“It is not an exaggeration to say that Israel’s past experience inspires the citizens of Ukraine. We see the Israelis’ strength and power of resilience in the difficult situation Israel has been in for many years. Your resilience serves as an example for us.” — Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska to Israel’s Channel 12 News. (United With Israel, Aug. 1, 2022)
“If I can lessen that degree of animus [toward Jews], if I can make it so that that degree is not spread amongst others, … I would be derelict not to do so.” – US State Department Special Envoy for Antisemitism Deborah Lipstadt in a virtual briefing after returning from a visit to Saudi Arabia. Lipstadt acknowledged that the kingdom was not “perfect according to our human rights standards,” but said that she believed her presence in “a place, which had once been the source of so much Jew hatred, so much extremism,” would prove to be a net positive. (JTA, Aug. 1, 2022)
“I’d rather have someone with a big cross around their neck who is there for the Jewish people than someone who is quote unquote Jewish and wears a big yarmulke but isn’t there. Jerry Nadler is missing in action.” — Dov Hikind, an Orthodox leader from Brooklyn whose battles with Nadler date back to when both were in the state legislature. – Paul Schwartzman. Rep. Jerry Nadler is running for re-election in a NYC district that has been redistricted and is up against strong competition. Nadler oversaw the Trump impeachment trials. (Washington Post, July 19m 2922)
“… a large part of the left and the extreme right [have taken up] the cause of the Palestinian terrorists of Hamas. I solemnly demand that anti-Zionism be banned in France, the homeland of human rights, just as much as antisemitism because this ideology contravenes our deepest principles and values.” — Writing in the news outlet Valeurs Actuelles last week, Éric Ciotti — a parliamentarian from the city of Nice for the center-right Les Républicains (LR) Party. He lambasted anti-Zionism as “the antisemitism that dare not speak its name.” (Algemeiner, Aug. 1, 2022)
“Hardly a day goes by when some dyspeptic George Will-type doesn’t solemnly invoke the Watergate hearings as the only precedent for The House Jan. 6 committee hearings chaired by Rep. Benny Thompson. But puh-leeze! I knew Sam Ervin, and Benny Thompson is no Sam Ervin. OK, I didn’t really know Senator Sam, but like millions of others I watched him chair the Senate Watergate Committee, and I got to know and trust him for his fairness, his sense of humor, and his humility. Those are three qualities that are not just lacking in Thompson, but mysteriously absent from every member of The House Select Committee to Investigate the Attack on the United States Capitol (hereinafter known as the Get Trump Committee).” – Frank Miele. (Real Clear Politics, Aug. 1, 2022)
“Simply put, if a politically charged investigation is to be opened, the Justice Department and FBI have an obligation to ensure that it’s done the right way. Based on the allegations, that does not appear to have happened. Such improper conduct demands further explanation from the Justice Department and FBI.” — Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in a letter last week to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland. He responded to whistleblowers who asserted that members of the FBI knew that the Hunter Biden laptop was not Russian disinformation, but chose to close an impending investigation without legitimate justification. (US Senate, July 25, 2022)
“The Democrats in Congress are seen pushing to establish a prior narrative that depicts any derogatory information about the Bidens as “Russian disinformation,” planted to help Trump. That thread got its original impetus from a prejudicial and fact-free interpretation of the Trump-Zelensky phone call in July 2019 and carried through Impeachment I and the summer of 2020 with the briefs, leaks, and pressure on the intel community from Capitol Hill. … The same Hill Democrats, starting in early 2020, were pushing the “cabal’s” plan to transform voting practices across America, basically to make it easier for Zuckerbucks and related activities by other activists to affect the actual outcome of an election. With the same officials performing interconnected functions in the cabal’s strategy, it strains credulity to suggest the senior Democrats weren’t witting participants in it. … The laptop just threatened to blow it all up below the water line.” – retired US Naval intelligence officer and political analyst J.E. Dyer. She presents a detailed timeline of the FBI’s encounter with Hunter Biden’s laptop making the case that the laptop’s emergence contributed to the development of a closely coordinated campaign by the Democratic Party, US intelligence, media, and progressive influencers to suppress information harmful to Joe Biden while simultaneously discrediting President Donald Trump. (Optimistic Conservative, Aug. 1, 2022)
