“We have a fundamental debate between us regarding the legal reform, but we are making an effort to solve this debate through dialogue. With the goodwill of both sides, I am confident that we can arrive at agreements, and I give this my full support.” — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing his Cabinet on Sunday. (WSJ, Apr. 30, 2023)
“We are dealing with a religiously and ethnically extremist Israeli government…which is impossible to be flexible and adaptive to. The old tools that Jordan used to deal with the Israeli government no longer work on this government,” therefore Amman needs to change its approach and stop working with Israel “diplomatically and flexibly.” — Jordan’s first ambassador to Israel and foreign minister Marwan Muasher said, according to an unofficial translation of an Radio Al-Baladinterview this week published on the Ammanet website. (Times of Israel, Apr. 12, 2023)
The Biden administration should “butt out of Israel’s affairs.” — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to cheers from the audience at the Jerusalem Post conference in Jerusalem. “You’re a smart country. You can figure it out. We shouldn’t butt in to these important issues.” He added, “The U.S. must defend Israel against disfavored treatment by the UN and agenda-driven international bodies…and we must reject those who reject Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.” (WIN, Apr. 27, 2023)
World media: show me your true colors. Do you really believe in moral equivalence? Will you continue to support evil by giving it a voice? Am I and my family really a threat to world peace? We who teach kindness and love? We who value life over anything else? Is this anonymous killer really justified? Is he progressing moral values and a future for himself? Come on! Wake up! Listen to your souls. Do you really believe it? Or does it just sell advertising space for material goods none of us really need?” — Rabbi Leo Dee to the international media. He called a press conference attended by the Reuters wire service right before his wife Lucy was buried. He also gave interviews to nine media outlets while sitting shiva. His wife and two daughters Maia, 20, and Rina, 15, were killed after Palestinian terrorists opened fire at the car they were in as they drove through the northern Jordan Valley on April 7.
(Jerusalem Post, Apr. 19, 2023)
“.. it was the contradictory, dishonest, and — as it turns out — entirely false assurances of public-health authorities that made masks into such a controversy. America became a global outlier for masking young toddlers and children during the pandemic, and was for years, based on falsehoods and sometimes outright lies. Lies [Anthony] Fauci told. … Fauci is not alone. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, in testimony before Congress, is also rewriting her part. “We spent every day from February on trying to get schools open,” she said. “We know that remote education was not a substitute for opening schools. To put it mildly, this is not true. In the fall of 2020, Weingarten called attempts to reopen schools “reckless, callous, cruel.” Every few days during the spring and summer of 2020, Weingarten would give more reasons why schools must remain closed. … That a union head like Weingarten relentlessly advocated for the narrow interests of dues-paying members should not surprise us. … The shocking thing is that Dr. Fauci, head of NIAID and one of the nation’s most celebrated physicians, acted in much the same way.” — Editorial board. (WSJ, Apr. 28, 2023)
“They send a group of five. They get killed. Then they send two more groups of five, who climb over the corpses of the others. They’ve gained some territory, but it’s not strategically significant.” — Ukrainian soldier Yury 22, in an eastern Ukraine village outside of Avdivka, in the Luhansk area of eastern Ukraine, noting that months after a regional Russian offensive, the Kremlin is still searching for something to call a victory (this as the Ukrainian General Staff prepares its own spring offensive). (WSJ, Apr. 30, 2023)
“Nietzsche’s thought hovered at the edge of the abyss [seen by some as favoring the ruthless, proto-fascistic power of the Übermensch, and by others as representing a high classical ideal of the individual available to all], and he eventually crossed into it. The story goes that on Jan.3, 1889, he broke down in Turin, Italy, upon watching a cabman abuse a horse. He collapsed after running to embrace the poor animal and would remain insane until his death a decade later.” — Benjamin Shull. (WSJ, Apr. 28, 2023)
“The documents in the FBI’s possession include specific details with respect to conversations by non-government individuals relevant to potential criminal conduct by Hunter Biden. These documents also indicate that Joe Biden was aware of Hunter Biden’s business arrangements and may have been involved in some of them.” — Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, in a House floor speech. He revealed that material reviewed by his investigative staff supported whistleblower allegations that the FBI falsely labeled evidence of potential criminal conduct by members of the Biden family “Russian disinformation.” (The Federalist, Apr. 26, 2023)
NO COMMENT!
