US-Israel relations: deterioration or enhancement? Ambassador (Ret.) Yoram Ettinger

http://bit.ly/3XrrDUV

Notwithstanding the current tension between the Administrations of the US and Israel, and while there is an erosion in Israel’s high favorability among Americans (according to Gallup: Israel’s favorability – 68% compared to 71% in 2022; Palestinian Authority’s – 26%), the US-Israel defense and commercial cooperation keeps expanding.

This expansion responds to mutual threats and challenges, such as Iran’s Ayatollahs, Sunni Islamic terrorism, the vulnerability of all pro-US Arab regimes, and the need to bolster the US’ global, technological competitive edge. Facing these threats and challenges, the US is leveraging Israel’s unique defense and commercial capabilities, which have contributed to the US economy and defense – in dollar terms – more than the annual US “foreign aid” to Israel.
The mutually-beneficial US-Israel partnership has been a derivative of the following factors:

1. US-Israel relations transcend the reality of international relations, in general, and US foreign relations, in particular.  US foreign relations are usually determined by the State Department establishment and the “elite” media, streaming in an up-bottom manner to the public.

However, in the case of the US policy towards Israel, the direction of the policy has been determined by the general public’s state-of-mind – which has prevailed since the Early Pilgrims and the Founding Fathers – streaming in a bottom-up manner to elected officials in the House, Senate and White House.  Moreover, US elected officials are accountable to their constituents, who expect them to faithfully represent their worldview (including their pro-Israel sentiments), or “we shall remember in November.”

2. While the White House tends to adopt the State Department’s worldview – which opposed the establishment of Israel in 1948, and has criticized Israel since then – both chambers of Congress (which are the most authentic representatives of the US constituency in the 435 Districts and 50 States) welcomed the newly-established Jewish State in 1948, and have always favored enhanced US-Israel cooperation. Furthermore, the US Congress is the world’s strongest Legislature, co-equal and co-determining to the President, capable of blocking, altering and initiating policy, as demonstrated by a litany of precedents, such as:

*Congress overruled Nixon and Reagan, ending the US military involvement in Southeast Asia (1973), Angola (1976) and Nicaragua (1984);
*Congress prevailed over Nixon (1974), forcing the USSR/Russia to allow free emigration;
*Congress overrode Clinton, Obama and Trump (1996-97, 2011, 2013, 2017), imposing sanctions on Iran, Egypt and Russia;
*The Senate did not ratify the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran (JCPOA), which enabled Trump to withdraw from the accord;
*Congress substantially expanded US-Israel strategic cooperation, in defiance of the Bush/Baker opposition (1990-1992);
*Etc.

Dr. Anthony Fauci joins Georgetown University as ‘distinguished’ professor By Victor Nava

https://nypost.com/2023/06/26/dr-anthony-fauci-joins-georgetown-university-as-distinguished-professor/

Dr. Anthony Fauci has landed a job at Georgetown University where he will serve as a “distinguished university professor” in the school’s infectious disease division.

“We are deeply honored to welcome Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, a dedicated public servant, humanitarian and visionary global health leader, to Georgetown,” Georgetown President John J. DeGioia said on Monday.

“Dr. Fauci has embodied the Jesuit value of being in service to others throughout his career, and we are grateful to have his expertise, strong leadership and commitment to guiding the next generation of leaders to meet the pressing issues of our time.”

Fauci, 82, stepped down as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and as President Biden’s chief medical adviser late last year after more than 50 years working in the federal government.

“I think what I have to offer is experience and inspiration to the younger generation of students,” Fauci said of his decision to take the job at Georgetown. 
Georgetown University

As distinguished university professor – Georgetown’s highest professional honor – Fauci will work in the Washington, D.C., university’s medical school, in a division that “provides clinical care, conducts research and trains future physicians in infectious diseases.”

Fauci will also hold an appointment in the university’s school of public policy.

Signs of Decay, Fears of Decline. Part Five Victor Davis Hanson

https://victorhanson.com/signs-of-decay-fears-of-decline-part-five/

Theft, of course, characterized failed societies. In the last four years America has become a nation of thieves. No need to chart the spiraling crime rate. More interesting is the reaction to it and the effects on the dying citizens who play by the rules. Here are the symptoms of a thieving America.

a. Store closures. At some point shoplifting and smash-and-grab are so frequent, so brazen, so exempt from any consequences, that stores simply shut down and moved out.

