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December 2023

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Hamas’ Child Hostages The ancient horrors have returned. by Kenneth R. Timmerman

By on December 7th, 2023

https://www.frontpagemag.com/hamas-child-hostages/

For at least two generations, Israelis have felt secure in the knowledge that the horrors of the Holocaust were behind them. Safe behind border walls and protected by a powerful military, Jews in Israel would never again have to watch as children were murdered in front of their parents, and parents in front of their children.

October 7 changed all that – dramatically.

The Hamas-led killing spree of that day brought Hitler’s willing executions through the gates of Israel. Suddenly, nowhere was safe anymore.

I have spent the past week in Israel, researching a film on Israel Defense Force (IDF) soldiers with filmmaker Ricky Schroder and his producer, Julie Trammel.

From the very moment I arrived, the presence of the missing – Israelis ripped from their homes by Hamas terrorists – was everywhere. The broad stairs leading down to immigration at Ben Gurion airport were marked with the faces of the missing – on both sides of the hall. On some of the hundred-plus steps, the poster had been taken down to indicate hostages who had been released after more than fifty days of captivity.

By the time I left five days later, the gaps were bigger, as more returnees came home. But more than 136 remained by the time Hamas broke the temporary truce on December 1.

On Ditzengoff Street, one of the main thoroughfares of Tel Aviv, human-sized white teddy bears were strapped to every park bench, their bodies spattered with dirt and blood. Attached to each was a poster of one of the missing.

In Jerusalem, office buildings were lit up with the Israeli flag and holographic projections of the missing, rotating every few seconds.

During that week, we began to learn more about the horrors the hostages had undergone during their Hamas captivity.

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ANTI-SEMITISM, EDUCATION Comments turned off

University Presidents’ Abhorrent Hypocrisy on Anti-Jewish Speech

By on December 7th, 2023

https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/12/university-presidents-abhorrent-hypocrisy-on-anti-jewish-speech/

All of a sudden, America’s elite universities have started to sound like John Stuart Mill. Asked yesterday by Representative Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) whether students who call for “intifada” or shout “from the river to the sea” were acting “contrary to Harvard’s code of conduct,” Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay, struck a notably enlightened pose. Such “hateful, reckless, offensive speech,” Gay insisted, was “abhorrent” to her personally, and “at odds with the values of Harvard.” But she could not in good conscience move to do anything about it, given Harvard’s “commitment to free expression even of views that are objectionable, offensive, hateful.”

Ah.

The first problem with Gay’s answer (which was not fixed by a subsequent clean-up attempt) is that it is a brazen lie. Harvard does not, in fact, “embrace a commitment to free expression.” It does not tolerate views that its speech police consider to be “objectionable, offensive, hateful.” And, as the plain language of its own policies makes clear, it does not endure opinions that are contrary to its “values.” There is, of course, a strong case to be made for the university as an incubator of all ideas. Were Harvard known for a consistent liberalism, it might be able to defend the indulgence of students who chant “intifada” at their peers. But Harvard is not known for any such thing. On the contrary: Harvard is known for sanctioning scholars, for revoking acceptances, for disinviting academics, and for having created an environment in which students feel unable to share their beliefs. Per the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), Harvard’s score in the Free Speech Rankings is an “abysmal” “0.00 out of a possible 100.00.” In its latest evaluation, FIRE accorded Harvard a “-10.69,” which, the outfit recorded, is “more than six standard deviations below the average and more than two standard deviations below the second-to-last school in the rankings, its Ivy League counterpart, the University of Pennsylvania.”

Pressed by lawmakers, the president of Penn, M. Elizabeth Magill, was equally keen to wax lyrical about the joys of permissive deliberation. Judging whether or not to crack down on those who demand the genocide of Jews, Magill proposed, is “a context-dependent decision.” “If the speech becomes conduct,” she concluded, “it can be harassment.” This, too, is a defensible standard. Indeed, this is the standard that has been applied by the Supreme Court in the ruling that currently governs the limits of free expression, Brandenburg v. Ohio. But it is not Penn’s standard. Per FIRE, Penn has a “very poor” record on speech, ranking 247th out of 248. Worse still, FIRE reports, one’s experience at Penn is heavily dependent upon one’s political bent. For “liberals,” the school is ranked 32nd in the country. For “conservatives,” it sits at 220th. How’s that for “context-dependent”?

