T. Belman. Saying that settlements are legal is not the same as saying that we have the right to claim sovereignty but its a start.

By Nitsan Keidar, INN

The Foreign Ministry plans to distribute an official document which, for the first time, will present a legally-backed statement that Israeli communities beyond the Green Line are perfectly legal, and are not contradictory to international law, Arutz Sheva learned on Thursday.

The document, which is a legal opinion which will be distributed to all Israeli embassies around the world and be handed over to world leaders, states among other things that “attempts to present Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) as illegal and colonial ignore the complexity of the issue, the history of the country and the unique legal circumstances of the case.”
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T. Belman. Basically, he said that he wants to see if he can get a deal and that you have to start by being even-handed. He didn’t retract anything and he didn’t repeat anything about settlements. He said first he wants to visit Israel and talk to Bibi before issuing a position paper.

By Zaid Jilani,THE INTERCEPT

Speaking to the Republican Jewish Coalition on Thursday, Donald Trump once again demonstrated how he is not your typical presidential candidate.

“You’re not going to support me because I don’t want your money,” Trump told members of the Sheldon Adelson-funded hardline pro-Israel lobbying organization.
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TRUMP DOESN’T KNOW F”K ALL ABOUT THE CONFLICT.

Ahead of Israel trip, Trump places onus for lack of peace deal on Israel, saying it has to prove if it’s ‘willing to sacrifice.’

By Ari Yashar, INN

by Jeff Dunetz ,  YID BLOG

President Obama has appointed second-generation anti-Israel activist, and former Iran deal negotiator Robert O. (Rob) Malley as his ‘senior adviser on the counterinsurgency campaign against ISIL.’ Malley knows much about terrorism as his dad was close friends with Palestinian terrorist Yasser Arafat (they both were born and raised in Egypt and each was funded by the USSR).

While the sins of the father are not normally visited on the son, this son has chosen to follow in his dad’s footsteps.

CAMERA reported that Malley grew up in France, where his Egyptian-born father, Simon Malley, and New York raised mother, Barbara (Silverstein) Malley, were radical publishers of a controversial magazine about Africa and the so-called Third World. Malley’s parents were rabidly anti-Israel and counted Yasir Arafat as a personal friend. Indeed, Arafat was among those “leaders” (for want of a better word) who had intervened with the French government to readmit the Malley family to France after they had been expelled for their radical activities.
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INSS Insight No. 774, December 3, 2015

Amos Yadlin

The confrontation between Turkey and Russia heightens the instability in the Middle East by reducing the possibility of concluding the ongoing crisis in Syria and successfully contending with the Islamic State. Israel can derive a number of tactical and strategic lessons from the confrontation, and in this context, should also underscore that Syria  cannot be reunited and the area must be stabilized through a re-demarcation of borders, perhaps within a federative framework.

Yet regardless of the solution found, the lesson from the Turkish-Russian confrontation for all parties involved in Syria is that in the complex Middle East, rivalry between two parties should not be allowed to render a third party acceptable. In other words, the desire to weaken the Islamic State cannot make the Iranian-backed Assad regime any more acceptable, and at the same time, opposition to Russian involvement in Syria cannot make the Islamic State or the al-Nusra Front a legitimate replacement for Assad.
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In many cases, educational associations that shun Israel may be sued for violating their charters.

By Eugene Kontorovich And Steven Davidoff Solomon WSJ

The American Anthropological Association (AAA) voted on Nov. 20 to boycott Israel, though the resolution—which would prohibit Israeli academic institutions from any involvement in the organization, such as participation in conferences and hiring events—must still be approved by the group’s full membership in coming months. Ten days later the National Women’s Studies Association voted to call for a boycott of “entities and projects sponsored by the state of Israel.” Boycott votes are also scheduled at the annual meetings of the American Historical Association (AHA) and the Modern Language Association.

