CHUCK SCHUMER AGAINST THE WORLD - AUGUST 11, 2015

Of Abraham it’s said that in smashing idols and embracing the absolute sovereignty of a single G-d, he became one man standing against the rest of the world. Well maybe it’s not quite that lonely and heroic for Chuck Schumer, but pretty close. To a Democrat like Schumer,Barack Obama is “the rest of the world.”

That took guts doing what he did. Last week Schumer put to rest all doubt. He will vote to defeat Obama’s Iran Nuke Deal.

So doing he risks the displeasure of the President and the Party. He also risks losing his bid to become Party leader in the Senate.

Toughest of all, perhaps, Schumer risks being called out for voting Jewish.

Yes, Schumer is known for his warmth for the Jewish State. But Schumer is a United States Senator. 

He declared himself against the deal because the deal is harmful to the United States. He spoke up for his New York constituents and he is acting in accord with his American conscience.

This is a rotten deal. It is against the best interests of the United States and it must go down. That is Schumer’s thinking and that is Schumer at his best.

Last week, Obama spent an hour trying to put lipstick on this pig. The President resorted to a crafty age-old trick, blaming Israel – you know, the Jews, wink, wink...

Last week, Obama spent an hour trying to put lipstick on this pig. The President resorted to a crafty age-old trick, blaming Israel – you know, the Jews, wink, wink – in case the deal fell, and he singled out Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for being so stubborn.

Bibi is guilty of “unprecedented interference” in US politics, according to Obama with Fareed Zakaria on CNN. As if an Israeli leader speaking his mind is somehow out of turn. This is the same Obama who dispatched an army of political fixers to interfere Bibi from getting reelected.

Obama was sending a message. 

The message was meant for Bibi and the warning was meant for Schumer. Behave or else.

Hours later, Schumer went public. He refused to be intimidated. The timing itself – that really took guts.

Schumer became an instant hero to those who disdain the Iraq deal, and rightly so, but some people wanted more. Why did Chuck say that he was only acting on his own behalf? Why did he say that he would not, repeat not rally his fellow Democrats to his side?

Well, what more can we possibly want? Schumer still has to live in the real world. He still has to caucus with members of his own Party.

He still has to do lunch with the President – the leader of his Party, the leader of his country. Too much lobbying would be rubbing it in.

Schumer has done plenty as it is. He should not be made to answer for what he is not doing.

We know where the Liberals stand. Running on TV at the moment is a J Street commercial frantically supporting the deal.

Swallow it, they say. It’s good for you. Take the medicine.

Why is it so good? Because Obama says so, that’s why.

Plus, John Kerry and his team put it together and is there a smarter man on the face of the earth than 

John Kerry?

To this observer, there is no need to talk centrifuges or “snap-back”clauses or secret agreements to know that Kerry was taken to the cleaners.

The proof of it is that Kerry left Tehran leaving four hostages behind. If he could not get that much business done, surely he was swindled on everything else.

But the Left insists that we won. They tell the rest of us that we have no right to object because we do not have all the facts.

This is true. We do not know all the details. Precisely why we are suspicious and why we find it impossible to talk to a Liberal.

They truly say this… They argue that nobody knows what’s in the deal… but it’s a good deal.

Stop scratching your head. Go, make sense of that logic…plus this logic from Obama himself, saying that they “don’t really mean it” when they chant “Death to the United States” and “Death to Israel.” Six million Jews had to die in order to prove that Hitler really did mean it.

How many chances are we supposed to give the ayatollahs to likewise prove that they mean what they keep saying?

New York-based author and bestselling novelist Jack Engelhard writes a regular column for Arutz Sheva. Website: www.jackengelhard.com

MEGYN KELLY DUELING DONALD TRUMP -- ASSESSING THE DAMAGE - AUGUST 9, 2015

I guess it’s not a moment too soon to respond to the 24 million readers who complained how wrong I was on Donald Trump.

I wrote that he lost Thursday night’s Fox News GOP Debate. I said he showed himself un-presidential and that the three moderators, principally Megyn Kelly, got to him. Made him look small. Charles Krauthammer agreed – but nobody else. Or so it seemed when emails started coming in saying we were both crazy. Trump was the winner by far.

