Since 2005, the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign has worked diligently to end the very existence of the Jewish state, calling for the economic and academic boycott of anything related to Israel and its citizens, as well as discouraging “normalization” efforts with Israel, which the BDS website defines as “events/projects that are designed to bring together Palestinians/Arabs and Israelis so they can work toward reconciliation.”
It should come as no surprise that this hatred for the Jewish state is accompanied by farcical hypocrisy.
“If you use medical equipment from Israel — it’s not a problem. Cooperating with Israel against the virus — to begin with, we do not consider it normalization,” declared BDS co-founder Omar Barghouti in an Arabic-language Facebook <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BDSmovementarabic/videos/3574174212657646/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/BDSmovementarabic/videos/3574174212657646/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586989476207000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHq2i3xMjSSOl0kalq4M_yWrZsLPg">broadcast</a>.
He added, “If Israel finds a cure for cancer, for example, or any other disease, then there is no problem in cooperating with Israel to save millions of lives.”
The magnitude of hypocrisy of this statement redefines the word. Barghouti is not a supporter of coexistence or a two-state solution. Indeed, his mission is to wipe Israel off the map by any means necessary.
“Most definitely we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine,” Barghouti has stated. “Palestinians and Arabs in general have never and will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state.”
To hear him describe Zionism as a myth and still believe that the goal of the BDS movement is peaceful coexistence with Israel is a case study in denial.
Barghouti’s duplicity is nothing new.
Described by the New York Daily News in a 2013 editorial as a skilled “propagandist,” Barghouti was born in Qatar, moved to Israel in 1993, and holds Israeli permanent residence status. For someone who has been calling for the boycott of the Jewish state for three decades, he has gamed the system by obtaining a master’s degree in philosophy from Tel Aviv University and was known to be pursuing a doctorate from the Israeli school in recent years.
According to the same Daily News editorial, Barghouti “piles falsehood upon falsehood to present Israel as relentlessly oppressing the Palestinians in violation of human decency, and to hold Israel exclusively responsible for the ills afflicting them.”
Barghouti’s Facebook <a href="https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/bds-founder-israel-invented-virus-vaccine-would-be-ok-for-boycotters-to-use/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/bds-founder-israel-invented-virus-vaccine-would-be-ok-for-boycotters-to-use/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586989476207000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHKObdcPcumtGjnA8vh9j-x1bU4rw">broadcast description</a> is rife with such falsehoods, including accusations that Israel is abusing Palestinian workers by not offering them protection against the coronavirus and “intensifying the looting of the land and arrests, oppression and killing, while normalization continues with the Arab official system.”
If it’s kosher to accept lifesaving help from Israel in the form of medicine and medical equipment, doesn’t that require normalization with the Jewish state?
Advocating Israel’s demise, countries such as Iran and its terrorist proxies share Barghouti’s commitment to refusing normalization, even as they refuse Israel’s help during natural disasters and deadly pandemics— except for the history of their leaders themselves or family members having sought and received medical treatment from the Jewish state.  Hypocrisy much?
Can’t expect anything different from terrorists who send children out to blow themselves up in crowded markets, while they give orders from afar, living in luxury. Or from a movement leader who enjoys the benefits of Israeli citizenship while exhorting the rest of the world to boycott anything related to a Star of David – unless Israel cures cancer or coronavirus.
Paul Miller is president and executive director of the news and public-policy group <a href="https://salomoncenter.org/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://salomoncenter.org/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586989476207000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGFVNsexmyJ5MOhQifWUeJPbZ5wVA">Haym Salomon Center</a>. Follow him on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/pauliespoint" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/pauliespoint&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586989476207000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE2p5iRW_RaM3qkpT3IUWn11R-E5A">@pauliespoint</a>.

