“The U.S. is no longer Israel’s “patron” and Israel is no longer a “client.” … Sometime in the last decade … the relationship between the two countries switched from a “patron-client” to a “partnership” relationship. … In effect, Israel became an overseas version of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for the U.S. Defense Department or even something like Lockheed Martin’s fabled Skunkworks. As a result, the U.S. provides funding for partnership ventures, not economic or military “aid.”” – Author and former Israeli diplomat Lenny Ben David responding to Congresswoman’s Rashid Tlaib’s accusation that “Apartheid Israel receives unconditional funding” from the United States “with zero accountability.” (JNS, May 17, 2022)
“As the American president considers removing my captors and the murderers of peaceful protesters from the U.S. sanctions list, let me say clearly: This is not what Iranians want. Democrats can say this is best for us, but we are sick of being patronized. Sending our dictator and his regime billions of dollars is not in our best interest. We are willing to live under the economic pressure of sanctions if it weakens the regime holding us hostage and cuts off some of the resources used to jail us, torture us and shoot us in the streets. If these sanctions help us win the freedom we are struggling for and the secular democracy we deserve, the financial cost is well worth it.” – Iranian journalist and human rights activist Hossein Ronaghi who was imprisoned multiple times by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for exposing the IRGC’s human rights abuses in op-eds in the WSJ and NY Times. (WSJ, May 17, 2022)
“These problems are linked to a more central one affecting many Western observers, with their narrative of a city “sacred to three faiths”—namely, a failure to understand the unique centrality of Jerusalem in Judaism or to admit that the city is of interest to other religions only because it was sacred to Jews first. It’s impossible to understand the city without grasping that Jerusalem has existed at the center of Jewish consciousness since Rome was a village on the Tiber and that it has that role in no other religion.” – Journalist and author Matti Friedman in reviewing Andrew Lawler’s book Under Jerusalem: The Buried History of the World’s Most Contested City. (Jewish Review of Books, Spring 2022)
“You didn’t want to get involved in the Ukraine conflict militarily for obvious reasons. Are you willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that?” — a reporter to US President Joe Biden during a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo “Yes,”Biden replied.” (CNN, May 23, 2022)
“I think the President was clear on the fact that the policy has not changed.” — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin talking back President Biden’s apparent commitment to defend Taiwan militarily. (National Post, May 23, 2022)
“White progressives hypnotised by the repugnant command that they feel guilty about their skin colour and elevate others to the status of leaders based on their skin colour got exactly what they paid for when they sent in donations to BLM. After all, if BLM leaders got the money for being black, being black is the only excuse they needed to spend it. Which is exactly what [Patrisse] Cullors proceeded to do.” – Newsweek Deputy Opinion Editor Batya Ungaar-Sargon who morally – not legally – justified the Black Lives Matter Foundation’s leaders’ purchase of high-end homes for their personal use with the millions of dollars raised for their cause, which she calls a “victimless crime.” (Spiked, May 20, 2022)
“ … Sometimes the right thing to do is to throw out the old schools of thought in the name of progress and reform. Sometimes the right thing to do is to listen to the wisdom of those who have come before us. How will you know what the right choice is in these crucial moments? You won’t.” – Popular singer and songwriter Taylor Swift while giving the commencement address at NYU. “[This] attitude is antithetical to Millenarian thinking but also to the progressive approach to culture, policy, and civilization: Everything is poisoned, everything needs to be changed, it needs to be changed right now, and if the change doesn’t work out the way we want, we’ll just change it again.” – journalist Kyle Smith. (National Review, May 21, 2022)
JERUSALEM COURT RULES JEWS CAN RECITE ‘SHEMA YISRAEL’ AND BOW ON TEMPLE MOUNT (Jerusalem) — The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court handed down a ruling that it is permissible for Jews to recite the “Shema Yisrael” prayer and to bow on the Temple Mount.” The Palestinian Authority Foreign Affairs Ministry responded to the ruling with a swift, brief statement that warned, “Giving Jews the opportunity to pray in al-Aqsa is a declaration of religious war and crosses all red lines.” (Jewish Press, May 22, 2022)
