The former PM wants to stay out of jail. The departing AG wants to secure a conviction. The sides can agree on all that. But there’s one crucial issue that’s dividing them

By DAVID HOROVITZ , TOI          13 January 2022,

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then cabinet secretary (later attorney general) Avichai Mandelblit attend the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on June 9, 2013. (Marc Israel Sellem/POOL/FLASH90)

In the two years since he was indicted in three corruption cases, former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been publicly adamant that he would neither seek nor accept a plea bargain.

Several weeks ago, however, according to unconfirmed reports over the last few days, one of his lawyers, Boaz Ben Zur, approached Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to begin discussions on precisely such a deal.

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By Eric R. Mandel, THE HILL

As the new year began and America continued to negotiate with Iran over its ill-begotten nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Americans were unaware that Iran targeted our forces in Baghdad and at the Al-Asad base in Iraq. Even though all U.S. combat forces have been removed from Iraq to comply with Iraqi law, Iran continues to use its proxy militias to force America to leave the Middle East altogether.

Iran will continue to target Americans throughout the Middle East regardless of the nuclear negotiations. So should we listen to the isolationists and just pack and go home, or is the U.S. more secure having a footprint in troubled areas?

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NEWSMAX    , 14 January 2022

As one of only three senior advisers to be with President Donald Trump from his candidacy through the end of his first term, Peter Navarro got to see it all. He knows why the decisions were made, who helped, who didn’t, and why.

His position as assistant to the president for trade and manufacturing policy in the Trump White House gives him unique insight to conclude that the coronavirus pandemic was the result of a genetically engineered lab experiment gone wrong in Wuhan, China, and that Dr. Anthony Fauci was culpable in its spread.

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T. Belman.  When Caroline wrote her book recommending sovereignty over all of J & S and a path to citizenship for all Arabs, she wasn’t troubled by the Arabs being 35% of the total population.

The current government has adopted a post-Zionist ethos and governing agenda. We must reinstate the Jewish consensus around Zionism in our schools, media, and politics.

By  Caroline B. Glick, ISRAEL HAYOM    Jan 14/22

Young Israelis wrapped in the national flag watch the Independence Day flyover in Sacher Park in Jerusalem on April 15, 2021 | File photo: Oren Ben Hakoon

After their claim to be the peace camp exploded into a million pieces in a hundred suicide bombings, Israel’s Left reinvented itself as the Zionist camp. Their plan of quitting Judea and Samaria and partitioning Jerusalem remained unchanged. But it was rebranded not as a plan for peace, but as a means to protect Israel’s Jewish identity in the face of the mortal threat of the Palestinian womb.

Within a year or two or a decade or two, the Left warned, if Israel maintained its control over its strategic depth, unified capital and historic heartland, the Jews would lose their numeric majority over the Arabs. And at that point, Israel would be faced with the choice of becoming a non-Jewish state or a non-democratic one. By this reasoning, anyone who calls to apply Israeli law over all or parts of Judea and Samaria, and maintain Jerusalem as an undivided city is an anti-Zionist, a fascist, or both.

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As Arabs turn towards Israel and survival, the west continues in the opposite direction

By Melanie Phillips

Bahraini man chats with Israeli at Jerusalem’s Machane Yehuda market, October 2021. Photo: Josh Hasten

While western liberals and the UN Human Rights Council double down in their determination to demonise, delegitimise and destroy Israel, support for that beleaguered country is coming from a surprising direction.

In 2020, people were startled by the Abraham Accords between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Hope was kindled that this unprecedented linkage might herald an end to the century-old Arab war against the Jewish state.
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By Petr Svab, EPOCH TIMES     Jan 14/22

Health departments in several states confirmed to The Epoch Times that they are looking into a steep surge in the mortality rate for people aged 18 to 49 in 2021—a majority of which are not linked to COVID-19.

Deaths among people aged 18 to 49 increased more than 40 percent in the 12 months ending October 2021 compared to the same period in 2018–2019, before the pandemic, according to an analysis by The Epoch Times of death certificate data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The agency doesn’t yet have full 2021 figures, as death certificate data has a lag of up to eight weeks or more.

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The country’s widespread popular demonstrations transcended class, region, and politics—making them distinct from those in Belarus and Ukraine.

By Erica Marat, an associate professor at the National Defense University’s College of International Affairs, and Assel Tutumlu, an assistant professor in international relations at Near East University. FOREIGN POLICY

The burnt-out city administration building in central Almaty, Kazakhstan, is seen following protests on Jan. 10. ALEXANDR BOGDANOV/CONTRIBUTOR JANUARY 11, 2022,

On Jan. 5, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev imposed a state of emergency, and two days later, he ordered police to shoot to kill “terrorists”—anyone who participated in the protests’ violent aftermath. “I didn’t think I’d see mass shootings I only knew from my babalar (“parents”),” Suinbike Suleimenova, a contemporary artist based in Almaty, Kazakhstan, wrote on her Telegram channel. Her sentiment reflects both the ruling regime’s shocking turn to lethal violence after Kazakhstan’s nationwide protests last week and familiar historic grievances dating back to the 1986 uprising against Soviet rule in Almaty.

