By Robert Romano

So, wait, the whole supposed Russian collusion effort with the Trump campaign had nothing to do with the Democratic National Committee (DNC) or John Podesta emails or Wikileaks at all, but actually centered on a June 2016 meeting with Donald Trump, Jr. and a Russian attorney over supposed dirt she had on Hillary Clinton about her dealings with Russia?

And then the attorney used the meeting as an opportunity to instead talk about U.S. sanctions against 18 Russian individuals and Russia blocking U.S. adoption of Russian children in response?

That’s the collusion? The conspiracy? The treason?
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by Steve Kramer

On July 7, UNESCO declared the old city in Hebron as a Palestinian world heritage site, outraging Israelis who say the move attempts to erase the deep Jewish ties to the biblical town and its ancient shrine. So, is Hebron no longer incredibly significant to the Jews because the UN says so? Of course not! Most people are not even aware of the ridiculous UNESCO decision. But this insult is but one more reason that Israel must change its public diplomacy (hasbara) from reactive to proactive, from conciliatory to aggressive. The Israel Victory Project intends to do just that.

Devised by the Middle East Forum, a venerable pro-Israel NGO founded by Dr. Daniel Pipes, the project includes the Congressional Israel Victory Caucus (CIVC), which the Forum helped launch in Washington, D.C. in April and the Knesset Israel Victory Caucus, inaugurated this July. Both caucuses will advocate a new strategy to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, centered on Israel’s defeat of enemies who seek its destruction and equally important, ending the emphasis by Israel on making ‘painful concessions.’ Instead, the onus will be placed on Palestinians to recognize Israel as the Jewish state. Read more…

T. Belman. I watched last night’s Fox News and was disappointed to hear some of the hosts acknowledging that Trump’s administration is in disarray. They recommended bringing in better people. Nonsense. Considering all the flack Trump is forced to endure, his productivity is remarkable. And the GOP is piling on for the most part doing its part to slow him down.

By Roger Stone, STONE COLD TRUTH

The old saying that goes; “give ’em enough rope and they’ll hang themselves” has never been more accurate than in the lynching that CNN and other fake news media has inflicted upon itself. They bet their whole pot on the Trump/Russia collusion story which has after an entire year has come up with zero. So, what now? An apology perhaps?  Maybe a mass firing of those “news” announcers who set a new all-time low for truth in reporting? We should be so lucky. No, they just change the angle of fire. Trump is still the target but the charge now is sexism.

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Liberals prefer to put their heads in the sand

By Evan Barrett Algemeiner

American options for constraining the Islamic Republic of Iran are limited and problematic.

Sanctions inevitably hurt regular Iranians more than their government, because the regime uses its access to illicit markets to insulate the ruling class from the impacts of economic exile. In the military sphere, targeted airstrikes on particular facilities are unlikely to significantly impede Iran’s ability to develop nuclear technology — and an actual invasion of the Islamic Republic would come at unthinkable cost.

Nevertheless, the specter of war with Iran has caused many “responsible” liberals to actively seek a different sort of constraint: limits on the discussion or coverage of Iranian crimes. This deeply anti-democratic impulse — that an honest account of Iranian behavior would only lead to war — was a basic assumption of Obama-era Iran policy.

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T. Belman. After reading the email from Goldstone, who wouldn’t agree to a meeting. Everyone is always looking for information that would advance their campaign. Its human nature. Name me one reporter or politician who wouldn’t go to that meeting. The letter promised all kinds of delights yet the meeting delivered nothing. Was it just a publicists attempt to get Trump to meet with his client?

Also if the email was truthful, the sender would never have spelled it out so clearly. The sender would have been very cautious with his words.

BY Eitan Arom, JJ

The man behind Donald Trump Jr.’s Kremlin connection is a British-born Jewish publicist who once worked as a reporter for a Jewish newspaper.