Have you noticed what they post on their plywood windows or locked doors or release to the press? There is usually zero mention of vandals and thieves. Instead, the bureaucratese informs us that “Unfortunately changed conditions necessitate the closure of our downtown location. We appreciate the patronage of our customers and look forward to continuing to serve you in our other locations.” = “We were robbed blind here. The police hardly care. The city far less. So we are out of this godforsaken place.”

b. Prison shelves. Have you been in a big-city California Walgreens, CVS, or Rite Aid? Everything seems locked up.

What are not under lock are often items no one wants, and they are arranged on sparse shelves. Some stores try glass barriers, others use wire caging as if they are prison infirmaries. Three or four years ago, the only locked-away items were expensive razorblades or electronics or allergy medicines that I suppose have a few off-use meth-lab ingredients.

Now? Shampoo is locked up. Vitamins too. Reading glasses as well.

I am confused why these stores still have security cameras? Do they still work or are they there for show and minimum deterrence? After all, what would one do anyway if a thief was caught on camera? Call the police who would never arrest the culprit anyway?

The Palestinians No One Talks About by Bassam Tawil

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19754/palestinian-students-arrests-torture

Even if the anti-Israel activists are made aware that Palestinian students living under the Palestinian Authority are being hauled off and tortured by their own leaders, they are not likely to speak out because there is no way to blame Israel or hold it responsible.

The Palestinian Authority crackdown on students is also being ignored by the international media and human rights organizations that regularly attack Israel but indefatigably refuse to see any wrongdoing on the part of Palestinians. Many foreign journalists covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict make it their business actually to hunt for any story that reflects badly on Israel.

If these activists really cared about Palestinians, they would be speaking out against the arrest and torture of Palestinian students at the hands of Palestinian security forces, the need for better education, jobs and above all better, less corrupt governance for Palestinians. They would also be insisting on freedom of speech and of the press for Palestinians, and protesting the reported forcible closing of human rights groups such as Lawyers for Justice, instead of denouncing Israel day and night.

The crackdown is part of an ongoing effort by the Palestinian Authority to silence and intimidate its political rivals and deter others from speaking out against Abbas and senior Palestinian officials.

In May, the Islamic Bloc won the elections for the student council at Birzeit University, defeating the Palestinian Authority-affiliated student list.

The Palestinian Authority, plainly speaking, which is rapidly losing credibility among its youths, appears to have difficulty accepting the results of the elections in which its supporters were defeated. That is most likely the real reason the newly-elected chairman of the student council was arrested.

Hassan, in recent weeks, was not the only student from Birzeit University to be arrested by the PA security services. At least another four students have been taken into custody for unknown reasons: Yahya Qassem, Fawzi Abu Kweik, Omar Kiswani and Obaida Qatouseh.

[S]he noticed bruises all over his body…. “My son told me that he has been warned not to tell anyone about the torture [in Palestinian prison]….” — Mother of Yahya Qassem, Twitter, June 17, 2023.

Lawyers for Justice, a Ramallah-based independent Palestinian organization, reportedly now being forcibly shut down by the PA, said that it has documented 20 cases of arbitrary arrests by the Palestinian security forces since the beginning of June.

“Additionally, [the Palestinian security forces] have endangered the rights of detainees by fabricating new charges against them or re-detaining them under the pretext of review or appeal. In addition, the group has observed the presence of signs of torture on the bodies of many detainees….” — Lawyers for Justice, Facebook, June 18, 2023.

It is time to call out the anti-Israel activists on US campuses for their hypocrisy and lack of respect for Palestinian human rights. By ignoring the plight of their Palestinian colleagues who are being arrested and tortured by fellow Palestinians, the anti-Israel activists are in fact proving that they are also anti-Palestinian.

Ron DeSantis offers practical suggestions for controlling our border By Andrea Widburg

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/06/ron_desantis_offers_practical_suggestions_for_controlling_our_border.html

“The Florida governor, while campaigning in Texas, offered strong, workable ideas about what he thinks will return sovereignty to America’s border.”

Ron DeSantis was in south Texas this morning and, in a speech to supporters at a small venue that allowed for questions, he focused on the border war in America, where Texas is the front line. DeSantis promised that, if he becomes president, he will stop illegal immigration, both at the border and across America. His prescriptions are very good, for they utilize every bit of government authority available to him and to the border states.

