T. Belman. The Plan doesn’t depend on Palestinian acceptance. Israel will act in accordance with it and Trump will back them. He has already backed Israel’s annexation of both Jerusalem and Golan. Similarly when Israel annexes all lands west of the Jordan, Trump will back them.

For those who wonder about what will happen to Area A, They should know that Israel will be sovereign of those lands subject to Palestinian autonomy. Jordan will replace the PA as administrator.

It would be a mistake to think Trump’s deal of the century will be completely inconsequential: It could have far-reaching implications on the future of Israeli-Palestinian relations and more importantly, on the future of Israel itself.

by  Prof. Eyal Zisser, ISRAEL HAYOM

This coming June, upon the conclusion of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the Trump administration will supposedly unveil details of its so-called “deal of the century” to bring an end to the century-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Even before its birth, however, many have already been quick to bury it. After all, many of the relevant parties aren’t hiding their reservations, some openly declaring they will refuse to accept it.

The Palestinians are looking on forlornly as their dream of having all their demands of Israel delivered on a silver platter by the international community – rises in smoke. While it might seek to meet the Palestinians’ desires, the deal of the century is light years from the concessions that previous administrations, from Clinton to Obama, were willing to grant them. Trump’s proposal makes no mention of the creation of a Palestinian state, and also makes no demand of Israel to withdraw from all of Judea and Samaria to pre-1967 borders.
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China likely to keep getting Iran oil; Saudi response unclear

By Benoit Faucon and Summer Said, WSJ

Waivers granted to countries including China, India and Turkey that allowed imports of Iranian oil would end May 2, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. The move, part of the Trump administration’s effort to drive Iran’s exports to zero, surprised buyers and others who had been told by State Department officials in recent weeks to expect a renewal of exceptions.

The U.S. had previously granted eight countries 180-day waivers, allowing them to continue buying Iranian crude despite the U.S. sanctions that began last November. The waivers stipulated that each country had to take steps to reduce purchases and move toward ending imports from Iran.
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By Mark Horowitz, NYT

A poster from 1927 for an Academy Award-winning picture whose story was written by Ben Hecht.

T. Belman. He got a lot of flak for making this case.

Israel has the moral right to annex all of the West Bank, for a plethora of reasons. Israel’s right to exist is non-negotiable and it has a right to unilaterally apply Israeli law over its nation-state.

By Jason HIll, FEDERALIST

The April 2019 election victory for Benjamin Netanyahu will see him serve a record fifth term as Israeli prime minister and form a new right-wing coalition government. It also brings the promise of a commitment Netanyahu made to the nation during his campaign: That he would annex Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian territories.

Vowing to extend sovereignty without distinguishing between settlement blocks and the isolated settlements, Netanyahu promised not to transfer any sovereignty to the Palestinians. His victory in the elections will, hopefully, see the enactment of Netanyahu’s promise.

Israel has the moral right to annex all of the West Bank (even Area C) for a plethora of reasons.
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T. Belman. The only thing I disagree with is that he says Jews and Jewish money have power and influence in the US. 75% of Jews and Jewish money support the Democratic Party and the Jewish establishment both of whom are anti-ZionisT and anti-Israel. They do not influence the Trump regime. I also think that the future is predictable. Israel, with US backing, will dominate the ME

Soltan-Shahi was described by MEMRI in 2018 as secretary-general of the Organization for Aiding the Islamic Revolution of the Palestinian People in the Office of the Iranian Presidency.

BY SETH J. FRANTZMAN, JPOST

Iran’s Tasnim news ran a long and important interview on Tuesday with a Palestinian named Ali Reza Soltan-Shahi. The interview is interesting because it gives a window not only into Palestinian thinking, but particularly because of the views conveyed to the Iranian regime via the interview.

Soltan-Shahi has appeared before at Iranian events. He was described by MEMRI in 2018 as secretary-general of the Organization for Aiding the Islamic Revolution of the Palestinian People in the Office of the Iranian Presidency. Tasnim describes him only as a former head of the Palestinian Center for Mental Health.
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For President Trump’s deranged enemies, I suggest hiring good attorneys and hoping for decent obituaries in the now-tabloid NY Times. For the rest of us, get out the popcorn!

By Joan Swirsky, CFP

Well, whaddaya know? In the midterm elections of November 6, 2018, the American people rewarded the president—for only the third time in almost a hundred years—with a net gain of three and possibly four Senate seats, lost half the House seats that his predecessor lost, and left the radical leftwing Democrats not rejoicing at their meager gains, but still chomping at the bit to bring down the president who has effectively destroyed everything they believed in, worked for, and thought they achieved over the past 75 years.
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COWARDS ALL

How many times is the charade of denial going to play out?

By Robert Spencer, FPM

Well over two hundred people are dead, and hundreds more injured, in jihad massacres in churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday morning, and now the usual denial and obfuscation are in full swing. I’m often asked, when I speak around the country, what it will take to wake people up to the nature and gravity of the jihad threat. For all too many people, the answer, as the Sri Lanka attacks abundantly show, is nothing.

The facts were clear enough, at least if one checked the Indian media. India’s News18.com reported that “two of the six attacks that rocked Sri Lanka this morning are reportedly to be have been carried out by suicide bombers,” that telltale sign that this was a jihad attack, with the bombers hoping to claim the Qur’an’s promise of Paradise for those who “kill and are killed” for Allah (9:111). “The attack at Shangri La hotel,” News18 continued, “was carried out by suicide bomber Zahran Hashim, while Abu Mohammad has been identified as the attacker at the Batticalao church.”
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T. Belman. Even if the author is right, times have changed. When the state was founded the coutry was ruled by secular socialists whereas today it is dominateed by religious zionists. A country has the right to amened their founding documents if they so choose.

