This speech was delivered before the Goldberg article. It shows that Bibi knew the US hard line position and was girding for battle. It is a battle that must be fought. We cannot succumb to their pressure. We must declare our independence. Ted Belman

Netanyahu challenged the US by saying that Israel would continue to build in all parts of Jerusalem.

By Herb Keinon, JPOST

PM Netanyahu took on all comers in his opening speech to the Knesset’s winter session on Monday.

He challenged the Palestinians and their newest tactic to get the world to impose a solution on Israel, saying that Israel will not accept conditions that endanger its future and security.

“What the Palestinians are asking of us is the establishment of a Palestinian state, without peace and without security. They are demanding a withdrawal to the ‘67 lines, entry of refugees, and the dividing of Jerusalem. And after all those exaggerated demands, they are not willing to agree to the basic condition for peace between two peoples: mutual recognition,” he said.
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Jewish Home chairman condemns remarks on Netanyahu attributed to officials in Washington, calls for U.S. to renounce them.

By Elad Benari, INN

“The United States administration is planning to throw Israel under the bus,” Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett said on Tuesday night, responding to harsh words against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu which were attributed to senior officials in the Obama administration.

“Israel is stronger than all those who curse it,” said Bennett, after Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic quoted officials in Washington as having described Netanyahu as “chickens**t”, among other things.
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Everyone is talking and writing about comments made in this article. Essentially the US administration is pissed off that Bibi hasn’t knuckled under to their pressure nor defied the will of Israelis. For this they call him a “chickenshit”. One official said “The bad thing about him is that he won’t do anything to reach an accommodation with the Palestinians or with the Sunni Arab states.” By defying this pressure Bibi will be applauded by most Israelis. But there are stormy days ahead. The US veto can’t be counted on. The EU and the UN will persecute us and prosecute us. But we will survive and be better off for defying their pressure. Ted Belman

The Obama administration’s anger is “red-hot” over Israel’s settlement policies, and the Netanyahu government openly expresses contempt for Obama’s understanding of the Middle East. Profound changes in the relationship may be coming.

JEFFREY GOLDBERG, THE ATLANTIC

By By Benny Toker, Ari Yashar, INN

Davidi Perl, head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council in Judea, was one of the many regional leaders who blew the whistle on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s covert Jewish building freeze – now, he warns the state is purposely delaying a building project in his region.

The IDF Civil Administration on Tuesday extended the appeals period by 30 days for Arab residents against the declaration of nearly 4,000 dunams (about 1,000 acres) in Gush Etzion as state land – after the previous 45-day period ended without a single appeal being filed.
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By Joseph Puder, FPM

Does anyone know when Israel, if at all, agreed not to “take unilateral steps that prejudge the Jerusalem’s future”. Israel annexed the land before Oslo.  That should have settled it. I don’t believe there is any commitment on Israel’s part to so refrain. Ted Belman

U.S. State Department: Settlement activity is illegitimate and we oppose unilateral steps that prejudge Jerusalem’s future • PM Benjamin Netanyahu: Criticism of Jerusalem construction is “disconnected from reality.”

Hayom Staff and The Associated Press

Construction in Jerusalem’s Ramat Shlomo neighborhood [Archive]

 

By insinuating that Israel is to blame for IS’s rise to power, Kerry was not simply blaming the victim. He was empowering the aggressor.

By Caroline Glick, JPOST

It would be interesting to know which Arab leaders are telling US Secretary of State John Kerry that the absence of peace between Israel and the Palestinians is “a cause of recruitment” to Islamic State.

Is that something he is hearing from Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani? The Qatari leader, whose kingdom has been cited by the US Treasury Department as a major funder of Islamic State (IS), is certainly one of Kerry’s favorite regional leaders.

If Thani did blame Israel for the rise of IS, then his statement would constitute yet another instance of the double game Qatar has been playing with the Americans. On the one hand, the regime is financing jihad, and other the other hand, it pretends to side with the West against the jihad that it is funding.

This is certainly the case in Jerusalem.
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This is a very important article.  It confirms what I recently wrote about no one expecting a different result. But I was surprised when the diplomat said: “Bibi only builds where he is allowed to, but he won’t admit it.” In other words, the US has Bibi on a short leash. Ted Belman

Experienced American diplomat says hostility between Israelis and Palestinians has reached new levels and gaps are deeper than ever.

By Sever Plocker, YNET

It was a depressing meeting. The man we spoke to, who is one of a handful of American diplomats who have been trying for years to find the golden key to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, didn’t leave a glimmer of hope.

As our conversation extended into the late evening hours, the feeling of an impasse grew stronger. “There seems to be zero chance of reaching any agreement between Israel and the Palestinians right now,” the man summed up his impression from many years of full and partial diplomatic service.

“Whose fault is it?” we asked. “It’s your fault, it’s their fault, and it’s our – the Americans’ – fault,” he said.
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Government committee okays bill to expand number of rabbis conducting Orthodox conversions; was opposed by Netanyahu and new-old allies the Haredi parties.

