Wednesday, May 15, 2024
White House ‘strongly opposes’ bill that would force arms shipments to Israel
A congressional aide confirmed to DIN that the Biden administration notified Congress Tuesday that it plans to deliver more than $1 billion in new weapons to the Jewish state amid the bomb shipment pause.
The weapons package, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, would include $700 million in tank ammunition, $500 million in tactical vehicles and $60 million in mortar rounds, but the supplies are not expected to reach the battlefield anytime soon. This was after enormous pressure!
President Biden would veto legislation barring the US from withholding the shipment of military weapons to Israel, arguing that it would prevent the commander in chief from executing “effective foreign policy, the White House announced Tuesday.
The Israel Security Assistance Support Act, introduced by Republicans in the Senate and House and Representatives, would compel the Biden administration to quickly deliver previously approved weapons to Israel and withhold funds from the secretary of defense, secretary of state and National Security Council until the shipments currently on pause are delivered.
“The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 8369, the Israel Security Assistance Support Act, which seeks to limit the President’s discretion to ensure that the delivery of certain defense articles and services aligns with U.S. foreign policy objectives,” the White House said in a statement of administration policy, commenting on the House version of the bill.
“The bill would undermine the President’s ability to execute an effective foreign policy,” the statement continued, deriding the legislation as a “misguided reaction” and a “distortion” of Biden’s threat to withhold the shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to the Israeli military.
“We strongly oppose attempts to constrain the president’s ability to deploy U.S. security assistance consistent with U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives,” the White House said.
“If the President were presented with H.R. 8369, he would veto it.”
The 2024 race to the White House is now Donald Trump’s to lose
The verdict is in and the people have spoken.
The court of public opinion doesn’t give a damn about Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen.
Outside Manhattan and other Democrat strongholds, Americans don’t care whether a flaky porn actress and an ex-con serial liar with a closet full of axes to grind are telling the truth.
In fact, media obsession about the partisan show trial of defendant Donald Trump is obscuring a far more significant truth about him.
Candidate Trump has opened his biggest lead in the presidential campaign.
Polls of battleground states, along with such anecdotal evidence as the enormous turnout of 100,000 people at his New Jersey rally and dispirited concessions by Joe Biden supporters, signal that we’ve reached a key turning point in the battle for the White House.
Yes, yes, it’s far from over.
But recent signs suggest it’s now Trump’s race to win or lose.
Boat matching description of vessel involved in fatal hit-and-run of teen Ella Adler found
A boat of interest has been located in connection with the hit-and-run death of a 15-year-old who was struck while water skiing in the Biscayne Bay over the weekend.
Authorities have identified a vessel fitting that description of the one that hit Ella Riley Adler on Saturday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced Tuesday afternoon.
The owner of the boat – who has not been publicly identified – is cooperating with the investigation, the statement added.
Ella was enjoying a water skiing trip off Key Biscayne’s Nixon Beach when she fell into the water while being towed, the FWC explained.
She was then hit by the center console of an oncoming boat, which did not slow down or stop, witnesses said.
The Miami City Ballet dancer was left floating in the water with what first responders described as “a lot of blood” coming from her body.
The teen was still wearing her life vest and water skis when the boat – described as a light blue vessel with a dark blue bottom – plowed over her.
“You were taken from us way too soon, and the world has been robbed of all the things you could have achieved. But you will always be here with us and your friends and family will carry your energy and spirit forever,” Ella’s father, Matthew Adler, wrote in an emotional letter that was read at Ella's packed funeral on Monday.
Ella – who appeared in over 100 performances with the Miami City Ballet – took on a role in her school’s production of “Chicago” shortly before she died, one friend told the crowd at Temple Beth Sholom in Miami Beach.
As the investigation is ongoing, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission issued an ongoing appeal for witnesses who saw the hit-and-run or may have captured video of the incident.
My Grandfather's journey from Auschwitz to Israel and my promise to him
 |
| Tzlil, age 4, with her grandfather Nachman Berko circa 1993. |
By Tzlil Berko
I'm a third-generation child of Holocaust survivors. Almost all of my family from my father's side was gassed to death in the Auschwitz gas chambers.
