Pope Leo's tour of dhimmitude continues

The current Catholic pope, whom Donald Trump recently took issue with over his disturbing kowtowing to bad causes, is now disembarking on a journey to Algeria, where he'll be the first pope to visit the Muslim dominated country:

Leo XIV will become the first pope to visit Algeria on Monday, taking a message of dialogue with Islam on a trip that also represents a personal pilgrimage for the American pontiff.

Algeria is the first stop on an 11-day tour of four African nations, covering 18,000 kilometres and also taking in Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea from April 13 to 23.

No other pontiff has visited Algeria, a North African country where Islam is the state religion, and the 70-year-old’s arrival is being eagerly awaited by the Catholic minority.

The visit also holds a strong personal dimension for Pope Leo, as modern-day Algeria was home to Saint Augustine (354-430), a great Christian theologian whose spiritual legacy permeates his pontificate.

As the world watches anxiously with war raging in the Middle East, peaceful coexistence will be at the heart of the pope’s message in a country where 99 percent of its 47 million inhabitants are Muslim.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the pope’s aim was to “address the Islamic world, but also to confront a common challenge of coexistence”.

Algeria’s constitution guarantees freedom of worship, although the authorities must approve both the place of worship and the preacher.

Yet human rights groups say the repression of religious minorities has continued in Algeria in recent years.

Don't count on Leo bringing up the persecution of Christians in the region, or even in Syria, for that matter. Islam doesn't recognize co-existence. It only recognizes erasure and replacement of all other cultures, though what's really horrific is the violent content of the koran.

Predictably, Leo responded to Trump's criticisms about how you could possibly expect:

Pope Leo XIV responded Monday to President Donald Trump criticising him over the U.S.-Israel war in Iran, telling reporters the Vatican works for peace and reconciliation based on the teachings of the Gospel, adding he fears neither the Trump administration or vigorous debate.

“To put my message on the same plane as what the president has attempted to do here, I think is not understanding what the message of the Gospel is,” Leo told the Associated Press aboard the papal plane en route to Algeria where he is beginning an historic four-country Africa trip.

“And I’m sorry to hear that but I will continue on what I believe is the mission of the church in the world today.”

And that's "turning the other cheek" when it comes to a savage-run country building nuclear weapons, huh? Leo's doing nothing to turn the tide on the Religion of Peace, and John Daniel Davidson at the Federalist news site so far hasn't commented on where the pope's going, which only suggests said site's not really interested in getting rid of Islam as a "teaching tool".

Where comics writer Kurt Busiek now posts his sad political rants

Years ago, when X was Twitter, leftist writer Kurt Busiek had plenty of terrible leftist drivel to say there. Today, after Elon Musk bought out the social network, it looks like Busiek no longer posts there, presumably because he can't stand being on a rightist-owned site, and now he's turned to Blue Sky. And here's a few examples of his continuing leftist rhetoric there. For example:

Wow, look how he's trying to draw a moral equivalence between antisemitic and "anti-palestinian" sentiment, making it sound like Iran's mullahs are literally against local Moslems, or as though the fabricated race/community "palestine" isn't Islamic. Put another way, Busiek's clearly not interested in doing any research to determine that the whole name "palestine" was a Roman conception, drawing from the Philistines, to humiliate the land of Stan Lee's ancestry. Also interesting how Busiek simultaneously attacks the POTUS who's now overseeing a raid against Iran's tyrants to destroy their murderous weaponry. Whose side is Busiek on anyway? He's right that Iran's got anti-LGBTQ positions, but, if he won't acknowledge it stems from the teachings of the koran, then his approach there falls flat too.

Then we have:

The USA military many sigificant achievements so far, like destroying Iran's naval crafts, and Busiek's ungrateful? Just what and who does Busiek stand for anyway?

Busiek even posted the following involving Israel:

How intriguing he lectures us all that Israelis across the board literally don't support Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister, this despite how recent pollings show he has sizable support, and plenty of support for the war against Iran's tyrants. What's telling here is how Busiek doesn't back up his claim, and while he may acknowledge the Islamofascists of Iran are willing to attack civilians, his absurd biases ruin any notion he respects the Israeli public on anything. Also atrocious is how Busiek subtly compares Netanyahu to the Iranian Islamofascists. Shame.

Next we have this:

And is that supposed to mean the military commanders don't face any danger, say, from enemy moles and sleeper agents? Oh good grief, this is just so naive. Then there's this and this:

Busiek won't learn lessons either, that wasting so much energy attacking conservatives doesn't improve the situation. And if he's implying Americans and Israelis who allegedly want war should die, that's disturbing as well, and sick. Besides, it's not that any sensible person literally wants war for "fun". They support war against tyrants because there's situations where force is inevitable if that's what it takes to stop barbarism. Busiek also made unverified claims that Israelis literally are guilty of war crimes, and also this item, and this one:

Well if that's what he thinks, but doesn't think the Islamofascists running Afghanistan today aren't guilty of war crimes against the ancient Buddhist inhabitants who originally dwelled there, that's disgraceful too. Ditto if he doesn't think Turkey's guilty of war crimes against Armenia. And Busiek also reposted the following from Tom Peyer:

I guess that means Mr. Peyer's also hostile to Israelis, conservative or otherwise? For shame. Later on, Busiek made a nasty comment about Trump:

And then, what did Busiek say about the US army attack on Kharg island?

If he's no military expert, he has no business commenting, and also had no business writing superhero comics. But who knows, maybe today, he regrets writing superhero tales. It is rather funny he'd write anything starring say, Captain America, considering Kirby/Simon created Steve Rogers as a military cadet who volunteered for the super-soldier serum experiment that made him the formidable fighter he became. But then, that's why, if Busiek really feels that way today, he should no longer be writing superhero themes, plain and simple.

Interestingly, if it matters, Busiek also mentioned the disgraced Gerard Jones, and said the following:

What's that supposed to mean long before? Does that mean people not wanting to benefit monsters is something that only recently came up? Let's be clear. If Jones had been caught in the acts years before and it made headlines in the news, you can be sure there's plenty who'd want nothing to do with him anymore. And must it be pointed out Staton didn't just illustrate comics written by sick Jones? Staton got into comics as far back as the early 1970s, and he'd drawn Green Lantern before, beginning in 1979, for stories written by writers with far better reputations than Jones will ever have at this stage. Staton also has other comics to his credits (including some Batman books), and even a few at Marvel. What, does Busiek have a grudge against Staton or something? That aside, if there's anything Busiek wrote that perhaps we shouldn't benefit, it's his creator-owned comics like Astro City and Arrowsmith, based on how he's indirectly insulting plenty of decent USA military officials who're working hard to bring down the Islamic regime in Iran. Don't their reputations matter? Don't even the reputations of 911 Families matter? Why, what about Betty Mahmoody, who was fortunate to get her daughter out of Iran during the mid 1980s after her creep of a husband taqqiya'd them into traveling there? How don't topics like those ever matter to Busiek?

