HOW TO UNDERSTAND ISRAEL’S STRIKE ON SYRIA

By Amos Yadlin
New York Times (op-ed)
Sept. 8, 2017

In the early hours of Thursday night, according to the Syrian Army, the Israeli Air Force attacked a military site in the Syrian town of Masyaf that produces advanced missiles. Though the attack does not compare in strategic value to Syria’s Al Kibar nuclear reactor, which the Israeli Air Force destroyed a decade ago, it represents a major step in the right direction for Israel’s policy toward Syria. This strike sent five key messages – messages that point toward Israel adopting a more proactive strategy in confronting the threats posed by the Assad regime and its partners, Iran and Hezbollah.

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State Dept. wants Trump to demand money back, sparking fight in Congress

By Adam Kredo, FREE BEACON

The Trump administration is considering forcing Israel to hand back some $75 million in U.S. aid dollars that were awarded by Congress following a hotly contested effort by the Obama administration to financially limit the U.S.-Israel military alliance, according to senior Congressional sources and others familiar with the situation.

Congress allocated Israel an additional $75 million in U.S. aid last year, bringing the total package to around $38 billion, despite attempts by the Obama administration to restrict Israeli efforts to lobby Congress in favor of greater funding for several key military projects.

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JEWISH PRESS

Israel’s State Prosecutor’s office issued request to the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on behalf of Police Chief Roni Alsheich, that a permanent closure court order to be issued against a building on the Temple Mount near the Rachamim (Mercy) Gate, according to a report in Haaretz.

Until 2003, the building was used by an organization called the “Heritage Committee” which Israeli security forces said had strong ties to Hamas. The building was closed down, and the Islamic Waqf claims the “Heritage Committee” has ceased to exist, and the building belongs to the Waqf and they weren’t allowing any organizations to use it.

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Why do climate science deniers oppose gun control and Obamacare and support Israel? • Was the Charlottesville neo-Nazi rally a surprise? • How are conditions for Muslim refugees in Europe? • Host Steve Ganot speaks with gonzo journalist Tuvia Tenenbom.

Habayit Hayehudi MK Bezalel Smotrich is offering Palestinians a choice: staying in Israel and making peace, being paid to emigrate, or ultimately losing a war against the IDF • What they will never have, he says, is a state of their own in Israel.

By Nadav Shragai, ISRAEL HAYOM

The ongoing alienation of political correctness from the Bible is having an effect. Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely saw that first-hand two years ago when she suggested that her ministry’s senior diplomatic personnel adopt the writings of 11th-century biblical commentator Rashi as a PR weapon to demonstrate that the Jewish people are the rightful owners of the land of Israel.

MK Bezalel Smotrich (Habayit Hayehudi) experienced the same thing when he sought to apply the three edicts that the biblical Joshua (as the story recounts) sent to the denizens of the land just before he entered it as a guide for how we should treat the Palestinians today: “Whoever desires to make peace, let him make peace; whoever desires to leave, let him leave; and whoever desires to make war, let him make war.”

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By Leah Barkukis, TOWNHALL

Nikki Haley, the now U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, declined to be under consideration for Secretary of State, she said in an interview with CNN.

“I’m very aware of when things are right and when they are not,” Haley said. “I just thought he could find someone better.”

Haley worried her resume wasn’t a right fit for the position. Her experience as governor prepared her to handle a lot of things, but being in charge of American diplomacy wasn’t one of them.

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Civil rights dreamer Martin Luther King Jr. had a 20th century dream. He dreamed that one day all children would be judged by the content of their character not the color of their skin. Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed an American dream that embraced our country’s racial ideals of freedom and equality.

Patriotic dreamer President John F. Kennedy had a 20th century dream. He dreamed that Americans would ask what they could do for their country not what their country could do for them. John F. Kennedy dreamed an American dream that embraced our country’s patriotic ideals of freedom and equality.

JFK was alive to hear King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Both men were assassinated – their dreams shattered by bullets.

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Exceptional strike, attributed to Israel, signals Netanyahu can disrupt a ceasefire in Syria if Israel’s security interests are ignored

By Amos Harel, HAARETZ

Trump and Putin are the real targets of Israel’s alleged strike in Syria. FILE PHOTO: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu standing next to an Israeli ‘Adir’ F-35 stealth fighter GPO, Kobi Gideon

The incident that occurred early Thursday in western Syria – the bombing of an arms plant that the foreign media is attributing to the Israel Air Force – is exceptional both in its target and its timing. In an interview with Haaretz last month, outgoing air force chief Amir Eshel said that over the past five years the air force had launched attacks on the northern front and elsewhere nearly 100 times.

