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NY’s Bail Reform Law Spells Disaster

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Under the new laws, most charged with second-degree manslaughter, aggravated vehicular homicide, assault and third-degree rape are being released without bail and on their honor to return to the courts for further hearings. In other words, criminals would be discharged to the streets before their victims were discharged from the hospitals they were sent to by these criminals. Photo Credit: ny1.com

Pardon us for continuing our war of words against the lunacy embalmed lawmakers of Albany who have enacted the recent “Get Out of Jail Free” bail laws that in only three weeks have exploded the rates of crime in our city and against Jews in particular, as we’ll soon discuss. These “progressive” officials appear to be acting in the interests of the ACLU and the NAACP rather than protecting the safety, security and welfare of our law abiding citizens. Tell that to our Attorney General, Letitia James. Sadly, we’re going to have to wait until Election Day to clean out the swamps now controlling our legislatures.

Under the new laws, most charged with second-degree manslaughter, aggravated vehicular homicide, assault and third-degree rape are being released without bail and on their honor to return to the courts for further hearings. In other words, criminals would be discharged to the streets before their victims were discharged from the hospitals they were sent to by these criminals. As well, defendants would be permitted to revisit and examine crime scenes, even if it’s a victim’s home. And that includes rape scenes.

But let’s take the cautious step of discussing these laws along racial lines. We consider them offensive and dangerous to the law abiding Jewish community. In the short period in which these decrees have been in effect, Jews have been the victims and blacks have largely been the perpetrators. Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn, over the past year, have experienced a huge increase in rates of physical assaults on them by blacks. They have been spit on, knocked down, beaten and robbed by those described in news reports as either black or Hispanic.

In a New York Times article, it was carefully pointed out that people “of all descriptions” are committing acts of anti-Semitism. They just can’t get out the words that these Jew hating actions emanate from “people of color.” Too hard for the media to digest and report. If it were white guys with MAGA hats, they’d be all over it.

Why can’t we all understand that the overt, Jew hating remarks from the likes of Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, and Louis Farrakhan and the history of Crown Heights Riots leader, Al Sharpton, still hold sway among African Americans and give them the needed impetus to attack Jews. We Jews must finally stand up and speak out and address the roots of the crimes against Jews in the city. We’re in a crisis now and these new laws that permit common criminals to walk out of our courtrooms and back to criminality without even a slap on the wrist spells trouble specifically for the usually peaceful, law abiding Jews in our midst. And that’s you, me and our kids.

Iran’s Nuke Ambitions Must Be Quashed

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Iranian state TV broadcast footage showing a secret underground missile base in the country where medium-and-long-range missiles are stored. Photo Credit: YouTube

On January 6, 2020, President Trump tweeted : “Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.” Who in his right mind could find fault with those words? Our own Progressive leaders do. They cannot or will not recognize or call out our mortal enemies who, since 1979, have vowed to destroy us. Iran has referred to the United States as “The Great Satan,” using the words of their holy Koran to promise to exterminate us as soon as they achieve nuclear weapon capability. Over these years, Iran has kept to its words and in tandem with its proxies have bombed American embassies and military installations, murdered hundreds and maimed thousands of American service members in the Middle East, kidnapped, imprisoned and tortured American citizens and yet we have an elite group in D.C. supportive of this regime? Crazy but true.

The pampering of this Islamist regime abruptly came to an end when President Obama left office. His secret payments to the Mullahs of 2 billion dollars, most of it in small bills strapped to pallets and delivered to Iran in a military cargo plane…in secret, are history. We now recognize that nation as a threat not only to Israel and us but to the security of the world. Yet we have an American support chorus that stands firmly with that nation.

When Trump ordered a successful hit on a top Iranian terrorist, General Qassem Soleimani, Representative Ilhan Omar said congressional Democrats are “outraged” that Trump ordered an airstrike that killed him. She suggested the President wanted to take peoples’ minds off the impeachment process by starting a war with Iran. Then the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi got on the pro-Iranian bandwagon stating: “The Administration has conducted tonight’s strikes in Iraq targeting high level Iranian military officials and killing Iranian Quds force Commander Qassem Soleimani without an authorization from Congress.” During WWII, the assassination of any Nazi or Japanese general would have been greeted with glee by all Americans. And we are at war with Iran and have been for over 30 years. Don’t our extremist leaders know this?

The Leftists in Congress are now being led by the nose by the likes of CAIR and Muslim Brotherhood supporters, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, both overt enemies of Israel and our own form of democracy. Their leaders, including Speaker Pelosi have capitulated to these Islamists over and over again. They have shown their lack of empathy for the Iranian people who risk their lives protesting in the streets of Tehran. They have fallen for the Islamist narrative that the West oppresses their people.

Recently, a vote was blocked in the House on a resolution which supports the Iranian protesters and condemned the shooting down by Iran of the Ukrainian airliner with the loss of 176 lives. It has become crystal clear that certain elected representatives of ours cannot support our President who condemns and stands up to the terrorist Iranian regime! The question that comes to mind is; who exactly do these elected officials represent? Do they represent the interests of the American people or the Iranian regime? Something to ponder as we gear up for yet another election cycle.

Letters to the Editor

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“Americans & the Holocaust” at USHMM

Dear Editor:

The January 15 article, “Historians Unveil New Research on US Response to the Holocaust,” grossly misrepresents the presentation by Dr. Erbelding and Dr. Greene at the American Historical Association on the bombing of Auschwitz. That important topic is addressed in the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s exhibition, “Americans and the Holocaust.” The exhibition shows that Americans had knowledge about the persecution and murder of the Jews throughout the Holocaust but rescuing them was never a priority for the public or the government and that the War Department viewed the bombing of Auschwitz in military rather than moral terms. I encourage people to visit the exhibition in person or online at ushmm.org/americans.

Sincerely

Andrew Hollinger
Director, Communications
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Bond Btwn Blacks & Jews Must Continue

Dear Editor:

As a civil rights lawyer who presently represents civil rights leaders, such as Rev. Kevin McCall, leader of the Crisis Action Center, Hawk Newsome, Chairman of Black Lives Matter Greater New York, as well as representing the Rev. Al Sharpton, President of the National Action Network for over 15 years, and as a proud Jew who grew up in the Monsey community of Forshay Heights in the town of Ramapo, in which one of the most horrific examples of anti-Semitism has recently occurred as well as representing that community in the Rockland County legislature for over 20 years, I believe it is important on the anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther King Jr. to reflect on his words regarding the importance of the strong relationship Jews have had historically in this country with the African-American community.

Dr. King, during his life, spoke to numerous Jewish audiences, often linking Jewish history to the struggle of African Americans with regard to racism. He said in a speech in 1958 at the National Convention of the American Jewish Congress, “My people were brought to America in chains. Your people were driven here to escape the chains fashioned for them in Europe. Our unity is born of our common struggle for centuries, not only to rid ourselves of bondage, but to make oppression of any people by others an impossibility”. “Some have bombed the homes and churches of Negroes; and in recent acts of inhuman barbarity, some have bombed your synagogues”.

As Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Jewish Labor Committee said in an article entitled, “A Special Bond: Martin Luther King, Jr., Israel and American Jewry,” “This year, U.S. Jews, like other Americans, will mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day by remembering him as a powerful voice against racism and for civil rights. But, for Jews, Dr. King was also something else: a uniquely important ally in the fight against anti-Semitism and for a secure Israel”.

As Martin Luther King, Jr. said in 1965, “How could there be anti-Semitism among Negroes when our Jewish friends have demonstrated their commitment to the principle of tolerance and brotherhood not only in the form of sizable contributions, but in many other tangible ways, and often at great personal sacrifice,” “Who can ever forget the sacrifice of two Jewish lives, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, in the swamps of Mississippi? It would be impossible to record the contribution that the Jewish people have made toward the Negro’s struggle for freedom – it has been so great”.

As one who remains committed to fight for social justice for all, we must continue to denounce hate in any way, shape, or form and continue to work together, Jews and Blacks, like Goodman and Schwerner worked with Dr. King, in the future. As we come together on King Day, we must recommit ourselves to practice the nonviolent activism that King preached, with unity and love.

Sincerely,

Sanford Rubinstein, Esq.

Africa is Important

Dear Editor:

Recent news items indicate the Trump administration is considering plans to reduce the U.S. military footprint in Africa. Judging from his previous statements regarding his reluctance to have America’s soldiers on foreign lands, President Trump’s presumed rationale is:

  • That Islamic terrorists in Africa pose no threat to Americans on U.S. soil
  • That it is far more important to reposition our armed forces to defend us in a conflict with the two biggest military powers, China and Russia

If this is indeed President Trump’s rationale, it misses ten key issues:

(1) Northern Africa is a gateway for terrorists and illicit drugs into Europe, Latin America and the U.S.

(2) African countries need help protecting themselves from highly motivated radical Islamist terrorists.

(3) The southern half of Africa is predominantly Christian, which needs help protecting itself themselves from armed jihadists.

(4) Chaos in Africa leads to refugees floods and illegal economic migration to Europe, and the U.S. This causes brain-drain that robs Africa of future economic growth.

(5) Africa is on the front lines of America’s containment strategy of Islamic terrorists.

(6) Instability in Africa hurts our key allies like Nigeria, Egypt, and Morocco, among others.

(7) Russia, and China and Iran, will fill any voids that we the U.S. leave open.

(8) Any unilateral disarmament sends a signal to key enemies like Iran, competitors like China and Russia, and “frenemies” like Turkey that we can be pressured to stop protecting our allies.

(9) It is unethical for the U.S. to not help protect our numerous Christian and Muslim national allies, who generally share our values.

(10) Destabilizing Africa will eventually hurt Americans, on our homeland, 1-3 years later, through increased terror and illicit drugs.

