Saturday, July 02, 2022

07/02 Links: Why America First Loves Israel; 'Let my people know': An excerpt on the Abraham Accords; Bullet that killed Al-Jazeera reporter to be handed to US, says PA

From Ian:

'Let my people know': An excerpt on the Abraham Accords
As senior adviser to the US ambassador to Israel and special envoy for the Abraham Accords, Aryeh Lightstone was in the room for nearly every major discussion and decision involving Middle East policy. He was tasked with the most complex and sensitive component of the Abraham Accords: turning them into practical action and doing it quickly – during a pandemic, no less.

In addition, Lightstone led the Abraham Accords Business Summit and the Abraham Fund, and served as the key contact between Israel and the other Abraham Accords nations.

Below is an excerpt from his book, published last month, Let My People Know: The incredible story of Middle East peace and what lies ahead.

The Phone Call
By August 2020, I was in and out of the Prime Minister’s Office with great frequency, relaying messages from Jared Kushner, Avi Berkowitz, or Ambassador David Friedman, or just making sure that there was a personal connection while David was in the States. I still got a thrill every time my phone rang with “Unknown” calling, which more likely than not was the Prime Minister’s Office. Several times I drove or was driven more than two hours in heavy traffic from Ra’anana to Jerusalem, only to be told that David had just called and spoken to the prime minister, or that Avi and Ron Dermer had called in together. I took it in stride, in the philosophy I had learned from David.

Early in 2017, President Trump called him at three in the morning and he answered on the first ring. The president asked if it was the middle of the night in Israel, and David replied, “Mr. President, I work for you 24/7. Please call whenever you want.” In that spirit, I usually picked up on the first ring whenever Jared, Avi, David or the Prime Minister’s Office called. I didn’t hesitate to jump into the car to drive an hour for a five-minute meeting and then back again. I was willing to fly to Washington if a 20-minute face-to-face meeting could accomplish more than countless emails and phone calls.

I was in a meeting with David Milstein and Israel’s Innovation Authority on August 11, discussing the best way to fast-track breakthroughs in COVID-19 therapies made in Israel with the Innovation Authority’s funding, when my phone rang. It was 3:30 p.m., and Friedman was calling. Normally I would pick up right away, but this time I didn’t because I was in the middle of a meeting. He rang three more times, which was unusual for him, so I excused myself and went out to return the call.

“There has been a change in schedule,” he told me. “The phone call with the UAE, Israel, and us is happening this week. Get to DC now.” The crown prince of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, would be participating in a call with Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump, and it would happen on August 13, just two days away.
Walter Russell Mead: Why America First Loves Israel
Israel’s enemies have always, despite their best efforts, been Israel’s most helpful friends. It may not be rational in the sense that non-Jacksonians understand the meaning of the word, but every time a violent mob burns American and Israeli flags side by side in the Islamic world, every time a United Nations office issues what to Jacksonian ears sounds like a grotesquely one-sided condemnation of Israel for behaving exactly as Jacksonians under enemy fire would behave, every time a suicide bomber kills innocent people out of a twisted and fanatical belief, every time a village of Christians flees their ancestral homes in terror, American Jacksonians become less interested in the case against the Jewish state and more eager to deepen our alliance with it.

Finally, Israel holds up its end of the bargain when it comes to defending itself. While rich countries like Germany reject any and all American requests to pay an appropriate share of NATO’s costs, Israel invests in excellent military forces and is not afraid to use them. In 2020, Israel spent 5.6 percent of its GDP on defense, compared to 2.2 percent in Britain, 2.1 percent in France, 1.4 percent in Germany, and 3.7 percent in the United States. For many Jacksonians, Israel is a better, more trustworthy, and more useful ally than most of the NATO countries. While both Germany and Japan have had major American bases on their soil since World War II, the American military presence in Israel is minimal. Israel does more, many Jacksonians feel, and asks less, than many of the American allies that coast on American security guarantees while criticizing both Israel and the United States nonstop.

