T. Belman. The US policy on the liberated territories has been in place for 50 years but it is unsustainable when history and reality are taken into account.

Jerusalem, including the Kotel, are fundamentally a part of Israel and always have been. It is high time that the US recognize this and change their policy. Their policy is based on the Res 181, which contrary to the Mandate, made Jerusalem an international city. Notwithstanding that, Ben Gurion accepted the resolution because it also provided that after 10 years the status of Jerusalem would be determined by referendum of it citizens. Ben Gurion had confidence that the Jews would win the referendum. Such referendum never took place.

The US also went along with the world and perhaps even led it, to reject Israel’s annexation of Jerusalem in 1980.

The US Envoy to the UN made the two remarkable statement supporting Israel’s sovereignty over the Western Wall as well as the embassy move in an interview with CBN News on Tuesday.

BY TOVAH LAZAROFF, JPOST

The Western Wall is part of Israel, US Ambassador to the UN Nikkey Haley said on Tuesday as she took a number of stands that appears to differ from the Trump Administration.

“The Western Wall is part of Israel and I think that is how we have always seen it and that is how we should pursue it,” Haley told the Christian Broadcasting Network in a video interview.
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By Michael Ledeen, FORBES

There is an important and damaging cultural divide between the Trumps and the governing system that the president and his closest allies are trying to tame. Call it New York vs. Washington, or business vs government, but it comes down to this: the president hasn’t gotten control over the bureaucracy, much of which is in open rebellion against him. You can see it by the remarkably low numbers of political appointees currently approved by the Senate, as by the torrent of leaks aimed at damaging Trump and his top aides.

The New Yorkers—famously, the Trumps themselves, the Kushners, and the bankers in the Cabinet and the White House—seem to have come to Washington expecting that, once The Donald had been sworn in, the bureaucrats would do what they were told. The New Yorkers—as we saw during the election campaign and throughout the transition—did not believe they needed a large organization, staffed with their own loyal followers. They thought the important thing was to make the right decisions, and install a few key officials at the very top.
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T. Belman. When the NYT refuses to use the term Female Genital Mutilation and uses the term Genital Cutting instead they are putting FGM in the same basket as circumcision. Thus any push back against the practice will affect both.

By Anshel Pfeffer, HAARETZ

Israeli officers now know that the commander-in-chief of their American counterparts is clearly compromised

President Donald Trump listens during his meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, May 16, 2017 Evan Vucci/AP

Ironically, just when the New York Times and other American news organizations were breaking the news that the secret intelligence President Donald Trump shared last week with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had been provided to the U.S. by Israel, Trump was in a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This is the same Erdogan who appointed a pro-Iranian aide to head Turkey’s intelligence service. Israel’s once intimate strategic alliance and intelligence-sharing with Turkey all but evaporated due to fears that the Turkish intelligence was leaking to Iran and jeopardizing Israeli assets.
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Berman’s Tikkun Article – The Settlement Legality Debate: FAQ -Items of error

By Donald Carr

Revival of legality – debate. There has not been any “revival”. The assertion of legality has been constant and consistent.

Suggesting that the Oslo Accords were responsible for sidelining the “core legal issues” does not make it so in fact. Perhaps, they did so far as Berman is concerned, but the Oslo Accords do not affect International Law one iota. They were agreements between Israel and the Palestine Authority. As Israel was entitled to the lands between the Mediterranean and the Jordan – as a result of International Law – it was entitled to deal with its lands in any way it wished. Thus, it entered into the Oslo Accords. The “death” of Oslo did not “revive” anything other than the status quo ante – namely, the legal rights of Israel to that territory under International Law.
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By Aleen Realmuto, TRUTH UNCENSORED

FBI Director James Comey testified under oath at a hearing before Congress, that the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, where she sent and received ‘top secret’ emails, did not warrant pressing criminal charges against her.

In essence, he said, not only was Hillary not smart enough, or qualified, to know that using an unsecured email server put our nations security at risk, but she was incapable of determining what was top secret material was.

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Ted Belman. According to my sources, this is only the beginning of the Trump initiatives. Keep in mind that Trump sided with the Kurds notwithstanding the protestations of Erdogan. Now he is headed to S. Arabia where he will meet with many Arab leaders. As trump said in many of his stump speeches he wants to destroy the ideology behind the Islamists and expects his Arab allies to be on board. He will be demanding that the Arab leaders normalize with Israel without preconditions. If the Arabs want to be friends with the US, they must first be friends with Israel. Remember how he imposed his policies on the UN.

Secondly he is demanding that they reject terrorism and all terrorist organizations. In other words that they align with Trump in fighting the Islamist ideology.

And finally that he will give a serious try to achieve agreement on the two state solution. If he fails he will turn to an alternate solution. As I understand it, many insiders, including Kushner have read my article The Ultimate Alternate Solution. Let the good times roll.

