Thank you very much for inviting me.
I come to America with a mission. All is not well in the old world. There is a tremendous danger looming, and it is very difficult to be optimistic. We might be in the final stages of the Islamization of Europe. This not only is a clear and present danger to the future of Europe itself, it is a threat to America and the sheer survival of the West. The United States as the last bastion of Western civilization, facing an Islamic Europe.
First, I will describe the situation on the ground in Europe . Then, I will say a few things about Islam. To close I will tell you about a meeting in Jerusalem .
The Europe you know is changing.
You have probably seen the landmarks. But in all of these cities, sometimes a few blocks away from your tourist destination, there is another world. It is the world of the parallel society created by Muslim mass-migration.
All throughout Europe a new reality is rising: entire Muslim neighborhoods where very few indigenous people reside or are even seen. And if they are, they might regret it. This goes for the police as well. It's the world of head scarves, where women walk around in figureless tents, with baby strollers and a group of children. Their husbands, or slaveholders if you prefer, walk three steps ahead. With mosques on many street corners. The shops have signs you and I cannot read. You will be hard-pressed to find any economic activity. These are Muslim ghettos controlled by religious fanatics. These are Muslim neighborhoods, and they are mushrooming in every city across Europe . These are the building-blocks for territorial control of increasingly larger portions of Europe , street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city.
There are now thousands of mosques throughout Europe . With larger congregations than there are in churches. And in every European city there are plans to build super-mosques that will dwarf every church in the region. Clearly, the signal is: we rule.
Many European cities are already one-quarter Muslim: just take Amsterdam , Marseille and Malmo in Sweden. In many cities the majority of the under-18 population is Muslim. Paris is now surrounded by a ring of Muslim neighborhoods. Mohammed is the most popular name among boys in many cities.
In some elementary schools in Amsterdam the farm can no longer be mentioned, because that would also mean mentioning the pig, and that would be an insult to Muslims.
Many state schools in Belgium and Denmark only serve halal food to all pupils. In once-tolerant Amsterdam gays are beaten up almost exclusively by Muslims. Non-Muslim women routinely hear 'whore, whore'. Satellite dishes are not pointed to local TV stations, but to stations in the country of origin.
In France school teachers are advised to avoid authors deemed offensive to Muslims, including Voltaire and Diderot; the same is increasingly true of Darwin . The history of the Holocaust can no longer be taught because of Muslim sensitivity.
In England sharia courts are now officially part of the British legal system. Many neighborhoods in France are no-go areas for women without head scarves. Last week a man almost died after being beaten up by Muslims in Brussels , because he was drinking during the Ramadan.
Jews are fleeing France in record numbers, on the run for the worst wave of anti-Semitism since World War II. French is now commonly spoken on the streets of Tel Aviv and Netanya, Israel. I could go on forever with stories like this. Stories about Islamization.
A total of fifty-four million Muslims now live. San Diego University recently calculated that a staggering 25 percent of the population in Europe will be Muslim just 12 years from now. Bernhard Lewis has predicted a Muslim majority by the end of this century.
Now these are just numbers. And the numbers would not be threatening if the Muslim-immigrants had a strong desire to assimilate. But there are few signs of that. The Pew Research Center reported that half of French Muslims see their loyalty to Islam as greater than their loyalty to France . One-third of French Muslims do not object to suicide attacks. The British Centre for Social Cohesion reported that one-third of British Muslim students are in favor of a worldwide caliphate. Muslims demand what they call 'respect'. And this is how we give them respect. We have Muslim official state holidays.
The Christian-Democratic attorney general is willing to accept sharia in the Netherlands if there is a Muslim majority. We have cabinet members with passports from Morocco and Turkey .
Muslim demands are supported by unlawful behavior, ranging from petty crimes and random violence, for example against ambulance workers and bus drivers, to small-scale riots. Paris has seen its uprising in the low-income suburbs, the banlieus. I call the perpetrators 'settlers'. Because that is what they are. They do not come to integrate into our societies; they come to integrate our society into their Dar-al-Islam. Therefore, they are settlers.
Much of this street violence I mentioned is directed exclusively against non-Muslims, forcing many native people to leave their neighborhoods, their cities, their countries. Moreover, Muslims are now a swing vote not to be ignored.
The second thing you need to know is the importance of Mohammed the prophet. His behavior is an example to all Muslims and cannot be criticized. Now, if Mohammed had been a man of peace, let us say like Ghandi and Mother Theresa wrapped in one, there would be no problem. But Mohammed was a warlord, a mass murderer, a pedophile, and had several marriages - at the same time. Islamic tradition tells us how he fought in battles, how he had his enemies murdered and even had prisoners of war executed. Mohammed himself slaughtered the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza. If it is good for Islam, it is good. If it is bad for Islam, it is bad.
Let no one fool you about Islam being a religion. Sure, it has a god, and a here-after, and 72 virgins. But in its essence Islam is a political ideology. It is a system that lays down detailed rules for society and the life of every person. Islam wants to dictate every aspect of life. Islam means 'submission'. Islam is not compatible with freedom and democracy, because what it strives for is sharia. If you want to compare Islam to anything, compare it to communism or national-socialism, these are all totalitarian ideologies.
Now you know why Winston Churchill called Islam 'the most retrograde force in the world', and why he compared Mein Kampf to the Quran. The public has wholeheartedly accepted the Palestinian narrative, and sees Israel as the aggressor. I have lived in this country and visited it dozens of times. I support Israel . First, because it is the Jewish homeland after two thousand years of exile up to and including Auschwitz; second because it is a democracy, and third because Israel is our first line of defense.
This tiny country is situated on the fault line of jihad, frustrating Islam's territorial advance. Israel is facing the front lines of jihad, like Kashmir, Kosovo, the Philippines , Southern Thailand, Darfur in Sudan, Lebanon, and Aceh in Indonesia. Israel is simply in the way. The same way West-Berlin was during the Cold War.
The war against Israel is not a war against Israel . It is a war against the West. It is jihad. Israel is simply receiving the blows that are meant for all of us. If there would have been no Israel , Islamic imperialism would have found other venues to release its energy and its desire for conquest. Thanks to Israeli parents who send their children to the army and lay awake at night, parents in Europe and America can sleep well and dream, unaware of the dangers looming.
Many in Europe argue in favor of abandoning Israel in order to address the grievances of our Muslim minorities. But if Israel were, God forbid, to go down, it would not bring any solace to the West It would not mean our Muslim minorities would all of a sudden change their behavior, and accept our values. On the contrary, the end of Israel would give enormous encouragement to the forces of Islam. They would, and rightly so, see the demise of Israel as proof that the West is weak, and doomed. The end of Israel would not mean the end of our problems with Islam, but only the beginning. It would mean the start of the final battle for world domination. If they can get Israel, they can get everything. So-called journalists volunteer to label any and all critics of Islamization as a 'right-wing extremists' or 'racists'. In my country, the Netherlands , 60 percent of the population now sees the mass immigration of Muslims as the number one policy mistake since World War II. And another 60 percent sees Islam as the biggest threat. Yet there is a greater danger than terrorist attacks, the scenario of America as the last man standing. The lights may go out in Europe faster than you can imagine. An Islamic Europe means a Europe without freedom and democracy, an economic wasteland, an intellectual nightmare, and a loss of military might for America - as its allies will turn into enemies, enemies with atomic bombs. With an Islamic Europe, it would be up to America alone to preserve the heritage of Rome , Athens and Jerusalem ...
Dear friends, liberty is the most precious of gifts. My generation never had to fight for this freedom, it was offered to us on a silver platter, by people who fought for it with their lives. All throughout Europe , American cemeteries remind us of the young boys who never made it home, and whose memory we cherish. My generation does not own this freedom; we are merely its custodians. We can only hand over this hard won liberty to Europe 's children in the same state in which it was offered to us. We cannot strike a deal with mullahs and imams. Future generations would never forgive us. We cannot squander our liberties. We simply do not have the right to do so.
