"ALL CAPS IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE."

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

GreenLife Soft Grip Diamond Healthy Ceramic Nonstick, 7" and 10" Frying Pan Skillet Set

At Amazon, GreenLife Soft Grip Diamond Healthy Ceramic Nonstick, 7" and 10" Frying Pan Skillet Set, PFAS-Free, Dishwasher Safe, Black.

BONUS: Marcus Collins, For the Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want to Be.

Transsexual activists get Abigail Shrier event canceled at Tel Aviv location

Whether or not influence of transsexual propaganda is as severe here as it is in the USA, there's still serious problems with them, and now, it's led to brave Abigail Shrier, the author of Permanent Damage, having an event canceled at a Tel Aviv center, even if another venue was arranged:
When journalist and author Abigail Shrier’s book Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters, positing that transgenderism in teen girls is a social contagion, was released in 2020, Amazon would not allow her to advertise it, and employees of the book-selling giant petitioned for it not to be sold at all. It was twice removed from Target’s shelves, and even a lawyer from the American Civil Liberties Union called for “stopping the circulation of this book.”

With the book’s recent release in Hebrew by Sella Meir, a publisher that specializes in bringing heterodox and conservative voices to light, the debate over whether Shrier’s ideas should even be available in the public square has reached Tel Aviv’s public square: Kikar Atarim, to be precise.

Sella Meir and the Tel Aviv International Salon (TAIS) planned a book launch for Shrier for her to advise parents on what to do if their teen daughters say they are transgender. The event was planned to take place at the glass-windowed strip club-turned-event space overlooking the beach, run by the organization Social Space, for next Sunday, until the publishing house’s owner. Rotem Sella, and TAIS founder Jay Shultz were told it was canceled.

Cancellation of the book's launch in Israel

“We do not host such events,” a woman named Omer wrote. Sella said she called the event “homophobic” in a phone call.

The Social Space, which repurposes unused buildings for social projects, did not respond to numerous emails or calls from The Jerusalem Post. But it told Haaretz it would not have signed with Sella Meir in the first place had it known about the book’s content, adding that it “will not allow for any incitement.”

Sella and Shultz plan to hold the event, which has more than 150 registered attendees, on the same date at the nearby Carlton Hotel’s beach lounge.
Now let's hope the hotel stands firm on this, and that the authorities will keep it safe if needed. But this Social Space movement is clearly a disgrace if they're following a far-left belief system, and shouldn't be buying up any properties if this is how they're going to go about their business. The building where this was supposed to take place may have once housed the Pussycat Club, which was a strip bar. To think, that it was closed down for this?
Controversy surrounding the cancellation

“Nothing is more important than vibrant civil discourse and debate,” Shultz said. “Bad things happen in darkness, and sunlight is the best medicine. More speech, more insight, more conversation and more dialogue is always the only solution for tensions in society. This is the nonpartisan honest broker mission of the Tel Aviv International Salon.”

Sella said Irreversible Damage is a “book full of compassion meant to defend teens… It does not criticize lifestyles, and the attempts to prevent the conversation about it comes from ignorance and incitement. We will not give in to bullying and narrow-mindedness.”

Meanwhile, Sella Meir has begun marketing it as “the book and event that they are trying to censor.”

Steimatzky, Israel’s largest bookseller, initially declined to carry the book but said on Tuesday night that it would order copies. Tzomet Sfarim, Israel’s second-largest bookstore chain, has a small number of copies of the book around the country, but not in Tel Aviv or its liberal suburbs. The two chains hold 80% of the book market in Israel.

The Jerusalem Post was able to order a copy from a Tzomet Sfarim store in Tel Aviv upon inquiry.

“What [the booksellers] are saying is that the Israel public cannot decide for itself what to read,” Shrier said Tuesday.

