By Ted Belman

Yesterday I posted an article by Yahudi Shlezinger in which he argued that Netanyahu has to make sure that all parties on the right exceed the threshold so that the right block has over 60 seats.

Today he reports that Netanyahu changed strategy and will campaign to get as much if not more as the Blue and White Party even if this means some right wing parties do not achieve the threshold. He wants to increase his chances that Riblin will invite the Likud to have first stab at forming a coalition. Even if the Right block doesn’t reach 61 seats, he believes that he can entice a party in the left block to join him.

Under the auspices of Prager U, Candice Owens will host an hour show weekly. In this, her first effort, she interviews Roseanne Barr.

Roseanne was a bit shaky at first but as they got into it, I found the far ranging discussion to hold my attention to the end.

It is ridiculous to pack the streets with protests and to self-flagellate over “ethical standards” that do not exist in any real world because those standards are not real. They are ridiculous.

By Rabbi Prof. Dov Fischer, INN

In the real world, for those who believe in democracy, I want access to my elected representatives. I want to know I can look them in the eye, tell them what I need, and persuade them to do it for me. I know that, for everything I will ask and need, there will be another constituency with the opposite request and need. So I will need to figure out how to apply pressure, not just appeal to a politician’s conscience and inner voice that says “Do the right thing.”

In the real world, politicians cynically will understand that they deal with horse-trading and bargaining all day. They deal with members of opposing parties, supporters from their own parties who still oppose them on one issue or another, and voters and constituents with all kinds of demands, requests, pleas — all conflicting with each other. In the end, the politician will be persuaded best if the constituent can deliver reciprocally.
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Reps from Defense Min. reportedly surprise US senators when they recommend to delay bill recognizing Israeli sovereignty in Golan Heights.

Arutz Sheva Staff, 03/03/19

Representatives of the Israeli defense establishment have caused senior US senators to understand that it is best not to legislate the bill for American recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, at least not at this time,Israel Hayom reported Saturday night.

The Israeli officials, representatives of the defense establishment, said at an internal meeting of members of the Senate that Israel’s presence on the Golan Heights is a fact that in any case is not in dispute, and it is therefore unclear to them what the logic is in legislating a law that will only stimulate discussion of the subject.

Israeli opposition to the bill comes despite the support of both parties in the US. The paper noted that the bill was presented last week by Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton, and is also supported by senior Democratic figures.
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Nitsana Darshan Leitner, JPOST   MARCH 1, 2019

Germany vice chancellor and economic affairs minister Sigmar Gabriel with Iran president Hassan Rouhani. (photo credit: ATTA KENARE / AFP)

The recent decision by the British government to finally outlaw all factions of the Hezbollah terrorist organization is an important, long-overdue step for states determined to confront escalating Iranian-sponsored terrorism that has spread to Europe. Until now, the UK, like the rest of the European Union, had allowed itself to maintain a fiction that provided a certificate of kashrut to the Shia group’s political wing, while it held some of its instrumentalities and military wing to be trayf terrorist entities.

Citing Hezbollah’s dangerous involvement in several regional civil wars, Home Secretary Sajid Javid decided England would no longer close its eyes to the terrorist group “continuing in its attempts to destabilize the fragile situation in the Middle East,” and could no longer agree to artificially distinguish between its interrelated factions. The UK’s cold turkey plunge, fully designating Hezbollah a terrorist group, practically means that supporting the organization could now land an individual in a British prison for 10 years.
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By Evelyn Gordon

Israel is currently preoccupied with its election campaign and America with its newly divided government, leaving both countries little attention to spare for issues beyond day-to-day politics. But moments of change are excellent times to pause and consider the fundamentals of the Western political tradition. And as a recent contribution to the growing scholarly genre of political Hebraism reminds us, one of those fundamentals is the surprisingly large role the Hebrew Bible has played in Western political thought.

In John Locke’s Political Philosophy and the Hebrew Bible, Yechiel Leiter (full disclosure: a friend and neighbor) convincingly argues that the Bible heavily influenced Locke’s thought. Since Locke’s work, especially his Second Treatise on Government, is widely considered to have significantly influenced America’s founding fathers, this is further evidence that when people talk about America’s “Judeo-Christian” roots, the “Judeo” half is no mere courtesy. Judaism in fact contributed significantly to America’s political traditions.
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T. Belman. This is brilliant. After reading it very carerfully, you apprecicate that in all political systems that allow wealthy corporations or people to fund political campaigns, the politicians end up being beholden to their doners. Should they all be charged?