Further reducing four already-small contingents of 7,000 soldiers in Africa is a repudiation of the Trump administration’s “America First“ strategy to firmly protect the U.S. It’s also hardly good politics, just before the November elections.

Sincerely

Ken Abramowitz, President & Founder, SaveTheWest
Research & editing by Jon Sutz

Black Anti-Semitism: The New Blood Libel – Part 1

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There have been many attempts to attribute recent attacks on Jews by blacks in the New York City area to Donald Trump or white people in general. Democratic Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib blamed "white supremacists." Tlaib is herself a Palestinian-American who has made inflammatory statements about Jews. Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Why the Left blames the attacks on White Supremacy

By: Danusha Goska

On Sunday, January 5, 2020, I was one of an estimated 25,000 protesters participating in the Solidarity March against antisemitism. Chilled and tightly packed marchers began in Manhattan’s Foley Square, stepped, painfully slowly, over the Brooklyn Bridge, and congregated in Cadman Plaza.

Jewish Currents editor David Klion warned against “right-wing forces” “exploiting attacks” to “legitimize racism.” Photo Credit: Twitter

In Cadman Plaza, a protester held up a handmade sign reading “RACIST WHITE HOUSE.” Another man persistently walked in front of that man, carrying a mass-produced “Solidarity. No Hate No Fear” sign. The first man shifted position, but the second man would not be deterred. He clearly did not want Trump-blaming to triumph. The two protesters’ eventual shouting match typifies a national debate. How to understand recent attacks by blacks against Jews? Is it all Trump’s fault, or the fault of white supremacists? Or is there such a thing as black antisemitism?

That sign was just one of many attempts to attribute recent attacks on Jews by blacks in the New York City area to Donald Trump or white people in general. Democratic Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib blamed “white supremacists.” Tlaib is herself a Palestinian-American who has made inflammatory statements about Jews. Jewish Currents editor David Klion warned against “right-wing forces” “exploiting attacks” to “legitimize racism.” An invited speaker at Sunday’s rally said that racism was a problem for “the past three years,” that is, the years that Donald Trump has occupied the White House.

This article hopes to demonstrate that, contrary to leftist historical revisionism, headline-making incidents of black antisemitism stretch back decades. Though separated by time and space, these incidents share enough features to be understood as a cultural trend, rather than as the bad behavior of isolated lone wolves.

Back in 1994, prominent persons said that African American students should not be criticized for laughing at Jewish suffering because African American students have very hard lives and are victims of oppression. When Schindler’s List producer and director Steven Spielberg visited the school, the Jerusalem Post reported on April 13, 1994, “About 100 students and others protested Spielberg’s appearance, saying the Holocaust does not speak directly to them.” Photo Credit: Amazon.com

Naming and analyzing black antisemitism, contra David Klion, is not a “right-wing,” “racist” exercise. I’m Catholic and Polish-American and I have no problem calling out Catholic or Polish antisemitism. The folk motif of the blood libel, the derogatory Polish word “Zydokomuna,” the radio broadcasts of Catholic priest Charles Coughlin, are all part of my heritage. I explicitly reject them, condemn them, and distance myself from them. No, all African Americans are not antisemitic; only a minority are, but denunciation is all the more vital and urgent given persistent efforts to deny the very existence of black antisemitism, and to silence any discussion of it.

Van Wallach, a Times of Israel blogger, quotes antisemitic themes in African American writing dating back to 1965. A previous Front Page article mentioned the 1995 Freddy’s Fashion Mart protests that culminated in eight killings, the deadly 1991 Crown Heights pogrom, Khalid Abdul Muhammad’s 1993 speech at Kean College, and the 2002 Amiri Baraka poem that blamed Jews for the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Here’s another incident. On January 17, 1994, Castlemont High School students went to the movies in Oakland, California. The movie was Schindler’s List. The students talked and laughed continuously throughout the film until, one hour into the showing, theater manager Allen Michaan stopped the projector. Audience members, “shaking with anger,” complained. “I’ve never seen such furious, hurt customers. Some were Holocaust survivors, and one woman was sobbing,” Michaan said. The students were asked to leave and their departure was applauded by the audience. A Castlemont student said that audience members applauding her departure was “so uncomfortable.” An NPR producer highlighted how victimized the students felt. “There was always a feeling of being policed or policing yourself if you’re young, brown, and carefree in a white space. That can harden you really quick.” Castlemont students’ behavior made national news.

Castlemont is a low-ranked, mostly black and Hispanic high school. Recent news stories describe it as a place of shootings, homelessness, manipulated test scores, and football protests featuring Colin Kaepernick himself.

Back in 1994, prominent persons said that African American students should not be criticized for laughing at Jewish suffering because African American students have very hard lives and are victims of oppression. When Schindler’s List producer and director Steven Spielberg visited the school, the Jerusalem Post reported on April 13, 1994, “About 100 students and others protested Spielberg’s appearance, saying the Holocaust does not speak directly to them.” “We don’t have any problem talking about their Holocaust. But there hasn’t been anything about the Asian holocaust, the Latino holocaust, the black holocaust,” said one Castlemont student. Another student said, “It was long ago and far away and about people we never met. We don’t know about those concentration camps, but I do hear a lot of Jew jokes.” Another student said, “We see death and violence in our community all the time. People cannot understand how numb we are toward violence.” And another, “I don’t want to hear anything about anybody else’s Holocaust before I hear my own.”

“Jews Debating Black Antisemitism” feels entirely of the moment. It reads as if it had been published in 2020. It wasn’t. The Times published this article on January 26, 1969, fifty-one years ago. The article is as if frozen in amber. The same debates are happening today, and there has been no resolution to them. “Jews Debating Black Antisemitism” concerns one of the most headline-grabbing outbreaks of allegations of black antisemitism. These allegations swirled around the 1968 Ocean Hill-Brownsville teachers’ strike. Pictured above is Albert Shanker who lead teachers on what has been called the longest and largest teachers’ strike in US history. Shanker became so nationally prominent that his name was the punchline in a 1973 Woody Allen movie, Sleepers. Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Those protesting Spielberg’s visit carried signs that said, “How can a Zionist Jew teach us about racism and oppression?” and “Zionist Jews are the new Nazis.” Before Spielberg took the mic, a student performed a monologue that began, “Dear Mr. President, I am a woman with three children and no food to eat.”

California’s Republican Governor, Pete Wilson, accompanied Spielberg. Wilson had previously said that welfare “seduces teenage girls into a life of poverty and encourages irresponsibility.” One student said to Wilson that she saw his visit “as an opportunity to vent the anger, and the spite, and the animosity I feel toward your entire time in office. I mean, I want to know was your main purpose in portraying yourself through the streets of my city where you have cut welfare, education, and many young futures, like mine” (sic).

A Castlemont teacher organized an “African Holocaust Day. There were musicians and African dancers, lectures on ancient Egypt and Jim Crow.” A speaker “wearing a regal brown and gold dashiki, a kufi, with a leather-bound neck pouch, walked up and down the front of a classroom, commanding students’ attention, pointing to placards listing the names of people who had been lynched … This is the Maafa … Maafa is another word for the African Holocaust.” One student’s takeaway from these presentations was the false impression that “Slave ships were owned by Jews.” A Jewish social worker at the school was asked, “Did your family own slaves?”

Film scholar Dennis Hanlon said that many students’ comments reflected their feeling that “their own history and suffering were largely ignored and that before they should be asked to understand another communities’ suffering, they should be allowed to learn more about their own.” Spielberg agreed, telling students that they were victims of bad press. Partly in reparations for these black students’ alleged victimization, Steven Spielberg made Amistad, about a slave uprising.

By 1997, the Washington Post published the false claim that “The only people who laughed during Schindler’s List were skinheads.” National Public Radio’s This American Life addressed the Castlemont incident in 2018. Times of Israel blogger James Inverne argued that This American Life’s handling of the topic perpetuated the notion that if Jews protest against antisemitism expressed by black people, they risk “creating more hatred towards Jews.”

A different event, thousands of miles away, echoes some of the same themes evident in the Castlemont incident. Those who insist that “black antisemitism” is a misnomer meant to distract attention from white racists, a recent invention, or that blacks who commit antisemitic acts are programmed to do so by white racists or Donald Trump might be surprised by a New York Times article entitled, “Jews Debating Black Antisemitism.”

“Confronted by racial and religious hatred … a shocked Jewish community is debating what to do about it,” the article begins. The article mentions suspicious synagogue fires in New York City. Some Jewish leaders quoted in the article argue for “vigorous” condemnation and counter action. Others fear that “defensive reaction might bring on a backlash and hasten the political antisemitism that all Jews seek to avoid.” Some argue that the Holocaust ended antisemitism. Others allege that anti-Jewish “incitement” gains momentum when religious, cultural and political leaders de not rapidly condemn it. When New York City’s mayor did speak out against antisemitism, a black teacher responded that the mayor was trying to “appease the powerful Jewish financiers of the city.”

News coverage of the Ocean Hill Brownsville teachers strike of the late 1960s in New York City. These strikes ignited log dormant tensions between blacks and Jews and the most vile and reprehensible forms of anti-Semitism was spewed forth by black community leaders and others.

“Jews Debating Black Antisemitism” feels entirely of the moment. It reads as if it had been published in 2020. It wasn’t. The Times published this article on January 26, 1969, fifty-one years ago. The article is as if frozen in amber. The same debates are happening today, and there has been no resolution to them. “Jews Debating Black Antisemitism” concerns one of the most headline-grabbing outbreaks of allegations of black antisemitism. These allegations swirled around the 1968 Ocean Hill-Brownsville teachers’ strike.

