RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/11/16/englands-shameful-history-blood-libel-compelled-denounce-corbyns/

OnThursdayIjoinedJohnLeCarré,TrevorPhillips,FiyazMughalandmanyothersinsigningaletterexplainingourrefusaltovoteLabouron12December.Theconcern–indeed,thedread–whichweexpressedwas“theprospectofaprimeministersteepedinassociationwithantisemitism.”WhetherJeremyCorbynispersonallyanti-semitic,orwilfullyblind,orboth,Idonotpresumetojudge;butthesheerrangeofhiscontactswithindisputableanti-semites,hisrepeatedexpressionsofenthusiasmforthem,meansthatIhavelongfounditimpossibletoignoretheanxietiesofJewishfriends.

Oneassociationinparticularseemstomebeyondthepale.In2011,writingintheMorningStar,thefutureLabourleadercondemned“theZionistlobby”forsecuringthedeportationfromBritainofaPalestinianactivistnamedRaedSaleh.Ayearlater,CorbynwasstillcampaigningonSaleh’sbehalf,andevenissuedhimaninvitationto“teaontheHouseofCommonsterrace.”Itishardtothinkofanyonelessdeservingofsuchaninvitation.SalehhasbeenconvictedofdeployingthemostrepellantofallthemanycalumniesdirectedagainsttheJewsoverthecenturies:thechargethattheyareinthehabitofmixingchildren’sbloodwiththeirritualbread.

ThisbloodlibeliswidelyrepeatedacrosstheMiddleEasttoday–butitdidnotoriginatethere.ItoriginatedinEngland.Thecontextwasagrowingdreadin12thcenturyChristendomoftheJewsaswillingagentsoftheDevil.Increasinglytheywerefingeredassorcerersandblasphemers:enemiesoftheChurchwho,giventhechance,wouldpollutethesacredvesselsusedintheeucharistwiththeirspit,theirsperm,theirexcrement.Darkestofall,theywerechargedwithmurder.

In1144,thediscoveryofayoungboy’scorpseinawoodoutsideNorwichpromptedahostofsensationalaccusations:thattheboyhadbeenkidnappedbythecity’sJews,torturedasChristhadbeentorturedandofferedupasasacrifice.Thestoryspreadlikewildfire.AssimilartaleswerereportedacrossChristendom,afurtherhellishrefinementwasadded:thattheJews,inagrotesqueparodyoftheeucharist,mixedbloodintotheirbread.

Thatthisclaimwascondemnedasalibelfirstbyanimperialcommission,andthen,in1253,bythepapacyitself,didnothingtostopitsspread.Twoyearslater,thediscoveryinLincolnofasmallboynamedHughatthebottomofawellsawninetyJewsarrestedforthemurderontheordersofthekinghimself.Eighteenofthemwerehanged.Themurderedboywashailedasamartyr.ThatthepapacypointedlyrefusedtoconfirmthiscanonisationdidlittletocheckthegrowthofthecultofLittleSaintHugh.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15208/sweden-milestone

Conditions in Sweden have deteriorated so drastically — with everything from child care to elder care being deprived of funds that are instead being used to feed, clothe and house refugees, faux refugees, and other foreign freeloaders — that many Norwegians worry, with good reason, about a massive spillover of social chaos, poverty and crime from a country with which it shares a thousand-mile-long border.

One is reminded, of course, of the indefensible way in which British authorities handled — or refused to handle — decades of child-rape cases in Rotherham, Rochdale and other cities throughout Britain. But in Sweden — whose distinctive history of ideological conformity and self-image as a “moral superpower”… the readiness to deny unpleasant realities is even more widespread and deep-seated than in the U.K. and other Western European countries.

It was the Social Democrats and Moderates that created Sweden’s current crisis and allowed it to endure and worsen and be considered beyond criticism….

The Sweden Democrats’ triumph, then, may well be at once a genuine milestone in the advance of Swedish democracy and individualism and a mere turn in the road to ultimate cultural displacement.

