Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat says any peace agreement must be between Israel and Palestinians, not U.S. • Prospect of Palestinian interest in the peace proposal appears dim, while U.S. aid cuts to PA likely to further distance Palestinians.

Israeli ministers condemn U.N. Human Rights Council vote to probe Israel’s conduct in response to Gaza border violence • Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked: Council for “anything but human rights” • Public Security Minister Erdan: “Terrorist rights council.”

By Erez Linn, Mati Tuchfeld and Gideon Allon, ISRAEL HAYOM

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted a United Nations Human Rights Council decision on Friday to establish a special team to investigate Israel’s conduct during the recent violence on the border with the Gaza Strip.

“There is nothing new under the sun,” Netanyahu tweeted. “An organization that calls itself the Human Rights Council once again proves that it is hypocritical and biased and that its purpose is to harm Israel and support terror. But mostly it has proved that it is irrelevant.”
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By Jack Crowe, NATIONAL REVIEW

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that Washington would impose the “strongest sanctions in history” on Iran if the regime does not comply with a list of U.S. demands intended to bolster nuclear non-proliferation verification measures and reign in the rogue state’s support for terror groups and involvement in foreign proxy wars.

Pompeo, speaking at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, laid out a “diplomatic road map” for future relations with Iran that includes the reimplementation of the sanctions lifted under the 2015 agreement, which the U.S. withdrew from earlier this month, as well as the imposition of additional sanctions intended to bring the regime back to the negotiating table.
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Firebrand anti-Iran control cleric emerging as winner of Iraqi elections.

By Yochanan Visser, INN

Moqtada al-Sadr

Iran’s Iraq project is in danger now that a Shiite cleric (sic) is surprisingly emerging as the big winner in the country’s first election since the rise and defeat of Islamic State.

After Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) released preliminary results of the May 12 election it appeared the Sa’iroun list of the maverick Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was emerging as the winner with the Iran-backed Badr (Conquest) Party, which is in fact a paramilitary organization, in second place.

Al-Sadr’s Sa’iroun list (marching towards reform in English) consisted of an odd coalition of his Shiite supporters, secularists and the Iraqi Communist Party.
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By MICHAEL ORDMAN

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Eliminating major side-effects. A breakthrough by Israeli scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Weizmann Institute can reduce side-effects in chemicals.  Treatments (e.g. thalidomide) contain both right and left-sided molecules. One type causes the side-effect and magnets can remove the “bad” sided molecules.
https://eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-05/thuo-dac051018.php  https://vimeo.com/257954972
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jz300793y

99% success for freezing tumors.  I’ve been reporting on Israeli-based IceCure for some time (see here). It has just reported results of clinical trials showing 99% effectiveness in eliminating cancerous breast tumors through freezing with liquid nitrogen without surgery. Of the 146 trial patients, the cancer re-occurred in only one.
https://www.globes.co.il/en/article-icecure-jumps-on-positive-breast-cancer-treatment-data-1001234568
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DEBKA

President Donald Trump sees his peace plan as a springboard for shaping an Israel-Arab track – even  if spurned by the Palestinians at first. He is preparing for the second time to unveil the all-but complete peace plan in mid-June i.e., after the month of Ramadan, subject to the situation in the region, five administration officials informed US media on Friday, May 18.

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By Rick Moran, AMERICAN THINKER

A Shia cleric whose militia once fought US forces during the Iraq insurgency has won Iraq’s parliamentary election.

Muqtada al-Sadr, former leader of the infamous Mehdi Militia, fashioned a coalition of extremist Shias, communists, and nationalists to gain 54 seats in the 328 member parliament, giving him a shot to form a larger coalition that would govern Iraq. Prime Minister  Haider al-Abadi’s governing coalition finished 3rd, garnering only 42 seats.

CNN:

Al-Sadr, who in 2008 was named as one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influence people, campaigned on an anti-corruption platform, allied himself with the Communist Party and rode a wave of populist sentiment to victory. An opponent of Iranian influence in his country, al-Sadr is also a longtime foe of the United States and its role in Iraq.+

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PINNICLE DIGEST

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By Mario Goveia to Professor Freedman,

As a Catholic immigrant from India and very familiar with the history of the middle-east and the partition of India in 1947 and that of Israel in 1948, when I read your article (shown further below, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Did you somehow miss that the only ones still rejecting the duly constituted partitions are the Arabs, which were either fair or unfair depending on where one was situated?  Have you detected anyone in India swearing an oath to wipe Pakistan off the map and killing Pakistanis while demanding the right to return to their ancestral lands in Pakistan?
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By Steve Kramer

In the May 10, 2018 issue of Newsweek, this article by Yardena Schwartz appeared: More Israelis are moving to the US – and staying for good.. Ms Schwartz is a well known, respected journalist, but this article seems to have a chip on its shoulder. It reminds me of the brouhaha here in Israel about the price of cottage cheese in Israel.

