T. Belman. And I thought the American elections were always about the economy.

THE INDEPENDENT UK

Republicans could be swamped by a “blue wave” in Congress, according to a clutch of polls which show double-digit leads for Democrats in November’s midterm elections.

Midwest voters are fuelling a growing gap between the two parties as support for Donald Trump wanes in key states such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, one pollster said.

“Every way we are looking at the data, the same general pattern is emerging,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, whose latest survey showed a 12 percentage point lead for the Democrats.
Read more…

By Ariel Kahana, ISRAEL HAYOM

 By Ibrahim Hamidi, Asharq Al-Awsat

A US document, seen by Asharq Al-Awsat on Thursday, said Damascus needed to cut its relations with the Iranian regime and its militias and to introduce a series of reforms to its Constitution, as part of a set of preconditions required to reach a solution to the conflict in Syria.

The document said the war-torn country should also “amend the President’s authorities,” and allow more powers to the Prime Minister.

In addition, it should give a greater role for the civil society to introduce reforms to the security apparatuses and follow a decentralizedsystem.
Read more…

The US promised to hold Iran accountable for attacks on US facilities in Iraq. But does the US still have any power in the area?

By Yochanan Visser, INN

More than two weeks after the Trump administration announced it would keep its current force of between 7,000 and 9,000 US soldiers in Iraq and dispatched Brett McGurk, the presidential envoy for the global coalition against ISIS to Baghdad in order to prevent an Iranian takeover of the country, it is becoming increasingly clear the US is losing Iraq.

On Thursday, pro-Iranian political factions finally reached an agreement about the forming of a new government, four months after May 12th’s parliamentary elections.
Read more…

By MARTIN SHERMAN

The Left in Israel is behaving like a person who cannot accept that the object of his love has chosen another in his stead

…unrequited love does not die; it’s only beaten down to a secret place where it hides, curled and wounded… [and] turns bitter and mean…? Elle Newmark, The Book of Unholy Mischief

…love is a scary thing. If not reciprocated, it can turn a person into a monster. ? Michele Young-Stone, The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors

It is, of course, undisputable that a good portion of what is dubbed as the Israeli “Left” have entrenched reservations as to the concept of a Jewish nation-state. Indeed, many even harbor resolute resistance to the validity, legitimacy and/or desirability of the idea. Actually, for all intents and purposes, such rejection is the central plank in their openly declared anti-Zionist political credo. Accordingly, they have little desire to see it develop and prosper.

Read more…

By Vic Rosenthal, ABU YEHUDA

Hating Jews is a big topic of discussion these days. They’re talking about it in the UK, where Jeremy Corbyn can’t understand why so many are making such a big deal about what he sees as merely a principle of his proposed foreign policy. And they are talking about it in the USA, where 21% of American voters said they had at least a “somewhat favorable” impression of Louis Farrakhan (that was in March, and I would be surprised if the percentage wasn’t greater today).

I should note that I’m trying to stop using the word “antisemitism,” a word invented by 19^th century German Jew-hater Wilhelm Marr to make his Judenhass more scientific-sounding. Marr also wanted to express his idea that the problem with Jews was more than just a religious, economic, or national issue: it was biological, racial. Of course this implies that Jewishness cannot be fixed. Even if a Jew got himself baptized, stopped being a money-lender, had German citizenship, or served with distinction in the German army, he was still corrupt and dangerous. We all know where this idea led.
Read more…

T. Belman.  “Half of Palestinians under 30 were unemployed.” This is very good news for Israel. The Deal of the Century provides for job creation and free housing in Jordan.  These are the people who will emigrate to Jordan for the jobs.

Unemployment in the Palestinian territories was the highest in the world in 2017, reaching 27.4%, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development report finds • UNCTAD chief Mahmoud Elkhafif says Israeli restrictions on work permits partially to blame.

Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

U.N. Conference on Trade And Development Coordinator of ?Assistance to the Palestinians Mahmoud Elkhafif  Photo: Reuters

Palestinian citizens are trapped in an economy of jobless growth with no prospects, especially in Gaza, which is undergoing “de-development,” the United Nations trade and development agency said in an annual report published on Wednesday.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development report said unemployment in the Palestinian territories was the highest in the world in 2017, at 27.4%, while agricultural production fell by 11%. Half of Palestinians under 30 were unemployed. The economy grew 3.1% but was flat on a per capita basis.
Read more…

DEBKA

Shared mechanisms for beating US sanctions against Iran may be built into Syria’s massive post-war reconstruction program, DEBKAfile’s exclusive sources report. This plan was approved by Presidents Vladimir Putin, Hassan Rouhani and Tayyip Erdogan at their Tehran summit on Sept. 7. It topped their agenda, in addition to coordination among Russian, Iranian and Syrian forces in their coming offensive for demolishing the last Syrian rebel stronghold in Idlib. The pause in launching ground operations in Idlib is accounted for by two major hurdles:

Read more…

DEBKA

Russian-Syrian success in the high-stakes Idlib offensive would give Tehran a major victory and renewed footing in Syria. This would torpedo the US-Israeli campaign to drive the Iranians out.

After a series of aerial bombardments, the Russian-Syrian-Iranian offensive to gain control of Idlib, the last rebel stronghold in Syria, is ready to go, having meanwhile gained the valuable increment of Hizballah fighters. After returning home from the Syrian battlefields, these Lebanese Shiite fighters were given fresh orders over the weekend to return to Idlib and Hama.

Read more…

America can find another way to support legitimate humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians, while insisting on reform of their anti-Israel, anti-peace, anti-American educational system.

By Eric J Mandel, JPOST

Palestinians pass by the gate of an UNRWA-run school in Nablus in the West Bank August 13, 2018. (photo credit: ABED OMAR QUSINI/REUTERS)

Hady Amr, former Obama State Department deputy special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, wrote in The Hill that the administration’s defunding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) undermines a “cornerstone of America’s support for stability in the Middle East and flagship of our values to provide for the most vulnerable… UNRWA is so in-sync with our (American) values that American citizens directly donate millions of dollars to UNRWA.”

While it is true that UNRWA provides important health services to Palestinian civilians, Amr chooses not to comment about the State Department designated Hamas group’s infiltration of UNRWA facilities in Gaza, or UNRWA teachers glorifying terrorism, or UNRWA refusing to take off its rolls the two million Palestinians living as full citizens of Jordan. He also ignored a 2013 UN audit that found UNRWA vulnerable to “misappropriation, graft and corruption,” while a Newsweek op-ed in 2016 asked, “Why Are American’s Paying for (UNRWA) Antisemitic Textbooks?”
Read more…

Trump’s national security adviser vows to protect US and allies ‘by any means necessary’ from prosecution at The Hague, says ‘illegitimate, dangerous’ court is ‘already dead to us’

By TOI STAFF and AGENCIES

The United States on Monday warned the International Criminal Court against prosecution of US or Israeli officials for alleged war crimes in the Middle East.

White House National Security Adviser John Bolton called the Hague-based rights body “unaccountable” and “outright dangerous” to the United States, Israel and other allies, and said any probe of US service members would be “an utterly unfounded, unjustifiable investigation.”

In the same speech, Bolton confirmed that the US is closing the PLO’s office in Washington, DC.
Read more…

U.S. Education Department decides to adopt international definition of antisemitism • Decision praised by Zionist Organization of America • Definition recognizes that Jew-hatred can be camouflaged as anti-Israelism or anti-Zionism, says ZOA.

Israel Hayom Staff

In a blow to BDS, the U.S. Education Department has adopted the international definition antisemitism Photo: Getty Images

The U.S. Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights has decided to adopt the international definition of anti-Semitism, which defines Judaism not only as a religion but also an ethnicity and includes holding Jews responsible for Israel’s actions as a form of antisemitism, Israel Hayom learned Wednesday.
Read more…

The frequency of fires has dropped, allowing authorities to assess damage • Nature reserves near Gaza have lost up to 78% of plant life, animal populations decimated • Nature and Parks Authority chief scientist: Area will never return to what it was.

By Nikki Guttman, ISRAEL HAYOM

The number of incendiary kites and balloons being sent by Palestinians over the Gaza border and causing fires in Israel has fallen in recent weeks, enabling the Israel Nature and Parks Authority to begin assessing the ecological and financial damage to Israeli parks and nature reserves.

Authorities are also working on a plan to minimize the damage if the arson terrorism campaign resumes next summer.
Read more…