Palestine Literature Festival 2014

MILLER: BDS Cofounder: Erase Israel, But First Use Their Help For Coronavirus

COVID

Led by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the contingent of impeachment investigators in Congress continue to garner headlines over the probe into the administration’s alleged corruption and solicitation of foreign interference. But perhaps Schiff and his colleagues should first clean their own house.
Flying well under the radar of the ongoing impeachment frenzy was the news that the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund (Armenia Fund) recently <a href="https://jam-news.net/armenian-telethon-charity-drive-raises-record-low-of-10-mln-in-wake-of-scandal/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://jam-news.net/armenian-telethon-charity-drive-raises-record-low-of-10-mln-in-wake-of-scandal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679908000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGlD5vfR-IDCz23fHUhqSeeshriIA">raised a record-low $10 million</a> during its annual telethon a year after the <a href="http://asbarez.com/173346/hayastan-all-armenian-funds-director-arrested-for-embezzlement/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://asbarez.com/173346/hayastan-all-armenian-funds-director-arrested-for-embezzlement/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679908000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE5YZflNFXABHuRX2xu6X2sx5KBqg">arrest of its director, Ara Vardanyan</a>, on charges of embezzlement and misuse of funds. The same telethon raised <a href="http://asbarez.com/59644/more-than-35-million-raised-in-armenia-fund-telethon/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://asbarez.com/59644/more-than-35-million-raised-in-armenia-fund-telethon/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679908000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHrKnz6j7yda4c6GcS9lQ7TdYB8xA">$11.1 million in 2018</a>, <a href="https://www.panorama.am/en/news/2017/11/24/Hayastan-All-Armenian-Fund-Telethon/1869753" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.panorama.am/en/news/2017/11/24/Hayastan-All-Armenian-Fund-Telethon/1869753&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679908000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHOo-uCNY5W9n6RVj_NMVuvHy7fyA">$12.5 million in 2017</a>, <a href="https://anca.org/15-4-million-raised-in-2016-armenia-fund-telethon/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://anca.org/15-4-million-raised-in-2016-armenia-fund-telethon/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679908000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE1nKOxEp82Nts1lmAfW5DAMJesig">$15.4 million in 2016</a>, and <a href="http://asbarez.com/59644/more-than-35-million-raised-in-armenia-fund-telethon/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://asbarez.com/59644/more-than-35-million-raised-in-armenia-fund-telethon/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679908000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHrKnz6j7yda4c6GcS9lQ7TdYB8xA">$35 million back in 2008</a>. Notice a pattern?
The declining fund’s supporters and telethon guests over the years include House Democrats like Reps. Schiff, Jackie Speier (CA), Frank Pallone (NJ), Tulsi Gabbard (HI), and Brad Sherman (CA), among others. All are highly vocal in the impeachment conversation. (Gabbard initially <a href="https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/463071-tulsi-gabbard-transcript-doesnt-show-compelling-case-for-impeachment" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/463071-tulsi-gabbard-transcript-doesnt-show-compelling-case-for-impeachment&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679908000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH2g24aMJKHWedSqJxKvVSAJiOgow">expressed hesitation</a> about impeachment, but later <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/27/politics/tulsi-gabbard-supports-impeachment-inquiry/index.html" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/27/politics/tulsi-gabbard-supports-impeachment-inquiry/index.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679908000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGp59HfUaFoH4UKNDNpIxiIk0THww">changed course</a>.) Yet their backing of the Armenia Fund could have the makings of its own foreign interference scandal.
The problems begin with the Armenia Fund’s history. Established by Armenian presidential decree in 1992 and setting up shop in Los Angeles in 1994, the fund <a href="https://www.armeniafund.org/about/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.armeniafund.org/about/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679908000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEfMe6iHKUw3HfDXiygRoD12ry4QQ">calls itself</a> a “humanitarian organization serving the needs of the Republic of Armenia and the Artsakh Republic” that carries out a mission “to connect the people of Armenia with the worldwide Armenian Diaspora to create a better homeland for the Armenian nation.” The term “Artsakh” refers to Nagorno-Karabakh, the Azerbaijani territory that <a href="https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/eur/rls/or/13508.htm" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/eur/rls/or/13508.htm&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679908000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFbqZ84LfvVWeWyAkHCN792lAeAkQ">several U.N. resolutions</a> describe as being occupied by Armenia. Meanwhile, calling Nagorno-Karabakh a “republic” contradicts U.S. State Department policy, which <a href="https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/eur/rls/fs/103560.htm" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/eur/rls/fs/103560.htm&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679908000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGHPqwrxdaXEoEnt2-EIbu1dG8f-Q">doesn’t recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent country</a> and holds that the territory’s future status “is a matter of negotiation between the parties.”
For its congressional advocates, the Armenia Fund poses a unique dilemma: How can Democrats on the one hand target President Trump’s associates in the impeachment process over their alleged activities as unregistered foreign agents, but on the other hand ignore that a foreign government-established fund <a href="http://usa.mfa.am/en/hayastan-fund/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://usa.mfa.am/en/hayastan-fund/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHqTbrYeBB6YiK2yCYhHN2nSQB9Nw">whose board president is Armenia’s own president</a> also remains unregistered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act?
While the Armenia Fund spotlights its work on infrastructure projects such as “schools, roads, hospitals, and community centers,” it is far from the innocuous “humanitarian” group it purports to be. The fund’s affiliates include the Armenian Assembly of America and the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), two political lobbies that campaign in Congress for greater American funding of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. At their core, the Armenian lobbies’ activities serve to drive Armenia and Azerbaijan further away from peace, including through the ANCA’s <a href="https://anca.org/press-release/anca-reaffirms-support-for-osce-minsk-group-rejects-madrid-principles-as-a-flawed-plan-for-lasting-peace/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://anca.org/press-release/anca-reaffirms-support-for-osce-minsk-group-rejects-madrid-principles-as-a-flawed-plan-for-lasting-peace/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHQHrA6LXLqjnWalhRhV-Mpov6dTg">rejection of the Madrid Principles</a>.
The July 2018 arrest of Armenia Fund leader Vardanyan exposed the corruption at an organization that was already deceiving the public as a political front group. The fund’s declining fundraising mirrors the broader <a href="https://spectator.org/the-rise-of-a-state-and-the-decline-of-another-2/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://spectator.org/the-rise-of-a-state-and-the-decline-of-another-2/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFaKPIW_o4YdTggYKKOHvqMLVZn0w">decline of Armenia</a>, arguably the least independent of the post-Soviet states. Armenia has a <a href="http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/armenia-population/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/armenia-population/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGKrHikgU9z4OvVLT4SHlsX8yiT6Q">declining population</a> that exhibits what a Gallup poll has recorded as the <a href="https://eurasianet.org/why-is-armenia-angry" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://eurasianet.org/why-is-armenia-angry&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFfDv3Us37j4AJRb2yGcC-BXIlY1w">world’s greatest prevalence of anger</a>. That anger results from Armenia’s floundering, inflation-plagued economy and a so-called “Velvet Revolution” that has <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/mar/26/beyond-armenias-velvet-revolution/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/mar/26/beyond-armenias-velvet-revolution/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHLhBBOuqO-WWRzBKGNkvob9x_kAA">failed to deliver on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s promises of sweeping changes</a>. Namely, Pashinyan has overseen the persistence of both <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2018/04/09/armenia-isolated-backwater-dump-because-of-russia/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://dailycaller.com/2018/04/09/armenia-isolated-backwater-dump-because-of-russia/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGAjH-Ry-kPw2OGWEvrmG22Ze_B9w">Moscow’s well-documented influence over Yerevan</a> and Armenia’s intransigence in the peace process with Azerbaijan.
Can Armenia turn around its economic malaise and extract itself from Russia’s orbit? Progress will likely be elusive as long as Armenia remains transfixed by its decades-long conflict with Azerbaijan. For the Armenian people, depending on the financial support of controversy-ridden outside groups such as the Armenia Fund will only breed more corruption and disappointment, while relying on the advocacy of the ANCA will continue to damage prospects for peace.
Simultaneously, House Democrats have done the Armenian people no favors by supporting the Armenia Fund and ANCA. Now, as they lead the charge on impeachment, it’s only fair to call out their hypocrisy. How can they stand against alleged presidential corruption when for years they backed an Armenian Diaspora telethon which has been exposed for its corruption? (During those same years, Armenia’s consul general in Los Angeles <a href="http://en.thegreatermiddleeast.com/2017/12/the-diplomatic-elephant-in-the-room-armenias-russian-oligarch-consul-general/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://en.thegreatermiddleeast.com/2017/12/the-diplomatic-elephant-in-the-room-armenias-russian-oligarch-consul-general/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFxUWlQMxtuGU18Ug0gGhZzWJ1bYA">was a Russian citizen and notorious oligarch</a>.) And how can they claim to be advocates for peace when they amplify the ANCA’s talking points, which are antithetical to peace?
It should come as no surprise to see such doublespeak coming from politicians like Schiff, the <a href="https://spectator.org/the-congressman-who-cried-wolf/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://spectator.org/the-congressman-who-cried-wolf/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEVzKvM6KnCTaJyhkFVp_vk7OCOsA">face of the impeachment probe</a> who is <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/schiff-hired-former-nsc-colleague-of-alleged-whistleblower-eric-ciaramella-the-day-after-trumps-ukraine-call" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/schiff-hired-former-nsc-colleague-of-alleged-whistleblower-eric-ciaramella-the-day-after-trumps-ukraine-call&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEZTUuJwmrCh8ZorwhbrO2isb3FKw">entangled in his own Ukraine scandal</a>; Gabbard, the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/miller-tulsi-gabbard-pro-assad-candidate-2020-paul-miller" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.dailywire.com/news/miller-tulsi-gabbard-pro-assad-candidate-2020-paul-miller&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEKFLv6IYiEfgbwow7G6rOKesN8qw">notoriously pro-Assad presidential candidate</a>; and Pallone, who in October landed in Nagorno-Karabakh on the Armenian government’s own military helicopter to <a href="https://armenianweekly.com/2019/10/01/pallone-i-am-here-because-i-want-to-make-it-clear-that-artsakh-is-a-state-a-democratic-nation/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://armenianweekly.com/2019/10/01/pallone-i-am-here-because-i-want-to-make-it-clear-that-artsakh-is-a-state-a-democratic-nation/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFHGR-iPgvwf0epI7oPBu-5s4_xdA">urge the end of security assistance to a U.S. ally, Azerbaijan</a>.
Until they distance themselves from the Armenian-American fundraising and lobbying apparatus, these lawmakers have virtually no credibility as voices in the debate on foreign influence and impeachment.
&nbsp;
Paul Miller is president and executive director of the news and public policy group <a href="https://salomoncenter.org/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://salomoncenter.org/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGpdyXx56KnSUcPnrupcOqwyJFL5Q">Haym Salomon Center</a>. Follow him on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/pauliespoint" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/pauliespoint&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576604679909000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGvssir9fRSC1FevwmmoZR6XEqk-Q">@pauliespoint</a>.

