Category Archives: USA

Looking at Gaza Through Swedish Glasses

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It is amazing to review how “enlightened” governments in Europe consider the situation in Gaza and Israel.

Firstly, how few governments understand and internalize simple facts:

  • Gaza was part-and-parcel of Palestine. That means that it was designated to be part of the Jewish homeland as outlined in international law in 1920 and the 1922 Palestine Mandate.
  • Gaza was seized and occupied by Egypt in 1948-9. Egypt made no attempt to establish Gaza as an independent Arab state while it administered the area. No international movement pressured Egypt to create such entity.
  • Gazans are not refugees. The Arabs from other parts of Palestine which became Israel in 1948 who moved to Gaza cannot be called “refugees,” but “internally-displaced people” who relocated to another part of the territory.
  • Gazans are independent. This is first time in history that the local Arabs in Gaza rule over themselves, since Israel uprooted every Israeli Jew – soldier and civilian – in 2005.
  • Gazans are ruled by their favorite terrorist group, Hamas. Hamas is designated as a terrorist group by much of the world including the United States, European Union and Israel. It calls for the destruction of Israel in its 1988 charter and was democratically elected to a majority of the Palestinian Parliament in 2006. It continues to lead in Palestinian polls should another election ever be held.
  • Egypt and Israel imposed the Gaza blockade because of Hamas. Israel and Egypt did not have any blockade of Gaza in 2005 when it gave the region independence. The countries established the blockade after Hamas routed the Palestinian Authority from the region in a mini- civil war between Hamas and Fatah in 2007.
  • Hamas launched three wars from Gaza in the past decade. In 2008, 2012 and 2014 the Palestinians in Gaza ratcheted up their attacks on Israel into full-blow wars.
  • The Palestinian attacks from Gaza have not stopped. In between each of the three wars, the Arabs in Gaza continued to attack Israel through incendiary devices, mortar shelling, sniper shots, tunnel infiltration and bombings.

These are plain historic facts which should not be subject to interpretation. Israel abandoned territory to which it had international and historic rights, to watch it be taken over by a group sworn to its destruction which battles against it constantly. You would imagine that such data points would inform how diplomats view the situation there.

But today, the European Union is a haven for Israel-bashers.

Consider Swedish Ambassador Olof Skoog’s address to the United Nations Security Council in May 2018 on the fighting between the Palestinian Arabs in Gaza and Israel. His comments showed an interesting perspective.


H.E Mr. Olof Skoog, Permanent Representative of Sweden to the United Nations and the President of the Security Council for the month of July 2018

Palestinians are protesting peacefully, so by definition, Israel is using disproportionate force:

  • “Israel, as the occupying power, has a responsibility to protect Palestinian civilians and must fully respect the right to peaceful protest, protect civilians and ensure that the use of force, and other measures taken, are strictly proportional.”
  • “We urge the Israeli security forces to refrain from the use of force against unarmed civilian protestors and representatives of the media. We also call on Hamas, and those organising the demonstrations, to avoid any provocations and ensure that protests remain non-violent and peaceful.”

In such worldview, Israel is the party responsible for the people of Gaza and for the violence. Hamas is not responsible for Gaza; it organizes peaceful demonstrations.

Both sides use children as pawns:

  • “We urge all parties to act with the utmost restraint to avoid further loss of life and to protect civilians, particularly children. This means never making children the target of violence as well as not putting children in harm’s way or encouraging them to participate in violence.”

It is true that children are inherently innocent; the violence in which they engage is at the direction of adults. But how does one address a violent mob of thousands of children?

Israel should lift Gaza blockade:

  • “we must not forget that the people of Gaza have lived in intolerable conditions for far too long, in a humanitarian situation that is now deteriorating even further. To tackle this situation and to enable Gaza to recover, movement and access restrictions must be eased.”

Even with the restrictions of goods, the Arabs of Gaza have amassed hundreds if not thousands of missiles and built additional underground tunnels into Israel, yet the Swedes want to ease the blockade?

Israel does not provide free access in Jerusalem to all religions:

  • “The position of Sweden and the whole European Union on the status of Jerusalem as a final status issue is clear and will not change. All three Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Islam and Christianity – have strong bonds to Jerusalem that must be preserved. A way must be found through negotiations to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of both states, in line with relevant UN resolutions.”

Israel is the ONLY country that respects the three monotheistic faiths and allows all religions to worship in their holy locations. For centuries, the Arab Muslims forbade Jews from even climbing the steps of the Cave of the Jewish Patriarchs in Hebron! If the goal is freedom of access and respect for religions, then Jerusalem MUST remain the capital of Israel; to suggest otherwise is the inverse of reality and logic.

Western Jerusalem is not part of Israel:

  • “In line with longstanding policy of the European Union, we will continue to respect the international consensus on the status of Jerusalem embodied in, among others, Security Council resolution 478, including on the location of diplomatic representations until the final status of Jerusalem is resolved.”
  • “As was stated in December last year, we regret the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. It runs counter to international law and this Council’s resolutions.”

The United States relocated its embassy to Israel in the western part of Jerusalem. Has Sweden declared that even the Knesset is on disputed land?

Refusal to comprehend that Hamas seeks the destruction of Israel:

  • “There is unanimity around this table, I believe, in calls for restraint, for de-escalation, to break the cycle of violence, relieving the dire situation in Gaza and for a resumed serious negotiation towards peace.”

How does a party negotiate peace with another party that seeks its destruction?

Pre-ordaining outcome of two-state solution including Jerusalem and no Jews:

  • “ We must, more than ever, urgently engage to bring the parties back to negotiations to advance the two-state solution. Intra-Palestinian reconciliation and the Palestinian Authority’s reestablishment in Gaza are also needed. A halt to settlements and an end to the ongoing Israeli occupation are fundamental.”

The Swedish diplomat claims to seek a two-state solution to be negotiated between the parties, but also demands the conclusion of such negotiation with “Jerusalem as the capital of both states” and a Palestine free of any Jews through halting Israeli “settlements.”

An address meant to quell violence in Gaza became a forum for the Swedish diplomat to dictate his desired outcome of a “negotiated” two-state solution. Skoog sanitized the Gaza protests as “peaceful,” and its intentions as noble.

With such a mindset, is it any wonder that Sweden became the first major EU country to recognize Palestine as a country. One can imagine it continuing to wage further diplomatic battles against Israel in the years ahead.

Related First.One.Through articles:

European Narrative over Facts

What’s Wrong with UNRWA

The Recognition Catch Up

J Street’s Select Appreciation of Transparency

What do you Recognize in the Palestinians?

