I have often said that Bibi’s demand for security was to change the subject from our desire to keep the land. Not only was he giving away the land but he wasn’t looking after our security. Ted Belman

DEBKAfile: A cabinet crisis has been averted for now over the concessions urged on the prime minister by US Secretary of State John Kerry for the sake of a peace accord with the Palestinians. But by playing his cards too close to his vest, Netanyahu is exposing himself to more criticism and a loss of respect from within his own government.

Too often his words are countered or contradicted outright.
The Bennett episode roseout of the frustration of a member of the security cabinet which Netanyahu keeps in the dark over his solo performance.

But also today, Netanyahu was actually contradicted for insisting that the peace framework document that John Kerry is about to present to Israel and the Palestinian Authority is a US document, which represents America’s take on the points agreed and does not oblige Israel to accept its contents.

US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro stepped forward to deny this. Addressing a National Security Institute conference in Tel Aviv, the ambassador said that the framework agreement mostly incorporates ideas presented by the two sides (Israel and the Palestinians), with only a few inserts of American origin.

Read more…

Zionist Organization of America Press Release

New Poll: Americans Show Overwhelming Support For Israeli Positions –– Oppose Obama’s Positions

58% ––17% PA Will Be Terror State, 

47% –– 14% Support Settlements

59% –– 17% Want Stronger Iran Sanctions

A new poll of American public opinion has found that the vast majority of Americans support Israel on virtually every major issue concerning the Israeli/Palestinian situation, while opposing the positions of the Obama Administration. Additionally, only 31% of Americans believe President Barack Obama is a close and reliable friend of Israel. By a ratio of 3.5 to 1 (58% –– 17%), Americans believe any future Palestinian Arab state would be hostile to Israel and support terrorism. By a ratio of over 3 to 1 (47% –– 14%), Americans believe that Jews have the right to settle in Judea/Samaria (West Bank).
Read more…

As Hilary Clinton once said “What difference does it make now?”. Bennett didn’t attack Bibi, just his policy. And his attack was a mortal blow to such policy. That’s what matters. As for an apology, who cares? Ted Belman

By Barak Ravid, HAARETZ

Economy Minister Naftali Bennett clarified on Wednesday that he did not apologize to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his criticism of the prime minister’s peace plans.

Earlier Wednesday, Netanyahu issued an ultimatum to Bennett, ordering him to apologize for his statements by Sunday at 10 A.M., or he will be fired. Bennett then said that he did not mean to hurt the prime minister, but that he stands by his statements. Later on Wednesday, senior officials in the Likud party said that Bennett had backed down and apologized quicker than they had expected.
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By Ari Yashar, INN

Deputy Transportation Minister Tzipi Hotovely promises Likud rebellion over Netanyahu’s ‘political acrobatics’ in interview with Arutz Sheva.

Deputy Transportation Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud Beytenu) spoke to Arutz Sheva about Jewish Home Chairman Naftali Bennett’s criticism of a proposal to have Jews live under the Palestinian Authority (PA). Hotovely defended the statements as legitimate criticism.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office floated out the proposal Sunday, and later claimed it did so to reveal the PA’s “true face,” as PA Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat rejected the idea the same day. Read more…

Aviv Kochavi lists missile threat ahead of Iran nuke program; says in time, though, cyberwarfare will prove most dramatic change on battlefield

The head of Israel’s most powerful intelligence agency depicted Wednesday a changing battlefield in which offensive cyber capabilities will, in the near future, represent the greatest shift in combat doctrine in over 1,000 years. For now, though, he said, the 170,000 rockets and missiles pointed by enemy states at Israel represented the most pressing threat, a danger he placed even above Iran’s rogue nuclear program.

“Cyber, in my humble opinion, and you don’t have to agree with me, will be revealed in a not very long time as a revolution greater than the creation of gunpowder or the usage of the aerial space at the start of the past century,” said Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, the head of the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate. Kochavi, a former infantry officer, called the possibilities inherent in cyber warfare “nearly limitless, and that is not a metaphor.”

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WHY MUST BENNETT APOLOGIZE? Because he opposed Netanyahu’s ill-advised proposal? I support Bennett.

[Video of Bennett’s terrific speech in Hebrew. I am waiting for it in English.]

Naftali Bennett and Binyamin Netanyahu

A new exchange of fire Wednesday highlighted the growing rift between Jewish Home Chairman, Economics Minister Naftali Bennett, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Bennett’s criticism of Netanyahu’s proposal on Sunday to leave Jews in Judea and Samaria under Palestinian Authority (PA) rule reportedly has Netanyahu livid.

In response, sources in Netanyahu’s office said “no one will teach Netanyahu what the love of the land of Israel is,” and further called Bennett’s conduct “impudent.” They say his behavior and “irresponsible style won’t pass in silence. This behavior of Bennett’s harms the interests of the settlements.”
Read more…

By HERB KEINON, JPOST.COM STAFF

Bayit Yehudi leader says Jews would be killed in Palestinian state, Israel must preserve sovereignty.

