by Jonathan Fulton, JERUSALEM STRATEGIC TRIBUNE     August 2023

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India’s PM Modi, Japan’s PM Kishida, China’s President Xi and Korea’s President Yoon each visited the Gulf recently. Photos credit: Hamad Al Kaabi/UAE Presidential Court/Handout via REUTERS, Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS, Mohamed Al Hammadi/UAE Presidential Court/Handout via REUTERS

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida, Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Indian Prime Minister Modi each made a trip recently to Arab countries of the Gulf. In July, Kishida visited Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Qatar while Modi was in the UAE. Yoon visited the UAE in January. These three trips received far less international media coverage than Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Saudi Arabia last December but they are important indicators of changing dynamics in Asia-Gulf relations.

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Reproachment between Israel and Saudi Arabia could have serious consequences – but perhaps there is another way. 

By Jonathan Pollard, INN

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What’s clear about the American led effort to bring about a rapprochement between Israel and Saudi Arabia is that it has a secondary agenda that aims to undermine not only our G-d given claim to Judea and Samaria, but also our right to implement democratically endorsed domestic policies that run counter to the government’s leftist opposition.

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T. Belman. Is democracy a pie in the sky? Is it realistic to expect the people to be ascendant? It seems to me that the people are no match for the oligarchs. They decide everything. Can it really be any other way?

Start listening to the voters on cars, crime and wokery, or there’ll be an uprising even bigger than Brexit

By ALLISTER HEATH, TELEGRAPH 2 August 2023

Our political leaders on both sides of the House have lost sight of the public’s concern CREDIT: JESSICA TAYLOR/UK PARLIAMENT

Britain’s deranged war on cars, our looming ban on gas boilers, the debanking scandal, the failure to prosecute crime, the attempted cancellation of women, the sabotage of the Brexit agenda, the scale of migration: welcome to anti-democratic Britain, where the beleaguered majority is increasingly subject to the whims of an entitled, activist elite that often seems to despise the people over which it exercises so much power.

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T. Belman.  I disagree with the author about what Putin wants. I think he will settle for the four provinces and Crimea if there is an early settlement, otherwise he will take Odesa and all land east of the Dnieper.

By Gamaliel Isaac, AM THINKER

On July 29, 2023, Jamie Glazov posted an interview with Andrei Illarionov, a former economic adviser to Vladimir Putin.  The title of the interview was “Inside the Mind of Putin.”  Dr. Illarionov said that Putin wants to restore Russia to what Putin calls “historical Russia.”  Putin’s writing and speeches indicate that historical Russia refers to the Russian empire that existed from 1721 to 1917.  The modern-day countries with territories once controlled by the Russian Empire include Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Poland, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and the United States (Alaska and parts of California).

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T. Belman. How bizarre can it get?  Its bad enough that it recognized Palestine as a state in 2011, but it goes further to recognize sites that existed thousands of years ago as being in the State of Palestine.

Jericho prides itself on being the oldest most continuously inhabited city in the world, dating back over 10,000 years and for being at the lowest point below sea level of any municipality.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF, JPOST

An image of the ancient Jericho archaeological site.

UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee is expected to list the site of ancient Jericho, which is now an archaeological park located in the modern Palestinian city that still bears the biblical name, as being in the “state of Palestine.”

The city is located in a section of the Jordan Valley, also known as Area A of the West Bank, which is under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority.

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Sitting presidents are generally shielded from indictment and criminal prosecution, but winning back the White House would not protect Trump indefinitely

By JILL COLVIN, TOI 

Republican presidential candidate, former US president Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally, July 29, 2023, in Erie, Pa. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

NEW YORK (AP) — The 2024 election will determine whether Donald Trump returns to the White House. It could also decide if he’ll face time behind bars.

For Trump, who’s now facing his third criminal indictment — this time for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and block the transfer of presidential power — winning is about more than ego, redemption, score-settling or the future of the country.

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The law makes it so that families will only be allocated one plot of land regardless of how many wives.

By MOSHE COHEN/MAARIV, JERUSALEM POST STAFF

Women prepare traditional flat bread in the Beduin village of Umm al-Hiran, northeast of Beersheba.

Members of Israel’s Bedouin community have criticized a recently approved law denying additional land grants for polygamous families, calling the move “cultural apartheid.”

The law, proposed by Social Equality Minister Amichai Chikli and Justice Minister Yariv Levin to combat polygamy, makes it so that families will only be allocated one plot of land regardless of how many wives there are.

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The volume and density of innovation has made Israel a mandatory destination for all leading investors. 

By Amb. (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, INN 2.8.23

According to a July 17, 2023 Bloomberg report, a leading global investment bank, the NYC-based Jefferies Financial Group, Inc., “expects further growth in Israel’s tech sector despite political unrest over government plans to overhaul the judiciary….

“While there are considerable uncertainties, we anticipate Israel’s tech ecosystem growth and maturation will only accelerate, creating a dominant and necessary opportunity for investors…. The report expressed confidence that Israel’s tech industry will remain globally attractive….

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T. Belman.  Amb Michael Oren sugar-coated everything, This report tells it like it is. The current government will not agree to do what Biden wants which raises the possibility that Netanyahu will replace Smotrich and Ben Gvir  with Gantz and Lapid.

How close are we to the day when an Israeli Prime Minister will walk in Riyadh in public?

