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Read More >>> And:
The Pritzger family
https://www.tabletmag.com/sect
Finally:
Does Israel tell/instruct us what legislation, pertains to our domestic life should be? Israel should tell Biden to stuff it.
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Why Did the Biden Administration Oppose Israeli Judicial Reform?
by Jonathan S. Tobin
It didn't play a decisive role in the drama that unfolded in Israel as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was forced to call a halt to his efforts to enact judicial reform. But the Biden administration's willingness to involve itself in the push to oppose the measure was remarkable for two reasons.
The first is that, as The New York Times noted, Washington made no secret of its efforts to directly intervene in a domestic Israeli dispute in a manner that was almost unprecedented. The second was that the standard by which the administration seems ready to judge its Israeli counterpart is entirely hypocritical and would, if applied to Biden, categorize him as just as much of an "authoritarian" as Netanyahu. Or at least it would if those scurrilous accusations that have been hurled against the Likud-led government by its opponents—and dutifully mimicked by the international media, as well as many Democrats and American Jewish organizations—weren't entirely false.
But however unpersuasive or politically motivated, what the Times termed a "U.S. pressure campaign" to shelve the reform legislation had nothing to do with a belief in the virtues of Israel's current judicial system.
If they favor the continued rule of what amounts to a juristocracy in the Jewish state, it is for the same reason that most of the people who jammed the streets of Israel's cities or sought to undermine its economy and national defense did. They see the maintenance of an unaccountable court with virtually unlimited power as the only way to maintain the Israeli left's political power even when they lose elections, as Netanyahu's opponents did only a few months ago.
Even more to the point, Washington is as determined as the anti-Bibi resistance not just to stop judicial reform but to oust a democratically elected government by any means possible. Biden's interest in toppling him is disconnected from any purported concern about Netanyahu's alleged shortcomings. What the White House and State Department want is a more pliable Israeli prime minister who will keep quiet about the nuclear threat from Iran and who can be intimidated into not acting to forestall that deadly threat to Israel's existence.
As to the substance of the American critique of the effort to reform Israel's judiciary, as a JNS report described, the hypocrisy of Biden's stand is epic in nature.
Democrats and their liberal Jewish supporters are vocal critics of the U.S. Supreme Court because of its current conservative majority and its willingness to enforce constitutional limits on the power of the state. Biden and the Democrats have been assailing the independence of the court for years with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) even issuing warnings against its conservative members that liberals would have labeled as incitement to violence, if not criminal threats, had they been uttered by a Republican.
Equally hypocritical is their talk about Netanyahu being at fault for not seeking a national consensus before trying to enact change with a narrow parliamentary majority. That never stopped Democrats from advancing ideas that they considered to be progressive innovations, like Obamacare, with no consensus, compromise or broad congressional support. Nor did it stop liberal American Jews from supporting the disastrous Oslo Accords or the disengagement from Gaza, which were pulled off with even less support in the Knesset than Netanyahu can boast.
As for behaving like a dictator, Biden's predilection for governing by executive order—of which his canceling of student loan debt is just one outstanding example—even when his diktats are obviously contrary to the Constitution or existing laws makes anything Netanyahu might attempt look like child's play. Biden bristles at the ability of American courts to strike down some of his more egregious initiatives, even when they do so on the basis of settled law. But his administration apparently thinks that when Israel's Supreme Court strikes down Netanyahu's efforts to govern—on the basis of no law and only on the judges' subjective ideas about what is "reasonable"—it's a great idea.
The same applies to the critiques of judicial reform that emanated from establishment Jewish groups like the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League. And though the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations is supposed to speak for a consensus of all Jewish groups and act in defense of Israel rather than specific political factions inside the country, it joined the liberal groups in praising Netanyahu's surrender to the mob. It then had the chutzpah to laud the protesters, who sought to sabotage the country to get their way without even any attempt at balance by treating supporters of the government and reform, who clearly outnumbered the critics at the ballot box last November, as equally praiseworthy.
A number of the leaders of those groups may share the fear and contempt for Israel's right-wing and religious voters that animate many, if not most, of the protesters who believe that any government that isn't dominated by the left is somehow illegitimate. But they also understand that the hyperbolic claims that Netanyahu and advocates of judicial reform seek to impose a dictatorship or a Torah state is pure fiction.
