By Ted Belman

PM Begin and daughter Leah in Yamit

As a result of the ’67 War Israel came into possession of the “territories” which included Judea and Samaria, Sinai including Gaza and the Golan.  UNSC Res 242 provided that Israel should withdraw from territories, specifically not the territories or all territories, at such time as she had secure and recognized borders.
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PM said to feel Indyk was unfair to Israel, ‘won’t ever work with him again’

US: Peace team still in place despite Indyk’s departure
No plans to find permanent replacement for special envoy but US still engaging Israel and Palestinians to renew talks, says State Department

By  C. Hart,  AMERICAN THINKER

Recently, Albania received good news that it will soon begin succession talks towards EU integration. Albania is a close friend of the U.S. and has always been a good friend to the Jewish People. It is now establishing friendship ties with Israel. A successful visit to the Jewish State this week by an Albanian delegation, including Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati, helped in solidifying this new relationship.

Since the U.S. has started coordinating its foreign policy with the EU, it means that countries accepted for succession talks, which also happen to be friendly with Israel, could become future advocates. For example, eventual integration into the EU by Albania suggests that when Israel needs Albania in critical moments of diplomacy, especially within international forums… that’s what friends are for.

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BY CAROLINE B. GLICK, JPOST

Schalit’s media flacks were right. He is a son of all of Israel. And so are Naftali, Gil-Ad and Eyal who are now captive because of the deal we signed for Gilad.

IDF Yeshiva Leader Demands: ‘Cancel Enlistment Law’
Former chairman of Hesder Yeshivas Association calls on Supreme Court to cancel; ‘no hareidim enlisting anymore.’

By Benny Toker, Ari Yashar, INN

I have long ago lost patience with Europe. This is our land east of the greenline. Settlements are legal under international law. Ted Belman

By JPOST.COM STAFF, JTA

European Union ambassador’s warns of more business advisories with settlements after Spain, Italy issue such warnings.

By MARTIN SHERMAN,  JPOST

Continued adherence to a quasi-religious belief in the efficacy of retreat threatens survival of the nation.

By Robert Spencer, FPM

The denial of the reality of jihad is thicker than ever, even as jihadis advance around the world. And it endangers us all.

Former CIA officer John Maguire revealed this week that the CIA was blindsided by the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which now controls so much of Syria and Iraq and has designs on a great deal more territory. Maguire attributed the CIA’s underestimating of ISIL’s threat to The Company’s reduced presence in Iraq: “This is a glaring example of the erosion of our street craft and our tradecraft and our capability to operate in a hard place. The U.S. taxpayer is not getting their money’s worth.”

But that isn’t the whole story. Another reason why the CIA was completely surprised by ISIL’s advance was because the Obama Administration has so thoroughly deemphasized the jihad threat, and loudly and repeatedly proclaimed that al Qaeda was the only jihad group – and was, for its part, “on the ropes.” ISIL, an offshoot of al Qaeda in a country where Obama was in a hurry to declare victory and get out was unlikely to be the focus of sustained or serious analysis. Read more…

Israel is going to face a tough choice if and when ISIS tries to take over Jordan. And the countdown has begun.

Dr. Mordechai Kedar, INN

Ma’an  is a Bedouin village in the southern part of Jordan that has always been a headache for the country’s rulers. The population is strongly fundamentalist and includes a significant number of Salafists.

Street demonstrations that ended violently have been held there in the past, once brought on by food prices, once by the price of fuel, and once because the monarchy did not treat village leaders with enough respect. In time, Ma’an became Jordan’s baromemter, an indicator of underlying currents of opinion in the country.

On the 2th of June, in the middle of a Friday afternoon, Ma’an was the scene of a pro-ISIL (“The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant”, known as ISIS, but more accurately translated ISIL) demonstration where black flags waved and the signs had an unmistakable message (my additions in parentheses, M.K.).

“Today is Support an Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham Day”, “Ma’an is Jordan’s Fallujah”, “We support an Islamic State”, “We congratulate the Islamic people for the conquests of Omar (Be Akhattab, the second Caliph, conqueror of al-Sham) that Allah chose to form an Islamic state in Iraq and al-Sham” were some of them.
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Israel tells US independent Iraqi Kurdistan is ‘foregone conclusion’
Peres, Lieberman tell American counterparts Obama, Kerry that recent chaos in Iraq allowed Kurds to create ‘de facto’ state.

