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Wednesday, January 4, 2023

Jason Greenblatt: Why is US tolerating discrimination against Jews on Har Habyis?

 

Former White House Special Envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt questioned US Ambassador to Israel's response to Israeli Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's visit to the Temple Mount on Tuesday in which the ambassador said that the Biden Administration condemns all actions which undermine the "status quo" on the Temple Mount.

"Like so many things about this conflict people say different things-“status quo”, “historical status quo”, “legal status quo” & people define these differently. The demands to maintain the so-called status is completely unhelpful & deepens the problem," Greenblatt wrote in a Twitter thread Wednesday.

He continued: "And if we want to use “historical status quo” let’s understand actual “history” and remember that Jews (of which I am a very proud one), had two Temples on the site and worshiped on this holy site for a very significant period of time, over the span of two Temple periods."

Greenblatt questioned why the current US administration endorses a policy which discriminates against Jews at the holiest site in Judaism. "In a world where people of good faith are attempting to fight against all sorts of discrimination (a good thing to be sure) why is the discrimination against Jews & Jewish prayer at the holiest site for Jews still demanded?"

"It never made sense to me that this wasn’t part of the “status quo.” That’s why in the peace plan we released it called for all religions to be allowed to pray at this site, which is holy to countless people around the world, and to end the discrimination against Jews at this site. To demand otherwise is completely dishonest. Let’s end the discrimination, once & for all," he said.

Greenblatt was responding to statements by Ambassador Nides to Axios reporter Barak Ravid shortly after Ben-Gvir’s visit, in which Nides protested any perceived changes to the status quo on the Temple Mount.

“To be very clear - we want to preserve status quo and actions that prevent that are unacceptable. We have been very clear in our conversations with the Israeli government on this issue,” Nides said.

Yated Neeman that supported Chaim Walder Calls Ben-Gvir’s Temple Mount ‘Unnecessary Provocation’

 

The Yated Neeman newspaper, that employed the late sexual pervert Chaim Walder, and then supported him when the crap hit the fan, issued a scathing criticism of National Security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir after he ascended the Har Habayis Tuesday morning. 

The newspaper charged Ben-Gvir with causing a provocation which could lead to the murder of Jews by bloodthirsty Arabs.

This newspaper that doesn't recognize the State of Israel, the only Jewish country in the world, and is against the IDF, has the sheer chutzpah to tell us, that it is a provocation for a Jew in a Jewish country, to go up to the Har Habayis. 

Mrs. Yated, .......Arabs don't need excuses to kill Jews! 

In 1929, when the Arabs went on a pogrom and raped, murdered Jews in Chevron the Chareidie extremists wrote that this was because a Jew blew the Shofar at the Kotel and claimed and still claim, the Arab propaganda lie, that Jews and Arabs lived in peace before then. It has since been proven time and again, that this pogrom was planned months before the incident at the Kotel. This lie is repeated by Satmar on a weekly basis in their Yiddish weeklies, Der Goy and Der Shturmer. 

Ben-Gvir in a tweet answered them:

 “Yated Neeman is against a state for the Jewish people and against secular people living here. Do you support that as well?”

Lakewood Roshei Yeshiva Want to keep the Frummies in the Stone Age Release Letter Opposing New Frum Streaming Platform

A letter has been issued by Lakewood’s leading Mechanchim and Menahelim, opposing a new online video device and platform, which has branded itself a viable option for frum families who are looking for kosher content.

The chinuch leaders, who represent a range of yeshivas, discourage people from using the “24Six” streaming platform and media playing devices, and say that without Rabbinic guidance “we are opening up an anarchist approach” toward what is acceptable. The letter was signed by the BMG Roshei Yeshiva as well.

24Six allows listeners to hear only pre-approved music and content from Jewish singers and entertainers. Its website says, “Have your values. And your music too. 24Six is the only vetted media streaming platform for Jewish families worldwide – with features that give you control.”

The letter, which does not call for an outright ban, points to several concerns, including “exposure to music and videos with content that often runs contrary to the values and ruach with which we bring up our children.”

It adds that the platform is “detrimental to healthy spiritual and emotional growth, as by nature it is a device that promotes constant distractions and an overdose of entertainment.”

