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The irony and tragedy is not lost on me, nor on many like me.
While the US is colluding with Russia and Iran, he pretends to care about the Ukrainian people and the citizens of Abraham Accord countries in the name of justice and humanitarianism.
He pretends to care about the Abraham Accord signatories, when it is clear that the US has not responded to any of the attacks on American bases/assets in Iraq –in the name of getting an Iran deal, at any cost, inc. 90 billion$ in sanctions relief and a clear path to ICBM’s, regional and international terrorism, and to nuclear weapons.
He pretends to care about Israel, citing iron Dome expenditures while raising false issues of almost completely negligible episodes of Israel wrongdoing as if they are real, thus condemning Jews and raising the profile of the violent acts and propaganda of the Arabs.
For example, re- Jewish -owned property, the courts have ruled with full regard to the unbiased law- owners deserve rent payments and deserve to take possession of their property.
Arab residents of Area C and B and the Negev and the North who have been expanding their often-unreported [for political reasons] confiscation efforts daily are not entitled to special treatment because they are Arabs.
He gives impetus to the IS -related Israeli Arabs who -according to intelligence today- are planning bad incidents for Ramadan, completely influenced by the PA-instigated and US-supported daily propaganda in their media currently.
I understand that funds to the PA are being held in escrow because of use to finance terrorism and to award terror families. Why does he misrepresent the funds as if they are being given to the PA?
With all due respect, Mr. Blinken sounded like a school principal giving out credits after a dreadful performance, while -as if-slapping-innocent-children on the wrist. I am reminded of Huck and Jim realizing the tricks that the ‘King’ and ‘Duke’ are playing on innocent Mississippi River border towns..
We are aware of the pretending that he and the Obama-Biden staff are playing. The honorable Bennett, Gantz, and Lapid may be pretending to be little lambs following Mary, but we, most of the citizens of Israel, are not willing to be sacrificial lambs and do not intend to stay silent about the realities and the really dangerous game that is being played at our expense.
Respectfully,
E. Levitan, MD
Jerusalem, Israel
Weekly Commentary: Mr. Blinken Don’t Be A Condescending Jerk
Weekly Commentary: Mr. Blinken Don’t Be A Condescending Jerk
Dr. Aaron Lerner March 25, 2022
Mr. Blinken, don’t be a condescending jerk.
Pretty extreme words but well earned.
Condescending because he joins his equally condescending jerk, Ambassador
Nides, in telling us what to do in Israeli Palestinian relations based on
the presumption that he knows so so much better than we do as to both what
our interests are and what is realistically viable.
When we meet with someone who talks on and on about the “two state solution”
with a sovereign Palestinian state we smile and politely decline to explain
why they are clueless ideologues.
Basically we relate to this talk as we would to someone talking about their
odd religious beliefs or a child discussing the tooth they left for the
Tooth Fairy under their pillow.
If this did not impinge on policy it wouldn’t matter.
But your State Department is now offering almost a million dollars to NGOs
to engage in lawfare against us.
And you are planning to push us to forfeit any semblance of rights on the
Temple Mount – for the period of Ramadan and onwards (after Ramadan arguing
that resumption of Jewish visits would only make trouble).
And to make many other concessions.
These are magnitudes less in importance than your efforts to screw us and
our Sunni allies with the deal with Iran.
Nor, for that matter, the disturbing remark by CENTCOM Commander Gen. Frank
McKenzie that while “Iran [is] dedicated to the destruction of Israel” that
“I worry about exchanges between Iran and Israel because many times, our
forces are at risk”. As if we should not act against a country dedicated to
destroying us?
We are not alone in being subject to this condescending jerk approach. The
Saudis have suffered from being subject to an incredibly selective moral
standard exploited to raise into question the American supply of critical
equipment along with an American refusal to recognize the Houthis for the
terrorists that they are. This as the Houthis engage in round after round
of attacks against Saudi Arabia.
Mr. Blinken, we are on the right side of history. Get on the right side of history.
________________________________________
IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis
Since 1992 providing news and analysis on the Middle East with a focus on
Arab-Israeli relations
Website: www.imra.org.il
Our march 2022 mission to London
London Big Ben and traffic on Westminster Bridge
Israel’s Ambassador to Australia – Amir Maimon: What is happening with UNRWA?
His Excellency Mr. Amir Maimon is the recently appointed Ambassador of the State of Israel to Australia, following an extensive career in the Israel Defense Force and the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
After a 14-year military career in the paratroopers unit of the IDF, (Ret) Lt. Colonel Maimon joined the Foreign Service. He has held diplomatic posts in London, Canada, Turkey, Ethiopia, and Washington.