When it became known several years ago that a top selling brand of Israeli cottage cheese sold for less in Berlin (and other places) than in Tel Aviv, Israelis were outraged. The media was full of stories about how many Israelis had moved to the “good life” in Berlin (for cheaper cottage cheese?). So, how many Israelis actually live in Berlin? Estimates range from 11,000-15,000. That’s a rather small percentage of the 6.6 million Israeli Jews, about 1/4 of 1%.
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Ted Belman. Both authors of this article live in Canada and spoke at my conference on The Jordan Option in Oct 2017 in Jerusalem. I was not aware of this history when I suggested that only the Al Aksa Mosque should be considered a Muslim holy place and the rest of the Temple Mount should be considered a Jewish holy place. I cantinue to advocate for that.

Over the centuries, Muslim leaders have generally recognized the rights of Jews to pray at their holiest sites

By Salim Mansur, Geoffrey Clarfield, NATIONAL POST
2015

Once again anti-Jewish violence ignited in Jerusalem has spread beyond into Israel. This present spate of violence is part of the long-term campaign of Palestinians for change in the “status quo” on the Temple Mount. Their goal is to insure Jews visiting there feel sufficiently intimidated so that they no longer come and this will then mean a victory for the latest Palestinian intifada or the local jihad. It might be said of this recent upsurge in violence that “it has been forever thus,” but this would be incorrect as the history of Muslim rule over Jerusalem and Jewish presence in and around the Temple Mount is complex and checkered.
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By Amil Imani, AMERICAN THINKER

Over fourteen centuries ago rose Muhammad, a supposedly illiterate hired hand of a rich widow, Khadija, claiming he was the bearer of a perfect life prescription from Allah: the Quran.  He claimed that humanity could do no better than to follow its precepts as well as to emulate Muhammad’s own life example for a guarantee of bliss and salvation.  In exchange for this, people had to embrace Islam – surrender – by surrendering their liberty to Muhammad.  Up to this day, the Muslim world considers a perfect Muslim as someone who follows in the footsteps of Muhammad, by action and by deeds.

You have an excellent model in the Messenger of Allah, for all who put their hope in Allah and the Last Day and remember Allah much. (Surat al-Ahzab 21)

To faithful Muslims, the Prophet Muhammad is a role model, and they must follow his Sunnah and learn how to implement its precepts and practices in their lives.  So to understand the Prophet Muhammad is to understand Islam.

Fortunately, for both Muslims and non-Muslims, Muhammad is not around so that we can personally observe his conduct and be tempted to emulate him.  What is possible, however, is to go to authentic Islamic records and discern what Muhammad did during his life and judge it for ourselves.
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An increasingly powerful left wing is causing the party to abandon the Jewish state.

By Jonathan Tobin, NATIONAL REVIEW

Over the past half-century, Republicans and Democrats have exchanged identities on Middle East issues. Republicans are now the lockstep pro-Israel party, and the Democrats are deeply divided about their attitudes toward the Jewish state. And as polling from both the Pew Research Center and Gallup indicated earlier this year, the split between the two major parties on Israel is growing.

The previous administration accelerated these trends. President Barack Obama’s eight years were dedicated to creating what he called more “daylight” between the U.S. and Israel, and support for the Iran nuclear deal became a litmus test of Democratic-party loyalty. President Donald Trump has worked to overturn Obama’s Middle East policies, putting the remaining pro-Israel Democrats in a difficult political situation. Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, as well as his abandonment of the Iran deal, have been cheered by the Netanyahu government but panned by most Democrats, including some who in the past have advocated both of those positions.
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Calling this the “dead baby strategy” may seem cruel, because it is cruel. But don’t blame the messenger for accurately describing this tactic.

By Alan Dershowitz, JPOST

If this were the first time that Hamas deliberately provoked Israel into self-defense actions that resulted in the unintended deaths of Gaza civilians, the media could be excused for playing into the hands of Hamas. The most recent Hamas provocations – having 40,000 Gazans try to tear down the border fence and enter Israel with Molotov cocktails and other improvised weapons – are part of a repeated Hamas tactic that I have called the “dead baby strategy.”
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The 26 meter high fence will protect Assaf and Ilan Ramon airport from Kornet missiles

By Anna Ahronheim, JPOST

o years after work began on the smart fence capable of stopping Kornet missiles aimed towards Israel’s newest civilian airport – Eilat Ilan and Assaf Ramon International Airport – the 26-meter-high fence has been completed.

The fence, which extends 4.5 km, is part of a larger 34-kilometer six-meter-high fence along the Jordanian border which runs from Eilat to Kibbutz Samar north of Timna. It features electronics, sensors and detection technology to ensure that incoming and departing planes are protected from all types of threats.
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