And since Jones came up, this is very embarrassing, but it appears that since his release from prison nearly 4 years ago, he's been quietly turning up on social media again, and even posting chapters of a book he wrote called "Ginny Good" on a Substack site. Most disgraced writers of his sort would ususally just disappear after all the harm they caused. But Jones appears to be one of those sorts who cannot keep his stupid mouth shut. And if there's at least one example of what political rants he's posting to put on display here, it's the following:

Well. Looks like Jones hasn't changed from the time he first said a decade back he considered Trump a "fascist". And I guess he also considers Trump a communist, seeing how he claims the POTUS wants to be like Vladimir Putin. And all this after Jones was arrested and convicted for illegally hoarding child porn. What, does he think because he's been paroled from prison after 2 thirds of his sentence, it's okay to go right back to such crap again? As though it weren't bad enough he was trying to downplay his criminal offenses when he was still behind bars. All that aside, does he really think anybody wants to read even his text-only books after what he did? Such a repellent disgrace indeed. I wonder how Busiek feels about having written a backup story for Wonder Man in one of the 2 annuals for the 1991-94 series Jones wrote over 3 decades ago? That series was practically worthless as it is.

It's very sad some of the same leftist comics writers of the past decade refuse to stop wasting time on divisive politics, yet quite interesting how, ever since X/Twitter was bought out by a conservative supporter, they decided to jump ship from that service over to one that's more attuned to their leftist beliefs. That, alas, doesn't make the situation any better for the well being of the world.

The foreign sources that aided and abetted the October 7, 2023 jihadist bloodbath

Larry Taunton wrote about the now tragic history of the October 7, 2023 jihad attack on Israeli targets, and how certain totalitarians also had a role in the barbarism, along with certain western sources:

Oct. 7 was years in the making and could not have been successfully executed without the aid and discretion of the people of Gaza. Moreover, it involved the assistance of numerous foreign players: China supplied the vehicles which were smuggled across the Egypt-Gaza border through tunnels; North Korea supplied weapons; Iran supplied weapons, technology, and training; and Qatar supplied money to build homemade weapons and to pay terrorists and the Gazans who worked for them.

In other words, Oct. 7 was an act of war.

It was planned with the precision of a Pearl Harbor. And like Pearl Harbor, the attack caught the enemy off-guard and flatfooted. There were indicators an attack might be coming: Israeli SIM cards, thousands of them, lighting up all over Gaza the night before the attack; Hamas carrying out military exercises openly; reports that key Hamas leaders were going to ground; laborers from Gaza with Israeli work visas caught smuggling weapons into Israel, and so on.

There's only so much evil that was undoubtably planned in the 20th century itself, and now we've experienced the horrific results. And in addition to the communists of China and such, there's also the following:

I inspect the package again: “UNRWA. I don’t understand.”

“I found it in one of the captured pickup trucks the terrorists used,” he says. “They were carrying antibiotics and emergency aid kits —”

I can fill in the rest: — paid for by US tax dollars.

As Taunton continues to note, the Biden administration played a very horrific part in this as did the UN, along with a certain Israeli figure:

More than two years after the attack and a legal fight to keep it classified, Assaf Shmuelevitz’s name had just been released by the Supreme Court of Israel, but not much more than his name. According to Ynet News:

Shmuelevitz is accused of impersonating an IDF captain in the early days of the war following the October 7 massacre, entering military command centers, recording classified conversations, collecting sensitive information, and passing it to unauthorized individuals.

Lawyers for Shmuelevitz have entered what in U.S. legalese might be called an insanity plea. SM rolls his eyes at the mention of it. Shmuelevitz’s role remains unclear: whether he was acting alone; who his handlers were, if, indeed, he had any; and the damage that he did or didn’t do. What is clear to my lunch companion is the role the Biden administration played in the Oct. 7 massacre.

SM’s feelings about Trump’s wobbly predecessor are reflected in Netanyahu’s remarks a few days earlier. The prime minister claimed Biden bore at least some responsibility for Oct. 7 because his administration slapped a weapons embargo on Israel that left the IDF with insufficient ammunition. Predictably, this was followed by fierce denials from Democrats. But this was the least of it.

The Biden administration funded Oct. 7.

This is something that'll definitely be recalled in repugnance in history and years to come. What Biden led to is in some ways much worse than what Jimmy Carter led to in his time. And now, the tragedy's struck most repulsively. Read more of the article in full.

Joe Sacco minimizes the seriousness of Islamic terror in India

The Washington Post wrote some fluff-coated takes on GNs published this year, and it includes one by the anti-Israel cartoonist Joe Sacco, who's now apparently trying to downplay the seriousness of Islamic terrorism in India, in the pages of a GN titled "Once and Future Riot":

For decades, Sacco has carved out a space for rigorous, fact-based journalism in comics, with books on the Palestinian territories, the Bosnian war and other topics. Here he examines the Muzaffarnagar riots that tore through Uttar Pradesh, India, in 2013. Interviewing survivors and perpetrators on both sides, he carefully depicts how relations between the region’s Hindu and Muslim communities broke down. In the process of telling the story of these few days of violence and pain, he lays out a larger narrative about the rise of Hindu nationalism that is all the more troubling for the evenhanded way he explains it.

When he attacks Indian nationalism, it's harder to believe his approach is "evenhanded", especially when the following panel suggests otherwise:

So the Muslim figure on the panel is denying there's such a thing as "love jihad", even though there have been cases of this occurring in what could be described as one of the worst forms of coercion, and attempts to force women to convert to Islam. Also notice how the panel depicts non-Muslims attacking one who is Muslim, and it's set up to make it look like they're doing it out of false accusations. What "careful depictions" is Sacco working on here? This is shameful, right down to how the non-Muslims assaulting the Islamist are made to look nasty, while the cleric, by contrast, is depicted as calm and sympathetic. The riots in Muzaffarnagar were sparked by the murder of 2 men by 7 culprits who were Islamists (and certainly had names often used by followers of the Religion of Peace), and were handed down sentences eventually for their repugnant crimes. It won't be shocking if Sacco obfuscated all that. What's drawn in the panel is anything but "fact-based".

Sacco continues to prove he's one of the worst pro-Islam propagandists in the political comics business, and I hesitate to think what disfavors he's done for 9-11 survivors in the USA in the near quarter century since the tragedy in NYC. The Wash. Post is similarly doing disfavors by sugarcoating his works, and only make clear they're one of the worst papers to talk about the comics medium in any format.

The Islamic response to Charlie Kirk's murder was sadly predictable

In the few days now since the tragic murder of Charlie Kirk, it's been discovered, far from surprisingly, that Muslim activists have only responded to the terrible incident with nothing but hatred:

The warped but inventive minds that make up the U.S. Islamist movement have been busy the last few days, trying to get some traction on social media and pile on the hate for Charlie Kirk.

It's Islamists, so the very first thing that comes to mind is "conspiracy."

Daniel Haqiqatjou, founder of Muslim Skeptic, blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for Kirk's death.

Haqiqatjou took the standard left-wing line that Trump was going to use Kirk's death as a sort of "Reichstag Fire" to begin a general crackdown.

Haqiqatjou added in another post that Charlie Kirk was murdered as a result of a "Zionist conspiracy." The nutcase failed to explain how Kirk, a huge supporter of Israel, as he pointed out earlier, could be a victim of "Zionists." [...]

The U.K. Islamist news outlet 5Pillars gloated over Kirk's death, criticizing him for his statement that Islamic values are incompatible with Western values, and asserting, “It’s not Islamophobia to notice that Muslims want to import values into the West that seek to destabilize our civilization.”

None of this is surprising, although the idiocy of positing Netanyahu's involvement in the assassination should disabuse those who believe Islamists are rational players who can live in peace with the West. Their notions of individual liberty are either absent or so skewed as to be unrecognizable. Their tolerance of other religions doesn't exist. And let's not even discuss the way they treat women like cattle.

