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Now that anti-Semitism has resurfaced, it is being challenged and may be on the way to peaking once again. Consequently, I was saddened to see far too many Jews become frightened. Rather than be fearful, I suggest Jews remember God is on our side. That was once a powerful comfort.
I recommend they read : "Outsmarting Anti-Semitism
When it comes to anti-Semitism on university and college campuses, Jews probably made a mistake by contributing to the erection of buildings while radical Islamists actively established departments engaged in educating vulnerable students that Jews were oppressors and Arabs/Muslims were the oppressed.
The new faddish tools of the anti-Semites are a variety of renamed methodologies that profess to be inclusive yet, in the case of DEI, in many instances, clearly excludes Jews and/or falsely attacks Israel as an Apartheid nation. Three of the more prominent accusers were President Carter and two professors.
A recent analyst said after Mandela died, racists, who also embrace a cultural Marxist philosophy, needed a new scapegoat and that tail was penned on the Jews/Israeli's.
I believe not only may DEI be on its deathbed but CRT, Wokeism and even ESG may be on their way to their own decline if not burial.
Lamentably, America's allegedly most prestigious colleges and universities have allowed many of their departments to be overrun by biased radical professors who have attained tenure and whose teaching methods are didactic. Having served on the Board of Visitors of St John's College for 8 years, I know the difference between a unique educational institution whose goal is to expose and challenge students to learn how to reason, to recognize there always is another side and how to structure a rebuttal as opposed to thoughtlessly vomiting back the biased bile fed by agenda oriented professors.
Our republic will not survive if those between the age of 18-24 mature retaining willing support of the likes of Hamas' heinous activities because many eventually become professors, staff members of those in Congress etc. The cultivation of brainless students has been in the works for decades and the cost of accomplishing this tragedy has exploded because of governmental intrusion.
I maintain once President Carter established the Department of Education, as with most anything government touches, American education began to spiral downward. Hillsdale College, unlike the Ivy's, chose not to be bludgeoned by the heavy hand of government bureaucrats. Instead, Hillsdale chose not to have their curricula set by government because of federal funded students. Hillsdale raised their endowment so any student they accepted and in need of financial aid will receive same.
Even St John's recently/dramatically cut the annual cost of student tuition and in conjunction with a munificent challenge gift substantially raised their own endowment.
If our republic is to survive and anti-Semitism is to subside a return to educational basics is an absolute necessity and choice must be made available so competition will impact our union controlled system. Weingarten, and the union she leads, continues to be a disaster.
Perhaps the most significant factor to right the ship of state will be Biden's defeat. No nation whose citizens speak multiple languages excels. Furthermore, open borders enhance not only this occurrence but also heightens the prospect of terrorism, increases divisiveness and spawns a multitude of other serious societal negatives/debilitations.
Moreover, Biden allegedly set about to unite yet from Valley Forge he attacked Trump both as a person, a liar, a destroyer of our Democracy, as a former do nothing president, as a crude oaf and an insurrectionist.
It was Biden at his best. He might have picked up a few votes with this mean spirited harangue as he reminded America what a lousy president Trump was or he might have won a larger amount of votes for Trump. Why? Because, as is usual with radical Democrats, because their attack are actually demagogically projecting who they really are by saying more about themselves.
I do not believe campaign negativity is what American's need right now, nor frankly, at any time. But that is something voters will decide.
Meanwhile, America is culturally and militarily in decline. Our mass media no longer serves the role of ombudsman, progressive welfarism has destroyed the two parent family and patriotism and religion are no longer revered. Most republics have a history of an early demise. America has lasted well beyond the norm. Can it be sustained?
I remain less than enthusiastic our's will survive unless we return to embracing fiscal responsibility and cease asking our progeny to pay our bar tab.
As I often say: "The enemy is us."
DEI in a nutshell...
We know Dick Lamm as the former Governor of Colorado. In that context his thoughts are particularly poignant. Last week there was an immigration overpopulation conference in Washington, DC, filled to capacity by many of America's finest minds and leaders. A brilliant college professor by the name of Victor Davis Hansen talked about his latest book, "Mexifornia," explaining how immigration - both legal and illegal was destroying the entire state of California. He said it would march across the country until it destroyed all vestiges of The American Dream.