The alliance with Israel, far from looking like a strategic liability to Jacksonians, looks like a source of strength and prestige. One advantage, in the Jacksonian mind, is the signal Israel’s success sends about the wisdom of alliances with America. Israel is a small country that (until recent oil and gas discoveries changed the picture somewhat) had few natural resources and a much smaller population than many of its enemies. Criticized by Europe, ostracized by the Muslim world, Israel has only one true friend in the world—and look at how well Israel is doing. It is prosperous, extremely well armed and well integrated into global financial markets. The message to other countries: there is only one country in the world whose friendship you need. If the United States is your ally, even if everyone else turns against you, life will go well. Jacksonians believe that this perception around the world will help keep America safe.

Similarly, ever since the United States became Israel’s principal arms supplier during the Cold War, Israel’s wars and confrontations with its neighbors have served to showcase the superiority of American technology and weapons. When Israel’s American-supplied arsenal overmasters its rivals in conventional warfare, governments all over the world get two messages. First, you want to have the kind of relationship with the Americans in which you can buy their top-shelf hardware, and second, you do not want the Americans so annoyed with you that they sell the really powerful gear to your opponents.

Finally, Jacksonians have come to see Israel as a kind of symbolic surrogate of the United States. Their view of Israeli Jews—as a Chosen People with a unique message, embattled in a hostile world by the enemies of God, united against hostile outsiders in an unbreakable unity of kith and kin—applies the ideas that Bible-reading Protestant Christians in the British Isles and the American colonies once held about the ancient Hebrews to the Jews of today. It is easy for scholars and skeptics to take issue with this vision, but its roots are deeply implanted in American culture.

As Israel has gone from strength to strength it has become a kind of talisman for many American Jacksonians. Recent generations have seen Jacksonian America undergo a series of shocks and challenges. The civil rights movement undermined long-held ideas about the nature of American society and forced Jacksonians to confront some of its historical demons. A culture and belief system shaped in a rural, ethnically homogeneous America had to adapt to life in multiethnic suburbs. Feminism and the gay rights movement forced Jacksonians to take another look at the relationship of their traditional social values and assumptions to the individualism that Jacksonian culture cherishes. As Jacksonian America struggles to make its peace with a host of new forces and new ideas, signs of continuity with the past are welcome. The modern Israeli success story appears to vindicate both Jacksonian principles and biblical religion; there is a balm in Gilead that soothes the wounded soul.
The Tikvah Podcast: Douglas Murray on the War on the West
In his 2022 book The War on the West, the British journalist Douglas Murray argues that many now prominent cultural ideas unfairly single out Western sins, discounting the good that Western civilization has brought about and sowing discord in America and Europe. On this week’s podcast, he joins Mosaic editor Jonathan Silver to explain why Western civilization should be defended, to discuss the role that Israel and the Jewish people play in that defense, and to reflect on two of his friends who recently passed away, the philosopher Roger Scruton and the rabbi Jonathan Sacks, each of whom embodied strands of the Western tradition that deserve to be defended and perpetuated.
Yair Lapid Takes Over as Israel’s Prime Minister From Naftali Bennett
Yair Lapid became Israel’s interim prime minister at midnight on Friday, replacing Naftali Bennett as the Israeli parliament dissolved.

Lapid will be the acting prime minister ahead of elections on November 1, with former prime minister Naftali Bennett stepping down after more than a year in a broad coalition.

This is in accordance with their coalition agreement, as the 24th Knesset dissolved on Thursday night.

Lapid earlier visited Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, honoring his father, a Holocaust survivor, and meeting with President Isaac Herzog and his wife.

US President Joe Biden sent early congratulations to the new leader of Israel, saying he looked forward to seeing both Bennett and Lapid in Israel, and thanked Bennett for his “friendship over the past year.”

Bennett thanked Biden, telling him he looked forward to meeting him in Jerusalem, and that he was a “true friend” of Israel.


Seth Frantzman: How is the IDF practicing multidimensional warfare?
Israel’s defense industry, including companies such as Elbit Systems, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries, is key to the successes of the technological revolution.

Lily noted that the technology teaches soldiers to be smart and not just use their muscles. “In the next couple years, so much of war will be based on technology, and that will decide who wins the war. It’s not who has more artillery or who has more bombs; the technology will make a difference.”

