By David Israel, JEWISH PRESS

“For these reasons, the return marches were canceled today,” says a Ma’an headline on Friday morning, the “return marches” being the Hamas-financed gathering of unemployed Gazans to storm the border fence with Israel, which has been a regular Friday feature since before Passover of 2018.

Using mostly Reuters copy, Ma’an explains that the protests along the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel have been canceled for the second week in a row, following reports that “Israel will violate the terms of the ceasefire concluded in the last round,” and will be shooting demonstrators at the border, which in turn would prompt Islamic Jihad to respond and lead to a new confrontation.

By Dr. Alex Joffe, BESA

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The Trump administration’s decision to repudiate an earlier approach that regarded Israeli communities across the “Green Line” as illegal has been praised and condemned. While there may be merit to seeing the move as an effort to help PM Benjamin Netanyahu or at least break Israel’s electoral logjam, there are deeper motives at play. Trump and his administration have made a hallmark of defying dysfunctional conventional wisdom and foreign policy inertia that elevate process over results. But while the predicted calamities of this policy have not materialized, the administration’s lack of any Grand Strategy makes the benefits difficult to aggregate.

Read more…

By Victor Davis Hanson, HOOVER INSTITUTE

by Howard Rotberg

In 1943 to 1945, Hitler’s costly obsession with killing every last Jew in Europe took precedence over military and economic basic needs in wartime. There came a point in the course of the war, when the resources used in rounding up and murdering European Jewry could have been used to strengthen a failing military.

And now we see another evil empire, Iran, prioritizing aid to its terrorist proxies, such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and others to kill Jews in Israel, when the economy is in such straights that protesters are hitting the streets. The Iranian people are not stupid; they see huge sums of money leaving the country to assist these terrorist groups in genocide of the Jews when American sanctions over the Iranian nuclear program have caused shortages of gas and oil and even rationing.
Read more…

T. Belman. If Bibi continues on this path then I can’t see a government forming. Nor do I see any more in his block after third election.

Netanyahu slams ‘coup’ after indictments

Arutz Sheva Staff, 21/11/19 21:00

T. Belman. What I think will happen is that Netanyahu will absent himself from the leadership.. That will leave the Likud with a temporary leader with his block of 55 intact. The primaries will then select the permanent leader.

Thus it will be easier for them to find a faction to join them that has 8 or 10 mandates or so.

While law allows a prime minister to keep serving while facing criminal charges, Shai Nitzan said to tell his staff PM can’t get mandate to form new coalition in such a situation

By Michael Bachner, TOI

State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan is reportedly saying in closed meetings that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won’t be able from now on to receive the mandate to form a government due to the criminal charges against him.

Sources within the Justice Ministry are quoted by the Globes website as saying Nitzan has said that while the law allows a premier to keep serving under an indictment and doesn’t compel him to resign, past Supreme Court rulings support the thesis that he cannot form a government when facing charges.

Nitzan refuses to comment on the report, and his office says that “no decision has been made yet on the matter.”

Mandelblit’s decision is legal bombshell, marks first time in Israel’s history that serving PM faces criminal charges; premier to speak at 8:30 p.m.

By RAOUL WOOTLIFF, TOI

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset on November 20, 2019 (left), Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit addresses the press in Jerusalem on November 21, 2019 (Gali Tibon, Menahem Kahana / AFP)

In a decision that drastically shakes up Israeli politics amid already ongoing chaos, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be charged with criminal wrongdoing in three separate cases against him, including bribery in the far-reaching Bezeq corruption probe.

The decision marks the first time in Israel’s history that a serving prime minister faces criminal charges, casting a heavy shadow over Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, and his ongoing attempts to remain in power.

According to the full indictment released by the Justice Ministry, Netanyahu will be charged with fraud and breach of trust in Cases 1000 and 2000, and bribery, fraud and breach of trust in Case 4000, the state prosecution said in a statement.
Read more…

BY SHMUEL ROSNER | NOV 21, 2019 | ROSNER’S DOMAIN    

Dr Eldad Fredo, an internationally acclaimed expert on Iran, talks exclusively to Arutz Sheva.

ARUTZ SHEVA

Dr Eldad Fredo, a researcher at the Truman Institute, is an expert on Iran, and feels that Iran is unlikely to engage in any conflict with Israel.

Dr Fredo feels that the attack by Israel in Syria was not a response to the rocket fire, rather a response to Iranian expansion into Syria. “It would seem Iran was continuing activities in Syria and it was a correct time to strike,” he stresses that his estimations are not based on intelligence, or on military insight.

“There was a Iranian attack on Saudi Arabia a number of months back. They attacked a number of important crude oil instillation. This was an attack with global ramifications. Firstly, the attack was against the world’s energy source, similar to a nuclear bomb attack. The US didn’t respond, but it was noted. Second, even with American defense systems, the Iranians succeeded, a worry for Israel as well.”
Read more…

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit could publish decision on indictments in Netanyahu’s cases as soon as Thursday.

Arutz Sheva Staff, 

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has reached a decision on the indictments in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s cases and may publish the decision as soon as Thursday.

Journalist Baruch Kra reported on Channel 13 News on Wednesday that in Case 1000, Netanyahu will be indicted on charges of fraud and breach of trust. In the rest of the cases, there are still disputes within the Justice Ministry – there were those in the Ministry who thought Case 2000 should be closed, while in Case 4000 not everyone agreed on the facts.

The Justice Ministry worked overtime this week in an attempt to speed up discussions in the Prime Minister’s cases and reach a decision.

Read more…

“Everyone was in the loop. It was no secret,” Sondland testified. “We kept the State Department leadership and others apprised of what we were doing.”

By REUTERS

Secretary Mike Pompeo in Jerusalem, (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)

PM has managed to deny his centrist rival a parliamentary majority, and stands poised to reap the rewards when Blue and White chief finally gives up his mandate on Wednesday night

By Seth Swirsky, AMERICAN THINKER

Here are just a few choice quotes leveled at the president (read to the end):

“The president has continued during the last week to make a fool of himself and to mortify and shame the intelligent people of this great nation.”

“He is evidently a person of very inferior character.”

“The president is a fungus from the corrupt womb of bigotry and fanaticism, a worse tyrant than has existed since the days of Nero.”

“Those who vote for the president’s re-election are traitors.”
Read more…

Reaction to Trump’s latest decision once again proves that liberal Jewish groups see Israel in the context of American politics, not Middle Eastern reality.

As loyal Democrats, liberal Jews simply oppose everything Trump does, whether or not it’s right or good for Israel.

Jonathan S. Tobin, ISRAEL HAYOM,

When Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced this week that the United States no longer considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be in violation of international law, most Israelis were clearly pleased. But a good portion of American Jews were not. This tells us more about American Jewish priorities and indifference to what Israelis think than it does about what’s good for the Jewish state or arguments about international law.

As was the case with the Trump administration’s moves on Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, the Iran nuclear deal and accountability for the Palestinian Authority’s support of terrorism, all the major Israeli political parties greeted the announcement with support. Both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his leading rival, Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz, agreed that America was right to scrap its old insistence that Jews had no right to live outside the 1949 armistice lines.

Read more…