Failing Negotiation 102: Europe

Denmark and Netherlands Support Ari Fuld’s Murder

The Happy and Smug Bigots of Denmark

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Please Don’t Vote for a Democratic Socialist

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There are a number of candidates on the ballot across the country with extremist views. On the far-left, are people who refer to themselves as “Democratic Socialists.” They include:

  • Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Julia Salazar in New York
  • Sarah Smith in Washington
  • Rashida Tlaib in Michigan
  • James Thompson in Kansas
  • Summer Lee and Sara Innamorato both unseated longtime Democratic incumbents, and Elizabeth Fiedler and Kristin Seale.

Two of the alarming extremist views held by the Democratic Socialists are their desires to destroy America’s free market economy and to destroy the Jewish State of Israel.

Attack on Capitalism

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), explain their view of the economy very clearly:

“We believe that the workers and consumers who are affected by economic institutions should own and control them.”

The goal of the DSA is to move the role of companies from one of profit to one which is for the betterment of society. Under the DSA, companies will become unionized, just in time for technology and globalization to sweep America back into the 1800’s.

The DSA does not want private shareholders to decide the direction of companies; it demands that companies’ workers and consumers make those decisions. Corporate workers get to do this by getting free shares in their employer, taken from current shareholders. A beautiful wealth transference akin to highway robbery.

Somehow, the DSA imagines that companies and shareholders have no regard for their workers, customers or society. It is as if companies today do not operate in a competitive landscape for customers and workers. The DSA’s naive view of corporate America makes a James Bond villain look tame.

This is no exaggeration. More from the DSA website:

“In the short term we can’t eliminate private corporations, but we can bring them under greater democratic control.“

In the near-term, the DSA wants to regulate private companies as much as possible; more and more government oversight, demands and regulations. A near-term goal may be to close the “pay gap” between the highest and lowest paid employee in a company to be capped (if an entry-level job pays $30,000, then the Socialists will cap the CEO pay at say 50x of that level, or $1.5 million). In the longer term, the Socialists will take over the companies completely.

“a long-term goal of socialism is to eliminate all but the most enjoyable kinds of labor, we recognize that unappealing jobs will long remain. These tasks would be spread among as many people as possible rather than distributed on the basis of class, race, ethnicity, or gender, as they are under capitalism.”

The DSA view of the future is the forced allocation of unpopular jobs to everyone. A check-out clerk at Walmart would no longer be someone without a high school diploma or finite skills, but will include college graduates who must “volunteer” their time behind the cash register. Makes perfect sense… only to a socialist.

The DSA is about government control of all elements of the economy via a government and worker takeover of the private companies:

“Multinational corporations must be brought under democratic controls, and workers’ organizing efforts must reach across borders.”

In their own words, the Democratic Socialists are seeking a government takeover of private enterprises and a reallocation of work to meet their own view of equality and justice.

Further, the socialists want to institute an immediate wealth transfer from those people who are viewed as either too wealthy or too seedy (or both). Here’s a quote from the website of Sarah Smith:

“make public universities tuition free, paid for with a tax on Wall Street speculators.”

If free tuition is a societal benefit, why not make everyone pay for it? See the socialist manifesto above.

Moving such radical viewpoints into positions of power would be destructive to the American economy and impact every American.

 

Against Israel, the Only Liberal Democracy in the Middle East

The Democratic Socialist politicians stand against Israel.

  • Rashida Tlaib from Michigan is a promoter of the BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanction) movement against Israel.
  • Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said that Israel occupies Palestinian land, “massacres” Palestinian protesters.
  • Sarah Smith believes that Israel should not be allowed to curtail Hamas’s import of weapons into Gaza.
  • Khader El-Yateem, who ran for City Council in New York was also vocal advocate of the BDS movement.

This should come as no surprise, as the movement stands together with Palestinian Arabs that attack Israelis and in favor of BDS:

“We unequivocally stand in solidarity with Ahed Tamimi [attacker of IDF personnel] and all those struggling for the liberation of the Palestinian people in Occupied Palestine. We also stand with the 63 Israeli youth who recently wrote a letter saying they won’t serve in the IDF. We recognize our government’s active collaboration with the occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people and we are against it, as evidenced by DSA’s 2017 national convention passing a resolution in support of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement.”

The DSA’s 2017 resolution was as follow:

“1. Democratic Socialists of America declares itself in solidarity with Palestinian civil society’s nonviolent struggle against apartheid, colonialism, military occupation and for equality, human rights, and self-determination.
2. Democratic Socialists of America responds to Palestinian Civil Society’s call by fully supporting BDS.”

The platform did not speak about any other country – not Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey or North Korea.

The entire DSA movement is infected with an anti-Israel animus. It even gets into college campuses.

On November 8, 2018, the Democratic Socialists of City College in New York City will be partnering with Students for Justice in Palestine, a noted hate group. Together, they are sponsoring a talk by vocal anti-Zionist Norman Finkelstein.


Poster of event promoted by Democratic Socialists and
Students for Justice in Palestine, SJP

SJP doesn’t just dislike Israeli policies. They don’t only want to see the destruction of the Jewish State. They want to see Jews and Israelis killed.


Selection of posts from social media from SJP members
calling for people to kill Jews and Zionists

Members of SJP should be arrested and charged with hate crimes and incitement. But the members of the DSA are actively associating with it.

The Democratic Socialists are the worst thing to happen to the Democratic Party. Should they be elected, it will begin the unwinding of the greatest countries in modern times.

Related First.One.Through Articles:

This July 4, I am Leaving the Democratic Party that Left Me Long Ago

Bernie Sanders is the Worst U.S. Presidential Candidate for Israel Ever

Fake Definitions: Pluralism and Progressive / Liberalism

A Country Divided

In The Margins

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Don Lemon, Here are Some Uncomfortable Facts about Hate Crimes in America

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In the immediate aftermath of the antisemitic massacre of Jews in Pittsburgh in October 2018, CNN went through an effort to explain to its audience the nature of hatred. In truth, it just revealed the nature of its own biases.

Don Lemon, a ubiquitous talking head for CNN made the following comment in an exchange with Chris Cuomo, another anchor:

“So, we have to stop demonizing people and realize the biggest terror threat in this country is white men, most of them radicalized to the right, and we have to start doing something about them. There is no travel ban on them. There is no ban on — you know, they had the Muslim ban. There is no white guy ban”

Let’s put aside the racist comment on its face for a moment, something that could have emerged from the mouth of Louis Farrakhan. Let’s simply examine the data as compiled every year by the FBI regarding hate crimes in the USA.

