“Israel is returning to sanity today. After years of political instability, the citizens of Israel voted for a nationalist government that will bring back security and governance to the citizens of Israel.” — former ambassador to the UN and Likud Knesset candidate Danny Danon. (Jerusalem Post, Nov. 2, 2022)
“Lapid acted recklessly, did not manage the bloc, did not take care of the Arabs, did not take care of the surplus agreements.” — an unnamed official to Channel 12 news. Surplus agreements allow parties that cross the electoral threshold to share votes, potentially adding a seat to one of the parties in the agreement. “[He] behaved like a cannibalistic pig who tried to eliminate [other parties] in order to be the biggest party, and this is the result.” (Times of Israel, Nov. 2, 2022)“… it is no less important to honor the results of the election—whatever they may be. It is a fundamental obligation for us as a civilized society, the kind that not only creates common ground for us but also prevents chaos and anarchy. … We must not forget, even for a moment: those who think differently from us are not enemies. Those who support a party that represents views and opinions we disagree with are not traitors or fifth-columnists. True, disagreements are and will always be an integral part of the democratic landscape. Still, we must ensure that they are conducted in a respectable manner and give room to others and their opinions.” – Israeli President Isaac Herzog in an Israel Hayom op-ed. (WIN, Nov. 1, 2022)
“… let’s put the record straight. First of all, Israel is aligned with the international community and the United States at all international forums. Secondly, of course, we made it clear that we object to any violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. But the big thing is, of course, Israel is assisting quite substantially in an array of issues, most predominantly humanitarian issues. If you walk around the various volunteer organizations and NGOs in Ukraine, Hebrew is the predominant language [there].” — Israeli President Isaac Herzog to the Atlantic Council during his visit to Washington. (Tass, Oct. 26, 2022)
“This is revolutionary. It makes it much easier for Israel to defend itself because before Iran had allies on the borders of Israel and Israel had no allies on the borders of Iran. This is now changing.” — Dr. Dan Schueftan, who heads the International Graduate Program in National Security Studies at the University of Haifa regarding the UAE’s deployment of the Israeli Barak 8 missile defense system to defend against Iranian missile and drone attacks, according to a report by the Tactical Report news site. “We are recognized throughout the world as a power when it comes to technology and innovation. But the one thing we were missing in order to be a full-fledged regional power was the ability to maneuver between the different forces in the Middle East. For a long time, the perception of Israel was not only that it was not beneficial for powers to cooperate with Israel, but also that it could be counterproductive [to do so] because Israel was so hated and isolated in the region. This has now changed in a very fundamental way.” (The Media Line, Nov. 1, 2022)
“Let me just say this. I made a mistake here. I was wrong. I trusted this management team. That was ill-advised. The hubris here is extraordinary, and I apologize. I had a belief that there was a recognition that there is an amount that you can’t spend. I thought there would be an understanding that you just can’t spend, and spend through free cash flow, that there had to be some level of discipline. What did I get wrong? I trusted them, not myself, for that I regret. I’ve been in this business for 40 years, and I did a bad job. I’m not proud. I’m not proud.” — CNBC, Jim Cramer apologized on-air after recommending Facebook’s Meta stock right before it tanked. He hosts Mad Money on CNBC. (Real Clear Politics, Oct. 29, 2022)
“I’m starting to suspect that Democrats have finally and irrevocably lost the capacity to tell the difference between what the political press will print and what the voters will actually believe. Sure, it’s important and useful to be able to “win the news cycle” or get your version of a story to trend on Twitter, but that doesn’t mean ordinary voters will believe it. They’re just skipping the essential final step, like Soviet commissars who are happy to meet their production quotas by mass-producing left shoes without regard to whether people buying shoes want one for both feet.” – political columnist Dan McLaughlin. (National Review, Oct. 27, 2022)
“A campaign does not attempt to fool people into believing that a severe-stroke victim is fine unless it’s convinced that the overwhelming majority of media in the state will be its ally and abandon their traditional role as watchdogs. The people around [Democratic Senate candidate John] Fetterman are off their rockers, stupid, or both.” – Political columnist Jim Geraghty. (National Review, Oct. 26, 2022)
“Democratic New York State Governor [Kathy] Hochul demanded—’yes or no”—if he thought Mr. Trump was a ‘great president’. Mr. Zeldin’s answer [he is the Republican candidate] was that he had worked with Mr. Trump [in Congress] to fight the MS-13 Salvadoran gang on Long Island, move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, push the Mideast Abraham Accords, thwart the Iran nuclear deal and fight the Covid pandemic. Gov. Hochul replied lamely, ‘I take that as a resounding yes.’ But which of those five Trump administration policies does she disagree with? Viewers were left to guess.” – Political columnist Dan Henninger. (WSJ, Oct. 26, 2022)
