TOI Staff

While apparently trying to be polite and stressing that he was delivering his critiques “without naming anyone,” Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon launched what amounted to a scathing assessment of Obama Administration wrongheadedness on the Middle East in an extraordinary interview at the end of his trip to the United States.

In comments that were candid even by his characteristically no-nonsense standards, Ya’alon castigated the misconception — most recently voiced by Secretary of State John Kerry – that the failure to solve the Palestinian conflict was provoking extremism elsewhere in the region. He rejected the notion — at the core of Kerry’s failed peace efforts — that territorial concessions by Israel would resolve the Palestinian conflict, calling it “irrational.” And he dismissed the idea — central to the vision of this and other recent US administrations — that Palestinian Authority President is a partner for peace.
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This is a very long but important interview. It sheds much light on the debates taking place within the government.

In regard to the peace process, she said:

“In April, we made progress to the point of formulating an American proposal based on which Netanyahu was willing to continue the talks. With respect to both the issue of borders and the issue of the settlement blocs, the American proposal was worded in a way that could have led to a fair and balanced solution. Bayit Yehudi didn’t quit the government. It remained throughout.

“I remember that Tuesday on which Uri Ariel and Ze’ev Haver, the settler leaders, came to Netanyahu. I was there. They said to him with woeful looks on their faces: We understand that it’s a done deal. And Netanyahu responded: Correct; it’s a done deal.

I wonder what she considers a “fair and balanced solution”. Ted Belman

In a wide ranging interview, the justice minister discusses her determination to pursue peace talks, the deal with Lapid and Lieberman, her opposition to restricting the High Court, and how she became a defender of women’s rights.

By Nahum Barnea and Tova Tzimuki, YNET

Tzipi Livni describes herself as “task driven.” Her daily agenda is constructed of tasks – anything that fails to promote their completion is unimportant. For a few years, the task was to become prime minister. That mission, as we know, failed, and now looks further off than ever before.

To aspire to be prime minister is power, but it is also, and perhaps primarily, a weakness. The fear of getting into conflicts, breaking political alliances, upsetting vote contractors is crippling and emasculating. Livni is free of such constraints. She doesn’t have to contend with a central committee that puts the squeeze on, a faction breathing down her neck, ominous surveys; she’s a free agent.

Now, the political process is her task, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the means; and the course of action of which she speaks for the first time in this interview is the consolidation of a joint political front with Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid faction. Read more…

Op-ed: US secretary of state keeps saying Israeli-Palestinian issue cannot remain unchanged. What about the situation in Syria, Iraq, Russia, China and Turkey?

BY GUY BECHOR, YNET

Like a regular mantra, US Secretary of State John Kerry has a habit of saying that the Israeli-Palestinian issue cannot remain unchanged.

Strangely enough, he isn’t saying that about the conflict in Syria, where the death toll has already crossed the 200,000 mark with people being slaughtered, beheaded and dying in different ways, on its way to the 250,000 mark; he isn’t saying that about four million refugees from Syria and 10 million displaced people; he isn’t saying that about the Islamic State, which is beheading people and butchering minorities; he isn’t saying that about Iraq, which has been torn into pieces, or about Baghdad’s airport which is about to fall into the hands of jihadist terror.

He isn’t saying that about Libya either, a country controlled by a coalition of insane jihad organizations, on the verge of Europe. He isn’t saying that about Yemen, which has died and is controlled by wild tribes navigated from behind the scenes by the “smiling” Iran; he isn’t saying that about the intolerable uranium enrichment in Tehran, which has him and the West wrapped around its little finger.
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The problem is not with how to restart the peace process but with the peace process itself.

Herb Keinon is a very respected political commentator but he fails to focus, as the whole world does, on the heart of problem. The problem isn’t with process, i.e., how to get the people back to the negotiating table. So long as the parties aren’t forced, directly or indirectly, to make substantial compromises, negotiations will go nowhere. The US, EU and UN are trying to force Israel to cut a deal that 75% of Israelis reject and that is an existential threat to Israel. Rather than forcing the PA to compromise, they support their demand for ’67 lines plus swaps, and underwrite all costs of their intransigence. It doesn’t cost the PA anything when they are intransigent or incite violence or preach resistance not peace. By pushing the peace process, they hope to force Israel to capitulate or at a minimum to prevent israel from advancing their hold on Judea and Samaria because this would end the hope that their vision of a deal i.e.,’67 lines plus swaps and division of Jerusalem. They ignore the fact that this deal isn’t enough for the PA who still demand the “right of return”, won’t recognize Israel as a Jewish state and won’t sign an end of conflict agreement.

The only viable solution to the conflict is to allow Israel manage the conflict as she sees fit even if the Arabs don’t like it. Israel should be permitted to fashion any solution it perceives as doable even if it doesn’t allow for the creation of a Palestinian state. The object of the exercise should not be to declare a Palestinian state but to resolve the conflict. In effect the world is preventing the resolution of the conflict by demanding a Palestinian state. Ted Belman

Kerry wants more talks; Abbas wants “Palestine” without peace; Netanyahu says “Arab world first.” Six months after breakdown of negotiations, everyone is grasping at straws.

