Justice, Good News at Michigan, Hegseth and the Big Picture, Gaetz-gate, Josep Borrell - Mr. Whatever, and Lebanon as Gift

Some of you are forwarding my posts to others, which is great. The more the merrier. So, keep doing it but let your recipients know they can receive them directly by just clicking on the “subscribe” link in the upper right of the email. Once they’re subscribers they’re more likely to forward to others, and so it grows.

A point of clarification now. In my writing of yesterday I took “the left” to task for the outcome of November 5. When I say, “the left,” in my head I really mean the far left, or the hard left. I don’t mean progressives as a group, or progressivism broadly put, or everything left of center. Anyway, I figured out a simple fix for this, I can just write what I mean. There.

Justice

The first item today has nothing to do with Israel save for the fact that it has to do with justice. I was in the metropolitan Detroit offices of friend and business associate, Shaya Baum, and by happenstance was introduced to Duane William, the man you see below. Let’s just say Duane’s is a story you don’t hear every day. You need to watch the video to get the full picture but, due to prosecutorial malfeasance, Mr. William spent 12 years of his life incarcerated for a crime he did not commit.

As you’ll see, Shaya got wind of this and then, as is his way, swung into action. Duane William is now a free man. As great as that is, the story gets better. Duane William’s case spurred the creation of Firefly Advocates, an organization devoted to freeing the unjustly imprisoned. And Firefly Advocates is now Duane William’s place of employment where he works full time to right the scales of justice for others.

Good News at Michigan

There’s good news at University of Michigan which I hope is a harbinger of bigger things to come there and across the country. You may recall Michigan students elected as Central Student Governmet (CSG) president and vice president two members of the vehemently anti-Zionist, “Shut It Down,” a group vowed to terminate funding for all student organizations and send it instead to the West Bank until the University divested from Israel.

Well, the student government just told them to take a hike. It voted to impeach Alifa Chowdhury and Elias Atkinson for inciting violence against other students, including one of Palestinian ancestry who, while a critic of Israel, doesn’t approve of their thuggish tactics and holding student life hostage. For that he was been called “a Zionist, a race traitor, and a bootlicker.”

So virtuous, humanist “Shut it Down” was revealed by the CSG as destructive, violence supporting, and antisemitic. Could this be the start of a broader unmasking of extreme, anti-Israel protestors? Are mainstream students tiring of their disruptive and hateful extremism, just as mainstream Democratic voters have tired of the extremism of their party’s far left? Maybe. We’ll see.

Hegseth and the Big Picture

Pete Hegseth, the new nominee for defense secretary, may have no experience with the Department of Defense but he seems to understand quite well what it is defending our country against, and with who.

Gaetz-gate

And then there’s Florida Congressman, Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Donald Trump’s nominee for Attorney General. OK, WTF?! In addition to allegations of sex trafficking and drug use, Mr. Gaetz is a “racist” per the ADL, embraces antisemitic conspiracy theories, and invited a Holocaust denier to the State of the Union address. Oh, and he’s despised by many in his own caucus. Charming.

There is a serious question if he will survive the Senate confirmation process for the highest law enforcement job in the land, though I can’t imagine why. It is also possible Trump will try to secure his position without confirmation via a recess appointment. Or that he is playing “4D Chess” and using Gaetz as a bargaining chip to relinquish in favor of someone else he has in mind for the job who is otherwise controversial but will seem almost normal by comparison. Any way you slice it, not a good look.

Josep Borrell - Mr. Whatever

And speaking of ridiculous people, let’s talk about our friend Josep Borrell. You remember him, the EU foreign policy chief whose suit would be completely empty if not for his antipathy for the Jewish state. He now proposes the EU “suspend the political dialogue with Israel.” I’m sure that means something, but I’m equally sure his High Representativeness has no idea what. Whatever. I think this picture’s worth 1,000 words on the matter:

Lebanon as Gift

It seems like there is a hint of a whiff of a possibility that a Lebanon deal may be in the offing. Some are attributing it to a desire by Netanyahu to give “a gift” to incoming President Trump who has made clear his desire to see Israel’s wars come to an end by January 20. Others see opportunity in Israel’s military accomplishments to date combined with Bibi’s domestic political imperative of getting Israelis back to their homes in the country’s north, and the Trump factor as concerns his relationships with both the Israeli and Russian governments. Ron Dermer shuttled recently between Jerusalem, Washington, West Palm Beach and Moscow visiting the latter to secure the Kremlin’s cooperation in preventing the transshipment of arms to Hezbollah through Syria in the event of a deal.

Lots of moving parts here but given all, including the fact that Hezbollah’s on the ropes, the time may be right.