By Isi Leibler

There is no disputing that, except for the vast majority of Orthodox Jews, American Jews and their leaders have distanced themselves from their Jewish identity.

In most cases this reflects an indifference to global Jewish issues, and often, a deliberate display of contempt toward Israel and its security challenges and the belief that Israeli leaders are not willing to discard an “outdated nationalist ideology.”

Many express their Judaism by proclaiming a distorted version of “tikkun olam,” which many of their rabbis promote as an espousal of liberal and universal policies. They are totally supportive of the Democratic Party, which many Reform rabbis, in effect, promote as the contemporary embodiment of Judaism.

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http://www.dickmorris.com/iran-on-the-verge-of-collapse-lunch-alert/?utm_source=dmreports&utm_medium=dmreports&utm_campaign=dmreports

By Josh Rogin, WaPo

The coming departure of Nikki Haley as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations has sparked a new round of competition inside the top ranks of the Trump administration — a contest not just for a job but also for greater influence and control over the direction of U.S. foreign policy in the second half of President Trump’s first term.

On Tuesday, Haley seemed to pull off what few senior Trump administration officials so far have been able to achieve: an honorable exit. How she did it could be a model for others looking to leave the Trump team with their dignity and political viability intact. Haley organized her departure with the White House, praised Trump in a joint news conference, promised (in writing) not to challenge his political interests and thereby was able to depart on her own terms. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis must be taking copious notes.

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You don’t drain the swamp by appointing the swamp

Daniel Greenfield, FPM

Two days after Netanyahu said Putin understands the territory’s importance for Israel, Russian FM says any change of status would violate UN resolution

By RAPHAEL AHREN , TOI

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday indicated that his country will not agree to any change of status for the Golan Heights, which Moscow, along with the large majority of the international community, considers occupied Syrian territory.

His comments followed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call on the international community Monday to recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, saying Russian President Vladimir Putin appreciates how important the strategic plateau is for Israel.
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DEBKA

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu won praise from US special ME negotiator Jason Greenblatt for letting the Qatar-funded fuel trucks go through to the Gaza Strip on Oct 9.  That is because its was the first step, DEBKAfile reports, towards implementing the administration’s Israel-Palestinian peace plan, partnered with Israel and Egypt, to eventually separate the Gaza Strip from Judea and Samaria (West Bank) to form two separate Palestinian entities.

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T. Belman. Many of Israel’s leaders, Netanyahu and Bennett included, advocate for improving the condition of the Palestinians, as a path to stability if not peace. I maintain, as does Sherman and Feiglin, that we must incentivize Palestinian emigration. Two million Palestinians, who presently live in J&S, is too many, way too many.

Our efforts must be focussed on helping them to emigrate rather than improving their economic condition so they will be stable.

Who wants Israeli-Palestinian Arab coexistence? And who most emphatically does not?

By Ariel Natan Pasko, INN

The Barkan Industrial Zone massacre, is just days old, and already the moral watchdogs of the Peace Process are wringing their hands, mourning its possible demise. “We shall not allow abominable terrorists to harm coexistence,” is the rallying cry.

President Reuven Rivlin, addressing the attack, said, “I’m appalled and distressed by the horrible terror attack carried out in the Barkan industrial area…This was an attack against the idea of Israelis and Palestinians coexisting, and living peacefully side by side. I call upon the Palestinian leadership to condemn this despicable terror attack…”
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The despicable ‘Anita Hill gambit’ by The Resistance will make Justice Kavanaugh more reliably conservative.

By Rabbi Dov Fischer

1. Me

A bit more than a decade ago, I worked at a nightmarish place for nearly three years. Although I had been quite the outspoken type for many decades since my youth, my subsequent quarter-century of maturation included learning for several years at a great seminary for rabbinical ordination, earning a graduate degree in American history, ten years in the pulpit, thereafter studying at a great law school, serving as Chief Articles Editor of law review, then clerking for a brilliant and dignified United States federal appeals court judge, and next litigating for more than a decade in big-firm law practice at two of the nation’s firms that demand the highest standards of excellence and professional comportment. In other words, I had matured, cooled off, calmed down, and moderated my temperament. In particular, the legal training and those second-career professional experiences changed me dramatically, as did the humbling experience of my first marriage of twenty-five years ending and the further calming effect of proceeding a year later to meet and marry the love of my life, my true life partner of these past eighteen years. I had dramatically moderated my style. I evolved to a new credo: Avoid making enemies. Stake out positions, but don’t push envelopes. Strive to be liked by everyone.

