“Under a plea bargain reached between Segev’s lawyers and government prosecutors, he will receive 11 years in prison” for spying for Iran

JERUSALEM POST
Former cabinet minister Gonen Segev convicted of spying for Iran
by Yonah Jeremy Bob
January 9, 2019

Disgraced former minister Gonen Segev was convicted of spying for Iran by the Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday in a plea bargain. A statement from the prosecution said that the sides would ask the court for an 11-year jail term. Sentencing arguments have been set for February 11. Other details in the case remain under gag order. Channel 10 previously reported that Segev admitted to the spying charges, but that he explained that he was trying to help Israel and return as a “hero” under the guise of spying for Iran. READ MORE

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“Mexico’s war against its cartels always had one prime objective – to capture E lChapo, the world’s most wanted man and the country’s most powerful drug baron. And thanks to a company in Herzliya, with a little help from an unwitting Hollywood actor and telenovella star, it managed to do just that”

YNET
How Mexican drug baron El Chapo was brought down by technology made in Israel
by Ronen Bergman
January 10, 2019

It was an arrest operation that made headlines all over the world, not only because of the target, the drug baron El Chapo, considered the most-wanted man in the world (once Osama bin Laden was taken down), but also because of the other unwilling participants – one of Mexico’s biggest telenovella stars and American actor Sean Penn. Since then, speculation and stories have surrounded just how the man who managed to escape prison again and again. This weekend, for the first time, we will publish the full story behind the capture of El Chapo, a story that features a phone interception system known as Pegasus, created by the Israeli company NSO. READ MORE

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Lessons from Argentina: “Buenos Aires is a European city encircled by a country that remains very Third World”

WASHINGTON TIMES
A plaintive cry for Argentina
by Clifford D. May
January 8, 2019

Why isn’t Argentina as wealthy as Canada? For that matter, why are all the countries of Latin America, without exception, so much less prosperous than their neighbors to the North? Such questions are apt to come to mind here in the Argentine capital, a city of grand boulevards, elaborate architecture, and quaint neighborhoods with cozy cafes, old-fashioned tango halls, and elegant restaurants serving enormous slabs of juicy beef raised in the pampas, the vast grassy plains beyond the city. Not far off the beaten track, however, lies a different Buenos Aires: Sprawling shantytowns, shacks made of scrap materials; slums lacking basic sewage, water and electrical services. READ MORE

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“Rubio is alleging that some Senate Democrats oppose the anti-BDS legislation on substance because of the supposedly growing popularity of the boycott movement within the Democratic Party”

TABLET MAG
Anti-BDS Bill Battles Up Senate Hill
by Armin Rosen
January 7, 2019

…While there is disagreement on the Hill over the extent of internal Democratic opposition to the anti-BDS bill, sources from both parties confirmed to Tablet that it sparked internal disagreements when it came up for discussion at a meeting last Thursday. Republican Senator Marco Rubio tweeted this morning that “The shutdown is not the reason Senate Democrats don’t want to move to Middle East Security Bill. A huge argument broke out at Senate Dem meeting last week over BDS. A significant # of Senate Democrats now support #BDS & Dem leaders want to avoid a floor vote that reveals that.” READ MORE

FEDERALIST David Harsanyi Yes, Anti-Zionism Is The Same As Anti-Semitism What was once festering on the progressive fringes has found its way into elected offices and the heart of the liberal activist movement. As Democrats increasingly turn on Israel, Jewish liberals, many of whom have already purposely muddled Jewish values with progressive ones, are attempting to untether Israel from its central role in Jewish culture and faith for political expediency.

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“Instead of recognizing the fight against antisemitism as a human rights issue worthy of attention, Amnesty International has decided instead to ratchet up its targeting of the Jewish state”

NGO MONITOR
Amnesty International Singling Out Jews in 2019
January 3, 2019

Leaked documents seen by NGO Monitor and an analysis of public statements from NGO officials indicate that Amnesty International will conduct a series of intense campaigns singling out Israel in early 2019. In this process, Amnesty will delegitimize Jewish historical connections to Jerusalem and elsewhere, as well as promote discriminatory boycotts (BDS) against Israel.  Amnesty’s 2019 attacks will include at least two components: 1. Amnesty’s Blacklist: A “new campaign targeting some of the businesses that are profiting from human rights abuses by operating in the illegal Israeli settlements.”  2. “Ban Israeli settlement goods”: A continuation of a campaign to press governments, in particular the UK, “to ban Israeli settlement goods from entering your markets…” READ MORE

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“A freshman congresswoman hostile to Zionism is attacking a bipartisan effort to legislate against Israel boycotts in her first week on the job, accusing advocates of the bill of dual loyalty”