Bill Melugin conducted an interview with DeSantis before the latter gave his speech. In the following tweet, Melugin summarizes the key points DeSantis was preparing to make:

I’ve embedded a video of the full speech below, but here are a few of my favorite points from the main speech:

It’s not just Latin Americans coming across the border. People are coming from Libya, Tajikistan, and China, with many of the illegal aliens appearing on government watch lists.
Children are being rented and sold to adult males so that they can gain easier entry as the child’s parent.
He’ll provide more resources to the Coast Guard to police maritime illegal entry, which is a big problem in Florida.
He’ll authorize instant deportations because illegal aliens won’t make dangerous journeys or spend thousands of dollars knowing they’ll be turned back at the border.
He’ll properly enforce asylum laws, which require that people claim asylum as soon as they reach safety, rather than cross the border illegally and claim asylum after the fact. His administration will support only legitimate asylum claims, not the 90% or so of fake claims.
If the federal government can’t or won’t do its job on immigration, DeSantis would deputize local authorities to enforce those same laws. [This would get around administrative agencies refusing to do their jobs.]
He’ll crack down on local jurisdictions engaging in illegal “sanctuary” activity by turning off the federal money spigot.
He’d use rules of engagement when cartels destroy the walls to provide openings for people to cross. “I say, use force to repel them.”
He’d lean hard against the drug cartels.

Four Ways the Deep State Betrays Americans By J.B. Shurk

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/06/four_ways_the_deep_state_betrays_americans.html

Why is it that whenever I call customer support to get a replacement for my broken America, I end up on the line with an operator from China?  I kid…but only a little.  Four separate stories this last week hit the nail on the head:

(1) In defending America’s two-tiered (in)justice system currently dedicated to covering up Biden family crimes while persecuting Trump and his supporters, Gestapo chief Merrick Garland had the audacity to declare that any condemnation of the secret police “constitutes an attack on an institution that is essential to American democracy and essential to the safety of the American people.”  

Hear that, plebes?  “Democracy” will survive only if the people’s voices are silenced and the powerful institutions are obeyed.  The opinions of commoners are “attacks,” while the crimes of institutions are “essential.”  To save “democracy,” defend the dictatorship!  If Garland had been speaking German, he could have easily been mistaken for Himmler or Heydrich defending the “Night of the Long Knives” as necessary for “public safety.”  The death of “democracy” always comes from a thousand separate cuts made for the people’s “own good.”

(2) Pretend President Biden stumbled into California to push his plans for gun confiscation and mocked the idea that the Second Amendment is an essential check against government tyranny.  “So what’s the deal with the idea that it’s an absolute?” Dementia Joe mumbled. “You know, the tree of liberty is watered with the blood of patriots.  Well, if [you] want to do that, you want to work against the government, you need an F-16.  You need something else than just an AR-15 anyway.”  

Government Schools’ Trans Policies Aren’t Keeping Children Safe By Gamaliel Isaac

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/06/government_schools_trans_policies_arent_keeping_children_safe.html

In the week of June 12, 2023, the New York State Education Department (NYSED) published a document titled “Creating a Safe, Supportive, and Affirming School Environment for Transgender and Gender Expansive Students.”   The document instructs teachers that if the student doesn’t want their parents to know that they are transitioning they should hide the information from them.  The document gives a hypothetical example of a student with the legal name Kevin coming out as a transgender girl who asks teachers to call him Kimi but who wants teachers to still call “her” Kevin when talking to “her” parents.  Teachers are instructed to do what Kevin wants in order to keep Kevin safe.

The authors of the document explain:

The paramount consideration in those situations is protecting the health and safety of the student, assuring that the student’s gender identity is affirmed and that their privacy and confidentiality are safely maintained.

The assumption the NYSED is making is that affirming students’ belief that they have a different gender identity than their biological sex, makes them safe and that parents who disagree with such students are heteronormative oppressors who make those students unsafe.

The NYSED document also says that to satisfy the requirements of Education Law §801-A that requires that students receive instruction in civility and respect for others:

…schools will want to consider adding inclusive curricula; for example, teaching about and reading books by authors of diverse identities and including a multicultural representation of images, decorations, and artwork around their classrooms.  If offered, sexual health curriculum must be inclusive of all identities. There are opportunities and avenues for diverse identities to be included in every academic discipline.

How Government is Fanning and Subsidizing Anti-White Racism By Janet Levy

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/06/how_government_is_fanning_and_subsidizing_antiwhite_racism.html

When the current occupant of the White House openly asserts that white supremacy is the greatest threat to America, it shows that demonizing whites is now an acceptable part of American life. Conservative writer Ed Brodow dubs this phenomenon the “new national sport” in the subtitle of his book The War on Whites. In a Townhall article, he says hating whites is a disease of epidemic proportions that must be called out for what it is – racism. He explains how, in the woke-perverted world of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), white people – by dint of pigment alone – are the default oppressors, obliged to feel guilty and do penance for imagined crimes of “systemic racism.”

