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The realigning of American Jewry  

By DAVID ELIEZRIE , JPOST

Twenty-two years ago, in the wake of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s death, many Jewish academics and pundits predicted Chabad would weaken significantly. What has happened is the opposite: worldwide there is hardly a Jewish community without a vibrant Chabad presence. From Bozeman, Montana to Beersheba Chabad is a vital part of Jewish life. The most intriguing change has been in the United States, where Chabad’s is growth has been the unprecedented.

Historically American Jews identified with three classical denominational concentrations: Reform, Conservative and Orthodox.

These groupings are undergoing major change.
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July 12, 2016 | 3:02 pm | 1 Comment »

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US Reform Jewish leader warns of ‘rupture’ with Israel  

T. Belman. Not only do they undermine our religious policies at the Kotel, they also undermine our political choices by supporting J-Street and Obama who are in truth, not pro-Israel.

Obviously their “support” for Israel is contingent on Israel embracing their progressive agenda. But why should Israel listen. Their numbers are dwindling and their members give more money to the Democratic Party or other non Jewish charities, than Jewish ones, by far.

Heads of American and Israeli Reform and Conservative movements send harsh letter to PM Benjamin Netanyahu, criticizing delay of plan to establish mixed-gender prayer space at Western Wall • Current situation “unjust and unsettling,” letter says.

ISRAEL HAYOM

The president of America’s Union for Reform Judaism blasted the Israeli government on Monday for delaying a plan to give liberal Jews a special space to pray at the Western Wall, and vowed to escalate his movement’s struggle with public demonstrations and legal action.

“For this government agreement to collapse would be the signal of a real rupture of the North American-Israel relationship,” said Rabbi Rick Jacobs.

The liberal Reform Movement is the largest American stream of Judaism, claiming to represent 1.5 million people. Reform congregations hold mixed-gender prayers, employ female rabbis and have members who drive to synagogue on the Sabbath — all customs that go against Orthodox tradition.
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July 12, 2016 | 2:50 pm | 35 Comments »

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GOP draft platform sidesteps two-state solution  

Ahead of party convention, party doubles down on Jerusalem, offers implicit criticism of Obama administration

BY REBECCA SHIMONI STOIL,TOI

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gazes at the audience following a standing ovation during his speech at Westin Town Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Monday, July 11, 2016. (Kristen Zeis/The Virginian-Pilot via AP)

The Republican Party platform committee held its first meeting Monday in Cleveland in advance of the party’s nominating convention, reviewing a draft platform that doubled down on the party’s support for Israel, while avoiding explicit support for a two-state solution.

The draft platform restores language recognizing Jerusalem “as the eternal and indivisible capital of the Jewish state,” as well as explicitly calling for the American embassy “to be moved there in fulfillment of US law.”
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July 12, 2016 | 2:36 pm | 2 Comments »

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The End of AIPAC’s Israel Monopoly  

What happened to the most powerful lobby in recent U.S. foreign-policy history?

By Bruce Abramson and Jeff Ballabon, TABLET

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is “the most important organization affecting America’s relationship with Israel.” At least, the New York Times once described it as such. AIPAC proudly shares the accolade with anyone who peruses its website, and few if any sources seem to disagree. AIPAC claims to have achieved that status through the dogged pursuit of a simple strategy: cultivating bipartisan support for the declared agenda of Israel’s elected government.
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July 12, 2016 | 2:22 pm | Comments »

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Government of Israel polls NO re “two-state solution”  

By Susie Dym, INN

Walla, an Israeli left-leaning news site, is, according to Alexa, one of the top websites in Israel. It ranks 8th, after Google.co.il, Google.com, Youtube, Facebook, Ynet, Wikipedia, and Panet (an Arab-language website).

On 26 June 2016 Walla polled the members of the Government of Israel to determine whether the ministers support what is known as the “two state solution”.

For the benefit of the English speaking public, here are the results:
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July 12, 2016 | 8:47 am | 4 Comments »

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The UK’s next Prime Minister is said to be pro-Israel  

JPOST

Theresa May emerges to speak to reporters after being confirmed as the leader of the Conservative Pa

Jerusalen is confidant that the strong relationship with Britain it enjoyed under Prime Minister David Cameron will continue when Home Secretary Theresa May takes over the job by Wednesday.

