Iraq's still rife with antisemitism

So much, in fact, that the family of the Iraqi contestant in the recent Miss Universe paegeant had to flee because of her friendship with the Israeli contestant:

Miss Iraq, Sarah Idan, became friendly with fellow contestant Adar Gandelsman, the Israeli contestant in the Miss Universe International Beauty Pageant held in Las Vegas last month. They even posted pictures together on Instagram, wishing “love and peace” to all – but the reaction of Idan’s fellow countrymen has been anything but peaceful.

So many people posted comments that cursed her for this act that the 27-year-old beauty queen felt she had to defend herself, noting in another post that the picture only showed her desire for peace and “does not signal support for the government of Israel and does not mean I agree or accept its policies in the Arab homeland.” And she apologized to anyone who considered it “harmful to the Palestinian cause.” But, courageously, she did not remove the photo from her account.

Idan’s participation in the swimsuit competition of the event also aroused great anger, with her family actually leaving Baghdad temporarily after being threatened by their more conservative relatives after that preliminary round of the pageant. However, Miss Israel told Israeli TV Wednesday that Idan’s relatives have now been forced to leave Iraq because of the anger over their joint picture, as well as ones of her modeling in a bikini.

“The two of those things together caused a mess for her back home where people made threats against her and her family that if she didn’t return home and take down the photos, they would remove her (Miss Iraq) title, that they would kill her,” Adar Gandelsman said.

Because of this, she's practically living in the USA now, where she's studying as a musician. I do think she should've avoided bringing up the "palestinian cause" mainly because it won't mollify the monsters. And this reaction compounds the failure of the Bush/Obama administrations to change the cultural attitudes in Iraq even after Saddam Hussein was deposed, making the war in Iraq meaningless. If cultural/ideological beliefs aren't changed, then the problem only persists.

Satmar's overlord condemns recognition of Jerusalem, the Conservative Judaist movement defends

Two interesting contrasts in who abhors recognition of Jerusalem and who appreciates it. In the former category, we have the Satmar's head honcho, Aaron Teitelbaum:

The head of one of the two rival groups of the staunchly anti-Zionist Satmar Hassidic movement ripped into President Trump for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital last week.

Satmar, known as one of the most dogmatically anti-Zionist Hassidic sects, refuses to recognize the State of Israel and calls on members living in Israel not to vote in national elections, even for haredi parties and not to accept any funding from the state, including National Insurance payments. Satmar, however, does care for the welfare of Jews and runs the free meals for those staying in hospitals for Shabbat to care for loved ones.

Speaking before thousands of his followers at a celebration on Saturday night at the New York Expo Center in the Bronx, the head of one of the two Satmar groups that split after the previous Grand Rabbi's death, Rebbe Aharon Teitelboim, said that Trump had no right to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

"We declare in the name of haredi Judaism: Jerusalem, the holy city, will not be the capital of the Zionist state, even if the President of the United States says it is," said Teitelboim.

It figures he'd even speak even in the name of haredis who don't agree with him. He's once again proven the Satmar are the defect in Orthodoxy who're hell-bent on proving themselves the closest allies to Islamofascists. That's practically why they distort the whole meaning of Zionism, when it's just a synonym for patriotism.

In the latter category, we have the Conservative movement, who've supported Donald Trump's recognition:

The Conservative movement’s US, Israel and global branches have welcomed US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, while calling for progress in advancing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The statement comes in contrast to the declaration of the Reform movement, which said the decision was “ill-timed” and would “exacerbate the conflict.” The Conservative movement highlighted this difference in its statement to the Hebrew press.

The statement, published by its constituent institutions on Thursday, said it was “pleased by Trump’s declaration, and expressed the hope that the process of transferring the US embassy to Jerusalem begins in the near future.

“The status of Jerusalem is a matter to be settled in direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. But in recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and planning to move the American embassy to a location under uncontested Israeli sovereignty, the US government acknowledges the age-old connection that Israel and the Jewish people maintain with the holy city,” read the statement authored by the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Masorti Israel and Masorti Olami.

Though the leadership may hold onto positions you could disapprove of, their backing for Trump's declaration of recognition is a positive step, and helps set them apart from both the Satmar and the awful Reform movement, who've also unshockingly voiced their support for the PLO's demands. We certainly don't need those two, and it's funny they'd have such problems with each other when they share some common ground on the aspects of evil together.