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Ocasio - Cortez's Deep Misunderstanding of the Holocaust
Aug 19th, 2019
CommentaryELAD HAKIM/ALGEMEINER.COM
Categories: Contemporary Issues

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) recently told her Instagram followers that the United States is "running concentration camps" on the southern border. Aside from the insensitive nature of this statement, it also reflects a deep misunderstanding and ignorance of the Holocaust and what occurred in the concentration camps.

According to an article in Mother Jones, Ocasio-Cortez stated:

That is exactly what they are: They are concentration camps. I want to talk to the people that are concerned enough with humanity to say that "never again" means something.

I don't use those words lightly. I don't use those words to just throw bombs. I use that word because that is what an administration that creates concentration camps is. A presidency that creates concentration camps is fascist, and it's very difficult to say that because it is very difficult to accept the fact that that's how bad things happen.

Ocasio-Cortez believes that her "concentration camp" analogy is appropriate, due to what she describes as the use of "mass camps of people detained without a trial" and "DHS's mass separation of thousands of children at the border from their parents."

Fortunately for Ocasio-Cortez, she was not alive during the Holocaust nor was she forced to endure life in the "camps." However, Primo Levi, a Jewish-Italian Auschwitz survivor and literary documentarian, did. Primo wrote an essay "The Gray Zone," which was included in his final book, The Drowned and the Saved. In this essay, Primo described the brutality of Nazi Germany and life in the camps.

According to Vox, at one point in his essay, Primo described what took place when people first entered the concentration camps: "Kicks and punches right away, often in the face; an orgy of orders screamed with true and simulated rage; complete nakedness after being stripped; the shaving off of all one's hair; the outfitting in rags."

In another section of his essay, Primo described how the prisoners, some of whom were designated as the "Special Squad," were degraded and humiliated in the camps.

As set forth in Vox: "With the duly vague definition, 'Special Squad,' the SS referred to the group of prisoners entrusted with running the crematoria. It was their task to maintain order among the new arrivals (often completely unaware of the destiny awaiting them) who were to be sent into the gas chambers, to extract the corpses from the chambers, to pull gold teeth from jaws, to cut women's hair, to sort and classify clothes, shoes, and the content of the luggage, to transport the bodies to the crematoria and oversee the operation of the ovens, to extract and eliminate the ashes. The Special Squad in Auschwitz numbered, depending on the moment, from seven hundred to one thousand active members."

These Special Squads did not escape everyone else's fate. On the contrary, the SS exerted the greatest diligence to prevent any man who had been part of it from surviving and telling. Twelve squads succeeded each other for a few months, whereupon it was suppressed, each time with a different trick to head off possible resistance. As its initiation, the next squad burnt the corpses of its predecessors.

Primo was not the only survivor. Elie Wiesel, who also survived the Holocaust and subsequently became a journalist, described his experience in the camps. In his book Night, Wiesel described having to wear a yellow star, which the Nazis forced the Jews to wear so as to easily identify who would be sent to the concentration camps.

According to an article in ThoughtCo., when men, women, and children entered the camps, they were usually segregated. Those in the left line were usually forced into slave labor and terrible conditions, but temporary survival. On the other hand, those in the right line were taken to the gas chamber and immediately killed.

The following quote from Wiesel's book portrays the pain and dread of those living in the concentration camps: "Do you see that chimney over there? See it? Do you see those flames? (Yes, we did see the flames.) Over there -- that's where you're going to be taken. That's your grave, over there."

With this backdrop, there is no conceivable or logical way to rationalize Ocasio-Cortez's analogy. Our nation's immigration laws and border policies are meant to keep people from entering the country illegally. They are meant to prevent caravans of illegal migrants from entering the country through our porous borders. The immigration laws are meant to protect the citizens of the United States and those who are in the country legally.

Contrary to Ocasio-Cortez's claims, there is a major distinction between the detention centers along the United States border, which are intended to house people who have entered the country illegally, and the concentration camps in Nazi Germany, the primary purpose of which was to eradicate innocent human beings, including the Jewish people. While the conditions in the detention centers along the nation's border are not ideal, there are no gas chambers, incinerators, or burning bodies.

As Wiesel stated, "The flames rose 24 hours a day from the incinerators -- after the Jews were killed in the gas chambers by Zyklon B, their bodies were immediately taken to incinerators to be burned into black, charred dust."

