By Michael Derfler
“…[T]he values of the State of Israel as a Jewish state are those universal values common to members of democratic society….” Aharon Barak
“Zionism should not – and will not – bow before a system of individual rights interpreted universally….” Ayelet Shaked
“… a person cannot rise to the broad circle of universalism except by means of one’s strong connection to his own people….” Rav Kook
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked speaks at a conference of the Israel Bar Association, August 29, 2017
Last Tuesday, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked spoke at an Israeli Bar Association conference. What she said constituted an ideological manifesto of great importance, much more so than the particular issue she spoke about, the Supreme Court decision on the rights of the state versus those of illegal immigrants:
“Israel of 2017 is a country that’s constitutionally made up of crisscrossing individual rights, without its Basic Laws referencing Israel being the nation state of the Jewish people,” Shaked lamented.
“Zionism has become a blind spot for the judiciary,” she continued. “Questions concerning it have become irrelevant. National challenges are a judicial blind spot, not at all to be considered in today’s climate, and certainly not to be ruled in favor of when faced with individual rights issues.
By Geoffrey Clarfield and Salim Mansur, NATIONAL POST
Arab nationalism is dead. It lasted for 100 years and it has suddenly disappeared. In the former states of now war-torn Libya, Syria and Iraq, speaking Arabic now means nothing. However, being a member of a family, lineage or clan of either the Shia, Sunnis, Christians, Druze, Yazidi, Tuareg or Bedouin means everything. The “Arab League” is now totally dysfunctional.
From Morocco to Malaysia, Islamic jihadis go from one place to another in support of recently created political entities like the Taliban, al-Qaida, or ISIL. Nations and their borders now count for nothing. Yet the new Pope has just recognized yet another Arab state, “Palestine.” Perhaps this is because he has critically misread how Arab entities really rise and fall.
By Andrew McCarthy, NATIONAL REVIEW
The question is impeachment, not indictment. Where are the calls for obstruction charges?
On the matter of President Donald Trump’s pardon of Sheriff Joseph Arpaio, just about any bad thing that could be said has been said. This is the second of a two-part series on the subject, and in the first I described the pardon as “unmerited, unnecessary, and impulsive.”
My words were pretty tame compared with those of other disapproving commentators. But one word you didn’t hear much was “obstruction.” The word “impeachment” has been invoked here and there. Such talk is fairly muted in Democratic circles, though, at least where the Arpaio pardon is concerned. This apparent smidgeon of self-awareness is welcome.
In the context of impeachment, Trump’s clemency grant cannot be discussed without inviting comparisons to disgraceful pardons and commutations issued by Presidents Obama and Clinton.
By David Prentice, AMERICAN THINKER
The Democratic Party, that is. I doubt it was Trump’s intent to make them into the broken, bitter, crazy, power-mad, yet powerless party they have become, but it happened. He did not start the fissures; he did not start their downward spiral. Humpty-Dumpty had already begun to split his eggshell, but when Trump won, Humpty simply jumped. And shattered. And none of the progressive horses, and none of their non-gendered genders can put him back together again.
One main attribute of Donald Trump was his willingness to break the code of political correctness. That was who he was, and it helped him win. Plain-spoken, he didn’t give a damn whether he upset the modern-day Pharisees’ tables. He didn’t give a damn about current sacred cows. He pointed them out, and the world still can’t believe it.
Inquiry and Analysis Series Report No. 1339
After Trump’s Afghanistan Speech, Pakistani Leaders Declare: ‘Pakistan Will Become The Graveyard Of U.S. Soldiers’; ‘U.S. Must Not Think Of The Nuclear Pakistan As Its Colony’
By: Tufail Ahmad*
This paper reviews Pakistani leaders’ reactions to the U.S. President Donald Trump’s Afghanistan policy speech. On August 21, 2017, Trump delivered a speech outlining the new U.S. strategy on Afghanistan and South Asia. He noted that “hard-won gains” in Iraq “slipped back into the hands of terrorist enemies” in 2011 because “America hastily and mistakenly withdrew [its troops from Iraq].” Reversing former president Barack Obama’s strategy, which centered on exit dates, Trump outlined “a shift from a time-based approach to one based on conditions” for U.S. troops to exit war zones because it was “counterproductive… to announce in advance the dates we intend to begin, or end, military options.”
US has struggled to formulate a policy towards Turkey that satisfies all its needs.
When it comes to Turkey, the US is faced with a dilemma. Initial enthusiasm for regime change in Syria gradually waned when it was realized that one of the actors in the proxy war, Turkey, was furthering its own agenda with US support. The spectacular failure of the half-a-billion-dollar program to train Syrian rebels was one marker to signal the end of this policy and make way for another objective: the defeat of Islamic State.
A few days ago, The Financial Times reported that the European car industry is rubbing its hands with glee in Iran. Renault has signed an agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran worth $ 660 million. Peugeot had preceded it with a 400 million contract. Volkswagen is also returning to Tehran after 17 years.
While the leaders of the car business came to the ayatollahs to sign contracts, an Iranian delegation met with the leaders of the Hamas terrorist movement.
