BY HERB KEINON, JPOST

Israel is trying to prevent an internal EU document blaming Palestinian terrorism on the “occupation” from coming up for discussion in EU institutions in Brussels, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The paper, drafted late last year by all the EU countries with consulates in Jerusalem and embassies in Ramallah, stated that the wave of knifing attacks, car ramming and shootings since October is – as the EUobserver reported this week – “due, in large part, to Israel’s occupation.”
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By Yoram Ettinger, ISRAEL HAYOM

The July 11, 2016 Palestinian Authority report claiming that Jews are a minority west of the Jordan River is a classic case of “lies, damned lies and statistics.” The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics often manipulates statistics to misrepresent reality and mislead observers in a way that is deliberate and systematic, despite a powerful Jewish demographic tailwind and a rapid Westernization of Muslim demography west of the Jordan River, and throughout the Muslim world outside the sub-Saharan region.

Deliberate Palestinian misuse of statistics has resulted in unwarranted demographic pessimism and fatalism both in Israel and among Israel’s supporters. The key aim of this demographic manipulation has been to convince Israeli policymakers to hand over Judea and Samaria under the false assumption that it would be the only way to ensure an Israeli majority in Israel.
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Chad severed ties with Israel in 1972 after coming under intense pressure from its Arab neighbors, Libya and Sudan.

By Herb Keinon, JPOST

Israel’s inroads into Africa continues, as Chad – which has suddenly found itself on the front lines in the battle against Islamic extremists – is expected to be the next majority-Muslim African state to re-establish ties with Jerusalem, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

Guinea and Israel announced the re-establishment of ties on Wednesday, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who visited four east African countries earlier this month – said that another African country would soon follow suit.
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Read David Weinberg’s “False Flag Operation”

By Caroline Glick, JPOST

“Turkey has a large armed force, professional armed forces and… I am certain they will continue as a committed and strong NATO ally.”- General Jens Stoltenberg insisted that the purge of thousands in the Turkish military – including a third of the serving generals – did not weaken the military.

Stoltenberg told Reuters, “Turkey has a large armed force, professional armed forces and… I am certain they will continue as a committed and strong NATO ally.”

It would be interesting to know whether the 1,500 US soldiers who have been locked down at Incirlik Air Base along with several hundred soldiers from other NATO countries since the failed coup Friday night would agree with him.
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Plato ranks democracy 4th out of 5 political regimes regarding the stability and the prosperity that they offer, with only tyranny being worse than democracy. An important essay on one of the West’s sacred cows.

By Mark Arsak, INN

Born in ancient Greek city-states, democracy has always been far from being a perfect regime. Plato ranks democracy 4th out of 5 political regimes regarding the stability and the prosperity that they offer, with only tyranny being worse than democracy.

However, the Platonian world is not all black and white, and at times he does praise the democracy in his native Athens. If democracies functioned well for instance in Athens thousands of years ago, in America when she was established and in Switzerland, it is because, despite all the very real differences between any two randoms individuals put aside entire societies, the ones mentioned above were as homogenous as one can picture them to be. Plato notably believed that a democracy would not work unless its citizens are prepared for it. Democracy therefore goes hand in hand with a firm and fruitful education, and non-negotiable freedom of press and expression.
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By Vic Rosenthal

Everyone knows that party platforms are just for atmosphere. They bind nobody to anything, and are quickly forgotten after the election. But I must say that the Republican platform plank on Israel – regardless of what one thinks of the candidate – is remarkable, including the very fundamental statement that “[w]e reject the false notion that Israel is an occupier…” as well as recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel (and not, as in the Democratic platform “a matter for final status negotiations.”)

And then there is what is not there. What has especially been noted is the absence of any mention of the so-called “two-state solution” (TSS), a consistent part of US policy since 1993.
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By Martin Sherman

The changes in the Republican platform are a welcome development, but they create new challenges for Israel & much depends on how it meets them 

Rejecting decades-old policy, the Republican Party approved on July 12 a [2016] platform that does not include a call for a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.—Forward, July 10, 2016

We believe the establishment of a Palestinian state on the West Bank would be destabilizing and harmful to the peace process. – 1980 Republican platform that brought Ronald Reagan to the White House.
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T. Belman. the NYT suggests that Obama stopped connecting with Erdogan when Erdogan became more autocratic. I don’t believe it. It never bothered Obama when Morsi did likewise.

