The Jew News Review – March 16, 2024 – “Do your job”

Shabbat shalom! 

This will be a different JNR this week as we are heading to Washington DC for a weekend of family celebrations in honor of a milestone birthday for my sister Phyllis. Happy birthday Sis!

It’s getting tougher everyday to continue to support Israel as they plan to continue the battle with Hamas in Rafah. They need a month or two to finalize their game plan. What is certain is that there is sure to be enormous humanitarian fallout in the form of civilian collateral death and damage, and the images from the lame stream media will be hard to defend. But let me be clear on this: anyone who thinks Israel is going to bow to any pressure from Biden, or Schumer, or anyone else and agree to a permanent cease fire, or in anyway back off from finishing the job, they are badly mistaken. The Israeli people would not stand for it as they know anything less than annihilating Hamas’ infrastructure and military capability would continue to pose an existential threat to the country. There are at least 4 battalions of standing soldiers for Hamas in Rafah, and another estimated 4-6 battalions from other Gaza areas that have fled to Rafah. Combined, those battalions represent about 40% of Hamas’ fighting force. So, what do you think would happen if Israel pulls out and leaves those savage terrorists behind? Or, god forbid, Israel decides to give Gaza back to Hamas, who have sworn to commit many more October 7’s against the Jews in Israel? Israel needs to finish the job and they will and should.

But the pressure here and around the world continues to build. Most recently, more than 80 rock bands and several scheduled panelists have pulled out of the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, citing Israel defense ties among its organizers. Hundreds of antiwar protesters demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and calling for an end to U.S. military assistance for Israel blocked the international terminal at the San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday. A tour promoting real estate in Israel and West Bank settlements that has become a flashpoint for controversy and pro-Palestinian protests canceled its final event in Brooklyn on Wednesday due to security concerns, an organizer said. South Africa said that IDF soldiers holding South African citizenship would be arrested if they tried entering the country. And those are just a few headlines.

Fortunately, only Biden’s rhetoric seems to have changed. For a real view on his support, just follow the missiles: we continue to send an arsenal of weaponry in support of Israel. And Israelis appreciate that support, and do not expect Biden to give up Michigan on their behalf. So, at least for now, Biden is hanging tough. But as the election gets closer, and the polls continue to show him in trouble, it will be tougher for him to hang in there.

What follows below is an essay from someone named Saul Goldman, an Israeli writer and commentator. I read it as a guest essay on Josh Hoffman’s “Future of Judaism” Substack. Israel is by no means a perfect country, and certainly has made it’s share of mistakes. Security through subjugation is one big one as is more settlements in the West Bank. And as you all know, I am no fan of Bibi Nut-and-yahoo and his right wing nut job coalition, and I think his policies are partly to blame for the current crisis. But Goldman raises some interesting ideas, and validates many thoughts I have had myself but could not articulate them nearly as well nor as courageously. 

Enjoy the essay, and hey, let’s be careful out there. 

Brad out.

A recent Jerusalem Post editorial called for a new solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“What is needed,” the Post wrote, “is some out-of-the-box thinking, a creative alternative to the two-state solution. It became axiomatic over the years to believe the only answer to the Israeli-Palestinian conundrum is either a two-state solution or a binational state, both of which could endanger Israel as a Jewish state.”1

Its optimism is praiseworthy.

However, we must ask ourselves: Is this perseverance, or is it perseveration? The former has always been part of our successful history, but the latter is actually a symptom of mental illness.

It is understandable, after so much bloodshed, that we suffer from a collective or national form of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). But, are we really capable of solving the Palestinian crisis? Or, is the suggestion that we can be a sign of moral hubris?

Jews think it is stupid to fight. We prefer reasoned arguments. However, not everyone agrees. Historically, there were many cultures that revered the martial character: the Spartans, Romans, and the Germans to mention only a few. The great symbol of Islam is the sword and Islam, itself, means submission.

Nevertheless, Palestinians are quite capable of solving their own crisis if they are willing to do so. Remember the old joke about how many psychiatrists it takes to change a light bulb? The answer was one psychiatrist, but the light bulb has to want to change.

The question before us is: “Why” do the “poor Palestinians” not want to resolve their situation?  The answer is not so difficult. The Palestinian identity has emerged from an inconspicuous history as just one of many Arab ethnicities.

Today, the Palestinian hidden behind a keffiyeh (a Palestinian scarf) and sporting an AK-47 has become a cultural superhero for the ignorant masses and for anyone with a chip on their shoulder because once their ancestors constituted an indigenous tribe in what is now a metropolitan center.

Contrary to the romance of being indigenous, the facts are that the colonizing Europeans conquered America; the indigenous Americans did not conquer London or Paris.

The facts are that the Jews are indigenous to this land. They not only defeated the Arabs but built a thriving community which includes Arabs who chose to live in a Jewish state. These Jews provided work and healthcare to millions of putative Palestinians. And they also defended them when their cousins indiscriminately launch rockets.

It is not like the Iron Dome has a feature that allows its operators to exclusively shoot down incoming rockets on their way to killing Jewish Israelis, but not Arab Israelis.

Imagine, no one even said “thank you” to the Jews.  

Nevertheless, there seems to be an upside to being the poor long-suffering Palestinian. He has become a cultural icon in the new “woke” civilization, in which everything we thought we knew and valued has been destroyed. Sex is no longer determined; it is chosen. Morality has become a tool of ideology.

However, the Palestinians’ rise as cultural icons is inversely proportionate to the demise of the West. In other words, like some Nazi Storm Trooper, the Palestinian is a hero to villains.

Isaiah warned us of a time when all of this would happen; when “people would call bad good.” In this biblical nightmare, murder is now resistance. If you are killed in a criminal or terrorist act, you become a martyr. True and false are no longer meaningful because facts are irrelevant.

The Palestinians may not be good at much, but they excel in lying. For example, they reinvented Jesus as a Palestinian. This lie resonates among Christians eager to push their claims of supersessionism — a Christian theological opinion that describes the idea that the Christian Church has superseded the nation of Israel assuming their role as God’s covenanted people, thus asserting that the New Covenant through Jesus Christ has superseded or replaced the Mosaic covenant.

We live in the Culture of the Lie. Truth is cast aside. If I may quote the Psalmist:

“The righteous man no longer exists. People lie to one another. They say with our tongue we will prevail.”

And this is exactly what is happening. Palestinian supporters are glib and photogenic, and excel in newsworthy sound bites.

Yet only the Palestinians can solve the Palestinian crisis — because they created it. Only they can disentangle their people from a self-taught curriculum based upon ancient falsehoods.

Pursuing the light bulb analogy, we cannot emancipate Palestinians from years of their own indoctrination and mental bondage. Yes, the rebirth of Israel was hard on them. Many became refugees. As the comedian Bill Maher commented, “Just get over it, you lost.”2

Many people have been dislodged because of war, but they did not become professional refugees. They found a new home.

Resolving the Palestinian crisis means that facts supersede rhetoric. We Jews see that the Palestinians are in bondage and their plight hurts us. But, there is little that we can do until they, at least, ask us for help.

The freedom they seek cannot be given to them by Israel or by anyone else. Freedom begins in the mind. Politicians can create democracies that decompensate into chaos. But, meaningful individual liberty begins, as Baruch Spinoza and Moses before him proved, in the mind — in each individual soul.

A major obstacle in the way of this liberation is that no one really wants to help them. No one wants to tell them the truth. Instead, everyone wants to exploit them; to use them for their own political objectives. So the world encourages the Palestinians to blame the Jews for the sad facts of their fate. It is easier to blame than to accept responsibility.

Blame is something that resonates within every antisemitic culture; its origins stretch back to the medieval blood libels. One might innocently ask: Why would anyone want to give Hamas another chance? Why would anyone want such an evil regime to continue to ruin lives? Maybe, because they only murder Jews.  

The Israelis did not take away their human rights; Hamas and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas did that — and millions of Palestinians acquiesced. They could have resisted. All over the world, people resist tyranny. Their enemy is not the democratic Jewish state, where their own cousins live in dignity and equality. Their enemy is the lie that they revere. Until the Palestinians stand up and fight for themselves, there will never be a solution.

Left alone, none of us would be free. Liberty is not a gift; it is an achievement. Voltaire was wrong. Man is not born free. He is born in bondage to his instincts and to his own habits. Erich Fromm helped us to understand our own fear of freedom. The Exodus story includes the poignant episode in which some of the Hebrews wanted to return to what they knew best: bondage.

Each of us contends against our own unconscious instincts and fears. Among those drives (which Sigmund Freud called the “Death Instinct”) is the impulse of un-freedom.

I am not suggesting that Israelis stand idly by. It is important that we understand how to help the Palestinians. But blaming the Jews will never “free Palestine.” And offering more concessions to their demands only justifies their deceitful deeds.

What is transpiring between Israel and the Palestinians is a mere vision of what awaits the world. People are beginning to realize, the sword of Islam is pointed at the soul of civilization. Our hope for peace is a meager one.

And we Israelis should be proud that we are fighting the only war worth fighting. It is not a war about territory or economics. It is not about who governs. It is about the transcendent rather than the immediate.

Moreover, the West must understand that this war has to be won — because it is about the values we cherish and the conceptions we fear.

Saul Goldman

The Jew News Review – March 9, 2024 – “Fundie baby?”

Shabbat shalom! 

And a tip of the kippah this week to Ruth Gottesman, a longtime professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, who donated $1 Billion to the medical school located in one of the poorest areas of NYC, on the condition that it makes free tuition available to all students going forward (Remi, get your application drafted!), and, that it keeps the Albert Einstein name. Gottesman, 93, in addition to being a professor at the school, also studied learning disabilities and created an adult literacy program. She is the widower of one of Warren Buffets proteges, Sandy Gottesman, who died in 2022 at age 96. “He left me, unbeknownst to me, a whole portfolio of Berkshire Hathaway stock,” she recalled. The instructions were simple: “Do whatever you think is right with it.” And so she did. Makes me wonder about the utility and lost opportunities of the billions spent by the many ego/vanity inspired billionaire men sending phallus-shaped rockets to Mars.

