New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is facing bipartisan calls to pardon former President Donald Trump for his recent felony convictions, a scenario she has signaled is unlikely to happen. Credit: AP
If President Trump won a second term, he could not pardon himself for the convictions he received in New York.
By: Bill Pan
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is facing bipartisan calls to pardon former President Donald Trump for his recent felony convictions, a scenario she has signaled is unlikely to happen.
President Trump became the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime after a 12-person New York jury returned a guilty verdict in a highly controversial trial stemming from a payment made to an adult film actress before the 2016 election. He pleaded not guilty and dismissed the roughly seven-week proceeding as a “rigged” and “very unfair” scheme to undermine his reelection campaign.
If President Trump won a second term, he could pardon himself if convicted in his two federal cases, but not for the convictions he received in New York.
The U.S. Constitution limits the presidential pardon authority to “offenses against the United States,” meaning that the president may only pardon federal offenses and offenses adjudicated in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in the name of the United States. That leaves Ms. Hochul as the sole person with the power to pardon the convictions and subsequent sentences.
Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.), denouncing the verdict as “politically motivated,” said the Democrat governor should “immediately announce her intention” to pardon the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and “preemptively commute any sentence.”
“To not do so is to allow America to become a banana republic,” the Republican congressman wrote in a post on X on Thursday.
“President Trump’s fate, and the 2024 presidential election, should be decided by voters, not overzealous politically motivated prosecutors and an imbalanced jury.”
Also among those urging Ms. Hochul to pardon the former president’s historic felony conviction is Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), who ran a long-shot bid for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination this year before endorsing President Joe Biden.
“Donald Trump is a serial liar, cheater, and philanderer, a six-time declarer of corporate bankruptcy, an instigator of insurrection, and a convicted felon who thrives on portraying himself as a victim,” Mr. Phillips wrote on Friday on X, before suggesting that Ms. Hochul should pardon him anyway, “for the good of the country.”
In a follow-up post on Saturday, Mr. Phillips expressed worries that the outrage over the verdict is being turned into a fundraising boon.
“You think pardoning is stupid? Making him a martyr over a payment to a porn star is stupid,” he wrote. “It’s energizing his base, generating record sums of campaign cash, and will likely result in an electoral boost.”
“Today’s verdict reaffirms that no one is above the law,” Ms. Hochul’s office said in a statement following the guilty verdict.
“In preparation for a verdict in this trial, I directed my Administration to closely coordinate with local and federal law enforcement and we continue to monitor the situation,” it continued. “We are committed to protecting the safety of all New Yorkers and the integrity of our judicial system.”
The conviction did appear to serve as a booster to the Trump campaign, which announced Friday that it had raised nearly $53 million.
“THAT’S MORE THAN $2 MILLION PER HOUR!” the Trump campaign said.
Northern Israel faced a significant crisis overnight as large fires broke out, attributed to rocket fire from Iranian-backed Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon. Credit: YouTube.com
Edited by: Fern Sidman
Northern Israel faced a significant crisis overnight as large fires broke out, attributed to rocket fire from Iranian-backed Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon. The blazes, which consumed approximately 4,000 dunams (1,000 acres or 400 hectares) of land, have posed severe challenges to firefighting efforts and exacerbated regional tensions.
The fires began overnight, rapidly spreading across the northern region. According to a CNN report on Tuesday, Boris Eisenberg, the chief of the Tiberias fire station, confirmed the extensive damage. Israel Fire and Rescue Services immediately deployed multiple firefighting teams, including an aerial firefighting squadron, working tirelessly through the night to control the situation.
By Tuesday morning, firefighting efforts continued with intensified focus. Twelve teams were dispatched to Keren Naftali, where a fire had spread in multiple directions. Meanwhile, CNN also reported that ten teams were sent to the Biria Forest in the Upper Galilee area, where a falling Israeli interceptor missile had sparked another blaze.
Uri Cohen, a spokesperson for the Israel Fire and Rescue Services, highlighted the extreme conditions under which firefighters were operating. “We saw the interception and responded with increased forces and high intensity. We are operating on the spot and trying to contain the fire,” Cohen told CNN.
The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel has taken a significant turn as the Lebanon-based terror group launched a coordinated drone attack on an Israeli military command center in the Galilee. Credit: AP
Several factors have compounded the difficulty of extinguishing the fires. The region has been experiencing a heatwave, with high temperatures, changing winds, and low humidity creating a highly combustible environment, as per the information provided in the CNN report. The dry conditions and shifting winds have accelerated the development and spread of the fires, making containment efforts particularly challenging. The fires have proven difficult to control, with efforts on Monday lasting many hours. CNN reported that Cohen noted the complexity of the firefighting operations, describing the situation as a “very complex extinguishing effort.”
As the fires raged, authorities began evacuating residents to ensure their safety. The mountainous Galilee region was particularly affected, with fires breaking out around noon local time on Monday, the CNN report added. Israeli police assisted in evacuating homes in Kiryat Shmona, a northern city close to the Lebanese border, where the threat was imminent.
Authorities had previously warned the public of an impending heatwave and cautioned against lighting fires in forests. Despite these warnings, the combination of rocket fire and extreme weather conditions led to the outbreak and rapid spread of the fires.
As of Tuesday, firefighting teams continued to work at high intensity, both on the ground and from the air, to contain the fires and bring them under control. Cohen expressed uncertainty about how long it would take to fully contain the blaze but emphasized the continuous and vigorous efforts being made.
“We are operating at high intensity on the ground, also from the air, in efforts to contain the fires and bring them under control,” Cohen told CNN.
On Monday, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a “swarm of drones” targeting an Israeli military facility in the Galilee region. According to Hezbollah, this assault was a direct response to Israeli strikes that had targeted both Hezbollah forces and residential areas in southern Lebanon, as was detailed in the CNN report. The drone attack reportedly caused fires in the command center, adding a new dimension to the conflict with the utilization of advanced unmanned aerial vehicles.
During a recent tour of some of the most heavily damaged areas, IDF Chief of Staff Major General Herzi Halevi emphasized the IDF’s readiness to escalate their military response if necessary. Credit: IDF
This aggressive move by Hezbollah signifies an escalation in tactics, shifting from traditional rocket fire to the use of drones, which can be more precise and harder to intercept. The attack draws attention to the group’s capability and readiness to engage in sophisticated warfare, complicating Israel’s defensive strategies.
Hezbollah’s announcement also revealed that three of its fighters were killed on Monday due to Israeli attacks. This loss contributes to the mounting casualties on both sides. Indicated in the CNN report was that the Iranian-backed terror group’s continued attacks on northern Israel are framed as retaliation for Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
The cross-border hostilities that began in October have led to the displacement of thousands of Israeli residents. These individuals have been forced to leave their homes in northern Israel, seeking refuge from the escalating violence. The humanitarian toll of the conflict is significant, with families uprooted and communities disrupted.
During a recent tour of some of the most heavily damaged areas, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Major General Herzi Halevi emphasized the IDF’s readiness to escalate their military response if necessary. “We are approaching the point where a decision will have to be made, and the IDF is prepared and very ready for this decision,” Halevi stated, according to the CNN report. His comments indicate that the Israeli military is on high alert and has been extensively preparing for potential large-scale operations in the north.
Halevi highlighted that the IDF has been actively engaging Hezbollah for eight months, inflicting significant losses on the group. “Hezbollah is paying a very, very high price,” he noted, suggesting that Israel’s sustained military pressure is aimed at weakening Hezbollah’s operational capabilities and deterrence.
The IDF’s preparedness extends to a high level of training, with forces reportedly ready to transition from defensive postures to offensive operations. “We are prepared after a very good process of training – up to the level of a military exercise – to move to an attack in the north,” Halevi added, as was reported by CNN.
The assessment included an in-depth review of the firefighting efforts and the military’s strategic positioning along the northern border. Halevi and Kaspai praised the determination and professionalism exhibited by the forces who worked tirelessly through Monday night to extinguish the fires in the north, according to the i24News report.
The assessment also provided an opportunity for Halevi to engage directly with the commanders of the Golani Brigade, who are stationed on the northern frontlines.
Brigadier General Eyal Kaspai highlighted the effective collaboration between the IDF and Fire and Rescue Services, which has been crucial in managing the current crisis. “The regular collaborations with the IDF lead the preparation and readiness required of both bodies, and are implemented in practice even during wartime, maximizing the relative advantage of each system for the benefit of the State of Israel,” Kaspai noted, as per the information in the i24News report.
On Tuesday, World Israel News reported that the Lebanese government has received indications from multiple international sources suggesting that Israel is preparing for a comprehensive military operation aimed at Hezbollah. This operation is purportedly designed to halt the terrorist group’s relentless bombing of northern Israel and to reestablish Israeli deterrence, the WIN report said. This development, reported by the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, which maintains close ties with Hezbollah, has significant implications for regional stability and security.
According to Al-Akhbar, representatives from various countries have informed Lebanese officials of Israel’s imminent military plans. Notably, the UK government has reportedly specified mid-June as the anticipated timeframe for the commencement of this operation, as per the WIN report.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) speaks at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, June 3, 2024. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)
Further, Qatari officials, who have been mediating the ongoing Israel-Hamas hostage negotiations, have conveyed that Israel has no interest in pursuing a ceasefire in Gaza. As was noted in the WIN report, the Qataris, along with Egyptian intermediaries, were reportedly informed by Israeli officials that Hezbollah’s intensified actions on the northern front are untenable, and Israel cannot sustain this pressure without resorting to significant military retaliation.
Since October 8th, Hezbollah has intensified its attacks on northern Israel, targeting both civilian and military infrastructure. These daily assaults have created an unsustainable security situation for Israel, compelling a more decisive response, WIN reported.
