INTO THE FRAY: Neo-unilateralism – Futile, fatal folly  

By Martin Sherman

New calls for unilateral withdrawal are both pernicious—because of the calamitous consequences it will precipitate—and puerile—because of the naïve hope that it will not

I can even pin dates on it. In 2007 or 2008 we will have another major disengagement in the West Bank. And within a decade, we will unilaterally repartition Jerusalem along lines we will unilaterally select … What Israelis have understood – and this is the underlying feature of the disengagement – is that we need to leave Gaza and Nablus, not because it will bring peace, but because there will be perpetual terror…

Dan Schueftan, then one of the principle advocates for the 2005 unilateral evacuation from Gaza, predicting it would be only a first step in a “wider historical process” of further unilateral Israeli withdrawals, The Jerusalem Report, September 2005.

…it [unilateral withdrawal] promises no solution, no peace, no regional or international legitimacy, no alleviation of hostility, no end to terrorism, not even a respite [and] threatens to tear political and social systems apart…-Dan Schueftan, today director of the National Security Studies Center, University of Haifa, on the impact of unilateral withdrawal from Judea-Samaria, which he urges Israel to adopt(!), in Tablet Magazine, August 8, 2017

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August 18, 2017 | 3:55 am | 9 Comments »

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Debacle at Charlottesville Brings Democratic Party Full Circle With Its Failure  

By Conrad Black, THE SUN

Almost everything about the Charlottesville riot was disgraceful except the conduct of the president. The move to take down the statue of General Robert E. Lee was nonsense. Lee has few rivals as the greatest general in American history (Grant, Sherman, MacArthur, and Eisenhower perhaps).

Lee opposed the secession of Virginia from the Union but, as was common in the South then (and has not entirely died out in any region of the United States today),believed he owed his first loyalty to his state over the United States. He was less dedicated to the virtues of slavery than was Charlottesville’s most famous son, Thomas Jefferson, founder of the University, neighbor at Monticello, and, of course, author of the self-evident truth “that all men are created equal.”

This terrible incident started as a reasonable civic demonstration by Southern traditionalists who were not hostile to African-Americans but object to the shamed renunciation of a great American heroic and folkloric figure from “Gone With the Wind,” to The Band’s “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” to “The Dukes of Hazzard.” Robert E. Lee was not a precursor of Bull Connor, Strom Thurmond, James Earl Ray, or the unreformed George C. Wallace.

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August 18, 2017 | 3:47 am | 2 Comments »

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Court freezes law that retroactively legalized unauthorized settler homes  

By Tova Lazaroff and Jonah Jeremy Bob, JPOST

The High Court of Justice has temporarily frozen the Settlements Law, which would retroactively legalize Jewish homes illegally built on private Palestinian property.

Right wing politicians immediately attacked the decision.

“This is a dangerous intervention by the court against Knesset legislation,” warned MK Bezalel Smotrich (Bayit Yehudi) who is a strong proponent of the legislation.
“Time after time the judiciary tramples on the decision of one governmental authority or another. This story must stop,” Smotrich said.

“As someone who often warns against the erosion of the State of Israel’s Jewish character, I am also worried today about the future of the state’s democratic character,” Smotrich said.

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August 17, 2017 | 7:12 pm | 4 Comments »

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Police: Charlottesville Was ‘Inside Job’ To Ignite Race War  

By Baxter Dmitry

A Charlottesville police officer claims the riots, which pitched white supremacists against Antifa, were set up to further the agenda of the elites.

A Charlottesville police officer has come forward to express his anger at being told to “stand down” by the city mayor during violent clashes between protestors. He also claims the protests, which pitched “white supremacists” against members of Antifa, were “set up” to further the agenda of the elites.

We [Charlotesville police] were ordered to bring the rival groups together. As soon as they were in contact with each other, we were told to stand down. It was outrageous. We weren’t allowed to arrest anyone without asking the mayor first. We weren’t even allowed to stop the driver as he sped away.
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August 17, 2017 | 6:50 pm | 5 Comments »

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RefuseFascism unmasked  

By JR Dunn, AMERICAN THINKER

 

Thanks to an alert AT reader, we now have photographic evidence that one of the organizations behind the threat of an Antifa “uprising” on November 4th was in fact active in the Charlottesville riot last weekend.