It was a big week in politics here in the USA. Uncle Joe proved he isn’t a near dead zombie and gave a feisty SOTU speech to Congress and the American people. Whether it was the adderall kicking in, or whatever diminished level of adrenalin still seeps through his aging body, he delivered an outstanding performance in both style and substance, and stuck it several times to his “predecessor”, the orange turd. My brother put it succinctly, “whatever bar you had for him, he leapt over it”. I thought he was too loud at times, and went about 20 minutes too long, but he successfully conveyed the sense of a man in charge who was enjoying himself and reminded us he is the guy who, whether you agree with his policies or not, accomplished a lot working with a bunch of yahoos, and he still has some fuel in the tank to complete the job. I hope Uncle Joe’s performance gives other Americans some comfort in supporting him over the rapist, traitor who wants four more years for a revenge tour that could rip the country apart and dismantle many more democratic norms.

Biden’s Presidential performance was followed by one of the strangest Republican responses I can recall, even more weird than Bobby Jindal’s in 2009, and the famous dry mouth episode delivered by Marco Rubio. It was perhaps fitting that the Republicans rolled out Senator Katie Britt for their official response, a creepy combination of June Cleaver and any woman from The Little House on the Prairie, on International Women’s Day. I learned from Jess Piper, a writer from Missouri, that the Senator speaks, and this is no joke, in what is called “fundie baby voice”, something that is trained in women in Fundamentalist culture – the breathy cadence and the soft, child-like high pitch. 

“I know that voice well…in fact I can’t shake it myself. It was engrained in every woman I knew from church and every time I speak about it, folks will point out that I sound that way myself. Yes, friends. That’s the point. Be sweet. Obey. Prove it by speaking in muted tones.” 

The speech, she says, “was filled with Fundamentalist ideology and the fundie baby voice. The setting was her kitchen—that is not by accident. It is likely that she thinks this is where most women should spend their time. She’s wearing a modest shirt, opened just far enough to see her cross necklace. She started her speech by indicating that she’s “just a mom” mentioning her children’s names to assure other fundamentalist Christians that she understands her role in society.”

“Her face says as much as her voice in fundie culture—that hyperbolic wince that she performed each time she said “Biden.” It means, “I’m going to say something here that isn’t very nice, but y’all know I’m going to keep it sweet.”

The bless your heart effect.”

Katie Britt returning home after delivering her SOTU response speech.

It’s’ more than a bit scary that this is who Republicans deem to be the future of the Party. One step closer to the Handmaid’s Tale. I can’t wait to see what SNL does with this tonight. 

And what about Israel? Oy. With Ramadan approaching this Sunday, pressure is building for a deal to free the hostages before the holiday commences. Israel has basically agreed to the fundamentals of a deal, but Hamas of course is saying no, while at the same time doing their best to fulfill their original intent, to create a wider regional conflict. And apparently Hamas can’t even provide a list of the remaining hostages or proof of life. Meanwhile, the Biden administration continues to pressure Israel to do more, no excuses, in providing aide to the Gazans. Remind me again of any other country that has been pressured to provide their enemy with food, shelter, medical and other aide? I know, it’s a humanitarian response to save the women and children, but remember, these are the same folks that still support Hamas by 80% according to the latest polls! 

And speaking of the aide, while Israel continues to get blamed for distribution problems, the reality is of course different then what is being reported in the lame stream media. Here are the facts as of yesterday: there are over 300 trucks waiting to be unloaded and distributed on the Gaza side of the border. That is the responsibility of the UNRWA, which is not an aide organization, but as we all know, an instrument of Hamas who are more focused on teaching terror to young Gazan children than having any real experience distributing aide. Israel currently has 20 bakeries making over 2.5 million pita loaves every day, and has the capacity to double the amount of overall aide they are providing but for the distribution log jam caused by the incompetence and Hamas complicity of the UNRWA. Israel has been arguing for weeks to activate more professional and proven aide delivery agencies, to no avail. Have you read any of this in the New York Times?

Now, without and further ajieu, here is your weekly compendium and carefully curated collection of Jew news copied and pasted from credible sources such as The Forward, JTA, Haaretz, Times of Israel, and others:

  1. Latest from the war…
    • Some officials in Biden’s administration said Hamas is responsible for delays in achieving a six-week ceasefire, with one saying such a deal could already be in place “if Hamas would agree to release a defined category of vulnerable hostages, including women, the elderly, the sick and the wounded.”
    • Israel will participate in Eurovision after rewriting its song submission. Officials with the competition, which has rules against political messaging, previously rejected two options that referenced Oct. 7.
    • Twenty-seven detainees from Gaza have died in Israeli custody during the war, per a new report. Military police are looking into the circumstances of their deaths; detainees who have returned to Gaza have reported harsh treatment at military facilities, including beatings and abuse.
    • An independent report concluded that a Reuters reporter’s October death in Lebanon likely happened after an Israeli tank crew fired two shells at a clearly identified group of journalists, then opened machine-gun fire.
    • Spain will resume its funding to UNRWA, the United Nations agency that serves Palestinians; Canada is reportedly intending to do the same.
    • Two students filed a lawsuit accusing MIT of allowing campus antisemitism.
    • The Jewish leader of a San Francisco arts organization resigned, saying she’d been subject to antisemitism in the wake of a pro-Palestinian artist protest.
  2. Why ‘Dune 2’ feels like a parable about Gaza: The movie is set in a galaxy far far away, on a desert planet full of a hallucinogenic magic drug. Yet somehow, watching it feels a lot like watching the news — largely thanks to the fact that the second installment in the blockbuster series focuses on a group of nomadic desert dwellers in scarves and head coverings fighting back against a colonizing force. The narrative sounds familiar from the debates about the Israel-Hamas war. The Forward’s culture writer Mira Fox takes a closer look at the parallels. Read the story ➤
  3. No sex this Shabbat: So what’s new? – Orthodox influencer sparks strike to highlight plight of woman seeking divorce. Malky (Gold) Berkowitz, who comes from a Hasidic community, has been trying to divorce her husband for four years — but he has refused to grant her a Jewish divorce. It’s a familiar issue within the Haredi world, where activists have long adopted creative tactics in trying to force men to grant divorces. Now, Adina Sash, who runs the popular Instagram account @FlatbushGirl, is spearheading an especially unusual one to help Berkowitz: a sex strike.
  4. State of the Union Jewish lens – One of the strongest ovations Democrats gave President Joe Biden in Thursday night’s State of the Union address came when he declared that Israel “has a fundamental responsibility to protect innocent civilians in Gaza.” He used his harshest language yet about the war, calling the toll of death, destruction and displacement “heartbreaking.” The speech came two days after a surprisingly strong protest vote over Biden’s support of Israel’s war against Hamas in Super Tuesday primaries. Pro-Palestinian advocates blocked his planned route to the Capitol and projected “Biden’s Legacy is Genocide” onto a building; inside the House chamber, Reps. Summer Lee, Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush wore kaffiyehs, the signature Palestinian solidarity scarf, and held signs that read, “Stop Sending Bombs” and “Lasting Ceasefire Now.”Some lawmakers also wore stickers saying “153,” the number of days the hostages, some 130 of them, have been held in captivity by Hamas.Biden checked his pro-Israel boxes by calling Hamas a terrorist group, being clear that the Oct. 7 terror attack sparked the war and included sexual violence and was the “deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” and noting that he is the only American president to visit Israel during wartime. He used the phrase “over time” regarding a two-state solution, and said Middle East stability depends on “containing the threat posed by Iran.”But he also tried to appease the growing number of Democrats displeased by his unbridled backing of the war.“More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of whom are not Hamas,” he said, citing figures that many in Israel dispute. “Girls and boys also orphaned. Nearly 2 million more Palestinians under bombardment or displacement. Homes destroyed, neighborhoods in rubble, cities in ruin. Families without food, water, medicine. It’s heartbreaking.”
  5. ‘Uncommitted’ campaign opposing Biden’s support for Israel makes a mark in at least 5 more states – On Super Tuesday, significant numbers of voters in the Democratic primaries in Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina and Tennessee voted for “uncommitted” or “no preference” instead of for President Joe Biden. By the numbers: The substantive showings suggest that what happened in last week’s primary in Michigan, a state with a large Arab American population and where more than 13% of voters chose “uncommitted,” was not an anomaly. In Minnesota, 19% of Democrats cast ballots for “uncommitted.” Polling shows unhappiness with Biden’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas among younger and minority voters.

It’s Oscar weekend, and your last chance to make your predictions. I will spare you mine, but share a growing concern I have with the state of entertainment in the country. While not as bad as the state of our politics, there are troubling developments that writer Ted Gioia captured well in this depiction:

Gioia makes an interesting point, that the “fastest growing sector of the culture economy is distraction. Or call it scrolling or swiping or wasting time or whatever you want. But it’s not art or entertainment, just ceaseless activity.” Our brains continue to be trained for that quick dopamine hit tiktok’ers get from clicking and swiping which further erodes the average attention span. Someone told me they recently went to see Dune 2 in the theater and noticed that about 10% of the movie goers, mostly Gen Z types, were busy on their phones while supposedly watching the movie! Can a 2-3 hour movie requiring focused attention survive in this new world? Consider the movie business as noted by Gioia:

So, enjoy the movies while you still can! And maybe say good bye to Tiktok as well, thanks to new legislation that will likely make it to Biden’s desk. But that’s a story for another week!

Dayenu! And hey, let’s remember to be careful out there.

Brad out.

The Jew News Review – March 1, 2024 – “Au revoir Palm Springs”

Shabbat shalom!

Sadly, we are traveling home tomorrow, leaving behind palm trees, amazing weather and an incredible month of R&R, but looking forward to “Sandy Spring” and seeing the kids and grand kids. We have been snow birding to Palm Springs for many years now, but I would have to say this was the best year ever.

