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Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens Are Spreading False Messages About Jews
In recent weeks, a number of people have opined that Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens are antisemitic. Personally, I’m not sure that’s true. But their words have almost the same result as if they did hate Jews. Both care most about causing controversy and empowering themselves. Both have talent. The difficult part is trying to figure out if they really believe what they say, or they are just aggrandizing themselves.
When Owens wore a “White Lives Matter Shirt” and defended her friend Kanye West — who tweeted that he was going “death con 3 On Jewish People” — it was nonsensical for Owens to say: “If you are an honest person, you did not think this tweet was antisemitic.”
She later took a shot at Ben Shapiro, co-founder of The Daily Wire and an Orthodox Jew, tweeting “you cannot serve God and money.” This followed Shapiro calling Owens’ comments on the war in Gaza disgraceful, and said her “faux sophistication” has been ridiculous, and that “everyone can see the moves that she’s making.”
Owens understands very little about Israel. When Orthodox comedian Ami Kozak was a guest on her show, she said it was not “a bastion of freedom” for Muslims to be restricted to the Muslim quarter in Jerusalem, at which point Kozak corrected her that Muslims were allowed to live in different parts of Israel, and were not restricted there.
Owens did admit she could be wrong, but then again, she told Bill Maher she wasn’t sure there was a moon landing.
Interviewed by Tucker Carlson some time ago, Owens pretended to not know what upset Shapiro.
Like Owens, Tucker Carlson has also made extremely troubling statements about Israel and Jews.
Carlson said that while he was horrified by what took place on October 7, “there is an emotional response that is disproportionate I think on the part of some commentators,” and said there were bigger problems, because America was being invaded by illegal drugs.
And while it is a tragedy that people die of fentanyl, and there is no doubt that criminals have entered America due to inadequate border policy, that’s not the same thing as terrorists shooting people at a concert or innocent civilians in their homes.
Carlson knows the difference — but he doesn’t care. Which might not be surprising, given past antisemitic comments he’s made, about Ukraine, Israel, and other issues.
Carlson has opened up Shapiro, claiming that he — and effectively most American Jews — are un-American, and have dual loyalty to Israel.
While Shapiro has the facts on this side, and the higher intellect, Carlson is still a person of greater influence in America. Shapiro could destroy him in a debate, so it is no surprise that Carlson doesn’t want to go against him.
Owens has finally parted ways with The Daily Wire, probably because she realized that she will get more attention leaving, and can try and damage Shapiro in the process.
Maybe Carlson and Owens have no personal issues with Jews; we’ll never know. But we don’t have time to be their interpreters or mind readers, and their comments are having the same effect. Both Owens and Carlson are spreading messages that will result in more antisemitism and hatred of Israel.
The sad part is that, as usual, Jews are the scapegoat and we will likely face more discrimination as a result of these chess moves between conservative political commentators. The good news is that I think their moves won’t work in the long term.
The author is a writer based in New York.
The post Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens Are Spreading False Messages About Jews first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd
Magdeburg Christmas market, December 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang
i24 News – A suspected terrorist plowed a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, west of the capital Berlin, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.
Local police confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national born in 1974 and acting alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the incident, saying that “reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Police declined to give casualty numbers, confirming only a large-scale operation at the market, where people had gathered to celebrate in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays.
The post Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister
A person waves a flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, as people gather during a celebration called by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) near the Umayyad Mosque, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Photo: December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.
Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led numerous military operations during Syria’s revolution, the source said.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed “the form of the military institution in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
Abu Qasra during the meeting sat next to Sharaa, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, photos published by SANA showed.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Assad’s army.
Bashir, who formerly led an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, has said he will lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.
Earlier on Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of the rebels’ Idlib government, the General Command said.
Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016. It had been confined to Idlib for years until going on the offensive in late November, sweeping through the cities of western Syria and into Damascus as the army melted away.
Sharaa has met with a number of international envoys this week. He has said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
The post Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels
View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90.
i24 News – Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and will instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Scandinavian country said on Friday.
The decision comes on the heels of multiple revelations regarding the agency’s employees’ involvement in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Sweden’s decision was in response to the Israeli ban, as it will make channeling aid via the agency more difficult, the country’s aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, said.
“Large parts of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are either going to be severely weakened or completely impossible,” Dousa said. “For the government, the most important thing is that support gets through.”
The Palestinian embassy in Stockholm said in a statement: “We reject the idea of finding alternatives to UNRWA, which has a special mandate to provide services to Palestinian refugees.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for a meeting they had this week and for Sweden’s decision to drop its support for UNRWA.
“There are worthy and viable alternatives for humanitarian aid, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and adopt a different approach,” she said.
The post Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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