Moments later, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm stood up and gave a stunning speech on how to destroy America. The audience sat spellbound as he described eight methods for the destruction of the United States. He said, "If you believe that America is too smug, too self-satisfied, too rich, then let's destroy America. It is not that hard to do. No nation in history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and fall and that 'An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.'"
"Here is how they do it," Lamm said: "First, to destroy America, turn America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bicultural country." History shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict, and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be bilingual. The historical scholar, Seymour Lipset, put it this way: "The histories of bilingual and bi-cultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension, and tragedy." Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, and Lebanon all face crises of national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces difficulties with Basques, Bretons, and Corsicans.".
Lamm went on: Second, to destroy America, "Invent 'multiculturalism' and encourage immigrants to maintain their culture. Make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal. That there are no cultural differences. Make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates are due solely to prejudice and discrimination by the majority Every other explanation is out of bounds.
Third, "We could make the United States an 'Hispanic Quebec' without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently: "The apparent success of our own multiethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved not by tolerance but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentricity and what it meant to be an American, we are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together."
Lamm said, "I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl metaphor. It is important to ensure that we have various cultural subgroups living in America enforcing their differences rather than as Americans, emphasizing their similarities."
"Fourth, I would make our fastest growing demographic group the least educated. I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated, and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass have a 50% dropout rate from high school."
"My fifth point for destroying America would be to get big foundations and business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of 'Victimology.' I would get all minorities to think that their lack of success was the fault of the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority population."
"My sixth plan for America's downfall would include dual citizenship, and promote divided loyalties. I would celebrate diversity over unity. I would stress differences rather than similarities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other - that is, when they are not killing each other. A diverse, peaceful, or stable society is against most historical precedent. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together. Look at the ancient Greeks. The Greeks believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common Language and literature; and they worshipped the same gods. All Greece took part in the Olympic games. A common enemy, Persia, threatened their liberty. Yet all these bonds were not strong enough to overcome two factors: local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions. Greece fell. "E. Pluribus Unum" --From many, one. In that historical reality, if we put the emphasis on the 'pluribus' instead of the 'Unum,' we will balkanize America as surely as Kosovo."
"Next to last, I would place all subjects off limits; make it taboo to talk about anything against the cult of 'diversity.' I would find a word similar to 'heretic' in the 16th century - that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. Words like 'racist' or 'xenophobe' halt discussion and debate. Having made America a bilingual/bicultural country, having established multi-culturism, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of 'Victimology,' I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has been good for America, it must always be good. I would make every individual immigrant symmetric and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them."
In the last minute of his speech, Governor Lamm wiped his brow. Profound silence followed. Finally he said,. "Lastly, I would censor Victor Davis Hanson's book "Mexifornia." His book is dangerous. It exposes the plan to destroy America. If you feel America deserves to be destroyed, don't read that book."
There was no applause. A chilling fear quietly rose like an ominous cloud above every attendee at the conference. Every American in that room knew that everything Lamm enumerated was proceeding methodically, quietly, darkly, yet pervasively across the United States today. Discussion is being suppressed. Over 100 languages are ripping the foundation of our educational system and national cohesiveness. Even barbaric cultures that practice female genital mutilation are growing as we celebrate 'diversity.' American jobs are vanishing into the Third World as corporations create a Third World in America - take note of California and other states - to date, ten million illegal aliens and growing fast. It is reminiscent of George Orwell's book "1984." In that story, three slogans are engraved in the Ministry of Truth building: "War is peace," "Freedom is slavery," and "Ignorance is strength."
Governor Lamm walked back to his seat. It dawned on everyone at the conference that our nation and the future of this great democracy is deeply in trouble and worsening fast. If we don't get this immigration monster stopped within three years, it will rage like a California wildfire and destroy everything in its path especially The American Dream.
If you care for and love your country, take the time to pass this on. NOTHING is going to happen if you don't.
Claudine Gay’s ‘My Truth’ and the Truth
Her ouster as Harvard president is a chance to reflect on the real value of diversity.
