“I prayed yesterday at the Western Wall [in Jerusalem] that Muslims and Arabs from throughout the world will be watching this flight recognising that we are all children of God and that the future does not have to be predetermined by the past,” – Advisor to the president and son-in-law Jared Kushner on the tarmac in Ben Gurion Airport before embarking on the first direct commercial flight between Israel and a Gulf state. El Al flight 971, bearing a greeting of peace painted on its fuselage in Arabic, Hebrew and English and carrying him, US National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien and Israel’s National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat, flew from Ben Gurion airport to Abu Dhabi. (Melanie Phillips, Aug. 23, 2020)“I’m talking about people who are calling for the murder of the prime minister within the protests,” – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told interviewer Leital Shemesh on Channel 20. Netanyahu criticized the media for failing to cover the threats of violence. “Not only don’t they cover it, they blame me, that I’m just making it up,” he said. Of the protesters he said, “They speak in the name of democracy? When they talk about the murder of the prime minister? That’s what they [the media] play down, that’s democracy?” (WIN, Aug. 11, 2020)
“Like when President Trump kept his word and moved the American embassy to Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Israel, setting the stage for the first Arab country to recognize Israel in 26 years,” — said Vice President Mike Pence, referring to the Aug. 13 U.S.-brokered normalization deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, the first such agreement. He spoke at the Republican National Convention. (JNS, Aug. 27, 2020)
“Hezbollah and the warlords, and all who supported them for the last 15 years have led us to the abyss. And we are in the abyss—we are not just looking into the abyss anymore,” — said Bahaa Hariri, eldest son of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri during an interview with the Globe and Mail. (Globe and Mail, Aug. 28, 2020)
“As the Democrats are urging you to vote for an obviously defective candidate. Biden has changed his positions so often, he no longer has any principles. He a Trojan horse with Bernie [Sander], Alexandria [Ocasio-Cortes], Pelosi,, Black Lives Matter and his party’s entire left wing just waiting to execute their pro-criminal and anti-police socialist policies,” – said former NY Mayor Rudi Giuliani at the Republican National Convention. (Globe and Mail, Aug. 28, 2020)
“Everyone beware. They’re [rioters] not gonna stop before election day in November, and they’re not gonna stop after election day… They’re not gonna let up and they should not,” – said Senator Kamala Harris, the Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee. (Israel National News, Aug. 31, 2020)
“But [the Democrats’] electoral advantage could evaporate if looting and rioting continue, and millions of voters become convinced that Democrats are complicit … the shredding of the nation’s social fabric. Is or is not Biden disgusted by mob violence in the service of political nihilism? (‘Let’s protest police injustice4 by torching an automobile dealership!’)…He needs a Sister Souljah moment…Biden’s response last week—43 seconds of a tepid 93-second video tweet—will not suffice,” – writes columnist George Will. (National Post, Aug. 29, 2020)
ISRAEL HAILS MAJOR STEP IN MIDEAST PEACE: UAE REPEALS BOYCOTT LAW (Jerusalem) — The United Arab Emirates passed a decree ending its boycott of Israel as part of a new peace deal to establish official diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. The step clears the way for commerce, trade, travel, and cultural exchange between Israel and the UAE. The decree represents the next phase in the peace deal announced on August 13, which was brokered by the U.S. as part of its initiative to create stability in the Middle East and counteract the threat posed by Iran via its network of terror proxies and quest for nuclear weapons. (United With Israel, Aug. 30, 2020)
SHOFAR BLASTS SOUND IN ABU DHABI AS UAE JEWS JOIN ISRAELI DELEGATION FOR MORNING PRAYERS (Abu Dhabi) — Members of the Israeli delegation to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) joined with members of the UAE Jewish community for morning prayers at the St. Regis Hotel in Abu Dhabi. The group included Meir Ben-Shabbat, Israel’s national security adviser; Ross Kriel, president of the Jewish Council of the Emirates; and Solly Wolf, president of the Dubai Jewish Community. At the conclusion of the service, Rabbi Levi Duchman of Dubai blew the shofar, a ram’s horn traditionally blown during the Hebrew month of Elul. (WIN, Sept. 1, 2020)
