Surprisingly, the overwhelming majority of potential Zehut voters were not religious-Zionist like Feiglin.

By Gil Hoffman, JPOST

Netanyahu’s Likud Party’s recent free fall in the polls could create an opportunity for former Likud MK Moshe Feiglin’s new party, Zehut, Feiglin told The Jerusalem Post Tuesday.

Three polls broadcast over the past two weeks have found that if elections were held now, former finance minister Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid would surpass Likud as the largest party in the next Knesset. Feiglin said he hopes that as the voters get to know Zehut, they will see it as a more logical fit.
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Maybe, considering America’s own not insignificant budgetary considerations, this was the best deal to be had. No one will really ever know for sure.

By Herb Keinon, JPOST

Now that the long drawn out negotiations between Israel and the United States over the 10-year military aid agreement has ended, the carping in Israel will begin.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could have received much more had he negotiated with US President Barack Obama before the Iran deal,” some of his opponents will say.
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by CONRAD BLACK, NATIONAL REVIEW September 13, 2016

He is the clear choice for conservatives.

As I suggested when I gave readers a rest from me five weeks ago, the Republican convention successfully celebrated the complete rejection of the post-Reagan Republican party: The Bushes, McCain, and Romney weren’t present or mentioned, or much missed. Cruz, as I wrote in my last piece here, and the otherwise amiable John Kasich made asses of themselves, and opinion has moved on. (It was not entirely sane for Kasich, who did not utter a negative word about any other Republican during the primaries, and on his one winning night advised his countrymen to “hug a stranger at the mall” — which advice, if followed, would have quintupled the number of assault charges in the country — and to “take a widow to dinner,” to stay away from the Republican convention in his home state, Ohio.)
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Editor’s Note: This is adapted from the author’s recently published article, “Israel’s Second War Doctrine,” [pdf] from the Institute for National Security Studies (Strategic Assessment; Vol. 19, No. 2, July 2016).

By Ron Tira, WAR ON THE ROCKS

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is renowned for its war doctrine: a succession of rapid decisive operations based on surprising combined arms offensives. In the Six-Day War and Yom Kippur War, Israeli tanks broke world records in tempo in terms of miles penetrated per day (depth of offensive). Yet the IDF operated in a manner inconsistent with its official doctrine over the course of its last six major campaigns: Operation Accountability (1993), Operation Grapes of Wrath (1996), the Second Lebanon War (2006), Operation Cast Lead (2008-2009), Operation Pillar of Defense (2012), and Operation Protective Edge (2014). I call these six campaigns “accountability-rationale campaigns” (see below table).

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USE THIS POST FOR ALL YOUR CHIT CHAT ON HILLARY

Public Security Minister Erdan: Internet companies must take active steps to detect, remove inciting posts • Facebook has “zero tolerance for terrorism,” company says • Justice Minister Shaked: Facebook removes 95% of posts over which Israel complains.

By Yair Altman, ISRAEL HAYOM

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked met Monday with a delegation of Facebook executives in Jerusalem, to discuss efforts to curb incitement to violence and terrorism on the popular social network.

The Facebook delegation included the social media giant’s Vice President for Policy Joel Kaplan, Policy Director Monica Bickert, and Government Relations and Communications Director for Facebook-Israel Jordana Kotler. Head of the Cyber Department at the State Attorney’s Office Chaim Ismonsky, and head of the Police Cybercrimes Unit Chief Superintendent Meir Cheyun, attended the meeting as well.
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Comment by Technopeasant.
All 3 daily tracking polls now converge at DT +3:
LAT:
Trump: 45.8 (+1.7)
Clinton: 42.8 (-1.6)
Yes, that’s a 3.3 point marginal turnaround in one day which is unheard of

Unbelievable marginal shifts in demographics:
A/A: HC (-15.8) from +83.8 to +68.0
Males: DT +4.1 (from +10.0 to +14.1)
Females: HC (-2.3) from +10.0 to +7.7
18-34: DT+9.2 (from HC+5.3 to DT+ 3.9)
>$75K/yr. : DT +6.6 (from tie to DT+ 6.6)
College grad (BA): HC (-3.6) from +13.9 to +10.3)
High school: DT+4.2 (from +6.1 to+10.3)

Again this was all over 1 day of polling. Did something deplorable happen?-

Finally 2 days ago Trump was receiving about 3% support from A/A. It’s now according to LAT at about 13%, the same level PPD claims he has.

Netanyahu’s statement flummoxed the administration because no Israeli leader has ever stated the obvious bigotry of the US position regarding the so-called settlements so pointedly.

By Caroline B Glick, JPOST

Sometimes nothing infuriating than the truth.

On Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu infuriated the Obama administration when he told the truth about the nature of the internationally supported Palestinian demand that Israel must transfer control over Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem to the Palestinians Jew-free.

In a video address posted to his Facebook page at around dawn Washington time, Netanyahu said, “The Palestinian leadership… demands a Palestinians state with one precondition: No Jews.

“There’s a phrase for that. It’s called ‘ethnic cleansing.’ And this demand is outrageous.”
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Israel must support its troops regardless of any mistakes they make, defense minister says in reference to soldier on trial for killing disarmed attacker. Amona must be destroyed.

By Tovah Lazaroff, JPOST

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman on Monday night called for a peace deal with the Palestinians that is based on population and land swaps.

