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November 2022

ISRAEL, MEDIA Comments turned off

Tom Friedman – mistaken or disingenuous? Yoram Ettinger

By on November 17th, 2022

https://bit.ly/3AlEbTL

On November 4, 2022, the New York Times’ Tom Friedman, who reflects the worldview of the State Department’s establishment, lamented that “The Israel we knew is gone.”

Should one rely on T.F.’s assessments concerning the Middle East?

*In September 1993, T.F. welcomed Arafat as a peace-seeking statesman.  He established (an immoral) moral equivalence between a role-model of terrorism, Arafat, and a role-model of counterterrorism, Prime Minister Rabin: “Two hands that had written the battle orders for so many young men, two fists that had been raised in anger at one another so many times in the past, locked together for a fleeting moment of reconciliation.”  T.F. was trapped by Arafat’s strategy of dissimulation (“Taqiyya”), highlighting Arafat’s peaceful English talk, ignoring Arafat’s violent Arabic talk, and playing down Arafat’s unprecedented terroristic walk since the 1993 Oslo Accord.

*In July, 2000, T.F. posed the question: “Who is Arafat? Is he Nelson Mandela or Willie Nelson?” A more realistic question would be: “Who is Arafat? Is he Jack the Ripper or the Boston Strangler?”

*T.F.’s pro-Palestinian stance dates back to his active involvement, while at Brandeis University, in the pro-Arafat radical-Left “Middle East Peace Group” and “Breira’” organizations.  It intensified during his role as the Associated Press’ and New York Times’ reporter in Lebanon. There he played down Arafat’s and Mahmoud Abbas’ rape and plunder of Lebanon, and their collaboration with Latin American, European, African and Asian terrorists, while expressing his appreciation of the PLO’s protection of foreign journalists in Beirut (who responded in kind…).   

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ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

In Letter to Twitter’s Elon Musk 180 NGOs, Civil Rights Groups Call For Adoption of the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism by Sharon Wrobel

By on November 17th, 2022

https://www.algemeiner.com/2022/11/16/in-letter-to-twitters-elon-musk-180-ngos-civil-rights-groups-call-for-adoption-of-the-ihra-definition-of-antisemitism/

In a joint effort, a group of 180 NGOs and civil rights groups from around the world have signed a letter calling on Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism as a tool to help stamp out the persistence of Jew-hatred on the social media platform.

“The world needs an online platform where everyone can participate,” the letter to the billionaire read. “Unfortunately, this is not the case, as Jewish users are subject to unrelenting harassment on Twitter.”

A study published in September by the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism (ISCA) found that between 2019 and 2020, over 2 million tweets about Jews and Israel were antisemitic, with one being posted every twenty seconds in 2020.

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ANTI-SEMITISM, EDUCATION Comments turned off

Harvard University Had Most Campus Antisemitic Incidents Last Year: by Dion J. Pierre

By on November 17th, 2022

https://www.algemeiner.com/2022/11/16/harvard-university-had-the-most-campus-antisemitic-incidents-last-year-report/

Harvard University had the most antisemitic incidents on college campuses during the 2021-2022 academic year, according to a new report investigating previously unexamined ways that anti-Israel activists attack and undermine Jewish identity.

Released on Wednesday by higher education antisemitism monitor AMCHA Initiative, the report, titled “Campus Antisemitism & the Assault on Jewish Identity,” claims that while previous studies have explored whether Jewish students are “safe” on campus, focus must be expanded to look at the ways in which Zionists are becoming increasingly excluded from campus life through classical “tropes of Jewish evil.”

“No other campus identity group is routinely subject to the kinds of well-orchestrated campaigns of identity assault that Zionist and pro-Israel students have had to endure for the last several years across the country,” the report said.  “The threats to Jewish student identity come from their peers, professors, and even school administrators, and reach every corner of campus life — the quad, classrooms, dorm rooms, student newspapers, social media platforms, student government, and more.”

The report cited dozens of antisemitic incidents falling under its categories, including the expulsion of two Jewish women from a support group for sexual assault survivors at SUNY New Paltz, Harvard University’s campus newspaper endorsing the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement and its claim that “Zionism is Racism,” and a campaign against so-called “S***** Zionist Classes” organized by the University of Chicago’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter.

