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Daily Briefing:WEDNESDAY’S “NEWS OF THE WEEK IN REVIEW”

 

Ballot Box
source: Thor_Deichmann(Pixabay)

Remembering Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks Phil Dunner, Algemeiner, Nov. 11, 2020 – This week, we all grieve the loss of a very great man, scholar, and teacher, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Zeicher Tzadik Livracha.

      WEEKLY QUOTES

It doesn’t matter who wins the election.  To be fair the American regime is suffering severely from political, civil, and moral decadence. … An empire like this will not last long … and will be destroyed.  Of course, there are those who will hasten their destruction if they come to power and there are those who will delay it a bit.  But either way, this is the truth,” — Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said in a November address that the West’s “attacks” on Muhammad’s “honor” will be its undoing. He again called for the destruction of the State of Israel.  (United With Israel, Nov. 5, 2020)“Let’s not have any lectures, no lectures, about how the president should immediately, cheerfully accept preliminary election results from the same characters who just spent four years refusing to accept the validity of the last election and who insinuated that this one would be illegitimate too if they lost again—only if they lost,” —  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told other senators. He and other GOP senators also said he’s within his rights to file lawsuits and look into allegations of irregularities or fraud. “Our institutions are actually built for this,” adding that the United States has a “system in place to consider concerns and President Trump is 100 percent within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options.”  (Epoch Times, Nov. 10, 2020)

“The better way for Mr. Biden to have handled this situation, however awkward, would have been to thank the networks for their support and for calling the election for him — but then to remind them, and the American people, that the result has yet to be certified. And to say that out of respect for both the president and the presidency, he’d prefer to wait until the electoral college and the courts have disposed of any challenges,” – writes The New York Suneditorial board. ( NY Sun, Nov. 7, 2020)

“Well, it’s good news/bad news. The good news is the Pfizer tests look good and we’ll have a vaccine shortly. The bad news is that it’s about two months before Joe Biden takes over and that means this administration is going to be implementing a vaccine plan. The vaccine plan is very important and it’s probably the most ambitious undertaking since Covid began,” — Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) told CNN’s George Stephanopoulos.  New York State had the distinction of having had the highest infection and death rate from the coronavirus during the first wave by far.  (Grabie News, Nov. 9, 2020)  

“The UAE sent them [coronavirus] aid, but [their leaders] refused to accept it. That is because they don’t care about ordinary Palestinians. They only care about their own interests, … If these commodities got it [directly], they [PA leadership] wouldn’t be able to get their hands on them, and they wouldn’t be able to trade in them. They are small-time peddlers,” — Dirar Belhoul al-Falasi, a member of the United Arab Emirates’ Federal National Council said during an interview with   Kuwait’s Diwan Al-Mulla Online TV. He added:  “People from the Red Crescent told us that they [Hamas] built a hospital [in Gaza] and they were surprised when … this hospital was for treating Palestinians … people from Hamas fired a rocket from the hospital’s roof so that Israel would bomb this hospital. Just see how low they can go.”(United With Israel, Nov. 9, 2020)

“We need to upgrade the support, from support through soft power to support by means of money and weapons. Yes, I would like to make it perfectly clear: I am talking about support by means of money and weapons, for the mujahideen and the murabitun “defenders of the faith,” Muslim Temple Mount activists] in Jerusalem and its environs,” – said Hamas political bureau head Ismail Haniyeh at the First Electronic Pioneers Conference aired on Hamas’s Al-Aqsa TV(JNS, Nov. 10, 2020)

“To market settler colonialism, oppression, and apartheid to a world weary of all, Zionism had to invent a new narrative — a false narrative that would normalize the abnormal, legitimize the blatantly illegal, and justify the morally repugnant. Zionist leaders understood early on that it wasn’t enough to win military conflicts. They also had to win the conflict of narratives which in the past proved to have a bigger effect on the trajectory of human history. … Zionism … had to reinvent Judaism and Jewry to fit its purposes, and it did. All of a sudden, the Jewish portion of Palestine’s history became the history of Europeans of the Jewish faith. Accordingly, the European Jews became the “rightful” heirs to the land of Palestine This alternative history would portray their invasion of Palestine as a “just” war to reclaim what is theirs,” – said keynote speaker Rima Khalaf, a former UN official at the recent Palestine Book Fair who support BDS and is against normalizing relations with Israel. (Algemeiner, Nov. 9, 2020)