Various Sunni Arab countries offer to establish direct telecommunication lines with Israel, among other steps, if Israel makes various gestures toward Palestinians, according to Wall Street Journal report

By Barak Ravid, HAARETZ

The Gulf states have compiled a proposal to take steps toward normalization with Israel if the Netanyahu government in turn makes gestures to the Palestinians, such as freezing settlement construction in parts of the West Bank and easing trade restrictions in the Gaza Strip, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

The report is based on details from a document that was prepared during discussions between various Sunni Arab countries. According to the report, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which are leading the proposal, also updated the American administration and Israel on the bid.
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Josh Hastens interviews Harold Rhode, a world expert on Islam.

https://overcast.fm/+FeLOZA4RM

This is a very important interview. Keep this interview in mind when you try to understand the Arab Peace Initiative which offers Israel “peace”. But peace in Islam only comes when people submit to Islam.

By Ted Belman

Recently Nathaniel Berman, a Professor on International Law, wrote an article titled The Settlement Legality Debate: FAQ  It was extremely well argued.  I was not equipped to meet him head on or to refute his analysis.

A friend of mine from Canada, Mark Vandermass, entered the fray with
The Mandate is the foundation of Israel’s right to the land west of the Jordan River. I tip my hat to him.

Berman decided to take his arguments to task by commenting, and the subsequent comments from myself and others were well worth reading. So go to Vandermass’ article and read all the comments. You will be glad you did.

BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 466, May 15, 2017

Dr. Edy Cohen

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: No solution for the Palestinian refugee problem is possible so long as justice is not served for the Jewish refugees from the Arab countries.

The Palestinians and their erstwhile international champions are commemorating Nakba Day on May 15. Just as the Jerusalem mufti Hajj Amin Husseini, the Palestinian Arabs’ leader from the early 1920s to the late 1940s, would habitually condemn the Balfour Declaration from his World War II Berlin headquarters to ingratiate himself with his Nazi masters, so May 15, the date when the British Mandate ended and the state of Israel came into being, has become the day on which the Palestinians’ annually commemorate their self-inflicted “catastrophe” (or Nakba).
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DEBKA

US special forces, together with British and Jordanian elite troops, moved into southern Syria late Sunday, May 14. They were acting to counter the Syrian-Iranian scheme to nullify the American plan for posting Jordanian forces in southeastern Syria, which timed for the days before US President Donald Trump’s trip to the Middle East.

The US-led armored force with British and Jordanian units crossed from northern Jordan through the Tanf Border-Crossing between the Hashemite Kingdom, Iraq and Syria, and took up positions capable of consolidating their control of the main road between Palmyra and Baghdad. Some of their moves were coordinated with Israel.
(See map).
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T. Belman. On Mar 26/17, I posted  a book review of Harmony over Peace: Eternal values of the Hebrew Bible by Michael Derfler. In light of my posts today on Counter Culture and Jihad he suggested that the following chapter from his book would be very interesting to my followers. I think he is right.

By Michael Derfler

How can we explain the partnership of the Left with fundamentalist Islam against Israel?

Balak: Numbers 22:2 – 25:9

“Israel dwelled in Sheeteem, and the people began to commit harlotry with the daughters of Moab.” (Numbers 25:1)

Israel fought several nations before arriving at the border of the Land of Israel. The nation of Israel was never a threat to these nations; Israel only wanted to pass through their lands. In our reading, Balak, the leader of Moab, realized that military force alone would not stop the people of Israel from reaching the Land of Israel, so he enlisted Balaam to use his supernatural ability to curse Israel. When Balaam’s words failed, Balaam advised using “love” to accomplish Balak’s goal.[1] From these events we see that as Israel approaches the Land, there arises a drive to stop them, whether through force, words, or “love.”
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T. Belman. I really enjoyed this article. Helps explain a lot.

By Eileen F. Toplansky, AMERICAN THINKER

In fathoming the failure of Europeans to protect their own interests against the onslaught of Islamic jihadism, one is reminded of Ayn Rand’s quotation that “[r]eason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it. Do not count on them[.]”

Bruce Bawer, an astute observer of the European scene, wonders how “Marine Le Pen lost in a landslide” given all the jihadist assaults against the French people and the very culture of France. Bawer offers three possibilities that include:
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This Man Has Over One Billion Views, Leftists Panic

Authors of proposed amendment to Basic Law: The Judiciary argue that petitions are being used as a political tool that bypasses the elected government • Israel Democracy Institute: Amendment is a blow to rule of law and public interest.

By Yair Altman, ISRAEL HAYOM

The Ministerial Committee on Legislation was scheduled to discuss on Sunday a proposed amendment to the Basic Law: The Judiciary that would allow an individual or group to petition the High Court of Justice only if they are personally harmed by the issue that is the subject of the petition.

“In recent years, we have witnessed growing erosion of the criteria that limit the right to petition the High Court to people who are directly hurt by the issue of the petition,” the proposed amendment’s abstract reads.

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