ISRAEL, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Richard Kemp, Hugh Kitson and Simon Isaacs Richard Kemp A British mandate to recognize Israeli sovereignty

Posted By on June 11th, 2020

https://www.jns.org/opinion/on-israeli-sovereignty-in-judea-and-samaria/

“This article is based on a letter written by filmmaker Hugh Kitson, producer of “Whose Land,” retired British Army officer Col. Richard Kemp CBE and the Marquess of Reading to Crispin Blunt, MP, in response to a letter sent to the British prime minister and foreign secretary on 1st May 2020 by members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords claiming that Israel extending its sovereignty to the West Bank would constitute a violation of international law.”

The British government should be supporting the Trump peace process, rather than punishing Israel for exercising a right that was granted to it under international law 100 years ago.

The legal right of the Jewish people to reconstitute their historic homeland was recognized at the San Remo Conference of 1920 and by virtue of the Mandate for Palestine that resulted from it. This was unanimously endorsed by all 51 nations that were in the League of Nations, which then constituted the entire international community.

International lawyer Cynthia D. Wallace writes: “The Mandate system had been set up under Article 22 of the Covenant of the newly formed League of Nations that had arisen out of the Paris peace process to deal with such post-war emerging territories. At San Remo, the Mandate for Palestine was entrusted to Great Britain as a ‘sacred trust of civilization,’ and the language of the Balfour Declaration was enshrined in both the San Remo Resolution and the League Mandate, which stand on their own as valid international legal instruments with the full force of treaty law.”

Wallace is by no means the only international lawyer who recognizes that the right of the Jewish people to reconstitute their national home in their historic homeland was enshrined in international law at San Remo. At the heart of the historic Jewish homeland was the Old City of Jerusalem and the territory today known as “the West Bank.”

Territorially the legal right of the Arabs to self-determination was accorded to them by the Mandates for Syria and Lebanon (under the French), and Mesopotamia—now Iraq—(under the British), and later in Transjordan, which was originally part of the Mandate for Palestine.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

China Will Regret Playing Politics with the U.S. Racial Protests by Con Coughlin

Posted By on June 11th, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16102/china-us-protests

The more Beijing tries to cover its tracks regarding the outbreak, however, and instead continues to indulge in conducting blatant propaganda campaigns against its geopolitical rivals, the more isolated Beijing will become.

Already there are signs in Europe of a hardening attitude towards Beijing. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who angered Washington earlier in the year by pressing ahead with a trade deal with China’s Huawei telecoms giant, has now said he will review the decision, and is planning to introduce legislation that will limit China’s ability to invest in British companies.

The European Union, too, has suddenly found the resolve to stand up to Beijing, voicing its opposition to Chinese plans to rewrite the rules overseeing the administration of the internet which would far better suit Beijing’s totalitarian outlook.

The deeply offensive propaganda war China has launched against the U.S. over the killing of George Floyd is nothing more than a clumsy attempt by Beijing to seek revenge against Washington for supporting pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong.

At the height of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy demonstrations last year, a number of prominent American politicians from both sides of the political divide voiced their support for the campaigners.

In November American President Donald Trump, defying calls from China to block the legislation, signed two bills supporting Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Iran’s Expanding Influence into Iraq’s Christian Areas by Uzay Bulut

Posted By on June 11th, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16094/iran-iraq-christians

“In 2017, after the Nineveh Plains were liberated from ISIS, Iran’s influence started its increase. They now have allied support from Shiite groups in Baghdad… The presence of the Shia Shabak is expanding, particularly in the town of Bartella. They are taking over houses and properties that Christians who fled from ISIS terror left behind.” — Athra Kado, an Assyrian rights advocate, to Gatestone Institute.

“The US, for its national security, should consider Assyrians as its partners, arm and train them effectively as a strong force which will stand in the face of infiltrators.” — Juliana Taimoorazy, the founding president of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council, to Gatestone Institute.

In historically Christian areas post-Islamic State (ISIS) in northern Iraq, the growing influence of Iran, as well as demographic changes, are raising concerns in the local Christian community.

“Iranian pressure exists in the Nineveh Plains either in the areas that are inhabited by the Shia Shabak community or controlled by their militias,” Athra Kado, an Assyrian rights advocate and resident of the town of Alqosh in Iraq, told Gatestone.

Assyrians, the indigenous people of Iraq, make up a distinct ethnic community in the region. The Nineveh Plain is considered the ancient Assyrian heartland and is the only region in Iraq where the largest demographic group is Christian. Assyrians there even have their own security force, the Nineveh Plain Protection Units (NPU). The Nineveh plain currently, however, is mostly divided between the Shia militia and the Sunni Kurdish Peshmerga.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

The Pitfalls, and Promise, of Israel’s Historic Annexation Bid By Seth J. Frantzman

Posted By on June 11th, 2020

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/06/israel-annexation-plan-prime-minister-netanyahu-takes-long-term-risk/

Grasping for a short-term gain, Netanyahu takes a long-term risk.

