By Jacob Nagel, Senior Fellow and Jonathan Schanzer, Senior Vice President for Research, FDD

After multiple failed rounds of nuclear diplomacy in Vienna and Doha, talks between Iran and the P5+1 (the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, and China) are back on in Vienna. The revived talks first hit a snag earlier this year when Tehran raised several new demands, including the removal of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the State Department’s Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) list.¹ Washington initially balked but reportedly then acquiesced to a partial solution: removing secondary sanctions on companies doing business with the IRGC.²

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Everyone knows “climate-change deniers” know nothing about science. Oh wait…

By Melanie Phillips

Peter Rdd graph showing extent of coral cover on the Great Barrier reef

More than 1100 scientists, scholars and other professionals have signed up to a statement stating “there is no climate emergency”.

The statement has been produced by the Climate Intelligence Group. This was founded in 2019 by emeritus professor of geophysics Guus Berkhout and science journalist Marcel Crok.

But hey, everyone knows that “climate-change deniers” know nothing about science.

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by Judith Bergman, GATESTONE  •  August 19, 2022

• The more US agricultural technology China acquires, especially through theft, in order to become dominant in the agritech field, the worse the US will fare when it comes to selling its own technology, whether to China or third countries.
• The specific goal is for China to be able to satisfy 95% of its demand for agricultural machinery with equipment that is manufactured in China. According to the USCC report, those policies, underpinned in part by technological theft, have negatively affected US exports to China of agricultural equipment….
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The PA president’s remarks in Berlin reconfirm his abiding rejection of Jewish history – ancient and modern, in Israel and in exile. It’s why he has failed his people and ours

By DAVID HOROVITZ, TOI     17 August 2022,

First came Yasser Arafat, who repeatedly and clear-headedly chose to forgo the opportunity of winning statehood for the Palestinian people on much of the territory they sought — notably during the Clinton administration, in negotiations with prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Ehud Barak. Ultimately, he could not bring himself to abandon terrorism against the Jewish state, to transition from terror chief to national leader.

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By Zvi Bar’el, HAARETZ

An Israeli gas platform in the Mediterranean Sea, February 25, 2013.Credit: Reuters

Toward the end of September or early October, the process of appointing the senior Turkish diplomatic staff will end, and a new Turkish ambassador will land in Israel. As far as is known, three are vying for the position, with the guiding principle being a veteran foreign ministry professional. “It will be an ambassador who knows the area well, and the complex relationship between Turkey and Israel. The object is to pour true content in the renewed normalization, which was undermined some 12 years ago,” a senior Turkish diplomat told Haaretz.

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T. Belman. I am disappointed in the responses from Bibi and Shaked. Bibi said that Likud will keep Abbas in isolation and Shaked said she was against a narrow government.  Neither said that they would extend sovereignty to Area C or demolish the thousands of illegal Arab buildings in Area C.

Likud in response: The cat is out of the bag – Lapid and Gantz are promoting dangerous concessions to Holocaust denier Mahmoud Abbas.

By Ido Ben Porat, INN       19.8.22

Zehava Galon and Yair LapidNo credit

Former Knesset member Zehava Galon, who is running for the leadership of the Meretz Party, on Thursday condemned the statement of Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who accused Israel of committing “50 holocausts” against Palestinian Arabs, but claimed that Israeli officials should continue to meet with him.

In an interview with the Walla! news website, Galon revealed that Prime Minister Yair Lapid told her at a recent meeting that he “intends to reach a political settlement with the Palestinians through Abbas.”

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by David Mark August 17, 2022

For years the world ignored “palestinian” blood libels and hate, but Chancellor Scholz of Germany appears to be part of a growing trend of leaders willing to break ranks with “palestinian” leadership.

In a live press conference in Berlin, the chancellor made it clear in front of “palestinian” President Mahmoud Abbas, that Scholz does not “believe it is right to use the term” apartheid when describing the Israel-“palestinian” conflict. This surprised Abbas and he went on a tirade about Israel committing 50 holocausts. While Scholz did not respond to that and instead just abruptly ended the press conference, it was clear that Abbas’ comments distanced Germany.

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T. Belman.  I agree with Ashley Perry. If they reach the threshold, they will join the Likud government,

The Media Line|

Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, who until recently was former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s No. 2 in the Yamina party, agreed on Wednesday on a joint run for the Knesset with Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel and his two-MK Derech Eretz party.

Their decision to run together as the Zionist Spirit faction in the November 1 election is seen as increasing Opposition Leader and Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu’s chances of returning to the Prime Minister’s Office.

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Following the split between MK Itamar Ben Gvir and MK Bezalel Smotrich, Otzma Yehudit won seven seats versus Religious Zionism’s five, the poll found.

By ELIAV BREUER, JPOST   18.8.22

Illustration from a polling station in Jerusalem, as Israelis vote in their general elections, on March 23, 2021

The addition of former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot gives the National Unity Party two more mandates and bumps up its total to 12 seats, according to a new poll conducted by Menachem Lazar, head of Panel Politics.

Following the split between Religious Zionist Party leader Bezalel Smotrich and MK Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of the party’s Otzma Yehudit faction, Otzma Yehudit would receive seven seats, and the Religious Zionist Party would get five, the poll found.