Naftali Bennet speaking at INSS conference January 28 2014

Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett addressed a security conference in Tel Aviv hosted by the Institute for Nation Security Studies (INSS) on Tuesday.

“People said that giving back land would bring security, but in the year 2000, terrorism was rampant in the streets of Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem,” he said. Read more…

By John Reed, FT

Just off Highway 60, the Israeli road that slices through the West Bank, ferrying Jewish settlers from jobs in Jerusalem to their hillside homes on occupied Palestinian lands, hang banners reading, “Preserve the country – don’t surrender to Kerry”.

The Yesha Council, the administrative body that represents Israel ‘s large and growing settler community in the occupied West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem, unveiled the message during protests at roadside junctions this month, along with an advertising campaign warning of what it says are the dangers posed by the peace talks led by John Kerry. Read more…

By Ali Al Sharnoby, CFP

It seems the current U.S. administration cannot accept nor even tolerate the existence of a powerful independent ruler in the Middle East.

While Gen. Sisi defends Christians from the brutality of the Muslim Brotherood, Obama ignores Christians but caters to radical Islam.

[Sisi] overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood rule in Egypt’s, toppled the American project which supports the rise of political Islam forces in the Middle East to implement the U.S. plans concerning the new Middle East and the creative chaos that would ensue.

CAIRO, EGYPT—Egypt’s interim President Adly Mansour made it official—which should come as nothing unexpected—presidential elections before parliamentary elections, with the presidential election within three months.
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NAFTALI BENNETT JUST DELIVERED A SPEECH FOR THE AGES.

AS SOON AS IT IS AVAILABLE I WILL POST IT.

NETANYAHU TO SPEAK AT 7:45 OR SO.

NETANYAHU SWORE THAT HE WOULD NOT LET IRAN GET THE BOMB.

You are invited to watch the INSS annual international conference 

live on January 28-29, 2014

The conference will be broadcast with simultaneous translation (English and Hebrew)

Click here to watch the conference

Click here for the conference program.

Lunch Break now –Will continue at 14:15 Israel time.

Strategic Solutions for a new middle east Face Book entry

Yesterday was  International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Sadly, there are Muslim leaders, embraced by President Obama, who continue to deny the Holocaust. Illustrative of this is Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei who states on his Farsi language website, “the Jewish slaughter known as the Holocaust,” is a myth. [See:http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/7786.htm ]
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Yadlin shooting off his mouth again. As if unilateral withdrawal solves anything. We still have to contain and constrain the Arab violence. They will be left with autonomy only which is what they have now. What it will do is turn Area B and C into Area A. Thus the Arabs will be free to develop these lands with the $4.5 billion being offered by Kerry. If we are going to redraw the Oslo map we should do so only if the US and the EU formally agree that the parts of Area C we retain should become part of Israel. We should keep the Jordan Valley permanently and widen our girth to 30 miles. Since this is not going to happen, we are left with the status quo, which to my mind is better that a bad TSS, but still very problematic or annexation. Ted Belman

Former MI chief says unilateral action preferable to status quo.

By Gili Cohen, HAARETZ

The country’s leading strategic think tank recommended on Tuesday that if the diplomatic process with Palestinians fails, Israel unilaterally withdrawal from 85 percent of the West Bank – between the security barrier and the Jordan Valley.
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By Tuvia Brodie, INN

Israel has been threatened. Israel’s Left is terrified. Should we follow their lead?

The European Union (EU) has told Israel that if current peace talks fail, Israel will be blamed. The EU will implement a boycott against Israel. Israel’s Left is terrified that this boycott will motivate others to gather against Israel.

Therefore, the Left argues, we must make ‘peace’ immediately. Otherwise, boycotts will destroy us.

Israel’s Left believes three things about this threat. First, it is real. The EU has been threatening Israel for some time. The boycott has teeth. If talks fail, the boycott begins.
Read more…

BY HERB KEINON, JPOST

In the debate this week among Israeli politicians on the future residency of West Bank settlers, no one is asking the Palestinians whether Jews should be allowed to live in a future Palestinian state.

by Anne Bayefsky originally appeared on FOX News.

It is Holocaust remembrance time at the United Nations. Once a year, Jews from around New York, a dwindling number of Holocaust survivors, occasional celebrities, and precious few friends, file into the General Assembly Hall and grant the U.N. the privilege of appearing to care.

This year’s speakers include Steven Spielberg. When it is over, the year-round ritual censure of the Jewish state will resume.

Characteristic of “International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust” is the scarcity of express emphasis on Israel, save for the remarks of the Israeli ambassador.

Modern Israel, if it had existed, would not have allowed six million Jews or one million children to perish while railway lines delivering human cargo to their final destination were left intact. And yet, the well-being of the only country dedicated to saving the Jewish people is generally peripheral. Read more…