Caroline Glick: Trump Meets a Weakened Vladimir Putin July 16  

By Caroline B Glick, BREITBART

Putin: US took 'hostile step' in publishing Russia list

When Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the green light to Russian aerial bombing of rebel-held positions in southwestern Syria two weeks ago, he knew he was asking for trouble.

And he appears to be getting plenty of it.

Putin knows that in approving the operation, he wasn’t simply enabling Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Syrian military forces to extend the regime’s control to an area that has been controlled by various rebel militia for seven years.

The Syrian military is an empty shell. Russia effectively serves as the Syrian Air Force. Iran and Iranian-controlled groups control Syria’s ground forces.
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July 5, 2018 | 1:12 pm | 1 Comment »

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Trump to Go After Mueller for 9/11-Saudi Cover-Up  

President about to drop the hammer on former FBI Director for burying Saudi involvement in attacks

(Infowars) – President Trump may be about to drop the hammer on Robert Mueller by exposing his role in helping to cover-up Saudi Arabia’s role in 9/11.

Mueller has been involved in the systematic cover-up of the true circumstances behind 9/11 since day one, which is why he has been a constant roadblock to victim’s families who are attempting to seek compensation from Saudi Arabia for their role in the attacks.

During an appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show last night, attorney for 9/11 victim’s families Jim Kreindler said that rush to war with Iraq meant that the Saudi connection to 9/11 needed to be buried and Mueller was instrumental in making this happen.
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July 5, 2018 | 9:20 am | 3 Comments »

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A new global metric of Muslim beliefs and practices  

Key insights from a revealing new report.

By William DiPuccio, FPM

Surveys conducted by Pew Research have revealed a great deal about Muslim beliefs and practices across the globe.  But they fall short of providing an overall picture of the Muslim world because they are divided by country or region.

The Muslim Global Demographic Project was established to answer this need by compiling Pew survey information in order to compute global percentages and global population statistics on Islamic beliefs and practices as they relate to security, terrorism, and the potential threat to Western culture.[1]
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July 5, 2018 | 6:49 am | Comments »

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Israel Victory Gains Strength  

T. Belman. I just returned from the Begin Center where the evening was devoted to Israel Victory lead by Daniel Pipes. This means victory before negotiations. The corollery is negotiations last. During the program there was a sentance put forward namely “Rethinking the path to peace.” This really bothered me. We should not be seeking peace. We should be seeking to extend our sovereignty over all the land west of the Jordan river with the least number of Arabs in it. That should be our goal.

Gideon Saar spoke. He was good. Martin Sherman and Motti Kedar were also present. Yossi Kuperwasser is very friendly to me due to the fact that he follows Israpundit. Tonight he commented that I was the leading voice in calling for a Trump victory. He was reading Israpundit throughout the campaign. We are going to get together to talk. I feel honoured.

by Daniel Pipes, Israel Hayom

http://www.danielpipes.org/18411/israel-victory-gains-strength

TEL AVIV – What do Israelis think of the idea of Israel winning and the Palestinians losing?

It’s a radical idea, very different from the 50-year-and-counting win-win assumption of “land for peace” that has transfixed governments and monopolized their attention. That old idea holds that putting Palestinians and Israelis in a room together will prompt them to settle their differences. On the cusp of the Oslo Accords’ 25thanniversary, we know precisely how well that worked out: Israelis gave real land, Palestinians rewarded them with false promises of peace.

According to a poll commissioned by the Middle East Forum and carried out by Rafi Smith of Smith Consulting, only 33 percent of Jewish Israelis (and about half that number among those who voted for the current government) still believe in land-for-peace and about the same small number still believe in Oslo. So, the old ways not only failed but are deeply unpopular. What takes their place?
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July 4, 2018 | 5:05 pm | 18 Comments »

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There is growing pressure on Iran to withdraw its forces from Syria.  

By Marwan Kabalan, AL JAZEERA

Iran is increasingly wary of Russia's policies in Syria, writes Kabalan [Reuters]Iran is increasingly wary of Russia’s policies in Syria, writes Kabalan [Reuters]

As Syria’s civil war draws to a close, Iran’s activity in the country is coming under increasing scrutiny. The US, Israel, and the Gulf states are all working towards making Iran’s military presence in Syria untenable and its withdrawal – a prerequisite for resolving the conflict.

The Trump administration is not as tolerant of Iran’s regional ambitions as its predecessor. The Pentagon has maintained US military presence in Syria after the defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISIL) and the Levant in order to stop Iran from establishing a land corridor from Iraq to Lebanon, through Syrian territories.
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July 4, 2018 | 4:55 pm | Comments »

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Can the Saudis Break Up With Wahhabism?  

