By Dr. Michal Rachel Suissa, Director of The Center against Anti-Semitism (SMA), Norway

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, who is now governing in the eleventh year of the four year period he was elected to, announced prior to the recent UNGA summit that he would drop a ”bombshell” in his speech to the world leaders.  What this bombshell cooked down to, was a declaration that he would no longer continue to consider himself bound by the Oslo Accords and that Israel must assume all of its responsibilities as an occupying power.  Taken literally this would imply that there would no longer be a peace process and the Palestinian Authority would no longer draw its legitimacy from agreements with Israel.
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Has the Third Intifada begun? It doesn’t matter what we call it, as long as bloodshed remains the only conceivable response.

By Asher Schechter, HAARETZ | Oct. 7, 2015 | 8:19 PM

Jerusalem is exploding, the West Bank is on fire and as of Monday, the rioting had spread to Jaffa. As of writing, four Israelis had been murdered in the last three weeks of violence, and a 13-year old boy was shot dead by Israeli troops north of Bethlehem. Overeager tabloids, pundits and politicians have been quick to proclaim: “The Third Intifada has begun.”

The Third Intifada has been predicted at least since the second one ended, but has it truly begun? Probably not. This is still a depressing time to be an Israeli, nonetheless.
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If Rabin’s political camp has a chance, it must cast off the fabricated image of Rabin the messianic peacenik and return instead to the rough, direct, genuine Rabin.

By Ari Shavit, HAARETZ | Oct. 8, 2015 | 2:37 AM

In another few weeks, we will be returning to that square in the center of Tel Aviv now known as Rabin Square. It will have been 20 years since the night that split Israeli history into two. The speakers will be more distinguished than ever, and the speeches themselves more fiery than ever. And the crowds that will gather opposite Tel Aviv city hall will be pained and troubled. Every year, Yitzhak, the void is deeper. Every year, the despair is darker. The passage of time is not dulling the sense of loss, but rather intensifying it.

Peace has been shelved, hope extinguished. The light that washed over Israel in the early 1990s has disappeared and is no more. It is entirely clear that the Israeli leader whom Yigal Amir shot in the back has never been replaced by any Israeli leader who was really comparable to him. But Yitzhak Rabin was not only murdered. Yitzhak Rabin was also abducted. Over the long years of mourning, grief and remembrance, his image has been distorted. There are those who have turned this commander of the Harel Brigade, IDF chief of staff during the Six-Day War, and security-minded prime minister into what he never was: a peacenik. A leftist. The messiah of peace. The truth is that Rabin’s charm and the source of his power stemmed from the fact that he was never messianic. He was fundamentally realistic, skeptical and pessimistic.
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By Gil Solomon

The recent outburst by Arab Knesset member Jamal Zahalka (AJN 2/10) highlights the leftist well intentioned nonsense of throwing citizenship, like confetti thrown on a passing parade, on an Arab population that despises you.

It is also the end result of successive Israeli Governments turning their backs on and forsaking the Temple Mount since the victory of 1967, when Moshe Dayan in an act of supreme political idiocy, let the Muslim Waqf retain control of this most holy of Jewish sites, where both Jewish Temples once stood and now dominated by the Dome of the Rock mosque. This is a site which, had it been retained all these decades past, would be where foreign dignitaries would have been escorted to and not to Yad Vashem, a memorial to our countless graveyards.
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T. Belman.  Its all about restoring calm rather than asserting our rights. We should place a greater value on our rights.

Bibi changed this to also ban Arab MK’s.

The premier’s decree is an apparent attempt to de-escalate tensions, particularly as it relates to events on Temple Mount.

JPOST

Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Jewish members of the Knesset and government ministers would not be allowed to visit the Temple Mount in the wake of recent violence that has raised tensions throughout Israel and the West Bank.

Netanyahu adopted the measure after convening the security cabinet Wednesday evening. Senior policy-makers made the recommendation in an effort to avoid a “dangerous provocation” that could set off a “powder keg.”
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Arlene Kushner reports:

Since yesterday, there have been more terror attacks. Good that announcements have been made about measures to be taken, but we need them in place like yesterday. Some plans, such as installing cameras, will take time. But the troops – empowered to act as they need to – must be out in force.

One of the trouble spots with regard to rock throwing and similar terrorist actions has been in the vicinity of the Jewish community of Tekoa, in the Judean Desert.

Terrorists are fond of throwing rocks at the cars driving on the road from Tekoa to Jerusalem (a new road, not represented on this map, that goes to the Har Homa neighborhood of Jerusalem). Of late there has been considerable difficulty in this region, with cars frequently pelted by rocks.
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It’s not just the misleading headlines and selective context – western media outlets have long since eschewed journalism to act as the Palestinians’ official propaganda arm.

By Ari Soffer, INN

International news outlets are often accused of displaying an anti-Israel bias, highlighting Palestinian claims and narratives while playing down or ignoring theIsraeliviewpoint altogether.

