By Jonathan S. Tobin, COMMENTARY

Yesterday, the State Department issued its annual report on international terrorism and the results are both alarming and unsurprising. Of particular interest is the section on state sponsors of terrorism. On the list as the worst offenders are Sudan, Syria and Iran. The details about Iranian state sponsored terrorism are particularly sobering. It backs terrorists who are aiding the Assad regime’s brutal crackdown in Syria as well as providing funding and arms for Hezbollah and Palestinian terror groups. Just as damning is the fact that State says Iran continues to refuse to bring senior al Qaeda figures to justice or to identify those in their custody.
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By Daniel Greenfield

After some of its quarter of a million Muslims headed to join ISIS, Quebec decided the answer was a $2 million anti-radicalization center headed by a specialist in cultural sensitivity. But if you’re about to be beheaded by a masked ISIS Jihadist, a specialist in cultural sensitivity isn’t going to help you much.

Western governments nevertheless keep rolling out their culturally sensitive approaches to fighting ISIS.

The key element in Obama’s strategy for fighting ISIS isn’t the F-15E Strike Eagle, it’s a Twitter account run by a Muslim Brotherhood sympathizer which claims to “Counter Violent Extremism” by presenting moderate Islamists like Al Qaeda as positive role models for the Islamic State’s social media supporters.

So far 75% of planes flown on combat missions against ISIS return without engaging the enemy, but the culturally sensitive State Department Twitter account has racked up over 5,000 tweets and zero kills.
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BY Matthew Continetti, FREE BEACON

By the summer of 2013, President Obama had convinced several key Israelis that he wasn’t bluffing about using force against the Iranian nuclear program. Then he failed to enforce his red line against Syrian dictator Bashar Assad—and the Israelis realized they’d been snookered. Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to the United States, recalls the shock inside his government. “Everyone went quiet,” he said in a recent interview. “An eerie quiet. Everyone understood that that was not an option, that we’re on our own.”

Reading Oren’s new memoir Ally, it’s clear that Israel has been on her own since the day Obama took office. Oren provides an inside account of relations between the administration of Barack Obama and the government of Bibi Netanyahu, and his thesis is overwhelming, authoritative, and damning: For the last six and a half years the president of the United States has treated the home of the Jewish people more like a rogue nation standing in the way of peace than a longtime democratic ally. Now the alliance is “in tatters.”
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T. Belman. What surprised me about this article was that a prominent Canadian publisher, published it. The only issue with it that I take, is the view taken of the idea of the Judeo-Christian values. 70% of Americans like Israel, Jewish Israel. The anti-Israel sentiments reside mainly on the secular left of the spectrum and have much to do with anti-establishmentarianism. As such it wages war on Christianity, Judaism, America and Israel. Strangely, this war doesn’t extend to Islam. Quite the contrary.

Yes there are certain values shared by Christianity and Judaism, all of which values originated with Judaism. There are also values held by each that are not shared by the other. Having said that, many Christians share the Jewish value of not turning the other cheek whereas many liberal Jews share the Christian value of meekness. One of the highest values of Christianity is the value of spreading the word, i.e evangelizing. This is an affront to Judaism and Jews and shows disrespect to them. The Jews on the other hand only reluctantly allow conversion to Judaism.

The opening sentence “Antisemitism is at the core of Western culture” is a bit much. Discuss.

By Prof Julien Bauer, NATIONAL POST

Antisemitism is at the core of Western culture. Even when a popular expression is “Judeo-Christian values,” it should not hide the fact that these “values” are lopsided. On one hand we have a God of revenge, on the other a God of mercy, Judas is the archetypal Jew, a traitor, as if all the apostles were not Jewish. The relations between the two creeds, Judaism and Christianity, were symbolized by the Disputations on the validity of both religions, the verdict known in advance: Judaism is wrong, Christianity is right. An analysis of classical European literature, in its French, English and other expressions, shows a regular feature of antisemitism stereotypes, from Shakespeare to Voltaire.
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By Yoram Ettinger, ISRAEL HAYOM

The nature of President Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority has turned most Palestinians against the PA president and has led most Jerusalem Arabs to prefer Israeli sovereignty. It has also catapulted Hamas to prominence on the Palestinian street.

The Abbas regime has been characterized by a rare combination of endemic corruption, kleptomania (“Mr. 20%” is Abbas’ nickname), nepotism, hate education, incitement, terrorism, an anti-U.S. and pro-Venezuela, Russia and China worldview, noncompliance with internal and external agreements, and egregious violations of civil liberties. All this has fueled Muslim emigration and the flight of Christian Arabs from Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Ramallah.
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BY ADAM LEVICK, UK MEDIA WATCH

The BDS campaign (boycotts, sanctions and divestment) against Israel represents a malevolent, reactionary political force which is antisemitic in effect if not intent, in that it singles out Israel (and only Israel), the world’s only Jewish state and the state in the region with the best human rights record. Additionally, despite claims in the media to the contrary, some prominent BDS leaders support violence and openly oppose the continued existence of the Jewish state within any boundaries.

