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The question of reparations for slavery in the United States is frequently debated.  From Here to Equality, a recently released book, has argued for it and the city of San Francisco has moved towards implementing it.  Whether it is practical or affordable is contentious.  Certainly, reparations are not without precedent;  Germany paid them for World Wars I and II, as well as to victims of the Holocaust;  Japan paid them to Korean victims of World War II.  Yet those nations lost wars of aggression and so are not a perfect parallel for the position of African Americans vis-à-vis the rest of the United States. Unsurprisingly then, since it would mean America casting itself in the same light as Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan, paying reparations is a politically divisive issue.  A Christian, or anyone concerned with the Prophetic voices of the Old Testament, should consider one of Martin Luther King’s famous lines: “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”  (Amos 5:24)

In Why We Can’t Wait, King argued that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”  Historically, it is plain to see why African Americans 60 years ago or today have had deep unease with social justice.  In 1865 slavery ended, but legal equality was not on the table and a hundred years rolled around until 1964-65 when the Civil Rights Movement made essential progress.  Black Lives Matter and a concern for endemic racism may persuade many to wonder if the next milestones in racial justice won’t be seen until 2065!  Are reparations, then, the remedy that will rectify this concern?  There are two reasons we might be wary of reparations and should instead look to remedy the root causes of inequality.

The first thing to remember is that the capacity for human racism will not go away, but better belief must be inculcated and prejudicial thinking guarded against.  As long as we remain human beings, however, we are vulnerable to imbibing radicalized thinking.  All have a capacity to absorb prejudicial thinking, contrary to higher wisdom. Germany and Japan, two of the most educated and developed nations on Earth, exemplify all humanity’s propensity towards sin:  Hitler and the Nazi party fed lies about Jews to the Germans while Japan carried out imperial racism in their colonization of Korea. 

King thought racism was rooted in a “softmindedness” which pre-judged.  Further, King argued in A Testament of Hope (edited by James M. Washington) that “bitterness has not the capacity to make the distinction between some and all.  When some members of the dominant group, particularly those in power, are racist in attitude and practice, bitterness accuses the whole group.”  Especially in times of extreme political challenge and division, even an educated populace becomes vulnerable to bitter myths of racism of superiority.  By enacting reparations for slavery, America would have to formalize a registry which permanently categorized, however ambiguously, every American according to race (no self-identification) and doled out monies in response.  People being explicitly rewarded by the government for their racial category is the kind of thinking we need to get away from, not encourage.

The second error reparations conjures is the idea that a one-time payment will rectify all the problems afflicting African Americans.  A hurricane may do terrible damage and an insurance company may have to pay up, but this does not remove all dangers to the house, or the risk of future winds.  Can the insurance adjuster then walk away and ignore the larger problem? Many of the problems that afflict black people in America are not exclusively of a material nature and so a simple cash transfer may not be a panacea. Without doubt, reparations should be paid sometimes as the Germans did with Holocaust victims and Japan for many Koreans.  But should they be paid to African Americans?  

Cornel West once argued in Race Matters, that a class-based affirmative action makes perhaps makes more sense and indeed paying attention to not strictly racial socio-economic matters is imperative. While free markets are better than fixed (socialist) markets, there are still great dangers associated with laissez-faire that fixating on one-time reparations cannot address. 

Robert Reich, in his book Inequality for All, persuasively argues for a return to prosperity that characterized the American free market from the 1940s to 1970s.  The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute has released a study arguing that wealth for the top 1 percent has grown by double digits while falling for the remaining 99 percent.  The point that Reich makes reinforces the class-based perspective of Cornel West voices:  there are grave economic inequalities at work, reinforced by a political indifference to them. The deception that we should be wary of is that one-time payment can comprehensively ameliorate the innumerable spiritual and material problems which afflict all Americans.

Adam Smith said famously in The Wealth of Nations that “it is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest” and it should be in the self-interest of Americans to restore our class system to a more balanced equilibrium.  Returning to Reinhold Niebuhr, we must appreciate that both liberty and equality are cherished democratic values that must be held in balance.  The voice of Jesus, and the Prophets, was to help the poor and needy, and it is a voice we must respond to today.  It is a voice that is not socialistic, not opposed to a free market, but one which knows how humans, given freedom, can and do abuse wealth, power, and privilege.  It is a voice directed by a very familiar American maxim, of seeking liberty and justice for all.

The post Are Reparations the Remedy? appeared first on Providence.

For years, Betty McCollum, claiming to protect Palestinian children, has been pushing a bill to stop U.S. funding to the Jewish state.