“. . . Harvard has a long and ugly history of discriminating against minorities. As many historians have pointed out, Harvard’s leadership once believed it had too many Jews on campus because almost a quarter of all Harvard freshmen were Jewish. Holistic admissions criteria were concocted to limit the number of Jews admitted. In the lawsuit against the UNC, Students for Fair Admissions exposed that the school is violating the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. It does so by rejecting all reasonable race-neutral alternatives to racial preferences, even if those alternatives would have increased the student body’s overall racial diversity.” – Edward Blum regarding a case currently being heard by the Supreme Court. SFA argues that both Harvard University, a private school, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a public institution, use race and ethnicity as factors in admission. Were this not the case, an Asian-American male with a 25% chance of admission to Harvard would, if white, have a 36% chance, 77% if Hispanic, and 95% if African-American. (WSJ, Oct. 30, 2022)
“The border now is overwhelmed. You talk to the customs agents and any of the federal officials, the volume is just so high because the border was closed for a few years. It was then forecast that it was going to be opened. You’ve had all sorts of illegal activities coming up in preparation for the border opening. And it happened. And it’s all across the country. The federal government is primarily responsible.” — Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to radio host John Catsimatidis. (Real Clear Politics, Oct. 29, 2022)
SHORT TAKES
WITH 97% OF REGULAR VOTES COUNTED, LIKUD-LED BLOC HAS 65 SEATS, MERETZ OUT (Jerusalem) — With 97% of regular votes counted, Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-religious bloc is heading to a convincing victory, while the left-wing Meretz party remains short of crossing the threshold. Based on the current count, Netanyahu’s bloc would pick up 65 seats, though this number may change as more ballots are processed, including some 500,000 “double envelopes” containing ballots cast by soldiers, prisoners and diplomats. Currently, Likud has 31; Yesh Atid, 24; Religious Zionism, 14; National Unity, 12; Shas, 12; United Torah Judaism, 8; Yisrael Beytenu, 5; Ra’am, 5; Hadash-Ta’al, 5 and Labor has 4. (Times of Israel, Nov. 2, 2022)
AYELET SHAKED RECEIVES JUST 80,000 VOTES, THROWS SUPPORT BEHIND NETANYAHU (Jerusalem) — Despite her best efforts, Ayelet Shaked’s Habayit Hayehudi fell far below the electoral threshold after voting closed on Tuesday night, with just 80,000 votes, or around 1.8% of the total number of votes, far below the 3.25% threshold. (Jerusalem Post, Nov. 2, 2022)
UN COMMITTEE DEMANDS ISRAEL DESTROY ITS ALLEGED NUCLEAR ARSENAL (NYC) — The Disarmament and International Security Committee (DISEC, or First Committee) resolution demands that Israel join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), even though Jerusalem never acknowledged possession of nuclear weapons. It is “important” that Israel sign onto the NPT “without delay,” agree “not to develop, produce, test or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons,” and accede to IAEA oversight in order to “realiz[e] the goal of universal adherence to the Treaty in the Middle East,” and “as a step toward enhancing peace and security,” the resolution stated. The five countries that voted against the resolution were Israel, the United States, Canada, Micronesia and Palau. There were 24 abstentions, including all member states of the European Union. (WIN, Oct. 31, 2022)
ISRAELI FORCES KILL FIVE PALESTINIANS IN RAID ON MILITANT GROUP (Nablus) — Israeli forces killed five Palestinians in Nablus during a raid on a militant hideout, as violence in the West Bank makes this bloodiest year in more than a decade. Just after midnight, convoys of Israeli military jeeps entered the city of Nablus to raid a site belonging to a newly established armed group called the Lions’ Den, which has recently claimed a string of attacks in the West Bank, including a shooting that led to the death of an Israeli soldier in early October. (WSJ, Oct. 25, 2022)
ARROW BALLISTIC MISSILE SHIELD DEAL WITH EUROPE TO HIT RECORD 3 BILLION EUROS (Washington) — The United States Department of Defense is discussing requests from both the Israeli and German defense ministries to approve the sale of Arrow-3 ballistic missile interceptors. The deal is expected to grow to a record 3 billion euros after 14 NATO member countries, plus Finland, signed a Letter of Intent earlier this month initiating the development of a joint defense system named the European Sky Shield Initiative. The U.S. approval is required as the Americans have a right to veto any deal as they covered most of the cost for developing and manufacturing the Arrow missiles. (CTech, Oct. 31, 2022)
CITING SATELLITE IMAGE, ANALYSTS SAY UAE DEPLOYS ISRAELI-MADE AIR DEFENSE SYSTEM (Abu Dhabi) — The Tactical Report news site published an analysis of satellite images, which it said show two Barak 8 launchers and an Elta ELM 2084 radar near the al-Dhafra airbase, south of the UAE capital Abu Dhabi. The Israeli-made Barak 8 system is designed to protect against a range of threats, including ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and enemy aircraft. (Times of Israel, Oct. 29, 2022)
