By MARTIN SHERMAN, JPOST

Between the River and the Sea there will exist either exclusive Jewish sovereignty or exclusive Arab sovereignty. This is not right-wing extremism or religious fanaticism, merely sound political science.

Members of eight-man unit set up in recent weeks in Ukrainian capital have IDF experience or martial arts skills

BY JTA, May 8, 2014,

Official: ‘Indyk is the last person who can preach to us about the peace process’; ‘Process was meant to be primarily bilateral’.

Reuters

Israel fired back on Friday at senior US official Martin Indyk, who blamed Jewish settlement construction in part for the breakdown of peacemaking with the Palestinians, saying he himself had done nothing to help the negotiations.

The blunt riposte signaled continued, deep tensions between Israel and Washington over the US-led talks, which collapsed last month amid bitter recriminations.

In his first public comments on the negotiations, US envoy Indyk said on Thursday that neither side had had the stomach to make the necessary compromises, and singled out settlement building on occupied territory as a particular obstacle.

But a senior Israeli official familiar with the talks accused Indyk of hypocrisy, saying he had known construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem would continue during the discussions. 
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BY REBECCA SHIMONI STOIL, TOI

WASHINGTON — While delivering scathing condemnations of the behavior of both sides, Washington’s chief negotiator in the recent Israeli-Palestinian talks denied Thursday that the peace process was over.

In his most revealing comments since the breakdown of talks, former ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk recounted Thursday evening how, after six months of productive direct negotiations, Palestinian leaders “shut down” and singled out settlement activity as a major — but not the sole — factor.

“We have passed the nine-month marker for these negotiations, and for the time being the talks have been suspended,” Indyk said, addressing the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Weinberg Founders Conference in Washington DC. “Some have said this process is over. But that is not correct. As my little story testifies. As you all know well — in the Middle East, it’s never over.”

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By David Singer, INN

The 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine – and international law – have finally emerged as triumphant victors over the 1964 PLO Charter, following the collapse of 50 years of failed attempts by the PLO to arbitrarily void the vote of the 51 members of the League of Nations who unanimously endorsed the legal right of the Jewish people to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in 23% of former Palestine.

This significant PLO defeat and loss of face follows the ignominious end – on 29 April 2014 – of the nine months negotiating deadline period imposed on Israel and the PLO by US Secretary of State – John Kerry – designed to achieve the “two- state solution” – the creation of a second Jew-free Arab State – in addition to Jordan – in former Palestine (a name given by the Romans to the area and that has no connection to the Arabs who invaded hundreds of years later) for the first time ever in recorded history.
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By Ted Belman

Marin Indyk gave a major speech to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in which he sought to bolster the demands of Susan Rice.

He issued a strong condemnation of Israel’s settlement activity in the West Bank on Thursday night, saying that:

“Rampant settlement activity – especially in the midst of negotiations – doesn’t just undermine Palestinian trust in the purpose of the negotiations; it can undermine Israel’s Jewish future,” he said. “If this continues, it could mortally wound the idea of Israel as a Jewish state – and that would be a tragedy of historic proportions.” It could “drive Israel into an irreversible binational reality.”

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Talk is cheap. Why isn’t she drawing a red line at the UN or demanding that incitement stops as the first installment on embracing non-violence. The PA will not be deterred by this demand. Will Israel? Probably. No more freezes, announced or secret, please. Ted Belman

HAARETZ

The United States expects that both Israel and the Palestinians will manage the current “pause” in the peace talks “in a way that reduces tensions and preserves space to pursue a two-state solution when both sides are prepared to take the decisions necessary to resume substantive negotiations,” U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice said yesterday after meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.

Rice passed the same message to the Israeli officials with whom she met, according to a statement released by the White House.

Rice also stressed what she said were “the principles that must guide a Palestinian government in order for it to play a constructive role in achieving peace and building an independent Palestinian state.”
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by David Suissa, JEWISH LEDGER

Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

We’re so used to seeing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process fail that we often overlook this simple question: How is it possible that so many can try so hard for so long and still fail to make any progress? How can it be that the United States, the most powerful country on Earth, has failed so royally, despite decades of making this conflict a top priority?

