It is more about countering Iran than making peace

ECONOMIST

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP casts himself as a master negotiator. But when he talks of trying to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians, he often sounds less confident. It is a “complex subject”, the “toughest deal of all”, said Mr Trump in September. Still, he rates his chances of success as “very, very good”.

A peace plan from the administration, expected in September, is now due in January. Mr Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner (pictured, centre), is leading the effort. He is being helped by Jason Greenblatt, the president’s envoy to the Middle East; David Friedman, the ambassador to Israel; and Dina Powell, a deputy national-security adviser. The first three are orthodox Jews who do not conceal their pro-Israel sympathies.
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by Hilal Khashan, Stratfor Worldview, November 22, 2017

http://www.meforum.org/7035/for-saudi-arabia-all-politics-is-local

It’s not every day that a German foreign minister warns a Saudi leader against “adventurism.”

The recent political shake-up in Saudi Arabia extends beyond the kingdom’s borders. On Nov. 4, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri resigned from office unexpectedly after being hastily summoned to Riyadh. Reports that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman coerced Hariri, a Saudi citizen, to step down while in custody created a wave of international backlash.

Officials from the United Kingdom, the European Union and Germany all spoke out, condemning Saudi Arabia’s meddling in Lebanon’s domestic politics. France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, brought the full weight of French diplomacy to bear on the situation and invited Hariri to Paris to ensure his freedom. Despite Riyadh’s insistence that it had not restricted his movement, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel issued a stern warning against keeping the former prime minister from traveling to France and said Europe would not abide Saudi Arabia’s “adventurism.”
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By Rabbi Pruzansky

When it comes to the establishment of a Palestinian state, Trump won’t put up with Netanyahu’s dismissiveness, Israeli diplomatic source says ? White House denies report as ‘false’

By Yosi Verter,  HAARETZ

U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan for an agreement with the Palestinians is in its final stages of preparation. The prevailing view is that it will be submitted to the parties involved early next year. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be forced to accept it, even if he’s not pleased with all its details. “Trump is about to put forward a plan, and I have no intention of quarreling with him,” he told a coalition party leader recently.

A diplomatic source who is often in the U.S. and meets with Trump’s aides related that there’s disappointment with Netanyahu in Trump’s circles. “They think we stretched the rope too far,” he said. In what way, I asked. “They want us to implement confidence-building measures in relation to the Palestinians, and we say no to every request,” the source replied.
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BREITBART

EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — The Latest on mosque attack in Egypt (all times local):

7:30 p.m.

Egyptian state news agency MENA is reporting that the death toll from an attack on a mosque in the volatile northern Sinai Peninsula has risen to 235 people killed. The attack appeared to be the latest by the area’s local Islamic State affiliate. It added that 109 people had been wounded.

The attack on the al-Rawdah mosque, largely attended by Sufi Muslims, in the town of Bir al-Abd, 40 km (25 miles) from the North Sinai provincial capital of El-Arish.

Officials said militants in four off-road vehicles bombed the mosque and fired on worshippers during the sermon segment of Friday prayers.
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by ADAM SHAW, BREITBART

Arguably one of President Trump’s most destructive moves in the wake of his historic victory a year ago was to install his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner as key advisors in the West Wing.

The apparently different worldview has clashed with that of Trump’s base on a number of occasions, as well as a number of stumbles by the pair who are reportedly known within the West Wing as “the royal family.”

With Kushner’s influence reportedly waning, these seven will make you thankful “Javanka” are falling, not rising in influence in the Trump White House.

Here are some of their worst moments:
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Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken blasts move on Twitter, calls PM Netanyahu, right-wing politicians “murderers in suits” for deciding to deport migrants to Rwanda • Netanyahu: Attacks only strengthen my resolve to remove illegal migrants from Israel.

Shooting and bomb attack at al-Rawdah mosque in Bir al-Abd said to target worshipers at Friday prayers

By TOI STAFF

As many as 55 people are believed dead in a terror attack that targeted a mosque in northern Sinai, Egyptian media report.