Since the resignation of Harvard President Claudine Gay, we have been treated to triumphal pronouncements from Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) and conservative culture warrior Christopher Rufo, a pained self-justification from Ms. Gay, a flurry of statements from her archcritic, investor Bill Ackman, followed by plagiarism charges against Mr. Ackman’s wife, accusations of racism from Ms. Gay’s defenders, and blow-by-blow inside accounts of the Harvard Corp.’s slow realization that Ms. Gay’s position had become untenable.
Most of this was predictable and inevitable. The question now is whether institutions of higher education will squander the opportunity to reflect on the larger issues raised by this unfortunate episode and make necessary changes.
Having spent three decades teaching and conducting research at large universities, I can say that Ms. Gay’s record as a scholar, administrator and fundraiser was comparatively thin. This raises the question of how the distinguished 12-member Harvard Corp. came to select her. I find it difficult to believe that she was the strongest candidate among the hundreds of applications the corporation received. She may well have been the most popular among Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, of which she served as dean for five years before her elevation to the presidency. And she was probably the candidate best positioned to move forward the university’s diversity, equity and inclusion policy, which she championed during her deanship.
The issue, then, is why the Harvard Corp. decided that these attributes were compelling enough to counterbalance Ms. Gay’s otherwise modest record. I don’t know whether the absence of diverse views among the members of the corporation contributed to this result, though an investigation by the Harvard Crimson revealed that 99% of their political contributions had gone to Democrats in 2021 and 2022. But the facts are consistent with the hypothesis that the corporation had subordinated the principal purpose of higher education—the discovery and transmission of knowledge to students and society—to other considerations.
In the apology Ms. Gay offered after her disastrous congressional testimony, she said that she had failed to convey “my truth.” As several commentators have observed, this phrase is the tip of an epistemological iceberg. It stands for the proposition that the truth doesn’t exist and that the quest for it is futile. Instead, there are multiple “perspectives,” each rooted in the position, experiences and sentiments of individuals or of groups in similar positions. If so, Harvard’s motto, “Veritas,” expresses an antique metaphysics that should no longer guide the academy’s aspirations.
No one in the sciences or engineering can take this argument seriously. If “my truth” is that water isn’t composed of hydrogen and oxygen or that a roof doesn’t require structural support, I would be laughed out of the laboratory and classroom. I certainly wouldn’t be allowed to teach students.
The situation is different in the humanities and social sciences, although not fundamentally. John Stuart Mill famously said, “He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that.” In testing the strength of an argument, the presence—and clash—of multiple views is essential. This kind of diversity is central to the purpose of the university, which is why the dominance of a single point of view in the faculty and student body is so damaging to the academic mission. If people with unpopular views are cowed into silence, everyone loses and the search for truth is impeded.
Diversity of background and experience has its place in the university because it increases the pool of factual knowledge available to all members of the community and generates new questions that previous generations had overlooked. It had never occurred to me to ask whether homes owned by African-Americans were assessed at a lower value for reasons other than the quality of the houses and amenities of their surrounding neighborhoods. But using state-of-the-art research methods, two of my Brookings Institution colleagues—one an African-American with a wealth of knowledge about housing—were able to show that this is indeed the case. Diversity means inquiry that can widen the sphere of knowledge.
These arguments for diversity don’t treat it as an end in itself or set aside the quest for truth. Diversity must serve this quest. The goal, wherever possible, is to replace diverse perspectives with a unifying truth that all individuals and groups can share despite their differences.
One may wonder whether this goal is achievable in moral and political matters. On fundamental matters, it is. We agree, I believe, that genocide is among the greatest evils of which our species is capable. We agree that tyranny is one of the worst imaginable political conditions. We agree, with Abraham Lincoln, that if slavery isn’t wrong, nothing is.
The quest for truth in these matters isn’t an impossible mission. There is no need to replace “the truth” with “my truth,” and there are many reasons not to. The renewal of American higher education will begin when its leaders endorse this simple proposition.