They call Palm Springs home of the “Gay Nineties” due to its large demographic of LGBTQ and old farts like us. But anyone who has ever lived in a gay area of any city knows that along with that demographic comes large discretionary incomes, which means great arts, fine culture and excellent dining. We certainly experienced all of that and more.

Au revoir Palm Springs!

Given our travel schedule, this posting will be short of the usual cornucopian collection of Jewie journalism, certainly not from any lack of news in the world or developments in Israel that merit further attention. Quite the opposite, actually. Nevertheless, I will be brief and offer the following few gems:

Bruce Springsteen announced this week the release of a new “Best of” album, due out in April. The Boss took a break from his current tour due to health issues, but is back on stage delivering musical magic. For those on this distribution list who believe, as I do, that Bruce is a real legend of real music, not some Taylor Swiftian goo goo pop stuff or hip hop misogynist junk, you may want to pre-order now with this link.

The album is a collection of original songs spanning his storied 50-year recording career, from 1973’s Greeting from Asbury Park, NJ to 2020’s Letter To You. Best Of Bruce Springsteen will be available on April 19 and will include early-career favorites like “Growin’ Up” and “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight),” staples of Springsteen’s live shows from “Dancing In The Dark” to “The Rising,” best-selling breakouts like “Born To Run” and “Hungry Heart,” as well as recent releases “Hello Sunshine” and “Letter To You.” All good stuff. 

And lastly, a news item out of Israel that doesn’t suck. In a scientific first, researchers at Bar-Ilan University have created testicles in a laboratory — a discovery that they hope could lead to a better understanding of sex determination as well as advances in infertility treatment. According to the JNR, back here in the good ole US of A, the Republican National Committee has invested heavily in pre-IPO seed capital of this new technology in the hopes that their candidates and current congress people may grow a pair. And if that happens, remember, you heard it here first in the Jew News Review.

Have a great weekend everyone! And even if you already have grown a pair, be careful out there.

Brad out.

The Jew News Review – February 24, 2024 – “If he only had a brain”

Shabbat shalom! And a tip of the kippah to the late Alexei Navalny, who was murdered last week by Vlad “little dick” Putin. Hopefully, Navalny’s courageous death might inspire the spineless GOP morons to get some aide to Ukraine before it’s too late. 

We lose something profound if we mark his assassination with supine acquiescence. Courage should beget courage. Navalny was a proud Russian nationalist, but he represented the core principles of the West; and they are worth prudently defending abroad as well as at home. In Navalny, you see a commitment to empirical truth over ideological lies; to transparency over corruption; to courage over brute force; to humor over power; and to freedom over tyranny. We may be chastened as a super-power, and we have every reason to be. But something deep is at stake here in the wake of Navalny’s murder. And we betray our souls if we let him die in vain. –  Andrew Sullivan

Looking out our window at the San Jacinta and San Bernardino mountains set against a bright blue sky, I am reluctant this week to go about my usual business of recapping the hideous news cycle or adding my smarmy commentary, for example, to the actions of the douche bags in Alabama who in the name of their God, think we should all be living in a Christian theocracy where woman have no control over their own bodies and couples will be denied access to IVF technologies that enable them to conceive and bring new wonderful life into this tumultuous but beautiful world.

So, out of respect for this beautiful day, I am pivoting instead to a different topic in the news, which caught my attention but, so far, has received little coverage in the lame stream media. Spoiler alert: some feminists will not be happy. But, researchers in a Stanford Medicine study, using deep AI neural networking techniques previously unavailable, have determined conclusively that “reliable sex differences exist in the human brain and suggest that understanding these differences may be critical to addressing neuropsychiatric conditions that affect women and men differently.”

Really? It took a Stanford study of over 1,500 brain scans to figure out what most men who have ever watched a woman parallel park have known for decades? (yuk, yuk) Apparently, according to lead investigator, Vinod Menon,  the new study unveils an artificial intelligence model that was more than 90% successful at determining whether scans of brain activity came from a woman or a man. And according to Dr. Menon,

The extent to which a person’s sex affects how their brain is organized and operates has long been a point of dispute among scientists. While we know the sex chromosomes we are born with help determine the cocktail of hormones our brains are exposed to — particularly during early development, puberty and aging — researchers have long struggled to connect sex to concrete differences in the human brain. Brain structures tend to look much the same in men and women, and previous research examining how brain regions work together has also largely failed to turn up consistent brain indicators of sex.

This has been a tricky topic among scientists, and, of course, historically launched a huge amount of debate and some demagoguery from feminists who have argued for decades that there are no important inbuilt differences between male and female brains. In fact, just a few years ago, British neurobiologist Professor Gina Rippon — author of the boldly-titled The Gendered Brain: The new neuroscience that shatters the myth of the female brain — felt confident enough to dismiss the idea that there were any systematic brain differences based on sex alone as “neurofoolishness”. And feminist author Kathleen Block writes recently that the first axiom of the feminist theory on brain differences used to be that “there are no male and female brains at all, except in the trivial sense that there are a variety of human brains, each lodged within male and female bodies and shaped by external “gendered” circumstances that vary from culture to culture. A second axiom tends to follow swiftly: anyone who says otherwise is probably a sexist pig.”

This week, however, the inconvenient truth emerged from the data that indeed, male and female brains are wired differently. Those differences could not have been more profoundly demonstrated than by the decision, led by Alabama Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker, that cells awaiting implantation for in vitro fertilization are children and that the accidental destruction of such an embryo falls under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. In his concurring opinion, he declared that the people of Alabama have adopted the “theologically based view of the sanctity of life” and said that “human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God.” Well Judge Parker, you and your inane decision defy the basic constitutional separation of church and state, and have incurred my wrath. So F-you and F your little man brain, Judge!

The Dobbs decision unleashed this nonsense and started pro-life conservatives down the proverbial slippery slope. What’s next? Making contraceptives illegal? When your significant other says “no, I’m too tired tonight honey”, you can press charges? I’d like to press a few charges against Parker’s temporal lobes and give him a lobotomy, but apparently he’s already had one. 

Well, there I go again, down the proverbial bad news bunny hole. Where was I? Ah yes, the brain study. It should be interesting to see the impact of this study on feminist theories and the reactions to it across social, political and scientific communities. And remember, you read it here first in the JNR, along with this closing brain joke: 

A man decided it was time to upgrade his brain, so he went to the Brain Store to buy a new one. The sales clerk greeted his potential customer warmly and began to show him around the store.

“Here we have the women’s brains. They are $500.00 each,” said the sales clerk. Together the two moved down to the next aisle. “And here are the men’s brains. They are $1,000.00 each.”

The customer chuckled softly to himself. “So, the women’s brains cost less. I expected as much. Men are so much smarter.”

The sales clerk looked to the customer, a confused expression on the clerk’s face. “No sir, you misunderstand. Women’s brains cost less because they have been used.”

In Israel this week, a glimmer of hope that a deal to free the hostages may be in process. The first signs of any positive movement came from Benny Gantz, who sits on the war council and is typically mum on the topic. So, for him to announce anything positive could be a good sign. However, overall the main stream media continues to portray Israel in a very grim light while focusing more on the plight of Palestinians usually without any context of the cause of their plight – Hamas. And that coverage continues to hurt Israel’s image and standing around the globe. If you want to understand how Hamas manipulates the main stream media, here is a link to Dan Senor’s latest podcast “Call me Back:” How Hamas Fooled the World with Matti Friedman. The podcast summary is below. Friedman is a respected journalist who has first hand knowledge and writes eloquently on the topic. Worth a listen.

Every day we see news accounts “reported” by reputable journalists. There is typically one frame in the post-10/07 War: ‘Gazan Palestinians are the victims of Israel.’ How does this happen? How do journalists actually operate in Gaza and around the world? And is this a window into what Hamas had figured out long before 10/07 — that the forces of barbarism could manipulate the intentional press reaction to their massacre of 10/07?

Now, onto the news of the Jews. Here then is this week’s generous selection of Jewie journalistic gems, culled and carefully curated, and copied and pasted from the likes of The Forward, JTA, The Times of Israel, Kveller, Jewish Boston, Haaretz, and other Jewish journals:

  1. Postwar plan proposal from Bibi: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu submitted a proposal for the management of Gaza in the immediate aftermath of the war to his war cabinet. The plans include provisions for Israel to maintain freedom of military operation in Gaza, and for UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, to be shuttered and replaced by a new international body. Separately, a senior Israeli official said Israel is seeking Palestinians who are not connected to Hamas to oversee civilian affairs in “humanitarian pockets” of Gaza, as a test of plans for the strip’s postwar governance. The Palestinian Authority decried Netanyahu’s plan, calling it “a formal declaration of the return of the occupation to the Gaza Strip.”
  2. More on the war:
    1. Three Palestinian gunmen opened fire at Israelis stuck in traffic at a checkpoint near Jerusalem Thursday morning, killing an Israeli man and wounding 11 others.
    2. An Israeli delegation arrived in Paris to participate in a new round of talks over a possible deal for a ceasefire and hostage release.
    3. President Biden may be losing Democratic support in Michigan, which has the largest Arab American population in the U.S., over his support for the war in Gaza.
    4. A new report revealed that a 24-year-old survivor of the Nova Music Festival attack was killed by a kibbutz volunteer who mistook him for a terrorist on Oct. 7.
    5. A group of survivors of the Nova festival and family members of those who died there is suing The Associated Press, accusing the outlet of complicity in the Oct. 7 attack over its work with photographers the suit claims are “known Hamas associates.”
    6. Israel shared plans to build thousands of new residences in West Bank settlements in reaction to a Thursday terrorist attack that killed one.
    7. Israel’s entry to Eurovision faces a new hurdle: “October Rain,” the song selected for Eden Golan, 20, to sing at the festival, is reportedly being scrutinized over concerns that it may be overly political. Israel’s participation in this year’s contest has already been widely protested; Israeli media suggested that if the song choice was rejected, Israel would pull out of the competition.
    8. A Palestinian-American woman has remained in detention in Israel since early February over charges related to Facebook posts she made while in the U.S., raising questions over the jurisdiction of Israel’s military judicial system.
  3. Embryos ‘held hostage’: An Alabama court decision terrifies Jews relying on IVF. A ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court this week equating embryos with children has sent Alabama Jews undergoing or seeking fertility treatment into panic. “The scariest part is we’re supposed to be the experts to advise our clients,” Elana Frank, founder and CEO of the Jewish Fertility Foundation, which is scrambling to help Alabama clients transfer their treatment to Atlanta, told our news editor, Lauren Markoe. But “our attorneys and our doctors are freaking out.”
  4. 😳  Google suspended its artificial intelligence chatbot’s ability to create images after the service created pictures of people of color in Nazi uniforms, and said they would fix “inaccuracies in some historical” representations. (New York Times)
  5. et tu Denmark? 😞  Reports of antisemitic incidents in Denmark are at their highest level since World War II, with 121 incidents recorded since Oct. 7. (Associated Press)
  6. The Department of Education will investigate Natick Massachusetts K-12 in the latest in a flurry of federal probes into discrimination since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. A spokesperson for Natick Public Schools would not confirm the topic of its investigation to JTA, but noted, “There will be an investigation to assure the district adhered appropriately to protocols utilized to affirm and ensure the civil rights of our students are protected.” The spokesperson also said that “annual training is mandated for all staff” and that it would cooperate with the investigation. Natick has been the site of some antisemitic activity since the start of the war, according to a district statement made at a December school board meeting. “We stand strongly against any efforts to bring hatred into our community, including denouncing in the strongest terms the recent antisemitic symbols that were found in our schools,” the statement said.
  7. 🤦  Former Rep. George Santos — who was expelled from office and lied about his past, including that he’s a descendant of Holocaust survivors — is suing late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, accusing the comedian of … checks notes … fraud. You really can’t make this shit up! (CNN)