The moral myopia and academic perversity of these boycotts have been widely discussed. Less well understood is that in many cases they also are illegal. Under corporate law, an organization, including a nonprofit, can do only what is permitted under the purposes specified in its charter.
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By Moshe Feiglin, JEWISH LEADERSHIP BLOG

The  ease with which we have gotten used to the almost daily slaughter of Jews stems from the fact that everyone realizes that Israel does not have a solution. As a result, people relate to these murders and attempted murders as just a routine occurence; something like a traffic accident that cannot be prevented.

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DEBKA

On the outside, Israel is all smiles and full of praise for way the coordination with Moscow is working for averting clashes between its air force and Russian warplanes over Syria. This goodwill was conspicuous in the compliments Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and President Vladimir Putin traded when they met on the sidelines of the Paris climate summit Monday, Nov. 30.

But the first disquieting sign appeared Tuesday, Dec. 1. Senior Russian and Israeli officers were due to meet in Tel Aviv to discuss strengthening the cooperation between the two army commands. But no word from Moscow or Jerusalem indicated whether the meeting had taken place.
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Poland and Hungary are blocking Muslim Immigration

By Sierra Rayne, AMERICAN THINKER

A new poll released by Statistics Sweden shows the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats (SD) party now up to 20 percent support among the public, placing it just behind the Moderate Party (M; 23.5 percent) and the Social Democrats (S; 27.6 percent).

Support for the Sweden Democrats is up 7 percent compared with the Riksdag election in 2014 and almost 6 percent since the last poll taken in May of this year. All other parties either lost support or were unchanged over these time frames.
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Obama’s policy today is to build up half a dozen centers of Muslim imperialism: Turkey, Iran, ISIStan, and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

By James Lewis, AMERICAN THINKER

I haven’t checked lately to see if the oceans are still rising, due to human sinfulness and love of big cars, or whether the waters are finally receding, as per Obama’s instructions seven years ago.

Peace is breaking out all over. In Syria 200,000-300,000 people are dead in a civil war, where Obama supported terrorist gangs like Al Nusra and the “Free Syrian Army.” The U.S. created the “moderate” FSA, and gave it TOW anti-tank missiles, which it used to shoot down that Russian rescue helicopter last week, as it was trying to pick up the downed jet pilot.

The Free Syrian Army now turns out to be a front for the Ikhwan, the Muslim Brotherhood, Obama’s close ally in all his Middle East adventures. Meanwhile, Yemen and Libya have fallen apart. In Nigeria, Boko Haram has actually killed more people than ISIS. BH is still raiding towns to steal African children for the slave markets, without a word of protest from Jesse Jackson or Jeremiah Wright.
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By Omri Dostri, ISRAEL HAYOM

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s participation in the global climate conference in Paris earlier this week proved once again the strength of Israel’s international standing. For years we have been hearing threats of Israel’s “diplomatic isolation,” according to which Israel is increasingly becoming an international pariah due to the rule of the Right. But time and time again, these threats have been contradicted by reality.

In Paris this week, Netanyahu met with numerous international figures, including some of the leaders of the most powerful nations in the world. These encounters were more than just cursory handshakes. Netanyahu held substantive discussions with many world leaders about future cooperation.
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The email was written by Anne-Marie Slaughter, who served as Clinton’s director of policy planning at Foggy Bottom from 2009 until 2011.

JPOST

A former top policy aide to then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton proposed a “pledge for Palestine” fundraising initiative that would have a “shaming effect on Israel” while bolstering the Palestinian leadership, newly declassified State Department emails show.

Anne-Marie Slaughter, who served as Clinton’s director of policy planning at Foggy Bottom from 2009 until 2011, wrote the email to senior Clinton staffers in late September 2010, just before the anticipated expiration of Israel’s 10-month moratorium on construction in West Bank settlements.
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T. Belman. Not all nationalisms are alike. Nationalism can be a good and productive thing (Israel) as opposed to an evil and destructive thing (Nazism)

“I trust particularistic Zionism more than universalistic do-goodism to bring good into our still tribal, familial, preferential-love based world.”

