By Adm. James A. Lyons, TOWNHALL

The missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has caused world leaders to focus on not only the role Saudi Arabia may have played in his disappearance but also its role in the Yemeni civil war.  The missing Saudi journalist (a U.S. resident) is apparently the victim of a political assassination of the sort that occurs much too frequently throughout the Middle East and the world, e.g., Iran, Pakistan, Russia, China, et al.  No journalists should be subjected to threats of intimidation or threats on their life, much less murder for expressing political opposition.  Saudi Arabia must be required to make a full accounting for the disappearance of Khashoggi. Should the evidence show that Saudi individuals, perhaps even the Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, were responsible for Khashoggi’s disappearance and possible murder, they must pay a price imposed either by the Saudi government—or the U.S. government.
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DEBKA

It could be any or all these, since no one still knows what befell the prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi after he disappeared inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.  But the fallout is spreading worldwide, as theories, the wilder the better, flourish around the mystery. Turkey, whose animosity for the Saudi kingdom is a fact of Muslim politics, leads the pack, Turkish intelligence officials claimed this week to have a video clip showing Saudi agents murdering Khashoggi in the consulate building. They also claimed proof that 15 Saudi agents were involved in dismembering the body and flying its parts to Saudi Arabia after removing the remains in a black van with consular number plates. While grabbing global headlines – especially in US media – Turkey has never shown this clip or any other proof to support its claims. They are steadfastly denied as baseless by Riyadh, which has initiated a joint investigation of the disappearance with Turkey.

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By Benny Avni,

Since this week’s surprise announcement that Nikki Haley would depart by year’s end, everyone wants to know who’ll replace America’s United Nations ambassador — who was first dismissed, then hated, then feared, and eventually appreciated, heck, even loved (at least by some).

The answer, obviously, is up to the never-predictable President Trump, so most names bandied about are speculative, with many driven by wishful thinking. So here’s a wish: Christopher Burnham. Never heard of him? You may soon.

Sure, there are other worthy candidates; Washington reporters come up with new ones daily. The much-advertised front-runner, former Deputy National Security Adviser Dina Powell, made clear Thursday she’d rather remain at Goldman Sachs.

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Evidence mounts that Jamal Khashoggi was killed and dismembered in the Saudi Consulate.

By Jonathan Visser, INN

On Tuesday October 2nd a 59-year-old Saudi journalist who lived in self-imposed exile in the United States disappeared after he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

The journalist, Jamal Khashoggi – a well-known critic of the House of Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in particular – was in Istanbul to obtain official papers which would enable him to remarry.

His Turkish fiancée, who was waiting for Khashoggi outside the consulate says that the journalist never left the building, a claim supported by video footage released by the Turkish government.

The Saudi authorities vehemently deny they have anything to do with Khashoggi’s disappearance and initially offered the Turkish police permission to examine the consulate compound and the nearby house of the Saudi consul.
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By Peggy Noonan, WSJ

What did the Kavanaugh controversy tell us about our historical moment? It underscored what we already know, that America is politically and culturally divided and that activists and the two parties don’t just disagree with but dislike and distrust each other. We know also the Supreme Court has come to be seen not only as a constitutional (and inevitably political) body but as a cultural body. It follows cultural currents, moods, assumptions. It has frequently brushed past the concept of democratic modesty to make decisions that would most peacefully be left to the people, at the ballot box, after national debate. So citizens will experience the court as having great power over their lives, and nominations to the court will inevitably draw passion. And this was a fifth conservative seat on a nine-person court.

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Defense minister orders halt in fuel deliveries to Gaza over border violence

By Yaniv Kubovich and Jack Khoury, HAARETZ

Six Palestinians were killed on Friday during protests at the Gaza-Israel border, the Gaza Health Ministry reported. At least 252 were wounded, 154 by live ammunition, including one critically injured and five seriously hurt, the ministry said. Some 15,000 Palestinians were participating in the weekly protest at the border, with the military saying that some were throwing firebombs and explosive devices.

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he had instructed that fuel deliveries to Gaza through Israel be halted because of violence at the border. Lieberman said that “Israeli will not tolerate a situation in which fuel tankers are allowed to enter Gaza on the one hand, while terror and violence are used against IDF soldiers and Israeli citizens on the other.”
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If the bill passes, the Culture Ministry would be able to cut funding or even end it entirely for a cultural institution that rejects Israel’s identity as a Jewish and democratic state

By Jonathan Lis, HAARETZ

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation is expected to approve a bill on Sunday that would allow Culture Minister Miri Regev to strip cultural institutions of their government funding if the ministry decides they have violated any of five basic principles.

Currently, only the Finance Ministry has this authority, and it has never used it. But Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon supports giving the Culture and Sports Ministry this power as well.

Even if the Ministerial Committee for Legislation approves the bill, however, it’s not clear that the Knesset will do so as well, primarily because early elections might be called for March 2019. If that happens, the Knesset will probably dissolve in November, leaving a window of only a few weeks for legislation. And that most likely won’t be enough time for the bill to pass all three of the required votes.
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Support for Israel in EU nations has grown from 38% to 43%, while anti-Israel feeling has fallen from 30% to 29%, Foreign Ministry finds • European preoccupation with other issues and rise of social media are playing a big part in change, official says.

