MEDIA-OCRITY
How the House of Trump Was Built: Carlos Lozada, NY Times, Dec. 28, 2022
“[Haberman] writes of [Trump’s] stunted emotional development, of the loneliness ‘that always seemed to be stalking him’, of the ‘emotional balm’ that campaign rallies provide for him, of how be displays ‘both the thickest and thinnest skin’ of any public figure she has covered, of his tendency to live in the moment yet inhabit an ’eternal past’ full of unquenchable grievance, and his ‘irrepressible self-destructive streak’. . .Trump was the man who could win the country back for those who yearned for him long before they imagined him. If he can’t do it, someone like him will do. Or someone like him, perhaps, but more so.” — Carlos Lozada, reviewing New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman’s recent Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.
WEEKLY QUOTES
“No international body can decide that the Jewish people are ‘occupiers’ in their own homeland. Any decision from a judicial body, which receives its mandate from the morally bankrupt and politicized UN is completely illegitimate … Instead of pushing the Palestinians to change, the UN is doing the opposite: helping them to harm the only vibrant democracy in the Middle East which recently signed 4 peace agreements with Arab countries. We will not take part in this disgraceful show of lies.” – Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu responding to the United Nations General Assembly’s “disgraceful” resolution calling on the International Court of Justice in The Hague to weigh in on the legal consequences of the Israeli “occupation” of Judea and Samaria. (WIN, Dec. 31, 2022)
Israel’s new government “will not give in to threats from Hamas. The Temple Mount is the most important place for the Jewish people. We [will] maintain freedom of movement for Muslims and Christians. Jews will climb the mountain. Those who make threats will be dealt with an iron fist.” — National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir as he arrived at the Temple Mount on Tuesday morning for his planned pilgrimage to the Jerusalem holy site. (Jerusalem Post, Jan. 3, 2022)
“House Democrats released Donald Trump’s tax returns to the public on Friday, four days before they lose their majority, and in the process did more harm to their reputation than to the former President’s. The dump is a violation of taxpayer privacy with no legislative purpose, and it could open an ugly new battlefield in American politics. … The release sets a terrible precedent for the treatment of private information by Congress. The Supreme Court last month declined to block the Ways and Means seizure of Mr. Trump’s returns, holding that Congress can define for itself what legislative purposes are suitable to snoop on personal records. But until Mr. Trump, lawmakers maintained a high bar for doing so—and Congress has never before released a private citizen’s tax information. If all it takes is an airy notion about reforming this or that policy, it won’t be hard for partisans to justify seizing and releasing anyone’s returns. House Republicans may cite this precedent next year in an effort to publish Hunter Biden’s tax returns, or those of any disfavored individual or group.” — Editorial (WSJ, Dec. 30, 2022)
“I believe the broader picture will eventually describe a company [Twitter] that was directly or indirectly blamed for allowing Donald Trump to get elected, and whose subjugation and takeover by a furious combination of politicians, enforcement officials, and media then became a priority as soon as Trump took office. “What does it [Twitter Files] all mean? I haven’t really had time to think it over. Surely, though, it means something. I’ve been amused by the accusation that these stories are “cherry-picked.” As opposed to what, the perfectly representative sample of the human experience you normally read in news? … It may be early to say exactly what these passages mean, but the emails say what they say, not something else. Let’s at least try to stop lying for a while, see what happens. How bad can it be?” – journalist Matt Taibbi. He was one of four independent journalists asked by Twitter owner Elon Musk to review internal Twitter correspondence. (TK News, Dec. 29, 2022)
“In the run-up to the election, the FBI gave Twitter executives temporary security clearances and shared classified information with tech firms, stressing that there were “no impediments” to such sharing. A special platform named Teleporter was created to let the FBI send its reports to Twitter, similar to the special portal we learned the bureau uses to request throttling of content by Facebook. At one point, the FBI’s Elvis Chan even asked Twitter to provide “any location information associated” with a list of accounts singled out for spreading election misinformation. … The website supposedly meant to be the ‘global public square’ is being used as a geopolitical tool in the service of one government’s foreign policy interests.” – progressive journalist Branko Marcetic. (Jacobin, Dec.29, 2022)
“The downplaying of the Twitter Files is very much part of a broader pattern whereby stories about institutional wrongdoing are evaluated within a narrow framework of whether they help or hurt Trump. As opinion about the FBI is now polarized, there’s a danger that the same standard will be applied to questions of FBI wrongdoing. Just because Trumpists Fanatics hate the FBI for stupid reasons is no reason for anyone else to think better of the agency. In this case, the enemy of my enemy is still the same old FBI.” – progressive journalist Jeet Heer. (The Nation, Dec. 30, 2022)