Factual Review

The FBI tracks who commits crimes by race and ethnicity, and white people did commit more crimes than any other racial group in 2016. But there are also many more white people than other racial groups, so the absolute comparison needs context. As there are roughly 5.7 times more white people than black people, one would expect 5.7 times more black offenders as well.

Hate Crimes Against a Person, 2016

 Population  Offender Frequency
White   248,484,663       2,197     113,102
Black     42,975,891       1,117        38,474
Hispanic     57,516,606          214     268,769

According to the FBI, 2,197 white people in America committed a hate crime and 1,117 black people committed a hate crime, almost twice the number of attacks. However, when accounting for the size of each group, the numbers conclude that an average black person was three times more likely to commit a hateful attack against a person than a white person (one hate crime attack for every 38,000 black people and one attack for every 113,000 white people).

Overall, violent crime in the United States has been in a decline for over a decade according to the FBI. The exceptions were spikes in violent crime in 2012, 2015 and 2016. This would seemingly undermine the accusation that Donald Trump is the reason for more violence in America, as violent crime actually declined in 2017.

Change in Number of Violent Crimes

Years  Change 
2016/17 -0.8%
2015/16 5.3%
2014/15 1.7%
2013/14 -4.6%
2012/13 -5.4%
2011/12 1.9%
2010/11 -6.4%
2009/10 -6.2%
2008/09 -4.4%
2007/08 -3.5%

As it relates, to Jews, many of the alt-left progressive wing have charged that Jews are part of the white privileged class. The likes of Linda Sarsour and Melissa Harris-Perry defend Louis Farrakhan’s antisemitism because they don’t believe that Farrakhan has any power or influence so his comments are therefore innocuous against a privileged group of Jews.

But the facts tell a different story.

Hate Crimes Against Different Groups, 2016

 Population  Victims Frequency
White   248,484,663          909     273,360
Black     42,975,891       2,220        19,359
Hispanic     57,516,606          483     119,082
Jewish       5,300,000          862          6,148
Muslim       3,450,000          388          8,892
LGBT     10,000,000       1,386          7,215

An average Jew is the most likely to experience a hate crime than any other group – more than blacks, Muslims or the LGBT community. Even more telling, an average Jew is 45 times more likely to experience a hate crime than an average white person.

Jews are clearly not experiencing America like most white Americans.

Coming back to the initial charge of Don Lemon about white men being terrorists on the back of the antisemitic massacre in Pittsburgh, it is useful to look at the perpetrators of antisemitic crimes through the years.

Antisemitic Attacks by Race of Attacker

Year Incidents White Black White Black
2016 834 389 118 47% 14%
2015 695 121 31 17% 4%
2014 635 87 20 14% 3%
2013 689 143 35 21% 5%
2012 696 101 20 15% 3%
2011 820 139 16 17% 2%
2010 922 134 25 15% 3%
2009
2008 1055 176 20 17% 2%

The table above is compiled from several FBI reports about hate crimes through the years. A few trends are important to review:

  1. Crimes against Jews are increasing since 2015. After many years of seeing a decline in the number of antisemitic crimes (no data was released in 2009), attacks inched up in 2015 and spiked much higher in 2016. (2017 data is not yet published by the FBI).
  2. An average black person has become much more likely to be the attacker against a Jew. Until 2012, the ratio of antisemitic attacks from whites and blacks were roughly what would be expected. That began to change in 2013 when black assailants began to overtake whites at a statistically significant level. In 2016, the proportion of black attackers spiked again by almost double.
  3. More antisemitic attacks against persons. Through 2015, roughly 30% of attacks against Jews were against their person, while 70% were against property. In 2016, the percentage jumped to 37% of personal attacks. As there were more personal attacks, the identity of the attacker became apparent.

To summarize, the number of antisemitic attacks has indeed been increasing, but more and more of the attacks are coming from blacks, not whites. That is also true generally about all hate attacks, that black people are much more likely to be the assailant. Lastly, violent crimes against Jews have definitely spiked since 2015, (perhaps correlated with Donald Trump’s run for the presidency), but overall, hate crimes have not.

Opinion Review

The progressive media has been hiring greater numbers of minorities who harbor anti-white attitudes. Don Lemon’s comments are not unique.

The New York Times hired a noted racist Sarah Jeong who has proudly posted tweets “White men are bullshit,” “#CancelWhitePeople,” “white people marking up the internet with their opinions like dogs pissing on fire hydrants” and “Oh man it’s kind of sick how much joy I get out of being cruel to old white men.” The New York Times was unperturbed. It claimed she was just mimicking the attacks against her and she apologized.

Marc Lamont Hill, another commentator on CNN often makes disparaging comments about Israel (saying that the country has no right to exist). Hill, Lemon, Sarsour and others are all part of a left-wing movement which believes that racism can only exist when it is coupled with institutional power. Therefore, any minority – especially those that are under-represented in positions of power like blacks and Muslims in the United States – cannot be considered racist. As the minority, they stand in the position of the oppressed. Any violent actions which they commit are simply “punching up,” trying to level the unfair playing field, which is a primary goal of progressives.

The pairing of the argument that no black person can be racist, is that all white people benefit from white privilege and inherently take advantage of a racist American society. For blacks and Muslims which view Jews as whites – and very powerful ones at that, controlling the banks and media – Jews can never be truly seen as victims.

So Jews are murdered. Again. The neo-Nazis are taking aim at Jews. Again.

And now, for the first time, blacks in America are broadly taking aim at Jews as well, with the smug support of alt-left progressives.

Related First.One.Through articles:

Between Right-Wing and Left-Wing Antisemitism

Farrakhan’s Democrats

Covering Racism

What Kind of Hate Kills?

CNN’s Politicization of Antisemitic Murder

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

Where’s the March Against Anti-Semitism?

Politicians React to Vile and Vulgar Palestinian Hatred

Fact Check Your Assumptions on American Racism

New York Times Finds Racism When it Wants

Abbas Knows Racism

When Only Republicans Trust the Police

Racist Calls of Apes and Pigs? Forget Rosanne. Let’s Talk Islam

In the Shadow of the Holocaust, The New York Times Fails to Flag Muslim Anti-Semitism

Black People are Homophobic

If a Black Muslim Cop Kills a White Woman, Does it Make a Sound?

 

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Between Right-Wing and Left-Wing Antisemitism

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The world has always had people with a wide variety of opinions, and indeed, a wide variety of hatreds. Antisemitism, the oldest of human hatreds, is no different, and has taken on new forms in modern times.

