Incitement seems to be an increasingly common tactic as everyday Israelis battle the ‘contagious disease’ afflicting the body politic

Allison Kaplan Sommer, HAARETZ

From Likud’s Russian Facebook page a rare sight: Avigdor Lieberman, with wine, breaking bread with ultra-Orthodox leaders including Yaakov Litman, left, August 2019.Likud / Facebook

It’s a sad sight at the Sabbath lunch table as the elderly man, clad in a prayer shawl, returns home from his morning prayers. His wife greets him lovingly with “Shabbat Shalom” before he sees that, even though she has neatly laid out the large table for a family meal, all the chairs are empty.

“Marcel, what’s going on? Where are all the kids?” he asks, and his wife sighs mournfully: One daughter went to a party, another to the mall, and their son to a government office to renew his passport. Read more…

American willingness to negotiate with Iran may mean it expects Israel to restrain itself on the northern front with Hezbollah and Iran

Amos Harel, HAARETZ

Hassan Rohani, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Donald Trump.Official President website/Handout via REUTERS; AMIR COHEN / POOL / AFP; AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

A meeting between the U.S. and Iranian presidents is just about a done deal. That is the growing conclusion in Israel’s security establishment after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Asper in London Thursday. As always, one caveat must be added: This summit will happen unless the less predictable member of the pair, Donald Trump, changes his mind at the last minute.

Tehran and Washington are actually stepping up their mutual hawkish rhetoric. Iran announced Friday, as planned, additional violations of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. The U.S. keeps piling new sanctions on Iran and Hezbollah, and Brian Hook, the U.S. special envoy for Iran, lashed out at Tehran last week. And still, a presumption is taking shape that after these mutual recriminations, the sides are gradually growing ready for a meeting, possibly on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York at the end of the month.
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by Cristina Laila, GATEWAY PUNDIT

Robert Mueller

Dirty cop Robert Mueller helped the Saudi government cover up its involvement in the 9/11 terror attacks when he was FBI Director, according to a new lawsuit.

Citing former FBI investigators, investigative reporter Paul Sperry says in a new report that the FBI uncovered evidence of efforts by the Saudi government to help the hijackers in the run-up to the September 11 terror attacks.

Mueller, who was the head of the FBI at the time helped cover up the evidence pointing back to the Saudi Embassy and Riyadh — even worse, Mueller may have lied to Congress about what he knew about the Saudi involvement.
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“The Obama administration’s refusal to retaliate has led to the “emboldened” nation that continues to escalate attacks”

By Ashe Schow, DAILY WIRE

In a new book, former Defense Secretary James Mattis takes the Obama administration to task for its weak response to the growing threat of the Iranian regime. One bombshell included in the book is the Obama administration’s tepid response to what Mattis referred to as an “act of war” by Iran – the planned bombing of a café in Washington, D.C.

Mattis still believes Iran is the biggest threat in the Middle East, and that the Obama administration’s refusal to retaliate has led to the “emboldened” nation that continues to escalate attacks, including shooting down U.S. drones.
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T. Belman. Trump is doing what he can to support a no deal Brexit. But what about the queen? This analysis properly points out that she must take the advice of her Ministers or better still Prime Minister. Beyond that though she is a nationalist as are a majority of Brits. Globalism has nothing to offer the queen so she sides with the nationalists.

By Mark Hanna, AMERICAN THINKER

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MEMRI

JEWISH INSIDER

January 20, 2017

From a simple game of pickup basketball to a top West Wing position in the Trump White House: For Avrahm (Avi) Berkowitz, an encounter on the court with Jared Kushner at a Passover hotel program in Arizona several years ago has led to a number of unique opportunities. The latest manifestation of this journey was announced Thursday in a Trump press release listing Berkowitz’s new title: Special Assistant to the President and assistant to Senior Advisor Jared Kushner.

When Kushner and Berkowitz first met during a Passover program at the historic Arizona Biltmore Hotel, Berkowitz was attending classes at Queens College. The two kept in touch and when Avi graduated, Kushner hired him to join his family’s real estate company where Berkowitz helped manage the firm’s apartment portfolio.
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Israel is the sole reason for any level of stability in the Middle East. 

