Iran’s Grip on Gaza and Israel’s Dilemma  

by Jonathan Spyer, The Australian May 11, 2019

The latest short, intense flare up of violence between Israel and Hamas-controlled Gaza appears to have concluded. … So should the latest confrontation be simply filed away as a passing episode in a seemingly endless, if mostly contained conflict?

Not quite. Israel’s central dilemma regarding Hamas-controlled Gaza can be discerned behind Israeli decisionmaking in recent days. Observe:

The latest events mark the clear arrival of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) organization to a primary role in the ongoing conflict. The fighting was triggered by the targeting by Islamic Jihad snipers of IDF personnel on the border area on May 3rd. Two IDF soldiers – a man and a woman – were wounded. The attack took place against the background of a Hamas-organized border demonstration. Israel’s response then led to further Hamas missile and rocket attacks.
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May 16, 2019 | 9:24 am | Comments »

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Progressive Jews Are More Dangerous to Israel Than Iran  

by

In the following TV panel discussion from Israel, the journalist Dr. Guy Bechor explains that American Jewish Progressives are the enemies of Israel and their fellow Jews, and should even be denied the right to return to Israel, since they are a danger to the Jewish state.

He also highlights the prominence of Progressive Jews in the “Russia collusion” conspiracy against President Donald Trump.

Many thanks to Rachel L for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Video transcript:

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May 16, 2019 | 7:40 am | 4 Comments »

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Germany takes a startling new pro-Israel line  

Berlin, the Foreign Office said, was ‘most concerned about the fact that, to this day, Israel continues to be criticized inappropriately’

By Barbara Kay, NATIONAL POST

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold a press conference in Jerusalem, on Oct. 4, 2018.Oded Balilty/AP

On May 11, 1949, the United Nations adopted the motion that admitted Israel as a member state. To mark its anniversary, Germany’s Foreign Office issued a startling statement: “The Federal Government would like to take this 70th anniversary as an opportunity to reiterate the fact that Germany stands at Israel’s side in the UN.”

Berlin, the Foreign Office continued, was “most concerned about the fact that, to this day, Israel continues to be criticized inappropriately, treated in a biased manner and marginalized in the bodies of the UN.” The statement concluded, “In its profound solidarity with the Jewish people and the state of Israel, Germany will continue to do its part in strengthening Israel’s representation in the UN.”
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May 16, 2019 | 6:11 am | 5 Comments »

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Thousands of Palestinians mark ‘Nakba’ with Gaza protests, West Bank marches  

At least 60 said wounded as 10,000 march on border, with rioting, rock-throwing reported; senior Hamas official: ‘Day of your slaughter, extermination and demise is approaching’

By ADAM RASGON, JUDAH ARI GROSS and AP

Palestinian demonstrators gather east of Gaza City in the Gaza Strip on May 15, 2019, during a protest marking 71st anniversary of the "Nakba," or "Catastrophe," in 1948. (Mahmud Hams/AFP)

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank participated in mass rallies on Wednesday marking the 71st anniversary of what they call the “Nakba” or “catastrophe” surrounding the establishment of Israel.

In Gaza, the IDF said at least 10,000 people flocked to the border between Israel and the coastal enclave at several locations. It said protests included rioting.

“The rioters are setting tires on fire and hurling rocks,” the army said. “A number of explosive devices have been hurled within the Gaza Strip, as well, and a number of attempts have been made to damage the security fence. IDF troops are responding with riot dispersal means.”
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May 15, 2019 | 5:04 pm | Comments »

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Saudi paper urges Palestinians to consider Trump peace plan  

Faisal Abbas, editor-in-chief of Arab News, writes column supportive of administration’s yet-to-be-released plan, saying could alleviate Palestinian suffering and make peace more possible. Administration has not shared details on plan and has consistently dismissed reported leaks as mere speculation.

by AP and Israel Hayom Staff

Saudi paper urges Palestinians to consider Trump peace plan

The editor-in-chief of a Saudi newspaper on Wednesday urged Palestinians to keep an open mind toward a Mideast plan being devised by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner.

Faisal Abbas wrote in the Arab News on Wednesday that while the cards have been stacked against the Palestinians, Kushner’s plan just may reverse the situation and make peace more possible.

The Trump administration has not shared details on the plan and has consistently dismissed reported leaks as mere speculation that are both inaccurate and misleading. U.S. officials have recently indicated the plan will likely be released only after June 10.
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May 15, 2019 | 4:55 pm | 1 Comment »

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Mr. President, no deals with Iran, only regime change  

The provisions of the agreement negotiated by former Secretary of State John Kerry and his team of sycophants make Neville Chamberlain’s “peace in our time” negotiations with Hitler look like a stroke of genius.