Egyptian security officials say the attack left dozens of casualties, with one figure reaching as high as 75.
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By James Lewis, AMERICAN THINKER

What’s a witch-hunter to do when there’s no witch, and witchcraft itself turns out to be imaginary? When even the latest accusation against the biggest scapegoat of the house is a crock?

Alan Dershowitz, a liberal in good standing with occasional fits of constitutional sanity, has called on Bob Mueller, aka “The Special Prosecutor,” to resign, ’cause there’s no there there.

Professor Dershowitz points out that Trump may be guilty of sins “but not crimes.” Well, if POTUS Trump is a sinner, I hope the Lord forgives him, along with the rest of us. But if all sinners went to Hell, there would be no room for the rest of us.

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By Vic Rosenthal

The most basic rule in dealing with the Saudis and their friends is that Israel must not feel that it has to pay anything for peace, anything at all. Nothing. Zilch. Zero. Nada. – Dr. Mordechai Kedar

Dr. Kedar is talking about Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states, but this is true for all of Israel’s foreign relations. So many times when dealing with Europe, the US, and of course Arab countries, agreements are made contingent on concessions on the “Palestinian issue.” And what does that mean? Usually it implies acceptance to some degree of the “Palestinian narrative,” namely that we Jews came along and dispossessed the “native” Palestinian Arabs, and now if we want to be left alone (never mind being treated like a normal nation and not the spawn of Satan) we need to make it up to them. Often the concessions demanded lead directly to the destruction of our state, but hey, the Jews lived so happily as a  Diaspora in the Christian and Muslim spheres for thousands of years, so why would that be a problem?
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T. Belman. I am bothered by this piling on. What she said was totally acceptable. She should be allowed to make her point, not shouted down by people who disagree or demand that she be politically correct.

Apology follows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s threat to fire her and withering criticism from both Israel and the US.

By Herb Keinon, JPOST

Amid numerous calls from Israeli politicians and US Jewish leaders for her dismissal, and after a threat by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do just that, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely apologized Thursday evening for comments she had made that were deemed disparaging of American Jewry.

“American Jewry is very important to me,” she said in a filmed statement. “The connection, the dialogue like that between siblings in a family, is the most important thing.
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Amidst uproar over Tzipi Hotovely’s comments on ‘American Jews,’ Israeli Chief Rabbi suggests looking at demographic data of American Jewry.

By Eliran Aharon, INN

Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi David Lau, was careful not to respond to the storm caused by Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely’s remarks, but suggested looking at official figures on American Jewry and drawing conclusions accordingly.

In an interview with i24 on Wednesday, Hotovely said she has used her position to try to bring American Jews closer to Israel, and hopes that more Jews from North America immigrate to the Jewish state.
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T. Belman. Remember that almost 100% of these “refugees” are not real refugees. They are the children of refugees or their children.

Half the “Palestinian refugees” in Lebanon have emigrated abroad. Hamas official fears the phenomenon will affect the “right of return”.

By Dalit Halevi, INN

The number of “Palestinian refugees” in Lebanon has decreased significantly over the past few years and many are leaving for other countries to try to improve their situation.

In an interview with the Hamas newspaper Palestine on Thursday, Hamas’s representative in Lebanon Ali Baraka said that some 260,000 “Palestinian refugees” had left the refugee camps in Lebanon to various countries in recent years because of the difficult security and economic conditions.
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Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit says that provisions of the law could create “severe discrimination” that favors the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria • He warns it could be abused by settlers who knowingly build on private Palestinian land.

By Yair Altman, Gideon Allon and Efrat Forsher

Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit reiterated his opposition on Wednesday to the Judea and Samaria Settlement Regulation Law, which allows the government to retroactively approve homes on private property.

“There is no way around the fact that this law is unconstitutional and must be struck down,” Mendelblit told the High Court of Justice. “It does not pass constitutional muster,” he added.

Mendelblit said that the law was designed to protect those that may have built their homes without the proper permits or ownership rights so long as they did so in good faith, but he stressed that in practice it could be used to help those who knowingly seek to violate the law in cases where the homes were built on contested plots that may be privately owned by Palestinians.
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