By Caroline Glick, BTEITBART

Jewish Democrats have long taken pride in the high number of American Jews serving as Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives and Senate.

Given that the Jewish community in the United States constitutes less than two percent of the general population, the fact that nearly two dozen American Jews serve in the House and Senate is a legitimate source of pride, regardless of party.

For the past fifity years, Democratic Jewish lawmakers like Representatives Tom Lantos, Howard Berman, Steven Solarz, Shelley Berkley, Jane Harman, Nita Lowy and Elliot Engel; and Senators like Joe Lieberman and Frank Lautenberg; played key roles in forging and maintaining their party’s strong support for Israel and the U.S.-Israel alliance.
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T. Belman. Currently, it is an embarassment for Israel that they haven’t been able to stop the attacks but at least no Jews have been killed so far. If Israel decided to fully invade and retake Gaza, many IDF soldiers would die and continue to die as the new occupation continued. It doesn’t seem worth it. We would be trading a bad situation for a worse one. Perhaps its time to start assassinating the leaders of Hamas whether they be in Gaza or elsewhere.

Both Israel and Hamas wanted quiet, they simply couldn’t agree on the terms for such a cessation of hostilities, settling instead of a series of minimal understandings.

BY TOVAH LAZAROFF, JPOST

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman sounds strong when he talks about a Gaza “military operation” and dealing Hamas “the harshest of blows.”

His words stoke the fantasy that Hamas violence, such as rockets and incendiary devices, would disappear if only the IDF would unleash its full military powers.

The Palestinian launch of two powerful rockets Wednesday morning – one that hit a home in the southern city of Beersheba and one that landed near the coast in the center of the country – almost seemed to be a way of egging Liberman on.
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T. Belman. The idea is to build a power plan and a desalination plant near Al Arish which is about 25 miles from Gaza. These facilities would be build by Sinai Bedouin and Gazans and would benefit Gaza. Hamas would benefit by finding a way to tax the earnings of the Gazans. There is no plan to allow Gazans to emigrate. I am for emigration not rebuilding.

Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Dr. Shimon Shapira and Shlomi Fogel, JCPA

The withdrawal of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas from the peace process, his actions against the Hamas leadership, the worsening of the economic situation in Gaza to the point of a humanitarian crisis, the escalation of military confrontation at the Gaza border, and the possibility of a descent into war have created a new crisis situation in Gaza. A new response is required that is different from what already exists. It should be based upon a new paradigm that is primarily supported by an element external to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but which has a direct and decisive influence upon it.
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T. Belman. Trump and Kushner have too much invested in MBS to let him go down.  So does Israel. The Deal of the Century depends on him.  Khashoggi was against any form of rapprochment and knew secrets that could undermine MBS. He was too dangerous to have around.

Khashoggi was opponent of Israeli-Saudi ties, said J’lem won’t protect region from Iran

By Seth Frantzman, JPOST

The missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was an outspoken opponent of rumors that Saudi Arabia was considering increased ties with Israel. His disappearance while visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul may now result in a reduction of Washington’s support for Riyadh and have repercussions that affect Jerusalem.
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The grisly hit-job on Khashoggi has implications far beyond its exposure of the Saudi Crown Prince as brutal and reckless. In Jerusalem and D.C., they’re mourning their whole strategic concept for the Mideast – not least, for countering Iran

By Daniel Shapiro, HAARETZ

The shocking brutality of Jamal Khashoggi’s abduction and murder by Saudi security forces cannot be papered over, no matter how implausibly it is dressed up as an interrogation gone wrong or the work of rogue actors.

But its implications go deeper than the tragedy visited upon Khashoggi’s family and fiancee. It raises fundamental questions for the United States and Israel about their whole strategic concept in the Middle East.
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Military doesn’t say which terror group launched rockets that hit Beersheba home, landed off central Israeli coast, but lays responsibility on Strip’s rulers

By JUDAH ARI GROSS, TOI

The Israeli military bombed 20 “military facilities” in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning, the army said, in response to a predawn rocket attack that struck a home in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, causing damage but no injury.

A second rocket fired from Gaza landed off the coast of the greater Tel Aviv area, known in Israel as Gush Dan, which consists of the metropolis itself along with a number of large suburbs.
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T. Belman. The divide betweem American Jews and Israelis is too large to bridge. They support the two state solution, most Israelis don’t. They support the Iran deal, Israelis don’t. They support Muslim immigration, Israelis don’t. They reject Trump. Israelis love him.

Seventy-four percent of respondents plan to vote for Democrats for Congress in Nov.