By Amil Imani, INN

In occupied Iran, the Islamic rulers on Wednesday stated plans to restart some nuclear activity as Trump sent warships closer to the area. Well, to be clear, the Islamic Republic of Iran never stopped its ambition to develop means to advance a nuclear delivery system.

Devotees of Islamic ideology, whether the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic State (meaning all Sunni Sates) or other Islamic actors around the globe wish to accelerate their own apocalyptic vision of the “End Times.”

Iranian leaders hold to a Shia brand. The Sunnis leaders hold to their own version. But, both are obsessed by a belief that their messiah is coming. The Iran Shiites believe they must lay the groundwork for the messiah (Mahdi) to come and build their Kingdom or Imamate. The Sunni counterparts aren’t really waiting. They have started with Stealth Jihad inside the United States and in every Western country in the world, until such time that jihadists are strong enough to declare a Caliphate.
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May 15, 2019 | 9:27 am | Comments »

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The Mind-Boggling Story of Shlomo and Yemimah Gangte  

How a young man from a village in northeast India, convinced of his hidden Jewish roots, moved his family to Israel, became an Orthodox rabbi, and turned into a national hero.

Members of the B’nei Menashe community reunite with relatives at Israel’s Ben-Gurion airport on December 24, 2012. Uriel Sinai/Getty Images.
Members of the B’nei Menashe community reunite with relatives at Israel’s Ben-Gurion airport on December 24, 2012. Uriel Sinai/Getty Images.

OBSERVATION

The autobiographical account that follows is an edited version of one of many interviews conducted in 2017-18 with men and women belonging to the founding generation of Israel’s B’nei Menashe community. It is part of an ongoing oral-history project in which I have participated; the project is sponsored by the Jewish Federation of New Mexico with the special assistance of Sabra Minkus, its vice-president at large.

The B’nei Menashe, an estimated 4,000 of whom live in Israel today as full Jews and citizens, originated in a Judaizing movement that arose in the 1970s among the Kuki-Mizos, a Tibeto-Burmese ethnic group inhabiting the federal states of Manipur and Mizoram in the far northeast corner of India. Like other Judaizers in modern history, including the Subbotniki in Russia and the Szombatosok in Hungary, they emerged from the matrix of Christianity—or, more exactly, from their rejection of a Christianity that they perceived as having betrayed its biblical, “Old Testament” roots.
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May 14, 2019 | 2:30 pm | Comments »

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Is the USA Losing the War to Islamic Ideology?  

By Amil Imani, CAPITAL OUTSIDER

A quick answer is, yes. Why?  Because our elected officials are afraid to name our enemy and political correctness has become our norm, even under the Presidency of Donald Trump! Unfortunately, it is going to take more 9/11 terrorist attacks to make many of our fellow Americans realize the truth about Islamic ideology, the mindset and dedication of our enemies.

Let me be honest with you, America is following the same path as our European allies across the ocean who not only are looking in another direction, but the first opportunity they get, they flee their own countries to a safer place.

Remember this:

“Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Qur’an should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth” — Omar Ahmed, Chairman of the Board of CAIR (Council of American Islamic Relations.

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May 14, 2019 | 9:45 am | 1 Comment »

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Trump team preparing ground for Plan rollout  

The West Bank “could erupt before, during or after you present your peace plan, and you should add this to your calculations.”

BY Herb Keinon, JPOST

Quiet for months, the Trump administration’s Mideast team is increasingly talking in broad strokes about its Mideast plan, in what is seen as an attempt to prepare the ground for the much-delayed rollout of the “deal of the century” next month.

Last month, US President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner said that the plan would be presented some time after Ramadan, which ends on June 4. And in an interview with Fox News over the weekend, Jason Greenblatt – Trump’s Special Representative for International Negotiations – set after Shavuot, June 9, as the target day for presentation of the plan.

The intention to present the plan next month comes against the advice of some, such as the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s executive director Robert Satloff, who has written twice in the last month that to present a plan that, in the current environment, is doomed to fail is very ill-advised, and that a failure would delegitimize some of the fresh ideas in it.
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May 14, 2019 | 8:33 am | 2 Comments »

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House Majority Leader, Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi defend Muslim congresswoman  

Steny Hoyer asserts that Republicans are twisting Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s comments on Israel and the Holocaust.

By Ben Ariel, INN

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) on Monday came to the defense of freshman congresswoman Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) over her controversial comments on Israel and the Holocaust, The Hill reported.

