America and the Family Business Rule  

by Linda Goudsmit, PUNDICITY

There is an old saying in family businesses, “The first generation starts a business. The second generation runs it. The third generation ruins it.”

Metaphorically, our American family business is in the third generation.

Our Founding Fathers rejected monarchy, oligarchy, aristocracy, theocracy, and formed the United States of America as a Constitutional Republic – the greatest experiment in individual freedom and upward mobility anywhere in the world. What happened?

To answer that question we must examine the historical context of the three generations.
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April 21, 2019 | 9:37 am | Comments »

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Is Islam inherantly violent?”  

By Amil Imani:

To some people perhaps, the title of this article sounds Islamophobic. And as is the case, Muslims always rush to defend their religion by stating there is violence in “All religions.” Fortunately, the non-Muslim world has in its possession Islam’s document, the holy book of Islam, the Quran which is filled with many Suras, verses and orders of violence.

“The Quran contains at least 109 verses that speak of war with nonbelievers, usually based on their status as non-Muslims. Some are quite graphic, with commands to chop off heads and fingers and kill infidels wherever they may hide. Muslims who do not join the fight are called  ‘hypocrites’ and warned that Allah will send them to Hell if they do not join the slaughter.”

Islam is anything but a religion of peace. Violence is at the very core of Islam. Violence is institutionalized in the Muslims’ holy book, the Quran in many Suras.
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April 21, 2019 | 9:28 am | 2 Comments »

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The Jordan Option, plain and simple  

By Ted Belman (first published Dec 17/17)

Geert Wilders, the leader of the Freedom Party in the Netherlands, just tweeted “Jordan=Palestine. So, the capital of Palestine is not Jerusalem but Amman”.

It can’t get any simpler than that.

The primary stumbling block to Israel annexing the land she was promised in the Palestinian Mandate and which she conquered in 1967, Gaza aside, is the fact that 1.6 million Arabs live there. All solutions put forward by the Israeli right, take a stab at the problem. They range from offering the Arabs a path to citizenship to incentivizing them to emigrate voluntarily. The left prefers the two-state solution.
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April 20, 2019 | 12:50 am | 10 Comments »

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Why US Jewish leaders have a problem with Netanyahu  

By Victor Rosenthal

Earlier this week, I wrote about the foolish and arrogant letter sent by the American Reform and Conservative movements and some of their associated organizations to President Trump, demanding that in the light of newly re-elected Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu’s intention to extend Israeli sovereignty to Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria, he should act to preserve the holy “two-state solution” (2SS).

As Jonathan S. Tobin argued, Israelis democratically elected Netanyahu’s Likud party. And if you consider the breakdown between parties that favor the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state in Judea/Samaria vs. opponents of it, the election can be seen as referendum on the 2SS – a referendum that those opposed to the 2SS won by a true landslide. So the decision of American Jewish organizations to oppose the will of the great majority of Israeli citizens can be seen as contradicting the democratic right of Israeli citizens to decide their own fate, or, in Tobin’s words, “trashing the verdict of Israeli democracy.” The fact that the letter was addressed to Trump, rather than Netanyahu, shows even more strongly that they reject Israel’s pretension to self-government. The US, they think, guided by the “wisdom” of the leaders of its liberal Jewish community should force Israel to do its will. They are uncomfortable with a sovereign Jewish state, and would prefer a banana republic, with themselves calling the shots.
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April 19, 2019 | 11:14 am | 6 Comments »

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The legal status of Jerusalem is that Israel has sovereignty over it  

The winning card lies in Israel’s legal – not its historical and religious – claims to Jerusalem. Arutz Sheva spoke to the former head of the Ministry for Jerusalem to clarify the issue.

By Rochel Sylvetsky, INN

The winning card lies in Israel’s legal – not its historical and religious – claims, but can the legal status of Jerusalem be determined?


Ran Ichay, Director General for The Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage, ILTV

With a new coalition in formation,Trump’s “Deal of the Century” hovering in the air, and the Arab world continuing to vent its fury at the US for the Embassy’s move to Jerusalem and daring to try to make a deal, Arutz Sheva talked to Amb. (ret.) Ran Ichay, who initiated the First International Legal Conference on Jerusalem last year, to examine the legal aspects of Israeli rights more closely.
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April 19, 2019 | 10:45 am | 13 Comments »

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The Hope: Churchill & the Jews  

T. Belman. I often am critical of Churchill for limiting Jewish immigration to Palestine’s absortive capacity and for removing Trans Jordan from the Jewish National Home. This excellant video shows how much pressure he was under from both the House of Lords and the Arabs. Since the Balfour Declaration in 1917, Britain was our enemy but Churchill was our friend.

April 19, 2019 | 7:34 am | 1 Comment »

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America’s Jewish Left Just Declared War On Israel  

By Jeff Ballabon and Bruce Abramson, JEWISH PRESS

We have entered a dark period in American Jewish history. Nine mainstream Jewish organizations just declared war against Israel and America’s Jewish community. There is no other way to read a new letter they addressed to President Trump.

While all clearly aligned with the left, the signatories are hardly fringe groups. The Central Conference of American Rabbis and the Union for Reform Judaism represent the leadership of the Reform movement. Joining them were the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, its Rabbinical Assembly, and MERCAZ, the Conservative movement’s Zionist affiliate. These groups, plus the Anti-Defamation League––arguably the most valuable brand in organizational Jewry––Ameinu, and the National Council of Jewish Women are all members of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

With the results of Israel’s election still trickling in, these groups called upon the president to reject a position that almost 85 percent of Israelis support as critical to their security in favor of their own progressive preference for rewarding anti-Jewish terror. They demand that Trump embrace a failed “two-state solution.”

