ZERO HEDGE

Submitted by Leith Fadel via Al-Masdar News,

US special forces troops at al-Tanf crossing in southeast Syria. Image via al-Masdar News.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated on Thursday that US forces must leave all of Syria. Speaking to Interfax news agency, Lavrov stated that the UN Security Council has not approved the work of the United States and its coalition in Syria, nor has been invited by the legitimate Syrian government.

Concerning a prior statement by US Defense Secretary James Matisse voicing the intent for US troops to stay in Syria until achieving progress in a political settlement, Lavrov pointed out that such statement is “surprising” because it means that Washington reserves the right to determine such progress and wants to maintain control over parts of Syrian territory in order to achieve the result it wants.
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DEBKA

While openly blaming Syria (and Russia) for giving ISIS free rein, US quietly rebukes Moscow for not reining in the pro-Iranian push towards Israeli border.

“The Syrian regime has failed to prevent the resurgence of ISIS on their own soil,” said British Maj. Gen. Gedney, deputy commander of Strategy and Support for the US-backed coalition to defeat the Islamic State terror group. And even in areas where Syrian forces have intensified their efforts against ISIS, progress has been, at best, fleeting, he said. “We’ve got no intention to operate in areas that are currently held by the [Assad] regime.”
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One-hundred years ago, over a lunch, the internationalization of Jerusalem became irrelevant—and it remains so.

By Martin Kamer, MOSAIC

In the uproar over President Trump’s announcement of U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, one constant refrain has been the insistence that, by longstanding international consensus, the city’s status has yet to be decided. In the portentous words of the recent UN General Assembly resolution protesting the American action, “Jerusalem is a final-status issue to be resolved through negotiations in line with relevant United Nations resolutions.”

The most “relevant” of those prior resolutions was the November 1947 resolution proposing partition of Palestine and envisaging, in addition to two independent states, one Arab and one Jewish, an entirely separate status for Jerusalem as a city belonging to no state but instead administered by a “special international regime.”
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By Raymond Ibrahim
PJ Media

To understand any phenomenon, its roots must first be understood.  Unfortunately, not only do all discussions on the conflict between Islam and the West tend to be limited to the modern era, but when the past, the origins, are alluded to, the antithesis of reality is proffered: we hear that the West—itself an anachronism for Europe, or better yet, Christendom—began the conflict by intentionally demonizing otherwise peaceful and tolerant Muslims and their prophet in order to justify their “colonial” aspirations in the East, which supposedly began with the Crusades.
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MEMRI

• Senior Jordanian Columnists Warn Against Cancelling Peace Treaty With Israel

• Saudi Writers: Why Should Saudi Arabia Pay The Price For The Mistakes Of The Palestinians?

Strip Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize Away

Multiple DEA agents speaking anonymously to Politico have confirmed that Team Obama spent eight years derailing a multi-agency investigation targeting Hezbollah, in order to facilitate the disastrous Iran nuclear deal. The details of this illegal collusion with a known terrorist group is the worst scandal of the Obama years — and that’s saying something!

Worse than Benghazi? Worse than Operation Fast & Furious? Yes it was, and every American should be calling their Representative and Senators (Congressional switchboard: 202-224-3121) and demanding a full Justice Department investigation and prosecution of everyone involved in this conspiracy.
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Dinesh D’Souza unveils the real roots.

BY JUDICIAL WATCH

Now that Robert Mueller has been appointed special counsel to investigate if Russia influenced the 2016 presidential election it’s worth reiterating his misguided handiwork and collaboration with radical Islamist organizations as FBI director. Judicial Watch exclusively obtained droves of records back in 2013 documenting how, under Mueller’s leadership, the FBI purged all anti-terrorism training material deemed “offensive” to Muslims after secret meetings between Islamic organizations and the FBI chief. Judicial Watch had to sue to get the records and published an in-depth report on the scandal in 2013 and a lengthier, updated follow-up in 2015.
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T. Belman. This is a very important demand because to call them “occupied” is to suggest that they belong to the Palestinians. There is absolutely no basis fo this. But Friedman is wrong to suggest the use of “alleged occupation” because the most accurate phrase is “disputed territories”.

In that dispute, Israel relies on their legal right to the lands in toto as as granted in San Remo and confirmed in the Palestine Mandate. The Palestinians got their right to negotiate from Jordan. But Jordan had no right to these lands and thus neither do the Palestinians. Furthermore, the Oslo Accords gave them the right to negotiate final status issues. Nothing more. This right to negotiate falls far short from the right to the land.

US ambassador to Israel reportedly calls on State Department to stop calling Judea and Samaria ‘occupied.’

By Gary Willig, INN

US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman recently asked the State Department to cease using the term ‘occupation’ to describe Israel’s presence in Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem, according a report by Kan, the Israel Broadcasting Corporation.

According to the report, the State Department objected to the request, but eventually agreed to discuss the matter.
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T. Belman. While changing UN funding from mandetory taxation to vuluntary contribution would help somewhat, I am disappointed that he didn’t ask that the UN be scrapped and replaced with a totally different organization if any.

A few of its agencies do useful work. American taxpayers shouldn’t pay for the many that don’t.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley listens during a Security Council meeting concerning Israel and Palestine in New York, Dec. 18.Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

As an assistant secretary of state in the George H.W. Bush administration, I worked vigorously to repeal a hateful United Nations General Assembly resolution equating Zionism with racism. Foreign diplomats frequently told me the effort was unnecessary. My Soviet counterpart, for example, said Resolution 3379 was only a piece of paper gathering dust on a shelf. Why stir up old controversies years after its 1975 adoption?

