In spending an astounding $3 million on Dr. Oz’s failed US Senate campaign, the group proved it has abandoned its pledge to further Jewish interests

By Shmuley Boteach, TOI

Mehmet Oz, a Republican candidate for US Senate in Pennsylvania, takes part in a Republican Jewish Coalition event in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Every year I travel to the Republican Jewish Coalition confab in Las Vegas with my wife Debbie. But this year, I’ll skip it (and not just because it falls on my birthday November 19^th). No, I’ll be absent because the RJC is having a profound identity crisis that may only be solved with new leadership.

According to media reports, RJC head Matt Brooks announced that in October alone, the RJC was committing some $1.5 million to the Dr. Oz for Senate race in Pennsylvania. By the end of the month, he was doubling down – bringing the total spent on Oz on all platforms to more than $3 million – with an astounding $1.85 million spent on TV ads alone.
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by Giulio Meotti, GATESTONE  •  November 20, 2022

A country facing demographic suicide (1,707 kindergartens in Italy closed down in the last ten years) cannot afford to be overwhelmed by mass immigration without losing its national identity. That is why the new Italian government just returned to blocking ships carrying illegal migrants. Pictured: Illegal migrants that were brought aboard the Ocean Viking rescue ship between Africa and Italy, whom the Italian government refused permission to disembark, on November 10, 2022. (Photo by Vincenzo Circosta/AFP via Getty Images)

• Today, 90% of British demographic growth comes from immigration.
• The same shift is taking place in Sweden. In 2015 alone, Sweden welcomed 163,000 immigrants, the equivalent of 1.65% of its total population. Combined with other years, it is a demographic revolution: As of 2015, approximately 17% of the population were foreign-born.

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VGNI

Jews read in the Torah this week that our ancestor Abraham lived 175 years. This week’s positive Israel newsletter includes plans for both an Israeli Longevity Center and an Israeli Healthy Aging Center. So it is possible that one day we could again reach those Biblical lifespans – especially with the latest Israeli anti-cancer discoveries.

Israeli technology makes it possible for Africa to shrink its deserts; to make coral reefs resistant to temperature rises; to store energy underwater; to make environmentally friendly dyes and fabrics; to print vegan products for office workers; to fast charge electric vehicles and to power ships just with the wind.
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T. Belman. Harel thinks Smotrich won’t be appointed Min of Defense because his detractors, including the Defense establishment and Netanyahu, fear that he will solve what they couldn’t.

By Israel Harel, HAARETZ   20.11.22

Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich in August.Credit: David Bachar

Bezalel Smotrich almost certainly won’t be the next defense minister. This isn’t (only) due to American pressure, but also to the vehement opposition from leading media personalities and dozens of retired generals. (MY MONEY IS ON SMOTRICH FOR DEFENSE)

Benjamin Netanyahu, who during his many years as prime minister stood idly by while a Hamas state let entrenched itself in the south and a Hezbollah state did so in the north, is afraid of a talented man who, due to his original thinking and the fact that he isn’t part of the defense establishment, might prove that things can be done differently – that it’s possible to infuse the Israel Defense Forces with a new spirit and turn it from an army of containment into one that, in the next round of fighting, defeats Hamas and prevents Hezbollah from launching tens of thousands of missiles at Israel.

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IMRA    Dr. Aaron Lerner  19 November, 2022

If Smotrich and Ben-Gvir don’t blink there is good reason to believe that Binyamin Netanyahu will, with no time left to spare on the clock, form a coalition government with Bezalel Smotrich  serving as minister of defense.

This will be a triple bonus for Israel:
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T. Belman. The article correctly says what the Right wants is “a nationalistic right less concerned with the individual, that prizes Jewish nationalist values”. In essence Jews nationalism is being elevated above equality.  I am all for it. Israel is the state of the Jews, not of all its citizens. Many countries place foundational values above equality. Nothing wrong with that.

In clash over High Court override, it’s minority rights against majority’s will

By Amos Schocken, HAARETZ   18.11.22

Jews and Arabs against racism rally in Tel Aviv, 2021.Credit: Ofer Vaknin

Thirty years after its legislation, the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty will effectively be nullified: The intended passage of a law that would allow a 61-member Knesset majority to overturn Supreme Court rulings, signals this. Such a move reflects the deterioration of the Israeli right wing, from a liberal right that prioritized the singular citizen to a nationalistic right less concerned with the individual, that prizes Jewish nationalist values, that views non-Jews as a nuisance – in a state in which over one-fifth of its citizens are not Jewish.