By Herb Keinon, JPOST

The diplomatic process with the Palestinians is stuck, and – judging by recent comments by US Secretary of State John Kerry, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – no one has a realistic idea about how to get it unstuck.
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Michael Curtis wrote an article titled Russia and Israel: A Beautiful Friendship?. American Thinker published it.

In it he reviews the relationship over the last 100 years and attempts to point out that it is warming up. I didn’t find it satisfying as a lot was left out.

But what I did find interesting were the comments.

Centre for Security Policy

In February 2009, as President Barack Obama and his new administration were settling into office, the Center for Security Policy published a report I wrote entitled “RISE OF THE ‘IRAN LOBBY’ Tehran’s front groups move on—and into— the Obama Administration.”

This occasional paper from the Center was offered as a warning about the constellation of forces that was just then moving into power positions from which to influence U.S. foreign policy in ways supportive of the Tehran regime’s objectives.

Today, five years later, the disastrous fruits of that network’s efforts are evident across the Middle East in ways both predictable and unforeseen: Iran stands on the brink of deploying deliverable nuclear weapons, Turkey’s leadership sponsors HAMAS terrorism and harbors both neo-Ottoman ambitions and a visceral hatred of the Jewish State of Israel, and an Islamic State proclaiming itself a Caliphate sweeps armies and borders before it, oddly enabled by both Iran and Turkey.”

The Iran Lobby: Alive, well and changing the Face of the Middle East.

By Clare Lopez

The Palestinian Arabs, as a national collective, have failed the test of history. It is high time we drop the charade of their ability to achieve self-governance.

By Martin Sherman, JPOST

What is the point of raising and spending many millions of dollars to rebuild the Gaza Strip just so it can be destroyed in the next war? It’s a harsh question. Given the region’s tragic history, it is also inevitable.

– The New York Times, October 10

Less than two months after Israel’s summer offensive in the Gaza Strip ended, Hamas militants in the coastal enclave are rebuilding their attack tunnels.

– The Jerusalem Post, October 19

One woman survivor of the ship that sank off the coast of Alexandria said Egyptian smugglers had rammed it and that they saw people were drowning and offered no help. But I don’t think even such a terrible incident will stop the phenomenon because people are completely desperate and want to leave… Gaza.

– Haaretz, September 17.

The recent conference in Cairo on the reconstruction of Gaza was a depressing display of farce and hypocrisy.
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By Caroline Glick, JPOST

The decision of the most prestigious opera house in America to produce an opera that mainstreams Jew-hatred and anti-Jewish terrorism is a great victory for elitist anti-Semitism. In the world of elite anti-Semitism, Jews are told that truth is but a narrative. Jewish history and rights have no more merit – indeed less merit – than the lies of Jew-haters. And if Jews dare to object to the propagation of lies against them, they open themselves to the easy accusation that they seek to stifle free speech.

The goal of elitist anti-Semitism is to erode the right of Jews to have and promote Jewish rights and interests. This is done by demonizing those who defend Jewish rights and advance Jewish interests, while elevating and romanticizing the lives and largely false narratives of those who seek to destroy Israel.

The Met’s singular contribution to the cause of elitist anti-Semitism is the prestige its production of The Death of Klinghoffer confers on the cause.
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I told Ari Briggs how glad I am that they are doing it. I also told him that every time I talk about EU criticism of Israel’s actions in Area C as being contrary to Oslo, I always draw attention to the fact that the EU is violating Oslo because they are financially backing Arab attempts to encroach upon Area C. Ted Belman

Yeshiva World

Regavim, the research based legal think tank has announced its intention to release a report presenting tens of cases in which the European Union have actively changed the facts on the ground in Area C to unilaterally harm Israel in final status talks with the Palestinians.

In addition, following reports that the European Union has begun a new wave of diplomatic pressure against the Jewish State. The organization sent an official letter outlining some of their findings to the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister today, with a call to stand strong against EU pressure.
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I met Sherkoh Abbas six years ago after he invited me to join the American Kurdish Friendship League. We have kept in touch. This week we heard some good news, The Iraqi Kurds are being permitted by Turkey to send troops to Kobane to defend the city. While Turkey is at loggerheads with the PKK in Turkey, she has very good relationship with Iraq Kurdistan. The accommodation will also pave the way for a more substantial weapons flow to the Kurds. Ted Belman

An independent Kurdistan would be a reliable Western ally in a tumultuous region. It would be self-sustaining and an asset to the world.

BY RYAN MAURO, THE CLARION PROJECT

Sherkoh Abbas was born in Qamishli in theSherkoh Abbas Kurdistan region of Syria and came to the U.S. in the 1980s. He is the President of the Kurdistan National Assembly of Syria.

