I sent my post Israel is screwed, blued and tattooed to Clare Lopez under the title The US and the Islamists. Here is her reply. Ted Belman

By Clare Lopez

Not a trouble, Ted – as you and everyone on this list no doubt realize, Israel, the world, and much of America is just awakening to the truth about the ideological bent of the man we sent to the White House…twice.

He and those around him firmly believe that US power has been a force for ill in the world. Doesn’t matter where any of them were born: they don’t feel like Founding-Fathers-and-Constitutional-first things-principles Americans in their hearts. They feel like “citizens of the world” – whatever that means. And they identify reflexively with those who would diminish, even destroy, US pre-eminence in the world.
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The frequent rocket attacks is a problem. But allowing the terrorists to stockpile their armaments is an even greater problem. Once we decide to do what Steinitz recommends, we must simultaneously do it to Hezbollah. But to do so in Lebanon is a bigger problem. First it is a sovereign state we would be invading. Secondly, this time we might be opposed by the Lebanese army. Ted Belman

By Adiv Sterman, TOI

Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz asserted Tuesday that the IDF will ultimately have no choice but to reoccupy the Gaza Strip for a limited period of time in order to deter Palestinian terrorist groups from firing rockets into Israeli territory.

During a visit to the southern town of Sderot, Steinitz claimed that the rate at which Gaza terrorist groups were arming themselves was reminiscent of the Lebanese terror organization Hezbollah, and said that a military operation was required in order to ensure that Israeli civilians in the south remained safe.
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It should be noted that Bibi’s Bar Ilan speech was delivered in 2009 before this poll. In my mind, the biggest red herring is the promise that he won’t jeopardize our security. Bibi never tires of repeating his desire to maintain our security and he never makes any demand for land other than to reject negotiations based on ’67 lines plus swaps. His silence on our land demands is deafening. Not to mention his rejection of the Levy Report.

Neither the recognition or the assurances that our security hasn’t been jeopardized, should result in us ceding more land. Land comes first. We should demand all the land we want and also demand recognition and security. There should be no quid pro quo here. Ted Belman

By GIL HOFFMAN, JPOST  Feb 25/14

The groups start what they call an “information and warning campaign” to inform public of what they believe is a tactical trick by Netanyahu.

Clash at UN: China Tries to Stop Testimony by Daughter of Jailed Democracy Leader Wang Bingzhang; Democracies Rally to Her Defense

UN WATCH

Ti-Anna Wang and UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer, UN Human Rights Council, Geneva, March 18, 2014.

GENEVA, March 18, 2014 – China today interrupted testimony at the United Nations Human Rights Council by the daughter one of its most well-known political prisoners, prompting a high-profile international clash in the plenary, as the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Ireland, Hungary, Switzerland and the Czech Republic squared off against China, Cuba, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela on whether she could be allowed to continue her remarks. See full speech below.
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By Michael Curtis, COMMENTATOR

Do you treat Jews in a manner different from other people? Israel is the quintessential Jewish project of modern times. Reflect. Prof. Michael Curtis in one of the most important pieces on the subject for many years

It is regrettable but now necessary to ask two questions. The first: are all those individuals, whatever their religious origin, political beliefs, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or nationality, who are in favor of some form of boycott of Israel, anti-Semites; haters of Jews?

The second: are those international bodies, so-called charity organizations, ill-informed academic groups, biased and bigoted mainstream churches, and trade unions who are critical of Israel equally critical of other countries for allegedly similar actions or non-actions?
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[See also:Judy Feld Carr: If Jews Hadn’t Left Syria it Would Have Been a Slaughter]

The Crowned of Damascus

By: Steven Plaut
Published: November 1st, 2006

“For the soul was ransomed from the pit of darkness, and life shall see light.” – Job 33:28

Its origins are in the medieval Spanish kingdom of Castille, in the early thirteenth century, well before Columbus left for the Americas. It was at some point purchased with coins minted during the reign of Queen Isabella’s half-brother, Henry IV. Then Isabella became queen, marrying Ferdinand of Aragon, and they completed the Reconquista and turned their attention to ethnic cleansing.

After the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, it showed up in Constantinople, where it was purchased with florin coins minted during the reign of Sultan Selim I, father of Suleiman the Magnificent. And from there it somehow got to Damascus, where it remained – hidden from the eyes of outsiders – until it was redeemed from the land of Aram, the land from which Abraham departed on his mission.

And it’s priceless.
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By Ze’ev Jabotinsky, ISRAEL HAYOM

The State of Israel is demanding recognition as the national homeland of the Jewish people in the negotiations with the Palestinians. The demand sounds logical and reasonable to the Western ear. However, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas firmly opposes it. The Palestinians and their supporters among the Left are trying to minimize their opposition, claiming that the demand is dealing with trivialities, and should therefore be taken off the negotiating table. But the sad truth is that abandoning the demand will perpetuate the conflict between Jews and Arabs in Israel. Why?

In 1922, the League of Nations voted unanimously to accept the text of the Mandate for Palestine, thus fully recognizing the existence of the Jewish people, its historical connection to the land of Israel and its right to build a country there. Furthermore, the League of Nations had the authority to do this under international law, as an application of the power of disposition.
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ICONOCLAST

Watch this Time video on Kurdish Rojava created by Fabio Bucciarelli and Eduardo Matas, shot in Rojava:

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By CAROLINE B. GLICK, JPOST

From its earliest days, the Iranian regime has been courted by one US administration after another seeking to accommodate Tehran.