A full-scale military operation against Hezbollah would likely result in significant devastation on both sides of the Lebanese-Israeli border. Hezbollah’s arsenal, which includes advanced missiles, rockets, and drones capable of reaching all areas within Israel, poses a formidable threat, as was indicated in the WIN report. Conversely, Israel’s military, known for its technological superiority and strategic precision, would aim to systematically dismantle Hezbollah’s infrastructure and operational capacity.
A Reuters report on Tuesday said that despite the escalation of hostilities in the region, Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Qassem, emphasized that the movement is not seeking to broaden the conflict but stands ready to respond to any war imposed upon it. This stance, articulated in a statement to broadcaster Al Jazeera, reflects the delicate balance Hezbollah is attempting to maintain as it navigates the ongoing crisis.
The intensification of these clashes has had profound humanitarian impacts. Tens of thousands of people living along the Lebanese-Israeli border have been forced to flee their homes, seeking refuge from the escalating violence. This displacement highlights the severe toll the conflict is taking on civilian populations, adding urgency to efforts aimed at de-escalation and conflict resolution.
Qassem’s remarks came as Israel’s war cabinet was preparing to convene to discuss the situation on the northern front. Israeli officials have echoed concerns about the unsustainable nature of the ongoing fighting. Government spokesperson David Mencer stressed that Israel is committed to ensuring the safe return of its citizens who have been evacuated from the northern regions due to the conflict, according to the Reuters report. Mencer placed the onus on Hezbollah to decide whether the situation can be resolved diplomatically or if it will necessitate further military action, reaffirming Israel’s commitment to defending its territory.
Amidst the heightened tensions, international actors have been actively seeking ways to mediate and de-escalate the conflict. The Reuters report indicated that Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to President Joe Biden, has been at the forefront of these diplomatic efforts. Hochstein suggested that a phased land border agreement between Israel and Lebanon could serve as a mechanism to reduce hostilities. This proposal aims to address one of the core issues fueling the conflict, potentially paving the way for a more stable and peaceful coexistence.
Also on Tuesday, Israeli parliament ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir publicly urged for increased military action against Hezbollah. Ben-Gvir, during a tour of the northern city of Kiryat Shmona, declared in a video statement shared on X (formerly Twitter) that peace in Lebanon is unattainable while Israeli territory is under attack and its citizens are being evacuated. “They’re setting fires here, we must burn all of Hezbollah’s strongholds, destroy them. War!” he proclaimed, as was revealed in the Reuters report. Both Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, although members of Israel’s security cabinet, are not part of the war cabinet, indicating a spectrum of opinions within the Israeli government regarding the appropriate response to the conflict.
The Israeli military reported that a “suspicious aerial target” that crossed from Lebanon had fallen in the Mount Hermon area, though no injuries were reported. In response, Israeli warplanes targeted a Hezbollah member in Naqoura, along with two other locations in southern Lebanon, the Reuters report said. Additionally, Israeli artillery struck five sites in the region.
Since the outbreak of intensified hostilities on October 7, Israeli strikes have resulted in the deaths of approximately 300 Hezbollah members and around 80 civilians. On the Israeli side, attacks from Lebanon have claimed the lives of 18 Israeli soldiers and 10 civilians, as was noted in the Reuters report.
In related developments, on Tuesday, the Times of Israel reported that the Israeli Defense Ministry announced the official signing of an agreement with the United States to procure a third squadron of F-35 fighter jets. This $3 billion deal, which includes 25 advanced stealth fighters built by Lockheed Martin, marks a major enhancement to the Israeli Air Force’s operational strength.
The delegation from Israel signed a letter of agreement in the U.S., formalizing the procurement process for the new squadron of F-35 jets. The TOI report said that the agreement stipulates that the delivery of these aircraft will commence in 2028, with batches of three to five jets being delivered annually. This phased delivery approach ensures a steady enhancement of Israel’s air combat capabilities over the coming years.
Upon completion of this deal, Israel’s fleet of F-35I fighter jets will expand to 75. Currently, 39 of the originally ordered 50 F-35 jets have been delivered, with the remaining 11 expected to arrive soon, the report in the TOI added. The additional 25 jets from the new deal will further bolster Israel’s air superiority in the region.
The entire procurement is financed by U.S. military aid, reflecting the deep and strategic defense relationship between the two nations.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant highlighted the strategic importance of this deal, describing it as “another illustration of the strength of the strategic alliance between the U.S. and Israel and its extensive effects in arenas near and far,” as was reported by the TOI. The acquisition of these advanced stealth fighters is expected to significantly enhance the Israeli Air Force’s operational capabilities, providing a critical advantage in both defensive and offensive operations.
The F-35 is renowned for its advanced stealth technology, state-of-the-art avionics, and versatile combat capabilities. Its integration into the Israeli Air Force is a testament to the country’s commitment to maintaining technological superiority and readiness in the face of evolving regional threats.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted an invitation to address a joint session of the United States Congress, marking a historic moment as he becomes the first world leader to do so four times. The Times of Israel reported that Netanyahu expressed his excitement and sense of privilege at the opportunity, stating, “I am excited for the privilege to present in front of the representatives of the American people and the entire world the truth about our just war against those who wish to kill us.”
The invitation, extended by US Congressional leaders from both parties, highlights America’s continued support for Israel amid ongoing conflict with Hamas in Gaza. On Monday, unconfirmed sources reported that the Israeli Prime Minister would be addressing Congress on June 13th, however the TOI reported that the Prime Minister’s office has denied that the address would take place on that date due to the upcoming Shavuot holiday.
The invitation letter, which was a bipartisan effort, was signed by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R). According to the TOI article, the leaders emphasized America’s solidarity with Israel, inviting Netanyahu to share the Israeli government’s vision for “defending democracy, combatting terror, and establishing a just and lasting peace in the region.”
The invitation follows weeks of political maneuvering, with initial delays attributed to Senate Majority Leader Schumer’s earlier calls for early elections in Israel to replace Netanyahu. Schumer ultimately agreed to the address, provided it maintained a bipartisan approach, as per the information in the TOI report.
The invitation, originally proposed by Speaker Johnson, reflects a strong bipartisan consensus in the US Congress supporting Israel’s right to defend itself and seeking to foster deeper understanding and cooperation between the two nations.
Netanyahu’s upcoming speech will be closely watched, both in the United States and internationally. According to the information contained in the TOI report, It offers a platform for Netanyahu to articulate Israel’s stance on its security challenges, its fight against terrorism, and its broader aspirations for peace in the Middle East. Given the historical context and the gravity of the current conflict, Netanyahu’s address is expected to be a pivotal moment in US-Israel relations.
“The horrific attacks of October 7th shocked the world and forced your nation into a fight for its very existence. We join the State of Israel in your struggle against terror, especially as Hamas continues to hold American and Israeli citizens captive and its leaders jeopardize regional stability,” the letter read, as was reported by the TOI. “For this reason, on behalf of the bipartisan leadership of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, we would like to invite you to address a Joint Meeting of Congress.”
An official familiar with the matter disclosed that Netanyahu had been in discussions with Republican Congressional leaders regarding a potential joint session address.
Republicans, including presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, have shown eagerness to support Netanyahu and highlight divisions within the Democratic Party over Israel. This comes in the context of Netanyahu’s last joint session address in 2015, which saw nearly 60 Democrats boycott the event, the TOI report indicated. That address, organized by Republican Congressional leaders without the knowledge of then-President Barack Obama, was intended to lobby against the nuclear deal with Iran.
European Jewish Association Menachem Margolin addresses the EJA’s conference in Amsterdam, June 3, 2024. Photo by Yoav Dudkevitch
If the continent’s governments continue to tolerate “this flood of Jew-hatred, they can expect hundreds and thousands of us to leave.”
By: Amelie Botbol
As hundreds of Jews descended on Amsterdam for an “emergency summit,” the head of the European Jewish Association on Monday called on Israel to prepare for a mass influx of immigrants as anti-Semitism skyrockets across the continent.
Rabbi Menachem Margolin, who had previously criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for encouraging European Jewry to make aliyah, has, given the current situation, changed tack.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu, we are not there yet but be ready. Get your government agencies ready. Because if European governments carry on as they have so far, if they continue to tolerate this flood of Jew-hatred, they can expect hundreds and thousands of us to leave,” Margolin said in his address to open the summit.
“We meet in Amsterdam to fight back for our home. But it can only continue to be our home if governments in Europe want us to stay and help us in our fight. Today, we met to give them the tools to do so,” he continued.
The European Jewish Association conference kicks off in Amsterdam, June 3, 2024. Photo by Yoav Dudkevitch.
“Europe is our home, and whilst Israel is our insurance policy, we will not call it in until absolutely necessary,” added Margolin.
The EJA summit is taking place on Monday and Tuesday in the Dutch metropolis on the backdrop of widespread anti-Semitism that has reached concerning heights amid Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.
“Every logical person, every person who looks after his family and children wants to live in security, and if this very basic condition does not exist, people will look to find an alternative. So the answer is yes, I fear for the future of European Jewry,” Margolin told JNS in Amsterdam on Monday.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz expressed his support in a pre-recorded video message.
“Since Hamas’s October 7 massacre, anti-Semitism reared its ugly head everywhere in the world, and as the Jewish state we cannot accept the reality that in 2024, Jews are forced to hide their Jewish identity from fear of being hurt,” Katz said.
“It is our responsibility to fight anti-Semitism and anti-Semites themselves. We all understand that there is a direct connection between the situation in Israel and the attitude towards the Jewish communities in the world. As such it is our mission to strengthen one another,” he continued.
“You are our brothers and our family. I wish you success and extend my hand in partnership. The people of Israel lives,” Katz said.
The conference is being organized in collaboration with the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Anti-Semitism, the Centraal Joods Overleg (the umbrella group of Dutch Jewry), the Jewish communities of Hungary, Paris and Porto, Portugal, the Federation of Synagogues (U.K.), Christians for Israel and others.
The European Commission
Also attending the EJA emergency summit was Katharina von Schnurbein, European Commission coordinator on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life.
“The European Commission has adopted a strategy in 2021 which is very clear that we want Jews in Europe to go about in line with their cultural and religious traditions and free from security concerns,” von Schnurbein told JNS.
“We have the ambition to say we want a European Union free from anti-Semitism. We know we are far from it at the moment, but the European Commission is very much on the side of the Jewish communities in fighting their battle with them and in being very clear that it is not for the Jews to fight anti-Semitism, it is for all of us, the society at large and governments to address these issues,” she said.
One panel discussion on Monday focused on policies and solutions to strengthen European governments’ response to anti-Semitism, and was moderated by EJA senior adviser Ruth Wasserman Lande, a former Israeli lawmaker.
“There is a sense among European Jews of feeling alone despite steps taken by authorities. There needs to be a lot more advocacy, lobbying work and reporting of crimes against Jewish people. So much that needs to be done, some of it is being done by the EJA,” Wasserman Lande told JNS.
“We must unite in order to be able to deal with this challenge, which is very significant. I appreciate the privilege and the opportunity to come and meet with leaders of Jewish communities throughout Europe and bring in operative solutions and best practices so that Jewish peoplehood can improve,” she said.
Wasserman Lande cited a EJA forum that took place on May 22, in which the organization brought in legal experts to discuss existing and potential legislation in European countries to counter Jew-hatred.
“We focused on how to explain to law enforcement agencies current laws and how they can be applied to actually combat anti-Semitism, as opposed to having laws on the books that agencies don’t know how to enforce,” Wasserman Lande said.
Based in Brussels, the EJA works to strengthen Jewish identity, expand Jewish activities in Europe and defend Jewish interests, including by creating political initiatives against the BDS movement and by representing Jews in European conversations affecting minorities.
“We felt we needed to do something to be as effective as we can and try to come up with solutions that we will go and propose to governments, law enforcement authorities, politicians and educators,” Tal Rabina, EJA director of strategy and head of EJA’s Israel office, told JNS.
“The situation is becoming as dangerous as it was in the Holocaust days, there are so many similarities,” he continued. “When I say we, I mean not just the Jews but also European societies. The extremism, the hate speech, writing anti-Semitic messages on walls, this is how it all began. One should remember that the Nazi regime started in ‘liberal’ universities.”
Rabina explained that Jewish communities in Europe were not seeking decision-makers’ sympathy but rather action.
“Some leaders are following populist trends instead of leading and this is a catastrophe,” he said. “Blaming Israel and the Jewish people, which you don’t do in any other conflict in the world is terrible and effectively increases anti-Semitism. We must fight back.”
On Tuesday, conference participants will visit Amsterdam’s Portuguese Synagogue, the National Holocaust Museum and the Hollandsche Schouwburg (English: “Hollandic Theater”) museum, which was used as a deportation center during the Holocaust.
They will also tour the Anne Frank House, a museum dedicated to the young diarist who hid in Amsterdam with her family and eventually perished in the Holocaust.
“It is our priority to make sure that Jews can live their culture and their identity in the freest way because that is the core value that we built our European society on,” Eddo Verdoner, national coordinator on combating anti-Semitism in the Netherlands, told JNS.
“The government is working on a plan to make sure that students receive in-class education but also give them incentives to go out of the class and visit Holocaust memorial centers. This is one of the most effective tools against disinformation and conspiracy theories,” he said.
“Some Jews have said that they left the Netherlands because of anti-Semitism, and this is very regrettable. If people want to move to Israel, that’s their right, but it must be done out of choice. It must never be done out of fear. When that happens, we fail as a state and we fail as a European Union,” said Verdoner.
The CJA’s network includes entities like the NDN Collective, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, and DemilitaRISE, all of which promote anti-imperialist ideologies and advocate for defunding the police and the military. Photo Credit; ggjalliance.org
The Biden administration’s approach to addressing inflation has come under heavy criticism for its allocation of funds towards environmental justice initiatives that critics argue have little to do with economic stability. At the heart of this controversy is the $50 million grant awarded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) under the Inflation Reduction Act. This allocation is seen by some as an egregious example of misdirected spending, raising serious questions about the priorities and vetting processes within the administration.
The Climate Justice Alliance has openly linked its mission to the liberation of Palestine, an association that many find deeply troubling, especially in light of the recent violence perpetrated by Hamas. The CJA’s website and promotional materials propagate an anti-colonial framework, which they claim connects the struggle for climate justice with the fight against so-called settler colonialism and imperialism. This narrative, often intertwined with anti-Israel rhetoric, positions the organization in a controversial light, particularly given its silence on condemning the October 7 atrocities committed by Hamas.
The EPA’s grant to the CJA was made in December, well after these events, yet the CJA had already called for a ceasefire by October 20, without addressing the violence instigated by Hamas. This raises significant concerns about the ideological leanings of the organizations receiving federal funds and the potential for taxpayer money to support groups with controversial or extremist agendas. The CJA’s network includes entities like the NDN Collective, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, and DemilitaRISE, all of which promote anti-imperialist ideologies and advocate for defunding the police and the military.
This situation begs the question: Did the EPA adequately vet the CJA and its affiliates before disbursing funds, or did it simply turn a blind eye to the potential implications? The answer to this question is critical because it speaks to the broader issue of how public funds are being utilized under the guise of promoting environmental justice.
The Biden administration’s strategy, as perceived by critics, appears to be a deliberate effort to channel resources to far-left groups under the pretext of serving the public good. This approach not only undermines the stated goal of combating inflation but also raises ethical concerns about the use of taxpayer dollars to support divisive and potentially harmful agendas. The notion that such spending is justified by its alignment with broader social justice goals is seen by many as a thinly veiled attempt to legitimize the redistribution of wealth to ideological allies.
Furthermore, this practice exacerbates the nation’s debt burden, placing an undue financial strain on future generations. The irony is palpable: while the administration accuses its opponents of threatening democracy, it simultaneously engages in fiscally irresponsible behavior that could destabilize the economy and erode public trust.
In sum, the allocation of funds to the Climate Justice Alliance under the Inflation Reduction Act exemplifies the broader concerns about the Biden administration’s fiscal policies and their ideological underpinnings. It is imperative that public funds are allocated transparently and responsibly, with a clear focus on addressing the nation’s most pressing economic challenges rather than advancing partisan agendas. Failure to do so not only jeopardizes economic stability but also risks deepening political divisions and undermining democratic institutions.
Those most gleeful, joyful and foaming at the mouth relative to today’s guilty verdicts against Donald Trump, were not the dumb-ass American/Progressive/Socialist Dems. No way! Their cheers were drowned out by the celebrations of the Iranian Mullahs who now see an open corridor to envelop the entire Middle East through its many regional proxies. With the Biden family on their payroll for possibly another four years and with that Crime family’s on-the-take head honcho sitting pretty in the White House, even their Koranic goal of wiping out Israel is in their sights. That’s a reality.
With this scary scenario in mind, we must now crank up our determination, energies and campaigning to ensure the victory of Trump in November. Whatever previous plans we had in mind to volunteer our services to the Republican cause: Fund raising, door to door campaigning, poll watching or just showing up at Republican meetings to support one another, they should be intensified in order to get Trump back in the White House.
If you do not have Trump shirts or hats, order more than one very easily on Amazon. Hand them out to friends and encourage them to fearlessly wear them on their daily rounds. We have to fight off the sneers, smirks and remarks of the dumb-as-dirt Dems who are overjoyed at the fascistic justice system now taking hold all around us. We have to become more outspoken, militant and in your face when we encounter relatives, neighbors and friends who brainlessly support the radicals on the Left. Treat them as pitifully clueless and harmless. Believe me, you’ll not go wrong.
We’ve got to fight for survival now, more than ever. It’s not a foreign enemy we’re losing the battle to, it’s our own people who are paving the way to total fascism which will enslave all of us. History tells us of other nations who fell in a similar manner: pre-Nazi Germany, Cuba, Venezuela and others who fell into the abyss of authoritarianism, lawlessness and corruption due to the ignorance of reality and willing submission of their voters.
In short, those who are willing to look away and shrug their shoulders at the last three years of the Biden administration’s follies and the most recent happenings in a Manhattan court room today, will pay the penalty in tears and blood. We’ve got to make ourselves ten times tougher than we were this morning. Do it!
Sincerely Alan Bergstein Boca Raton, Fla
Biden Panders to the Muslim Brotherhood
Dear Editor:
Joe Biden is called ‘the leader of the free world’, but he panders to the Muslim Brotherhood, whose goal is to replace the West with a Caliphate.
Why can’t he free five American hostages held by Hamas terrorists since October 6, 2023? Why has he enabled Iran to earn billions of dollars, while their proxies in Gaza torture Americans? Why is he funding UNRWA?
Now Biden has announced “a road map to an enduring ceasefire and the release of all hostages.” Flunkies, like Canada’s Trudeau, are salivating. Hamas has proven once again that terrorism is the way to get the West to capitulate. Israel must learn the lesson; the West will tolerate the wanton slaughter of Jews.
Of course, the plan will collapse, as has every other offer over the years. One cannot satisfy a genocidal philosophy. One can only defeat it again and again.
Israelis want the hostages back home. That is step one. Then Hamas must be rendered incapable of violating Israeli sovereignty again. The fantasy of a 2-state solution is on the back burner.
As we learned in Germany, it takes years to unlearn evil habits. At some point, Palestinians will gain the right to a measure of self-governance in part of the territory promised the Jewish people by the San Remo Accords, the League of Nations and Article 80 of the United Nations’ Charter.
Sincerely Len Bennett, Author of ‘Unfinished Work’ Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Gazans Support “Palestinian Islamic Jihad”
Dear Editor:
Palestinian Islamic Jihad released another video on May 30th of hostage Alexander Trupanov and this is important because too often the Israeli government, as well as supporters of Israel around the world, cast Hamas as the only terrorist enemy in Gaza. Hamas is not alone and Islamic Jihad is just one of the terrorist groups there guilty of attacking innocent civilians and taking hostages.
Why does even this matter? This is a vitally important fact since so many of the critics of Israel in the journalism field, NGO world, the diplomatic corps, and elsewhere want us to believe that because there is some (unknown) percentage of Gazans who oppose rule by Hamas there for Israel’s combat actions in Gaza must be held to a higher standard than any army in history has ever been expected to uphold.
The reasons that some Gazans oppose Hamas is not because it is a terrorist organization but because there’s a different terrorist group they support.
Moreover, the existence of multiple Arab terrorist groups in Gaza must serve as a reminder that even when Hamas is eliminated there’s still no reason to believe that Gazan based terrorism against Israel will cease.
All of the Palestinian Arab terrorists that participated in the October 7th invasion must be eliminated whether they are Hamas affiliated or not.
Moreover, after these terrorists are annihilated every possible tool must be utilized to ensure that no terrorist group, whether it is named Hamas, Islamic Jihad, or anything else, ever takes root in Gaza again.
Any other course of action would be immoral and, G-d forbid, put more innocent lives of Israeli families at risk.
Sincerely, Moshe Phillips Pennsylvania
Is the First Amendment Null & Void?
Dear Editor:
We used to believe that “I don’t agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Today, the politically correct liberal position is to hound the person for an apology, harass and threaten them and their family and demand their employer fire them. Is the First Amendment null and void?
Former New York Rep. Mondaire Jones (D.) endorsed New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s (D.) pro-Israel primary challenger and expressed his horror at Bowman’s incendiary positions on the Israel-Hamas war.
Jones, who is running for Congress in the neighboring 17th Congressional District, first revealed his endorsement of Westchester County executive George Latimer (D.) in an interview with the New York Times on Monday. Jones held a press conference on Tuesday morning explaining that Bowman had sown “pain and anxiety” among Jewish New Yorkers.
“I want to be clear: I am making this endorsement to stand up for my Jewish constituents because Rep. Bowman and I have very different views on Israel,” Jones said Tuesday. “I have been horrified by his recent acceptance of the DSA endorsement, his denial of the sexual assault of Israeli women by Hamas on October 7, and his embrace of Norman Finkelstein, a well-known anti-Semite.”
In contrast, Jones added, Latimer is “standing strong with our allies like Israel and safeguarding our democracy.”
The endorsement reflects how much the embattled incumbent has fallen out of favor with fellow New York Democrats as the primary race nears its end. In a June 2020 Intercept interview during his first congressional run, Jones encouraged more people “like Mr. Bowman” to run for elected office. Bowman described himself as a “socialist” to the outlet earlier that month.
“And increasingly, I think, laypersons are of the view that we need more people like myself and Mr. Bowman in Congress, and I’m really grateful that average people are not taking their cues from Democratic committee members, but rather from—from the candidates themselves as they evaluate the differences among what’s being offered to them,” Jones said.
Years later, on Tuesday, Jones declared himself a Democratic champion of the Hudson Valley and vowed to end the “painful nightmare” that constituents have been experiencing since Oct. 7.
“As someone who is among the most popular Democrats in the Hudson Valley, it is my prerogative to play a dispositive role in ending this long, painful nightmare that we have been experiencing since Oct. 7,” Jones said Monday.
Latimer, for whom Jones worked during his time as a Westchester County attorney, thanked his fellow New York Democrat for his endorsement.
“As a former Congress member and county employee, Mondaire Jones has a record of working for a better future for Westchester families. I’m thrilled that he’s supporting my campaign for #RealResultsNotRhetoric,” Latimer wrote in a Monday post. “Welcome to #TeamLatimer, Mondaire!”
Bowman’s fellow anti-Israel “Squad” members such as Reps. Cori Bush (Mo.) and Summer Lee (Pa.) were incensed at Jones’s decision not to endorse Bowman, according to a Semafor report. Both also faced pro-Israel primary challengers this cycle.
Lee called the endorsement “incredibly disappointing.”
Bush called Jones a friend unworthy of trust.
“It’s disgusting,” said Bush, who finds herself trailing her pro-Israel challenger St. Louis prosecuting attorney Wesley Bell. “Is that who he wants to be? Someone that the members can’t even trust? Someone that the members know will be your friend one day, and then as soon as it’s beneficial to him, will completely not only turn on you, but will go and support the person that is challenging you?”
Bowman, who did not return a request for comment, lags behind Latimer by 17 points according to an April poll. In the final stretch of his primary campaign, Bowman has leaned on far-left groups to push him across the finish line. A coalition of progressive organizations that downplay Hamas’s terrorism launched an initiative to save his campaign in May. Last week after a campaign event, Bowman posed for a photo with the New York Working Families Party and the Jewish Vote, two groups that call to defund the police.
Bowman and Latimer will face off at the ballot box on June 25
On May 30th, a Manhattan jury found former President Donald Trump guilty of thirty-four jerry-rigged felony charges brought against Mr. Trump by the progressive Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Credit: FrontPageMag.com
When the main casualty is the rule of law itself
By: Joseph Klein
On May 30th, a Manhattan jury found former President Donald Trump guilty of thirty-four jerry-rigged felony charges brought against Mr. Trump by the progressive Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. The fix was in, and the main casualty was the rule of law itself.
District Attorney Bragg abused his prosecutorial powers by targeting Mr. Trump personally, as he had promised to do when he ran for office, and then coming up with concocted felony offenses to charge him with. The Trump-hating district attorney magically alchemized a statute of limitations-barred misdemeanor of falsifying business records into a felony violation of a state law that prohibits conspiring to win an election by “unlawful means.”
DA Bragg accused the former president and presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee of allegedly conspiring to falsify business records to hide a hush money payment aimed at keeping news of a potentially embarrassing sex scandal from the voters. The jury bought this flimflam of a case against Mr. Trump with the help of a biased judge whose daughter’s firm was reportedly leveraging this same case to assist Democrats in their fundraising.
DA Bragg fabricated a byzantine legal theory especially for the purpose of ensnaring Mr. Trump. The progressive prosecutor chose to revive a time-barred misdemeanor by upgrading it to a felony involving alleged interference with a federal election, even though the public was in no way endangered by the alleged falsification of business records.
Contrast Mr. Bragg’s targeting of Mr. Trump with how he has dealt with the wave of violent crimes surging in Manhattan. Mr. Bragg has often taken the side of the accused criminals. His office has chosen to downgrade many of the most serious offenses occurring on its watch from felonies to misdemeanors.
In short, District Attorney Alvin Bragg is living proof of what the late Attorney General (and a subsequent Supreme Court Justice) Robert Jackson warned was “[t]he most dangerous power of the prosecutor: that he will pick people he thinks he should get, rather than pick cases that need to be prosecuted.”
An impartial judge would have thrown out Bragg’s indictment against Mr. Trump or, at the very least, ensured that Mr. Trump received a fair trial. However, the hopelessly biased Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over Mr. Trump’s hush money trial, did neither. This judge, who should have been recused on conflict-of-interest grounds, abused his judicial authority by tilting the playing field sharply in the prosecution’s favor. Indeed, Judge Merchan’s rulings prevented Mr. Trump from receiving a fair trial and violated Mr. Trump’s fundamental constitutional right to due process.
For example, Judge Merchan allowed the prosecutor’s witness, former porn star Stormy Daniels, to rattle on with details about her alleged salacious affair with Mr. Trump. The judge overruled repeated objections by Mr. Trump’s lawyers that her prolonged testimony was highly prejudicial and legally irrelevant to the case, even though the judge himself admitted that the testimony may have gone too far.
Judge Merchan also allowed the introduction of other prejudicial evidence to help the prosecution’s case that had nothing to do with the charge that Mr. Trump caused the falsification of business records for the purpose of interfering with the 2016 election. This extraneous, prejudicial evidence included testimony about the infamous “Hollywood Access” tape. It also included testimony about Mr. Trump’s alleged affair involving former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Judge Merchan did the prosecution another favor when he barred the introduction of evidence crucial to the defense. He did not allow the jury to hear testimony from a federal election law expert that would have supported the defense’s contention that Mr. Trump did not violate federal election law.
Judge Merchan also issued jury instructions that were highly stacked against the defense. The instructions allowed the jury to reach a guilty verdict even if they could not agree unanimously in identifying the specific crime that Mr. Trump allegedly committed as the unlawful means to interfere with the 2016 presidential election. The judge offered the jury a buffet of three possible key crimes that each jury member could choose from. They did not have to all agree on the same key crime but yet could still render a unanimous guilty verdict. Mr. Trump’s defense team did not learn of the specific crimes that the jury members could select from until the end of the trial. By then it was too late to present evidence to refute each of these crimes and their alleged connection to the charge of conspiring to interfere with the 2016 presidential election.
The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution guarantees to the accused criminal defendant “due process of law.” The Sixth Amendment guarantees that in a criminal prosecution the defendant has the right “to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation.” Mr. Trump was denied these fundamental rights in Judge Merchan’s courtroom.
Following the announcement of the jury’s guilty verdict, the Soros-funded progressive Manhattan DA bragged that “I did my job.” He is right in one sense. Mr. Bragg did a hatchet job on Donald Trump, enabling his comrades in the Democratic Party and the Biden re-election campaign to brand Mr. Trump as a convicted felon and distract voters from President Biden’s disastrous policy failures.
However, as mentioned earlier, Alvin Bragg has utterly failed to do his real job. He has shied away from vigorously prosecuting violent criminal suspects accused of putting innocent people’s lives and well-being in danger.
President Biden took Donald Trump to task for the former president’s harsh criticism of his trial and guilty verdict. Mr. Biden said that “it’s reckless, it’s dangerous, and it’s irresponsible for anyone to say this was rigged just because they don’t like the verdict.”
“The justice system should be respected, and we should never allow anyone to tear it down,” President Biden declared. “It’s as simple as that.”
Evidently, respect for the outcome of court decisions was not so simple for Mr. Biden himself when he angrily denounced, on foreign soil no less, the Supreme Court’s decision overruling Roe v. Wade. “The one thing that has been destabilizing is the outrageous behavior of the Supreme Court of the United States,” he declared while in Spain for a NATO summit meeting in 2022 after the Supreme Court issued its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
After the leak of a draft of the Dobbs majority opinion, the Biden administration failed to enforce against pro-abortion protesters parading near conservative justices’ residences a law prohibiting such behavior aimed at influencing the outcome of a judicial proceeding.
A year later, President Biden angrily responded to the Supreme Court’s decision that struck down affirmative action programs at the University of North Carolina and Harvard. “This is not a normal court,” the president exclaimed about a co-equal branch of the federal government.
“Destabilizing,” “outrageous behavior,” and “not a normal court.” These were the words that President Biden chose to describe the Supreme Court for decisions it rendered with outcomes that he did not like. Once again, we see an example of ‘rules for thee but not for me.’
The guilty verdict against Donald Trump in the New York hush money case should be overturned on appeal on various grounds that include violations of Mr. Trump’s constitutional rights, Judge Merchan’s jury instructions, and reversible errors in the judge’s evidentiary rulings. However, the appellate process takes a long time and will not be concluded before Election Day. Mr. Trump cannot count on the Supreme Court’s intervention in time to redress this miscarriage of justice and ensure a fair election that is determined at the ballot box, not in a courtroom.
The Biden campaign is already using the “convicted felon” slogan against Donald Trump to amplify its smear that Mr. Trump and his millions of supporters constitute a grave danger to democracy. But this is part of the progressive Left’s Big Lie meant to deceive the voters. The truth is that democracy and the rule of law in America are under assault by the Biden White House, the Biden Justice Department, and progressive state prosecutors and judges who abuse their powers to target their political enemies.
Joseph Klein is a Harvard-trained lawyer, and the author of Global Deception: The UN’s Stealth Assault on America’s Freedom and Lethal Engagement: Barack Hussein Obama, The United Nations & Radical Islam.
Imagine it is August 1942, eight months after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The rapidly growing isolationist America First Committee has surpassed 800,000 members. They claim that nothing can imperil America’s national security interests. The Nazi sympathizers of the German-American Bund march down major streets of Manhattan. Students at Columbia, Berkeley and Yale hold massive demonstrations against the war. Father Coughlin’s anti-Semitic radio broadcasts reach tens of millions of listeners. He endlessly asks, “Must the entire world go to war for 600,000 Jews who are neither American, nor French, nor English citizens, but citizens of Germany?”
Today, powerful elements within the Democratic Party, convinced they are immune from the jihadist hatred so ardently displayed towards Israel and all non-jihadists, are behaving precisely like that.
This was reflected in President Joe Biden’s June 1 speech.
Biden opened his remarks by claiming that his negotiators are focused “not just on a ceasefire” in the Israel-Hamas conflict “but a durable end to the war.”
The devil, as always, is in the details.
In his speech, Biden proposed a deal in three phases. The first demands “a full and complete ceasefire” with “a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from all areas of Gaza.”
This alone would essentially ensure a victory for Hamas after eight months of fighting. After all, what is to prevent Hamas or a similar group from seizing power after an Israeli withdrawal?
Biden also stated, “Palestinians—civilians—would return to their homes and neighborhoods in all areas of Gaza, including in the north.” But in an asymmetrical war, in which Hamas terrorists do not wear uniforms and do not carry dog tags or army ID cards (in violation of the Geneva Convention), how can one distinguish between a Palestinian civilian and a Hamas terrorist?
The formula for hostage releases in exchange for terrorist prisoners is also totally asymmetrical. Biden spoke of “a release of a number of hostages—including women, the elderly, the wounded—in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.”
Note the phrase “a number of hostages,” rather than “all remaining hostages.” What is “a number”? One? Two? A hundred? Why not one Palestinian prisoner for one hostage? Haven’t we learned our lesson from the 2011 deal that released 1,027 prisoners in exchange for IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, including Hamas mastermind Yahya Sinwar?
Biden continued, “Humanitarian assistance would surge with 600 trucks carrying aid into Gaza every single day.” However, a study by a group of highly esteemed public health officials and academics has found that the amount of calories coming into Gaza from Israel is 40% higher than the humanitarian standard for daily calorie intake. The problem has never been the efforts made by Israel to deliver food. The problem has always been Hamas’ plundering and looting of the food, as has been reported by Reuters.
Magnanimous promises are in store for us in phase two, such as “The cessation of hostilities, permanently.” How long is “permanently”? Until Hamas can regroup and reestablish its control over Gaza? Until the international community runs out of the will to negotiate ad nauseum with Hamas?
And if we are dealing with an entity that is expected to live in peace and security just a few meters away from Israel, why is it necessary to state that there will be “an exchange for the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers.”
Therein lies the rub. The entire civilized world knows exactly what Hamas is. Its terrorists themselves videotaped their sadistic atrocities on Oct. 7. We all witnessed the serial use of sexual violence against women and men; the burning of children in front of their parents; the massive slaughter of parents in front of their children, the holding of sex slaves for eight months. We all heard the blood-curdling phone call of a child triumphantly bragging to his parents, “Open What’sApp. I killed 10 Jews with my own hands!” And the mother responds, “Oh my son. May God bless you!”
At first blush, phase three sounds like a wonderful “kumbaya moment,” except for the minor fact that Israel would not be allowed to ensure the integrity of its own borders or the security of its own people. Authority over borders would most likely fall into the hands of Egypt, which allowed the construction of hundreds of miles of terror tunnels from beneath Gaza into Egyptian territory. The tunnels were used to smuggle weapons into Gaza. There would also be a major role for Qatar, which magnanimously hosts the strongmen of Hamas in Doha and poisons the minds of the Arabic-speaking world through pro-Hamas Al Jazeera. All this would take place after the United States pours billions of taxpayer dollars into Gaza to rebuild it.
The U.S. State Department has never been willing to acknowledge that the Oslo Accords were a failed paradigm from the start. There is no reason to think that the Department will not attempt to replace the Hamas leadership with a “revitalized Palestinian Authority.” They may well try to pluck the arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti from an Israeli prison, where he has remained since he was convicted of mass murder. As head of the Tanzim terrorist group, Barghouti took part in a terror campaign that killed over a thousand Israeli civilians—the second intifada.
Moreover, according to recent polls taken by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, there is minimal support for the P.A. among Palestinians. Worse still, 71% of Palestinians said Hamas’s decision to commit the Oct. 7 atrocities was correct.
It is noteworthy that Biden declared, “Israel has offered a comprehensive new proposal” in order to justify his plan.
Yet that same day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on X, “Israel’s conditions for ending the war have not changed: The destruction of Hamas military and governing capabilities, the freeing of all hostages, and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel.”
He added, “Israel will continue to insist these conditions are met before a permanent ceasefire is put in place. The notion that Israel will agree to a permanent ceasefire before these conditions are fulfilled is a non-starter.”
Biden assured us nonetheless, “The people of Israel should know they can make this offer without any further risk to their own security because they’ve devastated Hamas forces over the past eight months. At this point, Hamas no longer is capable of carrying out another Oct. 7, which was one of the Israelis’ main objectives in this war and, quite frankly, a righteous one.”
Hamas is a theocratic, nationalist autocracy. The people of Gaza and much of Judea and Samaria have been indoctrinated from age two to support it. The only way to defeat it is the way the Allies defeated the Nazis: complete and total victory. Without this, we will see countless Oct. 7’s.
In a mad, isolationist world with an impending presidential election in the United States, assurances from the Biden or any other administration regarding Israel’s survival must remain meager and paltry.
Israel, the Jew among the nations, has no one to depend on but itself.
Sarah N. Stern is the founder and president of the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET), a think tank that specializes in the Middle East. She is the author of Saudi Arabia and the Global Terrorist Network (2011).
Israeli soldiers man a post during the Independence War, June 5th, 1948.Photo Credit: Benno Rothenberg/Wikimedia Commons
By: Karen Bekker
Mohammad Zarqa, an 88-year old Palestinian man from Ein Karem who now lives in New Jersey, inadvertently revealed the crux of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict when he told a CNN reporter, as quoted in a May 15 article online, “We will never stop wanting to return.”
Palestinian leaders rejected offers of independence and statehood in 2000, 2008, 2014 and 2020, in part because those offers did not permit them to use the Palestinian refugee issue to turn the world’s only Jewish-majority state into the world’s 57th Muslim-majority state. Of course, it was also Palestinian and other Arab leaders that created the refugee issue to begin with in 1948 when they refused to accept partition of Mandatory Palestine into one Jewish and one Arab state. But CNN’s Alaa Elassar omits both of these facts, in her quest to promote the narrative of a “catastrophe” that the Jews brought upon the Palestinian Arab people. (“From one generation to the next, Palestinians aim to keep the history of al-Nakba alive,” May 15, 2024.)
Like the demand for a Palestinian capital in Jerusalem, the demand for “return” to Israel of millions of descendants of refugees is a non-starter in peace talks between Israel and representatives of the Palestinians. Indeed, Jewish refugees from Arab countries who were expelled in the wake of the founding of Israel, whose descendants now make up about half of the Jewish population of Israel, were long ago integrated into the country, rather than retaining perpetual refugee status and nursing unrealistic hopes of return.
Joan Donoghue of the International Court of Justice refuted the claim that Court had found it was ‘plausible’ that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
In 1947 a much larger population exchange occurred in India and Pakistan, displacing 15 million people. Europe, too, saw mass expulsions in the wake of Word War II. Yet Elassar quotes a UN official calling the Palestinians “the world’s longest-standing protracted refugee crisis,” seemingly without a trace of irony or of knowledge of these other world events. Again, the vast majority of other refugees resettled and moved on with their lives. That is why only the Palestinian refugee “crisis” lives on.
