That said, it is obvious those with some common sense have chosen to leave by the thousands. The problem is they are bringing their biases with them. Here at The Landings, liberals from other places, and who are leaving because they cannot stand what is happening, come here seeking what just drove them away. It is totally illogical.
They will come to Georgia, vote for Stacey Abrams and one of the most pathetic Senators our State has ever elected and think nothing about their actions.
It just makes no sense. Perhaps I am missing something.
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Could New York's Next Governor Be a Republican? Polling Suggests It's Possible
And:
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Read About It Here >> |
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Sent to me by a long standing friend and fellow memo reader.. Speaks for itself.
I do not know who “Shadow” is, but he/she is obviously a serious thinker, loaded with common sense, and able to put his thoughts and analysis into understandable phrases. May God bless us and the USA, (if we deserve it).
I just cannot believe this country has slid to the state we are in today. It bothers me every day of my life. We have a President that has been a congenital liar and corrupt his entire adult life. In a real world this fraud would have been sent to jail decades ago. If you think back when we had a more honest press... this guy was laughed off the stage when he ran for President decades ago when he was exposed as a habitual liar, plagiarist and fraud. An honest press in those days, relished the playing of videos of him blatantly lying about his academic record, lying about being arrested in South Africa... or was it Selma, Mississippi or Atlanta as a champion of civil rights? The truth was, he was far more aligned with those who opposed integration and civil rights back in the day... than he now claims to have embraced with a passion. Just another phony politician who practices mendacity as a way of life... to hell with the truth... just tell them what they want to hear. On top of that he is a crook! He is the Don Corleone of the Biden Crime family. He has used his political offices to steer government contracts to family members, used his son as a pimp to rake in foreign "investments" and appointments to various boards both here in the U.S. and notable foreign entities. He has even used the with holding of our taxpayer aid dollars, to kill an investigation of his corrupt doper son's scam in Ukraine! Not only that, he bragged about it in public, it's on video! When mendacity wasn't enough... he had no qualms about using extortion to stifle an investigation, when the lies were not enough!
Think about it... a national media that once laughed him off the stage as a congenital liar and a fraud back when they were honest purveyors of the news with facts... now embraces this fraud as some elder statesmen with gravitas! It is as damning of them as old Joe himself. Now these marplots (the media) are very aware of his graft and corruption, his habitual lying, his phony story... and yet they now support this poor example of a decent human being as a champion of the people. I can only suggest these people expose Machiavelli as a lightweight; a piker compared to this mob. Like Joe, they have no integrity... they are just as dishonest as he is!
How the hell did we go from an obnoxious boor who did the right things when it came to public policy... to a corrupt buffoon who does all the wrong things when it comes to public policy? How did we go from a media that spent four years lying about Trump/Russia collusion... to a media that now does their best to cover up the Biden crime family's true history. You won't see those videos of Biden's lies that got him run out of his first attempt to become President on the MSM anymore, instead they substitute more lies that anybody who attacks him are racists and White Supremacists... go figure!
Which continues to beg the question... how the hell did this guy end up being President? Well, we could start with his competition within his own party for the nomination. If ever there was a group of lightweights... phonies, actors, pretenders and wannabes... this was it. One says, vote for me because I am woman... another says vote for me because I'm gay and a wannabe woman... then one says, vote for me for I'm almost black, I'm a woman and have been on my knees for the party... than another says vote for me, I'm a minority and I'll push for ever harebrained idea that comes down the pike.... And then there was the "I am a Latino"... even though he isn't. None of them had a prayer to get elected President... their party knew it and what were they left with... "Sleepy Joe"... the living (barely) embodiment of a crooked politician... corrupt, mendacious, incompetent and a total fraud! Oh well, he at least has a chance, as long as we can crank up our vote harvesting, mail in ballots and chosen vote counters, maybe even a little tweaking of the voting machines... crank up the Russian collusion scam, scream impeachment and get the media on board to pimp for us... maybe we have a chance? And you know what? They pulled it off! YGTBSM!
If anyone could come up with a plan to destroy this nation from within... I don't think anyone could have had a better plan than this administration and the Democratic Party has done in just one year. Right out of the gate by killing the pipeline, they took us from energy independence to once again, dependent on foreign oil from the Middle East and of all places, Russia. That one act, did more to lead to inflation and all the other troubles we are now faced with, even more than the Covid pandemic! It ought to be a wake up call to the national media and the population... that Walter Mitty Dreams of energy from windmills, solar and batteries are nothing more than a pipe dream... virtually everything is dependent on oil and fossil fuels. Everything manufactured is dependent on oil... every increase in oil prices and availability drives up the price of everything manufactured, grown, transported, fertilized and needed to support life in this modern world. It has led to incredible inflation in just one year and will continue to drive up the price of everything for the near and far future. Now I believe in science (real science) and believe that some day we may be able to come up with something to alleviate this dependence... but it won't happen in my lifetime or in the lifetime of whoever is reading this. To try to force us to accept inefficient substitutes without considering the consequences is just plain arrogant lunacy! We are already paying the piper is just one year. A simple steak that sold for less than $15.00 dollars last year... is now "ON Sale" for just $25.00 dollars. I was in COSTCO today and three small ribeyes were on sale for just $57.00! Everything in the grocery store has sky rocketed in price... averaging from 15% to 50%. And who does it hurt the most? Not the wealthy... but the working class! It's a modern version of Marie-Antoinette's paean of "Let them eat cake"! Fuel prices have risen almost 50%... now that doesn't affect politicians and bureaucrats that get limousine service daily... or the talking heads in the media... but trust me, it puts a hurtin' on the working class; guys and gals that have to drive 15 to 20 miles a day to their jobs. Not to mention the elderly living off a fixed income. It's crazy!
