“We will be inflexible when it comes to tackling racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination, and new strong decisions will be made to reinforce the egality of chances. But this noble fight is perverted when it turns into communitarianism, into a false rewriting of history,” – said French President Emmanuel Macron responding to the desecration of monuments taking place in the US and Britain. (Daily Wire, June 15, 2020)
“Anti-Semitism is generally thought of as brutish, the mentality of mobs, the work of the ignorant, the poorly schooled, the gutter roughnecks, the torch carriers. But these are only the servants, not the savants, of anti-Semitism. Mobs execute, intellectuals promulgate. Thugs have furies, intellectuals have causes,” – writes journalist and author Cynthia Ozick in a scathing article that condemns the historical and present-day role of intellectual in the decimation of antisemitism. (WSJ, June 14, 2020)
“We in the Muslim World League are proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with our Jewish brothers and sisters to build understanding, respect, love and interreligious harmony,” — said al-Issa from Mecca in a virtual conference organized by the Combat Anti-Semitism Movement and the American Sephardi Federation. The Muslim World League, a Saudi Arabian government-funded NGO (Jerusalem Post, June 10, 2020)
“Our view [Trump administration] was that the leadership in Ramallah should no longer have a veto on what happens to this land and to the Israelis living there. But to protect the Palestinians, we gave them a lengthy period—four years—to get their house in order so that they, too, could obtain the many benefits contemplated by the vision for peace,” — wrote former US envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt in an op-ed in The Jerusalem Post. He said that after spending over three years traveling to Arab capitals, “he came to learn that we agree on far more than we disagree on.” (United With Israel, June 16, 2020)
“People say all the time, ‘Oh, we got to get the vice president out of the basement. He’s fine in the basement .… Let Trump keep doing what Trump’s doing.” — Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe told Democrats in a recent video chat. Whereas, President Trump is hitting the camp trail, former Vice President Biden is getting out as well, but much more slowly, mask on. He has held two events in Philadelphia and was in Houston on Monday to meet with members of the family of George Floyd, the man killed May 25 while in Minneapolis police custody. Some say the lower profile has been an asset for the gaffe-prone candidate—and he is beating Mr. Trump in numerous polls. (WSJ, June 13, 2020)
“I don’t know about a landslide, but I too think the ground is shifting in Trump’s favor. In January, I thought he was a 99% lock for re-election on a record of peace and prosperity. Then the Wuhan virus came along, and state shutdowns devastated the economy. Next, while peace reigns abroad, left-wing rioters, looters and arsonists have destroyed it at home. But as usual, the Democrats can’t help themselves. They have gone much too far with absurd proposals to abolish the police, and with essentially insane attacks on white people–who, last time I looked, comprise two-thirds of the electorate. And I do think you have to get outside of D.C. to get a sense of the electorate’s mood,” – writes blogger John Hinderaker. (Powerline, June 15, 2020)
“As the briefing in these cases has warned, the position that the Court now adopts will threaten freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and personal privacy and safety. No one should think that the Court’s decision represents an unalloyed victory for individual liberty,” – US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito warned, condemning the recent US Supreme Court’s ruling as “preposterous” and betraying “breathtaking” arrogance. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that discrimination on the basis of sex includes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in the case of Bostock v. Clayton County (2020). This decision that came about because of the surprise ruling in its favor by Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, will have far-reaching effects on American life, such as on bathrooms, women’s sports, housing, religious employment and health care, according to Justice Alito. (PJ Media, June 15, 2020)
ISRAELI RESEARCHERS ON ROAD TO NEW CORONAVIRUS PASSIVE VACCINE (Tel Aviv) — Israeli researchers at the Cancer Genomics and Complex Diseases Lab at Bar-Ilan University’s Azrieli Faculty of Medicine have identified short amino acid sequences {potential immunodominat epitopes) – often referred to as the “building blocks of life” – that could help develop a vaccine against the novel coronavirus and which they believe could stop the next outbreak. Epitopes, known also as antigenic determinants, are the part of the antigen that binds to a specific antigen receptor on the surface of B cells or T cells. They are capable of stimulating an immune response. (Jerusalem Post, June 11, 2020)
CORONAVIRUS: DEXAMETHASONE PROVES FIRST LIFE-SAVING DRUG (Oxford) — The low-dose steroid treatment dexamethasone is a major breakthrough in the fight against the deadly virus, UK experts say. The drug is part of the world’s biggest trial testing existing treatments to see if they also work for coronavirus. So far, it cut the risk of death by a third for patients on ventilators, and for those on oxygen, it cut deaths by a fifth. Had the drug had been used to treat patients in the UK from the start of the pandemic, up to 5,000 lives could have been saved, researchers say. (BBC News, June 16, 2020)