What I’m especially interested in is this: Why have the Palestinians, in particular, seemed so reluctant to make a deal?
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[I have long favoured unilateralism for the reasons Jack gives. When we act unilaterally, we don’t make any concessions for worthless promises.  Ted Belman]

By Jack Golbert

Predictably the Palestinians sabotaged implementation of yet another variation on Oslo. By entering a unity agreement with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the “peace process” is annulled, notwithstanding any whitewash by President Obama and his Secretary of State, John Kerry.

Israel has incessantly tried courting peace with the Arabs who call themselves “Palestinians,” making one painful concession after another, and one one-sided gesture after another, only to be made a fool of again and again. Negotiations, confidence building measures, painful concessions, security fence, proportionate response, and international guarantees are not just useless, but make Israel the laughing stock of all countries. Every algorithm that required reciprocity from the Palestinians failed. There is no choice but to find a viable alternative, certainly not a rehash of the same approach that has wrought disaster for decades. Read more…

By Michael Ledeen, PJ MEDIA

Over the past couple of decades the Chinese have become more interested in the Jews. Of late the Chinese regime has been bringing Jewish scholars and theologians to the People’s Republic to discuss Torah, Talmud, Mishnah and even some of the more mystical tracts.

Why?

It’s no surprise that China-Israel trade is increasing, nor that the China-Israel relationship has grown and deepened. Israel may well be the most dynamic country in the world, bursting at the seams with high-tech startups, dazzling inventions–especially in military and medical technologies–and highly educated and talented people.

But I’m not talking about Israel here. This is about the Chinese fascination with the Jews and Judaism, the religion and the People of the Book.
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By Evelyn Gordon, COMMENTARY

John Kerry’s infamous apartheid comment continues to make waves in Israel, eliciting pushback from some surprising places–like yesterday’s Haaretz column by Zvi Bar’el. Bar’el, whom nobody could accuse of being an Israel apologist (his column asserts Israeli control over the West Bank is even worse than the apartheid), points out that under apartheid, the legal regime discriminates between citizens of the same country. That’s fundamentally different from an occupation, under which the legal regime discriminates between the occupying power’s citizens and the occupied non-citizens. All occupying powers have given their own citizens more rights than the occupied non-citizens, from the British in India through the French in Algeria to the Americans in Iraq, he noted; yet none of these were ever labeled apartheid. Why should Israel be any different?
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By Shoshana Bryen, AMERICAN THINKER

Sometimes it is braggadocio. Sometimes it is the last rhetorical shot before making a political change previously thought impossible. But sometimes, just sometimes, it is truth as the teller sees it.

Hamas released a video for Israel’s 66th anniversary, entitled “No Hope,” (a play on Israel’s national anthem, Hatikva, or “Hope”). It is vile, putrid and an absolutely true rendering of Hamas thinking, breathing, and being. The Times of Israel described it in all its slavish devotion to death, delusion and Hamas imperialism:

“The army of the Zionists was built of wax and now it is melted and has no hope,” the singer croons as a computer generated militant character smashes Israel’s state symbols into rubble. The song says that smart Israelis will be allowed to leave the country and return “to their homelands” while those who are stubborn and remain will have their fates “sealed beneath the dirt.” The YouTube clip intersperses various historical photos of the conflict with computer-generated Hamas gunmen who are seen driving the Jews out of Jerusalem and onto ships and celebrating on top of the al-Aqsa mosque, as the bodies of IDF soldiers riddle the streets. “The Holy city will return to its former name,” the singer warbles as the distorted anthem draws to a close. “My capital Beyt al-Maqdis, not Jerusalem.”

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By Ted Belman

Ariel: Price Tag Isn’t Terrorism, Rocks and Firebombs Are. He is so right and those who equate them like Livni are so wrong.

“Price tag is a serious offense and we must apprehend the criminals,

“The failure of the police and the Shin Bet time and time again to bring the criminals to justice does not turn these illegal acts and into terrorism,”

“Terrorism is murder and intent to kill by throwing rocks, shooting, firebombing, car bombs, and more,” added Ariel, who and called to differentiate between real terrorism and serious acts that are “unrelated to the definition of terrorism.”