Adam Schiff and House Democrats

MILLER: Impeachment-Focused House Democrats Should Clean Their Own House

Adam Schiff

Armenians

Democratic Party

Impeachment

State Department

U.S. House of Representatives

United Nations

You won’t find me writing these words very often: Hillary Clinton might be right.
Allow me to explain. In recently calling presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard “the favorite of the Russians” and then implying that the Hawaii Democratic lawmaker is a “Russian asset” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hillary-clinton-tulsi-gabbard-a-russian-asset-being-groomed-for-third-party-run" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.dailywire.com/news/hillary-clinton-tulsi-gabbard-a-russian-asset-being-groomed-for-third-party-run&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1572541433189000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGVS3shDmEGofY89D3ue2UBjbdnCQ">being groomed for a third-party run</a>, Clinton touched a nerve in foreign policy circles that extends beyond the “bunch of [Russian] sites and bots” that the 2016 Democratic nominee claims are now supporting Gabbard in 2020. And it even goes beyond how Gabbard <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/tulsi-gabbard-says-she-has-no-regrets-about-meeting-with-syrian-president-bashar-al-assad/2019/01/20/4006f920-1ce3-11e9-9145-3f74070bbdb9_story.html" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/tulsi-gabbard-says-she-has-no-regrets-about-meeting-with-syrian-president-bashar-al-assad/2019/01/20/4006f920-1ce3-11e9-9145-3f74070bbdb9_story.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1572541433189000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFaPhrCSsmgTqybrw0riX8NEgJO0A">says she has no regrets</a> for meeting with Russian-backed Syrian dictator and war criminal Bashar al-Assad in 2017.
Gabbard’s willingness to go rogue isn’t limited to her exploits in war-torn Syria. Much like she defied a U.S. State Department advisory by sharing tea and biscuits with Assad, Gabbard flouted American policy during September of the same year by visiting the Armenian-occupied territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which the State Department explicitly <a href="https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/eur/rt/snec/c7560.htm" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/eur/rt/snec/c7560.htm&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1572541433189000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGTfsD-hrlxRJjDZLnUsVYmefafHQ">“does not recognize”</a> and which <a href="https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/eur/rls/or/13508.htm" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/eur/rls/or/13508.htm&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1572541433189000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFEMPxvEiN2qMWyjukEjcCkuLAXqw">several U.N. resolutions</a> affirm as part of Azerbaijan.
Nevertheless, Gabbard at the time <a href="https://gabbard.house.gov/news/press-releases/congresswoman-tulsi-gabbard-visits-armenia-congressional-delegation-enhance-us" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://gabbard.house.gov/news/press-releases/congresswoman-tulsi-gabbard-visits-armenia-congressional-delegation-enhance-us&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1572541433189000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGucPjaDjeNLIlwZS0rNJ5Y5VdPZg">lauded</a> the “people of the Nagorno-Karabakh region” for exhibiting “shared [American-Armenian] values of freedom, democracy, and self-determination,” when in fact, sovereignty for Nagorno-Karabakh is a non-starter for Azerbaijan in any future peace talks with Armenia. Sound familiar? Gabbard’s notorious meeting with Assad ultimately isn’t all too different from her meeting with Nagorno-Karabakh’s unrecognized <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2018/03/20/bako-sahakyan-washington-visit-has-russia-fingerprints/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://dailycaller.com/2018/03/20/bako-sahakyan-washington-visit-has-russia-fingerprints/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1572541433189000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFSETrV5CKH_mzDHSg4aQ_8b2uojg">“president” Bako Sahakyan</a>, a post-Soviet warlord who has links to Russian military intelligence and Middle East terrorists from Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. In other words, Sahakyan isn’t exactly the poster child for a trustworthy negotiating partner.
Circling back to the hubbub surrounding Clinton’s remarks, one of the most definitive litmus tests for being a “Russian asset” is serving the interests of Armenia, <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2018/04/09/armenia-isolated-backwater-dump-because-of-russia/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://dailycaller.com/2018/04/09/armenia-isolated-backwater-dump-because-of-russia/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1572541433189000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHyQxCVqmaeOeq-VEuU1TBAclJdEQ">Russia’s de facto client state</a>. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the leader of Armenia’s so-called “Velvet Revolution,” has done nothing but perpetuate Armenia’s longtime status as the least independent of the post-Soviet states. Pashinyan has expanded Yerevan’s already-extensive military dependence on Moscow by acquiring the Russian Iskander ballistic missile system, while Russia’s security forces remain scattered across Armenia. If a picture tells a thousand words, the only image anyone needs to see in this regard is <a href="https://armenianweekly.com/2019/02/05/russia-to-boost-armenian-military-fighter-jets-approved/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://armenianweekly.com/2019/02/05/russia-to-boost-armenian-military-fighter-jets-approved/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1572541433189000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFQVYYhatYXhcTsVx3MVCYDJW6w3Q">Pashinyan inside the cockpit of a Russian Su-30SM fighter jet</a>. It seems, then, that associating Gabbard with Russia isn’t so far-fetched after all.
And when it comes to Gabbard’s roguish tendencies, it really does come full circle. Two times this year, Armenia deployed large teams of defense specialists and others to — all of places — Syria, under the guise of a “humanitarian” agenda which <a href="https://eurasianet.org/us-rebukes-armenia-over-syria-deployment" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://eurasianet.org/us-rebukes-armenia-over-syria-deployment&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1572541433189000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFsje0BwJax6U_1nRX2TVqIOmreQQ">the U.S.</a> sensibly condemned as undue “engagement with Syrian military forces.”
It’s also shortsighted to avoid taking into account the <a href="https://www.jns.org/iran-views-us-withdrawal-from-syria-as-an-opportunity/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.jns.org/iran-views-us-withdrawal-from-syria-as-an-opportunity/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1572541433189000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGpOd4c9SWaNqg2oPxqJ4RIHUMCUQ">golden opportunity for Iran</a> and Russia alike that’s opened up by the U.S. withdrawal from Syria — and Armenia must also be kept in mind on the Iranian front, as Yerevan continues to defy Washington by <a href="https://mirrorspectator.com/2019/08/15/us-sanctions-two-armenian-firms/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://mirrorspectator.com/2019/08/15/us-sanctions-two-armenian-firms/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1572541433189000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF-oaU5h8Eo4zRF4o2V0iUkIFkhkA">helping Tehran circumvent American sanctions</a> and by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bogner-the-curious-case-of-rudy-giuliani-iran-and-armenia" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.dailywire.com/news/bogner-the-curious-case-of-rudy-giuliani-iran-and-armenia&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1572541433189000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFsGQJWPEbdYC5IFguKBy4vucObLw">paving the way for economic ties that could help Iran’s businesses increasingly penetrate Europe</a>.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/miller-tulsi-gabbard-pro-assad-candidate-2020-paul-miller" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.dailywire.com/news/miller-tulsi-gabbard-pro-assad-candidate-2020-paul-miller&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1572541433189000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFHqmw8zVV8ffcjc-ZGNbo5P_KjTQ">I wrote earlier this year</a> that the mainstream media apparently ignore Gabbard’s propensity to sit at lunch tables with tyrants, warlords, and bloodyhanded strongmen. Yet sunlight is the best disinfectant, and Clinton’s comments have finally brought Gabbard’s disturbing moral compass (or lack thereof) to the forefront of public consciousness.
Of course, let’s not ignore Gabbard’s response to Clinton, whom the Hawaii congresswoman described as the “queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party.” Indeed, Clinton <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/libya-was-hillarys-war-heres-proof-joshua-yasmeh" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.dailywire.com/news/libya-was-hillarys-war-heres-proof-joshua-yasmeh&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1572541433189000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGM97OdjN1QNZ1XOn1Ol8JI15zuTQ">must bear a significant degree of responsibility for the Obama administration’s disastrous war effort in Libya</a>, and her <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/7-reasons-trump-won-aaron-bandler" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.dailywire.com/news/7-reasons-trump-won-aaron-bandler&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1572541433189000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEMwAGGKM0NKpxaJDqkDt4cc-nD-A">failed 2016 presidential campaign</a> won’t soon be forgotten by her supporters who had viewed victory as all but a foregone conclusion.
At the same time, notwithstanding anyone’s views about Clinton, let’s not automatically dismiss her assessment of Gabbard. Although Clinton didn’t mention Armenia by name in her comments about Gabbard, the link from Yerevan to Moscow is unmistakable — making “Russian asset” a characterization that merits serious consideration rather than a reflexive rolling of the eyes.
Americans should be grateful, then, that Gabbard <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-tulsi-gabbard-will-not-seek-reelection-to-congress" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-tulsi-gabbard-will-not-seek-reelection-to-congress&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1572541433189000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHqlRPDV1gjx62ghb6FYDcXLjWNEw">won’t seek reelection to Congress in 2020,</a> regardless of the result of her presidential campaign. The more rogue legislators who depart Capitol Hill, the closer we get to sensible U.S. policy.
&nbsp;
Paul Miller is president and executive director of the news and public policy group <a href="https://salomoncenter.org/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://salomoncenter.org/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1572541433189000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF8Fvh3pJcdsL-vARbD4XZcPMFLOg">Haym Salomon Center</a>. Follow him on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/pauliespoint" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/pauliespoint&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1572541433189000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGxC57XDmDpawAldwo9XkDwMv84Rg">@pauliespoint</a>.

