Administration was worried attention had turned to alleged snub rather than irresponsible Israeli policies, US official says, noting that no date for sit-down has actually been set

By JACOB MAGID, TOI       18 July 2023, 1:35 pm

US President Joe Biden meets then-opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu (right) at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, July 14, 2022. At left is Secretary of State Antony Blinken; 2nd-left is US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides. (GPO)

US President Joe Biden’s Monday decision to gift Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with an announcement of plans to meet after nearly seven months appeared ill-timed, if not off-message.

In late March, Biden declared that a White House invite was off the table for the “near term,” urging Netanyahu to “walk away” from his coalition’s judicial overhaul legislation, which he feared was threatening the viability of Israel’s democracy. Then last week, the US president lamented the “extreme” nature of Netanyahu’s coalition, particularly the belief of certain members that they could “settle anywhere we want” in the West Bank while denying Palestinian rights to the same land.

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T. Belman. Not so fast.  the GOP and Trump must do something about election fraud or we will see a repeat of 2020 and 2022.

By Matt Kane, AM THINKER

President Trump has a quasi-incumbency advantage for the Republican nomination, but there is much chatter about how he can officially seal the deal on his third primary victory.

However, one thing he does not have to do is “unite” the party, at least not in the way some believe.
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Using propaganda to instill anguish and anger.

by Hugh Fitzgerald, FPM

The surest way to whip up the Palestinians, to provoke their anguish and anger, is to claim that “Al-Aqsa is in danger.” More on this charge, and its malign consequences during the last century, can be found in this enduringly relevant article from mid-May: “‘Al-Aqsa Is in Danger’: The Anatomy of a Lie,” by Chaim Lax, Honest Reporting, May 18, 2023:

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By Alexander G. Markovsky, AM THINKING APRIL 2023

On April 22, 1919, on his 50th birthday, Lenin gave an interview to London’s Daily Chronicle and made stunning revelations about the Bolshevik’s struggle to destroy capitalism. The next day the interview was published in the New York Times as “Talk with Bolshevist Head.”

“Experience has taught us it is impossible to root out the evils of capitalism merely by confiscation and expropriation, for however ruthlessly such measures may be applied, astute speculators and obstinate survivors of the capitalist classes will always manage to evade them and continue to corrupt the life of the community,” he said.

To accomplish this, Lenin declared, “Debauch the currency to overturn the basis of society.” The destruction of currency was the main component of the Bolshevik strategy.

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The opponents of the proposed judicial reform are not defending liberal democracy, but promoting Orwellian dystopia. 

Dr. Martin Sherman     Jul 19, 2023, 7:00 AM 

Deceivers are the most dangerous members of society. They trifle with the best affections of our nature, and violate the most sacred obligations—George Crabbe, English poet, surgeon & clergyman (1754-1832).

When one with honeyed words but evil mind; Persuades the mob, great woes befall the state? Euripides, Ancient Greek playwright & poet (c. 480 – c. 406 BC).

As the Machiavellian demonstrations, malevolently crafted and mendaciously choreographed, rage across the country, one thing is becoming ominously clear. The bellows of “DEMOKRATIA” by the protesters are being increasingly exposed as being just as hollow and hypocritical as they are absurd and artificial.

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The President treats the governing coalition in Jerusalem worse than he does Iran.

By The Editorial Board, WSJ 13.7.23

Israel National News     Jul 18, 2023, 7:15 PM (GMT+3)

Prime Minister Netanyahu reportedly pledged in a conversation yesterday (Monday) with the President of the United States Joe Biden that he will freeze construction in Judea and Samaria until the end of the year.

According to Yaron Avraham’s report on Channel 12 News, no more new towns will be approved and no new housing units will be planned or built throughout Judea and Samaria.

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By Michael Freund,

Amid the domestic strife over the government’s proposed judicial reform, Israelis received a stark reminder this week of the danger that a Palestinian state would pose to Israel’s existence.

