by Marilyn Stern, Middle East Forum Webinar    October 31, 2022

Joshua Teitelbaum, Bar-Ilan University professor and author, spoke to an October 31^st Middle East Forum Webinar (video) about the increasingly open relations between Israel and the countries in the Persian Gulf region.

Teitelbaum touted the progress that has been made between the Jewish State and the Gulf countries, noting that the past vitriol expressed toward Jews and Israel by many Arab countries and their leaders is diminishing. He said the United Arab Emirates (UAE), “a pioneer in the relations,” has employed “soft power” since it joined the Abraham Accords brokered by Washington under the Trump administration. Describing the UAE’s method, Teitelbaum said, “First, they make Judaism kosher, and then they make Israel kosher.”

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Many on the left warn that democracy is in peril, just because the government they back isn’t in power.

By Eugene Kontorovich, WSJ

The victory of Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition has many on the left bemoaning the end of democracy in Israel. Even before voting began, Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.) threatened harm to bilateral relations should Israelis vote to the right. The State Department has said it would boycott some right-wing ministers, and President Biden waited almost a week before calling to congratulate Mr. Netanyahu. Yet Secretary of State Antony Blinken apparently had time Friday to phone Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who last stood for election (to a four-year term) in 2005.

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By streiff, RED STATE | 1:30 PM on November 09, 2022

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has publicly directed the Russian Army to withdraw from Kherson City and all occupied territory on the right bank of the Dneiper River

This is the rather bizarre, stage-managed conversation in which General Sergey Surovikin, commander of Army Group South of the Russian Army in Ukraine, presents his assessment to his boss and gets permission to do what he would have to do without permission.

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TFI GLOBAL

EU’s plan to rebuild Ukraine comes crashing down

First Netherlands, now Slovakia: EU’s ‘silent removal’ of sanctions

A Republika Srpska is coming very soon

Election reform candidates are not the threat. The threat to democracy is to leave things the way they are.

By Edward Ring, AM GREATNESS

In a society that retains trust in its institutions, the most authoritative source for news and information would probably be the publicly funded media property that is supposed to adhere to the highest standards of journalistic objectivity. Here in America, that would have been PBS. Except it isn’t. The American media, by and large, along with Silicon Valley’s social media communications oligopolies, are doing everything they can to deny American voters the opportunity to politically realign their nation.
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Kyiv sees ‘no signs’ of Russian pullout from Kherson

By AFP  Today, 6:54 pm

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak says Kyiv sees “no signs” that Russian forces are withdrawing from the southern city of Kherson, shortly after Moscow ordered the pullout.

“We see no signs that Russia is leaving Kherson without a fight,” Podolyak writes on Twitter, suggesting the announcement could be a ploy and calling the order from Russia’s defense minister a “staged TV statement.”

New York Times

An aerial view of the city of Kherson, Ukraine, in May.Credit…Andrey Borodulin/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

By Rajan Laad, AM TH

There was supposed to be a red wave that would put the corrupt, entitled, arrogant Democrats in their place. The GOP was supposed to take the House by an emphatic margin and possibly the Senate, too.

They said it was not a question of if, but when it would happen.

As someone on Twitter rightly observed, at this point, the GOP would be lucky to have Red Trickle. Even if the GOP takes the House, it will be by a slim margin.
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An attorney set to enter the Knesset with the Likud party next week says she intends to ignore rulings from the High Court of Justice striking down legislation, claiming Israel’s highest court lacks the authority to do so.

Tally Gotliv, a freshman lawmaker, told the Ynet news site in remarks published Tuesday that planned efforts to pass a clause that would allow lawmakers to override court vetoes were not needed.

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T. Belman.  Kurtzer is begging the Left to come off their high horse and drop the charges against Netanyahu and agree to join his government, in order to keep Smotrich and Ben Gvir out. If either Lapid or Gantz go for it, then Netanyahu will join with the taker rather than with Smotrich and Ben Gvir.

