World’s tallest man and shortest woman reunite

 

Sultan Kösen, 41, who holds the Guinness World Record for the tallest living man, and Jyoti Amge, 30, the world’s shortest living woman, had breakfast together in California on Monday, according to media reports. They last met in 2018 for a photo shoot in Egypt.

An incredible 8 feet, 2.8 inches tall, Kösen in 2009 became the first man over 8 feet tall to be measured by Guinness World Records in more than 20 years.

The part-time farmer from Turkey grew nearly 2 inches, to his current height, in the two years after he was initially measured.

Kösen was diagnosed with acromegaly, which is typically caused by a tumor in the pituitary gland.

The tumor produces an excess amount of growth hormone, which can lead to gigantism.

Kösen stopped growing in 2011 after undergoing treatment at the University of Virginia Medical Center to control the production of the growth hormone.

He holds the Guinness record for the largest hands on a living person, each one measuring 11.22 inches from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger.

He also once held the record for the largest feet on a living person (each about 1 foot, 2 inches).

Kösen is four times taller than Amge. At Monday’s meeting, Kösen can be seen sitting on his knees behind Amge and resting in a chair while Amge stands on his right leg. He also holds one of his shoes next to Amge for good measure.

Amge, an actress from India, is a little over 2 feet tall. She has achondroplasia, a rare form of dwarfism.

Following her 18th birthday, on Dec. 16, 2011, Guinness officially declared her the world’s shortest living woman.

She played Ma Petite in “American Horror Story: Freak Show,” which premiered in 2014.

Kösen and Amge met in January 2018 to pose for photos in front of Egypt’s Giza Pyramids.

The Egyptian Tourism Promotion Board extended the invite to help boost tourism.

Turkey’s Anadolu news agency reported the pair traveled to California for Monday’s meeting at the behest of an unidentified American producer.

Biden Ready to Endanger Israel’s Existence to gain support of a voting bloc where Jew hatred is prevalent.

 

by Michael Goodwin NYP 

Just days ago, I wrote that Joe Biden was “inching toward a full betrayal of Israel.”

Forget the inching.

He’s now sprinting toward the final act. 

And he’s doing it at the United Nations, a forum that has been openly promoting antisemitism for decades.

Biden’s latest salvo against the Jewish state is a new plan to have the UN Security Council support his demand for a cease-fire in Gaza.

The resolution’s text, now being circulated for reactions, reportedly does not put a deadline on a halt in the fighting and also calls for Hamas to release all the hostages it holds.

Both features are appealing, but ultimately serve only to mask the real danger of Biden’s gambit.

Micromanaging 

For one thing, the White House, despite its growing criticism of Israel’s approach and especially of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has refrained from actually stopping his response to the Oct. 7 terrorist invasion. 

While it has tried to micromanage military decisions, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken attending war cabinet meetings, it has not withheld assistance or otherwise penalized combat leaders for refusing to follow American requests.

Another sign of restraint is that the US has vetoed three anti-Israel Security Council resolutions.

Just Tuesday, Algeria sponsored one demanding an immediate cease-fire, which gained 13 votes, with Britain abstaining, making it clear that America is Israel’s only defender.

But that defense is on life support now that Biden is jumping on the cease-fire bandwagon.

The widespread assumption is that once the hostages were released, he would lead the charge to make the temporary fighting halt a permanent one. 

The logic would be to spare upwards of an estimated 1.4 million civilians gathered in Rafah, the last unconquered urban area in Gaza and where Israel has turned its focus.

But the effect would be to bring the war to a close before Israel can rout the final elements of Hamas hiding there, many in tunnels.

An Israeli assault could possibly lead many civilians, and some Hamas terrorists, to flee to Jordan and Egypt.

Settlers Are Now the Target of the Biden Administration ..The IDF Is Next!!!!!!

This past Last Saturday afternoon, 71-year-old Hagar Gefen was driving through the Jordan Valley when she was waylaid by Palestinian assailants. They pulled her from her car, beat her and stole her vehicle.