This is all truly obscene, and decidedly calls for a lawsuit by the Kirk family against the Religion of Peace adherents who defamed the poor guy for daring to state facts. There've been a lot of leftists who lost jobs for making offensive comments about the Kirk murder, with one of the most prominent being Matthew Dowd, now formerly of MSNBC news. All responsible businesses in the USA and elsewhere who wish to retain a responsible image should also make sure to distance themselves from any Islamists who've done anything similar.

Awful leftist rhetoric still remains in 24th year since 9-11

Juda Honickman wrote about what the sadly murdered Charlie Kirk stood for:

Charlie spoke boldly at a time when boldness often comes with a price. He defended faith, family, and freedom when so many preferred silence. And perhaps most importantly for me, he stood unapologetically with Israel. In a world eager to downplay or dismiss the Jewish people’s right to defend themselves, Charlie refused to bend.

He said it plainly: Israel’s fight is America’s fight, because the forces that want to destroy Israel are the same forces that despise freedom everywhere.

When Hamas terrorists slaughtered innocent Jews on October 7th, Charlie didn’t hide behind the cowardly “both sides” rhetoric that poisoned so much of the media and academia. He called evil by its name. He condemned Hamas with clarity and conviction, and he exposed the hypocrisy of a world that cheered America’s strikes against terror after 9/11 but condemned Israel for daring to defend its own people.

He stood shoulder to shoulder with Israel, and even more than that, shoulder to shoulder with the truth.

That is why his loss cuts so deeply. We didn’t just lose a commentator. We lost a defender. We lost a man who gave courage to countless others simply by refusing to back down. For many of us, Charlie was a reminder that we were not alone in the fight. And now, in his absence, we feel that loneliness all over again.

But here is the reality: Charlie’s death cannot just be a moment of mourning. It must be a moment of decision. It must be a turning point.

On 9/11, nearly 3,000 Americans were murdered. The United States responded with overwhelming force, striking terrorists across oceans and even eliminating leaders in foreign capitals. The world applauded. On October 7th, Jews were slaughtered in their homes. Israel responded by striking those who planned and funded the massacre, including in Doha. And suddenly, many of those same voices who had cheered America condemned Israel. Charlie Kirk had no patience for that hypocrisy, and neither should we.

Now, as America reels from Charlie’s death, we face our own hypocrisy test. Will we honor his memory by standing boldly with truth, or will we retreat into silence and despair? Do we carry forward the torch he lit, or do we allow it to be extinguished?

One of the worst things to occur in the years since 911 is that there's now a whole generation that actually considers the abominable act "justified", so it's not like those Chomskyites actually support the USA's efforts to defend itself against jihadists, and an almost foregone conclusion they never did.

And it's important to remember that the Muslims of Gaza celebrated 911 years before, and October 7, 2023 years later. That's precisely why, aside from the fabricated "ethnicity", they don't deserve to be leaders. Obviously, it's bad that the Hamas has using torture against their subjects. But that still doesn't excuse or absolve any and all who supported barbarism as they did back in late 2001. When are these particular facts going to be taught in schools for a change?

Anyway, condolences again to Kirk's family. What happened in Orem, Utah is absolutely terrible.

Update: here's some commentary by Joseph Haddad.

Update 2: president Donald Trump announced the FBI now has the Utah assassination culprit in custody. Let's hope so. It remains to be seen what else will be reported about this terrible case.

Update 3: according to this report, the weapons/ammo discovered that the murderer used had transsexual slogans scrawled on them.

Update 4: and now, the culprit has been identified:

The alleged Charlie Kirk assassin now in custody is identified as a 22-year-old Utah resident named Tyler Robinson, according to NBC News. [...]

On Thursday morning, Breitbart News reported that Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS) Commissioner Beau Mason spoke at a press conference and said the shooter “appears to be of college age.” Now a 22-year-old is in custody.

Breitbart News noted that a CNN report indicated the suspect was taken into custody after confessing to his father.

The monster should be thrown into a dark dungeon and put to an end for the repulsive crime he committed.

Ayman Odeh must be expelled from Knesset

A Knesset committee voted to expel the Islamic Knesset member Ayman Odeh over his support for Hamas and Hezbollah:

The Knesset Committee voted on Monday afternoon, with a majority of 14 MKs against 2 opponents, in favor of ousting MK Ayman Odeh.

All representatives of the coalition parties supported the proposal, along with representatives from Yisrael Beytenu, Yesh Atid, and the National Unity Party.

The dismissal procedure will be brought to the Knesset plenum within three weeks, where a majority of 90 MKs will be required to finalize it.

The initiator of the discussion, MK Avichai Boaron, stated: “Throughout all the deliberations, he neither apologized nor retracted his statements—in fact, he repeated them. He refuses to recognize Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations. One cannot separate his remarks from the broader context, and therefore I am confident the decision will pass with a large majority in the Knesset plenum.”

Committee Chairman Ofir Katz added: “In a proper country, Ayman Odeh would be rotting in jail and stripped of his citizenship. I sincerely hope Yesh Atid and the National Unity Party won’t backtrack or play a double game when this reaches the plenum. Ayman Odeh must be kicked out.”

An excellent point. Failure to do so will only be a slight to the victims of October 7, 2023. Do those 2 left-wing parties want to look bad in this specific affair?

Hen Mazzig's offensive moral equations

About 2 months ago, the leftist homosexual journalist Hen Mazzig, who already did something bad enough by attacking Abigail Shrier for defending girls, Jewish or otherwise, from LGBT operations similar to the violence Hamas committed on October 7, 2023, wrote apologia for Muslims in Gaza in the Jewish Exponent where he says they shouldn't be "displaced" from the Gaza strip, obscuring that they disqualified themselves of the privilege of remaining:

I grew up on stories of exile. My family was forced out of Iraq and Tunisia for being Jewish — homes stolen, communities erased and history rewritten. To this day, too many people insist it was “voluntary migration,” as if nearly a million Jews in Arab lands simply woke up one morning and decided to leave behind centuries of roots, culture and history.

I’ve spent years pushing back against that erasure, making it clear that my family — and so many others — were forced to leave. And yet, today, I see a disturbing echo of that same denial. The same people who overlooked Mizrahi Jews’ suffering are now casually advocating for the forced displacement of Palestinians as “the only option” to deal with Hamas’ terror.

I get the disgusted feeling he's implying right-wingers "overlooked" eastern Jews' plight? Well that's awfully rich coming from somebody who doesn't seem to have much respect for women. This certainly obscures how the Menachem Begin government did its best to help people of such backgrounds, and suggests Mr. Mazzig's political leanings are impeding his ability to appreciate that. Of course, it's also possible he's implying the left as of now is advocating for moving out what Mazzig blatantly calls "palestianians", and can't stand if anybody on his end of the spectrum is supporting what's best worked on, which is to send away products of Islamic indoctrination who tragically were all on Hamas' side 2 years before, to a distance that would be best remained at.

Reactions to President Donald Trump’s statement last week about removing Palestinians from Gaza ranged from some voices applauding it as a necessary step — one online commentator even told me it was time to “try something new to solve this conflict” — to anti-Israel activists using it as “evidence” of Israeli intentions, to extremists on both sides seizing it to justify their absolutist solutions for this conflict.

I see things differently, because I don’t have to imagine what forced displacement does to a people. I see it in my own family, even 75 years later. My grandmother still speaks of Baghdad — not just as a city, but as her other homeland that was taken from her. The trauma of being uprooted never left her, nor did the deep pain of knowing that an entire world of Jewish life in Iraq was erased in a single generation. Yes, we rebuilt. Yes, Israel gave my family refuge. But what was lost can never be fully regained.

