By Barry Shaw, ARUTZ SHEVA

BDS campaigns are not built on any solid foundation. They are built on a hypothesis, hypothesis being a proposed explanation based on limited evidence, or no evidence at all. It is used by BDS as their starting point and its lack of intellectual depth and honesty is draped in a mantle of emotional claims and sloganeering. No need to elaborate or produce facts or statistics. Emotional sloganeering is more effective in rousing support.

Something hypothetic is based on an imagined situation rather than fact. Everything in the BDS toolbox is based on hypothetical arguments devoid of facts. You know the list. Israel is an apartheid state when it isn’t. Israel is conducting an intense blockage on Gaza when it isn’t. Israel is conducting ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians when the condition and the population numbers of Palestinians have improved. Israel is a racist state when it is the most multifaceted nation in the Middle East and Africa.
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By Martin Sherman, ALGEMEINER

In my understanding, the concept “Post Zionism” is–at the ideological level–a demand for democratization of the state – i. e. a call for a liberal democratic state in the Western mode. — Prof. Uri Ram (from The Anti Zionist Congress” Israel Radio April 27, 2008.)

This quote from one of the leaders of the post-Zionist school in Israeli academia clearly reflects the moral hypocrisy, the intellectual shallowness and pompous -– and grossly misplaced — self-righteousness that characterize the adherents of this sadly self-contradictory philosophy.

After all, it takes little  analytical skill to identify the glaring flaw in the logic of post-Zionist positions which — allegedly, in the name of enlightened liberal values — calls for the conversion of Israel from a “Jewish state” to  a “state-of-all-its-citizens.”  It requires no extraordinary intellect to grasp the fact that should such a change indeed take place, the resulting realities would, in fact, be the exact antithesis of the values invoked for making it.  All that is needed for that is a smidgeon of common sense and iota of intellectual integrity.
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Moralistic self-recrimination plays into the hands of Israel’s worse detractors, and the bitter fruits of Israeli self-flagellation are beginning to ripen.

By Martin Sherman, JPOST

There is no[t] any difference between ISIS and this Jewish group that was lately arrested. They are exactly com[ing] with the same agenda, with the same beliefs. The only difference is that they are Jewish, and they are Arab/Muslims. – Carmi Gillon, former head of the Shin Bet, Jerusalem Press Club, January 17, 2016

Enslaving the families of the kuffar [infidels] and taking their women as concubines is a firmly established aspect of the Shari’a… that if anyone were to deny or mock, he would be denying or mocking the verses of the Koran and the narrations of the Prophet. – from ISIS’s English magazine Dabiq, in “ISIS soldiers told to rape women ‘to make them Muslim’” – CNN, October 8, 2015
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Media Bias

By Gary Bauer, President of American Values

There is a reason Fox News has been so successful. After decades of domination by left-wing networks, Fox burst onto the scene offering viewers something very different — fair and balanced coverage of the news and current events.

Yet I must confess that, in spite of everything Fox News has done for the conservative movement, I was deeply disappointed by some of last night’s questioning. For example, let’s examine the way the moderators approached two of the most important issues in this campaign: Terrorism and immigration.

These issues top the list of voter concerns and intersected in the wake of the Paris and San Bernardino terrorist attacks. After the attacks, the candidates reacted in varying ways — from bans on all Muslim immigration to restrictions on immigration from countries where there is significant support for militant Islam. Other candidates aggressively objected to such proposals.
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The story behind Isaac Herzog’s painful steps away from pushing for an immediate two-state solution.

By Gil Hoffman, JPOST

On Sunday Feb 7th a team that has not won the big game since 1999 will attempt to recover from a long list of failures in key competitions and unite in success behind its embattled leader.

That statement could of course apply to the Denver Broncos, who will be led by their veteran quarterback, Peyton Manning, at Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara, California.

But it also fits closer to home.

The leader of the Labor Party, which has not won an election since 1999, Isaac Herzog, will convene his party’s activists for a long-awaited convention that evening, hours before kickoff in the US. The convention will obviously not be the biggest news of the day in the world, and it probably won’t attract too much attention in Israel, either.
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By Dr. Robert R. Owens, Canada Free Press

Who voted for an immigration policy whose purpose is to change the racial, ethnic and cultural make-up of the United States? That is exactly what the Kennedy Immigration Bill of 1965 was designed to do and just what it has done.

