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Seminal Posts by Ted Belman
The UN acts in violation of International Law while claiming to uphold it (13327)
Can the UN impose a solution on Israel? (31093)
Long standing US Policy on Jerusalem is anti-Israel and pro-Arab. (16838)
The "peace process" is not dead (4237)
The Church planted the seeds of the Holocaust (50931)
The conspiracy to shrink Israel (44016)
"The UN Charter is a war document, not a peace document." (28607)
Trump calls Muslim migration “the all-time biggest Trojan Horse”. (60211)
Since when did the Palestinians become entitled to a state? (52961)
The 100 year betrayal of Israel by the West (43021)
Tiny Qatar casts a giant shadow. (9258)
The Historical Jesus  (50281)
International law and the State of Israel (27613)
The truth about UNRWA (25737)
Saudi Arabia and the Peace Process (19307)
Israel Should Declare Three Nos (25028)
The West should make amends to the Jewish people for this historical injustice. (22553)
Two-State Solution or Jordan Option? Your choice. (17500)
Israel is the legal owner of all lands west of the Jordan R. (38398)
In praise of Israpundit and Ted Belman (8771)
The US and the UK cannot be trusted. (11834)
In the International Arena there is no Rule of Law, only the Rule of Power (8730)
Current Posts
March 17, 2013

Yes, Minister  

ISRAEL HAYOM

The day after insisting that everyone understands what their major principles are in depth, the “new politics” ministers will realize that their real battle has only now begun. The exact manner of politicking, accurately portrayed in the British series “Yes, Minister,” is just beginning. The real opponent they face — government bureaucrats — don’t all share one name or party, but they have principles, values, a corporate culture and practices that enable thwarting almost any important decision made by a minister.
Read more…

March 17, 2013 | 6:06 pm | 1 Comment »

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Biased, Prejudiced, and Unprofessional  

The UN Human Rights Council Fact-Finding Mission Report on Israeli Settlements

Amb. Alan Baker 

  • On 31 January 2013 the “International Fact-Finding Mission on Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” published its findings on the implications of Israeli settlements on the human rights of the Palestinian people.

  • The enabling resolution of the Human Rights Council, the composition of the mission, its mandate, mode of operation, and substantive content are, from the outset, based on a premise that considers Israel’s settlement policy to be illegal. This premise dictates the one-sided and prejudiced nature of the mission and its report. Read more…

March 17, 2013 | 3:40 pm | 3 Comments »

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Very Good News Israel- Mar 17  

By Michael Ordman 

In the 17th March 2013 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:

– Israeli researchers are using cancer cells to help fight cancer.
– Ethiopian-born Miss Israel has a dinner date with the US President.
– An Israeli female professor won the computer industry’s “Nobel Prize”.
– With Israeli software, you can control your smartphone using just your eyes.
– In a noisy room, Israeli voice recognition software can read your lips.
– Barbara Streisand is to perform in Israel for the first time.
– Israeli windsurfer Lee Korzits won her 3rd consecutive world championship. Read more…
March 17, 2013 | 1:11 pm | Comments »

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March 16, 2013

Another Tack: Out of the box, Obama  

By Sarah Honig

If our soon-to-arrive visitor, US President Barack Obama, truly fancies himself the harbinger of new tidings to this region – as he has tirelessly promoted himself in the past – then it’s high time for him to take the truly bold tack and think out of the box.

Had Obama by happenstance peeked over the edge of the conventional box, he’s have recoiled in horror from the two-state sham. He’d have realized that it will unleash all manner of mayhem and misery – as surely as the last vestiges of stability are right now brutally being expunged from the Arab realm in the traumatic wake of what’s still extolled as the Arab Spring.

But so far Obama has never dared venture outside his confining worldview container. His self-acclaimed innovative statesmanship wasn’t ever genuinely innovative.
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March 16, 2013 | 10:03 pm | 13 Comments »

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The Bedouin Rebellion Against Israel  

By Eric Burns, FPM

Various Bedouin tribes are waging a full-scale rebellion against Israel. Negev Bedouin tribes are refusing to settle in designated areas developed by Israel’s government, and stealing Jeeps and other equipment from nearby IDF bases. They use the Jeeps to smuggle drugs and other contraband into Israel, from the Sinai. In central Israel and the Galilee, Bedouin tribes are engaging in agricultural theft, from Moshavs and Kibbutzim, extortion and vandalism against Jewish farmers, and crime sprees in the streets and shopping malls. The Israeli police don’t respond to many of these incidents.