The photograph below was taken the afternoon of the Charlottesville disturbances, shortly after the confrontation with white supremacists gathering in a park near downtown.

Although slightly obscured by a fold, the banner at the center clearly reads “RefuseFascism.org.” This outfit has been acting as something of an umbrella group for organizing a nationwide disturbance intended to bring the U.S. to a halt for the purpose of overthrowing the Trump administration.

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August 17, 2017 | 5:33 pm | 1 Comment »

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Paying Protesters To Destabilize the U.S.  

By Katy Grimes, CFP

At anti-Trump protests during the election, protesters admitted they answered ads on Craigslist and were getting paid to protest Trump. The protests are largely paid for by George Soros, MoveOn.org, reclusive billionaire Jonathan Lewis, and pushed by David Brock at Media Matters for America.

I’ve been writing about this for several years.

At anti-Trump protests during the election, protesters admitted they answered ads on Craigslist and were getting paid to protest Trump. The protests are largely paid for by George Soros, MoveOn.org, reclusive billionaire Jonathan Lewis, and pushed by David Brock at Media Matters for America. I’ve been writing about this for several years.

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August 17, 2017 | 2:53 pm | Comments »

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Israel said to have hit Hezbollah convoys dozens of times  

In first, former air force chief Amir Eshel confirms mass scale of strikes, says over 100 targets struck since 2012

TOI

 

Israel’s former air force chief said Wednesday that it has carried out dozens of airstrikes on weapons convoys destined for the Lebanese Hezbollah group over the past five years.

The remarks by Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel revealed for the first time the scale of the strikes, which are usually neither confirmed or denied by the IAF.

Eshel told the Haaretz newspaper that Israel hit weapons convoys destined for the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which is fighting alongside Syrian forces, almost 100 times since 2012.

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August 17, 2017 | 12:26 pm | Comments »

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Nikki Haley Increasing Scrutiny of Iran Amid Nuclear Deal Review and of UNIFIL  

[Nikki Haley: Hezbollah weapons threaten ‘security and stability in the region’]

By Natalie Johnson, FREE BEACON

 

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has ramped up pressure on Iran ahead of a trip to Vienna next week, where she will meet with international atomic watchdog officials concerning Tehran’s nuclear activities.

Haley on Tuesday rejected threats from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who warned the country could walk away from its nuclear agreement with world powers “within hours” if the United States continued to impose new sanctions.

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August 17, 2017 | 12:20 pm | Comments »

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Die-hard Trump supporters show no signs of straying  

T. Belman. This is the one article I found today dealing with Charlottesvile that see clearly the truth. Most others and most Israeli leaders can’t overcome the pull of leftist propaganda. They all dump on Trump. Trump said all the right things. Yes he could have focussed on the Nazis but instead focussed on the violence. He could have taken one side and Obama always did but chose instead to indict both side and stress the need for the Nation to come together. I totally agree with his choices and his words.

The Deep State using intelligence agencies and Sorus thugs, on both the left and the right to fight each other and made certain of it by the actions or non-actions of the police. Then the MSM lead the discourse by constantly attacking Trump as a supremacist. Elites in both parties piled on as did many analists in Fox News. No one wanted to be seen with Trump. They shunned him.

Despite his controversial remarks on white supremacist rally, US president’s base still supports his agenda, doesn’t regret vote

By Matt Sedensky, TOI

 

NEW YORK (AP) — They wash their hands of neo-Nazis and wag their fingers at leftists. They denounce a press corps they see as biased and controversies they view as manufactured. But in the frenzied blame game over the deadly violence at a rally of white supremacists, Donald Trump’s loyal base is happy to absolve the president himself.

Even as Trump’s zig-zag response to the weekend bloodshed in Charlottesville, Virginia, has brought criticism from some Republican lawmakers, many men and women who helped put him in office remain unmoved by the latest uproar.

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August 17, 2017 | 11:38 am | 20 Comments »

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More arrests as terror stalks Jerusalem again  

DEBKA

Three major Israeli counter-terror operations in a week (Aug.10-16) are a measure of the intensity of terrorist plots for the commission of mass-casualty strikes in Jerusalem.

