Monthly Archives: April 2020

The U.N. Doesn’t Care About Middle-Aged White Male Victims of Covid-19

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The Covid-19 pandemic is attacking every person on the planet but the United Nations only cares about some of them.

UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres spoke in New York City on March 31, 2020 about the socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19. It was a shameful display of political correctness in the face of statistics.

Antonio Guterres, speaking to RFI and its sister TV channel, France 24. © RFI

He led with a call to aggressively combat the virus saying “I am particularly concerned about the African continent.”

He then added “Second, we must tackle the devastating social and economic dimensions of this crisis, with a focus on those most affected: women, older persons, youth, low-wage workers, small and medium-sized enterprises, the informal sector and vulnerable groups, especially those in humanitarian and conflict settings.”

The head of the global agency addressed a global scourge and selectively highlighted segments of humankind for his concern – seemingly everyone who is not a middle-aged white male.

It is worth reviewing the people who have been most impacted by the coronavirus.

Worldometer maintains a tally of the death toll and those who have contracted the virus. At the time of this writing, April 05, 2020, 11:33 GMT, here are the plain facts:

  • The greatest number of deaths in proportion to the population are happening in EUROPE. Spain, Italy, Andorra and San Marino are seeing fatalities of 266, 254, 220 and 943 per 1 million, respectively. Belgium and France have deaths of 125 and 116 per million, respectively. In Africa, the hardest hit country is Algeria, with 29 deaths per million. The continent’s largest country by population, Nigeria, had 0.02 deaths per million. The Europeans are dying at ten times the rate of Africans.
  • The fatality rate for men in confirmed cases is 4.7% while for women it is 2.8%. Men are 68% more likely to die than women.
  • Older people are indeed the most likely to die from Covid-19, with those over 80 years old having a 14.8% mortality rate. People in their 70’s and 60’s have a 8.0% and 3.6% mortality rate, respectively. But for the youth, there are extremely few deaths. For those between 10 and 39 years old the rate is 0.2% and there have been no cases of anyone under ten dying. Meanwhile people in their 50’s die at almost seven times the rate of 20 to 40 years old.

But the United Nations made a special call out for the young women in Africa when older white men in Europe are dying by the minute.

When it comes to economic losses, there is a direct correlation to educational level, with those with college degrees having the most job security, while those without a high school diploma fairing the worst. It is also true that more women are now graduating college than men in the United States, a fact for all races. As such, women will continue to gain in job security relative to men.

The day after Guterres made the comments above, he said “The COVID-19 crisis reinforces the importance of science and evidence informing Government policies and decision-making.” Meanwhile he has shown no ability to use evidence to inform his thinking or direct his concern.

The United Nations demonstrates the maxim that political correctness makes no room for factual evidence.

Related First One Through articles:

The CoronavirUS is Not Us Versus Them

A Plague for Others

“Coastal Liberal Latte-sipping Politically-correct Out-of-touch Folks.”

Older White Men are the Most Politically Balanced Demographic By Far

NY Times, NY Times, What Do You See? It Sees Rich White Males

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J Street: Home for Pro-Palestinian, Pro-Peace Americans

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J Street is a progressive political lobbying group which bills itself as the “political home for Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace Americans.” It is a marketing ploy designed to sell pro-Arab propaganda to undermine the government of Israel.

Consider a current snapshot of the lobbying group’s current press releases:

J Street’s press most recent press releases from its website on April 3, 2020

Not one off the six articles which J Street felt were the most pressing of the day related to advocating for Israel. There was no support for the country’s battle against the Covid-19 pandemic which has shut down the country, the successful democratically-held elections in the country or America’s recent elections for the World Zionist Congress.

Instead J Street published pro-Arab and pro-Muslim press releases:

  • Block Israeli application of sovereignty over any part of Area C
  • Give financial support to Palestinians
  • Condition US aid to Israel on its not demolishing illegal Arab homes
  • No war with the Islamic Republic of Iran
  • A push for US Democratic presidential candidates to not be too supportive of the policies of the current government of Israel
  • A call to ban Jews from living in and around the Old City of Jerusalem

This snapshot is not surprising for anyone who has followed the far-left lobbying group since its founding in 2008. This group lobbied the Obama administration to censure Israel at the United Nations and to sign an Iranian nuclear deal which the government of Israel opposed. The lobbying efforts were so extremely anti-Israel with the flimsiest Jewish veneer that even devout liberal politician Gary Ackerman (D-NY) said 

“I’ve come to the conclusion that J-Street is not an organization with which I wish to be associated….America really does need a smart, credible, politically active organization that is as aggressively pro-peace as it is pro-Israel. Unfortunately, J-Street ain’t it.”

