By Seth Lipsky, HAARETZ

It’s hard to imagine that Habayit Hayehudi’s Ayelet Shaked needs my help in running the Justice Ministry, but she could do worse than study one of the women to whom she’s being compared: Sarah Palin.

The Alert Alaskan, as I like to call the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and former Alaska governor, has long struck me as way more substantive than her detractors give her credit for. The message for Shaked is that Palin’s power has almost nothing to do with gender or glamor. What Palin is about is substance. A few of the key points: Read more…

Prolific author, who often warned of resurgent hatred of Jews in Europe, suffers a heart attack in Rome

By Stuart Winer, TOI

Robert S. Wistrich, one of the world’s foremost scholars of anti-Semitism, died late Tuesday evening after suffering a heart attack in Rome, where he was due to address the Italian Senate about rising anti-Semitism in Europe.

Wistrich, 70, was the Neuburger Professor of European and Jewish history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the head of the University’s Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism.

Over the course of his career, Wistrich edited and published dozens of books about the fate of Jews and their treatment by other nations.
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By Ted Belman

The Times of Israel reports that “UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “will be engaging the new government to explore realistic options for a return to meaningful negotiations towards a two-state solution within a reasonable timeframe.”

How ridiculous. The essence of Res 242 and the Oslo Accords required all final issues to be negotiated. The current moves are an attempt to bypass negotiations and impose a solution.
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By Sam Sokol, JPOST

For the first time in the state’s history, the government has an independent ministry devoted exclusively to Diaspora affairs.

On Tuesday, the government announced that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had transferred responsibility for Jerusalem affairs from the Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs Ministry to his own office – meaning that there will now be a functioning government ministry dealing solely with the Diaspora, outside the context of immigration and absorption.
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More than 50% of former Soviet Union conversion candidates drop out, according to Israel Democracy Institute report.

By Jeremy Sharon, JPOST

Over half of the conversion candidates from the former Soviet Union drop out before finishing the process, according to a report on the efficacy of the state conversion system.

The report, which the Israel Democracy Institute released Monday, illustrates what the authors have described as a “depressing” picture of conversion policy over the last two decades.

According to research by the IDI’s Dr. Netanel Fisher, some 80,000 people have converted to Judaism through the state conversion system since it was established in 1995. Of those, some 45,000 converts were from the Ethiopian sector – specifically the Falash Mura, who were required to undergo conversion upon entering Israel.
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Is the EU a fair mediator in peace talks between Israel and the PA? NGO Monitor’s new analysis shows EU’s bias against Israel.

By Elad Benari, INN

The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini, will arrive for a visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday, and in advance of that visit, the NGO Monitor group has publishedan analysis of a key EU policy paper, showing the EU’s flawed assessment and understanding of Israeli society.

The EU’s External Action Service 2014 Israel ENP Progress report, published in March and addressing the EU-Israel relationship as part of the “European Neighborhood Policy,” uncritically relies on the claims of political NGOs and all but ignores violence against Israelis, the organization noted.
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Mudar Zahran, ISRAEL HAYOM

For some time, there have been voices within U.S. intellectual and academic circles that question how vital Israel is to the U.S. Some openly wonder whether Israel has done anything good for the U.S., or if Israel is actually important at all to American national interests. Such voices, while few, still manage to utilize a very effective anti-Israeli propaganda machine, for example the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, as well as some academic institutions that have chosen to turn themselves into enemies of the Jewish state. Their main argument is: What do we need Israel for?

Of course, those voices get a lot of support from us, the Arabs. We Arabs have been claiming for seven decades now that Israel is the source of all evil. Some of our rulers have been saying this to the Western media for decades. Basically, we claim that if Israel disappears, our lives will become wonderful and iPhones will grow on the trees in our backyards. Nonetheless, facts on the ground suggest that these claims could not be further from the truth. Let’s see why.
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by Jonathan Spyer, PJ Media
May 18, 2015
http://www.meforum.org/5247/how-obama-lost-ramadi

The fall of Ramadi to the fighters of the Islamic State is a disaster for the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. The taking of the city brings IS to just over 60 miles from Baghdad. In addition to showcasing the low caliber of the Iraqi security forces, the events surrounding the fall of the city lay bare the contradictions at the heart of Western policy in Iraq.

Prime Minister Abadi had ordered the garrison in Ramadi to stand firm. He hoped to see a successful stand in the city as a prelude to a government retaking of Anbar province, over half of which is still in IS hands.

