“Meeting the party’s leader, Likud’s Ayoub Kara asserts that unlike the Joint List, Ra’am ‘doesn’t deny Israel’s existence’”

Posted on March 25, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
With Netanyahu lacking majority, Likud MK gives Islamist Ra’am a kosher stamp
by Staff
March 27, 2021

A Knesset member in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party met Saturday with Ra’am chief Mansour Abbas, whose Islamist faction has emerged as a potential kingmaker after the fourth inconclusive elections in two years. Netanyahu repeatedly ruled out relying on Ra’am to form a government in the run-up to the March 23 elections, calling the party anti-Zionist. However, some Likud lawmakers have entertained partnering with Ra’am following this week’s elections, which saw the premier and his right-wing religious allies again fall short of a majority. READ MORE

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“Israel could have taken the easy way out and attacked without phone calls or warning strikes. But it didn’t. The IDF officers and soldiers in the command center knew what they had to do”

Posted on March 25, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
How the IDF invented ‘Roof Knocking’, the tactic that saves lives in Gaza
by Yaakov Katz
March 25, 2021

December 2008 was the turning point. After a year of incessant rocket fire, the Israeli government decided enough was enough. It was time to go back into the Gaza Strip and do everything possible to take down Hamas. While a ceasefire had been in effect for six months, sporadic rocket fire – Kassams and mortars – continued to rain down on Israel. Nevertheless, the government had initially preferred quiet. The situation was tenuous but the residents of the South were, for the first time in years, able to leave their homes with some measure of safety. The government wasn’t going to put that at risk so quickly. READ MORE

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Former AIPAC director Kessler’s “new initiative is not the first aimed at reversing progressive disillusionment with Israel”

Posted on March 25, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

JEWISH CURRENTS
Former AIPAC Senior Operative Launches Group to Cultivate Democratic Support for Israel
by Alex Kane
March 18, 2021

IIn a sign of Israel advocates’ growing anxiety over progressive opposition to Israeli policies, AIPAC’s Director of Strategic Initiatives, Jonathan Kessler, is leaving his job at the flagship Israeli-government-aligned lobby to start a new advocacy group that he hopes will appeal to Democratic Party activists. According to an email sent from Kessler’s AIPAC email address and obtained by Jewish Currents, Kessler’s new organization, called Heart of a Nation, will publish an online journal highlighting progressive activism in Israel and the US. Kessler wrote that the journal will “be distributed to hundreds of Democrat Party leaders through a network of key contacts.” READ MORE

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“Israel-US dialogue is necessary about Iran’s nuclear program, since a good agreement with Iran is a clear Israeli interest. But Israel must be prepared with a military option against Iran, as a last resort”

Posted on March 25, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

JEWISH INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGY AND SECURITY
No Agreement is Better than Another Bad Agreement with Iran
by Major General (res.) Yaakov Amidror
March 17, 2021

A few days ago, a journalist said to me that “Israel must realize that ultimately a P5+1 agreement with Iran regarding its nuclear program is good for Israel too, especially given that the alternative is a complex and dangerous Israeli attack.” I replied with the following remarks: “All these years, Israel indeed hoped for an agreement with Iran. That is what we told our American interlocutors time and time again. Moreover, Israel helped quite a bit in bringing Iran to the negotiating table, as well as with the process itself. At the same time, we always made it clear that no agreement with Iran is better than a bad agreement.” In my estimation, President Obama and the P5+1 concluded the JCPOA (the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran) behind Israel’s back because they knew that it was bound to be a bad agreement. Indeed, in retrospect it has turned out to be very bad agreement. READ MORE

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In an exclusive interview with Israel Hayom, Jonathan Pollard describes the decision to hand over classified information to Israel, the brutal expulsion from the Israeli Embassy, the war for survival in prison, the love story with Esther, and the moment he arrived back home, in Israel

Posted on March 25, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
Exclusive interview with Jonathan Pollard
by Boaz Bismuth, Caroline B. Glick and Ariel Kahana
March 26, 2021

On Nov. 21, 1985, at 10 a.m., Jonathan Pollard and his then-wife arrive at the Israeli Embassy in Washington. He still recalls what happened in those moments, second by second, as if they had happened only yesterday. He describes FBI surveillance, including agents with rifles and a helicopter. He says he got to the embassy and flashed the car’s lights at the guard, and the gate opened, saying, “They knew who we were.” He went in, and the gate closed behind him, leaving his FBI tail outside. He got out of the car and asked, “Is this it? Am I home? This is sovereign Israeli territory.” And he was told: “Everything is fine. You’re home.” READ MORE

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Israel’s women warriors: “Operating in all conditions and any terrain, armed with the most sophisticated tools at the IDF’s disposal, the soldiers of Unit 8200’s combat intelligence unit go behind enemy lines to do what can’t be done from afar”

Posted on March 25, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Flying under the radar: The women warriors of Israel’s elite combat intelligence unit
by Yoav Limor and Hila Timor Ashur
March 23, 2021