This is what’s missing from the argument that Palestinians would be “better off” leaving Gaza — that they would have safer, more comfortable lives if they were resettled elsewhere. It’s the same logic that was used to justify the expulsion of Jews from Arab lands. And while my family may have found security in Israel, that doesn’t mean the original trauma was justified. Nor does it account for the cultural and communal annihilation that came with it.

This entirely obscures the evils of Islam, which I sadly guess Mr. Mazzig isn't even the slightest bit willing to acknowledge, and even if he studied the Koran's contents, chances are it makes no difference to him. He continues with his shoddy obfuscations:

The destruction of Gaza under Hamas’ rule is undeniable. But forced displacement doesn’t solve that problem — it only ensures that the pain and resentment of this war will last for generations. I am not blind to the fact that anti-Zionists today demand the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Israel. Not only is that hateful, but it fundamentally denies the Jewish people’s historic connection to the land of Israel. That’s racism. And it’s unacceptable.

Indeed, the loudest voices in the “Free Palestine” movement aren’t calling for a two-state solution. They’re not talking about peace. They want Israel gone. They want Jewish sovereignty erased. They don’t see Oct. 7 as an atrocity — they see it as a model.

But you don’t fight anti-Zionist eliminationism with eliminationist rhetoric of your own. You don’t counter the fantasy of erasing Israel by proposing the same for Gaza.

That’s not strength. That’s surrender — to the idea that this is a zero-sum war where one side must be erased for the other to survive.

And I guess it's weakness to look for the cause of the hatred driving Muslim adherents, right?

I am not talking about efforts — if they exist — to give Gazans who wish to seek refuge elsewhere the ability to do so. That is their right. I am talking about the fantasy that all Palestinians in Gaza will be wiped out or relocated to some as-yet-undetermined place, as if that were a serious solution.

Of course, the plan to displace Gazans that Trump floated, alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week, is unlikely to end up getting carried out.

Let’s be honest: Relocating Palestinians from Gaza is never going to happen. No Arab country will get on board. Saudi Arabia rushed to release a statement making it clear they won’t normalize relations with Israel without a Palestinian state. Egypt and Jordan have always said they won’t take in Palestinians from Gaza. No American administration — least of all one that ran on ending wars and tightening borders — will commit troops to enforce it or open the gates to Palestinian refugees.

This is political theater.

And this is defeatism on Mazzig's part. Mainly because the Jordanian king has so far shown the willingness to take in children of families who need medical care, and there are more who'll be relocating to Indonesia. But Mazzig, in all his moral equivalence, won't show any appreciation, will he? And of course, he avoids any reference to the Religion of Peace. He definitely doesn't speak of it negatively. And he doesn't seem particularly interested in making a case for sending a message to Arab countries that they should take in these so-called palestinians, whose very name draws from one given to Israel by the Roman empire, and Mazzig obscures that entirely.

We’ve seen this play before. Netanyahu and Trump previously dangled West Bank annexation only to “concede” it in exchange for the Abraham Accords. Now, Trump is floating this logistical insanity — likely knowing it will never happen — to position himself as the only one who can “negotiate it down.”

But here’s the real danger: While world leaders understand this is just bluster, the people watching — especially online — think it’s real. And that’s a serious threat to us.

Because Mr. Mazzig wants it to be. He's obviously anti-Trump, just like he's anti-Netanyahu. And if he thinks western conservatives are the root cause of all evil, and can't acknowledge even liberals make mistakes, that's just the problem Mazzig has failed to prove he can rise above.

Because when these extreme ideas enter the mainstream, they don’t just fade away. They stick. They fuel conspiracies. They get used to paint all Jews as complicit in a plan that doesn’t even exist. And once again, we become the scapegoat.

Political leaders pushing these ideas aren’t protecting Jews. They’re making us targets. Jews deserve better than to be associated with unrealistic, cruel proposals that will almost certainly never happen but will absolutely be used against us.

And if there’s one thing I know from my family’s history, it’s that displacement only creates new wounds; it does not heal old ones. The Jews who were expelled from Arab lands never found justice, and Palestinians won’t either if they are forcibly removed from Gaza.

Hamas started this war. Hamas is responsible for this war. But the people in Gaza shouldn’t have to pay for a tyranny that rules over them with an iron fist. Many of them, as we’ve seen from footage throughout this war, oppose Hamas and do not want to live under their control.

And we deserve better than to have leftists like Mazzig lecture us with cowardice. This reeks of blood libels anti-Israel propagandists use, to imply that Israel is literally guilty of tyrannizing Gazans entirely without justification. And ignores all the barbaric acts committed in the name of the Religion of Peace, to say nothing of how many Muslims in Gaza were indoctrinated with Hitler's Mein Kamph, translated into Arabic. That Mazzig apparently obscured such horrific discoveries speaks volumes, and the same goes for how he obscures the celebrations the Gazan Muslims had after October 7, 2023. The Islamofascists in Gaza also celebrated September 11, 2001, and Mazzig doesn't dwell on that either. What does that say about what kind of person Mr. Mazzig is?

The more we entertain the idea that one side must be erased for the other to live, the further we get from any future that isn’t defined by endless war.

There are no magic wands here. No shortcuts. And no amount of forced migration — of Jews or Palestinians — will bring the peace we all deserve.

The only way forward is to dismantle Hamas, empower Palestinian leaders who reject extremism and invest in a long-term solution where both peoples can live with security, dignity and self-determination — without adding to the traumas that must be overcome another episode of ethnic cleansing like what my family experienced.

And the more we vehmently refuse to discuss the content of the Koran/Hadith, and vehemently refuse to acknowledge that the modern claim of a "palestinian state" was an anti-Israel fabrication, the less likely we are to solve a terrible problem. Oh, and has Mr. Mazzig ever spoken in defense of black Africans who were victim of Islamofascism in Africa? Or victims of honor murders? He also doesn't seem particularly concerned about Islamic hostility to homosexuality, this despite Mazzig himself being homosexual. He also obscures how Gaza is really Israeli land, and this makes him no better than say, the phony conservative Ed Morrissey.

Mazzig has only proven himself one of the biggest hinderances to Israel, and if he hasn't apologized to the aforementioned Shrier, that's another serious error he's made.

Jewish lesbian shunned by California LGBT movement because she supported Trump in defense of Israel

Over in the USA, a Jewish lesbian's learning what local LGBT movements really think of anybody who dares step off their plantation (via Breitbart):

A member of the LGBTQ community in Los Angeles says her friends are pushing her away after she voted for Donald Trump.

"I definitely feel like I’m on an island alone," said Tanya Tsikanovsky, who resides in LA's San Fernando Valley. "The queer people have turned their backs on me, and I’m queer, so it’s very painful."

According to Tsikanovsky, she worked in Iowa with the Hillary Clinton election campaign in 2016. Then, she voted for Joe Biden in 2020.

"I was absolutely that person who would say if you’re a Trump supporter, I don’t want you in my life," said Tsikanovsky. "I can say I regret that."

Beyond economic reasons and the United States’ southern border, Tsikanovsky says she shifted towards Trump because of her Jewish faith. According to Tsikanovsky, recent pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses made her think differently about the Democratic Party.

"Israel [changed my mind]," said Tsikanovsky. "I am a Jew, and what was happening on campuses was appalling. They should have sent in the National Guard as soon as Jewish students were being blocked on campuses."

Soon after that, Tsikanovsky started sharing her new support for Trump on Instagram.

"I had like 50 unfollows right away," said Tsikanovsky.