By Gil Troy, JPOST

Many liberal American Jews feel caught in a contradiction. They love the American phenomenon of civic nationalism, inviting everyone from everywhere to join the great American adventure. This E Pluribus Unum – out of many, one – ideal unites this nation of immigrants, all cherishing life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, regardless of race, color, or religious creed. By contrast, they associate ethnic nationalism with ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and blood feuds in Ireland. How then can these cosmopolitan Jews love Israel, which they consider a self-imposed Jewish ghetto, provincial not pluralistic, exclusive not expansive, intolerant not tolerant, offering further proof that intense, identity-based nationalism yields violence?
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DEBKA

After several incidents, in which 130mm shells fired by Syrian rebel groups, particularly the Al-Nusra Front, reached the center of the Russian Khmeimin military enclave outside Latakia, the general staff in Moscow decided to rush heavy artillery reinforcements to Syria. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that Russia has transferred two types of heavy weapons systems by sea and by air to the front near Latakia during the past few days.
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Academic Friends of Israel

Britain’s Universities have a long standing commitment to freedom of speech within the law for their students, employees and visiting speakers. But what do we mean by freedom of speech? – Whose freedom? -Does one person’s freedom of speech impinge on another person’s freedom of expression?

Last Thursday the House of Lords held a two hour debate on this very topic, freedom of speech in our universities.  The debate was initiated by  Baroness Deech  and the speakers included a number of a number of University professors and a former Secretary of State for Education. Although their discussions took a wide ranging approach to the current problems on campus, several speakers used the opportunity to highlight the problems facing Jewish students on campus and the academic boycott  Israel.
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By Edwin Mora, BREITBART

The Obama administration pursued a policy in Libya back in 2011 that ultimately allowed guns to walk into the hands of jihadists linked to the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) and al-Qaeda (AQ) in Syria, according to a former CIA officer who co-authored a report on behalf of the Citizen’s Commission on Benghazi (CCB), detailing the gun running scheme.
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When Jewish students ban discussion of the Jewish state, even if they have the best of intentions in staying quiet, even if they seek not to “offend,” they denigrate the Jewish state and Jewish life.

By Shmuely Boteach, JPOST

Diaspora youngsters enjoy a Birthright Israel trip to the Jewish state.

I lived in the UK as rabbi to the students of Oxford University for over 11 years. I participated in countless debates on Israel with some of the country’s most rabid opponents. When I was back in England last week for a debate at the Oxford Union, the memory of my previous appearance at the debating chamber was still fresh in my mind – when last year, opponents went as far to accuse Israel of being a Nazi state. This week, I also spent time speaking to British media, defending Israel in anticipation of the publication of my new book, The Israel Warrior’s Handbook.
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DON’T WATCH IF YOU DON’T HAVE THE STOMACH FOR IT

http://www.israelvideonetwork.com/an-israeli-journalist-traveled-to-the-us-and-was-shocked-by-what-he-found-on-campus/

ISRAEL VIRTUALLY IGNORES THE PROBLEM

Progressive Jews and the crusade against Israel by Moshe Dann

Our World: The American war against the Jews by Caroline Glick.
Despite the substantial funds that have been devoted to fighting anti-Israel forces on campuses, they have not been diminished.

A great history of US/Israel relations

BY JONATHAN S. TOBIN, COMMENTARY

The Democratic Party was once the anchor of the pro-Israel community. Not any more.

President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran survived a congressional challenge in September 2015, despite its extreme unpopularity with the American people. With very few exceptions, Democrats in the House and Senate rallied to the president’s side and (in the case of the Senate) refused to allow even a token vote to be cast in opposition. This was a turning point, for the deal formally recognizes the eventual right of Iran to become a nuclear power—a right that places Israel in profound existential jeopardy. Supporters of Israel will continue to claim that the Jewish state is a bipartisan cause in the United States, but as the Iran vote has made painfully clear, this assertion has become more hope than reality. When it came to the most important vote for Israel in a generation, Republicans in both the House and the Senate unanimously opposed the agreement, while an overwhelming majority of Democrats backed it.
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