By MARK LANDLER, NYT, JULY 20, 2016

President Obama and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then the prime minister of Turkey, in Washington in 2013.

WASHINGTON — It’s hard to remember today that to President Obama, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey once embodied a new kind of Muslim leader. Mr. Obama regarded him as “a man of principle, and also a man of action,” Tom Donilon, the president’s former national security adviser, said in 2011.

But when Mr. Erdogan began tilting in the direction of authoritarianism, ascending from prime minister to president and setting out to transform Turkey from a parliamentary democracy into a one-man system built around him, their once-intense relationship deteriorated. His frequent phone calls with Mr. Obama ended, and Mr. Erdogan has observed that they rarely speak anymore.
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By Prof. Paul Eidelberg

A candid review of Islam and democracy reveals basic and insurmountable contradictions between Israel and any Islamic regime:

(1) Whereas, freedom, including freedom of speech, is one of the two cardinal principles of democracy, Islam is strictly authoritarian, which is why Islamic media are state-controlled.

(2) Unlike democracy, whose other cardinal principle is equality, Islam is strictly hierarchical. Top-down leadership is a fundamental principle of Islamic theology. Authority runs down from Allah to Muhammad and from Muhammad to the imam, the ruler of the regime.
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T. Belman. I fail to see the benefit of doing so. All goods still have to be inspected. Why not direct sea traffic to a special port in Ashkelon as is presently being done. What does building this offshore seaport accomplish? What will be different?

Katz says Israel must do what it can “to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”. Wrong. That’s the responsibility of Hamas. By easing the situation for Gazans we are absolving Hamas of responsibility. The Gazans should suffer as a result of the policies of Hamas.

Secondly, Israel tried to get the PA a role in Gaza during the negotiations for the cease fire in 2014. She didn’t succeed. Now she is still insisting on this. What’s that all about? I don’t like it at all. Katz is not alone in this. I am sure Bibi is backing the idea.

By Barbara Opall-Rome, Defense News

TEL AVIV — An Israeli minister who holds portfolios for intelligence and transportation said at a conference Tuesday that some in the government are becoming more receptive to allowing a seaport to be built off the shores of Gaza.

Yisrael Katz of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party said the offshore seaport — an envisioned 3-square-mile artificial island connected to Gaza by a 5 kilometer bridge — should be brought up soon for Cabinet discussion.
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By Evelyn Gordon, COMMENTARY

Following last week’s terror attack in Nice, a Belgian Jewish organization issued a highly unusual statement charging that, had European media not spent months “ignoring” Palestinian terror against Israel out of “political correctness,” the idea of a truck being used as a weapon wouldn’t have come as such a shock. But it now turns out that European officials did something much worse than merely ignoring Palestinian attacks: They issued a 39-page report, signed by almost every EU country, blaming these attacks on “the occupation” rather than the terrorists. The obvious corollary was that European countries had no reason to fear similar attacks and, therefore, they didn’t bother taking precautions that could have greatly reduced the casualties.
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T. Belman. How is the EU any more of a democracy than Russia is? I support the easing of tensions with Russia. I think the US and the EU should cede them Crimea and eastern Ukraine. If Trump as President, eases tensions with Russia as he promises, this would be good for Israel. Russia is a far better friend to Israel than the EU is. She doesn’t boycott or hector us, nor does she support illegal Arab construction. The easing of tensions would enable Russia and the US to finish off ISIS and crush Islamism. It would make solving the Syrian War easier. Were it up to Putin and Trump, Israel’s sovereignty over Golan would be recognized.