Moran Azulay,  YNET

A pact between Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Finance Minister Yair Lapid has dealt Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu his first political defeat of the new parliament session, with the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee approving a bill on Jewish conversion for its second and third reading in the Knesset.

Political maneuvers: Netanyahu, Bennett, Lapid, Lieberman and Livni (Photos: Gil Yohanan, Shahar Azran, EPA, AP and GPO) Read more…

By Ted Belman

Commenting on a lecture at JCPA that I recently attended, I said:

… the lecturer said something that caught my attention. He said that the Board of Deputies of Br Jews put out a joint statement with their Muslim equivalent. He said he agreed with the statement but not its timing. Since I reject interfaith dialogue, I asked him what he agreed with. He and the British macher he had in tow defended the dialogue and argued that good things come out of it. I pressed them on the matter and they gave no satisfactory reply. I argued that no good can come from it but that it is harmful as it co-opts us to dialogue rather than to fight or challenge. I certainly opened up a can of worms. This mentality is part of the problem.

I have now received the Joint Statement. A cursory reading might suggest that it is innocuous. Melanie Phillips thought otherwise and wrote a scathing attack:
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By Pinhas Inbari, JCPA

Vol. 14, No. 34       October 26, 2014

• The Muslim Brotherhood seeks to unite all of the region’s Islamic movements around the idea of the Muslim Caliphate with the Al-Aqsa Mosque as its hub.
• Hamas’ Khaled Mashal lives in Qatar and has helped the Qataris realize that by ratcheting up the Palestinian issue they can reignite the passion of the Arab masses throughout the Arab world in support of the Muslim Brotherhood.
• Fatah’s Silwan (Jerusalem) branch was quick to glorify the hit-and-run killer of the three-month-old American-Israeli baby, Chaya Zissel Braun. On the issue of funding Fatah activity in Jerusalem, eyes are turned to Qatar.
• Both Fatah and Hamas compete for Qatar’s favor, provoking greater levels of violence on the ground in Jerusalem.

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By Ted Belman

John Kerry is insane.  At least that is what Albert Einstein would say because he keeps restarting the peace process, expecting a different result.

For any negotiation to end in an agreement, the parties to the negotiations must want an agreement at a price they are willing to pay or must need an agreement regardless of the price.

The US, EU and the UN undermine their own efforts to achieve an agreement because they ensure that the Palestinians don’t need an agreement by covering the total cost of Palestinian “resistance” including violence and incitement and they turn a blind eye to Palestinian corruption.  Nor is there a need for the Palestinians to focus on economic development because the west will always cover the shortfall. Thus there is no need for the Palestinians to compromise and they are never held accountable.

Nor do the Palestinians want an agreement. The Fatah Charter calls for the liberation of Palestine by which they mean the eradication of Israel. The Hamas Charter not only calls for the same thing but also calls for the destruction of the Jews. The international community could care less.
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When justices strike down a law, the Knesset will be able to undo their ruling with a 61-seat majority, says MK Shaked’s bill.

By Ido Ben Porat, Gil Ronen, INN

Plan for 12 new roads, 3 students’ villages and more agreed by Netanyahu and Bennett, says Channel 2.

By Benny Moshe, Gil Ronen, INN

Preparing for more construction at Ramat Givat Ze’ev

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has decided to end the de facto building freeze in Judea and Samaria and intends to approve thousands of new housing units and roads at a cost of millions of shekels, reported Channel 2 Sunday.

The move is seen as a bid to strengthen the alliance with the nationalist wing of the coalition, and follows a meeting between Netanyahu and Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett, who has threatened to destabilize the coalition if the freeze is not ended.
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Thousands of universities have departments for medical robotics, but only a few can boast an invention that makes it all the way through FDA trials and becomes a commercial product.
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By Daniel Greenfield, FPM

The left’s worst crime in the Middle East has been its support for the region’s Arab-Muslim majority at the expense of its minorities. It has supported the majority’s terrorism, atrocities, ethnic cleansing and repression of the region’s minorities. Very rarely has it raised a voice in their support, and when it has done so, it was in muted tones completely different from their vigorous defenses of the nationalism of the Arab Muslim majority.

The left backed the Arab Spring which rewarded the ambitions of Arabist and Islamist activists at the expense of Coptic, African and other minorities. Its great regional obsession is statehood for the Arab Muslims of Israel, (better known by their local Palestinian brand), but has little to say about the Kurds in Turkey or the Azeri in Iran. The million Jewish refugees and the vanishing Christians of the region never come up in conversation. They certainly don’t get their own lefty protest rallies.

The Africans of Sudan could have used an entire UN organization dedicated to their welfare, which the Arab Muslims who had failed to wipe out the region’s Jewish minority are the beneficiaries of. But they had to make do with third tier aid. Read more…

TOI Staff

While apparently trying to be polite and stressing that he was delivering his critiques “without naming anyone,” Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon launched what amounted to a scathing assessment of Obama Administration wrongheadedness on the Middle East in an extraordinary interview at the end of his trip to the United States.

