By Moshe Dann, JPOST

On Dec 18, 2009, Aluf Benn and Amos Harel, writing in Haaretz, offered one of the most important insights into Israeli policy regarding the Iranian nuclear threat.

“When Netanyahu was finance minister in Ariel Sharon’s cabinet, he urged Sharon to focus on the struggle against Iran. When Netanyahu resigned over the disengagement plan, and Sharon left Likud and established Kadima, Netanyahu told Sharon that if he acted against Iran before the election, Netanyahu would support him. Sharon did not act.” (Neither did Netanyahu – MD).

“The uranium conversion plant in Isfahan has an important function in the chain of Iran’s nuclear program. It first went into operation in 2004… [and] since 2004, hundreds of kilograms… were sent to the enrichment plant in Natanz [stored in] underground tunnels.”
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[With all the accusations hurled at us, it is good to see a “righteous Gentile” who appreciates the uniqueness of Israel in the family of nations. I don’t know another nation on earth which since its founding, than seventy years ago, had to sacrifice 23,000 soldiers.]

By Giulio Meotti, INN, Aug/14

I don’t know another nation on earth without recognized borders. I don’t know another nation on earth whose population lives under a perpetual emotional strain. I don’t know another nation on earth threatened to be wiped off the map.
I don’t know another nation on earth so threatened by boycotts all over the world. I don’t know another nation on earth where winners tend to lose wars.
I don’t know another nation on earth which provides its own enemy with water, electricity, food, weapons, and medical treatment.
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By Michael Weiss and Michael Pregent, THE DAILY BEAST .  2-1-15

Washington needs to quit pretending it can work with Iran to defeat the Islamic State. Tehran’s real objective is to defeat Washington.

It was August 2007, and General David Petraeus, the top commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, was angry.  In his weekly report to then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Petraeus wrote:

“I am considering telling the President that I believe Iran is, in fact, waging war on the U.S. in Iraq, with all of the U.S. public and governmental responses that could come from that revelation. … I do believe that Iran has gone beyond merely striving for influence in Iraq and could be creating proxies to actively fight us, thinking that they can keep us distracted while they try to build WMD and set up [the Mahdi Army] to act like Lebanese Hezbollah in Iraq.”

There was no question there and then on the ground in Iraq that Iran was a very dangerous enemy. There should not be any question about that now, either. And the failure of the Obama administration to come to grips with that reality is making the task of defeating the so-called Islamic State more difficult—indeed, more likely to be impossible—every day.
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by Ben Barrack on February 4, 2015

SHOEBAT.COM

Recently revealed conversations between the Pentagon and the Gadhafi regime in 2011 show that then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was serving the Muslim Brotherhood by pushing a false narrative to justify the removal of Muammar Gadhafi, as Shoebat.com has reported. With the help of corroborating evidence, we’re closer to proving that Republican Senator John McCain was likely just as invested in facilitating the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya as Hillary was. Before getting to the evidence that implicates McCain, let’s work backward from the Benghazi attacks.

Any discussion about what happened in Benghazi on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks usually includes the topic of weapons shipments to Syrian rebels via Turkey. According to a book written by a former Navy SEAL and Green Beret, the man who would eventually become CIA Director oversaw that operation from the White House:
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By Ben Caspit. AL MONITOR

A war is being waged in the Sinai Peninsula between the regime of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the Islamic State (IS) entity, formerly known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis. It is an all-out, no-holds-barred war. Sisi knows that if he does not succeed in overcoming the deadly, recalcitrant terrorist elements in Sinai, it will be the beginning of the end of his regime. The Egyptians asked for and received authorization from Israel to operate heavy weapons and introduce arms into Sinai ordinarily prohibited there according to their peace treaty. Meanwhile the terrorists, on their part, are not taking it easy. They have been slaying scores of Egyptian soldiers and civilians in harsh attacks. Sisi decided to wipe the Egyptian city of Rafah off the map to create a completely sealed buffer zone between Gaza and Sinai. On Jan. 31, the Egyptian courts declared the military wing of Hamas a terrorist organization. It appears that the situation will only continue to intensify in the weeks and months to come.
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Government gave Naomi Chazan and other radicals power to affect decision-making, appointments to key positions.

By Gil Ronen, INN

By Joseph Klein, FPM

The Obama administration has a soft spot in its heart for the jihadist Muslim Brotherhood.