Then we have the shameful support for all the rioting and looting in the summer of discontent... by excusing their behavior because of the supposed pandemic of racism. Members of the Democratic Party and the national media supported them both actively and overtly... even raising bail for those arrested. The excuses were trotted out on a daily basis. Juxtaposition that response to the actions of those involved with the January 6 riots. There it was portrayed as an attack on our democracy... an insurrection! When actual video showed those who breached the Capitol building, by and large just wandered around in the building... amazed that they were were where they were... they were not destroying or burning anything inside. Only one death occurred by violence... an unarmed woman was killed (murdered) by a trigger happy Capitol policeman. Compare that to the dozens killed in the street violence last summer and the billions of dollars of dollars in property damage and mayhem. Something is wrong here.
The Biden administration seems hell bent on dividing us as a nation... race against race... rich against poor... city folk vs the rest of America. They have no intention of bringing us together. Every proposal they support has a divisive element. The race baiting, gender baiting and inclusion over competence is on stage every day. Even those "Gender Confused" are trotted out as role models! They literally try to convince you that relying on common sense is evil. That guy over there with a beard and manly features is really now a woman... He/She should be allowed to compete athletically with those women born as women. Are you crazy? Nuts? Or just plain stupid? Of course the Dems are those who ascribe to that old notion of... "Who ya gonna believe; me or your lying eyes"! It's unbelievable the crap they are selling.
This next issue is difficult for me... and I fear that what I am about to say, some folks will feel isolated and angry at me. But I speak from the heart and from a life of experience. First, as a young man... I whole heartedly supported the Civil Rights Act and the Civil Rights Movement. I knew, having spent most of my young life living in the southeast of the United States... what real racism looked like. I also knew, from being a military Brat... what an integrated society should look like. I believed deeply in Martin Luther Kings admonition... that a man (or woman) should be judged by the content of their character... and not the color of their skin. I embraced it and I believe it to the core of my soul! But... I also rebel at the notion that I should accept anyone of low character, thugs and evil people.... because of their skin color. Now I know some will say, what you just said, is an oxymoron or some form of cognitive dissonance. I say it is common sense. Historically, before the Kennedy Administration, the Democratic Party was the preferred political party of the segregationist and racists in our society. The Southern Democrats enjoyed the same exalted level and praise, of those northeast Democrats... made up of corrupt unions and elite whites. It was an unholy alliance. With John Kennedy's demise... Lyndon Johnson picked up the mantel and ran with it. But while the Kennedy motivation was seemingly altruistic... there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that Johnson's motivation was more Machiavellian, based on political considerations... as opposed to the altruistic. Republican's had always supported civil rights and believe it or not... prior to the Kennedy's... were the champions of equal rights for minorities. Johnson enjoyed virtual unanimous support from the Republican Party for the Civil Rights Act. Not something he enjoyed within his own party. But from first hand accounts... Johnson was prone to say... "If we get this passed, we will get the credit and every "N-word" will vote for us until Kingdom come... We'll own them"! Johnson in his heart, was as racist as Bull Conner or George Wallace. What followed the Civil Rights Act was over a decade of turmoil and confusion. And with any "movement" it produced leaders of courage and honor... along with charlatans and race baiters who sought to gain money and power in the name of equal rights. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and hundreds of other lessor known race hucksters. Who used race baiting as a device to extort major cooperations and media giants as a way to line their own pockets and have done nothing other than create more hate and division between the races. They have championed thugs and career criminals and made all kinds of outrageous claims of "Police Brutality" while ignoring the violent subculture within their own communities. It is not "White Racism" that holds the black community back as much as their own failures to embrace education, good behavior and work ethic. The new buzz word is "inclusion"... a euphemism for promoting based on color as opposed to competence. That sucks! It creates even more resentment among the races.
We are rapidly becoming a violent society... riots, mayhem and murders escalate every day. Look how many police have been murdered in just the last month! Virtually every incident involves a disaffected minority. It is not whites that go around in gangs that kill and murder without conscience... over such shallow justifications as being so called "dissed"... or someone was on their turf. It's insane. Yet the MSM and the Democratic Party and race baiters make excuses for them on a daily basis. Not long ago, I used my computer to try to find out how many blacks had been killed by "White Racists" including the KKK and other supposed racists groups... the sad fact is that more blacks have been killed by other blacks... than by all the racists and cops over the last hundred years... probably a thousand times over. More blacks are killed in our large cities by other blacks in one year... than by all the cops and white racists in our nations history.
Do they really believe that promoting folks based on skin color (inclusion) instead of competence... solves the inequities of so called "White Privilage"? The truth of the matter is it just builds resentment by those passed over for promotion that they had worked hard to qualify for that job... only to lose that promotion to some form of social engineering. Why, Dear God why? Hasn't someone had the courage to say... you want to be promoted, have a good well paying job? The answer is the same as for most white folk... it requires a good education, acceptable behavior, hard work and a few breaks along the way. It is the same formula that even whites have to ascribe to in order to be a success. Now I am not naive... I recognize that nepotism and born to wealth can be an advantage... we have plenty of examples of that. But in reality, the numbers involved are minor in the scheme of things... and honestly, I would say based on observations over a lifetime... most of those offspring end up being successful in their own right.... By following the formula's, values and work ethic, instilled by their forefathers for success. I'll also note that there have been colossal failures in that group... just because momma and daddy made it, doesn't assure you, that you'll have the same success. You get out of it, what you put into it! That simple.