The sharply-worded text says that a device which can download from the internet should “never be considered safe in the hands of a child” and that without the guidance of Daas Torah “we are opening up an anarchist approach towards what is or isn’t acceptable in KlalYisroel.”

The text notes that “there is no written Daas Torah backing” the assertion that the platform is a “completely kosher entertainment option.”

 

Tuesday, January 3, 2023

DemonRat lawmaker calls Israeli government a 'terrorist regime'

 

Face of Evil

A Massachusetts state lawmaker accused Israel of committing genocide and maintaining an apartheid regime.

Jamie Zahlaway Belsito, a Democrat representing Massachusetts’ 4th Essex district in the state’s House of Representatives, tweeted last Friday that the Biden administration should condemn Israel's new government as a “terrorist regime” dedicated to killing Palestinian Arabs.

“The US must acknowledge that the Israel administration is an apartheid run thuggery terrorist regime on a mission to kill Palestinians. Killing and land taking has nothing to do with anti-semitism. It is genocide.”

A day earlier, Belsito retweeted a post by Arab American Institute founder and frequent Israel-critic James Zogby, who blasted Israel’s new Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, over the basic lines of the new government.

“This is Netanyahu saying what his gov’t will do,” Zogby tweeted. “He crosses every red line of US declared policy.”

“Question: Will we do anything? Answer: Most likely we won’t. Instead White House & Congress will come up w/ lame excuses to delay taking action, as Netanyahu continues on his way.”

In another tweet earlier in December, Belsito lauded the Jordanian film Farha, which portrayed Israeli soldiers during the 1948 War of Independence as genocidal murderers.

“My family sat together to watch this film. The United States has ZERO understanding of what the Nakba is. The truth cannot be silenced. 1948 European British Zionists created a hell on earth. This movie is about visceral hate, ethnic cleansing, terrorism and apartheid. Farha.”

Israel should put an end to Palestinian diplomatic terror ... NOW!

 


With the approval of a United Nations General Assembly resolution requesting the International Court of Justice weigh in on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israeli “annexation” and the “legal status of the occupation”, Israel’s response has been underwhelming.

This is not just another largely meaningless UN resolution. It has the capacity to be the opening shot in a diplomatic war that could see serious ramifications and potentially lead to intense sanctions against Israel and some of its people.

This attack demands a robust and meaningful response from both the Israeli government as well as from Jewish leadership across the globe.

Firstly, because, as in any type of warfare, if you do not respond against the first wave of attack, you have lost your deterrence, and subsequent waves will be even more powerful.

The Palestinian Arabs will be emboldened by this decision which was loudly applauded by its leaders who have repeatedly enunciated their roadmap towards isolating Israel diplomatically and economically.

Finally we see Jewish Children Ascend the Har Habayis

 

What a beautiful sight! Kol Hakovoid!

Itamar Ben-Gvir visits the Har Habyis Sticking His Thumb into the eyes of Hamas

 


To all those who will comment that "Gedoiei Hador" prohibited the ascension to the Har Habyit, know that he has his own "Gedoilei Hador" that permit it. 
We wrote many times that the Rambam ascended the Har Habyis. The Me'eira, a Rishon, also permits it. As of 2022 we know exactly where one can go and where not.
If you were to argue, that those who permit it are "Yechidim" then I'll let you into a small secret, the entire VaYoel Moshe authored by  R' Yoel Teitelbaum z'l, follows the rulings of "yechidim"

The point is we cannot give sovereignty to the Arabs. 
We should all support those who go up "with tehara" and whose rabbanim permit and encourage going up. 
Kol Ha'Koved Itamar Ben-Gvir!

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ascended the Temple Mount this morning (Tuesday) to mark the fast of the Tenth of Tevet. This is his first visit since the elections and it was coordinated with the Israeli Police.

Ben-Gvir arrived at the Temple Mount under heavy security that included his personal bodyguards and other police officers.

The minister said during his visit to the site: "Our government will not surrender to the threats of Hamas. The Temple Mount is the most important place for the people of Israel, and we maintain the freedom of movement for Muslims and Christians, but Jews will also visit the site. Those who make threats must be dealt with an iron hand."

