By Elad Benari, INN

The Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) central council decided Thursday to end security cooperation with Israel, AFP reported.

The PLO council decided “to stop security cooperation in all its forms with the occupying power” which it urged to “take over full responsibility for the Palestinian people in the occupied State of Palestine, the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza”.

The PLO said its executive committee would meet to implement the decision taken by the central council which held a two-day meeting in Ramallah, without giving a date.
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ALGEMEINER

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, Saud Al-Faisal, told Secretary of State John Kerry in a joint press conference on Thursday that Saudi Arabia is worried about Iran’s regional expansionism and nuclear weapons, pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported.

Al-Faisal said that his country, “supports the P5+1 in pursuing a strict regime of inspections which ensures that Iran will not pursue or possess nuclear weapons, meanwhile ensuring its right, and that of all countries in the region, to use nuclear energy peacefully according to IAEA’s requirements and under its supervision, and in connection to that Iran is now taking over Iraq.”
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T. Belman.  As David Goldman pointed out, this is due to the US insistency that Iraq have a representative government. Since the population of Iraq is 60% Shiite, they dominated the government. Previously the Sunnis controlled Iraq and thus it was a bulwark against Iran. No longer.  It is now a lackey to Iran.

Notice that Iran is also backing the Kurds in Kurdistan (Peshmurga). with this help they also took back Kabani in Syria.

Six months ago US to Make Peshmerga into Professional Army. So has Iran taken over the role or is the US doing this while allowing Iran to be in charge of them.

By Walid Shoebat 

A leaked video by fighters from the so-called Iraqi militia executed an 11 year old boy with bursts of bullets on his head in Diyala province in Iraq. Shoebat.com was able to obtain the footage showing a child in handcuffs being brutally beaten while surrounded by a group of Iranian backed Iraqi fighters, then executed the child with showers of bullets on the head.

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http://www.steynonline.com/6839/the-enemy-of-my-enemy

Ted Belman

Al Monitor published and article by Ben Caspit on Bibi’s speech and he said “I spoke to an Israeli security official who had been very close to the nuclear negotiations and decision-making hubs on the highest levels. On condition of anonymity, this person said,

“The prime minister is a seasoned politician. He reads intelligence reports, he is well-connected and he knows that the chances of an agreement being signed between Iran and the world powers in the current round of talks is very low, if not zero. He knows that out of the eight controversial issues, only two are anywhere near agreement. There is still great distance between the sides on the other six issues. He knows that the French won’t agree to sign under such circumstances, and apparently the Americans as well. What he’s done here with the speech is political genius. He timed it perfectly so that in another week, when the deadline is postponed yet again, he can say that it was his speech that halted the agreement between Iran and the world powers. In reality, this has no basis in fact, but the Israeli electorate will buy into this maneuver and Netanyahu could thus win the elections. We are talking about a cynical maneuver that sacrifices strategic relations with a US president for the medium and long term in favor of narrow, short-term political interests.”

Obama’s Iranian-nuclear strategy brings dividend: Rev Guards lead military assault on Tikrit

DEBKAfile Special Report March 4, 2015,

US President Barack Obama’s plans for Iran, which were spectacularly challenged by Binyamin Netanyahu in his Congress speech Tuesday, March 3, weres manifested 10,000 kilometers from Washington in the firestorm over Tikrit, the important Sunni town north of Baghdad. There, Iranian-led Iraqi troops are on the offensive against the Islamic State in the biggest ground battle fought in Iraq since the Iraqi army fell apart and scattered last June against the conquering Islamist march through western and central Iraq.

For four reasons, this battle is loaded with ramifications for Obama’s Iran policy and the Islamic Republic’s drive for recognition as the leading Middle East power:
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By Evelyn Gordon,  COMMENTARY

One very important word was missing from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress yesterday. Not that I blame him; inserting “Ukraine” into that particular speech would have been counterproductive. Yet without considering America’s Ukraine policy, it’s impossible to grasp quite how disastrous the emerging Iran deal really is.

