PJ MEDIA

With all due respect to Lone Survivor and Zero Dark Thirty (and I have paid mad respect to both), Clint Eastwood’s amazing American Sniper is the film for the war on terror.

But it’s more than that. It is a timeless American war movie that explores the necessity of having men who are–and bear the burden of being–really really good at killing bad guys.

In fact, this is easily one of the ten best American war movies of all time. (I won’t place it any higher than that until I’ve had the chance to see it again and let the initial emotional impact wear off; but right now, I can’t think of three I would rate above it.) Read more…

By Thomas Sowell, Townhall

By Ariel Schmidberg, ISRAEL HAYOM

A few days after the murderous bombing at the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1994, a terrorist attack that killed 85 innocent people in the blink of an eye, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the main squares across Argentina to protest and demand justice. This was the first step in a long, painful and frustrating and journey that ended this week, after more than 20 years, on a shameful note.

At the start, moments of silence were observed in honor of the victims. With time, the commemoration changed: In some of the ceremonies, the moment of silence was replaced with a moment of a deafening crying out meant to “wake up” the government. But to no avail. On the cold and gray morning of July 18, 1994, the face of an already scarred Argentina changed forever, after many long years of cruel dictatorship that made sure to “eliminate” anyone suspected of subversion.
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Israel’s Good News Newsletter to 18th Jan 2015

In the 18th Jan 2015 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:

• Two Israeli biotechs are at the forefront of a new method for destroying cancer cells.
• A 16-year-old Israeli girl has just started medical School.
• 65% of Israel’s Arabs say they are proud to be Israeli.
• An Israeli T-shirt monitors your heart.
• Drivers can see five times further with an Israeli night vision system.
• Israel has discovered another massive natural gas field.
• Two Israelis, who escaped Nazi Germany, celebrate the birth of their 100th great-grandchild.

• Last week’s JPost Israel Good News descriptive summary.Click here for “How lucky is Israel?” (fast-loading version, no adverts).  Also on Jerusalem Post, IsraPundit and San Diego Jewish World.
• Click here to see the newsletter on Jewish Business News, IsraelSeen, Ruthfully Yoursand United With Israel.

Page Down for more details on these and other good news stories from Israel.
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Last night I gave my talk to a large knowledgeable audience. Judging by the rapt attention and feedback, I was a great success.

One attendee who is a member pf Professors for a Strong Israel (PSI) sent me this email;

Thank you for last night.
It was a real tour de-force—you were great.
I learned a few new things…though not necessarily pleasant.
My guest was very glad I had invited him.
Keep up the good work.
Chodesh Tov,

Part 1
[jwplayer mediaid=”63604016″]
Part 2
[jwplayer mediaid=”63604033″]
The sound quality sucks because there was a breakdown in the intended recording device and one person in the audience happened to record it on a small device. Thank g-d for that.

By Evelyn Gordon, COMMENTARY

Between Friday’s announcement that the International Criminal Court has opened a “preliminary examination into the situation in Palestine” and Sunday’s airstrike that killed six Hezbollah operatives and an Iranian general, a seemingly minor Israel-related item at the United Nations Security Council last Thursday has been largely ignored. But it shouldn’t be, because it goes to the heart of what’s wrong with the world’s handling of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict: According to both the UN and the European Union, signed Israeli-Palestinian agreements are binding on one party only – Israel.

At Thursday’s Security Council briefing, Assistant Secretary-General Jens Anders Toyberg-Frandzen slammed Israel for freezing tax transfers to the Palestinian Authority, declaring that this was “contrary to Israel’s obligations under the Paris Protocol of the Oslo Accords.” The EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, Federica Mogherini, made an identical claim 10 days earlier.
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Analysis: A helicopter and two missiles killed a group of Lebanese and Iranian terror activists in Syrian Golan Heights – and now IDF and northern residents are in suspense: Will Hezbollah respond or hold back?