We have to take the necessary action now to stop this Islamic stupidity from destroying the free world that we know.
Furthermore, when Israel gave Gaza to the Palestinians they had an opportunity to make the area blossom but they chose to be ruled by Hamas and now they have paid a hefty price.
The Palestinians are considered bright and capable but they always make poor decisions. Guess their decision making is driven by hatred and they are a warm blooded tribe of Arabs.
Wherever they go they seem to cause problems and that is why even their own don't want to absorb them.
Look at the problems our own nation has endured from an assortment of radical Muslims and Somalians.
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Who needs enemies when you have such friends?
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The Biden-Blinken Rules of War for Israel
The U.S. tells Israelis how they must fight in Gaza, which could help Hamas.
The Editorial Board
Mr. Blinken understands that Israel has more to do to defeat Hamas. “Hamas cannot remain in control of Gaza,” he reiterated at a press conference in Israel Thursday. Israel’s campaign has so far secured much of Gaza’s northern half, smashing several Hamas brigades and destroying its tunnels and hospital headquarters. The pressure this put on Hamas yielded a deal that freed 105 hostages. More pressure on Hamas now could spring some of the 137 hostages who remain in captivity.
Letting a pause turn into a more lasting cease-fire would repeat the mistake of past bouts with Hamas: leaving it in control of territory. Hamas still rules south Gaza, a base from which it would plot the next massacre, as its leaders have repeatedly pledged to do. That’s why Israel will take the fight south.
But how should this next phase of the war be waged? Here, Mr. Blinken is adamant: It must be nothing like the operation in north Gaza. The Secretary of State said he “underscored” to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “the imperative to the United States that the massive loss of civilian life and displacement of the scale we saw in northern Gaza not be repeated in the south.” He said Israel must take “more effective steps to protect the lives of civilians.”
The best way to save civilians is to get them far from urban combat zones, away from Hamas strongholds like the city of Khan Younis. But Mr. Blinken demands “avoiding further significant displacement of civilians inside of Gaza.” Instead, he called on Israel to create “safe zones” for civilians near the fighting.
But what should Israel do when Hamas positions itself in those zones? That’s how it used hospitals and schools in the north. Could Israel attack Hamas in those sanctuaries?
Mr. Blinken tried to close that door, too. Protecting civilians “means avoiding damage to life-critical infrastructure like hospitals,” he said. “Intent matters, but so does the result.”
If Israel must do more to protect civilians but can’t evacuate them and can’t hit Hamas when it hides in key civilian infrastructure and safe zones, how is it to fight at all? It could try a methodical, grinding campaign to force Hamas into the open. But Mr. Blinken demands Israel keep fuel flowing—precisely what Hamas needs to hunker down in its tunnels. That leaves relying on the infantry, at great cost in Israeli lives.
During a meeting of Israel’s war cabinet, Mr. Blinken may also have tried to nix a long campaign. When Israel’s Defense Minister told him, “The entire Israeli society is united behind the goal of dismantling Hamas, even if it takes months,” the Israeli press reports that Mr. Blinken pushed back, replying, “I don’t think you have the credit for that.” He means credit with President Biden, as the White House bends to the growing pressure against Israel from the Democratic left.
The argument that Hamas is an “idea,” and thus war can never defeat it, has also been gaining among U.S. progressives. As Mr. Biden tweeted Tuesday, “To continue down the path of terror, violence, killing, and war is to give Hamas what they seek.” By this logic, Hamas would hate nothing more than . . . to be left in power? How quickly they forget Oct. 7.
Israel has a right to defend itself, which it reasonably believes requires destroying Hamas. The terrorist group rejoiced again on Thursday when two of its terrorists opened fire, during the truce, at Jewish civilians at a Jerusalem bus stop. Intent does matter, and blame for civilian deaths in Israel and Gaza resides with the terrorists.
Israel deserves U.S. support as it topples Hamas, not a repeat of Mr. Biden’s Ukraine treatment: rules, restrictions and hesitations that push a decisive victory further away. Israelis may find that victory requires calling the President’s bluff. Turning on Israel in wartime would alienate the much larger pool of pro-Israel American voters.
And:
The red-green alliance against the West
by Alex Joffe and Asaf Romirowsky - The Washington Examiner
The murderous Hamas attack on Israel can be described as a success only in a limited and horrific tactical sense: More Jews were murdered in a single day than at any time since the Holocaust. The surprise was achieved thanks to elaborate planning and lavish Iranian funding and to Israeli complacency on the part of the military and distracted political echelon. The price was immense and terrible.
But in a strategic sense, the attack was a failure and illustrates a truism of Middle Eastern history: The Palestinians, in this case Hamas, are their own worst enemies. Even their successes are, or will be, failures. Consider some of the unintended consequences of the Hamas attack. These range from local to regional to global effects.
To begin, Hamas has set back the Palestinian movement and destroyed Gaza. The Palestinian movement has long been characterized by two theoretically distinct but interrelated strands: Islamic rejection of Jews and a nationalist strand that played on contemporary concepts such as Third Worldism, liberation movements, and, most lately, decolonization. In practice, however, these were mutually reinforcing and in neither case contributed to the conception of a functioning nation-state. Neither the Palestinian Authority nor Hamas has run or can run a state.
The resurgent Islamic violence — the Oct. 7 raid was at one level a classic Muslim razzia of unconstrained violence, rape, and looting, in the tradition of Muhammad — proved again that Hamas, Islamic governance, and the Palestinian movement as a whole are addicted to violence. The reconfiguration of Gaza, using international aid money, into a gigantic base in which civilians existed only as human shields is another aspect of this failure. Add to this the complete collapse of Hamas on its own carefully prepared battlefield, which proved the ineptitude of its strategy, leadership, and field capabilities. The self-victimization of Gaza by Hamas, the intentional "martyring" of innocents along with terrorists, was a fundamental part of this plan. But the scale of destruction, apparently unanticipated, that has reduced northern Gaza to near-uninhabitable rubble proves the failure of that plan as well.
Expelled from Gaza and protected from a Hamas takeover in the West Bank by Israel and the lack of elections, the Palestinian movement's "secular" face, the repressive kleptocrats of Fatah and the Palestinian Authority, has been exposed again as weak and ineffectual. Unable to resist Hamas, much less Israel, its leadership fulminated despite American efforts to tout it as the future power in Gaza. That may yet occur, but Hamas will never again rule.
In that case, the Palestinian Authority may be the ultimate beneficiary of Hamas's demise, but the Palestinian people will not be. In short, the Palestinian movement is in shambles with little way forward. The goal of self-determination, to the extent it was ever a true goal, rather than punishing and expelling the Jews, has been set back by Hamas, perhaps for decades, if not permanently.
Hamas's initial battlefield success, if success can be defined in terms of unconstrained murder, rape, torture, and kidnapping, lasted only a few days. But the impact on Israel itself has been transformational. For over a year, Israel has been riven by political turmoil brought on by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition, its settler and theocratic elements, and the efforts to rework the country's legal and political systems. For months, hundreds of thousands of Israelis came out into the streets every Saturday night to protest what they saw as encroaching dictatorship and the demise of democracy. The divides between secular and religious communities loomed wider than ever before, with talk of civil war between the "states" of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
These divides are now at an end. Israeli society stared in horror at the gore wrought by Hamas and reunified in moments. Indeed, the unity is unprecedented. Before the war, the news had been filled with stories of Israelis moving abroad and of capital flight. Then, in a matter of hours, Israelis flocked home to take up arms and defend their country. Even Haredi elements, long opposed to the concept, although not the financial support, of the state, began to join the army in unprecedented numbers. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis displaced from the south and the north by rocket fire have been taken in by their countrymen in other regions.
