The Bush  letter of ’04: (10 years ago)

As part of a final peace settlement, Israel must have secure and recognized borders, which should emerge from negotiations between the parties in accordance with UNSC Resolutions 242 and 338. In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli populations centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949, and all previous efforts to negotiate a two-state solution have reached the same conclusion. It is realistic to expect that any final status agreement will only be achieved on the basis of mutually agreed changes that reflect these realities

First, the United States remains committed to my vision and to its implementation as described in the roadmap. The United States will do its utmost to prevent any attempt by anyone to impose any other plan.

Israel should maintain that the exchange of letters by PM Sharon and Pres Bush, 10 years ago, amount to an agreement which is still binding today, though Pres Obama has disavowed it. Israel should argue that the agreement is binding on the US and therefore she can continue to build in these settlements. Furthermore it should remind Obama that the US is committed to prevent any other plan from being presented. Ted Belman

New east Jerusalem construction plan gets go-aheadJerusalem District Planning and Building Committee approves plan to build 500 housing units in Ramat Shlomo, across Green Line • U.S. condemns move • President Reuven Rivlin: Jerusalem will not be divided again.

By Yori Yalon, Daniel Siryoti, Yoni Hirsch, Israel Hayom Staff and The Associated Press

Israel should take the position that they will build according to the Bush letter and n0t Obama’s denial of it. She should also reiterate, Peace, yes: 67 lines plus swaps never. Ted Belman

Presenting a peace plan in secretary of state’s meeting with Palestinian negotiator would be unproductive, State Dept. spokeswoman says; ‘It’s up to the parties to take steps.’

AFP, YNET

Top US diplomat John Kerry on Monday was to meet the chief Palestinian negotiator but would not unveil an American peace plan, an official said, adding such a move would be unproductive.

“There are no current plans to introduce a peace plan,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, dismissing reports that proposals would be laid on the table during Kerry’s meeting with Saeb Erakat in Washington.

Kerry’s bid to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians ended in failure earlier this year, leaving bitter recriminations on both sides. Read more…

America needs to be a policeman, not a priest.

By Bret Stephens, WSJ

It’s been nearly a decade since George W. Bush delivered his second inaugural address, which contained this remarkable line:

“It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.”

If the GOP takes the Senate on Tuesday and wants to learn how to speak foreign policy again, it has to unlearn that line.

Republicans know what’s wrong with Barack Obama ’s foreign policy. He has given the U.S. the reputation of a faithless friend and feckless foe. He sent thousands of troops into Afghanistan with no intention of defeating the Taliban, raising the cost by cheapening the goal. He squandered a hard-won win in Iraq with a fumbled exit.
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Because the national-religious rabbinic leadership has been unable to impose its will on the fate of Judaism in Israel for so long, a backlash has developed.

By Jeremy Sharon, JPOST

\The intense battle waged in recent months, over the conversion bill that was approved by the government on Sunday reflects a broader battle within Israel between competing perspectives on how to deal with the challenges that face Judaism in the modern Jewish state.

This battle has been brewing for many years and pits the more rigid, unyielding stance of the haredi world to protect Judaism from outside influence or dilution, against the desire within parts of the national-religious leadership to preserve traditional Orthodox Judaism as the mainstay of Jewish identity in Israel by utilizing the flexibility of Jewish law to accommodate difficult circumstances currently facing the Jewish people. Read more…

Aside from rhetoric, the GOI is doing little to make and keep Jerusalem Jewish and undivided. There is a policy vacuum here. The GOI is afraid to do anything dramatic, that would make a difference. It cannot bring itself to enforce equal rights on the Temple Mount or to demolish all homes built without permits, or to make housing more affordable for Jewish couples. Perhaps we should accept reality and make plans accordingly. What’s wrong with a divided Jerusalem especially if we can’t do anything about the Temple Mount. As long as the TM remains theirs in any event, why do we want the Arab areas in Israel. Redraw the Border. Exclude the Arab areas. Aggresively build in the Jewish areas. and so on. Ted Belman

Despite 50 years of trying, the capital of the State of Israel will soon be half Jewish and half Arab; so much for the great Zionist experiment.