May, according to former ambassador to London Daniel Taub, “has been a long-standing friend of Israel and the Jewish community.”

He said that as home secretary, May was very supportive of “our efforts to deepen British- Israel ties in the area of homeland security, and also very receptive to the concerns of the Jewish community regarding anti-Semitism and violent extremism.” Her ministry was responsible for Britain’s MI5 intelligence service, and as such was both aware and appreciative of the close intelligence and security cooperation between the two countries.
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July 12, 2016 | 8:23 am | Comments »

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The covert dimension of Israeli-Egyptian ties  

T. Belman. So Turkey visited Syria. I believe the purpose was not about Turkey joining the Iran axis but Syria trading Iran for Turkey. Turkey has nothing to gain from aligning with Iran and everything to gain from aligning with Israel and Egypt.

DEBKA

The Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry’s visit to Israel Sunday, July 10 and the two conversations he held with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that day underscored the intensified ties between the two governments and their leaders, President Abdel-Fatteh El-Sisi and the prime minister. The Palestinian issue rated a mention in passing, mostly as useful camouflage to disguise the real business under discussion. This, DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources reveal, revolved around a fresh update on the Syrian war and most of all on the sudden reversal of Syria’s Bashar Assad’s fortunes from wanted war criminal, whose head the US and its president Barack Obama demanded, to the master of a regime and army which is suddenly in the highest demand – even by Obama – as the only reliable military force capable of pursuing the war on jihadi terror, especially ISIS.
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July 12, 2016 | 7:08 am | Comments »

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Sharia Versus Freedom in America  

By Andrew Bostom

Yesterday July 4th, Independence Day, celebrated American liberty. Consistent with that spirit of hard won freedom, new polling data reveal non-Muslim Americans are increasingly cognizant of the threat Sharia, Islam’s totalitarianreligio-political “law,” poses to their basic liberties, and overwhelmingly, they reject its encroachment in the US.

Opinion Savvy polled a random sample of 803 registered voters—98.2% non-Muslim, and 1.8% Muslim (with age, race, gender, political affiliation, and region propensity score-weighted to reduce biases)—June 19 to June 20, 2016, and asked, “Do you believe that the United States government should screen, or actively identify individuals entering the United States who support Sharia law?”  Seventy-one percent affirmed, “Yes, supporters of Sharia should be identified before they are admitted into the US.” As a follow-up, the group answering “yes,” was asked, “Once identified, do you believe that individuals who support the practice of Sharia law should be admitted into the United States?” Eighty percent responded, “No, supporters of Sharia should not be admitted into the US.”
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July 11, 2016 | 5:06 pm | 3 Comments »

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Haetzni: Bibi can’t buy us with money  

Prominent Yesha figure rejects government aid to Kiryat Arba: “If it redeems land that will go to Arabs, I’ll pass on the money.”

By Benny Toker, INN

Former MK and Yesha leader Elyakim Haetzni, of Kiryat Arba, rejected the initiative of the government to strengthen Kiryat Arba and the Jewish settlement in Hevron with 50 million shekels.

“You can’t buy us with 50 million nor with 500 million. My heart aches. If that money is used to redeem land that will in the end go to Arabs, then I’ll pass on the money.”

According to Haetzni, it’s been years now since the Israeli government has built in the municipality of Kiryat Arba, for fear of infringing on Palestinian land. “Hills 26 and 28 are state land, as determined by the Supreme Court, they belong to the municipality of Kiryat Arba. The year Hallel Ariel HY”D was born, Nati Ozri was murdered in his home on hill 26, Shabbat eve, at point-blank range.
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July 11, 2016 | 12:18 pm | 5 Comments »

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Facebook charged with aiding terror in billion dollar lawsuit – Shurat Hadin  

Arutz Sheva

Relatives of Israeli-Americans killed by Arab terror sue over social media giant’s failure to remove pro-terror incitement.The families of five Americans and Israeli-Americans killed or wounded by Arab terrorists in Israel since have filed suit against the social media giant Facebook, claiming one billion dollars in damages over the website’s failure to rein in on rampant pro-terror incitement.

