Hunter Biden: Emotionally Honest, Generically Smooth: Jason Farago, NY Times, Nov. 5, 2021“Mr. Biden, though not trained as a painter, has been making art since childhood, and I can say that his show is more substantial than an amateur’s dabbling. (He was formerly a lobbyist and private equity boss, though you can still have an artistic disposition behind the desk: Paul Gauguin was a stockbroker, Jeff Koons a commodities broker.). . .{One] painting [of a bald figure] bears a citation of the pre-Socratic philosopher Parmenides [others include] quite a few snakes [which] may have some personal reference, molting and rebirth and all that; the symbology may, more than anything, just suggest being a dude….”
See also: NYT Art Critic Spends 700 Words Trying To Find A Polite Way To Say Hunter Biden’s Art Sucks: Katie Jerkovich, Daily Caller, Nov. 8, 2021
Virginia Voters Send a Pro-Trump Message: Lawrence Martin, The Globe and Mail, Nov. 4, 2021
“So much for the hope that the Jan. 6 mob attack on their country’s citadel of democracy taught Americans a lesson. It was only 10 months ago that hard-right thugs, goaded by Donald Trump, stormed the Capitol threatening to overturn a legitimate election. But instead of Americans turning their backs on the Trump party, the first big election test since that day of infamy has them embracing it. In Virginia…the Democrats fell and the Republicans flew, with businessman Glenn Youngkin capturing the governorship in a race deemed a harbinger of political fortunes to follow… Tuesday put a stamp on the distressing year it’s been for the Biden Democrats. [Initially] the Democrats appeared to have a clear field ahead. The country appeared to want a fresh start. It doesn’t look that way now.”
“And I want to be clear about this. When Jews are targeted because of their beliefs or their identity, when Israel is singled out because of anti-Jewish hatred, that is antisemitism. And that is unacceptable.” – VP Kamala Harris at the opening session of the Anti-Defamation League’s “Never is Now’ conference. (United With Israel, Nov. 8, 2021)“… a belief is taking hold on the political left “that all Jews are oppressors — part of a white establishment that has exploited racial and ethnic minorities for generations.” These views represent an “ugly form of historical revisionism” that would “come as a big surprise to my grandparents who fled Europe for their lives — only to come to this country and experience discrimination. Or to Iranian or Ethiopian Jews who came more recently but also seeking refuge from vicious persecution. Or to the more than half of Israeli Jews who aren’t of European descent.” — Anti-Defamation League CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt at the ADL’s “Never is Now” conference. (Algemeiner, Nov. 9, 2021)
“Eighty-three years later, antisemitism is rampant not only on social media; synagogues worldwide are frequently victims of vandalism, and Jews are not safe on the street. In addition to all of this, Israel faces the attempts of delegitimization by the BDS [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] movement and threats of annihilation by its enemies. On this solemn anniversary, we want to assure the Jewish people and the State of Israel that we will not stand by silently like our parents and grandparents did in the 1930s, but we will continue to lift our voices publicly with marches for Israel and for the Jewish people.” — the founder of the March of Life organization, Jobst Bittner at the Knesset. Knesset members commemorated the 83rd anniversary of Kristallnacht at a ceremony at the parliament together with Christian leaders from Germany from the March of Life organization. (Jerusalem Post, Nov. 9, 2021)
“I believe that the US will respect Israel if Israel respects itself. If Israel decides for itself what its long-range goals and values are – with regard to its boundaries or other critical issues – the world ultimately will respect it. Israel must do what is best for Israel, just like every other country does, and worry less about the reactions of others.” – former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman. (Israel Hayom, Nov. 1, 2021)
“We recently passed a crucial milestone in the history of the Jewish people. Because for the first time since the destruction of the First Temple 2,600 years ago, the world’s largest Jewish community is located in Israel. Forty-five percent of world Jewry is now living here, more than seven million people. The United States, which used to house the largest Jewish community, now has less than 6 million Jews. … It’s a complete reversal of history. It is a process that we go through, but do not notice. It is a rebirth of the Jewish nation.” — Professor David Passig, an Israeli futurist who predicted the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. (Israel Hayom, Oct. 31, 2021)
“It is Jewish genius that has helped to weaponize the weed so that it may effeminize the black male of America. And be clear, it is Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam that is standing in between the total demasculinization of the black man in America.” — Nation of Islam Official Wesley Muhammad. (Twitter, Nov. 1, 2021)
