Despite everything that has changed, today’s internal Jewish divisions eerily echo those from exactly a century ago.

By Rick Richman, MOSAIC

One-hundred years ago, Rosh Hashanah came early, just as this year. On the eve of the holy day—September 5, 1918—the New York Times published the text of a letter from President Woodrow Wilson to Stephen S. Wise, a prominent Reform rabbi who also served as vice-president of the Zionist Organization of America. In the letter, the president effectively announced his approval of the November 1917 Balfour Declaration, in which the British government had expressed its history-changing commitment to “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”
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By Conrad Black, NATIONAL REVIEW

He ran for office against both parties and the status quo and carries the fight into the midterms.

The unusually eventful summer has reinforced the stark division between the supporters and enemies of the administration. And in this case, there is no point engaging in the traditional sportsmanlike nomenclature of describing the opposition as “adversaries.” They are enemies and the president would not wish it any other way. He ran for office against both parties, the lobbyists, almost all the national political media, and the politically active elements of Wall Street, Hollywood, and Silicon Valley.

Keeping this in mind, it was disappointing but not surprising that the protracted obsequies of Senator John McCain became a shadow lamentation of the absence in the current president of the qualities that most of the official mourners posthumously discovered in Senator McCain. His patriotism and courage are not at issue; his flawless selflessness and judgment are less clear. It was a shameful thing to exploit a state funeral in this way, but illustrative of the fight to the political death between the all-party, multi-vocational, entrenched political establishment and the ferocious Trump movement.
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T. Belman. The opening paragraph misinforms. The Democracy Institute itself said “Half of the Jewish Israeli public thinks that Palestinians deserve an independent state, while (43%) think they do not.” I am astounded by that percentage because I thought it would be much lower. I would suspend belief until I read how the question was put.

In the monthly Peace Index of the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University, support for a Palestinian state increases with age.

jns

The Israeli flag. Credit: Wikimedia Commons via Dr. Zachi Evenor.

(September 5, 2018 / JNS) As the Jewish New Year 5779 approaches, half of the Jewish Israeli public supports an independent Palestinian state, while 43 percent do not.

In the monthly Peace Index of the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University, published on Wednesday, support for a Palestinian state increased with age: Some 35 percent of those aged 18-34 were in favor, as were 54 percent of those aged 35-54 and 61 percent among the oldest age group.
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by Daniel Pipes, Middle East Quarterly, Fall 2018

http://www.danielpipes.org/18500/why-israelis-shy-from-victory

One day, imagine, a U.S. president tells an Israeli prime minister: “Palestinian extremism damages American security. We need you to end it by achieving victory over the Palestinians. Do what it takes within legal, moral, and practical boundaries.” The president continues: “Impose your will on them, induce a sense of defeat so they give up their 70-year-old dream of eliminating Israel. Win your war.”

American presidents have been meeting Israeli prime ministers for a long time: it began with Harry Truman and David Ben Gurion (with Abba Eban in the background) on May 8, 1951.

How might the prime minister respond? Would he seize the moment and punish the incitement and violence sponsored by the Palestinian Authority (PA)? Would he inform Hamas that every aggression would temporarily stop all shipments of water, food, medicine, and electricity?
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DEBKA

IDF air strikes, Iranian expansion in Syria, Qassem Soleimani, US-Israel cooperation in Syria

START AT 3:20 AND THEN WATCH THE SPARKS FLY AS OWENS BUILDS UP A HEAD OF STEAM

Cairo is said to be “greatly disappointed” in Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas over his efforts to torpedo indirect negotiations between Israel, Hamas • Gaza’s rulers: Abbas is also responsible for deadlocked internal reconciliation talks.

Egypt’s efforts to broker a long-term cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip have come to a grinding halt, Arab media reported Tuesday.

Cairo has been trying to mediate a truce between Israel and the terrorist group that controls the coastal enclave for the past several weeks, in an effort to prevent the recent flare-up in hostilities – the worst in four years – from escalating into a full-fledged war.

Israel and Hamas have fought three wars over the past decade, in 2008, 2012 and 2014.

Egyptian intelligence officials were able to broker a truce between the parties some two weeks ago, after a round of violence that saw Hamas terrorists fire nearly 200 rockets at Israel’s south and the Israeli military pound Hamas assets in Gaza in response.
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T. Belman. The PA still think they are calling the shots. In reality, the train has left the station and it is not on it.

Arab media reports Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas plans to use his speech at the General Assembly to declare the end of the 25-year-old Oslo process • This will effectively disband the PA • PLO official: Move has yet to be finalized.

By Yoni Hersch, Associated Press and Israel Hayom Staff

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas speaks at the U.N. General Assembly in 2017 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas plans to use his speech at the upcoming U.N. General Assembly to declare a “Palestinian state under occupation,” the London-based Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported Wednesday.

