By Gadi Taub, TABLET MAGAZINE    3 April 2024

Photos of victims at the Nova festival site in Re’im, Jan. 3, 2024/MAJA HITIJ/GETTY IMAGES

Lital Shemesh, a TV news anchor on Israel’s Channel 14, knows terror almost first hand. Last August, her life was suddenly transformed. “I was at home when messages about two murder victims began circulating on the WhatsApp groups of media people,” Shemesh recounts in her new book (in Hebrew). “Shockingly, the Palestinians on the ground snapped photos of the ID cards of the victims, and those pictures were also widely circulated. That is how, on the sofa in my living room, I suddenly saw the beloved faces of my uncle, Silas, and his son Aviad. A terrorist arrived at the workshop where they were having their car repaired, shot them at close range and murdered them.” The next day, Shemesh continues, another terrorist murdered her kindergarten teacher.

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“The time has come for more of us to take advantage of this privilege, so we can all join in shaping our extraordinary Jewish nation.”

By Joshua Hoffman, FUTURE OF JEWISH    4 April 2024

A father and son share a moment at the Western Wall (the Kotel) in Jerusalem.

About a week ago, a reader wrote me, saying:

“Is your view of the future entirely bleak, or do you see any rays of hope?”

My response to her was sober: Right now we are in troubling times and we should not pretend otherwise. If we (the Jewish People) want to emerge from this reality with a truly positive, beneficial outcome, I believe we must confront the present situation for what it is, not what we wish it to be.

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Will Israel’s government collapse due to the IDF haredi draft crisis? – analysis

By ELIAV BREUER, JPOST        APRIL 1, 2024 12:17

The political ramifications of the High Court of Justice’s ruling on Thursday – that beginning on April 1 the state can no longer refrain from drafting haredi men into the IDF, and that state funding to yeshivot will cease beginning on April 1 as well – could go in several directions depending on developments in the coming weeks.

Peloni:  Without support from Bibi’s coalition, Gantz’ departure will only demonstrate his support for American dictates over Israeli victory.  The timing of the call for September elections is timed not only to precede the American elections, but to also coincide with the beginning of the new school session in the fall when the families of those families who have been evacuated from the war zone have expectations of returning to their homes, ie the support for continuing the war may be at its weakest.

Netanyahu dismisses coalition partner’s appeal as ‘petty politics,’ claiming elections would harm the war effort, while opposition head Lapid says Israel can’t wait six months

By Sam Sokol, TOI    April 4, 2024

Head of the National Unity party Minister Benny Gantz holds a press conference at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, March 13, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz called Wednesday for Israel to hold early elections by September, partially wading into a swell of voices urging the government to step down, in light of wide dissatisfaction with the continued captivity of Israelis in Gaza and questions over how the war against Hamas is being waged.

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T. Belman. I am not disturbed by his remarks at all. When Trump says “You have to finish up your war. To finish it up. You gotta get it done. And, I am sure you will do that. And we gotta get to peace, we can’t have this going on.”, he isn’t calling for a ceasefire but for total victory.

His remarks about the war on Hamas are spun in a way that recalls every previous controversy about things he’s said—and with just as much accuracy.

By JONATHAN S. TOBIN (April 3, 2024 / JNS)

U.S. President Donald Trump carry a speech during an official welcoming ceremony on his arrival in Israel at Ben-Gurion International Airport, May, 22 2017. Credit: Muhammad Aamir Sumsum/Shutterstock.

Has Donald Trump turned on Israel? That’s the question some people have been asking in the wake of an interview he gave to Israel Hayom. Trump’s presidency was the friendliest to Israel of any in history. But the interview became fodder for the latest controversy generated by something he has said with some willing to interpret it as evidence that he has allowed his personal dislike of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to impact his attitude towards the Jewish state.

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By Will Kessler, DAILY CALLER April 3/24

(Photo credit should read DAVID GANNON/AFP via Getty Images)

The effort to rebuild the recently collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge near Baltimore, Maryland, could quickly turn into a years-long quagmire as a result of environmental red tape under the Biden administration, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The Baltimore Bridge was struck by a container ship navigating the Patapsco River out of the Port of Baltimore in late March, sending several cars and workers into the water and rendering the passageway unusable. It is unknown exactly how long the bridge could take to rebuild, as officials could expedite the process, but experts warned the DCNF that government red tape, such as environmental reviews filed by government entities or environmental activists, could slow down its construction after debris is cleared from the site and new plans for a replacement bridge are drawn up. (RELATED: New Biden Admin Rule Is Boon To Insurance Companies At The Expense Of Consumers, Experts Say)

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Redacted with Clayton Morris

US foreign policy establishment blindly intent on beating Russia on the battlefield and crushing its economy. Neither will happen

by David P Goldman, Asia Times    March 25,2024

A dark shadow has descended on Ukraine’s war prospects. Image: Instagram Screengrab

Somewhere last weekend a few dozen former Cabinet members, senior military officers, academics and think tank analysts met to evaluate the world military situation.

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Douglas Murray, Israel: State of a Nation with Eylon Levy    March 27, 2024

Is Our Political System Selling Us Out? | Douglas Murray on Why the West Won’t Fight for Itself [P1]

March 6, 2024:  In Part 1, he joins Eylon Levy in studio for an illuminating dissection of the motivations of Israel’s allies and enemies in the West; whether the West could and would fight for its very existence; the Islamist threat to democracy and free speech in the UK, and more.