Mr. Maimon served as the first Ambassador of the State of Israel to Lithuania, along with other notable appointments within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Israeli National Defense College.
David Bedein serves as Director of The Center for Near East Policy Research and he follows the UNRWA trail, exposing their malfeasances. We will discuss a short video titled ‘UNRWA ignites Jerusalem’ that can be found on his website and consider how UNRWA is managing its affairs, given that it is experiencing a large shortfall in funding.
‘The Israel Connexion’ can be heard this Wednesday March 30th at 4-5 pm on J-AIR, repeated Friday 1-2 pm. You can find previous podcasts for the show at OmnyStudio.
Please visit the Israel Connexion program’s FaceBook page, which offers go-to information about the program and an opportunity to provide feedback.
Happy Listening,
Time Zone Advisory: 10 PM EST Wednesday Nite , March 31
J-AIR 88FM
David Schulberg
davids@j-air.com.au
Beware the Ides of March
Any history student of Julius Caesar’s life will instantly recognize the significance of the Ides of March.
That date, to paraphrase the late President F.D. Roosevelt, will “live on in infamy” as the day many of Caesar’s erstwhile friends turned on him and literally stabbed him in the back. Ever since any malevolent occurrence at this time is attributed to the double-crossing intentions of those involved.
The Ides of March this year in the civil calendar equates to Tuesday 15 March and by a remarkable twist of fate or perhaps divine messaging there has been a repeat performance. Although the acts involve verbal treachery, at least at this stage, their end results will, if not thwarted, be just as lethal and final.
I am referring to the farce being enacted in Vienna and the actions of the American Ambassador in Israel as well as the complete failure of the international community (i.e. the UN) to protect one of its members. All these situations carry a salutary lesson for Israel and its citizens and indeed also for those living in countries that have a dubious past as far as their treatment of Jews is concerned.
Without being privy to the negotiations taking place in Austria it is impossible to arrive at definite conclusions. However, it has been apparent for some time that at the end of the day Iran will achieve all its objectives thanks to the lack of backbone on the part of the other parties. With the Biden Administration in appeasement mode, it is just a matter of working out how best to sell a disastrous deal. The only opposition to the emerging sell out comes from Israel and those Gulf nations directly threatened by the Mullahs of Tehran and their surrogate terrorist partners.
There have already been sufficient hints to indicate which way the foul winds of capitulation are blowing. In the face of Israeli pushback, Washington has already announced that it “is ready to make tough decisions to revive the Iran nuclear deal.” What are these so called tough decisions? The answer is showering Iran with billions of dollars, removing sanctions and amazingly dropping of terrorist designations against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. All this is apparently in exchange for an Iranian “promise & commitment” to “de-escalate.” Does this not sound eerily familiar to “peace in our time” guarantees?
You may well ask – de-escalate what? The IRGC is the funder and sponsor of terror groups in Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq and Yemen which are itching to cause death and destruction on Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. The fact that this proposal is even being considered conclusively proves that the Ides of March are well and truly upon us.
It has been apparent to all except for those living in a parallel universe that the United Nations is incapable of defending the national sovereignty of any of its member nations. This has been proven in the past and no more than today. Like its doomed predecessor, the League of Nations, which fiddled and fumbled while Abyssinia was raped and then lapsed into passing impotent resolutions while Hitler swallowed Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland, the UN today is hurtling down the same one-way route to total irrelevance.
As mentioned previously, Tuesday 15 March was the Ides of March.
On that particular day the American Ambassador in Israel, Thomas Nides, participated in a video meeting with Americans for Peace Now. What ensued should not have been a surprise if one had taken notice of the Ambassador’s background but nevertheless his performance on this occasion surpassed everyone’s expectations. Diplomats are supposed to be diplomatic but I assume that his left-wing credentials combined with the Biden and progressives of the Democratic Party plus the Peace Now groupies all contributed to his outburst.
It is good that he was honest enough to reveal his real agenda and that of the Administration he represents because it at least prepares all but the most gullible sceptics for what is looming just around the corner.
The Ambassador’s lovefest with Peace Now revealed at least two critical salient points which in actual fact have been cornerstones of American State Department policies for some time. During the Trump Presidency, the negative influence of the anti-Israel officials was frequently overridden. Now, we once again have them back in full force and with an increasingly militant progressive socialist influence in the Democratic Party, the failed agendas of the past are again being peddled.
