T. Belman. Throughout the year, Bibi yhas been trying to get Herzog into the coalition, so that He is not vulnerable to Bennett Leaving it.

It is obvious to me that Bibi wants to find a way to accept the Arab Peace Initiative. He praised al Sisi for pushing for it just recently. That’s why he maintains the construction freeze. Saudi Arabia and Blair are also involved in the effort. He is also trying to ease the blockade and assumes responsibility for Gazans. I wrote about this in Bibi’s Talking Points.

Prime minister tells reporters that he is reserving the Foreign Ministry portfolio for the Zionist Union leader. ‘

By Barak Ravid, HAARETZ

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told diplomatic correspondents on Sunday that he is interested in broadening his coalition by having the Zionist Union join the government, in part to advance “diplomatic opportunities.” Netanyahu explained that, for that reason, he is still keeping the foreign minister’s position for himself.
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T. Belman. Part of this problem has to do with the fact that the HIgh Court has given the right to the Police not to enforce the law if it will result in violence. A prime example is the Court has ruled that Jews can pray on the Temple Mount but has deferred to the police on whether the law should be enforced. The pendulum must shift back to the rule of law even if violence will result.

A second problem is that in the Umm al-Fahm area, the police are Muslim. This article steers clear of suggesting that that is part of the problem.

Near Umm al-Fahm stands a monument to the weakness of the rule of law in the State of Israel: A giant house, whose illegal construction began 13 years ago and which despite demolition orders and a series of judicial decisions remains standing.

By Yifat Erlich, YNET

Three lots are gleaming white on a mountain range peppered with olive trees. Several weeks ago, a power shovel disrupted the pastoral quiet as it worked to prepare the ground near Umm al-Fahm for farming. But while the land has now been deemed fit for agricultural use, it has not been qualified by law.
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Ted Belman

There are two polls out now after the conventions.

Boom! Latest L.A. Times Daybreak Poll Shows Trump Up Up Up!

Trump; 46.1% (-0.5)
Clinton: 41.9% (+0.2)

The 2016 USC Dornsife / LA Times Presidential Election Poll represents a pioneering approach to tracking changes in Americans’ opinions throughout a campaign for the White House. Around 3000 respondents in our representative panel are asked questions on a regular basis on what they care about most in the election, and on their attitudes toward their preferred candidates. The “Daybreak poll” is updated just after midnight every day of the week.
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By David Rubin, INN

The two major political conventions of 2016, now completed, raised many questions relating to the proper response to Islamic extremism and terrorism, spoken about extensively at the RNC, but almost ignored at the DNC. Furthermore, there were harsh charges of anti-Semitism thrown back and forth, as well as lingering questions about which party would be better for the U.S.-Israel relationship. Admittedly, there have been many doubters about Donald J. Trump, a political novice who achieved great success in the world of business, but from the biblical heartland of Israel, the answer is clear. Take note of the following facts, broken down into ten succinct reasons why American friends of Israel should vote for the GOP candidate to be the next President:

1. Donald Trump has pledged to move the American Embassy to Israel’s capital, Jerusalem.

2. Trump has expressed support for Israel’s right to grant building permits for its citizens in Jerusalem, its capital city.
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Christian Science Monitor

The recent military coup and subsequent government crackdown on dissenting Turkish officials, academics, and journalists may have actually helped to heal relations between the Turkish government and the the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), or at least put hostilities on hold. In the wake of the coup, with the Turkish military left weak and open to attack, the Kurds have been oddly silent – a detente which may be the catalyst needed to resume peace talks.

Ayse Sozen Usluer, the Turkish president’s international relations chief, said there has been no policy change toward the PKK, but that the conflict could still be solved politically. “There is always [the] possibility to go back to [the] peace process,” Ms. Usluer told the Voice of America.
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By David Solway, PJ MEDIA

One notices that when the current nomination cycle began, Donald Trump was more often than not referred to by his full name: Donald Trump. Or by his surname: Trump. As time went by, his iconic sobriquet began to be used on a regular basis, generally in a not unkindly way: The Donald, as if he were a reified entity, a theatrical performance, or even a sort of force or condition, like The Weather. Now he is increasingly addressed simply as: Donald. The outsider, the mogul, the thespian has become a household guest, someone many of us know—with the exception of his enemies or professional skeptics—as a friendly and companionable figure. This is the other “nomination” that has occurred.
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T. Belman. In Feb of this year, I co-authored an article with Alex Maistrovoy, titled, Contemplating a US-Russia Alliance in which we advocated the same thing.

