T. Belman. If only the US would do the same in Jordan. Trump could likewise flip the country from an opponent to an ally.

By Matthew Hamilton, AMERICAN THINKER

The Trump administration has decided that now is the opportune moment to depose the leftist Maduro dictatorship of Venezuela and is breaking out all of America’s tools to make sure he doesn’t stay in power.

Failure to successfully remove the Maduro regime will result in a continued and exacerbated humanitarian crisis which has already led to an exodus of over three million Venezuelans.  Resolving the political crisis in Venezuela and restoring order and economic security won’t just avert a humanitarian crisis, it’s an opportunity for the U.S. to flip Venezuela from being an adversary to an ally.  That could be a significant blow to Cuba, Russia, Iran, and China, who have close relationships with the Venezuelan dictatorship. Golden opportunities for a diplomatic coup like this are rare.
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Dramatic Rise in Polls After Debut Speech

In first, Gantz projected to have path to victory if he joins forces with Lapid ? Netanyahu, Gantz tied when Israelis asked who should be prime minister

By Punsara Amarasinghe and Eshan Jayawardne, BESA

BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,077, January 30, 2019

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: European politics is showing a distinct trend towards populism, as evidenced inter alia by the electoral results in Italy, Sweden, and Austria. The main reason for this shift is widespread insecurity over the outcomes of the migrant crisis. The rise of populism is likely to be a major factor in the 2019 EU parliamentary elections.

Populism in Europe as a civilizational legacy has a deeply rooted history dating back to Greco-Roman antiquity. As was recorded by classical historians like Livy, the overarching political structure of the Roman Republic was pierced by populism that arose as a result of loopholes in the system. The opposition of Publius Claudius to Roman nobility during the late Republic reflected the way populist discourse functioned in the classical world.

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By: A. Savyon, MEMRI

Introduction

As the impact of the U.S. sanctions on Iran’s economy increases, after even countries that oppose U.S. policy are complying with them, Iraq’s importance to the survival of Iran’s regime and economy also increases.

Underlining Iraq’s importance to Iran, Sadollah Zarei, who is on the editorial board of the regime mouthpiece Kayhan, wrote in a January 23, 2019 article: “America imagines that it will weaken the government of Iraq, and particularly the situation of [Iraqi Prime Minister] Adil Abdul-Mahdi, with military pressure in northern and southern Iraq, to the point where it [Iraq] will be unable to carry the burden of the warm and extensive Baghdad-Tehran relations. On the other hand, [the U.S.] will [also] create insecurity for the Iranian regime in two areas of Iranian investment. America knows that Iran has made important investments in the last 15 years in [Iraq’s] provinces of Sulaymaniyah, Erbil, Basra, Nasiriyah, and others, and that it [Iran] has become an important partner of Iraq, particularly in the energy sector.

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In a move expected to worsen relations between the Palestinian Authority and the Trump administration, PA declines some $60 million out of fear that accepting the money would expose it to lawsuits under 2018 Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act.

Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

U.S. security aid for the Palestinian Authority was set to dry up on Thursday after the PA declined the money over concerns it could increase its exposure to U.S. anti-terrorism lawsuits.

The loss of the nearly $60 million in annual funding marks another tear in ties between the Trump administration and PA President Mahmoud Abbas, and potentially undermines his security cooperation with Israel in Judea and Samaria.

Diplomatic sources said Palestinian, U.S. and Israeli officials were seeking a way to keep the money flowing despite Abbas’ decision to turn it down as of a Jan. 31 deadline set by Congress’ Anti-Terrorism Clarifcation Act (ATCA) of 2018.
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Christianity went through a Reformation in the 16th century. Can Islam do the same in the 21st?

By Rafael Castro, INN

Whether Islam will be reformed is one of the most uncertain issues of our times. The stakes of this reformation are tremendous. An Islamic World whose intellectual energies are released from dogma and censorship could contribute greatly to global prosperity during the 21st century.