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E. Rowell:  California is a perfect test case to study progressive political policies and their consequences.  Once beautiful cities have been turned to excrement and needle laden sidewalks infested with crime; safe for criminals but dangerous for the law abiding.  The beauty of the United States experiment is that a state can try policies from which other states may then learn.

“Safety” is often a smokescreen to hide an agenda-driven transition from being free to being controlled in everything you do.

By Edward Ring, AMERICAN GREATNESS    3 April 2024

“A liberal program must also be a responsible program, a reasonable, rational, realistic program. We must know how much it will cost and where the money is coming from. Benefits must be measured against burdens. A program which pampers the people or threatens our solvency is as irresponsible as the one which ignores a vital need. But we will always remember that there is a difference between responsibility and timidity, and we are resolved to be governed more by our hopes than by our fears.”

Edmund G. “Pat” Brown
32^nd Governor of California
First Inaugural Address, January 7, 1963

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E. Rowell:  With Biden in the White House, the referee is MIA.  A President is a referee of sorts, between competing aspects of government.  With the referee missing, agencies do what they want.  The neocons are free to run amok and threaten WWIII.  So it is not only worth asking “Has NATO outlived its use?”  but also we can ask, “Is anybody listening?”

Over three decades after the end of the Cold War, the alliance encourages perverse and dangerous behaviors in its member states.

By James W. Carden, AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE    3 April 2024

Seventy-five years ago, on April 4, 1949, the foreign ministers of 12 European and North American countries convened in Washington and signed the North Atlantic Treaty establishing NATO.

With war raging in Eastern Europe and calls from a number of NATO allies to escalate that war, unpopular yet critical questions need to be addressed with regard to the alliance’s history, its continuation, and its expansion, as well as its ramifications for U.S. national security. Indeed, several articles of faith with regard to NATO’s successes and indispensability turn out to be, upon even cursory examination, highly questionable—if not entirely mistaken.

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T. Belman. They won’t succeed.  Abdullah will soon be deposed and Jordan will become a republic under the leadership of Mudar Zahran. The Muslim Brotherhood will be banned.

We Should Seriously Consider Revoking Their Jordanian Citizenship

Former Jordanian Minister of Information Samih Al-Maaytah said in a March 31, 2024 interview on Al-Arabiya Network (Saudi Arabia) that since the beginning of the war in Gaza, Hamas’s leadership in Qatar – including Khaled Mashal – have been attempting to incite Jordan’s population to take to the streets. He explained that Hamas’s leadership is attempting to pressure the Jordanian government and to “send a message” that Hamas “owns” the Jordanian public, so that Jordan changes its stance regarding Hamas. In addition, he said that any leader of a Palestinian faction who has Jordanian citizenship and is inciting or provoking riots should perhaps have his citizenship revoked, in accordance with the Jordanian constitution.

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By Adam Kredo, FREE BEACON    4 April 2024

A group of Republican senators on Wednesday opened a probe into the Biden administration’s decision to unlock upwards of $10 billion in frozen funds for the Iranian government, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

The 13 lawmakers, led by Sen. Tim Scott (R., S.C.), are pressing the State and Treasury Departments to detail exactly how much money Iran will be permitted to access in the next several months under a sanctions exemption that permits Iraq to transfer electricity payments to Iran via third-party countries. The White House renewed the waiver in March, days before it was set to expire.

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By Seth Mandel, COMMENTARY April 3/24

The Wall Street Journal carries a story today about how President Biden’s approach to the Israel-Hamas war increasingly alienates the supporters of each side. What it doesn’t say is that a president consumed with “both sides” of a war between our ally and a terrorist regime holding American hostages is the underlying problem.

The president wants the votes of a segment of his base who want him to intervene to save from extinction the barbaric terrorist organization that murdered Americans in cold blood and took other Americans hostage, using them as slaves, starving them, and sexually assaulting many of the women. But Hamas’s extinction is the only possible way to end the ongoing conflict, since the group exists to murder, kidnap, and rape—and says so daily.
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How one couple’s trip to comfort wounded IDF soldiers led to an epiphany as to the power of the Jewish spirit.

By Douglas Altabef, INN

Rudy and Denise Melnitzer experienced the horrors of October 7th in a way felt by most Jews, and millions of others around the world: they were shaken, revolted, and shocked; they also felt the immediate and visceral need to somehow do something.

A great many Jews around the world sought ways to support our soldiers, displaced families, families of hostages and families of those serving. In the vast majority of cases this support was financial, with organized Jewish groups supplying the direct logistical expertise to deliver the support.
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by Con Coughlin, GATESTONE  •  April 3, 2024

US President Joe Biden meets with Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, in the White House on January 31, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)

• In one of the more high profile cases involving Qatar’s financing of terrorism, the family of murdered American journalist Steven Sotloff claimed in a federal lawsuit in 2022 that prominent Qatari institutions wired $800,000 to an Islamic State “judge” who ordered the murder of Sotloff and another American journalist, James Foley. The two were beheaded in Syria in 2014, their killings filmed and published in grisly propaganda videos.

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