Wednesday Potpourri

First, from Berkeley High School, via the Atlantic. Franklin Foer chronicles the new anti-Semitism, in Berkeley High.

Keep in mind, the children in question are not white supremacists. They are not MAGA Republicans. They belong to minority groups, precisely the kind that have been and are still being encouraged to rise up to overthrow their capitalist patriarchal masters. 

Despite what Foer suggests, the most dangerous form of anti-Semitism today comes to us from the radical left, from the people who have been encouraged to form the vanguard of a revolution, and to hate white people. 

Here is a day in the life in Berkeley High:

But a moral fervor was sweeping over Berkeley High that morning. Around 10:30, the walkout began. Jewish parents traded panicked reports from their children. Zolt Hara heard that kids were chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a slogan that suggests the elimination of Israel. Rumors spread about other, less coy phrases shouted in the hallways, carrying intimations of violence. Jewish students were said to be in tears. Parents were texting one another ideas about where in the school their children could hide. Zolt Hara placed a call to the dean of students. By her own admission, she was hysterical. She says the dean hung up on her.

Children at this school are taught the oppression narrative. They are taught that white people oppress people of color, and that Jews are white supremacists:

At every stop in their education in this progressive community, they had learned about a world divided between oppressors and the oppressed—and now they felt that they were being accused of being the bad guys, despite having nothing to do with events on the other side of the world, and despite the fact that Hamas had initiated the current war by invading Israeli communities and murdering an estimated 1,200 people.

Anti-Semitism became part of everylife at the school:

After October 7, he said, his school life, as a visibly identifiable Jew, had become unbearable. Walking down the halls, kids would shout “Free Palestine” at him. They would make the sound of explosions, as if he were personally responsible for the bombardment of Gaza. They would tell him to pick up pennies. As he was walking into the gym to use one of its courts, a kid told him, “There goes the Jew, taking everyone’s land.” I asked if he’d ever told any of this to an administrator. “Nothing would change,” he said. Based on how other local authorities had responded to anti-Semitism, I didn’t doubt him.

Dare we mention that the leftist radicals who fomented the hatred of white people and MAGA Republicans are, as Hamlet put it, “hoist with his own petard.”

Second, the Democratic Party has been infested with anti-Semitism, via the Council of American Islamic Relations, i.e. CAIR. Via the Twitter account called, IAmaZionist:

 CAIR’s integration within #DemocraticParty’s electoral machine has been so total that the Democratic operatives & donors of the Movement Voter Project are fundraising for it even though CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad was caught on video celebrating the Oct 7 attack.

Third, It took them more than six months, but the United Nations seems finally to have concluded that the Israelis were not kidding when they said that Hamas had maimed and mutilated and raped Israelis on October 7.

The UN envoy focusing on sexual violence in conflict said in a new report Monday that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe Hamas committed rape, “sexualized torture,” and other cruel and inhumane treatment of women during its surprise attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7.

There are also “reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing,” said Pramila Patten, who visited Israel and the West Bank from Jan. 29 to Feb. 14 with a nine-member team.

In the report, she said the team “found clear and convincing information” that some hostages have been subjected to the same forms of conflict-related sexual violence including rape and “sexualized torture.”

As part of its inquiry, the U.N. team interviewed survivors and witnesses of the Oct. 7 attacks — though they did not speak with any survivors of the alleged sexual violence on Oct. 7, Pramila Patten, the U.N. special representative of the secretary general on sexual violence in conflict, said in a news conference.

Fourth, the propaganda war against Israel proceeds apace. As for the casualty figures, they come to us from Hamas. Thus, they are not reliable. ElderofZiyon writes this on Twitter:

The only source for women and children deaths is a Hamas Telegram channel (the "media office") run by a guy who wears a mask in all his statements. The same people who claim they've destroyed hundreds of tanks and killed thousands of IDF soldiers. Not even the Gaza health ministry has pretended to count women and children for months.