“You remember those pictures from Milan, when the hospitals were full, and the morgues were full. We’re about to do the same thing again. . .Fifty percent of their population traveling. “There is no reason we should allow the Chinese to do this again, to send Chinese-infected persons around the world knowingly infecting people. . .Xi got away with this once. I regret that he wasn’t held accountable.” –Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. (NY Post, Jan. 1, 2023)
“[With South Korea] our undoubted enemy, it highlights the importance and necessity of mass-producing of tactical nuclear weapons and calls for an exponential increase of the country’s nuclear arsenal. . . for making redoubled efforts to overwhelmingly beef up the military miracle.” — North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, at a meeting of the Workers’ Party of Korea. North Korea test-fired ca.70 ballistic missiles last year, and Kim wants one that can carry a nuclear warhead and reach America. (NY Post, Jan. 1, 2023)
SHORT TAKES
ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE DEVASTATES SYRIAN AIRPORT USED FOR IRANIAN WEAPONS (Damascus) — Israel allegedly fired missiles at the Damascus Airport, shutting it down temporarily, killing two soldiers, and wounding two other fighters, according to the Syrian army. The attack was the second within a little over half a year to stop service at Damascus Airport. While Israel did not confirm or deny the Monday night strike, it has on multiple occasions targeted Syrian infrastructure used to transport Iranian arms to the Jewish state’s doorstep. (United With Israel, Jan. 2, 2023)
SECRETARY OF STATE BLINKEN CALLS NEW ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER, RAISES THREATS TO TWO-STATE SOLUTION (Washington) — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called new Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen to congratulate him on his appointment. Among other vital subjects, they discussed “the continued U.S. commitment to a two-state solution and opposition to policies that endanger its viability.” Similar language about shared US-Israeli values, support for the two-state solution, and Israeli policies that might undermine those positions has been repeated by US officials since Israel’s November elections returned the most right-wing government in Israeli history. (Algemeiner, Jan. 2, 2023)
IN FIRST SPEECH, ISRAEL’S NEW FOREIGN MINISTER SIGNALS A CLOSER RELATIONSHIP WITH RUSSIA (Jerusalem) — In his first speech, Eli Cohen, Israel’s new foreign minister under Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government, has signaled that he will be pursuing less fractious ties with Russia, despite the ongoing war in Ukraine. In a speech on Monday, Cohen announced that he will be meeting Tuesday with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, something his predecessor, Yair Lapid, had avoided since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February. Cohen also said, “On the issue of Russia and Ukraine we will do one thing for sure — speak less in public.” (JTA, Jan. 3, 2023)
‘WE WILL DOUBLE, TRIPLE, QUADRUPLE, QUINTUPLE’: HOUSING MINISTER PUSHES FOR SETTLEMENT EXPANSION (Jerusalem) — New Housing and Construction Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party vowed to help expand the settlement program in Judea and Samaria as one of the solutions for all sectors suffering from the country-wide housing crisis. In the official hand-over ceremony from the outgoing minister, Ze’ev Elkin, to the head of UTJ’s Chasidic faction, Goldknopf assured his audience that he has come to serve all citizens equally, and “to promote the settlement of the land.” (WIN, Jan. 1, 2023)
HEZBOLLAH CHIEF NASRALLAH RUMORED TO HAVE SUFFERED STROKE (Beirut) — Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s recent cancellation of a planned public address is continuing to fuel rumors that the 62-year-old terrorist leader is gravely ill. Nasrallah had been scheduled to make a televised speech Friday evening, but postponed the address, with Hezbollah’s media relations department “health reasons.” The Lebanese terror group claimed that Nasrallah was suffering from an influenza infection, which would “prevent him from speaking in a regular and normal manner.” (Israel National News, Jan. 1, 2023)
‘STOP THE PROGRESSIVE COERCION’ – ISRAELI PARENTS BATTLE TRANSGENDER AGENDA IN RELIGIOUS SCHOOL (Givat Shmuel) — Parents of children enrolled in a national-religious Israeli school that secretly supported the “transition” of a student are speaking out, saying that the administrators are undermining the religious integrity of the educational institution. In August 2022, Hebrew-language outlet Besheva reported that staff and administrators at a national-religious school in Givat Shmuel, near Tel Aviv, had allowed a female student in the second grade to be addressed as a male and wear boys’ clothing on campus, while hiding the student’s true identity from other students and their parents. Since this revelation, nothing has changed: the child continues to wear tzitzit (phylacteries) and a kippah, Jewish religious garments worn by observant males. (WIN, Jan. 2, 2023)
AZERBAIJAN APPOINTS ITS FIRST AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL (Baku) — Deputy Minister of Science and Education Mukhtar Mammadov has been appointed as the country’s first ambassador to the Jewish State. Born in 1983 in Baku, Mammadov worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2013. This included his work at the Azerbaijani embassy in Belgium from 2009 to 2013. Since 2013, under the Ministry of Education, he has been head of the international cooperation department. In April 2021, he became the Deputy Minister of Science and Education. In this capacity, Mammadov supervised projects of innovative cooperation with Israel in the field of science and education. (WIN, Jan. 1, 2023)
