Newest 'Twitter Files' release reveals platform's 'constant and pervasive' dealings with FBI - Ben Whedon

 

​ by Ben Whedon

Included in the thread were screenshots of requests from FBI offices for the platform to censor posts, even from low follower accounts, and subsequent images indicating that Twitter had complied with the requests.

 

The latest "Twitter Files" release, on Friday evening, details the social media platform's relationship with the FBI and outlined communications between the federal agency seeking takedowns of select posts.

The most recent release is from independent journalist Matt Taibbi, one of several individuals to whom new Twitter CEO Elon Musk has granted access to the company's internal communications in a bid to highlight the prior management's efforts to stifle posts that didn't agree with their world view.

"Twitter’s contact with the FBI was constant and pervasive, as if it were a subsidiary," Taibbi wrote early in the Tweet thread. "Between January 2020 and November 2022, there were over 150 emails between the FBI and former Twitter Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth."

Taibbi also wrote: "a surprisingly high number are requests by the FBI for Twitter to take action on election misinformation, even involving joke tweets from low-follower accounts.

Taibbi also posted that he found in the email review that "Federal intelligence and law enforcement reach into Twitter included the Department of Homeland Security, which partnered with security contractors and think tanks to pressure Twitter to moderate content." Reports emerged earlier this year that executives from multiple Big Tech platforms regularly met with federal agency officials to coordinate efforts to combat "disinformation."

Included in the thread were screenshots of requests from FBI offices for the platform to censor posts, even from low follower accounts and subsequent images indicating that Twitter had complied with the requests.

 

https://t.co/bcttGWKpFW unanswered question: do agencies like FBI and DHS do in-house flagging work themselves, or farm it out? “You have to prove to me that inside the fucking government you can do any kind of massive data or AI search,” says one former intelligence officer.

— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 16, 2022

Taibbi subsequently documented the bureau's circulation of a list of accounts that "may warrant additional action," before indicating that Twitter received the list and censored many of the offending accounts and posts.

The thread went on to explain that state governments also worked with the platform to flag content, including request from California officials to act on a Tweet from former President Donald Trump. Taibbi further highlighted other organizations that partnered with the government to conduct mass reviews on online content.

"The takeaway: what most people think of as the “deep state” is really a tangled collaboration of state agencies, private contractors, and (sometimes state-funded) NGOs," Taibbi concluded. "The lines become so blurred as to be meaningless."

Ben Whedon

Source: https://justthenews.com/nation/technology/twitter-files-document-dump-details-platforms-constant-and-pervasive-dealings-fbi

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White House silent on prospective release of 'Burisma' emails - Ben Whedon

 

​ by Ben Whedon

The administration has 60 days to decide whether to withhold the documents under the Presidential Records Act.

 

The National Archives has informed the White House that it is preparing to release almost 300 emails containing the word "Burisma" to comply with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, and the administration has thus far remained quiet on the matter.

The agency has cleared 282 emails and 69 images for release, according to Fox News, though a further 22 included information exempt from FOIA requests and 75 would receive partial redactions. The White House may invoke executive privilege to halt their release, but has so far not done so.

Burisma is a Ukrainian energy firm that included first son Hunter Biden as a member of its board despite him lacking experience in the field entirely. Hunter's position with the firm has long been a focal point for Republican detractors who have alleged the Biden family operates a widespread corruption racket.

The administration has 60 days to decide whether to withhold the documents under the Presidential Records Act. Should Biden opt to do so, they could remain sealed until January of 2029, barring judicial intervention.

Ben Whedon

Source: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/white-house-silent-prospective-release-burisma-emails

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Top Maricopa election offices couldn't reconcile 15k disparity in outstanding votes: internal email - Natalia Mittelstadt

 

​ by Natalia Mittelstadt

"Unable to currently reconcile [Secretary of State] listing with our estimates from yesterday," Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer wrote in a Nov. 10 email.

 

Recently disclosed internal communications between top election officials in Arizona's Maricopa County in the immediate aftermath of Election Day reveal that they struggled to reconcile a discrepancy of almost 16,000 in outstanding ballot totals. 

The governor's race in Arizona was decided by a margin of just over 17,000 votes.

Maricopa County was plagued by numerous issues with ballot machines at many of its vote centers on Election Day, resulting in delays and long lines. 

Prior to a Maricopa County press conference with Board of Supervisors Chair Bill Gates and Recorder Stephen Richer on Nov. 10, Richer sent an email to Elections Director Scott Jarrett, Gates and others about a significant discrepancy between the county's estimated remaining ballot totals and the number reported by the secretary of state's office. 

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs was also the Democratic nominee for governor in the Nov. 8 election.

"Unable to currently reconcile SOS listing with our estimates from yesterday," Richer wrote, showing that Maricopa County estimated having 392,000 ballots left to be counted, while the secretary of state's website said there were 407,664 ballots left. 

"So there's a 15,000 difference somewhere," Richer said, although the discrepancy cited was closer to16,000. 

The recorder's office did not provide comment on the ballot discrepancy by publication deadline.

The Richer email was among the communications obtained via a public records request submitted by America First Legal Foundation. The email is found on page 9 in the records below:

Maricopa County PRR 1292 PDF Export - Watermark (1) (1).pdf

In an email forwarded to Jarrett by the chief of staff for Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman Clint Hickman, a poll worker said that at their vote center, the ballot tabulators worked 75% of the time, as approximately 400 of 1600 in-person votes were "misreads and put in slot 3." 

"Ballots were put in the tabulator several times to get accepted," the poll worker reported. "Ballots were flipped, put in backwards, flipped again before it might get accepted."

The poll worker further reported that a voter who recently moved between cities within the state received a ballot for only federal elections, not state elections. 

"Totally unacceptable," the poll worker commented. 

"These errors need to be resolved," the poll worker concluded.

The email from the poll worker is on page 6 of the file embedded above.

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted to certify its election on Nov. 28, after listening to a flood of complaints from voters regarding issues they experienced trying to vote.

Mohave County certified its election "under duress," after being threatened with possible felony charges by Secretary of State Hobbs' office. Cochise County chose not to certify until a judge ordered them to, following a lawsuit against them filed by the secretary of state's office.