Fifth, Sen. John Fetterman had the best response to the pro-Hamas faction:

At any point, Hamas could have ended this burgeoning tragedy to surrender and release every hostage. Now, they’re unwilling to provide a list of any surviving hostages,” he wrote. “Hamas is anathema to peace for Gaza. Hamas instigated and owns this humanitarian catastrophe.”

“Demand Hamas to surrender. Demand release every hostage. Demand to seize billions of dollars Hamas stole from Gaza,” he added. “Demand those stolen billions to rebuild Gaza and compensate true victims- Israelis and Palestinians. Demand Hamas eliminated or permanently exiled.”

In a third post, Fetterman wrote in response to a Reuters article titled “Israeli military review of Gaza aid convoy deaths finds most killed in stampede.”

“I’ll always take the word of our ally over a group of cowards that hide in tunnels behind civilians and hold children, women and elderly hostage since Oct. 7,” Fetterman wrote. “Back then, they also blamed the hospital rocket hit on Israel; it was proven to be a Hamas ally.”

In a fourth post, he shared a screenshot of an NBC News article titled “Gaza hospital blast likely a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket misfire, U.S. officials say.”

Sixth, the president of El Salvador has enjoyed some considerable political success. He has shut down gang violence and rendered his country habitable.

Naturally, savvy commentators are upset that he did not use more democratic methods and did not respect the human rights of MS-13.

Now, in a further affront to progressive thinking, Salvadoran President Bukele has rid his school system of woke thinking:

BREAKING: President Bukele bans "every last trace" of gender ideology in public schools & universities in El Salvador

Education Minister Pineda says that he will implement this ban nationwide 

Bukele says he wants public education in El Salvador to educate and revilalize civility, religion, and the family.

Seventh, New York City has been suffering something of a heat wave of late. In the meantime, California is being buried in snow. Collin Rugg reports:

California is getting wrecked by a massive snow storm with winds reaching up to 190mph and estimates of more than 10 feet of snow.

The conditions were so bad that hundreds of vehicles got stuck overnight on the I-80.

Some reports estimate that the weekend snowfall will reach 12 feet with *another* couple feet expected early next week.

Some will say that it’s all about global warming. Send John Kerry.

Eighth, socialist progressives never learn. They are true believers, so when their schemes fail, they see it as a test of their faith.

Jason Miyares explains how well socialism has worked for Cuba:

In the year Fidel Castro took power, Cuba had the same GDP as Italy. The year Castro died, Cuba had the same GDP as Sudan. Socialism Fails. ⁦@RepJayapal⁩ and @RepIlhanOmar “Progressives defend Cuba trip as 'productive' amid GOP backlash - POLITICO”

Ninth, you might have heard that the European Union has slapped a serious fine on Apple. To which Stephen Green responds in Instapundit:

Now that Brussels has legislated tech innovation nearly out of existence, the EU uses regulation to punish innovative tech firms from this side of the Atlantic.

Succinctly put. It shows the flaw in the European governance model.

Tenth, when is a war crime not a war crime. It’s a difficult question, worthy of a half-witted Berkeley professor like Judith Butler. In principles, gang rapes, mutilations and massacres of civilians are war crimes. As is using civilians as human shields.

So, when it comes to the degenerate anti-Semitism of Hamas, it has found a defender in Judith Butler. We hasten to mention a point we have made before: if JB were living under Hamas law she would be hanged from a lamppost, for the crime of being gay.

Send the girl to Gaza!

Butler said this about October 7th:

“We can have different views about Hamas as a political party, we can have different views about armed resistance. But [...] the uprising of October 7th was an act of armed resistance.[...] This was an uprising”

Eleventh, we were told that our top-notch diverse military would have no problem saving world shipping from a band of rag-tag rebels called the Houthis. 

Well, apparently, we were too optimistic. Luca Bertuzzi writes on Twitter:

If anyone thought the geopolitical dimension of subsea cables is purely theoretical, here is a reality check. Yemen’s Houthi rebels cut at least three internet cables in the Red Sea, affecting 25% of the traffic passing through this critical choke point.

If you enjoy reading this and my other offerings, consider subscribing to my Substack, for free or preferably for a fee.