By Nabil Mouline, NYT

Portraits of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, left, King Salman bin Abdulaziz and former Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef on the wall of a restaurant in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.Jordan Pix/Getty Images

The speed and magnitude of change in Saudi Arabia has accelerated considerably after the consecration of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. To legitimize his ascent, fulfill his absolutist ambitions and face various internal and external challenges, Prince Mohammed has presented and positioned himself as the champion of “modernization.”

Several of the crown prince’s statements and initiatives — calling for a moderate Islam, authorizing women to drive, reopening cinemas — have been interpreted as his desire to break the historic pact between the House of Saud and the Wahhabi religious establishment.
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July 4, 2018 | 4:27 pm | Comments »

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Israeli law cutting PA funds over terrorist stipends ‘a declaration of war,’ PA official says  

WHAT A JOKE

Israel’s move “crossed a red line” and will have “serious repercussions,” Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh says • PA’s response will “change the nature of the existing relations” between Israel and the Palestinians, he warns.

By Daniel Siryoti, Lilach Shoval and Ariel Kahana, ISRAEL HAYOM

The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday lambasted an Israeli law allowing the government to financially penalize Ramallah for paying stipends to terrorists imprisoned in Israel and their families, by deducting a similar amount from the monthly tax revenues that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinians under the 1993 Oslo Accords.

Lawmakers voted 87-15 in favor of the legislation that orders Israel to withhold part of the roughly $130 million in monthly tax revenues.

The stipends paid to terrorists total approximately $330 million, or roughly 7% of the Palestinian Authority’s annual budget.
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July 4, 2018 | 4:06 pm | 3 Comments »

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Pause in Syria’s Daraa Offensive amid Putin-Trump impasse on its goals. Putin seeks Israeli flexibility  

DEBKA

The Syrian Daraa offensive has by and large fallen silent and preparations to attack Quneitra are on hold. The outflow of refugees has slowed.

DEBKAfile’s military sources disclose that the Syrian army’s Tigers Force and 4th Division, which spearheaded the Daraa thrust to impose Bashar Assad’s rule on southwest Syria, have downed arms for the moment, along with Hizballah’s elite Radwan fighters. Also suspended are Syrian preparations to go next for the Quneitra region opposite Israel’s Golan border.

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July 4, 2018 | 3:54 pm | Comments »

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The Humble Beginnings of the Reconquest of Spain  

by Raymond Ibrahim, National Review 
June 23, 2018

https://www.meforum.org/articles/2018/the-‘mustard-seed’-that-liberated-spain-from-islam

[The following- originally published under the headline “The ‘Mustard Seed’ That Liberated Spanish Christians From Islamic Rule”- is excerpted and adapted from Raymond Ibrahim’s book Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War Between Islam and The West].

Toledo_Skyline_Panorama,_Spain_-_Dec_2006.jpg

Toledo, the ancient Visigothic capital that came under Muslim rule for nearly 400 years.

Exactly 1,300 years ago, in the year 718, a little-remembered kingdom was born in Spain. It soon led to the liberation of the Iberian Peninsula from Islamic occupation. To appreciate the significance of that development, we must travel back seven years earlier, to 711, when Arabs and Africans, both under the banner of Islam, “godlessly invaded Spain to destroy it,” to quote from the Chronicle of 754. Once on European soil, they “ruined beautiful cities, burning them with fire; condemned lords and powerful men to the cross; and butchered youths and infants with the sword.”
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July 3, 2018 | 5:08 pm | 2 Comments »

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‘The Game Is Over:’ Behind the Ongoing Anti-Regime Protests in Iran  

by Kaveh Taheri,  ALGEMEINER

ANALYSIS

Iranian riot police confront protesters in Tehran. Photo: amadnews.org.

Protests against the ruling regime in Iran have now continued into July, with fresh demonstrations in the south and southwest of the country reported on Sunday night and Monday morning.

In fact, Iran has witnessed strikes and protests on a daily basis since December 2017. The first one took place in Mashhad, Iran’s second largest city by population, and the most religious. It is a city where Ayatollah Sayyid Ahmad Alamolhoda, “Supreme Leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s representative, and Ebrahim Raisi, President Hassan Rouhani’s rival in the last election, hold indisputable power.

Now thousands of Iranian citizens have once again held mass protests in the Grand Bazaar of Tehran and in other big cities such as Tabriz, Shiraz and Kermanshah.
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July 3, 2018 | 12:12 pm | 1 Comment »

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Is Riyadh really pushing for control of Jerusalem holy sites?  

By Rasha Abou Jalal, AL MONITOR

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Saudi Arabia is currently investing a great deal of behind-the-scenes effort into taking away from Jordan its guardianship of the holy sites of Jerusalem, a senior official in the Palestinian Authority (PA) told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. The pressure seems linked to the Saudis’ friendly relations with the United States, and with President Donald Trump’s desire to win Arab support for his Middle East peace plan, which Jordan has not backed.