Tulsi Gabbard

MILLER: Why Hillary Clinton Might Be Right About Tulsi Gabbard

Hillary Clinton

The legal think tank <a href="https://zachorlegal.org/">Zachor Legal Institute</a> has filed a complaint with the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office, asking for an investigation into possible terror recruitment activities at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
The Department of Education <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/education-department-unc-duke-gaza-conference-anti-semitism-allegations">announced on June 17</a> that it will investigate an anti-Israel conference held in March at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill after multiple <a href="http://www.thetower.org/7397-part-1-unc-duke-conference-on-gaza-whitewashes-hamas-blasts-israel/%22 %5Ct %22_blank">reports</a> surfaced that showed pro-terrorist and anti-Semitic propaganda constituted the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/46045/hammer-duke-and-unc-should-both-be-ashamed-their-josh-hammer">bulk of the seminar’s content</a>. Published <a href="https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/58050/part-1-unc-duke-conference-on-gaza-whitewashes">reports</a> indicate that the same anti-Israel groups active on Duke University’s campus — Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Coalition for Peace With Justice — were also involved with this controversial campus event.
Last April, during Duke’s “Israel Apartheid Week,” SJP provided representatives of Florida-based Dream Defenders and Eyewitness Palestine with access to the campus to teach students about a supposed linkage between the Black Lives Matter movement and the “Palestinian struggle.” <a href="https://vault.myvzw.com/webcs/app/share/view/eTTAAQR7by?shareUid=76cb6b0af37340aea678288f19a0c4b6">Videos</a> show Eyewitness Palestine spokespeople claiming that Israel targets innocent “black and brown people” for torture and death, while recruiters counseled the students that it was their “duty” to fight for the lives of all people of color in their “transnational movement for black lives.”
This “transnational movement” runs a training camp in an area of the Middle East controlled by Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), where willing participants are transported to be trained by “resistance leaders.” <a href="https://vault.myvzw.com/webcs/app/public/error?errorCode=9">Videos</a> and <a href="https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/04/09/what-happened-during-dukes-israeli-apartheid-week/">reports</a> show recruiters urging students to travel as a delegation to refugee camps in Ramallah for in-home visits with leaders of the PFLP. The local Coalition for Peace with Justice reportedly covers the travel expenses.
Students from Duke and from North Carolina Central University enthusiastically described on video their own “transformational” meetings in the homes of leaders of the PFLP back in 2017. They presented themselves as active participants, rather than merely conveyors of information, for the PFLP. Because students meet with leaders of a foreign terror organization, as opposed to rank-and-file members, they may put themselves in legal jeopardy.
The PFLP has been on the U.S. State Department’s <a href="https://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm">list</a> of foreign terrorist organizations since 1997. The group has boasted responsibility for terror attacks ranging from suicide bombings and bus bombings to mass shootings that, in total, have killed hundreds of Israelis and many American citizens.
“In Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, the Supreme Court found that the law prohibiting the provision of material support to designated terror groups did not violate the First Amendment, even if the material support consisted entirely of organizational type support for a terror group&#8217;s non-violent activities,” cites the complaint. “The reasoning was that support is fungible, in that even non-violent support can allow a terror organization to re-allocate its resources so it can focus more on its violent activities.”
However, the Eyewitness Palestine organization itself has continued communications with leaders of the PFLP, according to pictures, videos, and public reports.
“Campus anti-Israel groups are not only inciting hate, they are providing material support to foreign terror organizations,” notes Zachor Legal in its complaint to the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office.
“The United States Supreme Court has found that providing material support to designated foreign terror organizations is a violation of federal law and specified that providing organizational assistance to such terror organizations, including engaging in advocacy in support of the organizations, is a prima facie violation of the federal law and not protected by the First Amendment,” continued the complaint. “This is exactly what occurs with the Eyewitness Palestine delegations.”
Zachor Legal also points out that local organizations may be raising funds for charities that are actually fronts for terror groups, as was the case in the federal Holy Land Foundation prosecution, where the U.S. government found that domestic charity groups were actually sending funds to Hamas. Groups like Durham’s Coalition for Justice with Peace, which solicit money for multiple children’s charities in Gaza, should be investigated to ensure that donations are not being funneled to the PFLP, Hamas, or Islamic Jihad.
Part of the evidence developed for this case was the result of an investigation in North Carolina, Florida, and Israel by Sloan Rachmuth of the news and public policy group Haym Salomon Center. The investigation is supported by information gathered at meetings, in public records, social media postings, videos, and interviews with sources on multiple North Carolina campuses.
While the leadership of the groups operating on local campuses and in local communities know that their activities are in support of foreign terror organizations, it is likely that many of the students and community members who participate in the activities of these groups are unaware of the ties to terror and simply believe that they are involved in a social justice endeavor.
“College campuses in North Carolina are in danger,” cautions Marc Greendorfer, president of Zachor Legal. “Students recruited at these events are likely unaware that they are being culled by radical operatives to go overseas to train with terrorists. Also left in the dark about these terror recruiting events are well-meaning parents who expect public safety officials to keep their children safe.”
Paul Miller is president and executive director of the news and public policy group <a href="https://salomoncenter.org/">Haym Salomon Center</a>. Follow him on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/pauliespoint">@pauliespoint</a>.

Duke Chapel

MILLER: Are Terror Groups Recruiting On College Campuses?

Anti-Semitism

Education

Hamas

Radical Islamic Terror

Terrorism

With President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/48856/iran-calls-trump-mentally-retarded-hank-berrien">talking</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/24/us/politics/iran-sanctions.html">acting</a> tougher than ever on Iran, it’s a common reflex in progressive and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/19/donald-trump-reckless-iran-policy-casts-doubt-us-global-leader">mainstream media</a> circles to label the commander-in-chief as “reckless.” But let’s consider that one man’s bellicosity is another man’s common sense.
President Trump pulled America out of a nuclear deal that handed the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism <a href="https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/contradicting-kerry-iran-claims-100-billion-sanctions-relief-fully">over $100 billion in sanctions relief</a>. He’s leading a sterner approach to a nation known for its frequent “Death to America” chants. What’s the problem here?
Simultaneously, President Trump is acknowledging that America has nothing to gain from his predecessor’s rapprochement with a failed state. Renewed U.S. sanctions <a href="https://thewire.in/world/us-sactions-iran-economy">have crippled the Iranian economy</a>, with the rial’s value plummeting about 60 percent during the past year.
A similar approach is reflected in U.S. relations with the Palestinian Authority (PA). By signing into law and then <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/32341/report-united-states-halts-aid-palestinian-frank-camp">enforcing</a> the Taylor Force Act, President Trump signaled that the U.S. is no longer squandering taxpayer dollars on a “pay-to-slay” scheme that funnels hundreds of millions of dollars to terrorists and their families rather than prioritizing the well-being of the Palestinian people at-large. Although the disputed territories don’t comprise a “state,” the PA’s pay-to-slay policy and <a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/264305">infamous kleptocracy</a> are certainly hallmarks of a failed state.
Further, by pulling out of the Syrian Civil War, President Trump affirmed that the U.S. has no business continuously investing in attempts to resolve a foreign conflict that has no end in sight.
America’s <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/americas-failed-state-wars-afghanistan-iraq-syria-and-yemen-still-less-half-strategy">failed state wars</a> appear over, for now. But that doesn’t mean the U.S. has exhausted all its options for a leaner, wiser foreign budget.
In the interest of leaving no stone unturned, the Trump administration can take a closer look at policy toward Armenia, which possesses a number of characteristics that meet the profile of a failed state. Armenia has a <a href="http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/armenia-population/">declining population</a> — and that population displays the <a href="https://eurasianet.org/why-is-armenia-angry">greatest prevalence of anger in the world</a>, according to Gallup’s <a href="https://news.gallup.com/interactives/248240/global-emotions.aspx">Global Emotions 2019 poll</a>.
Armenians’ anger is partially explained by a bleak economic outlook. <a href="http://vestnikkavkaza.net/interviews/Aram-Manukyan-Armenia-plays-almost-no-role-in-Caucasus-because-of-Karabakh-issue.html">One of Armenia’s own politicians</a> has acknowledged that the country is “bypassed by all regional and international routes — transport, railway, oil, gas, any others &#8230; we simply do not exist in the Caucasus, and this situation has not changed in last 20 years.” By contrast, Armenia’s neighbor Azerbaijan is leading the $41.5 billion Southern Gas Corridor project, whose three linked gas pipelines will span nearly 2,200 miles across seven countries while permanently transforming Europe’s energy map.
In turn, one of the roots of Armenia’s economic malaise is another failed state attribute: The failure and refusal to negotiate peace. Armenia’s occupation of the <a href="https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/eur/rls/or/13508.htm">internationally recognized Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh</a> is the source of a decades-long conflict — and any population mired in a seemingly endless conflict is susceptible to being consumed by it. Upon his election in 2018, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan swiftly exhibited the typical doublespeak of failed state leaders. Pashinyan <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-armenia-azerbaijan/armenias-new-pm-signals-continuity-on-karabakh-seeks-talks-with-azerbaijan-idUSKBN1IA2VK">stated</a> his readiness “to continue peaceful talks” with Azerbaijan, yet simultaneously <a href="https://armenpress.am/eng/news/932932.html">urged “self-determination”</a> for Nagorno-Karabakh, which the State Department <a href="https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/eur/rls/fs/103560.htm">doesn’t recognize as independent</a>. Concurrently, on U.S. soil, the Armenian lobby’s <a href="https://anca.org/press-release/anca-reaffirms-support-for-osce-minsk-group-rejects-madrid-principles-as-a-flawed-plan-for-lasting-peace/">rejection of the Madrid Principles</a> eerily resembles the notorious history of Palestinian rejectionism in the peace process with Israel.
The “Velvet Revolution” led by Pashinyan before his election has <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/mar/26/beyond-armenias-velvet-revolution/">failed to deliver on the sweeping changes</a> it promised the Armenian people. Broken promises breed anger, and an angry population lashes out at its minorities — <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Armenias-Jewish-problem-593558">in Armenia’s case, Jews</a>. A Pew <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/28/most-poles-accept-jews-as-fellow-citizens-and-neighbors-but-a-minority-do-not/ft_18-03-26_polandholocaustlaws_map/">survey</a> found last year that 32% of Armenians would refuse to accept Jews as fellow citizens.
Failed states don’t operate in isolation. They act in unison. Armenia <a href="https://financialtribune.com/articles/domestic-economy/96903/iran-armenia-trade-hits-record-high">maintains close economic ties with Iran</a> and is entangled in the Syrian conflict — drawing the ire of the U.S., which earlier this year <a href="https://eurasianet.org/us-rebukes-armenia-over-syria-deployment">rebuked Armenia</a> for its engagement with Syrian military forces under the <a href="http://www.armradio.am/en/6518">guise of a “purely humanitarian” mission</a>.
If ceasing to invest in failed states is indeed becoming a Trumpian staple, the administration would be well served to more carefully examine aid to Armenia, as the <a href="https://www.foreignassistance.gov/explore/country/Armenia">$6.75 million in requested foreign assistance to Yerevan</a> for the fiscal year 2020 is more than double the <a href="https://www.foreignassistance.gov/explore/country/Azerbaijan">$2.7 million request for Azerbaijan</a>. And given its welcome crackdown on aid to the terror-sponsoring PA, it would be consistent policy for the administration to vocally oppose ideas like 35 lawmakers’ proposal of an inexplicably bloated <a href="https://carolynmaloney.com/over-35-members-of-congress-call-for-100-million-u-s-aid-package-for-artsakh-and-armenia/">$100 million package</a> for Armenia and the unrecognized territory under its occupation, Nagorno-Karabakh.
Like Wall Street, American foreign policy is too big to fail. That means the U.S. should continue to distance itself from failed states and territories. It’s anything but “reckless.” It’s pure common sense.
Paul Miller is president and executive director of the news and public policy group <a href="https://salomoncenter.org/">Haym Salomon Center</a>. Follow him on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/pauliespoint">@pauliespoint</a>.