There are no similarities between the detention centers and/or the act of detaining individuals who enter the country illegally and the concentration camps (death camps) of Nazi Germany. Ocasio-Cortez's comments were insensitive, offensive, and reflected a deep and profound misunderstanding of the Holocaust.

Republicans and Democrats should stand hand in hand on this matter, and demand that such comments be retracted. Some issues transcend politics. The Holocaust is one of them, and such comments should be rejected by everyone.

Let the Headlines Speak
Aug 19th, 2019
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines

US murderer executed after choosing electric chair
Washington (AFP) – A man put to death in the US state of Tennessee on Thursday for murdering a woman and her daughter chose in his final hours to be electrocuted rather than executed by lethal injection, prison officials said. Stephen West, who was convicted in the two killings more than 30 years ago, waited until Wednesday to choose his method of execution — one day after Tennessee’s Republican Governor Bill Lee refused his request for clemency.

Epstein’s Own Lawyers Revolt, Move to Challenge Autopsy Conclusion
Lawyers for late financier Jeffrey Epstein are not happy with the autopsy conclusion of the New York City medical examiner’s office and have issued a challenge demanding answers and accountability. The mystery surrounding his death and his treatment at the Metropolitan Correctional Center have sparked his lawyers to apparently begin digging for answers on their own. Reid Weingarten, Epstein’s lead attorney, signed the letter along with two others.

Democrats Suffer Significant Court Defeat in Their Attempt To Impeach President Trump
House Judiciary Committee…set a timeline in which articles of impeachment could be recommended by his committee by late autumn. On Wednesday, that schedule took a huge hit. Judge Beryl Howell of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia rejected House Democrats’ attempt to have two separate cases related to the Judiciary Committee’s investigation tried by the same judge, stating they “are too superficial and attenuated” to be designated as related.

More genes in the human microbiome than stars in the observable universe
Astronomers suggest there may be about one billion trillion stars in the observable universe. Trying to fathom a universe that mind-bendingly large is virtually impossible, and now a new study is suggesting the human microbiome is operating on similar levels of complexity, but on a vastly smaller scale. The research, from Harvard Medical School and the Joslin Diabetes Center, suggests the bacteria living inside us may collectively contain more novel genes than there are stars in the observable universe.

Afghan wedding suicide blast kills 63, wounds 182 – ministry 
A suicide bomber killed 63 people and wounded 182 in an attack on a packed wedding reception in the Afghan capital on Saturday night…The attack came as the Taliban and the United States are trying to negotiate an agreement on the withdrawal of US forces in exchange for a Taliban commitment on security and peace talks with Afghanistan’s US-backed government.

Hong Kong protests: More than 100,000 march peacefully
More than 100,000 people are holding another day of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, amid increasingly severe warnings from the Beijing authorities. Activists and police have clashed over the past 10 weeks, but this weekend’s rallies have so far been peaceful. The protests were sparked by an extradition bill, which has since been suspended by the Hong Kong government.

Portland ‘ground zero’ for protests between right, left-wing
Hundreds of far-right protesters and anti-fascist counter-demonstrators swarmed downtown Portland, Oregon, on Saturday for a long-hyped rally that attracted President Donald Trump’s attention and resulted in at least 13 arrests. Police seized metal poles, bear spray and other weapons and closed bridges and streets to try to keep the rival groups apart. They were largely successful. Six minor injuries were reported.

Your New Heart Could Be Made in China
Recently, a Chinese startup named Qihan Biotech raised $20 million to develop replacement organs for humans. The smallish deal would hardly have rated a headline, except for the fact that the Hangzhou-based gene-editing company is aiming to grow those organs in pigs and other animals. If successful, such transplants could well transform medicine.

Top North Korea, China generals huddle in Beijing
Top military leaders from North Korea and China have recommitted themselves to strengthened exchanges between their armed forces during a meeting in Beijing. The meeting Saturday came as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised another test-firing of an unspecified new weapon, seen as an attempt to pressure Washington and Seoul over nuclear negotiations and joint military exercises.

U.S. and UK presence in Gulf brings insecurity: Iran Revolutionary Guards navy chief
The presence of America and Britain in the Gulf region brings insecurity, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards navy, Alireza Tangsiri, was reported as saying by the ILNA news agency. Tensions have spiked between Iran and the U.S. and Britain in the Gulf after the Islamic Republic shot down an American drone in June and seized a British tanker last month for violating maritime regulations.