Today the world clamors for a Palestinian Arab state but strangely turns its back upon Kurdish national independence and statehood.

By Victor Sharp, INN

There is a people who, like the Jews, can trace their ancestry in their homeland back thousands of years. They are the Kurds, and it is highly instructive to review their remarkable history in conjunction with that of the Jews. It is also necessary to review the historical injustices imposed upon them over the centuries by hostile neighbors and empires.

Even though it lives in a terrible neighborhood and desperately seeks friends, Israel cannot and must not evade its unique responsibility towards the Kurdish people, who also suffer from the depredations of their hostile neighbors. The Jewish state must not ignore the Kurds, who remain stateless and shunned by the world and who seek, at last, the historic justice they have craved for centuries but been denied – an independent, sovereign state of their own. Read more…

By Yoran Ettinger, ISRAEL HAYOM

Jonathan S. Tobin COMMENTARY

INSS Insight No. 566, June 27, 2014

Aryeh Savir / Tazpit News Agency, ALGEMEINER

JERUSALEM – The Legal Forum for Israel, a body representing hundreds of lawyers and jurists from various countries, sent a letter to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon last week demanding that he retract all acceptance within the UN of the Palestinian Authority and reject Palestinian requests to accede to international conventions.

Referencing the recent abduction of three Israeli boys from Gush Etzion, author Alan Baker, former legal adviser of Israel’s foreign ministry, wrote: “We are, first and foremost, at the time of writing this letter, most distressed at the tragic situation in which one or more Palestinian terror groups, affiliated to what you and the UN regard as the ‘State of Palestine,’ considered to be a non-member state observer in the UN, have taken three Israeli youths hostage, in clear violation of all basic humanitarian norms and conventions. We feel that this action, together with the dangerous situation presently prevailing, is directly connected to, and emanates from the enhanced status that you and the UN have attributed to this Palestinian entity. By any basic criterion of international law and practice, this entity should never have been, and cannot be considered to be a state.”
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DEBKA

Thursday, June 26, the day before US Secretary of State John Kerry was due in Riyadh, King Abdullah summoned a National Security Council meeting “upon the current security events in the region, especially in Iraq,” and ordered “all necessary measures to protect the kingdom against terrorist threats.” This meant a general call-up of military units for a high level of preparedness.

DEBKAfile’s military sources disclose that Egypt is assembling an expeditionary commando force to fly to Saudi Arabia and bolster its border defenses.
This flurry of Saudi-Egyptian military steps comes in the wake of intelligence gathered by Saudi reconnaissance planes showing Iraqi Al Qaeda-linked Sunni fighters (ISIS) heading for the Saudi border and aiming to seize control of the Iraqi-Saudi crossing at Ar Ar (pop: 200,000).

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Sultan Sooud Al Qassemm al Monitor  June 26, 2014

What a difference a year makes in the Middle East. One year ago this week, Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, handed over power to his son Sheikh Tamim, joining a short but seemingly growing list of monarchs who have abdicated in favor of their relatives. At the time of his abdication, Hamad left behind an empire of soft power and influence that spanned the entire region. Twelve months on, things could not be more different. Read more…

Shin Bet suspects Amar Abu-Eisha and Marwan Kawasmeh from Hebron, who previously served time in Israeli prisons, played major role in kidnapping.

By Yoav Zitun, YNET

Amar Abu-Eisha, 33, and Marwan Kawasmeh, 29, from Hebron, Palestinian terrorists who previously served time in Israeli prisons, are the two main suspects in the abduction of the three Israeli teens – Eyal Yifrach, Gil-Ad Shaer and Naftali Frenkel, it was cleared for publication on Thursday, two weeks after the teens had been taken.

Marwan Kawasmeh (left) and Amar Abu-Eisha, suspected of playing a central role in teens’ kidnapping.

The Shin Bet said in a statement both Hamas men, believed to have played a central role in the kidnapping, had been wanted and at large since the kidnappings, adding that several other Palestinians suspected of involvement in the abductions were being questioned. Read more…

By CAROLINE GLICK

For most Westerners, Turkey is a hard nut to crack.

How can you understand a state sponsor of terrorism that is also a member of NATO?

How can you explain Turkey’s facilitation of Kurdish independence in Iraq in light of Turkey’s hundred-year opposition to Kurdish independence?

What is Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyep Erdogan trying to accomplish here?

Is he nuts?
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