Often prompted by ideas spread by college faculty, antisemitic incidents were likeliest to occur at colleges with large Jewish student populations and increased 100% to 200% percent after Israel’s 2021 conflict with Hamas. Harvard University had the most, 25, scoring the worst in each category of antisemitism examined by the report.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

The FBI has been weaponized against Israel VIDEO Carolyn Glick and Lee Smith

By on November 17th, 2022

https://www.jns.org/the-fbi-has-been-weaponized-against-israel/

On Monday, Israel’s Channel 14 reported that the FBI had informed Israel’s Justice Ministry and the Israel Defense Forces that it had opened a formal criminal probe into the shooting death of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin in May.

Glick and Smith discuss how the administration coerced the outgoing government into accepting responsibility for her death in a firefight between Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists and IDF forces last spring.

Now, two months later, the administration has loosed the FBI on Israel’s soldiers.

Smith says that the Biden administration has weaponized the FBI against its political foes. According to Smith, the move on Israel is in keeping with the administration’s domestic policy.

The author places the administration’s efforts to realign America towards Iran and away from Israel and Saudi Arabia in the context of its treatment of its political foes. He explains the administration’s cognitive continuum between its political enemies and its foreign policy: allied governments that do not share the progressive worldview are lumped in with Biden’s political foes.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Egyptians: We Do Not Want the Islamists to Return to Power by Khaled Abu Toameh

By on November 16th, 2022

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19124/egypt-islamists

The Islamists, in other words, failed in their latest attempt to instigate unrest and violence in Egypt with the hope of returning to power.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and many other Egyptians seem to prefer less democracy and freedom of speech to the return of the Islamists to power.

“The Muslim Brotherhood’s eyes are on [wanting] the authority to control the people who rejected them.” — Moneer Adib, Egyptian counter-terrorism expert, Al-Ain, November 14, 2022.

“They lied to the Egyptians when they said that they were good for Egypt and when they claimed that they had magical solutions to the economic, social and religious problems.” — Ahmed El-Messiri, Egyptian former Muslim Brotherhood member, Al-Ain, November 11, 2022.

Habusha warned that the Islamists’ “desperate attempts” to undermine Egypt and its people are not accepted because the Egyptians said no to the organization 2013.

The collective sigh of relief expressed by Egyptians over the failure of the Islamists to ruin their country and return to power is a refreshing approach in Egypt and other Arab countries. It is good to see that the Egyptians are eager to keep the Muslim Brotherhood away from their lives and centers of power.

It now remains to be seen whether the Palestinians will follow suit and get rid of the Iranian-backed Islamists in the Gaza Strip, where they have destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinians. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad continue to hold the two million Palestinians of the Gaza Strip hostage, offering them terror attack tunnels and weapons instead of schools and hospitals.

It also remains to be seen whether the apologists in the West who continue to search for ways to appease Iran’s mullahs and other Islamists will learn from the Egyptians’ horrific experiences and distance themselves from the terrorists.

Is the banned Muslim Brotherhood organization trying to return to power in Egypt?

Many Egyptians believe that the Muslim Brotherhood was behind calls to Egyptians to hold nationwide protests during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27), which is now in progress at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh. The Islamists, they say, justified their call by arguing that the planned demonstrations were designed to protest human rights violations and bad economic conditions in Egypt.

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MEDICINE AND HEALTH Comments turned off

Legal Complaint Takes On California Law Mandating Doctors Comply With ‘COVID-19 Consensus’ By Stacey Lennox

By on November 16th, 2022

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/stacey-lennox/2022/11/15/legal-complaint-takes-on-california-law-mandating-doctors-comply-with-covid-19-consensus-n1646080

A new California law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom empowers the Medical Board of California to discipline physicians who “disseminate” information regarding COVID-19 that departs from the “contemporary scientific consensus.” The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group, filed a complaint and motion for a preliminary injunction in Hoeg, et al. v. Newsom, et al., asking the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California to prevent the law, AB 2098, from going into effect.