Finally, after voting Republican in the election, Tsikanovsky says longtime friends and members of her LGBTQ basketball team started boxing her out.

"Ever since I publicly said I was voting for Trump, I am no longer welcome in the [LGBTQ] social spheres they provide," said Tsikanovsky. "If there was a birthday party I was invited to, I’m no longer able to attend. I think it’s disgusting someone can push me out of something [like this]. They liked me 2 weeks ago, and now they don’t, just because I voted for someone."

It definitely demonstrates how, more than just ignorance, some LGBT practitioners may not really be doing so because they believe in their ideology, but rather, to undermine civilized society, in the west and elsewhere, and when it comes to Islam, they're okay with its opposition to LGBT, with the worst part being that it might what to do with its being perverse and barbaric, not unlike their own practices involving transsexuality. Something Jewish lesbians should consider is that much of the LGBT movement's antisemitic/misogynistic, something the PC crowd would rather they not know, and being a leftist will not protect them from either bigotry. On top of all that, California's currently one of the worst places you could be in the USA.

Pro-Hamas demonstrators in NYC burned American flags on the 4th of July

New York City establishment leaders continue to make an utter embarrassment of the region as their shoddy policies on crime enabled pro-Hamas agitators to perform anti-American acts in addition to anti-Israel acts on what was once a very special day:

Pro-Palestine protesters took to the streets of New York City on Thursday and were seen burning an American flag in Washington Square Park, video shows.

Video footage posted to Twitter by Oliya Scootercaster shows the chaotic scenes from pro-Palestine activists rally on Independence Day in the liberal city. Protesters appeared to begin their gathering in Washing Square Park for their “Flood July 4th for Gaza!” as a large crowd was seen waving Palestinian flags and chanting “shut it down.”

See more at the article. NYC's left-wing establishment sure knows how to drain all the happiness out of a wonderful holiday, all for the sake of the woke directions they've been taking for quite some time now. And the worst part is how they've allowed only so many Islamofascists and their sympathisers to reside in what's now a collapsing metropolis.

VanCAF apologizes to artist Miriam Libicki for blacklisting her over her Israeli army service

A few days after the disgusting news that the Vancouver Comic Arts Festival in Canada banned artist Miriam Libicki over her service in the Israeli army, her left-wing positions notwithstanding, the Times of Israel/JTA now reports the convention's apologized for their abominable behavior, which did as much a disfavor to WW2 Holocaust and 9-11 victims as it did to victims of the Hamas on October 7, 2023:

A Vancouver comics festival apologized to a Jewish artist it had banned over her past Israeli military service and a Seattle museum announced it was recommitting to an exhibit on antisemitism that prompted a staff walkout, in two reversals of North American arts-world sanctions connected to the Israel-Hamas war.

Both the Vancouver Comic Arts Festival in Canada and the Wing Luke Museum in the United States had faced significant backlash over the actions they took because of pro-Palestinian activism.

“VanCAF has lost and continues to lose the trust of many we have sought to serve,” the Vancouver festival said in a social media apology late Sunday, days after announcing that it was banning American-Israeli comics artist Miriam Libicki following activist complaints over her past IDF service.

The festival didn’t name Libicki in either its initial statement banning her — which it quickly removed from social media following backlash — or its lengthy new apology. But the ban referenced Libicki’s previous IDF service, which she has turned into a comic, while the apology referenced another specific work of hers: “But I Live,” a collaboration with Holocaust survivors.

After criticism from both Libicki and leaders of major Canadian Jewish institutions, VanCAF said in its apology that “the vast majority” of people involved in the ban have resigned from its board. The group said it was entering a new “transition period” as a result of the fallout, and added that it has no full-time staff and it is entirely volunteer-run.

Those who left the convention's board are no loss, and do not belong in the entertainment business in any way, shape or form. Yet even now, much like Bud Light's transsexual scandal a few years ago, maybe anybody planning to boycott VanCAF should continue to do so, and definitely sit out this year's festival, which, for all we know, could end up being the last, if sponsors wise up and pull funding for them.

“Conflating the political with the practical safety of those attending our festival was the wrong stance to take,” the apology noted. VanCAF said it had issued the ban as a result of safety concerns after deeming that pro-Palestinian backlash to Libicki’s presence at its last two festivals had created a “volatile atmosphere.”

(A synagogue in Vancouver was targeted in an arson attack last week, elevating alarm after shooting attacks on Jewish sites in Toronto and Montreal. Authorities in Vancouver are investigating the arson as a hate crime.)

VanCAF is one of a growing number of arts institutions to face turmoil over the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack, which has left some Jews feeling uncertain about their place in the arts world.

In Seattle, the Wing Luke Museum, an Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander heritage museum in Chinatown, will move forward with an exhibition on how the region’s Asian, Jewish and Black communities have all jointly responded to hate. The announcement came days after several museum staffers walked off the job, objecting to what they said were “Zionist perspectives” in the exhibit; the museum had temporarily shuttered following the walkout.

“We remain committed to the exhibit’s core message of confronting hate,” the museum said in a joint statement with the Washington State Jewish Historical Society, an exhibit partner, and the Black Heritage Society. “We acknowledge the complexity of this deeply challenging work. We understand that the bigotry, bias, and racism that affects our communities goes well beyond us to touch many. Though recent events have caused significant harm, we are undeterred.”

The three groups also said they would make some unspecified changes to the content, “offering additional framing on its genesis, the initial public reaction, and the history of our communities working together” before the exhibit reopens June 30. Staff had objected to some of the exhibit’s descriptions of modern-day antisemitism, including the inclusion of campus protests over October 7, and had demanded that the museum make changes including acknowledging a lack of Palestinian perspectives. The exhibit had been in the works since before October 7.

If the aforementioned pro-palestinians who caused a ruckus were to antagonize early comics contributors like Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (one of whom was Canadian-born), were they still alive today, would that sit well with VanCAF's management, which committed an act of cowardice if the above news is correct? What they should really be doing is hiring security to keep out any and all of these obsessed troublemakers, and should be vetting all workers they hire to make sure they're not obsessed with censoring anything positive in regards to Israel, and/or censoring any objective and critical view of Islam. There's a cartoonist named Bosch Fawstin, who's a former Muslim from regions like Albania, who's bravely criticized the Religion of Peace which he left, and people like him, tragically, are blacklisted by these pretentious festivals. All this cowardly panic is not helping to defeat jihadism at all, and the failure to seriously confront issues like Islamic terrorism have the effect of making movies and comics about the Holocaust look like a joke. If modern showbiz writers won't confront a modern issue, how can we believe they really care about a past one? Also consider issues like the Korean and Vietnam wars practically vanished from entertainment nearly 3 decades ago, are rarely discussed since, and WW1-related issues like the Armenian Genocide by Turkey's Islamic Ottoman empire, are also banned from study, in film, comics and other mediums in the west. This is exactly why the war against terrorism's been lost for many years.

For now, it remains to be seen if the "unspecified changes" the aforementioned groups announced they'd make will be honest ones. And if they continue to tiptoe around serious issues, they've effectively failed their mission, and VanCAF should continue to be boycotted to boot.

After October 7, some leftists hopefully changed their view of Muslims

In this Wash. Free Beacon article, they interview a leftist "peace activist" who appears to have changed after her experience with the jihadists from Gaza who also invaded her household on October 7:

Irit Lahav, 57, was a peace activist who believed in the decency of the Palestinian people. Then, on Oct. 7, ordinary Gazans joined in a terrorist attack that left more than one in four of her neighbors in Kibbutz Nir Oz dead or abducted.

