Police arrest 12 suspects as wildfires continue to rage nationwide • “Any fire caused by arson or incitement to arson is an act of terrorism. … Those responsible will be made to answer for it to the full extent of the law,” PM Netanyahu says.

ISRAEL HAYOM

Twelve people were arrested on Thursday and Friday on suspicion of arson and incitement to arson as massive wildfires continued to rage across Israel Friday? and numerous firefighting teams continued to battle the flames in what is now feared to be a wave of terrorist arson attacks.

Some 1,500 fires have broken out nationwide since Tuesday, and it is now believed that at least half of them were the work of arsonists.
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Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi was among the first Arab leaders to welcome Trump’s victory.

By Caroline Glick, JPOST

In an interview this week with the Australian media, Jordan’s King Abdullah became the latest Arab leader to express hope that President- elect Donald Trump and his team will lead the world’s to date failed fight against jihadist Islam.

Like his counterparts in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Abdullah effectively ruled out the possibility that President Barack Obama will take any constructive steps to defeat the forces of global jihad in his last months in power. Speaking of the humanitarian disaster in Aleppo for instance, Abdullah said, “I don’t think there’s much we can do until the new administration is in place and a strategy is formulated.”
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Sitting justices have veto power over who will be their successors, an arrangement unheard of in any major democracy.

By Malcolm Dash, INN

To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to the written law, would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the ends to the means. – Thomas Jefferson, September 20, 1810

The brouhaha that has erupted over the Minister of Justices’ proposed reform to the, nomination and selection process for Supreme Court Justices, has once again thrust the question of the relationship between the judiciary and the political establishment into the headlines. The result has been that Israel’s entrenched civil society elites have hurriedly begun to “circle their wagons” to protect their holiest sacred cow from the allegedly grievous harm, if the current judicial selection system is in anyway changed. Incredibly, elite outrage focuses on an attempt in the proposed legislation to break the veto power sitting justices have in determining who will be their successors, an arrangement unheard of in any major democratic country. So rather than defending democracy, appalled critics of the proposed legislation are perpetuating judicial tyranny.
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By MARTIN SHERMAN

Benjamin Netanyahu – A synopsis: The good the bad…and the remarkable

When you compare his [Netanyahu’s] lack of actual achievements compared to Ben-Gurion, whose record he’s eclipsed, it’s embarrassing
– Jeff Barak, An empty record, Jerusalem Post, November 20, 2016

Last Tuesday Benjamin Netanyahu chalked up an unbroken stint of 2793 days (seven years and 236 days) as prime minister of Israel, thereby surpassing David Ben-Gurion’s record for the longest consecutive term in office.

Small-minded and spiteful

By any criterion, this would be a remarkable feat for anyone—under any circumstances. But for Netanyahu, it is even more remarkable—given the truly formidable obstacles and almost pathological animosity he had to overcome to achieve it.
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Developing: 80,000 evacuated around Haifa; Shin Bet and Police investigating background, Police Chief says not all fires caused by arson.

JPOST

Prime Minister Benjaman Netanyahu said at a press conference Thursday that Israel is facing a wave of terror in the form of arsonists setting much of the country ablaze.

“Every fire caused by arson, or incitement to commit arson, is terrorism for all intents and purposes, and we will bring them to justice,” he said.

Speaking after a meeting to update leaders on the efforts being made against the hundreds of fires around the country, Netanyahu thanked the many forces working around the clock to save lives, and reserved special mention to foreign leaders, who have sent planes and firefighters to help in the efforts.
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By Steven Bertoni, FORBES

It’s been one week since Donald Trump pulled off the biggest upset in modern political history, and his headquarters at Trump Tower in New York City is a 58-story, onyx-glassed lightning rod. Barricades, TV trucks and protesters frame a fortified Fifth Avenue. Armies of journalists and selfie-seeking tourists stalk Trump Tower’s pink marble lobby, hoping to snap the next political power player who steps into view. Twenty-six floors up, in the same building where washed-up celebrities once battled for Trump’s blessing on The Apprentice, the president-elect is choosing his Cabinet, and this contest contains all the twists and turns of his old reality show.
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T. Belman. I spoke to Bennett insider, Jeremy Saltan, today in the hopes of having Bennett put the Jordan is Palestine option on the table.. He said no one is interested in pushing a final solution as opposed to working out interim steps.

