BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,153, April 25, 2019

Dr. Raphael G. Bouchnik-Chen

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Though politicians and scholars harshly criticize President Donald Trump’s foreign policy as chaotic, his policymaking seems to be based upon a sound and consistent political approach, contrary to that of his predecessor in the White House. Several decisions taken by Trump can fall under the rubric of the political science theory known as “Supersession,” which stipulates that changing circumstances and the passage of time are formative guidelines to the handling of international conflicts.

In his major address at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC (April 27, 2016) as the Republican presidential frontrunner, Donald Trump outlined his “America First” foreign policy approach. In so doing, he stated his manifesto: “Unlike other candidates for the presidency, war and aggression will not be my first instinct. You cannot have a foreign policy without diplomacy. A superpower understands that caution and restraint are really truly signs of strength.”

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T. Belman. They will be by the end of his Presidency. Obama and all past administrations were pro-Palestinian though they said they were even-handed.  In reality Obama pushed for “more daylight” between the US and Israel.  Trump reversed this with  his embrace of Israel and followed the path of “no daylight”. It is for that reason Trump will succeed whereas Obama failed.

By JONATHAN S. TOBIN, NATIONAL REVIEW

The Trump peace plan may be less about reaching a final settlement now, and more about setting down new parameters for a changed reality.

BY HERB KEINON, JPOST

WHAT DO Donald Trump and Jared Kushner have up their sleeves?. (photo credit: REUTERS)

In a twist to the “after-the-hagim [holidays]” line ubiquitous here around Passover and Rosh Hashanah, Jared Kushner – US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser – said Tuesday that the long-awaited Trump peace blueprint will be rolled out “after Ramadan.”

“We were getting ready [to roll out the plan] at the end of last year, and then they called for Israeli elections,” Kushner said at the 2019 TIME 100 Summit trumpeting the magazine’s selection last week of the 100 most influential people in the world. “Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu had a great victory, and he’s in the middle of forming his coalition. Once that’s done, we’ll probably be in the middle of Ramadan. So we’ll wait until after Ramadan and then we’ll put our plan out.”

Envoy says Palestinian people deserve ‘meaningful alternative’ to status quo even if leaders reaction is initially negative.

By Herb Keinon, JPOST

The Trump administration peace plan is an effort to “think out of the box and capture the imagination and hopes of both sides for a better life,” US Ambassador David Friedman told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday, explaining why Washington is pressing ahead with the plan even as neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis seem overly enthusiastic.

“I don’t think there is a lack of interest; I think there is exhaustion and frustration from so many previous failed efforts,” Friedman said.

Friedman is part of the team – including Trump senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner and Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt – that has been working long on the plan. Kushner said on Tuesday that it will be rolled out “after Ramadan,” which this year ends on June 4.
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TRUMP IS VERY IMPRESSIVE. HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE HIM?

T. Belman.  Pollak nailed Biden and the Democratic Party to the wall.  They are dispicable to propagate lies and smears to advance their political agenda. Unfortunately there doesn’t appear to be any end in sight to this practice.

By Joel b Pollak, BREITBART

I am a Jew — an observant Jew, raised in Skokie, Illinois, a town that resisted neo-Nazi marchers and which, at the time, was home to the largest population of Holocaust survivors in the world outside Israel. Nazis murdered many of my grandfather’s relatives in Poland.

Today, former vice president Joe Biden trivialized the suffering of Jews and exploited the memory of the Holocaust for personal and political gain — and he used a lie to do it.

Biden suggested that President Donald Trump, and the nearly 63 million Americans who voted for him, support the rise of a new wave of antisemitism and white nationalism similar to Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

Biden claimed — falsely — that Trump called neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017 “very fine people” — when, in fact, Trump said the neo-Nazis “should be condemned totally,” as the transcript proves.

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The narrow Palestinian Authority cabinet, recently cobbled together by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, appears ill-equipped to deal with its pressing political, diplomatic and economic troubles. There is major disunity among the Palestinians, Hamas and Fatah, which are nowhere near reconciliation, and the PA is losing money fast.

by Israel Kasnett, ISRAEL HAYOM

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas with PA Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh | Photo: Reuters

In a meeting with U.S. Senator Ron Wyden in Ramallah on Tuesday, newly appointed Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh blamed the Trump administration for “punishing” and “blackmailing” the Palestinians. He emphasized its recent cutting of U.S. aid to the Palestinians, recognition of the Golan Heights as Israeli territory and the U.S. embassy move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem last spring as reasons for Palestinian fury. He may also have been referring to the much-anticipated Mideast peace plan expected to be revealed in June, after the month-long Muslim holiday of Ramadan.

The Palestinians have already made it clear that they will not accept it, sight unseen.