By Fritz Pettyjohn, AMERICAN THINKER

In 1973, Henry Kissinger was meeting Brezhnev in Moscow, making preparations for Nixon’s upcoming visit. Old Leonid insisted on taking him boar hunting, where they sat alone in a blind with an interpreter, and the Soviet ruler unburdened his soul about the Chinese Communist regime. “Treacherous barbarians,” he called them, and at that moment Kissinger knew that one of the great initiatives of American diplomacy had succeeded. The Russians wanted an understanding with the United States about their problems with China. The Chinese wanted one themselves, vis-à-vis Russia, and America was in the catbird seat. This is all described vividly in Walter Isaacson’s Kissinger.
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By Yoram Ettinger

According to a study conducted by the University of Lausanne, Israel is one of the top five world high-tech powers, as indicated by a 2015 $1bn investment, in Israel, by Apple, creating a hardware development center. The USA, China, Russia and India are, actively, soliciting high-tech cooperation with Israel. India and Israel negotiate a free trade zone, which would increase their current $5bn trade balance. Israel is second only to Russia in the exportation of military systems to India (Jerusalem Post, July 24, 2016).

$245mn raised by Israeli companies in July, 2016; $2.9bn raised, so far, in 2016 ($1.7bn in the 2nd quarter and $1.1bn in the 1st quarter). For example, SafeBreach (cyber) raised $15mn from HP, Deutsche Telecomm, etc.; Prospera (agricultural tech) raised $7mn from the Silicon Valley-headquartered Bessemer Venture Partners; PowerLinx (business matching) raised $7mn from Dun & Bradstreet, France; and Engie (car maintenance) raised $3.5mn from the San Francisco-based 8Partners, the San Francisco Peninsula-based Motus Ventures. (Globes Business Daily, July 27, 2016), etc..
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By Elliot Abrams, ISRAEL HAYOM

This week the State Department engaged in a remarkable assault on Israel. Both in tone and in content, it marks a new hostility and plenty of sheer ignorance.

The comment, titled “Recent Israeli Settlement Announcements,” ran as follows: “We are deeply concerned by reports today that the Government of Israel has published tenders for 323 units in East Jerusalem settlements. This follows Monday’s announcement of plans for 770 units in the settlement of Gilo.

“We strongly oppose settlement activity, which is corrosive to the cause of peace. These steps by Israeli authorities are the latest examples of what appears to be a steady acceleration of settlement activity that is systematically undermining the prospects for a two-state solution.
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In ultimatum, state comptroller reportedly warns he will back official inquiry into handling of 2014 conflict if his findings are not made public

BY TAMAR PILEGGI, TOI

State Comptroller Yosef Shapira has reportedly warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he will recommend a commission of inquiry into the government’s handling of the 2014 war against Hamas, should the prime minister refuse to make public a report on the 50-day Gaza conflict.

ster or his associates to block the publication of the State Comptroller report — which was expected to excoriate Netanyahu and other senior defense officials over the Israeli leadership’s performance during the conflict — could result in an official inquiry.
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By Ted Belman

Ambassador Dermer credits Clinton with Gaza ceasefire by Ben Ariel. I read the article and didn’t like what Dermer had to say. Unfortunately Dermer says what Netanyahu thinks.

Yes Clinton had a leading role in negotiating a ceasefire to the 2012 Gaza fighting which was what Netanyahu wanted. Netanyahu wanted to avoid invading Gaza during that conflict.

This speech was given at an event hosted by the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. “A lot of lives were saved.”
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Jews Choose Trump
We are creating a grassroots coalition of American Jews from across the country to join together in declaring their choice of Donald Trump for President over Hillary Clinton. She must never be President.

Do you want to know why we are doing this, how widespread the effort has already become and who else has already signed on? Go to our website, www.JewsChooseTrump.org and see.

When we have hundreds of community members in the coalition, we will publish open letters, articles, sponsor ads, events and engage in other action-based campaigns.

Please add your name at www.JewsChooseTrump.org, or contact us at info@JewsChooseTrump.org so we can add your name to those of other American Jews who know that Trump is the one who will protect our nation and protect Israel. Hillary Clinton has already proven she will do neither.

