The UN’s Enablement of Erdogan’s Neo-Ottoman Ambitions  

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The UN’s Enablement of Erdogan’s Neo-Ottoman Ambitions

The United Nations is an enabler of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s neo-Ottoman ambitions. For example, according to the official readout of a meeting last Friday in Turkey between United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Erdogan, who had invaded northern Syria to remove the Syrian Kurds from their homes near the Syrian border with Turkey, the Secretary-General expressed “his deep appreciation for the strong cooperation and support of Turkey to the United Nations.” There was nothing in the readout about the Turkish invasion and its devastating consequences for the Kurds displaced from their homes. Instead, Secretary-General Guterres welcomed Turkey’s presentation of its “plan for new settlement areas for the return of Syrian refugees.”
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November 5, 2019 | 8:00 am | 1 Comment »

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National interests should decide issue of religion and state  

Most Israelis want to live in a country where Judaism has meaning, but do not want too many limits to their freedom of choice. Politicians must strike coalition agreements that keep this in mind.

by Dr. Shuki Friedman, ISRAEL HAYOM

Ultimately, politicians will have to close coalition deals, and one of the main issues on the negotiating table will be the question of religion and state, which more than ever requires new thinking and new criteria for possible solutions.

The historic status quo when it comes to religion and state has been worn thin, and the arrangements that go along with it are less and less relevant. After decades of being nibbled away at as a result of political battles, court rulings, and de facto behavior, the law itself has become irrelevant – we can declare the status quo dead. Read more…

November 4, 2019 | 5:47 pm | 7 Comments »

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A Proxy Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Is Playing Out Thousands of Miles Away — in Northern Ireland  

T. Belman. I just received an email from a very informed American in which she pointed out that Pelosi is controlled by the Globalits headed by George Soris.  The Democrats have no choice but to push the agenda of the NWO. The same goes for the left all over the world and explains Ireland.

That is why the left pushes the same agenda all over the world. That is why Trump is leading the charge againsts the globalists.  Rest assured that there is a war going on between the Globalists lead by Soros and the Nationalists led by Trump.

The GOP supports the empowerment of local government and wants more decisions to be made at that level.  The Democrats, the opposite. They want centralized government so they can foist things like transgenderism upon an unwilling electorate.

The streets of West Belfast and Derry offer a sharp, if unlikely, reminder of the Middle East, as republicans and unionists identify with the Palestinian and Israeli causes. In the middle of all this lies a small, somewhat bewildered Jewish community

Jacob Judah, HAARETZ

An Irish-Palestinian solidarity mural on the International Wall, West Belfast. Jacob Judah

LONDONDERRY and BELFAST, Northern Ireland — The Bogside neighborhood is where Northern Ireland’s brutal sectarian war began in the late 1960s. Visitors photographing the murals that glorify hooded paramilitaries, though, might be excused for thinking another conflict is preoccupying the Catholic residents of this shabby gray estate.

Here, the Irish tricolor jostles for space with that of another one: the Palestinian flag. Placards decry the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. “Solidarity with Palestine!” screams a freshly painted mural outside a local pub. Maps nestled in the corners of pro-Palestinian murals inform the public that in Palestine, like in Ireland, there can be only one state.
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November 4, 2019 | 9:52 am | 13 Comments »

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J STREET IS ANTI-ISRAEL  

The supposedly pro-Israel organization is now less protective of Israeli security than Obama was. It wants to condition US military aid on Israeli withdrawals.

by  David M. Weinberg, ISRAEL HAYOM

When it was founded some 10 years ago, J Street claimed to be a “pro-Israel and pro-peace” organization. That was taken to mean partnering with the mainstream Israeli political left to build support in Washington for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.

Since then J Street has morphed into an anti-Israel organization. The organization spends its time and money besmirching Israel, smearing AIPAC and other leading American Jewish organizations, boosting President Obama’s dangerous deal with Iran (and now trying to bring it back), and supporting political candidates for whom BDS is a badge of honor.

Its campus arm, J Street U, has become a primary vehicle for conveying the most poisonous messages about Israel to students, acting to block student participation in Birthright, and actively campaigning against support for Israel at American universities. Read more…

November 4, 2019 | 9:32 am | 9 Comments »

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How Could the Turks Not Know Where Baghdadi Was Hiding?  

by Seth Frantzman, JPOST

Turqish intelligence claims to have been unaware of Baghdadi’s presence in Syria’s Idlib province, despite its heavy presence there.