That should do it. Have a great week everyone! And hey, let’s be careful out there. If you happen to be in Russia, don’t mention my name or stand near any open windows.

Brad out.

The Jew News Review – February 17, 2023 – “Mr. Magoo vs Orange Turd”

Shabbat shalom from fabulously beautiful Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage! Somewhere in this sea of Tai Chi is my wife striking poses that in theory will increase her physical strength and improve cognition. Whatever. In the meantime, I am enjoying a French press in the cafe with an amazing view of the San Jacinta mountains. The Annenbergs knew what they were doing when they designed and built their gorgeous summer home, “Sunnylands”, on 200 acres of land in Rancho Mirage, which became a sort of Camp David of the West Coast for diplomatic missions of all kinds. Interestingly, Rancho Mirage was their secondary location since as Jews, they were denied purchasing land in Palm Springs in the 60’s. Go figure.

A tip of the kippah this week to JW3, the Jewish Community Center in London, England for their touching tribute to the Israeli hostages and a clever way to keep their fate front and center. A number of leaders of the Jewish Community were present at JW3 last Sunday to attach signed padlocks to the community hub’s walkway, which has been renamed to the “Lovelock Hostage Bridge”, in an expression of solidarity with the dozens of hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.

Over 100 padlocks displaying hostages’ names were attached to the walkway, while many other padlocks had no names on them to represent the hostages who were killed or died while in captivity.

The art installation is on the walkway outside JW3, London’s main Jewish community centre

I try very hard to avoid mentioning the orange turd in these posts, since his name and image actually make me nauseous, but somehow the former and disgraced President and convicted rapist and traitor keeps making headlines. Thankfully, our legal system is still functioning well enough to convict the a-hole of criminal and civil violations, the latest leading to his being fined for over $400M! Between this fine and the millions Trump owes E. Jean Carroll for defamation, Trump stands to lose at least 13% of his net worth if you can believe whatever the fat head claims to be his net worth. Unfortunately, he still commands and controls the GOP and despite all efforts will end up being the Republican nominee to face off against Uncle Joe in November. 

While I concur that Biden resembles Mr. Magoo on television, I see no evidence that age has impacted his job performance. Those of us who recall how skillfully Biden secured passage of the CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act after it was tanked by Manchin in 2021 notice a pattern: not since LBJ has the White House been occupied by a president this adept at working with the legislature in order to secure his domestic and foreign policy agenda.

But, there is also no question that Biden’s age is, and should be, an issue with voters. Jon Stewart, who is back on the air guiding The Daily Show, put Biden’s age front and center in his monologue last Monday, and the episode, much to Biden’s staffs regret, went viral. Stewart argued age-related issues shouldn’t be ignored: “Look, Joe Biden isn’t Donald Trump,” he said. “He hasn’t been indicted as many times, hasn’t had as many fraudulent businesses or been convicted in a civil trial for sexual assault or been ordered to pay defamation charges or stiffed blue collar tradesman … The stakes of this election don’t make Donald Trump’s opponent less subject to scrutiny. It actually makes him more subject to scrutiny. If the barbarians are at the gate, you want Conan [the Barbarian] standing on the ramparts, not chocolate chip cookie guy.”

Reasonable people can agree or disagree with the Biden agenda. I happen to agree with most of it, and I’m delighted to see how much it has helped average Americans secure work and democracies in three continents to fend off tyrants. There is no evidence that age has reduced Biden’s ability to advance these objectives — even in era of extreme negative partisanship. His skills will be a loss to the country and to democracies everywhere should he not be re-elected. Nuf said.

Now, what about all the Jewy stuff? I know what you must be thinking by now: What’s taking so long to get to the good stuff? Enough already with your political blathering. Ok, ok, ok. Here then, for your edification, is your weekly smorgasbord of superbly selected semitic stuff from sources such as The Forward, JTA, The Times of Israel, Nosher, Kveller, and Jewish Boston to name a few. Enjoy!

  1. Latest from the war…
    • A recently circulated internal Israel Defense Forces report warns that Hamas is likely to survive the war, stating that “authentic support remains” for the group among Gazans, and warning that the government’s lack of a clear postwar plan for Gaza means it “will become an area in deep crisis.”
    • Two were killed and four wounded in a terrorist attack at a bus stop in southern Israel.
    • Families of the hostages remaining in Gaza protested outside Tel Aviv’s Defense Ministry headquarters, with some handcuffing themselves to its gates, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday instructed Israeli officials to stop participating in talks in Cairo for a deal for a ceasefire and hostage release.
    • Netanyahu issued a statement rejecting “international dictates regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians” after a 40-minute call with President Joe Biden, whose administration is reportedly close to developing for a Palestinian state. Several Israeli ministers also spoke out against the plan, with far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich saying it would give Palestinians “a prize for the terrible massacre they carried out against us.”
    • The head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs sparked outrage after saying “Hamas is not a terrorist group for us” in a Wednesday interview.
    • Israel’s ambassador to the Holy See formally complained over a senior Vatican official’s Tuesday remarks referring to “carnage” in Gaza.
    • American investigators visited the West Bank to look into the recent shooting deaths of two Palestinian American teenagers. In the U.S., Biden issued an executive order stating that immigration officials should not attempt to deport most Palestinian immigrants, saying the war in Gaza and escalating violence in the West Bank have made the situation there too dangerous.
  2. Matisyahu claims venues canceled his shows due to antisemitism. Matisyahu, a Grammy-nominated reggae artist whose music features heavily Jewish themes, took to social media on Thursday to say two of his recent concerts had been canceled in reaction to the war, alleging that staffers at venues in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Tucson, Arizona, had refused to work his shows. “They do this because they are either antisemitic or have confused their empathy for the Palestinian people with hatred for someone like me who holds empathy for both Israelis and Palestinians,” Matisyahu wrote, saying that he was rejected after offering to pay for temporary staff to help out. Read the story ➤
  3. ⚖️  The brother of a deceased man suspected in four 2019 Boston-area arsons that targeted Jewish institutions pleaded not guilty to charges that he obstructed investigations into the incidents. (Associated Press)
  4. Two-state solution imminent? “The Biden administration and a small group of Middle East partners are rushing to complete a detailed, comprehensive plan for long-term peace between Israel and Palestinians, including a firm timeline for the establishment of a Palestinian state, that could be announced as early as the next several weeks,” The Washington Post reports. “The urgency of the effort is tied directly to a proposed pause in the fighting and release of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas that is being negotiated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.”
  5. The U.K. recorded its worst year for antisemitism since 1984, when it began tracking such data. The number of antisemitic incidents across the country reached 4,103 — nearly double the previous high in 2021 — amid a surge after the outbreak of the war.
  6. 🎬  Jewish actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach was cast as Ben Grimm, aka The Thing, in the upcoming Fantastic Four movie. Grimm is one of Marvel’s canonically Jewish characters, having had a bar mitzvah and Jewish wedding in the comics. He also seems to take inspiration from the story of the Golem. (Variety)
  7. Some monkey business, or new that doesn’t suck – Why does an ape tickle a fellow ape? According to scientists, because it’s funny. A new study found our closest cousins in the animal kingdom, the great apes, have a sense of humor, or at least the beginnings of one. Researchers found that orangutans, chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas all engage in “playful teasing,” “show laughter,” and display behaviors “similar to teasing in human infants” like tickling, poking, and pulling on hair. They believe this suggests that humor played a role in human development, writing that “joking draws on complex cognitive abilities: understanding social norms, theory of mind, anticipating others’ responses and appreciating the violation of others’ expectations.” The orange turd must have missed this line of human development and evolution.

That’s all folks! Remember to be careful out there, and strike a pose!

Brad out.

The Jew News Review – February 3, 2024 – “Feed your head”

Shabbat shalom! 

We are currently an hour into our flight to Palm Springs at an altitude of about 25,000 feet and a ground speed of about 470 mph. I have literally flown millions of miles in my lifetime, yet I still get a kick out of the whole flight thing and still find it amazing that these tubes with wings can get airborne. Due to an earlier than desired departure, I didn’t get much sleep last night, hence, this week’s offering may be short on substance and clarity. 

