Today’s issues: Room for worship, the failures of the chairman of the opposition, the drums of war can be heard, and Hamas’ path to self-destruction.

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

The Jerusalem Post is pleased by Sunday’s cabinet decision allocate an area of the Western Wall to allow all streams of Judaism to worship there, in effect acknowledging that there is more than one way to be a religious Jew, and declares: “For a Jewish state which for too long has deferred to the Orthodox Jewish establishment on all sectarian as well as religious matters, it represents a symbolic victory for pluralism and a more dynamic form of Jewish religious expression.” The editor feels that “The State of Israel should be a place where all forms of Jewish expression are encouraged and given the freedom to grow and fl ourish,” and points out that  “Just as free and open markets are a boon to economies, so too will a freer religious environment encourage more vibrant Jewish religious expression. Where else should this happen but in the world’s only Jewish state?”
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By Giulio Meotti, Arutz Sheva,

[..]
Where does your optimism for a reform of the Islamic world come from?“It is a possibility, not a certainty. But I am optimistic because of the violence committed today in the name of Islam, which is creating so much tension, and it is not just committed by individuals, but by states and organizations. People are more and more afraid of radical Islam. In Egypt, in Tunisia, everywhere, there are large numbers of young Muslims who identify themselves as Muslims, but who do not want sharia, Islamic law. Just as many women do not want sharia.”

On February 1, many feminists around the world will celebrate the World Hijab Day, the International Day of the Islamic veil. “It is multiculturalism, the ideology that eliminates the rights of individuals in favor of groups, communities. Europe is committing a cultural suicide.”
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By Jonathan Ben Moshe

Not long ago Martin Sherman wrote Into the Fray: Dear Defense Minister: I respectfully – but firmly – disagree . That article was such an apologetic white wash that it actually compromised Mr. Sherman’s integrity. Whatever criticism he had to present was buried in extensive unwarranted praise of Defense Minister Ya’alon!

What leverage does Ya’alon have that makes a normally fearless Martin Sherman act like a Marshmallow?

As far as Ya’alon is concerned, not only is he an incompetent Defense Minister but he also suffers from a disgraceful, disturbing and cruel Napoleonic complex, and should have been replaced a long time ago!

Ya’alon’s removal as Defense Minister would infinitely benefit the State of Israel and the IDF!
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By MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMAN, JPOST

In a vote of confidence for Israel’s natural gas market, the consortium developing Israel’s largest gas field Leviathan announced its first sale Sunday, for a whopping $1.3 billion.

Private Israeli power giant Edeltech and its Turkish partner Zorlu Enerji agreed to a contract that would provide 6 billion cubic meters of natural gas to two plants they plan on building: the Tamar power plant, which will power the Haifa Chemicals factory, and the Solad power plant in Ashdod.
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T. Belman. Since posting this a Judge extended Ettinger’s detention for another 4 months. This is an outrage. Arab MK’s are far more dangerous to the state and also want to destroy it. Why are they not also in detention for one year? Why?

T. Belman. Curtailment of liberties in times of civil unrest or threats to national security is common in all countries. But the extent is hotly debated. For instance the when the the Patriot Act in the US in the wake of 9-11 its terms were hotly debated, with the Left staunchly in support of liberties and the Right favouring security.

The Left in Israel is dedicated to fighting for liberties also, except it has no quarrel with Administrative Detention of Jews, that violates many liberties. The Israeli Right on the other hand waxes eloquent on behalf of security but is outraged over such detention. As they say, it depends on whose ox is being gored.

A the core of these differences is whether one believes that Administrative Detention must be applied equally to citizens and non-citizens or equally to Arabs and to Jews.

I do not support Administrative Detention of the Hilltop Youths including Meir Ettinger but I do support its use against Arabs. I make this distinction easily because I think the Arabs who align with the Arab cause are an existential threat to Israel whereas the hand full of Jewish youths who are attracted to Ettinger’s ideas, present no national threat at all.

There is no question that people were murdered in Duma. Let us assume for a moment that Jews were responsible. As you know all societies are plagued with murders. Yet in the search for the murderers, western societies maintain all the civil liberties. They do not suspend them to catch and convict the murderers. Nor do they torture them to get evidence or confessions. Even if the murders are “heinous” murders.

In short, I see no justification for suspending the liberties of Meir Ettinger or other Hilltop Youths. They are not a threat to the Nation. And this applies whether any of them are suspected of killing an Arab or a Jew. In the case of Ettinger he is not suspected of killing anyone.

As long as the Arabs present a danger to our National rights or existence, I think Administrative Detention should be applied to them.

Administrative detention can be renewed forever.

by Libby Kahane, israelnationalnews.com
January 24, 2016

My grandson is in danger

The imprisonment of my grandson Meir Ettinger brings back difficult memories for me. I don’t know how many people remember that my late husband Rabbi Meir Kahane, zt”l was jailed under those same despicable administrative detention orders in May 1980.
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THE HILL

Ted Cruz took first place in the Iowa caucuses on Monday night, beating out Donald Trump.

