By Ted Belman

I am currently reading The Israel Test by George Gilder, which postulates that antisemitism is based on envy. It is a fabulous read and highly recommend it.

Jews do well in free markets where freedom reigns. Marxism and all forms of socialism penalizes them for succeeding where others fail.

I don’t mean this to be a review of the book but I mention it because of a certain event that it discusses.

Remember Michael Milken. He revolutionized the financial market by financing junk bonds. He believed that the financier could charge a high enough interest so that it could cover his losses providing he diversified. The establishment came down on him and forced him to cop a plea on some minor offenses for which he spent two years in jail. He was simply too successful for the enviers.

Oh and by the way, the companies that Milken financed are now worth over one trillion dollars.

SEE ALSO: Call in Congress to Sanction Turkey, Qatar for Terror Support

“Ambassador Indyk, who is funded by Qatar, needs to be reminded that he is not the British High Commissioner of Mandate times.

By Benjamin Korn and Moshe Phillips, INN

During an old controversy involving Martin Indyk, then the U.S. ambassador to Israel, one Israeli political official invoked a particularly nasty historical analogy. Indyk reportedly had been contacting individual Israel cabinet ministers to demand they support making more concessions to the Arabs. “Ambassador Indyk needs to be reminded that he is not the British High Commissioner,” said the chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Not many Israelis today remember when a foreign power ruled Eretz Yisrael through the proclamations of an absolute dictator, nor how oppressive it was to live under his rule. But prior to Israel’s independence in1948, Jews living in the Holy Land could not shape their own fate. Outside powers–in this case, the British ruling authorities–called the shots with their High Commissioner deciding what was best for the Jews.
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VIDEO Caroline was white hot.

By Tovah Lazaroff, JPOST

Europe should address the Jewish state standard to Israel when judging its actions compared to other Middle Eastern nations, Danish Ambassador Jesper Vahr said on Thursday, causing sparks to fly at the Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference in the capital.

“Israel should insist that we discriminate, that we apply double standards, this is because you are one of us,” Vahr said during a panel discussion on relations between Israel and Europe.

Israelis sometimes ask why Europe applies a different standard to its neighboring countries, such as Syria, Vahr said. “Those are not the standards that you are being judged by. It is not the standards that Israel would want to be judged by,” he said.
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A dispassionate look at the sequence of events shows that the Obama administration has generated an unprecedented crisis in US-Israeli relations.

By Aaron Klein, JPOST

Nurtured on Alinsky-style, ACORN-esque tactics of organizing revolution under the banner of “social change,” Barack Obama, as a young community organizer in Chicago in the 1980s understood early on the importance of a crisis and how to ride the waves of an emergency to effect the fundamental transformation of society.

As the nation’s chief executive, President Obama has demonstrated a particular specialty in the use and perpetuation of crises to push through policies that the public otherwise might not willingly accept, including the wildly unpopular healthcare law, immigration reform, and the first-term “stimulus” legislation. It is therefore unsurprising to detect the international export of the Obama’s “crisis” game plan to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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Naftali Bennett gave a spirited performance at the recent Saban Forum, but was far more convincing on what should not be done, than on what should be done.

By Martin Sherman, JPOST

You know, I just think you live in another reality. It’s what Steve Jobs called distorted reality thinking.
– Martin Indyk to Naftali Bennett, at the 2014 Saban Forum.

How many missiles need to fall on Ashkelon until you’ll wake up? How many? How many people need to die in our country until you wake up from this illusion?
– Naftali Bennett to Martin Indyk, at the 2014 Saban Forum.

Last weekend, the 11th annual Saban Forum convened in Washington, with its usual bevy of high-profile participants, to discuss the developments in the Middle East, Israel-US relations and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Hardly hospitable milieu

Funded by Democratic benefactor Haim Saban, and hosted by the liberal-leaning Brookings Institution, the tenor of the Forum is usually left-wing on Mideast affairs, with a strong bent in favor of the two-state principle and the land-for-peace doctrine.
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By Vic Rosenthal

To whom it may concern in Europe and the US:

We are tired of hearing that withdrawal from Judea and Samaria will bring peace. We know and you know that it would bring another Gaza. So stop saying it.

We are tired of hearing that land beyond the Green Line is ‘Palestinian land’. The Green Line is simply an armistice line that has no political significance. You know this too.

We are tired of hearing about the “Palestinian people.” They are no different from the Arabs of Syria or Egypt, from which most of their ancestors migrated in the last 150 years or so. There is no Palestinian language or religion, and until very recently they considered themselves simply ‘Arabs’. Their culture is almost entirely defined by their opposition to the Jewish state.
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By Jonathan S. Tobin, COMMENTARY

But UNRWA doesn’t resettle anyone. Its purpose is not to solve the Palestinian refugee problem but to perpetuate it.

