By Phillip Bump, WaPo

Gallup’s annual World Affairs survey shows that only 48 percent of those identifying as Democrats sympathize more with Israelis in tensions in the Mideast than with Palestinians. In contrast, 83 percent of Republicans side with Israelis. The figure for all Americans is 62 percent.

As that graph of the trend by party shows, that summary masks some nuance. That 48 percent of Democrats is actually up significantly since the mid-1990s — as is the figure for Republicans.
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By David P. Goldman, PJ MEDIA (Spengler)

The world now anticipates that the US will reach a strategic agreement with Iran. Russia and China are responding by offering their own deals to Tehran. A possible game-changer is Russia’s offer of the Antey-2500 air defense system to Iran. After canceling the planned delivery of the older, shorter-range S-300 system in 2010, Russia has now escalated drastically by proposing to sell Iran a much more effective system. Western air forces have never engaged the Russian system, so we don’t know how exactly good it is. No-one I know in the military wants to find out; by Western estimates, the Russian systems are extremely good. It is possible that Russia’s unwelcome intervention might make Iran effectively impregnable from attack by Israel. The Antey-2500 can take down missiles as well as airplanes.
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Bayit Yehudi Housing Minister Uri Ariel is holding treasury hostage with his budgetary demands, refusing to approve IDF transfer to new Negev bases unless excess settlement expenditure gets okay.

By Nahum Barnea, YNET

The Housing Ministry has prepared a nice going-away gift for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the eve of his trip to Washington – plans to build more than 48,000 new housing units in the West Bank, and another 15,000 or so in East Jerusalem.

The building beyond the Green Line has been incorporated into the ministry’s construction plans for other regions of the country – a total of around 279,000 new housing units. The list of communities and the number of housing units came to light during the course of discussions over the past few days between Housing Ministry and treasury officials, on the backdrop of the Housing Ministry’s demand for significant budgetary supplements.
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JEWSNEWS

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved an Arab-backed resolution Tuesday calling on Israel to renounce possession of nuclear weapons and put its nuclear facilities under international oversight.

The resolution, adopted in a 161-5 vote, noted that Israel is the only Middle Eastern country that is not party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. It called on Israel to “accede to that treaty without further delay, not to develop, produce test or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons, to renounce possession of nuclear weapons” and put its nuclear facilities under the safeguard of the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency.
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Read this: EXPOSÉ: Qatar’s takeover of Europe 

Ted Belman. Two weeks ago I wrote, Qatar is more active than you know. Meotti’s article adds greatly to the picture. Qatar is the richest country in the world per capita and only has 1.87 million people. It is totally in bed with Obama and the MB. Probably Turkey should be added to the bed. While Saudi Arabia focuses on the US, Qatar focuses on North Africa and the ME and on Europe.

The biggest problem is that Qatar is dedicated to the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people. This is ignored by Obama who has formed a grand alliance with them.

Qatar funding, providing refuge to terror groups and allies

By Adam Kredo, FREE BEACON

Congress is warning that billions of dollars in U.S. arms sales to Qatar could be enabling the Arab country’s support for leading terrorist organizations and allies, according to a letter to the administration being circulated on Capitol Hill.

Qatar, long one of America’s top Arab military allies in the Middle East, has been funding and providing refuge to an increasing number of terrorist groups and allies in recent years, including most recently the Islamic State (IS).
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By Matthew Vadum, FPM

A federal jury in Manhattan found the Palestinian Authority and its terrorist arm civilly liable yesterday for six terrorist attacks a decade ago that left 33 dead and more than 450 injured.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he expected the “international community to continue to punish those who support terrorism, just as the U.S. federal court has done, and to back the countries that are fighting terrorism.”

“Today as well we remember the families that lost their loved ones; our heart is with them and there is no justice that can console them.”
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By Gallia Lindenstrauss, INSS

Introduction

A telegram from the US embassy in Azerbaijan that was published in Wikileaks claimed that the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, compared Israel-Azerbaijan relations to an iceberg, with most of the relations being below the surface and only the edge visible.1

Moreover, the strategic relations between the two countries, as long as they do not prompt the actors for adventurist policies, are consistent with the interests of the US and the West. It can even be asserted that Azerbaijan is the Muslim country with which Israel currently enjoys the closest relations. This might seem surprising, given that Azerbaijan has a common border with Iran and that most of its population is Shiite (although it has a strong secular tradition).