Enough of that... Something else is bothering me. Folks of my generation remember the "Free Speech Movement" that started in the halls of that bastion of liberalism, The University of California at Berkeley in the San Francisco Bay Area. People should be able to freely express their own opinions, even when it was counter to the norms of society. Well that sounded good... but almost immediately it became obvious that the Free Speech mantra, only applied to those in the counter culture... as those same protesters that demanded Freedom Speech, showed up in great numbers to protest the speeches of those they disagreed with. The truth of the matter was they were champions of free speech for fellow travelers from the left, while seeking to censure those with differing opinions. We are now seeing that played out again in our modern world, where Big Tech, the MSM... and "Government" attempt to censure and control thought and speech through banning those with opposing thought from having an avenue with which to express it. And when that fails, they resort to screaming racist, homophobe and insurrectionist! They piously claim the morale high ground while resorting to the most basic slander of ridicule. And they do it in concert with each other. I first noticed it back in the early 80's... when Democratic politicians started speaking with one voice, using identical language, verbatim on all the morning news stations. I opined then, there must be some overnight think tank operation that would send out a early morning. Notice to all their talking heads... "Here is what to say and how to say it, using the same language". Now it seems that the MSM is subscribing to the same edict in how they report things. Same language, same words, same emphasis on every talking point. To me our MSM has descended to the same level as the famous mouth organs of the Communist Party back in the day like Pravda, The Peoples Daily and Grandma. They have become nothing but craven shills of propaganda of the ruling party.
It has even instilled itself into our corporate commercials... it bothers me, that in our TV commercials today.... That the over whelming number of commercials featuring Blacks... they're either hip hop, rappers, punks, thugs or athletes... not wholesome, law abiding, good folk. Roll models like Doctors, Lawyers, teachers, cops or good business people. I revolt at one of the latest showing a wannabe punk, riding his bicycle down the street, doing his head bob and giving his punk face, while wearing shit you wouldn't wear to bed! Thinking out loud, "I be looking good today"...Is that the kind of roll model for our youth? I think not!
Years ago... I wrote a piece for our local paper about how "Political Correctness" could be the end of our nation. In it I described how it was being used as a device to shame and ridicule others. It wasn't based on common sense... and like the "Free Speech Movement" it was designed to benefit only one side of the political spectrum. In essence, whoever controls the language, ends up controlling the debate. Time we pushed back! It is a classic case of, "Who ya gonna believe... us or your lying eyes"? It also exposes the hubris and mendacity of the Biden Administration claiming they're doing a great job, creating jobs... while the economy is cratering. Inflation is far worse than being portrayed... our nations borders are under assault while we worry about the borders of an Eastern Bloc nation in Europe. Biden cuts off the pipeline and restricts drilling on government lands... while lifting sanctions on the Russians with their pipeline into Europe. We go from energy independence to once again subject to the whims of foreign oil and gas producers. Think of it this way... High oil prices doesn't mean chit to a limousine liberal... in the main stream media that are limo-ed to work each day... nor to the hundreds, possible thousand of political elite, that gets free government limousine service (I think I read where Hillary Clinton hadn't driven a car in over 50 years). But to the working man and women... a 50% increase in gas prices is devastating! All this illegal aliens crossing our borders bear no threat to this same class of people, but once again is a direct threat to the jobs of the working class native Americans. It even affects the cost of food to a degree that millions upon millions of American's are being priced out of common food stuffs. Things like steak, seafood, chicken are now no longer a once a week luxury, it more like once a month at best. We are in a far worse condition than we realize. Time to wake up and fight back!
It pains me to realize, that as someone who was asked and I agreed... to pledge one's life to the good of our nation and was sent to war on foreign shores... that a political movement in our own country, is now demanding that we become self servant to a political theory we fought valiantly to defeat... and saw our brothers die by the tens of thousands in the process. We now have a political party and administration demanding we submit to an all powerful Federal Government that mimics the totalitarian states we fought against! How the hell has it come to this?
Shadow
Sad indeed:
Donald Trump said of the Obama Iran Nuclear Deal, that “This was a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made.” So, Trump ended an agreement that would have put American lives, friends and interests in danger. Biden is doing the opposite, threatening the USA and our allies from the Oval Office with inconsistent, inept and insane actions. |
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And:
Richard Goldberg on the New Worst Deal in History
by Marilyn Stern
Middle East Forum Webinar
Richard Goldberg, a senior advisor for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, spoke to a February 21 Middle East Forum Webinar (video) about President Biden's appeasement of the Islamic Republic of Iran as part of his administration's desperate attempt to finalize a nuclear deal with Tehran.
According to Goldberg, the Biden administration hopes for an agreement with the mullahs in Tehran in which Washington would lift sanctions and give the regime "the potential to retain much of the nuclear gains that they have ... advanced over the last year since Biden took office." He anticipates three key messages the administration will tout to justify its deal to the American public — all of which are "misleading."
First, it will insist that the defunct nuclear deal with Iran, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), "was working" before President Trump left it in 2018. Goldberg exposed this as a "false statement": the "JCPOA [that] was not working." Nevertheless, the administration will argue that returning to the deal is the "only way to avoid either a war in the Middle East or a nuclear armed Iran." In fact, Goldberg argued, the JCPOA "legitimized" Iran's path to a nuclear weapon by enabling the regime to retain its "illicit nuclear infrastructure ... built clandestinely" even as it "extort[s] the international community" in pursuit of a nuclear weapon.
The U.N. Security Council voted to include "sunset clauses" in the JCPOA in a weak attempt to maintain a check on Iran's behavior. In essence, the Council voted to lift the arms embargo in 2020 and its missile embargo in 2023 if Iran kept to the deal. All other restraints were designed to "fall away," so that by 2031, Iran would be fully unleashed to "enrich uranium up to weapons grade." Every supposed benchmarks were "ludicrous," Goldberg said, because the restrictions in the JCPOA "would allow Iran to do exactly what it's doing today, only with the full legitimacy of international law."