Brownsville, a Brooklyn neighborhood, changed over decades from being predominantly Jewish to being increasingly black. Teachers were often Jewish. In the late sixties, African American activists demanded community control of schools. These activists were funded, ironically enough, by the Ford Foundation. This funding source for what would become an antisemitic manifestation is ironic because Henry Ford himself was a notorious anti-Semite. By 1968, Henry Ford had been dead for twenty-one years. His foundation, Heather MacDonald argues, had been radicalized into a steamroller of leftist social engineering. The Ford Foundation, MacDonald writes, exercised its considerable financial might to advance black separatists and anti-Semites. African American Civil Rights leader Bayard Rustin was critical of the black separatist position, but he didn’t have the heft of the Ford Foundation at his back.

Khalid Abdul Muhammad’s 1993 speech at Kean College

Black activists terminated Jewish teachers. Albert Shanker lead teachers on what has been called the longest and largest teachers’ strike in US history. Shanker became so nationally prominent that his name was the punchline in a 1973 Woody Allen movie, Sleepers.

            (Front Page Mag)

(To Be Continued Next Week)

Iran: Why the Old Recipe Does Not Work

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The latest protests in Iran are clearly focused on a demand for regime change, even by some former "reform-seekers". All this means that the regime's classical recipe for survival isn't working as before. Pictured: Riot police stand face off against anti-regime protesters in front of Amir Kabir University in Tehran, Iran on January 11, 2020. (Photo by Getty Images)

By: Amir Taheri

No matter what gloss the ruling clerics might try to put on current events in Iran, one point is clear: their Islamic Republic is in trouble. Deep trouble.

This is, of course, not the first time that the system hastily put together by a bunch of mullahs and their leftist allies hits a bump on its road to nowhere. Even in its first year the Islamic Republic faced huge protest movements in Tehran and other major cities and had to use force to crush rebellions by Iranian-Kurdish and Turcoman communities.

According to best estimates, to remain in place the Islamic Republic has executed more than 15,000 people and driven more than 8 million Iranians into exile. And all that not to mention the eight-year war that the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini provoked with Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Despite all that the regime managed to survive, thanks to a number of factors.

The first of those was that the Islamic Republic had at its disposal a large amount of cash earned from oil exports. The steady rise in oil prices meant that in its first 30 years of existence, the Islamic Republic earned more than 20 times the money that Iran had made ever since it started exporting oil in 1908.

That ready source of cash meant that the new rulers of Iran did not need the citizenry for any of the ordinary things citizens in normal countries are needed for. The government did not depend on the people for revenue through taxation.

At the same time, it did not need citizens to win elections, as candidates were approved beforehand. Nor did the government need the citizens to work to keep the economy going. Over four million refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq and former Soviet Azerbaijan provided a huge source of cheap labor.

When it came to needing citizens to fight for the regime, citizens were again not indispensable as the regime succeeded in hiring mercenaries in a number of neighboring countries, notably Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon.

It was that scheme of proxy wars that turned the late General Qassem Soleimani into a hero of the Islamic Republic. In fact, Soleimani did not need any military expertise. All he needed to do was to act as a cash machine for his proxy warriors.

Today, however, the oil cow is giving the mullahs much less milk than before. In fact, the regime’s hope is to secure around USD $60 billion a year to cover its basic expenses. The existing war chest, built over the years, won’t cover those basic expenses for more than a year from now.

The other important element in the regime’s strategy was certainly that, whatever it did at home or abroad, its putative foes, preferring dialogue and compromise, would always shy away from taking strong action.

Tehran always knew that whatever it did against outside powers, it always had the option of surrendering at five minutes to midnight. Today, that option is also fading. I doubt that even the lily-livered Europeans would now settle for just a friendly smile and a promise of future good behavior from Tehran. President Hassan Rouhani and his “New York Boys” may still hope to see a Democrat in the White House soon. But even if that happens, I doubt that any future US president would repeat the mistakes made by President Barack Obama.

Even an opportunistic power such as Russia is no longer prepared to play the game according to the rules fixed by the mullahs. The mullahs’ total disregard for international law and norms of behavior, tragically demonstrated with the shooting down of the Ukrainian jetliner in Tehran, makes it hard for even dyed-in-wool anti-Americans in the West and elsewhere to continue as apologists for an incompetent, corrupt and cruel regime.

The next item in the mullahs’ scenario was to wrap themselves in patriotic colors and demand that Iranians forgive their peccadillos in the name of raw nationalism. Rouhani’s closest associate Muhammad Javad Zarif, acting as foreign minister, often uses tropes such as, “Iran’s 7,000-year civilization” and claims that “we were masters of the world long before Americans appeared on the map.” However, that trick isn’t working either. Most Iranians, including many regime apologists in the West, know that the regime’s core ideology, Khomeinism, is built on a profound hatred of all things Iranian.

The mullahs’ recent attempt at marketing Gen. Soleimani as an Iranian hero, a kind of nationalist icon, has proved a failure as posters lamenting his demise are torn down and/or effaced by protesters in the country.

Soleimani was a cash-dispensing machine that never asked Iranians for permission to spend their money abroad. The scheme he ran was never discussed anywhere, even in the regime’s own institutions, let alone any public forum. Nor was he answerable to anyone but “Supreme Guide” Ali Khamenei who, if Soleimani’s only press interview is believed, never bothered to go into any details.

Another feature of the regime’s survival scenario was to foment false hopes by fielding supposedly “reformist” figures capable of replacing the regime’s frown with a smile to please some Iranians and many gullible foreigners. Today, however, that trick is also hard to repeat, especially as more and more players in the “reform-seeking” game realize that they have been taken for a ride.

When everything else failed, the mullahs knew that they could hang onto power by mass killings and widespread arrests. Each time they used that trick they managed to buy a few more years. This time, however, may be different. The current wave of protests was launched just days after the crushing of the previous national uprising. The previous round of protests seemed divided between a demand for straight regime change or a demand for cosmetic moves, including the resignation of top officials.

The latest protests, however, are clearly focused on a demand for regime change, even by some former “reform-seekers”. All this means that the regime’s classical recipe for survival isn’t working as before. For the first time, more and more Iranians are beginning to contemplate regime change not as merely a desirable slogan but as a practical strategy to lead the nation out of the impasse created by Khomeinism.

             (Gatestone Institute)

Amir Taheri was the executive editor-in-chief of the daily Kayhan in Iran from 1972 to 1979. He has worked at or written for innumerable publications, published eleven books, and has been a columnist for Asharq Al-Awsat since 1987. He is the Chairman of Gatestone Europe.

This article was originally published by Asharq al-Awsat and is reprinted by kind permission of the author.

The Desperate 11th Hour Impeachment Ploy

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Lev Parnas arrives at federal court for an arraignment hearing on October 23, 2019 in New York City. Photo Credit: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

By: Joseph Klein

The House Democrats’ desperate 11th hour effort to beef up their incredibly weak impeachment case against President Trump is running ahead at full speed. They are hoping to supplement their House impeachment investigation record for use at the Senate impeachment trial beginning this week with documents that they have obtained from Lev Parnas. Mr. Parnas, an associate of President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, has been indicted on charges of conspiring to violate the ban on foreign donations and contributions in connection with federal and state elections.

Parnas had turned over texts, e-mails, notes, photos, and other documents to the House Intelligence Committee, which the Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff claims are relevant to the impeachment. Schiff has transmitted the Parnas materials to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler. The Judiciary Committee would presumably include these materials, along with transcripts of Parnas’s cable TV interviews with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and CNN’s Anderson Cooper, as part of the record of the impeachment investigation for the House managers’ use at the Senate trial. Schiff is the leading House impeachment manager. Nadler is also one of the House managers. The House Democrats cited the Parnas materials in their “Trial Memorandum.”

Indicted Lev Parnas has emerged as the Democrats’ latest central figure in their ongoing melodrama. That is because of Parnas’s unsubstantiated claim that President Trump knew everything about the effort by Mr. Giuliani to pressure the Ukrainian government into investigating the Bidens. The Democrats are hoping that the documents Parnas turned over to the House Intelligence Committee support Parnas’s accusation. However, they do not. The only “evidence” of any direct contacts between Parnas himself and President Trump are a few random photos of the two men together. One of the photos merely shows a desk with nameplates next to each other reading President Donald J. Trump and Lev Parnas, behind which are two empty chairs. This photo could have been easily staged. Parnas has not submitted documentation – texts, e-mails, notes of phone calls, etc.–of any substantive communications directly between Parnas and the president, as far as we can tell from the materials that have been made public.

There is documentation of communications between Parnas and Rudy Giuliani pertaining to Ukraine. However, they add nothing to what we already know concerning Mr. Giuliani’s intense interest in obtaining more information about the Bidens’ activities in Ukraine during the Obama administration. And even assuming that Mr. Giuliani was acting with President Trump’s direct knowledge and consent, so what? Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company which paid no-experience Hunter Biden lucrative compensation for serving on its board, has an undisputed history of corruption on a grand scale. Why shouldn’t the activities in Ukraine of Hunter Biden, and of his father who was then serving as President Obama’s point man in Ukraine and had demanded the firing of the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating Burisma, be considered a legitimate subject for investigation into alleged corruption?

House Democrats are also trying to ensnare House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes’ aide, Derek Harvey, in some sort of nefarious plot based on texts showing Mr. Harvey’s frequent contacts with Lev Parnas relating to Ukraine. As Politico reports, the “text messages show Harvey asking Parnas to pursue several lines of inquiry with his Ukrainian contacts, including one regarding what Harvey calls ‘rumor’ about coordination between the 2016 campaign of Hillary Clinton and the Ukrainian government to dig up dirt on Trump’s campaign manager Paul Manafort.”