Minister Ben-Gvir ascended the Mount despite reports Monday that he had agreed to push off his visit after meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

MK Gideon Sa'ar (National Unity) mocked Netanyahu over the request, tweeting Monday: "Could it be that the prime minister of a fully right-wing government is preventing a minister in his own government from ascending the Temple Mount because of Hamas threats, despite [the fact that Ben-Gvir] was going up regularly [to the Mount] when the government in power was, according to him, 'controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood'?"

Israeli security officials had warned the prime minister that Ben-Gvir's visit could lead to a major escalation with terrorist forces in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.

On Sunday, the Hamas terror organization threatened Israel in response to Ben-Gvir's planned visit.

"The extremist Ben-Gvir is trying to convince his voters that he is implementing his promises by breaking into Al-Aqsa (Mosque)," said Harun Nasser El-Din, the Hamas official responsible for the issue of Jerusalem.

"We hold the government of the occupation responsible for any escalation if there is damage to Al-Aqsa (Mosque) or to our people who are clinging to Jerusalem," the Hamas official added.

"We call on our people to protect Al-Aqsa (Mosque), and we are sure that our people will thwart all attempts to impose a new reality on Al-Aqsa (Mosque)."

Monday, January 2, 2023

What About Pope Benedict's Nazi Past?

 

Here is a link to a Reuters article in 2009 entitled: TIMELINE: Pope Benedict angers Jews

And below is an excerpt from a report by ABC News in 2013:

Joseph Ratzinger had joined the Hitler youth as a 14-year-old and went on to serve in the German military, as six million Jews were sent off to the death camps. Though Benedict was eventually exonerated and even embraced by Jews — he called the Holocaust a “dark time” in his life — his German past continued to haunt him.

“When he was elected pope a lot of alarm bells went off in the Jewish community,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, who had a one-hour private audience with Benedict when he became pope. “First, it was about the Nazi aspect.”

The Wiesenthal Center launched an investigation into Benedict’s role in the Third Reich only to discover the Ratzingers came from a family of anti-Nazis, with no hint of antisemitism.

“The fact that he was in the Hitler youth — if you were a young child during the Third Reich and you didn’t go, you’d be condemned,” said Hier. “He didn’t volunteer. That’s not a blemish. We’ve done a bunch of research, and that should be very clear.”

But the role of the Catholic Church and most particularly the silence of Pope Pius XII, who served from 1939 to 1958, as millions went off to the gas chambers has dogged Benedict, despite being viewed as a friend by those who are Jewish.

Both Pope John Paul II and Benedict pushed for Pius to gain sainthood. In 2009, as Pius moved toward beatification, the Vatican issued a statement that the church was looking at his “Christian life” as a whole and not “the historical impact of all his operative decisions,” according to The New York Times.

Moving Pius toward sainthood “is in no way to be read as a hostile act towards the Jewish people, and it is to be hoped that it will not be considered as an obstacle on the path of dialogue between Judaism and the Catholic Church,” wrote the Rev. Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman.

“Pope Pius XII didn’t care much about Jews. He was the pope of silence,” said Hier.

“They say [Pius] looked at Hitler as a mad man, and if he had opposed him publicly, it would have destroyed the Catholic Church. It was against everything the Christian Church stands for,” said Hier.

“In Auschwitz, ten to fifteen thousand people were gassed every day,” he said. “Priests and local parishes knew what was happening and the bishops reported to the Vatican.”

The Vatican has always denied that Pius ignored the plight of the Jews and Benedict said the Pius worked “secretly and silently” to help Jews.

In 2007, Jewish leaders criticized Benedict for lifting restrictions on the old form of Latin mass, which included prayers for Jews to “be delivered from their darkness” and converted to Catholicism.



46-Year-Old Israeli Gives Birth to Son From Her Husband Who Died Four Years Ago

 

 A 46-year-old Israeli widow gave birth on Chanuka to a son who is the progeny of her husband despite him having died over four years ago.

The woman, Sharon Alon Twitto, had been trying to conceive with her husband Sagi when he died suddenly in March 2018 of a heart attack. On the day of his death, Sharon travelled to the Haifa Magistrates court to obtain a court order which would allow her to obtain sperm from her late husband so that she could in the future realize their dream of having a joint child.