As the news across the globe gets increasingly more complex and dangerous, I keep hoping that something positive will happen to shake us out of this unrelenting Groundhog Day. Perhaps a “heavenly hamburger” chokes to death a certain orange turd, or, Vlad the Putin falls out a window to his ignominious death, or Hamas martyrs themselves by committing a mass suicide. All three would be ok with me, but alas, not likely.

More likely is our further descent, I fear, down the rabbit hole of this wacky Wonderland we call reality. In the first episode of the film trilogy The Matrix, lead character Neo was given the option of taking a red pill, which would enable him to understand what was actually occurring outside the illusion created by the Matrix, or a blue pill, which would allow him to return to experiencing only that illusion. Morpheus says “You take the blue pill… the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill… you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”

The biggest Matrix question of all: red pill or blue pill?

Deep enough already. It’s getting awfully dark down here, maybe time for a blue pill? 

In an ironic twist of color schemes, it seems that the MAGA nuts and conservative crowd have overdosed on Blue pills, and are living in an alternative Matrix. Their latest dalliance with the absurd comes in the form of a new conspiracy theory whereby Taylor Swift has somehow teamed up with George Soros as some kind of government plant that led Fox News host Jesse Watters to speculate that Swift might be a Pentagon “psyop” — an asset used for psychological operations. What’s even more bizarre than this sheer lunacy is how weirdly anti-American it is. Swift is a self-made billionaire and her jock boyfriend Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce are the sort of wholesome success stories we normally celebrate. And it’s football for cripes sake! 

So, why on earth are these unhinged loonies obsessed with Swift and her boyfriend? Why would a deranged person suggest that Kelce, a jock from Ohio, is a shill for George Soros because he did a vaccine ad? What pill induced Vikram Ramaswamy to say the Super Bowl is rigged in favor of the Chiefs in a plot to aid Biden? Imagining these very mainstream figures are part of a “psy-ops” strategy to take over the world for Davos vampires is off the charts looney and not something even the Mad Hatter would contemplate. But here we are. Cue up Grace Slick and Jefferson Airplane:

And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you’re going to fall
Tell ’em a hookah-smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call
Call Alice
When she was just small

Go ask Alice
I think she’ll know
Remember what the Dormouse said
Feed your head
Feed your head

Now, what about the news for the Jews across the Jew S of A and the world? Here is your weekly compendium and carefully curated collection copied and pasted from credible sources such as The Forward, JTA, Haaretz, Times of Israel, and others:

  1. Latest from the war …
    • Hamas officials in Gaza pushed back after a Qatari spokesperson said the group had reacted positively to a proposal for a cease-fire and hostage release deal, saying they had yet to come to an agreement.
    • The United Kingdom is considering recognizing a Palestinian state, its foreign secretary said, as a way to push for a two-state solution. Separately, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman suggested that the Biden administration is developing a plan to recognize a new, demilitarized Palestinian state
    • More than 800 government officials across Europe and the U.S. released a public letter of dissent against their countries’ support for Israel in the war. Some 80 signatories are American, with the largest group coming from the State Department.
    • Biden signed an executive order that will punish four Israeli settlers who have led or participated in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
    • Seven workers at a Turkish plant owned by the U.S. company Procter & Gamble were freed after being taken hostage for nine hours by a man protesting against the war.
    • Protesters continued to block humanitarian aid trucks from entering Gaza after access to two border crossings the group had previously targeted was restricted, moving their demonstrations to the port of Ashdod.
  2. For God and country | War reignites fringe movement to resettle Gaza: Some 2,000 people flocked this week to a conference in Jerusalem for the loudest and most high-profile event yet to rally support for resettlement. The crowd included influential rabbis, relatives of people murdered or abducted on Oct. 7, soldiers killed in combat since, and busloads of yeshiva students, many who said they hope to raise their future children in Gaza. Susan Greene, our correspondent on the ground in Israel, reports from the scene. Read the story ➤
  3. 5 things to know about the UN group whose sole mission is to aid Palestinians:Allegations that a dozen employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, better known as UNRWA, participated in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks have led the U.S. and other countries to suspend donations to the agency, which provides humanitarian aid to Gaza. The U.S. provides $300 to $400 million annually to UNRWA, and has already sent $121 million since the war began. The Forward’s Beth Harpaz dives into the group’s controversial past and the impact it’s had in the current war. Read the story ➤
  4. ➤  Throw away your ABBA records – More than 1,000 Swedish musicians are asking for Israel to be excluded from the annual Eurovision Song Contest, which Sweden is hosting in May. Israel has won the competition four times since 1978, most recently in 2018.
  5. (New York Jewish Week) – Thousands of demonstrators gathered outside Columbia University on Friday, in protest of the suspension of campus pro-Palestinian groups as well as an incident last month in which students were allegedly sprayed with a foul substance. At least one person was arrested at the rally. The rally on Friday was led by Within Our Lifetime, the prominent pro-Palestinian activist group in New York City that endorsed Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and has frequently called for Israel’s elimination. It took place with the university locked to the public, in a sign of how the campus climate has continued to sour. 
  6. Federal authorities arrested a man who allegedly threatened a Massachusetts synagogue, telling the congregation in a voicemail, “If you can kill the Palestinians, we can kill you.”
  7. Israeli special forces went undercover as hospital staff — the men in fake beards and the women dressed in Muslim garb — to enter a hospital in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin Tuesday morning. They killed three men suspected of planning a terror attack against Israel. On social media, some are saying that the video from the spycraft-filled incident reminded them of the popular Netflix series Fauda.

Time to buckle up! Have a great weekend everyone! And hey, let’s be careful out there and watch out for any rabbit holes!

Brad out. 

The Jew News Review – January 27, 2024 – Never forget: “For evil to flourish, it only requires good men to do nothing.” — Simon Wiesenthal

Shabbat shalom! And a tip of the kippah this week to the German supermarket chain, EDEKA, who posted a video, now going viral in Europe, showing how empty store shelves would be if they only sold products made in Germany. A lot of beer, not much else. 

The ad is intended to make a point about racism and diversity and is also meant as a political message regarding Germany staying in the European Union. But, I found it compelling since today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a day that commemorates the victims of the Holocaust, which resulted in the genocide of one third of the Jewish people, along with countless members of other minorities by Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945. January 27th was chosen as the date to memorialize when the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by the Red Army in 1945. The EDEKA store in Hamburg removed foreign-made products from its stock, replacing them with signs bearing anti-xenophobia slogans as a bold reminder for the German people of the benefits of diversity, but also how fascism and “German First” thinking can lead to dark places. And, we mustn’t forget that it wasn’t just Jews that were the targets of Nazi genocide, hence, the tip of the kipah to EDEKA.

It is a bitter irony that on the evening leading up to International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the same UN that created the holiday, shamed itself with it’s decision by the IJC on South Africa’s incredulous accusation of Israel committing genocide in Gaza. In a 15-2 ruling the court did not order Israel to end the war and did not issue a finding on the question of genocide. They effectively found that Israel may have or could violate the UN Genocide Convention and must take steps to avoid it.

Whether you think the court’s decision was lenient or harsh, fair or not, less or more than feared, is not the point. That Israel was even mentioned in respect to the accusation of genocide is an utter travesty and cheapens and diminishes the genocide provisions. That it may have created the conditions that could lead to a “genocide” – a claim fueled by shambolic, stupid remarks made by a select collection of its dumbest extreme right politicians – makes this a very bad day for Israel and for Jews across the world. 

Adding insult to Jewish injury, the UNRWA, the UN Palestinian aid agency (and the only UN entity dedicated to a single population of refugees), fired a number of staff members after Israel presented evidence that 12 men employed by UNRWA were involved in Hamas’s attack on 10/7. The head of UNRWA said he will “launch an investigation in order to establish the truth without delay” and “any UNRWA employee who was involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution.” This is an about face from the UN, which has previously dismissed claims of complicity by UNRWA staff. The US State Dept. as well as a number of other countries, have now paused additional funding to UNRWA and called on the UN to conduct a “thorough and swift investigation of this matter.”Ugh. 

Seemingly lost in all this madness, at least outside of Israel, is the fate of the innocent hostages still being held by Hamas. The mainstream media seems to have forgotten about them, as there are fewer and fewer stories reminding folks of their plight and of the soulless inhumanity of their captors. Meanwhile, inside Israel, families of the hostages and of active IDF soldiers blocked the passage of aid trucks at the Israeli border this week, preventing aid from getting into Gaza. The protesters say they view the delivery of aid to Gaza while their loved ones are still being held by Hamas as “a moral failure”. I think I agree with them. But I am also struck by the horror of the civilian casualties and their desperate plight. Meanwhile, negotiations for a ceasefire in exchange for the hostages are ongoing. What a horrible mess. What is the answer to this mess? 

I was particularly moved this week by a piece I read in David Volodzko’s Substack blog called “The Radicalist” in which he provides an email exchange he has with Reuven Spero, a history teacher in an Israeli high school. Here is a link to read it in its entirety, which I strongly recommend. He concludes with the following:

I know, I know, but look what happened with Germany. And Japan. Cultures can and have changed. People can change. The question is, what will be required of Palestinian culture to achieve such change? At the very least, I would say, is reeducation, which will probably have to begin by ripping the genocidal how-to garbage out of their UN textbooks. But truthfully, any real solution will probably look a lot like colonization. That’s a dirty word, but running their elections for a decade until democracy takes root and civil liberties allow the people to flourish would be good for everyone. You’d be forcing it on them, but polling tells us what they really want is genocide so your options are to allow the genocide, fight the forever war until a genocide accumulates, or force peace on them for the sake of your kids and theirs. They can thank you later. I would say let bygones be bygones and have your dictatorship if you want it, but your bygones are murdering Israeli children and Israelis are some of the best fighters in human history, so you can sow the wind if you want.

