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Seminal Posts by Ted Belman
The UN acts in violation of International Law while claiming to uphold it (13335)
Can the UN impose a solution on Israel? (31097)
Long standing US Policy on Jerusalem is anti-Israel and pro-Arab. (16842)
The "peace process" is not dead (4239)
The Church planted the seeds of the Holocaust (50937)
The conspiracy to shrink Israel (44020)
"The UN Charter is a war document, not a peace document." (28613)
Trump calls Muslim migration “the all-time biggest Trojan Horse”. (60218)
Since when did the Palestinians become entitled to a state? (52969)
The 100 year betrayal of Israel by the West (43025)
Tiny Qatar casts a giant shadow. (9262)
The Historical Jesus  (50289)
International law and the State of Israel (27619)
The truth about UNRWA (25743)
Saudi Arabia and the Peace Process (19311)
Israel Should Declare Three Nos (25035)
The West should make amends to the Jewish people for this historical injustice. (22556)
Two-State Solution or Jordan Option? Your choice. (17504)
Israel is the legal owner of all lands west of the Jordan R. (38405)
In praise of Israpundit and Ted Belman (8774)
The US and the UK cannot be trusted. (11849)
In the International Arena there is no Rule of Law, only the Rule of Power (8735)
Current Posts
October 29, 2012

Is a General losing his job over Benghazi?  

WASHINGTON TIMES

Is an American General losing his job for trying to save the Americans besieged in Benghazi? This is the latest potential wrinkle in the growing scandal surrounding the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack that left four men dead and President Obama scrambling for a coherent explanation.

On October 18, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta appeared unexpectedly at an otherwise unrelated briefing on “Efforts to Enhance the Financial Health of the Force.” News organizations and CSPAN were told beforehand there was no news value to the event and gave it scant coverage. In his brief remarks Mr. Panetta said, “Today I am very pleased to announce that President Obama will nominate General David Rodriguez to succeed General Carter Ham as commander of U.S. Africa Command.”
Read more…

October 29, 2012 | 6:45 am | 8 Comments »

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October 28, 2012

Maariv: Obama offered to reestablish full ties with Iran  

TIMES OF ISRAEL

Israel was told about and opposed president’s diplomatic incentives package, initiated soon after he took office, and Iran rebuffed it, according to Maariv

Soon after he took office, President Barack Obama began a process ultimately designed to reestablish full US diplomatic relations with Iran, including a reopening of embassies, an Israeli daily reported Sunday. The initiative, part of a wider shift in America’s diplomatic orientation, aimed at reaching understandings with Tehran over suspending its nuclear program, Maariv claimed, citing “two Western diplomats very close to the administration.”

The initiative led to at least two US-Iran meetings, the report said. Israel was made aware of the contacts, and opposed them. Read more…

October 28, 2012 | 8:37 pm | 8 Comments »

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RETIRED LT. COL.: MY SOURCES SAY OBAMA WAS IN THE ROOM WATCHING BENGHAZI ATTACK HAPPEN  

The Blaze


Retired Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer said Saturday he has sources saying President Barack Obama was in the room at the White House watching the assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya unfold.

Two unarmed U.S. drones were dispatched to the consulate and recorded the final hours of the attack, which killed U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
Read more…

October 28, 2012 | 6:34 pm | 22 Comments »

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NGOs reject Israeli asylum policy as Yishai demands arrests  

By BEN HARTMAN, JPOST

Three NGOs on Sunday published a blistering joint report rejecting Israeli arguments against accepting migrants and criticizing the government for using force to deter the Africans from entering Israel. The report was published just as Interior Minister Eli Yishai wrote a letter calling on the justice ministry to allow for the resumption of arrests of African migrants in Israel.

The NGOs – Human Rights Watch, the Hotline for Migrant Workers, and Physicians for Human Rights – listed Israeli excuses for denying the migrants entry. “Israeli authorities contend that asylum seekers to whom it denies entry can request asylum from Egyptian authorities, that Israel has the right to seal its borders, and that its obligations toward asylum seekers do not extend to those who are prevented from entering its territory.”
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October 28, 2012 | 3:17 pm | 10 Comments »

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‘Saudi Arabia Funds Mossad Anti-Iran Operations’  

An article posted by a former CBS News editor claims that none other than Saudi Arabia helps fund Israeli Mossad operations against Iran.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

An article posted by a formerCBS News producer Barry Lando claims that none other than Saudi Arabia helps fund Israeli Mossad operations against Iran.

“A Strange Alliance: Are the Saudis Bankrolling Israel’s Mossad?” appears on his blog. Lando’s source is named only as “a friend, with good sources in the Israeli government.” Read more…

October 28, 2012 | 2:48 pm | 5 Comments »

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A Departing Government – Not a Transitional One  

Weekly newsletter of The Legal Forum

The Legal Forum has requested that the Attorney General re-examine his legal opinion preventing the government from bringing the Levy Report for deliberation due to the up-coming elections.