“The principle of land for peace has failed,” Liberman said during a wide-ranging policy talk with students at Ariel University.
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HAARETZ

“Studying Judaism and excelling in it is more important to me than studying math and sciences,” Education Minister Naftali Bennett said on Monday night, adding, “For me, that’s hard to say.”
Speaking at an event marking the 40th anniversary of the Tali Foundation, which funds Jewish enrichment studies in secular schools, Bennett said, “Even as a high-tech power that exports knowledge and innovations to the world, we must be a spiritual power and export spiritual knowledge to the world,” he said. “This is the next chapter in our Zionist vision. That’s how we’ll return to being a light unto the nations. From Zion shall come forth Torah and the word of God from Jerusalem.”
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DEBKA

In another move to grab control of the Syrian arena, the Kremlin marked the start of the US-Russian brokered ceasefire in Syria on Sept 12 with a push for the United States to dissolve the war room that has been running anti-Assad operations from a venue north of the Jordanian capital Amman. DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources report that the demand was handed down from the Russian presidential office and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

The US Central Command Forward Command in Jordan has for three years run the command and communications functions of select rebel ground operations against Bashar Assad, especially insofar as US special operations units and air force were involved.
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T. Belman. What this article did not disclose was the claims raised by the PA as to why they weren’t paying. In the absence of any justification for giving a discount of $130 million, we are left to wonder why. Israel could have simply kept the money we collected on behalf of the PA, rightly or wrongly, and wait for the court to work it out or simply cut off electricity until paid. Instead, Israel was responding to international pressure or was fearful of taking on the PA in a way that would be very destabilizing. So the question is, is the Israel Electric Company taking the hit or are they being covered by the government?

Palestinian Authority will repay $130 million to Israel Electric Corporation immediately, but a further $130 million of the $530 million debt will be erased.

By Barak Ravid, HAARETZ

Israel and the Palestinian Authority will sign an agreement Tuesday that will finally resolve a long-standing dispute over the Palestinians’ enormous debts to the Israel Electric Corporation.

The senior official, who asked to remain anonymous, said the PA will agree to pay about 500 million shekels to the IEC immediately. In addition, it will commit to paying another billion shekels in installments spread over a long period of time. The remaining 500 million shekels will be erased, so the PA will never have to repay it.
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By Ted Belman

You will recall that Donald Trump raised the question of Obama’s eligibility to be President. He was in good company, Many people had been challenging Obama’s eligibility and specifically the authenticity of his birth certificate which he submitted. My legal training informed me that they were on solid ground in doing so.

The US constitution provides that to be eligible to be the President you must be a “natural born citizen”. This phrase must be interpreted by the court but there is considerable precedent and evidence to support that it means that to be eligible that both your parents must be US citizens.  So must the candidate but in the case of Obama, that’s a whole other story. Obama lost his citizenship when he moved to Indonesia and was adopted by his mother’s new husband. He never reapplied for citizenship upon returning.
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BY DAVID P. GOLDMAN, ASIA TIMES

The presidential election was over the moment the word “deplorable” made its run out of Hillary Clinton’s unguarded mouth. As the whole world now knows, Clinton told a Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender fundraiser Sept. 10, “You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the ‘basket of deplorables.’ Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that, and he has lifted them up.”

Hillary is road kill.

She apologized, to be sure, but no-one will believe her: she was chilling with her home audience and feeling the warmth, and she said exactly what she thinks. The “Clinton Cash” corruption scandals, the layers of lies about the email server, health problems, and all the other negatives that pile up against the former First Lady are small change compared to this apocalyptic moment of self-revelation.
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T. Belman. Israel should have no illusions about Ross. He makes it crystal clear that Israel must submit to international expectations. No construction east of wall. It is important to remember that the US micromanaged the location of the wall. She wanted it as close to the ceasefire lines as possible. From day one almost they have been dedicated to forcing us to give up these territories. Why? What’s in it for them? They are more committed to our retreat then to get Russia to retreat from Crimea or Ukraine, defeating ISIS, removing Assad or getting Saudi Arabia to stop supporting radical Islam. The simple answer is that they don’t want to jeopardize their oil interests in the ME or alienate the Arabs or Muslims. Yet they were prepared to alienate the Gulf states by doing the Iran deal. Why is it such a big deal for them to support what Israel wants especially now that they are energy independent.

Thankfully if Trump is elected, this will no longer be the case.

Rafael Medoff, Algemeiner

If Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton wins the US presidential elections, her administration ought to launch a backdoor initiative to force changes in Israeli policy, said former Clinton adviser Dennis Ross on Thursday.

During a panel discussion at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, Ross said the public disputes between Israel and the Obama administration were counter-productive, which is why he thinks future involvement in the region by a President Hillary Clinton would ideally not be undertaken as a “big public initiative,” but as “efforts behind the scenes.”
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T. Belman. This deal has many negatives for Israel such as it barely keeps up with inflation, many string attached, must all be spent in the US thereby killing a large part of our defense industry and it prevents Congress from giving more. Why is Bibi in such a rush?  In two months it will be a different ball game.

Sen. Graham says to Netanyahu: Tell the White House to “go f*** themselves.”

By Michael WiLner, JPOST

US Senator Lindsey Graham is holding up the conclusion of a critical, decade-long defense deal between the US and Israel with legislation that would increase US aid to the Jewish state next year by over $300 million what the White House has agreed to.

Graham’s effort is an intentional finger in the eye to the Obama administration, which has spent over a year negotiating a complex memorandum of understanding with Israel that will ultimately increase US defense aid to the state from $3.1 billion to $3.3 billion a year in 2018.
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