By Aryeh Savir

Tazpit News Agency

JERUSALEM – Lawyers have sent a letter to Ban Ki Moon, UN Secretary General, requesting that the UN review and reconsider any acceptance by the UN of the Palestinian requests for accession to international conventions, pending fulfillment of the legal and moral requirements set out in international law and practice.

On April 1^st  Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas signed letters to the UN and to the governments of Switzerland and the Netherlands requesting that “the State of Palestine” be granted accession to fifteen international conventions and treaties.

Alan Baker, Head of International Action Division in the Legal Forum for Israel, stated that:

“This action by the Palestinian leadership, together with the consequent, hurried acceptance of the Palestinian applications by the United Nations and by the Swiss government, raise serious questions both regarding the flawed perception as to the very existence and legal status of a sovereign state of “Palestine”, as well as to the issue of the potential implications of what are, in effect, serious violations of the 1995 Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement, and of the very integrity of the international law of treaties.It would appear that the conventions to which the Palestinians have requested accession require that only states be permitted to accede. By rushing to accept the Palestinian accession requests, knowing that there exists no genuine Palestinian state, the UN is in fact both misleading itself as well as the international community as a whole, and as such is undermining the very integrity of international treaty law, creating a regrettable precedent.”

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Nigeria will be in the western press a lot more in the future.  It is an oil rich state of 177 million people divided evenly between Christians in the south and Muslims in the north. The Islamists in the north are gaining power with Iranian support.  Boko Haram, an affiliate of al Qaeda, raises money by robbing banks. Partition may be the only solution. Ted Belman

OBAMA STOPPED NIGERIA FROM FIGHTING THE ISLAMIC TERRORIST GROUP BOKO HARAM IN 2013 – WHY DOES OBAMA ALWAYS SUPPORT RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISTS?
05-16-2014 12:45 am – Pamela Geller
This is too monstrous for words. Here is yet more evidence of what I contended years ago: that Obama had switched sides in the war on terror — even before Benghazi. And the heads exploded on the left.

And I was right.

As reported by Fred Dardick from the Canada Free Press, “Obama Administration Threatened Nigeria with Sanctions in 2013 for Fighting Boko Haram,” 

Hillary Clinton wasn’t the only Obama administration official who went to bat for Boko Haram over the past few years.

JCPA

Institute for Contemporary Affairs, founded jointly with the Wechsler Family Foundation

Vol. 14, No. 15    May 15, 2014

• Three hundred mostly Christian girls from a high school in northeastern Nigeria were kidnapped by the Boko Haram terrorist group, whose chief, Abubakar Shekau, announced that the girls had been converted to Islam. Over the past three years Boko Haram has killed more than 1,500 Nigerians, mostly Christian citizens in the predominantly Muslim northern part of the country.

• For the first time since the government decided to fight Boko Haram in July 2009, President Jonathan Goodluck has openly accepted Western and Israeli assistance in the war, thus acknowledging the inability of the Nigerian armed forces and secret services to cope with the terror group.

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DAVID M WEINBERG, ISRAEL HAYOM

In his final speech to the Knesset in October 1995, just two weeks before he was assassinated, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin presented to the Knesset his vision for a Palestinian “entity” that would be “less than a state.” Rabin made it clear that Israel would “not return to the June 4, 1967 lines” and he pledged that Israel would retain control over the Jordan Valley “in the broadest meaning of that term.” He also explicitly stated that Israel would not freeze building over the Green Line.

By contrast, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today advocates the establishment of a Palestinian state; has largely frozen settlement building; and insists only upon “maintaining Israeli military forces along the Jordan River.” Netanyahu’s cautious formulation — Israeli forces along the Jordan River — means something other than full sovereignty, and clearly less than what Rabin intended.
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By CAROLINE B. GLICK, JPOST

The Supreme Court isn’t in the business of protecting rights. It is in the business of protecting the Left.

By Martin Sherman, JPOST

As I mentioned in my previous column, following my participation in The Jerusalem Post Conference in New York last month, I received an invitation from Russell Robinson, the CEO of the Jewish National Fund, to make a telephonic address to major donors across the United States, assessing the status of the “peace process.”

My column last week was devoted to the first part of that address, delivered on the eve of Israel’s Independence Day. In this week’s column, I share with Jerusalem Post’s readers the remaining topics I raised – with some minor modifications and editorial “tweaks” – which as before, have been made to accommodate the transition from oral to written form.