Amongst the material turned over by Parnas was a whatsapp message from Derek Harvey in which he asked Mr. Parnas for “materials” that might shed light on reports of the doubling of U.S. foreign aid to Ukraine from Fiscal Year 2015 to Fiscal Year 2016. Evidently reporting what his sources at the State Department had told him, Mr. Harvey wrote, “Their hunch was that the $ would get grafted by UKR officials, in exchange for $ then given to Clinton Foundation or other social justice causes.” Derek Harvey then asked Parnas to look at “TDY records to Kiev” (possibly a reference to temporary duty assignment records), “cables from DC to post, et al, audit donor aid to UKR.”

Whether these texts lend any credence to charges, in Politico’s words, of Rep. Nunes’ “potential involvement in the Giuliani-led effort to oust [former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine] Yovanovitch and push the Ukrainian government to announce an investigation targeting Biden,” they provide no proof whatsoever of the first impeachment article’s allegation that President Trump abused his presidential powers. Much of the materials chronicle logistical difficulties in setting up meetings and Skype calls. They show an interest in ferreting out possible corruption involving foreign aid to Ukraine and the Clinton Foundation, but there is barely any mention of the Bidens. In any case, the materials provide no direct evidence proving that President Trump required the Ukrainians to announce a Biden investigation as a precondition to receiving the temporarily withheld security aid. And the aid was ultimately released with no strings attached.

As to the temporary hold on the security aid, the House Democrats are also seizing on the published opinion last week by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that the hold violated the Impoundment Control Act. The Democrats cited the GAO legal opinion in their Trial Memorandum.

“Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law,” the GAO opinion said. “OMB [Office of Management and Budget] withheld funds for a policy reason, which is not permitted under the Impoundment Control Act (ICA). The withholding was not a programmatic delay. Therefore, we conclude that OMB violated the ICA.”

The House Democrats’ use of the non-binding GAO opinion to support their impeachment case is laughable. They are elevating what is at most a non-binding finding of a technical violation, which delayed the release of the security aid to Ukraine for less than two months, into an impeachable offense. The aid was released before the end of the fiscal year on September 30, 2019.

The GAO is not a judicial body. Nor is it an impartial arbiter of a separation of powers dispute between the legislative and executive branches since it works for Congress. Moreover, as Breitbart pointed out, “if a mere GAO finding is sufficient to justify impeachment, then President Barack Obama ought to have been impeached at least seven times over for each of the following cases in which the GAO found that the Obama administration had violated federal law.” The Breitbart article then went on to list these unpunished instances.

The GAO opinion neglected to properly analyze the reasons for President Trump’s temporary hold order that the OMB implemented. The president of the United States, as the Supreme Court has written, is “the sole organ of the federal government in the field of international relations – a power which does not require as a basis for its exercise an act of Congress.” The president decided to temporarily delay the disbursement of aid to Ukraine, a country with a dark history of corruption, until he was satisfied that the current Ukrainian government is taking its anti-corruption pledges seriously. Not only is this within his constitutional powers to set foreign policy priorities. It is consistent with legislative authority granted to the president and the executive agencies under his direction to use foreign assistance programs to combat corruption and encourage good governance.

Sadly, the American people will have to endure more partisan nonsense from the Democrat House managers during the Senate impeachment trial. In the end, the Senate will hopefully do its duty and dispatch these clowns back to the circus tent they came from with a verdict acquitting President Trump of all charges contained in the reckless House impeachment articles.

            (Front Page Mag)

Exploring the Ramban’s Torah Commentary in a User Friendly Way

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"What does Ramban say: An in depth guide to Ramban's Torah Commentary" (Feldheim Publishing 2019)

Understanding Ramban’s Torah commentary in depth is a challenge, as he uses pshat, drash, remez and sod in his exegesis–and writes lengthy interpretations. Rabbi Dr. Avigdor Bonchek’s new book opens the door in a scholarly but user friendly way.

By: Rochel Sylvetsky

Ramban–or Nahmanides – wrote many works, but in his Torah commentary, wanted only to reach a better and deeper understanding of Torah verses and topics.

(This article was originally published on the Arutz Sheva web site, arutzsheva.com. It is republished here with the permission of the Arutz Sheva editorial staff)

The nearly consecutive lives of three of Judaism’s greatest rabbinic scholars, whose writings remain the mainstays of Torah study, Rashi (1040-1105), Rambam (1135-1240) and Ramban (1194-1270) in chronological order, spanned only a little over two centuries.

The first, Rashi, wrote a wondrous commentary on the Pentateuch (and Talmud) aimed at explaining the intended meaning of Chazal’s (our Talmudic Sages) words. Rambam, also known as Maimonides, organized the enormous expanse of Oral and Written law according to topics and wrote the philosophic Guide to the Perplexed, among other writings. The third, Ramban–or Nahmanides – wrote many works, but in his Torah commentary, wanted only to reach a better and deeper understanding of Torah verses and topics. *

This is how Rabbi Dr. Avigdor Bonchek describes the three Rabbinic giants in his new book “What does Ramban say: An in depth guide to Ramban’s Torah Commentary” (Feldheim Publishing 2019). He then goes on to present us with the next stage: a better and deeper understanding of the Ramban’s commentary on those Torah verses and topics.

Rabbi Bonchek is previously famed for his books on Rashi (What’s Bothering Rashi series, Feldheim Press)

To achieve his goal, he explains, Ramban did not have one favored method of exegesis (as did Rashbam, for example) but turned to whatever he thought would be of help–pshat, midrash, halakha, aggadah and the esoteric mysteries of kabbalah (‘sod’), often arguing with Rashi and other commentator’s explanations. All methods of exegesis were valid in his eyes, the Torah a multi-layered work that could be explained on different levels.

If he deemed it necessary to explain a specific word or text, Ramban would use analytical tools (as he does in his proof of the age of Moses’ mother, Yocheved), bring examples from the wider context and other places in the Torah, and sometimes employ his partly historical, partly mystical saying “Maase Avot Siman Lebanim”- what the patriarchs did is a symbol to their descendants – itself a multi-layered phrase.

Ramban also brings psychological insights as part of his commentary, according to Rabbi Bonchek, previously famed for his books on Rashi (What’s Bothering Rashi series, Feldheim Press) where his approach was to discover what question lies behind Rashi’s choice of explanation. But Rashi’s explanations are brief, lending themselves to that question, while Ramban’s explanations, more often than not, are at least a page long, and Bonchek’s analyzes the explanation itself as well as looking for the reason it was needed.

For example, in last week’s parasha, Vayigash, when Jacob and Joseph meet again after over two decades, the verses contain pronouns in a way that makes it unclear about who is revealed to whom and who fell on whose neck. Ramban decides who is referred to by each pronoun. In doing so, writes Rabbi Bonchek, he shows logical and rational psychological insight in declaring that it is obviously the longing parent who is emotional at seeing the son he had given up for dead, while Joseph – now a mighty ruler – takes it in stride.

Another book by Rabbi Avigdor Bonchek, of blessed memory is: Studying the Torah: A Guide to In-Depth Interpretation

Perhaps that is why the author of this book seems to admire and identify so much with Ramban’s commentary – Rabbi Dr. Bonchek himself, who studied in Ner Yisrael and Ponovizh yeshivas, then earned a doctorate from NYU, was a sought-after clinical psychotherapist for decades in Israel, turning to the writing of scholarly Torah works after his retirement.

Bonchek writes with the instincts of an educator as well and the book, written parasha by parasha, is arranged so that a chosen part of Ramban’s commentary on a specific verse/topic is brought, questions are raised about what Ramban means and on what he bases this commentary. The reader is asked to posit his own answers before continuing to the author’s understanding of the commentary. This is followed, when suitable, by a closer look at the topic, an example of Ramban’s approach to midrash, to pshat, and sometime Ramban’s own understanding.

Note – Bonchek does not give his own explanation of Torah, but seeks, with great humility, to attempt to understand what Ramban means, what lies behind Ramban’s own explanations, how Ramban looks for what each midrash he uses is based on, how sometimes he shows that the midrash is actually pshat. He explains Ramban’s rationale for comparisons with other texts, and why in specific instances Ramban, famously, states clearly that he doesn’t agree with Rashi, Ibn Ezra or others.

Rabbi Bonchek, himself a brilliant, empathetic and modest Talmid Chacham, writes how Ramban’s humility shines through his explanations, remarking on how he prefaces many of them with the self-deprecating words “venire be’eynai – it seems to me”–”venachon be’eynai–it seems correct in my eyes.”

One of the chapters on this week’s parasha, Vayechi, centered on Yaakov’s last words, is an example of how the book is organized, although the headings brought below are not always the same in each parasha. The chapter begins with the verse to be discussed and the Ramban’s words on it, followed by headings whose content enlightens the reader step by step:

  • -Questioning Ramban
  • -Understanding Ramban
  • -The nature of the process
  • -What is bothering Ramban
  • -A closer look
  • -A fuller understanding
Rabbi Dr. Bonchek himself, who studied in Ner Yisrael and Ponovizh yeshivas, then earned a doctorate from NYU, was a sought-after clinical psychotherapist for decades in Israel, turning to the writing of scholarly Torah works after his retirement.

While leading the reader through these headings in Parashat Vayechi, Rabbi Bonchek explains how Ramban understands the psychology of someone who feels his death is not far off, in contrast to someone who is obviously ill and dying, using the wording of Yaakov Avinu’s call to Yosef. He brings the verse beginning “And the days of Yisrael neared death” and the Ramban on those words, then asks the reader what the Ramban’s question might be.

Bonchek then suggests a question – the Torah says Yaakov’s death approaching, but he does not die and actually blesses each of his sons, with his actual death mentioned much later. What does the Torah mean to say?