Gefen is an anti-Zionist activist affiliated with the radical NGO Looking the Occupation in the Eye. Her group’s modus operandi is to harass Israeli civilians and military forces in Judea and Samaria in order to demonize them. As the organization’s leaders wrote recently, “We initiate direct actions that get in the face of the settlers and challenge the security forces. We work in cooperation with Palestinian colleagues who often stand together with us in the West Bank.”

Gefen was carjacked just after she had just finished such a “direct action”: “Protecting” Palestinian shepherds from Israelis who live in the area. When security forces came to help the elderly woman as she sat beaten on the side of the highway, Gefen refused to file a complaint against her assailants.

Her story is notable because all aspects of it—the carjacking, her efforts as an anti-Israel activist to demonize Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria, and her refusal to report on Palestinian violent attacks, even when she is the victim of those attacks—expose the nature of the current international campaign against Israel’s civilian and military presence in Judea and Samaria. This campaign reached its pinnacle on Feb. 1 with an executive order issued by U.S. President Joe Biden, directly targeting Israeli civilians in Judea and Samaria as quasi-terrorists.

Galloping Palestinian terrorism

British Chaplain and Family in Hiding Following Death Threats Over Stint as Idf Reservist

A rabbi at several British universities who drew hundreds of death threats after flying to Israel to serve as a reserve soldier after Oct. 7 is now in hiding with his wife and two children on the recommendation of police.

Both the University of Leeds and British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis have condemned the threats against Rabbi Zecharia Deutsch, his wife Nava, and their two children, which began shortly after Oct. 7 and escalated recently with antisemitic phone calls and an attack on the school’s Hillel House.

“Tell that Jewish son of a bitch we are coming for him,” a message left for Nava Deutsch said, according to the Daily Mail, which listened to some of the messages.

State Department Official Requests $1 Million Grant to Investigate Israel Not Hamas!

 

A U.S. State Department prospectus in February 2022 for one or two grants—each valued between $493,827 and $987,654—called for “strengthening human rights and accountability in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza.” One of the aims of the project to possibly include was the “documentation of legal or security sector violations and housing, land and property rights.”

The latter drew criticism from a State Department official, The Washington Free Beacon reported on Tuesday.

The notice “specifically says it may include documentation of violation of land property rights! (I mean, come on!) Who wrote this thing??” the official penned to colleagues, per the online publication.

The employee’s issue wasn’t that the department’s democracy, human rights and labor (DRL) bureau “funds programs in European countries or other countries we are allied with,” the official wrote. “The issue is that DRL is funding a program to collect evidence of human rights abuses and atrocities in a country that is our ally.”

The official told colleagues that such department grants had only been issued previously for major human-rights violators.

“I went down a bit of a rabbit hole” on the Israel notice, “but from what I saw, I think our DRL colleagues are in a bit of denial and don’t want to see the reality,” the official wrote.

Foggy Bottom wouldn’t tell the Free Beacon if any of the grants have been issued. It said the grants were “part of internal deliberations processes.”

Finally!!!! Israel’s AG Threatens to Draft all Charedim in Weeks if No Agreement Reached

 

DIN: This is not sustainable! We can no longer have 6 foot, "ois'ge'pasheter" bulvans, sitting drinking coffee, munching bamba while their brothers and sisters are fighting and protecting us. Families in Bnei-Brak and parts of Yerushlayim , Beitar Elite, Beit Shemesh, have no idea that there is even a war going on, and those that do know could care less. Their Rosh Yeshiva are tell them that those who go to war are no better than "garbage collectors." They do not even show up to the daily funerals of those who gave up their lives! Moshe Rabbeinu said it best 

"?האחיכם יבאו למלחמה ואתם תשבו פה"

"Shall your brothers go out to battle while you settle here"

Why didn't they just tell Moshe ... "We will learn Torah, and Torah is matzil" 

For those who argue that those who went to war were tzaddikim, then let's draft those learning in Brisk, Ponovitz and the Mir. Aren't they tzaddikim? 

In a shocking threat, Israel’s Attorney General has threatened to draft all military-age Charedim–including full-time yeshiva students.

