T. Belman. I agree.  Israel has a big opportunity to capitalize on China’s fall for other reasons also.  Israel could partner with the Palestinians in Jordan to manufacture goods with Israeli know how and Palestinian cheap labour.   Jordan could also see these goods to the Muslim world.

This partnership would require an influx of many Palestinians from Gaza, Judea and Samaria to fill the growing number of jobs there. This would also benefit Israel by causing considerable Arab emigration.

By Mike Konrad, AMERICAN THINKER

There is a lot of conjecture about who will profit from this coronavirus after the virus and the panic has abated. May I suggest that one winner is presently being overlooked.

Some suggest that the U.S. will win the economic war, and that China will lose in the wake of coronavirus. They see China’s behavior as scandalous, and that this coronavirus panic will draw away investments to cause the final abandonment of China as the world’s cheap manufacturing supply house.

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www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com In the 24th May 20 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:

• The Israeli Chief Medical Officer of a US biotech reported good trial results of its new vaccine.
• The first arrival in Israel of a commercial flight from the United Arab Emirates.
• An Israeli hospital uses ultraviolet light to sterilize rooms from Covid-19.
• Israeli transportation innovations showcased at EcoMotion 2020 in Arizona.
• Hidden writing has been revealed on Dead Sea scrolls.
• Israel celebrates the anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem – online.

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By Simon Watkins, OIL PRICE – May 20, 2020,

Even before the latest slew of announcements regarding the agreement by Saudi Arabia’s flagship oil and gas company, Aramco, to acquire a 70 percent stake in the Kingdom’s key petrochemicals company, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), for US$69.1 billion, from the country’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the ‘deal’ looked like a meaningless accounting trick that transfers money from one side of the Saudi balance sheet to another. It looked like that because that is what it is but it is much worse than that as well.

Over and above the rhetorical nonsense spouted by the various involved participants about value-enhancing ‘synergies’ between the two entities floats the stark fact that there are none at all. Aramco chief executive officer, Amin Nasser, has often stressed that he wants to position the company less as a straightforward crude oil extraction unit and more as a high-value-added developer of advanced petrochemical products.

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PM’s allies claim the right-wing and the marginalized are in the dock with him; opponents say the rule of law is at stake; come the day, how will half the country handle defeat?

By HAVIV RETTIG GUR, TOI

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, is flanked by Likud lawmakers at the party’s post-election event in Tel Aviv, on March 2, 2020. (Gili Yaari/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has quite the busy day on Sunday.

At 11 a.m., the 35th Government gathered in Chagall Hall in the Knesset for its second-ever cabinet meeting. On the agenda: establishing the powerful cabinet committees that will deal with national security and the coronavirus crisis; appointing eight new deputy ministers; formally establishing the ministries of “settlement affairs” and “water resources” as well as establishing the “Alternate Prime Minister’s Office” for rival-turned-partner Benny Gantz (though voting to form these offices was apparently delayed at the least minute due to budgetary issues).

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T. Belman. A blow by blow account of the events surrounding the release of the Trump Plan in January and the changing landscape. At first the settler leaders were told that Trump would support annexation within 48 hours. Unfortunately one of the settler leaders put out a press release, even though they had been told not to divulge anything for 48 hours. The press release angered the Saudis who figuratively stormed the Whitehouse.

As a result, the next day the expected annexation hit an obstacle. The Trump team announced that the annexation was subsject to completing a “mapping process” that would take time.  I argued at the time that it was a stall because there was no need for mapping.  Afterall the Whitehouse and Israel had long agreed on the boundaries of the settlements so no mapping was necessary.

Israeli mayors flew to DC for Trump plan rollout, believing US would back sovereignty within days, but 1 of them says colleague’s press release blasting proposal changed everything.

By JACOB MAGID, TOI

EFRAT, West Bank — It was Thursday afternoon, January 23, just six weeks before Israel’s third consecutive election, and a visiting US Vice President Mike Pence had just invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-rival Benny Gantz to the White House the following week to discuss  “prospects for peace here in the Holy Land” with President Donald Trump.