“These are the same activist forces we’re seeing in America, which is a very intolerant minority that says we can’t get a message out about girls’ health,” she said. “A bunch of adults, mostly biological men, decide what we’re allowed to talk about when it comes to the health of teenage girls… It’s a very intolerant group of people that push the censorship.”
It's also disgraceful if Steimatzky and Tzomet Sefarim initially balked at selling the book, because that compounds how politicized these 2 are as a result. As for lifestyles, let's be clear. That's a form of ideology, and there's nothing inherent wrong with taking issue with that any more than Islamofascism.
Shrier said she has had many Israeli parents contact her to say they are seeing girls in their daughters’ classes decide they’re transgender.

“We’re talking about a peer contagion that has caused harm to thousands of American girls, and the peer contagion is now in Israel,” she said. “Unless parents are aware of the risks, they have no way to protect their families.”

The transgender experience in Israel

In contrast to Shrier’s experience of opposition to the book in the US, one of the leading figures in the battle to ban and banish Shrier in Israel is a “trans-non-binary” 16-year-old named Reut from Petah Tikva, who asked that her last name not be shared. She, together with other transgender youth, run a WhatsApp group with more than 200 members that is called “Anti-transphobic demonstration,” which the Post was able to view.

The effort is grassroots and not part of an organization, Reut said, though when asked if adults are involved, she said to contact Ma’avarim, an NGO that provides support for transgender Israelis.

After the Social Space canceled Shrier’s event, Reut wrote: “Following inquiries to the place… it canceled the event (which is totally a victory as far as we’re concerned)!”

Reut told the group she would send an update of the protest location when she knows where the book launch will be held.

In between classes on Tuesday, the trans activist said she and her fellow teens from different cities in Israel had commented against the book on the social media accounts for the venue and Sella Meir, and they plan to put similar pressure on any stores that carry it.

“This is a dangerous book,” Reut said. “It’s meant for parents, and one of the most important things for trans youth is to be accepted by their families.”

Without support from families, she said, “the percentage of suicides rises very sharply.”

Reut also said the book mischaracterized what she called “gender-affirming care.”

Regarding whether Shrier should be free to share her research, just as Reut and her fellow activists are free to protest her, she said: “Freedom of expression is very important, but there has to be some kind of limit.”

“To try to convince parents of trans children not to accept their children and directly harm them is something that, in my opinion, cannot be accepted in our society,” she said.
Now, what are the chances this is actually a male, and an adult man in focus here? One who's practically parroting all the same talking points of USA leftards at that. Whoever it is should be ashamed, and Shrier and company should file a lawsuit for any damages sustained. The alleged teenager sounds obnoxious, and that's one of the biggest problems with these ideologues.
Shrier detailed the argument that she makes in her book, which is that over a 100-year diagnostic history, gender dysphoria was practically never diagnosed in teen girls. Rather, it occurred in boys aged two to four who felt profound psychological discomfort with their biological sex, and most outgrew it, she said.

“When you see it, as we see in US and England and across the West, where teenage girls suddenly say they’re transgender with their friends – that is not classic gender dysphoria,” Shrier said. “That’s something else. That’s part of the social contagion.”

When an adolescent girl tells her parents she is trans, she said, the parents should treat her like the age that she is, like a girl “who doesn’t really know very much about herself or what she’s going to want long term, because that’s the truth… There’s nothing more normal than a young girl feeling really uncomfortable in her body at the onset of puberty.”
On this note, it's exactly why the direction many religious people - certainly Haredis - took with women in the past century, insisting they dress modestly and not sing, was very stupid, ill-advised, and amounted to body shaming before the left took up that whole idea. If we take that as an example, is it any wonder girls could have a bad time during puberty? That's why what the Haredis in particular have wrought must cease. Religious people could do a favor by telling their daughters it's fully acceptable to become supermodels and beauty queens, and even to work as singers. And lest we forget, girls should be told to be proud of their bodies, and not embarrassed by them.
The “irreversible damage” to which Shrier refers to in the book is from hormone treatments or surgical interventions that could lead to infertility, as well as other medical side effects, such as lower bone density, that have come to light in recent years.

“In many cases, they are infertile,” she said. “Their bodies are forever changed, and they are not leading the lives that they would have hoped and their families would have hoped for them.