In comments that were candid even by his characteristically no-nonsense standards, Ya’alon castigated the misconception — most recently voiced by Secretary of State John Kerry – that the failure to solve the Palestinian conflict was provoking extremism elsewhere in the region. He rejected the notion — at the core of Kerry’s failed peace efforts — that territorial concessions by Israel would resolve the Palestinian conflict, calling it “irrational.” And he dismissed the idea — central to the vision of this and other recent US administrations — that Palestinian Authority President is a partner for peace.
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This is a very long but important interview. It sheds much light on the debates taking place within the government.

In regard to the peace process, she said:

“In April, we made progress to the point of formulating an American proposal based on which Netanyahu was willing to continue the talks. With respect to both the issue of borders and the issue of the settlement blocs, the American proposal was worded in a way that could have led to a fair and balanced solution. Bayit Yehudi didn’t quit the government. It remained throughout.

“I remember that Tuesday on which Uri Ariel and Ze’ev Haver, the settler leaders, came to Netanyahu. I was there. They said to him with woeful looks on their faces: We understand that it’s a done deal. And Netanyahu responded: Correct; it’s a done deal.

I wonder what she considers a “fair and balanced solution”. Ted Belman

In a wide ranging interview, the justice minister discusses her determination to pursue peace talks, the deal with Lapid and Lieberman, her opposition to restricting the High Court, and how she became a defender of women’s rights.

By Nahum Barnea and Tova Tzimuki, YNET

Tzipi Livni describes herself as “task driven.” Her daily agenda is constructed of tasks – anything that fails to promote their completion is unimportant. For a few years, the task was to become prime minister. That mission, as we know, failed, and now looks further off than ever before.

To aspire to be prime minister is power, but it is also, and perhaps primarily, a weakness. The fear of getting into conflicts, breaking political alliances, upsetting vote contractors is crippling and emasculating. Livni is free of such constraints. She doesn’t have to contend with a central committee that puts the squeeze on, a faction breathing down her neck, ominous surveys; she’s a free agent.

Now, the political process is her task, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the means; and the course of action of which she speaks for the first time in this interview is the consolidation of a joint political front with Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid faction. Read more…

Op-ed: US secretary of state keeps saying Israeli-Palestinian issue cannot remain unchanged. What about the situation in Syria, Iraq, Russia, China and Turkey?

BY GUY BECHOR, YNET

Like a regular mantra, US Secretary of State John Kerry has a habit of saying that the Israeli-Palestinian issue cannot remain unchanged.

Strangely enough, he isn’t saying that about the conflict in Syria, where the death toll has already crossed the 200,000 mark with people being slaughtered, beheaded and dying in different ways, on its way to the 250,000 mark; he isn’t saying that about four million refugees from Syria and 10 million displaced people; he isn’t saying that about the Islamic State, which is beheading people and butchering minorities; he isn’t saying that about Iraq, which has been torn into pieces, or about Baghdad’s airport which is about to fall into the hands of jihadist terror.

He isn’t saying that about Libya either, a country controlled by a coalition of insane jihad organizations, on the verge of Europe. He isn’t saying that about Yemen, which has died and is controlled by wild tribes navigated from behind the scenes by the “smiling” Iran; he isn’t saying that about the intolerable uranium enrichment in Tehran, which has him and the West wrapped around its little finger.
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The problem is not with how to restart the peace process but with the peace process itself.

Herb Keinon is a very respected political commentator but he fails to focus, as the whole world does, on the heart of problem. The problem isn’t with process, i.e., how to get the people back to the negotiating table. So long as the parties aren’t forced, directly or indirectly, to make substantial compromises, negotiations will go nowhere. The US, EU and UN are trying to force Israel to cut a deal that 75% of Israelis reject and that is an existential threat to Israel. Rather than forcing the PA to compromise, they support their demand for ’67 lines plus swaps, and underwrite all costs of their intransigence. It doesn’t cost the PA anything when they are intransigent or incite violence or preach resistance not peace. By pushing the peace process, they hope to force Israel to capitulate or at a minimum to prevent israel from advancing their hold on Judea and Samaria because this would end the hope that their vision of a deal i.e.,’67 lines plus swaps and division of Jerusalem. They ignore the fact that this deal isn’t enough for the PA who still demand the “right of return”, won’t recognize Israel as a Jewish state and won’t sign an end of conflict agreement.

The only viable solution to the conflict is to allow Israel manage the conflict as she sees fit even if the Arabs don’t like it. Israel should be permitted to fashion any solution it perceives as doable even if it doesn’t allow for the creation of a Palestinian state. The object of the exercise should not be to declare a Palestinian state but to resolve the conflict. In effect the world is preventing the resolution of the conflict by demanding a Palestinian state. Ted Belman

Kerry wants more talks; Abbas wants “Palestine” without peace; Netanyahu says “Arab world first.” Six months after breakdown of negotiations, everyone is grasping at straws.

By Herb Keinon, JPOST

The diplomatic process with the Palestinians is stuck, and – judging by recent comments by US Secretary of State John Kerry, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – no one has a realistic idea about how to get it unstuck.
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