Draft report accuses Netanyahu, Ya’alon and Gantz of failing to anticipate Hamas tunnel threat, withholding info from cabinet

TOI STAFF

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and former IDF chief of Staff Benny Gantz are expected to face harsh criticism in an upcoming State Comptroller report over the Israeli leadership’s performance during the war in Gaza in the summer of 2014.

Netanyahu and Ya’alon are accused of not updating the security cabinet in real time of the imminent threat of war with the Hamas in the Gaza Strip and not discussing the grave threat of the terror group’s attack tunnels, according to Hebrew media sources who read the draft report.

The prime minister and the defense minister concealed from the cabinet the fact that the Shin Bet security agency had warned of a potential war with Hamas in early July 2014, Channel 10 reported. The war, which Israel dubbed Operation Protective Edge, began on July 8, 2014.
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The insane and endless war in Syria might as well be taking place on another planet, for all the West cares, and that is not the only lesson to be learned from the conflict.

By Mordechai Keday, INN

For the past five years, a war in which everyone is fighting everyone else has been raging in what was once called Syria. At least half a million people are dead, two million injured, five million – about half the population – have become refugees, some within the country, others outside it. And there is still no light at the end of the tunnel. The ceasefire is falling apart, the mass murders continue, and it’s as if Syria is located on some other planet and no one sees or hears what is going on there. Read more…

By Devon Leonard, BLOOMBERG

As the fuzzy strains of the Beatles’ Revolution filled the room, Donald Trump took the stage on Feb. 9 in Manchester, N.H., to celebrate his victory in the state’s Republican presidential primary. Before reiterating his campaign promises to do away with Obamacare, construct a wall along America’s border with Mexico, and rebuild the nation’s military so that “nobody is going to mess with us, believe me, nobody,” Trump thanked his family members, including his daughter Ivanka, who stood beside him in an elegant black dress with a white floral print, and her husband, the lanky, boyish New York real estate developer and newspaper publisher, Jared Kushner.
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T. Belman. This is great news. Friedman has obviously had great influence on Trump’s evolving policies on Israel including supporting settlement construction.

In Feb 2016, he wrote End the two-state narrative in which he wrote “It was never a solution, just an illusion that served both the US and the Arabs.

His reflexive reaction to my involvement in the Trump candidacy lays bare how dangerous the Jewish left is to the State of Israel.

By David Friedman, INN
(Friedman serves as the President of American Friends of Bet El. He is a practicing trial lawyer in New York and maintains a residence in Jerusalem.)

Several weeks ago, I was “outed” as one of Donald Trump’s two advisors on the relationship between the United States of America and the State of Israel. It is an honor and a privilege to advise Mr. Trump on a critical issue that is near and dear to my heart, and I fervently hope that I have the opportunity to assist him in developing and implementing policies that strengthen both countries and the unbreakable bond between them. Read more…

Jewish American billionaire throws his support behind Trump, emphasizing that ‘he won fair and square.’

By Ari Yashar, INN

Jewish American billionaire Sheldon Adelson on Thursday night revealed he will be supporting Donald Trump in his presidential campaign, and stated that the real estate mogul will be a good president in strengthening ties with Israel.

Speaking to the New York Times at a gala dinner in Manhattan for the Jewish organization World Values Network, the casino magnate said he will back Trump now that he’s the presumptive Republican nominee for president.

“Yes, I’m a Republican, he’s a Republican. He’s our nominee. Whoever the nominee would turn out to be, any one of the 17 – he was one of the 17. He won fair and square,” said Adelson.
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By its acceptance of the legitimacy of Palestinian national claims, Israel has, perversely, laid the foundations for the assault on its own legitimacy.

By Martin Sherman, JPOST

Algorithm: A detailed sequence of actions to perform to accomplish some task…; a precise rule (or set of rules) specifying how to solve some problem – Webster’s online dictionary

Political realism believes that politics… is governed by objective laws that have their roots in human nature… The operation of these laws being impervious to our preferences, men will challenge them only at the risk of failure – Hans Morgenthau, “Six Principles of Political Realism”

Last week (in “A very simple conflict”) I pointed out that, arguably, the most widely propagated and misleading falsehoods regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict, in general, and the Palestinian-Israeli one, in particular; is that it is an immensely complex and complicated problem requiring great sophistication and creativity to resolve.
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The first reason for the uproar over Jew-hatred is that the party is led by Jeremy Corbyn, a man who, at minimum, has a marked, longstanding affection for anti-Semites and respect for their bigotry.