“If there’s a chance of arresting this in Israel and saying to your daughter, ‘Listen, we love you, but I’m not going to pretend you’re a boy’… that’s a really good place to start.”


Shrier said the way Israel handles this book “will determine the fate of a lot of girls between the ages of eight and 20, their quality of life and whether they can be healthy and whether they’ll be permanent medical patients.”

Asked where she thought the line should be drawn for freedom to disseminate controversial ideas, she said: “Whatever the line is, it shouldn’t be drawn [to prevent] giving information to parents on the very real risks of gender medicine.”

Shrier cited several European countries, including the UK, Sweden, France and Finland, which are reconsidering their policies and curtailing gender-related treatments for minors.
And if they can reconsider, that's why here too, all must be done to put a stop to these extremists who're serving as a 5th column to take attention away from Islamofascism. On which note, you can be sure these LGBT activists here have no issue with Islam, in contrast to Judaism.

Here's more on this at the Jewish Press.

Thursday, May 11, 2023

Sohrab Ahmari, Tyranny, Inc.

At Amazon, Sohrab Ahmari, Tyranny, Inc.: How Private Power Crushed American Liberty--and What to Do About It.




A fact-based movie from India that's important to see

There's a new movie produced in India (via Front Page) about a horrible tragedy where Muslims brainwashed Hindu and Christian girls into serving jihadism:
The trailer of The Kerala Story was released on April 26 and has led to reactions and controversy. The film by Vipul Amrutlal Shah aims to tell the tale of how women from the Indian state of Kerala women were tricked and trafficked to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in the conflict zone of Syria. The film directed by Sudipto Sen traces the journey of four female college students in Kerala who become part of the Islamic State.

Kerala leader of opposition V.D. Satheesan demanded that the film should not be allowed to be released.

The film especially showcases certain cases of how ‘love jihad’ was used by ISIS to lure 32,000 women to Syria. The trailer shows how men were brainwashed to woo Hindu and Christian women of Kerala in the name of love, convert them to Islam and convince them to join ISIS and other Islamic war zones. The shocking incidents occurred between 2018-19, when a rising number of Kerala youths had come under the influence of ISIS. [...]

The movie is based on a tragedy where around 32,000 women went missing in Kerala. They were allegedly brainwashed and lured by Muslim men, who married and converted them, radicalised them and later deployed them in terror missions in India and abroad for ISIS.
All must be done to ensure that this movie continues to be available for the public to see, and that there's security and safety for the public going to view it at the movie theaters. The leftists who're calling for censorship of this film should be condemned for what they're leading to, and should cease all attacks on it, period. The filmmakers have done the right thing to tackle the issue of women being lured into horrifying situations by Mohammedans and then put in the middle of war zones, making things worse.

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Kenya president visits Israel and the Western Wall

Kenya's president, William Ruto, visited Israel this week, and also paid a visit to the Western Wall at the Jerusalem Old City region:
The President of the Republic of Kenya William Ruto visited the Western Wall while in Israel.

"Despite the difficulties in the world, I am very happy to visit the Holy Land of Israel. It is a great privilege,” Ruth said.

Ruto and his wife, together with a large delegation from Kenya, visited and prayed at the Western Wall.

The President and the delegation were greeted by the director of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, Mordechai Eliav, who presented fascinating findings from the Western Wall Tunnels and explained the connection of the Jewish people to Jerusalem and its yearning for it throughout the generations.

The President was very moved by the visit and was interested in the history of the site and of the Jewish people. Ruto said a personal prayer for a long time and placed a note between the stones of the Western Wall.

At the end of the visit, Ruto signed the guestbook: "May G-d bless the people and the State of Israel. Humanity should never face the isolation and prejudices against our brothers and sisters of the Jewish nation. That we shall be united as a people in peace as one people under G-d.”
The guy makes excellent points, and it's great to have him visit.

