Saudis gravitate toward Middle East basket cases when it should join US’ fight against Iran

 

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly called President Trump on Saturday and implored him to hold off on striking the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Trump acquiesced and punted on a massive American bombing raid that could have potentially turned the tide of the war.

Admittedly, Saudi Arabia is in a tough spot: The Iranian regime continues to hammer the kingdom with drones and missiles, threatening its oil and water resources.

But the Saudis have not gone unprotected. American warfighters and even Greek air defense teams have ensured the safety of the Saudi state throughout this conflict.

Yet rather than aligning more closely with us, the Saudis have started to gravitate toward an alliance of basket cases in the Middle East.

The alliance is now referred to as “STEP”: Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan.

These are all theoretically American allies. But they are not exactly working for American interests right now.

They view the weakening of the Shiite regime in Iran as an opportunity to reassert Sunni state dominance in the Muslim world.

At the same time, they are not eager to see the widening of the war because it would wreak more havoc, which is why they keep calling for diplomatic agreements.

By now, however, it should be clear that the Iranian leadership is not interested in a diplomatic agreement.

Every time one is brokered, the regime carries out aggressive actions in the Strait of Hormuz or it attacks our Persian Gulf Arab allies. And that’s not likely to change. So when the Saudis ask America for restraint, they need to offer clear alternatives, not platitudes.

Better yet, the Saudis should join the fight.

Admittedly, the Saudis last month launched one strike against Iran-backed militias in Iraq.

And according to recent reports, the Saudis may be preparing for military action against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, particularly if the group tries to shut down Saudi shipping in the Red Sea.

The Saudis have a history of conflict with the Houthis; Riyadh launched a war against the group in 2015.

That war garnered a huge amount of criticism from US lawmakers, primarily due to errant strikes that led to high civilian casualties.

But that was then and this is now. A wider war has erupted across the Middle East.

Iran and its proxy network are fighting America and its allies on multiple fronts, and America should not be expected to fight on its own.

The Israelis have stepped up when asked. They’ve put skin in the game.

It’s time to ask the Saudis to do the same.

The kingdom boasts a vast arsenal of American-made planes, helicopters, tanks and other weapons.

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Saudis must decide

Its forces are clearly equipped to fight, even if questions linger about the readiness of Saudi fighters, who have not seen much action on the battlefield.

In the end, however, it boils down to will.

Now, whenever the war heats up, the Saudis seem to want to cool it down — a significant shift from the beginning of the conflict, when Saudi officials quietly backed Trump’s effort.

With the war at an impasse, and the Iranian regime looking increasingly emboldened by that, Saudi Arabia must be put to a choice.

There’s no time for fence-sitting.

The president should send our allies in Riyadh a clear message: It’s time to either join the fight, foot the bill, or get out of the way.

Why is Spain occupying Arab territory?

 

Dr. Rafael Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies.

Last week’s controversy over tens of thousands of Moroccans trying to enter Spain (amid antisemitic social media posts attempting to blame Israel) has reminded the world of an uncomfortable fact: While Spain regularly accuses Israel of “occupying Arab territory," Spain itself is occupying Arab territory.

The tens of thousands of Arabs from Morocco who crossed the border into Spanish-occupied territory did so simply by walking into the region of Ceuta, next door.

Spain has controlled Ceuta since the 17th century. The Spanish claim to the territory is that they’ve been there for a long time.

Morocco counters that Ceuta is physically part of Morocco’s northern coast, while Spain is part of a different continent, twelve miles away and across the Strait of Gibraltar. Spain’s control of Ceuta is a remnant of the era of European colonialism.

By contrast, the territory where Israel is situated has been the Jewish national homeland since biblical times. It has been the core of Judaism itself for more than 3,000 years. The very name “Judea" testifies to the area’s deep Jewish roots.

The name “Ceuta" is the Spanish corruption of the Arabic name for the area, “Sebta," a reminder that Arabs and Berbers (Morocco’s other large ethnic group) were there long before the Spanish conquistadors showed up.

Off the coast of western coast of Morocco, 800 miles to the south, is another Spanish-occupied territory-the Canary Islands. The Spanish occupiers committed mass atrocities against the Guanches and other indigenous peoples when they conquered those islands.