Following the dissolution of the Knesset, the Attorney General wrote a guidance document entitled “Government Decisions During the Interim Period” to the State Secretary  stating that after passing the law regarding the dissolution of the Knesset, the government is limited in operations, and decision making”.
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October 28, 2012 | 2:38 pm | 3 Comments »

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October 27, 2012

Benghazigate was all about gunrunning  

Beck was wrong in one thing. He said Erdogan is in bed with Iran. Not so, at least not today. Over a year a go he was cultivating Iran but he didn’t succeed. There is great rivalry between Turkey and Russia and Turkey is near war with Syria and thus Iran.

October 27, 2012 | 7:41 pm | 6 Comments »

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In response to 911, the US had to do something, but what?  

By Ted Belman

The liberal left were very critical of Pres Bush, Rumsfield and the neocons for getting the US into war with Iraq and sometimes even with Afghanistan. When such criticism was voiced to me, I would always ask what should the US have done as a result of 9/11 and never got a satisfactory answer.

Douglas Feith’s recent book War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the dawn of the war on terrorism, is a fascinating account of the days immediately following 9/11 and the intellectual debate which underscored the decision making process. Feith was the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from the beginning of the George Bush presidency and as such was in the thick of things enabling him to write this first-hand account.
Read more…

October 27, 2012 | 11:17 am | 51 Comments »

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Likud members rail against merger, say ‘Bibi sold us out’  

Poll: 26% of Likud Voters Against Unity Move

Party officials rage against agreement with Yisrael Beiteinu, say it ‘changes our DNA’; Minister Michael Eitan says move ‘threatens Israeli democracy.’ Several minister mull counter vote on Tuesday

YNET

Likud officials initiated a petition for a discreet vote, to be held during the party’s Central Committee meeting on Tuesday, with aim of foiling the recent merger with Yisrael Beiteinu, Ynet learned on Friday.
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“Bibi sold Likud out only to gain another term as prime minister,” said a Likud official, “He proved that he buckles under pressure… Lieberman will eventually become his successor.”
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October 27, 2012 | 9:52 am | 5 Comments »

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Liberman and Netanyahu still support two state solution  

That may be so, but based on their preconditions, it will never happen. They both don’t want to enfranchise the Arabs in Judea and Samaria. In the meantime they will continue to build.

YNET

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman appeared unimpressed Thursday by pessimistic public opinion polls and commentators’ estimates over what caused him and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the friends turned rivals of Israeli politics, to merge their two parties.

In general, Lieberman sees no problem in the Likud- Yisrael Beiteinu merger, as both parties come from the same ideological background.

“The two parties are inspired by the same person: (Revisionist Zionist leader Ze’ev) Jabotinsky,” Lieberman says Friday in an interview to Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth. “This is our common denominator. We are in favor of Judaism and of separating Judaism from political activism. We are against separating State and religion, but we are in favor of separating from public activists whose work is defamation of God.
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October 27, 2012 | 8:40 am | 1 Comment »

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Gallup finds Republicans outnumber Democrats  

POWERLINE

Gallup quietly published some stunning data this morning. Based on surveys conducted from October 1 through 24, Gallup finds that 36% of likely voters call themselves Republicans, compared with 35% who are Democrats. If leaners are included, the GOP advantage is 49%/46%.

How important is that? In 2008 the Democrats had a ten-point party ID advantage, 12 with leaners. If the data released today correctly reflect the voting population this year, you can throw away all of those polls that are D +9, D +7–or, for that matter, D +1. Substantially all polls show Mitt Romney with a wide lead over Barack Obama among independents. So if today’s party ID data are correct, not only will the presidential election not be close, but the Republicans will do better than currently expected in the Senate and House, too.

October 27, 2012 | 8:04 am | 2 Comments »

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October 26, 2012

CIA operators were denied request for help during Benghazi attack  

Fox News has learned from sources who were on the ground in Benghazi that an urgent request from the CIA annex for military back-up during the attack on the U.S. consulate and subsequent attack several hours later on the annex itself was denied by the CIA chain of command — who also told the CIA operators twice to “stand down” rather than help the ambassador’s team when shots were heard at approximately 9:40 p.m. in Benghazi on Sept. 11.
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October 26, 2012 | 10:14 pm | 6 Comments »

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The bombed Sudanese factory produced Iranian Shehab missiles  

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report October 24, 2012,

The Yarmouk Complex of military plants near Khartoum, which was bombed five minutes after midnight Wednesday, Oct. 24, by four fighter-bombers, recently went into manufacturing Iranian ballistic surface-to-surface Shehab missiles under license from Tehran, DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources disclose. Western intelligence sources have not revealed what types of Shehab were being turned out in Sudan but they believe the Yarmouk’s output was intended to serve as Tehran’s strategic reserve stock in case Iran’s ballistic arsenal was hit by Israeli bombers.
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October 26, 2012 | 5:59 pm | 33 Comments »

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U.N. Human Rights Council Calls for Boycott of U.S. Companies  

U.N.’s war on Israel puts American economy in crosshairs

The Washington Free Beacon has obtained a report soon to be released by the United Nations that calls for an international campaign of legal attacks and economic warfare on a group of American companies that do business in Israel, including Hewlett-Packard, Caterpillar Inc., and Motorola Solutions Inc.