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By Jacob Nagel and Mark Dubowitz, NEWSWEEK

There is an Iranian revolution underway targeting the Islamic Republic. After more than eight weeks of protests, Iranians, especially courageous young women, are signaling that they want to end the radical Islamist regime that has ruled, and ruined, their lives. While the Biden administration equivocates, Israel should seize the greatest opportunity since the 1979 Islamic Revolution for regime change. Israeli intelligence services should be the tip of the spear: using their power to severely weaken, coercively deter, and, if fortunate, collapse the regime.

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by Majid Rafizadeh, GATESTONE  •  November 19, 2022

Reports from the NGO Iran Human Rights state that in recent anti-regime protests, 326 people have died and 15,000 have been arrested. Executions have already begun. The least the Biden administration can do to show support for the Iranian people is immediately to convene a UN session to address the ruling mullahs’ gruesome crackdown. Pictured: Iranians protest the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody, in Tehran on September 21, 2022. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)

• Reports from the Oslo-based non-governmental organization Iran Human Rights state that in recent anti-regime protests, 326 people have died and 15,000 have been arrested. Executions have already begun.
• The least the Biden administration can do to show support for the Iranian people is immediately to convene a session at the United Nations to address the ruling mullahs’ gruesome crackdown.

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By Diane Bederman

I have been a fan of Tucker for many years. He often shared a collage of main stream media bites that were exactly the same; as if someone had sent out a news release earlier in the day with “what to say.” He was the go-to-guy for the other side; sharing missing facts. He attacked Fake News.  He ends his broadcast with:

“The show that is the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness, and groupthink.”

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By Charles Wills, CFP

By now, everyone knows that Kari Lake lost the bid for Governor of Arizona. However, very few people know that the person who won the election, Democrat Katie Hobbs, was in charge of the election. That prompts me to point out the obvious, and that is, “the person in charge of counting the votes always wins.” Hobbs and her associates should not have been allowed to run the election, but the Republican party refused to call them out. Then recently, we found out that U.S. aid money sent to Ukraine was laundered through FTX and sent back to Democrats as campaign donations.

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T. Belman I disagree with the sub-title. I think Netanyahu will cave at the last second, not the Rabbis. I wonder if it is possible to separate out Area C from the Defence portfolio. If so it may be a workable compromise. But I don’t think that will happen because the US is not worried about who will defend the country but is worried who will be in charge of Area C.

What most distinguishes the Right from the centre or Left is their plans for area C. The Right wants to keep it all and the others want to give it to the Palestinians for their state.. That’s why Smotrich will not settle for anything less than Min of Defense.

The rabbis will make sure a disappointed Smotrich doesn’t trigger another election

By Yossi Verter, HAARETZ

The heads of the parties with the president, this week.Credit: Ohad Zwigenberg

Likud chief Benjamin Netanyahu is regretting two mistakes he made after the election – unforced errors uncharacteristic of a skilled politician who has already formed five governments.

First, he didn’t reserve four strategic ministries for Likud well in advance: defense, finance, foreign affairs and justice. With 32 Knesset seats, half his governing coalition, he had every right to do so.

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They are also 85% more likely to be attached to Israel, an analysis of Pew Center data finds.

BY SUSAN R. EISENSTEIN, JNS

Birthright participants pose for a picture. Credit: Courtesy of Birthright Israel.

(November 18, 2022 / JNS) U.S. Jews who participated in Birthright trips to Israel are more highly identified and engaged in communal life than their peers who did not, according to an analysis of the Pew Research Center’s 2020 survey of American Jews conducted by researchers at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University.

The profound disparity in attitudes and behavior also held true when the analysts took into account differences in the respondents’ backgrounds.
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T. Belman. What does Israel owe Europe or the US or Ukraine. They oppose Israel in so many ways. Israel should not be friendly to them as they are not friendly to her.

And they did not support us in the War of Independence, the Six Day War or any other war we had to fight. Nor will they in any future wars we have to fight.

European diplomats say the Biden administration demanded Israel expand its aid to Kyiv ? The sources say Israel is also covertly aiding Ukraine with intelligence

By Yossi Melman, HAARETZ       Nov 17/22

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy listening to the national anthem during his visit to Kherson on Monday.Credit: /AP

Under pressure from the U.S. administration, Israel recently agreed to finance “strategic materials” worth millions of U.S. dollars to contribute to the Ukrainian war effort.