When US special forces disembarked from eight helicopters to raid a compound where ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was holed up, they had good intelligence from various sources in Iraq and Syria that confirmed the terror leader’s location. They were also just a few kilometers from the Turkish border. They were so close that their flight path took them into Turkish airspace and they had to tell Turkey and Russia about their request to raid the area. They didn’t tell them all the details of the operation.

How did Turkish intelligence not know what was going on within shouting distance of its border? How did a NATO ally as sophisticated as Turkey – with UAVs, signals intelligence and observation posts throughout Idlib where Baghdadi was living – not know he was there? Turkish media, which is almost all pro-government and often rabidly nationalist, has claimed that Baghdadi was only able to get to Idlib by crossing areas held by the Syrian Democratic Forces. The Daily Sabah headline on October 29 claimed that “Al-Baghdadi’s death exposes YPG-Daesh [ISIS] ties.”
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November 4, 2019 | 9:11 am | 2 Comments »

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‘It’s Liberman’s fault we’re in this mess’. WRONG.  

T.Belman. I agree with Shaked. The religious parties must compromise. We need a new balance between the religious and the secular sectors.

MK Moshe Gafni criticizes Shaked for suggesting the haredim should compromise on issues of religion and state.

By Ben Shaul, INN

MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism), chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee, on Sunday criticized the remarks made by New Right chairwoman Ayelet Shaked, who said that the haredim should compromise on issues of religion and state.

“I am willing to compromise on roles, not on the most sensitive issues. Why should Shaked not compromise in order to bring Meretz to the coalition? After all, there is a need for unity,” Gafni said in an interview with Army Radio.

Discussing the tense political situation and the attempts to form a government, Gafni warned, “Third elections would mean an economic disaster. The most prominent example is the health system which is in a state of economic collapse. The state will not be able to recover from this, it would be a disaster.” Read more…

November 4, 2019 | 9:01 am | 6 Comments »

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Behind the Lines: Revolt against Iran’s system in Iraq and Lebanon.  

Will the people succeed in undermining the Iranian plan to spread power across the region?

By Jonathan Spyer, JPOST

The Middle East is currently witnessing the first examples of popular rebellion in countries dominated by Iran. In the very different contexts of Iraq and Lebanon, the protests now under way have a similar focus on political and economic corruption, mismanagement, and limited popular access to power and resources. In both cases, despite this focus, the demonstrators are being confronted with the fact of the domination of their country by an outside-imposed structure.

In Iraq, demonstrations began on October 1. The protests took place in Baghdad, and rapidly spread to a number of cities in the southern part of the country, including Nasiriya, Diwaniya, Babil, Wasit, Muthanna, and Dhi Qar governorates. The immediate cause was the firing by Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi of a popular general, Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, from his post as deputy commander of the Counter-Terrorism Service. Read more…

November 4, 2019 | 7:46 am | Comments »

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“Jordanians Now See Israel as an Implacable Enemy.” Don’t you believe it.  

T. Belman.  This article is total propaganda.  The truth is, that in all the demonstrations in Jordan over the last 6 months, Jordanians have shown anger with the government and in particular, with King Abdullah.  They want him gone.  Israel is never mentioned in the protests.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II is trapped between an aggressively pro-Israel Trump, a hardline Israel and an increasingly radicalized grassroots clamoring to cut all diplomatic and trade relations with Israel

By Marwan A. Kardoosh, HAARETZ

Jordanian demonstrators burn an Israeli flag during a protest against the shooting of a Palestinian judge from Jordan by Israeli soldiers. Amman, March 11, 2014REUTERS

Jordan banked more heavily than any other Arab state on hefty returns from peace with Israel and the vision of a future Middle East Common Market.

But after years of disillusionment regarding Israel’s behavior towards the Palestinians, capped by the Trump administration’s partisanship towards Israel and hostility towards the Palestinians, Jordanians across the political spectrum – including members of parliament – are now convinced more than ever before that Israel is an irreconcilable enemy.
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November 3, 2019 | 3:25 pm | 11 Comments »

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The Ten Reasons I would Never, Ever vote for a Democrat  

by Dr. Rich Swier

First let me begin my column with a confession: When I was in college I was a JFK Democrat!

President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a decorated combat war veteran, charismatic, had a beautiful wife and family, was a hawk who hated Communism (remember the 13 days in October, 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis), was a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association and JFK was what would now be considered a conservative in economic and social policies. JFK was also wealthy, a Catholic, like me, and had affairs with various women including Marilyn Monroe. JFK was not a perfect man but he was the perfect man for the job of President during a difficult time.