Nearly 20 years ago, I visited the death camps where my family perished. There, at the gas chambers in Auschwitz, I recited their names out loud to 'elevate their souls' (L'iluy Neshama). As we believe in Judaism, the soul never dies, and we can help elevate a soul to a higher place in its journey to the afterlife, with good deeds, prayers, and remembrance.
As I called out my family members' names in the devil's 'death factory,' it suddenly hit me hard that right where I was standing, millions of Jews, my family included, had been reduced to only a number tattooed on their cold flesh, as well as God's arm. They were stripped of their identity and former selves and transformed into a combination of 'digits' – living 'codes' to humanity's locked heart. There I was, saying their names. Who they really were. What they were before true evil took them away.
My grandparents survived the Holocaust and immigrated to Israel. As a child, I used to sleep over at my grandparents' little house on their farm. I remember waking up in the middle of the night to my beloved grandfather screaming in Hungarian; he was haunted by the nightmare of his 4-year-old sister burning alive and turning into black ashes. To his very last day, he couldn't sleep without night terrors of what had happened to his family at the hands of the Nazis and their many helpers.
I remember myself just standing there. A little girl, frozen at the entrance of his room, looking at him and crying silently as my grandfather shouted, sweated, and writhed from real horror dreams. Flashbacks of the Holocaust, which he survived but never escaped.
The Holocaust runs in my blood. It's a significant part of the very essence of who I am. It's intertwined with my soul, at the very core of my being.
I promised my grandfather that we will DEFEND what he and all of our beloved Holocaust survivors fought for. We will NEVER GIVE UP, and we will NEVER LET GO. We are proud Jews with a strong moral army and we will keep my promise to him. Am Yisrael Chai (the nation of Israel lives).
I wrote the poem below (translated from Hebrew) for my brave grandfather, Nachman Berko, may his memory be a blessing, and to my extended family that left our world through a chimney as the blue sky turned black.
European Jews Asking Shailos About Removing Mezuzahs and Hiding Kippah
Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt says that Jews in Europe are so frightened about antisemitism, they are considering removing mezuzahs and hiding their kippahs.
In an interview with the Guardian, Rabbi Goldschmidt, the former Chief Rabbi of Moscow and President of the Conference of European Rabbis, says that since October 7th, Jewish communities across Europe have been struggling with a wave of hate speech, harassment, and threats.
Some Jews have asked Rabbis halachic questions about whether it is permitted to remove Jewish symbols for their safety.
Rabbi Goldschmidt said that “many Jews are trying to hide their Jewishness”. “One of the most asked questions to the rabbis since October 7 is if you can take off the mezuzah [a religious parchment in a case] off your door,” he said, adding: “This says a lot.”
He added that, “Other precautions that some people took included wearing hats instead of the traditional yarmulkah (skullcap) on the street, and avoiding speaking Hebrew when riding in Ubers. There used to be a red line between anti-Zionism and antisemitism. We have seen this red line disappear. I think that ultimately this is not a problem for the Jewish community. Ultimately, this is a big problem for Europe at large. This situation in the streets is destabilizing our society.”
Rabbi Goldschmidt was chief rabbi of Moscow who left Russia after refusing to back Putin’s invasion of Ukraine
Speaker Mike Johnson’s Appearance at Trump’s "Illegitimate Sham" Trial
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson assailed the U.S. judicial system on Tuesday, becoming the highest-ranking Republican to show up at court with Donald Trump and using his powerful position to attack the hush money case against the former president as an illegitimate “sham.”
It was a remarkable moment in modern American politics: The House speaker turning his Republican Party against the federal and state legal systems that are foundational to the U.S. government and a cornerstone of democracy.
Johnson, who is second in line for the presidency, called the court system “corrupt.”
Outside the New York courthouse, he decried “this ridiculous prosecution that is not about justice.” He said, “It’s all about politics.”
The speaker is leading a growing list of Republican lawmakers who are criticizing the American judicial system as they rally to Trump’s side, appearing at the courthouse to defend the party’s presumptive presidential nominee. Trump is accused of having arranged secret payments to a porn actress to hide negative stories during his successful 2016 campaign for president.
With Trump stuck in court and barred by a judge’s gag order from criticizing witnesses or certain elements of the case, Johnson and the lawmakers are taking it upon themselves to attack the proceedings, now in a fourth week of witness testimony. They’re using the trial as a de facto campaign stop as they work to return the former president to the White House.
