Therefor, it is time to embrace the truth that Israel is the rightful owner of the land where Jews have lived from time immemorial.

By Goldi Steiner, JPOST

Soon after Israel’s April 9 general elections, US President Donald Trump is expected to unveil the “deal of the century.” What is clear is that Trump is taking serious steps to recognize the reality on the ground by not insisting that Israel relinquish its control over the Golan Heights and major Israeli controlled areas in Judea and Samaria. Trump should be thanked and commended for his recent recognition that these lands are NOT “occupied.” It is vitally important at this time to change the rhetoric, “to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past” and, to paraphrase a quote by Albert Einstein, to hope “for different results.”

In recent times, there have been tensions in the Palestinian arena. The  rocket attack last week that scored  direct hit on a home in Moshav Mishmeret in central Israel, the escalation in violence emanating from Gaza and the prospects of war concern us all, despite the lull in recent days. Furthermore, there have been repeated calls from the Palestinian Authority to not make peace or reconcile with the “infidels” prior to the recent escalation. Under such leadership, which rewards terrorists at the expense of its own employees, it may be impossible to make any peace agreement, even if it is the “deal of the century.”
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Note: This piece is a response to an essay by Haviv Rettig Gur

By Evelyn Gordon

Like Haviv Rettig Gur in “How and Why Israelis Vote,” I, too, think the advantages of Israel’s parliamentary system outweigh its disadvantages, and for essentially the same reason: because it keeps a great many people in the political system who would otherwise remain outside it.

Critics of the system’s plethora of small parties—as Gur notes, no fewer than 43 parties have been vying for Knesset seats in this year’s election—maintain that it should be streamlined and redesigned so that only big parties would be able to enter the Knesset. In that case, the critics argue, people who currently vote for small parties would simply switch their votes to large ones.
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By JACK CROWE, NATIONAL REVIEW

U.S. has been trying to forge an “Arab NATO,” with key allies in Arab world • Sources say Egypt announced decision at meeting in Riyadh on Sunday • Move seen as blow to Trump administration’s strategy on Iran.

by Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

Egyptian President Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi | Photo: Handout via Reuters

Egypt has pulled out of the U.S. effort to forge an “Arab NATO” with key Arab allies, according to four sources familiar with the decision, in a blow to the Trump administration’s strategy to contain Iranian power.

Egypt conveyed its decision to the United States and other participants in the proposed Middle East Security Alliance, or MESA, ahead of a meeting held Sunday in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, one source said.

Cairo did not send a delegation to the meeting, the latest gathering held to advance the U.S.-led effort to bind Sunni Muslim Arab allies into a security, political and economic pact to counter Shiite Iran, the source said.
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The two White House power players have conflicting visions, yet both have been tasked to develop detailed plans, creating confusion in Trump administration

By JILL COLVIN and ZEKE MILLER, TOI

In this January 2, 2019, file photo White House senior adviser Stephen Miller listens as US President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

While American millennials have a liberal reputation, young Israeli Jews, who have never known a real peace process, identify as right-wing at much higher levels than their parents

By LAURA E. ADKINS and BEN SALES, JTA

JTA — Like lots of millennials who have catapulted to fame, May Golan got her start on the internet, blogging about life in her South Tel Aviv neighborhood. From there she gained a platform as a social activist, with 25,000 followers on Facebook and 16,300 on Twitter.

On Tuesday, hours before she won a seat in Israel’s Knesset, she reached out to voters in one last Facebook video.

“The right wing government is in danger,” she warned viewers, wearing a T-shirt with the words “Netanyahu. Right-wing. Strong. Successful.” emblazoned in blue and white block letters.
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By Ron Jager

Benjamin Netanyahu has been declared the winner of an unprecedented fifth term as Israel’s prime minister, refusing to be beaten by the combined political force of three former IDF army chiefs; pending bribery and fraud allegations hanging over him; and the combined forces of a hostile broadcast, printed, and digital news media who spent the latter part of the past three years hounding and tarnishing Netanyahu day and night. All have failed to end his political career. Netanyahu, a seasoned conservative politician and a brilliant political tactician, proved once again his ability to lead and overturn what seemed to be a foregone conclusion that he would be ousted.
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I sure hope the final ballots to be counted won’t change that.

By Patricia McCarth, AMERICAN THINKER

It has been a long time since a person as young as Candace Owens appeared on the political scene who is as brilliant, grounded, and quick-thinking as she is.  She is the same age as Rep. Ocasio-Cortez!  Let that sink in a minute.

Owens has about a hundred I.Q. points on the supremely ignorant Ocasio-Cortez.  Owens’s grace and class are the antithesis of Ocasio-Cortez’s empty-headed, ditzy meanderings.  Owens’s videos are all worth watching, and her performance on Tuesday in front of the House Oversight Committee was spectacular.  She put the Democrats on that committee to shame, especially Jerrold Nadler and Ted Lieu.  Both of them tried their best to humiliate her, to use her as a prop in their latest narrative that Trump is responsible for a make-believe rise of white nationalism and white supremacy.  The two of them are imbecilic at best.  Their focus on “white nationalism” is nonsense, but that is all the Democrats have now: nonsense.
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Antisemitism and Islamophobia are both depraved forms of hate, but the root causes affecting them are light years apart. Are Nancy Pelosi and Donald Trump a potential couple just because both are politicians?