IDF CAPTURES TOP TERROR LEADER, ISRAEL BRACES FOR MAJOR RESPONSE (Jenin) — The IDF captured Basam al-Saadi, Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s (PU) chief of operations in Judea and Samaria. The army also arrested al-Saadi’s son-in-law, who acted as his close aide. Military intelligence found him to be behind the significant buildup of PIJ forces within the Palestinian Authority over the past year. They also believe him to be the cause of the radicalization of many Palestinians against Israel, especially in Jenin, and responsible for sending out many of the group’s suicide terrorists over the years who have come from the city. (WIN, Aug. 2, 2022)
ISRAEL BEEFS UP DEFENSES AROUND KARISH GAS FIELD, FEARING HEZBOLLAH ATTACK (Karish) — The Israeli military has increased its forces around the Karish gas field securing a disputed natural gas drill in the Mediterranean Sea, fearing attempts by Lebanese terror organization Hezbollah to attack it. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, said that all Israeli gas and oil fields are potential targets. (Haaretz, July 26, 2022)
IRAN READY TO BUILD NUKES IF ATTACKED: IRGC-LINKED SOCIAL MEDIA (Tehran) — Bisimchi Media (Radioman Media) Telegram channel published a short video entitled “When Will Iran’s Sleeping Nuclear Warheads Awaken” in which it said the Islamic Republic will begin building nuclear bombs in the shortest possible time “if the US or the Zionist regime make any stupid mistakes.” (Iran Intn, July 30, 2022)
IRAN LAWMAKER SAYS NUCLEAR TALKS LIKELY TO RESUME IN DAYS (Tehran) — Talks to revive the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers will “probably” resume within days in Vienna, according to a senior Iranian lawmaker. European diplomats have warned repeatedly that the deal won’t survive if Iran and the US can’t overcome a number of key differences, including their standoff over American sanctions on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. (Bloomberg, Aug. 1, 2022)
IRAN ARRESTS MEMBERS OF BAHAI SECT, ACCUSES THEM OF SPYING FOR ISRAEL (Tehran) — Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence announced the arrest of a number of Baha’is and accused them of contacts with the Bayt-al-Adl (House of Justice), the Baha’i administrative institution in Haifa, Israel. The Iran International news portal reported that Fariba Kamalabadi, Mahvash Sabet (Shahriari) and Afif Naimi, three former directors of the Iranian Baha’i community known as “Yaran,” were among those who were arrested in Tehran and Karaj. (WIN, Aug. 1, 2022)
SAUDI INVESTOR BECOMES LARGEST SHAREHOLDER IN OTONOMO (Riyadh) — Saudi Arabian company Mithaq Capital has increased its small holding in Israeli autotech company Otonomo Technologies (Nasdaq: OTMO) and has now reported to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it has a 20.4% holding. (Globes, July 26, 2022)
IAI SIGNS $200M SPECIAL MISSION AIRCRAFT DEAL WITH NATO COUNTRY (Jerusalem) — Israel Aerospace Industries has signed a contract worth over $200 million to provide special mission aircraft to a NATO member country in Europe. The aircraft will be developed by IAI and its subsidiary ELTA Systems, which specializes in radar and intelligence technology. IAI’s special mission aircraft, which provide a strategic edge, are already active in Israel and in many other countries around the world. (Globes, July 21, 2022)
US OFFICIALS ‘OUTRAGED’ OVER COMMENTS MADE BY MEMBER OF UN INQUIRY INTO ISRAEL- GAZA CONFLICT (Geneva) –A United Nations commission formed to investigate alleged human rights abuses in Israel and the Palestinian Territories is under renewed scrutiny when Deborah Lipstadt, the State Department’s special envoy on antisemitism, and Michèle Taylor, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Council, condemned Miloon Kothari, a diplomat who sits on the council’s Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Including East Jerusalem, and in Israel. In an interview with pro-Palestinian website Mondoweiss this week, Kothari questioned “why [Israel is] even a member of the United Nations,” and made a comment linking social media efforts to discredit the commission to “the Jewish lobby,” comments the diplomats said were anti-Israel and antisemitic. (JTA, July 29, 2022)
UKRAINE JEWS CALL FOR PROSECUTION OF FORMER KYIV CITY COUNCILLOR WHO PROMOTED ANTISEMITIC ‘BLOOD LIBEL’ (Kyiv) — The United Jewish Communities of Ukraine urged that Mykhailo Kovalchuk face legal action for a post he wrote invoking the baseless “blood libel” charge that Jews, who are prohibited from consuming blood, slaughter non-Jews for their religious rites. Asserting that “Satanism is a form of Judaism,” Kovalchuk stated that “some orthodox Jews practice ritual murder of people, most often their victims are small children, children of non-Jews (goyim).” (Algemeiner, July 29, 2022)