This unity will not last at its present level — no wartime unity anywhere does. Netanyahu and the sitting government will face harsh inquiries at the end of the conflict and are unlikely to remain in power. Rifts that are papered over by the imperative of survival will reappear along with the usual blood sport that is Israeli politics.
But there will be permanent changes in how Israelis regard each other and how they regard the Palestinians. The Israeli Left has been demoralized and powerless for some time, but the sheer horror of the Hamas atrocities has convinced even die-hard peace advocates that their efforts were in vain. Polls showing massive support for Hamas and rejection of a two-state solution will convince average Israelis that their neighbors are fundamentally untrustworthy. Killing the hope for peace as it has been conventionally conceived for decades by well-meaning Israelis and generations of "peace processors" is among Hamas's many evil accomplishments.
Moving outward from Israelis and Palestinians to the wider Middle East, Hamas has demonstrated that its vision of theocratic fascism and Islamic (non) governance has little support, especially among the most progressive Arab countries. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain have all condemned Hamas, officially or unofficially, and kept contacts open with Israel. All are fundamentally threatened by Iran and wish to see Hamas destroyed. The "strong horse" theory of Middle Eastern affairs still prevails, and the signals from these countries have been clear. While lip service has been given to Palestinian civilian casualties, there is no meaningful support from the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Arab League, or other bodies, much less challenges to the Abraham Accords.
Only Iran and its proxies, Hezbollah and the Houthis of Yemen, have cheered Hamas and lent support in the form of attacks. And while the Houthis have pretentiously declared war, Hezbollah has conspicuously hedged, with vague rhetoric and a smattering of increasingly vicious attacks that brought Israeli retaliation and Lebanese condemnation. If Hamas and Iran sought to set the Middle East on fire, they so far failed. Consisting of theocratic fascists, Hamas has brought into highlight just how out of step with broader trends in the region and its own populations it is.
If Hamas has had one notable success, it has been in igniting international support, not from governments but from the interlocked movements of the global Left and Islam. Activating this red-green alliance of socialists, communists, and Muslims to bring hundreds of thousands into the streets for menacing and often violent protests has been an eye-opening and frankly terrifying sight.
The fruits of decades of Muslim immigration, legal and illegal, into Europe are now fully revealed. This brought the establishment of parallel societies beyond the reach of governments. No-go zones have proliferated across Europe, as has Islamic violence at all levels, aimed not infrequently at the diminishing Jewish population. This has been accompanied by the rise of Islamist political parties and politicians who are now part of the power structures of French, Dutch, German, Belgian, Swedish, and British societies. Support from Iran and Turkey has been key, and the vast populations of Muslims in Europe are now instruments of these countries' foreign affairs.
In the United States, similar successes have long been underway at somewhat smaller scales, guided by Muslim Brotherhood figures linked directly to Hamas in some cases. The linkages between the Council on American-Islamic Relations, American Muslims for Palestine, Students for Justice in Palestine, the Muslim Students Association, and the Palestinian Youth Movement point to domestic elements implacably opposed to Israel that take advantage of American tolerance, albeit crying "Islamophobia" at every opportunity.
The red components, the dizzying array of seemingly disparate entities from the Democratic Socialists of America, Just Stop Oil, Black Lives Matter, the Palestinian Youth Movement, IfNotNow, Jewish Voice for Peace, and more, have been responsible for putting bodies into American streets. All are funded by the same array of far-left foundations and dark money bundlers with the support of "human rights" nongovernmental organizations: Tides, Open Society Foundations, Arabella Advisors, Human Rights Watch, and many more, all of which are also tied to the Democratic Party. All act as foot soldiers, increasingly for one another's causes, and all are increasingly unhinged and violent. They are all part of the same broad movement, anti-American, anti-Israel, and anti-Western, that is at its root communist in inspiration and organization.
Exposing the nature and scale of the red-green alliance in Europe and the U.S. has been one of the most shocking revelations of the Hamas-led war on Israel. The sheer hatred expressed on the one hand by rootless, futureless bourgeois youth, who cheered Hamas's slaughters as "resistance," and on the other by U.S.- and foreign-born Muslims, who did the same in a far more pointed way, is shocking. Fed by social media and cultivated by universities, the hatred appears to exceed even that of the 1968 generations. And as voting blocs, the red-green alliance has gained footholds at every level, from local school boards to the preening narcissists of the "Squad" in Congress. But seeing it played out on the streets of America in violent confrontations with Jews and supporters of Israel and against two-dimensional representations of Jews killed and kidnapped by Hamas, symbolically killing the images, should be a source of alarm if not genuine terror.
The only positive aspect of this is the repulsion expressed by normal people, who have become aware and will likely vote for a rapid return to normal politics and candidates. A related positive is that the funding sources have come under unprecedented scrutiny by the public and by law enforcement. The direct Hamas connections to American Muslims for Palestine and the goons of Students for Justice in Palestine who have terrorized American campuses are being investigated in multiple jurisdictions.
Normal people have been repulsed by the celebrations of terror and the disruptions of public spaces that have interrupted daily lives across the globe. Multicultural propaganda is now regarded with suspicion, if not disdain. If the 2024 elections push back decisively against these causes and effects, of which Hamas and the destruction of Israel have now taken center stage, the revolution will be set back. If history is a guide, it may lead to a more violent phase of domestic terror and unrest. But this, too, will be counted as an unwitting outcome of Hamas's war.
Among the most shocking revelations for American society has been the role of universities in cultivating hatred and violence in a generation of students. The celebrations of terror from students at elite universities in particular have been front-page news. In the name of "resistance" and "decolonization," Hamas's murder and rape have been celebrated in revolting public displays. These have become more appalling as the enormity of Hamas's crimes has become known and has even bizarrely shifted into still more grotesque denials that atrocities were committed at all.
Even the type of ritual condemnations issued by universities over the murder of George Floyd or moral panics such as climate change have been too much for Hamas supporters on campus, who demand retractions, condemnations of Israel, and unrelenting support of Palestinians.
From torn-down posters of kidnapped children to denials that rape was used on a massive scale as a weapon by Hamas to accusations of genocide by Israel before even a single bomb was dropped on Gaza, the shifts in pro-Hamas narratives have been swift and stunning. Faculty and students have taken to the quads in protest at the calumny of "genocide," and as administrations react with shock at the feral behavior of their own, these angry reactions have been only heightened. Not a single student has been expelled for defying university administrations. Indeed, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the administration deliberately refused to sanction students lest those foreign-born lose their visas. Banning hate groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine has only brought more angry protests.
Only the stunned responses of wealthy donors such as Bill Ackman and Ron Lauder have roused universities from their indulgent torpor. Faced with the refusal of donors to keep on giving to what increasingly appears like a lost cause, and to employ the documented haters among recent graduates, universities have put forth lame calls for committees and other bureaucratic subterfuges to keep the money rolling in. But as Jewish and Israeli students cower behind locked doors as mobs scream for Israel to be destroyed, the spectacle can no longer be covered up. The public has taken notice and will, we may hope, begin to understand.
American universities, and elite universities in particular, are not American institutions. They are by their own descriptions "global institutions" and thus embody the hatreds and irrationalities of cultures around the globe. That is their economic model and their conceptual mindset. American values and celebration of American virtues and history are nowhere to be seen. Their opposites prevail in every corner of the university, in the name of "decolonization," among other destructive catchphrases.
The scene on campuses is one of utter and undisguised moral depravity, a theater where cause and effect are reversed, where root causes devolve to American, Israeli, and ultimately Jewish evil, and where the denial of facts and testimonies about Hamas, in particular, are redolent of Holocaust denial. As universities face a demographic cliff, Hamas may have helped push them over the edge into irrelevance and perhaps reformation.
