By Moshe Feiglin

Everyone is talking about ‘peace’ talks. The basic assumption is that peace talks are supposed to bring peace. The ‘problems’ that ‘peace’ is supposed to solve are common knowledge: There is the security problem, the demographic problem, the problem of Palestinian nationalism competing with Israel over the same piece of land, the international – particularly US- pressure, and some add the economic problem. But even a superficial analysis of the ‘problems’ reveals that none of them are motivating Israel’s ‘peace’ talks.

Peace cannot be defined as the goal of a state. Peace is the result of the proper definition of a state’s goal and the achievement of that goal. If peace is our goal, then it can be achieved more easily in other locations (Australia, or Uganda, for example), by surrendering our sovereignty (what’s so bad about the British flag?) or by assimilation.
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Land of Israel activists to hold special emergency convention on Sunday to discuss Secretary of State John Kerry’s upcoming ‘framework’.

By David Lev, INN

With U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry set to present his “framework” for a deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the coming days, Land of Israel activists will hold a special emergency convention on Sunday. The event will take place at Ulpanat Ofra and will discuss alternatives to the Kerry plan, which the government of Israel seems ready to accept, even though details are still sketchy.

What is known about the plan, say activists, is that it entails significant Israeli withdrawals from Judea and Samaria, and/or relinquishing of territory inside the 1948 armistice lines in exchange for the so-called “settlement blocs” in Judea and Samaria.
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Iran is set to become the “alpha dog” – the dominant power – in the Middle East, according to a Fox News analyst.

By Ari Yashar, INN

Nabil Shaath, a senior official in the terror group PalestineLiberation Organization (PLO), claimed on Thursday that Israel was “imposing its own agenda” on the US push for peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The accusation comes despite reports that US Secretary of StateJohn Kerry has been forcing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu tosubmit to his plans, and further has been wielding the prospect of European boycotts as a threat to force Israeli concessions.

“Israel has succeeded in really persuading Kerry to change the agenda of the discussions,” accused Shaath to AFP. “Today, you will see Kerry going back and forth, discussing nothing but two issues. The two issues have never been in our agenda: the Jewishness of the state and (security in) the Jordan (Valley).”

“They (Israelis) force the agenda on (Kerry); they will not talk about anythingelse,” claimed Shaath, who in the past admitted the PA is staying in talks only to free terrorists. “It is a narrative problem that is taking most of the time of Kerry.” Read more…

Aid to Israel restored to $3.1 Billion
By Gil Ronen, Arutz Sheva

US aid to Israel for 2014 was restored to its pre-sequester level of $3.1 billion in the spending bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday.

The amount is in line with a 2007 10-year memorandum of understanding that guaranteed Israel an average of $3 billion a year in assistance.

Aid to the Palestinian Authority was conditioned on its not running to the United Nations for recognition.

Also in the bill is $268.7 million in funding for U.S.-Israel cooperative anti-missile programs. This is not considered assistance because Israel contributes to the programs. The annual US assistance, too, has strings attached: it is conditional on the money being used for purchasing weapons from the US.
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ISRAEL HAYOM

Elliot Abrams is a senior fellow for Middle East Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. This piece is reprinted with permission and can be found on Abrams’ blog “Pressure Points” here.

U.S. Secretary of State Kerry continues his energetic efforts to get the Israelis and Palestinians to sign a comprehensive peace agreement. In a new Policy Innovation Memo for the Council on Foreign Relations, I argue that such an agreement is not possible right now and that there’s a better way forward.

The memo begins this way:

“The Obama administration is fostering Israeli-Palestinian negotiations aimed at a full and final peace agreement. While the talks last they help calm the regional political situation, but they do nothing to improve Palestinian daily life or help build the institutions of a future Palestinian state. If they fail, as all past efforts have, they may leave behind frustration and bitterness. Even so, negotiations should not be abandoned, but should be buttressed by a simultaneous effort to undertake pragmatic steps that support Palestinian institutions, improve life in the West Bank, and strengthen the Palestinian Authority (PA) against Hamas.”

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BY ISI lIEBLER

[..]
Avigdor Lieberman is one of our most able and intelligent ministers. He successfully rose from humble beginnings to his current role as the second most influential figure in the government.

But he has a long track record of acting as a law unto himself. Not as an egomaniac, but as a shrewd politician calculatingly seeking public support by presenting himself as a tough down-to-earth leader who dispenses with niceties or diplomatic language in order to say things like they are.

His independent forays frequently intoxicate many Israelis, especially those who consider the government to be too passive or identify with his frequently persuasive debunking of politically correct mantras.
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From Arutz Sheva

Editor’s note: And for a report on the real results of Kerry’s visit, read the facts below, sent to Arutz Sheva by Yehudit Tayar, a voluntary immediate response emergency medic who serves on the Board of Directors of Hatzalah Yehudah and Shomron, and is one of the veteran spokesmen of the Jewish pioneers in Yesha.

