A senior American official, speaking with Israel Hayom, harshly criticizes a letter written by a group of religious-Zionist rabbis to PM Netanyahu, in which they “recognize the historic moment” but say the Trump peace plan carries the risk of “creating a terror state.”

by  Ariel Kahana, ISRAEL HAYOM

US President Donald Trump speaks at the Israeli American Council National Summit in Hollywood, Fla., in early December | Photo: (AP/Patrick Semansky)

A senior American official, speaking with Israel Hayom on Monday, harshly criticized a letter written by a group of rabbis from the religious-Zionist camp to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which they “recognize the historic moment” but say the Trump peace plan carries the risk of “creating a terror state.”

The American officials lambasted the letter, saying: “They are squandering the moment, and don’t understand the immense advantages this plan entails in terms of their worldview. The [Israeli] right will not get anything better than this.”

The official also addressed claims by some on the Right that the Trump plan will lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state. “If you look at the dictionary, you’ll understand this isn’t the definition of a state. That is not what the plan allows, and so the resistance from the Right and the rabbis is a mistake.”
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First time border outline unveiled

By LAHAV HARKOV, JPOST

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump will release his peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians on Tuesday and for the first time publicize a map outlining the borders of a proposed Palestinian state.

Presentation of a detailed map of the borders between Israel and a future Palestinian state is something that no American president has done before, a source involved in drafting the plan told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.

Trump will reveal the plan at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House that will be attended by Jewish and Republican leaders. He will be joined onstage by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

On Monday, Trump asked Netanyahu and Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz in separate meetings to take immediate action on implementing his plan. The president hopes that having support from both of the leading candidates in the March 2 election will provide momentum for what he has called “The Deal of the Century.” Read more…

“The Deal of the Century,” if the leaked details are even close to accurate, is a non-starter. That is the simple take-away. But should Israel wait for the Arabs to blow it up on their own? And then what?

Rabbi Prof. Dov Fischer, INN

The basic contours being leaked about the forthcoming Trump Mideast plan, which he predictably, in his own typically understated modest way, calls “The Deal of the Century,” suggest that:

1.  Israel would get to annex all Jewish communities presently established in Judea and Samaria.

2. Approximately 30-40 percent of Judea and Samaria formally would be integrated into Israel, reunifying those lands.

3. The Arabs in Judea and Samaria (“Palestinians”) would get their own independent country in what is left of Judea and Samaria after Israel annexes its 30-40 percent.
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Yesha leaders, now in Washington, demand PM refuse deal entailing establishment of Palestinian state – even at the expense of sovereignty.

By Yoni Kempinski, INN,  Washington, 28/01/20 12:41

Netanyahu with Yesha leaders

The Yesha Council delegation to Washington met with senior officials in the US over the past day and was exposed to the fact that the Deal of the Century to be unveiled this evening includes the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Yesha Council Speaker David Elhayani said, “We are very disturbed. We cannot agree to a plan that would include the establishment of a Palestinian state that would pose a threat to the State of Israel and a great danger to the future.”

“We declare that we will not allow the establishment of a Palestinian state even at the cost of giving up on sovereignty in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley. We demand that the prime minister, ministers and Knesset members not accept a comprehensive agreement within which a Palestinian state is established in any way. ”
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What the current administration did by its announcement reinforced two messages: that America is closely attached to Israel, and that the historical connection of Israel with the land is strong and significant.

By Douglas J. Feith, jns

[…] So, for thousands of years, Jews could and did live in the West Bank, a part of the ancient Jewish homeland. From 1948 until 1967, Jordan prohibited Jews from living there. And for the last half-century, Jews have been living there again. Yet President Jimmy Carter’s administration decided that the anomaly was the norm. It asked itself whether Jews should be allowed to live in the West Bank, and it chose to find its answer not in the broad sweep of history or in a comprehensive legal analysis, but in the odd 19-year period when Jordan banned Jews from living in the territory.