I suggested that first the goal should be established before deciding on interim steps.. He thought otherwise.

By Gil Hoffman, JPOST

PM Netanyahu could prevent the creation of a Palestinian state by ruling it out in his first meeting with US president-elect Donald Trump when he takes office, Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett said Wednesday at The Jerusalem Post Conference at the capital’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

Bennett came to the conference directly from New York, where he met with Trump advisers, which angered Netanyahu. The prime minister issued a warning to his ministers to leave Trump to him, but the warning came after the meetings took place.
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By  Osama Al Sharif, AL MONITOR

Like most countries, Jordan had been preparing for a Hillary Clinton presidency, which was largely expected to be a continuation of President Barack Obama’s policies in a crisis-ridden Middle East. The former US secretary of state had strong working relations with regional leaders including King Abdullah. For the Jordanian government, a Clinton victory would have meant that strong bilateral relations, especially in security and military fields, would continue.

The Saudis were surprised by Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election, and their numerous America watchers are trying to assess what Trump’s foreign policy will mean for the kingdom.

By Bruce Riedel, AL MONITOR

The Saudi partnership with America dates to 1943 when two future kings, Faisal and Khaled, were sent by their father, King ibn Saud, to Washington to confer with President Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt treated the two princes as the royalty they were. They stayed in Blair House, met Roosevelt in the Oval Office and traveled around the country to see how America was mobilized for war.
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ICONOCLAST

Geert Wilders’ biased political show trial culminated today with his final statement to the panel of judges requesting that he be acquitted of all charges.  Wilders’ and his Freedom Party (PVV)  has a commanding lead in the latest political polls in the  Netherlands ahead of the March 2017 general election.  The daunting problem he faces  if the PVV won the pluralty of  popular votes would be his ability to form a ruling coalition if asked to do so by King Willem-Alexander. Monday’s Wall Street Journall Europe File noted the rise of possible Euro-skeptic allies  of Wilders who might form minority parties furthering the anti-immigration and anti-EU agenda of his Freedom Party, ” EU’s Potential Bomb Ticks in the Netherlands.”   Note what Simon Nixon WSJ Europe File Columnist wrote:
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Mainstreaming anti-Semitism through anti-Trump alarmism.

By Daniel Greenfield, FPM

The media’s story is that Trump’s win unleashed anti-Semitism on the right. Instead it’s unleashing anti-Semitism on the left. From the elevation of Keith Ellison to head the DNC, despite his ugly history with anti-Semitism, to the mainstreaming of Islamist anti-Semites from CAIR, ISNA and other hate groups with a history of supporting anti-Semitic terror, the atmosphere on the left has only grown uglier.

Equally troubling is the way in which anti-Israel hatred is being mainstreamed within the Jewish community under the guise of a collective front to oppose Trump. The groups taking the lead in these protests include some of the ugliest anti-Israel organizations around, including JVP and If Not Now.
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Nikki Haley last year signed legislation that bans boycott of Jewish state; appointment makes her first woman in top post in new administration

BY JULIE BYKOWICZ, TOI

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has chosen South Carolina’s pro-Israel governor Nikki Haley as US ambassador to the United Nations.

Haley has accepted the cabinet-level position, becoming the first woman tapped for a top-level administration post during his White House transition so far.
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The president-elect has made changing his mind a way of life. Why would his young presidency be any different?

By RUAIRÍ ARRIETA-KENNA, POLITICO

In May, Politico compiled the most comprehensive list ever of the then likely GOP presidential nominee’s history of self-contradictions, flip-flops and even flip-flop-flips. Over the course of four decades of radio and TV interviews, newspaper and magazine profiles, books written about him and books written by him, rambling campaign speeches and late-night tweets, Donald Trump has created a vast archive of arguments with himself.

