Far-left New Israel Fund admits it has an image problem, promises to set ‘new strategic directions’ in February.

By Gil Ronen, INN

The controversial New Israel Fund (NIF), which supports a variety of ultra-leftist organizations in Israel, admits it has taken a pummeling from the grassroots-Zionist Im Tirtzu group, but promises it will launch a new strategic drive in three months’ time.

According to left-wing paper Haaretz, NIF President Brian Lurie, and CEO, Daniel Sokatch, describe as “momentous” an upcoming meeting of the NIF board of directors, scheduled to be held in Israel in February, at which, Sokatch says, “new strategic directions will be set.”

Lurie referred to the attacks on the organization by Im Tirzu as “vicious”, but claimed their effect on the NIF was only “minimal.” However, Haaretz says others describe the organization’s new direction as a reaction to the efforts to “delegitimize” the NIF, and that one donor said the NIF was headed toward greater “militancy”. Read more…

By Tova Dvorin, INN

[Kerry says Muslim Brotherhood ‘stole’ Egypt revolution]

By Robert Spencer, FPM

Josh Rogin reported in the Daily Beast Monday that there is a rift in Barack Obama’s foreign policy team over Egypt. “Before Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent trip to Cairo,” Rogin wrote, “National Security Adviser Susan Rice told him to make strong statements in public and private about the trial of deposed President Mohamed Morsi. On his own, Kerry decided to disregard the White House’s instructions.”
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Friedman doesn’t allow at all for the possibility that Israel is right and Obama wrong. Obama’s deal is not “desirable”. “A careful consideration of the facts” supports Israel’s position, not Obama’s. Rather than blaming Israel he blames the Israel Lobby. What really bugs him, as a mouthpiece for Obama, is that little Israel is thwarting Obama’s plans. T. Belman

By David Lev, INN

Before meeting: Beginning of meeting with Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu

PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Mr Prime Minister, colleagues, I am very happy to welcome you to Moscow.

I am glad to say that you and I have been in constant contact. We talked on
the phone just recently. I am happy for the opportunity to talk with you
about the situation in the region, as well as complicated international
issues and bilateral relations.

I must say that we are giving significant attention to pressing
international issues. But I suppose that Russia and Israel’s bilateral
relations have their own value, and I hope that you and I will discuss them
today as well. I am referring to our plans to develop economic cooperation
and humanitarian ties.
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By Anne Bayefsky, FOX NEWS

American taxpayers have now paid over half a billion dollars to renovate United Nations Headquarters in New York City. And guess who is controlling access to the meeting rooms? The UN Division for Palestinian Rights.

On Friday, November 15, 2013, an official UN-accredited Jewish non-governmental organization had its security clearance to attend an open UN meeting in New York revoked just because the UN staff dedicated to all things Palestinian said so.

A group of 18 Birthright Israel alumni had been invited to witness “UN Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People” by the UN-accredited Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust.
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Palestinians from Syria: The worst treatment of all

By Elliot Abrams, ISRAEL HAYOM

There are over 500,000 Palestinian “refugees” in Syria, as counted by the U.N. agency handling Palestinian “refugees,” the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. The quotation marks are especially apt in this case, for the great majority of the “refugees” were born in Syria and have lived there all their lives. Only under UNRWA’s definitions of “refugee” (Palestinians who left what is now Israel in 1948, and all of their descendants until the end of time) would they qualify.

According to UNRWA:

“Palestine refugees in Syria have been severely affected by the armed conflict in the country, with virtually all their residential areas experiencing armed engagements or the use of heavy weapons. The number of Palestine refugees in need of assistance in Syria is rapidly approaching the total population of 529,000 registered refugees. Over half have already been displaced from their homes.”

Read more…

[Bennett: Leaving Gaza Cost 1,000 Times More than Staying[

Bennett treading carefully on religious reform
Times of Israel

In the eight months since he took over three Israeli ministries — religious services, economy, and Diaspora and Jerusalem affairs — Bennett has pushed through legislation to give Israeli couples more freedom in choosing which rabbi officiates at their wedding, worked with coalition partner Yair Lapid to lop $11 billion off Israel’s budget and fast-tracked a resolution to the showdown over women’s prayer at the Western Wall.

On this last achievement, Bennett managed an end run around the debate over a controversial compromise proposal by Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky by ordering the construction of a platform for egalitarian services adjacent to Robinson’s Arch, an archaeological site at the southern edge of the wall.

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Sources in Jerusalem say that though Israel voiced opposition to current outline of nuclear deal, Iran likely to sign soon. Obama says unclear whether deal to be achieved this week or next

Attila Somfalvi, YNET 

Against the backdrop of Israel’s attempts to convince the international community that the current outline of a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers is bad, Jerusalem sources have already conceded that at the end of the day there will be an agreement. Even if it takes a few more days, Iran will eventually sign an agreement with the P5+1, sources noted.

