Will It Help Putin?

DOUGLAS MACGREGOR
THE BALLOONS AREN’T A THREAT
US IS ALIENATING ITS PUPPETS
OLIGARCHS ARE RULING THE US AND EVERYONE IS IN ON THE TAKE.

T. Belman. The US is overplaying its hand. The end result will be that Israel will develop a backbone.

Biden urges consensus in Israel on judiciary plans as protest mounts

US to open investigation into Shireen Abu Akleh killing

Progressives and fiscal hawks may cut future funding for Israel

Why the U.S. Is Pressuring Israel into an Agreement with Lebanon

US warns Israel over illegal colonial outposts in Palestine

By JACOB MAGID, TOI

The US strongly condemns the alleged killing of a Palestinian by an Israeli settler over the weekend in the northern West Bank and calls for an investigation into the incident.

“We strongly condemn the shooting of Methkal Rayyan by an Israeli settler from the illegal Havat Yair outpost in Salfit,” the US Office of Palestinian Affairs tweets, making a point of highlighting the suspect’s residence in an illegal outpost.

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T. Belman. Like I said, the chances of reaching a consensus are nil. The Left would rather continue the fight then make a deal. They will bank on being victorious in the next election. But they are fighting a loosing battle. The electorate will penalize them for their intransigence rather than applaud them.

‘We will fight until we are victorious,’ vows Opposition Leader Yair Lapid at demonstration outside of Knesset against judicial reform plan.

Israel National News    Feb 13, 2023, 2:06?PM (undefined)

Roughly sixty thousand demonstrators gathered in central Jerusalem Monday afternoon to protest against the Netanyahu government’s judicial reform plan.

The demonstrators rallied outside of the Knesset, leading to heavy traffic and packed light rail trains in the center of the capital.

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How The EU Ignores Hamas’ Crimes

by Bassam Tawil, GATESTONE  •  February 13, 2023

Head of the European Union’s mission to the West Bank and Gaza Strip Sven Kuhn von Burgsdorff (R) visits the illegally-built Palestinian community of Khan al-Ahmar near Jerusalem, on January 30, 2023. (Photo by Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images)

• What is even more painful and humiliating for the Palestinians, is that EU officials who regularly visit the Gaza Strip intentionally ignore the suffering of the Palestinians living under Hamas.
• On February 2, fifteen EU Heads of Mission visited the Gaza Strip without saying a single word about any of the victims of Hamas’s crimes and human rights violations.
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by Michael Freund, Jerusalem Post, February 11, 2023

At first glance, the aliyah figures for 2022 would appear to provide ample reason to rejoice.

After just 28,601 immigrants arrived in Israel in 2021, the number who made the move last year more than doubled, surging to an astonishing 74,915, according to Jewish Agency statistics.

That is the highest figure since 1999 and is nearly equivalent to the number of those who chose to make Israel their home in the previous three years combined.
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Muggers of Israel threaten “do what we say, even if it is against your best interests, or we will damage your economy etc.”

By Daniel Winston, INN

The local and global hysteria over Israel’s pending judicial reform is just the latest in a miserable line of muggings of Israel by our friends and family. Muggers are usually portrayed as using the line: “Your money or your life.” Ours are using a similar trope: “Do what we say, even if it’s against your own interests and the will of the Israeli electorate, or we will cause damage to your economy.” It’s a bit longer, but the explicit threat is just as clear. Let’s look at a few of these assaults, and then at what we can say to our muggers who always tell us that despite the violence which they are clearly perpetrating, they actually have our best interests at heart.
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By BRAD SALZBERG, Cultural Action Party Of Canada Newsletter

“In 2021, 57% of the residents of the metropolitan area of Toronto belonged to a visible minority group, compared with 13% in 1981.”

Some may recall the headline of an article in the Globe & Mail which read like this:

“Toronto, Ontario Transfers To Minority White City”

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by Avi Abelow, ISRAEL UNWIRED     January 26, 2023 

International Law Professor, and Kohelet Foundation Fellow, Eugene Kontorovich recently wrote an Op-Ed piece in the Wall Street Journal titled “Israel’s Supreme Court Claims a Veto on Political Appointments”.

The subtitle is “The intervention is a timely illustration of why the new government seeks to reform the tribunal.”

First, watch this video put out by the Kohelet Foundation, where Professor Kontorovich is a Fellow, to begin to understand how the judicial reform will strengthen Israel’s democracy:

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Now take a moment to read though some of the factual points that Professor Kontorovich points out in his WSJ article:

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Ritter makes the point that the US constantly lies to Americans and the World.
Ergo, it can’t be trusted.