By Mark Langfan, INN

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Separate groups that include both Democratic and Republican attorneys general to investigate tech giants for potential anticompetitive behavior<

By MARCY GORDON and MATT O’BRIEN, TOI

In this photo from June 11, 2019, New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a news conference in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two groups of states are targeting Facebook and Google in separate antitrust probes, widening the scrutiny of Big Tech beyond sweeping federal and congressional investigations into their market dominance.

Facebook and Google are two of the world’s largest and most ubiquitous tech companies. The billions who use their services for making social media posts, uploading videos or searching ads are targeted by the tech companies for their personal data — a prized asset that enhances the companies’ power. Regulators are examining whether the companies have used their market power to crimp competition, potentially raising prices and hurting consumers.
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By Robert Curry, AMERICAN THINKER/a>

T. Belman. According to the Jordan Option, Jordan will replace UNRWA as the provider of services to the Palestinian refugees. Jordan will provide these services to all its citizens. The refugees need only emigrate to Jordan to become citizens and get the services.

By Joseph A. Klein, CFP United Nations Columnist

The United Nations General Assembly mandate for the scandal-ridden United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is coming up for renewal shortly. The renewal request should be denied. Aside from the financial scandals reaching the very top echelons of UNRWA’s leadership, UNRWA has become no more than a tool serving the Palestinian leadership’s relentless drive to liquidate the Jewish state of Israel.

UNRWA claims that it “has contributed to the welfare and human development of four generations of Palestine refugees,” leading the agency to make insatiable demands for more and more money contributed by gullible donors who do not look behind the curtain. Behind the curtain is a self-perpetuating bureaucracy that keeps the refugee dependency machine alive by endorsing the so-called “right to return” for the millions of Palestinians UNRWA insists on calling “refugees.” It is time to assign this dysfunctional agency to the dustbin of history.  Instead, any continued international funding to support further humanitarian aid and basic education for needy Palestinian civilians requires a fundamentally restructured mechanism outside of the control of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority and more accountable to its donors.
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What our historical standards once were with regards to immigration should be seen as irrelevant to public policy decisions made now

By Robert Stewart, CFP

How fair and accurate is it to call Canada a nation of immigrants? Since I announced my candidacy for the People’s Party of Canada (PPC)—a party calling for more moderated immigration rates—I’ve experienced personally the rebuff of “but we’re a nation of immigrants!” around a dozen or so times. Most recently, I saw it lodged against our party as a whole. With special focus on Afghan-born PPC candidate Mirwais Nasiri, the editorial board of the Winnipeg Free Press alleged that we didn’t appreciate Canada’s essential character of openness and, outside of our First Nations candidates at least, were hypocrites for taking the stance that we do.
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The State Department’s recently re-designed website sends a clear message to Arab states wanting to end the Jewish-Arab conflict to come to the negotiating table

This brings us a giant step closer to the Jordan Option.

By David Singer, CFP

The US State Department web site has removed the West Bank and Gaza (“disputed territories”) from its list of “Countries and Areas”—signalling that it no longer regards these disputed territories as potentially comprising a separate country—in addition to Israel, Jordan and Egypt.

This is the clearest indication yet that President Trump’s soon to be released deal of the century will abandon the “two-state solution”—the creation of another Arab State in the disputed territories for the first time ever in recorded history—propagated by President Obama and his former Secretary of State John Kerry.

The US State Department web site under Kerry had included the “Palestinian Territories” in the “List of Countries and Other Areas” between 2009 and 2017.
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Avi Berkowitz, 30, is a protégé to Trump’s son-in-law, having worked under him in real estate, media, on the campaign trail and at the White House

By ERIC CORTELLESSA, TOI

Outgoing US Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt is seen with successor Avi Berkowitz in an April photo (Twitter)

Washington — Jason Greenblatt’s announcement of his resignation from the Trump administration on Thursday left an opening for a Mideast peace envoy in Jerusalem.

With Israel only 12 days away from its next election, and the White House having said it will unveil its peace plan shortly afterwards, the position was quickly filled by one of the few insiders to the secretive process.

