Daniel Greenfield, FPM

By Victor Davis Hanson, NRO

America is suddenly angry at the laxity, incompetence, and polarizing politics of the Obama administration, the bad optics of the president putting about in his bright golf clothes while the world burns. Certainly, no recent president has failed on so many fronts — honesty, transparency, truthfulness, the economy, foreign policy, the duties of the commander-in-chief, executive responsibilities, and spiritual leadership.

For those who are “shocked” at the present meltdown, of a magnitude not seen since the annus horribilis of 1979, in their defense: Obama certainly did not campaign on a new health-care plan that would force Americans to give up the doctors they liked and their existing coverage, while raising premiums and deductibles, while giving exemptions for insiders and cronies, and while raising the deficit.
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EMET

EMET is honored to host a phone seminar with Amb. Yoram Ettinger to discuss the lessons from the war in Gaza, and what it has taught us about Israel’s past attempts to make peace, including the disengagement from Gaza in 2005, the Oslo Peace Accords, and the “land for peace” paradigm.

Amos Gilad, who helped hammer out the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, says that the terror group did not gain anything in the deal.

By Moshe Cohen, INN

Habayit Hayehudi, Yisrael Beiteinu, as well as Likud members, criticize talks with Hamas, failure to destroy it.

By Jonathan Lis, HAARETZ | Aug. 28, 2014 | 1:59 AM |

Coalition partners Habayit Hayehudi and Yisrael Beiteinu, as well as figures from Netanyahu’s own Likud party, lost no time on Wednesday in blasting the Egyptian-brokered cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. They castigated the “feebleness” of the war in Gaza and its meager achievements.

Coalition partners Yesh Atid and Hatnuah, on the other hand, intend to push Netanyahu to advance a peace agreement with the Palestinians. Minister Jacob Perry of Yesh Atid and the party’s faction chief MK Ofer Shelah warned Wednsday their party would quit the coalition if the prime minister fails to move toward a two-state solution.

Likud Central Committee chairman MK Danny Danon said Wednesday the committee would convene in Ashkelon in two weeks to discuss Netanyahu’s performance during the fighting with Gaza.

“Operation Protective Shield opened with huge support and ended with the people of Israel confused and bewildered,” said Danon, one of the prime minister’s most vociferous opponents.
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ANALYSIS: Operation Protective Edge has left behind several poisoned chalices: Israelis have discovered they have no leadership, no political trust, a tenuous grip on coexistence and democracy, and a downturn in relations with the US.

By Nahum Barnea, YNET NEWS

IDF vehicles on the Gaza border (Photo: Ido Erez)

It isn’t always the case that all’s well that ends well. The fear is that instead of paving the way for removing the threat from Gaza, we are rather paving the way for the next round, either in Lebanon or in Gaza. But this is what our government has bestowed upon us, and we will have to live with it.

The final misstep was the failure to bring about a Security Council resolution before the ceasefire agreement. The draft resolution formulated in conjunction with the Americans focused on the reality in Gaza on the day after. It included a call for the demilitarization of Gaza and would have improved Israel’s political situation, making it difficult for Turkey and Qatar to continue their support for Hamas.
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DEBKA

The Israeli Hermes 450 drone downed Aug. 23 over the uranium enrichment facility in central Iran took off from Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Airbase, DEBKAfile’s military and Iranian sources report. Tests by Iranian aviation experts and intelligence personnel indicated that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commanders who originally attributed the takeoff to Saudi Arabia spoke too soon.

The Azerbaijani canton of Nakhchivan, bordering Iran, Armenia, and Turkey, hosts a small military airbase. Three years ago, another Hermes 450 used it as a jumping-off point towards Armenia, where the Armenian air defense shot it down.

In his Monday Aug. 25 announcement, Revolutionary Guards Air Force Commander Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh said it had not taken to the skies from Israel, but did not specify its provenance. He also fell short of attributing the drone to Israel, announcing only that the plane was an Israeli-made Hermes 450 with an operational range of 800 kilometers. Iran’s Arabic television station Al-Alam displayed parts of the drone on air, but they showed no Israeli identification markings.
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By Max Boot,COMMENTARY

The Israeli public appears to be unhappy with the ceasefire agreement that Prime Minister Netanyahu has reached with Hamas. According to one poll, his public backing for the handling of the Gaza crisis has dropped from 82 percent at the height of the fighting to just 38 percent today. Meanwhile support for more hardline members of the cabinet such as Economy Minister Naftali Bennett has surged. The common cry of critics of the ceasefire is that Netanyahu is making a big mistake by not seeking “victory,” defined as the eradication of Hamas.