Another officer, who has served 22 years in the IDF, also shared his experience. He recalled the 2008 conflict in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead. At the time he was a company commander in the Givati Brigade. “[We were the] first company that went to the border, and 300 meters from the border one observer saw two terrorists on a landfill near Zeitun. We spoke with the Apache, and in three minutes we closed the loop and we shot two missiles, and after that we understood the local deputy commander of Hamas [was killed in the strike].”

He said that learning from experiences like that shows how important it is to “close the loop” so that the units who see the threat can pass on information quickly and get a fire mission going to take out threats.

He said one transition in technology is moving from using physical maps to using command and control systems that are more like the younger generations are used to, with tablets and digital data.

“You can mark what you see, and it goes to command and air force, and after minutes you can close this loop with helicopters; with jets they see what you see.”

What that means is everyone is working from the same layer of information. The officer reservists present do these kinds of brigade-level exercises several times a year so that the officers have basic levels of knowledge about the needs of the current battlefield.

At the end of the exercise, after the warplanes had dropped bombs, helicopters had used their machine guns and a large C-130 had dropped supplies by parachute, the soldiers descended the six floors of the building and walked to a central square in the fake town. They then ate food and swapped stories.

As Israel prepares for the next round against Hamas, or a future conflict with Iranian-backed groups like Hezbollah, these kinds of exercises and new units like the 99th will be key to victory on the future battlefield.
IDF participates in African Lion drill in Morocco for the first time
For the first time, IDF officers and officials from Israel’s Defense Ministry took part in the large-scale African Lion, the largest annual military exercise held on the African continent, alongside Morocco and several African nations.

The Head of the Middle East and North Africa Division of the Policy & Political-Military Bureau in the Israel Ministry of Defense, who also serves as the Defense Attaché to Morocco, in addition to two IDF officers participated in the drill this past week.

According to a statement released by the Defense Ministry, Israel’s participation in the exercise “is an additional step in strengthening the security relations between the two countries’ Defense Ministries and militaries. In addition, it constitutes a continuation of the FAR’s Counterterrorism Unit’s participation in the multinational exercise, which was held in Israel last year.”

The drill, which lasted throughout June, included 7,500 personnel from 10 nations, among them Brazil, France and Britain. Observers from NATO were also present – and for the first time, officials from Israel, Ghana and Senegal.

The military maneuvers took place in the Moroccan cities of Agadir, Kenitra, Tan Tan, Taoudant and Mahbes. US Africa Command said that some also took place in Tunisia, Senegal and Ghana.


Bullet that killed Al-Jazeera reporter to be handed to US, says PA
The Palestinian Authority has agreed to hand over to the United States the bullet that killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, PA Prosecutor-General Akram Khatib told the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera network on Saturday.

The Americans will carry out a ballistic examination after receiving the bullet that was extracted from Abu Akleh’s head shortly after her death in Jenin in May, Khatib said.

He emphasized that the bullet would not be handed over to Israel.

The decision to transfer the bullet to the US came after a phone call between PA President Mahmoud Abbas and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week, Palestinian sources confirmed.
Israel downs three Hezbollah drones flying toward Karish gas rig
The IDF shot down three unmanned aerial vehicles launched by Hezbollah toward Israel’s economic waters over the Mediterranean Sea.

One of the three UAVs was shot down by an F-16 and two others were downed by the naval Barak 8 medium-range surface-to-air missile system on the INS Eilat, marking the first time the system was used against aerial threats.

The Barak-8 MR-SAM system is able to shoot down enemy aircraft at a range of 50-70 kilometers (32-43 miles). It is designed to defend naval vessels against a myriad of short- to long-range airborne threats, such as incoming missiles, planes and drones at both low or high altitudes.

The UAVs were identified at an early stage in their flight by the IDF, monitored throughout their flight and intercepted at the most appropriate operational point by the fighter jet and missile ship. UAVs launched for 'propaganda purposes'
According to the preliminary investigation carried out by the military, the UAVs are not believed to have been armed and did not pose a real threat during their flight. It’s believed that they were launched by Hezbollah likely to fly over the Karish gas rig for propaganda purposes.