MILLER: Ceasing To Invest In Failed States Is Common Sense American Policy

Of the 2020 candidates, the one the media seem to ignore &#8212; the recurrent and favored lunch partner of tyrants, warlords and bloodyhanded strongmen &#8212; is Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI).
The outcry related to Rep. Gabbard&#8217;s gravitating to the worst among us is blamed on Russian propaganda, reputedly because Russia wishes to prevent Gabbard from leading the American people. Bountiful Russian malfeasance notwithstanding, this is going to take quite a lot of convincing.
Begin with Gabbard&#8217;s trip to Armenia in 2017. Okay, some lobbyist and Armenian-Armenian organizations got her to participate in a CODEL&#8230;essentially a Congress-sanctioned opportunity for members to learn from a foreign people or nation in five-star luxury. These can be good or bad depending on the destination of the CODEL, of course. 
Taken from Congresswoman Gabbard&#8217;s own website, and bizarrely still up: &#8220;President Sargsyan, Prime Minister Karapetyan, distinguished members of the Ministry, representatives from Armenia&#8217;s National Assembly, Americans of Armenian ancestry, members of the Artsakh Parliament&#8230;to identify areas of mutual interest and cooperation to strengthen the security, economic, and cultural relationships that bind our countries&#8230;&#8221;
Her remarks notwithstanding, Armenia possesses a geopolitical reality. It is known, understood as and correctly treated by the world as a vassal nation of Russia and a close ally of Iran. Even all these years after the dissolution of the U.S.S.R., a Marxist/Soviet manner of contemplation and action is palpable&#8230;not exactly the folks congressmen want to bring home for dinner.
Rep. Gabbard peculiarly mentioned members of the &#8220;Artsakh&#8221; Parliament. In searching for it, I learned there is no parliament in a place so-called because there is no nation so-called. Not a nation on the globe recognizes it, not even Armenia. It is an Armenian occupied portion of neighboring Azerbaijan &#8212; one they have been at war over for more than a quarter century. It seems that despite international condemnation and several U.N. resolutions, Armenia won&#8217;t leave. Again, Rep. Gabbard&#8230;a dose of geopolitical reality?
Shockingly, these men of whom the congresswoman speaks so highly were literally overthrown in April 2018. A mere few months after Gabbard lauded them as the best thing since sliced bread, they were gone. Armenia, now with a new leader, Nicol Pashinyan, has turned out to be essentially another in a long line of sycophants of the Kremlin and buddy of the mullahs in Tehran. 
When the truth was exposed, so were the men &#8212; as butchers, warlords, murders, thieves, and the men who kept Russia and Iran in charge of every aspect of the Armenian life, including unwaveringly keeping the people poor and silent. 
The congresswoman&#8217;s diligence to tyrants neither began nor ended with Armenia&#8217;s warlords. 
Her interest in holding court with tyrants began in Syria. Congresswoman Gabbard paid a visit to Bashar al-Assad against a U.S. State Department advisory. Yes, that Assad, the butcher of Syria, the one responsible for countless deaths and murders, untold numbers of tortured, multiple gassings of his own people &#8212; that Assad was Tulsi Gabbard&#8217;s lunch liaison. 
When the war in Syria was at its height, operationally at full, the refugee crisis winding up to a humanitarian catastrophe and with American boots on the ground, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard took a jaunt to Syria and had tea and biscuits and plenty of face time with Bashar al-Assad. It was reputed that the poison gas-using tyrant and the member of the U.S. House of Representatives got along quite well and liked one another. 
Rep. Gabbard now defends Assad regularly to American reporters. If this seems like a P.R. stunt, you may be correct and, if so, it worked really well. She is a household name and a candidate for the office of the presidency.
When candidate Gabbard resurfaces, it would seem incumbent upon the press to question her, in detail, about such odd and seemingly anti-American behavior.

Paul Miller is president and executive director of the news and public policy group <a href="https://salomoncenter.org">Haym Salomon Center</a>. Follow him on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/pauliespoint">@pauliespoint</a>.

MILLER: Tulsi Gabbard Is The Pro-Assad Candidate In 2020

2020 Election

As the mother of the modern-day Progressive movement, it would make sense for Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) to take her young Democratic colleague Rep. Ilhan Omar under her maternal wing in loco parentis.
Defending Omar against accusations of anti-Semitism last week on MSNBC, Schakowsky explained that as a refugee from Somalia, Omar &#8220;comes from a different culture. She has things to learn.&#8221; Rather than acknowledge that Omar is a bigot, Schakowsky thus invokes the doctrine of unconditional love.
But Omar is not &#8220;just off the boat.&#8221; She came to the United States in the 1990s, according to her official House <a href="https://omar.house.gov/about">website</a>. &#8220;Before running for office, she worked as a community educator at the University of Minnesota, was a Policy Fellow at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and served as a Senior Policy Aide for the Minneapolis City Council.&#8221; She is also a former state representative.
It&#8217;s safe to say she understands American culture very well and knows exactly what she is saying.
Just as the anti-Israel group Jewish Voice for Peace uses its name as cover for anti-Semites who share its far-Left agenda, the Jewish congresswoman from Illinois &#8212; known in the pro-Israel community as &#8220;J Street Jan&#8221; &#8212; conveniently played the &#8220;Jew card&#8221; to excuse Omar&#8217;s anti-Semitism. Maybe a mazel tov is in order here. For decades, Schakowsky remained silent when it came to leftist anti-Semitism. Now she is speaking up &#8212; to defend that very hate.
As a former constituent of Schakowsky&#8217;s, I was overwhelmed by a sense of déjà vu, having experienced her use of anti-Semitism as a political tool before. It&#8217;s been over twelve years since I <a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2007/02/rep_jan_schakowsky_and_conveni.html">first opined</a> about it. Back in February 2007, Schakowsky led the criticism against Walmart for selling a T-shirt bearing the Nazi Totenkopf (German for &#8220;death&#8217;s head&#8221;), the emblem adopted by Adolf Hitler&#8217;s personal guards. When Walmart learned what the symbol meant, they immediately pulled the shirts off the shelf.
I applauded Schakowsky&#8217;s efforts to educate Walmart about their offensive mistake. But at the same time, she had been conveniently silent over hate stemming from her own party.
In February 2007, I <a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2007/02/rep_jan_schakowsky_and_conveni.html">wrote</a>:
<blockquote>
When the president of Iran is threatening to cause a second Holocaust and hatred toward Jews is growing in epidemic proportions, why is Congresswoman Schakowsky, who is Jewish and represents a large Jewish constituency, only fighting Walmart? Why is it that whenever anti-Semitism shows its ugly face amongst her political allies within the Democratic Party or Progressive movement, her voice is silent?
</blockquote>
Back then, Walmart was the perfect target for the Illinois Democrat. &#8220;[Schakowsky] despises the fact that the retail chain is the largest employer in America and is non-union. Any opportunity to label Walmart as anti-Semitic, or at minimum insensitive to the Jewish community, is a golden opportunity for a politician with an agenda such as hers.&#8221;
Leftist anti-Semitism, often referred to as the &#8220;New Anti-Semitism,&#8221; has been brewing for decades, gaining prominence during the second Gulf War. &#8220;If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this,&#8221; said then-congressman Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) in 2003, invoking the old stereotype of Jewish control.
Moran also claimed that Jews had the power to stop the country from going to war. Where was Schakowsky back then? Where was her suggestion that Moran apologize for his anti-Semitic remarks, let alone demand his resignation? Nowhere to be found. 
Two years later, Schakowsky attended a mock House Judiciary Committee hearing. In plain view of a C-SPAN audience, Schakowsky sat behind Congressman Moran as he questioned former intelligence analyst Ray McGovern &#8212; who claimed that the U.S. went to war in Iraq for oil, military bases, and Israel. Moran thanked McGovern for his &#8220;candid answer,&#8221; which included claims that the war was conducted so the &#8220;U.S. and Israel could dominate that part of the world.&#8221; Schakowsky just sat there and didn&#8217;t raise an eyebrow.
Full disclosure: I served as a senior adviser for a political campaign opposing Rep. Schakowsky in 2010. At that time, we raised the issue of Schakowsky honoring Helen Thomas, the late UPI journalist notorious for her disdain for the Jewish state.
In 2006, Thomas badgered the late White House press secretary Tony Snow regarding Israeli military action in Lebanon. Snow thanked Thomas for &#8220;the Hezbollah view.&#8221;
This is who Schakowsky considered worthy of honoring.
In January 2017, Schakowsky spoke at a Chicago rally protesting President Trump&#8217;s travel ban. Standing on the same stage, right behind the congresswoman, was Rasmea Odeh.
Sharing my emotions publicly, I <a href="https://observer.com/2017/02/jan-schakowsky-alliance-progressives-anti-semites-rasmea-odeh/">wrote</a>:
<blockquote>
So, you&#8217;ll understand my anger and revulsion when I saw the convicted mastermind of the terror attack, Rasmea Odeh, standing with Rep. Jan Schakowsky. I could never have imagined that the congresswoman, who represents one of the largest Jewish constituencies in the country, would be willing to share the stage with a killer.
</blockquote>
Schakowsky&#8217;s embrace of a blatant anti-Semite like Rasmea Odeh is of a piece with her defense of Ilhan Omar. If today&#8217;s Democratic Party is now the party of refuge for bigots, Schakowsky deserves credit for the transformation. Tantamount to a religious conversion, she betrays her constituency and her own heritage &#8212; indeed Judaism itself &#8212; worshiping instead at the altar of political expediency.
To all Jewish supporters of Jan Schakowsky: Know before whom you stand.

