FOREIGN POLICY, ISRAEL Comments turned off

Blinken’s Rafah blunder: Ruthie Blum

Posted By on March 23rd, 2024

https://www.jns.org/blinkens-rafah-blunder/

In a press conference on Thursday in Cairo, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated his opposition to an Israeli ground operation in Rafah, saying that such a move would be a “mistake.”

An invasion into the southern Gaza city, he stated, was “unnecessary” to achieving the goal of defeating Hamas. This attitude, which the Biden administration has been expressing with increasing fervor, runs counter to Israeli assessments.

It has become the key bone of contention between Washington and Jerusalem since the start of the Oct. 7 war, spurred by a massacre of Jews that hadn’t been seen since the Holocaust.

Other disagreements—surrounding the use of Israeli force, civilian Palestinian casualties and plans for “the day after”—have been mild in comparison. Or at least they’ve been treated by Israel as arguments that can be addressed through a presentation of the facts.

This hasn’t been simply a tactical ploy to avert discord. On the contrary, the justice of destroying the genocidal terrorist organization that controls territory along Israel’s southern border and vows to repeat the atrocities of Oct. 7 “again and again and again” is irrefutable.

Anyone disputing Israel’s duty to eradicate Hamas—for the survival of the Jewish state, as well as for the benefit of the region and the world—is on the wrong side of history. Period.

Furthermore, Israel has the data to support the extreme measures it employs to avoid non-combatant deaths in Gaza. It has proof of the huge quantities of humanitarian aid entering the Strip. It also has evidence of its efforts to prevent Hamas from stealing the goods.

ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

The Triumph of the Blood Libel Caroline Glick

Posted By on March 23rd, 2024

https://carolineglick.com/the-triumph-of-the-blood-libel/

According to Canada’s La Presse, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a vampire, and he is poised to suck the life out of the Palestinians in Rafah, Hamas’s final outpost in southern Gaza. The publication that was once a paper of record in Canada ran a political cartoon on March 20 portraying Netanyahu as a vampire, with a huge hooked nose, pointy ears and claws for fingers, dressed in Dracula’s overcoat while standing on the deck of a pirate ship.

The caption, written in blood-dripping red letters, read: “Nosfenyahou: En Route Vers Rafah.” Nosferatu, the Romanian word for vampire, was the title of a proto-Nazi German silent horror film from 1922 chock-full of anti-Semitic poison. The film, which became something of a cult flick, featured a vampire with a long Jewish nose. He arrived at an idyllic German town with a box full of plague-carrying rats that he released on the innocent villagers as he plotted to suck his realtor’s blood.

La Presse’s cartoon didn’t leave any room for imagination. It wasn’t making a political or military argument against Israel’s planned ground operation in Rafah. Its goal wasn’t to persuade anyone of anything.

The Netanyahu-the-vampire cartoon asserted simply that Netanyahu is a Jewish bloodsucker and, more broadly, the Jewish state—and Jews worldwide—must be vigorously opposed by all right-thinking people who don’t want Jewish vampires to kill them.

As the paper no doubt anticipated, the cartoon provoked an outcry from Canadian Jews and some politicians. And after a few hours, the newspaper took it off its website and apologized. Anyone who thinks that means that the good guys won misses the point of the move. The Jewish outcry and pile-on by politicians and media coverage proved the point. Jews are evil and control everything, even what a private paper can publish. Like Nosferatu in its day, the cartoon will become a piece of folklore, additional proof that the Jews are the enemy of humanity.

In other words, the cartoon was a blood libel.

IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

America, look at Sweden and beware the chaos of uncontrolled immigration Douglas Murray

Posted By on March 23rd, 2024

https://nypost.com/2024/03/21/opinion/american-reps-will-speak-up-for-illegal-immigrants-while-not-bothering-to-help-the-law-abiding/

I don’t think many Americans realize how difficult it is to come to America legally. 

Among my own friends, I know an academic who has spent the past year in legal limbo, not allowed to work between teaching positions and constantly waiting to learn whether he can stay in America. 

In Georgia, I know a couple — the husband is American, the wife British — who can still not legalize as a couple, despite years of marriage and years of being together, who want to get themselves to America. 

The only reason I mention the plight of the law-abiding is because it stands in such stark contrast to the situation of the law-breaking. 

Our pro-immigration politicians in America are loudly on the side of anyone who comes to America illegally. 