Fortunately, however, the campaign is by and large failing miserably, despite the oxygen campaigners are given by pro-Palestinian media outlets.  This blog’s new periodic review of BDS failures should provide the reader with rebuttals to routine claims by anti-Israel activists that the movement is gaining traction and achieving its desired result of isolating and economically crippling the state of Israel.
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The groups are making major advances against IS, forming a contiguous zone of influence in a key region in the conflict.

REUTERS, YNET

After a series of major victories, the Syrian Kurds are proving to be a major player in the US-led campaign against the Islamic State group.

Aided by coalition air strikes, the Kurdish YPG militia may have dealt IS its worst defeat to date in Syria by seizing the town of Tel Abyad at the Turkish border and cutting a supply route to the jihadists’ de facto capital of Raqqa.

The Kurds in northern Syria now control an uninterrupted 400-kilometer stretch of the Turkish frontier, placing them squarely in an area that the US says needs more action to stop the flow of fighters joining IS.  Read more…

BY: Adam Kredo, FREE BEACON

June 19, 2015 5:00 am

Michael B. Oren / AP

In his new memoir, former Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren documents the rapid dissolution of the historically close U.S.-Israel alliance under President Barack Obama. Oren recounts being threatened and intimidated at multiple junctures by Obama and his senior officials, marking many firsts in a relationship that has long been the cornerstone of American foreign policy.

The memoir, Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide, has already rushed to the top of Amazon’s bestseller list. It provides a window into the daily stresses and strains Obama and his allies heaped upon the Jewish state—from placing unprecedented demands on Israel regarding the peace process to fabricating crises in the U.S.-Israel alliance.
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The plight of the Druse grows more dire from day to day

By Caroline Glick, JPOST

Over the past two decades Israel has managed to destroy its regional reputation.

With our own hands, we have twice shown our neighbors they have little reason to tie their fates to ours. We are unreliable.

In 1994, Israel betrayed the Palestinians in Judea, Samaria and Gaza who had helped us fight against PLO terrorists for decades. Open season on our Palestinian allies officially began in July 1994 with the entrance of thousands of PLO terrorists – led by Yasser Arafat – into Gaza and Jericho. Arafat’s henchmen did not limit their murderous wrath to the Palestinians who saved countless Israeli lives by working with the Shin Bet and the IDF. They killed Palestinians who sold their lands to Jewish buyers. Palestinians who simply enjoyed normal work relations with Israelis found themselves targeted as suspected “collaborators.”
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Earlier in the evening, Ban called on Israel to halt its violence against children in Gaza as he addressed the UN Security Council.

By Tova Lazaroff, JPOST

Gadi Eisenkot, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Moshe Ya’alon

From left: IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon pay a visit to the IDF’s Home Front Command. (photo credit:KOBI GIDEON/GPO) late Thursday night in response to UN Secretary-General Ban KI-moon’s sharp criticism of Israeli actions in Gaza during last summer’s war with Hamas.

“It turns out, there is no limit to the United Nations hypocrisy,” Netanyahu added.

Earlier in the evening Ban called on Israel to halt its violence against children in Gaza as he addressed the UN Security Council.

“I urge Israel to take concrete and immediate steps, including by reviewing existing policies and practices, to protect and prevent the killing and maiming of children and to respect the special protections afforded to schools and hospitals,” Ban said. Read more…

By Vic Rosenthal

A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. — Mark Twain

…in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility. … the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying. — Adolf Hitler

From the 1960s, inversion of truth and reality has been one the most favored propaganda methods of Israel’s adversaries. One of its most frequent expressions has been the accusation that the Jewish people, victims of the Nazis, have now become the new Nazis, aggressors and oppressors of the Palestinian Arabs. — Dr. Joel Fishman(2007)

The big lie and concomitant reality inversion has been a fabulously successful propaganda strategy for our enemies. One common inversion is to accuse Israel of the very crimes and intentions of their Arab enemies. So Zionism is equated to racism, Israel is accused of being an apartheid state, and Israelis are said to be trying to commit ‘genocide’ against the Palestinian Arabs.

And of course there is my personal favorite, “the IDF deliberately targets children,” an accusation reminiscent of the medieval blood libels: Read more…

The uproar that has erupted over Culture Minister Miri Regev’s statements are not about the preservation of quality cultural activity but about societal control, thinly veiled in cultural camouflage.

By Martin Sherman, JPOST

Imagine, Ms. Regev, our world, your world – without books, without music, without poetry, a world where no one prevents the nation from celebrating the 30 [Likud Knesset] seats in whose wake march a herd of straw and cud-munching cattle. – Actor Oded Kotler to Miri Regev, Jaffa, June 14.

The row that erupted last week over the announcement by the newly appointed culture minister, Miri Regev, that she would no longer provide state funding for cultural institutions, activities or artists that call for the delegitimization of Israel was not really about what it was said to be about.
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“In recent years, Germany is becoming more and more open to innovation and more interested in what’s going on in Israel,” says Israel’s Commercial Attaché in Berlin Hemdat Sagi • German industry leaders to enjoy two-day innovation conference.