Just last month, the U.S. State Department went out of its way to insult the president of Egypt, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whom the Obama administration should be treating as a valuable ally in the fight against global jihadism, by hosting a delegation of leaders who have been aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood. The State Department’s guests at the meeting, whose visit was arranged and paid for by Georgetown University, included former Freedom and Justice Party members (the Muslim Brotherhood’s political party). One of the State Department officials who met with the delegation was the deputy assistant secretary for democracy, human rights, and labor.
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New York Times report says lead investigator in prosecutor Alberto Nisman’s death found draft of arrest warrant for President Kirchner and Foreign Minister Timerman at his apartment, pointing to heightened tension between the two parties before Nisman’s death.

Ynet

The lead investigator into prosecutor Alberto Nisman’s death said Tuesday that Nisman had drafted a warrant for the arrest of Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner which accused her of trying to protect Iranian officials, hiding their responsibility in the 1994 AMIA bombing, a New York Times report claimed Tuesday.

Nisman had been investigating the source of the deadly 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires and had claimed that President Kirchner had a role in covering up Iran’s role in the attack.

The document, which was 26 pages long, was found in the garbage at Nisman’s apartment in the luxury Puerto Madero neighborhood in Buenos Aires. It also included a request for the arrest of Foreign Minister Hector Timerman.
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Let Hezbollah and Islamic State destroy one another /
Guy Bechor

Op-ed: In light of the fast changing situation on the borders, Israel should have a channel of dialogue with Hezbollah in order to convey calming messages – including quiet non-aggression agreements.

Analysis: Former Mossad chief says military conflict between Israel and Iran on Syrian soil will start off with favorable conditions for Israel. But Israel will also have to take Russia’s stance into account and will require serious security and diplomatic American backing.

Efraim Halevy, YNET

There is a striking resemblance between the way Israel’s leaders and its enemies’ leaders on the northern front express themselves, both in terms of the nature of the conflict and in some of the techniques used by the sides as they go along.

Both Israel and Hezbollah engaged last month in attempts to shape the “rules of the game” along the line separating between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights, as well in narrative changes which both sides needed.
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By Steven Scheer

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli companies are increasingly turning to Asia to capture a boom in demand for their technology, as the government urges them to diversify export markets in response to Europe’s rising anti-semitism and potential trade sanctions.

Citing attacks on Jews in Europe – including one in a kosher market in Paris last month – and amid fears that the European Union could take trade steps against Israel over its policy of settlement building on Palestinian land, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet last month: “We definitely want to reduce our dependence on certain markets in western Europe.”

At the same time, the pro-Palestinian boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement has started to make strides in some European countries, prompting several firms in Holland and Denmark to end dealings with some Israeli companies and raising the prospect of more trade problems in the region.
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Israel, like all countries, faces economic and social challenges but, whereas it has handled these problems relatively well in past years, its security problems are severe, unlike those faced by any other nation on earth.

By Moshe Arens, HAARETZ

The recent encounters with Hezbollah in the north were a stark reminder, for those who preferred to forget, that Hezbollah has over 100,000 rockets and missiles emplaced in Lebanon and pointed at Israel. And let us not forget that Hamas in the Gaza Strip also has thousands of rockets aimed against Israel. Israel’s entire civilian population, from north to south, is under threat, a threat that could be unleashed at any moment. Some would like to believe that Israel can deter Hezbollah and Hamas from launching these weapons. Past experience in both the north and the south calls for caution. The next government will have to deal with this hostile environment and bring about a change in this anomalous situation.
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The president has long been criticized for his lack of strategic vision. But what if a strategy, centered on Iran, has been in place from the start and consistently followed to this day?

By Michael Doran, MOSAIC

President Barack Obama wishes the Islamic Republic of Iran every success. Its leaders, he explained in a recent interview, stand at a crossroads. They can choose to press ahead with their nuclear program, thereby continuing to flout the will of the international community and further isolate their country; or they can accept limitations on their nuclear ambitions and enter an era of harmonious relations with the rest of the world. “They have a path to break through that isolation and they should seize it,” the president urged—because “if they do, there’s incredible talent and resources and sophistication . . . inside of Iran, and it would be a very successful regional power.” Read more…

ISRAEL BEHIND THE NEWS

Israel’s military has determined that Hamas and its Palestinian militia allies were rapidly replenishing their missile and rocket arsenals.

Israel Military Intelligence has determined that Hamas and such allies as Islamic Jihad and Popular Resistance Committees have refurbished their weapons production facilities in wake of their war with Israel in mid-2014. MI has assessed that Iran supplied funding, training and components that could replenish their arsenal by the summer of 2015.

“They are assembling new rockets as fast as they can,” an MI officer said.
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Brigitte Gabriel is a good friend of mine. I first met her 10 years ago.

She answers a question asked by a Muslim woman during a panel discussion with Frank Gaffney Jr and Clare Lopez.

