T. Belman. Maybe its time for Israel to support the rebels in exchange for the rebels support of Israel. Such support would enable the rebels to extend their control over much of the land bordering the demilitarized zone.

DEBKA

The Israeli cabinet holds its weekly session Sunday April 17, on the Golan. Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu will visit Moscow on Thursday, April 21 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and to launch the most important battle of his political career, and one of Israel’s most decisive contests of the last 10 years: the battle over the future of the Golan Heights.
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THE ISRAEL PROJECT
1. The E.U. is working with Iran to pressure the U.S. into giving Iran dollar access – The E.U. has been pressuring the U.S. so that the Europeans can accelerate normalization with Iran:

Ms. Mogherini [said]… “The main message that I have delivered here is the fact that we Europeans have as much as an interest as the Iranians that this issue is solved… We have an economic interest also in coming back here as the first trading partner… In order to do that we need our banks to be present here”… Under terrorism and human right sanctions, the Treasury still bars Iran from using the U.S. financial system or the American dollar… Zarif acknowledged that while U.S. officials may not be doing anything that breaches the letter of last year’s nuclear accord, they were undermining its spirit… Ms. Mogherini said she has been pressing the Obama administration to do what it can to end the impasse. She discussed the issue with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at the Group of Seven meeting in Hiroshima recently and also raised it in Washington with senior U.S. official on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit.

2. The E.U. will cooperate with Iran on a range of projects, including nuclear development

The two sides announced a string of joint projects—from the energy sector to migration and joint research work—in a bid to broaden a bilateral relationship that was long restricted by the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program… Among the new projects announced on Saturday, the EU and Iran will start work on some joint civil nuclear projects and start discussions on broadening oil and gas links.

When the nuclear deal was sold to Congress, the Obama administration declared that the multilateral approach would make the Europeans into partners who would cooperate with Washington in pushing back against Iranian misbehavior. The tone and substance of Mogherini’s visit suggests that the opposite may be happening, and that the Europeans are cooperating with the Iranians against Washington.

Omri.

By Lawrence Norman, WALL STREET JOURNAL

Iran’s foreign minister says he hopes to start to see ‘tangible benefits’ from nuclear deal

TEHRAN, Iran—The European Union’s top foreign policy official pledged Saturday the bloc would do what it can to get large regional banks working with Iran in a bid to ease tensions between Tehran and Washington over the benefits of last year’s nuclear agreement.
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FOX NEWS

Saudi Arabia has reportedly told the Obama administration and congressional leaders that it will sell billions of dollars in U.S. financial assets if Congress passes a bill to make the Saudi government legally responsible for any role in the 9/11 attacks.

The administration has tried to stop Congress from passing the legislation, a bipartisan Senate bill, since Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir last month told Washington lawmakers his country’s position, according to The New York Times.
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by Paul Cliteur and Machteld Zee, ME FORUM

Five years after France’s ban on wearing the niqab face veil and body-covering burqa in public went into effect, the twin threats of Islamist terrorism and mass migration looming over Europe have led to mounting public pressure for similar bans across the continent.

Last year, the Netherlands banned face veils in government buildings, public transport, schools, and hospitals. In Spain, Italy, and Switzerland, numerous municipalities have imposed bans locally. Calls for bans have grown louder in Germany. In January, British Prime Minister David Cameron advocated proper and sensible rules prohibiting face veils in courts, schools, and other government buildings.
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In letter, signatories say they ‘deeply troubled’ by prospect of one-sided UN resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which ‘dangerously hinder’ possibility of future direct negotiations.

HAARETZ

An overwhelming majority of the U.S. House of Representatives signed a letter urging President Barack Obama to reject any unilateral action by the UN Security Council regarding Israel.

The letter undersigned by 394 House Republicans and Democrats — more than 90 percent of the 435 representatives — was sent to Obama Thursday amid reports that the Palestinian Authority might revive a draft resolution against Israel’s policies in the West Bank, similar to the one vetoed in 2011 at the Security Council by the United States.
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T. Belman. Now let me see. The Mavi Marmara left from Turkey with its support intending to breach Israel’s legal blockade of Gaza. When IDF soldiers boarded the ship, they were brutally attacked and Israel shot back in self defense. 9 Turks were killed.  It seems to me that it is Turkey who should be apologizing, not Israel. Not only did Israel offer a half-assed apology but has agreed to pay millions in so-called damages.  In addition Israel is agreeing to allow Turkey to develop a sea port (the location is not yet disclosed. It could be in Israel or Cypress or Gaza) but to also lift the blockade. This is exactly what Obama and Erdogan wanted in the first place. They have won what they are not entitled to.  So why is Israel accepting this humiliating defeat? Turkey is vindicated and Israel is shown to be in the wrong.

Though not mentioned here, according to previous reports, the goods entering the sea port will still be inspected for military goods including cement.

Yuval Steinitz says agreements reached include the issue of a seaport for the Gaza Strip

TOI

The majority of the issues in a reconciliation agreement between Israel and Turkey have been agreed upon, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said Saturday.