By Caroline Glick, JPOST

The first reason for the uproar over Jew-hatred is that the party is led by Jeremy Corbyn, a man who, at minimum, has a marked, longstanding affection for anti-Semites and respect for their bigotry.

The strangest aspect of the current hullabaloo in Britain about anti-Semitism in the Labor Party is that it is happening at all. Since when has Jew-hatred been something that Labor feels it necessary to abhor? For more than a decade, the party, like the British Left from whence it emanates, has provided a warm home for Jew-haters.

Naz Shah, the Labor MP who set off the alarms with her call to deport the more than six million Jews of Israel to America, has a rich history of Jew-hating. Shah entered parliament by unseating George Galloway.
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Canteens, recreational rooms, even showers – tunnel-building terrorist reveals Hamas’s vast tunnel network, in major intel coup for Israel.

By Ari Sofer, INN

It has been cleared for publication that a veteran Hamas terrorist who was involved in the terror group’s tunnel-building efforts has been captured by Israel.

Under interrogation the terrorist has revealed a wealth of information about Hamas’s network of attack tunnels into Israel, as well as its massive network of tunnels inside Gaza, in preparation for any future war with Israel.
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T. Belman. When Israel withdrew from Gaza, she believed she was ending her occupation of Gaza. But the world insisted that she remained an occupying power, though this stretched the definition of same beyond belief. The world would not let her off the hook and imposed on her the responsibilities of being an occupying power, namely “To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the occupying power must ensure sufficient hygiene and public health standards, as well as the provision of food and medical care to the population under occupation.” among others.

The world said so long as Israel maintained the blockade she was an occupier. They ignored the fact that Israel had no control over Gaza’s southern border. This position was in conflict with the law. Article 42 of the 1907 Hague Regulations (HR) states that a “territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army. The occupation extends only to the territory where such authority has been established and can be exercised.” Obviously Israel has no authority inside the territory.

At first Israel rejected this status but eventually accepted it.

by Vic Rosenthal

Hamas continues to prepare for war. It’s a matter of when, not if.

In the news this week was a report that Israel foiled an attempt to smuggle tons of ammonium chloride into Gaza. It can be used for rockets (in the production of ammonium perchlorate, an oxidizer used in rocket fuel), but it also might be used to make explosive materials for warheads, suicide belts, and more.
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By Yishai Fleisher, TOI

What is the fundamental lesson of the Holocaust for Israel and the Jewish people? There is a divergence of opinion:

Many Liberal Jews believe the main lesson of the Six Million is that we Jews should never do to others what was done to us. We know first hand what the horrors of hatred look like, and therefore, we must distance ourselves in every possible way from behaviors which are like those of the Nazis. This way of thinking posits that every mortal person has the potential to be a Nazi and when given power, every human and even every Jew can become abusive. But after the Holocaust, we Jews were tasked with being more ethical and virtuous than the barbarians. We took it upon ourselves to be the archetype of restraint, lest our very human Inner-Nazi is unleashed and we end up mirroring the tormentors we escaped. I call the folks in this camp Fear-of-Inner-Nazi Jews.
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By Martin Sherman, ISRAEL HAYOM

Consider the following remarkable facts regarding Israel’s parliamentary history:

1) For 20 of the 28 years between 1977 (when Likud first won the elections on a platform of “Greater Israel”) and 2005 (when a Likud government withdrew unilaterally from Gaza in stark contradiction to its electoral pledges), the Israeli government was headed by a prime minister from Likud.
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The return of the body on Tuesday contradicted a policy Netanyahu instituted in late March, when he directed Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon to stop returning the bodies of terrorists after attacks.

By Herb Keinon and Lahav Harov, JPOST

The quick transfer of the Palestinians of the body of the terrorist who rammed into three soldiers near Dolev on Tuesday sparked yet more coalition tension, with Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Bayit Yehudi) calling the move a mistake on Wednesday.

