Prime minister reportedly promised Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon Mozes he would work to close down rival newspaper Israel Hayom in return for more favorable coverage

BY RAOUL WOOTLIFF, TOI

The publisher of the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper is the businessman who conducted negotiations with Benjamin Netanyahu to receive benefits in exchange for helping the prime minister remain in power, Channel 2 news reported Sunday.

Arnon Mozes, often described as a long-time arch-nemesis of the prime minister, is reportedly being investigated under caution along with Netanyahu over the deal.
Read more…

INSS Insight No. 882, January 8, 2017

By Yoel Guzansky

In recent years, the United Arab Emirates has positioned itself as a key player in the processes shaping the region. After dealing with potential threats at home, the federation took a leading role in contending with some of the political, economic, and military challenges posed by the Arab Spring. The UAE will likely continue to use its vast economic resources and its military might to attempt to influence the direction that the Arab world is taking. In the past, the UAE exhibited moderation and restraint in its foreign relations and stood in the shadows of others. Today, however, it is the driving force behind many of the regional changes and is a key player in many arenas – not less, and sometimes more, than Saudi Arabia. Many in the Arab world and elsewhere now understand that the UAE has the power to influence the direction taken by regional developments, and they seek to attract the UAE to their side. Israel too recognizes that the UAE is an essential element in Israel’s efforts to strengthen relations with the Sunni Arab world.
Read more…

DEBKA

America’s intelligence chiefs may have been singing their swan’s song Thursday and Friday (Jan. 5-6) when they hurled allegations of election-meddling “ordered at the highest Kremlin level” against Russia at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in Washington. The committee’s chair John McCain picked up the ball and declared that Russian hacking was “an act of war,” after hearing grim testimony from the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and the National Security Agency head Adm. Michael Rogers.
Read more…

By Heshmat Alavi, AMERICAN THINKER

Iran, known for its unbridled sectarian meddling in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon, is currently facing an unwanted quagmire and dead-end in the Levant. We cannot limit Iran’s role and its meddling across the Middle East to 2016 alone. There is an ongoing war in the region, resulting from Iran’s escalating interventions.

Iran’s ultimate objective is to completely restructure the region’s entire fabric, pursuing a truly destructive and very dangerous policy in this regard. The war in Syria is one of the pillars of this initiative, also continuing in Iraq and Lebanon.

Former Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, known for his close relations with Tehran, was the byproduct of Iran’s policies in that country. Iraq under Maliki back in 2010 was oppressing the Sunni community, leading to a major revolt by this vital sector of Mesopotamia. Iraq continues to suffer from such atrocities.
Read more…

Democrats are fine with becoming “the party of no.”

By Matthew Vadum, FPM

Democrats and left-wing activists are planning to vigorously attack President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees before Trump even takes office at Noon on Jan. 20.

The purpose of this early resistance to the incoming Trump administration is not only to deprive Trump of political legitimacy but also to undermine his authority and make it impossible for him to govern.
Read more…

Resolutions against Israel aren’t the only measures Ambassador Haley should veto.

By Taylor Dinerman, WSJ

In 1995 Congress tried to force the United Nations to reform by refusing to pay America’s dues. The effort was worthy, but it failed. The U.N. made no real changes and quickly went back to its cynical and corrupt ways. Some in Congress have suggested a repeat in an effort to force the Security Council to revoke the anti-Israel resolution it approved last month.
Read more…

By Daniel Pipes,  Commentary

Israeli–Palestinian diplomacy sadly fits the classic description of insanity: “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” The identical assumptions—land-for-peace and the two-state solution, with the burden primarily on Israel—stay permanently in place, no matter how often they fail. Decades of what insiders call “peace processing” have left matters worse than when they started, yet the great powers persist, sending diplomat after diplomat to Jerusalem and Ramallah, ever hoping that the next round of negotiations will lead to the elusive breakthrough.

The time is ripe for a new approach, a basic re-thinking of the problem. It draws on Israel’s successful strategy through its first 45 years. The failure of Israeli–Palestinian diplomacy since 1993 suggests this alternative approach—with a stress on Israeli toughness in pursuit of victory. This would, paradoxically perhaps, be of benefit to Palestinians and bolster American support.
Read more…

By Raphael Ahren, TOI

[..]

In her discussions with professional ministry staff, Hotovely, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, envisioned a large permanent exhibition that would stress Israel’s connection to the West Bank, under the headline of “Coming home,” or “Returning to the Jewish homeland.”