Paul Miller is president and executive director of the news and public policy group Haym Salomon Center. Follow him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/pauliespoint">@pauliespoint</a>.

MILLER: The Déjà Vu Of Rep. Jan Schakowsky’s Convenient Anti-Semitism

Illinois

Israel

Judaism

Standing before hundreds of mayors from Europe, Israel and the United States, Mayor Gabriel Groisman of Bal Harbour, Florida, was joined by Mayor Uwe Becker of Frankfurt, Germany and Mayor Haim Bibas of Modi&#8217;in-Maccabim-Re&#8217;ut, Israel, in announcing the launch of Global Mayors Coalition Against Hate, Anti-semitism and BDS.
The new alliance was announced in Tel Aviv Wednesday evening at the Muni-Expo 2019, the annual international municipal conference. Hosted by the Federation of Local Authorities in Israel, Mayors Bibas, Becker and Groisman, along with mayors from Argentina, Spain, Israel, and the United States, determined in a private meeting &#8220;the need to have a unified and strong approach to put an end to hate, discrimination, anti-Semitism, and anti-Semitic movements such as BDS [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement].&#8221;
According to a press release provided by Mayor Groisman&#8217;s office, &#8220;the coalition was the brainchild of Mayors Groisman, Becker and Bibas after various discussions about how to combat the rise of bigotry at the municipal level. Importantly, the initiative is not affiliated with any outside organization, but is instead simply an initiative by mayors, for mayors.&#8221;
&#8220;Given the meteoric rise of hatred and anti-Semitism around the world, everyone must play a role in this important fight. As mayors, we share a bond and a goal of making the lives of our residents better on all fronts,&#8221; explained Groisman. &#8220;This coalition is a powerful statement against hate and hateful movements such as BDS and will be an important tool for mayors around the world to share ideas and resources in fighting hate of all forms, anti-Semitism included.&#8221;
Groisman has been a national &#8212; and now international &#8212; leader in combating anti-Semitism. In December 2017, Bal Harbour, Florida became the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/24702/florida-town-becomes-first-us-municipality-give-paul-miller">first municipality</a> in the U.S. to implement an ordinance that provides law enforcement with a definition of anti-Semitism, enabling them to investigate such incidents as hate crimes.
In 2015, the Bal Harbour Village Council passed an ordinance &#8220;prohibiting the Village from entering into agreements with businesses that boycott a person or entity based in or doing business with an Open Trade Jurisdiction such as Israel and requiring businesses to pledge not to engage in such a boycott during agreements with the Village.&#8221; As of the start of 2018, approximately 35 cities have followed Bal Harbour&#8217;s lead and passed legislation prohibiting the municipality from doing business with or investing in entities that boycott the Jewish state.
If Groisman has a European equal, it is Mayor Becker of Frankfurt, Germany. Becker has earned a reputation as the mayor who stands up against hate and extremism.
&#8220;This common initiative of international mayors against the anti-Semitism and the BDS movement is a strong signal of solidarity with the State of Israel and a clear message against anti-Semitism and those who try to spread hate against Jews in the world,&#8221; Becker stated. &#8220;I am glad to start this initiative together with Haim Bibas, the chairman of the Federation of Local Authorities in Israel and mayor of Modi&#8217;in-Maccabim-Re&#8217;ut, and Gabe Groisman, the mayor of Bal Harbour, who is a strong voice for Jewish life in the world.&#8221;

Paul Miller is president and executive director of the news and public policy group <a href="http://www.salomoncenter.org">Haym Salomon Center</a>. Follow him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/pauliespoint">@pauliespoint</a>.

Florida Mayor Leads International Coalition Of Colleagues To Combat Anti-Semitism