US President Barack Obama nonethless injected a note of caution on Tuesday, telling a Wall Street Journal forum: “We don’t know if we’ll be able to close a deal with Iran this week or next week.”  Read more…

Just this summer, this trope made its way into a publication designed to demonize Israel.

It was the hottest week of the year. All Fadel Jaber wanted was some water for his family. But Fadel lives in the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli government has redirected water pipes to provide swimming pools for Jewish settlers and empty faucets for Palestinians like Fadel.

This canard is repeated over and over again. Martin Sherman wrote to me to advise that two years ago:

I confronted him (peter Beinart) at UCLA and explained that – at best – he was distorting the incident. He nevertheless ignored the facts and published his book which begins with the his original misleading description to show how much of a lie it is.

And he included this letter.
Read more…

By Ted Belman

I am retired and am devoting my full time energies to this blog and my activism. I am against the creation of a Palestinian state and for the annexation of Judea and Samaria.

I pay all costs related thereto including professional fees for any technical work that is needed.

I have been doing this for over a decade. I could use your help.

SO PLEASE MAKE A DONATION AND SHOW YOUR APPRECIATION. JUST CLICK ON THE DONATE BUTTON ABOVE.

By Jamie Weinstein, THE DAILY CALLER

Investigative author Edwin Black details how American taxpayers help fund Palestinian terrorists in his new book, ”Financing the Flames: How Tax-Exempt and Public Money Fuel a Culture of Confrontation and Terror in Israel.”

“As soon as a Palestinian terrorist murders an innocent civilian, blows up a bus, or commits any other act of terrorism in Israel, he or she goes on an official Palestinian Authority salary,” Black explained to The Daily Caller. “That salary level follows a schedule of compensation that rises dramatically with the number of people killed and the amount of carnage inflicted.”

“These are the best compensation packages in the PA, dwarfing the wage of an ordinary worker,” he continued. “Hence, you can go from rags to riches in Palestine by murdering a family or firebombing a bus. Approximately $3 million to $7 million each month is paid in this program, constituting approximately 6 percent of the PA’s annual budget. Since the PA is constantly operating at a deficit, this cash supply is dependent upon donor countries such as the United States, the UK, France and Norway. Their foreign ministries and our State Department know about this terror financing, but our congressmen do not, nor does the American public — until now.”
Read more…

Fresno Zionism

A few months ago I viewed with alarm the huge investment made by Qatar in setting up Al Jazeera America:

Presently available in only about 40 million US households — some cable companies, like Time-Warner Cable, decided that it wasn’t in their best interest to support the network that brought us Bin Laden’s taped threats — AJA has fancy studios (including one in the Newseum in DC, not far from the White House), a plush headquarters in New York and 12 US bureaus. It is working to get more cable outlets.
Read more…

By Ted Belman

Today I was involved in a strong exchange of ideas with Arlene Kushner and Nadia Matar of Women in Green. Nadia expounded on her philosophy,

My partner Yehudit Katsover and I came to the conclusion some 5 years ago that:

1) the battle on the ground is important and even crucial and WIG are doing it on a daily basis- but it’s not enough
2) that calling for Jewish building and expansion is important and even crucial –but it’s not enough
3) that declaring and proving that Israel belongs to the Jewish People and we arent occupiers is important and even crucial- but it’s not enough
4) that declaring that a two-state solution is complete suicide is important and even crucial- but it’s not enough

Read more…

It wasn’t the Nazi-like demonstration at Al-Quds, it was Sari Nusseibeh’s blaming “extremist Jews” for starting a “vilification campaign” against the Arab university that severed the bond.

By: Lori Lowenthal Marcus, JP

Brandeis University President Fred Lawrence posted a public notice on Monday, November 18, suspending – effective immediately – a longstanding sister university relationship between Brandeis and Al-Quds University.
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By YONAH JEREMY BOB, JPOST

Analysis: Amid the allegations that Israel has “sold out” to China, the government’s explanation of its motives has raised as many questions as it answered.

The government filed a motion Friday to block a former government agent from testifying against Bank of China in a case over its alleged facilitation of laundering of funds to Hamas and Islamic Jihad used to perpetrate terror attacks.

The motion was a sharp blow to the efforts of Shurat Hadin – Israel Law Center and the Wultz family to hold Bank of China accountable for its alleged actions between 2003 and 2008 through the US legal system. Read more…

by Yaakov Lappin, Special to IPT News
November 19, 2013

The international community and Iran meet again in Geneva this week for a fateful round of talks.

The discussions are meant to ensure that Iran ceases activities designed to produce the first Shi’ite nuclear bomb – the first of many bombs, if Iran’s program isn’t stopped.

The negotiations aim for a modest initial agreement in hopes of turning that into a final arrangement. But they already sparked a fierce public rift between the government of Israel and the Obama administration, the likes of which have not been seen in U.S.-Israeli relations in many years. Read more…