On Aug. 10, a combined effort of the Shin Bet, the police and the IDF, led to five Palestinians from Hebron being intercepted in the Palestinian Jerusalem neighborhood of El Azaria on their way to an attack. No details of this plot were released. But it was obvious that the five terrorists, armed with guns and explosives, were only stopped at the last minute from reaching the center of Jerusalem, just 15 minutes drive from El Azaria, and conducting a major attack.

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August 17, 2017 | 9:47 am | Comments »

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Hannity nails it. Also, Charlottesville is Agit-Prop  

I’M WITH HANNITY AND TRUMP

IT IS OBVIOUS THAT THE MSM IS NOT OBJECTIVE BUT RATHER DOES EVERYTHING IT CAN TO DESTROY TRUMP.

What happenned in Charlottesville is pure Agit-Prop.

The violence was planned and orchestrated by organs of the Deep State in order to polarize society, to blame Trump as being a white supremacist and undermine his Presidency. It plans to delegitimate Trump so that when they move to replace him, the public supports them.

August 17, 2017 | 8:52 am | Comments »

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NSC’s McMaster Continues Obama’s Anti-Israel Policies- Contradicting Trump  

By John Hayward, BREITBART

Glick said the problem with McMaster is that “in key issue after key issue, particularly in relation to the Middle East,” he “opposes the things that the president ran on and that he was elected on.”

She quoted Ayaan Hirsi Ali, one of the world’s leading activists against Islamic supremacism,writing in theWall Street Journalthat “President Trump, during the campaign, insisted that it was necessary to go after the political ideology of radical Islam, and he’s just completely stopped.”

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August 16, 2017 | 9:19 pm | Comments »

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Zionist Organization of America Triples Down: H.R. McMaster Backed by ‘Left-Wing Israel Bashers’  

By Adam Shaw, BREITBART

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), the oldest pro-Israel group in the U.S., upped its campaign against under-fire National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster Tuesday, alleging McMaster is backed by what it calls “left-wing Israel bashers.”

The ZOA has previously highlighted McMaster’s ties to such groups, as well as its concerns that McMaster is anti-Israel. On Monday it responded to a defense of McMaster by U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman by outlining its concerns and defending its call for McMaster’s firing

ZOA’s concerns about General McMaster stems from many issues including his firing Trump loyalists who support Israel and oppose the Iran Deal; his hiring many who oppose Trump’s policies especially on Israel and Iran; his refusal to acknowledge that the Western Wall is in Israel; his refusal to state that Israel’s response to the terrorist group Hamas’ rocket attacks against Israel was “ethical”: his refusal to acknowledge that Iran has violated the Iran Deal; his refusal to use the term “radical Islamic terrorism,” and much more.

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August 16, 2017 | 4:50 pm | Comments »

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The limits of democracy  

T. Belman. Shoval failed to address a bone of contention.  Yes. the Court can over turn laws which conflict with our Constitution (Basic Laws). This is the same in western democracies. What is different in Israel is the ability of the Court to interpret basic laws which are not explicit. In Many countries, the law is returned to the Parliament to make it more explicit. Or at least the principles of interpretation require the Court to look at the intention of the Government. In Israel, the Court takes it upon itself.

For instance, in the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, there is no definition of “human dignity”. This is very problematic as the Court has taken upon itself to interpret the words and by virtue of their interpretation have overruled many a law passed by the Knesset.

By Salman Shoval, ISRAEL HAYOM

It seems that not a day goes by without an opinion piece being published accusing the Israeli government, and the state in general, of being undemocratic. Every political or legal step involving Judaism, Zionism or patriotism earns this label.

Supreme Court Justice Yoram Danziger championed freedom of speech as a central test for democracy. Indeed, a single glance at a newspaper these days is proof enough that in Israel this freedom is upheld to the extreme. There are additional principles: majority rule, minority rights, rule of law, freedom of employment and the right to property. These principles come with restraints, such as how to ensure that freedom of expression does not result in “grave harm to the public’s wellbeing and safety,” as former Chief Justice Aharon Barak once said, or how to prevent the election process from distorting the true will of the people. And perhaps most importantly, how to prevent a protected minority from taking advantage of its status to extort the majority.

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August 16, 2017 | 2:07 pm | Comments »

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High Court’s authority to repeal legislation comes under attack  

Justice Ministry slammed for asking High Court to review its own jurisdiction on revoking laws • “Move indicates a fundamental misunderstanding of the workings of a democratic regime. It’s not for the court to decide on its authority,” says minister.