Hundreds of messages came in but so passionate, so angry, that it sure felt like 24 million, exactly the number of viewers who tuned in for Fox’s 9 pm extravaganza – the largest viewership for any cable TV event aside sports. That’s a huge number and Trump has a huge following.

I used to be part of that following. Trump had me when he said that he was evicting illegal immigrants. Right On!

Tell me which Trump am I supposed to be rooting for -- the one who says something on Monday or something else on Tuesday?
But he lost me when he said he is also willing to bring them back, back into the United States, after they fill out certain papers.

Hello? That sounds like amnesty and Jeb Bush’s “act of love” routine. So is Trump against illegal immigration until he is for illegal immigration?

Tell me which Trump am I supposed to be rooting for -- the one who says something on Monday or something else on Tuesday?

Soon as he started getting big numbers he went wobbly. He became the worst of all things – a sniveling politician. His post-debate “blood” comment on CNN, suggesting that Megyn Kelly was suffering from a woman’s issue during the debate – classy. Real classy. What a guy!

I repeat; Trump is my kind of guy when he says to hell with political correctness. I love that kind of talk. 

I love it when he says he’s going to get Mexico and China. They are not our friends, he says, and then …then he says that some of his best friends are China and Mexico.

Okay, forget the contradictions. Never mind the particulars, say his followers. Don’t worry. Leave it to Trump. He’ll take care of everything. Don’t ask questions.

Why? Because you won’t get any answers.

Megyn Kelly tried and maybe she tried too hard. Yes, she went after him in what amounted to a duel.

She went after him all right – and now people are saying SHE lost the debate.

She was the big loser, they say, for drilling him -- and drill him she did. Yes, she did single him out. But she is famous for that, for “the Kelly Moment.” That’s when she turns merciless even when she faces a fellow Conservative and she is a Conservative.

But she is only doing her job. It’s called Journalism.

Megyn Kelly won big as a journalist Thursday night…as did the entire Fox News team.

But thousands in Tweet-world want her fired from any future debates and plenty more want her fired from Fox, period. Some want the network fired.

Agreed – something is wrong when the Liberal Media, meaning all the rest of them, salute Fox News for a job well done. This can’t be good. When The New York Times congratulates Megyn Kelly it means she did them a favor. Liberal Media needs no help when it comes to blasting Conservatives and bashing Israel.

Speaking of Israel, did anyone pay attention to Carly Fiorina? She won the earlier debate hands down, and she offered particulars.

Particularly, she said that her first phone call as President would be to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to assure him of America’s full support.

That’s called straight talk. Some may have forgotten what that sounds like.

New York-based novelist Jack Engelhard writes a regular column for ArutzSheva. Website: www.jackengelhard.com

LAST NIGHT'S FOX GOP DEBATE FINISHED DONALD TRUMP - AUGUST 7, 2015

Watching the 10 of them all lined up like that – why did I feel like reaching for a bowling ball?

How many pins need to be knocked down before only one is left standing?

Last night’s spectacular on Fox News was like Baseball Opening Day (to quickly switch metaphors) when everybody’s a winner since the season hasn’t started yet – and even the game has yet to begin. 

But this debate, mark the day, Thursday August 6, 2015, more or less officially started the 2016 Presidential campaign season at least for the GOP…and the end of frontrunner Donald Trump.

Carly Fiorina surged in the undercard. That says something because, like Trump, her background is business not politics. Fiorina would make a powerful counterpoint to Hillary Clinton. But she’d have to overtake 16 contestants from her own party to get the job and that’s what troubles this set-up that is open for too many applicants.

Hillary has no such problems.

Is there anything wrong with her as a candidate? Yes. Everything. With Hillary as President, America has no hope, Israel has no chance.

But she’s got the Democrat field entirely to herself and that’s a huge plus.

The Republicans are running 17 people and we simply do not have that much room in the White House. We elect one President at a time.

So of that number 17, only one will emerge. The weaker seven (in the polls) debated separately, 5 pm. The Big 10 debated Prime Time, beginning at 9 pm.

