Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall, JCPA

• Even as it engages in nuclear negotiations, Iran continues to arm and train Hizbullah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

• Central to the Iranian effort are rockets and missiles (surface-to-surface), as well as UAVs and advanced anti-aircraft weapons, mainly for Hizbullah, intended to constrict the Israeli Air Force’s maneuvering room in Lebanon.

• According to Supreme Leader Khamenei, “All Palestinian areas have to become armed.. We looked at our main goal and we offered help. We managed to strengthen the fists of our Palestinian brothers in Gaza and by Allah’s favor we will continue to do that. I announced that the West Bank should be armed like Gaza and be prepared for defense.”

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By BY DEREK M. KWAIT, New Voices

Holly Bicerano, a student at Boston University and the former Campus Outreach Co-Coordinator for Open Hillel, made waves in the Jewish world after publishing an op-ed in the Times of Israel called “Standing athwart lies,” explaining why she decided to leave the organization. Chief among her complaints are that, far from promoting true open dialogue and inclusiveness in Jewish spaces, one the organization’s main goals is to foster support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel; that Open Hillel is, ironically, no less guilty than Hillel itself in muzzling voices it does not like; and that it formed an “anti-normalization committee.” New Voices editor Derek Kwait approached Holly shortly after she published her op-ed to find out more..

You mentioned the nasty language some in the movement had for Dr. Elie Wiesel as being what first made you question the Open Hillel movement. Can you go into a little more detail about what happened from there until you published the op-ed?

The treatment of the issue of inviting Dr. Wiesel to the conference served as a wake-up call for me. But the issue was dropped when I found out that Dr. Wiesel would not be able to make it. At the conference, I moderated the BDS panel with Dr. Sa’ed Atshan of Tufts University and Ms. Rebecca Vilkomerson of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). During the panel, Dr. Atshan proclaimed that all Zionists are racists. While he is entitled to say what he wants, I do not think that welcoming someone like him to berate the Jewish community would benefit us.
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by Asaf Romirowsky and Alexander H. Joffe, The National Interest

One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. By any measurement, Western policy towards United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the internationally funded agency for Palestinian “refugees,” meets that definition. One example is the newly released 2015 State Department Framework for Cooperation Between UNRWA and the U.S.

This exercise in repetition occurred in the wake of a war that again exposed UNRWA’s unsavory and illegal activities, from being “shocked” that its schools were used to store Hamas’ rockets and rote condemnations of Israel, to its employees cheering the murder of Israelis. The framework nevertheless represents the American commitment to prolong the existence of UNRWA, established almost exactly 65 years ago.
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By Martin Sherman, JPOST

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. – William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 4,

Israel should insist that we discriminate [against it], that we apply double standards [to it], this is because you are one of us. – Jesper Vahr, Danish ambassador to Israel, at The Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference on December 12

The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. – Albert Einstein

Last Thursday, the Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference took place in the capital with an impressive lineup of prominent public figures – including the present and the previous presidents and the US ambassador.

The real fireworks, however, took place in the panel discussion dealing with relations between the EU and Israel. Read more…

As long as Israel acknowledges that the Palestinian Arabs’ national claims to statehood in Judea-Samaria are authentic and legitimate, Israel can never be secure externally, or internally.

By Martin Sherman, JPOST

ARAB YOUTHS try to prevent a tear gas canister from emitting more gas during a confrontation with police in the capital’s Abu Tor neighborhood. (photo credit:REUTERS)

The Arabs… will not flinch from the war of liberation… This is a fight for the homeland – it is either us or the Israelis. There is no middle road. The Jews of Palestine will have to leave…We shall destroy Israel and its inhabitants and as for the survivors – if there are any – the boats are ready to deport them.

– Ahmad Shukeiri, Yasser Arafat’s predecessor as PLO chairman, few days prior to the Six Day War

Claims of historical or religious ties of Jews with Palestine are incompatible with the facts of history and the true conception of what constitutes statehood. Judaism, being a religion, is not an independent nationality. Nor do Jews constitute a single nation with an identity of its own; they are citizens of the states to which they belong.

– The Palestinian National Charter Read more…

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

December 21, 2014, 1:39 PM (IDT)

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and top Qatari envoys went through the motions of formalizing the Saudi-brokered reconciliation between them, when they met in Cairo Saturday, Dec. 20.

The Saudis hailed the first meeting between Sisi and Qatari officials, since the Egyptian ruler took office last summer, as the turning of a new page between the two Arab states. And Shekh Mohammad bin Abdel Rahman al Thani, the Qatar Emir’s special envoy, expressed support for “a leading role for Egypt in the Arab and Muslim worlds.

