‘It’s Been Amazing’: Joel Rosenberg Shares How Abraham Accords Are Dramatically Reshaping Middle East

By: Chris Mitchell – CBN News; cbn.com

JERUSALEM, Israel – In the 14 months following the signing of the Abraham Accords, relations between Israel and many of its Arab neighbors are flourishing. Several world leaders are surprised over the dramatic progress. 

In one of the latest signs of cooperation, Israel and the United Arab Emirates signed a joint venture to send an unmanned vehicle to the moon by 2024. That followed a surprise visit last month during a multi-national military exercise – when the commander of the UAE air force met with his Israeli counterpart.   

On the commercial front, this Israeli Expo in Abu Dhabi is another sign of success resulting from the historic peace agreement.   

“It’s been amazing the progress,” said best-selling author and Mideast analyst Joel Rosenberg. “We’ve been watching business deals to be developed, tourism deals. We’re seeing, The Jerusalem Post forming a media alliance with an Emirati newspaper and TV company. We’re seeing Israeli airlines open up direct routes to Arab countries – the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco. We’re seeing Moroccan and Emirati and Bahraini airlines flying direct routes into Israel.”

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https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2021/november/it-rsquo-s-been-amazing-rosenberg-shares-how-the-abraham-accords-are-dramatically-reshaping-the-middle-east

Israel, Russia Share Common Goal of Ousting Iran from Syria

By: Anna Ahronheim – The Jerusalem Post; jpost.com

With the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad seemingly being reaccepted into the Arab world, Israel and Russia are seeking to remove Iran and its proxy Hezbollah from the county.

Israel has been working on the difficult task of destroying Tehran’s dreams of regional hegemony and a forward base against the Jewish state for close to a decade through its “Campaign between the Wars” (CBW, or the Hebrew acronym mabam) with hundreds of airstrikes in Syria.

Most recently, it was accused of using a surface-to-surface, non-line-of-sight missile to strike Iranian targets outside Damascus in a rare daytime attack. That strike came as Russia was accused of striking some 20 opposition targets in Idlib province.

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https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/israel-russia-share-common-goal-of-ousting-iran-from-syria-683814

Suez Crisis: 65 Years Since Israel, UK, France Fought Egypt

By: Aaron Reich – The Jerusalem Post; jpost.com

The Suez Crisis was a military success for the UK, France and Israel. Politically, it was Egypt’s undisputed victory.

The period of October 29-November 7 marks the 65th anniversary of the 1956 Suez Crisis, a conflict between Egypt, the United Kingdom, Israel and France over the vital waterway that had significant geopolitical ramifications in the region and in the Western world.

The Suez Canal is one of the most vital shipping lanes in the world, connecting the Red Sea to the Mediterranean and bypassing the long trip around Africa.

Up until 1956, the canal was controlled by the Suez Canal Company, itself controlled mostly by the UK and France. However, this changed when Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized it.

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https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/suez-crisis-65-years-since-israel-uk-france-fought-egypt-683585?utm_source=jpost.app.android&utm_medium=share

Israel to Host ‘Miss Universe’ Competition for First Time

By: Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

“The choice of Eilat will continue to strengthen its position as a leading international tourist city,” said the city’s mayor, Eli Lankri.

The 70th “Miss Universe” competition is slated to take place in the southern Israeli resort city of Eilat on Dec. 12, the first time the Jewish state has hosted the contest.

“The choice of Eilat will continue to strengthen its position as a leading international tourist city,” said Eilat Mayor Eli Lankri in an Israeli government press release.

Officials from the U.S.-based Miss Universe Organization visited Lankri in October, part of a series of planned meetings ahead of the event. They also supervised infrastructure and construction work related to the complex where the competition will be held.

The state-of-the-art venue measures 54-feet high and can hold more than 70 tons of equipment. The building is designed to accommodate TV filming and includes a stage of about 5,000 seats, including an imported arena from Portugal.

https://www.jns.org/israel-to-host-miss-universe-competition-for-first-time/

US Strongly Condemns Expansion of Israel’s Settlement Communities

By: Emily Jones – CBN News; cbn.com

JERUSALEM, Israel – The United States issued its harshest rebuke yet of Israel’s expansion of settlement communities in the contested West Bank – biblical Judea and Samaria. 

On Wednesday, Israel plans to advance the construction of 2,862 new Jewish homes in the West Bank, and recently published tenders for another 1,355 units to be built across seven different communities. 

“We strongly oppose the expansion of settlements, which is completely inconsistent with efforts to lower tensions and to ensure calm, and it damages the prospects for a two-state solution,” State Department Spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Tuesday.

“We also view plans for the retroactive legalization of illegal outposts as unacceptable. We continue to raise our views on this issue directly with senior Israeli officials in our private discussions,” he added.

When the matter was raised with Price last week, he issued a general statement urging Israel and the Palestinians to “refrain from unilateral steps that exacerbate tension and undercut efforts to advance a negotiated two-state solution” to the conflict. 

Tuesday’s comments are Washington’s most severe critique of Israeli settlement communities since President Joe Biden took office in January. The UN, EU, Palestinians, and members of Israel’s government have also condemned the construction.