Despite Biden's claims, Trump's policy of "maximum pressure" had Iran "up against a wall." |
The second message the White House will try to sell is that Trump's policy of exerting "maximum pressure" on Iran failed. Yet the record, Goldberg said, "is absolutely the opposite." The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported at the beginning of 2021 that "Iran was down to four billion dollars in accessible foreign exchange reserves," and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was actively investigating Iran's "undeclared nuclear activities." Goldberg said that due to those conditions, Iran "was up against a wall."
Other countries, including the U.K., were in line to support the "push to snap back U.N. sanctions" in response to Iran's non-compliance with the JCPOA, its escalation of its nuclear program, and its lack of cooperation with the IAEA. In addition, the assassinations of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) Commander Qassem Soleimani and the chief of its nuclear weapons program, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, resulted in "strong military deterrence" which unnerved the regime. In light of the fact that Iran was "faced with economic pressure ... political pressure ... [and] military deterrence" combined, Goldberg believes that "maximum pressure was absolutely working."
Despite its success, Biden replaced Trump's policy of "maximum pressure" on Iran with one Goldberg calls "maximum deference" because it loosened the economic pressure by not enforcing sanctions. To curry favor with the regime, the Biden administration instructed the Treasury and State Departments to issue waivers to "allow Iran access to its frozen funds."
Similarly, Washington sat on its hands when Iranian proxies targeted U.S. forces with Iranian drones and missiles. Goldberg said, "A [U.S.] contractor was killed in Western Iraq ... last year, [with] no military response whatsoever." The IAEA "pulled back" its investigation into Iranian non-compliance, while the administration pressured European allies not to "provoke Iran." The Iranian response to Biden's feckless policy, said Goldberg, was to "[escalate] its nuclear program ... more severely under maximum deference than it did under maximum pressure." Tehran escalated enrichment and produced "key [components] of nuclear weapons ... harassed IAEA inspectors ... and [increased] ... attacks throughout the region."
The third administration talking point holds that the current deal is essentially the same as the original JCPOA, albeit with some "amendments." However, the new deal being "negotiated in Vienna" allows even more sanctions relief than the original deal. Terrorism sanctions placed on Iranian individuals and entities for funding terror, as well as missile sanctions permitted under Barack Obama in 2015, are now "on the table to be lifted with money flowing directly to the IRGC." Congress ordered these sanctions on a bipartisan basis in 2017 while the old JCPOA deal was in place, yet Biden is offering to lift these sanctions in the "new deal."
Under the new agreement, Iran's breakout time to produce a nuclear weapon could shrink to perhaps six months. |
Goldberg calculated that under the new agreement, Iran's "breakout timeline" to produce one nuclear weapon "will shrink down perhaps to six months," based on the regime's progress in building and deploying "advanced centrifuges." The new deal will grant Iran the ability to retain those capabilities, thereby enabling them to move more quickly towards a nuclear weapon. Goldberg said the fallacy of "believing that you have restrictions on Iran" is "really just being an ostrich with national security." "We are heading to a worse deal," he said, "that gives Iran more money for less concessions and a greater ability to threaten us in the future at any time."
Obama avoided submitting the Iran nuclear deal to the U.S. Senate "as a treaty for ratification" because he knew he could never get the Congressional votes "to pass and ratify this deal as a treaty." Prior to the JCPOA, there was an "international consensus that Iran should not be allowed to enrich uranium" based on what Goldberg called "the gold standard for civil nuclear power," as it avoids "proliferation threats that come with enrichment on someone's soil." An "oil-rich" Iran's claim for a "civil nuclear program" is a ruse to conceal its "clandestine nuclear weapons program."
In addition to the nuclear site at Natanz, exposed twenty years ago "by dissident groups," and the Fordow site, "[Iran's] underground mountain facility," exposed in 2009, it is now known that since 2015, Iran, while purportedly "negotiating the nuclear deal and implementing it," was at the same time hiding a "secret nuclear weapons archive." Once exposed, it gave the IAEA access to "undeclared nuclear sites" where testing proved there was nuclear material unaccounted for, although by that time the containers had been moved and the area "sanitized." The IAEA still has an unresolved "active open investigation."
The list of "[malign] activities" not addressed in Biden's new deal includes the U.S. hostages still languishing in Iran, "money owed to U.S. victims" of Iran-sponsored terrorism, Iran's human rights abuses, and Iran's role as one of the "largest sponsors of antisemitism in the world." Also missing from the deal are any restraints on Iran's development and testing of longer range "ballistic and cruise missiles," or any mechanisms to force it to withdraw its IRGC and proxy forces inflaming the Middle East in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, and Gaza. Goldberg said that Iran has used the billions of dollars it has exacted from the West to expand its terror activities, "[meddle] in other countries," expand its missile program, and "advance R&D on advanced centrifuges" to accelerate its nuclear program.
| Goldberg "If you wanted to know what will trigger a war in the Middle East or a nuclear Iran, it is the deal that's coming." |
Goldberg warned that failing to hold Iran accountable could have dire consequences: "If you wanted to know what will trigger a war in the Middle East or a nuclear Iran, it is the deal that's coming." Therefore, he urged Congress to "do three things" to hold Biden's "new worst deal in history" accountable:
First, defend its prerogative of oversights by demanding that the Biden administration submit the deal to Congress under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, or hold it in violation of the law. Any claim that it is the same deal as 2015 to avoid doing so will render it an "illegitimate agreement."