According to Kan 11 News, AG Gali Baharav-Miara announced the devastating threat, which would be catastrophic for the Charedi community, and greatly diminish the amount of Torah being learned, at a time when z’chusim are badly needed for Klal Yisrael, in addition to dealing a massive blow to PM Netanyahu’s fragile coalition, at a meeting held between the Justice and Defense Ministries.

She announced that if by the end of next month, the government does not extend the draft exemption for yeshiva students, and declare its intent to enact a new draft law, all conscription obligations would immediately apply to all yeshiva students, even those who are ‘Torasam Umanusam’ (full-time yeshiva students). It was also announced that yeshiva funding would be cut off.

To avoid such a result, Likud and its coalition would need to renew the exemption for Charedim in the next few weeks, and need to work on a new draft law that would resolve military service issues for Charedim, which has not been successfully accomplished in decades.

The government is reportedly considering appealing the decision to the High Court, on the grounds that such a move is destructive during an all-out war in Gaza. However the AG said that should such an appeal be filed, she would not be able to represent the government, since she is the recipient of the lawsuit.

Biden Sends the Total Moron Bonnie Jenkins to testify to Congress in Support of Two-State Solution

 

US moves to stop Israel’s invasion of Rafah to Make Sure Israel Loses War

The US said on Monday night that Israel’s planned invasion of Rafah “should not proceed under current circumstances” as it sought to use the UN to halt fighting.

Joe Biden is pushing for a United Nations vote on a “temporary ceasefire” in a break with the Israeli government as its troops prepare for an assault on the city, in south Gaza.

In a draft resolution, the US warns that a ground offensive into the city, where more than one million Palestinians are sheltering, would have “serious implications for regional peace and security”.

The move comes as Israel has rebuffed efforts by frustrated Western allies to call off its planned invasion of Rafah, the only remaining city controlled by Hamas.

The Left's Disruption Over "judicial Reform" Encouraged Hamas to Attack

Leftists dressed as Handmaids Protesting Judicial Reform 

 The controversy over the judicial reform proposed by the government of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year was what likely encouraged Iran’s terror proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis to attack Israel. The mullahs in Tehran and the three Iran-backed Palestinian, Lebanese and Yemeni terror groups viewed the dispute over the reform as proof of Israel’s perceived weakness, disunity and a sign of its imminent demise.

Israel’s enemies have always shown great interest in political, security, economic and social events in Israel. They closely follow these events and devote huge efforts to analyzing them as part of the “know thy enemy” doctrine.

The judicial reform, a set of five changes to the judicial system, proposed in January 2033, would shift the balance of power in Israel from a few unelected judges in Israel’s Supreme Court back to the public and their elected representatives. The proposed reform sparked an unprecedented wave of protests and strikes. As part of the opposition to the judicial reform, some military reservists, including air force pilots, threatened, if the legislation proceeded, not to show up for military reserve duty.

The Iranian regime had closely monitored the dispute. For the regime’s media, the scenes of Israelis clashing with the police after blocking highways and the entrance to Ben Gurion Airport for months on end were an indication that the Jews in Israel were headed toward civil war. In addition, the reports about military reservists threatening not to report for duty created the impression among the mullahs and their terror proxies that the Israeli security establishment had been seriously undermined and was on the verge of collapse.

It was against this backdrop of reports about the imminent “collapse of the Zionist entity” that Hamas launched its October 7, 2023 massacre of Israelis. Hamas terrorists murdered 1,200 people, wounded 5,000, and kidnapped more than 240 others, half of whom are still being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Like their patrons in Tehran, Hamas and Hezbollah were also convinced that the judicial reform infighting had weakened Israel to a point where it would no longer be interested in defending itself against a massive invasion.

Chinese migrants spotted entering US illegally in California border town say they’re here to ‘take the money’

 

NEW: This Chinese migrant tells me why he illegally crossed into the U.S. in Jacumba, CA - to “take the money” adding he wants a job @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/mFBKnRfWRp

— Griff Jenkins (@GriffJenkins) February 17, 2024

 Shocking images and video taken in California this weekend show Chinese migrants lined up at the border town of Jacumba and telling reporters shamelessly how they’re here to ‘take the money’.