A senior official with the Palestine Liberation Organization said Abbas has briefed PLO officials of his intention to declare statehood at the world leader’s forum during his speech, scheduled for Sept. 27.

The official noted that Abbas’ declaration means to stress that statehood process launched with the 1993 Oslo Accords has effectively ended and that it was time to shelve the concept of the “Palestinian Authority” in favor of the “state of Palestine.”
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Lessons from the collapse of the Soviet Union are useful not only to show us how to proceed, but also how not to

By Frederick W. Kagan, COMMENTARY

The attractiveness of applying to Iran the set of policies that caused the relatively peaceful collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1980s and early 1990s, often called the “Victory Strategy,” is obvious. The strategy produced the most desirable possible end to the Cold War—victory for the United States and its allies without a major direct conflict with the Soviet Union. Similarities between Iran and the Soviet Union make it reasonable to assess that applying a similar set of policies would yield a similar result. That assessment may indeed be accurate, and some variant of the strategy is almost certainly the correct policy to pursue against Iran today.
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IDF Chief of Staff submits defense report to Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on IDF’s readiness for war.

ARUTZ SHEVA

IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot recently submitted his annual report on the readiness and fitness of the IDF forces to the political echelon.

The report is complex and details the IDF’s overall level of fitness and the ability of each of the IDF’s divisions to fight. It was signed by the generals of the General Staff.

The document, classified as “extremely confidential,” is submitted annually to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense, the members of the Political Security Cabinet and the members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
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By David Adesnik, FDD Policy Brief  31st August 2018 –

In a rare press briefing this week, Secretary of Defense James Mattis identified three conditions that must be met before U.S. troops withdraw from northeast Syria. But those conditions will not be met easily. Tension may arise between the Pentagon’s commitment to a responsible withdrawal and President Trump’s vow to withdraw the troops “very soon.”

Mattis’ first precondition is the defeat of the Islamic State, a point on which he is in full agreement with the president. The secretary’s second, related prerequisite is the training of local forces capable of providing security after the U.S. departure, a subject the president has not addressed. Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who appeared with Mattis, said that training those forces “is going to take some time,” but did not elaborate.
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Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: Eight killed, including Iranian and Syrians, in air strike as Iranian foreign minister visits Damascus ahead of battle over Idlib

HAARETZ

A picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on August 26, 2018 shows Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami (R) and his Syrian counterpart Abdullah Ayoub (L) in Damascus.AFP

• Iran, Russia prepare to battle each other over control of post-war Syria

• New details emerge on unprecedented ‘Israeli strike’ on Syria-Iraq border

• Israel rules out new political landscape in Syria as final battle inches closer

Airstrike attributed to Israel and threats made by its leaders suggest Israel may respond to any danger – even if it means deviating from deals made with Moscow

By Amos Harel, Haaretz

FILE PHOTO: Missile fire is seen from Damascus, Syria May 10, 2018.  OMAR SANADIKI/REUTERS

The Jordanians immediately rejected the confederation idea.

By Herb Keinon, JPOST

Israel is not behind what Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said was a US-backed peace plan based on a Palestinian confederation with Jordan, senior Israeli diplomatic officials clarified Sunday.

The clarification came after reports claimed the idea of a Palestinian-Jordanian confederation – which Abbas told a Peace Now delegation was raised in a conversation he had with US envoys Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt – was an Israeli proposal.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s position remains that an agreement must be directly negotiated between the sides and include a demilitarized Palestinian entity – which he has referred to it as a “state-minus” – with Israeli security control west of the Jordan River, the official said. That position, which Netanyahu has articulated numerous time, “has not changed,” the official added.
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T. Belman. The obious answer is for Jordan to take them in and naturalize them. This will only happen under Mudar Zahran’s leadership.

By Mike Konrad, AMERICAN THINKER

President Trump seems determined to shut down UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency), the organization singularly preoccupied with caring for the Arab refugees, and their descendants, of the 1947-49 war between Jewish and Arab forces for control of Mandatory Palestine.  While the idea seems good – a final nail in the coffin of Palestine dreams – there might be unintended consequences.

Long going, unresolved refugee crises are not unique to the Mideast – think of the Rohingya in Myanmar (Burma), which conflict is partially rooted in British colonial era policies, or the Lhotshampas from Bhutan.
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Hussein Agha warns Trump his peace team is misguided if it thinks it can buy Palestinians off with economic incentives

By Amir Tibon, HAARETZ

Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh delivering a speech on the first day of the Eid al-Adha holiday in Gaza City, August 21, 2018.AFP

WASHINGTON – A close confidant of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says Israel’s current right-wing government has a better chance of reaching an agreement with Hamas than with the Palestinian Authority.

Hussein Agha, a scholar who represented Abbas in multiple secret negotiations with Israel, made the comment in a lengthy interview with Fathom Journal, a British publication that focuses on Israel.
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