Right-Wing Antisemitism

For thousands of years, Jews were persecuted as “the Other.” They were viewed suspiciously as foreigners by lay-people and demonized for not believing in the preferred prophets by religious leaders. Some countries simply took advantage of the small, weak status of Jews, and engaged in “practical antisemitism” for financial reasons – either to seize their property or to get out of debt which was owed to Jews.

The historic antisemitism was shepherded by popes and kings, local townspeople and crusaders. The manifestation of the hatred was murder and expulsion.

The slaughter of Jews was common in Europe and Russia for hundreds of years, and often rationalized by manufactured excuses (such as blood libels) and effected via torture. The expulsion and “ghetto-ization” of Jews was another means to rid communities of these unwanted Jews.


“The Street of Jews” in Old Strasbourg, France
(photo: First.One.Through)

This was – and continues to be – the nature of right-wing antisemitism: the hatred for the foreigner/ the Other. It continues to exist as people and governments do not internalized that their Jewish neighbors are indeed, their neighbors, and entitled to every protection and rights of citizenship like everyone else.

Left-Wing Antisemitism

Left-wing antisemitism is a newer phenomenon. As part of the liberal camp, the alt-left began with a broad humanistic view of the world. People of all races and religions were welcomed and embraced. Humankind bound all of us together. It was a world vision encapsulated in John Lennon’s song “Imagine,” in which divisions and borders – literal and figurative – ceased to exist. The common collective would live in global harmony.

Such a vision would naturally lead one to conclude that antisemitism is antithetical to such construct. A “brotherhood of man” cannot hate anyone. But time has proven the premise untrue.

The far left-wing of the liberal camp believes that everyone must adhere to their philosophy. ALL national borders, ALL religions, ALL differences based on money or class must be eradicated. Society must be re-imagined and flattened. Man-made artificial differences must be stripped away, so we can embrace our God-given differences such as race and gender. The far left has a quest and insistence on an imagined universal natural order and the shunning of any particular human order.

And so begets left-wing antisemitism.

  • While right-wing anti-Semites hate Jews for not believing in Jesus, the left-wing anti-Semites hate Jews for believing in religion.
  • While right-wing anti-Semites will pass laws banning circumcision and ritual slaughter of animals to get rid of Jews, the left-wing will implement the same policies out of secular, humanistic concerns.
  • While right-wing anti-Semites don’t want Jews to live in their country, the left-wing anti-Semites don’t want Jews to have a country (Israel).
  • While right-wing anti-Semites will actively murder Jews, the left-wing anti-Semites refuse to protect Jews (read article about how left-wing gay activists fight against providing police protection for Jewish day schools).

The alt-left dislikes Jews for holding on to their particular identity and hates Zionists for holding on to their particular history and heritage. Only a Jew that embraces the universal and sheds the particular (like non-Orthodox Jewish liberals) have a place in their left-wing fringe world.

The Silent Majority?

Today, Jews are caught between two growing and angry mobs on the extremes. They know the history of what the right-wing will do if it obtains power, and are intelligent enough to see the how the left-wing will strip their identities completely.

When liberals attacked President Trump for saying that there were good people on both sides of the Charlottesville, VA neo-Nazi march and protest in August 2017, they were correct in remonstrating him that there is no good in people who shout “Jews will not replace us.” But the alt-left was wrong in thinking that using violence as appropriate. Jews seek a peaceful place to pursue life, liberty and happiness. They do not want any violence and will not embrace the vision of either the alt-right or alt-left. One side vilifying the other wins no Jewish converts; Jews are wary of both extremist sides.

How can people reverse the trend and bring people back to the silent – and peaceful – middle? What can stop the Democratic Party from being hijacked by liberals who are becoming more and more extremist? How can the Republican Party – already shrinking – stop from sliding to the alt-right?

There are a number of ideas which have bandied about beyond the scope of this article, which include changing the electoral primary system which tends to feed the extremist base, to firmly establishing and protecting laws to protect individual liberties.

In the day-to-day, it is challenging to live as an open and proud Jew and Zionist in much of the world, for fear of being attacked by both the far-right and the far-left. For people who care about antisemitism, fight the extremists on BOTH sides. Never vote for fringe candidates and do not give them forums.

And do not follow the footsteps of either the alt-left or alt-right: Respect every particular and shun the enforced universal.

Related First.One.Through articles:

Ramifications of Ignoring American Antisemitism

Your Father’s Anti-Semitism

Fact Check Your Assumptions on American Racism

When Hate Returns

Unity – not Uniformity – in the Pro-Israel Tent

The Happy and Smug Bigots of Denmark

The Non-Orthodox Jewish Denominations Fight Israel

Related First.One.Through video:

1001 Years of Expulsions (Schindler’s List)

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CNN’s Politicization of Antisemitic Murder

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The heinous slaughter of Jews praying quietly in synagogue on their Sabbath is an abomination in every way. It is not just appalling because innocent people were killed, but that the murderer’s rationale was based on the hatred of Jews.

It is right and proper for society to prosecute the killer and explore ways to keep such crimes from happening again. What is not Okay is for politicians and the media to turn the tragedy into political points.

But politics has become a “win-by-any-means” endeavor these days, for the politicians AND the media.

CNN posted an article on October 29, 2018 called “The Pittsburgh killings targeted Jews — and America’s soul.” The important sentiment of the title hides the contents of the article which could have a sub-header “Republicans are the reason for hatred and murder in America.” It was an article specifically drafted to place the blame for the murder, and antisemitism in America generally, at the foot of the Republican party.

Some quotes from the piece:

  • “It is an increasingly urgent question whether President Donald Trump’s deliberately divisive politics may be giving license to extremists.”
  • “[Trump] has consciously stoked national divides, adopting a brand of politics that uses racial, nationalist rhetoric, rails against immigrants and refugees and equivocates about extremism — including after violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which white supremacist marchers chanted anti-Jewish slogans and a woman protesting their presence was killed.”
  • “[Trump] has used tropes and language known to appeal to a tiny minority of extremists who might contemplate violence. Trump has recently taken to proclaiming he is a “nationalist” and berated “globalists” — two designations that have innocent connotations in some contexts but are also recognized as code words by anti-Semites.”
  • “Recent years have seen a rise in anti-Semitic incidents across the country and the use of coded anti-Semitic imagery in material by right-wing politicians, including some prominent members of the Republican Party.”
  • “In 2016, a closing Trump campaign advertisement blasting a global establishment elite portrayed three people as villains alongside Hillary Clinton: billionaire liberal financier George Soros, former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and Lloyd Blankfein, the chairman of Goldman Sachs. All are Jewish.”
  • “Hints of anti-Semitism are also evident in some other GOP messaging.”
  • “Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy this week deleted a tweet accusing Soros,former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Tom Steyer of trying to buy the midterm elections for Democrats, after a bomb was mailed by a Trump supporter to Soros. All three men are Jewish or of Jewish descent.”
  • “Iowa GOP Rep. Steve King recently endorsed Faith Goldy, a nationalist running for mayor in Toronto, who claims Canada is facing a “white genocide” and who has promoted anti-Jewish material.”