The Radicalist

Ok, what else is going on in the Jewish world? Inquiring minds want to know! Here then is this week’s generous selection of Jewie journalistic gems, culled and carefully curated, and copied and pasted from the likes of The Forward, JTA, The Times of Israel, Kveller, Jewish Boston, Haaretz, and other Jewish journals:

  1. There are approximately 250,000 holocaust survivors still living. A Polish Jew named Rose Girone, the oldest survivor, just turned 112. Nearly half the remaining survivors live in Israel, with 18 percent more in North America and another 18 percent in western Europe. Most are women. Sarah Jackson is one of these women. She was four years old when World War II started. After learning about her families displacement and death during the war, her parents decided to immigrate to Israel in 1949. Then, on October 7th, Jackson found herself sheltering three Israelis fleeing the outdoor Supernova music festival where Palestinian terrorists killed more than 360 people and kidnapped others back to Gaza. Yesterday, they were reunited for the first time.
  1. Latest from the war…
    • Thousands of activists who want Israel to re-establish settlements in Gaza after the war will meet to discuss that goal on Sunday. The last Israeli settlements in Gaza were cleared in 2005.
    • El Al, Israel’s national airline, will drop its Tel Aviv to Johannesburg route in April, citing a sharp drop in Israeli interest in traveling to South Africa in the wake of the ICJ case.
    • The heads of the CIA and Mossad are expected to meet with Qatar’s prime minister in Europe to discuss a deal for a temporary cease-fire and hostage release.
    • Families of hostages still held in Gaza blocked humanitarian aid from entering the strip via an Israeli crossing for the second day in a row, with one demonstrator protesting that “while we don’t know where our families are and if they are alive,” Gazans are “getting humanitarian aid.” The U.S. reportedly responded by pushing Israel to ensure the Kerem Shalom crossing remains accessible.
    • An Israel Defense Forces report released earlier this month said that nearly 20% of the Israeli soldiers who had so far died in Gaza had been killed by friendly fire or accidents, one of the highest such rates among contemporary wars.
    • Democratic U.S. senators are speaking out against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, saying “I’m looking forward to the time when he is no longer the leader.”
    • The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry claimed that at least 20 Palestinians were killed and 150 wounded when Israeli fire hit a crowd awaiting humanitarian aid. The IDF said it was looking into the incident.
    • New York University suspended an adjunct faculty member after video was released of him denying Hamas’ Oct. 7 atrocities and referring to New York as a “Zionist city.”
  2. 😔  Close to four times as many antisemitic incidents were reported in France in 2023 as in 2022, new data suggests, with 1,676 reports in 2023 compared to 436 in 2022. Belgium reported 91 antisemitic incidents last year, compared to 57 in 2022. (NY1) When an Israeli soccer team plays in Belgium next month, the game will take place in an empty stadium out of safety concerns, amid a rise in antisemitism since the war began.
  3. Idan Amedi, an actor on Netflix’s Fauda and an IDF reservist who was injured in Gaza, was released from the hospital. He says once he fully recovers, he hopes to return to acting, and “fighting in the war.”
  4. 🏈  The Foundation to Combat Antisemitism will air a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl, at an estimated cost of $7 million. The group is funded by Robert Kraft, the Jewish philanthropist and owner of the New England Patriots … Relatedly, Connie Britton, Cindy Crawford and Lance Bass have joined dozens of celebrities in a series of new social media videos to combat antisemitism. (JTA/Wrap)
  5. 🤦  How did social media help prevent October 7 you despicable antisemite? After a visit to Auschwitz this week, Elon Musk suggested that if social media was around in the 1940s, it could have stopped the Holocaust. Scholars call it a “fantasy scenario” and that Musk should “take an intro course on the Holocaust.” (JTA)
  6. 🤷  The head of the U.N. will not make his usual appearance at a prominent New York City synagogue’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day event this Saturday. A spokesperson for the U.N. said the service should be “focused on healing and the testimony of survivors.” (NY Jewish Week)

All right, let’s call it a day. My grand daughter Abby is celebrating her first birthday today, so that should put us in a good mood for the rest of the weekend. I hope you all enjoy your weekends, and hey, as usual, let’s remember to be safe out there!

Brad out.

The Jew News Review – January 21, 2024 – “”When the Jews go; it’s time to leave, when the Portuguese go; it’s too late.”

Shalom everyone! And happy Sunday! It’s colder than an eskimo’s tuchus out there, so bundle up if you are going out! I suggest the knit kipah today for a little more insulation. 

No insulation from the news however. The war in Gaza has now passed the hundred day mark and I didn’t think it was possible, but the situation there seems to be in an endless cycle of going from bad to worse. Even Tom Friedman, usually an optimistic voice for the fate of the middle east, a region he has covered for many decades, had this to say on Ezra Klein’s latest podcast, “I have no idea how this ends. I have never seen it so broken.” Yikes. One thing is very clear from Friedman and many others following Israeli politics: Bibi must go. The sooner the better. 

Given this grim analysis by Friedman, I spent some time this morning scouring sources for some good news for the Jews, and was rewarded with a piece from Joshua Hoffman titled, “Not everyone hates us”. Phew! I was beginning to wonder! But, in my searching I also discovered something interesting: most of the people defending Israel publicly are NOT Jews! There are a few notable exceptions, including Ben Shapiro and Alan Dershowitz, but where are other leading Jews with a platform that matters? Zuckerberg, Bloomberg, Kushner, Jon Stewart, Sorkin, Spielberg? Maybe they are doing things privately, but folks, we could use more help on the social media and PR front! Perhaps we should do as Scott Galloway suggested on “Unholy: Two Jews on the News” this week and shut down TikTok, as the pro Palestinian content on that most popular platform outnumbers pro Israeli content by 10 to 1! Thank you China!

Here are a few samples from Joshua’s podcast of some folks that don’t hate us:

  1. At Davos this year, the World Economic Forum’s Flagship event, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, said on a panel that the kingdom agreed “regional peace includes peace for Israel.” He said Saudi Arabia “certainly” would recognize Israel as part of a larger political agreement, reiterating a consistent message that the Saudi kingdom is still very much interested in normalization with Israel.
  2. British Goyim – Former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, Colonel Richard Kemp, as well as British author and political commentator, Douglas Murray, have also become staunch defenders of the Jews and Israel. Both Kemp and Murray have spent the past three months in Israel covering the war, with Kemp joking at a recent event: “I’ve almost made aliyah.” I have become a big fan of Douglas Murray, who has appeared on countless debate panels defending Israel with some stridency that borders on arrogance, but he is very effective. Murray rose to fame at the start of the current conflict with his acerbic response to an interviewer’s question as to whether Israel’s response to the Hamas atrocities of October 7th could be considered “proportionate.” In a segment on Britain’s Talk TV, which instantly went viral, Murray responded: “There is some deep perversion in Britain whenever Israel is involved in a conflict, and it’s the word you just used — ‘proportion,’ ‘proportionate,’ ‘proportionality.’ Only Britain is really obsessed with this. Proportionality in conflict is a joke. It is only the Israelis that, when attacked, are expected to have precisely a proportionate response.” 
  3. Bill Maher (half-goy) – Bill Maher has unabashedly come to Israel’s defense on a regular basis since October 7th. In one episode of his weekly HBO show, Maher said Israel cannot negotiate with people whose position is “you all die and disappear. Palestine was under the Ottoman empire for 400 years, but today, an Ottoman is something you put under your feet,” he quipped. “Look at what Mexico used to own — all the way up to the top of California. But no Mexican is out there chanting, ‘From the Rio Grande to Portland, Oregon.’”
  4. Germany, of all countries, has also taken the rare moral high ground, standing by Israel immediately following the October 7th massacre. In addition to supplying Israel with military equipment amidst the Gaza conflict, Germany has said it will intervene on Israel’s behalf in the genocide case brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. “Accusing Israel of genocide is a complete distortion of victims and perpetrators,” said German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck.
  5. South African Goy – Radio personality and television host, Gareth Cliff, also had the courage to stand up for Israel, even though he is not Jewish and has no ties to the Jewish state. “Perhaps when the dust has settled we can examine the insidious links between Anglo-American leftism and antisemitism, between Europe never reckoning with what happened in the holocaust and their growing Muslim populations, and between ignorant regimes like mine in South Africa and their determination to stand alongside the worst human rights abusers in the Middle East,” said Cliff. “I’m afraid there are only two sides in a war — your allies and your enemies. On September 11th, 2001, I knew whose side I was on. I feel the same today.”

So, there have been a few glimmers of support from some surprising places, but overall, Israel continues to lose the war on the popular support front. And it’s getting uglier. I read this week an open letter from a notable Jewish leader from South Africa, Howard Sackstein, who raised the question of whether Jews should consider leaving the country. Although diminished the last few decades, there has always been a very vibrant and active Jewish community in South Africa. According to Sackstein, who has lived in South Africa his entire life, 

“For Jews, this country no longer feels like a safe space or “home”. The government has been captured by radical Islamists and their sympathisers. We have normalised Jew hatred and justified massacres. Our country has lost its soul, and it’s time for our community to start a real and honest discussion about its future.” In the 1970s and 1980s they used to joke, “When the Jews go; it’s time to leave, when the Portuguese go; it’s too late.”

The clock ticked, and stopped on 7 October 2023.

The behaviour of the South African government was nothing short of betrayal. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s failure to condemn the 7 October massacre; his failure to reach out to the families of the two South Africans massacred in the Hamas genocide; his failure to act on the two South Africans kidnapped by Hamas; and his smirk blame of Israel for deserving the attack two weeks after the massacre, while wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh, will forever be a symbol of his Judas moment.

But the final straw for many has been the sacking of David Teeger as captain of the South Africa Under-19 cricket team. By even Cricket SA’s own account, Teeger did nothing wrong, but his presence as a Jew and Zionist as captain of the junior Proteas became untenable for it in case it would become a flashpoint for violent pro-Palestinian protests.

Effectively, the decision by Cricket SA means that no Jew could ever captain another South African sports team. Lawson Naidoo, the head of Cricket SA has effectively instructed Jewish South African sports people to “get into the closet”. His belief being, if you wish to play for us, hide your identity don’t tell anyone who you are or what you believe in, become the Marranos of South Africa.