According to a lawsuit filed by GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake challenging the administration of the 2022 election in Maricopa County, a poll found that 58.6% of Republican voters in the county "reported having issues while trying to cast a ballot on Election Day," compared to 15.5% of Democrat voters. 

The lawsuit also alleges that 59% of Maricopa County's 223 vote centers suffered ballot printer and tabulator failures. 

Natalia Mittelstadt

Source: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/election-confusion-arizona-county-officials-struggled-resolve-ballot

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The War for Eight Billion Minds - J. B. Shurk

 

​ by J. B. Shurk

[F]or all the harms their actions have caused, governments have issued no apologies for enforcing such life-altering policies while silencing critics. It is as if "narrative engineers" have adopted an official position that they are incapable of being wrong.

• This is a new kind of war against civilians for control of their minds.

• Governments are relying increasingly on controlling public "narratives" and vilifying dissent.

• [F]or all the harms their actions have caused, governments have issued no apologies for enforcing such life-altering policies while silencing critics. It is as if "narrative engineers" have adopted an official position that they are incapable of being wrong.

• The more nervous about the future policymakers are, the more committed they seem to enforcing a standard "narrative" they can control.

• In an age when information has never been more easily accessible, the world is awash in lies.

• A citizen either accepts Hunter Biden's "laptop from hell" as "Russian disinformation," or that person is labeled a "Russian sympathizer." Daring to say otherwise could get one banned from social media, professionally sanctioned, or even fired from a job. Except none of these established "narratives" has proved true.

• In each case, the "narrative" proved to be either misleading propaganda or an outright lie. Yet they were created and sustained by online communication platforms that pushed the lies and excluded the truths.

• As global events increasingly threaten Western stability, governments have demonstrated no inclination to entertain a diversity of viewpoints or discussions along the way. Instead, the more serious the issue, the more committed to a single, overarching "narrative" they seem to become.

• This war for eight billion minds means that citizens must be more vigilant than ever in processing and evaluating what they see and read. Whether they like it or not, they are under attack at all times from those who seek to manipulate and control them. As in the last century, we are surrounded by totalitarian propaganda routinely disguised as "the truth."

This is a new kind of war against civilians for control of their minds. Governments are relying increasingly on controlling public "narratives" and vilifying dissent. (Image source: iStock)

The heavy perils we face today include centralized governments micromanaging society, the growing prospect of global war, the growing prospect of forced surrender, and the replacement of reasoned debate and free speech with state-sanctioned "narratives" and censorship: totalitarian governance seems not far behind. This is a new kind of war against civilians for control of their minds.

The torrents engulfing us appear to be potentially catastrophic. In a few short years, the world has endured the COVID-19 pandemic, forced government lockdowns, extreme economic volatility, commodity shortages, and the World Economic Forum's attempts to exploit this cascade of crises as an excuse to usher in a structural "Great Reset" in which global food and energy consumption can be strictly regulated according to the "climate change" goals of an unelected cabal. Governments are relying increasingly on controlling public "narratives" and vilifying dissent.

While health bureaucrats and politicians claimed to be "following the science," mandatory compliance with unilateral rule-making precluded reasoned, good-faith debate. The predictable result: the lethal consequences of the Wuhan Virus were exacerbated by the lethal consequences of misguided public policies imposed to fight the virus. Students whose schools were shuttered now suffer the lifelong effects of learning loss. Patients whose timely diagnoses and preventative care were forestalled now suffer the debilitating outcomes of untreated disease. Small businesses unable to endure prolonged closures are gone for good. Middle class savings once reserved for unexpected "rainy day" funds or children's future educations have dried up. Credit card debt is on the rise, while more and more people struggle to survive on less. The "safety nets" of government welfare programs have ballooned to leave nation states more indebted than ever but have also proved too perforated with leaky holes (often draining needed resources straight into the bank accounts of corporate campaign donors, interest group lobbyists, and foreign hackers) to keep society's most vulnerable afloat. Governments' justifications for reckless fiscal, monetary, and credit policies during short-term emergencies have weakened nations' prospects for long-term solvency and the likelihood that they will be capable of preserving stable currencies. Still, for all the harms their actions have caused, governments have issued no apologies for enforcing such life-altering policies while silencing critics. It is as if "narrative engineers" have adopted an official position that they are incapable of being wrong.

Geopolitical conflict is wrenching the post-WWII international order apart. While America's and the European Union's "climate change" policies have already inflated the costs of energy, food and much else, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has only added to ordinary Europeans' financial pain and jeopardizes the continent's security more broadly. China's territorial ambitions threaten peace in Taiwan, Japan, across Southeast Asia and beyond. The United States' efforts to enlarge NATO's European membership, while expanding its mission objectives into the Indo-Pacific, all but ensure that the U.S., China and Russia remain on a collision course.

Policymakers cannot help seeing parallels to the quickly falling geopolitical dominoes that ushered in WWI and WWII over the course of a few fateful weeks. They cannot help looking at the unsustainable accumulation of government debt around the world and the avalanche of investment derivatives balancing unsteadily upon fragile currencies unmoored from any real value in gold or silver and fearing the risks of a severe depression. They cannot help seeing Russian revanchism and Chinese territorial expansion as signs that the Great Powers have set course down a dangerous path. The more nervous about the future policymakers are, the more committed they seem to enforcing a standard "narrative" they can control.

It was the detonation of two nuclear warheads over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, of course, that brought combat in the Pacific Theater to a close and ended WWII with an exclamation point.

Now we stand on a new kind of battlefield. Just as with nuclear weapons, civilians have nowhere to hide from this war's effects. Weapons systems are spread out across the Internet, deployed on mobile phones and active on every computer chip, tracking, sharing, and pushing digital information throughout the world. Instead of explosives and bullets, we have competing "narratives" whizzing past. The breadth of the campaign to control what information we see, how we process that information, and ultimately what we think and say makes even the most effective psychological operations of the past look antiquated and rudimentary. Whereas "mutually assured destruction" has so far succeeded as a deterrent against nuclear war, the tantalizing opportunities for governments to use programs of mass digital surveillance and communication to spread lies, manipulate opinion, and affect human behavior have created a kind of mutually assured dystopia, "where people lead dehumanized, fearful lives."