“Jewish life is still endangered and is not accepted by all people as a natural part of society. In addition to growing right-wing extremism and the permanent threat of Islamists, the Corona crisis has also led to an increase in antisemitism,” — Josef Schuster, president of Germany’s Central Council of Jews declared. He made his remarks on the 82nd anniversary on Monday of ‘Reichspogromnacht‘ — a night of arrests, mob violence and arson against Jews, their property and communal institutions that raged across Germany and Austria on the night of Nov. 9-10, 1938. (Algemeiner, Nov. 6, 2020)

“The tidal wave of violent anti-French demonstrations reflects the ongoing civilizational war between Western democracies and the non-democratic Muslim states, a war that has intensified against the backdrop of COVID-19 (which will have its own far-reaching economic and social consequences). The crisis between the French Republic and its Muslim population — especially its growing Islamist community — as well as the dramatic change in France’s traditionally friendly relations with many Arab and Muslim countries, illustrates that it was a serious mistake to avoid setting clear boundaries and enforcing restrictions on anti-republican sentiment and violent incitement within the country,” – writes BESA senior research Dr. Tsilla Hershco.  She commented on the violence that erupted following President Emmanuel Macron’s firm position against Islamic extremism permeating French society.  Two weeks after making his remarks, schoolteacher Samuel Paty was beheaded by an Islamic extremist for showing an image of Mohammad.  (Algemeiner, Nov. 9, 2020)

  SHORT TAKES

ISRAEL IN ADVANCED TALKS TO PURCHASE MILLIONS OF DOSES OF PFIZER COVID-19 VACCINE; ‘I SEE LIGHT AT END OF TUNNEL,’ NETANYAHU SAYS (Jerusalem) — Israel is in talks to purchase the coronavirus vaccine being developed by the American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. The news came after Pfizer announced earlier in the day that its vaccine had shown 90% effectiveness in clinical trials. The company said it would likely receive emergency approval from the US to manufacture and distribute the vaccine within the month. (Algemeiner, Nov. 9, 2020)

REPORT: TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TO RAMP UP PRESSURE ON IRAN BEFORE END OF TERM (Washington) — President Donald Trump is promoting, together with Israel, a series of sanctions on Iran that will be announced weekly and that would make it difficult for projected President-elect Joe Biden to return to the nuclear deal with Iran, as he had promised during his campaign, according to Elliott Abrams, the US Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela. The reports say that the outgoing administration, in coordination with Israel and the Gulf states, has prepared a list of targets in Iran that will be sanctioned every week until Biden takes office in January. The targets include entities involved in terrorism, missile development and human rights violations.  (United With Israel, Nov. 9, 2020)

US IMPOSES SANCTIONS ON INDIVIDUALS, FIRMS ALLEGEDLY CONNECTED TO IRAN MILITARY (Washington) — The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on six individuals and four companies for allegedly working with an Iranian military firm. Those sanctioned allegedly facilitated the procurement of sensitive goods. (JNS, Nov. 10, 2020)

FORMER BIDEN AIDE SAYS PRESIDENT-ELECT WILL REENTER IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL AS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PREPARES RAFT OF NEW SANCTIONS (Washington) — A former aide to Joe Biden said  that the president-elect is eager to rejoin the JCPOA nuclear deal with Iran, even as it was reported that the Trump administration is planning a raft of new sanctions on the Islamic Republic during its remaining two months in office. (Algemeiner, Nov. 8, 2020)

DONALD TRUMP APPROVES THE SALE OF F-22 RAPTORS TO ISRAEL AS NEIGHBOURS SET TO ACQUIRE F-35 JETS – REPORTS(Washington) — US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told Israeli officials that Washington has approved the sale of F-22 stealth fighter jets to Israel. Israel reluctantly gave it approval to the US for selling F-35 jets to the UAE that would diminish its military domination in the region. (Asia Times, Oct. 31, 2020)

NO FEAR: ISRAEL TO BUILD NEW COMMUNITY ON GAZA’S DOORSTEP (Negev) — PM Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel will begin construction of a new town in the Negev region bordering the Gaza Strip – the first new community there in decades. The new community of Hanun will be established with 500 families in the Sdot Negev Regional Council area, east of Kibbutz Sa’ad and about 6 kilometers (3.6 miles) from the Gaza border. (United With Israel, Nov. 9, 2020)

SAEB EREKAT, PLO SECRETARY-GENERAL, DEAD AT 65 (Ramallah) — Saeb Erekat, the Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the top negotiator for the Palestinian Authority, died Tuesday morning. He was 65. Erekat was rushed to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem last month, after he was infected with the coronavirus. A survivor of pulmonary fibrosis, Erekat was at elevated risk for the coronavirus, and was listed in serious condition when he was admitted to the hospital. The PLO secretary-general had suffered from serious health problems in recent years, undergoing a lung transplant in Virginia in 2017. (Arutz Sheva, Nov. 10, 2020)