There are many people who argue that one needn’t be anti-Palestinian to be pro-Israel. I would agree as it relates to Palestinian Arabs who want to make peace with Israel and respect the Jewish people’s history, dignity and security needs in their holy land. On can similarly be both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian, which is J Street’s contention.

But it shows J Street’s deliberate dishonesty to only state it is “pro-Israel” in its tagline when it is primarily focused on a pro-Arab agenda which it believes benefits Israel. Either drop the “Pro-Israel” claim or add “Pro-Arab” to be clear what the far-left lobbying group actually represents.

Related First One Through articles:

J Street is Only Considered “Pro-Israel” in Progressive Circles

J Street is a Partisan Left-Wing Group, NOT an Alternative to AIPAC

The Evil Architects at J Street Take a Bow

J Street: Going Bigger and Bolder than BDS

The Fault in Our Tent: The Limit of Acceptable Speech

J Street’s Select Appreciation of Transparency

A Review of the Fifteen US Slates for the World Zionist Congress

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BBC Welcomes Release of British Muslim Accused of Beheading Daniel Pearl

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On April 2, 2020, a Pakistani court overturned the murder conviction of Omar Saeed Sheikh, a British national with a history of extremism for the beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002.

Daniel Pearl, before his execution in 2002

According to the Wall Street Journal for whom Pearl worked, “the Karachi court, which heard Mr. Sheikh’s appeal last month, overturned convictions for murder and terrorism, the 40-page ruling said Thursday. The third conviction, kidnapping for ransom, was downgraded to simple kidnapping, and Mr. Sheikh’s sentence was reduced to seven years.” In response to the ruling, Dow Jones which owns the Journal stated “we continue to seek justice for the murder of Daniel Pearl.” Reporters Without Borders, an international watchdog group for journalists, called the decision “incoherent” and a “shocking denial of justice.”

Beyond the news services, a senior official at the U.S. State Department said “The overturning of the convictions for Daniel Pearl’s murder is an affront to victims of terrorism everywhere. Those responsible for Daniel’s heinous kidnapping and murder must face the full measure of justice.”

The reaction from the British news service the BBC was seemingly the complete opposite.

The media service wrote that Sheikh’s “arrest and conviction in 2002 came in quick succession, at a time when Pakistan was under severe pressure from the United States to eliminate terror networks operating on its soil,” making the entire arrest of Sheikh seem like a sham witch hunt.

Rather than quote Dow Jones or Reporters Without Borders, the BBC wrote that “a group of US journalists, including former colleagues of Pearl, said in 2011 that they believed Sheikh had not carried out the beheading,” adding fuel to the reader that the conviction of Sheikh was never credible as even reporters and friends of Pearl believed Sheikh to be innocent.

BBC would not mention the reaction from the U.S. State Department, nor the reaction from Pearl’s father who had called it a “mockery of justice.”

In providing background to the case, BBC ran a header “Longstanding questions over Sheikh’s conviction.” The article continued that “The main argument of the defence lawyers was that the prosecution had failed to prove their case beyond doubt. They may have a point. There have been questions over whether the four [Sheikh and three accomplices] had any direct role in Daniel Pearl’s murder, though there was some evidence to show Sheikh’s involvement in his kidnapping.” Complete editorializing in the middle of a news article does not seem an issue for the BBC editors.

The icing on BBC’s celebratory cake was the concluding paragraph:

“But the Pakistani judiciary has sat on his appeal for nearly two decades, and some observers believe the present ruling has come at a time when the mood in the US and the rest of the world has changed and nobody seems to be worried about the terrorists of the past.“

Congratulations BBC. Your patriot who conspired with colleagues to kidnap and behead a 38-year old journalist and then cut up his body into pieces will soon be set free. He left behind a pregnant wife and the lingering final words “My father is Jewish. My mother is Jewish. I am a Jew.” But for the BBC, the true victim in the story is a British Muslim who unjustly lost 18 years of his life due to American-Zionist pressure.