Dozens and dozens, possibly up to hundreds of migrants, crossed the international boundary, according to Griff Jenkins of Fox News, who recorded the footage.

‘This is one of the largest groups of Chinese I have ever come across and there were […] two groups at the same time crossing in Jacumba, CA,’ the correspondent tweeted last week.

'Qatar is the biggest "spreader" of anti-Israel hate across America' while Ezra Friedlander Supports and Lobbies for Qatar!

 

Friedlander "pow-wowing" With Bin Ali from Qatar

DIN: Just that you know Ezra Friedlander,  is working as a consultant for Hassan Ali Bin Ali (HABA), a Qatari businessman,and has been accused of lobbying the White House in favor of the geopolitical interests of the controversial Gulf nation.

Malcolm Hoenlein, the Vice Chairman Emeritus of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, in an expansive interview, told Arutz Sheva-Israel National News about Qatar's role in spreading hatred of the Jewish state.

"I believe we have to be very direct with Qatar. Although the United States says 'Look they're playing a key role in the hostage negotiations' and other issues, but at the same time they sponsor Al Jazeera, which is spreading almost Nazi-like images of Israel and hostility toward Israel on a daily basis. It's a constant diet that feeds the street throughout the Arab world that watch it," says Hoenlein.

He adds: "They also are responsible for funding anti-Israel activities on campus in America. We traced so far $13 billion that Qatar has poured into American universities. And part of that is that they get to name the faculty, get scholarship packages, they have a direct influence. There's a direct correlation between funding to universities and increased antisemitism."

According to Hoenlein none of the foreign funding was reported or made public. "Universities didn't report it, the American government didn't require them, they should have."

Hoenlein reveals that the Qatari influence on education does not begin with higher education. "We found it in high schools. In a New York City high school, there's a huge map of the Middle East - no Israel, it's just Palestine. When I spoke to the superintendent, he said 'What do you mean, it's been there for ten years.' I said, 'Ten years you taught this?' He said 'Well it is an Arab cultural thing which the Qatari Fund pays for.'"

He further reveals that the influence is present as early as preschool: "We also found things in the kindergartens, where they changed the words of the children's song 'The Wheels on the Bus' to the 'Wheels on the Tank' and it's against Israel.

It's so pervasive. And then you wonder why they come to campus. Would they not have these hateful attitudes towards Israel while being subject to the propaganda? But when you ask them 'Which river and which sea?' they say they don't know. When you ask 'What does it mean for Israel when you do that, you want to obliterate 9 million people?' they say 'No, no, we don't believe in that.' They don't even know what they're saying, it's total ignorance," he declares.

"They are being taken advantage of, it's a concerted campaign and there are paid activists. We should expose everybody who gave money - domestic or foreign and there have to be real consequences. I think what happened now with the lawsuits against universities, the exposure of the presidents of Penn, Harvard, and MIT at the congressional hearings, and there are many more congressional hearings coming. There is an awakening to this challenge, but many campuses have become hostile places for Jewish students. Catholic universities are advertising to Jewish students in ads 'We offer you a safe place' because they recognize that many of the campuses in America are no longer safe for Jewish students," he adds

Hoenlein notes that Qatar has invested $300 billion to acquire businesses "and they use that influence to promote their agenda, which is an anti-Israel agenda as well. It's anti-American and I think America has to recognize that while Israel may be the first victim, America will be next."

by Yoni Kempinski

Israel brings Brazilian Ambassador to Yad Veshem to tell off his Disgusting President

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz (Likud) on Monday morning called the Brazilian Ambassador Federico Mayer for a reprimand after Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva compared Israel to the Nazis.

The reprimand took place at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem.

During the meeting, Katz showed Mayer the list of names of Jews murdered in the Holocaust, including members of his own family.

"I called you to the place which more than anywhere else testifies to everything the Nazis and Hitler did to the Jews, among them my family members," Katz said. "The comparison between the just war that Israel is fighting against Hamas and the horrors perpetrated by Hitler and the Nazis is an embarrassment and disgrace and a serious antisemitic attack."