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By  NYT

Nikki R. Haley, the American ambassador to the United Nations.Tom Brenner/The New York Times

President Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki R. Haley, has resigned, ahead of what Mr. Trump promised on Twitter on Tuesday was a “big announcement” with Ms. Haley at the White House.

Ms. Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, had been an early and frequent critic of Mr. Trump, so when he named her the envoy to the world body weeks after his election in November 2016, the appointment was seen as an olive branch.
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By Yoram Hazony,

Nationalism is on the rise across the globe. It is key to Donald Trump’s appeal in the U.S. It is the driving force behind resistance to the European Union and its policies in Britain, Italy, Austria, Poland and Hungary. And it is reflected in the success of Narendra Modi in India, Shinzo Abe in Japan and Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel. Even before considering more complicated examples such as Russia, Turkey and China—whose politics have arguably taken a nationalist turn as well—this constitutes a broad revival of nationalist ideals and aspirations.

Many critics see this revival as the greatest political danger of our time. But it is a mistake to think of nationalism as an inherently regressive or destructive political force. In fact, nationalism was the engine that established modern political liberty, and it has been a spur to diversity among nations. It has been embraced by both liberals and conservatives, including revered figures such as Woodrow Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt, David Ben-Gurion and Mahatma Gandhi, Charles de Gaulle and Margaret Thatcher.
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“The operational abilities of the IAF are such that those [S-300] batteries really do not constrain the air force’s abilities to act,” says Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, referring to Israel’s stealth F-35 jets, supplied by the U.S.

Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

Minister of Regional Cooperation Tzachi Hanegbi downplayed the impact of Russia’s recent delivery S-300 air defense systems to Syria, saying Wednesday that Israel’s stealth fighters could defeat the new upgraded system and possibly destroy it on the ground.

On Tuesday, Moscow announced that it had delivered the S-300 to Syria, a decision it took after accusing Israel of being responsible for the downing of a Russian spy plane by Syrian forces. The Syrian missile that downed the Russian plane and killed all 15 crew members was fired in response to an Israeli airstrike last month.

Damascus and Moscow have described the addition of S-300 batteries to Syria’s arsenal as a major deterrent. Israel and Washington have both voiced misgivings about the S-300 handover.
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DEBKA

DEBKAfile Exclusive: President Donald Trump has ordered additional F-35 stealth planes supplied forthwith to Israel, in response to the four S-300 air defense batteries Russia has sent Syria and its upgrade of electronic warfare measures. The decision was taken, our sources reveal, after consultations between Washington and Jerusalem at the highest administration and military levels on the enhanced threat the recent Russian steps presented to Israeli air operations against Iranian targets in Syria. The F-35s will be drawn from US Air Force’s active service squadrons, just as the S-300s for Syria came from Russia’s operational air defense missile stocks.

By MATTHEW RJ BRODSKY  & BASSAM BARABANDI, NATIONAL REVIEW

A U.S. Air Force F-16 refuels in the skies over Syria, December 2017. (Staff Sergeant Paul Labbe/USAF)

It combines diplomacy, messaging, and a forward-leaning military posture.As the civil-war aspect of the Syrian conflict winds down, the great power struggle among states is intensifying. It appears the Trump team has discovered that its ability to help solve the former will determine how it fares in the latter.

To that end, the president’s team is fine-tuning an approach to Syria to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS, freeze the conflict elsewhere in the country, and reinvigorate the peace process according to UN Security Council Resolution 2254.
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By J0anna Hoyt, TRIGTENT

Defenders of President Trump’s attacks on undocumented immigrants often frame those attacks in terms of Law and Order. While that debate rages, Trump continues to quietly change the laws in ways that make it even harder for immigrants to enter the U.S. legally.

On September 17, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that in fiscal year 2019 the U.S. would accept no more than 30,000 refugees—down from a cap of 45,000 in FY 2018 and 85,000 in 2016. Actual admissions may be even lower: so far this year the U.S. has admitted fewer than 21,000 people.  This continues a historic retreat from the U.S.’ humanitarian commitment to accept people fleeing from deadly violence or natural disasters in their home countries. And it comes at a time when record numbers of people need refuge.  A record-setting 16.2 million people were displaced in 2017, and the wars and disasters of 2018 suggest that the refugee flow will only increase.

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