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April 19, 2019 | 7:09 am | 2 Comments »

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Anticipating Trump’s ‘deal of the century’  

T. Belman. Pipes couldn’t be more wrong in what he thinks the plan will contain. He doesn’t know what he is talking about and has no inside sources.

The unofficial reports, which have been slammed by the White House as misleading, suggest the plan could fail because of a great miscalculation of traditional Palestinian-Israeli diplomacy, by asking too little of Arabs and too much of Israelis.

By Daniel Pipes, ISRAEL HAYOM

U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict surfaced two years ago and to this day – remarkably – only he and a handful of aides know its precise details. A stream of leaks, however, contains enough internal consistency that their collation, supplemented by conversations with administration officials, provides a plausible outline of the plan’s contents.

These suggest the plan boils down to a grand exchange: The Arab states recognize Israel and Israel recognizes Palestine, both with capital cities in Jerusalem. This approach builds on elements forwarded by Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in 2016, the Obama administration in 2009, the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, and even my 1990 symmetry plan.
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April 18, 2019 | 4:52 pm | Comments »

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ANALYSIS: How Israel and the US are Preparing for War With Iran  

By Yochanan Visser, ISRAEL HAYOM

You probably didn’t know this but normalizing relations with Israel is against the Quran and Islamic faith.

At least that’s what Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said to participants in a Quran knowledge competition in Tehran on Monday.

Never mind that the Quran, in chapter 5:21, explicitly says that the Land of Israel has been given to the Jewish people by God as a perpetual covenant, this is what Khamenei really thinks and he’s acting upon it too.
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April 18, 2019 | 4:46 pm | 3 Comments »

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Justice Ministry in focus as Netanyahu starts coalition negotiations  

Reports indicate PM favoring two hardliners for key post amid calls to limit court’s ability to overturn Knesset legislation, all in shadow of his impending graft indictments

By TOI STAFF

Negotiations are likely to be fierce, with all parties, barring Kulanu, indispensable for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset.

Initial speculation focused on the Justice Ministry, with Netanyahu’s legal woes expected to be a major issue in the next term. The premier is facing indictment in three separate cases in the coming months, pending a hearing.


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) with Tourism Minister Yariv Levin during a Knesset vote on the budget, which coincided with police publishing recommendations that Netanyahu be indicted for bribery and breach of trust, February 13, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
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April 18, 2019 | 1:03 pm | Comments »

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USAID to lay off 85% of local staff as aid to Palestinians is cut – report  

T. Belman. Does anyone doubt the dawning of a New Middle East. All these things that Trump is doing support my contention.

Missions in West Bank and Gaza won’t shutter entirely, but employees expect team of 100 to be whittled down to 14 in coming months

By TOI STAFF
US consul general in Jerusalem Jacob Walles (2nd R) looks at USAID donations donated to the Palestinians in the west Bank town of Ramallah on May 10, 2006. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

The US Agency for International Development, responsible for civilian foreign aid, is reportedly preparing to lay off the majority of its local staff as the last of American aid for Palestinian civilians is terminated.

USAID intends to fire 85 percent of its local staff from its missions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, whittling its 100 or so employees down to 14, according to a Thursday report in NPR that cited internal agency communications.

The vast majority of the workers were Palestinian or Arab Israelis, though a small number were Jewish Israelis, the report said.
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April 18, 2019 | 12:45 pm | Comments »

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What difference will the Jordan Option make?  

By Ted Belman

I have been promoting the Jordan Option for two years now and believe that my efforts will soon be crowned with success. Mudar Zahran will become the ruler of Jordan.

It is fair to ask, “What difference will it make?”

‘1 million Palestinians to settle in Jordan under Trump plan’

Zahran will accept that plan once it is tabled whereas the king will not. The PA, the MB, Iran and the EU will do their utmost to prevent this from happening but they will be powerless to stop it.
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April 18, 2019 | 6:59 am | 18 Comments »

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INTO THE FRAY: Restoring Jewish Sovereignty  

T. Belman. Sherman is my guru and I don’t undervalue what he preaches. On the other hand, the advent of the Jordan Option with Mudar Zahran at the helm, will do more to advance the acceptance of sovereignty by the Jews not only in Israel but in America as well, than the best PR campaign. Stay tuned.

Intensive investment must be made in civil society frameworks that can not only draw the idea of extended Israeli sovereignty into the main-stream discourse as a legitimate political objective, but as one that can dominate that discourse

By Dr Martin Sherman

Several short excerpts:

I am going to extend sovereignty and I don’t distinguish between settlement blocs and the isolated settlements…From my perspective, any point of settlement is Israeli, and we have responsibility, as the Israeli government. I will not uproot anyone, and I will not transfer sovereignty to the Palestinians– Benjamin Netanyahu, Channel 12, April 6. 2019. 

In a significant departure from his usual ambivalent and non-committal policy formulation regarding the final status of the territories of Judea-Samaria (a.k.a. “West Bank”), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came out with an unexpectedly robust and unequivocal statement of intent just a few days prior to the April 9 election.
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April 17, 2019 | 10:48 am | 2 Comments »

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