Here are my ten reasons, all based upon personal experiences well before the election of Donald J. Trump, why I would never, ever vote for a Democrat:
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November 3, 2019 | 1:03 pm | 2 Comments »

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Islamic State commander says Erdogan ordered 2014 ISIS attack in northern Syria  

The Communist daily Morning Star is hardly a reliable source. However, there is nothing unbelievable about this report. Turkey’s support for the Islamic State in its heyday was obvious in numerous ways. Back in 2015, in my book The Complete Infidel’s Guide to ISIS, I noted that Erdogan was aiding the Islamic State in the ultimate hope of co-opting its caliphate and making it part of his own revived Ottoman caliphate. Even though the Islamic State has lost its domains in Iraq and Syria, Erdogan has not given up on that hope. His connections to the Islamic State should be investigated, with Turkey’s alliance with the U.S. and NATO membership on this line.

“Senior Isis commander alleges Turkey’s President ordered 2014 attack on Kobane,” by Steve Sweeney, Morning Star, October 30, 2019 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

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November 3, 2019 | 12:56 pm | 1 Comment »

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White House Freezes Military Aid to Lebanon, Against Wishes of Congress, State Dept. and Pentagon  

By Edward WongVivian Yee and Michael Crowley, NYT

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has frozen all military aid to the Lebanese army, including a package worth $105 million that both the State Department and Congress approved in September, congressional officials said Friday.

The halt to American funding of the Lebanese Armed Forces, an important multisectarian group, comes at a critical time for Lebanon, as officials are grappling with the country’s largest street protests since its independence in 1943 and a change in leadership forced by the demonstrations. A freeze on the assistance could give Iran and Russia an opening to exert greater influence over the Lebanese military, analysts say, and perhaps even allow the Islamic State and Al Qaeda to gain greater footholds in the country.
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November 3, 2019 | 11:37 am | 2 Comments »

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Melanie Phillips enlightened the world with the truth about Israel  

By Phil Schneider

The Jewish people’s claim in the Land of Israel is so rock-solid. But nobody says it better than Melanie Phillips. She understands well that the biggest problem with the narrative that is spread across the world about the State of Israel is the total disconnection from truth.

She dissects the results of the concept of the two-State solution to the Middle East problem. She properly explains that since the 1930’s, the idea of a 2-State solution has been on the table. But, it has never brought anything but more and more war.

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November 3, 2019 | 10:57 am | Comments »

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Europe Goes Right As Democrats Try Their Failed Ideas  

By BENNY AVNI, Special to the Sun | November 2, 2019

As America’s Democratic presidential candidates promote programs borrowed from Europe’s traditional left, Europeans are increasingly pushing back against them.

Following an election last Sunday in Germany’s Thuringia state, members of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic party accused the chancellor (in power since 2005) of dragging the party too far leftward, blaming her for the loss to the far-right Alternative for Germany party. A top contender for the Christian Democratic leadership, Friedrich Merz, called on Frau Merkel to resign now, rather than wait for 2021, when she plans to retire.

In the European Parliament election in May, France’s National Rally party handsomely beat President Macron’s centrist faction. Formerly known as the National Front, the current right-most French party is dominated by Marine Le Pen, whose father and party founder, Jean-Marie, was a Holocaust denier. Now Madame Le Pen’s party concentrates on conservatism and retail politics, and its increasingly seen as a formidable challenger to Monsieur Macron, whose poll numbers, despite a recent uptick, remain low. Read more…

November 3, 2019 | 8:50 am | Comments »

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How America Will Win the Next 100 Years  

By Jessica Curtis, AMERICAN THINKER

What makes America win? Use any measuring stick and you will find the United States leads the way. We are number one in opportunity, quality of life, access to healthcare, academics, and diversity in intellectual and political thought — we even lead the world in dog and cat ownership.

American competitiveness is a topic President Trump made a cornerstone of his campaign in 2016 and still talks about almost daily. How often do we hear him tout that under his leadership: “America is winning again!” It’s a message the President has stuck to, and we see evidence of regularly. There’s perhaps no better example of this than the President’s announcement Sunday that the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had been killed by American Special Forces.

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November 2, 2019 | 7:23 pm | Comments »

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AG said aiming to decide whether to indict Netanyahu by end of the month  

According to unsourced TV report, Avichai Mandelblit expected to rule incumbent PM cannot remain in office if charged with bribery

By TOI STAFF

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and then-cabinet secretary Avichai Mandelblit at the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on July 5, 2015. (Emil Salman/Pool/Flash90)

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit will be holding talks throughout the coming week with the aim of reaching a decision by the end of November on whether to file charges against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a series of graft probes, Israel’s Channel 12 and Channel 13 both said Friday.