This revelation aligns with a June 22 report from Israeli newspaper Haaretz that the Jordanian monarchy is worried about Saudi Arabia’s intent to deprive Jordan of its guardianship. Several peace agreements signed with Israel, such as the Jordan-Israel peace treaty of 1994, guaranteed Jordan’s guardianship. In March 2013, PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordanian King Abdullah II signed the Convention on the Defense of Jerusalem and the Holy Sites with the aim of entrenching Jordanian guardianship over these sites.
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July 3, 2018 | 11:35 am | 1 Comment »

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Middle East and sad prospects of its development  

by Viktor Mikhin, NEW EASTERN OUTLOOK

AS TV channel Al Arabiya has reported, Jordan withdrew its ambassador Abdullah Suleyman Abu Rumman from Iran. Amman presented a very interesting interpretation to justify its actions. This decision was adopted by the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom in relation Tehran’s policy of interference into affairs of the countries of the Middle East. It is especially noted that Amman seeks for regional security, in particular, in Saudi Arabia and countries of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf. However, it is a well-known fact that Jordan isn’t a member of the GCC and its interest in Gulf matters, especially security, raises a number of questions.

Nevertheless, it is quite simple and caused, first of all, by a difficult economic situation of the country and indefinite promises of Riyadh to invest the necessary amounts for improvement of the situation of Jordanians. As you might know, only recently King Abdullah has been forced to appoint a new Prime Minister to somehow bring down a tide of discontent in the Kingdom, though he has not been planning this step. Riyadh promised to allocate 2.5 billion dollars in Jordan and King Salman presented this so as if the help was actually provided. However, Saudi money is not in the Jordanian treasury as of yet.
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July 3, 2018 | 11:27 am | Comments »

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Analysis Syria’s Assad Has Become Israel’s ‘Ally’  

Israel wants Assad to remain in power. Both Israel and Assad depend on Russia, and when Israel threatens Assad over Iran, it should know it’s threatening Russia, too

By Zvi Bar’el, HAARETZ

Syrian President Bashar Assad, left, greeting Syrians following the prayers of the first day of Eid al-Fitr, in Tartous, Syria, June 15, 2018.

Syrian President Bashar Assad, left, greeting Syrians following the prayers of the first day of Eid al-Fitr, in Tartous, Syria, June 15, 2018. Sana/AP

Early in 2012, the year after the outbreak of the civil war in Syria, the Foreign Ministry drafted recommendations on Israel’s position regarding Syrian President Bashar Assad. As Haaretz reported at the time, the ministry said Israel should denounce the slaughter in Syria and call for Assad’s ouster. It argued that Israel shouldn’t be the only Western country not to condemn Assad, since that would feed conspiracy theories that Israel preferred the mass murderer to remain in power.

The Israeli foreign minister at the time, Avigdor Lieberman, accepted this recommendation, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposed it. Netanyahu denounced the slaughter and the Syrian army and charged that “various leaders have no moral qualms about killing their neighbors and their own people as well.” But he never mentioned Assad as the person responsible or demanded his ouster. Israel’s UN ambassador during that period, Ron Prosor, said Assad has “no moral right to lead his people,” but that was it.
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July 3, 2018 | 10:01 am | 2 Comments »

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South Koreans revolt against arrival of Muslim refugees  

Over half a million sign petition saying they don’t want to be like the UK or Germany

By Paul Joseph Watson, INFOWARS 

South Koreans Revolt Against Arrival of Muslim Refugees

South Koreans are revolting against the arrival of Muslim refugees, with over half a million signing a petition asserting that Muslim migrants don’t integrate and that they don’t want their country to end up like the UK or Germany.

The controversy began when an influx of nearly 1,000 asylum seekers from Yemen arrived on the South Korean resort island of Jeju. They took advantage of a new visa waiver program that allowed people from 186 countries to visit the island without a tourist visa.

This led to 950 foreign nationals, the majority from Yemen, arriving as tourists under a one month permit but then immediately claiming asylum, a process that can take years while they remain in the country.

“And local people here are worried,” said Hank Kim, owner of the Core Travel Agency. “We have all read about the problems that immigrants have caused in Europe — in Germany and France in particular — and we do not want that to happen here.”

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July 3, 2018 | 7:40 am | 2 Comments »

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INTO THE FRAY: Instability in Jordan: The impact on Trump’s “Ultimate Deal”  

By Martin Sherman, IISS

“Jordan sees largest anti-government protests in years” “Al  Jazeera ”, June 4,2018.