Related First One Through articles:

Anti-Semitism Is Harder to Recognize Than Racism

Names and Narrative: It is Called ‘Area C’

Bernie Sanders’ Antisemitic and Anti-Zionist Friends

For The NY Times, Antisemitism Exists Because the Alt-Right is Racist and Israel is Racist

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A Plague for Others

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When Covid-19 first began killing people in China it felt like a disease far away, a distant threat so remote it did not register. When it later arrived in Iran, the focus became the curious relationship between China and Iran, not that the disease was going global. Then it came to Italy, and just a short time later it was in almost every country.

Yet even as the virus found local victims, people chose to manufacture distance. This was only deadly for the elderly. It killed those with compromised health. There was no true need to worry, as the vast majority of people who tested positive for the coronavirus suffered from a mere cold.

That attitude was best captured in an interview with a teenager enjoying spring break in Florida “If I get corona, I get corona. I’m not going to let it stop me from partying.”

This was a plague for “others” and the guidelines calling for “social-distancing” was not relevant for them.

It is something to consider during this holiday of Passover, when plagues came for the Egyptians.

The Quarantine of Goshen

The story of the plagues which helped free the Jews from slavery in Egypt 3,300 years ago had two parts: the first nine plagues and the final one.

During the initial plagues, the land, animals and people of Egypt were attacked broadly with a variety of vermin and afflictions, except for the Jews as God protected them. However, for the final plague, the killing of the first born, the Jews were asked to take specific actions to facilitate their protection. They were to take a lamb, paint its blood on the doorposts of the house, roast the lamb and eat it; a slew of activities which were unnecessary for the first nine plagues. Clearly God was capable of inflecting a plague on segments of the population as He had done nine times before but for the final plague, God wanted the Jews to take a part in their own salvation.

The story of the tenth plague unfolds in three parts. First, Moses addressed Pharaoh in Exodus 11: 4-8 saying that God will kill every first-born in Egypt except for the Jews “in order that you may know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.” This plague was specifically designed to highlight the “other.” All people are not the same and will not be impacted the same way.

But the story and message seem to morph. In Exodus 12: 1-20 God addressed the Jews through Moses and Aaron with a detailed plan of the various steps the Jews needed to take during their last night in Egypt, and it wasn’t so much about how to pack. Tucked among the twenty sentences was a critical line “And the blood on the houses where you are staying shall be a sign for you: when I see the blood I will pass over you, so that no plague will destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” The key to avoiding the impact of the plague is “blood on the houses,” an item that was mentioned in passing six sentences earlier as part of a long list of things to do.

God had gone from not asking the Jews to do anything during the first nine plagues, to putting forth a long list of tasks, one of which was – incidentally – key to avoiding the impact of the plague.

In the third part of the revelation of the tenth plague, Moses addressed the Elders in Exodus 12: 21-27 and provided a much more direct plan for salvation: “Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and to the two doorposts. None of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning. For when the LORD goes through to smite the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, and the LORD will pass over the door and not let the Destroyer enter and smite your home.” Moses went to the crux of the matter to get the people to focus, directly connecting the blood on the doorposts to salvation. He also elaborated on God’s command telling people to stay inside – to self-quarantine – during the deadly plague.

The story of the deadly plague evolved in a curious fashion. At first Moses told Pharaoh that the plague will be very selective – it will only come for the first-born and only from Egyptians, because “the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.” God sees that the people of Egypt and Israel are different and will act accordingly.

But it becomes less clear that this is actually true. God doesn’t seemingly recognize any difference as He asks the Jews to paint the outside of their homes with blood. It is the home markings that God sees. If Jews wandered the streets that night, they would presumably have died, which is why Moses clarified that no one should leave their houses. The distinction between Egyptians and Israelites that Moses discussed with Pharaoh was one of direction, not of personhood.

“Death of Pharaoh’s First Born” painted 1872 by Lawrence Alma -Tadema (1836-1912)

Plagues and deadly viruses may present as threats for “others” but that is delusional. Neither youth nor religion will serve as shield, and leaders as far back as Moses understood that directing people to self-quarantine in their homes is the best precaution.

Related First One Through articles:

Taking the Active Steps Towards Salvation

The CoronavirUS is Not Us Versus Them

Defeating Haman’s Big Ten Sons and Modern Antisemitism

Kohelet, An Ode to Abel

Ruth, The Completed Jew

A Sofer at the Kotel

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Hamas Charter, Articles 13 and 14

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The Hamas Charter continues to clarify its strategies to achieve its goal of an Islamic State in Articles Thirteen and Fourteen.