Self-radicalization is a Leftist oxymoron – it simply does not exist. Radicalization is an interactive social phenomenon. Radicalization happens socially in mosques. Radicalization happens socially in cultural centers. Radicalization happens socially in prisons. Radicalization happens socially in schools. Radicalization happens socially in homes. Radicalization happens socially on social media. Radicalization is not a monologue – it is a dialogue with Islam and there are no lone wolves. Like the bogus Benghazi video, the lone wolf chimera is pure Leftist fiction created to quell public fear and deflect attention away from the clear and present danger of the spread of Islam in America.
Israeli and US experts say Pyongyang can no longer be reined in, but there’s still a chance to thwart Tehran’s atomic ambitions
For Iran, the atomic-armed North Korea offers a glimpse of a possible future, 20 years down the line, in which it has a nuclear weapon but paid a dear price for it.
The two countries have wildly different societies, and while North Korea has already created atomic bombs, Iran is not yet believed to possess any. But as international pariahs hell-bent on stocking nuclear weapons and the ballistic missiles to deliver them, Pyongyang and Tehran are inextricably linked.
T. Belman. I have know the author for at least 6 years during which time we have often communicated. He has a very unusual way of studying what is happening and relies on what leaders do, not what they say. His work is always worth reading. He focuses on Jews and Israel to a large extent.
By Francisco Gil-White, HIRHOME
Will Trump be different? Israeli patriots expect him to be. After all, he postures as an enemy of Iran and ISIS. But, what evidence will be diagnostic that Trump really is delivering on his Mideast promises?
By Glenn Thrush and Maggie Haberman, NYT – Sept 1/17
WASHINGTON — President Trump was in an especially ornery mood after staff members gently suggested he refrain from injecting politics into day-to-day issues of governing after last month’s raucous rally in Arizona, and he responded by lashing out at the most senior aide in his presence.
It happened to be his new chief of staff, John F. Kelly.
Mr. Kelly, the former Marine general brought in five weeks ago as the successor to Reince Priebus, reacted calmly, but he later told other White House staff members that he had never been spoken to like that during 35 years of serving his country. In the future, he said, he would not abide such treatment, according to three people familiar with the exchange.
It is time for the Make America Great Again (MAGA) performance review. How have Candidate Trump’s campaign promises fared in President Trump’s White House?
When ex-president Obama promised President Trump the customary peaceful transition of power President Trump believed him – it was a devastating mistake and catastrophic for MAGA. Our new President is a savvy businessman and America needs his business expertise – but government business is even dirtier and more corrupt than the New York real estate business.
In real estate it is far easier to identify your enemies – in government the swamp creatures are camouflaged by their ever-changing colors, deceitful smiles, and ability to adapt. Swamp creatures are entirely self-serving – there are no teams or loyalties in the swamp – just survival.
In a staggering admission of ongoing partisan protectionism the FBI just announced there was not enough “public interest” to release the information requested to further investigate Hillary’s unsecured basement email server.
The FBI has denied NY attorney Ty Clevenger his FOIA request for Hillary Clinton’s documents due to “lack of public interest.” Now that is a new one!
Mr. Clevenger recently received an asinine explanation from FBI records management section chief David Hardy saying, “You have not sufficiently demonstrated that the public’s interest in disclosure outweighs personal privacy interests of the subject.” The stunning arrogance of this FBI response is rivaled only by former FBI director Comey’s recommendation against prosecuting Hillary after publicly articulating the powerful case for proceeding with prosecution.
In America, four liberal rabbinic organizations have scrapped their participation in the annual conference call in which the president traditionally offers his greetings for the Jewish New Year.
Their reason? President Donald Trump’s statements about the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville were “lacking in moral leadership and empathy for the victims of racial and religious hatred.”
After that rally, which gave rise to a violent counterprotest and the murder of a young woman when a white supremacist driver plowed his car into a group of “antifa” (or anti-fascist) protesters, Trump provoked widespread fury by observing there had been violence on both sides.
The Kurds have been hoping to hold the referendum for independence since 2013
If the leaders of Iraqi Kurdistan aren’t intimidated into standing down, on September 25, the people of Iraqi Kurdistan will go to the polls to vote on a referendum for independence.
The Kurds have been hoping to hold the referendum since 2013.
Whereas Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu restated his support for Kurdish independence earlier this month in a meeting with a delegation of visiting Republican congressmen, the Trump administration has urged Kurdish President Masoud Barzani and his colleagues to postpone the referendum indefinitely.
Israeli residents suffer shortage from Arab pirate connections to water company pipes.
Yehuda Reines, a veteran farmer who lives in the northern Jordan Valley town of Mehola, told Arutz Sheva that the residents of the area face a severe water shortage which causes thousands of acres of agriculture to remain completely dry because of the water theft perpetrate by Arabs living in nearby villages.
The water theft is carried out systematically all year round, but in recent days it seems that the theft has reached record levels.
“There is no water in the morning in all the agricultural areas,” Reines said. He explained that there is a water drilling site near [the town of] Mehola, which was established in the 1970s. and since then the Arabs have been setting up pirate connections to steal water from the Mekorot [water company] pipes. According to Reines, the thefts had been relatively small-scale and did not concern the residents very much until relatively recently.
