General

Updated: “Britain’s Synagogues Have Never Been Fuller,”

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An article with this title was previously posted by mistake. I wanted to emphasize that Jewish ethnocentrism increases dramatically when there is perceived danger to Jews, and to Israel first and foremost, but also in the diaspora in the West because of all the pro-Palestinian protests and even attacks on Jews during the protests and on college campuses. Ethnocentrism is what evolutionary psychologists term a “facultative adaptation,” that is, an adaptation that is triggered or exacerbated by particular environmental events, and in the case of ethnocentrism, perceived threat against the group. (Similarly, the fear system can trigger fight or flight in response to an imminent threat, such as an impending criminal assault or a snake.) In fact, given all the theorizing that Israel must have known about the Hamas plan in advance, it is even possible that one motive was to unite Jews in Israel and around the world and make them more conscious of being Jewish, especially in the context of increasing division within the Jewish community both in Israel and the diaspora over Netanyahu’s explicitly racist government and its attempt to have the Knesset be able to override Supreme Court decisions. There can be little doubt that the Israel-Hamas war has served to unify Jews around the world.

As expected, there has been a huge uptick in donations to pro-Israel causes since the October 7 war began. The main point of my intended post was to emphasize the article excerpted below from The Spectator because it corroborates my previous blog post “The Israel-Gaza War and Jewish Identity.” But I begin with a quote from my previous blog post:

The war in Israel-Gaza is likely to increase Jewish identification and commitment. In my battles with Nathan Cofnas he claims American Jews are not particularly ethnocentric based on intermarriage statistics. This is wrong for a number of reasons, but at times like this, Jewish consciousness and identity will surely rise. From the revision of CofC:

Jewish identity may emerge among Jews without a conscious Jewish identity as a result of a perceived threat to Jews, as during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war or the rise of National Socialism. Jewish identification is a complex area where surface declarations may be deceptive. Jews may not consciously know how strongly they identify with Judaism. Silberman (1985, 184), for example, notes that around the time of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, many Jews could identify with the statement of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel that “I had not known how Jewish I was” (in Silberman 1985, 184; italics in text). Silberman comments: “This was the response, not of some newcomer to Judaism or casual devotee but of the man whom many, myself included, consider the greatest Jewish spiritual leader of our time.” Many others made the same surprising discovery about themselves: Arthur Hertzberg (1979, 210) wrote, “The immediate reaction of American Jewry to the crisis was far more intense and widespread than anyone could have foreseen. Many Jews would never have believed that grave danger to Israel could dominate their thoughts and emotions to the exclusion of everything else.”
The point is that the Jewish identity of even a highly assimilated Jew, and even one who has subjectively rejected a Jewish identity, may surface at times of crisis to the group or when Jewish identification conflicts with any other identity that a Jew might have, including identification as a political radical.
As a result, assertions regarding Jewish identification that fail to take account of perceived threats to Judaism may seriously underestimate the extent of Jewish commitment. Surface declarations of a lack of Jewish identity may be highly misleading. Consider the following comment on Heinrich Heine, who was baptized but remained strongly identified as a Jew: “Whenever Jews were threatened—whether in Hamburg during the Hep-Hep riots [in 1819 in Germany] or in Damascus at the time of the ritual murder accusation [1840] —Heine at once felt solidarity with his people” (Prawer 1983, 762).

This recent article reinforces the point:

Our lives have changed forever. We have had to change not just the way we think of Israel but how we think of Britain. The past month has exposed an ugly underside. We once thought we lived in a tolerant society. Now we are asking: ‘Can we safely share our Jewishness here?’, and ‘do we belong?’

As Jews we are familiar with tragedy, threat and betrayal. ‘Always make sure you have your passport in date’, my mother used to tell me. Fortunately, today we are still very far from escape. But the recent rise in anti-Semitism makes us feel like we have moved another step closer.

In the darkest times, however, is when the embers of the Jewish spirit burn brightest. Amidst the tragic loss of life and bloodshed, there are revolutions starting. There is a revolution of Jewish identity and unity.

