Israel
November 12, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Jackson Diehl of the Washington Post blasts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for not taking a hard line on Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Diehl’s op-ed comes as no surprise. The Post hates Netanyahu and Khashoggi wrote op-eds for for the paper. Diehl is normally a pretty sensible guy. But in this instance his rage has steered him off course. Virtually every
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October 17, 2018 — Scott Johnson
Someone or other in Gaza seems to want to get a war on. This morning in Beersheba, Israel, a mother saved her three children’s lives by hurrying to their shelter as a Palestinian rocket fired from Gaza blew up their bedrooms. The IDF has posted the video below. Hillel Neuer adds via Twitter: “This morning in Geneva, Switzerland, I am at the UN Human Rights Council, and they couldn’t care
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September 12, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
The Washington Post’s board of editors attacks John Bolton for a speech in which he harshly criticized the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Post doesn’t defend the ICC. In an understatement, the Post agrees that “the court has its defects.” However, the editorial board castigates Bolton for using his “first significant public address” to talk about what the editors deem an irrelevancy. The editors think Bolton should have discussed Syria,
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September 11, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday, the Trump administration ordered the closure of the Palestine Liberation Organization office in Washington, saying that the PLO “has not taken steps to advance the start of direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel.” That’s for sure. The Washington Post’s account of the story is here. You can almost see the tears Karen DeYoung shed writing it. In the paper edition, the story’s subtitle is “another blow to Palentinians.” Perhaps.
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August 27, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
The Trump administration has cut more than $200 million in aid for the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza. This decision followed a review by the State Department “to ensure these funds are spent in accordance with U.S. national interests and provide value to the U.S. taxpayer.” According to the Washington Post, the cut “effectively means the United States is giving no money to the Palestinians.” I’m not sure that’s the
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July 23, 2018 — Scott Johnson
In case you missed it over the weekend, I want to take the liberty of noting my City Journal column “A question for Democrats.” In the column I posed the question raised by Ilhan Omar to prominent Minnesota Democrats. I added a footnote to the City Journal column with Moynihan’s answer to the question in the post “Return of ‘Zionism is racism.'” Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar is running for reelection
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July 19, 2018 — Scott Johnson
As she mounts her campaign to take the congressional seat representing Minnesota’s Fifth District, Ilhan Omar is sticking with the proposition that Israel is an “apartheid regime.” I think this raises a question of decency for which Democrats should be held to account. I noted this in my Weekly Standard article on Omar and have a column coming out specifically addressing Omar’s anti-Israel animus, to which I want to append
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July 16, 2018 — Scott Johnson
Last week the Israeli government briefed a few select reporters on the dramatic Mossad heist of documents from Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The government invited these reporters to review key documents from the heist. The government briefing included either David Sanger or Ronen Bergman from the New York Times and Gerald Seib from the Wall Street Journal. The Sanger/Bergman account of the heist is published as “How Israel, in Dark
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June 28, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Iran’s national soccer team received a hero’s welcome on its return to Tehran from the World Cup. The team missed out on the Round 16, but only narrowly. It defeated a decent Moroccan team, drew with Portugal, the current European champs, and lost 0-1 to Spain, one of the tournament favorites. That defeat could easily have been a draw or even a victory. Benjamin Netanyahu, a soccer fan, praised the
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June 24, 2018 — Scott Johnson
State representative Ilhan Omar has yet to complete her first term in the Minnesota legislature, where she has accomplished approximately nothing of substance, though she has now secured the DFL endorsement to succeed Minnesota Fifth District Rep. Keith Ellison in Congress. In the brief Weekly Standard article “The anti-Israel seat,” I conclude with observations related to Omar’s frank hatred of Israel. She doesn’t sugarcoat it. She calls Israel an “apartheid
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June 19, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Today, the Trump administration pulled the U.S. out of the cesspool known as the United Nations Human Rights Council. It did so in protest of the presence of notorious human rights abusers on the commission, as well as the commission’s blatant bias against Israel. Nikki Haley, our splendid U.N. ambassador, issued a blistering critique of the Council, explaining that it has become a “protector of human rights abusers and a
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June 5, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Last year, I wrote about how the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) is a substantial contributor to the boycott Israel movement. Since 2013, RBF has contributed at least $880,000 to groups working to advance a boycott of Israel. Now the Jerusalem Post reports that, in addition, RBF contributes to Palestinian organizations with close ties to terrorist groups. Moreover, it continued to do so after being told that the NGOs it is
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May 30, 2018 — Scott Johnson
The IDF is getting seriously into public relations with timely reports on Twitter. I thought readers might find this one with video depicting the targets struck inside Gaza yesterday of particular interest. It’s got a satisfying motif backed by a tense soundtrack. Hamas terrorists lost a few ordnance depots and other means of destruction in the operation that, according to the video, hit some 65 targets throughout Gaza. This video
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May 25, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Several sources report an Israeli attack on a military airport in central Syria, an area where Hezbollah militias are located. There are conflicting reports about whether the attack was successful. Syria claims that its air defense system thwarted the attack. Syrian rebels say Israeli missiles destroyed that air defense system. The Israeli government has yet to comment. Jonathan Spyer, writing in the Jerusalem Post, provides context for the growing number
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May 21, 2018 — Scott Johnson
Among the several Yiddish words for “angry” is “broyges.” For the purposes of alliteration and anomaly, I want to apply it to the indignation reflected in former Communist Party voter and Obama administration CIA Director John Brennan’s recent tweet on Hamas’s terrorist assault on Israel last week. Brennan was angry…with President Trump and with Israel. For both he seems to harbor a certain animus. Deaths in Gaza result of utter
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May 18, 2018 — Scott Johnson
The worse than worthless United National Human Rights Council delivered its ritual condemnation of Israel today in a special session on Gaza. Before the vote was taken, Gatestone Institute Distinguished Senior Fellow Colonel Richard Kemp spoke on behalf United Nations Watch. In light of the recent NBC News hit piece on Gatestone, I should add that Colonel Kemp’s statement is more informative than everything NBC News has on offer today.
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May 15, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Steven Schmidt, the Republican strategist, says that President Trump has blood on his hands for moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. Former CIA director John Brennan seems to agree. It’s true that the same day the new U.S. embassy opened in Jerusalem, Israeli forces killed approximately 60 Palestinians who were part of a mob engaged in violent acts and trying to breach a border fence. But to blame the deaths
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