[EVERYONE IS READING AND TALKING ABOUT THIS ARTICLE.]

The news tells us less about Israel than about the people writing the news, a former AP reporter says.

BY MATTI FRIEDMAN, THE ATLANTIC, NOV 30 2014, 11:18 AM ET

Thanks to Regavim

Regavim is happy to announce the completion of the English translation of the Levy Commission Report. Especially in today’s challenging environment and as a major contributor to the commission we felt it was important for the details of the Levy Report to be available to as wide an audience as possible. We especially want to thank publicly the anonymous donor who made it possible.

Regavim

Over many years, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has benefitted from the virtually unqualified support of the European Union. Unqualified in its automatic siding with the PA and against Israel on diplomatic issues, and unqualified in its financial support and regular donations amounting to hundreds of millions of Euros annually. In recent years, European support has moved from passive diplomatic and financial assistance to a situation of active cooperation in illegal building which the Palestinian Authority has been advancing unilaterally since 2009, as part of its strategic plan to create a Palestinian state de facto, while avoiding the need for negotiations with Israel.

One of the central goals of this plan is the development of building initiatives specifically in Area C, (which is defined by the Oslo Accords as under full Israeli control) with the intent of chipping away at this area bit by bit, and thus creating a strip of territory between the area of Hebron, Samaria, and Jericho. This strip would endanger the security of the State of Israel and its ability to defend itself within defensible borders.
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By Daniel Greenfield, FPM

Intelligence Minister says other jets have much better maneuverability, weapons carrying capabilities.

By Gil Ronen, INN

Bottom line:The Supreme Court has ruled that Jews can pray on the Temple Mount subject to security consideration. But first Israel must pass regulations regulating hours, numbers, decorum etc. This Israel is not willing to do because it prefers not to enrage the Muslims. Remember that the Arabs used the pretext of Sharon’s visit to the tunnels at the Kotel to launch the second intifada with all its suicide bombings. Ted Belman

By Ted Belman

Jerusalem is sacred to Jews and has been for over 3000 years. According to the Tanach, (Hebrew Bible) King Solomon built the First Temple (aka Solomon’s Temple) there around 960 BCE according to the building specifications in the Torah. He intended it as a permanent resting place for the Ark of the Covenant which contained the Ten Commandments. Upon completion, he invited Jews and non-Jews to pray and sacrifice there and urged God to pay particular heed to their prayers by saying: “Thus all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and revere You, as does Your people Israel; and they will recognize that Your name is attached to this House that I have built” (I Kings 8:43).

And there it stood for 500 glorious years until the Babylonians conquered the city, sent the Jews into exile and destroyed the Temple in 586 BCE. Seventy years later many Jews returned from exile and rebuilt the Temple (Second Temple).
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Settlers claim pending construction freeze beginning; Peace Now says building is still going on.

By Tova Lazeroff, JPOST

Judea and Samaria construction dropped sharply, by 62.4 percent in the first three quarters of 2014, even as the international community has increased its verbal attacks against such building that it believes prevents the resumption of the peace process.

Data published by the Central Bureau of Statistics on Sunday showed that ground was broken on 935 homes in Judea and Samaria from January to September of this year, compared with 2,487 during the same period in 2013.
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Elkin: The Coalition Won’t Dissolve Over Jewish State Law

Coalition chairman says he is open to talks about rewording the Jewish State Law, says it’s up to Lapid to change his behavior.

By Arlene Kushner

Prime Minister Netanyahu is pushing hard for passage of Basic Law legislation that will declare unambiguously that Israel is a Jewish state. And the furor that is on-going with regard to this is incredible. He is accused of being “undemocratic,” which is patently nonsense.

The Elder of Ziyon blogspot has put up the full draft version of this legislation. This is the draft Netanyahu prefers, although it may change. It says that its goal is:

“Defining the State of Israel as the national state of the Jewish People, and anchoring the values of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state in the spirit of the principles of the Declaration of Independence.”
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Strategic Assessment, Volume 17, No. 3  is now available on line.

In this issue:

The “Special Relationship” in the Test of Time: US Policy during Operation Protective Edge
Zaki Shalom

This article reviews and analyzes the Obama administration’s positions and policy toward Israel during Operation Protective Edge.