In the 1930s, Adolf Hitler spoke with boisterous energy and theatrical gesticulation before tens of thousands of stormtroopers, Hitler Youth, and Nazi Party faithful. Today, the dictator's raised stage has been replaced with Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and anywhere else a pop-up online audience can be found. The visual stimuli that enthralled Hitler's crowds are now reproduced with the release of pleasure-causing endorphins rushing to the brain after every "politically correct" online statement is "rewarded" with approval from strangers providing instant fame. Online "influencers" have become the goose-stepping middlemen for campaigns of mass propaganda that touch more humans in a day than a decade of Hitler's speeches. In an age when information has never been more easily accessible, the world is awash in lies.

Instead of encouraging public debate and rational argument, governments push the constant drumbeat of the "narrative" above all else. A citizen either obediently accepts the government's vast and intrusive COVID-19 rules, or that person is labeled a "COVID denier." A citizen either obediently accepts the government's vast and intrusive "climate change" rules, or that person is labeled a "climate denier." A citizen either accepts Hunter Biden's "laptop from hell" as "Russian disinformation", or that person is labeled a "Russian sympathizer." Daring to say otherwise could get one banned from social media, professionally sanctioned, or even fired from a job. Except none of these established "narratives" has proved true.

In hindsight, it is clear that lockdowns unleashed more health, educational and economic problems than they solved. As Europe faces an expanding energy crisis that leaves its populations vulnerable to the cold, it is clear that "climate change" policies can kill those they are purportedly meant to protect. And as Elon Musk's recent release of internal Twitter communications proves, Hunter Biden's laptop was not only real news censored from the public during a presidential election. Political speech was also censored through the collaborative efforts of the FBI and more than 50 intelligence community agents in violation of the First Amendment. In each case, the "narrative" proved to be either misleading propaganda or an outright lie. Yet they were created and sustained by online communication platforms that pushed the lies and excluded the truths.

As global events increasingly threaten Western stability, governments have demonstrated no inclination to entertain a diversity of viewpoints or discussions along the way. Instead, the more serious the issue, the more committed to a single, overarching "narrative" they seem to become. Dissent is despised. Reasoned argument is lampooned. A citizen is expected to blithely accept government-approved messaging disseminated online, or risk the wrath of the technocracy.

This war for eight billion minds means that citizens must be more vigilant than ever in processing and evaluating what they see and read. Whether they like it or not, they are under attack at all times from those who seek to manipulate and control them. As in the last century, we are surrounded by totalitarian propaganda routinely disguised as "the truth." In this century, though, the reach and scale of mass indoctrination seems endlessly expanding.

JB Shurk writes about politics and society.

 

J. B. Shurk

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19237/eight-billion-minds

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Proof of biblical kings of Israel, Judah deciphered on Jerusalem rock inscriptions - Judy Siegel-Itzkovich

 

​ by Judy Siegel-Itzkovich

Detailed inscriptions of 8th-century BCE Judean King Hezekiah discovered in ‘monumental’ archaeological discovery.

 

Summary inscription 1 of King Hezekiah.

(photo credit: Istanbul Archaeological Museum)

What a University of Haifa professor of biblical studies and ancient history has called “one of the most important archaeological discoveries in Israel of all time” – five monumental, new royal inscriptions of King Hezekiah of Judah, which together include dozens of lines and hundreds of letters have been deciphered.

Prof. Gershon Galil, a former chairman of the university’s department of Jewish history, said that the inscriptions mention the name of Hezekiah, and summarize his main actions during the first 17 years of his reign, including the water project (the cutting of the Siloam Tunnel and the pool), the ritual reform, the conquest of Philistia and the accumulation of property. 

The inscriptions, he maintained, also indicate the exact date on which the water project was completed – 2 Tammuz in the 17th year Hezekiah = 709 BCE. “Now it is clear that the higher chronology that precedes the reign of Hezekiah in 726 BCE is to be preferred, as I emphasize in my book on chronology published in 1996. These are the most complete royal inscriptions we have, and they are further evidence that the kings of Israel and Judah wrote royal inscriptions that indicated their name and deeds," Galil said.

One of the inscriptions was carved into the rock to the right of the entrance to tunnel #4 in the round room of the Canaanite pool next to the Gihon Spring. Exactly 48 centimeters wide and 38 cm long, it is located 140 cm above the floor, the academic explained.

The frame of the inscription was discovered in 1909 by Louis-Hugues Vincent, but he believed that there was no inscription there, but only a frame and a leveled surface prepared for writing an unwritten text, said Galil.

“This is what all the other researchers have claimed for the past 113 years. But recently it turned out that there is an extremely impressive inscription there. Though eroded by time, the vast majority of the letters are legible," he explained.

Inscription 3 has the names and deeds of the biblical King Hezekiah of Judah in ancient Israel. (credit: Eli Shukrun)

What does the ancient biblical inscription say?

This is a verbatim quote of the inscription that includes 11 lines, 64 words, and 243 letters:

1. Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah,
2. made the pool and the conduit.
3. In the seventeenth year, in the second (day), in the fourth (month),
4. of king Hezekiah, the king brought
5. the water into the city by a tunnel, the king led 
6. the water into the pool. He smote the Philistines
7. from Ekron to Gaza and placed there the OREB unit of 
8. the army of Judah. He braked the images and braked in ˹pieces˺ the Nehu˹sh˺tan
9. and he removed the high ˹places and˺ cut down the Asherah. Hezek˹ia˺h, the king,
10. accumulated in all his treasure houses and in the house of YHWH
11. a lot of silver and gold, perfumes and good ointment.

This “summary inscription,” Galil continued, “is arranged in literary order, not chronologically, and is divided into five components: title, the water project, the wars against Philistia, the reform and the accumulation of property. It includes scriptures that appear verbatim or with slight changes in the Bible, such as: ‘Hezekiah son of Ahaz, king of Judah,’ ‘Make the pool and the conduit,’ ‘brought ... the water into the city,’ ‘smote the Philistines ... as far as Gaza,’ ‘braked the images and braked in pieces the … Nehushtan and he removed the high places and cut down the Asherah… in all his treasure houses and in the house of YHWH, silver ... and gold, perfumes and good ointment’ (see 2 Kings 18: 1, 4, 8; 20: 13, 20).