Yet it isn't an accident that arguments being floated about the issue of Israeli judicial reform from American sources are so weak and unpersuasive. What Biden and his supporters want in Jerusalem isn't so much an all-powerful Supreme Court—though they are pleased if it can hamstring Netanyahu's attempt to govern, as it has continually attempted to do—but anything that can help oust the prime minister.
The Biden foreign-policy team, largely made up as it is of Obama administration alumni, bears a grudge against Netanyahu. The eight years of bickering between Washington and Jerusalem centered on former President Barack Obama's futile efforts to undermine Netanyahu and force him to make concessions to a Palestinian Authority that had no interest in peace. They reached a peak in 2015 during Netanyahu's campaign to try and halt Washington's push for appeasement of Iran, which led to the dangerous nuclear deal that year that enriched and empowered the Islamist regime.
While Biden seems to have wisely disabused himself of myths about the Palestinians wanting peace, he is still interested in realigning U.S. Middle East policy away from support for allies like Israel and Saudi Arabia in favor of a rapprochement with Iran, even if his efforts to revive the nuclear deal have flopped.
Under the current circumstances in which Iran has shown its contempt for the Americans, Biden is still eager to avoid any confrontation with Tehran over the fact that, thanks to the Democrats' appeasement policy, it is fast approaching the status of being a threshold nuclear power. As one of Biden's most loyal aides—chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley—recently made clear, the administration is now willing to tolerate Iran having nuclear weapons as long as they are not going to publicly flaunt them.
This attitude isn't just unacceptable to all of Israel's major political parties. It constitutes a grave threat to the security of the Jewish state that no Israeli prime minister could reasonably be expected to tolerate. But there is a big difference between Netanyahu and someone like opposition leader Yair Lapid, whom Biden hopes will soon return to the prime minister's office. As the multi-party coalition that ruled Israel from June 2021 to December 2022—led in part by Lapid—demonstrated, no one other than Netanyahu has the guts to confront the Americans, even over an existential threat like Iran. Biden knows that if the current government survives, it will present a formidable challenge to the disgraceful policy that Milley articulated.
So while there is nothing new about American governments seeking to intervene in Israeli politics, the brazen nature of Biden's attack on Netanyahu says nothing about the virtues of judicial reform. It does, however, speak volumes about how much the administration wants an Israeli government that won't cause trouble over Iran.
Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS (Jewish News Syndicate).
And:
https://townhall.com/columnist
Anything De Santis, Bibi and Conservatives do invites calumny, criticism, character assassination etc. from the opposition, including lying and mass media bias.
Anything Biden does is covered up and/or ignored. He enjoys ice cream when kids are killed and the mass media does everything to make sure nothing negative rem ains in the public's eye for any length of time. Rush it off if it reveals Biden's failed, amoral policies etc. How sick we have become.
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George Washington University Says an Investigation Cleared It of Anti-Semitism. Why Won't It Release the Report?
Professor Lara Sheehi tweeted: 'FUCK ZIONISM, ZIONISTS, AND SETTLER COLONIALISM.' That's OK by GWU.
Alana Goodman
George Washington University on Monday trumpeted the results of an investigation that allegedly cleared the university and Professor Lara Sheehi of anti-Semitism. But the school won't release the full report, penned by an outside law firm retained by the school, that it is claiming exonerates it.
The announcement comes in the wake of a civil rights complaint filed with the Department of Education arguing that Sheehi, whose Twitter feed is littered with claims like "Zionists are the most boldfaced assholes," created a hostile classroom environment for Jews and Israelis in her mandatory diversity course. GWU president Mark Wrighton said the law firm hired to investigate Sheehi's behavior, Crowell & Moring LLP, found "no evidence substantiating the allegations of discriminatory and retaliatory conduct."
The university's decision to bury the full report is eliciting blowback. StandWithUs, the anti-Semitism watchdog that in January filed the civil rights complaint against GWU on behalf of several students, is slamming the university for withholding the report.
"If the university wants its description of the results of the investigation to be taken seriously, it should release a full copy of the report, rather than the summarized 'findings' publicized by GW itself," said Jennifer Kutner, a spokeswoman for StandWithUs.
According to the university, there is "no evidence that [Sheehi's] discourse"—which included telling a Jewish student that it is "not your fault you were born in Israel," suggesting Zionism is racist, and alleging that Israelis use humanitarian work to whitewash their crimes—"crossed the line into anti-Semitic speech."
