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.

Read more…

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.

Read more…

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.”

Read more…

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.

Read more…

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.

Read more…

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.”

Read more…

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.
Read more…

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.

Read more…

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.

Read more…

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.

Read more…

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.

Read more…

SOFIE DOSSI IS JEWISH

T. Belman.  Need I say that The Baker Institute and the Peres people were not successful in acheiving a deal for decades.  Who are they to give advice to Trump.  They should keep their mouths shut and wait for events to unfold.

At least we agree that the White House’s Peace to Prosperity plan all but assure Palestinian failure.

Report provides suggestions for more constructive strategy

HOUSTON – (May 21, 2020) – The terms of the White House’s Peace to Prosperity plan all but assure Palestinian failure, according to an expert at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Under the plan, “Palestinian statehood is conditioned upon a compilation of unreasonable and impractical thresholds,” according to Gilead Sher, the Isaac and Mildred Brochstein Fellow in Middle East Peace and Security in Honor of Yitzhak Rabin at the Baker Institute.
Read more…

STARTS AT 7:00 MIN

THESE WOMEN ARE TERRIFIC. THE VIEW LADIES CAN’T HOLD A CANDLE TO THEM. NEITHER CAN FOX’S THE FIVE.

Tuesday’s Washington Post report could signal that the world’s first cyber war has officially begun.

By Yoav Limor, ISRAEL HAYOM

New warfare involves cyber tactics, not just military ones | File photo: Getty Images

Cyber warfare is usually waged in secret. In a world where borders or geography are of no importance, the main challenge is to take action and cause damage without leaving tracks and risking reprisal. That is how all the players operate. The professionals are more successful – the amateurs, less so.

According to US reports on Tuesday, Israel, a super-professional, changed the rules. Not only did it attack, but it also made sure that everyone knew it was behind the attack. That wasn’t the result of a mistake or overenthusiasm or the whim of a moment; Israel did it intentionally, as a challenge, even crudely. It apparently happened after several discussions and consultations, and even the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet – which no one usually pays attention to – was looped in, and approved the move.

Read more…

Unlike a technological advantage that may be transient, the topographical advantage is eternal.

By Yoram Ettinger, ISRAEL HAYOM

The Judea and Samaria mountains are the “Golan Heights” of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the Ben Gurion International Airport, and the major highways crisscrossing central Israel – all critical civilian and security infrastructures.

The eastern ridge is an effective barrier against tanks but the western ridge harbors the potential for Palestinian terrorism that could make the coastal plain a much more painful version of the Gaza-vicinity area.

Controlling the Judea and Samaria mountains – not a Palestinian state – is an essential condition in a Middle Eastern reality rife with 1,400 years of violence, terrorism, the absence of democracy, and inter-Arab animosity.

Read more…

By Victor Davis Hanson, TOWNHALL

Red- and blue-state America was already divided before the coronavirus epidemic hit. Globalization had enriched the East Coast and West Coast corridors but hollowed out much in between.

By Daniel John Sobieski, AMERICAN THINKER

Does the Wuhan virus, which arguably escaped from a Chinese virology lab, supersede the rights guaranteed to American citizens under the U.S. Constitution? The owners of a New Jersey gym think not. They want to earn a living and pursue their American dream, and like most business owners and their customers are not stupid, suicidal, or children. They are American citizens watching their unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness being ripped away by dime-store Napoleons who see this pandemic as a chance to pursue the liberal progressive dream of controlling every aspect of our lives.

Atilis Gym in Bellmawr, New Jersey reopened on Monday morning in defiance of Governor Phil Murphy’s Coronavirus lockdown order.

“We think so far, this has been just a gross violation of constitutional rights,” said Atilis Gym co-owner Ian Smith in an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson. “The 14th Amendment states that no state shall pass any law that infringes upon our rights as citizens, and we’ve been forced into our homes. Enough is enough.”

Read more…