By Vic Rosenthal

You probably heard about the 11-year old girl who was critically burned on Thursday when the car she was riding in was struck by a firebomb thrown by an Arab terrorist. And you certainly know about the attack on the Kehilat Bnei Torah synagogue in Jerusalem in which four worshipers and a policeman were brutally murdered. You probably know about the several incidents in which Arabs drove their vehicles into groups of Jews, including one in which a 3-month old baby and a tourist from Ecuador were murdered, and another in which the driver got out and ran back to his not-yet-dead victim and cut her throat.

If you follow these things, you may also know that Jews are afraid to go to the historic Mount of Olives Cemetery in Jerusalem because of continued violent attacks on buses, cars and people. You may also have heard about the daily rock-throwing attacks on the light rail in Jerusalem, against Jewish-driven cars on the roads in Judea and Samaria, the acid thrown on a Jewish family, etc. I could go on. And on.
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DEFEAT OF THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD IS A DEFEAT OF OBAMA

By Avi Issacharoff, TOI

One can assume that Tunisia’s new president, Essebsi, will enjoy the help of the two strongest moderate Sunni rulers in the Middle East — Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, and Saudi King Abdullah. What’s more, the regime in Tunis, along with its counterparts in Cairo, will try to help their apparent ally in Libya, which sits between them.

[..] At the beginning of the week, Tunisians were informed that their president-elect was Beji Caid Essebsi, 88, a former interior minister during the days of Habib Bourguiba, the dictator who preceded Ben Ali, and former parliament speaker during Ben Ali’s rule.

It should be mentioned, perhaps, that an interior minister in Arab countries isn’t just a functionary responsible for giving out passports, but is the man in charge of internal security, including intelligence bodies. That is, the flesh and blood of the previous regime. Read more…

By Eric Shawn, FOX NEWS

It is a blunt call for regime change in Tehran.

The largest gathering of the Iranian resistance starts Friday with the annual convention of the Council of Resistance of Iran. The sponsors expect 100,000 people to assemble in a massive hall outside Paris for hours of speeches, demonstrations and protests aimed at toppling the Iranian government.

“I am confident that the mullahs’ religious dictatorship ruling Iran will not last in the 21st century and will be overthrown,” predicts the group’s leader, Maryam Rajavi. “It really begs logic to expect this religious dictatorship, the founder of terrorism and fundamentalism in the whole of the region and is seeking nuclear weapons, to take international policy hostage, to continue and endure.”
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JPOST

Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu has lost 62.5 percent of its support since the latest corruption allegations hit the party, and if it falls further, it may not return to the Knesset in the March 17 election, according to a Panels Research poll taken for The Jerusalem Post and its Hebrew sister publication, Maariv Sof Hashavua.

Last week’s poll predicted eight Knesset seats for Yisrael Beytenu, down from the party’s current 13. This week’s poll conducted on Wednesday says it will win only five.

Labor rose from 23 seats in last week’s poll to 24, and the Likud gained two seats in a week, from 21 to 23. The poll predicted 17 seats for Bayit Yehudi, 11 for Yesh Atid, seven each for United Torah Judaism, Koolanu and Meretz, six for the United Arab List-Ta’al, five for Hadash, four each for Shas and former Shas chairman Eli Yishai’s breakaway party, Yahad Ha’am Itanu, and zero for Balad and Kadima.
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T. Belman. This is bazaar. The law must be changed. In most western countries, the courts are called upon to determine who owns a parcel of land when two parties are making opposing claims. Here the residents say they bought the land and no one else is claiming ownership so it is not a contest between two people claiming ownership which it should be.

Secondly when people build without the necessary permits, their homes need not be torn down. There are other solutions like passing legislation to legitimize them. Probably if the homes were built on state land instead of “private land” this would have happened. I think that “private land” is anything that is not state land regardless if no person is claiming ownership. That suggests that the court is holding it in trust for an unnamed beneficiary. You can’t have a trust without a beneficiary.

Arutz Sheva

Nationalist MKs attacked on Thursday evening the decision of the High Court that the new community of Amona in the Shomron (Samaria) be demolished within two years.

