By Uri Heitner, ISRAEL HAYOM

There is no contradiction, not even a tiny sliver of contradiction, between Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people and Israel as a liberal democracy that grants universal equal rights to all its citizens.

Though it has not yet officially passed, it is unfortunately already obvious that the discourse surrounding the Jewish state law is an indication of the worrying triumph of post-Zionism over the public consciousness.

The announcement of the state’s establishment in 1948 spoke about “the establishment of a Jewish state in the Land of Israel … in view of our natural and historic right.” Every nation has the natural right to an independent state in its homeland. The historic right is the right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel.
Read more…

By Dror Eydar, Israel Hayom, 11-24-14

Two kinds of people oppose the Jewish state bill (which, if passed, would become a constitutional Basic Law defining Israel as the national home of the Jewish people):
*Naive people, who pretend to be familiar with the content of the bill but don’t really know what it is about, and *people who actually oppose the idea of a Jewish state but try to disguise their opposition with generalizations.

There are several versions of this bill, and on Sunday the cabinet voted in favor of the prime minister’s bill, a revised version of the bill initially penned by Likud MK Zeev Elkin. I spoke with some of the bill’s opponents in the cabinet and learned that they were willing to support the prime minister’s version, but not Elkin’s or the version penned by Habayit Hayehudi MK Ayelet Shaked. Fine. Let’s see what they do down the line.
Read more…

By Yoram Hazony, TOI

As civil war rages in Syria-Iraq, Libya and Yemen, and tensions between Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem reach levels not seen in more than a decade, the Israeli government has approved a ‘Jewish State Law’ that will confirm Israel’s constitutional standing as “the nation-state of the Jewish people.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been devoting a great deal of time and attention to this piece of legislation, which outsiders might find incongruous.

Some on the Israeli left, backed by prominent voices in the American media, have urged that the law is an unneeded provocation, if not simply racist. In fact, however, the Jewish State law is much needed at this time — not only to assure Israel’s long-term viability, but also as the harbinger of a future solution to the broader crisis of legitimacy that has crippled the entire state system in the Middle East.
Read more…

UAE says Council on American-Islamic Relations should be banned, US disagrees.

By Zvi Mayzel, INN

The list of terrorist organizations published on November 16 by the United Arab Emirates cabinet is causing acute embarrassment in the West, since the Muslim Brotherhood and all its offshoots, from the Middle East to Africa, Asia, Europe and the US, figure prominently there.

The UAE did not stop there and, alongside the usual suspects – al-Qaida and its affiliates, Islamic State, Boko Haram, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis and the like, listed well-known Islamic organizations in Italy, Sweden, Finland, Serbia, Great Britain (four), Denmark, Norway, Germany, Belgium and the United States (two). Though all are NGOs operating as welfare associations or associations for the defense of the rights of Muslim minorities in Western countries, they have strong ties to the Brotherhood. Some of these organizations were created by the first waves of Arab immigrants to Europe in the ’50s and were later taken over by the Muslim Brothers; others were created by the Brotherhood at the same time to make sure that the newcomers – students and workers – kept their Islamic identity and did not integrate into Western society.
Read more…

Slomiansky reveals how Israeli funds continue to reach terrorists despite staggering PA debt, and what he intends to do about it.

By Shimon Cohen, Ari Yashar, INN

Knesset Finance Committee chairman MK Nissan Slomiansky (Jewish Home) told Arutz Sheva he is looking for legislative and parliamentary means to block the transfer of funds from Israel to the Palestinian Authority (PA).

“We must recognize there’s a crazy absurdness here that I don’t understand,” Slomiansky said. “A terrorist who murdered and attacked and goes into jail has his finances covered during the years in jail, for him and his family.”

The MK described how money finds its way from the PA to the families of the terrorists and into their personal accounts – all while Israel passes on to the PA taxes it collects for it as per the Paris Protocol and the Oslo Accords, even as the PA fails to stand by its agreements, and owes Israel staggering sums, including over 1.4 billion shekels (over $360 million) in unpaid electric bills.
Read more…

Tzipi Livni vows to fight the Jewish State bill and may vote against it – forcing Netanyahu to fire her. Yair Lapid has vowed to vote ‘nay.’

By Gil Ronen, INN

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s coalition is hurtling toward a crash that could spell its end on Wednesday, as Netanyahu prepares to bring the Jewish State law to a Knesset vote.

At Netanyahu’s insistence, the government decided Sunday that all coalition MKs – including ministers – will be bound by coalition discipline in the vote, and must vote in favor of it.

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who heads Hatnua, a coalition partner with 6 MKs, is adamantly opposed to the bill.

In an interview with Channel 2 Sunday evening, Livni said: “I will not lend a hand to this bill. It’s a bad, anti-Zionist, anti-democratic law which is contrary to the Declaration of Independence. I will not be a partner of it in any way, shape or form. If the prime minister decides to dismiss ministers who are fighting for a Jewish-democratic Israel, that can certainly be his decision. I have never given up on my principles,” she added.
Read more…

By Daniel Greenfield, FPM

There are no Palestinians. There are no moderate Syrian rebels. There is only Islam.

