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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By Dana Milbank, WaPo

A slide projected onto the wall at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee gathering Monday contained a warning to delegates: “AIPAC is Bipartisan,” it said, next to an image of a Democratic donkey and Republican elephant in boxing gear. “Check your gloves at the door.”

They checked their gloves, all right — but less to practice bipartisanship than to pummel the Obama administration with bare knuckles. In the brawl between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Iran nuclear negotiations, AIPAC has joined congressional Republicans in siding wholeheartedly with the Israeli hard-liner.

The rift with Obama is nothing new; four years ago, AIPAC delegates were urged not to boo Obama when he spoke to the group (most obeyed). But this situation is worse, because Netanyahu, by accepting House Speaker John Boehner’s invitation to address Congress Tuesday — snubbing Obama, who wasn’t consulted — is exploiting a partisan rift in American politics and driving a wedge through the American Jewish community. And congressional Republicans, by giving Netanyahu their pulpit 14 days before Israel’s elections, are brazenly taking sides in that country’s politics. This all is likely to backfire by firming Democratic resistance to more Iran sanctions — and, in the long run, by politicizing U.S.-Israeli relations.
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By David Efune, ALGEMEINER

The prophets of doom are out in full force predicting the great harm that will befall Israel as a result of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s upcoming speech to Congresson the Iranian nuclear threat.

Forgive me, but I just don’t see it that way. Israel and Netanyahu have everything to gain from the speech and relatively little to lose. And, as in the past when Obama and Netanyahu have publicly gone head to head, the Israeli premier will emerge the diplomatic victor.

Firstly, all the talk about the “fabric” of the US-Israel relationship being undermined, or the claim that support for Israel is becoming partisan is hardly credible. The pitifully small number of lawmakers who have said they will skip Netanyahu’s talk serves as testament to that. Recent polls show that the American public supports the Jewish State’s right to express its concerns about Iran and the mostly full attendance at the speech is a reflection of that.
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ALGEMEINER

WASHINGTON, DC—Amid a rocky week for the relationship between U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice and the pro-Israel community, Rice’s assessment of the nuclear talks between Iran and world powers put her at odds with attendees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference on Monday night.

After Rice noted that some members in the AIPAC audience would be going to Congress to urge that a nuclear deal suspend all of Iran’s enrichment capacity, she followed a round of applause for that concept by stating, “As desirable as that would be, it is neither realistic or achievable.” If a complete halt to Iranian enrichment is the goal, Rice said, America would lose its negotiating partners within the P5+1 nations and sanctions against Iran would be undermined.
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T.Belman. Samantha Poiwer spoke to AIPAC before Netanyahu did and she promised “U.S. will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, period.” She added that Obama will “keep his commitment whether talks with Iran collapse or an agreement is reached.” John Bolton was asked about this claim and he said its a lie.

By Ted Belman

PM Netanyahu delivered what I consider to be a very smart speech. He said all the right things and said them well.

One excellent line was that “never in history has so much been said and written about a speech that has not yet been delivered.” Then he went on to talk about what was being said. Those who say that the Israel/American relations have been irreparably damaged are flat out wrong.” To make his point, he recalled in the past violent disagreements when Ben Gurion declared a state, when Eshkol preemptively attacked Egypt in ’67 and when Begin blew up Osirak. Israel’s relationship with America only got stronger.

He said he respects the office of President and President Obama and thanked Obama for all the security and intelligence cooperation that he backed. He also thanked him for the financing of the Iron Dome. This was smart because he didn’t want the fight with Obama to be a personal fight. He wanted it to be about a difference of opinion on Iran.

Also our perspectives are different. “America worries about its security whereas Israel worries about its survival, every day.

He said our shared values are much stronger than our differences.

He set the stage perfectly for tommorrow’s much talked about speech.

White House denies Obama threatened to down Israeli jets

JPOST

Amid tensions between US and Israel over an emerging nuclear deal with Iran and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to fight the White House on such a deal, US Secretary of State John Kerry defended Israel on Monday in a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council.

“No one in this room can deny the bias against Israel in the UN Human Rights Council,” Kerry said at a meeting of the body at its Geneva headquarters.

“Every year there are five or six resolutions against Israel,” Kerry said.
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Ted Belman. The Jewish Left is getting hysterical in their attempts to denigrate Netanyahu and his upcoming speech to Congress. I have never seen anything like it. Just look at the headlines at both Haaretz and YNET today. Algemeiner reports, More Than 70% of US Legislators Skipping Netanyahu’s Speech Endorsed by J Street. (YNET) reports, “Over 180 former officials from Israel’s security establishment have called on Netanyahu to cancel his speech before Congress: ‘Instead of working with Obama, Netanyahu is poking him in the eye.’ ” . i24News reports, AIPAC opposes Netanyahu’s Congress speech. JPOST reports Jewish groups line up to denounce Boteach ad on Susan Rice Although the ad is a separate issue, it amazes me how many organizations came out against it. But Rice said Netanyahu’s speech was “destructive”. So what is wrong with calling her out for ignoring genocide?

HAARETZ

5 Things You Need to Know About the U.S.-Israel Relationship Under President Obama

Here are the five key facts you need to know about the U.S.-Israel relationship under President Obama:

1. A strong defender: President Obama has strengthened Israel’s defense in concrete and unprecedented ways:
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By Jonathan Hayward, Breitbart

By Pamella Geller, Breitbart

The scandal of it cannot be overstated: Jewish leaders and philanthropists, including UJA-Federation President Alisa Doctoroff; Karen R. Adler, President of the Jewish Communal Fund and JCRC Board member; David Hochberg, Carole and Saul Zabar, Sally Gottesman, Edith Everett and others are prominent donors (p.26-27) to The New Israel Fund, an organization which funds BDS and other anti-Israel initiatives.

Alisa Doctoroff hoisting cocktails with the NIF in her lavish apartment is no different from the uniformed Nazis who were invited and attended Jewish communal gatherings, and from the hope expressed by Dr. Heinrich Stahl, the Berlin Jewish community leader, for a better Nazi understanding of the Jewish situation.
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