The stakes are extremely high: Either keep Netanyahu on trial, or risk Israel’s democracy, its civil rights and its international standing and alliances.

By Amb Daniel Kurtzer, HAARETZ

The anti-Netanyahu parties need to assess carefully what is most important to them and to Israel. The stakes are extremely high

T. Belman. Powerful forces are aligned to convince Netanyahu to diminish the victory of the right in Israel.  This is the latest such attempt. You will recall that President Herzog also called for unity government, as did Bennett and Amb Kurtzer to name the most prominent voices.. To deny Ben Gvir a cabinet post is to exclude the Religious Zionist Party from the government. This pressure is also being apply to Gantz and Lapid to relent on their refusal to sit in a government led by Netanyahu.

Everyone can accept Netanyahu’s centrist policies. They cannot accept religious Zionist policies. ALL THE MORE REASON TO INSIST ON THEM.

Yisrael Beytenu MK: Bibi is trying to get rid of Ben Gvir and Smotrich

Mercaz Olami organization of Conservative Judaism makes direct call on next PM not to allow Otzma Yehudit leader to ministerial position.

Israel National News  Nov 8, 2022, 10:46 PM (GMT+2)

Itamar Ben-Gvir, Chai BarBen Kelmer/Flash 90

Mercaz Olami, the Zionist arm of Masorti-Conservative Judaism in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa and Australia, called on presumptive Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu not to allow Otzma Yehudit chairman MK a minister in the government he is expected to form.

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MK Bezalel Smotrich, Religious Zionism chief, to demand changes in how construction is approved in Judea & Samaria in coalition negotiations.

Israel National News

Bezalel SmotrichPhoto by Yossi Aloni/Flash90

Religious Zionism chief MK Bezalel Smotrich will demand the cancellation of the Civil Administration for Judea and Samaria as part of the coalition agreements, Israel Hayom reported.

According to the report, Smotrich’s plans would see the cancellation of the Civil Administration, with the services it currently provides being transferred to the authority of the relevant government ministries. Such a step is seen by many as progress in applying de facto Israeli sovereignty to Judea and Samaria.

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“We don’t understand what’s going on with him,” a senior member of the emerging coalition tells Israel Hayom after incoming prime minister seeks to swear in government without written promise to reform judiciary.

By  Amir Ettinger and Yehuda Shlezinger, ISRAEL HAYOM

With Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu set to form a coalition with right-wing and Haredi allies, there is growing discontent among his partners over what they say is a reluctance to promote legislation that would empower the legislative branch to override the Supreme Court in certain cases.

Netanyahu and the Haredi-Sephardi party Shas are at loggerheads with the far-Right Religious Zionism Party and the Haredi-Ashkenazi United Torah Judaism, with the former group seeking to put off any major initiatives on judicial reforms, while the latter two demanding this be cemented into the coalition agreements prior to the swearing-in of the government later this month.

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By Ted  Belman

Alon Pinkas, in Haaretz, asks  Can U.S. and Israeli ‘Shared Values’ Survive a Far-right Government? and writes:

“The narrative was simple: The United States and Israel are sister democracies, united by an unwavering commitment to a pluralistic, open, tolerant and diverse society. They cherish the rule of law, separation of powers, judicial independence, minority rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, and checks and balances.

The Left in Israel may support that narrative but they were soundly defeated.

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By Michael Wing, EPOCH TIMES

Florida health officials on Friday, Nov. 4 voted to forbid doctors from providing “gender-affirming care” to minors in the state.

Meeting in Orlando, the Florida Board of Medicine and state Board of Osteopathic Medicine voted 6-3, with five members not present, to ban the prescribing of puberty blockers or hormones and performing of sex-reassignment surgery for children. Minors already receiving the drugs may continue treatment.
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Avi Maoz of Religious Zionism’s Noam faction calls for closure of Western Wall egalitarian section if he’s to join coalition, but will support Netanyahu-led government regardless

By JUDAH ARI GROSS and TOI STAFF    7 November 2022,

Avi Maoz, the head of the homophobic Noam party, which ran as part of the far-right Religious Zionism alliance, said Sunday he will condition his entry into the government on the promotion of a law to prevent the teaching of “gender studies” in elementary schools.