By Yaron London, VNET

Presumably, the unrest in Jerusalem will soon subside. The law enforcement authorities will turn the screws and deter the rioters. The rain will douse the flames, but the embers will still remain. A few months will go by and again the smoldering coals will reignite. A few Jews and Arabs will be murdered, the security forces will clamp down again, and the cycle will continue. This is the optimistic script for the future of the capital, which is serving as a laboratory for testing the concept of annexation.

The experiment has been underway for half a century. The representative sample encompasses a large proportion of Israel’s residents, and the numerical ratio between the Jews and the Arabs living in the city corresponds with the demographic reality that prevails in the expanse between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

The measures of control employed in Jerusalem are similar to those that the proponents of annexation believe should be implemented throughout the country: The Arabs will be afforded the status of permanent residents, without citizenship rights that facilitate participation in government. One has to, therefore, make the following inference: Events in the now-united capital foretell of the future that lies ahead in the single state that the annexation proponents are wishing to see established.
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[I am a week late in posting this but I think it is not too late. Ted Belman]

By Rob Muchnick, US Director Manhigut Yehudit 10/30/2014, 6:10 PM

In the wake of the Obama administration’s undiplomatic name-calling of Bibi and also yesterday’s assassination attempt on Rabbi Yehuda Glick’s life, I think that we need to take a look at ourselves and determine whether or not we and our leaders are all ‘chickensh*t’, apathetic, or something worse.

Rabbi Glick, one of the most prominent fighters for Jewish rights on the Temple Mount, was shot yesterday by an Arab who was recently released from Israeli prison. He was most certainly targeted for his activism on behalf of the holiest site in Judaism, as every Israeli government since G-d liberated the Mount for us in 1967 has denied Jewish rights on the spot where our Holy Temples stood.

Today the Israeli government responded by closing the Mount to Jews, giving the shooter exactly what he wanted. Instead, Bibi should have closed the Mount to Muslims, announced that he was permitting unfettered access to Jews to pray there, that a shul will be built there immediately, and that honest plans will commence for how to proceed with constructing the Third Temple.
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The following is Obama’s plan against Israel after the November elections per top experts on Israeli national TV. Oded Granot and Ayala Hason, ]

* US asked the Palestinian leader, Abu Mazen to delay the current UN discussion and resolution against Israel till after the Nov election in order to come up with a mutual suggestion against Israel, heavily supported by the USA.

* USA want to sign a bad agreement with Iran on their Nuclear Program and let them run all 5,000 centrifuges

* USA is supporting 10 more European countries to recognize the state of Palestine.

* In Israel, a senior political official said, “It’s possible the comments [against Netanyahu, see below] were made ahead of the signing of a bad nuclear deal with Iran, with the knowledge that Israel’s Prime Minister will harshly criticize such a deal.” According to the official, the Americans timed the attack on Netanyahu to delegitimize him ahead of this expected criticism.

BY: Washington Examiner

During the 2008 presidential election, as skeptics of Barack Obama questioned his support for Israel, his campaign, with help from media allies, pursued an aggressive counteroffensive. The strategy was to delegitimize reasonable criticism of Obama’s record by lumping it together with zany conspiracy theories from fringe figures and anonymous Internet commenters.

Weeks before the election, the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg wrote a post titled, “Dear Jews: Stop the Obama Paranoia.” He urged, “all you rumor-mongering, fever-headed Jewish conspiracists: Support McCain, if you want, and there are credible reasons for doing so, but stop smearing Obama in the face of overwhelming evidence that the man is a great friend of Jews and of Israel. After a point, it becomes obvious that what you fear is not Israel’s destruction, but the presence of an African-American in the White House. And that’s disgusting.”
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JPOST

PM Netnyahu met secretly with Jordan’s King Abdullah on Saturday amid recent tensions between Jordan and Israel over violence on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and access to the site.

Netanyahu and Abdullah agreed to increase cooperation in order to calm tensions at the site, according to a report in the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida.