By Dr. Avi Perry, INN

The latest action by the Democratic House of Representatives condemning all forms of hate—rather than singling out an anti-Semitic Spring within its own ranks—has contributed to a gross distortion, typical of an ignorant liberal thinking, presuming that all forms of hate may be thrown into a single bowl to fashion one appealing salad.

It’s very possible that the ineffectual resolution was not sorted out under malicious intent, but rather under an ignorance-soaked naivete. Still, the outcome was a shameful misrepresentation of reality, serving the wrong purpose, leaving the door open for more of the same antisemitic outbursts by those who had been left unscathed.

Antisemitism and Islamophobia are both depraved forms of hate, but the root causes affecting them are light years apart.
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TOI

The first three books on Israel’s current bestseller list are, in descending order, a tale of three generations of women searching for their family’s past; a part-imagined coming of age story of the Ba’al Shem Tov’s daughter and her view of the Hasidic revolution; and a fictional telling of the challenges facing a boy orphaned in the 1948 Independence War.

Number four on the list is a 344-page political manifesto saying Israel should annex the entire West Bank, encourage Palestinians to leave the territories, move government facilities to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and curtail the authority of the Supreme Court and the attorney general.

The protracted and radical platform may sound like fiction. But in two days’ time, it could be well on the way to becoming policy advocated by a party at the heart of the Israeli government.
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T. Belman. During the campaign, I asked, why is Feiglin so strong while Bennett and Shaked are so weak. This article answers me in part. I wish him and Zehut well.

Seven clues to understand the mysterious appeal of Moshe Feiglin and Israel’s uniquely Jewish brand of libertarianism

By Liel Leibovitz, TABLET

What to make of Moshe Feiglin? Until a few months ago, the radical right-wing activist and former Likud backbencher was no one’s idea of a political contender, let alone kingmaker. Now, if polls are to be believed, Israelis casting their votes are slated to hand Feiglin’s party, Zehut—the word is Hebrew for identity—as many as seven Knesset seats, which might make it the most sought-after partner for anyone seeking to assemble the country’s next coalition. Much has already been writtenabout Zehut’s unorthodox platform, which advocates for a host of seemingly incompatible policies, such as the legalization of marijuana and the establishment of an independent halachic legal system side by side with the country’s secular courts. What’s behind the party’s rapid rise? Seven observations come to mind:
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By MATTHEW R. J. BRODSKY, NATIONAL REVIEW

It is too supportive of the Muslim Brotherhood and too close to Iran.It is a good idea in theory: Assemble a coalition of Sunni Arab states, call it the Middle East Strategic Alliance (MESA), and create a multinational military force meant to serve as a bulwark against Iranian aggression, terrorism, and extremism. Such an alliance would finally allow the U.S. to lessen its Middle East footprint, as the 2017 National Security Strategy recommended, and allow the Pentagon to redeploy some capabilities toward China and Russia — two of the “Big 4” countries that pose the greatest menace to the United States according to the latest U.S. intelligence community’s Worldwide Threat Assessment. It is also hoped that such a self-sufficient Arab military pact would help bring some much-needed stability to the region.
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By Yossef Bodansky, YAHOO FIANANCE

A new bloc is emerging in the greater Middle East with the declared objectives of dominating the entire Arab world, confronting and containing the US and its allies; and controlling and benefiting from the entire hydro-carbon economy, from production to transportation. The leading members of the new bloc are Turkey, Iran, and Qatar; with Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan submitting to the new bloc. Russian experts call the new bloc “the Middle Eastern Entente”.

The key to the success of the bloc is the emerging correlation of influence of the great powers in the aftermath of the wars in Syria and Iraq. Russia and the People’s Republic of China are ready to compromise with the regional powers in order to secure their vital and global interests, while the US, Saudi Arabia and, to a lesser extent, Israel, are the nemeses of the bloc.
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Unprecedented move will be first time Washington blacklists a foreign military; designation could complicate Iraq, Lebanon ties and spark backlash against US interests in region

By AGENCIES, TOI

President  Rivlin’s reveries

By Dogan Akman

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin is visiting Canada. He came to be part of a crowd singing Matishyahu’s popular song “One Day” at an event  this Tuesday hosted by the United Jewish Appeal Federation of Toronto and Israel Bonds Canada featuring the social-music initiative Koolulam.

As protocol requires , on his way to Toronto, on Monday he stopped in Ottawa for a courtesy visit with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

I have to admit that ever since he strongly objected to the nation-state law duly enacted by the Knesset, I don’t think much of him.
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By Dogan Akman

G-d in his wisdom decided to issue only 10 Commandments. Among these in the ninth, he commanded the Jews ”Not to bear false witness against the[ir] neighbour.”

Nevertheless, G-d  looking into the far future  and seeing the American and Canadian “liberal”,” progressive”  and  the ”leftist Jews” whose Pro-Palestinian stance consists  of venomous criticism of Israel, thought that, without more, it may not be enough to keep them out of self-inflicted mischiefs.

Hence, he further commanded them: not to carry false rumours, (Exodus 23.1-3); not to commit offences against the truth;  not to  refuse to commit themselves to moral uprightness.(Leviticus 19.18); not to spread false reports (Exodus 20:16;Deutronomy 5.20;Exodus 23-1-2;Proverbs (19:5 and Isaiah 29:20-22).
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