“Leaving Jewish Home, Netanyahu’s former aides Bennett and Shaked hope to challenge the PM by reaching new audiences, particularly those who won’t abandon them under pressure”

Posted on December 30, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Burned by religious Zionist old guard, Bennett seeks a new kind of right-winger
by Raoul Wootliff
December 30, 2018

Announcing that they would be leaving the Jewish Home party to forge a “true partnership between secular and religious,” Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked on Saturday lamented they had lost their influence over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and claimed they needed a new political platform to have a real impact. Since first taking control of Jewish Home in 2012, Bennett has always pitched himself as the right-wing force keeping a flaky Netanyahu from drifting leftward. “We need a strong Jewish Home to keep the government on the right path,” he argued during both the 2013 and 2015 election campaigns. READ MORE

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“In April 2017, the European Parliament called for a formal suspension of Turkey’s EU membership bid”

Posted on December 30, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

GATESTONE
Turkey and EU: Can this Marriage be Saved?
by Burak Bekdil
December 27, 2018

When Turkey first applied for full membership in the European Union in 1987, the world was an entirely different place…Today, 31 years after the first date, the alliance seems to be broken, with no signs in the foreseeable future of a marriage between two perfectly unsuitable adults. Knowing that, both sides in the past decade have played an unpleasant diplomatic game of pretension: not be the one that throws away the ring. This boring opera buffa is no longer sustainable. Turkey’s democratic deficit has grown just too bitterly huge to make it compatible with Europe’s democratic culture. READ MORE

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“Democrats are now defined by Trump the way that antimatter is defined by matter, with each particle of matter corresponding to an antiparticle”

Posted on December 30, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

THE HILL
Donald Trump is completely transforming the Democrats
by Jonathan Turley
December 29, 2018

In this age of rage, voters seem to have no patience, let alone need, for leaders speaking of abstract principles. They want immediate unequivocal action in supporting or opposing President Trump. For Democrats, that all consuming purpose has led to the abandonment of core unifying values, including many that first drew me to the Democratic Party. While they would vehemently deny it, Trump is remaking the party in his inverse image. This past month shows how far that transformation has gone. READ MORE

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Leaders of Brazil and Israel attend shabbat eve services at Rio synagogue

Posted on December 29, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Hailing ‘brotherhood,’ Brazil’s president-elect says he’ll visit Israel by March
by Staff
December 29, 2018

Brazilian President-elect Jair Bolsonaro said Friday he expects to visit Israel by March 2019, after accepting an invitation by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is currently on a state trip to Brazil….Netanyahu arrived in Brazil on Friday, accompanied by his wife Sarah and son Yair, and the family is set to stay on through Tuesday to join other foreign dignitaries at the inauguration in Brasilia of Bolsonaro…Bolsonaro, sometimes called the “Trump of the tropics” for a similar style to US President Donald Trump and rejection of multilateral diplomacy, emphasized the bond he wants to build with Netanyahu, a firm US ally. READ MORE

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“SJP and the other drivers of the economic attack on Israel have sought to broaden their ranks by invoking their brand of intersectionality”

Posted on December 28, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

GATESTONE
The Other Intersectionality: Victims of Islamism
by Kenneth Levin
December 28, 2018

…Similarly censored from today’s campuses is discussion of another, in various respects competing, intersectionality: That of the shared, intersecting, predicaments of today’s victims of Islamist aggression, including terrorism. Those victims are mainly people of color — black Africans, Arabs, Kurds, Pakistanis, Afghans and east Asians — but also many whites. They are mainly Muslims, but also include Christians, Jews, Yazidis, Druze and people professing no religion. READ MORE

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“Until a year and a half ago, Yonatan was still called Lutz. In the past he congratulated his friends with “Heil Hitler.” Now he is a Jew”

Posted on December 28, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

ARUTZ SHEVA
From Heil Hitler – to a Kippah and tefillin
by Staff
December 27, 2018