Zombie Deer Disease Rears Its Ugly Head: Canada Issues Stark Warning About “Always Fatal” Infection
Earlier this year, an infectious disease expert warned that a deadly disease found in deer could infect humans in the near future. Often referred to as “zombie deer” disease because of the symptoms, Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has been reported in at least 26 states in the continental United States and in four provinces in Canada.

Dayton, Ohio, gunman had cocaine, alcohol and antidepressants in system: coroner
The gunman who carried out a deadly mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, this month had cocaine and other drugs in his system at the time, according to a coroner’s report.

New Compilation of Utility Smart Meters’ Many Flaws — Outrageous Bills, Fires and More
Tens of millions of utility Smart Meters have been installed in the U.S. and around the world so there’s a good chance they are installed on your home and throughout your community even if your utility company doesn’t refer to them as “Smart.”

Former Obama White House counsel ‘schemed, falsified, and concealed’ facts from investigators: Prosecutors
The prosecution and defense painted starkly different pictures of how Obama White House counsel Greg Craig handled a report involving Ukraine, Paul Manafort, and the media in their opening statements at Craig’s trial Thursday.

Churches arm, train congregants in wake of mass shootings
The anxiety of one mass shooting after another has led some churches to start training and arming their worshippers with guns. Not all security experts support this approach, but it has gained momentum as congregations across the country grapple with how to secure spaces where welcoming strangers is a religious practice.

Lightning struck near the North Pole 48 times. Here’s why it’s not normal.
Lightning happens all the time, but certain parts of the world get far less of it than others, including near the North Pole. Lightning requires atmospheric instability, something that’s set up when cold, parched air sits atop warmer, wetter air. At very high latitudes, that hotter, damper air tends not to show up.

THE DAYS OF LOT: New Pew Poll Shows That Support For Same-Sex Marriage Has More Than Doubled Among Evangelical Christian Groups 
I do not see any end-times revival coming for the Christian church in the last days before the Rapture, but what I do see is exactly what Jesus said would be the state of the last professing global Christian church. What is that state, you ask? A big, fat and sloppy, lukewarm Laodicean mess that Jesus is disgusted with. So much so that He spues it from out of His mouth. That, my dear reader, is how the Church Age ends.

Planned Parenthood Set To Lose $60 Million In Annual Funds On Monday, Following Trump Administration Rule Change
The Trump administration is cracking down on Planned Parenthood, the federally-subsidized abortion provider that has killed and dismembered millions of babies nationwide, by denying them the annual funds they have come to rely upon from the taxpayer.

‘Veggie Tales’ Creator Says Christian Media Will Soon Be Forced to Cover LGBT Topics for Kids
‘Veggie Tales’ co-creator Phil Vischer says it’s inevitable that Christian filmmakers will be forced to address LGBT topics on their shows.

Israeli Air Force Strikes Targets In Gaza Strip Following A Barrage Of Rockets Launched By Palestinian Terrorists And Aimed At Southern Israel
After a relatively quiet summer, Palestinian terror group Hamas has once again fired a barrage of rockets at southern Israel. The IAF responded quickly and efficiently with a target strike Hamas offices and homes in the Gaza Strip. Just another day in the Holy Land, right? Consider this.

Sen. Schumer wants to outlaw bulletproof backpacks that help protect children from violence
Another day, another Democrat, post-mass shooting, who wants to stifle liberty and steal more of your freedom. In the wake of the most recent shootings in El Paso and Dayton, the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, wants to make it more difficult for even schoolchildren to survive such an incident.

“The Impact On Tourism Is Huge:” Hong Kong Hotel Crisis Erupts Amid Escalating Protests ​​​​​​​
Tourism in Hong Kong just crashed.

Anti - Israel Indoctrination Spreading Through School System
Aug 19th, 2019
CommentarySTEVE STOTSKY/JNS.ORG
Categories: Antisemitism

Saint Ignatius of Loyola is alleged to have said "Give me the child for the first seven years and I will give you the man." Anti-Israel ideologues have adopted a similar strategy, targeting ever-younger age groups in their effort to turn Americans against the world's sole Jewish state.

The growing presence of anti-Israel units in America's high schools and middle schools represents an ambitious extension of the campaign against Israel that has flourished on college campuses.

The unmonitored classrooms of America's public schools present a tempting target for anti-Israel indoctrinators. With rare exceptions, the insertion of biased curricula occurs uncontested. Alert citizens who discover anti-Israel bias in classroom materials and bring them to the attention of school officials.