Here’s the crux of it all: Democrats are faced with one bad choice. Republicans, we are faced with 17 good choices. That’s 16 too many.

Something or someone’s got to give and the sooner the better.

Bush was the favorite until Trump looped the GOP field. Trump knows television. Trump is the Elvis in the room. Last night he was put on the spot from the word go when he was the only one who refused to rule out a candidacy outside the GOP. He got booed.

It got worse. He got cornered about his past as a Democrat, his alleged misogynistic remarks, his business bankruptcies.

His best moment came when heatedly he remarked that immigration would not even be a topic had he not brought it up. He was in top form, so far as it goes for Trump, but so were moderators Megyn Kelly, Chris Wallace and Bret Baier. Their withering questions had him reacting defensively. No one else got the same treatment. They were good. Too good for The Donald.

They were the professionals. He was the amateur.

But two people – that’s a debate. Ten or 17 people all at once, that’s a traffic pile-up.
In short, Donald Trump was forced to swing wildly and in so doing he was made to appear less Presidential.

The result is that in one night we have witnessed the rise of one star, Carly Fiorina, and the fall of another star, Donald Trump.

They went after him and they got him.

As top dog Trump begins to fade (overnight, I’d say), the race is back to being wide open. The opportunity is there for anyone to step up.

I thought Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee did especially well, particularly on terrorism, foreign affairs, and especially on the disastrous Iran Nuke deal. They proved themselves tough on radical Islam, unapologetic and even emotional on protecting the homeland.

But who will replace Trump for the top spot now vacant? The embarrassment of riches can prove fatal if the process drags on too long.

Yes it was good drama and everyone, except for Trump, did well. But twopeople – that’s a debate. Ten or 17 people all at once, that’s a traffic pile-up.

Those masterminds of the GOP, they never learn.

Last time we also had a crowded GOP field and what’s-his-name won – and lost. Before that, same thing. So-and-so won the Nomination. Lost the Election.

Obama won strictly on stamina.

Of these 10 (plus 7) candidates, any one could be great, much greater than any Democrat. But only one!   

Victory goes to the Republican candidate who demolishes his Democratic opponent, not to the Republican who wipes out his fellow Republicans.

Why is that so hard to figure out?

Jack Engelhard writes a regular column for Arutz Sheva. Website:www.jackengelhard.com

NY TIMES WELCOMES ANOTHER ISRAELI USEFUL IDIOT - AUGUST 4, 2015

Well that didn’t take long.

Some 24 hours after two criminal attacks in Israel were blamed on “religious Israelis,” TheNew York Times found its man.

The paper, which clobbers Israel every Monday and Thursday even when nothing is happening, found its useful idiot immediately after something did happen – the anti-Gay stabbing in Jerusalem followed by a case of arson, both crimes blamed on “Settlers.”

A Gay activist died in the first attack. A Palestinian child died in the second attack (though still unproven who actually did this).

In a previous column we already spoke about how rare this is – Jews acting so un-Jewish.

We can count on one hand how often Israelis turn to such unspeakable violence. Literally, it’s one in a million.

The entire nation was nauseated and repelled by the two acts (allegedly) committed by their countrymen – but not loudly enough.

That was the crux of the op-ed that ran in today’s Times, headlined “Do Israelis Still Care About Justice?”  

Over the past 25 years, two Arab children were murdered by Israeli “terrorists.” The Jewish Times documents 177 Jewish children murdered by Arab terrorists over that period.
The byline was credited to Israeli writer Etgar Keret. The column was translated from the Hebrew by Sondra Silverston. So obviously leftist Israelis cannot keep their complaints within the family using Hebrew. They feel compelled to let the entire world share their grievance. The New York Times is always happy to oblige the English.

Keret’s beef is that not enough Israelis turned out to protest the two crimes. He counted heads.

Less than a million showed up at Rabin Square to denounce Jews and praise Arabs.

