T. Belman.  This is huge.  It means we will end up with a unity government rather than new elections.

Knesset speaker insists PM ready to ‘pay this price’ to form government, says Israel must not be ‘dragged to third elections’

By TOI STAFF

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein arrive for a joint event of the Knesset and the US Congress, celebrating 50 years since Jerusalem’s reunification, at the Chagall state hall in the Knesset, on June 7, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

Acting speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein said on Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be prepared to take a leave of absence if he were indicted in the graft cases against him.

Edelstein was asked in an interview with Kan public radio: “According to your knowledge, if there is an indictment, it would be appropriate to take a leave of absence?”
Read more…

Security forces open fire on unarmed anti-government demonstrators in Baghdad; country’s top Shiite cleric warns both sides to end violence ‘before it’s too late’

By AGENCIES

Anti-government protesters set fires and block a street during a demonstration in Baghdad, Iraq, October 3, 2019. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Security forces opened fire on hundreds of anti-government demonstrators on Friday in central Baghdad, killing at least 17 protesters and injuring dozens, hours after Iraq’s top Shiite cleric warned both sides to end four days of violence “before it’s too late.”

The latest deaths marked a sharp escalation in the use of force against unarmed protesters.
Read more…

Judges rule against German neo-Nazi politician Udo Pastoers, say his statements run counter to European Convention on Human Rights itself

By AFP

Far-right paraphernalia is on sale at the “Schild und Schwert” (Shield and Sword) neo-nazi festival, in the small eastern German town of Ostritz on April 20, 2018 / AFP PHOTO / John MACDOUGALL

STRASBOURG, France — Denial of the Holocaust is not a human right, a European court ruled on Thursday, throwing out a complaint by a German neo-Nazi politician.

Udo Pastoers, who served in the local parliament of the northeastern region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, was convicted in Germany in 2012 after giving a speech in 2010 in which he appeared to cast doubt on whether the Holocaust really happened.

Pastoers, a member of the right-wing extremist National Democratic Party (NDP), lodged a complaint against the conviction with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in 2014.
Read more…

By AFP – Oct 04,2019 – Last updated at Oct 04,2019

Iraqi protesters demonstrate against state corruption, failing public services, and unemployment in the Iraqi capital Baghdad’s central Tayeran Square on Thursday (AFP photo)

BAGHDAD — Thousands of protesters clashed with riot police in Iraq’s capital and across the south on Thursday, the third day of mass rallies that have left 28 dead.

Defying curfews, tear gas and live rounds, they gathered by truckfuls to vent their anger against corruption, unemployment and poor services in the biggest challenge yet to Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi.

As dusk fell in Baghdad, crowds swelled around the capital’s oil and industry ministry, pledging to march to the capital’s emblematic Tahrir (Liberation) Square.

Read more…

The project to excavate the foundations of the Western Wall – the hewn blocks of stone at the foundation of the sacred site – never stops revealing archaeological surprises.

By Nadav Shragai, ISRAEL HAYOM

The bulla with the inscription “asher al habayit” | Photo: City of David/Eliyahu Yanai

A small clay bulla, or seal, that was used to sign official letters in the days of the kingdom of Judea waited nearly 2,600 years amid the rubble at the foundations of the Western Wall to be discovered by Israeli archaeologists. For eight years, the rubble has been cleared away, one bucket after another, and taken directly to the site of the Temple Mount Sifting Project operated by the Ir David Foundation and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.

Comparatively large finds, such as a chisel used to carve the stones of the Western Wall, turn up immediately. Small discoveries usually come to light only after some time has passed. The dirt that contained the royal seal had been waiting six years to be sifted. A few weeks ago, project volunteer Batya Ofan, dumped it onto a large sieve, washed it down, and uncovered a royal seal from the seventh century BCE bearing the name “Adoniyahu asher al habayit” (translation: Adoniyahu, who is over [oversees] the house) in early Hebrew script.

Read more…

Jewish fertility rate continues to rise as Muslim rate declines, Palestinian Authority fertility rate falls to parity with Israel’s.

By David Rosenberg, INN

Israeli flags at the Western Wall in Jerusalem

The demographic shift in Israel, marked by an increase in fertility rates among Jews and a decrease among Muslims, continued last year, as the total fertility rate for Jewish women hit a 45-year high.

According to data released by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, the total fertility rate – that is, the average number of children a woman will have in her life time – for Jewish women in Israel rose in 2018 to 3.17, the highest level since the early 1970s, when the Jewish TFR averaged 3.28. In the 1990s, the Jewish TFR fell to its lowest level, averaging 2.62 both between 1990 to 1994 and 1995 to 1999.

The increase in the Israeli Jewish TFR in 2018 was smaller than in previous years, rising only 0.01 from the 3.16 total fertility rate in 2017.
Read more…

The newspaper obtained a classified document from an undisclosed source claiming that Saudi Arabia proposed two options to the United States on how to topple the Islamic Republic – Nimrod and Spider.

BY JERUSALEM POST STAFF

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo takes part in a meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, September 18, 2019. (photo credit: MANDEL NGAN/POOL/REUTERS)

After previously disclosing a detailed plan in 2017 accusing Saudi Arabia and the United States of attempting to overthrow the Iranian government, the Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar released further details elaborating on their previous claim.