By Gadi Taub, HAARETZ

File photo: A man watches a flyover on Independence Day on a Tel Aviv beach. Emil Salman

Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken believes that the Basic Law on Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People negates the concept of the Jewish state in Israel’s Declaration of Independence. The new law, passed last year, replaces the Jewish state with the nation-state of the Jewish people, Schocken claimed in an op-ed late last month.
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T. Belman. This report and the one just below are in conflict. If the arab states are pressuring Abbas to accept the deal, why are they taking the pressure off by offering money. Perhaps tyhe money is copnditional on them accepting.

Money promised by diplomats meant to offset $138 million in monthly deductions withheld by Israel over PA payments to terrorists and their families

By AGENCIES, TOI

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (C) is greeted upon his arrival at the Arab League headquarters in the Egyptian capital Cairo, to discuss the latest developments in the Palestinian territories on April 21, 2019. (MOHAMED EL-SHAHED / AFP)

CAIRO, Egypt — The Arab League on Sunday pledged $100 million per month to the Palestinian Authority to make up for funds withheld by Israel because of payments made to the families of Palestinian attackers and prisoners.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the Arab League in Cairo on Sunday as part of a diplomatic effort to rebuff the Trump administration’s Middle East peace plan, which American officials indicate could be released this summer.

Abbas said, “The Arabs need to be engaging actively at this critical time.”
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Trump has nothing to offer us, Netanyahu doesn’t believe in peace, says Abbas

BY KHALED ABU TOAMEH, JPOST

A senior Fatah official has said that some Arab states have been exerting “immense pressure” on the Palestinians to accept Trump’s peace plan, also known as the “deal of the century.”

The unnamed official told Al-Khaleej Online news that Saudi Arabia was spearheading the campaign of pressure to force the Palestinians to positively respond to Trump’s upcoming plan.

“Some Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, are very interested in the deal of the century,” the official claimed. “They are using all means, including political and financial blackmail, to force the Palestinians to accept the deal of the century despite all the dangers it poses to the Palestinian cause.”
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By Victor Rosenthal

The American Reform Movement, which believes that it has the right to dictate how Israel should deal with its most critical security matters, also wants to remake Israeli society in an American image. And not by imitating the best features of American culture, but rather by choosing some of the worst: the hyper-progressive politically correct part.

The Reform Movement funds an Israeli political action organization called IRAC, the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC). IRAC works closely with the Israeli Left to provoke and embarrass right-wing governments as political support for the Left, but part is also intended to inject the particularly American progressive world view into Israeli political consciousness.
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By David Reaboi, SSG

The new film “Blood Money” deals with how the tiny Gulf Emirate of Qatar funds lobbyists, media outlets, think tanks to advance its agenda in Washington at the expense of the US and our allies. It explains, through this case study, how the foreign influence game works inside the Beltway. It also deals with a subject that’s particularly close to my heart, the emergence of a new, anti-Islamist Middle East and how it came about. I am featured in the film, alongside my old colleague, Dr. J Michael Waller, a professor of political warfare and one of the nation’s experts in information and influence operations. The finished product is remarkably well-made, fast-paced and is guaranteed to be provocative. Watch it below.

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Iraq has traditionally been closer to the Shiite superpower Iran than to the Sunni Saudis • Riyadh courting Baghdad in an attempt to block Iranian influence in the Middle East.

by Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

Saudi Arabia and Iraq have agreed to cooperate in security and intelligence matters, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television cited Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Ali al-Hakim as saying, as Riyadh woos Baghdad to stem the influence of regional rival Iran.

Iraq has previously been closer to Iran, the main Shiite power in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia’s arch-rival for influence.

The announcement came during a state visit by an Iraqi delegation to Saudi Arabia led by Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi.
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Hundreds more injured and are being treated in hospitals • Casualties include foreigners, government minister says.

ISRAEL HAYOM

Seven people were arrested and three police officers were killed during a raid on a house in Colombo on Sunday as the death toll from a rash of bombings at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka rose past 200, police and local media said.

Near-simultaneous blasts that rocked three churches and three luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, Sri Lanka’s transportation minister reported Sunday afternoon.

The government has imposed a curfew from 6 p.m. Sunday evening until 6 a.m. Monday morning as a manhunt for the perpetrators was underway.
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Apparently coordinated attacks rip through hotels and churches throughout the country; security officials suspect suicide bombers behind at least some blasts

By AGENCIES and TOI STAFF  Today, 8:27 am

At least 161 people were killed and hundreds more were injured in a series of bombing attacks on several churches and hotels in Sri Lanka throughout Easter Sunday, officials said.

The first six blasts were triggered almost simultaneously on Sunday morning. Three high-end hotels and one church in the capital, Colombo, were hit, while two additional churches were targeted elsewhere in the country during Easter services, Sri Lankan police said.
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T. Belman. This is great news. It means that Smoltrich, IF HE ACCEPTS,  can build as much as he wants in Area C and prevent others from doing so.

Likud party seeks to keep justice ministry, offer Smotrich housing ministry, control of Settlement Division instead.

ARUTZ  SHEVA

The Likud party hopes to reserve the defense portfolio for itself and is preparing a counter-offer to compensate National Union leader Bezalel Smotrich, who has demanded to be named justice minister.

As part of the conversation, the Likud plans to offer Smotrich the Housing Ministry and to make the ministry more attractive by increasing its powers.

First and foremost, the Likud proposes to return the Israel Land Administration to the Housing Ministry. The Israel Land Administration (ILA) was the most significant arm in the ministry before it was transferred to the Finance Ministry at the beginning of the last government, and its return would make the ministry much more effective.
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