Trump-Clinton race redraws battle for electoral college  

Can Trump Win? Here’s The Latest From All The Key Polls Aug 21

Trump courts minority voters

When I listen to his speeches I am encouraged to think he will win. But most Americans don’t listen or listen with deaf ears.

By Niall Stanage, THE HILL

This year’s extraordinary election campaign is redrawing the political map, leaving experts debating whether the shift is a one-off or a more permanent change.

States expected to be hotly contested battlegrounds, such as Colorado, Virginia and even North Carolina, are shifting into the Democratic column, according to recent polls. Erstwhile Republican strongholds such as Georgia, Arizona and Utah are now competitive.
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August 23, 2016 | 3:35 pm | 5 Comments »

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Hamas set to take majority of West Bank cities in local elections  

T. Belman. This clarifies a great deal. The houses in question aren’t just anywhere in Area C but are “spill over” from Areas A and B.  What should happen is that Areas A and B should be enlarged to include the lands that these houses sit on.  Such lands would constitute less than 1% of Area C. Israel could decide which areas to re-designate as A or B.

The benefit for Israel is that Area C, which Bennett wants to annex, would then only contain 60,000 Arabs rather than 200,000 as some allege.

As part of its efforts to take over the Palestinian Authority, Hamas unexpectedly decided to run in the West Bank municipal elections; this led Israel to scramble for an action plan to thwart Hamas’s ambitions, including legalizing illegal Palestinian homes in Area C and building a new Palestinian city, but these measures could still be too little too late, and Israel might have to deal with armed Hamas militants right on the Green Line.

By Alex Fishman, YNET

While Israel’s leadership is busy exhausting itself arguing over Hamas’s tunnel digging in Gaza in 2014, they are missing—or perhaps ignoring—a major threat the terror organization is preparing in the West Bank. This political threat, which very well might pose obstacles to Israel’s operations in the West Bank, can’t be destroyed using technological measures.

Hamas is about to take over the municipal centers of power in the West Bank in a legal and democratic way in several weeks time as part of its plan to take over the entire Palestinian Authority—but we, as we always do, may have missed the train yet again.
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August 23, 2016 | 3:16 pm | 3 Comments »

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Gaza rocket provides Israel opportunity to deprive Hamas of operational assets  

Despite the magnitude of the assault, Israel clearly made an effort to avoid hitting civilians. Both sides would apparently still prefer to avoid another large-scale conflict.

By Amos Harel, HAARETZ

Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip on Sunday night was exceptional. The air force attacked a relatively large number of targets in the heaviest offensive since the end of the last Hamas-Israel war two years ago.

Neither Israel nor Hamas have said exactly what was attacked, though both sides presumably know. It’s reasonable to assume that aside from considerations of deterrence, Israel decided to seize a tactical opportunity to deprive Hamas of operational assets. The launch of a rocket at Sderot by a Palestinian terrorist group provided sufficient justification for doing so.
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August 23, 2016 | 1:39 pm | Comments »

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ARABS AND ISRAELIS REJECT BOTH THE 1SS AND THE 2SS  

T. Belman. Since only 39% of Israel Jews support the 2SS with its current parameters, the deal must be considerably sweetened for it to gain acceptance. This is not going to happen no matter who mediates peace. Since only 20% of Israeli Jews accept a 1SS with equal rights, Glick’s solution is a non-starter.

This support will only decrease, as the left, who in the main support the 1SS, dwindle in numbers as the right grows stronger.

Thus a new paradigm must be cultivated. If the Palestinians won’t accept permanent autonomy, they will be left with the choice between the status quo and compensated emigration.

While thin majority of both Israelis and Palestinians two-state accord in theory, fewer back an agreement under current terms

ISRAEL DEMOCRACY INSTITUTE

Only a small majority of Palestinians (51%) and Israelis (59%; 53% of Jewish Israelis and 87% of Arab Israelis) supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

So reports the new Palestinian-Israeli Pulse: A Joint Poll, published today by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) in Jerusalem and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) in Ramallah, with funding from the European Union (EU) and in partnership with and support from theKonrad-Adenauer Stiftung in Ramallah and Jerusalem.
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August 23, 2016 | 10:52 am | 2 Comments »

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Our World: Soros’s campaign of global chaos  

The first thing that we see is the megalomaniacal nature of Soros’s philanthropic project. No corner of the globe is unaffected by his efforts. No policy area is left untouched.

By Caroline Glick, JPOST

George Soros

Major media outlets in the US have ignored the leak of thousands of emails from billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundation by the activist hacker group DCLeaks. The OSF is the vehicle through which Soros has funneled billions of dollars over the past two decades to non-profit organizations in the US and throughout the world.