In its decision, the Court said that despite the facts that the details of ownership of land have not yet been fully established, “the homes in Amona are built on private land and there is no way to legalize their presence. The IDF commander of Judea and Samaria must actively protect the property rights of all residents, and that includes preventing unauthorized parties from taking property that does not belong to them. Construction of homes by such parties on private land is illegal and in lieu of any other arrangement they must be torn down.”
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THERE’S NO WAY BRITAIN IS GOING TO APPLY SANCTIONS ON ISRAEL and what’s more, sanctions require unanimity from EU Member States, so they are impossible without consent of all states, including UK The proof is here http://eeas.europa.eu/cfsp/sanctions/docs/index_en.pdf

By Matthew Kalman, HAARETZ

By ANDREW HIGGINS, NYT DEC. 24, 2014

Iranian oil workers Monday at a refinery south of Tehran. Facing a big budget hole, the government is offering to let men buy their way out of military service. Credit Vahid Salemi/Associated Press

BRUSSELS — A plunge in oil prices has sent tremors through the global political and economic order, setting off an abrupt shift in fortunes that has bolstered the interests of the United States and pushed several big oil-exporting nations — particularly those hostile to the West, like Russia, Iran and Venezuela — to the brink of financial crisis.

The nearly 50 percent decline in oil prices since June has had the most conspicuous impact on the Russian economy and President Vladimir V. Putin. The former finance minister Aleksei L. Kudrin, a longtime friend of Mr. Putin’s, warned this week of a “full-blown economic crisis” and called for better relations with Europe and the United States. Read more…

T. Belman. Many secular people are afraid of Moshe Feiglin. Judging from his positions over the last 2 years I would say that there is nothing to be afraid of. I agree with almost all the positions he took. Well done, Moshe.

By Moshe Feiglin,

Elections are the time to give the public who sent me to the Knesset a comprehensive report on my work there. Israel’s citizens are the sovereign and they deserve to know what their elected representatives have done with their trust.

My most important achievement in the Knesset to date is the new perception that I have brought to politics and the public discourse: Liberty and identity are not mutually exclusive, as many claim. On the contrary: It is only through our identity that we will merit liberty and live meaningful national and personal lives. Conversely, only true liberty will allow us to genuinely connect to our Jewish identity.

The understanding that liberty is the foundation of Jewish existence has motivated me to advance significant bills in the Knesset and to always vote my conscience (even when that goes against the coalition vote). I will always vote in favor of personal liberty and Jewish identity in Israel. The following is my Knesset voting record:
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Why Dani Dayan’s candidacy for the Jewish Home could mark a turning point in the party’s quest to lead the nationalist camp.

By Ari Soffer, INN

Former Yesha Council Chairman Dani Dayan is one of the latest prominent nationalist figures to throw his weight behind Naftali Bennett’s Jewish Home party, announcing his intention to run in the upcoming primaries and represent the party as an MK in the 20th Knesset.

It is not the first foray into party politics for Dayan, who for the past several years has served as the foreign envoy for the Yesha Council, which represents the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria. The veteran oleh from Argentinawas once the secretary-general of the now-defunct Tehiya faction within the National Union party, which recently formalized its own merger with the Jewish Home.
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Ted Belman. Abrams makes a good point. But why stop there. The problem is that the PA promotes and underwrites terrorism. It supports indoctrinating its children to hate and kill Jews. The same message is delivered in its mosques. In many ways it makes heroes out of the terrorists. The US Congress should demand that they stop doing so upon pain of having all financial support denied.

By Elliot Abrams, ISRAEL HAYOM
The omnibus appropriations bill recently passed by Congress contains an interesting provision regarding the support for terrorists and their families by the Palestinian Authority:

“The Secretary of State shall reduce the amount of assistance made available by this Act under the heading ‘Economic Support Fund’ for the West Bank and Gaza by an amount the Secretary determines is equivalent to that expended by the Palestinian Authority in payments to individuals and the families of such individuals that are imprisoned for acts of terrorism or who died committing such acts during the previous calendar year.”

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Ted Belman. This is a scam taking place in many countries. When I was in Canada and the Liberal Party under Trudeau remained supreme, when ever the Party needed money they would create a fund of money that had to be distributed. Then key party officials would go to their bagmen to apply for grants. It was understood that the applications wouldn’t be scrutinized closely and the bagmen , would kickback to the party a significant part of the grant.

Key public figures, many belonging to Yisrael Beytenu, allegedly allocated state budgets to nonprofit groups and corporations in exchange for kickbacks, millions in cash

By Avi Cohen, ISRAEL HAYOM

Following the arrest of 30 key public figures on Wednesday, including high-ranking Yisrael Beytenu members, shocking details of a massive corruption scandal began to emerge.

Following a year-long undercover investigation, major crimes investigators revealed a well-oiled corruption machine that worked in a systematic and well organized fashion: Every nonprofit organization, local authority and corporation knew that if they wanted to receive public funds they would have to return the favor by way of kickbacks or bribes.
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By Ted Belman

Haaretz says Benjamin Netanyahu is already reconciled to a divided Jerusalem.