Hizbollah and the Next War with Israel: Experience from Syria and Gaza
Benedetta Berti and Yoram Schweitzer

This article explores the question of a possible “next war” between Israel and Hizbollah, highlighting relevant lessons the Shiite organization might draw from Operation Protective Edge and its own ongoing involvement in Syria.
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T. Belman. Abrams asks the wrong questions. Why is the US supporting UNRWA rather than dismantling it. What good can come from keeping these “refugees” in camps? Surely the US doesn’t believe that all 5 million of them will be resettled in Judea and Samaria if Palestine is created there? Is it because UNRWA keeps them out of the western world? Is it cheaper to keep them in camps than to resettle them? And so on.

By Elliott Abrams, ISRAEL HAYOM

Business as usual is nicely defined as “persistence in the ordinary course of events despite difficulties, morality, and other hindrances.”

This month, the State Department published its “Framework for Cooperation Between the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and the Government of the United States of America for 2015.” Near the top, it states:

“The United States and UNRWA have been working in formal partnership through a Framework for Cooperation since 2005 to provide humanitarian assistance to UNRWA’s beneficiaries in accordance with its mandate as approved by the United Nations General Assembly. The United States and UNRWA review their Framework for Cooperation annually to advance shared objectives. It is understood that this document, in its entirety, constitutes policy commitments by UNRWA and the United States, and is therefore not ?intended to be legally binding.”

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Move comes after Likud MK calls for affirmative action for minorities that serve state

BY LAZAR BERMAN, TOI

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Sheikh Muwaffak Tar?f, spiritual leader of the Druze community in Israel, in Jerusalem on November 26, 2014. (Photo credit: Kobi Gideon / GPO)Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Sheikh Muwaffak Tar?f, spiritual leader of the Druze community in Israel, in Jerusalem on November 26, 2014.

The proposal will see more funds dedicated to education, infrastructure, and employment, Netanyahu said, “in order to close the gaps and advance the towns.”

The announcement was made days after Netanyahu met with Druze community leaders last Wednesday and expressed condolences on the recent deaths of two Druze police officers in recent terror attacks.

On Thursday, Likud MK Danny Danon said he was seeking to have an addendum added on to the controversial “Jewish state” bill calling for affirmative action for minority communities who take active part in defending the state.
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By Dr. Robert Sklaroff and Dr. Sherkoh Abbas

Shakespeare’s “King Lear” paid dearly after he mistakenly willed his estate to two daughters due to their voiced sycophancy, forsaking his youngest daughter who truly adored him. Similarly, Obama’s America is cow-towing to the whims of Iran and Turkey, rather than directly helping the Peshmerga in Kurdistan. The desired boots-on-ground are directly underfoot, yet he refuses to acknowledge the urgent need to assist the Kurds; instead, he keeps “tripping” over their presence.

Obama’s apologists alternately aver the situation is hyper-complex and freedom-seekers are ultimately doomed. To the contrary, the key-players reveal their motives through their actions (even if utterances are occasionally cryptic) and the pathway to a quality outcome is readily apparent (even if Obama would have to ‘fess-up regarding the existential threat of the global Islamist ideology). Because the goals of contiguous countries are averse to those beneficial to America, Kurds must urgently be empowered to champion Western Civilization’s value-system, to perpetuate the Judeo-Christian Ethic that has underpinned American Exceptionalism for centuries.
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By Ted Belman

I recently posted  The Israeli Relinquishment of the Temple Mount originally published by the JCPA. In my preface to the article I included a comment by a lawyer.

 Israel Medad, who blogs at MyRightWord and Zion’s Corner wrote to me to tell me the lawyer didn’t get it right. He is the Information and Content Resource coordinator for the Begin Heritage Center. I asked him to provide me with some links which he did. I was so impressed with the content of these articles that I wanted to share them with you.

For anyone who would like to know more about the history and controversies regarding the Temple Mount, they are indispensable.

The Temple Mount in Court: Will Israel’s supreme court prevent the destruction of ancient remains?

Jerusalem’s Temple Mount: A Jewish-Muslim Flashpoint by Yisrael Medad in 2000.

The “Status Quo” on the Temple Mount by Nadav Shragai, JCPA (Nov 2014)

He also recommended The Temple Institute as an excellent resource on the laws pertaining to the Temple Mount.

While reading these article I realized how woefully uninformed I was on all matters relating to the Temple Mount.

Will sharia conquer the United Kingdom by stealth?

By Robert Spencer, PJ MEDIA

Last May, I wrote an article titled “The 5 Latest Signs of Britain’s Imminent Demise.” These were, unfortunately, not anomalies. In Britain these days, galloping toward ruin is a more popular sport than soccer, and so an update is in order. Here are ten of the latest indications that Britons can look forward to a society that is both more authoritarian and more dangerous than any free nation can long endure.