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| Biden's Campaign Strategy And Trump's Legal Issues With Victor Davis Hanson interview with Victor Davis Hanson via The Megyn Kelly Show Hoover Institution fellow Victor Davis Hanson, author of the forthcoming book "The End of Everything," joins Megyn Kelly to discuss racial division and border policies in campaign messaging by the president. |
Victory is more important than US support
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers must remember that Israel is not an American vassal state.
By Caroline Glick
At his press conference Tuesday evening, U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken showed that contrary to popular belief, the Biden administration is not Israel’s ally. It is the greatest obstacle to Israel’s victory.
Blinken began his remarks by drawing a moral equivalence between the suffering of Israeli hostages and their families and that of the Palestinians in Gaza. The Palestinians in Gaza, who overwhelmingly support Hamas, are just as innocent as the hostages, Blinken insisted.
Blinken said nothing about the torture, rape, mutilation and deliberate starvation of the hostages carried out by Hamas terrorists and its civilian accomplices alike. Instead, Blinken spoke of the “acute food insecurity,” that Gazans suffer from—and blamed that “acute food insecurity” on Israel.
“Israel needs to do everything it can to remove any obstacles from [aid] crossing to…Gaza. Improving deconfliction procedures to ensure that the aid can move safely and securely is a critical part of that,” he said.
The body responsible for distributing “humanitarian aid” in Gaza today is the United Nations, through UNRWA. Blinken ignored completely the documented fact that thousands of UNRWA employees posted fulsome praise for the Oct. 7 slaughter on social media. He ignored the overwhelming evidence that UNRWA schools and clinics are Hamas military bases. He ignored that UNRWA employees have been credibly accused of holding Israeli hostages and deliberately starving them. And he ignored that UNRWA employees, including all of its regional directors in Gaza, have been credibly accused of being Hamas terrorists themselves.
Burying his head deep in the sand, Blinken cooed, “The United Nations is playing an indispensable role in addressing the immense humanitarian needs in Gaza. There is simply no alternative.
“UN personnel…in Gaza are demonstrating extraordinary courage by continuing to provide lifesaving services in what are extremely challenging conditions.”
Israel, he demanded, must join the United States in giving the United Nations its “full support.”
As for Israel’s military campaign to wipe out Hamas, Blinken said that military operations must take no toll on civilians, even if that means that Israel will lose the war.
“We know that facing an enemy that embeds itself among civilians—who hides in and fires from schools, from hospitals—makes this incredibly challenging. But the daily toll on civilians in Gaza, particularly on children, is far too high,” said Blinken.
The only way to separate the civilians from the terrorists and so protect them is by permitting them to leave Gaza, just as 6 million Ukrainians left their country since the Russian invasion.
Gazans are so eager to leave that the Guardian reported they are paying $10,000 to middlemen to bribe Egyptian officials to let them leave. But the United States will have none of it.
“The United States unequivocally rejects any proposals advocating for the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza,” said Blinken with a scowl.
Not only must Israel force the Palestinians to stay in Gaza and care for them, Israel must allow them to return to northern Gaza, thus subverting Israel’s main sustained operational achievement since the ground operation began.
“In today’s meetings” with Israeli leaders, Blinken said, “I was also crystal clear: Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow.”
The only way for the now abandoned Israeli towns and villages bordering Gaza to be rebuilt and for their surviving residents to return safely is to block Hamas from rebuilding its terror infrastructure, including its forces in northern Gaza.
Keeping that area unpopulated, or lightly populated, for the foreseeable future is a military imperative.
After demanding that Israel permit Hamas to survive and regroup in Gaza, Blinken moved to the northern front against Hezbollah. There too, the United States demands that Israel lose.
“As I told the war cabinet and other senior officials, the United States stands with Israel in ensuring its northern border is secure. We’re fully committed to working with Israel to find a diplomatic solution that avoids escalation and allows families to return to their homes, to live security in northern Israel and also in southern Lebanon,” he said.
The problem is that the “diplomatic solution,” the United States proposes will make it impossible for Israel to secure its northern border or permit the 80,000 civilians that were forced to flee their homes along to border to return to their homes.
