T. Belman. Just so you are clear on this.  No one is presuring the PA to attend.  It wasn’t even invited.  What the unnamed Arab states want is for the PA to encourage Palestinian businessmen to attend. Forget it. Its not going to happen.

The official did not name the Arab countries that were reportedly pressuring the PA leadership to soften its stance towards the upcoming workshop in Manama, Bahrain.

BY Khaled Abu Toameh, JPOST

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman greets Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas before the start of the 29th Arab Summit in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia April 15, 2018. (photo credit: HAMAD I MOHAMMED/REUTERS)

Some Arab states have begun exerting pressure on the Palestinians to agree to participate in next month’s workshop in Bahrain, where the US administration is planning to unveil the economic portion of its long-awaited plan for peace in the Middle East.

“Some Arab countries are unhappy that we immediately rejected the idea of the workshop,” a senior Palestinian Authority official in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post. “They are now asking us to stop attacking the workshop and not to oppose the participation of Palestinian businessmen.”

The official did not name the Arab countries that were reportedly pressuring the PA leadership to soften its stance towards the upcoming workshop in Manama, Bahrain.
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“Tlaib blames Israel for Palestinians’ lack of human dignity”

By Tabitha Korol 

Rashida Tlaib, the Muslim congresswoman who proclaimed that she feels more Palestinian than American in Congress, and wrapped herself in a Palestinian terrorist flag at her victory party on Friday, May 10, proudly declared, “There’s always kind of a calming feeling, I tell folks, when I think of the Holocaust.”  We were deeply offended but not surprised as she had already revealed her lack of empathy for the tragic suffering of so many millions of innocents because she was  raised in a culture of disrespect, contempt, bloodshed and death. The Hebrew Commandments mandate respect and reciprocity (The Golden Rule), and the Hebrew and Christian Bibles were able to humanize the savages that had existed previously, while the Koran commands that Muslims torment and kill Jews, Christians, and others unless they convert to Islam (2:120; 3:56; 3:85; 3:118; 3:178; 5:14; and more).

Tlaib added, “When I think of the Holocaust, and the tragedy of the Holocaust, and the fact that it was my ancestors — Palestinians — who lost their land and some lost their lives, their livelihood, their ‘human dignity,’ their existence in many ways, have been wiped out, and some people’s passports.”

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The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Jerusalem Post as well as wire services and other newspapers all managed to leave Zionism out of their summations of Wouk’s life. Except that Zionism is what guided his life.

By Moshe Phillips, 

Herman Wouk, the famed novelist who first became a household name for his 1951 Pulitzer Prize winning The Caine Mutiny died last week nearly 70 years after achieving fame. Besides his long career as a writer he was also a lifelong Zionist.

This fact of Wouk’s love affair with the State of Israel has been completely absent from the many articles celebrating his literary career and marking his passing, less than two weeks before what would have been his 104th birthday.

In this small space we will attempt to rectify that.
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Israel can feel vindicated on every level.

BY Michael Dickson, TOI

Israel’s Eurovision entry barely made a dent on the scoreboard but there’s no doubt that the Jewish State was the real winner of the Eurovision Song Content 2019.

Israel was hosting the competition for the fourth time in history but for the first in twenty years – and in an era where Eurovision is simulcast on YouTube and more and more countries have joined the contest, in an age of instant responses and scrutiny via social media with a global viewing audience that has swelled to 200 million people.

Eurovision is always loud, often garish and I admit to watching some of the songs with the “Mute” button pressed – but to be the host is a big deal and for Israel more than most. It also requires a lot – and Israel more than delivered. When Netta Barzilai triumphantly lifted the trophy last year, questions and concerns loomed: Which city would host? Would the contest be derailed – or even cancelled – by BDS, the anti-Israel boycotters? Could Israel do it and not go bankrupt in the process, or would the whole thing be a disaster?
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The results of the last election have shown that despite our nation’s deep appreciation for the people who dedicated their lives to defending the country, a vast majority of Israelis have come to realize they would be better off not adhering to their recommendations for territorial withdrawal.

By Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen, ISRAEL HAYOM

The Commanders for Israel’s Security movement on Tuesday issued a highly publicized warning of a new, false claim to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: The annexation of territory in Judea and Samaria will put the State of Israel’s residents at risk. Just a few weeks ago, at the height of the election campaign, Commanders for Israel’s Security paid for tens of millions of shekels’ worth of billboards and posters that tried to convince voters this election would decide between separation and annexation. There was never any doubt in anyone’s mind as to which party this group sought to bolster with this move.

