By Karen Harradine, CONSERVATIVE WOMAN, UK

THE squabbles over Dominic Cummings might seem a faint memory but politicians from all parties are still demonstrating their double standards. They happily cheer on Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstrators, gathering in their thousands around the country, while it’s still illegal for the rest of us to visit our elderly parents. Whatever the ‘one rule for them and another for us’ judgment over Cummings, it is now quite clear there is one rule for law-abiding citizens who obey the draconian lockdown and one for the thugs creating havoc in the name of protesting against racism.

Of the absurd as well as shocking images we’ve been besieged with from these protests – worthy of Chairman Mao’s show trials during the Cultural Revolution – the most obscene has been the sight of politicians and police ‘taking the knee’. 

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Around 1990, James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, traveled to Jordan to raise interest in his plan to undermine the Jewish community in America by organizing the Left here against Israel’s “oppression” of Palestinians.

Zogby saw the power of framing Israelis as “white oppressors” of innocent, indigenous, darker-skinned Palestinians. And he saw the possibilities of mobilizing left-leaning ethnic, racial, and religious groups against “Israeli oppression.”

The prescient Zogby understood how the Jewish left could easily become the willing lynchpin of his strategy. 

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TV reports that officials left in ‘fog’ as Netanyahu yet to reveal scope of move, with military plans being drawn up for everything from calm to onslaught of suicide bombings

By TOI STAFF 14 June 2020, 10:43 pm

A Palestinian protester walks by burning tires amid clashes with Israeli forces at the northern entrance of the West Bank city of Ramallah on February 14, 2020. (ABBAS MOMANI/AFP)

Just over two weeks before a possible Israeli annexation of some as-yet unspecified portion of the West Bank, the Israel Defense Forces is preparing for a wide range of scenarios for potential regional fallout — up to and including a large-scale wave of terror attacks — while still not being told exactly what the government has in mind.

The military is gearing up for possible massive unrest, Channel 12 reported Sunday evening, including what it is calling a potential “state of war” characterized by a Second Intifada-style onslaught of suicide bombing attacks.

The coalition agreement between Likud and Blue and White stipulates that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can advance an annexation proposal in the cabinet or Knesset beginning July 1. Netanyahu has promised to do so at that date, though he has faced growing pressure from all sides, including leaders of West Bank settlements, to delay the move.

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T. Belman. I miss Megyn Kelly. That said, Ben Carson was ahead of his time when he made these points as a presidential candidate in 2015. And now Candace Owen is echoing the same message.

Starts at 5:00

T. Belman. Yes, the Jordan Valley first. I believe it will take place in early July. This will be done without reference to the Trump Plan. As for the settlements, no one thinks that Israel won’t keep them so there is no rush.

Israeli sovereignty will initially be applied in “large swathes” of the Jordan Valley. Sovereignty in the large settlement blocs will be carried out at later stages, not this July, and will initially include Maale Adumim and large portions of Gush Etzion, says a senior Palestinian Authority official.

By Daniel Siryoti, ISRAEL HAYOM 06-14-2020 13:53

The suburb of Maale Adumim, near Jerusalem | Photo: AFP/Thomas Coex

Israel’s application of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley will be more limited and less broad in scope than originally planned – moderate Arab countries have been telling senior Palestinian officials recently, Arab diplomatic sources confirmed to Israel Hayom.

The sources emphasized that Israeli and American officials in Jerusalem and Washington have made up their minds to implement sovereignty between July and September. A senior official in Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ bureau also confirmed the details, saying the messages were delivered to Abbas and his advisers via senior officials from moderate Arab countries at the request of Israel and the American administration.
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T. Belman. International law holds that the lands are ours. To say they are “disputed” doesn’t alter the fact that they are ours.  The Arabs have no right to them.  In my opinion to say they are disputed in a misnomer.

It is not Palestinian land. It is land that is disputed, and the only way to resolve this is if the two sides can negotiate a settlement of the dispute directly together.

By Jason Greenblatt, JPOST JUNE 14, 2020

Settlement of Elon Moreh, near Nablus, West Bank, June 11, 2020  (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)

On Friday, an opinion piece by Yousef al-Otaiba, United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United States, was published in an Israeli newspaper. I spent three years at the White House working to bring Israel and its Arab neighbors closer, and though the op-ed’s overall message potentially undermines my efforts and those of the Trump administration, I commend Otaiba for writing it. I am glad he spoke directly to an Israeli audience.

