Omar Sattar, AL MONITOR

A general a view of the Rumaila oil field in Basra, Iraq, Nov. 28, 2017.  REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani

BAGHDAD — As Iraq exports most of its crude oil production, the Iraqi government is trying to diversify its oil export outlets in a bid to avoid any damage that could result from the tense security situation in the Gulf region.

T. Belman.  Wrong.  In  2016  “the GOP convention for the first time in years has adopted a platform that includes no mention of the Palestinians, nor of a two-state solution to the historic conflict. The party effectively endorsed this week a strategy that leaves Israel to its own devices in its handling of the Palestinians– a departure from years of promises, across party lines, of American leadership toward conflict resolution.”

Republican opposition to a resolution endorsing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict reflects the party’s drift away from a previously bipartisan pillar of US foreign policy.

By Bryant Harris, AL MONITOR

US Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, arrives at Trump Tower to meet with US President-elect Donald Trump in New York, US, Nov. 29, 2016.

When Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., entered Congress this year, she became the first and only lawmaker in decades to explicitly endorse a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, outlining a vision wherein Palestinians would gain equal rights at the expense of Israel’s Jewish majority.

Republicans have since accused Tlaib, a Palestinian American, of anti-Semitism, citing her support for a one-state solution and several other comments. But while Tlaib is an outlier within the Democratic Party, which still largely favors a two-state solution to the conflict, Republicans themselves are becoming increasingly skeptical of a two-state solution.

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Not only Erdogan has lost one of his props in the fight for regional dominance, but the United States will also have to find a new crutch to lean on in the Middle East

By Zvi Bar’el, HAARETZ

Military vehicles and equipment, parts of the S-400 air defense systems, are unloaded from a Russian transport aircraft, at Murted military airport in Ankara, Turkey, Friday, July 12, 2019.,AP

Almost four years have passed since the Turkish Air Force shot down a Russian Sukhoi fighter plane flying over it. Immediately after that a rift was torn between the two countries, including harsh economic sanctions on Turkey, such as preventing trade, closing Turkish factories, suspending Russian tourism to Turkish holiday sites and no communication between the two presidents.

This week the tables were turned. Russian anti-aircraft missiles effectively struck down the F-35 planes intended for Turkey. Erdogan’s decision to ignore the American demand and NATO’s objection, and perhaps also his wrong reading of the political reality in the United States, led the White House to announce its plans to oust Turkey from the project of building the advanced plane and suspend the transfer of the 30 planes in construction stages to the Turkish air force.
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The prime minister has handed his rivals a gift they could never have dreamed of.

By Yossi Verter,  HAARETZ

Two months before the election and (nearly) two months since the democratic nightmare started embittering our lives, it’s possible to sum up and say that, overall, Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy is working – only in reverse.

When the campaign got underway, in early July, the prime minister set forth a critical, lifesaving aim at his staff meetings: to lower Avigdor Lieberman, who is out to destroy him, to somewhere below the electoral threshold. All the polls have been showing that no existing party is gaining strength except for one, which will shortly double its representation in the Knesset: Yisrael Beiteinu. With five seats in the outgoing parliament, it is now ensconced at a level of nine or 10 seats, according to the surveys.

Likud’s primary efforts during the past 50 days – to portray Lieberman as a leftist and to gnaw away at his electoral base – is for now yielding fruits only in the garden of the “leftist” from the settlement of Nokdim.
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By Robbie Michaelson, TOI blogs

At this point in time it could be noted that many American Jews are appear to be on the wrong side of history.  Events speak for themselves.

American Jews have been at the forefront of the battle for so-called “immigrant rights”.  Americans were all immigrants once; just ask the Native Americans. America was built by immigrants; true enough. So why the controversy? Because, today, there is an immigration crisis on America’s southern border that has been caused by a broken immigration system and is being fuelled by partisan politics.