By Anna Nemtsova, POLOTICO

MOSCOW—Excited by Donald Trump’s pledge to promote “easing of tensions and improved relations with Russia,” the Kremlin establishment earlier this month invited Trump adviser Carter Page to speak before graduating students of Russian School of Economics. Page did not disappoint. In his remarks, Page condemned current American policy for its “often-hypocritical focus on democratization, inequality, corruption and regime change.” When a Russian student asked Page whether he really believed that American society was liberal and democratic, Trump’s advisEr grinned and delivered a line that might have come from Vladimir Putin himself. “I surround the word ‘liberal’ with quotes,” he said. ”I tend to agree with you that it’s not always as liberal as it may seem,” he said. “I’m with you.”
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By Dr Mitchell Bard, JPOST

It has become a summer ritual to predict that college campuses will erupt in anti-Israel activity and, after 2014-15’s record number of anti-Semitic divestment resolutions, the fears were acute. It is too early to predict a trend, but indications are that this past year may have marked a turning point in discrediting the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement and erasing the perception that it is making headway among students on campus.

While this is not the full measure of the impact of BDS on campus, the record of divestment efforts in 2015-16 is both instructive and encouraging.
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T. Belman. The writer is one of the most respected journalists in Europe. This article is very long but very worthwhile.

By Ben Judah for Standpoint Magazine.

You only really know Paris when you know the Métro. When you recognise the Roma rapping on La Ligne 13, when you know without needing to look which stations let the sleeping bags in at night, when you get that instinctive feel for the hour the homeless beggars do their rounds up and down the carriages—“Mesdames, Messieurs.”

You only really know Paris when you know the spots where women look behind themselves at night. Get out quickly from the tunnels at Stalingrad—watch out for your bag, they say, that’s where the Eritreans are sleeping. Don’t get yourself a commute on La Ligne 13, they joke, it may be light blue but it goes from Romania to the banlieue end of hell. And with this ticket this is where I am going. I have to see the new France for myself to ask: is this country in danger? This is not just any old question to me. This is about my family.

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T. Belman. It seems to me that the EU and the US are more worried about Russia and China than they are about Islam. Except for Obama’s move where he deferred to Russia to fight against ISIS in Syria and to determine the political resolution there, this seems to be the case. From my point of view, They should cede Crimea to Russia and eastern Ukraine and focus on stopping Islamism together.

This article presents an upbeat picture. Seeing is believing.

It will begin with Awacs aircraft, more maritime security, and more support for regional partners.

By Jens Stoltenberg , WSJ

From the horror of 9/11 to the mass shooting in Orlando, the U.S. has become grimly familiar with the pain of terrorist attacks. It is a pain shared by the people of Nice, Brussels, Istanbul and many other cities. By the millions who have fled Islamic State and the war in Syria and the millions more who are still there.

America, you are not alone in this fight. Your friends and allies stand with you. And so does NATO. That is why I will join coalition defense ministers in Washington, D.C., this week as they intensify the fight against ISIS.
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By J. E. Dyer, LIBERTY UNYIELDING

I originally laid this out here last week.  This is a YUUGE departure from longstanding U.S. policy.

It’s much bigger than merely a matter of ops or outcomes in Syria.  It rolls back the entirety of the American strategic perspective since the end of World War II, one of whose pillars has been that the “great crossroads” of the Eastern Mediterranean needs to remain open and balanced, accessible to all and under the exclusive thumb of none.

The Truman Doctrine was the first cross-cut of specific policy through this pillar.  It functioned as such because it opposed the Soviet effort from 1945 to 1948 to gain exclusionary influence in Greece, Turkey, and Iran.  But the Truman Doctrine had a quintessentially American character, in that it envisioned warding off excessive Soviet control through the use of offshore power, development of local clients, and diplomatic and economic influence.  The European model of armed force on land, occupation, and colonial administration was not to be the U.S. approach.
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Assert ‘making America safe’ requires official terrorist designation

By Art Moore, WMD

CLEVELAND – As national security took center stage at the Republican Convention on opening night Monday, WND spoke to a member of Congress, a Trump adviser and two campaign surrogates who believe a first step toward “making America safe” and reforming what they regard as a badly compromised counter-terrorism effort hamstrung by political correctness is to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.

Muslim countries such as Egypt and the United Arab Emirates already have done it, pointed out Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who is promoting a bill in the U.S. House along with Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas. A similar measure has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
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and while you are at it.