According to the documents, Soros has given more than $30 million to groups working for Hillary Clinton’s election in November, making him her largest single donor. So it is likely the case that the media’s support for Clinton has played some role in the mainstream media’s bid to bury the story.
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August 23, 2016 | 8:47 am | 3 Comments »

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Ayatollah shoots down Putin’s high-flying Tupolev  

DEBKA

Monday, Aug. 22, just a week after the Russian defense ministry proudly released images of the first Russian bombardments in Syria to be launched from Nojeh airbase, which Tehran had granted Moscow near the Iranian town of Hamedan, the Iranian defense ministry snatched the concession back in a public rebuff for Moscow.

The Russians had presented its Iranian acquisition as the twin of the air base granted by Syria at Kmeimim near Latakia.
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August 23, 2016 | 8:16 am | Comments »

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VOTE AGAINST Liberman’s “Carrot Plan”  

To: Knesset Ministers and Members
Re: Dangerous plan for Judea-Samaria’s Area C –

Don’t legalize illegal Palestinian building by Beduin Squatters in Susiya who have homes elsewhere while at the same time demolish Jewish homes in Amona suspiciously claimed by NGO’s to be the property of nonexistant or unknown Arabs. Beduin claims to the land in Susiya are without substance and Arab claims to the Land in Amona are unsubstantiated, without transparency, not subject to review and scrutiny.

Jewish Amona was established on a barren hilltop.

Many false claims can be linked to the provocation of anti Israel NGO’s, such as Peace Now and Yesh Din.
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August 23, 2016 | 8:08 am | Comments »

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Part II. A Transnational Study of Islam  

By Prof Paul Eidelberg, President, Israel-America Renaissance Institute

Part II. A Transnational Study of Islam 

This installment will review what ancient and modern scholars of diverse nations have said or written about Islam. We shall now show, inter alia,
(1) that the reigning Ash’arite school of Islam, which rejected the rationalist tradition of classical Greek philosophy, has been engaged in a life-and-death struggle with Western Civilization since the ninth century;
(2) that Muhammad, the founder of Islam, did not purge this creed from the polytheism and paganism of pre-Islamic days;
(3) that Islam, cloaked in the veneer of monotheism, is not consistent with the discoverer of intellectual and moral monotheism, the Patriarch Abraham;
(4) that Islam, which now holds sway over some 1.5 billion Muslims, is utterly opposed to Judeo-Christian civilization;
(5) that Islam is fundamentally irrational, which is why it was rejected by one of the greatest Muslim philosophers al-Farabi, a disciple of Plato and Aristotle, who, to avoid punishment or death, was a Muslim in dress only;
(6) that countless scholars in the West have sacrificed their intellects by obscuring the true nature of Islam and its existential threat to Western Civilization, indeed, to civilization per se; and
(7) that the Western notion of Muslim ‘moderates’ is an escape from reality; and (8) that Islam cannot undergo a reformation without denying it as a revelation of God.
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August 23, 2016 | 7:33 am | Comments »

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Donald’s economic plan: The obvious Trumps the important  

By Alex Markovsky, NY DAILY NEWS

Donald Trump’s economic plan, which he unveiled recently in Detroit, includes among other things reducing taxes, lessening regulatory burdens, increasing energy production, and redefining trade policies.

Those measures will undoubtedly reignite the economy, but will not be sufficient to pay for the new infrastructure and additional military expenditure that Trump also proposed, nor will it pay for the reduction of the nation’s $20 trillion debt, which he did not even mention in his speech. This is the obvious.
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August 23, 2016 | 7:31 am | 1 Comment »

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Report: So Far, Trump Got Zilch from Adelson  

By David Israel. JEWISH PRESS

Casino magnate and Bibi Netanyahu patron Sheldon Adelson is yet to put any money in Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, NBC News reported Monday based on new filings from the Federal Election Commission. Adelson, a devoted friend of Israel, not just of its prime minister, attended the Republican National Convention in July, but apparently got cold feet about supporting the nominee because of the latter’s post-convention two weeks of endless shenanigans that cost Trump his short-lived rise in the polls.

Adelson donated an estimated $100 million in various stages of the 2012 election, probably the biggest spender back then, but with very little to show for his money. In May it looked as if he was going to stake his chips on Trump, and then had a change of heart.
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August 22, 2016 | 6:09 pm | 1 Comment »

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What Outcome Do We Seek in Syria?  

By Shoshana Bryen, JEWISH POLICY CENTER

Russian warplanes took off this week from Iran to hit targets in Syria. Russia has used Iranian bases for refueling and resupply in the past, but this is its first bombing mission from the Islamic Republic — it is also the first foreign military operation to take place from Iranian soil since the 1979 revolution. Iran’s National Security chief said Iran and Russia “enjoy strategic cooperation in the fight against terrorism in Syria, and share their facilities and capacities to this end.”