The discussions will be heavily focused on Case 4000, seen as the most severe of the three criminal cases facing Netanyahu, with the prosecution discussing the defense team’s potential objections to a bribery charge, according to an unsourced Channel 13 news report. Read more…

November 2, 2019 | 7:15 pm | 1 Comment »

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Analysis Netanyahu Is Torpedoing Unity Government Talks. His Scorched-earth Tactics May Backfire  

Netanyahu is gunning for a third election. Helping lead the charge is the justice minister, who dumped a pail of sewage on state prosecutors
By Yossi Verter, HAARETZ
Illustration: Netanyahu sics his cronies, all holding up Amir Ohana masks, at state prosecutors.

The preparations for a third election, aka the “coalition negotiations,” are continuing apace. This week, a senior Likud figure who is close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a friend of his, a central figure in the Israeli left. Tell me, the Likudnik said, how are you going to run in the next election? What will the format be this time? Is there any chance that Kahol Lavan, Meretz and Labor will run together? Or maybe that just the first two will?

What the left-winger replied is of no importance; he had no intelligent responses. What was interesting was the reason for the call in the first place. In light of the close ties between the caller and the outgoing prime minister, the conclusion to be drawn is that the Balfour Street residence and the Likud party are dusting off contingency plans for another election. The option of additional mergers between the two blocs of parties, a scenario that came to partial fruition in September, could surface again, this time more potently.
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November 2, 2019 | 3:25 pm | 3 Comments »

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Al-Baghdadi and Trump’s Syrian chess board  

Trump is not flying blind in Syria. He is implementing a multifaceted set of policies that are based on the strengths, weaknesses and priorities of the various actors.

by Caroline B. Glick, ISRAEL HAYOM

US President Donald Trump’s many critics insist he has no idea what he is doing in Syria. The assassination of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi over the weekend by US special forces showed this criticism is misplaced. Trump has a very good idea of what he is doing in Syria, not only regarding ISIS, but regarding the diverse competing actors on the ground.

Regarding ISIS, the obvious lesson of the al-Baghdadi raid is that Trump’s critics’ claim that his withdrawal of US forces from Syria’s border with Turkey meant that he was going to allow ISIS to regenerate was utterly baseless. Read more…

November 2, 2019 | 2:04 am | Comments »

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Domestic energy producers, the Middle East and Israel  

By Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger and Fred Zeidman, Co-Chair, CSA

The growing sophistication of domestic oil and natural gas production has enhanced the US national security. It has transformed the leader of the free world from a major importer of crude oil to the world’s top producer of both crude oil (surpassing Saudi Arabia) and natural gas (ahead of Russia), and expected to be the globe’s largest exporter in five years.

The dramatic reduction of US dependency on the importation of oil takes place at a time when the supply of oil from the Persian Gulf is increasingly precarious.  It is threatened by Iran’s Ayatollahs, as well as by additional rogue elements in the inherently violent, intolerant, fragmented, unpredictable, shifty, non-democratic and unstable Middle East. An area which is strategically located between Europe, the Mediterranean, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
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November 1, 2019 | 2:56 pm | 2 Comments »

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Trump Admin Again Gives Iran Green Light to Conduct Sensitive Nuclear Work  

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani / Getty Images

The Trump administration has again approved a series of sanctions waivers on Iran that permit the Islamic Republic to engage in sensitive nuclear work, including at a clandestine military location that has housed the country’s weapons program, according to multiple sources involved in the issue.

The sanctions waivers have already been approved by the State Department, according to multiple U.S. officials and congressional sources who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon. The Trump administration faced backlash earlier this year when it bucked congressional pressure to approve the waivers, a move that led Iran hawks on Capitol Hill to accuse the administration of approving a pathway for Tehran to continue some of its most contested nuclear research.
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November 1, 2019 | 2:43 pm | 1 Comment »

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Exclusive: Iran intervenes to prevent ousting of Iraqi prime minister  

REUTERS

BAGHDAD – Iran has stepped in to prevent the ouster of Iraqi Prime Minister Abdel Abdul Mahdi by two of Iraq’s most influential figures amid weeks of anti-government demonstrations, sources close to both men told Reuters.

Populist Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demanded this week that Abdul Mahdi call an early election to quell the biggest mass protests in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. The demonstrations are fueled by anger at corruption and widespread economic hardship.

Sadr had urged his main political rival Hadi al-Amiri, whose alliance of Iran-backed militias is the second-biggest political force in parliament, to help push out Abdul Mahdi. Read more…

November 1, 2019 | 12:47 pm | 1 Comment »

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