ATTORNEY GENERAL TELLS JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO PROBE ELECTION FRAUD CLAIMS (Washington) — Attorney General William Barr has authorized federal prosecutors across the U.S. to pursue “substantial allegations” of voting irregularities, if they exist, before the 2020 presidential election is certified. Trump has not conceded the election and is instead claiming that there has been a widespread, multistate conspiracy by Democrats to skew the vote tally in Biden’s favor. (WIN, Nov. 10, 2020)

WITH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION UNDECIDED AND POLITICAL TENSIONS SURGING, US JEWISH UMBRELLA GROUP URGES UNITY (Washington) — With the US presidential election remaining undecided two days after voting ended and political tensions running high, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, a top American Jewish umbrella group issued a statement on Thursday urging unity. (Algemeiner, Nov. 5, 2020)

ANNE POLLARD TO ARUTZ SHEVA: WAITING ANXIOUSLY(Washington) — Anne Pollard, the ex-wife of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, responded tonight (Tuesday) to rumors on social media that President Trump has decided that next Friday the restrictions on Jonathan Pollard will end. “I have not heard anything official about it,” she says, “it’s been five years and I’m really waiting anxiously.” Since Pollard was released from prison in late 2015, he has been in what is defined as a “probationary period”, in which he is subject to severe restrictions, in view of the offenses for which he was convicted and for which he served time in prison. (Arutz Sheva, Nov. 10, 2020)

ZOA’S KLEIN/BERNEY JNS OP-ED : DON’T BELIEVE J STREET’S MISLEADING POLLS (Washington) —  J Street misleadingly announced that “Jews favor[ed] Biden over Trump, 77-21,” based on the results of its recently-released push poll.  To arrive at this conclusion, the op-ed claims, it employed classic “sampling error” to distort its poll results in its favor.  It surveyed a group that included a far lower percentage of Republican Jews than is present in the overall Jewish population. J Street’s sample group only included 11 percent strong Republicans, 3 percent weak Republicans and 5 percent Independents who lean Republican. However, the recent Gallup poll (2018-19), based on huge samples, estimates that 30 percent to 36 percent of Jews are Republican. (JNS, Nov. 10, 2020)

ONTARIO EDUCATION MINISTER CALLS FOR ANSWERS ON ANTI-ISRAEL VIDEO SHOWN TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS(Toronto) — Ontario’s minister of education has called on one of the province’s school boards to explain its continued use of a video that provincial officials have said was biased against Israel, months after the minister directed school boards to remove the video from their curricula. In July, the York Region District School Board, which oversees schools near Toronto, issued an apology over the video after a parent in the area complained about its inclusion in a tenth-grade civics course. (Algemeiner, Nov. 9, 2020)

PORTUGAL HAS NATURALIZED 23,000 APPLICANTS UNDER JEWISH LAW OF RETURN (Lisbon) — Portugal has granted citizenship to about 23,000 people who applied under a 2015 law granting citizenship to descendants of Sephardic Jews. That figure means that the government has thus far approved about 30% of the roughly 76,000 applications submitted since 2015. (JTA, Nov. 6, 2020)
 

FOR FURTHER REFERENCE
 

Israel Between Two Presidents:  Mordechai Kedar, JNS, Nov. 10, 2020 — One of the realities to which Israel will have to adjust during a Biden administration is that Barack Obama will probably play a role, officially or otherwise, as an adviser on national security or political affairs.

How the Biden Administration Might Restore Bipartisan Support for Israel:  Joshua Muravchik, Mosaic, Nov. 11, 2020 — Joe Biden can be expected to reverse a few of President Trump’s policies. 

Joe Biden, A Proud Catholic, Also Has a Very Jewish Family: Joshua Rhett Miller, JNS, Nov. 10, 2020 — As Joe Biden preps to become the nation’s second Catholic president, the president-elect also has deep Jewish roots within his extended family.

The Statistical Case Against Biden’s Win Steve Cortes, The National Pulse, Nov. 9, 2020 — The statistical case is, admittedly, circumstantial rather than conclusive. But the numbers also firmly point to the intense improbability of the accuracy of the present Biden lead. The statistical case provides more than enough reasonable suspicion to require hand recounts and immediate investigation into fraudulent activities, including the new damning revelations of on-the-record whistleblowers.
 

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