Meetings held in Jordan and Europe days before Moscow and Washington announced the Syria deal. Jerusalem raised objections that pact empowers Iran, allies in war-torn country

By Barak Ravid, HAARETZ

Israel, the United States and Russia held a series of secret meetings early last month in Amman and in a European capital regarding the cease-fire in southern Syria. The parties focused in part on the establishment of “safe zones” on the Syrian-Israeli and Syrian-Jordanian borders, according to Israeli officials and Western diplomats.

At these meetings, which were held a few days before Russia and the United States announced the cease-fire agreement, Israel presented numerous objections to the deal, saying the two powers were not paying enough attention to the importance of removing Iranian forces from Syria.

Read more…

DEBKA

In a White Paper published last week, the Japanese Defense Ministry concluded that there is evidence that North Korea had achieved miniaturization of nuclear weapons, meaning that it could build a nuclear warhead small enough to fit onto an intercontinental ballistic missile. “North Korea’s development of ballistic missiles and its nuclear program are becoming increasingly real and presenting imminent problems for the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan, as well as the rest of the world,” said the Japanese report.

The report caused more shock than it should have when it finally reached the world media on Tuesday, Aug. 8, because their US intelligence sources were fully aware of what was going on for some time. They are now reporting that there may be as many as 60 nukes in the North Korean arsenal.

Read more…

By Rebecca Savransky, THE HILL

The new spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee (RNC) used her first interview in the position Tuesday to call for Republicans to rally behind President Trump.

Kayleigh McEnany, a former CNN commentator, said on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily that there are a “wealth of voices in the Republican Party.”

Read more…

by ANDREW C. MCCARTHY, NATIONAL REVIEW

The scope of the special counsel’s investigation remains unlimited, despite the deputy attorney general’s claim that it’s not a ‘fishing expedition.’

To what should be the surprise of no one, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has tried to defend his conferral of boundless jurisdiction to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of President Donald Trump. But the conferral is indefensible because Rosenstein failed to adhere to regulations that require a clear statement of the basis for a criminal investigation.

Read more…

By Dan Calabrese, CFP

One of the funniest things about the Beltway is that, when they talk amongst themselves, they often confirm everything people like us say about Washington and how it works. But they are so completely lacking in self-awareness that they don’t even realize that’s what they’re doing.

The Hill is one of the online publications most widely read by political types, and it’s considered a must-read inside the hallowed halls of power. These are the same halls of power, you’ll recall, where people scoff at the idea that there is a “deep state” working to undermine the Trump presidency. So imagine their surprise when The Hill, without really meaning to, confirmed over the weekend that everything we’ve been saying about the deep state is 100 percent true:

Read more…

For now Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked is paired with Habayit Hayehudi party leader Naftali Bennett. But when the right moment comes, she’ll be No. 1 and a candidate for prime minister

By Carolina Landsmann, HAARETZ

With the generosity of a hangman, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked appeared in Ynet’s studio this week and told all the heretics, those waiting with bated breath for the fall of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that he isn’t obligated to resign if he’s indicted.

This was Shaked at her best. “Let’s wait and see what happens,” she said, with considerable relish. “First, by law, the prime minister doesn’t have to resign.” After all, she wasn’t there to say anything good about Netanyahu. He needn’t resign not because he isn’t guilty, but because the law doesn’t require him to do so. Look how much Shaked respects the law.

Read more…

By Jonathan S Tobin,  NATIONAL REVIEW

Senators Booker and Gillibrand signal that they’ll march in step with the radical, anti-Israel Left.

The shift to the left by Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York demonstrates the power of a party base that is abandoning the Jewish state. Both were once rock-solid supporters of Israel. But both have other priorities these days — they are thinking about running for president in 2020. Their problem is that no one who plans to compete in future Democratic primaries can ignore the growing power of their party’s left wing, which has grown increasingly hostile to Israel.

The influence of the far left is the only thing that might explain why Booker and Gillibrand are presenting themselves to their party’s base as less than fully supportive of Israel. The context for this development is a sea change in the Democratic party that has been taking shape over the past two decades.

Read more…

By Matthew Boyle, BREITBART

Following troubling revelations and concerned raised about National Security Adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) announced it has undertaken a review and analysis of the top White House official’s positions, actions, and statements on Israel.

“Zionist Organization of America (‘ZOA’) issues the following statement in response to several media inquiries regarding General Herbert Raymond ‘H.R.’ McMaster’s tenure as President Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor,” ZOA said in a statement on Monday morning. “ZOA’s leadership is currently undertaking a comprehensive review of all publicly available facts and statements. Morton Klein, national president of ZOA, will be issuing a full statement later this week.”

Read more…

By Daniel pipes, ISRAEL HAYOM

A recent poll showed that Israelis want a tougher policy toward the Palestinians. And Palestinians, beyond occasional rampaging and murdering Israelis, what do they want

Shalem College Executive Vice President Dr. Dan Polisar reviewed opinion polls taken of Palestinians in recent years, and found that they hold three main views of Israel: It lacks a historical or religious justification, it is by nature aggressive, and it will soon disappear.

But attitudes might be changing slightly, judging by a recent poll that suggests a growing apathy toward the priorities of both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

Read more…

The Deep State forced Trump to
– sign Russian sanctions
– approve of Iran deal
– endorse McMaster
– install Kelly and authorize him to control all access and info getting to Trump
– allowed Sessions to avoid the big issues like attacking Obama, Clinton, Lynch, Wasserman-Shultz, etc

The Daily Beast reports two of the White House’s most senior officials are locked in a power struggle–and an internal ‘enemies list’ may be to blame.

THE DAILY BEAST

T. Belman. Nothing short of a conviction should lead to a resignation.

There are three possible timetables for Netanyahu’s legal process.

By Gil Hoffman, JPOST

Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi was not just defending Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he said it would take a long time for the legal process in Netanyahu’s criminal investigations to take its course. He was speaking from experience.

Hanegbi became an expert on the Israeli legal system after serving as Netanyahu’s justice minister in his first term, and as Ariel Sharon’s public security minister. Hanegbi was convicted in 2010 of perjury after a four-year trial while being cleared of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. He did not serve jail time and paid only a 10,000 fine.

Read more…

T. Belman. Roger Stone had no concrete evidence that said its fake news. He merely looked between the lines. This article confirms Trumps support and even quotes Kushner, who likewise gave support.  Bannon, to say the least, is not happy, Nor am I and all the Trump supports happy.

McMaster is the mirror opposite of Flynn. How could Trump stand by him, let alone appoint hint him.

By Chas Danner, NY MAG

This odd couple remains together, for the time being. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

President Trump and his son-in-law/senior adviser Jared Kushner are both pushing back on a widespread campaign to convince Trump to fire his national security adviser, H.R. McMaster. That campaign — which may include some top White House officials, but has primarily been conducted by nationalist, right-wing organizations and news sites — has sought revenge on McMaster for his ousting of four conservatives from Trump’s national security council, as well as for his opposition to simply voiding President Obama’s Iran nuclear deal without a backup plan. The #FireMcMaster campaign has proliferated on social media, too, including among Russian Twitter bots. As far as the anti-McMaster effort’s chances, there had been reports that Trump was thinking about pulling McMaster from the NSC to put him in charge of the war in Afghanistan, but on Friday night, in a rare, clearly concerted effort for this White House, both the president and Kushner released statements expressing their support for McMaster.

Read more…