Although security threats are at their highest, the synagogues have never been fuller. ‘We’ve not seen our synagogue this full since the Pittsburg shooting’, noticed a friend, with a sad laugh. Charities distribute thousands of shabbat candles every Friday, WhatsApp groups encourage psalms to be recited around the clock and hundreds of women gather each week to bake ceremonial challa bread and pray. One local barber, for the first time ever, vowed to close his shop on Shabbat as a sign of solidarity. Members of the community vow to support his business in return.

‘I have never felt my Jewishness the way I do right now’, said a lady, at the kosher butcher, buying chicken soup: ‘Ironically just when we’re under attack.’ Another ex-colleague reached out to me. She had never embraced her Jewish heritage before but now she feels she has to ‘pick a side’. She feels the pain of being vilified and misunderstood but feels that it is worth it. …

Pressure builds daily as Israel loses global sympathy and the bloody conflict unfolds. Friends in Israel feel supported there and weirdly they feel safer, even when they run into their bomb shelters. Their sense of connection makes them feel alive. The Jewish community’s unity now feels even stronger in contrast to the splintered in-fighting about Israel’s judicial reform that was rampant prior to the attack. This month, these differences have been put on hold. Faith and togetherness are our community’s protection against threat and we have to cling to them with all our might.[1]

[1] Chana Hughes, “Britain’s Synagogues Have Never Been Fuller,” The Spectator (November 11 2023). https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/britains-synagogues-have-never-been-fuller/

“Britain’s Synagogues Have Never Been Fuller”

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American Jews are giving mightily to Israel. Is there enough giving left to go around? – Jewish Telegraphic Agency (jta.org)

Our lives have changed forever. We have had to change not just the way we think of Israel but how we think of Britain. The past month has exposed an ugly underside. We once thought we lived in a tolerant society. Now we are asking: ‘Can we safely share our Jewishness here?’, and ‘do we belong?’

As Jews we are familiar with tragedy, threat and betrayal. ‘Always make sure you have your passport in date’, my mother used to tell me. Fortunately, today we are still very far from escape. But the recent rise in anti-Semitism makes us feel like we have moved another step closer.

In the darkest times, however, is when the embers of the Jewish spirit burn brightest. Amidst the tragic loss of life and bloodshed, there are revolutions starting. There is a revolution of Jewish identity and unity.

Although security threats are at their highest, the synagogues have never been fuller. ‘We’ve not seen our synagogue this full since the Pittsburg shooting’, noticed a friend, with a sad laugh. Charities distribute thousands of shabbat candles every Friday, WhatsApp groups encourage psalms to be recited around the clock and hundreds of women gather each week to bake ceremonial challa bread and pray. One local barber, for the first time ever, vowed to close his shop on Shabbat as a sign of solidarity. Members of the community vow to support his business in return.

‘I have never felt my Jewishness the way I do right now’, said a lady, at the kosher butcher, buying chicken soup: ‘Ironically just when we’re under attack.’ Another ex-colleague reached out to me. She had never embraced her Jewish heritage before but now she feels she has to ‘pick a side’. She feels the pain of being vilified and misunderstood but feels that it is worth it. …

Pressure builds daily as Israel loses global sympathy and the bloody conflict unfolds. Friends in Israel feel supported there and weirdly they feel safer, even when they run into their bomb shelters. Their sense of connection makes them feel alive. The Jewish community’s unity now feels even stronger in contrast to the splintered in-fighting about Israel’s judicial reform that was rampant prior to the attack. This month, these differences have been put on hold. Faith and togetherness are our community’s protection against threat and we have to cling to them with all our might.[1]

[1] Chana Hughes, “Britain’s Synagogues Have Never Been Fuller,” The Spectator (November 11 2023). https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/britains-synagogues-have-never-been-fuller/

The End of Cash and the Rise of Potemkin Democracies

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Relax. We’ll still have a president, a Congress, a Supreme Court, and elections.

From Google translate of: “No More Cash in the EU.”

The struggle of globalism against democracies

I didn’t know it was already forbidden to use cash for payment of over 1000 dollars. Christine Lagarde says on the phone that it should go down to 300. The digital ID can check EVERYTHING. For example, if you do not want to be ‘vaccinated’, your money can be blocked so that you cannot buy anything. Not a journey, not a grasshopper protein to satiate you with.