T. Belman. I see nothing anti-democratic about the coalitions proposed judicial reforms.

Afterwards, The coalition said they were willing to talk about the five points and then postponed the vote for a week.

Gantz and Lapid both said they are willing to talk about Herzog’s five points, providing there is “real dialogue”.

New poll: Majority of Israeli public wants to stop judicial legislation

I think it would be a good thing to yield a little in order to arrive at consensus.  I am guessing that the coalition won’t yield enough to get a consensus in which case it will make some minor changes and not get consensus.

President says current plan would have ‘negative impact on Israel’s democratic foundations’; floats 5 principles as basis for reform, pleads with government to delay legislation

By JEREMY SHARON, TOI 

President Isaac Herzog delivers a message to the nation from his office in Jerusalem, February 12, 2023. (Screenshot/ Kan)

In an impassioned and heartfelt speech Sunday night, President Isaac Herzog called for compromise over the government’s plans to radically overhaul the judicial system, warning of what he said was imminent conflict and even potential bloodshed.

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“Come navigate the fine line between legal activism and material support for terrorism.”

by Daniel Greenfield, FPM

David Boim was only 17 years old when he was shot and killed while waiting at a bus stop north of Jerusalem. The American teenager’s parents, Stanley and Joyce, have spent a quarter of a century since trying to bring Hamas, the Islamic terror group behind the attack, and its funders in the United States to justice. Their lawsuits have targeted, among others, the Holy Land Foundation which was found in federal court to have provided “material aid to Hamas” in what became the largest terrorism financing prosecution case in the United States.

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Israeli aid team forced to return to Israel after receiving intelligence of an immediate threat to their safety in Turkey.

Arutz Sheva

Due to a significant security threat on the Israeli rescue and relief mission in Turkey, and following a joint situational assessment with the heads of the IDF Home Front Command and Search and Rescue Units which took place on Saturday night, United Hatzalah CEO Eli Pollack and Vice President of Operations Dov Maisel instructed the head of United Hatzalah’s rescue mission Major (res.) Yossi Cohen to end the mission and return to Israel as soon as possible.

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After 7 years, living under horrific conditions as a Moslem in a village north of Ramallah, Efrat (not her real name) escaped with her kids.

By Sheri Oz, INN    Feb 12, 2023,

After seven years living as a Moslem in a village north of Ramallah, and seven months in a battered women’s shelter in Israel, Efrat (not her real name) is returning to Judaism, bringing her three young children back into the fold with her. She is one of four women who escaped from the Palestinian Authority (PA) a few weeks ago.

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By Andrea Widburg, AM THINKER

Winston Churchill offered two brief, brilliant definitions of socialism: (1) “Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy.” (2) “The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.” In other words, unhappiness is socialism’s lifeblood. It needs unhappy people to be the revolution’s foot soldiers and, after the revolution, its praetorian guard. Viewed that way, it makes sense to learn that a University of Michigan survey revealed that the larger the campus’s “diversity, equity, and inclusion” program, the more unhappy students were.
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By Michael Ordman, VGNI

I was watching a jazzy performance of the song “The Rhythm of Life” last week precisely at the time that members of the Israeli army Search & Rescue mission were saving the lives of dozens of Turkish citizens trapped under rubble of two massive earthquakes. The title of the song aptly summarizes many of the news items in this week’s positive Israel newsletter. From the building of hospitals to medical research breakthroughs. From training Kenyan medics to providing equipment to save preemies in Moldovia.
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10 killed in Jerusalem terror attacks in just 2 weeks

Deadly ramming attack comes 2 weeks after Neve Yaakov synagogue massacre.

Ben-Gvir intends to present his demands, which include a total lockdown of the Isawiya neighborhood, to the security cabinet on Sunday.

By Hezki Baruch, INN       Feb 11, 2023, 10:32?PM

National Security Minister Itamar repeated his intentions on Saturday evening to launch a significant operation in eastern Jerusalem to quell terrorism.

“I am determined to launch ‘Operation Defensive Sheild 2’ in Jerusalem. To those officials who are speaking against me: the police have the authority to demolish illegal houses, arrest over 150 suspected terrorists, raid houses, stop the incitement in the mosques, detain those who owe taxes, and more. The security cabinet is important, and I will request additional things there, but governance is crucially important, and I will make sure it stays that way,” Ben-Gvir wrote on social media.

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T. Belman. Sleboda analyzes whether the recent Israel drone strike in Iran on their drone and missile production facilities was intended to hurt Russia’s war in Ukraine. DON’T MISS IT.

By MARK SLEBODA, REAL POLITICK     10/2/23

He asks this important question:

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