Jordan Valley Regional Council head calls for dismantling of Civil Administration ‘because it advances Palestinian interests.’

By Eliran Aharon, INN

Jordan Valley Regional Council head David Elhiyani accused the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria of running a ‘state within a state’ and called for its dismantling.

In an interview with Arutz Sheva, Elhiyani explained why he believes Israel should unilaterally disengage from the Palestinian Authority and not seek a diplomatic agreement with it.

“If we want to preserve the Land of Israel, if we want to preserve our national character, we must separate from the Palestinians. I do not speak in terms of ‘two states for two peoples’, because I think this is a mistaken approach. It is a kind of arrogance to decide what the Palestinians want. Let them decide,” said Elhiyani.

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BREITBART

The Trump Administration hasn’t designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization as it was expected to do.

Designation falls under the purview of Secretary of State Tillerson, who has chosen the Muslim Brotherhood;and its backers in Qatar and Turkey over their Arab rivals.

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By Yossi Verter, HAARETZ

[..]
Three members of the security cabinet, from three different parties, who attended several meetings of that forum this week, described Netanyahu to me in similar terms: “Calm, in control, not uptight, attentive, alert and functioning, even at 3 A.M.”

They believed his account that the removal of the metal detectors from the Temple Mount gates was not payment to King Abdullah in return for his agreement to allow the embassy staff and the security guard to return to Israel. “There are situations in which Bibi doesn’t lie,” they said in one way or another. “This time he told the truth. He arrived at the decision to remove the detectors before the incident in Amman. Somehow, the two things became intertwined.”

Within the sealed walls of the security cabinet room, Netanyahu conducts himself professionally, intelligently, responsibly, rationally. He’s been through many security crises, including in the Bermuda Triangle of the three religions in Jerusalem. His learning curve is good. Moreover, he’s cautious – some would say a coward by nature.

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Not every Muslim state is equal when it comes to the ‘right’ to protect what the Muslims call the Noble Sanctuary

By Zvi Bar’el, HAARETZ

In a puzzling statement released Thursday, the Saudi royal court credited talks that King Salman held with some world leaders for creating “a turning point” that led to the Temple Mount being reopened to Muslim worshippers.

The statement does not reveal who the king or his son, Mohammed, contacted. It is likely, however, that there was a conversation with Israeli officials – if not directly, then through confidants of the crown prince who have known ties with the Israeli leadership.

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T. Belman. In reading this article you must keep in mind that Al Jazeera is the mouth piece of QATAR and Qatar is being boycotted by the Gulf States and Egypt. Also the Dahlan plan which was recently disclosed further rejects Qatar. Something is afoot. This Plan is an alternate to the Jordan Option. Both seek to find more land for the Palestinians including the “refugees”. Don’t believe what they say about Gaza. Its mostly propaganda. Aside from that, there is a lot to take notice of.

The long-discussed plan could see most of Gaza’s population end up in Sinai, alongside millions of Palestinian refugees.

By Jonathan Cook, Al JAZEERA

Gaza has been the focus of intense talks behind closed doors in recent weeks as disquiet has risen among Arab states at the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the coastal enclave.

Palestinians there are enduring a scorching summer with barely a few hours of power a day, after Mahmoud Abbas‘ Palestinian Authority (PA) has refused to finance essential services. Abbas is trying to weaken his Hamas rivals who rule Gaza and assert his own authority.

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by Dr. Eric Mandel, MEPIN

Israel has been getting some bad press recently in the United States, much of it self-inflicted by the decision to halt the expansion of the pluralistic prayer area near Robinson’s Arch on the Western Wall.

Fair enough, but much of the reporting on Israel and its neighbors by mainstream media sources is factually inaccurate, misleadingly out of context or editorialized to promote a view.

The reporting on the Temple Mount violence is a good case in point.

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The holy war over the Temple Mount that Abbas is promoting tells Israelis that Palestinian society has gone crazy-radical-rogue Islamist – just as much of the Arab Middle East.

This was written before Bibi capitulated but still applies.

By David M Weinberg, JPOST

The Palestinian Authority and its fiendish intra-Palestinian Islamic rivals seem hell-bent on brinkmanship, on being belligerent adversaries with escalating, maximalist demands of Israel.

They really think they can roll Israel back by recourse to street brawls and international courts; by brow-beating Israel through aggression, isolation and criminalization; by demonizing Israel with outrageous lies such as “al-Aksa is in danger.” They think they can conduct guerrilla and diplomatic warfare against Israel with impunity.

It’s time to disabuse Mahmoud Abbas and these gangs of such delusion, through resolute Israeli action.

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Hours after he caved to Palestinian demands, Netanyahu says he backs death penalty for terrorists, and it’s leaked that he’s been talking of partial West Bank annexation

BY Raphael Ahrens, TOI

On July 15, a day after the attack just outside the Temple Mount compound in which three Israeli Arabs shot dead two Israeli police officers with guns they had smuggled into the holy site, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed reporters gathered at Ben Gurion Airport, moments before boarding a plane to Paris.

“This evening I held a discussion with the top security leadership and I instructed that metal detectors be placed at the entrance gates to the Temple Mount,” he declared. “We will also install security cameras on poles outside the Temple Mount which give almost complete control over what goes on there.”