Marco Rubio finished in third place, but his stronger-than-expected showing could be enough to move establishment Republicans to line up swiftly behind him as the candidate with the best shot to take out Trump and Cruz.
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Martin Sherman addresses Women in Green on the demographic and the geographic threats confronting Israel.

Michael Wise addresses Women in Green in support of his One-State Plan.

By Ruth King

Israel’s supporters in America from the top to the lower community organizers and from left to right agree on one subject, namely that Israel needs better hasbara.

Hasbara refers to public relations efforts to disseminate positive information to portray Israel and its policies in a glowing light.

Unfortunately most “hasbara” has the opposite effect. Even Israel’s staunchest protagonists fall into the trap of thinking that listing Israel’s numerous concessions to its enemies will soften or convince hardened anti-Semites.
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[I agree with some but not all of these points.[

Trump’s new approach to foreign policy could leave Israel twisting in the wind.

By Alexander Griffing, HAARETZ

Donald Trump declares he “will be very good to Israel.” He declares his “closeness to Judaism”. But it didn’t take long on the campaign trail for his ignorance about Israel and the region, and a superabundance of Jewish caricatures, to slip out.

Here are six reasons why Trump’s foreign policy bombast would be bad for Israel – and the Middle East as a whole.

The Middle East is a blank space on the map for him
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DEBKA

Former IDF rigs to probe for Gaza tunnels which Hamas published as an Israeli failure

Israel’s leaders are clinging to lame locutions – “good judgment and responsibility” – to avoid military action for dealing with crisis situations fast coming to a head on three extremely dangerous fronts: armed Palestinian terrorists are now tying up traffic on a major Israeli highway to the Israeli capital; southern Syria is sliding into the control of Hizballah after this Iranian proxy was permitted to amass 100,000 missiles in S. Lebanon; and, this week, Israelis living near the Gaza Strip heard Palestinians building terror tunnels under their homes.
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By Dror Eydar, ISRAEL HAYOM

They don’t stop. Even though the entire right-wing conservative camp unequivocally condemned the controversial “foreign agents” Im Tirtzu post last week (which depicted intellectuals and actors as subversive figures), the onslaught against the Right has continued. It is also worth noting that the Left does not lift a finger when its allies engage in much more provocative conduct.

Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg demonstrated leadership by suspending himself, paving the way for some serious introspection by his organization. The movement must now go beyond that and appoint a council of former activists to advise it on a regular basis. Now that the Right has clearly distanced itself from that post, we must look at the big picture. Im Tirtzu, unlike groups on the other side of the spectrum, has never slandered Israel on the world stage, never joined hands with members of the BDS movement, never tried to boycott artists or performers at certain venues, and never silenced anyone.
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In historic decision, cabinet votes to build new plaza for mixed gender prayer at Western Wall, adjacent to gender-separated Orthodox plaza • PM Benjamin Netanyahu praises plan as “creative solution” • Ultra-Orthodox officials call plan “lesser of evils.”

Shlomo Cesana, Nitzi Yakov, Yehuda Shlezinger, Yori Yalon, Israel Hayom Staff and Associated Press

A rendering of the new egalitarian prayer space to be established at the Western Wall

The cabinet voted Sunday to allow non-Orthodox Jewish prayer at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, a move advocates said marked a historic show of government support for liberal streams of Judaism.

The issue is of particular importance to the Jewish community in the United States, where the more liberal Reform and Conservative streams of Judaism are dominant.

“I know this is a sensitive topic, but I think it is an appropriate solution, a creative solution,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting, where members voted on the plan.
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By Ted Belman

The JTA reported ” It (CIJA) was satisfied that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s omission of Jews in a statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day was not deliberate.”

The  Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) based its case on the fact that, on the same day, the government tweeted “On this #HolocaustMemorialDay, we honor its victims & vow to fight intolerance and anti-Semitism.”

ISSUING SUCH A TWEET IN NO WAY SUGGESTS THAT THE OMISSION OF JEWS FROM THE HOLOCAUST WAS NOT DELIBERATE. IN FACT IT REINFORCES THE CONCLUSION THAT IT WAS DELIBERATE.

I wrote to CIJA the following:
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T. Belman. Ahrens suggests that the recognition of Palestine by by 136 states may reach critical mass if France joined them. This may lead to a UNSC resolution of recognition without being stopped by a US veto.  He argues;

“But when France, the Security Council and almost the entire world recognizes Palestine, Israel could find it harder to maintain that its approval is needed for Palestinian statehood. The family of nations will have made its near-unanimous decision.”

All such recognition ignores the Motevideo Convention signed in 1933 by all states which stipulates the requirements of statehood:

“The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: a ) a permanent population; b ) a defined territory; c ) government; and d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states.”

Whether you are a state or not does not depend on whether you are recognized as one but whether you fulfill these qualifications.

Although one might argue that Palestine has all these qualities, one would not be correct.