Just before Russian President Vladimir Putin orchestrated Russia’s takeover of Crimea, the US’s Broadcasting Board of Governors that controls Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty announced that it will be ending its broadcast to Iraq and the Balkans next year.

And this makes sense. As far as the Obama administration is concerned, Iraq ceased to exist in 2011, when the last US forces got out of the country.

As for the Baltics, well, really who cares about them? Russia, after all, wants the same things America does. Everything will be fine.
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By Ted Belman

INN reports on an interview with Saeb Erekat, the PA negotiator, after the meeting between Obama and Abbas,

“I hope and pray that the Israeli government will make the choice: settlements or peace. They can’t have both”.

Erekat added that the possibility of continuing the talks past the April deadline did not come up in Abbas’s meetings with Obama or Secretary of State John Kerry.

“The negotiations are up on April 29,” he said, according to AP. “You don’t need negotiations any more. You need decisions.”

During the meeting between Obama and Abbas, the American president told the PA Chairman that both he and Israeli leaders must make tough political decisions and take “risks” for peace.

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By Ted Belman [This is a letter I wrote to a few respected analysts.]

Op-ed: Why are we still pretending the multicultural melting pot model for ethnically divided states is sustainable?

Matthew Mainen, YNET NEWS

Rather than maintain a futile paradigm, the international community should embrace positions that reflect political reality.

When it comes to Crimea and other breakaway territories, this requires sacrificing the golden calf of territorial integrity, whereby states refuse to recognize secessions even decades after the laying of irreversible facts on the ground.

The events in Crimea once again demonstrate that despite the liberal democratic community’s best efforts, the multicultural melting pot model for ethnically divided states is rarely sustainable. Whether in Cyprus or Georgia, division rather than coexistence pervades. Even in democracies, trends are emerging.
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By Maayana Miskin, INN

Minister of Economy Naftali Bennett, head of the Jewish Home party, was the big winner in this week’s legislation marathon, analysts agree.

In his weekly column, journalist Ben Caspit wrote, “So who won and who lost this week? Let’s start with Bennett. Bennett won big.

“The Enlistment Bill was built to fit the religious-Zionist community that sent him to Knesset,” he explained.

“The Governance Bill finally cancels the option for every random person with a kippah from Kiryat Arba to run alone,” he added – an apparent reference to former MK Michael Ben-Ari’s Otzma Leyisrael party, which narrowly missed entering Knesset and was widely seen as having drawn voters away from Jewish Home.
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DEBKAfile Special Report March 17, 2014,

US Navy Seals took control Monday, March 17 of a North Korean-flagged tanker carrying crude oil loaded from a rebel-hold port in eastern Libya after chasing it down to international waters off Cyprus. The US Pentagon and State Department said the tanker, the Morning Glory, was a pirate or rogue vessel of unknown ownership.
Two guided missile destroyers, the USS Roosevelt, which carried the Seals to target, and the USS Stout, which escorted the tanker back to Libyan port, took part in the operation, shortly after it was approved Monday by President Barack Obama.

The Pentagon also announced that US intervention was requested by the Libyan and Cypriot governments and was undertaken to return the oil cargo to its owners, the Libyan government.
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by Isi Leibler

Islamofascists Resort to Phone Harassment

The international crisis created by Putin’s military incursion into Crimea has also served to highlight again Russia’s relationship to the Jews. The Russian President has included radical nationalism and antisemitism in the Ukraine as major justifications for his intervention.

I have personal experience of the feral antisemitism which pervaded the region from my direct dealings with senior Soviet authorities in the campaign to free Soviet Jewry which was the central focus of my public life for many years. I have no doubt that both in the Ukraine and Russia, a substantial proportion of the population continues to hate and fear Jews.
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This analysis leaves out a very important alliance.America is backing Qatar. They are both against al Sisi and favour the MB. Also the CIA is backing al Qaeda in Sinai and Syria.  Finally, the very influential Brookings Institute also has a branch in Doha Qatar. The brookings Institute is extremely influential in the State DEpartment. Ted Belman

by Jonathan Spyer, PJ Media
March 14, 2014

http://www.meforum.org/3795/shifting-mideast-sands-reveal-new-alliances

A number of events in recent weeks cast light on the current intersecting lines of conflict in the Middle East. They reflect a region in flux, in which new bonds are being formed, and old ones torn asunder.

But amid the confusion, a new topography is emerging.

This was the month in which a long-existent split in the Sunni Arab world turned into a gaping fissure. On March 5th, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates announced that they were withdrawing their ambassadors from the Emirate of Qatar.
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I never heard about SNET until today and I am not sure of what it is about. It certainly seems anti-American. I am considering posting another article which seems very far fetched. Here’s the link. Superpowers swapping client-states: Ukraine in exchange for Iran?
Tell me what you think.

SNET DAILY

Editor’s Note…

This recent story demonstrates the ongoing policy of the Obama regime to transform Israel into a passive punching bag and defensive laboratory for the US military industrial complex, as demonstrated by his recent decision to allocate more funds for the “Iron Dome” interception system (in which the US mega-contractor Raytheon shares a stake), while putting an embargo on offensive systems like the AH64 platform which is crucial to counter guerrilla and  counter terrorism operations in Gaza and Sinai – two key regions currently infested with CIA sponsored Islamic terror groups.
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