By Adina Katz, World Israel News

Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn) has relaunched a bill titled “Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act” – this time with the support of terrorist groups.

“Not $1 of U.S. aid should be used to commit human rights violations, demolish families’ homes, or permanently annex Palestinian lands,” Congresswoman McCollum stated Friday in a press release.

“The United States provides billions in assistance for Israel’s government each year–and those dollars should go toward Israel’s security, not toward actions that violate international law and cause harm. Peace can only be achieved when everyone’s human rights are respected, and Congress has a responsibility to not ignore the well-documented mistreatment of Palestinian children and families living under Israeli military occupation.

“Support is growing rapidly for the Palestinian people, who deserve justice, equality, human rights, and the right to self-determination. Prominent civil society groups, as well as Christian, Jewish, and Muslim organizations have signed on in support of this bill—because we all agree that no Palestinian child and no Jewish child should go to bed at night fearing ongoing violence. There is a path to a peaceful future, and it requires leading with our U.S. values of democracy and equal justice for all.”

McCollum provided no evidence of Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinian children, nor did she reference any Palestinian abuse of the children, such as training them to become “martyrs.” Neither did she mention Palestinian terror attacks against innocent Israelis.

Among the anti-Israel supporters of the bill are Addameer and Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P). Israel has designated both as terrorist organizations due to their ties with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

In fact, the PFLP was involved in some of the recent deadly attacks against Jews in Samaria, near the Palestinian city of Huwara, a hotbed of terror.

Regarding Addameer in particular, NGO Monitor has reported on more than a dozen current and former employees who were active members of the PFLP, including one who was actively involved in the 2019 bombing in Judea and Samaria that murdered 17-year-old Israeli Rina Shnerb.

In June 2021, AIPAC blasted McCollum when she originally launched the same bill.

In May 2022, McCollum was co-sponsor of a bill recognizing the ‘Nakba’ – Arabic for ‘catastrophe,’ referring to the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948 – together with fellow anti-Israel lawmakers Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Marie Newman.

The post Anti-Israel lawmaker, backed by terror-linked groups, renews effort to cease US aid to Israel appeared first on World Israel News.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan emphasized the close cooperation between Jerusalem and Washington on every diplomatic move.

The post WATCH: US pushing normalization between Jerusalem and Riyadh appeared first on World Israel News.

Valentina Lisitsa, la “Regina di Rachmaninov”, pianista classica di fama internazionale, della “regina” non ha solo la presenza scenica, ma anche un magnetismo capace di catalizzare l’ascoltatore, di catturarlo tra le corde del pianoforte e di portarlo ad …

The post Valentina Lisitsa in Concerto su Byoblu: Un Manifesto contro Ogni Forma di Censura dell’Arte appeared first on Global Research.

La scorsa settimana il Segretario ai Trasporti degli Stati Uniti Pete Buttigieg ha annunciato l’assegnazione di 94 milioni di dollari in sovvenzioni per finanziare 59 progetti tecnologici di smart city (o città intelligenti) in tutto il Paese.

Nonostante la …

The post I critici mettono in guardia da una “rete di sorveglianza”, mentre gli Stati Uniti vanno avanti con la pianificazione di ulteriori città “intelligenti” appeared first on Global Research.

O secretário de Transportes dos EUA, Pete Buttigieg, anunciou na semana passada US$ 94 milhões em concessões para financiar 59 projetos de tecnologia de cidades inteligentes em todo o país.

Apesar da resistência generalizada e crescente contra os sistemas biométricos …

The post Críticos alertam para ‘uma rede de vigilância’ à medida que os EUA avançam com planos para cidades mais ‘inteligentes’ appeared first on Global Research.

“What we approved today won’t raise electricity costs by even an ‘agora’ for the public,” stated Energy Minister Israel Katz.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel’s government on Sunday approved the first phase of a national program for energy storage that would include a pilot facility for “kosher electricity.”

Orthodox Jews do not turn on electricity on the Sabbath or on Jewish festivals, in observance of Torah law.

The Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, communities – as opposed to more moderate religious Jews, who rely on timers – are opposed to methods that would likely involve other Jews in producing that electricity. Instead, many use generators, which are unsafe and more costly than regular electricity, and for many years their leaders have been seeking a better solution.

Following the November 1st national election, this type of energy-storage plan was included in the coalition agreement between the United Torah Judaism party and Likud.

The program, however, will cost roughly NIS 120 million ($33 million).

In an interview with Hebrew-language Ynet, Dr. Amit Mor, CEO of Eco-Energy, a strategic economic consultant and a senior lecturer at Reichman University, explained why he believes it is necessary.