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2021/october/us-strongly-condemns-expansion-of-israels-settlement-communities

Is Mayim Bialik too Jewish for ‘Jeopardy’?

By: Jonathan S. Tobin – Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

A “New York Times” article raised questions about whether the actress was “neutral” enough to lead the TV institution. But the focus on her support for Israel raises more questions about the newspaper than Bialik.

It may turn out that a lot of Americans are devoting more thought to the question of who will ultimately succeed the late Alex Trebek as the host of “Jeopardy!” than they do about far weightier issues. When Trebek, who had been the face of the venerable quiz show for 36 years, died last year at the age of 80 it set off a much-ballyhooed search for a successor. The competition was intense and ultimately involved a broad range of celebrities who aspired to the job.

But now, after a series of twists and turns that was the stuff of soap operas, a tentative, if not permanent choice has been made—in the person of actress Mayim Bialik—some people seem to be asking whether it’s kosher for “Jeopardy!” to be led by someone so open about both her Jewish faith and her support for the Jewish state.

America in 2021 is a place where anti-Semitism is quite real. But it’s also a country where Jews have been accepted in just about every sector of culture, industry and government. Indeed, it may be that the only job titles that can be said to be off-limits to Jews are those like, say, Catholic Archbishop of New York, which are reserved for believers of a different faith.

https://www.jns.org/opinion/is-mayim-bialik-too-jewish-for-jeopardy/

Antisemitism is Reaching ‘Younger Audiences’ Via Social Media, New Study Shows

By: AFP – The Times of Israel; timesofisrael.com

On TikTok, three hashtags linked to antisemitism were viewed more than 25 million times in six months, and on Instagram, there are ‘millions’ of antisemitic hashtags, survey finds

LONDON, United Kingdom — Antisemitism is being repackaged and disseminated to a younger generation of social media users through platforms like Instagram and TikTok, according to an analysis published on Wednesday.

Antisemitic tropes are “rife across every social media platform,” but companies are failing to act, UK group Hope Not Hate, Germany’s Amadeu Antonio Foundation and the Expo Foundation in Sweden said.

Hate speech remains more prolific and extreme on sites such as Parler and 4chan, but is being introduced to young users on mainstream platforms, the groups said in a joint report.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/antisemitism-is-reaching-younger-audiences-via-social-media-says-new-study/

Does Big Tech Have an Anti-Semitism Problem? – Opinion

By: Richard Goldberg and David May – Newsweek; newsweek.com

mployees at Google and Amazon launched a petition drive this week to persuade both companies to end their contracts with the world’s only Jewish state. Google and Amazon can send a powerful message in response by rejecting this anti-Semitic pressure campaign and incorporating the international working definition of anti-Semitism into its employee code of conduct instead.

This year’s explosion of anti-Semitism on corporate listservs and within diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) departments has sent a clear message to Jewish employees of America’s Big Tech firms: Safe spaces exist for everyone except Jews, and hate is condemned against all groups unless the hate is directed at Jewish supporters of the world’s only Jewish state. Hostility toward Jews and Israel isn’t restricted to activists chatting at the water cooler; it is institutionalized by key DEI officials.

In June, Google reassigned a high-ranking member of its diversity team following revelations he published a 2007 blog post entitled “If I Were a Jew,” in which he accused Jews of having an “insatiable appetite for vengeful violence.” A month later, Google stood by another DEI official who accused Israel of “settler-colonial apartheid” and referred a Jewish employee to books on the “boycott, divestment and sanctions” (BDS) campaign when a complaint was registered.

https://www.newsweek.com/does-big-tech-have-anti-semitism-problem-opinion-1638776

Jewish Immigration to Israel Jumps 31% This Year Despite Pandemic

By: Emily Jones – CBN News; cbn.com

JERUSALEM, Israel – Jewish immigration to Israel has already increased by 31% this year, according to new figures from the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration and The Jewish Agency.

So far, more than 20,300 Jews have immigrated or “made Aliyah” in 2021 – a significant increase from just 15,598 this time last year.

The pandemic has done little to stem the flow of new immigrants who are arriving in Israel every day. It’s done the opposite. Israel says it has seen a dramatic increase in immigration during the pandemic despite limitations on international travel.

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2021/october/jewish-immigration-to-israel-jumps-31-this-year-despite-pandemic

Israeli-American Joshua Angrist among Trio to Win Nobel Prize in Economics

By: TOI Staff and Agencies – The Times of Israel; timesofisrael.com

Professor awarded prize for his work on unintended experiments; taught at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University and at Harvard before his current position at MIT

Israeli-American Joshua Angrist, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is one of three winners of the Nobel Prize for Economics for their work on drawing conclusions from unintended experiments, or so-called “natural experiments,” it was announced Monday.

David Card of the University of California at Berkeley was awarded one half of the prize, while the other half was shared by Angrist and Guido Imbens from Stanford University.

Angrist is an expert on labor economics and the economics of education, and has also made contributions to the field of econometrics.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-american-joshua-angrist-among-trio-to-win-nobel-prize-in-economics/