PA REFERS ABU AKLEH DEATH TO INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT PROSECUTORS (The Hague) — The Palestinian Authority had referred Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh’s death to the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor’s office, according to PA Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki. Israeli Defense Ministry Benny Gantz warned that referring the case to the ICC would hurt ties between Jerusalem and Ramallah. (Times of Israel, May 23, 2022)
‘DEVOID OF ANY BASIS’: IDF BLASTS CNN REPORT BLAMING ISRAEL FOR TARGETED KILLING OF JOURNALIST (Atlanta) — The claim that Israeli troops intentionally shot Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin “is devoid of any basis,” the IDF stated, responding to a report published by CNN making such claims. CNN published a report on Tuesday supposedly offering “new evidence” that proves that the Israeli troops were “shooting directly at the journalists,” and that Akleh was shot dead “in a targeted attack” by the Israeli forces. In response, the IDF stated that since the incident, it has been investigating the circumstances of Abu Akleh’s death “in-depth and thoroughly.” The interim investigation shows that it is not possible to determine the source of the shooting that killed the reporter. (United With Israel, May 25, 2022)
EXPOSED: CNN’S WITNESS A PALESTINIAN OFFICIAL WHO PRAISED MURDER OF ISRAELI CIVILIANS (Atlanta) — The headline of a recent CNN piece on the death of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh during a shootout between Palestinian terrorists and the IDF in Jenin features a quote accusing Israelis of “shooting directly at the journalists. The IDF claims the report is “devoid of any basis.” More shocking, is the source that CNN relied on: a Palestinian politician named Jamal Al-Huwail who is a member of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council. (United With Israel, May 25, 2022)
IRAN: REVOLUTIONARY GUARD OFFICER ASSASSINATED IN TEHRAN (Tehran) — Gunmen riding on motorcycles opened fire on a senior officer of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) outside his home, killing him in his car. Hassan Sayyad Khodayari was a member of the Quds Force, which is responsible for the IRGC’s foreign operations, and he reportedly served in Syria in past years. Iran blamed the US and Israel. (Al Jazeera, May 22, 2022)
JORDAN KING PLACES HALF BROTHER PRINCE HAMZAH UNDER HOUSE ARREST (Amman) — Jordan’s King Abdullah II has imposed restrictions on the movements, place of residence and communications of his estranged half brother Prince Hamzah, widening a royal rift in the kingdom. Abdullah and Hamzah are sons of King Hussein, who ruled Jordan for nearly a half-century before his death in 1999. (Al Jazeera, May 19, 2022)
90-YEAR-OLD JEWISH MAN ALLEGEDLY PUSHED TO HIS DEATH IN LYON, FRANCE (Lyon) — A dispute between neighbors in France ended with the death of a 90-year-old Jewish man, according to police, who do not suspect an antisemitic motive. Police arrested a 51-year-old neighbor of the deceased, René Hadjaj outside his home in Lyon in eastern France. The suspect had pushed Hadjaj to his death from an elevated story of their residential building. French media have not reported the identity of the suspect or other details about him. (Times of Israel, May 20, 2022)
WITH JUST ONE ‘NO’ VOTE, HOUSE PASSES RESOLUTION CONDEMNING ANTI-SEMITISM (Washington) — In a vote of 420-1, The House passed H. Res. 1125, which denounces the rising hostility towards Jews in recent years and a surge in physical violent incidents. The effort was led by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) along with Reps. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), and Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.). In a news release, the resolution’s supporters said that the nationwide rise in anti-Semitic incidents is a result of increased anti-Semitic “propaganda” on social media and the spread of misinformation and lies. The resolution did not mention anti-Israel bias or the targeting of Jews for their pro-Israel beliefs and advocacy. (JNS, May 20, 2022)
THOUSANDS OF RABBIS SLAM TLAIB RESOLUTION AS ‘OPENLY ANTISEMITIC,’ ‘AN INDELIBLE STAIN ON CONGRESS’ (Washington) — Thousands of rabbis condemned a resolution Palestinian Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) introduced calling for the commemoration of “the Nakba,” translated from Arabic as “the catastrophe,” which activists say happened with Israel’s founding. Tlaib’s resolution is “openly antisemitic” and “an indelible stain on Congress,” the Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), a group representing more than 2,000 rabbis, wrote in a press release. Nakba Day is observed on May 15, one day after Israel declared independence. (Just the News, May 18, 2022)
US LAWMAKERS SEEK FBI INVESTIGATION INTO SHOOTING DEATH OF AL JAZEERA REPORTER (Washington) — Fifty-seven U.S. lawmakers called on the FBI and State Department to investigate the May 11 shooting death of Palestinian-American Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh. In a letter addressed to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and FBI Director Christopher Wray, the lawmakers also requested that the State Department “determine whether any U.S. laws protecting Ms. Abu Akleh, an American citizen were violated.” (JNS, May 22, 2022)