The narrow Palestinian cabinet, recently cobbled together by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, appears ill-equipped to deal with the PA’s pressing political, diplomatic and economic troubles. There is major disunity among the Palestinians, Hamas and Fatah, which are nowhere near reconciliation, and the PA is losing money fast.
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NGO MONITOR

In May 2018, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) announced CHF 2 million in “Support to Israeli and Palestinian HR/IHL CSOs” “as part of its engagement to contribute to a just and lasting peace and to the establishment of an independent, viable and democratic State of Palestine.” Per a March 2017 bill passed by the Swiss legislature, grants were supposed to be prohibited for “development cooperation projects carried out by NGOs involved in racist, antisemitic or hate incitement actions.”

However, as reported by the Israeli daily Israel Hayom on April 24, 2019, the contracts related to these grants detail activities previously carried out or planned by the NGOs that significantly differ from the claimed human rights and humanitarian ideals. These include campaigning for the release of convicted murderers, international and legal attacks against Israel, and promoting incitement that makes the stated objective of “lasting peace” less attainable.
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REUTERS

Sanjeev Miglani, Joe Brock

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Details began to emerge in Sri Lanka on Wednesday of a band of nine, well-educated Islamist suicide bombers, including a woman, from well-to-do families who slaughtered 359 people in Easter Sunday bomb attacks.

The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the coordinated attacks on three churches and four hotels. If that connection is confirmed, the attacks looks likely to be the deadliest ever linked to the group.

Both the Sri Lankan government and the United States said the scale and sophistication of the coordinated bombings suggested the involvement of an external group such as Islamic State.
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By Benjamin Arie, CONSERVATIVE TRIBUNE

The 2016 election may be mercifully behind us, but one of its biggest scandals is still haunting Hillary Clinton.

Clinton’s use of a private, inadequately secured email server during her time as secretary of state rocked her campaign for president, and continued to reverberate into the current political landscape.

The controversial decision by then-FBI Director James Comey to change the wording of Clinton’s actions from “grossly negligent” to softer words like ” extremely careless” may have kept the candidate out of prison, but it also sparked a power struggle within the Trump White House that is still impacting events today.
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A massive amount of air power and US naval assets were suddenly in the same place at the same time.

BY SETH J. FRANTZMAN, JPOST

Two US aircraft carrier strike groups operated in the Mediterranean Sea this week. The USS Abraham Lincoln, on its way toward the Persian Gulf from Palma de Mallorca, crossed paths with the USS John C. Stennis which had come from the Gulf and had left the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean.

A massive amount of airpower and US naval assets were suddenly in the same place at the same time. As if that wasn’t enough, the Stennis had just carried out a joint pass exercise with France’s Charles de Gaulle Carrier Strike Group in the Red Sea. There were other navy ships in the area as well. The guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul, the guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay, the Royal Danish Navy Frigate HDMS Niels Juel and the French air defense destroyer FS Forbin were in the area, Michael Landmark of Denmark pointed out online. The Defense Post reported the same information, noting that French Rafale aircraft and American F-18s conducted training together. The USS Stennis had already carried out weeks of training with France’s Marine Nationale defense destroyer FS Cassard in January.
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United Torah Judaism looks to bridge gap with Yisrael Beytenu on haredi draft law, offers to accept Liberman’s draft – with one change.

Arutz Sheva Staff,

The United Torah Judaism faction has offered a compromise on what is widely expected to be one of the most difficult issues facing the 35th Government of Israel – passage of a new draft law governing exemptions for yeshiva students.

As talks for the formation of a governing coalition continue, lawmakers from the UTJ have proposed a compromise plan aimed at passing a new draft law acceptable to both the haredi public and the Yisrael Beytenu party.

Under the arrangement put forward by the UTJ, according to a report by Yisrael Hayom on Wednesday, the haredi faction would accept the draft of a bill proposed by Yisrael Beytenu in the previous government – with the addition of a new article.
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By ValerieSobel

Let’s begin our tour of the Cathedral slowly and gently, lest we offend too quickly. The inevitable crescendo of uncomfortable Notre Dame history is laid out herein by my politically incorrect pen.

Notre Dame’s genesis dates back to the 12th/13th century when a vast majority of the population was illiterate. As with most art, Notre Dame’s statues, elaborate friezes, and stained glass windows, first and foremost, served an educational purpose; to impart religious instruction to the masses with respect to right vs. wrong, correct Christian beliefs vs. heresy and blasphemy. Without the separation of Church and State for centuries, Notre Dame’s art & architecture was a political and social doctrine as much as the religious. Church teachings through these visuals formed culture and society itself.

So what exactly is France transfixed with restoring to the tune of close to a billion dollars? What is this structure – the beneficiary of internationally poured donations and collective adoration?
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THIS IS A GREAT SPEECH

Front Page Mag

At the Freedom Center’s recent West Coast Retreat at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes (April 5-7, 2019), U.K.’s freedom fighter Katie Hopkins discussed the price she has paid in her battle for freedom in the UK — and warns America not to become like Britain. Don’t miss the video and transcript of this dynamic speech below!