LUFTHANSA WILL CREATE A POSITION TO FIGHT ANTISEMITISM AFTER KICKING MORE THAN 100 HASIDIC PASSENGERS OFF A FLIGHT (Berlin) — The Lufthansa airline is creating a senior management role dedicated to preventing discrimination and antisemitism two months after it barred a large group of Orthodox Jewish passengers from boarding a flight. However, an independent investigation commissioned by the airline said there was no evidence of institutional antisemitism behind the incident, which the company’s CEO deemed “categorically inappropriate.” (JTA, July 28, 2022)
NANCY PELOSI LANDS IN TAIWAN DESPITE WARNINGS (Taipei City) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plane landed in Taiwan, in what is being described as a visit from the highest-ranking US official in 25 years. Pelosi made her way to Taiwan as the Chinese People’s Liberation Army determined to conduct air drills over Taiwan this week. Officials in both Russia and China have urged Pelosi not to make the trip. (Post Millennial, Aug. 2, 2022)
TRUMP CELEBRATES ‘BIG NIGHT’ OF ENDORSEMENT VICTORIES (Washington) – Former President Donald Trump-backed nominees have won Republican primaries for US Senate in Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Heading into Tuesday’s primaries, Trump-backed candidates had a 95 percent success rate. However, in Washington state, Republican Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler and Dan Newhouse were leading their Trump-endorsed challengers despite blowback due to their votes to impeach the former president. (Post Millennial, Aug. 3, 2022)
NEW BIDEN RULE COULD FORCE CHRISTIAN DOCTORS TO PERFORM ABORTIONS: LEGAL EXPERTS (Washington) — The Biden administration proposed a new rule that critics say could force Christian doctors and religious hospitals to perform abortions or gender transition procedures under Obamacare. The Biden Department of Health and Human Services said the new rule was an implementation of the much-debated Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, age and disability. Under the new Biden rule, Section 1557 is read to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Further, the new rule “makes clear that discrimination on the basis of sex includes discrimination on the basis of pregnancy or related conditions, including ‘pregnancy termination.” (Christian Headlines, July 28, 2022)
MAN ARRESTED WITH RIFLE OUTSIDE NY HOME OF IRANIAN-AMERICAN JOURNALIST (NYC) — An Iranian-American journalist and women’s rights activist was “shocked” to learn that a man had been arrested last week with a loaded AK-47 rifle outside her Brooklyn, New York, home. The journalist, Masih Alinejad, last year was said to be the target of a Tehran-backed kidnapping plot. Alinejad has promoted videos of women violating Iran’s head covering law to her millions of social media followers. (Algemeiner, Aug. 1, 2022)
TRUDEAU LIBERALS ABANDONED UKRAINIAN EMBASSY EMPLOYEES UPON NEWS OF RUSSIAN INVASION (Ottawa) — Upon learning of Russia’s plans to invade Ukraine, the Trudeau Liberals ordered all Canadians working at the embassy in Kyiv to exit the country. It has since been revealed that embassy leaders were instructed not to inform Ukrainian employees of the threat that those working for western embassies would likely be included on Russia’s hit list. (Post Millennial, Aug. 2, 2022)
HEALTH CANADA DID NOT RECOMMEND TRAVEL VACCINE MANDATE, OFFICIAL BEHIND THE POLICY TESTIFIES IN COURT (Ottawa) — The federal government bureaucrat who wrote the policy that prevented unvaccinated Canadians from flying or travelling by train said she has no recollection of health officials recommending a vaccine mandate for travel, according to court documents. Jennifer Little, director general of COVID Recovery at Transport Canada, made the comments on June 9 and 10 while being cross-examined under oath in federal court as a government witness in support of the mandate. (Epoch Times, Aug. 2, 2022)
FOR FURTHER REFERENCE
Nasrallah Is Risking Another Lebanon War: Oded Granot, Algemeiner, July 29, 2022 — In an interview with adoring interviewer Ghassan Ben Jeddou on Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen TV, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah escalated his threats against Israel over drilling activities in disputed waters.
Mastriano Shows How Not to Defuse an Antisemitism Controversy: Jonathan S. Tobin, JNS, July 29, 2022 — American conservatives have gotten to the point where they are often unmoved by efforts by their liberal antagonists to get them to disavow extremists on the far-right.