A significant majority of Israelis chose to ignore the recommendations of these former security officials. Three former IDF chiefs of staff in the Blue and White party leadership, with the open support of three other former IDF chiefs of staff, were not enough to rally enough public support to implement the recommendations of former Israeli defense officials who support additional territorial withdrawals.
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T. Belman. Nothing cited makes the case that Farange is antisemetic. To suggest that a person is anti-globalist or anti-Communist, in no way is evidence that he is an antisemite. To make a headline of him being accused of using antisemitic tropes is nothing short of a smear job. Many respectable politician, including Trump, are falsely accused of racism or antisemitism by their opponents. Shame on TOI

They’ve asked to leave Europe, but Britons must this week choose new EU parliamentarians. Heading the polls is Nigel Farage, a right-winger increasingly criticized by Jewish groups

By ROBERT PHILPOT, TOI 20 May 2019,

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage attends a European Parliament election campaign event in Pontefract, northwest England, on May 13, 2019. – The newly-formed Brexit Party, which wants a clean break from the EU, has doubled its lead over other British parties in an opinion poll out Sunday on the European Parliament elections. Despite voting in a referendum to leave the European Union in 2016 Britain is braced to take part in the European Parliament election on May 23. (Oli SCARFF / AFP)

LONDON — They are perhaps the most bizarre elections in which Britons have ever been asked to participate. This Thursday, the country goes to the polls to elect members of the European Parliament — two months after Britain was supposed to have left the European Union.

The Brexit delay — caused by repeated heavy defeats in parliament for British Prime Minister Theresa May’s unpopular withdrawal agreement deal with the EU — has left Britain legally required to participate in the pan-Europe elections.

The contest is fast turning into a replay of the ugly and divisive 2016 referendum at the close of which Britain voted to leave the EU.
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Samaria Council head responds to armored vehicles transferred to PA security services as gift from EU with Israel’s approval.

By Mordechai Sones, INN

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan attacked the defense establishment decision to approve the transfer of armored vehicles to the Palestinian Authority by the European Union.

The vehicles, which were transferred to the Palestinian Authority security services as a gift from the EU, were reportedly sent to Judea and Samaria through Jordan.

Dagan said the armored vehicles transfer is “total abandonment of human life and taking an unacceptable risk both of the lives of IDF soldiers and of the lives of the residents of Judea and Samaria.”
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South Front reports:

On Wednesday, Wikileaks released new evidence of US President-elect Donald Trump’s assertion that Barack Obama was the founder of ISIS – a leaked audio of US Secretary of State John Kerry’s meeting with members of the Syrian opposition at the Dutch Mission of the UN on September 22. The audio also is an evidence of the fact that mainstream media colluded with the Obama’s administration in order to push the narrative for regime change in Syria, hiding the truth about arming and funding ISIS by the US, as it exposed a 35 minute conversation that was omitted by CNN.

Kerry admits that the primary goal of the Obama’s administration in Syria was regime change and the removal of Syrian President Bahar al-Assad, as well as that Washington didn’t calculate that Assad would turn to Russia for help.

In order to achieve this goal, the White House allowed the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group to rise. The Obama’s administration hoped that growing power of the IS in Syria would force Assad to search for a diplomatic solution on US terms, forcing him to cede power. In its turn, in order to achieve these two goals, Washington intentionally armed members of the terrorist group and even attacked a Syrian government military convoy, trying to stop a strategic attack on the IS, killing 80 Syrian soldiers.
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By Warren Henry,  the Federalist 5-13-19 [reprinted Mosaic]

Apparently yet another antisemite is running for Congress and it’s not ‘all of the news that’s fit to print’ so long as the antisemite is a Democrat.

Valerie Plame, an ex-CIA officer famously outed by a State Department official in the George W. Bush administration, is running for the open seat in New Mexico’s Third Congressional District. Unsurprisingly, the establishment media coverage of her candidacy largely ignored aspects of the Plame affair that are unhelpful to the left. Big Media also largely ignored the anti-Semitic materials she promoted on Twitter, a scandal that forced her resignation from the already controversial Ploughshares Fund.

“Plamegate” was rooted in a July 2003 New York Times op-ed by Plame’s then-husband. Joseph C. Wilson IV, a former diplomat, claimed the Bush administration manipulated intelligence about Saddam Hussein’s weapons programs to justify invading Iraq, based in part on a 2002 mission he took to Niger to investigate the alleged sale of “yellowcake” uranium to Saddam.
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T. Belman. What is the purpose for the Arab NATO? If it wants to share the NATO doctrine of an attack on one is an attack on all, it is hard to imagine that if Saudi Arabia is attacked by Iran that the Arab NATO will invade Iran. So really, what is it intended to do? 

If Mudar Zahran takes over power in Jordan, we will have a whole new ball game. Jordan will then openly get in bed with Israel and these two countries will sign a mutual defence pact. Jordan will provide the foot soldiers who will work as an adjunct to the IDF. Saudi Arabia and the UAE will finance any action they are required to take so they will be a partner behind the scenes.