By Alex Fishman, YNET

Israel-Lebanon border. ‘The operation may have succeeded, but the patient – the situation in the north – is only deteriorating’ (Archive photo: AP)

Someone threw a match into a powder keg and is now waiting to see whether it will explode or not.

This is a dangerous exercise in practical chemistry conducted on the eve of the final exam: The elections in Israel. A helicopter and two missiles killed a group of Lebanese and Iranian terror activists in the Syrian Golan Heights – and now we’re all in suspense: Will Hezbollah respond or hold back?

There are several partners in this pyromania. Hezbollah, likely with Iran’s direct help and guidance, was about to carry out a series of terror attacks against Israel on the Golan Heights in order to renew the balance of deterrence against strikes attributed to the Israel Air Force.
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DEBKA Jan 19/15

The dominant IDF assessment Monday, Jan. 19, is that Hizballah will not hold off its rejoinder for the Israeli helicopter missile strike on the Golan Sunday, which targeted an advance guard and caused the deaths of five Hizballah and six Iranian army officers. Tehran confirmed Monday that Gen. Mohammad Ali Allah Dadi was among the officers killed in the Israel attack..

Iran’s National Security Adviser Rear Adm. Ali Shamkhani responded with a pledge of punishment for the death of Gen. Allah Dadi. “The resistance will respond by force at an appropriate time and place for the “Zionist terrorist entity’s aggression,” he said.
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DEBKA

Lebanese and Western intelligence watchers of the Syrian conflict reveal that the two missiles fired Sunday, Jan. 18, by Israeli helicopters at an armed military convoy on the Syrian side of the Golan struck a group of Iranian and Hizballah officers traveling near Quneitra. Hizballah has confirmed that six people were killed, including an Iranian commander, named Abu Ali al-Tabtabani.

The Hizballah officers who died were Jihad Mughniyeh son of the Shiite terrorist movement’s military chief, whom Israel killed in 2008; and Mohammed Issa, a Hizballah commander responsible for its Syrian and Iraqi operations. Lebanese and Arab media outlets identified the other four Hizballah members killed in the raid as Mahdi al-Moussawi, Ali Fouad, Hussein Hassan and Abbas Hijazi.
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Ted Belman. In a similar vein to Graham, Canada’s FM Baird told Yaalon “I think the Palestinian Authority has made a huge mistake [by joining the body] and crossed a red line.” They are right in accusing the PA of essentially violating the Oslo Accords but they are wrong in not attacking the ICC for accepting them (a non-state) and investigating the alleged crimes. Prior to this happening, all experts agreed that it wouldn’t happen because the Court only pursues major violations and even then only if non-signatories don’t conduct a competent investigation of its own. Neither criteria is satisfied here plus the PA doesn’t represent a state. Experts always said the the ICC was a serious court and wouldn’t be politicized. The experts were wrong on all accounts. They forgot that anything goes when it comes to Israel.

Ranking US senator calls the Palestinian move a “bastardizing of the role of the ICC.”

JPOST

The Palestinians could lose annual US aid if they file a lawsuit against Israel at the International Criminal Court which they joined this month over American and Israeli protests, a senior US Republican senator said on Monday.

Lindsey Graham, part of a seven-member delegation of senators visiting Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, said existing US legislation “would cut off aid to the Palestinians if they filed a complaint” against Israel.
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BREAKING/UPDATE: Hebzollah chief to deliver speech tonight swearing “painful strike” against Israel

Omri Ceren, TIP

Via Lebanese media (technically the Naharnet update stream):

Information obtained by MTV: Nasrallah will tonight deliver a speech in which he will announce that Hizbullah will retaliate against Israel with a painful strike.

He has to say something after the Israeli strike, which is shaping up to be a strategic setback and PR nightmare for Hezbollah. Last week Nasrallah threatened to invade Golan-adjacent Israeli territory; then Hezbollah and Iran moved some of their top Syria guys into the theater for what Hezbollah is now describing as “field reconnaissance”; then the Israelis reportedly intercepted the convoy.