After the court gave its authorization, an operation was performed to remove the sperm which was taken to a lab for preservation. Sharon however required the authorization of the court to use the sperm and this meant a legal battle for over a year. During the course of this period, Sharon switched careers, moving from a successful position in a medical equipment company to interior designing. Sharon opened a studio, naming it Studio Saga in memory of her husband.

In May 2022 Sharon found out that she was pregnant, and the high-risk pregnancy was monitored by Prof. Rinat Gabai Ben-Ziv, head of the Hillel Yaffe hospital’s maternity department. Due to her high blood pressure, Prof. Ben Ziv advanced the birth which took place on Chanukah via C-section. A healthy 3 kg son was born to Sharon.

Sharon said afterwards that “I had an amazing and emotional birth experience, I had a team which are devoted and caring and made me feel in good hands. The fact that I gave birth on Chanukah is a sign of my personal victory in my battle to bring a child to the world. I am sure that Sagi is looking on from above with great pride.”

 

Ok Guys Lay of Rep George Santos


 

New York is overrun by an endless crime wave unleashed by Democrats who decided that criminals were the real victims and should be set free and no longer locked up for minor offenses like shoplifting or violent assault, have dedicated all the state’s prosecutorial resources to investigating Republicans.


This time out it’s Rep. George Santos whose absurd lies have been front-page material for a week.

Why an obscure New York freshman congressman’s lies should be a national focus and not the president repeatedly telling crazy lies whose scope is entirely incomprehensible is one obvious question.

Earlier this month, Biden told an entire story about awarding his own uncle a purple heart for fighting in the Battle of the Bulge.

His uncle died ten years before Biden became vice president.

Biden began his story by saying, “My dad, when I got elected vice president.” His father died during Bush’s second year in office.

Nobody’s investigating Biden who has spent about 40 years making up lies about his background. No one’s going to go back and determine how Senator Elizabeth Warren benefited from lying about being an Indian. And yet if she’d stayed aligned with the libertarians or went right-wing, you know that they’d find an angle.

Then there’s AOC’s own fictionalized background. Sandy from Westchester was not the girl from the Bronx.

. Voters did pick him, and they’ll have a chance to get rid of him in a few years. Did they vote for him because they believed he was a gay Jewish man who lost his mother on 9/11? Or did they just vote against his opponents or for a change? We can find out a few years from now. But unless Santos clearly and plainly broke the law, then an investigation is a political exercise in trying to criminalize what politicians do all the time.

Like Hillary Clinton claiming to have tried to join NASA and the Marines, coming down under fire at an airport, being named after Sir Edmund Hilary, or fibbing that Chelsea was near Ground Zero on 9/11,

Politicians telling lies to make themselves seem more interesting or likable is not a crime. Although if they, like Hillary or Obama, charge people money by way of books or speeches for those lies, there may be grounds for legal action there.

It is possible to believe that Santos appears to be a clumsy con artist and that the same double standard is in play that operates the system for the benefit of one party. When that system also controls the legal system, that’s tyranny.

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Chareidim Riot in Yerushalayim because of the Arrest of those who destroyed an Eyeglass store in Geula

 






We reported two weeks ago, that Chareidim are now going after optical stores and how they destroyed an optical store in Geula and caused millions of shekels in damage. They were arrested and now thousands want them out of jail so they can continue to burn down other stores. 

Last night, they came out like roaches and caused untold damage and chaos. After the police asked them nicely to disperse, they began their minhag of burning trash bins and hurling them at police. The  fact that a mother of 11 was in a coma for two and half weeks meant absolutely nothing since the victim's Chareidie family, like Christians, told everyone "To turn the other cheek" 
Some dressed up in prisoner's uniforms. 

Following the arrest of those suspected of destroying an optics store in Jerusalem, Bar Ilan Junction was again in midst of riots tonight. Two demonstrators were injured and evacuated to a hospital 

 The riots concluded with a procession of Chareidim dressed like u prisoners.



An unusual incident occurred when, during clashes with police, a protester was seriously injured in the face. According to the protester, a police officer hit him in the face and the glasses penetrated "into his face." 

Wow! What irony? 

He was evacuated in an intensive care ambulance for medical treatment.