To understand why, consider the curious threat issued by an unnamed White House official last week, in the run-up to Netanyahu’s speech: “The dispute with Netanyahu prevents all possibility for discussing security guarantees for Israel as part of the emerging Iran deal.” That particular threat was empty, because Israel has never wanted security guarantees from this or any other administration; its policy has always been that it must be able to defend itself by itself. But if Washington was considering security guarantees for Israel, it’s surely considering them for its Arab allies, since they, unlike Israel, always haverelied on America’s protection. In fact, there have been recurrent rumors that it might offer Arab states a nuclear umbrella as part of the deal, so they wouldn’t feel the need to develop nuclear capabilities themselves–something they have long threatened to do if Iran’s nuclear program isn’t stopped. Read more…

Likud closes gap with Labor from previous polls, and Netanyahu further outpaces Herzog as most fitting for PM, as Jewish Home lapses.

INN

Two new polls Wednesday provide the first data since Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s much touted Congress address on Tuesday, and show that Likud has evened gaps shown in the last poll before the speech which saw it behind Labor 24 to 21.

In the first of the polls by Channel 2, Labor and Hatnua’s “Zionist Camp” gets 24 again, but Likud is up to 23.

The joint Arab list comes in third with 13 mandates, while Yesh Atid and Jewish Home tie for fourth with 12 apiece. Jewish Home has relapsed into its slump after a recent poll gave it 14 in the first such result since Knesset lists were submitted.
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The West, whose values have all but disappeared, is unable to cope with the Israeli will to survive.

By Gulio Meotti, INN

Everybody is against the Jews. Again.

Between 1948 and 1967, the Arabs knew the shame of disastrous defeats in three wars, but they never gave up, and now again are trying to flood the small Jewish island formed in their boundless ocean. It was predictable; sooner or later it had to happen.

The Arabs are always looking to the past and and seem unable to turn towards a future where there is the State of Israel. Theirs is a kind of hypnosis: destroy Israel, whatever the cost. From the Palestinian Arabs to the Islamic State to Hezbollah, they stay alive and vibrate at the thought of seizing the enemy by the throat and drowning him in the Mediterranean.
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T. Belman. This is very sobering. I think Goldman is right on. If Israel were to attack Iran, what would China, Russia and the US do? The US will not come to Israel’s defense or even aid if Iran with the support of Russia goes after Israel in retaliation. I wouldn’t want to be in Bibi’s shoes. Europe would also be greatly affected. Shudder to think about the world’s reaction. They could come to the conclusion that Israel is more trouble than its worth.

by David P. Goldman
Asia Times Online

The problem with Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress March 3 was not the risk of offending Washington, but rather Washington’s receding relevance. President Barack Obama is not the only leader who wants to acknowledge what is already a fact in the ground, namely that “Iran has become the preeminent strategic player in West Asia to the increasing disadvantage of the US and its regional allies,” as a former Indian ambassador to Oman wrote this week.

For differing reasons, the powers of the world have elected to legitimize Iran’s dominant position, hoping to delay but not deter its eventual acquisition of nuclear weapons. Except for Israel and the Sunni Arab states, the world has no desire to confront Iran. Short of an American military strike, which is unthinkable for this administration, there may be little that Washington can do to influence the course of events. Its influence has fallen catastrophically in consequence of a chain of policy blunders.

The powers of the world hope to delay, but not deter, Iran’s eventual acquisition of nuclear weapons.
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By Daniel Greenfield, FPM

In 1967, Benjamin Netanyahu skipped his high school graduation in Pennsylvania to head off to Israel to help in the Six Day War. That same year Obama moved with his mother to Indonesia.

When Obama suggested that Israel return to the pre-1967 borders, described by Ambassador Eban, no right-winger, as “Auschwitz borders,” it was personal for Netanyahu. Like many Israeli teens, he had put his life on hold and risked it protecting those borders.

In the seventies, Obama was part of the Choom Gang and Netanyahu was sneaking up on Sabena Flight 571 dressed as an airline technician. Inside were four terrorists who had already separated Jewish passengers and taken them hostage. Two hijackers were killed. Netanyahu took a bullet in the arm.

The Prime Minister of Israel defended the operation in plain language. “When blackmail like this succeeds, it only leads to more blackmail,” she said.
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By Elliot Abrams, ISRAEL HAYOM

For six years the mantra of the Obama administration about the Iran nuclear negotiations ?has been simple, direct, and powerful: “No deal is better than a bad deal.” One cannot count ?the number of times the president, his secretaries of state, his national security advisers, ?and his negotiators have said exactly this — including this week when Susan Rice repeated it ?to an American Israel Public Affairs Committee audience.?