But as Jonathan Tobin and other realists have pointed out, the cost of seeking victory is simply too high for the Israeli public to stomach. Sure, Israelis may want to wipe out Hamas; who doesn’t? But once they saw what it actually took to accomplish that objective, they would likely turn against the military operation just as they previously turned against the 1982 invasion of Lebanon which was designed to eradicate the PLO. Or as the American public turned against wars in Vietnam and Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Edward N. Luttwak, TABLET MAG July 10, 2014,

Bad newspaper headlines aside, it’s been a pretty good century for the Zionists,

In 1912, David Ben Gurion moved to Istanbul, capital of the Ottoman Empire, to study law at Istanbul University. The land of Israel had been under Ottoman rule for centuries, and the only way the Jews could grow their villages and towns, family by family, house by house, was to be accepted as loyal Ottoman subjects.

Two years later, when the World War broke out, Ben Gurion recruited 40 fellow Jews into a militia to serve the empire. Given the strategic situation, it was the only intelligent choice: The Ottoman Empire had persisted for centuries as its declining military strength was perfectly offset by increasing diplomatic support—by 1912, it was backed by both the British and the German empires, a double assurance of its long-term survival. That is why Ben Gurion was studying Turkish and the law, confident in the expectation that in 10 or 20 years he would master Ottoman political complexities to attain the rank and seniority of an ethnic leader for the thousands of Jews who were arriving each year.
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Apparently, Israeli source: US will back Israel in Security Council

Israel will have American backing if a decision is made in the Security Council,” said the source. Most especially, said the government official, the US would be looking out for Israel’s security interests in the Gaza Strip. “The US will be sure that the issue of demilitarization will be included,” he said.

Both the US and the EU are trying to replace Hamas with Abbas. Psaki also said that Kerry has no plans to restart the peace process anytime soon.

There have also been reports that the US has been negotiating with Iran and Assad to cut a deal that the US would support Assad if he takes on Isis. Part of that deal required Iran to force Islamic Jihad to push for this ceasefire.

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If Netanyahu accepted this deal, he will also accept a two state solution based on ’67 lines plus swaps. If he can accept a deal with Hamas that allows them to continue their intransigence and keep their weapons, he can accept a deal with Abbas that leaves open the possibility of attack from Judea and Samaria. I see no difference. Besides he is now indebted to Obama. What will that cost us? Ted Belman

Arutz Sheva

Azzam al-Ahmed, head of the Palestinian Authority (PA) delegation in the Cairo truce talks, revealed to AFP on Tuesday night what exactly was in the long-term ceasefire deal that Israel agreed to, and which went into effect at 7 p.m. that night.

The first point raised was Gaza border crossings. Under the agreement, there will be an immediate easing of restrictions on the two main crossings between Israel and Gaza to allow in aid and reconstruction supplies.

Significantly, construction materials needed to repair the water network, electricity grid and mobile phone networks will be allowed in along with humanitarian aid, food and medical supplies. It should be noted that Israel continued supplying humanitarian goods throughout most of Operation Protective Edge.
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DEBKA

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel-Fatteh El-Sisi were able to bring Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip to accept an unlimited ceasefire in hostilities in effect from 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 26, based on the 2012 deal. Netanyahu did not ask for his ministers’ endorsement, knowing he did not have majority support in the cabinet. Hamas violated all eleven agreed during during the 50-day Gaza conflict.

Up to the last minute, Hamas kept up heavy rocket and mortar fire, causing one Israeli death and injuring seven people, three seriously, in an Eshkol District kibbutz. It is too soon to tell whether Hamas will honor the deal during the month’s run-up to negotiations on a durable truce accord to be brokered by Egypt.
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i24 NEWS

PM Netanyahu refrained from holding a vote, fearing ceasefire would not be approved

Israel’s agreement to a ceasefire with Hamas generated angry reactions Tuesday from members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, with opponents claiming the deal will enable Hamas to recoup and re-arm so that it can attack Israel anew.