Eli Shukrun began his work in the City of David over 15 years ago and has since become one of the leading experts on the archaeology of Jerusalem with vast experience based on numerous excavations in the city. Galil said “Shukrun claimed that the frames of some of these inscriptions were known. As mentioned, everyone thought they were empty and were only a preliminary preparation for engraving inscriptions that were never enacted there. But Shukrun believed there were texts there, inside the frames. That’s why he contacted me recently and asked me to re-examine the matter. We both conducted tours of the City of David, walked together in the water inside the Siloam Tunnel and rechecked everything.”

The University of Haifa Bible scholar added that “these are actually the earliest manuscripts of the Bible. They predate the Ketef Hinnom silver amulets - by about 100 years and the Dead Sea Scrolls by hundreds of years. They also support the claim that scriptures in the Book of Kings are based on texts originating from chronicles and royal inscriptions, and that the Bible reflects historical reality and not imagination.”

The Ketef Hinnom scrolls were discovered near the Old City of Jerusalem in 1979 and - until now - were believed to be the oldest surviving texts of the Bible, dating back to about 600 BC, the First Temple period.

“These are actually the earliest manuscripts of the Bible. They predate the Ketef Hinnom silver amulets by about 100 years and the Dead Sea Scrolls by hundreds of years. They also support the claim that scriptures in the Book of Kings are based on texts originating from chronicles and royal inscriptions, and that the Bible reflects historical reality and not imagination.”

Gershon Galil

Galil, who earned his doctorate from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (HU), previously wrote The Chronology of the Kings of Israel and Judah that suggested a new chronology for the kings of ancient Israel and ancient Judah. 

The new inscription he deciphered does not mention the relations with Assyria, the Chaldeans, Egypt, the kingdoms of Transjordan, the activity in Samaria, Hezekiah’s war with the nomads or the fact that the conquests in Philistia were lost in 712 BCE — because in royal inscriptions, only successes are mentioned. These are summary inscriptions, not full descriptions of the king’s deeds, he noted. 

“In these new inscriptions, there are answers to many issues that scholars have debated for years. The inscriptions are evidence that Hezekiah carried out a comprehensive reform (before 709 BCE) and even that he conquered Philistia, especially Ekron, and stationed soldiers there (in 712 BCE), as I argued before, and as pointed out in the ‘Azekah inscription.’ Moreover, Hezekiah is indeed the king who built the pool and the Siloam Tunnel and not others. The term ‘oreb’ is mentioned here for the first time, which until now was known only in its Akkadian form: urbi. Now it is clear that it is derived, as Tadmor claims, from the Hebrew term oreb.”

Together, they discovered additional inscriptions. “We took high-quality photos of these ‘frames.’ It soon became clear that there were indeed exciting and surprising texts there. In parallel, we re-examined high-quality photographs of the original Siloam inscription, situated in the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul. There, as well as in the Siloam tunnel, we found other important discoveries.”

Inscription 1: What does it tell us about the biblical kings of Israel and Judah? (credit: Eli Shukrun)

Galil checked the Siloam inscription and found that it had additional scriptures, twice as long as what was known until now. It mentions Hezekiah’s name and his main deeds, similar to summary inscription #3.

“It turns out that two more lines are written on the stone found in Istanbul. Moreover, inside the Siloam Tunnel, another five lines survived, below the place where the inscription was carved by robbers and later transported to Istanbul in a clear frame; the bottom line is 70 cm above the tunnel floor, that is, very close to the water. It now becomes clear that the Siloam inscription (summary inscription #1 below) included 13 lines and 428 letters, and not (as previously thought) only six lines and about 200 letters."

The meaning of the discovery is dramatic, Galil declared.

Inscription 1: What does it tell us about the biblical kings of Israel and Judah? (credit: Eli Shukrun)

“Parts of the Siloam inscription are found today in the City of David in Jerusalem, inside the Siloam Tunnel; they have simply remained there since the inscription was composed—2,731 years ago.

All the inscriptions will soon be published in Hebrew and English, accompanied by high-quality photographs with detailed linguistic, historical and paleographical discussions, in their forthcoming book: Gershon Galil and Eli Shukrun, The Inscriptions of Hezekiah King of Judah, which was accepted for publication, and will be published in the coming year.

Judy Siegel-Itzkovich

Source: https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/article-725074

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Appeals court rules: YU must formally recognize LGBTQ student group - Israel National News

 

​ by Israel National News

New York appeals court rejects Yeshiva University's argument that recognizing the group would violate the school's religious rights and values.

 

Yeshiva University                                                                                                       istock                 

A New York appeals court has ruled that Yeshiva University must formally recognize an LGBTQ student group, rejecting the Jewish school's claims that doing so would violate its religious rights and values, Reuters reported.

The ruling by the Appellate Division in Manhattan was handed down on Thursday, according to the report.

The court upheld a judge's ruling that the school did not qualify as a "religious corporation," which would exempt it from prohibitions against discrimination by a place or provider of public accommodation under the New York City Human Rights Law.

That law bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, religion, race, gender, age, national origin and some other factors.

The unanimous four-judge panel also said requiring Yeshiva University to recognize the club, YU Pride Alliance, did not violate its rights under the US Constitution's First Amendment to the free exercise of religion, saying the law was "neutral and generally applicable."

In June, the New York County Supreme Court ruled that Yeshiva University must recognize YU Pride Alliance.

In September, the Supreme Court ruled that Yeshiva University is required for the time being to officially recognize YU Pride Alliance.

The sides then agreed to delay the club’s recognition while the school filed another appeal.

In October, Yeshiva University announced the creation of a new LGBTQ student group, the Kol Yisrael Areivim Club, which would provide a space for LGBTQ students at the Jewish university to support one another “within the Torah framework”.

The YU Pride Alliance rejected the move, calling the Kol Yisrael Areivim Club’s launch a “desperate stunt” by Yeshiva University officials to distract from calls for change from donors, alumni, faculty and the broader community. The group said the new club is a “sham” because it was not formed or led by students and does not have any members.