These steps were in keeping with the policy adopted by the Gulf Cooperation Council summit of late November in Doha to end the dispute between the GCC and Qatar and “contribute to Egyptian security and stability.”
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“OK, here’s my idea for how we can stick it to Bibi…”

By Vic Rosenthal

As you may remember, Shimon Peres and Yossi Beilin carried on pre-Oslo agreement negotiations with the PLO behind the backs of Prime Ministers Shamir and Rabin, and then presented the deal as afait accompli to Rabin. One doesn’t know how Rabin felt about it in his heart (although the look on his face when he shook hands with Arafat on the White House lawn might give us a clue), but publicly he had no choice but to embrace the initiative and do his best to minimize the damage. Read more…

Ted Belman. This is great news.  Now if they can persuade Yishai Eli to join them it will be even better.

Also Otzma Yehudit, headed by Michael Ben-Ari, announced it will be running in the election:

Members of the party argue that Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett’s claim that 99.9% of Arab citizens of Israel are loyal to the state, as well as Bennett’s sitting in a coalition that froze construction in Judea and Samaria, “cause tens of thousands not to vote in the coming elections, and only a campaign by ‘Otzma Yehudit’ will cause the voices not to be thrown away.”

Bennett should commit his party to reject a freeze and woo Ben-Ari to join. I leave it to Bennett to decide if including Ben-Ari will increase their seats or lose seats. Ben-Ari has a deserved reputation of being extreme.

Meanwhile, Arab Parties to Form Joint List Within a Week

By Hezki Ezra, INN

[..] During Saturday night’s meeting in Jerusalem, the Central Committee decided that Tekuma will accept Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett’s proposal, according to which four spots on the Jewish Home’s Knesset list will be reserved for Tekuma members. Bennett also offered Tekuma chairman Uri Ariel a senior ministerial position in the next government.

Before Saturday night’s vote, Ariel explained why he thought it would be better for the party to join former Shas chairman Eli Yishai’s new party but said, “I will accept any decision that is reached.”
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Open Letter to the Jewish Community,

From Richard Allen, JCCWatch.org

It is wrong for the New York Jewish Community Relations Council in NYC and the UJA-Fed, the sponsors of the Israel Day Parade, to prevent simple guidelines from being enacted for participating groups to sign, stating they do not support Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel.

Groups that call for a boycott of Israeli companies such as SodaStream and Ahava products are honored and march with their banners in the Israel Day Parade. The group “Partners for a Progressive Israel” calls for a boycott of Israel Companies openly on their web site.
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Israel Encircled:Obama’s “Rebels”,Al Yarmouk Shuhada Brigades-Backed Up By IDF & U.S./CIA Officers-Pledged To ISIS.What Are The Knock-On Effects?

Commentary By Adina Kutnicki

MUCH has been written at this site about Obama Inc.’s support for the “rebels”, most of whom have long been connected to Al-Qaeda, Al-Nusra and Salafist offshoots, including ISIS. 

IN fact, regarding the connections – on a multiplicity of occasions – mega alarm bells blared. Most recently, the following was cited: U.S. military confirms that Obama is sabotaging fight against ISIS! As is said, them’s fighting words. Read more…

By Ron Nutter, Ph D

I wear a necklace made of silver created by a craftswoman in Carmel, IN. In my years of teaching philosophy and religion I would on occasion make a rhetorical point about Judaism and Christianity by holding up one side of the necklace, displaying the Christian Cross, and saying, “One cannot possibly understand the full meaning of this without a deep and abiding understanding of this,” whereupon I would flip my necklace and show the Star of David on the other side.

Over the years that little demonstration had greater and greater effect as I developed a course on the Shoah in which the first half of the semester was spent exploring Jewish traditions and beliefs with a guest rabbi, the anti-Jewish rhetoric of the early Church, and the anti-Jewish legislation of early Church councils and secular governments. Over time Jews were restricted in where they could live, how they might make a living, banned from owning land, ordered not to converse with Christians, prohibited from appearing in public during Christian holidays, denied education in the professions, forced to wear distinctive clothing so everyone would know them to be a Jew, and more.
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Ted Belman. Dann paints a misleading picture. While what he says is true, his analysis doesn’t go deep enough. When Sharon balked at accepting the Road Map he listed 14 reservations. Sec’y Powell pushed him to acceptance saying it was “only a process”, a road map, if you will, and not an agreement. As for the reservations he promised to “fully and seriously address” them which never happened. The parties were never ad item, of the same mind, so there was no binding agreement. Besides Israel isn’t bound by an agreement with a non-state entity. It is no treaty. Powell said the words don’t matter, steps do.

Israel can depart from the Road Map at any time without cause. There have been many violations in the past that we could use to justify abandoning it.

The Road Map lists the intentions of the parties at that time including the clause of a sovereign state that Dann quoted. It also demanded a settlement freeze including internal growth. At any time we want we can abandon the Road Map and our “intentions” listed.

Obviously Israel in negotiating a two state solution and imposing a freeze even in Jerusalem is complying with the Roadmap. To regain her independence, she need only abandon the Roadmap. Abrogation is not called for because there is no agreement to abrogate.

The Oslo Accords, don’t obligate us to allow a Palestinian state nor do they restrict settlement construction. If we abrogated the Oslo Accords we would have to protect our interests in Area C by enforcing no encroachment by Arabs.