By Chuck Freilich, Eldad Shavit and Yoel Guzansky, INSS

President Biden is examining options for promoting a groundbreaking regional move in the Middle East, which will focus primarily on normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel in exchange for an Israeli commitment to take certain steps on the Palestinian issue and United States approval of a series of significant Saudi demands, including a defense pact, a civilian nuclear program, and advanced weapon systems. New in this dynamic is the apparent greater willingness of the administration to accommodate Saudi demands. The actual prospects for success are unclear, and President Biden is aware that the regional actors, especially Israel, will be required to take to take historic decisions.

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T. Belman. The petitioners are asking for a reinterpretation of the law in light of the infringement of the right to equality. There is no such thing in law.  That’s called legislating from the bench. As such it is not legal.

The Justice and Welfare Ministers submitted a statement that there was no way to allow same-sex couples to adopt.

Israel National News   2.8.23

LGBT rainbow flagiStock

The Supreme Court began hearing this morning (Wednesday) the petition filed against LGBT discrimination in the Adoption Law, which states that only a married man and woman can adopt children.

Supreme Court Vice President Uzi Vogelman stated in the hearing that the court’s position is to allow adoption by same-sex couples through legal interpretation and not to wait until the Knesset changes the law. “An interpretative decision cannot be avoided,” he said.

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T. Belman. On June 19,2023 it was announced.

Intel’s new $15 billion investment puts Israel at forefront of global chips war

“Israeli society and democracy are coming out strengthened,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says after the announcement.

By  JNS and ILH Staff 2.8.23

Amazon.com plans to invest about $7.2 billion in Israel through 2037, and announced on Tuesday the launch of its Amazon Web Services data centers in Tel Aviv

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to the announcement during a visit on Tuesday to IDF Central Command Headquarters in central Tel Aviv.
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Geraldyn Berry, OAN 1.8.23

The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) have announced that in a nationwide sting operation known as “Operation Cross Country,” authorities have recovered more than 200 victims of human trafficking and missing individuals, 121 of whom were minors.

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T. Belman. As a former Israeli Amb to the US, I must respect his opinion. He offers new information, namely that MBS says he likes the “security guarantees and US weapon systems” providing Israel offers “gestures” to Palestinians. This is contrary to what MBS told Abbas when he recently visited. Also the offer is less than MBS has asked for recently. Did he really say he is content with the offer? Finally, Biden is asking more from Israel, than gestures. Will Biden back off. Time will tell. I don’t think Deri will make a difference unless he backs Smotrich and Ben Gvir. Then its game over for normalization.

If you connect all the dots, you will get a signing ceremony on the White House lawn between Israel and Saudi Arabia. But getting there won’t be easy.

By  Michael Oren, ISRAEL HAYOM 31.7.23

When we look at Israel’s situation – in domestic politics and diplomatically – no clear picture emerges; we have to break it down into components.

First, the US. America is on the eve of the 2024 presidential race, with politically beaten President Joe Biden fighting for survival. He has to deal with the ongoing misconduct of his son Hunter; his support for Ukraine has been a source of growing consternation with Republicans; and in the Middle East the Saudis have turned their backs on him and asked China to mediate between them and Iran.

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In Canada, Garnet Harper, a 35 years old married with 5 children was taken off the kidney transplant list for refusing to inject poison into his body

By URI WEISS   2.8.23

https://rumble.com/v33vzdz-nathaniel-and-pastor-artur-pawlowski-trust-and-freedom-european-parliament-.html

https://rumble.com/v33vyo1-canadians-are-being-denied-life-saving-transplants-due-to-personal-choice.html

https://rumble.com/vn2pzn-canadian-pastor-polish-immigrant-arthur-pawlowski-interview-june-2021.html

Tyranny has taken hold of humanity and it’s much worse than what transpired in 1940’s. We are witnessing a Holocaust of gigantic proportions because of the global nature of this orchestrated medical coup d’etat, carried out by politicians, fake state media, and the courts of what used to be justice. These are modern day Caligulas, evil, wicked psychopaths of such monstrosity who never walked the face of the world before.

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T. Belman. This discussion highlights why normalization won’t happen.

This is a very important discussion of the present reality.

By Johanna Afriat, i24 NEWS         March 03, 2022

Five groups hold almost 50 percent of the agri-food market – driving up the cost of living

The high cost of living in Israel is mainly explained by the existence of monopolies which prevent the emergence of free competition. There are 85, all sectors combined, a record among OECD countries.

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The way Israel has so far responded to Hezbollah’s provocations has only encouraged it to continue and even ratchet up a notch.

 By  Meir Ben Shabbat, ISRAEL HAYOM

“Hezbollah’s activity and presence on the border fence, the IDF’s passive operational posture, and the lack of full deployment of technological means created a situation in which the abduction of the soldiers was just a matter of time,” the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee wrote in the aftermath of the Second Lebanon War, which was triggered when the Shiite terrorist group kidnapped two soldiers.

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By Sandy Fitzgerald, NEWSMAX    |    01 August 2023

Former President Donald Trump is stepping up his push for primary challenges against Senate Republicans who aren’t asking for investigations into President Joe Biden and his family or an impeachment trial like their counterparts in the House.

However, a GOP strategist told The Hill that his push may backfire, as Senate Republicans may see Trump’s call for primary challengers as a distraction against his legal troubles, including looming indictments in Washington, D.C., and Atlanta.

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