But remaining silent is not an acceptable option; the problem will not go away by itself.  A forceful public response followed by relentless monitoring and engagement with school officials has been the only way to effectively contest anti-Israel bias.

Many are perplexed by the current educational climate and wonder how it came about.

Far-left activists have taken control of university humanities departments and schools of education, and imposed an academic orthodoxy that is receptive to anti-Zionism. The once prevalent image of Israelis as plucky Jews rebuilding their ancient homeland has been replaced by the bleak image of a militarized colonial-settler state infringing upon the lives of victimized Palestinians.

This transformation of Israel's image was achieved by recasting the Jews as foreign invaders who expropriated Palestinian land to build a state. The Palestinian plight is analogized to civil-rights struggles in South Africa and the American South.

This transformation relies upon concealing documented history and misrepresenting Palestinian intentions. Students are not informed that the ultimate goal of all significant Palestinian political groups is to replace the Jewish state, not find a lasting accommodation with it. Students are left in the dark about the inculcation of generations of Palestinians with the belief that Jews are intrinsically villainous and cowardly.

This hatred is expressed in Palestinian schoolbooks, in the official media, in sermons, at public commemorations and in children's programming. The failure of school curricula to acknowledge this crucial element limits students' capacity to understand why the conflict has been so resistant to resolution.

The altered history provided to students starts with the emergence of the modern Zionist movement at the end of the 19th century. The historical context on which Zionism is built is missing. The Zionists' insistence on settling the territories of the Palestine British Mandate can only be understood in the context of the Jewish connection to the land that spans several thousand years.

Palestinian Arabs are portrayed as indigenous; Jews are not. The new account emphasizes that the Arabs outnumbered the Jews in the early 20th century, and that the Jews unfairly got a larger portion of the land (west of the Jordan River). Students do not learn that the Jewish population once numbered in the millions, and that Jews preceded the Arab presence by many centuries. 

It is not explained that the Jewish remnant residing among an Arab majority at the point in time that the account begins reflected the cumulative impact of prior expulsions, dispersal, massacres and centuries of depopulation due to neglect of the land under Turkish rule.

Skipping over the historic Jewish connection also allows teachers to dismiss the crucial role of religion in shaping and fueling the conflict. As a result, students are at a loss to explain why this relatively small conflict commands so much world attention. Anti-Zionist accounts circumvent this puzzling question by portraying Israel as a uniquely odious abuser of human rights.

Teachers, who have absorbed the anti-Zionist account from their college courses and from biased continuing-education workshops, zealously integrate units on the conflict into their courses.

Counteracting unscholarly, anti-Israel activity

The eight-year controversy in the Massachusetts city of Newton has served as a wake-up call for many. In 2011, concerned town residents contacted school officials to express their outrage following the discovery of an assignment at Newton South High School that falsely accused Israeli soldiers of imprisoning and murdering Palestinian women.  The uncovering of other biased materials launched a campaign by concerned citizens to ensure that the Middle East conflict was being taught properly.

After school officials rebuffed requests for public scrutiny of classroom materials, citizens turned to the Newton School Committee for help. The School Committee sided with the school administration. Committee vice chair Matt Hills demeaned the concerned citizens and accused them of engaging in "McCarthyesque" behavior in a column published in a local newspaper (2012).

More recently, citizen complainants have documented a myriad of problems with an ideologically tainted senior elective course at Newton North High School. The course skirts Palestinian terrorism, obscuring the reasons for current Israeli security measures like the security barrier, travel restrictions and intrusive raids. There is nothing on the relentless stoking of Palestinian hatred towards Jews in Palestinian schools, media and general culture.

On Nov. 28, 2018 the School Committee called a meeting after a petition by citizens. But rather than hear the petitioners' concerns, the committee turned the meeting into a rally for the course's teacher, David Bedar. After Bedar and his supporters had their say, they staged a walkout without even bothering to hear the other side; this set a terrible example for the many attending students who obediently left at Bedar's cue.

Requests for transparency of the classroom materials were depicted as attempts to impose censorship. At the meeting's end, each school committee member read a prepared statement opposing transparency in school materials.

Newton continues to resist scholarly accounting, instead lending support to their teacher's demagoguery. At the 2019 Newton North graduation ceremony, Bedar was the featured faculty speaker, where he ironically spoke of the importance of listening to diverse points of views.

There are examples from other school systems of success in counteracting unscholarly, anti-Israel activity.