Grandchildren Kidnap Breslav Mashpia R' Yaakov Meir Shechter

 


It seems that the grandchildren of Rav Yaakov Meir Shechter built a huge empire worth millions using R' Shechter's name. 
He is aging, and there is an internal struggle between the gabbaim and the grandchildren on who will control the $$$$$ after Rav Shechter meets his Maker.

The grandchildren aren't sure how long this would take, so they decided, short of executing him, to kidnap him. 
Rav Shechter and his gabbaim were in an undisclosed location in Beit Shemesh last week, when suddenly the grandchildren dressed as people, barged into the home, tied up the gabbaim and dragged out Rav Shechter and kidnapped him. 
Police arrested two of the grandchildren. 



 

Badatz of Stamford Hill Issue "Fatwa" Against a Women Concert for Women ??

 I'm telling you that the rabbanim are destroying Yiddishkeit as we knew it!  What is wrong now with a Woman Concert made exclusively for women? 

Have we gone totally nuts?

I noticed that this Kol Korah was signed by "rabbanim" from the Hisachdas Ha'Ganavim! 

Listen below to the message from the Lady Singer Bracha Jaffe. She is a mother of five and a nurse, and that's who they are banning. 

I am telling you now, if good people are not going to fight these crazies, we are doomed! 

I know that I have a huge UK following, I am asking the women out there to go in mass to this concert, bring your daughters and friends. 

I thought that this only happens in Israel. 










Smotrich’s 1st Day as Finance Minister: Revokes Taxes on Disposables implemented by Lieberman to hurt Chareidim

 

Newly sworn-in Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich on Sunday instructed his staff to prepare for the cancellation of the taxes on disposable tableware and sweet drinks that were implemented by former minister Avigdor Lieberman.

Smotrich had already announced in the past, even before the elections, that he’ll revoke the taxes if he’s elected. “The taxes on disposables and sweet drinks will be canceled unequivocally, there’s no question about it at all,” Smotrich said last month in an interview on Radio 103FM.

Finance Committee chairman Moshe Gafni responded to the announcement by stating:
“I congratulate Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich for his first decision in the ministry to cancel the ‘Lieberman Tax’ on disposable utensils and sweetened drinks, which was intended to harm the Chareidi sector. This was one of our commitments that we said we’ll implement immediately upon the establishment of the government.”

MK Uri Maklev commented on the decision: “These taxes did not come to help the public but only as a negative unprofessional decision intended to harm the public. We congratulate Finance Minister Smotrich for canceling this tax as we committed in the coalition agreement.”

“This action brings the new government’s policy to work for the citizens and not against them. Now, that the order is canceled, we will take action via educational means to preserve the environment and encourage the consumption of healthy drinks.”

Outgoing Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg (Meretz) responded to Smotrich’s decision by saying: “The new government is allowing petty politics to destroy the environment and health. Instead of moving us forward, this decision is setting us back light years.”

Islamist Terrorist Attacks Police in Times Square and They are Investigating the Motive? Crazy!

 

It's crazy and getting crazier!

Authorities in New York City are investigating whether a man who attacked three police officers at a New Year’s Eve celebration, striking two of them, was inspired by radical Islamic extremism, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the matter.

The attack happened a little after 10 p.m. about eight blocks from Times Square, just outside the high-security zone where revelers are screened for weapons. Two of the officers were struck before an officer shot the man in the shoulder. The two officers were hospitalized, one with a fractured skull and the other with a bad cut, and were expected to recover.

Religious Givat Shmuel Parents Form Separate Class After 8-Year-Old Pupil Revealed As Transgender

 

In a move which received the approval of leading Religious Zionist rabbis, parents in a Givat Shmuel school have moved their children into a separate class outside the school in protest over a transgender girl studying with them.

The story broke last September after teachers at the Moreshet Neria religious school in Givat Shmuel discovered that one of the students in the third grade class was actually female but identified as male. The teachers were extremely perplexed but also angry and insulted that they had not been informed of the situation by the principal. Some teachers considered resigning as they saw this as “the end of the religious school system” if such children can legally be accepted and take part in studies without their gender being revealed.