“Between 19 and 22% of women aged 18-24 identify as bi[-sexual], the core of Gallup’s shocking pollindicating 19.7% of all Gen Z [born after 1997] is LGBT. The percentage of all Americans identifying as LGBT has doubled to 7.2% over the past decade. {Just 6.9% of millennials are bi-sexual, as opposed to 13.1% of Gen Z.) As Riverdale actress Lilli Reinhart, 26, who “came out” in 2020, said, “The way I look at the world right now, I’m like isn’t everyone bisexual?”(NY Post, Apr. 18, 2023)
SHORT TAKES
NETANYAHU WON’T BE HELD IN CONTEMPT OF HIGH COURT, PETITION REJECTED(Jerusalem) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be held in contempt of court for violating his conflict-of-interest agreement over his involvement with the judicial reforms, the High Court of Justice said on Monday. The High Court rejected a March 26 petition submitted by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel to level the corrective measure to force Netanyahu to comply with the agreement. The procedure is applied in situations where the court has ruled that there has been a violation of a law, the court explained. The court’s decision adopted the recommendations of Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara’s April 3 opinion. Michael Starr. (Jerusalem Post, May 1, 2023)
‘IF BIDEN WON’T INVITE NETANYAHU TO THE WHITE HOUSE, I’LL INVITE HIM TO ADDRESS CONGRESS’: MCCARTHY (Jerusalem) – “I think that this is already too long a period. He should invite Netanyahu soon. I invited President Herzog to come and give a speech before a joint feedback of The House of Representatives and the Senate on the occasion of Israel’s 75th Independence Day, during the month of June. Bibi should also come to America, and if the President won’t invite him – I will,” Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif), chairman of the United States House of Representatives told Israel Hayom. He arrived in Israel Sunday together with a bipartisan delegation of members of Congress, including a senior member of the Democratic Party, Steny Hoyer. (WIN, Apr. 30, 2023)
ISRAELI ATTACKS | MISSILES DESTROY WAREHOUSE OF AMMUNITION AND WEAPON SHIPMENT OF LEBANESE HEZBOLLAH IN WESTERN COUNTRYSIDE OF HOMS (Homs) — Israeli missiles targeted in the early hours of Saturday, an ammunition warehouse of the Lebanese “Hezbollah” militia in Al-Dab’ah military airport area in Homs countryside, which resulted in its complete destruction and the destruction of weapons trucks as well, where the airport area was fired by several Israeli missiles launched from Israeli jets from the northern airspaces of Lebanon and violent explosions were heard due to the strikes. (Syriahr, Apr. 29, 2023)
AS RUSSIA’S SHADOW GROWS, EUROPE IS INCREASINGLY TURNING TO ISRAELI DEFENSE TECH (Jerusalem) — As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its second year, European states are scrambling to modernize their armed forces and air defenses. The result has been a spike in European defense spending, totaling some $345 billion for central and western European countries in 2022—30 percent higher than in 2013, according to data compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). That, in turn, has translated into growing acquisitions of Israeli defense technology. (JNS, Apr. 30, 2023)
ISRAEL DEVELOPING LASER SYSTEM THAT INTERCEPTS ROCKETS(Jerusalem) — The dream of a new security system that intercepts rockets using a powerful laser, an optical shield, is one that Israel’s citizens can still only fantasize about. However, the development of such a system is accelerating these days in preparation for its deployment in southern Israel. This futuristic scenario comes from Major Hananel, one of the leaders of the Magen Or (Iron Beam) program under development by Rafael and the Ministry of Defense which is expected to be ready for operational use by the IDF next year. (United With Israel, May 1, 2023)
LAST ACTIVE COVID WARD IN ISRAEL SHUTS DOWN (Jerusalem) — The last active Covid ward in Israel, in a Jerusalem hospital, was shut down on Sunday. The decision by the Herzog Medical Center in Jerusalem means that from now on all Covid cases in Israel will be treated in wards housing patients with other respiratory conditions. In January, Covid was downgraded to a flu-like viral disease in Israel. (Algemeiner, Apr. 30, 2023)
EUROPEAN UNION OFFICIAL ASSURES ISRAEL NO FUNDING FOR PALESTINIAN INCITEMENT AND TERROR (Brussels) — The European Union assured Israel that its aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) will not fund terror groups and programs inciting violence against Israel, in remarks first reported by i24. EU Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi made the commitment to Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen during his diplomatic meeting to Belgium, which included a session with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. (Algemeiner, May 2, 2023)