The drones were shot down several kilometers from the rig.
Seth Frantzman: The vast Iran-Hezbollah drone threat is escalating - analysis
Israel's efforts to combat the drone threat

The downing of the drone illustrates Israel’s abilities in detecting drones and also Israel’s investment over the years in technology to down them. These include the use of warplanes and Barak surface-to-air missiles, and equipping Israel’s latest corvette ships with the best systems to detect and stop drone and missile threats.

Israel has increased the abilities of Iron Dome to stop these types of threats as well. In addition, the Jewish state continues to carry out the campaign between the wars to prevent Iranian entrenchment in Syria. However, the overall context is that Iran is increasing the range of its drones, which are proliferating all over the region.

Last year it is believed that Iran moved Shahed 136 drones to Yemen. These may have a range that enables them to strike Eilat.

In addition, Tehran increased its investment in Iraqi-based militias such as Kataib Hezbollah to increase their drone and missile threats.

Israel is increasing its work with US Central Command and Navcent, as well as with new partners in the Gulf to discuss air defense priorities and drone threats.

The drone threat on July 2 therefore is part of the much wider Iranian threat, and ties into the importance of Israel’s work with the US, UAE, Bahrain and other countries in the region to prevent destabilization.

The US is increasingly concerned about Iranian drone threats. Members of Congress have also worked on the Deterring Enemy Forces and Enabling National Defenses (DEFEND) Act and the Stop Iranian Drones Act. All of this is important in the context of Hezbollah’s recent escalation.


Two Syrian Civilians Wounded in Alleged Israeli Airstrike
Two Syrian civilians were wounded in an alleged Israeli airstrike along Syria’s southern coast on Saturday morning, according to the state’s military and SANA news agency.

“The Israeli enemy carried out an air strike” near the town of Al-Hamidiyah, Syria’s Defense Ministry said in a statement, identifying the locations hit as poultry farms, without elaborating.

The strike was conducted from the Mediterranean Sea, west of Lebanon’s northern city of Tripoli, and “led to the injury of two civilians, including a woman.”

A facility that was struck is used by Lebanon’s Shiite militant group Hezbollah, a Syrian government ally, according to The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.

Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the air strike on Saturday targeted “warehouses… which the Lebanese Hezbollah group was using to transport weapons.”

Al-Hamidiyah is located south of Tartus, a bastion of the Syrian government and home to a naval port used by Russia, whose armed forces back the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.


Seth Frantzman: Why does Iran say the Doha talks went well?
Iran has claimed that the talks with Qatari counterparts regarding a potential agreement with the US went as planned. The Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran said that his assessment of the Doha talks is positive.

"We are serious about reaching a good, strong and lasting agreement, and if the United States realizes that, an agreement can be reached,” according to Iranian reports.

So why is Iran saying the talks went well when other reports say the talks were a failure? Al-Ain media in the UAE reported that an unnamed US official said that the chances of reviving the Iranian nuclear agreement became worse after the indirect negotiations that took place between the US and Iran in Doha.

The official, who asked not to be identified, added that "the odds of reaching an agreement after Doha (negotiations) are worse than they were before and will get worse day by day." Reuters also reported this statement. "You can describe the Doha negotiations at best as stumbling and at worst as a reversal, but at this stage, stumbling practically means going backward."

The EU coordinator Enrique Mora said late Wednesday that "two intense days of proximity talks" in Doha had not yet yielded the progress that the EU team had hoped for, according to France 24, yet Iranian media continued to claim the talks were going well.
Biden Admin and EU Appease Mullahs, Iran Regime Employs More Terror Cells Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian bragged that he had "long but positive meeting" with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, and added that "What is important for Iran is to fully receive the economic benefits of the 2015 accord."

"The message for the Biden administration [regarding the attempted kidnapping of a US citizen last year], which has frequently proclaimed its intention to defend pro-democracy dissidents, is that Iran and other foreign dictatorships won't shrink from launching attacks inside the United States unless deterred....'" – The Washington Post, July 10, 2021.

The Iranian regime is not going to change until it has all the world governed under one Islamist regime -- or until it is stopped. This objective comes as a part of the theocratic establishment's core revolutionary principle: exporting its revolution to other countries.