Countering Israel’s detractors who consider the settlements an illegal land grab — and can thus be expected to mark 50 years since the beginning of “the occupation” — Hotovely wants to celebrate the settlements as the Jewish people’s legitimate return to its indigenous land.
Read more…

TOI : US agencies said to identify parties who gave hacked emails to WikiLeaks, Intel chief doubles down on assessment Russia interfered in election; Moscow reportedly celebrated Trump win in intercepted communications

By MATT FLEGENHEIMER and SCOTT SHANE, NYT

WASHINGTON — A united front of top intelligence officials and senators from both parties on Thursday forcefully reaffirmed the conclusion that the Russian government used hacking and leaks to try to influence the presidential election, directly rebuffing President-elect Donald J. Trump’s repeated questioning of Russia’s role.

They suggested that the doubts Mr. Trump has expressed on Twitter about the agencies’ competence and impartiality were undermining their morale. Read more…

T. Belman. Trump has to stop the US from dancing to the Arab tune. What better placer to start than here.

Jordan’s Information Minister says there will be “catastrophic” repercussions if Trump indeed moves the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

By Elad Benari, INN

Jordan’s government spokesman warned on Thursday of “catastrophic” repercussions if President-elect Donald Trump follows through with his campaign pledge to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Trump repeatedly promised during the campaign to move the embassy if elected. His campaign manager Kellyanne Conway indicated last month that moving the embassy to Jerusalem “is a very big priority” for Trump, while media reports in Israel at the time indicated the transition team for Trump is already looking into possible locations in Jerusalem for the embassy.

But, speaking Thursday with The Associated Press, Jordan’s Information Minister Mohammed Momani warned such a move could affect relations between the U.S. and regional allies, including Jordan.
Read more…

6-minute-video: Israel facing Western seduction

Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, “Second Thought: US-Israel Initiative”
YouTube 6-minute-video on-line seminar on US-Israel and the Mideast

Video#28: http://bit.ly/2j7jznT; entire 40-video-seminar: http://bit.ly/1ze66dS

T. Belman. I am hopeful that with a Trump administration that the US will no longer tolerate a hostile UN, particularly towards Israel and a PA that incites terrorism and supports terrorists and violates all agreements including the Oslo Accords. The US should insist that 1) UNCHR be done away with, as it exists only to delegitimate Israel, that 2) UNRWA be wound up because it makes peace impossible (They will not be going back) and it denies the refugees and their descendants what all other refugees get, normalization, and that 3) the PA be dismantled because it isn’t working in the interests of peace and it isn’t complying  with the Oslo Accords.

Cruz and Trump are ready to lead the charge.

Conservatives have long been longing for this …

By Chris Golden, WESTERN JOURNALISM,   December 28, 2016

Perhaps the most shameful act of President Obama’s long, sordid presidency may have been among his last.

As the voraciously anti-Western wolves of the United Nations prepared to take a vote on a measure condemning Israel, one nation stood in the way — the United States, supposedly the greatest ally of the Jewish state. The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. could cast a veto, condemning the resolution. It didn’t happen, thanks to the Obama administration.

Conservatives are furious, and none more so than Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. In a scorching statement issued by the one-time Republican presidential contender, he excoriated the President Obama and his regime for its cowardice and proposed a unique retribution for the U.N. once President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Read more…

By Evelyn Gordon, COMMENTARY

The massive support in Israel for soldier Elor Azaria, who was convicted of manslaughter on Wednesday for killing a wounded Palestinian terrorist, has confounded some of its friends and supplied ammunition for its enemies. So it’s important to understand why that support is so widespread. Jonathan Tobin correctly explained some of the reasons yesterday, including the fact that most Israelis have limited sympathy for terrorists. But to a large extent, this is also a self-inflicted wound by the two people at the top of the military chain of command, who forgot the most basic principle of justice: Not only must it be done, but it must be seen to be done. By their own actions, they managed to create an appearance of injustice in a case where I believe none actually occurred.
Read more…

A pardon for Azaria would go some way toward repairing the damage the General Staff has done to its relationship with the public.

By Carolione B Glick, JPOST

Sgt Elor Azaria, who was convicted of manslaughter Wednesday for shooting a terrorist in Hebron last March, is a symptom of what may be the most dangerous threat to Israeli society today.