When I moved to Norway twenty years ago, a term I encountered often was “American conditions” (amerikanske tilstander). It was always used disparagingly. It referred to such things as urban sprawl, strip malls, inner-city gangs, school shootings and private health care. After Barack Obama became president, I heard the term far less frequently — in Norway, after all, you cannot get too rough on a country with a black president, especially a president to whom you have given the Nobel Peace Prize.

Today, even though Trump-bashing — in Norway as in the U.S. — is the media’s favorite sport, the term does not seem to have come back into widespread use, which perhaps has something to do with the fact that the U.S., among other things, now has the world’s strongest economy and staggeringly enviable employment figures. Meanwhile, there is another term that has become increasingly common in Norway: “Swedish conditions” (svenske tilstander). It really took off about two years ago, when Sylvi Listhaug, Norway’s then Minister of Immigration and Integration, used it after visiting some of Sweden’s worst Muslim enclaves — a reaction that outraged politicians and journalists on both sides of the border.

Although recently there has been good news from Sweden — which I will get to shortly — let it be said, at the outset, that the term “Swedish conditions,” when used in Norway, has exclusively negative connotations. While “American conditions” covers a wide range of purported sins, however, “Swedish conditions” means basically one thing, or rather one set of intimately related things: admitting masses of unvetted immigrants from a very different culture into your country, encouraging them to settle in monocultural, autocratic enclaves that become no-go zones, allowing them to sit home collecting generous welfare benefits instead of learning the local language and finding jobs, and punishing even their most brutal crimes with a slap on the wrist — all the while continuing to repeat the mantra that their culture has enriched Sweden and to ignore the glaring reality that Sweden is undergoing a long-term conquest as well as what one Norwegian observer has called “an inferno of violence.”

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15214/iran-nuclear-bomb-months

This marks a dangerous phase in Iran’s nuclear defiance. Tehran is now using a kind of prototype centrifuge that enriches uranium almost 50 times faster.

Although Iran is a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it refuses to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect its sites. The IAEA is also not allowed to inspect or monitor Iran’s military sites where nuclear activities are most likely being carried out.

That is why, before it is too late, which it is fast becoming, it is incumbent on the US and the international community to take seriously Iran’s nuclear advances and urgently address its rush to obtain nuclear weapons.

The Iranian government is shortening its nuclear breakout time — the amount of time required to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for a single nuclear weapon. Tehran has accomplished this through several steps in the last few months.

Iran’s government first increased its enriched uranium stockpile beyond the 300 kilogram limit; it enriched uranium to levels beyond the cap of 3.67 percent, and then activated 20 IR-4 and 20 IR-6 advanced centrifuges. The Iranian leaders even boasted that their government is now exploring new uranium enrichment programs and producing centrifuges.

Most recently, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, declared that Iran has an adequate supply of 20% enriched uranium., “Right now we have enough 20% uranium,” he told the Iranian Students News Agency, ISNA, “but we can produce more as needed”. He added that the country is resuming uranium enrichment at a far higher level at the Fordow nuclear facility — an underground uranium enrichment facility which is reportedly located on one of bases of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC­­) — injecting uranium gas into centrifuges, and operating 60 IR-6 advanced centrifuges.

https://us12.campaign-archive.com/?e=&u=47f17d17778fdf9b4e07c91ad&id=9e716a

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/11/24/former-mi6-chief-calls-jeremy-corbyn-danger-national-security/

https://wp.tomgrossmedia.com/

The former head of MI6 has called Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn a danger to national security who is unfit to lead the country.

Sir Richard Dearlove has written in the Mail on Sunday that Mr Corbyn would pose a “present danger to our country” if he became prime minister and has access to top-secret files.

Sir Richard, who spent 38 years with Britain’s intelligence service, said Mr Corbyn’s past political activities would make him a security risk if he was in possession of such sensitive information.

“Today, in the home of parliamentary democracy, we are faced with the possibility that a leader of the Labour Party who once preferred East Germany’s political and economic model of government could become prime minister,” Sir Richard wrote.

