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Standing With Israel At The UN General Assembly

The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday commemorated a landmark but contentious 2001 anti-racism conference that was accused of being anti-Semitic over its attitude towards Israel.

Israel and dozens of other nations boycotted the 20th anniversary commemoration event of the contentious Durban Conference in South Africa, amid worries that it would also feature attacks on the Jewish state. However, reports from the event indicated that Israel was not mentioned.

The UN pledged to redouble efforts to combat racism around the world. We’ve heard it before and are still waiting to see this happen. Words mean nothing without action.

Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan lambasted “the radical antisemitism” of the 2001 Durban Conference in remarks at a competing, virtual meeting organized by a professor at Touro College in New York.

At least 32 nations skipped the assembly’s event on Wednesday, by Israel’s count. AFSI thanks those 32 brave nations for standing side by side with Israel and for sending a clear message about the truth.

Source:
UN commemorates controversial Durban summit with no apparent mention of Israel, by AP and TOI Staff, September 23, 2021

 

 

 

 

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Full Steam Ahead: Construction of a Palestinian State

What’s going on in Area C? That was the question posed to Gilad Ach, director of the Ad Kan non-profit organization, and the answer received was shocking.

According to Ach, while Jewish construction in Area C has been severely curtailed if not outright frozen during recent years, Palestinian construction under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority is going right ahead, funded by member countries of the European Union.

Area C is under effective (not very effective) Israeli control and in the horrifying event of a future “peace (pieces) deal” must be included within Israel’s sovereign borders. This hasn’t stopped countries like Germany and Great Britain from transferring huge sums of money to the PA to be used for Palestinian construction in Area C. The latest installment of a hundred million Euros comes from Germany, and on the Israeli side, no one is doing anything about it whatsoever.

Ach asks the burning question: “And what about the current Israeli government? Will the ‘government of change’ make changes here?” We wonder the same thing.

Source:
Palestinian State in process, funded by 3b Euros from the European Union, by Shimon Cohen/Arutz Sheva, September 19, 2021

 

 

 

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Israel is Her Primary Target

Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is “at it again,” according to former NY State Assemblyman Dov Hikind. Hikind claims that AOC “would like to see Israel defenseless the next time Hamas or Hezbollah rain thousands of rockets on Israel.” She seems to be only interested in the demise of Israel and becoming a social butterfly at the Met Gala. (A $30,000 ticket to the Gala which was gifted to her far exceeds allowable gift levels for a member of the United States Congress. Add the dress, limos, hotels, etc. and her dress which read “Tax the Rich” (another target) should have had Hypocrite scrawled across it instead.)

What prompted Hikind’s lengthy tweet was Ocasio-Cortez’s recent introduction of legislation to stop arms sales – to Israel. Not to Saudi Arabia, “who is engaged against Iran in a bloody and costly proxy war that’s ravaging Yemen on a massive scale.”

Responding to the congresswoman’s tweet, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. and the UN, Gilad Erdan, shot back: “I would expect a Congressperson to understand that Israel is defending its citizens against Hamas, a designated terrorist organization. Your amendment further legitimizes their heinous attacks against innocent civilians, as well as antisemitic lies.”

Sources:
AOC ‘at it again,’ calling for arms embargo on Israel, by Arutz Sheva Staff, September 19, 2021

AOC seeks to block US arms sales to Israel, ‘legitimizing Hamas and anti-Semitism’, by Donna Rachel Edmunds/World Israel News, September 19, 2021

Cognitive Dissonance Theory an overview

This means that operationalization of both the assessment of inconsistency and the manipulation of inconsistency is required, and that only systematic measures would allow for investigation of the relations between inconsistency, CDS and the regulation process. Moreover, in the present state of conceptualization, assessing the inconsistency may https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/cognitive-dissonance-treatment-in-sober-living/ also be the most relevant way to assess the “dissonance” construct. As a consequence, resolving the issue of the relation between inconsistency and the CDS could be achieved by using conditions that involve several degrees of inconsistency (e.g., low; medium; high), assessing it, and by measuring the CDS generated by these different conditions.

