Serves as one of the final steps for Congress to pass historic tax legislation.

BREITBART

The Senate passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 51-49, almost entirely along party lines, with Vice President Mike Pence presiding over the vote. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) voted against the bill, and 48 Democrats voted against the tax reform legislation as well.

Reluctant Republican senators such as Susan Collins (R-ME) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) voted for the bill after last minute changes were made. Flake received a commitment from Republican leadership and the White House that they would pursue a permanent solution for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) illegal aliens, while Collins received a provision that would keep the deduction for state and local taxes (SALT). Read more…

Why did it take so long to target the facility and in whose interest was it to reveal the facility to the public?

By Seth J Frantzman, JPOST

In the early hours of December 2 reports claimed that a base or ammunition warehouse south of Damascus had been hit by missiles from an airstrike. Foreign media has alleged that Israel was behind that strike.

However, unlike previous airstrikes on Syria, some of which Israel has taken credit for, this one was conducted against a site that was well known. It raises questions as to the timing of the attack and what it was meant to achieve. Why did it take so long to target the facility and in whose interest was it to reveal the facility to the public? First, let’s look at the timeline of events in November that led to the attack.
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Fox News’ contributor reveals why the ruling class is petrified at Restoration Weekend.

By Monica Crowley, FPM

At lunch today, we had the great fortune to hear from Victor Davis Hanson who was talking about those of us who have been repeatedly judged for our support of Donald Trump by the self-righteous, self-described anti-Trump superiors, and it called to mind something that happened to me last July.  I had an exchange with a Hollywood heavyweight and no, it was not Harvey Weinstein.  That would have been an exchange of a different kind, and this Hollywood heavyweight approached me, and I got the whole condescending treatment about Donald Trump.  I got the condescending tap on the arm.  I got the look, like, feeling sorry for me that I was a Trump supporter, and he looked at me and he said, “Monica, you’re a sweet girl and you’re so smart.  You can’t possibly be for Donald Trump,” and I realized in that second that I had a decision to make.
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By C.Jacob, MEMRI

Several weeks after the signing of the October 12, 2017 reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas, the euphoria that had initially been felt on the Palestinian street, and even more so in political circles, seems to be waning, and there are increasing doubts as to the possibility of reaching an understanding between the sides. The disagreements are over several issues: the weapons of the various Palestinian factions; the transfer of responsibilities, including for security, from Hamas to the Palestinian Authority (PA); control of the border crossings, in particular the Rafah crossing, and the future of Gaza civil servants. In the background are also Hamas’s demands that the PA lift its sanctions on Gaza, stop the arrests of Hamas operatives in the West Bank, and halt the security coordination with Israel.
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By General Charles Wald, USAF (ret.), FOX NEWS

By Dr. James M. Dorsey, BESA

BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 667,

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Time will tell, but Saudi Arabia’s gamble to pressure Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed, Lebanese Shiite militia, by forcing Saad Hariri, the country’s prime minister, to resign, may be paying off despite widespread perceptions that the maneuver backfired.

Broad international support for Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri following his speech from Riyadh in which he denounced Hezbollah as an Iranian proxy wreaking havoc in the Middle East, and his subsequent decision to put his resignation on hold once he returned to Beirut to a rock star’s welcome, reinforced the belief that Saudi Arabia had overplayed its hand.

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By Omer Dostri, BESA

BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 666, November 30, 2017

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: By strengthening cooperation behind the scenes, Saudi Arabia and Israel can take significant advantage of the political crisis in Lebanon and the regional developments that may result from it. Riyadh and Jerusalem should do their best to cooperate vis-à-vis the superpowers involved in Syria and Iraq, especially the US, as they attempt to shift the strategic balance towards their aligning interests.
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By Elliott Abrams, PRESSURE POINT

This week Kenya inaugurated a president (Uhuru Kenyatta, for his second term).

One and only one Western head of government was present, joining ten African presidents. One and only one foreign leader was asked to speak at the celebratory lunch, while being seated next to Kenyatta.