HOUSE GOP REPORT FINDS WHO ‘COMPLICIT’ IN BEIJING’S COVID COVERUP, CALLS FOR DIRECTOR TEDROS’S OUSTER (Washington) — China violated the International Health Regulations (IHR) of the World Health Organization in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak, Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee allege in a new report on the origins of the pandemic. The interim 50-page report also raises new questions about the complicit role the WHO played in allowing the Chinese Communist Party to delay crucial information about the novel virus. It recommends that WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus be removed from his position for his “full-throated defense of the CCP’s response and embrace of their revisionist history,” and calls for an international investigation into the CCP’s failure to slow the spread of the disease. (National Review, June 15, 2020)
UAE ENVOY WARNS ISRAEL ANNEXATION WOULD ‘UPEND’ ARAB TIES (UAE) — The United Arab Emirates’ ambassador to the US warned Israel against annexing the Jordan Valley and other parts of the occupied West Bank, saying the move would “upend” Israel’s efforts to improve ties with Arab countries. A former Israeli prime minister meanwhile dismissed arguments that Israel must maintain control of the Jordan Valley for security purposes as “nonsense.” (Arab News, June 17, 2020)
WORLD COURT PROSECUTOR CHARGING ISRAEL WITH WAR CRIMES LINKED TO TERRORIST-AFFILIATED GROUP (The Hague) — The May study from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) says that the ICC’s Fatou Bensouda has a close relationship with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), as the umbrella NGO says on its own website. In 2019, she was one of the keynote speakers at the NGO’s 40th Congress. The FIDH joined the Palestinian Authority in asking The Hague to charge Israel with war crimes for its actions in 2014’s Operation Protective Edge that stopped indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip as well as for the entire settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria. The seemingly close ties are a problem, says the study, because FIDH supports organizations with links to the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). This violent extremist group has been responsible for numerous attacks on Israeli civilians for decades, and is officially designated a terrorist organization by the United States, EU, Israel and Canada. (WIN, June 16, 2020)
DARFUR MILITIA LEADER TO APPEAR IN THE HAGUE AS ICC SPARS WITH WHITE HOUSE(The Hague) — Militia leader Ali Kushayb, allegedly the man known as Commander Ali, is due to appear in a courtroom in The Hague. Mr. Kushayb’s unexpected arrest in the Central African Republic is a huge step in the court’s campaign to bring justice to the families of the estimated 300,000 people killed in Darfur, a region of Sudan where the pro-government Janjaweed militia has assisted the Sudanese military in a brutal crackdown on rebel forces and their suspected supporters. (Globe and Mail, June 15, 2020)
PETITION AGAINST FREEING MURDERERS OF JEWISH-AMERICAN JOURNALIST DANIEL PEARL GETS OVER 10,000 SIGNATURES(Pakistan) — A petition being circulated urging Pakistani leaders not to free the killers of Jewish-American journalist Daniel Pearl has over 10,000 signatures and was praised by the murdered journalist’s father. Pearl was kidnapped in Pakistan in 2002 while on assignment for The Wall Street Journal. He was beheaded by his kidnappers shortly after and a video of the execution was widely broadcast on the internet, becoming the first in a series of such videos released by Muslim terrorists. Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh was sentenced to death for the murder and three others received life in prison. In April, however, a Pakistani court commuted the death sentence and found the other three not guilty for lack of evidence, though all four have remained in prison. (Algemeiner, June 16, 2020)
JEXIT: NEW GROUP PUSHING JEWS TO EXIT DEMOCRATIC PARTY (Washington) — A group of Jewish Republicans is advising fellow Jews who are members of the Democratic Party to bail out and vote for President Trump in November, saying American Jews “can no longer blindly vote Democrat.” Michelle Terris is the founder and president of JEXIT – ‘Jews Leaving the Democrat Party’ and the former co-chair of the Jews for Trump coalition in the 2016 elections. In an interview on Israel News Talk Radio, she said that as a party, the Democrats were no longer supporting Israel. Terris admitted that some Jews might have a problem voting for Trump, acknowledging that voting Republican would be “a difficult red pill to swallow.” (WIN, June 16, 2020)
FRENCH FAR-LEFT LEADER CRITICIZED FOR DISMISSING ‘DIRTY JEWS’ CHANTS AT ANTI-RACIST DEMONSTRATION (Paris) –The leader of France’s main far-left political party has continued to face criticism for dismissing chants of “Dirty Jews!” that were heard at last Saturday’s huge anti-racism demonstration in Paris as “gossip.” Jean-Luc Melenchon — leader of the left-wing LFI Party (La France Insoumise) — tweeted an indignant response to an announcement from the Paris Prefecture of Police that the antisemitic chants had been reported to judicial authorities for further investigation. (Algemeiner, June 16, 2020)