CNN posted an impressive list of Republicans giving space for antisemitism. While none of the people actually said anything about Jews or Judaism, CNN suggested that calling out people who were Jewish or activity which could be interpreted as Jewish, was giving space for antisemitism.

Picture alongside CNN’s article on anti-Semitic mass murder showing a smirking
President Trump with a caption “Related Article: How Trump’s nationalism
has already changed the world“
Not a single Democrat was included in CNN’s list.

If it cared to be balanced and actually address the issue of antisemitism in political discourse, CNN could have listed any of the following:

Democratic Antisemitism

  • D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr. (D-Ward 8) said that the Jews control the weather so they can get rich: “D.C. keep talking about, ‘We a resilient city.’ And that’s a model based off the Rothschilds controlling the climate to create natural disasters they can pay for to own the cities, man. Be careful.”
  • New York City Democrat Thomas Lopez Pierre went on a tirade against “Jewish landlords engaged in ethnic cleansing” in a promotional video.
  • There is a long list of Democratic members of Congress who have embraced notorious anti-Semite, Louis Farrakhan, including Keith Ellison (MN) and Maxine Waters (CA).

Democratic Anti-Zionism

Many current and recent Democratic officials and those Democrats running for office have platforms that are against or vilify the only Jewish country:

  • Democratic former Secretary of State John Kerry said that Israel risks becoming an “apartheid state” if it doesn’t get to a peace deal with Palestinian Arabs. He said nothing of the Palestinian Authority’s open demand of a country free of any Jews.
  • New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand praised anti-Zionist Linda Sarsour without qualification.
  • New York Democratic candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said that Israel occupies Palestinian land, “massacres” Palestinian protesters, and is aligned with a movement that calls for boycotting Israel
  • Detroit candidate Rashida Tlaib is a proud supporter of the boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel campaign.
  • Minnesota candidate Ilhan Omar has called Israel an “apartheid regime.“
  • In Virginia, Leslie Cockburn is running for Congress. She wrote a book that claims Israel controls America’s foreign policy – a particular strain of antisemitism that foments hatred in wide sections of America
  • In Pennsylvania, Democrat Scott Wallace’s charity gave $300,000 to pro-Israel boycott organizations
  • There were 58 members of Congress who walked out on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress in 2015. Every one was a Democrat.
  • Left wing group MoveOn.org and several Democratic members of Congress condemned President Trump recognition of the fact that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, essentially calling it an act of war.
  • 2016 Democratic nominee for president and current Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders aligned himself with Cornel West, a loud critic of Israel
  • The Democratic party gutted its 2012 platform about Israel, getting rid of prior platform statements which: called Hamas a terrorist group; said that Palestinian refugees would be settled in Palestine, not Israel; specifically said that borders would NOT be on the 1967 lines; and that Jerusalem would remain the capital of Israel.

CNN opted to remain silent on every one of these Democrat’s comments.

CNN was clearly not looking to have a discussion about politicians fomenting antisemitism; it’s aim was to place the blame for antisemitism solely on the Republican party.

Perhaps CNN should look at itself, and its own reporters like Marc Lamont Hill, whom it describes as “one of the leading intellectual voices in the country.” Here is Hill’s video about his visit to Nazareth in Israel – not the West Bank or Gaza, but unquestionably Israel according to everyone except for rabid anti-Zionists. He refused to recognize the existence of Israel an called it “Palestine,” “a land stolen by greed and destroyed by hate… we stand by the people who courageously struggle and resist the occupation.”

CNN has become a mouthpiece for radical left-wing anti-Zionists, and it now lambasts Republicans as anti-Semites in a moment of Jewish grief. It is beyond pathetic. It is reprehensible.

Related First.One.Through articles:

What Kind of Hate Kills?

CNN Makes Clear the Attackers and Victims in Gaza-Israel Fight

CNN Will Not Report Islamic Terrorism

CNN’s Embrace of Hamas

Names and Narrative: CNN’s Temple Mount/ Al Aqsa Complex Inversion

Leading Gay Activists Hate Religious Children

This July 4, I am Leaving the Democratic Party that Left Me Long Ago

First.One.Through video:

CNN Calls out a Massacre in Jenin, even though it is Israelis who are killed (music by Gorecki) What is really proportionate?

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What Kind of Hate Kills?

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Hate is in America in October 2018, and it seems intent and killing.

A series of pipe bombs were sent a number of prominent Democrats including sitting senators. According to the New York Times, the mayhem and attempt to harm was born of Trump fever.


Front page of The New York Times, October 27, 2018

The lead article on October 27 made clear that “A Fervent Backer of Trump is Seized in Pipe Bomb Spree.” The news painted the rationale in a clear and unambiguous manner as it began the article “An outspoken supporter of President Trump from South Florida was charged on Friday with sending explosive packages to at least a dozen of the president’s critics,” the paper continued, “a federal criminal complaint spells out his contempt for this week’s many bomb targets, noting that Mr. Sayoc’s van was slathered with images and slogans found on fringe right-wing social media accounts.” The paper highlighted that the hatred was from a right-wing backer of President Trump.

Fortunately, no one was injured in the hate-filled mailers.

The situation was much more grave at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA, where eleven Jews were gunned down during Sabbath prayers while many people in America were reading the news about the arrest of the pipe bomber.