But in a manner reminiscent of the fall of Mosul in June 2014, Iraqi security forces ignored orders to defend Ramadi, and fled eastwards to the neighboring town of Khalidiyeh. This left Ramadi to the tender mercies of the fighters of the Islamic State, who have reportedly since slaughtered at least 500 people. It is important to note that even U.S. airstrikes were not sufficient to prevent the debacle.
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DEBKA

Jordan’s King Abdullah has warned the Obama administration in an urgent message that US air strikes alone won’t stop the Islamic State’s advances in Iraq and Syria and, what is more, they leave his kingdom next door exposed to the Islamist peril. ISIS would at present have no difficulty in invading southern Jordan, where the army is thin on the ground, and seizing local towns and villages whose inhabitants are already sympathetic to the extremist group. The bulk of the Jordanian army is concentrated in the north on the Syrian border. Even a limited Islamist incursion in the south would also pose a threat to northern Saudi Arabia, the king pointed out.

Abdullah offered the view that the US Delta Special Forces operation in eastern Syria Saturday was designed less to be an effective assault on ISIS’s core strength and more as a pallliative to minimize the Islamist peril facing Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Gulf emirates.
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By Ted Belman

Not only has Netanyahu excluded Bayit Yehudi from affecting construction policy in J&S by limiting the role of the Deputy FM in such policy, he is also determined to prevent Ayelet Shaked from changing the rules regarding the HIgh Court.

Dan Margalit writing in ISRAEL HAYOM, the mouth piece for Netanyahu, under the title, Protect the independence of the courts, wrote that:

However, should Shaked seek to make an actual change and assign the selection of judges to a larger number of politicians than currently accepted, or prohibit the High Court from overturning (as is customary) irrational laws, the bitter war once waged between former Supreme Court presidents Aharon Barak and Dorit Beinisch, and Shaked’s mentor Daniel Friedmann, will be reignited.

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By Ted Belman

Ze’ev Jabotinsky writing under the title Jewish sovereignty vs. Palestinian lies says:

Dr. Jacques Gauthier is a non-Jewish Canadian lawyer who specializes in international human rights and is an expert in international law. The topic of his doctoral research was the right to sovereignty over Jerusalem according to international law, and he came to the unequivocal conclusion that, according to international law, only the Jewish people have the right to sovereignty over all of Jerusalem. Those same claims apply to the entirety of the land of Israel west of the Jordan River, including Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip.

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T. Belman. Thus the American puppet taking orders from Washington didn’t succeed in saving Ramidi even with American air support. Evidently America wanted to limit reliance on Shiite militias backed by Iran. On such an important matter how could the US be so inept?

Sen John McCain blamed Obama for the loss of Ramdi and said “that the Obama administration still doesn’t have a strategy or plan to combat ISIS in Iraq and Syria.” and “This is an abject failure. It is really one of the more unfortunate, in my view, disgraceful chapters in American history,”

By Tim Arango, NYT

BAGHDAD — As Shiite militiamen began streaming toward Ramadi on Monday to try to reverse the loss of the city to the Islamic State, the defeat has given new momentum to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s rivals within his own Shiite political bloc.

At the urging of American officials who sought to sideline the militias, Mr. Abadi had, in effect, gambled that the combination of United States airstrikes and local Sunni tribal fighters would be able to drive Islamic State fighters out of the city as fighting intensified in recent weeks. The hope was that a victory in Ramadi could also serve as a push for a broader offensive to retake the Sunni heartland of Anbar Province.
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The video of the Shurat Hadin sponsored conference has just become available.

Five hundred people including myself, attended.

The stated purpose of the conference was to start a conversation going on what changes to the law are needed.

Most of the panels were of considerable interest.

By going here you can choose what panels you want to listen to.

The panels and the speakers participating are listed here.

T. Belman. So Shapiro thinks Israel must be reminded that peace is necessary, just and possible. How condescending. Then he said “we share the same goal that Iran never get a nuclear weapon.” If only.

He goes to say that the US will demand that the PA abandon attempts to get the ICC involved and will demand that Israel stop settlement construction. No thanks. The US wants to keep the TSS alive so must insist on no unilateral steps which would destroy the possibility.

By Jonah Jeremy Bob, JPOST

“Peace is necessary, peace is just and peace is possible.”

So said US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro at the Israel Bar Association Conference in Eilat on Monday.

“Even where politics on both sides make negotiations unlikely,” there is still a need to “find ways to remind both sides of that truth,” he added.

Shapiro also discussed the dispute between Israel and the US on nuclear negotiations with Iran, saying that even where the two sides disagree about the tactics, “we share the same goal that Iran never get a nuclear weapon.”
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The Shas leader could prove a moderate voice in the right-wing coalition and Israel’s liaison with the Obama administration.