Though Elassar’s piece is not labelled “opinion,” it contains several unfalsifiable claims based on personal recollections of events that happened many decades ago. Such claims can make for riveting reading, regardless of whether they are true or not. So it is with CNN’s retelling of Zarqa’s account of the events of 1948 in Deir Yassin.
But, as CAMERA has noted before, in 1998, the Telegraph, a British outlet, has quoted another individual who also claimed to be an eyewitness to the events, stating:
The Arab radio talked of women being killed and raped, but this is not true… I believe that most of those who were killed were among the fighters and the women and children who helped the fighters. The Arab leaders committed a big mistake. By exaggerating the atrocities they thought they would encourage people to fight back harder. Instead they created panic and people ran away.
In addition, as CAMERA previously quoted from a 1998 article in the Jerusalem Report:
In a BBC television series, “Israel and the Arabs: the 50 Year Conflict,” Hazem Nusseibeh, an editor of the Palestine Broadcasting Service’s Arabic news in 1948, describes an encounter at the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City with Deir Yassin survivors and Palestinian leaders, including Hussein Khalidi, the secretary of the Arab Higher Committee (the representative body of the Arabs of British Palestine).
“I asked Dr. Khalidi how we should cover the story,” recalled Nusseibeh, now living in Amman. “He said, ‘We must make the most of this.’ So we wrote a press release stating that at Deir Yassin children were murdered, pregnant women were raped. All sorts of atrocities.”
A Deir Yassin survivor identified as Abu Mahmud, said the villagers protested at the time. “We said, ‘There was no rape.’ [Khalidi] said, ‘We have to say this, so the Arab armies will come to liberate Palestine from the Jews.’”
The events at that location have been highly contested, including in a recent book by Eliezer Tauber. But CNN’s readers would have no way to know that, as Alaa Elassar provides only one version of the story, with no countervailing claims, as if it were a known fact.
Nor is Elassar’s account of more recent events free from distortion. To make her case, Elassar relies on some common red herrings, such as the false claim that “the International Court of Justice says it’s “plausible” Israel is committing genocide,” – a claim that CNN itself has already corrected three times. She also points to comments made by Minister of Agriculture Avi Dichter, who described the war as “the Nakba of Gaza 2023,” though it’s not clear why she would think the Minister of Agriculture would set the agenda for the conduct of a war.
She writes, “Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas’ brutal attack in Israel on October 7, in which 1,200 people were killed and hundreds of others taken hostage, Israeli officials say.” (Emphasis added.) She continues, “In the seven months since that attack, Israel’s bombing campaign and ground offensive in Gaza has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. It also has imposed a siege and razed entire communities, rendering nearly 90% of the population displaced and everyone food insecure.” Of course, there has not been anything remotely resembling a siege since October 18, and her dutiful recitation of Hamas’s casualty statistics ignores that 15,000 of those killed have been Hamas fighters.
But most importantly, what she ignores about the current war is the same thing she ignores about the 1948 war: none of it had to happen. Had Israel not been attacked, beginning with Palestinian Arab militias in late 1947, leading up to the invasion by five (not, as Elassar claims, three) Arab armies, and then again on October 7, 2023, none of it would have happened. And, still today, Hamas could end the war in Gaza immediately if it returned the hostages and surrendered.
May 24, 2024 Update:
After hearing from many of CAMERA’s members, CNN removed the false claim that “the International Court of Justice says it’s ‘plausible’ Israel is committing genocide” – a claim that CNN had previously corrected three times. However, they substituted a quote from Francesca Albanese, whose antisemitic comments have made her notorious. When she was first appointed to her position as the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territory, the Times of Israel reported:
A review of her past social media posts, media appearances and talks with activist groups found that aside from inveighing against a “Jewish lobby,” she has also sympathized with terror organizations, dismissed Israeli security concerns, compared Israelis to Nazis and accused the Jewish state of potential war crimes. … She rarely acknowledges Palestinian terrorism.
More recently, the U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN Human Rights Council, Michèle Taylor, has said of Albanese, “Francesca Albanese has a history of using antisemitic tropes. Her most recent statements justifying, dismissing, & denying the antisemitic undertones of Hamas’ October 7 attack are unacceptable & antisemitic.”
Although CNN removed the false claim about the International Court of Justice, they have arguably made the article even worse by including the words of someone well-known for her anti-Israel bias.
Karen Bekker is the Assistant Director of CAMERA’s Media Response Team. Prior to joining CAMERA, she practiced law for nine years as a commercial litigator.
The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) is an international media-monitoring and educational organization founded in 1982 to promote accurate and unbiased coverage of Israel and the Middle East. CAMERA is a non-profit, tax-exempt, and non-partisan organization under section 501 (c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code. To learn more or receive our newsletters please visit CAMERA.org.
According to a senior-level Customs and Border Protection source, the latest executive order signed by President Biden on Tuesday will do little more than make Americans grow accustomed to more than 2 million migrant entries into the United States annually. The source, not authorized to speak to the media, says the order will do little to change the landscape of an out-of-control border even if legal challenges by pro-migrant civil rights groups fail to kill the order outright.
Tuesday’s executive order titled “A Proclamation on Securing the Border” will deny migrants the opportunity to apply for asylum when a 7-day average of migrant apprehensions at the southwest border reaches 2,500 or more per day. The proclamation, according to the source, could allow for nearly one million migrant apprehensions per year with no limitations on asylum eligibility if cartels or the Mexican government meter crossings at less than 2,500 per day.
In addition, the source says other “lawful pathways” to entry into the United States implemented during the Biden administration have opened the border to nearly one million additional migrants at ports of entry under the cover of darkness in many cases.
“The everyday citizen has already become accustomed to 2,400 crossings being allowed through land border ports of entry and airports based on the whim of this administration,” the source told Breitbart Texas. “These asylum claims are not vetted to any greater extent than an illegal crossing between the ports. Admissions through the CBP One application are just a mechanism to impact the unpopular optics of crossings between ports of entry.”
The source says the order does nothing to address the 800 to 1,000 or more known migrant got-aways the Border Patrol counts daily. In all, through the “lawful pathways,” crossing the border illegally in numbers under 2,500 daily, and counting those that the Border Patrol fails to apprehend, the source says more than 2 million migrants could cross the border each year without triggering any consequences outlined in the order signed on Tuesday.
“Some of the statements contained within the order are outright lies,” the source added. “The order attributes low migrant crossings in 2020 to travel restrictions placed by other countries during the Covid pandemic — that’s a lie.”
“Strong enforcement policies put in place under the previous administration lowered the crossings from previous years in 2020,” the source explained. “Under the Trump era Title 42 COVID-19 authority, we removed 3 million migrants that reached our borders, and most countries didn’t care who headed to the United States illegally.”
The source stated the dilemma that will quickly impact the Border Patrol is a shortage of detention space for those migrants that cannot be removed due to the lack of diplomatic ties or logistical limitations.
“We only have so many planes and it takes time to prepare a migrant for removal to non-contiguous countries,” the source said. “That time has been lengthened by the cancellation of previous policies negotiated under the Trump administration.”
“If anything, this will direct more traffic to the CBP One application and keep the border open but less visible to the everyday citizen as the election year concludes,” the source lamented.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan. Photo Credit: AP
( JNS) U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday that Israel has accepted the ceasefire proposal President Joe Biden revealed on Friday, and that “the ball is in Hamas’s court.”
“We are waiting for a response from Hamas,” said Sullivan. He acknowledged that the terror group in Gaza might well choose to continue the conflict instead.
“That wouldn’t be terribly out of character for a vicious and brutal terror group, but what we hope they do in the end is see that the best pathway to an end to this war, the return of all the hostages, a surge of humanitarian assistance, is to accept this proposal,” he added.
The war started on Oct. 7 when Hamas led a mass invasion of Israel’s northwestern Negev, murdering, wounding and kidnapping thousands of people, while committing widespread atrocities.
“The onus is on Hamas and will remain on Hamas until we get a formal response from them,” said Sullivan.
The Biden envoy also clarified that Israel had accepted the deal when a reporter suggested otherwise.
“I take issue with the end of your question when you said Israel rejected the proposal,” said Sullivan. “The prime minister’s own adviser went out publicly and said they accepted the proposal. They have reaffirmed that they have accepted the proposal…[it] is a proposal Israel accepted before and continues to accept today. The ball is in Hamas’s court,” he added.
Sullivan also said that CIA Director William Burns is making another trip to the region, arriving in Doha to talk with Qatari mediators on the ceasefire proposal, which would see Israeli hostages released in exchange for Palestinian terrorists in Israeli prisons. U.S. Middle East adviser Brett McGurk also departed on Tuesday for the Arab Gulf state. An Egyptian security delegation will also reportedly join the American and Qatari talks in Doha on Wednesday.
Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that it had handed Biden’s three-phase ceasefire proposal to Hamas and that the document is much closer to the positions of both sides.
A spokesman for Hamas on Tuesday repeated the terror group’s demands for a “clear” Israeli commitment to end the war and withdraw from Gaza. That goes against the stated goals of Israel’s War Cabinet, which remain in place: to defeat Hamas, return the hostages and ensure the terror group can never again threaten Israel.
“We asked the mediators to get a clear Israeli position to commit to a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal from Gaza,” Hamas official Osama Hamdan told a press conference in Beirut.
Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, together with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, threatened on Saturday to exit the coalition if Netanyahu agrees to a deal under the terms made public by Biden on Friday.
Netanyahu reportedly met with Ben-Gvir on Monday to discuss the details of the proposal, which he has said differ from the outline presented publicly by the U.S. president.
Israel Hayom quoted sources in Netanyahu’s office as saying that the premier intended to show Ben-Gvir the full draft of the proposal, which contrary to Biden’s remarks contains no clause requiring Israel to end the war.