Whether temporary or serving longer term Russian interests, the increasing breadth and capability of the Russian military in the region — allied with the State Department’s number one designated state sponsor of terror — presents problems for the United States. The Obama administration, however, appears oddly unconcerned.
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August 22, 2016 | 6:03 pm | Comments »

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Israel strikes 50 times in Gaza after rocket attack  

Israeli official urges calm as Hamas blames Jewish state for escalating violence; 2-5 people lightly injured in raids

BY JUDAH ARI GROSS AND TAMAR PILEGGI, TOI

The Israel Air Force conducted 50 airstrikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip late Sunday night, following a rocket fired into Israel by Palestinian terrorists earlier that day, but was not seeking an escalation in hostilities, an Israeli official said on Monday.

“There were approximately 50 airstrikes within two hours. There is no intention to escalate the situation further, and that is basically where the situation falls at this time,” a senior military official told The Times of Israel.
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August 22, 2016 | 4:49 pm | Comments »

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UJA-Federation is funding BDS  

Richard Allen, the founder of JCC Watch, wrote to Eric Goldstein of the UJA NY Federation among others the following:

Why have you allowed the UJA-Federation to fund BDS  in 2015?

http://jccwatch.org/?p=163

You have never given an explanation to the Jewish People why you divert Jewish Charitable dollars to these nefarious anti-Israel groups.

You even finance the Rachel Corrie Memorial Fund in Gaza in 2016,
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August 22, 2016 | 4:37 pm | 1 Comment »

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Fundamentally Transformed  

By Victor Davis Hansem, National review

Have we reached a point of no return?

Multicultural societies — from 19th-century Austria–Hungary to contemporary Iraq, Lebanon, the former Yugoslavia, and Rwanda — have a poor record of keeping the peace between competing tribes. They usually end up mired in nihilistic and endemic violence. The only hope for history’s rare multiracial, multiethnic, and multireligious nations is to adopt a common culture, one that artificially suppresses the natural instinct of humans to identify first with their particular tribe.

America, in the logical spirit of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, was exceptional among modern societies in slowly evolving from its original, largely European immigrant population to a 21st-century assimilated, integrated, and intermarried multiracial society, in which religious and racial affiliations were incidental, not essential, to one’s public character and identity.
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August 22, 2016 | 2:45 pm | 2 Comments »

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On Muslim “Moderates”: Beware of Experts  

By Prof. Paul Eidelberg

Middle East expert Daniel Pipes focuses public attention on a distinction between Muslim “moderates” and “extremists.” He also distinguishes between “Islamism” and “militant Islam” from Islam per se.

Now, let us admit at the outset that not every Muslim is a Jihadist. Indeed, Dr. Pipes’ estimates that “only” 10 percent of the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims support Jihad: that’s 150,000,000 people, a not very comforting number. Other experts estimate the number of Muslim supporters of Jihad as more than 20 percent or 300,000,000, roughly the population of the United States. That should make Obama voters sleep well.
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August 22, 2016 | 11:50 am | 1 Comment »

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BREITBART IS TAKING OVER FROM FOX  

Former NPR CEO: Stephen K. Bannon Grew Andrew Breitbart’s Critique of Media into ‘Very Large, Effective News Organization’

WATCH THIS FASCINATING INTERVIEW

By Pam Key, BREITBART

Sunday on CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” while commenting on Breitbart News executive chairman Stephen K. Bannon taking on a new role as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign CEO, the former chief executive officer of National Public Radio and author Ken Stern said Bannon has grown Breitbart into a “very large, effective news organization — media organization, political organization.”
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August 22, 2016 | 11:40 am | Comments »

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Israel values U.S. military aid but does well on its own steam, too  

U.S. aid is much appreciated but only equals about 1.5 percent of Israel’s GDP. At this stage it’s not essential for Israel’s survival.

By Moshe Arens, HAARETZ

A number of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s critics claim they could have obtained a better deal in the negotiations for the U.S. military aid package; it’s like in that Irving Berlin song: “Anything you can do I can do better.” There’s a lot of hype in these claims, but the subject of U.S. military aid to Israel is still worth discussing.

After the Yom Kippur War, when the Israel Defense Forces had to be rebuilt and rearmed, U.S. military aid to Israel equaled 20 percent of Israel’s gross domestic product and covered about half the Israeli defense budget. Most of the equipment the IDF acquired came from the United States.
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August 22, 2016 | 10:12 am | Comments »

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Dangerous recruitment through Facebook  

By Nitsana Darshan Lietner, ISRAEL HAYOM

The Shin Bet security agency announced last week that it had arrested a number of terrorist cells in Judea and Samaria that had been established, under instructions from Hezbollah, with the aim of executing terrorist attacks in Israel. One of the cells, the agency said, had been operating in the Qalqilya area and was under orders to carry out an attack against an IDF patrol in the area. The cell leader was one Mustafa Hindi, a resident of Qalqilya — only 18 years old. Hindi was in contact with a handler and had instructions to recruit other operatives and carry out attacks against Israeli targets. According to the reports, it was all done for hefty sums of money.
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August 21, 2016 | 3:50 pm | 1 Comment »

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