Israel
May 7, 2024 — Scott Johnson
President Biden is confused. Israel appears to have commenced its long-delayed operation to take Hamas’s refuge in Rafah. John noted it here yesterday. With its “ceasefire deal” card Hamas plays the press for willing tools — because they are. They can’t be that stupid. Biden spoke yesterday with Prime Minister Netanyahu by telephone. The White House has posted its readout of the phone call here. After an exchange of pleasantries,
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May 7, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Mario Torres is the Columbia custodian depicted in the viral photograph that I posted via X here. The photo shows him fighting off one of the thugs breaking into Hamilton Hall last week. I commented that he deserves recognition as a man of the year. He is so much better than the pathetic institution he serves. Now Free Press’s Francesca Block has tracked him down for an interview that is
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May 6, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Prime Minister Netanyahu gave a speech at Yad Vashem at the start of Holocaust Remembrance Day events in Jerusalem yesterday evening. Israel Hayom observes that “[t]he speech took an unusual turn when he shifted language since Netanyahu normally does not use this forum to speak in English.” This is what he had to say to whom it may concern in the English-speaking world: Eighty years ago in the Holocaust the
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May 5, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Based on two official Israeli sources, Barak Ravid reports at Axios that the Biden administration put a hold on a shipment of American ammunition to Israel. The Biden team of course opposes Israel’s long-delayed operation to clear the last Hamas redoubt in Rafah. Ravid adds this: Last Wednesday U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel and had a “tough” conversation with Netanyahu regarding a possible Israeli operation in Rafah,
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May 4, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Students of ancient American history may recall the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. The Northwest Ordinance covered the territory out of which Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin were ultimately carved. It guaranteed religious freedom (Article 1) and prohibited slavery (Article 6) in the territory. Adopted by the Confederation Congress, it is one of the four founding or organic laws of the United States. See generally Richard H. Cox, Four Pillars
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May 1, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Eurovision is the annual European (and beyond) popular music contest that has become a giant cultural event. Each country is represented by a single singer or group, and the competition is intense. This year’s contest will begin on Tuesday in Malmo, Sweden. Israel has won the competition four times, most recently in 2018. This year it is represented by a 20-year-old woman named Eden Golan. But the contest will not
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April 28, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Sheryl Sandberg has fronted the documentary Screams Before Silence that was posted to YouTube on April 26. The documentary highlights the sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas during and after its October 7 massacre. The trailer is below. Click on “Watch on YouTube” to be taken to the 56-minute documentary. Last year I saw more than a glimpse of the crazed sexual violence in the atrocity video compiled by the IDF
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April 26, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Well, they may be ignorant or stupid, they may be evil, but they may also need help. Take, for example, Columbia undergrad Khymani James — please. James may be in need of help, but he appears to be busy negotiating with the authorities at Columbia to stand down. One of the Columbia students leading the “protest” posted this video stating that “Zionists do not deserve to live” Some in the
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April 26, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has expressed his support for the removal of the pro-Hamas kill the Jews crowd from their nascent “occupation” of the University of Texas at Austin. In the tweet below Governor Abbott reported: “Arrests being made right now and will continue until the crowd disperses. These protesters belong in jail.” Shut up, he explained: “Antisemitism will not be tolerated in Texas. Period.” Arrests being made right now
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April 24, 2024 — Scott Johnson
The pro-Hamas kill the Jews crowd in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at the heart of campus has received an extension. Not to get the campers’ term papers in, of course, but rather to vacate the encampment at the heart of the campus. The encampment is unauthorized and was supposed to be removed days ago. Columbia President Minouche Shafik then set a deadline of this morning at 8:00 a.m. She has
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April 22, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Am I a fan of Alec Baldwin? No. I am not sure how he got famous, and I don’t think I have ever seen him on screen or on television. And I harshly criticized his careless handling of a firearm that resulted in a death on the set of a movie in which he starred. However. There are worse people. And in this video, you see one of them, as
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April 21, 2024 — John Hinderaker
As the dust seems to be settling in the Middle East, who is coming out on top? Perhaps, Reuel Marc Gerecht and Ray Takeyh write in the Wall Street Journal, it is Iran. First, some history: Iran’s theocratic regime has to stand as the most successful imperial power in the Middle East since the British Empire. The comparison would offend the mullahs, but both managed to patrol large swaths of
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April 19, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Reports overnight indicate that Israel struck a military base in Isfahan from which Iran launched drones against Israel in last weekend’s massive Iranian attack. The Times of Israel story is posted here. The attack is described as “limited.” Reliable information about the attack is itself “limited.” There was a message or two or three in the attack. Yonah Jeremy Bob makes this point at the Jerusalem Post in his a
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April 17, 2024 — Scott Johnson
NRO staff reporter James Lynch embedded himself in the New York City edition of the April 15 Kill the Jews rallies staged by A15 around the United States on Monday. I wrote about the rallies yesterday in “From sea to shining sea.” NRO has published Lynch’s story in “‘Israel Is a Terrorist State’: Scenes from New York City’s Disruptive Anti-Israel Rally.” Lynch’s story reflects the hatreds coursing through the mob,
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April 16, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Two friends of mine comment on the Obama/Biden administration’s bizarre partiality toward Iran. In the New York Post, Glenn Reynolds writes: Post-[Iran’s] attack [on Israel]— going further yet beyond parody — the Biden administration’s chief effort has been aimed at demanding Israel not retaliate. That’s right. Israel has had more than a thousand of its citizens raped, tortured, murdered and kidnapped, it’s been subjected to a massive missile attack, and
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April 15, 2024 — Scott Johnson
When it comes to Iran’s massive missile and drone attack on Israel this past Saturday evening, President Biden has instructed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to let bygones be bygones. I don’t think he cited Sun Tzu in support of the Biden doctrine, but the White House has not released a readout of Biden’s call to Netanyahu following the attack. Rather, the White House released this statement publicly seeking to deter
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April 14, 2024 — John Hinderaker
That’s a post title you won’t often see on this site! I want to move on to Iran, but first, what did Joe Biden actually tell Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday? I can’t see that an official readout of the conversation has been published, but this account, based on conversation with a “senior White House official,” seems as authoritative as any: Biden told Netanyahu the joint defensive efforts by Israel, the
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