But it is rare to find representatives who are on the side of people who are trying to do everything by the book. 

While lots of representatives speak up for the law-breaking, few speak up for or help the law-abiding. 

That is because it is perfectly clear that the immigration situation in this country has run away from its representatives. 

Human cost 

The human scale of this is devastating

ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

Jew-Hate and ‘Inquisitions’ in Canada by Robert Williams

Posted By on March 22nd, 2024

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20511/canada-jew-hate

“I would walk in every single day and I would see ‘f–k you Jews,’ ‘you are not welcome here,’ ‘we hate Zionists,’ and ‘kill yourself.'” — Samantha Kline, student at the Ontario College of Art and Design, Vancouver Sun, March 6, 2024.

In 2022, the Canadian government invoked the Emergencies Act to shut down the so-called trucker convoy protests, in which thousands of truck drivers and their supporters rallied to call for an end to the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Last year, in a move reminiscent of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s “rehabilitation psychiatric wards,” the celebrated psychologist, Professor Jordan Peterson, was ordered by the College of Psychologists of Ontario to be “disciplined” in a “Soviet style re-training camp” or lose his license, simply for having expressed personal opinions about a variety of subjects, from obesity to transgender ideology.

The same Canadian leaders and officials, however, evidently see no need to comment on the mobs calling for the genocide of Jews.

As a final blow to Canadian Jews, the Canadian government has decided, at this time of all times, to implement new standards that will effectively end the practice of kosher slaughter in Canada.

Is Canada trying to get rid of its Jews? And its freedoms? It might just succeed in doing both.

Since the October 7 massacre in southern Israel, Jews in Canada have been under constant attack. Shooting attacks against schools, firebombings of Jewish institutions, boycotts and vandalism against businesses owned by Jews, imams inciting and telling their congregations that Jews are “vermin”, and the constant marches of pro-Hamas activists chanting “long live the intifada” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — a euphemism for annihilating a democratic member of the United Nations, Israel.

MOVIES AND TELEVISION Comments turned off

The Worst Cold War Documentary Ever Made By Noah Rothman

Posted By on March 22nd, 2024

https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/03/the-worst-cold-war-documentary-ever-made/

The new Netflix series Turning Point pushes revisionist history that might as well have been lifted straight from Howard Zinn’s fevered imagination.

Netflix’s new documentary series, Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War, opens with a captivating premise: Vladimir Putin’s war of conquest in Ukraine has imposed on the West unenviable conditions akin to those that pertained during the Cold War. Indeed, the series posits that Putin’s war cannot be understood without a study of the rivalry between the superpowers. But that pretense is swiftly abandoned. The series’ real purpose is to push a revisionist history that manages to render the Soviet Union a bit player in a Cold War narrative that might as well have been lifted from Howard Zinn’s fevered imagination. Though this could not have been the documentarians’ intention, the series might even convince some viewers that Putin has a point.

Within the first few minutes of episode one, the audience is confronted with the documentary’s true objective. “We were so good. We were the country that finally was so virtuous, in addition to being powerful,” says Overthrow author Stephen Kinzer in a blithe summary of the post-war American ethos. “And it was logical that we would then be threatened by a hostile, evil force that wanted nothing but destruction and nihilism.” The documentary then sets out to prove these two presumptions wrong.

According to the series, the Cold War begins not with Winston Churchill’s observation in Fulton, Mo., that an “Iron Curtain” had descended across the European continent but with the atomic bombing of civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These were not the first civilians wantonly murdered by the United States through nuclear warfare, of course. The first casualties were American citizens, who were poisoned by their proximity to the Trinty test and lied to about their condition by the U.S. government.

That digression aside, the film maintains that racialized caricatures of the Japanese made the atomic bombings that ended the Second World War thinkable. It was an unnecessary act of violence aimed not at ending the war — the Japanese were willing to negotiate, and the U.S. wasn’t really seeking “unconditional” surrender as advertised — but at keeping the Soviets from invading Japan. “We didn’t need to use the bomb. Japan would have surrendered. We didn’t need a land invasion in order to be victorious,” one of the documentary’s interviewees postulates.

