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Ashkenaz Festival scales back its events at Harbourfront, facing increased security costs and concerns
Harbourfront allegedly recommended nearly $1 million in additional security costs.
The post Ashkenaz Festival scales back its events at Harbourfront, facing increased security costs and concerns appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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How Do Israelis Really Feel About Benjamin Netanyahu?
US House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Foreign Relations Chair, US Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), listen as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of Congress at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, July 24, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Craig Hudson
On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke before a joint session of Congress, to near constant and thunderous applause by American lawmakers and their guests.
However, one Republican and some 70 Democrats boycotted the Prime Minister’s speech, including former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and presidential hopeful, Vice President Kamala Harris. (Though Harris said she had already committed to another engagement). Capitol Hill also saw several violent protests, including the burning of American flags.
Some of the lawmakers who skipped the speech claim to be “pro-Israel but anti-Netanyahu,” and claim that many Israelis feel the same. But is that really true?
It is common for the United States to oppose leaders of dictatorships or enemy states, but it is extremely rare to oppose the democratically-elected leader of an ally, regardless of that leader’s local popularity.
Israel’s detractors in America and around the world (as well as many Israelis) frequently quote Israel’s Channel 12 poll indicating that 72% of Israelis want Netanyahu to resign. Yet alone, the headline is misleading: in fact, only 44% of Israelis want the Prime Minister to resign immediately, while 28% want him to resign only after completing the current war in Gaza. The remaining 28% support Netanyahu and would like to see him remain in office.
These figures reveal two important insights: one is that a majority of Israelis (56%) do not want to see a change in leadership until after the current war is complete; the second is that Netanyahu actually has a relatively high degree of support by Israeli standards.
Being accustomed to a two party system, Americans typically see anything less than 50% support as a sign that the public opposes a particular leader. Yet Israel is a multi-party, coalition democracy, where 25% to 30% support is often enough to put a frontrunner ahead of all other contenders.
In fact, if elections were held today, according to another Channel 12 poll, right-leaning former prime minister Naftali Bennett would win with 36% support, while Netanyahu would come in second with 28%. In other words, Netanyahu remains a mainstream political figure with significant support, by Israel’s multi-party standards.
This is not meant to be an endorsement nor a critique of Netanyahu, but merely a sober and unbiased review of the actual math behind the headlines.
The principal Israeli complaint against Netanyahu is that (according to some) he has put the war against Hamas ahead of efforts to return the hostages, perhaps even as a cynical ploy to hold onto power as long as possible. Critics also argue he has mismanaged the war — and did not act decisively enough at the outset or at other pivotal points.
For his part, Netanyahu insists that only military pressure can induce Hamas to agree to a hostage release deal. And recent events back him up. Netanyahu’s critics claim he alone is stopping a deal — but many others, including the US, claim Hamas is the impediment.
In every negotiation, Hamas has agreed to return hostages only in a slow trickle, yet when Israel agreed to this framework last May, Hamas immediately changed the deal, indicating that they would initially return the bodies of dead hostages while still holding on to living hostages until later. Meanwhile, Hamas gave contradictory and changing reports as to how many hostages they could even locate. In other words, based on evidence, it is possible that Israel could give in to every Hamas demand and yet still not necessarily secure the return of the remaining hostages.
Another Israeli complaint against the Prime Minister, including by some IDF commanders, is that Israel can and should agree to end the war against Hamas and may then simply re-enter Gaza later, if necessary. Many other military and political leaders disagree with this. Either way, when Israel signaled last month that it may be open to negotiating an end to the war, Hamas immediately shifted the focus of negotiations, seeking enforcement mechanisms to prevent the IDF from ever breaching the agreement.
To be clear, this is not intended as a critique of complaints by the families of hostages, who are undergoing unimaginable suffering, nor of the IDF commanders, who have performed exceptionally under difficult circumstances, but rather this is meant to be an accurate and unbiased review of the complex and very real challenges that stand in the way of Israel achieving its goals, including the return of the hostages.
Israel is an outspoken democracy where criticizing the government is practically a national sport. While Netanyahu has faced considerable internal criticism, there are actually a variety of nuanced opinions on the complex challenges that Israel is facing. Ultimately, the American headlines that most Israelis oppose Netanyahu is an oversimplification at best, and a broad misreading at worst.
Daniel Pomerantz is the CEO of RealityCheck, an organization dedicated to deepening public conversation through robust research studies and public speaking.