The axe that fell on the head of a Rabbi in Jerusalem was held by the same hand that beheaded Yazidi men in the new Islamic State. It is the same hand that held the steering wheel of the car that ran over two Canadian soldiers in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec and the same hand that smashed a hatchet down on the skull of a rookie New York City cop in Queens all in a matter of months.

Their victims were of different races and spoke different languages. They had nothing in common except that they were non-Muslims. This is the terrible commonality that unites the victims of Islamic terror.

Either they are not Muslim. Or they are not Muslim enough for their killers.
Read more…

By Ted belman

The bill is aimed at giving equal weight to the principles of Israel as a democracy and as a Jewish state.

When the Knesset says these values are equal. where does that leave the law.  Does that mean that future legislation must satisfy both or that the courts can choose what value to uphold?

I wanted the provisions making Israel a Jewish state to be inviolable or at least to have a higher value. I don’t know how this equal thing will work in practice.

The Elkin version reportedly defined Israel’s democracy as subservient to its Jewish character and demoted Arabic from its status as an official language.

Israeli official cites “sunset clause” in proposed comprehensive deal, which guarantees Iran a path into the nuclear club and may corner Israel into war.

By Michael Wilner, JPOST

Israel Air Force planes fly over Tel Aviv. . (photo credit:IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)

WASHINGTON – Historic negotiations with Iran will reach an inflection point on Monday, as world powers seek to clinch a comprehensive deal that will, to their satisfaction, end concerns over the nature of its vast, decade-old nuclear program.

But reflecting on the deal under discussion with The Jerusalem Post on the eve of the deadline, Israel has issued a stark, public warning to its allies with a clear argument: Current proposals guarantee the perpetuation of a crisis, backing Israel into a corner from which military force against Iran provides the only logical exit.

The deal on the table
Read more…

By Moran Azulay, YNET

The public storm brewing in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition over a vote on the ‘Nationality Law’ will reach a critical point on Sunday when the bill comes to a vote at the weekly cabinet meeting.

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni will oppose two measures scheduled for a vote tomorrow. “I will firmly oppose any legislative proposal which hurts the values of the State of Israel as laid down in the Declaration of Independence,” she said Saturday evening.

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has also expressed his opposition to the proposal saying there were fundamental difficulties in the legislation which he could not endorse as the chief legal counselor to the government.

Last week, the justice minister utilized her authority as the chair of the ministerial committee on legislation to postpone debate of the sensitive proposal, after the prime minister expressed his support for the formulation presented to the committee.
Read more…

Ted Belman.  My take away from this analysis is that the IDF concern is to maintain calm. That is their agenda and thus they are against political agendas that incite rather than calm. It is clear that Netanyahu sees eye to eye with them.  So his policies focus on pacifying the Arabs rather than advancing our national rights.  When Netanyahu talks tough it is mostly for show to Israelis. He prefers to offer big carrots to the Arabs to restore and maintain calm.

Escalation in Jerusalem and the West Bank brings fear of religious warfare. ‘Road attacks’ are on the rise. Threats in the north and south demand attention. Meanwhile, the IDF waits for new chief of staff to be announced.

By Ron Ben-Yishai, YNET

[..] But there is a rising number of so-called “road attacks” such as the use of cars as weapons, stone-throwing, and use of firearms.

This type of violence was also common in previous intifadas, but this time religious motivation is stronger than before, and may drag us along with the entire region into a religious war. The Hamas plan to assassinate Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is but one example of the “road terror” the IDF faces in the West Bank.

Another cause for concern is growing evidence that the Palestinian Authority’s security apparatuses are losing motivation. They are following Mahmoud Abbas’s orders and curbing a significant portion of disturbances — even disrupting Hamas infrastructure — but not with the level of efficiency and thoroughness seen mere months ago.
Read more…

Omri Ceren, TIP

Reuters broke this about 90 minutes ago: the P5+1 “will likely stop short of demanding full disclosure of any secret weapon work by Tehran.”

The concession – which involves letting Iran slide on its obligation to come clean over the possible military dimensions (PMDs) of its atomic program – is likely to prove enormously controversial both politically and substantively. I’ve pasted the whole article below if you want to read the whole thing. It includes flabbergasted quotes from Western officials like “I believe the PMD issue is not a deal-breaker even though it probably should be.”

Politically, the demand has been a cornerstone of Western diplomacy and a key way the Obama administration reassured skeptics of its diplomacy:

* The demand was a hard-fought part of United Nations Security Council 1929, which demands that “Iran shall cooperate fully with the IAEA on all outstanding issues, particularly those which give rise to concerns about the possible military dimensions of the Iranian nuclear programme, including by providing access without delay to all sites, equipment, persons and documents requested by the IAEA” (http://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?docid=4c1f2eb32)
Read more…

By Carol Brown,  AMERICAN THINKER

When the new Congress is sworn in next year, Michele Bachmann will no longer be serving. And it will be a major loss to America.