Hours later, a senior Israeli official briefed a number of reporters on the upcoming trip, saying it would feature the unveiling of the White House’s long-awaited “Vision for Peace.” Divulging some of the details of the up-until-then largely un-leaked plan, the senior official said it would allow for Israeli annexation of all West Bank settlements as well as the Jordan Valley with what is left beyond the Green Line to be transformed into a Palestinian state.

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A militant member of Fatah has a change of heart.

By Hugh Fitzgerald, FPM

A Palestinian who was once a militant member of Fatah has had a change of heart and wants the Israeli government to stop giving money to the dictatorial and corrupt PA.

His extraordinary challenge to the PA is reported in the Jerusalem Post here:

Mohammad Aref Massad, a former Palestinian security prisoner, has demanded that Israel stop transferring tax-revenue funds to the Palestinian Authority on the pretext that the money is being used to fund terrorism and corruption.

Massad, who currently lives in Haifa, made his demand in an urgent petition he filed last week with the High Court of Justice against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and the Knesset Finance Committee.
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“They don’t need me to negotiate, they need me to surrender and I was not defeated.”

By Tovah Lazaroff, JPOST

Israeli annexation of the West Bank would cause the collapse of the Palestinian Authority and is an existential threat to Jordan, PLO Executive Committee Secretary-General Saeb Erekat charged in a briefing with the Left-wing group Peace Now.

“Once [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] moves to annexation, the PA is destroyed. It is going to collapse. I know it. It can not sustain the situation,” Erekat said.

He spoke with Peace Now through a web event the group hosted on Friday in the aftermath of Netanyahu’s pledge last week to bring the issue of annexation of West Bank settlements to his new government as soon as possible.

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US toughens sanctions on technology company that could scupper China’s 5G aspirations, days before banning investment in China-linked fund

ASIA TIMES

This was the week that the US began turning the screw on China.

No one could say they didn’t see it coming – President Donald Trump had long been rattling his sabre against technology giant Huawei Technologies and threatening to bar a key American pension fund from buying into Chinese-based investments. It also follows weeks of berating Beijing over the Covid-19 outbreak.

But when Trump confirmed both would face economic penalties, markets – and analysts – began to fear the worst.

The Commerce Department said at the end of last week that it would broaden its sanctions enforcement on Huawei to include semiconductor designs that are developed using US software and technology. That threatens sales of the Shenzhen-based telecoms firm’s sales of handsets, which use US-designed chips made my Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC).

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How much should America pay to maintain the fraying fabric?

By Tony Badran, TABLET

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s trip to Israel this past week involved, among other subjects of common American-Israeli interest, the matter of Iran’s so-called precision-guided missile program (PGM) in Lebanon and Syria. Pompeo’s visit was preceded by a series of alleged Israeli strikes on missile facilities in Syria, including one against a Hezbollah target.

Syria and Lebanon are key to Iran’s goal to ring Israel with missile bases, and as Levantine buffer states, both countries are fated to be theaters of conflict between stronger regional powers. Lebanon long has been a headquarters of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its local unit, Hezbollah. On top of that, Lebanon is disintegrating. What people used to refer to as Lebanon’s economy and financial sector have collapsed; the result of the structural corruption built into the sectarian political system, which is run by a terror group directed by Iran.

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Confusion over the removal of missiles and aircraft from Saudi Arabia could invite the aggression the United States is trying to avoid.

By John Hannah and Bradley Bowman,

When the U.S. Defense Department announced, on May 7, that it would withdraw two Patriot missile batteries and several fighter aircraft from Saudi Arabia, it looked like an ominous development in the tense relationship between Washington and Riyadh. Speculation was rife that it was an effort by the Trump administration to punish the kingdom for starting an oil price war that—in concert with collapsing oil demand due to the coronavirus pandemic—has wreaked havoc in the U.S. shale oil industry.

When the Pentagon announced the withdrawal of Patriot missiles and fighter aircraft, it looked like an ominous development in the U.S.-Saudi relationship.

