NY Times editorial: Netanyahu government a ‘significant threat to future of Israel’

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/ny-times-editorial-netanyahu-government-a-significant-threat-to-future-of-israel/

The New York Times published an editorial on Saturday warning that Benjamin Netanyahu’s presumed incoming hard-right, ultra-religious government represents a danger to Israel’s democracy.

The piece, titled “The Ideal of Democracy in a Jewish State Is in Jeopardy,” argued that while Netanyahu won the election fairly, the far-reaching power he is offering his far-right and ultra-Orthodox partners creates a real threat to democratic values.

The Times board said it has been a “strong supporter of Israel and a two-state solution” and would remain so, but Netanyahu’s incoming government “is a significant threat to the future of Israel — its direction, its security and even the idea of a Jewish homeland.”

Netanyahu accuses NY Times of ‘demonizing Israel for decades’

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-accuses-ny-times-of-demonizing-israel-for-decades/

Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue ignoring “the ill-founded advice” of the New York Times after the paper published an editorial on Saturday warning that his presumed incoming hardline government represents a danger to Israel’s democracy.

The piece, titled “The Ideal of Democracy in a Jewish State Is in Jeopardy,” argued that while Netanyahu won the election fairly, the far-reaching power he is offering his far-right and ultra-Orthodox partners creates a real threat to democratic values.

In a short Twitter thread on Sunday, Netanyahu accused the publication of “burying the Holocaust for years on its back pages and demonizing Israel for decades,” and charged that it now “shamefully calls for undermining Israel’s elected incoming government.”

The Hidden Story of Chanukah | Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

Autistic IDF soldiers breaking through glass ceiling

 Autistic IDF soldiers breaking through glass ceiling

Corporal N. is young, captivating and unstoppable, mature and full of words just waiting to get out.  He told the Chief of Staff across the table: “I feel that the very fact that I chose to enlist for the IDF sends out a clear social message – I’m just like everyone else. The IDF needs me just like it needs any 18-year-old civilian. Maybe more. I’ve been given a wonderful opportunity and I’ve completely taken it on. I see myself becoming an officer and even signing on as a career soldier.”

France slams Israel for deporting Palestinian over alleged terror: ‘Against the law’

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/france-slams-israel-for-deporting-palestinian-over-alleged-terror-against-the-law/

Previously, Hamouri spent seven years in prison after being convicted in a 2005 plot to kill Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former chief rabbi and the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party.

Antisemitic Goyim TV relocating to Florida

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/364566

 The functional headquarters and nerve center of the nation’s most prolific antisemitic propaganda group have moved from California’s Bay Area to Florida.

Jon Minadeo Jr., the leader of Goyim TV, announced the move in videos and social media posts this week, explaining that he had grown increasingly isolated in his hometown of Petaluma and saw Florida as fertile ground for the hate group’s activities.

Police officer accused of sexually assaulting woman who filed complaint at station

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/cop-accused-of-sexually-assaulting-woman-who-filed-complaint-at-station/

Hagit Pe’er, chair of the women’s rights organization Na’amat, said in a statement it was “a shocking case that increases distrust in the systems.”

“For years we have been calling on women to be courageous and complain to the police,” yet the person who was supposed to be protecting a woman “allegedly attacked her and even threatened her not to complain [about him].”

Pe’er said that incident illustrated why women feared going to the police, and lamented, “There are still those who dare to attack women who air their accusations on social media rather than going to the police.”

Many House Republicans 'Too Dimwitted' to Wield Power: Wall Street Journal

 https://www.newsweek.com/many-house-republicans-too-dimwitted-wield-power-wall-street-journal-1767932

A new editorial from The Wall Street Journal on Saturday decried the leadership conflicts in the House GOP and called some Republican representatives "too dimwitted" to effectively wield political power.