The opening of the Times’ report stated “Armed with an AR-15-style assault rifle and at least three handguns, a man shouting anti-Semitic slurs opened fire inside a crowded Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday morning, killing at least 11 congregants and wounding four police officers and two others, the authorities said.” The source of the violence stemmed from hatred of Jews (or was it guns?)… at least at the beginning of the Times report. Unfortunately the Times would lead readers into a bit of a misdirection a few paragraphs on:

“The assault on the synagogue unfolded on a quiet, drizzly morning, and came amid a bitter, vitriolic midterm election season and against the backdrop of what appears to be a surge in hate-related speech and crimes across America. It also took place in the wake of the arrest Friday morning of a man who the authorities said sent more than a dozen pipe bombs to critics of Mr. Trump, including several high-profile Democrats….The anguish of Saturday’s massacre heightened a sense of national unease over increasingly hostile political rhetoric. Critics of President Trump have argued that he is partly to blame for recent acts of violence because he has been stirring the pot of nationalism, on Twitter and at his rallies, charges that Mr. Trump has denied.“

A reader of the article could conclude that this anti-Semite who slaughtered eleven innocent people was a “fervent backer of Trump,” just like the pipe bomber and had political motives. However, the murderer was anti-Trump, a point never mentioned in the Times’ 2200-word article. However, the Times website did make sure to include a 2-minute video about “AR-15: The Gun Behind So Many Mass Shootings.” Please don’t suggest that the Times itself is caught in the “bitter, vitriolic midterm election season,” and using the slaughter of innocent Jews to serve its liberal mission.

The Times coverage stood in sharp contrast to other news sites like Reuters, which clearly laid out the evil antisemitism in the murderer and wrote that the killer was anti-Trump.

Reading other new sources would further educate readers about the nature of the “hate-related speech across America” that the Times mentioned but did not discuss. The gunman said that “jews are the children of satan,” and that the US was suffering from a “k*** infestation.” Those were not the utterances of President Trump, but of the leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan, a rabid antisemite that the New York Times refuses to denounce:

  • On October 17, 2018, Farrakhan compared Jews to “termites” in a video and tweet he proudly broadcast
  • On March 9, 2018 the NOI posted a public letter to Gregory Meeks and Barbara Lee who condemned Farrakhan’s antisemitic remarks by saying that they were working on behalf of “Satanic Jews.”

The Times never reported on any of Farrakhan’s hate-filled speeches.

There is a vile stench of hatred in the world and it must be called out repeatedly. It is disgraceful that media outlets like the New York Times will misdirect readers to think that the problem of racism and antisemitism come solely from white Trump supporters, when the problem is widespread and deep within the Muslim community.

We mourn the innocent victims of the horrible event in Pittsburgh and condemn hatred and those that both foment such hatred (like Farrakhan) and those that disguise it and use for their own political purposes (like The New York Times).

Related First.One.Through articles:

In The Margins

Farrakhan’s Democrats

NY Times Discolors Hate Crimes

Covering Racism

Farrakhan’s Democrats

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Louis Farrakhan is a vile person.

His long history of vilifying Jews and Judaism have long cemented his position as an anti-Semite. His recent comments referring to Jews as “termites” is not new.


Farrakhan’s Twitter post October 2018

The media has long been silent about Farrakhan’s repulsive attitudes and expressions. Despite the fact that his “Nation of Islam” group has tens of thousands of followers, and his marches have drawn hundreds of thousands of people, the liberal press thought that it would be better to focus their attention on a few dozen or hundred white racists than black and Muslim racists. Only CNN’s Jake Tapper commented “The difference between Farrakhan and some members of the alt-reich whose heinous bigotry has received a lot of attention this past year: Farrakhan has a much larger following and elected officials meet with him openly.”

The “elected officials” that Tapper referred to were all Democrats in Congress.

  • Keith Ellison, Democratic Representative from Minnesota and Deputy Chair of the Democratic National Committee has a long history with Farrakhan and has refused to condemn the evil in the man.
  • Maxine Waters, Democratic Representative from California warmly embraces Farrakhan.

The Republican Jewish Coalition called for these two congresspeople, as well as Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Danny Davis (D-IL), Andre Carson (D-IN) and Al Green (D-TX) to resign because of their close ties to Farrakhan. Meeks and Lee opted to make clear their denouncement of Farrakhan after the RJC prompting, while the others did not. In response, the Nation of Islam called Meeks and Lee “modern-day Uncle Toms” who were doing the bidding of “Satanic Jews.”

Nice.

Overall, the Democratic leadership continues to be mum on Farrakhan, as they fear losing Black and Muslim voters, while they have no fear of ever losing the support of Jewish liberals.

Into the void rode the seasoned “non-politician” Chelsea Clinton who condemned Farrakhan on October 17, 2018 and called on fellow  Democrats to stop being selective in condemning antisemitism:

“Comparing Jews to termites is anti-Semitic, wrong and dangerous. The responsive laughter makes my skin crawl. For everyone who rightly condemned President Trump’s rhetoric when he spoke about immigrants “infesting our country,” this rhetoric should be equally unacceptable to you.”

How embarrassing for seasoned Democrats to be called out on something so blatantly obvious by a veteran newbie.

Think of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a state with more Jews than any other, failing to comment on Farrakhan’s hatred. He preferred to call out a political opponent as “silent on the rise of anti-Semitism,” a false charge, even while he is guilty himself. Perhaps he learned the successful approach of Democrats in Westchester County who successfully tarred their opponents as “Nazis” without any ramifications.

Liberals have been arguing that someone can be against Israeli policies without being anti-Semitic. While arguably true, a unique focus on only Israel’s policies and not any Arab or Muslim country’s policies makes the argument flimsy. It falls apart completely when black and Muslim anti-Semites like Farrakhan are given a complete pass while white racists are loudly called out.

Keith Ellison, Maxine Waters, Danny Davis: We’re talking about you.

Oh, in case you were wondering, J Street endorsed and raised money for them.

Related First.One.Through articles:

Politicians React to Vile and Vulgar Palestinian Hatred

Covering Racism

NY Times Discolors Hate Crimes

Where’s the March Against Anti-Semitism?

This July 4, I am Leaving the Democratic Party that Left Me Long Ago

The Democratic Party is Tacking to the Far Left-Wing Anti-Semitic Fringe

Black Lives Matter Joins the anti-Israel “Progressives” Fighting Zionism

Ramifications of Ignoring American Antisemitism

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Western Jerusalem’s U.S. Consulate and Embassy

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The United States has had a consulate in the western part of Jerusalem for decades, despite the “controversial” and “disputed” nature of the city which had been planned as an independent “corpus separatum” together with Bethlehem in the United Nations Partition Plan of 1947. The U.S. Consulate did not provide any services to Israel, but existed just to provide services to Palestinian Arabs from the West Bank and Gaza, for items such as visas.

Israel never complained about the U.S. operations for Palestinians sitting squarely in Israel’s capital. For decades Israel remained silent at the insult.