And let’s not forget about the various regions of mainland Spain where local residents are seeking independence, such as the 9 million Catalans in northern Spain, the 3 million Basques in northwest Spain, and the 2.7 million individuals of Celtic heritage in Spain’s Galicia region.

Perhaps the Spanish leaders who often yell about “freeing Palestine" from “Israeli occupation" should take a look in the mirror.

The consistent negligence and recklessness of Chardeie People during Bein Hazmanim

 

by Yehuda Dov

The news clips are laconic, but they reveal a story of consistent negligence, ignorance and shocking indifference to human life.

Today’s news started with a search for a father and his six children who had gone missing in a Negev Wadi. For the uninformed, it should be mentioned that Israel is currently experiencing a heat wave not unlike those in Europe. In many areas, temperatures have crossed 40°C (105°F), and in the northern Negev they are even more extreme. It is more than ill advised to take a hike in such conditions, it borders on lunacy. Within two hours or so the body loses liquids and starts dehydrating, and heat stroke is another possible danger in the blazing desert sun. Nobody can carry the amount of water required to stave off these hazards, and even the IDF prohibits training in such conditions.

Fortunately, after the family failed to show up at the end of their route, the worried mother called rescue teams in and they managed to locate the group, exhausted and dehydrated but alive. 

The next news item, broadcast the same afternoon, revealed a less fortunate outcome, but a similar lack of respect for safety precautions. A 2-year-old toddler at a villa in central Israel had drowned in a pool. This has happened before, but repeats itself far too often. There should be no situation in which a pool is not locked with a high lock if children are around. Parents must know that if the child is anywhere near the pool, and even if they have other young children, they cannot let go of them for even a second. If they cannot control the children, they mustn’t let them into the pool.

The child was taken to hospital in critical condition, but doctors were forced to declare him dead. A 16-year-old boy is also in serious condition after drowning last week, but at least he was in a public pool with a lifesaver, who managed to extricate him before his condition deteriorated further.

The day’s tragedies were not yet over. In the evening it was reported that two young men had overturned in an ATV southeast of Jerusalem. One of them was lightly injured but the other bore the brunt of the accident and was declared dead at the scene. 

The two young men, like the others from the previous items, were charedi, and they join the litany of accidents and mishaps which always seem to befall the community during the Bein Hazmanim period. Even more tragic, the victim in this case, a student at the prestigious Ponovezh yeshiva, was due to get married in the coming weeks.

The real issue here is hubris. People who have never ridden an ATV or only done so on rare occasions have no business riding it out on rugged, steep desert ridges. People who rarely take trips and hikes think that they can consult a map, plan a route and go out in all weathers. People who have only a bathtub to worry about at home rent villas with pools and sometimes rely on an irresponsible older child to take care of his younger sibling.

It is high time that the Torah community, so aware of the value of life and of what can be done with every minute of precious time granted to us by Hashem, makes a concerted campaign to educate people on “V’Nishmartem L’Nafshoseichem”, including all the numerous examples from bitter past experience, and may we set an example for safe vacation activities and not wild, dangerous or extreme pastimes.

Yenuka Loses in Secular Court ...his miracles fall flat!

 

"Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may live and inherit the land which the Lord your God gives you." (Deuteronomy 16:20).

Today, the judgment was issued in the matter of the request for a restraining order against harassment filed by "Hinuka" against the investigator Israel Friedlis.

The court rejected the petitioners' (Hinuka) claims in full, and ruled that they shall bear the court costs of the respondent in the amount of 3,600 ILS.

Why Did Max Blumenthal go to Iran to Ayatollah’s funeral?????

 

by Laura Loomer

Waaaaaaaa Waaaaaaaa 😭😭😭 somebody call the Wambulance!!!!

Radical leftist and Islamic terrorist sympathizer Max Blumenthal 

@MaxBlumenthal

 is crying over the fact that I reported him to the authorities when he traveled abroad to Iran to attend the Ayatollah’s funeral and then DHS confiscated two of his cell phones when he returned from Iran. 

Max allegedly refused to tell Border Patrol who paid for his trip to Iran, a sanctioned country currently at war with the United States, and he allegedly refused to comply with Border Patrol’s questioning, most likely because telling them the truth about what he was really doing in Iran would likely land Max in serious trouble with law enforcement. 