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T. Belman. I am posting a cross section of opinion, not yet knowing where the truth lies.

GT Investigates: US wages global color revolutions to topple govts for the sake of American control

By GT staff reporters      Dec 03, 2021

Exporting wars, launching “color revolutions,” fomenting extremist ideologies, and promoting economic instability… the US has left endless trails of bloodshed and turmoil around the world. While the “model of democracy” loses its shine, the US still attempts to establish exclusive cliques through the so-called democracy summit. To expose the nature of “American democracy,” the Global Times is publishing a series of articles to unmask the US’ four democratic hegemonic sins. This is the second such piece.

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by Victor Rosenthal

Bedouin citizens of Israel formerly embraced a nomadic lifestyle, drifting between Arabia and the Sinai; but since 1948 many have permanently settled in the southern part of Israel. They established their settlements on any convenient unoccupied land, where they grazed their flocks and planted crops. Israeli authorities have established several towns and even a large city, Rahat, for Bedouin occupation, and in recent years have legalized numerous unrecognized settlements; but many Bedouin still live in the “dispersion,” a collection of hundreds of illegal favelas built on state land that resemble garbage dumps with scattered satellite dishes.

Throughout the years there have been various programs in which the state offered plots of land or homes in or near the recognized towns, along with agricultural land to replace state land on which Bedouins were squatting. Success of these programs was mixed. About 3/4 of the roughly 200,000 Negev Bedouin live in recognized towns.

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T, Belman. This is an issue for Americans to ponder what with all the destruction of statutes in the US for the last couple of years. Should political activists otherwise known as vandals, be permitted to tear down statues they deem offensive. In other words, who gets to decide if statutes stay or not?

…or, as it turned out, just outside

By Melanie Phillips

Man damaging Eric Gill statue of Prospero and Ariel at BBC Broadcasting House, January 12 2022

On BBC Radio’s Moral Maze this week, we tackled the issues behind the acquittal of the “Colston Four” last week. The four defendants were cleared by a Bristol jury of causing criminal damage in June 2020 when they toppled a statue of the 17th century slave-trader and Bristol philanthropist, Edward Colston, which was then thrown into the river.

The four had argued that they were “on the right side of history” by protesting against slavery and colonialism, and that they had committed no criminal offence because the existence of the statue was itself an offence (sic).
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By Victor Davis Hanson, JWR

From the moment COVID-19 appeared, the pandemic became inseparable from politics.

Political frenzy was inevitable since the SARS-CoV-2 virus may have escaped from a level-4 security virology lab in Wuhan, China.

The rapid-fire spread soon threatened to indict the Chinese communist government for nearly destroying the world economy and killing millions.

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Ukraine, with Russian troops on its borders, is pressing for membership. But President Biden and European leaders are not ready for that step.

By Edward Wong and Lara Jakes, NEW YORK TIMES    Jan 13/22

WASHINGTON — The tense talks this week among the United States, Russia and European members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have made one thing clear: While the Biden administration insists it will not allow Moscow to quash Ukraine’s ambitions to join NATO, it has no immediate plans to help bring the former Soviet republic into the alliance.

By Zachary Stieber, EPOCH TIMES     Jan 13/22

The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for private businesses but decided to let a separate regulation that requires health care workers to get a vaccine take effect.

In a 6–3 ruling, justices halted the mandate for all private employers with 100 or more workers, ruling the states and companies that challenged the rule were likely to succeed.

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T. Belman. I am totally against such a confederation or annexation by Jordan. The Jordan River is the only border I will accept. On an interim basis , once Mudar is in power, Jordan will replace the PA and manage Areas A and B in their stead. When Israel finally destroys Hamas, Jordan will maintain law and order there. Over the next 10 years about 2 million Arabs from Judea and Samaria and Gaza will emigrate to Jordan. Then Israel will extend Israeli law to all lands west of the Jordan.

The alternative to the two-state solution?

By Joseph Puder, Front Page Mag  Jan 13/22

In an unprecedented meeting on December 28, 2021, at the private residence of Benny Gantz in Rosh Haayin (central Israel), Israel’s Defense Minister hosted Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmud Abbas. Gantz approved significant trust-building concessions to the Palestinians. Aiming at bolstering the failing fortunes of the PA and Abu Mazen’s in particular, against the increasing influence of Hamas in the West Bank. Gantz approved the addition of 600 entry permits to Israel for Palestinian businessmen, as well as Palestinian vehicles. Dozens of Palestinian officials will receive VIP permits. Moreover, Gantz agreed to provide the PA with advanced tax payments collected from Palestinians working in Israel worth NIS (New Israeli Shekels) 100 million, or $32 million.
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Highest state sees 65 percent increase in prime-age mortality, only 36 percent attributed to COVID-19

BY PETR SVAB, EPOCH TIMES    Jan 12/22

Deaths among people aged 18 to 49 increased more than 40 percent in the 12 months ending October 2021 compared to the same period in 2018–2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an analysis of death certificate data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by The Epoch Times.

The agency doesn’t yet have full 2021 numbers, as death certificate data trickles in with a lag of one to eight weeks or more.

The increase was notable across the country and in no state was COVID reported in more than 60 percent of the excess deaths. Some states experienced much steeper hikes than others.

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