The result of this policy was not merely to render all efforts to make peace between Israel and the Arab world impossible; it also ensured that the Palestinians would live in misery in increasing numbers and growing squalor.

The civil war in Syria has produced more than 3.2 million refugees creating an intolerable burden for neighboring countries. With so many languishing in camps, the refugees are beginning to voice frustration with their plight with some seeking to flee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey and head to Europe as illegal immigrants. Stepping into the breach is the United Nations High Commission on Refugees. It is seeking to extract pledges from Western nations to accept some of the Syrians for resettlement. Its initial goal is to have these nations permanently take in at least 130,000 Syrians in the next two years. But what is missing from accounts of this effort is the obvious contrast with the other famous refugees in the region, the Palestinians. Unlike the Syrians they won’t be resettled.
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By Ted Belman

The first afternoon panel at the JPOST Conference consisted of ambassadors from Italy, Denmark and Germany together with the Israeli Ambassador to the EU and last but not least Caroline Glick. It dealt with European/Israel relationship.

It started slow but ended white hot. The Danish Ambassador put his foot in it when he said that Israel should welcome the application of a double standard toward Israel. Caroline Glick tore him apart accusing Europe of antisemitism “since the time of Jesus” and hypocrisy. Glick said Europe has “obsessive, compulsive need to pick at Jewish state.” She really let loose and electrified the panel and the audience. You must watch it. The German Ambassador was undiplomatic . He attacked Europe and supported Israel in so many ways. His remarks must also viewed.
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By Ted Belman

The Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference is taking place today. All talks are being streamed and will no doubt be available to watch later. The link to the streaming is on their site.

This morning I watched talks by Yair Lapid, Interior Min Gilad Erdan of Likud and Nir Barkat.

Lapid’s presentation skills are excellent. He started out by attacking Netanyahu for having no plan to ensure Israel’s security or to acheive peace. He, on the other hand, did. He came out against the peace process with the Palestinians because they are afraid to compromise. Instead he want first a regional conference with Jordan, Egypt and the Arab countries to determine a path forward. He believes that Egypt should be part of the Gaza solution and Egypt should be part of the Judea/Samaria solution. This would be followed up with an international conference and so on.
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Republicans Wallop U.S. Over Nuclear Deal as Tehran Violates U.N. Sanctions
State Department pushes back on Foreign Policy magazine report implying United States silent on Iran’s efforts to equip nuclear facility with the potential to produce plutonium.

UPDATE By Omri Ceren, TIP

The US has been regularly (!) going go the United Nations with concerns over Iran’s efforts to illicitly procure equipment of their atomic program. Now Congress wants to know why those efforts don’t count as JPOA violations:

At the heart of the dispute between congressional critics of Iran and the State Department is that a landmark November 2013 interim nuclear deal between Iran and the so-called P5+1… does not specifically prohibit Tehran from engaging in a range of activities that have been banned by the U.N. Security Council… that means that the Obama administration can correctly maintain that Iran is in compliance with the pact even while Tehran continues to flout long-standing Security Council resolutions… the State Department found itself in the awkward position of having to defend Tehran’s record of compliance with the interim pact.

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By Arlene Kushner

It seems there is always something to contend with, a “crisis du jour,” so to speak.  I am moved to address this current “crisis” – which is really small potatoes – because the PA and the world at large are already building it into something that it is not.  As you may be exposed to distorted versions of the occurrence, I want to share the facts as I have been able to acquire them:

Zaid Abu Ein, a Palestinian Arab who was formerly a minister, today led a protest march of some 300 Palestinian Arabs in the Arab village of village of Turmus Ayya – near Shilo, in the Binyamin region of Samaria.  What they were protesting was the presence of the nearby Jewish village of Adei Ad.  There had been considerable tensions between the residents of the two villages, and this demonstration was less than peaceful: According to reports there was rioting, and the IDF used a relatively small amount of tear gas to settle things down.   Read more…

Preacher At Al-Aqsa Mosque In Jerusalem Tells Jews: ‘We Shall Slaughter You Without Mercy’ and ‘I Say To [You] Loud And Clear: The Time For Your Slaughter Has Come’; Says Koran Depicted Jews ‘In The Most Abominable Images,’ Allah Turned The Jews ‘Into Apes And Pigs’; Calls To ‘Hasten The Establishment Of The State Of The Islamic Caliphate’

MEMRI has the details.

Arutz Sheva reports:

The United States on Wednesday responded to Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon’s statement that a building freeze in Judea and Samaria was due to pressure from the Obama administration.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that objection to “settlements” was longstanding and would not change after President Barack Obama leaves office in 2017.

“Our policy has been consistent for quite some time,” Psaki told reporters,according to The Associated Press (AP).