The Bedouin rebellion would be unwelcome by itself, however, their refusal to recognize Israeli government authority is part and parcel of a leftist campaign against the right of Jews to lease, own, and work Israel’s land; and against the sovereignty of Israel’s government. This campaign is conducted by groups such as Peace Now, B’tselem, and Rabbis for Human Rights, and aided and abetted by Israel’s Supreme Court, the U.N., and the European Union. Slowly but surely, this campaign is gaining the upper hand.
Read more…

March 16, 2013 | 9:19 am | 15 Comments »

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In to the Fray: Israel’s imperative : Jewish and democratic  

By MARTIN SHERMAN, JPOST

A crucial intellectual battle has begun, to strip the Jews of their political independence and national sovereignty.

    The very idea of a Jewish state is undemocratic, a violation of the self-determination rights of its non-Jewish citizens, and therefore morally problematic.
    – Joseph Levine, “On Questioning the Jewish State,” The New York Times, March 9.
    The nation is a soul, a spiritual principle. Two things… constitute this soul or spiritual principle.One is the possession in common of a rich legacy of memories; the other is present-day consent, the desire to live together, the will to perpetuate the value of the heritage that one has received.
    – Ernest Renan, “What is a Nation?” 1882

Well there you have it. The mainstreaming of the once-unthinkable is now upon us… courtesy of the “paper of record.”
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March 16, 2013 | 5:39 am | 23 Comments »

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“Human Rights” are Weapon in Political Arsenal of Israel’s Enemies  

[This article by Anne Bayefsky originally appeared today on FoxNews.]

www.HumanRightsVoices.org

Today at the United Nations in New York City, the UN’s top women’s rights body, the Commission on the Status of Women, will wrap up its annual session by condemning only one state for violating the rights of women anywhere in the world. Not Syria, or China, or Saudi Arabia. But Israel, for violating the rights of Palestinian women.

Next week, the UN’s top human rights body, the Human Rights Council, will end its session by adopting six resolutions condemning human rights violations by one state alone. Israel. And one resolution each on human rights violations in seven of the other 192 UN countries combined.

One doesn’t need a lawyer or foreign affairs guru to figure it out. This isn’t about human rights at all. Twisted beyond recognition, ‘human rights’ are a weapon in the political arsenal of Israel’s enemies.
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March 16, 2013 | 5:22 am | 5 Comments »

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March 15, 2013

Israel is interested in peace on her terms  

By Ted Belman

US official says ‘Israel must show Arab public it’s serious about peace’

This is a euphemism for must agree to share Jerusalem, to stop building settlements and to accept borders based on ’67 lines plus swaps. No thanks.

As long as Israel refrains from doing so, it can fairly be said that Israel is not interested in peace on those terms. But she is interested in peace on her terms namely she gets to keep Jerusalem, the settlements and a military presence in Judea and Samaria inter alia.

March 15, 2013 | 3:06 pm | 48 Comments »

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Islam in Europe: Interview with Bat Ye’or  

Israel Flash

Eurabia (1)This is an important summary of the work of Bat Ye’or on the issue of Islam in Europe

Interview by Giovanni Quer of Bat Yeor  

Giovanni Quer Muslim minorities in Europe demanding more independence to manage their internal affairs. What, in your opinion, the cause of their dissatisfaction with the legal, political and social provided by European states?
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March 15, 2013 | 12:53 pm | 1 Comment »

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How Revolutions Work: Turkey, America, and the Arab World  

By Barry Rubin, PJ MEDIA

[The Executioner removes the Mad Hatter’s hat in preparation for beheading him]

The Mad Hatter: “I’d like to keep it on.”

Executioner: “Suit yourself. As long as I can get at your neck.”

–Lewis Carroll, “Alice in Wonderland”

A fascinating article on Islamism in Turkey that also reflects on the situation in Arabic-speaking countries has been written by Soner Cagaptay, director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Turkish research program. I’m a fan of his analysis so nothing in the following article should be taken as criticism but rather as an exploration of his article’s themes. Read more…

March 15, 2013 | 12:34 pm | 2 Comments »

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Time to abandon the two-state solution  

By Ted Belman (First published by American Thinker)

The peace process reached an impasse over four years ago if not a decade ago. The PA has refused to negotiate without receiving major concessions in advance. Pres Obama was not able to kick start negotiations even though he came out in favour of a settlement based on ’67 lines plus swaps. Nor could Israel do so, notwithstanding her ten month settlement freeze.