Who voted for open borders and constant calls for amnesty for anyone who can drag themselves across the border? Has anyone else noticed that the estimate of how many illegals are in the United States has been stuck at 11 million for at least the last 11 years?
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[Yoram will be in the US during May, 2016, available for speaking engagements (http://bit.ly/1W5CrSr).  ]

Global confidence in Israel’s economy
Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative”
Straight from the Jerusalem Boardroom # 210, January 29, 2016
http://bit.ly/1WQu51d

1.  In 2015, Israel’s high tech raised $4.43 BN, 30% over 2014. According to KPMG-Israel, Israel’s 2015 4th quarter economic performance ran contrary to – and was more positive than – the rest of the world. The value of exits through mergers and acquisitions and IPOs climbed to over $9 BN in 2015. The number of investment rounds of over $20 MN grew by 2/3 in 2015.  During the first three weeks of January 2016, twenty Israeli high tech startups raised almost $500 MN, mostly from institutional and private investors from the US, as well as from Asia, Europe and Israel (Economist Intelligence Unit, January 27, 2016). Read more…

Wikepedia: “Ezra Isaac Levant (born February 19, 1972) is a Canadian media personality, conservative political activist, lawyer, writer and broadcaster. He is the founder and former publisher of the Western Standard, a former columnist for Sun Media and former host of a daily program on the Sun News Network from the channel’s inception in 2011 until its demise in 2015. In February 2015, he founded The Rebel Media website and YouTube channel and is its main contributor.”

Ezra Levant has had a fascinating career as a staunch Canadian conservative. I urge you to read the Wikipedia account of the highlights which include publishing the Mohammed cartoons in his Western Standard, when nobody else would and tangling big time with George Soros and political correctness. He created The Rebel last year as the leading conservative voice in Canada and it is attracting a huge audience and is meeting with great success.

In this video he predicts that Trump will be the next President and gives six reasons why.

by David P. Goldman, Asia Times
http://www.meforum.org/5814/iran-no-prosperity

As a matter of arithmetic, Iran is flat broke at the prevailing price of hydrocarbons. Under the P5+1 nuclear deal, Iran will recoup somewhere between $55 and $150 billion of frozen assets, depending on whether one believes the Secretary of the US Treasury or one’s own eyes. The windfall is barely enough to tide Iran over for the next two years.

P5+1 nuclear diplomacy with Iran went forward on the premise that Iran would trade its strategic ambitions in the region for economic prosperity. The trouble is that prosperity is not a realistic outcome for Iran, which has nothing to gain by abandoning its strategic adventures.
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In late January at the United Nations, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon referred to Jewish towns and cities in Judea and Samaria as “provocative acts.”

By HANK SHEINKOPF, GEORGE BIRNBAUM, RONN TOROSSIAN, JPOST

It wasn’t too long ago when Israel had a reliable friend at the United Nations. The United States, a permanent member of the Security Council, helped keep enemies at bay and veto hateful resolutions against the Jewish State. But that might not be the case today, and Israel’s battles have become somewhat more solitary than they once were.

Beginning last November the European Commission—the EU’s executive arm—decided that products from the territories obtained as a result of the 1967 Six-Day War can no longer be sold in the 28-country EU as having come from Israel. They must be labeled as being from an occupied area.
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Decline in public’s trust in the prime minister and the Likud continues as survey shows the ruling party dropping from 30 seats to 23, while Yesh Atid jumps to 20 seats.

By Moran Azulay, YNET

A poll ordered by Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu party shows that MK Yair Lapid’s party Yesh Atid is garnering more and more support, while the Likud party is losing its power.

According to the poll, conducted three weeks ago, if elections were held today, the ruling Likud party would get 23 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, a major drop from the 30 it current holds. Meanwhile, Lapid’s party would get 20 seats, a significant hike to the 11 it currently has.
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T. Belman. This support should be tied to the percentage of municipal taxes the city collects.

Badir explains that city, with 22,000 residents, only received municipality property taxes from around 50% of them; today, that number is at 83%.

By Ariel Ben Solomon, JPOST

The Mayor of the Israeli Arab city of Kfar Kassem told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday that his city is developing rapidly and could become a model for other Arab cities to follow.

In an interview in the office of Adel Badir, who has served two years since his first election, he explained with maps and an able Jewish spokesman, how he is transforming the city in a way that perhaps no other Arab locality has until now.

Three years ago, Badir explained that the city, with 22,000 residents, only received municipality property taxes (arnona) from around 50 percent of them. Today, that number is at 83%, which he says is reaching the level of Jewish municipalities and something rare for Arab ones.
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Since Israel is going to be attacked no matter what it does, we might as well do things that advance our interests.