An Israeli official told Channel 12 on Tuesday night that the deal currently on the table is the best one Hamas will be offered, adding, “We went as far as possible.”
Biden, in an interview with Time published on Tuesday, said that Netanyahu was under “enormous pressure” to make a deal.
“The last offer Israel made was very generous in terms of who [Palestinian prisoners] they’d be willing to release, what they’d give in return, et cetera. Bibi [Netanyahu] is under enormous pressure on the hostages…and so he’s prepared to do about anything to get the hostages back,” he said.
She not only de-emphasizes her Jewish identity but during her campaign, she was seen wearing a crucifix.
By Barry Shaw, Israel Institute for Strategic Studies
Mexico voted in a new female Jewish President, but is Claudia Sheinbaum good for Israel?
She celebrates her grandfather, who escaped Lithuania where he was expelled for being “a Jew and a communist.” She praises her mother and father not for raising her as a Jew but for “loving Mexico and its history.”
In November 2023, she married Jesús Tarriba who is not Jewish.
She not only de-emphasizes her Jewish identity, but during her campaign, she was seen wearing a crucifix hanging off a string of Catholic prayer beads.
She is clearly a life-long left-wing Socialist politician and she identifies more with Jews who have been active in political activism than biblical or Israeli Jewish heroes.
In Mexico, 0.1% identify as Jewish. Even so, anti-Semitic political rivals have attacked her both as a Jew and as a foreigner.
In Mexico, Sheinbaum wants to be identified for her politics not her ethnicity, So what are her politics, and how does this clash with her ethnicity?
When Israel was forced to wage a previous war against Hamas in 2009, after being under a constant rocket bombardment and terror incursions from Gaza into Israel, Sheinbaum expressed herself in a letter to the editor of La Jornada, a Mexico City newspaper, she said:
“Because of my Jewish origin, because of my love for Mexico and because I feel like a citizen of the world, I share with millions the desire for justice, equality, fraternity and peace, and therefore, I can only see with horror the images of the state bombings”.
“No reason justifies the murder of Palestinian civilians. Nothing, nothing, nothing, can justify the murder of a child.”
She was silent about Israeli children.
Following her election on Monday, several pro-Palestinian activists posted images of Sheinbaum wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh, and posing with an unidentified man wearing a t-shirt that says Palestine.
Israeli opinion is still out on Sheinbaum, but the evidence that Mexico will move closer to Israel under a Jewish president does not look promising.
The Gulag Doctors: Life, Death, and Medicine in Stalin’s Labour Camps. Credit: Amazon.com
By: Stanley Goldfarb
Although progressive leftists have pretty much pirouetted from their love affair with Communist Russia in favor of close comradeship with various Middle Eastern terrorist groups, it’s worth reminding them of some of the more dehumanizing aspects of the Stalinist enterprise. Dan Healey, a professor emeritus of modern Russian history at the University of Oxford, delves deeply into the Russian Gulag system and the physicians and other health care workers who provided medical care to both the prisoners and to the staff that maintained this vast prison system. (The term “Gulag” is an acronym for the “main administration of corrective labour camps.”)
Solzhenitsyn’s masterwork, The Gulag Archipelago, is always called to mind when considering the topic of Stalin’s brutal empire of concentration camps spread out along the vast northern reaches of Siberia. Healey cites Solzhenitsyn’s assessment of the medical work in the Gulags:
In a few bitter pages, Solzhenitsyn dismissed evidence of “good doctors” practicing medicine conscientiously such that they could still be doctors in a professional sense. He argued that subordination to the Gulag machinery of camp commandants, internal surveillance, production managers, and medical bureaucrats, meant that doctors, however noble, could only comply meekly to serve “the common purpose” of squeezing the maximum labor out of the “sloggers”—prisoners in hard labour in the system’s mines, construction, and timber-felling tracts.
But Healey has a more nuanced view of medicine in the Gulags. He has extensively researched the history of individual physicians and other health care workers whose stories are now revealed after camp archives and worker memoirs became available in Russia. He tackles the paradox that while the Gulags mostly functioned to work the prisoners to death either through malnutrition or endemic tuberculosis, the camps represented an enormous effort to provide medical care to these same individuals. For example, by the time of Stalin’s death in 1953 there were nearly 2.5 million prisoners and over 110,000 hospital beds in the Gulag. Healey parts with Solzhenitsyn by describing some of the truly heroic efforts, particularly by many of the prisoner-physicians, to treat their fellow humans.
Another paradox of the camps was their role as both a penal colony and, at the same time, a crucial national effort to “colonize” the barren but mineral-rich Siberia. The Gulags were not only prison camps but were crucial sources of raw minerals, gold, and certain radioactive materials for Stalin’s dictatorship.
One of the fascinating aspects about medicine in the Gulags was that the most capable and senior physicians and nurses were typixxcally prisoners, often Jews. The medical staff who had volunteered to work in the Gulags were mostly the newly trained or those who were ideologically committed to the Marxist state and felt duty-bound to provide care in those godforsaken camps. The prisoner-doctors were often the elite of Russian medicine, trained in the most advanced Russian institutes in Moscow and Leningrad, only to be denounced for “Trotskyite thinking,” among other crimes, and sent to the vast tundra of the Kolyma Republic.
Healey is meticulous about reminding readers of the potential unreliability of the memoirs, particularly those of the volunteer workers. It was unwise to be too forthcoming even after Stalin died. But he does an admirable job in re-creating the travails of the medical establishment in internal exile. He does so through evocative tales of the lives of physicians and workers in the Gulags. In many of these stories, we encounter the ethical morass of physicians supporting a slavery enterprise while also glimpsing the political minefield of Stalinist Russia.
Take the story of Yan Pullerits. He was a physician hired to work for the OGPU, the then-secret police of the Soviets. He followed his mentor to the Gulag to set up medical care for the hired workers and for the prisoners, all of whom were working to exploit the resources of the region. He became medical director of the Dalstroi, a socialist project that built the roads required to access the gold-mining region of Siberia. That region eventually contributed 50 tons of gold to Stalin’s treasury. Despite setting up the vast medical network in Kolyma and being awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour for his efforts to treat the scourge of scurvy (a vitamin deficiency condition), Pullerits did not escape the Great Terror. He was arrested after his father-in-law criticized the arrest of another family member, denounced in absentia by some workers in the Gulag without any clear rationale, and executed on the same day he was convicted of antigovernment activity. Even his wife was imprisoned for eight years as “the wife of a traitor to the Motherland.”
Conditions in the camps’ medical facilities were as brutal as the popular imagination would expect. The death rate of about 15 percent of prisoner workers in the minefields was due to malnutrition and the plague of tuberculosis. Malnutrition was generally the result of dietary deficiency of vitamin C and B complex vitamins. In the 1930s, medical science had identified specific causes of these deficiencies, and supplements were available in Western societies. But the Soviet Union was not a Western society, and instead of fresh fruit to provide a source of vitamin C, a concoction from pine needles was used to attempt to treat the prisoners. In fact, the health care provided sounds more like a gigantic hospice care network than anything resembling mid-20th-century medicine.
Healey recounts some amazing stories of resilience and redemption by the prisoners in the Gulag. Viktor Samsonov was a peasant boy convicted of antigovernment activity as an 18-year-old and sentenced to eight years imprisonment. He started working in the mines but developed night blindness because of dietary vitamin A deficiency. He was hospitalized and then scheduled to return to hard labor but was recognized as uncommonly intelligent by his treating physician. He became an orderly in the hospital, but the bureaucracy prevailed and he returned to work in the timber-felling region.
He became ill again and was treated by a specialist, Nikolai Viktorov, who was again impressed by his intelligence and his previous medical activities. Viktorov “rescued” the young man. Samsonov was made an orderly in Viktorov’s ward, finished his sentence, but remained in the Gulag for the rest of World War II. He was given increasing authority in the health care system and earned certificates in basic scientific subjects, ultimately leaving the Gulag to achieve his dream. He was admitted to medical school, became a full professor, and went on to be named an “Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation.”
These sorts of vignettes populate Healey’s reexamination of medicine in the Gulag. One doesn’t come away with any sort of admiration for the often-barbaric nature of this system. But one does at least appreciate the resilience and endurance of a small slice of the health care workforce. The real heroes of the book are the prisoners who overcame Stalin’s Great Terror to provide some small humane efforts toward the suffering slave workers or, like Samsonov, were able to overcome incredible barriers to have meaningful careers.
This book is a scholarly and detailed examination of a brutish enterprise in Soviet Russia. It is an effective counterpoint to Solzhenitsyn’s complete disgust with health care in the Gulag. It ventures into the gray zone of history where individual stories may diverge from the conventional narrative. Nonetheless, it was a terrible time and a terrible thing.
In the Hebrew year 24481 (1313 BCE), on the 6th (or 7th) day of the Hebrew month of Sivan, G‑d gave us the Ten Commandments and the entire Torah (the Pentateuch and the 613 laws contained therein). Photo Credit: OU
The Sequence and Significance of the Events of the Giving of the Torah at Sinai
By: Eli Landes
In the Hebrew year 24481 (1313 BCE), on the 6th (or 7th) day of the Hebrew month of Sivan, G‑d gave us the Ten Commandments and the entire Torah (the Pentateuch and the 613 laws contained therein). This was no simple handing over of a book of lore; G‑d gave us His Divine laws for us to study and follow. This was a transitional moment in our history—a moment known as Matan Torah (the Giving of the Torah.)
No longer were we merely the descendants of a great man named Abraham, or simply a Middle-Eastern people known as the Israelites. We had now become G‑d’s people, chosen to learn His Torah and keep its laws. It’s a moment we celebrate every year on the festival of Shavuot.
Let’s paint a detailed description of the events surrounding this momentous occasion.
The Events
With the Exodus from Egypt only three months in the past, the Jews arrive at Mount Sinai to hear the Ten Commandments and receive the Torah. Here’s a summary of the events leading up to Matan Torah:
Sivan 1 (Rosh Chodesh): The Jews reach Sinai and camp at the foot of the mountain.