In Brookline, a town neighboring Newton, school officials took citizen complaints seriously and made sure teachers did not bring inaccurate materials or follow politicized lesson plans. Teachers were sent to a seminar conducted by a vetted, mainstream academic at a local university to get a balanced perspective.

In Illinois teachers in School District 219 were offered a course on "Palestine and the Palestine liberation struggle" sponsored by the radical anti-Israel group Jewish Voice for Peace. It promised to "Discuss concrete strategies for how to respond to Zionist Professional Developments and curricula or when parents/staff/others object to anti-Zionist curriculum." An immediate outcry from the Jewish community and from Jewish organizations compelled school officials to remove the course offering.

The Newton experience shows what advocates of factual, balanced history are up against. Younger Americans are susceptible to this falsified account because the events surrounding the establishment of Israel, including its early struggles to survive against overwhelming odds, have receded out of living memory. This effect is apparent in opinion polls that demonstrate declining support for Israel in each subsequent generation of Americans.

Parents remain in the dark about the indoctrination to which their children are subjected and will be badly shaken when they discover its consequences.

Abraham Went Down into Egypt Pt. 3
Aug 19th, 2019
Morning MeditationF. B. Meyer
Categories: Commentary;Inspirational;Book Study

"And Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there." -- What a marvelous history is that of Egypt, linking successive centuries. Full of mystery, wonder, and deep thinking on the destiny of man. The land of Pyramid and Sphinx, and mighty dynasties, and of the glorious Nile. We need not wonder that Egypt has ever been one of the granaries of the world, when we recall the periodic inundation of that marvelous river, which preserves the long narrow strip of green between far-reaching wastes of sand. Thither in all ages all countries have come, as Joseph's brethren did, to buy grain. The ship in which the Apostle Paul was conveyed to Rome was a grain ship of Alexandria, bearing a freight of wheat for the consumption of Rome.

In the figurative language of Scripture, Egypt stands for alliance with the world, and dependence on an arm of flesh. "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses; and trust in chariots because they are many; and in horsemen because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord!" (Isaiah 31:1)

There were occasions in Jewish story when God Himself bade His servants seek a temporary asylum in Egypt. Whilst Jacob was halting in indecision on the confines of Canaan, longing to go to Joseph, and yet reluctant to repeat the mistakes of the past, Jehovah said, "I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation: I will go down with thee into Egypt" (Genesis 46:3-4). And, in later days, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt" (Matthew 2:13). There may be times in all our lives when God may clearly indicate that it is His will for us to go out into the world, with a view of accomplishing some Divine purpose with respect to it. "Go, shine as lights," He seems to say. "Arrest corruption, even as salt does. Witness for Me where My name is daily blasphemed." And when God sends us, by the undoubted call of His providence, He will be as sure to keep and deliver us as He did Jacob and his seed, or the Holy Child.

But it does not appear that Abraham received any such Divine direction. He acted simply on his own judgment. He looked at his difficulties. He became paralyzed with fear. He grasped at the first means of deliverance which suggested itself, much as a drowning man will catch at a straw. And thus, without taking counsel of his heavenly Protector, he went down into Egypt.

Ah, fatal mistake! But how many make it still. They may be true children of God; and yet, in a moment of panic, they will adopt methods of delivering themselves which, to say the least, are questionable; and sow the seeds of sorrow and disaster in life after, to save themselves from some minor embarrassment. Christian women plunge into the marriage bond with those who are the enemies of God, in order that they may be carried through some financial difficulty. Christian merchants take ungodly partners into business for the sake of the capital they introduce. To enable them to stave off the pressure of difficulties, and to maintain their respectability, Christian people of all grades will court the help of the world. What is all this -- but going down to Egypt for help?

How much better would it have been for Abraham to have thrown the responsibility back on God, and to have said, "Thou hast brought me here; and Thou must now bear the whole weight of providing for me and mine: here will I stay till I clearly know what Thou wilt have me to do." If any should read these lines who have come into positions of extreme difficulty, through following the simple path of obedience, let them not look at God through difficulties, as we see the sun shorn of splendor through a fog; but let them look at difficulties through God. Let them put God between themselves and the disasters which threaten them. Let them cast the whole responsibility upon Him. Has He not thus brought you into difficulties, that He may have an opportunity of strengthening your faith, by giving some unexampled proof of His power? Wait only on the Lord, trust also in Him: His name is Jehovah-jireh; He will provide.  F. B. Meyer