Blinken and the administration are pushing for a deal that will see no decrease in Hezbollah’s forces trained to invade Israel and commit genocide. Their deal will see no decrease in Hezbollah’s missile and drone arsenal, which are capable of destroying strategic targets and civilian populations throughout Israel.
The administration’s “diplomatic solution” requires Israel to surrender sovereign territory to Hezbollah in exchange for the removal of Hezbollah forces from the border area.
There are two problems with the plan. First, it requires Israel to surrender its land to terrorists. And second, the only force capable of pushing Hezbollah away from the border is the Israel Defense Forces, a prospect the deal is geared towards blocking at all costs.
In other words, just as is the case with Gaza, U.S. policy is to enable Israel’s enemies to win strategic victories against Israel by forbidding Israel to defeat them on the battlefield.
Leaving aside the administration’s slavish commitment to establishing Iran as the regional hegemon by empowering the regime and its terror proxies, the expressed goal of the administration’s effort to induce an Israeli defeat is to establish a Palestinian state.
As the administration sees things, the main obstacle to this goal is Israel, and specifically, the Netanyahu government, which represents the people of Israel.
To push this obstacle aside, the administration is working to overthrow the Netanyahu government. On Sunday, CNN’s Jake Tapper reported that an administration official told him that Netanyahu has to choose between his coalition partners from the nationalist Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit parties led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, respectively, and his ties to President Biden and the United States.
In other words, Netanyahu needs to choose between the Israeli public, which elected him to office as the head of a right-religious governing coalition, and Washington, which rejects the will of the Israeli people.
During his visit Tuesday, Blinken took the unprecedented step of meeting privately with Minister Benny Gantz and Knesset member Gadi Eisenkot. In the wake of the Oct. 7 invasion, Gantz and Eisenkot brought their leftist opposition party into the government to form an emergency unity coalition. The administration has been all but explicit about its intention to use these men and their party to overthrow the Netanyahu government.
Immediately after their meeting, reports began to stream in that Gantz’s inclination to leave the government is growing. Blinken and the administration see two scenarios for Gantz to seize power. Either Gantz can incite a revolt in Likud that can lead to Netanyahu’s ouster and the formation of an alternative government led by Gantz in the current Knesset; or by working with the administration, Gantz can force Netanyahu to accept pro-Palestinian policies that will compel Smotrich and Ben-Gvir to bolt the government. If they leave and Gantz remains in the coalition, Netanyahu will become completely dependent on Gantz to remain in power.
Under both scenarios, the administration believes that it will be in a position to force Israel to crown the terrorist Fatah-led Palestinian Authority as the new leader of Gaza. That in turn will set the stage for a massive pressure campaign to coerce the Gantz-controlled government to make massive strategic concessions to the P.A. in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem that will facilitate the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Blinken’s statements on the topic were nearly bereft of diplomatic niceties.
“As I told the prime minister, every [Arab] partner that I met on this trip said that they’re ready to support a lasting solution that ends the long-running cycle of violence and ensures Israel’s security. But they underscored that this can only come through a regional approach that includes a pathway to a Palestinian state,” he said.
“To make this possible, Israel must be a partner to Palestinian leaders who are willing to lead their people in living side by side in peace with Israel and as neighbors,” he continued, adding, “and Israel must…stop taking steps that undercut Palestinians’ ability to govern themselves effectively.”
Doubling down on his practice of slandering Israelis as the moral equivalents of terrorists, Blinken then libeled the half million Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria as well as IDF forces operating in these areas.
“Extremist settler violence carried out with impunity, settlement expansion, demolitions, evictions all make it harder, not easier, for Israel to achieve lasting peace and security,” he said.
Finally, echoing Tapper’s report, Blinken took a shot at Israel’s leadership, stating that, “If Israel wants its Arab neighbors to make the tough decisions necessary to help ensure its lasting security, Israeli leaders will have to make hard decisions themselves.”
Blinken made his remarks during the primetime news hour. Before he spoke, commentators from left to right insisted that Blinken is a friend and an ally in Israel’s war. After his diatribe, they sheepishly changed their tune.