The prestigious Herzliya Conference which just took place in Israel, included a panel discussion on the question, is the impasse breakable”.

A keynote to the discussion was delivered by Tzipi Livni who will be Israel’s Justice Minister and chief peace process negotiator. The tenor of her remarks was that it is very much in Israel’s interest to achieve a final status agreement and that she was dedicated to the task. But most Israelis disagree.
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March 15, 2013 | 11:21 am | 18 Comments »

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Bennett is the big winner  

By Lahav Harkov, JPOST

[..]
A coalition is on the way and Bennett’s party is en route to having a major influence on policy.

First, we have the economy. Though Bennett did not receive the Finance Ministry he so coveted, the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry is the key place to pass a law to lower market concentration, which he touted throughout the campaign. He even changed the name of his portfolio to the Economic and Trade Ministry in order to get credit for reforms he is sure he will bring. On top of that, Bayit Yehudi has the uber-influential Knesset Finance Committee, which has the political cache and power of a ministry.

Second, we have settlement construction.
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March 15, 2013 | 11:04 am | 3 Comments »

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“The Two State Religion.” It’s not about facts. It’s about faith.  

Israel’s self-proclaimed intellectuals will agree to grant you a certificate of intelligence only if you pledge allegiance to the two-state solution – and it was palpably evident at the Herzliya Conference – a Broadway show.

Dr. Emmanuel Navon, INN

Attending the Herzliya Conference’s panel on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is like following Woody Allen’s therapy through his movies: you know that the patient is hopeless and that the new movie is going to be a mere repetition of the previous one, and yet you maintain the ritual out of snobbism. This year’s panel, however, was more like a flashback. I felt like I was watching the ending scene of Mighty Aphrodite, when the Greek tragedy turns into a Broadway show.

The panel included seven speakers: Tzipi Livni (chairperson of the “Hatnuah” party), Shlomo Avineri (a Hebrew-U emeritus professor), Robert Danin (from the US Council on Foreign Relations), Michael Herzog (from the Washington Institute for Near East Policies), Yoaz Hendel (chairman of the Institute for Zionist Strategy), Nati Sharoni (chairman of the Council for Peace and Security), and Dani Dayan (former chairman of the Judea and Samaria Council). The moderator was Barak Ravid, the diplomatic correspondent of Haaretz.
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March 15, 2013 | 8:36 am | 32 Comments »

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Meet Moshe Yaalon, Israel’s new Defence Minister  

By: Ben Caspit for Al-Monitor

Shortly before the Knesset elections of 2006, Ada Ya’alon mailed a personal letter to dozens of her friends. It was a long missive of about 3,000 words, philosophical, ideological and incisive. She wanted to convince her friends, almost all kitbbutz members and part of Israel’s historical Labor movement, “to transcend the psychological barrier” and not vote for Kadima or the Labor Party in the upcoming elections. She tried to persuade them to commit the inconceivable and vote Likud. She explained fervently and at length what had happened to the Israeli left over the past few decades, and how it had fallen captive to the impractical, utopian idea of a permanent peace with the Arabs. By doing so, she explained, the left had sacrificed its real, humanistic values, such as women’s and minority rights.

Read more…

March 15, 2013 | 7:53 am | 3 Comments »

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Caspit: Sara Netanyahu is running the country  

By Ted Belman

Until recently I was not aware of the role Sara Netanyahu plays in our government. Evidently she was behind the rift with Naftali Bennett when he was an aide to PM Netanyahu. More recently she created a stumbling block to the deals Bibi had made with Bennett.

