By Robbie Sabel, JCPA 2013

• Israel’s record of compliance with international law is remarkably strong. In a long series of decisions, the Israeli High Court has ordered the Israeli government, army, and security services to change policies that, in the court’s view, were in violation of customary international law. The court has even intervened in actual combat situations.

• Perhaps because Israel’s detractors are aware of this reality, they have undertaken a process of manipulating international law in a way that invents rules that are applied only to Israel and not to other states or in other situations.

• Israel’s detractors invented a new international legal concept called “illegal occupation.” In an armed conflict, international law clearly permits military occupation. The UN Security Council has never declared Israeli occupation to be illegal. U.S. occupation of Iraq after the Second Gulf War was universally considered a legal act.

Read more…

The Left lost in Israel, but still rules over American Jews.

By Daniel Greenfield, FPM

The Israeli left as a democratic political movement is dead. That piece of bad news was delivered by a recent survey which shows that only 8% of Israeli Jews identify with the left, 55% with the center and 37% with the right.

In the last election, the establishment Labor Party had to dress up as a wolf in Zionist centrist clothing by renaming itself the Zionist Camp (it still lost). The left had to create two other fake centrist parties to stop Netanyahu, but just ended up having to roll them into his center-right coalition.
Read more…

T. Belman.  Both Bush and Obama gave the Kurds the short end, never supporting their desire for independence.  Russia seized the opportunity to support the Kurds thereby aquiring a valuable ally and foothold.

DEBKA

Just four days after drawing down the bulk of Russian forces in Syria, President Vladimir Putin was quietly redrawing the Syrian map on federal lines, and planting Russian influence in its first semi-autonomous region.

DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources report that the Russian leader’s hand was behind the establishment of the Syrian Kurdish federal region on March 17, at a meeting of Kurdish Democratic Union Party leaders in the Syrian town of Rmeilan.
Read more…

By David m. Weinberg, ISRAEL HAYOM

[..]Along with a group of former police and inveterate peace processors who have been proved wrong time and time again, the resurrected Ramon wants to wall 200,000 Palestinians out of the capital and strip them of their Israeli resident status and social benefits.

Ramon’s “Movement to Save Jewish Jerusalem” would have Israel withdraw unilaterally from 28 predominantly Arab neighborhoods, and hand these over to the cadaverous Palestinian Authority.

Neighborhoods like Shuafat, Jabel Mukaber, Sur Baher and Walaja would be detached from Jerusalem’s municipal area and locked out. That way, Ramon says, a stable Jewish majority will be restored in Jerusalem, and Palestinian terrorism will decrease. The percentage of Palestinians in the city will drop to less than 20%, from the near 40% that exists today. Read more…

Reading Obama’s view of Putin the same day the Russian leader surprised the US in announcing his decision to immediately withdraw Russian forces from Syria was instructive.

By Caroline B Glick, JPOST

It was ironic that the day  The Atlantic monthly published what was supposed to be the definitive work on US President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he was removing the bulk of his military forces from Syria.

Jeffrey Goldberg’s long profile titled, “The Obama Doctrine,” sought to define the theoretical underpinning of Obama’s foreign policy. Goldberg devoted the bulk of his twenty thousand-word corpus to analyzing Obama’s policies in Syria, where, he offered, Obama finally broke free from foreign policy community’s constraints, and set out on his own course.
Read more…

They all favored the establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish people

By Eli E. Hertz, MYTHS AND FACTS

Before the Zionist movement assumed concrete form, among the first to express approval of the return of the Jews to Palestine was John Adams, the second President of the United States (1797-1801) who wrote to Major Mordecai Manuel Noah,  the first American Zionist, as follows:

“I really wish the Jews again in Judea, an independent nation; as I believe, the most enlightened men of it have participated in the amelioration of the philosophy of the ages; once restored to an independent government, and no longer persecuted, they would soon wear a way some of the asperities and peculiarities of their character. I wish your nation may be admitted to all the privileges of citizens in every part of the world. This country (America) has done much; I wish it may do more and annul every narrow idea in religion, government, and commerce.” (1819). Read more…

Through its illegal settlements policy, the EU is conducting a stealth war against Israel.

