Pompeo, AIPAC and American Jewish Priorities

By Caroline Glick, CarolineGlick.com U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made two brief, basic points in his declaration Monday on Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria. He said that those communities are not illegal. And he said that far from facilitating peace, delegitimization of those communities has harmed prospects for peace between Israel and the…

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Are Palestinians Not Entitled to Human Rights?

By Bassam Tawil, Gatestone Institute— While Palestinian officials repeatedly condemn Israel for violating Palestinians’ freedom of expression, it is actually the Palestinian Authority (PA) that continues to harass, intimidate and detain Palestinians for expressing their opinions on social media or being affiliated with rival political groups. Business as usual. The latest victims of the PA’s…

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Pompeo’s statement on settlements is a diplomatic turning point

By Caroline Glick, CarolineGlick.com— Monday will long be remembered as a turning point in Middle East history. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s statement Monday that Israeli settlements are not illegal per se is the most significant shift in U.S. Middle East policy in the past generation. Jerusalem’s status as Israel’s capital has been a…

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Trump administration says Israel’s West Bank settlements do not violate international law

By Karen DeYoung, Steve Hendrix and John Hudson, The Washington Post—- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that the Trump administration had determined that Israel’s West Bank settlements do not violate international law, a decision he said had “increased the likelihood” of a Middle East peace settlement. Pompeo said the Trump administration, as it…

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Israel in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) advances US interest

By Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, Ettinger Report— The US position on the future of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) should be based on US interests in the context of a violent, volcanic, uncontrollable and unpredictable Middle East. On September 18, 1970, the pro-USSR Syrian military invaded Jordan in an attempt to topple the pro-US…

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PA’s corruption dooms chances for peace

By Ken Cohen, Israel Hayom— The Palestinian Authority has been a hotbed of corruption and financial mismanagement since its birth in 1993 under Yasser Arafat. This has been an impediment both to Palestinian self-rule and to peace with Israel. Arafat’s successor, PA President Mahmoud Abbas – now serving the fifteenth year of his four-year term…

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Lieberman gives up on unity government, says Israel on ‘sure path to third election’

By Israel Hayom—- Yisrael Beytenu’s Avigdor Lieberman was not in good spirits Wednesday afternoon when he predicted that Israel was likely on its way to a third election, just two months after Israelis went to the polls in what was in an of itself a revote. Speaking at a press conference, Lieberman ruled out joining…

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Netanyahu Fast Tracks Bill to Conquer Greater Jericho: “Gateway to Redemption”

By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, Breaking Israel News— While much of the world screamed at the Trump administration’s announcement that international law does indeed grant Israel the right to Judea and Samaria, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the opportunity to move forward towards redemption. U.S. Opens the Door and Netanyahu Jumps Right In On Monday,…

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Barkat: US may adopt West Bank plan for 250,000 Palestinian jobs, Bible tourism

By David Horovitz, Times of Israel— Israel has presented to senior members of the Trump administration a major, long-term economic proposal to employ a quarter of a million Palestinians in Israeli-run West Bank industrial zones, and to develop up to two dozen major West Bank Biblical tourism sites with a focus on Evangelical Christian visitors,…

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West Bank settlements not illegal, Pompeo announces in historic shift

By Yaakov Katz, JPost— In a historic reversal of US policy, the Trump administration announced on Monday that it does not view Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal. The policy change was announced by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington. “After carefully studying all sides of the legal debate, this administration agrees…

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Iran’s Palestinian Proxies: United Against Israel

By Khaled Abu Toameh, Gatestone— Iran’s Palestinian proxies, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), after last week’s round of aggression towards Israel, are said to be at odds with each other. PIJ is reportedly disturbed that Hamas did not join in firing rockets at Israel in retaliation for Israel’s assassination of senior PIJ commander Bahaa…

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Enriching the Landscape of Jewish Memory

By Inna Rogatchi, Times of Israel—- Genius & Anxiety. How Jews Changed the World, 1847-1947 by NORMAN LEBRECHT, Oneworld, 2019, 442 pages. This book is a joy. Concise, vivid, well-written, in clear antithesis to banality, it is a fine journey throughout most eventful century of modern history viewed in original detail. It also vividly portrays…

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