The crisis on the border could be ameliorated by reforming America’s antiquated decades-old immigration system. It is a policy that allows for immigrants to cross over into the U.S. illegally and then claim sanctuary under the existing right to claim “Asylum”. However, upon an asylum hearing examination, which because the system is so overwhelmed usually takes months,  most migrants have been found to not qualify for asylum and have had their applications denied. The problem arises from the fact that from the time most migrants claiming asylum enter the U.S. they are released into the country to await their hearing –  for which the majority of the migrants never show up; and they remain in the U.S. illegally.
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Watch Cheney’s Bold Defense of Trump: This Isn’t About Race, It’s About Socialists Destroying America

Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney blasted a group of freshman progressive lawmakers on Tuesday, arguing that conservatives oppose them not due to their race or gender, but rather because of their socialist policies that “would destroy America.”

Cheney’s comments came two days after President Donald Trump became the subject of criticism for a series of tweets Sunday that appeared to take aim at Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.

“So interesting to see ‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run,” the president tweeted Sunday.
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David Nussbaum. The BBC inverts reality. Soros actually pointed out Jewish residences in 1944 when he was 14, after his parents fled town and left him with his father’s lawyer colleague. Soros confirmed this on a 60 Minutes interview around the early 1990s. When asked if had any second thoughts he stated that he did not. It was him or them. He volunteered, that looking back it was one of the best times in  his life.

The BBC lies (what else is new?) and claims that Soros saved Jews when he was nine.(See brief article below.)  Well, Soros was born on August 12th, 1930. When he was 9, the Germans hadn’t yet invaded Poland and didn’t occupy their Hungarian allies until 1944.

By Nick Thorpe, BBC News, Hungary

A poster showing George Soros, saying “Let’s not allow Soros to have the last laugh!”. Someone has written “dirty Jew” on his forehead</span>

Giant posters vilifying the financier George Soros have gone up all over Hungary – the crudest step in the latest campaign by the rightwing Fidesz government against the 86-year-old Hungarian-born philanthropist.

Many Hungarian Jews fear that open or concealed anti-Semitism lies behind the campaign. The government strenuously denies this.

The posters show a grinning Mr Soros beside the words, “Don’t let Soros have the last laugh”.

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BY NOAH ROTHMAN, COMMENTARY

It began, as so many of today’s outrages do, with a primer on why you should be outraged.

The Wall Street Journal revealed that Nike spokesman and former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick was incensed over an unannounced plan to produce a shoe featuring the Betsy Ross Revolutionary War-era American flag. Nike preemptively responded to their spokesman’s ire over what he alone determined was an offensive symbol of slavery and white supremacy and killed the shoe. The controversy exploded ex nihilo. Democratic presidential candidates echoed Kaepernick’s sentiments about the offensive nature of symbols reflective of colonial-era American patriotism. Talking heads on cable news compared the flag to the Nazi swastika. Republicans averred their intention to boycott Nike and purchase flag shoes wherever they could be found.
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Despite the belligerent, infuriating rhetoric from Jordanian lawmakers, the Jordanian government is rational and has avoided hasty declarations capable of torpedoing the natural gas deal with Israel, which the kingdom badly needs.

By Dr. Edy Cohen, ISRAEL HAYOM

In an unusual and particularly infuriating announcement, Jordanian lawmaker Tareq Khouri called on the citizens of his country to blow up pipelines that are supposed to deliver natural gas from Israel to Jordan. Khouri, a Christian, said in early July: “I want to propose something to all the members [of parliament]: Sign an ‘honor charter.’ Everyone is free to risk their lives and the lives of their children to blow up every [Israeli] gas pipeline passing through Jordanian territory. We will all become martyrs. We will sign this ‘honor charter’ to prevent this pipeline from entering one centimeter of Jordanian soil.”

