Daily Briefing: WEDNESDAY’S “NEWS OF THE WEEK IN REVIEW” -(May 6, 2021)

Joe Biden Has Had The Best Start Of Any Presidency In Almost A Century:  Lawrence Martin, Globe and Mail, Apr. 29, 2021“…Fate has carried [Biden] to the point where he could become one of the most consequential of presidents…Many observers are crediting the Democrat with the most successful opening act since Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first 100 days in 1933 …While he attempts to forge an American renaissance, he exhibits a sense of calm and reassurance, qualities that his broad perspective brings and that his country needs…his 100, coming at a moment in history that is fateful, holds out great hope.”

California’s Declining Public Schools:  Lindsay M. Burke, National Review, Apr. 5, 2021

“In districts that adopt the new ethnic studies curriculum, students will learn to ‘critique empire-building in history and its relation to white supremacy, racism and other forms of power and  oppression’; they will “challenge racist, bigoted, discriminatory, imperialist colonial beliefs and practices  on multiple levels’; and they will ‘conceptualize, imagine, and build new possibilities for a post- racist, post-systemic racism society that promotes collective narratives of transformative resistance,  critical hope, and radical healing.”

                 WEEKLY QUOTES

“These bodies do not belong to our people in Gaza, rather they are the carcasses of the Jews who were killed in the collapse of the building. Oh Allah, we gloat over their misfortune.” — Prominent Al-Qaeda supporter Warith Al-Qassam commenting on the Meron tragedy in which 45 people died, many of whom were children.  He is one of many jihadists who posted such glowing messages, according to MEMRI.  (Algemeiner, Apr. 30, 2021)

 “These clashes are sometimes calm and sometimes erupt, and it will be so until the intifada comes and brings an end to the occupation and hoists the Palestinian flag over the Al-Aqsa Mosque, over the churches, and over the liberated gates of Jerusalem. We extend our greetings to the free people of Jerusalem.” — Ayman Odeh, head of the Knesset’s Arab Joint List alliance, calling for Arabs to stage an armed uprising and praising Arab youth for their role in the recent violent clashes in Jerusalem.  (United With Israel, Apr. 28, 2021)
 
“If we change that direction, then anti-Semitism also will diminish.” — the extremist anti-Israel billionaire has argued.” – Shmuely Boteach writes, blaming antisemitism on Jews and the “pro-Israel lobby.” Boteach continues:  “Sarah Michelle Margon, [a  director of foreign policy advocacy at one of George Soros’ Open Society Foundations] is one of a number of anti-Israel activists Biden picked including Maher Bitar, who was pictured dancing in a keffiyah in front of a banner reading, “Divest from Israel Apartheid” and is now Biden’s Senior Director for Intelligence on the National Security Council, and Hady Amr, who described being “inspired by the Palestinian intifada” and is now Biden’s point man on the conflict between Israel and the terrorists fighting to destroy the Jewish State.”  (Jewish Press, May 4, 2021)
 
“The time has come for freedom-loving Americans to stand up to the far-left agenda of the Biden-Harris, administration and say enough is enough.  It’s time to unite behind a positive agenda built upon our highest ideals and win back America. And we have the winning agenda, men and women, I have no doubt about it, built on American values and on our confidence in the American people.” – former VP Mike Pence delivering his first public address since leaving office.  (Epoch Times, Apr. 30, 2021)
 
“The “never Trump” conservatives, who hated the man’s bluster, his pomp, his self-importance, put more value on removing the divisive figure from office than on what they were letting through the front door…. These Republicans, those fiscally conservative, socially liberal types, who were less concerned with culture, more interested in tax policy, thought Biden would be something of a nothing. They thought Biden would have four years at the helm, wouldn’t steer us in any particular direction, and would leave room for them to remake conservatism in their own image, and not in Trump’s. Bill Kristol was counting on it. Yet Biden has passed massive spending bills, insisted that the nation being systemically racist, and has steamrolled over Republicans in congress. … The never Trump conservatives wanted so badly to hand the keys of the kingdom to a reasonable, if liberal, candidate, that they ignored and mocked warnings from the conservative press that Biden was a milquetoast Trojan Horse for a radical leftist agenda.” – Journalist Libby Emmons writing on the Republican Never-Trumpers’ rude awakening.  (Post Millennial, May 1, 2021)
 
“The organizing principle that kept Hongkongers united throughout their gallant uprising—do not split—was missing one critical constituency: the rest of us. The world’s democracies, in varying degrees of disunity, parochialism, cowardice and cynicism, allowed Hong Kong to disappear down Xi Jinping’s gaping maw. Unpardonably, obscenely, disgracefully.” – Canadian columnist Terry Glavin writing on the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.  The movement inspired Norwegian journalist Anders Hammer’s film that highlights Hong Kongers street  struggles and which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary.  (National Post, Apr. 29, 2021)
 
“I did not welcome the [first] February Revolution. I thought…that it’ll all certainly end very badly…All these intellectuals were utterly incompetent to govern…So, inevitably, the extreme left, the Bolsheviks, would take over. And that’s what happened.” – Gary Saul Morson on Mikhail Bakhtin, the great Soviet-era student of European literature, whose books on Dostoevski and Rabelais influenced Western leftist academics, who long mistook him [he was an Orthodox Christian and follower of Kant] for a Marxist.  Morson’s article is  based on a review of  ‘Mikhail Bakhtin, The Duvakin Interviews,’ 1973 (Bucknell University Press)], Slav N. Gratchev and Margarita Marinova, eds. (National Review, Mar. 18, 2021)

PA PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS WANTS TO ‘ANNIHILATE JEWISH STATE,’ WARN 1,800 RETIRED ISRAELI GENERALS, OFFICERS (Ramallah) — A position paper by “Habithonistim” — a group of 1,800 retired Israeli generals, officers and Mossad operatives — asserted that “Abu Mazen (Abbas’s nom-de-guerre) and the PLO have never given up the way of terrorism, and they consider all kinds of struggle against Zionism legitimate and complementary of each other.” The paper argued that the “explanation for the gap between the public image of Abbas and the PLO and their real behavior is clear when looking at the history of the PLO and the phased program [for the elimination of Israel as a sovereign state.]” (Algemeiner, Apr. 30, 2021)

HAMAS WOULD WIN PA ELECTIONS, NEW POLL FINDS (Ramallah) — Hamas would win by a landslide in the Gaza Strip if Palestinian Authority (PA) elections were held this week. The survey by the Atlas Center finds Hamas taking nearly double the vote as Fatah, which controls the PA. The results of the survey: Hamas – 32.4%; Fatah – 17.2%.  Subsequently, PA leader Mahmoud Abbas postponed the election, blaming Israel. (WIN, Apr. 28, 2021)

INTEL TO BUILD NEW 1000 EMPLOYEE TECH CAMPUS IN HAIFA WITH $200 MILLION INVESTMENT (Haifa) –– Intel Israel is planning to hire 1,000 new workers and invest $200 million in a new technology development center in Haifa. The campus will be built next to Intel’s other buildings in the MATAM high-tech and business park. Construction is expected to begin soon and be completed by 2023. The company is Israel’s largest employer outside of the public sector with 14,000 workers. (Jewish Press, May 29, 2021)

IRAN SLAPPED WITH FOUR-YEAR JUDO BAN AFTER ORDERING ATHLETES TO AVOID FIGHTING ISRAELIS (Tehran) — Iran was hit with a four-year ban on participating in international Judo events by the sport’s top body over Tehran’s refusal to let its athletes face off against Israeli competitors. The case dates to October 2019 when the International Judo Federation imposed a ban after Iranian judoka and former world champion Saeid Mollaei claimed he was forced to throw matches and withdraw from competition during the World Championship in Tokyo. (Algemeiner, Apr. 30, 2021)

EUROPEAN JEWRY WARNS FAR-RIGHT EXTREMISM RISING IN GERMANY (Brussels) — European Jewry is raising the alarm over a report by German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer that shows the number of crimes committed by far-right extremists in Germany rose last year to its highest level since World War II. According to Minister Seehofer, German police recorded 23,604 crimes of a far-right nature last year in Germany, a jump of over five percent on the previous year, and the highest figure since records began in 2001. (Jewish Press, May 4, 2021)

ANTISEMITIC INCIDENTS IN US REMAINED AT ‘DISTURBINGLY HIGH LEVEL’ IN 2020, LATEST ADL AUDIT REVEALS (Washington) –– Antisemitic incidents in the United States remained at a historic high in 2020, with more than 2,000 incidents reported across the country, according to the latest audit published by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The audit disclosed that a total of 2,024 incidents of assault, harassment and vandalism were reported to the ADL in 2020. It noted: “While antisemitic incidents declined by 4 percent after hitting an all-time high in 2019, last year was still the third-highest year for incidents against American Jews since ADL started tracking such data in 1979.” (Algemeiner, Apr. 27, 2021)

CSU ABANDONS BDS: B’NAI BRITH CANADA (Montreal) –– Concordia Student Union, one of few in Canada not only to support BDS but to disinvest from Israeli holdings, has withdrawn its support from the anti- Israel movement and apologized to the Jewish community for inactivity regarding campus antisemitism. (There is no reference, however, to adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism.) (The Suburban, Apr. 28, 2021)

PENN STATE UNANIMOUSLY PASSES RESOLUTION TO ADOPT IHRA DEFINITION (Pennsylvania) – The student government at Penn State University in State College, Pa., voted unanimously to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism. The University Park Undergraduate Association met virtually on Wednesday night for its third and final meeting for the spring semester. Resolution 02-16, concerning anti-Semitism, was the final legislation of the evening to be discussed. (JNS, Apr. 30, 2021)

‘A MAN WHOSE FAITH DROVE HIM TO CHAMPION HUMAN RIGHTS’: STONE CARVING OF ELIE WIESEL ADDED TO WASHINGTON NATIONAL CATHEDRAL (Washington) — A stone carving of the late Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel was added to the Washington National Cathedral’s Human Rights Porch to honor Wiesel’s “legacy as a lifelong human rights defender dedicated to combating indifference and intolerance,” the house of worship announced.  The Human Rights Porch features carvings of historical human rights-defenders, including Mother Teresa, Rosa Parks, Jonathan Daniels and Eleanor Roosevelt. (Algemeiner, Apr. 28, 2021)

MCCONNELL URGES BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TO DROP ‘DIVISIVE, RADICAL’ 1619 PROJECT FROM GRANT PROGRAMS (Washington) –– Thirty-seven Republicans led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) penned a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona urging him to remove the “1619 Project” from federal grant programs, arguing it skews American history for divisive political ends. The Republicans expressed concern that the Biden administration is seeking to prioritize funding educational programs that incorporate the ideas of the 1619 Project and critical race theory into their teaching of U.S. history and civics, reorienting bipartisan programs “away from their intended purposes toward a politicized and divisive agenda.” (Epoch Times, May 1, 2021)