Second, defend terrorism sanctions, as the agreement will be "completely illegitimate" if the U.S. lifts these sanctions "without any change in Iran's sponsorship of terrorism." Instead, Congress should "push legislation to reimpose all sanctions tied to terrorism."
And third, defend the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. "Giving Iran any money and legitimizing its nuclear program" during an "active investigation into undeclared nuclear activities" is, in Goldberg's estimation, "the height of insanity."
Marilyn Stern is communications coordinator at the Middle East Forum.
AND:
Beware the Nides of March
Israel’s new U.S. ambassador is the anti-David Friedman
What a difference a U.S. election makes!
Israel has gone from being America’s most favored nation to being the source of much of the ills of the world. The change is the equivalent of diplomatic whiplash.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides was either pandering to a far-left anti-Israel organization or baring his soul—or both—when he used highly undiplomatic language in addressing Americans for Peace Now.
Speaking to Peace Now’s American sister organization via Zoom last week, Nides depicted settlement growth as “infuriating” and likened settlement activity as “doing stupid things” since it impeded the prospects for a two-state solution.
It is hard to know how to begin to understand all of this. Peace Now in Israel takes some rather extreme positions, but its worldview is also tempered by the reality in which its members live. And, at the end of the day, it has a vested interest in a living and breathing Israel.
This is not necessarily the case, though, when it comes to its American counterpart, which is not burdened by any sense of accountability; it therefore can and does indulge in its utopian pipe dreams with no compunction or thought for the consequences.
It was therefore not entirely ironic that Nides let fly his comments, as he did in front of this group, for he and his government are also not burdened with the reality on the ground.
Nides’s remarks made me think I was experiencing a diplomatic horror film, where the evil villain has to be killed three times before he actually dies. In this case, the evil villain is an amalgam of Barack Obama and John Kerry with a dash of Joe Biden all wrapped into the persona of Ambassador Nides.
One hears the “reality be damned” perspective associated with the left in general and progressives in particular. The two-state solution has taken on mythical, if not sacred, proportions. It is, for starters, clearly the sole appropriate solution; in typical progressive fashion, it holds that any other approach is beyond consideration.
What a far cry from Nides’s predecessor, former Ambassador David Friedman, who not only gave Israel the benefit of the doubt, but actively rooted for the country on a deep-seated level.
What is the message that Nides is trying to communicate? It certainly is not one of empathy. Approximately 800,000 Jews live in either eastern Jerusalem or Judea and Samaria. Are they now to be regarded as the Israeli equivalent of American “deplorables”?
Perhaps they are even worse, for while “deplorables” are hopeless, settlers are actively impeding the two-state solution. It is not a major leap from “doing stupid things” to doing criminal things that need to be actively opposed through sanctions, United Nations resolutions and the forestalling of military aid.
Implicit in Nides’s take on things is that the situation is Israel’s alone to rectify. There is no agency to the Palestinians, whose claims for a state are unimpeachable, and not subject to debate.
In all of this, there is an eerie resonance of the American mindset about the Iran nuclear deal, which is shaping up as the biggest diplomatic disaster since Neville Chamberlain’s “peace in our time.”
Both Iran and the two-state solution situations are steeped in a quasi-religious conviction about the rightness of the approach—a conviction that completely resists dealing with facts on the ground, the other side’s real intentions or the larger implications of the mantra adopted by the United States.
As pundits such as Michael Doran and Lee Smith have suggested, the real American agenda is more than a distancing from Israel; rather, it is a seething resentment and opposition to Israel. Israel is increasingly shaping up as America’s scapegoat, throwing monkey wrenches into American visions for Iran, Ukraine and, of course, Palestine.
It is not at all inconceivable that perceived Israeli intransigence to American desires might result in the walking back of the pronouncements and policies proffered during the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump: the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and most certainly the legality and appropriateness of settlements in Judea and Samaria.
The desire to re-establish a U.S. consulate in the heart of downtown Jerusalem for the Palestinians, which has been put forward and never walked back, might serve as the domino that leads to increasingly difficult relations.
In all of this, one wonders about the ability of Israeli leaders to see the American agenda for what it is, and whether they can stand up to American pressure. So far, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, in particular, has catered to it, and seems disinclined to provide any real opposition. However, Lapid’s sympathy to progressive values will not avail him once the Americans start making more insistent demands for concessions and self-destructive policy initiatives.
Nides has clearly signaled that he is not interested in winning friends among Israelis. In the grand tradition of the American left, he is in Israel to save it from itself.
It is important for Israel’s leadership to see the situation for what it is and be willing to stand tough in defense of consensual Israeli values and policies.
Douglas Altabef is chairman of the board of Im Tirtzu and a director of the Israel Independence Fund. He can be reached at dougaltabef@gmail.com.
Finally:
Yoseph Haddad’s Brilliant
Defense Of Israel In The Irish
Parliament
NEW YORK (VINnews) — An amazing defense of Israel was presented last week at the Irish parliament, known as the Oireachtas, by Yoseph Haddad, a passionate defender of Israel in international forums. Despite the antisemitic nature of the parliament, which has invited anti-Israel personalities and numerous terrorists to speak against Israel and has condemned Israel for “de-facto annexation” the members were stunned by Haddad’s eloquency and rhetoric.
“My name is Yoseph Haddad and I am an Israeli Arab. I was born in Haifa, which is the largest mixed city of Arabs and Jews in the country, and I was raised in Nazareth, the largest Arab city in the state of Israel. This may surprise some of you after what you’ve heard about Israel, but myself, my friends and all my community regularly interacted with Israelis from all sectors and a huge part of my childhood was playing football. I grew up playing football with Jewish, Christian and Muslim kids and let me tell you – the Jews didn’t think “Oh, he’s an Arab” before passing the ball. We didn’t see each other as any different, and in fact through these childhood friendships we learned about each other’s religions and lifestyles, even taking part in each other’s holidays for Eid or Christmas or Passover.