  • However, all the variations we have seen could actually be interpreted as evidence for a general and unspecified negative affect.
  • Your behavior contradicts not just the beliefs you have about the world, but also the beliefs that you have about yourself.
  • For more than six decades, CDT suggests that cognitive inconsistency leads to a motivational state that promotes regulation, which comes mainly through a change of opinions or behaviors.

Like CDT, these certainty theories emphasize the need to supplant aversive, “nonfitting cognitions” with consonant ones, and focus on need for cognitive clarity and consistency. When faced with uncertainty about themselves or their environment, people defensively restore certainty, often in unrelated domains with the confidence-inducing help of social consensus and group identification (Hogg, 2007; Kruglanski, Pierro, Mannetti, & De Grada, 2006). Study participants who complete an uninteresting task have been found to rate the task as more enjoyable if they were first asked to tell someone else it was enjoyable—an effect attributed to cognitive dissonance.

Cognitive Dissonance

For example, a person who is the perpetrator versus a third-party observer of an injustice might want to maintain BJW while avoiding feelings of guilt or social censure (see Chaikin & Darley, 1973). Derogating the victim of injustice could serve both motives better than some other strategies, such as compensating the victim. Note that social comparison mechanisms and consistency reduction mechanisms are both self-enhancement strategies, yet they seem to have little in common. Threat from dissonance rarely has anything to do with the performance of another, i.e., social comparison. Similarly, inconsistency is generally irrelevant to an SEM threat, whereas other’s performance is crucial. Attitude change is the usual mode of dissonance threat reduction; on the other hand, changes in closeness, performance, or relevance are the SEM modes.

  • When BJW-threat was high, participants who were told the victimization took place in the recent past blamed the victim’s behavior more than did participants told the victimization was in the distant past.
  • He told the consumers that they would be able to take home one of two items from the longer list of products.
  • When cognitive dissonance theory was first presented, three experimental paradigms (namely decision justification, effort justification and induced compliance behaviour) were used to empirically test and provide evidence to support the theory.
  • Derogating the victim of injustice could serve both motives better than some other strategies, such as compensating the victim.
  • Oak Park Study Group members were taught that on the eve of the cataclysm, an alien being from the planet Clarion would come to rescue the true believers from the fate that awaited humankind the next day.
  • Despite its long tradition in social psychology, we consider that Cognitive Dissonance Theory presents serious flaws concerning its methodology which question the relevance of the theory, limit breakthroughs, and hinder the evaluation of its core hypotheses.

Awake Therapy, a telehealth company that provides video and telephone psychotherapy, counseling, and coaching to individuals in over 40 countries worldwide. He is also the curator of the popular mental health and wellness website, Therapytips.org. Because the CDS is the core motive of the model and could vary depending on the induction situation, we must get closer to standardized instruments. The prevalence of a unique tool should permit comparison and reliable expected effects (i.e., size and quality). Collectively, the methodological issues concerning assessment in CDT invite consideration of the examination of regulation as a secondary goal for now.

Adding More Beliefs to Outweigh Dissonant Beliefs

Moreover, as one of the rare social psychology theories that propose a general pattern characterizing the human psyche and construction of reality, CDT is a very important theory for the field. Despite its status as the old lady of the discipline, CDT should be questioned as thoroughly as a young theory. It was hypothesized that participants in the Counter-attitudinal condition would experience less Pleasure and more Arousal than participants in the Pro-attitudinal condition. As a classic result in dissonance studies, they were also expected to report more positive attitudes toward the counterattitudinal topic. Participants were invited to participate in a study about students’ attitudes toward tuition fees. They read instructions explaining that a faculty committee wanted to know students’ attitudes towards a possible increase in tuition fees.

  • Hypocrisy involves a contradiction between a person’s supposed principles, beliefs, or character and who they really are or how they behave.
  • We may have dozens of cognitions of which we are at least dimly aware at any moment in time and innumerable more of which we can become aware, once our attention or memory is set in motion.
  • Psychologist Leon Festinger first described the theory of cognitive dissonance in 1957.
  • If you took the job you would miss your loved ones; if you turned the job down, you would pine for the beautiful streams, mountains, and valleys.
  • However, testing such a model would require a huge amount of data with a high degree of precision, something that could only be attained with cooperation between cognitive dissonance scholars.
  • After 1 minute of writing, the experimenter feigned to have forgotten a phase of the study and gave the PAD scale to the participants.