Who was that? Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And while in Nairobi for one day, Netanyahu met with the presidents of Rwanda, Gabon, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, South Sudan, Botswana, and Namibia, and the prime minister of Ethiopia.
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By PETER BAKER and MAGGIE HABERMAN, NYT

Here is an excellent response by Ethiopian-born Member of Knesset Avraham Neguise to the Apartheid slurs against Israel by Nelson Mandela’s grandson Mandla Mandela.

By Dr. Avraham Neguise

Dear Mandla Mandela,

There is a well-known African proverb: “The words of the elders do not lock all the doors; they leave the right door open.” Your grandfather Nelson Mandela was a great, singular and visionary man, and it is in his memory and the struggle for which he bravely stood that I write this open letter to you.

Nelson Mandela was a man who always listened, even to his opponents, and fought hard for dialogue and understanding. It appears that you have not inherited these vital qualities from your grandfather. On your recent visit to the region, you became a tool in a hate campaign, a campaign that seeks to suppress the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in our historic, ancestral and indigenous homeland.
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Does Wahhabi Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman mean it when he calls terror a threat that has to end?

By Jeff Dunetz, INN

The radical Islamist terrorists trying to destroy the west have their roots are in Wahhabism, a form of Islam initially practiced in Saudi Arabia and spread across the world by the Saudi royal family. But on Saturday, November 25, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman addressed the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC) Ministers of Defense Council with a speech that said in part:

“The biggest threat from terrorism and extremism is not only killing innocent people and spreading hate but tarnishing the reputation of our religion and distorting our belief.”

But does he really mean it? After all, Wahhabi Islam is a huge part of Saudi society and according to many, the mother of the terrorism of which the Prince spoke, In July 2013, Wahhabism was identified by the EU Parliament as the main source of global terrorism.
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Senators Feinstein and Sanders initiate letter urging Netanyahu not to demolish illegally built Palestinian Arab villages.

By Ben Ariel, INN

Ten Democratic senators, among them four Jews, on Wednesday wrote Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu urging him not to demolish Palestinian Arab villages despite the fact that they are illegal and built without authorization.

“We have long championed a two-state solution as a just resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” said the letter, initiated by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and which was quoted by JTA.
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This article by Anne Bayefsky originally appeared on Breitbart.

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley and the Trump administration are being pinned down in the trenches of the United Nations, outmaneuvered not only by smooth U.N. operators, but by Obama-era engineers.

Twice in November, the United States failed to vote with Israel against the U.N. hordes, despite the oft-repeated words of Ambassador Haley about having Israel’s back. The self-proclaimed “new sheriff in town” is finding out the hard way that failure to match action with talk is a fast-track to impotence at the U.N. Corall.

On November 16, the Trump administration failed to support Israel on a resolution about the notoriously anti-Israel U.N. Human Rights Council.  The vote took place in the General Assembly’s Third Committee, a committee that focuses on human rights and is composed of all 193 U.N. member states. The resolution gave a pass to the annual report of the Council, a report that includes all of the body’s anti-Israel goings-on. In U.N.-eze, the General Assembly “takes note” of the report and makes no criticism of any of its activities.
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By Dominic Dudley, FORBES

A young boy poses for a photo after writing a comment on a wall bearing a portrait of Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, in Doha, on July 6, 2017. (Photo: KARIM JAAFAR/AFP/Getty Images)

Slowly but surely, Qatar is moving closer into an alliance of sorts with Iran.

Hampered by a trade and transport boycott from former allies Bahrain, the UAE and Saudi Arabia which is almost in its sixth month, the small but extremely rich state of Qatar is being forced to find its friends where it can. Nearby Oman has proved to be one willing ally through these difficult months, as has Turkey. The most politically disruptive linkages, however, are being formed across the waters of the Gulf with the Islamic Republic.

Iran and Qatar have always had a strong incentive to get along reasonably well as they share a huge natural gas field, known as the North Field in Qatar and as South Pars in Iran. It was this fairly cordial relationship between the two countries that has been cited by the three other Gulf countries (along with Egypt) as a reason for imposing their boycott in June.
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