“… the little ‘m’ metaverse is already here and we’re already living inside of it. It’s the elective, virtualized reality composed of Twitter, Instagram, and even the very Substack you’re reading right now. The tech “backlash” that the media has been trying to engineer … has never really happened, and you’d be hard-pressed to find signs of one in Facebook’s, or any other tech company’s, usage and revenue graphs… More anecdotally, those who assert that “Twitter isn’t real life”, as Dave Chapelle did in his most recent and controversial Netflix special, are either delusional or disingenuous. Chapelle’s own brain has clearly been eaten by Twitter, as in the rest of his special he touched on every Twitter-mediated woke flashpoint of the past several months, and the blowback (and consequences) to his show were adjudicated on the very platform he claimed didn’t matter. I used to think that online life constituted the shadows in Plato’s allegory of the cave, and those craning their necks into phones all day were the poor souls chained down and forced to watch the meaningless digital flickers of reality. … I now realize it’s the reverse: real life is increasingly a reflection of what happens online.” — Antonio García Martínez, author ‘Chaos Monkeys’. Formerly Facebook, Y Combinator and (briefly) Apple. (Common Sense with Bari Weiss, Nov. 9, 2021)
“[I am] shocked [the donations were accepted] as the university has gone off the scale in wokery [referring to moves to decolonize the curriculum and the Rhodes statue row]. [Prof. Goldman, who lost relatives in the Holocaust, added] Its moral compass is just not working anymore. There has been a total moral failure” in taking funds from “the most infamous fascist dynasty in the English-speaking world”. [It is] a disaster.” — Lawrence Goldman, an emeritus fellow in history and former vice-master of St. Peter’s College, Oxford, on the university’s disputed acceptance of two gifts totaling £12.3 million from the Mosely family trust, set up by Max Mosely with the fortune inherited from his father, the infamous British fascist Oswald Mosely. Leader of the British Union of Fascists and a supporter of Hitler and Mussolini. (National Post, Nov. 6, 2021)
IRON DOME INTERCEPTS HAMAS TERROR DRONE INFILTRATING FROM GAZA STRIP (Gaza City) — An IDF spokesperson reported that Israel’s air-defense unit intercepted an unmanned aircraft belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization. The drone attempted to cross into Israel over the sea and was intercepted around noon time. The drone was monitored by the Air Control Unit throughout the incident. (Jewish Press, Nov. 8, 2021)US CHANGES ITS UN VOTE FROM ‘NO’ TO ‘ABSTENTION’ ON UNRWA AFFIRMATION (Washington) — The Biden administration abstained – but did not reject – a General Assembly resolution affirming the right of return for Palestinian refugees to sovereign Israel. In doing so, it broke with the voting pattern on Israel set by former US President Donald Trump in which all such texts received an automatic “no” vote. The Obama administration, however, had traditionally abstained from this text, which comes annually before the UNGA. (Jerusalem Post, Nov. 10, 2021)
ISRAELI FIRMS RAISE $3 BILLION IN RECORD-BREAKING OCTOBER (Tel Aviv) — Israeli companies raised a record $3 billion in October, adding a few new firms to the country’s roster of unicorns. Topping the list is Orca Security, which raised $550 million in an extended Series C round led by Temasek, an investment company headquartered in Singapore. The round boosted its valuation by 50 percent in just seven months to $1.8 billion. (JNS, Nov. 3, 2021)
HAMAS THREATENS ISRAELI PRISONERS’ SAFETY IF NO DEAL REACHED (Gaza City) — The deputy head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip again threatened the Israeli prisoners it holds if Jerusalem does not agree to release a long list of jailed terrorists in exchange. (WIN, Nov. 9, 2021)
REPORT: MOSSAD THWARTS IRANIAN ATTACKS AGAINST ISRAELIS IN AFRICA (Jerusalem) — Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency has thwarted a series of planned Iranian attacks against Israelis in Africa. Following the receipt of “accurate intelligence” from “Western intelligence sources,” the security forces of Tanzania, Ghana, and Senegal arrested five suspects. The five, all holders of African passports, had been recruited by Iran’s Quds Force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps branch that handles overseas operations, and sent to Lebanon to receive special training for the mission. (JNS, Nov. 8, 2021)
ISRAELI DEFENSE COMPANY STEADICOPTER UNVEILS NEW UNMANNED HELICOPTER (Jerusalem) — The Israeli defense company Steadicopter Ltd. unveiled a new unmanned helicopter called Black Eagle 50 Electric. The first electrically-powered unmanned helicopter with a maximum takeoff weight of 50 kilograms, it enables high performance and maximum operational flexibility for both security forces and civilian applications, such as search and rescue, cyber, intelligence, gas, and oil rigs, and high-end naval missions. (JNS, Nov. 8, 2021)