He is a founding member of the Syrian Democracy Council, the Kurdish National Congress, the America-Kurdistan Friendship League and the Center for Democracy in the Middle East, of which he is the director. Abbas previously served as the President of the Kurdish-American Committee for Democracy in Syria.

Abbas has briefed officials from the White House and Congress and organized a 2006 conference under the auspices of Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) and then-Senator Robert Voinovich (R-OH) that brought together all the Syrian opposition groups, including Kurds, Sunni-Arabs, Christians and Druze.

The following is Sherkoh Abbas’ interview with Clarion Project National Security Analyst Ryan Mauro: Read more…

The Kurds have a right to independence. Their lack of it until now is an unjust and tragic accident of history.

Dr. Mordechai Kedar, INN

The borders of most of the Arab countries east of the Mediterranean were delineated in the period following WWI, on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. The borders were fixed on the basis of British and French interests and the ties those two countries had formed with local groups.

Two non-Muslim groups were granted independence: The Jews were given Britain’s pledge – in the form of The Balfour Declaration – that it would help establish a National Home for them, and France granted the Christians dwelling north of Israel the country of Lebanon, as separate from Syria. The Zionist movement was active and visible in the political corridors of Britain, while the French empathized with the fears the Lebanese Christians held of becoming a minority in a country with a Muslim majority.
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By Ted Belman

I am fed up with Bibi. He continually thwarts right wing initiatives and Jerusalem building plans. Plus he continues to toy with another peace process presently being demanded by Kerry.

No doubt he will negotiate with the EU also to prevent their sanctions.

Both Yesha Council and Habayit Yehudit (Bennett’s party) pressed him to lift the freeze on planning and construction. In previous confrontations Bibi said ““You have no greater defender than me. I am fighting for you. But there are international constraints and you are familiar with them.”
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Jpost

Economy Minister Naftali Bennett criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday for failing to provide what he perceives as an adequate response to the simmering violence in Jerusalem – “more construction and an iron fist.”

In an interview with Army Radio on Thursday, Bennett said the government’s leniency invited Wednesday’s “vehicular terrorist attack” in which a Palestinian resident of east Jerusalem rammed his car into a light rail station packed with commuters, resulting in the death of a three-month-old infant girl and the injuring of nearly a dozen others.
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By KHALED ABU TOAMEH, JPOST

The London-based pan Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat reported on Thursday that the Palestinian Authority has agreed to delay by two months its plan to seek a Security Council resolution calling for an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines within three years.

The paper quoted Palestinian sources in Ramallah as saying that the PA leadership will give US Secretary of State John Kerry a two-month window to present his own plan for peace. The sources said that the PA leadership was nevertheless determined to proceed with the Security Council bid.

The sources also told the newspaper that the PA leadership is prepared to return to the negotiations with Israel but not according to “old mechanisms.”
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Al Monitor

At least as far as the economy is concerned, it seems that things have been going well for the Fatah-Hamas unity government in its first steps. According to reports by the Palestinian media, the government will pay the salaries of the 45,000 Hamas government employees who have not received their wages in the last four months. The funds to that end have been contributed by Qatar.

The Palestinian media has further reported on an arrangement reached with Israel to open the closed border crossings [to Gaza] and to expand the Kerem Shalom border crossing, through which building materials are already transported on a large scale for the rehabilitation of the ruins. And members of the unity government’s security forces (many of whom come from Ramallah) have been deployed at the border crossing.
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PM Calms Jordan: No Change in Temple Mount ‘Status-Quo’

Netanyahu repeats he has no intention of allowing Jews to pray at their holiest site; Temple Institute condemns ‘anti-Semitic’ measures.

By Gil Ronen, INN

Jordan’s King Abdullah II

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told Jordan Tuesday that Israel has no intention of changing the status quo on the Temple Mount. This means that Jews will continue to be forbidden to pray on the Mount.

A bill submitted by MK Miri Regev (Likud), according to which Jews will be allowed to pray on the Mount, and not just tour it, caused alarm in Jordan. Jordan’s Ambassador to Israel Walid Obeidat reportedly demanded clarifications from the Foreign Ministry Tuesday on the new bill, following reports that it would be voted on next month.
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Man lightly wounded after stones thrown at his car in East Jerusalem; Palestinians riot, hurl stones at police, after deadly terror attack kills baby girl; police struggle to deal with ‘quiet intifada’.

Noam (Dabul) Dvir, YNET 

Photo: Noam ‘Dabul’ Dvir

Violence rocked Jerusalem on Wednesday both before and after a deadly terror attack at a Light Rail station left a baby girl dead, with riots and stone throwing reported in East Jerusalem. The attack and riots have highlighter the police’s struggle to deal with what some are calling a ‘quiet intifada’.

A man was lightly wounded after Palestinians pelted his car with stones near Beit Hanina in East Jerusalem. Damage was also caused to the vehicle, and police were searching the area for suspects.
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SHE WAS A CHRISTIAN

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Cold logic says Netanyahu, Livni and Lapid have nothing to gain from new elections. But reality is often governed by a different set of rules.

By Yossi Verter, HAARETZ