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By Israel Harel, HAARETZ

The question is whether the army will receive orders to strike first – before Iran-Hezbollah demolishes our cities while destroying defense and economic infrastructure

There’s a reason why some people call Israel’s army the “Israel Containment Forces.” For many years, including (or especially) the Second Lebanon War, the IDF did not truly aspire, as an army going to war must aspire, to defeat the enemy once and for all, in other words to neutralize its capacity to further endanger the lives of Israel’s citizens, soldiers and infrastructure.

This week, “unconnected to the threats issued by Hezbollah,” the army began conducting wide-scale and widely reverberating maneuvers, the objective being to preparing the army to contend with the Lebanese terrorist organization. This time, the military commentators wrote and broadcast, the “intention” is clear: to finish (the word expressly used by the exercise’s commander) the enemy.

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The policies of the Obama administration led to carnage in Syria, regional chaos, and the rise of Iran and its alliance with Russia. Can the momentum be reversed—without going to war?

ESSAY MICHAEL DORAN AND PETER ROUGH, MOSAIC SEPT. 5 2017

During last year’s presidential campaign, Donald Trump promised to do a great deal more in the Middle East than his immediate predecessors, but with much less. That is, he would achieve significantly more than Barack Obama at a much smaller sacrifice of blood and treasure than was incurred under George W. Bush. This he would accomplish by defining American interests sharply and pursuing them aggressively, not to say ruthlessly. The result would be a global restoration of American credibility and, as Trump never ceased to remind voters, renewed global respect.

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By Nikki Haley

It’s not every day that there’s good news to report from the United Nations. Last week, we got some good news, as the UN Security Council voted to significantly strengthen its efforts to stop the Hezbollah terrorists in southern Lebanon.

The clouds of war have been gathering right under the nose of a UN peacekeeping force. At the direction of its Iranian patron, Hezbollah has amassed an arsenal of weapons and battle hardened fighters in southern Lebanon. The situation is dangerous, but an agreement reached in the Security Council last week might prove to be a turning point.

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Pro-Palestinian state organization hints Israeli leaders, Chief of Staff would be tried for war crimes if illegal Arab outposts evacuated.

By Mordechai Sones. INN

In a letter sent by the Executive Director of the pro-Palestinian state B’Tselem organization, it was implicitly threatened that the Prime Minister, cabinet ministers and the IDF Chief of Staff would “bear personal responsibility” were Israel to enforce the law against illegal Palestinian Arab outposts in the Susiya and Ma’aleh Adumim areas.

A letter from Executive Director Hagai Elad implicitly suggests that the entire hierarchy of senior officials may be personally charged at the International Court of Justice in The Hague for war crimes.

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By Francisco Gil-White, HIR

What does Trump’s bullying of Mexico have to do with supporting jihad and undermining Israel? Oddly enough, everything. By thus tugging at people’s identity-based emotions, Trump’s handlers divide the political field and weaken opposition to their dangerous policies. It’s psychological warfare. Trump is a con artist. And you’ve been conned.

In previous installments of this series, we’ve seen HIR’s ‘cartel’ model— which predicts that Trump’s policies in the Middle East will be, in substance, like Obama’s—rack some successes. The model makes four claims:

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For the first time, an American president has pushed Israel into a situation where it must divide its strategic planning between two rival powers

By Zvi Bar’el, HAARETZ

Russia’s threat to veto the UN Security Council resolution renewing UNIFIL’s mandate in Lebanon if it cited Hezbollah as a terrorist organization appears to reflect an approach that could undermine Israel’s security interests. As Barak Ravid reported in Monday’s Haaretz, it also attests to the fierce disagreements between Israel and Russia on proposed arrangements in Syria.

Admittedly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov moved swiftly to reject this interpretation, saying, “We told the Israelis that if they have any worries about their security being impacted, there is no reason to worry, since we are committed to ensuring that this doesn’t happen.” But his statement probably didn’t reassure Jerusalem.

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By Daniel First, AMERICAN THINKER

MK Bezalel Smotrich calls on state to pay Arab residents of Israel and Judea and Samaria to voluntarily emigrate abroad • “This is not a transfer,” he emphasizes • “National aspirations? Palestinians? Not here. Not at our expense,” he states

By Nadav Shragai, ISRAEL HAYOM

A new plan put forward by Habayit Hayehudi MK Bezalel Smotrich would see the government pay Arab residents of Israel and Judea and Samaria to voluntary emigrate abroad.

Smotrich will present his plan at a National Union conference next week, where he believes the party will adopt it.

“This is not a transfer,” Smotrich stressed. “Some 20,000 Palestinians already leave Judea and Samaria every year. Surveys they themselves conduct reveal that 30% aspire to relocate abroad. I will help them with this, fairly, with full monetary compensation, and not by force. It will be cheaper than the wars and military operations [we see] every few years.”

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