T. Belman. I urge that a solution for these immigrants be found that converts them without the necessity of committing to orthodoxy. The large majority of Jews in Israel aren’t orthodox in practice. Should any of these non-halachicly converted Jews wish to marry an orthodox person, they can then convert hallachicly.

Two out of every three immigrants to Israel come from either Russia or Ukraine, but most aren’t recognized as Jewish – which makes things like marrying, starting a family and getting buried a problem

By Judy Maltz, HAARETZ

People waiting for their suitcases at Ben-Gurion International Airport. Nir Keidar

Two countries have been responsible for a growing share of immigration to Israel in recent years: Russia and Ukraine.

Israel invests considerable resources in promoting and facilitating aliyah, and when immigration figures are up, it is widely seen as a measure of success of the Zionist project. Indeed, over the past decade, total aliyah has virtually doubled (from nearly 15,500 in 2008 to nearly 29,500 in 2018) – thanks in no small part to the growing number of new arrivals from these two countries. Read more…

‘Iran decided not to keep quiet about Israel’s attacks anymore,’ News 13 analyst Zvi Yehezkeli says.

ARUTZ SHEVA

Hassan Rouhani,Reuters

Journalist Zvi Yehezkeli, News 13‘s Arab affairs analyst, spoke with 103 FM Radio‘s Nissim Mishal about the rising tensions on Israel’s northern border and IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi’s warning that the situation may deteriorate.

Do the Iranians have an interest in conflict on the border?

“Certainly the answer is yes. The Israeli assumption up until now has been that Iran can hold back and does not want a general conflict. That’s beginning to crack. I’ll tell you what it’s about. Until now Israel has been attacking all bases and attacking all Iranian entrenchment in Syria, for over two years. All of this was done with the understanding that Iran would be exposed and not want to respond.
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DEBKA

The mass anti-government protests engulfing Lebanon and Iraq are strongly infused with resentment of Iran’s influence and Hizballah dominance. Yet both held back on bloody crackdowns.

On Friday, Oct. 25, the ninth day of popular protests in Lebanon, Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned in a televised speech that they were putting the country at risk of “chaos, economic collapse and civil war.” This was an attempt post factum to justify his first furtive steps to confront the protesters with force. A special new squad of Hizballah officers and fighters, clad in civvies and armed with clubs, were already scuffling with demonstrators on Beirut’s central Riad al-Solh Square that night. Those heavies may be expected to turn up in the thick of rallies in other parts of Lebanon. To motivate his followers, Nasrallah went on to charge that foreign embassies in Beirut had hijacked the protest movement and the CIA was involved.

Read more…

by Joe Hoft, GATEWAY PUNDIT

Last night was historic.  The news coming out on four fronts indicates that the Deep State should be very worried.  Those of us uncovering the many corrupt actions taken by President Obama’s Deep State have been looking forward to this day for some time!

Last night it was as if the planets aligned against the Deep State.  On four different fronts it’s now clear that the crooks in the Obama Administration should be very worried.

1. The FISA Report

The first event reported is that the DOJ IG’s FISA report is about to be released.  FOX News reported yesterday the following –

Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz told Senate and House lawmakers Thursday that the process of finalizing his report into potential Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) abuses ahead of the 2016 presidential election was “nearing completion,” according to a letter obtained by Fox News.
Read more…

Attorney general to begin consultations on possible criminal charges against PM on Sunday, with decision expected in coming weeks

By TOI STAFF   24 October 2019, 

State prosecutors have begun drafting a legal opinion recommending Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stand trial for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, according to a television report on Thursday.

Weeks after Netanyahu’s pre-indictment hearing, in which the premier’s attorneys sought to counter the looming indictment, prosecutors were urging Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to keep the original proposed charges intact, namely bribery, fraud and breach of trust in the so-called Case 4000, as well as additional fraud and breach of trust charges in cases 1000 and 2000, the Channel 13 report said.

