“At this time, the IDF has begun striking terror targets in the Gaza Strip,” the IDF Spokesperson said early Monday evening, advising residents in southern Israel that “explosions” will be heard as military forces launch “offensive activities” in Gaza.
The Gaza border has been declared a “closed military zone” and roadblocks were set up in the area. Nearby Zikkim Beach has been closed as well.
A limited number of IDF reserve forces were called up earlier in the day, and artillery and other units are already at the front. Read more…
Netanyahu is breathing a sigh of relief: Now Trump is free to campaign for him, joining a long line of U.S. presidents who’ve interfered in Israel’s elections. The only downside is what Trump will expect in return
U.S. President Donald Trump embraces Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after his remarks at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. May 23, 2017\ JONATHAN ERNST/ REUTERS
The world held its collective breath this past weekend waiting to hear the verdict of the probe being led by Robert Mueller into alleged collusion between Russia and President Donald Trump and his campaign.
But no foreign leader was more invested in the outcome or likely to be happier when Mueller confirmed Trumps oft-repeated insistence that he hadn’t colluded with a Russian effort to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election than Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Read more…
An Iranian oil platform in the Persian Gulf. Photographer: Bloomberg/Bloomberg
It has been almost a year since President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, and one might think proponents of the move are feeling vindicated. Iran has stuck to the limits in the agreement on nuclear fuel, despite the re-imposition of crippling sanctions on its banks and oil exports. Yes, it is still making mischief in the region — but no more so than it was a year ago, and now with less than half the oil revenue. The dire predictions of the deal’s supporters, meanwhile, have not come to pass.
Yet Iran hawks in Congress and the administration are worried that Trump will allow the deal to survive. They are waging a quiet war against Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his special representative for Iran, Brian Hook. The goal is to force the State Department and Trump to end oil waivers granted to China, India, Italy, Greece, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey. The waivers, granted last fall and set to expire May 2, allow them to continue to buy Iranian oil. Read more…
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,122, March 25, 2019
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:At this strategic watershed moment, one can discern the logic of the policy that has guided the Netanyahu government’s approach to Gaza over the past decade – that it is in Israel’s interest for Hamas to remain in control until the group is rejected by its own people.
It is too soon to assess the potential of the recent demonstrations in the Gaza Strip to take a sharp turn. Even without knowing how things might develop, it is clear that as of now, the extent of the demonstrations and the civilians’ daring willingness to confront Hamas indicate the cumulative distress of the Gaza population.
Eight years after the initial shock of the “Arab Spring,” the Hamas government in Gaza understands that the potential threat could become real as public rage grows.
As of now, even if the Gazans’ fury is not leading towards a direct threat to Hamas rule in Gaza, it is nevertheless compelling the group’s leadership to recognize the need for an immediate solution, even a symbolic one, for the mass distress.
By recognizing Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights, President Trump struck a blow against the idiotic principle of “land for peace,” when he tweeted,
After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel’s Sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability!
Restoring land to the previous owner, in this case, would work against the possibility of peace, he implied. And of course he’s right.
But doesn’t annexation violate international law? Opinions differ. It’s true that it is illegal under the UN charter to obtain land by attacking or threatening to attack another country. Art. 2, Sect. 4, says, Read more…
A home in the central Israeli town of Mishmeret, which was destroyed in a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip on March 25, 2019. (courtesy)
A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck a home in central Israel early Monday morning, injuring at least seven people, including two infants, and leveling the structure, officials said.
The attack triggered air raid sirens at approximately 5:20 a.m. throughout the Sharon and Emek Hefer regions north of Tel Aviv, the army said.
According to the military, the rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip, where last week two rockets were also fired at Tel Aviv, in what was described at the time as an apparent “mistake” by the Hamas terror group.
The Iron Dome missile defense system did not appear to have been activated by the rocket attack. The military said it was still investigating the matter. Read more…
Thirty-four percent support a two-state solution ? Twenty percent of non-Jews support entire West Bank annexation ? Only three Israeli parties openly support two-state solution
The Israeli election is just two weeks away and campaigns are in full swing, but it’s hard to find anyone talking about how to best resolve the century-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The parties, and even Israelis themselves, seem wary of wading into that debate. gauge Israeli public opinion on one of this, arguably one of the most consequential questions facing the region, Haaretz conducted a poll ahead of Election Day and U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan which is expected to be unveiled just after the vote. Read more…
Academia has filled the heads of their students with pipe dreams of Marxism and communism, where everyone’s problems will be solved by the benevolent government.
Katie Hopkins warned Americans about the dangers of unrestricted Islamic immigration and described in frank detail how it has affected the U.K. and Europe, contributing to a social decline and an inimical atmosphere. Thanks to Barack Obama’s eight-year Islamophobic presidency, unrestricted immigration has spread to the United States.