As a community, we need some urgent dialogue about the red lines that have been crossed and whether South Africa still affords us the opportunity to live as free Jews in a society where we’re equals. Regrettably, it’s the question from which we can no longer hide.

As a community, we’ve contributed far more to South Africa than we’ve received, and if South Africa doesn’t realise that now, it will be too late.

Yikes. After reading this open letter, it became abundantly more clear why South Africa brought the genocide claim against Israel. Do I feel things are that bad here in the good old Jew S of A? Or in Europe? Not yet. But if we don’t have a major unified stand against the further spread of antisemitism, the clock may be ticking here as well. Jews cannot remain silent on antisemitism, or on the future of Israel. Support for Israel among Gen Z has never been so low. On TikTok, where half the users are under 30, #freepalestine has 31 billion posts compared to 590 million for #standwithisrael — more than 50 times as many. If these be our “future leaders”, what does that portend for the future of Israel and our support of the only real liberal democracy in the middle east? Ugh.

I ramble. Let’s move on. Now, what about all those other Jewy bits of journalism? Here then, finally, is your weekly buffet of baffling, beguiling, and biased news for the Jews copied and pasted from the likes of The Forward, Kveller, Times of Israel, The Jewish Chronicle, JTA, and other reputable sources of all things Jewish-y. 

  1. The latest on the war….
    • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the idea, advanced this week by U.S. officials, that postwar plans should include a pathway to creating a Palestinian state. “Israel must have security control over all the territory west of the Jordan,” he said.
    • As Netanyahu and the U.S. tussle over postwar plans, he’s also confronting conflict within his own government over management of the war. A Wednesday report on Israeli TV said Netanyahu had unilaterally decided to change the parameters of a potential deal for the release of the hostages remaining in Gaza, angering war cabinet ministers. One of those ministers, Gadi Eisenkot, blasted Netanyahu in a Thursday interview, and called for new elections within a matter of months — a challenge to Netanyahu’s assertion that new elections should only take place after the war.
    • Israeli forces have exhumed bodies from a cemetery in Khan Younis in search of the remains of hostages killed in captivity, as well as those killed on Oct. 7 whose bodies were transported to Gaza.
    • Mexico and Chile referred Israel to the International Criminal Court, citing possible war crimes. The ICC is the criminal counterpart to the civil International Court of Justice, which last week heard arguments related to South Africa’s claim that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
    • Communications systems in Gaza have been down for seven days, the longest such blackout of the war.
    • The school board of Ann Arbor, Michigan, became one of the first in the U.S. to call for a cease-fire.
    • A second Turkish soccer team has fired an Israeli player for speaking out on the war. Eden Kartsev was suspended from his team, a favorite of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after creating an Instagram post calling for the return of hostages still in Gaza. His firing comes only days after Turkey deported his compatriot Sagiv Jehezkel after Jehezkel commemorated the 100-day anniversary of Oct. 7.
    • The U.S. Senate voted against considering a resolution, introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders, to freeze U.S. aid to Israel unless the State Department produces a report investigating whether Israel has committed human rights abuses during its war with Hamas.
    • Israel released more details of the Hamas tunnels it has found under Gaza. Israel intelligence currently believes the network to be between 350 and 450 miles long, a significant increase over the estimate of 250 miles issued in December.
  2. An Israeli professional soccer player who played for a Turkish team was detained by authorities on Sunday after commemorating the 100-day anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack during a game. Sagiv Jehezkel, 28, has since been released from his contract and returned to Israel.
  3. 🤝  Schlomo and Mo: “peace, love, and pot bro” – Staten Island’s first marijuana dispensary has been opened by a Jewish and Muslim duo. Shlomo Weinstock and Mo Elgaly “want to show what happens when Jews and Muslims work together,” Weinstock said. (New York Post)
  4. 🎶  An operatic adaptation of Michael Chabon’s novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay will premiere next year at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, in a co-production with New York’s Metropolitan Opera, which commissioned the work. (Facebook)
  5. ✡️  Yale University’s next chaplain will be Jewish — a first for the Ivy League institution. Maytal Saltiel, affiliated with Yale since 2013, will be the university’s eighth chaplain, and the second woman to hold the post. (Yale Daily News)
  6. 😍  MiraLAX and the politics of constipation – Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, creators and stars of Broad City, reunited in a laxative ad. In the promo for MiraLAX, the beloved Jewish duo discuss the politics of constipation — yes, you read that right! — over their “quarterly Jewish food feast.” (Hey Alma)
  7. 😒  Ey, formerly know as Ye, is reportedly planning to launch his new album with a 40-minute apology video to Jews. Uh, thanks? (Vibe)
  8. 🚧  Demolition of Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue has begun. The building, site of a 2018 antisemitic mass shooting, will be redeveloped into a memorial and museum devoted to antisemitism — with a synagogue still on site. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

That’s enough for the week! Stay warm everyone, and on behalf of the entire JNR staff, stay healthy and be safe out there.

Brad out.

The Jew News Review – January 13, 2024 – “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength” – George Orwell

Shabbat shalom. 

It is a dreary, rainy day here in Sharon Massachusetts, and I am struggling this morning with feelings of rage, frustration, and a dreadful feeling about the future for Israel and diaspora Jews around the world. Iowans may be caucusing in a deep freeze on Monday, but Israelis are up against a shit storm perpetrated by South Africa, (apparently the legal arm of Hamas), that could have serious legal, political and diplomatic consequences, should the International Court of Justice at The Hague conclude that there is “plausibility” Israel’s conduct of the war against Hamas is an act of “genocide”. Of course it’s not true, but holy shit! Israeli’s are still in shock from October 7th and now have to deal with this bullshit while they defend themselves from real genocide and there are still over a hundred hostages being held by Hamas, the genocidal maniacs who state unequivocally and publicly that they intend to commit genocide against Israel? As you know I am no friend of Bibi, but he summed it up well stating, “A terrorist organization carried out the worst crime against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, and now someone comes to defend it in the name of the Holocaust.” WTF? There has to be a profound and moral difference between a terrorist organization committing crimes against humanity and a country trying to prevent another massacre against its own people. There has to be a profound and moral difference between what is debatably a disproportionate response to those crimes against humanity and the “genocide intent” of the perpetrators. There has to be a profound and moral difference between a governing power that uses its own people as human shields and a country defending itself and making a few mistakes amongst the chaos and fog of war in distributing humanitarian aide! We have indeed entered Orwellian territory, that dystopian land where up is down, lies are truth, and Hamas are the good guys!

Let’s start with South Africa and their 84 page Application instituting proceedings in the name of the Republic of South Africa (“South Africa”) against the State of Israel (“Israel”). South Africa says, the war is “intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group” which according to South Africa is a violation of the Genocide Convention, of which Israel is a signatory. I have read through the document, skimmed a lot of it, and the one major flaw that makes the whole thing stink in my humble opinion is the lack of any context or mention of the deliberate policy of Hamas to integrate themselves within civilian infrastructure. That is shameful.

To give you a little more context on the genocide claim by South Africa, here is a synopsis taken from Janet Yellin’s News Not Noise newsletter:

Lawyers for South Africa argued that genocidal intent is evident in “the way in which this military attack is being conducted.” For example:

  • They argued that Israel plans to “destroy” Gaza. “It is becoming ever clearer that huge swaths of Gaza — entire towns, villages, refugee camps — are being wiped from the map,” one lawyer said. “The scale of destruction in Gaza, the targeting of family homes and civilians, the war being a war on children, all make clear that genocidal intent is both understood and has been put into practice. The articulated intent is the destruction of Palestinian life,” another lawyer said.
  • They argued that the “blockade” on Gaza deprives civilians of access to shelter, food, clean water, hygiene products, and life-saving medical care.
  • They cite the mass displacement of Palestinians, saying Israel’s order for the people of northern Gaza to evacuate on short notice “itself was genocidal.”
  • And they allege that the war-fighting at Gaza hospitals shows that Israel is targeting the healthcare system, depriving pregnant women critical care, preventing Palestinian births. 

Lawyers for Israel argued the case is based on “profoundly distorted” claims and “if there were acts of genocide, they have been perpetrated against Israel.” They slammed South Africa as the “legal arm” of Hamas and the proceeding as “one of the greatest shows of hypocrisy in history.” 

  • They claimed if Hamas were to surrender and release the 136 hostages, the military campaign would end which, they say, defeats the genocide argument. 
  • They detailed Israel’s measures to prevent civilian deaths, including “invest[ing] massive resources to tell civilians where, when and how” to evacuate, helping to stand up field hospitals and providing humanitarian aid. They argued this proves the allegations “tendentious” and “baseless.”
  • They argued that “in every single hospital that the IDF has searched in Gaza, it has found evidence of Hamas military use” and presented evidence in court. Israeli lawyers say the IDF used tactical operations inside hospitals rather than bombing them to minimize civilian casualties.
  • They dismissed comments by Israeli extremists as “random” statements at odds with official policy. They said, “to determine the policy and intentions of the government of Israel it is necessary to examine the decisions of the security cabinet and the war cabinet,” and not the words of individual officials.
  • The lawyers argued, “If claims of genocide were to become common currency of armed conflict wherever that occurred, the essence of that crime would be lost.”
  • They further argued that Hamas displays “utter contempt for the law” by endangering civilians and Israelis. They said the “absurd upshot” of this case is that “under guise of genocide claims this court is trying to stop Israel [from] defending its civilians against an organization which pursues a genocidal agenda against them.”

Why this nation that brought us Apartheid is pursuing this Application is an interesting question. Yes, there are issues of proportionality, yes, several Israeli politicians and leaders have made stupid statements that sound genocidal or ethnic cleansy-ish. But I would certainly give any country some latitude in remarks made right after an invading band of psychopaths raped and pillaged hundreds of their citizens! Meanwhile, in South Africa, a Jewish player on the country’s cricket national team was just removed as captain because of his “pro-Israel” comments last year. But, sure South Africa, keep reminding us that “anti-Zionism is not antisemitism.” Bastards. 