T. Belman. I no longer take for granted that Russia is our friend. On the one hand she is supporting Iran, Syria and Hezbollah and is now trying to make an ally out of Turkey. How do we put a lid on that. How does Russia? In addition Assad just went to Moscow to discuss getting the Golan back from us. How does Israel factor into Russian plans?

DEBKA

For four days since July 25, the Syrian army has been continuously firing artillery batteries – moved close to Israel’s defense lines on the Golan border – in a manner that comes dangerously close to provoking an Israeli response. This carefully orchestrated Syrian campaign goes on around the clock.

It is the first time in the six years of the Syrian war that Bashar Assad has ventured to come near to provoking Israel. But now he appears to be emboldened by his Russian ally.
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T, Belman. So 42 F-35 planes hang in the balance at $150 million a pop.That’s about 15% of the 10 year aid package. So in effect the US Government is bailing out Lockheed Martin. Without it they may go bankrupt. If Israel threatens to take a walk, the US Government will shit its pants. The US will be hard pressed to write off $400 B already spent and they will still have to bail out Lockheed Martin. If Israel doesn’t buy the planes, who will.

And why isn’t the 33 we already have enough? We could buy maintain our other planes or replace them as needed but not with the F-35s.

In addition, if we cancelled the aid then we could take credit for saving the US taxpayer money.

The US doesn’t want us to cancel because we would then be able to compete with them. We would produce better products and lower prices. The US is rightly afraid to compete with us. They would rather keep us under their thumb.

The point is that the US aid deal is really a deal for Lockheed Martin, not for Israel. And we need to say no.

By Caroline Glick, JPOST

The National Security Council Yaakov Nagel will sit down with his US counterpart, Susan Rice, and try to conclude negotiations about a new, multi-year defense assistance package.

We must all hope that he fails.

No clear Israeli interest will be advanced by concluding the aid deal presently on the table.
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By Martin Sherman

With continuing unsolved arson attacks in Duma, seven months after a coerced confession & an indictment wildly at odds with eyewitness accounts, troubling questions must be raised  

“I saw Sa’ad and Reham burning on the ground. Next to them were TWO masked men, one beside each of them. They were dressed in jeans and black long-sleeved shirts…“Their faces were covered with a balaclava, with only the mouth and eyes visible. The street light  shone directly on them. I was horrified by what I saw. They saw me and I was frightened and ran back home. I told my brother Bishar to get help and returned to Sa’ad’s house where I no longer saw the TWO masked men – Eye-witness account of Duma arson attack by Ibrahim Dawabsheh, a relative of the victims, Amira Hass, Haaretz,  July 31, 2015. 
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T. Belman. In a press conference yesterday Donald Trump said that he wants to be friends with Russia and jointly defeat ISIS. The “friends” idea upsets a lot of people who think of Russia as an adversary. I agree with Trump on this.

In Feb of this year, I co-authored an article with Alex Maistrovoy titled, Contemplating a US-Russia Alliance in which we argued the same thing.

By Alex Markovsky

During her recent “major” speech on foreign policy, Hillary said, “Donald Trump’s ideas aren’t just different – they are dangerously incoherent… They’re not even really ideas – just a series of bizarre rants, personal feuds and outright lies.” Unable to pass beyond criticism of her opponent, she was wavering between an emotional appeal and a strategic advantage, never able to articulate neither a policy nor a strategy.

The Donald Trump problem is not lack of ideas; his problem is that his ideas, often expressed in incomplete and tactless form that allows critics to deliberately misinterpret and misconstrue them, to incite a collective antagonism of various interest groups. Herein, I endeavor to put his “dangerously incoherent ideas” in historical perspective and let the facts speak for themselves.
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By Ted Belman

Written by a Soviet emigre and scholar of Marxism, the book begins with the author’s recounting of the end of the Cold War. Despite the common perception that democracy defeated communism, the author presents evidence that the Democratic Party has adopted Marxism in a new philosophy he calls Liberal Bolshevism. Mr. Markovsky trucks the origins of Liberal Bolshevism back to the policies of Woodrow Wilson and FDR and chronicles the transformation of the Democratic Party into the Social Democratic Party. Through the prism of Marxism the author traces the rhythms and patterns of the toxic amalgamation of liberalism and socialism from Lenin to Obama and binds together the Democratic Party’s policies into a Marxist-socialist cause that American Social Democrats, just like their Soviet predecessors, are committed to achieving at all costs.
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