KUSHNER: ALL 22 ARAB LEAGUE STATES MAY NORMALIZE RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL (Abu Dhabi) –– Jared Kushner, senior advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump, told the United Arab Emirates’ state-run news agency WAM, that he believes that it is possible all 22 Arab states will make peace with Israel, and that a fourth Arab country could normalize relations with Israel within “months.” (Jewish Press, Sept. 1,2020)
SENIOR PALESTINIAN OFFICIAL ADMITS ISRAEL-UAE PACT A BLOW TO BDS (Ramallah) — The Abraham Accords constitutes a blow to the global campaign to boycott Israel, senior PLO official Hanan Ashrawi admitted. United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed on Saturday signed an order canceling the law on boycotting products from Israel and economic contacts with Israelis, a phase ahead of the full normalization of ties with Israel. (United With Israel, Sept. 1, 2020)
‘TREACHERY AND TREASON’: IRAN THREATENS UAE ON HEELS OF ISRAELI VISIT (Tehran) — Jared Kushner and U.S. officials visited a major air base in the United Arab Emirates speaking to Emirati and American pilots on the tarmac, as Iran’s supreme leader called the UAE’s recognition of Israel “treason that will not last for long.” State media in Iran broadcast Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s remarks, which referred the UAE’s recognition of Israel as a “stain” on the country. (WIN, Sept. 1, 2020)
MAJOR US JEWISH GROUPS DECRY LACK OF TWITTER ACTION AFTER LATEST ANTISEMITIC POST BY IRAN LEADER (California) — Major US Jewish groups including the ADL called for Twitterto take action against the account of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday, following the Iranian leader’s latest antisemitic social media outburst. In the offending tweet, Khamenei commented on the recently‐announced Israel‐UAE normalization deal, saying, “The nation of Palestine is under various, severe pressures. Then, the UAE acts in agreement with the Israelis & filthy Zionist agents of the U.S. —such as the Jewish member of Trump’s family— with utmost cruelty against the interests of the World of Islam.” (Algemeiner, Sept. 1, 2020)
EGYPT HAS DEALT THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD A SERIOUS BLOW(Cairo) — On Aug. 28, after an intense seven-year search, Egyptian security forces arrested Mahmoud Ezzat, the acting leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and the head of its military wing, responsible for a series of terrorist attacks in Egypt. In 2013, following the arrest and imprisonment of Mohamed Badie, a previous Muslim Brotherhood leader, Ezzat took over the movement. Ezzat was convicted in absentia on terrorism-related charges and twice sentenced to death and three times to life sentences. (Israel National News, Sept. 1, 2020)
NATIONAL NAACP TAKES OVER PHILADELPHIA BRANCH AFTER LEADER’S ANTI-SEMITIC POSTS(Philadelphia) — The national leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) plans to replace the entire leadership of its Philadelphia branch, which dissolved on Aug. 20 after its president, Rodney Muhammad, shared an anti-Semitic meme last month. By dissolving itself, the Philadelphia chapter yielded full control to the national organization, which will appoint an administrator by early September to guide the transition to new leadership at the branch. (JNS, Aug. 26, 2020)
NEW YORK AND CALIFORNIA MAY HAVE ALREADY ACHIEVED HERD IMMUNITY, DATA SCIENTIST SAYS(Negev) — Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) data scientist Prof. Mark Last sees the end of the coronavirus peak in Israel and believes that New York and California may have reached herd immunity. Prof. Last of the BGU Department of Software and Information Systems Engineering, presented these finding virtually at the Artificial Intelligence and the Coronavirus workshop at the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (AIME). He has been analyzing health data for the past 20 years. (Medical Press, Sept. 1, 2020)