Blinken, they admitted, presented demands that would foment Israel’s defeat. The only way for Israel to rout its enemies and enable its citizens to return to their homes in southern and northern Israel is to do precisely the opposite of what the United State demands. Israel must end the farce of “humanitarian assistance” to Gaza. It must stop providing electricity and fuel to Gaza. It must fully control the distribution of food and water to the population. It must block the return of the population to northern Gaza. And it must open the Egyptian border with Gaza to permit the Gazans to leave or permit them to exit through Israel.
As for Hezbollah, the government must stop participating in the destructive farce of U.S. diplomacy. Instead, Israel should strike missile stores and terrorist barracks and be prepared to carry out a ground operation in the immediate term.
Israel must defeat Hezbollah. It is the only way Israelis in northern communities will be able to live safely in their homes.
If the United States retaliates by placing a weapons embargo on Israel, then Israel must make do with what it has and what it can produce. Use of imprecise missiles will expand collateral damage, but it will also win the war faster at less risk to IDF soldiers.
Since entering office, the Biden administration has treated Israel with colonialist contempt. Rather than respect Israel as an independent ally, Biden and his aides have acted like imperial overlords barking orders at a backwater, troublesome province.
Despite the pressure, Netanyahu and his ministers must remember that Israel is not a vassal state. We are a successful regional power. It is Israeli power, not U.S. charity that has sustained us to date. And it is Israeli power, not U.S. largesse that will bring us victory in this war for our survival. If forced to choose between support from Washington and victory, the choice is an easy one.
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By Sherwin Pomerantz
The IDF struck some 150 targets across the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, as ground operations continued in Khan Yunis and Al Maghazi. (As I sit here in Jerusalem I can regularly hear the jet fighters overhead on their way to Gaza.) IDF forces uncovered more than 15 tunnel shafts in the Al Maghazi area, and seized rocket launchers, missiles, UAVs and explosive devices during targeted raids on Hamas sites. Israeli troops also destroyed a machine used for manufacturing rockets, according to the military. During operational activity in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, IDF ground forces directed an air strike that eliminated 10 terrorists. In battles in the area over the last day, dozens of terrorist operatives were killed, the military said. Khan Yunis is Gaza’s second largest city and is regarded as a personal stronghold of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, whose family lives there.
Yesterday’s operations bring the total number of Israeli soldiers killed since the start of ground operations in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 27 to 186; a total of 520 military personnel have died since the war began on Oct. 7.
On Tuesday, Defense Minister Gallant told visiting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Israel will “intensify and continue” its military operation in the southern Gaza Strip until the Hamas leadership is found and the more than 120 hostages still held by the terrorist group are returned to the Jewish state. During their meeting held at military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Gallant also briefed the American diplomat on “changes in combat tactics in the northern area of the Gaza Strip,” according to a Defense Ministry statement.
The U.S. has underscored the fact that they are not asking Israel to pursue a cease fire and has reaffirmed that position in UN votes as well
In the north, Israel killed a senior Hezbollah drone commander shortly after Lebanon staged a drone attack on the IDF’s northern Israel headquarters. There were no injuries but there was some damage.
In action in the Red Sea, American and British forces shot down 21 Houthi drones and missiles launched from Yemen over the southern Red Sea on Tuesday night, according to U.S. Central Command. Two U.S. security officials told CNN that the number of Houthi drones and missiles intercepted by naval forces was actually 24 and that it was “one of the largest Houthi attacks that occurred in the Red Sea in recent months.” CENTCOM tweeted early on Wednesday that a “complex attack of Iranian designed one-way attack UAVs (OWA UAVs), anti-ship cruise missiles, and an anti-ship ballistic missile” took place at 9:15 p.m., adding that “dozens of merchant vessels were transiting” at the time of the attack. According to CENTCOM, a total of 18 drones, two anti-ship cruise missiles and one anti-ship ballistic missile were intercepted in a combined response that included F/A 18 fighter jets that took off from three aircraft carriers—the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, USS Gravely and USS Laboon. The United Kingdom’s HMS Diamond assisted in the efforts to counter the Houthi attack.Today’s featured Israeli who has leadership potential for us in the post war period is Nehemia (Chemi) Peres, a Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Pitango, Israel’s largest and most successful venture capital fund.