Selective headlines, misleading and selective use of terminologies and blind trust of Palestinian (or pro-Palestinian) sources – fact-checking be damned – are just some of the more obvious examples of this phenomenon.

Former Associated Press journalist Matti Friedman famously went a step further earlier this year, blowing the whistle on the ingrained anti-Israel bias within his own former company, and shedding light on how international journalists have long since eschewed objective reporting in favor of hostile propaganda where Israel is concerned.
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Carson is the only one who knows anything. Cruz knows but isn’t as forceful as he should be on the danger.

By Carol Brown, AMERICAN THINKER

As the world faces the rising threat of Islamic supremacy, the number of leaders speaking the whole hideous truth about this evil can be counted on one hand. If GOP presidential candidates are our future, will any of them rise to the occasion and be a bold voice for truth when speaking about this force that seeks to destroy us? I decided to find out. Below is a snapshot of where the top six candidates stand on the threat of jihad, with a focus on four sub-topics noted below:

• Islamic law (sharia)
• Immigration jihad (hijra), addressed in the context of the current “Syrian refugee crisis”
• Response to Ben Carson’s statements on Muslims, sharia law, the Constitution, and the presidency
• Miscellany (additional noteworthy points that vary from one candidate to the next)

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DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis

After the Israeli cabinet launched measures Tuesday, Oct. 6, for “strengthening anti-terror defense” – such as cameras in the sky – and officials labored to spread word that the surge of Palestinian violence of the past week was beginning to ebb, Israel was hit that night from offside by a vicious pro-Palestinian upheaval in the Tel Aviv suburb of Jaffa. Hundreds of Israeli Arabs swarmed onto the streets to hurl rocks and burning containers at police, passing buses and Jews on the street. Six police officers were injured. Fired up by the radical Israeli Northern Muslim Movement, the rioters brandished Palestinian flags and yelled “Allah is Great!” and “With our blood we shall redeem Al Aqsa!”
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T. Belman. This is very pro Israel. It is a surprise that a British paper would publish it.

By Luke Johnson, SUNDAY TIMES

I RECENTLY spent some time in Israel. It is an astonishing country, buzzing with energy and confidence, a magnet for talent and investment — a cauldron of innovation. Meeting entrepreneurs and investors there, I was inspired and impressed. Whether it is in aerospace, cleantech, irrigation systems, software, cybersecurity, pharma or defence systems, Israel is a world-class player. It is an example of how small nations can triumph despite the odds.
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Regional council heads complain after meeting with PM that he refused demands of the public in folding to Obama’s pressure not to build.

By Yoni Kempinski, INN

Heads of the Yesha council and various regional councils in Judea and Samaria met for several hours late Tuesday night with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, but according to them their demands for a response to the wave of Arab terror went unanswered.

Following the meeting at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem, the regional heads spoke with the media, expressing their disappointment that Netanyahu refused to meet their requests to stop the unprecedented building freeze in eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, which has been ongoing to various degrees since failed peace talks began in late 2013.
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By Bill Narvey

Pat Condell in his typical fashion, nails it as he plainly explains the unvarnished ugly truths of what those of us who bother to look and learn, know as regards Sweden’s ongoing transformative process towards being Islamicized.
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T. Belman. Regardless of the denials, I believe that Obama has made it crystal clear to Israel, that she must toe the American line or lose the support of the US in the UN and who knows what else. Nothing short of such an ultimatum would have got Netanyahu to cease building in the eastern part of Jerusalem. Even now Israel is constrained by the US to not “over react” to the Palestinian murder spree. Kerry and Obama keep hectoring us on the matter.

Media reports claim Washington may not veto UN resolution on settlements if Israel ups construction after terror wave

BY REBECCA SHIMONI STOIL, ILAN BEN ZION AND RAPHAEL AHREN, TOI

The US State Department denied reports it had issued Israel an ultimatum this week threatening not to veto a UN Security Council resolution declaring West Bank settlements illegal if Israel announced new settlement construction.

Deputy State Department Spokesman Mark Toner said that while his office was aware of such reports in the press, those reports were “false.”
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The Iran agreement will remake the Middle East — for the worse.

By Victor Davis Hanson, NATIONAL REVIEW

There are several scenarios the Obama administration may be entertaining as it pursues its diplomacy in the Middle East. It may believe that the new agreement with Iran will lead to “engagement” with reform-minded theocrats. The idea is that this will insidiously liberalize the regime, empower a younger generation of pro-Western reformers, and put the theocracy on “an arc of history” back into the “family of nations.” Or perhaps an Obama-inspired second green revolution will overthrow the regime, and we will see a Euro-socialist Iranian republic renounce nuclear weapons — or at least, having inherited custodianship of the existing arsenal, oversee it in the fashion of democratic Israel or France.