U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem
(photo: First.One.Through)

But Israel would show its great appreciation to the the United States when President Donald Trump announced the intention of the U.S. to recognize the reality of Jerusalem serving as Israel’s capital, and plans to move the U.S. embassy to the city from Tel Aviv. The U.S. opened the embassy in May 2018, and just yesterday, announced plans to fold the services of the U.S. consulate into the new embassy building, and closing the current consulate location.

The Palestinians went crazy. As it did when the U.S. moved its embassy to Jerusalem, the Palestinian Authority objected to the closing of the U.S. Consulate office.

Their hypocrisy never dawned on them.

  • For decades the U.S. consulate sat in Jerusalem serving Palestinians, however, the Palestinians went berserk when the U.S. similarly moved its embassy for Israel to Jerusalem. Is a U.S. presence in Jerusalem only OK for the Palestinians?
  • The Palestinian Authority claims the eastern part of Jerusalem as its capital, but accepted the existence of the U.S. consulate for Palestinian Arabs in WESTERN Jerusalem. Is the Palestinian Authority laying claim to the western part of Jerusalem too?

For too long, the U.S. showed too much deference to the Palestinian Arabs’ sensitivities while it snubbed Israel, but as Israel was so reliant on the United States, Jerusalem suffered the indignities in silence. However, times have changed and Israel can now openly thank President Trump for treating the country with the respect of a sovereign nation, a thriving democracy and true American ally.

Related First.One.Through articles:

Corpus Separatum Ended Forever in 1995

Maybe Truman Should Not Have Recognized Israel

NY Times Cannot Even be Even-Handed When Describing “No Man’s Land”

Is Your Capital Central to Your Country?

Religious Countries Respond to Israel’s Jerusalem

Palestinians agree that Israel rules all of Jerusalem, but the World Treats the City as Divided

The Parameters of Palestinian Dignity

Ending Apartheid in Jerusalem

The Palestinian State I Oppose

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John McCain 2008 / 2018

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On November 4, 2008, a group of friends got together in a home in New York to watch the US presidential elections. The mood was gleeful. Mostly. The living room was room full of boisterous Obama supporters surrounding the TV. And me. I was the only one there who voted for John McCain. The ribbing and jokes came at me well before the first results came in.

I didn’t care.

I didn’t cast a vote simply to be part of the winning side. John McCain got it and Barack Obama didn’t have a clue. The stakes were high and only one person running had a clear understanding of the world, and it was John McCain.


Senator John McCain during 2008 run for President

The Atlantic published an article in May 2008 called “McCain on Israel, Iran and the Holocaust.” It outlined clear distinctions between McCain who called “Islamic extremism” and the fanatical regime in Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons as the principle threats to global peace and stability, in sharp contrast to an Obama approach of focusing on building bridges to the Islamic world and sitting face-to-face with the leaders of Iran. It showed a McCain standing steadfastly behind Israel and Zionism and a Obama which viewed the Israel-Arab conflict through the prism of a “constant sore.”

I feared an Obama presidency on the global stage, and over the following eight years, my fears were realized.

Obama’s eight years in office left a government in Iran still hell-bent on destroying Israel with a totally legal pathway to nuclear weapons to threaten the entire western world. He left Israel to burn at the United Nations Security Council. He wouldn’t even mention the words “Islamic extremism.” Internalize that: Obama gave a radical state sponsor of terrorism a legal course to nuclear weapons while also making it illegal for Jews to live in the eastern part of their homeland.

Domestically, Obama’s attacks on “the 1%,” on “fat-cat” investment bankers and others created a schism in America. He proudly said that he was not a president of all Americans, just a segment. His efforts created an opening that fellow Democrats would pile into, including Nancy Pelosi who ridiculed religious people, and Hillary Clinton who was very proud to make enemies of half of America.

By 2016, the country was so divided that friends who had gathered together to watch every presidential election were too angry and divided to even sit in a room to watch the results.

I voted for the losing side in 2008. And in 2012. But I still don’t care.

John McCain once said “No just cause is futile, even if it’s lost, if it helps make the future better than the past.”

The future of 2008 is now the past in 2018, and the world is much worse off for not electing John McCain a decade ago. Perhaps if we remember his lifetime of courageous efforts and actions to put country ahead of party and politics, and friends before foes, we can still make the future a more peaceful and united place.

Related First.One.Through articles:

The Gap between Fairness and Safety: WMDs in Iraq and Iran

Naked Democracy

The Right Stuff, Then and Now

The Trump Pinata Preserving the False Obama Messiah

Politicians React to Vile and Vulgar Palestinian Hatred

Obama’s “Values” Red Herring

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Join Facebook group: FirstOne Through  Israel Analysis

 

 

When Power Talks the Truth

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The expression of “talking truth to power,” has a ring of empowerment in certain circles. It portrays weak or disenfranchised people challenging powerful people and/ or interests. The activity is often described as bold and risky and deserving of widespread support and admiration.

Liberals are most frequently heard using the expression due to their desire to flatten society by both promoting the weak and pulling down the powerful. They tend to distrust all forms of authority, according to the Cato Institute. Not surprisingly, stabbing a finger into the eye of powerful groups is a celebrated event.

However, the far lefts’ desire for equality has little to do with “truth.” The goal of equality – whether gender or income or racial – is of primary importance. Truth can be bent, altered or ignored to advance the liberal agenda.

As such, listening to extreme progressives’ use the phrase “talking truth to power,” has an awful dissonance. They doctored truth long ago.

When Power Talks Truth

Truth has the greatest impact when proclaimed by the powerful, especially on a global stage. The US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley used several opportunities during the week of July 23, 2018, to educate the world not just of certain facts, but about the importance of standing for and shedding light on important truths.

Nikki Haley told the ministerial group about the importance of religious freedom, not just for human rights, but for the basic foundation of peace. “The fact is, real peace cannot be achieved in isolation from human rights,” she told the audience, as she noted the countries of Burma, China, Iran, Iraq, and Sudan had been called out in 1999 for suppressing religious freedom. They would go on to become security threats killing thousands of their own people.

Nikki Haley called out the terrorist actions of Hamas and the destructive and hateful actions of Palestinian Arabs from Gaza destroying enormous swaths of Israel with arson attacks. She called out the Arab states for saying nothing:

“Where are the Arab countries when it comes to denouncing Hamas terrorism? Where are the Arab countries when it comes to supporting compromises that are necessary for peace?”