In portraying the case against Trump as politically motivated, the Republicans are also laying the groundwork to dismiss its significance, should the jury convict, and for potential challenges to the fall election, a rematch with President Joe Biden, a Democrat.
North Miami Imam/Dentist Who Double-Billed Patients & Medicaid,& Stole Thousands calls for 'annihilation' of Jews
An antisemitic-laced video has emerged of a Florida imam calling for the annihilation of Jews and describing the Israeli military as being "worse than the Nazis."
The video, which was live-streamed to Facebook on April 26, shows Florida Imam Dr. Fadi Kablawi making the remarks during a sermon at Masjid As Sunnah An Nabawiyyah in North Miami.
"Oh Allah, support our oppressed brothers in Palestine. Oh Allah, annihilate the tyrannical Jews. Oh Allah, annihilate them, for they are no match for you," Kablawi can be heard saying in the sermon, according to a translation by MEMRI TV, the media arm of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
"Oh Allah," Kablawi continued, "annihilate the brothers of apes and pigs. Oh Allah, demonstrate upon them the wonders of your might. Oh Allah, cut off their seed. Oh Allah, break up their fellowship. Oh Allah, disperse them and rend them asunder."
The original video was posted to the Facebook page of the mosque, with a shortened version then uploaded MEMRI TV. The video comes amid a wave of antisemitism on college campuses.
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Google's AI refuses to say how many Jews were killed by the Nazis
Google is coming in for sharp criticism after a video went viral of the Google Nest assistant refusing to answer basic questions about the Holocaust — but having no problem answering questions about the Nakba.
“Hey Google, how many Jews were killed by the Nazis?” Instagram user Michael Apfel asks a Google Nest virtual assistant. The video was later posted to X by venture capitalist Josh Wolfe on May 8.
“Sorry, I don’t understand,”
The same token answer was offered to other related questions including “How many Jews were killed during World War II? Who did Adolf Hitler try to kill? How many Jews were killed in the concentration camps? How many Jews were killed in the Holocaust? What was the Holocaust?
The Google device was able to deliver a detailed description of “The Nakba” — an Arabic word meaning “catastrophe” used to describe Palestinians being forced from their homes during the creation of Israel. Google’s AI called it the “ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.”
Tim Urban, a notable author and blogger told The Post he was able to successfully recreate the experiment and that Google Nest had no issue clearly stating how many Germans, Americans and Japanese had died during World War II — or deaths from the Rwandan genocide.
“Google is where we go to answer our questions and you just really want to feel like you can trust those answers and the company behind them. And moments like these break that trust and make you feel like Google’s supposed core value—truth—has been co-opted by politics,” Urban told The Post after posting to X about his dismay over the results.
The video, which has been widely reposted by several prominent X accounts, has racked up millions of views on the platform — where its findings were widely condemned.
“This is deeply concerning. Very soon, there will be no living holocaust survivors. Their stories will be silenced by hard-coded filters. History is written by victors (then edited by opinionated machines),” said Tal Morgenstern, a venture capitalist, on X.
Clifford D. May, founder of the Foundation for Defense of Democracy also condemned the results.
“In the past, we’ve had Holocaust denial by ignoramuses and racists. Now, we have Holocaust denial by artificial intelligence,” he said.
A Google spokesperson told The Post that the response was “not intended” and tried to downplay the Holocaust denials as only happening “in some instances and on certain devices.”
“We’ve taken immediate action to fix this bug,” the spokesperson said.
Google, and its parent company Alphabet, have long come in criticism for developing products pushing social justice absolutism. In February, their AI platform Gemini was mocked for generating comically woke creations including a woman as pope, black Vikings, female NHL players, and “diverse” versions of America’s Founding Fathers — not to mention black and Asian Nazi soldiers.
Just in: "HAMAS WAR ROOM EMBEDDED INSIDE AN UNRWA SCHOOL USED BY COMMANDERS WAS TARGETED IN A PRECISE STRIKE BY THE IDF AND ISA; 10 HAMAS TERRORISTS ELIMINATED IN THE STRIKE:"
JOINT IDF AND ISA ANNOUNCEMENT
HAMAS WAR ROOM EMBEDDED INSIDE AN UNRWA SCHOOL USED BY COMMANDERS WAS TARGETED IN A PRECISE STRIKE BY THE IDF AND ISA; 10 HAMAS TERRORISTS ELIMINATED IN THE STRIKE:
“Based on IDF and ISA intelligence, the IAF carried out a precise strike on a central Hamas war room commanders embedded inside an UNRWA school in the area of Nuseirat. The war room was used by terrorist operatives in Hamas' military wing. The strike was carried out using precise munitions in order to minimize harm to uninvolved civilians.