Never mind that every Israeli is entitled to his or her own way of commiserating, and that Jews seldom do flash mobs, for Keret, this was proof that Israel’s values are slipping beyond repair. As for mourning the wronged Arab child, the Jewish Nation grieved throughout the land and without exception.

On the other hand?

Over the past 25 years, two Arab children were murdered by Israeli “terrorists.” The Jewish Times documents 177 Jewish children murdered by Arab terrorists over that period. Where was Keret and the rest of Israel’s literary community when these innocents were slaughtered?

Did Keret count heads at Rabin Square or at Arafat Square in Ramallah of the million Palestinians who showed up to denounce the 177 killings?

If that many showed up, likely it was to praise the killings and to ask for more.

Where was The New York Times when it had 177 chances to illustrate an even hand? Not once did the paper run an op-ed to console a heartbroken Jewish nation. No voice of comfort spoke up on its pages, neither from Arab or Jew – though there are plenty of Jewish writers willing and up to the task.

But The New York Times has a specific theme that it demands of its op-ed contrubutors, styled as – “How Israel Failed Me.”

Keret did his part. Like so many other Jewish writers, Israeli or American, Woody Allen included, our literary elites trip over themselves to sell out their own people. “How Israel Failed Me” is a handy device to get published in the world’s most respected (fanatically leftist Israel-hating) newspaper.

Any op-ed favorable to Israel will not, absolutely not get published. I know this from companians and from personal experience.

Read this for more personal experience about how news and opinion are cooked.

I half-joked that since every Israel-bashing op-ed sounded so much alike, never mind the byline, they were all, I insisted, written by Tom Friedman.

I’m wrong. They’re written by people who do not know, or perhaps they do know, how much damage they do to their own people, their own country.

And that’s no joke.

New York-based Novelist Jack Engelhard writes a regular column for Arutz Sheva. Website: www.jackengelhard.com

    

UNBEARABLE DOUBLE STANDARD AFTER ANTI-GAY ATTACK IN JERSUSALEM - AUGUST 2, 2015

Over the past six days, Israeli authorities answered 112 calls from Jewish civilians being attacked by Arabs.

Week after week Israelis are harassed, stoned, firebombed, run over, shot, knifed…but no headlines for this.

No stories at all. Zero. Nothing happened. It only makes noise when once every four years a single Israeli breaks bad.

All right, call it two Israelis who broke bad, one for the anti-Gay stabbing incident in Jerusalem followed by an arson attack against the Arab village of Duma, both crimes actively and gloatingly blamed on “religious Jewish extremists.” The piling on begins at once.

The Jewish Daily Forward, where Jane Eisner serves as editor, wants the entire “Settler” movement punished. (Eisner believes it’s a sign of “maturity” when American Jews abandon Israel.) Other fanatical Jewish leftists want Religious Israelis abolished. “Something must be done,” they say.

Over two solitary attacks.

In Israel, two or three Jews gone rogue constitutes “a crime wave.”

The EU, silent over the rape epidemic sweeping England, where Muslim men use Christian English women for sexual pastimes by numbers that are staggering, was quick to respond, insisting that Israel must show “zero tolerance” for  “Settler violence.”

Thank you for the lecture. But first tell it to the Palestinians for whom violence against Israelis is so unbearably routine.

The criminal acts allegedly committed by Israelis over the past few days are the exception, never the rule. Because they happen so infrequently, this is why the pictures travel so fast and the headlines are written so bold…and why once in a blue moon Israel’s enemies get to cheer and shout, “I told you so.”

There are no stories about Gays being stabbed in the Muslim world because there are no Gays in the Muslim world – none that are still alive.

The New York Times and Haaretz were thrilled at the chance to knock Israel as a nation of Gay intolerance – all because ONE MAN went berserk.

Israel’s hospitality to Gays is seldom remarked.

There are no stories about Gays being stabbed in the Muslim world because there are no Gays in the Muslim world – none that are still alive.  

Within America we have the same sensationalized coverage but it’s against the police and it’s the same business of stereotyping.

Over the past eight days every TV network has played and replayed another white cop-black suspect shooting event, this time in Cincinnati.

This comes after Ferguson, Baltimore and New York, so four altogether where cops are in the crosshairs of a frenzied media. Four.