This report is translated and publicized by Hatzalah Yehudah and Shomron with the clearance and confirmation of the IDF. Hatzalah Yehudah and Shomron is a voluntary emergency medical organization with over 500 volunteer doctors, paramedics, medics who are on call 24/7 and work along with the IDF, 669 IAF Airborn Rescue, the security officers and personal throughout Yesha and the Jordan Valley, and with MDA.
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By Tm Wilson, COMMENTARY

While Israel may have now buried former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, it is still far from having buried with him the idea with which Sharon ultimately came to be most strongly associated: unilateralism–the notion that if no partner for peace could be found, then Israel should determine its own fate, draw its own borders, and extricate itself from a conflict it has long wanted no part in. It was ultimately to this end that Sharon broke from the Likud, and indeed the settlement movement that he had long been the patron of, and established Kadima, the party that would give him the representation in Israel’s Knesset that he needed to carry out the unilateral disengagement from Gaza and parts of the West Bank.
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By Gonan Ginat, ISRAEL HAYON

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon apologized. He had to. Regular Israelis, however, are exempt from such diplomatic etiquette, free to clarify to the Americans what they know anyway, as anybody who regularly deals with Israeli popular opinion polls knows: namely, that the vast majority of Israelis believe that Ya’alon, before the apology, spoke the truth. They believe he was right.

The Americans were furious. Self-appointed experts in etiquette and propriety set out to compete over rolling eyes and sanctimonious pronouncements (making sure to be widely quoted).

But, as the dust settles, the Americans deserve to know: The majority of us are with Ya’alon, the man who spoke not only what he believes, but what most of us believe too.
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Amidror: US Cannot Force Dangerous Deal On Us

By Ted Belman

Def Min Yaalon has been castigated for saying “The only thing that can ‘save’ us is that John Kerry will get a Nobel peace prize and leave us alone.” “The American security plan that was presented to us is not worth the paper it was written on.”  He also said Kerry had a ““misplaced obsession and messianic fervor.””.

The US reacted angrily and forced him to apologize.  But the apology changes nothing. The truth is the truth.

As DEBKA points out, the US never forced Rouhani to apologize but said “It doesn’t matter what the Iranians say, but what they do.” We are not afforded the right to be honest.

Barak David in Haaretz said Yaalon “shot himself in the foot” and wrote:
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An apology doesn’t change the fact that he said it. So who cares.

I have been warned by a high ranking member of the US intelligence community that there are many antisemites in the CIA and State Department. The notion of a special relationship or their our best friends is a fraud intended to get Israel to give more. Ted Belman

DEBKAfile Special Report January 15, 2014, 9:39 AM (IST)

Israel’s Defense Minister Ya’alon was forced to apologize Tuesday night, Jan. 14, for off-the-record remarks he made to reporters, which relegated US Secretary of State John Kerry’s role in the oft-stalled Israel-Palestinian peace talks to “misplaced obsession and messianic fervor.” He was also quoted as dismissing the US security plan as “not worth the paper it was written on.”
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Misrepresenting faith to the benefit of a political party and ideology.

By Eli Steinberg, THE FEDERALIST

There are few things I find more frustrating than when liberals misrepresent facts in order to advance their agenda. It takes a special kind of intellectual laziness to sell a policy to an uninformed public with an argument predicated on untruths presented as undisputable facts. (Obamacare will cut typical families premiums by $2500, or if you like your plan you can keep it are two notable examples) It was Reagan who put it best when he said “[T]he trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.”
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Brian Blum, SHAVEI ISRAEL

Basia Wieczorek

It’s an increasingly common story among the Jews of Poland: a grandparent, lying on his or her deathbed, reveals to the grandchild a shocking secret – that the grandparent and, as a result, his or her family, is actually Jewish. The phenomenon has occurred so frequently that some observers have referred to it as the emergence of the “Hidden” Jews of Poland.

Basia Wieczorek is one such person, although she explains that Polish Jews refer to themselves as being part of either the “first,” “second” or “third” generation since the Holocaust. Where you are in the spectrum can have a huge impact on Jewish identity. Read more…

By Zev Gotkin, TOI 

I was 16 years old and I was in the city of Venice, Italy on a family vacation. After having lunch with a wealthy Kuwaiti family whom I had met during my travels, I thought to myself: “I doubt anything more interesting is going to happen today.” It was with that frame of mind that I decided to walk back to the hotel where my family was staying.

As I made my way out of San Marco’s square and walked alongside the famous Doge’s palace, I noticed two men in the garb of Chassidic Jews walking past me. Despite their black hats, dark suits, and long beards and my jean-shorts and oversized t-shirt sporting an image of Bob Marley’s face sculpted out of marijuana leaves, I felt a kind a sense of Jewish connection with them. As they strode past me I gave them a subtle nod. Read more…

BY YASMINE SALEH

(Reuters) – After crushing the Muslim Brotherhood at home, Egypt’s military rulers plan to undermine the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which runs the neighboring Gaza Strip, senior Egyptian security officials told Reuters.

The aim, which the officials say could take years to pull off, includes working with Hamas’s political rivals Fatah and supporting popular anti-Hamas activities in Gaza, four security and diplomatic officials said.

Since it seized power in Egypt last summer, Egypt’s military has squeezed Gaza’seconomy by destroying most of the 1,200 tunnels used to smuggle food, cars and weapons to the coastal enclave, which is under an Israeli blockade.
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Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi,

JCPA