Former Hamas government spokesman reveals Abbas privately said his moderate public statements are merely a ploy.

BY ARI YASHAR, INN

A former Hamas government spokesman revealed on Sunday that Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has said in private meetings he is lying in public statements to “trick the Americans.”

The spokesman, Ihab al-Ghussein, wrote on Facebook that “behind closed doors,” Abbas had said “when I go out and say that thegovernment is my government and it recognizes ‘Israel’ and so on, fine – these words are meant to trick the Americans.” Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) translated the Facebook post.

“Guys, let me (continue) saying what I say to the media. Those words are meant for the Americans and the occupation (i.e., Israel), not for you. What’s important is what we agree on among ourselves. …Don’t harp on everything I tell the media, forget about the statements in the media,” Abbas told Hamas, according to Ihab al-Ghussein.

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By JPOST.COM STAFF

Gantz addresses Herzliya Conference amid changing Middle East; says conflict in Syria could continue for more than a decade; warns that both Hezbollah and World Jihad elements gaining strength in Syria. IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz
IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz Photo: Courtesy Defense Ministry IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz said Monday that only a handful of states have more firepower than Hezbollah.

Speaking at the Herzliya Conference at the Interdisciplinary Center, Gantz said, “Show me four or five states with more firepower than Hezbollah: the US, China, Russia, Israel, France, the UK.”
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Attila Somfalvi, YNET NEWS

Amid the halted peace process and Israel’s increasing isolation in the international community, Finance Minister Yair Lapid threatened Sunday to bring down the government if it decides to unilaterally annex the West Bank, and called to freeze settlement construction and map out Israel’s future borders.

In a document released Sunday, the senior government minister criticizes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, and urges a halt of construction in the West Bank, particularly in areas Israel was not expected to keep in any future peace accord.
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By Morton A. Klein and Daniel Mandel, ALGEMEINER

Last week, Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah/Palestinian Authority (PA) formed a unity government with the Nazi-like Hamas terror organization. Hamas, a U.S.- and EU-recognized terrorist group, calls in its Charter for the global murder of Jews (Article 7) and the destruction of Israel (Article 15), while its leaders have called for demise of the U.S. and the murder of Americans.

Despite this, within two days, the Obama Administration said that it would continue to financially aid the PA. The European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) have followed suit. And this despite the fact that Hamas has foreshadowed expanding its operations from Gaza into the West Bank, while its terror force, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, remains an independent actor.
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Herzliya Conference is Israel’s most prestigious annual conference.  This year’s conference started yesterday and continues today and tomorrow.

Sessions are streamed live or available on demand in either Hebrew of with simultaneous translation.

For either the live stream or video on demand click on 2014 Live and VOD

The program can be viewed here.

Go to VOD, click on the session you want and then click on translate if needed.

You may want to view the VOD for yesterday’s session in which Bennett, Lapid , Herzog and Livni gave short addresses on what they believe should be done now.

Bennett of course called for gradual annexation of area C and giving the 70,000  Arabs there,  citizenship.  Lapid, Livni and Herzog said over their dead bodies.

Although Bennett didn’t get into all the details of his plan, he also wants to entice the Arabs in A and B to accept full autonomy by agreeing to improve their economy, allowing them to travel anywhere in Israel and removing the security fence.

What Bennett intends to offer should be made conditional on them giving up on their confrontation with Israel and switching to cooperation with Israel.

By Daniel Mandel,  AMERICAN THINKER

Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah/Palestinian Authority has just cemented a reconciliation agreement with Hamas, the terrorist movement that seized Gaza from Fatah in 2007 and whose charter calls for the murder of Jews.  U.S.-brokered Israeli/Palestinian negotiations have foundered in a predictable round of recriminations.

 But events commemorated in recent weeks provide the clue to understanding why such talks invariably lead to an impasse.  On May 15, Palestinians marked what they call the naqba (Arabic for “catastrophe”) – the day Israel came into existence upon the expiry of British rule under a League of Nations mandate.

That juxtaposition of Israeli independence and naqba is not accidental.  We are meant to understand that Israel’s creation caused the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs.

But the truth is different.  A British document from early 1948, declassified last year, tells the story: “the Arabs have suffered … overwhelming defeats[.] … Jewish victories … have reduced Arab morale to zero and, following the cowardly example of their inept leaders, they are fleeing from the mixed areas in their thousands.”  Read more…

http://freebeacon.com/issues/j-street-anti-israel-pro-lying/

BY: Adam Kredo
June 6, 2014 3:37 pm

The liberal fringe group J Street is facing renewed questions over its purported dishonesty to journalists and editors after one of its top campus officials penned an op-ed that was so thoroughly riddled with factual errors that a leading Israeli publication was forced to delete the piece and apologize.