Bachmann has been a rare and nearly lone voice sounding the alarm about the threat of Islam and about government infiltration by the Muslim Brotherhood.

And for speaking the sobering truth, she has been mocked, ridiculed, dismissed, and/or ignored. Not just by those on the left, but by those on the right, as well.

In honor of Congresswoman Bachmann, I’ve selected a few interviews and articles that highlight her courageous voice.

Here is an excerpt from a 2012 interview with Glenn Beck:
Read more…

The US Left keep complaining that Israel is the largest recipient, per capita, of US foreign Aid amounting to $3B per year. They totally ignore what the US gets in return, which by all account greatly exceeds the investment. This “aid” should be reclassified as a defense expenditure, which it really is. It would be less that 0.5 % of the total yearly US Defense Budget of $650B. As Ettinger keeps reminding us, if Israel wasn’t looking out after US interests in the ME, the US would have to expend many times more to get the same value. Ted Belman

By Yoram Ettinger, ISRAEL HAYOM

A House committeE chairman says peshmerga fighters “have proven to be the most effective ground force currently fighting ISIL.”

World Bulletin/News Desk

Congress on Thursday introduced legislation to directly arm Kurdish forces in the country’s north, a move likely to prompt alarm within the Iraqi central government,

Introduced by House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce, the legislation grants President Barack Obama temporary authority to provide weapons directly to Kurdish peshmerga fighters, which Royce said “have proven to be the most effective ground force currently fighting ISIL.”

“For months, I have urged the administration to urgently arm the Kurds. So too have many others in Congress,” he said in a statement emailed to reporters. “This important legislation will finally allow the 190,000-strong force to get the firepower it needs to effectively fight this brutal terrorist organization.”
Read more…

by PAUL REVOIR, DAILY MAIL

The BBC has been accused of “shameful hypocrisy” over its decision to spend £200,000 blocking a freedom of information request about its reporting in the Middle East.

The corporation, which has itself made extensive use of FOI requests in its journalism, is refusing to release papers about an internal inquiry into whether its reporting has been biased towards Palestine.

BBC chiefs have been accused of wasting thousands of pounds of licence fee payers money trying to cover-up the findings of the so called Balen Report into its journalism in the region, despite the fact that the corporation is funded by the British public.
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

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

In my column last Friday, I warned that we were on the cusp of carnage. This grim prognosis came true even more rapidly than I had feared.

Early on Tuesday morning, Arab terrorists brutally struck down Jews at prayer inside a Jerusalem synagogue. Read more…

The horrible truth is that all of the anti-Jewish slaughters perpetrated by our Arab neighbors have been motivated to greater or lesser degrees by Islamic Jew-hatred.

By Caroline Glick, JPOST

What we are seeing in Jerusalem today is not simply Palestinian terrorism. It is Islamic jihad. No one likes to admit it. The television reporters insist that this is the worst possible scenario because there is no way to placate it.

There is no way to reason with it.

So what else is new? The horrible truth is that all of the anti-Jewish slaughters perpetrated by our Arab neighbors have been motivated to greater or lesser degrees by Islamic Jew-hatred. The only difference between the past hundred years and now is that today our appeasement-oriented elite is finding it harder to pretend away the obvious fact that we cannot placate our enemies.

No “provocation” by Jews drove two Jerusalem Arabs to pick up meat cleavers and a rifle and slaughter rabbis in worship like sheep and then mutilate their bodies. Read more…

Fireworks, knives and Tasers found in shipment from China apparently intended for Palestinian rioters clashing with Israeli security forces.

JPOST

A massive amount of fireworks, knives and Tasers police believe were meant in part to be used by rioters clashing with police were seized last week by Jerusalem District detectives and officers from the Tax Authority and the Ashdod Port Customs, police announced on Thursday.

Police said the seizure came after Jerusalem detectives ran an undercover investigation along with the tax and customs officials, during which they were able to track and seize two shipping containers which came to Ashdod by way of China. The fireworks were hidden among Christmas decorations inside the containers, which were intended for Arab residents of the largely Christian east Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina. Read more…

Congressional appropriators pen letter to Palestinian Authority president warning him that aid predicated on PA commitment to countering incitement of violence against Israelis.

JPOST

Washington top congressioal appropriators told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that Congress “remains committed” to conditions for continued funding of the PA, including controlling incitement.

“This aid is predicated on the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to countering terrorism and pursuing a comprehensive peace with Israel,” said the letter sent Thursday signed by Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), the chairman of the US House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), the ranking Democrat on the committee and Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), the chairwoman of its foreign operations subcommittee.

“US law also clearly stipulates that the Palestinian Authority must act to counter the incitement of violence against Israelis in order to continue receiving US assistance,” the letter said, adding: “We remain resolute in our commitment to these conditions.” Read more…