Nevertheless, after more than two decades of diplomatic relations, it appears that relations are at a peak.
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Even his former adviser agrees that the president’s Iran policy is collapsing. Can anything be done, or is it too late?

By Michael Doran, MOSAIC

I’ve been stunned by the reception of “Obama’s Secret Iran Strategy.” In this, the era of the 140-character tweet, I’d assumed that a 9,500-word article would have scant appeal beyond a professional audience. Yet, to date, it has attracted 220,000 unique visitors; journalists from several different countries have called to interview me; I’ve done my share of talk radio; and senior political figures, including presidential hopefuls, have expressed their appreciation.

What accounts for the essay’s reach? Timing is certainly one factor. The Iranian nuclear question is coming to a head—dramatically so. But above all I believe that, for many readers, the essay proved useful in solving the enigma of Barack Obama. In his foreign policy, the president has displayed a mix of initiative and passivity that has confounded efforts at categorization. The framework constructed in “Obama’s Secret Iran Strategy” may have helped make sense of a bundle of apparent contradictions; at least I hope so. Read more…

By: John Guandolo

This is the third in a 4-part series on The Political Left’s Marriage to the Islamic Jihad

The truth always offends those who do not have it.

In the Sharia (Islamic Law), “Slander” is defined as follows:  “To mention anything concerning a person (Muslim) that he would dislike (Um Dat al Salik, Islamic Sacred Law, r2.2).”   The Quran, the Hadith, and a consensus of the Muslim scholars all agree that anyone who insults the Prophet and/or Islam must be killed (e.g. Surah 9:12, Hadith – Abu Dawud and al-Nasa’i, from Ibn-‘Abbas).  The punishment for Slander in Islam is death.

Currently, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) – the largest international body in the world second only to the UN, made up of all 57 Islamic nations on the planet – is officially calling for “deterrent punishments” (Section VII, para 3) for anyone who offends Islam, and continues to petition the United Nations for such action.  This campaign is called “Islamophobia.”
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By Ted Belman, AMERICAN THINKER

The Western countries have dealt themselves a weak hand, yet they are going all in. Israel need only call their bluff. 

The pot they hope to win is an agreement, misnamed as a peace agreement, which will establish a Palestinian state on the ’67 borders with Jerusalem as its capital. But there are no takers on either side of the ’67 lines.

To win this pot, the EU is threatening Israel with sanctions and with an amendment to the existing Free Trade Agreement. They are also threatening to reduce economic cooperation. They want Israel to stop building settlements in places that will make the two state solution untenable. So far they have accomplished nothing with the threats and I venture to say if they implement their plans, Israel will initiate moves of its own.
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The strategic relationship between the United States and Israel has weathered rough spells before, and it will survive the current discord between its two leaders.

By Moshe Arens, HAARETZ

What is the state of relations between Israel and the United States? Terrible, if you ask those who are attempting to overthrow Likud in the present election campaign. Some will even go as far as to say they have never been worse, that this is all Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s doing, and for this alone he deserves not to be reelected. After all, that relationship is one of Israel’s greatest strategic assets – maybe even the most important of them all. Where would we be without the backing of the United States, they ask rhetorically.

Well, not so fast. There have been some rough patches in Israel’s relations with the United States over the years, years when Israel was considered a burden rather than an asset in Washington, D.C. There was an embargo on the shipment of arms from America to Israel during the War of Independence, while Israel was fighting for its life against great odds.
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The Washington Post has been, for many years, one of your leading media supporters. Fred Hiatt, the WP editorial page editor, represents the consensus at the Washington Post. Currently, the WP has become increasingly critical of Pres. Obama’s capabilities, track record, and credibility. They are very well-informed as to the inside activities of the negotiations. They are especially alarmed at the concessions that Pres. Obama is making to Iran..

By Fred Hiatt Editorial page editor Washington Post

Can President Obama sell an Iran deal at home?

If his negotiators strike an agreement next month, we already know that it will be far from ideal: Rather than eradicating Iran’s nuclear-weapons potential, as once was hoped, a pact would seek to control Iran’s activities for some limited number of years.

