Israel
April 11, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Israeli politics are more complicated and sometimes more entertaining than ours. Take the case of Ayelet Shaked, who is, or was last I knew, the Minister of Justice in Netanyahu’s government. Shaked is a software engineer, an IDF special forces veteran, and a solid conservative. She left the Jewish Home party at the end of 2018 and was one of a small group who formed the New Right party. I
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April 10, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
That’s how it looks, anyway. The ballots of soldiers, prisoners, and hospital patients have not yet been counted. With all the other votes in and counted, Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party has apparently captured 35 seats in parliament. The main opposition party, Blue and White, appears to have won the same number. But parties willing to form a new government with Netanyahu in charge have won enough additional seats to give
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April 9, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Israel held elections today. Both sides are claiming victory. Neither can claim it conclusively. Exit polls suggest that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party will win 33 seats in Parliament while the Blue and White Party of former military chief of staff Benny Gantz will win 37 (though one exit poll shows the two parties winning the same number of seats). However, it takes 60 seats to form a government.
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April 8, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Campaigning in Iowa, Beto O’Rourke had this to say about Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and the U.S.-Israel relationship: The US-Israel relationship is one of the most important relationships that we have on the planet. And that relationship, if it is to be successful, must transcend partisanship in the United States, and it must be able to transcend a prime minister who is racist. Much of the reporting on this statement
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March 27, 2019 — Scott Johnson
If you’re an American supporter of Israel, these are the good old days. We have to deal with the resurgence of anti-Semitism on the left among Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and the regressive left, but the Trump administration represents a new level of American support of Israel’s cause. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is not only on board with the critical elements of the administration’s support, he obviously feels it
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March 26, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Star Parker is an author, commentator and activist. She runs Urban CURE, which seeks to “[b]uild awareness that a conservative agenda of traditional values, limited government and free markets is of the greatest marginal benefit to low-income Americans.” Last Friday, Star was in St. Paul to host a CURE gathering primarily for black Twin Cities pastors. The event included two panels; I was part of the first one, which was
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March 21, 2019 — John Hinderaker
When freshman Congresswoman Ilhan Omar came out with smears whose anti-Semitic nature couldn’t be denied, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer responded rapidly, with unequivocal denunciation. But when Pelosi tried to steer a resolution condemning anti-Semitism through the House, her party’s young radicals, who rightly view themselves as representative of the Democrats’ base, rebelled. Omar and her fellow “progressives” won the day, and Pelosi replaced her anti-Semitism resolution with one so
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March 19, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Today’s Washington Post includes a story about a meeting among Muslim and Jewish Democratic members of Congress that took place on March 5. The story got a lot of play, but it included an extraordinary error–an error that was mostly covered up, rather than revealed, by the correction the Post subsequently ran: CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story did not make Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s position on Israel clear. The
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March 11, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Unless one is familiar with the New York Times’s coverage of issues related to Israel (i.e., Alice in Wonderland style), one might wonder at what Michael Schwirtz is talking about in his story “Trump Envoy to Middle East Lashes Out at Palestinian Authority” (accessible here via Outline). Schwirtz asserts in the opening of the story: “One of President Trump’s lead Middle East peace negotiators lashed out at the Palestinian Authority
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February 14, 2019 — Scott Johnson
The Washington Examiner’s Naomi Lim reports that yesterday the House passed an amendment to a resolution with a message to Ilhan Omar: “In rare vote, House sends a message on anti-Semitism to Ilhan Omar.” We have Rep. David Kustoff (R., Tenns.) to thank for this: The House on Wednesday unanimously passed a broad condemnation of anti-Semitism days after Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., received widespread criticism over her comments on Israel.
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February 13, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Rep. Ilhan Omar has rightly drawn national attention for her anti-Semitic Tweets this week. Along with the body of her public comments on Israel, they raise a question for Democrats. Among the many commenters on her most recent effusions, I think that President Trump came closest yesterday to recognizing the question they raise. To get a sense of the falsity of Omar’s “apology,” see Dave Orrick’s current Pioneer Press article
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February 12, 2019 — Scott Johnson
President Trump briefly addressed the trouble with Ilhan Omar this afternoon (video below). Trump called on Omar to resign from the House committees to which she has been assigned if not from her congressional seat itself and added this: “What she said is so deep-seated in her heart that her lame apology – and that’s what it was, it was lame and she didn’t mean a word of it –
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February 12, 2019 — Scott Johnson
David Harsanyi begins to get to the heart of the trouble with Ilhan Omar in his Federalist column “The Democrats’ Anti-Semitism Problem Isn’t Going Away.” Say what you will about Omar, she lets us know what is on her mind. It’s not pretty. Harsanyi writes: The problem is that “anti-Zionism,” the predominant justification for violence, murder, and hatred against Jews in Europe and the Middle East, is a growing position
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February 12, 2019 — Scott Johnson
WorldJewishDaily.com notes that after rendering her so-called apology yesterday, Omar struck one more time. Omar’s motto is “Oops! I did it again.” Has anyone noticed? WJD noticed in an unsigned piece with the headline “Hours After ‘Apology,’ Ilhan Omar Praises AIPAC Conspiracy Theory.” WJD observes: Hours after issuing an apology for an anti-Semitic comment on Twitter, Rep. Ilhan Omar praised a Twitter thread that included a conspiracy theory about AIPAC.
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February 12, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Now that the anti-Semitism of Minnesota Fifth District Rep. Ilhan Omar, let us pause to consider what we have learned. Writing in the Jewish Press, David Israel assesses Omar’s “so-called apology: She opened with, “Anti-Semitism is real, and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes.” Or, I’m just a poor girl from Somalia who doesn’t know much about
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February 11, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Her “apology” notwithstanding, Ilhan Omar is sticking with it. See her tweet below along with the thread she has retweeted by Ady Barkan (who is dying of ALS). As one might infer from a reading of Onar’s “apology” by itself, Omar’s animus abides. Omar’s hatred is real. The “apology” is empty words. It is a study in vacuity.
[email protected] your courage can’t be matched. I am often in tears thinking
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February 11, 2019 — Scott Johnson
There is a reason that Ilhan Omar has resorted to anti-Semitic tropes in the the course of her brief public career so far. Omar is a proponent of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement. She is, to put it bluntly, an Islamist hater of Israel. As I argued last year in “A question for Democrats,” Omar’s hatred of Israel is necessarily anti-Semitic. New York Times columnist Bari Weiss devoted a
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