Speaking at a cultural event in Holon, Steinitz, who is seen as close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said that the agreements were 90 percent completed. The issues agreed upon include the question of a seaport for the Gaza Strip, Channel 10 reported.
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DEBKA

Hamas Political Bureau Chairman Musa Abu Marzuk led an SOS delegation to Tehran last month in a desperate effort to persuade Iran to end its boycott and renew the flow of funds and weapons to the Gaza Strip. But on April 4, the delegation returned home empty-handed.

This was a last-ditch effort since the Palestinian fundamentalist Hamas which rules the Gaza Strip is flat broke.

Since March 1, it has been forced to slash by two-thirds the wages paid to members of its military wing, the Ezz-a-din Qassem Brigades: each fighter now takes home $200 instead of $600 per month, and officers used to earning $1,000 must be satisfied with $350.
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By Ted Belman

Lee Kaplan has written a definitive report on the BDS Movement.

It begins,

The term BDS refers to Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions conducted against the state of Israel, and also a way to attack the Jewish people both in Israel and worldwide. Partially funded by the PLO, the BDS movement grew out of the Arab League boycott of Israel begun in 1950 after Israel’s War of Independence. The Muslim and Arab world and its Arab League, despite tentative agreements with Egypt and Jordan, began the boycott in 1950 and have never signed a peace treaty with Israel even after the cessation of hostilities in 1948. Five Arab armies back then sought to wipe the new Jewish state off the map but failed. The purpose of the Boycott was to starve the Jews out of their new homeland.

The Boycott movement was given new life and recreated as Arab irredentists expanded the movement later in the academic arena, notably in American colleges and later in churches and through labor movements. The International Solidarity Movement was set up by Yasser Arafat in 2001 with the help of two “camp counselors,” Huwaida Arraf and Adam Shapiro, who were employees of Seeds for Peace, a camp set up and funded by the U.S. State Department, to  operate in the U.S. and Europe to promote  BDS and other anti-Israel activities on campuses and elsewhere (see StopthISM.com). The BDS movement is a support mechanism for Palestinian terrorist groups in their efforts to de-legitimize and ultimately destroy Israel. Its leadership calls terrorism that kills Israelis “legitimate resistance.”

CONTINUE

T. Belman. The Kurds have a greater right to be there than Turkey.

by Hisham Arafat, KURDISTAN24

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – On Wednesday, the Russian Ambassador to the UN called on members of the Security Council to put pressure on Turkey so Kurds be included in the Syrian peace talk, held in Geneva.

The Russian news agency Russia Today (RT) said Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin stressed that Kurdish participation in Geneva is essential for the peace process in Syria to move on.
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By Deborah Danan, BREITBART

TEL AVIV – The Obama administration accused Israel of “excessive use of force” against Palestinians during the current wave of Palestinian terrorism.
An annual State Department human rights report accused Israeli forces of “arbitrary arrest and associated torture and abuse, often with impunity” of Palestinians. It also said that the Palestinian Authority and Hamas were guilty of the same infractions.

According to numbers cited in the report, 149 Palestinians were killed in 2015 by Israeli security forces, but only 77 were in the course of attacking Israelis.
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By Bradley Martin, ALGEMEINER

JNS.org – Bishop John E. Putnam stood at the podium and exclaimed to the crowd, “Who here loves Israel and the Jewish people?” The thunderous applause indicated the ecstatic approval by more than 500 pastors, ministers, and their families attending a recent conference of United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI). Putnam, superintendent of UPCI’s Wisconsin District, had fired up the crowd, exhorting them to incorporate biblical principles in their everyday lives.

A major aspect of the conference — held from April 5-7 in Elkhart Lake, Wis. — was reaffirming Pentecostal support for the State of Israel. Just outside the main hall was a large booth containing informational brochures published by Israel’s Ministry of Tourism. Bilingual Spanish and English tours to the Holy Land were marketed towards pastors in order to encourage more churches to bring their congregations to Israel.
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The West’s socio-cultural heritage is being devoured by the very values that made it successful.

By Martin Sherman, JPOST

It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism, while the wolf remains of a different opinion. – R. Inge, dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, 1915

Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. – Karl Popper, “On the Paradox of Tolerance,” in The Open Society and Its Enemies, 1945
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T. Belman. I think what motivates these Jews to hate evangelicals is the fact that evangelicals are passionately religious and passionately pro-Israel, both of which they are not. Orthodox Jews on the other hand  share their passions and welcome their support.

In addition, liberal Jews are fleeing their religious roots while evangelicals are embracing their Jewish roots.

American Jews are horrified by the choice they think will face them at November’s presidential election. For them the worst option is an ultra-conservative evangelical Christian.

By Melanie Phillips, JPOST

Travelling in the US last week I found Jews, like many others, in a state of extreme agitation.

The Trump phenomenon, they raged, was beyond belief. How could America be doing this to itself, possibly nominating as a presidential candidate a man who was a crude and unstable know-nothing, a bigoted authoritarian and potential despot, a threat to America’s future and the entire world? They might have no option, said Republican Jews in despair, but to vote for Hillary.