Granddaughter of Ovadia Yosef was assaulted by US secret service guard last year

Here's an alarming story of a woman who's the granddaughter of the late Shas guru Ovadia Yosef, who was assaulted by a US secret service security guard, and the case until now was kept out of the public eye:
An Israeli woman claimed she had been attacked by a U.S. security guard of the Secret Service in Jerusalem, but he was removed from the country before an investigation could be completed.

"This completely ruined my life to this day. I am broken and unable to recover,"
Tami Ben Haim, the granddaughter of the late founder of the Shas Party Ovadia Yosef said. "My body has healed from the injuries, but my soul has not. Before the attack, I was at the peak of my youth and dreamed of starting a family. Today, I don't work, don't go out with friends, don't go on dates. I just undergo psychiatric treatments. I want justice to be served, and for someone to be held accountable for what one of President Biden's security guards did to me," she said.

The alleged attack of the 30-year-old photographer and graphic designer took place during the visit to Israel of U.S. President Joe Biden last year.

According to Ben Haim, she was at the wrong place at the wrong time last July 12, 2022. As she made her way home after midnight, through the alleys of Jerusalem's Nachlaot neighborhood, not far from the Mahane Yehuda market, she encountered two American secret service agents who were part of the preliminary team preparing Biden's visit due to start two days later.

One of the men, Patrick William, was drunk and attacked her, hitting her in the chest, grabbing her shoulders, and even ripping off her earring
. The assault continued until the second security guard who was behind him got ahold of him and pulled him away.

"I screamed 'help' but no one heard me," Ben Haim recalled the terrible night. "I was in complete despair. I thought I was meeting my end. I noticed that the man who had ruthlessly attacked me had a gun. If his friend hadn't stopped him, he would have killed me, 100 percent."

Couples who had passed by and saw her in distress advised her to call the police. Officers then arrived at the scene, and Ben Haim managed to lead them to the two Americans. The officers arrested them and took them to the nearest police station. On that same night, Ben Haim filed a complaint with the police.

Later on, she went to a doctor and was diagnosed as suffering from bruises all over her body. In the days following, she spent her time in bed, appalled that no one from the U.S. embassy, the Israeli police, or the Foreign Ministry bothered to call her, to ask how she was doing, apologize, or offer help.
Well what the man did was abominable, and that he was drunk is no excuse. It doesn't provide USA employees with a good image either, seeing how nobody even contacted her afterwards with any kind of apology or checking to see if she's okay.
Tami's attorney, Nir Yaslovitzh, who looked into the matter discovered that two hours after he was brought to the police station, a phone call arrived from a senior diplomatic official to the Israeli police with an instruction to immediately release William. According to the attorney, the American consulate arrived in the morning and took him away. Later that morning, he was put on the first flight to the U.S. and simply fled the country. CNN reported that William was suspended from his post until the investigation was completed, but it was unclear if any disciplinary action was taken against him.

Yaslovitzh makes harsh accusations regarding the cover-up of the investigation after the intervention of senior officials, which he claims was done to avoid a scandal that would overshadow Biden's visit to Israel. His investigation revealed that the police simply closed the case due to a lack of evidence, without informing Ben Haim.

The attorney then sent a letter to the Foreign Minister and the Minister of National Security demanding that the investigation be revisited. He requested a probe into why the security guard was released and allowed to flee the country.

He was also preparing to file a lawsuit against the state. "Tami is fighting like a lioness for her justice. She asked me to serve justice to those who hurt her," he said. "Political players preferred a photo-op with Biden and for the visit to pass undisturbed, at the cost of severe harm to an innocent citizen who did nothing."

"Upon receiving the report, officers rushed to the scene and transferred the suspect to an investigation that ended with his release on bail," the police said in a statement. "After carrying out the necessary actions in the case and considering the evidence available, the investigating officer decided that there was no need to continue his probe and the case was closed accordingly. Any other allegation should be dismissed or referred to relevant authorities," the police said.