BRITISH CHIEF RABBI: “A NEW POISON – SANCTIONED FROM THE TOP – HAS TAKEN ROOT IN THE LABOUR PARTY”

https://wp.tomgrossmedia.com/

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ephraim-mirvis-what-will-become-of-jews-in-britain-if-labour-forms-the-next-government-ghpsdbljk

Elections should be a celebration of democracy. However, just weeks before we go to the polls, the overwhelming majority of British Jews are gripped by anxiety.

During the past few years, on my travels through the UK and further afield, one concern has been expressed to me more than any other. Of course, the threats of the far right and violent jihadism never go away, but the question I am now most frequently asked is: What will become of Jews and Judaism in Britain if the Labour Party forms the next government?

This anxiety is justified. Raising concerns about anti-Jewish racism in the context of a general election ranks among the most painful moments I have experienced since taking office. Convention dictates that the Chief Rabbi stays well away from party politics — and rightly so. However, challenging racism is not a matter of politics, it goes well beyond that. Wherever there is evidence of it, including in any of our political parties, it must be swiftly rooted out. Hateful prejudice is always wrong, whoever the perpetrator, whoever the victim.

The Jewish community has endured the deep discomfort of being at the centre of national political attention for nearly four years. We have been treated by many as an irritant, as opposed to a minority community with genuine concerns. Some politicians have shown courage but too many have sat silent. We have learned the hard way that speaking out means that we will be demonised by faceless social media trolls and accused of being partisan or acting in bad faith by those who still think of this as an orchestrated political smear. Yet, I ask myself: should the victims of racism be silenced by the fear of yet further vilification?

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15202/iran-tortures-protesters

This internet blackout, according to Iran Human Rights director Amiry-Moghaddam, “might indicate the Iranian authorities’ plans to use even more violence against the protesters.”

On November 22, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Twitter: “The U.S. is sanctioning the Minister of Information and Communications Technology, Mohammad Jahromi, for helping shut down the Iranian internet. We will hold members of the Iranian regime accountable for their violent repression of the Iranian people. #Internet4Iran.”

It is likely that Pompeo’s warnings had a direct effect: the following day, on November 23, NetBlocks confirmed that: “[Internet] connectivity has been restored with multiple fixed-line providers across much of Iran, allowing users to get online via wifi.”

To help the Iranian people, at the mercy of their oppressive regime, the world would do better to emulate the Trump administration’s tough posture. European appeasement and diplospeak only embolden, rather than weaken, tyrants such as those in Iran.

The hundreds of anti-regime protesters and civil rights activists who have been arrested by Iranian security forces since the eruption of mass demonstrations on November 15 — after the government raised the price of gasoline — are in danger of torture, forced confessions and even death sentences.

According to the organization Iran Human Rights (IHR):

“The detainees are held in unknown places, and their families are not informed about their whereabouts. Moreover, there has been a total internet blackout imposed by the authorities making information flow very difficult.

“‘Most of the detainees could not call their families. Their relatives have tried to find out where they are held. They even do not know their beloved ones are dead or alive,’ a well-informed source told IHR.”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/revolutionary-guards-honor-jewish-soldiers-at-religious-memorial-in-iran

Troops, Muslim clerics filmed listening as Kadish is recited for Jewish victims of Iran-Iraq War, highlighting regime’s efforts to appear tolerant

Members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps recently participated in a Jewish religious memorial ceremony for Jewish soldiers, a rare occurrence in a country that is widely accused of persecuting its minorities and which regularly threatens to wipe out the only Jewish state.

In footage broadcast Thursday on Iranian state media, the Revolutionary Guard members could be seen saluting, alongside Muslim clerics, during this week’s memorial service at Tehran’s Jewish cemetery.

Members of the local Jewish community are heard reciting the Kadish mourning prayer in Hebrew, as well as other religious texts, in memory of the 13 Jewish-Iranian soldiers who died during the Iran-Iraq War fought in 1980-1988.

The footage wasn’t particularly surprising for Menashe Amir, a leading expert on Iran, who told the Kan public broadcaster that the Islamic Republic seeks to present itself from time to time as tolerant toward religious minorities by participating in such events, all while continuing to employ harsh policies against them.