“Jordanians take to the streets to protest austerity measures” CNN, June 4, 2018

“Jordan: thousands protest against IMF-backed austerity measures”,  -“The Guardian , June 3, 2018

These are  merely a small sample of the international media coverage of the  wide spread unrest and protests against new IMF mandated austerity measures, that rocked the kingdom of Jordan  last month. They raised troubling questions as to the long term durability of the country’s incumbent monarchical regime and of the ruling Hashemite dynasty.
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July 2, 2018 | 7:08 pm | 12 Comments »

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Is Israel’s justice minister determined to undermine the judicial system?  

By Yossi Beilin, AL MONITOR

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked’s proposal to let Israeli ministries select their own legal advisers reflects an alarmingly undemocratic political trendIsraeli Justice minister Ayelet Shaked delivers a speech during the swearing-in ceremony for the incoming Israeli president of the Supreme Court, Esther Hayut, at the Israeli presidential residence, Jerusalem, Oct. 26, 2017.

The Knesset’s Justice Committee hasn’t had a meeting like Monday’s in a very long time. On June 25, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked of HaBayit HaYehudi submitted legislation that would allow each minister to select the legal adviser for his ministry. She faced opposition from three senior figures — the current and two former attorney generals. In the administrative hierarchy of government, the current attorney general serves under the minister.

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July 2, 2018 | 6:53 pm | 7 Comments »

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Trump is Winning Over Blacks, Hispanics, Millennials, and Even Gays  

By Karin McQuinlan, AMERICAN THINKER

Democrat hate speech targeting deplorables has always worked — on their own voters.  Libeling Republicans as racist, homophobic morons has kept Democrat voters in line.  President Trump laughs at their insults, and just gets stronger.  Suddenly, one more Trump success.  The Democrat line is breaking.  Our minorities are breaking free.

President Trump’s off the charts achievements on jobs and security are improving the lives of every single Democrat identity voting bloc.  A small, but increasingly significant number are noticing.  With his MAGA gains on the economy and foreign affairs, President Trump is slowly chipping away at the Democrat Party’s foundations.  The white working class already belongs to Trump.  Fed up blacks, Hispanics, millennials and gays are starting to follow.
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July 2, 2018 | 5:04 pm | 2 Comments »

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‘Soros Law’ targets donors to anti-Israel organizations  

MK Zohar: ‘The time has come to dry up leftist NGOs which work against the government, slander Israel, and hurt its right to defend itself.’

By Tal Polan, INN

George Soros

George Soros

MK Mickey Zohar (Likud) intends in the coming days to submit a bill seeking to curb the anti-Israel activity of radical leftist Israeli NGOs by placing restrictions on would-be sources of funding.

According to the bill, dubbed the “Soros Law” after billionaire George Soros, anyone who contributes to organizations acting against Israel is to be barred from contributing to any Israeli NGO.

“The time has come to dry up leftist organizations which work subversively against the government, slander Israel, and try and hurt its right to defend itself,” Zohar said Monday.

“We must block their sources of funding and thus prevent them from hurting the State.”
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July 2, 2018 | 3:54 pm | 1 Comment »

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U.S. Withdrawals Carry Financial Costs for UN Agencies  

FDD Policy Brief

By David May

The recent U.S. withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) will not only damage the body’s legitimacy, it could also harm its finances. As Congress prepares to slash its budget, the UNHRC is likely to join the ranks of UNESCO and UNRWA, which allowed anti-Israel forces to undermine their stated missions.

In 2017, the UN allocated $21.9 million of its main budget – known as its “regular budget” – to the Human Rights Council. The U.S. provides 22 percent of the regular budget, so it effectively provides the UNHRC about $5 million. The U.S. cannot force the UN to reduce the UNHRC budget by that amount, but the UN would have to cut elsewhere if it wants to preserve the council’s funding.
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July 2, 2018 | 2:51 pm | 1 Comment »

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Kuwait best get with the program – or be prepared to face Trump’s wrath  

By Jonathan Schanzer and Varsha Koduvayur, NY POST

Amir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and Donald Trump.

There’s a new hitch in President Trump’s plan to form a united front among Gulf states and Israel against Iran.

Kuwait’s ambassador to the United Nations this month lambasted Israel, charging the Jewish state with “deploying a vast and well-developed arsenal of weaponry against an unarmed people.” A Kuwaiti cleric, just weeks later, denied the Holocaust and the existence of gas chambers, claiming the scale was impossible: “How many ovens would you need to burn 6 million human beings?”

Of course, this is a notable exception to the pattern of Gulf Arab states lately increasing their outreach to Israel. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman tacitly acknowledged Israel’s right to exist in April. The UAE and Bahrain sent national teams to compete in the first leg of a major cycling race this spring in Israel. In June, an Israeli delegation visited Bahrain, and in May, Bahrain’s foreign minister tweeted about Israel’s right to defend itself.
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July 2, 2018 | 2:45 pm | Comments »

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