Rob Goldstone confirmed July 10 to The Washington Post that he had an exchange of emails with the son of then-candidate Donald Trump in 2016 to organize a meeting with Kremlin lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower in New York.

“The lawyer had apparently stated she had some information regarding illegal campaign contributions to the [Democratic National Committee] which she believed Mr. Trump Jr. might find important,” Goldstone said in a statement to the Post.

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By Ben Lynfield, JPOST

The ‘Post’ has learned that Saudi Arabia blocked access to the website Arab48 after it published articles that said the Saudis intended to normalize relations with the Jewish state.

Saudi Arabia has blocked access to a popular Israeli Arab website after it posted articles about alleged Saudi plans to normalize relations with Israel, and cited reports from the Hebrew press that Israeli officials are pleased with King Salman’s designation of his son Muhammad bin Salman as crown prince.

The Arab48 website, whose coverage is sympathetic to the hard-line anti-Zionist Balad party (part of the United List) and sharply critical of Israeli policies, was blocked in Saudi Arabia beginning on Thursday, according to its editor in chief Rami Mansour. That was four days after it published an article headlined: “Israel is betting on Saudi Arabia for normalization with the Arab world.”
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by Clifford Smith, The American Spectator

In a bold reversal of longstanding Israeli policy, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently called for dismantling the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and rolling its functions into the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR), which handles the rest of the world’s refugees. Previously, despite the multitude of failings of UNRWA, Israel has long cooperated with the group and hitherto opposed proposals to shut it down, fearing the humanitarian consequences and resulting instability.

“I regret that UNRWA, to a large degree, by its very existence, perpetuates — and does not solve — the Palestinian refugee problem,” Netanyahu said, referring to UNRWA’s expansive definition of a “refugee.”
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By Walter Russel Mead, WSJ

[..]
Great powers, on the other hand, do make history, and even as the hollow rituals of G-20 summitry unrolled, the great and the near-great powers were busy. The rising tension over North Korea’s missile program drove a flurry of Asia-centric diplomacy as the U.S., China, Russia, South Korea, India and Japan explored their options in closed bilateral sessions. Judging from its rhetoric, the Trump administration appears to believe its diplomatic options on this issue are rapidly disappearing. China so far refuses to impose the kind of isolation on North Korea that could threaten the regime’s existence, and Russian missile specialists are reported to be helping North Korea’s current efforts.

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T. Belman. So much for their agreement with the US not to fund terror. Thus the US is allowing them to fund Hamas. This also undermines the Dahlan deal that gave a foothold to UAE who were ready to do the funding. It also protects the MB which Saudi Arabia has designated a terrorist group. Why should the US protect Qatar when they help Iran advance its agenda?

Saudi Arabia and its allies have pressed Qatar to end its support to the pan-Arab Muslim Brotherhood movement, the historical parent of the militant Hamas group

Qatar vows support for Hamas in Gaza, hours after deal with U.S. to stop funding terror. Pictured: Rex Tillerson and Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani. AFP PHOTO / STRINGER

A Qatari envoy says the energy-rich nation will continue development projects in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, despite a rift with its Gulf neighbors stemming in part from its ties with the Islamic militant group.

Mohammed El-Amadi spoke Tuesday as he signed a new agreement with a Palestinian contractor to build eight residential buildings.
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T. Belman. This is very complex stuff. Calling Israel a democratic state handcuff’s the state and empowers the court. Instead the Knesset should craft a Bill of rights where they could specify what rights go only so far or what rights trump other rights.

The compromise in the current draft would allow the court to favour Israel’s Jewish character but would not force them to. It needs to say explicitly that when Democratic values are in conflict with Jewish values, the latter shall take precident.

I changed the title in Haaretz from “would” to “might”.

Draft is the latest proposal from Netanyahu’s governing coalition of the so-called nation-state bill that critics say would stifle democracy

A new version of a bill defining Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people would force the High Court of Justice to favor Israel’s Jewish character over its democratic character should the two conflict.