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By GIL HOFFMAN, JPOST

More than two-thirds of Israeli Jews support the government’s decision to suspend negotiations with the Palestinian Authority after Fatah and Hamas signed a unity deal, according to a poll published Wednesday by the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University.

The monthly Peace Index poll found 68 percent of Israeli Jews believe the decision made by the security cabinet two weeks ago was appropriate, while 27% disagree with the move.

When asked about the US president’s assessment that neither Israeli nor Palestinian leaders showed the political will to make difficult decisions to sustain negotiations, only 39% of Israeli Jews said they agreed both sides were equally responsible for the negotiations’ failure. The percentage disagreeing with Obama was 56%.
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YNET

Iranian missile test. A number of tough days (Photo: AP) At first we’ll experience a number of tough days. Rockets and missiles, directed mainly at the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. The aerial defense will mostly defend strategic facilities and bases, in the big cities buildings will collapse and there will be casualties.

But it won’t last for long. The Israel Air Force will respond immediately, and after a few days we will see a significant drop in the number of missiles fired on Israel. A ceasefire will follow, there will be some more rocket fire, and then a truce and relative calm for several years thanks to the restored deterrence.

This is the serious but reasonable scenario the IDF is preparing for, and this is the political echelon’s strategic target. It will be a “high-trajectory war.” Whether the rocket fire comes from Syria, Lebanon, Gaza or Iran – the goal will to end it quickly in order to minimize damages and losses, while causing maximum damage on the other side, so that it feels the urgency to pursue a ceasefire.
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Love and Betrayal by Pamela Scheiber

I was recently contacted by Pamela Schieber asking me if I could draw attention to her just published book.   Pamela had moved from the US to Israel in the early seventies and settled in the new town, Yamit.  I myself entertained doing so at that time.  Doing so seemed so adventuresome. I asked her if she knew Yamit82. Yes.  Apparently they were neighbours. I put them in touch. How could I say no.

Here are three reviews in Amazon Books”

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By Ted Belman

The New Republic just published a controversial article titled American Jewry Is Doomed If It Can’t Embrace J Street,  The author, a Harvard Professor contends “If organized American Jewry cannot find a place for J Street’s form of young, liberal, humanistic Judaism, it is dooming itself to shrinking through attrition and retreating to the self-destructive corner that Israel’s conservatives have been pushing it toward for two generations.” In fact it is J Street that is dooming itself by existing outside the pale. Liberal Jews are dying out, through assimilation and intermarriage while conservative nationalist and orthodox Jews are thriving in both Israel and America. The future is with them.

In addition , J Street with its anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian policies do not represent the majority of liberal Jews and cannot speak for them. It is a fringe movement.
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BREITBART

On a recent trip to Egypt with a delegation of national security experts and journalists we had the opportunity to meet with senior-level Egyptian security officials, as well as several members of the country’s various religious and civil society movements. The message being disseminated in the Western press about Egypt is contrary to the reality on the ground.

A recent Los Angeles Times article repeats the accusation that Egypt’s response to terrorism is in fact the reason Egypt is in such trouble. This narrative has become entrenched in some circles of the US foreign policy establishment. To quote directly from the article, “…some U.S. officials warn that the Egyptian actions may alienate civilians and spur anti-American sentiment.” Read more…

WHO RUNS ISRAEL? WEINSTEIN AND LIVNI? GET RID OF THEM.

It is very important that the JNF whose mission is to raise money to strengthen the Jewish presence in the land be permitted to do just that. It raises money from Jews, for Jews and not for citizens of Israel. Ted Belman

Attorney General effectively reversed a decision by that would have kept the JNF an independent organization.

By Moshe Cohen, INN

On Sunday, a proposal by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni to place the Jewish National Fund under the supervision of the State Comptroller’s Office was defeated in the Ministerial Law Committee, with a majority of government ministers voting against the bill. But on Monday,Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein effectively reversed that decision, declaring that he was ordering the JNF to be place under the supervision of his own office.

The change was effected when Weinstein, with the stroke of a pen, changed the status of the JNF from a private corporation to one that “is concerned with the welfare of the public.” With that status, the organization now must meet criteria for such companies set by the Attorney General’s office.

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