“Since the 1980s, if you walk around on Shabbat in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, you hear the noise of diesels. They burn very expensive, very polluting and smelly diesel,” he said.

More important, he stressed, is the danger involved, especially to children, who could be burned or electrocuted.

Israel Beitenu party leader Avigdor Liberman, a harsh critic of both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and haredim, slammed the proposal on Twitter.

“While the citizens of Israel are collapsing under the price increases and the cost of living continues to soar, what is the main thing that Netanyahu brings to the cabinet meeting this morning? Kosher electricity” he wrote.

“The establishment of the storage facilities involves a huge investment of billions of shekels….

“One of the most important components in those facilities is a metal called lithium, the most expensive in the world. All this expenditure will be passed on through the electricity tariff to all consumers in the State of Israel.

“According to all the calculations I tried to do, the full deployment of kosher electricity throughout the country, something that is clear to all of us that we will reach when the time comes, including the production and transmission of the electricity will cost at least 90 billion NIS, i.e. 10,000 NIS per citizen. It is clear to all of us that the one who will finance it, is the same middle class, the same people who serve in the IDF, make reserves, work and pay taxes.

“This is not a fight against the cost of living, it is the creation and worsening of the cost of living. You are tired of being cut off. Take responsibility and resign,” he concluded.

Energy Minister Israel Katz said the program would not cost the Israeli public even a single agora – one one-hundredth of a shekel; rather, it would “facilitate the production of electricity in low-demand times to provide it at high-demand ones, including to Haredi neighborhoods.”

The storage facility, in fact, would be “profitable,” he said.

“According to the decision, which is in the opinion of all the professional parties, the Electricity Authority will formulate the horizontal regulation (regulation) for ‘Kosher Electricity’ and the pilot of the Electricity Company, so that there will be no increase in the electricity tariff as a result of these moves,” the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure stated.

The pilot program will be launched in the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak, a suburb of Tel Aviv.

The post ‘Kosher electricity’ pilot program: Liberman slams religious Jews, claims ‘working Israelis’ will foot the bill appeared first on World Israel News.

Westerners, too, are “shocked” by the sentence – but not for the same reason as Ahmed Khalef.

By Hugh Fitzgerald, FrontPage Magazine

The steep increase in the incidence of rapes in France is entirely a result of the rise in Muslim migrants from North Africa. Fifty percent of the crimes in Paris are now committed by “foreigners” – overwhelmingly maghrébins; in France’s second city, Marseille, 55 percent of crimes are committed by “foreigners,” also overwhelmingly maghrébins.

Muslims make up 9% of the population in France, but 70% of those who have been imprisoned for rape. They do not think they have done wrong; their French victims, after all, are Infidels, and their dress and mien are regarded by Muslims as come-hither invitations to sexual encounters.

An Algerian just convicted of rape at knifepoint by a Paris court was shocked at the verdict of 26 months in prison, astonished that someone as genuinely decent as himself could be punished for this slight infraction. His story can be found here: “‘I came to France to build a future’ – Algerian migrant who raped woman at knifepoint ‘shocked’ to be handed 26-month prison sentence,” by John Cody, Remix News, April 25, 2023:

After 35-year-old Algerian migrant Ahmed Khalef was convicted of raping a woman who was waiting for a tram in the French city of Bègles, he argued that he is a “good person” and that he was “shocked” at the length of his prison sentence.

“I am a good person,” said Khalef in court. On Monday, April 24, the Assize Court of Gironde found him guilty of rape under the threat of a weapon and violence against a person holding public authority.

However, he claimed not to “understand anything. I am shocked to find myself here and in prison for 26 months when I came to France to build a future.”

Yes, we, too, are “shocked” by the sentence – just a bit more than two years in prison for “rape under threat with a weapon” — but not for the same reason as Ahmed Khalef. We are shocked because we would expect at least a 10-year sentence; in some American states, rape in the first degree can bring a sentence of life imprisonment. But Ahmed Khalef, in Ahmed Khalef’s view, is “a good person.” He thinks 26 months is far too long a sentence.

Ahmed Khalef told the court in Gironde that he is deeply disappointed: He’s confused. He cannot understand why he should have received such a “harsh” sentence. After all, he “came to France to build a future.”

What kind of “future” do you think he had in mind? He is not an asylum seeker – there is no persecution or war in Algeria for him to have fled — but an economic migrant. He was hoping to “build a future” not through his own work, but based on the cornucopia of benefits the generous French welfare state provides: free or greatly subsidized housing, free medical care, free education (including language classes), unemployment benefits, and more. That is the future Ahmed Khalef was “building,” like millions of other Muslim migrants to France, by draining the French treasury of monies that could otherwise have gone to help the French poor and elderly, and even possibly be sufficient to allow the French to keep their retirement age of 62 years.