Washington, DC – A new poll finds that 75 percent of American Jews disapprove of President Donald Trump, and that 74 percent plan on voting for Democratic candidates for Congress this fall. The survey was conducted by the Mellman Group on behalf of the Jewish Electoral Institute (JEI). The poll of 800 American Jewish voters confirms that American Jews remain firmly within the Democratic fold.

JEI is a non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization focused on deepening public’s understanding of the American Jewish electorate. This new organization is providing the public with information regarding the American Jewish electorate and leading a national, non-partisan Get Out The Jewish Vote effort.
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Defense minister says daily riots along security fence cannot continue, believes large military campaign could bring 4-5 years of calm

By JUDAH ARI GROSS, TOI

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman on Tuesday called on his fellow ministers to approve a large-scale military campaign against the Hamas terror group in Gaza in light of ongoing riots and violence along the Strip’s security fence.

“I’ve held a series of meetings with the head of the Southern Command, the head of the [Gaza] Division, the brigade commanders, the battalion commanders, also with soldiers. My impression is that they all have reached the understanding that the situation as it is today cannot continue,” Liberman said.

According to the defense minister’s assessment, a “serious blow” to Hamas would result in four to five years of calm along the Gaza border — akin to the quiet that persisted from the end of the 2014 Gaza war, known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge, until the start of the current round of clashes in late March, a few limited skirmishes notwithstanding.
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Jason Greenblatt stresses US is involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ‘to help all Palestinians, in both the West Bank and Gaza,’ and slams ‘disinformation being spread by some parties who have not even seen the plan yet wish to be spoilers.’

By Attila Somfalvi, YNET

The White House’s peace plan entails intentions to unify the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Jason Greenblatt, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, told Ynet on Tuesday.

Palestinian media outlets claim that a key element of the yet-unreleased US peace plan is separating the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip from the Fatah-ruled Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
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Khashoggi’s murder must be condemned. But Saudi Arabia still serves U.S. interests.

Walter Russell Mead, WSJ

The murder (if that’s what it was) of Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, was a horror in itself, and a greater horror still in what it threatens to unleash. The Muslim Brotherhood, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the ayatollahs of Iran are huddled over the corpse, hoping to turn a political profit from the death of an innocent man.

Mr. Khashoggi was a thorn in the flesh of the hyperactive crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad Bin Salman, a man who faces a concatenation of problems the likes of which the House of Saud has rarely seen. Iran, hostile, arrogant and ambitious, has ruthlessly carved a “Shia crescent” from Baghdad through Damascus to Beirut. A gusher of American oil and natural gas has diminished OPEC. Turkey, sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood and harboring dreams of restoring its old Ottoman glory, seeks to displace Saudi Arabia as the voice of the Sunni world. Russia has reasserted itself in the region. And inside Saudi Arabia, a growing population with high expectations demands more opportunity and better governance from a traditional monarchy largely unprepared for the 21st century.
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Transportation and Intelligence Minister Israel Katz is advancing a plan to connect Jordan and Saudi Arabia to Israeli ports.

By Etan Halon, JPOST

Demonstrators at the march hoisted symbols in support of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

By Benjamin Weinthal, JPOST

 Anti-Trump protesters march in Berlin against the US President’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, December 15, 2017.. (photo credit: REUTERS)

A massive march, with an estimated turnout of over 200,000 people held in the heart of Germany’s capital city on Saturday to protest right-wing extremism, featured speakers who urged the obliteration of the Jewish state and support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.

The Jerusalem Post reviewed a video showing two speakers who called for the “liberation of all of Palestine 48” and “we must take a stand and boycott Israel. BDS.” The slogan to “liberate all of Palestine” reverts to the founding of the Jewish state in 1948 and is widely considered a euphemism to cleanse Israel of Jews.

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By Robert Spencer, FPM

The Supreme Sharia Judge of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, admitted it last Wednesday: the Palestinian war against Israel is a jihad that will never be solved by negotiations.

According to Palestinian Media Watch, Al-Habbash, a close advisor to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, declared: “Jerusalem is the arena of conflict between us and the colonialist project [Israel]… Jerusalem’s [Al-Aqsa] Mosque apparently is the heading for the eruption of the conflict and The Battle of History between Islam and the enemies of Islam; between the Muslims and the enemies of Muslims; between the Islamic culture in all its splendor and human glory and the culture of Satan attempting to establish oppression and aggression at the expense of the culture of truth and goodness… This mosque is decreed to be the arena of the battle between good and evil. This mosque and this wonderful city – the city of history, religion, and culture, Jerusalem – are decreed to be the heading of the conflict… Jerusalem is the heading of this battle, this conflict, and this round, which I and many others see as the key, as the first step, as the spark of the battle of the ‘final promise.’”
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