Tuesday, October 24, 2023

America's Hard Left Is Tearing Itself Apart

 https://www.newsweek.com/america-hard-left-tearing-itself-apart-1836810

Different views on the left about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are not new, says Paul Quirk, a political science professor at the University of British Columbia in Canada.

"There has long been a spectrum of left-of-center opinion in the U.S. on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—from full endorsement of hardline Palestinians' demands and approval of their conduct, including terrorist attacks, to more restrained criticism of Israeli governments, alleging intransigence in negotiations, disproportionate violence, and indifference to the suffering of innocent Palestinians" Quirk told Newsweek.

A ‘Holocaust’ in Kfar Aza

Israel Bitton in Kfar Azza from Hamodia News on Vimeo.

Monday, October 23, 2023

Gaza hospital blast caused by militants’ rocket, UK agencies believe

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/23/gaza-hospital-blast-caused-by-militants-rocket-uk-intelligence-sunak-israel-palestine 

UK intelligence services have concluded that the deadly blast at al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza was caused by a rocket fired by a Palestinian militant group rather than by an Israeli airstrike, Rishi Sunak has told MPs.

NY Times admits its coverage of Gaza hospital blast relied too heavily on Hamas claims

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/ny-times-admits-its-coverage-of-gaza-hospital-blast-relied-too-heavily-on-hamas-claims/

The initial reports “relied too heavily on claims by Hamas, and did not make clear that those claims could not immediately be verified,” it said. “The report left readers with an incorrect impression about what was known and how credible the account was.”

Sunday, October 22, 2023

Are comments being blocked?

 I was just told by a reader that he was blocked from making a comment to a recent post. Has anyone else been blocked?

Thursday, October 19, 2023

Intel, defense officials tell senators that Israel did not strike hospital

 https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4263749-intel-senators-israel-did-not-strike-hospital/

U.S. intelligence and defense officials told senators at a classified briefing Wednesday that Israel is not responsible for a blast that reportedly killed hundreds of people at a hospital in Gaza, contradicting earlier media reports and claims from Hamas that an Israeli airstrike caused the carnage. 

Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, also told senators that there is no direct evidence that Iran ordered or had foreknowledge of the attack by Hamas militants that killed more than 1,000 Israeli civilians living near the border with the Gaza Strip, lawmakers say.  

Why U.S. Intel Says Israel Did Not Attack Gaza Hospital

 https://www.newsweek.com/why-us-intel-says-israel-did-not-attack-gaza-hospital-1835897

"Israel did not target the hospital, that we know" a senior Defense Intelligence Agency officer told Newsweek. "Imagery and signals [intercepts] additionally show that a rocket fired from inside Gaza landed near the hospital, not on it."

"We don't know how many people died, nor does Israel. Not yet," says a U.S. Air Force officer working on the subject. "But the intelligence, ours and Israel's, suggests a few dozen at most. I'm not saying this isn't a tragedy," the officer says, "but this is just another case of massive exaggeration and blatant lying on the part of Hamas. Palestinians are the responsible party, not Israel."

Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Devastating Gaza Hospital Blast—What We Know

 https://www.newsweek.com/devastating-gaza-hospital-blastwhat-we-know-1835576

Later, in a virtual briefing with reporters, Hagari went into further detail on the IDF's investigation, saying it constituted a review of Israeli air, land and sea attacks on Gaza, as well as rocket-detecting radars, which he said detected a barrage of rockets going toward Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital. Hagari said that there were no such Israeli attacks that occurred "next to the hospital" at this time, nor did the damage "fit any ammunition with the air force."

IDF tells world: This is how Islamic Jihad destroyed the Gaza hospital

 https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-768942

IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari on Wednesday laid out the IDF's full comprehensive intelligence case to prove that an Islamic Jihad failed rocket caused the damage Tuesday night to a Gaza hospital, leading to a still-unclear, but large, number of Palestinian civilian deaths.

The chief spokesman presented actual audio recordings in which Islamic Jihad members say out loud that they are responsible for the explosion.

Tuesday, October 17, 2023

Hamas Uses Western Morality as a Weapon Against Israel | Opinion

 https://www.newsweek.com/hamas-uses-western-morality-weapon-against-israel-opinion-1834774

Israel is generally held to a higher standard of morality by other governments, the media, and academia. Hamas knows this and exploits it as a weapon of war. Hamas understands that the killing of civilians—whether deliberate or collateral to legitimate military actions—is seen as wrong. But when dead children are shown on TV, many viewers fail to distinguish between deliberate targeting of civilians and unintentional collateral deaths. Hamas takes advantage of this psychological reality. Hamas has even come up with a name—"The CNN strategy"—for this misuse of morality.

Why does the Torah not mention Olam Habah The time of the giving of Torag or Ressurection?

 There is a major debate going on now regrading the significance of peshutei hamikra vs derash

Is eye for an eye meant literally?

Why is there pshat and drasha?

Monday, October 16, 2023

How the Activist Left Turned On Israel

 https://time.com/6323730/hamas-attack-left-response/

Instead of condemning and mourning the deadliest day for Jews since Israel’s founding, factions of the grassroots left appeared to celebrate the assault as an act of Palestinian heroism. The national chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine called it "a historic win for the Palestinian resistance." A coalition of 34 Harvard student organizations issued a statement saying they "hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence." The Democratic Socialists of America promoted a pro-Palestinian rally in New York where attendees reportedly chanted “resistance is justified when people are occupied.” One was shown displaying a swastika. A Twitter account apparently belonging to Black Lives Matter Chicago posted an image of a paraglider with a Palestinian flag on X, appearing to celebrate the Hamas terrorists who descended to slaughter hundreds of Israelis at a music festival.

The left faces a reckoning as Israel divides Democrats

 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/left-faces-reckoning-israel-divides-democrats-rcna120076

But after this weekend’s terror attack, the worst killing of Jews since the Holocaust, Simonds said many liberal Jews feel abandoned by people they thought were friends, some of whom have expressed little sympathy for the Israelis killed while focusing instead on the plight of Palestinians.

University Loses Funding on Israel Stance as College Donors Apply Pressure

 https://www.newsweek.com/university-loses-funding-israel-stance-donors-1835027

Jon Huntsman, a former U.S. ambassador to China and Russia, told Penn President Liz Magill that his family will "close its checkbook" on future donations to the university.

"The University's silence in the face of reprehensible and historic Hamas evil against the people of Israel (when the only response should be outright condemnation) is a new low," Huntsman wrote in an email to Magill, according to the student-run Daily Pennsylvanian. "Silence is antisemitism, and antisemitism is hate, the very thing higher ed was built to obviate."