Azaria, a combat medic from the Kfir Brigade, arrived at the scene of an attack where two terrorists had just stabbed his comrades. One of the terrorists was killed, the other was wounded and lying on the ground, his knife less than a meter away from him.
Read more…

APF: Russia begins scaling down military presence in Syria, Moscow’s sole aircraft carrier set to be the first to quit the war-torn country

STRATFOR

Forecast

• Despite the shared cause of supporting Damascus, Moscow and Tehran will continue to differ in their commitment to the conflict.
• As Russia concocts an exit strategy, its relations with Iran will steadily sour.
• The divergences between the countries will exacerbate the differences among Syria’s loyalist forces.

Analysis

With their capture of Aleppo in late December, forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al Assad secured their biggest victory in the country’s nearly six-year civil war. It is now clear that al Assad has weathered the critical threat to his administration’s rule over key parts of the country. Military, diplomatic and financial support from Iran and Russia has played a tremendous role in the loyalist victory. But despite their shared cause in Syria and the considerable resources that each government has invested in the war, Moscow and Tehran do not see eye to eye on several issues related to the conflict. The two countries differ most notably in their commitment to the loyalist cause. Though Russia has already demonstrated its pledge to sustain and support loyalist forces in Syria, Moscow’s commitment in the conflict simply does not rise to the level of Tehran’s. Through its intervention in Syria, Russia is trying to boost its position in the Middle East, demonstrate its global stature, curtail the extremist threat and attain leverage in negotiations with the West. Iran, on the other hand, views the Syrian civil war as a critical front in an existential battle that directly relates to its geopolitical security.
Read more…

BY KENNETH R. TIMMERMAN, THE HILL

President-elect Donald Trump was right during the campaign to call the Iran nuclear agreement “the worst deal ever negotiated” by the United States government.

Not only did it reward a terrorist state with $100 billion of frozen oil revenues (some say, $150 billion), it dismantled an extensive armature of international sanctions that had cut Iran’s oil exports in half, banned it from the international financial system, and was beginning to threaten the regime with domestic unrest.

Obama tried to set this bad nuclear deal in concrete by incorporating most of its measures into a United Nations Security Council Resolution.
Read more…

By MARTIN SHERMAN

As their vision of two-states descends into irrelevance, two staters wax increasingly desperate &  delusional, and their policy proposals, increasingly unhinged & unethical

…we need a clear map showing Israel’s eastern border and the limits of its territorial demands. ..

The eastern border must be based on the required minimum to allow a significant number of settlers to join Israel, but no more than necessary. We must give up Ariel…The “no” to the settlements must be unambiguous. There is no need to evacuate them, and there is no need for a compensation plan for those who leave. The settlements beyond the border should be left to wither economically and be deprived of support. Anyone who wants to live in these areas will do so without the support or protection of the Jewish sovereignty within its borders… The Arab Palestinian people must eventually lay down their arms against the Zionist movement…Until this stage, Israel will continue to militarily hold territory east of the border…

 – Einat Wilf  “Yes to the Occupation, No to the Settlements”,  Haaretz  Dec 31, 2016.  Read more…

T. Belman. Freund has his numbers wrong and I told him. According to Wikipedia “As of December 2015, altogether over 800,000 Israeli Jews resided over the 1949 Armistice Lines (including east-Jerusalem neighborhoods), constituting approximately 13% of Israel’s Jewish population.[4]”. That would have increased by 35,000 in 2016 due to natural growth. This total number does not include the outposts or Nahal settlements.

Annexing Judea and Samaria will dash the delusions of those who continue to cling to the idea of the creation of “Palestine.”

By Michael Freund, JPOST

Finally, after decades of perseverance, one of the most energetic and enduring diplomatic delusions of the modern era is at last giving way to reality.

Notwithstanding the recent UN Security Council vote regarding Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, and US Secretary of State John Kerry’s subsequent temper tantrum on the same subject, it is time to formally pronounce the death of the so-called two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
Read more…

By: World Israel News Staff January 3, 2017

Trump’s team is reportedly in contact with the Palestinians but has set a new tone regarding negotiations with Israel.

President-elect Donald Trump’s transitional team has recently been in contact with the Palestinians on how to proceed with diplomatic negotiations.

Israel Radio, in a report on Tuesday, quoted sources within Trump’s team and among Palestinian Authority officials who affirmed that the contacts were taking place.

In the report, an unnamed “senior official” working for Trump is said to have asked a senior Palestinian official why they would object to moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to western Jerusalem.
Read more…