Today, Yonatan puts on Tefillin every day. But just a few years ago, under a different name, he would greet his friends by saying “Heil Hitler.” Like many others, Jonathan was indoctrinated into the extreme right when he was a teenager…Yonatan described how he was taught “you have to completely destroy the Jewish world domination.” One night, Yonatan had a dream in which the word ‘Kabbalah’ appeared. When he awoke, he began to research what his dream had been about and discovered the Kabbalah, the Jewish mysticism. READ MORE

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“Only an Israeli victory and a Palestinian defeat will achieve…resolution”

Posted on December 28, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

WASHINGTON TIMES
Tectonic Shifts in Attitudes toward Israel
by Daniel Pipes
December 27, 2018

…The rage against Israel is not about Ashkenazi-Sephardi relations, tensions on the Temple Mount, a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, or Israel’s own nuclear weapons. Rather, it almost exclusively concerns the status of some 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Thanks to a mix of Palestinian public relations expertise and continued anti-Semitism, the welfare of this small and powerless but fanatical population has transmogrified into the premier global issue of human rights, getting endlessly more attention than, say, Ethiopia — and motivates nearly all denunciations of Israel. READ MORE

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“Israeli military fills underground Hezbollah terror constructions near Metula with water and cement”

Posted on December 28, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

YNET
Hezbollah races to save terror tunnels as IDF floods them
by Yoav Zitun, Ahiya Raved
December 27, 2018

The IDF flooded with cement and water the Hezbollah tunnels, which appear to have been dug from residential houses in Lebanese villages, as the Shi’ite terror group scrambles to salvage what’s left of their strategic assets. At the beginning of the month, the IDF launched Operation Northern Shield to expose and neutralize terror tunnels Hezbollah has constructed along the Israel-Lebanon border since 2006, and so far five underground constructions have been destroyed by the Israeli military. READ MORE

ALGEMEINER Kanye West-Inspired IDF Video Shows Surprise of Hezbollah Operatives Over Tunnel Destruction The IDF published a video on Friday — with American rapper Kanye West’s song “Runaway” playing in the background — showing Hezbollah operatives being surprised by cement flowing out of an entrance to a tunnel dug by their group underneath the Israel-Lebanon border.

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Is Trump good or bad for Israel?

Posted on December 27, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

ALGEMEINER
What Bret Stephens Missed About Trump and Israel
by Ira Stoll
December 27, 2018

“Donald Trump Is Bad For Israel,” is the headline of Bret Stephens’ column in The New York Times on Thursday…Stephens could be right that Trump’s limited pullback, if not full retreat, from the liberal internationalism or “Democratic realism” of some prior administration could be bad for Israel. But there’s a counterargument that Stephens doesn’t mention, let alone rebut, and that is worth considering. READ MORE

NEW YORK TIMES Bret Stephens: Donald Trump Is Bad for Israel He shows no interest in pushing Russia out of Syria. He has neither articulated nor pursued any coherent strategy for pushing Iran out of Syria. He has all but invited Turkey to interfere in Syria. He has done nothing to prevent Iran from continuing to arm Hezbollah.

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“It is a low-profile conflict, mostly fought away from the headlines, in which Israel is playing an active defense against Iran’s offensive attempt to set up a war outpost in Syria”

Posted on December 27, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Russia struggling to stop the Iranian-Israeli shadow war in Syria
by Yaakov Lappin
December 27, 2018

…Iran seeks to create weapons factories, missile bases and a Shi’ite army of 100,000 fighters in Syria, while Israel has no intention of letting it succeed [nor can Israel afford to let this happen]. Iran’s tendency of using Syria as a transit zone for moving advanced weapons to Hezbollah, in neighboring Lebanon, is also a violation of an Israeli red line, which has triggered many reported airstrikes in the past.This shadow conflict is a threat to the stability of the Bashar Assad regime. While the regime has no desire to get involved in a war with Israel and would rather focus on reconstruction, it is forced to issue “permits” to Iranian activities since Assad owes his existence to Tehran. READ MORE

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