U.S. Secret Service spokesman Steve Kopek said that every member of the U.S. Secret Service stands by the highest professional and ethical standards and that this matter is no exception.
What the secret serviceman did was not ethical. If he consumed alcohol, it just demonstrates what's wrong with junk like whiskey and vodka. And the police were wrong not to continue contact with Ben Haim too. A lawsuit should definitely be filed in this case.

Thursday, May 04, 2023

Security forces terminate murderers of Dee mother and sisters

The IDF's tracked down and killed the jihadists who murdered the Dee sisters and their mother last April:
Security forces on Thursday eliminated the Palestinian terrorists who last month murdered three members of the Dee family in the Jordan Valley.

Lucy Dee, 48, and daughters Maia, 20, and Rina, 15, were murdered in an April 7 shooting on the Route 57 highway near the Hamra Junction.

The terrorists, identified as Hamas members Hassan Katnani and Muad Masri, were killed in an exchange of fire after Israeli forces surrounded their hideout in the city's Kasbah district. The Israeli troops fired a missile at the building in order to flush the terrorists out into the open, according to Israeli media reports.

Ibrahim Hura, identified by the IDF as a collaborator with the Hamas terrorists, was also killed in the raid, according to the Israeli military. Two automatic rifles were found in the terrorists' hideout.
If the terrorists' bodies were blown apart, that'll be another plus.

Sunday, April 30, 2023

Huge demonstration favoring Israeli judicial reform ends concerns it'll be scuttled

A notable rabbi from Safed says the rally in support of judicial reforms for the Israeli court system gives more confidence it'll go through:
Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the chief rabbi of Tzfat (Safed) and a leading figure in the Religious Zionist community, expressed confidence Thursday night that the mass demonstration held by supporters of the government's judicial overhaul plan succeeded in barring the possibility of the reform being scuttled.

Speaking with Israel National News at Thursday's rally, which organizers say drew some 600,000 demonstrators, Rabbi Eliyahu [said]:

"The people of Israel live; they left their homes - and their fears. The people of Israel came out en masse. Here, we strengthened the people of Israel and explain that the people have vital forces, and the clear mind and will to say 'I am not a second-class citizen'. After this evening, it seems to me that the fear that the judicial reform could be torpedoed is over."

Rabbi Eliyahu emphasized that he did not view Thursday night's protest as a demonstration against opponents of the judicial overhaul, but in support for the reforms he and other supporters believe will strengthen Israel as a democracy.

"They are our beloved and esteemed brothers, and they must understand - democracy is what the people choose. They see this protest and understand that the people have decided."

"The protests are mainly related to the Jewish identity. The judicial reform is a trigger. They are afraid that we are all a herd of Bibi-ists, and that is a disgrace. They think we are for dictatorship, and that is the greatest disgrace there can be. They don't know what Judaism is, and therefore they are afraid. Judaism is the best, the purest, the most just, and the most truthful," added Rabbi Eliyahu.
We definitely should hope this proves influential. The time's come to put an end to the bad influences of the supreme court for a change, and it has to be done, to help prevent any more serious damage from occuring through them.

Update: here's more on the subject.

Saturday, April 29, 2023

Monday, April 17, 2023

Leo Dee undermines cause by saying he's got "no hatred" for terrorists who murdered daughters and wife

The British-Israeli rabbi whose 2 daughters and wife were tragically murdered earlier this month by jihadists around the Jordan Valley has made a very bizarre and undermining statement about the jihadists themselves:
The Israeli-British rabbi whose wife and two daughters were killed this month in a terror shooting on a West Bank road said he has “no hatred” for the people who gunned down his family, in comments aired on Sunday.

Lucy Dee, 48, and her daughters Maia Dee, 20, and Rina Dee, 15, were killed after Palestinian terrorists opened fire at the car they were in as they drove through the northern Jordan Valley on April 7. The daughters were declared dead at the scene, while Lucy was rushed to a hospital in critical condition but died three days later.

The suspects remain on the loose despite promises from officials that they will be found and brought to justice.

