Questioning Starts at the 1:59 Mark
Tuesday, June 25, 2024
Pro-Palestinian protesters are proving why Israel is needed
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| Mijal Bitton, PhD |
Here’s a secret that many of the protesters in university encampments and on city streets don’t seem to be in on:
The more they demonize Israel, the more they reawaken Jewish identity and strengthen Zionism.
As a community leader and Jewish educator in the United States, I have been living in the shadow of the horrors of October 7. We have seen the worst carnage against Jews since the Holocaust, video-broadcast by brutal terrorists. We have witnessed the avalanche of rising antisemitism around the world, including allegations last Saturday that a 12-year-old Jewish girl in France was gang-raped while being subjected to religious slurs. We have found out that too many of our allies right here at home refuse to speak up when Israelis are murdered or when American Jews who care about Israel are excluded from polite society.
While the intensity of the campus protests are simmering down with the end of the school year, the virulence of demonstrators outside college quadrangles are only intensifying the fear Americans Jews are feeling. Last week, protesters in Lower Manhattan targeted an exhibit dedicated to the memory of the hundreds of young Israelis murdered or kidnapped from the Nova music festival. They unfurled a banner proclaiming “Long Live October 7” and held signs declaring that Zionists “are not Jews and not human.” Days earlier, crowds chanted “kill another Zionist now” across from the White House in Washington.
But paradoxically, every day since October 7, I have also seen how this rise in antisemitism and anti-Zionist rhetoric is inspiring Jewish pride and solidarity with Israel among so many young Jews. I have seen this as a visiting researcher studying American Jewry at New York University. And I have seen this as the spiritual leader of Manhattan’s Downtown Minyan, a congregation filled with the diverse, ambitious and socially liberal young professionals who thrive in New York.
I have heard from many young Jews around America newly awakened to their Judaism. Some confess that they haven’t been to synagogue since their bar or bat mitzvahs but they want to come back now. Others have asked me how to get dozens of mezuzahs for their friends to hang beside their front doors. I see many sporting new jewelry expressing both pride and pain: prominent Magen Davids alongside dogtags calling to “Bring Them Home Now.” I am in regular conversation with dozens of Jewish leaders, rabbis and educators, and we’re all experiencing this — we’re running out of chairs for programs and struggling to meet demand for Shabbat dinners.
Some things about Israel I can never understand
Every so often, several “small things” about Israel pile up and drive me crazy. None of them seems enough to write about as a full article, but each of them disturbs my sleep. So, when enough accumulate, it is time to write, recite “krishma” (Yiddish slang for the Judaic “Kriat Sh’ma” bedtime prayer), get a good night’s sleep, and begin a new day dealing with my pulmonologist, cardiologist, or any other among a dozen other “-ologists” in my two-year-old lung’s inner circle. So here goes:
1. Taking a Casual Shabbat Day Walk in an Arab Village in Fatahland
US Ambassador Lew's Idotic Clueless Statement : 'A Palestinian state would be a defeat for Hamas'
US Ambassador Jack Lew spoke to the Herzliyah Conference, convened by the Reichman University today, about the Israel-US partnership.
''The best way to define the strategic relationship between the United States and Israel is to look at what's happened over the last eight months. Any question about the US support for Israel is something I don't understand. That doesn't mean we haven't asked questions, but we're not at a different point in terms of the US support for Israel."
He also commented on his vision for the future of the conflict. ''We have been urging Israel to defeat Hamas as a military and governing power. The provision of humanitarian assistance has been crucial to keeping the pathway open to success. When the war ends there has to be a vision for a future. Israel can't be exposed to another October 7th, but there also has to be a conversation about the future of the Palestinian people and a pathway toward a future of self-governance.''
Lew noted that such a plan for the Palestinians would have positive implications for Israel as well. ''Israel is on the brink of being accepted by all of the moderate Arab countries. I don't think you can get there if you don't also have a pathway for dealing with the legitimate interests of the Palestinian people. Getting a Palestinian state, a demilitarized autonomous governing body that provides for security and dignity, would be a defeat for Hamas."
Lew also noted that doing so would unite many countries against the Iranian axis. ''We saw a hint of the power that could give us during the Iranian attack. An alliance of moderate countries against Iran's extremism would bring enormous benefits.''
He also urged a prisoner exchange deal as part of a ceasefire. "People need to come home to their families, and that's just a human issue that has to be resolved. Strategically, a hostage deal and ceasefire would open a doorway to a discussion with Hezbollah about avoiding a war and to normalization discussions with Saudi Arabia."
One party that will need to be involved in the process, Lew claimed, is the Palestinian Authority. ''There's only one group of people who can do the work to make civil order come back. We've got to figure out how to get those people to work in a way that meets everybody's needs.''
Lew addressed a remark by US Air Force General Charles Brown, who serves as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who recently warned that the US will have a hard time aiding Israel in the event of a war against Hezbollah. ''We've made clear that we continue to support Israel and its need to defend itself. We've also made clear that we think the right course of action is to try to avoid a war in the north. We're urging a diplomatic solution.''
Lew has a certain degree of optimism going forward. ''This war could end in a better place. Israel is already in a better place in several ways, and its resilience has been inspiring. The United States and Israel as partners can succeed in almost anything that we work together on.''
Lew has set the future of the region as his personal goal while in office. ''I thought I was coming into a position where the number one objective would be completing a Saudi normalization deal while I was here. I'm committed to still having that be the objective.''
Black LA Mayor Allowed Pogrom in LA ala Dinkins in Crown Heights!