Responding to Thursday’s ruling, Katie Rosenfeld, a lawyer for YU Pride Alliance, said in a statement the ruling affirmed that the school "cannot discriminate against its LGBTQ+ students by continuing its refusal to recognize the YU Pride Alliance."

Yeshiva University said it would "continue on appeal to defend against the claim that we are not a religious institution."

Israel National News

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/364530

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Coast Guard Senate Bipartisan Bill Mandates Diversity Training - Daniel Greenfield

 

​ by Daniel Greenfield

Republicans join with Democrats to push wokeness and undermine the Coast Guard.

 

The woke war on the military has been overseen by the Biden administration and by disloyal military brass who have sought to advance their careers at the expense of national security.

But the latest attack is coming in the form of a bipartisan Senate bill for the NDAA.

The National Defense Authorization Act is a massive annual omnibus defense spending bill that currently hovers around $850 billion. It’s been the subject of detailed negotiations and the only real win that Republicans have come away with is dumping Biden’s military vaccine mandate, but without actually assuring a return for those service-members forced to leave over it.

That one important victory covers any number of NDAA defeats that will undermine our military.

One of these is the military branch that people tend to pay the least attention to. And that may be why the damaging language in the ‘Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022’ within the NDAA has flown under the radar. Much like the woke attacks on the military in the 2011 NDAA, Republicans will usher in, approve and vote for a defense bill that undermines national security.

And most Americans will never even be aware of it. That’s why we’re directing attention to the betrayal of the Coast Guard’s mission and the undermining of the military meritocracy.

As America’s drug crisis worsens, the Coast Guard’s role in intercepting smugglers is more important than ever. The service captures tons of drugs every year. It intercepts everything from drug smuggling submarines to fishing boats dispatched by enemy cartels to kill Americans.

The Coast Guard’s ability to protect America has been under attack by the Left from different vectors. Leftist lawfare has taken aim at the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act which authorizes Coast Guard vessels to stop and intercept smugglers in international waters.

That campaign to enable foreign drug smugglers free access is being waged by the Federal Public Defender’s Office of Puerto Rico which is unfortunately funded by taxpayers.

But the Coast Guard is also under attack from the more familiar woke infrastructure of diversity, equity and inclusion which seeks to impose racial and gender quotas, and puts identity politics ahead of readiness and national security. Much as China cheers wokeness in the Air Force and Navy, the cartels are thrilled to see the Coast Guard being taken apart in the name of equity.

The woke war on the Coast Guard went hot with the 2021 NDAA that mandated “The Commandant of the Coast Guard shall appoint a Senior Advisor for Diversity and Inclusion for the Coast Guard”. These political commissars have become ubiquitous within the military and their closeness to command means that military leaders are always being monitored.

There is no room for political commissars in the military or for the continued politicization in the name of diversity that the ‘Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022’ embodies. The Act is packed with multiple diversity sections focusing on “improving representation of women, and racial and ethnic minorities” that are wholly unnecessary and alien to the Coast Guard’s core mission.

Pushing diversity metrics inevitably leads to quotas and the elevation of people who are not the best candidates for the job. And in the military that means virtue signaling gets people killed.

The Commandant of the Coast Guard is Linda Fagan: whom the media takes pains to remind us is the first woman to lead a branch of the armed services. At the change of command ceremony, Biden left little doubt about why she was chosen. “It’s about time,” he rambled. “The Secretary of Defense, when he sent me name, I said, ‘What in the hell took you so long?'”

Is the Coast Guard any better at performing its mission when its commandant is a woman? Are its personnel more confident of the leadership of someone chosen for her DNA?

Even though the Coast Guard Academy is already 40% female, the Senate bill orders the Commandant to work on improving the representation of women using the RAND representation report which pushes political agendas under the guise of fighting discrimination.

The RAND report demanded that the Coast Guard address “concerns” about “racism in local communities” and monitor racism in “problematic locations for assignments”. This moves the Coast Guard into policing the views of local Americans instead of rescuing them at sea.

The report quotes an anonymous minority man complaining that, “I have a friend going to Oregon right now. He’s the only person of color there. There are certain things you can’t say or do.” The state has a lesbian governor, but there aren’t enough black people in the state so now the eight coast guard stations in Oregon are to be treated like they’re in KKK territory.

Other Coast Guard locations denounced as racist in the RAND report are the state of North Carolina and Portsmouth, New Hampshire: which declared itself a “racial justice municipality” during the BLM race riots. Apparently that’s still too racist for the woke activists of RAND.

Beyond just imposing quotas, the RAND report demands political tests through “cultural change” in the familiar metrics of critical race theory. Diversity training is to be mandated for all leadership. And diversity training has long since become a political vessel for delivering racist ideas about America, the legitimacy of the Constitution and fundamental national values.

Diversity is just a false flag for the cultural transformation of the military and its mission from defending this country to promoting the treasonous and disloyal agendas of its leftist enemies.

The RAND report has a quote bemoaning the racist concept of “white privilege” while attacking the Coast Guard’s white officers for not understanding how racist America is. It pushes for diversity as the core metric while insisting that the Coast Guard “must foster a climate in which diversity is recognized as enhancing the collective operational performance.”

Except it doesn’t. And no amount of lies will change the fact that it undermines performance.

The Authorization Act mandates a “10-year strategy to enhance Coast Guard diversity” and seeks to build recruitment around diversity. This perpetuates the myth that the Coast Guard is somehow racist or restricts minorities from joining or serving. Captain Michael A. Healy actually became the first black captain in the United States under the United States Revenue Cutter Service which preceded the Coast Guard. It’s since boasted of black female helicopter pilots and assorted ‘historic firsts’ to disprove the accusations of racism that keep coming its way.

The Coast Guard isn’t racist, but, like the other branches of the military, it attracts recruits who are drawn to its particular ethos.

And there’s nothing wrong with that.

The obsessive idea that the Coast Guard and the rest of the military “need to look like America” is not only deeply distorted, but undermines their primary missions. The Coast Guard isn’t here to fill diversity quotas or to “look like America”, but to defend America.

The ‘Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022’ is a mistake. And any future patriotic administration or congress need to dismantle the quotas, jettison the diversity, equity and inclusion plans, and eliminate advisers and personnel dedicated to implementing them at every level.

Defeating the woke enemy within is becoming our leading national security crisis.