Katz also said that da Silva would be a persona non grata in Israel:

 "We will not forgive and we will not forget: In my name and in the name of all citizens of Israel, tell President Lula that he is a persona non grata in Israel until he apologizes and retracts his statements."

On Sunday, da Silva compared the IDF actions in Gaza to Hitler’s actions against Jews in WW2, saying, "What is happening in the Gaza Strip is not war. This is genocide. It is not a war of soldiers against soldiers. It is a war between a trained military against women and children. What is happening in the Gaza Strip against the Palestinian people has not happened at almost any other time in history. In fact, it only happened once; when Hitler decided to kill the Jews."

When presidents curse Jews

 

President Joe Biden is reported to have used profanity in two recent outbursts against Israel’s prime minister. Sadly, such eruptions are nothing new. Going all the way back to the 1940s, presidents or other senior U.S. officials occasionally have said some ugly things about Israel or Jews.

In 1943, Samuel Rosenman, the chief speechwriter for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, confided to a colleague that the president was “much displeased” to learn that four hundred rabbis were planning to march to the White House to plead for the rescue of Jewish refugees. Rosenman said FDR was so upset that he “used language that morning while breakfasting which would have pleased Hitler himself.”

Syndicated newspaper columnist Drew Pearson reported in early 1948 that President Harry Truman privately railed against American Jews who were urging him to support the creation of a Jewish state: “Pounding his desk, [Truman] used words that can’t be repeated about ‘the (blank) New York Jews.’ ‘They’re disloyal to their country. Disloyal!’ he cried.” Truman denied the story, but Pearson’s source, New York Post publisher Ted Thackery, did not back down.

IDF releases footage of Bibas family in Gaza

IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari delivered a statement to the media this evening (Monday) in which he revealed the documentation presented to the Bibas family, in which the mother Shiri, and her two children Ariel and Kfir were seen - apparently days after they were kidnapped together with their father Yarden, in the southern Gaza Strip.

In the video, which was taken in Khan Yunis, the three are alive. However, it is unknown what condition they are in today, 136 days after they were kidnapped.

Jimmy Miller, a relative of theirs, said that "this video has not changed anything, it does not indicate anything new. Since the footage is from the first days - it does not indicate anything. We are hoping that they will return to us as soon as possible and that the government does everything in its power."

According to him, "These two children and their parents were supposed to be released at the first blow, and if they were not released at the first wave, the minimum would have been for them to be released in a humanitarian step. We provide humanitarian aid to the other side endlessly - they get everything they need from A to Z and we don't get anything. We are already expecting anything, and hoping for the best."

Kfir Bibas, who was just nine months old on October 7, was the youngest person to be kidnapped during the Hamas massacre. He turned one year old in captivity last month.

Senior terrorist Marwan Barghouti was given Chulent over Shabbat, in violation of orders

 Israel Hayom reports that senior terrorist leader Marwan Barghouti was served a dish which contains meat in the Ayalon Prison over Shabbat, in violation of the regulations.

The meat was provided to Barghouti despite instructions from National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir that terrorists imprisoned in Israel be served only vegetarian meals.

Barghouti, however, was served a bowl of cholent which contains meat. The guard who delivered it to him is expected to be brought up on charges and face strict disciplinary measures for violating regulations.

Barghouti is serving five consecutive life sentences for murdering Israelis and has been in prison since June 6, 2004.

Less than a week ago, he was transferred to solitary confinement in the Ayalon Prison after intelligence was received indicating that he would cause increased tensions outside the prison.

Biden’s Great-Great-Grandfather Was Pardoned By Abraham Lincoln After Attempted Murder Charge

 

Newly uncovered documents from the National Archives reveal that President Joe Biden’s great-great-grandfather was pardoned by none other than President Abraham Lincoln. The incident, dating back to the Civil War on March 12, 1864, involved Moses J. Robinette, a civilian employee of the Union Army, according to an investigation by The Washington Post.