The school principal, under pressure from the National-Religious Educational Authority, asked the teachers to refer to the student as a male but teachers and parents were incensed at the strange request. Meanwhile the girl, still dressed as a boy with Tzitzis and Kippa, has suffered socially and has no friends in her class from either gender. Attempts to persuade her parents to transfer her to another school have also failed.

Currently the class is mixed-gender but from 4th grade the class will split into two separate classes for boys and girls, making the situation even more awkward for the boys who will learn with the girl.

In the wake of the publicity the issue received, parents who became aware of the situation started demonstrating against the school for keeping the girl in the class. The parents warned that they would take legal steps if “the girl does not come to school dressed according to the school’s directives.”

When the school refused to change its policy, the parents of boys in her class removed their children and set up a new class outside the school, attempting to raise funds for the class, psychological assistance for their children and their public fight against the local school.

In a campaign entitled “Our children, our education, our decision. Stopping the progressive coercion”, the parents argued that “the class is a test for the entire national religious system- tomorrow it could happen in your child’s school.”

Rabbi Yaakov Ariel and Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu offered support to the parents and visited their children. Rabbi Ariel, rabbi of Ramat Gan, said that this was a class where “Torah is studied and halacha is maintained properly as it should be in a religious school.” Rabbi Eliyahu praised the parents for their courage in preventing their children from “spiritual confusion” by mixing with a girl “born like any other girl but whose parents decided that if she dressed and acted like a boy, people would relate to her normally.” He said that this could sow confusion in the minds of the young children as to their gender and “they are forced to live a lie” in accepting the girl as a male. “We need to stop this madness,” Rabbi Eliyahu concluded.

 

Saturday, December 31, 2022

Finally a Rabbi Comes Out Strongly against the ""light Rail Protestors" "A Massiv Chillul Hashem"

 

הרב הראשי לישראל ונשיא מועצת הרבנות הראשית, הראשון לציון הגאון רבי יצחק יוסף, יצא הערב (מוצ"ש), במהלך שיעורו השבועי בבית הכנסת 'היזדים' נגד ההפגנות המתקיימות ברחוב בר אילן בירושלים במחאה על סלילת הרכבת הקלה.

במהלך השיעור התבטא הראשון לציון: "זה גם טורח ציבור, אתה סוגר את כל רחוב בר אילן, פקקים, אדם רוצה להגיע לבית, להגיע לבית הדין,  הם מעכבים הכל".

הרב הראשי קרא לציבור: "צריך להימנע מהדברים האלו, הרב (מרן רבינו עובדיה יוסף זצוק"ל. י-כ) לא בעד הדברים האלו, זה גם גרם לחילול ה', מצלמים את זה בכל העולם. בשביל מה? חסר לנו את ההסתה שיש, צריך להוסיף עוד הסתה?".


The Chief Rabbi of Israel and President of the Chief Rabbinate Council,  the Gaon Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, came out this evening (Motzei Shabbos Koidesh), during his weekly class at the 'Yazidim' Synagogue, against the demonstrations taking place on Bar Ilan Street in Jerusalem in protest of the construction of the light rail

During the class, the Rabbi said:

 "It's also a public nuisance, you close the entire Bar Ilan street, causing traffic jams, a person wants to get to the house, to get to the court, they delay everything."

The chief rabbi called out to the public: 

"These things should be avoided, the rabbi (Maran Rabbino Ovadia Yosef Zatzuk'l. 10-20) was not in favor of these things, it also caused a chillul Hashem, this was  filmed all over the world. for what? We have a lack of incitements? we have to add more incitement?

Sefer Torah Falls Down on Shabbos in Ponovitz

 

This Shabbos, as they were taking out a Sefer Torah to lein  in the Ponovitz Beis Medrish "ohel kedoishim" another Sefer fell down to the floor. This in front of all who were there. 

Rabbanim of Bnei-Brak are questioning whether the ones who witnessed this will have fast a seperate fast or will it be ok to combine this fast with Asara Be'Teves that is coming up on Tuesday. 

A searing analysis of leftist censorship exposes the progressive mob's cynical drive to silence YOU and wage war on The West


A group of Yale students scream and curse at Yale sociologist Nicholas Christakis (right in blue) for what seems like an eternity, preventing him from addressing them. 'Be quiet,' shrieks one, 'you are disgusting!' 

