An emerging Gulf leadership has shaken off its elders’ attachment to the Palestinian cause. They’re convinced an independent Palestine means handing Iran and Sunni political Islamists yet another Arab capital

Palestinians burn a photo of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a protest against U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, in Gaza City, Saturday, AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra

That there is a wide gap between the position of Saudi Arabia‘s King Salman bin Abdel Aziz, endorsing full rights for Palestinians, as opposed to his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (known as MBS) should come as no surprise to Western policymakers.

There have been clear recent indications of this difference. The Crown Prince has recognized Israel’s right to exist and was reported as saying the Palestinians should either “shut up” or make peace with Israel.
Read more…

By Yoav Limor, ISRAEL HAYOM

The final stage of the Syrian civil war offers an opportunity, maybe the last one, for any entity that wants to eliminate threats without paying too high a price. The moment the war officially ends, which will happen soon, everything will become more complicated, from airstrikes to assassinations.

It is likely that this played a part in the killing of Syrian scientist Aziz Azbar over the weekend. The operation combined tactical and intelligence capabilities and a cost-benefit analysis. It took considerable time to gather the necessary intelligence, and the action needed to be precise, not only to ensure that it took out the target, but also to prevent collateral damage. The operational side was simpler, especially in light of the plethora of weapons available and the number of operatives in Syria looking for action.
Read more…

What might be in store for the Gaza Strip?

BY CHARLES BYBELEZER/THE MEDIA LINE

When Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu last week announced the cancellation of his trip to Colombia, citing the “situation in the south,” the move was widely construed as a prelude to a possible breakthrough in negotiations to forge a long-term ceasefire agreement with Hamas. And, indeed, the Israeli cabinet was slated on Sunday to discuss an emerging multi-phased proposal.

The first stage reportedly calls for the immediate end to all hostilities and the permanent re-opening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt and the Kerem Shalom passage, through which Israel transfers goods and humanitarian aid to Gaza. Thereafter, if the truce holds, the living conditions of Gazans are to be improved through the lifting of the joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade, whereas the rift between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ ruling Fatah faction and Hamas is meant to be healed. Finally, the international community will invest heavily in Gaza-based infrastructure projects, including the possible construction of air and sea ports.
Read more…

New sanctions to further choke an already ailing regime

By Adam Kredo, NEW BEACON

Protests against Iran’s hardline ruling regime hit a boiling point over the weekend, as demonstrators took to the streets for the sixth consecutive day in the face of efforts by the regime to beat and arrest those seeking regime change in the Islamic Republic, according to multiple reports from the region.

Curfews have been imposed in parts of the country amid nightly demonstrations by Iranian dissidents who have been heard chanting, “death to the dictator” and “Mullahs should go away.”

At least one protester was shot and killed by Iranian security forces over the weekend, but that does not appear to have quelled opposition to the Iranian ruling regime, which was smacked Monday with the first portion of harsh new sanctions by the Trump administration following the president’s decision to abandon the landmark nuclear deal that provided Iran’s leaders with millions in cash windfalls.
Read more…

By Thomas Lifson, AMERICAN THINKER

Saudi Arabia, in the midst of historic reforms under the iron fist of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is sending a strong message to Canada and the other liberal democracies of the world: butt out. That is how I explain the strong reactions from the kingdom’s government to Canadian criticism of its human rights policies.

Canada’s government tweeted:

Canada is gravely concerned about additional arrests of civil society and women’s rights activists in #SaudiArabia, including Samar Badawi. We urge the Saudi authorities to immediately release them and all other peaceful #humanrights activists.

Saudi Arabia’s response was quick and vehement. The UK Guardian reports:
Read more…

A Hamas website article attempts to predict the future of the Palestinian Arabs after Abbas and warns of the growing possibility of the Emirate Plan coming to pass.

Dr. Mordechai Kedar, INN

The end of the Mahmoud Abbas period is fast approaching, giving rise to several weighty questions:

Netanyahu stand comes after committee suggests allowing multiple marriages in exceptional circumstances

By TOI STAFF 10 July 2018, 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed not to allow any polygamy in Israel, as a ministerial committee recommended allowing multiple wives in exceptional circumstances.

“I am not prepared to accept any polygamy in the State of Israel and this was my directive to the ministerial committee that is discussing the matter,” Netanyahu tweeted on Monday.

The committee, headed by Justice Minister Ayalet Shaked, was tasked with making recommendations for ending polygamy, which has been illegal in Israel since 1977 but is still widespread, particularly among the Bedouin population.
Read more…

By JNi.Media

The Ministerial Committee against Polygamy, headed by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Habayit Hayehudi), on Monday decided to “toughen enforcement in the fight against polygamy.” Shaked herself issued a statement saying, “Polygamy is a bad, immoral, and most offensive phenomenon to women everywhere and to children. Beyond that, there are elements in the Bedouin communities who have exploited Israel’s soft touch on polygamy and have brought in women from the Palestinian Authority and Jordan.”
Read more…

$38B aid package, negotiated in 2016, allows U.S. to increase its defense aid to Israel, increases weapons stockpiles Israel may use in a conflict with Hezbollah • Congress authorizes further funds for Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow defense systems.

By Erez Linn and Israel Hayom Staff

The U.S. Senate has passed the U.S.-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act of 2018, a bipartisan piece of legislation that authorizes U.S. security assistance to Israel for 10 years, regardless of which administration happens to be in power.

