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.

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.

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.

Limor Son Har-Melech files complaint against Border Patrol officers who illegally restrained and sexually assaulted her

Otzma Yehudit MK Har-Melech has ideally filed a police complaint against 4 Border Patrol officers who acted like utter perverts against her in Samaria:

MK Limor Son Har-Melech (Otzma Yehudit) filed a complaint with the Department of Internal Police Investigations against four Border Police officers who formed a tight human chain around her to keep her from moving towards the site where the demolition of a Jewish-owned orchard in Samaria was taking place yesterday (Wednesday).

According to the complaint, MK Son Har-Melech accuses the officers of violating her parliamentary immunity as a member of the Knesset and of assaulting her.

She stated that she is also filing a complaint against the two officers who were in command of the demolition.

Yesterday, the MK accused one of the officers of sexually assaulting her when she attempted to get out of the human chain.

One of the most offensive things about the act was that the commanding officer involved acted like she was stupid. Which seems to be an open example of how male sexists think. None of these men belong in the positions they're working in. More to the point, they should not be on the police/army payroll in any way, shape or form, and they most definitely should be in prison.

What makes this incident additionally offensive is that it comes after a horrifying incident in Gedera, where a mother was raped by a Muslim, and Har-Melech proposed a law to deal with rape as a form of terrorism:

A bill to double the sentence for nationalistically-motivated rape will be submitted on Monday by Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech following the brutal rape of a Gedera woman in front of her children on Thursday.

Son Har-Melech explained on Sunday that other politically motivated crimes in the penal code double the punishment. Victims are entitled to additional compensation for nationalistic crimes.

"The shocking case of rape that took place in Gedera joins the series of horrific cases of rape committed in recent years by Arab terrorists with a clear nationalistic motive, using rape as another tool in the war on Israel," said Son Har-Melech. "This is terrorism in all respects and should be treated as such."

So what those Border Patrol officers did added insult to injury, and suggests they sympathise with tyrants. As a result, they should be imprisoned, and ostracized by wider society. If they apologize, they'd do well not to ask for forgiveness simultaneously, because it doesn't help.

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.

Congress ousts Ilhan Omar from foreign affairs committee

It's good to see the GOP's done something right here, banishing antisemitic Omar from a committee she doesn't belong on, any more than the rest of the modern Democrats:

The House voted Thursday along party lines to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from her seat on the Foreign Affairs Committee through a resolution that cites her past derogatory remarks about Jewish people and anti-Israel posture.

The vote passed 218 to 211, with all Democrats voting against the resolution and one Republican, Rep. David Joyce (R-OH), voting “present.”

If Joyce didn't support the resolution, it demonstrates how the GOP still has problems of its own with bad apples.

The vote is a win for House Republicans, who hold a slim majority in the chamber, after a few from their conference initially objected to the resolution. The three who had vocally opposed it, Reps. Victoria Spartz (R-IN), Nancy Mace (R-SC), and Ken Buck (R-CO), had flipped their vote by Thursday morning.

Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), a key player in the successful whip operation, told Breitbart News in an exclusive statement that Omar, a fellow Minnesotan, had “no place representing American interests” on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

“There is no debate that Ilhan Omar, the face of antisemitism in the Democrat Party, has no place representing American interests on the Foreign Affairs Committee. Ms. Omar is an embarrassment to Minnesota and our country,” Emmer said.

[...] Republicans’ opposition to Omar serving on the committee comes after the two-term Minnesota Democrat gained a reputation for promoting antisemitic tropes, such as claiming Israel had “hypnotized the world” and that support for Israel was “all about the Benjamins.”

Omar later apologized for the remarks but continued to take anti-Israel positions.

In 2019, Omar introduced a resolution that supported the anti-Israel “boycott, divestment, sanctions” (BDS) movement. In 2021, she lumped “atrocities” supposedly committed by the U.S. and Israel in with those committed by the Taliban and Hamas. Equating the U.S. and its Middle East ally to the two terrorist groups led to condemnation from her own party’s leadership and again resulted in Omar apologizing. Later in 2021, Omar was one of just nine members of the House to vote against a $1 billion investment in Israel’s defense system.

The harm she caused on her part is considerable. And her "apologies" were entirely false, seeing how she continued with the same behavior long after. Sadly, she could still be reelected to Congress in the next election, and that's why efforts are still needed to make sure people like her aren't allowed to continue working in Congress.

"Hijab Day" is a disgrace and harms women

Robert Spencer's discussed how Newark, New Jersey is celebrating Hijab Day, at a time when Iran's women are suffering horrifying oppression by being forced to wear it:

Back on Sept. 16, 2022, in Tehran, the Iranian morality police arrested Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, for not wearing her hijab properly. Amini later died in a hospital in Tehran, and numerous Iranians charged that she had been tortured to death while in custody. All over the country, protesters took to the streets to protest not against the hijab laws, but against the repressive and brutal Islamic Republic itself. Other women, and male protesters as well, were killed as the Iranian regime ruthlessly applied the Qur’anic injunction to “strike terror in the enemies of Allah” (8:60). The protests went on for months until the regime began summarily executing protesters, and even then some indomitably courageous Iranians continued to take to the streets to demand their freedom.