Florida

Why are Jews surprised that they have &#8220;a reputation for being sleazy thieves,&#8221; <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/mikopeled/status/776147480299835392&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1549386450320000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEuPBpRW2pbGEeChhVE-RSKgGll2Q" href="https://twitter.com/mikopeled/status/776147480299835392" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">asks</a> Israeli-American author Miko Peled, who also <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/sep/26/new-antisemitism-row-for-labour-over-fringe-speakers-holocaust-remarks-miko-peled&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1549386450320000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEoSYdIkBAd1VSXw0dOOljoQLoZeg" href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/sep/26/new-antisemitism-row-for-labour-over-fringe-speakers-holocaust-remarks-miko-peled" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">believes debatin</a><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/sep/26/new-antisemitism-row-for-labour-over-fringe-speakers-holocaust-remarks-miko-peled&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1549386450320000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEoSYdIkBAd1VSXw0dOOljoQLoZeg" href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/sep/26/new-antisemitism-row-for-labour-over-fringe-speakers-holocaust-remarks-miko-peled" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">g</a> whether the Holocaust actually happened is a legitimate form of free speech and has <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3D0mnnQ9VMtFU&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1549386450320000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHwI7VCi9RK4uLMiekRCFF79rGpqw" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mnnQ9VMtFU" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">equated</a> Zionism, the Jewish people&#8217;s right to live in their ancient homeland, with racism. These are the enlightened perspectives Mr. Peled will be sharing at a public event on Thursday evening at Bucknell University.
News of Mr. Peled&#8217;s appearance at the Lewisburg, Pennsylvania college surfaced in a December 5, 2018 email sent by Bucknell English <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bucknell.edu/academics/arts-and-sciences-college-of/academic-departments-and-programs/english/literary-studies/faculty-and-staff/michael-drexler&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1549386450320000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEZzyIaWuG9YsS0axFHYS5FcC2mVw" href="https://www.bucknell.edu/academics/arts-and-sciences-college-of/academic-departments-and-programs/english/literary-studies/faculty-and-staff/michael-drexler" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">professor Michael Drexler</a>. In the email, Drexler promotes Peled&#8217;s two books and describes Peled as an &#8220;Israeli peace and Palestinian rights activist, a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement [BDS] and a passionate advocate for a one-state solution in Israel/Palestine.&#8221;
In response to an inquiry from the news and public policy group Haym Salomon Center, Drexler addressed accusations that Peled &#8220;is an anti-Semite and that his appearance is not about free speech but hate speech.&#8221; He wrote: 
<blockquote>
Miko Peled is not an anti-Semite. He is not addressing the issue of free speech nor was he invited to push the boundaries of acceptable speech. He is offering his perspective as an Israeli citizen who is committed to ending the Occupation and supporting Palestinian rights. 
</blockquote>
Prof. Drexler, a member of the Academic Advisory Council of Jewish Voice for Peace, is responsible for inviting Peled to speak at Bucknell. The Anti-Defamation League <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounders/jewish-voice-for-peace&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1549386450320000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEj0blZGCk3DNWWHNw1mS7tM5GbOw" href="https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounders/jewish-voice-for-peace" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">describes</a> JVP as &#8220;a radical anti-Israel activist group that advocates for a complete economic, cultural and academic boycott of the state of Israel and disseminates the view that Israel and its U.S. supporters are fundamentally racist oppressors of non-Jews, &#8230; perpetuating the classic anti-Jewish stereotype of Jews as self-centered elitists, disdainful of non-Jews, who are focused on their own interests, sometimes at others&#8217; expense.&#8221;
Drexler&#8217;s <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/MichaelJDrexler&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1549386450320000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGi6vceCLk8vW_HSbSSsJjOAwKzyw" href="https://twitter.com/MichaelJDrexler" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Twitter account</a> is relentlessly critical of Israel and its supporters. For example, &#8220;How sad that Israel has become a leading manufacturer of death and fear.&#8221; Another <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/MichaelJDrexler/status/1086761692653146119&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1549386450320000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGIFqC05476t5-tubZoQGfcv6eD9g" href="https://twitter.com/MichaelJDrexler/status/1086761692653146119" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">tweet </a>describes Israel as &#8220;a dead end project in a shitty part of the world.&#8221;
Pro-Israel groups and Bucknell students, faculty and alumni alike are offended that Peled was invited to speak.
One individual close to the situation, who requested anonymity, voiced concern that in recent years anti-Israel bias in certain classes, as well as faculty support for BDS, has made campus life for Jewish Bucknell students not as friendly as it once was. 
Drexler denies that Peled&#8217;s appearance may contribute to a hostile campus environment for Jewish students. But according to the campus anti-Semitism watchdog group AMCHA Initiative, the individual close to the situation has every reason to be concerned.
&#8220;BDS activities are at the heart of the rise in anti-Semitism on campuses nationwide, and are often accompanied by harassment, discrimination, destruction of property and even assaults directed against Jewish students,&#8221; explained AMCHA co-founder and director Tammi Rossman-Benjamin. &#8220;Our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://amchainitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Faculty-Report.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1549386450320000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE-px2IQhHSC5g6CmspCKd7nYx3fg" href="https://amchainitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Faculty-Report.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">research shows</a> that anti-Semitism is far more likely to occur on campuses where BDS was present, campuses with at least one active anti-Zionist student group, and campuses with one or more faculty who support an academic boycott of Israel.&#8221;
The Zionist Organization of America, in a January 3, 2019 letter to Bucknell&#8217;s board of trustees, expressed &#8220;deep concern&#8221; that Bucknell is hosting a lecture by Miko Peled, &#8220;who lacks any academic credentials and whose record demonstrates that he is viciously anti-Israel and anti-Semitic, even encouraging denial of the Holocaust.&#8221;
Max Samarov, Executive Director of Research and Campus Strategy for the Israel education group StandWithUs, told the Haym Salomon Center, &#8220;Miko Peled has a disturbing record of anti-Semitism,&#8221; citing Princeton University and San Diego State University, where even anti-Israel student groups found Peled&#8217;s anti-Semitism so offensive that they canceled his scheduled speeches.
StandWithUs, along with Alums for Campus Fairness, a nonprofit that brings together alumni to counter anti-Semitism on college campuses, sent a letter dated January 4, 2019 to university president John Bravman and the board of trustees that read in part, &#8220;In light of the anti-Semitic positions Mr. Peled publicly espouses, which marginalize and stigmatize Israeli and Jewish students on campus, we write to request that the University take all reasonable and necessary action to affirmatively and publicly distance itself from such discrimination and ensure a safe and hospitable environment for the entire Bucknell community, including, as others have recently done, rescinding Mr. Peled&#8217;s invitation to speak.&#8221;
In a <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SANLjgjP7E-5ilTAbY0Jh2jiAEle7jQyir4eTSnxZ3I/edit?usp%3Dsharing&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1549386450320000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHx8prtgeaiZS1g4pz4udwaKaCpwA" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SANLjgjP7E-5ilTAbY0Jh2jiAEle7jQyir4eTSnxZ3I/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">statement sent</a> to the Haym Salomon Center, Bucknell Chief Communications Officer Andy Hirsch explained:
<blockquote>
While we are aware and highly sensitive to the fact that some members of our campus community find Mr. Peled&#8217;s views offensive, in keeping with its mission to educate students for a lifetime of critical thinking, &#8230; Bucknell is committed to the exchange of diverse viewpoints. That includes viewpoints with which members of our community might disagree, sometimes vehemently.
Bucknell values, respects and has myriad resources to support students of all religions, including specifically its Jewish students, and will continue to do so. We have had numerous conversations specific to this event to reinforce those support structures.
</blockquote>
Regardless of what occurs Thursday evening, the controversy surrounding Peled&#8217;s appearance may only have just begun.
The law firm Rieders Travis has filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights that states:
<blockquote>
Bucknell University is a private university that receives federal and state funding. The invitation extended to Miko Peled and therefore a platform to vocalize bigotry, is in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d. Miko Peled was invited to speak at Bucknell University under the guise of an &#8220;Israeli Peace and Palestinian rights activist.&#8221; As the following facts show, Miko Peled is not welcomed in academic circles of thought and he actively and on a regular basis through Twitter, Facebook and his own websites, articulates anti-Semitic and anti-Israel rhetoric. The two are inexorably intertwined so as to represent a violation of the statute.
</blockquote>
<div>Paul Miller is president and executive director of the news and public policy group Haym Salomon Center. Follow him on twitter @pauliespoint.</div>

MILLER: Openly Anti-Semitic Author To Speak At Bucknell University

2018 has been a banner year for anti-Semitism in Durham, North Carolina. As disdain for Jews simmers throughout the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.researchtriangle.org/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1545405580055000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFBi-BDbSphJ5mH9n9I6qHEKKSebA" href="https://www.researchtriangle.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Research Triangle</a>, a lawsuit threatens to bring it to a boil amid <a href="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/indy+week/FMfcgxvzMBhFcLkrNRLHPhxFFczDJmXx" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">accusations</a> of anti-Semitism by <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/article212733099.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1545405580055000&amp;usg=AFQjCNESNzrOnfoJOnkwmRBDrfSwfzAS2g" href="https://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/article212733099.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">local rabbis</a>, Jewish groups and the Anti-Defamation League. 
Filed in Durham County Superior Court by Durham resident Deborah Friedman, the suit alleges that Mayor Steve Schewel and members of the city council violated the Open Meetings Act by forbidding Durham law enforcement from working with the Israeli Defense Forces and then concealing their anti-Israel communications from the public.
&#8220;This was a malicious agenda which served the needs of the deceptively named Jewish Voice for Peace at the expense of the greater good of the community,&#8221; Friedman told the Haym Salomon Center. &#8220;Why wouldn&#8217;t we want to benefit from Israel, the world&#8217;s leader in security and combating terrorism?&#8221;
Friedman&#8217;s lawsuit centers on two emails Schewel sent from his personal account to the personal emails of council members regarding the introduction of the anti-Israel measure. The first email in question was sent at 12:54 a.m. on April 5 to three council members; the second was sent to the remaining three just before 1:00 a.m. According to government transparency expert Jonathan Jones, the attorney who filed the suit on Friedman&#8217;s behalf, Schewel&#8217;s emails constituted a government meeting, and under state law, the city council was legally obligated to provide &#8220;adequate notice&#8221; to the public.
Jones told the Haym Salomon Center:
<blockquote>
I can&#8217;t speak to the council&#8217;s motivations. What I can say is that we believe the use of email to simultaneously communicate with a majority of council members is a violation of the N.C. Open Meetings Law. We&#8217;re asking the court to affirm that interpretation of the law. The use of personal email accounts &#8211; or cell phones or social media &#8211; to conduct the public&#8217;s business is almost never a good idea.
</blockquote>
It should come as no surprise that the mayor and his council would want to curtail public knowledge of a meeting intended to condemn the Jewish state. At the end of the April 16 meeting at which the measure was passed, Schewel made a <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByM6E6JrOz0TdXNtZjVOMWw2ZzJFMUprWU5IY1dLLW52Mzd3/view&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1545405580055000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGXRCLOofiEp-oCsLa-a8lPSa9_FA" href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByM6E6JrOz0TdXNtZjVOMWw2ZzJFMUprWU5IY1dLLW52Mzd3/view" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">statement</a> that can be construed as comparing Israel&#8217;s treatment of Palestinians to the Nazis&#8217; treatment of Jews: &#8220;I know the terrible traumas visited on us as a people are now being visited on others in Gaza and the West Bank.&#8221;
This ignorant and offensive rhetoric is straight out of the blame the Jews playbook used by anti-Semitic groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine, as well as white supremacists and countless progressive groups who speak as one anti-Semitic voice through intersectionality.
Since the Durham council passed the resolution, anti-Semitism has exploded in the area. 
This year alone, Nazi propaganda flyers have been posted in Durham and in the nearby town of Cary; swastikas were painted on walls in high school bathrooms; artwork celebrating Jew-murdering terrorists was proudly displayed at a downtown exhibition. Earlier this month, a local imam went on an <a>anti-Semitic rant</a> calling for his followers to &#8220;fight the Jews.&#8221; On the campus of Duke University, acts of intimidation against Jewish students have become so brazen, so habitual, that its president issued an <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://today.duke.edu/2018/11/president-price-statement-regarding-anti-semitic-incident-east-campus&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1545405580055000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE1SqNihKLGPJpvNI-hTovaLj4bNw" href="https://today.duke.edu/2018/11/president-price-statement-regarding-anti-semitic-incident-east-campus" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">all-hands-on-deck</a> plea to local officials for help to &#8220;confront the scourge of anti-Semitism.&#8221;
Is there a correlation between the anti-Semitic message Durham&#8217;s municipal government is sending the community and the spike in anti-Semitism in the area? What is telling is that Mayor Schewel and his council members felt the need to shroud in secrecy their plans for an anti-Israel measure by communicating through personal emails &#8211; avoiding transparency and possibly breaking the law.
Paul Miller is president and executive director of the news and public policy group Haym Salomon Center. Follow him on twitter @pauliespoint.