The incident leading to the pardon occurred near Beverly Ford, Virginia, along the Rappahannock River, where Robinette and another Union Army civilian, John J. Alexander, got into a physical fight that resulted in Alexander suffering knife wounds. Robinette was subsequently charged with attempted murder and incarcerated near Florida.

In a bid to secure Robinette’s release, three U.S. Army officers, described as friends of Robinette, directly appealed to President Lincoln. They presented the case as an act of self-defense, highlighting Robinette’s role as a staunch Union supporter and a devoted family man, pleading for mercy on behalf of his “motherless Daughters and sons.”

Their petition, emphasizing Robinette’s loyalty to the Union and his disproportionate punishment, first passed through the hands of West Virginia Senator Waitman T. Willey. Senator Willey endorsed the plea and forwarded it to the White House for Lincoln’s consideration. Upon review, Lincoln granted the pardon, noting, “Pardon for unexecuted part of punishment. A. Lincoln. Sep. 1. 1864.”

This act of clemency allowed Moses J. Robinette to return to his family, where he lived until 1903.

Nearly $500,000 Raised To Help Billionaire Trump Pay His Legal Expenses in less than one day

 

In a remarkable show of support, a GoFundMe page titled “Stand with Trump” aimed at assisting the former president with his legal expenses, has rapidly approached the half-million-dollar mark. Initiated by Elena Cardone – the wife of real estate guru Grant Cardone – last week, the crowdfunding campaign seeks to amass $355 million to settle the damages Trump was mandated to pay following a fraud case verdict in New York. As of Monday morning, the initiative has garnered over $430,000 from approximately 8,700 contributors.

The fundraising effort has seen a wide range of donations, with the highest single contribution being $10,000, while the majority of donations ranged between $20 and $100. Cardone took to X to rally support, emphasizing the importance of unity in backing Trump during this challenging time.

Last Friday, Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that Trump must pay over $300 million in damages, a verdict stemming from allegations of property value inflation to secure more favorable loan terms and agreements. The judgment also included a three-year prohibition against Trump conducting business operations in New York.

Following the court’s decision, Trump unveiled $400 gold sneakers at Philadelphia’s Sneaker Con, just one day after Judge Engoron’s ruling, presumably to help him pay his bills.

Friday’s Terrorist Continues Family Tradition Since 1929 Of Murdering Jews...Worked as a "garbage collector" in Beit Shemesh

 

DIN: Reading this story, I am reminded of what one of the great Roshei Yeshiva Rav Hagoan Schreiber Shlitah said about our children in uniform, that they are no "better than garbage collectors." Well, his disgusting comments came back to bite him because it was a "garbage collector" who murdered a Yeshiva Bochur on his way to Yeshivah. 

After the appalling massacre of 67 Jews in Hevron in 1929, the British antisemites (who had done very little to prevent the massacre despite having a significant police presence in Hevron) made a "commission of inquiry" to find the ring leaders of the brutal pogrom.

In all, 25 Arabs were sentenced to death but the British commuted the sentences of 22 and only the three most savage murderers were hanged- among them a certain Mohammed Jamjum, who was hanged at Acre prison on 17 June 1930.

After their hanging the Arab leaders called a general strike and thousands attended his funeral. The Arab leadership even specified 17 June as Shuhada day- “the day of the saints.” Thus the Arab tradition enshrined and glorified the gruesome murderers of Hevron’s Jews. A chant “From Acre Prison their funeral went out”, based on a poem by a Haifa Arab, became a national tune, and its words immortalize the murderers for their actions.

Fast forward to 2024: The Jamjum family still lives proudly to this day in Hevron, basking in the glory of their fallen ancestor. One of their descendants is Fadi Jamjum, whose father married a Jerusalem resident and thus via family reunification received temporary citizenship, enabling him and his family to live in the Shuafat neighborhood and to move freely in Israel. Fadi and his father performed renovation jobs for Jews.

Fadi, a devout Muslim, became a Sheikh, a Muslim leader, and wore the traditional skullcap and long garb of Muslims. At the same time he maintained his family’s fanatical hatred of Jews and of Israel and maintained affiliation to Hamas, like most of Hevron’s Arabs.