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Hezbollah building at least two subterranean facilities to manufacture medium-range rockets, sources tell Intelligence Online magazine

The Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group is constructing at least two underground facilities in Lebanon for manufacturing missiles and other weaponry, according to a report by the French Intelligence Online magazine.

Russia Scandal: No wonder former FBI Director James Comey refused to press charges last summer against Hillary Clinton for her egregious security breaches: It turns out, he may have been guilty of the same thing.

As the inside-the-beltway political publication The Hill reported, more than half of the memos FBI Director James Comey wrote after having spoken to President Trump about the Russia investigation contained classified information. The Hill cites as its sources “officials familiar with the documents.”

Not surprisingly, perhaps, Trump on Monday morning tweeted out an angry response: “James Comey leaked CLASSIFIED INFORMATION to the media. That is so illegal!”
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The Middle East Forum commissioned the Smith Institute to carry out a survey to find out what what Israelis think about convincing Palestinians that they lost their century-long war with Zionism.

what does the Jewish Israeli public think about convincing Palestinians that they lost their century-long war with Zionism, that the gig is up? In other words, what do Israelis think about winning? To find out, the Middle East Forum commissioned the Smith Institute to carry out a survey of 700 adult Israeli Jews. Carried out on June 27-28, the poll has a margin of error of 3.7%.

It reveals a widespread belief that a Palestinian recognition of defeat will eventually lead to an acceptance of Israel as the Jewish state, thereby ending the conflict.

Palestinian defeat: “A peace agreement with the Palestinians will only be possible once the Palestinian leadership recognizes the fact that it has been defeated in its struggle against Israel.” Overall, 58% of respondents agree, with opinion deeply polarized by political outlook: 69% on the Right concur but only 16% on the Left do so.

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United States and Qatar reach agreement on combating terror funding. Four Arab states that cut ties with Qatar: It’s not enough.

The United States and Qatar signed an agreement on Tuesday aimed at combating the financing of terrorism, as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Doha to try to end a month-long rift between Western-allied Arab states.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt imposed sanctions on Qatar last month, accusing it of financing extremist groups and allying with the Gulf Arab states’ arch-foe Iran, allegations Doha denies.

Tillerson said the agreement signed with his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, had been under discussion for weeks.
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By David Israel, JEWISH PRESS

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman on Monday told his Yisrael Beiteinu Knesset faction in no uncertain terms that the Qalqilya plan, permitting a section of the Arab city to expand into Israel’s Area C, is on, 360 reported. Liberman stressed that construction plans for Qalqilya had been implemented, and an estimated 6,300 homes are being built alongside the fences of Israeli settlements – effectively choking their connection to Israel.
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BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 525, July 11, 2017

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Indian PM Narendra Modi’s first visit to Israel is an affirmation of readiness, beyond mere symbolism, for an unprecedented expansion of collaboration between two democracies and two peoples. There is potential for such expansion on many levels: government-to-government, business-to-business, industry-to-industry, sector-to-sector, and people-to-people. Israel’s technological expertise in critical domains, and India’s good relations with the Gulf nations, including Iran, as well as with the G-77 group of nations (which often votes as a bloc at the UN), should augur well for new synergies that could prove beneficial for the region and for the Israel-Palestine conflict.

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As the search for evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government enters its second year, a senior congressional Republican sees mounting evidence that Russia has been engaged in a long-term campaign to disrupt the energy agenda now promoted by Donald Trump. Today the House Science Committee sent this column the following statement from Chairman Lamar Smith:

If you connect the dots, it is clear that Russia is funding U.S. environmental groups in an effort to suppress our domestic oil and gas industry, specifically hydraulic fracking. They have established an elaborate scheme that funnels money through shell companies in Bermuda. This scheme may violate federal law and certainly distorts the U.S. energy market. The American people deserve to know the truth and I am confident Secretary Mnuchin will investigate the allegations.

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