Well, the candidate who told his supporters he likes to “tell it like it is” is now the president-elect—and he still hasn’t found a comfortable resting place on many of the issues that defined his history-making candidacy. Since his surprising election, Trump has switched his stands on everything from his signature border wall to his rather low opinion of the man he is replacing in the Oval Office. He has a way to go to before he matches the sheer volume of self-disagreement that he racked up prior to Election Day, but his batting average over his brief time as the 45th president is perfection itself—15 about-faces in 15 days.*** Read more…

Israel is one of the world’s innovation giants. However, at present, most Israeli technologies benefit just 15% of the world’s population in the developed world.

By Michael Zeff,  JPOST

Israeli innovators to develop ventures that will benefit the developing world while turning a profit in India’s affordable healthcare market.

The project is known as the Pears Program for Global Innovation at Tel Aviv University, and its 2017 installment of the Pears Challenge was just launched this week. Read more…

T. Belman. Republicans aren’t retreating.  They are advancing. The Jewish establishment need not fret. They should simply get on board the Trump train. Of course that means abandoning the Democratic Party which is becoming more antisemitic and anti-Israel by the day. Should be a no-brainer especially if they switch their allegiance from the Democratic Party to Israel.

Leading organizations including AJC, ADL, and AIPAC concerned over growing partisan divide in US on Israel

BY RON KAMPEAS, TOI

WASHINGTON (JTA) — In recent months, the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee have each emphasized what in recent years hardly needed emphasizing: mainstream Jewish support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The reiterations of support signify a concern growing among Jewish organizations about deepening partisan differences on what has been since 2002 a rare area of broad political consensus in Israel and the United States.

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T. Belman. As I have been repeating Flynn and Trump intend to defeat the Jihadist ideology.

“We can’t win this war by treating Radical Islamic terrorists as a handful of crazies. .?.?. The political and theological underpinnings of their immoral actions have to be demolished.”

But they differ somewhat on Russia. Flynn is more wary of Russia than Trump who wants to work with them.

Review of “The Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and its Allies” by Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn and Michael Ledeen

By Carlos Losata, WaPo

Late in the presidential race, Donald Trump warned that his opponent would start a new world war. “You’re going to end up in World War III over Syria if we listen to Hillary Clinton,” he told Reuters.

As it turns out, there was no need to worry about Clinton’s hawkishness. The next world war is already here. It’s a religious war. And the United States is losing.

Such is the vision of Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, the retired Army three-star general who is set to become White House national security adviser after President-elect Trump takes the oath of office. Thus far, Flynn is best known for his fire-breathing speech at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this summer. But six days before leading GOP delegates in a frenzy of “USA!” and “Lock her up!” chants, Flynn published a book detailing this new fight — in his telling, a multi-generational and civilizational conflict against radical Islam. “We’re in a world war,” he writes, “but very few Americans recognize it, and fewer still have any idea how to win it.”
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T. Belman. Not mentioned here is, Hillary Clinton urged to call for election vote recount in battleground states

By J Marsolo, AMERICAN THINKER

There is much discussion about whether Trump’s Justice Department should investigate and prosecute Hillary on the email scandal. But there is no such discussion about whether Obama should pardon Hillary. At this point, Trump said he does not want to “hurt” Hillary, but I believe that this may change depending on how Democrats respond to Trump’s agenda and confirmation of his nominees.

The FBI investigated Hillary on the email scandal and is investigating the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation, aka the William J. Corleone Foundation, which involves Hillary, Bill, and Chelsea. As we all know, the FBI concluded that Hillary did not violate the applicable laws because she did not have criminal intent.
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T. Belman. This coupled with his going easy on Hillary one month after promising to appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate her email scandal and the investigation of it is troubling indeed.

By Ed Straker, AMERICAN THINKER

Donald Trump, after stating that he was going to reinstate waterboarding “and worse” for terrorists, now says he is against waterboarding.  He also says global warming, which he once said was a hoax created by the Chinese to make U.S. manufacturing uncompetitive,  may be caused by man-made activities.

Donald Trump seemed to acknowledge that humans contribute to climate change Tuesday in a meeting with New York Times reporters, moving closer to widely held scientific opinion but away from the Republican Party line.