Herbert Hansell was the legal adviser of the State Department in the Carter administration. In 1978, he wrote a letter to members of Congress saying that the Jewish settlements in the West Bank (and Gaza) were “inconsistent with international law.” This was the first time that the U.S. government officially made that assertion.

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan said he disagreed with the Carter administration and did not believe that the Israeli settlements were illegal. Read more…

T. Belman.  I believe that Trump will present a plan that is destined to fail thereby paving the way to the real Deal of the Century. Its a two step process. So both Trump and Netanyahu expect it to fail.

Trump would not table a plan that is doomed to fail unless he wanted it to fail. Afterall, Trump likes winning.

Both the center left and the center right want separation from Palestinians. For this reason the left is pushing for the two state solution.  The right is against the two state plan unless the second state is Jordan. Compensated Arab emigration will achieve the desired separation.

Jan 28, 2020 12:57 AM
By Ehud Barak, JPOST

U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talk outside the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., January 27, 2020.

From the details published in the media, U.S. Donald Trump’s “deal of the century” seems to be the most favorable approach to Israel ever adopted by an American president regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is a significant change, which creates an important opportunity.

Israel is holding 50 percent of the cards that will determine the fate of this opportunity, which imposes a heavy responsibility on its leaders – Kahol Lavan chairman Benny Gantz, who is returning for Tuesday’s discussions of immunity, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is fleeing from them – as accurately diagnosed by Avigdor Lieberman. The question is “what should Israel want?”

Netanyahu, who has formed an alliance with the far right, including Kahanists and racists, while fleeing from the threat of the trial about to begin against him, is interested in causing the Trump plan to fail, while claiming that the other side is responsible, and immediately beginning steps toward unilateral annexation with Trump’s support. Read more…

By Valerie Sobel

January 27th is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Why does the world commemorate the Holocaust on this date given that neither Israel nor the Jewish diaspora, the only preeminent stakeholders with the never-dried eyes over the eternally open wound do so?

A free date on the UN calendar?

Not exactly. As with all things commemorated, the chosen date (January 27th) has something to do with those doing the commemorating and a bit less with those who are being commemorated.

13 Death camps, 356 starvation ghettos and countless forced labour camps in Poland, USSR, the Baltic States, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Hungary were run by the Nazis between 1939 and 1945 to annihilate anyone with 1/16 Jewish bloodline or more.  All in the spirit of “Final Solution” first laid out ever-so-tidily in the enlightened head of German composer, Richard Wagner. Read more…

T. Belman. Netanyahu said in Washington that he prefers to extend sovereignty over Maaleh Adumin before doing so over the Jordan Valley.

By Nadav Shragai, JCPA

Why This Study Was Written

The Israeli building program known as E1 (East-1), situated between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim, has been on the Israeli and world agenda for twenty years. It is subject to a severe Israeli-Palestinian dispute and prompts strong international opposition. As a result, it has yet to be implemented.

On November 30, 2012, after long years in which Israel had almost completely frozen the program, a scaled-down forum of nine ministers of the Israeli government met and decided to renew the planning, approval, and construction processes in the E1 area. This decision was part of Israel’s reaction to the UN General Assembly resolution on recognizing the State of Palestine as an observer state that is not a full member of the United Nations.
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Israel Antiquities Authority’s Theft Prevention Unit inspector says there are a growing number of thieves using metal detectors who are destroying unexcavated archaeological sites

By AMANDA BORSCHEL-DAN, TOI

From the trove of coins found in the home of a suspected antiquities thief from Kfar Kana, January 2020. (Yaron Bibas/IAA)

A cache of 232 ancient coins was recovered from the house of a known antiquities thief in Kfar Kana last week by the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Theft Prevention Unit.

The trove of coins includes samples from the 5th century BCE Persian period, to the later Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods, and to the early Ottoman period in the circa 16th century. The coins will now undergo testing and study at the IAA.