A spokeswoman for the school, Julia Metjian, told the Washington Free Beacon that the public will have to take George Washington University's word for it. "The confidential report has been carefully reviewed, and the summary of the findings the university released accurately represents what the university learned through the investigation conducted by Crowell & Moring," said the university. "In the interest of protecting the privacy of our students and faculty, the confidential report will not be released."
The school said that allegations about Sheehi's anti-Semitic statements were "largely inconsistent with the recording of the event or significantly decontextualized," but it did not say what context, if any, was missing.
The investigation was conducted by Crowell & Moring attorneys Laurel Pyke Malson and Sadina Montani, who have a background of representing universities and other employers against discrimination complaints, according to their online biographies. Malson says in her biography that her recent key representations include "Title IX litigation defending universities against claims brought by both complainants and respondents," while Montani's biography says she "represents employers in state and federal courts and before various administrative agencies, defending claims of race, sex, disability, and age discrimination."
StandWithUs is raising questions about some of the findings described by the university, including the assertion that none of the students interviewed by investigators remembered Sheehi being dismissive of anti-Semitism claims raised by Jewish students.
"This is patently untrue," Kutner told the Free Beacon. She also rejected GWU's claim that Sheehi's anti-Israel Twitter posts were "only briefly visible to the public."
"In reality, [Sheehi's] Twitter feed, including her blatantly anti-Semitic rhetoric, was visible to the public for many years," Kutner said. "It was only after StandWithUs filed its Title VI complaint that the virulently hostile and profane tweets were removed."
On Oct. 24, 2020, Sheehi posted: "FUCK ZIONISM, ZIONISTS AND SETTLER COLONIALISM using Palestinian lives as examples of their boundless cruelty and power."
In other posts, Sheehi advocated for throwing rocks at Israelis, celebrated attacks on Israelis during the Second Intifada, and denied that Hamas was a terrorist group.
"If you see this and STILL entertain for even a split second that Hamas is the terrorist entity, there is literally zero hope for you, your soul, or your general existence as an ethical human being in this world," she wrote on May 22, 2021. "There is no gray area here, I'm not sorry to report."
In August 2020, Sheehi described supporters of Israel as "the most boldfaced assholes" who "cry victim when you call them on their shit. Get fucked, you and your racist ass."
In October, she claimed that "Zionism is a form of fascist white supremacy."
In GWU's statement exonerating itself, the school said that it "understands how these tweets, viewed at face value, are offensive and hurtful to some" but that such comments are permitted under its social media rules.
"Although the tweets from what appears to be Dr. Sheehi's personal account do not violate GW's social media policy, the university strongly denounces the use of profane language directed at any group of people, including in private tweets," said the school.
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GWU stands by Professor Lara Sheehi accused of anti-Semitism, berating Jewish students
By Hannah Grossman, Fox News
George Washington University is standing by its diversity professor after a complaint to the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights alleged that she created a psychologically traumatizing class environment, which students said caused them to cry and go on antidepressants.
GWU released summary findings Monday of an internal probe on its clinical psychologist, Lara Sheehi, which found “no evidence that the discourse crossed the line.”
Sheehi, who teaches a mandatory diversity class, “took offense” and publicly berated a student for Islamophobia for using the term “terrorist attack,” said the original complaint, filed in January.
“We were demeaned, and she twisted our words to make us look like the problem, which is pretty classic anti-Semitism, scapegoating the Jew, gaslighting the Jew, making us seem like we’re the issue,” a student told the Daily Caller.
One student reported “crying” after Sheehi brought in a speaker who, the complaint said, justified violence against civilians in Israel.
According to the complaint, when a student told Sheehi they felt “unsafe in a program that would invite a speaker who endorsed violence against Israeli civilians and who, therefore, may celebrate the murder of her Israeli relatives. In response, Professor Sheehi called the student’s comment a ‘damaging Islamophobic anti-Palestinian’ comment and added that a stone is nothing compared to an army.’
“This has had a very real impact on myself and the other students,” a student told the Jewish Journal. “More than one of us has had to go on antidepressants as a result of this. I had to pause my part-time job, couldn’t keep food down, couldn’t sleep because this is really an assault on my identity in a class … It’s had a real physical and psychological impact.”
GWU did not offer comment when asked by Fox News Digital about the emotional damage alleged to have been caused to Jewish students by its clinical psychologist in the mandatory diversity class.
The students alleged Sheehi began to run a smear campaign against them after they complained about being subjected to anti-Semitism, the complaint said.