"We shall export our revolution to the whole world. Until the cry 'There is no god but Allah' resounds over the whole world, there will be struggle." — The Islamic Republic of Iran's founding Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Seth Frantzman: What does Iran’s drive for Central Asia partnerships look like?
Iran has been seeking to do outreach and increase its partnership with its eastern neighbors for the last decade. This has been clear in Iran’s participation at forums such as Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Iran has been watching the SCO closely, as well as the 2019 meeting at Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe when the Tajiks hosted the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

Together these kinds of forums bring together a variety of powers that are outside the US orbit of influence. This means that Iran believes it can thrive as it drives to work with China, Russia, Turkey and other states. Pakistan also believes in these partnerships as a way to unseat the US from global leadership.

Iran has established a new drone factory in Tajikistan and also sought partnerships in Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. Now Iran is opening up more about its new partnerships. A recent media article argued that Iran has reached a new high point in relations in Central Asia. This is based on statements of Iran’s foreign ministry.

Recently the Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian arrived in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, to attend the Caspian Sea littoral states meeting after his trip to Turkey, according to Mehr news. The assessment in Tehran is that this is the “golden age” of Iran’s new partnerships to the east. Iran has signed a new 25-year agreement with China and Iran’s Quds Force head in the IRGC is an expert on Afghanistan.

“In recent months, the development of Iran's relations with the Central Asian countries has reached its peak,” Tasnim News says. The Turkmenistan visit is part of the “depth of Iran's relations.” Iran believes the new discussions about the Caspian Sea relate to larger trade corridors that can link Iran north-south from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf and Oman.


BBC interview on Ben & Jerry's Israel Boycott Reversal with StandWithUs' Michael Dickson



Flag on the Play: NFL Taps Anti-Semitic Rapper To Lead Social Justice Initiative
The face of the NFL's newest social justice initiative is an anti-Semitic rapper who in his songs has called for violence against Jews and Asians.

Ice Cube, whose real name is O'Shea Jackson, has in his songs referred to a Jewish music producer as a "white Jew" and "cracker" and Asian shopkeepers as "little Chinese motherfucker[s]." He is also an admirer of Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader who has called Jews wicked and compared them to "termites."

Now, Ice Cube will lead the NFL's "economic equity" program to spur partnerships with black–owned businesses. The partnership is through the rapper's Contract With Black America Institute, which supports reparations and affirmative action for secondary schools and colleges.

The move comes as the NFL faces intense criticism over its handling of race issues. Former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores earlier this year sued the league and three of its teams for alleged racial discrimination. Social justice activists have criticized the NFL for failing to hire more black head coaches.

Ice Cube has an extensive history of anti-Semitic, anti-white, and anti-Asian rhetoric. He came under fire in 2020 for a series of social media posts with anti-Semitic tropes and for praising Farrakhan.

"The Honorable Louis Farrakhan continues to warn America to this very second and he's labeled one of your ‘evil names' and you turn your ears off," Ice Cube tweeted in June 2020.

The rapper, who has posted photos with Farrakhan, later that month chided CNN anchor Jake Tapper for calling the preacher a "vile, anti-LGBTQ, anti-Semitic misogynist."
Massachusetts College Fires Employee Behind Spate of Incidents Targeting Jewish, Black Students
Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts, has identified and fired an employee responsible for a string of bias incidents that stoked panic across the campus in February, the Currier Times campus paper reported.

For several weeks, a residence hall at the small liberal arts school was vandalized with antisemitic symbols and other messages of hate speech, including a swastika that was graffitied in a laundry room. Later, a message threatening Black students and specifying February 22 as the date of a possible event was discovered, prompting President Kenneth Quigley to temporarily suspend in-person classes and offer a $10,000 reward for any information related to the case.

In an email to the Curry community on Wednesday, President Quigley revealed that a joint investigation by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and local police determined that the culprit was a college employee, noting that, per school rules, his identity could not be disclosed.


Jewish footballers aged seven taunted by opponents with ‘gas chamber’ hissing sounds
Jewish junior footballers aged seven have been taunted by children on opposing teams with hissing sounds meant to evoke the gas chambers.