Another clarifying effect of Hamas's attack is to expose once and for all the irretrievable split within the Democratic Party, focused above all on Israel. The old Democratic Party of strong Israel support, exemplified by President Joe Biden and an aging coterie of senior figures, is no more. To a shocking extent, the party has been overtaken from within by a new generation of politicians who, nearly chief among their concerns, hate Israel.
This generation is exemplified neatly by members of the Squad. They are Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), the vapid, liberal arts graduate; Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), the Palestinian nationalist; Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), the slippery Islamist; Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), the post-Farrakhan grifter; and Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), the black nationalist. They are backed up in the streets by the Democratic Socialists of America, which used the mainstream Democratic Party as an entryist tactic. Their goal is nothing short of a socialist revolution, epitomized by open borders and "green energy." Magical thinking abounds in their economic and social programs, which have been indulged by Biden and his handlers as a way of preserving the electoral base.
But Israel has broken this support, perhaps once and for all. The Squad and its constituents, above all Muslim voters in swing states such as Michigan, are threatening to walk away from the party, although to what alternative is unclear. Whether they would move to fringe candidates such as Jill Stein or even create their own party is unclear. But the calls for an arms embargo on Israel, divestment, and ceasefires and the utter lack of concern for Israel or American Jews are palpable. So, too, is their utter lack of interest in the working class.
The transformation of the Democratic base, or a goodly portion of it, has not been lost on American Jews, who are now confronted with the reality that the party they called home has abandoned them and their concerns. Their concerns for Israel have even been repudiated by Democratic staffers on Capitol Hill who cravenly announce their opposition to their elected bosses' policies from behind masks. Jews have also seen their security concerns ignored as the administration, as if by reflex, adds "Islamophobia" to every statement regarding the explosion of antisemitism on American streets and American campuses.
A wide swath of American Jews, politically and culturally liberal to the core, is thus doubly in shock. Their reflex has been to shun allies, the Republican Party, and evangelicals, but that, too, is quickly being overcome. Indeed, if anecdotal reports are to be believed, American Jews are, perhaps for the first time, arming themselves in ever-increasing numbers. As law enforcement is stretched thin, self-protection is the final line of defense. Seeing posters of innocent kidnapped children being torn down in the streets by screaming lunatics and watching law enforcement flail in response to massive demonstrations that call for intifada and thus Jewish blood has had a transformative effect. American Jewish politics has shifted toward the right.
Finally, there is the effect on American Jews themselves. For the first time, American Jews have been confronted with the fragility of their own station, the contingency of their own citizenship. As political authorities waver and with roving gangs cheering Hamas, countless Jews have now in an instant been put in precisely the same situation that French Jews have been in for over two decades: perpetual insecurity, the erosion of freedom of expression and movement, and the threat of horrific violence. Intifada in the streets stands against everything the 400-year American experiment has embodied: equality under the law, safety for all citizens, the sidelining of ancient religious and other doctrinal hatreds. The Hamas-inspired outburst of antisemitism, cheered by the far Right but almost exclusively a product of the far Left and American Muslims, challenges not only Jews but the essence of the American experiment. And so far, there is little reassurance that the genies will be crammed back into their bottles.
The positive response to this was seen in the peaceful and patriotic assembly of nearly 300,000 Jews and allies on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Brought together in anguish over Israel, American Jews expressed their commitment to their Israeli family but also to the American project itself. These sentiments were conspicuously absent in the pro-Hamas protests that preceded and followed, which filled public spaces from Seattle's Space Needle to Grand Central Station with Palestinian, Islamic State, and communist flags.
But Hamas's success has been to reveal others' failures. American Jewish legacy organizations have, for example, failed to confront the challenge. The Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee, so consumed with their own standing in larger society and with their sinecures, have long sidled up to haters from CAIR to Sharpton in the name of outreach and interfaith dialogue — at the expense of seeing reality and ultimately of their own integrity. Now, at the moment of crisis, both in the U.S. and in Israel, they stand with too few allies willing to stand alongside American Jews, much less Israelis.
Decent Americans, that is, the majority of Americans, are appalled by Hamas and by antisemitism in the streets. But the failure of nearly every American institution over the past decades has robbed them of viable means to effect change. Healthcare systems made a mockery by COVID-19 lies, universities that are incubators of sophisticated hatred, media that lie shamelessly, promoting "fiery but peaceful" narratives as the flames come closer, and government that is incapable of accomplishing even the most modest goals, such as securing the border or maintaining infrastructure. Americans as a whole have been robbed of confidence in reality as lie upon lie has been heaped up by those in authority. American Jews find themselves in the same position as their countrymen, asking for security and finding none.
Hamas's successes in the field will be limited. Militarily it will be crushed, and the Middle East will evolve without it. Its successes internationally have been profound but contain the seeds of a far greater defeat. As decent people yearn for decent politics in the West, the Hamas cause will be repudiated. The road to this will be long and difficult, involving as it must the rebuilding of fundamental institutions and processes, the literal reprogramming of radicalized masses, and the re-creation of social ties that have been shattered. If the Gaza war can spur this on, then Hamas may truly be regarded once and for all as its own worst enemy.
Alex Joffe is the director of strategic initiatives for the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa. Asaf Romirowsky is the executive director of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa and Scholars for Peace in the Middle East.
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Dear friends,
Thank you very much for inviting me.
I come to America with a mission. All is not well in the old world. There is a tremendous danger looming, and it is very difficult to be optimistic. We might be in the final stages of the Islamization of Europe. This not only is a clear and present danger to the future of Europe itself, it is a threat to America and the sheer survival of the West. The United States as the last bastion of Western civilization, facing an Islamic Europe.
First, I will describe the situation on the ground in Europe . Then, I will say a few things about Islam. To close I will tell you about a meeting in Jerusalem .
The Europe you know is changing.
You have probably seen the landmarks. But in all of these cities, sometimes a few blocks away from your tourist destination, there is another world. It is the world of the parallel society created by Muslim mass-migration.
All throughout Europe a new reality is rising: entire Muslim neighborhoods where very few indigenous people reside or are even seen. And if they are, they might regret it. This goes for the police as well. It's the world of head scarves, where women walk around in figureless tents, with baby strollers and a group of children. Their husbands, or slaveholders if you prefer, walk three steps ahead. With mosques on many street corners. The shops have signs you and I cannot read. You will be hard-pressed to find any economic activity. These are Muslim ghettos controlled by religious fanatics. These are Muslim neighborhoods, and they are mushrooming in every city across Europe . These are the building-blocks for territorial control of increasingly larger portions of Europe , street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city.
There are now thousands of mosques throughout Europe . With larger congregations than there are in churches. And in every European city there are plans to build super-mosques that will dwarf every church in the region. Clearly, the signal is: we rule.
Many European cities are already one-quarter Muslim: just take Amsterdam , Marseille and Malmo in Sweden. In many cities the majority of the under-18 population is Muslim. Paris is now surrounded by a ring of Muslim neighborhoods. Mohammed is the most popular name among boys in many cities.
In some elementary schools in Amsterdam the farm can no longer be mentioned, because that would also mean mentioning the pig, and that would be an insult to Muslims.
Many state schools in Belgium and Denmark only serve halal food to all pupils. In once-tolerant Amsterdam gays are beaten up almost exclusively by Muslims. Non-Muslim women routinely hear 'whore, whore'. Satellite dishes are not pointed to local TV stations, but to stations in the country of origin.
In France school teachers are advised to avoid authors deemed offensive to Muslims, including Voltaire and Diderot; the same is increasingly true of Darwin . The history of the Holocaust can no longer be taught because of Muslim sensitivity.
In England sharia courts are now officially part of the British legal system. Many neighborhoods in France are no-go areas for women without head scarves. Last week a man almost died after being beaten up by Muslims in Brussels , because he was drinking during the Ramadan.
Jews are fleeing France in record numbers, on the run for the worst wave of anti-Semitism since World War II. French is now commonly spoken on the streets of Tel Aviv and Netanya, Israel. I could go on forever with stories like this. Stories about Islamization.