The NCLA represents five physicians licensed by the Medical Board of California (MBC), most of whom treat patients on a regular basis. Drs. Hoeg, Duriseti, Kheriaty, Mazolewski, and Khatibi allege Assembly Bill (AB) 2098, signed into law on September 30, 2022, violates their First Amendment rights to free speech and their Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process of law.

NCLA attorney Jenin Younes says the new law targets the doctor-patient relationship. The law also practices viewpoint discrimination and creates a severe chilling effect in direct violation of the First Amendment. AB 2098 subjects plaintiffs to discipline and negative professional consequences, including loss of license, for conveying non-consensus messages to their patients. It has already been used as a weapon to intimidate and punish doctors who dissent from mainstream views. Several plaintiffs have experienced threats on social media from doctors and individuals willing to use AB 2098 to take their licenses away.

According to Younes, in safeguarding Americans’ rights to free speech and expression, the First Amendment applies to individuals expressing majority opinions and minority views. The U.S. Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit precedents protect speech uttered in the context of the doctor-patient relationship, recognizing a state interest in free and open communication between doctors and patients. AB 2098 also deprives Plaintiffs’ patients of their First Amendment rights to receive advice and hear treatment options unfettered by professional discipline fears.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Mob Rule and the Death of Trust America’s elites use lies about race, gender, health, climate, environment, and energy to gut the middle class, explode the dependent class, and transfer trillions into their own pockets. By Edward Ring

By on November 16th, 2022

https://amgreatness.com/2022/11/15/mob-rule-and-the-death-of-trust/

It’s been clear to millions of Americans for decades that the media was biased, that the Democratic Party and their government employee union allies controlled and corrupted big city elections, and that the “climate crises” and the threat of “white supremacy” were being oversold. These and other annoyances were perennial. But for many skeptics, the level of mistrust remained tolerable. The system itself was resilient. Nothing is perfect. The tide can turn. The good guys could still win. The 2015 arrival of Donald Trump on the national political scene changed the rules. The system not only revealed itself to be even more fraudulent than most people had previously believed, but it became malevolent.

For over six years, representatives of every established institution in the country have stereotyped Americans who voted for President Trump as bigots, idiots, ignoramuses, haters, psychopaths, and traitors. The virulence of this condemnation has escalated each year, culminating during the 2022 mid-term election cycle with a full-court press to tag anyone who supports the former president as a fascist and and potential “domestic terrorist.”

Those who openly proclaimed their support for Trump, even if they expressed themselves with tact and rational arguments, focusing on his policies, and even while acknowledging Trump’s often confrontational persona, lost lifelong friends and faced threats to their livelihood. By the millions, they were made to feel unwelcome in their own country.

Anger breeds anger. Contempt breeds contempt. With Newtonian certainty, the disgust has become mutual. But on one side, with rare exceptions, the entire institutional weight of the most powerful nation in the world has lined up. The media, the search engine and social media platforms, the entertainers, the teachers and professors, the corporations, the government agencies, the politically active billionaires: Almost all of them proclaim Trump supporters to be horrible, dangerous people.

This asymmetrical assault is personal and profoundly alienating. Perhaps more than 100 million Americans now believe, with good reason, that they have been completely rejected by the nation in which they grew up.

Trump didn’t attract millions of Americans to support him because of his bombastic attacks on his opponents in politics and the media. That was comedic relief. Trump’s instant and enduring popularity owes to the way he speaks for millions of people who feel betrayed by the institutions they need to trust. Trump’s resiliency offers inspiration to them as he defies a mob that has destroyed the lives of countless individuals who dare to challenge a growing assortment of absurdities.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Leftists are dangerously dehumanizing their political opponents By Al Bienenfeld

By on November 16th, 2022

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/11/leftists_are_dangerously_dehumanizing_their_political_opponents.html

On November 3, Sunny Hostin, a cohost on The View, said, “White suburban women voting for Republicans are like roaches voting for the bug spray Raid.” Her hostility supposedly stemmed from Republican opposition to abortion. A co-panelist Alyssa Farah Griffin pointed out her previous opposition to abortion based on her Catholic faith, but Hostin was not deterred. On the one hand, this is a silly spat on a silly show. On the other hand, it matters a great deal when someone with a national platform likens people to insects.