At the end of the scale, a complementary question assessed participants’ attitude towards an increase of inscription fees on a 7-point-scale ranging from 1 (totally disagree) to 7 (totally agree). The most effective way to resolve cognitive dissonance is for a person to ensure that their actions are consistent with their values, or vice versa. It provides an introduction to the theory and covers the topics of cognitive dissonance following decisions, the effects of forced compliance, the impacts of voluntary and involuntary exposure to information, and the role of social support. Dissonance can also be experienced vicariously through people of a social group that we identify with.

Advances in Experimental Social Psychology

For instance, could the affect assessed with Elliot and Devine’s three items (1994; uneasy, uncomfortable and bothered) and Matz and Wood’s five items (2005; uneasy, uncomfortable, bothered, tense and concerned) be considered the same? The Dissonance Thermometer has been initially used to support the claim that CDS is experienced as a specific psychological discomfort instead of a general negative affect (Elliot & Devine, 1994). However, all the variations we have seen could actually be interpreted as evidence for a general and unspecified negative affect. When Festinger (1957) proposed cognitive dissonance theory, the behaviorist perspective and reinforcement theory (e.g., Skinner 1938) were influential in how theorists thought about human behavior.

To serve that purpose, the term regulation fits best with the idea of generally decreasing the motivational state, while the term reduction could be reserved for regulation specifically aimed at reducing the inconsistency. In our opinion, this terminology is more integrated with the general theory (see Vaidis and Bran, 2018), as well as more connected to current knowledge (see also Proulx et al., 2012; Jonas et al., 2014; Levy et al., 2017). Recently, several important theories which contributed to social psychological knowledge were partially discarded or relegated to a secondary role (Open Science Collaboration, 2015). This has been the case for ego depletion theory (Hagger et al., 2016), as well as for priming effects on impression formation (McCarthy et al., 2018), and cognitive performance (O’Donnell et al., 2018).

Such cognitions can be about behaviors, perceptions, attitudes, emotions, and beliefs. If the cognitions are relevant, they can be in agreement (consistent) or disagreement (inconsistent) with one another (Festinger, 1957). Only scant research has investigated multiple dissonance reduction strategies simultaneously (McGrath, 2017). However, in general, the likelihood that a particular cognition will change is determined by its resistance to change, which https://ecosoberhouse.com/ is based on its responsiveness to reality and the extent to which it is consonant with other cognitions (Harmon-Jones & Mills, 2019). Therefore, changes are more likely to happen in an element that is less resistant or less important (Cooper, 2007). An individual may fail to restore a consonance, if there is a lack of social support and new harmonious elements, or the existing problematic element is too satisfying (Harmon-Jones & Harmon-Jones, 2007).

For instance, in their seminal paper, Zanna and Cooper’s participants had to ingest a placebo pill that allegedly induced a negative mood. Because of this belief, participants in the dissonance condition were inclined to misattribute their psychological discomfort to the pill instead of the inconsistency, and thus they did not show any use of an inconsistency reduction strategy. If the CDS is a negative state, it is difficult to understand how individuals can misattribute it to a positive source. Incidentally, this discovery has motivated the conceptualization of the New Look Model (Cooper & Fazio, 1984) which defines cognitive dissonance as a state of neutral physiological arousal that may later be labelled positively or negatively (see also Schachter & Singer, 1962). While some data provided support for this conceptualization (e.g., Martinie et al., 2013), most scholars still consider the dissonance state to be aversive per nature. Although many studies have focused on a single dissonance reduction strategy (Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959; Aronson & Mills, 1959; Brehm, 1956), it is important to note that people may simultaneously adopt multiple strategies to counter the dissonance.