Mandeblit on Sunday will begin consultations with state prosecutors to make a decision on whether to indict Netanyahu in the three corruption charges against him. He aims to make the decision by mid-November, Channel 12 reported earlier this month. Other assessments suggested a decision would be made by year’s end. Read more…

THE NY SUN EDITORIAL

The backlash against Attorney General William Barr’s call for religious freedom now includes a demand that his remarks on the subject be scrubbed from the Justice Department Web site. The demand, according to Indiana Public Media, is being made by a group that reckons Mr. Barr violated his constitutional oath when he delivered the other day at Notre Dame University a speech on the importance of religion and religious liberty.

We hope that the Justice Department stands its ground. The attorney general’s remarks at Notre Dame are one of the most important statements of support that religious Americans have had at a time when a campaign is underway to cast religion as a cover for bigotry. We are in a time when the left seeks to intimidate those who would cast religion as an inherently good thing for America.
Read more…

By David Archibald, AMERICAN THINKER

T. Belman. So the AG wants more time to make a decision on whether to indict. Fair enough but why did the prosecutors announce before the Spring elections that it was going to recommend indictments.  It seems to me, that due process demands that nothing be announced short of the actual indictment. Netanyahu has been greatly harmed by the threat of potential indictment. And here we are more than 6 months later and the AG has not made up his mind. You might say that the leak of the recommendations was criminal.

By  David Israel, JEWISH PRESS

Three weeks after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hearing by the prosecution, the Taxation and Economics Prosecutor is preparing for a decision on indictments in the pending cases, Channel 13 News reported Thursday night.

It appears that the Prosecutor’s office will recommend an indictment on bribery in Case 4000, and fraud and breach of trust in cases 1000 and 2000.

But a Justice Ministry spokesman said Thursday night: “Let us make it clear, the Attorney General is conducting an orderly and thorough process of examining the allegations that arose in the hearing on the Prime Minister’s case, and only at the end of the process will the decisions regarding the cases be made, and these will be officially announced to the public.

Read more…

T. Belman. Don’t forget that when Reform Judaism was founded in Germany in the late nineteenth century, it disavowed the nationality and ethnic identity of Jews and relegated themselves to being a religion only, certainly, not a people.  Thus they have been avowed anti-Zionists since then.

Reform Zionism has a more nuanced view of the present position of Reform Judaism.

Will they ever feel comfortable with a powerful and self-confident Israel? Can they see beyond Israel’s occupation of the disputed territories as defining the legitimacy of the state?

by  Eric R. Mandel, ISRAEL HAYOM

In a column titled, “I Was Protested at Bard College for Being a Jew,” Batya Ungar-Sargan, a liberal Zionist and the Opinion Editor of The Forward, a paper that is decidedly to the left, was targeted by progressive anti-Zionists because the panel was comprised of three Jews, including the esteemed Ruth Wisse of Harvard University.

She said the university had no plans to stop “what was fixing to become an ugly disruption of Jews trying to discuss anti-Semitism.” What shocked her more was the support of the academics and intellectuals in the audience who “applauded” the blatantly anti-Semitic disruption. “These vaunted intellectuals, flown in from across the country … were commending a display of racism against Jews,” she wrote.

Welcome to a world where far-left progressives find commonality with far-right fascists. Read more…

By Dr. Doron Itzchakov, BESA     

BESA Center Perspectives No. 1,321, October 25, 2019

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Though it prompted angry reactions from senior officials in Tehran, the Turkish attack on Syrian Kurdistan offers both pros and cons for the Islamic Republic – and the potential positives likely outweigh the negatives.

Turkey’s military offensive against the Kurds in northeastern Syria prompted recriminations from the Islamic Republic, but the Iranian regime understands that it could ultimately redound to its benefit.

Ever since the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in March 2011, Iran and Turkey have been on opposing sides, with Tehran (and Moscow) playing a critical role in the survival of the Assad regime and Ankara urging its ouster and supporting the anti-regime rebellion.