WATCH THE VIDEO. YOU’LL BE GLAD YOU DID. ITS ONLY ABOUT THREE MINUTES.

[SEE ALSO:  Marc A. Thiessen, WaPO | Why Netanyahu is right to go around Obama to Congress]

By: Bret Stephens, WSJ

Even friends of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are second-guessing his decision to accept House Speaker John Boehner ’s invitation to address Congress next month on the subject of Iran, over loud objections from the Obama administration. The prospect of the speech, those friends say, has sparked a needless crisis between Jerusalem and Washington. And it has put Democrats to an invidious choice between their loyalty to the president and their support for the Jewish state, jeopardizing the bipartisan basis of the U.S.-Israel relationship.

Sensible concerns—except for a few things. Relations between Israel and the U.S. have been in crisis nearly from the moment President Obama stepped into office.Democratic support for Israel has been eroding for decades. It was the U.S. president, not the Israeli prime minister, who picked this fight.
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T. Belman. Dreamers or schemers all. To have a plan that will never be accepted by the PA is for one purpose and that is to present a Plan in the abstract that sounds good to some voters. The same goes for all other plans predicated on getting the PA to agree. Plans which call for unilateral withdrawal are not worth talking about. Practical plans that need no agreement with the PA and which reject any more withdrawals are the only game in town.

By Marissa Newman, TOI

A former IDF general who is set to become a Knesset member with the centrist Kulanu party said on Monday night that Zionism “created” the Palestinians.

In an address in Jerusalem, Yoav Galant, who is number 2 on Kulanu’s Knesset list, outlined his terms for a peace agreement with the Palestinians, calling for the evacuation of settlements outside the major blocs, and increased construction within the blocs.

You will recall that that is what Oren stands for. In that article, Oren said:

““Annexing of Area C brings an immediate international embargo on the state of Israel, and I’ll tell you unequivocally, it will not be acceptable to both houses and both parties, so it’s also going to be a major problem for our relationship with the United States,””.

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T. Belman. The world is determined to rule that settlements are illegal and that Israelis are guilty of war crimes for building them. No matter how strong our legal arguments are to the contrary, we don’t have a chance. Thus we should be thinking of how best to defend ourselves from the consequences which follow which include criminal sentences against Israelis and UN sanctions against Israel. If these don’t get us to give up the settlements, then UN sanctioned military action against us comes next.

by Tovah Lazrov, JPOST 01/31/2013

Court could hold Israel culpable for West Bank settlement activity if the Palestinians become party to the Rome Statute, a UN Human Rights Council probe concluded on Thursday.

The three-person fact-finding mission released a draft copy of its report in Geneva in advance of a March 18 council debate on the matter.

Israel cut its ties with the council when the probe was announced last March, in anticipation that it would add fuel to the Palestinian drive to bring Israel to the ICC on the settlement issue.
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This is an abstract of an article Eugene Kontorovich wrote of the ICC jurisdiction.

In the wake of the United Nations General Assembly’s recognition of Palestinian statehood, the Palestinian government has made clear its intention to accept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), where it could, in principle, challenge the legality of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

This article explores a significant jurisdictional hurdle for such a case. (To focus on jurisdictional issues, the article assumes for the sake of argument the validity of the merits of legal claims against the settlements.)

The ICC can only consider situations ‘on the territory’ of Palestine. Yet the scope of that territory remains undefined. The norm against settlements arises in situations of occupation. However, in the majority view an ‘occupation’ can arise even in an area that is not the territory of any state.

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Not Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals 

By Edward Cline, February 2, 2015

Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals is a handbook for pursuing and achieving political power over an institution, city or country or a manipulatable group of people. Takuan Seiyo’s own “Rules for Radicals” is all about maintaining that power, once it has been seized by groups who are no longer “radicals,” but represent the establishment.

Seiyo’s essays can be found on the always-informative Gates of Vienna site, here for Part I, and here for Part II. They are engrossing in the literal sense: Once read, they are etched into one’s mind, as when one signed or “engrossed” a petition to the Crown to repeal the Stamp Act was signed by American colonials in 1765.
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Leader of self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic says country’s historical nationalists ‘would turn in their graves if they could see who is running Ukraine’.

AFP, YNET

Ukraine’s pro-Russian rebel chief on Monday branded the country’s leaders “miserable” Jews in an apparent anti-Semitic jibe.

Alexander Zakharchenko, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, claimed that Kiev’s pro-Western leaders were “miserable representatives of the great Jewish people”.

“I can’t remember a time when Cossacks were led by people who have never held a sword in their hands,” Zakharchenko told a press conference in the eastern rebel stronghold of Donetsk, in a reference to Ukraine’s nationalist forebears, the Cossacks.
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