Michael Savage, the conservative talk show host, was banned from the U.K. for alleged hate speech which offended Islam. Few advocated on his behalf to protect his freedom of expression and now, one by one, conservative voices of dissent and opposition to illegal immigration are being silenced.
It is interesting to note that, the more that is penned on the subject, the more skepticism prevails, the messenger becoming a Cassandra. The Greek mythological Cassandra was cursed to voice prophecies that were true, but her prophecies were not believed. Read more…
Many of the innovations in this week’s positive Israel newsletter are aimed at helping the world’s disadvantaged to get back “up” on their feet. From boosting the immune system, to building new autism centers and rescuing cyclone victims. There is also good news “up” in space and new Israeli systems to force pedestrians and drivers to “up” their standards. Israeli start-ups are in great demand and big Israeli companies are running record revenues. Many Israeli sportspeople got “up” on the podium last week and archaeologists have been digging “up” more evidence of the historical Jewish links to the Land of Israel.
Photo (TY Sharon) is of the Jerusalem Marathon events, with 40,000 runners. Read more…
Towards that end, Ateek calls for “a system of economic sanctions and boycott to be applied against Israel… to put an end to Israeli occupation of Palestine…”
While much of the antisemitism and anti-Israeli activity in North America and Europe is led by Muslim organizations, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, the phenomenon is spreading among church groups and older (above 30) people thanks in part to Rev. Naim Ateek.
Ateek, an Anglican priest who formerly was the Canon of Jerusalem’s St. George’s Cathedral The Martyr, is the founder in 1989 of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, also in the city. He helped pen the Kairos Palestine document, a manifesto by Christian Palestinians, and most recently wrote A Palestinian Theology of Liberation, (Orbis Books, 2017) published by Maryknoll, a Catholic organization located in New York.
In order to understand Naim’s impact on Christian communities throughout the world, it is important to remember that the Anglican Church represents the Church of England. Anglicans are the third largest Christian group in the Read more…
The left-wing –Arab bloc made significant gains this week on the right-wing – religious bloc, reaching near-parity, a new poll shows, despite a significant decrease in the strength of the Blue and White party.
According to the new poll, conducted by Maagar Mohot and published by i24NEWS and Israel Hayom on Friday, the center-left Blue and White party’s lead over the Likud has fallen from seven mandates to just four over the past week.
Friday’s poll shows that if elections were held today, the Blue and White party would likely win 30 seats, down from 33 seats according to the previous Maagar Mohot poll, released last Friday. The Likud, on the other hand, remains stable at 26 seats – though this represents a four-seat decrease from the 30 seats it won in 2015. Read more…
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes’s opinion in the 1919 United States Supreme Court case Schenck v. United States held that speech that is dangerous AND false is not protected, as opposed to speech that is dangerous but also true.
“The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting FIRE in a theater and causing a panic. The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent.”
Much of this Orwellian frenzy is part of the campaign to silence all criticism of the Islamic world through character assassination of its legitimate and necessary critics.
Chelsea Clinton was one of many public personas to be blamed for the two mosque attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand on March 15, 2019. Credit: Kyle Cassidy via Wikimedia Commons.
It’s not often that I find myself in the same boat as Chelsea Clinton.
At a vigil in New York for the 50 Muslims slaughtered by a gunman at two New Zealand mosques, Clinton was accused by students of being a cause of the massacre.
The reason for this ludicrous charge was staggering. It was that she had criticized the anti-Semitic tweet by Rep. Ilhan Omar suggesting that Jews use their money to suborn American politicians in the interests of Israel.
“Forty-nine people died because of the rhetoric you put out there,” an astounded Clinton was told by Muslim student Leen Dweik. Read more…
Why are so many of the grandchildren of Nazis and Nazi collaborators who brought us the Holocaust once again declaring war on the Jews?
Why have we seen such an increase in anti-Semitism and irrationally virulent anti-Zionism in western Europe?
To answer these questions, a myth must first be exposed. That myth is the one perpetrated by the French, the Dutch, the Norwegians, the Swiss, the Belgians, the Austrians, and many other western Europeans: namely that the Holocaust was solely the work of German Nazis aided perhaps by some Polish, Ukrainian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian collaborators.
Canadian opposition leader Andrew Scheer is being taken to the woodshed by CAIR-CAN, which has renamed itself the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) and “the leaders of Canada’s largest labour organization,” the Canadian Labour Congress, led by its president Hassan Yussuff, for “emboldening far-right extremists by failing to call out Islamophobia following the New Zealand mosque shootings and attending events with people who promote hate speech.”
Scheer is facing the “Islamophobia” battering ram because he did not word his condolences and horror over the Christchurch mosque attack the way Islamic supremacists think he should have worded them.
Let’s review some pertinent points about this “Islamophobia” subterfuge and how it is ripping apart the West from within. The Muslim Brotherhood plan for North America states: “The Ikhwan must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.” Read more…