Jacob Plitman, the president of J Street U’s National Student Board, recently attacked several pro-Israel groups in an editorial published by the Times of Israel (TOI). However, TOI editors quickly removed the piece after at least four major factual errors were discovered, according to an explanation of the incident provided to the Washington Free Beacon by sources close to the incident. Read more…

One of the reasons for this bill is to place being Jewish above being democratic so that when issues come before the High Court, it must defer to that ranking. But when they are on an equal footing as currently proposed, the Court can go any way it wants. That’s what it does now. That’s what we wish to stop. Ted Belman

By LAHAV HARKOV, JPOST

Livni sees bill as problematic, saying she will not be a part of passing a law that puts Israel’s Jewishness before its democratic character

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report June 7, 2014

President of Egypt Abdul-Fattah El-Sisi, even before taking the oath of office Tuesday June 10, became the first regime head to strike out at the Palestinian unity government installed in Ramallah on June 24, by intensifying the siege on its Gaza partner, Hamas. His steps threaten to stir up strife between the two newly reconciled Palestinian partners over who calls the shots in the Gaza Strip,

DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources report.

El-Sisi acted expeditiously to refute the claims by Palestinian Authority sources in Ramallah and Hamas officials in Gaza City that he would open the Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egyptian Sinai as soon as the new Palestinian government was in place, as a gesture of support. Read more…

http://ruleofreason.blogspot.com/2014/06/obamas-treasonous-taliban-tete-tete.html

:: Posted by Edward Cline at 4:31 PM

One can reach a point in the business of political (and even cultural) commentary where one gags at the latest episode of chicanery and blatant fraud. Living in a constant state of crisis, outrage and doom, as we have been doing under President Barack Obama’s tenure in the White House, is not psychologically healthy. Gagging and revulsion are defense mechanisms, warning signs that one is becoming jaded, numb, and dangerously desensitized.” News of the latest White House adventure in nihilism, in this instance the premeditated “swap” of an alleged deserter and traitor for five Gitmo hard-case killer Islamists, begins as a cresting wave that looks squeaky clean – thanks to government PR and Susan Rice – until it washes over you and you learn it’s packed with rocks, sand, jelly fish, and what’s found in septic tanks. Read more…

Is there a link between Israel trading Gilad Shalit for terrorists and the US trading for Bowe Bergdahl? This and many other questions were covered.

A7 Radio’s “Is It Prophecy?” with Ari Louis

Listen Now!

Follow Israel Radio on  and .

Will U.S. President Barack Obama’s release of five terrorists from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl create chaos for the world?  Attorney Ted Belman, editor of the popular IsraPundit.org weighs in on the controversy now sweeping the American political landscape. Plus, what are the similarities anddifferences between the exchange deal for IDF soldier Gilad Shalit and the one for Bergdahl?

By Jeff Dunetz, THE LID

An article appearing in the Jewish Daily Forward announced the formation of “Jewish Americans Ready For Hillary!” A truth those progressive Jews for Hillary ignore, with the possible exception of the time from her first campaign New York’s Senate seat in 2000 to her resignation from the Senate to become Secretary of State in January 2009, except for the time she needed New York’s Jewish voting bloc, Hillary Clinton has never been pro-Israel.

On their website, “Jewish Americans Ready For Hillary!” claim, “Throughout her career, Hillary Clinton has fought for the issues that matter most to Jewish Americans.”

Of one issue that “matters most to Jewish Americans,” Hillary Clinton is most certainly not a supporter that is the health and security of the Jewish State of Israel.

Even before her marriage to Bill, Hillary Clinton was opposing Israel and promoting the forces of terrorism.  In his book American Evita on page 49, Christopher Anderson writes.

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At a time when elements of the American Left embraced the Palestinian cause and condemned Israel, Hillary was telling friends that she was “sympathetic” to the terrorist organization and admired its flamboyant leader, Yasser Arafat. When Arafat made his famous appearance before the UN General Assembly in November 1974 wearing his revolutionary uniform and his holster on his hip, Bill “was outraged like everybody else,” said a Yale Law School classmate. But not Hillary, who tried to convince Bill that Arafat was a “freedom fighter” trying to free his people from their Israeli “oppressors.”