“I have no hatred towards the… terrorists,” Leo Dee told Channel 12. “I obviously would like them to be captured and to be treated with full justice that they deserve, but mostly to stop them from doing anything like this ever again.”

“I’ve had some Palestinian friends of mine from neighboring villages who have left messages in tears, because I’ve known them for many years, they’ve known Lucy, they’ve known the girls,” Leo said, explaining how he developed friendships with builders and gardeners whom he employed to work on his home.

“We’ve spent a lot of time together. Because I never got any guards, I don’t have a gun, and I would spend the day working from home while they came, and we would end up chatting, having coffee, talking about their kids, talking about our kids. We trusted them, I trusted them completely with the family. I still do, more so than any other people I know.

“When I spoke to one of my friends recently, he said ‘Look, we love you,'” Dee said, adding that he believed a majority of Palestinians were “decent people.”
Yikes...and I thought it was bad enough when Linor Abargil said she didn't think rapists were evil people. This is a very defeatist thing to say, and notice how Dee's one of a considerable number of people even here in Israel who doesn't seem to have the guts to clearly denounce Islam, if all's been told and indeed he hasn't? This is very sad. Whatever one may think of "palestinians", what does Dee and others like him think of adherents to the Religion of Peace, along with said ideology itself? He's making a terrible mistake, especially after sources like the New York Times downplayed the seriousness of the issue, along with the UK government themselves. The naive approach he's taking, which likely buys into the Islamic concept of taqqiya (deception), makes it difficult to solve these issues.

What Dee should really be doing is condemning any and all dhimmis who minimize the murder of his family, including those who substitute the word "murder" with "killed". That kind of disturbing mentality and MSM mandates are exactly what enable these tragedies to occur. It's absolutely awful these murders occur. But it's also awful when relatives of the murdered women take the lenient positions Dee is. That really hurts the battle against Islamofascism.

Saturday, April 15, 2023

Recent statement by Ben Shapiro worth considering

Some time ago, political commentator Ben Shapiro was interviewed by Piers Morgan, and had the following to say:
Ben Shapiro has said that if a child of his comes out as gay he would oppose it on religious grounds.

Speaking to TalkTV's Piers Morgan, the political commentator was asked: "What would you do if one of your kids turned out to be gay?"

"I would oppose that," Mr Shapiro replied. "When it comes to religious marriage, no I'm not in favour of my religion sanctifying same-sex couples. Specifically because my religion propagates the idea of man-woman-child as the model for families.

"What I'm objecting to is the idea that marriage as a term is equally applicable to relationships that are designed to produce the future generation."


Mr Shapiro said that if marriage is defined as "two people that love each other" rather than "man-woman-child" then "obviously it encompasses two men or two women."

"But I don't think the government has a fundamental role in propagating relationships other than ones that have externalities that benefit society... having children raised largely with their biological parents."
He could go further by making clear he'd want his child to learn how to best relate to the opposite sex, and make clear that nobody should be attacked in any way for arguing in favor of psychological counseling to help in this goal. For now, he's right to stand up for the sake of Judaism itself and what it supports. And if governments could try to separate children from Christian parents, Judaists are obviously also in jeopardy. Here's more:
Mr Shapiro also insisted the suggestion transwomen are women was "completely unsustainable."

It comes after Nicola Sturgeon resigned as Scotland's First Minister after an outcry over the decision to place double rapist Isla Bryson in a women's prison and refused to say whether Isla is a man or a woman.

"It exposes the ideology for what it is,"
he said, "I can't think of anything worse in terms of misinformation than the idea that a biological man is in fact a female."
While Sturgeon deserved the condemnation she got, the sad part is how the SNP exploited the incident for replacing her with a Muslim, Humza Yousaf, as Scotland's First Minister. With the worst part being whether the whole transsexual flap was planned in order to enable this. Well, they certainly made up their mind who else they'd support, and it certainly wasn't a Christian, or even a Judaist. Apparently, the choice for such woke ideologues is either a LGBT advocate, or a Muslim, no matter how opposed they are to LGBT ideology, even though the Religion of Peace doesn't oppose it for altruistic reasons. And as many surely realize, Islamists are unlikely to face the same problems with LGBT indoctrination that Judeo-Christians are.