In the following paragraph, headed Understanding Ramban, Rabbi Bonchek writes: Ramban differentiates between the psychological sense one has that death is near and a physical illness that may be the immediate cause of death. He tells us that “old people may have an intuition that their time on earth is about to end. …not a physical illness, which would be apparent to others; it is rather a sapping of one’s physical strength…it is something only the person himself is aware of.”

Ramban “wants us to understand [that Yaakov] felt that final weakness and knew his death was near – near, but not necessarily imminent,. That explains, he says, how Yosef left his father and returned to his family…and, only later, when Yaakov was actually ill did Yosef return to him to receive his own [final] blessing.”

In the heading titled A Closer Look, Bonchek discusses why Ramban then brings the description of King David’s last days, where the verses are that as “the days of David neared death,” he summoned his son Solomon and told him “I am going the way of all the earth…” Rambam adds, “for he knew in his soul that it was so.”

As Rabbi Bonchek explains, the fact that King David used that expression, means that the way he felt was not apparent to others. Ramban was a doctor, and Rabbi Bonchek ends the chapter with an example of the insights that make this book so enlightening: “I see this comment as yet another example of Ramban’s down-to-earth knowledge of human psychology which, combined with his honed perception of the Torah’s words, give expression to this worldly knowledge.”

The next topic, Yaakov’s recollection of Rachel’s death, is accompanied by a midrash about why her grave is located on the side of a road. Ramban shows the basis for the midrash in the verse itself, and Rabbi Bonchek, expertly gets the reader to think about what that basis is, before expounding on it. **

Let us hope that this original, challenging book, a joy for anyone who studies the weekly parasha, will succeed in giving us the methodology to continue analyzing the Ramban on the rest of the Torah.

We will, unfortunately, have only the book on Breishit/Genesis to enjoy and with which to enrich our parasha study, as sadly, Rabbi Dr. Avigdor Bonchek was niftar (passed away) a short time ago. His dear wife, Shulamit, may she be granted long life, gave me his last book to review, since I had reviewed the second edition of the Rashi series.

It is an honor to add that the Boncheks and Sylvetskys were neighbors for a decade and have been good friends since the time both families made aliyah, even building a sukkah together during that first period in Israel. Rabbi Bonchek (Vic to friends)’s Torah knowledge, keen intelligence, analytical thinking and pleasant way of passing on his love for Torah will surely live after him in his writings, as well as through his wonderful family. May his memory be blessed.

 

Notes:

*Our generation, more than previous ones, should be awestruck by the brilliance of these Torah luminaries, who mastered the entire Tanach and Talmud without the aid of computers, Google or even a typewriter at their disposal, ed.

**The question of site of the grave is discussed in Ramban as well, once he arrived in the Holy Land and saw for himself, but that is not brought in the chapter of Parashat Vayeshi, while the question of the meaning of “kivrat derech” appears in the parasha which describes her burial, ed.       (Israel National News)

Rochel Sylvetsky is Senior Consultant and op-ed and Judaism editor of Arutz Sheva’s English site. She is a former Chairperson of Emunah Israel,1991-96, was CEO/Director of Kfar Hanoar Hadati Youth Village, member of the Emek Zevulun Regional Council and the Religious Education Council of Israel’s Education Ministry as well as managing editor of Arutz Sheva (2008-2013). Her degrees are in Mathematics and Jewish Education.

Finally, a Pill That Could Fix the Root Cause of Diabetes

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Of the 463 million people in the world with diabetes, up to 95 percent have type 2 (T2D). In T2D, peripheral tissues – mostly muscles — are resistant to insulin, a hormone made by the pancreas to stabilize blood-sugar levels and enable the body to use and store sugar. Image via Shutterstock.com

Concenter Biopharma of Jerusalem is developing a drug to treat and even prevent type 2 diabetes by restoring the body’s insulin sensitivity

By: Abigail Klein Leichman

Of the 463 million people in the world with diabetes, up to 95 percent have type 2 (T2D). In T2D, peripheral tissues – mostly muscles — are resistant to insulin, a hormone made by the pancreas to stabilize blood-sugar levels and enable the body to use and store sugar.

Medications available today treat the symptoms and complications of T2D but do not solve the core problem of insulin resistance.

Zygosid-50, a drug under development in Israel, could be the first to restore near-normal cellular sensitivity to insulin, without side effects.

Concenter BioPharma in Jerusalem is raising funds for clinical trials approved by the FDA based on evidence from earlier testing in animal models for T2D.

In December, Concenter Biopharma cofounder and CSO Prof. Mottie (Mordechai) Chevion won first place at the 17th Annual World Congress on Insulin Resistance, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Diseases.

“The World Congress attracts the top researchers and clinicians, who understand the problem and the limited solutions available — which aren’t really solutions at all,” says Concenter Biopharma cofounder and CEO Dror Chevion, Mottie’s son.

“To receive the award — out of 80 submitted abstracts and six chosen for presentation — is a real vote of confidence in our science and our achievements,” Dror Chevion tells ISRAEL21c. “The people sitting in that conference will be the ones prescribing our drug to patients.”

Mottie Chevion developed the nonsteroidal, anti-inflammatory Zygosid family of drugs in his lab at Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.

“Zygosids work by robustly reducing insulin resistance and normalizing all diabetes-associated parameters to the normal range,” says the professor. “On the molecular level, Zygosid-50 is a potent anti-inflammatory drug that forces an intra-cellular exchange – removal of ‘bad’ free iron with zinc, depositing the zinc ion within the cells.”

In 2015, some of the lab staff and their families successfully tried using Zygosid molecules topically for skin conditions including diabetic foot ulcers and psoriasis. They experienced no negative side effects.

“My father felt it was inhumane not to try to bring these drugs from the lab to patients. He asked me to join him and take this initiative forward,” says Dror Chevion.

The intellectual property was licensed to the inventors through the university and hospital tech-transfer companies. Silkim Pharma was set up as a holding company for the IP. Concenter Biopharma was founded as a subsidiary in 2019 to further develop and commercialize Zygosid-50 for treating and preventing T2D.

1 in 3 people has diabetes or prediabetes

Concenter’s US regulatory consultant, Dr. Susan Alpert, arranged meetings with the FDA in 2017 and 2018 to help determine which indication to focus on. The conclusion was to start with T2D and conduct clinical phase 1 and phase 2a trials in Israel while finalizing a pill formulation and completing preclinical toxicity studies.

“One in three people in the world is diabetic or prediabetic,” says Dror Chevion. “The number is expected to reach 700 million by 2045. In the United States, 31 million people suffer from diabetes and 90 million are prediabetic. And the age of people contracting type 2 diabetes is getting younger and younger.”

In animal trials, Zygosid-50 restored insulin sensitivity by better than 90%, bringing blood sugar into balance and lowering chronic and systemic inflammation levels. The drug also replenished zinc deficiency.

The FDA responded to Concenter’s investigational new drug (IND) application with a request for additional preclinical toxicity studies and more information on the drug’s manufacturing process.

“This is a great achievement for a small company,” notes Dror Chevion.

“We are working on accommodating those requests and making the final formulation of the drug as a pill. We plan to perform clinical studies here in Israel. Then we will submit another IND application to go to phase 2b, by the end of 2020. We are currently raising funds to do all of that.”

Concenter was self-funded until six months ago. The company will launch a $5 million round for its T2D activities during 2020.

Concenter BioPharma’s scientific advisory board includes three globally recognized diabetes experts: Dr. Peter Nawroth of Germany, Dr. Ralph DeFronzo from the United States, and Dr. Itamar Raz, chairman of the Israeli Council on Diabetes and the National Diabetes Prevention and Care Plan.

“Diabetes is a global epidemic and is expected to grow,” says Dror Chevion. “The estimated cost of treating diabetes per year is over $850 billion. More than 150 companies are developing diagnostics or applications for diabetes, but there are no drugs to treat the actual problem of insulin resistance without side effects. This is what we are doing.”

(Israel 21C)

Poland Urged to Search for Nazi Looted Art Still in Museums

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By: Clarence Tamler

The myriad forms of damage done by the Germans during World War II continue, specifically the widespread looting of Poland by the Nazis during World War II.

In Poland, the government continues to try and recover in excess of 63,000 works of art and cultural properties, many stolen from Jews there.

“But experts say Poland has done a poor job of providing the same justice to Dutch Jews and others whose art works were stolen during the war and ended up in German-occupied Poland and now are part of official museum collections,” the New York Times recently reported. “Seven Dutch works that researchers have identified as missing are held by one museum in Gdansk. Scholars say they suspect dozens more are in art institutions in other Polish cities where the Nazis stored cultural artifacts they had looted, or bought under dubious circumstances, from the Netherlands.”

“The Polish government wants to have as much as possible back,” Kamil Zeidler, a law professor at the University of Gdansk who has studied the issue told the Times, “but they don’t want to give anything back to others.”

According to a report by the Origins Unknown Agency, a Dutch organization that investigates cases of looted art, more than 80 art works stolen in the Netherlands by the Germans and their confederates probably wound up in Polish hands. Record keeping has been sloppy and intermittent, at best.

“There is no commitment at a museum level, or at a national level, or at a political level to return these works that are in the country,” Anne Webber, the founder and co-chair of the Commission for Looted Art in Europe, a London-based nonprofit that helps to foster restitutions, told the Times.

Between 1998 and 2005, said Origins Unknown on its web site, a systematic investigation into the provenance of the individual objects in the collection was carried out by the agency, which was established by the Dutch government for that purpose.

“At the start of the research in 1998, the collection amounted to approximately 4700 cultural objects, varying from paintings (around 1600), drawings, engravings, ceramics, silver, furniture, tapestries and other special objects,” it noted. “The Origins Unknown Agency compiled a reconstruction of the provenance for every item in the collection on the basis of the information that was available at that time. That information can be consulted on this website.”