The Ambassador latched onto what he and his fellow leftist colleagues deem to be the biggest threat to peace. Terror, Iranian ambitions to acquire nuclear weapons and their development of the means to deliver them, incitement and hate in the Palestinian Arab media and schools, North Korea’s unhindered development of missiles, all these and many more pale into insignificance in the face of Jews reclaiming sovereignty.
Declaring himself to be “infuriated” and accusing Israel of being “stupid,” Nides assailed the building of homes for Jews in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, pledging to do everything in his power to put a stop to this peace threatening activity. The sight of “settlement growth” is apparently such an abomination to him that he will spare no effort to thwart it from happening.
He recognized that “Jerusalem is the Capital of Israel” but then added that its future status would have to be “determined by the parties.” As a fervent advocate of reopening the US Consulate for Palestinian Arabs in Jerusalem he obviously already agrees to our Capital being divided and designated the Capital of a proposed Palestinian Arab State once again ethnically cleansed of any Jews.
To make matters worse, Nides called the payment of stipends by Ramallah to terrorists and their families “worrisome” because it caused complications for the PA. Note that he did not demand the complete cessation of the “pay for slay” policy.
I looked in vain for some robust rebuttal from our Government but so far there has been silence. I would have invited the Ambassador to visit Gush Etzion and see for himself the enormous amount of building taking place, houses and roads alike, but unfortunately, he had already declared his intention never to set foot in places that Jews settled three thousand years ago.
It is somehow symbolically appropriate that this all erupted on 15 March because we can now truthfully declare “beware the Nides of March.”
Julius Caesar was betrayed by colleagues who he thought were some of his best friends and supporters. At the end of the day however personal political considerations and ambitions prevailed.
We are continually assured that the USA has our back and that we can blindly put our faith in their undying pledges of support. In the past, there have been arms embargos and other penalties imposed when Israel decided that its security warranted direct action. Nothing convinces me that this same scenario will not be activated when in the future, we need to take proactive steps once again to safeguard ourselves.
With the end of season sale in Vienna, confusion and lack of will in the White House and the US Ambassador in Israel making the Biden Administrations’ attitude clear, the looming sell out couldn’t be starker.
It’s time to let our “friends” know that we are aware of their agenda and are prepared to act accordingly.
Chabad Rabbi Murdered in Terrorist Attack in Beersheva
In his youth, Belarus-born Krivitski was educated in the Nachlas Har Chabad suburb of Kiryat Malachi, in the branch of Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim that Rabbi Mordechai Kozliner founded when he emigrated from the former Soviet Union, with the help of the lateRabbi Zalman Abelsky, director of Chabad of Moldova.
As a young rabbi, Krivitski devoted himself to caring for and learning from the renowned Chassid, Rabbi Zalman Leib Estulin, who stood on the front lines of preserving Torah study and practice in the former Soviet Union and was known both there, and later in Bnei Brak, Israel, for his extraordinary Torah scholarship, piety and humility.
As a young rabbi, he devoted himself to caring for and learning with the renowned Chassid, Rabbi Zalman Leib Estulin, who stood on the front lines of preserving Torah study and practice in the former Soviet Union, and was known as a model of Torah scholarship, piety and humility there, and later in Bnei Brak, Israel.
In recent years, Krivitski served as the director of Colel Chabad—Israel’s oldest continuously operating charity—in Beersheva and oversaw the day-to-day management of their soup kitchen, in addition to the decade he served as a Chabad emissary and rabbi in the Nachal Beka neighborhood in the city.
“He was the gentlest of souls whose entire life was about giving to others,” said Rabbi Sholom Duchman, director of Colel Chabad. “Each and every day, he would manage Colel Chabad’s local food-distribution service for the needy in Beersheva, distributing thousands of meals over the years, going above and beyond to serve the hardest-hit in his community during Covid.”
“He was a modest, unassuming person,” said Rabbi Zalman Gorelik, director of Chabad of Beersheva. “He was beloved by G‑d and by man, and was completely devoted to the community.”
Duchman called Krivitski “one of the kindest and most compassionate souls,” and prayed that his charitable work with Israel’s most vulnerable would bring a measure of comfort to his family and his community.
Deadliest Attack Since 2016
According to eyewitnesses, the lone assailant intentionally rammed into Krivitsky, who was riding his bicycle, as the terrorist drove away from a gas station near a large shopping center, where he had stabbed three people. He then jumped from his vehicle and ran to two other areas, where he continued to slash at passersby. He was shot and killed by a bus driver and another Israeli civilian at the scene. Also among the victims was Doris Yahbas, a resident of Moshav Gilat and a mother of three; Laura Yitzhak, 43, also mother of three; and Menahem Yehezkel, a 67-year-old resident of Beersheva.