ENERGEAN STARTS GAS PRODUCTION AT ISRAEL’S KARISH SITE (London) -Energean (ENOG.L) has begun production at the Karish offshore gas field and the first gas was safely delivered after Israel granted Energean permission to start production at the Karish natural gas field. The London-listed energy group began pumping gas to its floating production facility on Oct. 9 as part of reverse flow testing procedures. (Reuters, Oct. 26, 2022)
LEBANESE PRESIDENT LEAVES WITHOUT REPLACEMENT, DEEPENING POLITICAL CRISIS (Beirut) — President Michel Aoun left Lebanon’s presidential palace Sunday, marking the end of his six-year term without a replacement, leaving the small nation in a political vacuum that is likely to worsen its historic economic meltdown. As Aoun’s term ends, the country is being run by a caretaker government after Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati failed to form a new Cabinet following May 15 parliamentary elections. Aoun and his supporters warn that such a government doesn’t have full power to run the country, saying that weeks of “constitutional chaos” lay ahead. (WIN, Oct. 31, 2022)
LULA DA SILVA DEFEATS BOLSONARO, EARNING CHEERS AND BOOS FROM DIVIDED BRAZILIAN JEWISH COMMUNITY (Rio De Janeiro) — After left-wing former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva beat incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in a tight election on Sunday, Brazilian Jewish groups welcomed him with a conciliatory message they hope will cool down the polarization within their deeply split 120,000-strong community. Da Silva, a former union leader who was president of Brazil between 2003 and 2010, garnered 50.90% of all valid votes. President Bolsonaro, a fervently Christian right-wing nationalist, received 49.10%. Jewish groups had a very rocky relationship with da Silva, nicknamed Lula, during his tenure. (JTA, Oct. 31, 2022)
RACISM, ANTISEMITISM BOMBARD TWITTER SINCE MUSK TAKEOVER (LA) — Twitter saw a rash of racist and antisemitic tweets following Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media platform on Thursday – although Musk is not Jewish. After closing the deal at $44 billion, the business magnate immediately fired CEO Parag Agrawal and other top executives. Musk announced the deal by saying, ‘the bird has been freed,’ referring to Twitter’s logo – he told advertisers in a letter that the platform cannot become a “free-for-all hellscape,” The Hill reported. (WIN, Oct. 30, 2022)
JACKSONVILLE RALLIES AGAINST COORDINATED ANTI-SEMITIC CAMPAIGN (Jacksonville) — The Florida Times-Union (https://bit.ly/3NodHWL) reported that the words “Kanye is right about the Jews!!!” streamed across a video board at Jacksonville’s TIAA Bank field at the end of a sold-out football game between the University of Florida and the University of Georgia on Saturday night. A joint statement issued by the two schools strongly denounced the messages saying, “We are proud to be home to strong and thriving Jewish communities at UGA and UF, and we stand together against hate.” (VIN News, Oct. 30, 2022)
FAMILY DETAILS HORRIFIC ABUSE AT HANDS OF FEMALE ISIS LEADER (Washington) — A Kansas native convicted of leading an all-female battalion of the Islamic State group had a long history of monstrous behavior that included sexual and physical abuse of her own children, family members said in court filings. Prosecutors cited the abuse allegations in seeking a maximum 20-year sentence for Allison Fluke-Ekren, 42, when she is sentenced Nov. 1 for providing material support to the Islamic State group. “Allison Fluke-Ekren brainwashed young girls and trained them to kill. She carved a path of terror, plunging her own children into unfathomable depths of cruelty by physically, psychologically, emotionally, and sexually abusing them,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Raj Parekh wrote in a sentencing memo spelling out the allegations Fluke-Ekren’s own children and parents have made against her. (Washington Post, Oct. 24, 2022)
NEW PREMIER NAMED, ENDING AN IMPASSE (Baghdad)—Iraq’s Parliament has chosen a 52-year-old Shiite Muhammed al-Sudani as prime minister, breaking a year-long impasse between Iranian-backed factions and followers of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Al-Sadr won last October’s election, but failed to form a governing coalition—al-Sudani was supported by Iran-backed factions. (WSJ, Oct.27, 2022)
IMF TO LOAN CAIRO $3 BILLION FOR ECONOMY (Washington)—The International Monetary Fund has agreed to lend Egypt $3 billion over 46 months. The money is intended to safeguard Egypt’s economy and enable it to deal with external shocks (impact of Ukraine war, global inflation). (WSJ, Oct.27, 2022)
DOCTORS ASK QUEBEC OFFICIALS FOR ‘TRUTHFUL, COMPLETE’ COVID VACCINE INFO TO LET PARENTS MAKE INFORMED CHOICE FOR KIDS (Quebec City) — A group of 19 doctors and health experts called on Quebec’s college of physicians and public health director to provide COVID-19 vaccine information that is “neither promotional nor propagandist” so as to ensure parents who provide consent for their children can give “free and informed consent.” (Epoch Times, Oct. 29, 2022)
Exclusive: Federal Government Gives Nearly $30,000 in Grants to Anti-Israel Publications: Mike Fegelman, Honest Reporting Canada, Nov. 1, 2022 — In August, Laith Marouf’s cover was blown wide open. Marouf is a Beirut-based founder and employee of the Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC), which bills itself as having the mission “to disrupt settler colonialism and oppression in the media.”