For many members of Nir Oz and other Israelis, the atrocities of Oct. 7—and particularly the broad participation of the Gazan public in the day—destroyed their faith in coexistence with the Palestinians.

Lahav, a manager at a travel company, long participated in peace demonstrations. In recent years, she volunteered for an Israeli charity called Road to Recovery, driving Palestinian children from the border of the Gaza Strip, less than two miles from her home, to Israeli hospitals for life-saving medical care.

"We thought that Palestinians are good people. All they want is peace and prosperity," Lahav told the Washington Free Beacon in an interview from a hotel in this Red Sea resort city where she and most of her community were temporarily relocated. "It's just that Hamas is forcing them to be in this aggressive situation."

When terrorists first shook the door of her safe room on Oct. 7, Lahav was sure that she and her 22-year-old daughter were about to be killed. But a makeshift lock she had fashioned out of an oar and a vacuum cleaner thwarted three separate break-in attempts. The women lay in the darkened room for about 10 hours listening to sounds of automatic gunfire and grenade explosions. At one point, they heard a group of teenagers robbing their house.

Later, Lahav learned from other Nir Oz survivors that Gazan women and children as young as 10 years old had followed Hamas terrorists into the kibbutz, looting, helping the armed terrorists, and apparently enjoying themselves.

"Basically it was sort of an invasion of a community," Lahav said. "That's why for me, I cannot say this was a Hamas action. No, for me, this was a Palestinian action. A whole community had come to our kibbutz, took our things, stole stuff, killed people, and kidnapped others."

"Am I thinking about myself being foolish until now?" Lahav added. "Maybe. But more is that I'm disappointed in them, that they're so cruel, have no values, really lost their human values."

During Israel's ongoing war to destroy Hamas, 40 of the hostages taken from Nir Oz have been released, while 30 remain in Gaza. Several other hostages have been declared dead in recent weeks, bringing the total number of people killed from Nir Oz to 46.

While it's good to know she's changed her mind about what people like her still call a "palestinian people", it remains to be seen if any of these presumably no-longer-peace-activists recognize that Islam played a very horrific major role in the bloodbath of October 7. And what would Lahav say if "settlers" of background more religious than hers were the victims? Lahav should publicly renounce all associations with anyone who until now supported Islamic savages. And she'd do well to consider how many women in Europe, in example, have fallen victim to Islamofascism as well. Many on the left now owe a serious apology.

Judicial reform process delayed

This was probably to be expected, sadly enough, all because some leftists in establishment took it upon themselves to do everything they could to bring the country to a standstill:

The head of one of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Coalition partners, Otzma Yehudit, said on Monday he had agreed to delay the government's overhaul of the judiciary in exchange for a promise it would be brought after the upcoming parliamentary recess.

"I agreed to remove the veto to reject the legislation in exchange for a commitment by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the legislation would be submitted to the Knesset for approval in the next session," National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a statement. The statement also said that Netanyahu vowed that Ben-Gvir would get to head a new National Guard unit that would complement that Israel Police, for which he has no official jurisdiction over.

The statement said the legislation would be pushed to the next session of Israeli parliament in order to "pass the reform through dialogue," the statement said. Parliament will go on recess next week for the Passover holiday.

[...] As opposition spread, the head of the Histadrut labor union called for a general strike if the proposals were not halted.

Take-offs from Ben Gurion airport were suspended, while Israel's main seaports, banks and hospitals, and medical services were set to strike. Branches of Mcdonald's were also closed.

That the airport staff would allow this is severely disturbing. It just shows how the left has such astonishing influence here for the worst. One of the coalition MKs is furious over the situation:

MK Tally Gotliv (Likud) on Monday expressed outrage over the decision to pause the legislation of the judicial reform, but made clear she would not disband the coalition because of it.

"The decision to stop the legislation is shameful and disgraceful, it's shameful in several aspects," Gotliv told Israel National News. "Perhaps all my friends from the right should remember the words of the sages, 'Say little and do much' and not the other way around, and it is unthinkable that after we unilaterally surrendered last week [by agreeing to a softened version of the bill on the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee], and I said that the entire reform would be taken off the table, [that we agreed to postpone the legislation]. I also said that the demonstrations would not stop and I that it was a protection payment for violence and extortion through threats."

"After all, all that is on the agenda is changing the structure of the Judicial Selection Committee, which may affect the appointment of two judges in the next two years – 12 percent of the judges of the Supreme Court, and for that they are setting the Ayalon Highway on fire? So what do we say in response? That we surrender to domestic terrorism. We don't know how to govern," she added.

Gotliv is not convinced by the promise that this is only a short-term stoppage and claimed that it is a "one-sided surrender, a surrender to actual terror, to all this promiscuous anarchism. I prefer that they tell me that to my face and not shame the people of Israel."

She's right that it's not going to stop here. There will doubtless be more obnoxious demonstrations by the left, along with potential strikes to paralyze the country, and this cannot be allowed to go unopposed.

Update: David Harsanyi says the judicial system as it currently stands in Israel is exactly what the American left wants too. He also cites some of the country's unfortunate history:

But the nation’s judicial system is even worse. Israel’s political system was created by leftists who envisioned a one-party state. From its inception, the nation’s socialists suppressed — sometimes violently — political opposition. And in the 1950s, a ruling Labor Party preempted the opposition from infiltrating the courts by empowering judges to veto appointees to the bench. This created a self-perpetuating, generationally cocooned judiciary that functions without any set of cohesive legal principles or oversight.

That's the tragedy that's been around for much longer than one may think, and has damaged this country's modern inception, easily for years to come.

With his sordid record, Andrew Cuomo has no business establishing a "pro-Israel" movement

Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, who led the state into an utter disaster 3 years ago during the Coronavirus pandemic, and was forced to resign following sexual misconduct scandals, is now establishing a supposedly pro-Israeli group meant to appeal to Democrats:

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has a new project, a year and a half after resigning amid a flurry of sexual harassment allegations: a pro-Israel organization targeting Democrats.

Cuomo delivered the message via video on Monday evening at an event at Carnegie Hall hosted by the World Values Network, the organization led by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach — an author, television personality and onetime Republican congressional candidate. Boteach organized the event in honor of the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and in memory of his recently deceased mother.

The launch of the organization, to be called “Progressives For Israel,” was first reported by Matthew Kassel at Jewish Insider.

While Cuomo provided few details about the organization, he said that it would call on Democrats to stand with Israel, “because silence is not an option.”

Putting aside for a moment that many leftists today are more hostile than ever to Israel, how can one truly give backing to a movement formed by a man whose record consists of sexual harrassment/abuse, and even went miles out of his way to impose LGBT ideology, among other woke elements, upon a now collapsing state? Boteach should also consider how embarrassing it is to associate with somebody like Cuomo, who didn't do any true favors for Jews in New York either, unless it's the Satmar we're talking about.

If Cuomo still retains the far-left ideological perspective he had before on issues like LGBT ideology and appeasing high crime rates in NYC, that's reason enough to reject whatever he's doing now, and Boteach would do well to distance himself from Cuomo too. NY's former governor is just not worth wasting time with.

Update: it's important to note that as of now, many more Democrats side with Islamists against Israel. Even if Cuomo weren't as corrupt as he is, the movement he's formed is bound to fail miserably.