Facing Israel’s plethora of political parties with different agendas, and with a narrow timeline before U.S. elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is attempting to pass a historic annexation of areas in the West Bank. It would reverse more than 50 years of Israeli policy and potentially damage Israel’s relations with European countries and the few Middle Eastern states it has relations with. Netanyahu is gambling on a symbolic move for his legacy — and taking a huge risk.

On June 8, Netanyahu met with leaders of Israeli communities in the West Bank and tried to spell out what his annexation plan looked like. There were no final maps, and a rushed schedule awaits before the July dates when the governing coalition wants to move forward. How did it come to this? How did Netanyahu, the “Mr. Security” of Israel, heralded as “King Bibi,” lead the country for ten years only to end up scrambling for this legacy?

Israel has annexed before. In 1980, it effectively annexed what was once Jordanian East Jerusalem, as a new law gave hundreds of thousands of Palestinians municipal residency but not citizenship. Israel also extended its laws to the Golan Heights in 1981, enabling members of the Druze minority who live there but are Syrian citizens to get Israeli citizenship. In the West Bank, however, where hundreds of thousands of Jewish Israelis live, Israel has been cautious to upset the status quo. Peace accords signed with the Palestinians in the 1990s were supposed to be a road map to a Palestinian statehood. But that never happened. Instead, wars followed and the Palestinians were divided between their institutions in the West Bank and Hamas-run Gaza.

For decades Netanyahu has warned of the dangers of a Palestinian state that does not renounce terror.

HOMELAND SECURITY Comments turned off

Where is the FBI? By Douglas Herz

Posted By on June 11th, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/06/where_is_the_fbi.html

Today’s Federal Bureau of Investigation is “an intelligence-driven and threat-focused national security organization…to protect the U.S. from terrorism, espionage, cyber attacks, and major criminal threats…” (FBI website). So why isn’t the FBI protecting Americans from Antifa, BLM, and the other terrorists who have taken over so many American cities today?  

What are the priorities of the FBI? At the top of the FBI website is an alert to threats during the COVID-19 pandemic: online exploitation of kids, hacking and scamming, and hate crimes. In other words, while our cities burn and terrorists seek to overthrow our state and federal governments, the FBI is focused on keeping the internet safe.

Is this a joke?

What is the FBI doing? I counted 33 press releases on the FBI website for June 9. These included tax evasion, threatening communications, bank robbery, assault, heroin possession, and child pornography. You get the idea- minor threats to our nation and nothing about terrorists wreaking havoc in Seattle, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, and other cities.

Where is FBI Director Wray? He has not made a single statement, held a press conference, or attended a news program in months, to my knowledge. Typing in his name on the FBI website brings up one reference from 2020, and one reference from 2019. The rest are older. This guy must be working at his job undercover.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Netanyahu’s Defining Moment By Steve Postal

Posted By on June 11th, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/06/netanyahus_defining_moment_.html

Last weekend, thousands of Israelis protested Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to apply Israeli sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria beginning on July 1. The protest was organized by the far-left Meretz party and the communist wing of the Arab Joint List Party (Hadash). The heads of both parties called the sovereignty bid “apartheid.” In a video statement, Bernie Sanders opposed the plan and, again, falsely accused Israel of “occupation.” Sanders has an abysmal record when it comes to Israel.

Despite all the naysayers, Netanyahu has a clear mandate for applying sovereignty, which is Israel’s inalienable right. Israelis support this move in large numbers (50.1 percent according to an Israel Democracy Institute poll, versus 30.9 opposed and 19% not knowing/refusing to answer) and over 60 percent, according to a recent Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security poll. After three years of political deadlock, Netanyahu now leads a unity government that supports sovereignty. By boldly moving forward, Netanyahu can gain a legacy as one of the greatest Israeli prime ministers.

What the Greater Sovereignty Plan Should Look Like

Netanyahu should submit a bill containing the following to the Knesset:

A statement explaining why Israel’s claim to Judea and Samaria, the heartland of the Land of Israel, is not one of “occupation”;
A statement explaining why Israel has a right to build Jewish communities (known to many as “settlements”) in Judea and Samaria;
A statement explaining why Israel should apply sovereignty to most of Judea and Samaria;
A statement explaining why Israel should oppose a Palestinian state; and
A map delineating Netanyahu’s vision of what Israel’s borders should be.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Repudiate the Anti-Police Narrative Comments submitted to the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives in response to the Oversight Hearing on Policing Practices Heather Mac Donald

Posted By on June 11th, 2020

https://www.city-journal.org/repudiate-the-anti-police-narrative

The following is testimony delivered to the House Committee on the Judiciary on June 10.

“It is understandable and appropriate, when viewing the horrific arrest and death of George Floyd, to ask whether we are seeing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to policing and the brutal indifference to human life. The history of law enforcement in the U.S. was interwoven with slavery and segregation. The memory of policing’s complicity with racial oppression cannot be easily erased.

