The Palestinian Dillusion  

“Robert Spencer persuasively establishes the justice of Zionism and the barbarism of its opponents”

“Spencer brings his formidable erudition and smooth keyboard to the knotty topic of the Palestinian assault on Israel. Deftly separating fact from fiction, he persuasively establishes the justice of Zionism and the barbarism of its opponents. Everyone should read this one-volume synthesis to under- stand the most complex conflict of our time.” — DANIEL PIPES, Middle East Forum

Preorder The Palestinian Delusion: The Catastrophic History of the Middle East Peace Process here.

November 14, 2019 | 10:12 am | Comments »

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Ceasefire agreed to this morning  

T. Belman. In my opinion, Israel shouldn’t seek a cease fire. Instead, Israel should continue to pound Islamic Jidad until Islamic Jihad stops firing rockets. Surely, Israel can fight a two front war. She should be able to “focus on the north” while pounding the south.

Nor should Israel warn Hamas to stay out of it. It should go without saying.

Finally, Israel should not stop pounding them until 24 hours after they stop. They must pay a heavy price for their attacks.

‘We must continue to focus on the northern arena.’

By Mordechai Sones,  INN 

IDF Artillery at a staging area in Southern Israel
IDF Artillery at a staging area in Southern Israel

The IDF Spokesman confirmed today that a ceasefire was achieved in the south, noting that the Black Belt battle plan had achieved its goals.

According to the source, Islamic Jihad and other organizations agreed to the Egyptian proposal for an immediate ceasefire and to conduct demonstrations along the border fence peacefully, while Israel agreed to the Egyptian proposal for an immediate ceasefire, cessation of targeted killings, and cessation of shootings at protesters along the fence. A ceasefire was also reported in Arab media.

“We achieved all goals within 48 hours,” said Spokesman Brigadier General Hedy Silberman, “we must continue to focus on the northern arena – Iranian activity is not just in Syria.
Read more…

November 14, 2019 | 9:40 am | 1 Comment »

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360 rockets launched into Israel, IDF attacks  

IDF strikes Islamic Jihad targets as rocket attacks continue. Rocket interception rate stands at over 90%, over 20 terrorists eliminated.

Arutz Sheva Staff, 13/11/19 19:45

Gaza rockets

Gaza rockets

360 rockets have been fired into Israel between Tuesday morning and Wednesday evening, the IDF spokesperson said.

“From the morning hours of Tuesday until 5:30 pm, 360 rockets launched from the Gaza Strip that crossed into Israeli territory have been identified.

“Air defense fighters intercepted many rockets, and the percentage of interceptions stands at over 90%.”
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November 13, 2019 | 9:14 pm | 1 Comment »

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Why a woman at my synagogue is terrified of white supremacy  

By Howard Sachs, AMERICAN THINKER

In a Democrat Jewish synagogue with its parking lot full of fading “I’m with Her” bumper stickers, a nice, well-meaning woman said she is deeply distressed by the rise of white supremacy in America.  It shows how well-meaning nice people may have awful ideas.  Her distress was one of these terrible ideas that translate into destructiveness.  Sadly, large numbers of non-orthodox Jews and Christians agree with her — agree with the millions of secular leftists raging about President Trump and the Danger of the Right.  They would attribute their fantasy about the rise of white supremacy to our president and the deplorable Republicans.

As the great Jewish thinker, writer, and president of the wildly popular Prager University videos on the web says (paraphrased), “never before in all my studies of totalitarian states in history would I come to realize that people in a free country could be utterly brainwashed by a propagandist press.”  Tragically, that is what is happening here in America.
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November 13, 2019 | 4:56 pm | 4 Comments »

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Netanyahu and Gantz closing in on agreement?  

Three of Blue and White’s four leaders may be willing to compromise to form unity government, report says.

Arutz Sheva Staff, 13/11/19 12:43
Gantz and Netanyahu

Blue and White leaders Chairman MK Benny Gantz, MK Moshe Ya’alon, and MK Gabi Ashkenazi have ruled out the formation of a minority government supported from the outside by the Joint Arab List, and are working towards the formation of a unity government with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his Likud party, Israel Hayom reported.

It is estimated that the three leaders have already agreed to the President’s compromise, that Netanyahu should be first in a rotational deal, and that the 55-MK right-religious bloc is also welcome in the government, provided the number of ministers is equal in both the center-left and right-religious blocs. Read more…

November 13, 2019 | 2:40 pm | 15 Comments »

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Russia’s Comeback Isn’t Stopping With Syria  

By Dmitri Trenin, NYT Nov. 12, 2019

For many in the West, Russia’s return to the world stage over the past few years has come as a surprise, and not an especially pleasant one. After the downfall of the Soviet Union, the country was written off as a regional power, a filling station masquerading as a state.