BLM ‘ACTIVISTS’ CELEBRATED AS TRUMP SUPPORTER WAS KILLED(Portland) — It’s spine-chilling to hear activists in Portland cheering about the cold-blooded murder of a Trump supporter Saturday night. “I am not sad that a f–king fascist died tonight,” a woman shouts into a megaphone at a BLM-Antifa gathering after a man was shot dead nearby. “He was a f–king Nazi. Our community held its own and took out the trash. ”Videos posted by independent journalists Andy Ngo and Ian Miles Cheong show an American flag being burned in celebration as the crowd revels in the news. (NY Post, Aug. 30, 2020)
GERMAN JEWISH LEADERS TURN DOWN US BRIEFING ON IRAN DANGER (Berlin) — Dr. Josef Schuster, the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, and other European Jewish leaders, ignored a proposed briefing from a top US government official about the dangers of the Iranian regime and American efforts to impose snapback sanctions on Tehran to stop the Islamic Republic from purchasing conventional weapons and building a nuclear military device. Rabbi Avraham Cooper, the associate dean of the human rights organization Simon Wiesenthal Center located in Los Angeles, who recently wrote an opinion article on snapback sanctions in Newsweek, contacted a number of European Jewish leaders suggesting a briefing from a senior US official. (Jerusalem Post, Aug. 31, 2020)
COURT CASE IN NOVEMBER FOR ALLEGED NEO-NAZI (Berlin) — Gabriel Sohier Chaput, 33, an alleged neo-Nazi who had been sought by the Montreal police for nearly two years on a warrant claiming he willfully promoted hatred will see his court case start in November. The warrant indicated the police did not know Chaput’s whereabouts when it was issued. 21 months later, a defence lawyer appeared before Quebec Court Judge Isabelle Rheault at the Montreal courthouse, the warrant was lifted and the case was carried over to Nov. 24. The accused is required to be present in court on that date. (Montreal Gazette, Aug. 28, 2020)
JPMORGAN SAYS INVESTORS SHOULD PREPARE FOR RISING ODDS OF TRUMP WIN (Washington) — Investors should position for the rising odds of President Donald Trump winning re-election, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Betting odds that earlier had Trump well behind challenger Joe Biden are now nearly even — largely due to the impact on public opinion of violence around protests, as well as potential bias in polls, said strategist Marko Kolanovic. Based on past research, there could be a shift of five to 10 points in polls from Democrats to Republicans if the perception of protests turns from peaceful to violent, he said. People giving inaccurate answers could artificially skew polls in favor of Biden by 5%-6%, he added. (Bloomberg, Aug. 31, 2020)
U.S. TO CUT TROOP PRESENCE IN IRAQ BY ABOUT ONE-THIRD, OFFICIALS SAY (Washington) — The Pentagon is cutting the U.S. force in Iraq to about 3,500 troops, U.S. officials said, a roughly one-third reduction that President Trump is expected to tout as progress toward winding down what he has described as endless wars. The U.S. and Iraq refrained from publicly setting a schedule for reducing the approximately 5,200 American troops now in the country when Iraq’s prime minister visited Washington last week. (WSJ, Aug. 28, 2020)
FRANCE TO RELIVE CHARLIE HEBDO ATTACKS AS LANDMARK TERROR TRIAL OPENS IN PARIS COURT (Paris) — More than five years after a three-day killing spree in the Paris area that claimed 17 lives – including some of France’s leading cartoonists – victims of the January 2015 attacks and their loved ones will finally face suspects during a special terror trial. Over the next few months, 14 suspects – including three in absentia who may be dead – will be tried at a courthouse in northwest Paris amid tight security. The suspects are being tried for assisting in terror attacks, including supplying weapons and financing to three jihadists who were killed shortly after the attacks. (France 24, Sept. 1, 2020)
RULE, BRITANNIA GETS THE SILENT TREATMENT AS BBC CANCELS SINGING OF ‘RACIST’ ANTHEMS(London) — Rule, Britannia, a patriotic anthem written more than 200 years ago to celebrate freedom and in defiance of “haughty tyrants,” has fallen victim to the czars at Britain’s national broadcaster, the BBC. Land of Hope and Glory (Mother of the free are the next words of the song) also appears to have fallen foul of the culture wars. The two songs are regular features of the BBC’s most popular classical musical festival The Proms. This week, following reports that the two songs were being axed from the festival program, the BBC issued a statement to clarify that orchestral versions would be played — but no soloist would be singing the lyrics. (Whig Standard, Aug. 25, 2020)