Since 2001, the group added, hundreds of objects from the NK-collection have been restituted. There may also have been new information available on individual works of art. Those searching for information on a specific work of art are urged to contact the Expert Centre Restitution by phone or e-mail in order to verify if additional information is available.

Seven Lessons of the Holocaust

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By: Irwin Cotler

Lesson 1: The Importance of Holocaust Remembrance – The Responsibility of Memory

The first lesson is the importance of Zachor, of the duty of remembrance itself. For as we remember the six million Jewish victims of the Shoah — defamed, demonized and dehumanized, as prologue or justification for genocide — we have to understand that the mass murder of six million Jews and millions of non-Jews is not a matter of abstract statistics.

For unto each person there is a name — unto each person, there is an identity. Each person is a universe. As our sages tell us: “whoever saves a single life, it is as if he or she has saved an entire universe.” Just as whoever has killed a single person, it is as if they have killed an entire universe. And so the abiding imperative — that we are each, wherever we are, the guarantors of each other’s destiny.

Lesson 2: The Danger of State-Sanctioned Incitement to Hatred and Genocide — The Responsibility to Prevent

  • The enduring lesson of the Holocaust is that the genocide of European Jewry succeeded not only because of the industry of death and the technology of terror, but because of the state-sanctioned ideology of hate. This teaching of contempt, this demonizing of the other, this is where it all began. As the Canadian courts affirmed in upholding the constitutionality of anti-hate legislation, “the Holocaust did not begin in the gas chambers — it began with words”. These, as the Courts put it, are the chilling facts of history. These are the catastrophic effects of racism.
  • As the UN marks the commemoration of the Holocaust, we are witnessing yet again, a state-sanctioned incitement to hate and genocide, whose epicenter is Iran. Let there be no mistake about it. Iran has already committed the crime of incitement to genocide prohibited under the Genocide Convention. Yet not one state party to the Genocide Convention has undertaken its mandated legal obligation to hold Ahmadinejad’s Iran to account.

Lesson 3: The Danger of Silence, The Consequences of Indifference — The Responsibility to Protect

  • The genocide of European Jewry succeeded not only because of the state-sanctioned culture of hate and industry of death, but because of crimes of indifference, because of conspiracies of silence.
  • We have already witnessed an appalling indifference and inaction in our own day which took us down the road to the unspeakable — the genocide in Rwanda — unspeakable because this genocide was preventable. No one can say that we did not know. We knew, but we did not act, just as we knew and did not act to stop the genocide by attrition in Darfur.
  • Indifference and inaction always mean coming down on the side of the victimizer, never on the side of the victim. Indifference in the face of evil is acquiescence with evil itself.

Lesson 4: Combating Mass Atrocity and the Culture of Impunity — The Responsibility to Bring War Criminals to Justice

  • If the 20th Century — symbolized by the Holocaust — was the age of atrocity, it was also the age of impunity. Few of the perpetrators were brought to justice; and so, just as there must be no sanctuary for hate, no refuge for bigotry, there must be no base or sanctuary for these enemies of humankind. Yet those indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity – such as President Al-Bashir of Sudan – continue to be welcomed in international fora.

Lesson 5: The Trahison des Clercs — The Responsibility to Talk Truth to Power

The Holocaust was made possible, not only because of the “bureaucratization of genocide”, as Robert Lifton put it, but because of the trahison des clercs — the complicity of the elites — physicians, church leaders, judges, lawyers, engineers, architects, educators, and the like. Indeed, one only has to read Gerhard Muller’s book on “Hitler’s Justice” to appreciate the complicity and criminality of judges and lawyers; or to read Robert-Jan van Pelt’s book on the architecture of Auschwitz, to be appalled by the minute involvement of engineers and architects in the design of death camps, and so on. Holocaust crimes, then, were also the crimes of the Nuremberg elites. As Elie Wiesel put it, “Cold-blooded murder and culture did not exclude each other. If the Holocaust proved anything, it is that a person can both love poems and kill children”.

Lesson 6: Holocaust Remembrance — The Responsibility to Educate

  • In acting upon the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, states should commit themselves to implementing the Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust, which concluded: “We share a commitment to encourage the study of the Holocaust in all its dimensions… a commitment to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and to honor those who stood against it… a commitment to throw light on the still obscured shadows of the Holocaust… a commitment to plant the seeds of a better future amidst the soil of a bitter past… a commitment… to remember the victims who perished, respect the survivors still with us, and reaffirm humanity’s common aspiration for mutual understanding and justice.”

Lesson 7: The Vulnerability of the Powerless — The Protection of the Vulnerable as the Test of a Just Society

The genocide of European Jewry occurred not only because of the vulnerability of the powerless, but also because of the powerlessness of the vulnerable. It is not surprising that the triage of Nazi racial hygiene — the Sterilization Laws, the Nuremberg Race Laws, the Euthanasia Program — targeted those “whose lives were not worth living”; and it is not unrevealing, as Professor Henry Friedlander points out in his work on “The Origins of Genocide”, that the first group targeted for killing were the Jewish disabled — the whole anchored in the science of death, the medicalization of ethnic cleansing, the sanitizing even of the vocabulary of destruction.

And so it is our responsibility as citoyens du monde to give voice to the voiceless, as we seek to empower the powerless — be they the disabled, the poor, the refugee, the elderly, the women victims of violence, the vulnerable child — the most vulnerable of the vulnerable.

We remember – and we trust – that never again will we be silent or indifferent in the face of evil. May this International Day of Holocaust Remembrance be not only an act of remembrance, but a remembrance to act.

             (Aish.com)

Irwin Cotler is a member of Parliament and the former minister of justice and attorney general of Canada. He is Emeritus Professor of Law at McGill University, and has written extensively on the Holocaust, genocide and international humanitarian law.

After Monsey Attack, Jabotinsky’s Heirs Offer Free Security Guidebook to US Synagogues

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Herut North America, a leading Zionist activist organization, is offering a new, cutting-edge guide to help congregations better organize their security efforts to protect synagogue attendees. The "SYNAGOGUE SECURITY TOOL KIT©" is being offered free of charge to all members of the Jewish community interested in improving security as well as synagogue leaders.

By: Moshe Phillips & Joshua Goldstein

In the wake of repeated violent physical attacks on synagogues and Jews in New York and elsewhere, Herut North America, a leading Zionist activist organization, is offering a new, cutting-edge guide to help congregations better organize their security efforts to protect synagogue attendees. The “SYNAGOGUE SECURITY TOOL KIT©” is being offered free of charge to all members of the Jewish community interested in improving security as well as synagogue leaders.

We have developed this ebook guide as a hands-on tool to aid synagogues with both evaluating their security needs as well as organizing their own security teams. This information packed booklet is specifically designed to give Jews the information they need to feel empowered around security related needs and issues. Included are checklists, assessment worksheets, planning guides, practical advice, and more.

The Herut team responsible for this booklet includes IDF veterans, individuals trained in counter-terrorism, longtime community security volunteers, and legal professionals. Users of the guidebook will find practical, actionable ideas whether their synagogue has a security plan currently in place or is now considering forming a volunteer security team and needs an action plan.

In light of the recent spate of attacks against Jews across multiple states we are offering the “SYNAGOGUE SECURITY TOOL KIT©; A Hands-on Guide to Preventive Safety for Your Congregation” ebook. This free reference to protecting your community will help you develop a security plan that you can implement in your synagogue, kollel, yeshiva, camp, or day school. Our goal is to have this booklet utilized by synagogues in all 50 states so that further anti-Jewish violence and bloodshed can be prevented. Please, help us reach our goal of preparing synagogues all across America to be more secure by ensuring the leaders of your synagogue see this booklet as soon as possible.

The “SYNAGOGUE SECURITY TOOL KIT©” also specifically addresses the fact that Orthodox Jews have been heavily and specifically targeted in recent attacks by including a section titled “Self-Defense Tips While Walking To / From Synagogue” in the booklet.

Action is required now. Please help us reach our goal in making the streets safer for Jews across America. Download and use this free resource yourself and also please share on social media the news that this ebook is now available so Jews everywhere will have access to this potentially life-saving material.”

Please email [email protected] today to request your free copy of the “SYNAGOGUE SECURITY TOOL KIT©”

The founding fathers of Zionism had a few relevant thoughts on the subject of combating violent Jew-hatred.

Ze’ev Jabotinsky told a British audience in 1937: “It is not the anti-Semitism of men; it is, above all, the anti-Semitism of things, the inherent xenophobia of the body social or the body economic under which we suffer.”

In other words, no matter what we do, anti-Semitism in the Diaspora is inevitable. We can issue angry press releases, we can lobby the government to “throw the book” at anti-Semitic assailants, but in the end, there are overwhelming social, economic, and other factors that inevitably combine to bring about situations in which anti-Semitism erupts.

Again and again. Throughout history. In every country. Under pharaohs. Under czars. Under fuhrers. And sometimes even under presidents or prime ministers of democracies.

Jabotinsky was an outspoken advocate of Jewish self-defense, both in the Diaspora and in the Land of Israel. He was one of the organizers of Jewish self-defense against pogroms in Czarist Russia and he founded the Haganah in Eretz Yisrael. Because when Jews are physically threatened, they must protect their lives and property.

Certainly Jabotinsky would be all in favor of Jews in Monsey, Jersey City, and in every Jewish community taking classes in self-defense and conducting weapons training. One of his most famous sayings was “Jewish youth, learn to shoot!” But he was even more famous for another of his sayings: “Liquidate the Exile before it liquidates you.”

Because no matter how many condemnations we can wring out of political leaders, and no matter how many breathless press releases we churn out, anti-Semitism keeps coming back.