This reversal has its roots in critical race theory (CRT) and Marxist ideology, which are working overtime to replace the American ideal of equality (of opportunity, not outcome) with a distorted version of equity. The word itself means fairness or impartiality. But the new discourse interprets it to mean providing special opportunities to minorities and groups perceived as disadvantaged and denying them to the majority and those perceived as advantaged.

With woke ideas well entrenched in academia and diffusing therefrom to the corporate world and government, this perverse interpretation is increasingly translating into a sidelining of whites. Although government programs are required by the Constitution to be non-discriminatory, instances abound of anti-white racism becoming their salient feature. Such discrimination even extends to COVID relief programs, as if whites were not affected (or were less affected) by the pandemic.

Fortunately, these are being challenged as unconstitutional in federal lawsuits. One involves a discriminatory COVID relief program for businesses in Massachusetts. The $75 million program is deceptively called the Inclusive Recovery Grant Program, but accepts applications only from firms owned by minorities, women, veterans, the disabled, or LGBTQ+.

Challenging this, the pro bono Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Brian Dalton, whose New England Firearms Academy cannot receive aid because he happens to be heterosexual and white. Dalton, a retired law enforcement officer, opened the academy in 2013 to provide firearms and safety training. During the pandemic, he was forced to sell assets and use his savings to cover business expenses. Upon reopening, he incurred additional costs to comply with mandated safety measures. So, he wanted to apply when the program was first announced, but found he was ineligible.

‘Sound of Freedom’: Go See the Movie Exposing the Huge Child Trafficking Network By Catherine Salgado

https://pjmedia.com/culture/catherinesalgado/2023/06/24/sound-of-freedom-go-see-the-movie-exposing-the-huge-child-trafficking-network-n1706026

Millions of innocent children are sex trafficked every single year, many as part of the Biden border crisis. But a movie about to come to theaters is seeking to expose the vast network of predation on kids and tell the stories of real-life heroes who work to rescue victims of child trafficking.

The movie Sound of Freedom exposes the network trafficking two million children every single year. Watch the theatrical trailer below:

The movie follows Operation Underground Railroad CEO Tim Ballard and his mission to save children. It has taken years to bring this important film to the public. Angel Studios President Jordan Harmon, whose company is now Sound of Freedom’s distributor, explained the frustrating process.

”This film has been through the ringer. It was originally done by — Fox was going to be the distributor back in the day,” Harmon said, according to Bounding into Comics. But then The Walt Disney Company and Fox had a merger — and Disney, the same Disney that has featured drag queens, homosexuals, and LGBTQ+ individuals and characters in their shows and movies, wasn’t interested. “Then Disney buys Fox and for whatever reason Disney shelves [the film],” Harmon said. It took a year to get the rights back, and now Angel Studios is the movie’s distributor. What does Hollywood not want you to know?

The real problem facing Black kids today isn’t what you’re told to believe Black kids are suffering when schools use critical race theory to teach By Kenny Xu

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/real-problem-facing-black-kids-told-believe

The bestselling young adult book “Dear Martin,” previously required reading in Haywood County N.C., opens with a scene where a half-Latino half-White police officer obviously hearkening to George Zimmerman accosts a young Black boy named Justyce. The police officer is portrayed as a menace and Justyce is portrayed as an innocent victim of his rage and racism.  

The bestselling young adult book throws nearly every single racial incident, act of violence, and biased insubordination at the poor boy. The entire book is about one thing and one thing only: race; specifically, how America is still a racist country to Black kids. 

Yet this book was named the William C. Morris Book Award winner for best Young Adult literature. At one School Board meeting in Haywood County, a father gets up and explains that this book isn’t suitable for children, citing the numerous expletives and artless details of the protagonist’s girlfriend. That didn’t stop the local paper and parents from questioning whether the father was really a racist. 

The father should push back on the viability of the themes of racial abuse, even if he risks being canceled for it. Think about the intensity of a book like “Dear Martin” and how it would affect young, impressionable minority children.  

In effect, the book trains Black kids to fear White people. A police officer shoots Justyce’s Black friend. A White smart aleck verbally bullies Justyce. Justyce’s own mother warns against dating White women.  

It may be true that books like “Dear Martin” simply reflect in literary form the received wisdom of Black families in the United States. If so, then that received wisdom needs to change in light of the reality that Black Americans no longer face similar levels of racism as they did in the ’50s and ’60s.  

Black Americans are shot by the police at lower rates than Whites when you account for their rates of altercation. 60% of Black Americans believe they are in a better financial condition than their parents.  

Black Americans are more college-educated than they’ve ever been. Our “Black History” courses and our readings that reflect “Black History,” however, still primarily endorse the concept that America is racist to Black people.