‘ENORMOUSLY HONORED’: UK CHIEF RABBI KNIGHTED BY KING CHARLES III (London) — Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis has been knighted by King Charles III as Commander of the British Empire, one of the country’s highest honors, for his “significant services to the Jewish community, to interfaith relations and to education”. (WIN, Dec. 31, 2022)
US LAWMAKER ACCUSES ISRAEL OF GENOCIDE, APARTHEID, TERRORISM (Washington) — Representative Jamie Zahlaway Belsito of the Massachusetts House of Representatives (Democrat–4th Essex) tweeted that Israel is an apartheid regime guilty of genocide. Belsito, the first Arab American woman to be elected to public office in the state, was first elected in a special election last year. In her post to Twitter Friday, Belsito urged the Biden White House to “acknowledge” that the Israeli government is “on a mission to kill Palestinians.” (WIN, Jan. 3, 2022)
ANTI-JEWISH HATE FILLS RUTGERS UNIVERSITY EVENT ON ISRAEL (New Jersey) — On November 18, 2022, the Rutgers New Brunswick chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Endowment Justice Collective (EJC) hosted a panel entitled “Divestment From Israeli Apartheid At The University Level.” The event was moderated by Rutgers post-graduate student Abire Sabbagh, who has a history of promoting the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction (BDS) movement at UC Davis. (Algemeiner, Jan. 2, 2023)
ISRAEL NOW IMPLORES THE JEWISH COMMUNITY TO CANCEL ALL DONATIONS TO THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO (Toronto) — The University of Toronto has become a known hotbed for Antisemitic Palestinian Activists and BDS-Supporting students and professors. Jewish Students no longer feel safe. Undergraduate and Graduate-level student organizations have endorsed BDS and threaten the well-being of Jewish Students. attempts to ban kosher food on campus are on-going. U of T President Meric Gertner recently met in Ramallah with Anti-Israel activists including Canadian Representative to the Palestinian Authority David De Silva. De Silva spreads Antisemitic lies and insinuates that Jews and the State of Israel have “shackled” and criminalized the celebration of Christmas. Shortly after the rendezvous in Ramallah, Gertner officially rejected the IHRA definition of antisemitism. (Israel Now, Dec. 2022)
LITHUANIA PASSES LAW ALLOCATING NEARLY $40 MILLION FOR HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS (Vilnius) — Lithuania’s parliament passed a law this week to set aside over 37 million euros ($38 million) as restitution for Holocaust survivors and their heirs. The bill proposes to nearly double the money the government had already set aside for restitution claims in a country where 90% of its Jews were killed in the Holocaust. Today only 5,000 Jews remain in the country. It would allow survivors and their heirs to apply for restitution for personal property as well, while continuing to fund the Good Will Foundation. (JTA, Dec. 30, 2022)
UKRAINIAN NEW YEAR’S STRIKE ON RUSSIAN BASE KILLS HUNDREDS (Donetsk) — Minutes after ushering in the New Year, Ukrainians released a massive rocket barrage on a Russian military base in the Donetsk region, likely killing hundreds of soldiers. Although the figures remain contested, Russian bloggers’ and journalists’ estimates range between 200 and 600 casualties. (National Review, Jan. 2, 2023)
CANADA, OTHERS SEEK FORMAL ARBITRATION WITH IRAN OVER DOWNED JET (Ottawa) — Canada, Britain, Sweden and Ukraine called on Tehran to settle a dispute over accountability and reparations for the downing of an airliner by Iranian forces nearly 3 years ago through arbitration under the rules of the 1971 Montreal Convention. All four countries as well as Iran are signatories of the convention, an international treaty, which requires states to prevent and punish offenses against civil aviation. If the countries cannot settle their dispute within six months, Iran can be taken to the International Court of Justice. (Reuters, Dec. 28, 2022)
RUSSIANS JOIN THOUSANDS OF MIGRANTS WAITING FOR END OF TITLE 42 AT US BORDER (Southern US border) — Russian military-age men escaping Vladimir Putin’s mobilization order are joining a growing queue of migrants assembling on the southern border in Mexico, waiting to cross into the US to ask for asylum. When the Russian president announced a partial draft in September, seeking to call up 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine, hundreds of thousands of men fled the country to avoid being shipped off to the front line. (NY Post, Dec. 29, 2022)
FOR FURTHER REFERENCE
Barbara Walters Didn’t Take ‘No’ for an Answer: Katie Couric, DYNUZ, Dec. 31, 2022 — Every female broadcast journalist working today owes a debt of gratitude to the O.G., Barbara Walters, who died Friday at age 93.
WATCH: New Statistics Show Israel’s Christian Minority Flourishing: Robert Walker, Honest Reporting Canada, Jan. 1, 2023 — Around Christmas time every year, news outlets put a spotlight on the status of Christian populations in Israel and beyond, often describing it as suffering.
WATCH: Israeli Plant-Based Meat to Hit Shelves: United With Israel, Dec. 29, 2022 — With a global food shortage and a climate crisis, an increasing number of people are giving up meat products and eating only plant-based foods.