Unsurprisingly, President Trump’s announcement that US troops would be evacuated from northern Syria was welcomed in Tehran, which had considered the presence of US troops on Syrian soil a flagrant violation of Syrian sovereignty. However, Erdo?an’s decision to invade Kurdish territory in Syria led his Iranian counterpart, Rouhani, to condemn it on the grounds that it would increase regional instability. Read more…

Our Drones Are Tracking, Ready To Strike American Bases Throughout The Region;

MEMRI

Mojtaba Zonnour, the Chairman of National Security and Foreign Policy Committee in Iran’s Majlis, said in an October 11, 2019 interview on Channel 5 (Iran) that Iran employs a strategy of deterrence and asymmetric warfare that renders its enemies’ strengths ineffective by exploiting their weaknesses. He said that Israel would be destroyed within 30 minutes if America or Israel make a “mistake” and that Iranian drones are tracking activity in American military bases as far as Diego Garcia Island. Zonnour said that the Iranians “have registration fire” on most of the American bases in the area and threatened that they will be struck if Iran is attacked. In addition, Zonnour said that adhering to a “culture of resistance” will guarantee Iran’s security. Read more…

Maxim A. Suchkov,   Türkçe  October 23, 2019

MOSCOW — Following the deal the presidents of Russia and Turkey negotiated in Sochi, the two countries are moving forward with practical steps on the ground. Still, there’s some political messaging to be conveyed to other interested parties and steps on the ground to ensure the initiative goes as planned.

“The United States was the closest ally of the Kurds over the past few years. But in the end, the United States abandoned the Kurds, actually betraying them. The United States opted to abandon the Kurds on the border, almost forcing them to fight against the Turks,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

His comments were a reaction to US Syria envoy James Jeffrey, who stated earlier that the Russia-Turkey deal was “full of holes.” Jeffrey also observed that the Russian commitments to the Turks were “very vague.”

Following the Putin-Erdogan meeting, President Donald Trump called the latest developments around Syria “good news.”

Read more…

Howard Rotberg. While the media and the universities keep up their political correctness, moral and cultural relativism, and adoption of ideologies and policies that promote the Leftist-Islamist alliance, I am proud that we at Mantua Books continue to publish serious books by some of the world’s greatest and most moral writers. Mantua Books is Canada’s only publisher of conservative values and pro-Israel books. We also have produced a new documentary, Conservative Authors in Canada.

By: Mark H. Lazerson, JEWISH VOICE

Reviews

Having smashed the numerous legal barriers impeding formal racial, ethnic, and gender equality, the 1960s civil rights revolution left many Americans expecting more racial and ethnic harmony. Many realistically believed that the prophecies of civil rights’ martyr Reverend Martin Luther King of an America judging its citizens by the content of their character and not their ascribed identities was now within reach. And indeed there has been unimaginable progress, which is best captured by growing white acceptance of Afro-Americans as actual and putative marriage partners. Between 1980 and 2008 black and white intermarriage rates tripled.
Read more…

By Joel Pollak, BREITBART

AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty Images

Jewish leaders in the U.S., and pundits in the Israeli press, have generally been critical of President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from a Syria-Turkey border zone, concerned about the fate of the Kurdish people. Some describe it as a bad omen for Israel.

That concern, while legitimate, ignores Trump’s long-term strategy in the region and the legitimate interest Turkey has in removing an armed force from its border — an interest Israel shares.

Israel has invaded southern Lebanon in two previous wars to disarm terrorist militias that had used the territory to launch terror attacks against its civilians.
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He’s a dictator with strange ideas, not unlike Nicolás Maduro.

By Daniel Pipes, WSJ
Oct. 23, 2019 7:11 pm ET

Turkish forces in Tal Abyad, Syria, Oct. 18. Photo: Zhengsiyuan/Zuma Press

Turkish citizens are wildly optimistic about the invasion of Syria that began Oct. 9. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decision finds broad support within Turkey, including from all the major opposition parties except the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party. The incursion is understood domestically not only as a measure to protect the country from the Kurdish forces Mr. Erdogan calls “terrorists,” but also to affirm Turkey’s status as a power; Ankara no longer must bow to the wishes of Washington, Berlin or Moscow.

Then there’s the pessimistic view, the one I share. The invasion damages Turkey internationally: Western and Arab governments have condemned the military operation, as have the Russian, Iranian, Indian and Chinese governments. Volkswagen paused a planned investment in Turkey, and other companies may follow suit. Congress is weighing economic sanctions. Italy, France and Germany have suspended arms sales. Tensions are heightening between Turks and Kurds in Germany, and will likely rise within Turkey as well.
Read more…