Yet despite this sad reality, most American Zionist leaders refuse to discuss the traditional Zionist response to anti-Semitism: Aliyah. In fact, few of them can even bring themselves to utter the “a-word.”

So as Zionist leaders we say, if you are not ready for aliyah at this time, then the only answer to such lone wolf attackers as the Pittsburgh, Poway and Monsey attackers is a dual program of stronger security and stronger Jewish Unity. Herut North America – The Jabotinsky Movement, urges all Jews to remain vigilant and keep security top of mind and please use the SYNAGOGUE SECURITY TOOL KIT© to start the conversation about security in your congregation, as soon as possible.

Joshua Goldstein is the chairman of Herut North America and a board member of the American Zionist Movement on behalf of Herut. Joshua was a delegate at the 36th and 37th World Zionist Congress. Moshe Phillips is national director of Herut North America’s US section. Both authors are candidates on the Herut slate in the 2020 World Zionist Congress’s US elections. Herut is an international movement for Zionist pride and education and is dedicated to the ideals of pre-World War Two Zionist leader Ze’ev Jabotinsky. Herut’s website is https://herutna.org/

PBS Presents “Secrets of the Dead: Bombing Auschwitz”

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Actor David Moorst as Rudolf Vrba & Actor Michael Fox as Alfred Wetzler in their hiding place . Photo Credit: Oxford Films

Premieres Tuesday, January 21 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings), pbs.org/secrets and the PBS Video app to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz

Edited by: TJVNews.com

Synopsis

Actor Jonathan Tafler as Chaim Weitzman, Actor Simon Mattacks as Moshe Shertok & Actor Oliver Senton as Anthony Eden meeting in the Foreign Office, London. Photo Credit: Oxford Films

In April 1944, Jewish prisoners Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler miraculously escaped from Auschwitz concentration camp and fled through Nazi-occupied Poland to find refuge in Žilina, Slovakia, where they connected with the Jewish Underground. Once safe, they recounted what they left behind. Their harrowing testimony revealed the true horror of the Holocaust to the outside world, describing in forensic detail the gas chambers and the full extent of the Nazi extermination program.

While millions of troops fought on both fronts and battled for supremacy in the air during World War II, Nazi forces continued to deport Jews to the concentration camp. As Vrba and Wetzler’s account made its way to Allies, the idea of bombing the camp was discussed at the highest levels of government. Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Allied Air Commanders, the American War Refugee Board and the Jewish Agency were presented with one of the greatest moral questions of the 20th century: Should we bomb Auschwitz and risk killing Jewish prisoners in the camp to stop future atrocities?

Secrets of the Dead: Bombing Auschwitz explores this dilemma through dramatic recreations of arguments that took place on both sides of the Atlantic and first-hand testimony from historians, survivors and expert voices. January 27, 2020, marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

 

Short Listing

Actor Simon Haines as Bezalel Sherman at meeting in Washington. Photo Credit:Tim Dunn/Oxford Films

Consider the ultimate dilemma. Would an Allied attack on Auschwitz have stopped future atrocities?

Long Listing

Join historians, survivors and experts as they consider one of the great moral dilemmas of the 20th century. Should the Allies have risked killing Auschwitz prisoners and bombed the camp to stop future atrocities?

Running Time: 60 minutes

 

Film Interviewees

  • Michael Berenbaum – co-editor, “The Bombing of Auschwitz”
  • John Bew – author, “RealPolitik: A History”
  • Hedy Bohm – Auschwitz survivor
  • Judy Cohen – Auschwitz survivor
  • Tami Davis Biddle – author, “Rhetoric and Reality in Air Warfare”
  • Max Eisen – Auschwitz survivor
  • Rebecca Erbelding – author, “Rescue Board: The Untold Story of America’s Efforts to Save the Jews of Europe”
  • Zdenka Fantlova – Auschwitz survivor
  • Deborah Lipstadt – author, “Beyond Belief: The American Press and the Coming of the Holocaust”
  • William D. Rubinstein – author, “The Myth of Rescue”
  • Zigi Shipper – Auschwitz survivor
  • Gerta Vrbová – first wife of Auschwitz escapee Rudolf Vrba
  • Nikolaus Wachsmann – author, “KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps”
  • Lenka Weksberg – Auschwitz survivor

 

Actor Daniel Caltagirone as John Pehle & Actor Ashley Cook as Leon Kubowitski at a meeting in Washington. Photo Credit:Tim Dunn/Oxford Films

Timeline

  • April 1944: The harrowing testimony of Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, Jewish prisoners who escaped the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, was turned into a detailed report known as The Auschwitz Protocol.
  • May 1944: The Auschwitz Protocol reached Rabbi Michael Weissmandl, who secretly worked for the Jewish Underground in Slovakia. Weissmandl sent the protocol to Roswell McClelland at the War Refugee Board in neutral Switzerland with a plea for help and a demand for Allied air forces to bomb Auschwitz. Later, McClelland sent a cable containing a summary of the protocol and the plea to bomb the camp to the headquarters of the War Refugee Board in Washington, D.C.
  • June 29, 1944: War Refugee Board director John Pehle passed the recommendations to bomb Auschwitz to John McCloy, Assistant Secretary of War, who was not inclined to divert resources from the war to stop the mass murder happening at the camp.
  • July 6, 1941: Jewish Agency representatives Chaim Weizmann and Moshe Shertok met with Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden in London, where he was presented with The Auschwitz Protocol and a memo from U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill urging the bombing of Auschwitz. Eden then summoned Head of Air Ministry Sir Archibald Sinclair to discuss the feasibility of a raid.
  • September 13, 1944: Allied forces accidentally bombed Auschwitz, killing 40 prisoners and 15 SS troops, while attempting to bomb a nearby IG Farben factory.
  • Actor Michael Fox as Alfred Wetzler being interviewed. Photo Credit: Oxford Films

    Early November 1944: John Pehle received the complete The Auschwitz Protocol and shared the report with John McCloy who informed him that bombing Auschwitz was not “feasible from a military standpoint.” Failing to get the War Department involved, Pehle leaked The Auschwitz Protocol to newspapers.

  • November 1944: With the tide of the war turning, the Nazis began dismantling the gas chambers at Auschwitz in an effort to destroy evidence of their crimes – and accelerated their efforts with the new media attention.
  • December 3, 1944: The Washington Post published an editorial on the atrocities titled “Genocide,” marking the first time the word appeared in a national newspaper.
  • January 27, 1945: Nine months after Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler gave their testimony to the Jewish Underground, Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviet Army.

Series Overview

Deborah Lipstadt – author, “Beyond Belief: The American Press and the Coming of the Holocaust” will be joining a group of historians, survivors and experts as they consider one of the great moral dilemmas of the 20th century. Should the Allies have risked killing Auschwitz prisoners and bombed the camp to stop future atrocities? Photo Credit: Amazon.com

Now in its 18th season, Secrets of the Dead continues to captivate PBS viewers on air, online and beyond, using the latest scientific discoveries to challenge prevailing ideas and throw fresh light on historical events. Secrets of the Dead is available for streaming simultaneously on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS Video app, which is available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Chromecast. PBS station members can view episodes via Passport (contact your local PBS station for details).

Websites: http://www.pbs.org/secretshttp://www.facebook.com/SecretsoftheDead, @secretspbs #SecretsDeadPBS

Production Credits

Secrets of the Dead: Bombing Auschwitz is an Oxford Films production for BBC, in association with Ventana-Film GmbH and THIRTEEN Productions LLC for WNET. Produced and directed by Tim Dunn. Written by Mark Hayhurst. Narrated by Jay O. Sanders. Susan Jones and Nicolas Kent are executive producers for Oxford Films. Stephanie Carter is executive producer for Secrets of the Dead.

Underwriters

Funding for Secrets of the Dead is provided by public television viewers. Additional funding for Secrets of the Dead: Bombing

Nikolaus Wachsmann – author, “KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps” Photo Credit: Amazon.com

Auschwitz is provided by the Sylvia A. and Simon B. Poyta Programming Endowment to Fight Anti-Semitism.

About WNET

WNET is America’s flagship PBS station: parent company of New York’s THIRTEEN and WLIW21 and operator of NJTV, the statewide public media network in New Jersey. Through its new ALL ARTS multi-platform initiative, its broadcast channels, three cable services (THIRTEEN PBSKids, Create and World) and online streaming sites, WNET brings quality arts, education and public affairs programming to more than five million viewers each month. WNET produces and presents a wide range of acclaimed PBS series, including Nature, Great Performances, American Masters, PBS NewsHour Weekend, and the nightly interview program Amanpour and Company. In addition, WNET produces numerous documentaries, children’s programs, and local news and cultural offerings, as well as multi-platform initiatives addressing poverty and climate. Through THIRTEEN Passport and WLIW Passport, station members can stream new and archival THIRTEEN, WLIW and PBS programming anytime, anywhere.

A mausoleum to misery: Auschwitz concentration camp, 2015 Photo Credit: Getty Images
May/June 1944, “Selection” of Hungarian Jews, chosen either for work or the gas chamber. Photograph from the Auschwitz Album. Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Upper West Side Bookstore Shuts Door; Stands Accused of Fraud

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The nearly six-year-old Book Culture shop, with a branch located at Columbus Avenue and West 81st Street, closed for business earlier this month.

By: Marcus Tetrovsky

Perhaps the authorities will end up throwing the book at someone.

An Upper West Side bookstore has shut its doors because it stands accused of fraud. There is also a disagreement having to do with rent.

The nearly six-year-old Book Culture shop, with a branch located at Columbus Avenue and West 81st Street, closed for business earlier this month

The store reportedly notched annual sales of about $4 million two years ago. according to a report in the New York Daily News, that represented roughly a million dollars more than owner Chris Doeblin said was needed in order to remain in business. But around the middle of 2019, business reportedly began to tail off.