North Carolina Officials Target Israel For Working With Local Police Force

North Carolina

The Trump administration&#8217;s desire to maintain at least cordial relations with the Russian Federation is noble, but President Donald Trump may be putting too much stock in his ability to build a strong and lasting personal relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr. Putin&#8217;s actions and assertions, domestically and internationally, reflect Russia&#8217;s proclivities toward irredentism and neo-imperialism geared to expanding its sphere of influence. 
Moscow recently announced that it would use its proxy, Armenia, as a key constituent in reconstruction plans for Bashar al-Assad&#8217;s Syria. Armenia&#8217;s nearly insolvent economy is dependent on Moscow. In return, Armenia backs Moscow on the world stage, including voting against the sovereignty of U.S. ally Ukraine at the recent UN General Assembly. 
Russian oligarchs own significant portions of Armenia&#8217;s industry, relegating Armenia to a chiefly agrarian economy on a family farm scale. Indeed, Armenia suffers year-to-year population declines, as inhabitants search elsewhere for livelihood.
Why use its troublesome proxy in such an enormous undertaking? Western authorities express concern that Russia will use Armenia to conceal illegal weapons transfers. Armenia&#8217;s complicity will also make it easier for Russia to hide ill-gotten financial gains associated with the reconstruction of Syria. 
Even more disturbing is the Kremlin&#8217;s recent interest in Azerbaijan, a U.S. strategic partner. Situated on the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan is rich in gas and oil and human capital and has been decidedly pro-Western since its independence during the fall of the Soviet Union. It would be a great loss for the U.S. and the West should Azerbaijan fall into Moscow&#8217;s orbit.
Azerbaijan has taken a leadership role and funded virtually every large-scale energy infrastructure project in the Caspian Basin during the last 25 years. The answer to the European Union&#8217;s energy security concerns runs through Baku, bypassing an often belligerent and double-dealing Russia and a bellicose and dangerous Iran. 
The first such project, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, transports oil from the Caspian Sea directly to Mediterranean and Western markets. In such a tumultuous region, it was completed with the enthusiastic backing of the Bush (senior) and Clinton administrations. Azerbaijan has since become perhaps the most important and strategic nation in the region.
Israel, too, has found in Azerbaijan a close partner in numerous realms, including telecommunications, culture, industrial agriculture, military technology and hardware and counter-terror intelligence and operations. Indeed, a large and prosperous Jewish community resides in Azerbaijan, where Jews have lived for centuries in peace, as equal citizens, alongside their Muslim countrymen. 
Azerbaijan represents a large and lucrative market for Israel. The depth of the ties between them is not known, although high-level delegations regularly travel from Jerusalem to Baku and vice versa, the most recent of which was a visit by Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman. 
A mere three years ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was treated to a grand State reception by Azerbaijan&#8217;s very popular president, Ilham Aliyev, who has likened the relationship between Israel and Azerbaijan to an iceberg because &#8220;nine-tenths of it is below the surface.&#8221; Experts believe that in terms of depth and breadth, Israel&#8217;s relationship with Azerbaijan has few rivals among other Muslim-majority states. 
Azerbaijan is sought by the West not simply for its oil and gas. As a matter of current social policy and traditional foreign policy, relations with Muslim-majority countries are integral to maintaining the post-war world order. Azerbaijan is a valuable ally because of its domestic stability, responsible actions on the world stage, and for maintaining a business climate modeled on the West, complete with enforceable sanctity of contract, independent courts, etc. 
The point?
The United States has a dreadful and appalling penchant for allowing important nations to fall off of its foreign affairs radar screen and notwithstanding National Security Advisor John Bolton&#8217;s current visit to the region. Given Azerbaijan&#8217;s strategic location at a crossroads of nations, cultures and societies, coupled with its oil and gas and its willingness to invest in the security of the West, it is imperative for the U.S., the Europeans and the Israelis that Azerbaijan not be swayed from the West. 
Of the many blunders of the post-Soviet age, a tragic and utterly avoidable one would be to lose Azerbaijan to Russia&#8217;s sphere of influence.
Paul Miller is president and executive director of the news and public policy group Haym Salomon Center. Follow him on twitter @pauliespoint.

MILLER: Russia’s Always-Veiled Agenda: The U.S. And Israel

Russia

A newly-released <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3D8d_cy3w13cQ%26bpctr%3D1535996212&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1536179013036000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG45BjDfmtMGvz6rxPTO2LTAQYadg" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d_cy3w13cQ&amp;bpctr=1535996212" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">video</a> featuring a Holocaust survivor was flagged by social media giant YouTube as &#8220;inappropriate or offensive to some audiences.&#8221; The nearly three-minute video, released on August 28, bore the designation for one week. Google, YouTube&#8217;s parent company, finally removed the label only after an official appeal and a press inquiry.
For decades, Holocaust survivor Irving Roth has shared his experiences for audiences of all ages and backgrounds, so the world will never forget what happened as a result of the Nazis&#8217; &#8220;final solution.&#8221;
In April 1945, Roth walked out of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Upon his arrival the previous year, the teenager watched in horror as members of his family were marched into the gas chamber. When the Allies freed him, he was thankful that he would live to see his sixteenth birthday.
The video, produced by Christians United for Israel (CUFI), highlights Roth&#8217;s work with the largest pro-Israel organization in America. In the video, Roth is seen showing young people &#8212; mainly college students &#8212; the death camps in Poland.
&#8220;With the massive volume of videos on our platform, sometimes we make the wrong call on content that is flagged by our community,&#8221; said a YouTube spokesperson. &#8220;When this is brought to our attention, we review the content and take appropriate action, including restoring videos or channels that were mistakenly removed.&#8221;
YouTube offered what they called &#8220;background information&#8221; &#8212; that the video was &#8220;mistakenly restricted due to human error&#8221; and &#8220;after reviewing the video again, the video has been reinstated with no restrictions.&#8221;
YouTube&#8217;s explanation did not sit well with the Auschwitz survivor.
&#8220;The only people who would object to this video are Holocaust deniers and other anti-Semites. If the staff at YouTube would like to understand a Survivor&#8217;s experience, I feel it would be my responsibility to make myself available to provide some insight,&#8221; Roth told the Haym Salomon Center.
While YouTube is known to place warning labels on videos that offer graphic and/ or violent images, the video in question, titled &#8220;Irving Roth, Holocaust Survivor- CUFI Story,&#8221; does not show any images that some might refer to as &#8220;gruesome&#8221; or &#8220;disturbing.&#8221;
On the contrary, video footage shows what the camps look like today, including the remaining ovens that were used to cremate bodies, as well as a pile of ash with the words &#8220;ashes of Holocaust victims&#8221; over the mound.
Hope Hernandez, CUFI&#8217;s Donor Engagement Coordinator, was a college student and a part of the CUFI on Campus program when she visited the death camps with Roth in 2009. Her experience as a young Christian visiting a concentration camp with a survivor is a main focus of the video.
&#8220;We are looking through rooms with piles of shoes and clothes and things that people arrived on trains with and they never left,&#8221; Hernandez explains in the video. &#8220;Irving is taking us through a room of ovens. We exit to a field where the bodies are buried, this mass grave of tens of thousands of people. This whole experience is really settling-in what took place here.&#8221;
Pastor John Hagee, founder and Chairman of CUFI, said, &#8220;I appreciate YouTube reinstating the video, but this should never have occurred. The matter begs the question, what gap in employee training allowed a video about a Holocaust survivor to be labeled offensive due to so-called human error?&#8221;
Paul Miller is president and executive director of the news and public policy group Haym Salomon Center. Follow him on twitter @pauliespoint.

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Paul Miller