This piece is adapted from Heather Mac Donald's remarks at the 2022 Encounter Books Gala, upon receiving the Jeane Kirkpatrick Prize for Academic Freedom. A longer version appeared on EncounterBooks.com

In 1982, student agitators protesting U.S. policy in Central America silenced Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick at the University of California, Berkeley, and at the University of Minnesota. Smith College told her that it could not assure her safety during a commencement address, so that address was cancelled too.

Business as usual, you may be thinking.

In fact, the reaction of campus administrators, and even of students themselves, to these shutdowns seems to come from a different world.

The chancellor of the University of California announced his embarrassment that his university had 'succumbed to mob rule.' That university's Board of Regents demanded that an apology be sent to Kirkpatrick. Even the group that organized the Berkeley protest, Students Against Intervention in El Salvador, admitted that the heckling had gone too far.

The group had no intent, it said, to curtail the speech of 'those who disagree with us.'

As anti-military protests spread across the country, the American Association of University Professors, the United States Student Association, and other academic bodies denounced the use of the 'hecklers' veto' and asked faculty and students 'to reaffirm our traditional commitment to freedom to speak and to listen.'

Fast forward to 2015.

A group of Yale students scream and curse at Yale sociologist Nicholas Christakis for what seems like an eternity, preventing him from addressing them. 'Be quiet,' shrieks one, 'you are disgusting!'

Christakis had defended his wife, another Yale professor, who had suggested that students could choose their own Halloween costumes without bureaucratic oversight.

'It's not a debate!' screamed another Yale student. Merely invoking free speech, said a third, creates a 'space to allow for violence to happen on this campus.'

Yale's President Peter Salovey rushed to express his sympathy–not with the beleaguered Christakis–but with his tormentors and their allies: 'their concerns and cries for help made clear that some students find life on our campus profoundly difficult.'

As if this were not nauseating enough, Salovey thanked Yale's students for offering him the opportunity to 'listen to and learn from you.'

This episode proved a template.

In 2016, students at Atlanta's Emory University demanded protection from a few Trump 2016 slogans that had been chalked on campus sidewalks. Trump's name exacerbated the 'unsafety of minority students,' they said.

The chalkers (writing above) would be tracked down and potentially subjected to the 'conduct violation process,' and Emory would implement yet more diversity bureaucracy to protect students from 'harmful speech.'


Emory's president validated what he called the students' 'pain in the face of this perceived intimidation.' The chalkers would be tracked down and potentially subjected to the 'conduct violation process,' and Emory would implement yet more diversity bureaucracy to protect students from 'harmful speech.'

Ukraine Refuses to Support Israel on the UN Resolution and instead Just Skips Out!

 


Zelensky is not a friend of the Jews and certainly not of Israel. The Ukrainians are notoriously known as being the worst antisemites; Nazis used the Ukrainians to torture the Jews. 

Time to tell Zelensky to go to hell! Israel has to to what's best for her own interests and it's best not to piss off Putin at this juncture. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky prior to the country’s decision Friday to skip the UN General Assembly vote to have the International Court of Justice weigh in on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Netanyahu’s office said Saturday.

According to a tweet by Zelensky, the two “discussed bilateral cooperation between our states, including in the security sphere and interaction on international platforms.”

Axios and Walla reporter Barak Ravid said he was told by Israeli and Ukrainian officials that Netanyahu had asked Zelensky to vote against the measure.

Ravid said Zelensky had wanted to know how Netanyahu intended to change Israel’s policy on providing his country with defensive aid to intercept Russian strikes using drones and missiles, but that Netanyahu would not commit to any steps.

This irked Zelensky, who decided not to vote against the resolution, but to miss the vote “in order to give a chance to the relationship with Netanyahu,” Ravid cited a Kyiv official as saying,

The measure ended up passing by a vote of 87 in favor, 26 against, with 53 abstentions. Israel knew in advance that it would pass in the Assembly, which is regularly able to muster votes for resolutions critical of the Jewish state, but Kan news said Foreign Ministry officials viewed the vote as something of an achievement for Israel, as the number of votes in favor had fallen since an initial committee ballot on the matter in November.