The woke assault on the military has touched off civil wars within each branch of the military between those patriots trying to serve their country and those trying to serve themselves.

As Captain Healy’s role shows, the military is there to overcome identity politics by bringing its people together to serve a common mission. When identity politics becomes the mission, morale, readiness and performance fall apart. And our national security is the first casualty.

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/coast-guard-senate-bipartisan-bill-mandates-diversity-training/

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The West Needs To Fully Cut Ties with Iran's Ruling Mullahs - Majid Rafizadeh

 

​ by Majid Rafizadeh

"The regime of the Islamic Republic of Khomeini and Ali Khamenei has brought nothing but suffering and oppression to Iran and Iranians. I hope to see the victory of the people and the overthrow of this tyranny ruling Iran soon." — Badri Hosseini Khamenei, in an open letter..

• Where, also, are the women's movements of the West?

• The sister of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Badri Hosseini Khamenei, came out criticizing the whole establishment and calling for the overthrow of her brother's "despotic caliphate".

• "The regime of the Islamic Republic of Khomeini and Ali Khamenei has brought nothing but suffering and oppression to Iran and Iranians. I hope to see the victory of the people and the overthrow of this tyranny ruling Iran soon." — Badri Hosseini Khamenei, in an open letter.

• Even though a large number of high level public figures, celebrities, athletes are supporting the protesters and turning against the regime, calls for international support by many Iranians are being totally ignored

• "O free people, be with us and help us, and tell your governments to stop supporting this murderous and child-killing regime. This regime is not even loyal to any of its own religious principles, and does not know any laws or rules except force and maintaining power in any way possible. " — Farideh Moradkhani, niece of Ayatollah Khamenei.

• It is shocking and reveals worlds about the rank hypocrisy of Western governments -- both in Europe and the United States -- that, in spite of all the human rights violations committed by Iran's regime, not a single Western country, except for Ukraine, has -- at the very least -- recalled its representatives from Iran, closed its embassies and cut diplomatic ties with Iran's murderous and child-killing regime.

In spite of the Iranian regime's brutal crackdown on protesters, many Western governments are maintaining their diplomatic relationships with the ruling mullahs and turning a blind eye to the regime's sickening human rights violations. Pictured: Farideh Moradkhani, niece of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, denounces the Iranian regime in a video posted on YouTube. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)

In spite of the Iranian regime's brutal crackdown on protesters, many Western governments are maintaining their diplomatic relationships with the ruling mullahs and turning a blind eye to the regime's sickening human rights violations. Where, also, are the women's movements of the West?

The regime recently executed a 23-year-old protester after a hasty and unfair trial. He was convicted of the vague charge of "enmity against Allah". According to Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa:

"We are horrified that the Iranian authorities have executed Mohsen Shekari, less than three weeks after they convicted and sentenced him to death in a grossly unfair sham trial. With the Iranian authorities brutally acting on their public threats to expedite capital proceedings and carry out executions swiftly, we fear that other protesters under death sentences or charged with capital offences are at imminent risk of being sent to their deaths."

According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Iranian regime has recently killed at least 300 people and arrested 14,000.

Even though a large number of high level public figures, celebrities, athletes are supporting the protesters and turning against the regime, calls for international support by many Iranians are being totally ignored.

The regime has threatened the protestors, particularly actresses who have been appearing without the mandatory headscarf. Mohsen Mansouri, governor of Tehran Province, warned that the government would be dealing with "celebrities who fanned the flames of riots and with those who sign [lucrative] contracts with radio and television, but in a time of riots take a stand against security and order. Of course, we may not deal with some cases immediately due to material reasons, but without a doubt we will deal with them after a few days and at the right time."

Some family members of Iran's top officials are protesting against the leadership as well. The sister of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Badri Hosseini Khamenei, came out criticizing the whole establishment and calling for the overthrow of her brother's "despotic caliphate":

"The regime of the Islamic Republic of Khomeini and Ali Khamenei has brought nothing but suffering and oppression to Iran and Iranians. I hope to see the victory of the people and the overthrow of this tyranny ruling Iran soon."

She added that her brother, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei does not "listen to the voice of the people of Iran and wrongly considers the voice of his mercenaries and money-grubbers to be the voice of the Iranian people."

Ayatollah Khamenei's niece, Farideh Moradkhani, also urged the United Nations, governments, and human rights organizations to act:

"O free people, be with us and help us, and tell your governments to stop supporting this murderous and child-killing regime. This regime is not even loyal to any of its own religious principles, and does not know any laws or rules except force and maintaining power in any way possible. How long do we have to witness oppression by political autocrats in any part of this world".

Moradkhani drew a comparison between the Iranian regime and Hitler's regime:

"Isn't the experience of Hitler, Mussolini, Ceausescu, Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Khomeini, and this last one Khamenei enough to make the world think of a new way? We expect that the United Nations and all the organizations that derive their value and credibility from the goal of freedom and justice for all humanity, take practical steps and implement deterrent and effective activities against the stark, horrible crimes that are going on in Iran against the women, men and children. Stop being indifferent and prevent this horrible genocide. Free and brave Iranians will overthrow this autocratic and repressive regime. What is urgently needed is not to support this regime that killed thousands of Iranians in four days in November 2019, while the world was only watching. This event and similar events are a disgrace for every free and conscientious person."

It is shocking and reveals worlds about the rank hypocrisy of Western governments -- both in Europe and the United States -- that, in spite of all the human rights violations committed by Iran's regime, not a single Western country, except for Ukraine, has -- at the very least -- recalled its representatives from Iran, closed its embassies and cut diplomatic ties with Iran's murderous and child-killing regime.

• Follow Majid Rafizadeh on Twitter

 
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19236/cut-iran-ties

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Netanyahu: Peace with Saudi Arabia would end the Arab-Israeli conflict - Israel National News

 

​ by Israel National News

Prime Minister-designate tells the Washington Examiner that peace with the Saudis would lead to peace with other countries, but "it's up to the Saudis".

 

Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu told the Washington Examiner in an interview on Friday that his goal is to achieve a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia that would “effectively end the Arab-Israeli conflict.”