The attacker was a resident of the Bedouin town of Houra. He was released from an Israeli prison in 2019 and was known to have been a sympathizer of the Islamic State, and had unsuccessfully tried to join them in Syria.
The rampage was the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians since June 2016, when two terrorists opened fire at Tel Aviv’s Sarona Market, killing four and wounding 16.
More details will be published when available.
Museum Launches Dead Sea NFT Photo Collection On World Water Day
The Dead Sea Museum, a physical art museum planned to be built in the city of Arad, has launched its first NFT collection of Dead Sea photographs by environmental – art activist Noam Bedein, founder of the Dead Sea Revival Project.
The collection of 100 selected images, dubbed Genesis NFT, highlights the disappearing beauty of the Dead Sea in order to raise environmental awareness for the world wonder, a statement from the museum said.
Bedein is the first to document the Dead Sea World Heritage Site solely by boat and has a database of over 25,000 photographs from the past six years, showing fascinating hidden layers exposed at the lowest point on Earth, and revealed due to the drop in sea level, which is currently at its lowest level in recorded history.
The auction will start on March 22nd, which is World Water Day, the annual observance established by the United Nations that highlights the importance of freshwater and advocates for its sustainable management. It will end on April 22, which is Earth Day. All proceeds from the sale will be used for the museum planning and for legal and legislative efforts to restore water to the Dead Sea.
“We need to find creative ways to make an environmental impact for the Dead Sea, especially for World Water Day, by using everything that is new and advanced in the world, such as the popularity of engaging NFTs & the Metaverse. By providing ownership of a vanishing Dead Sea time capsule I hope to harness the responsibility of others to share and contribute to a practical positive environmental impact. With the help of the NFT, the digital art asset of the Dead Sea will directly contribute to the cultural preservation of the Dead Sea for generations to come and take part in the creation of the Dead Sea Museum of Art,” Bedein tells NoCamels.
Bedein’s Dead Sea Revival Project (DRSP) is the only non-profit NGO focused solely on promoting the Dead Sea cause. It has been recognized by NASA and academic sci-tech institutions in Israel and the US for its educational and activism work. The DSRP was featured in magazines such as National Geographic and on news programs from around the world.
Ari Leon Fruchter, a US-born social entrepreneur who first brought renowned US photographer Spencer Tunick to Israel, set out to build a Dead Sea Museum in Arad in 2019 as part of a quest to both preserve the area and give back to a city that had made an impact on his life since it was his home in a World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS) program in 1997.
The city of Arad is just 16 miles from the Dead Sea, and Fruchter wanted to make it a base for visitors on the way to the natural wonder. He also wants to raise awareness about the proliferation of Dead Sea sinkholes. The area has continued to suffer as freshwater dissolves underground layers of salt deposits causing the ground above it to collapse.
Preservation of the Dea Sea is important because “it holds a wealth of resources that help people and the planet, and it is deeply rooted in the vast history of this land and the people of Israel,” Fruchter explains.
The collection of photographs on US-based NFT marketplace OpenSea can be found here.
President Zelensky – we cannot forfeit our ability to evacuate the Jews of Russia
President Zelensky – we cannot forfeit our ability to evacuate the Jews of
Russia
Dr. Aaron Lerner March 20, 2022
President Zelensky, you, more than anyone, understand and appreciate the
real and present danger that the Jews of Russia face of finding themselves
trapped behind a restored Iron Curtain.
So you know damn well that those El Al planes still flying from Russia to
Israel are a LIFELINE.
EL Al isn’t Air France.
Israel isn’t Denmark.
President Zelensky, you, more than anyone, realize that if we were to
acquiesce to your demand to join the West in broad sanctions against Russia
that the move could seal the fate of your Jewish brothers in Russia.
You criticize us for not sending some of our Iron Dome systems when we
ourselves have a shortage of interceptors to protect ourselves from attacks
that can resume at any time.
And while you address our Knesset on Zoom as the Jewish State is the first
and only country in the world to endanger the lives of its citizens by
sending them into the Ukraine to set up and man a field hospital you only
see fit to attack us.
There is so much more that you said today which was profoundly offensive.
And yet, none of what I write here in any way diminishes from our horror and
disgust over what the Ukraine is enduring now from Russia. Nor our
commitment to provide humanitarian aid.
But don’t attack us as if you aren’t aware of our very special situation.
________________________________________
IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis
Since 1992 providing news and analysis on the Middle East with a focus on
Arab-Israeli relations
Website: www.imra.org.il