The disturbing practice has emerged as former cabinet minister Theresa Villiers urges the football authorities to enforce the same “zero tolerance” on antisemitism in the professional and amateur game that is rightly applied to other forms of racism.

In a parliamentary debate on antisemitism in football last week, Labour MP for Bury South Christian Wakeford said: “Even at grassroots and junior football, I have heard local reports from Maccabi of their Jewish players – some only seven years of age – being hissed at by players on the opposite side, replicating the noise of the gas chambers. I am sure that we can all agree that is truly shameful, shocking and abhorrent.”

Tory former Northern Ireland secretary Ms Villiers told the JC: “I found that incredibly disturbing. To have young children inflicting that on each other is horrifying.” She suggested that many referees would be unaware of what the hissing meant. The answer, she added, was “to improve referee training at all levels of the game, so that they will realise what’s happening and put a stop to it”.

Ms Villiers, the MP for Chipping Barnet, is calling for a clampdown on anti-Jewish bullying involving clubs, police and prosecutors.
Mayfield Heights hairdresser’s antisemitic video condemned
Christine Bachman, director of content and communications for Propelled Brands of Carrollton, Texas, responded to a CJN inquiry for comment on June 30.

Propelled Brands is the franchise organization of MY SALON Suite.

“The franchises are independently owned and operated,” Bachman wrote in an email to the CJN. “The members (tenants) of the My Salon Suite are independent business owners.

“Upon receiving your call, we immediately reached out to the franchisee and found that, starting Monday of this week, the situation was already being addressed. The franchisee asked the member to take down the video and is handling this matter internally with the member. The franchisee also sent a message to all members at the location that this type of behavior does not align with the company’s values. My Salon Suite follows FLAIR core values that are intended to provide a safe and secure place for beauty professionals to own and operate their business. FLAIR stands for Fun, Loving, Creatively Inspired Entrepreneurs. Our goal is to create a thriving and connected community of entrepreneurs.”

In a separate video on TikTok, the woman, whose account name is jennyrosep13, said she was raised Catholic, which she described as “culty.”

However, “She’s claiming she’s Jewish, as many antisemites do once they are exposed,” Rez said. “That’s not an uncommon practice.”

Rez said StopAntisemitism took an interest in the video because of her audience of 69,000 viewers.

“So this is very concerning that when you and I and the average citizen takes a look at (it), whether we laugh or we laugh in disgust, and we say this is completely false,” Rez said. “She’s influencing young minds again, because the average user is under 25. On TikTok with this antisemitic nonsense.”
Ohio Security Guard Who Threatened Jewish School Arrested for Making Untraceable ‘Ghost Guns’
Federal law enforcement agents have arrested a ex-Ohio National Guardsman for manufacturing and selling untraceable “ghost guns” with a 3D printer.

Thomas Develin — whom local authorities previously arrested for threatening to commit a mass shooting at a Jewish day school where he worked as a security guard — was taken into custody on Wednesday morning, the Department of Justice confirmed. He appeared in court later that day.

Over two dozen weapons were confiscated during a search of Develin’s home in March, the DOJ said, noting that he sold them for profit and also “possessed homemade conversion devices to convert semi-automatic AR-15 rifles and Glock-type pistols into fully automatic machine guns.”

The former security guard’s social media accounts were platforms for promoting hate and antisemitic violence many months before he was identified as a danger to Columbus’ Jewish community. Last September, he uploaded a photograph of Columbus Torah Academy, his employer, and captioned it, “Having an inner debate that if an active shooter comes in I might just join him.”

In March, he filmed himself holding a gun in front of the Jewish day school and posted the video on SnapChat.

Develin’s social media activity also included posts about sexually assaulting women and, the DOJ said, fantasies of “committing terrorist attacks at John Glenn International Airport and at the Budweiser manufacturing facility in Columbus,” and murdering a Morgan County officer and his “entire family.”
Heroic Israeli performance falls short of European soccer title
Israel’s under-19 soccer team lost 3-1 in extra time to England in the final of the European Championships on Friday in Trnava, Slovakia, the best performance by an Israeli national team in any soccer competition since the country joined the European fold in 1992.