Anyone could be forced to do what the EU thinks you should do. That, of course, will be the coup on us. None of the controlled financial media have the story of what is rightly called the “digital concentration camp.” It will soon be ‘our free, democratic world’ we think we inhabit and boast about.

It is, of course, purely democratic theatre, and it is part of the great, dominant theme of the time: globalism’s struggle against democracies. For the time being, democracies are losing big. We hold elections and let ourselves be entertained about domestic politics by the bought media, and it’s all an illusion.

Democracy is a Potemkin backdrop

By allowing all the ancient institutions to exist as Potemkin scenery, Emperor Augustus became autocratic, hailing emperor for 45 years. The same Julius Caesar wanted, but was murdered for. At his death, Augustus was considered a god, and some ancient Roman wives still do, you can see if you visit his mausoleum on the Tiber.

It is the art that is repeated on us: pull all the content out of democracy, but leave the scenes and the people will think that they still have any influence at all. That all is well and as it has been so far. You see it yourself every day on TV and it works. People believe it.

What is surprising is that national politicians in their deeds completely support having all the content pulled out of them. They keep their salaries and pensions, but they mean nothing. …

Revealed! Nikki Haley’s Husband and His Djibouti Call

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Revealed! Nikki Haley’s Husband and His Djibouti Call

Will Republicans ever rebel against the execrable primary debates foisted on us every four years? Vetting presidential candidates is one of our most important civic duties, but the Republican National Committee offshores the job to journalists who pretend to be neutral — the better to slay Republicans on behalf of the Democrats — and inject themselves into the proceedings, a la Candy Crowley correcting Mitt Romney when Romney was right and her correction was wrong. (Three hundred more examples upon request.) Moderators consider any debate a failure when they haven’t done 90% of the talking.

Despite my repeated demand for presidential debates with no moderators, like Lincoln and Douglas did, the worst possible people keep popping up to host these events, making them a total waste of time, like a David Brooks column.

I’m a very busy person, but as a public service, I have written a series of questions for the useless wastes of space “moderating” this week’s Republican debate. Perhaps not as riveting as questions from a talking snowman about global warming, but still pretty good.

Today, my questions will focus on Nikki Haley, who is surging in the polls principally because, as my regular readers know, Republican mega-donors are the most out of touch, head-up-their-butts twits the country has to offer. (Just ask Presidents Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and Phil Gramm.)

Here are a few of the questions that need to be answered:

1. Ambassador Haley, you mention your husband’s military service often, and by “often,” I mean “on a 5-second loop.” In nearly every public appearance, you say some variation of this:

[Read with feeling]

“Our family, like every military family, is ready to make personal sacrifices when our loved one answers the call. We could not be prouder of Michael and his military brothers and sisters. Their commitment to protecting our freedom is a reminder of how blessed we are to live in America.”

Your husband’s first deployment was to Afghanistan in 2013, to teach Afghans to grow crops other than opium. This did not have the slightest effect, and today, the country is growing more opium than before your husband’s deployment.

Please explain how trying to teach Afghans to grow crops other than opium, which led to their growing even more opium, “protect[ed] our freedom.”

2. In fact, explain how getting Afghans to grow less opium would have “protect[ed] our freedom” — even if it had worked. Which, again, it did not.

3. I realize there’s an excellent reason for sending billions upon billions of hard-earned American dollars around the globe to people who hated us before, hate us after, and which never accomplishes the stated objective, but please remind us what it is.

4. Exactly how much money should we confiscate from the American people to spend on countries notable for not being our country? My number is zero. What’s yours? We’re looking for a specific figure, not a seminar on foreign aid.

5. Your husband is currently making us safer in Djibouti, Africa, a place obviously top of mind for most Americans.

Our mission there is vital and only the most obtuse would mock it. According to the Defense Department, American military exercises there consist of keeping the locals entertained with art bazaars, Ramadan meals and field trips:

— “U.S. service members who deploy to [Djibouti] engage with our allies and Djiboutian partners through hosted events and volunteer opportunities in the community.” — Navy Capt. Suzanne J.M. Krauss, commanding officer.

— It’s “a really lovely thing” to see U.S. personnel engaging the community in such positive ways. — Acting Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Mara Karlin.

— “For the past 16 years, the base has hosted a biannual bazaar that connects U.S. military members with Djiboutians through art.” — U.S. Department of Defense.