Alternatively, the administration may imagine that a Shiite Axis — Iran, Syria, Iraq, Hezbollah, Hamas — empowered by Putin’s Russia, will balance the region, either, strategically, convincing the Sunni monarchies to accept the new balance of power, or, morally, ensuring that formerly outlaw anti-American radical regimes find parity with the pro-American conservative and right-wing regimes in Egypt, Jordan, and the Gulf monarchies. Or, less concretely, the United States may simply wish to abdicate the Middle East and let the players there all fight it out, reentering when the players are worn out and defeated. (Read more…)

Putin gains the upper-hand in the Middle East and the Ukraine.

By Joseph Puder, FPM

U.S. President Barack Obama’s initiated meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last Monday in the aftermath of their speeches at the UN General Assembly in New York was an admission of his failure on two fronts.  It testifies to his failure to destroy the Islamic State (a.k.a. Daesh in Arabic, ISIS and ISIL) as he promised on several occasions, including last year during the 15-minute address from the White House (September 10, 2014) when he said, “I have made it clear that we will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country wherever they are.  That means I will not hesitate to take action against ISIS in Syria, as well as Iraq. This is a core principle of my presidency: If you threaten America, you will find no safe haven.” Obama added, “America will lead a broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat.  Our objective is clear: We will degrade, and ultimately destroy ISIS through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy.”
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And why the catastrophes are so consistent.

By Bruce Thornton, FPM

Russia’s armed intervention in the Syrian civil war is but the latest foreign policy disaster of Barack Obama’s tenure. Yet Obama has been nothing if not consistent. What many see as bungling, naiveté, or evidence of a plot to destroy America is simply the consequence of a particular view of interstate relations he has openly and frequently endorsed.

Obama came into office chanting all the mantras of idealistic internationalism. In contrast to the caricature of George W. Bush as a unilateralist cowboy disdainful of diplomacy, Obama promised to “rebuild the alliances, partnerships, and institutions necessary to confront common threats and enhance common security.” Balance of power realism, which is predicated on the notion that sovereign nations seek power to pursue their own interests, was rejected: “In an era when our destiny is shared, power is no longer a zero-sum game. No one nation can or should try to dominate another nation. No world order that elevates one nation or group or people over another will succeed. No balance of power among nations will hold.” Contrary to accepting force as an arbiter of conflict, he championed “tough diplomacy” and “new partnerships,” promising our enemies to “seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect,” and to “extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.” Finally, he evoked America’s history of foreign policy aggression as a factor in contemporary conflict, in his Cairo speech decrying “colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations.”
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Russia’s Dep. Army Chief due in Israel today.

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report October 5, 2015, 2:18 PM (IDT)

Russia’s deputy chief of staff, Gen. Nikolay Bogdanovsky, accompanied by a large military delegation, arrives in Israel for a two-day visit on Tuesday, Oct. 6, to discuss increased coordination between the two militaries. However, Moscow seems to be sending Jerusalem an altogether different message: Friday, Oct. 2, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the surprise deployment of Navy cruiser, the Moskva, armed with 64 advanced anti-aircraft missiles S-300 ship-to-air missiles opposite the Syrian coastal town of Latakia.
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T. Belman. These are all stop gap measures. What about fundamental change. Lift building freeze and build. Legislate death penalty for convicted terrorists. Penalize the PA for its support of terror. Refuse to give them money or electricity until they withdraw support of terrorism and terrorists. Incarcerate people for incitement.Stop supporting the status quo on the Temple Mount. If we can’t go there and pray, they can’t go there and pray. And so on.

By Hezki Ezra, INN

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sought to impose tougher measures against terrorists late Monday night, in a late-night emergency Cabinet meeting held in light of an escalation in terror.

During the meeting, Netanyahu assigned Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) to establish a mechanism which would significantly shorten the legal process to allow the State of Israel to demolish terrorists’ homes.

Security reinforcements throughout Judea and Samaria (Shomron) and Jerusalem will continue as needed, with several hundred more officers slated to be added to patrols. Thousands of police and reservists have already been called up to help secure both areas since the High Holidays began earlier this month.
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By Cliff Kincaid October 4, 2015

The conventional wisdom is that Vladimir Putin has blindsided Barack Obama in the Middle East, catching the U.S. off-guard. It’s another Obama “failure,” we’re told. “Obama administration scrambles as Russia attempts to seize initiative in Syria,” is how a Washington Post headline described it. A popular cartoon showsPutin kicking sand in the faces of Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry on a beach.

The conventional wisdom is driven by the notion that Obama has the best of intentions but that he’s been outmaneuvered. What if his intention all along has been to remake the Middle East to the advantage of Moscow and its client state Iran? What if he knows exactly what he’s doing? Too many commentators refuse to consider that Obama is deliberately working against U.S. interests and in favor of the enemies of the U.S. and Israel.
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