Undaunted by the experience of their opponents, who also beat them 1-0 earlier in the competition, the Israelis were much the better side in the first half and had several chances to score, as their individual skills often baffled their English opponents. Israel takes the lead

Israel eventually made their dominance count and took the lead in the 40th minute when Oscar Gloukh of Maccabi Tel Aviv received the ball inside the area, got past two defenders and shot high to the right of England goalkeeper Matthew Cox – to the delight of the small Israeli contingent in the mostly empty stadium and many more watching at home on TV, who all broke into wild celebrations.

While Israel might have had more goals, coach Ofir Haim’s charges took their slim lead into the halftime break hoping to consolidate their lead in the second 45 minutes.

But Gloukh’s goal five minutes before the break was the wake-up call England needed, and they responded soon after a calming cup of tea in the dressing room – or a stern telling-off by their coach, Ian Foster.
'Resistance': How underground forces sabotaged the Nazis - review
Parachuted into Denmark by Great Britain’s Special Operations Executive (SOE) in March 1943, Flemming Muus met with resistance leaders to gauge their willingness to launch sabotage operations against the Nazis.

Determined to help his fellow Danes “find their lost souls,” Muus warned London that the Wehrmacht would respond brutally to attacks and asked, “Shall we slow down or force the issue?”

Although the circumstances in Denmark were unique, this question was raised by members of resistance movements in all the countries occupied by the Nazis during World War II.

In Resistance, Halik Kochanski, the author of The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War, provides a history of the disparate actions taken by underground forces throughout Europe and their impact. Stunning in the breadth and depth of its research, analysis and exposition, Resistance is certain to become the authoritative work on this subject.

Kochanski acknowledges that the number of people who actively resisted the Nazis in occupied countries was small. After all, overt acts of resistance had minimal effect on the conduct of German military operations, risked reprisals against large numbers of innocent civilians, and usually lacked popular support.

Resisters, however, did play a pivotal role in supplying information about the location and movement of troops and warships, and possible plans of attack. A clandestine press complemented BBC broadcasts, which reached a far wider audience, countered Nazi propaganda and confirmed the existence of resistance movements.

In many European countries, Kochanski reveals, World War II was fought through “an infinite series of Chinese boxes of one struggle within another.” The resistance against occupying powers often led to two other conflicts, with different tactics and ultimate aims: a war against collaborators or perceived collaborators and a civil war for power once the nation was liberated.
New documentary gives ‘Hallelujah’ back to Leonard Cohen, and to Judaism
The beloved Canadian folk singer, who fused Jewish mysticism with pop mythology for a global audience, wrote several hit songs over his 50-year career, including many, such as “Who By Fire” and “You Want It Darker,” that are unmistakably Jewish in content.

But none of them were as successful, or as pored-over, as “Hallelujah,” which has been covered around 300 times and played at weddings, funerals, church services and every possible occasion in between.

With its allusions to King David and Samson and Delilah, questioning of a higher purpose and obscure but tantalizing lyrics, few works by a Jewish artist have been subject to so much scrutiny and interpretation — much to the bafflement of its composer.

The new documentary “Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song” does not recount all 150 verses, despite how fervently some of Cohen’s more devout acolytes may long to hear their minor falls and major lifts.

But it does play “Hallelujah” many, many times, and allows some of the artists who have covered it, including Brandi Carlile and Rufus Wainwright, to explain what the song has meant to them.

Importantly, “Hallelujah” the film seeks to explore the song’s relationship not only to its creator, but also to Judaism in general.

Directors Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine, inspired by the nonfiction book “The Holy or the Broken” by Alan Light, use interviews with Cohen’s close friends, creative partners and lovers to explore both the song’s and Cohen’s legacies.

Other documentarians and authors have tread this ground before, exploring specific chapters of his story like his Greek Isle romance with Marianne Ihlen in the 1960s and his Israel concerts during the Yom Kippur War.

But the framing device of a single song affords unique narrative opportunities. The film structures Cohen’s life into the periods before and after “Hallelujah,” released on 1984’s “Various Positions” album when Cohen was already 50.




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