By Mati Tuchfeld, ISRAEL HAYOM

The Justice Ministry was harshly criticized Tuesday following its decision to ask the High Court of Justice to review and define its own jurisdiction when it comes to repealing legislation.

The ministry asked the court to hold an extended-panel discussion on the issue of better regulating the balance of power between the judicial and legislative authorities, especially on the court’s authority to effectively annul legislation passed by the Knesset. The move is rare, as it asks the court to debate a matter of principle that does not affect a specific case.

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August 16, 2017 | 2:02 pm | Comments »

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Will the Real Fascists Please Stand Up?  

Ted Belman

I came upon this article in Jewish Voice. They described the event in Charlottesvile quite accurately and ended with:

But let’s get to the MSM’s coverage of this disaster. How was this event reported differently from, let us say, the massive civil violence in Ferguson or Baltimore? The anarchy in these two cities were basically outspokenly, overtly anti-white riots that led to the burning down of white owned businesses, the beatings of whites and the injuries to dozens of law enforcement officers. Yet, at no time, in any media coverage were the perpetrators referred to as fascists, racist white haters or terrorist thugs. Their violence was attributed to the social ills plaguing these municipalities. They were described as merely acting out their well known grievances against the white establishment and were written up as sort of deserving pats on the backs.

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August 16, 2017 | 1:45 pm | 3 Comments »

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Experts say Red Sea-Dead Sea pipe dream isn’t worth its salt  

Plan to ‘save’ the wonder of the world through multi-million dollar pipeline is criticized as a political tool to win international donor money

By Melanie Lidman, TOI

US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt, center, sits next to Israel’s Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, left, and Mazen Ghoneim, right, head of the Palestinian Water Authority, during a news conference about a water-sharing agreement between Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian When Israeli, Palestinian, and Jordanian leaders gathered, along with Jason Greenblatt, in the King David hotel last month to announce the signing of a breakthrough trilateral water deal, they told the world the “Red Sea-Dead Sea” agreement would doubly bless the Middle East. The new desalination plant would purportedly fill the region’s water needs, while the purifier’s briny byproducts would be pumped north to rescue the dramatically shrinking Dead Sea, which is teetering on the brink of being a sludgy, salty puddle by the year 2050.

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August 16, 2017 | 12:59 pm | Comments »

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Netanyahu’s great challenge  

What can Netanyahu do to mitigate the impact of the probes on his ability to do his job?

BY CAROLINE B. GLICK, JPOST

ver the weekend, it was reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports legislation that would change the procedure for declaring war. The bill, supported by the government as well as by Netanyahu’s opponent and former finance minister Yair Lapid, involves implementing lessons learned from past experiences.

Under the suggested law, the government will provide the security cabinet with blanket authority to authorize military operations at the beginning of its tenure. By limiting the number of people involved in decision making regarding actual operations, leaks can be minimized and the element of surprise can be protected.

Given the wide support the bill enjoys, and its substance, the media could have been expected to cover the move in a sober-minded way.

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August 16, 2017 | 8:38 am | Comments »

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The Left exploits the Charlottesville trajedy  

Excusing its own violence while taking aim at Trump.

By Joseph Klein, FPM

White nationalists gathered last weekend to protest the planned removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee from a Charlottesville, Virginia park. Violence ensued in clashes with counter-protesters. One white nationalist, consumed by his neo-Nazi hatred, rammed his vehicle intentionally into a group of counter-protesters, killing a 32-year-old woman and seriously injuring others in his path. Two state troopers also died when the helicopter they were using to monitor the white nationalist rally crashed. The Trump administration took immediate steps to go after the perpetrators with the full force of federal law enforcement. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Justice Department was treating the vehicle attack as an act of domestic terrorism.

Despite his administration’s rapid commencement of a civil rights investigation, President Trump came under heavy criticism for his initial comments Saturday on the Charlottesville violence for not specifically calling out the white nationalists as the primary cause of the tragedy that unfolded in Charlottesville. Instead, he condemned in more generic terms “hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides.” On Monday, in a statement issued from the White House, the president was more explicit. “Racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, Neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to what we hold dear as Americans,” President Trump said.

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August 16, 2017 | 2:57 am | 6 Comments »

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