Note that Ahmed Khalef says nothing about being gainfully employed. Had he been, he would certainly have mentioned it at trial, as a point in his favor. His silence on this score undoubtedly means that, like many Muslim migrants in France, he was unemployed.

The case he was convicted for dates back to 2021. On Feb. 20 of that year, he approached a 20-year-old woman who was waiting for tram C at the Parc Mussonville stop in Bègles.

She became suspicious of the man and moved in front of the tram’s CCTV cameras, according to a report from French news outlet Sud Ouest. This did not deter Khalef, who pressed a knife into her back, dragged her into a park, and then proceeded to rape her by force.

Police had already been called to the scene after witnesses to the incident became concerned about the woman. The victim, who was in a state of shock, saw police walking with flashlights in the park and reported the incident to them.

A little earlier, his attacker had already set his sights on two young 18-year-old passengers by groping them and insulting them in Arabic.

The police indicated that when they moved in to arrest the perpetrator, he began biting his tongue, spitting blood at them, and resisting arrest; he then hit an officer on his nose, resulting in an injury.

‘A good education’

Khalef, who said he is an “only son” among seven sisters, told the court he is “a normal person” to whom his parents “gave a good education.”

Khalef may have been “a normal person” in Algeria, where women who are not Islamically correct in their clothing can be considered as fair game for male sexual predators, but in civilized France, his behavior is not that of “a normal person.”

As to that “good education” he claims his parents made sure he received, what does he mean? Was he taught useful skills that would make him employable? If so, why did he not find a job in France? Or didn’t he bother to look for work, preferring to receive the full panoply of welfare benefits instead?

He’s “shocked” to be treated in such a cruel and unfeeling manner. When he arrived in France, he expected to receive all kinds of benefits. And when he needed sexual release, he thought he’d take his pleasure with a French girl. He failed to understand that Infidel women are not to be treated, as the Pakistani groomers in the U.K. call them, as “easy meat.”

It’s all been a cultural misunderstanding. How can the French judges be so unfeeling when this was not at all what poor Ahmed Khalef, a self-described “good person,” ever expected? And doesn’t that 26 months in prison for acting as Muslim men understandably will act with women who are asking for it, such as this 20-year-old Infidel woman, seem awfully harsh? Does that sentence seem fair?

Where is the justice that the French are so proud of? Could his sentence be, alas, one more example of Islamophobia?

The post ‘I’m a good person’: In France, Muslim migrant rapist shocked at his sentence appeared first on World Israel News.

The Israeli president shook hands with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Omani Crown Prince Theyazin bin Haitham Al Said.

By TPS

President Isaac Herzog mingled with an array of national leaders, including those from a string of Arab countries, at a reception at Buckingham Palace on the sidelines of King Charles III’s coronation in London this weekend.

Israel’s head of state connected with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Bahrain’s Crown Prince/Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Princess Lalla Meryem of Morocco.

Herzog also shook hands with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Omani Crown Prince Theyazin bin Haitham Al Said, whose countries do not have diplomatic ties with the Jewish state.

Charles commended Herzog on his efforts to mediate between Israel’s government and opposition over the proposed overhaul of the judicial system.

The president and his wife, Michal, also met with First Lady Jill Biden, who was representing the United States at the coronation. Michal Herzog spoke with Olena Zelenska, the wife of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Herzog previously met with Charles shortly after becoming president in 2021 and then saw him again at Queen Elizabeth’s funeral last year.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published a statement Saturday night extending “wholehearted congratulations” from him and his wife, Sara, along with “the entire people of Israel” to Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla.

“May it mark the further strengthening of the deep bond between our two nations,” the premier’s missive read.

For the first time in a country where fewer than half of the population now defines themselves as Christian, the coronation ceremony included representatives of the Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh faiths, as well as female clergy.

Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis was invited to spend the night at St. James’s Palace with his wife in order to avoid desecration at the Sabbath-day ceremony. For the same reason, the Herzogs walked to the Westminster Abbey coronation ceremony from a nearby residence.

Charles was anointed with oil from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, a part of the ceremony deemed so sacred it was concealed behind screens.

The King’s grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, is buried in Jerusalem. She is recognized by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Among the Nations for saving a Greek Jewish widow and two of her children.

The post Herzog meets with Arab leaders on sidelines of Charles III’s coronation appeared first on World Israel News.