Sivan 2: G‑d tells Moses that He not only wants to give the Jews the Torah, but also wants to make them His chosen, holy nation, who will follow His commandments. The Jews wholeheartedly agree, replying, “All G‑d wishes we will do.”
Sivan 3: Moses relays the Jews’ answer to G‑d. Moses then returns to the Jews to tell them that he will be the messenger for the Ten Commandments; G‑d will speak them to him, and he will in turn tell the Ten Commandments to the Israelites. They reply by saying they want to hear from G‑d directly.
Sivan 4: Moses relays the Jews’ request to G‑d, and G‑d agrees. Moses tells the Jews to prepare for Matan Torah. (There’s a disagreement among the sages whether he told them to prepare for two or three days, the practical difference being whether Matan Torah was on Sivan 6 or 7.)
Sivan 6 or 7: The big moment—Matan Torah.
The Jews awake to thunder and lightning and a deep, powerful horn blast. As they approach Mount Sinai, they see it ablaze, a thick cloud at its peak. Trembling in awe and fear, they gather at the foot of the mountain as Moses ascends alone to the top.
Against this incredible backdrop, G‑d speaks the first two of the Ten Commandments. With each one, the entire Jewish people die from the intensity of the Divine voice. G‑d subsequently brings them back to life.5 After the first two commandments, the people decide that it’s too much for them, and they ask Moses to transmit the remaining eight commandments. (Don’t worry, the remaining commandments are not considered to be lacking in any way. Moses was so in sync with G‑d’s will that he was considered to be G‑d’s vessel; G‑d “spoke through his throat.”
See here for a comprehensive overview of the story.
What Was Given and How
Though the name of the event—the Giving of the Torah—implies that the entire Torah was given that day, this is not the case. In fact, only the Ten Commandments were taught to us that day, and even they were only transmitted verbally. The physical luchot—the tablets—were not given for another 40 days.
Nevertheless, the name remains, as it marks the day G‑d began the process of giving us the Torah. First we were taught the Ten Commandments. Then, Moses stayed on Mount Sinai for 40 days learning with G‑d. During that time, G‑d taught Moses all the rules of how to interpret and understand the Torah.
The Talmud even says that Moses learned every single future interpretation of Torah that would ever exist. Though it is clearly impossible for him to have learned them all, he did learn the rules they are based on, and so it is considered as if he actually learned them. The rest of the Torah was communicated in stages throughout the Jews’ 40-year sojourn in the desert.
The Ten Commandments
Believe in G‑d.
Do not believe in other deities.
Do not take G‑d’s name in vain.
Keep Shabbat.
Honor your parents.
Don’t murder.
Don’t commit adultery.
Don’t kidnap.
Don’t give false testimony.
Don’t covet another’s possessions.
What Makes This Day So Important
Although Matan Torah is known as the time when G‑d gave us His Torah to study and keep, there were a few Israelites who had kept the entire Torah of their own volition before Matan Torah. This raises the question: what makes this day so important? True, only a select few had been keeping the Torah, and after Matan Torah we were all expected to keep it, but this seems to be merely a quantitative difference. The hype over Matan Torah makes you think that something unique was given to us that day, something that we simply did not have before. What was that?
Two things changed that day. The first was our connection to G‑d. Before Matan Torah, those who observed Torah did so entirely of their own accord. Their connection to G‑d, therefore, was only as deep as their understanding and feeling. At Matan Torah, however, G‑d connected His Essence to the Torah and gave it to us.12 When we observe the Torah, therefore, we are connected to G‑d’s essence, no matter who we are and how much we understand or feel.13
Secondly, the effect Torah has on the world was permanently changed. Before Matan Torah, Torah and mitzvahs were considered spiritual matters, and were incapable of affecting the physical world. At Matan Torah, however, G‑d forever changed matters: Torah and mitzvahs could now affect the world. For example, post-Matan Torah, one can take the hide of a cow and turn it into tefillin, and those tefillin will now be holy.
It is for these two reasons that Maimonides states that when we do mitzvahs now, we do them because G‑d commanded us to at Sinai, not because our forefathers did them.
It’s that time of year again, when cheesecakes galore are popping up all over the place. To be honest, I am not cheesecake’s biggest fan, but this recipe is one even I enjoy. The actual cheesecake is lighter, with a slight lemony undertone, and the fresh fruit helps temper the richness.
You can use this cheesecake as a base and add the topping of your choice. Some suggestions: caramel, chocolate ganache, fresh berries, pie filling, lemon curd, roasted rhubarb, etc. I went very simple with oranges, kiwis and strawberries.
Why are we talking about cheesecake? The holiday of Shavuot is almost upon us, when we celebrate the giving of the Torah by hearing the Ten Commandments being read in the synagogue. Some of the customs specific to this holiday include decorating our homes with greenery and eating dairy foods.
This recipe is closely based on Matt Preston’s cheesecake recipe. I’ve made one or two very small adjustments.
Prepare the pan:
You will need a 9-inch springform pan for this recipe. If you don’t have a springform pan, you can use a regular pan, but the cake will be difficult to remove. You may need to cut it while it’s still in the pan.
This cheesecake cooks best in a water bath, so you’ll need a larger pan that the springform pan can sit in.
Wrap the outside of the springform pan in 2–3 layers of foil. This helps keep the water from seeping through the crack around the base.
Crust Ingredients:
4 oz. / 120 grams tea biscuits, crushed
⅓ cup sugar
8 tbsp. butter, melted
Pinch of salt
Crust Directions:
Crush the tea biscuits to a fine crumb, and mix with the sugar, salt and melted butter.
Press the mixture down firmly into the base of the springform pan. Use the back of a spoon to help compress the mixture.
Bake at 350° F for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool.
Cheesecake Ingredients:
24 oz. cream cheese (3 cups)
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
2½ tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. salt
1¼ cup heavy cream
Cheesecake Directions:
Let the cream cheese come to room temperature.
Using an electric mixer (stand or handheld), beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar, and mix until fully incorporated.
Add the eggs one a time. Wait until each one is fully incorporated before adding the next.
Pour in the lemon juice, vanilla and salt, and mix. Slowly pour in the heavy cream, and mix until smooth.
Pour the cheese mixture over the base.
Place the springform pan into the larger pan, and add 1 inch of water to the larger pan.
Bake at 350° F for approximately 60–75 minutes. In order not to overcook the cake, turn off the oven when the center is still jiggly (but not completely wet). Leave the cheesecake to cool in the oven for an hour. Then remove and let it cool completely.
Refrigerate cake until cold. Run a knife around the edge of the pan, then gently release the springform.
Top with fresh fruit. I used orange, kiwi and strawberries.
Easy Cherry-Cheese Tarts for Shavuot
Easy Cherry-Cheese Tarts for Shavuot
I used store-bought puff pastry for these, and the cheese filling can be mixed with a spoon–no blenders or mixers required. Feel free to change up the flavor and use blueberry or strawberry pie filling instead.
Ingredients
2 sheets puff pastry
8 oz cream cheese
4-6 tbsp. sugar
1 ½ tsp fresh lemon juice
1 egg, beaten
1 cup cherry pie filling (or other flavor of your choice)
Directions
Pre-heat oven to 400°F (200°C).
Place a sheet of parchment paper down on your workspace. Roll out a sheet of puff pastry on the parchment paper, then pick up the whole piece of parchment paper and place on a baking sheet. This way you can do the rest of the work directly on the baking sheet and won’t have to move anything around.
Use a round cookie cutter (or large mug) to cut out circles (mine are 3.5”). Prick the center of each circle several times with a fork.
Soften the cream cheese for approx 12 seconds in the microwave. Mix in the sugar and lemon juice. Spread the cheese mixture on the center of each circle, leaving the edge clear. Add a dollop of your preferred pie filling.
Beat the egg and brush over the edges. Sprinkle the edges with sugar (coarse sugar if you have it).
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 15-18 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Yields: 16 (will vary depending on the size of your cookie cutter)
Maple Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream
Maple Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream With Pecan Crunch Topping
With Pecan Crunch Topping
It’s that time of year again . . . the blogosphere has erupted with fall-inspired dishes, with a heavy propensity towards pumpkin. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin brownies, pumpkin milkshake, pumpkin bread, pumpkin everything!
Today I’m sharing my Maple-Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie with Pecan Crunch Topping. If you love fall flavors, prepare to fall in love with this dessert. You’ve got pumpkin, maple, brown sugar and pecan, with a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg.
It’s quick and easy, and presents beautifully—an great way to impress friends and family.
For the ice cream, you’ll need heavy cream, pumpkin purée, sugar, maple syrup, pumpkin pie spice and salt.
A couple of things to keep in mind:
You can make your own pumpkin purée, or buy it canned. If you’re buying canned, make sure you buy pumpkin purée and not pumpkin pie filling. The cans are very similar, so make sure to read the label carefully. To make you own purée, boil the pumpkin until soft, then drain and mash.
I used an ice cream machine. But if you don’t have one, there are two other methods you can use: (1) Buy a tub of good quality vanilla ice cream. Leave it out of the freezer to soften slightly (but do not let it melt completely). Blend it with the pumpkin purée, pumpkin pie spice and salt, and continue with the rest of the recipe instructions. Or, (2) beat the heavy cream until stiff. Add the sugar; mix until incorporated. Add the pumpkin purée, maple syrup, salt and pumpkin pie spice, and give a quick mix until it’s fully incorporated. Pour into pie crust, and continue with the rest of the instructions.
To make the ice cream, blend all ice cream ingredients (except the pie crust). Pour the mixture into the bowl of your ice cream machine.
Meanwhile, lightly toss the topping ingredients together and spread over a baking pan in a single layer.
Bake at 375° F for approximately 5 minutes. Remove and allow the crunch to cool completely.