The lawsuit, filed by the Shurat Hadin organization on behalf of the five families, contends that Facebook knowingly provided services to terrorists – including the Hamas organization – to spread anti-Israel incitement.
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July 11, 2016 | 12:10 pm | Comments »

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The Great Arab Implosion and Its Consequences  

Who or what will replace a century of failed Sunni Arab dominance? What, if anything, can the West do to help shape the future?

By Ofir Haivry, MOSAIC  July 5 2016,

In 2007, in a seminar room in Jerusalem, a day-long session was devoted to Israeli regional strategic perspectives. I was among the participants together with several other scholars, a former Israeli interior minister, a future Israeli defense minister, and two future Israeli ambassadors to the U.S. At a certain point, the talk turned to various scenarios for the regional future and the opportunities or dangers each of these entailed for Israel. When the possible breakup and partition of Arab states like Iraq or Syria was raised, the near-unanimous response was that this was simply too fantastic a scenario to contemplate.
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July 11, 2016 | 11:47 am | Comments »

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Analysis: Egyptian diplomacy pushes France aside  

T. Belman. The only good thing that will come out of this initiative is to shunt France and America aside. It reminds me of the joint efforts of Egypt and Israel to impose their ceasefire terms on Hamas in place of US efforts to back an initiative by Qatar and Turkey. It also strengthens the notion that only direct negotiations will do.

Assuming that Israel will never accept a peace deal with ’67 line plus swaps, though this is far from certain, these talks, if they ever get started, will focus on confidence building measures. Key among them is that the PA stop incitement and Israel stop settlement construction. But such an exchange should be out of the question. The Oslo Acccords obligated the PA to abandon resistance and incitement. It did not obligate Israel to freeze construction. Israel should not be paying twice for the same commitment.

“Sisi understands that he is dealing with a statesman who is strong. Forget the [domestic] investigations against him. Sisi sees Netanyahu as someone who can deliver.”

By Herb Keinon, JPOST

Standing Sumday in the Prime Minister’s Office under a bust of Theodor Herzl, and in front of a bank of Egyptian and Israeli flags, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry placed Cairo firmly in the center of the Middle East diplomatic process, shoving Paris to the side.

“My visit to Israel today is a continuation of Egypt’s longstanding sense of responsibility towards peace for itself and all the peoples of the region, particularly the Palestinian-Israeli peoples who have suffered for many decades due to the perpetuation of the conflict between them,” he said.
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July 11, 2016 | 7:48 am | 1 Comment »

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Transitioning to a New Middle East  

By Ted Belman, AMERICAN THINKER

Ted 4The Obama era opened with his Cairo speech, in which he embraced Muslims in general and the Muslim Brotherhood in particular. He planned to depose the secular dictators and replace them with the Muslim Brotherhood. Thus Gadhafi, Mubarak and Assad were marked for removal in that order. The EU was on board.

After supporting the takeover of Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood headed by Mohamed Morsi, he backed the takeover of Syria by the Muslim Brotherhood in collaboration with the newly Islamist Turkey, headed by Recep Tayyid Erdogan, extolling him as his best friend.

Simultaneously, beginning in 2009, he reached out to Iran.  He wanted to embrace it as an ally rather than to designate it as an enemy. His efforts culminated in the disastrous Iran Deal which provided a tail wind to Iran’s hegemonic ambitions. He overlooked the fact that Iran was a long standing ally of Assad’s and was fighting to resist his removal which was Obama’s stated goal.
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July 11, 2016 | 6:47 am | 1 Comment »

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41 years ago Hillary was crticized “Because she was a liar” and “unethical”  

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J01Rxjrmros/U6HjXiWIzBI/AAAAAAAAA0c/w27kxuF-qYg/s1600/HillaryFired.jpg

Mostly true…

https://www.truthorfiction.com/clinton-watergate/

Hillary Clinton Ex-Boss Says He Fired Her from Her Work on the Watergate Investigation for Being a “Liar” and “Unethical”-Truth! & Fiction!

Summary of eRumor:

As a 27-year-old working on the Watergate investigation in the 1970s, Hillary Rodham Clinton was “fired” from her position for being a “liar” and “unethical”.