Moreover, his piece is well written and devoid of the hysteria and robot-like comments often seen from diplomats and politicians who speak about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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Analysis: As U.S. is engulfed by racial justice protests and economic fallout from coronavirus, PM’s dream of annexing 30% of the West Bank grows more and more distant, and it seems he’ll probably have to settle for a more ‘symbolic’ move

By Itamar Eichner, YNET 06.14.20,

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House (Photo: GPO)

On January 28, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced his Middle East peace plan, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left the White House accompanied by victorious fanfare, believing that in less than a week he would table plans for annexation of the Jordan Valley and all Israeli settlements in the West Bank for the government’s approval.

Since then, however, a rift has opened between Washington and Netanyahu, who is now trying to bridge the gap on various issues, while also trying to save face.

Netanyahu on Sunday is set to convene another meeting attended by U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, and Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin to devise an outline for the move that all parties can agree on.

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An Interview with Dinesh D’Souza DON’T MISS IT.

The technology has been successfully tested at wastewater treatments sites in Karmiel and Netufa, and at a food plant in southern Israel.

By EYTAN HALON, JPOST

An AgRobics wastewater treatment facility

Major industries may be quickly striding into a technologically-advanced and smarter future, but waste disposal solutions often remain stuck in the past.

Particularly harmful and complicated-to-treat wastewater streams, produced by municipalities and food processing factories worldwide, are often disposed of via land spreading or, in some cases, dumped into aquifers and rivers.

Seeking to bring the field of wastewater treatment into the 21st century, and embrace the popularity of circular economy technologies, Shfar’am-based AgRobics has developed a new “bio-stabilizer” technology that both improves wastewater treatment and collects biogas for energy production from the microorganism-rich waste.

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By David Israel, JEWISH PRESS

Billionaire Haim Saban (r) with Secretary of State John Kerry and Ambassador Martin Indyk. / U.S. Department of State via Wikimedia

According to Barak Ravid reporting for Axios (Billionaire Haim Saban advised UAE ambassador on Israeli annexation op-ed), Israeli-American billionaire Haim Saban assisted in writing and publishing UAE Ambassador to Washington Yousef Al-Otaiba’s Friday’s op-ed in Yedioth Aharonoth (Annexation will be a serious setback for better relations with the Arab world).Al-Otaiba warned Israeli readers that a Netanyahu attempt to impose Israeli law on Jewish communities in about 30% of Judea and Samaria “will ignite violence and rouse extremists. It will send shock waves around the region, especially in Jordan whose stability – often taken for granted – benefits the entire region, particularly Israel.”Ravid cites Israeli sources who say Al-Otaiba asked Saban in early June how to best reach Israeli public opinion with a message against the plans for sovereignty, and Saban suggested the message should be in Hebrew and through a major media outlet – namely Yedioth.

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by Ariel Kahana, Israel Hayom, 6/12/20

*By taking a clear stand against the International Criminal Court and backing it up with sanctions that also apply to ICC probes against Israel, the 45th president is once again proving himself Israel’s best friend.*

After threats comes action: Years of American warnings about the International Criminal Court’s continued probes prompted US President Donald Trump to take unprecedented steps against the problematic institution in The Hague on Thursday.

Trump, being Trump, has struck a direct blow to the staff of the ICC who were supposed to investigate ?US soldiers who were active in Afghanistan and Iraq. This applies not only ICC personnel, but also their ?property in the US and their families, who will not be allowed to enter the ?US.

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If we can get past the 53-year-long dispute that has torn us apart, we can redirect our energies to the serious domestic issues that require our attention.

By Nadav Shragai, ISRAEL HAYOM

Like two boxers who keep pummeling each other after the bell, the Right and Left are keeping up the debate over sovereignty because of their existing ritual rivalry without seeing that something fundamental has changed. The true, critical, and narrow window of opportunity that history is opening for us is not just the rare American backing for Israeli sovereignty in 30% of Judea and Samaria, but the one that allows us, for the first time, to reach a consensus amongst ourselves on an issue that has torn us apart for 53 years.

The tragedy is that the sides debating the future of the “territories” are so invested in what they have been doing for the last 50 years – fighting their political rivals until they bleed – that they can’t see the real issue.

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Calls for economic sanctions against Israel risk a costly collision with U.S. anti-boycott laws, as companies such as Airbnb can attest.