By Melanie Phillips, JPOST

For those who bash Israel, it is axiomatic that Israel is building illegal settlements in Judea and Samaria, otherwise known as the West Bank, against international law.

This is peddled ad nauseam by the EU and the myriad anti-Israel NGOs it funds, and is the basis of the EU’s policy of labeling goods from the “occupied territories.”

Yet astoundingly, the EU itself is behind the building of illegal settlements there.
Read more…

Cholera or typhoid outbreak due to Gaza’s lack of sewage treatment infrastructure could contaminate region’s drinking water, expert says.

By Michelle Malka Grossman, JPOST

Gaza could be a ticking time bomb of disease for the region if a serious sewage issue is not fixed, an Israeli environmental group warned on Thursday.

Gidon Bromberg, founder and Israel director of EcoPeace, told The Jerusalem Post that although there is a sewage treatment plant in the Gaza Strip, it does not have enough electricity to run. This means some 90 million liters of raw sewage are flowing into the Mediterranean Sea on a daily basis, as well as into underground aquifers.
Read more…

As the passage of time exposes how implausible the two-state pipe-dream is, the more desperate, deluded, disingenuous the arguments in its defense become.

By Martin Sherman, JPOST

The uncontested absurdities of today are the accepted slogans of tomorrow. They come to be accepted by degrees… by dint of constant pressure on one side and constant retreat on the other – until one day when they are suddenly declared to be the country’s official ideology. – Ayn Rand, 1965

In decades to come future historians will shake their heads in disbelief and bewilderment over how a concept so manifestly misconceived and moronic as the two-state prescription could ever become the dominant paradigm for the resolution of the conflict between Jew and Arab in the Middle East.

Read more…

Former US envoy to Mideast says whoever takes over the White House will realize “you don’t need a problem with Israel when dealing with all the other problems in the region.”

By Herb Keinon, JPOST

Regardless of the problems that existed under the Obama presidency, the next administration’s initial instinct will be to improve ties with Israel, Dennis Ross said this week.

Ross, who dealt with Middle East issues under George H.W.Bush, as well as under Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, said whoever takes over the White House in January will realize that “you don’t need a problem with Israel when dealing with all the other problems in the region.”

“I don’t see that at a time when the Middle East is characterized by all this trouble, you are going to have an American president say, ‘Gee this is a time we should also have a problem with Israel. I just don’t see that,” he said.
Read more…

MKs demand investigation after TV report says leftist group may have gathered sensitive information.

By Ben Ariel, INN

Hevron resident argues with Breaking the Silence member

Israeli politicians from both left and right were fuming on Thursday evening, after a Channel 2 investigative report revealed that members of the leftist organization Breaking the Silence apparently tried MKs left and right furious over ‘Breaking the Silence’ report

MKs demand investigation after TV report says leftist group may have gathered sensitive information.to gather intelligence about sensitive IDF operations along the border with Hamas. Read more…

BY VICTOR LASZLO, THE REBEL

The Counter-Jihad Panel at CPAC on March 3 2016 included Clare Lopez, Paul Weston, Lars Hedigaard and Ace Lyons who present facts, news, and explanations that the media will not show.

Clare Lopez, a former agent for the CIA explains Iran and Shiia Islam as a threat doctrine and the global jihad movement as well as WMD programs etc.

Read more…

By Ben Caspit, AL MONITOR

A fascinating and volatile drama has been unfolding in recent weeks around the intrigue that begins in Jerusalem and winds through Moscow, Damascus, Beirut, Ankara, Tehran and Canberra. Israel, Russia, Turkey, Australia and Iran are the key players, while Syria and Lebanon have supporting roles. To the players in the field, the game is reminiscent of a regional chessboard with a lot more than two contestants.

It all began with an official state visit that Israeli President Reuven Rivlin was supposed to have made to Australia on March 17. The visit was scheduled via direct contacts between Jerusalem and Canberra. Israel and Australia enjoy a close, warm relationship, and the Australian government officials were very excited for the visit of the popular Israeli president. They cleared their schedules for him, and one high-level government official even canceled a planned trip abroad.

Read more…

By Abe Katzman, TOI

With an upcoming four-week break in the middle of primary season; with a decreasing likelihood that any single candidate can capture an outright majority of delegates; with an increasing number of delegates unbound to any candidate; and with most remaining primaries being Republican-voters-only and/or winner-take-all, the Republican nomination process is far from over.