The entire thing has the feel of incompetent bluster coupled with reckless provocation. Lebanese officials and civilians are likely to be furious, in the aftermath of that incompetence and recklessness, Hezbollah overcorrects by dragging Lebanon into another war with Israel.

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By Claude Kandioti, ISRAEL HAYOM

After the attacks at Charlie Hebdo and a Parisian kosher supermarket two weeks ago and the large police operation in Belgium on Thursday, it appears that politicians have finally realized the gravity of the threat that has grown within Europe in recent years. In the end, a decision was made in Belgium to take appropriate action, but the question remains: it is too late now? Are we battling symptoms rather than the root problem?

Belgian newspapers carried a clear message: “We are at war.” Every editorial praised the lightning-fast operation by the Belgian special forces that raided 10 different targets in a single night and thwarted a planned attack that would have targeted police forces. There is a direct threat on our comfortable way of life, and it is no longer just to Jews, who have warned governments for years. The special forces’ preventative action, which ended with two terrorists killed and one wounded in a shoot-out, woke Belgium up from its daydream.
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Peter Beinart on Being an Israel Critic While Remaining a Member of the Tribe

Voice of Israel, 15 JANUARY 2015

Where the government decides which utterances are allowed

By Judge Andrew P. Napolitano,JWR

The photos of 40 of the world’s government leaders marching arm-in-arm along a Paris boulevard on Sunday with the president of the United States not among them was a provocative image that has fomented much debate. The march was, of course, in direct response to the murderous attacks on workers at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo by a pair of brothers named Kouachi, and on shoppers at a Paris kosher supermarket by one of the brothers’ comrades.The debate has been about whether President Obama should have been at the march. The march was billed as a defense of freedom of speech in the West, yet it hardly could have been held in a less free–speech-friendly Western environment, and the debate over Mr. Obama’s absence misses the point.

In the post-World War II era, French governments have adopted a policy advanced upon them nearly 100 years ago by Woodrow Wilson. He pioneered the modern idea that countries’ constitutions don’t limit governments; they unleash them. Thus, even though the French Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, French governments treat speech as a gift from the government, not as a natural right of all persons, as our Constitution does.
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In joint press conference with UK’s Cameron, US president says Europe must not ‘simply respond with hammer’ to terror attacks; both leaders urge US Congress to avoid new Iran sanctions.

Europe must do more to better integrate its Muslim communities, and not “simply respond with a hammer,” US President Barack Obama said Friday in the wake of last week’s terror attacks in France.

“Our biggest advantage, major, is that our Muslim populations – they feel themselves to be Americans,” Obama told a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron.

“There are parts of Europe in which that’s not the case. And that’s probably the greatest danger that Europe faces… it’s important for Europe not to simply respond with a hammer and law enforcement and military approaches to these problems.”

Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron pledged a joint effort Friday to fight domestic terrorism following deadly attacks in France. They also strongly urged the US Congress to hold off on implementing new sanctions on Iran in the midst of nuclear talks.
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JPOST

MICHAEL OREN SET OUT HIS POSITION IN A SHORT BUT IMPORTANT INTERVIEW WHICH MAY BE FOUND HERE.

Michael Oren, Israel’s former ambassador to the United States who is running as the diplomatic voice in Moshe Kahlon’s Koolanu party in the March elections, unveiled his approach to the Palestinian problem on Wednesday.

“We all want the same thing, we want an Israel that is strong, an Israel that is democratic, an Israel that is Jewish, we want an Israel that is economically prosperous. Peace is the means for achieving that goal. Peace is not an end in itself,” he told a group of young professionals in Jaffa Wednesday night, which The Jerusalem Post recorded exclusively for its weekly Frontlines Podcast.

Oren argued that in the absence of a Palestinian leader willing or able to negotiate a deal with Israel, it is up to Israel to take the initiative.
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