This week’s Unholy podcast included an interview with Michael Walzer, who is a world renowned philosopher regarding morality and war. He literally wrote the book on Just and Unjust Wars, published in 1977 and motivated significantly by his personal involvement in protesting the Vietnam War. His take on the Israel and Hamas war? Not even close to genocide. He is critical however of Israel’s walking into the “asymmetric trap” laid by Hamas and mistakes that they made early on in announcing a “siege”. Except for those early calls for a siege, however, he thinks Israel has acted as morally as possible given the circumstances. Hamas, he states, designed a war that they knew would lead to disproportionate civilian deaths. In fact, the more civilian deaths the better for Hamas. The media, he believes, has failed to adequately contextualize the situation, and he warns that Israel will continue to lose the PR war if they don’t change tactics. One example he provides is that instead of showing videos of the October 7 horror, they should show the IDF in targeting meetings debating the moral, military, and legal implications of their targeting process. And they should be more discriminate in what they bomb. An example of this is that after the UN set up a tent city for the Palestinians, Hamas infiltrated the tents and fired rockets at Israel from them. Israel responded by bombing the tent city source of the rockets. Perhaps, Walzer says, they should have just ignored that one. An interesting listen, link below.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108?i=1000641374256

Well, enough of this genocide craziness. Damn depressing topic. Here then is your weekly roundup of other news of the Jews from various sources of jewy journalism:

  1. The latest in the war…
  2. Some see the Chabad tunnel as part of a Messianic quest to build a Third Temple — not in Jerusalem but in Brooklyn: The brouhaha over a secret tunnel at Chabad headquarters this week highlighted a rift between those who believe the Lubavitcher Rebbe is the Messiah and those who don’t. Our Louis Keene, who has been covering the developing story all week, explains the genesis of the divide that is roiling the movement – and how the tunnel was possibly an inevitable outcome. Read the story ➤
  3. ⛏️  Oy. This tunnel digging is hard work! The students who built the tunnel under the Chabad building started the process by digging a little and putting the dirt in their pockets, like the prisoners trying to escape in the Shawshank Redemption. When they realized the inefficiency of their plan, they allegedly hired migrant labor. (New York Post)
  4. 🏠  Kanye West is facing an uphill battle selling his $53 million four-bedroom beachfront house. A contractor who says he’s owed more than $1 million has filed a lien on the property. West lost a reported $1.5 billion of his net worth when he was dropped from endorsement deals after going on an antisemitic tirade in 2022. (Hollywood Reporter)
  5. 🇺🇸  Go Nikki go! The Iowa caucuses are Monday and Nikki Haley is hoping that she can pull off an unlikely win over Donald Trump. One thing the former South Carolina governor has in her corner: a growing number of major Jewish donors.(JTA)
  6. Don’t forget the hostages – Tens of thousands of people gathered at the Western Wall Wednesday for a mass public prayer, calling for the safe return of the hostages. “I’m 69 so I don’t serve in the army but the call to this prayer is my draft order,” said attendee Emmanuel Ohaiun. “There is the war on the ground, and there is holy warfare that I came to fight.” A Hamas spokesperson said the hostages “will not be returned alive” unless Israeli forces leave Gaza.

That will do it this week. Let’s hope this Orwellian nightmare ends well. But until then, remember to stay safe out there!

Brad out.

The Jew News Review – January 6, 2024 – “Storming Costco”

Shabbat shalom!

Happy January 6th everyone! I thought I would celebrate the anniversary of the darkest days of our democracy by gathering a few thousand friends and family, storm our local Costco, trash it, hang an effigy of the store manager, then blame Nancy Pelosi for lax Costco security. Then, after causing the death of 5 innocent employees and injuring another 140 in a desperate attempt to end democracy and pilfer all the free samples, I would perpetuate a big lie and a revisionist history to pump up the bruised ego of the country’s Cheeto-faced sore loser, and claim that the storming of Costco was just a civics picnic gone awry with maybe a few ants getting into the rotisserie chicken and potato salad. What a way to start the new year!

I must confess, when I first heard of the law suits to apply Section 3 of the 14th amendment to Trump and remove him from the ballot in some states, I was skeptical. I believed the best way to flush the orange turd from the country and relieve us of his past and ongoing stench was to do it the old fashioned way: at the voting booth. But, now I am not so sure. And my changing view has nothing to do with the current polls, which are not good. If we are truly a nation defined by laws and a constitution, there is ample evidence that Section 3 applies here. And what is interesting about the Colorado decision is that even the dissenting judges accepted the position that Trump is an insurrectionist! One position of the dissenting judges, and a popular objection from Trump supporters to Section 3 is that he was never convicted of insurrection, which can be a criminal offense under federal law. But this objection exhibits basic ignorance of how Section 3 is supposed to work — the provision defines a disqualification from office, not a sentence or punitive measure. You can’t be president if you’re not 35. Similarly, you can’t be president if you took an oath and engaged in insurrection. You could also be indicted for insurrection, but that’s an entirely different matter.

Meanwhile, back in Israel, while many countries rang in the new year with fireworks, Israel was greeted in the new year by a barrage of 27 rockets fired by Hamas from Gaza. Most were intercepted by the iron dome or fell on empty fields or desert, but a grim reminder of the tenuous situation in the middle east. We are getting closer to the war expanding to several fronts that are proxies for Iran, Hezbollah in the North being of most concern. Lot’s of diplomacy going on to contain any spread, not helped by the moron ministers Ben-Gvir and Smotrich in particular, that keep publicly espousing ethnic cleansing policies for Gaza. Most people outside Israel don’t understand that the opinions of these ministers are meaningless and that all decisions are currently being made by the War Cabinet which does not include any of the far right whack jobs espousing these inane policies. Nevertheless, their public pronouncements are not helping on the global PR front, nor specifically within the US where the latest polls show that in the under 45 age group, more think that Israel has gone too far in Gaza vs those that think what they are doing is justified for their self defense (28% vs 24% respectively). Come on kids, start reading more than your dumb tiktok feeds. 

Now what about the rest of the news for Jews you may be asking? Where are those selective segments of savory semitic stories stolen shamelessly from the likes of The Forward, Haaretz, Kveller, Jewish Boston, Times of Israel, and other fine Jewishy journals? Ask, and ye shall receive:

  1. Latest from the war…
    1. Three Israelis missing since Oct. 7 were confirmed to have been brought to Gaza as hostages, and at least one is believed dead. Ilan Weiss, 56, was confirmed earlier this week to have been killed during the Oct. 7 attack; his remains are being held in Gaza. Separately, Tamir Adar, 38, previously believed to have been taken hostage on Oct. 7, was also confirmed by his kibbutz to have died during the Oct. 7 attack; his remains were also taken to Gaza.
    2. Members of Netanyahu’s cabinet clashed after two ministers, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, called earlier this week for the postwar “voluntary migration” of Gazans to other countries, a proposal that met with international condemnation — including from the U.S. — as violating international law. Ministers Miki Zohar and Yifat Shasha-Biton, in separate public interviews, critiqued the idea as damaging and “not realistic.”
    3. The religious magazine Shvi’i faced backlash over a cartoon that portrayed Ester Hayut, until recently the court’s chief justice, stabbing a prone IDF soldier in the back with a flag bearing judicial symbols. The weekly said it would republish the issue without the panel. The cartoon appeared after two Israeli Supreme Court decisions dealt blows to Netanyahu’s planned judicial overhaul, sparking concerns that the reintroduction of conflict over the controversial policy might cause rifts in Israel’s wartime unity government.
    4. Secretary of State Antony Blinken departed on his fourth trip to the Middle East since the outbreak of war as regional tensions rose after a senior Hamas leader was killed in a suspected Israeli action in Beirut. “We “don’t expect every conversation on this trip to be easy,” a Blinken spokesperson said. Separately, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told a U.S. official that Israel sees only “a short window of time for diplomatic understandings” to be reached with Hezbollah as a broader conflict with the group threatens to break out in Israel’s north.
  2. Police say fire at Toronto Jewish deli was likely a hate crime. A local rabbi is not surprised. In addition to the fire, International Delicatessen Foods was vandalized with graffiti reading “Free Palestine” on Thursday in the Toronto neighborhood North York, which is home to a Russian Jewish community. The area has seen at least two other antisemitic incidents in the past several weeks, said Rabbi Shmuel Neft, making the incident shocking but not surprising: “It’s all been building up to this,” Neft said. Read the story ➤
  3. The biggest question at the Golden Globes isn’t who will win, but what they’ll say about Israel. Sunday’s ceremony, “the drunk, European cousin of the Oscars,” is likely to be marked by at least some statements about the war, writes The Forward’s PJ Grisar. But what, exactly those statements are — and who, exactly, makes them —  will help set the tone for the rest of awards season, in a moment of extreme political tension.  “I’m excited to see what happens,” PJ writes, “even as I’m dreading it.”
  4. On Campus –
    1. A day after the resignation of Harvard’s president, Jewish alumni at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said they would withhold donations to their alma mater until it cracks down on antisemitism on campus.
    2. After the Hamas attacks in Israel, San Diego State University sent a campus-wide email supporting Jewish students. Now that email is at the center of a federal civil rights investigation, tied to a complaint that the school “promoted hate and racism against Arabs and Muslims.”
    3. An Israeli student filed a federal lawsuit against the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, alleging antisemitic harassment and discrimination. Meanwhile, a Jewish law school student filed a suit against Rutgers University for failing to protect him from a “hostile school environment.”
  5. There’s more to Madonna’s Jewish story than just Kabbalah and social media posts about Israel: Like her name and much of her music videos suggest, Madonna was raised Roman Catholic. But those who know her yearslong commitment to Kabbalah (and the controversial Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles), may be surprised to learn that her connection to Jewishness was more than faddish. In a new biography, Madonna: A Rebel Life, we learn that growing up in Michigan, Madonna’s family belonged to a Jewish-Catholic organization and even observed Passover.

Enjoy the weekend everyone! And don’t forget to be careful out there!

Brad out.