It’s a tidy narrative, but it elides the extent to which industrial war-making facilities in Japan, unlike in Germany, were interspersed within residential areas. Harry Truman’s advisers did seek relatively intact urban targets to demonstrate the weapon’s power, but neither city subject to atomic bombing was purely civilian. Hiroshima hosted the 2nd Army Headquarters, the command in charge of the defense of southern Japan (where Operation Olympic would have begun). Likewise, Nagasaki was home to manufacturing facilities producing ordnance, naval assets, and weapons platforms.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The Shameful Success of Letitia James by Rich Lowry

Posted By on March 22nd, 2024

https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/03/the-shameful-success-of-letitia-james/

Her lawfare has worked brilliantly.

While other prongs of the lawfare campaign against Donald Trump are flailing or encountering timing issues, Letitia James has delivered.

The New York attorney general sought to use the power of the state to target Donald Trump, smash his business, and personally embarrass him.

So far, it’s promises made, promises kept.

While Fani Willis has disgraced herself and is hanging on by her fingernails, Jack Smith is beset by various delays that may keep him from achieving his goal of politically damaging trials before the election, and Alvin Bragg is stuck with a dog of a case, James has gone from strength to strength, gloating all the while.

All it takes, it turns out, to achieve lawfare success is a willingness to make abusive use of a broadly written statute, a pliant judge, and some moxie and determination.

Take note, America — this is how it’s done.

Even if her case somehow goes away tomorrow (and it won’t), she still will have gotten a fraud judgment against Trump and forced him to admit that he’s not liquid enough to produce the more than $450 million bond he needs to prevent her from beginning to collect the judgment. There’s speculation that Trump might resort to declaring Chapter 11 or simply let James take Trump Tower, both of which would be humiliations (and don’t seem likely).

There’s no doubt that in financial terms in this case, the walls really are closing in.

This is a great success for James and a great shame for our system. She has proven that it’s possible to stretch the law to make a dubious case against a political enemy in a major jurisdiction of the United States and impose a punishment with no connection to the underlying offense but with ruinous personal consequences.

We should all hope that this model is never repeated, whether the intended victim is a Republican or a Democrat, someone running for president or for alderman.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Speaker Johnson Counters Dem Attacks Against Netanyahu By Inviting Him to Address Congress Johnson’s invitation was the perfect response to these craven moves by the Biden administration and Schumer to throw Prime Minister Netanyahu under the bus to boost Biden’s reelection chances. By Fred Fleitz

Posted By on March 22nd, 2024

https://amgreatness.com/2024/03/22/speaker-johnson-counters-dem-attacks-against-netanyahu-by-inviting-him-to-address-congress/

Kudos to House Speaker Mike Johnson, who yesterday extended an invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address the U.S. House of Representatives. This was an important and much-needed gesture to reassure the Israeli people that the vast majority of Americans stand with Israel in its war against the Hamas terrorists and do not agree with the surge in hostility toward the Israeli government by the Biden administration and some Congressional Democrats.

Johnson’s invitation was in response to the backlash over shocking comments made last week by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, describing Netanyahu as an obstacle to peace and calling for new elections in Israel. Schumer also condemned how the Netanyahu government has conducted the war against Hamas and for its opposition to a two-state solution peace plan, which Schumer said will make Israel a “pariah.”

Schumer’s comments were condemned by Republicans and many Jewish groups. His criticism was so over the top that Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Netanyahu’s chief political rival, criticized Schumer for meddling in Israeli politics when he said, “Israel is a strong democracy, and only its citizens will determine its leadership and future. Any external intervention in the matter is incorrect and unacceptable.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu, who usually avoids criticizing U.S. officials, lambasted Schumer in an April 17 CNN interview:

“It’s inappropriate to go to a sister democracy and try to replace the elected leadership there. That’s something that Israel, the Israeli public, does on its own, and we’re not a banana republic.”

“The majority of Israelis support the policies of my government. It’s not a fringe government. It represents the policies supported by the majority of the people. If Senator Schumer opposes these policies, he’s not opposing me. He’s opposing the people of Israel.”

ANTI-SEMITISM, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

An Inconvenient Truth A former director of German intelligence argues that neo-Nazis are not the primary source of antisemitism in Germany today. It is the intersection of left-wing activists and Muslim migrants. BY August Hanning

Posted By on March 22nd, 2024

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/inconvenient-truth-germany-antisemitism-august-hanning

Germany is currently in a difficult situation that is beginning to recall some of the darker moments of the country’s past. Unprepared for the external crises of the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East, the nation now suffers internally from an unrestrained and uncontrolled influx of migrants. The economy is stagnating. Excessive social spending prevents necessary investments for the country’s future. Faced with an overwhelming bureaucracy, German companies primarily invest abroad, especially in the United States. The state budget is in disarray.