TENS OF THOUSANDS MARCH IN NEW YORK’S ISRAEL PARADE IN MAJOR SHOW OF SOLIDARITY (NYC) — Hundreds of groups representing a broad swath of American Jewry marched and rode down Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, along with top American and Israeli government officials. The parade billed as the largest expression of solidarity with Israel outside of its borders is normally held annually but had not taken place in three years due to the pandemic. (Times of Israel, May 22, 2022)
JUDGE FINDS SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE LINKING AMP TO HAMAS SUPPORTERS FOR LAWSUIT TO PROCEED (Chicago) — A federal judge in Chicago allowed a lawsuit to proceed that claims the anti-Israel group American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) is really a continuation of a defunct cog in a Hamas-support network. In 2004, Joyce and Stanley Boim were awarded $156 million in damages from the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) and the American Muslim Society (AMS) for providing material support to Hamas. The Boims’ 17-year-old-son David was killed in a 1996 Hamas terrorist attack. But the defendants shut themselves down before paying, citing “the burden of the Boim Judgment and associated litigation costs.” (IPT, May 19, 2022)
NEW ‘DISINFORMATION’ BOARD PAUSED AMID FREE SPEECH QUESTIONS (Washington) — The Department of Homeland Security “paused” a new and controversial board’s work on disinformation and accepted the resignation of its former Disinformation Governance Board director Nina Jankowicz, capping weeks of concerns about impinging on free speech rights and frenzied conspiracy theories about the board itself. Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas acknowledged the board’s controversy had become a distraction to the department’s other work, which includes safeguarding U.S. elections. (US News, May 18, 2022)
FICTIONAL ACCOUNT OF NETANYAHU FAMILY IN AMERICA WINS PULITZER PRIZE (NYC) — A satirical novel based on the true story of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s father searching for a job in academia in the United States won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family by Joshua Cohen was described by the Pulitzer Prize board as “a mordant, linguistically deft historical novel about the ambiguities of the Jewish-American experience, presenting ideas and disputes as volatile as its tightly-wound plot.” (JNS, May 19, 2022)
MENACHEM KAISER WINS SAMI ROHR PRIZE FOR NONFICTION(Jerusalem) — The Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, in association with the National Library of Israel, announced Torontonian Menachem Kaiser, author of Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi Treasure the winner of its 2022 award for nonfiction. The story recounts the author’s Holocaust-survivor grandfather’s battle to reclaim the family’s apartment building in Sosnowiec, Poland. It is a deeply immersive adventure story and daring interrogation of inheritance—material, spiritual, familial, and emotional. (JNS, May 19, 2022)
WISCONSIN MIDDLE SCHOOL CHARGES THREE BOYS WITH SEXUAL HARASSMENT FOR USING ‘WRONG’ PRONOUNS (Madison) — The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) wrote a letter to Kiel Area School District administrators urging them to drop the Title IX sexual harassment complaint and investigation against three eighth grade boys. The complaint in March began after the boys used a biologically correct pronoun when speaking about a classmate rather than using “they/them,” the pronouns the student prefers. (Just the News, May 15, 2022)
SENIOR EXECUTIVES, BOARD MEMBERS LEAVE RUSSIAN OIL GIANT ROSNEFT (Moscow) — Russian state oil giant Rosneft Oil Co. is losing several senior executives and board members, a brain drain that stands to weaken a prime driver of the country’s economy while Moscow wages war on Ukraine. Leaving the board of directors are former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Matthias Warnig, a longtime friend of President Vladimir Putin, among significant others. (WSJ, May 20, 2022)
ODDS OF ‘HARD LANDING’ JUMP AS STOCK, BOND INVESTORS WORRY ABOUT ECONOMIC GROWTH, SAYS MORGAN STANLEY (NYC) — The probability of a “hard landing” for the U.S. economy has jumped, with stock and bond investors worried about slowing economic growth, according to Morgan Stanley’s wealth-management division. Morgan Stanley sees a 27% chance of recession in the next 12 months, with the probability jumping from just 5% in March. (Market Watch, May 17, 2022)
Hillary Clinton Did It: Editorial Board, WSJ, May 20, 2022 — The Russia-Trump collusion narrative of 2016 and beyond was a dirty trick for the ages, and now we know it came from the top—candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. That was the testimony Friday by 2016 Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook in federal court, and while this news is hardly a surprise, it’s still bracing to find her fingerprints on the political weapon.