The Hamas war room had been used by the terrorist organization to plan multiple attacks against IDF troops in central Gaza in recent weeks. The Nukhba terrorists situated inside the war room took part in the October 7th Massacre and carried out ambushes and attacks on IDF troops in the Gaza Strip. In the IAF strike, approximately 15 operatives from terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip were eliminated, more than 10 of which were part of Hamas.
The Hamas terrorist organization systematically exploits the civilian population and institutions as human shields for their terrorist activities against the State of Israel.”
אין לנו ארץ אחרת, ואנחנו כאן להילחם עליה. יום הולדת 76 למדינה האהובה שלנו
We have no other country! We Are Here To Fight For it! Happy 76th Birthday, The State of Israel
Schumer Nadler & Goldman Against Israel and are Stooges for Hamas "They Have Blood on their Hands!"
Lenin called those who work against their own people’s best interests in support of their enemies “helpful idiots.” In a time when Israel faces a battle for survival, and Diaspora Jews are under attack like never before spineless Jewish politicians continue to harm Israel.
This is a war, and Jews are dying. This is not a test run. Jewish elected officials must stand up for their people. Some are failing miserably, choosing political convenience over their Jewish identity. The worst of course is Bernie Sanders, although Anthony Blinken isn’t far behind.
Recently, Jews in New York rallied outside Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office calling him a traitor, and urging him to resign for “backstabbing” Israel and staying silent as antisemitism rages across college campuses. This after Schumer praised President Biden’s decision to withhold weapons for Israel’s invasion of Rafah.
Similarly, Congressman Dan Goldman and his family have repeatedly been verbally attacked – rightfully so – in discussion even now for refusing to urge President Biden to arm Israel. Goldman – who criticized Israeli “settler violence” – in November, only a few weeks into the war and called for a ceasefire repeatedly is no friend of Israel.
Schumer, Nadler, Goldman these are no friends of Israel and should be treated as such. Each has uniformly been silent on Anti-Semitic issues at major universities In New York, including Syracuse University and Cooper Union, and in the streets of NYC where violence against Jews is daily, they are silent. It’s unacceptable.
Jews are scared and these politicians don’t stand up for them.
It must be said clearly that they have blood on their hands.
Blinken, Schumer, Goldman, Nadler shouldn’t be permitted in Zionist institutions or be regarded as friends of the Jewish people. They are traitors during a time of war. It must be said and must be said clearly. Even if it is not popular or easy.
Throughout history there has never been a shortage of Jews who are harmful to our community. This is not a new phenomenon and isn’t a function of being a Republican or Democrat as there is good in both parties.
From Nicholas Donin, who in 1240 helped establish a decree to publicly burn all available copies of the Talmud, to Karl Marx. Theodor Lessing authored the 1930 book Der Jüdische Selbsthass (“Jewish Self-hatred”), and Labor Zionist leader Berl Katznelson asked, “Is there another People on Earth so emotionally twisted that they consider everything their nation does despicable and hateful, while every murder, rape, robbery committed by their enemies fill their hearts with admiration and awe?”
One must ask these left-wing Jews at what point they take stock of what they have created. When do they say they bear some responsibility for the danger Jews are in in NYC? Their offspring and their ilk are on the streets with disproportionately loud critics of Israel and in the Hamas encampments on campus.
It must be said that Jews who sympathize with our enemies represent a tiny portion of world Jewry – but the prominence they command in public discourse creates a tyranny of the minority. There is no shortage of Anti-Israel books, but media coverage of them soars when Jews are the authors.
Journalist Uzi Silber coined the term “Jew Flu,” saying, “those infected with the virus wildly inflate Israeli sins real or imagined, while excusing or rationalizing Palestinian anti-Semitism and outrages against Jews.”