10. Another British Muslim killed fighting for Islamic State
It was revealed last Tuesday that a British jihadist who called himself Abu Abdullah al-Britani had been killed while fighting in Syria for the Islamic State. Al-Britani, a convert to Islam whose birth name was William Hasmou Clinic, was the eighth Muslim from Britain to be killed while fighting for the Islamic State. Read more…

By Yoram Ettinger, ISRAEL HAYOM

The assumption that Israel’s economic growth depends on peace accords, and that Israel’s economy cannot withstand BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) pressure, are inconsistent with reality.

In fact, Israel’s unique economic growth — from $1.5 billion GDP in 1949 to $300 billion in 2014, from $50 million in exports in 1949 to $97 billion in 2014, and from no foreign exchange reserves in 1949 to $92 billion in 2014 — has been driven by aliyah (Jewish immigration), fiscal responsibility, brain power, cutting-edge commercial and defense technologies, exports, military deterrence and (most recently) the discovery of natural gas reserves. Not by the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, or by the Oslo Accords with the PLO.

Israel’s GDP surged by 8-14 percent annually in the years following Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War (1967-1972), and by 9 percent after the aliyah wave of a million olim from the Soviet Union in 1990. On the other hand, the post-Oslo (1993-1996) economic growth of 4-7 percent was triggered mainly by the aliyah ripple effect, but was marred by rapidly deteriorating budget and trade deficits.

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MK Struk slams Ya’alon over bevy of unjust practices in Judea-Samaria favoring illegal Arab activity, changing facts on the ground.

By Ari Yashir, INN

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon (Likud) had no choice but to essentially concede to figures presented against him in a question session at the Knesset on Wednesday by MK Orit Struk (Jewish Home), which reveal the unfair practices against Jews in Judea and Samaria.

The exchange between Struk and Ya’alon, in Hebrew, can be seen here:

Struk began by responding to Ya’alon’s plan to heighten criminal enforcement of construction crimes, noting there is enforcement on only 2% of construction crimes inside sovereign Israeli territory, with percentages much higher in Judea and Samaria.

I received this letter from Ezra Levant a prominent advocate for Israel and against Muslim antisemites.

Today I lost the lawsuit against me brought by Khurrum Awan, the former youth president of the Canadian Islamic Congress.

You can read the full ruling here. The judge awarded Awan a whopping $80,000 plus legal costs.

I am reviewing the technical aspects of the ruling with my lawyer. But there is something terrifying, buried in this ruling, that I already know I simply must appeal — all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.

On paragraph 166 of the decision, the judge ruled that calling Awan an anti-Semite is defamatory, and that’s one of the reasons I lost, and have to pay him so much money.

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A body politic barred from determining who may dwell within its boundaries is not a free, democratic society.

By Carolne Glick, JPOST

Following last Tuesday’s jihadist massacre of four rabbis and a police officer at the Bnei Torah Kehillat Yaakov synagogue in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ordered law enforcement bodies to act immediately to destroy the homes of the two terrorist murderers who carried out that attack. He also directed them to destroy the homes of the terrorists who carried out the three other recent attacks in Jerusalem.

The following day, police destroyed the home of one terrorist murderer. Two more homes were supposed to be destroyed in short order.

But then the EU-funded radical leftist NGO Hamoked – Center for the Defense of the Individual petitioned the Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, opposing the orders.

Wednesday the court issued an injunction prohibiting state authorities from carrying out the house demolition orders.
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If the Jews are to prevail in the Arabs’ war against them it is essential that they accurately differentiate misleading red herrings from real root causes.

By Martin Sherman, JPOST

Our forces are now entirely ready not only to repulse any aggression, but to initiate it ourselves, and to destroy the Zionist presence in the Arab homeland of Palestine. The Syrian army, with its finger on the trigger, is united. I believe the time has come to begin a battle of annihilation.

– Hafez Assad, then Syrian defense minister, later president, May 20, 1967 We will not accept any… coexistence with Israel.

The existence of Israel is in itself an aggression…against the Palestinian people.

– Gamal Abdel Nasser, president of Egypt, to the international media, May 28, 1967

The existence of Israel is an error which must be rectified. This is our opportunity to wipe out the ignominy which has been with us since 1948. Our goal is clear – to wipe Israel off the map.

– Abdul Rahman Arif, president of Iraq, May 31, 1967
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