Amir said that to be accepted by the Islamic totalitarian regime, the 8,000-strong Jewish community has to work hard to prove to authorities that they are an integral part of Iranian society, and that includes denouncing Israel.

He pointed out that a member of the Jewish community is currently in prison for the sole crime of visiting Israel — the location of Judaism’s most holy sites.

He added that like all Iranian citizens, Jews must serve in the Iranian military due to a mandatory enlistment law.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15198/norway-pakistan

While one can hardly imagine the Pakistani government responding to Norwegian pressure to stop oppressing Ahmadiyya Muslims, Hindus, women, gays, and so on, Pakistan has not hesitated to complain about developments in Norway that offend its delicate cultural sensibilities.

So it was that the representative of a purportedly free country fell all over himself assuring officials of an “Islamic Republic” that, at least when Islam is in the picture, freedom of speech and of assembly in Norway have their limits.

Once again, alas, it appears that when the exercise of fundamental Norwegian freedoms causes offense, the powers that be in Norway have no hesitation about choosing the wrong side.

There has long been what you might call a “special relationship” between Norway and Pakistan. Although they have since been overtaken statistically by Somalis, Iranians, and Iraqis, Pakistanis used to be the major Muslim immigrant group in Norway. The area around the city of Kharian in the Punjab is even known as “Little Norway” because so many people from this region have settled in Norway. Indeed, many of those folks from Kharian, having made a bundle on Norwegian welfare payments or by driving cabs in Oslo, running kebab joints, or whatever, have built veritable palaces back home. They come complete with servants (or near-slaves), and are the principal residences of some of their wives and children and where they themselves spend months at a time.

So many Norwegian voters have “second homes” of this sort in or around Kharian that Norwegian politicians have actually campaigned there. Muslim children born in Norway are routinely sent back to Kharian and environs to go to school — more specifically, to attend the madrassas, or Koran schools — so that they will not be poisoned by Western values. In recent years, Norwegian Muslim politicians and journalists have proposed that the Norwegian government finance at least one school in Kharian for local children who hold Norwegian passports.

Traffic back and forth between the two countries by people with double residency is heavy: if some day you find yourself at Oslo Airport, you will invariably see at least one long line consisting largely of bearded men, women in hijab, and armies of children, each family accompanied by tons of luggage, who are awaiting the next flight to Islamabad, Karachi, or Lahore.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14849/brexit-parliament

What has characterized the last year of UK politics is that individual MPs in the various parties have begun to seek the same freedom of action as US Members of Congress. So far, however, they are both fearful of suffering the same fate as the 21 banned by Johnson and remain inexperienced in the exercise of such freedom.

Johnson now has two alternatives. One is to reinstate the 21. His defenders claim that this would encourage similar defections in the future. The other alternative is to stick to his unpopular decision and risk being dismissed himself by his party. Either way, the unwitting heritage of Johnson may include the end of the tyrannical powers of the UK PM.

The Bank of England in its latest report estimates that the consequences of no-deal on October 31 will be less dire than it thought a year ago, but dire they will be: GDP will shrink by 5.5%, inflation will rise from 2% to over 5%, unemployment will “surge to 7% rather than 7.5%, up from a current 45-year low of 3.8%.” In short, a very healthy economy will turn into a problematic economy. The most worrying problem, however, is that the Bank is engaged in guesswork about an event without precedent. If things turn out much better or much worse than estimated, nobody should be surprised that the Bank got it wrong.

It is remarkable that the UK Parliament has spent almost a year of debates about the Brexit deal agreed by Theresa May’s government and the European Union. Indeed, about one small detail of that deal. We shall briefly describe what that detail is before explaining that the inordinate resulting delay reflects deep and longstanding dysfunction in the whole parliamentary system of the UK.

The deal consisted of two documents, the Withdrawal Agreement (WA, 585 pages) and the Framework for the Future Relationship (FFR, 26 pages). Most of the WA consists of regulations obviously needed for winding up UK participation in EU institutions, settling mutual debts, safeguarding the interests of UK citizens resident in the EU and vice versa, and the like. Even Boris Johnson regards all that as basically good and necessary.