In an interview with the right-wing Channel 14, Maoz said that although he had conditions for entering a potential Benjamin Netanyahu-led government, he would in any case support the coalition unconditionally.

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T. Belman. Bercovici used to be the Canadian Ambassador to Israel. She now lives in Israel. She summarizes her bias by saying, “The erosion of liberal democratic principles is my top concern following Election #5, and it was heartening to learn that my perspective is shared by many on the other side of the Green Line.”  What the hell are “liberal democratic principles”?  Wikipedia says “Liberal democracy emphasizes the separation of powers, an independent judiciary and a system of checks and balances between branches of government.” That’s exactly what the Right wants. Its an insult to suggest otherwise.

BY Vivian Bercovivi, STATE OF TEL AVIV – 08 NOV 2022

Friday, November 4, 2022. At a West Bank settlement for Shabbat dinner.

I. Every time you cross the “Green Line,” the rough boundary separating Israel proper from the territories it has controlled since 1967, you feel “it.”

The population clusters are less dense, roads are less busy and street lighting is not quite as bright. I have travelled this road many times to visit friends who live on the other side.

Over the years, the Green Line has become like an inviolable article of religion among so many instant international law experts. At the end of the Six-Day War – in which Jordan attacked Israel on its eastern border – a ceasefire and terms were negotiated. In haste, on the battlefield, on a scrap piece of paper, a line was drawn with a green magic marker. It was cheap porous paper, the kind that ink seeps through when you write or draw on it.

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T. Belman. I am informed by a reliable source that Al Sisi’s fears are well-founded. The days are numbered for both Abdullah and Al Sisi.  In addition Qatar is in the cross hairs.

JaFaJ Intelligence  October 23, 2022

1. Summary: The most trusted intelligence officers of Egypt’s President Sisi have confirmed to him that senior army generals were plotting to topple him allegedly in a coup disguised as a public revolution. At the same time, Egyptian activists in exile have been calling for the mother of all revolutions to topple Sisi. They have set November 11th as the day to inaugurate the revolution. Some of those activists are indeed tied to certain elements of Egyptian military intelligence. It is reported that Sisi became frantic after hearing the warning, and has been on a conquest to “identify the traitors”. The call for a November 11 revolution has gained substantial momentum. It is unlikely though that a revolution could topple Sisi unless it received the backing of the Egyptian army itself.

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By Daniel Greenfield, 07 Nov 03:37 PM

The last time that Israel had a prime minister from the Labor Party was over twenty years ago. Most military recruits were not even born or were in diapers the last time a member of the leftist socialist movement that had ruled the country in a virtually unbroken life of succession for a generation from Ben Gurion to Rabin last headed the country.

The news is even worse now with Labor, which once dominated the legislature of the Knesset, receiving only 4 seats making it the smallest party, below the Muslim Brotherhood’s Ra’am and the Arab Communist Hadash-Ta’al, not to mention the Jewish religious parties and the parties of Middle Eastern and Russian immigrants.
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by Steve Kramer

Judaism v democracy in the State of Israel, is a subject that many American Jews have been arguing for decades. I don’t get it. Could a country that has had five elections in less than four years, in which 71% of eligible voters cast ballots, be anything other than a democracy? All citizens of Israel, 18 years or older, are eligible to vote (period)

In the recent November 1 election, the plurality of Israeli voters chose the Likud Party, headed by Bibi Netanyahu, to form a new government. The second most popular party of this bloc is the Religious Zionism Party, which is the proponent of Judaism v capitulation (to those who deny our Zionism). This militant party to the right of the Likud can act as a backstop against caving to outside influencers who don’t credit Israeli sovereignty over its homeland.

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