Now fast forward to age 18, in Israel, military service or national service is mandatory for Jewish citizens, but every year, thousands of Israeli Arabs volunteer, a number that’s increasing with time. When I turned 18, I saw my Jewish friends go to the army and I didn’t understand why I, as an Arab, wouldn’t also serve my country. After all, it is my home just as much as theirs Even more important is that the IDF does not stand for the Jewish Defense Forces rather the Israeli Defense Forces, meaning its purpose is to protect ALL its citizens, including 2 million Arab Israelis.
Just before my service was about to begin, I experienced a trauma that made me realise without any doubt that joining the army to defend my country, and my community, was absolutely the right thing to do. The Maxim restaurant in Haifa was a symbol of partnership in the city; it was owned by Arabs and Jews and it was a place my family regularly frequented for celebrations like birthdays. Yet on the 4th of October 2003, just days after my family was last there, the Maxim restaurant was targeted by a Palestinian terrorist who suicide bombed the restaurant killing 21 Israelis – Arabs and Jews and injuring 51.
I learned a painful but important lesson that day. These terrorists did not care that they were killing Arabs: they targeted us because we are Israeli. Just the same as Hezbollah in Lebanon fired rockets on Israeli Arab cities in the second Lebanon war. Just the same as how nearly half the Israeli civilian casualties from the Second Lebanon War were Arab Israeli Muslims. Just the same as Hamas who fired rockets on Israeli Arab towns throughout the country in May 2021, killing Arab Muslims.
When we as Arab Israelis join the IDF, we do it to defend our country too. When you understand this, you will see that this is not a racial conflict, but a political one. Because we too, as Arabs are targets of Palestinian terrorism.
So I joined the IDF in the Golani unit, eventually serving as a commander over Jewish soldiers, and I defended by country, and my community against the violence of Hezbollah terrorists in the Second Lebanon War where I was badly injured and almost lost my life. It was through this experience that I saw how important it is to speak the truth about Israeli society and the ties that we have to each other – both Arabs and Jews. Does that sound like a story which could occur in an apartheid state?
Here is the reality that you didn’t hear from Amnesty International and Senator Frances Black a few days ago:
Arab Israelis, both Muslim and Christian, make up 20% of the entire population and enjoy equal rights under the law, the same as any other Jewish citizen. In Israel’s basic laws, the right to freedom of religion is protected explicitly, as is the right to equality under the law and the democratic principles of the state.
We Arabs serve at the highest levels of nearly every position, and in fact are overrepresented in some industries. We are 30% of all doctors, roughly 50% of all pharmacists. In the last round of new doctors, Arabs were 50%!
Arab Israelis are diplomats such as Israeli Ambassador to Azerbaijan, George Deek; news anchors such as Lucy Ayoub; professional athletes such as paralympic gold medalist Eyad Shalabi; military leaders such as Major Ella Wawaya; singers such as Valery Hamaty; senior tech executives such as Jonny Srouji, the head of Apple in Israel; bankers such as Samer Haj Yahya, the head of the largest bank in Israel, Bank Leumi; and yes, even supreme court justices such as Khaled Kabub who was selected just last week as the first Muslim Arab to serve on the Israeli Supreme Court…following in the footsteps of multiple Arab Israeli Christians who have served in the same position before him.
It’s true that Israel is a Jewish state, but it is also a democratic state and I am living proof that this is possible. While Israel is imperfect, and racism exists, it is not systemic but individual. Every day, Arabs and Jews are standing side by side in every sector of society, cooperating and living in peace, working to resolve the problems in our society. But do you know what doesn’t help our society?
White Europeans at Amnesty International, sitting in their comfortable London office, where they ironically have been criticised for a culture of White supremacy, are telling our sovereign nation of Arabs and Jews, how to run our country.
Even more appalling, the white Europeans at Amnesty International have the audacity to define my identity as an Arab, labeling me as a “Palestinian” despite the fact I am an Israeli Arab. Not only that, but according to a recent poll on identity by Sahariya, only 14% of Israeli Arabs define themselves as Palestinian…
14%…out of 2 million.
Yet Amnesty International thinks they know better than us, how to define us?
Amnesty doesn’t care about the well-being of Palestinians or Arabs in Israel, and neither do those of you who call for the dismantling of Israel. This report is about eliciting an emotional response to smear my country, despite the fact that the definition of apartheid according to international law does not apply to the State of Israel in any capacity. In fact, the definition of apartheid is so long and complex according to international law that no country has ever been convicted of such a crime; it was defined after South Africa.
Amnesty International spoke here just a few days ago and when asked about whether or not they included the testimonies of Israeli Arabs like me, they tiptoed around the issue until finally explaining that they primarily focused on the Negev region as an example of the so-called apartheid. They explained that there are varying levels of oppression, but that we “all suffer under the same apartheid system.”
They are lying. There is no apartheid system in Israel, and if we suffer varying levels of oppression, then it isn’t a system of apartheid. By the way, the Negev has roughly 100,000 Israeli Arabs, which is 5% of the Arab Israeli population. Amnesty International took 5% of the population to get the answers they were seeking and then came here to the parliament and presented it as if it represented 100% of the population. Think about that.
Another thing you should know about Amnesty’s report is that it often references the lack of access to water and electricity for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, claiming this comes as a result of settlements and implying that the lack of resources is Israel’s fault.