No! cried others who were equally despairing.
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T. Belman. Cruz’s money quote to an anti-Israel Christian gathering, “If you will not stand with Israel and the Jews, then I will not stand with you.” and he walked out. You can compare him to Sen Daniel Patrick Moynihan,

By NIck Muzin, JPOST

King Solomon tells us in Mishlei (Proverbs): “The heavens are for the heights, and the Earth is for the depths, and the hearts of kings no one can ponder.”

It is impossible to know what kings and leaders of nations have in their hearts – with all their myriad pressures and responsibilities, what truly motivates them? And how will they act toward the Jewish people once they attain power? I want to tell you about the person I have worked with closely for the past two years, Sen. Ted Cruz. He is not just my boss, but has become my mentor and my friend. We have traveled the country together; I have seen him in good times and bad; we have worked side by side on some of the biggest issues facing America and the world. I have watched him speak in shuls in Los Angeles, Miami and New York; spend Passover in Texas and California; listen to the shofar, bake matza, read the Purim Megilla and light the Hanukkah menorah.
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To understand what he has wrought, a good place to start is with the man running to Obama’s left: Sen. Bernie Sanders.

By Caroline B. Glick, JPOST

The presidential race is President Barack Obama’s political legacy. Depending on who succeeds him, that legacy will either fade or become the new normal.

To understand what he has wrought, a good place to start is with the man running to Obama’s left: Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The socialist from Vermont knows how to play to the crowd. Sanders knows that the people captivated by his tales of avaricious bankers aren’t too keen on Jews either.
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T. Belman. Trump’s money quote, “if we would have done nothing with Iraq and Libya and other places, we would be better off.” and another, “When missiles are being shot at a country, whether Israel or any other country, I don’t know what ‘disproportionate force’ is supposed to mean.” and another via his lawyer, “I think the settlements should stay but I think they have to work something out so that both sides are able to live in peace and safety.”

By Uriel Heilman, JPOST

New York — There were a few things Donald Trump made clear when he met Thursday with a select group of Jewish reporters, almost all of them Orthodox, at his corporate offices in Manhattan.

Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly was the one who initiated Wednesday’s one-on-one powwow with Trump to mend fences, not him. He’s a great friend of Israel. He has many Orthodox Jewish friends, including his chief lawyer, Jason D. Greenblatt. And he considers himself a very loyal boss.
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There is no absolute morality. Morality is a luxury that can get you killed. Morality is a good thing in a civilized world but not in the jungle. In the jungle, its kill or be killed. The higher the moral plain you function on the more casualties you will suffer and the more impossible victory becomes. When our leadership call for morality they are saying we don’t want to win. Or they are saying winning is impossible. Maintaining the status quo is the only option.

By Ben Caspit, Al Monitor

Egypt’s April 9 announcement of the transfer of two islands, Tiran and Sanafir, to Saudi Arabian sovereignty came as a complete surprise to many in the Middle East. The only country that was not surprised was Israel. A top-level official in Jerusalem told Al-Monitor on April 12 that Israel had been privy to the secret negotiations. Israel had given its approval to the process and did not ask to reopen the peace agreement with Egypt, even though the agreement dictates that any territorial change or transfer of Egyptian sovereignty of lands that Israel gave back to other hands constitutes a violation of the treaty.

Talks between Saudi Arabia and Egypt on the transfer of these islands have been going on for years, with Israel firmly opposing the move. The fact that the transfer has now earned Israeli support reflects the depth of the shared interests between the three sides: Cairo, Riyadh and Jerusalem — although the Egyptians and Saudis prefer the label “Tel Aviv.”

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By Ben Shapiro, JEWISH PRESS

Next Tuesday, New York Republicans will be asked which candidate they favor for the Republican nomination. Jews – particularly Jews who care about Israel – have only two viable choices: Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich.

Donald Trump ought to be a nonstarter.

He ought to be a nonstarter because not only does he know nothing about Israel, his statements about the Jewish state exude both apathy and arrogance – a devastating combination for an American ally reliant on the president’s recognition of its moral superiority.
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Naive U.S. presidential support for a “Two-State Solution” would make possible a new national terror base for the world’s most insidious Jihadist fighters.

By Prof. Louis René Beres, INN
The writer (Ph.D, Princeton, 1971) is emeritus professor of Political Science…

“Our enemy is the unphilosophical spirit which knows nothing, and wants to know nothing, of truth.” (Karl Jaspers, Reason and Anti-Reason in our Time (1952))

At some point, even our flagrantly unphilosophical American presidential contest will need to include some tangible substance. Then, among an alarmingly broad variety of germane issues, the candidates will be forced to take meaningful positions on the “Middle East Peace Process.” When that finally happens, it will be vital for all still-remaining presidential aspirants to base their further judgments and recommendations upon genuinely solid foundations of both law and fact.

To begin, as the candidates themselves should soon acknowledge, the true sticking point for peaceful settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs has never been Israel’s alleged unwillingness to “compromise.”
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