On April 29, 2012, just after the UN recognized Palestine as a non-member state, Amichai Cohen wrote a legal analysis of U.N. Recognition of a Palestinian State in which he wrote,

“Regarding the last condition-the ability to conduct foreign relations-the accepted interpretation of this condition is that it was intended to prevent a situation in which units that are operating within the framework of a federal regime or that are subject to any kind of agreement that prevents them from conducting foreign relations, would be recognized as independent states.”

Palestine fails because it is bound by the Oslo Accords not to conduct foreign relations. In addition it is not enough for the UN to define the territory but Palestine can only exist on territory it controls, ie Area A.

France would be neither the first European state nor the first permanent UN Security Council member to do so. Does that mean Israel can ignore Fabius’s ultimatum?

BY RAPHAEL AHREN, TOI

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas waves to the crowd during celebrations for their successful bid to win nonmember state status at the UN in Ramallah, Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012 (photo credit: Nasser Shiyoukhi/AP Photo)Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas waves to the crowd in Ramallah during celebrations for his successful bid to win nonmember state status for Palestine at the UN, Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012 (photo credit: Nasser Shiyoukhi/AP Photo)WRITERSRaphael
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INSERBIA

BELGRADE – The Syrian Kurds could deal a major blow to Daesh: the People’s Protection Units (YPG) allegedly plan to push the terrorist group out of key cities in northern Syria and seal a 60-mile stretch of the border with Turkey, which the militants have used to smuggle fighters, weapons and supplies to the battlefield, Reuters reported.

The Kurds, who already control the Syrian border with Turkey to the east of the Euphrates, plan to seize the towns of Jarablus, Manbij and Azaz, an unnamed source told the news agency.

Turkish authorities will likely take the news of the YPG’s plans poorly. On the one hand, Ankara has failed to secure the porous border area despite repeated promises to address the issue, thus contributing to Daesh’s resilience and longevity. On the other hand, the Turkish leadership views the YPG as a terrorist organization.
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By Jonathan Tobin, COMMENTARY

This week President Barack Obama reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to Israel’s security with the sort of ringing rhetoric that might have soothed the concerns of even his most strident critics. It was possible to point out a gap between the reality of American actions on the Palestinians and Iran and the president’s words. But,as I noted yesterday, there’s no denying that the administration has continued the security alliance with the Jewish state even if President Obama’s main goal in the relationship continues to be the establishment of more daylight between the positions of the two nations. But even as some pundits were touting the president’s appearance at an Israeli embassy event as a sign of a rapprochement between Washington and Jerusalem, we must now figure into the equation the news that the U.S. has been operating an extensive electronic spy operation against the Israelis for 18 years.
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T. Belman. I changed the title from “Merkel: Refugees Must Leave Germany Once War Is Over” as I saw nothing in the article which substantiated the title.

Despite appearing increasingly isolated, Merkel has resisted pressure from some conservatives to cap the influx of refugees, or to close Germany’s borders.

bY Andreas Rinke, HAARETZ

REUTERS – German Chancellor Angela Merkel tried on Saturday to placate the increasingly vocal critics of her open-door policy for refugees by insisting that most refugees from Syria and Iraq would go home once the conflicts there had ended. 

Despite appearing increasingly isolated, Merkel has resisted pressure from some conservatives to cap the influx of refugees, or to close Germany’s borders. 

Support for her conservative bloc has slipped as concerns mount about how Germany will integrate the 1.1 million migrants who arrived last year, while crime and security are also in the spotlight after a wave of assaults on women in Cologne at New Year by men of north African and Arab appearance. 
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As the Kremlin showcases its military capabilities in Syria, Kim Sengupta says Nato leaders are having to reassess

By Kim Semgupta, INDEPENDANT

Their army’s equipment and strategy was “outmoded”; their air force’s bombs and missiles were “more dumb than smart”; their navy was “more rust than ready”. For decades, this was Western military leaders’ view, steeped in condescension, of their Russian counterparts. What they have seen in Syria and Ukraine has come as a shock.

Russian military jets have, at times, been carrying out more sorties in a day in Syria than the US-led coalition has done in a month. The Russian navy has launched ballistic missiles from the Caspian Sea 900 miles way, and kept supply lines going to Syria. The air defences installed by the Russians in Syria and eastern Ukraine would make it extremely hazardous for the West to carry out strikes against the Assad regime or Ukrainian separatists.
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One hundred and twenty years after declaring it Judaism’s ‘Enemy No. 1,’ ultra-Orthodoxy has effectively surrendered to the Zionist idea.

By Amotz Asa-el, JPOST

With organs installed by Synagogues, German inserted into prayer books, Jewish scholars disowning the messiah, and Jewish schools teaching history, philosophy and math, a flabbergasted Rabbi Moshe Sofer (1762-1839) ruled: “All that is novel is forbidden from the Torah.”

Two centuries on, ultra-Orthodoxy’s resistance of religious change remains as fierce as it was when its revered founder consecrated the slogan that still remains its emblem, rallying cry and mission statement. However, in the war that his successors initiated generations later – the war on Zionism – ultra-Orthodoxy is in the throes of a grand retreat.
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