The students allege they had to go on anti-depressants after the professor labeled them Islamaphobes for using the term “terrorist attack.”AFP via Getty Images
“She turned the faculty against the Jewish students by spreading lies about us and our conduct, she disparaged us in front of our classmates, calling us Islamophobes,” a student told the Algemeiner.
The students said they were subjected to “disciplinary proceedings” which “effectively silenced us.”
GWU denied any retaliation in its internal investigation.
StandWithUs, an Israel education group, blasted the university, stating, “The administration’s position that students who raise concerns about identity-based discrimination have ‘a deficiency in a skill or subject matter area’ is precisely what makes the process retaliatory here. Furthermore, to claim that this process, which could result in a permanent black mark on these students’ records and irreparable damage to their future careers, is neither discriminatory nor disciplinary is at best ignorant of reality and at worst intentionally misleading.”
Sheehi is being represented by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
They previously said Sheehi was “being wrongfully accused of discrimination and anti-Semitism” due to “a larger campaign that is politically and ethnically motivated against Dr. Sheehi because of her scholarship and political activism outside the classroom.”
“We understand that these claims would otherwise not have resulted in such an exaggerated and prejudicial response by [George Washington], nor would they have found traction in public opinion if Dr. Sheehi were not Arab and her scholarship and activism were not focused on Palestine. These slander campaigns, intended to silence dissenting voices, are rooted in anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism, a form of racism that silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes, defames, and dehumanizes Arabs and their narratives.”
And:
Biden Meddles in Israeli Politics
The Editorial Board
President Biden likes to say he’s rebuilding American alliances, but he sure is selective about it. Woe betide the ally who runs afoul of American progressive opinion. Then Mr. Biden gives you the frenemy treatment.
On Monday the Israeli leader announced a pause in pushing the controversial reform, saying he’d seek a national “consensus” on the subject. But Mr. Biden still chose to lecture the foreign leader about the matter.
“Like many strong supporters of Israel, I’m very concerned. And I’m concerned that they get this straight. They cannot continue down this road. And I’ve sort of made that clear,” Mr. Biden told reporters. “Hopefully the Prime Minister will act in a way that he is going to try to work out some genuine compromise. But that remains to be seen.”
So much for giving Mr. Netanyahu credit for reaching out to the opposition to seek a compromise. Mr. Biden also took a gratuitous shot at the Prime Minister by saying the Israeli leader wouldn’t be invited to the White House—“not in the near term.”
Mr. Biden had to know how that would play in Israel, where the public pays great attention to the words of an American President. Asked at the same event if he is “interfering” in domestic Israeli politics, Mr. Biden said, “We’re not interfering. They know my position. They know America’s position. They know the American Jewish position.”
What American Jewish position is that? As far as we can tell, American Jews are as divided as Israelis on the judicial reform. As for not interfering, Mr. Biden also said Tuesday, referring to the judicial reform and Mr. Netanyahu, that “I hope he walks away from it.” Mr. Biden can’t even seem to get his advice to the Prime Minister straight: compromise on it or abandon reform entirely?
Perhaps we’re expecting too much of an American President famous for his stumbles and incoherence. But Mr. Biden doesn’t have to meddle in Israeli domestic politics. He’s picking up the refrain from the American left that Mr. Netanyahu’s elected government is somehow a threat to Israeli democracy. But if we’ve learned anything in recent weeks, it’s that Israeli democracy is alive and well.
Mr. Biden’s intervention makes us wonder if his real goal is to stir more trouble for Mr. Netanyahu so his coalition falls. He may worry that the Prime Minister is increasingly focused on Iran’s progress toward becoming a nuclear power. And Iran is getting closer as it enriches uranium to ever higher levels, refuses to allow U.N. inspectors to look at suspect sites, and ignores international warnings.
But Mr. Biden has been mute about Iran’s nuclear progress—perhaps because it underscores the failure of his two-year effort to cajole Iran to redo the 2015 nuclear accord. His diplomacy has achieved nothing except give Iran more time to develop a bomb and forge tighter economic and security alliances with China and Russia.
Mr. Biden has already alienated our friends the Saudis, who are busy hedging their American bets by getting closer to the Chinese. The President also isn’t helping Israel, or U.S. security interests, by further roiling the domestic politics of America’s best remaining friend in the Middle East.
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Biden Administration remains amoral but are protected by mass media so so no one cares and Trump continues to create enemies with his rhetoric. What a mess.
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