In addition, Al-Jarida reported that Netanyahu intends to prevent Jews from entering the Temple Mount in the immediate future. Netanyahu will also reportedly create new avenues for tourists to visit the site.

The Prime Minister’s Office on Monday declined to comment on the report.

Abdullah promised last week that Jordan would safeguard holy Muslim and Christian sites in Jerusalem, as a former senior official warned yesterday that aggressive Israeli actions will lead to a third intifada.
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Sorry to say this article is a HOAX.

Take your hats off for CANADA.

We must all hail, praise, acclaim, herald and admire this brave country for having the courage to take a stand against anti-Semitism and in support of Israel.

In the wake of the “leader” of the free world calling its best ally “chickenshit,” the difference between the US and Canada cannot be more stark. Common border, yes, common leadership – a monumental gulf apart.

Canada leads the way, now let’s see how many European and other countries will join. Let’s see who will join Canada in the UN against Arab-“Palestinian” hate, lies and propaganda.

As Canada’s Foreign Minister John Baird said: “Canada will not stand behind Israel at the United Nations, we will stand right beside it. It is never a bad thing to do the right thing.”

The Truth Provider

 

http://www.speakersaction.com/news/critical-issues/canada-first-country-to-sign-ottawa-protocol

Canada Becomes First Country To Sign The Ottawa Protocol

The government of Canada took an historic step yesterday by signing the Ottawa Protocol to combat anti-Semitism. By doing so, it recognized anti-Semitism as a pernicious evil and a global threat against the Jewish people, the State of Israel and free, democratic countries everywhere. As Prime Minister Stephen Harper has noted, “Those who would hate and destroy the Jewish people would ultimately hate and destroy the rest of us as Well.”

The protocol is a declaration that hatred of this nature will not be tolerated in this country. It sets out an action plan for supporting initiatives that combat anti-Semitism and provides a framework for other nations to follow. Read more…

By NIr Hassan, HAARETZ

The success of right-wing activist Yehuda Glick and the Temple Mountmovement in recent years stems in part from the change Glick led in the discourse about the Mount. Instead of fiery threats to blow up the mosques and build the Temple, Glick argued the right to worship as a human right. His main point: It is inconceivable for a Jew not to be able to pray at the site most sacred of all to Jews, and that Jews who visit the Temple Mount are considered unwanted guests and are closely scrutinized, prohibited from conduct considered provocative, and first and foremost prohibited from praying.
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See also: Line between Jew and gentile no longer as clear

Israel’s Law of Return allows people with Jewish ancestry to receive Israeli citizenship, but strident religious rules exclude many from the faith itself – some nine million people.

YNET

[..] According to the study by Prof. Sergio DellaPergola from the Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University, as of the beginning of 2014, the number of Jews (people born to Jewish mothers) stands at 14,212,800 (a 0.66 percent increase in comparison to 2013). If you take into account those born to Jewish fathers, but non-Jewish mothers, the number rises to 17,236,850.

The number jumps to 22,921,500 when you take into account people who can trace Jewish ancestry three generations back – the maximum allowed by the Law of Return. The definition is similar to the one laid out by the Nazi’s Nuremberg Laws, and is thus understood to be Israel’s response to the threat posed to Jews by anti-Semitism based on racial – as opposed to religious – criteria.
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YNET

86% of responders have an unfavorable opinion of Israel, while only 2% view it positively; Turks also harbor a strong dislike to terror organizations – 80% dislike Hamas, 85% dislike Hezbollah.

New English Review

Today is the 10^th Anniversary of the assassination of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh by an Islamikaze Mohammed Bouyeri, a Dutch Moroccan citizen, on the streets of Amsterdam.   Van Gogh’s  assassin, Bouyeri is held up as a “hero” by  Dutch Muslims. Yesterday, we posted on how this day, a decade ago, changed the life of the  leader of the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) the Hon. Geert Wilders and his family.  Today marked the  day , when,  as a reaction to Van Gogh’s  murder,  Wilders was  placed under 24/7 protection by the Royal Dutch Protective Service.  That protection continues  reflecting the death theats against Wilder’s life. That hasn’t deterred  Wilders from becoming a vigorous critic of  political Islam  and defender of the right to  criticize a religion. A religion whose doctrine motivated Bouyeri to kill Van Gogh for his  short film, Submission,  about  abuse and  denial women’s rights under Islam.