The issue is clouded by misconceptions and false historical analogies. Many Westerners think that Islam’s reform is inevitable, and that just like the reforms of Christianity were ushered by modernity, so will Muslims adapt their faith to modern science and technology.

Some of the world’s most avant-garde cities dot the landscapes of the Arabian Peninsula. That is, in deeply traditional societies which are ruled largely by Islamic sharia. Arab Peninsula societies have managed to accommodate material modernity with religious traditionalism, refuting claims that modern science and technology invariably usher secular thinking.
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Foreign Allegiance

by Tabitha Korol 

Progressivism has exposed America to self-destruction by welcoming aliens who, by their own confession, brazenly declare that they are here to challenge and then destroy our way of life.

Whereas America’s doors have always been open to people of all races and religions who come with hope and gratitude for the opportunities granted in a free society, we were unprepared for those who want to erase our history and accomplishments, destroy our monuments and  customs, and replace our laws with their barbarism, in the hope of replicating their oppressive regimes here.

Two Muslim women have been voted into office under the cover of deceptive manifestos.  They misrepresented their platform and have thereby candidly sullied the dignity of their positions, insulted the United States, the Executive Office of the President and, specifically, our esteemed President Donald J Trump.

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“We will not allow the continuation of an international force that acts against us,” PM says of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron, which has been accused of systematically targeting Jewish residents • Palestinian Authority denounces the move.

By Ariel Kahana, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “They want to uproot us from here. They will not.” 

Israel on Monday said it is suspending operations of an international observer force in the West Bank city of Hebron after 25 years.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it would not extend the mandate of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron, saying “we will not allow the continuation of an international force that acts against us.” It did not give a timeframe for the observers’ exit.

TIPH has deployed unarmed civilian observers from Norway, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey in Hebron, located in Judea and Samaria, since 1997. Its stated mission is to report on violations of international humanitarian and human rights laws.
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As support for Israel falls among younger Democrats and the party’s left-wing, centrist Democrats launch pro-Israel group.

By Ron Kampeas, JTA,

By HANK BERRIEN, DAILY WIRE January 28, 2019

For all the Israel-haters out there, they’d better hope that that Israelis are forgiving if they are stricken with cancer, because if a new report out of Israel turns out to be true, scientists in the Jewish state have discovered a cure. And not just a cure for certain forms of cancer, but a complete cure for the deadly disease.

According to Dan Aridor, chairman of the board of Accelerated Evolution Biotechnologies Ltd. (AEBi) and CEO Dr. Ilan Morad, their treatment will not need time for the body to acculturate to it before it works. Aridor stated, “We believe we will offer in a year’s time a complete cure for cancer. … Our cancer cure will be effective from day one … and will have no or minimal side-effects at a much lower cost than most other treatments on the market. Our solution will be both generic and personal.”
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Finance minister says chipmaker’s plan to invest in Kiryat Gat manufacturing site is expected to bring thousands of jobs to Israel’s south.

INN

Intel said Tuesday it is expanding its operations in Israel, where government ministers said the US computer chipmaker will invest some 10 billion dollars in a new plant.

“Intel today announced it will submit a business plan to the government of Israel for continued investment in the company’s Kiryat Gat manufacturing site,” a statement from Intel’s Israeli representatives said. Read more…

Jews are now returning

By Dovid Mark, ISRAEL RISING

A few months ago I had the privilege of visiting a newly reacquired Jewish property in what is today the Muslim quarter in order to witness Jews returning to a former Jewish home.

Although I usually focus myself on sticking with teaching Jewish mystical thought to a wide variety of students across the world, I have a soft spot for present day urban pioneering in ancient Jewish neighborhoods now settled by Arab squatters.

It is a little known fact that most of today’s Muslim quarter was actually Jewish until the Arab riots and pogroms of the 1920s and 1930s pushed the indigenous Jews out and into the present Jewish quarter. In 1948 the Jewish quarter was wiped out by the Jordanian Legions.
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By Edy Cohen, ISRAEL HAYOM