Many people in Jordan oppose the gas deal between the two countries, but this was a new low. Negotiations over the gas deal were launched back in 2011, and it was signed in 2016 with the help of American mediation after several delays. The agreement will allow natural gas from the Israel’s “Leviathan” offshore gas field to Jordan’s electric company, and the scope of the deal is $10 billion over a 15-year period. Israel is slated to begin delivering he gas in early 2020.
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Announcement on state TV says vessel intercepted by Revolutionary Guard forces in Strait of Hormuz; tanker said to be smuggling Iranian fuel to foreign customers

By AP Today, 2:34 pm  0

In this file photo taken on April 30, 2019, Iranian soldiers take part in the ‘National Persian Gulf Day’ in the Strait of Hormuz. (Atta Kenare/AFP)

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard forces have seized a foreign oil tanker accused of smuggling oil with a crew of 12, Iran’s state TV reported Thursday, just days after an oil tanker based in the United Arab Emirates disappeared off trackers in Iranian territorial waters.

The Panamanian-flagged oil tanker MT Riah stopped transmitting its location overnight on Sunday near Qeshm Island, which has a Revolutionary Guard base on it, according to data listed on tracking site Maritime Traffic.
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ISIS is planning a comeback, but it and other jihadist groups will have to contend with an empowered Jewish state

By Yochanan Visser, ISRAEL HAYOM

The Israeli spy agency Mossad and the IDF’s Military Intelligence have thwarted some 50  terror attacks worldwide over the course of three years Israeli broadcaster Mako reported at the beginning of last week.

The foiled terror attacks were the work of Iran and the Islamic State Jihadist group according to Mako.

Israeli intelligence delivered information about planned terror attacks against twenty countries among them Turkey where the Mossad helped foiling no less than 12 attacks by ISIS despite worsening diplomatic relations between Israel and the Erdogan regime in Ankara.
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by Mitchell Bard, ALGEMEINER

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani delivers a speech at the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, June 15, 2019. Photo: Reuters / Mukhtar Kholdorbekov / File.

The Iran nuclear deal was predicated on the ability of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to verify Iran’s compliance with the terms of the agreement. This is what President Obama said on July 14, 2015:

Because of this deal, the international community will be able to verify that the Islamic Republic of Iran will not develop a nuclear weapon. … Every pathway to a nuclear weapon is cut off. And the inspection and transparency regime necessary to verify that objective will be put in place. … Because of this deal, we will, for the first time, be in a position to verify all of these commitments. That means this deal is not built on trust; it is built on verification. Inspectors will have 24/7 access to Iran’s key nuclear facilities.

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Fewer voters believe President Trump is racist and more believe he’s attacked as a racist only for political purposes, according to a poll taken after the fake news media launched a jihad to destroy the president over tweets aimed at the extremist Democrats known as “The Squad.”

BREITBARTS

In a Rasmussen poll of 1,000 likely voters taken on Monday and Tuesday, a full day after Trump blasted the Squad — which is made up of Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) — all the important numbers have moved Trump’s way.

To begin with, Trump’s overall job approval rating moved a net eight points in his direction since Monday — from 46 percent to 50 percent approval; and from 52 percent to 48 percent disapproval.

Those who believe Trump is racist dropped from 50 percent in January of 2018, to 47 percent today. A plurality of 49 percent do not believe Trump is racist.
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Resentment towards the half-million Syrian refugees in Istanbul, fueled by Turkey’s economic crisis and populist political rhetoric, is metastasizing into a general hostility toward all Arabs – and Palestinians are caught in the backlash

By Esther Solomon, HAARETZ

Illustration: ‘Resentment is growing at an alarming rate, directed mainly at Syrian refugees, but metastasizing into a general hostility toward all Arabs – and Palestinians are caught in the backlash’REUTERS

ISTANBUL – “Anti-Arab racism is everywhere. I am looked at with loathing on the Metrobus. I wonder why they want to be so hurtful.”