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ELECTIONS Comments turned off

A Desperate Debate Ends in a Draw: Noah Rothman

By on December 7th, 2023

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/a-desperate-debate-ends-in-a-draw/

What may be the final debate of the Republican primary cycle — indeed, possibly the final debate of the 2024 election cycle — generated more heat than light on Wednesday night. Voters were presented with a Rorschach test. Each candidate hit their notes and met expectations, so voters who watched the debate probably saw exactly what they wanted to see — whatever that meant to them.

Voters who like Ron DeSantis saw him at his best. For the first time in this cycle, DeSantis ran like he was behind in the polls — a prudent calculation, because he very much is. DeSantis didn’t sit back, absorb blows, and stick to his message. Instead, he picked fights, with Nikki Haley in particular, some of which he won. He hammered his closest competitor on transgenderism and the need to prohibit in law access to surgical or pharmaceutical remedies for gender dysphoria in minors. He backed a muscular foreign policy, exhibited his encyclopedic knowledge of policy, and promised convincingly to be a reformer rather than a caretaker in the Oval Office. It was DeSantis’s best primary-debate performance by far.

If you aren’t inclined toward DeSantis, you had plenty to chew on, too. Chris Christie dissected him with the surgical acumen he once applied to Marco Rubio, savaging the governor for being evasive — a charge DeSantis confirmed with his habitual evasions. The Florida governor lent credence to vaccine skepticism, attacked American law-enforcement agencies for prosecuting “one of the biggest abuses of power in our history,” and refused to be pinned down on his commitment to Taiwan’s defense. Even DeSantis’s source of presidential inspiration, Calvin Coolidge, sounded insincere. That nod to the principle of radically limited constitutional government was welcome, but Coolidge’s aversion to the application of state power as a remedy for political controversies or even natural disasters does not bear even a passing resemblance to DeSantis’s record in Florida. That inauthenticity contributed to a conclusion you’ve likely already drawn about the governor.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Joe Biden offers bald-faced lies to all of America about his family affairs Miranda Devine

By on December 7th, 2023

https://nypost.com/2023/12/06/opinion/joe-biden-is-lying-to-all-of-america-about-his-family-affairs/

A miracle occurred Wednesday. 

President Biden was asked about his involvement in his family’s shady influence peddling schemes at a White house press conference. 

The reporter who asked the question, you won’t be surprised to know, was The Post’s own White House correspondent Steven Nelson — and the only reason he was allowed to ask a question at all was because it happened to be the day when it was his turn to be the reporter assigned by the White House Correspondents Association to represent the rotating “pool” of journalists at White House events and share his information with the other media outlets. 

“President Biden, on Ukraine and also China, there’s polling by the Associated Press that shows that almost 70% of Americans, including 40% of Democrats, believe that you acted either illegally or unethically in regard to your family’s business interests. Can you explain to Americans, amid this impeachment inquiry, why you interacted with so many of your son and brother’s foreign business associates?” 

The president’s eyes narrowed, and his lip curled: “I’m not going to comment on that. I did not. And it’s just a bunch of lies.” 

Nelson followed up: “You didn’t interact with any of their business associates?” 

Prez denies & ditches 

Biden spoke over him: “They’re lies,” he said, before answering: “I did not. They’re lies.” 

Then he turned and walked out of the press conference. 

So, there you have it.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

Israel Must Finish the Job in Gaza The future viability of Zionism now hangs on Netanyahu’s next moves By Josh Hammer

By on December 7th, 2023

https://amgreatness.com/2023/12/04/israel-must-finish-the-job-in-gaza/

For a week now, the world has watched a high-stakes, emotionally draining, and dangerous game being played out in Gaza. What began as a mediated four-day “truce” and swap of 50 Israeli civilians held hostage by Hamas in exchange for 150 convicted Palestinian-Arab terrorists has now been dragged out much further. Hamas, unusually self-aware for a jihadist outfit, has savvily dangled the possibility of the release of ever-more hostages in exchange for further “truce” extensions. Israel, which so greatly values human life that it once infamously bartered over 1,000 terrorists in exchange for captured soldier Gilad Shalit, is all but forced to go along.

But as tantalizing as it is to see more hostages reunited with their families, there are extraordinary costs if Israel prolongs these swaps and continues to indulge the fantasy of a “ceasefire.”

