By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO — Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-New Jersey) and Virginia Foxx (R-North Carolina) on Tuesday introduced a bill requiring a cut-off of federal funds to any institution of higher education that engages in a commercial boycott of Israel.
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Former Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin of New York, who has been nominated to head the Environmental Protection Agency, reports he was threatened with a pipe bomb by a pro-Palestinian caller, who left a message on his home’s answering machine. The family was not at home at the time. Congresswoman Elise Stefanik of New York, President-elect Trump’s designee as the next U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, also received a threatening call. The FBI said it is investigating.
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Ruby Hen, father of American Israeli Itay Hen, told Scripps News that “we welcome the ceasefire agreement that happened in the north of Israel but there’s also a sense of disappointment where we feel that this agreement could have tied in the most urgent, time-sensitive component, which is the hostages.” The IDF confirmed last March that his son, Itay, 19, of Netanya, was killed in the Oct. 7, 2023 fighting and his body was taken by terrorists to Gaza, where it is still being held. Seven American-Israelis are still hostages in Gaza.
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Amos Hochstein, President Joe Biden’s special envoy to Lebanon and Israel, said on Fox News that “as President Biden said yesterday Hamas woke up this morning at 4 a.m. with a ceasefire that meant that Hezbollah is no longer supporting their cause. They’ve abandoned them. They have now signed an agreement to end the conflict in Lebanon and the cavalry is incoming. This is the time that Hamas should come to the table, agree to a releasing of the hostages and that will also lead to the end of the conflict. I think that’s in the interest of everyone.”
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Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman — a key figure in the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump and the twin brother of Democratic Congressman-elect Eugene Vindman of Virginia — is accused by Elon Musk of being “on the payroll of Ukrainian oligarchs and has committed treason against the United States,” Musk, who has been named as a co-director of the new Department of Government Efficiency with Vivek Ramaswamy, made charge on his social media platform X and said that Vindman will pay “the appropriate penalty.” Alexander Vindman had said in October that “Russia has been using different levers — whether that’s corruption networks, in this case, its influencers like Donald Trump, like Elon Musk — to kind of sow discord.”
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Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said during an interview on MSNBC, “My members don’t really care about whether they have a bureaucracy of the (federal) Department of Education or not. … But look at (U.S. Senator Mike) Rounds’ bill. What he does is get rid of the money for poor kids. How do you do that? We need federal dollars to help level up opportunity for children.” Rounds represents South Dakota.
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World.