A total of fifty-four million Muslims now live. San Diego University recently calculated that a staggering 25 percent of the population in Europe will be Muslim just 12 years from now. Bernhard Lewis has predicted a Muslim majority by the end of this century.
Now these are just numbers. And the numbers would not be threatening if the Muslim-immigrants had a strong desire to assimilate. But there are few signs of that. The Pew Research Center reported that half of French Muslims see their loyalty to Islam as greater than their loyalty to France . One-third of French Muslims do not object to suicide attacks. The British Centre for Social Cohesion reported that one-third of British Muslim students are in favor of a worldwide caliphate. Muslims demand what they call 'respect'. And this is how we give them respect. We have Muslim official state holidays.
The Christian-Democratic attorney general is willing to accept sharia in the Netherlands if there is a Muslim majority. We have cabinet members with passports from Morocco and Turkey .
Muslim demands are supported by unlawful behavior, ranging from petty crimes and random violence, for example against ambulance workers and bus drivers, to small-scale riots. Paris has seen its uprising in the low-income suburbs, the banlieus. I call the perpetrators 'settlers'. Because that is what they are. They do not come to integrate into our societies; they come to integrate our society into their Dar-al-Islam. Therefore, they are settlers.
Much of this street violence I mentioned is directed exclusively against non-Muslims, forcing many native people to leave their neighborhoods, their cities, their countries. Moreover, Muslims are now a swing vote not to be ignored.
The second thing you need to know is the importance of Mohammed the prophet. His behavior is an example to all Muslims and cannot be criticized. Now, if Mohammed had been a man of peace, let us say like Ghandi and Mother Theresa wrapped in one, there would be no problem. But Mohammed was a warlord, a mass murderer, a pedophile, and had several marriages - at the same time. Islamic tradition tells us how he fought in battles, how he had his enemies murdered and even had prisoners of war executed. Mohammed himself slaughtered the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza. If it is good for Islam, it is good. If it is bad for Islam, it is bad.
Let no one fool you about Islam being a religion. Sure, it has a god, and a here-after, and 72 virgins. But in its essence Islam is a political ideology. It is a system that lays down detailed rules for society and the life of every person. Islam wants to dictate every aspect of life. Islam means 'submission'. Islam is not compatible with freedom and democracy, because what it strives for is sharia. If you want to compare Islam to anything, compare it to communism or national-socialism, these are all totalitarian ideologies.
Now you know why Winston Churchill called Islam 'the most retrograde force in the world', and why he compared Mein Kampf to the Quran. The public has wholeheartedly accepted the Palestinian narrative, and sees Israel as the aggressor. I have lived in this country and visited it dozens of times. I support Israel . First, because it is the Jewish homeland after two thousand years of exile up to and including Auschwitz; second because it is a democracy, and third because Israel is our first line of defense.
This tiny country is situated on the fault line of jihad, frustrating Islam's territorial advance. Israel is facing the front lines of jihad, like Kashmir, Kosovo, the Philippines , Southern Thailand, Darfur in Sudan, Lebanon, and Aceh in Indonesia. Israel is simply in the way. The same way West-Berlin was during the Cold War.
The war against Israel is not a war against Israel . It is a war against the West. It is jihad. Israel is simply receiving the blows that are meant for all of us. If there would have been no Israel , Islamic imperialism would have found other venues to release its energy and its desire for conquest. Thanks to Israeli parents who send their children to the army and lay awake at night, parents in Europe and America can sleep well and dream, unaware of the dangers looming.
Many in Europe argue in favor of abandoning Israel in order to address the grievances of our Muslim minorities. But if Israel were, God forbid, to go down, it would not bring any solace to the West It would not mean our Muslim minorities would all of a sudden change their behavior, and accept our values. On the contrary, the end of Israel would give enormous encouragement to the forces of Islam. They would, and rightly so, see the demise of Israel as proof that the West is weak, and doomed. The end of Israel would not mean the end of our problems with Islam, but only the beginning. It would mean the start of the final battle for world domination. If they can get Israel, they can get everything. So-called journalists volunteer to label any and all critics of Islamization as a 'right-wing extremists' or 'racists'. In my country, the Netherlands , 60 percent of the population now sees the mass immigration of Muslims as the number one policy mistake since World War II. And another 60 percent sees Islam as the biggest threat. Yet there is a greater danger than terrorist attacks, the scenario of America as the last man standing. The lights may go out in Europe faster than you can imagine. An Islamic Europe means a Europe without freedom and democracy, an economic wasteland, an intellectual nightmare, and a loss of military might for America - as its allies will turn into enemies, enemies with atomic bombs. With an Islamic Europe, it would be up to America alone to preserve the heritage of Rome , Athens and Jerusalem ...
Dear friends, liberty is the most precious of gifts. My generation never had to fight for this freedom, it was offered to us on a silver platter, by people who fought for it with their lives. All throughout Europe , American cemeteries remind us of the young boys who never made it home, and whose memory we cherish. My generation does not own this freedom; we are merely its custodians. We can only hand over this hard won liberty to Europe 's children in the same state in which it was offered to us. We cannot strike a deal with mullahs and imams. Future generations would never forgive us. We cannot squander our liberties. We simply do not have the right to do so.
We have to take the necessary action now to stop this Islamic stupidity from destroying the free world that we know.
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St. Nicholas endures in both Faith and Folklore
JACOB’S CREEK, PA — On a crisp December Thursday 116 years ago, several hundred miners chose to forgo a day’s wages at the Darr Mine here in Westmoreland County to attend a divine liturgy in honor of the Feast of St. Nicholas; most were immigrants who hailed from all across Europe whose devotion to faith and a saint known for caring for the poor were spared certain death that day when 239 of their fellow miners perished in an explosion while the others were at mass. The explosion killed everyone in the mine.
News accounts of that day tell harrowing stories of the families at mass hearing the ground beneath them rumble and rushing to help their trapped co-workers and friends; for weeks, not only did the story of the worst mine disaster in Pennsylvania history grip the nation and the world, so did the story of the those miners who gave up their wages, despite living on the edge of poverty, who’d been spared because they were attending a liturgy to honor am early 4th Century bishop renowned for his kindness and generosity.
At the time, that liturgy — or those miners’ faith — was estimated to have prevented the loss of two to three hundred faithful men and boys who attended mass that morning.
Bishop David Zubik of the Pittsburgh Diocese says the impact St. Nicholas had that day is in line with the life he led and the miracles he performed for children and the poor in his lifetime.
“St. Nicholas in modern times is seen as this kind man who fills good children’s shoes with gold-foiled chocolate and oranges on the evening of December 6th when they leave them out the night before; however, his life dates all the way back to the 3rd Century in the village of Patara in modern day Turkey,” explained Zubik.
Born in 270 AD to wealthy parents who died when he was very young, Nicholas used his inheritance to attend to the needy, the sick, and the suffering, said Zubik. “He devoted his life to serving God and was made the Bishop of Myra while still very young.”
As the story goes, Nicholas helped a poor father with three daughters who did not have enough money for their marriage dowries, “which meant they would be sold into slavery,” said Zubik. “When Nicholas heard of their plight, he came by their home late one night and threw bags of gold coins into their window to help the daughters; the gold landed in their shoes drying by the fireplace, leading to the tradition of children leaving shoes out for St. Nicholas to fill,” he explained.
University of Pittsburgh Professor Benjamin Brand, a German studies professor and expert on folklore, says that for hundreds of years — perhaps more than a thousand — St. Nicholas has served as both a religious symbol of hope, but also as an endearing central character in folklore that began in Central Europe as a kind folk hero who places treats in the shoes that are left outside the front doors of the homes of well-behaved children.