The newspaper obtained a classified document from an undisclosed source claiming that Saudi Arabia proposed two options to the US on how to topple the Islamic Republic – “Nimrod” and “Spider.”

Spider focused on using software to sway political opinions within the government in the hopes of bringing about a regime change by 2020.
Read more…

During the recent protests in Baghdad, the difference between Erbil and Baghdad was clear.

BY SETH J. FRANTZMAN, JPOST

Iraq Protests 311. (photo credit: Associated Press)

By MARTIN SHERMAN

The feasibility of Trump’s “Deal of the Century” will be dramatically impacted by the nature of the regime east of the Jordan River and its prospective stability

There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact – Sherlock Holmes, “The Boscombe Valley Mystery”. 

Israel must, in the most blunt and clear way possible, illustrate to Washington that the prosperity of Jordan is a first rate Israeli security and strategic interest – Former Head of Mossad, Ephraim Halevy, at “Between Jerusalem and Amman: 25 Years since the Signing of the Peace Agreement between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan”, the Institute for National Security Studies, Sept. 25, 2019.”
Read more…

A third round? Maybe !!

By Malcolm Dash

Two inconclusive elections and perhaps a third? So what divides the two blocs vying for dominance? Is it the issues of security, capitalistic economics, health, welfare, education? No, not really, only cosmetic differences separate the thinking on the “Left” and “Right” with regard to these issues and the overall governance of Israel.

Since the eighties, both camps have been committed to Western style majority rule, capitalism and equality. If this is so, then how should we understand the schism between the two groups?

Let’s take a closer look at the composition of the two blocs. The “Right” represent a conservative, traditional Jewish approach and the “Lefts” path is towards the “current” Western Liberal progressive political orientation with the emphasis on individual rather than on collective rights.
Read more…

Gantz to Netanyahu: “I don’t want to see you behind bars. I hope you are innocent, but we need a prime minister.” Blue and White offers Netanyahu power sharing deal if he leaves post for the next two years.

by  Yehuda Shlezinger, Ariel Kahana, ISRAEL HAYOM

Published on  2019-10-03 08:54 —  Last modified: 2019-10-03 15:26

Blue and White co-leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid appear on election night together | Photo: AFP / Gil Cohen-Magen

Blue and White came out on Thursday with a major statement aimed at breaking the political impasse.

The center-left alliance said it would no longer insist on having its leaders share a rotating premiership, and instead would focus on a power-sharing deal with Likud, as long as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not continue serving as prime minister.

Blue and White leader Benny Gantz call on Netanyahu on Thursday to accept the new reality and give up power temporarily. “I don’t want to see you behind bars. I hope you are innocent, but we need a prime minister,” he said.
Read more…

T. Belman. Nobody is reporting that the protestors number in the hundreds of thousands. Probably the death total is much higher than reported also. Finally, most articles don’t even mention the anti-Iran sentiment which is huge.

Though 65% of Iraqis are Shiites and all of Iran are Shiites, their affinity stops there. Of greater importance is that Iraqis are Arabs while Iranians aren’t. Iraq has no desire to become an extension of Iran and the Iraqis resent the Shiite militias that Iran backs. Plus, while the sanctions are severely hurting Iran, they are also hurting Iraq.

Baghdad imposes curfew as protests spread across south of country. Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, known for his critical stance toward Iran, calls for investigation into police violence against protesters.

by  Neta Bar, Daniel Siryoti, ISRAEL HAYOM

Anti-government protesters wave flags during a demonstration in Baghdad | Photo: AP/Hadi Mizban

Iraqi security forces fired live bullets and used tear gas against a few hundred protesters gathered in central Baghdad on Thursday, hours after a curfew was announced in the Iraqi capital on the heels of two days of deadly violence that gripped the country amid protests against government corruption and Iran’s meddling in the country’s internal affairs.

Before dawn, explosions were heard inside Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, home to government offices and foreign embassies. The US-led coalition said an investigation is underway, adding that no coalition forces or assets were hit.

The curfew was announced early Thursday following a meeting of Iraq’s top leaders to discuss anti-government protests that have engulfed the country.
Read more…

You can replace Afghanistan with Iraq, Kurdistan or Syria in the title and ask: Can they survive America’s exit, and does it serve America’s interests to hand them over to enemies of the West?

BY ERIC R MANDEL, JPOST

U.S. and Turkish soldiers conduct the first-ever combined joint patrol outside Manbij, Syria, November 1, 2018. Picture taken November 1, 2018. Courtesy Arnada Jones/U.S. . (photo credit: ARMY/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)

Americans are in no mood for new entanglements in the Middle East. The politically expedient choice for the US Congress and the president is to follow the nation’s mood – by not only avoiding any new potential areas of conflict arising with the aggressions of Iran and its proxies, but maybe by also abandoning allies who have worked side-by-side with American soldiers in Iraq and Syria against ISIS, leaving Afghanistan to the mercy of the Taliban, and forgetting their savage misogyny and its place as a safe haven where al Qaeda brewed its attacks on 9/11.

The Wall Street Journal’s Saturday Essay by Yaroslav Trofimov was titled, “Can the New Afghanistan Survive America’s Exit? An exhausted America, no longer determined to bring democracy to the Muslim world, just wants to leave.”
Read more…