In a frightening development, Palestinian terrorists near Jenin in northern Samaria fired two rockets at the nearby Jewish community of Shaked. Fortunately, no one was injured, but that in no way diminishes the importance and severity of the incident, which demands an immediate Israeli military response.

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The Saudi leader has pulled away from his former mentor as they compete to dominate the Gulf, where U.S. power has waned

By Summer Said, Dion Nissenbaum, Stephen Kalin and Saleh al-Batati, WSJ, July 18, 2023

MBS, left, once saw MBZ, right, as a mentor, but the two leaders have lately been in conflict. Above, the pair in 2018 in Abu Dhabi. PHOTO: SAUDI ROYAL PALACE

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman gathered local journalists in Riyadh for a rare off-the-record briefing in December and delivered a stunning message. The country’s ally of decades, the United Arab Emirates, had “stabbed us in the back,” he said.

“They will see what I can do,” he told the group, according to people at the meeting.

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Scott Ritter: “Agent Zelensky, Part I”

The Vast Power of the Saudi Lobby

Whatever Saudis Want, Saudis Get by Ted Belman   – 2007

Saudi Arabia and the Peace Process  By Ted Belman – Apr 4, 2010

by Alan M. Dershowitz, THE DAILY BEAST Aug 29, 2010

Lost in all of the controversy over the mosque is the fact that the Arab lobby is one of the strongest in America—even stronger than Israel’s, says a controversial new book. Alan Dershowitz on how Arab governments influence U.S. politics.

While the media and politicians engage in frenzied debate about the virtues and vices of building—or preventing the building of—a Muslim community center (cum mosque) near the “sacred ground” of 9/11, Iran continues to build a nuclear weapon, as the Israelis and Palestinians take a tentative step toward building a peaceful resolution to their age-old conflict. Inevitably, whenever Middle East issues take center stage, the question of the role of lobbies, particularly those that advocate for foreign countries, becomes a hot topic. This book by longtime Middle East authority, Mitchell Bard, is a must read for anyone who cares—and who doesn’t?—about the role of lobbies in influencing American policy in the Middle East. Its thesis, which is sure to be controversial, is easily summarized:
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America’s manipulation of the Jewish state is endangering Israel and American Jews

By Jacob Siegel and Liel Leibowitz, TABLET

Two years ago, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez famously wept in Congress after changing her vote on funding Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system from “no” to “present.” The New York Times said that the incident showed progressive members of “the Squad” “caught between their principles and the still powerful pro-Israel voices in their party, such as influential lobbyists and rabbis.” (The line was later removed with no correction.) In People magazine, the congresswoman’s procedural maneuver to avoid voting was appreciated for its pathos: “Ocasio-Cortez Opens Up About Israel Iron Dome Vote That Left Her in Tears: ‘Yes, I Wept.’” In the end, the resolution passed the House 420-9.

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By Lilach Shoval and i24NEWS 17.7.23

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a cabinet meeting Monday that threats by IDF reservists to refuse to serve unless the government halted the judicial reform were endangering the security of Israelis.

“In a democracy, the military reports to the elected government and not the other way around. Whereas in a military regime, the government is subordinate to the army and more precisely to a group within the army. This is the fundamental difference between a democracy and a military regime,” Netanyahu said.

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By Thomas Lifson, AM THINKER

It’s hard to overstate the potential impact of a move underway that – thanks to Biden’s catastrophic diplomacy — could result in China replacing the US a security guarantor for the petro-monarchies that control so much of the world’s oil reserves.  Bloomberg reports:

Oil-rich gulf monarchies are leveraging their wealth to deepen ties with China amid anxiety about the future of their longstanding security partnership with the US.

Seven months after President Xi Jinping participated in the first China-Gulf summit in Riyadh, economic exchanges between the world’s second largest economy and nations like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been accelerating — moving well beyond crude purchases where Beijing has been dominant for years.
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