Never mentioned are the million cops who make their daily stops heroically and honorably and without fanfare.

Quite a media frenzy it’s been about Cincinnati, people saying here’s more proof of police brutality against blacks.

No! This proves the opposite. We are shocked by alleged police misbehavior in America not because it is so frequent, but because it is so rare.

If it were frequent it would be as boring and as unreported and last night’s 38 black-on-black shootings in Chicago.

We are shocked by criminal acts committed by Israelis because it is so out of character.

From Israelis we demand perfection. Likewise cops. One false move and it’s Gotcha.

New York-based novelist Jack Engelhard writes a regular column for Arutz Sheva. Website: www.jackengelhard.com

IRAB NUKE DEAL – OBAMA PITCHES HOLLYWOOD BOX OFFICE POISON - JULY 30, 2015

Not so long ago when I was there in Hollywood to discuss another movie, I asked a producer when the town would finally open its eyes to Islamic terrorism. Where’s that movie? The man was quick with his answer: “When a bomb hits Paramount studios, that’s when.”

At this rate, that real-life drama could be coming soon enough to Hollywood and to a theater near you.

How do you sell a lousy script that’s been passed around from producer to producer with no buyer in sight?

The wording is unintelligible. The scenario is unfathomable. The characters are disreputable.

Where’s the box office for this clunker that’s being peddled as the Iran Nuke Deal?

But even the most despicable screenplay can be justified when the biggest tycoon sits in Washington and is named Barack Obama. He gets what he wants. He wants this baby sold. It did not take much arm-twisting to get Morgan Freeman and Jack Black to start a Yes campaign for this flop.

We can expect long lines hailing and heiling this upcoming disaster flick because the Boss says do as I say.

Some in Hollywood see the Iran Deal for what it is, a danger to the business, the town, the nation and the entire world. They want it stopped. It’s doubtful they will get as many signatures as Morgan 

Freeman’s Vote Yes petition. Maybe a handful of Hollywood’s elite will vote No, Thanks. We have enough Special Effects. We do not need actual bombs.

Jon Voight, Clint Eastwood and we should expect Kirk Douglas and Michael Douglas to declare No, not in my name.

Where’s the box office for this clunker that’s being peddled as the Iran Nuke Deal?
Anybody else? Streisand? Spielberg? Not likely. Neither them nor the thousands who do lunch at Spago.

But hear this: When Hollywood flew off to Canada for the Toronto Film Festival, something else happened. The Festival honored the Israeli art of film making and sooner than you can say Danny Glover, amovement got started to boycott Israeli films and since that was so easy – why not boycott Israel altogether?

Moguls, producers, directors, actors – within an hour more than a thousand were in line behind Jane Fonda to sign the petition denouncing the Jewish State.

So this is not your father’s Hollywood. There was a time when the “Rat Pack” were kings and Frank Sinatra was Boss and Israel was in style.

Yesterday’s “Exodus” in the steady hands of Otto Preminger became today’s “Munich” in the fearful hands of Steven Spielberg.

Preminger boldly produced a movie with a strong pro-Israel theme – taken from Leon Uris.

Spielberg gave us lame and despicable moral equivalency – taken from Tony Kushner’s anti-Israel screenplay, for which, back then, I wrote this: “In Hollywood today, where David is Goliath and Goliath is David, you never want to be labeled a conservative or a fan of Israel.

“Hollywood is all about being trendy and Israel is not the trend.

“You won't get invited to the right parties and you won't win any Oscars if your heart bleeds for a nation that is always on the verge of being wiped off the map.”

Plus this: “Jews pioneered Hollywood. If, as our enemies say, we own Hollywood, well, here's the plot twist - we have lost Hollywood.”

To make sure that his Iran Deal gets a green light, John Kerry has already warned the Jewish people that they will be blamed if the deal goes down.

That is an ancient blood libel and if he is seeking frightened people to back his ungodly cause, he knows Hollywood is the place.

New York-based novelist Jack Engelhard writes a regular column for Arutz Sheva. Website: www.jackengelhard.com