There is the concrete threat of the convicted terrorists freed from Israeli prison. Among those freed during the Shalit swap was Yahya Sinwar, the current leader of Hamas in Gaza (he is subordinate to Hamas’ Doha-based top brass) and mastermind of the Oct. 7 pogrom. On Thursday, in his first publicized statement since the assault, Sinwar minced no words: “The leaders of (Israel) should know, Oct. 7 was just a rehearsal.” That’s quite a threat. How many future Yahya Sinwars have already been freed this go-around? The Times of Israel noted that 55% of the first 117 terrorists released during the current swaps had been held for violent crimes, including attempted murder; 21% belonged to a jihadist outfit.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Pro-Terrorist Mobs Run Wild in New York City “Marchers who have joined the Within Our Lifetime rallies in recent weeks have vandalized buildings like the New York Public Library, including spraying graffiti and breaking glass doors” by Mike LaChance

By on December 7th, 2023

https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/12/pro-terrorist-mobs-run-wild-in-new-york-city/

Mobs of people waving Palestinian flags and holding signs ran wild in New York City this weekend. Police unsuccessfully tried to contain the crowds at certain points, but the mob was allowed to advance, for the most part.

This type of activity is only increasing, and the temperature keeps rising. The city needs to take control.

Pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets of New York City again Saturday, storming Times Square after they were rebuffed as they tried to enter the American Museum of Natural History for the second weekend in a row.

The protest, which started at the Upper West Side museum at 2 p.m., included the expectation that demonstrators would enter the institution two hours later for an “anti-colonial tour.”

Around 200 anti-Israel demonstrators gathered outside the museum by 4 p.m., carrying signs and chanting, “Free Palestine,” along with antisemitic slogans like, “there is only one solution, Intifada revolution.”

Within Our Lifetime, the group that organized Saturday’s protest, asked demonstrators to show up to the museum in “small groups” adorned with Palestinian flags and banners, according to an Instagram post…

Marchers who have joined the Within Our Lifetime rallies in recent weeks have vandalized buildings like the New York Public Library, including spraying graffiti and breaking glass doors…

They were also seen going into the Shops at Columbus Circle, another spot they targeted last week.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Trump Just Won Tom Friedman’s Vote

By on December 7th, 2023

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/12/07/trump-just-won-tom-friedmans-vote/

“What if we could just be China for a day? I mean, just, just, just one day. You know, I mean, where we could actually, you know, authorize the right solutions, and I do think there is a sense of that, on, on everything from the economy to environment.” – New York Times columnist Tom Friedman on “Meet the Press,” May 2010

“I love this guy. He says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’ I said: ‘No, no, no, other than day one. We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.’” – Donald Trump on Fox News, December 2023.

Leftists in the press have been falling over themselves lately to warn Americans that a second Trump term in the White House would usher in an era of dictatorship.

The Hill reports that “The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and The New York Times each published stories referencing a ‘Trump dictatorship’ in recent days, arguing a new Trump presidency posed a threat to democracy.”

Alleged Republican Liz Cheney warned that the U.S. is “sleep-walking into dictatorship.”

Robert Kagan wrote “A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending.”

It’s almost as if the left has a central clearinghouse where they get their daily talking points.

Whatever the reason, the left must be genuinely worried about the polls showing Donald Trump beating Joe Biden to start resorting to hysterical rhetoric like this. And since his opponents have already accused him of being a Russian stooge, a liar, a racist, a tax cheat, a traitor, an authoritarian, and an insurrectionist, they need something stronger to capture the public’s attention.

But our question is this: Since when did the left start hating dictatorships?

It’s the left, after all, that has had a long and storied string of romances with actual dictators.

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EDUCATION Comments turned off

DEI Drives Campus Antisemitism Gerrymandering Jews into an ‘oppressed’ class won’t save universities from a malevolent ideology. By Heather Mac Donald

By on December 7th, 2023

https://www.wsj.com/articles/dei-drives-campus-antisemitism-harvard-ivy-ackman-israel-bds-b19ebd12?mod=opinion_lead_pos5

Tuesday’s House hearing on campus antisemitism ratcheted up the pressure on American universities: counter the anti-Israel vitriol that exploded in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack or risk losing philanthropic and government support. The leading approach is sure to fail: doubling down on the ideologies and practices that led to the pro-Hamas fever in the first place.

Bill Ackman, the hedge-fund manager leading a Harvard donor revolt, told CNBC on Nov. 6 that he hadn’t previously read Harvard’s DEI statement. Though he had assumed DEI was “for all marginalized groups,” once he read the statement, he realized that “the DEI program at Harvard is limited to specific groups and exploits others.” Instead, Mr. Ackman suggested, DEI should cover all minorities, including Jews and Asians.

Jon Huntsman Jr. halted his contributions to the University of Pennsylvania on Oct. 15 to protest its leaders’ silence in the face of “hate,” which higher ed was “built to obviate.” An open letter to Penn President Liz Magill initiated by alumnus Marc Rowan called for mandatory antisemitism awareness training across the university. The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law has demanded that Penn add modules on antisemitism to the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion trainings.