The Truth:

It’s true that Hillary Clinton’s ex-boss has accused her of being a “liar” and “unethical” during the House Judiciary Committee’s impeachment inquiry into Watergate, but claims that she was fired for those reasons are false.
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July 10, 2016 | 7:41 pm | 31 Comments »

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Collapse of Mattson Libel Suit Signals Victory for Free Speech and The Lawfare Project  

Former ISNA President Ingrid Mattson Claimed Reputation Damaged by “Radical” Label, but Gave Up on Own Defamation Lawsuit

Backed by The Lawfare Project, Leading Counter-Terrorism Expert Refused to Make Concessions; No Damages, Costs, or Apology

THE LAWFARE PROJECT

A hallmark Islamist libel lawfare lawsuit has collapsed following more than a year of legal action supported by The Lawfare Project.

Dr. Ingrid Mattson, former longstanding senior functionary of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), launched her proceeding – judged meritless by The Lawfare Project – against David B. Harris, a lawyer and one of Canada’s leading terrorism experts. But Harris, a recent witness before the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee, never relented in his refusal to withdraw a public characterization of Mattson as “radical,” nor would he offer apologies, damages, or costs. This forced Mattson, likely fearing what a full legal-disclosure process would reveal, to give up all her demands. In a stunning reversal, and despite her claim of grave reputational damage, Mattson recently agreed to have the Superior Court of Ontario dismiss her own suit.
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July 10, 2016 | 1:33 pm | Comments »

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It’s not Personal, It’s Islam  

by Mark Durie, MEF

Editor’s note: Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s Liberal–National Coalition won the most seats in July 2 legislative elections, a result expected to return him to office.


Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull thinks that his Iftar dinner guest, Shady Alsuleiman, should “reflect on what he has said” about homosexuals and adulterers.

A widely-publicised Iftar dinner, intended to show that Malcolm Turnbull gets what it means to be inclusive, ended badly after he was advised that one of his guests, Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman, had taught that Islam prescribes death for adulterers, and homosexuals spread diseases. No rogue maverick, Australian-born Alsuleiman is the elected national president of the Australian National Imams Council.

Although insisting that “mutual respect is absolutely critical,” Turnbull subjected this prominent Muslim leader to public humiliation. He regretted inviting him to dinner and counselled the sheikh “to reflect on what he has said and recant.” In the middle of an election, wanting to limit fallout from the dinner-gone-wrong, held only days after the Orlando massacre, Turnbull stated that his no-longer-welcome guest’s views are “wrong, unacceptable, and I condemn them.”
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July 10, 2016 | 1:17 pm | 1 Comment »

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Historical memory is a key to national as well as to individual identity  

Brexit Reveals the Complete Bankruptcy of the European Union

One’s country, nation and faith are critical keys to human identity. The amorphous and formless global citizen does not exist except as a malleable abstraction in the minds of utopian globalists.

By Fay Voshell, AMERICAN THINKER

The fatal flaw of the European Union has been its leaders’ assumption that human beings and nations can be regulated and managed as easily and thoroughly as cabbages are grown, bought and sold.

Reductionism is always the Achilles heel of ideological zealots, who in the case of Brussels’ bureaucrats, are committed to a solely materialist view of humanity and nations. We have seen the “successes” of the materialist view of humanity and nations in the past, most notably in the form of communist ideology, which purportedly would end all class structures and therefore all wars, as class struggle due to economic inequality was the chief cause of violence. End the class system and establish equality, especially economic equality, and peace would ensue.
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July 10, 2016 | 11:11 am | 2 Comments »

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Saying Goodbye to Hallel and Irving  

By Yishai Fliesher, TOI

In the last two weeks, I had the painful privilege of attending two major funerals.

The first was that of Irving Moskowitz, the wealthy American doctor who, along with his wife, Cherna, became the patron of building in eastern Jerusalem, Hebron, Acre and Ariel, and was involved in countless projects, reclamations, charities and educational institutions. By one unofficial estimation, Moskowitz gave half a billion dollars to these causes — but it might be much more. He was interred on the Mount of Olives facing the Temple Mount, close to the graves of Israel’s first Chief Rabbi Kook, and first IDF Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren, in the heart of eastern Jerusalem. His funeral did not have the atmosphere of a tragedy. It was, rather, a kind of celebration of his mission and success.
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July 10, 2016 | 9:19 am | Comments »

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