Five Jerusalem neighborhoods remained on the other side of the fence — the Shoafat refugee camp, the neighborhoods of Ras Khamis, Ras Shehadeh, Hashalom neighborhood and Kafr Akeb — that are homes to tens of thousands, between one-quarter and one-third of all Palestinian residents of the city. They were left in a no-man’s land in which the Israeli authorities, chief among them the municipality and the police, do not set foot. Anarchy reigns, and the only Israelis who enter do so in armored jeeps and wearing full body armor. Even the most basic services are not provided to this area, from regular running water and garbage collection to law enforcement.

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By Ted Belman

http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Israelis-Palestinians-increasingly-negative-about-two-state-solution-385687

According to the findings, following the summer’s conflict, 50 percent of Israelis and 38% of Palestinians support a permanent settlement package along the Clinton parameters and the Geneva Initiative, which includes a divided Jerusalem and territorial swaps for a final border agreement. However, these findings represent a drop in support for a package deal – down from 54% among Israelis and 46% of Palestinians in December of 2013.

The survey was conducted by the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah, with the support of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in Ramallah and Jerusalem.

I don’t believe it even if you remove Israeli Arabs from the sample making the number of Jews who support it, even lower.

The reason it was rejected is because they know what the problem is and who is causing it. The last thing they want to do is to deal with it.

See also: France’s Anti-Semitic Nightmare

An increase in Muslim immigration, however, is a disaster for any struggle against anti-Semitism, as Jew hatred is highest among French Muslims. Many arrive in France from North African and other Islamic countries already possessing a strong hatred for Jews.

By Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugged

Campaign to vote for MKs who support sovereignty in Judea-Samaria, call on MKs to make it their campaign cornerstone.

By Ari Yashar, INN

As Israeli voters become inundated with campaign slogans and political parties bashing each other to steal the limelight ahead of the March 17 Knesset elections, a new campaign has been launched, calling on Israelis to vote for “sovereignty.”

The campaign, an initiative of Women In Green (WIG), has seen large signs sprout up around the country reading “Choosing Sovereignty” and calling for voters to choose parties and candidates who support an implementation of Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.

“Voting for candidates who support Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” read the signs, posted on notice boards, hitchhiking stations and other public places. Read more…

The Arab collective has given kidnapping its overwhelming support.”

By Dr Phillip Brodie, INN June 27/14

It is over two weeks since three Jewish boys were kidnapped.

[..]
Several days ago, the media reported that the Palestinian Authority (PA) charges Israel of terrorizing ‘a captive population’ by searching the area house by house. This follows an angry condemnation of the Israel Defence Force (IDF) from the PA’s Mahmoud Abbas (“Abbas Lashes Out at Netanyahu Over Hamas Crackdown”, Arutz Sheva, June 22, 2014).

Hanan Ashrawi, a PLO official, made the accusation. She said that the Israeli operation ‘is a reign of terror directed against a captive Palestinian population. This is not a systematic search for three abducted boys but collective punishment’ [my emphasis].

“Collective punishment’ is a war crime. It is prohibited by the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention.
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Netanyahu accused of misusing funds to promote self, but election committee head says ombudsman overstepped authority

TOI Staff

Likud comptroller disqualified Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from running for the party’s leadership primary next week, in a move that could imperil the prime minister’s chances of competing for another term. However, the party’s Election Committee chairman said the comptroller had no authority to take the step.

Comptroller Shai Galili cited Netanyahu’s alleged misuse of party funds and other property to advance his candidacy in disqualifying him from the primary.

Netanyahu’s attorney, however, insisted that Galili had overstepped his authority in disqualifying Netanyahu, likely setting up a legal battle that could delay primaries.
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By Ted Belman

Liberman is fearful that the EU will impose sanctions on Israel just as it has on Russia.

EU sanctions against Russia over Ukraine crisis

In response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and deliberate destabilisation of a neighbouring sovereign country, the EU has imposed restrictive measures against the Russian Federation.

Is there any reason why they wouldn’t do the same to Israel?

The sanctions and the precipitous drop in oil prices have necessitated government actions.
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Prof. Paul Eidelberg

As Israel approaches the March 2015 Knesset elections, the Correct Political Analysis Syndrome continues to afflict even the best political analysts.

Correct Politically Correct Analysis has been available to Israeli politicians for a long time, certainly about the implacable hostility of Palestinian Authority. Enough to quote Golda Meir’s biography, My Life (1975):

I have never doubted for an instant that the true aim of the Arab states has always been, and still is, the total destruction of the State of Israel, or that even if we had gone back far beyond the 1967 lines to some miniature enclave, they would not still have tried to eradicate it and us…. It is our duty to realize this truth; it is our duty to make it clear to all men of good will who tend to ignore it.  We need to [face] this truth in all its gravity, so that we may continue to mobilize from among ourselves and the Jewish people all the resources necessary to overcome our enemies …   Read more…