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By Bradley Bowman, DEFENSE NEWS
CMPP Senior Director

The United States is now engaged in an intense military technology competition with the Chinese Communist Party. The ability of U.S. troops to deter and defeat great power authoritarian adversaries hangs in the balance. To win this competition, Washington must beef up its military cooperative research and development efforts with tech-savvy democratic allies. At the top of that list should be Israel.

Two members of the Senate Armed Services Committee understand this well. Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., introduced S 3775, the “United States-Israel Military Capability Act of 2020,” on Wednesday. This bipartisan legislation would require the establishment of a U.S.-Israel operations-technology working group. As the senators wrote in a February letter to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, the working group would help ensure U.S. “warfighters never encounter a more technologically advanced foe.”

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Abbas is a one-trick pony who keeps himself relevant by pretending that his main mission in life is to obtain Palestinian independence from the “occupation.”

By RUTHIE BLUM, JPOST

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during a leadership meeting in Ramallah, in the West Bank May 19, 2020 (photo credit: ALAA BADARNEH/POOL VIA REUTERS)

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas needs new material. Even the flies on the wall at his compound in Ramallah must have yawned on Tuesday night when he announced – for the umpteenth time – that the PA is no longer bound by previous agreements with Israel.

The only twist to his tired mantra was the inclusion of the United States in the chant.

“We hold the American administration fully responsible for the oppression befalling the Palestinian people, and we consider it a primary partner with the Israeli occupation government in all its aggressive and unfair decisions and measures against our people,” he declared to PLO officials summoned to the emergency meeting to listen to his televised rant.

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Annexation will be the greatest challenge that Europe has faced in the conflict since the oil crisis after the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

By ANDERS PERSSON, JPOST

THE PALESTINIAN flag flies at a Palestinian Authority diplomatic post.

Full Israeli annexation means that there will not be a true peace between Israel and her neighbors. This will redefine Europe’s role in the region in a way not seen since the oil crisis almost 50 years ago.

It is still not certain whether Israel’s annexation of its West Bank settlements will go ahead as planned after July 1, as stipulated in the new Israeli government’s coalition agreement. Much can still happen in the region and in the world that may alter Israel’s plans.

However, if Israel goes ahead and annexes all its settlements in the 30% of the West Bank where they are located, it will be the greatest challenge that Europe has faced in the conflict since the oil crisis after the 1973 Yom Kippur War; a game-changing event that will redefine Europe’s relations with the entire region for decades to come, just like the oil crisis did.

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by Howard Rotberg

Psychological Projection, according to UrbanDictionary.com, is “An unconscious self-defence mechanism characterized by a person unconsciously attributing their own issues onto someone or something else as a form of delusion and denial.”

Former President Barack Obama delivered a virtual commencement speech May 16th for about 27,000 total students from 78 historically black colleges and universities.

During the online speech he said: “More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing.  A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge.”

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By JUDAH ARI GROSS, TOI

Hezbollah fighters stand in formation at a rally to mark Jerusalem Day or Al-Quds Day, in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, on May 31, 2019. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Twenty years after Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon, the enemy it fought there — the Iran-backed Hezbollah — is stronger than ever, battle-hardened from its time in Syria backing the regime, expanding its operations to the Syrian Golan border, and constantly amassing more powerful weapons for a future war with the Jewish state.

At the same time, the once-small guerrilla fighting force, now a major player in Lebanese politics, is burdened with a yoke of major responsibilities to the country and faces an economic crisis as well as the ire of a population that is being crushed by that financial collapse, caused by decades of government mismanagement and greed. The American assassination of Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian general behind much of the Islamic Republic’s expansionist activities, has also shaken Tehran and its proxies, including Hezbollah, as they seek a replacement for a nigh-irreplaceable figure.
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T. Belman. Some people worry that the PA would seize on the opportunity to get a state on 70% of the land.  obviously the PA has chosen to be obstructionist as they always do.  My guess is that Israel won’t retailiate and will proceed with the “annexation”.  Once the law is passed extending Israeli law to the settlements and the Jordan Valley, the PA will have a choice to make, either reinstate the security cooperation or hunker down because without the security cooperation there is no right to negotiate.