NLTimes reported  how Van Gogh’s  death  was commemorated today, The Netherlands marks Theo van Gogh’s  murder: 
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OBAMAISM, A QUASI-SOCIALIST COMMITMENT TO A MORE POWERFUL GOVERNMENT AT HOME AND AN ABDICATION OF AMERICAN LEADERSHIP AROUND THE WORLD, IS BEING EXPOSED AS A HISTORIC CALAMITY.

By Michael Goodwin, NY POST

In the New York Times the other day, anonymous aides to President Obama trashed Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. Kerry was mocked mercilessly, with officials joking “that he is like the astronaut played by Sandra Bullock in the movie ‘Gravity,’ somersaulting through space, untethered to the White House.”

A week before that, The Times reported that, despite Obama’s public efforts to calm fears over Ebola, he was privately seething at health aides’ bungling. In a bid to separate him from the incompetence of his administration, the leakers claimed Obama was “visibly angry” and “demanded a more hands-on approach” from his team.
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1. BACKGROUND

The Obama Administration and Iran have developed closer secret diplomatic ties over the past months. A key player in this back channel deal making is Valerie Jarrett. It is now known that Jarrett had traveled to Iran for a series of secret ,top-level contact meetings. Jarrett is probably President Obama’s closest confident and advisor. From Obama’s very first political discussions and fundraising meetings, she was instrumental in his political rise. She has always been a close member of his inner group having hired Michelle Obama 1st into Chicago city government and then to be a vice president of the University of Chicago Hospital.

According to the WSJ and numerous US and Arab officials, Washington and Iran have been conducting secret discussions regarding mutual regional interests, and the fight against their common enemy, the Islamic State (IS or ISIS) terror group.
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By Dr KObi Machael, ISRAEL HAYOM

The Islamic State group has become a phenomenon with ripple effects that are felt in three circles: local, regional and international. On the local level, Islamic State is an existential threat to the residents of northern Syria, specifically the Kurdish minority, as well as regions in north-eastern Iraq. On the regional level, we have witnessed the enlistment of various jihadist groups joining Islamic State. And on the international level there is the ongoing phenomenon of foreigners volunteering to join Islamic State, including Western nationals.

The international coalition formed to fight Islamic State has increased the awareness of the group and cannot truly eliminate the threat. Islamic State does not have territorial continuity nor borders, it exists on “islands” throughout a large swath of land. Its fighters move from place to place, showcasing their brutality at every stop, an efficient tool in suppressing the local populace, getting new volunteers and “convincing” local groups to join it. Islamic State is also a savvy user of social media networks when it comes to spreading its message.
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Kerem Shalom, Erez crossings closed following rocket fire at Israel; Egypt speeds up project to create buffer zone on Gaza border after satellite images show hundreds of smuggling tunnels remain.

Roi Kais, Elior Levy, Yoav Zitun, YNET

The Gaza Strip will be completed isolated from the world starting Sunday after Israel decided to close both the Kerem Shalom and Erez border crossings and Egypt has accelerated its plans to create a buffer zone on the Sinai-Gaza border.

Yisrael Medad, INN

I think this following information is necessary for a fuller understanding of the matter:

Jordan: Peace treaty with Israel under threat should Al-Aqsa violation continue

Jordan’s government spokesman Mohammed Mumuni said that the peace accord with Israel, signed 20 years ago this week, was under threat should Israel continue its violations of the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount, Arab-language Sky News reported.  Mumuni slammed Israel for saying it was working to preserve the status-quo in the flashpoint site while actually doing the opposite.  He further noted that Jordan had formulated a plan to address Israel’s actions in East Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.

Jordanians have been ranting about this matter for months. Read more…