On page 50 the author relates an experience that Hillary and and her future husband had during a trip to Arkansas in 1973. Read more…

By Sarah Honig, JPOST

[..] The subtext is clear – Abbas can do no wrong and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu willfully refuses to do right (by Obama Administration definitions).

And just in case we failed to understand the undertones, an unnamed “highly-placed source” in Kerry’s entourage (perhaps none other than Indyk) blasted Netanyahu, empathized with Abbas and warned that, whether Israel likes it or not, Palestine shall arise – as if this is humanity’s great last hope.

We can safely bet our bottom shekel that neither Kerry nor Indyk would be much perturbed by what the Palestine they so passionately prescribe would be like. If they at all gave a hoot, they might have already noticed a few troubling spoiler alerts.
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By Caroline Glick, JPOST

Mahmoud Abbas must be great at cards.

The PLO chief has no real assets to speak of. He’s physically unattractive. He has zero charisma. He’s old.

And no matter how hard he tries, Abbas can’t do much of anything to dampen public support for Hamas or raise public support for himself. By many accounts, if elections are ever held, Hamas would win them in a walk.

As for money, beyond the PLO’s slush fund, all Abbas has is what outsiders give him. He is completely dependent on the Americans, the Israelis, the Europeans and the Gulf states. Without them, he would have nothing to buy people’s loyalty with.
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Analysis: The PM has reached a new low in influence on world leaders who welcomed the new Palestinian government, while his cabinet attacks him for ‘walking on eggshells’; meanwhile, Labor’s Herzog has a plan of his own.

By Nahum BArnea, YNET

Yair Lapid and Tzipi Livni emerged from the weekly cabinet meeting on Monday satisfied – as satisfied as it is possible for ministers to be in Israel. The cabinet discussed the new unity government formed by Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas in partnership with Hamas. The debate had been long and difficult.

The right-wing ministers pulled to the right, while the left-wing ministers pulled to the left. The decision that was taken resulted in five clauses that sought to say many things but took care to not actually say anything. Israel will continue, the decision said, in its position of not negotiating with Abbas; continue to speak against him in meetings with world leaders; continue to view him as responsible for every attack emanating from the West Bank and Gaza.
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By Vic Rosenthal

The PLO ‘recognized’ Israel the way we might recognize a bear walking down the middle of the street: you can’t ignore it, but you don’t admit that it has a right to be where it is

The establishment of a Palestinian Authority (PA) unity government that includes Hamas is the last inning of a ballgame which has been in extra innings far too long.

The PLO and its Fatah faction which have controlled the PA since its inception in 1993 are just as committed to Israel’s destruction as Hamas. Fatah is the heir ofHaj Amin al-Husseini, pogromist and close ally of Hitler, by way of the terrorist’s terrorist, Yasser Arafat. They follow different strategies, but for Israel the goal is the same.

The US and EU (and today’s Israel!) draw a distinction between Hamas and the PLO, as if to say “see, we really do believe that there is such a thing as terrorism. Take Hamas, for example.” This is the same kind of maneuver the US executes by denouncing al-Qaeda while supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.
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As disappointing as the response of the West to the Hamas-backed PA government is, Israel bears much of the blame for the situation.

By Martin Sherman, JPOST

By Dror Eydar, ISRAEL HAYOM

It is hard to escape the impression that the U.S. is much more understanding of the exciting union between Fatah and Hamas than of our construction in Jerusalem. When did building in Jerusalem and the settlement blocs become a “controversial” issue? What does our apology for such a basic thing mean?

The U.S. clerks should be sent the Hamas charter — a political platform that mainly consists of killing Jews whenever and wherever and the negation of all agreements and compromise except wiping out Israel. The “moderate” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas found comfort in the embrace of this band of murderers. All over the world, hundreds of innocent people are killed every day by Islamist regimes and organizations, but 1,500 new housing units in Israel bother the Americans. This is what the superpower concerns itself with. Unbelievable!
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By Ruthie Blum, ISRAEL HAYOM

On Tuesday, the Obama administration announced it would support the new unity government forged between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. The only thing surprising about America’s reversal of its original commitment not to recognize or provide financial aid to such a government was that anybody was surprised by it, least of all Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

If there is one thing the Israeli leader should have learned by now is not to take Secretary of State John Kerry at his word, particularly when it involves Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

This is not because Kerry cares about Abbas specifically. No, it is likely that Kerry has as little patience for the PA president as he does for Netanyahu. But the world’s top diplomat, whose dreams of a Nobel Peace Prize keep being mugged by reality, has no desire to live out his term with egg on his face.
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