Who is this woman? Ben Caspit renowned journalist with leftist leanings and formerly with Maariv had this to say:

    “Sara is the strongest person in the country. No-one is more powerful than her, including the prime minister himself. What she says goes. Her husband can’t meet people she doesn’t want him to meet. One of them is sitting opposite you. I’m a professor of Netanyahu studies. She has his operating system. Why did Naftali Bennett and his people leave Netanyahu’s bureau? Bennett told me, ‘We sit for months planning some measure with the prime minister, and then he returns from a weekend and says, Sara doesn’t want it, and cancels everything.’ In the end, he does what she says. She needs someone to send her an SMS every minute of the day to tell her who’s with Bibi. I have to have mercy on a thing like that?
    Read more…
March 15, 2013 | 7:46 am | 9 Comments »

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March 14, 2013

The Secret Document That Set Obama’s Middle East Policy  

By Barry Rubin, PJ MEDIA

“We have to confront is violent extremism in all of its forms.… America is not — and never will be — at war with Islam. We will, however, relentlessly confront violent extremists who pose a grave threat to our security — because we reject the same thing that people of all faiths reject: the killing of innocent men, women, and children. And it is my first duty as president to protect the American people.”

    –President Barack Obama, Cairo, June 2009

“The United States is now experiencing the beginning of its end, and is heading towards its demise….Resistance is the only solution. [Today the United States] is withdrawing from Iraq, defeated and wounded, and it is also on the verge of withdrawing from Afghanistan. [All] its warplanes, missiles and modern military technology were defeated by the will of the peoples, as long as [these peoples] insisted on resistance.”

    –Muslim Brotherhood leader Muhammad al-Badri, Cairo, September 2010

What did the president know and when did he know it? That’s a question made classical by the Watergate scandal. Now it is possible to trace precisely what Obama knew and when he knew it. And it proves that the installment of power of the Muslim Brotherhood was a conscious and deliberate strategy of the Obama Administration developed before the “Arab Spring” began.
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March 14, 2013 | 5:36 pm | 7 Comments »

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Op-Ed: The New York Times is a Crypto-Nazi Paper  

New York Times articles are not attacking the “occupation” anymore, but the very idea of a Jewish state.

By Giulio Meotti, INN

The New York Times has become the official paper of Israel’s Western would-be eradicators.

Joseph Levine’s latest oped argued that Israel has no right to exist and that history should be reversed: “I conclude, then, that the very idea of a Jewish state is undemocratic, a violation of the self-determination rights of its non-Jewish citizens, and therefore morally problematic”. The New York Times’ relentless attacks could well play out in ways that indeed attempt to put an end to Israeli sovereignty.

According to Levine’s racist belief, “native species” originate in a certain place and that is where they “belong.” Hence, Israel’s “colonization” threatens the “original” Arab environment. This is pure and simple Nazism. The New York Times’ Israel-bashers use a style similar to the language used by anti-Semites the world over: Israel is inferior and must not enjoy the rights accorded to other peoples.
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March 14, 2013 | 8:35 am | 17 Comments »

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March 13, 2013

Coalition Deal Seen as Great Achievement for Religious Zionism  

By David Lev, INN

The coalition agreement that will send Israel’s 33rd government on its way is to be signed Wednesday night, sources in the Likud/Yisrael Beiteinu said, and it appears to be a great achievement for the Religious Zionist movement.

According to sources, Bayit Yehudi will receive three portfolios. Naftali Bennett will be Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor, and an MK from the party will be named Sports and Culture Minister. Bennett will also be given the Religious Affairs, Diaspora and Jerusalem portfolio. Uri Ariel will be the Minister of Construction and Housing and will be in charge of the Israel Lands Administration. This should be very good news for residents of Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, because Ariel is unlikely to cooperate with any scheme for housing freezes in these areas, and will likely make every effort to increase construction there.
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March 13, 2013 | 11:44 pm | 5 Comments »

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Cracks in the Norwegian veneer  

By Yaakov Ahimeir, ISRAEL HAYOM

Norway, of all places, suddenly has doubts about the financial aid it offers the Palestinian Authority. Norway is one of the PA’s biggest supporters, giving it some $50 million a year. Now, someone has woken up and the Norwegian media wants to know: “Where is our money going?”

Questions surrounding the results of Palestinian projects that the Norwegians have funded have even reached the country’s state television station, NRK.

Tormod Strand, a senior journalist with Norwegian public TV, decided to follow the money trail; and together with Itamar Marcus, who heads “Palestinian Media Watch” — an Israeli research institute that monitors the PA’s media and schoolbooks — produced two episodes that presented the unadulterated hatred preached by the Palestinian Authority’s media towards Israel and the Jews.
Read more…

March 13, 2013 | 11:40 pm | 7 Comments »

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