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Scottish National Party elects Muslim member to serve as First Minister

If you thought it was bad enough London has a Muslim mayor over in England, now Scotland has much higher ranking adherent to the Religion of Peace appointed to lead the local government (via Pamela Geller and Gateway Pundit):
Humza Yousaf on Monday was elected the new head of the Scottish National Party, promising in a speech to bring the party together, support citizens with the cost-of-living crisis and deliver independence from the United Kingdom.

He is slated to assume political leadership in Scotland following his nomination in the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday.

[...] Yousaf, currently Scotland’s health secretary, has served in government since 2012 and was considered the favorite in the race against Kate Forbes and Ash Regan.
What makes this a most chilling affair is that Yousaf deliverated a tirade 3 years ago in the Scottish parliament about too many whites in the government. And to think, that previous premier Nicola Sturgeon would sell out to transsexual ideology, only to have somebody like this elected by the SNP to lead the northern side of the UK. Her incompetency, some could surely argue, is exactly what brought this current fiasco around, because all that's occurring now is replacing one problematic politician with another, who's bound to be just as bad for women as his predecessor. Will the Scottish public protest? Something tells me this is sadly going to pass without many objections, in contrast to the previous topic that practically led to this misfortune. Forbes, who's a Christian adherent, was sidelined by the favorism that clearly resulted in Yousaf's election by the SNP's board.

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

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.

Sunday, March 26, 2023

Netanyahu fires defense minister Galant

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Yoav Galant as his defense minister, because the latter decided to cause trouble for judicial reform, and even before that, he was underminining the army:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant following his opposition to the judicial reform, it was announced on Sunday evening.

Gallant made a dramatic declaration on Saturday evening calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt the judicial overhaul long enough to more deeply engage in negotiations with others to reach a compromise.

The prime minister told Gallant he lost his trust in the defense minister after he "went behind the government's back" on Saturday evening, while Netanyahu was visiting the United Kingdom. Netanyahu now has 48 hours to appoint a defense minister, as per Maariv.
It's for the best Galant goes out. It'll remain to be seen who the next defense minister will be. But Galant's decidedly no loss, and won't be missed in the role. If he tries to hurt the government further even outside the cabinet proper, that'll be wrong, so let's hope Galant will respect and come to terms with his dismissal.

Update: Ruthie Blum explains how Galant hurt military order by allowing air force reservists to take political stances at the expense of the country's security.

Saturday, March 18, 2023

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.

Monday, March 13, 2023

Those Jewish groups who push the US government to pressure Israel should be avoided

Irit Tratt's raised an issue that may be overlooked, of doubtlessly leftist Jewish movements who've pushed for the US government to pressure Israel for all the wrong reasons:
On Feb. 27, Israeli-American Elan Ganeles was fatally shot by Palestinian terrorists while driving by the town of Jericho on the way to a friend’s wedding. The horrific murder followed a tragic month in Israel during which 14 lives were lost to Palestinian terrorism.

After the attacks, American officials, including U.S. President Joe Biden and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides phoned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or issued expressions of “deep condolences” to the victims’ families.

While expressions of sympathy are a reassuring indicator of a stable alliance, there has also been a torrent of American criticism on a host of issues ranging from Israel’s strategy on Ukraine to internal Israeli debates over judicial reform.

The Biden administration’s pivot away from Israel became clear last month when the U.S. backed a U.N. Security Council statement condemning Israel’s legalization of nine “settlements” in Judea and Samaria.

Little attention has been paid to the Jewish leaders who are abetting this change in U.S. policy. It remains expedient to blame politicians for this shift but, in fact, American Jewish institutions have fostered an atmosphere favorable to cooling U.S.-Israel relations for decades.

In his 1998 article “Netanyahu and American Jews,” Jonathan Broder described a White House state dinner that took place the previous year honoring Israel’s then-President Ezer Weizman. Among those invited were ten senior representatives from U.S. Jewish organizations.