By Caroline Glick, JPOST

Our government is playing games with itself. And losing.

On Wednesday Chaim Levinson reported in Haaretz that for the first time in nearly two years, last week the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria approved new building plans for a small number of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

Levinson also reported that last month Jerusalem’s municipal planning and building commission gave final approval to plans to build nearly 900 housing units in the southern neighborhood of Gilo. Initial approval was granted back in 2012.
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T. Belman. In my article The State of the Two-State Solution. originally posted on Jan 13/16, I made the point that the US, the UN and EU are coordinating their statements and actions in order to wrest control of Area C from Israel.

Mail from US Customs reveals products from Judea and Samaria are not to be labeled as being from ‘Israel,’ on pain of sanctions.

By Ari Yashar, ARUTZ SHEVA

A mail from the Cargo Systems Messaging Service of the US Customs and Border Protection dated to this Saturday, and revealed by Channel 1‘s “Mabat” show on Thursday, shows the US is now required products from Judea and Samaria to be labeled differently.

In new instructions on marking requirements sent out to American importers, goods from Judea and Samaria are not to be marked “Israel.” Those who do not comply are to be sanctioned.

“West Bank Country of Origin Marking Requirements,” reads the title of the mail, which begins by clarifying that “the purpose of this message is to provide guidance to the trade community regarding the country of origin marking requirements for goods that are manufactured in the West Bank.”
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By Ted Belman

The Two State solution (TSS) is dead but rather than bury it, the US and the EU want to embalm it, in the off chance that it can be brought to life in a decade or two. In the meantime they are doing their utmost to prevent Israel from building Jewish homes east of the armistice lines, including in Jerusalem. They do this in knowing violation of Israel’s rights.

Moshe Arens, a former Israel Ambassador to the US, Israel Defense Minister and Minister of Defense, noted in Haaretz, Israel’s version of the New York Times:
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Today’s issues: The use of chemical weapons in Syria, Ban Ki-moon’s recent statement regarding Palestinian terrorism, the religious status quo in Jerusalem, and the hunger strike of administrative detainee Mohammed al-Qiq.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Yediot Aharonot writes: “New reports emerging from the ground in Syria suggest that despite Assad’s assertions in 2013 that he had disposed of his chemical weapons arsenal, his regime continues to fight in the civil war using non-conventional means. Other actors in the civil war have also resorted to using chemical weapons. The Islamic State group has documented its own use of non-conventional materials in Halab. The international community is aware of the situation. But given that all red lines were crossed in Syria long ago, provided a massacre of civilians is not underway the criticisms remain relatively minimal. The number of casualties of chemical weapons still pales into comparison with the number of victims of conventional arms.”
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T. Belman. Israel has a law which criminalizes the slander of MK’s. This Bill proposes similar protection of the IDF or soldiers. As such I welcome it.

By Heski Ezra, ARUTZ SHEVA

Jewish Home Faction Leader Shuli Mualem-Refaeli is taking the fight against extremist left-wing organizations to the next level.

On Wednesday, Mualem submitted a proposed bill to the Knesset that would increase the authority of the courts to dismantle NGOs that attack Israel and basic Israeli institutions such as the IDF.

According to the proposed bill, organizations that work to slander the IDF or its soldiers while they are fulfilling their duties and assault them either physically or verbally, will be dismantled.
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T. Belman. I selected this provocative title. To deny that the Holocaust is essentially a Jewish tragedy is to deny the Holocaust.

By Dalit Halevi, ARUTZ SHEVA

The statement Canadian Prime Minister Justice Trudeau issued Wednesday in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day suffered from one very glaring omission.

The Holocaust is defined as the genocide of six million Jews at the hands of the Nazi regime and its collaborators, but in his statement, Trudeau did not mention the words “Jew” or “anti-Semitism” once.

Instead, the Liberal leader offered “tribute to the memory of the millions of victims murdered during the Holocaust,” adding that Canada honors “those who survived atrocities at the hands of the Nazi regime, and welcome their courageous stories of hope and perseverance.”
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By Julia Hahn, BREITBART

The announcement from Donald Trump’s campaign that the Republican frontrunner will “definitely not” partake in Thursday night’s Fox News debate has sent shock waves throughout the nation’s political scene.

At a press event Tuesday evening, Trump seemed to cite disparate treatment from the network as his reasoning for not participating. “What’s wrong over there, something’s wrong,” Trump said of the “games” Roger Ailes and the network are “playing.”
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