Please explain to voters, who lack a nuanced understanding of strategic objectives, how this posting “protect[s] our country and our freedoms”?

6. Now, obviously, as crucial as it is, we can’t spend all of our military budget on Djiboutian art bazaars, Ramadan meals and field trips. Equally important is paying the military, agriculture, policing, educational, retirement and civil service expenses for the country of Ukraine.

You have warned congressional Republicans that to stop the flow of taxpayer money to that country, on top of the $100 billion we’ve already sent, could cause Ukraine to lose the war.

If that should that happen, which of these is your greatest fear:

— Millions of poverty-stricken Africans and Latin Americans will pour into Ukraine within three years;

— One hundred thousand Ukrainians will die every year from drugs brought across its borders, including enough fentanyl to kill every man, woman and child several times over;

— Tens of thousands of children will be smuggled in and forced to work at dangerous jobs on 17-hour, overnight shifts;

— Hundreds of terrorists will stream into Ukraine each year.

7. Who is the campaign consultant to female presidential candidates convincing you, Fiorina and Hillary Clinton that to be taken seriously as a possible commander in chief, you have to be Suzy Warmonger, constantly threatening to start wars all over the world?

     COPYRIGHT 2023 ANN COULTER

Tucker Interviews Glenn Greenwald

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This is the sort of interview that probably could never happen if Carlson had stayed on Fox.

Expulsion is on the table

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I’m thinking that Israel wants this war to be a final solution to their Palestinian problem. They can’t kill 2.1 million Gazans (although a minister was recently put on leave for suggesting it), but they would love to export them. How long can the West resist the Israelis?

“Israel quietly pushed for Egypt to admit large numbers of Gazans.” 

Israeli leaders and diplomats have privately proposed the idea to several foreign governments, framing it as a humanitarian initiative that would allow civilians to temporarily escape the perils of Gaza for refugee camps in the Sinai Desert, just across the border in neighboring Egypt.

The suggestion was dismissed by most of Israel’s interlocutors — who include the United States and Britain — because of the risk that such a mass displacement could become permanent [which is obviously the intention]. These countries fear that such a development might destabilize Egypt and lock significant numbers of Palestinians out of their homeland, according to the diplomats, who spoke anonymously in order to discuss a sensitive matter more freely.

The idea has also been firmly rejected by Palestinians, who fear that Israel is using the war — which began on Oct. 7 after terrorists from Gaza raided Israel and killed roughly 1,400 people — to permanently displace the more than two million people living in Gaza. [Who would possible think that?]

More than 700,000 Palestinians either fled or were expelled from their homes in what is now Israel during the war surrounding the creation of the state in 1948. Many of their descendants are now warning that the current war will end with a similar “nakba,” or catastrophe, as the 1948 migration is known in Arabic.

 

At the end of the day, it’s all about the Benjamins

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The atmosphere in elite Jewish circles right now can best be described as “Blood lust.  Kill all the Palestinians.  Punish the universities and pro-Hamas protesters for allowing anti-Israel speech.” Nikki Haley was the star of the Republican Jewish Coalition convention over the weekend, Ramaswamy was the villain, with the Never-Trumpers in the driver’s seat:

Republican presidential candidates delivered speeches touting their staunch support for Israel at the annual Republican Jewish Coalition’s summit Saturday — and sought to peel support away from former President Donald Trump, the front-runner, who recently faced backlash for criticizing Israeli Prime Minister  and calling Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, “very smart.”

“America needs a captain who will steady the ship, not capsize it, and Republicans need a candidate who can actually win,” former U.N. Ambassador  said in her remarks, pointedly criticizing Trump, who has drawn strong support from Orthodox Jews, according to a poll this year by the Jewish Electoral Institute.

“I will not criticize Israel’s prime minister in the middle of a tragedy and war,” Haley added as Israel expanded its ground offensive in Gaza, with Netanyahu warning of a long and difficult war after Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7. More than 7,000 people, including women and children, have died in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials. In Israel, about 1,400 people have died.

At the gathering of Jewish conservatives in Las Vegas,  expressed support for Israel’s right to dismiss the “myth” of a two-state solution, Florida Gov.  referred to the West Bank as “the most ancient Jewish land going back to biblical times,” and Sen. Tim Scott of Florida reiterated his calls to deport foreign students participating in “antisemitic” protests on college campuses.