GOOGLE THREATENS TO BAN THE FEDERALIST FROM GENERATING AD REVENUE AFTER INTERVENTION BY NBCNEWS (NY) — Google says it will implement the ban because of posts in The Federalist’s comments section that allegedly violated Google’s policies regarding “Dangerous or Derogatory Content.” The Federalist will be able to continue generating ad revenue on Google if it takes action to conform with those policies. The decision by Google comes after NBC News referred the company to complaints against The Federalist and the website ZeroHedge (no connection to The Federalist) compiled by the U.K.-based Center for Countering Digital Hate. NBC News reported that Google had already demonetized The Federalist. (National Review, June 16, 2020)
AGING RAPPER PRAISES FARRAKHAN DAYS AFTER TWEETING ANTI-SEMITIC MURAL (Los Angeles) — In his latest anti-Semitic outburst, the rapper Ice Cube posted, “The Honorable Louis Farrakhan continues to warn America to this very second and he’s labeled one of your ‘evil names’ and you turn your ears off. Why is the truth so offensive that you can’t stand to hear it?” Farrakhan is probably the most well-known Islamic hate preacher in the U.S. and has promoted the most vile conspiracies about Jews over the course of many decades. Ice Cube claimed to have converted to Islam in the 1990s, referring to himself as a “natural Muslim.” (United With Israel, June 11, 2020)
DE BLASIO TELLS COVID CONTRACT TRACERS NOT TO ASK POSITIVE CASES IF THEY’VE ATTENDED BLM PROTESTS (NYC) — New York City’s coronavirus contact-tracing force is not asking those who test positive for COVID-19 whether they recently attended a Black Lives Matter demonstration, a city spokesperson confirmed. Tracers are supposed to ask those who test positive for Covid-19 to “recall ‘contacts’ and individuals they may have exposed.” Tracers also probe for any “close contacts” of the patient — anyone that has been within six feet of the infected person for at least 10 minutes. (National Review, June 14, 2020)
RESIST DE BLASIO: ORTHODOX JEWS ‘LIBERATE’ NYC PLAYGROUND IN PROVOCATIVE MOVE (NYC) — On Sunday, State Sen. Simcha Felder “slammed” NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio — both Democrats — for refusing to re-open playgrounds in Jewish neighborhoods. Then on Monday, the Daily News reported that “members of the Orthodox Jewish community used bolt cutters to ‘liberate’ a Brooklyn playground the city welded shut.” The gate had been welded shut by city workers after 25 previous #RESISTANCE acts of cutting chains that had closed the playground to NYC kids, predominantly Jewish. (PJ Media, June 16, 2020)
ORTHODOX JEWS, CATHOLIC PRIESTS SUE NY GOVERNOR, MAYOR OVER CORONA DISCRIMINATION (NY) — Three Orthodox Jews and two Catholic priests sued New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in federal court for violating their rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit, filed by Orthodox Jews Elchanan Perr, Daniel Schonborn, and Mayer Mayerfeld, along with Catholic priests Steven Soos and Nicholas Stamos, accuses the governor and mayor of using “blatant double standards” when enforcing coronavirus violations against small religious gatherings in comparison to enforcement approaches used with thousands who have taken to the streets to protest the death of George Floyd. (WIN, June 14, 2020)
SYRIA’S ASSAD FACES GROWING PRESSURE FROM THE STREET OVER SLUMPING ECONOMY (Beirut) — During the past week, protesters in the southern city of Sweida took to the streets with chants against Mr. Assad. Some called for the downfall of the Assad regime, a phrase rarely heard in government-controlled areas amid growing anger over the crumbling economy. The protests shattered a taboo on direct criticism of the regime in areas under its control. Security forces didn’t intervene, but an activist who took part was detained, prompting further protests demanding his release. (WSJ, June 12, 2020)
CANADIAN MILITARY EXPORTS TO SAUDI ARABIA HIT RECORD HIGH IN 2019 (Ottawa) — Canadian shipments of military goods to Saudi Arabia hit a record high in 2019 despite a moratorium on approvals of new arms export permits announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government after the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Saudi agents. A new report from the department of Global Affairs shows Canada exported close to $2.9-billion of military equipment to Saudi Arabia in 2019, nearly all of it light armoured vehicles (LAVs) manufactured in London, Ont., by a subsidiary of U.S. defence contractor General Dynamics. That’s up from $1.3-billion in exports in 2018 and just under $500-million in 2017. (Globe and Mail, June 9, 2020)
CHAOS: Anti-Semitic ‘Anti-Racism’ Riots Take Over Europe: United With Israel, June 14, 2020 — The world has gone absolutely crazy, notes the UK-based Israel Advocacy Movement.
White Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter Exposed!: Hodge Twins, Twitter, June 11, 2020 – Warning: some parts of disturbingly graphic.
How Russia Saved Israel from a Palestinian State Based on the ’48 Borders: Ariel Kahana, Israel Hayom, June 16, 2020 — New details about some drama involving Israel, Russia, and the US that played out behind the scenes at the United Nations Security Council some four years ago are coming to light
