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Author: David Gerstman

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David Gerstman

David Gerstman blogged as Soccer Dad from 2003 to 2010. Formerly a computer programmer, he is now a blogger for The Israel Project's The Tower blog.

In a stunning reversal, the Trafalgar Group, which has been one of the most reliable pollsters this election season, released its latest polling numbers for next week's Georgia Senate runoff showing that the two Democratic challengers - Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff - are now leading the incumbent Republican senators - Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.

Over the weekend, Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) unveiled its list of the Top 40 Global Advocates for Israel Online and it included a name familiar to Legal Insurrection readers: LI author Vijeta Uniyal. How did an Indian man, a resident of Germany (though currently in South Africa for work-related reasons), with little to no exposure to Jews and Israel become one of the internet's foremost advocates for Israel?

Last week The Jerusalem Post reported that a recent study of Palestinian Authority textbooks found that the ones used in Palestinian schools are preparing students "for a continuous and long-range confrontation against the State of Israel in order to achieve the final goal, which is the establishment of the State of Palestine that will stretch on the entire territory of the Land of Israel."

In recent weeks, Iran has escalated its confrontation with the United States as well as its malign activities in the Middle East. Earlier this month Iranian operatives attacked two tankers in the Gulf Oman.

The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs just released an electronic "book," documenting the ties between the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign and Palestinian terror groups. The book, written by  Dan Diker and Adam Shay lays out the connection between Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)—effectively the clearinghouse in the United States for all BDS activity—and BDS National Committee (BNC), based in the West Bank, and comprised of members groups that have been designated as terrorist groups by the U.S.

Top Palestinian business leaders are following the lead of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and refusing to attend next month's economic workshop in Bahrain, The New York Times reported Monday. The report noted the objections of several prominent Palestinian businessmen. Their primary complaint echoed that of the PA: economic incentives cannot replace the necessary political elements of the peace process, the ending of the Israeli occupation.

In an exclusive report this week, Israel's Ministry of Strategic Affairs, which is tasked with fighting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign to isolate Israel internationally, revealed that the BDS movement has deployed hundreds of bots to promote a campaign to boycott this year's Eurovision Song Contest, which is slated to be held in Tel Aviv later this month.