He began his career in the VC world in 1992 as founder and managing partner of MOFET Israel technology Fund (traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange), and later co-founded and chaired the Israel Venture Association. Prior to his work in Venture Capital, Chemi held managerial positions in the software industry at Decision Systems Israel (DSI) and at the engineering department of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). Chemi also served for ten years as a pilot at the Israeli Air Force (IAF).
Chemi has accumulated years of experience as a board member in many companies, several of which became publicly traded on the NASDAQ and NYSE. Among them are Aladdin, AudioCodes, Orckit Communications and VocalTec. He served on the board of Koor Industries and as of 2017 he has been on the board of directors of Teva Pharmaceuticals. In 2020 he joined the Ethics & Sustainability Committee at GEOX. He currently serves on the boards of numerous Pitango portfolio companies such as Via Transportation, Taboola, Venn.city, Duda, Totango and Radwin. Chemi is Chairman of the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1996. He also serves on the board of other non-profit organizations such as Social Finance Israel (SFI) among others. In 2020 he co-founded and steered the Covid-19 relief Israeli Solidarity Fund together with MATAN, the Israeli branch of United Way. He is a former chairperson of the Israel-America Chamber of Commerce and, of course, the son of Shimon Peres, a former President of Israel, so he is well familiar with how the political system works here. He holds a B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering and an MBA both from Tel Aviv University. IMHO he is typical of the kinds of people we will need in government after the war.
On Sunday Israel will mark 100 days of war and 100 days of captivity for those hostages who remain in Gaza. Please take a minute to watch this moving appeal by Rachel Goldberg-Polin, mother of hostage Hersh Polin, (posted her courtesy of Daniel Gordis) and act on her request of all of us to personally identify with the hostages……
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Dereliction of Duty at the Highest Level
Secretary Austin’s Strange Health Secrecy
It turns out the Defense chief was in the hospital for complications after surgery for prostate cancer. His silence was bad judgment.
By The Editorial Board
We’ve hesitated to pile on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for his failure to tell the White House about an illness that required hospitalization. But the news Tuesday that he was treated for an infection after surgery for prostate cancer makes the silence more serious.
Mr. Austin’s doctors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center disclosed the news after days of what had become a medical and political mystery. Why in the world wouldn’t the secretary of defense, one of the top officials in government during a time of global unrest, let his boss and his deputy know he was in the intensive care unit at a hospital? What was he afraid of disclosing?
It now appears he was trying to protect his privacy, in particular the cancer diagnosis. This makes his silence worse. Prostate cancer is hardly uncommon for a man of Mr. Austin’s 70 years. Tens of thousands of men have had a prostatectomy, or the “minimally invasive surgical procedure,” as the Walter Reed statement put it. There’s nothing to be embarrassed or secretive about.
All the more so if you’re the President’s chief military adviser. Men and women of that government rank might have some expectation of medical privacy from the public. But they have no such expectation of privacy from the President and White House national security adviser. Mr. Austin is at the top of the national chain of military command.
The Pentagon’s early statements on the matter said Mr. Austin was working at Walter Reed. But he was taking medication to fight infection in the ICU for heaven’s sake. How one defines working in that environment probably isn’t how most Americans would understand it. Would he have been able to provide adequate and informed advice in a crisis?
With his failure to tell his superiors and deputies, Mr. Austin created a mystery that ruined the privacy he was trying to protect. He also set a bad example for other men who have a prostate cancer diagnosis, as if the disease still carries some stigma.
Worst of all was Mr. Austin’s judgment, and we wonder if it’s a function in part of his long military service. General officers tend to be surrounded by a close circle of aides who are also career officers. Anyone who has worked in private business knows that an executive headed for the hospital needs to tell his boss and arrange for deputies to fill in.
President Biden says he won’t accept Mr. Austin’s resignation if offered, and that’s his call. The calls to impeach Mr. Austin are silly. But the secretary does owe the public a more extensive explanation of what he was thinking, or not thinking, if only to reassure the country that he understands his mistake.
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