Kenneth Levin, a Harvard psychiatrist, says that Jewish self-hatred is in part a result of Stockholm syndrome, where “population segments under chronic siege commonly embrace the indictments of their besiegers however bigoted and outrageous.”
This was epitomized by Rosa Luxemburg, a prominent Bolshevik who said, “I have no room in my heart for Jewish suffering – Why do you pester me with Jewish troubles?”
Throughout history, Jewish self-haters have been influenced by a perversion of Judaism which says that universal social justice is the core Jewish mission. It’s simply not true that this is the central point of Judaism – and one wonders why these people ignore all of the other Jewish commandments. They seem to miss the point that if they and other Jewish enemies succeed in their collaboration, Israel won’t be a nation – and can’t be a “light unto the nations”.
In the year 2024, we must heed the words of Ze’ev Jabotinsky, “We were not created in order to teach morals and manners to our enemies.”
These “helpful idiots” continue writing and issuing statements while there are no Arabs speaking up for Jewish causes. These liberal Jews speak out for the whole world – Tibet, Sudan – and of national rights for all people – except the Jews. They speak of a “humanity” that will divest the Jewish people of their humanity.
Harvard professor Ruth Wisse says, “the rapid demoralization of Jews in the face of anti-Zionism… shows the depth of the influence of the past, for many have yet to achieve the simple self-respect that has been eluding the Jews collectively since the dawn of modernity.”
As it says in the Talmud “Israel are the sons and daughters of Kings,” – We, the Jewish people, are sons and daughters of the first king and queen, Abraham and Sarah. These self-hating Jews have forgotten that Jews are the chosen people and descend from royalty – and we will continue to pray and work for the State of Israel and Jewish people.
Ronn Torossian is Founder and CEO of 5WPR, a leading PR Firm in New York and one of the 20 largest independently owned agencies in the United States. Ronn is an active Jewish philanthropist through his charity organization, the Ronn Torossian Foundation.
With subdued state ceremony, Israel begins marking a somber 76th Independence Day
כֹּל עוֹד בַּלֵּבָב פְּנִימָה
נֶפֶשׁ יְהוּדִי הוֹמִיָּה,
וּלְפַאֲתֵי מִזְרָח קָדִימָה,
עַיִן לְצִיּוֹן צוֹפִיָּה;
עוֹד לֹא אָבְדָה תִּקְוָתֵנוּ,
הַתִּקְוָה בַּת שְׁנוֹת אַלְפַּיִם,
לִהְיוֹת עַם חָפְשִׁי בְּאַרְצֵנוּ,
אֶרֶץ צִיּוֹן וִירוּשָׁלַיִם.
לִהְיוֹת עַם חָפְשִׁי בְּאַרְצֵנוּ,
אֶרֶץ צִיּוֹן וִירוּשָׁלַיִם.
The annual state torch-lighting ceremony aired Monday night after it was pre-recorded for the first time as Israelis began marking the first Independence Day since Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught.
Save for a separately recorded message from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that fit awkwardly into the flow of the ceremony, the mood throughout was rather somber — a stark contrast to previous years where crowds of hundreds of flag-waving Israelis would attend the celebration.
The ceremony is typically broadcast live, but government organizers moved to film it ahead of time amid speculation that they wanted to avoid the heckling that was seen at multiple Memorial Day ceremonies hours before.
The torch-lighting ceremony was held amid significant protest from those who felt the government should not be putting on such a confab after presiding over the largest, single-day slaughter of Israelis in the country’s history. Some 1,200 were killed and 252 were taken hostage during the Hamas-led onslaught on October 7, which sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.
Some of the most vocal voices against holding the traditional ceremony were the relatives of the hostages and the families who have lost loved ones or been uprooted from their homes as a result of the fighting in Gaza and on the Lebanon border.
Some of them led an alternative “torch dousing” ceremony in the central town of Binyamina, which was attended by roughly 1,000 other Israelis. Another 100,000 joined other hostage families to commemorate the start of Independence Day there at a similarly somber rally at Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square.
Addressing the pre-recorded state ceremony was Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana who offered a message to the 132 hostages still being held in Gaza.
“The State of Israel was not there on October 7 in its full strength and power as we all expected it to be, but since then, it has been working every day to return you home to your families,” he said, adding that “all of those serving in the Israeli security forces Israel are fighting tirelessly for your release.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)