The article stated that President Bill Clinton went around the room and asked each Jewish dignitary if they agreed with the conclusions of a poll conducted by the Israel Policy Forum (IPF) that showed 84% of American Jews surveyed “favored U.S. pressure on both Israel and the Palestinians to save the faltering Middle East peace process.”

To Clinton’s surprise, the Jewish organizational leaders expressed unanimous agreement with the IPF study and rejected any attempt to dispute its findings.

Moreover, not one Jewish attendee spoke favorably of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
. This left the task to Clinton, who suggested that Israel’s cabinet, rather than Netanyahu, was causing an impasse in the peace process.
While the organizations' attitude towards Israel is obviously bad, Clinton was still reprehensible in his own approach, considering he pushed through some very bad demands of his own, had a lenient view of Islam, and of course, let's not forget his record of sexual abuse allegations. Based on that, one must wonder if he really did find it surprising the Jewish organizations in question were hostile to Israel.

But that told, of course these organizations are a most repulsive lot, and no decent person should have anything to do with them. That's the vital lesson to consider in this whole affair, a tragedy that's been caused by people who've been taught to otherwise reject their heritage and history. Worst, they're sympathetic to Islamofascism, and that's one more reason why they should be avoided.

Friday, March 10, 2023

USA State Department funding anti-government movement in Israel

As reported by the Wash. Free Beacon (via Breitbart), it would seem the horrific anti-judicial reform demonstrations seen in the past few weeks are funded by State Department money:
The U.S. government has been funneling taxpayer money to the left-wing group bankrolling protests against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Israeli funding documents reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.

The documents indicate that, since 2020, Foggy Bottom has sent over $38,000 to the Movement for Quality Government (MQG), the Israeli nonprofit stoking nationwide anti-Netanyahu protests that have seen protesters clash with police and target Netanyahu’s family members. MQG is seeking to takedown Netanyahu’s government over his support for major reforms to the Israeli supreme court that would significantly limit its power. The organization petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court earlier this year to oust Netanyahu, claiming he is unfit for office due to ongoing investigations into allegations of political corruption and bribery.

The State Department, which confirmed the funding, calls the group a nonpartisan organization, but its work opposing Netanyahu raises questions about how the group was able to obtain U.S. funding. The United States typically avoids funding foreign partisan groups to avoid claims of political meddling. Even before MQG emerged as the leading force behind the current wave of anti-Netanyahu protests, it made a name for itself as a leading critic of the Israeli right, which has long seen Netanyahu as its leader. Given the Biden administration’s chilly diplomatic relationship with Netanyahu—which includes repeated criticism of Israeli settlement construction and the decision to launch an unprecedented FBI probe into Israel’s anti-terrorism operations—the U.S. funding to MQG has come under new scrutiny.
So the US department is using taxpayer funds for harming Israel's government system, and they certainly have caused quite a bit of chaos, including for the aforementioned Sara Netanyahu. This is a disgrace that should be raised in Congress.

Since we're on the subject of the judicial reform, some new polls show 3 quarters of the Israeli public supports them:
A large majority of Israelis support Justice Minister Yariv Levin's judicial reforms, the Direct Polls institute reported yesterday (Monday), presenting a different picture from the polls suggesting the controversy surrounding the reforms are causing the coalition to lose support.

According to the institute, the polls cited by the mainstream media in Israel do not include specific questions on the content of the judicial reform, and respondents are much more supportive of the reforms when asked about specific aspects.

About 60% of Israelis support the vast majority of the judicial reforms when asked questions about the content of the reforms
, Direct Polls stated.

[...] In total, Direct Polls found that 78% of Israelis are in favor of reforming Israel's judicial system to at least some extent, while just 22% want to keep the judicial system as it currently is.
As a result, it's all the more offensive the "nonprofit" is engaging in such horrific behavior as they are, and Yair Lapid, lest we forget, is also a disgrace for opposing the reforms.