The reason the St. Nicholas story endures, Brand says, is not because of the treats he leaves in children’s shoes — “It is because of his life story. A good folk tale has to meet three functions, with the most important part on a certain level, of course, is that it has to entertain,” said Brand. If it is not entertaining, then a story isn’t repeated. “The other two functions are to often teach a lesson, to inculcate cultural values, and then of course the act of coming together to hear a story, which of course, especially in oral culture is important. It means it creates community,” Brand explained.
So the story of St. Nicholas, whose feast is celebrated on December 6, has become for centuries a kind of cohesion of a group of people that share the same lore, which in his case spans almost all of Europe and large chunks of the United States, especially in towns and cities in the Great Lakes Mid-West and Appalachia where many of the immigrants who settled in these regions in the 19th and 20th centuries brought their traditions and stories with them from the Old Country.
Bishop Zubik said outside of the Blessed Mother, St. Nicholas holds the distinction of being the next important figure that has been the object of artists, either in terms of paintings or statuary, “and the number of churches, chapels, religious institutions and altars dedicated to him throughout the world would be difficult to count there are so many.”
According to “Butler’s Lives of the Saints,” around 500 churches are dedicated to St.Nicholas in England alone. He is the patron saint of Russia, Greece, Germany and countless cities and regions throughout the Christian world.
Whether the St. Nicholas story is told through faith or folklore — or a little of both — he has remained relevant and is still widely celebrated throughout Europe and right here in Pittsburgh, where thousands of children will leave their shoes out on their parents’ stoop December 5th with the hope of waking up Wednesday morning with gold-foiled chocolate coins and oranges — symbols of the bags of gold he gave to the three sisters — filling their favorite shoes to the brim.
Brand says in modern culture, St. Nicholas and Santa Claus are often intertwined as the same person, but it is important to understand they are very different figures whose history is a bit of ancient religious drama.
“For the longest time, St. Nicholas Day was a major holiday, especially in German-speaking countries, to give children presents; Christmas, at that time, would only be celebrated in church,” Brand said.
Brand said it wasn’t until the Reformation and Martin Luther that Christmas began to acquire the gifting element. Luther — who, as a Protestant, was not a huge fan of the saint worship of the Catholic Church — “tried to diminish or undermine the popularity of St. Nicholas Day by introducing the Christkindl, Christ child, who would bring the presents on Christmas Day,” said Brand.
So the Protestants adopted Weihnachtsmann, which is the “Christmas man” very similar to Santa Claus in the United States, as well as the imagery of St. Nicholas — a man in a reddish brown winter coat — except the coat is redder, furrier and turns into something that looks closer to what you would find on a Coca-Cola truck later on in the 20th Century.
“And so, Luther was not fully successful because we’re still giving children chocolates and oranges and nuts and filling up their boots on the night from December 5on to December 6, but he was successful in the sense that the main family holiday that revolves also around gift-giving is now Christmas in Germany and not St. Nicholas Day,” Brand said.
However, Brand points out that St. Nicholas Day in the Netherlands remains a bigger day than Christmas there, “which is fascinating because, of course, the Netherlands also famously is Protestant. So, you see how people choose to celebrate the holidays they want to celebrate, no matter what the folks that run the churches say.”
Here in Western Pennsylvania, because of the dramatic influx of European immigrants who streamed into the city to work in the mills and factories in the 19th Century earning Pittsburgh it’s moniker of being a multicultural melting pot, the Feast of St. Nicholas is celebrated with mass at multiple churches as well as in taverns like Penn Brewery located in the city’s historic German neighborhood of Deutschtown. For decades the brewery has held a St. Nicholas Night filled with live music, a visit from a true version of St. Nick and the unveiling of their much-anticipated “Brewers Reserve of the St. Nikolaus Boch.”
On Tuesday evening December 5, Chris Rudolph, the master brewer at Penn Brewery, said they will bring the St. Nicholas celebration to Market Square, when the iconic Brewery will sponsor for the first time the city’s celebration both of St. Nicholas and his rather demonic counterpart, Krampus.
“So, we will basically take over Market Square for a family-friendly event that will have a photo booth where anyone can get their picture on Krampus’ lap and live music from Krampus band ‘Sleigher’ and we are sponsoring a bar crawl at a bunch of downtown locations,” he explained.
Rudolph said the scary figure known in folklore for dragging bad kids out of their homes will be joined by Saint Nick, who will arrive at 7 p.m. and lead a parade of people dressed up as Krampus around the courtyard.
Brand said that as with any good folk tale, there has to be a bit of suspense, “so December 6th isn’t just reserved to celebrate St. Nicholas. For every good child who receives a gift, there is a counterpart to St. Nicholas known as Krampus who is meant to instill fear into children, so they’ll behave,” he explained.
Krampus is a throw-back, he said, to roots of Christmas celebrations: as Christianity started to spread throughout Europe, the church borrowed portions of pagan festivals and remade them to resonate in a more uplifting way.
“If you actively engage in the research of folk tales, you can really find worlds that don’t exist anymore; however, if you switch on your brain, so to speak, and ask yourself what is actually happening here, it really opens up a door to the past,” he explained.
Some of the elements of these tales are so old that we don’t exactly know when they were told the first time, said Brand: “St Nicholas being a good example. Some of the tales, the legends that have been told about Saint Nicholas are over a thousand years old. That we still celebrate them is something to be admired.”
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Still Good News From Israel.
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American Israelis (and other Anglos) celebrated Thanksgiving just over a week ago. In Israel last week there was much to be thankful for - the release of many hostages, temporary respite from running to shelters, and more reports of heroic rescue actions on Oct 7, from a farmer, a foreign asylum-seeker and all-women tank crews. Please read the rest of this newsletter for many more positive news stories that we can all be thankful for. The photo of flags flying on our balcony is our personal thanks just for having the blessing and protection of our own State. If this email arrives in your spam / junk folder, please mark it as "NOT SPAM". Please recommend www.verygoodnewsisrael. In the 3rd Dec 23 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
If anyone can volunteer to translate the main sections of my newsletter into another language (e.g., Arabic, French, Russian, Spanish, Chinese, etc.,) even as a one-off, please email me at michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.