TFI GLOBAL

Jabotinsky’s proud words still resonate today. Israel is right not to cooperate with America’s investigation. Op-ed.

By Ronn Torossian, INN

Feels like the world is changing before our eyes. As Israel thrives and grows, outside concerns – Jewish and non-Jewish – from the United States “warn” Israel.

People express “concern” about the results of Israel’s democratic election. Mind you, in a world ripe with so many issues, Israel has just concluded its 5th democratic election with a peaceful transition of power.

Some powers in Washington, D.C. don’t like certain legislatures in Jerusalem? Im sure the people of Tiberias, Lod, Holon, Efrat and Dimona don’t care. Does the United States not have enough international issues to deal with? There are enough US issues with Russia and with China to not enflame the Middle East even further. A new Middle East post-Abraham accords.

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By Jack Gleason, AM THINKER

Imagine a Super Bowl where the Reds were ahead 27-25 with a minute to go. All of a sudden, the power went out in the entire stadium. When the lights came on after a couple minutes of chaos, fans noticed the scoreboard showed 27-29.

Anyone witnessing such an event would be beyond outraged. Sports are supposed to be about “may the best team win,” and referees and officials are supposed to be neutral. Videotape and remote judges are used to evaluate disputed plays.
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Progressive critics, take note: the US system at its core is not a pure democracy at all, but a constitutional republic. Op-ed.

By Matthew M. Hausman, J.D., INN    Nov 17, 2022, 7:25 AM (GMT+2)

Knesset buildingOrel Cohen/FLASH90

Before the dust settled and all votes were counted, the American liberal establishment began lamenting the death of Israeli democracy as Benyamin Netanyahu was poised to form the next government with a commanding number of Knesset seats and a potentially stable coalition.

The last time I checked, that’s how the Israeli electoral system works. But political progressives have conflated the term “democracy” with its antithesis – an agenda promoting censorship, thought control, viewpoint discrimination, woke intolerance, and hatred of Israel and the west. What they are peddling is not democratic at all, but a dictatorial stew that degrades personal rights and discourages dissent. And in so doing they are abetted by a mainstream media that engages in political activism and preys on its audience’s ignorance of constitutional and democratic values.

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T. Belman. Good for Melanie,  She said what needed to be said.

“The real question may not be whether Israel can survive without support from the United States, but whether the United States itself can survive at all.”

Deep changes in American society are becoming a strategic security risk

By Melanie Phillips,  JNS NOV 18

Can Israel break its dependency on the United States?

The question has always been widely dismissed as unthinkable. But recent events are prompting it to be raised with increasing urgency.

The administration of US President Joe Biden has been far from friendly towards Israel. Despite continuing to fund its defence needs and support it against the relentless malice of the UN, the Bidenites’ reckless appeasement of the Iranian regime has increased the Islamic republic’s capacity to attack Israel. At the same time, the US has repeatedly pressured Jerusalem to make dangerous concessions to the Palestinian Arabs.

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T. Belman. The problem, according to the authors, is that Smotrich and Ben Gvir “incite against the Arabs”. I am dumbfounded. The truth is that the Arabs are inciting against the Jews and Israel. The US obviously want Israel to cave to the Arab demands. Because we refuse to capitulate, they say, we don’t have shared values. They threaten all kinds of dire consequences, should we exhibit different values. To the contrary, if we were to share their woke values and agree to appease the Arabs, it would be the end of us. We are entitled to embrace our own values even if the US doesn’t want us to. Shared values are not at the core of our relationship. Our relationship is based on mutual interests. Why the US supports the Palestinian cause at our expense has always puzzled me. It cannot be that she wants to benefit the Palestinians. It must be that they want to weaken us.

by Dennis Ross, David Makovsky, WASH INSTITUTE   2.11.22

Appointing senior ministers who incite against Arabs would undermine the shared values that buttress the bilateral relationship while giving fuel to Israel’s critics in Washington.

Following Israel’s fifth election in less than four years, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, is poised to return to that office again. Even if divided, the country has clearly moved to the right. The “government of change,” which lasted a year included the left, center, right, and an Arab party for the first time, but it was undone not by its ideological diversity but by violence. Polls showed that in March 2022 a majority of Israeli Jews believed it was a good thing that an Arab party was in the government. (WE NOW KNOW BETTER.)  That view changed dramatically with Palestinian acts of terror against Israelis during Ramadan—and the right wing’s claim that the government was limited in its response because it depended on an Arab party.

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