Hoyer asserted that Republicans, including President Donald Trump, are twisting Tlaib’s words in criticizing them as anti-Semitic.

“If you read Rep. Tlaib’s comments, it is clear that President Trump and Congressional Republicans are taking them out of context,” Hoyer said in a brief email. “They must stop, and they owe her an apology.”
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May 14, 2019 | 7:56 am | Comments »

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Prime Minister Nigel Farage?  

Editorial of The New York Sun

Could Britain end up with Prime Minister Nigel Farage? On the one hand, we wouldn’t put any more money on it than, say, the New York Times was prepared, on election eve in 2016, to put on Donald Trump. On the other hand, feature what’s happening as Britons prepare to go to the polls to select their delegation to the next European “Parliament.”

That vote is set for May 23. Had Prime Minister Theresa May and her Conservatives honored the Brexit referendum of 2016, Britain wouldn’t have to participate in the blasted EU election. Voters decided, after all, to leave the EU, and a departure date of March 29 was all set. Mrs. May, though, betrayed the referendum. And now Britain has to elect a delegation to sit in the EU “Parliament.”

In that election, the party polling at the head of the field is the Brexit Party. It was founded at the last minute by Nigel Farage. He’s the former head of the United Kingdom Independence Party who led the campaign for Britain to return to being a sovereign country. In the aftermath of his victory, though, he quit UKIP because it was taking on a xenophobic tone.
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May 13, 2019 | 6:03 pm | 4 Comments »

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Iran must decide: To be or not to be  

Iran’s top priority is to preserve the rule of the ayatollahs, so if the U.S. is prepared to back threats with military action, it will agree to a better nuclear deal from President Trump.

 Col. (res.) Ronen Itsik, ISRAEL HAYOM

Iran must decide: To be or not to be
An MH-60S helicopter hovers in the air with an oil tanker in the background as the USS John C. Stennis makes its way to the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, last December | Photo: REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo

The developing tension between the U.S. and Iran in the Persian Gulf comes as no coincidence. Since U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal and restored sanctions against Iran, he has had a clear goal in mind – to topple the ayatollah regime and dismantle the axis of evil.

Last decade, former President George W. Bush declared the ties between the nations of the Fertile Crescent an “axis of evil.” Later on, after the 9/11 attacks, he took action to smash that axis, which included striking a fatal blow to al-Qaida and the Taliban; bringing down the regime of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein; and because of the U.S.’s incorrect approach to creating stability after the Iraqi Baath regime fell apart, it all stopped there.
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May 13, 2019 | 4:50 pm | 1 Comment »

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Iran’s dilemma  

In Tehran, regime officials are worried that the pressure applied by the U.S. administration is meant to expedite regime change, not just curb Iran’s nuclear and hegemonic ambitions in the region.

By Yossi Kupperwasser, ISRAEL HAYOM

The battle over the future of Iran has intensified in recent days. The U.S. has amplified its economic sanctions against the Islamist regime, namely waiving the remaining exemptions for certain countries that were purchasing Iranian oil; declaring the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization; prohibiting heavy metals imports from Iran; and disallowing Iran from exporting excess low-grade enriched uranium and heavy water, which it was permitted to do within the framework of the nuclear deal. Incidentally, the license was granted so that Iran could produce these materials without stockpiling them in larger quantities than stipulated by the nuclear deal. The U.S. has also begun moving forces to the Persian Gulf and closer to Iran.
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May 13, 2019 | 4:26 pm | 3 Comments »

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Germany vows to back Israel at UN, in apparent break from past record  

Ted Belman.  Yair Netanyahu is right on in his tweet.

Israel’s envoy to Berlin welcomes statement as ‘clear signal’ of country’s determination to enhance Jerusalem’s standing in international fora

Germany on Saturday said it was deeply troubled by anti-Israel bias at the United Nations and vowed to oppose “any unfair treatment” of the Jewish state in international fora.

The statement, issued on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Israel’s accession to the UN, was welcomed by Jerusalem’s envoy to Germany, Jeremy Issacharoff, who said he hoped it signals a change in Berlin’s voting pattern vis-a-vis the Middle East. Germany’s voting record on Middle East issues has been criticized by Israel and its supporters, as the country often joins other European nations in voting against Israel’s interest at the UN.

“Seventy years ago today — 24 years before the Federal Republic of Germany’s admission to the United Nations — Israel was admitted to the UN as a full member. The Federal Government would like to take this 70th anniversary as an opportunity to reiterate the fact that Germany stands at Israel’s side in the UN, too,” the English-language statement by Germany’s Foreign Office said.
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May 13, 2019 | 11:54 am | Comments »

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