The post How Do Israelis Really Feel About Benjamin Netanyahu? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Kamala Harris Condemns ‘Abhorrent’ Pro-Hamas Protests in DC
US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during an event with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as part of the US-ASEAN Special Summit, in Washington, DC, May 13, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
US Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday rebuked the rampant anti-Israel protests that have erupted across Washington, DC in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the US capital city and speech to a joint session of Congress, calling the demonstrations “abhorrent.”
Outside of Union Station, rioters vandalized numerous statues and landmarks, and the phrase “Hamas is coming,” written in all capital letters, was spray-painted on a monument, along with an upside-down red triangle, a symbol used by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas when attacking Israeli targets.
“F—k Israel” was also spray-painted at various spots in Washington, DC.
Meanwhile, video emerged on social media showing rioters attacking police officers and burning American flags. They also tore down the American flag in front of Union Station and replaced it with a Palestinian flag. They subsequently set the American flag on fire.
Harris, the presumptive 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, released a statement condemning the “despicable acts by unpatriotic protesters,” specifically referencing the demonstrations at Union Station.
“I condemn any individuals associating with the brutal terrorist organization Hamas, which has vowed to annihilate the State of Israel and kill Jews. Pro-Hamas graffiti and rhetoric is abhorrent and we must not tolerate it in our nation,” Harris said. “I condemn the burning of the American flag. That flag is a symbol of our highest ideals as a nation and represents the promise of America. It should never be desecrated in that way.”
Harris concluded, “I support the right to peacefully protest, but let’s be clear: Antisemitism, hate, and violence of any kind have no place in our nation.”
The statement came after Harris received criticism for not attend Netanyahu’s speech on Wednesday. Instead, the vice president agreed to deliver the keynote address for the national conference of a historically black sorority.
Earlier this month, Harris expressed sympathy for anti-Israel protesters on US university campuses. In an interview, Harris said that college students protesting Israel’s defensive military efforts against Hamas are “showing exactly what the human emotion should be.”
“There are things some of the protesters are saying that I absolutely reject, so I don’t mean to wholesale endorse their points,” she added. “But we have to navigate it. I understand the emotion behind it.”
Harris has previously criticized Israel’s ongoing military campaign against Hamas in Gaza. The vice president, for example, emphatically condemned Israel’s operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, insisting that she “studied the maps, there’s nowhere for [Palestinians] to go.” White House aides also reportedly forced Harris to tone down a speech that was highly critical of Israel earlier this year.
Beyond Harris, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates this week also lambasted the “disgraceful” anti-Israel demonstrators for openly endorsing terrorism and extremism. Bates rebuked the protests for their “antisemitism and violence.”
“Identifying with evil terrorist organizations like Hamas, burning the American flag, or forcibly removing the American flag and replacing it with another, is disgraceful,” he said in a statement. “Antisemitism and violence are never acceptable. Period. Every American has the right to peaceful protest. But shamefully, not everyone demonstrated peacefulness today.”
Anti-Israel protests have rocked the US in the months following Hamas’ massacre of over 1200 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7. Demonstrators have rallied across college campuses and rallied at synagogues and Jewish cultural spaces to express their disapproval of Israel. Many agitators at these protests have openly endorsed the Hamas, the terrorist group that runs Gaza, and have called for the complete destruction of Israel.
In response, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) on Wednesday unveiled new legislation to sanction non-citizens who participate in violent protests. The proposed “No Visas for Violent Criminals Act” would void visas for foreign nationals convicted for their conduct in protests and require their deportation within 60 days. Specifically, the legislation targets non-citizens arrested for obstructing traffic, defacing federal property, and participating in disruptive college campus demonstrations.
Many of the most vocal anti-Israel agitators on college campuses, in particular, have been foreign students.
“The Biden administration’s inaction against pro-Hamas mobs has only emboldened these extremists. Our legislation makes clear that a green card does not give individuals the right to break our laws in support of antisemitic views,” Cotton wrote in a statement.
The post Kamala Harris Condemns ‘Abhorrent’ Pro-Hamas Protests in DC first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Democrats, Republicans Divided on Netanyahu Congressional Speech as US Lawmakers Give Mixed Response
US House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Foreign Relations Chair, US Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), listen as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of Congress at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, July 24, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Craig Hudson
The reaction of US lawmakers to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress largely fell along partisan lines, with prominent Democrats condemning the speech and Republicans praising its message.