Five years later, however, Russia is still resilient, despite the Western sanctions imposed over its actions in Ukraine. It has effectively won, militarily, in Syria: Today it is a power broker in that country; the victory has raised its prestige in the Middle East and provided material support for Moscow’s claims to be a great power again.

Those who experience this moment with some discomfort should get used to it: Russia is not a superpower, but it is back as an important independent player. And it will be playing in various regions around the world in the years to come.
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November 13, 2019 | 1:13 pm | 2 Comments »

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Raymond Ibrahim and the History the Army Refuses to Heed  

T. Belman. I wrote about the history of Islam here.

Trump calls Muslim migration “the all-time biggest Trojan Horse”.

Ever wonder why there are so many Muslims and Muslim countries in the world? Over the millennia many countries were conquered, but didn’t remain Persian or Greek or Roman as the case may be. But, the countries conquered in the name of Islam, became and remained, Islamic. For example Pakistan, part of India, and Malaysia were Hindu; Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and N. Africa were Christian; Afghanistan was Buddhist. They are all Islamic now.

This transformation was not by chance but by design.

By John Dale Dunn, AMERICAN THINKER

Sword and Scimitar: 14 Centuries of Conflict Between Islam and the West, by Raymond Ibrahim, Hardcover pp 481 $20.42  Kindle $16.99, ISBNs 978-0-306-82555-2,  (DeCapo Press NYC 2018).

In the book Sword and Scimitar Raymond Ibrahim, an Egyptian Christian, tells the story of the millennium-plus of conflict between Islam and Western (Christian) Nations, structured on 8 landmark battles.  The first, Yarmuk in 636 AD, was a devastating defeat for the West, and the last in 1683 at Vienna, a defeat for the attacking Islamist army of the Ottoman Empire. Read more…

November 13, 2019 | 12:33 pm | Comments »

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Jews and conservatism: A growing relationship  

By Lauri B. Regan, AMERICAN THINKER

The Tikvah Fund held its third annual Jewish Leadership Conference on Jews and Conservatism this past Sunday in New York City, and it was one of the best conferences I have attended in quite some time.  While the first conference two years ago was quite successful with approximately 400 in attendance, this year’s sold-out symposium was moved to a large hotel ballroom space with over 1,000 joining.  For someone who lives in the blue bastions of hell, where Jews are being attacked on the streets of New York City almost daily and progressive values dominate policy and perspective, it was a treat to see the number of conservative Jews who flew in from all over North America to attend this compelling, informative, and important event.

The purpose of the conference was to “explore the power of conservative ideas to strengthen the Jewish people and to revitalize American civic life.”  Given the assimilation and apathy of the vast majority of American Jews who would sooner vote for an anti-Israel Democrat than ever consider backing the current president, who has supported Israel more than any of his predecessors, let alone open their minds to understanding the way in which conservative values have helped them survive millennia, it seems that Tikvah has its hands full.  But it hit a home run on Sunday.
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November 13, 2019 | 1:57 am | Comments »

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By design or not, Gaza escalation increases chance of unity government  

Over 190 rockets launched at Israel since killing of Islamic Jihad commander, Sporadic fire from Strip continues as IDF hits rocket launching cells; 46 Israelis injured, 7 Gazans said killed; numerous cities in south, central Israel cancel school Wednesday

Benny Gantz claims nothing’s changed, but he knows an operation limits his options and bolsters Netanyahu, while putting nail in coffin of Plan B, Arab-backed minority government

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz at a memorial ceremony marking 24 years since the assassination of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, in the Knesset on November 10, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Opposition leader MK Benny Gantz on Tuesday said the escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip will not affect his ongoing negotiations to form a coalition.

“This action will have no effect on the political processes taking place,” Gantz, giving a statement in support of Israel’s early-morning airstrike killing a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander in the Gaza Strip.

