Arlene Kushner | May 20, 2025
Gil Nechushtan
There are a great many stories about Israelis who have demonstrated a core of inner strength, a resilience, an embrace of life that is extraordinary. Here we will consider two of them.
PM says if Hamas surrenders, leaves Gaza, and releases all hostages, war will end
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a press conference Wednesday evening with Hebrew media, his first in almost six months, addressing several topics.
Linda Goudsmit: History is repeating itself in President Trump’s latest trade deal folly with Islamic countries in the middle east. Long-term/short-term thinking is the ideological black hole of trade deals with Islamic countries in 2025, just as it was when Nixon/Kissinger opened trade with Communist China in 1971. Islamism and Communism are both binary, expansionist, socio-political, totalitarian ideologies of rulers and ruled. Whether religious or secular, they are both doctrinal variations on the supremacist theme of absolute totalitarian control. Like Communism, Islam has a long-term strategy and never ever varies from its ultimate goal of totalitarian control. Islam tells the world that there will be peace on Earth when all the world is Muslim. Communism tells the world that it is Communism’s destiny to rule the world.
The problem with President Trump making trade deals with Muslim countries, is the same problem Nixon/Kissinger had making trade deals with China. President Trump is thinking short term. His trade deals enrich the American side in the short term, and empower the Communist/Islamic side in the long term. China tried to collapse the United States with the wealth it amassed being America’s trading partner for 50 years––and the Muslim countries will do the same in the long run. Why? Because “Death to America!” is DOCTRINAL! President Trump is making the same mistake today that Nixon/Kissinger made 50 years ago. The difference today is that American technology will be used against us, not just the wealth that Muslim countries will amass by expanding their influence beyond oil.
By Ted Belman (written in 2019)
Not all refugees are the same.
The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), created in 1951, is dedicated to the resettlement of all refugees except the Palestinian refugees, who fall within the purview of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
According to UNHCR, a refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her home because of persecution, war or violence and who crosses an international border.
UNRWA, on the other hand, defines a Palestinian refugee as “persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict, and their descendants.”
Read more…
Peloni: Mark Levin explains that the terror advocates walking the streets of America are not expressing free speech, but that they are carrying out an attack on the American people. Seeing weakness in the US, Mark notes that terror networks in the US are targeting America and American civilization. This is not about free speech but about the survival of the American Republic, and about the survival of Western civilization. Jews have been seen to be unsafe in capitals across Europe and now this tragedy has been extended to the American capital as well. He exclaims that it is time for action. The onslaught against the US is being funded by Qatar and other countries, and the anti-American efforts are being aided by a complicit court system which is hamstringing the Administration’s efforts. Explaining that these enemies are marching thru the streets of America unlike any group of Nazis have done in the past, unlike any Klansmand have in the past, calling for the destruction of America and the death of Jews with a sense of complete impunity. Mark calls for the sealing of the border as Trump is doing, ending all investment and spending coming into the US from these terror states, unleashing the Israelis to utterly defeat Hamas,
By Walter E. Block and Oded J. K. Faran
You’ve seen the headlines about Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis (HHH), but let us be clear: in the grand strategic picture, they are mere distractions—tactical irritants at best. Iran, by contrast, is a systemic threat. A nuclear-armed Iran would be a paradigm shift, not just for Israel but for the entire global order.
Let’s not mince words. HHH will never have the bomb. They lack resources, infrastructure, and the scientific base. Iran, however, is already deep into this process. Under current conditions, will Iran reach a nuclear weapons capability in one year? Perhaps. In three years? Likely. In five? Almost inevitable.
?? French President Emmanuel #Macron chaired a security meeting Wednesday after a report warned of the #Muslim Brotherhood and the spread of “political #Islamism” in ?? France.
? What might a “measured response” from the government look like?
?? FRANCE 24’s @MPerelman has more pic.twitter.com/IvjiASyuXb
— FRANCE 24 English (@France24_en) May 21, 2025
ALERT AMERICA: The Muslim Brotherhood Conquered France. Why Are We Letting Them Conquer Us? A bombshell French intelligence report just confirmed it: The Muslim Brotherhood has built a secret Islamic state inside France – and it’s building the same one across America, right now. Our leaders know it – and they do nothing. Facts From Report:
Peloni: This is very good news. The development of IMEC will only be possible in a future version of the Middle East, if that future pursues a path of stability and collaboration, something which requires a very great change in the relationships between Israel and its neighbors which exists today.
KNN | May 21, 2025
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi addressing the press meet with the Prime Minister of Israel, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, in Jerusalem, Israel on July 05, 2017. (Photo by Prime Minister’s Office (GODL-India), GODL-India)
In a major move to strengthen India-Israel relations and contribute to global policy discourse, CUTS International and Israel’s SIGNAL Group have signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
By Ted Belman June 17/22
When the United Nations passed the Partition Plan in 1947, there were 630,000 Jews and 1,324,000 Arabs living in Palestine according to the Jewish Virtual Library. It should be asked, why weren’t the Jews in the majority after the 25 year mandate which was required, according to Eugene Rostow, “to facilitate Jewish immigration and “close settlement” in Palestine”.
Prior to the Balfour Declaration in 1917, there was a wave of Jewish emigration, between 1881 and 1903. Jews who migrated in this wave came mostly from Eastern Europe and from Yemen. An estimated 25,000 to 35,000 Jews emigrated. Only half remained. But they attracted many Arabs to the Palestine area of Ottoman Syria for economic reasons.