The Human Rights Council (HRC), a body dominated by Islamic countries and known for its hostility to, and heavy focus on, the Jewish State, issued the report. The George W. Bush administration refused to participate in the HRC, but President Barack Obama joined it soon after taking office.Members of the HRC include infamous human rights abusers such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Libya, China, and Cuba. Read more…

October 26, 2012 | 5:41 pm | 52 Comments »

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“Religious relativism is a destroyer of conviction.”  

By Ted Belman

I have written an article not yet published in which I review Elliot Abrams’ book, War and Decision in which he tracks the first 10 days of the deliberations in the Bush administration following on 911 and leading to their declaration of war.

I ended by being very critical of its description of the war and felt we were worse off because of it. I intended to write a second essay arguing for a better war. My preference was to find someone more capable than I do write it. So I wrote to Andy Bostom and he informed me that he just published a book on the subject called Sharia and Freedom. In another post I will highlight an interview of him by FPM in which he tells what it is all about.
Read more…

October 26, 2012 | 4:24 pm | 6 Comments »

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Auto bailout: good or bad for America  

By Ted Belman

Many pundits today are stressing that Ohio will determine Obama’s re-election prospects. With this in mind Obama keeps banging on the auto bailout drum. His supporters maintain it was a big success and saved 800,000 jobs. But at what cost? Obama interferred with the rule of law and screwed the secured bondholders in favour of the unsecured workers and he screwed Republican dealers in favour of Democratic dealers. They in turn are repaying the favour now by voting for him.

Obama has suggested that the government has recovered all its investment, except its not true. Furthermore GM is still loosing jobs and loosing enormous sums of money suggesting the GM is heading for another bankruptcy.

FAILURE: Obama auto bailout losses grow as GM faces a possible second bankruptcy.

Meanwhile Obama plans more bailouts — for every industry!
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October 26, 2012 | 2:15 pm | 3 Comments »

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“The Democrats are back where they started eight years ago. And this time, Obama cannot save them.”  

By Ted Belman

Mathew Continetti has written A Brief History of Obama
Column: How sarcasm and insult took over the Democratic Party.

In it he explains that Obama would never had gotten traction had it not been for the hatred of Pres Bush among the anti-war and radical left crowd. His likeability and Axsmith’s strategy enabled him to capture the centre.

    “Obama took pains to avoid ideological conflict. He was about hope and change, not insult and blame. He was going to be bipartisan, even post-partisan, and would govern in a manner that appealed to every American. He opposed a health care mandate. He emphasized his plans to cut middle class taxes and reduce government spending. Above all, Obama was not going to be Bush, whose approval ratings tanked as first Democrats, then independents, and finally Republicans abandoned him.”

Read more…

October 26, 2012 | 11:37 am | 5 Comments »

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They Got it Right: America is Their Enemy  

By: Barry Rubin, JEWISH PRESS

One of President Barack Obama’s main themes has been to convince Middle Eastern Islamists and Arabs generally that America is not their enemy. But the reason this strategy never works is that the radicals, be they Islamists or nationalists, know better. They see the United States as their enemy and they are right to do so.

No amount of sympathy, empathy, economic aid, apology, or appeasement will change this fact. Nor did such efforts succeed in making either Obama or the United States popular in such circles and the tens of millions of people influenced by them. The only thing surprising about all of this is that so few “experts” and politicians seem to comprehend it.
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October 26, 2012 | 11:07 am | 1 Comment »

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Darkness Descending in England  

By Pamela Geller, AMERICAN THINKER

The arrest of over 53 people in the United Kingdom is the beginning of the end for once-great Britain. The leaders of the English Defence League (EDL), Tommy Robinson and Kevin Carroll, were among those arrested, as well as Paul Weston of the British Freedom Party (BFP). I spoke with Kevin Carroll about his recent arrest and that of Robinson and Weston, and he told me the appalling details.

Carroll told me that British authorities tried everything in the book to stop him from running for police and crime commissioner (PCC) for the Bedfordshire Police Authority. Nonetheless, he officially won the right to run for PCC last Friday. But then, the very next day, British authorities carried out these mass arrests of EDL and BFP members, stripping them and forcing them to wear white paper overalls like those given to incarcerated terrorists. They were allowed no phone calls.
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October 26, 2012 | 10:46 am | 19 Comments »

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October 25, 2012

Liberman calls for full adoption of Levy settlement report  

By JPOST.COM STAFF  10/17/2012

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman advocated the adoption in full of the Levy Report on settlement construction on Wednesday, saying it would solve problems in both national and international areas.

It is important for the government to adopt the conclusions of the Edmond Levy Committee, Liberman said in a statement posted on his party’s Facebook page, specifically those declaring “that Judea and Samaria are not areas under military occupation, even under international law, and that the settlements there are not contrary to international law.”

Adopting the report, he added, would significantly strengthen the State of Israel.

October 25, 2012 | 8:39 pm | 13 Comments »

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