Inspector Nir Distelfeld told The Times of Israel on Monday that he recently spotted the repeat offender with a metal detector in the field and recognized him from two previous occasions in which he had been caught and fined for illegally excavating ancient coins. Read more…

By Peter Skurkiss, AMERICAN THINKER

The chaos that the Obama-Clinton diplomacy unleashed in Libya continues to grow. It started when U.S.-French-NATO-led military intervention toppled Col. Moammar Qaddafi in 2011. After his government fell, Qaddafi was then beaten and sodomized with a bayonet by an irate mob of Libyans before being shot to death. This prompted our illustrious Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to show the class she is noted for by crowing, “We came, we saw, he died.”

Yes — Qaddafi, who was no threat to America, died. But so did any semblance of stability in Libya and the ensuing chaos still reverberates to this day. Due to the power vacuum created by Qaddafi’s abrupt removal, Libya has now become a battleground for proxies motivated by Libya’s oil wealth and fighting for geopolitical influence and over ideological differences. The country is a confusing mess. Here is a thumbnail sketch to sort out the parties currently involved.

Tripoli is the seat of the provisional government. It is backed by the United Nations and is supported by Turkey, which has over 1,000 troops there along with another 1,200 or so battle-hardened Syrian fighters.
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Latest unsourced Israeli media reports say plan includes freeze on settlement growth and tunnel connecting Gaza and the West Bank, some 30% of which would be annexed by Israel

By TOI STAFF   26 January 2020, 8:00 pm

The security fence running through the hills near Jerusalem. (Yossi Zamir/Flash90)

The Trump administration’s peace plan would curb Israeli settlement growth, initially hand Israelis and Palestinians about one-third of the West Bank each, recognize a Palestinian state in the Palestinian-held areas, and set in place a four-year “preparation period” during which Palestinians would — so Washington hopes — come around to the plan and possibly negotiate control of the remainder of the territory.

At least, that is what several Hebrew-language media outlets were reporting on Sunday, just a day or two before US President Donald Trump is expected to unveil the long-awaited plan to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rival MK Benny Gantz, who are in Washington this week.

The Israeli outlets offered no source for the information, but the fact that it was handed to several Hebrew-language outlets and no American ones suggested the source may have been Israeli. Read more…

US official tells Reuters that proposal won’t be released ahead of US president’s meetings with Gantz and Netanyahu to ensure he has their support before details announced

By TOI STAFF

US President Donald Trump pauses as he arrives at Miami International Airport en route to attend the Republican National Committee winter meetings, Thursday, January 23, 2020, in Miami. (AP/ Evan Vucci)

US President Donald Trump will reportedly tell Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White chief Benny Gantz that they have until the Knesset elections to work on the administration’s long-awaited peace plan, potentially throwing the high stakes diplomatic gambit into Israel’s domestic political stew.

According to a report by the Reuters news agency, citing a US official, Trump will not announce details of the plan until after he receives buy-in from both Netanyahu and Gantz so that it does not lose any momentum.

According to the unnamed official, Trump will tell the two, “You have six weeks to get this [plan] going, if you want it.” Read more…

By Evelyn Gordon

If you want to understand the true obstacle to Mideast peace, look no further than the Jordanian parliament’s unanimous approval last week of a bill to ban natural-gas imports from Israel, just days after the gas began arriving.

Energy-poor Jordan needs a stable, affordable fuel supply, which the Israeli deal provides. When it was signed in 2016, the Jordanian government said it could save the country $500 million a year—almost 4 percent of Jordan’s 2019 budget and more than half its projected deficit for that year (the actual deficit was apparently higher). In short, the deal would let the kingdom redirect significant amounts of money to some of its other crying needs.

But that doesn’t interest Jordanian lawmakers. What they care about is that this is “the gas of the enemy,” to quote protesters against the deal.
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T. Belman. All attempts in the past failed because they depended on getting the PA to agree.  As I often repeat “There is no diplomatic solution”.   So it was clear that the only way to arrive at a solution was to ignore the PA and to dictate to them. And that is what Trump is doing. In fact, Trump, in all things does not want to be hornswaggled by his attempt to acheive agreement whether it be with the EU, UN, Iran, and so on. He prefers to act alone and to dictate the end result.