In the face of these crises, which stem from the Merkel era, a large segment of the German population yearns for strong political leadership. Yet Germany’s ruling coalition of three very different parties—the Greens, the Social Democrats (SPD), and the Free Democrats (FDP)—appears divided and ineffective. Chancellor Olaf Scholz is perceived as weak and lacks popular support.

Under Mrs. Merkel, the Christian Democrats (CDU) largely abandoned conservative values, essentially pursuing Social Democratic policies throughout the latter half of her 16-year-long tenure. Merkel’s decision in 2015 to open Germany’s borders to an unlimited influx of migrants remains exceptionally controversial. Socially and economically unprepared for the consequences of this decision, Germany continues to bear the burdens of physical accommodation, escalating social spending, and the difficulties of integrating new immigrants from difficult cultures, including in the education sector. The abandonment of conservative values in the CDU’s politics has led in turn to the rise of right-wing parties that can position themselves outside the country’s comforting, if sometimes stifling, postwar political consensus.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the strongest of the country’s growing opposition parties, especially in eastern Germany. While political opponents derogatorily label the AfD as a “Nazi party,” neither its program nor the vast majority of its members remotely justify this label. Much of the AfD’s political program resembles that of mainstream Trump supporters within the Republican Party. The AfD criticizes the consensus parties, including the CDU, for a loss of control over the migrant influx, bureaucracy in the European Union, and development aid payments from the German state budget to countries in Latin America, India, and China. The AfD demands that the principle of “Germany first” be applied to all political decisions.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

A pro-Israel musician faces challenges to artistic freedom — in the U.S. By Charles Lane

Posted By on March 22nd, 2024

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/03/19/pro-israel-performer-matisyahu-concerts-canceled/?

There is no one quite like Matisyahu. The international reggae-hip-hop-rock artist burst on the scene 20 years ago, rapping his hit single “King Without a Crown,” while sporting the beard, sidelocks and black coat of Hasidic Judaism. NBC picked “One Day,” his stirring antiwar anthem, as theme music for its 2010 Winter Olympics coverage.

Matisyahu left Hasidism, but his music still reflects his strong Jewish identity, religiosity and affinity for Israel. Since Hamas’s massacre in Israel on Oct. 7, the singer has spoken out against rising antisemitism and in support of Israel. He has draped himself in an Israeli flag at concerts and placed an empty chair onstage to represent Israeli hostages in Gaza. He has called for Hamas to be “destroyed.” He has visited Israeli troops and sent a supportive video message to their families.

For all of that, he is paying a price: When Matisyahu arrived in Chicago earlier this month, he learned his March 8 show at the 1,400-capacity House of Blues — owned by Live Nation — would be canceled. The reason: the potential for unruly protests against him outside the venue.

The U.S. Palestinian Community Network, one of several groups calling for demonstrations against Matisyahu, cried victory: “Through our relentless pressure on [the House of Blues and] Live Nation, the concert of the racist, zionist Matisyahu was canceled!” the group said in a statement on X. “Chicago has made it clear that it stands with Palestine and supporters of the #GazaGenocide are not welcome here!”

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Starting To Notice That The Energy Transition Is Not Happening Francis Menton

Posted By on March 22nd, 2024

https://issuesinsights.com/2024/03/22/grid-draining-electron-guzzlers-and-the-end-of-driving/

Supposedly, there is a big energy transition going on. Throughout the West, countries have made ambitious pledges to reduce “greenhouse gas” emissions by specific percentages and by specific dates. Many such pledges were notably made in the Paris Climate Agreement of 2016. Some countries — for example, the U.S. and UK — have even gone beyond the Paris Agreement and made still more ambitious pledges in the years since then. But is any of it real?

No, none of it is real. The failure to make the progress that would be necessary to achieve the alleged pledges and mandates is obvious and easily tracked. But a code of silence has enveloped the progressive media, commanding that no one is allowed to notice.

A small crack in the wall of silence suddenly happened in the New York Times on March 14. The front page article had the headline “A New Surge in Power Use Is Threatening U.S. Climate Goals.” The gist is that various sources of new electricity demand are rapidly emerging, from data centers to EVs to AI. Demand for electricity is starting to rise, but wind and solar generators can’t be added to the grid fast enough to fulfill this demand. And thus utilities are starting to add large numbers of new natural gas plants.