The Attorney General’s misguided decision to charge the Prime Minister with bribery and breach of trust may spell trouble for the future of Israeli democracy

By Avi Bell, TABLET

Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit’s announcement to the media, 40 days before general elections, that he intends to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of bribery and breach of trust in three different cases was political drama of the highest order. There’s no gainsaying the importance to Israel’s politics and the election. But more importantly, Mandelblit’s announcement heralds a crisis for Israel’s democracy and the public image of its legal system.
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By Yehuda Shlezinger, ISRAEL HAYOM

[..]

There is talk in recent days of the so-called “soft right” moving away from Netanyahu because Mendelblit’s damning report from Thursday in which he outlined Netanyahu’s conduct and laid the groundwork for a possible indictment. But will they now choose to support the centrist parties and the Left or will they instead vote for another right-wing party? The answer is pretty clear.

The exit polls in 2015 showed a de facto tie between Netanyahu’s Likud and the Left’s Zionist Union, but after all the votes came in, Netanyahu increased his lead substantially. Election Day 2015 was the “day of infamy” for pollsters. People blamed this on pundits preferring to stay inside the studio rather than hearing what voters had to say.
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A committee turned down 20 residential building permits, ruling out almost any future Palestinian construction in the city’s east

The Jerusalem Planning and Building Committee turned down some 20 applications for residential building permits submitted by Palestinians, rejecting a long-standing procedure for establishing land ownership in East Jerusalem.

Representatives of right-wing parties and the secular Hitorerut ticket on the city’s zoning board voted against the building plans, while members of the ultra-Orthodox parties voted in favor.

The significance of the decision goes beyond the rejection of these particular plans. In the long run, it rules out almost any future Palestinian construction in East Jerusalem.
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Israel finds favor in this policy of strategy of “divide and rule,” because so long as Israel’s adversaries are engaged in a conflict with others, Israel is usually ignored as a target.

By Glen Segell, JPOST

IRAN AND Iraqi flags held aloft by a woman.. (photo credit: REUTERS)

The recent meeting of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Persian Gulf leaders at the Warsaw conference has opened the door to speculation about another state in the region, Iraq.

Israel, like many other countries, has had a love-hate view of Iran and Iraq over the years.

Like other countries, Israel has never managed to befriend both at the same time. Indeed, others have sought to promote conflict between Iran and Iraq to assist in establishing a regional balance.

Israel finds favor in this policy of strategy of “divide and rule,” because so long as Israel’s adversaries are engaged in a conflict with others, Israel is usually ignored as a target.
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What was on the table: Either Jewish Home and Otzma merge for the election, assuring a continuing religious-right Government, or they run alone, handing the Government to the Left even though the Left will have fewer votes and reflect the minority.

By Rabbi Prof. Dov Fischer, INN

The United States Democratic Party for a generation gave its highest honors to a racist, Jew-hater, Black-baiter named Robert F. Byrd. He was a Ku Klux Klan leader, the Exalted Cyclops, and even after he realized that he needed to withdraw from the KKK, he continued to be a racist who despised Blacks for their very skin color and who hated Jews and Israel. Yet he rose to be  a major United States Senator.

To this day the “Byrd Rule” impacts how American budgets are passed. His name is spoken with reverence by liberal Democrats. When he finally was called back to his Maker to receive his just and fitting eternal reward, all the leaders of the Democratic Party were there to mourn at his funeral, including Obama, Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, and New York’s utterly unprincipled Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who changes policies and beliefs as fast as the newest survey poll is published. Others who shed all self-respect and attended this racist bigot’s funeral included Senators Chuck Schumer, Al Franken, and Chris Dodd.
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By Dogan Akman    

By what authority did the Attorney-General cause havoc in the electoral process; manipulate the electoral system by undermining the opportunity for the Prime Minister and the Likud coalition government to carry on while radically improving the chances of other political formations to form the next government?

If the counter-argument is that the Attorney-General has not done any such thing by merely indicting the Prime Minister, then the next question is: by what authority is the Attorney-General doing indirectly that which he is not authorised to do directly. None.

What prevented the Attorney-General from doing the decent thing and postpone his decision until the Prime Minister leaves politics? This is not the first time Attorney-generals, even in normal times, put the interests of the state above pursuing a Prime Minister or, better still, an executive President for allegedly committing one or more serious offences instead of the chicken-sh.t ones involved in the present case.
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by Victor Rosenthal