That’s how he gets things done. In effect he is disenfranchising his opponents rather than impowering them.  The left insist on empowering the minorities or the bureaucracy, to weaken the majority.  Trump will have nothing to do with that.  The tail shouldn’t wag the dog.

He is not alone in that. Obama couldn’t get agreement where he wanted it  so he acted by executive action. In the case of the Iran deal he bypassed the required agreement of Congress and went directltly to the UN where agreement was assured.

Israeli sources who have been briefed on Jared Kushner’s peace plan, set to be published early this week, say it will basically maintain the current situation, and is consistent with right-wing and religious positions

By Amir Tibon and Noa Landau, HAARETZ

On January 19, 2017, a night before his inauguration as the 45th U.S. president, Donald Trump stood on a stage in Washington and praised Jared Kushner. “If you can’t produce peace in the Middle East, nobody can,” he told his son-in-law at the VIP reception. Trump added that the deal he was going to ask Kushner to present – peace between Israel and the Palestinians – was the “toughest deal” to get.

Three years later, the Trump administration is about to present Kushner’s document, widely known as “the deal of the century,” and it’s clear that Israeli-Palestinian peace is the last thing that will come out of it.

Kushner’s plan is written in a way that guarantees it will be rejected by the Palestinian Authority, and will be released after two years with no communications between the United States and the Palestinians. Read more…

BBC

REUTERS-Supporters of Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr carry placards depicting Donald Trump

At least three rockets struck the US embassy in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on Sunday.

One rocket hit the embassy cafeteria while two others landed a short distance away, a source told AFP.

At least three people were injured, security sources told Reuters. This would be the first time in years that staff have been hurt in such attacks.

No group has claimed responsibility but the US has blamed Iran-backed military factions in Iraq in the past.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi condemned the attack, stating that the continuation of such acts could “drag Iraq into becoming a battlefield”.

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by Tabitha Korol

America will never be destroyed from the outside.  If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. – Abraham Lincoln.   January 27, 1838.

For different reasons and perhaps unknowingly, the leftist-supported LGBTQ movement and Islam are allied in a common goal of ridding the West of its Judeo-Christian ethos.  The former would abandon America to the tyranny of unrestrained freedom, the latter to the prison of a mullahcracy – strange bedfellows united by a common goal.

Our school systems countrywide have long been moving away from our Biblically-inspired culture – gradually eliminating our own values to make way for the chaos of the Left and the tenets of dehumanizing Islamic laws, sharia.  It began in the 1960s, but it was never so insidious and efficient until the Obama years and the implementation of Common Core standards and other deviations from our Founding Principles and Virtues.
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Israelis no longer accept the autonomous actions of mega-corporations that result in damaging the local environment

By Yochanan Visser, ISRAEL TODAY

Last week, Israel’s national broadcaster KAN 11 aired a three-part documentary about what it dubbed a “secret river” in the Arava desert south of the Dead Sea.

The river and its banks remind one of the Grand Canyon and other desert rivers in the United States, but contrary to what KAN 11 suggested with its title, the existence of the river was only a secret to the bulk of the Israeli public.

The existence of the beautiful river in the canyon a few kilometers from Route 90 to Eilat was known to photographers, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and to scientists.

Oren Aroni, the maker of the documentary,  explained on KAN’s website that he deliberately chose to call the river ‘secret’ because it is hidden from the public and from most of the Israeli authorities by the Dead Sea Works, which is a branch of Israel Chemicals Ltd.
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Jordan, in the dark on the details, views the ‘deal of the century’ as an existential threat – and the kingdom’s hands are tied

Zvi Bar’el, HAARETZ

Jordanian King Abdullah II delivers a speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France, on January 15, 2020.AFP

Jordan is once again seeking political asylum. While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Benny Gantz will hear the details of the “deal of the century” in Washington this week, King Abdullah will apparently only be able to guess at the nature of the ambush U.S. President Donald Trump is laying for him.

Based on the statements of senior Jordanian officials, the kingdom is still officially in the dark, and speculation relies mainly on leaks to the Israeli media. But their greatest fear is that Jordan will become the alternative Palestinian homeland.

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