Samaria vineyard uprooted illegally, by an apparently leftist defense minister

A pure embarrassment occurred the other day, as defense minister Yoav Galant overrode finance minister Bezalel Smotrich's objections to uprooting a Samaria vineyard:

Following the uprooting of the vineyard established by the Ben Eliyahu family in the Shiloh Valley, MK Ohad Tal (Religious Zionism party) states that this is a continuation of the left's policy, and it will not contribute to the stability of the coalition.

"Just yesterday we sat down in Givat Harel with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and he said that this destruction should be stopped. There is no moral or legal justification for carrying it out," says Tal. He adds that, unfortunately, it seems that the only reason for the destruction is a power struggle between Defense Minister Galant and Finance Minister Smotrich.

"It pains me to say this, but it seems that the Defense Minister is trying to show that he is in control on the ground. This is very sad. We cannot continue to promote the left-wing policies of the previous government. This should not exist in a government that promised the public a different policy," says Tal.

Regarding the videos showing the security force's violence against MK Limor Son Har-Malech (Otzma Yehudit), Tal says, "when I saw the photos, I cringed. That's illegal. After all, she has parliamentary immunity. She is allowed to go anywhere. But I also cringed because it was inappropriate and I don't want to use the word harassment. This is inappropriate and illegal and must not happen in the State of Israel."

On that note, what happened to Har-Malech was very offensive too:

MK Limor Son Har-Melech (Otzma Yehudit) accused one of the Border Police officers who blocked her from reaching the scene during the uprooting of a Jewish-owned orchard in Samaria Wednesday morning of sexually assaulting her.

"The police commander at the scene ordered three other policemen to form a human chain around me. When, after several minutes, I sought to leave the ring, he told me every time: "We are protecting and guarding you,"" MK Son Har-Melech told Israel National News - Arutz Sheva.

She said that when she attempted to get out of the circle of police officers, “one of them did something that is completely forbidden,” implying that the officer may have sexually assaulted her.

"When I manage to get out of the chain, the same policeman who gave the order to create the chain followed me. He realized that he had done something which is very serious and told me: 'You hit my policeman." At this point it became clear that he was trying to cover up what he had just done." she said.

All policemen who were involved should be fired immediately from their jobs and imprisoned for sexual violence. The one who was mainly responsible should be ostracized and made to pay serious compensation in addition to serving a prison sentence. This is certainly a serious issue, and will have to be addressed by Netanyahu himself. That somebody should have his vineyard business destroyed, and a woman her dignity, is absolutely obscene.

Update: more on the subject here, and also here.

Update 2: it says over here now that the commissioner in charge, Major-General Amir Cohen, suspended 4 officers, but refuses to apologize to Har-Melech for the repellent treatment she received. In that case, he must voluntarily resign too.

37th Israeli government, and Netanyahu's 6th term as premier, is sworn in

Israel's 37th government has been sworn in at the Knesset, and this also marks the beginning of Benjamin Netanyahu's 6th term as prime minister:

Israel's 37th Government was sworn in on Thursday, with Benjamin Netanyahu beginning his sixth term as prime minister.

The swearing-in ceremony began at 11:00 a.m., during which Netanyahu presented his agenda to the Knesset plenum. These include stopping the Iran nuclear program, developing state infrastructure and restoring internal security and governance.

During his address, which was interrupted by members of the opposition, Netanyahu said "Losing elections isn't the end of democracy – it's the essence of democracy. In a democracy, we don't climb the fences of the Capitol, and we don't climb the fences of the Knesset."

Unfortunately, this is something the current leftist opposition in the Knesset no longer seems willing to respect, and likely never did. I guess that's why the sad part is how Yair Lapid, upon leaving office, refused to shake Netanyahu's hand:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the first to take the oath of office. Most of the heads of the opposition parties were present out of respect for the ceremony, but opposition leader Yair Lapid left the plenary hall even before Netanyahu was sworn-in without shaking his hand as is customary.

What really makes this sad is that it hints at where things are headed with the left, which is bad for democratic relations. It could take years to mend the damage Lapid's causing with his ostracizing approach. But, this does demonstrate why it's good he's now out of office. He was causing all the harm he's going to cause, even in the opposition.

So let's hope Netanyahu can handle all the trouble the left's already causing. What if they intent to do everything they can to sabotage his efforts to make peace with Saudi Arabia, for example? Regrettably, that's something they're more than willing to do, if reality says anything about their conduct.

Israel's LGBT activists have no issues with Islam's hostility to their ideology

As explained by Ruthie Blum, following a whole questionable controversy where the left assailed Avi Maoz for wanting to put a stop to LGBT propaganda being pushed in Israeli schools. First, here's what Orit Strook said on Twitter to clarify:

"You can calm down over the much ado about nothing," she tweeted on Sunday. "No one intends to discriminate against LGBT people because of their identity or identification – not in medical care or any other service. LGBTs are human beings who deserve respect and love just like everyone else … It's not at all about the identity of the patient, but about the essence of the treatment."

The idea, she added, is that "a religiously observant doctor will not be forced to provide a medical treatment contrary to halacha [Jewish law], regardless of the identity of the patient. Because in the State of Israel, which was established after 2,000 years of exile, thanks to Jews who gave their lives (who were literally slaughtered, hanged, burned at the stake and tortured to death) for observing the Torah, a believing Jew should not be forced to violate [its laws]."

She went on, "I'm sure a huge majority of the nation agrees with this simple truth and identifies with it, certainly on Hanukkah, the holiday that began with a rebellion against anti-religious coercion."

In conclusion, she suggested wryly that "those who still find it difficult [to accept] do a simple visualization exercise: apply this principle to your [coalition] partners from the Shura Council [the Islamist Ra'am Party]. You'll find that, suddenly, religious and faith principles become somehow easier to swallow."

Her dig at the double standard brings us to the second element of the distortion-hypocrisy couplet that characterizes Lapid's shaky, disparate bloc: the "do as I say, not as I do" practice at which Lahav Hertzanu has demonstrated exemplary skill.

Indeed, the gay parliamentarian denouncing the RZP for "homophobia" is more than tolerant of Ra'am, which labels LGBTQs as "perverts" with an "unnatural lifestyle."

When asked in July 2021 about Ra'am MK Walid Taha's statements to this effect, he replied, "Walid Taha is a member of Knesset who represents a sector. He's legitimate. He's a member of [our] coalition."

Pressed further on Taha's stance, he answered, "I understand it; I can't accept it."

Mere weeks later, he abandoned even that pretense of disapproval. Upon Taha's appointment to the chairmanship of the Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee, the Yesh Atid "progressive" was positively effusive about and toward his Ra'am colleague, lauding him as a "sensitive, caring, committed elected official," and saying, "I'm very happy for your election and very much looking forward to working with you."

A few months after that, Taha attacked Labor MK Ibtisam Marana – also a coalition partner – for her efforts to establish a shelter for Israel's LGBTQ Arab citizens. His method of putting her down was to question whether she was really an Arab, after all.

He proceeded to point out to her that Ra'am follows Islamic law, "which considers same-sex relations to be [among] the most serious crimes in the eyes of Allah, because it is a violation of man's nature and a blatant defiance of Allah himself."

The Koran, he added, "recounts the case of Lot and the heavy punishment that Allah inflicted on the sinners, through their complete destruction with fire and brimstone. [And] the consensus among Muslim scholars [of Sharia] is that the punishment for those who have homosexual relations is execution."

Nary a peep from Lahav Hertzanu, Lapid or the rest of their liberal fellow travelers now carrying on about Strock. If they think that their behavior and bigotry of low expectations do the rainbow flag – or democracy – proud, they've got another thing coming.