This partnership will greatly influence Iraq to slam the door on Iran and move Iraq into friendly relations with the Jordan/Israel partnership.  Ultimately Kurdistan will anchor this pact in the east.

If there is a confrontation with Iran, the US supported by Israel and Jordan working as one, will be more than enough to contain Iran. I do believe that Trump will remain in office longer than the Mullahs do.  An arial assult can bring the Regime to its knees, enabling the people of Iran to take their country back. Boots on the ground will not be necessary. The Iranian Army may even be induced to support the revolution. Afterall they are tired of playing second fiddle to the IRGC.

Egypt has enough troubles as it is. Israel and Egypt already have a pact that allows Israel to function in the skies over Sinai for the defense of both Egypt and Israel.

By Jonathan Ariel

BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,178, May 21, 2019

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Egypt’s withdrawal from the formation of an “Arab NATO” against Iran is a warning that both Israel and the US need to urgently rethink their strategy regarding the Middle East. Putting all its Arab World eggs in the Saudi basket could prove to be one of the more unsound decisions in the annals of American diplomatic history, and one that could profoundly affect Israel if it backfires.    

Several weeks ago, Cairo discreetly notified Riyadh and Washington that it was suspending its participation in MESA (Middle East Strategic Alliance), the US-Saudi initiative to establish an Arab NATO to counter Iran. This means the idea of an Arab NATO has died in the very early stages of its gestation, since Egypt has by far the biggest, and one of the best equipped, armies in the Arab world – the only once with any capability of being an effective counterweight to Iran.

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By Edwin Mora, BREITBART

Islamic terrorists have carried out an estimated 76 attacks in nearly 15 countries since the beginning of Ramadan this month, killing at least 364 people and injuring 404 others in the first two weeks of the holiest month for Muslims, a Breitbart News tally shows.

That means, on average, jihadis killed at least 25 people and injured about another 30 each day since Ramadan began at sunset on May 5. This year, the holy period is expected to last through sundown on June 4.

Breitbart News’ count this week covers the 14 days of May 6 through May 19.

The tally includes a total of 768 casualties (364 deaths, 404 injuries) in 14 countries: Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, Kenya, Somalia, Libya, Mali, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Syria.
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Israel and Hamas have denied reports that a Gaza ceasefire understanding had been reached that would ensure six-months of calm.

Palestinian reporter calls it ‘fake news’; Otzma, ‘humiliating treaty of surrender.’

By Hagay Hacohen, Tova Lazarof, JPOST

Channel 12 news on Monday night reported that a truce had been reached, sparking a chain of Israeli political reactions and diplomatic denials.

According to the report, Hamas agreed to end clashes with IDF forces along the Gaza border, with Palestinian rioters keeping to a 300 meter distance from the border.

Hamas also agreed to end its night raids against IDF units along Israel’s southern border. During those six months, no new flotillas would be launched in an attempt to break Israel’s maritime blockade of Gaza, Channel 12 reported.

Israel agreed to widen the Gaza fishing zone to 15 nautical miles and to ensure the uninterrupted transfer of medicines and other forms of civic aid to Gaza residents, the report said.
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T. Belman. Khaled abu Toameh continues to bash Mudar Zahran. He recently referred to him as “a known fraudster and imposter”.  He recently sent an email to prominant Zionists in Toronto claiming Israpundit “is promoting hate speech, racism and ethnic-cleansing of Arabs/Muslims”. Of course I am suing him for defamation.

By Khaled Abu Toameh, JPOST

As the US administration prepares to roll out its long-awaited plan for peace in the Middle East, there are indications of growing instability and consternation in Jordan.

Facing increased demands for major political and economic reforms in the kingdom, King Abdullah II seems worried that his kingdom will pay a heavy price whether it accepts or rejects the deal.

The monarch’s biggest fear, political analysts say, is that the plan would require Jordan to absorb millions of Palestinians who are already living in the kingdom. Abdullah is also worried that the plan would end the Hashemites’ historic custodianship over the holy sites in Jerusalem in favor of other Arab and Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia and Morocco.
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May 19/19
JORDAN : BANI HASSAN TRIBE REBELS: WE WANT TO TOPPLE ABDULLAH

Pregent’s map shows a variety of pressure points where Iran, its allies and proxies are present.

BY SETH J. FRANTZMAN, JPOST

The US has many options to confront the Iranian regime and its proxies in the Middle East, according to former US Army intelligence officer Michael Pregent.

A senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, Pregent published a map on Monday that shows the way the US can strike at Iran without needing to put any “boots on the ground” in Iran itself.

“I made this to counter the narratives of ‘war with Iran’” he says. In recent days, amid the rising tensions between Washington and Tehran, western media have argued that US President Donald Trump and his National Security Advisor John Bolton are rushing into a conflict with Iran. Rumors have swirled of plans to send 120,000 US forces to the Middle East.
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