In short order, a mob surrounded the embassy…
BY Caroline B. Glick, JPOST, Dec 1/17
Five months ago, 28 year old Ziv Moyal, an Israeli security officer at Israel’s embassy in Amman, was stabbed in his apartment by a Jordanian assailant, whom he shot and killed.
Moyal also accidentally killed his Jordanian landlord, who was present on the scene.
Incited by the state-controlled media, the Jordanian public was whipped into an anti-Israel frenzy. In short order, a mob surrounded the embassy, to which Moyal and another 20 Israeli diplomats fled immediately after the incident.
For 24 hours, those Israeli diplomats, led by Ambassador Einat Schlein were besieged.
Despite the fact that they are barred from doing so under the Vienna Convention, Jordanian authorities demanded to interrogate Moyal. By refusing to enable the diplomats to safely return to Israel until Moyal submitted to questioning, they effectively held Schlein and her colleagues hostage.
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Why did it take so long to target the facility and in whose interest was it to reveal the facility to the public?
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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Kurt Lewin, the 20th century German-American psychologist, is recognized as the founder of social psychology – the study of how the personality, attitudes, motivations, and behavior of the individual influences and is influenced by the group.
Lewin studied group dynamics and organizational development and challenged the prevailing “nature vs nurture” debate on behavior. Departing from conventional psychological theory, he developed a mathematical equation of behavior which claimed that an individual’s immediate situation – not necessarily past influences – was a strong determinant of behavior.
Lewin’s equation, B = f (P,E) contends that behavior is a function of the person in his environment, what he called that person’s “life space” or “field.” Lewin theorized that neither nature nor nurture was enough to explain an individual’s behavior – that it was the interaction between the individual and his constantly changing environment that produced the result.
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
It’s time to end the Washington myth that the United States must tread carefully in confronting Qatar over its support for Iran, Hamas and radical Islamic groups in order to avoid losing access to a strategic U.S. air base.
As someone who helped establish U.S. air operations in Qatar in 2001, I can say two things with great confidence: the U.S. military can leave Qatar just as quickly and painlessly as it arrived; and Qatar needs America far more than America needs Qatar.
Less than 48 hours after the planes hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, I landed in Qatar to establish a new air operations hub at Al-Udeid Air Base, just outside Doha, to support the coming war in Afghanistan. The Qataris had built Al-Udeid in the 1990s as an immaculate, albeit terribly oversized, base for their own air force.
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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.
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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This week the conflict between liberal and progressive elements in American Jewry and the government of Israel was escalated.
On November 16, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the American Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), and others tried to push their way (see video here) into the Western Wall area carrying Torah scrolls in defiance of rules established by the Orthodox authorities that manage the site, intending to pass them to members of the Women of the Wall group, also in violation of the rules. They ultimately succeeded after a shoving match with security guards and ultra-Orthodox protesters.
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The United Arab Emirates consider fighting the terror organizations spawned by the Muslim Brotherhood as a crucial mission.
Mustapha Tossa is a French journalist whose family moved to France from Morocco and who works for several French media outlets covering events in the Middle East. Tossa interviewed me about two years ago and I told him then that the emirate model is the only socio-political model capable of governing a functioning, legitimate Arab state which provides its citizens with a comfortable, orderly life. I claimed that any Middle Eastern state based on Western political constructs or European administrative paradigms would soon join the fate of Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya.
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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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Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson in September at the White House. CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times
WASHINGTON — The White House has developed a plan to force out Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, whose relationship with President Trump has been strained, and replace him with Mike Pompeo, the C.I.A. director, perhaps within the next several weeks, senior administration officials said on Thursday.
Mr. Pompeo would be replaced at the C.I.A. by Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas who has been a key ally of the president on national security matters, according to the White House plan. Mr. Cotton has signaled that he would accept the job if offered, said the officials, who insisted on anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations before decisions are announced.
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?
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.
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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By Mudar Zahran
The looming crisis between Qatar and several Gulf states came as a shock to many. Before that, the Gulf Cooperation Council was viewed as a club of rich and stable Arab regimes. Nonetheless, Saudi Arabia is now leading a push to punish Qatar through isolation. This hsa generated much media attention and ‘expert’ focus by pundits of the Middle East. Still none of those seems to have hit the core of the subject: This crisis is deeper than what anyone guesses and it will have an impact on the entire region, including Israel.
To begin with, the main cause of the rift between Saudi Arabia and Qatar could be summed up in three words: The Muslim Brotherhood (MB). Saudis wants the MB gone, so does UAE and Egypt. Nonetheless, Qatar and Jordan are both pro-MB and have invested too heavily in the Islamist group to let it go easily.
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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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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UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer says ‘torrent of one-sided resolutions’ against Israel ‘is surreal’ while no criticism of Palestinians for attacks on Israelis
10 November 2017,
The UN General Assembly was expected to condemn Israel nine times on Friday as “part of its annual ritual of enacting 20 Arab-sponsored resolutions singling out the Jewish state,” an NGO said.
While Israel was being slammed for a variety of alleged infringements, there would be no mention made of “Hamas stabbings, shootings or vehicular attacks against Israelis,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based monitoring group UN Watch.
In speech to Israeli Americans rapping the UN, American envoy says she won’t allow repeat of Obama’s ‘betrayal’ of Israel
By Ron Kampeas, TOI NOV 5/17
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The United States is ready to pull out of the UN Human Rights Council unless it institutes reforms, including removing Israel as a permanent item on its agenda, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley told an Israeli American audience.
“The Human Rights Council will either adopt these reforms, or the United States will leave,” Haley said to applause at the annual Washington conference of the Israeli American Council.