By Richard Goldberg, Senior Advisor, FDD

Israel’s new government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz, may soon declare Israeli sovereignty over roughly 30 percent of the West Bank, including major Israeli settlement blocs and the Jordan Valley. Some European governments are reportedly pushing the European Union for a tough response against Israel, including economic sanctions. European governments should reject these ideas—not just because they’re wrong, but also because they carry significant risks for European companies and economies.

An Israeli declaration of sovereignty over parts of the territories captured in the 1967 Six-Day War would do little to change the facts on the ground in the decadeslong Arab-Israeli conflict. Some argue that it could even bring Israel closer to making territorial concessions to the Palestinians, with Israelis feeling more secure in the long-term vision of a demilitarized Palestinian state in which Jewish population centers in the West Bank become part of Israel and Israel maintains security control over the Jordan Valley. Indeed, the prospect that incorporating a large part of the West Bank into Israel proper might be a prelude to Palestinian statehood in the rest is already drawing concern from Netanyahu’s right flank.

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By Shoshana Bryen and Stephen Bryen • The Washington Times   June 12, 2020 •

Germany has been a thorn in Washington’s side on many issues from its failure to spend 2% of its very healthy GDP on its own military defense to its trade with Iran — including, some suspect, under-the-table nuclear goods trade — and the promotion of a U.S.-independent European Army.

For years it was on the wrong side on terrorism and terror-funding policy, only recently declaring Hezbollah a terrorist organization. And it is completely on the wrong side, from Washington’s point of view, on energy. The Germans are not only dependent on Russian natural gas supplies but are backing the newest pipeline to pump even more Russian gas into Germany and across Europe.

And so, when President Trump announced a planned reduction in American troop strength in Germany, it was seen as a knock on Germany and on NATO and a gift to Russia. Germany, maybe. NATO, no. And Russia won’t be pleased.

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“Annexation” is not necessary because Israel had and has the best claim to these areas.

By Yochanan Visser, INN    , 11/06/20 23:12

Jordan Valley

Israeli Supreme Court took another controversial decision on Tuesday and declared a law passed by the Knesset in 2017 invalid. Under the now annulled legislation, more than 4,000 homes of Jews in Judea and Samaria were declared legal, and the municipalities in the historic heartland of Israel were given the right to confiscate Palestinian Arab land for new construction according to zoning plans and provided the owners were compensated generously for the loss of their real estate.

The Supreme Court decision brought joy to the left-wing camp in Israel and satisfaction among the Palestinian Arabs whose representatives from EU-sponsored NGOs brought the case to the court.

The Likud party of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu immediately announced that new legislation would be introduced that would effectively overturn the Supreme Court decision.

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by Seth Frantzman, JPOST

UAE Ambassador to the US Yousef Al Otaiba warned Israel that annexing parts of the West Bank would “upend Israeli aspirations” for improved ties with the Arab world.

Israelis woke up to a potential new era on Friday with an article by the United Arab Emirates ambassador to the US warning that Israel’s planned annexation of parts of the West Bank would “upend Israeli aspirations for improved security, economic and cultural ties with the Arab world and with the UAE.”

The message was titled “annexation of normalization.” This is an unprecedented warning coming from a country that doesn’t have relations with Israel but where relations appeared to have unique potential.

The article has several important ramifications, what follows are the top five.
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I was the Shabbes Goy of Sterling Place and Utica Ave.

by Joe Velarde

(Joe Velarde became the fencing coach of Columbia University in the 1940’s-50s and was an early advocate of civil rights in sports, eventually retiring to California.)

Snow came early in the winter of 1933 when our extended Cuban family moved into the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn . I was ten years old. We were the first Spanish speakers to arrive, yet we fit more or less easily into that crowded, multicultural neighborhood. Soon we began learning a little Italian, a few Greek and Polish words, lots of Yiddish and some heavily accented English.

I first heard the expression ‘Shabbes is falling’ when Mr. Rosenthal refused to open the door of his dry goods store on Bedford Avenue . My mother had sent me with a dime to buy a pair of black socks for my father. In those days, men wore mostly black and Navy blue. Brown and gray were somehow special and cost more. Mr. Rosenthal stood inside the locked door, arms folded, glaring at me through the thick glass while a heavy snow and darkness began to fall on a Friday evening. “We’re closed, already”, Mr.Rosenthal had said, shaking his head, “can’t you see that Shabbes is falling? Don’t be a nudnik! Go home.” I could feel the cold wetness covering my head and thought that Shabbes was the Jewish word for snow.

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