We don’t need to use our imagination to imagine what Max was doing in Iran. 

If you are supporting enemies of America and may possibly even be violating sanctions, I will monitor you and report you to federal law enforcement. And no, I won’t apologize for doing so either, no matter how much you throw a tantrum and cry about it. 

When you play stupid games, you will win stupid prizes. 

OTD Sings Shabbos Songs With Such Feelings

 

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Some dreams do come through

 

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Baghdad was home to one of the oldest Jewish communities and then...............................

 For centuries, Baghdad was home to one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world, a community older than Islam itself. 

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Skverer Chutzpah ! Schnooring from the very communities they are trying to destroy!

 

The sheer chutzpah of asking for money from the very Jews New Square considers too problematic to live near, or expose to its children, cannot be ignored.

A fundraising letter from Merkaz Hakollelim Dshikun Square recently arrived in mailboxes throughout the Monsey community.

The appeal describes kollel families struggling “to clothe their children, put food on the table, and cover the huge daily expenses.” With Yom Tov approaching, it asks outside donors to help these families celebrate with dignity.

The need is real. These families deserve help.

But the letter raises an unavoidable question:

There Is Plenty of Money, Just Not for This!

New Square’s leadership has spent years advancing a policy designed to prevent other frum families from settling near the village.

Within the Mile has documented numerous properties connected to that campaign, homes acquired to preserve New Square’s claimed “isolation” and protect its supposed spiritual “purity.”

These are not inexpensive properties.

Consider 6 Durante Court, purchased for $810,000. Article HERE

The property sits directly across the street from a neighborhood shul. Local residents view the purchase not merely as another acquisition within the mile, but as a deliberate attempt to interfere with and disrupt the surrounding Jewish community.

That is one house.

How many struggling families could receive food, clothing and Yom Tov assistance from $810,000? How many children could be properly dressed, refrigerators filled and worried parents given room to breathe?

Instead, the property was purchased across from a shul serving the very community New Square wishes to keep away, and now a fundraising letter is being sent to those same Jews asking them to finance food and clothing inside New Square.

Do Not Blame the Families

The struggling kollel families are not responsible for these priorities.

They should not be shamed, and they should not be left without food or clothing.

The responsibility belongs to the leadership and wealthy supporters who can apparently mobilize extraordinary resources whenever another house becomes available within the mile, but then turn to outsiders when families inside New Square cannot afford basic necessities.

No one is claiming that this particular Yom Tov fund purchased these houses.

The issue is communal priorities. Article HERE

When $810,000 can be found to purchase one property across the street from a neighborhood shul, it is difficult to accept that the surrounding community must then be asked to cover food and clothing, especially while being told that its own families must stay away to protect New Square’s “purity.”

You cannot treat neighboring Jews as a spiritual contamination and then address your fundraising appeal to them as “Dear Friend.”

Return the Envelope to the Ashpa like the dead Sheretz it is!

Anyone receiving this appeal should not simply throw it into the garbage.

Keep the return envelope.

Send it back with a respectful note explaining why you will not participate until New Square changes its priorities.

The note can say:

> I fully support helping families afford food, clothing and Yom Tov necessities. However, New Square-linked buyers continue spending enormous sums purchasing properties around the village as part of the so-called mile policy.

6 Durante Court, located directly across the street from a neighborhood shul, was purchased for $810,000.

Before asking surrounding families for donations, please sell this property, or another property acquired for the mile, and use the proceeds to support your own struggling families.

The same Jews being asked to finance your charitable needs should not simultaneously be treated as too impure to live near you.

Send the envelope back.

Let them see the address. Let them see the purchase price. Let them explain why $810,000 was available to purchase a house across from a shul, while outside donations are needed to provide their own families with food and clothing.

Feed the families. Clothe the children. Sell the houses. *End the mile.*

Why is New Square asking surrounding communities to pay for food and clothing while enormous sums are being spent purchasing houses around the village for the so-called “mile”?

During Viznitz wedding, Chardeim attack The Schatz Rebbe's son because he goes up to the Har Habyis

 

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