…8200’s combat unit is young and anonymous. To overcome this hurdle, the decision was made eight years ago to reveal its existence. At the time there were no female fighters in the unit, which was created as a result of the lessons learned from the Second Intifada and operations in Gaza, and the need to surmount the obstacles Israel’s enemies pose to the IDF in general and to 8200 in particular. The increasing need for high-caliber manpower led to the second decision, made in 2017, to recruit women into the unit. This path was paved, first and foremost, by the success of women in other combat units in the IDF…READ MORE

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“Muslim converts who manage to escape execution face a range of repercussions from losing their jobs to being shunned by friends to being disowned by relatives”

Posted on March 25, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

MIDDLE EAST FORUM
Nonie Darwish on Muslim Converts to Christianity: “I Could Be Killed”
by Marilyn Stern
March 26, 2021

…Although Christians face oppression throughout the Islamic world, Muslim converts to the faith face an even harsher climate because Islamic doctrine condemns apostasy and conversion away from the Islamic faith is deeply taboo. Islam “was created 600 years after Christ as a rebellion against biblical values,” said Darwish, and therefore “to choose the Bible over Islam … Jesus over Muhammad, is the ultimate insult to Islam.”…Islamic law sanctions the killing of apostates. Although civil laws in some countries may nominally protect converts, in most countries “the percentage of Muslims who believe in killing apostates is huge” and authorities often turn a blind eye to it, so the threat of “vigilante justice against apostates” is ever-present. READ MORE

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“Biden was not challenged, but caressed and fondled by the morally bankrupt media”

Posted on March 25, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

AMERICAN GREATNESS
The Self-Parody of Pres. Biden’s First Press Conference: A “transcript” of the press conference
by Charles Lipson
March 26, 2021

There is absolutely no crisis at the southern border, and Trump caused it. Also Trump wanted small children to die at the border. I don’t. That’s just another reason people say I’m such a good person. This surge of immigrants, which isn’t happening at all, is certainly not due to anything I said as a candidate, like telling the world I would suspend deportations for 100 days and stop construction of the border wall. No, it’s just springtime, plus bad conditions in Central America. Common on, man, nobody can do anything about springtime. But we can do something about Central America. We can fix it. My suggestion is street lamps. I thought of that myself. Trump didn’t. READ MORE

THE FEDERALIST Sleepy Joe Biden Hosts The Most Awkward Press Conference Of All Time The president did not call on any conservative reporters. Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy—who frequently questions Psaki—was not provided the opportunity to probe. Reporters from Associated Press, PBS, The Washington Post, ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, CNN, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, and Univision all got their turn to pander.

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“Some 500,000 ballots have yet to have been counted as of Wednesday night. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party expected to hold on to 30-seat plurality, but right-wing bloc’s path to victory is as complicated as ever”

Posted on March 21, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
Newly discovered counting errors, delays could lead to last-minute drama
by Staff
March 24, 2021

Despite the rapid pace of counting the nationwide vote from Election Day, officials at the Central Elections Committee say unintentional counting errors mean some results would not be factored into the final tally for a while, potentially complicating even further the inconclusive outcome from Tuesday’s march to the polls…Following a dramatic Tuesday night and after some 87% of the votes had been counted as of Wednesday morning, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party appeared close to victory – although his fate still depends on Yamina leader Naftali Bennett…Voter turnout on Tuesday was particularly low – only 66.9% – marking the lowest turnout in the past four elections. READ MORE

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR Israeli election: Arab Islamist party could become kingmaker Parliamentary elections have left Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu without a clear path to leadership. The United Arab List, predicted to have won five seats in the Knesset, is still deciding which parliamentary bloc to support.

JPOST Gil Hoffman: Coalition conundrum: What could Israel’s next government look like? Here are several possible options…Ahead of Tuesday’s election, all the party leaders, from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on down, spoke to reporters and analysts constantly, in order to try to get out the vote. But once the polls closed Tuesday night, most of the politicians suddenly became completely silent. The quiet was not because they were tired.

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“Four years of having Kahl in a decision-making position could finally end the nature of bipartisan support for Israel and allow for the Iranians to be closer to a nuclear bomb”

Posted on March 21, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

THE HILL
Colin Kahl’s nomination will be a disaster for Israel and the region
by Gregg Roman
March 23, 2021

For many years, American and Israeli leaders were rightly proud of repeating the mantra that excellent relations between the two nations was a bipartisan issue in Washington. Obviously, for a variety of reasons, that truism has faltered in recent years even while remaining broadly accurate. However, the nomination of Colin Kahl for undersecretary of defense for policy could change that. Kahl’s resume is impressive on paper…Nonetheless, with so much experience comes little to no achievement, only unmitigated disaster. On his major remit in the Middle East, every policy issue has been shown to be a failure. READ MORE

JNS Biden nominee Colin Kahl, opposed by some pro-Israel groups, moves to Senate vote Christians United for Israel and the Zionist Organization of America urged the Senate to reject the nomination.

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