Joel Pollak
Politics • Lifestyle • News • Travel • Writing
I will share my thoughts about American politics, as well as current events in Israel and elsewhere, based on my experiences in the U.S., South Africa, and the Middle East. I will also discuss books and popular culture from the perspective of a somewhat libertarian, religiously observant conservative living in California. I will also share art and ideas that I find useful and helpful, and link to my content at Breitbart News, Amazon, and elsewhere.
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An Israeli crisis driven by hysterical media

These days, when Americans elect Democrats, the result is inevitable crisis in U.S.-Israel relations. That is because American liberals live in the world of fantasy, and mistake media narratives for reality.

There are three realities that the Biden administration does not get. One: the Palestinians are not a peace partner. Two: Israeli weakness encourages terror. Three: the judicial reforms are mostly ordinary.

Part of the reason that Biden & Co. do not understand these realities is that the media, who create reality for the D.C. elite, do not get them, either, and the Israeli media are no different in this regard.

In fact, one can describe the ongoing domestic political crisis in Israel -- as well as the crisis in U.S.-Israel relations -- as the result of poor reporting, especially in the English-language Israeli press.

Take, for example, the recent Knesset passage of a law enforcing the 2005 "disengagement" and its prohibition on Jews entering northern Samaria. The U.S. brought in the Israeli ambassador for a rebuke.

That in itself is an extraordinary measure, not undertaken since 2010, when the Obama administration hauled in Michael Oren over Israel's decision to build some apartments in a Jewish area of Jerusalem.

The U.S. treated the Knesset law as a violation of a 2005 deal on the disengagement -- as if the disengagement were still a valid policy, as if Palestinians had not turned Gaza into a launchpad for terror.

Worse, it was almost impossible to find any explanation in the English-language Israeli press about why the Knesset passed the law. The impression was that it was a nod to future settlements.

In fact, the law was not passed to facilitate new settlements, but for much the same reason that the U.S. Congress is about to repeal the authorization for war in Iraq: to correct a historic policy mistake.

The only place in which this was explained in English was on the right-leaning website Israel Hayom, where an op-ed described it as a statement to Israel's enemies in the wake of an outbreak of terror.

https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/the-disengagement-laws-repeal-is-more-than-just-about-settlements/

There is not much outrage over recent Palestinian terror from the Biden administration. And no wonder: the wave began shortly after Biden was elected and restored funding to Palestinian groups.

It is no coincidence that the 2021 Gaza conflict began just weeks after that ridiculous decision. The U.S. media failed to hold Biden accountable -- and barely reports the ongoing attacks in Israel.

The judicial reform, and the protests against it, are front and center. Here, again, the media have failed. The reforms are actually quite moderate, and parallel existing U.S. practice, with a few exceptions.

American Jewish groups have protested the reforms as an affront to Jewish values -- which must mean that they consider their own judiciary an affront to Jewish values, since it works in similar ways.

American judges, for example, are not just appointed by politicians, the way Israel's judges will be in future; many are even elected by the public and run on specific platforms to enforce this law or that.

There are complex issues underlying the protests that have nothing to do with judicial reform, as a recent article in Tablet pointed out (noting the destructive role of U.S. Ambassador Tom Nides).

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/tom-nides-israels-arsonist-in-chief

But what is worse is that some Israelis have taken the hysterics over reform so seriously that many secular, moderate Israelis are looking for ways to leave the country, as the Jerusalem Post has reported.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-734950

Though the phenomenon is real, the Post hints -- unintentionally -- at a more basic problem. The reporter falsely claims that U.S. Jews once considered leaving because they were afraid of Trump:

"In the weeks leading up to the United States’ 2020 presidential election, inquiries to law firms specializing in helping Americans move abroad saw a sharp uptick in inquiries — many of them from Jews fearful about a second Trump administration after then-President Donald Trump declined to unequivocally condemn white supremacists. When President Joe Biden was elected, they largely called off the alarm."

Perhaps there were such inquiries. But there never was a threat to U.S. Jews from Trump (the most pro-Israel, pro-Jewish president since Truman) and he certainly condemned white supremacists.

The low standard of reporting here -- the reporter may genuinely believe what she wrote -- indicates that similar myths may be afoot in the Israeli media. And we Jews, immersed in media, believe them.

Amid all the chaos, it is noteworthy that Benjamin Netanyahu and his government remain united -- all the more so because of the anarchic nature of the opposition, which has made the price of defeat clear.

I would predict that Israel will emerge from this crisis, for that reason alone. Strength and success encourage unity. You win the PR war by winning the actual war -- the legislative war, in this context.

But something has to be done about the sorry state of the media. At the very least, English-language outlets in the U.S. and Israel need to be conscious of their left-wing bias, and reach out to conservatives.

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Additional note about this week: Sabbath of Vision!

I should have noted in my message about the weekly Torah portion that this week is Shabbat Chazon, the Sabbath of Vision. We are about to mourn -- but see through that pain to something better that lies beyond, on the other side.

Wishing you the best vision -- and an incredible reality to follow. It happens!

Weekly Torah reading: Devarim (Deuteronomy 1:1 - 3:22)

We begin the final speech of Moses to the people of Israel before they enter the Promised Land. He relates the ups and downs of the years of wandering in the desert, before, finally, the people have the merit to enter the land itself.

This Sabbath always precedes Tisha B'Av, the Ninth of Av, the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. It is the anniversary of the destruction of both of the Holy Temples, and a catch-all for many calamities that befell the Jewish people.

A word on Tisha B'Av. This year I am leaving for an overseas trip during the afternoon of the holiday -- in the middle of a fast day. Not idea, but there was no other choice. But my flight is in the afternoon, which is significant.

We relax some of the harsh, mournful customs of the day in the afternoon. We start to pray normally; we sit on regular chairs; we start to have hope again in the redemption that will, one day, lead us all back from exile to our home.

I'll be taking a trip to a land where an important part of ...

Breitbart News Sunday: show rundown (July 27, 2025)

President Trump is in Scotland, playing golf and making big trade deals -- a major deal with the EU, in fact. Meanwhile, there is a global outcry about humanitarian aid to Palestinians (not about the Israeli hostages, mind you).

On top of that, Democrats are at their lowest polling numbers ever -- so they are trying to win control of the House by redistricting in the middle of a 10-year Census cycle. Oh, economic optimism is up, so they have a tough road.

And Tulsi Gabbard's revelations about the Russia collusion investigation make it clear that Obama's lieutenants lied to Congress. How deeply was he himself involved? The media continue to ignore the evidence, but we certainly won't.

Special guests:

Nick Gilbertson - Breitbart News White House correspondent, on EU deal
Frances Martel - Breitbart News foreign editor, on Trump abroad and Russia
John Spencer - urban warfare expert, on humanitarian aid and war in Gaza
Bradley Jaye - Breitbart News congressional correspondent, on the ...

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