Nikki Haley: Bought and paid for:

When 2024 presidential candidate Nikki Haley last served in office as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, her family’s finances were a mess. Her parents owed over $1 million and were in danger of losing their Lexington, South Carolina home. A devoted daughter, Haley had loaned them hundreds of thousands of dollars in the past with her husband. But she could not solve all of her parents’ problems, with less than $100,000 sitting in her bank accounts and $185,000 coming in each year in salary.

Haley stunned Washington by resigning her role in the Trump administration in 2018, less than two years after taking office. A spokesperson for Haley claims that the family financial troubles had “no bearing whatsoever on Ambassador Haley’s decision to leave her position” and points to a section of Haley’s resignation letter in which she expressed support for “rotation in office.” But the same letter also suggested that Haley may have had money-making ventures on her mind: “As a businessman,” she wrote to Donald Trump, “I expect you will appreciate my sense that returning from government to the private sector is not a step down but a step up.”

Indeed. Since then, Haley’s net worth has ballooned from less than $1 million to an estimated $8 million. How did she make so much money in so little time? By following a tried-and-true playbook for politicians looking to cash in on their fame. Speeches to companies like Barclays and organizations such as the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs provided more money in a day than Haley had previously earned in a year. It’s not clear how many talks she gave from 2019 to 2021, but Haley hauled in $2.3 million from just 11 events in 2022.

Re Ramaswamy, he had the temerity to say in an interview with Tucker Carlson that U.S. interests must come first, even with Israel. Ramaswamy argued the U.S. needs to remember the mistakes of the recent past, like getting into trillions of dollars of debt for two failed wars in Afghanistan and Iraq—wars that were not well-planned and had no clear objective. Unacceptable! War is good!

We’ve already seen that pro-Hamas students and protesters at Ivy League universities were doxxed and blacklisted from jobs they had been offered at prestigious law firms. Now they are going after the administrators of the offending universities. Here’s the situation at the University of Pennsylvania where Marc Rowan, a billionaire in the financial industry, is organizing a campaign against the president and head of the Board of Trustees. According to the (very pro-Israel) New York Post:

Apollo CEO Marc Rowan’s plan to oust the leadership of his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, is picking up steam and could blow a $1 billion hole in the school’s fund­raising ­efforts, the Post has learned.

Rowan’s attacks on the school stem from what he believes is an atmosphere of antisemitism, including administrators’ failure to quickly condemn the recent deadly Hamas terrorist attacks.

Now so many potential and current donors are joining his effort that the $21 billion UPenn endowment could be deprived of as much as $1 billion in funding, these people say.

And Rowan won’t back down unless Liz Magill and Scott Bok, the UPenn president and the chair of the school’s Board of Trustees, respectively, are booted from their positions — a very real possibility given the surge in alumni support for his defund-antisemitism effort. …

For Rowan and now thousands of UPenn grads and benefactors, the tipping point occurred in September when UPenn’s leadership ignored their warnings that pro-Palestinian student groups were featuring antisemitic speakers during a “Palestine Writes Literature Festival.”

The festival took place during the Jewish high holy days and featured speakers who called for “death to Israel.” People who know Rowan say he was doubly horrified to learn ­UPenn student groups also supported the Hamas terrorists who on Oct. 7 killed and kidnapped innocent Israelis — beheading some infants at a kibbutz near the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

One of the worst atrocities in recent history occurred while school administrators remained initially silent. …

The open letter has grown to include some 7,000 current and potential donors and graduates, some of whom are on the school’s Board of Trustees, people close to Rowan tell me.

They include ­UPenn grads Ron Lauder of the Estée Lauder cosmetics empire. …

In 2018, [Rowan] and his wife donated $50 million to the school. ..

People on Wall Street who know Rowan say his efforts have certainly shaken UPenn’s leadership, with Bok and Magill calling alumni and board members in an effort to keep their jobs.

Good luck with that!

This video has a nice description of the context of the war and includes Netanyahu at the UN completely erasing Palestine from the map of Israel, and also showing some young Jews who want Gaza turned into a parking lot.