Psaki is right but misses the point. Only under Obama was sufficient pressure applied to force Israel to comply. Israel never was forced to freeze construction by any past administrations.

By Ted Belman

The Central Committee of the Likud supported Netanyahu’s resolution updating the date for the primaries and giving him two freebies to the list. It means Netanyahu can ensure that his strongest supporters are on the list who might otherwise not be there.

The vote was 1567 to 835.

This means that Saar may not even challenge him for the leadership.

See also: 15 reasons why Netanyahu could lose the next Israeli elections

As Herzog and Livni unite to woo the center-left, the fate of the elections – and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process – will be decided on the center-right.

By Chemi Shalev, HAARETZ

1. Settlers and their supporters are habitual wishful thinkers, which is why they suffer from chronic disappointment. They were surprised by Begin’s Sinai withdrawal, dismayed by Shamir’s Madrid attendance, shocked by Rabin’s Oslo Accords , dumbfounded by Netanyahu’s Hebron departure, astonished by Barak’s Camp David offer, horrified by Sharon’s Gaza disengagement and absolutely flabbergasted by Olmert’s Annapolis offer.

They were also taken aback by Netanyahu’s two-state speech at Bar-Ilan in 2009, although they were accurate in their prognosis that it would amount to nothing. He didn’t have it in him, they said.
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By Eugene Kontorovich, WaPo

Yesterday I explained how Israel’s Jewish nation-state bill is unremarkable compared to many European constitutions with similar, and stronger, national homeland provisions. The proposed measure must also be understood in the context of Israel’s diplomatic situation. Israel’s biggest diplomatic issue is the status of Jerusalem and the West Bank, and international pressure to create a new Arab state there and in Gaza. The major argument by proponents of territorial withdrawal (including President Obama and Sec. Kerry) is that despite the serious security risks, Israel must retreat in order to maintain a “Jewish state.” Indeed, even foreign leaders, like President Obama and Secretary Kerry have both justified their pressure on Israel by invoking the preservation of the Israel’s Jewish identity.
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Israel spends much less than the PA on its foreign service, then wonders why it’s losing the PR war.

By Evelyn Gordon, JPOST

The worst thing about elections is that for the next three months, the media will ignore all the really important issues in favor of trivialities such as daily updates on the prospects for a united center-left bloc. That’s why the bombshell released by the Foreign Ministry last week has evaporated without a trace rather than provoking the outraged debate it should have sparked.

At a conference launching a new Knesset caucus on foreign affairs, the ministry revealed the full dimensions of Israel’s underinvestment in diplomacy. According to the subsequent report in Israel Hayom, Israel spends less than half as much on its foreign service as does the Palestinian Authority – an entity whose per capita gross domestic product is less than a twentieth of Israel’s. And then we wonder why Israel is losing the diplomatic battle.
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By Steven Kramer, ENCOUNTERING ISRAEL

Speaking at the Washington-based Brookings Institution’s Saban Forum on December 7, Secretary of State John Kerry intoned that because the 1-state solution is “not viable” to preserve Israel’s status as a Jewish, democratic state, there is only the 2-state solution. This is the mantra that the United States and the West have clung to through thick and thin.

Negotiations began in earnest between the Palestinian Arabs and Israel after the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. It’s always been the fashionable thing to blame Israel for the lack of a peace treaty, as if Israel could have created a State of Palestine by itself. However, that is far from the case.
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By Ron Kampeus, JTA

Ashton Carter has championed the sale to Israel of state-of-the-art combat aircraft, has aligned himself with Iran hawks and was observed becoming misty-eyed when serenaded by Israeli soldiers.

Carter, 60, U.S. President Barack Obama’s secretary of defense nominee, has been depicted in the media as the un-Chuck Hagel: Assertive and a bureaucratic in-fighter where Hagel, whose two-year stint as defense secretary ended this month with his forced resignation, was seen as passive and at times at sea; and hawkish, where Hagel, a Vietnam vet who as a GOP senator was virtually alone in his caucus in criticizing the Iraq War, was brought in by Obama to draw down U.S. military involvement overseas.
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Survey finds 80% of Palestinians support recent spate of lone-wolf attacks; another survey finds 60% support rocket fire at Israel.

AP, Ynetnews

An overwhelming majority of Palestinians support a recent spate of attacks on Israelis amid heightened tensions over the most sensitive holy site in Jerusalem, according to an opinion poll released Tuesday.

The poll also found that more than half of Palestinians support a new uprising against Israel, and that the Hamas militant group would win presidential elections if they were held today.

Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki said the results reflected Palestinian anger over Israeli statements about the Jerusalem holy site, which is revered by Jews and Muslims, as well as a loss of hope following the collapse of US-brokered peace talks and Israel’s recent war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“There is an environment in which violence is becoming a dominant issue,” said Shikaki. “This seems to be one of the most important driving forces.”
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