It is against that backdrop that the Newark World Hijab Day resolution will be introduced. For innumerable women in Iran, the hijab is the most visible sign of their second-class status, and of the brutality of the regime that will imprison them for years or even kill them outright for daring to venture out in public without wearing it. The Iranian authorities call their morality police the “Guidance Patrol,” an Orwellian name that makes them sound like a bunch of benign, avuncular individuals selflessly dedicated to helping young Iranians avoid moral pitfalls and stay on the straight and narrow. A more accurate name, however, would be the Terror Patrol, for the morality that these officials enforce is not the virtuous person’s free choice of the good, but the enforced obedience of those who are frightened into submission.

In a Democrat-run area like NJ, this is sadly no shock they'd give this insult to the fairer sex their approval. But it does serve as a tragic example of where the USA is headed today.

And how mysterious nobody wants to organize a World Hat Day, which could serve as a way to celebrate headware that does honor humanity and dignity.

7 murdered in Neve Yaakov by Islamofascist from east Jerusalem, and 2 injured near City of David

A tragedy's struck the Jerusalem neighborhood of Neve Yaakov, leaving 7 murdered:

At least seven people were killed and several others were injured, including one critically, in a shooting attack on the Ateret Avraham Synagogue in the Neve Yaakov neighborhood of Jerusalem on Friday evening.

Magen David Adom paramedics evacuated five injured people to hospitals, including three who were evacuated to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus, and two who were evacuated to Shaare Zedek Hospital. These include a man about 30 years old in critical condition and a woman about 60 years of age in moderate condition.

Initial reports indicate that a terrorist got out of a vehicle and opened fire at people who were gathered outside the synagogue, opened fire at them, and then continued to pursue frightened worshipers who were fleeing the scene.

The terrorist eventually fled the scene in a white Toyota and was met by police officers who shot him dead.

The terrorist has been identified as Alkam Khairi, a 21-year-old resident of eastern Jerusalem.

He should go to hell. Now we have to contend with terrorist attacks in neighborhoods like these that could've been prevented. And to make matters worse, there was another terrorist attack near the City of David area:

A father and son were injured in a shooting terror attack near the City of David archaeological site in Jerusalem.

The attack to place this morning, the shooter, reportedly a 13-year-old resident of east Jerusalem, was shot by two civilians.

MDA EMTs and Paramedics treated and conveyed two patients to the Shaare Tzedek Hospital. A 23 year old male in serious condition and his fatger, a 47 year old male, in moderate to serious condition, with gunshot wounds to their upper bodies.

MDA paramedic Fadi Dekidek: "We were quickly on scene and saw two gunshot victims. A 47 year old male and 23 year old male. They were fully conscious and had gunshot wounds to their upper bodies. We quickly moved them to the MICUs and conveyed them to Shaare Tzedek Hospital, with the young male in serious condition and the other male in moderate to serious condition."

So this one appears to have been the doing of a young teen. Which shows even younger kids indoctrinated with the Religion of Peace can be extremely dangerous, and that it's possible for them to be trained with firearms. Utterly horrific.

Update: the way the White House press secretary spoke about this, laced with moral equivalence, is also atrocious.

Neturei Karta demonstrate loyalty to jihadists

The most corrupt Haredi clan met with representatives of the Islamic Jihad in the town of Jenin:

A group of Jews who belong to the ultra-Orthodox and anti-Zionist Neturei Karta group arrived in Jenin on Monday to visit the refugee camp. They stayed at the home of the senior leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Judea and Samaria, Bassam al-Saadi. The members of the delegation met with senior PIJ officials and declared their support for the Palestinians.

In addition, the delegation from Neturei Karta met with the secretary general of the Fatah party, Ata Abu Ramila, and the head of the PIJ, Maher al-Akhras. The delegation met with al-Saadi's wife as well, and discussed "his steadfastness despite the occupation operations." They said that the visit to the camp is a symbol of rejection of the Israeli occupation.

Statements from both sides

One of the members of the group stated that "we are Palestinian Jews, we want to live under the Palestinian flag and not the Israeli flag, in one country which is the Palestinian state. Hundreds of years ago and before the occupation began, we lived together in the Old City of Jerusalem and there was no difference between Jews and Muslims. We all came From one father, Abraham, and we lived happily together.

"Later, the Zionists came and created pressure to separate us, but we [have rejected] it. We want peace and not the racist Israeli law, which is a threat to the lives of Jews and Muslims. No matter how much time passes, we will continue to stick to our dreams and common goals. We want Palestine with its capital Jerusalem and the Palestinian Authority so that we can live happily."

Abu Ramila described the group's visit to the city, saying that "they entered waving Palestinian flags, carrying a message [of] support [to] us, oppose the occupation and annexation and support the Palestinian state." Abu Ramila called on the group to continue the struggle and expose the crimes of the occupation, within both the Israeli Jewish community and worldwide.

No doubt, this was planned all in advance, and the Karta kreeps have definitely proven where their loyalties lie, which is not with Israel, but rather, an anti-Israeli fabrication of a palestinian state populated by Muslims. The Karta kreeps are truly disgusting, and symbolize much of what's wrong with insular ultra-Orthodox clans.