Social Verification Theory: A New Way to Conceptualize Validation, Dissonance, and Belonging

Instead of owning up to our hypocrisy, we will try any means possible of twisting our beliefs and judgements in a way that justifies our inconsistent behaviour. Despite our constant frustrations with inconsistencies in others, none of us can honestly deny the presence of incongruence within ourselves. Another way to make sense of what happened is to maintain the same belief about being taken away in a flying saucer but just change the date.

cognitive dissonance theory

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Three Days of Terror Strike Israel

Israeli aircraft struck a series of targets in the Gaza Strip early Monday in response to a series of rocket launches out of the Hamas-ruled territory. It was the third consecutive night of fighting between the enemies.

On Sunday, A man and a boy were lightly wounded while running to a bomb shelter in Sderot. A 53-year-old man was evacuated to hospital with light injuries. On Saturday night, a 29-year-old man suffered injuries while running for shelter.

Tensions have been heightened following last week’s escape from an Israeli prison by six Palestinian inmates, as well as struggling efforts by Egypt (with its Islamist leadership) to broker a long-term cease-fire following 11 days of consecutive terror attacks back in May.

The Israeli military reported three separate rocket launches late Sunday and early Monday above several localities near the Gaza Strip. According to the IDF, at least two of the launches were intercepted by its Iron Dome rocket defense system.

In response, the IDF said it attacked a number of Hamas targets, including several outposts, as well as a warehouse where the military said the terrorist group used to store weapons, ammunition and which served as a gateway for a tunnel into Israeli territory.

A member of the military Spokesperson Unit said in a statement, “The IDF will not accept a situation in which terrorist organizations act against the Israeli home front. The military will continue to respond strongly to terrorist acts from the Gaza Strip and considers Hamas responsible for everything that happens in the Strip.”

Egyptian negotiators passed a message from Israel to Gaza, warning that continued rocket fire would trigger a “very violent” response that may lead to a military operation in Gaza, Lebanon’s Al Akhbar newspaper reported.

Sources:
Israel hits Hamas targets in Gaza after rockets fired for 3rd day in row, by Associated Press via Ynetnews.com, September 13, 2021

Report: Egypt warned Hamas of ‘very violent’ reaction to continued rocket fire, by Arutz Sheva Staff, September 13, 2021

IDF attacks Hamas outposts, Iron Dome intercepts rocket, by Elad Benari/Arutz Sheva, September 13, 2021

 

 

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Lapid’s New Vision for Gaza: Is This Recycling Old Attempts at Peace?

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid presented on Sunday what he called a “new vision” for Israel’s relations with the Gaza Strip. He proposes that Israel “must move toward a multi-year process in Gaza of economy in return for security.” Lapid said that the aim of such a move is “to create stability on both sides of the border. This is not a proposal for negotiations with Hamas. Israel will not award prizes to a terrorist organization and weaken the [Palestinian] Authority (terrorists too) that works with us on a regular basis,” Lapid said. (Does “working with us” mean that Israel lends them money and they take it and continue their “Pay for Slay”)

Shortly after Lapid’s speech at a conference at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism Policy of Reichman University, a rocket was fired by Gaza terrorists toward Israeli communities for the third straight night. Thankfully it was intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system.

What guarantee does Lapid have that changing Gaza’s current economic reality and employing international investment will bring diplomatic progress toward peace? Has he forgotten that many EU nations consistently fund illegal communities built on legally owned Jewish land? Could involving the international community end up backfiring on Israel? Strict terms to not interfere with Israel’s Sovereignty would be mandatory as we see it. How will his plan stop terrorists from launching rockets or arson balloons at Israeli communities? Until the good people in Gaza can rise up freely and work peacefully with Israel – and the Arab terrorists and haters of Israel are pushed back totally- we don’t see how his plan can accomplish anything.

Source:
Lapid proposes ‘new vision’ for Gaza, promises economic steps for Hamas quiet, by Aaron Boxerman/Times of Israel, September 12, 2021

 

 

 

 

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WHEREAS, The AFT in San Diego Is Anti-Semitic

Right before Rosh Hashanah, the American Federation of Teachers in San Diego, Local 1931, issued an anti-Israel statement.

This statement is worth reading in full, because not only does it say that Jews have no right to self-determination, but it relies on lies in nearly every sentence to make that point.

Teachers who teach bigotry and lies are supremely unqualified to be teachers.