Nasreen Amirah (not her real name), an aspiring Palestinian artist in her early 20s, arrived in Turkey two years ago from Gaza. She imagined Istanbul as a “key to the world,” a chance to broaden her social and artistic horizons; to be judged by her talent, not her origins.

But resentment against Arabs in her new home is growing at an alarming rate, directed mainly at the many Syrian refugees in Istanbul, but metastasizing into a general hostility toward all Arabs – and Palestinians are caught in the backlash.
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DEBKA

In the first military clash between US and Russian forces in Syria, more than 200 Russian “mercenaries” are reported killed, scores more injured. US military sources first  reported that 100 Russian “advisers” were killed and dozens injured in a US attack on Syrian and allied pro-Iranian forces on Feb. 8. By  Tuesday, Feb. 13, those figures had doubled. Moscow has not confirmed the incident or the casualties, which would be five times more than Russian official losses since it entered the war in 2015. President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, declined to comment, saying the Kremlin only tracks data on the country’s armed forces. According to one Russian officer, the death toll continues to rise after scores of Russian wounded were flown to hospitals in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

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By Cindy Simpson, AMERICAN THINKER

“Birtherism” lives. Not because Kenyan birth conspiracists refuse to let it go, but because the Democrat-Media Complex won’t let the term die. The label and its interchangeable charge of “racism” are too useful to them as a shorthand silencing tactic. And if Republicans allow the tactic to flourish, any hope of effectively reforming our nation’s immigration policies will fade in proportion. Just hours before the House of Representatives was to vote on a resolution condemning President Trump’s tweet storm about the four freshmen called “The Squad,” CBS News ran the headline: “From birtherism to racist tweets: Trump’s history of inflaming racial tensions.” A couple of weeks ago, Dean Obeidallah tweeted: “Birtherism has become shorthand for smearing people of color in politics with lies. And Trump is the father and long time champion of bitherism [sic].”

Obeidallah, defending criticism of Kamala Harris following the Democratic debates by essentially repeating lines from the complex’s script, has it partly right: “birtherism” has indeed become an ugly shorthand smear. But the rest of the claim is entirely wrong.

Bringing up truths — even when uncomfortable or inconvenient — is not “smearing.” Neither is asking legitimate questions about the ideology, background or constitutional eligibility of “people of color in politics.” The “smearing” happens when the media, in near-perfect unison, silences the askers with the awful charge of racism. And it was this media cabal, not Trump, who is the “father” of this smear tactic.
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Very Good News Israel

Israel attracted much interest last week from Indonesian business leaders, US congress members, Indian water system designers, Yazidi trauma victims, global investors, medical organizations, international entertainers and archaeologists.

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 
The Jewish State in its true light.

In the 14th July 19 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:

• • An Israeli scientist has developed a new way to lure and destroy cancer cells.
  • An Arab Muslim represents Israel in women’s Euro high-jump championships.
  • Israel is designing an innovative water system for India’s Maharashtra state.
  • An Israeli startup has truly “re-invented the wheel” for electric cars.
  • Israeli businesses benefit Philippine hospitals and US visually handicapped.
  • Israel’s premier dance and theatre center is celebrating its 30th anniversary.

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When nuance is black and white.

BY ABE GREENWALD, COMMENTARY

A host of progressive organizations use their ostensible Jewishness as cover or sanction for their campaigns against Israel. J Street, which calls itself “pro-Israel” and “pro-peace,” is perhaps the best known among them. There’s no better example of how this works than J Street’s recent launch of a program to compete with Birthright Israel, the 20-year-old organization that’s provided free trips to Israel for more than 600,000 young Jews around the world.

According to J Street, “the omission and erasure of Palestinian perspectives and narratives on these [Birthright] trips creates a political environment that allows home demolitions, settlement expansion, and other destructive policies of occupation to continue unchallenged.” Instead, the group says, “organized educational trips for young American Jews must present a robust, nuanced and honest view of the current realities on the ground in Israel and the Palestinian Territory.”
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