For you Torontonians, my favourite deli in the forties and fifties was Becker’s on College St.

Deli Man Trailer from Erik Anjou on Vimeo.

Stakelbeck on Terror Show: Pressuring Israel, Appeasing Iran

On this week’s edition of the Stakelbeck on Terror show, we examine President Obama’s recent trip to Israel and his administration’s pressure on Israel to accept a Palestinian state. We also sit down with Middle East expert Dr. Matthew Levitt to discuss Iran and Hezbollah’s plans for America. And journalist David Bedein reveals how the UN is helping to fund the radical Palestinian educational curriculum.  Click on the viewer below to watch.

Analysis: The threat of civil war appears all too real in Egypt amid economic, social and political crisis.

By Zvi Mazel, JPOST

For the Muslim Brotherhood, the long awaited dream come true is turning into a nightmare. Having survived 80 years of persecution to achieve power democratically, they suddenly find themselves the focus of widespread popular hatred.

Never have Egyptians been in such dire economic traits.

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, however, is not about to give up and make way for new presidential elections. The Brotherhood will spare no effort to stay in power.

Such is the depth of the economic, social and political crisis that the threat of civil war appears all too real.
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Op-ed: US president’s Jerusalem speech should have been addressed to young Palestinians

bY Shoula Romano Horing, YNET NEWS

After his trip to Israel, it is clear that President Obama’s strategy in regard to Israel has changed but his goal remains the same. He is still trying to convince the Israelis to take suicidal risks and agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state in the pre-1967 borders, which includes dividing Jerusalem.

It is true that we are a nation that feels isolated, unaccepted, and hated in our neighborhood and are condemned and boycotted almost daily by the world. But are we so psychologically damaged and insecure as a people that after one speech and two days of flattery, adoration and reassurances by the president we are willing to give up all of Judea and Samaria and divide our capital for another Hamastan?
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[TO SUGGEST IT IS POSSIBLE IS TO IGNORE…WELL, EVERYTHING.]

By Noam Sheizaf, +972

The Israeli negotiator who thinks the two-state solution is still possible
Veteran Israeli negotiator Shaul Arieli discusses the failure of the Oslo Accords, various Israeli prime ministers’ commitment (or lack thereof) to ending the occupation, and the only solution he believes both sides could live with, however unsatisfied they might be with it.

Shaul Arieli is a man on a dual mission: educating Israelis about the conflict and diplomatic process with the Palestinians, and making the point that the two-state solution is both possible and necessary. His latest publication in Hebrew, A Border between Us and You (Yeditoth Ahronoth Books 2013), is a 500-page handbook to the history of the conflict, with an emphasis on the diplomatic and political process. It is written in very simple (and sometimes simplistic) language, with lots of maps, tables and even entries describing notable leaders on both sides. Arieli was thinking about Israeli teenagers when he wrote his book, but lately I find myself going back to it again and again to find a figure or to check historical details for one of my posts.
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By Joseph Braunold, +972

Yesha Council has produced a   document titled, “Judea and Samaria – It’s Jewish, It’s Vital, It’s Realistic.”

[..]
The following is a list of nine steps from which can see the underlying Jewish Home strategy during the coalition talks. Additionally we can start to make sense of some of the other Knesset moves and statements by members of the settler community on the national stage.

Step 1: Renewing the strong belief in the supremacy of the Jewish claim to the Jewish Homeland and the justness of taking measures to maintain control of it

In the coalition agreement between Likud and Jewish Home was a bill to make the Jewishness of the state supreme. This is a redo of the Avi Dichter bill from the last Knesset. No one is quite sure of which version will hit the Knesset, if it gets through Tzipi Livni, but it is part of a big move to decouple the concepts of Jewish and democratic state as equal and promote the former at the expense of the latter. The motivations behind this become clear in a strategy that is tied into biblical land claims and preparing for a situation where the civil rights of millions of Palestinians are going to have to be restricted.
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