Peaceful Solutions, Initiatives and International Conferences:

Article Thirteen:

Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. Abusing any part of Palestine is abuse directed against part of religion. Nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is part of its religion. Its members have been fed on that. For the sake of hoisting the banner of Allah over their homeland they fight. “Allah will be prominent, but most people do not know.”

Now and then the call goes out for the convening of an international conference to look for ways of solving the (Palestinian) question. Some accept, others reject the idea, for this or other reason, with one stipulation or more for consent to convening the conference and participating in it. Knowing the parties constituting the conference, their past and present attitudes towards Moslem problems, the Islamic Resistance Movement does not consider these conferences capable of realising the demands, restoring the rights or doing justice to the oppressed. These conferences are only ways of setting the infidels in the land of the Moslems as arbitraters. When did the infidels do justice to the believers?

“But the Jews will not be pleased with thee, neither the Christians, until thou follow their religion; say, The direction of Allah is the true direction. And verily if thou follow their desires, after the knowledge which hath been given thee, thou shalt find no patron or protector against Allah.” (The Cow – verse 120).

There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with. As in said in the honourable Hadith:

“The people of Syria are Allah’s lash in His land. He wreaks His vengeance through them against whomsoever He wishes among His slaves It is unthinkable that those who are double-faced among them should prosper over the faithful. They will certainly die out of grief and desperation.”

The Three Circles:

Article Fourteen:

The question of the liberation of Palestine is bound to three circles: the Palestinian circle, the Arab circle and the Islamic circle. Each of these circles has its role in the struggle against Zionism. Each has its duties, and it is a horrible mistake and a sign of deep ignorance to overlook any of these circles. Palestine is an Islamic land which has the first of the two kiblahs (direction to which Moslems turn in praying), the third of the holy (Islamic) sanctuaries, and the point of departure for Mohamed’s midnight journey to the seven heavens (i.e. Jerusalem).

“Praise be unto him who transported his servant by night, from the sacred temple of Mecca to the farther temple of Jerusalem, the circuit of which we have blessed, that we might show him some of our signs; for Allah is he who heareth, and seeth.” (The Night-Journey – verse 1).

Since this is the case, liberation of Palestine is then an individual duty for very Moslem wherever he may be. On this basis, the problem should be viewed. This should be realised by every Moslem.

The day the problem is dealt with on this basis, when the three circles mobilize their capabilities, the present state of affairs will change and the day of liberation will come nearer.

“Verily ye are stronger than they, by reason of the terror cast into their breasts from Allah. This, because they are not people of prudence.” (The Emigration – verse 13).

The Hamas Charter states clearly that there is no peaceful solution to the Question of Palestine. The goal of the movement is to hoist “the banner of Allah over their homeland.” But the purpose of international conferences is to set “the infidels in the land of the Moslems,” an unacceptable outcome for a group seeking to purge the land of all non-Muslims. Those “double-faced” people cannot be allowed to triumph over the Muslim “faithful.”

Rejecting peace, Hamas makes clear that the method of achieving its objective is “jihad.”

Mohammed Deif (1965-), founding member of Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades

Jihad is mentioned eleven times in the charter. Here, in Article Thirteen, it is used for the fourth time, after the rejection of any peaceful approach, with a clear message: “There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad.” Hamas seeks a war of the “faithful” Muslims against the Jews and Christians who “settle” in “the land of the Moslems.” The charter calls for all Muslims to join the fight for the “liberation of Palestine” from these “infidels.” 

And the Palestinian Arabs elected Hamas to 58% of the parliament with this charter, the United Nations pushes for Hamas to be part of a unity government, and the media talks of “Islamic resistance” as a peaceful and natural endeavor.

Related First One Through articles:

The Hamas Charter, Chapter and Verse. #1

The Hamas Charter, Chapter and Verse. #2

The Hamas Charter, Chapter and Verse. #3

The Hamas Charter, Chapter and Verse. #4

The Hamas Charter, Chapter and Verse. #5

The Hamas Charter, Chapter and Verse. #6

The Hamas Charter, Chapter and Verse. #7

The Palestinians aren’t “Resorting to Violence”; They are Murdering and Waging War

Extreme and Mainstream. Germany 1933; West Bank & Gaza Today

Pick Your Jihad; Choose Your Infidel

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