

Meanwhile, students in Thomas Pyle Middle School’s social justice class who were taught that MAGA is an example of white supremacy were also taught that “white privilege” means being favored by school authorities, having a positive relationship with police, “soaking in media blatantly biased toward my race” and “living ignorant of the dire state of racism today.”

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

‘Cut off their heads’: Hamas leader repeats murderous directive to kill Jews Hamas previously walked back similar comments from a leader who said all Jews should be slaughtered. By Susan Katz Keating

By on May 21st, 2021

https://justthenews.com/world/middle-east/cut-their-heads-hamas-leader-re

A senior Hamas leader this month joined a years-long chorus from fellow extremists telling Palestinians to kill Jews using multiple methods, including cutting off their heads with knives, according to translated videos.

In a video released on May 17, the Israel Defense Forces portrayed the latest such demand, from Fathi Hammad, a member of the Hamas Political Bureau. 

“People of Jerusalem, we want you to cut off the heads of the Jews with knives,” Hammad shouted while speaking at a May 7 rally. The video was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). “With your hand, cut their artery from here,” Hammad said. “A knife costs five shekels. Buy a knife, sharpen it, put it there, and just cut off [their heads].”

Leaders of the militant group have for years alternately issued and retracted the deadly instructions. Hammad five years ago called for Palestinians around the world to murder Jews.

“All of you 7 million Palestinians abroad, enough of the warming up,” Hammad said at a 2019 protest near Gaza. “You have Jews everywhere, and we must attack every Jew on the globe by way of slaughter and killing, if God permits.”

Those comments brought condemnation, including from Hamas.

“These statements do not represent the movement’s official positions and consistent, adopted policies that stipulate that our conflict is with the occupation, which is occupying our land and sullying our holy sites, and not with Jews around the world or with Judaism as a religion,” the organization said in a statement posted on its website.

The IDF in its Monday video showed that Hamas leaders consistently have called for Jews to be killed.

The deputy speaker of the Hamas parliament, Ahmad Bahr, in 2012 invoked a wide-ranging curse on his perceived enemy.

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