But Gantz is wrong. And he knows it.
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November 12, 2019 | 11:10 pm | 7 Comments »

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Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar: “We Will Crush Tel Aviv”  

We Have Hundreds Of Kilometers Of Underground Tunnels, Thousands Of Traps, Thousands Of Anti-Tank Missiles

MEMRI

https://www.memri.org/reports/hamas-leader-yahya-sinwar-we-have-hundreds-kilometers-underground-tunnels-thousands-traps

Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar said in a November 4, 2019 speech that aired on Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas-Gaza) that Hamas has hundreds of kilometers of underground tunnels, hundreds of underground and above-ground command centers, thousands of traps, and thousands of locally-made anti-tank missiles, which he claimed can destroy Israel’s tanks. He said that Hamas has thousands of missiles that will turn Israel’s cities into ruins and ghost cities if Israel makes any “stupid” mistake. Addressing Israeli politician and former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, who is currently trying to form a coalition in the Israeli government, Sinwar threatened: “We will make you curse the day your mother gave birth to you.” Sinwar also threatened: “We will crush Tel Aviv and cause its sirens to wail morning, evening, and night for six whole months.” In addition, Sinwar recalled a time when the Al-Qassam Brigades ran out of metal pipes for making missiles and a simple farmer led its members to former Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip, where he allegedly showed them metal pipes that were part of an irrigation system that had been left behind when Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip. Sinwar claimed that these pipes were enough to produce missiles for ten years.
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November 12, 2019 | 8:31 pm | 5 Comments »

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Gantz and Netanyahu may be closing in on deal for unity government: report  

TV cites sources in Likud, Blue and White saying rivals are discussing idea of a prime ministerial rotation in which Netanyahu will serve for first year, but step aside if indicted

By TOI STAFF  11 November 2019, 10:16 pm

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz at a memorial ceremony marking 24 years since the assassination of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, in the Knesset on November 10, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and rival Benny Gantz may be closing in on a coalition deal that would allow the formation of a government and prevent Israel from heading to its third election in under a year, Channel 12 reported on Monday.

Citing sources with knowledge of the negotiations between Likud and Gantz’s Blue and White party, the network said the two parties are now discussing the possibility, proposed by Likud, of a prime ministerial rotation in which Netanyahu will remain in office for a year before stepping aside in favor of Gantz. Read more…

November 12, 2019 | 1:30 pm | 12 Comments »

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Gantz says he will ‘consider compromise’ to clinch unity government  

After Liberman’s ultimatum, Blue and White party chief signals flexibility on demands regarding joint coalition with Likud

By RAOUL WOOTLIFF, TOI

Blue and White leader Benny Gantz addresses members of his faction during a meeting in the Knesset on November 11, 2019 (Elad Malka)

Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz on Monday said his party would be willing to consider compromising on some of its positions in the interest of forming a broad unity government alongside Likud and Yisrael Beytenu.

He also took a shot at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling on him to focus government-building negotiations on “what interests Israeli citizens — and not just what interests you.”

On Saturday, Yisrael Beytenu Avigdor Liberman presented a challenge to both Netanyahu and Gantz, saying that if either of them failed to back a unity government according to a proposal set out by President Reuven Rivlin and accept tough compromises in order to form a coalition together, he would walk back his commitment to a national unity government and support a minority government led by the candidate willing to compromise.
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November 12, 2019 | 8:44 am | 2 Comments »

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Remembrance in our new culture  

by Howard Rotberg, NEW ENGLISH REVIEW

In a world where cultural and moral relativism seem to demand that we should tolerate and respect every culture and every belief system equally, Canadian Remembrance Day and the U.S Veterans Day have more and more become the last bastion of traditional patriotism as a key value for our nations.

When we remember the soldiers who gave up their lives, or were disabled, for the maintenance of our way of life, our liberal democracies and our freedoms, we necessarily hold that our way of life is superior to those whose totalitarian illiberal governments forced the necessity of war upon us.

This year’s commemorations highlighted to me, how political correctness and relativism are going to have a large effect on future November 11th remembrances.
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November 12, 2019 | 5:19 am | 2 Comments »

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ANALYSIS: Why Trump should confront Turkey’s Erdogan  

The time has come for Trump to rein in his Turkish counterpart following invasion of Kurdistan in Syria and anti-democratic measures at home

By Yochanan Visser, INN

Donald Trump and Recep Erdogan at NATO summit

US President Donald J. Trump should rein in Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a Jerusalem Post editorial stated on Sunday.

“Trump needs to confront Erdogan and demand that he changes his policies not just in Syria and vis-à-vis Israel, but also when it comes to domestic issues like his treatment of journalists,” the editorial said.

Erdogan’s treatment of journalists – Turkey tops the list of countries that jail journalists for criticizing the regime – is no domestic issue as this reporter can testify.

The Turkish dictator used a lawyer working for the Islamist organization IHH to threaten me over my Turkey reporting and later put me on his blacklist I was told.
Read more…

November 11, 2019 | 3:30 pm | 4 Comments »

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