POSITIVE NEWS DURING A WAR Female tank crews save kibbutzim. (TY Manfred) On Oct 7 Israel’s all-female tank crews made history when they fought Hamas terrorists and prevented them from overrunning many Israeli southern communities. They are the first female armored crews in Israel, and perhaps the world, to participate in active battle. https://www.timesofisrael.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch? The farmer who neutralized a Hamas cell. Eran Smilansky was a member of Kibbutz Nir Oz’s emergency squad. On Oct 7, he eliminated eight Hamas terrorists who had stormed his home. He then saved his father and his two daughters at his father’s home that the terrorists had tried to burn down with his family inside. https://idsf.org.il/en/ Eritrean given residency for saving life. Eritrean national Mulugeta Tsagi received permanent residency status in Israel as a “thank you” for saving an Israeli soldier’s life on Oct. 7. Tsagi gave lifesaving first aid to an IDF officer shot by Hamas in Sderot, then stayed with him for several hours until he finally reached hospital. https://www.timesofisrael.com/ What’s cooking? Beraha Astruk is a Head Nurse at Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya. After work, she voluntarily spends her evenings and weekends cooking for two IDF battalions stationed near the northern border. She even invites the soldiers to do their laundry at her house. Beraha has two sons in the IDF in Gaza. https://www.israel21c.org/ Care for released hostages. (TY Cynthia) Schneider Children's Hospital is THE hospital designated to receive many of the released children and their families. It has a media-free area, decorated recovery rooms, a multi-disciplinary team of medical and support staff, even family pets are allowed. See photos & donation links here. https://www.schneider.org.il/? https://www.schneider.org.il/? https://www.justgiving.com/ https://www.schneider.org.il/? Late birthday present for released hostage. On his 9th birthday, Ohad Munder was a hostage in Gaza. He was told that his favorite soccer team, Hapoel Be’er Sheva, wished him a happy birthday on TV. It gave Ohad renewed strength and on his release, the players visited him in hospital. https://worldisraelnews.com/ Entrepreneur raises $40 million for IDF. Since Oct 7, Dutch-based Israeli entrepreneur Eran Efrat, has raised some $40 million to produce tactical gear for IDF soldiers. He didn’t simply give the money to the army but directly solicited US-based manufacturers to produce helmets, ceramic vests, and more. https://www.calcalistech.com/ ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS Liver cancer patient saved. A patient with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer) who participated in the Phase II trials of namodenoson from Israel’s Can-Fite (see here previously) had an extremely good response. His liver function returned to normal, and he is looking forward to a good quality of life. https://ir.canfite.com/news- Traffic lights to silence cancer genes. (TY Laura) Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have discovered how DNA methylation acts as a gene control system, like a traffic light that can modulate gene activity and trigger or prevent cancer mutations. It will help develop personalized therapies for cancer patients. https://www.jpost.com/health- https://genomebiology. Clearing the airways. The LibAirty compression vest from Israel’s Synchrony Medical (see here previously) has begun clinical (human) trials at the National Cystic Fibrosis Center of Sheba Medical Center, where it was developed. Synchrony’s CEO says the device is twice as effective as similar products currently on the market. https://nocamels.com/2023/11/ Amorphous calcium to treat IBD. Israel’s Amorphical (see here previously) has adapted its amorphous calcium carbonate production technology to treat inflammatory diseases such as Crohn’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and arthritis. The mineral neutralizes the acidity within affected tissue to prevent inflammation. https://nocamels.com/category/ Developing RNA-based treatments for rare diseases. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Skip Therapeutics is partnering with Sheba Medical Center to develop ASO-based (short RNA sequences) treatments for rare genetic diseases. Skip's ASOs (Antisense Oligonucleotide) aim to restore the function of mutated genes in genetic disorders. https://www.prnewswire.com/il/ ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL Bedouin IDF Major released from hospital. Major Foaz Hussein, a Bedouin Arab tracker in the Paran Brigade, was released from Emek Medical Center after receiving treatment for gunshot wounds received fighting terrorists on Oct 7th in Kibbutz Holit. He saved many lives before being wounded himself. https://www. Israelis win European research grants. (TY Nevet) 14 Israeli university teams have won prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grants. 6 went to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (total NIS 47 million) and 4 to the Weizmann Institute. Only some 300 grants were awarded of 2,000+ applications. https://www.jpost.com/israel- US invests in Iron Beam. $1.2 billion of the US’s latest aid package to Israel is to help finance Israel’s Iron Beam laser defense system (see here previously). The US hopes that trials of the system will eventually also benefit the US army. Iron Beam will significantly reduce the cost of intercepting short-range threats. https://en.globes.co.il/en/ Doctors on call. (TY Hazel) The many overseas volunteers to Israel include American ER doctors Dr. Dov Frankel and Dr. Barry Hahn, going to work at Ashkelon’s Barzilai hospital. They came via the Emergency Volunteers Project, a disaster-relief organization that recruits volunteer emergency responders in times of crisis. https://www.msn.com/en-us/ Malawi sends farm reinforcements. (TY Hazel) A first flight carrying 221 young men left Malawi for Israel on Saturday and more are to be sent soon. They will work on farms in "fit and safe" environments and locations. Israel recently granted Malawi a $60 million aid package to help it recover from an economic crisis, https://www.barrons.com/news/ SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY , New tech to rehabilitate the wounded. Israel’s Sheba Medical Center has selected 8 tech solutions for its new program for rehabilitating wounded soldiers. Israeli systems include COGNIShine and 6Degrees (MyMove – see here previously). https://cognishine.com/en-us/ https://nocamels.com/2023/11/ Robotics course for evacuees. Israel’s Technion Institute held a 6-day program in robophysics (how robots move in the real world) for 30 outstanding high school students evacuated from their northern border homes. The course included enrichment activities and mentoring for future university entrance. https://nocamels.com/2023/11/ A good read. Israel’s OrCam (see here previously) has launched “Read 3” to help those with impaired vision. About the size of a highlighter pen, it can magnify text and read multiple types (even handwriting) in 17 different languages, including words printed in a newspaper or the ingredients listed on a food packet. https://nocamels.com/2023/11/ https://www.orcam.com/en-us/ Waging war on secret terrorist funding. Israel’s Lionsgate Network has located $90 million in Hamas-owned crypto wallets and is searching for billions more. Meanwhile, Israel's National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing has frozen 143 Tron wallets connected to terrorist organizations between July and October. https://nocamels.com/2023/11/ https://lionsgate.network/wp- https://www.youtube.com/watch? 3D printers to ensure safer CT scanning. Israel’s Stratasys (see here previously) is to produce tailored 3D models for Germany’s Siemens Healthineers. The models will be used to calibrate Siemens’ CT scanners to ensure correct functioning and to help medical practitioners assess the radiation dose and image quality. https://nocamels.com/category/ Automatic parking & recharging. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Innovation Authority funding 50% of the NIS 1.2 million cost of a pilot solution by Israel’s Charging Robotics for wireless recharging of electric vehicles in automated parking systems. The vehicles will be robotically parked in facilities managed by Israel’s Parkomot. https://finance.yahoo.com/ https://www.chargingrobotics. Best use of AI award. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Rescana has won the prestigious CISO's Connect CISO Choice award for Best Use of AI. Rescana’s risk management solution identifies issues with third-party vendors by collecting and analyzing massive datasets. A company’s operators do not require any coding skills. https://www.prnewswire.com/ Car of the future award. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Arbe Robotics (see here previously) has won the Self-Driving Industry 2023 Award in the hardware category from Cars of the Future for its Perception Radar. https://www.prnewswire.com/il/ ECONOMY & BUSINESS Ensuring safer driving in Italy. Italy’s System Logistics, manufacturer of global automated warehousing, is piloting Israel’s SaverOne (see here previously) on several vehicles in its fleet. SaverOne prevents drivers from texting or using other distracting apps. The system is already being used by Italian vehicle manufacturer Iveco. https://nocamels.com/category/ Easing traffic congestion in Pittsburg. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Axilion (see here previously) is to help optimize traffic flow along the heavily congested Railroad Avenue corridor in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania USA. https://www.prnewswire.com/ Better security at railway stations. (TY OurCrowd) Israel Railways is integrating the AI-powered security screening system from Israel’s SeeTrue (see here previously) at checkpoints in Israel's largest stations where more than 1,000 bags are screened every hour. https://www.prnewswire.com/il/ Your drone delivery is on its way. (TY OurCrowd) Drone delivery customers of Israel’s Flytrex now include Chick-fil-A restaurants (in 3 US States), Walmart, Starbucks, Chili’s, Little Caesars, Raising Cane's, Papa Johns, Jersey Mike’s Subs, Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, and Unilever's The Ice Cream Shop. https://myq105.com/2023/11/21/ 140,000 remote care devices to Madrid. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Essence SmartCare (see here previously) has delivered 140,000 Care@Home senior monitoring devices to satisfy its winning the tender as the sole provider of senior care technology for over 100,000 seniors in the Madrid region. https://finance.yahoo.com/ A fund for brain science startups. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Corundum Neuroscience (was Joy Ventures – see here previously) invests in startups developing neuroscience solutions. It aims to promote new treatments for anxiety, depression, PTSD, chronic pain, sleep, and neurodegenerative disorders. https://cnsfund.com/ https://nocamels.com/2023/11/ Israel Resilience Fund. Israel’s OurCrowd is spearheading the Israel Resilience Fund (IRF) to bolster Israeli startups during the war against Hamas. The $50M fund will invest in 50+ Israeli companies developing vital solutions in the South and North that need funding due to employee call-ups. No management fees! https://www.ourcrowd.com/ Nearly $1 billion Investments & M&As. Since Oct 7, both investments and mergers & acquisitions have reached nearly $1 billion. 29 investment rounds totaled nearly $1 billion, led by Next Insurance’s $265 million raise. Meanwhile, Palo Alto’s two Israeli cyber acquisitions (Talon & Dig) cost them a total of $975 million. https://www.israel21c.org/ Cyber security for Finance of America. Israel’s Spera Security (see here previously) have been chosen by Finance of America to bolster its defense against identity-driven cyberattacks. https://www.globenewswire.com/ Exits, takeovers, and mergers – to 3/12/23: Finish giant Aiven has acquired Israel’s database optimization startup EverSQL. Israel’s Gilat Satellite Networks has acquired US secure communications company DataPath. Investment in Israeli startups – to 3/12/23: CapitalOS raised $39 million; Tabnine raised $25 million; Munch raised $7.2 million. CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT Where have all the flowers come from? A symbol of hope and renewal blossomed in the Re’im forest - new life in the form of autumn wildflowers. “See the regeneration of nature in one of the greatest disaster areas that the State of Israel has known,” said Amir Balaban, of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel. https://www.israel21c.org/ World Illustration award winners. In the 2023 World Illustration Awards competition of the Association of Illustrators, Israel’s Orit Bergman and Anat Warshavsky were overall professional winners and first in the Site-Specific category. Israel’s Stav Assis won a new talent award. Only 20 of the 5,000 illustrators won prizes. https://www.israel21c.org/ New Israeli stamps. (TY Jacob Richman) Latest (Dec 2023) issue of Israeli stamps includes Springs in Israel, Early wine industry in the Land of Israel, Israel-Guatemala 75 years of friendship, 75 years of printing Israeli stamps, and Israel’s national parks (Baram & Nimrod Fortress). https://jr.co.il/stamps/index- Wait for it. (TY IsraPundit) “The Genius of Israel”, Dan Senor and Saul Singer’s follow-up to their 2009 international bestseller “Start-Up Nation”, was written, edited, and ready for publication but the Oct 7 events put it on hold. Here is Bret Stephen’s review and despite the somewhat untimely title, be patient and uplifted. https://www.commentary.org/ Seeds of Hope. KKL-JNF is offering a relaxing, meaningful nature activity for young members of communities in the Golan that have not been evacuated. In its “Seeds of Hope” initiative, volunteers sort rare seeds stored in the Shamir Research Institute for Science, and plant them nearby. Some 60 schools have enrolled. https://www.israel21c.org/ Women’s soccer success. (TY Hazel) Israeli Arab Marian Awad scored the opening goal in Israel’s 2-0 win against Kazakhstan. Israel beat Armenia 4-0 in the Women’s Nations League (see the goals). Israel’s U17 women’s team defeated Andorra 7-0, and Latvia 2-0 in the 2024 Euro qualifiers. https://www.youtube.com/watch? Martial artists. Israel’s Jujitsu team won 12 medals at the European championships in Croatia - more than any other team. And at the World kickboxing championships, Druze-Israeli Monia Heno won a silver medal. https://allisrael.com/israeli- Silent protest. Europe’s soccer ruling body UEFA distastefully refused to allow the Israeli and Polish teams to observe a moment’s silence for the victims of Oct 7 before their Under-21 European Championship match. So, when the referee blew his whistle to start the game, nobody moved! Very moving for the rest of us, though. https://www.timesofisrael.com/ THE JEWISH STATE Donated organs save more lives. Last week’s newsletter included news of the six people saved by the organs of fallen soldier Yehonatan Semo / Samo (see here previously). This week he is emulated by Amichai Rubin. Roi Nahari, Shoham Ben Harush, and Naaran Ashchar. https://www.timesofisrael.com/ A Hanukkiah in Gaza. A group of Chabad IDF reservists erected a 15-foot 9-branch menorah in Beit Hanoun northern Gaza ready for the Jewish festival of Hanukah / Chanukah that begins on Thurs evening Dec 7. It is one of over a dozen Hanukkah Menorahs that will be erected in Gaza, bringing light to the darkest places. https://collive.com/idf- https://www.youtube.com/watch? Jerusalem gives thanks. (TY Sharon) Israel’s capital celebrated Thanksgiving last week. Posters thanked residents for donating blood and volunteering. Tens of thousands of evacuees from the north and south, and farmers, were grateful to Jerusalemites for their hospitality. And lone soldiers enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner. https://rjstreets.com/2023/11/ Be positive. UK Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis’ message from last week’s sedra is “Be Positive and never despair. “At this very moment when there is a tragic war in Israel, our prayer indeed is that Hashem will bless the Jewish people, and he will transform our darkness into light, and may this happen speedily and instantly.” https://www. How to help Israel. Here are some sites where newsletter readers can donate to Israeli organizations that provide vital help to Israelis at this difficult time. Many thanks to those who have already contributed and to those who are helping by donating their own valuable time and resources. Friends of the IDF (US donors): https://www.fidf.org/ or IDF Soldiers Fund in Israel: https://www.ufis.org.il/en/ American Friends of Magen David Adom (US donors): https://afmda.org/ or Magen David Adom (Israel): https://www.mdais.org/en/ Zaka (US donors): https://donate.zakatelaviv. or (Canadian donors): https://www.canadahelps.org/ United Hatzalah: https://israelrescue.org/ Leket Food Israel: https://www.leket.org/en/ JNF USA - https://my.jnf.org/gaza- Orthodox Union - https://www.charidy.com/ Hadassah Hospital Israel: https://www.hadassah.org/ Laniado Hospital (Netanya) https://my.israelgives.org/en/ And many more charities here: https://www.timesofisrael.com/ Buy Israel Bonds to support the Jewish State. (TY Larry B) https://www. USA - https://www.israelbonds.com/ Europe - https://israelbondsintl.com/ Canada - https://www.israelbonds.ca/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The last Chapter in :"Unwoke" by Sen Cruz begins with his meeting China's Ambassador to America who came to chastise Cruz for his "unkind" comments hurled at China. Cruz, apparently, did not back down and told Qin Gang as long as China engaged in murder, lies, torture, re-education and genocide he had no reason to change his tone nor alter his language. He then wrote about his demand China release a Texas citizen who had been jailed on trumped espionage charges. Cruz then discussed Covid and China's exorbitant payments to Hunter and the apparent lies his father made regarding not knowing what Hunter was engaged in as well as denying various dinner meetings with selected persons Hunter had engaged. Like American scrap dealers prior to Pearl Harbor, American capitalists are actively pursuing Chinese business relationships in order to earn profits. He discusses various instances where specific Americans were engaged with China and bowed to pressures to alter their behaviour because it was deemed, by China, to be offensive, demeaning, specifically referencing Taiwan, etc. Cruz finished the chapter and book discussing what we must do to fight back. Since the Chinese are sensitive to sunlight and criticism we need to be frank, open and tough. In other words we need to be rational and stop being wusses but Biden is incapable of being any thing but a vegetable. Cruz believes China fears Taiwan, Hong Kong and dissidents because acts of freedom by others threatens them. The Gov. of South Dakota was recently interviewed and is pressing Congress to pass legislation that forbids China's purchase of acreage in America including Hollywood's use of American military assets to make movies if there is demonstrable evidence China has engaged in censorship scrip pressures. In the final analysis we must cease continuing to sell America down the rive in order to earn money as we did before Japan's attack on Dec 7. We must embrace restrictions. pass and enforce restrictive legislation as is China's against U.S Companies doing business there etc.. Cruz concludes by reviewing Marxist's "march through our institutions," ie. education (K-12 and universities) , journalism, big tech and big business, science and entertainment, science and entertainment, etc, ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ |
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