In February, I suggested “The U.S. Should Cut a Deal with Israel and End the Conflict”. In that article I covered the Roadmap. American thinker also published it and received 82 comments.

Although Abbas’s demand for statehood is an abrogation of the Oslo Agreements, thus releasing Israel from its contractual obligations, the government of Israel seems unwilling.

By Moshe Dann, JPOST

As more EU countries recognize a “State of Palestine” and PA President Mahmoud Abbas appeals for UN recognition, and the government of Israel is under pressure to acquiesce, attention has turned to prime minister Yitzhak Rabin’s speech (October 5, 1995) when, seeking Knesset approval for the Interim Agreement (known as Oslo II), he said that he envisioned an independent, autonomous “Palestinian entity, not a state.”
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By Agvi Issacharoff, TOI

[..]
Thursday underscored the scope of the hatred, not only between Dahlan and Abbas, but also between Hamas and the PA.

That the Strip’s Islamist rulers allowed Fatah members in Gaza to wave pictures of an ex-official, who in the past pursued hundreds of Hamas members, is no small matter. It is a sign of how deep the rift is between the Abbas and Hamas – and it looks like it cannot be mended.

If it seemed for a moment in May that Gaza and the West Bank were headed toward a truce, then Israeli ministers can relax: internal Palestinian reconciliation is dead. The split is back in place. The PA’s supposed Fatah-Hamas “unity” government cannot operate in any meaningful way in Gaza, and Hamas, of course, is prevented from operating in the West Bank.

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By Keith Kohl | Friday, December 19th, 2014

Oil Stimulus Money

AAA also said that 98.6 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more during the holiday season, and most of them will be driving.

For those who are flying, the cost of jet fuel is at record lows, too, offering a huge stimulus to airlines whose biggest expense is fuel.

Check out how well Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) has done while oil and gas were getting crushed…

Of course, this immediate stimulus for airlines may not be passed onto customers, but shareholders have already seen the boon of low oil prices.

That being said, this hasn’t been a positive stimulus for everybody…
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If Chabad becomes more dominant, American Judaism will change

By Shmuel Rosner, Jewish Journal

I was planning to write a post about Chabad way before the stabbing in NY last week, and without even remembering that last week was the “new year” of Chasidism according to Chabad calendar. I was planning to write about Chabad following my article on why the Jews of Miami are doing so great. The article was based on a study by Prof. Ira Sheskin in which one finding stood out as remarkable: 26% of Miami Jews have “participated in Chabad activity”. That’s a lot. And it becomes even more impressive as one examines in more detail how Chabad got to this impressive percentage. Sheskin kindly shared with me some of the numbers.
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BY ANNE BAYEFSKY

United Nations HQ in New York. Photo: wiki commons.

Incitement against the Jewish state is directly related to the stabbings, raping and killing of Jews inside and outside of Israel. But doing something to stop it requires confronting a very troubling fact: the global epicenter for incitement is the “human rights” leviathan, the United Nations.

From November 24, 2014 until December 5, 2014, UN human rights headquarters in Geneva mounted a public exhibit that was pure incitement. UN-driven antisemitism that takes the form of seeking to demonize, disable and ultimately destroy the Jewish state.
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‘You can’t talk about two states and also sovereignty,’ says Danon; challenge on Netanyahu’s leadership to return party to roots.

By Shimon Cohen, Ari Yashar, INN

After Likud MK Moshe Feiglin left the race for leadership of the party, only Likud Central Committee chairperson MK Danny Danon is left facing off against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for control of Likud.

Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Danon said that despite the frequent controversy between himself and Netanyahu the current race is not a personal matter, but rather a conflict over which path and values Likud should pursue.

With Labor joining with Hatnua and running neck and neck with Likud according to polls, Danon was asked whether Feiglin may not have been right to withdraw from the race, citing the need for unity in the party to deal with challenges from without.
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Sources in Gaza say Hamas has started to prepare for next conflict with Israel, group said shifting war strategy in wake of Iron Dome, from long-range missiles to short-ranged mortars, coupled with multiple terror cell attacks.

By Elior Levy, YNET

Building materials intended for Hamas in Egypt (Archive photo)

Hamas has been commandeering building materials transferred into Gaza Strip for its reconstruction by Israel for the purpose of rebuilding its offensive ‘terror tunnels’, Ynet has learned from sources inside Gaza only four months after a 50-day war which saw Israel target the tunnels.

Gaza was blockaded by Israel and Egypt for years before the summer’s Operation Protective Edge, which ended in August, partly because terrorists were using materials to build fortifications and tunnels under the border. Only in mid-October did Israel allow new materials to begin entering the Strip and their oversight was a key point in the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
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Eli E. Hertz, Myths and Facts

Europe seeks to play the role of neutral mediator in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Yet for a host of reasons – most of them self-serving – Europe has demonstrated a clear pro-Arab bias, including insensitivity to Israel ’s security needs. And it excuses Arab terrorism that no civilized nation would ever tolerate if faced with similar attacks.