“The store was plagued by debt because of the increasing minimum wage and higher health insurance costs, according to Doeblin. The store shut down on Jan. 7, and he said in a letter to customers that it was $140,000 behind in rent,” therealdeal.com reported. “Minority owner John MacArthur blamed Doeblin for Book Culture’s problems, accusing him in a lawsuit of taking money from the Columbus Avenue store and giving it to three other Book Culture stores in Morningside Heights and Long Island City that were losing money.”

Another part of the lawsuit suggests that Doeblin started up a so-called community lending program that Doeblin says has raised $600,000 to keep the four Book Culture stores open. “MacArthur’s lawyers say the program does not follow regulations for crowdfunding, is not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and does not clarify that the Columbus Avenue Book Culture is owned separately from the other Book Culture stores,” realdeal.com added.

Book Culture was founded as Labyrinth Books in 1997 by current owner Chris Doeblin and his partner at the time Cliff Simms, the company explains on its web site. “In the summer of 2007, Book Culture became a completely independent company when Doeblin bought out his partners. Chris began his career in the early 1980s with a brief stint selling books for Papyrus book store at 114th and Broadway, and then as the receiving clerk in the basement of the old Book Forum which was located across from the main gate of Columbia on Broadway. In those days you could eat Chinese at Moon Palace or get egg creams and comic books at the Mill Luncheonette, people did not want to walk over to Columbus Ave. and nobody wanted to park on Riverside Drive.”

Do Food & Politics Mix??– DeBlasio’s Love of Toasted Bagels

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Egg-Everything Bagels. Image Courtesy of David's Bagels & Healthy Eatery in New City, NY.

By: Jared Evan

Prof. Stacy Cordery, a historian from Iowa State University, recently penned an interesting article about political figures and the way they use food to connect with voters, published on the conversation.com recently, and Bill de Blasio’s “bagel gaffe” front and center.

Prof. Cordery wrote: “His Jan. 15 tweet praising a toasted bagel on National Bagel Day instantly set off hardline bagel devotees-cum-voters. De Blasio quickly amended his tweet to delete the word “toasted.” But the damage was already done. Purists scorned the very idea of toasting a bagel, calling into question his bona fides as a New Yorker”

Obviously, a veteran New York bagel eater, gets them hot right after they were baked from a local shop that makes fresh bagels.

She than covers several food blunders including Gerald Ford: “During the 1976 presidential campaign, incumbent president Gerald Ford, before the eyes of bewildered Texans, peeled back the aluminum foil – but not the corn husk – and took a giant bite out of a tamale. Ford never lived it down.”

The article continued by mentioning failed Democrat presidential nominee in 2005 John Kerry and the time he asked for swiss cheese on a Philly cheese steak instead of cheese whiz, and Republican Mitt Romney asked for a “sub” in Pennsylvania, where, as locals will tell you, they call them hoagies.

The candidate eating some local food is a standard technique used by politicians to connect with the “regular folks”. It often comes across as forced and phony to most “regular people”. I can’t even see the benefit to these photo ops, they are almost always humiliating. Remember de Blasio and the “pizzagate” incident when he ate pizza with a fork?

De Blasio was mocked relentlessly for months over the pizza incident. “Bagel gate” while humorous is far from de Blasio’s biggest issues.

The mayor has lost confidence with even the most strident liberals in New York City. In a recent poll from Sienna, just 33% of New York City voters say they have a favorable rating of de Blasio. His unfavorable rating has climbed to 58%. This makes for a net favorability rating of -25.

After his failed presidential campaign where he averaged 0% for several months before dropping out, New York City has essentially given up on the mayor mocked as “big bird” by conservative opponents.

The mayor is watching New York City explode with anti- Semitic attacks perpetrated by almost exclusively African Americans, his response a few speeches and more blaming “Trump and conservatives”, prompting even Democrat colleagues to scratch their heads.

The bail reform program started by the Governor Cuomo, where criminals are being freed without bail for every conceivable kind of crime was made more absurd by de Blasio offering Mets tickets and metro cards to encourage suspects to show up to court.

Literally de Blasio has become the laughingstock of New York City.

The man who has never had a regular job in the private sector sees his pay checks and power soon ending and “big bird” is making one last stand.

According to PIX 11: Mayor Bill de Blasio and current Borough President Eric Adams met around Christmas to discuss an endorsement quid pro quo. If Adams runs for mayor in 2021, de Blasio will endorse him. And if First Lady Chirlane McCray runs for borough president, Adams will back her.

Desperate de Blasio only knows how to be a politician and since his dream of being the “progressive president” went up in smoke, his wife is his last hope. McCray still has not been investigated in relation to the nearly $1 million unaccounted for, while she ran a failed mental health program Thrive NYC.

It’s amazing what you can get away with in New York City. With this kind of record, does it really matter if he toasts his bagels?

Corey Johnson to Penalize Landlords who Cut Corners; Falling Debris Kills 2nd NYer

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After a second victim tragically died from falling debris from a building, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson is vowing to "come down" on building owners whose properties drop deadly debris onto the streets, Crain’s reported. Photo Credit: Wikipedia

By: R. Kotkin

After a second victim tragically died from falling debris from a building, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson is vowing to “come down” on building owners whose properties drop deadly debris onto the streets, Crain’s reported.

“There are certain building owners and developers who are greedy and who are trying to cut corners, and they don’t put safety protocols in place to protect their workers,” Johnson said in a radio appearance Friday. “Now we’re seeing that affecting the public.”

Johnson noted that both properties which resulted in the deaths had outstanding violations.

“The city should have come down on them harder,” the speaker, said. “We need to make sure these sites are safe not only for the workers on the site, but also for people who are walking by.”

A 67-year-old woman died last Thursday when walking up the street in Flushing. Xiang Ji was walking down Main St. near 41st Road in Flushing when she was struck by the thin 3-foot by 2-foot piece of aluminum-covered wood about 9:45 a.m., witnesses told police, The N.Y Daily News reported.

The wood was blown off a violation-plagued grocery in the process of being remodeled, The Daily News explained.

An architect and philanthropist was killed back on December 17, when part of a Times Square office building fell on her as she walked down the street, TJV previously reported.

Erica Tishman was killed instantly around 10:45 am on Tuesday on 49th Street near Seventh Avenue, about 500 feet north of Times Square. She was declared dead at the scene. According to police, the incident occurred outside of a 104-year-old building at 729 Seventh Avenue, a 17-story building constructed in 1915, TJV previously reported.

Tishman “was well known in the New York real estate world, having been a founder of DeWitt Tishman Architects, which designed Jersey City’s Trump Plaza, and an associate at Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners,” noted rew-online.com. “A licensed architect since 1983, Mrs Tishman was born and raised in New York, attending Riverdale Country School before Princeton University where she met the love of her life, Steven, TJV reported

Crain’s reported: “The Department of Buildings said it has issued the Queens property owner an additional violation and ordered the installation of a protective sidewalk shed. It noted, however, that none of the pre-existing citations had to do with problems related to the façade”

Corey Johnson, who hopes to become the next mayor called on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration to “redouble” its efforts to enforce the city’s building codes.

High Profile Politicos Mysteriously Skip NY Real Estate Board Banquet

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REBNY's Annual Banquet is New York City's largest real estate networking event, providing a unique and invaluable opportunity to share space with top owners, developers, brokers and major city officials in one room. Photo Credit: rebny.com

By: Jared Evan

Many powerful politicians in New York State did not attend the Real Estate Board of New York’s annual banquet last week and many speculate it is because they are scared of upsetting Working Families Party members and socialist former bartender Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

REBNY’s Annual Banquet is New York City’s largest real estate networking event, providing a unique and invaluable opportunity to share space with top owners, developers, brokers and major city officials in one room.

The event brings together over 2000 people and this year Daniel Tishman, Diane Ramirez, Carol Kellermann, Helena Durst, Bernard Warren, Ira Fishman, and Alex Bernstein were honored for their contributions to New York real estate.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio, state Attorney General Letitia James, Council Speaker Corey Johnson and city Comptroller Scott Stringer all have attended in the past but were absent this year, according to the N.Y Post.

The N.Y Post reported: “amid continuing pressure from the left wing — including the Working Families Party and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Queens-Bronx) — to not accept campaign cash tied to the real-estate industry and other wealthy interests, the pols have all recently been no-shows” sources said.

In other words, high level political figures in New York City, were more concerned with the far left, radical fringe in New York City than New York real estate, which has been slumping since the new rent regulations and other strict requirements on buildings .

The Heritage foundation recently concluded in an article that : “The city’s recently amended rent-stabilization laws strip many property owners of all meaningful property rights and give them nothing in exchange—all to advance what Mayor Bill de Blasio calls the “socialistic impulse” to have the city government “determine every single plot of land [and] how development would proceed… In short, New York has turned private property into government-run subsidized housing without footing the bill, or in any other way compensating owners for using their private property as a public subsidy”

“Some politicians are treating the real-estate industry like a toxic chemical,’’ said political consultant Hank Sheinkopf. “It’s because of pressure from the Left. It’s left-wing populism”, the N.Y Post reported Sheinkopf saying .

Another source who attended the event said the no-show pols “don’t want to be seen as close to real estate.”

Senator Chuck Schumer was one of the high-profile Democrats who did attend.

“It is my goal to be the first New Yorker ever to be the majority leader in the Senate of the United States. And if I get that office, I’m going to tell you two things: We will get Gateway [the Amtrak Hudson River tunnel project] built, and we are going to restore the full deduction of state and local taxes,” Schumer said to thunderous applause, the Post reported.