But I urge this committee to reject the proposition that law enforcement today is systemically biased. The evidence does not support that charge. Police officials and officers across the country have expressed their disgust at the chillingly callous behavior seen in the Floyd video. It is a violation of everything that the profession currently stands for. Embracing the systemic bias allegation will only lead to more lives lost to criminal violence; many of them, sadly, will be black. To move from the stomach-churning specificity of Mr. Floyd’s case to broader numbers is jarring. Nevertheless, if the charge against policing is systemic racism, we need to look at the system as a whole.

Policing today is driven by crime data and community demands for help.

CHARLOTTE'S NEWS WEB, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Harvard professor indicted for allegedly making false statements about secret work in Wuhan Amanda Macias

Posted By on June 11th, 2020

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/09/harvard-professor-indicted-for-false-statements-about-work-in-wuhan.html

KEY POINTS

The Justice Department announced the indictment of a Harvard professor after he allegedly made false statements to federal authorities regarding his work at Wuhan University of Technology in China.
Dr. Charles Lieber, 61, the former Chair of Harvard University’s Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department, was arrested in January and is slated to be arraigned in federal court in Boston at a later date.
“It is alleged that, unbeknownst to Harvard University, beginning in 2011, Lieber became a “Strategic Scientist” at Wuhan University of Technology in China,” the Justice Department said in a Tuesday statement.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department announced the indictment of a Harvard professor after he allegedly made false statements to federal authorities regarding his work at Wuhan University of Technology in China.

Dr. Charles Lieber, 61, the former Chair of Harvard University’s Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department, was arrested in January and is slated to be arraigned in federal court in Boston at a later date. The charge of making false statements provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. 

CHARLOTTE'S NEWS WEB Comments turned off

Lessons From 1968 – Has progressive opinion ever lied to itself more? George Parry

Posted By on June 11th, 2020

https://spectator.org/lessons-from-1968r-riots-james-mattis-washington-johnson/

Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.

The next morning, my young bride and I left our apartment in Arlington, Virginia, to drive into Washington. She dropped me off at the Georgetown Law Center and then drove to the Washington Hospital Center, where she worked as a nurse.

In those days, Georgetown Law was located at Fifth and E streets Northwest in Washington. I can’t recall who taught my first class that day. All I remember is that the professor appeared to be on the verge of tears as he spoke to us of King’s assassination and what it said about the state of race relations in America.

My next class was corporate taxation. The professor spoke briefly but soberly about the meaning of King’s death, and then launched into a lecture about the tangled mess that was and remains the U.S. Tax Code.

He was interrupted when the dean of the law center stepped onto the raised dais at the front of the room and spoke quietly to him and then addressed the class.

The dean announced that rioting had broken out in Washington and that classes were canceled until further notice. North and west of the school, mobs were looting and setting fires. For that reason, when we exited the building, we were to move south and east.

My friend Larry and I packed up our books and headed on foot straight for the rioting. Larry’s wife worked at the National Archives, and we were on a mission to rescue her. We also wanted to see the riot up close.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

History proves J Street is wrong on annexation: Moshe Phillips

Posted By on June 11th, 2020

J Street’s leader, Jeremy Ben-Ami, last week tweeted that the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which his group in not a member of, should follow the lead of some of the honchos of the British Jewish establishment and speak out forcefully against Israeli government plans to annex large parts of Judea and Samaria. That is, extend Israeli law formally over land Israel has controlled for more than 50 years and where hundreds of thousands of Israelis already live.

The timing of the announcement—just as Israel was preparing to mark two important historic anniversaries—begs for comment.

J Street is the controversial Washington, D.C.-based Jewish pressure group that was created specifically, and almost exclusively, to lobby for an independent Palestinian state. It was founded by Ben-Ami in 2007. He made his statement on the 53rd anniversary of the outbreak of the Six-Day War and days before the 39th anniversary of “Operation Opera,” in which Israeli fighter jets eliminated former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s under construction nuclear reactor in a daring raid.

Iraq was building a nuclear bomb. In 1981, 14 Israeli Air Force F-16s struck and destroyed the Osirak reactor, nearly 700 miles from Israel’s borders. The successful operation put an end to Hussein’s nuclear program. The United Nations adopted Security Council Resolution 487 criticizing Israel for the attack.
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The strike on Osirak established what has been called the Begin Doctrine (name for Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin), which unconditionally declared that the surprise raid was not a one-time thing. As Begin himself explained in a June 15 interview on CBS’s Face the Nation, “This attack will be a precedent for every future government in Israel. … Every future Israeli prime minister will act, in similar circumstances, in the same way.”

What very few J Streeters know is that Yitshaq Ben-Ami (Jeremy’s father) was a key organizer in the United States for support in the 1940s for Begin’s Irgun underground army.