By Shlomo Cesana, ISRAEL HAYOM

Israel’s Commercial Attaché in Berlin Hemdat Sagi 

While many in Europe are calling for a boycott of Israel, a delegation of 100 German industry leaders is preparing for a trip to Israel to meet with top businesspeople in an extraordinary show of support for the Jewish state, marking 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Some of the companies to be represented in the group that arrives in 10 days’ time are SAP SE, BMW, Bosch, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Telekom, Merck & Co., Inc., Mercedes-Benz and Lufthansa.

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Very Good News Israel

One of my readers suggested that I write another anti-boycott article, to follow up this, this,this, this and this.  So I just took excerpts from Israel’s positive news over the last 3 weeks and will let you make up your minds as to whether or not there is a boycott.

The European center of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement is in the British Isles (Ireland and the UK).  But you wouldn’t be able to infer that from the close relationship that Dublin’s Trinity College has with Israel’s Weizmann and Technion Institutes. Their joint research into treatments for cancer and inflammatory diseases is phenomenal. And as British Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills Sajid Javid said, during the annual British Israel Business Awards event, “The past few years have been a golden era for Anglo-Israeli business”.  Mr Javid, a “proud British-born Muslim”, told the audience “I share Israel’s love for freedom and democracy.”  So it is no wonder that British Airways is upgrading its service between London Heathrow and Tel Aviv Ben Gurion by operating its new wide-body Boeing 787 “Dreamliner”. Read more…

Ambassador Dan Shapiro asked Netanyahu to issue a statement disassociating himself from Oren’s remarks, Israeli sources said, to which the prime minister responded that he had no intention of publicly addressing the issue.

By Barak Ravid, HAARETZ

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected an American request to publicly disassociate himself from claims made by former Israeli Ambassador to Washington and current Kulanu MK Michael Oren accusing President Barack Obama of deliberately abandoning Israel, in an op-ed published several days ago in the Wall Street Journal.

Oren was appointed by Netanyahu in 2009 as Israel’s ambassador to Washington and served in that position until 2013. His piece in the Wall Street Journal, entitled “How Obama Abandoned Israel,” is part of a promotional campaign for his just-published memoir about his years as ambassador. In the article, Oren asserted that Obama abandoned the two main principles in Israel-U.S. relations – avoiding public disagreements (“no daylight”) and “no surprises” in terms of major policy changes.
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In a letter to U.S. Ambassador Dan Shapiro, Kulanu head writes that Oren’s article does not speak for himself or the party, of which Oren is a member.

By Barak Ravid, HAARETZ

Moshe Kahlon and Michael Oren.

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon on Wednesday repudiated an article by MK Michael Oren, Israel’s former ambassador to Washington, which accused U.S. President Barack Obama of deliberately abandoning Israel.

Kahlon, head of the Kulanu Party, sent a letter to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro expressing deep appreciation for Obama and saying that Oren’s piece did not speak for himself or Kulanu, of which Oren is a member.
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By ISI LEIBLER, JPOST

It is time for American Jews at the grassroots level to become more assertive and make their presence felt.

The exceptional response to my recent column, “American Jewish leaders fail to respond to Obama’s threats,” combined with further developments on the American scene, has brought me to the sad conclusion that when the chips are down and when faced with adversity, American Jewish leaders in the greatest democracy in the world cannot shake off their “Galut” (Exile) mentality.

The multitude of communications I received from Jews at the grass-roots level is evidence of the fact that committed Jews are confused, distressed and angered at the failure of their leaders to respond to the outrageous statements expressed by US President Barack Obama within the framework of his “charm offensive.” (That in no way detracts from the counterproductive, boorish behavior of the Jews attending The Jerusalem Post Conference in New York who jeered US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew.)
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T. Belman. For at least a decade, I have advocated that the US should fund an alternative to CAIR to represent moderate Muslims. This new organization should replace CAIR as the spokesperson and go to group for American Moslems. They alone should be invited to Whitehouse functions and so on. As it is the US government has elevated CAIR as the sole voice of Muslems and is thus contributing to the problem.

by Johanna Markind, PJ Media

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an unindicted co-conspirator in America’s largest terrorism financing case, which is officially banned from FBI cooperation, claims to be a mainstream organization advocating for the civil rights of American Muslims. Shortly after Usaama Rahim was shot by law enforcement in Boston on June 2, CAIR leapt into action.
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T. Belman. I agree. You don’t make a deal with the devil. In this case to make a deal with Hamas is to acknowledge that they forced us to deal with them.

JPOST

Avigdor Liberman, Yisrael Beytenu chairman, said on Wednesday that the Israeli government would be “capitulating to terrorism” if reports that it is negotiating a five-year truce with Hamas are accurate.

In an interview with Army Radio, the former foreign minister called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to come to any understandings with the Hamas regime in Gaza.

“If, indeed, the government of Israel is going for a deal with Hamas, and Hamas continues to arm itself and rehabilitate its terrorist infrastructure, that is tantamount to capitulating to terrorism, and I hope that these are just media reports and not a reflection of reallity,” Liberman said.