Avi Berkowitz, a longtime ally of Jared Kushner and one of his top assistants in Washington, will assume Greenblatt’s role once the Trump envoy officially steps down in the coming weeks, after the release of the peace proposal, the White House said.
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By Ron Jager, AMERICAN THINKER

Not a day goes by without Jews being shot in their synagogues, stabbed, bludgeoned by blocks, physically attacked, pushed to the ground, spat on, and cursed; without graffiti on the walls of Jewish institutions, graffiti on the walls of synagogues; without victims killed, maimed for life, traumatized, hospitalized, extended rehabilitation.  The list goes on and on.  Older Chassidic Jews, young orthodox Jews, Conservative Jews, Reform Jews, non-affiliated Jews — they are all targeted, irrespective of their level of Jewishness, irrespective of whether they look or act Jewish.  They are preyed upon only because they are Jews.  The daily incidents now pass without much notice.  A steady and acceptable level of violence and hate targeting Jewish people anywhere and everywhere is seemingly quietly condoned and accepted as a daily fact of American life.
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By Israel Harel, HAARETZ

Supporters of Hezbollah react with clenched fists as they watch a speech by the movement’s leader Hassan Nasrallah,on a large screen in the Lebanese capital Beirut’s southern suburbs on September 2, 2AFP

Contrary to the message that the IDF and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are conveying, the last battle concluded with a victory for a Hezbollah in terms of deterrence and psychological warfare. Hezbollah fired Kornet anti-tank missiles and Israel responded in the north as it has responded for the past 14 years in the south: With a useless bombardment of open areas. The helicopters called into action were also deliberately prevented from hitting the missile launchers. The “crushing counter-blow” that Netanyahu threatened was, once again, a dummy strike. And the same goes for the childish “deception exercise.”

Israel’s acceptance of the Kornet fire has enabled Nasrallah (and his patrons) to conclude that the years’-long policy of containment in the south now applies to the north as well. In other words, the decision of when to open fire and when to hold fire will be up to Hezbollah, just as it is with Hamas. Is it any wonder that Nasrallah was quick to declare, “we have no more red lines?”
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Israel must prepare simultaneously for a range of war scenarios. This includes development of a credible capacity to strike Iranian nuclear targets; preparation for war on three fronts against an Iranian-led coalition; the ability to “mow the grass” in the two Palestinian arenas; and the ability to withstand an intense missile war. The highest priority is building a ground force capable of swift maneuver and attaining a decisive victory by taking the fight into enemy territory. Reliance on intelligence and accurate firepower (which has been the IDF approach in recent years) is insufficient; this is an important adjunct, not an alternative, to ground combat. The IDF must not be deterred by the prospect of casualties. Casualties can be reduced by swift and forceful forays that rapidly bring about enemy collapse. This will also reduce the time that the home front is exposed to enemy missile fire.
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By Alex VanNess & Ryan Mauro, CLARION PROJECT | September 5, 2019
Over $10 billion has flowed from foreign entities to US universities since 2012, according to a Clarion Project review of Education Department records.

Executive Summary

A massive amount of the funding comes from foreign governments (and government-tied entities) that run influence operations in the U.S. to try to mold public opinion and policy.

See below or click here to find out which countries have given to which universities and how much

The Department of Education is currently investigating funding from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Russia, China and (presumably) other countries.
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Myths and Facts

Israel’s Major Wars

September 5, 2019 | Eli. E Hertz

International law makes a clear distinction between defensive wars and wars of aggression. All of Israel’s wars with its Arab neighbors were in self-defence.

About six months before the War of Independence in 1948, Palestinian Arabs launched a series of riots, pillaging, and bloodletting, then came the invasion of seven Arab armies from neighboring states attempting to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state in accordance with the UN’s 1947 recommendation to Partition Palestine, a plan the Arabs rejected.

The Jewish state not only survived, it came into possession of territories – land from which its adversaries launched their first attempt to destroy the newly created State of Israel.

In the first critical weeks after the British left the region and Israel declared its independence, the combined Arab armies of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Trans-Jordan, Iraq, and contingents from Saudi Arabia and Yemen,2 aimed at a small Jewish militia with three tanks and five artillery pieces. Israel had no air force, and until arms were rushed in from abroad and a regular army could be organized, it relied on the only strength it had: 70 years of social solidarity inspired by the Zionist endeavor.
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