REPORT: ISRAELI PEGASUS SPYWARE DETECTED ON CELLPHONES OF BANNED PFLP NGO ACTIVISTS (Jerusalem) — Security researchers revealed that the Pegasus spyware, developed by the Israeli security company NSO Group, was detected on the cellphones of six Arab activists, three of whom are affiliated with the PFLP NGOs Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz recently designated as terrorists. (Jewish Press, Nov. 8, 2021)
INADEQUATE COLLECTION OF HATE CRIMES DATA IN EU MEMBER STATES HAMPERING FIGHT AGAINST ANTISEMITISM, SAYS AGENCY IN NEW REPORT (Brussels) — The EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA)’s overview of antisemitic incidents from 2010-20 in all 27 EU member states stressed that antisemitism was an increasing presence online, particularly during the last 18 months that have been dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic. But the “inadequate recording of hate crime incidents, including those of an antisemitic nature, coupled with victims’ hesitance to report incidents to the authorities, contributes to the gross underestimate of the extent, nature and characteristics of antisemitism in the EU,” the report argued. (Algemeiner, Nov. 9, 2021)
TOP ITALIAN SOCCER LEAGUE ADOPTS IHRA DEFINITION OF ANTI-SEMITISM (Rome) — Italy’s premier soccer league, Serie A, has agreed to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. It announced this at a conference called “The Fight Against Anti-Semitism in Football: European Agreements.” The event was held at the soccer league’s headquarters and led by Milena Santerini, Italy’s national coordinator against antisemitism. (JNS, Nov. 3, 2021)
DUTCH ENTREPRENEUR RESIGNS FROM RIGHT-WING BROADCASTER AFTER VIRULENT ANTISEMITISM EXPOSED (Netherlands) — Taco Dankers, 56, resigned as chairman of the supervisory board of Ongehoord Nederland (ON!), over virulently antisemitic remarks he made on behalf of a far-right policy foundation that traffics in Holocaust denial and other conspiracy theories centered on Jews. (Algemeiner, Nov. 8, 2021)
DEMOCRATS TO DEMAND BIDEN HALT PLANS FOR PALESTINIAN CONSULATE – REPORT (Washington) — U.S. congressmen from the “moderate wing of the Democratic party” are expected to tell President Joe Biden to stop his efforts to open a Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem. The senior representatives, who said they wish to remain anonymous at this stage to increase their chances of success, reportedly revealed their intentions to Binyamin Regional Council Head Israel Gantz and adviser for U.S.-Israel ties Ruth Lieberman in a recent meeting. (WIN, Oct. 31, 2021)
SFSU FACULTY PANEL SAID OVERRULED IN FINDING FOR SCHOLAR WHO WAS DENIED PLATFORM FOR EVENT WITH PALESTINIAN TERRORIST (San Francisco) — Professor Rabab Abdulhadi’s grievance against the San Francisco State University was upheld by its Faculty Hearing Committee. It ruled that the university violated her academic freedom by “not providing adequate support,” by shutting down her planned seminar over PFLP member Leila Khaled’s participation. As a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Khaled hijacked a Tel Aviv-bound commercial flight in 1969. (Algemeiner, Nov. 8, 2021)
WEST HAM FANS ARRESTED FOR HATE CRIME AGAINST HAREDI PASSENGER (London) — Two West Ham United fans were arrested by police at London’s Stansted Airport following a social media video showing them chanting an anti-Semitic song at a Haredi man making his way down an airplane aisle. The football fans were on their way to Belgium for their team match against the Belgian team KRC Genk in the Europa League. . (Jewish Press, Nov. 8, 2021)
UNC AND DUKE UNIVERSITY EVENT LITERALLY ERASES ISRAEL (North Caroline) — A 2021 webinar intended for K-12 teachers, published by the University of North Carolina (UNC) Center for the Middle East and Islamic Studies, presented a map of the Middle East and Africa. The map, however, erased Israel and replaced it with “Palestinian Occupied Territories.” (Algemeiner, Nov. 8, 2021)
NEW YORK TIMES HIRES JOURNALIST WHO BLAMED ISRAEL FOR PALESTINIAN SUICIDE BOMBERS (NYC) — The New York Times hired journalist Raja Abdulrahim to its Jerusalem bureau. Between 2000 and 2005, 141 suicide attacks claimed the lives of 587 people. And yet, Abdulrahim sought to blame Israel — not the Palestinian Authority government or Palestinian terror groups such as Hamas — for the carnage. (Honest Reporting, Nov. 8, 2021)
MAJORITY OF AMERICANS DON’T WANT BIDEN TO RUN AGAIN IN 2024; NEW POLL FINDS (Washington) — A USA Today/Suffolk Univesity poll showed that 64 percent of respondents do not want Biden to run again, including 28 percent of Democrats. Meanwhile, Biden’s approval rating continues to fall: just 38 percent of Americans approve of the job the President has done. Vice President Kamala Harris’ approval rating came in even worse, with 28 percent approval. Forty-six percent of respondents said Biden did a worse job as President than expected, including 16 percent of those who voted for him. (National Review, Nov. 8, 2021)
Branding American Jews as War Criminals: The Campaign to Ostracize American Jewry: David M. Litman, Algemeiner, Nov. 8, 2021 — At a recent event on October 29, a number of student groups at the City University of New York (CUNY) laid out their ongoing campaign that purportedly targets the tax-exempt status of a number of Jewish nonprofits — such as the Jewish National Fund (JNF), the Hebron Fund, and Regavim.