Haley called out the hypocrisy of the Arab world that claims to care about Palestinians, yet give zero or virtually no monies to UNRWA:

“Talk is cheap…

Last year, Iran’s contribution to UNRWA was zero. Algeria’s contribution to UNRWA was zero. Tunisia’s contribution to UNRWA was zero. Other countries did provide some funding. Pakistan gave 20,000. Egypt gave 20,000. Oman gave 668,000. Moving up the list, Turkey gave 6.7 million. Kuwait gave nine million dollars. United Arab Emirates gave 12.8 million dollars.

Again, if you judge a nation’s commitment to the Palestinian people by the words heard in this chamber, you might come to the conclusion that the United States has been less generous, simply because we stand proudly with our ally Israel here at the UN.

But once again, this conclusion would be entirely false.

Last year, while Algeria was providing nothing to UNRWA, and Turkey was providing 6.7 million dollars, the United States gave 364 million dollars. That’s ten times the combined amounts from every country I just named.

And that’s on top of what the American people give annually to the Palestinians in bilateral assistance. That is another 300 million dollars just last year, and it averages to more than a quarter of a billion dollars every year since 1993.

Since that year, the United States has provided over six billion – with a B – dollars in bilateral assistance to Palestinians. How much have the Arab countries – some of whom are wealthy countries – how much have they given to the Palestinians? It does not come anywhere close to what the United States has done.“

To drive her point home, she made clear that America would not continue to play the Arab world’s farce:

“The Palestinian leadership has been allowed to live a false reality for too long because Arab leaders are afraid to tell them the truth. The United States is telling the truth because we do care about the Palestinian people.

But we should all recognize that Palestinian needs are not an American problem any more than a Russian problem or a French problem. And they are certainly not more of an American problem than an Egyptian, Saudi, Emirati, or Turkish problem.

So the next time we have a meeting like this in the Security Council or in the General Assembly, and we hear speech after speech about the plight of the Palestinian people, I would ask those who are making the speeches to examine what your country is doing to help – other than speechmaking.

It is time for the regional states in particular to step up and really help the Palestinian people, instead of just making speeches thousands of miles away.”

That’s talking some real truth at the UN Security Council.


US Ambassador to the UN  Nikki Haley addressing the UN Security Council
on July 24, 2018

But Haley had more truths.

Haley spoke for 30 minutes at the 2018 CUFI conference and called out many facts about Israel and the state of the world:

  • “We live in a world in which anti-Semitism is on the rise.”
  • “We live in a world in which terrorist groups and even some countries openly call for Israel’s destruction.”
  • “On many college campuses, the anti-Semitic BDS movement has become a trendy cause for students and professors who should know better.”
  • “Last September, when Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke at the UN, he said that for too long, the “epicenter of global anti-Semitism was the UN itself.” That’s an amazing statement. But unfortunately, it’s true.”
  • “Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. That’s a fact. And President Trump had the courage to recognize that fact when others would not.”
  • “Many of the protesters in Gaza are anything but peaceful. If they were peaceful, there would be no burning tires, there would be no Molotov cocktails, there would be no flaming swastika kites flying into Israel burning thousands of acres of land.”
  • “When I heard country after country in the UN Security Council hypocritically standing in judgment of Israel, I spoke out. What I said shocked the people at the UN; but I’ll say it again, because it’s the truth: Israel has acted with more restraint than just about any other country would under those same conditions. It’s true.”
  • ” in the history of the UN General Assembly there has been over 600 resolutions on the Israel-Palestinian issue alone – and not one of them has ever mentioned Hamas. Not one in 600.”
  • “It’s very important to me that we represent truths and reality at the UN, even if it makes other countries uncomfortable.”
  • “UNESCO has the outrageous distinction of attempting to change ancient history. UNESCO declared one of Judaism’s holiest sites, The Tomb of the Patriarchs, as a Palestinian Heritage Site, in need of protection from Israel. That was enough. Ten months into this administration, the United States withdrew from UNESCO.”
  • “we don’t even need to talk about Israel to conclude that the Human Rights Council is a sham. But we should talk about Israel, because Israel is a special case that proves the moral bankruptcy of the organization.”
  • “The United States has no moral duty to be neutral between right and wrong. On the contrary, we have a moral duty to take sides, even when that means standing alone.”
  • “We demand that Israel not be treated like some sort of temporary provisional entity or pariah.”
  • “It cannot be the case that only one country in the world doesn’t get to choose its capital city.”
  • “It cannot be the case that the Human Rights Council has a standing agenda item for only one country.”
  • “It cannot be the case that only one set of refugees throughout the world is counted in a way that causes the number to grow literally forever.”
  • “It cannot be the case that in an organization with 193 countries, the United Nations spends half of its time attacking only one country.”
  • “Our demand for fairness for Israel is actually a demand for peace. The UN’s bias against Israel has long undermined peace, by encouraging an illusion that Israel will go away.”
  • “Fantasies encourage absolutist demands. When realities are accepted, then compromise becomes possible. When the reality of Israel’s existence is accepted, both sides will become freed to achieve a durable peace.”

A truly incredible dissertation about the importance of truth.

Past US administrations were both too concerned with angering the 50+ oil-rich Muslim and Arab nations, and with upsetting the impoverished (morally and financially) Palestinian Authority. No longer.

The world has been caught up with #FakeNews and #AlternativeFacts over the past few years. Extreme Liberals have added to the tempest with alternate realities of “my truths” as they attempt to enforce their worldview on the public. Reality was discarded as everyone fought for the mantle of the underdog.

Fortunately, truth has returned with a powerful champion. And her name is Nikki Haley.

Related First.One.Through articles:

When Only Republicans Trust the Police

In The Margins

Fake Definitions: Pluralism and Progressive / Liberalism

The UN’s #Alternative Facts about the 1967 Six Day War

Journalists Killed in 2016 #AlternativeFacts

From Eyes Wide Shut (11/13/16):

“Today, the world has declared that truth can be ignored, openly and honestly. Fixed facts fold before the fantasy of personal belief. People shout their gestating gospels as the thoughts enter their minds and are blessed in their echo chambers on social media and in the streets.

Opinions no longer need an anchor in fact. People need not see nor hear a matter to declare it untrue or irrelevant. The world has become unhinged as the mind emerges as the sole arbiter of the firmament. Society has quickly moved beyond goggles of virtual reality to worship in the chapel of blind delusions.

In a world where facts are extraneous, we are only left with a clash of emotions.

Will we pass judgment solely on which party seems the most sympathetic because they feel the most injured? Does that foretell a future of balms for the pain, rather than solutions for the problems?

We are carrying our emotions across the threshold to deflower our intelligence. That is a marriage that will end poorly for civilization.”

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