So Yesh Atid's openly homosexual MK apparently has no genuine opposition to what Ra'am goes by. Which proves he's only following his lifestyle for the sake of harming the values of a civil society. This should be pointed out repeatedly to all the public who're being constantly told only Maoz and Strook are a problem.

Now, when it comes to healthcare exams, of course LGBT practitioners should be able to see doctors to check if they're suffering from illnesses, and also go to the dentist. But if it's businesses like bakers, they shouldn't be forced to do services for homosexual ideology any more than this Christian baker who was persecuted for years. If LGBT practitioners want services for their ideology, they must prove they can establish their own. If there's one part of being a doctor that religious or otherwise shouldn't have to adhere to, it's the horrific gender reassignment surgeries that're ruining children's lives, along with adults, in the USA and elsewhere now. That's something that should practically be barred from practice, because it risks hurting many people with the awful elements involved. Maybe that's what Strook was referring to? In which case, she'd be making an important case in defense of women and girls. That's something to think about.

New Israeli government formed

At nighttime, Benjamin Netanyahu announced his new coalition to president Isaac Herzog:

Israel has a right-wing government: Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu phoned President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday evening and proclaimed, “I have succeeded in forming a government”.

The phone call took place 18 minutes before the extension granted to Netanyahu from Herzog was set to expire at midnight.

Netanyahu told Herzog, "Dear President, thanks to the enormous public support we received in the last elections, I am informing you that I have been able to establish a government that will act in the interest of all the citizens of Israel."

And since we're on the subject, it was shameful how the New York Times predictably assailed Netanhahu and disrespected the electorate, even if it wasn't shocking. The Jerusalem Post editorial said in response that Israel's democracy is vibrant:

It is now bon ton to forecast the demise of Israel’s democracy.

Everyone is doing it: from august forums such as the New York Times editorial board, to blogs run by North American ex-pats now living in Israel, to Facebook groups set up by disgruntled Israelis encouraging emigration.

For instance, the web headline to a Times editorial on Saturday warning of the dangers of presumptive Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government read: “The Ideal of Democracy in a Jewish State Is in Jeopardy.” And the headline adequately reflected the spirit of the editorial.

The editorial said that Netanyahu’s government “is a significant threat to the future of Israel – its direction, its security and even the idea of a Jewish homeland.”

The credibility of the editorial was cast in doubt further down in the piece when the renowned paper inexplicably left out Palestinian terrorism as a reason why “hopes for a Palestinian state have dimmed,” writing instead that the reasons are “the combined pressure of Israeli resistance and Palestinian corruption, ineptitude and internal divisions.”

On this, why doesn't anybody call for a boycott of the NYT, and save a lot of money by not subscribing or buying them? They've been such an insufferable paper for decades on end, and are one of the worst of the USA's most dishonest media sources. What's the use? They insult the Israeli electorate along with the USA public, and it's time to stop buying them in any way.

Not improving matters is that fraud-in-chief Joe Biden's pseudo=administration wants to hold Netanyahu accountable for any directions they oppose:

Netanyahu’s successful welding together of Zionist and orthodox parties into a solid Right-Wing coalition was completed two days after Washington wired a warning, via Politico among other media outlets, that it would hold the Israeli leader personally answerable for any decisions or actions his new government might take that the US doesn’t like.

President Joe Biden and his secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, have not hidden their alarm over the political platforms of the most significant coalition partners – the Jewish Strength Party of Itamar Ben-Gvir, who will come in as Minister of National Security, and the Religious Zionist Party of Bezalel Smotrich, slated to receive ministerial authority over Judea and Samaria.

The two men’s combined goals are to strengthen Israel’s character as the Jewish state by taking steps, among others, to increase security against terrorism, as well as criminal violence, open the Temple Mount to Jewish worship and increase and consolidate the presence of Jewish residents in the towns and cities of Israel’s biblical heartland – Samaria and Judea.

All these aims fly in the face of America’s political intent which, along with that of the rest of the world, is to see the Jews removed from the “West Bank” and the Israel-hating Arab populace enabled to establish in their place a new state called Palestine: the “Two State Solution”.

Not just removed from Judea/Samaria/Gaza, but also from Israel entire. To remove Jews from the main biblical areas is just the beginning of the anti-Israelists' twisted goals. And it's shameful as it's repulsive. This is exactly why the Likud was elected.

Jerusalem Post editorial is right: left-wing must respect right-wing's right to govern

With Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud and much of the right-wing factions in the Knesset having won an impressive victory during the Israeli election, the Jerusalem Post's editorial division says the leftists should respect the success and let the right run a government:

Israel went to the polls on Tuesday and in rather uncharacteristic fashion rendered a clear decision: Benjamin Netanyahu.

No hung jury this time, no tie, no waffling: The country wants Netanyahu back as the head of a very right-wing and religious government. The nation has spoken, and now it is time to honor its decision.

What does that mean? It means letting Netanyahu form a right-wing, very religious coalition. That is what the people want, that is what they voted for.

Israel voted for Netanyahu. Let him govern

And this is not meant to say to the country, as a parent might to a misbehaving child: “You made your bed, now lie in it.” Rather, this is just acknowledging that in a democracy, the will of the people should be respected, and the election results have made this country’s wishes known unequivocally.

It should also be noted that left-wing parties who campaigned on an "just not Bibi" slogan only hurt their campaigns even more, proving how out-of-touch they were with the public's interest in meaty platforms. That's why Netanyahu ultimately proved successful with the Likud's campaign, and the right-wing found success.

In related news, Amnon Lord explains why Meretz, one of the most reprehensible left-wing movements in history, is now out of the Knesset, and why it's best their run came to an end:

The origins of Meretz, as the party has come to be known in recent years, hail back to some point in the first Intifada (Palestinian uprising) that began in late 1987. A newspaper report appearing in the Hadashot daily in May 1989 tells of the arrest of demonstrators from an elitist left-wing movement that arose during the Intifada, named the "21st Year" (an allusion to the results of the 1967 Six-Day War).

They held a procession in Qalqilya, "threw stones at IDF vehicles... disturbed the soldiers from carrying out their activity and incited the local population in Qalqiliya to rebel. Among those detained was Zehava Gal-On, the director of the B'Tselem human rights organization, along with a group of theater actors and students", so the report claimed.

On occasions, Ratz was to turn into the parliamentary political front for anti-Israeli movements. Thanks to it, Israel became more and more tolerant of acts of cooperation with various forces operating against the state.

Only a week ago, an extremely important article was published in this newspaper by Hanan Greenwood, revealing the handbook of radical left-wing organizations that are essentially involved in acts of espionage against the IDF and the security forces in Judea and Samaria. Under the veneer of its public respectability, Meretz granted legitimacy for the overall activity of these organizations: B'Tselem (which was established at the beginning of the Intifada in 1988), Shovrim Shtika (Breaking the Silence), Yesh Din, Zochrot (Remembering) and other similar organizations that are routinely funded by various foreign organizations.

Their associations with enemies of Israel are definitely disturbing, and explain perfectly why they're no loss to the Israeli political scene in the Knesset proper. A most shameful movement indeed.

Anyway, with all that told, India's premier has congratulated Netanyahu on his electoral success:

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulates “my friend” Benjamin Netanyahu for his election win.

“I look forward to continuing our joint efforts to deepen the India-Israel strategic partnership,” he says.

There's somebody who knows how to maintain political relations without applying PC to them. My thanks to Modi for his alliances with Israel. Let's hope that with the current right-wing victory in the election, there'll be more promising directions to come.