Netanyahu, fearing he would not get the support of his Security Cabinet for the ceasefire agreement, refrained from bringing it to a vote. The prime minister argued that the cabinet had already authorized him and his defense minister, Moshe Ya’alon, to make decisions regarding an extension of a previous ceasefire agreement and he was thus not bound to seek cabinet approval this time.
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A former AP correspondent explains how and why reporters get Israel so wrong, and why it matters

DEBKA

Battered by Hamas’ escalating rocket and mortar assaults, Israelis are again tossed on the uncertain waters of an imminent ceasefire which never materializes. This illusion is propagated again by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel-Fatteh El-Sisi. Washington has also been enlisted to the effort by drafting a resolution for the UN Security Council. It was tabled at the request of the White House with quiet backing from Netanyahu for the purpose of blocking the European measure, which is backed by Qatar, one of the Hamas’ few supporters and host to its political leader Khaled Meshaal.

Why is President Barack Obama standing behind Egypt and Israel this time?

His reasoning is complicated. Netanyahu and El-Sisi, who speak regularly and discreetly by phone, have been persuaded by their intelligence services that Meshaal is an impediment – not just to a temporary ceasefire, but to any sort of accommodation for ending the Gaza conflict. They are convinced that all the Palestinian factions, including Hamas-Gaza, would go for an end to the war, in the hope of a Gaza deal leading to a settlement between Israel and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
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Luis Fleischman, CENTER FOR SECURITY POLICY starts this article by listing many of the anti-Israel positions of Latin America.  They are extreme, plentiful and unmistakeable.

During the recent “Operation Protecting Edge” held by Israel in response to attacks by Hamas against Israeli civilians, most Latin American countries took a prejudiced and intentionally political attitude against the State of Israel.

[..]

Why would Latin American countries move to join condemnations of Israel at a time when not even one Arab country was willing to do so? The reason is that it provides them with another ideological tool to ingratiate themselves with third world countries and confront the United States face to face and send the message that the U.S. is no longer “the boss” in the region.

The fact that Brazil joins hands with Venezuela is not new since I already stated it multiple times that Brazil has been and is the most valuable political ally of Venezuela.

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By Ari Yashar, INN

DEBKA

Community leaders of 40,000 dwellers of the dozens of kibbutzim, moshavim and small towns adjoining the Gaza Strip spoke out Monday, Aug 25: “It is no longer possible to hide what is going on and the country must hear the truth,” they said: “The populated front line facing the Gaza Strip is no more.” Some bluntly blamed this fiasco on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and their management of the operation against Hamas.

The collapse of the Israeli line outside Gaza is analogous in strategic terms to the fall of the Bar Lev line 41 years ago which permitted the Egyptian artillery and tank assault across the Suez Canal, some veteran reservists said.

Others pointed out that, whereas the IDF should have carved out a sterile security zone inside the Gaza Strip, Hamas had managed to depopulate a strip of territory on the Israeli side of the border by relentless cross-border short-range rockets and mortar fire, and was now dictating events in southern Israel.
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How did it happen that Washington has such close relations with a country actively and massively sponsoring terror, even after 9/11?

By Jonathan Spyer, THE TOWER

One of the most notable aspects of the current conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is the prominent role being played by the Emirate of Qatar in supporting the terrorist organization, whose genocidal charter calls for the murder of Jews and destruction of Israel.

Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani, the leader of the Emirate of Qatar, is acting as Hamas’ “channel of communication” to the international community. Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal is now in the Qatari capital of Doha directing his organization’s war effort in Gaza, where the Qatari royals welcomed him with open arms after his welcome in Damascus came to an abrupt end.  Qatari funds have been crucial to Hamas’ military build-up in recent years, as they were to the Muslim Brotherhood’s attempted takeover of Egypt under Mohammed Morsi. And the Doha-based satellite channel Al-Jazeera is energetically backing Hamas, as it has other terrorist-connected and supporting movements.

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