We ignored the foreign objections and persisted because that abominable resolution cast a stain of illegitimacy and anti-Semitism on the U.N. It paid off. On Dec. 16, 1991, the General Assembly rescinded the offensive language.
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Fearing that PA-led moves in response to U.S. Jerusalem declaration will undermine its special status in the city, Jordan teams up with Egypt, Saudi Arabia to devise new policy • Official says Arab states fear U.S. will punish those who act against it.

By Daniel Siryoti, ISRAEL HAYOM

The Temple Mount, Jerusalem | Photo: AP

Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are displeased with the way the Palestinian Authority has reacted to U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and his decision to relocate the U.S. Embassy to the city, Israel Hayom has learned.

Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit announced over the weekend that he would head a new committee, comprising the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Saudia Arabia and the Palestinian Authority, to devise a new policy on Jerusalem.
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By David Israel, JEWISH PRESS

The White House at this point understands that following the rejection of US involvement in peace negotiations announced by the Palestinian Authority, President Trump will not be able to present his plan for peace in the Middle East. And so a White House official told reporters Sunday evening that while Trump considers this to be merely a temporary cooling-off period with Ramallah, and the team headed by Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt is still committed to peace as always, there was no intention of pushing an agreement without the PA’s consent.
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By JNi.Media, JEWISH PRESS

On Sunday, today, as the United Nations reached an agreement on a budget for the 2018-2019 fiscal year, the United States negotiated a reduction of more than $285 million off the 2016-2017 final budget, according to a press release issued by Ambassador Nikki Haley.

“In addition to these significant cost savings, we reduced the UN’s bloated management and support functions, bolstered support for key US priorities throughout the world, and instilled more discipline and accountability throughout the UN system,” Haley reported.

“The inefficiency and overspending of the United Nations are well-known,” Haley noted, adding, “We will no longer let the generosity of the American people be taken advantage of or remain unchecked.”
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Abbas says Trump’s America cannot be a neutral mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, and he is right

By Moshe Arens, HAARETZ Dec 25, 2017

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says the United States cannot be a neutral mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, and he is right. Of course the United States, the world’s leading democracy, cannot be a neutral mediator between democratic Israel and the Palestinians, be they the Palestinian Authority led by Abbas or the leaders of Hamas, both of them the very antithesis of democratic rule and the values of modern democracies.

What’s more, the United States should not be a mediator between Israel and the Palestinians. It cannot and should not be neutral in a conflict between its ally Israel and those who are in conflict with Israel, just as it cannot be a neutral mediator in a dispute between democratic Japan and autocratic Russia.
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If you must, at least turn to the 6 European countries which abstained at the UN vote – not that they have anything to be proud about with their Holocaust record.

By Phyllis Chesler, INN

I am reliving the Evian Conference, held in 1938. No European country was willing to take the Jews.

Eighty years later, on December 21, 2017, twenty six European countries voted to condemn the United States’ decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Six abstained. No European country dared to stand with the United States, with Israel, or with reality.

Austria and Germany—Hitler’s home base—voted to condemn the United States’ decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
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Coalition trouble ahead? Head of Kulanu faction says he will not support bill that defines Israel as a Jewish state.

By Tzvi Lev, INN

Finance Minister and Kulanu party head Moshe Kahlon announced at Sunday’s coalition meeting that he will oppose the Nationality Law due to what he said was its discrimination towards Israel’s non-Jewish citizens.

The proposal anchors the fact that the State of Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people and states that Hebrew is the official language of the state, while the Arabic language is granted “special status”. The city of Jerusalem is affirmed as the capital of the State of Israel.
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PressTV (Iran) Sun Dec 24, 2017

Informed Palestinian officials say Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman tried to persuade Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to agree to a so-called Middle East peace plan put forward by the US during a recent meeting.

Abbas held talks with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and the crown prince in Riyadh earlier this week.

The meetings came days after Abbas formally declared that Palestinians would no longer accept the US as a mediator to resolve the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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T. Belman. Israel prevented the PA from opening their offices in the Orient House in Jerusalem many years ago and she will prevent anyone from opening an Embassy in the eastern part of Jerusalem. It was a mistake to allow the US to open a Consulate in Jerusalem which serves as the US Embassy to the PA.

IMRA

TEHRAN, Dec. 24 (MNA) – The Malaysian deputy prime minister said that his country would follow Turkey in opening embassy in east Jerusalem to recognize the holy city as the capital of Palestine.

Deputy Malaysian Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has said that his country would open an embassy in occupied East Jerusalem, a report stated, reported the official website of the International Middle East Media Center.

Speaking to local media, the prime minister said that the cabinet would, next month, discuss a proposal by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak for Malaysia to follow Turkey in opening an embassy in east Jerusalem to recognize the city as the Palestinian capital.
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Proposed legislation would allow Israel to strip residency status from Palestinians in Jerusalem, Golan Heights under certain conditions, like involvement in terrorism

By Jonathan Lis, HAARETZ

People walk in front of closed stores in an East Jerusalem neighborhood, September 20, 2017. Olivier Fitoussi

A bill giving the interior minister the authority to strip Palestinians living in Jerusalem or the Golan Heights of their permanent residency status under certain conditions will be submitted to a coalition committee for review on Sunday.

The bill, known as the Mohammed Abu Tir bill, would allow Israel to strip Palestinians in Jerusalem or the Golan Heights of their residency if they are involved in terrorism or have committed breach of trust against the state. The committee will vote on whether the coalition will support the bill.
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