Some people believe the proposed deal is a bad deal, and therefore that no deal is better. ?One might have expected the administration to reply, “No, here we disagree; on its merits ?this deal is a good one.”?
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After arriving back in Israel, Netanyahu responds to Obama’s claim that he offered nothing new in his Congress address, saying that lawmakers understand better now why the deal is bad.

YNET

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday his speech to the US Congress offered a “practical alternative” to a possible Iranian nuclear deal and that lawmakers now “understand better” why the deal is bad.

Netanyahu’s assertion came after President Barack Obama said the Israeli leader had offered no viable alternative to preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons.

“There was nothing new” in the speech, Obama said. He said Netanyahu made almost the same speech when he warned against the interim deal reached with Iran, but that the interim deal has resulted in a freeze and rolling back of Iran’s nuclear program.
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By Ted Belman

It is imperative that Naftali Bennet shift his votes to strengthen both Likud and Yishai. A deal should be cut in advance to that gives him the Defense Ministry and Shaked the Interior Ministry.

Netanyahu was right to talk to Congress as he did and did so admirably. There is no question that if a deal comes out of the negotiations, it will be a better deal, though not necessarily an acceptable deal.

Obama’s manufactured outrage at the alleged violation of protocol, has fueled the fire of the anybody-but-Bibi camp. As a result he may have won the battle but lost the war i.e., he won’t the Prime Minister after the elections.
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By David Gertsman, THE TOWER

By Ted Belman

Obama’s got some splaining to do.

Netanyahu, after kissing up to him, challenged him toe to toe. There were a lot of memorable lines like “the enemy of your enemy is your enemy”. “This deal doesn’t prevent Iran from getting the bomb, it paves the way”. The choice isn’t between this deal and war, its between this deal and a better deal”

He stressed that both ISIS and Iran want to dominate the world. To give Iran a bomb is the same as giving ISIS a bomb. (my words)

He reminded Americans how Iran kept dozens of Americans hostage, blew up over 200 Marines in Beirut and killed or maimed thousands of American soldiers in Iraq.

Obama put out a video in which he rebutted Bibi arguments quite effectively. His best point was that Bibi did not offer an alternative. As soon as I can get a link, I will post it.

Full text: Netanyahu’s speech to Congress

Names of Democrats who boycotted speech

While under fierce attack from President Obama, the Israeli prime minister defends Western values and speaks the truth about Iran.

By Quin HIllyer, NATIONAL REVIEW

The leader of the free world will be addressing Congress on Tuesday. The American president is doing everything possible to undermine him.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads a nation surrounded by enemies, a nation so small that it narrows at one point to just 9.3 miles. Yet, in a world where the Oval Office is manned by someone openly apologetic for most American exercises of power; and where Western Europe’s economy is enervated, its people largely faithless, and its leadership feckless; and where Freedom House has found “an overall drop in [global] freedom for the ninth consecutive year,” the safeguarding of our civilization might rely more on leaders who possess uncommon moral courage than on those who possess the most nukes or biggest armies.
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By Clifford May, ISRAEL HAYOM

Remember when U.S. President Barack Obama said that to prevent the Islamic Republic of Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapons capability, he would keep all options on the table? How long has it been since anyone took that warning seriously?

Remember when Obama said he didn’t bluff, that “when the United States says it is unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, we mean what we say,” adding: “We’ve got Israel’s back.” Does anyone think those statements are still operative?

Remember when Obama’s spokesmen said that striking a bad deal with Iran would be worse than striking no deal at all, and that a good deal means Iran dismantles its nuclear weapons programs?
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Chuck Schumer and other liberal fence-sitters will have their reputations stained forever if they let this Iran deal pass.

BRET STEPHENS, WSJ

The Democratic Party is on the cusp of abandoning the state of Israel. That’s a shame, though less for Israel than it is for the Democrats.

The Democrats’ historic support for the Jewish state has always been what’s best about the party. The understanding not only that Jews are entitled to a state, but also that a liberal democracy is entitled to defend itself—robustly and sometimes pre-emptively—against illiberal enemies, is why the party of Harry Truman, Scoop Jackson and Daniel Patrick Moynihan commands historic respect.

But that party is evaporating. A 2014 Pew survey found that just 39% of liberal Democrats are more sympathetic to Israel than they are to the Palestinians. That compares with 77% of conservative Republicans. During last summer’s war in Gaza, Pew found liberals about as likely to blame Israel as they were to blame Hamas for the violence.
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