“And I believe we can get peace with other countries as well if we do that,” Netanyahu told the Examiner’s executive editor Seth Mandel, adding that a formal peace with the Saudis would “expand the circle of peace beyond our wildest dreams.”

Netanyahu said that the ball is in Riyadh’s court, telling Mandel, “It’s up to the Saudis.”

Israel has been for years rumored to have behind-the-scenes ties with Saudi Arabia, but the Saudis have vehemently denied those rumors.

Saudi Arabia announced in July that the Kingdom’s airspace will be opened for all air carriers, including Israeli ones.

Saudi Arabian officials have repeatedly said that a Palestinian state with eastern Jerusalem as its capital is a prerequisite for Saudi Arabia normalizing ties with Israel.

In the interview with the Examiner, Netanyahu commented on the Abraham Accords which were signed during his previous term in office and brokered by the Trump administration.

“I did succeed after a while to persuade President Trump and his team that we have an opportunity. Because of the rise of Iran's power and the rise of Israel's power, Arab countries began to look differently at Israel, not as their enemy but as their indispensable ally against Iranian aggression, which threatens them as well, and also as a source for crucial innovation in areas like energy, water, medicine, you name it, because Israel is a juggernaut of innovation.”

“As a result, we made four historic peace treaties with Arab states — with United Arab Emirates, with Bahrain, with Morocco, and with Sudan — because of this different approach, which I had to work on. I described some clandestine meetings that I had before 2016, before the rise of the Trump administration. I already had secret meetings with Arab leaders to lay the foundation for the historic Abraham Accords, which were helped later of course by President Trump and his team,” he continued.

“But we couldn't get there without making this shift in Israeli power. Israel becoming a power among the nations also allowed us to make peace with the surrounding nations, or begin to,” said Netanyahu.

Mandel also asked Netanyahu about the efforts to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and about the 2015 Iran deal, from which Trump withdrew. While the Biden administration negotiated in an attempt to return to the deal, those contacts have stalled over, among other things, Iran’s refusal to cooperate with an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) probe into undeclared uranium particles found in Iran.

“Well, first of all, you have to do everything in your power to delay or block them. I think the actions that my governments have taken, which I obviously don't elaborate on, but the various actions that we've made probably set them back about 10 years, at least. That's what our outgoing [Israel Defense Forces] chief of staff said. I don't describe them. But one of them I do mention. And that's the raid that the Mossad carried under my orders to a secret atomic archive in a suburb of Tehran. It was hidden, masquerading in a dilapidated warehouse,” replied Netanyahu.

“Our guys went there, they busted the safes, these modern safes, took half a ton of material. If you'd seen the movie Argo, this was Argo on super steroids. Because thousands of Iranian security personnel were chasing them in Tehran. And finally they got out, brought the material to Israel. I distilled it, brought it to President Trump, showed it to him. And I think it helped give backing to his decision to get out of this flawed nuclear deal, which would merely have paved Iran's path with gold to a nuclear arsenal.”

Netanyahu opined that no agreement will stop a rogue regime such as Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. “Not only because they cheat, but in the case of the Iran deal, they don't have to cheat. They just have to keep the deal. In three, four years, they'll have, under international seal of approval on this deal, basically unrestricted enrichment of uranium, which is the hardest component of making a nuclear arsenal. They'll just be able to do it as much as they want. They'll become a threshold nuclear state with international approval,” he warned.

Israel National News

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/364532

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Everything You Wanted to Know About Chanukah but Were Afraid to Ask - Jonathan Feldstein

 

​ by Jonathan Feldstein

What it’s important for Christians to understand.

 

Recently, I was asked to teach about Chanukah with a church group in Dallas. I entered the conversation thinking it was really quite straight forward, that most Christians at least in America surrounded by a Judeo-Christian culture, know at least the basics about the holiday.

I began by relating a story about when I did a teaching two years ago with a group of pastors in Africa, who have no interaction with Jews or Jewish culture. One pastor stated excitingly that it seemed like such a great holiday, we should celebrate it more often. I always found that one of the most charming jumping off point for discussion, even with Christians in America who know much more, but typically don’t know as much as one would think.

Chanukah is the celebration of the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after its desecration by Greek enemies of Israel. Rather than destroying the Temple, again, they desecrated it, which left it unfit for ritual use.

The answer to my African pastor friend as to why we don’t celebrate Chanukah more often is because Chanukah is always celebrated on the 25th of the Biblical month of Kislev, the day that the Temple was rededicated, some 2200 years ago.

The restoration of the Temple was made possible by a military victory under the leadership of Judah Maccabi. The name Maccabi has become synonymous with strength and overcoming enemies. It has also been adapted for use in popular culture, among other things the name of a popular musical group and a line of frozen kosher foods in America, as well as the name of one of Israel’s largest health funds.

Most Christians know that Chanukah is an eight-day holiday commemorating the miracle that during the rededication of the Temple enough pure oil was found to light the menorah for one day, but which miraculously lasted for eight days. For eight days we light candles, increasing one candle each night. We eat traditional foods that are fried in oil commemorating the miracle of the oil. Not so healthy but decadent and tasty.

Chanukah is also a musical holiday during which it is customary to sing Psalms 113 to 118, called Hallel, thanking God for the miracles He has performed. There are also many songs celebrating the miraculous victory over Israel‘s enemies (Please be in touch for a list of popular recipes, songs, and more.)

But even if you were a biblically literate Christian with a deep knowledge of Judaism, how would you know all this about Chanukah since it is not featured prominently in the Bible. For answers to this and other questions delving into the how and why of what we do, I hosted Rabbi Avi Baumol on my Inspiration from Zion podcast.

During my teaching in Dallas, I received questions relating to who lights the candles, why, and the meaning of that. There were questions relating to the giving of presents as well, with a popular misconception that every family gives every member a present every night. I explained that each family has its tradition.

Also, because Chanukah is not one of the Biblical pilgrimage festivals during which all forms of labor are prohibited as instructed in the Bible, it offers an opportunity for families to have larger social gatherings, employ different traditions. Especially in Israel where it is a public holiday and schools are closed, it’s common for people to travel throughout the country, or even overseas during our popular winter vacation.