By Ariel Kahana, ISRAEL HAYOM

The EU “has come to realize ?that Israel is an asset,” a Foreign Ministry official says |

Surveys conducted by the Foreign Ministry in major ?European countries show a clear rise in support for ?Israel, Israel Hayom learned Thursday.?

The polls found a rising trend of support for Israel in Germany, ?Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom, which for many years were hubs of hostility toward Israel.?

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T. Belman. This is very problematic for Israel’s emerging relationship with s. Arabia. On the other hand it makes S. Arabia more dependant on Israel.

By Marlo Safi, NATIONAL REVIEW

Saudi Washington Post journalist goes missing and is presumed dead. Reporting suggests that he may have been savagely dismembered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in what has been described as a Pulp Fiction–style killing at the hands of the government he once servedf has become the rallying cry of Western media against the Saudi regime’s barbarism — as of last week.

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Because while Haley was a loyal representative of the administration, she was more than a mouthpiece. She was a leader.

By Caroline Glick, JPOST

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley’s sudden resignation this week distressed a lot of Israelis. On the face of things, the widely felt concern makes little sense. After all, Haley wasn’t a lone wolf in the Trump administration.

Then-president Barack Obama’s anti-Israel UN ambassadors Susan Rice and Samantha Power weren’t free agents when they took hostile actions and made hostile statements about Israel. They were speaking and acting as representatives of their boss, Obama.

Just so, in defending Israel by word and deed, Haley was a loyal representative of the policies of her boss, President Donald Trump.

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“It is certainly not in our interests to see the status of the Saudi government diminished in Washington.”

By Herb Keinon, JPOST

Here’s the rule: If some major event happens in the Middle East, it will generally have an impact on Israel.

The disappearance of Saudi government critic and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey – and the very real possibility that the Saudis either kidnapped him, killed him, or both – is no exception.

On the surface, this story seems distant from Jerusalem. Israel was not involved in any way, and even Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who never misses an opportunity to blast Israel, is not saying that Jerusalem had anything to do with it.

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T. Belman. I agree.

Influential nationalist Rabbi Eliezer Melamed says Israel need not fear creating close bonds with Austrian Freedom Party and others like it.

By Gil Ronen, INN

Influential nationalist rabbi, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, says the European Right is no longer anti-Semitic.

Rabbi Melamed wrote in his widely-read weekly column in Besheva Magazine Friday that Israel need not fear creating strong bonds with the European Right, including the Austrian Freedom Party, which is a member of the Austrian governing coalition.
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In examining the content of what Dr. Ford claimed was indicative of the Trauma she endured, mental health professionals would have difficulty connecting a diagnosis of Trauma to what Dr. Ford spoke about during her testimony.

By Ron Jager, INN

What differentiates Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from all other mental disorders? The difference is in its origin or what’s known as the trigger. Other such disorders, in general, are dateless, they may erupt because of genetics or a dysfunctional upbringing, or response to substance abuse, but little is known about when they actually began. With PTSD, however, there must be an event, a specific event that can be identified as related to the ensuing psychological and emotional state of an individual. With PTSD, the accompanying symptoms are easily identifiable and are related to the event or trigger.

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By Victor Davis Hanson, NATIONAL REVIEW

The Trump administration smartly recognizes the threat posed by Beijing. It could use Russian help to head that threat off.

Nearly a half-century ago, President Richard Nixon’s secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, established a successful U.S. strategy for dealing with America’s two most dangerous rivals. He sought closer ties to both the Soviet Union, with its more than 7,000 nuclear weapons, and Communist China, with the world’s largest population.
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T. Belman. Be sure to read what I wrote in 2012. Tiny Qatar casts a giant shadow.

Some of these leaders even invited members of the Qatari royal family to their children’s weddings, all while Qatar continued to fund Hamas and spew antisemitic bile through Al Jazeera.

By Shmuley Boteach, JPOST

It was the eve of Yom Kippur and I had just finished a public event on repentance at the Saban Theater in Los Angeles with my friend Roseanne Barr. The event was moderated by David Suissa, editor-in-chief of the prestigious Jewish Journal. A story suddenly broke on Bloomberg News. It said that Qatar had targeted the personal email accounts of both me and my wife to punish me for my criticism of that terrorism-funding country, Hamas’ principal patron.

Qatar, blockaded now for over a year over its sponsorship of terrorism, allegedly contracted large-scale campaigns of cyber-warfare to be waged not only against hostile countries but against critics of their regime, including private American citizens.

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T. Belman. Trump should appoint Aayan Hirsi Ali. She is one of the most amazing people in the world. Born in Somalia, a Muslim, subjected to female genital mutilation and an arranged marriage,she had the clarity and the gumption to flee. She got to Holland, went to university, got a MA in Poli Sci, wrote books and made videos about Islam, especially women under Islam. Her partner in the videos, Theo van Gogh, was murdered. by a jihadi. She was elected to the Netherlands Parliament. Eventually the government refused to continue her round-the-clock protection and she fled to the US, where she continues to tell the truth about Islam and Western policy toward Islam and Muslims. She tells the truth from her life experiences and has been banned from college campuses as an “Islamophobe” and all that PC nonsense.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs (GS.N) executive Dina Powell has withdrawn from consideration to succeed Nikki Haley as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

Powell told President Donald Trump by phone that she was honored to be considered but planned to stay at Goldman Sachs, the source told Reuters.