T. Belman. In my well read article dated April 1, 2017 titled The Ultimate Alternate Solution, I proposed just that.

“Consider for a moment, that if Jordan agrees to grant citizenship to all Palestinians, as their law currently provides, and invites the return of all of them to live and work in Jordan, the conflict would soon be ended.

“As part of this solution, all Palestinian refugees enrolled with UN Relief And Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East could be repatriated to Jordan and given citizenship. Thus UNRWA could be wound up and the current UNRWA funding could be transferred to Jordan to assist in the resettlement.

“Currently the US gives $370 million to UNRWA, $300 million to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and $1.3 Billion to Jordan annually. The EU also gives money to the PA and to Jordan. These monies could be redirected to Jordan to kick start this repatriation. Others, including Israel could contribute. In time, the US and EU subsidies could be phased out.”

Kushner raised the issue with Jordanian officials during a visit to Amman, Foreign Policy reports. Move appears to be part of broader effort to halt UNRWA, which Kushner allegedly called ‘corrupt and inefficient’

HAARETZ

Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, has reportedly pressured Jordan to strip the refugee status of more than two million registered Palestinians living in the country.

According to a report in the U.S. magazine Foreign Policy, Kushner raised the issue with Jordanian officials in the region during his visit there in June.

Read more…

By Vic Rosenthal

I didn’t intend to write about the Nation-State Law again. I thought that I had explained my position that the law is an expression of what it means to be a Jewishstate, and is essential to protect our Zionist heritage, which is being assaulted by the post-Zionist Israeli Left, by anti-nationalist (and anti-Jewish!) Europe, by politically “progressive” American Jewish groups, and – needless to add – by our Arab representatives in the Knesset.

I argued, as have numerous others (see here and here, for example), that there is an important distinction between individual civil and political rights, which are guaranteed to all Israeli citizens, and the national rights of the Jewish people. Those who think that ethnic nationalism and nation-states are outdated atavisms that should be removed from the world obviously don’t recognize the latter (although it’s interesting that their complaints seem to invariably target only Israel and not any of the dozens of other nation-states).
Read more…

Yet when European financial interests were threatened last year, German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized bipartisan congressional legislation that proposed increasing sanctions against Russia because it targeted the European- Russia Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in which German companies are invested.
Read more…

New Holocaust Exhibit Whitewashes History

BY DEBBIE MAIMON

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Muse­um, in Washington, D.C, recently opened a controversial new exhibit, “Americans and the Holocaust,” that claims President Franklin D. Roosevelt tried his best to aid Jews feeling Hitler but was thwarted by public and congressional opposition.

It’s a view that many historians are call­ing a whitewash of historical truth.

Washington Post called it an FDR “makeover,” as leading Holocaust scholars have established that FDR’s failure to aid Europe’s Jews sprang from a fundamental disinterest in helping them.
Read more…

‘I am the master of the land now,’ I told Ahmad Tibi. ‘But what about me?’ He said

By Nir Gontarz, HAARETZ

Hi, Nir.

Oh, hello to MK Dr. Ahmad Tibi. Thanks for getting back to me. How are you?

Fine, thank you.

Just a second, I’m in the middle of diapering the baby here. Can you wait on the line for a minute?

I’m waiting.
Read more…

T. Belman. He expresses my view exactly.

A look at the LGBT liberation movement shows that human rights are not the issue.

By Rafael Castro, INN

As a religious conservative living in a liberal city – Berlin – I was torn between loyalty to tradition and respect for individual freedoms on the issue of gay marriages. What eventually swayed me to support gay organizations in this field was the argument that alternative definitions for marriages are a human right.

I thus sided with the LGBT liberation movement with the hope that once such marriages were legal, the issue would be behind us and the energies exhausted in this fractious debate would be channeled to fight far more serious abuses of human rights in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

These expectations have been bitterly disappointed. To the best of my knowledge the LGBT lobby has done next to nothing in order to help gays and lesbians who are whipped and stoned in nations like Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Read more…

T. Belman. You will remember how Pres Obama and Erdogan were buddies and planned to used the MB to take down Assad.  Then there was an attempted coup that was short lived. I remember thinking at the time that something was phoney. To attempt a coup in the Middle East will get you killed if you don’t succeed. This coup was over in a day. Didn’t seem likely.

I am now told that the coup succeeded and Erdogan was locked up. Obama interceded and told the army in no uncertain terms that NATO would intervene if they didn’t reflease him. Thus the coup ended.  With Pres Trump the next coup could well succeed.

By Ishaan Tharoor, WaPo  August 3 

President Trump may have squabbled with Western European leaders on a trip to NATO headquarters last month and cast the European Union as a “foe,” but he displayed plenty of warmth for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. According to one account, Trump “fist-bumped” his Turkish counterpart when they met in Brussels, praising a leader known for his authoritarian style as someone who “does things the right way.”

But it seems that Trump and Erdogan are no longer on fist-bumping terms. On Wednesday, the White House announced it was preparing sanctions against Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu for their roles in the continued detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson, whom U.S. officials say was arrested in 2016 on fictitious charges.

Read more…

T. Belman. I am against any deal in Gaza. Hamas should be forced to capitulate. They should not learn the lesson that if they irritate us enough we will cut a deal with them.

Broad cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas could pave way for Gaza’s reconstruction, eventual prisoner swap, says senior Hamas official • Exiled Hamas deputy leader allowed to enter Gaza after talks in Cairo • Israeli cabinet to discuss Gaza policy.