Hostin’s language is similar to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, in 2018, referring to Jews as termites. Of course, Farrakhan is a hateful man who’s made a living from hate. He stopped attending college after three years and briefly made a living as a Calypso singer known as “Calypso Gene” before embracing his calling. He has generously expressed hatred of whites, Jews, and homosexuals. Hostin, however, has a different resume. She is a lawyer and has been in the media for a long time, including as a senior legal analyst for ABC News.

Two very different people but both doing something extremely dangerous, which is to dehumanize people. David Livingstone Smith has dedicated an entire book to this problem: Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others. Smith argues that it is important to define and describe dehumanization because it is what opens the door to cruelty and genocide: “During the Holocaust, Nazis referred to Jews as rats. African Hutus involved in the Rwanda genocide called Tutsis cockroaches. Slave owners throughout history considered slaves subhuman animals.”

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ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

There Will Be No Climate Amnesty What the globalist elite’s climate cult is actually really about. by Jason Isaac

By on November 16th, 2022

https://www.frontpagemag.com/there-will-be-no-climate-amnesty/

“Let them eat cake,” famously attributed to Marie Antoinette by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, has become universal shorthand for a monarch’s total disregard for her famished citizens stealing and wreaking havoc in the streets to survive. World leaders are making the same faux pas this week at their opulent stay in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, for COP27, the United Nations’ climate change conference.

While they eat the best food in the world and enjoy luxurious tourism opportunities, they will leave the conference telling billions of people that the only way to combat the “climate crisis” is to stop eating meat, stop production of fossil fuel-based fertilizer, and, well, stop eating entirely. The Malthusian climate cult isn’t about saving the world — it’s all about depopulation.

When the world gets tired of the lies and energy poverty, will those leaders want a “climate amnesty,” like the pandemic amnesty now desperately sought by U.S. leaders who shut down schools? Probably. But they don’t deserve it.

There are nearly eight billion people who will be affected by the COP27 convention. Of those, 800 million people still live in dire poverty without access to any electricity. 3.3 billion people have access to less electricity than the average American refrigerator. While the 30,000 globalist elites bend the knee to the false god of the net-zero agenda, billions face hunger and lack of fuel needed to keep warm this winter. This scarcity is driven by the decarbonization agenda that has permeated the political elite class around the world.

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ELECTIONS Comments turned off

How Could John Fetterman Have Won? Every possible answer is bad in a different way. by Robert Spencer

By on November 16th, 2022

https://www.frontpagemag.com/how-could-john-fetterman-have-won/

It’s hardly even believable: the stuttering, sputtering John Fetterman, a stroke victim who only rarely manages to utter a complete sentence, coasted to victory in the Pennsylvania Senate race. Like Joe Biden, Fetterman is so clearly unfit for his new job that no sane person could possibly think otherwise; it boggles the mind to think that any Pennsylvania voter could have seen any of Fetterman’s incoherent ramblings over the last few weeks, both in his debate with Dr. Mehmet Oz and in his campaign rallies, and thought, “That’s the man I want representing Pennsylvania in the Senate.” But Fetterman will show up in the Senate in January — if someone can guide him to where it is — and all the explanations of why this ridiculous charade is set to happen are bad in different ways.

The immediate possibility, of course, is that Fetterman’s victory is due to chicanery at the ballot box. Over at Townhall, Mia Cathell reported Wednesday that “in an undercover video filmed by Project Veritas Action (PVA) journalists at a Philadelphia polling location, Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe alleges that the investigative group’s journalists were told whom to vote for mere feet outside of one of the city’s polling places. Two of the interactions were captured on camera.” The person telling voters how to vote was, of course, a Democrat Party operative. O’Keefe explains, “This is referred to as electioneering.” It’s also illegal.

This is striking, but it isn’t evidence of large-scale ballot box tampering. In a clear sign that they suspected they would have to cheat in order to win, the Fetterman camp filed suit the other day to have ballots counted even if they were marked with the wrong date. But as it turns out, they didn’t even need the tainted ballots to put their man over the top. So what does explain the victory of a candidate who is without any doubt the least competent and capable individual ever to stand as a candidate for the United States Senate?

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