What they don’t tell you is that this is physically impossible because the electricity grids and the water pipelines in the West Bank are shared between Israelis and Palestinians. There is no apartheid! If infrastructure is built for a settlement, that would mean infrastructure in the area is expanding, not decreasing. Water shortages do occur, but you probably didn’t know that the pipeline which runs across the entire West Bank and provides water to the city of Hebron has holes dug in it across the West Bank to divert water flow to Palestinians villages who refuse to pay for the services.
And what about those sob stories about Palestinian chicken farms that Senator Frances Black talks about? What she might not understand is that the Palestinian Authority was required under the Oslo Accords to develop water aquifers in the West Bank. But doing so requires financial resources that will come from the pockets of PA officials…so guess what they haven’t done?
You guessed it, build an aquifer to provide for their population.
The corruption doesn’t end there. Let’s talk about Gaza.
Gaza is a humanitarian catastrophe without adequate electricity or water, but who is responsible for that?
Firstly, Israel withdrew from Gaza completely in 2005, only to have terrorist organisation Hamas take over and begin an ongoing oppression of their own people. Why? Because there is no one Hamas hates more than their political rivals.
No, not Israel.
Fatah, the primary party of the Palestinian Authority.
Instead of putting the well-being of the people of Gaza first, Hamas and the PA have spent years playing politics trying to get back at each other. For example, the PA is responsible for providing electricity to Gaza, they purchase it from the Israel Electric Corporation and provide the fuel for the power station. But when there are political rifts, they sometimes refuse to pay.
Even worse, for years, Gaza has needed a new power station, something they’re capable of building, but power stations require fuel and fuel costs money.
Guess who refuses to pay for it? That’s right, the PA.
A similar crisis is occurring with sewage and water treatment facilities in Gaza – something Hamas has known for years they need to build, something else which needs fuel.
Yet instead of allocating resources to this, they’ve invested $1.25 billion in building underground tunnels to carry out terrorist operations against Israel.
Even Israel can’t step in to help because the PA doesn’t want them to, it would be undermining their authority as the representatives of the Palestinian people to directly negotiate with Hamas. Sadly, it’s the Gazan people who pay the price…and then the Palestinian “leaders” complain here to you that Israel is to blame.
Don’t you see? The Palestinian leaders are scamming Europeans out of their money and perpetuating this conflict because it’s a cash cow.
Your money is perpetuating this conflict, and Israel, while imperfect, isn’t the problem here.
There are members of this body who obsess over Israel in the name of supporting Palestinians. But calling for boycotting Israel even in the Occupied Territories, and making a blacklist of companies disproportionately harms Palestinians on the ground, thousands of whom work in factories over the green line. Regardless of the legality of settlements, there’s nothing humanitarian about actively harming the well being of Palestinians on the ground.
TDs here have accused Israel of crimes against humanity, and yet where is your urgent session on Syria’s or Lebanon’s treatment of Palestinians? Palestinians are forbidden by law in Lebanon from becoming doctors or lawyers and from over 70 other professions. They are restricted to living in refugee camps, they are not permitted to share the healthcare system, the pension system, the education system, and they cannot own property. Most importantly, they cannot be citizens.
In Syria, over 4,000 Palestinians were murdered by the Assad regime. That’s 15 times the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza in the last operation between Israel and Hamas And unlike in Gaza, all 4,000 of the Palestinians in Lebanon were civilians.
I ask this honestly, as an Arab, and I urge you to look inside yourselves in a moment of self-reflection: why do you insist on holding Israel to a different standard than all other nations? Could it be, just maybe, that it is because it is the only Jewish and democratic state? The double standards here reek of antisemitism, classic antisemitism, and as an Israeli Arab I’m here to tell you that this antisemitism affects me too.
Amnesty’s report is nothing but an exercise in propaganda because the so-called human rights advocates at Amnesty International had to justify their disproportionate obsession and focus on the state of Israel, while they admitted to turning a blind eye to human rights violations in other countries like China and Syria.
But you don’t even need to go to China to see human rights violations that Amnesty ignores. I want you all to remember the name Nizar Banat.
Nizar was a Palestinian journalist and activist who was arrested for criticising the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
Yes, arrested for criticising his own government.
After several days in custody, the PA security forces beat him to death.
This is human rights and rule of law under the Palestinian Authority…yet you spend hours speaking about Israel here? Shame on you.
While Amnesty stokes the flames of hatred against Israel, it is us Israelis, both Arabs and Jews, who pay the price on the ground.
Amnesty’s report is the height of elitism, of a modern day colonialist mindset that says, ‘We Europeans know better than you brown people how to manage your country.’
I guess old habits die hard.
You would think that the Irish of all people would be able to see this scheme for what it really is given the fact the Irish suffered under British colonisation… but after watching some of the TDs a few days ago call for dismantling the state of Israel, apparently not everyone remembers history.
Even more alarming, there were some TDs here in Ireland who protested my address here today, claiming that the “other side” isn’t being represented. I find this highly ironic after listening to two hours of Amnesty International speaking about their report just days ago. Even more absurd when you look at the fact there hasn’t been a speaker who supported Israel in the Oireachtas in at least four years, yet TDs welcomed convicted Palestinian terrorists such as Shawan Jabarin to speak in Ireland. They posed for photos with Bashar al Assad, and praised China while condemning Israel. Yet they’re afraid that I, an Israeli Arab, can speak in the Irish parliament? My comments to them are this:
Are you afraid that I will expose your lies and hypocrisy about the State of Israel as an Israeli Arab? Are you afraid that I will expose the true motivations behind your obsession with my country, that maybe, just maybe it’s not about “human rights” but about a disproportionate focus on the one state in the world which defines itself as Jewish?