In recent years he would ascend regularly to Temple Mount with his father and brother, where he could hear the inciteful sermons against Jews on a daily basis. Other family members echoed the incitement on their social media pages.

Last Friday, after collecting garbage in Beit Shemesh, Jamjum drove towards central Israel. Seeing a large group waiting at a bus stop near Re’em junction, he saw the opportunity to continue the family’s bloody tradition. Opening fire indiscriminately, Fadi murdered two Jews, Yishai Gertner and Uri Yaish HyD, and injured four others, with one 16-year-old still in very serious condition. Fortunately an armed civilian was on hand to end the violent spree and eliminate yet another killer from the murderous Jamjum clan.

Gov. Hochul was right about Israel — until the left forced her to apologize

Well, that’s how the Kathy crumbles.

Gov. Hochul last week committed candor in public – a rare event indeed – but just 24 hours later she was groveling before one of the most noxious movements in Empire State history.

There she was Friday night, all-but begging forgiveness for having included an “inappropriate analogy” in a “poor choice of words” while addressing a fundraising dinner the previous evening.

Speaking to the United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York at Gotham’s venerable Pierre Hotel Thursday, Hochul had sharply called out Iranian cat’s-paw Hamas while underscoring her support for Israel post-10/7.

The bloody-fisted terrorist organization “must be stopped” she said. And Israelis couldn’t be expected to live with “that threat, that specter, over them.”

Anodyne words, to be sure – but so far, so good.

Then she told the truth, which so many New Yorkers can’t handle. 

“If Canada ever attacked Buffalo,” she projected, “I’m sorry, my friends, there would be no Canada the next day. You have a right to defend yourself, and to make sure that it never happens again. And that is Israel’s right.”

No equivocation there. Nor should there have been.

But the comment was on video, which went viral, with entirely predictable impact – and then there was Hochul, tendering an apologetic back-track to the New York Times:

“While I have been clear in my support of Israel’s right to self-defense,” she weaseled, “I have also repeatedly said and continue to believe that Palestinian civilian casualties should be avoided . . .” and blah, blah, blah.

Two points stand out:

• Hochul’s analogy, again, was spot on: Israel’s 10/7 toll would have been the population-adjusted equivalent of roughly 42,000 dead Americans – and God only knows how many wounded, raped or otherwise traumatized. Imagine how much “restraint” the United States would have exercised after such an attack – especially if Canada had been rocketing Buffalo, the governor’s hometown, for decades.

• Secondly, the governor’s analogy also was so patently ridiculous that only an imbecile, or an opportunist, would take it literally. It was a rhetorical device meant to emphasize her support for Israel — and the push-back was intended to make her back off.

And Hochul did – to her shame, and also to New York’s. 

It seems that the state which tasted terrorism firsthand 22-plus years ago, and which promised never to forget, has. 

Or its leaders have. For the most part they’ve stood quiescent in the face of hugely disruptive, pro-Palestinian celebrations of murder, mayhem and politicized sexual assault that began within hours of the10/7 massacre, and which continue to this day.

Yes, people are allowed to protest; it’s the American way.

But politicians aren’t required to go along – to exalt evil, or to acquiesce in it.

Hochul isn’t the only pol to have done so – just, arguably, the most prominent.

She needs to apologize for her apology – and, in the process, perhaps claw back a little of the honor her office once commanded.

bob@bobmcmanus.nyc 

The mainstream media don’t treat conservatives and libertarians fairly — and Americans have finally noticed

 

by JOHN STOSSEL

On CNN, a “reporter” interviewing Vice President Kamala Harris gushes, “I’m struck, just in your presence! Looking you in the eye, with your passion.” Really? Even Harris looked embarrassed.

My new video shows how the mainstream media treat conservatives and libertarians differently. We shouldn’t be surprised. Reporters overwhelmingly lean Democrat. A survey by The American Journalist found that for every Republican in a newsroom, there are 10 Democrats. The reporters claim to be objectivate they aren’t.

News networks always covered Iowa caucus victory speeches. Not this year — after Donald Trump won. CNN cut away from his speech, and MSNBC didn’t carry it at all.