Known as one of the preeminent financial news publications in the United States, the newspaper is also owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, the mass media outfit known for prominent conservative outlets like Fox News and the New York Post. As such, the output of its editorial board is often seen as reflecting the feelings of high-level Republican donors and voting base members.

DeSantis' dangerous war on vaccines

 https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/desantis-dangerous-war-vaccines-rcna61711

Surely DeSantis, who graduated from Yale undergrad and Harvard Law School, knows this. In fact, when the vaccines were first introduced, he promoted their use. But as anti-vaccine attitudes increased among Republicans, he cynically changed course. As New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait points out, DeSantis’ defenders claim that he is merely questioning the efficacy of vaccine mandates — and that his opposition to forced vaccines is consistent with his “free state of Florida” ideology. But DeSantis’ recent actions show something quite different and far more disturbing — that he has fully embraced the language of vaccine opponents. By suggesting that vaccines produce side effects potentially more dangerous than Covid, he is providing aid and comfort to the one-third of Americans who stubbornly refuse to get vaccinated. 

DeSantis tacks further right amid 2024 speculation

 https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3777139-desantis-tacks-further-right-amid-2024-speculation/

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is tacking further to the right as he weighs a 2024 presidential bid, a strategy that could endear him to the GOP’s conservative base and help him outflank rivals — including former President Trump. 

Democrats and Republicans Must Take on Their Own Antisemitism | Opinion

 https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-republicans-must-take-their-own-antisemitism-opinion-1753982

It's time for the parties to do much more to tackle their own internal antisemitism. The GOP has much further to go, but that does not let Democrats off the hook. Listen to Jewish people when we call out bigotry. Stop tokenizing Jews who have joined pro-Trump or anti-Zionist crowds; they don't represent the vast majority of us. Acknowledge and reject the growing antisemitism in your midst. That's what needs to happen before it's too late.

Both Parties Must Fight Anti-Semitism in Their Ranks

 https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-12-07/republicans-and-democrats-alike-must-fight-anti-semitism-in-their-ranks

Today, though, too many people read the news — and scroll through Twitter — asking instead, “Is it good for the Republicans or good for the Democrats?” For them, partisan affiliation has become a religion, and their new tribe is their political identity. The problem is that partisanship can be blinding. And it blinds us to shameful wrongs in our own party that we would be outraged by if the other party committed them.

Unfortunately, that is true even of anti-Semitism.

The fact is that too many on the right seem only concerned about anti-Semitism when it occurs on the left — and vice versa. When anti-Semitism appears in their own ranks, they try to ignore it. Or, they will say, in effect, “Well, the anti-Semites in your party are far worse than the ones in mine.” It’s a perverse form of whataboutism, and we must reject it.

Police probe Rabbi Halpern sex assault claims

 https://www.thejc.com/news/news/police-probe-rabbi-halpern-sex-assault-claims-4oFNFKBRriSKVthQXwhQVQ

According to a therapist treating the young woman in Israel, where she now lives, the many hours of calls she received from Chaim Halpern which they recorded provide further evidence of inappropriate behaviour by the rabbi.

GOP support for same-sex marriage bill reflects a shift among Republican voters

 https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/gop-support-sex-marriage-bill-reflects-shift-republican-voters-rcna39089

Dozens of House Republicans voted with Democrats on Tuesday to codify same-sex marriage into federal law, breaking with the party’s longstanding position that marriage remains between one man and one woman.

Forty-seven Republicans across 21 different states joined a unanimous Democratic caucus in supporting the legislation, the Respect for Marriage Act, by a vote of 267-157, including Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, the No. 3 Republican in the House; Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming; and Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, who is the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. The measure would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, enshrine legal same-sex marriage for the purposes of federal law and bolster legal protections for same-sex married couples.

The move is a turning point for Republican lawmakers who have spent decades opposing the legalization of same-sex marriage and broader LGBTQ rights. It does, however, coincide with the country’s soaring support for marriage equality, which as of last year included a majority of Republican voters.