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https://rumble.com/v1bjvhb-unreal-the-latest-hunter-biden-scandal-will-make-your-jaw-drop.html

By Kate O’Keeffe, Wall Street Journal, Aug. 17 (0200),

A Commerce Department-led process that reviews U.S. tech exports to China approves almost all requests and has overseen an increase in sales of some particularly important technologies, according to an analysis of trade data.

Of the U.S.’s total $125 billion in exports to China in 2020, officials required a license for less than half a percent, Commerce Department data show. Of that fraction, the agency approved 94%, or 2,652, applications for technology exports to China, the analysis showed.

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T. Belman. The last unity government was a disaster. If Gantz is Min of Defence we will lose what is left of Area C. That is not a right wing position. This is a disaster. Notice they aren’t rejecting a Bibi led government.  Very confusing.

And what will they do if its a 62 seat government?

Communications Min. Yoaz Hendel stresses party won’t join right-wing government. ‘We only want a unity government.’

Israel National News

Yoaz HendelYonatan Sindel/Flash90

Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel (Zionist Spirit) on Thursday spoke to 103 FM Radio about about his new party, which was formed by a merger with Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked’s Yamina.

“What we see today is not what we will see in November, after the elections,” Hendel told the radio station.

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Don’t fall for the Turkey illusion

Although Turkey and Israel reestablishing diplomatic relations is a matter worth celebrating, as long as Islamist Erdogan is in power, the country will continue to be hostile toward Israel and support the Hamas terror group. By  Prof. Efraim Inbar

The Iranian aggression on Turkish soil has not stopped Erdogan from scurrying to Tehran several weeks ago to meet his Iranian and Russian counterparts.

By Amnon Lord, ISRAEL HAYOM

When Prime Minister Yair Lapid announced that Turkey and Israel were going to exchange ambassadors and restore full diplomatic ties, he said that this would be a great economic boon for Israelis. This is probably the prism through which Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erdogan sees this new relationship between Ankara and Jerusalem. But if there is a hidden understanding that Israel would now reroute the planned gas pipeline to Europe so that it would pass through Turkish-controlled territory or water, then major scrutiny is in order.

Former National Security Council head Major-General (res.) Yaakov Amidror wrote in a recent analysis published by the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security that giving in to requests to build the pipeline through Turkey would be a mistake.

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Israel-hating activists justify and valorize terrorism.

By Richard L. Cravatts, FPM    18.8.22

In their zeal to create “safe” campus environments, universities have attempted to create an educational environment where students from approved victim groups are coddled, nurtured, and shielded from any criticism or intellectual or emotional challenges.

So-called hate speech—which now includes any expression that contradicts the prevailing progressive orthodoxy on campuses—is said to be harmful, even violent, by those forced to listen to others’ ideas.

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“…no one is allowed to touch those records until the markings are addressed.”

BY LIFEZETTE 12.8.22

VIDEO

While not even president, former President Donald Trump continues to be at the center of Washington, D.C. as the FBI raided his residence at Mar-a-Lago, claiming he possessed classified material. Although the raid was a surprise to many Republicans and the media, it came months after federal investigators removed what they suggested were national security documents from Trump’s property. That was in June. But with new evidence and even a witness, the FBI raided his Florida property, hoping to once again find a treasure trove of classified documents. But according to the Pentagon Chief of Staff for the Trump administration, Kash Patel, they are doing nothing more than wasting time. 
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By John Green, AM THINKER
[..]

When Barr was appointed head the DOJ, he never seemed to recognize something that had been obvious for years to anyone without blinders on.  The DOJ was already steeped in corruption — the rot was part of its culture.

In the years preceding Barr’s tenure, the DOJ had engaged in gun-running to drug cartels.  That was a departmental attempt to “juice up” the gun violence statistics in support of more gun control.  The attorney general at the time, Eric Holder, was even held in contempt of Congress for withholding evidence of the scandal.
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Long reconciliation process reaches successful conclusion as ‘frenemies’ agree to swap envoys, a major step that could have important implications for Middle East

By LAZAR BERMAN, TOI

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and Israel’s President Isaac Herzog speak to the media after their talks, in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. .(AP/Burhan Ozbilici)

But it does mean that their interests line up on enough important concerns that they intend to pursue a positive bilateral agenda. And they intend to do it in a way that won’t leave the relationship liable to fall apart at the sight of the first rift.

“This shows the ability of the countries to deal with disagreements, and to create frameworks for the disagreements to be discussed without it ruining the bilateral relationship, as happened in past years,” said Nimrod Goren, president of Mitvim – The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies, a think tank.

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Benny Gantz’s double-speak in the Knesset was an apt reflection of his “policy” as defense minister: pathetic, infuriating – and dangerous.

By Naomi Linder Kahn,  JPOST

There seems to be no limit to the hypocrisy and double-talk to which Israeli voters are being exposed in this election season.

This week’s installment of double-speak came from no lesser a luminary than Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who is quickly proving himself to be a master of the genre. Speaking from the podium of the Knesset plenum, Gantz, who has held this position for three years under as many prime ministers, is the man responsible for waging and winning Israel’s battle for Area C, the section of Judea and Samaria under full Israeli jurisdiction under international law.

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