MEDIA-OCRITIES OF THE WEEK
“Should trans girls in high school be allowed to compete on girls’ sports teams?”….
Michael: ‘I am transfeminine. I live my life as a female. But I don’t call myself a woman because I was not born biologically female or a woman. I just, I want to be treated as a woman. My pronouns are “she, her and hers’. . .
Patrick Healy: ‘Thank you, Michael. For everyone: What about teenagers who say they are trans? Should they be allowed to get puberty blockers or hormone therapy and counseling on transition?. . .’
Natalie: ‘Absolutely, absolutely. It is up to each individual. Politicians should just stay out of it. I mean, as long as I’m not hurting anybody, it is up to me as an individual. . .
Patrick Healy: ‘Let’s turn to President Biden for a bit. What does he do well?’–
Angel: ‘Helping out the student loan situation . ..’
Donna: ‘For those who are trying to get a more unified United States, his calmness, his empathy– It’s all a lot of words but I think he’s trying to bring back a little more hope. . .’.”
Eric Greitens’s Plug for Political Violence Is No Joke: Frank Bruni, NY Times, June 23, 2022“That’s what Donald Trump taught him. it’s what Trump taught much of the Republican Party, which now confuses outrageousness with intrepidness, offensiveness with independence, provocation with cunning and puerility with defiance. If you’re flying in the face of tradition, you’re your own Top Gun, even if the tradition is, say, democracy. If you’re coloring outside the lines, you’re your own political Picasso, even if the line is truth itself. . . Threats of violent retribution against perceived adversaries are no longer remarkable, and of course, Trump stirred the bedlam up on Jan. 6, 2021, by all accounts thrilling to rioters’ ‘Hang Mike Pence’ chants. …”
WEEKLY QUOTES
“Just like there is nuclear deterrence, there is going to be cyber deterrence. My approach generally, and especially with Iran is … our policy is if you mess with Israel you’ll pay a price. You can no longer hit Israel indirectly and through proxies and think you’ll get away with it.” – Israeli PM Naftali Bennett speaking at the Tel Aviv University Cyber Week. (Jerusalem Post, June 28, 2022)
“The lack of imagination, so common among leaders throughout history—with imagination being so necessary to solve this problem—combined with a Palestinian people drowning in a sea of illusions and an Israel drunk on its own power can only end in a disaster for a region that is already at the precipice.” – Saudi political analyst Ali Al-Shihabi in a June 7 article published on Al-Arabiya. According to a report by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Shihabi stated that the Palestinians must realize that what they need is not to regain their ancestral land, but to have a globally respected citizenship that will allow them to thrive in the modern world. (JNS, June 21, 2022)
“The fury of the left’s reactions [against the recent Supreme Court decisions] isn’t merely about guns and abortions. It reflects their grief at having lost the Court as the vehicle for achieving policy goals they can’t get through legislatures. The cultural victories they achieved by judicial fiat will now have to be won by persuading voters. We understand their frustration, but they ought to try democracy for a change. They might even win the debate over abortion.” – Editorial. (WSJ, June 26, 2022)
“The left has been tempting fate [believing the U.S. could] afford 120 days in 2020 of mass rioting [with] $2 billion in damage, some 35 killed, and 1500 police injured. [That we could] easily survive an Afghanistan, and our utter and complete military humiliation, [a push to] afford to restructure all our universities, eliminate free expression and speech, and institute Maoist cultural revolutionary fervor in our revered institutions of higher learning. … [Meanwhile,] trash, vermin, flotsam, jetsam, and human excrement [fill unsafe streets, while] Joe Biden took a strong economy [and] ruined it, [likely triggering a recession.] This generation in its arrogance tested fate [and now] like a stunned adolescent whose reckless incompetence totaled the family car, the Left seems shocked that America proved so fragile after all.” – classicist and author Victor Davis Hanson. (American Greatness, June 26, 2022)
“Is [U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona] ready to talk about anti-Asian discrimination in new magnet school student assignment policies . . . Is he ready to engage, in a serious way, with parents who are incensed by the antisemitism and racism, as well as the erasure of Jewish identity, in Liberated Ethnic Studies curricula? Will he speak to parents who are incensed by anti-Israel indoctrination in social studies classes? And what of parents who insist that they should have a say in what their children are being taught? . . .” – Kenneth I. Marcus on the Biden Administration’s announcement of a new “National Parents and Families Engagement Council.” (Washington Times, June 22, 2022)
SHORT TAKES
ISRAELI RADARS TO BE USED IN UAE TO DETECT IRAN MISSILES, DRONES – REPORT (Jerusalem) — Israeli radars, possibly along with other aircraft detection systems, will be part of the regional defense network Israel is attempting to establish with the US and its Gulf allies against Iran. Israel has already been holding talks with its regional allies of the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Egypt regarding a mutual alliance. (Jerusalem Post, June 28, 2022)