By Anshel Pfeffer, HAARETZ

The fact that a convicted bribe-taker who has never shown remorse and, to this day, denies his crime, can return to politics, lead a party and assume control of a major ministry is both a dismal illustration of the state of Israeli politics and a badge of shame for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fourth government. However, as Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein wrote last week, he would prefer not to defend Dery’s appointment in the High Court, but it is perfectly legal. Love or loathe the leader of the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox party and his record, that is now in the past, and the question of how he will act in his second career as a minister is intriguing.

Ostensibly, Dery has been weakened politically by the death of his party’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, and the Shas split that pushed the party down to only seven seats – its lowest result in nearly two decades. But he is now the sole leader of the party, with no rivals or rabbis to overshadow him, and he is also in a unique position in the new government.
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T. Belman. On Jerusalem day Netanyahu promised to build in Jerusalem and keep it undivided. We’ll see how that works out. He also said he was intent on restarting the peace process. I can understand this because participating in a peace process helps to alleviate the pressure on him. But on no condition should he make any gestures or agree to a frame work that supports ’67 lines plus swaps.

Holding deputy defense minister position was one of Habayit Hayehudi’s key achievements – losing responsibility for approving settlement construction would gut it.

By Jonathan Lis. HAARETZ

Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan will not be responsible for approving construction in the territories, a Likud source said Sunday. Such a decision would gut one of Habayit Hayehudi’s key achievements in the coalition negotiations.

Ben-Dahan’s powers haven’t yet been defined; he is supposed to meet with Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon to settle this issue in the coming days. But the Likud source said the power to approve construction in Jewish settlements would remain in Ya’alon’s hands.
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Universities, Institutes, journals, Aramco, foundations, academic chairs are all funded by Arab money – and truth plays no role in their scholarly endeavors.

By Manfred Gerstenfeld, INN

“The issue of who finances the so-called ‘academic scholarship’ that delegitimizes the State of Israel, and of who supports the various campus activities against it, is extremely complex and multifaceted. The partial initiatives to study this subject are far from adequate.

“Yet we know certain facts concerning this topic. Various foundations, mainly with Arab and Muslim donors, play a leading role in funding Middle East and Israel scholarship throughout the world. Many donations are dispersed through foundations set up by royal families.”
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The Vatican has been at best indifferent and at worst, like today, willfully harmful to the Jewish State.

By Giulio Meotti, INN

A few days ago, before his deplorable meeting with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the Vatican choose to recognize the “State of Palestine” in a historic move severely criticized by Israel. The Zionist Organization of America rightly condemned it as “the Pope recognizing Jew/Christian-Hating Palestinian State”.

There is nothing new under the sun. Despite the fact that there are many Catholics around the world who share a pro-Israel attitude, the Catholic Church has always been at war with the Jewish State and did everything in its power to prevent its establishment and then to derail it.
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By Grace Meng and Lee Zeldin, NY POST

The negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program have engendered furious debate in Washington and in capitals across the world. But there are steps outside of the nuclear talks that President Obama can take to help ensure that the United States and its allies are stronger and more secure the day after a deal than they were the day before. One such step would be to provide Israel with GBU-57 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs (known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrators, or MOPs) and the means to carry them, in a quantity sufficient to destroy Iran’s most deeply buried nuclear sites.

At present, Israel possesses US-supplied 5,000-pound bunker-buster bombs. But experts doubt these bombs could seriously impede Iran’s nuclear development. On the other hand, there is little doubt that MOPs, which Israel lacks, are capable of destroying Iran’s nuclear sites.
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by Daniel Pipes, Washington Times
April 6, 2015

James Jeffrey, Barack Obama’s former ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Iraq, has this to say about the administration’s current record in the Middle East: “We’re in a goddamn free fall.”

Count the mistakes: Helping overthrow Muammar Qaddafi in Libya, leading to anarchy and civil war. Pressuring Husni Mubarak of Egypt to resign, then backing the Muslim Brotherhood, leading now-president Sisi to turn toward Moscow. Alienating Washington’s most stalwart ally in the region, the Government of Israel. Dismissing ISIS as “junior varsity” just before it seized major cities. Hailing Yemen as a counterterrorism success just before its government was overthrown. Alarming the Saudi authorities to the point that they put together a military alliance against Iran. Coddling Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, encouraging his dictatorial tendencies. Leaving Iraq and Afghanistan prematurely, dooming the vast American investment in those two countries.
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