College leaders are happy to oblige. As Ms. Magill told lawmakers Tuesday, Penn has created an Action Plan to Combat Antisemitism and a University Task Force on Antisemitism. Since antisemitism is “interconnected” to “other forms of hate,” Ms. Magill explained in a Nov. 1 message, Penn is also rolling out a presidential commission on Islamophobia. The university must do better to “reject hate in all its forms,” she said on Nov. 1.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Why Are Islamists Claiming Non-Muslim Land? by Uzay Bulut

By on December 6th, 2023

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20203/why-are-islamists-claiming-non-muslim-land

For at least the past five years, the government of Turkey has threatened to invade and annex Greek islands in the Aegean Sea.

The Turkish media continues to falsely and repeatedly claim that “152 Greek islands and islets in the Aegean belong to Turkey”. These islands, however, historically and legally… belong to Greece.

Since its inception in Arabia in the seventh century, Islam has spread throughout the world by means of the sword. According to the Islamic law, the world is divided into the “dar al-Islam” (territory of submission to Allah), which denotes regions where Islam prevails, and the “dar al-harb” (territory of war), which refers to non-Muslim lands, yet to be conquered.

Islamists believe that once Islamic colonialism and occupation has taken place, the land conquered is forever Islamic…. Islamic supremacists such as Erdogan believe that because Thessaloniki was once under the occupation of the Islamic Ottoman Empire, it is a Muslim land eternally and must be returned to its rightful owner.

Jerusalem… was also under Ottoman occupation for four centuries (1517-1917). The Jewish people, however, reversing that pattern of Islamic colonialism and imperialism, re-established their homeland, now Israel, in 1948. Islamic supremacists still have not healed from the perceived affront by Israel’s indigenous people to Islamic conquest.

Islamists therefore say they want to reconquer Jerusalem and the rest of Israel. According to doctrine, the only religion that should rule over these lands – or any lands, for that matter — is Islam. Christians and Jews could be only “dhimmis”, second-class, tolerated subjects of an Islamic state where they are only allowed to stay alive on sufferance by paying a high “protection” tax, the jizya.

Theologically, according to Islamic scriptures, Judaism and Christianity are merely distorted versions of Islam. In the Islamic view, originally there was only Islam, which the Jews and Christians later distorted into Judaism and Christianity. All history, in this mindset, is therefore originally Islamic history and all major figures of history such as Adam and Eve are therefore Muslim. All Biblical figures, according to Islam, such as Abraham, David, Moses, and Jesus are also Muslim. So, any place related to them, in that view, is Muslim territory.

Many others see these events as the Jews, who were the indigenous population of Canaan and Judea, having had their land “stolen” by the Ottomans, similarly to how the Turkish military invaded the northern part of the Republic of Cyprus in 1974, or how the Christian Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire was “stolen” by Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II and his troops on May 29, 1453 when they stormed Constantinople and triumphantly entered the Cathedral of the Hagia Sophia, after besieging the city for 55 days.

Many Islamists are therefore obsessed with conquering Israel, Spain and Portugal (al-Andalus), Greece, Cyprus and India for Allah – then the rest of the non-Muslim world.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Newsom Cancels Public Christmas Tree–Lighting amid Planned Pro-Palestinian Protests By Haley Strack

By on December 6th, 2023

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/newsom-cancels-public-christmas-tree-lighting-amid-planned-pro-palestinian-protests/

California governor Gavin Newsom will conduct tonight’s Christmas tree–lighting at California’s state capitol virtually, amid threats from pro-Palestinian protesters.

The Sacramento Regional Coalition for Palestinian Rights announced that it would protest at the state capitol on Tuesday night — the same night Newsom was set to direct the annual Christmas tree–lighting ceremony. The group told KCRA Channel 3 that it wants to “out governor Gavin Newsom for hiding from the public because he doesn’t want to face their anger at his shameful stance in regard to the genocide in Gaza.”

“Governor Newsom decided to cancel the tree-lighting ceremony rather than face the public that is enraged by his shameful silence on the genocide in Gaza. This certainly doesn’t add up with his past stance with Native Americans,” Yassar Dahbour of the Sacramento Regional Coalition for Palestinian Rights said.

According to the local outlet, California Highway Patrol’s permit calendar originally slated a tree-lighting ceremony for Tuesday evening but had removed the event from the calendar as of Tuesday morning. The ceremony will now be held remotely, and California Highway Patrol has barricaded the area where the tree is located. Signage around the capitol building warns that trespassers will be arrested and prosecuted.

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