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T. Belman. To fully understand this new relationship and its depth and significance, I suggest you watch the video at the bottom starting at 10:20.

French president and his US counterpart have many differences — but they can help each other.

By Nicholas Vinocur, POLITICO

PARIS — Forget about another bone-crushing handshake between Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron. When the U.S. president visits Paris this week, he will face an even greater display of French muscle: tanks, jeeps and soldiers marching down the Champs Elysées.

Trump — on his first official visit to France, starting Thursday — is due to stand next to French President Emmanuel Macron as he surveys troops on Bastille Day.

The trip’s timing, and its military backdrop, is designed to send a double-edged message. On one hand, Trump is being offered a rare privilege. In a two-day visit far grander than that enjoyed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in June, he will have a front-row seat at a celebration of French national pride that asserts the close relationship between France and the U.S.

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Tensions over holy site could put Arab states on collision course with Islamic movements, but calm is dependent on removal of Israeli metal detectors from the Mount

By Zvi Bar’el. HAARETZ

When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu engages in boastful rhetoric about the meetings he holds with Arab leaders – including the recent revelation of a secret meeting five years ago with the United Arab Emirates’ foreign minister – he seemingly ignores Islamic forces looking on at these diplomatic moves. The recent tensions over Jerusalem’s Temple Mount make it clear that any diplomatic or security move is also immediately gauged from a perspective that transcends the religious importance of the holy sites.

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The sub-committee on Middle East and North Africa of the House Foreign Affairs Committee is currently holding hearings on the US – Qatar relationship

Jonathan Schanzer, Senior VP of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy, gave testimony yesterday.

Here is the PDF for his talk.

To view the video of the hearing, click here.

PM indicates Likud proposal to absorb 4 West Bank settlements and a settlement bloc will move ahead after Knesset summer recess

BY MARISSA NEWMAN AND TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated on Wednesday that he would give his backing for a proposal to absorb four West Bank settlements and a settlement bloc into the Jerusalem municipality, while also removing around 100,000 Palestinians from the city’s census.

The settlements in question are Ma’ale Adumim, Givat Ze’ev, Beitar Illit and Efrat, along with the Etzion bloc of settlements. Some are fairly deep in the West Bank, more than 10 kilometers (six miles) from Jerusalem, and are currently home to some 130,000 Israelis.

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Former peace negotiator says yes; questions remain over Bibi’s response.

By Stuart Ain, TOI

The deadly Palestinian protests that erupted in Jerusalem following the installation of magnetometers at the entrance to the Temple Mount should give the Trump administration pause.

“If magnetometers produced this kind of reaction, what reaction will there be to moving the American embassy to Jerusalem?” asked Aaron David Miller, a Middle East analyst and a vice president at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Vice President Mike Pence reaffirmed last week the administration’s plans to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, telling the 2017 Christians United for Israel summit attendees that it is “not a question of if, it is only when.”

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In accordance with Waqf demands, Israel removes railings and scaffolding from entrance to Temple Mount.

By INN

Israel on Wednesday removed more security installations from the entrance to the Temple Mount compound.

Newly installed railings and scaffolding where cameras were previously mounted were removed from the entrance to the compound, according to AFP.

The removal of the railings was one of the demands raised by the Jordanian Waqf to end the crisis.

The Waqf also demanded that all eight entrances leading to the Al-Aqsa Mosque be opened in full, and that five more cameras overlooking the compound be removed as well.

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T. Belman. Israel claims sovereignty over the Temple Mount but is unwilling to exercise it. In practice she takes orders from the Wakf, protects the right of Muslims to pray there and prohibits Jews from praying there. She allows Muslims to excavate there, which of necessity destroys Jewish artifacts, but doesn’t dream of excavating there herself. In effect then it is Walk that is sovereign there and Israel is its servant.

By Moshe Feiglin, THE LEADERSHIP BLOG

Although I anticipated that Netanyahu would remove the metal detectors from the Temple Mount, and although I very much hoped that I would be proven wrong, things are developing in such an amazing and fascinating manner , that you cannot but think that perhaps we are on the threshold of an historic change of direction. I will even take the bold step and say that I am not certain that the Arabs will return to the Temple Mount.

Everything happening today on the Temple Mount is the opposite of what you would expect. After Israel liberated the Temple Mount in the Six Day War, then Defense Minister Moshe Dayan returned the keys to the Temple Mount to the Moslem wakf. They were in shock. Fifty years later, Netanyahu is begging the wakf to take the Mount back, and they are simply not willing to do so. This is inexplicable. Israel has already removed the metal detectors and has even taken down the security cameras. My feeling is that no matter what Netanyahu will do to try to get them to come back to the Temple Mount, they will not return.

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By Dennis Prager, THE DAILY SIGNAL

Bret Stephens devoted his New York Times column last week to admonishing me for my tweet from two weeks ago and critiquing my follow-up column last week explaining the tweet.

The tweet reads, “The news media in the West pose a far greater danger to Western civilization than Russia does.”

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Police to interrogate Jordanian embassy guard – report

Attorney general said to assure ministers the measure is routine for embassy staffers suspected of crimes in other countries

TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF