T. Belman. King Salman announced to Pres Trump and all those present a new program called Vision 2030. Its all about how they are going to modernize and diversify. No doubt they see it in their interest to have a more normal relationship with Israel.

By Daniel John Sobieski, AMERICAN THINKER

Maybe the fly on the wall knows, because nothing was leaked to the New York Times or Washington Post, but one of the topics that may have come up in meetings between American and Saudi officials during President Trump’s historic visit is the energy revolution unleashed by President Trump that is sure to make the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries an energy relic.

Through regulation repeal and executive orders and the changing of the guard at the Environmental Protection Energy, Trump has made fossil fuels great again with expanded shale oil and natural gas production for both domestic consumption and export leading the way. And thanks to the completion of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, North American energy independence is soon to become reality.
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BY DAVID P. GOLDMAN, PJ MEDIA

The first rule of intelligence work is that there are no coincidences. A horrifying terror attack at a pop concert Monday night at the Manchester Arena followed by hours the first-ever visit by a sitting American president to the Western Wall of the ancient Temple at Jerusalem. We do not know except in generic terms who bombed the children and teenagers who gathered to hear Ariana Grande, but we know the message: “We will murder your children.” It is a message designed not only to terrify but to horrify. We do not know either what occasioned the timing of the atrocity, But we know how large looms Jerusalem in the civilizational war of our times.
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By Ted Belman

Secretary Tillerson said yesterday that Trump put enormous pressure on Abbas and Netanyahu. So where is Trump going? For the answer, look at the concessions he got from them.

Abbas agreed that Israel could keep Maaleh Adumin, Ariel and Gush Etzion. The Israel Cabinet agreed to allow some Arab building in area C and to not demolish illegal Arab construction. The Gulf states said they would normalize with Israel if Israel froze construction outside of the settlements.

I see a direction here as to where this is going.
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By Sen Rand Paul, BREITBART

Last year, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) to allow the family members of those killed in the 9/11 attacks to sue the government of Saudi Arabia for any part it played in those acts of terrorism.

President Obama vetoed JASTA, but Congress voted to override the veto.

Now, less than a year after Congress voted to let the victims and the families of victims of 9/11 sue Saudi Arabia, the current administration is proposing the largest-ever arms sale to Saudi Arabia.
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Shoshana Bryen • May 24, 2017 • American Thinker

President Donald Trump, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud (center) during the Arabic Islamic American Summit in Saudi Arabia on May 21, 2017. (Photo: Getty)

By Karen McQuillan, AMERICAN THINKER

The children of Manchester were killed by a jihadi known to authorities.  So were the victims of 12 out of the 14 Islamic terror attacks in America under Obama’s watchful eye.  That must end.  Our terror watch list must become a terror deportation list.

President Trump went to the very heart of Islam, Saudi Arabia, and told the assembled leaders of the Muslim world they must drive the jihadis out of their mosques, out of their communities, out of their country, and out of this Earth.

The Saudis are responsible for their country.  We are responsible for America.  Let us start right here and right now.  We need to drive all those who preach jihad out of our American mosques, community, and country.
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THE GREAT TOMMY ROBINSON SOUNDS OFF

Counter-productive statements about ISIS.

McMaster must go

By Kenneth R. Timmerman, FPM

President Trump did not shy away from calling an Islamist terrorist by his real name when he addressed the heads of state of some fifty Muslim countries over the weekend in Riyadh.

His language and his message were clear: the United States needs the leaders of Arab Islamic nations as partners. As non-Muslims, we can not eradicate the scourge of a terrorism that draws its source from authentic Islamic texts, nor can we cast out terrorist leaders who model themselves on Mohammad, the prophet of Islam.

Indeed, that is what the Manchester bomber did, blowing himself up in order to kill the children of the Unbelievers. (Quran 3:151: “Soon shall we cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers.”)
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By MICHAEL R. GORDON, NYT

Near the Tabqa Dam on the Euphrates River after Syrian fighters with American air support captured it from Islamic State militants this month.

AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar — The salvo of American cruise missiles launched at a Syrian airfield last month was intended as a one-time message to dissuade President Bashar al-Assad from mounting another chemical weapons attack.

But at the high-tech command center here, the challenges for Lt. Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian, who oversees air operations in the Middle East, were just beginning.
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By Dr Chen Kertzer, ISRAEL HAYOM

U.S. President Donald Trump comes from a business world of profit and loss. He practices a presidential style which sees the world in terms of good and evil, black and white. As far as the Middle East is concerned, Trump wants economic partnerships that will provide profit for the American market, not terrorism, Sunni or Shiite. He speaks much less, if at all, about how deep the rift is between the Israeli government and Palestinian Authority, and as of now has still not presented an official plan for resolving the conflict.
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Trump received high praise for these remarks.

Thank you, Prime Minister Netanyahu.

I want to thank you and Sara for hosting us for what has been an unforgettable visit to this very special land. I also want to thank Chairman Yitzchak Molcho, Acting Director Ayelet Shiloh-Tamir, and Chief Operating Officer Dalia Lazar, for hosting us today in this incredible museum. And thank you, Ambassador and Mrs. Friedman for joining us, along with a number of very good friends who have come from our country to yours as we reaffirm the unshakable bond between the United States and Israel.

It is a privilege to stand here in this national museum, in the ancient city of Jerusalem, to address the Israeli people – and all people in the Middle East who yearn for security, prosperity and peace.
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By Alan Dershowitz, ALGEMEINER

Every time a horrendous terrorist attack victimizes innocent victims we wring our hands and promise to increase security and take other necessary preventive measures. But we fail to recognize how friends and allies play such an important role in encouraging, incentivizing, and inciting terrorism.

If we are to have any chance of reducing terrorism, we must get to its root cause. It is not poverty, disenfranchisement, despair or any of the other abuse excuses offered to explain, if not to justify, terrorism as an act of desperation. It is anything but. Many terrorists, such as those who participated in the 9/11 attacks, were educated, well-off, mobile and even successful. They made a rational cost-benefit decision to murder innocent civilians for one simple reason: they believe that terrorism works.
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U.S. obtained promise from Saudis not to use weapons purchased in $110 billion deal against U.S. allies • Deal coordinated with Israel, Egypt, Jordan and other U.S. allies, says Arab official • Israeli minister: Deal must not erode Israel’s military edge.

Daniel Siryoti and News Agencies, ISRAEL HAYOM

President Donald Trump with King Salman of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh, Saturday | Photo credit: Reuters

The United States demanded that Saudi Arabia agree that weapons purchased from America in the deal signed on Saturday will not be used against U.S. allies in the region, Israel Hayom learned Monday.

Saudi officials agreed and provided the pledge, paving the way for one of the biggest arms deals in Middle East history.

The nearly $110 billion deal was the central achievement of Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia over the weekend. Under the agreements, Saudi Arabia will buy U.S. arms to help it counter Iran, with options running as high as $350 billion over 10 years.
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Because there is no aggressive surge—in fact settlements have not grown in years

According to Peace Now, which is unlikely to undercount the number of existing settlements, there are a total of 131 settlements and 91 outposts in the West Bank.

In April 2012, Peace Now reported the establishment of three settlements:

According to reports, Prime Minister Netanyahu stated this week that the government will approve the establishment of three settlements (Bruchin, Sansana and Rechalim), in the upcoming cabinet meeting on Sunday, April 22 … If approved next Sunday, it will be the first time since the Shamir government in 1990 that the Israeli government is deciding on the establishment of new settlements. [emphasis added]

That makes three settlements built in 2012, for the first time since 1990. That’s 22 years. Three settlements.
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It was because of his foreign policy iconoclasm that Israelis were, by and large, euphoric when Trump was finally inaugurated in January.

By Caroline B Glick, JPOST

Israelis are greeting US President Donald Trump with cautious optimism. Their optimism stems from President Trump’s iconoclasm. Trump won the US presidential election based on a campaign of rejecting the prevailing narratives on US domestic and foreign policy that have long held sway among the elites. These narratives dictate and limit the boundaries of acceptable discourse in the US. Unfortunately, their relationship with facts and truth was never more than incidental. Indeed, in recent years that incidental link has vanished altogether along a wide swath of policy areas. On the domestic front, the most obvious examples of this disconnect between the prevailing narratives that dictate policies and the facts that guarantee the failure of those policies relate to US immigration policy and US healthcare policy.
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By Yoram Ettinger, ISRAEL HAYOM

In 2017, the national security interests of the U.S. and Israel have converged in ?an unprecedented manner in response to anti-U.S. ?Islamic terrorism; declining European posture of deterrence; drastic cuts in ?the U.S. defense budget; an increasingly unpredictable, dangerous globe; ?Israel’s surge of military and commercial capabilities and U.S.-Israel shared ?values. ?

Contrary to conventional wisdom — and traditional State Department policy — ?U.S.-Israel and U.S.-Arab relations are not a zero-sum game. This is ?currently demonstrated by enhanced U.S.-Israel strategic cooperation, ?concurrently with expanded security cooperation between Israel and Egypt, ?Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other pro-U.S. Arab countries, as well as stronger ?cooperation between the U.S. and those same Arab countries. Unlike the ?simplistic view of the Middle East, Arab policymakers are well aware of their ?priorities, especially when the radical Islamic machete is at their throats. They ?are consumed by internal and external intra-Muslim, intra-Arab violence, which ?have dominated the Arab agenda, prior to — and irrespective of — the ?Palestinian issue, which has never been a core cause of regional turbulence, a ?crown-jewel of Arab policymaking or the crux of the Arab-Israeli conflict. ?
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DEBKA

“We can declare with one voice that Iran must not be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon ever, ever and must cease training terrorists and militias immediately!’ said US President Donald Trump in a statement he issued at the Israeli president’s residence in Jerusalem on Monday on May 22, shortly after arriving in Israel.

“I come her to affirm that we are not only friends, but allies and will stand together always,” he went on to say and urged: “We must strengthen our cooperation, as we both face common threats from ISIS and other terrorists who foment terrible violence all over the world. Together we can end scores of years of violence,” he said. Trump, who flew to Israel directly from Riyadh, reported on the strong consensus he found in the Muslim world on the need to stand up together against Iran.
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Justice Minister speaks at Bar Association conference: ‘Clerks conduct political agenda under guise of neutrality and professionalism.’

By Mordechai Sones, INN

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked spoke at a conference of the Israel Bar Association in Eilat this evening (Monday).

The minister began by quoting a book, saying “the legislative branch is mistakenly perceived as the most central authority and responsible for determining national priorities. I claim the public bureaucracy inherited the primacy and became the central authority with countless powers and authorities, while the legislature became irrelevant in broad areas of life in everything connected with determining policy in practice and its actual execution.
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T. Belman. (May 23/17) I updated this post because Netanyahu’s proposal set out in it seems to be the blueprint. Abbas is now offering 6.5% of the territories which means Israel gets to keep Ariel, Maaleh Adumin and Gush Etzion. Arutz Sheva reported yesterday,

“According to the Times of Israel report, Olmert had offered to compensate the Arabs with Israeli land equivalent to 5.8 percent of Judea and Samaria, along with a link to the Gaza Strip. The rejected offer also included placing Jerusalem’s Old City under international control.

“This time however, Jerusalem, the most controversial aspect of previous discussions, is not mentioned in the proposal that Abbas is allegedly meant to discuss with Trump during his visit.”

Trump is well aware of how amenable Netanyahu is for such a deal and that thus the the gap is not huge but negotiable. There is no reason why the deal can’t allow the IDF to stay in the territories permanently.I believe that the government of Israel under PM Netanyahu would accept such a deal providing we keep Jerusalem.

T. Belman. (Feb 20/17) It is this deal in all probability, that Netanyahu and Trump want to build upon. So far we haven’t heard what is to happen with the settlements outside the blocs. Remember Bibi suggested that they remain in the Arab state and that the inhabitants can come back to Israel when they want. Remember also that Bibi told Kerry that he was prepared to these parameters in 2014 also.

In Aqaba meet last Feb. with Kerry, Sissi and King Abduallh, PM reportedly presented five-point plan to launch regional initiative aimed at reviving peace talks with Palestinians

BY RAOUL WOOTLIFF AND STUART WINER, TOI

{First posted Feb 20/17)

At a secret summit with Arab leaders on a regional peace push last year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly presented a five-point plan that included an offer to freeze construction in areas outside the settlements blocs in the West Bank.

According to a report early Monday in the Haaretz daily, which first broke the story of the meeting with then-US Secretary of State John Kerry, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Jordan’s King Abdullah, on February 21, 2016, Netanyahu asked in exchange for the freeze that the US recognize construction and expansion within the large settlement blocs, areas which are expected to remain part of Israel in any peace agreement with the Palestinians.
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By Big Guy, AMERICAN THINKER

Rod Rosenstein’s appointment of Robert Mueller to investigate wholly unsupported claims of “links and/or coordination between the Russian government and … the campaign of President Donald Trump” poses the most serious threat to American constitutional government and domestic peace since the Civil War.

The only reason anyone is still talking about this subject, let alone investigating it pursuant to an order originating at the highest levels of the United States Justice Department, is that the media propaganda arm of the Democratic Party has refused to stop headlining it, despite a total lack of evidence of criminality after continuous investigation for over half a year by multiple agencies of the United States government.
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