JORDAN’S KING SAYS HE WOULD SUPPORT A MIDDLE EAST VERSION OF NATO (Amman) — Jordan’s King Abdullah II said he would support the formation of a Middle East military alliance similar to NATO, and that it can be done with countries that are like-minded. The kingdom works actively with NATO and sees itself as a partner of the alliance, having fought “shoulder-to-shoulder” with NATO troops for decades, the monarch told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble. (CNBC, June 24, 2022)
ISRAELI SUGAR-REPLACEMENT STARTUP WINS GLOBAL AWARD(Jerusalem) — Israeli company Amai Proteins, which uses a sweet protein to replace up to 70 percent of the added sugar used in the food industry, was named overall winner in one of the world’s largest startup competitions, held on June 14. Amai (Japanese for “sweet”) is a white powder protein that is 10,000 times sweeter than sugar, with zero glycemic index. The award-winning startup in Rehovot has collaborations with food industry giants, including cranberry juice maker Ocean Spray. (WIN, June 27, 2022)
SUPPORT FOR PA PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS NOSEDIVES AS PALESTINIAN SUPPORT SHIFTS TO HAMAS: NEW SURVEY (Ramallah) — The survey conducted by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) revealed that 33 percent of Palestinians believe that Hamas should be leading the Palestinian struggle, with only 23 percent opting for Fatah under its current leader, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who has clung to his post since 2005. However, 38 percent said that neither group deserved a leadership role. (Algemeiner, June 28, 2022)
EX-MAYOR DE BLASIO SLAMS AIPAC, NO LONGER BACKS PRO-ISRAEL LOBBY (NYC) — Former New York City mayor Bill de Blasio said he no longer supports the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) lobbying group over remarks made against one of his progressive allies. De Blasio, who is the current congressional candidate for the city’s new 10th District, also said he would not accept AIPAC’s endorsement if offered. According to the former mayor, AIPAC has changed to an “unacceptable” degree. He noted the lobby’s endorsement of former state senator Nina Turner’s opponent in a Democratic primary in Cleveland. Turner had expressed support for IfNotNow, a Jewish-American group that accuses Israel of practising “apartheid.” (WIN, June 28, 2022)
GOOGLE STOCKHOLDERS VOTE AGAINST BDS PROPOSAL ON ISRAELI NIMBUS PROJECT (California) – On June 1, Alphabet stockholders voted not to approve a stockholder proposal against Google‘s work on Israel’s Nimbus Project. There were 544,653,039 votes against and 55,301,799 for the proposal for Alphabet’s board to issue a report reassessing its role in the $1.2 billion project to transfer Israeli government IT infrastructure to cloud-based data centers. 3,825,111 abstained. (Jerusalem Post, June 15, 2022)
DOCTOR IN SWEDEN FIRED BECAUSE HE’S JEWISH (Stockholm) — The Swedish Medical Association is suing Karolinska University Hospital after the 2018 firing of a Jewish doctor who says he suffered antisemitic abuse during his tenure. He also claims that his Jewish identity was the reason for his dismissal. He is known to be an excellent physician. (WIN, June 25, 2022)
BRITISH COLUMBIA ADOPTS IHRA DEFINITION OF ANTISEMITISM (Vancouver) — The Canadian province of British Columbia adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. British Columbia Premier John Horgan announced the news in a letter to the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), located in Vancouver. British Columbia is now one of over 850 governmental and non-governmental organizations, including 25 states in the US and over 200 local governing bodies in the United Kingdom, to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism since 2016. It is also the latest Canadian province to take the step, following Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick. (Algemeiner, June 17, 2022)
CANADIAN POLICE STORM HOMES OF NEO-NAZI TERROR GROUP MEMBERS (St-Ferdinand and Plessisville) — More than 60 Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers conducted raids at the homes of suspected members of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division. Officials described the series of raids in these Quebec towns as a “national security operation.” Founded in 2015, the Atomwaffen Division is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a terrorist neo-Nazi group “organized as a series of terror cells that work toward civilizational collapse. Its members, who can be fairly described as accelerationists, believe that violence, depravity and degeneracy are the only sure way to establish order.” (WIN, June 25, 2022)
NEARLY 100,000 MAIL-IN BALLOTS IN CANADIAN ELECTION NOT COUNTED DUE TO ARRIVING LATE (Ottawa) — Elections Canada, which administers Canada’s elections, released a report stating that 99,988 ballots “had to be set aside and left unopened,” 93% of which were not counted because they were received after the legal deadline. Mail-in ballots that were disregarded may have come from voters who are members of the Canadian military, citizens who live abroad, and those who are incarcerated. Canada saw an 82% increase in requests for special mail-in ballots for last years’ election compared to 2019. Additionally, more than 106,000 special ballots were never returned. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won reelection in 2021, after serving in his position since 2015. (JusttheNews, June 22, 2022)
US MILITARY GROUND RAID IN SYRIA CAPTURES TOP ISIS LEADER(Northwest Syria) — A rare U.S. military ground raid in northwestern Syria has captured a top ISIS leader, according to the U.S.- led anti-ISIS coalition. The name of the ISIS leader captured in the raid is Hani Ahmed al-Kurdi; he was actively planning ISIS operations. (ABC News, June 15, 2022)
EU ENVOY: US, IRAN NUKE TALKS TO RESTART IN ‘DAYS’ (Vienna) — Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell Fontelles had a “long but positive” talk and agreed on indirect talks between Tehran and Washington aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear accord. They told a Tehran news conference that talks will restart within days. Called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the deal aimed to have Tehran limit its nuclear program to make it harder for it to get a bomb, in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. Negotiations were abruptly suspended in March after a revived deal seemed imminent. (NY Post, June 26, 2022)
DISSIDENT JOURNALIST IN TURKEY THE LATEST TARGET OF IRAN’S GLOBAL PLOTTING (Ankara) — A dissident Iranian journalist’s kidnapping in Istanbul last month is the latest in a series of abductions and assassinations carried out by Iranian intelligence against dissidents abroad. Iranian Mohammed Bagher Moradi took refuge in Turkey in 2013 after an Iranian court sentenced him to five years in prison for the vague charge of “illegal gathering and collusion against national security.” But that wasn’t enough. He was abducted earlier this month. In February, Turkey announced that it arrested eight spies who attempted to assassinate Israeli businessman and Istanbul resident Yair Geller. (IPT News, June 28, 2022)
GERMANY HOSTS WORLD LEADERS IN BAVARIAN ALPS FOR G7 SUMMIT(Bavarian Alps) — The leaders from the U.S., the UK, France, Italy, Japan, and Canada joined Germany to discuss the world’s most pressing issues. This is the second time that Germany and Schloss Elmau, a luxury hotel in the stunning setting of the Bavarian Alps, will host the high-level summit. The conversation between world leaders over the next few days is expected to focus on the effects of COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine on the global economy while also addressing the critical issues surrounding our environment, such as the transition to clean, green energy and investing in a better, “sustainable” future. (CGTN, June 26, 2022)
GERMANY TAKES STEP CLOSER TO GAS RATIONING (Berlin) — Germany has taken a step closer to gas rationing after a drop in supplies from Russia. The country has triggered the “alarm” stage of an emergency gas plan to deal with shortages, Germany’s economy ministry said. It is the latest part of a standoff between the European Union and Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. German economy minister Robert Habeck said Russia was using gas “as a weapon” in response to EU sanctions. (BBC, June 23, 2022)
RUSSIA DEFAULTS ON FOREIGN DEBT FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 1918 (Moscow) — Russia has defaulted on its foreign currency debt for the first time in more than a century, as tough Western sanctions designed to punish Moscow for invading Ukraine restrict its ability to pay overseas creditors. The country has the cash but is unable to get it to creditors because sanctions have cut Russia out of international payment systems. A deadline for an overdue $100 million interest payment expired Sunday. Russian President Vladimir Putin had proposed paying creditors in rubles, which could then be converted to dollars, after the U.S. Treasury Department closed a loophole that had allowed the Kremlin to make debt payments owed to American bondholders through American banks. (Washington Post, June 27, 2022)
NUMBER MISSING AFTER KREMENCHUK MALL STRIKE LOWERED TO 21(Oltava) — A revised figure has been given for the number of people missing following the Russian missile attack on a mall in Kremenchuk on Monday. Ukraine’s Interior Minister, Denys Monastyrskyi, told Ukrainian television that 21 people were missing, 15 less than the previous estimate of 36 from officials. (CNN, June 28, 2022)
FOR FURTHER REFERENCE
HEINOUS ACT’: Hamas Releases Video of Israeli Hostage Allegedly Ill in Hospital: WIN, June 28, 2022 — The Gaza-based Hamas terror organization has released a video purportedly showing Israeli hostage Hisham al-Sayed receiving oxygen at a local hospital.
WATCH: Report: UNRWA’s Teachers of Hate: UNWatch, June 28, 2022 — As the U.S. and other Western states gather today at the United Nations in the presence of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to pledge funding for the UN agency that runs schools and social services for Palestinians, a watchdog group urged democracies to stop funding hundreds of UNRWA teachers and other employees who call to murder Jews. In a new 42-page report, the independent non-governmental organization UN Watch today exposed antisemitism and incitement to terrorism propagated recently by 10 UNRWA teachers and other employees.