Ending coordination will hurt and endanger both Israel and the PA, but faced with Israeli “annexation”, the Palestinians are increasingly willing to employ desperate measures

By AVI ISSACHAROFF, TOI`

Palestinian policemen participate in a training session at their headquarters in the West Bank city of Hebron on January 30, 2019. (HAZEM BADER / AFP)

Israelis, particularly Israeli politicians, tend to be dismissive of grandiose pronouncements made by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. And perhaps they are justified.

In response to Israeli actions he has deemed hostile, Abbas has more than once threatened to dismantle the PA, cut off security coordination with Israel and tear up international agreements such as the Oslo Accords. He’s never followed through before. But this time appears to be different.

This time, Abbas has moved to back up his words. After announcing earlier this week that the PA was no longer bound by agreements with Israel as a result of its plans to annex parts of the West Bank, Abbas has taken action to really and truly halt security coordination with Jerusalem. Israeli sources in the past 24 hours have confirmed that the PA has stopped all facets of coordination.

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Shoshana Bryen. “It helped that Arab society has a high proportion of medical workers, says Sa’ada; they helped get the message around. “It’s one of our society’s assets; it’s hard to find a family within Arab society that doesn’t have at least one health sector worker,” he says.”

Important point – Arabs are well-integrated into Israel’s health system as doctors and, particularly, pharmacists.

It is what people who denigrate Israeli society (including Ha’aretz) don’t want you to think about Israel’s Arab citizens.

They would prefer that you see them as downtrodden and without agency in their lives. Not so – and that’s to the credit of the community and the State.

Though they are 21 percent of population, Arabs account for only 2 percent of COVID-19 deaths and 6 percent of cases. Even the month of Ramadan ended without any outbreaks

By Ronny Linder, HAARETZ

There were two communities that worried the Health Ministry in particular during the coronavirus crisis – Arabs and ultra-Orthodox Jews, two groups that live in relatively crowded confines, pray in their respective houses of worship and don’t always cooperate with the establishment.

But while the concerns about the Haredi community did in fact pan out, all the divisions of Arab society beat the forecasts and finished with the country’s lowest rates of infection and death.

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T. Belman.  Hurray for Lipstadt.  I have been making the same case like, forever. Often  when I decide to post an article I remove the hyphen wherever it is used. Everyone should argue against the hyphen whenever they can.

Acclaimed historian Prof. Deborah Lipstadt is leading a fight to lose the hyphen from anti-Semitism, saying its presence ‘completely distorts the meaning of the word’

By Allison Kaplan Sommer, HAARETZ

William Shakespeare famously asked “What’s in a name?” But when it comes to the conversation about anti-Semitism, the question is far more specific: What’s in a hyphen?

For Prof. Deborah Lipstadt, the hyphen means a great deal – and she argues that it’s time to get rid of it.

In January 2019, the acclaimed historian published the book “Antisemitism: Here and Now.” Together with explanations of its history, background, resurgence and a playbook on how to battle the phenomenon, the book included a clarion call to change the way the word is written. Lipstadt wrote emphatically that it should no longer be written “anti-Semitism.” Instead, the hyphen and uppercase S should be banished and it should be one word: antisemitism.

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In Visit to PMU Headquarters, Al-Khadhimi Assigns Iran-Backed Militias As Core Iraqi State Power To Fight ISIS

MEMRI
By: Yigal Carmon and S. Ali*

On May 16, 2020, newly appointed Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi addressed the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) in a visit to their headquarters.

He was received by the government appointee PMU Chairman Falih Al-Fayyadh and other PMU commanders including Kata’ib Hezbollah Commander Abu Fadak, whose militias accused Al-Khadhimi in April of conspiring with the U.S. on killing Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis.

The meeting was also attended by the commanders of the four divisions affiliated with Iraq’s Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, who on March 19 ordered the divisions’ withdrawal from the PMU, citing differences over the PMU’s administrative structure.

The visit, which came two days after Al-Khadhimi’s visit to the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Force (ICT), raised eyebrows since he pledged in his first speech before parliament to restrict the use of weapons to state institutions only, which would mean the disarmament or inclusion into state institutions of the Iran-backed militias that are part of the PMU.

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