The strangest campaign in modern American history marches on. After last night’s five primaries and the subsequent exit from the race of Marco Rubio, the conventional wisdom is that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have emerged as prohibitive favorites to win their respective parties’ nominations—amazing, as both candidates are viewed unfavorably by more than 50% of American voters. That inevitability analysis may be sound regarding Clinton; but the Republican nomination remains very much up in the air due to the interplay of a number of factors—some of which aren’t getting the attention they deserve.
Read more…

The bill is called V15 after the NGO that waged an extensive electoral campaign against the prime minister, and will greatly restrict the ability of such groups to raise money.

By Jonathan Lis, HAARETZ

Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set on significantly advancing a bill calling for restrictions on non-profit groups that conduct political campaigns. The bill will be presented by MK Yoav Kish (Likud) next Sunday before the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, after which it will go for a preliminary vote at the Knesset plenary, where it is expected to pass. The next stages will continue when the Knesset reconvenes.

The bill is called V15 after the NGO that waged an extensive electoral campaign against Netanyahu last year. The bill proposes that such groups will be subject to the law regulating the financing of political parties, which will greatly restrict their ability to raise money.

Read more…

In survey conducted at the end of January, Jews identify with being American more than Muslims, Catholics or Protestants.

By Chemi Shalev, HAARETZ

A clear majority of American Jews, 58%, approve of the way Barack Obama is handling is job as president. The only religious group that is happier with Obama are American Muslims – 80% of them approve of Obama. Only 32% of Catholics and 28% of Protestants agree.

Muslim and Jews are also similarly inclined to root for either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders for President – or at least they were at the end of January. 30% of the Jews supported Clinton, 24% Sanders, 13% Donald Trump, 5% Ted Cruz and 3% Marco Rubio, with a further 25% apparently still on the fence. Among Muslims, support for Democrats was even starker: 40% support Clinton, 27% Sanders, 4% Trump, 2% Cruz and 1% Rubio, leaving 26% undecided. Jews and Muslims are also united in preferring Democrats to Republicans generally.

Read more…

Moscow and Damascus’ Win-Win

By Steven Simon, FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Putin’s “mission accomplished” announcement has attracted the attention it was intended to get. The dramatic declaration, coupled with the loading of cargo planes in Syria, unleashed echoes of Metternich’s response when told of Talleyrand’s death in 1838: “I wonder what he meant by that.”

The answer is not so esoteric. Russian objectives were limited at the outset. They were to militarily stabilize the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, ensure elite cohesion within the regime by boosting its self-confidence, strike the congeries of jihadist groups lurking near regime-held territory, and, if possible, enable the regime to expand its security perimeter.
Read more…

Women in Green

It is with great shock and utter sadness that we heard of the sudden passing of Salomon Benzimra, who died from a heart attack on an El Al flight from Israel back to Canada.
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/el-al-passenger-suffers-heart-attack-dies-in-flight/2016/03/16/

Salomon was a fervent lover of and fighter for Israel. Together with Goldi Steiner, may she live a long and healthy life, he founded Canadians for Israel’s Legal Rights (CILR), comprising a group of dedicated volunteers based in Toronto.

Just a few weeks ago we had been in touch with Salomon to discuss questions some youth had asked us at a lecture we gave at a pre-military academy about the decisions made at the San Remo
conference. We knew Salomon was the expert on that topic and he immediately emailed us the detailed answer we needed. Read more…

When you think you’re the smartest person in the room, it’s tempting to make up your own grand strategy.

By Niall Ferguson, The ATLANTIC

It is a criticism I have heard from more than one person who has worked with President Obama: that he regards himself as the smartest person in the room—any room. Jeffrey Goldberg’s fascinating article reveals that this is a considerable understatement. The president seems to think he is the smartest person in the world, perhaps ever.

Power corrupts in subtle ways. It appears to have made Obama arrogant. As described in Goldberg’s story, he is impatient to the point of rudeness with members of his own administration. His response to Secretary of State John Kerry when he hands him a paper on Syria is: “Oh, another proposal?” “Samantha, enough,” he snaps at the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. “I’ve already read your book.” We learn, too, that he “secretly disdains … the Washington foreign-policy establishment.” Read more…