Netanyahu on Wednesday broadly outlined his vision for the future of Gaza after the Israel-Hamas war ends, emphasized the necessity of maintaining a strong US-Israel relationship, and proposed a new Middle Eastern security alliance in his address in Washington, DC. The Israeli premier also honored the victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks and thanked both US President Joe Biden and his White House predecessor, Donald Trump, for their support of the Jewish state.
Roughly half of House and Senate Democrats skipped the speech, with many making clear they were boycotting the event in protest of Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza. Some argued Netanyahu was meddling in US politics or using the speech to boost his own position at home, taking shots at the Israeli premier over social media.
“Netanyahu is not only a war criminal. He is a liar. All humanitarian organizations agree: Tens of thousands of children face starvation because his extremist government continues to block aid. Israelis want him out of office. So he came to Congress to campaign,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) wrote on X/Twitter.
Sanders did not provide evidence to substantiate his claim. A June report provided by the United Nations Famine Review Committee (FRC), a panel of experts in international food security and nutrition, found there was a lack of evidence to conclude that mass starvation has taken hold of Gaza.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, lambasted Netanyahu’s speech for being political in nature, arguing that it serves as a “setback” in US-Israel relations.
“The speech was more a commentary of US politics, rather than a path forward for Israeli and US security. The suggestion that any American who objects to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is a Hamas sympathizer was way out of bound,” Murphy said on X/Twitter. “The downplaying of the humanitarian crisis was astonishing to hear. The truth is that the civilian deaths in Gaza will be bulletin board recruiting material for terrorists for years. That hurts Israel and the US.”
Israel says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, noting its efforts to allow tens of thousands of aid trucks into Gaza, evacuate areas before it targets them, and warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication. However, Hamas, which rules Gaza, has in many cases prevented people from leaving, according to the Israeli military,
Another challenge for Israel is Hamas’ widely recognized military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), a former speaker of the House, skewered Netanyahu’s speech as “the worst presentation of any foreign dignitary invited and honored with the privilege of addressing the Congress of the United States.”
“Many of us who love Israel spent time today listening to Israeli citizens whose families have suffered in the wake of the October 7th Hamas terror attack and kidnappings. These families are asking for a ceasefire deal that will bring the hostages home — and we hope the Prime Minister would spend his time achieving that goal,” Pelosi wrote on X/Twitter.
Israel has been engaging in ongoing negotiations with Hamas — brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and the US — to reach a ceasefire deal to halt fighting in Gaza and release at least some of the Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7. According to reports, the talks appear to be in their closing stages.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) accused Israel of committing “apartheid” and “genocide” against Palestinians. Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman elected to Congress, expressed “solidarity” with protesters of Netanyahu’s speech.
“The apartheid government of Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians. Palestinians will not be erased. Solidarity with all those outside of these walls in the streets protesting and exercising their right to dissent,” Tlaib wrote.
The protests against Netanyahu in Washington, DC to which Tlaib referred included demonstrators who burned American flags; expressed support for Hamas, a US-designated terrorist organization; and defaced US monuments.
Some pro-Israel Democrats expressed support for Netanyahu’s speech despite the criticism from many in their party. Republicans in general were broadly more supportive.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) praised Netanyahu’s speech as “eloquent.”
“The Prime Minister spoke eloquently about the shared interests and values between our two nations. The American people continue to stand strongly with Israel,” Cotton said on X/Twitter.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) compared Netanyahu to former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and vowed to continue supporting the Jewish state to ensure it eradicates Hamas from Gaza.
“Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the joint session of Congress today was Churchillian. He understands the gravity of the war in Israel, the existential threat to our Israeli allies, and the staggering risks posed to American national security,” he posted on social media. “The same terrorists who hate Jews also hate Christians. I am proud to stand unequivocally with Israel — they have the right and indeed the obligation to defend their citizens. The US should support Israel as they utterly eradicate Hamas, for as long as it takes.”
Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the Senate Republican Whip, stated that it was a “privilege” to welcome Netanyahu to address Congress.
“In front of Congress today, Prime Minister Netanyahu emphasized the important bond between the United States and Israel and outlined the threats posed by Iran and other malign actors. It was a privilege to welcome the prime minister and stand beside our ally, Israel,” Thune posted on X/Twitter.
Iran is the chief international sponsor of Hamas, providing the Palestinian terrorist group with funding, weapons, and training.
The post Democrats, Republicans Divided on Netanyahu Congressional Speech as US Lawmakers Give Mixed Response first appeared on Algemeiner.com.