On Monday, Al Sharpton gave a speech at a conference held by the Religious Action Center, the advocacy and activism branch of organized Reform Judaism in the U.S. Sharpton instigated the 1991 Crown Heights riots, in which Yankel Rosenbaum was murdered, as well as the 1995 attack on Freddie’s Fashion Mart—a Jewish-owned business in Harlem—in which eight others were killed. In his speech, Sharpton offered some weak expressions of remorse over his past “excesses” and use of “cheap” rhetoric, and condemned anti-Semitism in general terms. Jonathan Tobin comments:

Sharpton’s vague apology . . . didn’t come close to accountability for his role in fomenting anti-Jewish riots and violence. . . . That the [Reform] movement should take upon itself the right to grant Sharpton absolution for the past is chutzpah indeed. Reform Jews weren’t chased and beaten in the streets of the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn in the summer of 1991, after Sharpton helped whip up hate by seeking to turn a traffic accident into an excuse for what many termed a pogrom. . . .

Had Sharpton owned up to his past in an honest manner, the situation now might be different. But his amorphous confession to rabble-rousing, in which the words “Crown Heights” or “Yankel Rosenbaum” never passed his lips, was more about self-praise and a chance to be cheered for his freshly minted interest in black-Jewish unity than actual repentance.

The fact that he condemned anti-Semitism and noted that one couldn’t fight racism without also standing against hatred of Jews may have sufficed for his audience. . . . But there were two things missing from that condemnation, which centered on the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville and the Pittsburgh and Poway Shabbat-morning synagogue shootings. Sharpton made no mention of the rise of anti-Semitic hate from some on the left, including Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. . . . Nor did he have a word to say about the dramatic rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes in New York City, in which African Americans have targeted Orthodox Jews. But, of course, neither of those examples can be blamed on Donald Trump.

Last week, Jordanian police arrested sixteen members of the country’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood for acquiring explosives, trying to manufacture drones, and planning rocket attacks. The cell was likely working in coordination with Hamas (the Palestinian offshoot of the Brotherhood) and Hizballah, and perhaps receiving funding from Iran. Ghaith al-Omari provides some background:

The Brotherhood has been active in Jordan since the 1940s, and its relations with the government remained largely cooperative for decades even as other political parties were banned in the 1950s. In exchange, the Brotherhood usually (but not always) supported the palace’s foreign policy and security measures, particularly against Communist and socialist parties.

Relations became more adversarial near the turn of the century after the Brotherhood vociferously opposed the 1994 peace treaty with Israel. The Arab Spring movement that emerged in 2011 saw further deterioration. Unlike other states in the region, however, Jordan did not completely crack down on the MB, instead seeking to limit its influence.

Yet the current Gaza war has seen another escalation, with the MB repeatedly accusing the government of cooperating with Israel and not doing enough to support the Palestinians.

Jordanian security circles are particularly worried about the MB’s vocal wartime identification with Hamas, an organization that was considered such a grave security threat that it was expelled from the kingdom in 1999. The sentiment among many Jordanian officials is that the previous lenient approach failed to change the MB’s behavior, emboldening the group instead.