To recap briefly

As readers will recall, in Part I of my address, aided by a citation from Shakespeare’s Richard II, I argued that the entire peace process, from its inception, was founded on the self-delusion of its architects, and their denial of the harsh realities of the region.

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Translation of Hebrew Arutz 7 article by Shimon Cohen

In another of Women in Green’s Sovereignty Conferences MK Yariv Levin laid out his idea – how to promote the application of Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.

The event opened with greetings from the heads of the Women in Green movement, Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar, who emphasized the obligation of the Israeli Right to present a proper and realistic political alternative, and not to be satisfied with rejecting the Left’s vision of establishing a Palestinian state in the heart of the Land of Israel.

Both women noted that during the 46 years since the Six Day War the Right was not decisive in presenting a clear vision and in the absence of this clear vision, a window was opened for Palestinian hopes to establish a new state.
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Four terrorists hurl firebombs at bus near Hevron, engulfing it in flames, but media ignores story, preferring to cover Jewish graffiti.

By Gil Ronen, INN

BY Elior Levy, YNET NEWS

The ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood administration in Egypt has not only led to the political isolation of the Hamas government in Gaza, but has also taken its toll on the Strip’s economy, which is in the midst of a severe economic crisis.

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics has reported that unemployment in the Strip has surged in the first quarter of 2014 to 41 percent, the highest rate since 2009. The number of unemployed persons stands at 180,000 people.

A year ago, in the first quarter of 2013, the rate of unemployment was 30 percent – meaning, the rate has increased by 11 percent in just one year.
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Decision will cost Israel hundreds of millions of dollars.

Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative”
Straight from the Jerusalem Boardroom #194, May 16, 2014
http://bit.ly/1g9yQBX

1. Intel is investing, additional, $6bn in its Israeli research & development centers and manufacturing plants, which currently employ 9,800 persons, expecting to add 1,000 employees, mostly in R & D. The current $3.5bn annual export by Intel – out of Israel – is expected to rise by $1bn-$2bn annually.  Intel’s annual operation cost in Israel is $1bn (Globes Business Daily, May 1, 2014).  The California-based pharmaceuticals giant, Hyperion, is acquiring Israel’s Andromeda for $570mn, which consists mostly of milestone payments (Globes, April 25).  Pratt & Whitney (a subsidiary of the $108bnUnited Technologies) acquired 51% of Israel’s Lehavim – thus controlling 100% of the company – for a few hundred million dollars (Globes, May 2).  Germany’s media tycoon, Axel Springer, acquired Israel’s Yad2 for $230mn (Globes, May 8). The San Diego-based giant,Qualcomm, is expected to acquire Israel’s Wilocity for $300MN.  Currently, Qualcomm owns 13% of Wilocity, along with the Silicon Valley’s Tailwood Venture Partners (19%), Benchmark Capital(19%) and Sequoia Capital (19%), Cisco (4%), etc. (Globes, May 12). Read more…

And this is probably what Netanyahu will do. My guess is that the thinking set out in this article is shared by Netanyahu and his advisers. He has no interest in going on offense or making bold moves. As always, Netanyahu will try to keep America happy rather than cross them in any way except for maybe Iran. Ted Belman

by Prof. Efraim Inbar, BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 247

Now that the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations have ended in failure, many political actors advocate taking advantage of the political limbo to advance their preferred unilateral plans. The Israeli political right-wing is promoting annexation of Area C, while the left-wing is advocating a “coordinated” (whatever that means) unilateral withdrawal. Government officials have spoken about the need for Israel to “do something.” Others suggest negotiating with the Quartet, instead of the Palestinians.

Activism is unquestionably a trait that is admired in Israel. Zionist-rooted rhetoric such as “we have to determine our borders and destiny on our own” indeed falls on receptive ears.
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FSA intelligence officer also complains US failing to provide weaponry despite assurances it won’t fall into jihadist hands

BY ELHANAN MILLER, TOI, May 14, 2014,

Free Syrian Army fighters clean their weapons and check ammunition at their base on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria, November 14, 2012 (photo credit: AP/Khalil Hamra)

The Free Syrian Army could tactically collaborate with Israel in toppling the Assad regime, as long as such cooperation is carried out in utter secrecy, a senior FSA officer told The Times of Israel on Wednesday.