Such a deal might be defensible on the grounds that it is better than any alternative, given that most experts believe a military “solution” would be at best temporary and possibly counterproductive.
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By Alexander Maistrovoy, WORLD TRIBUNE

During a recent visit to Cairo, Vladimir Putin was received with imperial honors. The streets of Cairo were decorated by giant portraits of the Russian ruler.

Egyptian jets accompanied the Putin’s aircraft in the skies of Cairo, and an honorary cavalry escorted a limousine with Putin and Egyptian President Abdul Fatah Sisi.

The visit resulted in an agreement to build a nuclear power plant and a decision to cooperate in all scopes, including the military. As a first sign of cooperation, Putin gifted an AK-74 to al-Sisi. It was a meaningful gesture, especially given the fact that Moscow and Cairo signed an arms deal worth of 3 billion dollars.

In the 90s it was very unlikely to believe that Russia would’ve been able to return to the Middle East.
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T. Belman. The IEC should cut even more until the PA agrees to direct that all taxes collected by Israel on its behalf be applied to reduce the debt owed to the IEC.

By Ben Ariel, INN

The United States on Monday expressed its dissatisfaction after the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) briefly cut off power to Palestinian Authority areas, in protest over the PA’s refusal to pay the nearly half a billion dollars it owes.

Donors to New Israel Fund must stop funding the New Israel Fund, and here is why.

By Ronn Torossian, INN

This week a New York court ruled that the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) were responsible for encouraging and inciting terror attacks during the Second Intifada. After weeks of trial, a jury found that this organization supported international terrorism and 10 American families who had their loved ones murdered and maimed were awarded $655 Million dollars.

[In France, a row broke out after the head of the CRIF Jewish umbrella group said that young Muslims were the cause of all violent crime.]

JPOST

Australian Muslims were oputraged on Tuesday after Prime Minister Tony Abbott urged their leaders to “get with the program” and do more to combat Islamic extremism.

Abbott gave an address to the nation about security during which he offered pointed criticism of Islamic leaders and their attitudes toward extremism.

“I’ve often heard western leaders describe Islam as a ‘religion of peace’,” the conservative leader said. “I wish more Muslim leaders would say that more often, and mean it.”

Local Muslims condemned the premier’s remarks as divisive.
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Sooner or later more Jews will be murdered in Europe
By Ted Belman

Let’s face it, neither France nor Denmark or any other European country can protect the Jews. Sooner or later many more Jews will be murdered.
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JORDAN SCHACHTEL, Breitbart

Ring of Peace Rally, Oslo Synagogue, Feb. 21, 2015

The weekend’s feel-good story about a Muslim “ring of peace” formed to “protect” Jews at an Oslo synagogue turned out to be a complete fabrication by the mainstream media, according to an eyewitness report, local officials, and attendees’ photos.

President Barack Obama’s critics believe he is keen on Iran deal as part of greater plan to strengthen ties with Iran and re-establish geostrategic balance in region • Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog calls Iran “a big threat” but not an existential one.

By Shlomo Cesana, Mati Tuchfeld and Boaz Bismuth, ISRAEL HAYOM

As the end of March deadline for nuclear negotiations approaches with no extension in sight, French newspaper Le Figaro reported Sunday that an American official said a nuclear deal between Washington and Tehran is “closer than ever.”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif met in Geneva on Sunday in another round of talks.

Le Figaro also referred to assertions made by U.S. President Barack Obama’s critics, including some who have worked for his administration, that he is keen on an Iran deal as part of a greater plan to strengthen ties with Iran and to re-establish the geostrategic balance in the region.
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By Omri Ceren, TIP

Things are starting to move fast on Iran now. Driving the discussion today will be:

(1) The distribution of this quarter’s already-leaked IAEA report
(2) This story that the Associated Press just put out, about the “phased deal” that the US and Iran seem on the brink of signing

I’ll ping you with the IAEA stuff later this morning, but the debate over the phased deal is blowing up on social media so I wanted to make sure you had this in your hands quickly. What’s technically going on is a debate over the “sunset clause” but it’s already being described as building the Iranians an on-ramp to a nuclear weapon. Here are the key bits from the AP:
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