‘NO MORE BULLYING’: BARKAT BLASTS COCA-COLA FOR ‘EXPLOITING’ ISRAELI CUSTOMERS(Jerusalem) — Minister Nir Barkat (Likud) has publicly declared that he believes the Coca-Cola powerhouse is taking advantage of Israelis financially. “The days of bullying are over,” he wrote on Twitter. His office has sent an open letter to Nir Levinger, the CEO of Coke Israel, demanding greater transparency into how its prices are determined in the country. (WIN, May 2, 2023)
‘NAZIS ARE NOT WELCOME IN FLORIDA’: GOV. RON DESANTIS SIGNS ANTISEMITISM BILL (Miami) — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed bill HB 269 described by one of its co-sponsors as “the strongest antisemitism bill in the United States.” Described as a counter to “public nuisances,” the bill specifically prohibits certain forms of littering, harassment or intimidation based on religious heritage, the projection of images onto buildings without the owner’s permission, and the malicious disruption of a school or religious assembly. (WIN, Apr. 28, 2023)
US LAWMAKERS INTRODUCE BILL TO MAKE IRAN SANCTIONS PERMANENT (Washington) — A bipartisan group of Congressional representatives led by Reps. Michelle Steel (R-CA), Michael McCaul (R-TX), and Susie Lee (D-NV) introduced a bill to make the provisions of the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 permanent. That bill, which is set to expire in 2026, authorizes the President to sanction the Iranian energy sector to prevent the Islamic Republic from acquiring funds that could be used to support terrorism or a nuclear weapons program. Formally titled the Solidify Iran Sanctions Act, the new bill would strike the sunset provisions of the 1996 act. (Algemeiner, May 2, 2023)
SWASTIKA CARVED ON AUTISTIC TEEN’S BACK(Las Vegas)—An autistic 17.-year-old Jewish teenager had a swastika carved on his back at a Las Vegas high school on March 9. The absence of surveillance cameras in classrooms, locker rooms and bathrooms has impeded identifying the culprit—the FBI may now be getting involved in the case. (NY Post, Apr. 23, 2023)
HUNDREDS OF GROUPS DEFEND HISTORIAN FROM POLISH GOV’T ATTACK FOR TELLING TRUTH ABOUT POLES AND JEWS IN HOLOCAUST(Warsaw) — Over 300 institutions and academics from around the world have risen to defend a noted Polish Holocaust historian from her government’s attack on her after she stated that Poles “failed” their Jewish fellow citizens during World War II. The historical groups and professors, including Yad Vashem, the foremost Holocaust documentation, research, education, and commemoration institute in the world, issued a statement condemning Warsaw for its threats against Dr. Barbara Engelking, founder and director of the Polish Center of Holocaust Research at the Polish Academy of Sciences. (WIN, May 2, 2023)
GLOBAL MILITARY SPENDING REACHES A RECORD $2.24 TRILLION(Washington) — The Ukraine war and increasing Chinese threats to Taiwan pushed world arms spending to a new record in 2022, $2.24 Trillion. The U.S., with its $887 billion outlay and 39% of the global total, remains the world’s biggest military spender ($19.9 billion of that went to weaponry for Ukraine). The EU countries, totalling $345 billion, represented a 13% increase; Russia’s spending rose 9.2%, for 4.1% of its GDP, six times more than 2021; and Ukraine spent $44 billion, a 6.2% increase over 2021. China at ca.$292 billion now has the world’s second largest military budget—a 4.2% rise over 2021 and two-thirds higher than a decade ago. (WSJ, Apr. 24, 2023)
MARINE UNIT’S ISSUES REFLECT LACK OF SHIPS IN ASIA-PACIFIC(Washington) —The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, designed for quick deployment in the Pacific-Asia region, is at time immobilized for want of proper ships to board. The Navy doesn’t have enough amphibious ships to transport troops—“If the pivot toward Asia was a priority, we would ensure that the Pacific-facing amphibious ships were maintained ready”, said Hudson Institute defense expert Bryan Clark. (WSJ, Apr. 30, 2023)
U.S. NAVY: IRAN SEIZED OIL TANKER IN GULF OF OMAN(Tehran) —Iranian naval forces seized the oil tanker Advantage Sweet, passing north of Muscat, Oman’s capital. Sailing under the Marshall Islands’ flag, it was headed toward Houston, Texas. The M.E.-based 5th Fleet issued a statement calling on Iran to “immediately release the tanker”—Iran has seized at least five commercial vessels in the Middle East over the last two years. (Washington Times, Apr. 27, 2023)
PUBLIC HEALTH KNEW VACCINATED COULD CARRY SAME VIRAL LOADS AS UNVACCINATED BEFORE MANDATES IMPOSED (Ottawa) — A briefing document from federal health authorities setting out the rationale for imposing vaccine mandates in the fall of 2021 raised ethical concerns and acknowledged that the vaccinated may transmit COVID-19 as much as the unvaccinated, but it nevertheless encouraged mandatory injections. “There is some emerging evidence documenting that COVID-19 cases (Delta variant) in fully vaccinated individuals may have similar viral loads than unvaccinated cases,” says the briefing by Health Canada (HC) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). The document did not raise questions about the usefulness of mandating vaccination given the COVID-19 shots do not stop transmission, with HC/PHAC instead making a case for the use of masks. (Epoch Times, Apr. 26, 2023)
FOR FURTHER REFERENCE