JERUSALEM POST
Tlaib starts term in Congress accusing Israel advocates of ‘dual loyalty’
by Michael Wilner
January 7, 2019

Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat from Michigan and a Palestinian-American, took to Twitter on Sunday to criticize the “Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act of 2019.”…Congress’s passage of S.1 would codify a 10-year memorandum of understanding on military assistance with Israel, reauthorize defense cooperation with Jordan, reimpose sanctions on entities financing the Syrian government, and authorize state and local governments to combat the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. READ MORE

GATESTONE Alan Dershowitz: Is Rashida Tlaib Guilty of Bigotry? If Congress were considering legislation prohibiting boycotts directed against gays, women or Muslim owned companies, would Senator Bernie Sanders be arguing that such a ban would violate the First Amendment? If Congress were considering legislation prohibiting companies from boycotting majority Muslim countries, would Rashida Tlaib be accusing its supporters of dual loyalty?

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“Bolton reportedly told Netanyahu that the U.S. Syria withdrawal, rather than a time-sensitive pullout, would be contingent on the neutralization of the threat of ISIS in the country”

JNS
Bolton visits Netanyahu, Western Wall tunnels with Israeli officials to ire of PA
by Malkah Fleisher
January 7, 2019

After a visit to the Western Wall and its tunnels on Sunday, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss regional and security issues at the prime minister’s residence, meetings that were condemned by Palestinian Authority officials. On his tour in Jerusalem, Bolton was accompanied by U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer and Israeli national security adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat…Saeb Erekat, the secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, took to Twitter to denounce the visit, arguing that it undermines international law and will “only lead to lawlessness.” READ MORE

BLOOMBERG Netanyahu Raises Golan Heights Sovereignty During Bolton Visit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to convince Washington of the importance of global recognition for Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights as part of U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton’s trip to Israel.

WASHINGTON POST Contradicting Trump, Bolton says no withdrawal from Syria until ISIS destroyed, Kurds’ safety guaranteed Speaking during a visit to Israel, Bolton said that certain “objectives” must be achieved before a pullout could take place.

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Bibi on Israel’s New Right Party “It will break the right into slivers of slivers. Parties won’t make it past the electoral threshold”

WASHINGTON FREE BEACON
The Gamble of Israel’s ‘New Right’
by David Isaac
January 6, 2019

“Boom!” read the headline of a supplement in Israeli weekly Makor Rishon, after two leading politicians, Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, announced on December 29 that they were jumping ship from the Jewish Home Party to create the New Right Party…The ruling Likud Party wasted little time in slamming the New Right as a threat to the entire right…Netanyahu has repeatedly raised the specter of 1992, when a plethora of right-wing parties caused two of them to fail to make it into the Knesset, wasting their votes. The result was a Labor government led by Yitzhak Rabin, which brought about the Oslo Accords, long viewed as a disaster by the right. READ MORE

ISRAEL HAYOM Isi Leibler: Political Dysfunctionality and Electoral Chaos The current prediction is that, despite his bitter personal adversaries and the demonizing media, Netanyahu will be reelected prime minister. Of course, with the present confusing proliferation of small parties and the impending indictment there is always the risk that opposition parties will merge and form a non-Likud government. There is also a genuine chance that many mandates of the right shall be lost by votes cast for parties not passing the minimal electoral threshold

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“What drove a well-educated young doctor from an affluent family to become a vile antisemite?”

FRONT PAGE MAG
Lara Kollab and the Disease of Jew-Hate
by Ari Lieberman
January 7, 2019

…On Friday, Kollab issued an apology of sorts through her lawyer. This represents the first step in Kollab’s attempt to salvage what’s left her tattered career and reputation. But the apology was equivocal and laced with deception and deflection. She claimed that the offensive, anti-Semitic posts were made years before she was accepted into medical school. That is false. The vile comments, which included deep-seated hatred of Israel and support for terrorism continued up until 2017 and constituted one steady and continuous stream of anti-Semitic invective. Her views remained constant and unchanged even after her acceptance to Touro. READ MORE

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“Israel seeking $35 billion dollars in compensation for lost Jewish assets from Tunisia, and $15 billion dollars from Libya”

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Israel said set to seek $250b compensation for Jews forced out of Arab countries
by Staff
January 5,  2019

Israel is preparing to demand compensation totaling a reported $250 billion from seven Arab countries and Iran for property and assets left behind by Jews who were forced to flee those countries following the establishment of the State of Israel. “The time has come to correct the historic injustice of the pogroms (against Jews) in seven Arab countries and Iran, and to restore, to hundreds of thousands of Jews who lost their property, what is rightfully theirs,” Israel’s Minister for Social Equality, Gila Gamliel, who is coordinating the Israeli government’s handling of the issue, said Saturday. READ MORE

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