The intelligence officer, who defected from the Assad regime in September 2012, spoke from Amman on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of his current position.

He said that he has conveyed detailed assurances to the US that advanced weapons requested from the West would not fall into jihadist hands, but that the US nevertheless continues to withhold such weapons.

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By Tova Dvorin, INN

Former Minister for Congressional Affairs to Israel’s Embassy in Washington Yoram Ettinger spoke at a Women in Green conference on sovereignty in Judea and Samaria on Tuesday, explaining why Israel can – and should – make its own decisions regardless of US pressure,

“I declare that anyone who argues that Israel cannot withstand the pressure of an American president, especially against existential threats like nuclear Iran and Islamic terrorism, is either dramatically wrong or outrageously mislead,” Ettinger declared.
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By JOEL H. GOLOVENSKY, JPOST

We need the new nationality law because we have a constitution that leaves it out. This constitution was not enacted by the Knesset: it was decreed by the Supreme Court. As elaborated and expanded over the past 20 years, it subordinates national Jewish interests to universalist ones.

During the country’s first 45 years, the Supreme Court skillfully applied common law to navigate a delicate and broadly accepted balance between the fundamental interests of Israel as both the nation state of the Jewish People and as a vibrant democracy.

But soon after the passage in 1992 of the two basic laws on civil rights (Human Dignity and Liberty and Freedom of Enterprise), the Court ruled that the basic laws constitute an instant and written constitution, and this carefully woven balance started to unravel.
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BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT.

Be afraid of the looming Iran nuclear agreement. Be very afraid.

Gary Gambill, National Post

With negotiations between the so-called P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany) and Iran over the fate of its nuclear program set to resume this week, the International Crisis Group (ICG) has released a detailed proposal for a final status settlement. Drawn from months of interviews with Iranian and P5+1 officials, the May 9 report outlines what an agreement splitting the difference between the “red lines” of both sides would look like. For anyone worried about Iran’s nuclear intentions, it is a very worrying document indeed.

The broad thrust of the proposed settlement is nothing new: Iran agrees to reduce its uranium enrichment capacity such that its “breakout time” — how quickly it could produce the material needed for a nuclear weapon if it made a full-throttled effort to do so — is extended from roughly two months at present to nine months (midpoint of the six-to-twelve month range suggested by Secretary of State John Kerry in congressional testimony last month). Iran also accepts a rigorous inspections regime to make sure it isn’t enriching uranium beyond this limit or developing mechanical components for a bomb. In exchange, the economic sanctions that have hobbled Iran’s economy are lifted.
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Watch MK explain plan to have Jewish identity triumph Israeli identity, annex Judea and Samaria, and encourage Arabs to leave.

By Dalit Halevy, Ari Yashar, INN

An Iranian Windfall

Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi, JCPA

• Fatah and Hamas are continuing to talk in an attempt to translate the reconciliation agreement, signed between the sides on April 23, 2014, into a series of operative steps. These primarily involve integrating Hamas and Islamic Jihad into the PLO institutions, setting up a unity government, and preparing for new parliamentary and presidential elections.

• The PA has rejected the demand that Hamas must accept the Quartet principles (renouncing terror, recognizing Israel, and recognizing the agreements signed between Israel and the PLO and the PA) before being allowed into the government or the PLO institutions. Abbas vehemently claims that Hamas is not a terror organization. Abbas’ consent to integrating Islamic Jihad into the PLO implies he does not regard it as a terror group either.

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Young Jews in CIS develop dual identity of Jewish culture, national pride

New book by Israeli sociologist, presented at Limmud Moscow conference, sheds light on first generation of post-Soviet Jews.

Ynetnews

Young Jews in the former Soviet Union have developed a dual identity based on Jewish culture and national pride about their home country, says Professor Vladimir (Ze’ev) Khanin of the Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption

Khanin, a senior lecturer in Political Studies at Bar-Ilan University, believes Jewish identity of both younger and older Jews revolves around three core values: Jewish ethnic and cultural traditions; the memory of the Holocaust; and solidarity with the State of Israel.

He discussed his findings at the recent Limmud FSU conference in Moscow, considered the largest Jewish gathering in the former Soviet Union, which brought together more than 1,000 young Russian Jews of the post-Soviet generation.
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