This AFT statement is an outrageous litany of lies, supported by people who are supposed to care about the truth. It is full of bigotry while written by those who are supposed to teach children to treat people equally. It is hypocrisy in its purest sense.

The kindest thing that can be said about these teachers is that they are uneducated on the truth about Israel. More likely, they are blatantly anti-Semitic. Fire them now.

Read the Elder of Ziyon’s blog for the full statement.

Source:
American Federation of Teachers – San Diego issues an anti-Israel statement filled with antisemitism and lies, by Elder of Ziyon, September 13, 2021

 

 

 

 

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Bennett Will Not Abandon Building In Judea and Samaria

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met today with the heads of the Yesha Council.

The meeting dealt with issues related to the development of the communities in Judea and Samaria and the strengthening of local authorities in the area. It was agreed to continue working together to advance the issues.

The meeting was attended by Yesha Council Chairman David Elhayani, Secretary General Amana CEO Zeev Hever, Yesha Council CEO Yigal Dilmoni and Yesha Council Deputy Chairman Matanya Shapira.

This is the first official meeting between Bennett and the leaders of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria since the inauguration of the new government. Bennett promised that construction in Judea and Samaria would not stop but would continue at the same pace as in recent years. “I am committed to the settlements,” the prime minister clarified. “There will be no construction freeze, but there will also be no annexation.”

That Bennett is committed to the continuity of new construction in Judea and Samaria
(which was proceeding at a trickle) is something. However, to fail to apply Sovereignty avoids the truth about Israel’s legal rights to the land. Similarly, we are still shaking our heads at Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s meeting last week with Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas and his subsequent agreement to lend the PA NIS 500 million – UNCONDITIONALLY. Who is Bennett’s priority when it comes to ensuring a safe and secure Israel – Jews or Arabs? He can’t have it both ways.

Source:
Bennett: I told the Americans we would not stop building, by Arutz Sheva Staff, September 9 2021

 

 

 

 

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A Crack In Israel’s Security That Must Be Filled

A guard tower overlooking the entrance to the tunnel used in the escape of six security prisoners from Gilboa Prison earlier this week was unmanned at the time of the prison break.

With the tunnel’s exit just a few meters away from the guard tower, initial reports had suggested the guard had fallen asleep on the job while the group escaped. But citing guards from the prison facility, the Ynet news site said that there was in fact nobody at the guard post at all.

The report said that the reason for the post being unmanned was unclear, and that a camera was pointed at the tunnel’s opening, but nobody was looking at the video feed.

Another news outlet reported that the tower had been vacant for over a month at the orders of the prison commander Freddy Ben Shitrit due to a manpower shortage.

This crack in Israel’s security is obviously disturbing and puts the country’s safety at risk. How did this security measure fall through the cracks? We will watch for an answer and trust that the problem will be addressed immediately.

Sources:
Guards say tower overlooking tunnel used in prison break was unmanned, by TOI Staff, September 9, 2021

Questions plague Israeli security forces after jailbreak, by AFP via Ynetnews, September 8, 2021

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Is the US Finally Coming To Its Senses on Iran?

“I’m not going to put a date on it but we are getting closer to the point at which a strict return to compliance with the JCPOA does not reproduce the benefits that that agreement achieved.” That statement was by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken who told reporters Wednesday, sending out a warning to the Islamic Republic following a scathing report by the IAEA.

The nuclear watchdog said it had been “seriously undermined” after a number of inspections were banned by local authorities.

We pray the United States comes to the full realization that Iran is not serious about abiding by any agreement and should never be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons. No amount of US diplomacy can change a terrorist mentality with the goal of wiping Israel off of the map. Sanctions imposed by the Trump administration MUST stay in place!

Memo to Secretary Blinken: Time to wake up and face reality. This means no Iran “deal” of any kind – ever. That should be obvious to you now.

Source:
Blinken warns: U.S. close to giving up on Iran deal, by Eitan Divinsky/Arutz Sheva, September 8, 2021

What Is the Iran Nuclear Deal?, by Kali Robinson/Council on Foreign Relations, August 18, 2021

 

 

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