I also related how in Israel, weeks and sometimes months before Chanukah, the whole culture begins to focus on the holiday. This includes Chanukah displays in stores, the increasing number of Chanukah delicacies being offered for sale, and more. And it’s as mundane as hearing Chanukah songs as background music in malls and other public places, replete with seasonal sales that also employ the holiday themes.

As much as this was new information for many of the participants, I especially liked engaging them about the place in the New Testament where Chanukah is mentioned. It’s so subtle that if you don’t know what the first century Jewish culture is about, you wouldn’t necessarily know that John 10:22 is talking about Jesus celebrating Chanukah in Jerusalem. But if you don’t know what “the Festival of the dedication” is, you would have no idea that Jesus was in Jerusalem to celebrate the holiday.

As an Orthodox Jew with less familiarity with the New Testament, this raised many interesting questions which we discussed, but many of which were still unanswered.

Since Chanukah is not a pilgrimage holiday like Passover, Shavuot (Pentecost), Sukkot (Tabernacles) when Jews were expected to worship and bring offerings to the Temple, I asked why Jesus was in Jerusalem anyway.

I wanted to understand why this one reference in all of the New Testament was there to begin with.  Was it the only time that Jesus came to Jerusalem for the holiday and if so why and what was going on? Or is there something that was unique about this one particular visit, and it’s assumed that Jesus spent many winters celebrating Chanukah in Jerusalem. Unlike today when one can drive between Nazareth and Jerusalem in under three hours, making a pilgrimage by foot or donkey would take days, and days of planning. Forget the time off work.

While the conversation was going on, one person googled and shared some information which affirmed that it was customary for first century Jews to go to the Temple. After all, the military conquest and rededication of the Temple was relatively modern history to them.

This did not answer my questions, but did affirm something that should not be forgotten, that Jesus was a first century Jew, his life and culture were Jewish, and he worshiped in the Temple according to Jewish tradition. In a world where replacement theology remains widespread, and some try to erase the centrality of Jerusalem to Jews (and therefore Christians), it’s important that we remember this, and that Christians understand that everything Jesus did was essentially Jewish.

Jonathan Feldstein

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-chanukah-but-were-afraid-to-ask/

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Iran Stops Paying Terrorists, But You Still Pay Them, Thanks to Joe Biden - Robert Spencer

 

​ by Robert Spencer

A leftist administration keeps the cash flowing to the usual suspects.

 

The Iranian protesters who have gained the support of the entire world have pointed out more than once that the mullahs who run the repressive Islamic regime in Tehran spend more money on foreign jihad terrorists than on their own people. So in what may be another regime attempt to calm the protests, or simply an indication that the regime is strapped for cash, the Islamic Republic of Iran has stopped funding Palestinian jihad terror groups. Old Joe Biden’s handlers, however, are still forking over quite enough of your taxpayer cash to keep the terror groups going.

The Jerusalem Post reported Sunday that “Iran has stopped channeling funds to a number of Palestinian factions.” The Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds “quoted unnamed informed sources in Lebanon as saying that the factions are currently suffering from a financial crisis because of the Iranian move, which was taken three months ago.”

That report came exactly a week after Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke at a conference of J Street, a far-Left group that is viciously hostile to Israel. According to the Washington Free Beacon, Blinken “touted the Biden administration’s renewed engagement with the Palestinian government, which includes nearly $1 billion in U.S. taxpayer aid, and accused ‘Israeli settlers’ of perpetrating violence against Palestinians, a line that drew applause from J Street’s crowd.”

That nearly $1 billion in aid goes to the Palestinian Authority, but only the most naïve and blinkered assume that it is then spent only on humanitarian initiatives. The Taylor Force Act, which is still U.S. law although the Biden administration blithely ignores it, prevents taxpayer funds from being given to an entity that supports terrorism.

But the Palestinian Authority continues to pay imprisoned jihad terrorists and the families of dead terrorists who killed Israelis. As recently as May 2022, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reaffirmed that these payments would not stop: the Jerusalem Post reported that he said in a speech on “Nakba Day” that “the Palestinian Authority will continue to pay allowances to the families of Palestinian prisoners and those killed while carrying out attacks against Israel.”

Abbas has repeatedly vowed to keep paying terrorists. It’s one of the highest priorities of his regime, if not the very highest priority. In July 2018, according to Breitbart, he “vowed that his government will continue to pay salaries to terrorists and their families even if ‘we have only a penny left.’” Abbas added: “We will not accept a cut or cancellation of salaries to the families of martyrs and prisoners, as some are trying to bring about.”

The bulk of the prisoners who receive these payments are or were members of the terror groups Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, all of which have received funding from Iran and thus may be feeling the pinch because the mullahs have now cut them off. The Post reported that these groups claim they use the money from Iran to “pay salaries to their leaders and members and cover the costs of their ‘various activities.’” A bit more honestly, “in the past, Hamas and PIJ officials admitted that Iran has been supplying their groups with financial and military aid.”

Donald Trump had cut off the money to the Palestinian Authority in light of its ongoing support for jihad terrorism. Old Joe Biden immediately started the cash flowing again, which has now led to the absurd situation that the United States of America is funding terror groups that are dedicated to the destruction of its only reliable ally in the Middle East, and the only genuine democracy there.

The Biden administration’s continued funding of the Palestinian Authority despite its obvious, defiant and unapologetic financial support for jihad terrorism, and its continuing to fork over the cash when even the Islamic Republic of Iran has stopped, is yet another example of its resolute rejection of reality. Men can become women, a man who claims to be woman can become the first female four-star admiral, a cross-dressing luggage thief is an expert in nuclear waste disposal, and the Palestinian Authority is an upstanding, respectable “partner for peace.”

Instead of boasting at J Street about how much money the U.S. sends to the Palestinian Authority, Blinken could have explained that the Palestinians continue to fund terrorism and that, consequently, the American people are not going to be forced to pay for the murder of innocent Israeli civilians. But that would require that he be part of a sane administration, and that’s obviously not the case.

Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is author of 26 books including many bestsellers, such as The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), The Truth About Muhammad and The History of Jihad. His latest books are The Critical Qur'an and Who Lost Afghanistan?. Follow him on Twitter here, and like him on Facebook here.

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/iran-stops-paying-terrorists-but-you-still-pay-them-thanks-to-joe-biden/

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