You know, one of the criticisms I received before my speech here was that I’m not Arab enough to speak about my own society. I ask you, what would you like me to do to be Arab enough?
Is this what you want? Theatrics? A thicker accent? Tell me, what’s “Arab enough” for you? Did you expect me not to be able to think for myself? Not to have my own thoughts and opinions that refute your ignorant misunderstanding of what’s happening in Israel?
Dismissing an Israeli Arab’s opinion because you think it should be something that fits with the norm is not only ignorant, but pure racism.
So allow me, an Arab, born and raised in the country of Israel, which seems to garner so much attention from this body, to explain to you what Israel really stands for:
Israel stands for democracy with a government that’s comprised of left wing, right wing, religious, secular, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, LGBTQ, and disabled people.
Israel stands for the rule of law, where a Supreme Court Judge is an Israeli Arab, and where a previous Arab Supreme Court Judge, Salim Joubran sent a Jewish president and a Jewish prime minister to prison when they committed crimes.
Where an IDF soldier who shot a terrorist in violation of the code of conduct is convicted and sent to prison.
Israel stands for freedom of expression, where members of the government can openly criticise their state, including in Arabic, in the halls of the parliament.
Where thousands of Israelis can protest against the government or against legislation they oppose without fear of arrest or murder.
Israel stands for free speech, where the press can, and does, openly criticise the government without fear of arrest and persecution – unlike in the West Bank and Gaza.
Israel stands for humanity, where the IDF itself launched a hospital for the sole purpose of providing humanitarian aid and treatment to Syrians injured in the Syrian Civil War, despite the fact that Syria is an enemy country.
It stands for providing humanitarian aid to Gaza even when Hamas bombs their own humanitarian aid convoy which occurred in May 2021.
It stands for granting tens of thousands of work permits to Palestinians who work every day within Israeli borders for a much higher salary than they would ever earn in the Palestinian territories.
Israel stands for giving up territories in exchange for peace such as the Sinai Peninsula in 1979 for peace with Egypt, and the peace agreement with Jordan in 1994.
It stands for forming new alliances with Arab states across the region for the benefit of both peoples such as the Abraham Accords.
Israel stands for accepting the partition plan when the Arabs of the region said no and launched a war.
It stands for granting full citizenship to the Arabs who remained, like my family.
It stands for taking chances and painful sacrifices for peace over and over again, even when it ends with over 15,000 rockets being fired at our civilians from Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
It stands for spending billions of dollars to build the Iron Dome defensive system to protect Arab and Jewish lives while Hamas is spending millions of dollars on rockets and tunnels
It stands for continuing to provide emergency medical treatment to Palestinians knowing that some of them have abused such permits to carry out terrorist activity in the past.
It stands for Arab doctors and nurses saving the lives of Jewish patients in hospitals, and Jewish doctors and nurses saving the lives of Arab patients.
It stands for the Arabs and Jews who stand side by side every day as citizens of the state of Israel.
Israel stands for life.Thank you.
I am happy to answer any questions.”
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My new read is "One Damn Thing After Another" by former Atty. Gen. Barr.
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Contrast what Israel is accused of doing by the mass media and their Palestinian friends and what really is being done by Russian troops and you will discover the hypocrisy
War Criminal Russian Soldiers Have to Live This Down
War Criminal Russian Soldiers Have to Live This Down
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said an unyielding siege by Russian soldiers will go down in the history books as what he called war crimes in the coastal city of Mariupol.
In this city, the Russian military attacked an art college where some 400 people had taken shelter.
Not the Schools!
The school’s structure was damaged, according to public bodies; people could also be trapped beneath the rubble. There was no information on casualties right away.
According to authorities, Russian soldiers also targeted a theatre in Mariupol where residents were refuging on Wednesday.
Mariupol, a vital seaport on the Azov Sea, has indeed been bombarded for at least three weeks, becoming a symbol of Russia’s conflict in Ukraine’s agony.
The siege reportedly cut off food, drink, and fuel supplies, killing at least 2,300 individuals, many of whom had to be interred in mass graves, according to local councils.
In his nightly video address to the public, Zelenskyy said, “What the attackers did to a safe city is a nightmare that will be remembered for decades.”
At least 20 infants born to Ukrainian surrogates are detained in an improvised bomb shelter in the capital, Kyiv. These infants are in a position where they are waiting for their parents to journey into the battle zone to pick them up.
At this time, the babies, some of whom are just days old, are being looked for by physicians. Meanwhile, these physicians are unable to leave the shelter.
This is due to the continual shelling by Russian troops that are attempting to encircle the city.
One Tragedy After the Next
A Ukrainian defense spokesman who talked to The New York Times has shared some very harrowing details.
This information is regarding a rocket bombing that killed as many as 40 soldiers in the Black Sea port town of Mykolaiv on Friday; more and more news about this began to emerge.
Rescuers kept combing the rubble of the barracks because it was unclear how many soldiers were inside at the moment.
According to a senior Ukrainian military spokesman who talked to the Times on the request of anonymity (in order to protect sensitive information), up to 40 Marines were killed. This made it one of the worst reported strikes on the Ukrainian army during the war.
Similarly, the Russian military announced on Sunday it launched a new round of long-range supersonic and cruise missile attacks against Ukrainian military targets.
A Kinzhal supersonic missile targeted a Ukrainian fuel store in Kostiantynivka, a city near Mykolaiv, according to Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov.
The Russian military also announced on Saturday it had a Kinzhal for the first time in the war to demolish an ammo stockpile near Diliatyn, in western Ukraine’s Carpathian Mountains.
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