Eli Cohen (in the middle) with his friends from the Syrian army at the Golan Heights overlooking Israel. Civilians were not allowed to the Golan Heights since it had been heavily guarded military area. Cohen was case apart. (Photo by Syrian military personnel – jspace.com, Public Domain)
In the aftermath of President Trump’s meeting with Syria’s President Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, as of this writing, there are rumors of the imminent return of Israeli hero Eli Cohen’s remains — close to the day of his execution 60 years ago.
Janet Levy: Buried in Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill,” is a secret clause favored by House REPUBLICANS that will prohibit individual states from regulating AI.
This is the clause: “No state or political subdivision may enforce any law or regulation regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems during the 10-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act.”
This is a direct violation of the 10th Amendment and represents a federal power grab that will fully empower billionaire technocrats to employ AI as they see fit, to our great detriment.
Recall the signing of Stargate on Day Two. That was a “clue” that many ignored.
Leo Hohmann | May 21, 2025
Artificial intelligence is going to cause more upheaval in society over the next few years than perhaps any other technology the world has ever seen.
But if President Trump’s Big Beautiful Budget Bill gets passed in the version preferred by a group of House Republicans, the federal takeover of this technology will be complete, opening up a free-for-all for Big Tech to weaponize it against everyday Americans.
Peloni: The use of the anti-terrorism laws now being bandied about in the wake of this tragedy needed to have been deployed previously, for lesser crimes than the murder of these two inocents. While deportations of foreigners are being fought in the courts at present, where are the charges for the open support of the terrorist organizations which are routine across US campuses? Laws exist to act as a deterrent to such needless crimes as this, but if the relative laws are not enforced by the relevant authorities, they will have no deterrent effect at all.
The couple were planning to get engaged in Jerusalem next week
Yaron Lischinsky with his soon-to-be fiancée Sarah Milgrim (Israeli Embassy in Washington)
Two staff members of the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC, were shot and killed at close range Wednesday night while attending an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) at the Capital Jewish Museum.
If France, Britain and Canada think that Israel’s actions are “egregious” what does that mean and what does it tell us about the countries where Jews have decided to live for many years?
A statement, which was endorsed by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, slammed Israel’s renewed military offensive and warned that the countries would work to sanction Israel if it does not end the war.
“We will not stand by while the Netanyahu Government pursues these egregious actions,” the three leaders said.
“If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response.”
Peloni: This was Ted’s introductory comment to his Second Symposium, Jordan: Past, Present & Future
JORDAN: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE: The Jordan Option Revisited
By Ted Belman (First published July 11, 2022)
Click for Audio
by Gerald A. Honigman
Reports have surfaced that “someone” in or connected to the Trump Whitehouse has labelled Israel’s necessary attempt to finally finish the job of hunting down the butchers of its innocents in Gaza and elsewhere a “pointless war.”
At the same time, while Israel was deliberately left out of the President ‘s “deal” with the Houthis to end their attacks on America and others, Israel was getting blasted by Houthi ballistic missiles—one hitting Ben Gurion Airport, resulting in numerous airlines ending flights to Israel, and all the extra economic damage that will cause besides the cost of fighting multiple proxies of Iran and having to deal with an increasingly hostile Egypt as well. The latter just completed major war games with the Communist Chinese, and have moved large numbers of tanks into the no go area in the Sinai Peninsula according to the arrangement made when Israel voluntarily withdrew for the sake of peace after being viciously attacked by Egypt and Syria on Yom Kippur in 1973…
Norman Berdichevsky
Yuval Raphael, representing Israel, performing at Eurovision 2025 (Photo by Quejaytee – Own work, CC BY 4.0)
The remarkable achievement of the Eurovision public vote awarding second place to the Israeli entry New Day Will Rise, performed by Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the atrocities committed by Hammas demolishes the widely held but erroneous view that Israelis have suffered a fatal loss of confidence and a dramatic loss of heart among their European supporters.
Peloni: The regime in Tehran is completely antithetical to Western ideology, and has a mutually exclusive focus upon the conquest of the West. Negotiating with one’s own executioner is what faces the West in its near obsession with pretending that negotiations might possibly lead to anything other than its own demise.
Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger | “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative” | May 21, 2025
The China-Iran-Russia Axis
*The 2025 Threat Assessments issued by the US Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the Director of National Intelligence state: “China, Russia and Iran will remain the most pressing foreign threats to our critical infrastructure…. We expect [non-nuclear] Iran to remain the primary sponsor of terrorism and continue its efforts to advance plots against individuals – including current and former US officials – in the United States…. China, Iran, and Russia will use a blend of subversive, criminal, and coercive tactics to undermine confidence in US democratic institutions….”
Peloni: Jennifer offers important insights into Trump’s Iran policy, which, as she notes, offers a more optimistic perspective.
Trump plays his own game.
J.E. Dyer, a retired Naval Intelligence officer, blogs as The Optimistic Conservative, May 18, 2025
An update is due on Trump’s pathbreaking movements in divers places over the past couple of weeks. As noted in the previous article on Trump and Qatar, the “Trump and Qatar” dynamic is coming in for heavy criticism. It isn’t my project to talk through what others are very competently treating from the complaints side, so I’ll confine this discussion, which I hope to keep abbreviated, to laying out more optimistic considerations.