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) has also come out against the move.
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[THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT INTERVIEW. BLUM, A RIGHT WINGER, ASKS THE RIGHT QUESTIONS]

By Ruthie Blum, ALGEMEINER

Though Donald Trump has wondered aloud why most Jews voted for President Barack Obama – and why they are likely to cast ballots for presumed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton – he is more “puzzled than furious,” his executive vice president and chief legal officer said on Wednesday, in the immediate aftermath of the withdrawal from the GOP race of remaining rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich.

Jason Greenblatt, an Orthodox Jewish real estate lawyer from Teaneck, New Jersey — who has been working for “The Donald” for the past two decades – made this comment during an hour-long interview with The Algemeiner at Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan.
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What was Netanyahu looking for in the Golan Heights, why did the Russians shoot at an Israeli fighter jet and why can’t Israel formulate a diplomatic/security strategy?

By Moshe Feiglin, JEWISH LEADERSHIP BLOG

In April 2016, PM Binyamin Netanyahu visited IDF forces on the Golan Heights, dressed in field attire. Surrounded by soldiers (and personal security) the PM declared that the Golan Heights will remain in Israel hands forever. It is doubtful if his patriotic declaration added peace of mind to any rightists. After all, Netanyahu has already conducted negotiations on surrendering the Golan Heights to Syria (by means of his billionaire friend, Ron Lauder). Similarly, Rabin’s declaration on the eve of the 1992 elections that “whoever retreats from the Golan will be abandoning Israel’s security” did not prevent him from later conducting serious negotiations on giving it to the Syrians. In general, Israelis are no longer impressed by its leaders’ declarations of loyalty (to Jerusalem, Gush Katif, the Golan) because in Israel, “principles” serve politics – and not vice versa.
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[THIS IS AN EXCELLENT ANALYSIS]

By Prof Efraim Inbar, ISRAEL HAYOM

Who are the Security Council members who are so “concerned” about Israel controlling the Golan?

By Dr. Rafael Medoff, INN

Fifteen countries that are illegally occupying other countries’ territories have denounced Israel for refusing to surrender the Golan Heights. It’s hard to know whether to laugh or cry–or perhaps just turn the page.

The current president of the United Nations Security Council, Chinese ambassador Liu Jieyi, this week chaired a closed meeting of the 15 council members and announced afterwards that they share a “deep concern” about Israel’s position that it will not retreat from the Golan. They insisted that Israel’s presence on the Golan is illegal.
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Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:

The ZOA and others involved in combating anti-Israel “boycott, divestment and sanctions” (BDS) have previously pointed out that top backers of BDS include designated terrorist groups Hamas and the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine), the PLO/PA and the Council of National and Islamic Forces in Palestine (CNIF) – an entity established by terrorists Yassir Arafat and Marwan Barghouti at the beginning of the Second Intifada to coordinate PLO and Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel.  (See, e.g., Dan Diker, Unmasking BDS: Radical Roots, Extremist Ends)   Last week, the Congressional testimony of former U.S. Treasury Department terrorism analyst Jonathan Schanzer described alarming, additional Hamas connections to the organizations that fund, coordinate, aid and abet the growing scourge of BDS on American college campuses.   (See Schanzer testimony, Joint Hearing before House Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade and the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, April 19, 2016).
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T. Belman. Smotrich is right. The IDF is doubling down on their condemnation of the soldier as it would look very bad indeed if the soldier were acquitted. Given the fact that the public is with the soldier and not the IDF, this matter should be decided by a jury of the soldiers peers even if it has to go to a criminal court rather than a military court.

What is at stake here is our values. The IDF claims to be protecting those values. The people are saying you have our values wrong.

There are numerous cases in criminal law where the Jury refused to convict because to do so didn’t seem right to them or didn’t accord with their values.

MK Smotrich demands explanation for reports that IDF hired top private lawyer to prosecute soldier for shooting neutralized terrorist.

By Uzi Baruch, INN

MK Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home) sent a letter to IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkott on Tuesday morning, following reports that the IDF put a lawyer from a large firm into the reserves in order to serve as a prosecutor.

Smotrich asked Eizenkott to explain the reasoning for the move, as well as how much the military is paying for the lawyer’s services.
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