Early Sunday morning, The Los Angeles Times dubbed Karen Bass “mayor of the city of the eternal future” in a profile in its “L.A. Influential” section that spoke of “Los Angeles’s first female and second black mayor” as “instantly hyper-alert, composed and commanding,” and a “pragmatic leader.”
Bass made “good on a campaign pledge to push a fractious patchwork of government actors toward something resembling coordination” and “commands respect with an outstretched hand instead of a clenched fist,” the Times reported.
Hours later, as clenched fists had targeted Jews in what many called a “pogrom” outside Adas Torah, an Orthodox synagogue in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood, many were asking where Bass was and why police weren’t protecting Jews.
“Pro-Hamas and Hezbollah extremists violently attacked American Jews in Los Angeles and the politicians ordered the police to do nothing to defend them,” wrote Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “Radical leftists and Islamists are ruining our country.”‘
Noah Pollak, a political consultant and writer, wrote that he was at the synagogue for an event on Sunday.
New Ambassador of Argentina to Israel a Frum Rabbi
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Monday welcomed Argentina’s incoming envoy, Rabbi Shimon “Axel” Wahnish, during a meeting in Jerusalem.
“I had the pleasure today of receiving the new ambassador of Argentina to Israel, Shimon Wahnish, on the day of his inauguration,” tweeted Katz.
The top diplomat noted that under the leadership of President Javier Milei, the relationship between the two nations will reach new heights. “I am sure that we will soon see the new embassy of Argentina in Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the State of Israel,” added Katz.
Rabbi Wahnish—the spiritual leader of Argentina’s pro-Jewish president—previously led the Moroccan Jewish community of Buenos Aires. He holds a bachelor’s degree in educational psychology and also studied at the ultra-Orthodox Negev Yeshivah in the Israeli city of Netivot.
Milei and Wahnish met in 2021 after the former faced accusations of antisemitism while serving as a senator. The two subsequently developed a close relationship, studying Torah together.
As Milei rose to national prominence, the politician remained close with Washnish, attending lectures at the Great Temple of Piedras Street and joining the rabbi’s family for Shabbat dinners and Jewish holidays.
In February, Milei and Washnish visited the Jewish state on one of the president’s first diplomatic trips since being elected four months prior. The three-day solidarity visit signaled a shift in Buenos Aires’s policy toward the United States and Israel after decades of backing Arab countries.
Upon landing in Tel Aviv, Milei immediately reiterated his pledge to move his nation’s embassy to Jerusalem and open a new chapter in bilateral relations. He said he was also working on a project to declare Hamas a terrorist organization, calling this “one more token of the historical closeness, and support and friendship between our peoples.”
The trip also included a visit to a kibbutz on Gaza border that was hard-hit by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem and a stop for prayer at the Western Wall.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Milei during a meeting at his office in Jerusalem, “Your stalwart support for Israel in so many forms is deeply, deeply appreciated. Welcome to Jerusalem. Welcome, friend.”
Graphic Video Of 3 Hostages Being Abducted,
WARNING: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC FOOTAGE
Stop scrolling. Don’t look away. Watch.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 24, 2024
This is the reality of what happened to Israelis on October 7– execution, mutilation, kidnapping, proudly filmed by the captors themselves.
Hersh, Or, Eliya and the 117 hostages, we will continue doing everything in our power to bring… pic.twitter.com/j895HImTlY
In an attempt to pressure the Israeli government to complete a deal with Hamas to release hostages, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum released on Monday the video of the capture of hostages Hersh Goldberg-Polin (23), Eliya Cohen (26), and Or Levy (33), who were kidnapped on October 7. Goldberg-Polin, Cohen, and Levy all attended the Nova festival.
The footage, taken from Hamas terrorists’ cameras, included the moments of the kidnapping of the three hostages as well as the time they spent in a mobile shelter.
Parts of the video have been blurred as per the families’ requests, the forum noted, but they are still very graphic and jarring to watch. Hersh can be seen in the video badly injured, with his arm blown off, and the other hostages are also injured at their capture.
In a statement published with the video, the forum wrote, “This harrowing footage stands as a damning testament to the 262-day-long abandonment of our loved ones. Hersh, Eliya, and Or were taken alive, and they must return alive, today.
“Every day that passes puts the hostages at greater risk and diminishes our chances of bringing them back safely.
“After nearly 9 months of fighting and despite recent achievements, it’s clear to everyone that returning all 120 hostages is only possible through a deal! We must approve and implement an agreement that will bring all hostages home – the living for rehabilitation and the murdered for proper burial,” the statement added.
WikiLeaks’ Assange Released in Plea Deal
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will plead guilty to a felony charge in a deal with the U.S. Justice Department that will allow him to walk free and resolve a long-running legal saga that spanned multiple continents and centered on the publication of a trove of classified documents.
Assange left a British prison on Monday and will appear later this week in the U.S. federal court in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth in the Western Pacific. He’s expected to plead guilty to an Espionage Act charge of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defense information, the Justice Department said in a letter filed in court.
The guilty plea, which must be approved by a judge, brings an abrupt conclusion to a criminal case of international intrigue and to the U.S. government’s years-long pursuit of a publisher whose hugely popular secret-sharing website made him a cause célèbre among many press freedom advocates who said he acted as a journalist to expose U.S. military wrongdoing. Investigators, by contrast, have repeatedly asserted that his actions broke laws meant to protect sensitive information and put the country’s national security at risk.
He is expected to return to his home country of Australia after his plea and sentencing, which is scheduled for Wednesday morning, local time in Saipan, the largest island in the Northern Mariana Islands. The hearing is taking place there because of Assange’s opposition to traveling to the continental U.S. and the court’s proximity to Australia, prosecutors said.
Attorneys for Assange didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
Monday, June 24, 2024
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